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He's a better defender than Trent in many peoples' view.  But his injury record is worrying.
But with Trent going Liverpool could do with another right back (unless Joe Gomez is used as a back up).

Good to see this finally sorted and out there.  Hopefully Conor Bradley gets back playing soon. 

Two birds with one stone for Armagh in this league campaign, objective of staying up achieved and played part in relegating Tyrone to Division 2.

I can assure Tyrone folk don't give a sh*te bout relegation. Is a bigger picture.
Ps... short memory of support Armagh got from this side of the Blackwater in last year's All Ireland...

Which part of Tyrone was that - the most northerly part?!

I had flights booked for the summer with Easyjet costing £50. But I have to cancel, and my options appear to be:
1) Change the flights online and pay additional £150
2) Don't bother changing the flights, and just book new flights, which also works out about £150
3) Don't go, and the Easyjet plane takes off with an empty seat

There does not appear to be an option to cancel the original flights.

Is a refund from Easyjet as hard to get as a full Leitrim squad for the league?

I tried rebooking flights last year and got through on the phone to them.  By the time they added on the fees it was working out cheaper for me just to cancel and book new flights and take the hit!  Basically they don't want you to benefit from a cancellation in my experience.

Usually it's the team with the greater need that wins in this league. Armagh need to beat Derry to have a chance of staying up, so would expect Armagh to be the hungrier.  But, it's a free hit for Derry to a degree and they will want to end a bad league on a positive note to bring into the championship.  So basically Armagh should be expecting a fully motivated Derry!

Couldn't match Kerry's hunger. Home and away in this division makes such a difference, certainly in Armagh's case anyway.  What's the craic with Paudie Clifford?

[One thing PSG ruthlessly showed was the benefit of pace and movement. Liverpool had it in bags five years ago with Salah and Mane, but they were shown up a bit on that front across that tie.]

If all three leave, and with Nunez and Chiesa (for what it's worth!) likely out the door too, that is quite a bit of money Liverpool will have to spend on transfers and wages with only whatever they get for Nunez coming the other way.

One thing PSG ruthlessly showed was the benefit of pace and movement. Liverpool had it in bags five years ago with Salah and Mane, but they were shown up a bit on that front across that tie. Definitely something they need to bring in, regardless of whether they opt for a specialist striker or maybe a couple of versatile forwards. Jota will likely be kept, but based on this season, if they're relying on him to be their primary centre forward, it's unlikely Liverpool will be challenging for the PL, never mind the CL.

Conor Bradley is an excellent player, but so far he appears to be very injury prone. Can he be relied on as first choice? Or do they need another option. Joe Gomez will probably be kept, so he can cover too, but when you see fullbacks like PSG have... But then left back is a problem position too. Robertson had a good game against PSG the other night, but he can't produce it on a consistent basis.

Even if Salah and Van Dijk stay, we're still looking at, potentially, two full backs, one or two forwards and a defensive midfielder. Maybe they'll pull some more rabbits out of hats like they did with Salah, Mane, McAllister, Szobozlai etc., but I'd be very skeptical that FSG will be forking out the massive bucks for someone like Isak with all of those additional needs.

So let's enjoy this title run-in! Could be a couple of seasons of rebuilding ahead.

Yes agree.  The pace wasn't there to put PSG on the back foot more. Got overrun a bit in midfield too.  It's funny saying it given where Liverpool are in the league, but with the contract situations we could easily be looking at 4-5 players to bring in if Liverpool have ambitions of winning the CL.  Probably 3 minimum despite what happens with the contracts.  Kerkez from Bournemouth looks a great replacement at left back.  Not sure who the options up front would be.  Don't necessarily need a no 9, just forward players who are flexible where they can play.

Thought it was funny in the post match interview with Van Dijk When he was asked about going for the quadruple a few weeks ago to now being out of two of the competitions.

In the age of social media, podcasts and phone-ins it's funny to see some of the meltdown and over-reactions to Liverpool going out of the champions league.  I don't imagine most Liverpool supporters are that bothered really. The joy of winning the league will put that to bed. Man U and Man City who dominated the Pl for years routinely year in year out got knocked out of Europe and there wasn't much said about it.   

Disappointing to go out but it's the league or nothing for Liverpool this season.

A lot going to depend on how motivated the likes of Donegal and Galway are to win their last 2 games.

When Armagh were going to Clones they were competing for major honours. Antrim are really struggling and don't need to be having their only advantage taken away.

Clones was basically a home ground for Armagh back then anyway. It's a completely different situation now. It's borderline embarrassing what the Ulster Council is doing. Unfortunately there is an unpleasant element within the Armagh support and it's not the buckfast brigade

Small sample size but any family, friends and wider Armagh supporters i know all saying the same - should be a home tie for Antrim.

I don't think the baying mob have thought about those who want to go see the game, both Armagh and Antrim supporters. If the game is in Corrigan Park what do you say to them? Tough sh1t?

I'd say something along the lines of "pick up the TV remote, turn it on and watch it from your living room".


The Ulster Council have stumbled from amateur to shambles after which they've lurched from idiotic into embarrassing as far as their handling of Casement goes.


Chesterfield FC in England built a 10,500 seat stadium for ~£13 million in 2009.
Even quadrupling for price since that's ~£72 million - aka within budget.
With larger pitch and no need to place seating on either end or cover the ends, you'd get 15k+ by following the same main stand cross sections.

Absolutely no reason why Casement cannot be an Athletic Grounds mk.2 - only obstacle is the Ulster Council's vanity.

The Athletic Grounds cost £4.6m in 2011.
Now, the Ulster Council are saying they cannot deliver anything for less than 50 times that.

f**k
Right
Off

Which would mean the GAA doesn't have to rely on the British Government to cough up. That strategy hasn't worked. It's time the GAA took ownership of this and start looking at alternative funding.

If the ground is unsuitable for Ulster GAA games then how is it deemed suitable for Leinster Championship games and all Ireland series games? Confusing.

That's something the Ulster Council should clarify!

As someone else said earlier, if Antrim want to grow the game in their county then they need as many youngsters as possible in the ground to see their team playing against the All-Ireland champions.

The current publicity is great but it won't steer young lads away from the soccer ball.

Maybe controversial to say this out loud but Antrim football's biggest competition may be hurling!  At go games ages a lot of the kids in the greater Belfast area play soccer on Friday nights or Saturday mornings. There'll be many of these who'll juggle the gaelic and be able to play the go games or go to training as well.  But hurling takes up time too and imo there's not enough football games because dual clubs are trying to straddle both. I don't think Antrim can be strong at both and are getting caught between the two.  Just my opinion.