Ulster Senior Football Club Championship 2009

[Olly]

It was good to see st galls do well. It did hurt a wee bit to see the like of gallagher do well and him from Fermanagh. If we notice crossmaglen they are from there. I have suffered myself at the hand of the Galls lifting players from our club but maybe thats the way. Well done anyway and St Teresas which is the real story. They struggled hard to stay afloat on the Glen Road. Well done to St Teresas.

[saffron sam2]

No real surprise in the result, but it should be said (without being either patronising or condescending, although it would be funny if I was being either or both) that Loup reaching the Ulster final was a greater achievement than St. Gall's winning it. St. Gall's were superior in almost every position with really only nos. 6 and 15 mounting any sort of resistance for Loup.

While I would question the involvement of both Fermanagh Gallaghers. I have to say it was a treat to watch the Rory boy. You had to have sympathy with the Loup full back, the way both teams were lining out it meant both full back lines could get destroyed - even McClean who is an infintely better footballer than O'Kane struggled early on against Young who is an infintely weaker player than Gallagher.

Nine different scorers shows the depth of talent in the St Gall's team and the fact that Loup didn't get a single point from play is indicative of their defensive strengths. the younger Kelly is an improvement over Kennedy, although the keeper looked dodgy under the high ball.

The sickness bug in the St Gall's camp was genuine (one of their starting fifteen was off work from our place with the diarrhoea for a couple of days at the tail end of the week) - it may have affected them a bit, but they were always going to be far too strong.

On a sort of personal note, it was good to see fourteen of our past (and current) pupils involved in the two games in Newry yesterday.

Other general observations.

The traffic in Newry was surprisingly easy to negotiate. Thanks 5 Sams.
Pairc Esler was a decent venue.
The programme was crap - a whole page on the three referees, yet all we know about the players is their names. Hate that crap.
Yesterday was cold, although both teams showed admirable toughness in tight fitting short sleeved shirts.
Amhran na bhFiann gets slower every time I hear it.
Loup's amateur psychology was fairly lame (not coming out at the correct time, ensuring that St. Gall's were on the pitch to hear the 'massive' lough shore roar).
Brennan's not wise.
Aodhan Gallagher was a deserving man of the match, although reasonable cases could have been made for about eight of them.
There is some number of gabshites go to these games. We had the misfortune to be sitting in front of a Loup boyo who slated his team and management from the first whistle to the last.
Pat McEnaney wasn't fooled a second time by Johnny McBride.
Pat McEnaney is turning / has long since turned into a sort of refereeing parody. A bit like an Alan Partridge / David Brent style figure.

St. Gall's won't be far away, but there are a couple of areas in which they could still improve.

[Bogball XV]

While I would question the involvement of both Fermanagh Gallaghers. I have to say it was a treat to watch the Rory boy. You had to have sympathy with the Loup full back, the way both teams were lining out it meant both full back lines could get destroyed - even McClean who is an infintely better footballer than O'Kane struggled early on against Young who is an infintely weaker player than Gallagher.

Sam, very surprised, nay, disapointed, twice in the one sentence.

[saffron sam2]

While I would question the involvement of both Fermanagh Gallaghers. I have to say it was a treat to watch the Rory boy. You had to have sympathy with the Loup full back, the way both teams were lining out it meant both full back lines could get destroyed - even McClean who is an infintely better footballer than O'Kane struggled early on against Young who is an infintely weaker player than Gallagher.

Sam, very surprised, nay, disapointed, twice in the one sentence.

Equally disappointed here. With both of us.

And you quoted it, you ballix.

[oakleafgael]

Pat McEnaney wasn't fooled a second time by Johnny McBride.
Pat McEnaney is turning / has long since turned into a sort of refereeing parody. A bit like an Alan Partridge / David Brent style figure.

St. Gall's won't be far away, but there are a couple of areas in which they could still improve.

McEnaney is getting worse the more I see him. I thought he was poor yesterday getting a lot of very basic decisions wrong. He wrongly called McBride for pulling his man in by the arm, he must have been reading the papers. How he didnt give St Galls a penalty is a mystery.

Hopefully St Galls can go all the way, would be good for Antrim and Fermanagh.

[oakleafgael]

When was the last time a Derry club side took a beating like that in Ulster club. Can anyone remember

Cross stuffed Bellaghy in Clones, not sure if it was a semi final or a final. Both sides behaved very badly that day.

[orangeman]

Disappointing end to the season for the neutral -  Loup just didn't turn up. I thought that we'd have seen a more aggressive approach from the Loup -

But hats off to St Galls who were simply devestating.


Having survived a scare in Cavan and a wee bit of a scare in Casement against Pearse Ogs, they went on to almost humiliate both Clontibret and Loup. I haven't seen many victories as facile as this one was so you'd have to reasonably conclude that this Galls team are well equipped to possibly go the whole road.


Well done to them. Looking forward to their semi final - who do they play ?

[FermGael]

I would be an avid follower of Ulster club football over the past 20 years or so. This was the reason why i asked the question, I couldn't remember the last time a Derry team took a beating like that. Cross have never stuffed Bellaghy. If my wee brown book is correct, Bellaghy and Cross have played 4 times with each winning two games. Significantly Cross defeated bellaghy in 2 finals, one after a replay in 98 I believe, and the other in 96 I think by 2 points. I honestly cannot think of any derry club team taking abeating like that in the Ulster Club. Anyone?

Enniskillen beat Bellaghy  12 points to 6 points in 2001 with bellaghy getting two very late points.
Not sure of the year though.  think it was 01

[brokencrossbar1]

A great result for St Gall's but as someone pointed out Autumn form does not always translate to winning the AI.  I think it really is there for them this year.  The team seems well balanced with a great spread of quality footballers.  The likes of CJ are starting to mature as players to compliment their obvious talent.  I have seen what is left and there is nothing that would sacre me from a St gall's perspective. 

The one concern I would have for them is that they get a little caught up in the whole thing and lose their focus.  They still need to play football.  The only thing is they are playing good fottball and will be very hard to beat.

[saffron sam2]

I would be an avid follower of Ulster club football over the past 20 years or so. This was the reason why i asked the question, I couldn't remember the last time a Derry team took a beating like that. Cross have never stuffed Bellaghy. If my wee brown book is correct, Bellaghy and Cross have played 4 times with each winning two games. Significantly Cross defeated bellaghy in 2 finals, one after a replay in 98 I believe, and the other in 96 I think by 2 points. I honestly cannot think of any derry club team taking abeating like that in the Ulster Club. Anyone?

Enniskillen beat Bellaghy  12 points to 6 points in 2001 with bellaghy getting two very late points.
Not sure of the year though.  think it was 01

I think I remember that as well. Did Bellaghy not get a few red cards also, ending the game as something resembling a disorganised rabble?

Fair play to Loup for keeping their discipline despite getting a bit of a tanking.

[gallsman]

Awesome peformance by St Galls today, delighted they played to their potential. As said before they've always had the skills but now the majority of the lads are peaking physically and they dont look like they can be stopped.

They tanked Loup who were beaten by a far superior team, both physically and skills wise.

The whole team were great and Niblock in particular won a sight of ball--he was flying and so powerful he couldnt be stopped all day, some change from his performance at the same ground v Cross 2 years ago, he's come on bucketloads since then.

Best bit of the game was when Aidso did as he did in the semi v Clontibret --Aidso hand passed the ball over Aidan McAlynn along the sideline with about 5 mins to go --McAlynn then went to 'do' Aidso as he was left open after he played the ball, but Aidso just quickly tightened himself in and buried McAlynn onto his arse. He then stood over McAlynn and looked down at him, McAlynn got up and hit Aidso a crap punch the stomach--Aidso just laughed at him and shook his head. Good moment

Either that or the moment Karl came on. His man started jabbing him in the back as soon as Karl ran over to him. Ginge jumped round and made as if he was going to dig him and your man shit a brick. Really great performance by St. Gall's, although I was disappointed to see them starting to mess around towards he end. As someone said earlier, Niblock was absolutely awesome, even though defenders tried to wipe him our on several occasions. Saw him after the match and he had a black eye the size of an apple. Although Aidso won MOTM, I think Sean Burke should get a lot of praise as well- best performance I've seen from him at senior.

Nothing less than the All-Ireland will do now. I remember being in the club the night of the Salthill match and Gribbies was crying into a pint and wondering how on earth he'd ever get to play in Croke Park again. Well, they're just one game away from it now. Shows the belief is finally there in the squad that they deserve to be ranked up with the best teams in the country.

Will the bookies have them favourites?

[gallsman]

It was good to see st galls do well. It did hurt a wee bit to see the like of gallagher do well and him from Fermanagh. If we notice crossmaglen they are from there. I have suffered myself at the hand of the Galls lifting players from our club but maybe thats the way. Well done anyway and St Teresas which is the real story. They struggled hard to stay afloat on the Glen Road. Well done to St Teresas.

Joe Brolly's from South Belfast is he?

[screenexile]

St. Gall's gave Glenullin a bit of a tanking a few years ago only winning by 4 points but I remember them being comfortable throughout and hitting 20 odd wides. I wouldnt' blame Glenullin for that they hadn't won Derry in a while and St. Gall's are a quality team.

[cornerback]

I would be an avid follower of Ulster club football over the past 20 years or so. This was the reason why i asked the question, I couldn't remember the last time a Derry team took a beating like that. Cross have never stuffed Bellaghy. If my wee brown book is correct, Bellaghy and Cross have played 4 times with each winning two games. Significantly Cross defeated bellaghy in 2 finals, one after a replay in 98 I believe, and the other in 96 I think by 2 points. I honestly cannot think of any derry club team taking abeating like that in the Ulster Club. Anyone?

Enniskillen beat Bellaghy  12 points to 6 points in 2001 with bellaghy getting two very late points.
Not sure of the year though.  think it was 01

I think I remember that as well. Did Bellaghy not get a few red cards also, ending the game as something resembling a disorganised rabble?

Fair play to Loup for keeping their discipline despite getting a bit of a tanking.

It wasn't 2001 though.  Ballinderry won derry & went on to win the all ireland in 2002.  Think Bellaghy won derry in 1998, 1999 & 2000.

[thewanderer]

congrats to st galls, at least pearse ogs pushed them hard and helped them raise the bar. good luck in the semi-final