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Post by kerrygold on May 1, 2018 9:16:23 GMT
The Connacht Championship is commencing this weekend in New York and London with a further 5 games the following weekend.
May 6th
Connacht Football Championship Leitrim v New York Sligo v London (Ruislip)
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Post by kerrygold on May 2, 2018 8:08:16 GMT
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Post by Mickmack on May 2, 2018 10:53:11 GMT
Massive interest in the west in this. The only senior inter county football on the horison, at the moment, till july to whet the appetite.
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Post by clarinman on May 2, 2018 17:53:23 GMT
Massive interest in the west in this. The only senior inter county football on the horison, at the moment, till july to whet the appetite. Tyrone Vs Monaghan the week after?
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Post by kerrygold on May 3, 2018 7:40:48 GMT
I presume Castlebar is an all ticket sell out?
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Post by givehimaball on May 4, 2018 15:59:25 GMT
The Connacht Championship is commencing this weekend in New York and London with a further 5 games the following weekend. May 6th Connacht Football Championship Leitrim v New York Sligo v London (Ruislip) Really getting the championship off to a start with a serious whimper. 1 Division 3 team, 2 Division 4 teams and 1 Division 5 team. Neither game to be televised. You'd almost think the GAA want to conduct the championship in secret. Leitrim had a fairly brutal league, lost to Antrim, Laois and Carlow, then beat Limerick and their games against London and Waterford cancelled and a win over Limerick. New York have Jamie Clarke up front and Tom Cunniffe of Mayo among their backs. David Culhane formerly of Ballylongford has been named at midfield for New York and they have a lot of other lads who have played intercounty football. Might New York cause a historic upset ? London were poor enough in the league, despite having all their games at home, with 1 win (against Wicklow) and 1 draw (against Limerick) They too had 2 games cancelled and were beaten by Carlow, Antrim and Waterford. Sligo had 2 wins (Wexford and Derry - the 2 relegated teams) and 2 draws (Longford and Offaly) so they weren't exactly setting the world on fire either, but you'd imagine they should have enough, although the 2 wins and 1 of the 2 draws came at home, so the fact they are playing away in Ruislip might be a bit of an issue. The fare might be humble, but at least the Big Show is back in action.
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Post by glengael on May 7, 2018 10:22:03 GMT
New York almost made it the first shock of the season.
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Post by buck02 on May 7, 2018 13:19:58 GMT
I see Marcus Mangan was Centre back for London yesterday. Always thought he could have done a job for Kerry but maybe he was that small bit off it.
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Post by kerrygold on May 10, 2018 7:50:00 GMT
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Post by kerrygold on May 10, 2018 13:19:26 GMT
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Post by Mickmack on May 10, 2018 16:10:25 GMT
Still, the lads highlighted below will bring a lot to Mayo.
ODonoghue is a very good player. Coen was the Sigerson Cup captain for UCD. And Loftus is a free scoring forward.
Mayo:
David Clarke (Ballina Stephenites);
Eoin O’Donoghue (Belmullet), Ger Cafferkey (Ballina Stephenites), Keith Higgins (Ballyhaunis); Patrick Durcan (Castlebar Mitchels), Colm Boyle (Davitts), Stephen Coen (Hollymount/Carramore);
Seamus O'Shea (Breaffy), Tom Parsons (Charlestown);
Kevin McLoughlin (Knockmore), Aidan O’Shea (Breaffy), Diarmuid O’Connor (Ballintubber); Conor Loftus (Crossmolina), Cillian O’Connor (Ballintubber) (C), Andy Moran (Ballaghaderreen)
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Post by glengael on May 11, 2018 11:03:33 GMT
I expect Mayo will try to win this one. They can't have much appetite for the long route as they were very lucky to survive a few times last year.
I can't see any huge surprises in Leinster while Donegal might just have too much experience for Cavan.
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Jigz84
Fanatical Member
Posts: 2,017
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Post by Jigz84 on May 11, 2018 11:24:48 GMT
I expect Mayo will try to win this one. They can't have much appetite for the long route as they were very lucky to survive a few times last year. I can't see any huge surprises in Leinster while Donegal might just have too much experience for Cavan. A Mayo loss would mean a possible 7 games in 8 weeks to reach the Semi-Final. I don't think they'd fancy that to be honest. Alot of talk out of the Galway camp about winning the All-Ireland. I've a feeling they could be in for a rude awakening in Castlebar Sunday.
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Post by Mickmack on May 11, 2018 11:41:18 GMT
With 20 of their panel based in Dublin, I cant see how Mayo will be at the required level in the middle of May to beat Galway.
I actually think the backdoor route of a game a week is Mayos best option to reach the level required at the end of July given how hard it is for them to train collectively. The level they have operated at in recent years given that so many are based in Dublin is staggering all things considered
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Post by kerrygold on May 11, 2018 13:35:00 GMT
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Post by kerrygold on May 11, 2018 13:39:30 GMT
With 20 of their panel based in Dublin, I cant see how Mayo will be at the required level in the middle of May to beat Galway. I actually think the backdoor route of a game a week is Mayos best option to reach the level required at the end of July given how hard it is for them to train collectively. The level they have operated at in recent years given that so many are based in Dublin is staggering all things considered The flip side of that is with so many Dublin based players they can operate top class training sessions in Dublin for the players based there.
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kerryexile
Fanatical Member
Whether you believe that you can, or that you can't, you are right anyway.
Posts: 1,117
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Post by kerryexile on May 11, 2018 14:23:20 GMT
The league doesn’t matter. So far Galway have only been bench tested. The rubber hits the tar on Sunday.
It will be interesting to see how much Galway benefit from having a Tyrone coach. Traditionally they have produced skilful footballers that play open attacking football. Coaches must fit the culture of the team. They brought in Joe Kernan a few years ago and he didn’t achieve much. They are probably the least suited team of all to benefit from an Ulster coach.
They will struggle with the black art of being subtly physical, of switching from 100% focus on defence to 100% focus on attack as the game swings and from not having served an apprenticeship by spending a few seasons in division 1 like Monaghan and Donegal.
Too many well established Mayo players would have to play well below themselves for Galway to win.
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Post by givehimaball on May 11, 2018 17:31:03 GMT
Dont Foul posted his full stats review of the league and there is a lot of info about Galway and Mayo in it. Very much worth a read. dontfoul.wordpress.com/2018/04/27/2018-division-1-review/A couple of the key things for me - Dublin forwards accuracy was insane in the league; however as regards everything else they didn't look that far ahead (bar their willingness to shoot for goals) - I think teams will be far more prepared for Galway's new style come the championship. Overall it's very hard to see it bearing long term rewards. - Lots of people seem to think Mayo will be capable of flipping a switch come the championship but I don't buy it. They were unimpressive for long spells of the championship last year and if you combine last year's championship and this year's league there were a lot more bad periods in games than good. - M Burns making a strong case for his inclusion when you look at his offensive production. - D Clifford and S O'Se but did well on the deadball front. - Looking at the assists D. Clifford did very well. - He makes a good point about Fenton being more of a centre half-forward than a midfielder. It would be interesting to see a heat map of where he spends time during a game. I think a large part of Galway's success in the league was how settled they were - Galway had 6 players who appeared in all 7 of the regular league games and a further 13 who appeared in 6 games; as a comparison Kerry had 2 players who appeared in all 7 and 4 who appeared in 6. Also Galway only used their full compliment of subs in 3 of the 8 league games they played.
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Post by kerrygold on May 12, 2018 6:46:04 GMT
The league doesn’t matter. So far Galway have only been bench tested. The rubber hits the tar on Sunday. It will be interesting to see how much Galway benefit from having a Tyrone coach. Traditionally they have produced skilful footballers that play open attacking football. Coaches must fit the culture of the team. They brought in Joe Kernan a few years ago and he didn’t achieve much. They are probably the least suited team of all to benefit from an Ulster coach. They will struggle with the black art of being subtly physical, of switching from 100% focus on defence to 100% focus on attack as the game swings and from not having served an apprenticeship by spending a few seasons in division 1 like Monaghan and Donegal. Too many well established Mayo players would have to play well below themselves for Galway to win. All counties struggle with the transition from defense to attack apart from Dublin who are in flux all the time.
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Post by Mickmack on May 12, 2018 11:42:28 GMT
It rained on the day after last years football final and it rained every day after that for 200 days. Imagine how it felt in Mayo. Their league campaign deserved relegation.
Younger players stood up v Donegal in the final game especially the corner back ODonoghue.
By contrast Galway were flying during the winter.
It will take some transformation in Mayo for them to prevail tomorrow.
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Post by kerrygold on May 12, 2018 13:58:31 GMT
We have seen Mayo's form turn on a six pence plenty of times, Write them off at your peril..........!
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Post by thebluepanther on May 12, 2018 18:55:44 GMT
We have seen Mayo's form turn on a six pence plenty of times, Write them off at your peril..........! Question is Can Mayo motivate themselves to play like they did against Kerry in second game last year or Dublin in the final . If they can get close to that form i think they will win. Are Galway this emerging team that really has a chance of Sam and too hungry to let Mayo get in their way or a team that peaked for the league with a style of play that will be shown up tomorrow.
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Post by Mickmack on May 12, 2018 20:32:43 GMT
Mayo remain the team most likely to beat Dublin in a semi final or final.
Whether they get that far and by what means will be interesting.
The sports section of the Irish Times has a good chart today on the championships but i am none the wiser as to how they will decide which Super 8 group the teams coming through the qualifier stages will be in.
If Mayo lose tomorrow they will be in pool of 16 for the qualifiers .... and if they win the 3 qualifiers they will play a losing provincial finalist in Round 4.
There will be four teams classified as Group 4 winners. Two of these qroup 4 winners will be put in super 8 group 1 and the other two will be put into super 8 group 2. How will this be decided?
If Mayo lose tomorrow, they could end up in Kerry super 8 group along with another team who has won the provincial championship..... (i am assuming Kerry will be provincial champs) ..... that other provincial champion could be Tyrone or Galway or Dublin presumably unless some other arrangement kicks in
I assume the super 8s will be on a league basis.... the provincial winners play off first. How will they decide who goes through to the semi final if teams end on the same points..... head to head result or score difference....
Finally, the rugby today was like a poor Ulster championship game with one side winning by four pointed frees to three pointed frees. Do we expect too much from GAA games in terms in quality and entertainment?
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Post by An Bradán on May 12, 2018 20:58:50 GMT
Tremendous win for Laois vs Wexford today with John Sugrue at the helm. Am I right in saying they were down 0-8 to 0-0 at one stage before winning by 6 points in extra time. 2-21 to 1-18. Laois football has been a bit of a basket case for years. Would be great to see the talent in the county united and be consistent for a change. John Sugrue may just be the man to get them working together.
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Post by givehimaball on May 12, 2018 22:01:08 GMT
I assume the super 8s will be on a league basis.... the provincial winners play off first. How will they decide who goes through to the semi final if teams end on the same points..... head to head result or score difference.... Head-to-head if there are just 2 teams on the same points, if there are 3 or more then score difference is used. There will be four teams classified as Group 4 winners. Two of these qroup 4 winners will be put in super 8 group 1 and the other two will be put into super 8 group 2. How will this be decided? I saw Group A will be Munster winners and Connacht winners plus the Ulster loser (or the qualifier who beats them) and the Leinster loser (or the qualifier who beats them) It means Group B would Leinster winners and Ulster winners plus the Munster loser (or the qualifier who beats them) and the Leinster loser (or the qualifier who beats them) This makes sense as it means there is no possibility of a repeat of any of the provincial finals at the Super 8 stage. Tremendous win for Laois vs Wexford today with John Sugrue at the helm. Am I right in saying they were down 0-8 to 0-0 at one stage before winning by 6 points in extra time. 2-21 to 1-18. Laois football has been a bit of a basket case for years. Would be great to see the talent in the county united and be consistent for a change. John Sugrue may just be the man to get them working together. Half-time score was Wexford 1-10 Laois 0-3, so Laois were 10 point down. Laois finally got level when they scored a penalty in the 69th minute. Wexford got a penalty in injury-time but put it over the bar to go back a point ahead. Laois went down the pitch and levelled again from the kickout. Laois got a goal in the 4th minute of extra-time and had the whip hand from there. Good result by Laois tonight but it was far more important for them to get out of the dead zone that it is Division 4. Their opponent's in the next round Westmeath lost their last 2 league games against Offaly and Longford and beat Wexford by 3 points in the league so not a huge jump in standard, and Laois will surely be the side who have the momentum.
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Post by kerrybhoy06 on May 13, 2018 12:26:40 GMT
Tremendous win for Laois vs Wexford today with John Sugrue at the helm. Am I right in saying they were down 0-8 to 0-0 at one stage before winning by 6 points in extra time. 2-21 to 1-18. Laois football has been a bit of a basket case for years. Would be great to see the talent in the county united and be consistent for a change. John Sugrue may just be the man to get them working together. He might be- but I'd say hold your horses a little! They needed an injury time point to stay alive against a team whom they were odds on prior to the game! Westmeath will be a decent test for them and much greater indication of where he is/can take Laois
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Post by kerrygold on May 13, 2018 13:40:45 GMT
Laois should always be beating Wexford & Westmeath!
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Post by kerrybhoy06 on May 13, 2018 14:09:29 GMT
Laois should always be beating Wexford & Westmeath! Based on what? Sure Westmeath have been stronger than Laois for a good few years now, have been in 2 Leinster finals and have beaten everyone of note in Leinster bar Dublin. It'd be a surprise if Laois beat them
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Post by kerrygold on May 13, 2018 14:45:08 GMT
Laois should always be beating Wexford & Westmeath! Based on what? Sure Westmeath have been stronger than Laois for a good few years now, have been in 2 Leinster finals and have beaten everyone of note in Leinster bar Dublin. It'd be a surprise if Laois beat them Tradition of the Leinster championship.
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Post by kerrygold on May 13, 2018 15:00:01 GMT
Huge result for Carlow over louth 2-17 to 12 points.
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