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Old forum had gone a bit shite over the last few years. Plenty of knowledgable and interesting posters knocking about it, but they seemed to be increasingly drowned out by the shite about soup and the likes. Nothing wrong with a bit of craic and a few in jokes on a forum, but when it started stifling discussion and turning off other posters then the balance is wrong. Perhaps the new incarnation of the forum can promote a better balance, maybe siphon off that sort of stuff to a thread of its own or something.

Not overly optimistic about the lifespan of the new forum, though. Eventually the moderator there will decide to pull the plug, or have that decision made for him/ her. The simple fact is that you can't trust people to behave themselves online. Most will be dead on, but you will always get shitheads posting stuff that will cause problems. The local focus of something like a county forum will magnify these problems. Word will spread quickly about contentious posts, and the specificity of the forum's audience will make it fertile ground for the airings of local disputes and vendettas against individuals. It's naive to suggest the place can police itself. Moderating an online forum must be a nightmare, good luck to anyone that takes on the challenge.

[O'Neill. Still have this qualification in our own hands too.]

Do NI have more talented players than the ROI? I don't believe so. I like Roy and Martin but their tactics and selections are inconsistent and hard to understand. O'Neill's massive strength as a manager was getting everyone working together, great morale and really a "team" mentality. I'm not saying the lads don't have good morale or team ethic but perhaps MON's management style is not transferable to a scenario where he doesn't have the players day in day out?

Frustrating thing is last night was a reasonable performance against a good team which shows that Ireland can play. Why does it not happen against the lesser sides? Does MON simply believe it's easier to overpower them?

We quailifed fro the Euros, made the second round and gave France a right go under O'Neill. Still have this qualification in our own hands too. We're some yokes blaming the manager despite our dismal record of non-qualification for tournaments.

He's done a mostly excellent job with a very old group of bit players for Prem and Championship clubs.

No we don't. Even with six points we'll have to rely on an upset or two in another group to make the playoffs.

We were better than Serbia, though. Desperately unlucky not to get a draw. Wales game is pretty much a playoff now.

Wales are away to Georgia. That is a sticky game for them before they meet us!

Would be nice to think they'd drop points but even a draw for them there and a draw in Cardiffwould leave them ahead on goal difference, wouldn't it?

Either way we will need 6 points to ensure we aren't the 9th best runner up

I think the show's over. Even six points is unlikely to be enough to avoid the worst second place spot. The talk of the match in Cardiff being a 'playoff showdown' is pitifully optimistic.

Took a good look there at all the groups and what games the teams in contention for 2nd have remaining. Absolutely convinced that Ireland need a minimum of 7 points from remaining 3 games. 5 points could get 2nd, if we hammer Moldova or Wales lose points in Georgia. But it will only lead to 18 points which will be the lowest 2nd place total.

It's more complicated than that. Results against the bottom placed team don't count. As it's difficult to both predict who will finish second and who will finish bottom in several groups, you can't say with much certainty what the required points total will end up. That said, anything less than 7 points will probably leave it very tight. Those two lost points in Georgia were more costly than has been made out. That draw was as damaging to our prospects as a defeat.

Hunting mink is fine. it's is the one animal that needs to be eradicated as it has decimated native mammals and birds.

Cats should be hunted too. For the same reasons.

Murnin and Grugan are Armagh's most important forwards

I'd be inclined to agree. Grugan has been Armagh's best player by a distance this year. Murnin is interesting. Although not as individually talented as a few others in there, his impact on the dynamic of the whole forward line is very obvious. If he's fit for this match I would expect Armagh to run up a high enough tally to get over the line.

[Armagh]

Impediments to winning an All Ireland SFC
Population - Fermanagh Cavan Monaghan Sligo Laythrum Ros Longford Westmeath Offaly* Laois* Carlow -11
* hurley stuff also.
Armagh and Derry borderline cases. -2
Hurley stuff - Wexford Kilkenny Waterford Tipp Limerick Clare - 6.
Other - Antrim disorganised and no tradition, Louth soccer, Kildare horses and lost tradition of winning, Wicklow just about everything - 4.

So the All Ireland SFC is down to 9 - Donegal Tyrone Down
Galway Mayowestros
Cork Kerry
Dublin Meath.

Those 9 have 32 All Ireland Final appearances between them this Century. Armagh being the interlopers twice.
Mind you Meath and Down with only 1 Final appearance each makes the club even more exclusive.

The footballing populations of Down and Armagh would be very similar. By my reckoning, both counties currently have exactly the same number of football clubs. Armagh might have more 'small' clubs, though it's hard to say. Unionists make up a much higher proportion of Down's population.

Blessed at the end there. Makes the decision to sack off the league and throw all the eggs into this basket look even more reckless. Final will be fun with any two of three duds at CB.

Well that's top 4 gone now. Big gamble to focus everything on the EL and play the duds like Rooney and Smalling today. Spurs and Liverpool results this weekend had left the league route very open again.

Even if Utd had won today , spurs would have been 9 points ahead with a vastly superior goal difference.

I know they wouldn't have caught Spurs, but they play them next. Had Spurs won on Friday night they would still be chasing the title when playing United next weekend. That was a large factor in the perception that United had a difficult league run in, and would be best concentrating on the EL. Instead United will play a Spurs side with nothing on the line next Sunday - the same Spurs side that didn't give a flying f**k and let an already relegated Newcastle beat them 5-1 after they fell out of the title race last season.

That match, one against a nothing to play for Southampton, one against beyond shite Crystal Palace, and one against the worst Arsenal side in 20+ years was United's run in before today. Not anywhere near as bad as it looked a month or two ago. 12 points from that would've guaranteed CL football. 10 points might well have been enough. All on the EL now though, huge gamble.

Well that's top 4 gone now. Big gamble to focus everything on the EL and play the duds like Rooney and Smalling today. Spurs and Liverpool results this weekend had left the league route very open again.

Just back to the main business of the thread for a minute, found out the other day that Stephen Beatty got a one match ban for his behaviour in the Antrim - Armagh league game. So to clarify:

Hitting the ref with the ball + punching two opposition players = one match ban
Saying something bold to a linesman = 12 week ban

This makes sense.

[a ref]

I heard that he threatened the referee. He deserves what he got and you Armagh muppets with your victimhood complex should start to look at yourselves instead of blaming referees and whatever else yer having.

Well said. These people blindly defending McGeeney and blaming everyone accept him should take a hard look at themselves. No-one gets 12wks for nothing. If he actually said what hes rumoured to have said then he deserves every bit of his 12wks!!

Do you really believe that people get suspensions for nothing?

Well I can tell you I got a four week suspension from the sideline  for using abusive language during an u14 game. I absolutely 100% did not use any form of abusive language and I pleaded my case before a committee. It fell on deaf ears. The comb-overs on these committee's have no interest in hearing your side of the story. I would have sworn on a bible that the ref was wrong but it still wouldn't have mattered.

So you think it's plausible that McGeeney went up to a ref agitated as witnessed by people at the game and said nothing abusive and that one of the top refs in Ireland ( regularly in the top made up a load of lies of what he said, reported it and McGeeney got an unfair suspension??? You think that pile of nonsense is plausible?

The allegation is that McGeeney offended a linesman, not a referee. Nobody at the game 'witnessed' McGeeney going up to a ref 'agitated', because this did not happen. Perhaps, if you are so uncertain of the particulars of this issue, it might save you some embarrassment to not post anything else on this thread.

[I heard]

I heard that he threatened the referee. He deserves what he got and you Armagh muppets with your victimhood complex should start to look at yourselves instead of blaming referees and whatever else yer having.

Well said. These people blindly defending McGeeney and blaming everyone accept him should take a hard look at themselves. No-one gets 12wks for nothing. If he actually said what hes rumoured to have said then he deserves every bit of his 12wks!!

These posts are almost satirical. Between this forum and one other I've 'heard' four different accounts of what McGeeney is 'rumoured' to have said to the linesman and/or the referee. That's a lot of misinformation. Yet the people questioning the details of this issue are the 'muppets' who should 'take a hard look at themselves'.

Any word on Stephen Beatty's suspension from the same game? If saying something bold to a linesman gets you 12 weeks, then f**king the ball at the ref and punching two opposition players in the space of ten seconds must merit a year or two on the sidelines. Strange that news of GAA suspensions comes out in dribs and drabs like this. Almost as if they're too embarrassed by the inconsistencies and disproportionalities to release information in a transparent, systematic manner.

The point is that no disciplinary matters are supposed to be made public, they are considered to be confidential matters.  It is always interesting how some are leaked and others are not.  As listed above the result of the cards issued in the league final have not been announced.

This confidentiality is a charter for doing whatever they want. A transparent process that openly publishes results would do a lot to dispel suspicions that some can find themselves on the end of inconsistent and inequitable treatment.

The issue here isn't the suspension, but the near certainty that others will perpetrate the same offence over the course of the summer but not find themselves on the end of the same punishment. It happens every year.

Any word on Stephen Beatty's suspension from the same game? If saying something bold to a linesman gets you 12 weeks, then f**king the ball at the ref and punching two opposition players in the space of ten seconds must merit a year or two on the sidelines. Strange that news of GAA suspensions comes out in dribs and drabs like this. Almost as if they're too embarrassed by the inconsistencies and disproportionalities to release information in a transparent, systematic manner.