Predictions for winner of NFL Division 1?

Kerry v Derry........KERRY
Westmeath v Dublin...DUBLIN
Cork v Kildare.......CORK
Tyrone v Mayo........MAYO

OLLIE (Louth) - Posts: 12224 - 03/02/2014 19:14:16    1540880

I got a bit of a reaction by tipping Cork for relegation, but I did so on my genuine feeling looking at them yesterday.

I watched the highlights of Cork/Westmeath, and the other Division 1 games. And after flicking through the fixture guide, I feel Cork will struggle to get 6 points. Mainly as Cork are starting a team rebuild, while the likes of Tyrone, Dublin, Mayo, Kildare, Kerry are slightly ahead right now.

Round 2 Cork v Kildare, Kildare win, the Lilywhites tend to start the league in a strong fashion. And they look good at the moment.
Round 3 Dublin v Cork Dublin win, hard to see Cork beating Dublin in Croker at minute.
Round 4 Cork v Derry Cork win, would see Derry drop points in this game.
Round 5 Mayo v Cork, Mayo win, Mayo at home are strong. Difficult to get points there unless they've already made the SF.
Round 6 Cork v Tyrone, Tyrone win, by round 6 Tyrone will be looking to confirm their SF spot and will be going all out for a win.
Round 7 Kerry v Cork, Kerry win, could go either way depending on whether Kerry have made the SF by that stage.

I'm just guessing how I could see the fixtures going, when taking into consideration where each team is at, and their potential and away/home games etc. By round 7 of the National League, I would see Dublin, Mayo already in the league SF. So a Derry win in Castlebar in Round 7 is not beyond possibly at that stage. While Cork could be visiting Tralee, with Kerry needing 2 points to make the SF.

It's all if's and but's. Sure isn't that half the craic of it all.

GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3058 - 03/02/2014 19:21:43    1540888

doublehop
County: Kildare
Posts: 3695

1540719
Not sure what everyone is getting so worked up about. Hardly a new phenomenon this Dublin down to 14 and then getting everything going afterwards, is it? Sure look at 2009 and 2011 Kildare games. After Ger Brennan was sent off early in 2009 Kildare didn't get one scoreable free for the rest of the game and we ended up falling short having scored 0-18 all from play. And we all know what happened at the end in 2011.
------
What's your excuse for last year's hiding? In the same way that a bad workman blames his tools, a bad team blames the referee.

Joxer (Dublin) - Posts: 4751 - 03/02/2014 19:42:12    1540910

superbluedub I didn't say that's why we lost those games.

Anyways, looking forward to heading down to Cork this weekend. I see they're saying Cadogan, Walsh and Shields will all be unavailable. There's no team who wouldn't miss the three of them. So might just slightly favour Kildare. Would be great to get another win now and then the pressure would be off to a degree so we could start bringing back the more experienced players who are coming back from injury to a greater degree and start building towards the summer and try and free up the likes of Brophy and Hyland for the U21's.

doublehop (Kildare) - Posts: 4172 - 03/02/2014 20:01:28    1540927

KeyserSoze
County: Cork
Posts: 277

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We are rebuilding, but I would be amazed if Derry beat Cork in the league this year and even more amazed if Derry are not relegated. And though not as strong as we were, I still couldn't see one Ulster team beating Cork in the championship in 2014 and if we go the back door route in 2014 it's the Ulster champions I'd be hoping we draw in the quarter finals as whoever wins that will still be probably be the weakest of the 4 provincial champions.

A lot of fellas looking at life through rose tinted glasses on HS at this time of year!!

I always respect Cork football but with a new manager & lots of retirements, I think 2014 will be a year of establishment for Cork.
For Cork staying up will be no mean feat in Div 1, as we found out last year & to say that no Ulster team could beat Cork in 2014 is amazing. Tyrone will always be tough & considering that Donegal completely outplayed Cork in 2012 I could certainly see both beating a raw Cork this year

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5030 - 03/02/2014 20:08:50    1540932

Muckrosshead, I said I don't see Cork losing in the championship to an Ulster team in 2014, not that it could never happen. As for rose-tinted glasses, 2013 showed that 2012 is a long time ago as even on our worst day ever in Croke Park we never got a mother of all hiding like Donegal got last year from Mayo. As for the 2012 game, Cork were on top in the first half and you had a ref on your side when we were on top and if O'Neill's shot had gone in instead of off the crossbar, who knows what would have happened. All is and buts I know, but to give more, I think Mayo's real chance was blown in 2012 with their awful start because Dublin 2013 are far better than Donegal 2012 and I think without that awful start Mayo would have beaten Donegal in 2012. Ulster people have never rated Cork and maybe I am guilty of the same but I just don't see anyone from Ulster challenging for Sam this year, there is no outstanding team in the province. Donegal depended on a system that has since been exposed and I don't think Tyrone don't quite have the youth coming up to replace what has gone. And the rest don't merit any consideration.

KeyserSoze (Cork) - Posts: 363 - 03/02/2014 20:36:24    1540953

Kerry v Derry........KERRY
Westmeath v Dublin...DUBLIN
Cork v Kildare.......DRAW
Tyrone v Mayo........TYRONE

@ GaryMc

I can see why your doubting Cork getting to a semi, especially with them missing Walsh, Shields and Cadogan next week. But I can't see past Westmeath getting the wooden spoon and Derry struggling. Now I haven't seen Derry play this year - still trying to find highlights of the games somewhere, but they've tough fixtures. Away to Cork Kerry and Mayo, is 0 points on my bets right now. And with Dublin, Kildare and Westmeath travelling to Celtic Park, that could be just 2. That Round 6 game with Kildare will be their best chance of staying up I reckon! I honestly see Mayo struggling too, I'm not sure if they'll reach a semi final spot. Away to Tyrone next week will be a tough one, I'd go for Tyrone there and then you have Kerry travelling to Castlebar, where Kerry have gotten results before. I liked the look of Kerry this weekend - sure they failed to score towards the end but very bright start. Then Mayo travel to Westmeath, a potential slipping block if they have 3 losses already but I'd still go for a Mayo win. Then Cork at home in March again another potential slipping block, Cork will be strong mid March. Then away to Dublin is a loss for me. And Derry at home with Derry potentially trying to survive. A lot of games in this league could go either way though. My start of league prediction was Mayo with 6 points let's see if I'll still be right. Only result I got wrong this week was Derry Tyrone draw, went with a Tyrone win.

17/01/2014 16:11:32
JMK
County: Kerry
Posts: 169

1533101
Just went through the fixtures and made some very early predictions, Dublin have a nice set of games, Tyrone and Mayo have tough ones. Here's the table I predicted (although I know it's very early to predict all the games this early):

1st. Dublin 12pts
2nd. Cork 10pts
3rd. Kerry 10pts
4th. Kildare 08pts
5th. Tyrone 08pts
6th. Mayo 06pts
7th. Derry 02pts
8th. Westmeath 00pts

JMK (Kerry) - Posts: 273 - 03/02/2014 20:36:53    1540956

KeyserSoze
County: Cork
Posts: 279

1540953
Muckrosshead, I said I don't see Cork losing in the championship to an Ulster team in 2014, not that it could never happen. As for rose-tinted glasses, 2013 showed that 2012 is a long time ago as even on our worst day ever in Croke Park we never got a mother of all hiding like Donegal got last year from Mayo. As for the 2012 game, Cork were on top in the first half and you had a ref on your side when we were on top and if O'Neill's shot had gone in instead of off the crossbar, who knows what would have happened. All is and buts I know, but to give more, I think Mayo's real chance was blown in 2012 with their awful start because Dublin 2013 are far better than Donegal 2012 and I think without that awful start Mayo would have beaten Donegal in 2012. Ulster people have never rated Cork and maybe I am guilty of the same but I just don't see anyone from Ulster challenging for Sam this year, there is no outstanding team in the province. Donegal depended on a system that has since been exposed and I don't think Tyrone don't quite have the youth coming up to replace what has gone. And the rest don't merit any consideration.

Talk about rewriting history!!!!

Donegal beat Cork off the field in 2012. In Col O'Rourke's words "Donegal humiliated Cork". The ref on our side excuse goes nowhere & the final against Mayo was over in 11 minutes, the rest of the game was just a holding exercise which onegal did comfortably.
As for Dublin 2013 being much better than Donegal 2012 I don't agree but we will never know.
I agree that there is no outstanding team in Ulster but there is no outstanding team in Munster either & any game between them could go either way.
As for Donegal's "system" being exposed, lets see what happens if they can stay at full strength. That is our biggest problem

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5030 - 03/02/2014 22:01:58    1541008

Wins for...

Kerry
Dublin
Cork
Tyrone

ziggy320001 (Meath) - Posts: 2432 - 04/02/2014 09:26:30    1541028

Very sad Fitzmaurice is suffering from Amnesia. He remembers the ref giving Dublin two frees from the 65th minute on.......but forgot the previous 65 minutes and Dublin having a man sent off.

Typical culchie....Cant remember Dublin getting no decisions....but can remember the last time Garth Brooks was here!!!!

JayP (Dublin) - Posts: 1772 - 04/02/2014 09:54:48    1541039

lets see what happens if they can stay at full strength. That is our biggest problem

Yeah, but what team goes a year without significant injuries? It was a freak occurrence that Donegal managed to go through 2012 without losing players. Very hard to see that ever happening again.

doublehop (Kildare) - Posts: 4172 - 04/02/2014 09:57:40    1541042

Eamonn Fitzmaurice doing well and protecting his young inexperienced players by blaming the referee for their defeat. It is a fair enough tactic from the manager but it is unfortunate that it just plays into sad people's agenda's at the same time.

Dublin won because they were the better team on the night (same goes for the other instances). Ref was poor enough though I would agree on that. Kerry very lucky not to be down to 14 as well. Dublin did get some soft frees but so did Kerry, a couple of scandalous ones in the first half in front of goal. Kerry were I'm sure denied a few frees in the game, as were Dublin, Costello running straight through, jersey pulled back and foot blocked.

There are some wonderfully balanced posters on here but unfortunately too many cranks come outta the cracks when trying to "objectively" analyse the All-Ireland Champs.

Anyone watching that game Saturday night objectively could easily see that the referee did not win the game for Dublin but that it was less sinister and conspiratorial than that………..Dublin, the All-Ireland Champions no less, just happened (strange as this may seem to some) to be the better side on the night. I know it is hard to take for some of yous but.

MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13850 - 04/02/2014 10:01:45    1541046

doublehop
County: Kildare
Posts: 3699

1540927 superbluedub I didn't say that's why we lost those games.

No, Doublehop but you implied it. And not for the first time:-)

A

Aido69 (Dublin) - Posts: 381 - 04/02/2014 10:25:23    1541066

Cork v Kildare - Kildare win
Kerry v Derry - Derry win
Tyrone v Mayo - Tyrone win
Westmeath v Dublin - Dublin win

In contrast to last week when I went for all home wins this week the away teams might have the upper hand except for hopefully in Omagh. Although Tyrone will need to improve the performance in the middle third of the field compared to last weeks effort V Derry but I think they can particularly in relation to breaking ball.

downredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 567 - 04/02/2014 10:26:42    1541068

GaryMc82
County: Derry
Posts: 842

1540888
I got a bit of a reaction by tipping Cork for relegation, but I did so on my genuine feeling looking at them yesterday.

I watched the highlights of Cork/Westmeath, and the other Division 1 games. And after flicking through the fixture guide, I feel Cork will struggle to get 6 points. Mainly as Cork are starting a team rebuild, while the likes of Tyrone, Dublin, Mayo, Kildare, Kerry are slightly ahead right now.

Round 2 Cork v Kildare, Kildare win, the Lilywhites tend to start the league in a strong fashion. And they look good at the moment.
Round 3 Dublin v Cork Dublin win, hard to see Cork beating Dublin in Croker at minute.
Round 4 Cork v Derry Cork win, would see Derry drop points in this game.
Round 5 Mayo v Cork, Mayo win, Mayo at home are strong. Difficult to get points there unless they've already made the SF.
Round 6 Cork v Tyrone, Tyrone win, by round 6 Tyrone will be looking to confirm their SF spot and will be going all out for a win.
Round 7 Kerry v Cork, Kerry win, could go either way depending on whether Kerry have made the SF by that stage.

I'm just guessing how I could see the fixtures going, when taking into consideration where each team is at, and their potential and away/home games etc. By round 7 of the National League, I would see Dublin, Mayo already in the league SF. So a Derry win in Castlebar in Round 7 is not beyond possibly at that stage. While Cork could be visiting Tralee, with Kerry needing 2 points to make the SF.

It's all if's and but's. Sure isn't that half the craic of it all.

Very good post. I don't necessarily agree with all of it but at least you have given your reasoning and this is commendable. I think we will get 8 points-winning our four home games. Then again, we might lose all the rest of the games. As you said, all ifs and buts..

bennybunny (Cork) - Posts: 3917 - 04/02/2014 13:44:08    1541210

There are some wonderfully balanced posters on here but unfortunately too many cranks come outta the cracks when trying to "objectively" analyse the All-Ireland Champs.

Nothing says objectivity like labeling people who disagree with you as cranks.

doublehop (Kildare) - Posts: 4172 - 04/02/2014 13:59:37    1541220

Maigh Eo are the definite favourites for the league and Sam.

Culann (Dublin) - Posts: 2306 - 04/02/2014 14:23:36    1541241

Should be a Mayo v Dublin final IMO. Mayo need to win it.

Cute_Kerry_Hoor (Kerry) - Posts: 2518 - 04/02/2014 15:01:00    1541263

Nothing says objectivity like labeling people who disagree with you as cranks.

you could add that selectively picking pieces out of a post is hardly objective. When you ready the post in its entirety its quite obvious who he's talking about and its a point well made wether you agree with it or not.

A

Aido69 (Dublin) - Posts: 381 - 04/02/2014 15:30:41    1541286

Cork v Kildare........Kildare...Finely balanced but Kildare are playing well
Kerry v Derry.........Kerry.....Home advantage to swing it
Tyrone v Mayo.........Tyrone....Mayo in relegation struggle after this
Westmeath v Dublin....Dublin....All day every day

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5030 - 04/02/2014 16:53:04    1541367