Messages

[Lavey keeper would be an interesting one to call up,]

With only the final to go who would you say has impressed in this years championship and would be deserving of a county call up?

Holly, Colm McGoldrick, Ciaran Mullan, Eamonn McGill, Niall Toner, Ryan Bell, Benny Herron & the Lavey keeper have been the stand outs for me. I was also impressed with Jack Doherty from Glen yesterday. I wonder how many of them will be on the panel this year.

McGill, Toner and Bell definitely impressed me. The Lavey keeper would be an interesting one to call up, I think he's about 30 years old and never played County but he's a good keeper, has been for a while, and his kicking is maybe the best of any keeper I've seen all year. 

Any number of the Coleraine boys would be worth a go in the first Derry squad of 2019 to be honest.  Colm McGoldrick in particular though.

What was the Lavey keeper's short kick-outs like ?

I think he got a county trial about 7/8 yrs ago

With the wind, both long and short kick-outs were excellent, pinged directly were they were to go.  Free kicks were excellent too, knocking one over from about 55m.

Against the wind they were pretty good as well, with one or two bobblers causing a bit of a panic.

Overall he was very good, sound handling and great distribution.  Definitely worth a look at.

What's the consensus on the proposed rule changes that could be used as experimental rules next year in the Allianz National League, before being formally introduced in 2020 for the grassroots?

1- A restriction to 3 consecutive hand passes
2- Side-line kicks to be played forward (unless inside the attacking 13m line)
3- A 'mark' if the ball is caught on or inside the 20m line if played from on or beyond the 45m line
4- A black card, or two yellow cards results in 10 minutes in the 'sin-bin'.  A second black or yellow card results in a red.  No replacements and back to five subs.
5- From a kick-out only two players from each team between the 45's, until the ball is kicked.  The ball to travel beyond the 45.

All I'd say is who'd want to be a referee after the recent scenes?  Not because they'll have to apply the new rules but because of the knuckle-draggers who won't have a clue what's happening!

Great gesture by JP McManus giving each county in Ireland 100,000 euros for the development of Gaelic games.  Money which is to be divided equally amongst the clubs within that county. 

Who was the ref SE?

Damien Harkin was the ref.

Referees, by my reckoning, are the most ardent of GAA supporters.  Why else would they put themselves up for public ridicule week in and week out by so-called 'supporters', some of whom can't watch a game without wearing their club blinkers?

Sure, referees make mistakes, they're only human after all. Players make mistakes too, far more often than the referees do, yet when things go wrong it's invariably the referees fault.  Who in their right mind goes out to have a bad game?  Not even a bad game, who in their right mind goes out to make one or two mistakes? 

To treat a fellow Gael, one we rely upon to play our games, like what happened tonight to Damien Harkin, is nothing short of disgusting and scandalous.

I for one stand up and applaud the referees we have.  Sure, they might not get everything right, they see things from different angles than most of us on the other side of the wire, they make the calls on what they see, and they may make mistakes.  But let's not kid ourselves - they are honest mistakes, made by men who make it possible for our games to be played.

To treat anyone to the vitriol spewed towards our referees is an easy way out, when that descends into a physical assault it is SHAMEFUL.

Let's hope the idiot involved tonight can put himself up for the GAA world to judge, like our referees do every week.  Let's hope he doesn't hide behind his club blinkers, or worse his club hide him.  That idiot tonight was an embarrassment to himself, his club, OUR county and the GAA in general.

The shameful thing is, is that it seems to becoming all to prevalent in our football.  One idiot hits a referee, a whole team chastise him for his performance and he's generally out there on his own taking this abuse.  Why would anyone in their right mind do it? 

I said it before and I'll say it again: referees are the most ardent of GAA supporters.  They deserve our respect and thanks for doing the job.

So to Damien Harkin and the rest of the Derry referees, I say thank you for enabling our games to be played.

League fixtures out, provisional ones anyway. London Leitrim Wexford Wicklow at home. Antrim Waterford and limerick away. Hopefully the games will be at owenbeg and we can get out of div 4 and build some momentum.

So there's going to be London in Derry then?  Gregory will be happy.

[Slaughtneil (20 pts) v]

What way does the play off work?  Is it the 5th from bottom plays the winner of Div2?  If thats the case what 4 teams to you feel you will finish above?

The remaining fixtures are:
Slaughtneil (20 pts) v   Lavey (h)   Dungiven (a)   Ballinascreen (h)   Swatragh (a)
Glen (18 pts) v   Glenullin (h)   Coleraine (h)   Dungiven (a)   Magherafelt (h)
Magherafelt (17 pts) v   Bellaghy (a)   Claudy (h)   Lavey (h)   Glen (a)
Coleraine (16 pts) v   Ballinascreen (h)   Glen (a)   Newbridge (a)   Glenullin (h)
Dungiven (15 pts) v   Swatragh (a)   Slaughtneil (h)   Glen (h)   The Loup (a)
Ballinderry (13 pts) v   Newbridge (a)   Kilrea (h)   Glenullin (a)   Bellaghy (h)
Lavey (12 pts) v   Slaughtneil (a)   Ballinascreen (a)   Magherafelt (a)   Newbridge (h)
The Loup (12 pts) v   Kilrea (h)   - - -   Claudy (a)   Dungiven (h)
Bellaghy (12 pts) v   Magherafelt (h)   Swatragh (a)   Greenlough (h)   Ballinderry (a)
Swatragh (9 pts) v   Dungiven (h)   Bellaghy (h)   Kilrea (a)   Slaughtneil (h)
Ballinascreen (8 pts) v   Coleraine (a)   Lavey (a)   Slaughtneil (a)   Greenlough (h)
Newbridge (8 pts) v   Ballinderry (h)   Glenullin (a)   Coleraine (h)   Lavey (a)
Kilrea (7 pts) v   The Loup (a)   Ballinderry (a)   Swatragh (h)   Claudy (h)
Greenlough (4 pts) v   Claudy (h)   - - -   Bellaghy (a)   Ballinascreen (a)
Glenullin (4 pts) v   Glen (a)   Newbridge (h)   Ballinderry (h)   Coleraine (a)
Claudy (3 pts) v   Greenlough (a)   Magherafelt (a)   The Loup (h)   Kilrea (a)

For what it's worth I reckon it's Claudy and Glenullin to go down without another win, Greenlough and Kilrea going down picking up just the two points (both against Claudy) with Newbridge into the playoff courtesy of Paddy Bradley's men beating Glenullin.   Ballinascreen to only beat Greenlough in their final league game to have the same number of points as Newbridge but to stay up in 11th spot as a result of their early season victory over the 'Bridge.  Slaughtneil and Magherafelt to pick up maximum points to finish first and second.

But hey-ho, anything is possible don't ye know?

[meaningful/meaningless]

As a result of county football the county board have been forced to reduce the senior league and introduce subsidiary compos to give players games in the 8/9 week period of no league football. I am interested to hear what posters thoughts onare Lavey pulling out on block of the competitions that have been put in place for teams over the next 8/9 weeks.  I would like to know why they have done this, as without knowing their rationale its looks so disrespectful to clubs and the competitions the county board have provided.

Good question.  It does not fit with the "players want more games" theory.

I think you missed out one of two words there 'meaningful/meaningless'.  The former reduced by 4 from next season.  Barker can try to fool people all he likes, lets call it what it is, a 9 week break to suit the county team and to cram half a season into 4 weeks prior.

Sure were we not reared on the view that championship fixtures were the only meaningful games? And for half the league teams, that's 1 match per year! Stephen Barker is trying to work around the constraints of the club / county overlap. I wouldn't envy his job.
On paper, clubs have their county men when needed, and they'll also have matches arranged during the break. I've said before, the reserves mid-season cup should be scrapped for next year and run with 1 team / club.
What we've had this year (won't happen every year) is meaningful league matches in April / May, the leagues of Kilrea and 'Screen playing for their div 1 survival, indeed there's been management changes in Div 1 and Div 2 already due to the heat of relegation.   
The sooner there's shortened defined county season , finishing end of July, then club fixtures from then on 'til the October championship final the better.

What would your solution be Josey?

Fair play to Stephen Barker, what he is doing is looking after the non-county players.  Across the leagues, senior and reserve, County Derry has 68 teams, that equates to 1,020 players (more if you count subs).  Say 30 are in the county set-up, then there are roughly 1,000 players looking to play football when just 30 are unavailable due to county commitments.

At the end of the day I'm sure that players want to play, they're busting a gut training since January/February, especially the reserve player who is playing for the love of the game, the camaraderie and the pride in the parish, knowing he's not likely to get near the senior team (or maybe doesn't want to be on it). 

The competitions provided to the teams should be respected and I can't understand the decision Lavey made.  Granted seven games might be excessive during a nine week mid-league break, so I'd suggest in the 12 team leagues next year there are:
- a week break after the last league game
- four groups of three playing a round-robin, with the winners playing in the semis before a final.
- second placed teams play in their semis and final, as would the third placed teams
- have a play off for the losing semi-finalists
- a total of four games played over nine weeks
- a free weekend every other week (i.e. one game per fortnight)
- make the competitions 13-a-side to allow both seniors and reserves a better chance of fielding.

Just a thought.

On a side note the intensity of the seven early league games was great viewing and should be continued.

[O'Neill SFC ( 7-9 September)]

Banagher v forglen in intermediate and Slaughtneil v Magheragelt in senior probably the pick of the first round championship ties

O'Neill SFC ( 7-9 September)
Magherafelt v Slaughtneil
Coleraine v Glenullin
Greenlough v Newbridge
Ballinascreen v Bellaghy
Lavey v Dungiven
Swatragh v Glen
Loup v Claudy
Kilrea v Ballinderry

The McFeely Group IFC (24-26 August)
Drum Bye
Drumsurn Bye
Faughanvale v Ballerin
Craigbane v Ballymaguigan
Castledawson v Slaughtmanus
Steelstown v Lissan
Desertmartin v Doire Trasna
Banagher v Foreglen

Premier Electrics JFC (10-12 August)
Magilligan v Ogra Colmcille
Glack v Moneymore
Ardmore v Limvady
Doire Colmcille v Sean Dolan's

Aye, let's bring it on!

Only the Ulster Semi-Final and Final being broadcast live this year. What a farce!

Is this RTE and Sky? What about BBC?

The BBC are showing Fermanagh v Armagh on Saturday, 19 May and the Down v Antrim on Sunday, 26 May live on the iPlayer.

The first semi-final on 3 June and the Ulster final will be live on BBC Two.

Top 11 stay Division 1 for 2019
12th play winners of Division 2 for the 12th team to be in Division 1 in 2019.

13-16 in Division 1B next year, joined by the losers of above play off, plus 2nd to 7th in Division 2 this year.

The team who finish 8th in Division 2 will likely play Limavady in a play off for the 12th team in division 1B in 2019.

Team who finish 16th in Division 1 this year are in Intermediate Championship in 2019. Winner of Division 2 this year regardless if they win playoff or not are in senior championship in 2019.

For 2020 championship, 12 teams in division 1A plus the top 4 in division 1B make up the senior championship.

Does that leave just eight teams in the Intermediate Championship, straight into four quarter finals, or does the same principal apply, e.g. top eight in Division 3 into the Intermediate for a straight knockout competition?  The bottom eight in Division 3 to contest the Junior championship?

A third of the way through the leagues and I'm already relishing the prospect of a very competitive division 2 next season.   

Banagher and Foreglen have no real competition this season and will stroll through the league, with the winners of that game likely being champions, but will they want to go up or stay in Division 2?   The gap between the top two or three in Division 2 and the bottom half dozen teams in Division 1 is minimal, with each capable of beating each other.  The gap then to the top eight or nine teams in the county is huge.

So would the teams in the bottom half of Division 1 be glad to be playing in tight competitive games next season with the chance of winning more than the odd game, i.e. Division 2 , or do they prefer the prestige of playing in the top division but struggle through a league campaign knowing they are a weak link in that league?

Would playing in Division 1 against the best in the county inspire the 'weaker' teams to improve, or would getting beat most weeks dishearten the players and discourage their supporters?

Would a very competitive season or two in Division 2 better prepare teams for the rigours of Division 1 and give them a better chance to consolidate their style of play and help them stay up long-term?