Leinster Football

With a burgeoning population of over 2 million and a metropolis containing a million within its parameters, the province of Leinsters plight in football, the national sport of Ireland, for the last decade is perplexing! 
Paring down to the cold stats, no All-Ireland senior winner since 1999, just one u-21 title in the noughties and 2 minor champions! An example of this problem can be encapsulated by 5 in a row Leinster champions Dublin and their continued failure to challenge for ultimate honours. Indeed not even reaching a senior decider is a damning indictment of the shallow standard of Leinster football and how the flat-track bullies from the capital are minnows when they face the crème de la crème in the latter stages.
Looking more closely, the noughties appeared a very democratic decade compared to the claustrophobic eighties and nineties which were dominated by Dublin and Meath and to a lesser extent, Offaly and Kildare. Dublin won 6 titles while there was one apiece for Kildare, Meath, Laois and first-timers Westmeath while Offaly and Wexford reached deciders. However, this just served to highlight the mediocrity of the teams none of whom were All-Ireland contenders. Leinster advocates have big hopes that Kildare could be a coming team who will challenge Dublin and lift the standards of both teams. Wishful thinking as it appears no outstanding side a la Kerry or Tyrone is about to burst from nowhere and cure all Leinsters ills!

Qualifiers 
     Leinster teams did well in the qualifiers this year beating many of the vaunted Ulster teams but this is mainly through a greater number of teams than any other province, so on the law of averages many will survive until round 4. There will be only 1 Leinster team in Divison 1 of the National league next year and if a Champions League style competition was implemented to the abolishment of the provincial system, Leinster teams would still be 2nd class citizens.
    Looking in more depth, money has been ploughed into Dublin with few positive results while the sprawling suburbs of Kildare and Meath have failed to galvanise their increased population. A number of county boards just expect this will improve their pick and see them naturally challenging but little groundwork is been done. In Meath for example, their success through history has always been cyclical and they are hoping that’s what will happen to reverse their ailing fortunes. Other smaller counties like Carlow and Longford have excuses that their small player base militates against them but medium-sized counties like Louth, Wicklow and Westmeath have traditionally underwhelmed in Leinster competition.
   Looking forward to 2010, it’s probably safe to assume no Leinster team will win Sam Maguire with Dublin and maybe Kildare as the only guaranteed quarter-finalists. The lack of underage success is what’s really crippling Leinster chances of climbing in the pecking order. An all-Ireland in minor or u-21 is urgently required. Laois were the big hope, the leading light in transferring relative under-age success to senior glory but their feckless, ego-driven approach has destroyed them. Leinster need 3 to 4 strong teams to challenge each other and prepare themselves for the battles ahead against the Ulster hordes and the Munster two!

Below is my Leinster all-star team:-

Stephen Cluxton, Ciaran Hyland, Kevin Reilly, John Keane, Paul Griffin,Barry Cahill, Mikey Conway, Dermot Earley, Padraig Clancy, Stephen Bray, Alan Brogan, Leighton Glynn, Bernard Brogan, Niall McNamee, John Doyle.
The team boast a superb keeper, 1 good midfielder and a smattering of talented forwards. However the make-up of their defence indicates why Leinster football is in the backwater. How these counties would yearn for a Mick Lyons, Darren Fay, Keith Barr or Glen Ryan!