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No complaints from a down perspective better team won. Early penalty miss certainly would have helped us on our way but in the end probably wouldn't have made a difference. Thought our forward line of Laverty, Johnston and O'Hare looked sharp and caused Tyrone problems with their pace but unfortunately when chasing the game we resulted to pumping high balls into Laverty which Tyrone mopped up with ease. Mickey learnt from last weeks mistakes by bringing on the experience heads of Gormley and SON at half time to steady the ship after Down ended the first half strongly. Thought the Tyrone FF line were superb, McCurry doesn't seem to miss while Coney and RON completely roasted their markers. I don't like to be critical of individuals on public forums like this as they give a huge amount of effort and commitment to represent our county but if Dan McCartan and Ryan Boyle are the two best corner backs that down football has to offer then we are in a seriously bad place. Whether it be through arrogance or naivety down decided not to bother to mark McGinley-a fairly ordinary player ended the game with 2-01. Early days yet but I think the Tyrone forward line as a unit are probably the best there is in Ulster. Obviously you always want to see your county win but an early exit for down in the qualifiers might not be a bad thing-let the boys get back to playing uninterrupted club football and try to build towards next year.

And BTW, Suckeensam, away and catch the f**k on playing a sweeper system to beat a sweeper system!!!  Get them fit and play man to man and run the shite of the sweeper!

Worked well for Armagh last year 

[Jorge Mendes involvement automatically makes any deal involving a Portuguese stink of corruption.]

Was it he who told United to buy Bebe?

There's more to that transfer than "Carlos Queiroz recommends shit player". Jorge Mendes involvement automatically makes any deal involving a Portuguese stink of corruption.

How exactly?

[And it might be a blessing if Sunderland win the semi final, because City will destroy United in the final.]

United won't make the top 4. No chance. They might only be 6 or 7 points from fourth, but United are a shambles. It's not going to get any better this season. The seasons gone. Over. And it might be a blessing if Sunderland win the semi final, because City will destroy United in the final.
United need to focus on getting 4 or 5 players at least for next season, and a new manager.

are you suggesting united throw in the towel already? we wont win the league but still can finish fourth and if we get rooney and rvp back we may get a win over city in the league cup final (provided we get through on wednesday night of course)

ffs moyes has been in the job less than a year-he inherited a crap team that won the league last year mainly down to the fact the other title challengers were a shambles. he got us through top of the group in the CL-he has made a lot of mistakes in the transfer market but dont think its totally his fault.

Every top team goes through a period of transition that proves rocky-thats what united are going through now.

[actuate]

Was the reference actuate? That will be the question needs answered.

It was a tick box reference type thing, his boss has (with hindsight) regretted it but it's too late, even after phoning the company to explain that it was down to stupid things and would fill in another reference, the other company has taken the view of keeping with policy and not going take him. Couldn't make it up lol.

Would think the fact that his old boss rang to admit his reference wasn't accurate would further strengthen his case. New company well within their rights to withdraw the offer as most are subject to references which are the responsibility of the new employee to provide. Poor form by ur friend by not taking more care as to whom was providing the reference and what it may contain but sure hindsight is a wonderful thing!

Wrong game that was the Ajax game!  ;DSkinner was over for the AC Milan game.Seriously if he'd been a bit younger , with that sort of start to an Irish league career he might well have had a realistic chance of moving into full time soccer across the water

Fair play to him Tony, and the best of luck to lad, but to make it across the water takes some doing.

+1
Far better players than him have tried and failed, he is no where near the standard needed to make it.

[All starts in the schools - the teachers rarely have experience of industry and are not equipped to even identify technical careers never mind guide pupils toward them. Getting the odd suit to pop in for an hours presentation every few months doesnt cut it either]

a man in the know told me this year the course that produces the highest number of graduates in Queens/NI - Psychology - says it all.

Also Law must be the most overrated degree going these days.

All respect to those of you with psychology/law degrees, you may have very worthy roles in society - just not economic drivers!! Plus the bleeding solicitors that eventually do work their asses off to get a job then go on to be a bane on the businesses round them! - billing ye 00's for posting letters  !!

A relation of mine wanted to do a part time course on CAD with a local tech - something that is central to the majority of engineering firms and competency in an industry standard like Solidworks is in demand with a lot of manufacturing SMEs. Anyway he rang up to enquire and the course had been cancelled due to only 2 enrolling - meanwhile the bloody hairdressing course is packed out.

All starts in the schools - the teachers rarely have experience of industry and are not equipped to even identify technical careers never mind guide pupils toward them. Getting the odd suit to pop in for an hours presentation every few months doesnt cut it either.

Surely some of the leading tech/engineering firms could be incentivised to provide full time liasons with more schools (to their own benefit also). Looking back our school cirriculum was a joke for career guidance - the blind leading the blind!
[/quo

Totally agree, went to a grammar school myself  and the main drive was to get as many pupils to university as possible. Very little resoucres were given to actually advising students of job prospects post university meant majority went on to study a degree that didnt lead to any direct employment. A lot are now finding themselves in the same position as a school leaver at 16 only with £20,000 more debt.

A major problem for the NI economy is that we export little to nothing therefore we rely heavily on the service and public sectors to create jobs. Our school leavers are either amongst the best performing or worst performing students in the uk. The top performers tend to go abroad as there arent jobs here to meet their skill level (hence the brain drain) whilst those that remain often lack the skills to get whatever jobs may be going. Foreign firms who may be considering investing here are then put off by, amongst other things, the poor skill level that exists within the workforce.

Carrick is will be out for a good few weeks, achilles injury that he has been playing with....going to hurt United badly, vital player.

He has been brilliant the last 2 or 3 seasons. Very under rated by some. I seen a Moyes interview yesterday where he states that whilst things are going in the right direction he still sees massive improvements coming in the next weeks/months. Rooney is targeting the top of the table by the turn of the year. Looking at the fixtures the is not out of the question. The January window will be interesting but is there ever any quality available in January? Utd will be keen to put the summer's disaster of a transfer window behind them.

Carrick gone for about 6 weeks - probably not back until after Christmas

Wouldnt panic still have cleverley and anderson 

[Annaghmore will be playing Division 1 football in Armagh next year but yet they were in their counties' JFC this term]

drumgath put up a spirited display against  truagh to go down 2-10 to 0-10 at ballybay the gath;s supporters did their team proud and shamed those so-called supporters who attended esler park. against a team  first div. in all but name they nearly sprung a surprise.inspite of loosing their left full- back before the game started with an ankle injury they clawed their  way back in the second half to a 4point defecit when they lost a player with two yellows.lads we are proud of you [down intermediate champions] # UP THE GATH.

Lucan, not taking away anything from Drumgath who are deservedly Intermediate champions, but the account I received of the game was that Truagh were extremely comfortable throughout.

Honestly, how well prepared were Drumgath for Ulster, I think in Down and Intermediate and Junior levels in Down, many clubs celebrate winning the county title a little too much and take their eye completely off the ball when they step into Ulster.

I've said it before but we have a terrible record at IFC and JFC level in Ulster. This has been a feature since the competition's official inception around a decade ago.

Warrenpoint broke the mould last year with their IFC final appearance as the trend before that for Down teams was generally first round exits.

Our record in the JFC is even worse. St Johns were the last team in this grade to even win a game when they beat Fermanagh's Coa in the quarter finals back in 2008. Correct me if im wrong but I think our only other win in the competition was a Bredagh victory over Donegal opposition in 2006 in the quarter finals.

The problem over the past ten years has been that our league and championship setup in Down was as honest as they come. We had four competitive divisions with championship grading based on your league position.

This was not and still isn't the case in some other counties. In Armagh, Cavan and Antrim you choose what Championship you want to compete in. Annaghmore will be playing Division 1 football in Armagh next year but yet they were in their counties' JFC this term. Lacken from Cavan finished fourth in Division 1 in the Breffni County last year yet they played in the IFC.

However, our poor representation on the provincial scene could change next year. I am a big critic of our new three division structure but one positive that has come out of it is that we are now more in line with most other Ulster counties in terms of quality at each grade.

Liatroim, Warrenpoint and An Riocht are three teams who would be ultra competitive at IFC level in Ulster while the likes of Kilclief would be one of the strongest JFC outfits about the province.

Our poor record was probably less to do with over celebration and more to do with the fact that we had 'proper' Junior and Intermediate teams entered at those grades compared to the representatives of other unbalanced counties.

Annaghmore were in the IFC

Annaghmore were in the JFC, they beat their neighbours Clonmore in the final.

[Bredagh area]

Out of 15 starting positions in this year's Championship team, 14 of them were occupied by fellas born in Bredagh area who all played for the club at underage level and for local schools. 

Does Bredagh have a defined 'area'? not having ago genuinely interested. Always wondered when i was a student living in belfast was there any restrictions to whom i could join?

how many of them boys are part of the senior panel/will be?Bredagh seemed to have been strong at underage down through the years but havent been able to translate that into success at senior level.

Terrible appointment for Fermanagh. A manager who has achieved a lot in the past but unfortunately hasnt allowed his coaching methods to move with the times. I honestly think this is a step back for fermanagh, hope i'm proven wrong as i would like to see them do well but think it will end in tears sooner rather than later.

Anyone read Paddy Heaney in the Irish News today? He made some very interesting points about Ferguson. Quite alot of them I agree with.

I actually thought the opposite. Disagreed with most of what he said. Would agree that Ferguson was wrong to slate players in his book who played a major part in bringing success to united and the fall out over a horse which caused a lot of off the field problems for United. However i seriously doubt ferguson wanted to the next manager to be a failure in order to improve his own stature. Also didnt see the link with crossmaglen. His headline was how giant clubs need giant managers yet he only said big joe would command the respect of the players everything else regarding cross was about their underage structure which is down to the hard work of many club men and women not just joe. Also he is trying to draw comparisons between moyes when united are only at the start of the season and Joe when cross are near the end of theirs.

[the insurance companies will often not pay out if the cause of death is recorded as suicide.]

At least part of it is to do with life insurance - coroners are often asked by the family of the deceased to record something other than suicide e.g. open verdict, as the insurance companies will often not pay out if the cause of death is recorded as suicide.

That needs to be changed right away.

The financial industry is largely to blame for the recent rise in suicides in Ireland. It can start taking responsibly for some of its own mess.

Could actually lead to more suicides. Those who are contemplating suicide due to finanical worries may be encouraged to do so if they felt their family would gain financially from it. But do agree that financial institutions and those who cause someone to want to end their lives need to be held more accountable.

500 bars, that's some dough. maybe cheaper to learn how to Photoshop!

I'll get on gumtree, and see what I can find.

what's the deal with these powders, protein, all in one, gainer, creatine?? They for the more advanced and heavier lifters?


Whole purpose of these shakes/powders is to help with recovery after exercise. If anyone has looked into buying these they will see there is a huge range out there in terms of brands and prices. Generally a protein shake is used after training to aid recovery and also can be taken during the day to keep protein levels in ur body high-handy way to get more protein into ur diet without the need for food. Mass gainer shakes are used by those who struggle to put on weight and would like to bulk up,they contain large amounts of calories normally exceeding ur recommended daily amount. Creatine is a natural chemical found in the body the supplement just increases the levels in ur body to help with muscle growth. Creatine can come in shake/powder form or as tablets and  needs to be taking in cycles with dosages changing every 2 weeks. Popular among athletes who are looking for explosive power. I personally take a shake after a heavy workout but would prefer to get the necessaries from my diet,you would find if your taking 2 or more shakes a day they can cost you a fortune. Also if your looking at the cheaper brands make sure that they have been cleared by the relevant authorities (sorry can remember the name of the body who deals with it) but they basically test them to ensure they don't contain any banned substances-cheaper products often haven't been cleared.

[I would allow county players to play in all league games if they want- hasn't done Tyrone any harm.]

I would allow county players to play in all league games if they want- hasn't done Tyrone any harm. Wrapping players up in cotton wool is not needed. Most GAA injuries are muscular and there is much chance of pulling a muscle in training as there is in a game.
Ours is the only sport in the world where the most consistent team over a season is deemed less of a team than one who wins the knock-out cup played over 6 weeks. Priorities are all wrong. It is just a suggestion but I think the league (and the National league) should be given more respect.
I would be saying this regardles of where the Town were. Mayobridge when they were winning championships were more often than not top of the league too. I'm not in any way saying Castlewellan are better equipped than Burren to go into Ulster. If Burren had taken the league seriously at the end of the season they would not have dropped the points they dropped and would be top. (by the way Supersub they only beat the Town by 5 in the league and were very lucky to do s with 2 balls droped into the net)

Majority of club players in tryone would disagree, leagues arent due to finish in tryone until 2/3rd weekend of December. The Co boards preference that county players should play in club games means club teams often go weeks without football. i personally think the fixtures in Down work quite well compared to most other counties in ulster. Majority of teams had their league football wrapped up by start of october with only those in latter stages of championship/ league playoffs still to play. IMO do away with all playoffs whether promotion or relegation. Every team plays same number of games with top winning and bottom two going down in each division.