Messages

Pretty much the only thing I've seen about estimated cost of the stadium anywhere was the bit below from the Examiner.

Some projections claim the final cost of reconstruction of the Euro 2028 venue will be in excess of £225m. The GAA's first commitment of £15m was roughly 20% of the original £77.5m outlay, which was estimated last July to have jumped to £168m.

Based on that I'd say £168m was an absolute basement price - this was before the Euros were confirmed and that time pressure (plus the extras UEFA insist on which will cost a bit more) is only going to affect the price one way. Throw in the fact that Leo and co pitched up with €50million already make me think the cost will be over the £200 million mark. The key question is what sort of funding London is going to actually hand over.
My fear is that at the end of the day Ulster GAA are going to be the ones left carrying the can for any cost over-runs, especially if the stadium isn't done in time for the Euros. The nightmare scenario is that the stadium doesn't get finished in time for the Euros and London turns off the money tap and Ulster GAA are left with a stadium that will costs millions to finish that Ulster GAA don't have.   

In related news was talking to someone this evening and they were saying the Cork County Board chairperson was on radio this morning and part of the disussion was about ownership of Pairc Ui Chaoimh being taken over by the government and being turned into a multi-use stadium. Said the current ongoing debt situation just wasn't sustainable.

Tyrone v Mayo  - Mayo
Dublin v Kerry - Kerry
Galway v Derry - Derry
Roscommon v Monaghan - Roscommon

Fermanagh v Cork - Fermanagh
Louth v Cavan  - Cavan
Meath v Kildare - Meath
Armagh v Donegal - Donegal

Down v Offaly - Down
Clare v Wicklow - Clare
Sligo v Antrim - Sligo
Westmeath v Limerick - Westmeath

Wexford v Waterford -Wexford
Longford v London - Longford
Carlow v Leitrim - Leitrim
Tipperary v Laois - Laois

Why are people so animated about the cost? Genuine question. Do you believe that by not building it the money will somehow be spent on some other part of government that will deliver some top class service or something? What is it about the cost specifically that people care about? 

Because the same thing that happened in Cork is going to happen except it's going to be across all of Ulster GAA as opposed to just one county when it comes to the paying of it. It's going to hoover up a huge percentage of the available money while being built and for a good while after, especially if it isn't able to make profit as a going concern. I think there is a serious risk of cutbacks and restrictions on spending across every absolutely every aspect of Ulster GAA for a good number of years.

Derry v Monaghan - Derry
Dublin v Roscommon - Dublin
Kerry v Mayo - Kerry
Tyrone v Galway - Tyrone

Donegal v Fermanagh - Donegal
Cork v Cavan - Cavan
Meath v Louth - Louth
Kildare v Armagh - Armagh

Antrim v Down - Down
Limerick v Sligo - Sligo
Offaly v Clare - Clare
Wicklow v Westmeath - Westmeath

Waterford v Longford - Longford
Laois v Carlow - Laois
London v Tipperary - Tipperary
Leitrim v Wexford - Leitrim

Would the league be even more important if  after provincial champs the seeding went by league standings.

It would obviously be more important but the reality is there is no way this will ever happen while the provincial councils have such a massive chunk of votes.

I think making is so that the provincial losers weren't the 2nd seeds would improve things some small bit.

Abbey winning 16-3 in the mclarnon. They're supposed to be backboned by four masters players so are probably very strong.

Are the schools in the 26, kids a year older?

Nope - same ages.

There used to be a 6 month difference years back that favoured Ulster (all nine from what I recall/not just the six)

Mayo v Dublin - Dublin
Monaghan v Kerry - Kerry
Roscommon v Galway - Galway
Derry v Tyrone - Derry

Armagh v Meath - Armagh
Fermanagh v Kildare - Fermanagh
Louth v Cork - Louth
Cavan v Donegal - Donegal

Down v Limerick - Down
Antrim v Offaly - Antrim
Sligo v Wicklow - Sligo
Westmeath v Clare - Westmeath

Carlow v Waterford - Carlow
Wexford v Laois - Wexford
Leitrim v London - Leitrim
Longford v Tipperary - Longford

Rd 1 27/28 January


Kerry v Derry - Kerry
Dublin v Monaghan - Dublin
Galway v Mayo - Galway
Tyrone v Roscommon - Tyrone

Meath v Fermanagh - Meath
Kildare v Cavan - Kildare
Armagh v Louth - Armagh
Donegal v Cork - Donegal

Limerick v Antrim - Limerick
Clare v Sligo - Clare
Offaly v Westmeath - Westmeath
Wicklow v Down - Down

Laois v Longford - Longford
Tipperary v Carlow - Tipperary
London v Wexford - London
Waterford v Leitrim - Leitrim

Does anyone know why PUC's financial projections didn't work out ?

The basic thing is that they adopted a yerra build it, everything will be grand attitude.
They decided we're building a new stadium and they worked backwards to try and fit the economic facts to make it make sense.They had to submit their business plan to the Dept of Finance three times after the first two efforts were rejected as inadequate and the version I heard that there was political involvement so that the third version wasn't rejected. Basically the department said their forecasts on everything positive were wildly over-optimistic in terms of corporate tickets/number of matches/crowds at matches/profits from concerts and that costs were under-estimated. There was talk at one point that the direct government chunk of €30m was not going to be handed over. All this talk obviously reached the ears of someone in the EU as they did a review of this but the EU weren't able to prove anything.
Ironically in one version of their business plan they had budgeted for receiving €150k for naming rights to the stadium in 2017 as part of their projected budget.The fact that it has taken them until now to get this deal done should provide an insight in the competence levels.
So the original forecasts over-estimated revenue and underestimated costs.
Things were made worse by the fact that the construction budget went wildly over budget.
This is based on stuff I've read over the years in the papers and Phoenix as well as stuff I've heard.
The tragic thing is that there seems to be a lot of similarities between what went on with PuC and what's gone/going on with the Casement Park. The big difference is that the Casement project seems to have been thrown a life ring with the Euros situation. However if anything happens to that life ring I really can't see Casement not being Puc 2.0
 

Bigger gap in junior hurling than football going by the first half here

Part of the issue is that Cork send the winners of their 3rd and 5th tier hurling competitions to compete in the Munster/All-Ireland championships same as they do with the football.

This is all so the 2nd tier clubs can call themselves senior, and the 3rd and 4th tier clubs can call themselves intermediate.

https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/monaghan-blow-as-star-karl-gallaghers-two-year-afl-deal-with-the-adelaide-crows-is-confirmed/

Gallagher signs a two year rookie contract. A loss for Monaghan.

I'm off for a lie-down.

Kilmacud 2nd best all over the pitch in that half. Be very surprised if Glen don't see this out.

Elbow makes contact with the chin there - be lucky if he avoids a red

Perfect day for off-the-ball shenanigans