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[Funding in NI would need to increase by £500 per pupil for schools to balance their budgets.]

Going by news stories this week, English schools are broke as well with SEN  spending through the roof. Scotland the biggest spenders per pupil.

Funding in NI would need to increase by £500 per pupil for schools to balance their budgets.

The thing to remember is whether a school has a deficit or not  , it's not going to close anytime soon !

It wouldn't matter if funding increased by £500 or £5,000 per pupil; some schools will stay within budget and others will continue to massively overspend. Because there is no accountability. Some of the overspends in schools are absolutely scandalous. Deficits in controlled schools are roughly twice those in maintained schools. And some very high profile principals are among the worst offenders; two have relatively recently moved on to higher profile, more "prestigious" positions, leaving combined debts in the region of £2 million. There's plenty of scope to increase class sizes, amount of teacher contact time and reduce financial burden of management structures in many schools. I know of one school whose staffing is so bloated that it is used as an example of what not to do and, even then, nothing is done about it.

Until principals and governors are held to account for school budget deficits, we will continue to see massive wastage.

That win should be enough to guarantee us a place with the big boys chasing Sam this year.

Not that long ago we were in div 4; we'll take the good days while they last.

1 litre engines.
Have two young drivers, so cheap insurance is a draw, but are the engines worth it?

It's not the engines I'm worried about. The eldest fella has a 1.1 Fiesta and have driven it I would say it's grand for what he needs (my own car is 2l diesel). My bigger concern is that it's a wee tin can that probably wouldn't stand up to much in a crash and says it gets blown about a bit on the motorway. I'm considering upgrading to a Golf, Leon or similar. Muddle lad is doing lessons at the minute so this is fresh again for us.

Thanks Tony.

Actually looking at a 1 litre Leon.

1 litre engines.
Have two young drivers, so cheap insurance is a draw, but are the engines worth it?

It's actually shocking that thon Meath team is the only one currently guaranteed to be in the running for Sam this year.

[it looks like the clear aim for Derry is to win every competition they'll enter.]

Does any team actually wanrt to win the League under the new system?
Does winning the League benefit anyone ?

And why are Derry 5/2?

https://www.oddschecker.com/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/national-football-league-division-1/winner

Why I think was highlighted by the strong team selection by Mickey Harte for round 1 of the league. Like Jack O'Connor on his return to Kerry it looks like the clear aim for Derry is to win every competition they'll enter.


NFL final is set for March 31st and should they reach it they'll still have three weeks to prepare for the opening round of the Ulster championship.

That will require
1. steroids
2. scoring forwards
3. no injuries

You love Derry Seafoid!

I think the fans are too excitable. But let's see.

I don't think we are but be nice to us it's been a long time since we've been competitive we have to make the most of it (especially if you come from a very mediocre club who have been underachieving for decades)

It definitely is good to see Derry back

Definitely some Derry link with seafoid. Not sure what it is though.

Wasn't a stamp imo. Trod on his leg, yes, but not a stamp.

Same thing tbh.

It's not though.

Well done the Watties.

Wasn't a stamp imo. Trod on his leg, yes, but not a stamp.

The tyronies in some form on here tonight, relax lads 

You wanna ignore the stamp then crack on.

Probably coached by the assistant manager.

Thought Armagh did well for the side that was out.

Derry look a bit like Tyrone of old.

It's that f**king stupid jersey.

[S Shivers (1-1)]

Declan Bateson played for the Convent. And Derry. There may have been somebody else before him but I doubt it saying boys were only admitted from 1978, the the class set up was a 2.1 basis meaning u only 50 boy intake per year for a long time.

Still going with Seamus Shivers.

3 December 1989

NFL Derry 3-5 Cork 4-12

Derry team: D McCusker; K McKeever, T Scullion, P O'Donnell; J McGurk (0-1), B McPeake (RIP), G McPeake; E Heaney, D Barton (0-1); S Shivers (1-1), PJ McCormack, M Berryman; R Scullion (2-2), L Devlin, J O'Neill. Subs: P Gribbin, E Gribbin.

Though I think maybe Barry Young from Glen also got an NFL game or two.

I wonder who was the first county footballer to come out of my old school St Mary's Magherafelt? My first thought is Johnny McBride. There were no past pupils in the 1993 Derry team as far as I Know although St Pius Magherafelt had 2 past pupils. McCloskey was the first St Mary's past pupil to win an All Star.

I reckon maybe Seamus Shivers.

Ref Warnock
Irish names were translated on an inconsistent basis. Sometimes if they sounded like an English name they were allocated that name. Eg Ó Cuaig sounds a bit like Cooke so it became Cooke.

Ulster was planted after 1607 and there are many non Gael names. Most names up there are correlated with religion but some are not. John Hume was a nationalist. So is Gerry Adams. Lenny Murphy and Ken Maginnis were Unionists. You can't generalise .

O Cuaig anglicised as Quigg around south Derry.

Afaik Warnock has turned down 3 different  Derry managers regarding a call up to county football

Unusual name, is it common up there?

Probably a former planter name from back in the day if I was to hazard a guess.

Most teams have one or two.

Alot more unusual names than that across the country

Mac Giolla Mhearnóg. Probably has planter origins, if you're allowed to say use that terms.
A few Warnock families about Maghera.

Didn't mean it in a derogatory sense. I like to see people of all origins play GAA.

Just find it an interesting topic: most teams across the country have some sort of surname of planter or British origin.

There was a Seymour togged out for Castlehaven and a Trundle for St Brigid's today that are two other examples so it's not just a north of the country thing.

I know you didn't and your use of the term was correct imo, but planter seems to be a term that can be misinterpreted. And family names and the history of them are fascinating.

There was a Winton in the Glen squad today, that was the only unusual one for the locality.