IT HAS NOT been an easy start to the All-Ireland football championship for Division 2 sides. Westmeath, Derry and Laois were the top 3 – and all three of them have been well beaten already in this championship season; Galway received a once-in-a-generation humiliation, and Armagh and Longford lost to Cavan and Wicklow, from the bottom half of Division 3.
The only two teams to emerge in credit thus far are Louth, who beat Laois, and Wexford, who haven’t played yet – they are Louth’s next opponents this coming Sunday in their opening game of the championship.
We have the teams in Division 1 competing for the All-Ireland championship, and the other 24 teams are liable to take a hiding from any of those in the top table. It used to be that you had two or three really good teams, and then a pretty well spaced out system of groups of ten or so counties, that you could pick out pretty plainly.
Now the farther away the top teams move, the more the rest of the pack gets concertina-ed. I can say with authority that if Galway are drawn away to anyone (ANYONE!) in the qualifiers, I would really fear for them. That wasn’t always the case, but it surely is now.
Advertisement
(London celebrate victory over Sligo – INPHO/Jim Keogh)
Take for example the championship experiences of the two teams at opposite ends of Division 4. London were, according to the league tables, the worst team in the country, and yet they were able to go and beat Sligo, a team who stayed up in Division 3. Limerick moved through the league serenely, and won the Division 4 title, only to go out and get utterly trounced by Cork last weekend.
The only trimmings now are being handed out by Division 1 teams. Everyone else has to fight for their lives for anything. This of course makes it all very interesting, but leads one to ask – could we not engineer a few more games between the top 6 or 8 teams, rather than leaving it all ‘til the start of August?
There were quite a few people getting worried about championship mismatches this weekend. In fairness Kerry have been hammering Waterford since Pat Spillane bought the first of his many bad suits, and probably before then, if we care to look that far back. And Westmeath might have been quietly fancied to put it up to Dublin for a while, but no-one really believed they were going to cause a shock.
The really interesting game was on in the North, where Derry, as we’ve discussed, failed to strike a blow for the lower divisions against Down. To be honest, having seen Derry in the flesh in their first league game against Galway, I was surprised they’d managed to stay in Division 2, let alone win it. They were so bad that day it was untrue, but they regrouped expertly and had played some pretty good stuff on the way to winning that title against Westmeath at the start of May.
But when it came down to it, Down were able to carve them apart for the key goals, two in seven minutes, in the second half. I’ve heard a few people saying that’s the difference between playing in Division 1 and not, but really, isn’t that assigning too much importance to the league?
Do you think Derry would’ve learnt a lot from playing Cork, who finally got embarrassed of winning the damn thing; Donegal, who treated it with the level of disdain it deserves; or Kerry, who probably can’t even remember themselves how they got on in the accursed league, three months after the obituaries for their entire footballing culture were being written?
What I’m trying to say is that Division 1 is a state of mind, not a furnace of white-hot competitive action where decent teams can be forged into something stronger. The fact was that this year, the best eight teams in the country were in the top division, and that meant the rest of the league was pretty much a turkey-shoot, where anyone could pretty much beat anyone else. Donegal will be in Division 2 next year, and they’ll probably lose a game or two, or forget to turn up for one more likely. It doesn’t mean Galway or Wexford or anyone else is capable of competing – it just means they won a league game.
There’s every chance Mayo will get to an All-Ireland semi-final without having to play a Division 1 team. I don’t think that’s necessarily unfair, on the scale of things that are unfair with the GAA championship structure. I do, however, think that’s unfair on us – the paying public. If we have six or eight good teams, we should make them play each other as often as possible. And that’s what makes the league such a monumental waste of time – imagine what a great competition it would be if anyone actually CARED about it?
This week Murph was – reminiscing on the first time I ever saw Down play in the flesh. It was 1991, and it was my first ever All-Ireland final. As a result of that day I’ve always held a soft spot for Down. I know there are counties that people just like to root for – and although it shouldn’t, it always annoys me that Galway appears to be one of those counties. I think I speak for both my own native county, and Down, when I say ‘if we won a bit more often, maybe people would be less inclined to like us.’
Didn’t Donegal play Tyrone in the first round? And Dublin will play Kildare in the next round, as will Cork and Kerry, and it’s not the GAAs fault that Galway have melted into a shambles. We would then have had Mayo v Galway too in the first round. All of this before the end of June. Then you have the real payoff, the excitement of seeing the very best teams against each other in August and September, the way any worthy competition should be. The GAA has plenty of flaws but I think this article is a very unfocused knee-jerk reaction to a few hidings dished out by teams on top of their game.
I’m a Dubs man meself Declan. I think this Mayo team is a different proposition from previous years, there’s a hard edge to them which I think makes them serious contenders.
I think Dublin, Donegal, Cork and Mayo are all around the same level (one from each province too, which is nice) then there’s Tyrone, Kerry and Kildare a level just below that. 7 realistic contenders for the All Ireland, there’s nothing wrong with that.
San Marino get hammered every time they play but you don’t see fifa changing around the format of the European/world cup qualifiers so they can win a few games
If counties are not up to the standard why should the gaa change around the format to try and suit them, the football championship is very strong and some teams will get left behind
The fact that there are eight competitive teams places the Gaa in an enviable position . It can’t be said of other codes. How many EPL winners have there been since its inception . The GAA championship compares very Favourably. It’s not long since Dublin and Donegal were on the wrong end of a few such drubbings . In 2011 London almost beat mayo who then made an all Ireland semi final , beating the all Ireland champions en route. Louth contested a Leinster final . Wexford likewise on a couple of occasions. Similar knee jerk reaction were pedalled out in 2010 when none of the provincial finalists reached the semi finals . September is the time to make a more considered judgment
I agree in part. But I don’t think it means we need to rearrange the format of the championship. Every time a team gets hammered some people talk about the need to level the playing field. The system is fine. It has been changed once, with the back door, if they change it again like they did with the league over and over again people will lose interest.
We had years of Galway hurling people blaming the structure of the championship for them not winning, now it’s the championship structures that Galway footballers are rubbish,
Derry were not well beaten, in fact they played some of the best football of the championship to date in the best game to date. Diagonal balls to Bradley and his destruction of Down defense in first half was a joy to watch.
Westmeath got a day out in croker they saw the level they need to aspire too its all a learning curve / and that’s always the way it’s been how else are you going to improve
The money and the people involved with the Dublin team vs small counties like w.meath is very unfair.Maybe a large populace county like Dublin should field two teams a city and county team.
The whole thing is a farce lets do away with the provincials 8 groups of 4 top 2 into the the A final bottom 2 to a B Final and in the last 16 -an open draw when your out you are out at least the teams in the final get to play the same amount of games.
Yeah, everyone would get three games and the eventual finalists would get 7. Seems fair
I wouldn’t do an open draw for the last 16 though. I’d run it like a Heineken Cup. The best performing team plays worst and so forth, to reward consistent good play
The championship format is fairly rubbish to be honest. It’s not fair in my opinion to the Ulster teams especially. The Connaught and Munster Championships and somewhat Leinster are absolute dire. They should have a Champions League style format of 8 groups of 4 teams and the top 2 from each group enter the Last 16 of the All Ireland with the top from each group playing a 2nd placed team. The groups would also be seeded from their National League position meaning all Division 1 teams would be in a separate group and so on. At least every team would get 3 Championship games, the prospect of an open draw would also do much to enhance the game….and I’m not from Ulster!
I don’t see how ulster is any better. Donegal are near certainties for ulster this year and that will be 3 in a row and before them Tyrone and Armagh shared it for the previous ten years.
Leinster and ulster have to win more games to win an all Ireland however which is definitely unfair.
Kerry and cork basically don’t have to do anything until August because the rest of Munster are light years behind them. This is extremely unfair on the rest and plays a large part in Kerry’s success in my opinion despite their producing some excellent teams.
Some people suggest that it’s better for Kerry/Cork to take the back door route as they get more competitive games. As it is they get to play Each other in their only tough match before Aug and arrive untested into the Knockout stages.
These two scenarios get played out whenever Kerry/cork reach the QF and either win easily or lose comfortably.
If they get to QF by winning munster and win easily its cos they are fresh from easy matches. If they lose its cos they are untested.
For decades ulster was the weakest province, now it’s the most competitive. Why, they work hard but helped as all the counties place football number one. In Munster only Kerry place football 1, all the others are hurling or 50/50 in corks case. Munster will never have 6 strong teams
Robert Lewandowski's astonishing season for Barca continues
4 hrs ago
1
FreeDisappointment
Rory McIlroy falls short at Houston Open despite strong final round
4 hrs ago
3
As it happened
Kerry v Mayo, GAA Division 1 football league final
11 hrs ago
18
Sign in or create a free account
To continue reading create a free account
Or sign into an existing account
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 161 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.Privacy Policy
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 110 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 143 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 113 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 83 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 83 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 39 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 35 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 134 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 61 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 74 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 83 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 37 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 46 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 27 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 92 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 99 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 72 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 53 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 88 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 69 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
Didn’t Donegal play Tyrone in the first round? And Dublin will play Kildare in the next round, as will Cork and Kerry, and it’s not the GAAs fault that Galway have melted into a shambles. We would then have had Mayo v Galway too in the first round. All of this before the end of June. Then you have the real payoff, the excitement of seeing the very best teams against each other in August and September, the way any worthy competition should be. The GAA has plenty of flaws but I think this article is a very unfocused knee-jerk reaction to a few hidings dished out by teams on top of their game.
Dave agree entirely
A Dubs fan
Lot of people talking about Mayo this year but where have we heard that before
Wouldn’t write off Kerry either S a lot of people seem to be doing
I’m a Dubs man meself Declan. I think this Mayo team is a different proposition from previous years, there’s a hard edge to them which I think makes them serious contenders.
I think Dublin, Donegal, Cork and Mayo are all around the same level (one from each province too, which is nice) then there’s Tyrone, Kerry and Kildare a level just below that. 7 realistic contenders for the All Ireland, there’s nothing wrong with that.
Yes agree 7 teams with varying degrees of optimism
If they had that in the premiership they would be laughing!!
Mayo have new fitness coach so let’s see
A dubs fan passing a comment about another team being over hyped early in the year.. Oh the irony!
San Marino get hammered every time they play but you don’t see fifa changing around the format of the European/world cup qualifiers so they can win a few games
If counties are not up to the standard why should the gaa change around the format to try and suit them, the football championship is very strong and some teams will get left behind
They change the format every few tournaments! And they do it to allow a more desirable geographic spread off WC finals competitors
The fact that there are eight competitive teams places the Gaa in an enviable position . It can’t be said of other codes. How many EPL winners have there been since its inception . The GAA championship compares very Favourably. It’s not long since Dublin and Donegal were on the wrong end of a few such drubbings . In 2011 London almost beat mayo who then made an all Ireland semi final , beating the all Ireland champions en route. Louth contested a Leinster final . Wexford likewise on a couple of occasions. Similar knee jerk reaction were pedalled out in 2010 when none of the provincial finalists reached the semi finals . September is the time to make a more considered judgment
GAA is fine as is.
If other counties want to perform they can pay for more training sessions and try and get more people to come to the matches.
I agree in part. But I don’t think it means we need to rearrange the format of the championship. Every time a team gets hammered some people talk about the need to level the playing field. The system is fine. It has been changed once, with the back door, if they change it again like they did with the league over and over again people will lose interest.
We had years of Galway hurling people blaming the structure of the championship for them not winning, now it’s the championship structures that Galway footballers are rubbish,
Derry were not well beaten, in fact they played some of the best football of the championship to date in the best game to date. Diagonal balls to Bradley and his destruction of Down defense in first half was a joy to watch.
Westmeath got a day out in croker they saw the level they need to aspire too its all a learning curve / and that’s always the way it’s been how else are you going to improve
The money and the people involved with the Dublin team vs small counties like w.meath is very unfair.Maybe a large populace county like Dublin should field two teams a city and county team.
As Kerry do each year and how All Ireland’s have they won with a small population
The whole thing is a farce lets do away with the provincials 8 groups of 4 top 2 into the the A final bottom 2 to a B Final and in the last 16 -an open draw when your out you are out at least the teams in the final get to play the same amount of games.
Yeah, everyone would get three games and the eventual finalists would get 7. Seems fair
I wouldn’t do an open draw for the last 16 though. I’d run it like a Heineken Cup. The best performing team plays worst and so forth, to reward consistent good play
The championship is fine the way it is. They should give division 3 and 4 teams home advantage when playing division 1 teams.
The championship format is fairly rubbish to be honest. It’s not fair in my opinion to the Ulster teams especially. The Connaught and Munster Championships and somewhat Leinster are absolute dire. They should have a Champions League style format of 8 groups of 4 teams and the top 2 from each group enter the Last 16 of the All Ireland with the top from each group playing a 2nd placed team. The groups would also be seeded from their National League position meaning all Division 1 teams would be in a separate group and so on. At least every team would get 3 Championship games, the prospect of an open draw would also do much to enhance the game….and I’m not from Ulster!
I don’t see how ulster is any better. Donegal are near certainties for ulster this year and that will be 3 in a row and before them Tyrone and Armagh shared it for the previous ten years.
Leinster and ulster have to win more games to win an all Ireland however which is definitely unfair.
Kerry and cork basically don’t have to do anything until August because the rest of Munster are light years behind them. This is extremely unfair on the rest and plays a large part in Kerry’s success in my opinion despite their producing some excellent teams.
Some people suggest that it’s better for Kerry/Cork to take the back door route as they get more competitive games. As it is they get to play Each other in their only tough match before Aug and arrive untested into the Knockout stages.
These two scenarios get played out whenever Kerry/cork reach the QF and either win easily or lose comfortably.
If they get to QF by winning munster and win easily its cos they are fresh from easy matches. If they lose its cos they are untested.
For decades ulster was the weakest province, now it’s the most competitive. Why, they work hard but helped as all the counties place football number one. In Munster only Kerry place football 1, all the others are hurling or 50/50 in corks case. Munster will never have 6 strong teams
Maybe picky, but Derry WERE Division 2 and Down WERE Division 1, but Derry got promoted, Down got relegated, so division 2 team beat division 1 team.
(Best game if championship so far – great advert for GAA)