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Now let me do my maths....17 from 2007 leaves 1990....feed a corner forward on farts but did we not win 2 Ulster, 3 National Leagues and an All Irealnd from 92-98, I think you need to look at the crop of players from 2001-2007...want to reassess.

I know that Max but as a team throughout the 90's we had probably the best players in the country but only performed in 1993! If you want the classic example of my point it would be a Derry team full of class players getting beat by Peter the taxi driver and his merry band of back seat passengers in 1995!!!!!!!

Loup....Nice seats!!!!!

Amazing listening to the Derry folk here that you would think that they had so many brilliant footballers and yet they can barely win a provincial game...if players are so good then they wouldn't have played 19 qualifier games because they are incapable of winning an Ulster match....

What's winning an Ulster match got to do with anything? It's common knowledge that the standard of Ulster football is better than any other province. The reason Ulster don't win more AI's is mainly due to team's having to peak too soon as witnessed over the last few years (Tyrone's exceptional 2005 run excepted) and given the fact that Leinster haven't appeared in an AIF since 2001 and even then Meath were humiliated... with Leinster's last AI title another 2 years before that you can hardly call the province competitive on a national level. I can't remember what happened last time Derry played the Leinster champions in an AIQF can you?

Anyway we all know that there is a serious difference between games played in May and games in August... teams can completely transform. As for your observation that "If our players are so good they wouldn't have played 19 qualifier games", it's common knowledge and a failing of Derry's over the last 17 years that we have a collection of individuals as talented if not more talented than other teams but for some reason when they are all thrown together they cannot seem to perform as well as say a team of average footballers playing to their collective strength.

As I have said before, this is what we will see on Saturday and why I think the Dubs will win!

Have to agree with OLS. Gilligan and Bradley are 2 of the best free takers around from either side and their success rate is extremely high. Add to that the fact that Muldoon can kick them from the ground when Gilligan's off and can hit 45's and you're looking at a team that you don't want to be conceding fouls against. Apart from this I'd say that Dublin would be next best with Vaughan and Keaney although Vaughan hasn't been tested in a real pressure situation yet!

How are Derry a better football team with better players?Huh??

Well taken as a purely statistical standpoint I would bet my house on the fact that there are maybe twice as many All-Ireland medals among the Derry panel than on the Dublin panel and won from a wider range of competitions, I haven't got time to work out exact amounts of medals but I could safely say that in terms of actual Medals Derry would have at least twice as many as Dublin ranging from Minor, Colleges, Club, Sigerson and U-21 while Dublin have a few Sigerson, a few U21 and maybe Jayo with one Senior.

My own personal opinion is that McConnell, Griffin, Casey, Cahill, Ryan, B. Brogan, Moran, Sherlock (Was good, not anymore) and Vaughan are average footballers. Of course the rest of the team are extremely talented and the lads mentioned stick to their gameplan extremely well which means Dublin are extremely difficult to break down and difficult to beat.

Derry's players IMO are better individually than the Dublin team but their gameplan, fitness and teamwork is not up to the standard that Dublin have set.

As Tohill said, Dublin are further along in their development than Derry, we are most definitely a team in transition and we will have learned from this year, it is for this reason that I think Dublin will beat us, they have had 3 years good preparation, some tough defeats which they will have learned from and ultimately they will not have a better chance than this to win an All-Ireland!

That column is absolutely laughable... some of the things he is missing from the article is the fact that Derry are actually a better football team than Dublin with better players... sure enough Dublin's fitness, passion, gameplan and few individuals may be enough to carry them through to an All-Ireland but this drivel Hayes is talking makes them out to be world beaters when this is clearly not the case.

To be honest it will be a fascinating game and there are so many different ways it can turn but I really don't think we can get steam rollered on this one!

After that, you've got individuals on the Derry team with big names who have not put in the really big performances in recent years. Sean Marty Lockhart, for instance, is a favourite on the lips of all media commentators, more because of what he did in the first half of his excellent career than the second-half. Enda Muldoon, too, has had a career of two halves!

As for this tripe! Well the man's ignorance really speaks for itself!

Also the ball was picked clean off theground for the goal but then sometimes luck just isn't with you.

Come on Doire!

Cheers Zig... I know it must be hard... it certainly was for me going to watch youse a couple of years ago!

Just going on what has happened so far... if Paddy B puts in a stormer against the Dubs he's probably a shoe in but let's be honest he hasn't been at his usual best (which I think has actually helped Derry as we tend to use more options than maybe we did previously but that's another topic)... as for the FB slot I'm maybe being hard on McCloy but I think what Oneill says about the old hands will ring true especially as Fay is pretty much guaranteed an All Ireland appearance.

[so far]

Will Tyrone get a provincial champions vote? I'd doubt it. Dooher, maybe, on the strength of one momumental performance.

Don't think a team should get an allstar with only one good performance.

My Allstars at the minute would be

Murphy (Meath)
McGoldrick (Derry)
Fay (Meath)
Henry (Dublin)
Freeman (Monaghan)
Cullen (Dublin)
O'Sé (Kerry)
Whelan (Dublin)
Murphy (Cork)
Muldoon (Derry)
Cooper (Kerry)
Masters (Cork)
Bray (Meath)
Keaney (Dublin)
Freeman (Monaghan)


So far this is how I would rate the Allstar team... having said that Kerry haven't played well so far and I would expect a few more in there.

For GK you could maybe have Cluxton by the end of the cship.
Not even sure if O'Sé merits a WHB slot but I can't think of any outstanding WHB's in this year's cship apart from D. Freeman.
Murphy could be edged out of MF with another good performance from D. O'Sé.
Struggling for Half Forwards and there is an abundance of quality FF';s so I decided to do a bit of tinkering. At the minute Masters is tops scorer so he gets in although I wouldn't fsancy him to get one especially as he's missing the next match.

Other than that I think it's close enough so far... would be interested to see what anyone else thinks.

Anyone else watching the madness unfold in the McLaren team... I usually hate motor racing but F1's turned into more of a soap opera at the minute with new boy Hamilton stealing all the accolades from seasoned pro Alonso who is not taking it well... The weekend past is just another in a long line of incidents between the two drivers

From bbc.co.uk

Alonso is ignoring me - Hamilton 

Hamilton leads Alonso by seven points in the F1 title race
Hungarian Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton admitted his relationship with McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso had hit rock-bottom after Sunday's race.
"He doesn't seem to be speaking to me, so I don't know if he has a problem," said the 22-year-old Hamilton.

"If I walk in and I see him then I will speak to him, but I won't go looking for him and make him feel better."

Hamilton's win came after Alonso was demoted five grid places for holding up his team-mate during qualifying.

The relationship between two-time world champion Alonso - who joined McLaren from Renault this year - and F1 rookie Hamilton has appeared strained since the Briton's astonishing start to his debut season.

In June, McLaren boss Ron Dennis was forced to play down Alonso's comments that the team favoured Hamilton.

Matters came to a head during the build-up to the Hungarian Grand Prix when Spaniard Alonso stayed in the pits just long enough to prevent Hamilton from getting out in time to complete a final qualifying lap.

That came after Hamilton had refused to obey team orders to let Alonso past at the start of qualifying as part of a pre-arranged strategy.

Alonso was angered by the penalty, feeling he had explained to the race stewards why he had stayed in the pits for a further 10 seconds after being given the signal to go.

I guess he [Hamilton] will have a different relationship with the team in the next race, because I don't think they are very happy

Fernando Alonso
"I hope he still speaks to me. I'm easy to get on with. I don't hold grudges over anyone," added Hamilton, who stretched his lead in the drivers' championship to seven points with victory in Hungary.

"But if he doesn't want to speak to me, then that's for him to decide. But I'm open."

Alonso said his relationship with Hamilton had not changed.

"It's the same as before the race," he said.

"Each of us looks at his own interests, trying to do the best race possible, with the best strategy, and I try to do the same with my group of engineers and mechanics.

"But I guess he will have a different relationship with the team in the next race, because I don't think they are very happy, and I will have the same one (relationship)."

Hamilton said he had cleared the air with Dennis, who admitted on Sunday that the tension between the drivers had led to "a very difficult time" for the team.

"We sat down, we spoke about it and came to a mutual understanding and started with a clean slate," said Hamilton, who has known Dennis since he was 10.

"The relationship we have is very strong and something like this is not going to come between us, so we will move on to bigger and better things."

MArtin McHugh?? Catch a grip he's a bigoted wee hoor who thinks he's like some king of legend manager because Cavan won the Ulster cship with a dodgy point against a poor Derry team! He should be sacked from BBC as well!

D2... A step up from Copper's and good enough craic.
Tramco... Good enough spot should be good craic on a match weekend.
Spirit... Dear hole and shite music.
Barcode... Alright.
Break for the Border... shite.
There are others but I can't be assed.

From derrygaa.ie

Ulster U21 Final - Derry 2-16 Antrim 1-18

Well done to the U21 hurlers on their Ulster title, beating Antrim 2-16 to 1-18.

Gareth O'Kane put Derry in front from a free after thirty seconds, Neil McManus levelling after four minutes from a free deep in his own half. Sam Dodds and Michael Kirkpatrick from a long range free edged Derry 0-03 to 0-01 ahead, McManus responding with a point from one hundred metres!

Gareth O'Kane extended the Derry lead from a free but Seamus McDonnell and Shane McNaughton brought the sides level at 0-04 each after ten minutes.

Eddie McCloskey and Paddy Henry exchanged points, as did Collie McFall  and  Paddy Henry for 0-06 each after twenty minutes.
Five points came in a frenetic last five minutes of the half, Ben Dodds and Michael Kirkpatrick on target from frees either side of a McFall point to cut Antrim's half time lead to 0-09 to 0-08.

Twice Antrim stretched the lead to two points after half time with scores from Shane McNaughton and a Paul Shields free but Derry's resolve did not waver as Oisin McCloskey and Gareth O'Kane twice responded for 0-11 each, Michael Kirkpatrick then replying to Seamus McDonnell's point.

By the midpoint of the half Kevin O'Neill and Sean Leo McGoldrick had  edged Derry 0-14 to 0-12 in front but then came the critical period of the game after Paul Shiels had again narrowed the gap to the minimum.
In the 47th minute Ben Dodds won a puck out and the ball was transferred forward to Sean Leo McGoldrick and he bulged the net to put daylight between the teams at 1-14 to 0-13.

Shiels converted two frees, with substitute Cormac Donnelly then reducing the margin to a point ten minutes from time.
Two minutes later McGoldrick again broke the deadlock with a stunning strike for 2-14 to 0-16 but Antrim hit back immediately with a Paddy Doherty goal, the game set up for a dramatic finale.

Shiels narrowed the gap from a free but Paddy Henry hit back four minutes from time. In the last minute Doherty reduced the gap to a single point as Derry hung on desperately.

In the final seconds of added time Antrim forced a side line free but Collie McFall's effort dropped narrowly wide and the referee's final whistle was sweet music to the Derry ears!



After the game Ulster Council GAA President Tom Daly presented the cup to a delighted Derry captain Ruairi McCloskey from Banagher.

The Derry scorers were Sean Leo McGoldrick 2-01, Paddy Henry 0-04, Gareth O'Kane 0-04, 0-03 frees, Michael Kirkpatrick 0-03, 0-02 frees, 0-01 '65', Sam Dodds, Ben Dodds, Oisin McCloskey, Kevin O'Neill, 0-01 each.

The Antrim scorers were Paddy Doherty 1-02,  Paul Shiels 0-06, 0-04 frees, Collie McFall 0-03, 0-01 free,  Neil McManus 0-02, 0-01 free, Shane McNaughton 0-02, Seamus McDonnell, Eddie McCloskey, Cormac Donnelly 0-01 each

Derry Daryl McDermott Stephen Henry Ruairi McCloskey (Captain) Sean McNicholl Michael Kirkpatrick Mark Craig Cormac McKenna Ben Dodds Niall Holly Paddy Henry Oisin McCloskey Gareth O'Kane Sam Dodds Kevin O'Neill Sean Leo McGoldrick

Antrim Chris O'Connell Arron Graffin Conor McKinley Mark Devlin Neal McAuley Neil McManus Barry McFall (Captain) Simon McCrory Colin Duffin Shane McNaughton Collie McFall Eddie McCloskey Seamus McDonnell Paddy Doherty Paul Shiels
-Cormac Donnelly for Simon McCrory, -Kevin McKeegan for Colin Duffin

Referee Tiernan Mahon Fermanagh

3-31 in 2 games? Pretty high scoring in anyone's book I would reckon!

This cship season Dublin are leading 5-53 to 4-49 not exactly a massive difference.

Mika - Big Girls You Are Beautiful

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcRiXOONqf0

An absolutely shocking effort at a song! As was his first single. How this muppet can top the charts with 2 woeful songs is completely beyond my comprehension!

He says Freddie Mercury was his hero well NEWSFLASH QUeen already have a song about fat bottomed girls and it's in a different f**king league than this tripe!!!!!