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Leinster football championship

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Replying To TheUsername: "I think we are witnessing the starting of a new faith here. I can understand the sentiment Dublin give Meath a national profile. Not being afraid of them a sense of being, Hope of Beating Dublin a sense of meaning. Can I point something out though, all your reactions show classic defense mechanisims, denial, rationalisation, projection/sublimination (Kildare), regression to the good old days. I think the thing you guys are defensive about is the reality Dublin have overtaken to Meath to such an extent that beating Dublin is an achievement, you have all just written four pages of it. Do you think Dublin sit around talking about beating Meath or have even thought about them as an entity. If your not afraid of Dublin, why have you written five pages about beating Dublin, surely you should be talking about winning All Ireland and not Being afraid of Dublin as an achievement. That's the difference in the winning mentality Dublins minds are on the third Sunday in Sep. Meath is on not being afraid to beat Dublin. That my friends is why you have no chance in getting close to Dublin, your grandkids might see it." its not awfully yearng ago when Dublin were "trying" to beat Meath it would be the pinacle of their year and it would take so much out of them that they would fall short later in the year...1986..1991....1992..1993..1994...I actually do admire the sheer class and invincibility of this current Dublin team..but their day will end and someone else will take up the mantle..might not be my own Offaly..maybe Kildare or Meath...it goes in cycles.... Fairplayalways (Offaly) - Posts: 1034 - 19/04/2017 21:56:12 1980938 Link
As a Meath man I feel fairly embarrassed looking at this thread. There is not a snowballs chance in hell we beat Dublin this year. I love Andy Mc and think we are far better this year. But this Meath team are 1 million percent afraid of Dublin. 1 person on this Meath team has been on a team that beat Dublin at senior. And at underage I'd say is about 5. We beat ye well at minor last year which is a good start but we need a lot more underage to have even a half a chance. Meath will not be Dublin for atleast 3 years, just hope the gap will close. Lot of Meath posters on here are living from an era where beating Dublin was atleast a 50 % chance every time. I went to my first game in 04, All i have ever known is being beat by Dublin (1 exception) and even worse being hammered lately (last 3 defeates 7,16 and 10 points). So to summarise all the Meath posers here need to calm down and let Andy does his work LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1458 - 19/04/2017 22:50:49 1980945 Link
Replying To Fairplayalways: "its not awfully yearng ago when Dublin were "trying" to beat Meath it would be the pinacle of their year and it would take so much out of them that they would fall short later in the year...1986..1991....1992..1993..1994...I actually do admire the sheer class and invincibility of this current Dublin team..but their day will end and someone else will take up the mantle..might not be my own Offaly..maybe Kildare or Meath...it goes in cycles...." Excellent post very fair and true . Lyons2000 (Meath) - Posts: 101 - 19/04/2017 22:54:34 1980947 Link
Replying To Fairplayalways: "its not awfully yearng ago when Dublin were "trying" to beat Meath it would be the pinacle of their year and it would take so much out of them that they would fall short later in the year...1986..1991....1992..1993..1994...I actually do admire the sheer class and invincibility of this current Dublin team..but their day will end and someone else will take up the mantle..might not be my own Offaly..maybe Kildare or Meath...it goes in cycles...." I would have disagree with that mate, it's a disappointing year for Dublin to beat Meath and win the Leinster and that's it, not just now but always. I don't consider doing either as a marker of great success. That's just the expectation of the county I'm from in terms of history, traditition and success. I just find it interesting that others are marking their success as not being afraid of Dublin, that's not success, in real terms. Dublin posters find this thread hillarous, I don't mean to knock by that, but lads have spent four pages talking about not being afraid to play a game of football against Dublin, the irony is hilarious. I'm not trying to arrogant here, but lads are puffing out their chests, talking about their people, culture, having no fear and their measure is success in playing 15 vs 15 vs Dublin. It's a sad state of affairs for these poor counties. Your right of course everything is cyclical Dublin won't win AI after AI year after year, we've sowed a lot these years, GAA has never been organised or as popular on both sides of the city before, it's in a good spot, what that means for the future is anyone's guess, I'm confident we are in a good spot and sure we've always done well in Leinster. TheUsername (Dublin) - Posts: 4445 - 19/04/2017 23:46:38 1980971 Link
Replying To TheUsername: "I would have disagree with that mate, it's a disappointing year for Dublin to beat Meath and win the Leinster and that's it, not just now but always. I don't consider doing either as a marker of great success. That's just the expectation of the county I'm from in terms of history, traditition and success. I just find it interesting that others are marking their success as not being afraid of Dublin, that's not success, in real terms. Dublin posters find this thread hillarous, I don't mean to knock by that, but lads have spent four pages talking about not being afraid to play a game of football against Dublin, the irony is hilarious. I'm not trying to arrogant here, but lads are puffing out their chests, talking about their people, culture, having no fear and their measure is success in playing 15 vs 15 vs Dublin. It's a sad state of affairs for these poor counties. Your right of course everything is cyclical Dublin won't win AI after AI year after year, we've sowed a lot these years, GAA has never been organised or as popular on both sides of the city before, it's in a good spot, what that means for the future is anyone's guess, I'm confident we are in a good spot and sure we've always done well in Leinster." I know that beating Meath (or Offaly in 1980's) was not your ultimate goal and when achieved ye didnt bother with rest of championship, what I am saying is maybe psychologicaly maybe after beating Meath in particular after Offaly went into decline, Dublin always seemed to come up short in the years I outlined above when they would have been favourites most of them years particularly in early 1990's when the won the League etc..Dublin have a fine base now thats true, but have ferocious backing too in AIG or whoever it is sponsors them now...Carroll Meats and a 5 figure sum not more than 40K I am led to believe) is Offalys sponsorship..no fancy "ambasadors" for this that or the other appearing in suit of clothes for many counties outside Dublin in football and Kilkenny/Tipp in hurling....getting into the bank now or teaching/Gardai are the"good jobs" for most ordinary counties which is many light years behind the big guns whom are going around promoting (no not sales men now) companies in the financial sectors etc...no such joy in mid or west/northwest/midwest...anyway thats gone off the topic but relevant to Dublin being and remaining at the top.. Fairplayalways (Offaly) - Posts: 1034 - 20/04/2017 00:53:55 1980981 Link
For most part of my long and wonderful life i always was afraid of Dublin...no matter how good of a Meath team we had ! 1999 leinster final we played Dublin ,it was probably one of the worst Dublin teams ever..but i was still afraid of Dublin even when little Dessie Farrell got injured in the first half,we bet Dublin that day and September we were All Ireland champions ! Its only the last few years i wasn't really afraid of Dublin ...no reason to be afraid if you already know the outcome ! what was that saying Bruce lee would say ? Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak......or maybe it was Mr. Miyagi :) This year i am starting to fear Dublin again :) One of the things about every great team when you know things are coming to a end its the come backs their the killer ! danielson.. WhyTheLongFace (Meath) - Posts: 876 - 20/04/2017 03:19:28 1981002 Link
Replying To Fairplayalways: "I know that beating Meath (or Offaly in 1980's) was not your ultimate goal and when achieved ye didnt bother with rest of championship, what I am saying is maybe psychologicaly maybe after beating Meath in particular after Offaly went into decline, Dublin always seemed to come up short in the years I outlined above when they would have been favourites most of them years particularly in early 1990's when the won the League etc..Dublin have a fine base now thats true, but have ferocious backing too in AIG or whoever it is sponsors them now...Carroll Meats and a 5 figure sum not more than 40K I am led to believe) is Offalys sponsorship..no fancy "ambasadors" for this that or the other appearing in suit of clothes for many counties outside Dublin in football and Kilkenny/Tipp in hurling....getting into the bank now or teaching/Gardai are the"good jobs" for most ordinary counties which is many light years behind the big guns whom are going around promoting (no not sales men now) companies in the financial sectors etc...no such joy in mid or west/northwest/midwest...anyway thats gone off the topic but relevant to Dublin being and remaining at the top.." Its an argument certainly mate, I look on the years of the 90's and 00's as years of massive wasted opportunity. To be honest and this is personal opinion I don't put it down to having played Meath or anyone else. Id say the vast majority of all Ireland wins and we have a few, would have Meath in the beaten column. I put it down to Dublin's response to pressure and expectations in those years. There was a huge hype around those teams even more so then now and in those days that transferred to the players and they largely buckled in my opinion. It reminds me of how it is for Mayo now and this huge unattainable goal of winning an ALL Ireland. Dublin over those years struggled with that pressure and it counted in many of the big games in that era, semi finals and finals. Meath had some good teams around that time so did Loais, Kildare and Westmeath, defeat by any of them was a failure on our behalf, but equally, beating any of them and winning a Leinster fell short of an ALL Ireland which was the ultimate goal and as such was a bad season. We had many bad seasons in those years. Your right on the sponsorship etc, it helps to improve conditions of course it does, personally I don't believe it makes players quality players. I think Dublin are at the pinnacle in terms of commercial and merchandising revenue, which is hardly surprising as its a huge market, so if funds can be self generated by a county I don't see why they cant be used organically. I do think it becoming an increasing factor in football though I think you will find Kerry and Mayo and other top teams are likely to have stronger sponsorship deals than other counties as well. So I suppose the debate is wider because there are many haves and many have not's and where do you start and where do you stop. A broader question would be would a generation of say Tyrone, Armagh and Meath when they were winning All Irelands and receiving what I imagine would be low sponsorship deals still win all Irelands? I think they probably would in all honesty. TheUsername (Dublin) - Posts: 4445 - 20/04/2017 10:26:13 1981045 Link
Replying To WhyTheLongFace: "For most part of my long and wonderful life i always was afraid of Dublin...no matter how good of a Meath team we had ! 1999 leinster final we played Dublin ,it was probably one of the worst Dublin teams ever..but i was still afraid of Dublin even when little Dessie Farrell got injured in the first half,we bet Dublin that day and September we were All Ireland champions ! Its only the last few years i wasn't really afraid of Dublin ...no reason to be afraid if you already know the outcome ! what was that saying Bruce lee would say ? Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak......or maybe it was Mr. Miyagi :) This year i am starting to fear Dublin again :) One of the things about every great team when you know things are coming to a end its the come backs their the killer ! danielson.." My sentiments exactly, like a phoenix rising from the ashes :) royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 20/04/2017 12:17:14 1981092 Link
Too much talk of cycles, Dublin aren't going anywhere. Dublin have their house in order, a 2nd or even 3rd strength team won the O'Byrne Cup and that was without any of the u21's starting, I realise Basquel come on as a sub. At minor level they have competition but at u21's Dublin are dominating in Leinster and are ahead of everyone else in player progression from minor level to u21's. Whether that's down to money or access to better coaches or something else I really don't know. Meath have had a better league campaign but we won't know where their really at the championship. Meath have had very little underage success only making one Leinster U21 final in the last 15 years and they didn't win that. There's only so much a good manager can do, just not sure there's the talent coming through to turn Meath into genuine All Ireland challengers. Looking back over the last 25 years the majority of counties that have won an All Ireland or gone close like Mayo have had their team backboned by a successful u21 team. As for Kildare they've had a great league campaign and have done well at U21 level in recent years and they probably have the youngest team in the country but its no realistic to get close to Dublin this summer although another 12 months down the line they could be in a far better place. TheWestIsAwake (UK) - Posts: 529 - 20/04/2017 14:01:52 1981147 Link
Replying To TheWestIsAwake: "Too much talk of cycles, Dublin aren't going anywhere. Dublin have their house in order, a 2nd or even 3rd strength team won the O'Byrne Cup and that was without any of the u21's starting, I realise Basquel come on as a sub. At minor level they have competition but at u21's Dublin are dominating in Leinster and are ahead of everyone else in player progression from minor level to u21's. Whether that's down to money or access to better coaches or something else I really don't know. Meath have had a better league campaign but we won't know where their really at the championship. Meath have had very little underage success only making one Leinster U21 final in the last 15 years and they didn't win that. There's only so much a good manager can do, just not sure there's the talent coming through to turn Meath into genuine All Ireland challengers. Looking back over the last 25 years the majority of counties that have won an All Ireland or gone close like Mayo have had their team backboned by a successful u21 team. As for Kildare they've had a great league campaign and have done well at U21 level in recent years and they probably have the youngest team in the country but its no realistic to get close to Dublin this summer although another 12 months down the line they could be in a far better place." On paper Kildare should be better placed to give Dublin a challenge over the next few years because they have performed better at underage levels in recent years and they got promoted to Div1 this year. Meath on the other hand haven't won a minor leinster since 08, an U21 Leinster since 01, we missed out on promotion this year and have gone from one senior football championship disaster to another over the last few seasons. So logic and evidence dictates that if it will be anyone in Leinster then it should be Kildare, but football is a funny aul game and you just never know. Positives for Meath are, we do have a good manager in place, we seemed to make good progress in the league (even if we did miss promotion), our underage structures are improving and we've made recent attempts to change the Meath championship (which badly needs changing, as it's a poor structure and doesn't help our players when they reach intercounty level). Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 20/04/2017 18:38:13 1981238 Link
meath ahead by 10 at half time this afternoon against the Dubs... lost by two. Looks like the 'never know when they're beaten' attitude that have served the meath so well is rubbing off on the dubs. waynoI (Dublin) - Posts: 13650 - 22/04/2017 16:52:11 1981690 Link
Replying To waynoI: "contenders.. 1.Dublin .... That's it realistically. Pointless having a thread even discussing it if we are all being honest. There is nothing to discuss. Nobody good enough to beat us in the province even if others are progressing" Just wondering Wayne me auld pal, do you still feel as confident? Dubs are not what they were and both Meath and Kildare have their sights set not only on competing with Dublin but beating them. Very interesting province this year royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 07/06/2017 13:49:05 1996447 Link
Replying To royaldunne: "Just wondering Wayne me auld pal, do you still feel as confident? Dubs are not what they were and both Meath and Kildare have their sights set not only on competing with Dublin but beating them. Very interesting province this year" While Dublin may have gone back a bit, its still to early to say if Meath or Kildare have improved enough to beat them. But I agree makes for a more interesting provence that's for sure. superbluedub (Dublin) - Posts: 2837 - 07/06/2017 14:18:30 1996467 Link
Whats happened to make people think Dublin have gone back? Lost by a point to the second best team and didn't score a goal against Carlow (but still were comfortable). Not exactly the form that would have me feeling any more confident. RoyalBadger (Meath) - Posts: 571 - 07/06/2017 14:34:23 1996485 Link
Replying To royaldunne: "Just wondering Wayne me auld pal, do you still feel as confident? Dubs are not what they were and both Meath and Kildare have their sights set not only on competing with Dublin but beating them. Very interesting province this year" Not at All, Dublin could rest another one or two key forwards and still have too much for Meath or Kildare. Marse (Dublin) - Posts: 217 - 07/06/2017 14:34:24 1996486 Link
Probably a year too early for Kildare, the team is still developing plus missing a couple of useful lads. Meath, just can't see them beating Dublin either. Whoever wins between Meath or Kildare should be well tuned up to give the Dubs a game. It's about time the gap started closing. kildare73 (Kildare) - Posts: 854 - 07/06/2017 15:04:45 1996509 Link
I think some of my fellow Meath fans on here are getting way too excited after the Louth match. We played reasonably well but we're still miles off Dublin and we have very little coming true at underage. Dublin have a lot of young lads waiting to burst onto the scene. I wouldn't read anything into Dublin's performance against Carlow, it was a no-win situation for them. I think some team will be on the receiving end of a bad hammering from Dublin this year as they'll want to send out a statement that they're still the best and I have the feeling it'll be the winner of the Meath v Kildare game. HighKings (Meath) - Posts: 271 - 07/06/2017 17:28:03 1996585 Link
Nothing has changed to suggest either Meath/Kildare have closed the wide gap between themselves and Dublin. Both had good wins on Sunday but opposition was not great. I do feel they are both moving in right direction and will soon challange for Leinster title. seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2142 - 07/06/2017 20:32:52 1996660 Link
The Leinster final should be closer this year, I genuinely believe that. Looking at the other side I think Kildare look that bit better, but that game could take on a life of its own. realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8591 - 07/06/2017 20:59:27 1996674 Link
Replying To royaldunne: "Just wondering Wayne me auld pal, do you still feel as confident? Dubs are not what they were and both Meath and Kildare have their sights set not only on competing with Dublin but beating them. Very interesting province this year" yep still feel as confident. Don't get why meath scoring 0-27 against a team who played d3 football in the spring would have me sweatinh the kildare v meath game is essentially a case of who wants to be runners up in leinster more in my opinion? sound disrespectful? don't care .. not gonna blow smoke up your backsides, we are still miles and mileshe ahead of both. you lads still haven't played anyone of note.. getting carried away cause of big scores against Fermanagh, Clare and Louth. waynoI (Dublin) - Posts: 13650 - 08/06/2017 07:29:44 1996751 Link