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The two teams that deserved to win on the day won.  Magherafelt and Foreglen can be proud of themselves, worthy winners. 

No controversy over JJ's final whistle, it was blew before the ball was kicked, time was well and truly up.  Glen played well, but just came up short - I'm sure they'll be back.

The biggest disappointment was Claudy not showing up in the second half (they weren't much better in the first half, to be honest) - they were poor, froze in front of Foreglen.  Again.

I think there is a toss of a coin between who wins between Glen and Magherafelt, so I went heads for Glen and tails for Magherafelt.  Heads won 2 out of 3.

Claudy haven't beaten Foreglen in twenty-something years in league or championship.  On paper they should win easily enough on Sunday and get that monkey off their backs.  I wonder if they have the right mentality though - is the thought of beating Foreglen going to play on their minds and hold them back?  Possibly.

I predict a very tight game, Claudy to win by two and Barry Cassidy to have a busy afternoon.

Well, well, well! Who would've predicted that. Well done Banagher!  What a result.👏👏👏

Even worse, ewe predicting Lavey!
I'll get my coat.

I didn't want to be a sheep and follow the general consensus.

Could you lift my coat too Silver? 😉

Well, well, well! Who would've predicted that. Well done Banagher!  What a result.👏👏👏

[Senior Football Championship]

Senior Football Championship
Slaughtneil v Ballinderry - Slaughtneil by 5
Swatragh v Banagher - Swatragh by 6
Glen v Lavey - Lavey by 3
Magherfelt v Ballinascreen - Magherafelt by 2

Intermediate Football Championship
Castledawson v Desertmartin - Castledawson by 6
Drumsurn v Ballerin - Drumsurn by 1
Lissan v Claudy - Claudy by 8
Foreglen v Doire Transa - Foreglen by 6

Junior Football Championship
Drum v Magilligan - Drum by 4
Glack v Moneymore - Glack by 2

Any truth in the rumours circulating in Owenbeg on Sunday night that the league structures are changing again next year to a 16 team division 1, giving Dungiven and Banagher a reprieve from Intermediate status?

Some good games over the weekend. Banagher v Bellaghy game the standout for me. Nobody thought Banagher had that performance in them after a terrible league. But they were deserving winners.

Did Glen win the game last night or did Loup throw it away?

Loup just lost any ambition or momentum once Glen went down to 14.  They were cruising in the early stages, until Glen got a man sent off.  After that Loup tried to play keep ball across the middle of the park with very little forward thrust or attacking threat against a well drilled 14 man defence.  Glen easily turned them over, broke at pace and Loup couldn't get a foothold in the game after the sending off. 

On another note, what is happening at Dungiven?  They were poor. Very, very poor, there's not much more to say on their performance, I'm sure Ballinderry never thought it would be that easy.  Slaughtneil looked like they had at least two more gears to go up against Newbridge if they needed to and it looks ominous for the rest, especially after Coleraine's defeat.

But surely performance of the weekend was Banagher.  Lost all league games and then deservedly beat an over-complacent Bellaghy.

[Senior]

Championship weekend, who's is it to win?  I'd say Slaughtneil, Claudy and Glack

Senior
Friday (Owenbeg: 20:30) Lavey v Greenlough
Saturday (Glen: 14:30) Newbridge v Slaughtneil
Saturday (Glen: 16:00) Ballinderry v Dungiven
Saturday (Owenbeg: 16:30) Banagher v Bellaghy
Saturday (Owenbeg: 20:00) Magherafelt v Coleraine
Sunday (Bellaghy: 13:30) Glenullin v Swatragh
Sunday (Owenbeg: 18:00) Kilrea v Ballinascreen
Sunday (Owenbeg: 19:30) Glen v The Loup

Intermediate
Friday (Owenbeg: 19:00) Craigbane v Castledawson
Friday (Celtic Park: 20:30) Steelstown v Claudy
Saturday (Celtic Park: 12:00) Drumsurn v Slaughtmanus
Saturday (Celtic Park: 13:30) Faughvale v Foreglen
Sunday (Bellaghy: 12:00) Ballerin v Ballymaguigan
Sunday (Celtic Park: 15:00) Limavaday v Doire Trasna

Junior
Thursday (Owenbeg: 19:30) Magilligan v Ardmore
Thursday (Celtic Park: 19:30) Sean Dolan's v Doire Colmcille
?? (??: ??) Glack v Drum

[Group A]

The seven teams competing for the Junior Championship begin their round robin matches this weekend.

Group A
Friday, 19:30, Celtic Park: Glack -v-Doire Colmcille
Saturday, 13:00, Owenbeg: Drum -v- Sean Dolan's

Group B
Saturday, 14:30, Owenbeg: Ardmore -v- Moneymore
Magilligan - bye

Any predictions?

[Reserve Recreational League]

It seems to me the players of the seven teams in the Reserve Recreational League are to be envied by the senior, intermediate, junior and reserve leagues.

Over a 16 week period from Friday 5 April to Friday 26 July they have 14 rounds of fixtures (seven home, seven away), most of the played on a Friday night and with a smile on the faces of all involved - they were playing for the joy of it.  Plus the training to match ratio is perfectly balanced

The current set up for the 61 teams in the senior, intermediate, junior and reserve leagues would seem to cater for 30 odd players on the county panel out of roughly 1,000 players in the county (61 x 15 = 915, plus a sub or two each), so for about 3% of players the league structures has been ravaged by a warped sense of fairness. 

For definite the current set up needs an overhaul.  Last season at their introduction I was all for the league cup games as a gap filler between the block of league games, but no one (players, managers or supporters) seem to take them seriously; in essence they are glorified friendlies.  Senior cup games played with barely 15 players, reserve cup games conceded routinely and next to no supporters.

#changeourleagues

[Doire Colmcille]

With Division 2 starting on Saturday, what are the thoughts for the year ahead with the new league structure in place?

Doire Colmcille v Drum - Drum by 10
Sean Dolans v Lissan - Lissan by 8
Ardmore v Slaughtmanus - Slaughtmanus by 15+
Desertmartin v Moneymore - Desertmartin by 2
Glack v Ballerin - Ballerin by 3
Craigbane v Magilligan - Craigbane by 4
Doire Trasna - bye

The three teams in bold could be in for a tough season with a few heavy defeats dished out by the likes of Craigbane, Slaughtmanus and Ballerin who will all be pushing hard for promotion.  I reckon the other seven teams in this league will give each other decent games but won't trouble the top three.

What is the format of these new Leagues?
Will there not be a serious amount of pastings handed out in Division 2?

Each team plays each other once in every league. Top team gets promoted/bottom team gets relegated, no playoffs.

Yeah there will be a few big score lines put up in division 2.

Division 1B looks very competitive, canny wait.

I see the district competition fixtures have been released for the near ten weeks of the spring/summer with no league action.  It's good that they've returned to the old north and south split as this should ensure a bit of parochialism towards the competitions.

But I see Lavey are conspicuous by their absence, albeit their reserves are entered into the McGlinchey Cup.  I suppose it did them no harm last year though.

Well done to Bellaghy, Claudy and Ballymaguigan on their minor wins yesterday.

A decent crowd saw a good game, a brilliant game and one not so good. 

Tyrone in the preliminary round. Oh dear!