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But don't try and claim that he has some kind to massive legacy at adult level in GAA and is there on merit, he is there on underage reputation and hype alone nothing else.

Right.... So pretty much like every other minor star that gets thrown straight on to a senior team.. There is a pretty long list of lads in Derry alone that have played senior county with nothing, other than underage reputation, to go on.

How many of those had a 4 year gap from their minor to senior with little or no senior football and a handful of GAA training sessions at most??
Again, I repeat, I hope Conor is a huge success. He was a very very good underage player, but IN MY OPINION (and that's all it is) he should have been allowed to find his feet at club level next year before being rushed back.

[elite, professional level for the last number of years]

Glass should never have been near a county panel this year. Was a very good underage player and hopefully will also be a very good senior player, but he has played little or no senior football of any note and hasn't played at all in 4 years, absolutely disgraceful that he is drafted in straight off the plane on underage reputation alone. Should have been left to play some senior football with Glen before he was ever looked at for county.

True. Same goes for Conor mckenna too

Not true.  Conor Glass was playing at elite, professional level for the last number of years, he put his hand up again to represent the county on return - which is more than some other players who never left these shore did.   He deserved the chance for a number of reasons - to possibly play a key role in a one-off year, to get a sense of how quickly he might or might not adapt and to encourage those around him.  Today's performance gave him and Gallagher some more information.  It will take him much longer to adapt and Conor now knows that fully.  However he could still be effective v Ard Mhacha, albeit in a more defensive or man-marking role.  Derry aren't that long out of Division 4, still haven't got out of Division 3 and do not have a queue of others lining up to play for the county.  Conor will be grand - it was just disappointing for Derry today, and for him, that he didn't have a better game.  If he does feature v Ard Mhacha, he will give 100%.

He was playing a totally different sport, he hasn't played any kind of competitive Gaelic football in at least 4 years and hasn't played at all (bar against Banagher as another poster said) at adult level. There is absolutely no way he should have been rushed straight into the county set up. As I said, I hope he goes on to be as good and successful a senior player as he was underage, but he has done nothing to merit it yet and the ridiculous OTT attention on him by the Derry GAA community and local media could actually be detrimental to his development as a player.

Highlighted above is all opinion - which you are entitled to.

So by highlighting 'totally' are yous saying that AFL is the same as GAA?? It's a professional sport played in a completely different climate with a different size and  shaped pitch with a different shaped ball with completely different rules set, other than it being a 'catch and kick' game, it is a different totally sport. As for the other parts please enlighten me as to Conors vast experience at senior adult level in GAA??? Also the balk of your highlighted part is my explaining why I don't think he should be in the panel....which I already said was my opinion.
If you think Conor should be in the panel then more power to you and everyone else, we are all welcome to our opinion, but don't try and claim that he has some kind to massive legacy at adult level in GAA and is there on merit, he is there on underage reputation and hype alone nothing else.

Yous???  I speak for myself, thank you.   Now you are at rant stage and since I don't rate your opinion, neither do I feel any need to enlighten you further!  Conor is born and bred in Derry, represented his proud club Glen at county and provincial level with outstanding success, his school at provincial and national level with outstanding success and Doire at Ulster and All-Ireland level (with as much success as Doire have had in the last generation!), both underage and now senior - so I couldn't really give a shite what you think, although 'balk' is usually a term used in snooker.  Conor might even be good at that also?!  Conor is there on merit and anyone I have spoken to from the county is delighted to welcome him back to play with many of the same young men with whom he achieved so much.

Your arrogance and ignorance are astounding even for this site. Having a different opinion does not mean you are enlightening anyone, unless you value your own opinion above everyone else's which you obviously do. But just to humour you, no one is doubting Conor's ability and achievements at underage but please oh glorious one of all knowledge let us know what Conor has achieved to this point at senior level?

[elite, professional level for the last number of years]

Glass should never have been near a county panel this year. Was a very good underage player and hopefully will also be a very good senior player, but he has played little or no senior football of any note and hasn't played at all in 4 years, absolutely disgraceful that he is drafted in straight off the plane on underage reputation alone. Should have been left to play some senior football with Glen before he was ever looked at for county.

True. Same goes for Conor mckenna too

Not true.  Conor Glass was playing at elite, professional level for the last number of years, he put his hand up again to represent the county on return - which is more than some other players who never left these shore did.   He deserved the chance for a number of reasons - to possibly play a key role in a one-off year, to get a sense of how quickly he might or might not adapt and to encourage those around him.  Today's performance gave him and Gallagher some more information.  It will take him much longer to adapt and Conor now knows that fully.  However he could still be effective v Ard Mhacha, albeit in a more defensive or man-marking role.  Derry aren't that long out of Division 4, still haven't got out of Division 3 and do not have a queue of others lining up to play for the county.  Conor will be grand - it was just disappointing for Derry today, and for him, that he didn't have a better game.  If he does feature v Ard Mhacha, he will give 100%.

He was playing a totally different sport, he hasn't played any kind of competitive Gaelic football in at least 4 years and hasn't played at all (bar against Banagher as another poster said) at adult level. There is absolutely no way he should have been rushed straight into the county set up. As I said, I hope he goes on to be as good and successful a senior player as he was underage, but he has done nothing to merit it yet and the ridiculous OTT attention on him by the Derry GAA community and local media could actually be detrimental to his development as a player.

Highlighted above is all opinion - which you are entitled to.

So by highlighting 'totally' are yous saying that AFL is the same as GAA?? It's a professional sport played in a completely different climate with a different size and  shaped pitch with a different shaped ball with completely different rules set, other than it being a 'catch and kick' game, it is a different totally sport. As for the other parts please enlighten me as to Conors vast experience at senior adult level in GAA??? Also the balk of your highlighted part is my explaining why I don't think he should be in the panel....which I already said was my opinion.
If you think Conor should be in the panel then more power to you and everyone else, we are all welcome to our opinion, but don't try and claim that he has some kind to massive legacy at adult level in GAA and is there on merit, he is there on underage reputation and hype alone nothing else.

[elite, professional level for the last number of years]

Glass should never have been near a county panel this year. Was a very good underage player and hopefully will also be a very good senior player, but he has played little or no senior football of any note and hasn't played at all in 4 years, absolutely disgraceful that he is drafted in straight off the plane on underage reputation alone. Should have been left to play some senior football with Glen before he was ever looked at for county.

True. Same goes for Conor mckenna too

Not true.  Conor Glass was playing at elite, professional level for the last number of years, he put his hand up again to represent the county on return - which is more than some other players who never left these shore did.   He deserved the chance for a number of reasons - to possibly play a key role in a one-off year, to get a sense of how quickly he might or might not adapt and to encourage those around him.  Today's performance gave him and Gallagher some more information.  It will take him much longer to adapt and Conor now knows that fully.  However he could still be effective v Ard Mhacha, albeit in a more defensive or man-marking role.  Derry aren't that long out of Division 4, still haven't got out of Division 3 and do not have a queue of others lining up to play for the county.  Conor will be grand - it was just disappointing for Derry today, and for him, that he didn't have a better game.  If he does feature v Ard Mhacha, he will give 100%.

He was playing a totally different sport, he hasn't played any kind of competitive Gaelic football in at least 4 years and hasn't played at all (bar against Banagher as another poster said) at adult level. There is absolutely no way he should have been rushed straight into the county set up. As I said, I hope he goes on to be as good and successful a senior player as he was underage, but he has done nothing to merit it yet and the ridiculous OTT attention on him by the Derry GAA community and local media could actually be detrimental to his development as a player.

What a load of balls.

Very constructive. Which part is balls?? Has he played any senior football of note? Has he been playing another sport? Has he actually proving anything at senior level??? If you disagree with my opinion that he shouldn't  be in the in the squad then fine, but nothing I have said is a 'load of balls' it's all factual.

Not a load of balls - more about 2 balls, one round and one oval!!  Some of what you wrote is opinion so not necessarily factual!!  Anyhow, as most posters will know, many of the skills are very transferable so the 2 games are not as completely different as you suggest -  hence the huge interest from Australia, not to mention the money involved.  As already stated, Conor will be grand and if he does feature v Ard Mhacha, he will give 100%.   Doire abú!!

The only part of my post which is opinion is my opinion that he shouldn't be in the squad at this stage. The two sports (while having some similarities) are in fact different sports, Conor hasn't in fact played any real senior football, and he hasn't proven anything in Gaelic football at adult level. Those are all facts and not opinion. As for your 'he will give 100%', am sure he will, but that's the bare minimum anyone representing our county should be expected to give and am sure any of the hundreds (thousands??) of other players eligible for Derry would do the same so am not sure what your point is in adding that as some kind of badge of honour. Listen, am sure Conor is a good lad, he is obviously an impressive physical specimen and out of the players we have lost to the AFL in recent years I think he is possibly the one who could make an impact at county level. But that still doesn't change my opinion that someone who has never played senior football, who hasn't played any Gaelic in 4 years and who is literally just off the plane should not be placed straight into a senior county panel and into a starting lineup after 2/3 training sessions. Just my opinion.

[elite, professional level for the last number of years]

Glass should never have been near a county panel this year. Was a very good underage player and hopefully will also be a very good senior player, but he has played little or no senior football of any note and hasn't played at all in 4 years, absolutely disgraceful that he is drafted in straight off the plane on underage reputation alone. Should have been left to play some senior football with Glen before he was ever looked at for county.

True. Same goes for Conor mckenna too

Not true.  Conor Glass was playing at elite, professional level for the last number of years, he put his hand up again to represent the county on return - which is more than some other players who never left these shore did.   He deserved the chance for a number of reasons - to possibly play a key role in a one-off year, to get a sense of how quickly he might or might not adapt and to encourage those around him.  Today's performance gave him and Gallagher some more information.  It will take him much longer to adapt and Conor now knows that fully.  However he could still be effective v Ard Mhacha, albeit in a more defensive or man-marking role.  Derry aren't that long out of Division 4, still haven't got out of Division 3 and do not have a queue of others lining up to play for the county.  Conor will be grand - it was just disappointing for Derry today, and for him, that he didn't have a better game.  If he does feature v Ard Mhacha, he will give 100%.

He was playing a totally different sport, he hasn't played any kind of competitive Gaelic football in at least 4 years and hasn't played at all (bar against Banagher as another poster said) at adult level. There is absolutely no way he should have been rushed straight into the county set up. As I said, I hope he goes on to be as good and successful a senior player as he was underage, but he has done nothing to merit it yet and the ridiculous OTT attention on him by the Derry GAA community and local media could actually be detrimental to his development as a player.

What a load of balls.

Very constructive. Which part is balls?? Has he played any senior football of note? Has he been playing another sport? Has he actually proving anything at senior level??? If you disagree with my opinion that he shouldn't  be in the in the squad then fine, but nothing I have said is a 'load of balls' it's all factual.

[elite, professional level for the last number of years]

Glass should never have been near a county panel this year. Was a very good underage player and hopefully will also be a very good senior player, but he has played little or no senior football of any note and hasn't played at all in 4 years, absolutely disgraceful that he is drafted in straight off the plane on underage reputation alone. Should have been left to play some senior football with Glen before he was ever looked at for county.

True. Same goes for Conor mckenna too

Not true.  Conor Glass was playing at elite, professional level for the last number of years, he put his hand up again to represent the county on return - which is more than some other players who never left these shore did.   He deserved the chance for a number of reasons - to possibly play a key role in a one-off year, to get a sense of how quickly he might or might not adapt and to encourage those around him.  Today's performance gave him and Gallagher some more information.  It will take him much longer to adapt and Conor now knows that fully.  However he could still be effective v Ard Mhacha, albeit in a more defensive or man-marking role.  Derry aren't that long out of Division 4, still haven't got out of Division 3 and do not have a queue of others lining up to play for the county.  Conor will be grand - it was just disappointing for Derry today, and for him, that he didn't have a better game.  If he does feature v Ard Mhacha, he will give 100%.

He was playing a totally different sport, he hasn't played any kind of competitive Gaelic football in at least 4 years and hasn't played at all (bar against Banagher as another poster said) at adult level. There is absolutely no way he should have been rushed straight into the county set up. As I said, I hope he goes on to be as good and successful a senior player as he was underage, but he has done nothing to merit it yet and the ridiculous OTT attention on him by the Derry GAA community and local media could actually be detrimental to his development as a player.

Glass should never have been near a county panel this year. Was a very good underage player and hopefully will also be a very good senior player, but he has played little or no senior football of any note and hasn't played at all in 4 years, absolutely disgraceful that he is drafted in straight off the plane on underage reputation alone. Should have been left to play some senior football with Glen before he was ever looked at for county.

Not to answer the OP but to contribute to the other posts on here. I am involved in the committee of both my local GAA club and local junior league soccer club, i also regularly attend the league meetings of the soccer league we are in. We have approx 35 teams in our league structure and from my knowledge it's only those very few who are also affiliated with intermediate clubs who have any form of constitution or bank accounts, I'd hazard a guess at about 30 out of them, including ourselves, very much still work 'out of the biscuit tin'. We lift £3 a man every week and do one draw a year and this covers everything the club has to pay, off the top of my head I'd say between pitch, referee, washing rigs etc... a full year you could probably run a local junior soccer club on about £1500-£2000. In contrast my local GAA club can take between £70k-£90 a year in running costs alone, before you go into any thing over and above, we HAVE to have a constitution and we have to have audited bank accounts etc... to equate a local GAA club to a junior soccer club in regards to viability for funding is ridiculous. A standard GAA club would be more akin to a IL soccer club and hence the reason they can apply for funding while the large majority of soccer clubs cannot.

S'Neil
Greenlough
Desertmartin or Craigbane at push id go Desertmartin

[The likes of Dormans etc should be closed imo.]

Dormans in Magherafelt announced earlier in the week that three customers had been positive, so my understanding is that players from our club who were there at the weekend went for testing as a precaution. All ours came back negative. Heard most clubs locally did the same. The likes of Dormans etc should be closed imo.

Totally agree, there are a lot of businesses trying very hard to stick to the guidelines and then places like Dormans, Granny Annies and more I am sure, are just ripping the a**e out of it and piling as many people as possible in.

[The Loup]

Any predictions for the weekends game?

The Loup  v  Bellaghy
Newbridgev   Foreglen
Slaughtneil  v  Kilrea
Eoghan Rua  v  Lavey
Glen  v  Banagher
Magherafelt  v  Ballinderry
Ballinascreen  v  Claudy
Swatragh  v  Dungiven


Limavady  v  Glack
Glenullin  v  Steelstown
Faughanvale  v  Doire Trasna
Castledawson  v Slaughtmanus
Greenlough  v  Ballymaguigan


Craigbane  v  Magilligan
Desertmartin  v  Moneymore GAC



Also, Anyone know why Lissan have conceded their game at the weekend v Drumsurn? Or so it shows on the Derry website anyway.

Considering two of the clubs who have apparently shut down have phoned my own club looking for friendlies THIS WEEKEND, am not sure how sincere the announcements actually are. And if it was the case, how much will they know by Monday?? Obviously should a player actually test positive this will change but the announcements over the last few days in most cases were just to be seen to do something in my opinion.

The first sentence of your above post contains a statement re contact received by your club, not an opinion.  Can you verify that it is true and accurate?  If not, perhaps time to fully retract? No animosity (though some of the clubs you have cast aspersions on may not agree!), simply fact-finding with regard to your initial post.

There are better ways of fact finding than accusing someone of self righteous arrogance simply because they have a differing opinion to yours.
As for the original post, it is a statement based on information I was given (the same as others who have said players got tested). I am not casting aspersions on all ten clubs as you say, but surely to call out the 2 clubs I was told about on an anonymous discussion board for an action that didn't actually happen in the end up (the matches I mean) would cause more harm than good? While I wholeheartedly believe the person who told me this, and they are well placed to know, whose to say the requests weren't made by a couple of rogue managers or selectors without the knowledge of the clubs, putting out the feelers as it were. Therefore I think it would serve no purpose to 'name and shame' the clubs as I have no information beyond a member of their clubs phoned a member of ours looking for a senior friendly last weekend.

You just keep digging!  Now it might have been rogue managers!!!!!!!!!!  The Lord appeared on to Mary and said "Any chance of a friendly?!!"  Ok ok, you win ... again.  You are right.  Fair play to ye!   Don't forget your shovel ...!  Enough said.  Good man Christy!

Do you understand the meaning of the words 'may have'. It also may have been the case that their whole club knew, only the people who made the call can answer that. But let me put it in plain English for you one last time so there is no confusion. I was (reliably in my opinion) informed that someone from two clubs phoned someone from our club asking a friendly last weekend. End of story. That's all I said in my first post and that's all I've reiterated since. The nature of these calls in terms of the knowledge of the club behind them is purely conjecture. If you believe what I've been told or not, I couldn't care less. But this is a discussion board and I thought the information was pertinent to the discussion that was raised.
Now why don't you answer my other point (Actually my main point as it was made on the back of the statement about requesting a friendly). Do you really believe that the clubs closing for 3/5 days and then opening up again (in most cases) really did so in order to benefit their community? Because I don't, I think they (as most clubs would) did the bare minimum to save face and adhere to obligations. And to say otherwise and make out they did so out of pure kindness of heart and moral or civic duty is naivety in the extreme (in my opinion).

Considering two of the clubs who have apparently shut down have phoned my own club looking for friendlies THIS WEEKEND, am not sure how sincere the announcements actually are. And if it was the case, how much will they know by Monday?? Obviously should a player actually test positive this will change but the announcements over the last few days in most cases were just to be seen to do something in my opinion.

The first sentence of your above post contains a statement re contact received by your club, not an opinion.  Can you verify that it is true and accurate?  If not, perhaps time to fully retract? No animosity (though some of the clubs you have cast aspersions on may not agree!), simply fact-finding with regard to your initial post.

There are better ways of fact finding than accusing someone of self righteous arrogance simply because they have a differing opinion to yours.
As for the original post, it is a statement based on information I was given (the same as others who have said players got tested). I am not casting aspersions on all ten clubs as you say, but surely to call out the 2 clubs I was told about on an anonymous discussion board for an action that didn't actually happen in the end up (the matches I mean) would cause more harm than good? While I wholeheartedly believe the person who told me this, and they are well placed to know, whose to say the requests weren't made by a couple of rogue managers or selectors without the knowledge of the clubs, putting out the feelers as it were. Therefore I think it would serve no purpose to 'name and shame' the clubs as I have no information beyond a member of their clubs phoned a member of ours looking for a senior friendly last weekend. 

I think if you dig deeper that the advice to the clubs was to play away/train away. The member/members of the clubs that were at the center of the scare and anybody who had close contact with them was to go and get tested and stay isolated until results came back. Anyone who had casual contact with the member with the suspected case was to carry on with their normal everyday activities. The Derry County board input was to send out a flow chart to the clubs showing the actions to be taken as advised by Croke Park. The clubs done what they were instructed to do with in guideline supplied

So they did the bare minimum that was required by the GAA. Doesn't quiet scream 'looking out for their community' tho does it. Listen am not saying that clubs have done anything wrong (other than the two who wanted a friendly but that's just hearsay and I'll not be commenting on it again), on the contrary, doing anything is better than doing nothing. But IMO, and it's just my opinion, closing for 3/5 days was just to be seen to do something (or perhaps what they had to to keep the GAA happy) rather than actually wanting to make a real difference. Their actions aren't as altruistic as some posters are making out.

The last time I heard such self-righteous arrogance was from the pulpit.  Now, he doesn't want to 'discuss' the rumours he started on this 'discussion' board!?  Too late for that.  However, to state that 10 of our clubs are selfish and only acted out of self-interest is insulting to all Derry GAA members.  Disgraceful.

I have no interest in animosity with anyone on a message board and I think you resulting to insults is totally uncalled for. The bottom line is I was given information from a very good source who I trust, and I passed it on for discussion. If you think it's bullshit then fine, that's you and everyone else's prerogative. Also some posters seem to think that by closing for 3 days that all 10 clubs should be roundly praised as the bastions of public health, and I've simply given my opinion that they did it to safe face and comply with GAA regulations as I believe real action would have been to close for 2 weeks and demand everyone gets tested.
And just to clarify, my issue isn't with the clubs here, every other club would have done the same, and they have fulfilled their obligations, my issue is with posters making them out to be all wonderful because they closed for 3 days. In my opinion that's not true.
Just because we are all gaels doesn't mean we have to blindly praise everything the GAA or a club do.

I think if you dig deeper that the advice to the clubs was to play away/train away. The member/members of the clubs that were at the center of the scare and anybody who had close contact with them was to go and get tested and stay isolated until results came back. Anyone who had casual contact with the member with the suspected case was to carry on with their normal everyday activities. The Derry County board input was to send out a flow chart to the clubs showing the actions to be taken as advised by Croke Park. The clubs done what they were instructed to do with in guideline supplied

So they did the bare minimum that was required by the GAA. Doesn't quiet scream 'looking out for their community' tho does it. Listen am not saying that clubs have done anything wrong (other than the two who wanted a friendly but that's just hearsay and I'll not be commenting on it again), on the contrary, doing anything is better than doing nothing. But IMO, and it's just my opinion, closing for 3/5 days was just to be seen to do something (or perhaps what they had to to keep the GAA happy) rather than actually wanting to make a real difference. Their actions aren't as altruistic as some posters are making out.