Plus ca change - GAA 2016

[Diable Rouge]

The "proper" GAA season kicks into gear on Saturday, when Dublin v Kerry launches the Football League. I begin my preview with the bottom tier.

Division Four:
Antrim
Carlow
Leitrim
Limerick
London
Waterford
Wexford
Wicklow

If the official Championship restructuring is passed at Congress, six of these teams will be removed from the qualifiers. In truth, there are no sleeping giants here, but Limerick and Wexford should secure promotion.

[Diable Rouge]

Plus ca change - GAA 2016

Division Three:
Clare
Kildare
Longford
Louth
Offaly
Sligo
Tipperary
Westmeath

Kildare and Westmeath should cruise to promotion here, Clare and Offaly look set for the drop.

[Diable Rouge]

Plus ca change - GAA 2016

Division Two:
Armagh
Cavan
Derry
Fermanagh
Galway
Laois
Meath
Tyrone

Fermanagh and Laois appear doomed to the drop. Tyrone should win the division, with Meath edging out Galway for promotion.

[Diable Rouge]

Plus ca change - GAA 2016

Division One:
Cork
Donegal
Down
Dublin
Kerry
Mayo
Monaghan
Roscommon

Down and Monaghan look out of their depth here, Dublin to beat Mayo in the final, with Cork and Donegal also reaching the semis.

[Outside Agent]

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Impressive opening night win for Dublin over Kerry. Dublin's excellent forward line created plenty of goal chances, and would have racked up a much bigger tally but for some fine goalkeeping from Brendan Kealy. Dublin's squad is as strong as ever. They'll make the last four for certain.

On paper, Down look like a side completely out of their depth in Division One. Last nights mauling at the hands of Donegal looks like something that will happen a few more times before the Spring is out.

Division Three is the most interesting of the four, in my opinion. A real mix of big names who will believe they should be playing in a higher tier, sides on the up, and underdogs. It will be hard to predict how it will play out.

[Diable Rouge]

Plus ca change - GAA 2016

Congress on this weekend in Carlow - no championship changes, but the minor age bracket is reduced to u-17, while the u-21's will now be u-20's. A motion introducing the mark to Gaelic has passed, while a motion on FTA TV coverage will be discussed shortly.

[Diable Rouge]

Plus ca change - GAA 2016

Cork getting absolutely battered by the Dublin hurlers, and trail by a dozen at the break. Meanwhile, heady times for Kerry hurling - they look set to play in front of a 5,000 strong attendance (admittedly as a curtain-raiser to the footballers), and have genuine hopes of defeating Wexford.

[Diable Rouge]

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Fair to say everything that could go wrong did - they lost by 23 points, gave away a penalty, and had two players sent off, all broadcast live on TG4.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Plus ca change - GAA 2016

Congrats to the Cahir camogie team that won the intermediate club all Ireland. They were runners up in the women's football intermediate club all Ireland, just before Christmas which along with their near total dominance of the girls game in school would seem to suggest that my home town has become one of the leading centres for women's sport in Ireland.

I honestly can't believe it.

[Borracho]

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The big story of the league so far has been Cork. First they let in 4-25 to Roscommon, a quite incredible scoreline, then (presumably out of sheer shame and embarrassment) they push Dublin all the way in Croke Park, leading by eight points at one stage. They'll either be out of the championship by mid-June or they'll go all the way to the final.

[Diable Rouge]

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Probably the former - can't say they've torn up any trees in Munster over the last few years.

[ingoldale]

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I'm tipping Roscommon for All-Ireland football quarters.

[Diable Rouge]

Plus ca change - GAA 2016

ingoldale wrote: I'm tipping Roscommon for All-Ireland football quarters.

Very impressive again today - Evans had done a great job with successive promotions, but they appeared to run out of steam in the Championship last year vs Sligo. Firmly answered any doubters so far, beating Cork and wins away to Kerry and Donegal. Kerry look like reaching their first League semi-final in a number of years, after victory in Castlebar, but discipline remains appaling, with reds on successive weekends.

[Cesar Rodriguez]

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Pointless sport.

[Borracho]

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ingoldale wrote: I'm tipping Roscommon for All-Ireland football quarters.

This is probably Roscommon's best side since the Frankie Dolan-powered outfit of the early 2000s, when they won the Connacht championship. That was a good team, albeit a bunch of gurriers. They smashed up a hotel in Derry and were caught on CCTV playing pool in the nude.

I can wish them well with a clear conscience now that the lúdramán to end all lúdramánaí, Shane Curran, is long gone. He was last seen unsuccessfully running for Fianna Fail in the general election.

[Diable Rouge]

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Cesar Rodriguez wrote: Pointless sport.

Elaborate, CR?

[Borracho]

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He just wants a reaction.

[Flynnie]

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So, to celebrate the feast day of St. Patrick, I'm having one of my sporadic attempts to understand Gaelic football. I'm nominally a Donegal supporter, thanks to my nan being from there and buying me a shirt when I was a kid. In 1992. Which was kind of a big year for Donegal.

So what the fuck is The System? The wikipedia page on it is a bit confusing. It sort of sounds vaguely like Total Football, but then a lot of people moan about it and others say it's very defensive, dah-dah-dah. Can anybody explain it in terms that Jonathan Wilson would use?

[Borracho]

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It's horrible to watch. It's like the GAA equivalent of how Mourinho's Internazionale played against Barcelona at the Nou Camp in 2010. Blanket defence, spoiling tactics, near-negligible interest in scoring any actual goals or points of one's own.

I'll always remember this game as its apotheosis. Luckily Dublin had just enough in the tank to get past them.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/football/2011/0828/284073-donegal_dublin/

[Diable Rouge]

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The old blanket defence - basically, it's just double-marking, only amplified into triple or quadruple marking of star players. Like catenaccio, you pull virtually your entire team into your defensive third of the pitch when your opponents gain possession, then breaking at speed after tackling before the other side can deploy their shield formation.

[Flynnie]

Plus ca change - GAA 2016

But they opened it up in later years no? They scored some goals against Mayo in the final and against Dublin in *that* upset.

What surprises me about The System is that it seems to be regarded as the introduction of tactics into Gaelic football. Is that true? Seems odd.

[Diable Rouge]

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Systems and countering them have been going on since at least the Forties, but the Ulster counties were the first to bring matters to a technical, officially-organised playbook method.

[Diable Rouge]

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Dublin march relentlessly on, eventually overpowering Donegal to maintain a 100% record and ensure that they will top the division. Kerry move second, after an impressive eight point second-half margin in Clones - with greater fitness levels and squad depth than in 2015, they could yet prove a challenge for the Metropolitans. Roscommon still look set for the semis, despite defeat to Mayo, who ease their relegation worries, with Donegal slight favourites to come fourth.

Tyrone win Division Two for an instant return to the top-flight, while surprise outfit Cavan will face Galway in a virtual promotion play-off. Kildare and Antrim move up from D3 and D4 respectively, with Clare and Louth favoured to join them.

[Diable Rouge]

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Dramatic end to the final round of League matches - a Kerry win at home to Cork, coupled with victories for Monaghan and Mayo, means the Rebels are relegated on points difference. Dublin will meet Donegal in one semi-final, with Kerry facing Roscommon in the other.

In Division Two, Tyrone were already promoted, but a Cavan victory over Galway sent the Breffni County into the top-flight after a considerable absence, with Armagh and Laois relegated to D3. Similarly, Kildare had already secured their ticket back to the second-tier, but despite Offaly and Longford wins, Clare sealed the second promotion place on points difference. Ironically, had only one of Offaly or Longford won, they would have gone up on the head-to-head rule. Westmeath and Limerick made the journey in the opposite direction. Division Four was effectively a dead-rubber round, with Antrim and Louth having gained elevation the previous week.

[Diable Rouge]

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Kilkenny put six goals past an outclassed Offaly, ultimately winning by 24. Clare gain a surprise victory away to Tipp, while Waterford barely get past local rivals Wexford, and Limerick overcame Dublin last night.

SFs of Kilkenny v Clare and Limerick v Waterford.

Cork win the relegation playoff against Galway, who will now play the Kerry hurlers, among others, next spring.