National Football League 2023

Division 2 will be very tight - Dublin are almost certain to go back up. Derry, cork, meath and kildare will all fancy their chances for the second spot. Limerick and clare will want to avoid the drop as well and both had OK seasons last year that they will want to build on. Hard to know if Louth are up to much, they have mickey harte which might count for something

With league position implications for qualifying for the Sam Maguire, Division 2 will be very interesting.

Added to it that the team finishing 6th in Div 2 will not be guaranteed to play in the Sam McGuire because one of Sligo or Leitrim will have a place in the Sam McGuire group stages because one of them is guaranteed a Connacht final place.

So whomever finishes 6th in Div 2 will have to get to their provincial final to guarantee an Sam McGuire place.

Well I'm not sure to be honest.

Maybe there is clarity somewhere.

From the RTE website today:

"The finalists in the third tier of the league are considered to be ranked higher than the sides who finished seventh and eighth in Division 2 at the end of the competition. But, with only 16 counties allowed into the Sam Maguire race, it means that qualification for the elite competition this summer cannot be secured by any of the other seven Division 3 counties this spring."

So from that, it seems like neither of the sides promoted from D3 will be playing for Sam (although Westmeath will be there regardless). The top 6 in D2 are guaranteed a spot in the Sam Maguire unless a second D3/4 side reaches a provincial final.

It's a lot for a supposedly amateur game.

U16s being free still is excellent but yeah a 50% increase in a few years is a lot. €15 for students/OAPs is a lot as well.

Was in Wexford Park discotheque tonight. Terrible quality but London deserved the share of the spoils in the end as they actually showed a bit of acumen in their attacking patterns compared to Wexford.

I genuinely think that promotion may already be out of the question, which sounds pessimistic, but I just can't figure out what tactics Hegarty is trying to implement. He had our best available full-back playing on the wing, our best attacking wing-back playing full-back and a debutant more noted as a wing-back in the corner (London converted seven frees, all conceded by a panicky full-back line). Only for a fortunate O.G. and the London goalkeeper gifting two points directly from restarts, they'd have been comfortable winners.

There was no long kick-passing of note, and not exactly stellar work-rate on the wings either considering London's number 5 got on the ball more than anyone after the break. Had this nonsense of the management cheering whenever we won a sideline ball, but they were as quiet as ghosts when under the kosh. Conceded five frees for technical fouls in the first half alone (referee was a bit whistle happy), but kept making the same mistakes after the break too- miscommunication somewhere.

Don't see myself travellling too far to watch any of that dirge away from home.

To me there is a definite gap between div1 and div2. Watching Dublin at CP yesterday and the other matches on telly. It is probably widening.

I think Dublin would really struggle v most of div1. Kerry - Mayo - Galway - Donegal- Tyrone - Monaghan- maybe even Armagh. Even a full strength Dublin.

Fair play to Donegal by the way nice to see them with the handbrake off.

I am not so sure most of those div1 sides seem solid settled. And know what they are at. They have well practiced systems of play etc.

And good quality players. I wouldn’t be surprised if every team in div1 looses a game each. It will be very competitive.

But div2 looks extremely weak it is basically Leinster standard. With Dublin - Kildare best of a bad bunch. Maybe Derry pushing for promotion. The rest making up the numbers.

Well they weren't last year.

How much has changed?

Good weekend in D1 when the biggest win is +5 and that was only thanks to a last minute goal.

Roscommon's possession play at the end was very nice. Some great moves to work the ball up the pitch into scoring positions.

Hard to know. But put it this way. I wouldn’t be confident of Dublin showing consistency and controlling a game. With the quality in div 1 Dublin could be really shown up.

If any team sticks with Dublin in a match. I believe the opposition will be given chances to win it against Dublin. No matter what the quality of the opposition is.

At the higher level of div1 would really show IMO.

It's always very tight, usually in all the divisions, due to each team playing only 7 games. Last year Tyrone beat Kerry by a point in their last game, and Monaghan beat Dublin by a point in their last game. That put Dublin and Kildare down, but wins for Kerry and Dublin would have put Tyrone and Monaghan down (I think). 7 games is unfair to demote two teams from an 8 team division.

It is not a proper league. It should be home and away, giving every county 14 meaningful games, if they are up to it. And that should be what determines which team is the best in the country. Not the convoluted knockout competition based on skewed provinces, tarted up in the last couple of decades with teams still being in even when they lose.

In Laoisman11's predictions based on his rankings table, he had Kerry by 8 over Donegal and Wexford by 9 over London (it was a draw). He did get the draw between Mayo and Galway correct, but also predicted a draw between Roscommon and Tyrone.

If someone is a betting person, backing the draw can be the value bet.