Early days as the dust has not settled yet on 2016, but any early predictions for 2017?

Any new challengers ?
Or will it be the same old of Dublin, Mayo, Donegal, Kerry and Tyrone?

Personally i think it will be between Dublin and Tyrone again for Sam with Donegal as dark horse if they can bring through some of their great recent under age teams. Kerry wont be far away with Mayo falling back into the pack. That would be my top 5 with Cork, Cavan , Galway, Tipp and Fermanagh making up the top 10.

ulster83 (Tyrone) - Posts: 114 - 04/10/2016 10:10:39    1922235

Cavan 4 Sam

Breffni40 (Cavan) - Posts: 12116 - 04/10/2016 10:36:26    1922256

When i hear the Mayo fans say we will be back and Mayo for Sam i say fair play, but every other county will be back and at least 5/6 counties will fancy their chances for Sam.
The Dubs will be all out to claim a three in a row like our great Galway team of the 60s.. Kerry will be ready to reclaim Sam and have serious talent coming through. Tyrone , Galway, Roscommon, Tipperary wiill want to build on this years improvements. And you can never write off Monaghan, Donegal, and Cork who i have a feeling will want to get their house in order..

Belclare1 (Galway) - Posts: 1626 - 04/10/2016 10:58:37    1922274

Tommy83 (UK) - Posts: 4 - 04/10/2016 11:20:12    1922290

ros1 (Roscommon) - Posts: 1211 - 04/10/2016 11:20:41    1922291

Obviously Dublin are going to be favourites with Mayo and Kerry the nearest challengers. Out of the chasing pack I'd give Tyrone the best chance and they are close to breaking through. Donegal and Monaghan could always trouble one of the top teams but not sure they could go the whole way and win the All-Ireland. I feel Tyrone, Donegal and Monaghan are too defensive but with a bit more emphasis on attack they could make a challenge. Cork, Galway, Cavan and Roscommon would be the best of the rest.

Please don't mock me but I think Mayo have a great chance next year, especially if Roachford can learn from this year.

Green_Gold (Donegal) - Posts: 1873 - 04/10/2016 11:37:28    1922299

Winner will come from Dublin, Kerry, Mayo, Tyrone, with Donegal and Cork having a slim chance, but a chance all the same. I'd be shocked if anyone outside those 6 were to win it.

Galway, Cavan, Monaghan, Roscommon are all capable of provincial success but I think Mayo will be gunning to regain their Connaught title and Tyrone are best placed to retain in Ulster

cavanman47 (Cavan) - Posts: 5010 - 04/10/2016 11:42:06    1922302

Kerry v Dublin All Ireland with Kerry winning it, JOD to get motm. Get your money down.

moc.dna (Galway) - Posts: 1212 - 04/10/2016 11:45:40    1922307

Dublin v Tyrone Final

Dublin have the Indian sign over Mayo.

Kerry need to revamp their team and that can take 2-3 years. Why winning three minors is important I am not sure for me its more the U21 that is a picture of the future. And the longer the Kerry 'stars' stay on the better for the rest of us.

Donegal like Kerry will take 2 or 3 years to bed in young players.

Galway and Tipp in the next group but am not sure they can truely break through. They would be along with Cavan and Monaghan but for me Cavan and Monaghan are stagnant.

Dublin to win. No big surprise there. They have Jack Flash back for the backs and with Small, Byrne and Fitzy s ohave freshened the backs up. Costello and O'Callaghan the fresh bloods for the forwards so Gavin has options to change the game plan.

So the semi's

Dublin v Mayo in the Semi...Dublin to win

Kerry v Tyrone ....Tyrone to win

And in the final I fear Tyrone of all the teams out there. I am lighting candles Sean Kavanagh realises he is an old man and should retire :)

witnof (Dublin) - Posts: 1604 - 04/10/2016 12:12:22    1922322

Cbar (Mayo) - Posts: 308 - 04/10/2016 12:41:02    1922344

Yerra we will be there or there abouts next August or September again.

We had a lot of injuries carried over from last year and the way the Championship fell really didn't help us either - 4-5 weeks between each game and no test until we came up against Dublin. We need to relegate a few of our former greats to being impact subs and open up 3-4 positions to the younger lads coming through. Its a very important League campaign for us next Spring to bed in a few of the young lads and have a settled-ish side in time for the Championship. There isn't a huge amount of opposition out there past ourselves, Mayo and Dublin so I'm confident Kerry can reach another final in 2017. We have a good manager, some great players and great potential talent in abundance.

At the moment it is hard to see Mayo facing into another long tough road for Sam after this, they are on the trail as long as Dublin and have no All-Ireland to show for it. But if they can dust themselves down and face into it again then fair play and they will still be one of the best 3 teams in Ireland in 2017.

Dublin's quality is obvious and they have players to come back too, but this is a team that's a long long time on the road now and you would expect a dip next year. Dublin in 2016 were not as good as their 2013 incarnation or even the 2015 incarnation. So while they will be favorites, Kerry and Mayo have shown how to get at them. They are by no means unbeatable.

After that, its hard to know.

Cork are still a mess and its a big big year for Tipperary next year, they need to get to a Munster final and show up this time.

Galway and Roscommon flattered to deceive and both have serious flaws.

Hard to see any side emerging in Leinster as a serious threat to the top 4-5.

As for Ulster, I think Donegal will always cause any side problems but their time has passed. Tyrone look most likely to emerge as the dominant team there but they still look a bit off the pace for Sam.

If I had to predict it now:
Munster - Kerry, All-Ireland finalists
Leinster -Dublin, All Ireland Finalists
Connacht - Mayo, Q-final loss
Ulster - Tyrone, Semi-final loss

Kerry to end the 3 year Famine and stop the rot against the Dubs in the final - evoking memories of 1924!!!

TheHermit (Kerry) - Posts: 6354 - 04/10/2016 12:46:02    1922345

Big opportunity missed for mayo this year and while I don't think they'll fall away they won't have as straight forward route to an AI final again you would imagine and that's no disrespect to any team they beat in the qualifiers but apart from tyrone they didn't play any of the top tier teams until Dublin in the Final there always seems to be a big performance in Mayo and that's why it's such a shame they didn't make the most of it this year

rossy15 (Roscommon) - Posts: 616 - 04/10/2016 13:01:10    1922351

s goldrick (Cavan) - Posts: 5518 - 04/10/2016 13:17:32    1922356

It will be the same 4 teams again year..smaller county's must be sick and tired of training hard every year to go out and play two game's
without any chance of winning. .I really hope something is done to help teams develop. It really is a four team competition and that's not disrespecting other county's it's just a fact.

dave1988 (Roscommon) - Posts: 1046 - 04/10/2016 13:24:10    1922360

rossy15 (Roscommon) - Posts: 616 - 04/10/2016 13:34:01    1922364

ULSTER - DONEGAL
LEINSTER - DUBLIN
CONNAUGHT - GALWAY
MUNTER - KERRY

Smaller counties such as Meath and Tipp could be dangerous qualifier opponents
With Tyrone making the big impact via the back door route ( Think Donegal will have it in for Tyrone in Ulster after last years final, they will be really hurting)

SF - DUBLIN, DONEGAL, KERRY, TYRONE the only 4 with realistic SAM Ambitions

ulster83 (Tyrone) - Posts: 114 - 04/10/2016 13:37:47    1922366

redbomb (Tyrone) - Posts: 167 - 04/10/2016 13:40:38    1922367

I'd say Kerry at this stage alright but Mayo wont be far off unless Rochford wants to rebuild and look further ahead

But listen...

Dublin have some very good young lads on standby

We can warehouse some of the 3-4 AI medal lads over the winter and let them recharge

We have that luxury and still be able to compete just fine in the league - 4 in a row is enough!

Let someone else have a go ;)

Emmett O'Conaghaile, Con O'Callaghan, Cormac Costello, Paul Mannion, the Basquel's, Shane Carthy's x 2

Jack will be back and maybe even Rory O'Carroll

We have an abundance now of excellent defenders and it will be this area that will prove to be crucial IMO

No one is going to setup man v man again against us in big games, so we'll be playing the same type of football

But now we have some real talent in defence, lots of cover, a good tried and tested system. We'll need that because the game has changed now and we've had to go with it

The introduction of John Small, Davy Byrne - listen so many top defenders now and it's a real ace up the sleeve for Dublin now.

Huge options to keep things tight, but also have an explosive drive forward, with lots of cover up front to challenge and keep things fresh

Wait until you see our subs bench to bot in 2017

We aren't going anywhere for some time yet!

jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20600 - 04/10/2016 13:53:19    1922378

Cork regressing in both codes must be hard for their fans to take. They are all-Ireland winners in the football if they had some proper management. But as it stands, hard to look past Kerry and Dublin again. Mayo will be close but will fall short as usual. Galway may make further strides, great potential there and they will become serious contenders at some point. Donegal will continue their slow regression since McGuinness left. Tyrone will be about the best of a solid but average lot in Ulster. Meath may as well forget about even turning up, unless they are going to toughen up abit, which is highly doubtful. Kildare are probably second best in what is a dire Leinster championship

32_4_1 (Meath) - Posts: 4122 - 04/10/2016 14:20:38    1922392

Slightly off topic, couldn't help notice that Jack McCaffrey, Davy Byrne, Paul Mannion, John Small, Eric Lowndes and Cormac Costello all started for Dublin in their "controversial" u-21 semi-final win over Cavan a few years ago. Not sure what this means but I'll conveniently read it that we have the players to be compete with them.

Breffni40 (Cavan) - Posts: 12116 - 04/10/2016 14:22:05    1922395