Messages

1

Antrim / Re: Antrim Football Thread

« on: April 17, 2019, 11:14:19 AM »

Where do you lads think the Antrim v Derry/Tyrone game will be held?
Is it likely to be a neutral venue like Armagh?

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GAA Discussion / Re: Ulster Championship 2019

« on: April 17, 2019, 11:13:11 AM »

Not as dead or as boring as Munster or Leinster.
Every year I met several Dubs who come up for the Ulster final as they see it as a great day out where it is usually a good game and the result is not a forgone conclusion.

I'm a bit fed up talking about the Dubs and so think Ulster still has a lot to provide in excitement and entertainment. I know most of my Dub mates USUALLY enjoy watching the Ulster championship early in the year as it's the only one with a bit of excitement and FIGHT. Mayo v Galway is usually a decent game but that's it and sure Cork have gone to hell altogether recently.

Will Armagh not be able to give it a rattle this year with a few new players breaking through and if Jamie Clarke and Soupie are given good fast ball they should take Down and could even surprise Monaghan or Cavan in the semi.

3

GAA Discussion / Re: Players dropping out for Championship

« on: April 16, 2019, 04:47:08 PM »

O'Neill from Tyrone was well down the list of forwards and knew he wouldn't get his game so probably thought he'd be better spending a summer in America. Young Mark Bradley though will be badly missed as I think he's USA bound too or is he working somewhere else?

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GAA Discussion / Ulster Championship 2019

« on: April 16, 2019, 04:41:10 PM »

Only four weeks to the start of the Ulster championship lads and I just thought I'd get a bit of chat going about it how we see it going this year. With Tyrone, Donegal and Monaghan sharing the last 10 years will we see that continue this year or will someone surprise us? Since 2009 Tyrone have won 4, Donegal have 4 and Monaghan 2.
Recent injury news means Monaghan lose one of their best players in Darren Hughes but have unearthed a few good forward to help out McManus and are no longer a one man team. Monaghan look to have the easier run to the final but Fermanagh soon ended that talk last year after they did the hard work beating Tyrone in Omagh.

Donegal will be excited by the return of Paddy McBrearty who some would say can be the top forward in Ireland on his day but only this week Odhrán Mac Niallais opted out of the panel again and will be a big loss. The Donegal men will be very hopeful of getting to the super 8s and beyond this year with a good mixture of youth and experience in their ranks now and a more open style of play. They finished very strongly in Div 2 and will have their tails up coming into this championship

Tyrone seem to be a team reborn in the latter stage of the league and were unlucky not to make it to the league final. They seem to have shaken off their defensive shackles with a lot more direct kick passing being used into a strong ball winning full forward line of Mattie Donnelly, Peter Harte and young McShane.
We do have a very poor record for first round/preliminary round games in Omagh but even the most pessimistic Tyrone fan would say they should beat Derry easy plenty to spare in the 4 weeks time.
The winner of that game meet Antrim who have yet to nominate a venue for that game which is marked down for a Sat evening throw in. Actually there are a few Sat night games this year which I enjoy myself.

Down and Armagh and Cavan v Monaghan will now doubt be tasty local affairs which usually set the sparks flying early on.
Hopefully it's a more enjoyable championship that 2018 which besides the Fermanagh shock win over Monaghan turned out to be a rather boring non eventful year in Ulster.

Sunday 12 May 2019 Preliminary Round - Healy Park, Omagh at 16:00
Tyrone  v  Derry

Saturday 18 May 2019 Quarter-Final - Kingspan Breffni at 18:00
Cavan  v Monaghan

Sunday 19 May 2019 Quarter-Final - Páirc Esler, Newry at 16.00
Down  v Armagh

Saturday 25 May 2019 Quarter-Final at 18:00 NO VENUE YET
Antrim  v Tyrone / Derry

Sunday 26 May 2019 Quarter-Final - Brewster Park at 14:00
Fermanagh  v Donegal

Sunday 2 June 2019 Semi-Final 16:00
Cavan / Monaghan v Down / Armagh

Saturday 8 June 2019 Semi-Final at 17:00
Tyrone / Derry / Antrim v Fermanagh / Donegal

Sunday 23 June 2019 Final 14:00
Semi-Final A Winner v Semi-Final B Winner

5

GAA Discussion / Re: What do New York bring to the Championship

« on: April 16, 2019, 03:51:37 PM »

A few of us were discussing that a while back that it would be nice if they could move it around and let other counties get the chance to go out there for a weekend.
Imagine if they decided to hold a B championship final out there. That would motivate a few players and managers to play at that level.

Every year I'm hoping even for a spin over to play London.

6

Tyrone / Re: Tyrone County Football and Hurling

« on: April 12, 2019, 12:21:20 PM »

Only 4 weeks to the start of the championship lads. Hard to believe it is back already.
Surely Derry will be a bit better placed for a scrap than they were in previous years.
Going through their league unbeaten surely will at least be good for their confidence. Have they any new young players to watch out for? It will be interesting to see do they play a heavy blanket and try to contain Tyrone or go for it.

I wonder will Mickey continue where he left off in March with Mattie, Petey and McShane rotating into full forward and us playing a lot more direct?

Will this game be all ticket or just pay at the gate I wonder? I presume the Derry support won't be that great.

Surprisingly, you have to go back to 2011 for the last time Tyrone won a 1st round/Preliminary round game in Omagh when we beat Monaghan. 

7

GAA Discussion / Re: Too many for one Team

« on: April 10, 2019, 03:21:22 PM »

My eldest lad plays for Clontarf U12s and they have 3 teams A, B and C. He plays football for the A team and hurling for the B team but they tend to move lads around a bit from team to team up until this year.
A few weeks ago they played Baldoyle who only have the one team and it was the weirdest game they ever played as in they had 5 black girls on the team that were over 14 or 15 and a few other lads that were well over age but our lot still hammered them. It must be tough for a team like that to get a hammering every week but at least it gets them out exercising I suppose.

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Tyrone / Re: Tyrone County Football and Hurling

« on: April 05, 2019, 06:34:49 PM »

Will we see anything of young Canavan this summer?
I get the feeling Mickey will be happy to throw him in early.
Will he be more of a half forward with more space to operate or a corner forward man?

9

Tyrone / Re: Tyrone County Football and Hurling

« on: April 05, 2019, 04:10:13 PM »

Living in Dublin, I never get to see any club football so am always interested to hear people's opinion on club games involving county men.

Just wondering what are people's thoughts now of who has a chance of pushing their way into the starting 15 or 21 including subs?
Have we moved away from playing smaller players like Bradley(I know he's away) and say Lee Brennan or will these guys get their chance mid summer?

McShane has probably made the most progress this year so far and has proven a lot of doubters wrong about him. Of course some will say it was only league football and can he do it in the championship but I think he will prove to be a very important player in the years ahead.
Rotating Mattie and Peter Harte into that FF line too seems to be proving very beneficial but I'd still like to see a natural talented corner forward who excites us when he gets the ball.
Donegal will be pushing hard this year to make up for last year and you would imagine with a few of their big guns back they will like some revenge for last year. They do not have the same fear of Tyrone that they used to have pre McGuinness.

10

Tyrone / Re: Tyrone County Football and Hurling

« on: March 26, 2019, 10:04:05 AM »

Very well worded and complimentary of Mickey and his team mates. Amazing talent with ball in hand and could deliver a pin point pass with great vision but sadly, his lack of pace and urgency for me meant he was often turned over and gave the ball away.
Despite his skill set he did have a tendency to miss the odd important free in big games that other "clutch" players would nail. I think Mickey played him a lot of times when you could see he was struggling to meet the grade and so he never really fulfilled the potential he had as a younger player, but that happens many players.
It will be interesting to see how Coney does now he has been given a second chance and if the fans can help him rather than get on his back when a difficult pass goes astray or he tries a tough shot when a more simple ball was on.
Many of us have got on McShane's case the last few years but the lad has got on with it and looks one of our best forwards now. If we could make him go for goals more often when he wins a high ball inside like the Dubs do regularly and are so much more clinical than us. Look at how Costello had only one thing in mind when he won that ball a few weeks ago. Mugsy should have a word with him. 

11

Tyrone / Re: Tyrone County Football and Hurling

« on: March 25, 2019, 05:15:00 PM »

Poor Niall definitely had one of those bad days yesterday where the high risk things that he often pulls off where not going for him yesterday.
At one stage nearly every kick out was coming straight back in at him right away. You could blame him or the jumper for the ball but kicking against a strong wind this often happens
He totally mis-judged the flight of the ball for the goal but you'd imagine between himself and HP they could have worked it out better 2 v 1 and the one wasn't even that tall.

I thought Petey didn't have a great game as he ran into a lot of trouble like of days of old and a few times there seemed a kickable score on and he just recycled it which once actually led to the 3rd goal.
McShane as Aidan O'Rourke points out so well here has had a very impressive 3 months and has shut up a lot of the nay sayers. It certainly seems interesting that we could be looking at a FF line of Mattie, Petey and McShane come the summer although all three will probably be rotating in and out quite often.
https://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2019/0325/1038397-tyrones-attacking-prowess-a-tactical-evolution/

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GAA Discussion / Re: NFL Division 1 2019 Dubs again?

« on: March 18, 2019, 01:54:34 PM »

Gas reading the Mayo lads warning us not to get too caried away in case we think we're getting ideas about ourselves again.
For me, the main thing is to challenge Dublin to make them start having a few doubts and question themselves. They are so used to scoring a goal and they then just play with swagger. Their fans were getting a bit annoyed with the ref which they're not used to.
Funny watching J. Cantwell picking up Brolly on his choice of words on Morgan.

13

Tyrone / Re: Tyrone County Football and Hurling

« on: March 15, 2019, 02:03:03 PM »

This game seems very low key.
I see it's live on Eir Sport as well.

Presume a trip to Dublin on Paddy's weekend is too expensive for most people

14

Tyrone / Re: Tyrone County Football and Hurling

« on: March 15, 2019, 09:43:37 AM »

There's a few of us TAD ones (Tyrone Assoc Dublin) meeting early in the Croke Park hotel for the Wales v Ireland game and they've told me they will have some live music on as well if ye fancy it. I'll be sitting in the corner looking like Mo Salah or as someone said More Salad perhaps?

15

GAA Discussion / Re: NFL Division 1 2019 Dubs again?

« on: March 12, 2019, 04:19:23 PM »

For me one of our biggest weaknesses is the inability to mix it up. Most teams we play know we will always run with the ball and very rarely hit it in early and long as usually we have one or maybe two smallish forwards who can't win their own ball and certainly if they do they can hold a man off.
Having someone like Mattie who is strong as an ox and enjoys the physical battle will not be out-muscled or bullied by the likes of Johnny Cooper or Philly McFilth.
With Coney a lot older and wiser now we have someone who can deliver good quality ball into the FF line and so we no longer have to run the length of the field every single time now.
This can only help the 2 nippy corner forwards like Lee Brennan and maybe McAliskey to feed off Mattie. Peter Harte has played very well in that role the last few games and like Mattie was often played at half back but it's hard to know where his best position is. Both can certainly shoot with both feet.

I would not be at all surprised to see a shock this weekend in Croker.