Messages

If Mickey wants to give Tyrone a trimming, he will.

Won't be Mickey giving Tyrone a trimming, it will be Derry, same team who gave them a trimming the last few years.

Championship two years ago.. McKenna Cup final only other meeting.. other McKenna Cup game was a draw

Brutal night for football. Defeat probably do Jimmy a favour to slow the hype train a wee bit.

Mickeys taught the diving tricks to the Derry wans I see!

You must never have seen McKinless or McGuigan play before this year

McKinless dives are hilarious.. the fact he ref still falls for the odd one is amazing

10 years this year since Donegal made an All-Ireland semi final - would be very impressive if McGuinness can end that drought in his first year

Rogers lucky to get away with an elbow on Rowland early on?

[Armagh, Derry, Monaghan, Tyrone and possibly Donegal are all evenly matched and can beat each other in any game.]

Nothing between the 2 teams last night, Tyrone kicked some bad wides and Armagh dropping one into the net last kick of the game. Decent game for Jan and McKenna cup, some good positives for both teams. Armagh need a strong year this year and it's getting that wee bit of luck at vital times in big games. Armagh, Derry, Monaghan, Tyrone and possibly Donegal are all evenly matched and can beat each other in any game. For me the thing that's missing for Armagh is the marquee forward that most of the top teams have, the real game changer who'll get you a score outta nothing. Oisin O'Neill back and Niall Grimley are big positives, the young lad from Portydown Conaty (prob spelt that wrong) with his pace could be an impact off the bench.

Go on, tell me where you drew that from analysis from? Derry have won the past two Ulsters, beaten all those teams consistently in the championship the past two seasons, being in two All Ireland semifinals finals. I can see why you had Armagh/tyrone/Donegal and Monaghan all lumped together, but how you put Derry into that dumbs down your post.

Derry drew with Armagh in the Ulster final and won on penalties. That implies that the teams were similar on that day, either could have won.

Correct, there was nothing to separate the sides after 100 minutes, just because Derry lifted the cup doesn't make them a better side. Also the previous year Armagh were knocked out to a Galway side on penalties who subsequently beat Derry fairly comfortably in the semi final. I'm not suggesting Armagh are a better side than Derry but if they played again tomorrow with a full hand to pick from then I couldn't call the result either way.

Armagh could have beat Derry, maybe even should have beat Derry given all that went on the week leading up the final....but didnt.
The much lauded set of forwards that day were average at best.

I'm not saying this because someone said Armagh is on a par with Derry, I'm saying it because I just do not see where this opinion of Armagh comes from. Armagh I believe do not have enough good footballers, including in the forward line. I dont think the manager is good enough either to push them on. From the outside looking in on Armagh, it feels like focus is to get them so fit and physical and hard to beat that they will win. There's no doubt that goes a long way but you need the footballers and you need tactics. McGeeney is not a tactician.
There is also a mentality issue I think with some of the Armagh players too...they don't seem to be able to push on when they should be able to, case in point against Derry when we were down to 14 men in a week where we lost our manager and had all sorts of upheavals in the camp. Losing on penalties multiple times....it can't all be bad luck. That's a lack of belief, confidence or skill, or all of those.
Relegated last year too.

Derry may well do nothing this year, but in the last 2-3 years have shown they have been better than the rest in Ulster. It's too early this year to say what levels we'll hit or how we compare to Armagh or Tyrone, but we now have a manager with 3 AI titles to his name and a team with consecutive Ulster wins and AI semi finals. Armagh can't come close to comparing with that right now.
No doubt MH was brought in to deliver an AI. I wouldn't be foolish enough to say I think we're going to do it. But I think if we keep our key players fit and maintain that hunger, we will be very close.

I do have a sneaky feeling Donegal will be really dangerous this year though and could knock us out of Ulster day one and if they do, they'd be raging hot favourites for Ulster.

2021 - no. Tyrone All-Ireland champions.
2022 - debatable whether Derry were better than Armagh considering respective performances against Galway
2023 - yes

Does the £25 pass I bought for the mckenna cup series cover the semis and final?

Just the semis.
TG4 usually cover the final.

Last year in Division 2:

Dublin - 2023
Derry - 2023
Roscommon - 2022
Galway - 2022
Mayo - 2021

Tyrone - 2016
Monaghan - 2014

Kerry - 2002

A lot will depend on the approach Kerry take to the league or what players available.
I think last year the cliffords and Sean O'Shea were missing in the early parts of the league.
Tyrone even beat them! 

For Derry, if we can retain Div1 status that will be a win.
We'll need some early wins as teams will get stronger as the league goes on (but then everyone will be targeting early wins so there's nothing insightful there).

For what it's worth, I'd currently rate the teams in this order but you can never rule Tyrone/Monaghan out and Derry could also really struggle with tough games early in the year, though hopefully not:

1. Kerry
2. Dublin
3. Galway
4. Derry
5. Mayo
6. Roscommon
7. Tyrone
8. Monaghan

O'Shea and Cliffords all played against Tyrone in the league last year

How long will Mattie Donnelly be out for?

Ruairi Canavan quiet enough for UU I thought. A few other forwards were more impressive which I was surprised at.

2 points from play, involved in setting up a couple of others - not a bad game either. Cush looked lively at half forward, has size about him for kickouts

McGeeney feared of a potential McKenna Cup semi or final penalty shootout

What was McShane's injury that kept him out of club football? Ankle again? At least had a bit of life to him when he came on against Kerry.

There is an option to cancel Auto-Renew in the 'Manage Subscriptions' page.

Mine is showing Early Bird Pass for 2024, assuming as I had it last year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH47oW8S-Qk&ab_channel=elcidsfriend

Karol Mannion winning goal for St. Brigid's v Corofin came to mind

Two side meet again in this year's final

Yes, the £15 live stream not working .. 5 mins til throw in