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Still, if it does manage to get a few tourists in the country (I doubt whther it will) then it'd be worth it.

The visit is only supposed to be worth about €150 million in advertising to the country.


Hardly worth it really

where did you rip that figure out of (apart from your arse)

A good thing about living in England is that I dont get all the prematch buld up, ie who's injured, who might be injured and not playing etc. When I was at home - Lurgan - this used to occupy my mind all day everyday. Now, I just get snippets by coming on here. As a result, Im maybe more optimistic about an Armagh win than others, probably niavely so but who cares.
On a side note, anyone know anywhere in Newcastle, England, thatll be showing the game? Would be much appreciated as Im on a stag do there this weekend and dont wanna miss the BIG game of Saturday night

Try Tyneside Irish centre

let'd be frank if your enjoying newcastle properly you won't be too worried about Down or Armagh - i know i wouldn't be!

An Taoiseach did well. Watched it there yesterday, good job done.

Based on this i withdraw my assertion that Kenny looked ok because you being impressed by something usually means bad for the rest of Ireland

i see the NI Supporters clubs have got together and wrote a letter in the irish news today, first of all i'm shocked they were able to string a coherent letter together (kudos for that) but secondly how they fail to realise that it is such a cold house for Catholics/nationalists.

they talk about the great strides and fair enough there have been some changes but they don't go far enough, the basterdised ulster flag and GSTQ being played has to go for a start

how many B/Junior/underage internationals are held in solitude or Celtic Park - zero.

Brendan crossan wrote a good article on this in last weeks irish news, they could do worse than go and have a look at it

Anyone got a copy of said letter?

i don't but if you were depressed it would really cheer you up!

the clown who wrote it was on UTV live last night - i never seen worse in my life, is this really the best they have to trot out???

he also said they were boycotting the NI game - fans boycotting their own team, do they not realise they are shooting themselves in the foot - it's only a matter of time before it grinds to a halt if they keep this behaviour up - so here's hoping 

[DERRY MAN.]

i breathed a sigh of relief last night reading the local paper - the down representative meeting the queen was a DERRY MAN. Paddy McFlynn, former GAA president currently living in Tullylish and i stand open to correction but from the article it appeared he was asked on a persoanl basis and not via the county board - i knew Down weren't as spineless as people would have us believe!!!

i heard thomas niblock on bbc radio this morning saying that armagh are blaming slane for the poor ticket sales - i had to laugh at that

I was in tears by the time I reached the end of that letter, all that was missing was a lone violin player performing a turgid dirge of a lament ... pathetic 

ha ha yeah it was shockingly bad, it was like ''bigger boys took our ball away'' ha ha

really looking forward to it the closer we get to saturday but not in a cocky way - there will be a piece of paper at most between the two teams come the final whistle.

Armagh are nowhere near as bad as their fans would like us to believe and I for one would be very, very wary of the threat they pose.

Hope to fu*k Coulter is fit!

[Nally, the British State has apologised where appropriate to innocent victims.]

Nally, the British State has apologised where appropriate to innocent victims. You need to realise that the war was fought through propaganda as well as pyysical means. I am not saying the the British are justified in the position they are taking. However we need to recognise that as a sovereign state it will not give an unconditional apology to combatants such as Loughgall and Gibralter. And yes in these incidents I take issue with the "it's not a war" line from the British who then shoot unarmed IRA people but the IRA were equally hypocritical in declaring it a war yet complaining that they weren't arrested. Both were and are playing the propaganda game. I am a nationalist who suports the aim of a UI. All I am saying is that we need to take a balanced and realistic view of what is achievable.

I sill don't know where you are getting this idea from that Britain has apologised where appropriate. I mentioned a local family earlier who fell victim to collusion and they would beg to differ that Britain has apologised where appropriate. As, I'm sure, would several hundred other families for that matter.

Nally stand, been reading your posts recently,  i am curious about what form this apology would/ should take, would a Bloody Sunday type one from Cameron do, covering all nationalist victims of the crown forces dating back to cromwell, or would a truth and reconcelliation type forum need to be set up i.e South Africa, i am not been smart here or anything but i am curious on the format.

Personally speaking, wouldn't it be a great start if we had a British Head of State or Head of Government making some form of a spoken statement? Though I'm sure many recent victims families would like to see a truth and reconciliation forum so that full transparency could be achieved into how they lost their loved ones. And that means from every side. I don't pretend to be an expert on how such a forum would work so I wouldn't want to say a whole lot about it. My general point is simply that the families of the states victims should be absolutely entitled to the same acknowledgement and apology from the state as the IRA offered to it's victims back in 2002. It would at least be a starting point for truth and reconciliation to be taken seriously from.

Think I posted a few days ago here that would be the way to go. But there is a flip side to that coin. Apart from providing info on graves of disappeared etc the IRA would have to reveal Adam & McGuinness's full role as paramilitary leaders not to mention the atrocities committed during their "term". The same for loyalist politicians. British collusion of course amongst other things would be opened up. But for SF it could open a can of worms. Not sure they'd want it. I do agree with you however that the Queen's apology didnt go far enough and that there is far too much significance being made of her visit and statement. But you also have to bear in mind the provos apology in the poblacht or wherever probably gives little comfort to the relatives of the men, women and children killed in Warrington, Birmingham, Guilford, Enniskillen not to mention Marie McConville's kids. The victims you're talking about dont have a monoply on grief.

My point all along has been about victims. And im my post about a truth and reconciliation forum, as I mentioned, all sides would have to commit to it. That includes republicans. As for your statement that the IRA apology to it's victims might be of little comfort; well, that may be the case for some, though I would imagine there were some families who on some level, took it as a positive development. As I keep saying, to ensure no hierarchy of victims, the families of state murder should not be denied a similar gesture.

Nally's point is correct - an a pology by definition has the words apology or i am sorry - the IRA did this, whether people want to admit it or not they have apologised for their part in the conflict. The British Government has not. This isn't a grey area where people feel the queen did enough to nearly apologise. To me that's a whitewash, Nicholas Witchell the BBC royal correspondent said ''the queen doesn't apologise and that's as close as it comes''.

My question is why? why can she not? do the Brits think they are that a superior race that they have never done any wrong.

Reminds me of the old adge, the man who has never made a mistake....

I am in the minority also as I thought Kenny did a good job at the introduction, he has looked more of a competent leader these past few days.

i would have to agree, i don't like his party or what they stand for but he actually looks and sounds like a competent statesman

i see the NI Supporters clubs have got together and wrote a letter in the irish news today, first of all i'm shocked they were able to string a coherent letter together (kudos for that) but secondly how they fail to realise that it is such a cold house for Catholics/nationalists.

they talk about the great strides and fair enough there have been some changes but they don't go far enough, the basterdised ulster flag and GSTQ being played has to go for a start

how many B/Junior/underage internationals are held in solitude or Celtic Park - zero.

Brendan crossan wrote a good article on this in last weeks irish news, they could do worse than go and have a look at it

RIP Garret. The fact that the SF cabal here can't find it in themselves to exhibit a little generosity of spirit even on the occasion of his wake, in defiance of the best Irish tradition, says a lot about them and indeed about him.

I would give him the same respect he gave the Hunger strikers.

What is it about Provo supporters who think everyone should have given them everything they wanted, when they wanted and how they wanted it.

All I said was I would give him the same respect he gave to the hunger strikers,whats your problem with that.Did you not think he gave the hunger strikers and their families respect?

So you didn t like Fitzgerald attitude to the Hunger Strikers. Maybe he didn t see them as freedom fighters but as part of organisations who were only good at killing people whom he found abhorrant !

Got it at last Gaffer,so as I said I will pay him the same respect as he paid the Hunger strikers,but I would have thought the leader of a country and someone who was supposed to be a humanitarian could have at least agreed to meet their families afterall they had killed none.Then again to do that he might have had to grow a pair before he faced Maggie who no doubt would have slapped his wrist for going against her instructions.So no respect from me as I found him abhorrent.

have to agree with glens abu - it's all right for the lads from the 26 slating our freedom fighters but holding up the previous generation as heroes - let's be clear on this, during those dark days we always looked to the south for leadership and at the very least solidarity - to ignore the request to meet the families of these brave men as it was against the 'iron lady's wishes' was nothing short of cowardice and a dereliction of duty especially given that at that time he was bound under articles 2 and 3 of the Irish constitution to claim the entire island as his jurisdiction.

when our backs were against the wall he was found wanting - utterly unforgivable

lads whats the craic with ticket allocation? i heard the clubs are getting 2 seating tickets and the rest are terracing, is that right??

Enda: Yes I can !

Enda, Yes I would

Michelle needs her back doors smashed in. Simples.

Nope , its our Senior team, dont be pissing on our parade now!

Fair play KM!!!