Meath Forum

League Starts

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At least trim have good big panels to try rotate lads , what are the smaller clubs like longwood etc ment to do?
Then people wonder why people stop playing gaa

hurlit (Meath) - Posts: 416 - 26/04/2022 09:57:32    2413256

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I think there are a lot of issues that need to be resolved in terms of the leagues!

There is no consistency in terms of the regularity of games, it appears that matches could be any night of the week, not great for lads who work in the evenings and are trying to plan schedules!

Dual players are under huge pressure with the closeness of games - and while I appreciate bigger panels have an advantage, this is diminished when you consider that the likes of Dunboyne, Trim and Ratoath have large numbers away with the county who can't play - you still end up with guys having to double up!

And what's the craic with first and second teams playing on the same night !
Again, I don't think that is issue for championship, although as a supporter, I'd like to be able to go and see both games, but when the county lads, senior, under 20 football and hurling are all unavailable it really stretches resources!

And lastly - what is the story with the charges into these games - some clubs charge €5 per car others are charging €5 per head - what are most of you seeing??

On another score, there are a lot of county lads, who have had very little game time with the county who surely would have benefited from a bit of game time with their clubs!

Royalblufill (Meath) - Posts: 480 - 26/04/2022 13:59:30    2413339

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The representation of the 2nd/3rd teams in the lower leagues including A Leagues and Premier competitions is turning into a complete joke. Competitions were rearranged so that these teams would compete with smaller club teams in the lower divisions a couple of years ago. Most of these are turning out to be totally non competitive with a number of walk overs also. The arrogance of the CB and the so called bigger clubs to first of all setup the leagues in this way and then for the larger clubs to behave like this is extremely disappointing and does nothing for development of the club game in Meath. This arrangement has totally backfired and the leagues need to be reverted back to original format asap. Club football in Meath appears to be at an all time low with these type of structures making things even worse. Not to mention playing all these games in midweek when a championship game is nowhere near in sight. Shame on you CB!

winatallcost (Meath) - Posts: 511 - 04/05/2022 07:31:02    2414763

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Replying To winatallcost:  "The representation of the 2nd/3rd teams in the lower leagues including A Leagues and Premier competitions is turning into a complete joke. Competitions were rearranged so that these teams would compete with smaller club teams in the lower divisions a couple of years ago. Most of these are turning out to be totally non competitive with a number of walk overs also. The arrogance of the CB and the so called bigger clubs to first of all setup the leagues in this way and then for the larger clubs to behave like this is extremely disappointing and does nothing for development of the club game in Meath. This arrangement has totally backfired and the leagues need to be reverted back to original format asap. Club football in Meath appears to be at an all time low with these type of structures making things even worse. Not to mention playing all these games in midweek when a championship game is nowhere near in sight. Shame on you CB!"
Its a bit harsh to try and lay any blame at the 'bigger clubs' doors, having a first and second team both playing the same night is naturally going to leave teams very tight if not unable to fulfil fixtures depending on clubs injuries situation or county representation. The CB have made a bit of a shambles in the fixtures in that regard. Having them midweek, while not ideal isn't the end of the world though, they are running off the lower premier championships on weekends and it means that the 1st and 2nd teams then have the option to arrange their own trainings to allow lads have some free time on weekends to allow some sort of social life as well.
As I said it isn't ideal and the CB have made some mistakes yet again but blaming clubs and calling the arrogant is out of order!!!

ratlag (Meath) - Posts: 557 - 04/05/2022 10:42:13    2414807

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Replying To winatallcost:  "The representation of the 2nd/3rd teams in the lower leagues including A Leagues and Premier competitions is turning into a complete joke. Competitions were rearranged so that these teams would compete with smaller club teams in the lower divisions a couple of years ago. Most of these are turning out to be totally non competitive with a number of walk overs also. The arrogance of the CB and the so called bigger clubs to first of all setup the leagues in this way and then for the larger clubs to behave like this is extremely disappointing and does nothing for development of the club game in Meath. This arrangement has totally backfired and the leagues need to be reverted back to original format asap. Club football in Meath appears to be at an all time low with these type of structures making things even worse. Not to mention playing all these games in midweek when a championship game is nowhere near in sight. Shame on you CB!"
It's a bit ridiculous to be blaming the bigger clubs for this. The big clubs were perfectly happy in the B leagues when they got to play in the regular championships. When the small clubs eventually got their way and had the 2nd and 3rd teams removed from the regular championships, they had to open up the league to 2nd teams to stop the league and championship being effectively the same competition playing the same teams over and over.

Then on top of that, I don't think anyone ever imagined when this was introduced that both 1st and 2nd teams would have to play games at the same time leaving 2nd teams badly short of players.

CastleBravo (Meath) - Posts: 1647 - 04/05/2022 19:13:23    2414928

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Running the games against each other on a Tuesday night is a head scratcher.

Why don't they have them on weekends over Sat and Sun like the hurling? First and second teams never clash in hurling. Hurling and football fixtures should be run the same, should they not?

Goldback (Meath) - Posts: 54 - 05/05/2022 10:17:26    2414984

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As a matter of interest - how are teams shaping up in peoples view through the league competitions. I know it's hard to read too much into results but just curious to hear what people are seeing! St Colmcilles appear to be motoring well while at the other end of the table Navan O'Mahonys really look like they are adrift of the others!

I know some teams are more impacted than others through County involvement making it harder to read anything into results but is anybody seeing anything that would suggest a 'dark horse' for Keegan?

Royalblufill (Meath) - Posts: 480 - 05/05/2022 12:36:25    2415031

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Replying To Royalblufill:  "As a matter of interest - how are teams shaping up in peoples view through the league competitions. I know it's hard to read too much into results but just curious to hear what people are seeing! St Colmcilles appear to be motoring well while at the other end of the table Navan O'Mahonys really look like they are adrift of the others!

I know some teams are more impacted than others through County involvement making it harder to read anything into results but is anybody seeing anything that would suggest a 'dark horse' for Keegan?"
No its impossible to read into anything at the minute, St. Colmcilles beat Ratoath by 10 points as did Balinabrackey, yet Ratoath then went out and bet both Ashbourne and Wolfe Tones. With some teams having massive county involvement across football and hurling I don't think you can take anything form the results at the moment.

ratlag (Meath) - Posts: 557 - 05/05/2022 14:17:24    2415061

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For the county board to think running a second / third team championship before the first teams would work well says alot about them.
We played a football team recent that had guys playing div 1 tuesday - div 3 thursday and premier champ sunday, how is that benifit anybody ?

Way to many games and none with real championship bite with current premier championship setup.

hurlit (Meath) - Posts: 416 - 06/05/2022 08:56:54    2415163

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The lower divisions of the league is a complete farce and the blame should be laid purely at the feet of the CB. The restructuring of the leagues was a bad idea from day 1 but the insistence of some games being played on the same day as first team are playing is nothing short of a disgrace. On Tuesday second teams were beaten by an average of 13 points and this does not include numerous walk overs, who is this suppose to help or develop? Has there been any explanation provided as to why this has happened? They cant use the usual shortage of refs as spreading the games over the course of the week would help this issue.

dgaffer (Meath) - Posts: 22 - 06/05/2022 09:55:07    2415171

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Does anybody actually check these first 15s clubs hand in anymore?
Even in the hurling leagues this year some fairly farcical second teams have lined out in the lower leagues.

hurlit (Meath) - Posts: 416 - 06/05/2022 14:55:11    2415290

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Does anyone know the format of promotion and relegation in divisions 1a and 1b?

Meathgaa5 (Meath) - Posts: 339 - 15/06/2022 07:04:57    2425060

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Replying To hurlit:  "Does anybody actually check these first 15s clubs hand in anymore?
Even in the hurling leagues this year some fairly farcical second teams have lined out in the lower leagues."
That's a very good question, team lists of names players should be available. Probably tell us they can't because of GDPR.
If that's the case teams on match days can't be published in newspapers, programs or social media

Meathball (Meath) - Posts: 140 - 15/06/2022 20:09:02    2425247

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There was a time when they used to publish the lists of players ineligible for the various lower leagues; obviously not any more. It can't be GDPR thing any more than naming a player in a teamsheet breaches GDPR....

The system has always had a "get away with what you can" approach to it though. Lads would be on the Meath senior team but then a few months later they're not even named in their club's top 15 players. Or a player could have been a junior player his whole career, yet the minute he moves to Australia he's named in the first 15 so that an actual senior can then play junior as well...

CastleBravo (Meath) - Posts: 1647 - 16/06/2022 10:13:09    2425286

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Replying To hurlit:  "Does anybody actually check these first 15s clubs hand in anymore?
Even in the hurling leagues this year some fairly farcical second teams have lined out in the lower leagues."
Kildalkey have a fella playing div 1 League, division 3 & division 4. Madness

PatrickTopping (Meath) - Posts: 112 - 16/06/2022 10:57:15    2425304

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Replying To Meathgaa5:  "Does anyone know the format of promotion and relegation in divisions 1a and 1b?"
I believe, In Division 1A top 2 teams play in final and bottom 2 are relegated, O' Mahony's are already one of those relegated.
In Division 1B Trim and Dunshaughlin are promoted and play in the final with Walterstown & Curraha relegated.
As it stands for next years league you have a Junior team Syddan who will be up in Div 1B and a Senior team Curraha down in Div 2A

Meathball (Meath) - Posts: 140 - 16/06/2022 11:24:49    2425318

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Who do people think will win Division 1A & 1B and who will drop from bother divisions . I think teams will change completely over the last few rounds especially with county players back

Bear10 (Meath) - Posts: 463 - 16/06/2022 15:12:49    2425425

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Replying To Meathball:  "I believe, In Division 1A top 2 teams play in final and bottom 2 are relegated, O' Mahony's are already one of those relegated.
In Division 1B Trim and Dunshaughlin are promoted and play in the final with Walterstown & Curraha relegated.
As it stands for next years league you have a Junior team Syddan who will be up in Div 1B and a Senior team Curraha down in Div 2A"
The league throws off some bizarre results. Some clubs are missing so many lads due to county commitments that they are effectively fielding second teams but then have county players back and field an entirely different team! Dunboyne and Ratoath being two - but the likes of Moynalvey who have smaller panels are a totally different proposition with COS and Harnan than without!

Curraha likewise can't afford to be missing their county lads but I am hearing that they also have a large number of lads away this summer. If that's the case then they could be facing a drop this year! NOM seem to be in dire straights too - could be a tough year for them - but of course both are in the same group so you never know!!

I put very little store in the league as a measure for who will contest championship

ASaminthehand (Meath) - Posts: 422 - 17/06/2022 08:49:57    2425528

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Agreed its hard to ready anything into league form in regards to championship as teams are missing all their county contingent as well as holidays etc that won't happen from August onwards. However it is interesting to see them being so competitive this year, with the reduced number of teams definitely one of the main reasons for this.
Div1A has 2 points separating Dunboyne in 6th and the Bracks in 11th which means potentially any of 6 teams can still be relegated (roughly, im sure some teams may play each other which guarantees others safety) and at the other end there is 2 points separating Tones in 2nd and Don/Ash in 7th so it means no dead rubbers for a change with one round of games to go. Personally I would like to see all Leagues down to 10 teams and not starting until Mid-March/April playing out the cups in Feb as happened this year. Its gives teams more competitive games as there is always something to play for and it reduces fixture congestion so players can get a better life balance as well.
Overall this year though it has been a marked improvement I think

ratlag (Meath) - Posts: 557 - 17/06/2022 15:23:38    2425645

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Replying To ASaminthehand:  "The league throws off some bizarre results. Some clubs are missing so many lads due to county commitments that they are effectively fielding second teams but then have county players back and field an entirely different team! Dunboyne and Ratoath being two - but the likes of Moynalvey who have smaller panels are a totally different proposition with COS and Harnan than without!

Curraha likewise can't afford to be missing their county lads but I am hearing that they also have a large number of lads away this summer. If that's the case then they could be facing a drop this year! NOM seem to be in dire straights too - could be a tough year for them - but of course both are in the same group so you never know!!

I put very little store in the league as a measure for who will contest championship"
It would be awful to see Navan relegated! The biggest club in the county and the most successful
What's going on there?

I agree - the leagues and championships are totally different animals and have little bearing on one another!

Can't wait for championship to start - then we'll see who is who!

Royalblufill (Meath) - Posts: 480 - 18/06/2022 07:19:04    2425681

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