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Haven't logged on in a long time but had to to express my condolences to the great man.  I won't attempt to top Matts post, I don't think anyone can but will just add that Dermot was finishing his football carear as I was starting off as a youngster going to games.  I have a vague recolection of 1985 but have watched those YouTube clips that were mentioned earlier on many occasions and I cannot begin to tell you how much pride they have given me.  Perhaps one day we will get back to that level.

R.I.P. Dermot

"The starting salary of a clerical officer is €23,221, rising to €35,727 after 12 years of service. This latter figure is less than the average industrial wage in the private sector."

Funny how none of ye picked up on this point 

[Public-service workers have plenty of ammunition to work with. Ireland has the third-smallest public expenditure as a percentage of GDP in the OECD. The Irish public sector is by far the smallest of the old EU states. In 1988, public-service workers made up 24.7% of all those in employment. Last year, it was 17.2%. This is significantly less than the level of public employment in Norway (28%), Sweden (27%) and France (23%). The starting salary of a clerical officer is €23,221, rising to €35,727 after 12 years of service. This latter figure is less than the average industrial wage in the private sector. A staff nurse takes six years to get to the average industrial wage.]

At least one journalist isn't following the flock.

http://www.tribune.ie/news/article/2009/jan/11/diarmuid-doyle-public-sector-workers-have-nothing-/

From time to time, managers of sporting teams like to pin hostile media criticism of their players onto the dressing room wall in advance of an important game. The thinking is that the players will see themselves described in print as nancy boys/unfit to wear the jersey/worse than a team of malaria-stricken grandmothers, and react by ripping their opponents to shreds in the subsequent match. It's an interesting psychological approach and works as often as not. People don't like their commitment or existence questioned and will stand up for themselves when it is.




If Ireland's public-service workers, who have recently been blamed for just about every catastrophe bar the war in Gaza, want to acquire fire in their bellies as their union representatives meet the government over the state of the economy, they might adopt a similar approach. They could start by listening back to some interviews that were done late in the week on RTé and Today FM with the likes of Turlough O'Sullivan, head of the employers' group Ibec, and Ed Walsh, the founding president of the University of Limerick.




Like all employers' representatives, O'Sullivan likes nothing better than a good kick at the public service. He was in flying form on Thursday on The Last Word, advocating public-sector redundancies in the order of 20% and using words like 'bloated' and 'overstaffed' to describe the civil service. To an extent, this was just the usual employer posturing in advance of talks, and public-sector workers will have heard it all before. To get the real dressing-room-wall experience, therefore, they should tune into two interviews done in quick succession by Walsh with Mary Wilson and Matt Cooper on Thursday.




Walsh was invited on by both presenters to talk about the 1,900 redundancies at Dell but wasted no time in getting stuck into the public sector, which he appears to blame for all the country's woes. Walsh is a balanced commentator only to the extent that he appears to have chips on both shoulders. On his right, he carries a visceral hostility to the public service in general; on his left, he displays huge animus towards teachers in particular. Statistics poured out of him on both programmes. Our teachers were paid in excess of 37% more than teachers in Britain. Ambulance drivers were paid more than a junior consultant in Finland. (I have no idea whether that's true or not, although I'm pretty sure that junior doctors in Helsinki don't risk being attacked by thugs every time they're on a job.) Our kids are the 22nd worst at maths out of 28 countries, apparently.




What this had to do with the closure of Dell wasn't entirely clear, but it was all good knockabout fun. As Walsh became ever more apoplectic, I must confess that I laughed out loud. Although he was supposed to be commenting on Dell, he might just as easily have been talking about the public finances, around which a consensus seems to have settled: the public sector is an insatiable beast, populated by overpaid and underperforming workers of whom there are far too many. Get rid of a fifth of them, slash the salaries of the rest and the Celtic Tiger will undergo a miraculous recovery.




Teachers, guards, nurses, doctors, social workers and the rest, who have had no part to play in the collapse of the economy, will be bemused at the hostility shown to them and their colleagues. But they should hold tough and, having given all due consideration to the nonsense spouted by Walsh, Enda Kenny and various rent-a-quote economists, fight their corner.




Public-service workers have plenty of ammunition to work with. Ireland has the third-smallest public expenditure as a percentage of GDP in the OECD. The Irish public sector is by far the smallest of the old EU states. In 1988, public-service workers made up 24.7% of all those in employment. Last year, it was 17.2%. This is significantly less than the level of public employment in Norway (28%), Sweden (27%) and France (23%). The starting salary of a clerical officer is €23,221, rising to €35,727 after 12 years of service. This latter figure is less than the average industrial wage in the private sector. A staff nurse takes six years to get to the average industrial wage.




Public-sector workers have nothing to feel guilty about as they consider how to play their part in fixing a mess not of their making. Because it's the right thing to do, they should promise efficiencies, they should offer more flexibility in work practices and they should certainly, in the national interest, agree to scrap the pay deal and forego any salary increases for the forseeable future. But they should resist any talk of pay cuts, and refuse to be scape­goated for our current travails. It's up to the people who got us into this mess to get us out.

hello deelrover, this end of the world  will be blamed on john maughan, at least in roscommon. will he make a difference to your club?

If the world ends there'll be nobody around to blame anyone

Might even be worth doing a double with him and Buster Royale in the 2.50

Is this running today?

My Bad 

Might even be worth doing a double with him and Buster Royale in the 2.50

Is this running today?

Not being smart but Yes, in the 2.50 at Taunton

Nothing very solid, I havent been talking to the horse or anything  .  However I was talking to a guy who does get fairly good imformation.  I wouldn't put the house on it, but at 9/4 it's a nice price.  Might even be worth doing a double with him and Buster Royale in the 2.50

4.10 Ludlow
Scrum V

That p***k is mouthing off again, he was at the same shite last year too   

http://www.teamtalk.com/football/story/0,16368,1766_4782703,00.html

Bolton striker Kevin Davies has accused Arsenal players of cheating referees by "screaming" to con officials into awarding them free-kicks.

Davies: Unimpressed with 'screaming' Gunners

The Gunners edged to a 1-0 win over Wanderers at the Emirates Stadium, where the visitors' stubborn resistance was finally broken six minutes from time when substitute Nicklas Bendtner volley in a late winner.

While it was not an over-physical encounter, there is certainly little love lost between the two sides.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was left seething following what he saw as an X-rated challenge by forward Davies on full-back Gael Clichy during the encounter at the Reebok Stadium earlier in the season.

Davies, though, maintains several of the Arsenal team play act to get decisions their way.

"Sometimes it feels like they are trying to earn you a booking, which is bit disappointing and in some of the challenges, I felt that I won the ball," the Bolton forward said.

"A few of them let out a big scream, which is a bit embarrassing really because it is a man's game.

"[Kolo] Toure did one, and he is big, strong man. He was screaming 'my leg' which is a bit unnecessary - but they get the free-kicks.

"In my eyes that is cheating the referee, they have conned him, but they are good at than and you just have to get on with the game."

Bolton were only able to name three outfield players on the substitutes' bench, such was the selection problems for manager Gary Megson.

Davies feels the team can take credit from their efforts in difficult circumstances as they prepare for the visit of champions Manchester United.

"We have only got a small squad, then we had a suspensions and a few injuries, so we are all trying to work hard and can take a lot of positives out of the game because we probably deserved a point," he said.

"If we can perform like that against Manchester United next week, then we will give them a game."

Ah its a pre-season tourno that gives managers a chance to run the rule over a few younger lads, try out a few things in terms of players in new positions before the league starts. A lot of experimentation might happen in the league too but its handy have a head start in the FBD. Winning it is very much secondary

That's true RedandGreen but wouldnt it be handy for the managers to have the younger lads i.e. the students available to play for the team that they will be playing for in the summer?  It's hard to watch them when they are playing at a different venue, also they may be playing out of position for their college.  I'm sure the colleges are using this compition as preperation for the Sigerson or Trench Cups.

[gramhan gibbons]

backed calculating and marmooq in kempton today.also backed figaro flyer and hucking heat in wolves. gramhan gibbons has a few rides in wolves today always trys his best on a horse and nearly always places any long odds he does ride.so keep an eye on him today.
By any chance does anyone know when dundalk is starting up again?

Good man Rossie, support the local boy

I hope I'll be flying high after the 3.55 in Kempton.

Anyone hear Don McClean on The Last Word last night, he did a brief preview of Lepordstown.  He was very keen on Tharawat in the Juvinile Hurldle, Made in Taipan,Trafford Lad and War of Attrition.  He also gave a mention to Air Force One in the King George.

On another matter, all this talk about Binocular and how he has won the Champion Hurdle already(wait till Sizing Europe gets at him),I was just wondering where is Edward Hartys Captain CeeBee this season,if my memory serves me well didnt it beat Binocular at Cheltenham last March?
Our Nail maybe you can answer that one??

Good question.  Cee Bee beat Bincular in the first race of Cheltenham last year.  He was declared to run in a beginers chase in Roscommon last Sept/Oct but didnt go because of the ground and as far as I know there has been no entries since.

Anyone going to any of the meetings over xmas?

I'm going to go to Thurles on Sunday and probably Leopardstown for the Lexus.