Messages

Ryan O'Donoghue very talented footballer but hard to warm to.

Donegal's shooting been very impressive albeit wind assissted.

6 point lead might just be enough. Goal Keeping Cork in the game. Despite playing some good running football but making the wrong decision at times.

Is it just me or have Galway been absolutely abysmal in this game.

Couple of great long range scores the only positive.

Cassidy a good addition to Derry. Paul Cassidy very quiet.

McQuillan not a great ref tbh.

O'Shea is a awful dick.

Quietest I've seen Cassidy in a long time - early days, but I didn't think we were as dynamic going forward as we were last year - also can't recall a single goal chance, goals were a big feature of Derry the last couple of years - hopefully this isn't a sign of harte's conservatism.
Good win, but can we now give the Glen lads a few weeks off, for the look of it, if nothing else!

Exactly what I was thinking. When Derry first burst on the scene in 2022 the critics and pundits were saying they don't score enough points.

Tonight they won that game without looking like scoring a goal.

Which I'm not sure is a positive or not. Derry under Gallagher made it their prerogative to go for goal whenever the opportunity arose and created several chances per game with dynamic running off the shoulder at pace and numerous bodies inside the 13.

Now they weren't always the most clinical goal scoring side but they created so many chances that they likely scored a goal in every game they played and sometimes two or three or more.

The Clare and Monaghan games spring to mind in 2022 and the Meath and Kildare games in last years league.

Credit where its due. Glen were persecuted for years as a townie club that would never deliver. You only have to go back to start of Derry thread here to see that. In fact all towns were written off, as the rural clubs were the predominant forces.

Then Coleraine won it and in time Magherafelt crossed the coveted line...before Glen kicked the doors down altogether  not just winning Derry, but Ulster and now AI.

People talk about tradition, I say go ahead and make your own history. Glen proved that.

Imagine if Derry could get the city producing more quality teams how much of a force they could become in football. North Derry wouldn't be a hotbed for footballe either would it?

Coleraine bucking that trend of course.

If formerly garrison towns that are now soccer towns could be converted to Gaelic fortresses

1, Sligo and Longford would not be on the no Sams list
2. Louth would be ahead of Meath on the Sam roll of honour

For football counties, having a soccer town is like having a strong hurling area in your county. It means not leveraging your population in full. Derry is the 6th most populous county but Kildare, Meath, Tipp, Wexford and Kerry have lower population and more Sams.

Derry City is the 4th/5th biggest city in the country.

Only Belfast Dublin and Cork are bigger with Limerick in around the same size depending on the source.

Despite being a soccer town on the law of averages there should still be one or two strong GAA teams in the city.

I know Steelstown could be argued as a strong club but the other 3 or 4 clubs in the city are languishing in junior.

Credit where its due. Glen were persecuted for years as a townie club that would never deliver. You only have to go back to start of Derry thread here to see that. In fact all towns were written off, as the rural clubs were the predominant forces.

Then Coleraine won it and in time Magherafelt crossed the coveted line...before Glen kicked the doors down altogether  not just winning Derry, but Ulster and now AI.

People talk about tradition, I say go ahead and make your own history. Glen proved that.

Imagine if Derry could get the city producing more quality teams how much of a force they could become in football. North Derry wouldn't be a hotbed for footballe either would it?

Coleraine bucking that trend of course.

[avoids any ambiguity]

I'm not a Cavan man but I actually think the way they organise their championship and don't link it to another competition is the best way to do it. To progress from junior to intermediate championship you should have to win the junior championship. The leagues should be a totally separate competition, especially now with the split season. I'm from Armagh and don't like our current system at all, but I accept I'm in the minority. We should also accept every county organises their competitions differently and leave them to it.

That's the way Armagh was for years, we left it behind. The current format is what, maybe 8-10 years on the go? (I'm really not sure)

Think our system works really well- 8 team league divisions with the a/b split leaves teams at a similar level and less hammerings and still having 2 up and 2 down means theres less chance of dead rubbers towards end of the league.

Would prefer a straight knock out championship to the group stages though but don't mind teams getting those extra few games so see the reason for it.

I don't agree with this A/B crap. Your either division 1 or 2 or 3. Hurling leagues are split this way and no one gives a toss about them.

Best thing Inter County Gaelic football did was go to the 4 divisions, 10 or 15 years ago.

Like most other counties, there are three grades in Armagh: senior, intermediate and junior. The stars aligned at some point in 2011 or 2012 (48 senior teams able to field) and it was decided to do away with the old 4 divisions and merge them into 3 divisions; consolidating them with the three respective championship grades. A fairly straight forward concept and it avoids any ambiguity in that there is zero confusion as to what level a club was. No more Division 1 clubs loitering in intermediate and no more Division 2 clubs loitering in Junior.

16 teams in each league soon lead to a few mismatches so the leagues were condensed into A&B, giving a more level playing field, increased competitiveness and less dead rubbers.

Clubs that probably could only dream of senior football got a chance to mix it with the big boys as there was an extra avenue for promotion through the leagues rather than waiting on that elusive championship. Some of the smallest clubs in Armagh have got a taste of senior football (by merit) which was probably unthinkable under the old 4 division set up.

Is the current system in Armagh perfect? No, but it is fair - Cullyhanna's AI win probably the only example that even comes close to an anomaly. Past results on the provincial stage by Armagh clubs would suggest as much.

I understand the reason it was brought in, as much as I'm not a fan of it. Teams were loitering in Div 2 and playing junior and still were unable to win it. Tullysaran in 2011 were knocked out in the first round by Eire Og who were in Div 4. The year before they also lost to a Div 4 team in the final. I don't see that as an unfair system personally. They weren't good enough to win junior so remained at the correct level.
 
I'd also like to see them do away with seeding the championship groups based on the final league positions. At least let there be some sort of jeopardy involved and some interesting groups might pop up, rather than the boring group stages, with no atmosphere whatsoever, that we endured last year. It's clear that the linked championships and leagues are here to stay but there are still plenty of ways to improve what we have at present.

The thing about seeding the championship groups is that it helps prevent dead rubbers in the league towards the end- if it wasnt seeded and a team with a couple of games to go knew they couldn't get promoted or relegated they're left with nothing to play for- but if they've a chance at a better championship draw they'll push to finish 4th in the league rather than 5th. Personally prefer straight knock out for championship.

As much as I'm not a fan of the Armagh system I do like the idea of seeding teams as per their league placings for championship.

Even in counties where there's no link between league and championship its something that could be introduced.

Maghera will be bleckkkk BLECKKKKKK way people the nite 😆😀

Congrats Glen, fair few underperformed on the day but they always find a way. Some run of tight matches they've come out on right side of. Crazy play by stbrigids for the goal but thems the margins

Uppa Wattys lol

Can't beat a good aul Tony Scullion quote.

Glen didn't deserve that but that Conor Glass goal worthy of winning any game.

You'd nearly feel sorry for the Rossies.... Nearly.

How are teams relegated to Intermediate and Junior championships in Cavan? I understand winning is the pathway to the level above, but how do you go about going down?

Bottom 4 in the championship table playoff and then the 2 losers playoff.

For example in Senior 8v12 and 9v10 then the two losers play each other.

Why do Cavan have a league format in the first place? Are they just glorified friendlies?

So County players are removed from their clubs until Cavan are out of any tournament they are in?

Not that it matters and as I've said what Cavan do is what they are comfortable with, Kerry have been lambasted for years with their Championships and so on, so expect people to question how things are done and the results from it.

Championship is the only show in town in any county, yes others may link in league positions and so on, but no one remembers the league winners

I'd mentioned star games before and obviously thats not a thing in every county, but essentially star games are the only ones that county with regards to points in the league.

Star games will have the county players available due to the fixtures and timings between county games, these lads can play with their clubs so that the club (who bring these lads up from under age) play their best players and get some form ready for championship and allow managers to see their best 15

Must be handy for the managers during the year in Cavan with just a few Championship games to prepare for

I wouldn't say league is treated like challenge games in Cavan but its not the same competition it was before the split season was brought in.

Teams with a large number of county players will struggle big time in the leagues in Cavan. But in fairness to the county board they have introduced a playoff system for the top 4 and bottom 4 for relegation and promotion. So this gives teams a chance to redeem themselves when they have all theire county players available. So you could lose all 12 or 13 games in the league but if you win your playoff you will stay up. Something similar to what Arva did.

Arva got promoted from Division 2 when they had only Ciaran Brady on the county panel now they have 3 or 4 on the panel and another 2-3 on the U20's so this makes them considerably weaker.

I'm not a Cavan man but I actually think the way they organise their championship and don't link it to another competition is the best way to do it. To progress from junior to intermediate championship you should have to win the junior championship. The leagues should be a totally separate competition, especially now with the split season. I'm from Armagh and don't like our current system at all, but I accept I'm in the minority. We should also accept every county organises their competitions differently and leave them to it.

That's the way Armagh was for years, we left it behind. The current format is what, maybe 8-10 years on the go? (I'm really not sure)

Think our system works really well- 8 team league divisions with the a/b split leaves teams at a similar level and less hammerings and still having 2 up and 2 down means theres less chance of dead rubbers towards end of the league.

Would prefer a straight knock out championship to the group stages though but don't mind teams getting those extra few games so see the reason for it.

I don't agree with this A/B crap. Your either division 1 or 2 or 3. Hurling leagues are split this way and no one gives a toss about them.

Best thing Inter County Gaelic football did was go to the 4 divisions, 10 or 15 years ago.

Is there any other county in Ireland where the Senior, intermediate and junior championship winners all came from the same league division?

I'm not sure but the 3rd ranked team in Division 1 in Kerry couldn't even win Junior.

I think it's fair to say that Arva are a middling to strong intermediate team that were (clearly) too strong for Junior and aren't a mile off being senior. It has been mildly enjoyable winding the Cavan men up and I look forward to seeing which Division 1 club wins Cavan JFC 2024 

The funny thing about that is. The raging hot favourites for Cavan Junior this year are also a Division 1 team haha. That team being Knockbride they won the Ulster Junior League in 2023.

However they have been stuck in junior for about 12 years or more now and haven't been able to win a big game when it comes to the heat of championship.

They got promoted from Division 2 last year and they have no counties players either which helps when it comes to the diluted league competition and will bode well for them in division 1 next year provided they don't have any players going travellig etc.

[Kerry]

Kerry v Derry
Dublin v Monagha
Galway v Mayo 
Tyrone v Roscommon

Meath v Fermanagh
Kildare v Cavan
Armagh v Louth
Donegal v Cork

Limerick v Antrim
Clare v Sligo
Offaly v Westmeath - Draw
Wicklow v Down

Laois v Longford 
Tipperary v Carlow
London v Wexford
Waterford v Leitrim