Meath Forum

A League - Football 2019

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Replying To Maestro:  "It's more than a couple of years since they were a good senior side..
What about the current Keegan cup champions Dunboyne losing by 18 points to O'mahonys.
They must be missing a few but surely there are some players from the junior team that won the championship last year that could step in."
O'Mahonys seem to be flying at the moment - but that was a standout result! Maybe Dunboyne are still celebrating last years successes!!

Royalblufill (Meath) - Posts: 284 - 26/02/2019 14:47:26    2168379

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I see St Pauls have no team in the "A" leagues this year, just division 4 of the "B" league and Ultans gave them an awful trouncing in the first game, pity to see the continual decline of the Pauls, I fear the inevitable.

Richieq (Meath) - Posts: 3590 - 27/02/2019 19:11:12    2168768

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I really feel the A Leagues are not getting the respect they deserve from the county board, as we are now already 4 rounds in before the end of February and the standard is not great with results fairly inconsistent across all divisions due to teams not fully up to scratch and county players unavailable. And also games at 11:00am on Sunday mornings on poor pitches don't help either. It just seems that every year the A Leagues get rammed through very quickly and are over for most teams before they are firing fully. Most counties started there leagues only 2 weeks ago.

BigJoe14 (Meath) - Posts: 565 - 28/02/2019 11:15:00    2168848

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A, B and Hurling leagues at this time of year is really stupid. A lot of pitches aren't up to standard, more experienced or college players only start to return now and then when summer hits there is very few games for some clubs.

We need to start using the cup competitions as competitive games at this time of year which will give lads game time, help clubs blood fringe players into first team football.

With two less rounds of championship in Football next year, they could be used as league weekends rather than starting the league this early.

For most clubs what you have is:

13 rounds of football league
4 rounds of championship
6 rounds of hurling championship
7 rounds of hurling league

That's 30 weeks of guaranteed hurling and football for most clubs.

This leaves 22 weeks to complete semi finals, finals and cup competitions or any back games that need to be played. Plus clubs that don't have any hurling could play on hurling weekends if they desire.

UsernameInvalid (Meath) - Posts: 126 - 28/02/2019 13:21:58    2168880

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The A league is the second most important senior adult competition in our County and the standard is awful across the board. I feel there are numerous reasons for this:
1) It is started much too early in the year on bad pitches when player's are clearly nowhere near fit enough
2) Senior and U-20 county players not available even if they spend the weekend sitting on the bench for the county team - stupidity at the highest level
3) Apathy towards the league from players, management, clubs etc which in turn has led to an apathy towards the early rounds of the Championship, the league should be about more than getting fitness and trying new player's. It should be about winning. This need to win is sadly missing from Meath club football. Prime example - Feis Cup which once led to epic battles between far superior teams than now, all trying to win Something... Anything!!.
4) Apathy towards the league from the County Board who let's face it see the club league's and championship as an insignificant headache which distracts them from the County team and endless time they spend meeting on one sub-committee or another
I have watched and discussed league football in some of our near neighbours such as Cavan and Monaghan - now that is how league football should be played. I know we are changing structures etc etc next year but unfortunately until we change our attitudes across the board to winning the diabolical club league and championship is going to continue.

smartalic (Meath) - Posts: 1 - 28/02/2019 13:47:40    2168885

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Replying To BigJoe14:  "I really feel the A Leagues are not getting the respect they deserve from the county board, as we are now already 4 rounds in before the end of February and the standard is not great with results fairly inconsistent across all divisions due to teams not fully up to scratch and county players unavailable. And also games at 11:00am on Sunday mornings on poor pitches don't help either. It just seems that every year the A Leagues get rammed through very quickly and are over for most teams before they are firing fully. Most counties started there leagues only 2 weeks ago."
Yeah - would agree with you in the main on that!! Although I would say, I have been at a few games so far and the games themselves have been very good! But I think in all cases both teams were missing players that will start for them in the championship. Reading today in the Indo that 16 counties hadn't started their championship before the end of June last year while 8 hadn't started their by the end of July! Meath gets two championship games out of the way in April and take a break from the league at that point! Not sure what it the better option!

ASaminthehand (Meath) - Posts: 292 - 28/02/2019 14:09:53    2168889

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Replying To ASaminthehand:  "Yeah - would agree with you in the main on that!! Although I would say, I have been at a few games so far and the games themselves have been very good! But I think in all cases both teams were missing players that will start for them in the championship. Reading today in the Indo that 16 counties hadn't started their championship before the end of June last year while 8 hadn't started their by the end of July! Meath gets two championship games out of the way in April and take a break from the league at that point! Not sure what it the better option!"
Summerhill
5-6 : 1-4
Moynalvey

Ratoath
3-8 : 0-6
Skryne

Dunshaughlin GAA
1-7 : 3-7
Navan O'Mahonys

Simonstown
2-12 : 0-7
Oldcastle

Gaeil Colmcille
0-10 : 2-7
Na Fianna CLG

Bhulf Tón Clg
1-12 : 1-12
Donaghmore/Ashbourne


NOM continue their good form and now 5 from 5 - confidence should be good coming into the Championship. S'Town and Summerhill also going well! Skyrne seem to be struggling at the moment - I wonder are they missing many players? As far as I can tell only Campion is involved with the Senior County team.

ASaminthehand (Meath) - Posts: 292 - 11/03/2019 12:10:02    2171606

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Replying To smartalic:  "The A league is the second most important senior adult competition in our County and the standard is awful across the board. I feel there are numerous reasons for this:
1) It is started much too early in the year on bad pitches when player's are clearly nowhere near fit enough
2) Senior and U-20 county players not available even if they spend the weekend sitting on the bench for the county team - stupidity at the highest level
3) Apathy towards the league from players, management, clubs etc which in turn has led to an apathy towards the early rounds of the Championship, the league should be about more than getting fitness and trying new player's. It should be about winning. This need to win is sadly missing from Meath club football. Prime example - Feis Cup which once led to epic battles between far superior teams than now, all trying to win Something... Anything!!.
4) Apathy towards the league from the County Board who let's face it see the club league's and championship as an insignificant headache which distracts them from the County team and endless time they spend meeting on one sub-committee or another
I have watched and discussed league football in some of our near neighbours such as Cavan and Monaghan - now that is how league football should be played. I know we are changing structures etc etc next year but unfortunately until we change our attitudes across the board to winning the diabolical club league and championship is going to continue."
I follow a few teams in Meath - mostly in the lower leagues. I can't believe you've played 5 games already.

Monaghan has yet to start their league campaign and we have 18 games to get through in Senior and Intermediate ranks for each team.

League football is very competitive. Attracts big crowds. Many games take place in August/September/October in tandem with the conclusion to the championship. It means teams who have no further interest in the champ can still salvage something with a base level fitness and the rest can concentrate on the bigger prize.

Otherwise you have some teams sitting on literally no game time from August onwards!!

GerryD (Monaghan) - Posts: 322 - 13/03/2019 14:19:29    2172049

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Replying To GerryD:  "I follow a few teams in Meath - mostly in the lower leagues. I can't believe you've played 5 games already.

Monaghan has yet to start their league campaign and we have 18 games to get through in Senior and Intermediate ranks for each team.

League football is very competitive. Attracts big crowds. Many games take place in August/September/October in tandem with the conclusion to the championship. It means teams who have no further interest in the champ can still salvage something with a base level fitness and the rest can concentrate on the bigger prize.

Otherwise you have some teams sitting on literally no game time from August onwards!!"
Two differences GerryD,

1. Hurling takes up half the time in the county which is not an issue in Monaghan
2. Teams were giving out when they had to play league matches in between championship matches hence the reason why the season has to start early here.

juicy (Meath) - Posts: 384 - 13/03/2019 16:57:30    2172074

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Replying To GerryD:  "I follow a few teams in Meath - mostly in the lower leagues. I can't believe you've played 5 games already.

Monaghan has yet to start their league campaign and we have 18 games to get through in Senior and Intermediate ranks for each team.

League football is very competitive. Attracts big crowds. Many games take place in August/September/October in tandem with the conclusion to the championship. It means teams who have no further interest in the champ can still salvage something with a base level fitness and the rest can concentrate on the bigger prize.

Otherwise you have some teams sitting on literally no game time from August onwards!!"
GeeryD - what are your players doing now? Are they off? The Monaghan set up does sound good - Didn't you also offer a points step up for teams who won matches without the county players?

ASaminthehand (Meath) - Posts: 292 - 13/03/2019 17:00:39    2172075

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If the league is moved to later in the year a lot of players will complain of hard training for 3 to 4 months with no games. At least with league games players get to enjoy themselves every fortnight or so.

Barney123 (Meath) - Posts: 676 - 13/03/2019 17:31:26    2172085

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Replying To juicy:  "Two differences GerryD,

1. Hurling takes up half the time in the county which is not an issue in Monaghan
2. Teams were giving out when they had to play league matches in between championship matches hence the reason why the season has to start early here."
only 7 league hurling games but yes you are correct , they dont have any in monaghan

13 a league games is a lot to fit in and get completed before june / july
i find games are nearly played for the sake of it , without either team having much interest
it defeats the purpose in a way
would be more competitive if less teams in each div and more than 4 div

hurlit (Meath) - Posts: 312 - 13/03/2019 17:40:44    2172087

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Replying To ASaminthehand:  "GeeryD - what are your players doing now? Are they off? The Monaghan set up does sound good - Didn't you also offer a points step up for teams who won matches without the county players?"
Most teams didn't start pre-season until February. The star games were introduced last year with incentives for teams who won without county players. A good idea but the weighting was way off!

On the separate posters comments about Hurling - I do get that...But that's only 7 games and we play an extra 5 football games so it only boils down to two weekends. As things stand there will be almost 2months between the start of our respective football leagues. It's certajnly worked for us - not least the crowds we get to games and the great emphasis on league football in Monaghan. We can guarantee there will be between 200-400 people at most league games which is impressive for the size of the County. I don't believe this happens in Meath.

GerryD (Monaghan) - Posts: 322 - 13/03/2019 23:16:06    2172147

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lucky to get 30 players to turn up nevermind supporters!

hurlit (Meath) - Posts: 312 - 14/03/2019 10:22:23    2172182

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Replying To GerryD:  "Most teams didn't start pre-season until February. The star games were introduced last year with incentives for teams who won without county players. A good idea but the weighting was way off!

On the separate posters comments about Hurling - I do get that...But that's only 7 games and we play an extra 5 football games so it only boils down to two weekends. As things stand there will be almost 2months between the start of our respective football leagues. It's certajnly worked for us - not least the crowds we get to games and the great emphasis on league football in Monaghan. We can guarantee there will be between 200-400 people at most league games which is impressive for the size of the County. I don't believe this happens in Meath."
GerryD, How does Monaghan cater for reserve/2nd teams? do they play in same competitions as first teams or do they have there own leagues like in Meath?

DO they play the games on the same weekends?

juicy (Meath) - Posts: 384 - 14/03/2019 11:15:56    2172192

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Replying To juicy:  "GerryD, How does Monaghan cater for reserve/2nd teams? do they play in same competitions as first teams or do they have there own leagues like in Meath?

DO they play the games on the same weekends?"
Second teams have their own league - same as Meath. They generally play during periods the 1st teams aren't playing. Rare if ever you would see both teams playing the same weekend as there's generally a decent crossover between the 1st and 2nd teams.

GerryD (Monaghan) - Posts: 322 - 14/03/2019 14:16:55    2172229

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Replying To GerryD:  "Second teams have their own league - same as Meath. They generally play during periods the 1st teams aren't playing. Rare if ever you would see both teams playing the same weekend as there's generally a decent crossover between the 1st and 2nd teams."
If the league was moved later in the year managers would just start training at the same time they do now and players would be left waiting longer for a competitive game. Who benefits from that?

Also the idea of playing league games into September is a recipe for disaster. What happens to teams who get knocked out in the group stages but have a league fixture remaining vs. a team that went all the way to the championship semi finals/finals? Wait weeks or months to play the fixture? Sounds even worse than now.

CastleBravo (Meath) - Posts: 1391 - 15/03/2019 10:03:25    2172342

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What Gerry hasn't mentioned is that Monaghan have a completely different Championship structure as well which along with having practically no hurling is significant.

Clubs (at least at senior level which I'm most familiar with) have a minimum of 5 hurling championship games in Meath.

Their championship is along the lines of the Christy Ring structure, only guaranteeing clubs a minimum of 2 games.

In Meath you're guaranteed 5 at present.

They also don't have an equivalent to the Feis Fup which at present takes up 4 game days for most clubs and potentially 5 for a few.

jackhackett (Meath) - Posts: 765 - 15/03/2019 13:30:23    2172389

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Guys, the league is a second tier competition, i don't have any problems with the structure of our planner to be honest, league games are great preparation for the championship, no team in division one or twos aim is to try win the league, teams in division three and four would be trying to move up the leagues i agree and might give it more energy however i see it as a great opportunity to blood young players and give lads football, a good hard league game is better than three training sessions, lets be realistic here, the winners of the senior championship will come from division one and in the intermediate it will be division one or two or possibly three , yes we will have lads saying we have a senior club playing in division three however that more or less sums up my point, league form and league position all goes out the window come championship at club level.

thelutch (Meath) - Posts: 856 - 15/03/2019 19:01:31    2172447

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Not too sure about your opinion, surely teams would try and win all competitions entered. There are only 3 cups up for grabs every year, the championship, the league or the Feis cup ! Not sure I follow your logic.

meath87889699 (Meath) - Posts: 38 - 15/03/2019 19:13:31    2172448

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