|
Can Jack O'connor Over Take Jim Gavin? - 2 Like(s)
Replying To Commodore: "Jim Gavin won 6 All Ireland titles in a row with Dublin, in hindsight, it could easily have been 8 in a row had it not been for the Donegal 2014 AI SF ambush.
That Dublin team was without a doubt the most talented football team I have ever witnessed in my lifetime, never seen a team play as close to perfection as that Dublin team, their efficiency and collective understand was just off the scale.
No disrespect to Jack O' Shea, who is a top class manager and definitely among the top Gaelic Football managers of all time, but the 6 in a row will always set Jim Gavin apart from his peers." Jim won 5 in a row.It was Dessie in charge winning the 6th. Its typical that Dessie gets very little credit.In a way ,Dessie s two wins were huge achievements as it was a spent team.
brayballer (National) - 04/02/2026 21:31:31
|
|
Leitrim GAA thread - 1 Like(s)
Replying To Square_B: "Is there nothing going on over on the Sligo thread these days?" Well seeming as your always going on about Sligo & Mayo he may as well be on here sure...
S1234 (National) - 04/02/2026 13:30:47
|
|
Wicklow GAA thread - 1 Like(s)
I think the days of elevating some obscure player that's been going well in the club scene and throwing them into the county team to make a difference mid season are well & truly over. The fitness and conditioning demands are too high. So unless it's a player that has only maybe stepped away from the panel recently and wants to return or a club player who looks after themselves unbelievably well, then there is no chance of them being able to adapt to just being thrown into the county mix.
We are already lamenting the fact that we have players who have been in S&C programs now through minor, U20 and into Senior and yet still we look miles off where we need to be from a physical conditioning perspective versus where the top teams are at.
Hawkeye2 (National) - 04/02/2026 18:44:30
|
|
Leitrim GAA thread - 1 Like(s)
Replying To foreveryoung: "Is anyone worried about Leitrim's little hurlers? They're stuck at the bottom of Division 4, which is actually the fifth division of hurling. This a Leitrim GAA thread, not just a football thread. I love to see Leitrim do well in hurling, but it seems that I am the only one on here that ever wishes them good luck. Indeed, the only one who ever seems to metnion them at all.
And don't tell me that it is because "Leitrim is a footballing county." That might work for the likes of Galway, Dublin, most northern teams, and Kerry. But not for the likes of Leitrim, Longford, and Laois.
Get out and support yer hurlers!" Most Leitrim GAA people wish the hurlers well but with only 2 clubs & a small population make it challenging to compete even in Div 3b.They are not doing well in the League so far but could get their first win this weekend. Could have beaten Longford but squandered scoring chances while Sligo with 5 clubs including top rated Easkey proved too strong. However a win will put them back in contention. They need the League to prep for the Lory Meagher.Very committed group & you are right they deserve encouragement.
leitrimabu1 (National) - 04/02/2026 18:32:38
|
|
GAA Football Power Rankings 2026 - 1 Like(s)
Replying To Pope_Benedict: "He's not starting from no3 seed in the world either, unless they've been hiding it well for a few years." 2024
Mayo were runners up to Dublin. Derry were third behind Armagh and Galway. Derry beating Mayo on penalties is a footballing result. Well kind of. Penalities being more another sporting influence.
2025
Every county suffered a tough loss. Mayo's was against Cavan. They bounced back against Tyrone and were nudged out by Donegal.
Tyrone gave Kerry the tougher game in Croke Park last year. Donegal made the final. Mayo can't be allowed that far away as some are saying. Exiting in the last 12 and old group stage could come down to luck of the draw.
With the new format - there could be heavyweight collisions in Round 2B or Round 3. A "blunt instrument" is what Jarlath Burns is calling it.
Armagh, Tyrone and Donegal are on one side of the Ulster draw. A championship can determine the champion but is not necessarily a fair reflection of 2nd, 3rd, etc..
legendzxix (National) - 04/02/2026 16:51:36
|
|
GAA Football Power Rankings 2026 - 1 Like(s)
Replying To S1234: "It's actually on paddy powers main official site . Bit early in the year to be getting triggered by Mayo and ' rankings ' . Pace yourself. We all know rankings mean nothing. Do your talking on the pitch as we will do ." Try to stay original, if you can. Copying other posters terms like 'triggered' and 'pace yourself' is sad.
Pope_Benedict (National) - 04/02/2026 14:09:44
|
|
Longford GAA thread - 1 Like(s)
Replying To Green&redforever: "Good help people going to Dungarvan for the basement battle. It pains me that this game appears to be to see who the weakest team in the country is.
I'm told the championship structure is set in stone. Going to 10 senior 8 inter and 4 junior over the next 2 years.
What about the co board decision to split Div 2 but into 2 groups of 6 and play tge 5 rds with most likely to be without county players and then play 3 more rounds with county players but those 3 worth 3 pts for a win but no change to Div one I'm heard. New to this but frustrated watching Longford last Sunday. ( I won't be going to dungarvan btw but only cos it's just too far in an old car!)" The championship structure realistically needs to go to max. 8 senior and 8 intermediate to regain competitiveness. Its been lop-sided for decades too long. The same with the leagues. Div.2 is going to be split to accommodate Killoe having 2 teams in it (Not sure how it will work out if they meet each other in it). I don't think Killoe want this or have a say in it. Different points for different rounds just undermines the whole league, The CB need to sit down and work out a longer term plan which will work, and really sell it to the clubs to buy into, for the good of the county. No more of this self-interest, point-scoring nonsense. Too many decisions are based on gathering the most votes at the next convention.
botheyesclosed (National) - 04/02/2026 14:06:03
|
|
Donegal GAA thread - 1 Like(s)
Replying To The_viewer: "I think McGuiness said in an interview they wanted to give Ryan McHugh a rest. But it could have been an experimental change also, as Kieran Gallagher was named at half back but played most of the game as an inside forward or full forward (no high ball was kicked in), but he came out for the kick outs. So maybe McGuiness wanted Kieran's height there to contest/give an option for the longer kickouts down one of the flanks.
When McHugh came on he was showing for the shorter kickouts. Also Interesting to see McGonagle tracking and getting tight to Seanie O'Shea for parts of the game, so he could be an option for picking up a playmaking half forward when we're defending/pressing. McCole did a great job on young Tomas Kennedy, he didn't give him an inch.
Another point that stood out, was Kerry's ability to getting breaking ball, even for their the goal, high ball in, ball broke and first to react to it was a Kerry man, who stuck it in the net. I'm not concerned about the contesting of the high ball, the real concern is if it breaks around our goal. We need to get more tuned in and savvy in anticipating breaking ball and no better team to learn from than Kerry." Regarding the Kerry goal on Sunday last, I noticed that on two occassions late in the game, the Kerry kicker (Sean O'Shea I believe) purposely kicked to the ball to drop at the far post, and they had players there anticipating that it was going to drop short. It seemed like a well drilled set piece.
Commodore (National) - 04/02/2026 09:35:15
|
|
Wexford Hurling Thread - 1 Like(s)
Replying To countyman2022: "Wex minors last year:
Lost to Kk by 22
Lost to Galway by 12 and 7
Lost to Lim by 8
U-20's
Lost to Kk by 8
Lost to Laois by 8.
No hiding from that." Yep it was a terrible year for our minors and u20s last year. Especially the minors. Don't think anyone has claimed otherwise. The only tier 1 county they both beat was Dublin.
Here's a stat I will highlight for you, and for Exiled who thinks that with our tradition we should be winning 3 Leinsters every decade and 1 AI at underage. This is our real tradition in minor hurling-
If you take out the years from 1963 to 1970 we have only won 3 Leinster minor hurling titles in nearly 100 years.
That's the same number as Laois have won, a few less than Offaly have won, and way less than Dublin and Kilkenny have won.
Let that sink in lad, before you start going on about how bad things are currently at minor, as if they were really any better before.
If we want to change our record we need to do more than blame the current manager. The current players. The current County Board. Or the best one of all that I ever heard was it was all because of current toxic positivity.
Hope this doesn't sound like toxic positivity but Im very hopeful for our current minor team this year. They have decent players. A decent manager. A decent record coming up along. If they don't do well it won't be down to a bad manager, bad players, or lack of support from county board. If they lose they might be just plain old unlucky, or just lose to a better team on the day.
They should be getting our support, not the nonsense that goes on online.
Viking66 (National) - 04/02/2026 11:44:25
|
|
Wexford Hurling Thread - 1 Like(s)
Replying To countyman2022: "Wex minors last year:
Lost to Kk by 22
Lost to Galway by 12 and 7
Lost to Lim by 8
U-20's
Lost to Kk by 8
Lost to Laois by 8.
No hiding from that." This is what I'm saying.
You can point at 1 individual game and say "bad day" , "good day" but you can't do that year in year out to justify losing to second-rate teams.
ExiledInWex (National) - 04/02/2026 11:41:47
|
|
Longford GAA thread - 1 Like(s)
Replying To TheSouthwillrise: "Agree with a lot of what has been said. Some of the problem is demographics. The second smallest county in Ireland with the lowest number of clubs. If everyone else is maximising what they have, then it becomes a numbers game and that is a battle we won't win. Many would've seen Wicklow or Louth as counties of equal stature to us historically, but they are benefitting from an increased population and an increased GAA imprint in the county, particularly in large population centres like Bray/Drogheda. We can't compete with that, so we need to be better at minding what we have.
Clubs:
In truth, there is only a few clubs taking player development seriously. Some clubs have the excuse of numbers but some don't. Clubs like Colmcille are to be admired constantly producing quality players even if they dont have the numbers. Other clubs with bigger resources could learn from them. 3 of the 4 biggest population centres in the county are producing very little. Some clubs using the figleaf of hurling development to absolve themselves of producing footballers doesnt help either. This apathy at club level is enabled by a county board who allow teams at underage to play down rather than up. Thankfully, that is changing and there is signs of increased numbers in A grades. Whether that is a levelling up or a levelling down remains to be seen but a situation where there are 3 or 4 levels in a county with 17 or 18 underage set ups is ridiculous. Clubs need to be held to account. Any county where 1 club is providing 5/6/7 players to county underage teams is a bad look. This has been the case for 15 years with Northern Gaels, Killoe and latterly Clonguish carrying the can. At adult level, the nonsense about teams winning things and not going up to Senior or Div 1 needs to be stopped. Our championships need to be sorted once and for all. Thankfully, this is happening now but its 10 years too late.
County Board:
Start taking development seriously. Stop pandering to clubs at underage level and adult level who want the easy way out or the rules changed. It doesnt happen anywhere else. Development is not presenting cups and swanning around Pearse Park on the day of a NFL gane in a high vis jacket giving out about the team on the field. We are slowly turning that around but we sat on our hands for 10 years and spent it arguing about who should be in Div 2 or 3 rather than look at the big picture. If we don't have numbers for conpetitive games for everyone inside the county, develop relationships with other counties. We need help in that area. We need external support in the same way Carlow/Kildare hurling got a leg up from Kilkenny by playing in their leagues/championships.
Supporters:
Be patient with this team. There are green shoots. 3 of our better players last week were our 20 year olds. There are other good players coming through. Give them time. As the previous contributor said, the lads that have committed are not the problem. There are a lot of lads in their mid 20s out there who played well in the club championships but seem unwilling to commit to the county setup. They need to be encouraged into the squad. Fair play to Fox, Moffett, McCabe and Dessie who stayed around to help the new lads. They are to be commended, same with Paddy Collum last year.
This will turn but it will need the co board getting things right and every club in the county pulling their weight. There was a time when you could get away with poor structures and a few clubs producing the goods but no longer. Getting every thing right guarantees you nothing but if you don't get it sorted you are guaranteed to fail." Not sure about the fig leaf comment. Three clubs have been keeping hurling alive in the county for the past 25 years. The game was and is dead without them. There isn't a club in the county going out of its way to produce hurlers at the expense of footballers. Rueben Murray made his 100th appearance at the weekend and has two junior football championship medals with Grattans. Same applies to Keelan Cox and many others. They arguably deserve more praise because of how little public reward there is for hurling in the county. The new hurling clubs in underage are desperately needed and the decision to include Leitrim and now Cavan clubs in hurling championships is a great move. Longford are competing in Ulster Minor Development competition this year too. So things are happening and the addition of Dromard, Rathcline and Kenagh in underage is a key piece of that overall development.
On the CB, I was no fan of the last chairman and I didn't think the current one would be a good fit, but the last man could never be accused of not rolling up his sleeves, and the current man seems laser focussed on development and the COE project. So I think we should give some benefit of the doubt. They are volunteers after all and, regardless of my differences with some of them, it is not an easy job and I don't envy the job ahead of them. I hope they will stand firm when the clubs come (and they will) to try and dismantle the club championship structure changes.
LongfordgaaAbú (National) - 04/02/2026 11:40:06
|
|
Wexford Hurling Thread - 1 Like(s)
Go games , non competitive games, everyone gets equal playing time , parents demanding to be heard , games coordinators, county boards pandering to the woke generation, nepotism, are any of these having an impact on our competitiveness.
We go out in real competition then and expect an entitlement to compete without a killer instinct .
Life is competitive give that away u wont be long before you are on your knees .
All you are entitled to is an educational opportunity what you do is up to you and even then it's lob sided .
We give every child the opportunity to play and train but what are we teaching them if we say don't worry what effort you put in you are entitled yo play. But rules are in place that any coach is afraid to make a choice that may or may not be controversial leading to him being reprimanded or a slap on the wrist .
Is our underage uncompetitiveness related to any of these contributions . With the knock on effect being carried on to adult .
What did Kinnerk report say about competition at a younger age.
Every child wants to play and win but you have to earn your place and the wins .
It's a mindset you can't just switch it on after you turn 12 or 13 years of age . Including the physical elements.
Formertownie (National) - 04/02/2026 11:34:44
|
|
Galway Hurling thread - 1 Like(s)
Replying To BigBàsMan: "For once, agree with everything you said katser. A lot will be found out come championship time" You'll cheer up, when/if the Loughrea lads start claiming spots in the squad/side.
Pope_Benedict (National) - 04/02/2026 11:10:00
|
|
New GAA Club In South Galway - 1 Like(s)
Congratulations to the people behind the formation of the new GAA club in the Craughwell area which will cater for the footballing needs of this growing community. Great credit due for their resilience in the face of adversity and kudos to the County Board for facilitating it. The first adult football team will play in 2026! Bualadh Bos!
Dualstar22 (National) - 04/02/2026 11:07:15
|
|
GAA Football Power Rankings 2026 - 1 Like(s)
Replying To S1234: "It's actually on paddy powers main official site . Bit early in the year to be getting triggered by Mayo and ' rankings ' . Pace yourself. We all know rankings mean nothing. Do your talking on the pitch as we will do ." I'm not 'triggered' with them at all, thats's the point i was making. Ros are 14th on Paddy Power odds for Sam, which illustrates my point.
Pope_Benedict (National) - 04/02/2026 11:05:34
|