Derry Club Football & Hurling original

[Franko]

The rot set in on this a few years ago when a prominent county player got a ban reduced to allow him to play for Derry after assaulting a referee.  We're starting to fully reap the rewards of this chicanery now.

[Franko]

Heard few reports today, all saying ref had a few 50/50 calls but he didn't influence the outcome of game. Was there any players involved with officials ?

By all accounts, a few of the players were doing their level best to protect the ref.  They failed to deal with some of the more rabid elements of the Slaughtneil support though.  They're not miracle workers, I suppose.

[shawshank]

S'neil have had an unbelievable run in both codes and are still involved with the Ulster club hurling. And I expect them back next year with the football, but with a couple of older players less. However isn't easy to be all gracious and humble when your winning all the time, painting a great picture of a wonderful community, then you loose one game in 5 championship years in Derry and the mask slips, the ref get serious abuse leaving the pitch and on social media. Same carry on when Ballinderry lost their game to Slaughneil after a 3/4 year unbeaten championship run, couldn't take the beating with the grace and humility they were happy to display when winning. It isn't the first game that a ref has made an honest call and got them wrong in S'neils run, the difference being they were able to find a way to win regardless of the refs errors, the same way they able to overcome errors their players made in the same matches to get a win. Refs make mistakes as do players, but your not going hit one of your own. Wonder was any of the supporters involved, the same supporters who finally helped Moran to call it a day after the abuse he took from them after the defeat in the All Ireland semifinal V Nemo last February.

[seanyb1]

S'neil have had an unbelievable run in both codes and are still involved with the Ulster club hurling. And I expect them back next year with the football, but with a couple of older players less. However isn't easy to be all gracious and humble when your winning all the time, painting a great picture of a wonderful community, then you loose one game in 5 championship years in Derry and the mask slips, the ref get serious abuse leaving the pitch and on social media. Same carry on when Ballinderry lost their game to Slaughneil after a 3/4 year unbeaten championship run, couldn't take the beating with the grace and humility they were happy to display when winning. It isn't the first game that a ref has made an honest call and got them wrong in S'neils run, the difference being they were able to find a way to win regardless of the refs errors, the same way they able to overcome errors their players made in the same matches to get a win. Refs make mistakes as do players, but your not going hit one of your own. Wonder was any of the supporters involved, the same supporters who finally helped Moran to call it a day after the abuse he took from them after the defeat in the All Ireland semifinal V Nemo last February.

Exactly. I'm sick and tired of the crap on social media and on here of how S'Neil were cheated etc s'neil got more than their fair share of luck from referees in big cship games

[tonesfirstandlast]

S'neil have had an unbelievable run in both codes and are still involved with the Ulster club hurling. And I expect them back next year with the football, but with a couple of older players less. However isn't easy to be all gracious and humble when your winning all the time, painting a great picture of a wonderful community, then you loose one game in 5 championship years in Derry and the mask slips, the ref get serious abuse leaving the pitch and on social media. Same carry on when Ballinderry lost their game to Slaughneil after a 3/4 year unbeaten championship run, couldn't take the beating with the grace and humility they were happy to display when winning. It isn't the first game that a ref has made an honest call and got them wrong in S'neils run, the difference being they were able to find a way to win regardless of the refs errors, the same way they able to overcome errors their players made in the same matches to get a win. Refs make mistakes as do players, but your not going hit one of your own. Wonder was any of the supporters involved, the same supporters who finally helped Moran to call it a day after the abuse he took from them after the defeat in the All Ireland semifinal V Nemo last February.

A very good post Shawshank. That's the GAA for you all over and over and over, they can't take a beating. Now your own club Kilrea have very bad supporters and they win nothing.
Our own club here in Bellaghy are the same, we are great people when we are winning but there's a crowd that can't take a beating either and I hear there's a crowd of middle aged men running after wee camogie teams and they are a disgrace.
All clubs need to take these hooligans under control or something serious is going to happen
Terrible for the wee children having to watch and listen to all this stuf

[restorepride]

Hopefully we get through last 3 C'ship games without any such incidents or we'll end up with no referee's that should be near a GAA pitch for next season.

Regardless of which referees are adjudged to be good enough to be "allowed inside the grounds of a GAA pitch", we surely can't be far away from a situation whereby the whole lot of them go on strike and we're unable to have any games played.  The old question of "who'd want to be a referee" always seemed a light hearted dig at the officials and the abuse they'd put up with from certain sections of the crowd but now it looks to be a genuine question and something that urgently needs addressed with officials being physically assaulted at the drop of a hat.  For Dan Mullan to be met by a mob of Slaughtneil supporters in the tunnel last night is nothing short of disgraceful. Anyone that tries to justify that because they feel aggrieved about a few decisions he made (or indeed didn't make) needs to take a long look at themselves. 

Onto the game itself and it was another fantastic evening of championship football served up by two very evenly matched teams.  Both have come under fire in recent times for playing a negative brand of football but I've always felt that a lot of that stems from how the opposition set up rather than their own styles of play. Against Magherafelt, Slaughtneil had no option but to play keep ball whereas last night gave them opportunities to maraude forward and create some wonderful scores. It seemed like they couldn't miss in the first half last night and like many others I thought the game was done and dusted in the first 20 minutes but credit to Coleraine for coming back into it.

The goal was the clear turning point as it cut a 5 point lead down to 2 and Coleraine looked the more clinical over the closing stages. Slaughtneil looked very wary of taking the shot on towards the end, instead trying to work it around to better positions / players but eventually being bottled up and turned over. I definitely think there were a few instances of players being pushed in the back or fouled when carrying the ball into the tackle but that was the case for both teams with the referee deciding not to make the call.  People seem to forget that Barry Cassidy gifted Slaughtneil a point in the closing minutes of the first game when the goalkeeper was deemed to over carry when being fouled in his small square but there were no cries of corruption or bias after that.

It's a pity that such an entertaining battle between two quality teams will be overshadowed by the antics at the end, but something really needs to be done to address the problem.  However I fear the county board will simply sweep it under the carpet as it's unlikely any video evidence will surface.

One final word on the Slaughtneil team themselves. They have been an absolute credit to the county over the past few years and what they have achieved in both codes is nothing short of remarkable. The players themselves were the ones preventing supporters and others from getting at the officials on the pitch so hopefully they are not all tarnished by the actions of a few idiots in the club.

Excellent post.

[screenexile]

2 nights in a row???

[Low and Hard]

2 nights in a row???

The slaughtneil mask has well and truly slipped. They will have to learn how to take their beating!

[JoG2]

Grim times for football in Derry.

[Jim Bob]

Just saw a video of tonight's carry on. Terrible scenes

[scallywag]

Was at the reserve game tonight, what on earth is wrong with those cousin marrying maniacs from maghera?players jumping into the crowds,the number 3(Burke)hit a 16 year old girl!!!come on guys,where is this going to end??any wonder people are slowly but surely turning there backs on this game!two nights running slaughneil have been bang out off order,now they must feel how Ballinderry have been feeling as two decades,tho slaughneil have been only successful as 3/4 years,that's there dynasty over!!!

[Localexpert]

You derry uns aren't wise.  Does everyone in slaughtneil know the irish words for muck savages?

[Wildweasel74]

As I had previously mentioned on here, police involvement is required for assaults of refs and automatic life time bans for those involved in the assault

[Therealdonald]

As I had previously mentioned on here, police involvement is required for assaults of refs and automatic life time bans for those involved in the assault

You're joking aren't you about getting Police involved?

[club football only]

Slaughtneil are serious bad losers!! Brilliant when they are winning but when beat that's a different story!!!!