To dhorse -

You didn't see these results coming but under another topic, you saw me coming thru with format idea -

Well I have to say that the results today were great for the mid range counties, the qualifier concept, as well as generating excitement. However, it is still a pity that the losing team feed rate from provs to quals is still so lopsided. It only takes a few tweaks to "perfect" the two stream format.
Have the losing QFlists and SFlists from the Big provs, Lein and Uls, enter the Quals a Rd later, Rds 2 and 3, respectively.
In addition, have the losing Finalists and new two-champ Playoff from the Small provs, Muns and Conn, enter the Quals a Rd earlier, Rds 3 and 4, respectively. This facilitates a neat, fair, balanced and symmetrical structure, that brings three unbeaten champs to play the winners of the 10-team 4th Rd Quals in the AI QFs.
Do you support this "perfect" idea ?

omahant (USA) - Posts: 3309 - 14/07/2012 21:59:25    1217508

The Galway footballers gave us a schooling in the last game of the NFL, I honestly saw a long summer for them. Maybe it shows how average we are.

Daith (Kildare) - Posts: 1172 - 15/07/2012 09:05:25    1217521

Well Daith on the other hand the Galway Under-21's took the Cavan team to the cleaners in the 2011 final so it shouldn't exactly be encouraging for today's young opposition either.

But the big trend seems to be that while every other year league form seems to be very indicative of championship performance that seems to have gone out the window this year. I mean Wexford got promoted from Division 3 when Tipperary got relegated, Wicklow beat Leitrim by 6 points in the league, Limerick only won 4 games in Division 4 when Longford finished unbeaten in Division 3 and of course then there's Meath and Kildare. But look Mayo scraped by London last year and then went on to beat Cork in Croke Park later in the year. That's the beauty of the championship isn't it? You can't consistently do it in the league but if you get all your ducks in a row for the big day in the summer anythings's posible.

doublehop (Kildare) - Posts: 4172 - 15/07/2012 09:46:00    1217537

Excellent results, we deserved our win yesterday and probably should have won it in 70 minutes only for an incredibly soft goal for Longford just before the break. We had a game plan and it worked, Michael Quinn and Brian Kavanagh in particular had no influence on the game whatsoever, while a lot of young lads came on for us and did the business all over the field. We dominated midfield, Buckley and Donovan lorded it as did Bobby O'Brien when he came on. We worked incredibly hard to bring the ball up the field, and took the scores when they were there. Once again Limerick are dismissed, and once again we emerge. Knowing our luck we'll get Kerry in the next round should they win today, but this has to be seen as an upset given the short odds Longford had yesterday. Not many teams are able to go to Pearse Park and win in the championship, so the lads deserve what little if any credit they will get tonight on The Sunday Game.

Not surprised at all by Tipp beating Wexford, there was a strong chance of it happening. Despite their battles with Dublin, when their forwards are marked properly they struggle big time. Fantastic win for a team on the up, and combined with our win it really asks questions of people who wish to see a seeded draw reintroduced in Munster. Galway were expected to beat Antrim comfortably despite not having won a game in the qualifiers for 8-9 years? In Casement Park? On the basis of one game against Roscommon?

Right so Ted...

bob_dolphin (Limerick) - Posts: 694 - 15/07/2012 11:19:16    1217603

Firstly, a big congratulations to the Down Minor hurling team, great result yesterday, good luck to them in the AI series!

I was at the Antrim-Galway game. Of course I was supporting Antrim and was there with a few of my good friends who are Antrim men. Well done to Antrim, fantastic result and one which they definitely deserved. But, if truth be told it was a very poor game and the standard of football was poor too. Both sides set themselves up defensively, so at times it wasn't easy on the eye with players on both sides persistent on soloing the ball directly into the blanket defense and loosing possession. Some of the shooting was dreadful, Antrim will certainly have to improve on their shot selection for the next day as at times they were shooting from impossible angles, with their corner backs shooting dreadful wides when better options were available around them, overall they hit far too many silly wides. Galway were poor, full stop. After watching them vs Roscommon I was very impressed and thought they would go on to the final. Felt sorry for the Galway fans who traveled the whole way up to watch that performance. I was particularly looking forward to seeing Michael Meehan play, I rate him as one of the best in Ireland, but he didn't do much the whole 70 minutes and was guilty of missing a lot of free kicks, though I know he will need time after his long spell off injured, and we will probably see more of him next season.

Good luck to Antrim in the 3rd round!

MourneArmy (Down) - Posts: 1787 - 15/07/2012 11:55:46    1217616

could there be another big shock? westmeath beating kerry, westmeath 0-8 to kerry 1-3

meathalltheway (Meath) - Posts: 789 - 15/07/2012 15:42:36    1217808

its now westmeath 1-9 kerry 1-3 what is going on with kerry...

meathalltheway (Meath) - Posts: 789 - 15/07/2012 16:02:11    1217825

I'll tell you whats wrong donnaghy has some kind of pictures of jack oconnor cause he was awfull again today and he was sick all week and did not train and he still played him i dont get it but a win is a win i suppose. any team wont be afraid to play kerry now hope we get an easy one next if there is such a thing anymore.

chicago09 (Kerry) - Posts: 694 - 15/07/2012 16:49:20    1217885

Kerry always seem to flop over the line in the Qualifiers. They're rarely firing on all cylinders before late August

Count_Awesome (Kildare) - Posts: 736 - 15/07/2012 16:52:56    1217890

theres been some very good games this weekend in the qualifiers, i hope theres more good games next week. would love to see kerry get kildare, i think that would be a really good game.

meathalltheway (Meath) - Posts: 789 - 15/07/2012 17:00:31    1217898

omahant
County: USA
Posts: 112

1217508 To dhorse -

You didn't see these results coming but under another topic, you saw me coming thru with format idea -

Not quite sure what you're on about.
results can be unpredictable, you on the other hand............................

dhorse (Laois) - Posts: 11374 - 15/07/2012 21:16:13    1218347

Kerry/Westmeath scoreline was pretty unbelievable I suppose , Laois beating Monaghan was a shock , it just shows what a big factor home advantage is in these qualifier matches

stekhli (Dublin) - Posts: 3121 - 15/07/2012 21:23:42    1218363

didnt see any footie today but kerry were close a point in it poor day at the offfice or did they just give enough to get them over the line..

dubbydave. (Dublin) - Posts: 3927 - 15/07/2012 21:30:28    1218381

I don't think Laois beating Monaghan was a shock at all. The Down game knocked the stuffing out of Monaghan, they thought they were going through to the Ulster Final- It was always going to be a bitter pill to swallow and recover from. I thought it was a 50/50 game.

MourneArmy (Down) - Posts: 1787 - 15/07/2012 21:36:13    1218398

What a dramatic set of results alright.

Was disappointed with our game obviously but speaking purely with the benefit of hindsight, Tipp's win over us wasn't that much of a shock, was it? We were playing them in their own back yard and playing a county who if I'm not mistaken, have won every honour in the youth/underage competitions, including the minor AI last year. They're really gettting it together there and they're to be commended for it. Now if only they could ween some of the supporters from hurling and get more support! As for the game, they had us chasing the game the whole time, so they were deserved winners. Interesting draw in the next round too.

Antrim's win over Galway was a bit of a shock in my opinion, despite what some posters are saying about Galway. But I s'pose Casement Park is proving to be a difficult place to go for any team in either code, isn't it? And they certainly carved out that win in the final minutes, great belief and character. Will be an interesting tie between them and Tipp

Delighted for Limerick (family ties there) to get past an ever improving Longford team. But I would say yet again, Longofrd had it in the bag at the end and once again, let it slip much like they did against us. If they could clear that problem up, they'd go places. Nice for Leitrim to get a win too, if I'm not mistaken, they have the smallest population and smallest pool of players to choose from, do they not? So good on them, always nice to see a minnow do well. I was surprised at how comfortably Laois beat Monaghan, looks like Monaghan have a bit of rebuilding to do.

The big shock would have been Westmeath beating Kerry, had it come to pass. Astonishing game really, it's just a pity there is some ill-feeling after the game about refereeing calls etc. If Kerry are going to do anything, they have to do it now, with Tyrone next up.

Entertaining set of results, some interesting ties in the next round, shaping up to be a really good football championship yet again.

gigoer (Wexford) - Posts: 1998 - 16/07/2012 13:34:19    1219046

thurlesblues
County: Tipperary
Posts: 3731

1217203
Like I said earlier the Tipperary county board will be broke from buying jerseys for all the teams in all the grades that we have coming through this year and camogie too still in the championship unreal!!
Two more Munster final wins tomorrow
Tiobrad Arann abu!!!

Found another bandwagon to jump on i see thurles

moomoo (Kerry) - Posts: 4023 - 16/07/2012 20:56:09    1219820

But I would say yet again, Longford had it in the bag at the end and once again, let it slip much like they did against us.

- gigoer - toally agree with you here. The game against Limerick on Saturday was a mirror image of the game against wexford in tullamore. We had the game in the bag , 3 popints up with 7 minutes to go and the then missing a glorious goal chance (a point taken at this stage would have been game over). We werer still a point up with 1 minute to go and they equalized. Then An absolutely fantastic point by Sean McCormack in the THIRD minute of injury time and pearse park went mad. What happened next? Limerick went up the field (even though we had a chance to fould them way out from goal we didnt we stood off them!) and Limerick player Derry O Connor had a shot that was blocked down by an unbelieveable effort by Declan Reilly, only for the ball to bounce straight into the hands of the same player to equalize in the fourth and last minute of extra time. :( We fell apart in extra time

Two heartbreaking defeats in one season is very very hard to take. I just hope this Longford team can go on next year in Division Two and show their true class. And also it's a pity that class acts like Mickey Quinn, Paul Barden and Sean McCormack never got a crack at a Dublin or a Kildare this year!

I see the hoganstand county rating has us now at 19th place which is very harsh on us IMO. Maybe i'm biased but I think that if that Longford team could see games out and really believed in themselves they are a top 8 team!

anlongfort (Longford) - Posts: 101 - 16/07/2012 21:17:26    1219859

My immediate reaction is that Longford are not a top 8 team Longford1, but I do believe 19th is very off, possibly a little insulting. Limerick was only their 2nd defeat this year, was it not? And before anyone starts banging on about playing only division 3 teams, that's all they could do, and did it with zest. Surely they belong in the 12-15 bracket at this stage?

Anyhoo, your boys need to learn to play for 70 minutes, not 65. Perhaps it's a fitness thing I don't know, maybe they knacker themselves out at the end by working too hard and need to pace their play

Still, that's not to take away from Limerick having character and coming back as much as they did last year when they knocked us out. And they were far superior in extra time, so credit where credit is due

gigoer (Wexford) - Posts: 1998 - 17/07/2012 15:14:20    1220462