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Hard for kielty to get a word in with that dose Tommy Tiernan....  that hector chap hasn't spoken

Has to be one of the worst football matches I have seen in a while.  Both teams are total shite.

That was Celtic's reserves you just watched

In fairness, any time
Celtic managed to play the ball out and string 3 or 4 passes together they looked like they could open up rangers.  Problem was they only managed to string passes together about 4 times !

Has to be one of the worst football matches I have seen in a while.  Both teams are total shite.

Cushendall are well ahead of loughgiel IMO and will push Dunloy all the way.  Only 2 contenders.   Intermediate is wide open as always.

  I have never understood the rationale in 6 teams making it through the group stages in senior (rendering the group stage almost meaningless) whilst only 4 go through in the intermediate which is way more competitive. 

On the rules point, as a hurling follower, can someone explain how was the Kerry goal just before half time not a double bounce ? Does the fact that he didn't catch it again make the difference ?

I am not a football mad fan but credit to Andy and the county board for putting a bit of pride back in the jersey and setting up a good platform to build from.  A few random observations from the watching it over the last few weeks-

- there seems to be a real air of professionalism and structure about the set up that I haven't seen before
- the physical conditioning seemed to have come a long way (maybe more to do there, I don't know)
- I saw a photograph of the back room team and couldn't believe there was something like 17 on it- not sure how we afford that!
- I think it's refreshing the Conor Laverty allowed the Down players to play for their clubs throughout the TC.  IMO more counties should be doing this- it can only improve the standard of club football which benefits everyone short term.

All credit to Gleason, his back room team and the entire squad.  A fantastic result under pressure and away from home. 

The English analysts on sky can't hide their anti-Leinster feelings here.   Austin Healy can't be listened to..

Need take a couple of 3pts to settle them, 2 England penalties put them ahead. Very concerning for the world cup, any high pressure game which they expected to win well, they perform poorly.

What a strange comment.  France and Scotland games weren't high pressure?  This was the first average performance for a long time

Murray's first kick doesn't go to touch. Sets up Italian kick, Ireland get it back, Murray throws a horrible pass to Baird, Italian scrum and try opportunity. Surely his time is up.

Maybe but Casey hardly put his hand up, had an absolute stinker

Murray was instrumental over several phases in the lead up to the try that closed the game out .  People are v quick to run him down but there's several teams that would love to have him as an option!

Have I got green glasses on or is the ref actually killing is here?

Horrendous conditions in second half  Did our best but that was a 10+ game in more benign conditions

So we did well only because of the conditions that both teams had?

The wind shifted a lot in the second half and probably kept kk score down tbh.

On positive notes.... Paddy Burke is a fantastic hurler. McKenna also excellent after a poor start and James Mc naughton can be great when he gets in full flight.

Thought McKenna was very poor throughout to be honest and was surprised he stayed on.  Fine player but not today IMO.

It was a game that we never looked like winning but had we nicked a goal with 10 or 15 to go who knows what would have happened. A bit like Dunloy v Ballyhale in that regard.

Too many free catches on our own puck outs, a few easy frees missed, shorts passes to a 50/50 situation (may as well go long if it's 50/50) were the sort of things we needed to cut out to make it really interesting.

Hopefully enough in this game to give the team the confidence to compete.

On a separate note, sad to see hurling going down the route the football did- short passing, people scared to take a shot unless a very high percentage chance of scoring etc.  too much of a premium on athleticism over raw natural hurling ability.

Refreshing to see club and county operating in tandem.

What's the story with the Dunloy player playing for Antrim yesterday a fortnight before the club final?  Was he just needing game time ?

Pitch looked in good condition for this time of year, no doubt hard. Considering the coldness that's decent scoring too...

Games called off today after pitch inspections I see, counties defo need a huge indoor facility for playing like they have in Connaught

St Killians scoring, or lack of, let them down in the second half. 0-11 at HT, 0-17 at FT

One thing that stood out for me was St Louis' superior aerial ability.  On a very cold night they made a number of clean catches , a few too many of them unchallenged mind you which was surprising on a small pitch.