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To be honest.  I thought that whoever won the Glenariffe/Liatroim match will go on to win the Ulster IHC.  Carrickmore are a decent side with some really good hurlers but I think Glenariffe have too much firepower upfront and defensively they have been reasonably solid in their knock out games.  However, with the pitch conditions this time of year it could become a dogfight.  Again, I would envisage the winner of this game to go on and win it.  Can't see Lisbellaw or Castleblaney turning over either team in the final. 

As Dunloy have shown and other clubs like slaughneill and Eire Og, Ennis have shown playing both definitely compliments either sport.  However, those clubs all have huge numbers.  When you at that Dunloy team, yes almost all are dual players but they're all mostly in their 20's.  The only dual player above 30 is Nigel Elliott.  The point I would make is if you have the numbers and there is the right mix of age range and underage coming along below the surface then a club playing both is a no brainier.  For the likes of Carey and Glenarm in the past they wouldn't have massive numbers for their senior hurling team and to field in football they probably relied on their hurlers playing football to simply field.  And with low numbers and possibly older squads the likelihood of injuries is a lot higher in clubs like these and it's more likely to impact on their hurling team's ability to field as well. But as I say it's worth a try anyway.

Some clubs are fighting to just exist. Mitchells had years of getting hockeyed in football league and now just do south antrim league which tbh is fair enough. Larne would struggle for numbers so two adult sports a stretch. I'd say Carey, Cloughmills and Armoy the same. A lot of ones in the Glens have zero interest in football either and I do mean zero.

Ballycastle despite a lot of effort have struggled to keep the football going.

Fair play to Cloughmills for trying to branch out.  It seems to be working for them in the lfga.  However, I wouldn't be so sure about men's Gaelic Football given the amount of clubs surrounding them like Dunloy, Ballymena, Glenravel and Rasharkin who all field in Football.  They would most likely be dependent on their own senior hurlers, Loughgeil ones and others from Armoy, Ballycastle or Carey.  Although despite Dunloy winning the senior championship on Sunday past, they don't currently field a reserve team expect in the reserve shield (3/4 matches at most).  So you might find a few Dunloy ones who played underage Football wanting to play senior football so you never know.  I suppose all they can do is put it out there and hope for the best.

TG4 showing county final apparently

Jerome won't be happy

At least we'll get a bit of decent commentary on the game even if it is As Gaelige

Yea very much an amateur outfit.  Add to that the farce that the intermediate hurling championship has become.  In a championship that promises to be one of the most competitive only one game this weekend in the final round of group games (Randalstown v Glenarm) where both teams had something to play for.  That's 4 other games that were effectively dead rubbers.  Even in the last couple of years there have been at least 2 dead rubbers in this championship going into the final round.  Surely the county should add a quarter final round or else reduce this championship to 8 teams and run it with the same format as the senior.  Or better still go back to straight knock out.  For me a championship game should never be a dead rubber.  Championship hurling is about going hell for leather.

This behaviour from underage mentors seems to generally come from coaches who are in it to feed their own ego so in other words win at all costs.  If you're coaching at underage with a mindset like that you are more detrimental to the game on many levels. Underage should be about player development and trying to retain players whether that be in a playing capacity or other.  If you achieve success along the way then great but it should never be the absolute end goal.  The end goal should be how many are still involved in the club in x amount of years etc.  When coaches behave in a manner like mentioned above it is unacceptable.

I could be wrong here but I'm nearly sure in a three way tie on points it comes down to score difference in the games played between those three teams. This has been the case in the Hurling Championships or so I'm lead to believe. So that would be Ahoghill bottom on -13, St Paul's would be on +1 and Aghagallon on +12.

Most championships at all three levels almost set up for the knock outs. In senior the top two in each group meet in the final round and bottom two meeting in effectively two preliminary quarter finals (If you want to call them that).  In intermediate Ahoghill and Creggan looking very much like the two from their group.  Glenariffe looking more or less home and hosed.  Bit more of a fight between the rest.  Even St galls could pull themselves right back into the race if they beat tir na nog at milltown next time out.  In junior it's hard to look past Armoy.  However wouldn't rule out the Gorts, LD or Glenravel.  Knock out games can go any way I suppose.  Maybe about time we got rid of these silly groups and got back to straight knock out at all levels or even a structure like the down and Derry football championships.

Yea.  Boardroom promotions and relegations to very little for the clubs involved.  I think our current league system is really competitive.  For me all divisions 1-4 are largely competitive and the incoming promotions and relegations from this year I think will only maintain the competitive nature of these leagues.  Hopefully the county board leave things as they are. 

So after today. Glenariffe are Div 2 champs and up to Div 1 for the first time since 2013.  Div 3 is a shoot out between Dunloy and Ballycastle reserves.  Div 4 is a shoot out between St Brigids and Rossa reserves.  Div 1 title race is actually the most open race with a few teams in the mix.  Which is ironic given that none of them will really care about winning a league title.  Relegation wise in Div 1 it's between St Endas and Ballycran.  Div 2 is between Cloughmills and sarsfields and St Endas reserves are more or less gone in Div 3.  It'll be a big few weeks for some of those sides.

Well it'll probably be meaningless games in both halves of the division 1 split.  Apart from Ballycran, Ballygalget and St Endas who will be fighting to avoid the drop.  As for the top half I can't imagine winning the league will be a massive target for any of those 5 teams.  They'll likely use those games to try things out ahead of championship or hold back against some of their championship group opponents (Bit of shadow boxing).  I think it's just one up and one down in all leagues this year.  I don't think there are any play offs (2nd bottom v 2nd in a league).

What drop?
If you come last can you not just say you don't want to go down and everyone smiles and agrees?

Yea that's usually the case in division 1 to be fair.  Though this year the division 2 champions (Looking like Glenariffe) will more than likely want to come up so relegation from division 1 might have to happen to facilitate this.  Though at the same time those in the board room may decide to scrap relegation and expand division 1.  Wouldn't it be great going into a season knowing exactly what the permutations were and not having to wait until the convention/fixtures meetings to know exactly what is happening.  Chances are the leagues will change again next year as the CCC are trying to push a 5 division league system. 

Well it'll probably be meaningless games in both halves of the division 1 split.  Apart from Ballycran, Ballygalget and St Endas who will be fighting to avoid the drop.  As for the top half I can't imagine winning the league will be a massive target for any of those 5 teams.  They'll likely use those games to try things out ahead of championship or hold back against some of their championship group opponents (Bit of shadow boxing).  I think it's just one up and one down in all leagues this year.  I don't think there are any play offs (2nd bottom v 2nd in a league).

Was at dunsilly a couple of weekends ago and heard "tuggy" mcgrath  and "queenie" jr mcmahon was interested in a joint management. Would be a coup and would keep everyone on board for next year.

How on earth could this be viewed as a coup?

Somebody has been in the pound on bank holiday weekend. Best ignored

Yea, this is very clearly someone taking the P***. Tuggy and Queenie are two good lads but surely the pre requisite for managing/coaching at inter county level is:
-Playing experience at this level.
Or
-Proven coaching/management record at club level.
Or
-Coaching/management experience at underage county level.
Or
-Coaching/management experience at senior inter county level.

I don't think these two lads have even coached at underage in their own clubs.  I think they've been involved in coaching adult soccer with Dunloy FC but that's a completely different sport. 

I'm hearing that a number of clubs particularly in Div 2 have lost their home games due to no referee.  I think this was maybe in the fine print previously but has never been enforced.

When is the confirmed league start date for the club leagues?  I've heard 13th April and then in recent days I'm hearing back to the 30th March.