Couldn't believe the nonsense talked by Martin McHugh on Sunday game last night. Referring specifically to leitrim, he said they and other small counties needed to stop feeling sorry for themselves, work harder, and start winning games! Is he living in the real world? As Des Cahill said to him, there are clubs in Dublin with a bigger pick than leitrim. Isn't a coincidence that the small counties aren't working hard, and the big ones are? ? Martin then told us that every county has 30 good footballers. Yeah but Dublin have 300 ! He later contradicted himself by saying that limerick were unable to cope with black cards, because they wouldn't have the depth in their squad. Honestly I'm fed up with people slamming counties like leitrim and Carlow and saying they just need to work harder. Longford have put in incredible underage work reaching several minor and under 21 finals, and look what happened to their seniors this year.

Malonemagic (Laois) - Posts: 765 - 29/06/2015 15:40:39    1744787

Mc Hugh is a terrible pundit. You know whats interesting Martin...most counties are putting in lots of hard work but no matter what hard work you do its all relative to the pick you have. If his logic is correct then Junior club teams could win County senior titles!! Nonsense


Even if a county with 50,000 of a population puts in the same hard work that a county with 500,000 population they won't have the same success as there is more likely to be more naturally gifted players in the bigger populated areas.

Tir Conaill Abu (Donegal) - Posts: 1671 - 29/06/2015 16:07:19    1744821

Yeah i was a bit suprised by his comments when watching it last night and Des Cahill and the two other panelists seemed to be almost smirking as he was making his points. Not the first time McHugh has started talking on a subject and seemed to be digging a deeper hole for himself when trying to back up his argument. Pure nonsense really, how can he compare the like of Leitrim to Donegal and Dublin is beyond me.

KY4SAM2015 (Kerry) - Posts: 898 - 29/06/2015 16:09:41    1744823

he was a great footballer as are his sons but he seems to be lacking intelligence.he also said the gooch was a one trick pony last year..time to get rid of him off the panel.too many good lads available tomas o se ciaran whelan dessie dolan(the best of them) eamon o hara and a few more..also spillane and brolly.they are tiresome..

kavvie (Clare) - Posts: 505 - 29/06/2015 16:24:03    1744836

When Brolly sticks to analysing football he's not bad. It's when he goes off on one he becomes ridiculous. I think they should try get Joe to quit going for the headlines and instead focus on the football.

gotmilk (Fermanagh) - Posts: 4971 - 29/06/2015 16:31:57    1744849

He started telling a story last night about Kerry women travelling up to weaker counties but having to be pregnant before they left. I presume this was to carry the Kerry blood with them :-)

Tomas O'Se was struggling to hold in the laughter.

I see what McHugh was trying to say - basically 'get on with it'. But Cahill's point just killed him. The Dublin county champions v the sides in division 4 of the NFL would be interesting pairings. The population gives an advantage but it does also give momentum, spirit, a sense of something happening in the community etc etc. I know lads playing Junior E hurling in Dublin with good facilities on their doorstep. That's not the case elsewhere.

I think like the hurling, each football side should be able to win 'an' all Ireland each year. Maybe if Martin took a look at the structure rather than looking as though he is slagging off Leitrim, his comments would be better received.

slayer (Limerick) - Posts: 6480 - 29/06/2015 16:36:37    1744854

Very poor comments its hard to see how counties like Leitrim can compete with the stronger counties.

Byanthon (Tyrone) - Posts: 1780 - 29/06/2015 16:37:48    1744856

That's got to be one of the worst things I have heard yet. Yes, damn that lazy Leitrim, they should be winning Connacht with great regularity if only they pulled their finger out!

brendtheredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 10897 - 29/06/2015 16:38:18    1744857

Obviously sour after Mark was dropped :p

SeppBlatter (Dublin) - Posts: 187 - 29/06/2015 16:40:17    1744861

McHugh makes a lot of really good points and spots things that most of the others dont see. Unfortunately he often erases all that with ridiculous comments like that last night. Now I can see the argument in the broader sense - its like the Roy Keane philosophy of how the Irish are always happy to punch above their weight but not actually strive for success, and I think thats true of certain teams but for teams like Leitrim its really an impossible and thankless task. Maybe if you really invest in underage and become a 'Kilkenny' its possible but to expect the players that are there just to be able to suddenly compete because they train hard and have financial backing is nonsense. It worked for Donegal but only because we had a fair amount of top class players to start with.

benjyyy (Donegal) - Posts: 1422 - 29/06/2015 16:40:48    1744862

He also seemed to suggest that 'wee 6' in Ulster were not as good anymore because the troubles are over...I was watching through my fingers when he said that, car crash stuff!

benjyyy (Donegal) - Posts: 1422 - 29/06/2015 16:48:54    1744870

kavvie
County: Clare
Posts: 252

1744836
he was a great footballer as are his sons but he seems to be lacking intelligence.he also said the gooch was a one trick pony last year..time to get rid of him off the panel.too many good lads available tomas o se ciaran whelan dessie dolan(the best of them) eamon o hara and a few more..also spillane and brolly.they are tiresome..

He was smirking himself as he made the points last night. I think that he is,, like above, trying to be controversial and thus move a few extra papers.

There is only room for a handful of teams at the very top, and that takes resource and population. There is great intention in leitrim, but they just dont have the pool nor the finance to push for victory in connaught never mind for an all ireland. They are a fanatical gaa county, and this was overlooked by mchugh

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3830 - 29/06/2015 16:52:57    1744874

I was surprised by his (Mchugh) Armagh comment that they would be for ending provencial system so the likes of Jamie Clarke could look good. It was like a bad version of Casino Royale with the Kerryman smirking away lol

suckvalleypaddy (Galway) - Posts: 1667 - 29/06/2015 16:56:58    1744881

Feel sorry for the players who put in as much effort as any other county does and more - driving home from Dublin for matches/training etc. I really thought we had a chance of beating Louth but we just don't seem to have the players needed to pull these wins off. McHugh statement angered me- he talked about local business putting money behind the county- Leitrim supporters including local businesses do support the team financially but when you haven't got the numbers to pick from it's difficult to keep a panel of 30 players of inter county standard. Some of the players don't have jobs so we will probably lose more of the panel to emigration again this year.

DamoK (Leitrim) - Posts: 50 - 29/06/2015 17:01:44    1744886

One of my least favourite pundits,with a silly grin adorning his face at all times.Leitrim really dont have much of a hope as it stands.Just dont have the numbers or resources.Same as quite a few counties.They may come with a good team every 50 years or so,but early season exits are the norm unfortunately.Championship format has to change.About 130 years ago.Better late than never.

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 29/06/2015 17:04:01    1744889

It was not the worst thing he has said to be fair. This time he actually backed it up with a statistic. Monaghan (he said) are the fourth smallest in terms of population and they are doing well. He was also kind of echoing what the Leitrim manager was saying so we cannot really accuse of him of knocking Leitrim when the Leitrim manager was saying the same thing. Also Martin McHugh might actually remember a time (even he was not playing himself) where Donegal were one of the worst teams in the country (a county oft beset with emigration and a small number of clubs themselves vis-a-vis Dublin, Kerry, Mayo, Cork). I would not over-react to that comment. Now he has said stupid things in the past, so I wouldn't go as far as to say he was a good pundit.

The most sensible comment of the night was made by Jim McCrory (Down manager) He was saying that his teams objectives were met for the year given that they got out of Division 2 and how he would spend the summer looking for players so that they could stay in Division 1. Dessie Dolan and Tomas O Se then say that it is all about the championship. Maybe it was all about the championship but now it is all about the championship for 4-6 teams only. The rest of the teams should, if they are not doing so, take a leaf out of Jim McCrory and Colm Collins (Clare)and openly admit that the league is their priority. As for Down should be beating Wexford, I am sure they would have if it was an important league game on their way to winning something that they were capable of winning rather than a meaningless championship game where they are simply prolonging the agony before getting an unmerciful hammering in a few weeks.Now the players can go back to their clubs. Reflect on a good year and look forward to next.

Dessie Dolan was chuffed with Meath's win. I have no problem with that. However when the dust settles, yesterday will be a blip in otherwards disastrous year. Relegated to division 3 and a 25 point mauling by the Dubs. Meath are in the better position after yesterday. They are a decent side that could beat Derry and progress. Westmeath's season is over! Sorry but there is no point in pretending they have a chance.

bennybunny (Cork) - Posts: 3917 - 29/06/2015 17:08:01    1744895

It's easy & lazy analysis. To me what's needed is a complete restructure. It's fine to have a 'B' type Championship but only after every county has had an opportunity to play for Sam.

The starting point has to be 4 groups of 8 - the current lobsided nature is historical and ridiculous. However the 4 eights are achieved I don't mind but, to me, that has to be the starting point.

Then each group could have two groups of four which are seeded so 1 top team, one medium level and two lower level teams. Play it off on a league basis with the lowest seeded team having 3 home games, 2nd lowest having 2 home games, 2nd top one home game and top team playing all three away. Top two teams go into the Group semis, bottom two drop into a Tommy Murphy type Cup to be joined at a later stage by beaten semi-finalists. So the weakest team will always get 3 Championship games at home every year plus a minimum of one Tommy Murphy Cup game. I believe the standard would rise in these counties quite quickly.

Example North-East Division of Antrim, Down, Armagh, Monaghan, Louth, Meath, Dublin & London would have two groups of:

Dublin, Armagh, Louth, London
Monaghan, Meath, Down, Antrim

London & Antrim have all home games, Louth & Down two home games, Meath & Armagh one. If it goes to form Dublin play Meath in the semi with Monaghan playing Armagh with Louth, London, Down & Antrim dropping into the Tommy Murphy Cup which is straight knockout. If again it goes to form Armagh & Meath would also drop into the Tommy Murphy Cup at the second round. I think you could see some upsets.

Tommy Murphy Cup final would need to be played in Croker in a double header to give weaker counties their day out.

The main thing is that it's a level playing field so that the weaker counties don't just end up with two hammerings every year and players can't be bothered. It may look like more games but the first round games could be run off every week and there would be no problems with draws as it will be league position that determines progression.

opa01 (Cavan) - Posts: 500 - 29/06/2015 17:09:07    1744899

Suckvalleypaddy - I don't think there was anything wrong with that point he made. He didn't say that Armagh would be happy to get out of Ulster, he said that Jamie Clarke would. And it's true - he gets completely suffocated in Ulster but he gets far more room when playing counties further south. I really like him as a player, he has unbelievable balance but can't even breathe in Ulster

benjyyy (Donegal) - Posts: 1422 - 29/06/2015 17:13:07    1744910

No pundit is perfect but it seems people are going out of their way to find fault in what he is saying recently.

Breffni40 (Cavan) - Posts: 12116 - 29/06/2015 17:16:53    1744919

idiotic comments..i do feel leitrim should be doing better though but i suppose they have been crippled by emigration...that is a big thing for the smaller counties...a lot of them arent able to put out their best teams because they lose some of their best players to emigration and other issues....id feel leitrim should be at least reaching a similar level to longford who up till when jack sheedy took over have been regularly a competitive side...and have yet again reached a minor final they would be expecting to win or strongly challenge for and look setup for a few years of being very strong at u21 level

fabio8 (USA) - Posts: 2182 - 29/06/2015 17:25:25    1744932