After what has seemed like an eternity we have had a really great weekend in the championship with more action than you would get on Super Tuesday in the US primaries.
I am a great fan of the qualifiers in both football and hurling when they are played on a sudden death basis and this weekend proved once again that when it really matter the best sides rise to the top.
The hurling championship looks like being the real deal after one good game and an absolute thriller at Thurles on Saturday.
The crowds were out in force too with almost a full house at Croke for the Leinster football final between Dublin and Wexford and Clones too was packed to the rafters for the Ulster final between Armagh and Fermanagh with the two sides having to do it again next weekend.
All this should silence the doomsayers about the drop in attendances in the earlier part of the season when the GAA public know there is a second chance.
When there really is something at stake the GAA people will come out, there is nothing like a hanging to focus people's attention and for many teams up and down the country this weekend's results have ended their county's interest in the championship for another year. But it was gripping stuff and it really is shaping up to one of the most open championships in years in both codes.
Showing posts with label qualifiers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label qualifiers. Show all posts
Sunday, 20 July 2008
Monday, 30 June 2008
Qualifiers kind to the northerners
I expect the football qualifiers to be good for the northern sides after last night's draw.
Most of the Ulster sides avoided the big guns down below and although success in the qualifiers depends too on the resilience of a team knocked out of their provincial championship I think most of the northern teams will make progress into the next round.
Tyrone should see off Louth while I think Down will recover from their defeat at the hands of Armagh to beat Offaly.
Donegal will beat Roscommon at home and in the all-northern clash of Derry and Monaghan I fancy the Oak Leaf men to avenge last year's Ulster Championship defeat especially if Paul Finlay's ban stands which now looks likely.
Cavan may find it tough in Newbridge but Kildare have done nothing so far this year to suggest that they are capable of getting the result.
The most interesting of the other ties for me is the Limerick Meath game. Limerick were unlucky again not to beat Cork and home advantage will stand by them.
However, Meath will be back to something approaching full strength and you would expect that this will be the trigger for their return as contenders.
So I expect that four and possibly five out of six of the northern sides currently in the qualifiers will advance to the next round.
Most of the Ulster sides avoided the big guns down below and although success in the qualifiers depends too on the resilience of a team knocked out of their provincial championship I think most of the northern teams will make progress into the next round.
Tyrone should see off Louth while I think Down will recover from their defeat at the hands of Armagh to beat Offaly.
Donegal will beat Roscommon at home and in the all-northern clash of Derry and Monaghan I fancy the Oak Leaf men to avenge last year's Ulster Championship defeat especially if Paul Finlay's ban stands which now looks likely.
Cavan may find it tough in Newbridge but Kildare have done nothing so far this year to suggest that they are capable of getting the result.
The most interesting of the other ties for me is the Limerick Meath game. Limerick were unlucky again not to beat Cork and home advantage will stand by them.
However, Meath will be back to something approaching full strength and you would expect that this will be the trigger for their return as contenders.
So I expect that four and possibly five out of six of the northern sides currently in the qualifiers will advance to the next round.
Tuesday, 6 May 2008
New hurling format clear as mud!
Is it just me or do other GAA people find the new hurling format as clear as mud?
I'm delighted that an t-Uachtaran Nickey Brennan understands it well enough to say that the new qualifier format should make for a great year's hurling.
I confess to being absolutely baffled.
However, there are a couple of things I am clear about, one that the game's not straight under this system and secondly it does little or nothing to promote hurling in Connacht or Ulster.
Now if anyone reckons I have lost the plot on this one or simply don't understand the set-up then feel free to let me know as you're probably right.
Firstly I welcome the fact that the qualifiers are being played on a knockout basis.
The experiment with the round robin system for losers in the provinces was as interesting as watching paint dry with big sides trapped in them going through the motions to get the required results while all the games bar usually the final one of the three lacking bite and drama.
So I am a big fan of the knockout element.
But for me that's as good as it gets with the new format.
My first problem is that Antrim and Galway have to play in Qualifier 1, which means that one whole province will have no home interest in the championship early in the season, this year it will be Ulster.
Secondly the new system puts first round and semi final losers in Leinster and Munster on a par.
This may have been true in the '60s and maybe again in the'80s and '90s but let's be honest the Leinster Championship is now crap and it's a long time since it was genuinely competitive.
It is Kilkenny and the also rans and to be straight the other sides in Leinster are on a par with Antrim so why couldn't the Saffrons have been playing first round losers from Leinster in the first qualifying game?
And as the season progresses the Munster sides who lose in the semis and the final are far superior to anything which Leinster has to offer and this gives the Leinster sides a status their results simply don't deserve.
And if anyone believes that the Leinster sides will catch up in the next three years I'll send them all a crackerjack pencil if they're right.
If we are going down this route then teams should have been seeded on their performances instead of rewarded on the basis of an antiquated championship set-up which is stuck in an age when Leinster sides outside the Cats were still at the races.
I'm delighted that an t-Uachtaran Nickey Brennan understands it well enough to say that the new qualifier format should make for a great year's hurling.
I confess to being absolutely baffled.
However, there are a couple of things I am clear about, one that the game's not straight under this system and secondly it does little or nothing to promote hurling in Connacht or Ulster.
Now if anyone reckons I have lost the plot on this one or simply don't understand the set-up then feel free to let me know as you're probably right.
Firstly I welcome the fact that the qualifiers are being played on a knockout basis.
The experiment with the round robin system for losers in the provinces was as interesting as watching paint dry with big sides trapped in them going through the motions to get the required results while all the games bar usually the final one of the three lacking bite and drama.
So I am a big fan of the knockout element.
But for me that's as good as it gets with the new format.
My first problem is that Antrim and Galway have to play in Qualifier 1, which means that one whole province will have no home interest in the championship early in the season, this year it will be Ulster.
Secondly the new system puts first round and semi final losers in Leinster and Munster on a par.
This may have been true in the '60s and maybe again in the'80s and '90s but let's be honest the Leinster Championship is now crap and it's a long time since it was genuinely competitive.
It is Kilkenny and the also rans and to be straight the other sides in Leinster are on a par with Antrim so why couldn't the Saffrons have been playing first round losers from Leinster in the first qualifying game?
And as the season progresses the Munster sides who lose in the semis and the final are far superior to anything which Leinster has to offer and this gives the Leinster sides a status their results simply don't deserve.
And if anyone believes that the Leinster sides will catch up in the next three years I'll send them all a crackerjack pencil if they're right.
If we are going down this route then teams should have been seeded on their performances instead of rewarded on the basis of an antiquated championship set-up which is stuck in an age when Leinster sides outside the Cats were still at the races.
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