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But that's not what's happening here JoG2.

We're establishing now that there's plenty of schools in Donegal bigger than traditional MacRory schools.

We already know (even if you try to deny it) that Donegal produce good minor teams and have a much better recent record than Down, Armagh, Antrim, Fermanagh and Cavan.

So the ingredients are there - very obviously there - for Donegal schools to compete at MacRory level.

Obviously there's something missing. Let's for now call it a culture of taking pride in schools football.

But rather than going down the route of accepting this and making a 5/10 year plan to compete on an even keel, you want shortcuts. You want the ability to handpick a globetrotter team from multiple schools and send them straight into MacRorys with a clear chance of winning because the raw talent makes up for any lack of culture / pride in the team.

And the best thing about this? If anyone who enjoys the current MacRory concept complains, you can slap it away with an accusation of  "why won't anyone think of the players?".

Let's just call it out for what it is. It's envy. And envy loaded with no concern for the damage that might be done to a competition that has thrived without Veruca Salts running amok.

Is there not a massive secondary school in Carndonagh?

The community school, their teams would comprise players from which clubs? Are they part of an amalgamation?

Don't know.

Why are they not MacRory if school so big?

A school serviced by smaller junior and intermediate clubs v schools serviced by the likes of Magherafelt, Lavey, Glen, Slaughtneil etc

Ah would you stop.

If St Michael's were to take this attitude they'd just enter the Markey Cup every year.


You actually do seem to want to take someone else's cake and eat it, and force everyone else to watch.

The reason I lumped in Monaghan is because they're a rural county with similar levels of success in the MacRory Cup to Donegal sides over the past 15 years. Yet they've still won 3 Ulster minors and appeared in 3 other Ulster minor finals. A seeming lack of ability to compete at grade A schools level does not hamper them in producing county level footballers. Nor does it hamper Donegal.... In my opinion.

By the way, St Michael's have shown time and again that a medium-small school can conquer the MacRory, so long as there's a football culture and a little patience. I'm not overly familiar with Donegal schools but I'd be honestly shocked if 3-4 schools in that county aren't significantly bigger than Enniskillen.

So we should just deny young players in more remote places like Donegal the advantage their counterparts in much of the north have with access to these big traditional GAA schools and the ability to play a couple of years worth of high level football outside of county set-ups?

Could you describe the advantage J70?

I mean if what you're saying is true, that the MacRory creates advantages for its players, then Donegal and Monaghan wouldn't count at minor and senior football levels.

Maybe I'm just not very bright, but to me it would seem to go without saying that the more time one spends training and competing with better skilled teammates and playing against better skilled opposition, the more opportunity one has to hone and practice their owns skills and execution and build experience amidst that higher level of pressure and required speed of thought.

And if you really want to equate the two, it's not like Donegal have been pulling up any trees at intercounty underage levels over the years. We won two AI U-21s back in the 80s. We've never won an AI minor championship.

Nothing to do with brains J70, all to do with objectivity about what it is you're trying to achieve.

To the best of my knowledge, no Donegal man has a MacRory Cup medal, and no Monaghan man under the age of 80 has one either.

If this is a debilitating issue for juvenile football in those counties, it's difficult to see how. Between them they've appeared in 9 of the last 15 Ulster Minor finals (if everything in life was equal it would be 6-7 appearances between them).

If it is a debilitating issue in terms of progressing players to senior football, then the 15 Ulster Senior finals they've played in between them (again, all things being equal, they'd have 6-7 appearances between them) over the past 15 years, suggests otherwise.

Why am I focused on the past 15 years? It's perhaps an arbitrary number. But it correlates with the period in which football moved away from being an open battle into heavy tactics. I'd assume a lack of opportunity to practice those tactics at a high level should be more telling now than ever.

When I personally look at this data, it for me empties any argument that the MacRory as a breeding ground for successful / passionate / better footballers, provides tangible advantages to those involved, over those who compete in lower grade schools competitions, or not at all in schools football.

So if this theory can be semi-objectively dismissed, then what is the reason for allowing conglomerates to bastardise the competition?

So we should just deny young players in more remote places like Donegal the advantage their counterparts in much of the north have with access to these big traditional GAA schools and the ability to play a couple of years worth of high level football outside of county set-ups?

Could you describe the advantage J70?

I mean if what you're saying is true, that the MacRory creates advantages for its players, then Donegal and Monaghan wouldn't count at minor and senior football levels.

"Keep it for the big schools" attitude is no different to Leinster Rugby boys and their Schools Cup.

As for whoever made the daft argument that it's ok in clubs, but not in schools, because lads wouldn't really like other schools, really?! And they like other clubs?

It's not "keep it for the big schools". It's "keep it for the schools".

Yet the competition, which is a little over 100 years old, has been won more than 70 times by just five schools, and 94 times by the top nine. The remaining eleven titles are shared between six other schools.

Yet the likes of Magherafelt, St Ronan's, HTC, and St Paul's have all shown in the past decade that the difference between the "original" schools and everyone else can be more than bridged by hard work and a change of culture.

St Michael's have being proving since the start of time that patience is a virtue that will be rewarded at MacRory level.

Also I'd suggest it would be a more honest reflection on affairs if you were to focus the attention of your statistical breakdown of winners to the past 50 years. Prior to that it was a closed shop. Armagh, Cavan and Monaghan have 35 MacRory Cups between them (out of 100). Which suggests dominance. Until you see that it includes a grand total of 2 since 1972.

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I really don't like the vibe of moral high ground I'm getting from some posters about this.

What is being created here is an Animal Farm type of equality.

There was a genuine sanctity to MacRory football up to this point. Did some schools  find ways and means to enrol students who weren't fit for further education? Of course. They all did. But ultimately every player was always part of a singular, clearly defined institution, each with a defined culture for Gaelic Football.

Should this Donegal experiment prove successful, then what next?

I mean how would you feel if Abbey CBS and St Paul's had a look at their Rannafast campaign this year and decided to join forces for 2026/27 MacRory?

And then what if St Colman's asked to get involved too?

Or if Dungannon, Donaghmore and HTC had a lightbulb moment that they each have 3 outstanding players and if combined would be unbeatable?

Maghera and Magherafelt then bury the hatchet to beat the common enemy.

And what do we end up with then? Well we end up with a smaller number of teams competing at top level "schools" football, and the same 180-190 players who play county minor football, enjoying an almost identical competition except they're representing a different region than their county, and some of their teammates at county become opponents in "regional schools level conglomerates" and vice versa. Meanwhile there's 180-190 lads who would have got MacRory football previously, get to watch their star colleagues playing for "school" as well as county.

Is this implausible? No it's not. Because there's just no sanctity to a competition that was designed for school v school, when schools can randomly and willy nilly merge with each other to create franchises. There is nobody on earth can devise competition rules whereby it's okay for some schools to merge but not others. Nobody.

So take your equality high horse and please ride out of town. There's a wonderful and historic competition being ruined by your well meaning but utterly contemptible attempts to be everything to everybody.

And to repeat my original point. What makes this truly contemptible is that a competition - county minor football - already exists to provide the exact equality that you so readily seek.

Another win for Newcastle last night. They are flying. Are they in the title race?

I saw Shearer last night say that they are, when the reality is that they arent.  They are flying though and would definitely fancy another go at Champions League football next year.

They're half in it. If they keep their first 11 fit they would likely win the vast majority of their matches, which would take 80+ points to topple. Scouse are obviously on course to demolish 80 points but nobody else is, and that's the only one Newcastle wouldn't be able to reel in; they'd need a Liverpool mini collapse.

Newcastle's problem is that once they get past a very well-balanced and top class first 11-13 players, they are a below mid table table.

Jees Wobbler dunno. A good attacking team wouldve had a field day

I think that was the point of the changes though. Arsenal (without Saka) aren't a good attacking team, but Spurs couldn't get out of their own half for 45 mins.

"Keep it for the big schools" attitude is no different to Leinster Rugby boys and their Schools Cup.

As for whoever made the daft argument that it's ok in clubs, but not in schools, because lads wouldn't really like other schools, really?! And they like other clubs?

It's not "keep it for the big schools". It's "keep it for the schools".

Ange just took off 2 dm's for 2 am's at ht. Man has no fucks to give lolol

It was the right move. Sarr and Bissouma were absolute passengers. Spurs got a hold of possession somewhat after that.

Dunno why anyone would want to deny any young fella the chance to play at MacRory level.

Have spent £5 on the classico here. 2.0 to Maghera after 10. Magherafelt are a big physical looking side.

And I don't know why our forefathers bothered their arses creating and fostering competitive schools football, when they could have just run all star type games a few times a year, giving everyone a runout.

[Why?The channel already exists for every single schools player to compete at the highest representative level.]

Why? Why wouldn't that apply to clubs?

Why?

The channel already exists for every single schools player to compete at the highest representative level.

A more pertinent question is why would that group of players need another competition that does the same thing? It just weakens both competitions.

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Clubs is very different. If you happen to be born in a parish with a small catchment area, then amalgamations will be your only pathway to play juvenile club football. There is no alternative, let alone one doing pretty much the same thing.

I'd disagree....playing schools football @ the highest level during school terms and being coached by good coaches is hugely beneficial for their clubs and counties. It's these players who will make up the vast majority of the county panels in some counties.

So can you explain how it would then differentiate from county minor?

Why? Why wouldn't that apply to clubs?

Why?

The channel already exists for every single schools player to compete at the highest representative level.

A more pertinent question is why would that group of players need another competition that does the same thing? It just weakens both competitions.

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Clubs is very different. If you happen to be born in a parish with a small catchment area, then amalgamations will be your only pathway to play juvenile club football. There is no alternative, let alone one doing pretty much the same thing.

What is the purpose of the Macrory Cup?

Is it a trophy that is awarded to the "best" school football team in Ulster that year, or is it to give students the chance to play at the highest level in schools football in Ulster?
I think that needs to be clarified.

If it is the chance for students to play at the highest level (and so amalgamations are allowed) then why would the same logic not apply at club football where divisional teams or amalgamations could enter provincial or national competitions?  This would give more club footballers the chance to test themselves at the highest level (to use Damian Diver's line of thinking).

Students already have an amalgamation option to play at the highest level: it's called county minor football.

Schools football should plough its own furrow.

St Colman's losing 4-0 at half time to the Donegal Abbey. Everybody involved over the past decade in turning MacRory football into negative dross should hang their heads in shame.