HOW YOUR COUNTY RANKED IN 2017
Martin Breheny presents his end-of-year rankings after a season where Dublin tightened their grip on the Sam Maguire Cup. But what of the rest? Are Mayo or Kerry in second place? And where do the other sides fit in as they look to 2018?
THERE’S no dispute as to who stands on football’s summit at the end of a season where there was little change among Dublin’s chief pursuers.
Kerry and Mayo – the order is up for debate – continue to be the chief challengers to the order of the Blue but elsewhere there were few indications that other threats are emerging.
Here’s the suggested pecking order at the end of a season where Dublin lost only one game.
1. DUBLIN Played: 14 Won: 10 Drew: 3 Lost: 1 (League and Championship)
Is this the greatest turnaround in football history? Check back to 2009/2010 when Dublin lost two of three championship games by a combined total of 28 points.
Kerry overwhelmed them by 1-24 to 1-7 in the 2009 All-Ireland quarter-final while Meath beat them by 5-9 to 0-13 in the 2010 Leinster semi-final.
Since then, Dublin have won five of seven All-Ireland titles and seven successive Leinster titles in a glory period during which they have won 42, drawn two (against Mayo 2015, 2016) and lost three (Cork 2010, Mayo 2012, Donegal 2014) of 47 championship games.
Add in their Allianz League programmes, which have yielded four titles, and it leaves them with this remarkable overall record since losing to Meath in June 2010: Played 106; Won 83, Drew 9, Lost 14. Truly memorable times on Liffeyside and there may be a lot more to come.
2. KERRY P13, W7, D3, L3
Should they be ahead of Mayo after losing the semi-final replay? Here’s the case for claiming they should. Mayo deserved to win that day but were fortunate to survive in the drawn game.
Prior to that, Kerry had won the Allianz League, inflicting the only defeat of the year on Dublin, and also retained the Munster title quite easily. Mayo, in contrast, were beaten by Galway in the Connacht semi-final.
3. MAYO P17, W10, D2, L5
Would it all be very different if Dean Rock had missed that late free for Dublin in the All-Ireland final? We will never know but Mayo could have no complaints, having missed an equally scoreable free a few minutes earlier. Their relaunch from the second round of the All-Ireland qualifiers was an impressive repeat of 2016 but the fact remains that they won no title for a second successive year.
4. TYRONE P12, W7, D1 L 4
The All-Ireland semi-final mauling by Dublin was a crushing setback in a season where they appeared to have built on the progress of 2016. Will it lead to a tactical revaluation by Mickey Harte? Don’t bank on it. It wasn’t so much a system malfunction as a failure by players to implement it with anything like the level of efficiency required to test Dublin. Prior to then, Tyrone had averaged 2-18 in four championship games.
5. MONAGHAN P14, W8, D2 L4
They completed their third successive season in Division 1, missing out on a place in the final on scoring difference, and reached the All-Ireland quarter-finals for the fourth time in five seasons. It’s quite an achievement for a county with the fourth lowest population (only Carlow, Longford and Leitrim are below them) in the country,
6. ROSCOMMON P11, W3, D1, L 7
They won only three of 11 games but every season is about winning titles and Roscommon landed the Connacht crown, no mean achievement in a province where Mayo and Galway usually dominate. Roscommon beat Galway and drew with Mayo before losing the replay heavily, having earlier been relegated from Division 1. There will, no doubt, be some who question Roscommon’s high rating so here’s a question: who below them did better?
7. GALWAY P12, W8, D1, L3
Their win/loss ratio is much better than Roscommon’s but they were in Division 2, whereas Kevin McStay’s squad were in the much more competitive top tier. Escaping from Division 2 will be beneficial but the manner of their championship defeats by Roscommon and Kerry – they were a defensive shambles in both – shows how much needs to be done if they are to make progress next year.
8. DONEGAL P12, W6, D2, L4
They lost out to Kerry for a place in the league final on a fourpoint scoring differential but lost altitude after that. New manager Declan Bonner, who replaces Rory Gallagher, believes Donegal became too predictable in recent seasons.
That’s probably true but it still doesn’t account for the no-shows against Tyrone and Galway in the championship.
It looked as the squad were mentally tired after so many seasons of being in Croke Park in August/September.
9. KILDARE P12, W 7, L5
Getting out of Division 2 was a success and they also did well enough in Leinster to finish second to Dublin, with the gap between them closing. So far, so good. However, they returned to bad old ways when losing to Armagh in the fourth-round qualifier. They are better than Armagh but didn’t deliver on that day.
10. CORK P11, W4, D3, L 4
Why in the top 10 when they failed to get out of Division 2 and didn’t reach the All-Ireland quarter-finals? They lost only two of seven league games while their championship conquerors were Kerry and Mayo (after extra-time), who are ranked second and third respectively. If they had beaten Mayo in the qualifiers, there’s every chance they would have reached the All-Ireland semi-final.
11. CAVAN P10, W2, D2, L6
They probably weren’t ready for Division 1 but, despite being relegated, the experience will do them good, especially taking three of four points against Mayo and Kerry. Losing to Monaghan in the Ulster quarter-final was to be expected but the loss at home to Tipperary in the qualifiers left an empty feeling at the end of the season.
12. DOWN P11, W4, D1, L6
They only just escaped relegation to Division 3 but were much improved in the championship, reaching the Ulster final with wins over Armagh and Monaghan, who later avenged the defeat quite comprehensively. Still, it will still be seen as the season when Down’s parachute opened after hurtling towards oblivion in 2016 when they lost all nine league and championship games.
13. ARMAGH P13, W8, D1, L4
Why ranked so low after reaching the last eight in the championship? The qualifier win over Kildare was the only real surprise on that run (they also beat Fermanagh, Westmeath and Tipperary) and, having got to the quarter-finals, they took a thumping from Tyrone. The failure to get out of Division 3 comes against them too.
14. MEATH P11, W6, D1, L 4
Kildare 5-33 Meath 0-29. That was the scoreline from the league and championship games between Dublin’s biggest rivals in Leinster. Despite that, Meath came close enough to ending a ridiculously long 12-season stint in Division 2, finishing just behind Galway and Kildare.
15. CLARE P11, W4, D 1, L6
They’re difficult to place and will feel they should be ranked higher after beating Down and Cork in the league and testing Mayo for a long time in the All-Ireland qualifiers. However, a poor finish in Division 2 left them avoiding relegation on scoring difference only. It was still a reasonably good season for them.
16. TIPPERARY P11, W7, L4
Promoted from Division 3; beat Cavan in the qualifiers; ran Cork to a point in the Munster semi-final with a depleted team. Another progressive season where the setback against Armagh ruined their chances of building on last year’s championship exploits, which took them to the All-Ireland semi-final.
17. LOUTH P11, W 6, L5
Going from Divisions 4 to 2 in successive seasons was quite an achievement, although not enough for Colin Kelly to remain on as manager. This year’s promotion drive was especially impressive, achieved with a game to spare in a group from which Armagh failed to escape.
18. DERRY P10, W3, D1, L6
The worst defensive record in Division 2 sent them hurtling down the relegation chute before they were easily swept aside by Tyrone in the Ulster championship. How then did they take Mayo to extra-time in the qualifiers in Castlebar? Only Mayo can explain that.
19. FERMANAGH P9, W2, L7
A forgettable season for Fermanagh, whose squad absolved themselves of responsibility by letting it be known they didn’t want Pete McGrath back as manager. Hopefully, they will find mirrors among their Christmas presents since reflections are often the best place to look when searching for reasons why results go wrong.
20. SLIGO P11, W5, D1, L5
Completed their sixth successive season in Division 3 before losing ‘away’ to Mayo and Meath in the championship, the latter by a sufficiently small margin (two points) to keep the optimism taps open for next season.
21. LAOIS P11, W4, L7
They are better than they showed this year but that doesn’t matter since they didn’t deliver on it. They appeared to have recovered from the Div 3 relegation hit when easily beating Longford in the Leinster first round but later suffered heavy defeats against Kildare (quarter-final) and Clare (qualifiers).
22. LONGFORD P10, W3, D1, L6
Avoided relegation to Division
4 on scoring difference ahead of Antrim after drawing with the Ulstermen in the final game. The contrast between the 11-point defeat by Laois in Leinster and the eight-point win over Louth in the qualifiers was inexplicable.
23. WESTMEATH P12, W8, D2, L2
Getting out of Division 4 provided a boost but what were they doing there in the first place? Their big win over Offaly in the Leinster SFC merely set them up for an embarrassment against Dublin before Armagh ended their season in the qualifiers.
24. OFFALY P10, W3, D1, L6
Staying in Division 3 provided the only shaft of light in a season where they drew with Westmeath in the Leinster quarter-final before losing the replay heavily. It probably spared Offaly a heavy defeat by Dublin. Cavan ended Offaly’s season and Pat Flanagan’s stint as manager.
25. CARLOW P12, W7, D1, L4
Their most satisfying season for a long time saw them trouble Dublin in Leinster, reach Round 3 of the qualifiers for the first time and finish just outside the promotion places in Division 4. Turlough O’Brien and his ambitious squad can’t wait for the 2018 campaign.
26. WEXFORD P11, W 6, L5
Hopes soared when they clinched promotion to Division 3 by winning their first five games but the season spiralled downwards from there on. They won only one of their remaining six games.
27. ANTRIM P9, W2, D1, L6
A season to forget as they tumbled into Division 4.
28. LIMERICK P9, W4, L5
A poor start to the league wrecked their chances of getting out of Division 4 at the first attempt. Luck completely deserted them in the championship, losing to both Clare and Wexford by a point.
29. LEITRIM P9, W4, L5
Eight points were only enough to earn them a fifth-place finish in Division 4 while 10 points took Wexford into the promotion zone. Narrow margins before losing their two championship games.
30. WATERFORD P9, W2, L7
They came so close to beating Cork (losing by a point) in the Munster championship for the first time since 1960 that it has to lift spirits and ambitions for 2018.
31. WICKLOW P9, W1, L8
A thoroughly forgettable year for Wicklow, who will have John Evans at the helm next year. He is facing a massive challenge.
32. LONDON P 9, W 1, L8
They may have wrecked Carlow’s promotion bid by beating them in what was their only win of the season. They later ran Carlow to a point in the All-Ireland qualifiers.