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Beanman, did you see the Mayo match? Our defence needs to tone down the nastiness a notch or two. Some of the antics I witnessed (thinking of McNamee and McCarron mainly) were embarrassing and add the square root of f**k all to our game.

Dont forget your clubmate Omagh.  Justy wasnt shy that day either, nor last year against Donegal or Mayo in the league in Castlebar before that, and he is one of the more experienced players.  We went over the top in that match, if the defenders had concentrated on playing the football and not wasting energy on riling up the Mayo forwards things could have been different.  But there is a difference in being a tough defence and being nasty.  I am not condoning the nastiness.  But I think we were more let down by the forwards that day than anything else.  But thats over now, no point in flogging a dead horse...

You get more respect from hitting hard and being tight markers than mouthing how good you are to the opposition, especially when it backfires on the scoreboard....  Prime example is Colm Cav, Harte, Donnelly, and Gormley, Jordan, McGinley ONeill Dooher & Co before that......

[real hard man]

I can't see Mickey making too many changes from last year. Maybe Mark Bradley into corner forward but I don't think he's ready to give Lee Brennan his chance. We'll know better during the league.
I'll be shocked if he drops McCrory or McNabb though I'd say Justy might be gone.
I've not seen any club football so how do people rank Hampsey, Munroe and McGeary as in which are more likely to break into the team this year. I'd hope Rory Brennan is a permanent replacement now for Justy.

We are lacking in a real hard man at the back, someone like Block or Ricey.
Would be nice to see big Colm catch a few marks in the league but I will be surprised if we use this tactic.

Seriously??? Certainly would not use the words Hard man to describe Ricey. 

Maybe not a traditional hard man, but hedefinitely made life uncomfortable for opposing forwards, he was a great player for Tyrone and we are maybe too nice in defence.  Though the likes of McCarron and McNamee and justy are no shrinking violets, they can also play, are comfortable in a number of positions, get up and down the field and can take a score, i.e the  template for the modern defender. 

From what I have seen in club football, Hampsey and Munroe can definitely add a bit of extra bite at the back, both would be great additions, they hit hard and in my opnion both are future captain material if they make the cut,  but again both play a lot of club football at midfield.

The new additions allied to the experience gained by Hampsey, Munroe McGeary et al make for an exciting 2017, lets hope they shackles are off to a degree.

Coalisland is built on a sandpit so always had decent drainage.  Edendork nor dungannon can take bad weather, edendork has a couple of very bad patches in it when it rains. Dungannon is basically a mud pit. Carrickmore, killycloger have good surfaces and many othersdo too no doubt.  Omagh doesn't even have catch nets!! All pitches can be affected by extremes of weather, but a couple of days rain and it is man the lifeboats time, it's Ireland we live in not Dubai... It does rain here 3/4 of the year round..... But sure co board takes its eye of the ball with most big games.  How many times has there near been a row in Omagh cos there is only 2 ticket windows open at scoreboard end of the ground and a queue of people near as far back as killycloger waiting to get in as the anthem is being crucified.  I have been to numerous national league games and fans from other counties can't believe how disorganised things are in Omagh.... Anyway rant over.. Athletic grounds or Tg4 it is now

Ironic thing is both Coalisland and Killyclogher have pitches that stand up to bad weather ! I am sure Carrickmore could host it but god forbid if anything was moved from Healy Park..

Final will now be played on Friday night.. Omagh is such a dump it's unreal.  Anytime we have a spell of poor weather it becomes unplayable.. embarrassing! If it's supppsed to be the showpiece ground in the county can the co board not do something with the pitch!! Must be more important to spend the money on a wind farm in garvaghy.. The whole ground is a shambles. Terracing is too shallow, anybody under 6ft has a hard time seeing the pitch, stand near the halfway point and you have no chance seeing either corner, welfare facilities for spectators are still stuck in the 80's, . At least there is a control tower, that cost a fortune and we can point to worship!! and a scoreboard that's temperamental to say the least! This is not the Omagh club fault, but if the county board are so forward thinking then sort out a decent county ground.. I would say that other than Ballybofey and Antrim who have no pitch, omagh is the worst in Ulster!

Fianna were the better team on Sunday by far.  They got their match ups right and Clonoe had no answer in the second half, which was surprising as they had they wind at their backs and only 2 points down at half time.  Fianna had a good spread of scores across the team, Clonoe seem too dependent on Skeet and Dan (both very good plyers and usually deliver).  Maybe the 5 tough games 5 weeks in a row and heavy Dungannon pitch caught up with Clonoe.  It is hard to keep going to the well as they say.

It was probably the best Fianna performance this season, they were all up for it.  Only concern would be that this was their county final.  It seemed more important to beat Clonoe than win a semi final.  Although this is generally the case for most local derbys.  If the Fianna can replicate the desire and hunger they showed on Sunday they will give Killclogher a tough game. 

Tyrone clubs generally dont do well in Ulster.  This could be down to the fact that the club championship is tough to win and any given year anything up to 8 teams are in with a shout of winning.  A bit like Ulster teams and All Irelands in years gone by.  A team that is consistently winning its club championship will do better in ulster than a team that plays once every 4-5 years.  Though Killyclogher could give Ulster a rattle if they prevail on Sunday. 

But Kilcoo, Slaughtneil, Scotstown, Cargin/St Galls will all fancy themselves and seem more primed for Ulster given the momentum, confidence and experience they have each built up from winning their respective championships over the last couple of years.

Killyclogher will start favourites on Sunday but if Fianna keep their heads, stay disciplined and start well it will go down to the wire.  It may come down to a free taking contest in a niggly affair, Bradley v Thornton.

Jesus would someone shut Canning and Carthy up!! Good god rte, these dinosaurs are awful not to mention Cahill on Sunday game!! Mayo battled hard but shot themselves in the foot so many times. Ref was hard on them. O'Shea gets fouled a lot but gets no frees cos he is big so is expected to take it.  Costello made some impact.... Thought Mayo shaded both games but too reliant on O Connor..

Why did the Gaa put these 2 matches today as a double header.  Why not put Dublin v Donegal on with Kerry & Clare and Tyrone v Mayo with Galway & tipp and have 2 big crowds instead of 1 sell out and 1 1/4 full Croker.... I am sure a better system could be worked out and not a draw that is set in stone...

I wish the GPA would use the nutritional expenses money to buy a nosebag for Ger and free up the space for someone else. The format of the competition is stale but Ger is worse.

Don't often agree with seafoid but this time I will.... Stale is an understatement

Before I get slated, sorry sledged !!!! I know it's Dermot Early not Paul Early,,, that was a typo! My quiff got ruffled and I got all in a fluster

There was a time a body looked forward to watching The Sunday Game, kinda like Match of the Day on a Sat night, but unlike match of the day, the Sunday Game has went backwards.  The studio / set is like a poor Eurovision attempt at futuristic design, Des Cahill  is laughable as a host. Doesn't have a clue, holding up a piece of card congratulating Shane Lowry - good god !!!!!! Pahal.......  the only redeeming features have been Dessie Dolan, Tomas o Se, Paul Early, I don't mind Ciaran Whelan either, has some valid points and gets them across well.  It's nearly getting to the stage where ye watch to see how bad Des Cahill can really get, which is a shame because we have great games getting comic book presentation.   Maybe it's all part of the D4 agenda to ruin the gaa and promote rugby, soccer and heaven forbid cricket, cos that's where the money is but maybe I am just getting cynical in my old age... I never though a tyrone man would ever get cynical, but well done RTE this is all your fault ! ;-) ;-)

The most glaring question has been missed by everybody though..... Where  did the pigeons get all the tickets from?

Come on lad. What county are you from?

Kilkenny! Issue?

You are a Kilkenny man that loves Liam Hayes and hates Tyrone?

Muppet

Let's just call the whole thing off and hand the championship to the most polite, well mannered and courteous team in the country.... Good luck finding one though... It's dog eat dog time in the championship.  Yes it was hard tough and at times nasty but god oh some people are going overboard.  Lochra Gael during the week showed the Meath cork rivalry in the late 80's.  Them games would have finished 5 a side now .  At times the tackles and off the ball incidents were brutal, but fellas expected it and got on with it back then. 

Over the moon that Tyrone won, it will give Des Cahill something to spontaneously combust over on Sunday game tonight.  But don't forget Aidan O Mahony's dive a couple of years back and Michael Shields v Kerry this year.  I am not defending McCann in any way at all, it was pathetic and embarrassing, more so for himself than anyone else, but the complete hysteria is laughable.

Tyrone were the better team yesterday.  Will we beat Kerry in 2 weeks? Probably not and RTE and Croke park will breathe a sigh of relief but we have done more than anyone thought in getting to a semi final and will give Kerry a tough game.

The ref was always going to be an embarrassment and so it proved.  To have these game officiated by someone like Duffy beggars belief.  Totally ruined the flow of the game.  On numerous occasions players from both teams got free from tackles , played the ball to a team mate in acres of space yet Duffy saw fit to call it back.  You could see tempers starting to boil due to frustration.  Players from both sides were hitting each other shoulders off the ball and walking on but nothing more, yet Duffy stops an attacking opportunity to run 50 yards to say cut it out, not even issuing a card, much to the demise of the game as a whole.   

But anyway, well done Tyrone. 28 other teams would swap places with them in an instant.

On a side note, Mayo were very impressive yesterday. 

Tyrone team is pretty much as anticipated .  Will be a tough test for the younger lads but maybe youthful exuberance will carry them through. Wishful thinking maybe but there is plenty of quality there, no little confidence and experience with the older players.  Will it be enough? Here's hoping....