Derry Club Football & Hurling original

[Keyser soze]

Well a poster who titles themselves as a South Derry fan has no place proposing solutions as his username encapsulates all that is wrong with Gaa in the county. We have a small enough pool of players clubs and supporters without differentiating along some arbitrary line halfway through the county. Ballacks of the highest order.

[greenlight]

Guys originally not picked should go nowhere near the squad if approached now.

And what exactly would that achieve at this stage of the season you clampit?

He has made an almighty hames of the panel.

Anybody who is being contacted now is clearly deemed below the u21's in terms of selection. Few questions:
• How does he explain their initial omission from McKenna / league to them?
• Was he really in a position to refuse the services of Danny Heavron or Emmet McGuckin?

He was involved with the county minors until late September.
• How many club league / championship games could he really have seen last year?
• Does anybody really think he has a full dossier of the top performing club players in Derry from the last 12-24 months..?
• Does anyone at county board level have this level of detail?

Perhaps we should just postpone entering county teams in competitions until Conor Glass comes back from Australia, and we can allow ourselves to hope again.

[TheImpactCode]

It looks like a lot of gnashing of teeth before this is all sorted.

I just look in at the Monaghans and Tipperarys of this world and wonder where we are going

Where are the endless supply of underage stars going to? Why are they not being harnessed?

[Wildweasel74]

To start with i let this years under 20 play out there own age group

[TheOptimist]

Now that I have had time to settle down and let 24hrs pass can someone answer a few Questions for me. As one of only 39 Derry season ticket holders yes we have 39, THRITY NINE my God.  (our Neighbours have 1500 season ticket holders by the way) also we seem to have lost 11 since the famous Clones 50 turned up in 2007 against Armagh.
Anyway Q1. why did the county Board allow a panel of only 29 to be picked knowing at least 13 (uni and Slaughtneil players)weren't available until at least Feb. what happened to the days of picking a McKenna cup panel then adding uni players and cutting accordingly for the start of the league and then when slaughtneil players became available doing the same, you are strengthening your panel as you progress and cutting the players you don't deem up to it after having worked with them, this closed shop mentality is completely wrong.
Q2. What has happened to the days of if your playing well for your club the door is never closed.
Q3.Did we only carry 29 players this year because we needed the room on the bus for what must be the biggest back room teams in Ireland I have never seen as many men with earpieces in my life I thought Donald Trump was about to appear in Sligo yesterday. It is complete overkill if all these people are talking to the manager at the one time and all giving their expert advice it has to be complete confusion.
Q4 Brian McIvor had a 5 year plan and brought through youth. Damien Barton had 2 years of bringing through youth and now Damien comes in and starts again with youth surely the youth of 6 years ago should be serious inter county players by now
Q5. Why are we persisting with Celtic park when the people living in the city beside the ground don't even know the team are playing their or care.
To finish the rant the sign of a good management team is how they react when things go wrong.
Get a championship panel together put some kind of basic game plan into action and give the summer a rattle. Unfortunately at the minute there might only be 38 season tickets bought for next year??

[call it as i see it]

i dont what all the complaining in Derry is about for too long the underage deveolpment and set up was a joke all the processes they have in place most other counties had been doing it ten years previous. Another key fact is that mcerlain hasnt looked at players outside of division 1 bar newbridge this year. basicly to sum it all up the men involved with the senior team have no experience its just like you geting a bunch of apprentices to build your dream home.

[BackInTheGame]

Who of the players outside of Division 1 do you folks reckon should be getting a chance? (Genuine question, I don't see those games so I don't know)

[call it as i see it]

neill mc nicholl - Glenullian
Garry Keane  -  bellerin
oision duffy - foreglen previous player but exeptioal
paul keane - bellerin goalkeeper

[oakleaflad]

Who of the players outside of Division 1 do you folks reckon should be getting a chance? (Genuine question, I don't see those games so I don't know)

Not many. Though there are players outside Div 1 on the current panel so not sure what the post above is referring to.

Banagher - Lynch and Hagan. Limavady have Hartin and possibly Brown in the next few years. Your lad Curran from Faughanvale is on the panel but hasn't made much of an impact. Castledawson - Niall Keenan was and will be on the panel again.

Outside of that you don't have many. Foreglen have Oisin Duffy who is good enough. Craigbane - If Aidy McLaughlin could make a come back from injury similar to M Bateson he is worth a shout, been impressive when he's been on the panel but unlucky with injury.
Steelstown have some good young players but Neil Forrester is still probably their best player at the moment. Gary Keane has scored fairly heavily for Ballerin but not sure if he's county standard or an upgrade on what we have - maybe deserves a chance. A few of the goalkeepers possibly worth a shout. 

[NatSoSaff]

Can you imagine the amount of bitching that will be drooling out of the good Gaa folk of Derry following yesterdays result. A county that is a cesspit of begrudgery will go into over drive. The amount of experts who will offer an opinion to whats wrong, yet we have had approx. 500 at home matches and much less at away games. So whats the problem we all got what we wanted, created a culture of 'feck the county team' or 'your wasting your time up there' etc etc There will only be a few genuine geals in Derry gutted today following yesterdays result.

Well said shawshank. Support has been abysmal. True supporters dont have the right to abandon the journey just because the road is rocky, and unfortunatley there are tens of thousands times more critics to actual supporters who have attended home and away games the past number of years.

In saying that, monumental mistakes have been made and repeated by board and management.

Derry 'support' wanted Barton out the door sharpish, but in fairness the team that put up such an excellent showing vrs Mayo last year would have rivaled Fermanagh and Armagh for a jump straight back up to div 2 even without the slaughtneil lads. Those names mentioned countless times already - Heavron, McGuckin, McFaul, Duffy etc surely would have lent greater weight to the push for promotion let alone the fight for relegation! Could more have been done to hold onto the likes of Keenan too? at least for the league.

I dont know, Its sad watching in from the outside and I dont like to see any manager draw such criticism. I just hope if he & his team are going to be in place for the forseable that they swallow their pride and go knocking on a few of these lads doors, admit they made mistakes and give them their rightful chance (should they still want it) to fight for the cause.

[BackInTheGame]

neill mc nicholl - Glenullian
Garry Keane  -  bellerin
oision duffy - foreglen previous player but exeptioal
paul keane - bellerin goalkeeper

Who of the players outside of Division 1 do you folks reckon should be getting a chance? (Genuine question, I don't see those games so I don't know)

Not many. Though there are players outside Div 1 on the current panel so not sure what the post above is referring to.

Banagher - Lynch and Hagan. Limavady have Hartin and possibly Brown in the next few years. Your lad Curran from Faughanvale is on the panel but hasn't made much of an impact. Castledawson - Niall Keenan was and will be on the panel again.

Outside of that you don't have many. Foreglen have Oisin Duffy who is good enough. Craigbane - If Aidy McLaughlin could make a come back from injury similar to M Bateson he is worth a shout, been impressive when he's been on the panel but unlucky with injury.
Steelstown have some good young players but Neil Forrester is still probably their best player at the moment. Gary Keane has scored fairly heavily for Ballerin but not sure if he's county standard or an upgrade on what we have - maybe deserves a chance. A few of the goalkeepers possibly worth a shout. 

Thanks for the responses.

I remember Duffy before, he's a good player. Gary Keane is the one who hits the frees and 45's isn't he?  Seems very accurate with his shooting alright.

Another genuine question, and not meant as a criticism or presumptuous - would players from the likes of Ballerin have the level of conditioning required for inter-county football? Again, I'm not suggesting they don't, I'm just thinking out loud. I know the amount of gym work and the sort of diets that players at the "top" clubs adhere to and I just have no idea if the lower league players go through the same?

Even at that, if you've got a good player lacking a bit of conditioning, surely the pre-season and McKenna cup is a chance to help them with that whilst getting a look at them.

It's an interesting debate and one that I truly do not know the answers to. Trying to pin down where it's all gone wrong wouldn't be log in wrecking your head, I know that much.

[North Man]

IMO Gary Keane was the best forward in intermediate football last year. Did any of the management see him play??
Cahair O'Kane's article in today's Irish News is near the mark.
There are too many bluff coaches employed in Derry, maybe i don't know their remit but i would imagine they should be in regular contact with all clubs offering assistance. Are the smaller clubs that Cahair referred to and their likes, getting assistance??
There needs to be a serious clear out here and get back to basics.
What is Chris Collins role, and as for Brian Mc Ivor, the brains that employed him need seriously questioned. Accountability?
Then spending a fortune of money on a ''Derry'' changing room in Owenbeg, again the brains that approved this need to roaded.
Its back to basics, assist in improving all clubs coaching infrastructure, cut out development squad nonsense that has gone far too intense and hopefully we will begin to develop flair players again.
The present system has take us to Div 4, if we keep repeating what we have being doing we will stay in Div 4.

[Real Talk]

neill mc nicholl - Glenullian
Garry Keane  -  bellerin
oision duffy - foreglen previous player but exeptioal
paul keane - bellerin goalkeeper

Who of the players outside of Division 1 do you folks reckon should be getting a chance? (Genuine question, I don't see those games so I don't know)

Not many. Though there are players outside Div 1 on the current panel so not sure what the post above is referring to.

Banagher - Lynch and Hagan. Limavady have Hartin and possibly Brown in the next few years. Your lad Curran from Faughanvale is on the panel but hasn't made much of an impact. Castledawson - Niall Keenan was and will be on the panel again.

Outside of that you don't have many. Foreglen have Oisin Duffy who is good enough. Craigbane - If Aidy McLaughlin could make a come back from injury similar to M Bateson he is worth a shout, been impressive when he's been on the panel but unlucky with injury.
Steelstown have some good young players but Neil Forrester is still probably their best player at the moment. Gary Keane has scored fairly heavily for Ballerin but not sure if he's county standard or an upgrade on what we have - maybe deserves a chance. A few of the goalkeepers possibly worth a shout. 

Thanks for the responses.

I remember Duffy before, he's a good player. Gary Keane is the one who hits the frees and 45's isn't he?  Seems very accurate with his shooting alright.

Another genuine question, and not meant as a criticism or presumptuous - would players from the likes of Ballerin have the level of conditioning required for inter-county football? Again, I'm not suggesting they don't, I'm just thinking out loud. I know the amount of gym work and the sort of diets that players at the "top" clubs adhere to and I just have no idea if the lower league players go through the same?

Even at that, if you've got a good player lacking a bit of conditioning, surely the pre-season and McKenna cup is a chance to help them with that whilst getting a look at them.

It's an interesting debate and one that I truly do not know the answers to. Trying to pin down where it's all gone wrong wouldn't be log in wrecking your head, I know that much.

I agree with that .... but as I said earlier in the year we with the players we have we will struggle to get promoted out of Div 3 (especially with Slaughtneils success) ..... by the same token it was an opportunity to develop different players (not very young ones .... generally all a Senior county team anywhere in Ireland ever get out of successful minors are 2 or 3 players ).  You only can develop players by playing 1 or 2 of them with seasoned players ..... take a look at how Tyrone manage their younger players. 

But even we had retained our Div 3 status there still had to be at leastone person with real time experience/nous brought into that current management team .... the time for that is NOW

[thepundit]

Surely common sense should prevail. major issues need to answered by both players and county board. Derry have used 98 players in last 10 years. with the majority still playing and under 31. Where have these players gone? A fair few of these players have walked away from the county, being impatient and not waiting for their chance to arrive. A lot of players go up to the county expecting immediate game time. this surely cannot be the case. players surely have to earn their stripes.

IMO there is not a chance that management past and present are looking into division 2 and 3. Without doubt there are players in these leagues at the level of at least being panellists. These fellas need the opportunity to train alongside the best in the county to further their development. Players often don't get looked at in Derry if they didn't attend st pats or if they haven't been on a development squad from underage. Selectors needs to get of their backsides and actually attend all levels of club games around the county.

[Keyser soze]

IMO Gary Keane was the best forward in intermediate football last year. Did any of the management see him play??
Cahair O'Kane's article in today's Irish News is near the mark.
There are too many bluff coaches employed in Derry, maybe i don't know their remit but i would imagine they should be in regular contact with all clubs offering assistance. Are the smaller clubs that Cahair referred to and their likes, getting assistance??
There needs to be a serious clear out here and get back to basics.
What is Chris Collins role, and as for Brian Mc Ivor, the brains that employed him need seriously questioned. Accountability?
Then spending a fortune of money on a ''Derry'' changing room in Owenbeg, again the brains that approved this need to roaded.
Its back to basics, assist in improving all clubs coaching infrastructure, cut out development squad nonsense that has gone far too intense and hopefully we will begin to develop flair players again.
The present system has take us to Div 4, if we keep repeating what we have being doing we will stay in Div 4.

This!!