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There is nothing wrong in principle with the concept of the Super 8  format as presently proposed.After all, every sport must have an elite layer of teams to make their sport achieve its true potential.

What is essentially wrong with these new proposals however  is that the GAA has not addressed the core problem - the real pressing needs of  the other 24 counties.As far as I can see no one in the top echelons of the GAA AND NO ONE in most of our County Boards will address the unpalatable but real fact that any All-Ireland championship that depends on being linked to the provincial championship is both unfair and definitely inequitable.
In most counties and at All Ireland club level we have three distinct championships
ie Senior,Intermediate and Junior.

These are competitive,fair  and equitable and most of all enjoyable (think Cuala,Ballyea,Slaughtneil and St Brigids) simply because every team is playing at their own level in any given year.This system allows them to compete equitably,be promoted or indeed relegated depending on their consistent performances over a period of time.

Too many counties have yearly. unrealistic expectations that this will be their year to win either the provincial or All Ireland Senior title. So they get the  most expensive manager who indulges them in the latest spartan training regime because everybody else is doing (this has gone from two nights a week training to five nights in some cases plus gym work)it.

Eventually the more intelligent players either drop out or reject an offer to join the panel.The remainder naturally lose interest. The manager resigns or retires or is sacked and the whole sorry cycle of yearly expectation quickly followed by total disillusionment starts all over again.The number of volunteers selling weekly lotto tickets and other various forms of fund raising get fed  eventually knocking doors and drift off into the sunset.If the current trend continues we will only be left with the Super 8!! and all our volunteers will be gone

That is why it is imperative that we have a three-tiered All Ireland championship ie Senior,Intermediate and Junior.Current placings in the National Football League should be the main criteria for deciding which championship each group plays in.

If the THE GAA Hierarchy,COUNTY BOARDS,GPA AND CPA  want Gaelic football to reach its full potential as a game and to treat all counties  and all players fairly and equally then this the only way forward.Otherwise we will all keep dreaming that next year will be our year for provincial or national Senior glory regardless of how good our players are!!

Over to all stakeholders and address the real problem.Our players,supporters and our great game deserves it.

If the All Ireland championship is to be really competitive on a consistently regular basis the only solution is to abolish the current Provincial format and replace it with a system based on equality for all.The different no of counties in each provinces simply copper fastens the glaring inequalities at present which make it easier for Munster and Connacht provincial winners to reach the All Ireland Quarter finals.
In addition and to make every county in Ireland to have at least a realistic chance of being at least competitive at their own level I believe there should be three graded and separate championships such as those which exist in most County club championships ie Senior,Intermediate and Junior.There should be twelve counties in the Senior(Sam Maguire Cup),ten in Intermediate and ten in the Junior championship.Current league placings should determine which county plays in which championship.The games in the  final stages of these latter two could act as curtain risers to  last 8 Senior games in Croke park or wherever they are played.
Do I think that these thoughts of mine will become a reality? Highly unlikely I would suggest simply because most counties, especially the so-called weaker ones live, in the dreamland of thinking that this will be their year to win the long awaited Provincial title. So they hire the dearest manager who trains his panellists for four or five nights a week until the more intelligent players/ fringe panellists get fed up with the disproportionate ratio of training sessions to actual matches and then drop out.Eventually the manager is short of at least ten of his best players and ten of his fringe players. The rest lose heart, more matches are lost( the manager is now playing a practically reserve team)and the manager is forced to resign.There is no money left in the coffers and the supporters blame everybody except the provincial system which they slavishly adhere to.
If this trend keeps being replicated year in year out more and more players will become disillusioned and we will only be left with the Super 8.Can some GAA visionary with  courage and foresight not appeal to the masses and explain how our great game is being eroded in terms of non competitive  and unfair championship structures on the one hand and the presence of an unsightly ultra defensive playing system on the other?

In October Damian Barton selected 50 players in his provisional Senior football panel for 2016.Apart from the college-tied players many of this panel have so far seen varying lengths of game - time in the McKenna Cup ties.This is very understandable and undoubtedly good practice both from a Management point of view and the perspective of the players.Damian also said that for a variety of reasons Niall Holly,Patsdy Bradley and Gerard O'Kane would not be available for the

Omitting all the players who were selected on the Derry Senior team who performed so well against Laois last Sunday the following players who were either injured or unavailable for that game would certainly make a very competitive "B" side.
                                E McNicholl
B McCallion              C Mullan             M Craig
G O'Kane                  B Gormley          C McAtamney
                   M Friel                J McCamley
D Mullan                R Wilkinson          D Heavron
L Kennedy             R Bell                   B Heron
Substitutes K Farren Philip Bradley C McWillams D Browne G Mallon.
A fit Paddy Bradley and a willing Paddy Kelly,
Liam Hinphey, Paul Cartin and Joe O'Kane would also be huge additions. Unfortunately, I am afraid, we will have to forget about the latter four as they do not appear to have made themselves available to the football panel. Whilst agreeing with most of the management's selections I still believe that both Lee Moore and Cailean O'Boyle should be in the squad. Moore is a good finisher and O'Boyle is an excellent target man as well as being an all-round talented individual.

The late Con Houlihan was one of the greatest sportswriters of all time. His ability to switch, seamlessly, from Gaelic Games, to Soccer or Rugby within the confined limits of his thrice weekly columns, in the Evening Press, was uncanny in its presentation and absolutely brilliant in his sense of the varied characteristics  of different people, different places, different skills, different occasions. However, for me, it was his consummate  love of Gaelic Games and his inherent ability to accurately reflect the many nuances of any game that made his writing a class apart. Furthermore, it was his instinctive flair for mingling his intimate knowledge of Greek, Latin or English literature with a vivid description of Mike Sheehy or Matt Connor converting yet another wonderful goal in Croke Park that made him so special. As a long time suffering Derry football supporter, one anecdote stands out above all others. It was the Autumn of 1992 and Con Houlihan had a particularly good article in the Evening Press - the finer details of which I forget. Then in the last paragraph he suddenly, as was his wont, switched to a different topic and related the substance of  a dream he had the previous night. To paraphrase the concluding sentences, he stated that in the following year-1993- when the green apples were turning to a harvest red in the orchards of Ireland, the men from the Oak Leaf County would at last be celebrating their first Sam Maguire Cup win.

N.B. Apparently, Con had witnessed Derry's great win, in the 1992 Ulster semi final, against the then All Ireland champions Down and was so impressed with players like Tony Scullion, Kieran McKeever, Anthony Tohill, Brian McGilligan, Enda Gormley and their inspirational captain Henry Downey, that he immediately knew when they did not win that year's All Ireland they would certainly win the next year's. Somehow, I do not think that there is any great scribe out there forecasting a similar win for Derry in the near future.

When it comes to longevity at playing club football, Down treble All Ireland  Senior medal winner Dan McCartan is hard to beat. First of all, along with his first cousin  the great Sean O'Neill, he played in sixteen Ulster senior finals, including the 1974 Ulster final replay against Donegal. During his career he played club football with Glenn, Tullylish and Carrryduff. At the age of 47, along with his son Mark,  he won a Down Junior championship medal in 1986. The long - serving Dan played his last club game for Carryduff in 1998, at the ripe young age of 59! Having been an outstanding handballer since his days in St Colman's College in Newry, he continued to play the small ball game all his life until he was  in his mid sixties. Furthermore, in 2004, just before his 65th birthday, and along with former Antrim star Gaelic footballer Des McNeill, he brought another All Ireland medal to his native county. That year they won the All Ireland Diamond Masters' doubles 40 x 20  handball final in Mullingar. So from the age of 12 when he started in St Colman's until he retired from handball at the age of 65 Dan McCartan had been a continuous, active participant in Gaelic Games of one code or both  for a remarkable,  successive 53 years. The modest Dan who has now retired from his dental practice is surely deserving of some individual award for outstanding service to Gaelic Games. The appropriate authorities should take note of this fantastic achievement.

I believe the County Board, in co-operation with Club Derry, have recently initiated a five year strategic plan for the development of Gaelic football within the county, with special emphasis on the 15 to 21 year old age group.
They must be complimented on this comprehensive plan. However, I think, they must also set in train a similar programme for all potential Senior inter county footballers over the age of 21.Only if this were done can we really expect that each player will fulfil not only their full individual potential but can also maximise their talent as a member of a team. IN ADDITION IN ORRDER TO ENSURE A CONTINUITY OF FITNES AND CONDITIONING PROGRAMMES AS WELL ASDIETARY AND GENERAL PREPARATIONS i SUGGEST THAT AN OVERALL dIRECTOR OF fOTBALL SHOULD BE APPOINTED .his basic remit would beto ensure tatevery ine from County Boardto all coachec at each levey and each club would be singing off the same hymn sheet.WE ARE LUCKY TO HAVE WITHIN THE COUNTY THE IDEAL MAN FO FULFIL THAT ROLE,a

I totally agree with all the sentiments as expressed by tBrick 18 re the Derry/Donegal championship game on Saturday week. It would appear highly unlikely that the four key players that he mentioned will be fit for that  match. So unless we get lucky for a change it would seem we will have to pursue the Qualifier system for the third time  in four years at the first stage. If we do lose, hopefully, everyone will be fully fit and willing to do their best for their county in the Qualifiers. Compared to any other of the thirty two counties,as far as I can ascertain, Derry have had more of their key players missing for the fourth championship in a row. I  thought Damian Cassidy was decidedly unlucky with the unavailability of so many top players during his tenure but John Brennan has arguably fared worst in this regard. However, we will always live in hope.Doire Abu.

Enda Muldoon was truly one of the most intelligent and classiest players ever to wear the red and white of Derry.His fielding ability,his accurate kicking but most of all the exceptional radar vision and foot passing skills set him apart from everyone else. He had countless top quality displays for club and county, at various levels, for the last seventeen years. My favourite memory is of his phenomenal performance in the All Ireland minor final of 1995 against Westmeath. He literally covered every blade of grass in his herculean efforts to win a game that Derry were unjustly denied by a terrible refereeing error when the official disallowed a perfectly legitimate goal by Joe Cassidy. I remember coming home that day disappointed with the result but consoled by the fact that Derry had unearthed a footballing genius.Thanks for so many wonderful memories,Enda, and for having the privilege of seeing you perform so often and so brilliantly in both the Derry and Ballindery jerseys.

Enda M

Having  objectively looked at the incidents in the recent Dromid/Derrytresk game over and over again, I have come to the definite conclusion that one of the Dromid players and two of the starting Derrytresk XV should have their sentences overturned. Furthermore,the five year ban from competing in Ulster and All Ireland club competitions should be rescinded immediately. As this unfair ban would adversely affect innocent current players and countless of guiltless future players  it would be a total denial of natural justice if it were implemented. However, as the invasion of Derrytresk substitutes and spectators was totally out of order the fine should remain. If these changes were announced immediately Derrytresk could concentrate properly on the greatest day in their proud history. I just could imagine the national reaction if a similar five year ban was imposed  on a  prominent county team! The GAA  should treat all  of its units whether big or small, north or south, equally. So Derrytresk do your club,county and province proud by going on to win the All Ireland. Every county in Ulster and indeed many in  Leinster and Munster will also be supporting you.

Ignore last incompleted poster Sheamy which should have read as follows.
                                             B Gillis
B Og McAlary                           L Morrow                  M Craig
C McKaigue                              B McGoldrick             N Forrester.
                         J Diver                               M Friel
A McLoughlin                             J Kielt                    E McGuckin
C O'Boyle                                  P Bradley                M  Donaghy
Subs; R Dillon C Mullan B Gormley P J McCloskey and E Lynn.
I have no doubt that the above side would give a good account of themselves if they played in a trial match against your selected XV.  Somehow I can not see John Brennan dropping his newly appointed captain and Cailean O'Boyle who has been Derry's most consistent player this year. 

Sheamy that is a vey interesting though controversial Derry team that you have selected.One could pick a team from the following players that you have not selected.
                                              Barry Gillis
  B Og McAlary                          Liam Morrow               M Craig
  C McKaigue                             B McGoldrick               N Forrester
                             J Diver                              M  Friel
  A McLaughlin                           J                       

Lynchboy you could definitely won an Ulster title from that excellent squad of thirty players that you have selected. If we can get them all fit soon and there are no more injuries and they play a fast attacking game allied to a good defensive system then Derry can have a real attempt at this year's Ulster championship. I presume you forgot to include the Kielt Brothers and Joe Diver.

If we had all the best players in Derry available to play for the county my first fifteen would be
                                              D Devlin
B McCallion                               L Morrow                       D McBride
C Kielt                                      F Doherty                      Sean Leo McGoldrick
                           John McCambley              Joe Diver
D Mullan                                   M Lynch                        G O'Kane
E Bradley                                  P Bradley                       C Gilligan
My second fifteen would be
                                              B Gillis
Brian Og McAlary                       K McGuckin                    M Craig
N Forrester                               B McGoldrick                  L Hinphey
                           P J McCloskey                   Michael Friel 
A McLoughlin                             J Kielt                          R Wilkinson.                     
L Moore                                    C O'Boyle                     E Muldoon.   
If only we had all those fit and willing we would be a match for any side ,at least in Ulster.