Interesting piece by Colm Keys in today's Independent. The following extract gives you the gist of it.

The last five All-Ireland football semi-finals have been contested by just six counties - Dublin (five), Mayo (five), Kerry (four), Donegal (three), Tyrone (two) and Cork (one). By contrast, hurling, with a far smaller playing pool in the Liam MacCarthy Cup, have had eight different counties in the penultimate stages of the All-Ireland Championship over the same period of time - Kilkenny (five), Tipperary (four) Cork (three), Waterford, Galway and Dublin (two each) and Limerick and Clare.

You can read the full article here: http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/semifinal-familiarity-shows-elitism-greater-in-football-than-hurling-31441841.html

Cockney_Cat (UK) - Posts: 2458 - 11/08/2015 10:38:00    1767823

Why only choose the semi finals specifically though? A classic case of picking a stat to suit a point you already have decided upon. There are teams in hurling who can get a bye direct to the semi final after a provincial win. There is your elitism - hard-wired into the system.

TheMaster (Mayo) - Posts: 16187 - 11/08/2015 10:46:17    1767837

TheMaster
County: Mayo
Posts: 13500

There are teams in hurling who can get a bye direct to the semi final after a provincial win. There is your elitism - hard-wired into the system.

All the more reason to suggest football is more elitist surely? Think about it, one competition (hurling) has only two of the semi-finalists decided by quarter-finals. Whereas the other (football) has all four semi-finalists decided by quarter-finals. Logically you would expect more of a variety of counties taking part in the football semi's than the hurling. In fact, the opposite is true.

Cockney_Cat (UK) - Posts: 2458 - 11/08/2015 11:05:08    1767863

Why only choose the semi finals specifically though?

Because traditionally this is where each provincial winner arrived at.

I think it is a good stat & a good article. Hurling has had 12-14 teams competing for the McCarthy Cup for a while now and 8 different semi finalists. A good debate to be had about which sport is more competitive. Overall though I think if you are a manager in a weaker county you have more chance of making an impact in the football than the hurling.

slayer (Limerick) - Posts: 6480 - 11/08/2015 11:13:37    1767875

Limerick have been in 2 semi finals, 2013/2014

blackspot91 (Limerick) - Posts: 1055 - 11/08/2015 11:15:27    1767880

Limerick have been in 2 semi finals, 2013/2014

blackspot91 (Limerick) - Posts: 1055 - 11/08/2015 11:20:44    1767889

The top 9 ranked teams usually have a good chance to get to a Qtr final then its only one more win to get to a semi final. Bigger drop off in standard in hurling outside the top 8 or 9 teams . In football look at Antrim this year defeating Laois a Div 2 team. Div 3 Kildare beating Cork. Sligo defeated Roscommon.. the list goes on.

crikey (Australia) - Posts: 355 - 11/08/2015 14:46:39    1768083

Over a coffee in Bath, two natives quizzed me about hurling. Although no expert, I replied as best I could. The game used to be played there in Cornwall. It morphed into shinty in Scotland. I always think of that when the binlining MOPEs get going.

plike (Kerry) - Posts: 569 - 11/08/2015 19:28:54    1768335

Kilkenny have been in 4 semis and Limerick 2

richiescats (USA) - Posts: 420 - 11/08/2015 20:33:20    1768382

It's not too surprising to have about 6 teams at a consistent high level. The likes of Galway, Meath and Armagh have to get their own houses in order. The main reason for the same group of teams stems from Leinster and Connaught only having one county at a high standard.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7840 - 11/08/2015 21:42:37    1768426