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If the DUP manoeuvre the British government into postponing/deferring/cancelling the prospect of a border poll it will be the greatest boost to Nationalism since Brexit.

Another strategic masterstroke by the DUP.

If that happened, then Stormont is dead.

It will never happen, it is signed into a internationally recognised framework. Just because the DUP have now realised the implication of this does not change that simply fact.

I know that, and you know that, we all know that.

But in the event of a hung parliament, which I think is quite likely to happen within the next few election cycles, the DUP as kingmakers will easily wring this concession from a tory leader, international treaty or no international treaty.

[Ray McCarron]

Regarding yesterdays game versus Monaghan let us get the negatives out of the way first. Derry in the last two games have been well below par both in the Ulster final and  yesterday. When you take into account that practically the same small panel of players have played seventeen high intensity games from the start of the McKenna Cup, through the League, the Ulster Championship and yesterday it is inevitable that the side can not always perform to the same high level.

Last year they peaked at the Ulster final. This year they peaked at the semi final stage  simply because they had to play at a higher level this year earlier in order to achieve their objective of reaching Division One which they duly did.They had to go to extra time and a penalty shoot out in order to win back to back Ulster titles this year. That fact alone and the management upheaval was obviously a further physical and mental strain on the players.

So the dip in form was inevitable but when you consider their magnificent fight back from being three points down in the last minute to even go temporarily ahead shows the innate fighting spirit and resilience of this team. So all is not yet lost.

True there were other negative factors at play in last night's game. First of all the refereeing was of a very low standard..Throughout the game Derry's central players in particular were continually held off the ball when the kick outs were being taken.  This was a crafty and unfair Monaghan tactic to disrupt Derry from transitioning the ball quickly  to their attacking players.Secondly three diabolical decisions were given against Derry when they were in an advantageous position.They were denied a scoreable free and on two other occasions when Derry should have been awarded frees the decision incredibly went the other way.Finally Moaghan's fifth "point" was clearly wide .

On the Derry debit side three of our players gave away unnecessary frees for which we were duly punished. Our greatest faux paus, however, was to push up too far when Monaghan had possession and leave Monaghan to easily score five points from distance. Grant it they were great points but our central defensive marking which allowed Bannigan , McCarthy and company to score at will was very poor. Three players in particular were very slack and unobservant in this regard.This brings me to another couple of problems. In the modern game the top counties have good long distance dead ball kickers. Unfortunately, we only have the magnificent Shane McGuigan for the short and medium right - sided kicks and Niall Toner for the  short left-sided kicks. Two long distance free kicks at least are scored in every top game.

Three of our defenders and three of our starting forwards have not been playing particularly well in their current roles. Maybe the time has come to revise and freshen up our current structure going forward. I strongly believe that the intelligent ball -winning  and definite scoring prowess of Lachlan Murray has to be utilised from the beginning, that Padraig Cassidy should start and if Oisin McWilliams and Matthew Downey are going to be injured for the long term  management will have to seriously consider recalling Emmett Bradley to join Ray McCarron as subs who will be called upon for meaningful substitute time.

Undoubtedly players should be given plenty of rest time in between playing matches for the rest of the season and hopefully the rehabbing Matthew and Oisin will be able to take their places on the bench very soon. That last ten minutes of inspirational play last night should be a strong signal for both management and players that they are basically on the right track but will have to take into consideration some of the points made above.

A great player.  But I somehow feel his best days are behind him and he would struggle to impact the game even as a sub.

And he's from Monaghan.

If the DUP manoeuvre the British government into postponing/deferring/cancelling the prospect of a border poll it will be the greatest boost to Nationalism since Brexit.

Another strategic masterstroke by the DUP.

Would picking 'weaker' players instead of 'stronger' players not lead to disillusionment amongst the latter.

I know from personal experience that losing more talented players is at least as common as losing less talented people.

I've known people who were taken off in an U16 match who never kicked a ball again. I know players who are togging out for 20 years and who wouldn't start a game more than once a year. 

All of these things have f all squared to do with whether games are competitive at U12. As usual the GAA are making decisions on the hoof, on the scantiest of anecdotal evidence by the looks of things, and without a single thought as to what the detrimental effects could be.

Its like the shitshow that moving to U17s proved to be.

What about 8 groups of four?

Give all teams a chance to be competitive at their own level and with some hope of winning something.

Round robin league championship format with all 4 teams advancing to the preliminary round final. Top plays bottom etc.

I don't know about voting, but you know F all about quoting!!

You can be certain no farmer of any hue will voluntarily give up land for vesting regardless of what use its for.

I know that my e-mail accounts are set up to filter out emails from spam accounts which would include unknown addresses, they will automatically go to junk and there could be up to a couple of dozen coming in there every day.

I never look at it unless someone claims they've sent me an email which I haven't received, which does happen on occasion.

Spam is what you use a spam filter, Gmail does a good job on this. The GAA can hardly filter out emails from unknown addresses unless it keeps a database of all its member's emails.

If I need to receive an email from an unknown address I generally need to send them an email first to which they will reply, otherwise the filter will treat it as spam and it will go into junk. There are infinite variations of filters which treat spam differently of course.

[Was checking if I should get him to replace it or paint over it?]

Mdf mold in a new build house.
Is it normal? Moldy mdf was used in a few places in the house. Should I be mentioning it or is it easy enough to clean off? Have already tried a little bleach and water with little success, should I just paint over it or get it replaced?

Sounds like you have a moisture issue which you need to address first. When did you first notice the mould?

The mdf used by the joiner was moldy before he put it on.

I'd replace the MDF first before investing in ventilation. If it was mouldy it would spread, MDF can hold a lot of moisture and unlike natural timber wont doesn't dry out fully. If its a new build house It shouldn't need additional ventilation, should have been designed in. Is any of the paint on the walls bubbling or flaky in the area the MDF is mouldy, if not I don't think you have damp issues.

Theres nothing wrong with the house itself, the joiner used mdf that had mold on it already. Don't know if it was lying outside before he used it or whatever.
Was checking if I should get him to replace it or paint over it?

Worried just because one area it was used in was the laundry chute where clothes will pile up in.

File under "no brainer".

I know that my e-mail accounts are set up to filter out emails from spam accounts which would include unknown addresses, they will automatically go to junk and there could be up to a couple of dozen coming in there every day.

I never look at it unless someone claims they've sent me an email which I haven't received, which does happen on occasion.

I watched the game last night, when going up for the toss at penalty time O'Neill lifted his shirt and showed ref a mark on his chest, I wondered what was going on with that, maybe a more knowledgeable poster could put the clip up. 

[HERE LOOK AT MEEEEEEE]

A really bad way for any team to lose a final, felt sorry for the Armagh players and supporters.

Gough made some mistakes yesterday, as anyone would, and they probably balanced each other out. It's his HERE LOOK AT MEEEEEEE attitude that annoys my happiness.

Campbell was brilliant for Armagh, as a Derry man was delighted he didn't start.

McEvoy was great for us, so competitive for such a young lad.

Armagh discipline in the 'tackle' is still appalling, some fouling machines who have been doing it for years still doing the same stupid stuff and then looking surprised each of the ten times per games they give a free away.

Couldn't understand why Armagh didn't push up on the Derry KO when they had the breeze, showed a bit of a defeatist attitude, as did their team selection IMO.

A terrible situation* for John Keenan, and rest of the board to have to deal with, especially at this time in the week of an Ulster final.

I'm sure no-one taking on an admin role with their club or county could envisage getting engulfed in a shitshow like this, overnight, with a massive spotlight cast upon your every action in an incredibly sensitive situation. And one where you probably have zero experience and knowledge of dealing with such issues.

When you thought setting fixtures, sorting rows and allocating tickets to your mates would be your biggest headaches in the job.

*Before anyone says it I am not conflating the situation John et al are in with the serious issue of alleged domestic violence.

It doesn't need a criminal conviction, [or indeed even an allegation of criminal conduct], for the county board to take any action deemed reasonable to address behaviour which reflects negatively on the team, board, county or association.

Indeed the weight of evidence for an employer [as I assume Derry Co Board are in this instance] to take action is less than that required for a criminal conviction, i.e. on the balance of the evidence as opposed to beyond reasonable doubt.

I would imagine any employee in a public role, facing allegations such as these, could reasonably expect to face suspension from that role until the allegations are investigated by the employer, and then shown either to be false and the suspension lifted, or subsequently dismissed if they are then proven on balance to have merit.

The fact that the allegations have not been addressed directly to the county board is a complicating factor but given the widespread dissemination of the allegations there is no way they can ignore it.

As a massive Derry fan I would take losing on Sunday without RG on the line rather than winning with him present given the nature and seriousness of these allegations.

Whether they are subsequently disproven is another matter for the future.

The GAA trying to convince people that the idea of 3 qualifying from groups was to avoid dead rubbers when in reality it's for financial reasons especially with the 4 preliminary 1/4s.
I don't see how dead rubbers will definitely be avoided.

In Kerry's group, if the winner of Kerry-Mayo beats the winner of Louth-Cork in the 2nd game, with the loser of Louth-Cork also losing their 2nd game, then won't the final game between the team with 2 wins v the team with 2 losses be a dead rubber?
And the other game will essentially be a dead rubber, 2nd and 3rd will be decided, just which order.

Only the  GAA  could come up with preliminary quarter finals, complete nonsense, makes group stage less  appealing. One team knocked out ffs!  Same silly nonsense in Hurling as well.

I was thinking they should introduce a preliminary semifinal as well!

Seeing we're about to have preliminary 1/4 finals and we've already has preliminary finals (a.k.a. 'Home finals'), all that's missing is preliminary semifinals.

We shouldn't say things like this, even in jest, as someone surely will think its a great idea and it'll be before congress next season.