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With Barrett (& the steadying influence of Clarke) gone and Harrison out injured, Horan will need to have a good look at how he sets up the full back line. Keegan & Mullin played there this year but both look better out the field. Who else will be in the mix:

O'Hora - again probably better as a half back
McBrien?
Brickendon?
Coyne?
??

That's looking pretty light

Edit: Drake? Eoin O'D?

Massive loss to see him retiring, he was the only natural FB we had this year. Surprised that he didn't stay on for the short year that's coming up

Great servant to Mayo, good luck in your retirement Chris

Think even before the Mother and Child Homes, the Irish people were always a bit depraved in their attitudes to illegitimate children and unwed mothers. There's a long tradition of burying them in what were euphemistically called Fairy Fields. The new state went a step further and incarcerated them with support of many families, and if the children didn't end up in unconsecrared ground like a septic tank, thousands were sold abroad often transported by someone who was emigrating to America who would bring child to new owners on other side, adding to the suffering of the mother who was allowed bond with child until it was ready to be dispensed with in a new way. We have a vision of ourselves as a great people but we were anything but.

Let's not let the Catholic Church off the hook for this one, please.

Of course the Church shouldn't be let off the hook, but neither should Irish society. These women were often sent to the homes by their own families.

And sorry to repeat the point, but any society that is outraged by this and remains silent/tolerant/passive about Direct Provision - the modern day, state supported, profit generating human rights abusing institution - needs to take a good look at itself.

What percentage of asylum claimed are dismissed as fraudulent?

It doesn't matter.

If claims are "fraudulent" as you put it, then ship those people out in a timely manner. Don't leave them and the (majority) of applicants hanging around in limbo for years.

 

I've been wfh for the past two and a half years - it allowed us to to move out of Dublin and go back west. I like WFH but you definitely miss chatting to people in the office. In an ideal world, I'd probably go for a flexible 2/3 split.

Watching a Danish thriller on BBC player, called DNA, when I say Danish its French/English and Polish..

Anyway the storyline is about a convent that takes in unmarried pregnant mothers and 'sells/adopt's' their babies off, Obviously fictional storyline but based on events that went/go on in modern day Poland, so this stuff was and is still going on around the world!!

Terrible that a institution like the Catholic Church allows this to happen

Allows is too kind of a word MR.

The Catholic Church created a culture where the likes of a young girl getting pregnant out of wedlock was seen as a shame and stain on the family and indeed parish/community and needed to be hidden away from "decent" society.

They were aided and abetted by weak governments driven by the same dogma through time.

What was uncovered in Tuam would make any organisation involved in that ashamed to their dying day, pro life my arse.

That pretty much sums it up for me, the culture of fear that existed in society which was created by the church (and abetted by the state) is a disgrace to us as a country

46 dead in the Republic is the latest daily figure and I fear my father will be among these figures in the near future, he is on Day 10 and now has pneumonia, is being fed through a tube in his nose and fluids through IV, I find it hard to see him make it through to be honest

He is afraid and alone and my heart is breaking over it, I spent nearly ten months doing everything I could to keep Covid out, I haven't been in a pub since the start of March, I succeeded in keeping it out but he got it when he had go to hospital for a treatable non-Covid medical problem

Hope your father pulls through Sid

What do teachers here think about the plans in the south? i.e. everyone off except LC students

It seems like a reasonably decent solution to me (albeit quite rushed but that's understandable given the circumstances) - the schools should be pretty quiet with only 1/6 of the students so the risk should be greatly reduced.     

Best of luck in retirement Seamie, top quality midfielder. I remember watching himself and Parsons in the U21 semi final (05 maybe?) against Kerry and they were brilliant

Thanks to Vaughan, Clarke & Parsons for some great days out. It's a pity that they retire without landing the big one but they had more good days out that bad ones

I'd expect Seamie could also go, Higgins & Boyler might give it another year

There is confirmed news that Donie Buckley will be Monaghan's new head coach. Possibly he and Kieran can share the costs of a car journey and the driving duties,
or both can do a deal with and avail of Michael Healy-Rae's charitable bus transport service to the North.

Great appointment for Monaghan

[More money - If you talking Senior Football team, spend in and around the same as the top 3/4 teams]

I recall the u21 semi finals 2014.
While Dublin were playing Cavan we had John Nolan making notes in a jotter.
When we were playing Cork there were a scatter of Dublin backroom  lads banging stuff non stop into lap tops.

Pro sports make a point of ensuring that competition is the focus. The GAA doesn't. Dublin has a bigger pick, more money, more advanced training facilities, better coaching, better stats.
It's not sport when one team is so far ahead.

Dublin has a bigger pick - Yes - always had, always will
More money - If you talking Senior Football team, spend in and around the same as the top 3/4 teams.
More advanced training facilities - Not so sure about that, If your talking Dublin Senior footballers, they use Innisfails GAA club for a large part of their training. Iv played there, the pitch is lobsided, the Facilities not great, small changing rooms etc. Id say its used to keep them grounded more so than everything else.
Better Coaching - Not so sure about that either, structures yes, define, is Jayo a better forward coach than say Donaghy will be with Armagh.
Better stats - Again, unproven, modernized.
Makeshift Gym in Parnell Park.

There are a few counties that have better set ups than the Dubs.

The piece in bold is true on the face of it - it omits the fact however that a county like Mayo spends ~50% of the senior team cost on travel expenses so Dublin in effect spend twice as much on team preparation

Everything would remain the same on the buyer's end Lar, Eleverys would get the exact same benefits as they do currently, the money received would just be distributed differently. As you say yourself, loyalty counts for nothing so so long as Eleverys get their exposure, they won't give a sh*t if Mayo GAA are down a few K

Central selling means they might get Carlow though. Or replace the pub Lietrim have.

No, they pay for the rights to put their name on the Dublin jersey - the same as they do now.
But that money is then pooled and allocated among all counties.
The same applies to all counties.
End result is still the same for AIG - they pay a premium to get their name on the "biggest" jersey. Its just what the GAA does with the money that changes, and AIG won't really care about that.

Exactly what I had in mind

I think everything that can be done to equalise between counties should be done first with amalgamation/splitting of counties only as a last resort

[only able to win because of financial doping]

Bernard Brogan had a good interview with Malachay Clerkin in the Irish times at the weekend in relation to dublin funding

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/bernard-brogan-finances-didn-t-win-five-all-irelands-in-a-row-1.4439956

Decent enough article tbf. On this point he makes

So I get annoyed when I see people saying that these players are only able to win because of financial doping

Virtually nobody is saying that or at least not anybody with a bit of sense.

Dublin have plenty of natural advantages that can never be changed, funding is one that can be changed relatively easily if the will is there.

But the funding that the likes of Lar quotes figures from is nothing at all to do with funding the intercounty team.

The sponsorship money of course does and something can be done there. But not pooling all the sponsorship that each county gets. That would lead to mismanagement.
Instead you need to take the power away from all the county boards and sell it on a national level, something like the NFL maybe.

With due respect Hound, I can see massive problems with your proposal. Sponsors  give money or other forms of aid to specific counties for one reason only.
They do so because they anticipate an increase on sales of their products or services or at least to creaate a positive profile in their target market. For example Arnotts sponsor the Dubs. (ASFAIK) and Elverys sponsor Mayo.
Do you think either want to see their investment diluted by having it shared out between all counties and not the ones they had intended it for?

It also means certain counties won't bother looking for sponsorship. Why kill yourself for a €25k deal you make €800 off when you get €25k from the Dubs

Ah the DUPlin unionists out again.

"It's our money"

It literally is.

But the flaw in your cunning plan is thus. AIG don't care a whit about the GAA. They care about exposure. The Dubs are cheaper to sponsor than the national teams or Leinster and gave similar exposure. Win win. But why do you think the Dublin county board will bother getting a sponsor of that narure if all they get is 1/32nd of the fruits? Why will a Leitrim bother tapping up a pub sponsor for less money than AIG will be forced to give them?

The GAA will need to do the selling centrally, if you've a good product you won't be short of offers

Sorry to contradict you but the GAA can't sell anything the commercial sector won't buy.
Here, sentiment counts for sweet FA and county loyalty counts for nothing.
If a potential sponsor can't see any tangible return for his investment, he wont be iinclined to invest in whatewver is being offered to him.
That's the first law of economic survival- keep overheads to an absolute minimum and keep in mind thatt nice guys finish last..
Seeing money designed for the Dublin market winding up somewhere where the potential economic return is nil, won't impress any sponsor.

Everything would remain the same on the buyer's end Lar, Eleverys would get the exact same benefits as they do currently, the money received would just be distributed differently. As you say yourself, loyalty counts for nothing so so long as Eleverys get their exposure, they won't give a sh*t if Mayo GAA are down a few K

[only able to win because of financial doping]

Bernard Brogan had a good interview with Malachay Clerkin in the Irish times at the weekend in relation to dublin funding

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/bernard-brogan-finances-didn-t-win-five-all-irelands-in-a-row-1.4439956

Decent enough article tbf. On this point he makes

So I get annoyed when I see people saying that these players are only able to win because of financial doping

Virtually nobody is saying that or at least not anybody with a bit of sense.

Dublin have plenty of natural advantages that can never be changed, funding is one that can be changed relatively easily if the will is there.

But the funding that the likes of Lar quotes figures from is nothing at all to do with funding the intercounty team.

The sponsorship money of course does and something can be done there. But not pooling all the sponsorship that each county gets. That would lead to mismanagement.
Instead you need to take the power away from all the county boards and sell it on a national level, something like the NFL maybe.

With due respect Hound, I can see massive problems with your proposal. Sponsors  give money or other forms of aid to specific counties for one reason only.
They do so because they anticipate an increase on sales of their products or services or at least to creaate a positive profile in their target market. For example Arnotts sponsor the Dubs. (ASFAIK) and Elverys sponsor Mayo.
Do you think either want to see their investment diluted by having it shared out between all counties and not the ones they had intended it for?

It also means certain counties won't bother looking for sponsorship. Why kill yourself for a €25k deal you make €800 off when you get €25k from the Dubs

Ah the DUPlin unionists out again.

"It's our money"

It literally is.

But the flaw in your cunning plan is thus. AIG don't care a whit about the GAA. They care about exposure. The Dubs are cheaper to sponsor than the national teams or Leinster and gave similar exposure. Win win. But why do you think the Dublin county board will bother getting a sponsor of that narure if all they get is 1/32nd of the fruits? Why will a Leitrim bother tapping up a pub sponsor for less money than AIG will be forced to give them?

The GAA will need to do the selling centrally, if you've a good product you won't be short of offers

It couldn't be much clearer that they're singing "armagh" not "the ra"