Division one 2021

[Ed Ricketts]

Fair dues to him. 

At 32, the chances of him throwing on the orange jersey again are slim, but he cannot be faulted for his contributions to club and county over the years. 
People always seem to lay into him for looking to forge a life outside of football which I cannot understand.  Had he been mediocre nobody would give two fiddlers what career aspirations he would have. 

Looking forward to county matches starting up again, Armagh have their work cut out for them however.  Donegal and Tyrone will fancy their chances of de-throning Dublin later in the year, so early markers will be laid down. 
Armagh have to play conservative against these teams or face getting steamrolled.

100%. Hard as it might be for certain numpties to understand, but these young men actually have lives outside of football. Neither Clarke, nor anyone else, has an obligation to play football just because they happen to be good at it.

Jamie has given Armagh and Cross many magic moments over the last decade or so (through a period of time in which they were in particularly short supply). If he really has packed it in then he deserves to be remembered very fondly.

[Angelo]

Clarke was a brilliant footballer. One of the last few maverick forwards.

Shouldn't be too big a loss for Armagh with the scoring talent they have though.

[GetOverTheBar]

Always feel bad for Clarke.

Imagine the career a man with his talent could have had if he'd arrived on the scene a decade or 15 years earlier?

No sympathy. Could have had a decent career with Armagh and Cross but half in half out bullshit has been going on too long.

Must have been frustrating for Cross and Armagh knowing he would be back and you knew he wouldn't stay long.

But, the GAA continues to hide behind the amateur thing, the lad is free to do as he pleases. The professional commitment just wasn't there. He was a handy soccer player too from memory, he could have earned a few quid at that on the local scene.

[rodney trotter]

It was a chance for him to play Division 1 football, but might not have been thrilled about a Ulster Championship style league

Will he play much club football?, not been involved with Crossmaglen in a few years. Played a bit in London.

[tonto1888]

Always feel bad for Clarke.

Imagine the career a man with his talent could have had if he'd arrived on the scene a decade or 15 years earlier?

No sympathy. Could have had a decent career with Armagh and Cross but half in half out bullshit has been going on too long.

Ridiculous statement

[Main Street]

Jamie was/is an excellent footballer, just born in the wrong county.

[From the Bunker]

Jamie is a free agent with no professional contract. He owes nobody in the GAA anything. The GAA family expect good/great players to sacrafice in their twenties, things like travelling, developing a career and learning about life. Jamie had as much of a mix of both as he could and good luck to him.

[rodney trotter]

Plenty of County players have nice careers as a result of being a county player. Obviously they would have worked to get to it, but doesn't own the GAA anything tag is a bit rich.

Aidan O Shea strolling around in newly sponsored Audi every year is because he's a Top County footballer. Good luck to him that he can get those perks,but don't play the poor mouth because they aren't professional. Plenty of perks.

[From the Bunker]

Plenty of County players have nice careers as a result of being a county player. Obviously they would have worked to get to it, but doesn't own the GAA anything tag is a bit rich.

Aidan O Shea strolling around in newly sponsored Audi every year is because he's a Top County footballer. Good luck to him that he can get those perks,but don't play the poor mouth because they aren't professional. Plenty of perks.

That's what Aido chose. And fair dues it works for him. If he decided not to play intercounty the last decade. I can guarantee there would have been a huge amount of pressure put on him.

Remember he has only the use of the sponsored Audi.

[Angelo]

Plenty of County players have nice careers as a result of being a county player. Obviously they would have worked to get to it, but doesn't own the GAA anything tag is a bit rich.

Aidan O Shea strolling around in newly sponsored Audi every year is because he's a Top County footballer. Good luck to him that he can get those perks,but don't play the poor mouth because they aren't professional. Plenty of perks.

That's what Aido chose. And fair dues it works for him. If he decided not to play intercounty the last decade. I can guarantee there would have been a huge amount of pressure put on him.

Remember he has only the use of the sponsored Audi.

Plenty of the top GAA players in the big counties are extremely well compensated with perks and freebies.

He might only have the use of that car but the lease payments on such a vehicle would probably be worth 10k a year. If he was to receive that as an employee he would be paying a fair whack of tax on it.

Obviously AOS is only an example and those incidents apply to most key players in the big counties. But I think those high profile players will probably earn benefits and perks over the course of their careers that you could probably value at a 6 figure sum.

The players for the smaller counties probably get very little of those perks but are expected to put in the same effort and commitment.

It's a bit of a no brainer that a good player from one of the big counties wouldn't commit ten years to intercounty football when you see some of the benefits they get from it. Dublin players are more or less professional athletes, they more or less all have no show jobs*.

*Awaits pile on from Dublin fans and their cheerleaders from other counties.

It's a bit insulting when Bernard Brogan is telling other counties that Dublin's success is down to them training harder. If you had a footballer in Leitrim, Carlow, Fermanagh or Clare who was training three times a week as they worked a full time job in Dublin then it's night on impossible for them to put in the same effort as Dublin players who are gifted ambassadorial come as you go jobs.

[rodney trotter]

Cathal McShane was persuaded to stay in Tyrone with a new job in Lintel https://keystonegroup.co.uk/tyrone-gaa-cathal-mcshan
Did he get a  new house also?

Tyrone had to match, or better what he was going to be offered in Australia

[Tubberman]

He has a remarkable hairline.

[Angelo]

Cathal McShane was persuaded to stay in Tyrone with a new job in Lintel https://keystonegroup.co.uk/tyrone-gaa-cathal-mcshan
Did he get a  new house also?

Tyrone had to match, or better what he was going to be offered in Australia

McShane definitely stayed in Tyrone due to what he was offered but the offer didn't have to be bettered as such or even matched. It bettered his current circumstances for sure and these type of "job offers" are pretty common for the big players from the big counties. The big issue is that Dublin are able to sort their full panel out in this way. Most other counties probably look after their key men but the rest of the panel will generally have to look after themselves.

There's no denying he got sorted out though.

[Rossfan]

There are 6 other teams in D1 
I suppose the general consensus is that Dublin, Kerry, Donegal and Tyrone will qualify for the Semis while it will be Ros/Galway v Armagh/Monaghan to avoid the drop.
Southern section is predictable enough but the Ulster section much more likely to not go as expected.
What happens if Donegal gets locked down?

[Cunny Funt]

There are 6 other teams in D1 
I suppose the general consensus is that Dublin, Kerry, Donegal and Tyrone will qualify for the Semis while it will be Ros/Galway v Armagh/Monaghan to avoid the drop.
Southern section is predictable enough but the Ulster section much more likely to not go as expected.
What happens if Donegal gets locked down?

Can't see much changing, perhaps their 1 home game played in a neutral venue.