National Forum

Pre Season Competitions

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Great to hear Cavan have tabled a motion to Saturdays Central Council meeting requesting to reverse the decision to drop all pre season competitions, surely all players and management would be delighted with this as it would be ideal to adjust to any rule changes before NFL begins

germac (Down) - Posts: 556 - 22/10/2024 22:14:43    2576470

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Mckenna and O'Byrne and even Walsh got decent crowds. Lots of money for injured players fund. I used to love them. Dublin beating KK in Walsh final was biggest win in generation.

Pity to see them go..

BarneyGrant (Dublin) - Posts: 3136 - 22/10/2024 23:05:25    2576474

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Replying To germac:  "Great to hear Cavan have tabled a motion to Saturdays Central Council meeting requesting to reverse the decision to drop all pre season competitions, surely all players and management would be delighted with this as it would be ideal to adjust to any rule changes before NFL begins"
Connacht GAA said they will back that motion and if pre-season are to return the Connacht GAA should show a bit of common sense by moving all games out of 2,000 capacity air dome and play matches in county grounds that would attract 5 to 7,000 people plus they can continue to stream the games.

Drax_the_destroyer (UK) - Posts: 248 - 23/10/2024 00:01:38    2576479

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Sensible proposal to reinstate the competitions. Not least due to teams not having to enter the league 'cold'in terms of new rules , players etc

Bainisteoir (National) - Posts: 561 - 23/10/2024 07:33:39    2576488

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Replying To BarneyGrant:  "Mckenna and O'Byrne and even Walsh got decent crowds. Lots of money for injured players fund. I used to love them. Dublin beating KK in Walsh final was biggest win in generation.

Pity to see them go.."
Agree 100%. And it was great to get to grounds like Mountrath, Callan etc that you'd likely never go to otherwise. There have even been Byrne Cup games fixed for our grounds.
Biggest crowd in Wexford Park the last couple of years was a Walsh Cup semi final against Kilkenny also.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 13886 - 23/10/2024 08:05:09    2576494

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Replying To BarneyGrant:  "Mckenna and O'Byrne and even Walsh got decent crowds. Lots of money for injured players fund. I used to love them. Dublin beating KK in Walsh final was biggest win in generation.

Pity to see them go.."
Always loved it as well. We managed to win loads of them and it was a great opportunity to develop fringe players since the league became more competitive

Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 3155 - 23/10/2024 08:23:31    2576497

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Replying To Doylerwex:  "Always loved it as well. We managed to win loads of them and it was a great opportunity to develop fringe players since the league became more competitive"
o byrne cup should be retained

mickcunningham (Westmeath) - Posts: 1871 - 23/10/2024 10:50:12    2576518

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Replying To Drax_the_destroyer:  "Connacht GAA said they will back that motion and if pre-season are to return the Connacht GAA should show a bit of common sense by moving all games out of 2,000 capacity air dome and play matches in county grounds that would attract 5 to 7,000 people plus they can continue to stream the games."
If they are restored and they go on in the Dome again then Prenty is hypocrite of the year!

Seanfanbocht (Roscommon) - Posts: 1961 - 23/10/2024 10:53:36    2576519

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Replying To Bainisteoir:  "Sensible proposal to reinstate the competitions. Not least due to teams not having to enter the league 'cold'in terms of new rules , players etc"
The teams wouldn't be entering league cold they still play plenty of friendlies on top of these so called competitions

KillingFields (Limerick) - Posts: 3674 - 23/10/2024 12:22:00    2576534

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Replying To Viking66:  "Agree 100%. And it was great to get to grounds like Mountrath, Callan etc that you'd likely never go to otherwise. There have even been Byrne Cup games fixed for our grounds.
Biggest crowd in Wexford Park the last couple of years was a Walsh Cup semi final against Kilkenny also."
2003 was year we beat Cats in final. First time Dublin had won it in 40 years!

Shows you how bad things were but Parnell was jammed and great excitement. Cody even pretended afterwards that he was wary of us for the championship :-)

Loved going as you say to Gorey and Enniscorthy and Abbeyleix and elsewhere.

BarneyGrant (Dublin) - Posts: 3136 - 23/10/2024 13:10:25    2576545

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13,000 attended the O`Byrne cup final of 2004, in Mullingar whos offical capacity was 10,000. Meath v Westmeath Paid O se v Sean Boylan. unbeliveable atmosphere for last sunday in january. i wonder is there any video footage?

dickie10 (UK) - Posts: 768 - 24/10/2024 22:16:29    2576780

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The players seem majorly against the preseason competitions. They need to be in training 6 weeks before the competitive preseason competitions start.
Is there wiggle room and compromise where the preseason competitions can be played like the inter provincial championship recently? Four 15 quarters and interchanging substitutions.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 8293 - 25/10/2024 09:14:56    2576811

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Replying To legendzxix:  "The players seem majorly against the preseason competitions. They need to be in training 6 weeks before the competitive preseason competitions start.
Is there wiggle room and compromise where the preseason competitions can be played like the inter provincial championship recently? Four 15 quarters and interchanging substitutions."
Some of the same GPA lads complaining about too many games seemed to have no problem heading overseas for the Summer. Often leaving their own clubs short.

BarneyGrant (Dublin) - Posts: 3136 - 25/10/2024 11:44:27    2576839

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The pre season games had turned into a hindrance for most counties, and they started to play B or C teams, panel players but most of these lads would be playing with Colleges at the same time, and would have to play both and it was alot of games for them.
If they were brought back then maybe play them like the interprovincial games, split into 4 quarters. That's how a lot of the challenge games are played these days and its why managers prefer them.
Weather is bad that time of year as well, pitches are soft and again not ideal playing conditions.
So I can see why players voted against these competitions but to get them back there has to be a re think on hwo they are setup and played.
The dome in bekan was great as its indoors but then the astro turf causes injuries. Your legs and lower back be bet after playing a match on it, and if you are training on a normal pitch in the wet, its a completely different game going indoors.

Tribes88 (Galway) - Posts: 17 - 25/10/2024 12:36:00    2576858

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Longford won O'Byrne Cup in front of over 9000 in Mullingar in Feb 2000.
Longford retained O'Byrne Cup in front of a few hundred in Jan 2024.

Hasn't been a decent crowd at an O'Byrne Cup final in years. Not taken seriously as a competition - most teams are experimental except for the weaker sides who look at it as their only chance of some silverware. Lots of nostalgia around, but if these competitions are retained, they need a big rethink because the public are broadly uninterested.

LongfordgaaAbú (Longford) - Posts: 574 - 25/10/2024 13:34:48    2576871

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Replying To LongfordgaaAbú:  "Longford won O'Byrne Cup in front of over 9000 in Mullingar in Feb 2000.
Longford retained O'Byrne Cup in front of a few hundred in Jan 2024.

Hasn't been a decent crowd at an O'Byrne Cup final in years. Not taken seriously as a competition - most teams are experimental except for the weaker sides who look at it as their only chance of some silverware. Lots of nostalgia around, but if these competitions are retained, they need a big rethink because the public are broadly uninterested."
Maybe they liked them because they were straight knockout? Also meant that there was more of a level playing field between the Dublins and the rest although Dublin always took it seriously.

I recall indeed a great final between Dublin and Longford in packed Parnell Friday under lights. Think we won with last gasp Jayo goal?

BarneyGrant (Dublin) - Posts: 3136 - 25/10/2024 14:06:40    2576881

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Barely 100 spectators in Wexford Park this year for Wexford v Kildare in the first game of the O'Byrne Cup. Just dropped into it myself as I was working near the ground that day. Wouldn't normally have made the trip in for it.

Viking mentions above the big crowd (12,500 or more) at Walsh Cup v Kilkenny last year, but that a real once-off occasion - first match under floodlights in the Park, along with a fireworks display, and in fairness, Wexford County Board did a great job in promoting it with special offers on tickets for Christmas presents etc.

Wasn't actually a semi-final. Instead, it was the final group game, to determine who'd go through to the final.

We also played them there in 2022 in the final group game, which would decide who'd go into the final. Attendance then for such an "ordinary" occasion was around 2,500.

The final was against Dublin in Croke Park. Was at it myself, and again, I'd say attendance wasn't much more than about 2,500 at the start. Emptiest I've ever seen the place for an inter-county match. Crowd only started coming in for a Dublin v Armagh match in the National Football League that was being played afterwards.

Maybe there's some arguments for bringing back these competitions, but let's not kid ourselves that there's major public interest in all the matches.

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2622 - 25/10/2024 15:18:29    2576898

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Replying To BarneyGrant:  "Maybe they liked them because they were straight knockout? Also meant that there was more of a level playing field between the Dublins and the rest although Dublin always took it seriously.

I recall indeed a great final between Dublin and Longford in packed Parnell Friday under lights. Think we won with last gasp Jayo goal?"
That Dublin-Longford final in Parnell Park was 2008, goal deep in stoppage time by Jayo to win it. 7000 at that one. In the 16 years since, attendance has collapsed, especially in recent years where some of the earlier stages have a couple hundred at best going to them.

Times have changed - You won't get people to come out in numbers on a cold/wet Winter day to overpay to watch a bad tournament game, not even the final. Other more interesting things competing for eyeballs and peoples time, and in that world the O'Byrne Cup doesn't have a place that matters anymore.

LongfordgaaAbú (Longford) - Posts: 574 - 25/10/2024 16:54:02    2576918

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There we have it , seems like GPA dont want pre season competitions , Surely these games are a great way of unearthing 1 , 2 maybe 3 players who could play at county level along with getting used to new rules, seems like tail wagging dog to me

germac (Down) - Posts: 556 - 26/10/2024 19:42:24    2577072

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Replying To germac:  "There we have it , seems like GPA dont want pre season competitions , Surely these games are a great way of unearthing 1 , 2 maybe 3 players who could play at county level along with getting used to new rules, seems like tail wagging dog to me"
The GPA argument is that they have to be back training 6 weeks before "competitive" preseason games where people are paying to attend. With challenge games, there can be flexibility in playing games by quarters, using the full squad etc. Essentially GPA only want players back in training around 6 weeks before the league.
The compromise has to be challenge elements to those preseason tournaments. Be that 4 quarters of 15 minutes and interchanging substitutions throughout.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 8293 - 26/10/2024 19:56:29    2577074

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