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An important game for both teams. 2 points will see Donegal safe in Division 1 for next year, a loss means that we'll need to beat the Dubs 2 weeks later in order to be sure of staying up.
It's a simple must-win for Mayo and I expect them to respond positively to their collapse against Kildare. They were a decent left-footed free-taker away from a victory and despite all the doom and gloom that was spoken about in Rocky's on Saturday, we all know that a couple of victories against ourselves and Cork will have the Mayo boys back in positive form again! 

Well it's the one I really didn't want and leaves us with an unimaginably tough QF. Still, we've never had the chance to give them a good rattle. Up Donegal!!

Today the ref had to be replaced at both the Sligo Leitrim game and the Kildare Wicklow game. The same had to happen last week in Ballybofey.
Is the pace of the modern game leading to more injuries for our refs?

This is a preview of this years Ulster Championship preliminary round and a loss here will virtually guarantee relegation for Antrim. A win for Donegal will mean the game against Laois will be for a place in the league final for us. It's a good opportunity to set the scene for the meeting later in the year and I think that we will be well up for it. Assuming we don't have 17 wides again  I think we'll edge it by 3-4 points.

Good wins for both teams tonight. I only saw a bit of the Dublin game (I've it taped to watch tomorrow) but they looked very impressive.

Great to see Donegal in a final. The lads completely deserve it. They work very hard and are completely committed. Murphy is obviously the star man but there's some fine players in the other 14. Mark McHugh (of the good pedigree) has been playing well thoughout Ulster and in particular tonight. Boyle in goals is solid, especially considering he is only 17/18. It seems like in every game our midfield is expected to struggle yet Leo McLoone has held his own in all cases. Molloy, Mulhern ... Fair play to them all.

Really looking forward to the final. Come on Donegal!

RTE are not running the story (probably as it's so sensitive) but tv3 are all over it.


TV3 News has learned that the Finance Minster Brian Lenihan has been diagnosed with cancer.

Earlier this month Mr. Lenihan admitted himself to hospital after losing sleep and experiencing discomfort with a suspected hernia problem.

TV3 News understands that initial tests revealed that the Minister is suffering from a malignant tumour, that Mr. Lenihan has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer within the last fortnight and that he is set to undergo further tests and treatment.

This afternoon the Department of Finance issued the following statement to TV3.

"The Minister is well and enjoying Christmas with his family. He does not propose to talk to the media about anything until the new year".

Brian Lenihan was appointed to the job of Finance Minister in May 2008 and the following 18 months have brought some of the greatest economic challenges the country has ever seen.

Mr. Lenihan has recently passed a third Budget in 14 months, along with the NAMA legislation and the Govt. bank guarantee scheme.

http://www.tv3.ie/article.php?article_id=28526&locID=1.2.&pagename=news

[Donegal faces majority decision bordering on the complicated]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/1118/1224259043506.html

Donegal faces majority decision bordering on the complicated

NEWTON'S OPTIC: AS FOREIGN affairs spokesman for the Portadown Unionist Party, I would like to thank the Irish Government for inviting us to make this pre-budget submission. We were a little surprised to be asked, but we are always happy to assist our neighbours in a spirit of mutual respect, writes NEWTON EMERSON


As I understand it, the Republic needs to find immediate annual savings of €4 billion. Using standard investment criteria, this equates to a net present value of €70 billion. If the Republic could sell something for €70 billion, it would be as good as saving €4 billion a year forever. We suggest that this something should be the county of Donegal.

Selling off national territory in times of economic hardship has a long and noble history, with examples such as the Alaska Purchase, the treaty of Brest-Litovsk - and however Charlie Haughey acquired Inishvickillane.

I believe that Northern Ireland would consider buying Donegal providing certain conditions were met and a small amount of work was done to tidy up the property. As unionists, we have a legitimate aspiration to a United Ulster encompassing all its historic territory within its natural frontiers. But we are not unreasonable people, so you can keep Co Monaghan. No, seriously. Keep it.

Of course a "Donegal Purchase" would have minor political ramifications. However, most concerns can be easily allayed. While republicans might object to the loss of territory, they should note that it will shorten the Border by about 80 miles, which is 80 miles more than they have ever managed.

It is possible that oil could be discovered off the coast of Donegal at some future date. However, southerners will get a much better deal if they have to cross the Border to buy it.

We do appreciate that the Gaeltacht has a special significance, which is why we are prepared to pretend to speak Irish while in Donegal in return for an appropriate discount. I think you will find that this replicates the present situation.

There are also issues to be addressed within Northern Ireland, or "the seven counties", as you may choose to call it.

Integrating Donegal into our political system could prove complicated, although the success of the Blaney family is a positive sign.

In Derry, just across the Foyle from Londonderry, people have long complained that they are cut off from their natural hinterland. If the Border is moved they will have to find something else to complain about, which could take several hours.

Acquiring Donegal would bring Northern Ireland close to a Catholic majority, except on summer weekends, when Northern Ireland brings Donegal close to a Protestant majority.

It would be up to the rest of us to persuade Donegal Catholics that they are better off as a sizeable minority within the North than as a tiny minority within the South. Fortunately, this argument is known to be highly persuasive.

Failing that, the Catholic population of Donegal will simply melt away, like the Protestant population of Co Cork. Nobody knows exactly how this melting occurs, but it is apparently quite harmless and almost entirely voluntary, only ever involving a handful of regrettable incidents.

I realise that this submission will not be universally popular within the 25 counties. However, I think you will find that it still makes more sense than any of Sinn Féin's proposals

http://www.donegaldemocrat.ie/4045/Cricket-in-Letterkenny-and-Croquet.5653794.jp

Cricket in Letterkenny and Croquet Park - 17-09-09

Sir,
Recently the 'Democrat' printed an article about the local would be cricket players who were unable to find a ground to play a game.
The answer is simple, given that cricket is a traditional Gaelic sport - a local GAA ground. The GAA was set up to encourage and develop native Irish games and if we exclude athletics which would be universal the native Irish games are hurling, handbADVERTISEMENTall, cricket and croquet.

I will leave aside hurling and handball as their Irishness has been well documented elsewhere and concentrate on those two other two great games of the Gaels...cricket and croquet.

I will refer you to page 54 of Eoghan Corry's ''The GAA Book of Lists'' (Hodder Headline Ireland, 2005] and the chapter headed :''Cricket: the other Gaelic game.'' In this Corry points out that in 1882 Michael Cusack wrote ''that the game best suited to the Irish character was cricket.''

In his ''Our Boys '' column in ''The Shamrock'' he declared '' that cricket was an Irish game suitable for young men to play''.......and advised readers of the rules of the game how to form a club and the requite equipment required. He also suggested that the young play childrens' games (ludo as Gaeilge] , balloons (self explanatory], and boulders ( possibly road bowls which would now be lethal.......one would not send a child out on a bike now never mind hurling a boulder down the dual carriageway].

Indeed, the term ''All Ireland'' is a derivation of the term ''All England'' as used by organisations as diverse as tennis ,cricket and lacrosse for their tournaments and the GAA based their All Ireland Championships on the English County cricket championship dating back to 1864.

This model was easily adopted as cricket was widely played in Ireland (see Bobby Rackard's autobiography.....the great Wexford hurler started as a cricketer in the cricket hot bed of Wexford] and cricket was a game of the Irish people in the 1880s until the GAA changed its mind about cherishing the native games and invented the game of Gaelic (sic.] football , in reality a cross between two English public school games, Association football and rugby ; and about as relevant to Irish traditional games as the Corrs are to Irish traditional music.

This cricket, as a game of the common people, continued in rural areas like Lecale into the 1970s with all classes and creeds competing for the Trades League Cup in the Downpatrick region with teams being organised on work places as in the Inter Firms road race in Letterkenny or on townlands like Ardmeen.

Indeed, the English even acknowledge cricket as an Irish game . Corry quotes Andrew Laing in his 1912 ''Imperial Cricket'' that the earliest references to cricket are in the 11th century Irish Annals. Cuchlainn is described as ''defending the hole'' in a game variously described as ''lub , luban or lubog'' which seems to be a primitive form of cricket without stumps, bails or Henry Blofeld.

However, Laing rather patronisingly ruins his acknowledgement to Irish tradition by condescendingly writing that although the game was invented in Ireland ''it was the genius of England which filled the hole, added the stumps, and carried the implements to perfection.'' He might have added a century later that England would also steal our best players and not play them.

Thus the case is made that the players of this most Gaelic of games should not be begging for somewhere to play but should be welcomed by the GAA , those self appointed guardians of traditional Irish sport , to play on GAA grounds instead of hosting a faux Irish game like Gaelic (sic.] football which is an invention of the calibre of the Ulster Scots language and invented for the same reason:'' We're different from usuns and we have our own game /language to prove it.''

As for croquet the Derry socialist, Civil Rights campaigner , environmentalist, cricket enthusiast and thorn in the side of pomposity and humbug ,Eamonn McCann , wrote in an ''Hot Press'' article that croquet is Irish and that as Gaelic football is ''just real football ruined to give it a faux Irish twist'' that Croke Park should be renamed ''Croquet Park''.

He writes:'' Croquet emerged with written rules more than 200 years ago...a lifetime before gaelic football was invented by priests, alcoholics and Hibernians'' and quotes Martin and Williams in their definitive (I will take Eamonn's word on this] history of the game that British regiments and the aristocracy took this great old Irish game to England .

Mc Cann quotes the 'revered' croquet historian Dr. Prior , writing in 1872 ,''that one thing is certain :it is from Ireland that that croquet came to England.'' It was the Irish who founded the Wimbledon Croquet and Tennis Club but croquet was soon discarded as the genteel Irish game was elbowed aside by a brash English riff-raff who preferred to see women flaunt their ankles and promoted tennis.

Therefore, the Irish gave England Christianity (see Dan Snow and Cormac Bourke on the BBC's current series on Celtic Christianity ], cricket and croquet and they gave us .....All Ireland Final Day and the Premier League on SKY.

I think that the point has been made that instead of opening up Croke Park to Association Football and rugby, Croquet Park should be retained for the real traditional Irish sports of hurling,handball, cricket and croquet.

Hurling has been let down by the GAA as it thrives competitively at senior level little beyond Munster and Kilkenny; handball has been sidelined and cricket and croquet not only ignored but disparaged...and for what ?......a game with a tradition as deep as the last Boyzone single. It is therefore plain that an indigenous game like cricket should be played on a GAA pitch.

Yours,
John Devlin,
Letterkenny.

I thought it was disappointing that RTE didn't see fit to show this yesterday and even when they did deign to show a ridiculously short clip of it, they didn't even know who had won! At least the beeb showed it even though their camera angle was poor.

If the GAA was serious about showcasing this part of the association they should have made sure that the TV stations were going to give it proper coverage.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/athletics/2009/0824/ireland_athletics.html

Derval O'Rourke of Leevale AC rounded off what has been an outstanding week for her by captaining Munster to glory in Croke Park yesterday, winning the Inter-Provincial Relay which formed part of the GAA 125 Celebrations.

O'Rourke was joined by club mates Ailis McSweeney and David Quilligan, Cork Ladies' Football star Angela Walsh, Clare hurler James McEnerney and David O'Shea of Dooneen AC.

The GAA guest of honour Olive Loughnane of Loughrea AC received a hero's welcome, as she led the teams out onto the pitch after her tremendous silver medal performance at the World Championships in the 20km Walk.

Team captains David Gillick (Leinster), Paul Hession (Connacht), Anna Boyle (Ulster) and O'Rourke (Munster) were introduced to the crowd as the atmosphere began to build among the 50,000 plus spectators.

Munster were drawn in Lane 1, Connacht Lane 2, Ulster Lane 3 and Leinster Lane 4. It was a competitive race throughout with spectators getting truly involved in what was a unique opportunity to see Ireland's elite athletes battle it out alongside GAA stars in Croke Park.
The warmest reception was given to O'Rourke, with many of the Cork contingent chanting her name in Hill 16 as she waited to receive the baton. The Cork woman didn't disappoint as she ran a storming leg before passing on to footballer Angela Walsh.

Mirroring the action on the pitch that day Munster got the better of Ulster to win the Super Sprint relay race in what was a very tight finish between Stuart Connor (St Michael's, Enniskillen AC) and David O'Shea (Dooneen AC).

The teams met at the home of Athletics in Ireland, Morton Stadium and were then brought by bus to the home of the GAA, Croke Park. The athletes had a specially allocated warm-up zone in the tunnel that surrounds Croke Park.
There was a sense of camaraderie in the provincial teams which were made up of both athletes and GAA players. It provided a great opportunity for many of our up and coming stars to interact with Ireland's talented elite athletes. Close to the time of walk-out to the pitch captains took the time to give motivational team talks. O'Rourke's was a simple message 'Just win'.

I'm happy enough with this draw tbh. There was going to be no easy one at this stage but I'm happy to have avoided Tyrone and Dublin. We lost a QF to Cork in 2006 by a point in a decent game and I'd like to think the lads will be out to get one back. Of course Cork will start as favourites (and rightly so) but nothing has really changed for the boys. They are heading into their 3rd game in a row where they will be written off. If they can keep the intensity levels up and if Cork turn up a little rusty we might be in with a chance. This is a mighty Cork team though and it's just as easy to imagine them destroying us at MF and blasting though the centre of our defence given the power and pace they have.

[Don't think there are too many Cork posters on here and with the fairly low numbers of Donegal folks, this could be a fairly quiet thread  Not like the Mayo lads who managed to fill 3 pages before they even knew who they were playing!  ]

I've been thinking there that it would be great to get my hands on some classic games.
So, would anyone be interested in sharing your recorded games via file sharing? It could do this on a private basis so that only those people you select would have access to your files, thus eliminating any unwanted contact from downloaders.
So what would people think?

I have a very limited amount of games that are of sufficient quality to share but here's what I have if anyone is interested.
Dublin V Tyrone (NFL Jan 2009)
Tyrone V Kerry (AI Final 2008)
Dublin V Tyrone (AI quarter final 2008)
Kerry V Offaly (1982 AI Final)
I also have
Wales V Ireland (6 Nations 2009)

As you can see the games I have are all popular ones that I was able to download. I don't have any Donegal games (well I've a couple of dodgy recordings from TG4 but the quality isn't great - neither the picture or the football!!) and I'm hoping to get my hands on the 92 AI final. Have a video of it but now don't have a video-player!
Maybe the mods would have something to say on this?

If people were interested (and don't already know how) I could stick up a quick guide on how to share files. The links could be sent via pm.

Thoughts?

I'm trying to find out how many counties took part in the AI in each year. I know that in some years in the 1800's that there were only 8 counties involved for example. Could anyone point me in the direction of this info??
Cheers.

[with a guarantee to customers that its prices will be at least 10% lower than the ESB, for the next three years]

Bord Gáis enters electricity market
Wednesday, 18 February 2009 09:42

Bord Gáis has announced that it is entering the residential electricity market, with a guarantee to customers that its prices will be at least 10% lower than the ESB, for the next three years.

From midday, any ESB customer will be able to switch over and get their electricity from Bord Gáis by either phoning the company or going online.

It hopes to expand its customer base to more than 1m people in three years.

The double digit guarantee is due to remain in place, no matter what cuts the ESB introduces.

There will also be no penalty if a customer wants to switch back to the ESB.

Bord Gáis Chief Executive John Mullins said it would be straight-forward for ESB customers to switch to the company, and this would be open to all 1.8m registered households who use electricity.

The announcement amounts to a huge shake-up of the residential electricity market and according to Bord Gáis will result in immediate and substantial savings for customers.

Mr Mullins also said he believed that gas prices would go down considerably this year with prices more than 25% lower next December than they are today.

In a statement, the ESB said the residential market has been open to competition since February 2005 and it was open to all competitors to charge what they like.

It said it welcomed any new competition into the market.

However, the ESB said it was required to charge the rate set by the Commission for Energy Regulation and was not allowed to discount from that rate.


http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0218/bordgais.html


This can only be good news.

So who counts their medals like the 'Mericans and who does it like the Chinese?
I have to say that the Chinese method seems the best to me. Otherwise you are placing no more value on a Gold over a Bronze and that goes against everything that competitive sport is about. Political games!!