Derry Club Football & Hurling original

[Derryboi]

Wasnt able to make the game today because of the farce regarding wether the game was on or not.only game I've missed do far,and wouldn't ye kno,they won.anybody at the game care to give an analysis.were derry good or tipp bad? Any improvement from the last day?? Great result all the same.

The game was never called off, so your 'logic' is strange!

Strange?? Watta ya mean strange?? U mean the way I think?what?strange how,wats strange about it? C'mon,ur a big boy,u kno wat u said.u mean,and let me understand this,cause maybe it's me,maybe I'm a little f%$#ed up maybe,but,I'm strange how,like I'm a clown??I amuse you??I make you laugh??I'm here to f#$@ing amuse you?? Watta ya mean strange?? Strange how?? How is it strange?? U said it like!! How do I kno?? U said its strange!! How the f$%k is it strange?? Wat the f%&k is so strange about it?? Tell me!! Tell me wats strange about it..........Ha,ya mutha f€&$a,I almost had ye. Ye stuttering p***k ya!!

[quit yo jibbajabba]

Easy seen it was the Oscars last night

[Waataboutyee]

Wasnt able to make the game today because of the farce regarding wether the game was on or not.only game I've missed do far,and wouldn't ye kno,they won.anybody at the game care to give an analysis.were derry good or tipp bad? Any improvement from the last day?? Great result all the same.

The game was never called off, so your 'logic' is strange!

Strange?? Watta ya mean strange?? U mean the way I think?what?strange how,wats strange about it? C'mon,ur a big boy,u kno wat u said.u mean,and let me understand this,cause maybe it's me,maybe I'm a little f%$#ed up maybe,but,I'm strange how,like I'm a clown??I amuse you??I make you laugh??I'm here to f#$@ing amuse you?? Watta ya mean strange?? Strange how?? How is it strange?? U said it like!! How do I kno?? U said its strange!! How the f$%k is it strange?? Wat the f%&k is so strange about it?? Tell me!! Tell me wats strange about it..........Ha,ya mutha f€&$a,I almost had ye. Ye stuttering p***k ya!!

Strange 

[oakleaflad]

On the game yesterday:
Conditions weren't great obviously. Thought we were the better team overall. Rogers, McWilliams and Keenan all had fine games at the back. Gave a couple silly frees away early on but after that Tipp really struggled to score, they didn't score from play at all. Shane McGuigan is a top class forward. Hopefully can be the springboard for a run of results.

Couple other thoughts:
I can't see any way we beat Armagh playing the way we have been, we just won't score enough. Players need to lift the head and look forward that bit more often. We had forwards one on one inside and wouldn't kick the ball in.

We had 3 extra men at a stage yesterday and hadn't a clue how to use them.

Why was Alex Doherty brought on a day after having played for the U20's with us 0-09 to 0-04 up (I think) and 2 or 3 extra men? Do the U20's not play again this weekend? Thought he looked seriously leggy running back towards the end and it just seemed an unnecessary injury risk.

[WT4E]

Heard the Tipp lads where informed game was off on Saturday night so treated themselves to a session in Cookstown only to be informed next day match was on. Fair play to Derry on the win though

[TotesEmosh]

On the game yesterday:
Conditions weren't great obviously. Thought we were the better team overall. Rogers, McWilliams and Keenan all had fine games at the back. Gave a couple silly frees away early on but after that Tipp really struggled to score, they didn't score from play at all. Shane McGuigan is a top class forward. Hopefully can be the springboard for a run of results.

Couple other thoughts:
I can't see any way we beat Armagh playing the way we have been, we just won't score enough. Players need to lift the head and look forward that bit more often. We had forwards one on one inside and wouldn't kick the ball in.

We had 3 extra men at a stage yesterday and hadn't a clue how to use them.

Why was Alex Doherty brought on a day after having played for the U20's with us 0-09 to 0-04 up (I think) and 2 or 3 extra men? Do the U20's not play again this weekend? Thought he looked seriously leggy running back towards the end and it just seemed an unnecessary injury risk.

If youd went to the game youd know he was only brought on during the second half. I assume mr Donnelly expected an easy ride v Fearmanagh and got it wrong as the draw after normal time meant Doherty had to slug it out over extra time. I wouldn't be getting annoyed over either the u20 or senior performances from the weekend though as you wouldn't put the dog out in that weather. 2 wins all that matters. hopefully we'll have more support for both squads in games to come when the weather isn't an easy excuse

[oakleaflad]

On the game yesterday:
Conditions weren't great obviously. Thought we were the better team overall. Rogers, McWilliams and Keenan all had fine games at the back. Gave a couple silly frees away early on but after that Tipp really struggled to score, they didn't score from play at all. Shane McGuigan is a top class forward. Hopefully can be the springboard for a run of results.

Couple other thoughts:
I can't see any way we beat Armagh playing the way we have been, we just won't score enough. Players need to lift the head and look forward that bit more often. We had forwards one on one inside and wouldn't kick the ball in.

We had 3 extra men at a stage yesterday and hadn't a clue how to use them.

Why was Alex Doherty brought on a day after having played for the U20's with us 0-09 to 0-04 up (I think) and 2 or 3 extra men? Do the U20's not play again this weekend? Thought he looked seriously leggy running back towards the end and it just seemed an unnecessary injury risk.

If youd went to the game youd know he was only brought on during the second half. I assume mr Donnelly expected an easy ride v Fearmanagh and got it wrong as the draw after normal time meant Doherty had to slug it out over extra time. I wouldn't be getting annoyed over either the u20 or senior performances from the weekend though as you wouldn't put the dog out in that weather. 2 wins all that matters. hopefully we'll have more support for both squads in games to come when the weather isn't an easy excuse

I wasn't at the U20 game and, miraculously, was already aware of this. Twitter is some job. Doesn't change my point in the slightest given the game went to extra time in those conditions. Was an unnecessary risk in my opinion.
Does McCarron have an injury? Noticed he wasn't involved with either U20's or seniors.

[JoG2]

On the game yesterday:
Conditions weren't great obviously. Thought we were the better team overall. Rogers, McWilliams and Keenan all had fine games at the back. Gave a couple silly frees away early on but after that Tipp really struggled to score, they didn't score from play at all. Shane McGuigan is a top class forward. Hopefully can be the springboard for a run of results.

Couple other thoughts:
I can't see any way we beat Armagh playing the way we have been, we just won't score enough. Players need to lift the head and look forward that bit more often. We had forwards one on one inside and wouldn't kick the ball in.

We had 3 extra men at a stage yesterday and hadn't a clue how to use them.

Why was Alex Doherty brought on a day after having played for the U20's with us 0-09 to 0-04 up (I think) and 2 or 3 extra men? Do the U20's not play again this weekend? Thought he looked seriously leggy running back towards the end and it just seemed an unnecessary injury risk.

If youd went to the game youd know he was only brought on during the second half. I assume mr Donnelly expected an easy ride v Fearmanagh and got it wrong as the draw after normal time meant Doherty had to slug it out over extra time. I wouldn't be getting annoyed over either the u20 or senior performances from the weekend though as you wouldn't put the dog out in that weather. 2 wins all that matters. hopefully we'll have more support for both squads in games to come when the weather isn't an easy excuse

Quite the opposite, reading the  Donnelly interview in the CDP leading up to this match, he knew Derry was going into this u20 game like a 3 legged dog with the McRory men unable to field (Fermanagh were at full strength with St Michaels out). Was told we were 6-8 starters down, though not sure how accurate that number is tbh

On the game yesterday:
Conditions weren't great obviously. Thought we were the better team overall. Rogers, McWilliams and Keenan all had fine games at the back. Gave a couple silly frees away early on but after that Tipp really struggled to score, they didn't score from play at all. Shane McGuigan is a top class forward. Hopefully can be the springboard for a run of results.

Couple other thoughts:
I can't see any way we beat Armagh playing the way we have been, we just won't score enough. Players need to lift the head and look forward that bit more often. We had forwards one on one inside and wouldn't kick the ball in.

We had 3 extra men at a stage yesterday and hadn't a clue how to use them.

Why was Alex Doherty brought on a day after having played for the U20's with us 0-09 to 0-04 up (I think) and 2 or 3 extra men? Do the U20's not play again this weekend? Thought he looked seriously leggy running back towards the end and it just seemed an unnecessary injury risk.

If youd went to the game youd know he was only brought on during the second half. I assume mr Donnelly expected an easy ride v Fearmanagh and got it wrong as the draw after normal time meant Doherty had to slug it out over extra time. I wouldn't be getting annoyed over either the u20 or senior performances from the weekend though as you wouldn't put the dog out in that weather. 2 wins all that matters. hopefully we'll have more support for both squads in games to come when the weather isn't an easy excuse

I wasn't at the U20 game and, miraculously, was already aware of this. Twitter is some job. Doesn't change my point in the slightest given the game went to extra time in those conditions. Was an unnecessary risk in my opinion.
Does McCarron have an injury? Noticed he wasn't involved with either U20's or seniors.

Lost a few teeth playing with Jordanstown's freshers

[TotesEmosh]

On the game yesterday:
Conditions weren't great obviously. Thought we were the better team overall. Rogers, McWilliams and Keenan all had fine games at the back. Gave a couple silly frees away early on but after that Tipp really struggled to score, they didn't score from play at all. Shane McGuigan is a top class forward. Hopefully can be the springboard for a run of results.

Couple other thoughts:
I can't see any way we beat Armagh playing the way we have been, we just won't score enough. Players need to lift the head and look forward that bit more often. We had forwards one on one inside and wouldn't kick the ball in.

We had 3 extra men at a stage yesterday and hadn't a clue how to use them.

Why was Alex Doherty brought on a day after having played for the U20's with us 0-09 to 0-04 up (I think) and 2 or 3 extra men? Do the U20's not play again this weekend? Thought he looked seriously leggy running back towards the end and it just seemed an unnecessary injury risk.

If youd went to the game youd know he was only brought on during the second half. I assume mr Donnelly expected an easy ride v Fearmanagh and got it wrong as the draw after normal time meant Doherty had to slug it out over extra time. I wouldn't be getting annoyed over either the u20 or senior performances from the weekend though as you wouldn't put the dog out in that weather. 2 wins all that matters. hopefully we'll have more support for both squads in games to come when the weather isn't an easy excuse

Quite the opposite, reading the  Donnelly interview in the CDP leading up to this match, he knew Derry was going into this u20 game like a 3 legged dog with the McRory men unable to field (Fermanagh were at full strength with St Michaels out). Was told we were 6-8 starters down, though not sure how accurate that number is tbh

On the game yesterday:
Conditions weren't great obviously. Thought we were the better team overall. Rogers, McWilliams and Keenan all had fine games at the back. Gave a couple silly frees away early on but after that Tipp really struggled to score, they didn't score from play at all. Shane McGuigan is a top class forward. Hopefully can be the springboard for a run of results.

Couple other thoughts:
I can't see any way we beat Armagh playing the way we have been, we just won't score enough. Players need to lift the head and look forward that bit more often. We had forwards one on one inside and wouldn't kick the ball in.

We had 3 extra men at a stage yesterday and hadn't a clue how to use them.

Why was Alex Doherty brought on a day after having played for the U20's with us 0-09 to 0-04 up (I think) and 2 or 3 extra men? Do the U20's not play again this weekend? Thought he looked seriously leggy running back towards the end and it just seemed an unnecessary injury risk.

If youd went to the game youd know he was only brought on during the second half. I assume mr Donnelly expected an easy ride v Fearmanagh and got it wrong as the draw after normal time meant Doherty had to slug it out over extra time. I wouldn't be getting annoyed over either the u20 or senior performances from the weekend though as you wouldn't put the dog out in that weather. 2 wins all that matters. hopefully we'll have more support for both squads in games to come when the weather isn't an easy excuse

I wasn't at the U20 game and, miraculously, was already aware of this. Twitter is some job. Doesn't change my point in the slightest given the game went to extra time in those conditions. Was an unnecessary risk in my opinion.
Does McCarron have an injury? Noticed he wasn't involved with either U20's or seniors.

Lost a few teeth playing with Jordanstown's freshers

So our County U20 team are reliant on 6-8 school children to be competitive? The Antrim game on Saturday should be a good watch at least by that reckoning.

[screenexile]

What's your point?? You do realise that an U20 team is more reliant on Children at school than U21 would be?

[Estimator]

So our County U20 team are reliant on 6-8 school children to be competitive? The Antrim game on Saturday should be a good watch at least by that reckoning.

Nope, Donnelly would like to play lads that are eligible to play U-20 football.  If you did a bit of research you'd see that Derry are not the only county affected.


DERRY'S U20 football manager Mickey Donnelly says the GAA fixtures calendar should be "shredded" and believes there are too many "battlefields" at underage level for the relatively new football grade to flourish.

With the schools sector and U20 grade effectively pitted against one another over player availability and high-profile fixture clashes, Donnelly says the current template "needs ripped up".

Due to fixture changes at national level, the Ulster Council was forced to bring forward its U20 Football Championship by a couple of months, to February, but the move has spectacularly collided with 'A' and 'B' post-primary competitions.

Once the GAA granted Fermanagh special dispensation to call upon their 13 school-tied players to field in order for the Ernemen to field at U20 level, other counties made similar requests.

Derry and Fermanagh get the U20 Football Championship ball rolling at Celtic Park this Saturday but with St Patrick's, Maghera and St Mary's, Magherafelt involved in MacRory Cup action next Tuesday and Wednesday, Donnelly won't be able to call up those players.

"The irony is if you asked me that question: did I think the U20s was working, before Christmas and before the fixtures came out I would have said it's working.

"We'd a couple of decent years: we won one Ulster title and got to an Ulster final last year and the timing of the competition and that summer window seemed to work well. But, to bring it into the schools [calendar] is just a total disaster. It's just a maelstrom of in-house fights and wranglings.

"It's not the calendar needs 'tweaked'; it needs ripped up, you need to a get shredder from somewhere and to start again because it's definitely not working."

Donnelly says it would have been wrong to put players involved in MacRory Cup football under pressure to line out for Derry's U20 footballers as well.

"Even though the rule [allowing counties to call up school-tied players for U20 duty] is relaxed we haven't had the schools players simply because we haven't put the pressure on them.

"It's difficult to have a player at the end of a barrel of a gun and force that on them... Surely, inter-county football is the pinnacle for anybody and we're actually depriving these lads of inter-county football.

"I come from a very, very small club [Aghaloo, Co Tyrone] and the pride that we feel when someone from our club, our tribe, goes and represents their county, it's huge. But now what people are saying is: 'Let's make it a development competition, so any Tom, Dick and Harry can play inter-county football.'

"It just diminishes the entire competition."

Now in his third year with the Derry U20s, Donnelly feels that the now defunct U21 grade was the definitely the lesser of two evils.

"[At U21] You were relying on a very, very good relationship with your senior county manager, which doesn't exist in every county. But it would definitely be better than this because it's anarchy.

"I would like to have eight or nine lads available to me on Saturday who are involved in MacRory. If it was U21, you might have one stand-out player. If you go through teams that have won Hogan Cups – Fermanagh teams, Tyrone teams, Derry teams – how many of those lads were playing U21 football? Very few."

The fact that St Michael's, Enniskillen exited the MacRory Cup to Holy Trinity, Cookstown at the end of last month means that the Ernemen U20s will have a full deck to choose from in facing Derry this weekend.

Donnelly explained: "A county like Fermanagh might have 11 or 12 St Michael's Enniskillen boys on the panel. If St Michael's had beaten Holy Trinity, Fermanagh mightn't have been able to field [against us]."

The currently education system in the north also has a negative impact on the U20 grade, as Donnelly said: "I think the point that has been missed here is that it really hurts the six counties more than anywhere else. It's more pronounced, more than say: St Brendan's Killarney, St Jarlath's, Tuam, Coláiste Chríost Rí...invariably, those schools don't enforce transition year, so lads leave schools football at 18-years-of-age; we have them until 19.

"So why would the Galway delegate or the Mayo delegate care about this, or the Donegal delegate for that matter? But it definitely affects us because we have lads that are doing A2 exams at nearly 19-years-of-age who are ready-made U20 footballers. You could argue they are ready-made senior footballers, but because the nature and the timing of the competition we can't play them.

"Surely to God, U20 was created because it was felt U21 was too big a bridge between 18 to 21.

"We've now nothing between 17 and senior because these players can't play, a lot of my best players can't play because they're with their schools, and rightly so. But we're depriving them the chance of playing inter-county football which is madness."

"What's been the clash in the calendar over the last number of years? It's been club versus county. So, at least if you kept 17s, 20s, and seniors all playing their games in the summer window, then clubs can deal with that because they know when they're not going to have their players, whereas now schools are flexing, counties are trying to flex. It's just a battlefield."

[restorepride]

So our County U20 team are reliant on 6-8 school children to be competitive? The Antrim game on Saturday should be a good watch at least by that reckoning.

Nope, Donnelly would like to play lads that are eligible to play U-20 football.  If you did a bit of research you'd see that Derry are not the only county affected.


DERRY'S U20 football manager Mickey Donnelly says the GAA fixtures calendar should be "shredded" and believes there are too many "battlefields" at underage level for the relatively new football grade to flourish.

With the schools sector and U20 grade effectively pitted against one another over player availability and high-profile fixture clashes, Donnelly says the current template "needs ripped up".

Due to fixture changes at national level, the Ulster Council was forced to bring forward its U20 Football Championship by a couple of months, to February, but the move has spectacularly collided with 'A' and 'B' post-primary competitions.

Once the GAA granted Fermanagh special dispensation to call upon their 13 school-tied players to field in order for the Ernemen to field at U20 level, other counties made similar requests.

Derry and Fermanagh get the U20 Football Championship ball rolling at Celtic Park this Saturday but with St Patrick's, Maghera and St Mary's, Magherafelt involved in MacRory Cup action next Tuesday and Wednesday, Donnelly won't be able to call up those players.

"The irony is if you asked me that question: did I think the U20s was working, before Christmas and before the fixtures came out I would have said it's working.

"We'd a couple of decent years: we won one Ulster title and got to an Ulster final last year and the timing of the competition and that summer window seemed to work well. But, to bring it into the schools [calendar] is just a total disaster. It's just a maelstrom of in-house fights and wranglings.

"It's not the calendar needs 'tweaked'; it needs ripped up, you need to a get shredder from somewhere and to start again because it's definitely not working."

Donnelly says it would have been wrong to put players involved in MacRory Cup football under pressure to line out for Derry's U20 footballers as well.

"Even though the rule [allowing counties to call up school-tied players for U20 duty] is relaxed we haven't had the schools players simply because we haven't put the pressure on them.

"It's difficult to have a player at the end of a barrel of a gun and force that on them... Surely, inter-county football is the pinnacle for anybody and we're actually depriving these lads of inter-county football.

"I come from a very, very small club [Aghaloo, Co Tyrone] and the pride that we feel when someone from our club, our tribe, goes and represents their county, it's huge. But now what people are saying is: 'Let's make it a development competition, so any Tom, Dick and Harry can play inter-county football.'

"It just diminishes the entire competition."

Now in his third year with the Derry U20s, Donnelly feels that the now defunct U21 grade was the definitely the lesser of two evils.

"[At U21] You were relying on a very, very good relationship with your senior county manager, which doesn't exist in every county. But it would definitely be better than this because it's anarchy.

"I would like to have eight or nine lads available to me on Saturday who are involved in MacRory. If it was U21, you might have one stand-out player. If you go through teams that have won Hogan Cups – Fermanagh teams, Tyrone teams, Derry teams – how many of those lads were playing U21 football? Very few."

The fact that St Michael's, Enniskillen exited the MacRory Cup to Holy Trinity, Cookstown at the end of last month means that the Ernemen U20s will have a full deck to choose from in facing Derry this weekend.

Donnelly explained: "A county like Fermanagh might have 11 or 12 St Michael's Enniskillen boys on the panel. If St Michael's had beaten Holy Trinity, Fermanagh mightn't have been able to field [against us]."

The currently education system in the north also has a negative impact on the U20 grade, as Donnelly said: "I think the point that has been missed here is that it really hurts the six counties more than anywhere else. It's more pronounced, more than say: St Brendan's Killarney, St Jarlath's, Tuam, Coláiste Chríost Rí...invariably, those schools don't enforce transition year, so lads leave schools football at 18-years-of-age; we have them until 19.

"So why would the Galway delegate or the Mayo delegate care about this, or the Donegal delegate for that matter? But it definitely affects us because we have lads that are doing A2 exams at nearly 19-years-of-age who are ready-made U20 footballers. You could argue they are ready-made senior footballers, but because the nature and the timing of the competition we can't play them.

"Surely to God, U20 was created because it was felt U21 was too big a bridge between 18 to 21.

"We've now nothing between 17 and senior because these players can't play, a lot of my best players can't play because they're with their schools, and rightly so. But we're depriving them the chance of playing inter-county football which is madness."

"What's been the clash in the calendar over the last number of years? It's been club versus county. So, at least if you kept 17s, 20s, and seniors all playing their games in the summer window, then clubs can deal with that because they know when they're not going to have their players, whereas now schools are flexing, counties are trying to flex. It's just a battlefield."

Great post.  More joined-up thinking needed.

[TotesEmosh]

Great post?? he's copied and pasted an article someone has written last week (clearly as it says Fermanagh play Derry THIS weekend). The article is filled with Mr. Donnelly's whining around schools players. Are you telling me a county the size of ours cant field a strong team of 19 – 20 year old lads post-secondary school? Well by f*&% that's a sad state of affairs and a sad indictment of the attitude of a lot of our so called supporters unfortunately. Would you have much knowledge of what we have in the county at u20 level draperstown exile? Of are you just content to regurgitate the tyrone man's whingeing to pass off as your own opinion?

[bannside]

Your county under 20 manager is making a helluva lot more sense than you are. Who ever you are? He simply laments the fact that because of fixture congestion he is deprived of quite a lot of his panel. Is that really so hard to understand?? He also makes a proper case for the burnout of a lot of the players in his panel, attempting to serve two three or four different masters. Every manager worth his salt will be looking after player welfare.

You're really lucky though because in Derry you have dozens of talented 19 year olds who could step up at short notice and fulfil this fixture. Sure it's only against Antrim..but in your own words at least that would make it competitive!

[TotesEmosh]

I agree the congestion of all these competitions at this time of year is madness. My point remains that ANY county side fielding an u20 team surely must be able to draw on 25 or so talented 19/20 year olds from their club pool without having to rely so heavily on 16-18 year olds. Is THAT so hard to understand? By the way Bannsider I was being ironic/sarcastic in my comment about the Antrim game this weekend based on my outlook of Derry's preparation and attitude for the Fermanagh game. No slight on Antrim, I'm sure it will be good local derby as usual with a lot of these lads knowing each other from their school days no doubt. I take it you follow them yourself based on your previous pro Antrim/ anti Derry posts on here? Do you fancy them? Or are you like the Draperstown brigade on here who talk a good game but rarely leave the armchair?