Messages

BALLBAG

Nope, can never be overused.

Ref didn't see it and went on linesman's view. Linesman was wrong.

How do you know ref didn't see it?
Are you Conor Lane?

Yeah felt bad for Fenton. He has lost it twice that I have ever seen - twice against Derry this year too.

Don't think it was a red card and I know it's a cliche but he isn't that type of player.

Raised hands though.

It's not about the handful of the best teams playing good games though. It's the rest.

Never a red card, but a foul and a yellow. Play should have been stopped and Derry given a free. The goal should never have happened.

The ref didn't see it, so play continued till a break in play, informed by his linesman's dished out the card.

This is why armchair ref's need to read the rules every now and then

How do you know the ref didn't see it?
Are you Conor Lane?

He was looking at the ball. Watch it back

Tried, but recording cut out just before the incident.

Will get back to you after RTE's coverage.

Yeah felt bad for Fenton. He has lost it twice that I have ever seen - twice against Derry this year too.

Don't think it was a red card and I know it's a cliche but he isn't that type of player.

Raised hands though.

It's not about the handful of the best teams playing good games though. It's the rest.

Never a red card, but a foul and a yellow. Play should have been stopped and Derry given a free. The goal should never have happened.

The ref didn't see it, so play continued till a break in play, informed by his linesman's dished out the card.

This is why armchair ref's need to read the rules every now and then

How do you know the ref didn't see it?
Are you Conor Lane?

Lads would you ever give over. Fenton charged at him off the ball and hit him with a raised forearm in the neck. No other option than red.

No, not for me. Very soft. The issue is why play wasn't stopped as soon as it happened.

Yeah felt bad for Fenton. He has lost it twice that I have ever seen - twice against Derry this year too.

Don't think it was a red card and I know it's a cliche but he isn't that type of player.

Raised hands though.

It's not about the handful of the best teams playing good games though. It's the rest.

Never a red card, but a foul and a yellow. Play should have been stopped and Derry given a free. The goal should never have happened.

That game has ended Jarlath's "Save Gaelic Football" committee before it has even met.

Fair play to all involved.

Except Conor Lane. He was shocking.

Did I see a Down player waving an imaginary card when the penalty was awarded?

To a point but this deal (~13% and no workload agreement) is going to fly over the finishing line without a bother.
I don't think, say, 4% and an agreed workload solution would.
Money talks.

I think they see the money as a given but don't want to return to the previous levels of bureaucracy.

So, is it possible that there will be an agreement re pay, but the action short of strike remains?

Better team won, but why gift possession back to England with 90 seconds left?

[Funding in NI would need to increase by £500 per pupil for schools to balance their budgets.]

Going by news stories this week, English schools are broke as well with SEN  spending through the roof. Scotland the biggest spenders per pupil.

Funding in NI would need to increase by £500 per pupil for schools to balance their budgets.

The thing to remember is whether a school has a deficit or not  , it's not going to close anytime soon !

It wouldn't matter if funding increased by £500 or £5,000 per pupil; some schools will stay within budget and others will continue to massively overspend. Because there is no accountability. Some of the overspends in schools are absolutely scandalous. Deficits in controlled schools are roughly twice those in maintained schools. And some very high profile principals are among the worst offenders; two have relatively recently moved on to higher profile, more "prestigious" positions, leaving combined debts in the region of £2 million. There's plenty of scope to increase class sizes, amount of teacher contact time and reduce financial burden of management structures in many schools. I know of one school whose staffing is so bloated that it is used as an example of what not to do and, even then, nothing is done about it.

Until principals and governors are held to account for school budget deficits, we will continue to see massive wastage.

This is what I wondered about when the teaching union fella on the radio said 50% of schools have run up deficits, and therefore presumably 50% haven't.  Various excuses were posted on here, but I can't help wonder are some principals just spending away irresponsibly with no regard whatsoever for the consequences.  Which seems damned unfair on principals who are running a tight financial ship. 

For example principal A lays off a teacher to balance the books, but class size increases and parents aren't happy.
Principal B in the same position holds onto the teacher and runs up the deficit - no complaints here from the parents, but up goes the deficit and seemingly no accountability for that.

That's not a good system.

Schools are underfunded is the reality of the situation. They are accountable to the Education Authority on a yearly basis but the EA accept that schools have no room to reduce costs.

E.g. schools have to compile with class size policies!

Certainly £5000 a head would be great!

That's simply not true.

[Funding in NI would need to increase by £500 per pupil for schools to balance their budgets.]

Going by news stories this week, English schools are broke as well with SEN  spending through the roof. Scotland the biggest spenders per pupil.

Funding in NI would need to increase by £500 per pupil for schools to balance their budgets.

The thing to remember is whether a school has a deficit or not  , it's not going to close anytime soon !

It wouldn't matter if funding increased by £500 or £5,000 per pupil; some schools will stay within budget and others will continue to massively overspend. Because there is no accountability. Some of the overspends in schools are absolutely scandalous. Deficits in controlled schools are roughly twice those in maintained schools. And some very high profile principals are among the worst offenders; two have relatively recently moved on to higher profile, more "prestigious" positions, leaving combined debts in the region of £2 million. There's plenty of scope to increase class sizes, amount of teacher contact time and reduce financial burden of management structures in many schools. I know of one school whose staffing is so bloated that it is used as an example of what not to do and, even then, nothing is done about it.

Until principals and governors are held to account for school budget deficits, we will continue to see massive wastage.

That win should be enough to guarantee us a place with the big boys chasing Sam this year.

Not that long ago we were in div 4; we'll take the good days while they last.

1 litre engines.
Have two young drivers, so cheap insurance is a draw, but are the engines worth it?

It's not the engines I'm worried about. The eldest fella has a 1.1 Fiesta and have driven it I would say it's grand for what he needs (my own car is 2l diesel). My bigger concern is that it's a wee tin can that probably wouldn't stand up to much in a crash and says it gets blown about a bit on the motorway. I'm considering upgrading to a Golf, Leon or similar. Muddle lad is doing lessons at the minute so this is fresh again for us.

Thanks Tony.

Actually looking at a 1 litre Leon.

1 litre engines.
Have two young drivers, so cheap insurance is a draw, but are the engines worth it?