Replying To runnerin:  "Really hope I'm wrong but can't see Meath in the mix to go up especially after the OB Cup where we couldn't beat Dublin 3rd string who Westmeath beat handily enough. Can't see past Donegal and Kildare for promotion"

Replying To royaldunne:  "But Kildare didn't even get to semis. Using ur logic they heading for relegation.
Never read anything into games in early January."

Replying To Sweetspot:  "Westmeath beat a Kildare second string team so that's not a very fair or valid point, but Kildare got promoted in 2017 after losing to Dublin's thirds, so in that way, you're right, to base league predictions off January games entirely would be wrong, but they can be indicators."

Replying To royaldunne:  "But Kildare didn't even get to semis. Using ur logic they heading for relegation.
Never read anything into games in early January."

Replying To runnerin:  "I'm also using last year's championship as a marker for this year the point I was making whether it's January or not Meath could not beat a Dublin team with 32 of their squad in Miami where we had 8/9 of our 1st team out if you read the dub supporters they reckon 1 or 2 of those lads is the very most that would make it onto the dub squad for the comkng year that to me doesn't bode well but like I said I really hope I'm wrong"

Replying To runnerin:  "I'm also using last year's championship as a marker for this year the point I was making whether it's January or not Meath could not beat a Dublin team with 32 of their squad in Miami where we had 8/9 of our 1st team out if you read the dub supporters they reckon 1 or 2 of those lads is the very most that would make it onto the dub squad for the comkng year that to me doesn't bode well but like I said I really hope I'm wrong"

Replying To royaldunne:  "Time will tell. Let's see what happens Sunday."

Replying To lilywhite1:  "Between injuries and suspension and possible club commitments Kildare will have a weakened team out next weekend against Armagh. Going to be a difficult one to win with Armagh strengthened by the return of three key players.
I didn't realise that sendings off in our last Super 8 game against Kerry applied to the first game of the league and not the championship"

Replying To lilywhite1:  "The constant thumbing down of royaldunne's comments on this forum is ridiculous. We know he can be controversial. So what he's entitled to his opinion. But even when he makes innocuous comments it's still the same. The lazy option is to thumb him down rather than engage in debate with him.
He' s a passionate Meath and GAA man. We're all GAA people here on Hoganstand. A bit of virtual sportsmanship wouldn't go astray."

Replying To OLLIE:  "I will pick Donegal and Kildare for promotion and Fermanagh and Clare for relegation. This week I will pick wins for Donegal, Cork, Kildare and Meath."

Replying To Lockjaw:  "Ollie, have you joined the Hoganstand predictions league on facetheball.com ?"

Replying To farneygael:  "Is it open for anyone to join?"

Replying To mhunicean_abu:  "Donegal to win it , Meath are dark horses to go with them if they can win their four home games, the Kildare game in Navan could be decisive"

Replying To Furlong1949:  "Kildare are missing players, thats life for most teams outside the top division. Daniel Flynn is missing for kildare. A serious talent. He has it all, atheleticism and skill. He is kildares best forward since Johnny Doyle. He is kildares best forward. Meath best forward, top scorer for the last two years , Donal Lenihan, who led Dunboyne to senior title, has gone travelling for the year. Padraig Mckeever the best club forward in Meath football for the last three year along with lenihan is also not available, as well as Eamon Wallace ( hes gone travelling). Meaths two best midfielders , Harry Rooney ( not available) and Ronan Jones ( college in USA) are also not available. Thats why McEntee had to bring 9 new players onto the Meath panel for the Byrne cup this spring. But thats life for teams in the country as a whole . There is a player drain. Every team in division will be missing players this spring if it follows recent years patterns.

Throughout division 4 3 and 2, players are leaving panels for different reasons at a rate we have never witnessed before in football in recent years. From Cork to Derry from Wexford to Galway, the number of players leaving panels is unprecedented and very worrying. Players rarely left panels 20 or so years ago. But with the introduction of the qualifiers in the early 00s, we saw players from div 3 and div 4 teams walking away when there team was beaten in the championship and their county undertook the qualifer route. The GAA didnt care. But it set a dangerous precident. For the first time ever many players would leave a panel ( many of them went to US for the summer ) in the championship, in the summer. In the last 5 or 6 years we have seen players leaving panels for many reasons in strong traditional counties .

Counties like Cork Down and Meath are all seen a turnover of their panels that were unimaginable 10 years. Its not just division 2, 3 and 4 teams. Some division 1 teams are also facing the same issue. We are now seen players leaving at a level for different reasons we have never seen before in the game nationwide .

Here are stats below to explain the situation.

1 ESRI published a government report on gaa player welfare last year. They found there was a player drain. Over 30% of inter county players who played in 2016 didnt return to play for their county in 2017.
2 Irish Independent also did a study on GAA panels last year. There findings were simlar to ESRI findings. The Irish Indo found that over 30% of inter county players who played in 2017 did not return for 2018 league.

3 Here are some of the stats from Irish Indo study
Below r the number of players who played in the league and championship in 2017 for their county but did not resurface in 2018 league for different reasons


Derry 19 players
Cork 18 players
Wexford 17 players
Offaly 16 players
Meath 16 players
Wicklow 15 players
Antrim 14 players
London 14 players
louth 14 players
Leitrim 13 players
Westmeath 13 players
Sligo 13 players
longford 12 players
Down 12 players
Roscommon 12 players
limerick 12 players
Kerry 11 players
Laois 11 players
Clare 10 players
Cavan 10 players
Galway 10 players
Armagh 10 players
kildare 9 players
Dublin 6 players
Donegal 6 players
Mayo 6 players
Monaghan 5 players
Tyrone 4 players

4 Of the 1040 players nationwide who saw action in the league or championship in 2017, 366 did not played in 2018 league.

3 counties who have the lowest turnover in div 2 3 and 4 were , Fermanagh Tipp and Carlow who all had 7 non returnees last year. The 3 lowest counties in div 2 3 and 4. Fermanagh , Carlow and Tipp last year they had the lowest non returnees in division 3 where Derry lost 19, Offaly lost 16, Wexford lost 17, Westmeath 13, and longford 12 .

5 The breakdown in terms of players leaving each division was
Division 1 66 players
Division 2 103 players
Divsion 3 107 players
Division 4 94 players
Division 2 and 3 are the divisions with the biggest drop off of players.

6 Other stats
The Wicklow manager recently said in every single of the last 5 seasons in each one of those year's, 15 players left the Wicklow panel and didnt retutn the following year. Wicklow have basically lost 15 players in every single one of the last 5 seasons

7 Kevin Walsh said in his first 18 months as Galway manager 52 players turned down the invitation to join the Galway panel.

8 Connerton Longford manager said also in his first 2 years as manager over 50 player turned down the invitation, declined to attend trials and join the panel.

So there really is some sort of player drain , here are the figures for division two teams last year, players who did not return for the league , Anyone have info on players missing this year. Meath are definately over the ten player missing mark again this year.


Cork 18 players
Meath 16 players
Armagh 10 players
Clare 10 players
kildare 9 players
Donegal 6 players
Fermanagh 7
Tipp 7"