Derry Club Football & Hurling original

[tbrick18]

Caught on and jumped over to Mal, on watching the Tyrone semi the standard especially the forwards seemed to be a level above Derry club fball at the minute.

Is it as defensive as our club game? Have the Tyrone forwards a bit more space to let rip? Club forwards in our county have little to no chance with so many bodies inside the 45. Every game is pretty much the same, high on defensive systems and low on entertainment tbh

I've seen quite a few Tyrone club games over this last couple of years. Generally a sweeper is played by most teams but not as defensive as Derry clubs in general.
There's a few things to note too, the pace of games in Tyrone seems to be much higher tempo than Derry. Perhaps the knockout format helps bring that out.
The quality of attacking isn't fantastic, but there are some exceptional forwards in the county who can manufacture scores out of very little. A lot of clubs have players now who have played in and won Ulster and AI senior county championships. This gives an air of confidence and experience that the derry clubs don't have.
There are realistically about 5-6 teams that could win the senior championship (Dungannon, Trillick, Dromore, Coalisland, Errigal, Ardboe - maybe).
That levels the playing field and gives more competitive games rather than some of the walkovers in Derry. In my opinion and as much as I hate to say it, it's probably one of the best, or perhaps one of the most competitive club championships in the country at the minute.

I'm not as close to Derry club football as I used to be so perhaps this is the same in Derry clubs, but in Tyrone a serious amount of effort is going into underage football. In Dungannon, for example, having been in the doldrums for years a decision was made 10-15 years ago to start rebuilding from u6s up. They now compete at the top grade in every age group and won a senior championship last year with a group of players who came up through that underage structure and who now have a winning habit. There is a real conveyor belt of talent coming through there yet they only had one player on the Tyrone panel for the AI this year. To me that's an indication of the quality of the team rather than it being a set of talented individuals.
Derry clubs may well be the same though.

[lenny]

Caught on and jumped over to Mal, on watching the Tyrone semi the standard especially the forwards seemed to be a level above Derry club fball at the minute.

Is it as defensive as our club game? Have the Tyrone forwards a bit more space to let rip? Club forwards in our county have little to no chance with so many bodies inside the 45. Every game is pretty much the same, high on defensive systems and low on entertainment tbh

I've seen quite a few Tyrone club games over this last couple of years. Generally a sweeper is played by most teams but not as defensive as Derry clubs in general.
There's a few things to note too, the pace of games in Tyrone seems to be much higher tempo than Derry. Perhaps the knockout format helps bring that out.
The quality of attacking isn't fantastic, but there are some exceptional forwards in the county who can manufacture scores out of very little. A lot of clubs have players now who have played in and won Ulster and AI senior county championships. This gives an air of confidence and experience that the derry clubs don't have.
There are realistically about 5-6 teams that could win the senior championship (Dungannon, Trillick, Dromore, Coalisland, Errigal, Ardboe - maybe).
That levels the playing field and gives more competitive games rather than some of the walkovers in Derry. In my opinion and as much as I hate to say it, it's probably one of the best, or perhaps one of the most competitive club championships in the country at the minute.

I'm not as close to Derry club football as I used to be so perhaps this is the same in Derry clubs, but in Tyrone a serious amount of effort is going into underage football. In Dungannon, for example, having been in the doldrums for years a decision was made 10-15 years ago to start rebuilding from u6s up. They now compete at the top grade in every age group and won a senior championship last year with a group of players who came up through that underage structure and who now have a winning habit. There is a real conveyor belt of talent coming through there yet they only had one player on the Tyrone panel for the AI this year. To me that's an indication of the quality of the team rather than it being a set of talented individuals.
Derry clubs may well be the same though.

Tyrone doesn't have any clubs who would even come remotely close to beating Glen or Slaughtneil. If you put either of those clubs into the Tyrone championship there would be a number of walkovers also. I can see this being a high quality game on Sunday with the 2 outstanding teams on view. I can't see much in ot at the end, can this go to penaltys or is there a replay?

[tbrick18]

Caught on and jumped over to Mal, on watching the Tyrone semi the standard especially the forwards seemed to be a level above Derry club fball at the minute.

Is it as defensive as our club game? Have the Tyrone forwards a bit more space to let rip? Club forwards in our county have little to no chance with so many bodies inside the 45. Every game is pretty much the same, high on defensive systems and low on entertainment tbh

I've seen quite a few Tyrone club games over this last couple of years. Generally a sweeper is played by most teams but not as defensive as Derry clubs in general.
There's a few things to note too, the pace of games in Tyrone seems to be much higher tempo than Derry. Perhaps the knockout format helps bring that out.
The quality of attacking isn't fantastic, but there are some exceptional forwards in the county who can manufacture scores out of very little. A lot of clubs have players now who have played in and won Ulster and AI senior county championships. This gives an air of confidence and experience that the derry clubs don't have.
There are realistically about 5-6 teams that could win the senior championship (Dungannon, Trillick, Dromore, Coalisland, Errigal, Ardboe - maybe).
That levels the playing field and gives more competitive games rather than some of the walkovers in Derry. In my opinion and as much as I hate to say it, it's probably one of the best, or perhaps one of the most competitive club championships in the country at the minute.

I'm not as close to Derry club football as I used to be so perhaps this is the same in Derry clubs, but in Tyrone a serious amount of effort is going into underage football. In Dungannon, for example, having been in the doldrums for years a decision was made 10-15 years ago to start rebuilding from u6s up. They now compete at the top grade in every age group and won a senior championship last year with a group of players who came up through that underage structure and who now have a winning habit. There is a real conveyor belt of talent coming through there yet they only had one player on the Tyrone panel for the AI this year. To me that's an indication of the quality of the team rather than it being a set of talented individuals.
Derry clubs may well be the same though.

Tyrone doesn't have any clubs who would even come remotely close to beating Glen or Slaughtneil. If you put either of those clubs into the Tyrone championship there would be a number of walkovers also. I can see this being a high quality game on Sunday with the 2 outstanding teams on view. I can't see much in ot at the end, can this go to penaltys or is there a replay?

I wouldn't be just so sure.
Ok, granted there isn't a Slaughtneil in Tyrone....but any of those Tyrone clubs I mentioned above would give them a game.
The general point I was trying to make about Tyrone is that there are a lot of clubs that are within a kick of a ball of each other. All of those teams are solid teams and they all play at pace and aren't quite as defensive as the Derry club teams. It makes the Tyrone championship competitive. In terms of quality, that's always subjective but with the swathe of players with All Irelands in their back pockets there's real quality there too. The games have certainly been more watchable in Tyrone than in Derry for the past few years (based on the small number of games I've seen).

For a long time the Derry club championship was ultra competitive, but IMO, that's not so much the case any more. Partially due to the structure of the championship, but also partly due to the dominance of Slaughtneil for so long.

Just personal observations.

[Hoof Hearted]

Derry has always had their dominant teams
There was a spell between 2004 and 2010 where there was 6 different winners, nobody has defended Tyrone since 2004 I think
You listed a few teams earlier who start every year with a decent shout
Apart from the 2 in derry final was anyone else REALLY in with a chance ?

[Mario]

Derry has always had their dominant teams
There was a spell between 2004 and 2010 where there was 6 different winners, nobody has defended Tyrone since 2004 I think
You listed a few teams earlier who start every year with a decent shout
Apart from the 2 in derry final was anyone else REALLY in with a chance ?

Coleraine and Magherafelt have both won it in recent years so yes. Easy to look back now and say no one else had a chance.

[JoG2]

Lavey, maybe Bellaghy & Swatragh all on the rise, be fair to say? Re the match on Sunday, Loop were blown out of the water by a superbly drilled, fiercely talented and driven Glen side. Their workrate was incredible, from the first minute to the last. They don't waste any ball in today the forward line, everything sticks and theres an abundance of runners to support. I can see them winning by a bit on Sunday, 5/6 points tbh. Was it 8 years ago they contested the Intermediate final v Foreglen?
Re the senior championship as a whole, it has been a poor spectacle, teams drilled to sit back, then move it sideways, then back etc Straight knockout is your only man

[toby47]

Lavey, maybe Bellaghy & Swatragh all on the rise, be fair to say? Re the match on Sunday, Loop were blown out of the water by a superbly drilled, fiercely talented and driven Glen side. Their workrate was incredible, from the first minute to the last. They don't waste any ball in today the forward line, everything sticks and theres an abundance of runners to support. I can see them winning by a bit on Sunday, 5/6 points tbh. Was it 8 years ago they contested the Intermediate final v Foreglen?
Re the senior championship as a whole, it has been a poor spectacle, teams drilled to sit back, then move it sideways, then back etc Straight knockout is your only man

Based on what?

[lenny]

Lavey, maybe Bellaghy & Swatragh all on the rise, be fair to say? Re the match on Sunday, Loop were blown out of the water by a superbly drilled, fiercely talented and driven Glen side. Their workrate was incredible, from the first minute to the last. They don't waste any ball in today the forward line, everything sticks and theres an abundance of runners to support. I can see them winning by a bit on Sunday, 5/6 points tbh. Was it 8 years ago they contested the Intermediate final v Foreglen?
Re the senior championship as a whole, it has been a poor spectacle, teams drilled to sit back, then move it sideways, then back etc Straight knockout is your only man

The knockout hasn't been much better.

[JoG2]

Lavey, maybe Bellaghy & Swatragh all on the rise, be fair to say? Re the match on Sunday, Loop were blown out of the water by a superbly drilled, fiercely talented and driven Glen side. Their workrate was incredible, from the first minute to the last. They don't waste any ball in today the forward line, everything sticks and theres an abundance of runners to support. I can see them winning by a bit on Sunday, 5/6 points tbh. Was it 8 years ago they contested the Intermediate final v Foreglen?
Re the senior championship as a whole, it has been a poor spectacle, teams drilled to sit back, then move it sideways, then back etc Straight knockout is your only man

Based on what?

Couple of decent minor sides, Co and Ulster titles. There's an improvement there of late, maybe not the same trajectory as say Lavey. Probably a bit of padding in my post in fairness.

I hear you Lenny, it's not a great spectacle across the board, the mountain of group games doesn't help. All on the day knockout would be an improvement, so less negative / defensive games

[lenny]

Lavey, maybe Bellaghy & Swatragh all on the rise, be fair to say? Re the match on Sunday, Loop were blown out of the water by a superbly drilled, fiercely talented and driven Glen side. Their workrate was incredible, from the first minute to the last. They don't waste any ball in today the forward line, everything sticks and theres an abundance of runners to support. I can see them winning by a bit on Sunday, 5/6 points tbh. Was it 8 years ago they contested the Intermediate final v Foreglen?
Re the senior championship as a whole, it has been a poor spectacle, teams drilled to sit back, then move it sideways, then back etc Straight knockout is your only man

Based on what?

Couple of decent minor sides, Co and Ulster titles. There's an improvement there of late, maybe not the same trajectory as say Lavey. Probably a bit of padding in my post in fairness.

I hear you Lenny, it's not a great spectacle across the board, the mountain of group games doesn't help. All on the day knockout would be an improvement, so less negative / defensive games

Derry football was slow to go down the defensive route but most teams are set up probably too defensive now. Is that because of the influence of outside coaches quite often from Tyrone. We have Tyrone coaches who've been great for us but it can be hard to watch also. Slaughtneil seem to be way more defensive now since Devlin came in to coach them. Too many clubs haven't got the balance right just yet.

[JoG2]

Lavey, maybe Bellaghy & Swatragh all on the rise, be fair to say? Re the match on Sunday, Loop were blown out of the water by a superbly drilled, fiercely talented and driven Glen side. Their workrate was incredible, from the first minute to the last. They don't waste any ball in today the forward line, everything sticks and theres an abundance of runners to support. I can see them winning by a bit on Sunday, 5/6 points tbh. Was it 8 years ago they contested the Intermediate final v Foreglen?
Re the senior championship as a whole, it has been a poor spectacle, teams drilled to sit back, then move it sideways, then back etc Straight knockout is your only man

Based on what?

Couple of decent minor sides, Co and Ulster titles. There's an improvement there of late, maybe not the same trajectory as say Lavey. Probably a bit of padding in my post in fairness.

I hear you Lenny, it's not a great spectacle across the board, the mountain of group games doesn't help. All on the day knockout would be an improvement, so less negative / defensive games

Derry football was slow to go down the defensive route but most teams are set up probably too defensive now. Is that because of the influence of outside coaches quite often from Tyrone. We have Tyrone coaches who've been great for us but it can be hard to watch also. Slaughtneil seem to be way more defensive now since Devlin came in to coach them. Too many clubs haven't got the balance right just yet.

100%. Watching Glen on Sunday, they seem to have the balance just right. When you've everyman working extremely hard, breaking out of defence at speed can reap dividends. Glen were ahead by a cricket score in the last few mins and the likes of McFaul, Glass, Doherty were still doing 70/80 lung busting runs. Plus they are willing to let the ball in as they know it'll stick and those leading the line will carve out a wee bit of space. Takes a bit of bravery too.

[Mikhailov]

Lavey, maybe Bellaghy & Swatragh all on the rise, be fair to say? Re the match on Sunday, Loop were blown out of the water by a superbly drilled, fiercely talented and driven Glen side. Their workrate was incredible, from the first minute to the last. They don't waste any ball in today the forward line, everything sticks and theres an abundance of runners to support. I can see them winning by a bit on Sunday, 5/6 points tbh. Was it 8 years ago they contested the Intermediate final v Foreglen?
Re the senior championship as a whole, it has been a poor spectacle, teams drilled to sit back, then move it sideways, then back etc Straight knockout is your only man

Based on what?

Couple of decent minor sides, Co and Ulster titles. There's an improvement there of late, maybe not the same trajectory as say Lavey. Probably a bit of padding in my post in fairness.

I hear you Lenny, it's not a great spectacle across the board, the mountain of group games doesn't help. All on the day knockout would be an improvement, so less negative / defensive games

Derry football was slow to go down the defensive route but most teams are set up probably too defensive now. Is that because of the influence of outside coaches quite often from Tyrone. We have Tyrone coaches who've been great for us but it can be hard to watch also. Slaughtneil seem to be way more defensive now since Devlin came in to coach them. Too many clubs haven't got the balance right just yet.

100%. Watching Glen on Sunday, they seem to have the balance just right. When you've everyman working extremely hard, breaking out of defence at speed can reap dividends. Glen were ahead by a cricket score in the last few mins and the likes of McFaul, Glass, Doherty were still doing 70/80 lung busting runs. Plus they are willing to let the ball in as they know it'll stick and those leading the line will carve out a wee bit of space. Takes a bit of bravery too.

Very easy to do all the work and make runs when it is all one way traffic. I wasn't at the game as I don't go to much Derry football if it clashes with Tyrone championship. But to simply say a team is playing the right way and full of attacking bravery when they are 20 points up is debatable.

By the way that refers to any team winning easy and looking unbeatable, not specifically talking about Glen

Admittedly I am hearing great things about Glen but let's see how they get on this weekend first. I think they will win but only by 1-2 points but it will be a real test for them.

[JoG2]

Lavey, maybe Bellaghy & Swatragh all on the rise, be fair to say? Re the match on Sunday, Loop were blown out of the water by a superbly drilled, fiercely talented and driven Glen side. Their workrate was incredible, from the first minute to the last. They don't waste any ball in today the forward line, everything sticks and theres an abundance of runners to support. I can see them winning by a bit on Sunday, 5/6 points tbh. Was it 8 years ago they contested the Intermediate final v Foreglen?
Re the senior championship as a whole, it has been a poor spectacle, teams drilled to sit back, then move it sideways, then back etc Straight knockout is your only man

Based on what?

Couple of decent minor sides, Co and Ulster titles. There's an improvement there of late, maybe not the same trajectory as say Lavey. Probably a bit of padding in my post in fairness.

I hear you Lenny, it's not a great spectacle across the board, the mountain of group games doesn't help. All on the day knockout would be an improvement, so less negative / defensive games

Derry football was slow to go down the defensive route but most teams are set up probably too defensive now. Is that because of the influence of outside coaches quite often from Tyrone. We have Tyrone coaches who've been great for us but it can be hard to watch also. Slaughtneil seem to be way more defensive now since Devlin came in to coach them. Too many clubs haven't got the balance right just yet.

100%. Watching Glen on Sunday, they seem to have the balance just right. When you've everyman working extremely hard, breaking out of defence at speed can reap dividends. Glen were ahead by a cricket score in the last few mins and the likes of McFaul, Glass, Doherty were still doing 70/80 lung busting runs. Plus they are willing to let the ball in as they know it'll stick and those leading the line will carve out a wee bit of space. Takes a bit of bravery too.

Very easy to do all the work and make runs when it is all one way traffic. I wasn't at the game as I don't go to much Derry football if it clashes with Tyrone championship. But to simply say a team is playing the right way and full of attacking bravery when they are 20 points up is debatable.

By the way that refers to any team winning easy and looking unbeatable, not specifically talking about Glen

Admittedly I am hearing great things about Glen but let's see how they get on this weekend first. I think they will win but only by 1-2 points but it will be a real test for them.

Did they just happen upon that 20 point advantage?

[theticklemister]

I was on the 24/7 website which covers the live games. The Slaughtneil and glen game is already up there to purchase, but no sign of the Steelstown and Greenlough game. Do we know if this is getting televised live?

[toby47]

Lavey, maybe Bellaghy & Swatragh all on the rise, be fair to say? Re the match on Sunday, Loop were blown out of the water by a superbly drilled, fiercely talented and driven Glen side. Their workrate was incredible, from the first minute to the last. They don't waste any ball in today the forward line, everything sticks and theres an abundance of runners to support. I can see them winning by a bit on Sunday, 5/6 points tbh. Was it 8 years ago they contested the Intermediate final v Foreglen?
Re the senior championship as a whole, it has been a poor spectacle, teams drilled to sit back, then move it sideways, then back etc Straight knockout is your only man

Based on what?

Couple of decent minor sides, Co and Ulster titles. There's an improvement there of late, maybe not the same trajectory as say Lavey. Probably a bit of padding in my post in fairness.

I hear you Lenny, it's not a great spectacle across the board, the mountain of group games doesn't help. All on the day knockout would be an improvement, so less negative / defensive games

Derry football was slow to go down the defensive route but most teams are set up probably too defensive now. Is that because of the influence of outside coaches quite often from Tyrone. We have Tyrone coaches who've been great for us but it can be hard to watch also. Slaughtneil seem to be way more defensive now since Devlin came in to coach them. Too many clubs haven't got the balance right just yet.

100%. Watching Glen on Sunday, they seem to have the balance just right. When you've everyman working extremely hard, breaking out of defence at speed can reap dividends. Glen were ahead by a cricket score in the last few mins and the likes of McFaul, Glass, Doherty were still doing 70/80 lung busting runs. Plus they are willing to let the ball in as they know it'll stick and those leading the line will carve out a wee bit of space. Takes a bit of bravery too.

Very easy to do all the work and make runs when it is all one way traffic. I wasn't at the game as I don't go to much Derry football if it clashes with Tyrone championship. But to simply say a team is playing the right way and full of attacking bravery when they are 20 points up is debatable.

By the way that refers to any team winning easy and looking unbeatable, not specifically talking about Glen

Admittedly I am hearing great things about Glen but let's see how they get on this weekend first. I think they will win but only by 1-2 points but it will be a real test for them.

Glen were doing this from the first minute to give themselves a 20 point lead. The game didn't start with Glen 20 up.

Yes Slaughtneil are defensive enough but them and Glen are the two teams most willing to kick the ball into their forwards. Most other teams in Derry at the minute are defensive, but also slow at getting the ball up front & move sideways more often than forward.