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Two good a semis, Dunloy v St Biddys and Creggan v tir na nog/Antrim 😂

Why the crying laughter emoji PJ?

Ach I Hope their wee arms and legs aren't really sore today, poor wee craters!

Anyway, DK can you tell me what the difference in a 3G pitch and a 'school' 3G pitch is please? Or are you just using the word 'school' for dramatic effect because you have a problem with these surfaces yourself?

All the coverage and promo of the game, plus comments on the quality and speed of play are very positive reading & viewing from what I can make out.

Great move Antrim County Board. Forward thinking group of people.

Uppa saffs

If can't recognise that playing a senior club championship game on a school pitch sums up the infrastructure embarrassment we have in the county, well there is little point in trying, your brain dead mate.

Still waiting on your definition of School 3G and ordinary 3G 'Mate'

Ach I Hope their wee arms and legs aren't really sore today, poor wee craters!

Anyway, DK can you tell me what the difference in a 3G pitch and a 'school' 3G pitch is please? Or are you just using the word 'school' for dramatic effect because you have a problem with these surfaces yourself?

All the coverage and promo of the game, plus comments on the quality and speed of play are very positive reading & viewing from what I can make out.

Great move Antrim County Board. Forward thinking group of people.

Uppa saffs

Memory man, you clearly don't get it. It has nothing to do with St Johns or Portglenone for me. It's utterly pathetic that a senior championship game is being played on a 3G school pitch.... let me say it again for you... a 3G school pitch. Embarrassing. The CB are clowns, insulting clowns, because you are focused on yourselves you can't see you to are being insulted to. We are a laughlin stock

God love these professional athletes having to get wee sore muscles playing on 3G for an hour 

Get on with it lads. Bring the foam rollers and the resistance bands and youz will be graaaaand. 

Madness. What was the reason for his dismissal in the first place?

Had them at my door too, Girl and a fella & have to say they were very nice and mannerly, Only had the price of one ticket on me but they were delighted to get it. Definitely not an easy job, fair play to them, see they raised over 300K!

Any insights into team selection for Down on Saturday? Will Lenny switch up the system a bit to counter Downs danger men? Its a pity CJ is off the panel. Feel we might be found wanting for scores in the closing stages.

wouldnt get outta bed for double that 

Can you imagine the amount of bitching that will be drooling out of the good Gaa folk of Derry following yesterdays result. A county that is a cesspit of begrudgery will go into over drive. The amount of experts who will offer an opinion to whats wrong, yet we have had approx. 500 at home matches and much less at away games. So whats the problem we all got what we wanted, created a culture of 'feck the county team' or 'your wasting your time up there' etc etc There will only be a few genuine geals in Derry gutted today following yesterdays result.

Well said shawshank. Support has been abysmal. True supporters dont have the right to abandon the journey just because the road is rocky, and unfortunatley there are tens of thousands times more critics to actual supporters who have attended home and away games the past number of years.

In saying that, monumental mistakes have been made and repeated by board and management.

Derry 'support' wanted Barton out the door sharpish, but in fairness the team that put up such an excellent showing vrs Mayo last year would have rivaled Fermanagh and Armagh for a jump straight back up to div 2 even without the slaughtneil lads. Those names mentioned countless times already - Heavron, McGuckin, McFaul, Duffy etc surely would have lent greater weight to the push for promotion let alone the fight for relegation! Could more have been done to hold onto the likes of Keenan too? at least for the league.

I dont know, Its sad watching in from the outside and I dont like to see any manager draw such criticism. I just hope if he & his team are going to be in place for the forseable that they swallow their pride and go knocking on a few of these lads doors, admit they made mistakes and give them their rightful chance (should they still want it) to fight for the cause.

It's tough going but this was always going to be a project and not a quick-fix.  As rubbish as the first half sounded on the commentary, the second half showed fight if nothing else.

Very, very young and inexperienced squad. The Slaughtneil boys will be a big plus if the expected lads decide to make themselves available. Chrissy and Rogers transform that defence instantly, and by a huge amount, in addition to the other players they have who would make that squad on ability.

I thought it was too soon to be giving that job to McErlain but he has it now and I think we have to give him 3 years and see how it goes. I don't agree with some of his player selections (and, probably more so, de-selections) on this panel, but I'm assuming he has a reason and a plan for them.

The second half showed fight?? The only reason for that was because the Fermanagh keeper literally gifted two goals in a minute to bring it from an 11 point gap to 5 which unsettled Fermanagh for the remainder of the half. Let's be honest? It looked like Dublin v Kilkenny up until that point. Tactically abysmal. 1 or 2 experienced lads left on the bench, young lads left to swim against the tide. At least when the likes of heron came on, there was a bit of width and space creates to get a bit of shape to the thing, but my oh my abysmal stuff in general! As for the Derry support!!!!??? I don't want to see anyone else comment after this post in relation to the performance beacaus I think those that have this far already accumulate to grand total of supporters in Brewster park last night from what I seen. Problems on and off the field in my opinion.

https://www.thesun.ie/sport/gaa-football/2222855/slaughtneil-defender-karl-mckaigue-insists-there-is-no-club-versus-county-divide-in-derry/

Best of luck to The Robbies today. Karl speaks the truth as does John Joe Kearney who spoke this week that the sooner the club all ireland is played out on one calendar year the better get rid of the myth of playing St Patricks Day finals. A two and a half month layoff does Slaughtneil no favours either. Chrissy even said himself he hasn't played a full league for Derry in four years, and with April designated for clubs the Slaughtneil boys are supposed to come in to the county set up a month before championship and all of a sudden its going to click for McErlain. Damian is swimming against the tide the GAA calendar is hindering small county like Derry, this year has been a right off before a ball was even kicked for Derry.

100% correct that this is a problem that shouldnt exist and that the GAA need to part with sentiment and change the traditional dates to give us a better functioning calendar.

However....If I was a Slaughtneil player that was called up to my county, I would be laying down the law that I will represent both teams to the best of my ability. Hopefully there would be sense from club and county managers in that I would be training with my club only, but available for match selection with county during the league.

Maybe my thinking isnt shared by the majority I dont know, but thats my opinion for what its worth.

Thought the set up was decent last night, parking in car park available right beside pitch, quick access to purchasing tickets , and able to watch the game unobstructed. The surface also added to the speed of the game.

A coffee at half time would have been nice, but beggars can't be choosers.

Exactly, quit your whingein! Its McKenna Cup and a chance to get lads some competitive game time and for management to take a look ahead of the league. I'd rather be in our boat then Derrys last weekend who travelled all the way to Armagh for nathin!

There has been some amount of over-reaction to one team meeting, and the apparent notion that these will be the only players considered for the Championship in 8mnths time.  As a previous poster has stated – its October. The management team has only been in place since the minor final, just over 3 weeks ago, and already the Warriors are out in force. 

Its like they want to be fit to say "I told you so", if it does go wrong, and then they'll be able to quote themselves from October and give themselves a pat on the back as they got it right long before a ball was kicked in anger.
There has been some list of demands already, Posters wanted a full run down of the lads at the first meeting of the year.  Posters want statements issued from the management for the sake of the stability and future of Derry football!?!

So here is my list of demands from the new Derry management:
1.   A personal phone call to explain why I wasn't at the first meeting and why I'm not require this year.
2.   A personal profile of each and every member of the initial panel. Plus 5 reasons why they were selected ahead of others.
3.   A explanation of their views on the Colm Cooper testimonial.
4.   A complete training schedule, including but not limited to:
        a.   Individual training plans
        b.   When/Where the gym work is taking place
        c.   The drills that will be done on the pitch. (including sketches/drawings)
5.   A thesis on where county matches should take place.  Should we continue with Owenbeg/Celtic Park, or should we   
        take the games around the county.
6.   A total rundown of their tactical plans, including but not limited to:
        a.   Are we going to play with a sweeper?
        b.   Who is going to play this role?
        c.   Will we play with 3 in the ff line? Give reasons
        d.   Will we set up in the same way for every game?
        e.   How do you see the role of the goalkeeper? Will there be rotation in the position during pre-season?
7.   A comment regarding the awful pinky coloured jersey that Derry had to wear 14/15years ago.

And finally...

8.   I would like an input on who is going to be captain and vice-captain for the current season.
     

I hope the management team deal with this as soon as possible.

That would be great actually 

Re the make up of the new Derry Senior football panel maybe, like what some of our previous managers did, Damian McErlain has selected a Provisional panel of some experienced players mixed with a large coterie of U21 players for pre season and McKenna Cup purposes. Then like them he picks a more stable panel which includes all the best players in the County for the League.

If that is not the case and Heavron,Kielt  Heron and others are not selected on a permanent basis then there will be a lot of difficult questions to be answered.

Either way for the sake of the stability and future of Derry football Damian has to issue a statement announcing his intentions for the coming season.Players officials and supporters do not need any more uncertainty re our Senior football team. We need a clear unambiguous plan which includes ALL of our best players,  irrespective of age and previous unavailability, playing again for our county.We have suffered long enough.

Completely agree, hopefully he wil shed some light on his plans shortly and we can all get behind the team. Just hope no bridges have been burnt already!

I hear a few big names not included in senior panel, biggest surprise being benny heron after a very good championship, any truth in this ?

It'll be very interesting to see this panel. If Benny heron and Danny heavron aren't on it will be a major shock as they are the prototype athletic modern day footballer and both are top quality players.

Hearing last night that Herron nor Heavron have been included in the Derry panel and that neither have been spoken to in any regard by the manager. These two lads along with James Kielt have been probably our best and most consistent operators in the Derry jersey over the past few seasons! What is the thinking behind it? Surely they'll be returning/called up for the league? Correct me if i'm wrong but arent these players all around the 25/26 year old mark? Prime age!