Ulster Semifinal- Derry v Tyrone 21/6/09 Casement Park

[tyrone86]

Is this the same boy that reffed tyrone and cavan in the first round at clones  a couple of years ago and played 8 minutes extra ?

Same boy surely http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/northern_ireland/gaelic_games/4108694.stm

[winsamsoon]

Is this an all ticket affair???

[SidelineKick]

Is this an all ticket affair???

No.  Pay at the gate, U16s free.

[ziggysego]

Looking forward to this game on Sunday. I just wish Casement's disabled facilities were better.

If anyone sees me, introduce yourselves. I get a bit clueless when I hear screams of "Ziggy!!"

[Doogie Browser]

Looking forward to this game on Sunday. I just wish Casement's disabled facilities were better.

If anyone sees me, introduce yourselves. I get a bit clueless when I hear screams of "Ziggy!!"

If anyone doesn't recognise Ziggy he will be the hornpipe hanging about the ladies toilets 

[DennistheMenace]

The hype is beginning the start.

Expecting a quality game with hard hits, no off the ball crap please.

A draw is on the cards I think.

[ziggysego]

Looking forward to this game on Sunday. I just wish Casement's disabled facilities were better.

If anyone sees me, introduce yourselves. I get a bit clueless when I hear screams of "Ziggy!!"

If anyone doesn't recognise Ziggy he will be the hornpipe hanging about the ladies toilets 

Not my fault the disabled area is beside the ladies 

[Doogie Browser]

Looking forward to this game on Sunday. I just wish Casement's disabled facilities were better.

If anyone sees me, introduce yourselves. I get a bit clueless when I hear screams of "Ziggy!!"

If anyone doesn't recognise Ziggy he will be the hornpipe hanging about the ladies toilets 

Not my fault the disabled area is beside the ladies 

How convenient 

[SidelineKick]

Looking forward to this game on Sunday. I just wish Casement's disabled facilities were better.

If anyone sees me, introduce yourselves. I get a bit clueless when I hear screams of "Ziggy!!"

Or you could arrange to meet for a pint then not show up, that's like something you'd do. So if I see you I will probably just throw something at you.

[Doogie Browser]

Looking forward to this game on Sunday. I just wish Casement's disabled facilities were better.

If anyone sees me, introduce yourselves. I get a bit clueless when I hear screams of "Ziggy!!"

Or you could arrange to meet for a pint then not show up, that's like something you'd do. So if I see you I will probably just throw something at you.

Bucket of cold water seems to be the usual weapon of choice aimed at Ziggy.

[Archie Mitchell]

Looking forward to this game on Sunday. I just wish Casement's disabled facilities were better.

If anyone sees me, introduce yourselves. I get a bit clueless when I hear screams of "Ziggy!!"

Or you could arrange to meet for a pint then not show up, that's like something you'd do. So if I see you I will probably just throw something at you.

You could pretend to be Drew Jerk and then he might meet you. But sure Drew Jerk is dead anyway, forgot about that 

[orangeman]

Is this an all ticket affair???

No.  Pay at the gate, U16s free.

There'll be a lot of under 16s.


Is the money coming up the M1 again ? I see a lot of roadworks there at the minute - perfect for an ambush. 

[Archie Mitchell]

Derry and Tyrone may well serve up a game of football
Against the Breeze
By Paddy Heaney
16/06/09

Killers from the egg: the malevolent aged grin. They dance on the surface among the flies.

From the poem 'Pike' by Ted Hughes

Education was wasted on me. The intense imagery contained in the above lines should summon pictures of dark pools filled with the lurking menace of predatory pike.

Not for me. The first time I read that opening verse I immediately thought of 'ill-set' corner-backs from around Ardboe.

Those with the necessary experience will understand. Lough Neagh. The midges. And those Loughshore men, smirking at the thoughts of their intended misdemeanours.

And yes, I hear the howls of complaint. And I accept the charge. I am biased. I am prejudiced. I stand before you as a guilty Derry man. But I'm merely a product of the propaganda on which I was raised.

Outsiders don't really understand the nuances of the relationship that exists between Derry and Tyrone. It's quite complex.

Derry is the much smaller county. Tyrone is a giant, the Cork of the North, with sprawling acreage, a vast population, and 47 clubs, nearly all of which are devoted exclusively to football.

Normally in such circumstances, the smaller county adopts the attitude of the baby brother, forever puffing out his chest and trying to impress his elder sibling. This is the way Fermanagh get on.

Derry men have never felt this sense of inferiority to Tyrone. Truth to be told, we were told on our daddy's knee that we were a much superior tribe.

It's about quality, not quantity. Tyrone were uncouth and uncultured. Derry were suave and sophisticated. Our grannies told us that these differences manifested themselves on the football field.

Tyrone were agricultural. We were artists. If they were plough horses, then we were thoroughbreds.

I am not saying it's true. I'm just saying that's what the nuns taught us in school. Then came the National League final of 1992, and the All-Ireland title in 1993. These victories only served to reinforce the feelings of supremacy that had been bred into us since the cot.

Of course, while it pains Derry men to admit it, they've always been jealous of Tyrone to some degree. It's a subject that's rarely mentioned, but the political situation was always awkward in Derry, and we were envious of the climate that pertained across the Sperrins.

Even Derry men rarely talk about it themselves, but my brother was at a party once where the topic of the political divide among our people raised its head.

The debate was threatening to turn violent when Ronan McKenna stood up and addressed the room.

"I can see a time when it's all going to be different," said Ronan.

The crowd hushed, anticipating the Martin Luther King moment that was about to come.

Ronan continued: "I can see a time when there will be no North," he said, "And no South. It will just be�. Derry."

The partygoers groaned at the sheer impossibility of the idea. They say a voice from the corner of the room muttered: "America will elect a black president with Irish ancestors before that happens."

And so it came to pass. America elected Barack Obama and Tyrone won three All-Ireland titles. Derry men still struggle to work out which event represents the greatest blip on history's cardiograph.

Tyrone's All-Ireland triumvirate has caused untold damage to the Derry psyche. An entire race of people has been forced to question and re-evaluate the beliefs that were once held as fundamental truths.

But the denial couldn't continue. In the past few years, Derry schoolchildren have been given access to video footage of Frank McGuigan and Peter Canavan. The propaganda had to stop.

So, too, has the long-held belief that our footballers were inherently more skilled and gifted. The Championship victories over the auld enemy in 2001 and 2006 were enjoyed, but they didn't provide any memories of sumptuous football.

Rather, the performances on those days were a tacit admission that Derry had forsaken any vestiges of pre-eminence over their arch-rivals.

Gone was the idea that we could flourish by the grace of North Derry steel and South Derry sorcery. Any form of pretence completely vanished in 2006 when Derry smothered Tyrone into submission.

It was an exercise in containment. Liam Hinphey, who spent a month studying DVDs of Sean Cavanagh, was able to second guess the Tyrone man's every move.

Tyrone, who had fresh memories of the space and freedom granted to them by Kerry in the previous year's All-Ireland final, just couldn't cope with Derry's suffocating headlock.

Derry may have won, but it was a victory for vandalism over Tyrone's well-oiled machine. Derry knifed their tyres and smashed their windscreens.

And this is why Sunday's game between the two counties holds so much promise. Ridiculous as it may sound, but we could actually be served up a game of football in Casement Park.

And no, I haven't lost my tiny mind. On Derry's part, there is unlikely to be any recurrence of the mean-spirited, nastiness which was so prevalent when they played Monaghan.

Monaghan bullied Derry out of Casement Park in 2007, but the Farneymen were naive to think that they could repeat the trick in Celtic Park. That was never going to happen. Cue the misconduct.

Sunday promises to be different. Damian Cassidy has made little secret of the fact that he has modelled Derry on Tyrone. He has tried to develop a team of footballers that has scoring potential in every quarter of the field.

Furthermore, Cassidy's teams don't have a history of skulduggery and the meeting between Derry and Tyrone in the League was fast, furious and nearly always fair.

Naturally, it would be daft (and damned disappointing) if Sunday's game passed off without some unsavoury incidents. As both teams are more than capable of playing by the written and unwritten rules, it's impossible to predict a game totally devoid of unpleasantness.

But there still remains the very distinct possibility that we're going to get the rarest treat of all – an actual game of football between Derry and Tyrone. Two teams leaving the changing room with the shared aim of outscoring each other.

The meagre sum of 1-8 allowed Derry to win that last Championship encounter in Healy Park. That total will never suffice at the weekend. Armagh scored a respectable 1-10 against the Red Hands and still lost. The winning team in Casement Park will probably need to chalk up at least 15 or 16 points.

The race to that winning tally should provide some lasting memories of classy football.

If Tyrone win, the status quo remains. If the Oak Leafers prevail by winning a great game of football against the reigning All-Ireland champions, then some of the old faith will be restored.

And who knows after that. Maybe, one day, a united Derry.

[fitzroyalty]

Is this an all ticket affair???

No.  Pay at the gate, U16s free.

Whats a good way of proving im u16???

[Gabriel_Hurl]

Is this an all ticket affair???

No.  Pay at the gate, U16s free.

Whats a good way of proving im u16???

post on the Non-GAA section of this board it seems