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I'm supportive of it. The Derry lads have shown a ridiculous level of commitment the past 3 or 4 years and deserve some of the benefits you get from being a top team. They are probably taking in £150k in gate receipts at every home game these days so why not spend some of that on the players.

Has McGuigan not scored far more than that? Not sure on some of the rest.

I'd say that's accurate enough, I don't think he scored from play v Galway and maybe only 1 v Tyrone but was very good the other 3 games. Probably the case for other top forwards too but McGuigan wins an awful lot of Derry's frees too. V Dublin for example in the first half he was fouled 3 times for 3 converted frees.

Derry won't care and the narrative will be about them having half a team out but there have been some very poor performances there tonight. Dubs much more physical in almost every tackle. McGuigan (who has been decent) got out-jumped by Murchan for a goal chance FFS.

The same boy was out jumping Clifford last week. Check him for ped's

I thought McGuigan gave Murchan a bit of a roasting, 4 from play and 3 frees he won himself. Pity he didn't get that long range goal effort it would have made a game of it

McFaul has been good recently, hit a few wides tonight but he's had a good start to the season.

The same posters saying Derry bottled it were the ones outraged that we started the league with the Glen players. Mickey has played the league to perfection imo, pressure off after 4 games and able to rest players.

Dublin showed they are a level above tonight and if we are to stand any chance of beating them we need a full side out and everyone playing well.

Is this pay parity not a bit of a red herring? Are all careers not better paid in the uk than here? I know in general on the engineering/ manufacturing side there is around at least a 10% uplift with similar roles in England (Not including London where it's sharper again). But cost of living here is much lower.

I agree with you that all careers are better paid in the UK but I don't think the argument that the cost of living is much lower holds anymore. Maybe in Rural NI with cheaper houses but not in the greater Belfast area.

House prices in Belfast are similar to many northern English cities, childcare costs here are higher here, going out is more expensive, bills probably the same, groceries more expensive. what exactly is cheaper here compared to Northern England, Scotland or Wales?

Punishment enough watching the team he built do the treble this year.

Quadruple, there is already one in the bag

Anyone that goes into teaching will struggle financially.. is there a lower paid degree course job?

i.e if I did law became solicitor/barrister/corporate law?

Engineer degree and so on?

There are definitely lower paid jobs. I think you'd be surprised to learn what the average solicitor or engineer earns in NI.

Any news on Conor Doherty's injury? Is it a knee injury?

He'll be a big loss for Saturday if not fit, has been one of our best players this year

did dublin just put a lot of people off caring about the all ireland this year.

did dublin just put a lot of people off caring about the all ireland this year.

did dublin just put a lot of people off caring about the all ireland this year.

Isn't this just the league and should we be worried about them peaking too early? Seems to be the narrative when any other team wins big in D1

Clifford can't do it himself all the time. Take the Cliffords and O'Shea out and not many of the remaining 12 start for Derry, Dublin or a full strength Galway. Kerry are relying on Clifford to get 8+ points in these big games or they get beat.

Mayo 2023 are another warning sign for Derry.So are Galway 2023.  Journalists will always focus on the now and both teams got loads of attention in the run up to May, just like Derry now , but neither county was there at the business end.  Both counties have learnt their lesson .
Fans love winning but the All Ireland now is about pace, patience and avoiding injuries. Nobody was talking about Dublin this time last year.

What about 2022?

If Dublin get on a bit of a run by beating Kerry this weekend, we could see the Div 2 final last year having the same teams as the Div 1 final this year.

And the same two in the 2024 All-Ireland Final isn't out of the question either.

Dublin look like a team just happy enough to stay up and if they get within a point or two of Kerry this weekend they'll expect to beat them come championship time.

Kerry, Derry are two above others aiming to reach the league final. Will be interesting to see what shape Derry are in come the business end of the championship, All-Ireland winning manager on board however the mileage in legs of the Glen players are sure to show by then.

David Clifford was burnt out by the time of last year's all Ireland final.

Ha no he wasn't he just hit a few wides. I wish he'd burnt out 2 weeks earlier.

If Dublin get on a bit of a run by beating Kerry this weekend, we could see the Div 2 final last year having the same teams as the Div 1 final this year.

And the same two in the 2024 All-Ireland Final isn't out of the question either.

Dublin look like a team just happy enough to stay up and if they get within a point or two of Kerry this weekend they'll expect to beat them come championship time.

Kerry, Derry are two above others aiming to reach the league final. Will be interesting to see what shape Derry are in come the business end of the championship, All-Ireland winning manager on board however the mileage in legs of the Glen players are sure to show by then.

Every team goes out to win every match. Every D1 team picks the strongest team they have available to them, maybe with the exception of Dublin who have rested a couple (i think). At the start of the year if you offered any D1 manager the chance to win all league games they would take it. So i always laugh at people saying 'aiming to reach a league final' or going all out for the league', they all are until they can't.

Glen got to an AI final last year too, Derry got to a league final, won a tough ulster champ, were still playing in July and lost the AI semi because they missed too many chances. It's more likely than not Derry won't win the AI, and there will be a queue of people lining up to blame their league form but it will have nothing to do with it. Players are capable of playing once a week in 3 week blocks. Sports science is there to manage training loads.

The season has changed now and games come thick and fast, you don't have a month between champ games to work on things. I'd much rather have momentum going into ulster and the group stages than hoping we miraculously find form in June/July.

[Niall O]

Derry were impressive last night, the attacking play was top drawer at stages with attacks in waves and 2 me  running off the shoulder.
That's the first time I've seen a change in style of play, last year we'd run to the corners and then play it back out and across until we got a shooter in a good position.  Last night was much more dynamic and our half back line was immense.
I thought Murray played well, not sure why he was taken  off but Toner did well when introduced too.
Gilmore was very good when he came on.
Mcfaul at an excellent first half.
Glass and Rogers on top for the entire game too.
Mckaigue is a liability.  The amount of needless fouls and the mouthing. He's a red card waiting to happen  and he's not the marker he was. I feel at full strength he's on the bench with mcevoy in there.
We are looking like we have a strong panel now with most positions covered, apart maybe from whb.

Scullion looked more comfortable last night also easing any doubts I had of him after the appearance against Tyrone, but Lynch was out warming up which is hopefully a sign he won't be out for very long

Yes he looked like he's stepping up alright.
But...he wasn't under any real pressure in that game. I don't think he had a single shot to stop.
But kickouts were good, positioning was good, seems very mobile too. I hope he gets another game or two, even if Lynch is recovered. It will protect Lynch, improve Scullion and let the other players get used to playing with him.
Baker really growing into it too, a very assured performance. Hard to fault anyone really on that game.
I was surprised Niall O was playing tbh, after the Sigerson mid week. He's bound to have been on the beer after it. But no shortage of work rate from him all the same.

Unreal work rate anytime Loughlin plays, you need these boys in any successful team

Agreed, I spent a lot of time watching him and he was just constantly on the move. Looks a lot sharper this year too. After McGuigan the one player I thought we couldn't do without if injured was Lynch but Scullion is doing a lot to alleviate those fears. It's a hard team to pick if everyone is fit, which is a welcome contrast to previous years. The half back line was immense once again, McGrogan and Doherty don't really get the plaudits they deserve from the national media but do they ever have a bad game and same for McEvoy too.

I thought Galway looked average enough v Tyrone and would expect us to beat them on current form. Tierney seems to be out as well but Sean Kelly might start. They one caveat is that we never seem to beat Galway but you'd fancy this team to buck that trend at the minute.

I thought Tyrone probably deserved something from that game. Daly needs to shoot at the end there, it's not unlimited time until the attack breaks down.