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Fair play to Ballinderry today - over the 60 minutes they looked the hungrier. Can they repeat it against Glenswilly?

When it was 15 v 15 Kilcoo looked tired, they were second to most 50/50 battles  - the physical & mental tussle against Cross definitely had an impact.
Even at 15 v 14 Ballinderry looked the stronger
15 v 13 it was an even game!!

The ref didn't have his finest hour, but to be honest he sent McGuckin off on the report of the Linesman, Scott was a 2nd yellow so can have little complaints.  I didn't see why he sent off Johnston or Greenan.
What annoyed me from the ref was his inconsistency, he tried to book players at the start to set down his mark, but then allowed worse actions to go unchallenged later in the game.

The final will be very interesting, Donegal teams have had a bit of a voodoo over Derry in recent years and with Gallagher & Murphy they will certainly fancy their chances.

Great to see Raymond Wilkinson back out, back playing in the Semi final of an Ulster in the same season as doing your cruciate is some achievement

Dont know the specific rule Seanie but a few years back there was a huge row between Cargin and St Pauls at the end of a county final which Cargin were winning. The match was abandoned there were suspensions all round and Cargin ended up getting banned from all football in Antrim for a while. As it was over the winter by the time the leagues had restarted in the spring Cargin had appealed and were allowed to play league football but not championship as far as I can recall.
With regard to this incident whoever hit a guy from behind fracturing his jaw has proven himself to be both a coward and a thug at the same time. The fact that this coward will not admit doing anything proves him to be an ever greater piece of scum. Due to his actions and his alone his club and his county have suffered and will continue to do so for a very long time ( Antrim are just about getting over the fall out from the Cargin St Pauls row now). There is a lot of hot air on here about due process county boards bla bla bla. Seamus McCloy did not hit anyone the thug did, Seamus McCloy is not covering anything up Ballinderry are, Kielt, Seamus McCloy and Damian Cassidy are not the cause of this problem so stop trying to mudy waters with whataboutery and address the cowardly thug and those who are suppoting his cowardly actions.

A few points:
1. I think Cargin had the championship reinstated
2. The act of striking is wrong & should be strictly punished
3. The GAA should not be asking on members of the association to "tell on their club mates."  They may decide to sanction them behind their own closed doors but that's it
4. Everyone is innocent until proven guilty - anything else is gutter British press antics & we as part of the GAA should not be associated with it
5. There has been much written about what happened and I'm sure much of it exaggerated
6. I doubt if everyone on that pitch (including the victim & the culprit) were angels
7. Whatever the outcome Derry as a county will be the worse for this episode
8. Ballinderry will be the stronger as they will adopt a siege mentality in every close match they play in.

Still think Kevin Mc Guckin was unlucky.

...to be born in Derry 

I actually think he was born in Tyrone!!

[I think I have been harsh on Niall Conway]

as for niall conway - well he dint cover himself in glory looking at the semi final and minal of the minor championship
last year (07) when changes were crying out to be made but nothing was done (or done too late - if at all).

Its here that I must take umbridge with your post LB.

Didn't they win the semi-final?

If memory serves, a sucker punch goal for Galway won the game!

Anyway, sure he's only in as coach and not manager.

won the semi final but only just, were being cleaned out in most positions after 25 mins (luckily they played great stuff and scored a lot early on)  and nothing was done on the line to change that.
In the final they had the game, but when it turned conway again sat looking at it and did nothing.

with the talent they had , they should have walked the final. lost it on the line imo.

LB is their not a manager whom you think is crap on the line apart from your darling Mickey Harte?

yes - quite a lot actually - Eugene Kelly is one obvious one...

its usually the attention seeking whores that get the jobs and exposure though (not meaning Bradley here , and Mr harte has his daughter for that task anyhow).

I think I have been harsh on Niall Conway, while imo he is still guilty of what I said earler, he is a young manager and can learn from his mistakes and get better with experience - still doesnt necessarily mean hes going to be up there with Harte, but hes already at least on a par with crozier.

A managers quality is most guaged by their ability to make changes when things go wrong as much as their team strategy /gameplan.
imo.

LB
I agreed with your earlier statement. Nice lad, but made some strange omissions from Derry's Minor teams.  I went up to the County final in Derry city & Ballinderry were playing a strong lad Nevin at CHB keeping Ronan McGuckin on the bench.  Apparently he has started for them throughout the year in both league & championship & has done very well.  Yet under Conway he only held bit-parts in last year's minor panel.

I hope I'm wrong but I fear Baker & Conway will be found wanting when put up against the wits of intercounty managers.  As well as that how will they man manage the McGourty's?

The rumour running round Belfast tonite is the whole Baker selection was a fix!!

Can anyone confirm:-
1. Baker was proposed by ... Cushendun - that great footballing giant of Antrim football
2. Baker was seconded by ... Cushendall - that other great footballing giant of Antrim football
3. The chairman & vice chairman of the selection committee were from ... yes you've guessed it Cushendun & Cushendall
4. Brady was not allowed to sit on the selection panel because ... he played under White
5. Brady's replacement on the selection panel played under Delargy

Is it all a conspiracy theory that:-
A) the hurlers of the glens have got one over on their footballing brothers
B) the country footballing bumpkins have got one over on their city cousins
C) Both A) & B)

 

Perhaps i can help....to get a transfer in Derry to another club...is like getting blood from a stone

Max,
Rich from you  - Did Bellaghy no start with Ronan Rocks (ala Loup) & Gavin Diamond (did he not start with Lavey) in the last championship match?

Larger towns historically don't do that well c.f. Magherafelt & Maghera, but that can only be used as a soft excuse.  Loup as a parish, is as small as many of your rural clubs, but they introduced a structure at underage level to great success.  Ballinderry would also be a smallish rural club but it is not fair to compare them with anyone as they're just fanatics!!  It's down to having a plan and setting it in place & folowing it through.  I see Tempo are starting to reap the reward of a good underage policy.  Is the county board doing anything to introduce anything or are they leaving it to the clubs?

Question:  How many clubs are there in Fermanagh?  It woud appear the club scene in the county is at a pretty low ebb at the minute.  Considering the size of Skea, Derrylin, Irvinstown, Newtown and Roslea they should have a better club structure.  Comparing it to Derry football all theses towns are as big if not bigger than any of the top teams in Derry.  The main football catchment area in Derry is focussed within 15 miles from the Castledawson Round about .  Am I being overly harsh or what is the underlying problem? 

Considering the greatest GAA strategist in our lifetime is without doubt Peter Quinn - what is the County doing to raise the standard of club football?
Should they consider merging with Leitrim to develop a decent league structure to try & raise the overall standard of both counties? 
Should Intermediate clubs be allowed to merge to play in the Senior Championship (ala Kerry) again to bring players on to perform at a more consistent higher standard? 
Should the first round of the championship be in a league system to get more than one match, again to develop players? 
The status quo should not be allowed to remain!!

Shamrocks by 2-3, 5-6 if we give them big James.  Only joking!

DYJL - Big Jean will come down & slap the head of ye!!
It took the Screen woman to provide you boys with a replacement to Big Gerry!!

Up the Shamrocks! We're going to Croker!!

DYJL,
With that many playing for the County - do you have enough left to fulfill your senior matches?

Would be a good charity challenge match Derry (without the Ballinderry men) Vs Ballinderry.  Who would your money be on DYJL?

[6 or 8 Ballinderry men on the field,]

He will still have the same players and when things go wrong and there are 6 or 8 Ballinderry men on the field, you will be wanting rid of him cos he had a perceived Ballinderry favouritism You just can't win !

I think Crozier already has the monopoly on using Ballinderry players - Coming into the last 10 minutes they had the following on the pitch:

Kevin McGuckin
James Conway
Raymond Wilkinson
Enda Muldoon
Colin Devlin
Conleith Gilligan

From memory the only Ballinderry lad on the county panel that didn't get a game on Saturday nite was McIver's son - can't remember his first name (was the U21 captain this year).  I suppose you have to draw a line somewhere!!

Antrim aren't in the Qualifiers

And Gilligan was awful

Would agree Gilligan had a poor first half in front of goal, but we killed Antrim in the second half within 2 minutes of the restart.  Was it not Gilligan who disposessed the Antrim defender that led to the goal? At the end when Derry was playing cat & mouse on the 45 it was Gilligan who looked up & drove over a pont from 50m.  I'm sure Crozier won't mind if he is equally as awful against Monaghan as long as he scores 6 points!!!

Is it true Big Adrian is part of his backroom team?

Yes, the curly haired one is with 'whatdoyoucallit' in the Donegal setup. He seems to like being part of the backroom staff anywhere. He was Mickey Moron's right hand man with UUJ this year. He calls more of the shots than he gets credit for.

I must admit I laughed at the Sigerson final this year as two Ballinderry men were both "driving from the back seat" McGuckin with UUJ at one side of the TV platform & Dessie Ryan standing just behind the QUB squad at the other side of the platform giving"Jamsie the odd bit of advice."  I wonder did they share a car down the road as Adrian would have been goin past Dessie's house!!

Tyrone have 5 players who are exceptional - Ricey, Gormley, Cavanagh, O'Neill and Mulligan. Then you have McGuigan who makes the difference and can control the game in the really tight situations.
Derry have two exceptional players in my opinion - Kevin McGuckin and Paddy Bradley ...

Loughshore lad,
You've got caught in a time trap & it's time to waken up and smell the coffee! ...

Tyrone paid Brian McGuigan to come back from Oz, & they will need him plus O'Neill, plus Mulgrew firing on all cylinders by August, but with Donegal next & the restructured back door system the balance of players may not be good enough to last to then!!

You have not read any of my posts too well. Where did I say Tyrone would win anything this season? I merely said that they had 5 exceptional players who would all need to be playing at the peak of their powers in order for them to have a chance of winning anything this season. Out side of these 5 Tyrone struggle just like the vast majority of other counties. Brian McGuigan will not be playing any football this season and he will simply be too much of a miss for Tyrone to overcome.
You are talking about Tyrone having a suspect full back I think you will find I actually highlighted this a few pages back. I happen to know Brian McIver and have no doubts he will be targeting the dodgy Tyrone full back - just like he did when Donegal beat Derry in the ulster championship semi final last season 

Loughshore,
You have valid points there, and I must confess I haven't read all of your comments as I only get a chance to glance through the pages.  My point was you were unfair to exaggerate the cream of Tyrone and dismiss the dross of Derry.

A set of simple comparisons, if you were to ask my preferences:-

Ricey v Lockhart; no comparison Lockhart every time - now the "class stakes" are 5/3 in favour of Tyrone

Mulligan v Muldoon; again Muldoon wins hands down - he has been used as the Derry utility player for years to sort out problem areas - now the score is 4/4

What I will agree with Derry's best players don't come close to the calibre of Cavanagh & McGuigan.  Both players destroy teams consistently by getting the ball into the danger area.   Also Tyrone had a certain Peter C when they last won the AI.

As for McIver I have watched him when he was over your near neighbours & he appears to have the ability to read a game well and make timely switches - a valuable commodity.  Is it true Big Adrian is part of his backroom team?

At a guess from memory...the subs
Don kelly, Danny Quinn, Eamon Burns, Steven Mulvenna(the only Antrim man to have an All ireland senior football medal) Richard Ferris, Dermot Mc Nicholl, Karl Diamond, Briam Mc Cormaick and possibly Dermot ONeill

Max,
Good stab - was Collie McGurk & Bateson on the bench / panel?