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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.

😂

False equivalence if you ask me. The one on the left is accurate.

Unfortunately, they are both accurate in general.

Nope that's lazy pure shite. The old "they are as bad as each other" narrative which indirectly excuses Israels barbarity.

Good graphic posted on Slugger

False equivalence if you ask me. The one on the left is accurate.

It's not about taking it easy it's about when you train to peak.

If it was knock out Tyrone would have had a few more provincial wins under their belts and probably mayo the same in Connacht. Not because they didn't try either.

"Mickey, we're gonna take the training handy until after Ulster" "fine by me"

Top teams definitely tailor their training etc to peak later in the year. Look how often that brilliant Mayo team were beat in Connacht.

It depends what your goal is. It was always Sam for Mayo. Team like Armagh desperately need to win an Ulster so would be peaking earlier

The Israelis closed the borders . I read somewhere that there were 7000 trucks waiting on the Egypt side  . Israel neutralised UNRWA,  the organisation that distribute food, runs schools etc  . Biden introduced WCK as a replacement and Israel hit their convoy surgically 3 times.Israel is the heart of darkness.

IDF made a terrible mistake it seems.

That mistake was killing three Brits, a Yank and an Aussie.

30,000 Palestinian men, woman and children was OK though.

Western morals in a nutshell.

I understand that 169 aid workers have now been killed. It's a pity a journalist wouldn't ask them if these recent ones are the only tragic ones.

They've done this before, nothing will change.

My own take on the ranking for the ulster championship (based on form and the draw).

1 - Derry - out and out team to beat regardless of the draw. 
2 - Armagh - draw lends to an 'easier' route to the final. 
3 - Donegal - seem to be a resurgence in them, should give Derry a game with a fully fit team.
4 - Down - Should get over Antrim with no fuss, and may catch Armagh on the hop to make it to a final.
5 - Tyrone - should get over the line in their first game, likely to get beat by Derry/Donegal. 
6 - Monaghan - expect them to beat Cavan and give Tyrone a game, but fall short at this point.   
7 - Fermanagh - expect Armagh to beat them, but it will be a grind for the most of it.
8 - Cavan - no real expectations on Cavan, exit at the first hurdle. 
9 - Antrim - Down seem to be showing promise, so expect Antrim to go out at their hands handy enough. 

Derry v Armagh a likely final. 

Derry's only downfall in my eyes would be injuries to key players(Mc Guigan, Rodgers or Glass) or taking their eye off the ball. 

For Armagh to win, they would need to get over the mental hurdle of caving under the pressure of big games that has haunted them this past 3 years. 

Hard to argue with any of that

Cavan team out with no Dara McVeety, Jason McLoughlin or Killian Clarke named on the match day panel. Its very hard to see how Cavan can win this match

Congrats. I feel like this should be like the Truman show and you should live your life entirely through this board now