Messages

Put a keeper off in sin bin lately. The opposition where giving off that the player who went into nets had to be wearing a keepers top!! This based on Tyrone game on TV the week before..

I explained that they didn't have to wear a keepers top, wearing the keepers top only gives the 'keeper' the rights of a keeper, nothing else. these people giving off are senior div 1 managers

Our seniors were playing 2 different lads in nets at different stages, neither were keepers. One made a run out and the other hung back in one game, possession lost and the one with the outfield jersey on that day tried to take the kick out but the ref didn't allow him to kick it because the other man had the keepers jersey on at half forward. Do you agree with that one?
I can see the keeper jersey going soon if the game keeps going like it is now, no advantage in it. If you like saving shots you may go to the soccer.

I'll go with Dublin & Kerry last year. First time I took my sons down for a match, Down haven't gave us many reasons for a day out lately.  They were loving Clifford running riot in the 1st half, the Dub come back made the atmosphere and then Seanie's free to win it.

On the TV, Cork doing the double in 90 was the first one I remember watching fully, that stands out. Armagh's win stands out too, I was all for them to win and as soon as the whistle went it was 'we're going to have to listen to some shite now' - a year later I was fully behind them again against Tyrone. Was cheering Tyrone on against Kerry in 05, Down minors were on before - good atmosphere that day too.

Worst one I was at was Kerry v Cork 2009 - absolutely dead

[I'm not talking about their reported spend, I'm referring to their net spend on transfers which is what it is]

For all this talk of City and financial doping which may be right, their net spend is less than the likes of Chelsea and United and a couple of others too. They have bought smartly and Guardiola is up there with the best managers the game has seen.

Their reported spend is complete crap though, that's part of the charges that were placed against them. Undeclared fees, wages paid through other streams - what you see on paper means nothing. Great team no doubt but we have no idea if they spent well or not.

One journalist noted they haven't lost a game since the 115 charges were made against them.

I'm not talking about their reported spend, I'm referring to their net spend on transfers which is what it is. How they pay for the transfers, wages and getting money into the club via sponsorships and other means is another matter.

As the poster above noted they are well managed on the pitch and in terms of their transfer strategy in buying the right players more often than not unlike United and Chelsea.

The point is the reported spend is under investigation as well as where the revenue stream is coming from.

They have been really well run no doubt, and Chelsea and United are examples of how it doesn't matter how much money is spent if you don't have a plan in place. City built a club to be successful and it was only a matter of time before they won the Champions League. I can't see anything but a treble for them now.

For all this talk of City and financial doping which may be right, their net spend is less than the likes of Chelsea and United and a couple of others too. They have bought smartly and Guardiola is up there with the best managers the game has seen.

Their reported spend is complete crap though, that's part of the charges that were placed against them. Undeclared fees, wages paid through other streams - what you see on paper means nothing. Great team no doubt but we have no idea if they spent well or not.

One journalist noted they haven't lost a game since the 115 charges were made against them.

[including the DUP and TUV]

Mid Ulster could be interesting.
Real squeeze on SF by Independent Republicans
In Dungannon Barry Monteith (current councillor) and Marian Vincent are up against Dominc Molloy, (current councillor & Francie's son ) and Deirdre Varsani. Interesting to see how that goes. Molloy has a good profile and is liked.
In Clogher Gael Gildernew is trying to defend her father Phelim's seat who retired (She is also Michelle's (MP) Sister and Colm's (MLA) Brother) her along with Eugene McConnell and Sean McGuigan (current coucillor) are up against Kevin McElvogue Ind Rep. SF have 2 elected and running 3. I think they might lose a seat here.
In Torrent Michelle O'Neill's home turf, Dan Kerr Ind Rep (current councillor) has Teresa Quinn as his running mate. SF are running 4.

Some SF voters are a bit pissed with the lack of selection process and the coronation of certain candidates from certain families. While SF will probably have a very good day across the north, Mid Ulster will be interesting. Ind Republicans are running 5 cands and calling it the drive for 5. I think they will add 1 for sure with McElvogue.

One to watch.

Isee a lot of older candidates are not running again.  Across all the political parties.  The new generation and all that.

Turnout will be interesting. Will it get above 60% overall.  Weather to be decent, which might help.

Be interesting to see if Alliance make any more impact west of the Bann.  They're trying to build their base in different areas. They'll finish as the 3 rd party.

Big day for the SDLP and UUP.  They'll lose seats but will it keep Eastwood and Beattie in their jobs? 

As per usual, the final seat in a lot of areas will be interesting.  If certain parties are ahead before the final transfers, then that could see them over the line.  Alliance will be transfer friendly.

Vote as far down the ballot paper as you can, including the DUP and TUV.

A bridge too far old chap!

I understand and I knew someone would raise this:

By doing this, you are pushing them further doing the list than by not doing it.

A tricky concept but it's true.

I always to my 1-2-3 and then start with the TUV and DUP from the bottom up.

You wouldn't want to be in an emergency to get to the Royal Hospital on a match day with 34k ppl trying to get there. But as someone has said, plenty of places in England manage to do it on a weekly basis. GAA people are too used to taking the car to places and 'thrownin her' up on the curb and dandering 5 mins to the game. Getting on the train to Casement, parking in City Centre and getting a bus, parking at the playing fields in Boucher etc. I am sure once Casement is built and after a few years of teething problems it'll all be straight forward. Not having a first class stadium in the 2nd biggest city in Ireland is embarrassing.

They need a plan before it opens, not several instances of chaos before they act.

Anyone who commutes into and out of Belfast  knows that even the most minor of collisions or even just a breakdown in the wrong place at the wrong time in the wrong conditions can cause the the most drastic tailbacks right across the city. So unless the Westlink is overhauled and York St interchange is built, nothing will change, Casement or no Casement.

You do know there are worse with regards to traffic/road/rail networks in the UK hosting games of a bigger volume than Casement on a weekly bases?

We could spend a 1000 pages on looking at why it shouldnt be there and we could spend a 1000 pages on why it shouldnt be somewhere else.

It's not a big issue in the long run. Set it up with trains and park & rides - buses and get the black taxis involved too. I think match goers will change attitudes pretty quickly if it gets you in and out in decent time.

[park and ride buses]

On the way home and only for 2 good souls (and man and a women) directing traffic both on the road and for vehicles trying to leave one of the fields we'd still be there!

I was in the same field as you. Those pair that were directing traffic were a godsend! The lads that were supposed to be stewarding just upped and left. It wasn't too bad after the Lacky Road started moving (we headed back over in the direction of the Roslea Road), but that was an hour and 20 minutes after we arrived back at the car

Looking forward to Casement being built.

Casement is not the nirvana people think, you cannot park 10,000+ cars near there either.

Agree!

Parking in and around Casement was never easy!

You have two supermarkets nearby with plenty parking on Sundays, you have train station and regular bus services, the motorway is on the door step of the pitch. Yes there are no fields to park on wet days, or no major roads leading into it,  pathetic toilet facilities or covered stands, I get that

I'm sure Casement like any city based stadium will have problems but it seems to work in hundreds of football grounds in the UK strangely enough

The supermarkets will block entry to their carparks on match days. There is one train per hour carrying perhaps 400 people on Sunday. The motorway is OK once you get on to it, but you could be going to Newcastle some cúnt in Lisburn might just leave a package on a flyover and close the whole thing. 

There is no doubt that covered stands are definitely an improvement and the jacks will be better, there might even be wi-fi.  But if Casement were not built these would be in Clones too.

There are stadia in other places, but Casement is relatively far from Belfast city centre. The city centre commercial car parks are over an hour away on foot, in contrast in Croke Park there are 3 or 4 big car parks within 20 minutes and a shed load of car parks within 30 minutes walk.

There'll be trains and park and ride buses. It will be better served by public transport. Clones has none of this.
There will be a match day plan in place as well involving the PSNI and others.
Other Stadia in Belfast manage, Kingspan and Windsor.

I think that's something that the GAA match aren't used to. I've took the lads to the Kingspan a few times and the park and rides are so handy.

On the way home and only for 2 good souls (and man and a women) directing traffic both on the road and for vehicles trying to leave one of the fields we'd still be there!

I was in the same field as you. Those pair that were directing traffic were a godsend! The lads that were supposed to be stewarding just upped and left. It wasn't too bad after the Lacky Road started moving (we headed back over in the direction of the Roslea Road), but that was an hour and 20 minutes after we arrived back at the car

Looking forward to Casement being built.

Casement is not the nirvana people think, you cannot park 10,000+ cars near there either.

Agree!

Parking in and around Casement was never easy!

You have two supermarkets nearby with plenty parking on Sundays, you have train station and regular bus services, the motorway is on the door step of the pitch. Yes there are no fields to park on wet days, or no major roads leading into it,  pathetic toilet facilities or covered stands, I get that

I'm sure Casement like any city based stadium will have problems but it seems to work in hundreds of football grounds in the UK strangely enough

You'd hope there's a bit of planning ahead on the parking - it was never the easiest to get parked at but never that bad either. Traffic wise it wasn't much different than any morning heading into Belfast so it should be ok.

The semi final was the first time I was in Clones for a big game since having kids and it's a kip. The weather on the day didn't help granted but it's so dated. If you're between 16 and 30 it's a good session but the GAA needs more than that. Has all the GAA development money went elsewhere since the 90s? Heading out the back of the east terrace and it was in gutters. A few load of bitmac doesn't cost that much.

You have to assume that Armaghs game plan is to kick the ball in. Its no secret that Derry has struggled with that all year, most obviously against dublin in the league final.
Reckon Armagh try a few of these early to feel out the Derry defence.

Armagh keeping a man or 2 in and that treat of the long pass keeps the Derry keeper out of the play too or at least limits it

just wondering what type/brand of football do your clubs us for the U6s ?

Our club use O'Neills but I don't think there's much difference in the quality for the first touch balls.

In our club when I helped out at U6s we set up a big circuit of stations (usually 6) and had them at each station for 6 minutes with a minute or so to change over. One man ran the whole operation and the other 2 or 3 helpers stayed at stations and always got another few parents on the day to help at the other stations. At that age they're usually eager enough to help.
Keep it simple and mix it up, we would of had a basketball hoop in one station, hurdling over tackle bags in others, cross the river etc. We would of moved towards small sided games with the 6 yr olds as the season went on but would of kept the younger ones doing bib tag or something like that until they were ready for 4  a side or something like that.

All be sorted if RG shows some thought to Derry GAA and removes himself from the circus. It won't go away as a result. But defuses the atmosphere for Sunday to a degree. I think that's the fairest way from all parties. From speaking to a few Derry wans, they aren't keen to have him on the line. And some of the posters on here seem to be the same. There's enough doubt now and imo he shouldn't be there. Think it's time for him to read the room a bit better and put Derry first.

Derry should be thinking about their reputation if something goes off on Sunday. He's been known to give players and opposition managers shit before all this comes out, a reaction could on Sunday could cause all sorts. I noticed him roaring something at Conor McManus against Monaghan, I think Conor Laverty and him were at it in the McKenna Cup if I remember correctly.
You can bury your head in the sand all you want but if you think some (not all) Armagh players are not already thinking of something to say to him or the Derry players you're mad. As for the shit he'll get from behind the wire...
And I don't mean that as a dig at Armagh, every county/club would be at it ffs

I've electric, love it. The big initial concern is the range, but having had it for over a year now inclined to think thats somewhat of a red herring. As Seafoid says, charging is done at home; the public network is generally for getting you home, if you look at it that way then 15 min on public charger is often enough when required. Obv won't suit some people; most of my driving is within 20 miles of home tbf, but there are regular enough longer trips and also have had it in Kerry for a week.

Did you get the proper charger at home or just the 3 pin plug?

Proper charger,  would say that's a must. The 3 pin did rightly for the week in Kerry though

I'm leasing johnnycool - I think it makes sense even if not most financially efficient; the tech is changing rapidly so risky to rely on good second hand value imo

I've got a few months to sort out a charger, 6 month waiting list, so I'll get some prices. The 3 pin charger is handy to have if you're stuck though.

Malachy Clerkin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pK4DkCcAWA

That's the first I heard Donal Og's rant. The 'nephew knowing all the Liverpool team' is a complete nonsense argument. He more than likely knows the Liverpool team through FIFA and stuff like that. My lad is 12 and can't sit and watch games but he knows players from everywhere through the playstation or else through youtube shorts/tiktok. The days of everyone round the TV on a Sunday afternoon are gone. Kids are bombarded with small snippets of information at all times and if the GAA can't break into that area somehow it's not going to get noticed.

I've electric, love it. The big initial concern is the range, but having had it for over a year now inclined to think thats somewhat of a red herring. As Seafoid says, charging is done at home; the public network is generally for getting you home, if you look at it that way then 15 min on public charger is often enough when required. Obv won't suit some people; most of my driving is within 20 miles of home tbf, but there are regular enough longer trips and also have had it in Kerry for a week.

Did you get the proper charger at home or just the 3 pin plug?

Extension lead out the window will do the trick. 

I'm looking at a Kia all electric one, the Niro, but not sure I want to buy it outright... A three year deal and then hand it back is something I'd normally not entertain, but with the battery car I'm in two minds.

I went with the lease - first time I've done it. I looked at the Niro but went with the Volvo XC40. The Audi Q4 was nearly an option but the new model came in and pushed it out of my price range.

I've electric, love it. The big initial concern is the range, but having had it for over a year now inclined to think thats somewhat of a red herring. As Seafoid says, charging is done at home; the public network is generally for getting you home, if you look at it that way then 15 min on public charger is often enough when required. Obv won't suit some people; most of my driving is within 20 miles of home tbf, but there are regular enough longer trips and also have had it in Kerry for a week.

Did you get the proper charger at home or just the 3 pin plug?