Last round of the Football league

patmac

Vital weekend with calculators in hand.If things stay as they are the leagues next year will be (assuming Leitrim beat London by more than seven points):
Division 1
Donegal
Mayo
Kerry
Tyrone
Kildare
Laois
Galway
Derry

Division 2
Dublin
Cork
Westmeath
Louth
Monaghan
Leitrim
Meath
Cavan

Division 3
Limerick
Fermanagh
Armagh
Down
Longford
Offaly
Wexford
Wicklow

Division 4
Roscommon
Clare
Carlow
London
Sligo
Tipperary
Antrim
Waterford

Crucial games:
Division 1A
Parnell Park Baile Átha Cliath v Ciarraí
Dublin must win or Kerry could go down
Omagh Tír Eoghain v Maigh Eo
Tyrone wins sees them in Div 1a next year
Páirc Uí Chaoimh Corcaigh v Luimneach
limerick must win to send Cork to Div 3.

Division 1B
Tuam/Pearse Park Gaillimh v An Dún
Galway win puts them in semi-Final
Newbridge Cill Dara v Laois
Kildare need to avoid defeat
Celtic Park Doire v An Lú
Louth win could put them in Div1 defeat and they are in Div3(how mad is that), Derry need a win to stay in Division 1.
Crossmaglen Ard Mhacha v An Iarmhí
Armagh must win by 5 points to stay in Div 2, Westmeath's status would then depend on the Derry v Louth match.

Division 2A
Argubly the hardest league to call,
Delayed by one week to facilitate the Leitrim v London game, assuming Leitrim win.

Ruislip Londain v Ceatharlach
Both will be in division 4 next year
Pearse Park Longfort v An Clár
Longford need to win by a large margin and hope Offaly and Monaghan win, also a win for Clare could see them avoid Div4.
Cloone Liatroim v Muineachán
Leitrim need to win but a point might do.
Tullamore Uíbh Fhailí v Ros Comáin
Offaly need to beat Roscommon by two more points than Longford beat Clare.
If Roscommon win they could be in Division 2 defeat could send them to Division 4

Division 2B
Dungarvan Port Láirge v An Cabhán
A Cavan win sees them in Div 2
Wexford Park Loch Garman v An Mhí
Wexford need to win by eight or hope Cavan repeat last years performance against Waterford.
Aughrim Cill Mhantáin v Sligeach
Sligo must win to avoid Div 4, Wicklow need a draw.
Casement Park Aontroim v Tiobraid Árann
Both sides in Div 4 next year.

All in all a fun weekend in store

gucci

re: division 2A
according to todays irish independent play-offs will be used to decide the places if there is a tie because of score difference being messed up because of the offaly and longford game.it was a draw but longford got the points after an appeal because offaly fielded a suspended player.could get messy, hopefully its decided on football fields and not by appeals and crap

patmac

gucci wrote:

re: division 2A
according to todays irish independent play-offs will be used to decide the places if there is a tie because of score difference being messed up because of the offaly and longford game.it was a draw but longford got the points after an appeal because offaly fielded a suspended player.could get messy, hopefully its decided on football fields and not by appeals and crap

Wow mightn't be finished before the Tommy Cooper cup starts!

gucci

i would have more interest in the league than the tommy cooper cup. would rather see roscommon promoted to division 2 than win the tommy murphy....neither will happen id say!!

patmac

So if Offaly beat Roscommon, Leitrim beat London and lose to Monaghan, Longford beat Clare or vice versa, all quite likely. You would have 4 teams on 8 points who would play off for second spot in Div 2A and who plays in Div 4 next year. Then you have the semi-final of the league followed by a possible final so 4 matches to fit in before the championship starts they should have left it on points difference. There could be trouble ahead.

gucci

patmac wrote:

So if Offaly beat Roscommon, Leitrim beat London and lose to Monaghan, Longford beat Clare or vice versa, all quite likely. You would have 4 teams on 8 points who would play off for second spot in Div 2A and who plays in Div 4 next year.

well explained, i was trying to figure out the run of events that would cause it. basically id expect roscommon to lose (because its in tullamore) leitrim to lose, and longford to win........sure we will see,maybe london will beat leitrim!!

cruiserweight

An interesting article from Martin Breheny. If the new league standings had been decided on the last 3 years league results instead of just one year then the league format would be slightly different next year.

Irish Independent wrote:

ALL was quiet on the roosts last October as the chickens never thought that the day would come when they had to fly home. Instead, they enjoyed the serenity of the inter-county closed season, ignoring the fact that many of them were heading for turbulence six months later.

Now that it has arrived, there's angry squawking, feathers flying and crows being plucked.

And it will get more raucous as the stark consequences sink in for the eight Division 4 counties who won't be allowed to compete in this year's All-Ireland football qualifiers.

There's disappointment too for Fermanagh, Limerick, Louth and Down, all of whom have dropped down two Divisions for next year's League.

Nor can Dublin, Cork, Armagh and Westmeath be happy either as they head for Division 2 from positions that would have safeguarded their top flight status in previous years. The proposal to deny Division 4 teams entry to the qualifier series this year was baffling but not remotely as puzzling as the fact that it was passed without opposition at Special Congress last year.

Even those who stood to lose from the new system sat in silence. It wasn't so much a case of turkeys voting for Christmas as actually turning up at the oven door all wrapped in tin foil and offering a special discount on cranberry sauce.

Six months on, there are wails of despair as the heat comes on. There's unhappiness higher up the food chain too as counties assess the fall-out from the introduction of four divisions based on a pecking order established by the current League.

It too is horribly unfair, complete as it is, with a two Division drop for four counties. That's quite a tailspin, even if everything goes well, will take two years to correct.

And there's Dublin, Armagh and Cork, three provincial champions from last year, all dipping to Division 2 after picking up six points in their respective groups.

Now if the weaker counties couldn't be bothered fighting for their right to enter the All-Ireland qualifiers, the natural reaction is to leave them to their own devices. However, what's impossible to understand is why some of those counties are now complaining about a system to which they raised no objections six months ago.

Tipperary's Declan Browne commented in this paper on Saturday that ultimately the players were the only ones to suffer which is indeed the case. That raises the question of the apparent disconnection between the players and those who make the decisions at Congress level.

Surely this is the sort of situation where the GPA should have a greater input. They have direct access to their members and could easily canvass views on competition issues which should be taken aboard by the decision-makers.

As for deciding the make-up of the four Divisions under the new system, it was inequitable to base such a radical overhaul on one season only. At the very minimum, it should have been done on three-year figures, thereby rewarding consistency which, after all, is the essence of a League pyramid.

Had final placings from the last three years been used, the 2008 groups would have been as follows (there may be minor adjustments in Division 3 and 4 depending on results from the 2A games next Sunday).

Div 1: Kerry, Mayo, Tyrone, Galway, Kildare, Laois, Dublin, Armagh.

Div 2: Cork, Derry, Donegal, Down, Wexford, Westmeath, Fermanagh, Limerick.

Div 3: Monaghan, Offaly, Meath, Cavan, Louth, Roscommon, Leitrim, Sligo.

Div 4: Longford, Antrim, Clare, Carlow, Wicklow, Tipperary, Waterford, London.

The winners in that scenario are Dublin and Armagh, who would be in Div 1 rather than Div 2; Fermanagh Limerick, Down and Wexford (Div 2 rather than 3).

The losers would be Donegal and Derry (Div 2 rather than 1); Cavan, Meath, Monaghan (Div 3 rather than 2).

It might seem strange to have League semi-finalists Donegal in Div 2 but unlike Dublin and Armagh, who have remained in Div 1 for more than the last three years, Donegal did not, having been relegated two seasons ago. Neither did Derry, who were promoted in 2005. Cork have been in Div 1 for several years but they don't have as good a record as Dublin or Armagh - hence their Div 2 placing using the three-year format.

It's too late to change the structure now but the latest shake-up should serve as a valuable lesson to all counties.

Study the fine print of proposals, even if they are not due for implementation for months.

Either that or accept the consequences when they don't work out to your liking.

K-9

Good post. All the papers seem to have the same view.

It does seem very unfair for Fermanagh, Limerick and Louth especially as they have performed so well over the last 3/4 years causing some great shocks.

Breheny is right, they knew what they where voting for.

From a Donegal perspective you could say he could have taken the last 2 years and that would definitely make Donegal a Div. 1 team . Bloody statistics :rolleyes: