Topics

FBD in the bag, Hastings cup to follow, just how far can these boys go?

Mayo had their chances and blew it, Galway are like rabbits in the headlights of this juggernaut, Sligo and Leitrim don't even register on their radar anymore.

Nobody in ulster to challenge, they have the Indian sign over Kerry; will Dublin's millions be enough to slay the Primrose and Blue?? Seems unlikely

Just over a week to the start of the national league, first round fixtures below.

31 Jan 2015 7pm Donegal v Derry Ballybofey
31 Jan 2015 7pm Tyrone v Monaghan Healy Park, Omagh
1 Feb 2015 2pm Kerry v Mayo Fitzgerald Stadium
1 Feb 2015 2pm Cork v Dublin Páirc Uí Rinn

Who will win?

I fancy Dublin / Cork / Tyrone & Kerry to make the last 4, Cork v Dublin final with Dublin winning it again.

Diffciult to know how Mayo will fare - tough trip to Killarney first up and most supporters aren't overly hopeful. Avoiding relegation and discovering two new championship-15 players would be a big success

Looking at buying one - anyone know what sort of spec would constitute a decent one?

Just a poll to gauge people's views on this and how they will compare with what (if anything) happens on Sunday. Not intended as another discussion thread.

Personally I won't be there but I will bring one to the AISF v Kerry

Might as well get this started, the kingdom will be warm favourites after today. Neither sounded good enough to dethrone the spoon burners though

A rematch of the 2011 quarter final when Mayo shocked the all Ireland champions, winning by 4 points having been rank outsiders 

This time around we're slight favourites (1/2 with the bookies) but having watched cork in the munster final and against sligo today, I'd be confident we can win this one.

Might as well get this started. Mayo going for a once in a generation 4 in a row Connacht titles, Galway young guns with underage all Ireland medals bursting out of their back pockets looking to take on the mantle.

Looking forward to it

Hi

I bought a Samsung LED tv, yer man told me it has PVR capability but when I plug in a usb or hard drive, it won't work for me. The tv recognises the hard drive (for playing content already on the hard drive) but won't work when I try to pause tv. I've tried reformatting the hard drive but no joy

Any ideas??

Right, enough hand wringing about letting it slip against Dublin.

A win at home against Derry will be enough to get into the semi-finals. At the start of the league I'd have taken that - Derry haven't exactly been spectacular in recent years and home advantage should be worth a couple of points. However, Derry have been the form team of the league so far which makes this a much tougher game than expected although they mightn't be 100% focussed considering they're already qualified.

Will Horan start his strongest team? Or experiment a bit? Personally, I'd like to see some experimentation and I'd go with:

   Hennelly
Harrison Caff Cunniffe
Durcan Higgins Drake
      Parsons B Moran
McLoughlin COC Vaughan
Sweeney Freeman Gallagher

But I'd expect Horan to go with:

   Hennelly
Harrison Caff Cunniffe
Boyle Vaughan Keegan
      Gibbons AOS
McLoughlin Higgins Moran
Sweeney Freeman COC

A quick question for any electricians out there - I have 12V spotlights in the sitting room at home but they blow regularly so I'm going to replace them with LEDs (I understand these will generate less heat and as such will be less likely to blow).

Should I get the 12V LED spotlights? Or buy LED spotlights that run off the mains voltage and remove the transformer on each light also?

Thanks

So how was 2013 for your county and what do you aspire to in 2014?

Mayo 2013:
Great win for the minors, brilliant to be in Croker for it
Great to be in Croke Park in August / September, hard to beat it
Another winnable All Ireland let slip
Happy to have retained Division 1 status
Good to have Horan stay on for one more year

Mayo 2014:
Uncover the next Gooch
Four in a row in Connacht
Finally win that elusive All Ireland (if Mayo don't win it, I'd fancy Donegal)
Castlebar to win the Club AI
Win one of the U-21 or Minor titles
Horan to stay on for the two-in-a-row

Heard Gemma O'Doherty on Radio 1 this evening on about this and how the DPP have decided not to press charges after there was a review of the case over the past couple of years. She made it sound like the dogs on the street around that area know what happened.

Sounds like there's a whole can of worms here - police investigation apparently substandard, politician allegedly present on the night, the judge who heard the manslaughter knew the defendant, paintings / horse going missing afterwards. Just another case of those in the inner circle being protected? Or what's the craic with it? It's not everyday a priest is murdered, you'd have thought there would have been some sort of outcry from the Church?

I'm starting a masters in Sept which involves a certain amount of programming (mainly Java, C, C++).

Anyone know of a good website where I can learn Java/C/C++??

Secondly, I need to buy a new laptop for this (my current Toshiba is 7-8 years old and slow as hell). Any remommendations?

Thanks

Just heard that Hugo Chavez is dead - he was far from perfect but was he any worse than a lot of previous south american leaders?? Or was it just that he p*ssed off the Americans that made him news?

Have never been to Venezuela so not sure what they think of him but the locals I talked to in Bolivia seemed to be very supportive of Morales when I was there.

[Michael Walsh]

Might as well start a thread for this.......

Twenty six different starters (not sure about what subs played) in the three FBD league matches including eight (open to correction on a couple of those) who haven't played senior championship yet:

Kenneth O'Malley
Michael Walsh
Shane McHale
Lee Keegan
Tom Cunniffe
Keith Rogers
Richie Feeney
Jason Gibbons
Seamus O'Shea
Conor O'Shea
Enda Varley
Cathal Carolan
Evan Regan
Alan Freeman
Michael Conroy
David Clarke
Cathal Hallinan
Donal Vaughan
Chris Barrett
Barry Moran
Ger Cafferkey
Keith Higgins
A.OShea
Kevin McLouglin
Alan Murphy
Jason Doherty

There would have been a few playing for colleges as well - saw Cathal Freeman mentioned in some report anyway.

With four home games this year you'd fancy our chances of staying up and as the top four make the semi finals, that should be achievable although no disaster if we were to miss out.

We have a decent record in the league against Kerry but I guess a lot depends on team selection and where both teams are in terms of training. With these two having swapped trainers during the winter it'll be interesting to see how they get on this year - I believe that O'Neill is putting the Kerry boys through some serious work down there.

Is David Moran back from injury? He could be a big player for Kerry this year.

Thank God the winter is nearly over 

Apologies for setting up a second poll but just wanted to see where the spread of votes is coming from......

Two points down and a man down........Fourth shock of the day??

Only 6 days away from a national final and no thread on this yet.........We're on after the minor game so hopefully there'll be a reasonable crowd (20/25k maybe?) there at that stage.

Cork had a 1pt win in Castlebar a few weeks back after Mayo were 5 points up at one stage in the second half. But Mayo had a huge win against Kerry the last day out which will stand to us.

The big questions for James Horan really are in the forwards and particularly at midfield in the absence of AOS. What's the story with SOS, how long more before he's back? BM looked like he might have been carrying an injury the last day so would you be looking at Gibbons and Harte at MF?

McLoughlin and Dillon will probably take two half forward spots and Andy on the 40 or at FF which leaves three spots available.

Conroy / Mort / COC will be in for the two corner positions - or would you move COC out to the 40 to see how he gets on? While they'd be full of football, it would leave an awfully light half forward line so I can't see it working. Varley and Doc will struggle to get a starting spot off those three although I like Varley a lot.

That leaves one central position - CHF or FF depending on where Andy is played. Is Freeman showing enough in training to get back in? BM in at FF again? Or Harte at HF and someone else at MF? Campbell?

Any word on when / if Trevor will be back? It looks like himself and Feeney will be warming the bench anyway - two very good half backs to have in reserve.

I'm out of the country so I won't make the game but it's great to be back in a national final - I hope we can do ourselves proud.

Maigh Eo abu

Hi

Doing some research on traditional Irish card games how many people play either 25 or 45 - just wondering where these games are played?

From personal experience, I know 25 is played in:

Mayo
Tipperary
Westmeath
Meath

45:
Cork

31:
Kerry

Are they played at all in London / US?

Any help on filling in the blanks would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Couldn't find a thread for this - apologies if there is one already.

Would have thought Offaly should win by a few points but the bookies have them pretty even.....