Replying To 11jm11:  "Excellent points and well written.
With regard to your second point on the changing face of County Meath, I see a lot of similarities in this regard between Meath and my own club which used to be a Senior powerhouse but has fallen away badly over the past 20 years. We used to be a village and the GAA club was the pride , joy and central part of the parish and we would have huge crowds at both league and championship games and everyone wanted to be involved. Every child in the village and surrounding area would have played football as there was no other sports available really. Since around 2000, the village has expanded rapidly with people from other parts of the country and foreign nationals moving in to what has become a commuter town. The population has expanded ten fold but the interest in the GAA club has significantly declined as people who have moved into the area either follow other sports and have no interest in sports at all. I'd say if you asked people in the new housing estates in the town about the local club or about Kildare gaa they wouldn't know the first thing about either. The gaa club has gone from being the most important thing in the area to just another sports club and I'd imagine lots of other clubs in the commuter belt are experiencing the same thing. Aside from the GAA, the town has lost its sense of community as people don't know each other. I could walk down the town these days and I wouldn't know a single person. We used to be very proud of our village and had a great sense of pride of place but thats now gone and the gaa club has suffered as a result. Meath seems to be suffering from many of the same things"

Replying To royaldunne:  "Both you and young Gael make very valid points. I think the 3 counties most effected by the changing demographics are Meath Kildare and Wicklow. They really are now just wider suburbs of Dublin. And Gaa in particular has suffered because of this. All you have to look at is the decline in recent years of the navan clubs in Meath. (Yes I know nom have been up and down before) but this seems more dire. I recall a lad on here prior to a Leinster final saying he was wearing his Meath top before the final and a group of mostly women asked him what he thought he was doing wearing it in Dublin, ashbourne. Also the thing Brian menton mentioned about the credit union in the area too congratulating Dean Rock on bringing home the all ire. Really the sense of identity is gone particularly county identity. I notice it in Westmeath too, where before it was about been a royal. Now they don't care it's about are you Liverpool, Man Utd , arsenal or Chelsea, Gaa is way down the list. I work with a lad that will go into cusack park at ht as he doesn't want to pay in before hand. But 3/4 times a year travels to anfield."

Replying To joej:  "You can add Louth to that list of Dublin suburbs RoyalDunne. Young Gael's post is excellent and very valid, Drogheda especially fits the bill of one of those towns that have lost its identity. However, you won't only see Dubs jerseys in Drogheda, in the 90s and 00s you would see plenty of Meath jerseys floating about Drogheda too. I'd say that post is relevant to a lot of counties, Gaelic football has seen its best days, and now its the preserve of the usual counties that produce good decent teams every year, and the rest of us that manage to grab a hold of a very very good manager. Not doubting the players that Louth has currently, but the current success in Louth is down to 2 things, Mickey Harte and Gavin Devlin."

Replying To royaldunne:  "Both you and young Gael make very valid points. I think the 3 counties most effected by the changing demographics are Meath Kildare and Wicklow. They really are now just wider suburbs of Dublin. And Gaa in particular has suffered because of this. All you have to look at is the decline in recent years of the navan clubs in Meath. (Yes I know nom have been up and down before) but this seems more dire. I recall a lad on here prior to a Leinster final saying he was wearing his Meath top before the final and a group of mostly women asked him what he thought he was doing wearing it in Dublin, ashbourne. Also the thing Brian menton mentioned about the credit union in the area too congratulating Dean Rock on bringing home the all ire. Really the sense of identity is gone particularly county identity. I notice it in Westmeath too, where before it was about been a royal. Now they don't care it's about are you Liverpool, Man Utd , arsenal or Chelsea, Gaa is way down the list. I work with a lad that will go into cusack park at ht as he doesn't want to pay in before hand. But 3/4 times a year travels to anfield."