Messages

[will]

I think the midfield battle will have an influence.Darragh was a God - his loss will be felt. Quirke has the physique but has he the engine ? The Kerrymen will see a good battle between Quirke and King - he's firm but fair !
Ambrose is the quality man of the 4 and Scanlon will need to cover a lot of ground. I think this is where Galvin and T O Se will be missed and while Down at 3 to 1 is about right, it is tempting .
Anything other than a hammering for Down would be a result but I don't think there will be more than 3 in it either way.Bring it on !
Have a dilemma in the second game as have a lot of time for the Dubs but admire the passion of Tyrone. A draw, with Sean Cavanagh and Alan Brogan getting 3 months each would be about right.

As has been stated, the 2005 minor team were a talented squad with many leaders - mind you they lost an Ulster final they should have won and that was the first sign that management, rather than players, was the problem.Obviously they deserved another chance in 06 and possibly 07 but badly underperformed.Since then the signs were clear that there was an absence of a cool calculating head on the sidelines.Jerome Johnstone was the obvious choice since then but I agree with the Gael that it was the same sloppy thinking that led to Neill Collins' appointment which kept the current minor regime in place.
If you were Mc Parland, Mooney, O'Hanlon,O'Hare or Mc Cartan you would be pretty angry at losing out ;some of them will be there next year so let's hope sense prevails.

While the points about season tickets are valid, the tickets for under 16s are a fiver .

[not]

The game is not all-ticket - only the stand is all-ticket. The stand is worth 2 or 3 points on a Saturday night. We will need it as they have had the luck of the devil against us in recent league games. When I see Joe's tactical awareness by deploying Joe Bergin at CHF I have to ask how the hell did that joker pick teams to beat us when we played them off the park ?
However, we didn't have Marty Clarke. Now, that is a CHF !

What in the name of God are you talking about?

TAM
I'll go slowly
A number of posters on this thread have said how lucky Armagh have been in recent league games V Down .
Joe Kernan was the Armagh manager for all bar one or two of those.
Joe Kernan is now the manager of Galway.
Joe Kernan has been picking Joe Bergin at CHF ( that's Centre Half Forward) .
This has caused much amusement among followers of the game as he is clearly a midfielder and not a CHF.
This was particularly evident today in the 10 point home defeat to a Kerry team short a number of key players.
I was suggesting that this highlighted a lack of reading of the game by Joe.
I further suggested that Marty Clarke was a good CHF

[not]

The game is not all-ticket - only the stand is all-ticket. The stand is worth 2 or 3 points on a Saturday night. We will need it as they have had the luck of the devil against us in recent league games. When I see Joe's tactical awareness by deploying Joe Bergin at CHF I have to ask how the hell did that joker pick teams to beat us when we played them off the park ?
However, we didn't have Marty Clarke. Now, that is a CHF !

It's not about the protection of Venables- it's about the protection of the public.No-one is going to hang children so when the courts made a decision to release him at 18 and it was clearly better to have checks and balances in place than not.He's obviously a risk again so they are right to bring him back in so no-one else is put at risk. I don't think the Fox said he is rehabilitated-clearly he's not.However, surely it's better to have these systems in place than not ?

[Hanging would have been too good for them]

sorry but imo you just cant rehabilitate evil cnuts like venables & thompson. they should have been hung from the nearest tree for what they did to that poor toddler.

Exactly.  I read the article pints linked to, the pair of them knew exactly what they were doing every step of the way.  They deliberately deceived adults who were questioning them about Jamie as Jamie was obviously crying at times and was very distressed at times as well.  Hanging would have been too good for them

The fox makes good points here. AMA , answer the question. Hang 10 year olds ?

[was]

[
martin clarke was not super at all tonight, quite a few misplaced passes and kicked the ball straight into an opponents hands at the end which lead to the free to equalise.

He is capable of more but he was super and the best player on the field by a country mile

As a break from the tension of the second semi-final, csan someone tell me who is the minor final ?

This will be an even contest if Dan is, as looks likely,unavailable.
It is a real disappointment for a man who has led by example, from his speech thh the Club Down dinner, through lifting the Mc Kenna Cup to 5 All-Star performances in the championship. I have seen more than Clancy target him over the last few years- I suspect the thinking is because he's not 15 stone, hit him, and he will either hit you back and Down lose their top fielder ,or he will be 'shook-up' and go off his game.
We've seen he is made of better stuff and I hope we can get some mercy ( for the first time ) if there is an appeal.
On the game itself, Luke Horward is up to marking Mattie but will concede a couple of inches and a lot of experience.
However, his progress , along with the passing of Aidan Carr, the all-round excellence of Dan,the maturing of Ambrose and the 'Gift from God' as one poster called Benny , have been highlights of a very enjoyable championship.
If we get past them and get Armagh, I would have no fear, as I think we will have learned more form the USFC S/F,and we have the best management team left in the competition.The other three provincial winners are strong and good footballers.
We need Dan the man.

Is the game available on-line ?
I predict a narrow Down win, notwithstanding that Laois were the best team we played last year.
I then predict we get our third Leinster team in a row and stuff Wexford at Navan.
The magical journey will end at the QF stage -hopefully we get to Croke as Ben and Dan deserve All-Star nominations.

The mystic has gone out of Meg but won't argue about Croke rather than Navan.
If the Loughinisland one gets justice I stand by my prediction

Is the game available on-line ?
I predict a narrow Down win, notwithstanding that Laois were the best team we played last year.
I then predict we get our third Leinster team in a row and stuff Wexford at Navan.
The magical journey will end at the QF stage -hopefully we get to Croke as Ben and Dan deserve All-Star nominations.

Big problems for little Rafa.Apart from Pepe,Mascharano and Torres (!), has bought poorly.However, he mighy still redeem himself in CL.

Setanta Sports 2 are showing it at 10.15.This will be available to people on the Virgin/Setanta deal in NI

Paddy Heaney says 1.30 in the Irish News