USFC Final Antrim v Tyrone Clones 19th July

[ONeill]

Jays she didn't get another reduction!

[Tyrone Dreamer]

I see some people are picking forward lines without Joe McMahon. Does this mean they wouldnt start him on the team? Not sure if there's a place for him in defence at the minute unless Tyrone were up against a big full forward line. If he's injury free I think he's worth his place in the half forward line. He has been quiet enough in 1st couple of games though.

[Mr. Nakata]

McMahon is a different type of animal from Mellon, Brian McGuigan or C Cav. He does most of his best work behind midfield even when playing at 12. Add to that, he can stick over a 45, sometimes. Defensively sound and excellent distribution. If fit, I think an automatic selection.

[orangeman]

Joe if fit is a certain starter. Mr. Utility. Can play anywhere. Has all the skills. The number on his back means nothing.

[Baile an tuaigh]

First of all, I'm delighted to see my own County line out in an Ulster final against my favourite "adopted" team. Strange feeling. Wasn't born the last time we made the final. So all kind's of emotions running through my head.

Tyrone I think have a huge ability to be potentially more dangerous. One thing they could do better in my view is get more quality ball low into the full forward line. I would play O Neill in the edge of the square with strict instruction's not to leave a five yard radius of the small paralelagram. Could you imagine how devastating he would be in that role. If he were to win one of every three attacks? He would be shaking the net more often and demoralising the opposition as goals tend to do. Tyrone are a point scoring machine but if I had forwards as classy as O Neill I would play my game around them. He is like the point of the knife. Hope he has a bad game Sunday though

As discussed earlier this would be my number 8 to 15 in the red hands.

8 Hughes
9 Brian Mc Guigan
10 J Mc Mahon (dooher running out of legs)
11 Sean Cavanagh
12 T mc Guigan
13 penrose
14 Stephen O Neill
15 Eoin Mulligan

Mulligan is very much a confidance player with unlimited talent I would get him on the ball early a few times to get his dander up. Mc Cullough is also classy but pulls out of a lot of challenges. Probably because he's small and trying to play it cute. Huge fan of the Mc Mahon boy's and they would be in the line up as well.

[Tony Baloney]

Fella in work is laying even money at Tyrone +10.

1. Worth a small punt.
2. Said work colleague is a w**kstain.
3. He's probably from Strabane.
4. He is a bandwagon Tyrone football supporter.

Give me marks out of 4 for that.

1.
2. Alright actually. For a Tyrone man.
3. Coalisland. As bad.
4. Only every September.

[Tony Baloney]

Fella in work is laying even money at Tyrone +10.

1. Worth a small punt.
2. Said work colleague is a w**kstain.
3. He's probably from Strabane.
4. He is a bandwagon Tyrone football supporter.

Give me marks out of 4 for that.

1. I'd say so.
2. He's alright as Tyrone folk go.
3. Not that bad. Coalisland.
4. Only in September.

[orangeman]

First of all, I'm delighted to see my own County line out in an Ulster final against my favourite "adopted" team. Strange feeling. Wasn't born the last time we made the final. So all kind's of emotions running through my head.

Tyrone I think have a huge ability to be potentially more dangerous. One thing they could do better in my view is get more quality ball low into the full forward line. I would play O Neill in the edge of the square with strict instruction's not to leave a five yard radius of the small paralelagram. Could you imagine how devastating he would be in that role. If he were to win one of every three attacks? He would be shaking the net more often and demoralising the opposition as goals tend to do. Tyrone are a point scoring machine but if I had forwards as classy as O Neill I would play my game around them. He is like the point of the knife. Hope he has a bad game Sunday though

As discussed earlier this would be my number 8 to 15 in the red hands.

8 Hughes
9 Brian Mc Guigan
10 J Mc Mahon (dooher running out of legs)11 Sean Cavanagh
12 T mc Guigan
13 penrose
14 Stephen O Neill
15 Eoin Mulligan

Mulligan is very much a confidance player with unlimited talent I would get him on the ball early a few times to get his dander up. Mc Cullough is also classy but pulls out of a lot of challenges. Probably because he's small and trying to play it cute. Huge fan of the Mc Mahon boy's and they would be in the line up as well.

Mickey has been lucky so far in that Dooher hasn't HAD to be over used. Dooher will be needed from 1/4 finals onwards so hopefully he'll be good to go at that stage.

[fred the red]

[ONeill]

A few more irrelevant facts:

Apart from the Ulster Championship clashes highlighted earlier in the week, over the years there have been a few important meetings between the Saffrons and the Red Hands.

1941 Dr McKenna Cup Final - Antrim 3-7 Tyrone 2-6 AET and after a replay. The first game ended Ant 4-8 Tyr 1-17. The replay was 1-6 a-piece at FT.
1966 Dr McKenna Cup Final - Antrim 1-10 Tyrone 1-6. That game was place in a hole, Lurgan.

1932 Ulster Minor Final - Antrim 2-7 Tyrone 1-2. Tyrone were defending champions but were bate well up in Corrigan.
1936 Ulster Minor Final - Antrim 2-7 Tyrone 2-4 played at Castleblaney. Tyrone were going for an unofficial 3-in-a-row that year. They won it in 1934 and 1935 but were disqualified in '35 afterwards when Donegal found out that one of the Tyrone players was from Ederney. Donegal were then thrown out for fielding an over-ager. Antrim won anyways.
1997 Ulster Minor Final - Tyrone 3-13 Antrim 2-10
1998  Ulster Minor Final - Tyrone 4-9 Antrim 2-2

1974 Ulster U21 Final - Antrim  2-6 Tyrone 1-8
1975 Ulster U21 Final - Antrim 2-7 Tyrone 0-7

1951 Ulster Junior Hurling Final - Antrim 7-1 Tyrone 2-1
1966 Ulster Minor Hurling Final -  Antrim 6-6 Tyrone 1-3

The 19th July has some historic relevance for Tyrone as on that date in 1931, they won their first senior inter-county title, defeating fermanagh in the Northern Division 2 Final, 2-5 to 2-4, Ned McGee from Ballygawley pointing the winner. 1931 was also the year Tyrone first wore their now standard white shirt with red hand.

[ONeill]

I was reading there about a club that was formed in Belfast in 1917 at Craobh Rua Hall. Its playing members were comprised solely of Tyrone men. It was chaired by a 'Jim Tohill' (Stewartstown) and they called it Tyrone O'Neills. Their players came from Moy, Pomeroy, Omagh, Dungannon, Stewartstown, Coalisland, Cookstown, Sion Mills, Ardboe, Donaghmore, Killybearn and Strabane. Their surnames were Early, McCann, Carabine, Loughran, Hamill, Mitchill, Lamb, McCrealy, Brennan, Mullin, Higgens, Lavery, Brannigan, Fanning, Doey, Rodgers, Flynn and another McCrealy.

I'd be mightily pissed of if one of the McCanns does the business on Sunday.

[tyroneman]

The McCanns and indeed an O'Neill will cripple Tyrone on Sunday.

Thought we'd left all those days behind us...........................

[Massey-135]

gone one of you fellas post paddy heaneys article from yesterdays irish news, i didnt get the paper yesterday. don't like to miss it. cheers

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Here you go Massey:

Sticking the boot into GAA is a DUP distraction

Against the Breeze

by Paddy Heaney
14/07/09

BACK in the last century, I used to work in the real world and, for three years, I was with a company that sold continental cheese and fine foods.

When I started, I was the only Catholic in a family-run firm of about 25 employees. My work colleagues were broadly representative of the full rainbow of unionism. The chairman was over 80 years of age and he was in his seat at 8.30am every morning. He was a member of the Ulster Unionist party. The chairman's son, the managing director, was apolitical. His only affiliation was to his company and his customers. Jim, the yard foreman, was a fine, upstanding character. Even in the hottest weather his tie remained tightly-knotted. His sole concern was getting deliveries to the shops on time. Jim's deputy was Victor. A proud member of the Orange Order, Victor also pretended that he was in the freemasons. Our secret handshake changed every week. The lads who made up the deliveries mostly came from around Black's Road and Suffolk a Protestant enclave that neighbours west Belfast.

In the three years that I worked for that company, I couldn't say a bad word about my employers or my work-mates. I was Paddy. I was a Catholic and I played Gaelic football. I also enjoyed a cigarette so I spent my fair share of time chatting to Victor and the lads in the smokers' hut. They'd ask me about the GAA and playing Gaelic football. Victor would show me his Masonic Lodge ring and every now and again, I'd be asked to buy a ballot ticket for the Boys' Brigade. I'd comply (there were 20 of them).

Anyone who has had the experience of employment in a mixed workforce will understand the dynamic of the situation. In order to get the job done, it's best to establish trust, accommodate each other and find common ground. Politics is no different, and this is why Nelson McCausland has made such a disappointing start to his term as the minister for culture, arts and leisure.

In the depressingly familiar canon of the DUP, Nelson has started off by telling us what he will not be doing. He will not be attending GAA clubs named after republicans. He will not be attending any matches on a Sunday and he will not attend any services in a Catholic church. To further underline his credentials for the job, Nelson proudly declared that he knew as much about the "Gaelic Sports" as he did about the "Northern Ireland Champions for lacrosse". He then claimed that he didn't know that Tyrone were the All-Ireland champions.

Imagine the sports minister at Westminster boasting that he knew next to nothing about football and that he didn't realise Manchester United were the Premiership champions. Even if we forget the fact that Nelson is supposed to be representing both sides of the community, his comments from a sports fan's point of view are cringeworthy. (Victor and the lads were always up to date on the Ulster Championship, although they didn't agree with Monaghan, Cavan and Donegal being allowed to take part). Somehow, Nelson believes that broadcasting his ignorance about his new brief is a badge of honour.

Unfortunately, the minister will not be in the slightest bit embarrassed. In fact, he will be delighted that he has been able to use the subsequent radio and television exposure to establish himself as the DUP's hardman against the GAA. It's all pretty lamentable, but McCausland isn't really to blame. He's only being used as a distraction device by his leader, Peter Robinson, who is still reeling from the bloody nose he received in the European elections. Unsurprisingly, senior DUP politicians have revealed that the GAA wasn't at the top of concerns for loyalist voters in working class areas.

Sinn Fein didn't even top the list of bogey men. For every unionist voter on the doorstep who mentioned sharing power with Sinn Fein, another five voiced their anger at the scandal over Westminster MPs' expenses, 'double-jobbing' politicians, and the revelation that the 'Swish Family Robinson' was netting nearly £600,000 from political salaries and expenses per year. Robinson needs some of the attention drawn away from his dynasty-building. It was no surprise that Nelson was appointed in the immediate wake of that disastrous election. His first comments were as predictable as they were depressing.

It's classic DUP politics. They like to identify an enemy that allows them to establish themselves as the champions of the Protestant people. But, it's all getting rather pathetic. After 30 years of violence, DUP politicians like Nelson McCausland should be acutely aware of the danger of language that causes offence and fosters tensions.

Last week there were five attacks on Catholic churches, a GAA club, and two Orange Order halls. These attacks cannot be blamed on Nelson. But he should reflect on the fact that it's better to start off by using words that don't play on the fears of people who are suspicious of Catholics and the sports they play. In Edwin Poots, the DUP appointed a minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure who understood the remit of the post and his responsibility to both communities. It's understood that Poots and Ulster GAA secretary Danny Murphy got on quite well. Both men are farmers. After meetings, we can assume they had amiable conversations about the weather and the price of grass seed. Poots never made any apologies for his unionist views. He voiced his concerns about the GAA when he attended the Ulster Council's club conference. And he deliberately avoided the Irish national anthem when he attended the Dr McKenna Cup game in Newry. But Poots managed to create respect for himself, his post, and the unionist views he represented by showing some respect to the GAA and its leaders. If the DUP genuinely wants the GAA to make changes, they would have much more success with a politician in the mould of Poots who showed that he had the breadth of vision to escape the squalid street politics in which McCausland seems so entrenched.

In the meantime, Sinn Fein and the SDLP should be urged to ignore any further provocative statements from McCausland. He should not be allowed to use the GAA as a smokescreen to divert attention from the chaos within his own party. Instead, Nelson should be invited to every major and minor GAA function. If he fails to attend – no problem. And if he honours the event with his presence, someone could inform him that Lacrosse was a game originally played by the Native Americans. It was said to be played "for the Creator".

As an evangelical Protestant, our new sports minister might have unwittingly struck upon a game that he actually likes.

[A Quinn Martin Production]

Time to have a stab.
                                       1. Peter Graham



2. Colin Brady                     3. Andy McClean                    4. Kevin O'Boyle

          .............................10. Terry O'Neill.................................

5. Tony Scullion                 6. Justin Crozier                     7. James Loughrey



                         12. Niall McKeever       9. Aodhan Gallagher



                          15. Tomas McCann            11. Kevin Brady



13. Paddy Cunningham               8. Michael McCann                    14. Sean Burke


I would imagine..
McGreevy in for Graham maybe. Don't know how his injury is.

The team virtually picks itself at this stage.  As you say HS the only debate is whether McGreevy comes back in for Graham.  My instinct is to go with McGreevy if 100%.  Peter Graham has done nothing wrong in his two games, but hasn't had a lot to do.  IMHO McGreevy has been in the top 5 keepers in the country over the past 10 years.  A very good shot-stopper who fills the goal well for a "small" man in keeping terms.  If it was close with 5 mins to go and Steven O'Neill is lining up a penalty I know who I'd want facing it!