Unpopular GAA opinion - MOD Note #426

Bonniedog · 09-11-2017 12:32pm

bobbysands81 wrote: »

Michael Dara McAuley is not a great footballer and shouldn’t be on Dublin Panel.

As for him winning Footballer of the Year??? My God...

Dublin would not have beaten Kerry in 2011 or 2013 had it not been for MDM. Fact!

His best days may be behind him but he is phenomenal athlete. Plays a similar role to AOS arguably - neither are good at the oul scoring! but do a lot of the "heavy lifting" that leads to scores- but I would say he has been far more valuable to Dublin than AOS to Mayo. He has been key to winning big games by putting himself on the line.

Mehapoy · 09-11-2017 12:45pm

Gaelic football is a made up bastardised version of soccer and rugby, made up only to entice the rural soccer and rugby teams into gaelic games...was a pity it was ever invented as we may have had decent soccer and rugby teams...hurling is an actual games with solid roots in the country

MayoAreMagic · 09-11-2017 12:55pm

1. Hurling is actually a poor sporting spectacle. Any sport where the main tactic of both teams is to drive it in close to the opposition scoring zone and hope you get a break in there is a very limited sport and not in fact entertaining. Northern hemisphere rugby falls into the same category. Soccer and gaelic football are better than both.

2. The famed skill required for hurling is only applicable when learning the game. Once this has been done, scoring in hurling is actually far easier than football.

3. The models developing counties should be aiming to follow are Tyrone, Mayo and Kerry rather than Dublin, as nobody can actually copy Dublin's structures because Dublin is set up completely differently to the rest.

4. Splitting Dublin would be great for the gaa, Dublin included. We'd have AI finals with 2 Dublin teams within 8 years.

5. The GAA is held back by people who are only interested in their own county winning the all Ireland and an outside body would be a great move.

6. Joe Brolly hasn't much of an idea about football.

7. Pat McEneany isn't doing a good job.

8. The black card is a good thing, the issue is it isn't working is because refs are afraid to make a mistake on big calls, and this is what needs to be addressed. The sin bin would fall on the same sword.

Bonniedog · 09-11-2017 12:59pm

Mehapoy wrote: »

Gaelic football is a made up bastardised version of soccer and rugby, made up only to entice the rural soccer and rugby teams into gaelic games...was a pity it was ever invented as we may have had decent soccer and rugby teams...hurling is an actual games with solid roots in the country

You might read some history old chap!

Gaelic football is based on older game called cáid which was played for hundreds of years before there was any such thing as soccer and rugby, whose own rules only predate GAA by ten years.

Most cultures have football type games and have influenced one another to some degree or other, but to claim that gaelic football is "bastardized version of soccer and rugby" is just plain historically inaccurate. In fact it could be just as easily claimed that English invaders brought cáid back to that kip

If there was no soccer then GAA might be a lot stronger in places like Louth and Wicklow.

Gael85 · 09-11-2017 1:10pm

cms88 wrote: »

What are your unpopular GAA opinions? Can be about anything players, teams etc

One of mine is i'v never understood the hype around Peter Canavan. He was good but i never thought he was anything else

Excellent thread but have to disagree on Canavan. Carried that Tyrone on his own pre Mickey Harte era. Wouldn't have won 03-05 without him. His composure with the late free against Armagh 05 and goal against Kerry in same year were moments of class. Nearly won 95 AI on his own against Dublin.

Gambas · 09-11-2017 1:15pm

Token use of the Irish language and Irish nationalism no longer have any place in the GAA.

MayoAreMagic · 09-11-2017 1:15pm

Gael85 wrote: »

Excellent thread but have to disagree on Canavan. Carried that Tyrone on his own pre Mickey Harte era. Wouldn't have won 03-05 without him. His composure with the late free against Armagh 05 and goal against Kerry in same year were moments of class. Nearly won 95 AI on his own against Dublin.

Well true but Dublin wouldn't have won a couple of all irelands without Kevin McManamon, it doesn't mean he himself is a great player though.
The thing with Canavan that has to be factored in is the team revolved around him a lot of the time, so you have a kind of a Robbie Keane for Ireland effect going on there. He is of course a top class forward, but Id rate Sean Cavanagh higher myself.

Hammer Archer · 09-11-2017 2:05pm

Here we go:
Going way back, but Meath and Kildare were the best two teams in the country in 1997. Had either team won game number 1 in the three game saga, I feel they would have won the All Ireland.
Liam McHale 100% deserved to be sent off in the 1996 replay and Mayo fans should have actually criticized him for needlessly getting involved so blatantly and potentially costing them the All Ireland instead of McEnaney.

At the moment, there are quite a number of Dublin fans (mostly online) who take any sort of criticism of their team like it's a personal insult and generally resort to a sort of "I know you are, but what am I?" line of defence.
More generally, fans have become so tribal that they will spit bile at an opposition player for an offence while tying themselves in knots to defend their own players for the same offence.

The national anthem before games should be done away with unless it's before a final. People murmuring through it during an O'Byrne Cup game in January doesn't exactly show it respect.

Mod hat on (this'll probably be another unpopular opinion): Please remember that the rules still apply. No abuse of players. And don't take any opinions too personally. It's in the name of the thread: Unpopular opinions.

kilns · 09-11-2017 2:11pm

Mayo didnt deserve as many All Stars as they got
The fact that Mayo won 4 all stars in defence while at the same time Mayo conceded 8 goals and David Clarke was deemed to be the busiest goalkeeper of all those nominated and therefore got the goalkeeper position. One contradicts the other.

Bonniedog · 09-11-2017 2:18pm

Would agree with anthem being kept for big games. Embarrassing to hear it being butchered by some 16 year old girl who doesn't even know the words.

Dicksboro players didn't even bother standing for last verse in Parnell Park! Lots of ways to insult the anthem.

MfMan · 09-11-2017 2:28pm

How good a player really was Shefflin? Struggling to think of more than a small few games where he made a distinct difference. Seems his presence alone got him a higher rating than he deserved. In a fit of revisionism, I'd have DJ in his pomp far ahead of him.

tastyt · 09-11-2017 2:46pm

Eoin kelly from tipp was a far better player than shefflin and in my opinion the best forward of the last 25 years.

Had he been born only a few miles up the road in Kilkenny I dont think theyd have lost an all Ireland in ten years

OldMrBrennan83 · 09-11-2017 2:47pm

This post has been deleted.

tastyt · 09-11-2017 2:48pm

Most good hurling managers could have done what brian cody did with the players he had

Martina1991 · 09-11-2017 3:01pm

kilns wrote: »

Mayo didnt deserve as many All Stars as they got
The fact that Mayo won 4 all stars in defence while at the same time Mayo conceded 8 goals and David Clarke was deemed to be the busiest goalkeeper of all those nominated and therefore got the goalkeeper position. One contradicts the other.

Which all stars would you take back then?

Chris Barrett has improved massively moving from corner back to making number 6 his own. He was even nominated for MOTM in the final for the amount of ball he turned over.

Keith Higgins has been consistently a top defender for years. Still has impressive pace given the fact hes over 30.

Colm Boyle had (IMO) the year of his life. Put in huge performances in every game and I think should have been nominated for POTY over Clarke.

Bonniedog · 09-11-2017 3:34pm

tastyt wrote: »

Eoin kelly from tipp was a far better player than shefflin and in my opinion the best forward of the last 25 years.

Had he been born only a few miles up the road in Kilkenny I dont think theyd have lost an all Ireland in ten years

Henry has scoring average of 7.5 per game to Kelly's 6.3.

I believe that answers your question!

8 compared to 6.7 in championship.

Ring's championship average was 4.7. And of course Henry won more AIs and played more games. Difficult to see how his status could be questioned.

MayoAreMagic · 09-11-2017 3:43pm

Martina1991 wrote: »

Which all stars would you take back then?

Chris Barrett has improved massively moving from corner back to making number 6 his own. He was even nominated for MOTM in the final for the amount of ball he turned over.

Keith Higgins has been consistently a top defender for years. Still has impressive pace given the fact hes over 30.

Colm Boyle had (IMO) the year of his life. Put in huge performances in every game and I think should have been nominated for POTY over Clarke.

Fully agree. Harrison had a great season too. While Vaughan pre-lash out was going well also.
Mayo go full on man for man a lot of the time, so the opposition will create more chances, but defenders will be more eye-catching too.

MayoAreMagic · 09-11-2017 3:44pm

Bonniedog wrote: »

Henry has scoring average of 7.5 per game to Kelly's 6.3.

I believe that answers your question!

8 compared to 6.7 in championship.

Ring's championship average was 4.7. And of course Henry won more AIs and played more games. Difficult to see how his status could be questioned.

Surely that depends on your team too though?
Declan Browne never kicked a point in an all Ireland final, but he was far superior to plenty that did.

cyrils foxpit · 09-11-2017 3:50pm

MayoAreMagic wrote: »

Surely that depends on your team too though?
Declan Browne never kicked a point in an all Ireland final, but he was far superior to plenty that did.

that makes Eoin Kellys stats look even better, when you consider for most of Kellys career he was part of the worst Tipp Team in a generation compared to Shefflin being in what is considered the greatest side of all time !!!

theoneeyedman · 09-11-2017 3:53pm

Martina1991 wrote: »

Which all stars would you take back then?

Chris Barrett has improved massively moving from corner back to making number 6 his own. He was even nominated for MOTM in the final for the amount of ball he turned over.

Keith Higgins has been consistently a top defender for years. Still has impressive pace given the fact hes over 30.

Colm Boyle had (IMO) the year of his life. Put in huge performances in every game and I think should have been nominated for POTY over Clarke.

Then Barrett should have been nominated at 6 not at corner back. These Mayo backs got the awards based on their attacking and not their defence, plus a fair smattering of pity voting.

Martina1991 · 09-11-2017 3:58pm

theoneeyedman wrote:

Then Barrett should have been nominated at 6 not at corner back. These Mayo backs got the awards based on their attacking and not their defence, plus a fair smattering of pity voting.

It's amazing how the All Stars has only become a "pity award" since Keegan won POTY last year.

Dublin won 7 all stars and YPOTY yet all headlines are dominated by complaints from Dublin fans (not the team).

I don't understand why people feel the need to dump on the achievements of others to make themselves feel better.

Bonniedog · 09-11-2017 3:59pm

cyrils foxpit wrote: »

that makes Eoin Kellys stats look even better, when you consider for most of Kellys career he was part of the worst Tipp Team in a generation compared to Shefflin being in what is considered the greatest side of all time !!!

Shefflin was one of the reasons Kilkenny were so good! Only beaten by Tipp in 2010 because he was injured.

MfMan · 09-11-2017 4:27pm

Bonniedog wrote: »

Henry has scoring average of 7.5 per game to Kelly's 6.3.

I believe that answers your question!

8 compared to 6.7 in championship.

Ring's championship average was 4.7. And of course Henry won more AIs and played more games. Difficult to see how his status could be questioned.

What are stats from play?

castletownman · 09-11-2017 4:28pm

I concur with previous mentions of hurling, and I would add another point about it.

It's "traditionalists" are very fussy when it comes to right conditions the game should be played in.

Sure you can't play hurling under the lights.

Sure you can't play hurling on the heavy sod in January or February.

Sure you can't play hurling if the grass is too long.

Sure you can't play hurling championship midweek-not fair on lads.

It's this insular mindset why the local championships in Wexford won't be run off in line with the new time-frame changes.

The traditionalists too aren't averse to condone wild pulls and borderline assault. "That's hurling sure. Different back in my day"

Then again, I cannot think of many Jim McGuinness/Jim Gavin/Pat Gilroy-like figures in the hurling world. Fellas with a zen-like demeanour on the sideline, military-precision attention to detail, an innate ability to inspire his panel, and capable of being articulate in interviews with the media (not to mention successful careers away from the sport too). The hurling fraternity are bit more "agricultural" in comparison.

MayoAreMagic · 09-11-2017 4:35pm

theoneeyedman wrote: »

Then Barrett should have been nominated at 6 not at corner back. These Mayo backs got the awards based on their attacking and not their defence, plus a fair smattering of pity voting.

Well there are no corner back nominations. It is just defenders. Id agree he should have gotten no.6 though. But id imagine he was shunted in there to make room for dublin players in the defence - the unwritten rule of the ai winners needing the most all stars must be upheld, and the next best corner back was probably harrison.
That isnt a criticism of dublin, but instead the guys giving out the all stars. There is kind of a balancing act that goes on where certain quotas need to be filled.
Colm cavanagh probably got one on the back of the same thing, as all i can remember him doing this year is being not quite as bad as thr rest of the tyrone players against dublin, and then sticking his boot into a dublin player.. both feely and parsons done far more both against dublin and in midfield in general

cms88 · 09-11-2017 4:43pm

theoneeyedman wrote: »

Then Barrett should have been nominated at 6 not at corner back. These Mayo backs got the awards based on their attacking and not their defence, plus a fair smattering of pity voting.

The same can be said for James McCarty, Philly McMahon and Jack McCaffrey
IMO very much this is the case with Jack McCaffrey

cms88 · 09-11-2017 4:45pm

Martina1991 wrote: »

It's amazing how the All Stars has only become a "pity award" since Keegan won POTY last year.

Dublin won 7 all stars and YPOTY yet all headlines are dominated by complaints from Dublin fans (not the team).

I don't understand why people feel the need to dump on the achievements of others to make themselves feel better.

Same with how the keeper All-Star doesn't matter now all of the sudden.

Certain other sidtes are full, especially Dubs, people like that. People who more than likely have never seen a game outode of a Dublin championship games in their lifes

ThunbergsAreGo · 09-11-2017 5:07pm

The All Stars are not a true reflection the year at all and are way too influenced by the media what happens in the last three games of a season to be relevant (league is forgotten about altogether)

13/15 from the AI Finalists (one of which didnt make it to the league final, failed to win their province and beat a single D1 team on the way to the final) is completely incorrect and unbalanced

Getting to the final does not mean you have all the best players in all the positions and players from lesser counties should represented more

If Kerry had beaten Mayo the first day by a single point, we would likely have seen 5 Kerry players in the All Star Team

brocbrocach · 09-11-2017 5:41pm

People from football dominated counties thinking their opinions on hurling are useful.

kilns · 09-11-2017 5:43pm

The case was made that Clarke won the goalkeeper award because he made lots of saves and saved Mayo's bacon in two games and Cluxton did not get it because he didnt get as much action. Mayo played less division 1 teams than Dublin also in their run. This would indicate that one of the defences was much poorer than the other. However the "poorer" defence received 66% of the all stars up for grabs in defence. Logically it does not make sense, does it?

Unpopular GAA opinion - MOD Note #426

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