The hype starts here.

sedico (Kildare) - Posts: 1682 - 28/12/2013 11:53:38    1526357

Donegal are the only team capable of winning sam out of division 2 and even that is a long shot. Dublin, Kerry, Mayo, the field. Thats my order of favorites

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3846 - 28/12/2013 12:28:04    1526360

Gaa_lover
County: USA
Posts: 1790

1526339 27/12/2013 17:09:06

Its what 2002 Armagh since a div 2 team won the All Ireland?

Monaghan,Meath were div 3 this year they won't suddenly become All Ireland contenders.

I know they both only emerged from Division 3 in 2013, but that won't hold them back. The National League may give an Indication of form, but does not always Indicate ability.

Monaghan got promoted from Division 3 in 2013, and also win the Ulster Championship. 2 weeks before the Ulster final, they tanked Mayo by 6 points in a no holds barred challenge match. From what i heard, they physically dominated Mayo all over the pitch on that occassion. They may have just emerged from Division 3, but they had momentum and enough experience to push on.

Meath also got promoted from Division 3 in 2013, and reached the Leinster Championship final. They Impressively put it up to Dublin, before fading very late on. They then met Tyrone, who remain the only team to actually beat Dublin in National League or Championship in 2013. I thought maybe Meath had only raised their game for Dublin, but they stuck it to Tyrone in a cracking Rd 4 Qualifier game at Croke Park. 1 game is a fluke, but 2 games suggests potential.

I think Donegal have the most potential, with Meath and Monaghan next in line. I believe it will be 2 of these 3 that will be promoted next year, but it will be a scrappy and tight division.

GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3026 - 28/12/2013 13:07:07    1526365

Donegalman
County: All
Posts: 1046

1526360 Donegal are the only team capable of winning sam out of division 2 and even that is a long shot. Dublin, Kerry, Mayo, the field. Thats my order of favorites

I don't see Kerry getting stronger from 2013 to 2014. They have superb footballers, but I feel they lack key men in too many positions for Kerry to really challenge at present. Some of the new players look great, but have big boots to fill.

It's pointless writing Kerry off, especially based on lack of underage success. They will always blood 1 or 2 players every year, and they will always manage to field strong teams. They have shown over the past number of years a strong ability to rattle both super defensive teams and super attacking teams. For 3 years running they have been knocked out by the eventual All Ireland Champions.

GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3026 - 28/12/2013 13:33:37    1526370

I really think monaghan cn take the step to the next level with players like Mc manus the two Hughes Colin Walshe and Dessie Mone we can beat anyone Remember what Jimmy Mc Guiness said You have to win an ulster title before you can win an all ireland I will be really surprised if we are not there at the end of august Can see Dublin and Cork beig there also Mayo have had their chances and in my opinion they are getting worse year by year Tyrone will not count because they havent got the star forward anymore like Bernard Brogan Thats Why Mayo cant win an all ireland because the havent got that star forward whom people can say is one of the very best Donegals time is up as we proved this year all you need to do is play at a high intensity to beat them Monaghan are 40/1 in the bookies not bad

monfootball (Monaghan) - Posts: 13 - 28/12/2013 14:18:14    1526378

Monaghan are 40/1 in the bookies not bad


Lol, hate to burst your bubble but were 33/1, that kinda puts it in perspective, sorry

lilypad (Kildare) - Posts: 1363 - 28/12/2013 14:58:54    1526385

1526365
Gaa_lover
County: USA
Posts: 1790

1526339 27/12/2013 17:09:06

Its what 2002 Armagh since a div 2 team won the All Ireland?

Monaghan,Meath were div 3 this year they won't suddenly become All Ireland contenders.

I know they both only emerged from Division 3 in 2013, but that won't hold them back. The National League may give an Indication of form, but does not always Indicate ability.

Monaghan got promoted from Division 3 in 2013, and also win the Ulster Championship. 2 weeks before the Ulster final, they tanked Mayo by 6 points in a no holds barred challenge match. From what i heard, they physically dominated Mayo all over the pitch on that occassion. They may have just emerged from Division 3, but they had momentum and enough experience to push on.

Meath also got promoted from Division 3 in 2013, and reached the Leinster Championship final. They Impressively put it up to Dublin, before fading very late on. They then met Tyrone, who remain the only team to actually beat Dublin in National League or Championship in 2013. I thought maybe Meath had only raised their game for Dublin, but they stuck it to Tyrone in a cracking Rd 4 Qualifier game at Croke Park. 1 game is a fluke, but 2 games suggests potential.

I think Donegal have the most potential, with Meath and Monaghan next in line. I believe it will be 2 of these 3 that will be promoted next year, but it will be a scrappy and tight division.

This has to be the most talked about challenge match in the history of Gaelic football. It was a run out in mid-summer. To extrapolate anything about the respective future prospects either county from the result is pure nonsense. It'd be a much smarter idea to look at how their respective minor and senior teams got on- Mayo are top class, Monaghan are getting there.

roundball (Tipperary) - Posts: 2514 - 28/12/2013 18:10:07    1526434

GaryMc82
County: Derry
Posts: 791

Are you seriously going to bring a challenge game in to the debate? Monaghan deservedly got out of div 3 their biggest and best championship win was against Donegal and without taking anything away from them Donegal weren't a patch on their 2011-2012 form.

Fermanagh were arguably the 2nd best team in div 3 this year in the final few games they were hit by a raft of injuries, Meath can count themselves lucky to get promoted. In the championship they bet Wicklow,Wexford to reach the leinster final who they were expected to beat and lost to Tyrone,Dublin in games they were expected to lose. IMO their neighbours Cavan have more potential than Meath do.

Jury is still out on Donegal while Monaghan,Meath would be delighted with quarter final place in 2014

I expect the same four to reach the semi finals next year but i fancy another Kerry v Dublin All Ireland final.

Gaa_lover (USA) - Posts: 3602 - 28/12/2013 18:48:27    1526441

no

valley84 (Westmeath) - Posts: 1903 - 29/12/2013 10:43:31    1526484

anyone who thinks that monaghan are capable of beating tyrone, armagh, donegal, or teams of that calibre and then go on to play a quarter final v the likes of cork, kildare or galway followed by dublin and either kerry or mayo in the final need to get a better price than 40/1 in the bookies..

All ireland winners have to be consistently good, not just for one big game every year.

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3846 - 29/12/2013 14:42:05    1526504

This is the way I see the 2014 championship unfolding Dublin to win Leinster at a canter, Kerry to win Munster just because I think cork are rebuilding big time and might need 1 year to get sorted proper. Mayo will pi** through Connacht no 1 to touch them there, and down to win ulster , I think you will have Donegal and Tyrone cork and Meath coming through the qualifiers to play the quarters and the semifinal will be Dublin versus mayo and Kerry v Donegal with a Kerry mayo final and Kerry to run out 15 point winners in the end, gooch to collect Sam and player of the year awards and jack Sherwood young player of the year and we'll get at least 10 allstars and dominate football for the next 10 years . Micheal d McCauley and jack mcCaffery will turn there attentions to rugby and go on to represent Leinster and Ireland b teams. Jim Gavin will take over as manager of st Patricks athletic and Bernard brogans will look to switch to Kerry to finish off his playing career.

KingdomBoy1 (Kerry) - Posts: 14092 - 29/12/2013 16:08:53    1526527

Course they can. Same as cork Kerry maybe even galway in few years. Reason is they receive a virtual by into the last 8 every year as long as they avoid a galway first round tie!! Though at least the connacht council have the pretense of a proper competition compared to munster where the Cork and Kerry get to knock over a minnow before two bites at a quarter final. Compare that to when say laois or kildare lose a leinster quarter to Dublin and have to play up to 4 qualifiers? Lets go with proposals to make provinces 8 teams(ulster and leinster preliminary losers) and then this becomes a worthwhile debate.

sceptical (Cavan) - Posts: 544 - 29/12/2013 16:10:41    1526529

They will have to beat prob Kerry in the semis to make the final, going by last year Kerry gave us a much better and tougher game and Fitzmaurice looks a good manager and another year on id expect them to meat Mayo in a game when it matters.

AthCliath (Dublin) - Posts: 4347 - 29/12/2013 16:29:26    1526532

mon football,co. Monaghan,i think Ulster will be very competeative next year,rule out Donegal, Tyrone, at your peril, Finished, NO WAY, Cavan dark horses for Ulster,

mchugh11 (Donegal) - Posts: 242 - 29/12/2013 21:59:40    1526593

Looking forward to seeing Murphy in action this year. By all accounts he is enjoying training and concentrating solely on club and county as he is based at home these days. The young lad Darrach O'Connor has great potential aswell. Early days yet of course but I think we can be reasonably optimistic of our chances this year.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9746 - 30/12/2013 10:41:44    1526605

Kingdomboy1 - mayo and Dublin can't meet in a semi final unless one of them comes throughout he back door. If both teams go all the way throughout he front door, it will be a repeat of this years final. Also laughable to see a Laois poster state Mayo are getting worse each year....what do I know about football?

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11550 - 30/12/2013 12:21:52    1526627

I didn't know that yew tree, so is it Munster v Connacht and Leinster v ulster?

KingdomBoy1 (Kerry) - Posts: 14092 - 30/12/2013 15:17:34    1526681

I didn't know that yew tree, so is it Munster v Connacht and Leinster v ulster?

KingdomBoy1 (Kerry) - Posts: 14092 - 30/12/2013 15:17:37    1526682

realman2
Mayo didn't beat Dublin because they are not as good as Dublin. I don't see anything changing in the next 9 months to alter that.

That is fair enough, except they beat them the year before when it was pretty much the same two line-ups.

Look, for anyone to say mayo cant win sam next year is pretty ridiculous. They came within a point of it last year, while playing poorly and with their 3 best forwards not fully fit. Of course they can win it. That isnt saying they will, but clearly, their doing it is a distinct possibility.

TheMaster (Mayo) - Posts: 16187 - 30/12/2013 17:06:08    1526741

Couple of thigs about this - too much focus on the unpredictable fators in the final and Mayo having "too easy a passage". Mayo got the perfect start in the final, and this is especially significant as we've heard ad nauseum about how things would be different if they could get a better start than the last 3 times. Well, they got almost the perfect start.

Then there is another smokescreen around not having a "marquee" (jaysus I hate clichees!!) forward to get the game-breaking/game-saving score when really needed. Right. Would that have been Andy Moran's goal to level the match in the 2nd half just as Dublin looked in control? And what happened after that?

As regards the "too easy passage", the semi-final was just about the perfect test for Mayo - a very battle-hardened Tyrone, who almost always step up on the big occasion, and who love beating the favourites even more than Mayo themselves, had Mayo in real trouble in the first half. Even allowing for Tyrone's bad luck with injuries and the ref being against them, Mayo really had to prove themselves to get control of that game. And they did. So there can be no question of the wrong preparation for the final from the point of view of games.
The hammerings they handed out prior to then should only have served to prepare tham to put in another 75-minute top level performance, the type of consistency they had lacked in previous years, but which they had cultivated all year last year.

No the fact that matters is that with one or two exceptions (Moran for example, and Hennelly bar the first Brogan goal) Mayo stopped playing when the game was there for them. Long before the end they looked heavy-legged, exhausted. In complete contravention of the evidence of last year's semi-final, they seemed like a team that had never seen Stephen Cluxton's kickouts before. It seems in particular that they came out in the 2nd half dispirited.

In order to win Sam they must be able to address what mental factors lead to that decline as the game went beyond the first 20 minutes or so, and especially the 2nd half. Part of me wonders was it eventually a combination of training and the heat?

Capitalist (Dublin) - Posts: 47 - 05/01/2014 16:51:31    1527886