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World Cup 2022: Argentina's Alexis Mac Allister has roots in county Antrim village

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/64011522

There's a lad in front of the navy (carrying the coffin,) must be over 7ft

Past pupil of Sullivan Upper apparently

"Much ado on Twitter about the very tall gentleman that was part of Queen Elizabeth's funeral procession today. That is Matthew Magee, former Sullivan pupil (Class of 2003) and Private Secretary to Her Majesty."

The one that one the imperial cup on Saturday is main hope of the day. Surprise package. Big bonus on offer for any nag winning at sandown and then Cheltenham so plenty of incentive for them.

Bonus no longer applies unfortunately

Big day for JP MCManus?

A decision taken at Central Council today has cleared the way for Ulster GAA to consider running the McKenna Cup competition in 2022. "It was agreed to allow Provincial pre-season competitions to proceed and recommence collective training on 8th December"

"Diesel has gone up, electricity has gone up. The price of a loaf of bread has gone up"

If ever there was a reason to have reasonable prices this is it. Unfortunately Tyrone GAA use it as a reason to put the arm in.

Fair play to the two clubs and their sponsors for funding U16 tickets. However there are a lot more youngsters and adults in the county who will be priced out of viewing this match and witnessing the occasion.

The Tyrone County Board do a lot of things very well and deserve recognition for this. Unfortunately the adults in the room were missing when this decision was made.

When you think about it Tyrone sorta killed Armagh that day. The applechompers never really won a big game in Croke Park fairly since then....15 years ago.

That is what happens when teams fade into mediocrity, as Tyrone are now learning

We are a long long way off Armagh standard yet.

Probably following a Meath/Sean Boylan model of decline with the same failure to refresh.  Takes a little longer but still inevitable.

Funny that since the exchange, Tyrone have reached an AIF and a semi final. We haven't gone away you know.

3 years later and an O'Neill windup is still paying dividends. Some of the more recent wums could learn a lesson

😂😂😂 this discussion aged well

Fergal Logan a free run at it with a team of Dooher, Holmes, McMahon and Pete Donnelly back in according to radio Ulster.

See quote and onwards. Most of us saw it as a good move. What's the plans next year?

Try to take over the world.

I'd like to see more seagulls at all of the Tyrone games. They went missing in the Kerry and Mayo games. Probably to do with Covid?

Big bird.

Obviously informed just one time too many 😂

The draws for the 2020 Dr McKenna Cup have been made tonight at Riddel Hall, Belfast.

Holders Tyrone are set to open against Armagh at the end of the month after being drawn into Group C, with Mickey Graham's Cavan side also part of what looks the toughest section of the draw.

Ulster champions Donegal are with Monaghan and Derry in Group A while Antrim, Down and Fermanagh have been drawn into Group C, with only nine sides partaking in the competition as college teams are not included this year.

The first round of games are scheduled for Sunday, December 29th.

2020 Dr McKenna Cup draw:

Group A: Monaghan, Donegal, Derry

Group B: Antrim, Down, Fermanagh

Group C: Armagh, Tyrone, Cavan

*Semi-final one - Section C winner v Section B winner

*Semi-final two - Section A winner v Best runner up

Ulster GAA have confirmed that the 2020 Bank of Ireland Dr. McKenna Cup Competition will be played without the third level Institutions and will commence on December 29th. A domino effect that has seen County u20s competitions and Sigerson Cup competition being completed earlier left a choice between starting the McKenna cup in mid-December with the third-level colleges or going after Christmas without them.

The group stages will now see games on the 29th of December, January 4th/5th and January 8th with semi-finals on January 12th and the final on the weekend of January 18th/19th. Commenting on the decision Ulster GAA Secretary Brian McAvoy said:

"Two scenarios were put to committee members – the one which was adopted and another which would have meant all three group rounds of the Bank of Ireland Dr. McKenna Cup played in December.  There was little appetite from counties to start the competition pre-Christmas, a scenario which would have meant at least five counties having no organized pre-season games in the month of January."

"With the Sigerson Cup now being run-off in the month of January it's unlikely now that our university teams will be able to participate in the 2020 competition.  Ulster GAA has always valued greatly the participation of Queen's University, Ulster University and St. Mary's University College in the Bank of Ireland Dr. McKenna Cup and we continued to offer them the opportunity to play in our pre-season football competition, even when other provinces did not.

"They have added to the competition over the years and we owe them a large debt of gratitude for this.  It will be disappointing that they are unlikely to be in the 2020 competition – but totally understandable.  I wish them well in their Sigerson Cup preparations and hope that the famed trophy can return to Ulster next year."

Who are....?

Kerry v Tyrone

1. Shane Ryan (Rathmore)
2. Peter Crowley (Laune Rangers)
3. Jack Sherwood (Firies)
4. Brian Ó Beaglaíoch (An Ghaeltacht)
5. Tadhg Morley (Templenoe)
6. Paul Murphy (Rathmore)
7. Tom O'Sullivan (Dingle)
8. Jack Barry (Na Gaeil)
9. Adrian Spillane (Templenoe)
10. Jonathan Lyne (Killarney Legion)
11. Sean O'Shea (Kenmare)
12. Stephen O'Brien (Kenmare)
13. Michael Geaney (Dingle)
14. Paul Geaney (Dingle)
15. James O'Donoghue (Killarney Legion)
Subs:
16. Brian Kelly (Killarney Legion)
17. Diarmuid O'Connor (Na Gaeil)
18. Gavin Crowley (Templenoe)
19. Dara Moynihan (Spa Killarney)
20. Graham O'Sullivan (Piarsaigh na Dromoda)
21. Tommy Walsh (Kerins O'Rahillys)
22. Gavin O'Brien (Kerins O'Rahillys)
23. Killian Spillane (Templenoe)
24. Tom Leo O'Sullivan (Dingle)
25. Tomás Ó Sé (An Ghaeltacht)
26. Robert Wharton (Renard)

[One particular time in the second half he jumped away up into the clouds to fetch a ball, he was that high when he finally came back down and hit the ground he winded himself. It was a fantastic piece of skill but it's a pity they didn't show it on the replay.]

What a crowd tonight. Watched  Armagh a few times last year and they have a massive following. Not much between the two teams probably Tyrones experience was the difference. Nice to see the National Anthem being well respected. Thought there was a good bit of "bite" in the game a sure sign of things to come. Man of the match for me was the Armagh mid fielder Grimley. One particular time in the second half he jumped away up into the clouds to fetch a ball, he was that high when he finally came back down and hit the ground he winded himself. It was a fantastic piece of skill but it's a pity they  didn't show it on the replay.
Armagh and Tyrone have a few good scrap yard dogs in their defences. I actually thought Tyrone got a couple of buttery soft frees towards the end of the first half. I don't think Peter Harte is suited at full forward he excels in the space. Sludden had a brave good game for Tyrone tonight over all both sets of players contributed a lot. The pitch looked very cut up where Armagh took their penalty which I suppose you could expect this time of the year. Over all it was great entertaining game.

It usually takes O'Rourke, Spillane or Brolly to start drooling over a high catch especially if it's performed against Tyrone 😂

Was there an official attendance for Ard Mhacha v Muinechain last night?

3641

Is there tables somewhere for how the groups finished?

https://billhillwicklow.com/dr-mckenna-cup-2019/

Was fighting with myself over whether or not to buy this book for a few weeks.  Not Cavanagh's biggest fan since his retirement but eventually I bit the bullet.  Not a bad read. 
Found it strange that he had pics in there of places of worship in the Moy eg the church of Ireland, the Catholic church etc.  Not sure what the reasoning was behind this. 
Think he was hinting that tyrone were behind the others with regard to weight training etc which eventually caught up with them.
Only a few chapters left now.

Towards the end he sorta cuts loose on a few things.

There were about half a dozen factual inaccuracies. Pity the ghost writer didn't have a ghost reader. Still, surprisingly enjoyed it.

Enjoyed it too. His school move from Dungannon to Armagh didn't take up too much time in the book.