With apologies if this should be in the overall NFL Thread, but I’d hope there is enough within the subject to justify a thread of its own.
I think Division 2 will be very competitive this year, and that appears to have been borne out today with two draws and two narrow victories.
The teams are, Donegal and Kildare who were relegated from Division 1, Armagh and Fermanagh who were promoted from Division 3, and Meath, Clare, Tipp and Cork.
I’d guess that Donegal will be warm favourites to go up and then it’s a matter of one from the rest. For ourselves, we would hope to maintain Division 2 status and continue to play a good standard of football which should help the ling term development of the team. With a full panel to pick from this year - barring injuries - it should be an achieveable goal.
We played in Newbridge today, and by all accounts we threw away the victory, with Kildare equalising from a soft enough free with the last kick of the game. However we should have been long out of sight. Kildare I believe had a lot missing and so are likely to get stronger.
The other draw saw Fermanagh and Cork finish level in a low enough scoring encounter.
There was a three point victory for Donegal in Clare whilst Meath had four points to spare over Tipperary in Navan, after the visitors were reduced to 14 men.
Early days, and still all to play for, with our next match a ‘home fixture’ against Clare in Newry, which is a punishment for the team training last April.
Big gap between top six in Div 1 and the rest in Division 1/2. Donegal were unlucky to go down last year - it should have been Mayo. Donegal should bounce back and stay in Div 1 - Roscommon, Kildare, Armagh, Cavan and maybe Mayo will continue to yo-yo between the top two divisions.
I think I would be close to agreement with you - possibly a top seven after which there would be a significant gap?
Dublin, Kerry, Tyrone, Monaghan, Donegal, Galway and Mayo for me, although the Championship may see Mayo’s stock falling - only time will tell. Donegal are playing in Division 2, but I’d have them comfortably ahead of Cavan and Roscommon.
For us, playing with a full hand, I’d hope we’d be a top twelve side, i.e. top half of Division 2.
Tipp just missed out on promotion last year. Lost by one point in their last game away to Cavan.If they had beaten Cavan, they would have been level on points and promoted on a better head-to-head. That said, I think they only finished a point or two ahead of being relegated, such are the tight margins.
At the risk of some yerra-styled poormouthing, the Donegal that are actually lining up aren’t exactly certs for promotion. There’s a lot of depth in the county set up at the moment but between the 7 Gaoth Dobhair men, the injured and the late returners (a staple for Donegal in the league to be honest) the remaining panel is a little unbalanced. Talented, aye, but lopsided.
Mind you, I’d wager that everyone, bar maybe Armagh, is sitting around cursing missing players. That’s why Division 2 is what it is.
If someone’s prepared and taking it as seriously as they can, it’s there for them. If there aren’t two such teams (and there mighn’t be), Donegal have enough left around to win it. Maybe they’ll even win in Letterkenny while they’re at it.
