Replying To Whammo86:  "On reflection I was talking a lot of rubbish"

Replying To hill16no1man:  "On reflection I was talking a lot of rubbish"

Replying To hill16no1man:  "Pro12 is not taken serious far less than the national league.
take this week Leinster travel to munster in that league and are forced to make 10 changes to their team than the one that played in the premier competition the week before because the rugby body of Ireland the irfu dictate so with their policies on international players"

Replying To GreenandRed:  "If the National Leagues were running concurrently with the Provincial and All Championships and the top footballers and hurlers were professionals and also playing international games while leagues and championships were running, would every county play their best teams in league and championship?"

Replying To Whammo86:  "It makes sense that internationals don't play in the Rabo.

It still detracts from it as a competition."

Replying To Whammo86:  "I find it hard to judge boxing achievements.

The multiple organisations and the politics of who fights who."

Replying To GreenandRed:  "If the National Leagues were running concurrently with the Provincial and All Championships and the top footballers and hurlers were professionals and also playing international games while leagues and championships were running, would every county play their best teams in league and championship?"

Replying To GreenandRed:  "I agree. But you can't compare the Pro 12 is all I'm saying. Teams don't have thd threat of relegation from the Pro 12 like in the National Leagues. The Pro 12 is the secondary competition, far less important than the Champions Cup. It was still a fair achievement to win it though, from a team that was threatened with disbanment in '09 in a province with few rugby schools in comparison to the other provinces. Still they're full time professionals.

Kenny's achievements in 2016 with a team of part timers, a heavily congested fixture list , without their best striker from 2015 and a limited budget was, for me, the best managerial achievement in Irish sport in 2016. I just don't understand why the League of Ireland don't take the Dundalk success story and some ex-League if Ireland current internationals and market the game more."

Replying To hill16no1man:  "but it isnt running alongside it
the pro12 fixture scheadule is their own decisions when they play the games and the vast amount of games are played with mickey mouse line ups,
so therefore the national league which is played with more than likely 12 out of the 15 first team players on average each week is taken far more seriously. is also run as a better competition by virtue of stronger line ups you can dress it up whatever way you like and make excuses for it but im only stating facts.
so yes connaught did win a competition that is devlaued by rugbys governing bodies.
once more would derry have made the lineup had they won the 2014 national league beating dublin in the final?
I guarantee you not despite it would have been a bigger achievment than connaughts this year."

Replying To hill16no1man:  "but it isnt running alongside it
the pro12 fixture scheadule is their own decisions when they play the games and the vast amount of games are played with mickey mouse line ups,
so therefore the national league which is played with more than likely 12 out of the 15 first team players on average each week is taken far more seriously. is also run as a better competition by virtue of stronger line ups you can dress it up whatever way you like and make excuses for it but im only stating facts.
so yes connaught did win a competition that is devlaued by rugbys governing bodies.
once more would derry have made the lineup had they won the 2014 national league beating dublin in the final?
I guarantee you not despite it would have been a bigger achievment than connaughts this year."

Replying To Greengrass:  "Rubbish. If was of your mindset I would say the following and mean it. It takes nine games to win the National League. It takes 24 to win The Pro12. Dublin play all their home games in Croke Park which is the national stadium. Connacht play no games were in The Aviva.. Dublin are guaranteed home venue for the semi finals and finals of the National League . That means of the nine games Dublin played in the league this season 6 were at home in Croke Park including the semi final and final and three were away. Connacht played 24 games to win The Pro12. 12 were at home including the semi final. That home semi final was won by right. 11 were away and the final was at a neutral venue. There simply is no comparison in terms of what is required to win The Pro12 as opposed to what is required of Dublin or any other county team to win The National League. And as for weaker teams being fielded, when it comes to the winning and losing of The Pro12 full teams are on the field. The intensity of The Pro12 Final this year would hold it's own with The All Ireland Final and that is coming from a died in the wool GAA man.
I could also say if I was of similar mentality to you that winning The Leinster Football Championship is not worth the paper it is written on. As a championship it is a desert populated by second, third and fourth rate teams with Dublin being the notable exception. Even then I could say that Dublin have not been asked to play an away fixture in Leinster for over ten years. This season they played Laois at a neutral venue. The semi final and final were in Croker. They then played all four of their All Ireland series games in Croker. That means that of the 16 league, Leinster and All Ireland series games they played in total 12 were in Croker, 1 was at a neutral venue and the whopping total of 3 were away fixtures. Connacht have played a total of 28 games in their victorious Pro12 campaign and their current Champions Cup campaign where they sit joint top of the group. 14 of those were at home, 1 was at a neutral venue and 13 were away from home. None were played in The Aviva . 50% of Connacht's league and championship games were played at home in The Sportsgroundswhilst 75% of Dublins league and championship games were played at home in Croker. Connacht played almost double the amount of games in The Pro12 and Champions Cup that Dublin played in the league and championship this season
I could also say if I was possessed of your mentality that Connacht in rugby terms are most definitely amongst the have nots of club rugby whilst I could also most certainly say that in terms of finances Dublin are the top "have" county in the country.
However I chose not to say those things. I chose to acknowledge that Dublin are a smashing team blessed with terrific footballers who have achieved great things and who represent their county and our sport with dignity and class.
You need to stop your begrudgery, educate yourself and acknowledge the scale of Connacht's stunning achievements. And don't get me started on the dung you have written about Dundalk."

Replying To Whammo86:  "Season length isn't all that important in determining how good a season a team has had. They played 24 games but they could afford more losses along the way until they reached the semifinals.

They lost 7 times in fact and didn't finish top of their league section.

They also got knocked out at the quarterfinal stage of the challenge cup.

If Munster or Leinster had the same pro 12 campaign getting knocked out of the Champions Cup quarterfinal I don't think they would win team of the year.

Great achievement Connacht considering your resources but still not deserving of team of the year in my book."

Replying To Greengrass:  "Connacht won it ."

Replying To Whammo86:  "They won the playoffs. Leinster were top of the table at the end of the league phase, is all I meant. It's not that important, they finished level on points with Leinster.

Dublin though had a 100% record to their league phase and then hammered the competition in their playoffs.

Dublin had as good a year as is possible in GAA.

Connacht won a competition that has been won 9 out of 15 times by Irish teams. Weren't utterly dominant in doing so and didn't perform particularly well in their other major competition.

Being joint top of a ERCC group after 4 games isn't a historically significant achievement either."

Replying To Greengrass:  "I'm not questioning Dublin's achievements . I never have . I applaud them . You are the one who is denigrating Connacht's achievements . Hill is even worse than you . He has denigrated both Connacht's and Dundalk's achievements . It must be great to be derogatory of the achievements of dedicated sportspeople from behind a keyboard."

Replying To alano12:  "i think whammo is applying context which is important....theres a fine line between balance and denigrating which i dont feel he is doing"

Replying To Whammo86:  "I don't intend to denigrate their achievement.

It was a fantastic season. They thoroughly dominated Leinster in the final.

I'm just comparing their season to Dublin's as best I can since they were both nominated for the same award.

I feel Dublin's achievements last year surpassed Connacht's. That's fine. Dublin had one of the all time best seasons in GAA history."