Official Cavan GAA Thread

[cavan4ever]

Was there any regional games last weekend?

[clarshack]

how come ballinagh play in the intermediate championship when they finished something like 4th in division 1. surely they should have been playing in the senior championship?

[mylestheslasher]

how come ballinagh play in the intermediate championship when they finished something like 4th in division 1. surely they should have been playing in the senior championship?

Because in Cavan promotion/releagtion from Leagues is totally seperate from championship. Theoretically in cavan you could be in Div 6 and be competing in the Senior championship. To get promoted from Div 2 to Div 1 you must finish in the top two in Div 2. To get promoted from intermediate to senior championship you must win the intermediate championship. Ballinagh only won the intermediate this year after "choking" on the big stage in previous years. They actually won Div 1 in the league last year too.

[clarshack]

i take it ballinagh would fancy themselves for an ulster intermediate then? if so they would need to be a lot better than drumalee who were in ulster year. i saw the dvd of drumalee and ballymacnab and drumalee disappointed me considering they were a 1st division cavan side. i thought butlersbridge (who we beat in ulster a few years ago) were as good as drumalee. maybe drumalee had an off day against the nab.

[mylestheslasher]

i take it ballinagh would fancy themselves for an ulster intermediate then? if so they would need to be a lot better than drumalee who were in ulster year. i saw the dvd of drumalee and ballymacnab and drumalee disappointed me considering they were a 1st division cavan side. i thought butlersbridge (who we beat in ulster a few years ago) were as good as drumalee. maybe drumalee had an off day against the nab.

Drumalee would be decent at times but not as good as ballinagh I would say. They would be much better than Butlersbridge who are a Div 3 team now. Homer who posts here is from ballinagh - he may or may not give you some inside info on whether the team is really chasing the Ulster crown or if they are happy to have the intermediate. That desire (or lack of it) could play a part.

[clarshack]

i take it ballinagh would fancy themselves for an ulster intermediate then? if so they would need to be a lot better than drumalee who were in ulster year. i saw the dvd of drumalee and ballymacnab and drumalee disappointed me considering they were a 1st division cavan side. i thought butlersbridge (who we beat in ulster a few years ago) were as good as drumalee. maybe drumalee had an off day against the nab.

Drumalee would be decent at times but not as good as ballinagh I would say. They would be much better than Butlersbridge who are a Div 3 team now. Homer who posts here is from ballinagh - he may or may not give you some inside info on whether the team is really chasing the Ulster crown or if they are happy to have the intermediate. That desire (or lack of it) could play a part.

do ballinagh have many county men?

whatever happened to butlersbridge? 3 years ago they gave us our toughest game on our path to the all-ireland junior final. i thought they were a decent side and on the way up. mulvey was a good target man in full forward and mickey graham seemed to have them in good shape too.

[mylestheslasher]

i take it ballinagh would fancy themselves for an ulster intermediate then? if so they would need to be a lot better than drumalee who were in ulster year. i saw the dvd of drumalee and ballymacnab and drumalee disappointed me considering they were a 1st division cavan side. i thought butlersbridge (who we beat in ulster a few years ago) were as good as drumalee. maybe drumalee had an off day against the nab.

Drumalee would be decent at times but not as good as ballinagh I would say. They would be much better than Butlersbridge who are a Div 3 team now. Homer who posts here is from ballinagh - he may or may not give you some inside info on whether the team is really chasing the Ulster crown or if they are happy to have the intermediate. That desire (or lack of it) could play a part.

do ballinagh have many county men?

whatever happened to butlersbridge? 3 years ago they gave us our toughest game on our path to the all-ireland junior final. i thought they were a decent side and on the way up. mulvey was a good target man in full forward and mickey graham seemed to have them in good shape too.

They have Pauric (Podge) Reilly at Full Back. He played with the county 2 years ago but opted out last year for exams I think. Anthony Gaynor is playing for them at FF - he was left out of panel last year for a number of reasons depending on who you talk to. Paul Galligan is a corner forward who is ex county. He played for Cavan in 2001 Ulster Final against Tyrone and had a good game. Again, Homer would have the minor/u21 players better than I would.

[LackenLegend]

Lads, ye should check out the article about the GPA in the comment section of the Irish Indo today. I think its by Darragh McManus. Interesting stuff and entirely correct in my opinion.

[mylestheslasher]

Lads, ye should check out the article about the GPA in the comment section of the Irish Indo today. I think its by Darragh McManus. Interesting stuff and entirely correct in my opinion.

Any chance of a link - can't find it.

[Cavanfan]

Here's the links

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/gpa-still-hoping-to-play-ball-as-sides-meet-for-vital-talks-1217714.html

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/gaa-managers-need-to-butt-out-of-strike-1217712.html

http://www.independent.ie/sport/hurling/gaa-deny-mooted-all-stars-boycott-of-new-york-trip-1217725.html

[mylestheslasher]

I think the one Lackenlegend is on about is actually this one which isn't in the sports section...

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/gaa-strikers-on-target-to-score-an-own-goal-1217777.html

[mylestheslasher]

Sure I'll just post it here ....


by Darragh McManus
Tuesday November 13 2007


Have you ever heard of someone "striking" against their own hobby? No, me neither, but for Dessie Farrell and his cohort in the Gaelic Players' Association (GPA), the impossible is not only possible, but likely.


Let's be clear about what hurling and football are to inter-county players: a pastime, freely chosen, which they do because they enjoy it. Despite extravagant declarations about player "sacrifice" which is costing them time and money, they are not forced to play, by anybody or for anybody.

They are free to quit entirely or swap to other sports at any time. Indeed, there is a club level in GAA to suit all tastes, from top-quality senior sides to Division 10 junior teams who only meet up for matches.

The essential point again: this is a hobby. To expect to be financially recompensed for your hobby -- and to threaten a so-called "strike" if your demands are not met -- is totally unreasonable, not to mention absurd.

It's also unworkable. These players are not employed by the GAA, so who exactly do they intend to "strike" against, what form will it take and what effect do they expect it to have?

Inter-county players are voluntary members of GAA clubs who are invited, by their county board in the person of the team manager, to play on the county team; nothing more nor less. Should they decline that invitation, as is their right, the county board has the responsibility and obligation to extend the invitation to alternative players.

There are thousands of fine talents across the country who would give their right arm to play for the county, and the paying public will follow these players in their thousands. GPA mouthpieces may say that the big stars are the main attraction, but this is untrue.

While they have affection for individual players, GAA people follow their club and county -- team members are considered privileged to wear that coveted jersey. This is why inter-county and club competitions have thrived for 13 decades, long before the current era of hype and "the big occasion", and why the recent inter-provincials in Croke Park -- despite gathering an impressive collection of star players -- were attended by less than 10,000 people.

And please, enough of the loaded terminology, like "crossing the picket line", to emotionally blackmail other players into supporting this "strike": nobody's employment is under threat, and replacements have every moral right to play. (Enough, also, of self-fulfilling prophecies which declare, like Sean Diffley in this paper on Saturday, that professionalism in the GAA is inevitable. It only is if you keep saying it is.) A GPA "strike" will not succeed, and should not. The GAA was set up as a cultural and community organisation, to foster indigenous games and arts.

It exists so that every child or adult who wants to play has a field, a dressing room, a hurley or football, and someone to coach them and arrange matches.

It is an elemental force in Irish life, and cannot be held hostage by a contentious, and tiny, group of elite players. (The GPA represents less than 2,000 members of an organisation totalling more than 800,000 -- not even a quarter of one per cent.)

The GAA is immeasurably bigger, and more important, than individual players, managers, club members, famous stars, media commentators or anybody else.

And it is worth preserving at any expense. The inter-county championship may be the jewel in the crown, but the GAA can survive without it.

But it won't come to that, anyway. Despite claims to the contrary, I don't believe the ordinary grassroots member supports this GPA brinkmanship; I don't even believe they support the principle of grant payments for inter-county players. Many nervously see it as the thin end of the wedge regarding full professionalism, and considering how money-oriented the GPA has proven itself, they are right to be nervous.

If I had GAA President Nickey Brennan on the phone, I would tell him, hold fast in the face of this provocation -- the people will support you.

Donal Og Cusack and his ilk endlessly recite the mantra, "It's all about respect". Well, you have to give respect if you want to receive it. Where is the GPA respect, for example, for GAA officials at all levels, those sneered-at "suits" who do the tedious, unglamorous jobs behind the scenes?

All they get is contempt and abuse, despite the fact that their dedication is as great as inter-county players and their work just as important.

Where is the respect for the club member who doesn't want to see his association threatened by avarice and discord? Or the hugely committed inter-county camogie player or women's footballer, or senior club player?

Here's one example: my father was club chairman for 18 years. He coached primary schools teams, boys and girls, under-age and adult club teams, played, attended meetings, drove us to matches, sold lotto tickets, helped gather the grass when the pitch was mown. Post-retirement he is still involved, as a club-man, supporter and selector on the county U21 football team.

People like this made the GAA the most remarkable sporting organisation on the planet.

To concede the principle of elitism, to stratify the assocation, to yield to threats and media pressure, to open up the appalling vista of professionalism, is to betray the values and principles that inspired them.

My father was not unique, but the GAA is -- let's keep it that way.

Darragh McManus is author of 'GAA Confidential (Everything you never knew you wanted to know about Gaelic games)'

- Darragh McManus

[LackenLegend]

Yep thats the one mylestheslasher!

[CoillyG]

Right Lads year is over, bar Ballinagh and Killashandra's exploits in Ulster and a few league finals. How do people feel the year went nad what can we learn for next year.

Keogans appointment,
The promising start hammering Derry in the Mc Kenna Cup,
The whole Gallagher affair and the disaster it turned out to be,
The unearthing of Jonathan Crowe and Michael Cunningham at intercounty level only for the to dissapear come championship.
Miller opting out of the panel then returing,
Gaynors absence,
Scraping a result against Wexford in our promotion bid,
Gaining promotion,
The exception year Mc Cabe had at Club and County,
Fluking a draw against Down,
Droping Johnstone,
Playing attrociously in the lovely new Park Esker,
Cahill, Brady, Johnstone leaving,
Nicholas Walsh being a disaster yet again,
The entire team looking a bit heavy for both games,
Mc Cabe attempting to pull us through against a very poor Mayo team,
The Gaels v Gowna in the first round of the Championship,
The suspensions,
The potential breakthrough from Killygarry and Castlerahan never materialising,
Rory Donohoes form for Belturbet,
Bailieboro's mini renissance,
Mc Cabes injury depriving us of a potentialy good county final,
Drumgoons disasterous finish to the year failing to win the necessary 1 game out of 5,
Kingscourts league disaster,
Killygarry being the first team in a long time to make the bounce straight back to Division 1,
Martin Reillys club form kicking 10 points against Drumgoon,
Proud Laragh being relegated,
Maghera threatening to disband,
Templeport being regulated to division 4,
The Gaels flop in Ulster yet gain,

I know there is a hell of alot more, but whats people's thoughts?

[shotstopper1]

Now that Cavan Gaels and Gowna are in the league final, would there be any chance that the county board could fix a double header in Breffni? Div 3 league final replay to be played before the Div 1 league final.Sure wouldn't it save the Gaels supporters a lot of hassle and money.