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Congrats to Cavan on a brilliant season so far (seniors aside).

Looking this up today a few facts jumped out.

* This is the 1st year no team from the North has won either a Minor,U21 or senior county title.

* Only Tyrone have won all 3 in a season ( 3 times)

* The 3 Southern counties in Ulster have won 4 of the last 6 Ulster county titles - Could there be a shift in the balance of power?

* Good omen for Cavan - other teams who have won  U21 and minor in the same season. Down late 70s, Derry early 80s and Tyrone early 00s have went on to Ulster senior and AI success within 10 years.

Down to the last 16/17.

Current Form Guide

1) Kerry - Indian sign over Cork and Galvin/O'Se to come back. Best forward line in country.

2) Cork - Injuries to 2 key forwards but still most powerful team in country.

3) Kildare - gathering momentum again. Fit, athletic and signs of getting forward line in order.

4) Dublin - signs of slippage but in last 8. Wellset up defensively and with B Brogan on form will be hard beat.

5) Tyrone - coming up on inside rails. Doubts over the legs of some of the old brigade but younger players coming through and still the best manager in the business.

6) Donegal - regardless of Ulster final result, would see them as best of the rest.

http://www.u.tv/News/Derry-Peace-Bridge-attacked-by-vandals/7f0a01bc-de73-47f4-9b0a-376b944d284c

It is well documented that only Armagh & Tyrone have won Ulster since 1999. A lot of great players over these years missed out on Anglo Celt glory.Here is an attempt at a best 15

                 M McVeigh
K Lacey      K McCloy        B Owens
D Freeman  B Monaghan   K Cassidy
          D Gordon     M McGrath
E Bradley   B Roper         B Coulter
P Bradley   B Devenney   T Freeman

This weekend saw the season really come to life with some great action form the various games, if the overall quality wasn't brilliant.

Amongst the headlines should have been

* Kavanaghs volley v Cavan
* Thompsons block on O'Neill
* Callaghans brilliant goal v Dublin
* Cian Wards 4 goals v Louth
* Lavery brilliant clearance to deny Clare
* Londons historic win

Instead the headlines are about a poor refereeing decision and a referee getting knocked out in a club game in Tyrone.

How do the GAA go about selling the good things better to the masses?

Thinking about the recent thread showing Johnny Doyle had scored over 200 points in Championship (probably getting close to 250 now).

There are no shortage of stats for soccer etc ( used to have a copy of Rothmans annual myself years ago) but there are no real good sources of GAA stats. Although I remember Jerome Quinn having a good book out years ago about Ulster football.

How many current players would have over 200 points in Championship football?

Stevie McDonnell
Paddy Bradley
Colm Cooper
Johnny Doyle
Pauric Joyce
Conor Mortimer
Stephen O'Neill
Benny Coulter?

As the man said when asked for directions "I wouldn't start from here". Although not equitable they have a history which could never be replaced and offer many counties a hope of silverware.

What would a provincial title this year mean to each county. I have split these in 5 categories.

Satisfied         Tyrone,Cork,Dublin,Kerry,Galway,Mayo

Happy             Armagh, Roscommon, Sligo,Meath,Kildare

Delighted        Leitrim,Derry,Donegal, Monaghan, Down, Cavan, Westmeath,Laois,Offaly

Mental            Antrim,Clare,Louth,Wexford,Longford

Is this a dream?             Fermanagh,Wicklow,Carlow,Tipperary,Waterford,Limerick             

This is not a wind up thread, obviously the Republic exists, it just seems to have changed very little since Britain left.

Ignoring the massive interest in the wedding last week which we all had a gawk at in fairness the political and leglisative system has not moved on much, in some ways it is more British Empire than the North.

Things like
* Legal system - while corporate fraud legislation effectively does not exist, a penal colony system prevails. I know someone who got 90 days for not paying a fine even though they offered to pay it off every month. In the North it would come out of your dole at least.

* Social Welfare Officers - this seems like something out of Dickens. You go to this person and ask for money for extras etc, no forms nothing? Surely the abuse of these positions is rife.

* Local politicians - can get anything done for constituents even get jail terms cut short.

* Bankruptcy and tenancy laws - made for the 1890s.

Was the baton simply passed from the British to the ruling classes to continue the status quo?

http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/championship/2011/0412/hartem.html

See Mickey is gearing up for a low key Championship campaign.

I assume he will be blooding 7/8 newcomers this year instead of Gormley, McMenanmin, Hughes,McGuigan,Mulligan, Dooher etc seeing as he has more or less written the year off.

I don't think he or anyone else believes this for a minute. You have Cork slightly ahead of Kerry and Tyrone and it is hard to see anyone else winning it (for all Dublin's huffing & puffing, they blew it last year).

* Are Armagh the last team to win Sam from Div 2?

Did anyone see this on last night? Shocking stuff.Not surprising given the current climate but some of the figures involved are crazy for amatuer clubs.

Clara in Offaly owe £2.4m because they bought land and were unable to sell their own for the price they thought they would get.
Portlaoise owe £7m!! Monthly payments of £24k per month. How can any club afford this?

Nemo Rangers got lucky as they got their land sold 7 years ago when times were good but these clubs profiled are surely only the tip of the iceberg.

The Gov have no money and the GAA will not be able to bail out these clubs. If a business goes to the wall because it owes money the debt goes with it and a new company can be started again Will the same apply for clubs, in that the bank take everything and the remainder is wrote off.Could any new club with a similiar name in the same area start again from scratch?

Just looking at the new bands thread below and catching tail end of Ian Dempseys show yesterday when they were discussing this in relation to something Bob Geldof said recently.

Maybe it is just that I am getting old and not down with the kids new music but are there any rock bands any more who can take on the mantle of rock legends.

Among the top earning bands in America last year were Bon Jovi, ACDC, Rollling Stones but it is music these bands were making 20 years ago that people are going to hear.

Every decent act from yesteryear has been pillaged for ads,computer games, musicals etc. In 20 years time who are the Monsters of Rock going to be?

Of current bands only Muse and Kings Of Leon (although they seem to have went more mainstream) stand out.

This is not a rugby bashing thread. We all support Ireland and were disappointed with the decision ( but more so the performance ) on Saturday and cheer on Leinster/Munster/Ulster in the Hein Cup.

However there is a problem with Gaa coverage compared to Rugby. There were around 9 hours of rugby on RTE (exc TG4) this weekend compared to a poorly cobbled together hour of GAA.

Now we all enjoyed watching Italy put one over on the French but surely more should be done to promote our national game than 20 mins football and 20 mins Hurling. RTE always have a leaning towards the oval ball and isn't Ryle excitable Nugent head of RTE sport but surely more coverage should be given to GAA.

People may argue it's only the league but there are great skills/scores on offer every week ( supposedly an amazing score by Murphy v Meath for Donegal) and these should be showcased for the younger generation who the GAA are competing with rugby/soccer for.
If it means the GAA  accepting less money for the next TV deal based upon highlights( being shown of at least all Div 1/2 games in hurling and football (why should there not be 2 shows, BBC have different shows for (Premiership and football league) would this not be a good move for the GAA?

The powers that be need to do more to promote our games whether this is RTE, TV3,BBC or starting their own digital channel.

Halfway through the league and Dublin have had 3 good wins with players to come back into the team. This combined with last years showings when they improved as they went through the Championship and should have beaten Cork have raised expectation levels but can this be the year they end the famine?

Reasons why they can win it

1) Pat Gilroy - Many thought he was on a hiding to nothing when he took over after a couple of years of humiliating defeats but few could argue he has done a great job. From last years league when they started with ultra defensive tactics to the changes he made throughout last years championship he has done a remarkable job with a reasonably low amount of new players.

2) Bernard Brogan - along with the Gooch the best player in Ireland at present.Unmarkeable last year and seems to be more of a team player this year.

3) Standard - Tyrone and Kerry aren't at the level they were at a few years ago and Dublin have no fear of Cork.

Reasons why they can't.

1) Hype - last year no one give them much hope against Tyrone after previous years. Expectations have been raised and Gilroy will have this to contend with if they get on a roll early on.

2) Bernard Brogan - at times last year he carried the team. If he doesn't hit the levels of last year or gets injured is there enough in the forward line to trouble top teams?

3) Discipline - Cost them v Cork last year. Have conceded heavily enough so far in league this year.

What does anyone think? If they were playing Tyrone again in the QF would you back them?

This story about Bank of Ireland paying out bonuses of €66m since the guarantee, by mistake?

Is this f***ing real? Why are people not going mad about this shit? If Enda Kenny wants to show he has some balls he will start here.

As part of the recapitilisation supposedly chief executives would get no bonuses. Was there not a public interest representative appointed to the board? Did he get a bonus?

The country is broke. The likes of the Jack and Jill foundation who do such great work ( and save the HSE money) had their £750k grant cut last year.

Why are govs worldwide afraid to take on the banks?

http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/championship/2011/0223/hawkeye.html

Good to see the GAA giving this a go.

Referees will get an instant result in terms of a score and will have the discretion to overrule this and this will cover scores only, so square balls, penalties will still be down to human decision making.

However if it means the days of teams losing games due to valid scores not counting and vice versa it can surely only be a good thing.

With most of us finding things tight at the moment 3 examples this week of the bubble Premiership players live in

1) Robbie Keane - surely he has made enough money by now. He has maybe 3/4 years left at the top. Would he not be happier on 30k a week (surely he could manage?) and playing week in week out at the likes of Birmingham/Fulham?

2) Darren Bent - ok not much between Villa and Sunderland but how much extra is he getting by moving.At least Sunderland have a manager with a bit of cop on.

3) Wayne Bridge - somehow in the week West Ham are laying off stadium and ground staff on £250 a week they can find £90k a week for Wayne Bridge. Would he even be among the best 5 left backs in the league?

If Sky start feeling the pinch as people start cutting back ,will there be a knock on effect for clubs and these crazy salaries?

Merits of Int Rules are discussed elsewhere.

What GAA could be looking at is a genuine international rules competition ( not sure if Mickey Harte may have suggested something similiar a few years ago).

1) Teams from 4 regions UK, Europe, US and Asia/Australia are selected. Either winners of the Championship in these regions or an All Star team of the best 15 in each region.

2) These 4 teams are taken to Ireland and play 2 semi finals and final over week or 10 days with the final in Croke Park.

3) This final could be played the day before St Patricks day.

4) This team could then be GAA International champions or could play AI club champions at a later date for this title.

5) This would be a nice gesture for expats and could at least be a genuine International competition.

Any thoughts on this?

This time of year every paper or website throws out their county rankings for the year.

Is it not time for the GAA to introduce official rankings on an annual basis, based upon this years Championship with lower weightings included for the National league and the previous years championship.

Every major sport has official rankings ,including rugby and cricket and there probably aren't even 20 teams competing seriously at these sports.

This would cost the GAA nothing and would be an extra bit of free publicity.

Draw for 2011 championship is only 3 weeks away (7th October).Seems strange thinking it will be 2011 next year 9 was it not just 1999 a few years ago?

Despite reservations about Paddy O'Rourkes tactical nous and worries over more than a few positions, can't wait for next year. Hopefully we can avoid the preliminary round this year and stay in Div 1.

After this year a lot of teams will fancy their chances of having a bit of a run.

Provincial championships may have lost a bit of shine but every team will be going all out to win their province.

Who will be favourites for Sam next year and who can do a Down and stretch the summer out to August at least?

Lost in Enniskillen and Aughrim it is all coming back and he remembers what he was born to do. Now he is just 70 minutes away from bringing it all home.

Apologies if this doesn't work I am experimenting on Photobucket.