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Rugby. Worlds 9th most watched sport.

Volleyball & Table Tennis both ahead of Rugby

Snooker.

Looking forward to the world championship - starts 20th April.

Messi with his 7th free kick of the season last night

How many teams go up/down in each division this year? Are there any play offs?

https://twitter.com/paddyb_ireland/status/1111552062867816448

Also is it just me being paranoid or on occasions like this do people use social media to hype up how amazing their family are.

Since Cookstown I've seen numerous family photographs with hold them tight etc etc....as if somehow glorifying their circumstances.

Maybe its just me!

Agree with you 100%, social media coming down with this type of nonsense this past week or so.

[RONAN O'Neill has quit the Tyrone panel in frustration after failing to feature in any of the Red Hands' Division One games this year.]

RONAN O'Neill has quit the Tyrone panel in frustration after failing to feature in any of the Red Hands' Division One games this year.

The sublimely talented Omagh St Enda's clubman was an ever-present throughout Tyrone's successful Dr McKenna Cup campaign this year but he was unable to nail down a place in Mickey Harte's National League squads and has walked away with a heavy heart. At 26, hopes to return to the inter-county scene at some stage in the future but will concentrate on the club game for the rest of this season.

"Towards the middle of the League I wasn't getting a look-in and I thought to myself: 'Should I maybe step away from this?'" he explained.

"Ultimately it was an extremely hard decision to make because Tyrone has been the best part of my life for eight years. I sat down and chatted to my father and he said to see how the League went and to keep pushing at training.

"But I wasn't getting into the matchday squads and people were asking why I wasn't and I just thought 'You know, maybe it's time to take a step back here' so I saw out the League and met Mickey on Sunday night and explained my decision.


"I had to think what was right for me. I was sitting about being part of the squad but not making much of an impact and I wasn't really happy doing what I was doing.

"Mickey listened to my reasons and he was supportive.

"He said that I wouldn't be the first person to step away and then come back again the following year. He gave me some things to work on and I'll use this club season to do so and reassess where I am for next year."

O'Neill first came to prominence as a schoolboy with Omagh CBS, spearheading their runs to the MacRory Cup finals in 2009 and 2010 and he was the star forward when the Tyrone minors won the All-Ireland in 2010, scoring 1-4 in the semi-final and two points in the decider against Cork.




He announced himself on the senior scene with a first-touch debut goal in the McKenna Cup two years later and, by 2013, aged 19, he was captain of the Tyrone U21 side and an established member of the senior panel.

He suffered a serious setback when he ruptured his cruciate while training for the Ulster SFC quarter-final against Donegal but returned to the fold the following year and, after top-scoring for Ulster University in the Sigerson Cup final, hit the target in every game of Tyrone's Division One campaign.

Since then O'Neill has won two Ulster Championships with Tyrone, lighting up Clones in the 2017 decider with an audacious chip into the Down net that showcased his natural, uncommon flair and fans will remember his 'Dab' celebration after a goal against Cavan in the 2016 Division 2 final. However, as the era of the footballing athlete took hold and with Tyrone regularly playing just one inside forward, O'Neill found his opportunities becoming limited.

His last Championship start was as a lone frontman against Mayo in the 2016 All-Ireland quarter-final but he did feature regularly as a substitute in last year's run to the All-Ireland final.

"I'm only 26, so I wouldn't like to think my county career is over yet," he said.

"Not getting game-time is the most frustrating thing.

"You do all the hard training and you want to be rewarded. It's the manager's worst nightmare picking 15 boys and then putting five in, they can't keep everybody happy especially at Tyrone with the panel being so competitive.

"But it left me frustrated and I was probably a bit snappy about the house with my parents and brothers and my girlfriend. I love playing for Tyrone and I love my county and I wish all the boys all the best – I sent them a message and I really do think the team will go on to win the All-Ireland and that's what made the decision even tougher."

O'Neill now intends to focus his energy on playing with Omagh St Enda's, the county champions in 2014 and 2017, before weighing up his inter-county options.

"Mickey has decided that Mattie (Donnelly) and Cathal (McShane) are more dangerous and physical up front and Petey (Harte) is playing off them," he said.

"The three of them are playing fantastically well and then you had myself, Connor McAliskey, Darren (McCurry), Lee (Brennan) and Kyle (Coney) fighting for other spots. It's a competitive field and sometimes those boys are going to be ahead and other times vice-versa.

"It happened to be me this time and I just thought I wasn't doing myself any justice sitting about there. I want to go back and play club football with Omagh which I love doing. I want to get a full year, hopefully injury-free playing football and playing to the best of my potential."

He added: "I thanked Mickey for helping me out over the years and the rest of the management – the boys who were there before and the boys who are there now – and the county board for supporting me.

"It'll not be the end of me but, for the time being, it'll be a halt of the progress."

Cathal McCarron retired this morning.

Saw that. Controversial enough figure I suppose.

A very good defender aswell

Cathal McCarron retired this morning.

The finding of Class A drugs will be a complete separate trial to the manslaughter one I take it.

One case wont have an effect on the other will it?

Another genuine question - why would they have been searching his house? Could he have spilled on himself possessing drugs or was it likely his house was searched anyway?

Police investigating the deaths of three teenagers in Cookstown say a 52 year old man arrested on suspicion of manslaughter has been further arrested on suspicion of possession of a Class A drug with intent to supply.
It follows a house search in Moneymore.

[possibly many having taken cocaine]

Perhaps when the dust settles on this tragic event, we can have a serious conversation about the drinking culture in Ireland, not only among young people, but in general.  The utter dependency on alcohol is frightening -even check out the t-shirts on those hen night girls and you can see that virtually all our down time with friends is spent in the company of alcohol and we have a crazy obsession with it.  400 people in a car park is not a risk and should never be a risk, but young people getting off buses, tanked up, drunk and possibly many having taken cocaine and suddenly the vulnerability of those at the front and those who are smaller and lighter can be understood.  We also need to realise that parents allowing their children to have fake ID is not good parenting.  This was an 18+ disco.  If so, why was there a crowd of 400 children of 16 and under in that car park?  Why did parents let them out?  Did parents know they were drinking?  Are parents so stupid as to turn a blind eye to their children drinking at that age?  The thing that drives me mad is the old story - 'sure we all did it when we were their age'.,  This is why there needs to be a serious culture change in this country, starting with a bit of soul searching as to how we interpret St. Patrick's Day. Around six dead at the last count. Arresting the hotel owner is just typical of an attitude that will seek to punish a man for putting on an event, checking ID and assuming they were all over 18, therefore selling alcohol, while the parents, the bus drivers, the off licence owners and the teenagers themselves will go scot free.

what a ridiculous post - any facts to back that up or just wild speculation on your part

I agree stupid statement blowing it out of proportion its very sad what happened and how it has went wrong but saying many of them teenagers having taken cocaine is ridiculous.

Absolutely idiotic to mention this

[been in contact with Small]

Saw most of the game on Saturday evening but missed the tackle/collision between Paddy Small & Niall Morgan - was there much in it?

I see Morgan is getting a hard time on twitter from a few Dubs although he replied back saying he has been in contact with Small and has apologised.

Saw the tackle last night, I don't think you can say Morgan meant any malice in that tackle.

**Paddy Andrews also

Saw most of the game on Saturday evening but missed the tackle/collision between Paddy Small & Niall Morgan - was there much in it?

I see Morgan is getting a hard time on twitter from a few Dubs although he replied back saying he has been in contact with Small and has apologised.

[arguing about maths]

Read a stat online there - 49 dead in New Zealand is the equivalent of 333,000 in the US.

Brutal attack & terrible news to wake to.

Where did you read that? Because whoever wrote it (and you perhaps) needs to go back to maths class. It would be about 330 people. Horrific obviously, but missing out by a factor of 10³ a bit mental.

To be dead honest the source was just a highly retweeted tweet. However having done the maths (which admittedly I'm poor at) I believe it would be roughly the same as 3,300?

However after an attack like that I don't think it's quite relevant to be arguing about maths

Ah, jaysus, a bit embarrassing I cocked that up alright.

If it's not relevant, why did you introduce it in the first place? You're the one who started drawing parallels.

I said it's not relevant to be arguing about maths. My first post wasn't an argument about maths.

It's entirely relevant when you state that it's the equivalent of 330,000 people being murdered.

And you can't argue the maths, you can be either right or wrong.

And we were both wrong