Connacht senior football championship 2017

Started by macdanger2, April 06, 2017, 03:06:07 PM

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Cunny Funt

Quote from: Syferus on May 09, 2017, 09:16:18 PM
When lads like Breheny and Egan still have to stick around to fill the breach it says enough.
Will you say the same about Roscommon if Sean McDermott and Ian Kilbride are given starts this summer?

sligoman2

I think Sligo football is in (or about to be in) as strong a position as it has been in years, we have the U21's ye spoke about here and some other great potential including Sean power, Liam gaughan, Eddie Mcguinness ,the lad from Molasie (who's name escapes me), Carrabine, Michael Gordon and others.

We have potential to be good in my opinion....
I used to be indecisive but now I'm not too sure.

sligoman

It was good to get the NY banana skin out of the way.

I think Carew takes a little too much stick from some of us, he's taken the job at a bad time. A group of players which served us very well under Tommy Breheny and Kevin Walsh came to the end of their tenure and what was left are a rather mediocre group of players with all due respect.

Breheny, Harrison, Egan, Marren, Donovan are all in their mid 30s now and are all starters and I think we should be very grateful for these guys hanging on as I don't think there is much genuine hope of success in their twilight years and they could have easily just decided to walk away. I think certainly without them we'd be fighting it out in Div 4 with the likes of Carlow and Waterford.

There's very little in the way of talent in the 25-30 age bracket in Sligo football, from my viewings of club football in Sligo over the past few years and their performances in Connacht I think it's fair to say we have one of the worst club championships in the country which is a big worry as clubs like Johns, Marys, Harps and Coolera Strandhill have very big picks and should be good enough to make an impact at Connacht level.

Thankfully we seem to bringing in some quality young footballers at the moment so the future looks reasonably bright with guys like McDonnell, Murphy, Breheny, O'Connor, Cawley, Cummins etc giving the team a solid backbone.

I've been disappointed with the lack of opportunities afforded to Cathal Henry this year, thought he was the best club player in Sligo last year and would give a side very lacking in size some presence.

I'd be happy if we can take a 10 point defeat in Mayo. I feel we could get destroyed in midfield and at the back.

Any updates on the injuries to Murphy and Hughes?

Syferus

Quote from: Cunny Funt on May 10, 2017, 05:53:02 PM
Quote from: Syferus on May 09, 2017, 09:16:18 PM
When lads like Breheny and Egan still have to stick around to fill the breach it says enough.
Will you say the same about Roscommon if Sean McDermott and Ian Kilbride are given starts this summer?

Adrian Marren, Ross Donovan, Charlie Harrison. You cannot seriously be comparing the make-up of the Roscommon and Sligo starting lineups seriously and trying to make we're taking the same tact as Sligo are.

Too quick with the jab and leaving yourself exposed on the counter, CF.

Cunny Funt

Quote from: Syferus on May 10, 2017, 06:55:41 PM
Quote from: Cunny Funt on May 10, 2017, 05:53:02 PM
Quote from: Syferus on May 09, 2017, 09:16:18 PM
When lads like Breheny and Egan still have to stick around to fill the breach it says enough.
Will you say the same about Roscommon if Sean McDermott and Ian Kilbride are given starts this summer?

Adrian Marren, Ross Donovan, Charlie Harrison. You cannot seriously be comparing the make-up of the Roscommon and Sligo starting lineups seriously and trying to make we're taking the same tact as Sligo are.

Too quick with the jab and leaving yourself exposed on the counter, CF.


No i wouldn't seriously compare as McStay has decided to replace the experience of Collins,S Kilbride,Keenan,C Cregg etc with inexperience which so far has brought one win against a county team this year.

As for the Sligo 30 year olds you named. Marren has been Sligos most consistent forward over the last number of years. Harrison their last All Star and Donovan arguably their best defender is back after taking a year out.

Now that i have filled you in don't come out for round 2 as the towel was already thrown in for you.

seafoid

Quote from: Cunny Funt on May 10, 2017, 05:53:02 PM
Quote from: Syferus on May 09, 2017, 09:16:18 PM
When lads like Breheny and Egan still have to stick around to fill the breach it says enough.
Will you say the same about Roscommon if Sean McDermott and Ian Kilbride are given starts this summer?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnPlJxet_ac
"f**k it, just score"- Donaghy   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbxG2WwVRjU

magpie seanie

Quote from: sligoman on May 10, 2017, 06:54:41 PM
It was good to get the NY banana skin out of the way.

I think Carew takes a little too much stick from some of us, he's taken the job at a bad time. A group of players which served us very well under Tommy Breheny and Kevin Walsh came to the end of their tenure and what was left are a rather mediocre group of players with all due respect.

Breheny, Harrison, Egan, Marren, Donovan are all in their mid 30s now and are all starters and I think we should be very grateful for these guys hanging on as I don't think there is much genuine hope of success in their twilight years and they could have easily just decided to walk away. I think certainly without them we'd be fighting it out in Div 4 with the likes of Carlow and Waterford.

There's very little in the way of talent in the 25-30 age bracket in Sligo football, from my viewings of club football in Sligo over the past few years and their performances in Connacht I think it's fair to say we have one of the worst club championships in the country which is a big worry as clubs like Johns, Marys, Harps and Coolera Strandhill have very big picks and should be good enough to make an impact at Connacht level.

Thankfully we seem to bringing in some quality young footballers at the moment so the future looks reasonably bright with guys like McDonnell, Murphy, Breheny, O'Connor, Cawley, Cummins etc giving the team a solid backbone.

I've been disappointed with the lack of opportunities afforded to Cathal Henry this year, thought he was the best club player in Sligo last year and would give a side very lacking in size some presence.

I'd be happy if we can take a 10 point defeat in Mayo. I feel we could get destroyed in midfield and at the back.

Any updates on the injuries to Murphy and Hughes?

Can you give me some tips and I'll gladly bring them back to the club? Or is this just unfounded pub talk? We were well fit to rattle a Connacht title in the early to mid 2000's but having 7 or 8 lads on a county panel mucked us up totally. We barely won one county senior title, never mind a Connacht. We were too good to the county. Pointing the finger of blame at us is bullshit of the highest order. Even when others turned their backs on the county our lads played. You've a cheek to make that comment. The last 20 odd years have been undoubtedly the most successful in our clubs history despite the emergence of St Mary's beside us a few decades beforehand.

If you only knew the work people do in those clubs and what challenges they face every day you might have the cop on to not post such rubbish. You also left out one or two other clubs with massive populations and/or areas that wouldn't have supplied the same number of players to county teams as Harps, John's, Mary's or ourselves. I'd love to know why.

As for Cathal Henry - did you see the hoops Niall Murphy had to jump through over the years to finally establish himself in the side? When it was patently obvious he was going to be brilliant. He carried barrels of sand up and down dunes the evening before a county U-21A final - another example of the shit we've had to suffer as a club over the years. I know the lad you mention is highly rated in some parts but he'll never get a chance while Carew, who you constantly defend, persists with lads who are over the hill, repeatedly tried and failed or have no workrate.

The biggest problem in our county is politics, closely followed by club structures.

sligoman

#142
Quote from: magpie seanie on May 11, 2017, 03:22:23 PM
Quote from: sligoman on May 10, 2017, 06:54:41 PM
It was good to get the NY banana skin out of the way.

I think Carew takes a little too much stick from some of us, he's taken the job at a bad time. A group of players which served us very well under Tommy Breheny and Kevin Walsh came to the end of their tenure and what was left are a rather mediocre group of players with all due respect.

Breheny, Harrison, Egan, Marren, Donovan are all in their mid 30s now and are all starters and I think we should be very grateful for these guys hanging on as I don't think there is much genuine hope of success in their twilight years and they could have easily just decided to walk away. I think certainly without them we'd be fighting it out in Div 4 with the likes of Carlow and Waterford.

There's very little in the way of talent in the 25-30 age bracket in Sligo football, from my viewings of club football in Sligo over the past few years and their performances in Connacht I think it's fair to say we have one of the worst club championships in the country which is a big worry as clubs like Johns, Marys, Harps and Coolera Strandhill have very big picks and should be good enough to make an impact at Connacht level.

Thankfully we seem to bringing in some quality young footballers at the moment so the future looks reasonably bright with guys like McDonnell, Murphy, Breheny, O'Connor, Cawley, Cummins etc giving the team a solid backbone.

I've been disappointed with the lack of opportunities afforded to Cathal Henry this year, thought he was the best club player in Sligo last year and would give a side very lacking in size some presence.

I'd be happy if we can take a 10 point defeat in Mayo. I feel we could get destroyed in midfield and at the back.

Any updates on the injuries to Murphy and Hughes?

Can you give me some tips and I'll gladly bring them back to the club? Or is this just unfounded pub talk? We were well fit to rattle a Connacht title in the early to mid 2000's but having 7 or 8 lads on a county panel mucked us up totally. We barely won one county senior title, never mind a Connacht. We were too good to the county. Pointing the finger of blame at us is bullshit of the highest order. Even when others turned their backs on the county our lads played. You've a cheek to make that comment. The last 20 odd years have been undoubtedly the most successful in our clubs history despite the emergence of St Mary's beside us a few decades beforehand.

If you only knew the work people do in those clubs and what challenges they face every day you might have the cop on to not post such rubbish. You also left out one or two other clubs with massive populations and/or areas that wouldn't have supplied the same number of players to county teams as Harps, John's, Mary's or ourselves. I'd love to know why.

As for Cathal Henry - did you see the hoops Niall Murphy had to jump through over the years to finally establish himself in the side? When it was patently obvious he was going to be brilliant. He carried barrels of sand up and down dunes the evening before a county U-21A final - another example of the shit we've had to suffer as a club over the years. I know the lad you mention is highly rated in some parts but he'll never get a chance while Carew, who you constantly defend, persists with lads who are over the hill, repeatedly tried and failed or have no workrate.

The biggest problem in our county is politics, closely followed by club structures.

This is my exact point.

A lot of valid criticism can be directed towards Carew your post is just nonsense and you're tyring to pin the blame on him for everything wrong with Sligo football today. You look at the mess he took Sligo over in, what were the best prospects he could have?

We have secured Division 3 football in both seasons at his helm which I think has been a positive.

We appeared in a Connacht final in 2015, the Mayo performance was shameful and he rightly deserves criticism for that.

We should have beaten Roscommon again last year and he rightly deserves criticism for the way we crumbled in the second half.

But apart from that there is not really a lot more he could have done, the resources in Sligo are pretty poor. Club standard in the county is an absolute joke, I stated this earlier which you seem to have completely misunderstood and taken it as some sort of dig at your own side. You seem to be pinning Niall Murphy not getting a game in previous years on Carew? Carew was the first manager that trusted Murphy and he's been a regular since Carew came in, he's one of our key men.

I'm very much on the fence about Carew but your over the top criticism are absolute nonsense. He came into Sligo football when it has been at a low ebb, I don't think many managers would have fared an awful lot better. You can look at the standard of footballer in Sligo at the 25-30 age bracket and it's pretty awful which is why our side is mainly comprised up of 30 + veterans and a bunch of young lads. We don't seem to be able to produced any good footballers with a bit of size to them in the past 10 years.

The biggest problem with Sligo is not politics or anything like that. I can't think of too many players in Sligo who are currently playing that should be on the panel, we have a very promising batch of young lads coming through from the minor team of 2 years ago, many whom played for the u21s this year so it's very important we keep them involved and progress them in the coming years.

The biggest problem with Sligo football is just the appalling level of  club football at the minute. We don't have too many clubs in Sligo but a lot of them are pretty big clubs with good cachement areas. If you contrast us with a county like Monaghan, who have a similar population to us. Monaghan have 50 odd GAA clubs, I think there are 26 in Sligo. You've got clubs like Johns, Marys, Harps and Coolera/Strandhill, clubs with big picks and you look at how they've performed in recent years - dreadful. Johns and Harps have one county man each, both in their mid 30s. There is no reason why Sligo club champions shouldn't be able to come out of Connacht and be competitive but it looks to be embarrassment after embarrassment for the last 10 years for Sligo clubs at all levels and this points back to poor standard of player in the county at the minute.

There's so much waste in the county regarding talent. Ballymote down in Junior, Ballysadare not fielding a side, Owenmore Gaels for the past 20 years being stuck in the lower reaches. No West Sligo side in the senior championship. It's a sad state of affairs and it really needs to be addressed. For what its worth I think we have far too many amalgamations of clubs in this county, lads too greedy for short terms success and to take their barren years and rebuild.

For me there is absolutely no reason that Harps, Shamrock Gaels, Molaise Gaels, Coolera Strandhill all shouldn't be able to have multiple clubs in their area able to stand on their own. How do they manage it in counties like Monaghan? The logic in Sligo seems to be that if you're not good enough to play senior then you need to join up with your neighbouring county.

That's the biggest malaise of Sligo football, not Niall Carew as you try to keep informing us.

magpie seanie

Get your facts straight before you start putting such bullshit on a message board. The area known as "Coolera" was always the entire peninsula and was always served by one club bar a period in the 70's when a second club was established in the village. The name change/extension was part of the reunification. It is not an amalgamation. In fact, St Mary's pitch is located in the historical area known as "Coolera" and they draw very few players from closer to O'Connell Street than that historical boundary. So there are two clubs in our area.

I never said Carew was to blame for everything. He has put no shape on the team and he should be doing better with the players he has and you're in a small minority if you think otherwise. His treatment of certain players leaves a lot to be desired too.

If you think politics is not a problem in Sligo you must be living on the moon. Politics and closed minds. Rubbish arguments about club sizes like you're putting up. What % of people in Monaghan actually hate GAA? Very low I'd say. It's extremely high in Sligo town, the major population centre of the county. Do Monaghan Town sign all the best young players up on "contracts" forbidding them from playing other sports? I'd have my doubts but that's the reality clubs in and around Sligo town are facing. There should be more GAA clubs in the town but huge areas are simply no go areas for GAA and when you have a club like City Gaels set up, with lads playing GAA who wouldn't normally do so, politics comes into it and they're shut down. Just in case they'd get a few players down the line that otherwise would play elsewhere.

Everyone knows we have big problems and that's precisely why bringing in and presumably paying an (at best mediocre) outside manager is such a waste of time. Spend the money on coaching, development squads etc. and let someone who knows the scene have a go. They'd probably do fine you know.

sligoman

Quote from: magpie seanie on May 12, 2017, 09:26:23 AM
Get your facts straight before you start putting such bullshit on a message board. The area known as "Coolera" was always the entire peninsula and was always served by one club bar a period in the 70's when a second club was established in the village. The name change/extension was part of the reunification. It is not an amalgamation. In fact, St Mary's pitch is located in the historical area known as "Coolera" and they draw very few players from closer to O'Connell Street than that historical boundary. So there are two clubs in our area.

I never said Carew was to blame for everything. He has put no shape on the team and he should be doing better with the players he has and you're in a small minority if you think otherwise. His treatment of certain players leaves a lot to be desired too.

If you think politics is not a problem in Sligo you must be living on the moon. Politics and closed minds. Rubbish arguments about club sizes like you're putting up. What % of people in Monaghan actually hate GAA? Very low I'd say. It's extremely high in Sligo town, the major population centre of the county. Do Monaghan Town sign all the best young players up on "contracts" forbidding them from playing other sports? I'd have my doubts but that's the reality clubs in and around Sligo town are facing. There should be more GAA clubs in the town but huge areas are simply no go areas for GAA and when you have a club like City Gaels set up, with lads playing GAA who wouldn't normally do so, politics comes into it and they're shut down. Just in case they'd get a few players down the line that otherwise would play elsewhere.

Everyone knows we have big problems and that's precisely why bringing in and presumably paying an (at best mediocre) outside manager is such a waste of time. Spend the money on coaching, development squads etc. and let someone who knows the scene have a go. They'd probably do fine you know.

Pure baloney about the clubs there. It's nothing to do with hating the GAA. Johns and Marys have huge picks and while there is a big draw with soccer in the town, they usually have very good underage teams before they disband and a lot of them are lost for various reasons after underage. This is a big problem here. The club scene is the biggest problem in Sligo football at the minute, it's a pathetic standard, we have few clubs as they take the easy route out and join forces rather than put the effort in at grassroots level. Even with other sports, there is enough of a pick for those clubs to compete on a national level if they get their house in order. Marys really seem to have got their act together in recent years but Johns look to be a complete mess, a club of their size down in intermediate is a joke. They seem to have fallen completely by the wayside in recent years.

If you read back through my post you'll realise I never mentioned anything about Coolera/Strandhill being an amalgamated club so you should get your facts right. I did say that Coolera Strandhill are one of a number of GAA clubs in Sligo that have a big enough cachement area to be able to have two clubs within that area stand by itself. I think given the size of these clubs and the playing numbers available to them they do a shocking job, the club championship is an embarrassing, I'd say it's easily one of the worst if not the worst in the whole of Ireland.

If Monaghan can sustain 50 clubs then there is no reason Sligo can't.

Drumcliffe
Rosses Point
Cliffoney
Grange
Keash
Gurteen
Strandhill
Ransboro
Riverstown
Sooey


That's an example of 10 clubs who could replace an existing 5 there and I'm sure there are other examples as well.

The town is a side issue, we could be doing better from there for sure and Johns collapse is very worrying but it's a widespread issue at the minute - basically the only decent showings in Sligo football at the minute is South Sligo and in and around the town. Look at the senior Championship this year, no clubs from West Sligo, 1 club from East Sligo in Harps who are on life support as regarding senior status when the likes of Donovan, McGovern and Tony Taylor call it quits.


If a club like Bunnanadden can win a senior championship and remain competitive at senior level for a long period of time then there's no reasons why any of those clubs on their shouldn't be able to do that on their own.

The outlook for clubs in Sligo is that when things aren't going great for a few years then they look at joining with a struggling neighbour as a quick fix. It's detrimental to the game in Sligo.



Mano

#145
Quote from: sligoman on May 12, 2017, 10:07:06 AM
Quote from: magpie seanie on May 12, 2017, 09:26:23 AM
Get your facts straight before you start putting such bullshit on a message board. The area known as "Coolera" was always the entire peninsula and was always served by one club bar a period in the 70's when a second club was established in the village. The name change/extension was part of the reunification. It is not an amalgamation. In fact, St Mary's pitch is located in the historical area known as "Coolera" and they draw very few players from closer to O'Connell Street than that historical boundary. So there are two clubs in our area.

I never said Carew was to blame for everything. He has put no shape on the team and he should be doing better with the players he has and you're in a small minority if you think otherwise. His treatment of certain players leaves a lot to be desired too.

If you think politics is not a problem in Sligo you must be living on the moon. Politics and closed minds. Rubbish arguments about club sizes like you're putting up. What % of people in Monaghan actually hate GAA? Very low I'd say. It's extremely high in Sligo town, the major population centre of the county. Do Monaghan Town sign all the best young players up on "contracts" forbidding them from playing other sports? I'd have my doubts but that's the reality clubs in and around Sligo town are facing. There should be more GAA clubs in the town but huge areas are simply no go areas for GAA and when you have a club like City Gaels set up, with lads playing GAA who wouldn't normally do so, politics comes into it and they're shut down. Just in case they'd get a few players down the line that otherwise would play elsewhere.

Everyone knows we have big problems and that's precisely why bringing in and presumably paying an (at best mediocre) outside manager is such a waste of time. Spend the money on coaching, development squads etc. and let someone who knows the scene have a go. They'd probably do fine you know.

Pure baloney about the clubs there. It's nothing to do with hating the GAA. Johns and Marys have huge picks and while there is a big draw with soccer in the town, they usually have very good underage teams before they disband and a lot of them are lost for various reasons after underage. This is a big problem here. The club scene is the biggest problem in Sligo football at the minute, it's a pathetic standard, we have few clubs as they take the easy route out and join forces rather than put the effort in at grassroots level. Even with other sports, there is enough of a pick for those clubs to compete on a national level if they get their house in order. Marys really seem to have got their act together in recent years but Johns look to be a complete mess, a club of their size down in intermediate is a joke. They seem to have fallen completely by the wayside in recent years.

If you read back through my post you'll realise I never mentioned anything about Coolera/Strandhill being an amalgamated club so you should get your facts right. I did say that Coolera Strandhill are one of a number of GAA clubs in Sligo that have a big enough cachement area to be able to have two clubs within that area stand by itself. I think given the size of these clubs and the playing numbers available to them they do a shocking job, the club championship is an embarrassing, I'd say it's easily one of the worst if not the worst in the whole of Ireland.

If Monaghan can sustain 50 clubs then there is no reason Sligo can't.

Drumcliffe
Rosses Point
Cliffoney
Grange
Keash
Gurteen
Strandhill
Ransboro
Riverstown
Sooey


That's an example of 10 clubs who could replace an existing 5 there and I'm sure there are other examples as well.

The town is a side issue, we could be doing better from there for sure and Johns collapse is very worrying but it's a widespread issue at the minute - basically the only decent showings in Sligo football at the minute is South Sligo and in and around the town. Look at the senior Championship this year, no clubs from West Sligo, 1 club from East Sligo in Harps who are on life support as regarding senior status when the likes of Donovan, McGovern and Tony Taylor call it quits.


If a club like Bunnanadden can win a senior championship and remain competitive at senior level for a long period of time then there's no reasons why any of those clubs on their shouldn't be able to do that on their own.

The outlook for clubs in Sligo is that when things aren't going great for a few years then they look at joining with a struggling neighbour as a quick fix. It's detrimental to the game in Sligo.



Sligoman is absolutely spot on with regard to club football at the moment in the county. There are very few clubs going in the right direction. Johns were once the standard bearers at underage level are not struggling at both underage and senior. Mary's seem to have got their house in order lately but then couldn't field at team in the league last week. Ballymote conceded a walkover in the relegation play-off last year as the players decided to play a soccer game instead. Coolera whether you like it or not Seanie have fallen down the pecking order also due to retirement of a lot of the better players of late and players not of required standard to replace them. Tourlestrane second team beat the Enniscrone lately. Its a shambles. 4/5 competitive teams (4 from South of the county and St Marys) in the county.

Tourlestrane meanwhile with a small population relative to Marys, Johns, Harps, Shamrock Gaels, Coolera, Ballymote have 6 players on the county panel (7 if you include Brendan Egan) are top of the league and are still hammering teams on a weekly basis in the league. Albeit rural clubs don't have competition from soccer, rugby and other sports than the urban clubs have. Coolaney/Mullinabreena, Drumcliff are probably the only other teams that have improved in recent years.

Disagree with Sligoman on Carew. He has done well to keep Sligo in divison 3 but he got very lucky this year in the Armagh game. Only for that point we could have been down. Tactically he is clueless highlighted by the heavy scores conceded against Mayo in final in 15, Roscommon second half last year. He doesn't seem to change his game plan depending upon the opposition.

sligoman

Quote from: Mano on May 12, 2017, 12:53:10 PM
Disagree with Sligoman on Carew. He has done well to keep Sligo in divison 3 but he got very lucky this year in the Armagh game. Only for that point we could have been down. Tactically he is clueless highlighted by the heavy scores conceded against Mayo in final in 15, Roscommon second half last year. He doesn't seem to change his game plan depending upon the opposition.

Listen, they are certainly very valid criticisms of Carew and I agree with you on those.

What I don't like is what seems to be the constant sniping that Carew is somehow the root of all the wrongs in Sligo GAA. There are far bigger issues at play here and while tactical criticism of him is very valid, I think he has worked very well with overturning of nearly a full squad.

The Breheny/Walsh era had pretty much a nucleus of players at the heart of it who were around the same age - Johnny Davey, Mark Breheny, Alan Costello, Tony Taylor, Ross Donovan, Paul McGovern, Adrian Marren, Michael McNamara, Brendan Egan, Johnny Martyn, Brian Curran, Kenneth Sweeney, Philip Greene, Charlie Harrison and possibly a few others around that.

The best way to assess Carew is the shape he leaves the county team in for his successor and I think he has handled the introduction of new blood into the squad very well. Some of the collapses in games and our inability to turn the tide when it goes against us is very worrying but there were always going to be big problems with this team for whoever took the job. Right now I'm hoping we can avoid a trimming against Mayo and have a decent run in the qualifiers.

magpie seanie

Quote from: sligoman on May 12, 2017, 02:36:07 PM
Quote from: Mano on May 12, 2017, 12:53:10 PM
Disagree with Sligoman on Carew. He has done well to keep Sligo in divison 3 but he got very lucky this year in the Armagh game. Only for that point we could have been down. Tactically he is clueless highlighted by the heavy scores conceded against Mayo in final in 15, Roscommon second half last year. He doesn't seem to change his game plan depending upon the opposition.

Listen, they are certainly very valid criticisms of Carew and I agree with you on those.

What I don't like is what seems to be the constant sniping that Carew is somehow the root of all the wrongs in Sligo GAA. There are far bigger issues at play here and while tactical criticism of him is very valid, I think he has worked very well with overturning of nearly a full squad.

The Breheny/Walsh era had pretty much a nucleus of players at the heart of it who were around the same age - Johnny Davey, Mark Breheny, Alan Costello, Tony Taylor, Ross Donovan, Paul McGovern, Adrian Marren, Michael McNamara, Brendan Egan, Johnny Martyn, Brian Curran, Kenneth Sweeney, Philip Greene, Charlie Harrison and possibly a few others around that.

The best way to assess Carew is the shape he leaves the county team in for his successor and I think he has handled the introduction of new blood into the squad very well. Some of the collapses in games and our inability to turn the tide when it goes against us is very worrying but there were always going to be big problems with this team for whoever took the job. Right now I'm hoping we can avoid a trimming against Mayo and have a decent run in the qualifiers.

I'm afraid that's all in your head so because I've never heard anyone say that. On this board we tend to discuss the county senior football team and in my view he's no addition to it at all. We don't tend to discuss the other aspects of Sligo GAA. I've agreed completely that club structures are a huge problem but politics and the feeling of helplessness a lot of clubs have is worse. There's a general feeling of apathy about in many clubs and while I think the club structures contribute to that the levels of mistrust that exist between clubs and the county board need addressing. Also - when you have county board meetings dominated by permits for 40 year old hurlers from clare who have never lived in the county it doesn't help matters.

I used to believe that county boards would assist and guide struggling clubs but that does not seem to be a function they think they need to fulfil. For the first time in my memory I've seen some real assistance through the coaching and games manager and it's very encouraging. It's not all bad. Regards my club, we had a difficult year last year where survival in the SFC was achieved in such difficult circumstances it was almost miraculous. I think we will be decent this year but our underage has been less than satisfactory for a long time. It's improved but has a good way to go. We will get back to challenging for "A" titles and soon hopefully. But to go back to the politics/structures thing - you have a club win a provincial "B" championship and then next year they're graded "B" again? How does that happen?

Duine Eile

Mike Meehan got injured playing for Caltra today so looks like that will keep him out of the Mayo/Sligo game. Mike Farragher played very deep for Corofin today and had a blinder, looking likely he'll be no 6 for the semi final with Bradshaw injured.

Syferus

Ultan Harney has a fractured vertebrae in his back and will be out for about two months. Apparently he's had it for at least a year or two but was only picked up in tests this week. I really am speechless as to what the holy fĂșck team doctors and physios are at in this sport.