Derry Club Football & Hurling original

[Keyser soze]

Board has been very quiet since the leagues have started back.

Any teams really standing out as contenders for the championship?

Whats going on at dungiven and glenullin? Both looking likely of relegation.

Is next year back to meaning if you are in intermediate league you are in that chamionship also?

Pretty sure it's the 10 surviving Div 1A teams + 2 relegated teams + 2 promoted teams in senior championship 2020

It's the 10 surviving teams + 2 relegated and the top 4 teams in Div 1B

The senior league is heating up, we have lost our early form, Loup v competitive yesterday, but we are still playing well. But their is nothing between the middle 6/7 teams. Ballinderry have put together two big results and performances going by the score board. Bellaghy going by Mals report destroyed Magherafelt, unexpected. Topsy turvy performances everywhere. Banagher and Dungiven in big diffs now, with Glen possibly being the real threats to the Snail in the championship 🤔. Coleraine keeping their powder dry for the championship?

If that's correct what a complete clusterfuck.  How are teams playing intermediate opposition all year supposed to compete with teams playing senior all year. it just shows that the county board do not give 1 flying f**k about clubs, other than when they need 16 of them to line their pockets at championship time.  Other than that it's all right to fob them off with 2nd rate competitions and telescope their league into as few weeks as possible.

[Ball]

Board has been very quiet since the leagues have started back.

Any teams really standing out as contenders for the championship?

Whats going on at dungiven and glenullin? Both looking likely of relegation.

Is next year back to meaning if you are in intermediate league you are in that chamionship also?

Pretty sure it's the 10 surviving Div 1A teams + 2 relegated teams + 2 promoted teams in senior championship 2020

It's the 10 surviving teams + 2 relegated and the top 4 teams in Div 1B

The senior league is heating up, we have lost our early form, Loup v competitive yesterday, but we are still playing well. But their is nothing between the middle 6/7 teams. Ballinderry have put together two big results and performances going by the score board. Bellaghy going by Mals report destroyed Magherafelt, unexpected. Topsy turvy performances everywhere. Banagher and Dungiven in big diffs now, with Glen possibly being the real threats to the Snail in the championship 🤔. Coleraine keeping their powder dry for the championship?

If that's correct what a complete clusterfuck.  How are teams playing intermediate opposition all year supposed to compete with teams playing senior all year. it just shows that the county board do not give 1 flying f**k about clubs, other than when they need 16 of them to line their pockets at championship time.  Other than that it's all right to fob them off with 2nd rate competitions and telescope their league into as few weeks as possible.

Yeah i thought that was the whole point of the league restructure this year was for it to be even out again next year meaning you play in intermediate league your in intermediate championship also.

More less top 16 teams play senior champ.

[The Trap]

Just had a look at Derry website for senior league games. The 2 clusters of 11 league games are played over 59 days, 4 games between 7th April and 28th April and 7 games between 17th July and 25th August. Lads train most of the year for that!

[toby47]

Just had a look at Derry website for senior league games. The 2 clusters of 11 league games are played over 59 days, 4 games between 7th April and 28th April and 7 games between 17th July and 25th August. Lads train most of the year for that!

Most clubs training from end of January / start of February until September for the games to be spread like that.

It's not hard to see why a lot of younger fellas are picking other sports/ teams are struggling to field reserve teams & more and more games are being conceded.

[the half-time show]

It's the 10 surviving teams + 2 relegated and the top 4 teams in Div 1B
It's actually the Top 3 Div1B teams along with the Intermediate winner.  If the winner also finishes Top 3 then 4th place will play senior as well.

The senior league is heating up, we have lost our early form, Loup v competitive yesterday, but we are still playing well. But their is nothing between the middle 6/7 teams. Ballinderry have put together two big results and performances going by the score board. Bellaghy going by Mals report destroyed Magherafelt, unexpected. Topsy turvy performances everywhere. Banagher and Dungiven in big diffs now, with Glen possibly being the real threats to the Snail in the championship 🤔. Coleraine keeping their powder dry for the championship?

If that's correct what a complete clusterfuck.  How are teams playing intermediate opposition all year supposed to compete with teams playing senior all year. it just shows that the county board do not give 1 flying f**k about clubs, other than when they need 16 of them to line their pockets at championship time.  Other than that it's all right to fob them off with 2nd rate competitions and telescope their league into as few weeks as possible.

Yeah i thought that was the whole point of the league restructure this year was for it to be even out again next year meaning you play in intermediate league your in intermediate championship also.

More less top 16 teams play senior champ.

The leagues restructured because clubs refused to play games without their county players which made it difficult / impossible to run off all required league games.  Therefore, they reduced the number of teams in each league so that we can make sure all games are played before championship begins and we're not left with the scenario of games with relegation / promotion implications being played in November.  (To counteract the reduction in games they introduced the League Cup, played during the county break). 
Note: I disagree with the current proposal but just wanted to clarify for others that may not know the thinking behind it.

Obviously a 12 team championship wouldn't work as some teams would need to be given bye's for the draw to work out so it's been kept as a 16 team competition, with the best solution being to take the top 12 teams from Division 1A and the next 4 top teams from Division 1B.  If teams playing intermediate opposition all year want to compete with teams playing senior all year then that's an added incentive to gain promotion from Division 1B, and without being facetious, the reason they are playing intermediate teams all year is because they weren't good enough to compete with senior teams (i.e. they were relegated from the senior league).

[Mikhailov]

Just had a look at Derry website for senior league games. The 2 clusters of 11 league games are played over 59 days, 4 games between 7th April and 28th April and 7 games between 17th July and 25th August. Lads train most of the year for that!

Lads, that's unbelievable to say the least. You start off with 4 games in 21 days and finish with 7 games in 38 days with a total break of 80 days without any league games in the middle. You can thank f**k Derry county team don't do well at senior level or you wouldn't get any football at all for club players. Why did clubs accept this? Surely home & away is better option and you play with county men if available - if not available then play away. After 22 league games, if you get relegated then you can't really have any issues as you had plenty of chances. Surely the club player and indeed managers must find this very hard to sustain over a season with so little football to be played.

[tbrick18]

Just had a look at Derry website for senior league games. The 2 clusters of 11 league games are played over 59 days, 4 games between 7th April and 28th April and 7 games between 17th July and 25th August. Lads train most of the year for that!

Lads, that's unbelievable to say the least. You start off with 4 games in 21 days and finish with 7 games in 38 days with a total break of 80 days without any league games in the middle. You can thank f**k Derry county team don't do well at senior level or you wouldn't get any football at all for club players. Why did clubs accept this? Surely home & away is better option and you play with county men if available - if not available then play away. After 22 league games, if you get relegated then you can't really have any issues as you had plenty of chances. Surely the club player and indeed managers must find this very hard to sustain over a season with so little football to be played.

Its a ridiculous setup alright. It gives very little incentive to players to train all year. A minor injury could mean you miss a lot of games too which is unfair on the players.
Personally, I think the Tyrone structure is much better. It means more games for players, which means more chance for players to improve. You are also less likely to lose players to America/Australia if they are playing loads of football.
It is also bound to have a detrimental effect on the overall quality of senior players. I was always told, you improve as a footballer by playing football. IMO, this structure we have is going to adversely affect the quality is going forward at club and county level.

[theticklemister]

Well it's up to the players and clubs to say:

"f**k you" to the county board and county management team, we want matches.

It would garner more support if the players liaised with other counties in doing so. I've no trust in the GPA. The fact that our county team are in a poor way, doesn't help either.

The overall fixtures set up country-wide is a mess. Maybe things have to change at the bottom (voices of player) before they change at the top (fixtures co-ordinators)

[Mario]

People are talking like there were no games during the league break. From what I can see Dungiven seemed to play nearly week during this period. Sure it's not as high a level as senior league but it's still football every week.

I preferred the 16 team league too but was that not removed because some clubs didn't want to play games without co. men

[Josey Wales]

People are talking like there were no games during the league break. From what I can see Dungiven seemed to play nearly week during this period. Sure it's not as high a level as senior league but it's still football every week.

I preferred the 16 team league too but was that not removed because some clubs didn't want to play games without co. men

Them games were a joke.  Was a torture for the few even watching them, doubt it was much better for ones playing in them.

Until there is an agreed country wide schedule/plan, nothing will work.  Ironically though, the man who set up this farce in Derry, is now part of this country wide planning committee.

[Keyser soze]

There are undoubtedly people on the county board that think that league football is too competitive.

And that there is too much competition between clubs for the county to be successful.

[Leaveherlong]

Even before a new senior manager is interviewed Derry should decide how it wants to run its own leagues and championships. This plan should be presented to anyone who wants to manage the county and if they don't like it then then should find another job - there's plenty of them out there, they could have their pick and its better to know where everyone stands before they start. No one is saying we shouldn't give the county a fighting chance but until we are back among the top 8 sides in the country would it not be better to develop players through playing regular club football and prevent our best young players either heading to America or wasting their time sitting around waiting for a game. Also clubs know the difference between a serious game of football and these glorified friendlies. It was a nice idea on paper but also very naive. Someone made the point that other counties including those still in the senior championship seem able to offer something better but the situation in Derry is beyond a joke at this stage and the whole thing needs a radical new direction. Put the clubs first then everything else will fall into place.

[tbrick18]

Even before a new senior manager is interviewed Derry should decide how it wants to run its own leagues and championships. This plan should be presented to anyone who wants to manage the county and if they don't like it then then should find another job - there's plenty of them out there, they could have their pick and its better to know where everyone stands before they start. No one is saying we shouldn't give the county a fighting chance but until we are back among the top 8 sides in the country would it not be better to develop players through playing regular club football and prevent our best young players either heading to America or wasting their time sitting around waiting for a game. Also clubs know the difference between a serious game of football and these glorified friendlies. It was a nice idea on paper but also very naive. Someone made the point that other counties including those still in the senior championship seem able to offer something better but the situation in Derry is beyond a joke at this stage and the whole thing needs a radical new direction. Put the clubs first then everything else will fall into place.

It's an impossible situation at the minute. You can't "put the clubs first" if the clubs don't agree to play starred league games, in my opinion. It seems to me, that this has been an attempt to put the clubs first, but at the expense of the non-county club player.
Clubs have to bear some responsibility for this too.
So the current setup means clubs don't play league games without their county players, but that means the non-county player has to live with the huge break in games.
Perhaps the CB need to take control a bit more, impose the starred games on clubs and if they refuse to play it, they concede the points. A bit of a drastic approach but maybe taking the short term hard line would have long term benefits for clubs and county, but more importantly the non-county players.
Or maybe it's a nonsensical idea, I just know the current structure is not working. All IMO of course.

[Keyser soze]

A strong county team needs players from strong clubs in order to be successful. Clubs with a strong tradition of supplying top class players to the county e.g. Bellaghy [0 players last year]  Lavey [1 player last year], Dungiven [0 players last year], Glenullin [0 players last year], Ballinderry [0 players last year,] Screen [1 player last year] etc haven't been supplying these players in the same numbers as they used to, if at all, and for me this is part of the reason why Derry are so weak at the minute. [* put a question mark after my number of players from the listed clubs as i have a poor memory lol]

And this is not in any way a slight on the great work by clubs who maybe have not been traditional suppliers of county players in big numbers eg Slaughtneil and Coleraine, who have done brilliantly to be at the top of the Derry club tree, who are supplying players, or indeed to all the players who made the massive commitment to the county last season.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Action needs to be taken to ensure these clubs are developing these players so that the county can avail of their services. Great club players can become good county players. It seems to me that Derry have been focusing for c. 20 years on developing good county players who can play for their club when they are freed of county commitments which is an arse about face system to me. We have the farcical situation where players who have not played senior at club level are getting the call up to a county senior panel.

I think at this stage it has been clearly demonstrated that the development squad model at Owenbeg has not produced any results and that a fundamental rethink is needed. The high numbers refusing the county call up over the last few years is a result of this approach which attempts to divide loyalty between club and county and has proved to be counterproductive.

The culture where everything is geared towards Owenbeg and to County football needs to be radically overhauled, clubs need to be given ownership of player development and support to maximise this. As indeed do all the schools. Clubs need to be given ownership of the leagues and their championship, maybe then we can develop a strong county setup. 

[lenny]

A strong county team needs players from strong clubs in order to be successful. Clubs with a strong tradition of supplying top class players to the county e.g. Bellaghy [0 players last year]  Lavey [1 player last year], Dungiven [0 players last year], Glenullin [0 players last year], Ballinderry [0 players last year,] Screen [1 player last year] etc haven't been supplying these players in the same numbers as they used to, if at all, and for me this is part of the reason why Derry are so weak at the minute. [* put a question mark after my number of players from the listed clubs as i have a poor memory lol]

And this is not in any way a slight on the great work by clubs who maybe have not been traditional suppliers of county players in big numbers eg Slaughtneil and Coleraine, who have done brilliantly to be at the top of the Derry club tree, who are supplying players, or indeed to all the players who made the massive commitment to the county last season.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Action needs to be taken to ensure these clubs are developing these players so that the county can avail of their services. Great club players can become good county players. It seems to me that Derry have been focusing for c. 20 years on developing good county players who can play for their club when they are freed of county commitments which is an arse about face system to me. We have the farcical situation where players who have not played senior at club level are getting the call up to a county senior panel.

I think at this stage it has been clearly demonstrated that the development squad model at Owenbeg has not produced any results and that a fundamental rethink is needed. The high numbers refusing the county call up over the last few years is a result of this approach which attempts to divide loyalty between club and county and has proved to be counterproductive.

The culture where everything is geared towards Owenbeg and to County football needs to be radically overhauled, clubs need to be given ownership of player development and support to maximise this. As indeed do all the schools. Clubs need to be given ownership of the leagues and their championship, maybe then we can develop a strong county setup.

The development squad model has been really good for Derry over the last 4 or 5years. We're starting to be very competitive at u17 and u20 all the time. Previous to that we went 10 years hardly winning a must minor or u21. We just need to be patient and there should be a good supply of talent through to senior.