Messages

1

GAA Discussion / Re: NFL Division 1 2023

« on: Today at 12:13:42 PM »

Interesting to see Tyrone fans turning into Kerry fans prior to this match with all of the talking up the opposition. I expect a reaction to all of the criticism from Armagh this Sunday with survival on the line and what better way to do it than to beat Tyrone in Omagh.

That said I think Tyrone will edge this one as well, if they can't beat an Armagh side who have stunk the place out in recent weeks then it doesn't say much for their championship fortunes. 

2

General discussion / Re: What happened the DUP thread?

« on: March 20, 2023, 05:28:28 PM »

would joint authority not  mean a loyalist return to war.

They'll go clean mad but they've only themselves to blame!

We keep hearing about this loyalist return to violence. Who are they going to be waging this war against? Just an excuse for them to start murdering innocent Catholics.

The threat of loyalist violence does get overstated somewhat. It's like the lad in school that keeps on telling you he is going to hit you but never actually does anything about it. Its largely used for political leverage as was the case with the flag protests, the riots and the protocol protests. If they start up again it would only bring a lot more heat on them and shine a light on their other more nefarious activities which are more important to those at the top of those organisations. Those groups like to create intimidation and fear and are more concerned with controlling communities and making money from extortion, racketeering and the sale of narcotics.   

3

GAA Discussion / Re: Division 2 2023

« on: March 20, 2023, 04:01:27 PM »

are louth darkhorses/contenders for the all ireland

Louth have had a meteoric rise but compete for Sam Maguire, come off it. They would have a good chance of competing to win a Tailteann Cup and for them it is a pity that they were denied an opportunity two years running since despite their progress, there is nothing to beat lifting meaningful silverware. With the exception of Dublin and Derry there is a huge gap between division one and the rest of division two now.

Reaching a Leinster final and or All Ireland Quarter final v winning Tailteann Cup.  Which would bring more interest to the Louth players,management and supporters? I think the former.


Regardless what happens on Sunday against Dublin it's been a great Div 2 campaign by Louth. Last time they were in Div 2 (2018) they were totally out of their depth losing all 7 games with a points difference of -67


Full credit to Mickey Harte (71 years young) and his management on the  job/improvement they have done with Louth.  Took on the Louth gig in November 2020 when they were just relegated to Division 4 losing 6 of their 7 games. March 2023 3rd in Div 2 with 8 points only defeat was against the best team in this Division Derry by just 3 points.

I would say reaching a Leinster final is their first priority. After that I would put winning a Tailteann Cup over an AI QF appearance. I'd imagine Westmeath had a much more enjoyable and rewarding season last year than Clare did for example. When you look back on your career you will remember lifting a trophy in Croke Park and the homecoming afterwards a lot more than the inevitable 10 point drubbing in an AI quarter final. There is of course no guarantee that they would either win a Tailteann Cup or reach an AI quarter final.   

4

General discussion / Re: What happened the DUP thread?

« on: March 20, 2023, 02:17:02 PM »

Another own goal, genuinely must take a serious effort to be on the wrong side of everything constantly.

No more negotiations to be had, the Gov't going to force it through regardless.

Touch of arrogance from Mr Donaldson, expecting Sunak and the EU to re-open the talks just to appease him and his ever decreasing cabal.

What now for the Assembly, Is it Joint authority with major inputs from the Irish Tánaiste?

Abolish all MLAs salary immediately. If they fail to go back into government then Stormont is effectively finished. After that politicians here will have no control over our own affairs. It will be some form of joint authority although it mightn't be worded as such.

I still think Donaldson is too fearful of the consequences of not going back into Stormont and that they will find some form of workaround. It does show the folly of painting himself into a corner in pulling down Stormont to begin with though.

5

GAA Discussion / Re: Division 2 2023

« on: March 20, 2023, 12:07:08 PM »

are louth darkhorses/contenders for the all ireland

Louth have had a meteoric rise but compete for Sam Maguire, come off it. They would have a good chance of competing to win a Tailteann Cup and for them it is a pity that they were denied an opportunity two years running since despite their progress, there is nothing to beat lifting meaningful silverware. With the exception of Dublin and Derry there is a huge gap between division one and the rest of division two now. 

6

GAA Discussion / Re: NFL Division 1 2023

« on: March 20, 2023, 11:56:27 AM »

Now that the dust has settled a bit I'll give you my two bobs worth on Armagh...We have lost the plot, Armagh have great forwards and playing them all in our own half back line is a sin. I get what KMcG is trying to achieve by pulling everyone back and trying to hit the other teams on the counter as we're poor defensively atm but it's not working. I love Armagh and have followed them all my life and I'm considering taking a sabbatical away as I genuinely can't watch that crap atm. I honestly would rather be beaten and having a go/rattle than get beaten in a close game that was like watch grass grow.
For some reason our top forwards are all below par and seem to be short of confidence...do we go for a shoot out with the Kerry's etc and get humped as we'll be left exposed at the back?...I dunno but if we're still losing anyway why not try it out and see. We have to go to Omagh next week and Tyrone will love nothing more than relegating Armagh and we will only have ourselves to blame for this mess as we had a chance to win every game so far and couldn't manage it, from what i have seen the 3 teams at the bottom are the worst teams in Div 1 and there's nothing between Monaghan and Armagh so whoever has the goolies for it next week will stay up.

I know i'm a bit old school here but can someone please tell me why all forwards are afraid to shoot from 30-45m out, this is from all the games in general. Are forwards told not to shoot unless it's in front of the posts...is this a % thing?. you see guys in what i think is a scoreable position but they won't shoot and recycle the ball across and back and across and back and across and back before someone gets dispossed and the counter attack starts...WTF. You're a County footballer, get within 30-45m and pop the the ball over the bar. Even at club level I played with guys who didn't think twice about shooting from those ranges and hardly ever missed...Maybe the footballer is being replaced with an athlete now and fitness/strength is preferred to a proper footballer...

Rant over...

That's a good synopsis of the situation. I simply don't get the tactics we have adopted during this years League but it would certainly suck the life out of you watching us play at times. I honestly don't know what the attacking plan is other than to work the ball up the pitch slowly and retain possession. We have no identity as I don't know what our playing style is. Most of our best players are in the forward line yet we persist in asking them to play a game that is not suited to their strengths. Whatever feel good factor we had from last years championship run has now gone. We have got very little out of this years League other than blooding one new player (McCambridge) whereas at least the likes of Monaghan can say that they are going through a transition phase blooding new players. When you substitute your best player with 5 minutes remaining with the game still in the melting pot you have to ask what is going on.   

If we remember we were also at a bit of a crossroads after the Donegal championship game last year when we played a similar running/possession type game where the players look stifled by fear. After that we threw off the shackles and went more gung ho where the players were encouraged to take risks. I'm holding out hope that we can still do something similar because its still the same bunch of players and we have shown last year that we are more than capable of beating Tyrone, however you wouldn't be confident that we can just turn it around in 8 days.   

You’d wonder if McKeever has had more of an influence on how we play this year

Well McKeever did play a very defensive conservative style of football during his time managing Armagh minors and with Mayobridge so it is definitely possible. However McKeever was part of the management team last season so it doesn't explain why we have resorted back to this style. We are playing so as not to lose games rather than trying to win them and there is a massive difference in the psychology and mindset of players with both approaches.

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General discussion / Re: What happened the DUP thread?

« on: March 20, 2023, 10:27:31 AM »

It’s decision time now for Donaldson and the DUP. I can’t see the leadership of the party publicly supporting the WF which could then leave them in an even more perilous position. At every juncture they have managed to make things even worse for themselves as they are petrified of being lundified. I think Peter Robinson is one of the few in the party who has a strategic brain and will recognise the opportunity that the WF offers to unionists. But he is only one of 8 people and the threat of the TUV/LCC/OO axis looms large over any decision to be made.

Decision time would suggest that Donaldson has options.
If he has 3 options then he has 3.
If he has 2 options then he has 2.
If he has 1 option then he has no option.

He will reject the WF, and say that he is passing the problem back to Rishi. He will then tell his electorate that Rishi has messed up and Rishi has to find a solution.

Looking like no Stormont for 2 or 3 years.

Conservative Party is the most successful party in World Politics for a reason.. They will string this out and then next year when they’re out of gov it will be a Labour problem. This is when Labour will probably f**k up and do something that’ll threaten the union and there the conservatives slogan will be run on in the 2028 election to save the Union and our Country vote Tory. They’ve already started with going after refugees, they know they lost 2024 so it’s all about getting back asap

Two reasons for that and neither has much to do with their political acumen. The voting system itself and a right wing media press interconnected to the Tory political class who control and manipulate public opinion. 

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GAA Discussion / Re: NFL Division 1 2023

« on: March 20, 2023, 09:21:13 AM »

Now that the dust has settled a bit I'll give you my two bobs worth on Armagh...We have lost the plot, Armagh have great forwards and playing them all in our own half back line is a sin. I get what KMcG is trying to achieve by pulling everyone back and trying to hit the other teams on the counter as we're poor defensively atm but it's not working. I love Armagh and have followed them all my life and I'm considering taking a sabbatical away as I genuinely can't watch that crap atm. I honestly would rather be beaten and having a go/rattle than get beaten in a close game that was like watch grass grow.
For some reason our top forwards are all below par and seem to be short of confidence...do we go for a shoot out with the Kerry's etc and get humped as we'll be left exposed at the back?...I dunno but if we're still losing anyway why not try it out and see. We have to go to Omagh next week and Tyrone will love nothing more than relegating Armagh and we will only have ourselves to blame for this mess as we had a chance to win every game so far and couldn't manage it, from what i have seen the 3 teams at the bottom are the worst teams in Div 1 and there's nothing between Monaghan and Armagh so whoever has the goolies for it next week will stay up.

I know i'm a bit old school here but can someone please tell me why all forwards are afraid to shoot from 30-45m out, this is from all the games in general. Are forwards told not to shoot unless it's in front of the posts...is this a % thing?. you see guys in what i think is a scoreable position but they won't shoot and recycle the ball across and back and across and back and across and back before someone gets dispossed and the counter attack starts...WTF. You're a County footballer, get within 30-45m and pop the the ball over the bar. Even at club level I played with guys who didn't think twice about shooting from those ranges and hardly ever missed...Maybe the footballer is being replaced with an athlete now and fitness/strength is preferred to a proper footballer...

Rant over...

That's a good synopsis of the situation. I simply don't get the tactics we have adopted during this years League but it would certainly suck the life out of you watching us play at times. I honestly don't know what the attacking plan is other than to work the ball up the pitch slowly and retain possession. We have no identity as I don't know what our playing style is. Most of our best players are in the forward line yet we persist in asking them to play a game that is not suited to their strengths. Whatever feel good factor we had from last years championship run has now gone. We have got very little out of this years League other than blooding one new player (McCambridge) whereas at least the likes of Monaghan can say that they are going through a transition phase blooding new players. When you substitute your best player with 5 minutes remaining with the game still in the melting pot you have to ask what is going on.   

If we remember we were also at a bit of a crossroads after the Donegal championship game last year when we played a similar running/possession type game where the players look stifled by fear. After that we threw off the shackles and went more gung ho where the players were encouraged to take risks. I'm holding out hope that we can still do something similar because its still the same bunch of players and we have shown last year that we are more than capable of beating Tyrone, however you wouldn't be confident that we can just turn it around in 8 days.   

9

General discussion / Re: What happened the DUP thread?

« on: March 19, 2023, 11:13:49 PM »

It’s decision time now for Donaldson and the DUP. I can’t see the leadership of the party publicly supporting the WF which could then leave them in an even more perilous position. At every juncture they have managed to make things even worse for themselves as they are petrified of being lundified. I think Peter Robinson is one of the few in the party who has a strategic brain and will recognise the opportunity that the WF offers to unionists. But he is only one of 8 people and the threat of the TUV/LCC/OO axis looms large over any decision to be made.

Decision time would suggest that Donaldson has options.
If he has 3 options then he has 3.
If he has 2 options then he has 2.
If he has 1 option then he has no option.

He will reject the WF, and say that he is passing the problem back to Rishi. He will then tell his electorate that Rishi has messed up and Rishi has to find a solution.

Looking like no Stormont for 2 or 3 years.

He could well reject it but he has set up a committee to avoid him personally taking the blame for whatever the outcome. How can he square the circle of pulling MLAs out of Stormont (which affects the lives of the people living here) in protest at the protocol yet still have MPs parading around Westminster which is where any objections should be aimed. It’s all a smokescreen.

Also Sunak doesn’t have to find any solution, it will comfortably get through a vote this week so what do the DUP do then. The likelihood is that they will be facing direct rule with decision making being taken out of their hands with a soon to be Labour government in the UK and a probable SF government in the south. Strategically it is in unionisms best interests to get Stormont back up running again.

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GAA Discussion / Re: NFL Division 1 2023

« on: March 19, 2023, 10:16:49 PM »

Contrast this with Mayo who have been the best team to watch during the entire League to date. I would have thought that they were entering a transition phase having lost so many players in the last few years so I'm not sure how they produce a new batch while still competing at the top level. 

The last decent group from Mayo was 2013-2017. Since 2017 that group of players have been retiring/dropped. That's 6 years ago. Seems like a short time to auld bucks like us.

Couple of provincials and all ireland final appearances since then, not a bad rebuild. If Armagh don’t win sam i’d love to see Mayo do it of course, but would be heart breaking for Lee Keegan.

Rebuild was done under Horan. Introduced the likes of O'Donoghue,Flynn,Conroy etc into the side it was a perfect opportunity for McStay to step in and he stocked his management team to leave no stone unturned.   Should go on to win the league title now and it's going to take a very good team to beat them in this years All Ireland.

Be interesting to see them against a full strength Kerry, huge credit to how they’ve gone so far especially after losing 2 of the best defenders in the country.

For a good while the only team that beat Mayo was themselves.

They have been impressive throughout the League but they still have plenty to prove before they can be considered genuine contenders. No different to most other division one sides I feel. They made a League final last season only to be ripped to shreds by Kerry in Croke Park. Despite losing Mullin and Keegan they look to have improved from last season but part of that could be simply down to a new manager bounce. Time will tell but if they win out in Connacht this year then they might be considered genuine contenders.

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General discussion / Re: What happened the DUP thread?

« on: March 19, 2023, 10:08:19 PM »

It’s decision time now for Donaldson and the DUP. I can’t see the leadership of the party publicly supporting the WF which could then leave them in an even more perilous position. At every juncture they have managed to make things even worse for themselves as they are petrified of being lundified. I think Peter Robinson is one of the few in the party who has a strategic brain and will recognise the opportunity that the WF offers to unionists. But he is only one of 8 people and the threat of the TUV/LCC/OO axis looms large over any decision to be made.

12

GAA Discussion / Re: Division 2 2023

« on: March 19, 2023, 06:30:31 PM »

Mickey Harte has done some job with Louth which has gone very much under the radar. In the very unlikely event that they beat Dublin next week they would be playing division one football next season. Which is some feat given that they would have been favourites to go down at the beginning of the campaign.

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GAA Discussion / Re: NFL Division 1 2023

« on: March 19, 2023, 06:17:17 PM »

donegal are in a bad place. wouldn't even be shocked if they ehd up in division 3 in the next couple of years.

mayo full value for the win either way. can only beat what's in front of them and they went and did the job well. they're getting some tune out of o'shea at the moment. he bullied the donegal keeper all day.

He does seem to have had a new lease of life this year and has played a more disciplined role positionally. He will be licking his lips at the thought of coming up against Gleeson should they face Galway in a League final or in the Connacht championship. Patton has always had a weakness under a high ball and Gleeson is very similar.

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GAA Discussion / Re: NFL Division 1 2023

« on: March 19, 2023, 06:13:54 PM »

1   
   Mayo   6   4   2   0   112   82   10
2   
   Galway   6   3   2   1   77   67   8
3   
   Kerry   6   3   0   3   92   88   6
4   
   Tyrone   6   3   0   3   95   94   6
5   
   Roscommon   6   3   0   3   84   83   6
6   
   Armagh   6   2   1   3   79   80   5
7   
   Monaghan   6   2   0   4   89   105   4
8   
   Donegal   6   1   1   4   67   96   3


The only certainty is that Donegal are definitely relegated and Mayo are definitely in the League final. Galway look favourites to join Mayo in a League final but they will need a result against Kerry to guarantee that. I don't think Kerry will be too bothered about that match so I can see a Galway v Mayo League final which could be interesting. In the unlikely event that Monaghan and Armagh both win their final match, there could be a whole host of teams finishing on 6 points in which case scoring difference comes into play and it would be time to get the abacus out.

15

GAA Discussion / Re: NFL Division 1 2023

« on: March 19, 2023, 05:46:19 PM »

Mayo will put out a scratch team next week
With the final the following week and the championship a week later
Armagh will need something in Omagh 🙈

What is a scratch team though? They might mix and match with a few new players but regardless I would still expect them to beat Monaghan at home. However, I hope the team and players expect the worst and go and put on a performance against Tyrone to leave the result of that match an irrelevance. A draw will guarantee safety and our own match against Tyrone has to be the focus this week. Despite our form and playing style this season I would still expect some sort of a reaction from Armagh next week but whether it is enough to get a result in Omagh remains to be seen.