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Westmeath Football thread - 2 Like(s)
Replying To Paddyw: "Where can we find this new podcast?" Type in Iarmhi Abu podcast, you'll find that on YouTube.
https://youtube.com/@iarmhiabupodcast?si=sSdcX34NjOMhRQeA That's the link
2maroonjerseys (National) - 11/06/2026 16:41:19
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Leinster SHC - 2 Like(s)
Replying To Fionn: "Why, do you not think Galway would be competitive in the Munster SHC.???
Surely the next step…!
;o)" Galway should move to Munster. Of the 8 sides already eliminated from the Tailteann Cup, a staggering 4 are Munster sides, so clearly an infusion of quality is required for that particular 'championship'. As regards MHC, Waterford should be plotting a way out, rather than Galway plotting a way in. Otherwise, they'll be changing manager regularly for the foreseeable future.
Pope_Benedict (National) - 11/06/2026 14:20:39
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Monaghan GAA thread - 1 Like(s)
Replying To Seanfan: "Pin this nonsense to the dressing room wall!" roscommon definitely better than mayo and derry. my big question here is how much have rossies improved since last year in the league final...most of our starting team will be the same as last year
broadly speaking roscommon have improved on last year and we have gone backwards but we won that final by 10pts so if i was manager id be reminding my players that and in reality monaghan should not be fearful of roscommon at home....
if we do lose i hope its a tight game and i wish roscommon well for rest of the year - i was in the hyde earlier on in the year and thoroughly enjoyed it - a great venue and sound local fans. i think i was the only monaghan man who left the pitch feeling good because despite the loss i didnt think it was a bad display away from home
we can win this but we might not and the all ireland series will lose a good team either way on saturday
MalsBalls (National) - 11/06/2026 12:13:53
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Football Format Changes Discussion - 1 Like(s)
Replying To omahant: "Why not end the debate with this:
TWO OPTIONS:
OPTION ONE
✓ Two league tiers of 16
✓ Prov KO ties, based on prior Autumn Draw, 'double as league ties' (all 4 Prov Rds, intra-tier);
any tier crossover ties (Tier 1v2) are Prov KO only
✓ Play Prov Prelim & QF Rds early (Feb, 1st half); but defer SFs (Apr, end) & Finals (May, mid 2 wks)
✓ After Prov QF Rd, draw '4 groups of 4' per tier
(from 4 seeded pots of 4)
✓ 12-match Regular Season - a URC-like schedule, less* 'intra-group' ties - i.e. play the 'crossover' 12 - with all 'intra-tier' Prov KO ties included in the 12
* Groups reduce the high 16-team 'all plays all' match count to the desired quantity in each tier
✓ Limit each group to 'one Prov SF team, per province' (this way, all 16 'then possible' Prov Finals - played over 2 weeks in May - 'cross over')
✓ Avoid drawing to the same group, both teams in any Prov Prelim, Prov QF or 'Pre-selected' league tie, to ensure these ties have also 'crossed over'
(all played pre-draw, per the AILC Calendar below)
✓ Rank teams 1-16 & 17-32, based on 12-match Swiss model/ partial round robin, 16-team tables, prior to a 'three-tier' AIC for Sam, Shield & Plate
✓ Teams '1 & 17' win "League 1" or "League 2"
✓ Top 8 enter AI Sam 'Aussie AFL-style Playoffs';
9-20 participate in the middle-tier AI Shield KO;
21-28 contest an AI Plate KO (or Tailteann Cup); &
29-32 are eliminated
✓ Each Prov Champ's AIC tier eligibility is also based solely on their most recent League ranking
(no Sam berth guarantee)
✓ 'Shield QF 8' compete in the next Tier 1 League,
with '2, 3 or 4 teams' newly promoted & relegated
[after Prelim QFs: 11,12,13,14 host 20,19,16,15; &
QFs: 9,10,17,18 host PQF 'reverse seed' winners .
______
Or, alternatively:
OPTION TWO
10-match Regular Season - similar to "Option One" - with the following changes:
✓ After Prov QFs, draw groups of 6, 5 & 5 per tier
✓ 10-match schedule (6 v both 5s; and each 5 v own round-robin group), with all intra-tier Prov KO ties 'most likely' included in the 10
✓ To optimise this 'likelihood', split each Tier 1 'Prov-specific, Prov SF set' in the draw, as follows:
Draw '3 of a **4-team SF set' to 'one Group of 5';
'3 of a 2nd **4-team set' to 'other Group of 5'; &
'1 SF team from each province' to the 'Group of 6',
before completing groups with remaining teams.
[i.e. to target avoidance of Prov KO ties between 'two Group of 6 teams', or 'one from each Group of 5', as they would not 'double up' as league ties].
** If unavailable, draw '2 of a 3-team SF set' instead.
______
AILC CALENDAR
(only selected weeks shown below)
Week Activity
-2 (mid Jan) Start of '2-3 game' Pre-Season
0 (end of Jan) End of Pre-Season Warm-Up
1 (start of Feb) 4 Prov Prelim Rd ties; and up to
12 pre-selected, pre-group draw,
'cross-province, league ties'
2 13 Prov QF Rd ties; and up to
3 pre-selected, pre-group draw,
'cross-province, league ties'
2 (after QF Rd) AILC Draw (2 tiers of 4x4 or 6,5,5)
2 (after Draw) Add 'Week 1/2 results' to tables
3 Bye Week
4 (end of Feb) 3rd Regular Season Match Week
13 (end of Apr) Match Week includes 8 Prov SFs
15 & 16 Match Weeks include 4 Prov Finals
20 Last Regular Season Match Week
21 (end of June) Bye Week
22 AI Sam ^PSFs/PQFs, Shield PQFs & Plate QFs
23 AI Sam QFs & AI Shield QFs
24 AI Plate SFs
25 AI Sam SFs & AI Shield SFs
26 (end of July) AI Plate Final
27 (start of Aug) AI Sam Final & AI Shield Final
^ Two Sam Prelim SF ties are 'double elimination' (with winners to Sam SFs & losers to Sam QFs).
Across three tiers, all 25 other ties are AIC KO.
NOTE - Over 27 regular/ post season Calendar Weeks, each inter-county team plays:
12 (or 10) 'staggered' regular season games;
a likely '0 to 2' tier-crossover Prov KO games; and
'0 to 4' AIC/post season games, with remaining
'inactive weeks' sufficient for periodic rest.
______"]Not wise nor anywhere near it.
Saynothing (National) - 11/06/2026 21:16:10
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Westmeath Football thread - 1 Like(s)
Replying To CasKD: "Killucan had a player getting married on the Thursday with half their team at it, so requested a weekend fixture months ago. No reason to change any other fixtures. All teams knew what result they needed to stay safe. Scoring difference wasn't an issue, and there is no rule to say that fixtures needed to be played at the same time.
Supposedly Athlone and Moate kicked up for them to be played at the same time and got their wish" So why did the other 7 clubs not get notification until last Wednesday morning of the change? Seems crazy to hold up 7 other clubs for one lad getting married. Great to have pull in the CB.
Chops (National) - 11/06/2026 16:23:05
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Hurling Championship 2026 - 1 Like(s)
Replying To bloodandbandage: "I just can't see the Dubs beating Clare. That beating in the LF will be very hard to come back from. Clare love playing in Thurles, and know every blade of grass there.
Cork will need huge improvement to get over Offaly, and 23 shots will not do. I'm not looking any further then that. Likely, that our midfield paring of Tommy & Tim will also be missing." Darragh Fitz would be some replacement for Tommy O'Connell though. Looking back to Sunday, I think Darragh Fitz would have made a massive difference for Cork if he had been fit to play.
I think Cork will just have too much class for Offaly and I honestly believe loosing the Munster Final will only motivate them more going forward.
I think the outcome of Clare and Dublin could be dependent on how many of Dublin's injured players are fit to feature and also depends on what Clare team turn up. If Clare perform like they did against Limerick and Cork (especially in the backs), Dublin would have the beating of them. If they play like they did in the first half against Waterford and like they did against Tipperary. Then Dublin would need nearly a full deck to compete with them.
LimerickandProud (National) - 11/06/2026 15:58:39
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Monaghan GAA thread - 1 Like(s)
Replying To MalsBalls: "roscommon definitely better than mayo and derry. my big question here is how much have rossies improved since last year in the league final...most of our starting team will be the same as last year
broadly speaking roscommon have improved on last year and we have gone backwards but we won that final by 10pts so if i was manager id be reminding my players that and in reality monaghan should not be fearful of roscommon at home....
if we do lose i hope its a tight game and i wish roscommon well for rest of the year - i was in the hyde earlier on in the year and thoroughly enjoyed it - a great venue and sound local fans. i think i was the only monaghan man who left the pitch feeling good because despite the loss i didnt think it was a bad display away from home
we can win this but we might not and the all ireland series will lose a good team either way on saturday" I agree with your last comment there I was hoping that we would avoid Monaghan as I would love to see both counties going a bit further. Like ourselves ye try to upset the bigger powers every year. Whatever happens on Saturday I hope Monaghan rebound from Division 2 next year and we will have a meeting in Roscommon or Clones.
Rossieforever (National) - 11/06/2026 14:09:50
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Carlow GAA thread - 1 Like(s)
Replying To CarlowJuniorB: "Laois can keep graigue. I'm completely fine with that" Completely disagree. They need to be taken out of Leix and returned to Carlow whatever way that's to be done, if they won't voluntarily do so. If there had to be a compromise on our part then the old Carlow-Graigue club needs to be re-born (playing hurling also) with the existing club and the re-born club dividing or sharing the Maher Park facilities, unless one is provided with a new ground. The division of Arles provides a potential template that Leix county board are familiar with.
Onion Breath (National) - 11/06/2026 14:08:20
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Leinster SHC - 1 Like(s)
Replying To Fionn: "Why, do you not think Galway would be competitive in the Munster SHC.???
Surely the next step…!
;o)" I dont think alot of Galway and Munster folk realise what a boost winning a Leinster title gives hurling in counties like ours Fionn.
Especially at grassroots level, and when top young players are deciding between Hurling, Football, soccer and rugby.
Viking66 (National) - 11/06/2026 13:59:43
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Monaghan GAA thread - 1 Like(s)
Replying To monaghanmad: "On what basis are they are better side than Derry and Mayo? Yes they beat Mayo in a game that wasn't knockout and then fluffed at home V a poor Tyrone side. They are a middle of the road outfit who do a lot of talking about how good they are. We have all seen this from Roscommon before, talk the talk and then fall the fall.
Past players out the in the media talking about how they should be all Ireland semi finalists, I am hearing this for years now and they same men continue to fluff it, what has changed really?
Be under no illusion, if we take them down the stretch they will revert to what they always have been. Its a matter of getting them down the stretch." Pin this nonsense to the dressing room wall!
Seanfan (National) - 11/06/2026 10:51:23
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Non-Gaa Forum - 1 Like(s)
Winner: France
Top Scorer: Harry Kane
Dark Horse: Portugal
Player of the Tournament: Donald Trump
yew_tree (National) - 11/06/2026 10:47:15
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Galway Football thread - 1 Like(s)
Replying To SouthGalway: "I'm still grappling with the format so I have a question: the loser of Galway v Westmeath are they out of it? Or some other back door?" Loser is still in it. Has a game against the winners of the losers round being played this weekend.
Easiest way to think of it is, two wins you're in the quarters, two losses you're out.
WanPintWin (National) - 11/06/2026 09:28:20
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Non-Gaa Forum - 1 Like(s)
Replying To BarneyGrant: "Politics in Ireland should not be confined by British imposed institutions like Stormont.
Withdrawing from Westminster was considered a "daft idea" before 1916. I suppose you think they were all "daft" as well?" Times are different now and your comparison is not fair and well you know it.
yew_tree (National) - 11/06/2026 07:42:03
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Monaghan GAA thread - 1 Like(s)
Replying To PolicemanFox: "Big game experience? A force in the coming years. Being hearing this type of stuff for years.
All this experience and whatever is for some vague time in the future.
What about last year's big game experience, and last month's and last fortnight's? It should be paying off now.
Monaghan aren't really in transition. 12 of the 15 who started against Donegal in last year's quarter-final and 4 of the subs who came on are still very much involved and I think 14 played against Mayo at some stage. If there hadn't been injuries to O'Hanlon, Kelly, and Mohan that number would have been higher and if Lavelle and Gallagher had been available last year they probably would have played against Donegal too.
Every team brings a few players through each year if they can, so what?
The major question for Monaghan is getting to the next level:
Leading the 2025 All-Ireland quarter final last year by 7pts at halftime and letting it slip.
Losing the 2026 Ulster final in extra time.
Losing by a point to Mayo with home advantage.
The problem is winning these big games and Monaghan's record against teams outside Ulster is poor. The last two Mayo and Galway championship games being an example. Close games but Monaghan on the wrong side.
If they lose to Roscommon it'll just be another Monaghan nearly season.
The talent is clearly there and Monaghan need to be winning these types of games. Now, not next year." Start going to games lad, and not just be reciting the old tired pundit's nonsense. In a very short time we have had to replace the Hughes, Karl, Drew, Kieran Duffy, McManus,, Carey, Kelly,and a few others. Time takes time, and true football men know the score.
ORIELMAN85 (National) - 11/06/2026 03:06:49
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Galway Football thread - 1 Like(s)
Replying To backtooldwall: "I expect a big Westmeath support in Salthill on Sunday seeing the game is sold out,The normal Galway following of 3 to 6 or 7 thousand will be greatly outnumbered.Lets hope they don't have too great an influence on the result." 15k of the tickets sold are Westmeath supporters apparently, Matk McHugh in fairness to him has that county believing again, if Westmeath was playing Galway last year you'd be lucky to see 2k Westmeath Supporters turning up to Salthill.
Drax_the_destroyer (National) - 11/06/2026 00:26:36
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