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I would suggest they have the final before the super 8 with the winner automatically getting a spot in the super 8's or a playoff for entry to the 8's.  That would give enough encouragement to commit to and win the second tier.
They need to sweeten the pot a little in my opinion.

I see your point but the problem with giving a super-8 place to the winners is that the prize then becomes the access to the Tier 1 competition. If you have a Tier 2 competition it has to be valued in its own right. Maybe it allows access to next year Tier 1, that makes sense, but the competition must be an independent competition to have it's existence be of any genuine merit.

Teams genuinely want to win the Junior & intermediate All-Ireland club titles. Our club won Ulster and missed out in an all-Ireland semi by a point. The Ulster title didn't get us into USC or All-Ireland senior. But the prize was great - being Ulster champions (even though at effectively tier 2 level).

If we go back to Junior All-Ireland (Tier 2) then that has to be a competition alone and not a same-season stepping stone. Otherwise we may as well just keep the qualifiers.

Also I think the final should be played as a curtain raiser to the All-Ireland senior. The minors could come before it as a 3 match day (If we really insist on having minor final match senior final), or minors could be played at a separate event. Is the minor final really that important or popular except for the participating counties?

Yes - fortress Newry.

When was the last time we played Mayo? We beat them in Castlebar in the league 2011 I think it was but they stuffed us in Croke Park in 2012 maybe? Did they come to Newry in the league in 2012 also?

Pretty sure that 2011 match in Castlebar was a draw

On the goalkeeper issue. When we won the Sam in 1994 our sub goalkeeper Eammon Connolly generally played outfield for Warrenpoint because Kieran Rice was also a really good keeper but only played goal.

Fantastically entertaining. Loved it. A real championship match. Armagh, at 5 points and a man up should have buried us. They totally pooped their tactics. Should simply have driven long balls to Clarke for the next ten minutes.

Fair play to our boys who fought back against the odds. Vast improvement from the league. Can we continue the improvement, and more importantly the speed of play?

Will Ryan Johnstone (or any of the other injured players) be available any time soon?

We definitely do not have the quality of player that most of the top ten or twelve sides have. But doesn't that make teamwork even more important? I do not see Down players playing as a cohesive unit. It doesn't look like they are following patterns of play.

Donegal came good in 2012 because they followed patterns of play, they were well drilled and worked together, they did not rely on individual talent. I know people will say that their individuals were better then than ours are now but that's not my point. The point is that a Donegal side that was smashed by Armagh came back to claim All-Ireland glory with players that were not as good across the 15 as some of their opponents. Their players improved as individuals after fully committing to working as a team

Gaelic football is an amazing team sport. A fast co-ordinated approach can level two teams up far quicker than almost any other of the major field sports.

Down v Tyrone minor, I think. Hard to know who to cheer for there.

When did it change from being the same matchup as the senior game?

The leaving cert messed it up because the Southern teams couldn't produce their players early in teh championship season so fixtures are moved to suit them but it means that we can no longer have the direct match ups

Lowest level of belief in any match I have ever seen between these two sides. I haven't seen Armagh, but I've seen Down and there is no way Armagh could be worse than us. Having said that I expect Down to be tight and hold Armagh and frustrate them. I would expect Armagh to gradually pull away in the second half. We have no midfield at all and have shown very little strategy to competing for kick-out ball.

I don't think our players are terrible. If sufficiently organised and working together then I think they could easily challenge Armagh and I would be quite optimistic. But there seems a lack of key strategy - especially midfield but also in moving ball and shooting.

Players seem scared to shoot, it reminds me of 07-09, when no one would shoot and the plan was "get it to Benny". Problem is that this time we have no Benny to get it to.

There appears no strategy to get the ball forward to on-running forwards - the strategy seems just to recycle it backwards over and over until maybe a break opens up by chance.

I have no seen any repetitive patterns of passing (set moves) that Down implement. You would expect to see some repeating patterns of movement when a team is acting as a unit. Instead every attack seems as individual and off-the-cuff as every other.

We don't play as a cohesive organised unit, and as such, rely on individual talent. Our talent s not that high to do that.

There is no real motivation for the board to spend. Europe after Christmas is financial success. CL group stage every 2 years keeps the coffers ticking over. They see it as a business, fans see it as a passion.

The fact is Stevie G has caused the malaise at board level. His victory in the old firm match provokef the signings of Burke, Bayo and Weah. But even that was pretty short term because the fact is that the Huns really aren't any more of a challenge this season.

Stevie has brought in 19 new players, spent £7m on transfer fees, over £1m on loans for two guys in their thirties. But his team is only 3 points better off than after the same number of games last season. All that investment has improved them by just 3 points.

No wonder the business orientated board see no reason to invest.

Such a pity Niall Parland is in Qatar, I think he could have been developed into a quality midfielder for us

Funny results in the SFL....

I don't see enough club football so forgive me if this has already been discussed/explained. Buut what has happened to Castlewelan this year? They have been championship finalists in the last two years and been always high up league table. What has caused this year's collapse?

I'm not anti-development squads by any means.

They clearly serve a purpose in helping players from less-enumerated clubs and non-footballing schools to learn, meet and aspire, by playing amongst the brightest talents from bigger clubs and schools.

But I'm really struggling with the concept that 53 x 13 year-olds are needed for u14 county training on Saturdays, just as the club season is ramping into gear. Dragging players an hour from home to be part of a glorified sportsday isn't going to help anyone.

Fair point Wobbler but then if you select just 25 lads everyone involved gets slapped with accusations of favoritism and nepotism. Also the big East Down/South Down argument rears its head again

Serious question: if one of your senior players announced that they were joining the psni, how would they be recieved within their community?

Big difference between how it should be treated and how it would be treated I would expect. However local issues aside people don't like their mates joining the cops. When I was in England one of our regular football mates joined the police force shortly before I left. I was back one time and asked about him and it turned out no one spoke to him now. They didn't fall out just all the other lads stopped calling or inviting him places. Just a general feeling they would prefer not to hang around with a copper made them feel uneasy.

In general the poppy is meant to be a symbol of peace and sadness that war has caused death. they are sold to collect money to help people who have been bereaved by these conflicts.

All good so far except that the story doesn't end there. It is quite clear that it is now used as a symbol of vitriol. It is a marker not of sadness at all conflict death but a glorifying of victories and the glory of battle itself. If we say all conflicts are sad and regrettable then how can the poppy and poppy day be used to glorify the military effort? It has become a pseudo glorification not condemnation of war.

Also it has become a defacto symbol of everything it should be opposed to. To refuse to wear one means being treated with disgust by our media. When the fact that the poppy exists should be only justified in allowing freedom as a result of the bloodshed instead of allowing only the freedom to do exactly as the bullies tell you (kinda sounds like the very thing that was being fought).

In principle I think it is fair to say - You may be right, but I will only agree with you when you stop saying I am not allowed to choose anything other than agreeing with you.

As for closer to home. No English, Scots, or Welsh villages suffered British Soldiers harassing and abusing the residents let alone shooting them.  If it were truly a symbol of peace not selfish self-righteousness then the poppy sellers would all universally condemn the atrocities of the British Army in Northern Ireland and agree it is an inappropriate symbol for us. After all they don't insist on the Germans wearing them...

Did we not only have 3 games at home this year as well. Always thought it was year about, 3 at home one year, 4 at the next year. But as you say not to bad on the travelling front.

I think there is a two year rotation on the draw. So if you play 3 homes in year one then it will be 4 aways in year two. But then it gets redrawn for the next two years. So over four seasons you will have two seasons 3 homes and 2 seasons 4 homes. But could be doubled up in middle years. These are all possible over four seasons:

3 homes then 4 homes - (new draw) 3 homes then 4 homes.
3 homes then 4 homes - (new draw) 4 homes then 3 homes
4 homes then 3 homes - (new draw) 3 homes then 4 homes
4 homes then 3 homes - (new draw) 4 homes then 3 homes

I agree that this was probably the worst Kilcoo display in their six victories. But also it was a better side they faced. The big problems would be that they never seem to have a full forward available when they turnover possession and so can't transition to attack quickly. The other massive problem is that they have no midfield. Burren out-marked them all game long.

On the plus side Kilcoo are a fantastic defensive unit.