Messages

The winners did not score from play until after the half hour.
Benny Coulter found out on the big stage.
Corks shooting from play in the first half would embarrass a one legged player.
Far too many miss hit passes from both teams.
A poor Down defence. Only for Brendan McVeigh they would have been slaughtered.

Cork only won it from their subs in the second half scoring more from frees than play. A close game but not very exciting or good. A poor advertisement for football, not that Cork will mind.

Hurling final was far better.

Any idea which hotel Down are going to after the final to show off SAM? Cork already have the Burlo booked!

And from the pen of a man who loved Ulstah !
The other thing you should know about the footballers of Down is our quality control procedure.A bit like the Dutch border patrols who only allow the best looking/best at football/best at swimming/best at everything else on the camp-site out of Holland - we only let teams into the big-time when they're ready. And they're ready.

It felt sterile today.

# Stand for the anthem

# A goal equals three points. Over the bar is one point.


Please feel free to add to this.

I am here to help.

It is possible to lose All Ireland finals.

Freshers week!

Giggity Giggity Giggity! 

Round one, beat Leitrim
Round two, beat Sligo
Quarter final, beat Cork
Semi final, beat Kerry

I once went out with a Tyrone woman who loved doing things via the back door, these girls look to be the same.

Saudi Arabia, a brutal place I don't ever plan to visit.

However, their country, their rules.

Love them or loathe them the fact is that Ryanair offer cheap flights end of story and this will be a big loss.

Ryanair however are not the only airline that offer "cheap flights" though, they love to give that impression though that they are always cheaper. Depending on your circumstances as to when you book, how much baggage you plan to carry and things like checking in, sometimes Ryanair may give you the cheapest deal. Otherwise if Belfast is accessible to you, Easyjet, FlyBe or BMIBaby can often work out better.

I see in a statement to the LSE that Ryanair are claiming that their departure from Belfast City could affect up to 1000 jobs. I would take that with a large pinch of salt.

The problem with the City Airport is that it is so close to the city centre compared to many other airports in Europe which could be an advantage, but its location puts limits on expansion that Aldergrove doesn't have. Also for a city the size of Belfast to have two domestic airports quite close together both operating international flights is unusual.

[Ryanair's problem in Belfast is that unlike the rest of Ireland, there is much stronger competition from other budget airlines like Easyjet, FlyBe and Jet2, they don't have a near monopoly like they do in Dublin]

Liz Fawcett, spokeswoman for Belfast City Airport Watch, which opposes the runway extension, said: "Residents are very pleased.

"They had a particularly unpopular 6.30am flight and certainly this will give some respite."

Unbelievable self interest there, probably didn't like the idea that a free state company was operating in east belfast anyway.

Unbelievable assumption that they had it in for a "free state company".  The self interest from Fawcett is no worse than some of the posters on this thread.

I will make it clear that I have no time for O'Leary, a patronising one trick pony who has done very well for himself in one area of business, but he does not deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Branson or Stelios Haji-Ioannou.

Ryanair's problem in Belfast is that unlike the rest of Ireland, there is much stronger competition from other budget airlines like Easyjet, FlyBe and Jet2, they don't have a near monopoly like they do in Dublin. Also I would say that more cynical nordies don't put up with the level of being patronised compared to the rest of Ireland, Steilos might come across as a git but he doesn't carry a "fúck you" attitude around with him all the time. Issues like runway extensions hide other excuses, Ryanair could easily bag slots at Aldergrove if they were serious about expanding their Belfast routes.

It is disappointing that Ryanair are stopping these services as it will affect some people,  but other airlines cut and change routes and airports including the two in Belfast all the time without getting big news headlines. I'm simply not going to lick holes here. At least the staff working for Ryanair at the City will get the chance to work elsewhere and if there is real demand, other airlines will fill the routes.

Ryanair will have 12 aircraft in Dublin this winter, down from 30 a couple of years ago. That is due to the incompetent of someone else of course. His only recent success is driving Aer Arrann into Examinership which hopefully they will emerge from.

As a High Court juge said here recently 'the truth and Ryanair are uncomfortable bedfellows'. So I wonder what the really issue is? Were they losing money there?

They might only have 12, but only Aer Lingus will still offer them any real competition in their main market, other competitors will fly to no more than a handful of destinations.

While I agree that O'Leary is a gobshite of the highest order, I also prefer to be able to fly to lots of destinations from my local airport than to not be able to. And Ryanair offer the best chance of that happening for me.

Lets look at the routes that Ryanair fly from the City airport to.

Glasgow Prestwick, FlyBe already fly into Glasgow International from the City airport which is closer to Glasgow city centre than Prestwick.

Liverpool, you can either fly with Easyjet from the International Airport, or use FlyBe to go to Manchester and be 30 miles away, nearer than some of the cities Ryanair claim to fly to.

Bristol? Again Easyjet do the same airport from the International.

East Midlands, BMIbaby fly here from the International.

Stanstead? Easyjet will be continuing their City airport to Luton service, FlyBe will take you to Gatwick. If you must go to Stanstead, Easyjet will take you there from the International, and if you need to go to Heathrow, Aer Lingus can serve you.

So if you are prepared to use either the City or International Airports in Belfast, those five destinations Ryanair current fly to will still be easily reached by other carriers after October. The only thing missing is the choice of carrier on some destinations.

I think it's more a case of MOL realising that the local folk of Norn Iron have too much sway in things that shouldn't be of concern to them - he'll never be able to build a hub out of Belfast City Airport, so he's getting of town.

Wonderful! Let us install a dictatorship instead "that knows what is best for all of us" regardless, eh?

Living in a flight path isn't that bad. I spent 3 summers living under a Heathrow route that went on more or less 24 hours a day, and you just learn to tune out. Unless of course, you think there's a chance you might be able to claim against someone, in which case your ears would obviously turn to muck and those planes would ruin your otherwise wonderful existence.

So, what you are getting out is that just because you were able to cope with aircraft noise for a couple of months at a time means that everyone should be able to do so all the time? I'm sure that is great if you're trying to get your child to sleep, have slates blown off your roof, have a condition like hyperacousis etc or do shift work? Noise pollution along with its air pollution from aircraft is a problem all over the world and not just limited to parts of Belfast. You'll never find airport managers or airline executive staff living in places along busy flight paths either.

Liz Fawcett, spokeswoman for Belfast City Airport Watch, which opposes the runway extension, said: "Residents are very pleased.

"They had a particularly unpopular 6.30am flight and certainly this will give some respite."

Unbelievable self interest there, probably didn't like the idea that a free state company was operating in east belfast anyway.

Unbelievable assumption that they had it in for a "free state company".  The self interest from Fawcett is no worse than some of the posters on this thread.

Unless it was the only 6.30am flight and the rest don't start until about 8.00am what's unbelievable about it?  I'm only pointing out that ms fawcett saw the loss of 50 locally based jobs as a success, that's self interest to me.

I don't think Ms. Fawcett see the movement of jobs as a success than a reduction in noise pollution especially early in the morning. And if she has self interest, so what? It is not as if O'Leary has a self interest in forcing competitors out of business and the jobs lost in connection. He isn't going to lose sleep over it.

Liz Fawcett, spokeswoman for Belfast City Airport Watch, which opposes the runway extension, said: "Residents are very pleased.

"They had a particularly unpopular 6.30am flight and certainly this will give some respite."

Unbelievable self interest there, probably didn't like the idea that a free state company was operating in east belfast anyway.

Unbelievable assumption that they had it in for a "free state company".  The self interest from Fawcett is no worse than some of the posters on this thread.

I will make it clear that I have no time for O'Leary, a patronising one trick pony who has done very well for himself in one area of business, but he does not deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Branson or Stelios Haji-Ioannou.

Ryanair's problem in Belfast is that unlike the rest of Ireland, there is much stronger competition from other budget airlines like Easyjet, FlyBe and Jet2, they don't have a near monopoly like they do in Dublin. Also I would say that more cynical nordies don't put up with the level of being patronised compared to the rest of Ireland, Steilos might come across as a git but he doesn't carry a "fúck you" attitude around with him all the time. Issues like runway extensions hide other excuses, Ryanair could easily bag slots at Aldergrove if they were serious about expanding their Belfast routes.

It is disappointing that Ryanair are stopping these services as it will affect some people,  but other airlines cut and change routes and airports including the two in Belfast all the time without getting big news headlines. I'm simply not going to lick holes here. At least the staff working for Ryanair at the City will get the chance to work elsewhere and if there is real demand, other airlines will fill the routes.

What is two girls one cup?