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Don't know how you can say that. With a man sent off half way through the first half all tactical plans surely went out the window. Put to the sword by a top class Donegal team.

There was no tactical plan before the lad got sent off or after it. No plans around kickouts. No attacking structure and wide open in defence. It was a complete mess.
Even without any tactical nouce, surely you can put a team together who fight for one another? There wasn't an ounce of that either I'm afraid.

The only saving grace is that Fermanagh were annihilated tonight too so that gives some hope for Saturday.

Just in from Dunsilly. It was a horror show. 2 points in 65mins. No score in 2nd half after Donegal took off all their key men at half time.
I feel for the players as there clearly is some talent there and individually they are much better than what they showed tonight. There was no shape or structure to them but most disappointing there was no fight or spirit either on the pitch or on the line.

I don't want to be negative but tonight was abysmal.

Antrim u20's as big as 9/1 tonight with the bookmakers at home to a Donegal side who wouldn't even be fancied to win Ulster at this age group.

From what I've gathered this is a decent u20 side with some real talent and under great management of Colin Toal who I see as the future senior county manager.

I believe this is disrespectful from the bookies and a great chance for punters to clip them and rinse the crookmakers tonight.

Regards,
SS

Disrespectful from the bookies? Mother of God.
Tell me this.. what has Toal done for you make a claim that he is a great manager?

You could half that and there would still be too many teams in Division 1. Realistically, you have Cargin who are on a level of their own. Then you have Portglenone, St Brigid's, Creggan maybe? The fact there are so few decent club sides absolutely impacts the county team but it's one of many, many issues. 

Doesn't seem too long ago Aghagallon would have been worth a mention...what's gone wrong there ?

Cargin undeniably the best team (as has been the case for a long time) but the other teams named here are right on their coat tails at present. I'm also curious what's going on at Aghagallon. They have plenty of decent players if they can get their act together again.

On a different note, what's gone wrong at St Enda's?  Massive underage hype but they have completely failed to deliver at senior level.

If Brigids can't win this year they never will. Best panel of players in the county by a mile, over half of them from Derry and Tyrone I understand. Of course that will be a shame for their homegrown players.
Creggan had a disaster in 2024, you'd expect a bounce back. PG1 there or thereabouts again. Cargin to end their dominance this year, would be my prediction. Aghagallon, Jonnies and Rossa are done. St.Galls are the great pretenders but not at the races. Anyone else who could rise from the pack?

So who are the teams to look out for at 20s level this year?

A poor league for Sligo. McEntee in his 5th year as manager and never got beyond division 3.

It is disappointing. Saturday was a kick in teeth 19-12 up. By most accounts McEntee disrupted our rhythm with the changes 2nd half which looked preplanned but you got to adapt to the game. McEntee is not a good manager. He hasn't developed the panel and its largely the same players year on year. This has stagnated the development of the underage players coming through which his greatest flaw. He is far too loyal to low ceiling players and is getting found out this year.

Kildare have given gametime to 13 players of the U20 All Ireland final, Sligo in contrast are at 4 with 1 only a regular. He allegedly concentrate's on finding flaws in the younger players. The county board continue to believe in this management which is a mistake.

Saturday was a beacon of hope but Management found a way to mess it up.

Loads of posts getting taken down on Hoganstand of Sligo posters criticising the state of Markievicz park pitch which is telling. County Board look to have a lot of influence on there. You can't really criticise McEntee on there either.

None of what is happening within Sligo and on the pitch is surprising to those who have watched Sligo over the last few years.

Still if we beat Antrim away and Leitrim home we will stay up which I believe we can do (that's if Kildare beat Antrim). Clare at home is a free hit too but they look very impressive against Kildare.

Even if you evaluate from the outside, the last 5 years our underage has been winning at A level standard in schools and minor and u20 and our club had its breakthrough this year. Our u20s haven't lost to Mayo in 3 years which is unheard of. The only lagging factor is our County Seniors and I believe management are a big problem here. They way we were prepared this year was nothing short of a disaster and it showed but the CB continue to give them support and a free pass.

All fair points.
I do think Sligo will stay up though. Will beat Antrim this weekend and Leitrim weekend after. Is that enough to buy McEntee another year though? 5 years is a long stint, and there is a wave of really young talent coming through. I'd have thought a change now would be in everyones interests.

[Kerry]

SATURDAY

Kerry v Armagh
Dublin v Galway
Down v Westmeath
Laois v Clare
Carlow v Longford
Wexford v Tipperary
Waterford v London

SUNDAY

Derry v Mayo
Donegal v Tyrone
Cork v Louth
Roscommon v Cavan
Meath v Monaghan
Leitrim v Fermanagh
Offaly v Kildare
Antrim v Sligo
Wicklow v Limerick

Well lads, first of, fully support you in playing Armagh in Corrigan, hopefully you get home advantage and hopefully can get the win.

Huge winner takes all game on Sunday. How are ye fixed for it? Not sure ye would be in this position had ye not got men sent off against Offaly and Laois? Are they suspended or all back? I think we are starting to improve but away from home is always tougher and we have been inconsistent this year. No lead is safe for us. I'm sure Antrim management were at the game yesterday to give us a watch.

I'm very surprised you've been struggling.  Was very impressed with a lot of your players in Croke Park last year.  Thought Sligo would be table toppers to be honest.

We did too with the players we have available but looks like we very poorly prepared for the start of the season. The management have finally cottoned on to a few of the weaker players in the team. Its been a pattern to start badly for a few years now so hopefully out trajectory is the same and we keep improving as the year goes on. Going down would be a disaster but it looks like its between us and yourselves. We have Mayo away in Connacht so tough draw their too.

Yeah I think its a relegation playoff in Corrigan Park for sure as Antrim will struggle in Kildare a week later and Sligo will beat Leitrim. Both teams will equally see relegation as a disaster and a major setback for their respective managers.

Ulster Council should be ashamed at the way they've gone about this, it's a PR disaster for them, and it's hard to have any sympathy the way they've played this.

Had they said from the get go it's about the money and made a solid case, you never know what might have been agreed, but anyone with half a brain could see through that.

Would love the Antrim hurling community to show some support, to date it's obvious they don't give one toss. Maybe now it will be easier as the Antrim board have finally stepped up.

Ulster Council are a disgrace on this.

Where do you see this ending BS? My sources are telling me that the Ulster Council won't be backing down as the have Health & Safety and season ticket issue on their side. If so, Antrim have 2 games left in their season which could end in relegation if they lose to Sligo.

The competition commences Wednesday 19th March.  Derry and Tyrone should be the two strongest again and Ulster winner will be hard stopped in the All Ireland series once more.

Fermanagh would be tough to beat this year. A surprise is on the cards in the first group. I'd say either Donegal or Tyrone won't make it out of that group.

You honestly predicting Fermanagh to beat Tyrone and/or Donegal? What have Fermanagh got that makes you so confident?

This was our best performance since the Dublin league final lets take the positives from it

We lost Rogers, Mcevoy and played the game without mcfaul, toner, gilmore, murphy , Clucky

Lets get the lads back and go to ballybofey with as healthy a squad we can and we wont be far away, keep the faith

Lost Rogers and McEvoy? Are they injured? How long are they out for?

Sligo is a very winnable game but success or failure this year appears to be how we do in Tailteann Cup.

Disagree. Relegation would be a major setback. A good Tailteann Cup run would not make up for it in anyone's language.
Sligo game is now a relegation playoff. 

Finn Mc Eldowney should be on the senior team. Pace, energy and makes great decisions on the ball.

Good player. Too small for county senior though.

Very hard to tell from video angle what happened. Both would appear to be very silly but as I say the camera angle doesn't capture it all. 2 men were taken off in first half followed by 2 red cards which made things very difficult.

Leitrim are playing with a very young 3rd string team apparently with 18 players departed from last year (according to Sunday Indo) and injuries so it should be a straight forward win, anything but that and Andy is in huge relegation trouble.

So some wise heads in Kilcoo objected?