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Greencastle got a good win yesterday at last and put up a big enough score too. Might save themselves yet.

Video, pictures, facebook profiles etc doing the rounds now and it definitely isn't in the US. Much closer to home and I'm sure very embarrassing for all concerned. Families ruined here, jobs probably lost so think before you send this stuff on to people just to have the laugh.

Derrytresk management gone also I'm led to believe.

Thought this a particularly strange one, but asked a reliable source and he confirmed it. Says a few senior players forced the management out

Because a different manager would make them competitive? Not so sure. Did the Hill not finish 6th in Div 3 last year?
Who was the manager? Emmet Teague?

Strange from what perspective?

Personally i think standards have dropped across the board this year. Most teams are capable of beating each other on their day with the exception of a couple of fixtures in Div 1 where there would be no contest. However if you look at Div 1 and 2, Trillick unbeaten in Div 1 and Eglish in Div 2. I think it's more a case of other teams slipping rather than those 2 improving that much. In Div 2 literally any team could beat the other with a couple of injuries or boys going to america being the difference between challenging or midtable, staying up or relegation.

I've heard of quite a lot of clubs saying they haven't got the numbers they would have had previous years. I think there's a general apathy at the minute, particularly with younger squad/reserve players. Demands are increasing, gone are the days of half the reserve team turning up on a Sunday to play a bit of football after a few beers on a Saturday night. Those that do get badly exposed as the fitness of club players has increased over the years in the same way as it has for county. Anybody that can only commit to the odd training or one night a week then when they do turn up realises they're way off the pace. Puts boys off.
Add in that younger ones just don't seem to have the same gra for the game and the club as ones gone before them...all leads to lower numbers. Boys can take or it leave it now. When i first started it was all in.

Saying that i can't wait for the league to start on Saturday! hope the weather holds up

Legal bill likely to be in the hundreds of thousands for each defendant. Jackson and Olding will need contracts in France to pay for it all!

Syferus, i've been reading this thread with interest over the course of the trial and most posters seem fairly rationale.

I think any person reading through the tweets we've all seen would be left at the same position - i.e. who the hell knows what actually happened here, every single persons' account is different and it's extremely difficult to try and establish who is telling the truth. I have yet to speak to one person who can say hand on heart they strongly believe either side.

I find it baffling how you can be so strongly adamant of guilt by the rugby players when you're getting the exact same info as the rest of joe public are getting.

What makes so much against them? Is it personal?

This place is a place for opinions, no-one's disputing that. But your continued tirades against other posters who are of a different opinion or merely question your opinion is quite strange.

Do you know something about this story the rest of us don't?

Yawn.....the anti-harte posts really do get boring.

PJ is denying there was any sex yet witness says she saw him  IP thrusting in sex movements. Did the witness say that she saw where both his hands were placed? Trying to look at the rationale of this and without being too graphic, is it outside the realms of possibility that there was no penile penetration by PJ but he was using his fingers/hand/fist? It might explain (1) why PJ is denying penile sex (2) the injuries to IP (im sure a rough fisting could do as much damage as rough sex. In a drunken/traumatic state and not facing away from PJ, the IP could have been mistaken into thinking it was his penis rather than hand/fist (no need for jokes about size etc)

Maybe clutching at straws but can't understand why PJ and witness could be contradictory otherwise.

If that is the case, is that still rape or just sexual assault?

Also, today's testimony from the policeman who interviewed Harrison and Harrison's statement appear to differ somewhat from the taxi driver account in terms of IP crying, Harrison's actions on phone etc.

Reading through this thread would put years on you! It's amazing the number of legal experts that read this board as well.

A few things I would note;
1.I don't think any contributors have been sitting in the court room each day so we're only going on the newspaper reports which obviously won't be the full story. But I fail to see how anyone could firm to a firm conclusion either way at this point. The prosecution case made the alleged perpetrators look bad. The defence will now try and put doubt on that story and make the alleged victim look bad. This is a serious matter affecting peoples lives. Wait to the end before making judgements about people.
2.I have seen photos which apparently show the victim involved. Who knows if they are real or not. Either way, whatever way a girl is dresses DOES NOT indicate she is fair game or somehow brought this on herself. Crazy attitude to take.
3.Best and Henderson - advised/directed by senior counsel to attend. Unless I'm mistaken, barristers do not have any power to compel anyone to go to court so this can be construed as the defendant's barristers asked them to attend and they duly agreed. You could look at this two ways. Firstly, a move by the defence to create the media hysteria we've seen, take attention away from Jackson etc and secondly, it also seems like common sense. You're considering providing a character witness for someone accused of rape. Would you not want to hear both sides of the story, get a sense for the thing before you do that? I know i would.

San Fran is a great city, easily spend 4 or 5 days there. Then drive on down towards LA taking in Monterey, Carmel, Santa Barbara etc.
Could also detour inland to Lake Tahoe (northeast) or Yosemite (southeast) for some mountains, lakes etc.

Did that trip a few years ago, a lot of driving but possible if you're going for 2 weeks or more.

San fran area isn't exactly roasting though, can be cool enough summers. Better than here obviously but just not that heat you'd expect in California

Why let the truth get it the way of a good rumour!? A quick check on companies house website shows it a Brendan and Mary McDermott that own the company.

The Harte bashing and rubbish on this thread is really tedious at this stage. Yawn.

we really shouldn't be discussing a man's salary on a public forum but I'm led to believe from reliable sources that Peter Donnelly currently isn't getting anywhere near that amount of money. In fact he took a pay cut to come to Tyrone.
The man is at the top of his game, oversees the senior training and S&C for all underage squads as well as plenty of other stuff not often publicised. He works long and unsociable hours, most weekends and if you compared his qualifications, skill set, performance level, hours etc to any other career, you can be sure it would equate to a salary of £40k+.

You can be damn sure Mickey takes home a lot more than that despite that fact that he's not actually paid of course. Would love to see how it's described in the county board's accounts in fairness.

I've had the displeasure of being refereed by Connolly on a few occasions and how he continues to get games is beyond my comprehension. He continually insults players with abusive language, is absolutely inept in terms of enforcing the rules - eg. being an absolute stickler for frees being hit from exactly the spot where the foul took place down to the centimetre, then letting the most obvious fouls go. Never seen him favour any team, just abysmal for both.

Really don't like making personal comments on anyone over an internet forum but unless you experienced this guy first hand you really can't understand how bad it is. I believe there was some issue with him in a soccer league as well. Remember reading about it in papers a while back.

As for the football, a few shocks already Cookstown, Eskra and Pomeroy the obvious ones. On league positions Moy taking Augher is also an upset. Hard for teams dumped out to sit around waiting for league play offs now

Story i heard from someone in the boxing game in Belfast was that the purse has been getting smaller over the last 3 fights. Something in the region of £2.5m then £2m then £1m for the last one which he allegedly didn't even receive. McGuigan has apparently fallen out with every promoter and tv outfit and can't get any decent deals. I think frampton had no choice but to walk.