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Not sure what the big deal is - bit more daylight now - nothing to stop two competing teams knocking their heads together and agreeing to play their game a little later on Sunday if there is big interest in attending the county fixture. 

Might still knock a few thousand off the club gates though if supporters decide attending one game on the day is enough and opt for the county game as their first choice but sure even in that case the county could forgo the pre match meal and instead compensate the clubs for their loss of takings.

Looking at the Coleman incident the other night highlights how lucky we have been recently as Scottish teams line up to kick us off the park encouraged by referees who are unwilling to give us any protection whatsoever. I would like to think maybe a few officials would wise up and start doing their job after Friday night but at the same time I know there is no chance with a semi final around the corner where the oppositions game plan will revolve around putting in as many dangerous tackles as they can early in the game. No Scottish referee will have the desire to punish that lot especially in a game of that magnitude.

[still believe it wasn't to cause serious injury.]

Nothing dirty in terms of reckless sliding tackles, however, there were occasions (Whealen on Allen being the worst) when we led with the elbow going for high balls.

Whilst Taylor's challenge caused horrendous damage, looking back at the replays in not 100% sure that he went in dangerously high with both feet rsised. It was reckless in the extreme but I don't think it was intended to cause injury. Coleman came in at great speed and Taylor's legs appear to scissor grab Coleman's right leg and wasn't overly high. The leg broke on contact when Coleman struck through the ball a moment before Taylor arrived. I still think it was a red every day of the week as players have a duty of care towards their opponents and Taylor went in too reckless. I still believe it wasn't to cause serious injury.

Taylor the only man who knows that for sure.

Ah lads. There is no way he tried to cause what happened or anywhere near it. A player isn't going to do that and take a red card for his troubles. If they see a chance to go in hard they may take it but they wouldn't be intentionally trying to injure the player. It is not like the Keane Haaland one where there was previous between the two players. Coleman would be a likeable played and dirt just isn't a part of his game so very much doubt he would be targeted in this way. I am sure Taylor is regretting it too. It was wreckless and dangerous but that happens somewhere every other week and does not mean people are deliberately trying to cause serious injury their opponents.

Maybe not but if you go in wreckless, foot raised with studs showing, you are always potentially going to damage your opponent. Thankfully in the main players avoid the full impact of this type of challenge but there is a reason why this is a red card offence. Best I can say is that maybe he never considered the potential consequences.

Only saw the second half as I coach juvenilles on a Friday evening but I thought Wales were fairly putting the boot in even before the Bale and Taylor 'tackles'. Couple of very high boots in quick succession and generally seemed to be out to take man and ball in their tackling.

I listened to Coleman after and he sounded like he was almost blaming Ireland for Colemans break stating the case that we saw in the first half that Ireland were out to rough house them and that they knew that is what Ireland were going to be about. Almost to say any strong arm tactics were a response to Ireland in the first half.

Like I said, did not see the first half but Ireland must have been fairly brutal in their tackling to cause Wales to come out in the second half tackling high with studs showing all round. Or else Chris Coleman is a sc*mbag.

I didn't go there until 93 but there was a very good run and a lot of talent in both codes through it in my time and after.

St Louis catchment really abit of a myth as you needed a 1or2 in the 11 plus to get in firstly and in my year you had more Ballymena, Antrim town, Larne, Randalstown non gaa boys than you had from local gaa clubs.

Rasharkin and Dunloy were always split at grammar school by St. Louis and loreto and very few Creggan players in my time.

Our lady of Lourdes and St olcans had some great footballers through them when I was young.
Compare that situation to maghera say which worked in catchment area rather than selection and you see the disparity

I get what you are saying about not having all the lads from surrounding clubs but surely what they would gather from Ballymena, Portglenone, Rasharkin, Dunloy, Moneygalss, Glenravel, Randalstown, and Antrim still represents a fair catchment (roughly a third of the football clubs in the county) plus I know there are kids that now travel from Glenavy to St Louis for their education.

If the school could get itself a reputation for pushing Gaelic Football strongly then they might attract other pupils on this basis in much the same way as St Pats Maghera operates.

St Louis played a friendly against us around 1990 at 5th year stage - it was arranged in part through some lads in both schools that knew each other - at that time they were gathering lads up for the game as they had no team entered in any competition - poor enough given their catchment - that said I think they did win an All Ireland hurling title around that time.

Yeah look she was not much more than a child at the time, probably impressionable.  I would not like to be judged by some of the things I done in my teens.  In fact the crazy nature of what she and her friend took on would suggest naivety in the extreme.

RIP Martin.
If it wasn't for Unionist bigotry, intolerance and discrimination and suppression most of us would never had heard of him.
He still had to confront that mindset right at the end when Foster came along and tried to turn the clock back 60 years.
Slán a mhac.

Bang on.

Kit and food are not essential to produce good footballers and hurlers though I appreciate with the like of primary school children they do enjoy a treat attached to involvement and would not leave any party without a party bag. 

If money is tight you look at the essential spend - if money is plentiful then you can look at treating your players to plenty of kit and set up a nutrition program which you yourself implement on match days and even around trainings. 

If food is being provided, as CB pointed out for the U17 and Minor teams in Tyrone then maybe it would be good to go the extra step and organise it to be served at an appropriate time but this is just a minor tweek to what is in place with it already been laid on but maybe not fully thought through.

But seriously, 20+ years ago the idea of getting loads of kit and all your nutrition would have been fairly alien and certainly not something that folk would have had in their sights when attending county trials - so what is changed?  I would suggest that we have reached a stage when a lot of our young lads have been pampered and pandered to to the point they are almost calling the shots.  Yes there is competition from other sports but by the time guys are 16+ they should be past the stage of making their decisions based on a kit bag.

They obviously didn't get the right free lunch so left! Will they give their free gear back?

Maybe the fact we are winning our home games is because the boys have been fed before they left home and are not starved like they are by the time they walk onto the pitch playing away.  Perhaps a carvery lunch on the way to every away game and we could be in division 1.

Yeah I suppose given it was a stew which you should really be able to serve as people are ready for it you would think it would not have beendifficult to get the u 17 team served earlier.

God help Antrim if indeed those sentiments as expressed by Hectic are shared by many in our beleagured county..

If you are going to spend your time pandering to kids dont come back complaining about their lack of work ethic and hunger, bad attitude and lack of respect for the opportunities afforded to them. Of course if money were no object you could look at all the advantages enjoyed by professional sportsmen but you would think the way some of you are going on that if guys are not fed by the county they would starve. Christ almighty I would say that if it is the lack of a free sandwich that is holding us back then God help Antrim. The bigger problem for me is that too many folk do not appreciate what they have in the GAA nor the effort to maintain it.

Yeah I tend to agree with those who say bring a sandwich. Back in the day the only reward was your jersey if you got sneaked out quick enough after being knocked out of the Championship and even at that it was done knowing that it was not quite right. Sense of entitlement these days is shocking, only thing worse is those pandering to them. Certainly if money was no object it would be different but this is not the case.

Athletics and Leicester should be a very defensive match. One goal could be enough to win it.

Athletico have tried to go more attacking this season. Could suit Leicesters dung approach to playing football albeit successfully.

Disgraceful how the players treated the previous manager.

Disgraceful how Vardy got Nasri sent off though Nasri was an absolute tube in the mix as well.