BrisbaneBhoy wrote:Post_hoc wrote:melbourne_terrace wrote:Well that's fantastic for me because GAA Football >>> AFL. The smaller amount of space and no marks means players have to be a lot smarter in moving the ball than just being hoofing it forward to the big cunt up front. Up the dubs.
Hurling better than both of them combined, go the Cats
This is true (IMO anyways). I love hurling, yet cannae stand either GAA football or it's Australian counterpart.
As for Kilkenny winning. No chance. Your Leinster mob will not win this year. Is é seo an bhliain seo do Thiobraid Árann.
As for channel 7 broadcasting it. I won't be watching it on 7, as I can not stand the FTA television stations. Plus I am more than happy to keep watching the matches on Setanta.
To the best of my knowledge, the championship won't be on Setanta. You'll have to watch it on 7 Mate.
To clarify for everyone - the GAA Senior Hurling and Gaelic Football Championships will be broadcast on 7Mate, not Channel 7.
Hurling -
Kilkenny have a chance, but I can't see it, transition times for them, though Walter Walsh could be a revelation this year.
Tipperary? Have you been drinking pal?
Clare or Cork are the main players. Fantastic hurling championship last year capped off with Clare winning a replayed final, from no where. You would have got them at +40/1 at the start of the championship. Incredible team they have, but I think the expectations will be very high and Cork will probably have too much for them.
Dublin, Limerick, Galway, Tipp will all be there or thereabouts, but everyone is a level behind Cork and Clare at the moment.
Gaelic Football - Dublin will win this and win it well.
Should be interesting this year, with the advent of the black card (professional foul, you get sent off, but your team can bring on a sub, yellows and reds as usual, it's increased scoring in the National League by something like 30%, defenders learning to defend without dragging forwards to the ground)
Mayo (I'm very dodgy about them, just don't think they have the squad), Derry (the revelation of the National League this year), Donegal (they're back and they're not happy), Tyrone (class all over the field) and Cork (new manager, new players, great league campaign, could go very well) are the main contenders.
Any of the Ulster teams could cause problems, they all look good.
Kerry - too many retirements and Colm Cooper (the Gooch) out for the year with an ACL. He's the Messi of gaelic football, so important to them. Have a look on you tube for Colm Cooper Kerry V Dublin 2013 All Ireland Semi final. A genius. Those passes, swoon....But Kerry haven't a hope this year.
Dublin - Huge squad (even with Ciaran Kilkenny out for the season with an ACL), very very intelligent coach in Jim Gavin, who has built on the brilliant work of Pat Gilroy before him. The best goalkeeper in the country in Steven Cluxton (even if he is very media unfriendly) A monster of a midfield with Michael Dara MacAuley and Cian O'Sullivan, good backs who all like to get forward and are covered well by their teammates (I reckon Philly Larkin will be hugely important to them this year). As for the forwards, between the 6 they start and what they can take off the bench, they're rather frightening. Paul Flynn (my personal favourite footballer at the moment), Bernard Brogan, Eoghan O'Gara (2 years ago I said he was the single worst intercounty footbaler I had ever seen. All of a sudden he's brilliant), Paddy Andrews, Diarmuid Connolly (who is in frightening form at the moment, can destoy a team and end a game in 10 minutes as he did in the club final), Kevin McMenamin off the bench. Oh, and just for good measure, or some would say, just to take the piss out of all of us, they've only gone and brought Alan Brogan back. I thought injuries had pretty much finished him, but he's the former footballer of the year and has been brilliant in the league by all accounts.
So yeah, I can't see anyone getting anywhere close to Dublin this year. Or next year for that matter.
It will be a huge championship year as the hurling is relatively open with a game becoming more and more skillful as Kilkenny's "manful" hurling wanes. The football will be good in seeing if anyone can put it up to the Dubs.
If you haven't watched either game before, you should, especially hurling. The teams you'll see on 7Mate are senior county teams. They are all amateur players, who train and commit huge amounts of time to this. They play for their local town or parish club and are then chosen to go on to play for their county. There's great history and tradition involved and rivalry of course.
Growing up in Ireland, you don't get to choose who you support. You support the county you're from. My own county is Wexford. We last won the hurling championship in 1996. We last won the football championship in 1918. We need all the help and support we can get...