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Galway Turnover Of Players. - 5 Like(s)
Just seen something there recently that in 4 years since Galway were last in the semi final in 18 they only have 5 players from the 26 still in the panel, whereas Dublin still have 13 from the 26 that were involved that day.
The likes of Ruairi Lavelle, Eoghan Kerin, Seán Andy O'Ceallaigh, Declan Kyne, Cathal Sweeney, Peter Cooke, Ciaran Duggan, Ian Burke, Eamonn Brannigan, Tom Flynn, Micheál Daly, Adrian Varley all just have seemed to vanish all of a sudden from a neutral point of view. Maybe some of these players probably might not have been fully up to the standard to take Galway to the next level. Also the likes of Sean Armstrong, Gary O'Donnell and Gareth Bradshaw have retired.
I suppose the point I'm trying to make is that Padraig Joyce deserves a good bit of credit for rebuilding this Galway team, with such a big turnover of players, I suppose it also shows the strength that is there in Galway football that people don't talk about enough. All Ireland Minor Finalists in 2016,18 and 19. As well as Under 21 finalists in 2017 and Under 20 champions in 2020, just I suppose shows the work that is been done in Galway, which I can only admire and envy from their neighbours in Clare.
CartaDubh (National) - 08/07/2022 18:12:56
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2021 Rankings So Far - 4 Like(s)
Replying To brian: "supersub are you ranking based on who's left. That's a silly way to go about things and not really ranking teams at all, its saying here's who's left and they're the best..
Are Kildare any better than Galway or Cork (other provincial finalists). I would say they'd break even
Would Kildare beat Monaghan or Tyrone? Nope not on current form
Are Kildare any better than Meath, Roscommon, Clare (who beat them in St Conleths Park), Derry or Armagh. I would argue they're of a very similar standard
Are Kildare better than Donegal, not even close. Donegal would run over them
You're ranking Kildare above Tyrone - Tyrone who got to a division 1 semi final, dismantled and beat the defending Ulster champions and a division one team and will play another in the final. Tyrone are playing a far higher standard of football than Kildare and ranked below them. Come off it. Yes they got beat out the gates v Kerry but they're under new management. Lets not forget Meath beat Kildare out the gates last year in the championship.
Kildare have played Offaly (Div 3) and Westmeath (Div 2) to get to a Leinster final. They've played no one of a better standard than them.
Kildare are 6th of the teams left and trying to argue it any other way is laughable.
If you're going to rank teams at least show some consistency, use the league and championship and last years championship as a consistent basis.
Look at Tipp and Cavan, both dropped to division 4 this year and exited the championship with a whimper but by the logic you apply they were top 4 teams last year." Kildare are a top 12 top 10 team at most. I think Meath are better them then are seemed to unperform in the league play off game in Newbridge. The four Division 1 Ulster teams are better then them, Dublin obviously, Kerry and Mayo Kildare would all struggle to get within 10 points of these teams. The problem I think with Kildare and Kildare fans is that they actually think that they are better then they, I know myself from a Clare point of view every time we have played them we have been more then a match for them and beat them on three occasions in the last 5 years.
But we in Clare are constantly underhyped and underrated, while the opposite is true of Kildare would are often overhyped. Once upon a time I didn't mind Kildare until there recently when Johnny Doyle was talking on the GAA hour in after Clare beat them are he was very bitter over the loss to Clare. He was saying stuff like that Clare are a hurling county which is false, it's a Half an half county, and because he considered them this that Kildare should be beating them. Talk about arrogance from a county that have not achieved that much.
CartaDubh (National) - 28/07/2021 10:56:45
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Galway Turnover Of Players. - 3 Like(s)
Replying To rhudson: "Be good to get any of Mike Daly Ian Burke Peter Cooke ,Adrian Varley back next year
Varley was outstanding for New York in their game this year
Peter Cooke was in the America due to work also
But lads need time out too and others missing due to work commitments
Ian Burke is Working in Dublin dont think hes played with Corofin this year yet" In fairness that is true the inter county game is not for everyone. The lads that have come into the panel like Matthew Tierney, Rob Finnerty, Cillian McDaid, John Daly, Dylan McHugh, Jack Glynn, Patrick Kelly among others have really stepped up to the plate.
While Seán Kelly has turned into a leader of men and an absolutely outstanding player. While I would argue that Paul Conroy has played the best football of his career in the last two years.
Best of luck to ye in the final, ye have no reason to fear Kerry and for some reason I have a sneaky feeling that ye might beat Kerry, I could proven to be very wrong.
CartaDubh (National) - 11/07/2022 11:15:28
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Route To Winning An All-Ireland - 3 Like(s)
Replying To DL_Man: "I saw a bit of chat on twitter lately about Kerry not being tested in Munster this year, and obviously Dublin are rarely tested in Leinster anymore either. What I was wondering, is what is the toughest route any team has faced on the way to winning an all Ireland?
In 2012 we defeated Cavan, Derry, Tyrone, Down, Kerry, Cork and Mayo. Now, obviously, if we'd lost one of the first four games, we would still have had a second chance in the qualifiers. But is there any team who's faced a tougher run of games on the way to winning it?" I'd say Tyrone 05 would have to be up there as the toughest route. I think they ended up playing 10 games that summer. Beat Down in the Ulster Quarter Final. Then were taking to a replay by Cavan in the Ulster Semi. The Ulster Final against Armagh, went to a replay as well which they lost. Beat Monaghan in the 4th round of the qualifiers. Then were once again taking to a replay this time by Dublin in the All Ireland Quarter Final. Then they beat Armagh in the Semi thanks to that famous point by Peter Canavan and beat Kerry in the final.
CartaDubh (National) - 31/08/2021 10:42:08
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Football All-Stars And POTY - 2 Like(s)
Replying To WanPintWin: "Is that 5 Kerry All-stars and 2 for Tyrone?
I'd assume 5 would be a record for losing semi-finalists.
D Clifford plus maybe O'Sullivan will be your lot, I'd say.
Ruane would be my footballer of the year at this point, but of course that could easily change after the final." How can one's be so biased like the reality is that a lot of the Kerry players have shown how overhyped and overrated a team they are in the last three years. They are a decent team but the reality as I think Dinny Long put it on Terrace Talk is that they are a couple of players short of winning an All Ireland, plus the fact that they have a few players in the twilight of their careers. Paul Murphy, David Moran, Stephen O'Brien and Paul Geaney all nearing the end of their career. I'd say David Clifford will be the only Kerry player winning an All Star.
CartaDubh (National) - 01/09/2021 13:28:46
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NFL Div 2 - 2 Like(s)
Replying To bennybunny: "It won't be easy in Ennis for sure. However, I would expect Mayo to win. Clare rely heavily on Tubridy for scoring. He is top quality but Mayo carry greater overall scoring power. Better strength in depth too. More experienced. Clare have done really well. I would love to see them in Division 1 and beat Kerry too. The latter is unlikely and Mayo are better equipped for Division 1." Probably overall Mayo have that more strength and depth alright. But we are not fully reliant on Tubridy for scorers, Eoin Cleary has been or main score getter for the last year or so. While Jamie Malone probably will be back from injury for the Mayo game which will give us another attacking threat.
The thing is a team has to be very disciplined against us as both Cleary from the left foot and Tubridy off the right are both very good free takers, so any free given in and around the 45 or even just outside the 45 on either side of the field is a scoring chance in the form both Cleary and Tubridy are in at the moment.
CartaDubh (National) - 05/06/2021 09:36:26
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Provincial Titles Are No Longer Relevant - 2 Like(s)
Replying To legendzxix: "There have been 2 All Munster All-Ireland finals in the qualifier era. Clare and Limerick have made the All-Ireland quarter-finals in the qualifier era. Tipperary have made the All-Ireland semi-finals in the qualifier era. Some province for one province! ;-)" In fairness Clare is probably a half and half county in terms of half and half in terms of hurling and football. East Clare is hurling, West is football. In fairness since Colm Collins took over as Clare manager we have beaten every team in Leinster either in League or Championship apart from Dublin. So I don't see the disrespect that Clare seem to get, we are not going to win Sam Maguire but we are probably a top 10 team at the moment.
Like all these Leinster counties that are fully football like Meath and Kildare and Clare are still able to beat them picking off only about half of the county and are see able to beat these teams and be in Sam Maguire ahead of them.
CartaDubh (National) - 25/04/2023 17:02:48
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NFL Div 2 - 2 Like(s)
Replying To bennybunny: "Ya. You are right. Eoin Cleary is a fine player too. I didn't mean to be dismissive. For the record I hope you beat Mayo. I was hoping Cork would beat ye by four points so we would a chance to play Mayo and have a crack of Division 1. I think we would be well beaten had that opportunity arisen. I just think Mayo are overall a better side than Clare." Know I didn't think you were being dismissive even though probably some people in the media might be at times. But sure maybe that is used as motivation at times for the team. Anyway Mayo probably will be a bit too strong for us but I prefer to play them then Kerry as we don't have that mental block against Mayo as we aren't used to getting beat by them every year.
That's what drives me mad about the provincial championships we would love to even play some of the ulster teams or the Connacht teams in an open draw formal as we wouldn't have the same of them as we would have had against Kerry, which I'm sure is the same in Leinster for teams playing Dublin.
Finally you would never know and I live in hope, and maybe Colm and the team can take inspiration from Cavan's win against Donegal in the Ulster Final last year.
CartaDubh (National) - 06/06/2021 14:06:31
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Football All-Stars And POTY - 2 Like(s)
Replying To Aibrean: "How quickly amnesia sets in!
Ok, 2020 was a write-off but Kerry drew with Dublin in the 2019 final (ok, they lost the replay) and could easily have beaten Tyrone last Saturday - losing by 1 point after extra-time.
In fact, the 'reality' (your word) is that Kerry were arguably the second best team in the country over the last 3 years - not too bad for an "overhyped and over-rated team"." Ya it's really the media's fault, they hype up Kerry based on tradition. Yes Kerry could have very easily won that game on Saturday but hearing things all year about how Kerry were going to win the all Ireland and once Dublin were gone that they were going to cake walk to the All Ireland. Look Kerry are still in the top 5 teams in the country but they probably don't have a strong enough squad or a good enough team to win the All Ireland. Compare Kerry's back line to the likes of Tyrone's, Mayo's or Dublin's and they aren't as good. Also some of their forwards are not playing as good as they were and David Clifford was the one keeping them in the game on Saturday need more from the likes of Seanie O'Shea if they are going to get to the next level and win the All Ireland.
CartaDubh (National) - 01/09/2021 16:23:41
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Kerry Lads And Tattoos - 2 Like(s)
Apart from Micheál Burns, there doesn't actually seem to be too many current Kerry players with tattoos or noticeable tattoos anyway, even going back the years Galvin and Barry John Keane used to have them alright. But it seems more like that he was just having a dig at Galvin more then anything but look at there are these loons in society nowadays anyway fair play to the lads that have the tattoos it's their choice and their body.
CartaDubh (National) - 04/08/2021 15:47:45
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NFL DIV 2 Predictions - 1 Like(s)
Replying To Gaa_lover: "You aren't the Clare person to say simliar to me, I have a few work colleagues from Clare. Said it to them that it goes to show how good of a job Collins is doing that even Clare fans have themselves convinced that they aren't punching above their weight.
Making themselves available, Quality footballers that you have mentioned and very close to promotion is all because of Collins and his management getting the very best out of players and getting them to commit to the cause.
There is teams with panels as strong if not stronger than Clares currently languishing in Div 3,4. Success at club football doesn't always translate into county level. Kilcoo are favourites for the All-Ireland while Down will likely be relegated to Div 3, towards the end of Crossmaglen success Armagh struggled, St Galls, St Brigids won All Irelands while their county teams was in Div 3,4. Galway haven't got close to the success and consistency of Corofin." I think one of the biggest issues, was that Clare were getting managers from outside the likes of John Kennedy, Paidi O'Se and Mick O'Dwyer from Kerry, Frank Doherty from Galway. Micheál McDermott from Cavan who lived in Clare, and managed Kilmurry to the All Ireland final was the only one who had any idea about Clare football and the players in Clare, apart from Collins in the 10 years previous to Collins taken the job.
In fairness he is a very good manager in fairness. I actually think that we are starting to build a fairly strong squad, other years I would have agreed with you with regards to other counties in Division 3 or 4 maybe having stronger squads. But some of the players that came off the bench last Sunday, and didn't even come the bench are very good players.
Look I might be a bit too optimistic really about Clare chances in Division 2, but honestly I don't think there is any team Clare should fear in the Division.
Yeah have to agree with you about club teams in a county doing well and the county not doing well, probably often could have been as a result of the club championship ended in March probably hampered these counties.
CartaDubh (National) - 01/02/2022 18:51:04
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Intercounty Players Who Had One Or Two Good Seasons And Then Just Disappeared..Both Codes - 1 Like(s)
Replying To TippRed: "I can't say if there was a second Shane Moloney but the guy in 15 was very young, just out of minor I think and got a lot of airtime after his match winning point. I think Conor Whelan burst on the scene at this time too. Hard to believe that's 6 years ago. Shane Moloney must be around 24/5 now. I still picture him as a young player scoring a memorable point in a pressure cooker situation." That Shane Maloney was Minor All Ireland Winning Captain in 2011, so he probably would be about 28 now, was probably around 22 in 2015. Came on in a lot of games in the two years after 2015, I think he came late in the final in 2017. John Lee was another one from Galway looked like he was going to be a star centre back for Galway for several years but seemed to go over night and apart from one or two seasons didn't hear much from him after that.
CartaDubh (National) - 08/06/2021 10:04:35
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Mayo V Tyrone All-Ireland Football Final - 1 Like(s)
Replying To Lockjaw: "Not really relevant to this thread, and I'm looking a bit into the future, but what a championship 2022 should be!
You'll have Mayo/Tyrone - the all Ireland Champions
Dublin desperate to reclaim the title.
Kerry possibly under new management absolutely ravenous to end their AI Famine.
Teams like Donegal, Monaghan, Armagh, Derry, Meath, Kildare, Cork, Galway all have potential and will be seeking to challenge the top teams.
For this year's final it is so hard to call. You couldn't say that either team have no flaws. Tyrone's kick outs were poor yesterday & mayo's first half performance against Dublin would be very concerning to their supporters. Both teams will obviously fancy their chances and it could come down to which team remains the more composed and limits unnecessary mistakes." The likes of Cork have no chance of winning or for several next year, need a new management team. Have good underage teams, but have had really good underage teams the last 10 years and done nothing. Kildare also are nowhere near challenging, Meath are improving but a bit away. Armagh probably need a better defence and some man markers, or need to get a better defensive structure in place to challenge. Derry have a lot of good players and could cause a shock in Ulster in the coming years. Both Donegal and Monaghan will take something from Tyrone getting to the All Ireland and winning as they are never far away from Tyrone. Galway just seem to be lacking something it's hard to pinpoint the likes of Conroy, Comer and Walsh are serious and the likes of Cooke and Tierney are also very good. If they can get the likes of Cillian McDaid, Micheál and John Daly, Adrian Varley and Ian Burke back they will add depth back into their squad.
I think both Tyrone and Mayo play a fairly similar type of game, and are strong at the running game, very good backs and man markers, also have some neat and lively forwards. Both overall I think Tyrone might shade it, Mayo I think for some reason would have preferred Kerry as they would have been able to do something similar to them that Tyrone done.
CartaDubh (National) - 30/08/2021 11:52:27
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Dublin GAA thread - 1 Like(s)
Replying To Joxer: "It's hard to see a starting 15 without Costello and Mannion in there. Scully gets through a crazy amount of work and is a great ball carrier so he'll probably start also. The big question mark for me is Jack. Will he start at left half back and move James to 9 or will he start on the bench with James at 5? Dessie may choose to use the older lads sparingly. One way or the other Derry exposed a soft core down the middle so shoring up is required. James, Fitzy and Gannon may fix it." Ah yeah not a Dub myself, but a great admirer of the Dublin team and always kinda had a soft spot for the Dubs, which maybe is a bit unusual for someone from outside Dublin. I just think personally that Small and O'Callaghan work better as an inside two, just feel their isn't as good a balance to the Dublin forward line if you have Mannion, Costello, Basquel and O'Callaghan all playing.
The game was very reminiscent of Donegal in 2014, just that Derry were slightly less clinical as Donegal and also Dublin took the goal chances that they got which didn't happen against Donegal in 2014.
CartaDubh (National) - 04/04/2024 12:10:27
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Clare Footballers - 1 Like(s)
Replying To club51: "Hard luck lads, very nearly pulled it off, highly unfair Kildare going up and ye guys not.
Ye fear no one, tare into the Kerry lads in a few weeks time , get that big field monster ye have to knock lumps out them.
Clare is everyone's second favorite team at the moment (outside of their own county)" Ay Yeah twas probably the Cork that cost us promotion. I believe we are a better team then Cork and we should have got a result against. We had drawn level in added time, with a man advantage but we let Cork waltz up the field instead to kick a leading under no pressure which was utterly frustrating.
I think we will give it a good battle against Kerry, but if the game was on in Cusack Park I feel we might have a better chance. Kerry are looking formidable at the moment, but I think we can cause them some problems.
Best of luck to ye in Mayo, ye look the form team and best team in Connacht, but I'm sure that there will be some sort of fight in either Roscommon or Galway which will hopefully make for an enjoyable and interesting Connacht championship.
CartaDubh (Clare) - 15/06/2021 21:02:37
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NFL DIV 2 Predictions - 1 Like(s)
Replying To Gaa_lover: "Midtable will be a fine achievement for Clare. Colm Collins deserves great credit for having Clare punching above their weight these last 6 years. Under another manager they would be struggling in Div 3 and nobody would remark about it as its Clare expected level." I don't think he is punching above his weight or we in Clare are punching above our weight in Division 2. If he was getting us in Division 1, then we would be punching above our weight. But we are the equal or even bit of good as the other teams in Division 2. Before Collins came into Clare as manager the county team was at an all time low, there was good footballers in the county and very good club players and club teams. Kilmurry Ibrickane won two Munsters and got to an All Ireland final and were very unlucky not to beat Dr Crokes a couple, Cratloe under Collins also should have beaten Dr Crokes in a Munster Club final. But the problem during these times was the best club players didn't play with the county, which is in stark contrast to what is there now. Most of the best footballers in Clare are making themselves available to play for the county, which has not always been the case, which in my opinion is the biggest achievement for Colm Collins reign as Clare manager.
Take Clare's forward line Eoin Cleary, Pearse Lillis, David Tubridy, Keelan Sexton amongst other Jamie Malone couldn't even make the team yesterday, these lads all on their day are quality footballers. In defence Cillian Brennan is one of the most rock solid full backs in the country, Ciaran Russell and Cian O'Dea are probably Clare's best players over the last few years rarely have a bad game, yet most people in the country wouldn't have heard much about these two players, but anyone who watches them know what quality players.
It's too easy to throw the narrative that Clare are punching above their weight, when in fact we are more then holding our own and every bit as good as the teams in Division 2. We have actually been very close to promotion in three years in Division 2, under Collins in 2018, we drew two home games that we should have won that would have promoted us. 2020 after the covid return in the autumn we were level with Armagh with five minutes and had we won that game we won have been promoted, also last year we should have held out for a draw against Cork, which would have put us up against Meath instead or Mayo, which would have been a more winnable game to get promoted.
CartaDubh (National) - 31/01/2022 21:20:47
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NFL Div 2 - 1 Like(s)
Replying To TippRed: "Clare football team are a bit of an enigma. They always seem to be able to hold their own in the league against teams of a decent tradition. They are well able to compete in Division 2 and never seem overawed. But they never seem as comfortable in the Championship. Tipp
and Limerick are always a match for them and they never seem to bring their league form into meetings with Cork and Kerry." In fairness we have had some decent runs in the qualifiers pushed Kerry to 4 points in 2014 and should have beaten Kildare in 14. 2015 we never really got going crippled with injuries we had six or seven forwards injured in the lead up the Cork game that year which has been the only year we have played Cork in championship. 2016 had a brilliant run in the qualifiers got to the All Ireland Quarter Final. 2017 we had a great to beat Kerry were a point up about 10 minutes into the second half with Kerry down a man Jamie Malone rattled the crossbar which would have put 4 up and in a strong position. While he also missed an early goal chance against Mayo in 17 which would have put us 8 points against them, which really shows that you have to take your chance against the better team.
In 2018 we had a lot of new players in the panel as there had been a lot players from 2017 that were no longer in the panel for various reasons, such as retirement, taking a break, emigration and injury, so we had a lot of newcomers and inexperienced players playing against Kerry and we took an awful beating against them. We also threw away a 4 point injury lead against Armagh in 18 in a game we ended up losing by 4 points. In 19 we started stugglish to the Munster Championship but had a decent run in the qualifiers and we could have beaten Meath to make the super 8's.
Last year we never got going after the covid restart to both the league and championship as our performances were poor. We can be a mixed bag and even though we have stayed up at times in the league we have struggled for consistency we can have a great win one week and the next play awful, like in the league in 2020 we had a great win at home to Kildare in tough conditions, then the next week we go play away to Roscommon where we only score 4 points. So that probably sums us up.
This year is probably one of the only times we have been consistent in the league as we have put together 3 good performances and now seem to have a stronger panel, in the years gone by we have had very good starting 15 but at times in the past there has been a drop off in the standard of quality coming from the bench and players that have come off the bench have struggled to make an impact off the bench.
CartaDubh (National) - 31/05/2021 12:50:18
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Football All Stars - 1 Like(s)
Replying To summerof09: "Cluxton
McCluskey
Fitzsimons
Tom O Sullivan
J McCarthy
McKinless
C McCarthy
Fenton
Rogers
P Clifford
O Shea
E Smith
D Clifford
McGuigan
Basquel
Cluxton fully deserved. Cant argue with defence and midfield. But seriously a Roscommon player makes the team? Sligo was all they beat in the All Ireland SFC??" Last time I checked it was an individual award not a team award so from that point of view Smith is deserving. He's a very good player, ticks a lot of boxes in terms of what you would want in a modern day Gaelic footballer.
CartaDubh (National) - 18/11/2023 09:30:33
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Come On Engerland.....Peoples' Views??? - 1 Like(s)
Replying To CiarraiMick: "Actually there is a great clip on YouTube of fella giving out about the queen coming to Ireland and fellas who support English teams he says we should support Irish teams like St. Pats. He was asked who is his favourite player for St. Pats and he said "the fella in the green" he then says we should nt support English teams just irish teams and Celtic of course
Wgat a muppet! You can google it by typing in "St Pats fan"" I heard the story actually behind that recently your man in question actually has no interest or doesn't have the first clue about soccer. The only reason he said St Pats was because they lives close to Inchicore and he got them mixed up with Shamrock Rovers.
CartaDubh (National) - 10/07/2021 08:11:31
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Donal O'Gs Comments On Football In General And The TC In Particular - 1 Like(s)
Replying To martyW: "You could say the same about the Connaght and Ulster hurling finals if they still existed! They would be even more one sided and boring. There are more competitive and close games in top level football than there is in hurling every year" Yeah hurling snobs are a rare breed alright. There has been some shocking games in the hurling championship and mismatches like Clare and Cork both hammered Waterford. Kilkenny hammered Westmeath and Antrim, yet no one says hurling is dead after these games. The reality is hurling has never been alive in most counties and hurling snobs like Donal Og doesn't help the growth of the sport.
CartaDubh (National) - 19/05/2023 09:50:37
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