Unpopular GAA opinions you hold

savannahkat wrote: »

In a sport that does not lend itself to excitement I think Dublin are and always were the most entertaining Gaelic football team to watch. I love it when they beat Kerry and Cork especially.

Oddly enough, SO DO WE !!! :D:D

Especially Kerry.

Dunno what you mean by football not lending itself to excitement? I've been to & watched many a cracker. My heart still isn't isn't quite back to normal after last years epic semi final against Kerry. Granted watching two ultra defensive teams grit out a 0-8 to 0-6 result, may not set the world on fire, but not every game is like that.

Prop Joe wrote: »

From the dual county that is Mayo :rolleyes:

That is changing too in mayo.

I love these "unpopular opinion" threads online because you very quickly see who the people are who haven't a clue what they're talking about.

Like the poster(s) above who reckons Cluxton is over-rated because he doesn't make many saves or isn't great under the high ball. He doesn't make many saves because he doesn't have to - he has a very good defence on front of him. He might not be perfect under the high ball, but given his average height, he is still very good. And the reason he will go down as the greatest keeper of all time is because he has nearly revolutionised the game of football with his kick-outs. He is an incredibly gifted passer of the ball from tee, ground, or hand. He has raised the bar for all other goalies - not sure there's higher praise you can give a player.

Anyway, my unpopular opinion (not sure how unpopular it is though) is that modern day Gaelic football, at inter-county level, is incredibly entertaining, particularly when the top teams play each other.

You hear a lot of people give out about it, how they feel negative, defensive tactics are ruining the game, but I think it's simply evolving and it's evolving into something very entertaining. For example, and this is coming from a Mayo-man, the Donegal AI winning team of 2 years ago were one of the most entertaining teams to win an AI. They defended in numbers and attacked at pace in numbers - skillful, fast, tactically-astute, football. And that is now the way all top teams are trying to play - because it's the most effective. Mayo, Donegal, Dublin, Cork, Kerry, Tyrone - they are leading the pack and I find it's excellent to watch.

Waterford vs. Kilkenny last year was the best game.

In recent years Kerry are NOT a different animal when they get to Croke Park.

Sine 09 they have only beaten Mayo, Limerick and Cavan.
They have lost to
Down, Donegal and Dublin x 2.

Yet you will hear it all summer 'wait till Kerry get to Croke park bla bla bla.....'

GBXI wrote: »

I love these "unpopular opinion" threads online because you very quickly see who the people are who haven't a clue what they're talking about.

Like the poster(s) above who reckons Cluxton is over-rated because he doesn't make many saves or isn't great under the high ball. He doesn't make many saves because he doesn't have to - he has a very good defence on front of him. He might not be perfect under the high ball, but given his average height, he is still very good. And the reason he will go down as the greatest keeper of all time is because he has nearly revolutionised the game of football with his kick-outs. He is an incredibly gifted passer of the ball from tee, ground, or hand. He has raised the bar for all other goalies - not sure there's higher praise you can give a player.

Anyway, my unpopular opinion (not sure how unpopular it is though) is that modern day Gaelic football, at inter-county level, is incredibly entertaining, particularly when the top teams play each other.

You hear a lot of people give out about it, how they feel negative, defensive tactics are ruining the game, but I think it's simply evolving and it's evolving into something very entertaining. For example, and this is coming from a Mayo-man, the Donegal AI winning team of 2 years ago were one of the most entertaining teams to win an AI. They defended in numbers and attacked at pace in numbers - skillful, fast, tactically-astute, football. And that is now the way all top teams are trying to play - because it's the most effective. Mayo, Donegal, Dublin, Cork, Kerry, Tyrone - they are leading the pack and I find it's excellent to watch.

Cluxton will go down as one of the best of the modern era - no doubt about it.
BUT, a lot of the credit that he gets for his kick-outs should also be given to his midfield and half-back/half-forward lines.
Cluxton often struggles when he's forced to pick out a man in tight space (as Laois showed last weekend).
The success of Cluxton's kick-outs is largely down to the space created, and by the quality of movement and runs from the midfielders. It's not the hardest thing in the world to deliver a placed ball into 30/40 yards of space.

Where Cluxton does deserves most of the credit is, from what I've been told, he is largely responsible for Dublin adopting this system as he was the one who suggested adopting it as the way they could nearly guarantee possession from restarts, instead of midfield having to contest a high ball.

km79 wrote: »

Dublin have an unfair advantage playing all their football games in Croke park ........

Dublin have an unfair advantage because their population is ten times larger than the counties they are up against......or in the case of Laois last week, 16 times larger. And their sponsorship money is vastly higher also.

The fact that the matches are in Dublin compounds that again.

The Leinster championshiop is like a soccer tournament where Germany plays against Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Malta, Latvia, Cyprus and Iceland, and all the games are played in Berlin.


Dublin has won 9 of the past ten Leinster Championships. If they didnt have the back door to fall back on I'd say they'd have won all ten.

Its so loaded in Dublins favour that really its quite incredible that anyone else bothers.

As I see it, from the 23 non-Ulster Counties, it is extremely unlikely that any County other than Dublin, Cork or Kerry will win an All Ireland Football Championship in the next 30 years.

Mayo may have a chance, but I think history shows they won't.

eigrod wrote: »

As I see it, from the 23 non-Ulster Counties, it is extremely unlikely that any County other than Dublin, Cork or Kerry will win an All Ireland Football Championship in the next 30 years.

Mayo may have a chance, but I think history shows they won't.

I'd see it slightly differently....

Its Dublin, Cork, Kerry plus one other.....

the one other can come from probably the following - Down, Donegal, Meath, Mayo, Galway, Tyrone. In any given year only one or two of these would even be credible. This year for example, there is no way Meath or Galway will win. But maybe in ten years they will.

It really couldnt see anyone else winning.

davehedgehog wrote: »

2. There are club and intercounty players who are / have taken substances that are on banned lists

No doubt about this in my mind.

davehedgehog wrote: »

My Unpopular GAA Opinions
4. Marty Morrissey is not a ride

You sir, are a heathen. You should be banned for that comment alone.

ultrapercy wrote: »

Read my post again, thats exactly my point.

I see what happened . I replied to the incorrect post . So yes it was in agreement . And we most likely would have sneaked it with mchale on.

blackwhite wrote: »

I've played in goals for more years than I care to remember at this stage , and you wouldn't believe how much easier it gets when you have a 30-40m space instead of a 10-20m space.
I'm not saying that anyone can do it, but it with good positioning and movement from the outfield players it should be relatively easy for anyone who has aspirations of being a decent club keeper, never mind an intercounty one.
Where Cluxton stands out is, as you said, his footballing intelligence (normally anyway - the incidents when he loses the head aside!) is as good as anyone in the game. Finding the space is one thing, Dublin usually have two/three pockets of space created for him. The key thing that he does, more often than not, is pick the correct one.
It's very rare that the man Cluxton finds with the kickout loses possession. He always seems to take the option where the receiving player has the most options to take. No use finding a man in space if he doesn't have men nearby to support him.

In short, the praise for accuracy of his kick-outs is majorly overstated, his team make that part of it relatively easy.

Where the praise should be directed is towards his footballing brain for 1) getting them to use the system and 2) for his kick selection. The actual kicking is the easiest part!

Agree with a lot of what you say there, and I'd still point out that he is a very accurate passer of the ball - the most accurate of all keepers I'd say.

Anyway, the original point was that anyone who thinks he is over-rated really doesn't know what they're talking about.