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What happened Carrickmore tonight? We're the missing many? Well beat by a mediocre Clarkes team

Paul Donaghy appears to have cut his American trip short which would explain the Clarke's recent turnaround in their results.

Was wondering, why is Donaghy home from the states?

Must have been just over for a holiday as only missed a couple of games for clarkes. Dungannon and Carrickmore both missing plenty of men last night by the sounds of it. Most teams in the same boat. have to say I don't recall a year where as many were away to the states, but that's obviously pent up demand from last couple of years

Was Donaghy just on holidays in USA or over to play football?
In previous years, I am fairly sure there was a 60/90 day period whereby your transfer had to hold meaning you could not play for your home club again until that expired.
Obviously that is not the case nowadays, probably explains why so many young lads have went stateside over the last while

[Is this really necessary to put young lads through that?]

Yesterdays game has sparked a debate about the use of penalties to decide games. What ever the merits or otherwise  for its use in Intercounty games, I dont think it has any place deciding underage games. 
I see youth championship games in Tyrone all listed to be decided on the day withe extra time and penalties. Is this really necessary to put young lads through that?

It's called sport. Someone wins, someone loses. I don't get the whole penalties aren't fair thing. It applies to both teams, nearly every other comparable team sport has a sudden death scenario. part of the game.

we can't talk about burn out, calendars, off seasons etc and then complain about finishing on the day at the same time

A privilege to have stood in Eoghain Rua's pitch last night with hundreds of others at the vigil remembering Damian. The sheer devastation of his friends, team mates and family was truly awful to watch. Such a somber occasion but in times like this you are glad to be part of the GAA.

Like I just don't get it. The technical crews are hired in and the team behind the cameras are nearly all the same no matter what channel and they all cost a fair whack BUT for some reason RTÉ let their pundits half-arse it.
Like in Cavan v Donegal I was subjected to Pat blowing again and Noelle Healy being shouted down by the same fella. Like she can be good but no-one can work with Spillane and he says nothing.

Then McStay just kept saying Division 4 v Division 1 and harping back to Cavan 2020. And 'the sub' scored the Donegal goal. FFS you are being paid and there is a programme in front of you.

Also, they are talking about long balls in. At least one of the Donegal 'long balls' in was a shot at goal that dropped. But they assigned it as a tactic.

Like all that set-up costs a fortune and I can't understand why they have the likes of Pat on to make a bollix of it all and give no insight. I know ya can't know every player but pick up the phone and chat a local journo if needs be. Find things out.

I can't listen to Cora either and Dessie Dolan on co-comms literally just says what we just saw. A lad kicks a pint..."that's right Marty. He got the ball and out it over the bar!"

Darragh and Eamon Fitz are a good team in fairness, but Christ. They need a cull or give lads a kick up the arse.

Tomas O'Se was one of the better ones over the past few years, he's decided to move on. There has been a complete lack of imagination by the producers in their response. There is some top class punditry out there on the radio & on the podcasts, just waiting to be tapped into.
Also RTE only have to look at BBC just now to work out how to get it right. Canavan, Harte and in particular McConville - top drawer.

Have to say I've been completely won over by the BBCNI coverage. Far superior, better pundits, better discussion. RTE feels like it hasn't changed in 20 years, same old faces (bar Brolly)

Wouldn't be surprised if stewartstown walk it, very strong. Breezed past ulster league

Think Stewartstown will be strong in Div 3, so long as they are playing from a full deck. Not too many div 3 defences could handle lowe and devlin on form.
not sure about the others that came down with them, could see them all struggling to get back up to be honest.

I think my concerns atm would be the discipline from the 2 Island boyos, the form of McShane and McKenna , injury to MDonn and strength of the bench.   Alot to work on,  faith 

Early whispers seem to suggest Matties injury is a bad one

Did Matty not detach the hamstring off the bone against Derrygonnelly in 2019? If it's another injury to the same muscle it could be a long lay off.

So what is the solution here? Everyone wants to win and wants to be that bit more prepared than the opposition.
A club or Manager wanting to retain players can drop the training load but once results start to go against them....

I think it's ultimately reserve football that will take the impact first and foremost but that ultimately transfers across the whole set up. It's now a given that you'll be doing 2 x pitch trainings, 1 x match/extra training on weekend, 2 x gym sessions, recovery somewhere in there too.

That's fine for senior 15-18 who are playing but not appealing to the other 20 or so. So if that's the demand that everyone is expected to buy into, your older family man or average reserve footballer will drift off because they can't/don't want to commit to that. we've seen over the last few years the increasing no. of reserve matches not completed.

I honestly don't know what the answer is because everyone else is doing it so if you don't, you fall behind. I think it's ultimately going to be the detriment of reserve football with some clubs left with seniors only ie. can't commit then can't be involved.

What sort of time player is conroy? T McCann and mark Bradley are the 2 names that jump out that would help. In form Michael Cassidy has plenty to offer as well

Of the guys that left, I think T McCann, Cassidy and Bradley could offer something from the bench. They obviously weren't happy to fulfill that role though. Wouldn't be asking McAliskey back, a great servant but not sure he'd offer anything more at this stage than the likes of Donaghy or Conroy. On Conroy, he certainly looks handy at club level. Whether that can be transferred to county level remains to be seen but he deserves a chance.

Surely with split season they are missing out on very little anyway
Except 4 starred games if Tyrone get to AI semi final

Go read Ronan O'Neill's interview in the Irish News from the time he quit.

Missing 4 league games is probably the least of these guys worries, their used to missing club action year after year. Missing family members/best mates stags, weddings and numerous other events to train 5/6 nights a week when not even making match day panels is borderline lunacy. It can also lead to young fella's being in a bad head space. Easy for us to say 'why would he quit, loads of fella's would love to play for their county.' County football is a full time lifestyle, why give that much effort into something if you aren't getting any game time at all or its effecting your life negatively?

Your 20's are probably the best years of your lives, you wouldn't want to look back and say you gave them up for a few McKenna cup games & to be used for in-house games. That's alright for a few years when you are first breaking on, but there has to be a point where you have to make the decision. A few of them also probably thought they would get more game time after a change in management, however once a 2nd management team comes in and your situation doesn't change, the writing is probably on the wall.

Ronan O Neill didn't make the 26 man panel for AI final.
Lee Brennan's last championship appearance was 2018 AI final vs Dublin.
Mark Bradley came on in 76th min in Ai semi vs Kerry and didn't get on in the final.
Tiernan McCann got 14mins between the Semi final & Final.
HP McGeary barely got a kick all year.
Rory Brennan hasn't played since the Ulster Final last year.

No argument with any of that but it essentially means you are left with a core 15-18 of starters/first subs and then 10-12 rookies making up the remainder of the squad trying to break into that 15-18. Our bench this year is certainly the weaker for it and that ultimately will be the difference in big games later in the year.

All of Rory's managers speak very highly of him as a footballer. He never really got a good run at it for county.

Rory is a big loss there.  Lee always was struggling to step up, but Rory was there or therabouts.

Is anyone else surprised by the number of leavers? For someone like Rory, he's never going to be far away, so it seems strange to leave the panel, though with the medal in the pocket now the decision is maybe easier.

Tyrone's loss will be Trillick's gain obviously with a fairly settled team all year outside the two Donnellys

Not sure to be concerned by tyrone's displays so far or confident that they'll turn it on a bit when it matters and that it's only to be expected after winning an all ireland.

Canavan looks v. sharp so far, just needs to keep it up for a whole game. Perplexed by mckenna and mcshane. to me, mckenna looks like a man who has lost interest in the game. so much talent but has that kind of lazy swagger about him. Maybe come the good weather and hard ground we'll see a bit more from him. Mcshane is struggling to live up to his own reputation and i thought sean cavanagh's comments were interesting in that he thinks he's too unpredictable and maybe management see it as safer to go with the boys who you know what exactly you'll get from them, then throw cathal in last 15/20 for hopefully a bit of magic. be a bit concerned that we still haven't seen michael o'neill or mcnamee and if the other boys are anything to go by, it does take time to get back up to speed and intensity of intercounty football.

Squad depth will be really tested now.

Any word on Peter Teague or Paudie McNulty?

Think both have been injured to date. Loss of the 5 more experienced men from the squad will certainly test reserves now. Not sure if the new blood are ready to step in just yet.

are there any more players leaving the panel, other than Ronan O'Neill, Michael Cassidy and HP McGeary? a previous comment says Paul Donaghy has walked, is anyone aware of others? i assume that each player who leaves will be replaced by the time the national league comes round. at a minimum there'll be 4 new faces so far.

Heard Tiarnan McCann had left too

[but the skill levels do need some time to readjust]

I think Glass coming has made a big difference too.

Undoubtedly, great player and he still has the potential to get better. I think like most former AFL players returning it takes them a time to readjust to gaelic football but he is still at an age where he can get better. Looking at his body shape, it is fairly obvious what AFL done for him physically but the skill levels do need some time to readjust.

Never quite get this and its often put forward when lads come back from a short stint. The fella played Gaelic from 5-18, AFL from 18-22, he's 24 now, the skills are back, 6 months is enough to get back into the swing with the native game after a short stint away

Well I'm basing it on the evidence of what I've seen with the history of returning players over the years. Very few have come back better gaelic footballers after a prolonged period away. Their body shapes change physically which have both negatives and positive consequences when transferring across to gaelic football. The kicking and handpassing style is much different in AFL.

If you want another example just look at the specky he went for in the game against Scotstown. Looked great for the cameras but ultimately resulted in a foul against his side. That shows that there is still an element of his play that lingers on from AFL.

Remember too that these guys when they're in Australia are training every day, will constantly have oval ball in hand, practising the skills. That is bound to have an impact over a few years and take away from what was previously second nature to them.

Why is games on Sunday this week? I know some teams are basically finished but why not give the players a Saturday game to finish the season and alllw them the freedom to have a team night or whatever for the end on Saturday

Because the fixture makers probably aren't thinking of whether a club fancies a christmas night out on Saturday 11th Dec when they are sorting the fixtures. Clubs are free to agree a change, as many did this weekend past and most likely will, if played at all.