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Thanks for the feedback folks suggestions are with webteam

I've started a new thread for this as I don't want to clog up the main thread

Hi folks our web team a currently undertaking a revamp of our county website.
We are very much aware that our online sources play an ever increasing role as source of people's information regarding GAA activity in our county.  As you may be aware we have embarked on a couple of new undertakings this year such as our YouTube interview channel and the live twitter feed from intercounty games.
At the same time the guys at the Derry web team have been working very hard at revamping the county website and have completed the first phase of a new pilot site which can be viewed at the following link.
http://mercury.servers.rbl-mer.misp.co.uk/~derrygaa/

This is a preliminary version of the site which is designed to give you an idea of the look, feel and functionality, of the new site. All work done so far has been carried out on a voluntary basis by some very dedicated individuals.
We would very much welcome ideas from individuals and clubs as to the content and features they'd like to see going forward.

The key features of this development so far are -

• A clear format for presenting news items to people in categorised form
  A easy to use framework underpinning the site giving anyone with basic IT skills (e.g. microsoft word) the ability to update the site. Hopefully this makes it less technical for people and will increase participation from an admin or contributor point of view.
  An embedded twitter feed publishing live updates from matches to the front page of the site
  An embedded club locator giving people the ability to find a route map and driving directions to any pitch in the county from anywhere else
  An embedded results and fixtures service hooked up to sportsmanager (as used by CCCC etc to publish fixtures and results)

You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out that many of our most IT savvy Gaels frequent this site, therefore you are the perfect focus group for feedback.
Also we'd would very much welcome input and ideas from clubs and would call for volunteers from around the county interested in helping to keep this news service up to date to get in touch with us. If you could somehow communicate this information to individuals who would be keen to play a part in this it would be greatly appreciated.
Again, I would ask you to remember that we don't have some high-powered web company with a team of minions working on this, it's all being done by a couple of lads who are working very hard for absolutely no financial gain. Accordingly I'd ask that any criticism be constructive.


Thanks Chris

Oh and before you ask there won't be a guestbook, there's ample room on platform's like this for people to get things off their chest, and I honestly don't think it would be very constructive.

Gerard O'Kane got too today against Meath

John Keenan's chairman's welcome from yesterday's programme


Fáilte on Chathaoirligh

Ba mhaith liom mar Chathaoirleach Bord na Chondae Dhoire failte a chúir romhaibh go leir anseo inniu chuig Pairc na gCeilteach.

As Chairman of Derry County Board, I would like to welcome you all today to Celtic Park for this game to kick off the 2011 Allianz GAA National League. 

Encounters between our two counties require no previews or hype to increase the anticipation for this fixture, although I feel the result of today's game has faded in significance.

I don't know of a more intense rivalry within this island than that exists between our two counties, but that succumbed to irrelevance last month with the tragic murder of Michaela McAreavey on the island of Mauritius. 

An entire nation shared in the grief and total disbelief at what happened, and 'Oakleaf' and 'Red Hand' along with the combined GAA family, stood shoulder to shoulder in solidarity mourning this tragic loss.

How a girl who practiced and demonstrated such generosity of spirit and unselfishness could meet with such a barbaric and cruel end, are mysteries beyond our comprehension.

As fathers, many of us cannot even attempt to contemplate the horror and heartbreak endured by Mickey Harte and his family, and Michaela's new husband John McAreavey, whilst they struggle to make sense of the tragic events that unfolded.

On behalf of all Derry Gaels, footballers, officials and supporters, I wish to extend our sincerest sympathies and offer the condolences and prayers of our entire county.

No words of mine, on top of the countless tributes already made, can ease the load that will have to be carried by the Harte and McAreavey families in the weeks and months ahead. 

For them the long road to a return to some form of normality has to be attempted, for the rest of us, today is just a game.

Ar lámh dheas Dé go raibh a hanam uasal.



Séan Ó Cianáin

Cathaoirleach Coiste Chontae Dhoire

Already put this up on the Derry thread but might as well stick it here.

Folks the Paddy story comes from an interview I did with him, I think Paddy has become increasingly frustrated with the amount of niggles he keeps picking up.
He didn't really make any big announcement. It was more matter of fact than that, it arose out of a question I asked him about how hard would it be for the players to lift themselves for the qualifiers and he said it wouldn't be a problem for him because this was his last year and he wanted to give it a real lash before the summer is out.
Anyway ye can read the long version of the interview below and make yer own mind up

Oh and this the unsubbed original version so all you pedants give me a break about the typos. Thanks, Chris McCann


Bradley hopes for big days before bowing out

Paddy Bradley could well have played his last Ulster Championship game for Derry but says he still hopes to end his county career on a high note by making major progress through the qualifiers.
Bradley intends to retire from the red and white at the end of the current campaign. Like the rest of the county the Glenullin man was desperately disappointed at Derry's early ejection from the provincial party but would love to gatecrash the later stages of the Championship through the back door.
"This is probably my last year playing for Derry. I honestly feel that I have given good service to the county over the 11 years and that I have given my all every time played for the county. But I want to go out with a bang. On our day, I believe that we are a match for any side in the country. I really believe that at the top of our game we could beat a  Cork  or a Kerry. I think we tend to play well in  Croke Park  in the big open spaces, but it's getting through the packed defences that you have to get past to get there that trips us up," he said.
While many around the county were downbeat about Derry's Ulster prospects, Bradley had genuinely expected to progress to an Ulster quarter-final meeting with Monaghan.
"It's always disappointing to go out of the Ulster Championship. You go in every year thinking you have prepared well and I honestly thought we would beat Armagh but then something goes wrong on the day. When you are in position like I am when you are in your last year of intercounty football it's even more disappointing. Coming into the game I thought we had prepared as best we could, it's easy with hindsight to look back and think there's a pile of things you would do differently."
The final quarter of that game at Celtic Park was a particularly frustrating one anyone of an Oak Leaf hue and Derry's old penchant for lateral hand-passing came back to haunt them.
"That's not the way we trained for Armagh and for us as players it's very frustrating, particularly when you are playing in the full-forward line. The type of me I'm always thinking that every ball should be coming into me. That sounds cocky but that's way you have to be to be an intercounty forward. It's tough when you arehaving to come way out the field or right out to the sideline to get a ball. Why we end up playing the way we do I don't know, as individuals we have some of the best footballers around. The manager isn't to blame, everybody knows I haven't always seen eye to eye with Damien Cassidy but what happened against Armagh certainly wasn't his fault."
Indeed the failings that hampered Derry against Armagh have been evident on many occasions over the last decade and Bradley is at loss to explain them.
"It's really hard to know. We have had good men involved in management, good players but the fact is we haven't been winning when it counts. People will blame, Mickey Moran, Paddy Crozier or Damien Cassidy or they will blame myself or Enda Muldoon or Fergal Doherty but I can tell you every one of us players and managers have worked our arses off to try and bring success to Derry."
Bradley does however admit that he personally was lacking in match sharpness against Paddy O'Rourke's side.
"To be honest I knew deep down that I hadn't played enough football ahead of the Armagh game. I know there'll be people put there saying I'm done as an intercounty footballer but when I feel fit I think I'm still as good as I ever was. The problem is when you are at the stage I'm at and you pick up a niggle it takes a while coming back. Coming into an Ulster Championship game you need four or five weeks at it flat out whereas I was coming with a maybe a game and a half for the club and only one or two good sessions with the county. A few of the other lads were the same, Kevin McGuckin, Enda, Declan Mullan four or five of our main players and that probably affected us," he said.
Since Derry's last Ulster title in 1998 the county has still maintained its status as top tier county. Two All-Ireland semi-final appearances, one quarter-final berth, and two National League titles in the intervening period attest to the county's status potential. In the same time Derry have failed to win back to back Ulster Championship as fact that puzzles Bradley as much as the rest of us.
"To be honest I just don't know. I'm sure everybody inside and outside the panel has an opinion on it. Maybe the truth is that we are just not good enough. I've always thought we were good enough to win an Ulster but maybe we just haven't got it," he said.
One theory commonly expounded to explain Derry's provincial problems is the attritional effect of the county's ultra-competitive club scene. It's not a belief that Bradley ascribes to.
"I've heard that argument so many times and I don't think it stands up. Does anybody really think that when Carrickmore are getting tore into Errigal Ciaran in Tyrone or St John's are playing St Gall's in Antrim that they aren't going at it as hard as a club game in Derry? If Derry club football was so much more competitive then we'd be winning the Ulster Club every year which hasn't happened since the Loup in 2003."
Looking ahead to the qualifiers at the start of July, Bradley says the squad will simply have to be ready for whatever the draw throws up.
"People say you're better off with a good team and if you win then you are right back on track but you could get the losers of the Antrim v Tyrone game a real tough Ulster derby and end up out of it in the first round. On the other hand you could get a couple of easier teams to start off with, build your confidence, and be in good shape to meet some of the better sides later on," he said.
On a recent trip to Dublin with fiancé Ciara, Bradley drove past Croke Park and thought longingly at its wide open spaces a far cry from the clogged up final thirds of Ulster's football fields.
"Football has become far too defensive over the last 10 years and maybe 13 aside is the way to go. Sometimes when you are out there in Casement of Clones or Celtic Park and there's teams playing so many men back you start to wonder what way the game is going."
It seems that Armagh's famed blanket or Tyrone's swarming tacklers won't be a concern of Bradley's for much longer. The love of the game is still as strong as ever and Bradley feels the sting of defeat as much as any fan, but with age comes responsibility.
"I know in the past with whole grants the whole question came up about getting money for playing came up and it was great to get the grant when it was available but that was never a motivation. You play because you love it. You have to, because the sacrifices you have to make to be a county footballer are massive. Every one of us who pulls on a Derry jersey views it as a privilege and when you are on the field and the team is losing and you are getting abuse from your own fans it does hurt. Responsibilities give you a different outlook as you get older. If I'm lucky I get in from work in time to see my son for half an hour and then by the time I get back from training he's asleep."
The playing days with Derry might be coming to a close, Bradley doesn't rule out the possibility of having part to play for the county at some point in the years ahead.
"It's something I'd love to do on down the line, I'm helping out with Foreglen at the minute and the way things are around Glenullin is that if you are not fit to play any more then you are fit to manage. Looking at the county would have to be a long way down the line, I'd have to build up a lot of experience at club level. Looking around Derry there are still plenty of good men who would like the job you have the likes of Tony Scullion and Henry Downey all those boys from 1993. If it were to happen it would be a long way in the future but being involved with Derry on the management side would definitely be something I'd love to be involved in years to come," he said.

Handpass rule is a fuckin joke, lads spend 15 years applying one of the basic facets of the game and then in their 20s they have to change it.

Any particular pics you are looking for, club, county. . . would have some good down shots from the recents McKenna Game at Celtic Park