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Poor state of football in rural Ireland

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Replying To jacktheDub:  "The OP is suggesting that Dublin have won there All-Ireland's in an era of no competition. While accepting his own county neglected there youth!!!! The word bitter springs to mind.."
As bitter as a well wintered lemon to be exact

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3830 - 20/03/2017 18:53:55    1969249

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Replying To Llaw_Gyffes:  "Can't argue with that but we'd just like to find out ourselves, just to be sure like!"
Wasnt taking the pi77 nor do I ever want to down play winning an all Ireland , more the case my life revolves around club life as my sons play , I was as involved when we were rubbish.
No disrespect to Mayo but I'm often asked do I feel sorry for you guys coming up short , honest answer no, as I doubt you want pity , if I ever feel sorry for anyone it's the lad born in Wicklow , Leitrim , Louth , Longford amongst others who rarely ever get their day in the sun while putting in savage work.

Damothedub (Dublin) - Posts: 5193 - 20/03/2017 19:01:36    1969251

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It's only a poor era because Kerry haven't been successful;)

Hill16Army (Dublin) - Posts: 88 - 20/03/2017 19:05:09    1969254

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Replying To Donegalman:  "As bitter as a well wintered lemon to be exact"
Haha! :D Au Contraire, Rodders!

When you look west, Galway being below Division 1 for a few years. Meath and Kildare dropping to Division 3. A lot of our rural brethren from traditional strong counties are struggling. Their plight is sad to see. While our quiet years of '87 to '96 were tough, it was great to see our rural brethren take on the fight on behalf of rural Ireland.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7811 - 20/03/2017 19:13:01    1969256

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I don't put any stock into the 'neglected youth' theory whatsoever

The reality is a we have a medium sized population , with one of the highest age medians in the country which means our rate of producing good players would be very much cyclical, we don't have the young population to consistently produce really good players year after year

Club coaches and the 5 Games Development Officers are doing the same work now as they have always done and hopefully in 3/4 years down the line we will see the fruits of their labour at Senior IC level, until then we'll try our best with what we have

KYTotalFootball (Kerry) - Posts: 280 - 20/03/2017 19:38:41    1969273

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Replying To legendzxix:  "Haha! :D Au Contraire, Rodders!

When you look west, Galway being below Division 1 for a few years. Meath and Kildare dropping to Division 3. A lot of our rural brethren from traditional strong counties are struggling. Their plight is sad to see. While our quiet years of '87 to '96 were tough, it was great to see our rural brethren take on the fight on behalf of rural Ireland."
Well it doesn't come across in any of your posts, they are all lemons, every one of them.

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3830 - 20/03/2017 19:54:55    1969276

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Replying To Hill16Army:  "It's only a poor era because Kerry haven't been successful;)"
Not at all man, not at all. My complimentary comments on the late 80's and 90's totally disprove your ridiculous assertion. Enjoy making hay!

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7811 - 20/03/2017 20:38:15    1969289

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Replying To Damothedub:  "Wasnt taking the pi77 nor do I ever want to down play winning an all Ireland , more the case my life revolves around club life as my sons play , I was as involved when we were rubbish.
No disrespect to Mayo but I'm often asked do I feel sorry for you guys coming up short , honest answer no, as I doubt you want pity , if I ever feel sorry for anyone it's the lad born in Wicklow , Leitrim , Louth , Longford amongst others who rarely ever get their day in the sun while putting in savage work."
Good point. Personally I have enjoyed the last few years mightily. I know we have always come up short at the end but we have had some unforgettable big days in Croke Park. As there are sixteen counties, and counting, with a bigger population than ours the good times may not last much longer. Anyway if we did win Sam we'd have nothing to talk about down here only the feckin weather.

Llaw_Gyffes (Mayo) - Posts: 1113 - 20/03/2017 22:41:40    1969335

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Its not that football in rural Ireland is dead, its that rural Ireland in general is dead.

11jm11 (Kildare) - Posts: 365 - 21/03/2017 00:28:43    1969352

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Econinally rural Ireland is dead and that does indeed fall forward into GAA but but but....why can counties like Kerry Mayo Donegal and even now Galway thrive? Meath and Kildare hang your heads!!

So many counties looking fir excuses. In our own case we have 16 of our panel not training regularly at this time of year with the core....why? Cause they are based outside of Mayo. Not an excuse but a fact !

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11225 - 21/03/2017 05:19:58    1969359

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Replying To extranjero:  "Poor state of football in rural Ireland

Let's examine this statement on a county by county basis.
In Wexford you have essentially 4 urban areas, Wexford town, Enniscorthy, New Ross and Gorey.
In the last 10 years, only 1 club from one of these urban areas has managed a senior football county final appearance, Starlights in 2007.
In 10 finals, we've had 8 different winning clubs, all from rural Wexford, a tremendous spread of success around the county (and in stark contrast to the recently 1-sided nature of the hurling championship, with Oulart/the Ballaghs utter domination).

Or, to put it another way, of the the last 20 senior finalists, 19 have been from rural Wexford.
So from this perspective, the game appears to be buoyant in rural Wexford, whilst it struggles in the urban areas lately.

What say you the other 31 counties?"
The Senior football champs in Down are as rural as it gets. It has been that way since probably Downpatrick or Castlewellan won their last championships, about 20 years ago.
Also Slaughtneil would have to go down as a rural club and they were in the football final as we all know.

Suas Sios (None) - Posts: 1550 - 21/03/2017 09:47:26    1969387

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It was great to see Colm Cooper win a club medal. He has been a credit to Gaelic football. Anyway hopefully rural Ireland and the rural GAA clubs can be saved.

galwayford (Galway) - Posts: 2517 - 21/03/2017 12:51:03    1969461

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Replying To MesAmis:  "What say you the other 31 counties?

extranjero (Wexford) - Posts:193 - 20/03/2017 13:37:21

Rural Dublin is struggling alright ;)"
You, better believe it! Tough times for Dublin farmers! :)

extranjero (Wexford) - Posts: 375 - 21/03/2017 14:07:14    1969512

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Replying To yew_tree:  "Econinally rural Ireland is dead and that does indeed fall forward into GAA but but but....why can counties like Kerry Mayo Donegal and even now Galway thrive? Meath and Kildare hang your heads!!

So many counties looking fir excuses. In our own case we have 16 of our panel not training regularly at this time of year with the core....why? Cause they are based outside of Mayo. Not an excuse but a fact !"
Fair play for adding to the discussion. The amount of Mayo players being based outside of the county says a lot. A capital city will naturally get a lot of investment but there has to be a balance across the entire country.

David McWillams used as example of a rural GAA club in one of his books. The club he referred to won a Junior Football All-Ireland title. The following year half the squad had emigrated.

Counties like Galway, Cork, Meath and Kildare shouldn't be languishing as poorly as they have. Look at the great strides being made by Tipperary.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7811 - 21/03/2017 15:28:54    1969549

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Replying To Suas Sios:  "
Replying To extranjero:  "Poor state of football in rural Ireland

Let's examine this statement on a county by county basis.
In Wexford you have essentially 4 urban areas, Wexford town, Enniscorthy, New Ross and Gorey.
In the last 10 years, only 1 club from one of these urban areas has managed a senior football county final appearance, Starlights in 2007.
In 10 finals, we've had 8 different winning clubs, all from rural Wexford, a tremendous spread of success around the county (and in stark contrast to the recently 1-sided nature of the hurling championship, with Oulart/the Ballaghs utter domination).

Or, to put it another way, of the the last 20 senior finalists, 19 have been from rural Wexford.
So from this perspective, the game appears to be buoyant in rural Wexford, whilst it struggles in the urban areas lately.

What say you the other 31 counties?"
The Senior football champs in Down are as rural as it gets. It has been that way since probably Downpatrick or Castlewellan won their last championships, about 20 years ago.
Also Slaughtneil would have to go down as a rural club and they were in the football final as we all know."
Title threads are limited to a certain number of characters. My initial post spoke of the inter-county scene.

It's a positive step that the Super 8 will bring quality All-Ireland series games to provincial grounds.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7811 - 21/03/2017 15:32:54    1969551

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Hmm, im not sure there is a problem with rural football, Dublin i think are just playing football at a standard likely never seen before with a very talent cycle of players. They will regress of course and things will get back to the lower ebb.

If not for Dublin Mayo would have picked up a couple of all Ireland and Kerry a couple as well as per a normal decade, likely players from those counties would be called legends if that came to pass. Its just so happens a big City team is currently dominating, i dont think others are not trying their best, just this Dublin team happens to be one of the all time best in the history of the game.

I see some brilliant work being done in terms of developing the game through intercounty in Tyrone, Cavan, Mohagan, Donegal, Clare, Tipp, Fermanagh etc. Kerry and Mayo remaining competitive is also an achievement.

Poor old Meath and Kildare are getting are hard time here, Kildare look praticularly good this year and Meath have picked up after a poor start in the league with Mcentee in place they will gret thier house in order knowing a bit about how he works.

TheUsername (Dublin) - Posts: 4445 - 21/03/2017 16:04:58    1969565

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Replying To TheUsername:  "Hmm, im not sure there is a problem with rural football, Dublin i think are just playing football at a standard likely never seen before with a very talent cycle of players. They will regress of course and things will get back to the lower ebb.

If not for Dublin Mayo would have picked up a couple of all Ireland and Kerry a couple as well as per a normal decade, likely players from those counties would be called legends if that came to pass. Its just so happens a big City team is currently dominating, i dont think others are not trying their best, just this Dublin team happens to be one of the all time best in the history of the game.

I see some brilliant work being done in terms of developing the game through intercounty in Tyrone, Cavan, Mohagan, Donegal, Clare, Tipp, Fermanagh etc. Kerry and Mayo remaining competitive is also an achievement.

Poor old Meath and Kildare are getting are hard time here, Kildare look praticularly good this year and Meath have picked up after a poor start in the league with Mcentee in place they will gret thier house in order knowing a bit about how he works."
Our crowd are nowhere near the levels of 04 to 09. The fact they won in 14 and were back in the final in the following year speaks volumes about the lower standard nationally since the turn of the decade.

Inter-county football in rural Ireland has regressed since 2010. Tyrone look to be turning a corner. We've a few more tough years in transition to get through yet. It's sad that there hasn't been any teams like Meath of the late 80's and the Ulster rising counties of the early 90's.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7811 - 21/03/2017 17:03:34    1969591

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Replying To legendzxix:  "Our crowd are nowhere near the levels of 04 to 09. The fact they won in 14 and were back in the final in the following year speaks volumes about the lower standard nationally since the turn of the decade.

Inter-county football in rural Ireland has regressed since 2010. Tyrone look to be turning a corner. We've a few more tough years in transition to get through yet. It's sad that there hasn't been any teams like Meath of the late 80's and the Ulster rising counties of the early 90's."
I'm not so sure mate, without Dublin I think Kerry would be as successful as in the 00s maybe even more so when you consider the number of semi's and finals they have contested when you look at the consistent road block it's Dublin. I'm not even sure Kerry have regressed from the 09, the team that were beaten in 2011 was more or less the 09 team. In 2014 Kerry one and the one defining factor was they didn't meet Dublin as opposed to other years. I don't think Kerry, Mayo Donegal or rural football for that matter just that they are playing draughts while Dublin are playing chess at the moment. Dublin will regress and begin to nurture what has been sewn these years to go again and other counties will win Sam again. Anyhow I don't want to turn this into a Dublin Vs Kerry debate as we are likely both blinkered,

Just wanted to make the point that there is some wonderful work being done at intercounty level in some rural counties that I mentioned that deserves credit, I just find the thread broadly discrediting of the work in the counties in question. I hate that term traditional strong counties. It doesn't matter if it's Clare or Tip or Meath or Kildare, sport is competitive end off.

The achievements of some rural counties given the context in many ways are beyond that achieved by your Dublin's or Kerrys. One last example Fermanagh a couple of years were superb given the context and were unlucky in the draw to come up against Dublin and scared the bejaysus out of us for 30 mins until we got a lucky goal.

I have no concerns for football in rural Ireland, look at the quater and semi final line ups last year.

TheUsername (Dublin) - Posts: 4445 - 21/03/2017 19:20:35    1969657

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Our 2011 side had regressed from the year before. It took until 2014 to win a minor All-Ireland. You'd be looking at 5 years from 2014 before getting back to any decent level. Throw into the mix Australia plundering rural Ireland, we're in choppy waters.

With Tyrone and Kerry having regressed after 2010, no other county has taken up their mantle. Some rural counties are uncomfortable at the spotlight being shone on their shortcomings at inter-county level.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7811 - 21/03/2017 20:07:47    1969684

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Dublin will regress and begin to nurture what has been sewn these years to go again and other counties will win Sam again.

Given the enormous funding and population at hand, that is just not the reality of the siituation

KYTotalFootball (Kerry) - Posts: 280 - 21/03/2017 20:29:03    1969694

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