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i'd definitely recommend it - a lot of goings in brigids these days lynchboy will you have a team left?

I think quinn will play aginst tyrone- that's why he hasn't been involved to date because they are trying to get him fit for that. It's hard enough  making your debut but then throw place kicking on top of that- i think it's asking  alot but as you say there may be no choice. Bernard Brogan is  player you all seem to be forgetting- he was excellent for a heavily depleted DCU team against Dublin and in my view should start aginst tyrone. He was the best club forward in the county last year and he deserves a run. He also kicks frees from the hands with his right foot with keaney the other side but like i said i think quinn will be back.

Sherlock is back training tayto but i doubt he'll start against tyrone and i doubt whelan will either. Don't forget Shane Ryan either- best player we had last eyar and it's amazing how short some people's memories are.

In my view this is not the game to throw the new players in. We need the experienced heads for this game. as tyrone are likely to wind the new players up. The expectations on Connolly are ridiculous at this stage- and i don't believe it would be agood move to have him as the freetaker for this game. Would make far more sense to start them against Limerick the following week. The reality is Dublin have to beat Tyrone considering some of the players tyrone are missing- If we can't beat them without the likes of o neill and mc guigan -then it doesn't bode well.

O Shaughnessy is training with the squad- hasn't been selected
Christie is doing  a thesis - probbaly a few more weeks yet
Whelan trained last night for the first time.
Vaughan won't be back till 2/3rd week of Feb
Sherlock is back -hasn't been selected
Quinn has a groin problem -that doesn't bode well long-term because i believe it's similar to the problem Collie Morna had. He may be back for the Tyrone game- one hopes it isn't going to be a persistent problem .

Not mcuh consolation magpie - bit like saying Ronan Keating is a step up from Shane Lynch. Hallf hour delay i'd say.

Excuse me Uladh for offering an opinion but I do know  about Sigerson football and if offered achoice -i'd still pick my county. The reality is county football is the pinnacle for any player (ie it is the highest level you can play at) that is why the All Ireland inter county championship is played at the height of summer and Sigerson football is played in the mud of February.
Sigerson is a great competition in its own right- you get to play with your best friends etc and it can improve a player . BUt it is very much behind county football in terms of importance and in a county as competitive as Tyrone you might only get one chance. There iis no necessity for universities to be involved in county competitions and I haven't seen one argument to convince me that their inclusion is for the benefit of everyone.

they'd get a bigger crowd in Timbuctu- a very much delayed start i fear.

would have said O Neill is right - i know if iit was me id want to play for my county- playing for you university is hardly the same thing. theplayers should have the right to choose- it may be the only chance they'd ever get.

Very high opinion of your own opinions Uladh- maybe some of us have a different opinion that's why it's called a forum- if you want to have one with you as the only poster- set up your own. I don't think they add any value to the competition and i'm entitled to that view. I know if i was a county manager and i wanted to see a player i wasn't sure about in action i'd want to see him in action for the county side- because how are you supposed to know if he's good enough?

You're entitled to your opinion Cloc Mor but I'm not getting involved in a slanging match.
The ever increasing profile of the inter-county game is going to lead to the university competitions being squeezed. Mickey Harte doesn't care whether UUJ or QUB win the Sigerson Cup-he's only interested in Tyroen winning Sam. And I wonder did anyone ask the university players involved did they not want to play for Tyrone? Playing county football is a honour for any player and having to play for university hardly holds the same appeal.
The reality is the mc kenna cup/o byrne cup etc- is where the managers sort out there league panels- they obviosuly don't put the same stock on the Sigerson Cup anymore and they don't want it interfereing in their preparations. I'm not saying that's right- but we've seen the demise of the club competitions where county managers won't even let players play with their club - obviosuly the universities are next.

not a question of paying lip service to burnout but the following.

- If a player is good enough for Sigerson- he shouldn't be playing Freshers -that's hardly a pro-active approach by the UNiversity who are AS bad as anyone when it comes to contributing to  burnout.

- If  a player is good enough for the county senior panel - there should be no requirement for him to train with the 21 panel or play mickey mouse challenege games with them.

You have to look at the managers point of view as well. they have guys in university panels who may/may not be good enough for county football. How is Harte supposed to find out- if they are good enough unless they are playing for Tyrone. I don't agree that the Sigerson Cup is the standard of competition people think it is. It's played in the most awful weather conditions and having attended and played quite a few games- mundane is what i'd describe a lot of them. It's quite obvious county managers don'r rate the level of Sigerson training in a lot of the colleges.

harte is right - why shouldn't he allowed pick his own players - the universities add zippo to the competition and should be ejected with immediate effect. they have the higher education leagues and the sigerson/fitzgibbon cups. if they want something else to play iin -they should make up their own competitions instead of polluting everyon'e else's. We have to put with pox like UCD in the dublin championship - one wonders how long it will be before they seek entry into the county championships up north then we'll see how many fans they have here then.

The Gaa have bottled it again.
We are the only field game in the world where there are no restrictions on managers patrolling the sideline. Everybody else sits in the stand where (a) you have a better view of the game and (b) you don't get the sort of incidents we had with big joe against kerry last year.
I don't see what benefit managers have from standing pitch side- worst view in the stadium. I agree with the managers on the water issue-with drug testing etc- they have to know what's in the bottles that's only fair to the players. We seem to have this bullshit idea that we shouldn't copy other sports. You should if it's in the best interests of the game and any rational person will argue this is. But it's the typical Gaa response to changing anything -it takes 10 years. If the pace of modern life was to move at the same pace of the GAA we'd all be driving cars like Fred Flinstone's.
They've let a Big Time Charlie's dictate to them again and the only loser is the Gaa.

i think that's a load of rubbish matt to be honest.
Cast your mind back if you may and ask yourself how often did kildare win anything prior to him being there and the same for Laois. As i pointed out in a prior thread laois never won an u21 all-ireland they played in one final- 80% of their players on the minor teams never cut it at senior level simply because they were made celebrities at a ridiculously young age. Micko even said that himself. u21 is the gauge for success in my view because the players will come through at that stage- minor means little or nothing in the general scheme of senior inter county football- that's why maughan hasn't brought any of the roscommon players on. I thought he raised laosi to a level they hadn't made previously and their failings was more down to the attitude of some of the players like Parkinson for example who is a case study of a star underage player who thought he was something he wasn't.
I know myself as a Dub - we viewed laois and kildare as absolute cannon fodder- one ex-dub said to me a good team to get the scoring averages up against. That doesn't exist anymore and that whether you like it or not is down to Micko.
We don't particularly like Kerrymen in Dublin but you can't argue with the facts-success follows him. Even if he wins nothing with wicklow- he's raised the profile of the county and kids in Wicklow will start following the team. He's given Wicklow players something to aspire to - how that can be a bad thing is beyond me? He's gone to a footballing backwater and is trying to bring them up a level- i disagree entirely with what you're saying.

Disagree- there is no guarantee Tyrone will recover from injuries as well. Some of them were serious injuries and it could take a couple of years to get back to their previous form - so I don't agree with you on that. Kerry have the luxury of guaranteed entry into the last 8 every year because the standard in the province is rubbish. that's a hell of an advantage.
I appreciate you don't agree with my assessment of Laois- but i think you're very weak in the half back line and the half-forward line and I think other teams have targetted that.. You've a good full back line- good keeper- good centre back- good midfielder and 3 good forwards when on form- but i thought even Mayo over-ran you in the engine room. Colm Begley was an awful loss as e was probably worth 3 players in that department.
I'm well aware of our weakenesses and the scoreline last eyar was a bit of a freak- but i still think if the teams played tomorrow Dublin would have the edge whetehr we can maintain that in the coming season remains to be seen.

The joy s of working nights...................

7 players in my view

2 wing backs
a midfielder
2 half forwards
2 inside forwards

I doubt Dublin need 8 - we need about 3 - a full back and 2 forwards- but there is no guarantee we'll find the replacements. We may have lost to Mayo but the management have to take their fair share of the blame for that by making changes only they saw. I still believe its Kerry's to lose hopefully some of their players will stay in Oz.
Remember i'm talking about winning the All -Ireland-actually lifting it not kust getting there. I still believe Laois bought far too much into believeing their minor winning teams are still superstars the best player ross munnelly never played on any of them.