Messages

MS & TFAL. Please read that post again, i specifically stated that the league did not give any indication of what might happen in the championship!!

Don't make me have to speak to you again on this matter!!

MS you mispelled my name. As i'm a newbie and i'm not entirely sure what the correct protocol is i'll keep everything shipshape by reporting you to the mods.

Think this one is really hard to call.

Plusses for Derry are that playing at home in Celtic Pk  they generally perform reasonably well and have generally got positive results. The new manager seems to have instilled greater belief and has established more options for covering injuries and loss of form. [TG as the list of injuries for Sun is as bad as i ever remember.]. There also seems to be a greater emphasis on playing to a team system rather tham as a collection of individuals.

Negatives for Derry are the injuries for Muldoon and McCusker in particular who are proven performers in championship football. Muldoon especially will be a big miss at midfield [no disrespect to Joe D] for ball winning and delivering quality passes. Also developments as listed above in belief, new players, tactics etc are relatively untested as they will undoubtedly be in the blazing white heat of championship action.

Monaghan seem to have a fairly clean bill of health and will be at near full strength for the game [JP Mone aside poss]. The purported loss of form by Eoin Lennon would be a big worry if accurate/not rectified.

Monaghan are proven championship performers over the past few years, i don't see this changing on Sunday. They will have a great sense of purpose which will mean they will contest every ball, a solid game plan which makes them very difficult to score against, and utilises the undoubted ability of their stand-out forward players. Generally they are sound tactiaclly during the game too, i cannot recall too many mistakes from Banty over the past few seasons.

For the result of the past 2 years to change Derry will need to exhibit a newfound sense of purpose and belief in their ability to deliver, plus a higher degree of tactical awareness along the line than on the last 2 occasions the teams met in c'ship. The series of glorified challenge games that the NFL has become is no longer a reliable indicator [if it ever was] of whether Derry has yet acquired these vital but ephemeral qualities, in the same way that it is no indicator of Monaghan's form.

In the belief [with zero evidence to back it up] that Derry have developed a greater degree of conviction over the past 6 months i'll give a hesitant vote to Derry. Winners by a point.

Is there anybody there???

I thought that article was a complete load of bo**llocks, the theory is advanced that players and managers are opposed to working within a set of rules..

".. many teams and managers fundamentally resist the notion of being accountable to rules and resist as stubbornly as they can attempts to enforce compliance"

As the rationale for an article on the introduction of new rules into the GAA this takes some topping. For me this demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of why there is 'visceral opposition' to the new rules..

As with most changes in the GAA over the past decade the catalyst seems to come a small cohort of Croke Park staffers, some elected, many not, who seem to think that they have to leave a 'legacy' 'cause the media says so.

N  "Gawd, that game was pure shite Pauric.
P  Aye Nicky so it was.
N  We'll hafta do something about that so. Sure nobody'll pay £100 to watch that in Croker. We'll needa establish a committee so, t'see if we can't root out them dirty feckers from the game.
P Yeah Nicky if i wanna see that level of violence i'll buy a ticket to the WWF.
N Why how many would pay to see that in Croker?
P  Dunno Nicky, sure i'll get the committee to look at that an all.
N  Well i'm off up to the studio to collect a tape of the match for the CCC tomorrow, sure that feckin ref only lined the roun half dozen, i'll need to get a few more boys coolin their heels for a few weeks. Did you see yer man givin thon corner forward a durty luk, the wee lad'll need a fair bit o counselling for that i'd say.
P Well I hope them c**nts at the GPA are gonna pay for it, after all we've done for them.
N  I hear you were 10 minutes late into work last Friday you lazy b**tard, so under the new GAA working directive 'you're fired.'
P I better ring the Indo so...


In this case there certainly doesn't seem to be any significant groundswell of opinion among players, club members, managers, referees or supporters for a significant change in the rules.

Hi i'm a 'nooby' too.

Joined up in time for the new season, prob why several/umpteen others have also joined recently.

Anyway when i post i can see my own e-mail address, can anyone else see it?

I don't want to start slagging anyone off until i'm sure my ID is well hidden!!  

Congratulations Screen, that's a great result against a good Dromore side.

Think this final is always at Emyvale, they instigated this competition, though it has grown quite a bit in its geographical spread since its inception, thus clubs having to travel further for the final.

If i was yous i'd refuse to travel!!! I was at this final once, the stewarding was abysmal.  

If yous do go - Good Luck - keep her in Doire!

[FROM PAGE 4 !!!!]

Thought i'd bump this - FROM PAGE 4 !!!!

Thought there'd be a wee bit of gloating about last night's game or at least some discussion of the big game tonight.

Seems like the pressure is getting to the 'Pool supporters on this board.

[Just to take Keyser Soze up on his point - do I understand so that if someone is successful they are never questioned? OK]

Just to take Keyser Soze up on his point - do I understand so that if someone is successful they are never questioned? OK. That's the kind of thinking that has ended up with a global recession of epic proportions.
[/quote]

MS, you're [ahem] overreacting to what i said, the thrust of which was - when things are going well posters should refrain from hyperbole, when things are not going so good try not to be over critical.  

It's a bit rich to see numerous comments condemning the media for overhyping teams or being overcritical, and then to read comments - when 2 games are lost [plus a squeaky bum win and a squeaky bum draw] - which absolutely lambast players who the same posters were fawning over a few weeks back.

Then to ratchet up the parody value a few notches further, posters come on to criticise one of the most successful managers in the modern game for his team selection.

Perhaps a little more balance would be in order, you make the tabloids seem like a model of decorum.

'Dunphy wept'

1. Jimmy Stewart
2. Gene Hackman
3. Kevin Spacey

1. Julia Roberts
2. Anne Archer
3. Una Thurman