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Time to switch over, ya couldn't watch any more of this.

This is some pile of shite of a game

Strong Armagh team named, glad to see Rian back starting where he belongs.

Geezer changing all the numbers around does my head in as if Fermanagh will think jarly og burns is going play corner forward and turbitt is going play wing forward.I would like see Rian get a run at midfield as think this a weak area for us, but burns, crealey or mackin could all play middle of the field.

Numbers mean nothing. Basically we will play with one or two men up the pitch (probably Murnin and Turbitt/Conaty), one or two men as designated markers at the back (Burns and McKay) with everybody else moving up and down the pitch. Same as nearly every team nowadays so this thing of lining out teams in 1-6-2-6 simply pre-dates the Jimmy McGuinness tactical revolution. It still bemuses me to see a half back get extra credit for picking off scores when they are often the best placed players on the team to kick points. 

Where will your goalie play?

Insurance will go through the roof after the 10th ACL in a team who train on a synthetic pitch.

I've my doubts about 3G/4G pitches and ACL's as well, but have you any evidence on this?

I have a contact in SIS that make synthetic pitches. He reckons in a few years insurance companies will start refusing insurance cover on Astros that don't have the shock proof underlay on them. That underlay probably adds 80k to the cost of an Astro and it is compulsory in rugby but not in GAA and Soccer as far as I am aware.

Monaghan need to sort their shit out and their crossbars too. Disgrace.

Cahair O Kane has his say

https://www.irishnews.com/gaa/cahair-okane-its-all-bloody-aprils-fault-isnt-it-TAS7SU3BIVBJ3JSJCTAREZZOBY/

AH, April, the GAA calendar's middle child.

Just sitting minding its business, not really bothering anyone but feeling as though it's to blame for everything.

On Sunday, Monaghan and Cavan met in Clones.

Just 8,324 people showed up.


Thanks to the explosion of commentary around the meek attendance, we've learned that this was the first GAA championship match ever to be played in middling weather.

Storm Kathleen blew straight down the field in Clones. It didn't really rain or anything, but damn you anyway April.

If only we'd waited another few weeks for our standard three months of summer sunshine to begin, then the people would have flocked. Flocked, I tell ye!

On Saturday week, Derry play Donegal in Celtic Park.

Same competition. Same month. Fair good chance it'll even lash the rain.


Club committees have been investing heavily in reinforced glass from behind which they can tell members that there just aren't enough tickets.

In Derry, clubs have been given 10 seated tickets, 50 for the main terrace and 50 more for behind the goal. Many have restricted their allocations to just one-per-person.

When those two counties met in the 1993 Ulster final, the Donegal Democrat's preview of the match began by recalling how not even 5,000 people had turned up when they'd met three years previous.

The game had clashed with Ireland's World Cup game against Egypt, just as the same two counties would clash with the 2002 penalty shootout against Spain.

On July 18, 1993, Clones was a mudbath. The rain didn't take time to fall out of the sky.


In the minor game, Cathal Scullion from Derry broke his leg.

Neither side has ever really deviated from the sentiment that the senior game should never have gone ahead.

It's nine months since Dublin and Kerry met in the 2023 All-Ireland final on the last day of July.

Every third head in the crowd was covered by a yellow mac bought on the streets outside Croke Park. It poured non-stop for two hours.

But April.


Yeah, the old Club Month. Could we not go back to that utopia? Sure didn't the clubs have it great, they got their lads for a full month.

Except county training carried on, and naturally that's where they went.

And inter-county challenge games too.

And sure what odds about club games in April really? Best not to chance it in case you pick up a knock.

Who the hell would blame them for that? It was a total nonsense of an operation with no winners.


Some counties, particularly big dual counties, were so desperate for space in the calendar that they threw in two rounds of club championship in April.

By the end of game two, hundreds of young lads were off looking for their J1 visa, their footballing year over already.

Could we not go back to that though?

Because All-Ireland finals in July just don't hit the same, apparently.

Look at the thousands of empty seats in Croke Park last summer.

Of the 82,300 capacity for the All-Ireland football and hurling finals there were only... er... *checks notes*... 82,300 there.

That there were only 43,192 people at Derry's semi-final against Kerry was deemed worthy of note.

Must be because we're playing championship in April now.

2004 was the second-highest attended football championship in history, drawing in 1.157m spectators at the gates, second only to the previous year.

When Derry and Kerry met at the same stage in the stadium at The Proper Time For An All-Ireland Semi-Final, there were 35,457 at it.

Only five years ago, just 33,848 turned up for a Kerry-Tyrone semi-final in the middle of August.

But damn you April and your split season, go on out of the road with ye.

Recency bias: That there were only 43,192 people at Derry's semi-final against Kerry was deemed worthy of note - but that was almost 10,000 more than when the same two counties met at the same stage in 2004.

Gaelic football has an attendances problem but it has had an attendances problem almost 15 years.

The decline in fans coming through the gates for championship football has been masked by continually adding more games.

In 2015, the Ulster Championship drew a combined attendance of 140,000 people.

The first year of the April championship in 2022, that figure dropped to 99,000.

But then, guess what? Last year, played in April and May, it jumped back up to more than 112,000.

That is not evidence of big crowds of yesteryear but it's evidence that April isn't the problem here.

Why fans stay away is a combination of factors.

One of the most significant is always ticket prices.

If a Monaghan fan had gone to all their games so far this year, they'd have spent over €200 on tickets, an average of more than €100 on fuel and then the rest.

For Cavan fans, it's been €189 on tickets and over €165 on fuel because their fixture list wasn't as kind.

Everyone always hopes there's more to be spent, but they don't always have it to spend.

If prices stay as they were last year, the round-robin stage alone will cost €75, at €25 per game.

An Ulster final, €35.

A possible All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final, another €25. Quarter-final, €40.

Semi-final, €50.

There's talk that tickets for the final will jump from €90 to €100 this year.

The absence of a proper season ticket that gives supporters really good value and rewards their loyalty is a massive blind spot.

When the GAA announced a price hike in National League tickets at the start of the year, they promised championship packages. Those are nowhere to be seen yet.

They'll play on the fact that the provincial championships aren't centrally organised by Croke Park but the average punter sees championship as championship, rightly so.

Weather can be a factor but when you look at how the 10,000 figure is regularly topped in Division One of the league, played in February and March, then you can't really hold tight to that buoy.

Ulster people have been out fighting the corner of our provincial championship hard, naturally. It is brilliant.

But it's tied down by the dead weight of the other three.

If Cavan reach an Ulster final, they'll sell out Clones twice over. Same for everyone else.

Louth brought thousands upon thousands of people to Croke Park for last year's Leinster final, but there were still only 40,000 there in total, because the Dubs have stopped bothering altogether.

Dean Rock's admission last week that he doesn't know how many Leinster medals he has was just a truthful reflection of the reality.

We're guilty up here of being the one-eyed man, seeing only the good in Ulster, without really wondering why the rest of Gaelic football should hitch itself to dead competitions because ours still works.

Do we break Ulster football if we let go? Maybe the selfishness is justified.

Fans are voting with their feet, not in the sense of abandoning the sport, because the league is thriving. The All-Ireland series remains healthy.

It's just this bit of flab in the middle that isn't doing it for the viewing public.

But nah, don't worry about any of that.

It's all because we're playing championship in April.

I'm going to call it now, Cavan and Monaghan to be drawn in same group in the All Ireland Round Robin.

Joe Kinnear with his trademark soft skills

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahJbjpBfQQY

JFK as he was known, Joe f**king Kinnear. There was a press conference he gave once where he fucked everyone out of it. Was brilliant.

Beggan is the best kicking goalkeeper but at the fundamentals he is just average. Even with his forays up the pitch, while he has the ability to kick long range points with that right foot piston, he is quite slow and cumbersome in possession and got caught out yesterday not for the first time. You would have to question the judgement of a pundit who gave him MOTM yesterday after conceding 3 goals. That must be a first for a goalkeeper. I thought Paddy Lynch deserved it but Faulkner was very good too. 

It was Philly McMahon who gave it to him. I agree it was silly, but to give some context he gave it late into injury time and literally seconds before Lynch scored the 3rd one. He then even joked that he made the call too soon. Not sure why they need to make the call before the game is over though

I think even before Lynch got the last goal it was a ridiculous call. Like based on what? At that point Lynch had 9 points. 8 dead balls from 8, every bit as difficult as Beggans. Beggan has conceded 2 goals, Looked set to be on the losing team and I think had missed 2 or 3 dead balls. Utterly bizarre call. I can imagine he would have been pretty embarrassed by it

4k in Carrick* and De Páirc. About what you'd expect at those 2 fixtures.
Dungarvan just over 1k, probably about what you'd expect.
Didn't see any figures for Leinster where crowds have been declining for years in a one team Competition.
Cavan v Monaghan was a pretty poor turn out for a fixture which regularly drew 5 figure crowds.

*€30 for a stand seat was a disgrace for a Qtr Final. No wonder the Stand was half empty.

I was on the hill in Clones and there was hardly a Monaghan fan around me. Maybe they were all in the stand but it felt like there was more Cavan support at the match?

Well dunno where that came from but up Cavan. Beggan mom, what are they smoking in BBC?

Ridiculous decision, they were dying to give it to Beggan simply due to the fact that he got an NFL trial.

Personally thought Beggan should have done better for that first goal in injury time.

Thought he was poor for all 3 goals. The 3rd one he was obviously up the field and was ambling back, but even the first 2 goals he was rooted to the spot and didn't make a move or dive or such. His kicking was decent as usual, but could see that time out of playing and moving did affect him

I think that is harsh. Faulkner absolutely belted the ball, there was no stopping it and Gerry gave him no chance either. The last goal was due to a turnover and a quick 50 meter pass, if he had a jet suit on he wasn't getting back for that! Jesus very harsh to blame the keeper. He also made one outstanding save in the first half from Lynch.

Now the question around should he have started or not, well everyone in the crowd and in the chats before hand fully expected him to start so I think it was never in doubt.

I would love to see teams launching kickouts out on top of the opposition goalkeeper when he comes out to stand on one side of the pitch during kickouts it's a great platform to attack and go for goal if they opposition don't win it as there is 65m of open field to drive into.

Agree. Not sure why this isnt done. There is no risk to the team with the kickout but there is a potential for a huge reward

Probably because you will be outnumbered under the ball if you do that?

Well dunno where that came from but up Cavan. Beggan mom, what are they smoking in BBC?

Handy win for Monaghan tomorrow?

If Cavan are as poor as they finished the league it will be handy win for Monaghan. However this is championship playing the neighbours and live on BBC and RTE if no kick and competitive showing from Cavan it will speak volumes about them.

Cavan were pretty bad in the league but still were hard to beat. Meath for example should have had them beat out the gate by half time in Breffni but by the 60th minute Cavan were ahead.
Monaghan are brittle and low on confidence, plus they are missing their big attacking threats.

Best value bet is Monaghan ahead at HT but Cavan by a couple at the end.

It reminds me of 2020 this run up to this game. No one giving Cavan a chance, particularly our own fans. Maybe they'll come out shooting.

If Cavan never won another Ulster for 40 years they'd still have won more than anyone else.

Likewise if we never won an All Ireland again, we'll still have 5 more than Monaghan.

😂