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[Marty McGrath was named Player of the Year]

Given out last night at the Armagh City Hotel.

1.Ronan Gallagher
2.Shane Goan
3.Francie Bellew
4.Justin McMahon
5.Ryan McMenamin
6.Ryan McCluskey
7.Ciaran McKeever
8.Martin McGrath
9.Enda McGinley
10.Brian Dooher
11.Sean Cavanagh
12.Mark Little
13.Steven McDonnell
14.Ronan Clarke
15.Thomas Freeman

Biased and all as I am I'd say Ronan Clarke probably choked on his prawn sandwiches when Marty McGrath was named Player of the Year.  Surprised Paul McGrane didn't get one.

http://www.lufthansa-usa.com/useugame2007/html/play.html

Seeing as though this has got ridculously overblown, i propose that in future it be referred to as Fearongate in  sensationalist tabloid style.  Other proposals for names?

Been asked to try and get a bit of help for a mate marooned in Florida and looking to watch the games this Weekend, can anyone help please?

Checkpoint death report welcomed
The family of a County Tyrone man shot dead 20 years ago has welcomed the findings of a report by the PSNI's Historical Enquiries Team.

Aidan McAnespie was shot by a soldier as he walked through a border checkpoint at Aughnacloy in 1988.

The soldier claimed that his hands were wet, causing him to accidentally fire the machine-gun when he was moving inside a sanger.

The report called this the "least likely version" of what happened.

The 24-year-old Aughnacloy man had just passed through the border checkpoint in the village on his way to a Gaelic football match when he was hit by a bullet.

Forensic evidence suggested the fatal shot ricocheted off the road.

The soldier was charged with manslaughter, but this was later withdrawn.

Mr McAnespie's niece, Una McCabe, said the family will continue to search for the truth.

"The search will continue to go on and continue," she said.

"That involves asking the Irish government to release the information on the whole Crowley Report (an investigation by Deputy Garda Commissioner Crowley into the shooting) to the family and going back to the Ministry of Defence to ask what actually did happen."

The MoD said it had co-operated with the HET inquiry and understands that this did not uncover any new evidence that would warrant further investigation.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/7471825.stm

There's a better version in today's Irish News if someone could post it.

Another rambling rant today with the usual suspects his targets - Peter Robinson & unionism in general, this paragraph jumped out at me though:

"He's(Robinson) a housekeeper.  He's the political equivalent of the NI supporters website ourweecountry.com.  Provincialism personified."

Who should be more insulted?  Holly watch out!

I remember Sean McCague giving a speech at a prizegiving one night in our club when he was President, he spoke about the values of the GAA and the like and it had the hairs on the back of my neck standing, very impressive orator.  Some of his teamtalks for Monaghan must have been amazing.

This might of interest to some people out there.  A while back I undertook to find out about copyrighting or trade-marking our club crest as we were basically getting a raw deal from local sports shops who sold our club branded goods with little or no return for the club itself.

The process is pretty much straightforward and cheap (trade-marking is out because it is very expensive in comparison).
1.Initially contact Croke park to outline that you are interested in copyrighting, they will require names, addresses etc.. of club officers and the designer of the crest itself. (I have an e-mail address of a particular contact but I don't want to publicise it here, PM me if you want it).
2.You have to get the designer of the crest to sign over his work to the club – because our club crest was designed by a club member this only cost us a nominal fee of £10. (this is formally done in the step below)
3.Croke Park draft up the legal document and e-mail it out, to be signed/witnessed by all concerned parties. 
4.The copyright is effective in any country that acknowledges 'copyrights' so pretty much worldwide.
5. Leave the document with club solicitors and that's it.

You are now in a stronger position to negotiate with said local sports shops, but Croke Park did make it pretty clear that if they were selling club branded goods before the crest was copyrighted you wouldn't have a leg to stand on in any court of law – so legal advice would be an idea. It does give your club a strong hand in any future negotiations.

What do we do now, give lads a run out now that we are safe or continue to build for the championship?  Probably the same spine with a few additions? I'd fully expect to see Philly Loughran given his chance on Sunday, maybe O'Neill too(as he certainly showed promise), Enda again How far away is Andy Mallon?

[invitation to 'view the baby' on a set day between 3-7pm]

A friend of my brother in law got married a year or two ago, they had a very up market 'do', marquee by the sea, black tie affair etc...  He told me the other day they had had a child and he had received another invitation to 'view the baby' on a set day between 3-7pm .  The ones he married into are a bit uppity but feck me.   

For two weeks in a row now I've been amazed by these guys sense of self-importance.  Flciking between Sky and RTE you'd swear they were at two different games.  The Man U cheerleading on RTE also bugs the sh1te out of me - the virtual denegration of Arsenal's performance compared to Man Utd v Lyon was embarrassing.

Are these an Ulster phenomenon?  Armagh & Tyrone especially seem to be coming down with them.  I cant say I think they are a good idea (Cross in Armagh refuse to co-operate with them AFAIK), we currently have a situation in our club where 5 or 6 players on the county minor panel (for the league only) aren't allowed to train with their club- in February and March!!! absolutely ridiculous.

Anybody have any experience of applying for grants etc.. for club projects?  Would be particularly interested to hear from ones in the north experiences, although all help appreciated.  Contacts, Websites stuff like that.

Any reports?

 

Armagh 0-6 2-9 Derry
Peter McDonnell's first match in charge of Armagh ended in a nine-point defeat by Derry in their opening Gaelic Life McKenna Cup match at Davitt Park.
Derry were a goal and two points up early on with Sean Leo McGoldrick tucking away a fourth-minute goal.

Armagh's Stefan Forker missed a penalty but he landed two frees to cut Derry's lead to 1-4 to 0-5 at half-time.

Brian Mallon scored Armagh's only point of the second half with McGoldrick getting another goal for Derry.

Oak Leaf forward Enda Lynn won the man of the match award.

Armagh manager McDonnell said it was disappointing to be beaten so comprehensively but stressed he was using the McKenna cup to assess emerging players.

"You have to look at players to see what they can bring to the table," he said.

"This competition gives us the opportunity to make these assessments."

Derry manager Paddy Crozier was satisfied with his team's display.

"It was a solid enough performance, we created plenty of chances," he said.

"For the last couple of years we have not won our first match in the McKenna so it was nice.

"We decided we were going to use the McKenna to bring in new faces and they acquitted themselves well.

"We want to see if we can bring players through to National League football with a bigger eye on the Championship in the summer."

Story from BBC SPORT:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport1/hi/northern_ireland/gaelic_games/7173922.stm

Are there such a thing? I mean mainly for Committee positions, and not necessarily anything official but something that would be useful for a novice?

Chair, Vice-Chair
Secretary, Assistant Secretary
Treasurer, Assistant Treasurer
Registrar

According to Heaney in the Irish News, the sports council is going to administer the grants apparently, press releases expected today.  Maybe someone could post the article.

Does anyone have any idea how to go about copyrighting, UK I suppose (and maybe the island of ireland).  What sort of money would you be talking about for getting something registered?

In today's Irish News 'Against the breeze' section,maybe someone could post it.

Can't find one (if there is one).

Anyone watch Calzaghe v Kessler? Great fight, kept you on the edge of your seat from go to wo.  Calzaghe a deserving enough winner on the volume of shots and style but Kessler had all the power, CAlzaghe could've hit him until next week and would never have knocked him down.  I'd fear for Calzaghe if he steps up to light heavy as seems to be his plan, as he really is powderpuff in the power stakes.  Kessler is a classy, powerful fighter and will surely be the next super middleweight champ if Joe moves up.  Fair play to Joe, he's up there with the greats, like Charlie Nash, hugh Russell and sam storey