Is the Leinster Championship at its weakest

TheJoker101

Dublin are the only decent team in Leinster.

Below that are Meath,Laois and Kildare.All very very average teams.

To me the Leinster championship is on par with the Connacht Championship these days.

teednab-el

TheJoker101 wrote: »

Dublin are the only decent team in Leinster.

Below that are Meath,Laois and Kildare.All very very average teams.

To me the Leinster championship is on par with the Connacht Championship these days.

Wexford Louth and Longford derserve a mention too.

TheJoker101

teednab-el wrote: »

Wexford Louth and Longford derserve a mention too.

Sad to see the decline.

The Munster championship is now the best and yet it only has two great teams in Cork and Kerry.

Although Tipp,Limerick and Clare are getting better.

RoscommonTom

Its gone pure rubbish in my opion, one decent team and the rest fighting for the scraps. Football in general is only middling at the moment

teednab-el

I would be of the opinion that the Ulster championship is the most competitive of the lot.

TheJoker101

teednab-el wrote: »

I would be of the opinion that the Ulster championship is the most competitive of the lot.

Yes but in terms of quality?

Hopefully Tipp and Limerick will up their games over the next few years.

Football is pretty boring atm,same could be said of hurling these last few years.

Diabhal Beag

To be fair Mayo are one of the top teams in the country although the last three years hasn't set the world on fire standard-wise for football. Any of these teams would be beaten by the past All-Ireland winners in the last 10 years IMO.

Munster is a two team province (no offense Tipp, Limerick, Clare etc), Connacht was really just Mayo and maybe Sligo. Ulster had Down, Donegal and Tyrone and Leinster had Dublin, Meath and maybe Kildare. There's a big gap between Dublin/Cork/Kerry/Donegal over the remaining sides IMO.

I'd say it's more of a nationwide problem than a specific Leinster issue.

Hammer Archer

Seriously?
After 12 years without an AI champion and 10 years without a Leinster team even making it to an AI final, now you think it's at its weakest?
Let me compare it now to what it was in the mid 2000s.
In 2003, Laois won Leinster. They were the only Leinster team to make it to the quarter finals and were beaten.
In 2004, Westmeath won Leinster. That year, Dublin also made it to the quarters through the qualifiers. Both were beaten.
In 2005, both Dublin and Laois made the quarter finals and both were beaten easily.

So that's 3 years in a row that not a single Leinster team made it as far as the All Ireland semi finals. And you think that it's at its weakest now?
Going by your posts on here in the last day or two, I feel your choice of username is rather apt.

DARK-KNIGHT

TheJoker101 wrote: »

Yes but in terms of quality?

Hopefully Tipp and Limerick will up their games over the next few years.

Football is pretty boring atm,same could be said of hurling these last few years.

Didn't you say you were 12? How many years can you remember back?

I think Leinster football has improved in last few years

overshoot

i dont think there is much in any of the provences now, ulster/connacht/leinster have 1 AI contender (IMO) each with a decent pack below. munster have 2 contenders but i think the step to the next group is bigger than the other provences... but properly on topic hammer archer spot on, the pack in leinster is definatly ahead of where it was a few years ago and dublin are miles ahead of where they were less than 10 years ago

Browney7

TheJoker101 wrote: »

teednab-el wrote: »

I would be of the opinion that the Ulster championship is the most competitive of the lot.

Yes but in terms of quality?

Hopefully Tipp and Limerick will up their games over the next few years.

Football is pretty boring atm,same could be said of hurling these last few years.

Limerick have been fairly solid over the past few years. Apart from Kerry knocking out Cork in Munster when Cork won the AI Limerick were the closest team to Cork only losing in extra time in the qualifiers which people forget.

Its all a load of speculation but I'd be of the opinion we'd have won at least a Leinster or Connacht title over the last ten years if we were in those provinces but we're not so it's a moot point

Tombo2001

my big problem with gaa football ...

Counties with the biggest populations are always going to win. And especially in recent years as structures have become more professional.

Put Longord, population 40,000 and falling, against Dublin, 1.2mn and rising.....whats the bloody point? No disrespect at all to Longford.....but the odds are just so great against them in this situation.

So naturally in Leinster, over the past ten years Dublin have won nearly everything.....and the counties coming close to them, Meath and Kildare, would be the second and third largest counties in population.

But no one could argue that Gaelic Football is any more popular in Dublin than it is in Carlow. Not when you go to any one of a host of Carlow gaa clubs and see hundreds of kids out training on a Saturday morning.

This trend less evident after the leinster final.....but I'd still be fairly firmly of the view that when you pitch for example Roscommon up against Cork as we saw last year....its always going to be a very uneven contest.

I'd say Leinster football is probably at its strongest possibly. Has the Longford team ever been better than it is now? Or the Wexford team, or the Kildare team, or the Louth team, or the Wicklow team?

The problem is that its so one sided.....Dublin just so far ahead of everyone else. And GAA wouldnt be especially popular compared to these other counties, in fact it may be less popular in Dublin than in the other counties.

In part, thats why I prefer hurling.....Kilkenny and Tipp win because hurling dominates all other sports in those counties, not because they happen to have the biggest populations.

K-9

Tombo2001 wrote: »

my big problem with gaa football ...

Counties with the biggest populations are always going to win. And especially in recent years as structures have become more professional.

Put Longord, population 40,000 and falling, against Dublin, 1.2mn and rising.....whats the bloody point? No disrespect at all to Longford.....but the odds are just so great against them in this situation.

So naturally in Leinster, over the past ten years Dublin have won nearly everything.....and the counties coming close to them, Meath and Kildare, would be the second and third largest counties in population.

But no one could argue that Gaelic Football is any more popular in Dublin than it is in Carlow. Not when you go to any one of a host of Carlow gaa clubs and see hundreds of kids out training on a Saturday morning.

This trend less evident after the leinster final.....but I'd still be fairly firmly of the view that when you pitch for example Roscommon up against Cork as we saw last year....its always going to be a very uneven contest.

I'd say Leinster football is probably at its strongest possibly. Has the Longford team ever been better than it is now? Or the Wexford team, or the Kildare team, or the Louth team, or the Wicklow team?

The problem is that its so one sided.....Dublin just so far ahead of everyone else. And GAA wouldnt be especially popular compared to these other counties, in fact it may be less popular in Dublin than in the other counties.

In part, thats why I prefer hurling.....Kilkenny and Tipp win because hurling dominates all other sports in those counties, not because they happen to have the biggest populations.

Fermanagh got to a kick of a ball from an AI final against Kerry and their first ever Ulster Championship against Armagh and they probably have the smallest GAA pick in the country.

As for Leinster, they've the most teams in the last 12 of the Championship along with Musnster so I don't know how that makes it the worst. Connaught is very competitive but probably the lowest standard. In Ulster Donegal have stepped up and Tyrone and Armagh are rebuilding. Leinster is disappointing in that Kildare didn't get a title.

Overall the gap between the top 3 has gotten wider with only Donegal looking to have the ability to join them. Kildare and Mayo just don't seem to have the quality to do that. You're looking at Cork, Kerry and Dublin as the top 3, Donegal very close and not much between 7/8 teams after that.

S. Goodspeed

TheJoker101 wrote: »

Dublin are the only decent team in Leinster.

Below that are Meath,Laois and Kildare.All very very average teams.

To me the Leinster championship is on par with the Connacht Championship these days.

The Leinster Championship is probably actually the strongest these days compare to the other provinces. Just look at how many Leinster teams make the last round of the qualifiers each year, they usually account for the majority of teams. This year Laois and Kildare are there and 'minnows' like Wicklow and Longford werent a millions miles away.

Ulster is competitive in that all teams are currently pretty average, 5 years ago it was by far the strongest but no longer.

Munster is and always will be a 2 county province. Do you really think Clare would have made a Leinster final this year (or any year) if they were in the leinster?

Connaught has potential to actually be pretty decent but its rare that Galway, Mayo and Sligo all pull together good teams in the same year.

Syferus

K-9 wrote: »

Fermanagh got to a kick of a ball from an AI final against Kerry and their first ever Ulster Championship against Armagh and they probably have the smallest GAA pick in the country.

As for Leinster, they've the most teams in the last 12 of the Championship along with Musnster so I don't know how that makes it the worst. Connaught is very competitive but probably the lowest standard. In Ulster Donegal have stepped up and Tyrone and Armagh are rebuilding. Leinster is disappointing in that Kildare didn't get a title.

Overall the gap between the top 3 has gotten wider with only Donegal looking to have the ability to join them. Kildare and Mayo just don't seem to have the quality to do that. You're looking at Cork, Kerry and Dublin as the top 3, Donegal very close and not much between 7/8 teams after that.

Very quick to elevate your own county above those two despite having not even made the league semi-finals and Mayo beating Kerry and reaching the final, nevermind beating the AI champions in the championship last year. It took Donegal extra-time and an unbelievable comeback to beat Kildare, they had you dead to rights both in regular and extra-time and blew it as much as you won it.

Donegal are going well and probably would be #3 right now but if the people bleating about Kildare being over-hyped can't see that Donegal's perceived level is based on plenty of speculation too I call BS. Kildare and Mayo are capable of beating Donegal, just as Donegal are capable of being them.

We'll see who's best soon enough.

K-9

Syferus wrote: »

Very quick to elevate your own county above those two despite having not even made the league semi-finals and Mayo beating Kerry and reaching the final, nevermind beating the AI champions in the championship last year. It took Donegal extra-time and an unbelievable comeback to beat Kildare, they had you dead to rights both in regular and extra-time and blew it as much as you won it.

Donegal are going well and probably would be #3 right now but if the people bleating about Kildare being over-hyped can't see that Donegal's perceived level is based on plenty of speculation too I call BS. Kildare and Mayo are capable of beating Donegal, just as Donegal are capable of being them.

We'll see who's best soon enough.

The league is irrelevant to Donegal.

DARK-KNIGHT

K-9 wrote: »

The league is irrelevant to Donegal.

The sun is 49 cent today k9 you should buy it!!!

Neeson

You can't judge anything on the league really. Teams care as much about the league as Dublin care about winning Leinster championships!

Syferus

K-9 wrote: »

The league is irrelevant to Donegal.

K-9

Syferus wrote: »

Prefer the 2 Ulster Championships since tbh.

Tombo2001

K-9 wrote: »

Fermanagh got to a kick of a ball from an AI final against Kerry and their first ever Ulster Championship against Armagh and they probably have the smallest GAA pick in the country.

As for Leinster, they've the most teams in the last 12 of the Championship along with Musnster so I don't know how that makes it the worst. Connaught is very competitive but probably the lowest standard. In Ulster Donegal have stepped up and Tyrone and Armagh are rebuilding. Leinster is disappointing in that Kildare didn't get a title.

Overall the gap between the top 3 has gotten wider with only Donegal looking to have the ability to join them. Kildare and Mayo just don't seem to have the quality to do that. You're looking at Cork, Kerry and Dublin as the top 3, Donegal very close and not much between 7/8 teams after that.

SO Fermanagh, with their very best team ever were good enough to get to an AllIreland semifinal, and havent yet been good enough to win an Ulster.

Paul Barden, a top player, has never even been as far as a Leinster semi-final.
To make a soccer analogy.

Bruges got to a European cup final in 1978, Malmo made it in 1979,

The last twenty finalists have all come from the biggest and richest clubs in Europe, with the exception of Porto.

Likewise, as GAA has become more professional in nature, and also because of the backdoor system, it is harder and harder for smaller counties to get to the final.

Its a loaded system.

Hammer Archer

Syferus wrote: »

Very quick to elevate your own county above those two despite having not even made the league semi-finals and Mayo beating Kerry and reaching the final, nevermind beating the AI champions in the championship last year. It took Donegal extra-time and an unbelievable comeback to beat Kildare, they had you dead to rights both in regular and extra-time and blew it as much as you won it.

Donegal are going well and probably would be #3 right now but if the people bleating about Kildare being over-hyped can't see that Donegal's perceived level is based on plenty of speculation too I call BS. Kildare and Mayo are capable of beating Donegal, just as Donegal are capable of being them.

We'll see who's best soon enough.

The league really is as close to irrelevant as you can get when it comes to the championship. Doesn't matter one bit that Donegal didn't make the league semi finals. Especially seeing as they easily beat a team that did yesterday.
Of course Kildare and Mayo are capable of beating Donegal. Just like Leitrim and Limerick are capable of beating Laois and Kildare respectively based on Saturday. That doesn't mean I would have these two teams on the same level as Laois or Kildare.

And the difference between the perceived strength of Donegal and Kildare is that Donegal have now won Ulster twice in a row and look a much better side than last year. Kildare have yet to win championship silverware and look like they have regressed since last year.

tossy

TheJoker101 wrote: »

Dublin are the only decent team in Leinster.

Below that are Meath,Laois and Kildare.All very very average teams.

To me the Leinster championship is on par with the Connacht Championship these days.

The 3 of them Have been pretty average so far this year really. The standard of football in the whole country isn't great,no one team stand head and shoulders above the rest.

premierstone

S. Goodspeed wrote: »

The Leinster Championship is probably actually the strongest these days compare to the other provinces. Just look at how many Leinster teams make the last round of the qualifiers each year, they usually account for the majority of teams. This year Laois and Kildare are there and 'minnows' like Wicklow and Longford werent a millions miles away.

Ulster is competitive in that all teams are currently pretty average, 5 years ago it was by far the strongest but no longer.

Munster is and always will be a 2 county province. Do you really think Clare would have made a Leinster final this year (or any year) if they were in the leinster?

Connaught has potential to actually be pretty decent but its rare that Galway, Mayo and Sligo all pull together good teams in the same year.

Munster actually has 4 teams remaining and is the only province that has two genuine AI contenders, a 5th Munster team took the 'mighty' Kildare to ET and by all accounts were the better team.

Would Clare reach a Leinster Final?? Well Clare are on a par with Tipp and Limerick and Tipp beat Wexford who gave Dublin a mighty scare, also If Louth can reach and quite frankly win a Leinster Final I see no reason why Clare/Limerick/Tipp couldnt.

And will people stop refering to Galway as a good team, they havent won a qualifer outside of connaught in nearly 10 years.

DARK-KNIGHT

premierstone wrote: »

Munster actually has 4 teams remaining and is the only province that has two genuine AI contenders, a 5th Munster team took the 'mighty' Kildare to ET and by all accounts were the better team.

Would Clare reach a Leinster Final?? Well Clare are on a par with Tipp and Limerick and Tipp beat Wexford who gave Dublin a mighty scare, also If Louth can reach and quite frankly win a Leinster Final I see no reason why Clare/Limerick/Tipp couldnt.

And will people stop refering to Galway as a good team, they havent won a qualifer outside of connaught in nearly 10 years.

Mighty Kildare?? Ffs that's a childish crap comment to throw in there!!! Leave Kildare to worry bout how good they are!!

Tipp have enough issues thinking they are best hurlers and let's be honest they aren't even in kilkennys shadow!!

tossy

premierstone wrote: »

a 5th Munster team took the 'mighty' Kildare to ET and by all accounts were the better team.

Except the account of the final score

premierstone

DARK-KNIGHT wrote: »

Mighty Kildare?? Ffs that's a childish crap comment to throw in there!!! Leave Kildare to worry bout how good they are!!

Tipp have enough issues thinking they are best hurlers and let's be honest they aren't even in kilkennys shadow!!

tossy wrote: »

Except the account of the final score

Bit on the sensitive side are we lads lol.

Kildare were widely recognised as the second best team in Leinster at the begining of the year, and they drew with Limerick who are the third best in Munster at the very best.

Anyone form Kildae I have been talking to have told me that Limerick were the better team and Kildare were steeped to take the game to ET, is this true or not??

You talk about childish and then mention a sport that has absolutely notyhing to do with this thread, hopoe the irony isn't lost on you :rolleyes:

tossy

premierstone wrote: »

Bit on the sensitive side are we lads lol.

Kildare were widely recognised as the second best team in Leinster at the begining of the year, and they drew with Limerick who are the third best in Munster at the very best.

Anyone form Kildae I have been talking to have told me that Limerick were the better team and Kildare were steeped to take the game to ET, is this true or not??

You talk about childish and then mention a sport that has absolutely notyhing to do with this thread, hopoe the irony isn't lost on you :rolleyes:

I think my childish reply (as a reply to your childish reply ) was lost on you Kildare were blessed to get out unscathed,and we have been underwhelming for weeks,but we are still in it

premierstone

tossy wrote: »

I think my childish reply (as a reply to your childish reply ) was lost on you Kildare were blessed to get out unscathed,and we have been underwhelming for weeks,but we are still in it

It was DARK-NIGHT's childish comments about Kilkenny I was referring to tossy, and Yes Kildare are still there, an interesting few weeks ahead I think.

tossy

premierstone wrote: »

It was DARK-NIGHT's childish comments about Kilkenny I was referring to tossy, and Yes Kildare are still there, an interesting few weeks ahead I think.

Personally i think as a Kildare fan the term 'weeks' is optimistic,but i hope i am proved wrong

aidan24326

No point in singling out the Leinster Championship. Connaught is rubbish at the moment and Ulster isn't great either. Munster will always be just about Cork and Kerry.

Kildare were the big disappointment in Leinster this year. For all that they've made progress under McGeeney you wonder are they really good enough to make the next step. I don't think they are. Their tremendous fitness and athleticism will always make them hard to beat but I don't think they have enough natural footballers and fitness and physique will only get you so far.

DB10

If I was ranking the provinces, on the year so far Munster are easily No 1 due to the performances of Limerick and Tipp in the qualifiers. Clare have a decent team this year also. At the same time, its very likely there will be only Kerry and Cork in the QFs.

I think Ulster is still relatively strong, its certainly one of the harder provinces to win. For instance none of the 9 teams in Ulster are in Division of the league. And while the league is not very important, its still somewhat relevant. You wont see many good teams in Division 4. Donegal IMO are vastly improved from last year and would be my favourites for the All Ireland. Down may also make the AI SFs in my view.

I think the Leinster championship has been very disappointing this year. Dublin won Leinster without leaving first gear. That should not be happening. There are 12 counties in Leinster, it is the most densely populated province by a long way. Now obviously Dublin have a huge advantage but there are plenty of other counties who have had a massive rise in population also. It makes a massive difference. Where are they? Kildare, Meath and Laois are all good teams. It should really be more competitive. Wicklow and Louth should be doing alot better than they are. In general it has been a bad year for Leinster football, Laois and Meath both relegated.

Syferus

aidan24326 wrote: »

No point in singling out the Leinster Championship. Connaught is rubbish at the moment and Ulster isn't great either. Munster will always be just about Cork and Kerry.

Kildare were the big disappointment in Leinster this year. For all that they've made progress under McGeeney you wonder are they really good enough to make the next step. I don't think they are. Their tremendous fitness and athleticism will always make them hard to beat but I don't think they have enough natural footballers and fitness and physique will only get you so far.

Sure everyone is rubbish together then, eh?

Tipp will have plenty to say about Munster just being Cork and Kerry in the years to come.

le la rat

The weaker counties in Leinster have improved including my own county Longford. There is an obvious gap between those who can realisticaly challenge for all ireland honours and the other teams in the second and 3rd tiers

mrkiscool2

What nonsense is this? Leinster is far and away the strongest of the 4 provinces. Munster are second, Ulster third and Connaught last. Leinster and Munster have two AI contenders each. Leinster has Dublin and Kildare (don't know why you are knocking them, they have been extremely unlucky in the last 2 or 3 years. A bad performance against Limerick, a weak team, is nothing to go on really.) Munster Cork and Kerry (I wonder if it hadn't been for the Tyrone game would Kerry be written off like Kildare are) Ulster has Donegal and Connaught has Mayo. After that, Leinster have Meath on a tier of their own, followed by Longford, Louth, Wexford and Laois. Tyrone and Armagh would be on the same tier as Meath, as would Sligo in Connaught. Clare and Tipp would be on the same level as Leinster's weak teams, as would Leitrim, Galway and Roscommon, and the other 6 teams in Ulster.

So I don't know where the OP has gotten Leinster being the weakest, had this been posted 7 years ago I would have agreed, but not anymore.

rpurfield

DB10 wrote: »

If I was ranking the provinces, on the year so far Munster are easily No 1 due to the performances of Limerick and Tipp in the qualifiers. Clare have a decent team this year also. At the same time, its very likely there will be only Kerry and Cork in the QFs.

I think Ulster is still relatively strong, its certainly one of the harder provinces to win. For instance none of the 9 teams in Ulster are in Division of the league. And while the league is not very important, its still somewhat relevant. You wont see many good teams in Division 4. Donegal IMO are vastly improved from last year and would be my favourites for the All Ireland. Down may also make the AI SFs in my view.

I think the Leinster championship has been very disappointing this year. Dublin won Leinster without leaving first gear. That should not be happening. There are 12 counties in Leinster, it is the most densely populated province by a long way. Now obviously Dublin have a huge advantage but there are plenty of other counties who have had a massive rise in population also. It makes a massive difference. Where are they? Kildare, Meath and Laois are all good teams. It should really be more competitive. Wicklow and Louth should be doing alot better than they are. In general it has been a bad year for Leinster football, Laois and Meath both relegated.

just to pick you up on the bit i bolded on you there the population boom down here has only kicked off in the last 10-12 years, my own club has only really seen the underage section boom, weve had little or no adult players come in, in fact i still see some kids at say u14 level up heading back up to dublin to play their club football.in the next few years you might see the improvement that comes with bigger picks in the likes of meath kildare etc but its a few years away yet, in fact you might still have a few players playing club in meath or kildare and lining out for dublin like mick deegans young lad in the minor game yesterday!

blackbelt

Syferus wrote: »

Sure everyone is rubbish together then, eh?

Tipp will have plenty to say about Munster just being Cork and Kerry in the years to come.

This.

I see a lot of potential in Tipp football and one can only look to the underage success and how the Tipp footballers are playing now to see they will be a force, quite like Dublin in the hurling where there is a lot of hope for the future.The only thing however is that Tipp fans haven't been supporting their footballers as they deserve but I definitely see Tipp and Limerick being better in the next few years.Limerick could have taken Cork and Kerry over the years but they just seem to be unlucky.

Leinster is a strong province in itself but Dublin have created a gap over the last few years that it would make the other teams look weaker than they are.Who is to say Meath or Kildare couldn't shock Cork or Mayo in a quarter final?

premierstone

mrkiscool2 wrote: »

What nonsense is this? Leinster is far and away the strongest of the 4 provinces. Munster are second, Ulster third and Connaught last. Leinster and Munster have two AI contenders each. Leinster has Dublin and Kildare (don't know why you are knocking them, they have been extremely unlucky in the last 2 or 3 years. A bad performance against Limerick, a weak team, is nothing to go on really.) Munster Cork and Kerry (I wonder if it hadn't been for the Tyrone game would Kerry be written off like Kildare are) Ulster has Donegal and Connaught has Mayo. After that, Leinster have Meath on a tier of their own, followed by Longford, Louth, Wexford and Laois. Tyrone and Armagh would be on the same tier as Meath, as would Sligo in Connaught. Clare and Tipp would be on the same level as Leinster's weak teams, as would Leitrim, Galway and Roscommon, and the other 6 teams in Ulster.

So I don't know where the OP has gotten Leinster being the weakest, had this been posted 7 years ago I would have agreed, but not anymore.

Too funny for words really , I could disect your post but I wouldnt know where to start because practically everything is wrong.

aidan24326

Syferus wrote: »

Sure everyone is rubbish together then, eh?

I didn't say everyone was rubbish. Just that singling out the Leinster Championship as being particularly weak is a silly argument. If anything I'd say it's a fair bit stronger than it was 6 or 7 years ago. Dublin's dominance makes the others look worse than they are but Meath and Kildare would fancy their chances in Connaught and the likes of Laois, Longford, Louth and Westmeath would fancy their chances against Galway and Roscommon right now. Connaught is undoubtedly the weakest and needs Galway and Roscommon to improve asap.

Tipp will have plenty to say about Munster just being Cork and Kerry in the years to come.

I wouldn't be so sure. Yes they're making strides at underage in recent years but that's still a far cry from challenging Cork and Kerry's senior dominance. Clare's shock win in 92 was the only time since 1935 that the Munster title didn't go to Cork or Kerry so that's what you're up against.

Added to that is fact that there's no great interest or support from a lot of the Tipp public. It's a very hurling dominated county which makes their recent minor football successes all the more impressive. It would be great to see them emerge as a threat to the big two but I wouldn't be betting too much on that just yet.

Hammer Archer

aidan24326 wrote: »

I wouldn't be so sure. Yes they're making strides at underage in recent years but that's still a far cry from challenging Cork and Kerry's senior dominance. Clare's shock win in 92 was the only time since 1935 that the Munster title didn't go to Cork or Kerry so that's what you're up against.

Added to that is fact that there's no great interest or support from a lot of the Tipp public. It's a very hurling dominated county which makes their recent minor football successes all the more impressive. It would be great to see them emerge as a threat to the big two but I wouldn't be betting too much on that just yet.

Interesting to note that Tipp won that Munster championship in 1935 having won the Munster minor championship in the previous two years.
I'd also be of the opinion that Tipp will challenge Cork and Kerry in the near future. If they can sustain their success in the minor championship over the past couple of years, you'll have Tipperary senior football teams in the near future where a lot of the squad will actually be used to having the upper hand over Kerry and Cork football teams. I think that this would be a massive advantage for them as I find a lot of "weaker" teams seem to seize up when they're in a winning position against the "stronger" simply because they've rarely had the experience of beating these teams.

I'd agree that the lack of public interest in football in Tipperary could be a stumbling block though.

premierstone

aidan24326 wrote: »

I wouldn't be so sure. Yes they're making strides at underage in recent years but that's still a far cry from challenging Cork and Kerry's senior dominance. Clare's shock win in 92 was the only time since 1935 that the Munster title didn't go to Cork or Kerry so that's what you're up against.

There is more too it than the two minor temas though, they are winning every under age competition in Munster for the last few years, the current crop of minors is far from a one-off.

The biggest problem Tipp footballers will encounter is dual players, the minor panel that beat Cork and Kerry twice this year have 9 dual players and I think its safe to assume that if they are good enough when a choice has to be made they will pick hurling, also two of this years minor team, who were not on the hurling have in the last two weeks signed contracts with a LOI club.