Messages

interesting that sinn fein what the sdlp to stand down in Fermanagh/south Tyrone & North Belfast but offer no reciprocal arrangements elsewhere The logic is they want to send an anti-brexit message.
considering they don`t go to westminister I am struggling to understand this one, would it not be better for sinn fein to step down and let anti Brexit parties who take their seats to get MPs.

The logic would have been for agreed non-party candidates in some of these places. Someone from a business or farming background in Fermanagh would provide a very strong anti-Brexit voice. The reality is that SF would be happy with the border sealed off if they thought their party would benefit in some way.

definitely agree on this one,
sinn fein know that as sdlp take their seats any stepping aside actually destroys the sdlp`s credibility so the tactic is not so much about ant-brexit but about the eradication of the sdlp.

It demonstrates an arrogance by the SF leadership and  continuation of their policy to crush the SDLP by whatever means are available even where it is against the benefit of the nationalist population.  All SF moves are driven by party self interest.  As stated, by recruiting John Finucane as SF candidate rather than running him as a so called independent would have brought support from SDLP to remove Dodds.  By running him as a SF candidate the SF leadership is trying to breakdown the strong vote assembled by Nicola Mallon who has been eating into the SF vote by working hard for everyone in the North Belfast constituency.  An independent in FST would be guaranteed a seat.

Who really gives a toss if players wont drink with the other team?

Its all about winning - would rather have the medal tucked in the pocket than drink with lads I didnt know or even less care about.

So Joe is spot on.

[I genuinely believe that we will beat them easy enough]

I normally like Joe's articles but this is straight out of the Dubs pre match preparation by planting seeds in officials heads prior to us thumping them in c'ship.

No matter what you do Joe it wont change the outcome.

I genuinely believe that we will beat them easy enough even with a player or 2 lined

Youse are getting turned over at CP.

Brannigan and Fuzzy logic hear should be on the Brolly PR payroll. You keep us all well informed of all things Brollyesque

Course we are

The 1/4 is a very good price for us.
CP hasnt been a fortress in years. If it was in Omagh we would be 1/6 minimum

If the game was fixed for Omagh it likely wouldn't be played it's a shithole!!

Most likely a shower beforehand would have the game called off.

Yeah, just when I see all these tickets on DoneDeal etc - are you taking a bit of a chance handing over cash when someone else can print off the ticket and go in before you? Seems loose to me.

Correct.  The printout ticket is from a generated pdf file and so the first person with that barcode which is related to or same as the ticket barcode if you had an 'actual' ticket get in and the next one has to walk away. Hence, I have always resisted buying printout tickets and tend to buy 'actual' tickets in case I need to pass them on if I can't make it to the event.

Forest had some support today.  A full ground is a great sign for them given their position.

It looks like they have found the remains of Seamus Ruddy in France

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/seamus-ruddys-family-want-christian-burial-after-remains-find-in-france-35688231.html

"If the remains are those of Mr Ruddy, that will leave three of the 16 Disappeared victims still to be recovered.
The remains of Columba McVeigh, Joe Lynskey and Robert Nairac have yet to be found"

I remember hearing about the INLA in the 80s. They were always breaking down into feuds.

According to Indo, Ruddy was in the INLA and involved in get arms from eastern Europe, storing them before arranging to move them to Ireland.  In a feud among INLA, he was killed by comrades who wanted his operation.  They went to France and killed him, took the arms and buried him in place of the arms.

Regardless, no one deserves to be disappeared especially the devastating effect it has on the families.

The same old targets again this week........

http://www.independent.ie/sport/columnists/joe-brolly/joe-brolly-black-card-a-certificate-of-merit-for-good-teamwork-35688001.html

Just back to the main business of the thread for a minute, found out the other day that Stephen Beatty got a one match ban for his behaviour in the Antrim - Armagh league game. So to clarify:

Hitting the ref with the ball + punching two opposition players = one match ban
Saying something bold to a linesman = 12 week ban

This makes sense.

Well, it would appear that the referee did not include all of the actions by Beatty which included an assault on him which would be the same offence as McGeeney was charged with and should have earned Beatty a 12 week ban.  It's a pity that whoever helped the referee with his report ensuring that the incident with the linesman was included did not ensure that being assaulted himself with a football by a player who also assaulted two others was also included. 

Yes. The guy lost it.  The punishments from these various types of offences don't seem very proportionate.

[I have to say I genuinely be taken aback by the ire that is directed towards Geezer around the country. Dublin and many of the Ulster counties come to mind - Cavan and Donegal are two in particular I have remarked on Boards.ie but it is very prevalent in our own County, which I believe is nothing short of a disgrace.]

Not all Armagh fans are whingers. In fact most of us are not but there is a vocal minority that are obsessed with victimhood, a misguided belief that a siege mentality can outfox tactical nouse and a refusal to meaningfully assess the current team and management.

Anyone who is positive about the potential of the current team is shouted down and if you dare to think positively that things can be done better then you are being disloyal to the guru on the sideline and treated as a traitor. My worry is that minority are disproportionately present in and around the current management and county set up.

We are too willing to become embroiled in phoney wars

Indeed not all Cavan men are bitter towards Armagh and McGeeney - there are though a vocal few.

You make some good points in your post, and I was largely in agreement with a lot of it. Yes indeed there are those who will not countenance any negativity and there is of course those exercising a siege mentality. However in Armagh, we're lucky, as we have a nice balanced set of viewpoints. For every man, woman and child refusing to acknowledge the negative, there are many who will refuse whatever positives are out there and show only too readily a willingness to put the boot in. Geezer and the current management are normally the target of their ire and many of those will use disparaging and ironic references to Geezer along such lines as, 'the guru'. 

I have to say I genuinely be taken aback by the ire that is directed towards Geezer around the country. Dublin and many of the Ulster counties come to mind - Cavan and Donegal are two in particular I have remarked on Boards.ie but it is very prevalent in our own County, which I believe is nothing short of a disgrace.

And before someone rushes in with it, no, that doesn't mean he gets a free pass. He should be held accountable like any other manager. I myself would have concerns with what I've seen in the way of selections and gameplan.

However when being held to account in our own County, my hope would be that those weighing these things up, acknowledge the paucity of top class players in our County and the fact that an awful lot of the slings and arrows which have befallen the team have been self-inflicted wounds, or as Dan Maskell used to say, 'unforced errors'. And a bit of respect might be in order too - considering 1999 - 2008. I'd say the fella has earned that.

Would agree with that.  Always struck me that he seems to attract a fair amount of ire from outside the county. Not sure why.

Well you must have your head squarely between your arse cheeks if you don't know why there isn't much love for him in cavan.

Ah, now we get to the crux of your bitterness.  So, no matter what McGenney does in the rest of his life you will always resent the fact that Seany Johnson turned his back on Cavan and tried to become a Kildare man and blame the whole sorry mess on McGeeney.

Advice for Colm Cooper.........

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/stay-away-from-joe-brolly-henry-shefflin-gives-colm-cooper-some-advice-for-his-punditry-career-35688607.html

Anyone have any interest in this? Ulster is starting this weekend, not sure about the other provinces. One good thing is that it can be run off earlier as none of the players should be doing final year school exams.

What are you talking about!  In six of the counties the players will be beginning their AS and GCSE exams on 11th May and some AS units will have begun this week.

Yet again the future of young fellas will have been affected by overdone training schedules leaving them unable to put in the full effort needed in preparation for such a marathon of exams at GCSE and AS levels and then to bring in the games throughout the exam season running from the beginning of May through to the end of June.

Didn't know that. Down south u18s were always badly effected by leaving cert. Now most u17s will be one year out from the leaving.

In NI, we have public exams or their modular components every year for the last four years of secondary school.  So, moving to u17 is no help, it just makes it worse as it destroys GCSE prospects for all as GCSEs are taken by every student and training takes up vital revision time unlike A levels taken by fewer.

How many subject do ye sit up north? Down south it's 8 or 9. The way you portray the education system up north it doesn't sound like there is ever a good year to play matches. Maybe the gaa went with a system that suits the most people? What is your solution to the issue?

10 or 11 subjects at 16 and 4/5 I believe at 17/18. Perhaps some of the teachers can confirm?

Yep.  Across the ability range taking from 5 to 11 subjects in Year 11 and 12 for GCSE and then from 2 to 4 subjects at A level and BTEC level in Years 13 and 14.

In NI, the GCSE subjects are now fully modularised over 2 years, so young people at 15/16 are taking exams throughout the two year period, all count towards the GCSE results at the end of 2 years.  On top of these there is coursework which has been moved into the school and completed under exam conditions, so an expansion of the number of exams as it must be prepared prior to completion in school.  In Years 13 and 14, the modular assessments continue in all subjects and are regular during this time.  It is a much different system from RoI which seems still to be end of year exams for Inter and Leaving.

Is there an answer? No.  It is made worse by many of the same boys playing MacRory/MacLarnon Cup games from September to March and training for both school and county.

The one thing that a future Labour leader can take solace from is the demise of UKIP, their growth was a wildcard that Labour had (& continue to have) no idea how to deal with, a lot of Labour's core vote was gone. Yesterday and at the G.E those votes are likely to go to the Tories but they are definitely winnable again in the future. I look at the shadow cabinet and dont see a great future for Labour anyway. David Milliband could be their future down the line, the New Labour route is their only hope too, Corbynism is futile.

Macron is the Frnch version of D Miliband. I don't think that model has a future . Corbyn is ahead of his time.

Corbyn was never ahead of his time.  He lacks the charisma and leadership qualities required to be a figurehead for a party capable of being the government of England.  His default position has been to protest and to agitate against those in charge but never to have the characteristics of a strong leader in whom the English public could put their confidence in to lead their country.  Over the years he has simply taken the protest position and has no respect from his colleagues who he expects to follow him.  Without John McDonnell and his PR man Seumus Milne, Corbyn would already be gone, they are pulling his strings for their own benefit with the objective of changing the Labour party into their own image and miles away from the people they need to win over to ever become a government.  How could those who voted last Thursday and the many more who will be voting Conservative on June 8th ever be encouraged to change their minds and move to Corbyn and his Labour party because without changing them then no government?

The shifting voter had moved to UKIP giving them over 5 million votes in 2015 adjust like those SDLP voters who were persuaded to lend their vote to SF for a specific election and purpose, the Labour to UKIP voter has not returned to Labour but have now moved to the Conservatives where they will be hard to shift because the Tories have identified with delivering Brexit so that is the similar purpose as lending your vote to UKIP.

The Labour party is gone for the next ten years and until a new confident figurehead leader who can gain the confidence of the public emerges to build on the infrastructure of the Labour party when the current new activists have realised that they backed a failure in Corbyn and were fooled and manipulated by McDonnell and Milne and either walk away or join in with the new leader.

Anyone have any interest in this? Ulster is starting this weekend, not sure about the other provinces. One good thing is that it can be run off earlier as none of the players should be doing final year school exams.

What are you talking about!  In six of the counties the players will be beginning their AS and GCSE exams on 11th May and some AS units will have begun this week.

Yet again the future of young fellas will have been affected by overdone training schedules leaving them unable to put in the full effort needed in preparation for such a marathon of exams at GCSE and AS levels and then to bring in the games throughout the exam season running from the beginning of May through to the end of June.

Didn't know that. Down south u18s were always badly effected by leaving cert. Now most u17s will be one year out from the leaving.

In NI, we have public exams or their modular components every year for the last four years of secondary school.  So, moving to u17 is no help, it just makes it worse as it destroys GCSE prospects for all as GCSEs are taken by every student and training takes up vital revision time unlike A levels taken by fewer.

[2016/17 GUINNESS PRO12 DREAM TEAM:]

2016/17 GUINNESS PRO12 DREAM TEAM:

15 Tiernan O'Halloran (Connacht Rugby)
14 Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors)
13 Jaco Taute (Munster Rugby)
12 Rory Scannell (Munster Rugby)
11 Charles Piutau (Ulster Rugby)
10 Tyler Bleyendaal (Munster Rugby)
9 Ruan Pienaar (Ulster Rugby)
8 Jack Conan (Leinster Rugby)
7 James Davies (Scarlets)
6 Dan Leavy (Leinster Rugby)
5 Billy Holland (Munster Rugby)
4 Ben Toolis (Edinburgh Rugby)
3 John Ryan (Munster Rugby)
2 Ken Owens (Scarlets)
1 Dave Kilcoyne (Munster Rugby)

Dream Team Eligibility:
- At least 10 appearances in this season's Guinness PRO12 Championship

I could go on.  Thank God for the UK government's willingness to continue to pump billions into a small rural region which will never provide a return on its investment.

This bit in particular pisses me off. Such shite. I'm sure before independence there were many in the south who had a similar attitude (there certainly wasn't much affection for the rebels in 1916) - no confidence in themselves or their fellow countrymen that they could make a success of governing themselves, rather stand cap in hand for the 'benevolent invaders' who were doing them a favour by governing them. Thank god that changed. You should be embarrassed.

Not embarrassed in the slightest.  I live in the real world.  There is nothing in the RoI that can compare with the government provided services in NI that we now find to be not at the levels we would want.  All healthcare is free, you can pay if you want but no one pays €40 each time to visit their GP or for hospital care provided for all illness.  Social care is available to all who need it, yes it could be better but it is miles ahead of RoI provision.  The NHS owns and runs all of our hospitals for the people regardless of ability to pay and religious orders are not able to dictate the services that are provided. Nursery, primary and secondary education in NI is free to all, fee paying schools are virtually negligible and deal with mostly foreign children being boarded by their parent. Class sizes are smaller than in RoI and schools are better resourced with a much better schools' estate.  The wealthy have to send their children to the same schools as the less well off unlike the RoI where segregation by ability to pay school fees separates society.  No child is turned away from a primary school because his/her parents didn't bring the child for baptism in the Catholic Church.  The elderly are looked after with a good state pension, social care available regardless of ability to pay but with those with assets being asked to pay towards their care and the health care provided to them is free and readily available.  While housing could be improved, we have sufficient stock for the people and the HE and housing associations continue to build housing for rent which is both of a high standard and affordable. For those unable to afford the rents the social care system will provide assistance, not always enough but it is there. In the public sector, our workers have been forced to take pay freezes and lower than inflation pay increases but none of them have been forced into taking significant pay cuts to pay for the billions of euros that were taken from the banks by fellow citizens and now have to be paid back by ordinary citizens as enforced by the Euro bankers who effectively run the RoI economy as it pays back its debts for the bailout.

None of this level of provision in NI could be afforded by the RoI as it cannot be provided to people living within its jurisdiction.  Yes we live in the soft North but you have to recognise it is provided by the UK government on the basis that much more is paid into NI than can be harvested in terms of tax income.  Does this make me feel less Irish than any other person on the island? No.  As I said at the outset, I live in the real world, I didn't nor did anyone of my generation or those ahead of me create this situation of dependence on the UK government and until there is a better offer from the RoI, I do not see any need to move to a UI.  Will Brexit change this?  Who knows at this stage.  Do the people in the RoI jurisdiction want to take on the full cost of running NI?  I would believe they won't when they realise the true cost.  Is it worth generations living in austerity in a UI so that you believe that you are governing yourself?  The reality is that we in the six counties will not be governing ourselves in a UI, we have a small proportion of the population and around half of them will have no allegiance to any of the governing parties.  It is so easy to have views that an UI will answer all our problems when it is not on the horizon within the lifetime of people of voting age in NI.