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Let's get this straight - you think doctors should be in attendance at intermediate club league games?

I would regard this as:
a) a waste of the club's money
b) a waste of medical practitioner's valuable time

Realistically (and thankfully) the number of incidents in Gaelic Games that require immediate medical attention are few and far between. Realistically as well though, incidents like this most of the time don't require a doctor - they require an ambulance to take the injured party to hospital.

There's nothing like a thread such as this to show how insecure so many Gaels are about their sports.

I couldn't give a damn if soccer is the highest participatory sport in Ireland, nor could I give a damn if there are more soccer clubs than GAA. I prefer Gaelic football, pure and simple, and that's where I'm going to spend my time.

Down's Squad for Sunday.

1 Bernard Connell Drumgath
2 Aidan Burns Castlewellan
3 Adrian Carville Bryansford
4 Martin Cole Rostrevor
5 Darren Cunningham Saval
6 Barry Doran Longstone
7 Kevin Gracey Downpatrick
8 Conor Gribben Bryansford
9 Eoin Henry Warrenpoint
10 Stephen Kearney Mitchels
11 Brendan Loughran Shamrocks
12 Jack Lynch Drumgath
13 Padraig Matthews Clonduff
14 Ruairi McArdle Castlewellan
15 Martin McClean Kilcoo
16 Michael McVeigh Castlewellan
17 Colin McCrickard Liatroim
18 Brendan McGourty Ballycran
19 Fintan McGreevy Castlewellan
20 Kevin McGuigan Shamrocks
21 Colm Murtagh Glenn
22 Brendan Rodgers Mayobridge
23 Brian Sweeney St Michaels
24 Peter Telford Downpatrick
25 Stephen Toner Bryansford
26 Kevin Duffin Castlewellan
27 Declan Rooney Burren
28 Peter Turley Downpatrick
29 Peter Turley Saval
30 Gareth Johnson Ballygalget


Looks like Ross is giving every big fella in the county a run out this weekend.

Ah, the annual trip to the first McKenna Cup game. Every year I get sucked in to travelling along to see who the new faces year, every year within 5 minutes of the throw-in I'm blue from the cold and questioning my sanity.

Downpatrick concerns me a little. Magnificent facilities, and I imagine the bank would be a wonderful place to sit with a six pack on a sunny summer's day watching football, but if the weather does what it's been doing, there'll be very few places to enjoy the the game on a firm foothold.

For the first time in over three years, I'm going to come down on Seanie's side here. Laoislad's sole contribution since joining the GAABoard is to post endless 'we' comments on the Liverpool supporters thread, each of them with that gaudy monstrosity of a banner appended to the end. This is one of his few soirees into the GAA discussion area, yet he still managed to talk up his beloved Liverpool on a Croke Park thread.

I've no problem with soccer now, not even close. But I do wonder why this fella subscribes to a GAA message board.

It's December 20th, competitive football starts in a fortnight or so, and there's still no sign of a provisional football squad being named.

Come on Ross, give us something to talk about.


On a side note, 50 players have been selected for Down under-21 trials this weekend, and it really looks like we're going to be strong in this tournament this year.

1) More money
2) More beer

err, that's it.

I find it hard to believe that when a full-scale riot kicks off, all the major perpretators on one side could be players, and all the major perpetrators on the other side could be substitutes. I'd sense an objection coming in on those grounds.

I'd say Paddy is suffering from the same thing that most GAA followers suffer at this time of year - there is so little happening that you're stuck for conversation points.

The quality of his column has dwindled a bit over the years, but that's the nature of the beast. When he started writing Against the Breeze, to fill in the quieter weeks he could call upon a wealth of general GAA topics and ideas that he had stockpiled over the years. Those quieter weeks produced many of his best articles as they were ideas that were probably fermenting for months.

But a stockpile like that is always going to dry up at some stage. If you've no stockpile and very few topical issues worth discussing, it's going to be to difficult to write a interesting column. Yet Heaney still does much better than most in this regard.

Let's not forget that the Ulster intercounty scene is hardly bursting with personalities to explore, and that players and managers at that level are more than likely to close up shop if a rigorous examination of their weaknesses or faults is undertaken. As the Irish News relies on strong relations with players and managers to sell papers on the back of their GAA coverage, controversy of this nature I'd say is avoided at all costs.  

Star Spnagler - I wouldn't be so sure about your Omagh roads theory. One of the longest trips I've ever had home from a game was from Healy Park in 2005, and there was only 16k at that game. Clones gets a lot of stick for its roads, but it also holds crowds twice the size of anywhere else in Ulster bar Casement. This doesn't mean it could handle a 50% hike in attendance by any means though.

I'm 100% behind any move to get the Ulster Final back to Clones and keep it there. I'd also love to see money being ploughed in to put a cover over the terraced stands. But I really don't want another 15,000 people travelling in and out of this town on match days.

6th Sam - I'm a big fan of the play-off system.

It's occasionally cruel on teams who deserved to stay up/go up on league performances, but I've always been of the opinion that if, for example, you aren't fit to come out on top against the 3 other best teams in Division II, well then you aren't fit for Division I and in fact would only bring the standard down if you went up.

The normal league system puts an order on things, but it's the play-offs that really sort the wheat from the chaff. Everybody wants the reward of promotion, but in my opinion teams are better off playing at their natural level.

Secondly, it does keep things interesting right up to the end of the league. In Division II, only Ballymartin had nothing to play for in the last fortnight, and at that they still pulled off a great result in beating Downpatrick. If teams have nothing to play for, the league falls apart. Teams don't show, and when they do show, they've nothing to play for, so games turn into poor challenge games. Without play-offs, a team could quite conceivably be midtable all season, but with the luck of the draw could meet six teams in their last six games with nothing to play for, and storm to the top as a result. This doesn't make them the best team in the league. It doesn't make them deserving of promotion.

Thirdly, there is simply no way Down football could ever function properly again without play-offs. Teams have now got used to fielding without their county players and are prepared to do so in the knowledge that they will not be penalised too heavily for doing so. To reverse this commonsense approach, which allows club football to proceed amicably throughout the summer months, would be sheer madness.


Re the Championship. Let's be honest - in any given year, there are less than a handful of clubs in each of the Championships that can actually win the thing. This is just common sense talking. Don't get me wrong, as it approaches, everyone gets pumped up for the Championship and minds start to wander towards throughts of glory -  but for the majority of clubs, it is only a distraction, and deep down (in many cases, very much up front) they know it's just not going to be their year. This isn't county football, where the league is pigeonholed into the shitty weather months. League football is played on summer's days and for most clubs, improving league peformances is what really counts.

1. Why your user name - One of my longstanding nicknames.
2. Favourite all time game - Not too original here, Down vs Derry 1994.
3. Favourite all time player from your county - Greg Blaney, with Barry Breen a close second.
4. Favourite other poster on gaaboard.com. - I'd have a lot of time for the Down hardcore. Outside my own county, I'd rather read stuff from people who can tend to look at the bigger picture. The likes of Hardy, Uladh and BCB1 spring to mind. O'Neill too, when he's not winding.  
5. Things you'd like to see change on the site. - Not a lot to be honest. I've no time for things like the Word Association Thread, but that's a small bugbear.
6. Player from another county you admire. - Currently it would be Brian McGuigan. In the past, Ja Fallon and Anthony Tohill.
7. Dual players. Should they be allowed do both (why/ why not) - I'd worry about the sanity of anyone who tries to take both seriously. The best years of your life shouldn't be spent entirely running up and down fields.
8. Dublin Hurling, IS there hope? *question for dubs - To be honest, I don't care.
9. Best Moment of the year? - Beating An Riocht in the play-offs (club stuff)
10. Worst moment of the year? - Sligo. Possibly the worst moment ever in Down GAA.
11. Breasts or bum? - Depends on how it fits on the full package.
12. Breaking ball or park live? - Breaking Ball
13. (Situation) Cork v Meath (if from Meath Cavan V Dublin) in an All-ireland final. You have to shout for one or your head will explode. What do you do? *question for dubs - Meath. Their team of the late 80s was inspiring.
14. DJ Or Eoin Kelly  - Eoin Kelly.
15. What  your own county needs to do to win Sam next year? - A centre-half back, a midfielder, a settled team and a hefty dose of tactical appreciation.
16. How do you stop (legally, Meath lads) Kieran Donaghy - Destroy Kerry at midfield and cut off the supply. If you do this, it would take a hell of a confident manager to leave Donaghy in the full-forward line.
17. Hopes for 2007. - I'd like to see Down play at Croke Park in the Championship again.
18. Who will win Sam in 2007. - Only Kerry and Tyrone will count.
19. Who will win Liam in 2007. - It's Cork's turn.
20. Your Gaaboard resolution for 2007. - Take things a little less seriously. Humour and all that.

1) Hypocrisy
2) Political correctness
3) People who get 'caught' in box junctions
4) Lidl
5) Rip off Ireland
6) People buying houses as investments
7) GAA zealots
8) Cyclists who feel the highway code does not apply to them
9) Radio 1 (UK)
10) Peppers - red, green and yellow.

Brick, I don't get that attitude at all. If players have attended trials, they should be the first to know whether they made it or not. Especially fellas that were asked to come back for second or third trials. Either that or a press release should be sent out before anyone is notified. Nobody should find out they have been dropped through rumours on the grapevine.

Re Mullingar, I went down there for the under-21 final last year and was impressed with the place. It's the perfect size for a county ground, with an ample stand, and the spectators are right on top of the pitch.