#TheToughest Issue: Is Ulster football really as good as it thinks it is?

Ulster is traditionally held up as the strongest of all the provinces in Gaelic Football, but is it really all that it's made out to be?

Conan Doherty says: Yes. Of course it is. In the last decade of championships, every single team from Ulster, barring Antrim, has reached the All-Ireland quarter finals. You'll excuse us Antrim. But even the Saffrons have contested a provincial decider. In the previous three seasons alone, six different teams from the north have made it to the last eight. Three of the first four games so far in this championship have been separated by a single score. You'll excuse us Antrim. It's not hype that Ulster is fiercely competitive. It's just truth. Blunt truth. The province is the biggest graveyard in the history of champions. Of its last nine All-Ireland winners, dating back to 1991 (there's a 28-year gap before that), only one team has managed to win Ulster the following year. Eight of the last nine Sam Maguire champions from up north failed to conquer their own province afterwards. And it's not like it has been the usual suspects either. Teams like Derry, teams like Monaghan and Donegal - pre Monaghan and Donegal supremacy - have humbled All-Ireland winners of the noughties as early as the first round. You don't get an easy game in Ulster. That's not a cliche. That's a fact. And yet it is that competitiveness, that refusal to bow down before any of the best sides in the country, that has Ulster cast as the unloved child of Ireland. Take, for example, a piece in the Irish Times from the weekend: 'Ulster football may have found a new lease of life this summer...' - you needn't read any further. Unfounded nonsense. When has the life ever been missing from Ulster football? If it wasn't for Ulster football, the provincial championships would've been done away with a long time ago. Try to get a ticket to the Athletic Grounds in Armagh this Sunday when they welcome Donegal - you'll be laughed at. Almost 17,000 people will watch what everyone knows will be a proper battle no matter what happens and they could've filled it three times over at a canter. And, this, at a time when they're saying Ulster football is going to drive people away from watching the sport. The buzz that genuine rivalry creates is why, in 2006, they brought the Ulster final to Croke Park. Expecting Tyrone, the All-Ireland champions, to be taking on Armagh who were going for three provincial titles in a row at the same time. Donegal spoiled the party. Someone always does in Ulster. And, yet, in what was a thrilling tactical battle between Monaghan and Cavan just two weeks ago, The Sunday Game failed to offer any kind of analysis because they saw two defence-cautious teams. No-one needn't mention the 31 scores that were kicked that day. Eoin Bradley hits what will go down as two of the scores of the whole championship this season as Derry beat Down by a point but Colm O'Rourke doesn't appreciate it because he plays soccer. Donegal's preliminary battle with Tyrone was as hard-hitting and as enthralling as you'd expect. But Donegal saw the game out (just about, Tyrone hit the bar in injury time) so no-one was happy. You're not allowed to see games out in this sport. You're not allowed to stop opening up. Would you rather have watched Donegal against Tyrone or Dublin against Longford? Just look at the champions' run up north. If Rory Gallagher is to back up Donegal's Ulster success last year, he will have had to come through Tyrone, Armagh, Derry and probably Monaghan. That's why teams celebrate wildly when they win Ulster. It's not a formality like it is in the other three provinces. It's not filling in time until we get down to the real championship. The real championship up north starts in May. And it rarely ends before September. They don't accept second best in Ulster. They don't accept anything. If that's what they call a northern mentality, then everyone south of it should be changing their mindsets. Because that's the only mentality that I'm interested in. That's the only mentality that makes sport what it is. Conor Heneghan of JOE.ie says: No. Amongst all the calls for a change in the structure of the All-Ireland Championship at the moment, the loudest voices of dissent, as is often the case, are to be heard in the north. Make it a two-tiered championship all you want. Hell, you can even introduce the magical 'Champions League-style format' if you must. But whatever you do, don't mess with the Ulster Football Championship. In fairness, it's easy to see why the northern counties are so protective of what they have. Championship football in Ulster is tough. It's gritty. It's not for the faint-hearted. If I've missed a cliché about Ulster football here, please, do let me know. Ulster football is competitive and tough as hell Furthermore, it brings in the crowds and there's probably more competitive football in an Ulster Championship campaign than there is in the rest of the provinces combined. But, much like the Premier League doesn't look great when its' teams compete against their European counterparts in the Champions' League, it also creates an illusion about the strength of the province in general. Outside of Ulster, Ulster teams don't travel so well. Donegal have won an All-Ireland final and lost an All-Ireland Final in the last three years, but take the men from the hills out of the equation and when was the last time an Ulster team could be considered a powerhouse on the national stage? Sure, Down reached an All-Ireland in 2010, but they disappeared pretty much without trace thereafter. Monaghan shocked Donegal to win an Ulster title in 2013, but fell meekly to a poor Tyrone side in the quarter-finals and were beaten out the gate by Dublin at the same stage last year. As if to prove that there was something not quite right about Donegal that year, they went and lost to a hungrier Mayo side by 16 points. You'd have to go back to the magnificent Tyrone side of 2008, seven years ago to find Donegal's predecessors as the last great team from the province. Before the current Donegal outfit, the 2008 Tyrone team were the last great team to emerge from Ulster For such a compeitive province, meanwhile, certain teams appear to have a monopoly on the Anglo-Celt cup for years at a time. Donegal, for example, have won three of the last four Ulster titles. Before that, Tyrone won three out of the previous four between 2007 and 2010 and Armagh did likewise between 2004 and 2007; for such a competitive province, they haven't been so keen on sharing the silverware in recent times. A little further down the scale, Derry got to a Division One League final last year, where they were annhilated by Dublin. They then went on to lose to a Longford side made up of pretty much the same players that lost to the Dubs by 27 points a couple of weeks back. What's my point? My point is that it's all well and good if your province is more competitive than every other one but surely the real strength of Ulster teams is reflected by their performances against teams from other provinces and plenty of Ulster teams have been falling down on that score of late. Why? The harsh reality of it is that the fare in Ulster is often very poor. Conditions in Celtic Park were perfect on Sunday but the stuff served up by Derry and Down, barring the odd moment of inspiration from Eoin Bradley and others, was desperate at times. Eoin Bradley was excellent against Down, but the quality of the game was poor I could pick several other examples from the last few years alone; it's why when you see an all-Ulster clash scheduled for TV, you'll hear people unfairly writing it off as a stinker before it's even been played. They don't like hearing it, but Ulster counties are most guilty of propogating the negative, defensive football that has some of the purists crying out for rule changes. Donegal have illustrated repeatedly that turning mass defence into attack can be an art form; some of their neighbours up north might be as well be Picasso with a blindfold on in their attempts to do likewise. Ulster is the most competitive province right now because geography has seen to it that a number of counties competing at a similar level happen to be in close proximity to one another. But is it as strong as some in the north appear to be believe? I'd have my doubts. Brought to you by AIB GAA, proudly backing Club & County. 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