Messages

Firstly, Louth deserved to win. Sharper, and hungrier. Got their tactics 100% right.

We didn't adapt. In the first half i thought we weren't shooting because of the wind, but in the 2nd Louth were able to shoot into it, so I dont know if that was a tactical decision or if we just couldn't get enough time to shoot. Louth defence was very well set up.
Derry's defence was a bit all over the shop. Mckinless should have been man to man on mullroy, but tbh I wasn't sure who was on him. He had so much space.

Niall Loughlin was very good to be fair.

But my main gripe was the refereeing. Missed at least 2 if not 3 breaches and Louth got scores from 2 of them. in the 2nd half we had a clear 2 pointer that the umpire waved wide. we were directly behind the goals, it was def a score.
Shane should never have taken that penalty, he'd just been emptied. Niall was stepping up to take it, then glass came in and I though he was going to take it, but then Niall hands it to Shane. he didn't look confident in hitting it at all, it was a bad decision for him to take it after the hit.

on the Louth penalty,  I think it was a penalty but glass should have had the ball cleared. he rose up and had 2 hands on the ball then palmed it rather than taking the catch, the scramble for that ball led to the penalty.

we were a bit flat, but still only beat by 4 and on another day we could have won.
was always going to be a tough game down there.

Leinster is going to be a decent championship this year, not much between Meath, Louth, Dublin and kildare could cause an upset.

we might not get promoted now, but not the end of the world imo. we're still improving after last year, still building a better panel and some players still getting back to full fitness, like Higgins, mcevoy and Mccloskey and Lynch.
So its not all bad.

glass is getting targeted with no protection from ref or linesmem

strong wind for Louth.
Crawley is awful. missed 2 breaches and a backpass to Louth keeper.
no point kicking into the breeze for derry in that first half and Louth defended the goal very well.
hopefully we can kick on in 2nd half with the breeze.

I think I read something a while back that part of the reason the public sector worker per capita ratio is so high here compared to England is that we provide some of the public services for England/Wales. No idea what the percentage is and I'm not trying to justify the number of public sector workers we have, but it might not be fair to do a direct like for like comparison if this is the case.

I think its also bound to be a factor in England that private sector jobs there generally pay more than here, which makes the public sector in England a less attractive job than it is here.

Anyone in the know able to shed some light on Cookstown Under 14's?

I see they got tanked in their first 2 games and have now been conceding games. Had originally entered a B team who are also now conceding so I assume this isn't a numbers issue

Maybe should have been entered in Grade 2 instead of Grade 1 but seems wrong to deny lads football over a few bad games

The Cookstown Dev team withdrew as the majority of players had soccer matching on a Sat am when u14 matches are fixed. CB doesn't seem to allow any moving of fixtures, even with both teams agreeing. As far as I know they have been playing the dev team matches as friendlies on other days.
There have been a few tankings across each grade to be fair to them.

2 more sleeps 'til the ticket w**nkers get to see PC in action 👏

If the 5g is good enough I'll do a live feed for you.

So can we make any calls this weekend?

Louth v Derry
Meath v Tyrone
Cork v Kildare
Offaly v Cavan

From a Kildare point of view I don't see us getting anything in Cork and Cavan will beat Offaly. Meath will win, but not 100% still on Derry but it'd be better for us if they won and Louth were out of the promotion hunt coming to Newbridge.

Tyrone will beat Meath.

Wouldn't be too sure about that. I think Tyrone have had a player drop off the panel this week and Canavan is on his travels.
Meath will be strong in Croker and will run at Tyrone - I can see them scoring plenty. It could be a high scoring game, but I give a tentative nod to Meath based.

Louth v Derry is coin toss. If Derry can hit the heights they did against Cork, I'll go with them.

Cork will probably have too much for Kildare, they are at home and I think I read they have some injured players back.

Cavan will beat Offaly.

Kerry V Mayo - Kerry by 1.5 KERRY
Dublin V Armagh - Dublin by 2.5 DUBLIN
Roscommon V Donegal - Donegal by 3.5  ROSCOMMON
Monaghan v Galway - Galway by 3.5  GALWAY
Louth v Derry - Derry by 2.4   DERRY
Cork v Kildare - Cork by 3.5   CORK
Meath v Tyrone - Meath by 0.5  MEATH
Offaly v Cavan - Cavan by 2.5  CAVAN
Fermanagh v Laois - Laois by 3.5   LAOIS
Clare v Wexford - Clare by 1.5   CLARE
Sligo V Down - Down by 3.5  DOWN
Westmeath v Limerick - Westmeath by 3.5  WESTMEATH
Carlow V London - Carlow by 5.5  CARLOW
Waterford v Antrim - Antrim by 5.5  ANTRIM
Leitrim v Longford - Longford by 3.5  LIETRIM
Wicklow v Tipp - Wicklow by 1.5   WICKLOW

There won't be many tears shed for that brute.
I can still remember him being interviewed on tv about seeing the wee girls and that they seemed happy and fine. Cold stuff.
I reckon their families on the one hand will be glad to know he didn't have an easy time in prison, but maybe disappointed that his tough times are over. Death nearly too good for someone like that.

I wonder what ever happened to his girlfriend? I remember a while back she was released having served her time - not sure what to make of her.

Drive to Survive latest season was good, perhaps not just as good as other seasons but still very watchable.
They did gloss over the whole Christian Horner issue though - only touching on it when the new Red Bull team principle was appointed.

A Central Council delegate informed our county board delegates at a recent meeting that Allianz were the only company willing to quote on the GAA insurance policy at the last renewal.  I don't see any reason why this should be said if it wasn't true.  Some posters comparing it to switching your car or house insurance is bonkers.  The renewal of your car or house insurance is a damned sight more straightforward than the renewal of the policy that the GAA are looking for. 

I find it hard to believe that to be honest. But if that's was the case, then that should be publicly communicated and the GAA should be able to show that no other company was interested. But without any sort of evidence, I wouldn't be prepared to believe that.
I agree it's not as simple as car insurance/ house insurance. But as BB says above it's centralised therefore should make it easier.

In my work, we will often opt out of tendering if it's felt the buyer isn't going to change suppliers or we can't win on price.
No idea if that's the case here, but if the perception is that Allianz are embedded to the point where the GAA are not going to change them, no-one will tender.
It should be communicated though if the case.

looking to the GAABoard for an answer would be stupidity of the highest level.

And yet there are multiple suggestions that insurance companies and sponsors are all willing and able to fill the void.
The GAA could explain the implications of disassociating itself with the sponsor much better but even if it did some people won't accept it, as they don't believe anything the GAA has said on the matter yet do believe that brown envelopes are involved keeping the sponsor in place.
"Allianz plc provides insurance cover for the GAA and assists with the Association's Player Injury Fund." As quoted from The Ethics and Integrity Commission's Report.
This could mean it insures everything pitches, players etc. etc. or it could be car insurance for a couple of cars. And it would be good for members to be informed about what the implications of this loss of insurance would be.
Armagh18 says "I genuinely don't care what it would cost ffs." – Speculating that if insurance from the sponsor was unavailable meant the GAA had to shut down, would that be acceptable?

Have you ever changed insurance provider for your car, or house, or travel insurance, or public liability? Or have you been with the same company for 20 years?
Of course it's possible to change insurers and often it makes financial sense to do so.
The Ethics committee quote you reference can also suggest that Allianz are so far embedded into the GAA that they can't be removed. If that's the case, there are some really serious issues around how the GAA is being managed, and if Jarlath can't see that he's even more inept than he gets the credit for.
In the public sector, suppliers are only ever given a fixed term for services or products and then they have to re-tender to avoid this entrenchment of a single supplier, provide transparency on where the money is spent and also to  ensure value for money.
I would think the GAA should be doing something similar regardless of Allianz links to a genocidal regime.

[Sponsorship]

I genuinely don't care what it would cost ffs. They're funding people that are murdering children day in day out. If it's a million a year a good pay cut for that p***k Burns and his buddies would soften plenty of that.

Short and to the point and 100% right.

Sponsorship - I'm sure there have been examples in other sports where embedded sponsors have been removed. This should be the easy part to do. If it's 1M a year, then make up that 1M by charging RTE more for rights to the games. Charge more for the use of Croke Park for other events - an extra 1euro per concert ticket would go a long way towards hitting 1M a year. 3 concerts at 1eur per ticket more is approx 250K. Open sponsorship options for smaller local companies like LCC or First Derivative's. 1M to these companies I think would be entirely feasible. The point I'm making is that with a little bit of innovation, that lost sponsorship can be replaced by other means so there should be minimal impact to the organisation.

Insurance - I assume insurance is paid in advance for a period of time. That means there is time to look for alternative insurer's before the existing policies lapse. Why does all insurance have to come from 1 provider? What about each county/province procuring their own? It de-risks putting all your eggs in one basket AND might give you more insurance options as the potential liability is less due to a smaller number of assets being insured.

I wonder though, is there some sort of tax dodge (or brown envelope) reason for the sponsor also being the insurer?
Cost of insurance vs Income from Sponsorhip from the same company?

Either way, there is no reason that I can see that should tie the GAA indefinitely to any organisation and if there is, then that's a governance issue in itself. I think there's a rule somewhere that players, clubs or whoever can be disciplined for bringing the games into disrepute. Surely associating with and takings sponsorship from companies profiting from genocide is doing serious damage to the GAA reputation. GAA profiting from genocide by proxy.

Jarlath Burns has not had a good term. His handling of issues have been, imo, tainted with an air of superiority from him. His comments from the weekend on how difficult he had it in the troubles felt like deflection and an attempt to better his own public perception, but for me it was a disgusting line to cross. A lot of this feels like the Jarlath show and he's not coming out of it well, his legacy will not be a good one. I was genuinely happy to see him get the role as I thought he'd do a lot of good, but I am extremely disappointed in his leadership.

[Strabane would be primarily a soccer town as well]

There is not 4k playing Gaelic football, where u get that?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-60164401

Its a few years old now but around 4k is probably close to it.

That's the Derry City and Strabane council area. Not even remotely the same numbers as the city, and a large number not even in the same county.

What, the GAA heartlands of Newbuildings? Or Artigarvan with a population of about 200. There are almost 5k playing Gaelic football in the council area- shave off about 1k outside of the city. It isn't as if the areas have massive populations and Strabane would be primarily a soccer town as well.

Strabane is in Tyrone - so immediately the figures are skewed.

Serious question - do people think Derry managers don't give consideration to players from North Derry or Intermediate/Junior clubs?
I think managers want the best players available to them, regardless of club.
Is it possible, there just isn't players at the moment from those North Derry or Junior clubs who are good enough? I think that's the more likely case rather than players not being picked due to their club.

I think Gilmore is good enough based on how he played last year, for a panel spot.
McMonagle I'm not as sure of, though I didn't see them play at club level, so maybe he is.
Ultimately, the management team pick who they think adds to the panel based on quality imo.