HoganStand GAA Football and Hurling

National Forum

Confess Your Really Unpopular View/Opinion

(Oldest Posts First) - Go To The Latest Post

You need to Login to Post

Kerry can be very physical. Dublin lucky to beat Kerry 2 years ago in A.I final. Foul on K.Donaghy went unpunished(But I am glad they won) Not enough Irish language in GAA circles and clubs. The language is as important if not more so than the games in my opinion. Galway were robbed of double in 2001. Hurlers lost to Tipp in a scandolous display of reffing. Irish media has a "love affair" with the Irish rugby team. galwayford (Galway) - Posts: 2517 - 24/02/2018 21:58:01 2079818 Link
The Tyrone team of the 00s were good but very overrated, never even came close to doing a back to back. Kerry were by far the best team that decade Hill16Army (Dublin) - Posts: 88 - 24/02/2018 22:04:52 2079821 Link
Clare were the best hurling team in the land in 1998. Robbed by whistlers and whingers. ZUL10 (Clare) - Posts: 693 - 24/02/2018 22:19:57 2079828 Link
Replying To realdub: "Yes I am aware of all of that, I am aware that we had to struggle past meath in the 70s and early 80s too. I'm not sure where you're going with all this but I still maintain that I think this Dublin side would have won one or 2 in the 00s." Never said they wouldnt. Dublin team at the moment are one of the greatest teams of all time. They would have won All Irelands in any era because they a truly all time great team. Better then the Tyrone or kerry teams of the 00s. Its not Dublin fault other counties are in the state their in . I could give you 20 reasons why Meath have fallen from the top table and not 1 of those reasons have anything to do with Dublin. You just asked where were teams like Galway Meath Cork kildare Offaly in the 70s. I just showed with stats that they were much stronger. A fact is a fact. There were 4 top division 1 teams in leinster in the 70s. We have only had 1 division team in leinster in the last 12 or 13 years or longer. That is fact. It doesnt diminish Dublin greatness. Again Dublin are a great great team. But if you compare the 90s and 00s to say now their has been a whole group of counties who went from all time highs in that period to lows in this decade eg Meath Cork Down Galway Armagh kildare Derry laois Offaly etc. That is a worrying thread. If it continues and these counties dont improve and others decline . That is an issue. This brillant brave Mayo cannot keep going on ever. Donegal in transition. If they both decline. Well its worrying. Again its nothing to do with Dublin. All these counties have to look at their own and improve internally. Both there is definalty a massive group of strong counties in permanent decline. Hopefully kildare and Galway can make the breakthrough. But it still has been a terrible decade for so many of strong football counties. Thats a fact. Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1067 - 24/02/2018 22:20:49 2079830 Link
Replying To OLLIE: "1) Scrap the current All Ireland Championship and replace it with a three tier championship like it is at club level with Senior (12 teams), Inter (10 teams) and Junior (10 teams). 2) If Louth win a Leinster title in my lifetime I will wear a Meath jersey in the Bull for one night." You may not have been around in '57' but I do know you were around in '10' the last time Louth won Leinster but due to one of the greatest depravities and injustices in the history of the GAA they didn't take home the silverware..... THE_SNAPPER (Louth) - Posts: 2019 - 24/02/2018 22:36:43 2079837 Link
Replying To Furlong1949: "Never said they wouldnt. Dublin team at the moment are one of the greatest teams of all time. They would have won All Irelands in any era because they a truly all time great team. Better then the Tyrone or kerry teams of the 00s. Its not Dublin fault other counties are in the state their in . I could give you 20 reasons why Meath have fallen from the top table and not 1 of those reasons have anything to do with Dublin. You just asked where were teams like Galway Meath Cork kildare Offaly in the 70s. I just showed with stats that they were much stronger. A fact is a fact. There were 4 top division 1 teams in leinster in the 70s. We have only had 1 division team in leinster in the last 12 or 13 years or longer. That is fact. It doesnt diminish Dublin greatness. Again Dublin are a great great team. But if you compare the 90s and 00s to say now their has been a whole group of counties who went from all time highs in that period to lows in this decade eg Meath Cork Down Galway Armagh kildare Derry laois Offaly etc. That is a worrying thread. If it continues and these counties dont improve and others decline . That is an issue. This brillant brave Mayo cannot keep going on ever. Donegal in transition. If they both decline. Well its worrying. Again its nothing to do with Dublin. All these counties have to look at their own and improve internally. Both there is definalty a massive group of strong counties in permanent decline. Hopefully kildare and Galway can make the breakthrough. But it still has been a terrible decade for so many of strong football counties. Thats a fact." Fair enough, well said. I think I was getting confused and that this led from someone saying we would not have won AIs in the 00s. Wasn't you obviously. realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8586 - 24/02/2018 22:46:05 2079843 Link
Replying To Hill16Army: "The Tyrone team of the 00s were good but very overrated, never even came close to doing a back to back. Kerry were by far the best team that decade" Tyrone werent the best team I ever seen. The Dublin team currently is a better team. But that Tyrone team to me was the best drilled best organised team best football machine I ever seen. Those 3 wins over kerry especially in 05 and 08 where titanic struggles between a 3 time All Ireland winners v 5 time All Ireland winner. And while kerry probaly had more better footballers that Tyrone team had kerry in mentally under their thumb. That was a great kerry team, one of the best to come out of the kingdom. But 3 loses to Tyrone would definitely be a black mark if your picking who was better. McMemanin was the best man marker country in mid 00s. Harte Gormley Jordan is as good as a half back line I have ever seen. Cavanagh was the closest player to Jack O Se I ever saw. And the forward line of Dooher McGuigan O Neill Mulligan Cavanan is a good as any in the last 40 years. Mcguigan was the best player maker of the 00s . And only Greg Blaney from Down and Trevor Giles were better playmakers then McGuigan. And of course Cavanan probaly is the greatest forward to come from Ulster since Downs Sean O Neill in 60s. They also had a great rivalry with the neighbours,a brillant 6 time winning Ulster team that won their counties only All Ireland and only national div 1 league title, Armagh. Very few times have border teams reached final eg Meath v Cavan 1952 Offaly v Galway 1971 Kerry v Cork 09 and Tyrone v Armagh in 03. Very rare to have All Ireland contenders on each others doorstep. As a Meathman who has to still listen to Tyrone nonsense about 96. ( Meath had the better team and won more All Ireland in late 90s then Tyrone team . Meath simply had better players Reilly Fay O Connell McDermont Dowd Giles Geraghty B Murphy Ollie Murphy v Cavanan Lawan McBride Dooher. Better players 2 All Ireland Meath late 90d v Tyrone 0). But as I said as a Meathman I still have to say that was a great Tyrone team. One of the best to ever come out of Ulster. Only the Down team of the 60s or the Cavan team of the 40s and 50s were better. Dublin team of this decade is better then that Tyrone team. But I would be certain if that Tyrone team was around now Dublin wouldnt have beaten them as easliy as the cureent Tyrone team. It's impossible to say what that Tyrone team 00s would win if they were in this decade. Its only guesswork, we will never know. But if they were around , I would say battles with this all time great Dublin team would be great games. The 1 back mark though is they never did a two in a row like the othet great Ulster teams eg Down 1960 1961 and Cavan 1947 1948. But they were a great team all the same. Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1067 - 24/02/2018 22:54:03 2079850 Link
Ulster teams are incapable of taking any form of criticism. Soccer is more physical than given credit. Hurling has an problem with fouling that is praised by commentators as letting the game flow. The league is better competition than championship. Irish rugby is completely overrated and gets an easy ride from the media when we've never made it past a 1/4 final in a World Cup as it is essentially only a 8 team competition. LOI clubs don't deserve support as most gaa club grounds are better than theirs. Irish sports fans are mostly bandwagon fans who are event junkies who have no interest in what's going on and only interested in status climbing. Bain (Donegal) - Posts: 470 - 24/02/2018 22:54:47 2079851 Link
Replying To Hill16Army: "The Tyrone team of the 00s were good but very overrated, never even came close to doing a back to back. Kerry were by far the best team that decade" Would agree with this also, played Kerry at very opportunistic times when they were going for a back to back and a three in a row. They were an excellent team but I felt Kerry were a bit better despite the head to heads. I am hopelessly biased of course. Current Dublin team marginally better than both of the above, especially when you get to the subs bench. If they were around back then what battles we would have had! GeniusGerry (Kerry) - Posts: 2105 - 24/02/2018 22:56:58 2079855 Link
Replying To GeniusGerry: "Would agree with this also, played Kerry at very opportunistic times when they were going for a back to back and a three in a row. They were an excellent team but I felt Kerry were a bit better despite the head to heads. I am hopelessly biased of course. Current Dublin team marginally better than both of the above, especially when you get to the subs bench. If they were around back then what battles we would have had!" It was a great kerry team. They had some bad defeats but kept coming back eg Meath 01 Armgh 02 Tyrone 03 05 and 08. Always came back Great forwards like Cooper Donaghy Sullivan Mike Frank Russell Cinneade Fitzgerald. Dara O Se was a colosus at midfield. But definsively some of the greatest defenders ever. Sullivan and Mahony were class. But the two O Se are greats. Tomas was one of the best number 5 to ever play the game. While Marc O Se is one of the best corner backs ever. The ony one I saw that was better in my opinion was Meaths Robbie O Malley. But the best player on that team , the best defender I ever saw. The Paul Mcgrath of gaelic football was Seamus Moyihan. He was like one of those great Italian soccer defenders like Baresi or Maldini. Reading of the game and positional sense second to none. When kerry won Sam in 2000. It was down to him. They had no full back. A problem area so they decided to put Moyihan in full back. It would be like putting lee Keegan in full back on a Mayo team . Keegan would like to attack. Keegan is a great wing back. But full back you need to hold your ground. And Moyihan was more a wing back. Putting him in full back was wasting his abilty. But still he gave an exhibition of full back play that year. And the two finals drawn and replay v Galway in 2000 he kept the greatest forward from Connacht in 50 years , Padraig Joyce under wraps and kerry won Sam. Joyce was the dangerman. And remeber the following year Joyce scored 11 points in All Ireland final . ( He was marked by Mark Reilly in that 01 final when he scored all those points not Darren Fay, Fay took himself of Joyce because for the first time in 6 years a forward had scored 2 points from play v Fay. Fay told Reilly to take him. And before the management noticed Joyce was scoring point after point on Reilly not Fay). I remeber Meath played kerry the following year 2001 in Meath last truly great win in Croker. While the match was one sided, the battle between Gerathy ( Meaths most naturally talented player ever) and Moyihan was some tussle. Moyihan was some player. And also Remeber Pauidi managed that kerry team at start. One of the greatest GAA legends ever. And jack o Connor record at minor under 21 senior is second to none. And Pat O Se was a very shrewd manager also. Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1067 - 24/02/2018 23:21:20 2079864 Link
@furlong yes Seamus Moynihan is my all time favourite player. Any time I ever watched him he was the standout player on the field and he never seemed to have an off day. It was a crime playing him full back but there was nobody else to play there at the time and he was one of these rare players that could play anywhere. He seems to have been strangely almost forgotten, I rarely see his name come up when teams of the decade etc are being debated. GeniusGerry (Kerry) - Posts: 2105 - 24/02/2018 23:49:37 2079874 Link
Replying To Furlong1949: "1 kilkenny wouldnt win an All Ireland for 10 year or more when Cody leaves. Look at how Meath and kerry delined after Dywer and Boylan left. Look at Utd after Ferguson left. 2 Maurice Fitzgerald is overated. Sheedy and Cooper were greater forwards. So where Peter Cavanan Padraig Joyce and Matt Connor better then Maurice Fitzgerald. 3 Kerrys best player in the last 20 years was not Cooper Sullivan O Se. It was Seamus Moyihan. 4 Cyril Farrell is one the greatest manager ever. 3 All Irelands. A double All Ireland. And ended a 60 year famine. Farrell was a better manager then loughnane. And in the top 3 hurling. 5 Tipp hurlers are masssive underachievers. 1 All Ireland in the 70s, 1 All Ireland in the 80s, 1 All Ireland on 90s and 1 All Ireland in the 00s. Compare to kilkennys 13 wins I think in the same period ( might have Cats number wrong). 6 Offaly winning 7 All Irelands in hurling and football in 70s 80s 90s is the greatest achievement of modern gaa . A county Offaly size and stature some achievement. 7 Galway are seen a football superpower. Up to 60s they were. Since then record is poor. No win in Croker in championship in the last 17 years. They didnt win in Croker between 1984 and 1998 also. Havent beaten kerry in 53 years and Dublin in nearly 100 years. 8 Mayo were not good enough to win in 96 or 97. If they won in 96 it would have been worst set of forwards ever to win All Ireland compared to Meath 6 All star winning forwards eg Geraghty Giles O Murphy B Murphy E Kelly T Dowd v Casey Fiinnery Horan. 9 Dublin have never won a hurling All Ireland. Only 2 men born and reared in Dublin have winner medals. 7 wins with country lads from outside Dublin. 14 of their football wins r the same. 10 Jim Galvin is overcriticed and underated. Who cares if he doesnt show emotion. He is the nost sucessful Dublin manager ever. 11 Tyrone were the team of the noughties. 3 wins v kerry OOs. 12 Boylan was let go to soon. He wanted 3 years in 2006. If he stayed he would have won his 5th All Ireland in 2010. Meath had the forwards eg Geraghty Two Brays P Byrne . Young forwards eg Reilly O Rourke Sheridan Farrell C Ward. 13 Mick lyons was a better full back then Darren Fay. Two of the greatest full backs but Lyons was better. 14 Meath team of 96 is the greatest young team of last 35 years with 7 under 21 winning Sam . Only second to kerry 1975 young winning team as the best young team ever. 15 DJ Carey was overated. Eddie keher was better. 16 Tony Doran of Wexford the greatest full forward in hurling history. 17 kerry have never won a handy All Ireland . Only in 1 year they did. In 97 they beat Clare Cavan and Mayo. Only handy All Ireland kerry have won. 18 Rubgy is doing serious damage to GAA. Losing players to rugby by the trunkload. 19 This is a poor era for football. Compared 90s and 00s when you had great Meath Cork Down Derry Donegal Galway kildare Mayo Tyrone and Armagh Dublin teams. Now you have Dublin Donegal and Mayo. 20 It was good for the GAA Dublin won in 2011. 16 years without reaching a final for the Dubs not good for Dublin and the GAA. 21 Mayo will win an All Ireland in the next ten years. I think its inevitable. Some celebrations in Castlebar when they do." Still reckon mayo were a better team than Meath in 1996 we threw it away. Spoddgy (Mayo) - Posts: 660 - 24/02/2018 23:54:30 2079875 Link
1. The majority of gaels these days don't actually believe or partake in the ethos of the GAA that they sign up to when becoming members. 2. The CPA is doing more damage to club level in the GAA as they are enforcing the "them" versus "us" mentality that is developing around the association. The GAA is the club players association already it always has been. The pr that the whole cpa thing is creating is that we are being mistreated by the big bad Croke Park is nonsense. Any club member can put in the effort and create a motion that can end up at Congress for the country to vote on but most club members won't read a 5 page document. That's for 'them' to look after WheresDeBallBag (Louth) - Posts: 458 - 25/02/2018 00:06:52 2079878 Link
Replying To Furlong1949: "1 kilkenny wouldnt win an All Ireland for 10 year or more when Cody leaves. Look at how Meath and kerry delined after Dywer and Boylan left. Look at Utd after Ferguson left. 2 Maurice Fitzgerald is overated. Sheedy and Cooper were greater forwards. So where Peter Cavanan Padraig Joyce and Matt Connor better then Maurice Fitzgerald. 3 Kerrys best player in the last 20 years was not Cooper Sullivan O Se. It was Seamus Moyihan. 4 Cyril Farrell is one the greatest manager ever. 3 All Irelands. A double All Ireland. And ended a 60 year famine. Farrell was a better manager then loughnane. And in the top 3 hurling. 5 Tipp hurlers are masssive underachievers. 1 All Ireland in the 70s, 1 All Ireland in the 80s, 1 All Ireland on 90s and 1 All Ireland in the 00s. Compare to kilkennys 13 wins I think in the same period ( might have Cats number wrong). 6 Offaly winning 7 All Irelands in hurling and football in 70s 80s 90s is the greatest achievement of modern gaa . A county Offaly size and stature some achievement. 7 Galway are seen a football superpower. Up to 60s they were. Since then record is poor. No win in Croker in championship in the last 17 years. They didnt win in Croker between 1984 and 1998 also. Havent beaten kerry in 53 years and Dublin in nearly 100 years. 8 Mayo were not good enough to win in 96 or 97. If they won in 96 it would have been worst set of forwards ever to win All Ireland compared to Meath 6 All star winning forwards eg Geraghty Giles O Murphy B Murphy E Kelly T Dowd v Casey Fiinnery Horan. 9 Dublin have never won a hurling All Ireland. Only 2 men born and reared in Dublin have winner medals. 7 wins with country lads from outside Dublin. 14 of their football wins r the same. 10 Jim Galvin is overcriticed and underated. Who cares if he doesnt show emotion. He is the nost sucessful Dublin manager ever. 11 Tyrone were the team of the noughties. 3 wins v kerry OOs. 12 Boylan was let go to soon. He wanted 3 years in 2006. If he stayed he would have won his 5th All Ireland in 2010. Meath had the forwards eg Geraghty Two Brays P Byrne . Young forwards eg Reilly O Rourke Sheridan Farrell C Ward. 13 Mick lyons was a better full back then Darren Fay. Two of the greatest full backs but Lyons was better. 14 Meath team of 96 is the greatest young team of last 35 years with 7 under 21 winning Sam . Only second to kerry 1975 young winning team as the best young team ever. 15 DJ Carey was overated. Eddie keher was better. 16 Tony Doran of Wexford the greatest full forward in hurling history. 17 kerry have never won a handy All Ireland . Only in 1 year they did. In 97 they beat Clare Cavan and Mayo. Only handy All Ireland kerry have won. 18 Rubgy is doing serious damage to GAA. Losing players to rugby by the trunkload. 19 This is a poor era for football. Compared 90s and 00s when you had great Meath Cork Down Derry Donegal Galway kildare Mayo Tyrone and Armagh Dublin teams. Now you have Dublin Donegal and Mayo. 20 It was good for the GAA Dublin won in 2011. 16 years without reaching a final for the Dubs not good for Dublin and the GAA. 21 Mayo will win an All Ireland in the next ten years. I think its inevitable. Some celebrations in Castlebar when they do." You won't be the first or the last to say Tipp have underachieved since the 60s. You could have acknowledged that we have won 2 in this decade though. Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 25/02/2018 03:02:03 2079894 Link
1 - Paul Finlay is the most naturally gifted and brilliant footballer ever 2 - The drawn game of the 2013 hurling final was rubbish Adler (Monaghan) - Posts: 754 - 25/02/2018 04:27:31 2079896 Link
Replying To essmac: "I hate free kicks out of the hand. They're easier to do than the kick off the ground. The justification, that they 'speed up the game', is not worth the loss of the 'high noon' drama, the test of nerve and the test of pure skill that is a good old-fashioned free off the ground. And every player that takes a kick out of the hand always steals a few yards and always straightens the angle. So it's also basically legalised cheating. If you just want to pass the ball, you should have the option out of the hand, but if you're going for the score, put the ball down, take a few steps back, let the crowd go silent, scowl at the target, step up and bang it over. The mark of a real player. Scoring out of the hand is a dull cop out." Absolute nonsense. You're putting the 'fouled' player at a disadvantage. Obviously it's easier to kick from the hands so if a team doesnt have a good off the ground kicker then the opposition will keep fouling every time they are within shooting range. JamsieMac (Cavan) - Posts: 481 - 25/02/2018 06:08:42 2079898 Link
'The league is better than the championship' is a load of nonsense. How can a competition that nobody cares about winning be better than the only competition that matters. Its like saying challenge matches are better than competitive matches. ZUL10 (Clare) - Posts: 693 - 25/02/2018 10:24:56 2079922 Link
Replying To THE_SNAPPER: "You may not have been around in '57' but I do know you were around in '10' the last time Louth won Leinster but due to one of the greatest depravities and injustices in the history of the GAA they didn't take home the silverware....." Ah The Snapper. Long time no hear. How is she cutting? Louth's heaven is 57. An Lu Abu! OLLIE (Louth) - Posts: 12224 - 25/02/2018 12:05:29 2079947 Link
Replying To ZUL10: "Clare were the best hurling team in the land in 1998. Robbed by whistlers and whingers." Offaly were robbed of victory the first day. Phantom free given to Clare in injury time when no foul happened. I do have sympathy for the replay been forced and the Colin Lynch affair. Very gracious people after the third game when it would have been very easy to be bitter tonorio (Offaly) - Posts: 608 - 25/02/2018 12:48:01 2079959 Link
Replying To ZUL10: "'The league is better than the championship' is a load of nonsense. How can a competition that nobody cares about winning be better than the only competition that matters. Its like saying challenge matches are better than competitive matches." Ye're both right! Some great games in league and in championship (after backdoor is shut), do-or-die games for promotion or avoiding relegation or to stay in the championship. I think they should do away with division finals, avoids extra games , top 2 promoted, bottom 2 relegated and Division 1 winners win the league. Those finals often seem to disadvantage division finalists playing preliminary round in Ulster. Maybe eventually they could have the league and championship run concurrently in better weather to watch league games. Would give players more incentive to stick around during spring and summer. GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7337 - 25/02/2018 13:12:54 2079965 Link