Messages

Awful game.
Fermanagh had their chances of goals but either miskicked, took the wrong option or just messed it up.
Armagh deserved winners - but goals aside, they didn't look overly impressive.
Missed a lot of frees. Didnt look fluid, should have scored more points from play given the way Fermanagh just kind of stopped. If I was from Armagh I'd be worried enough.

Jarly Og lucky to stay on the pitch imo.

It's a funny one when you get used to seeing names on forums only for them to disappear and you never see them again. Did they die? Have they just decided to stop posting and move on.? Who knows. We are all just names on a forum and no one has a clue about our real life outside of the internet.

Who were you getting use to seeing for one that just signed up on here in January or did your last account disappear?

Lar Naparka,5 Sams and most recently Farrandeelin have all died and this place is a poorer place without their knowledge,wit and humour

I was talking about forums in general obviously. There are more places out there than gaaboard.com

Out of interest - what other forums, sites, boards, pages do people use?
I'm not that big into social media and haven't really trawled to find anything else so would be interested to find out what's popular.

I think I deserve life long access to Derry v Donegal tickets. For the sole reason that I was in Clones in 2002 when Derry played Donegal during the World Cup.
It would be interesting to know if the people who call men like me "bandwagoners" where at that game? They complain yet they were probably sitting at home watching the ROI v Spain game that day.

I too was there - rarely missed a championship game with derry in 30 years.
I'm probably not going to get to the Derry v Donegal game as I'd need about 6 tickets.

Finished 'the ones who live'

Enjoyed it.

Stuck for some night viewing now!

Yeah I liked it too.
Started watching Shogun....not sure about it yet.

Fair play Cavan, deserved the win to be fair.
First half was brutal though from both teams.
I think this is 2 teams heading in opposite directions passing each other, Monaghan are on the slide with their better players aging whereas Cavan are improving.
I think Cavan will give Tyrone a real game of it. Tyrone nothing to be afraid of at the minute. They've had 1 decent half of football all year against a depleted Mayo team, so it's even hard to read much into that.

Cavan could well edge it playing the way the did in the final quarter of that game.

Sure the lucks been hanging out of the penalty Kick Champs (X2), why change anything? just go full of the bull until it goes pear shaped and then think about it.

Any examples of when other Ulster teams didn't go all out to win Ulster and as a direct result they won an AI?

In the second year if the current competition?

Tyrone had a fair degree of ambivalence to the USFC in noughties. But I'm sure that's the response you were waiting for to refute it.

Harte and the players?

"A couple of years we were of the mindset that we were going to win the All-Ireland and were beaten in the first round. It didn't do us any harm. We went on to win it from there twice."

https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/sport/gaa/gaelic-football/tyrone-legend-sean-cavanagh-issues-28938977#google_vignette


A quote from Sean Cavanagh today funny enough.

Cavanagh is becoming the new Joe Brolly.

Cavanagh hasn't an original thought it his head.
You'd think they went out to lose first round games.
If he's on RTE, or Cora Staunton, I switch over. I'd rather watch cardboard commentating.

Well dunno where that came from but up Cavan. Beggan mom, what are they smoking in BBC?

Ridiculous decision, they were dying to give it to Beggan simply due to the fact that he got an NFL trial.

Personally thought Beggan should have done better for that first goal in injury time.

[An NI business in Finance/Captial Markets and IT has access to GB and EU markets]

Having read through the 11 pages of the actual report,it would be handed back to an Economics Undergraduate and He/She would be told to consider another career route

The Authors base their case for starters on an assumption that they know the amount of UK subvention into NI every Year,which is news to anyone versed in these matters as the UK government has never stated an exact total or given an exact breakdown

They then assume that a UI would need to match the current NI contribution to a UK defence Budget,(no thanks Lads,We wont be paying for Trident or Aircraft Carriers)or continue to pay a pro rata portion of UK Debt AFTER NI had left the UK or that the UK would reneage on pension contributions by NI workers paid into the UK pension pot when NI was part of the Uk.

Those 3 areas alone come to anywhere between £5 and £7 bn per annum.

it also assumes that growth rates and productivity are stuck to the floor over the next 20 years, takes no account of the savings or synergy brought about by an All Island Economy and takes no account of inputs from the likes of the EU or FDI going into the 6 counties at 26 counties levels.

This is the type of scrutiny that should be published in the media, but it doesn't make a good headline.
I know for a fact, there are quite a few large multi-national's investing in setting up offices and expanding existing operations in NI as a direct result of Brexit and the finalising of the Windsor agreement. An NI business in Finance/Captial Markets and IT has access to GB and EU markets whilst taking advantage of generally lower salaries and operating costs than in GB and ROI. We're talking high value jobs being created here and the impact of those jobs on the NI economy remain to be seen.
But I don't hear anyone in the media talking about that.

Doesn't the Framework/Protocol, dual access thingy, only apply to goods, not services??

I wouldn't even pretend to know the intricacies of the framework. But, I know 2 multinationals expanding in NI for this exact reason (I've got it first hand from senior people in both).

Is a piece of software classed as goods?
Company I work for provides services both sides of the border, across Europe, GB and the US.
I'm not clever enough to understand how that all hangs together though.

Sure the lucks been hanging out of the penalty Kick Champs (X2), why change anything? just go full of the bull until it goes pear shaped and then think about it.

Any examples of when other Ulster teams didn't go all out to win Ulster and as a direct result they won an AI?

Congratulation to you both!
Now that you've given away the venue - does that mean we're all invited to the evening do?

Having read through the 11 pages of the actual report,it would be handed back to an Economics Undergraduate and He/She would be told to consider another career route

The Authors base their case for starters on an assumption that they know the amount of UK subvention into NI every Year,which is news to anyone versed in these matters as the UK government has never stated an exact total or given an exact breakdown

They then assume that a UI would need to match the current NI contribution to a UK defence Budget,(no thanks Lads,We wont be paying for Trident or Aircraft Carriers)or continue to pay a pro rata portion of UK Debt AFTER NI had left the UK or that the UK would reneage on pension contributions by NI workers paid into the UK pension pot when NI was part of the Uk.

Those 3 areas alone come to anywhere between £5 and £7 bn per annum.

it also assumes that growth rates and productivity are stuck to the floor over the next 20 years, takes no account of the savings or synergy brought about by an All Island Economy and takes no account of inputs from the likes of the EU or FDI going into the 6 counties at 26 counties levels.

This is the type of scrutiny that should be published in the media, but it doesn't make a good headline.
I know for a fact, there are quite a few large multi-national's investing in setting up offices and expanding existing operations in NI as a direct result of Brexit and the finalising of the Windsor agreement. An NI business in Finance/Captial Markets and IT has access to GB and EU markets whilst taking advantage of generally lower salaries and operating costs than in GB and ROI. We're talking high value jobs being created here and the impact of those jobs on the NI economy remain to be seen.
But I don't hear anyone in the media talking about that.

I genuinely believe Donegal could ambush Derry.
McGuinness has been planning for it all year, they've undoubtedly improved since last year and they now have a forward or two to take some of the scoring burden off McBrearty.
Injuries will be key here - Donegal need McHugh and McBrearty fully fit and firing.
Hopefully Derry will be full strength with McKinless back, but I fully expect this game to be close.

My own take on the ranking for the ulster championship (based on form and the draw).

1 - Derry - out and out team to beat regardless of the draw. 
2 - Armagh - draw lends to an 'easier' route to the final. 
3 - Donegal - seem to be a resurgence in them, should give Derry a game with a fully fit team.
4 - Down - Should get over Antrim with no fuss, and may catch Armagh on the hop to make it to a final.
5 - Tyrone - should get over the line in their first game, likely to get beat by Derry/Donegal. 
6 - Monaghan - expect them to beat Cavan and give Tyrone a game, but fall short at this point.   
7 - Fermanagh - expect Armagh to beat them, but it will be a grind for the most of it.
8 - Cavan - no real expectations on Cavan, exit at the first hurdle. 
9 - Antrim - Down seem to be showing promise, so expect Antrim to go out at their hands handy enough. 

Derry v Armagh a likely final. 

Derry's only downfall in my eyes would be injuries to key players(Mc Guigan, Rodgers or Glass) or taking their eye off the ball. 

For Armagh to win, they would need to get over the mental hurdle of caving under the pressure of big games that has haunted them this past 3 years. 

Generally agree - but....
Monaghan could be a different prospect come championship with Beggan back and remember McManus hardly played in the league. If they have both those players available and get back to the sort of form they showed in the Dublin match, I'd expect them to beat Tyrone.

Tyrone - I just dont see it at the minute. Lots of talk about senior players returning from injury. Most of them are well past their best and will struggle to get up to championship level having not played in the league. McCurry has become very inconsistent, I do think Canavan is good but I also think he's markable. McShane might find form, but I really don't see where Tryone can score enough to trouble any of the top teams. Tactically, I think they are lacking too and reports of another player leaving the panel tends to suggest all is not well in the camp.

For me Tyrone v Monaghan is weighted towards Monaghan.

Don't expect Derry to win Ulster, no idea who will tho.

A fully fit Tyrone would have to be in with a shout, they have serious players, think it would be madness for Derry to go full throttle in Ulster if they want to lift Sam.

Can someone tell me how you don't go 'full throttle' for a championship match. The GAA is full of cliché's like this. Does Mickey tell the lads to take it easy vs Donegal in Celtic park? Does he rest key players so they are fit for the group stage in 2 months time?

The chances are Derry won't win Sam, they maybe have a 25% chance with the bookies, so you keep trying to win everything you can in my view. I'd say most Derry fans will be annoyed if they aren't in another Ulster final.

100%.
Winning the next game will be the goal from here on in. Be that Donegal in a QF or Dublin in an AI Final. There's no point in thinking about winning Ulster or Sam if you lose your next game, ultimately it makes it harder.
Harte I expect will pick the team he thinks will get the job done in any given game.

[25%. The unemployment rate is however only 2% (a great example of joke statistics).]

Everyone wants a plan from Dublin for a UI but the biggest problem is the North has 225,000 public sector employees and 590,009 private sector while the South has 370,000 public sector and 2.3m private sector. This is not even addressing the high economic inactivity rate in North at 25%. The unemployment rate is however only 2% (a great example of joke statistics).

So well over 100,000 public sector employees in North will have to lose jobs and find a job in the private sector. Where? That will have to be in the first paragraph of Dublin's plan but no one wants to read that and there's no political will in North or GB to solve that problem.

On the plus side, the South will have a €100bn sovereign wealth fund by 2035 and the Yanks might throw in a few bob to help a smooth transition.

The economic inactive includes students and retired people. Neither of which should be included. That's the problem with statistics.

So 25% of the population of NI is either retired or a student? Would never have guessed it.
In terms of NI Public sector - I feel its over inflated and there are a sizeable minority who drift through whilst not doing very much. Unions protect those people resulting in a Public Sector which is undermined by the costly under-performing minority.