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Great thread this for the begrudgers. Ulster have 4 teams in the top 10 in the country and there is a legitimate claim that they hold ranks 4,5,6 and 7, Galway posters have a genuine claim for 7. Was there ever more than 4 Ulster teams in the top 10 ever. Was at the Kildare v Galway game and seen the standard first hand. Kildare have a lot to work on, if a certain couple of defenders got injured they would be wide open. They waltzed through Div 2 and got promoted with a game to spare. Take out Dublin and Leinster is competitive at a much lower standard. mhunicean_abu (Monaghan) - Posts: 1044 - 17/04/2017 21:44:46 1980247 Link 1 |
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I'd have to agree with you Fridge. Cavan have been plucky losers in the Ulster Championship on many the occasion over the last 15-20 years against teams at the top of the game. But ultimately it counted for nothing. We weren't good enough when it mattered and despite what some of the scorelines might say we were a distant second and stuck in the doldrums. We've improved immeasurably but still off the pace.
Hardtimes (Cavan) - Posts: 1056 - 17/04/2017 22:04:31 1980257 Link 1 |
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Well the 5 games where teams got within 3 points obviously.
uibhfhaili1986 (Offaly) - Posts: 1296 - 17/04/2017 22:30:22 1980266 Link 0 |
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Wel why say it was competitive when posters have proved you incorrect. You clearly have a chip on your shoulder regarding the Ulster championship. "Dogged Shite" I believe was your quote. Very very sad
The_Fridge (Tyrone) - Posts: 2088 - 17/04/2017 23:06:10 1980276 Link 3 |
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Ulster is very competitive and Dublin would have problems there but not to the same extent in their home town, CP. In Leinster they have no competition over the last few years unfortunately. Most Southern teams (at their best ) have a poor record going North. browncows (Meath) - Posts: 2342 - 18/04/2017 01:16:50 1980295 Link 1 |
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Dogged shite is an accurate description in my opinion. You know that lots of people don't enjoy the ulster championship because of all the dogged football played in it and maybe all these people are correct in their criticism rather than having a chip on their shoulder.if anything it's people from ulster who have the chip on their shoulder as they don't seem to be able to take legitimate criticism regarding the ulster championship and seem to revert to the ridiculous "southern bias" argument. Did you ever think that maybe all the criticisms of Ulster Football and the way it is played is actually justified . uibhfhaili1986 (Offaly) - Posts: 1296 - 18/04/2017 08:27:58 1980314 Link 0 |
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Ulster football is in good shape and certainly in better shape than in the 1970's and 1980's. Since 1970 Dublin (9) and Kerry (16) are the two main winners of All-Ireland's but after that teams that emerge and win titles find it very hard to keep at the very top. I started watching football when Offaly won back to back titles and watched Meath, Galway and Cork win titles but they find it very hard to stay at the top table. Ulster has provided Tyrone, Down, Donegal, Derry and Armagh as winners in my time and there is no doubt the Ulster Championship contributed to this with the competiveness of the games and players from Derry for example realising that the players of Down were no better than them. At the start of 2000 Ulster teams benefited from players winning with their schools, universities and this is not happening now. It not helping also that Down 1994, Derry 1998, Armagh 2008 have went so long without winning Ulster. The winning of Ulster titles after a 20 year gap certainly helped Donegal progress to the next level. Leaving Ulster aside Meath were the best team I saw outside Kerry/Dublin and under Boylan they did manage to keep in the top tier for a long period of time. Outside Kerry/Dublin I can only see Mayo, Tyrone or Donegal winning the All-Ireland. Byanthon (Tyrone) - Posts: 1780 - 18/04/2017 09:26:29 1980326 Link 1 |
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If Ollie's list of results above is right then they won 6 games by 1 score or less and drew another. They won another 4 games by 2 scores or less and won 6 games by a bigger score than that. Would be good to get back to talking about Ulster football though. 1 minor this decade, 1 u21, and 1 senior All-Ireland is a disappointing return with so many great footballing counties. At u21 it is 2 All-Irelands in 15 years which is amazing really. Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 18/04/2017 09:30:24 1980328 Link 0 |
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Just as many hate watching the Leinster championship with Dublin winning it so easily every year. All championships have poor games and many many Leinster teams play the exact same system as Ulster teams. Kildare were criticised last year for defensive tactics, Westmeath put 14 behind the ball and still got hammered by Dublin. There were games in Ulster that were high scoring last year, the two Tyrone vs Cavan games had 8 odd goals over the two games. I think most people would prefer to watch close games than games that are over at half time. The_Fridge (Tyrone) - Posts: 2088 - 18/04/2017 09:45:39 1980331 Link 0 |
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To be fair Kerry have dominated winning 3 in a row at minor and Dublin winning 4 of 6 senior. They have a stranglehold at the minute.
The_Fridge (Tyrone) - Posts: 2088 - 18/04/2017 09:53:19 1980336 Link 0 |
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Donegal and Tyrone are a match for anyone on their day, two fantastic teams ulster83 (Tyrone) - Posts: 114 - 18/04/2017 09:54:21 1980337 Link 1 |
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Only seeing this post now , Just a random thought one which I believe Benny Coulter torched on that he would hate to be starting out now as the collective has taken over from the individual, is it a case that flair and individuality is suffering unless you buy into the teams collective aim , swarm defence etc Now you can say someone like Murphy and McManus two outstanding individuals seem able to shine whilst also being team players, but in their formative years they most likely grew up in a more expansive environment. Damothedub (Dublin) - Posts: 5193 - 18/04/2017 11:11:39 1980366 Link 0 |
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You can't on the one hand criticise Leinster counties for not being competitive with Dublin and on the other hand say Ulster teams have only won 3 of the 30 national titles available this decade because Dublin and Kerry are very strong. Ulster minor sides had a great record in the 00's but it's been disappointing since at all levels.
Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 18/04/2017 11:25:06 1980373 Link 0 |
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There haven't been a host of finalists from Ulster either in any of the grades, particularly the last 5 years. IMO Ulster football is currently doing worse than it was in the 90s and 2000s. It's not all doom and gloom but could it be doing better. I think so. Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4207 - 18/04/2017 12:49:13 1980413 Link 0 |
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I really don't understand this thread. Ulster football is fine. They have four very good teams in Donegal, Monaghan, Tyrone and Cavan. Fermanagh are very impressive, especially considering their playing population. Derry, Armagh and Down are just struggling to match the great teams of the past at the moment but these things are cyclical. Antrim is one county in Ulster that really struggles. Lots of more counties struggling badly in other provinces including my own. HighKings (Meath) - Posts: 271 - 18/04/2017 15:41:12 1980483 Link 0 |
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I think Ulster should be doing better. It's a hugely football dominated province with large population counties (that's even taking into account the unionist population). Counties like Armagh, Derry and Down are really struggling for their size. Ulster teams are not performing at underage over the last 5 years compared to the previous 20. They'd a poor enough championship across the board last year. As an aside. Cavan really seems like the most overrated team in Ireland right now. Their reputation seems to be coming from their promotion to division 1 last season. I think people are really overweighting the league here. They went up on point difference in a really tight division, they haven't done a whole lot in championship in the last 5 years (their recent quarterfinal appearance owed a hell of a lot to getting London in a 4th round qualifier). Ulster teams in general seem a bit overrated compared to their championship form of recent years. Seems to be people pay a lot of attention to the league and the county's reputation. Ulster's not getting teams to National finals at any level. There's no crisis but as a Meath man you'll know that the rot can set in dramatically if not sorted early. Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4207 - 18/04/2017 16:58:14 1980519 Link 1 |
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They didn't go up on points difference last year, Cavan finished on 10 pts, Galway finished in 3rd place on 9. Not that it matters much. FoolsGold (Cavan) - Posts: 2763 - 18/04/2017 19:35:33 1980559 Link 0 |
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Sorry about that, I should have checked. I agree Antrim should be doing better. I do still think a lot of Ulster teams are overrated because of the league. The defensive football definitely is more effective in bad weather on tighter pitches than it would be in Croker. If Ulster teams are to get back to where they were they need to be able to be more proactive in their play. Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4207 - 18/04/2017 20:42:56 1980569 Link 1 |
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Not sure if I agree with you Whammo, lots of attacking teams flop in Championship too. Cream comes to the top though and the current top 6 will be there or thereabouts come the quarters bar the odd upset. As for the rest it's really a lucky dip IMO, there's damn all between teams from 7-20 and probably further out. I don't think we should read too much into the League in that respect, the margins are very fine.
Hardtimes (Cavan) - Posts: 1056 - 18/04/2017 21:20:57 1980591 Link 0 |
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you're entitled to your opinion on Ulster football, but trying to argue that Leinster is competitive is frankly ridiculous. Its like saying the SPL is competitive because Rangers used to match Celtic a few years back. I don't think anybody said anything about 'Ulster bias' but its hard to value your opinion on Ulster when you seem to be delusional about Leinster.
SaffronDon (Antrim) - Posts: 2385 - 18/04/2017 21:24:06 1980592 Link 0 |