National Forum

Looking Forward To 2026

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Replying To brayballer:  "Ha ha thats typical you picking results that suit you.Meath beat Kerry who hammered Cavan and guess what? Yes Cavan beat Mayo. Yip Meath are bettter than Mayo."
Meath better then Mayo you must be on the wind up . We lost to Cavan cause things werenot right in the camp . The dog on the street knew there waa trouble in the mayo camp.
Meath wont be anywhere next year .
Mayo will be back with a bounce . Andy has dropped 4 players already and brought up some talented under 20s . Watch this space. Dubs are finished .

S1234 (Mayo) - Posts: 422 - 23/10/2025 12:53:24    2641248

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Replying To S1234:  "A surprise to many that they lost to Meath ? . Eh not really Galway are overated . I wouldn't bank on the 4 quarter final favourites to be the same in 2026 either . Same as I wouldn't bank on Kerry to win sam again in 2026 ."
Maybe not but can't be written bank kerry not win they will eb in semi finals at least after that depends but bank on them not getting close at least is ridiculous

Gaaforlife2023 (Longford) - Posts: 1060 - 23/10/2025 13:05:27    2641250

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Replying To S1234:  "Meath better then Mayo you must be on the wind up . We lost to Cavan cause things werenot right in the camp . The dog on the street knew there waa trouble in the mayo camp.
Meath wont be anywhere next year .
Mayo will be back with a bounce . Andy has dropped 4 players already and brought up some talented under 20s . Watch this space. Dubs are finished ."
How do you know? There is a ban on training until the 21st of November. Are you saying Andy has held sessions? If so Mayo have an issue. Where did you get this info? I think it might be in your imagination.

GDL (Galway) - Posts: 874 - 23/10/2025 13:13:05    2641251

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Replying To TheFlaker:  "Eh i do get it. Pre season odds reflect who the likely winner will be before any money is laid. Are you arguing against that? Of course money dictates the market but my point is bookies start a market based on who looks strongest on paper. I was responding to Barney as he is an expert on everything and was assuming the poster didn't know how odds work."
Bookies don't know who the likely 2026 winners of anything are in a particular order when it comes to counties like Down, Cork, Meath or Mayo, any more than we do. We don't even know who is going travelling, retiring, doing well in trials, doing badly etc etc yet. They do know from previous years which counties supporters/punters are most likely to be placing pre-season bets on a/their team.
Barney's not an expert on everything, but he like Cockney Cat knows his stuff about how the betting game works. Both are sometimes good for a tip also ;-)

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 17347 - 23/10/2025 15:22:07    2641279

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Replying To S1234:  "Meath better then Mayo you must be on the wind up . We lost to Cavan cause things werenot right in the camp . The dog on the street knew there waa trouble in the mayo camp.
Meath wont be anywhere next year .
Mayo will be back with a bounce . Andy has dropped 4 players already and brought up some talented under 20s . Watch this space. Dubs are finished ."
Moran doing what every other manager is doing at the moment. Every squad will have at least 4 or 5 new players mainly from U20 grade and the players dropped probably had limited game time last year either. Meath will do the same and have some excellent young players available who weren't involved last year. Mayo should improve as this year was poor but can't see them contending. Meath should also push on getting injured players and a few new faces in too. Expect if they played in the morning it would be a hard one to call. Neither likely to contend for all-ireland next year but both capable of taking big scalps.
Dublin should improve too but they were well down the pecking order this year and don't expect them to contend either. Both Connaught and Leinster should be very competitive but neither likely to produce an All-Ireland winner.

winatallcost (Meath) - Posts: 830 - 23/10/2025 15:29:38    2641282

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Donegal semi finalists 2024, finalists 2025, progression keeps going we'll be Champions in 2026, that's the hope anyway up here.

Tirchonaill1 (Donegal) - Posts: 3534 - 23/10/2025 15:50:22    2641286

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Replying To Viking66:  "Bookies don't know who the likely 2026 winners of anything are in a particular order when it comes to counties like Down, Cork, Meath or Mayo, any more than we do. We don't even know who is going travelling, retiring, doing well in trials, doing badly etc etc yet. They do know from previous years which counties supporters/punters are most likely to be placing pre-season bets on a/their team.
Barney's not an expert on everything, but he like Cockney Cat knows his stuff about how the betting game works. Both are sometimes good for a tip also ;-)"
Who says they know the order? That's not the point I was making. Most of the people who follow GAA closely could pick 5 or 6 teams that the winner will probably come from. That's how you start with odds. Teams that show form out of the top group will see their odds shorten. Money naturally follows those teams. Both are linked.

TheFlaker (Mayo) - Posts: 8612 - 23/10/2025 16:55:37    2641294

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Replying To Tirchonaill1:  "Donegal semi finalists 2024, finalists 2025, progression keeps going we'll be Champions in 2026, that's the hope anyway up here."
Now that really made me laugh !

S1234 (Mayo) - Posts: 422 - 23/10/2025 21:59:59    2641312

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Replying To winatallcost:  "Moran doing what every other manager is doing at the moment. Every squad will have at least 4 or 5 new players mainly from U20 grade and the players dropped probably had limited game time last year either. Meath will do the same and have some excellent young players available who weren't involved last year. Mayo should improve as this year was poor but can't see them contending. Meath should also push on getting injured players and a few new faces in too. Expect if they played in the morning it would be a hard one to call. Neither likely to contend for all-ireland next year but both capable of taking big scalps.
Dublin should improve too but they were well down the pecking order this year and don't expect them to contend either. Both Connaught and Leinster should be very competitive but neither likely to produce an All-Ireland winner."
Andy has to rebuild after Mcstay took us backwards. But people saying Meath are better then Mayo is just ridiculous . If Meath can get to a semi I would not be shocked if Mayo do .

S1234 (Mayo) - Posts: 422 - 23/10/2025 22:05:38    2641313

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Replying To TheFlaker:  "Who says they know the order? That's not the point I was making. Most of the people who follow GAA closely could pick 5 or 6 teams that the winner will probably come from. That's how you start with odds. Teams that show form out of the top group will see their odds shorten. Money naturally follows those teams. Both are linked."
Why do you think Cork and Down are shorter odds than Monaghan and Meath with PP right now then? There is an order, and as far as the bookies go right now Cork and Down are ahead of Monaghan and Meath. I don't think Cork or Down are as likely to win Sam tbh. Also Wexford and Waterford are the same odds to win it as Clare and Sligo with PP right now.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 17347 - 24/10/2025 06:38:49    2641329

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Cavan deservedly won in Castlebar. Mayo responded well in Omagh. A late Donegal score knocked Mayo out. Mayo weren't far off in 2025.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 9236 - 24/10/2025 09:28:42    2641339

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Replying To Viking66:  "Why do you think Cork and Down are shorter odds than Monaghan and Meath with PP right now then? There is an order, and as far as the bookies go right now Cork and Down are ahead of Monaghan and Meath. I don't think Cork or Down are as likely to win Sam tbh. Also Wexford and Waterford are the same odds to win it as Clare and Sligo with PP right now."
None of them are going to win Sam. Once you go outside the top 4 or 5 there is no exact science. Corm would be just as likely to go as far as Monaghan and Meath. Not sure what point you are making.

TheFlaker (Mayo) - Posts: 8612 - 24/10/2025 09:41:12    2641340

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Replying To legendzxix:  "Cavan deservedly won in Castlebar. Mayo responded well in Omagh. A late Donegal score knocked Mayo out. Mayo weren't far off in 2025."
We ran Donegal close but didn't seal the deal, an old failing that needs to be addressed. Overall in 2025 I think we were miles off the top 8.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 8320 - 24/10/2025 10:06:32    2641344

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Donaghy in with kerry for 2026

Gaaforlife2023 (Longford) - Posts: 1060 - 24/10/2025 12:06:19    2641368

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Replying To GDL:  "How do you know? There is a ban on training until the 21st of November. Are you saying Andy has held sessions? If so Mayo have an issue. Where did you get this info? I think it might be in your imagination."
Bit of advice….ignore that poster. When he's fighting over who is better Meath or Mayo than it shows how far we've fallen. Meath had a great 2025 and there is no reason why they can't improve further next year. Mayo have a long road back. An improvement on 2025 for us will be a start but there will be no overnight miracles.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11809 - 24/10/2025 13:02:13    2641376

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Replying To Viking66:  "Why do you think Cork and Down are shorter odds than Monaghan and Meath with PP right now then? There is an order, and as far as the bookies go right now Cork and Down are ahead of Monaghan and Meath. I don't think Cork or Down are as likely to win Sam tbh. Also Wexford and Waterford are the same odds to win it as Clare and Sligo with PP right now."
Wouldn't agree it makes a whole lot of sense as despite a promising championship for Down, they didn't get as far as Meath or Monaghan while they are actually in Div 3 so no guarantee of even competing for it. Cork are average and only played a decent half against Kerry in Munster championship when Paudi Clifford was sent off. Just can't see where optimism is for Cork.

winatallcost (Meath) - Posts: 830 - 24/10/2025 13:14:10    2641382

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Kerry are going to be the team to beat next year, I think there's half a dozen teams in with a shout of winning it, all down to performances on a given day and avoiding injuries/suspensions etc.
It's good that things have evened out a bit anyway, roll on 2026.

Tirchonaill1 (Donegal) - Posts: 3534 - 24/10/2025 13:18:08    2641383

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Replying To Tirchonaill1:  "Donegal semi finalists 2024, finalists 2025, progression keeps going we'll be Champions in 2026, that's the hope anyway up here."
Expect it to be a tough year for Donegal. No doubt they will be very competitive but getting over the line is another thing. Not sure they have enough quality and struggle if they don't get their swarm game with runners from deep going. A running team and ironically their most important player can't run.

winatallcost (Meath) - Posts: 830 - 24/10/2025 13:29:59    2641385

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Replying To TheFlaker:  "None of them are going to win Sam. Once you go outside the top 4 or 5 there is no exact science. Corm would be just as likely to go as far as Monaghan and Meath. Not sure what point you are making."
The point is bookies set odds to maximise profits, or in other words by who they think punters will back. They arent Football gurus who know the ins and outs of every panel in Ireland, nor are they clairvoyant. Even if they think a horse or team is the most likely to win, the odds on that horse or team will reflect what the market thinks, or what they predict the market will think. And not what they might or might not think themselves.
Just because a bookies has someone priced as a favourite doesn't mean they think they will win.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 17347 - 24/10/2025 13:49:26    2641388

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Replying To TheFlaker:  "None of them are going to win Sam. Once you go outside the top 4 or 5 there is no exact science. Corm would be just as likely to go as far as Monaghan and Meath. Not sure what point you are making."
There's no exact science in the top 5 either.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 17347 - 24/10/2025 13:50:24    2641389

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