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Didn't read the article but a friend of mine his daughter wanted to go to Trinity or UCD not sure which one, but he said that she could only get in if there was any spaces available after the locals took theirs..

Purely anecdotal, just in case   

Not true
Son went to trinity so can speak from experience
Daughter applied for ucd  and was also accepted but ended up at queens as mates didn't go to Dublin
Reality for the good degrees  in ucd/ trinity you need 4  a levels but tbf you need a serious high number of points in the south also .

Should nationalist politicians be looking at stuff like that and making it more accessible to students from the six counties to study at southern universities?  That's a simple, practical step they could try to do.


And on that, I know a lad who's son was trying to get registered as a teacher in the south. He wanted to live in Dublin.  Qualified in St. Mary's, Belfast but the hassle and grief he was put through to get registered with the Teaching Council was unreal. He said it'd be easier to get registered if you were from Australia.


He said the grilling and paperwork he had to put in was crazy. Ironic thing is, he said, is that there's a severe shortage of teachers in the south, especially in Dublin and commuter belt areas on the eastern seaboard.

Again, this is an area tht nationalist politicans should be working on - making it more accessible to northerners.

College entry is not a real problem, teaching recognition is. Yet, these politicians rarely do anything as useful as this.

Why not? At 15 I knew loads of things I didn't want to study any further.

Perhaps your judgement at 15 is not the best.

I'm not arguing that one is better than the other, but that works both ways. It could be easily argued that the Leaving Cert doesn't prepare its students well enough in more specialist degrees.

Specialist degrees should provide specialist material, this degree of specialisation should not be happening at schools.

Maybe the uncertainty of getting the course you want due to the timing the cost of living and being classed as a foreigner is keeping people from the north of the island away..

Nobody is classed as a foreigner. Some people would be uncertain about their course, but if their grades are well clear of the points required that uncertainty is largely hypothetical.

Accommodation more expensive in the south yeah, but the fees are almost half. 

And much less than half when compared to England.

The results thing is a definite issue, as Leaving Cert results in the 26 counties have been greatly delayed in recent years.

But it is down to poor career guidance in many cases. You get people who will apply to TCD and UCD, but not to DCU, Maynooth or TUID, Sliog or Letterkenny, and will then pay €9000 to go to some ex polytech in England.

That's a weird way to measure it, surely it should just be from how far behind they were.

Armagh against Down last week, Armagh were 3 down early on and won by 28 so 31 point comeback there.

Fair point, I suppose I didn't really think of being 3 points behind as a notable thing.

The whistle had blown well in advance of Comer further fouling and then interfering with the Roscommon player who was in possession of the ball. This was exactly why the 50m punishment was introduced.

Exactly. It showed poor judgement by Comer, a bit like the Derry player who give Beggan the chance for the last minute free in extra time in the Derry-Monaghan game.

[13]

What has been the maximum difference of a winning team from the point when they were further behind to when their final winning score?

Armagh v Dublin 14/03/26 : 13 Armagh 11 points behind, 2 point victory

Am I the only one that's in any way neutral about this? When I was younger there wasn't a chance all these games would be available to watch. Now you are able to watch every single game from first round provincial the whole way up to the All Ireland final. 40 plus games and games from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s and the 2010s available to watch as well as all the hurling games that come with it. Maybe I'm in the minority but I think that isn't a bad deal at all

Correct there's lots of positives to enjoy as we reflect on this current "problem".

I wouldn't boast too loudly about all the old games available.  GAA+ selection is dwarfed by what gaelic games are available on YouTube.  Some time ago the USGA app offered EVERY final round of US Opens going back to the 1960s.  Meanwhile every Masters final round is currently available on YouTube.

If golf can offer such extensive historical coverage to its fans then why can't other sports - like GAA - do the same?

GAA+ does offer games free after a few days.
A comprehensive historical archive would be good, useful for the winter days.

Suppose we cant use the Amateur organisation tagline anymore!

That was gone a while with the cringe sky deal they had.

There is nothing incompatible with being an amateur organisation and having restricted TV coverage. The GAA has costs even though it does not pay players. Which is not to say that their exact strategy is a wise one.

I understand the frustration of some , but £13 or £14 a game is  a lot less than what you'd pay to attend a match. It would take £100 minimum to bring the  average family to a match , and that's only the tickets and  fuel.

£14 wouldn't take the average Donegal  fan to Bundoran  in diesel never mind the whole cut to Killarney.

But the problem is previous free to air games are now behind a paywall and the GAA are joining sky in prosecution of dodgy boxes.

This seems to just be accepted.

Are there less free to air games than before?  And of course the GAA tries to stop dodgy boxes as it also would a crooked gateman taking cash to let people in.

Happy 100th birthday, David Attenborough.

They'll hardly let ye lot on shiny new trains😯😲

European Movement poll

Support for Irish unity within the EU:

Northern Ireland: 63% in favour, 29% against

Republic of Ireland: 59% in favour, 22% against

63% in the North would vote for a UI in the EU😯😲??

https://www.thejournal.ie/all-ireland-poll-shows-support-for-irish-unity-and-eu-membership-7031946-May2026/

RTE in true RTE fashion managed to bury that stat in their article too.

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2026/0506/1571883-eu-attitudes-ireland/

Perhaps. But there is a need for some methodological investigation into a poll that shows a higher proportion in favour of a UI in the 6 counties than in the 26 counties.