Ulster club senior football championship - 2015

[mylestheslasher]

Having just watched the highlights a shocking poor effort by the Cavan champions. Surely with all of the underage success at county level that Cavan club champions should give a better account of themselves.

Afraid not, I saw a hammering coming. Cavan club football is very very poor at the moment. There are 40 clubs for 70k people, it is just not sustainable. There was a good piece in the local paper last week and only Leitrim have a similar club to population ratio along with laois (who can be discounted as they are a dual county). A Cavan club has never won Ulster either. I just wrote on our own page that the county chairman needs to prioritising the club scene in  the same way the previous chairman focused on underage overhaul. Its very difficult to be a strong county with poor club football.

[straightred]

Surely a double header in Armagh with Trillick v Scotstown and Kilcoo v Crossmaglen would be the most sensible option. They would get far more people at it than 2 stand alone fixtures and a bigger gate, as at the end of the day that's what it all comes down to.

Don't think there's any chance of it happening but that would be a great option. Could well draw 10000 plus. Last time cross played kilcoo there was a huge crowd. I suspect they'll play it in clones and the other semi in enniskillen but makes much more sense for the cross kilcoo game to be tossed for.

If both clubs agree then it will be tossed for I would imagine.  I would love to see a double header with the Scotstown game.  I think at this stage the Farney men would be slight favourites for the title.  They will have a difficult game against Trillick but should win with a bit to spare.  The other game will be attritional for both teams, old scores to settle and the likelihood of a few red cards.  The winners would be going into the final very battle worn and maybe short a player or two and Scotstown will have built up a nice bit of momentum and have the tradition within the club and also a huge level of expectation.

That spell you had down south has made you into a right cute hoor     Kilcoo must be favourites for the title should they beat Cross... as for Scotstown the beat a tired S'niel team who have had games every week and the hurlers went into extra time last Sunday... that showed when they were slow out of the blocks yesterday.. Scotstown had one player and he tired mid way through second half...

eh ? I watched all of this game earlier on the tg4 player and was hugely impressed with scotstown. In fact I was very impressed with both teams. Very good to watch, some great scores by both sides. As for one player I presume you mean D Hughes. K Hughes, McCarthy, Heaphey, Carey, Caufield at the back all stood out. They'll be hard to beat.

[Clinker]

Surely if its all about the £££££

Anyone who thinks like that in the GAA should be in Hell already.

Money is gone and it's not coming back.

Look after your family, those close to you  and your Club in the mean time.

thatcher is gone but the fall out is still to come - save enough to keep your own safe.

TG4 will look after the rest of your non own Club passive entertainment needs without negative affects of any kind to those nearest.

[Soup an Samajiz]

not overly impressed with Cross yesterday - despite the love affair and the credit to the GAA that some posters have motioned... Caragin could/should have been maybe 4 up at half time, played all the football, thought Cross got a few easy frees in the first half to keep them in it. Thomas McCann was an awful disappointment on the day, wasn't involved in the play at all, pity, last few times I'd seen him play he was the most exciting player on the field every time. Sending off was criminal by the big 14, and I thought Caragin were winning the midfield battle well, Hanratty out on his feet too at the time, no need to put in the challenge he did for the second yellow, in zero danger at the time.
Game was won and lost however in the spell after half time with the first goal and the quick successive points, Caragin were far too open, naïve to let Aaron Kernan have a free role through the middle of the park all day, second half was a farce in that regard.
Funny in that I thought the scoreboard definitely flattered Cross and yet with the missed goal chances in the second half they could have won by more again. ... That's Fudball eh.

If i had one pound for every time i heard that spake about Cross over the past 20 year i would have a lot of pounds. Could have, should have but didn't.

Agree completely. Said the same thing to a Cargin man as I left the match yesterday.

well what do ye want me to say? they were up by 3 or so and then Cross got a few dubious frees in that spell and individual errors that hadn't happened in the first 25mins cost Caragin.

[Down Follower]

not overly impressed with Cross yesterday - despite the love affair and the credit to the GAA that some posters have motioned... Caragin could/should have been maybe 4 up at half time, played all the football, thought Cross got a few easy frees in the first half to keep them in it. Thomas McCann was an awful disappointment on the day, wasn't involved in the play at all, pity, last few times I'd seen him play he was the most exciting player on the field every time. Sending off was criminal by the big 14, and I thought Caragin were winning the midfield battle well, Hanratty out on his feet too at the time, no need to put in the challenge he did for the second yellow, in zero danger at the time.
Game was won and lost however in the spell after half time with the first goal and the quick successive points, Caragin were far too open, naïve to let Aaron Kernan have a free role through the middle of the park all day, second half was a farce in that regard.
Funny in that I thought the scoreboard definitely flattered Cross and yet with the missed goal chances in the second half they could have won by more again. ... That's Fudball eh.

If i had one pound for every time i heard that spake about Cross over the past 20 year i would have a lot of pounds. Could have, should have but didn't.

Agree completely. Said the same thing to a Cargin man as I left the match yesterday.

well what do ye want me to say? they were up by 3 or so and then Cross got a few dubious frees in that spell and individual errors that hadn't happened in the first 25mins cost Caragin.

I wonder sometimes what people are watching.  Yes, Cargin were without question a good and capable team, but Cross left them for dust as soon as Kelly was moved out to midfield.  Cargin manfully hung in there and had the goal chance - BUT they missed it. Cross went straight down the field and buried it.  Some may say it was luck that the ball fell to Hanratty, I would say why was there so much space left for him to waltz into.  Hard luck to Cargin but anyone who says they should have won is dreaming.

Moving on, Cross are a formidable outfit but Kilcoo look like a team on a mission.  The last time they beat Cross it was all about that, beating Cross.  Now its about winning Ulster (if not more) and I think we are in for a right good battle.

[soldier of destiny]

Having watched the highlights of the Kilcoo game last night on TG4 you would have to say that they looked impressive, albeit against a poor Kingscourt outfit.

When are the venues for the semi-finals likely to be announced?  I notice on the Ulster GAA website that they have the Scotstown v Trillick game down as being in Trillick but that I presume is a typo.

A double header in Armagh would make the most sense from my point of view.

[general_lee]

I've seen Kilcoo a couple of times this year, they are quite like Cross in that they don't panic when they go behind and are very well organised, play a high tempo game and have a number of marquee individuals backed up with solid players all over the pitch with plenty of options to spring from the bench. Add in equal measures of unpleasantness on both teams and there's the making for a good hard hitting encounter with hopefully plenty of fireworks.

In the other semi it's hard to look past Scotstown.. though Trillick have fairly laid a marker down in beating Naomh Conaill. Think the three teams left are evenly enough matched with Trillick as outsiders

[general_lee]

Newry confirmed for Kilcoo/Cross

[soldier of destiny]

Newry confirmed for Kilcoo/Cross

That rules out the double header, so I suppose Trillick will face Scotstown in Brewster Park. 

[soldier of destiny]

Scotstown v Trillick has been confirmed for Brewster Park at 2:30.

[brokencrossbar1]

I see that the ref made no reference to the alleged bite. Surely if he was shown something during the game as serious as was alleged he would have had to refer to it even if he could do nothing about it.

[WT4E]

I wouldn't worry too much about what John Brennan says - great championship record but couldn't be trusted when it comes to such things!

[Milltown Row2]

I see that the ref made no reference to the alleged bite. Surely if he was shown something during the game as serious as was alleged he would have had to refer to it even if he could do nothing about it.

Did you ever think this was true?

[SaffronHeart]

Any thoughts on Cross V Kilcoo? I hear Jamie Clarke will play some part. This is going to be an absolute cracker would love if it was a dry day, very unlikely though.

[brokencrossbar1]

I see that the ref made no reference to the alleged bite. Surely if he was shown something during the game as serious as was alleged he would have had to refer to it even if he could do nothing about it.

Did you ever think this was true?

No,  I think that something may have happened but not how it was described by JB and as a result McCann was put in a difficult position and had to be seen to back his manager.  But the line under it has now been drawn.

I reckon that Sunday's game will be a real attritional battle.  Still a few injuries in the game and a lot will depend on how they settle.  The tighter game that we had will have been very beneficial but Kilcoo are a crafty bunch and well versed in playing in these types of games.  They have a fair bit of momentum coming into it.  We are very much in binus territory this year with any run in Ulster.  There's an awful lot of miles on legs and I don't know if some of the older lads can go to the well much more.  Also there will be a very acute spotlight on us to be well behaved and Kilcoo will know how to play on that so there may be a little less blood and thunder on our side.  I reckon Kilcoo will win by 3 on the scoreboard and 1 extra man on the field 14-13. 

Scotstown waiting in the grass to pick the winners off and cement themselves at the top of the Ulster board once again and start off a few years of dominance with their 'total football' approach.