I accept that Leitrim are at a huge disadvantage with regards to their population, (the smallest population in Ireland), and always will be, but to suggest splitting any County, let alone one with only 3 All Irelands in 30 years, to 'help' Leitrim be competitive is stupid. Even if Dublin, Kerry, Mayo, Tyrone and half a dozen others were kicked out of the GAA Leitrim still wouldn't be in with a chance of winning the All Ireland, unfortunately in a sport that is defined by distinct boundaries, be they Parish or county, the little guy will always be at a distinct disadvantage.
Likewise to suggest that success at the other end of the scale is solely down to population size is just a handy excuse for some counties. If population was the only consideration then a 'small' county like Donegal could naver win an All Ireland when faced by big population centres like Galway, Kildare,Limerick or Meath, and thats leaving out 4 or 5 Northern counties with a larger but split demographic.

AHP (Dublin) - Posts: 323 - 23/11/2014 13:54:21    1674316

Ahp of course splitting Dublin would be of little benefit to Leitrim, but the way Dublin is out growing every other county in Ireland will leave it having a massive advantage over every other county, for example if you had only 1 soccer club in London the would have a massive advantage. With the growing number of people living in Dublin new clubs will have to be set up to cope with the demand and splitting the county would be the best way to achieve that. Donegal is not a small county it is the 12 Th biggest in Ireland and some of the counties who are bigger are either hurling counties or northern counties with large unionist populations.

ros1 (Roscommon) - Posts: 1211 - 23/11/2014 15:01:05    1674329

People can say what they want about dublin here but this is fact- at the moment they have the following: - enormous population more than anybody else has, enormous financial power behind them more than anybody else has and a professional set up more than anyone else has. Is it amateur??

This doesn't mean they will always win or will always dominate football but the like of Leitrim, Carlow or Fermanagh or similar teams can and will never reach this level of set up through no fault of our own. That's also a fact

leitrim4sam (Leitrim) - Posts: 698 - 23/11/2014 18:04:51    1674380

Its up to Leitrim to come up to the required level. I hate when people say amalgamate some counties together. There has to be some weaker teams. Manchester United, Liverpool and the London clubs dominate English soccer because originally they were the big cities with the most local lads to choose from. Accrington Stanley, a town with a similar population to Leitrim ,arent going to win the Premier League any time soon with a small population.
Again population isnt everything. Kilkenny have a population 3 times the size of Leitrim. Does that mean the hurlers are only 3 times better than Leitrim hurlers? More like 20 times.
Look at Dublin, Limerick, Waterford, Galway. 4 counties with big populations. How much have they won? Not a lot.
The problem isnt Leitrim. Its the structure of the championship. Drawing against teams like Mayo is pointless for everyone. If similar competitions for the weaker counties like there is in the hurling than player wouldnt feel so disheartened

( I know soccer clubs can buy players now but the reason why they are successful in the first place was local lads and Accrington Stanley arent going to be buying too many players!)

deadybai (Kilkenny) - Posts: 63 - 25/11/2014 15:43:21    1674843

deadybai
County: Kilkenny
Posts: 15

Its up to Leitrim to come up to the required level. I hate when people say amalgamate some counties together....Again population isnt everything. Kilkenny have a population 3 times the size of Leitrim. Does that mean the hurlers are only 3 times better than Leitrim hurlers? More like 20 times.
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Instead of trying to compete with the big boys football, maybe Leitrim should follow the Kilkenny example and focus all their energy on a sport that is only played seriously by a couple of other counties. Then they too could perhaps become big fishes in the tiniest of ponds?

Thomas Clarke (Tyrone) - Posts: 1002 - 25/11/2014 15:53:16    1674848

deadybai,i have also proposed a two tier championship,but the usual whingers are dead set against any change.

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 25/11/2014 16:17:04    1674855

Leitrim4sam,what would you like to see happen as a matter of interest?

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 25/11/2014 16:22:21    1674858

AHP
County: Dublin
Posts: 22

1674316 I accept that Leitrim are at a huge disadvantage with regards to their population, (the smallest population in Ireland), and always will be, but to suggest splitting any County, let alone one with only 3 All Irelands in 30 years, to 'help' Leitrim be competitive is stupid. Even if Dublin, Kerry, Mayo, Tyrone and half a dozen others were kicked out of the GAA Leitrim still wouldn't be in with a chance of winning the All Ireland, unfortunately in a sport that is defined by distinct boundaries, be they Parish or county, the little guy will always be at a distinct disadvantage.
Likewise to suggest that success at the other end of the scale is solely down to population size is just a handy excuse for some counties. If population was the only consideration then a 'small' county like Donegal could naver win an All Ireland when faced by big population centres like Galway, Kildare,Limerick or Meath, and thats leaving out 4 or 5 Northern counties with a larger but split demographic.


Donegal is not a small county. Has a population 5 times the size of Leitrim and 20 thousand or so less than Meath.

Leitrim's own structures do not help and the counties own league and championship needs serious re jigging.

Again one cannot compete when a counties main sponsorship is less than thirty thousand. Realistically.

johnnos bulls (None) - Posts: 527 - 26/11/2014 11:46:25    1674974