Messages

In the Indo today, news that KPMG are effectively letting go over 100 chartered accountants. People coming out of their training contracts are not being offered permanent contracts.

Last week it was announced AL Goodbodys were doing similar with over 50 newly qualified solicitors.

I'm sure there's plenty more to come from other firms in those sectors.

Got tickets to the blackburn game on easter saturday. It's at 3pm, trying to book flights now, anyone have any idea will this game be rearranged for tv etc?

Sky and Setanta have only picked their live games up to 22 March.

So there is every chance it could be moved to Easter Sunday, or Saturday evening, or even Saturday at 1pm. Depends on the other fixtures that weekend, and whether Liverpool are in any contention. There's even a good chance a game could even be moved to 8pm on bank holiday Easter Monday.

Makes booking flights a hazardous exercise, unless you are willing to make a right long weekend of it!

Given Liverpool v Arsenal is the following week, and therefore a virtual cert to be the 4pm game on Sky on the Sunday, I would predict that Liverpool v Blackburn will be the Setanta 5.30pm game on Easter Saturday. Champions League QFs are scheduled for midweek immediately before and immediately after Easter. Therefore if Liverpool beat Real Madrid, Saturday at 5.30pm becomes more likely. If Liverpool lose then Easter Monday would be a real possibility. 

Armitage could be a threat at full back.

To me he looks like a typical English full back of recent years. Excellent with ball in hand, but put him under pressure and he will make mistakes. Not a patch on Byrne or Kearney in my opinion.

I think people are overstating the Barbarian principle of picking one newcomer. I'd be very surprised if McGeechan did that.

I think using Stringer as a sub is a good idea. I don't like him because of his weaknessess, but he did very well in his cameo role.
No way would I start him though ahead of either O'Leary or Reddan.

Heaslip and Ferris would be good value.

I'm a big fan of Ferris, but just don't get the impression he'll make it. If he can remain consistent and avoid injury (which has been a big problem in the past), he'll definitely be in with a shout. Martyn Williams will also be looked at, but I think his performances have a dropped a few notches over the last  two years or so.

Dunno about that. In my opinion Williams was the outstanding back row player of the 2008 Six Nations and I don't think Wallace has done enough in 2009 (yet) to displace him.

Ferris and Heaslip v Haskell and Easter next time could decide who goes on the plane. I'd be hopefuly McGeechan will pick on merit and not politics.

Reddan would be my dark horse, worth a couple of yoyos anyway. Played really well again for Ireland A on Saturday, and with O'Leary being slightly disappointing again, there's a chance he could get a starting role before the campaign is over. And if he does his 50/1 price will get slashed

I don't agree Hound. Why isn't Stephen O Shaughnessy starting? Why isn't Shane starting? Why not play Paddy Andrews up front?Can't believe Cahill couldn't see Flynn on his inside, couldn't have missed had he squared it. I don't think we've any interest in the league, certainly from the reports I'm hearing we don't .Wrong Aproach in my view. We made Galway look like allstars yesterday. Galway have an awful lot of ability and natural ball players but they are not in Kerry or Tyrone's league yet. They may will be in the next 2 years . But we were hammered out the gate yesterday. Pat O Neill never had a laissez faire attitude to the league, those days we used to get to league finals regularly.

Well I don't think we're any different from Galway, Tyrone, Kerry etc in our approach. A bit of experimentation in the line-up perhaps, but go out to win the game if at all possible.

Shocko: I can only assume the mgt team rate Hubbard and even Murray ahead of him. But I presume he'll get a start shortly.
Shane: Certainly hasnt done himself justice in either of his two substitute appearances - not that Flynn or McConnell have done anything either.

Pat O'Neill was a long way from a perfect manager and made plenty of mistakes before he finally got over the line, with in my opinion, a superior group of players. Easier to get into the NFL knockout stages in them days too.

Bit of pressure on now. Lose away to Donegal and we're staring relegation in the face, which nobody will want.
I think its fair to say Pat O'Neill had a fair better squad of players than the current crop.

Watching the game on TG4, at the start I was hoping Tyrone would win. As I said after Croke Park, when Tyrone play proper football they are a pleasure to watch. But when they went behind early they reverted to the nonsense and they become impossible to like, so I was happy to see Kerry edge it.

McMenamin: Acted the maggot through the whole game. Deserves a suspension. Hilarious that some tyronies defend him.

I'd be one of the few on this board who would like to see the new rules get a good chance. But during this game I could see some of the doubts expressed by others come to life. I'll pick out Jordan in particular as he is a master at it. He gets fouled then produces a spectacular dive to exaggerate it. The only reason to do this is to get an opponent an early bath. Jordan is superb at this, and therefore often cons the ref into thinking the foul was worse than it actually was. It could be argued the new rules encourage this unsporting behaviour, and no doubt there'll be players on most teams now who try to gain in this way.  

Very disappointing for Dublin. Looked pretty good in the first quarter, pity about the two missed goal chances. Cahill had hard luck, but Flynn's was a terrible effort. The penalty (very poor decision by the ref IMO) got Galway going and after that they were by a distance the better team.

Whelan was easily Dublin's best player, the rest of them played largley  as if they'd never seen each other before.

We're putting all our eggs into the championship basket once again. I would have liked a good league run to build momentum.

I'm pretty sure the management picked what they think is the strongest team available for both games. The intention was to have a good league run. Its not like we've better players on the bench who are being rotated to give other lads a chance to stake their claim.

At the moment our team is: Cluxton - Cahill - Whelan - Brogan - Keaney. Alan Brogan to come in and then somehow we've to fill 9 gaps!!

should be 30 seconds, It works on me after about 10, maybe I am more susceptible to it. Stare it it then look at the blank white space to the right of the picture and stare

about 10 seconds for me too.
Then stare at a blank space for 3 to 5 seconds without blinking. For me it develops gradually from a shadow into the final product. Tis cool alright. Keep trying LL

POC, Wallace and drico are certs as the odds suggest.

Wallace's odds surprised me. I wouldnt have him as a cert. I'd have thought Martyn Williams for 7 and Ryan Jones a cert for either 6 or 8, leaving one spot between the likes of Wallace, Heaslip, Easter, Haskell, Taylor, Ferris, Powell etc. Wallace probably just about at the head of that queue but heavy odds on favourite?

First test v South Africa is not until 20th June, but Boyle's have odds on Irishmen starting the first test. Some interesting ones. Where's the value? Who's overpriced?

O'Connell, Paul  4/9 
Wallace, David  4/7 
O'Driscoll, Brian  4/7 
Bowe, T.  11/8 
O'Gara, Ronan  7/4 
Flannery, Jerry  9/4 
O'Callaghan, Donncha  3/1 
Fitzgerald, Luke  4/1 
Kearney, Rob  9/2 
Horan, Marcus  6/1 
Best, Rory  6/1 
O'Leary, Tomas  6/1 
Heaslip, Jamie  15/2 
Ferris, Stephen  16/1 
Horgan, Shane  20/1 
Earls, Keith  20/1 
Hayes, John  25/1 
Murphy, Geordan  33/1 
Reddan, Eoin  50/1 

It all leads to sucess on the pitch by building a massive notion of togetherness and 'us against them' in the club. This is what he has done through all the ways I mentioned and they all contribute to his sucess. Do you not see this? Equally so the arguing and fall outs in Anfield are part of the reason why Liverpool will win Sweet FA unitil the sort it out.  Try looking off the pitch for a while and you will see what I mean. The same can be said of the Micky Harte effect in Tyrone.. Youth structures etc etc.

Yeah, well that's just bull. United have had as many and more off field controversies and fall outs as any other team in the last 20 years.

Not discounting what you say EC Unique regarding his trophies etc, but every club in the country worth its salt has re-invented its youth set up over the last 20 years. Some manc fans believe the youth team of Scholes, Giggs, Beckham, Neville etc would not have existed but for Ferguson. That's nonsense in my view.

Paisley's record of winning either league titles or European Cups (or both) in 8 successive years is absolutely incredible and will never be matched by a manager of an English club.

Equally Ferguson's trophy haul in 23 years is astounding, and will never be matched.

The European Cup is equally as hard to win as its always been (bar the years when English clubs were banned, when it was easier for the rest). Its much easier to get into it now, but harder to win it when you get there (yet you can afford some slip ups in the early stages). Evens itself out overall.