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Messages - Last Man

#1021
Hurling Discussion / Re: "COACHING THE GOALKEEPER" DVD
December 13, 2007, 06:04:42 PM
Stick a message on Northantrimgaa.com msg board, somebody should be able to help.
#1022
Local GAA Discussion / Re: Ulster Club Hurling League
December 13, 2007, 12:47:25 PM
At least the weather forecast gives it to be dry at the weekend.
#1023
Hurling Discussion / Re: "COACHING THE GOALKEEPER" DVD
December 13, 2007, 12:41:56 PM
Bought it on Saturday, only watched the first 20 mins so far but IMO its a fairly slick production. Shane is very good as usual on the presentation and Ronan,DD and Graham give a great demonstration of keeper skills. The drills all make sense and a lot of them would apply to all players. In all the teams I've played on I've never seen our goalies do specialised training like this and when I think how ordinary they were, it figures. A must buy for aspiring young keepers and all hurling coaches.
#1024
Local GAA Discussion / Re: Ulster Club Hurling League
December 13, 2007, 09:17:20 AM
Sunday 16th December 2.oopm Dunloy v L'giel
#1025
Local GAA Discussion / Re: Ulster Club Hurling League
December 13, 2007, 08:51:23 AM
This is on the Ulster Web site, anybody know if its on for sure as I wouldn't mind going to it. A lot of people thought it wasn't on Dunloy's radar at the minute.
SportTracker Ulster Senior Hurling League Division 1 Final (2.00pm)
Extra Time if required
Dunloy (Antrim) v Loughgiel (Antrim) at Cloughmills Ref: Ray Mathews (Antrim)
#1026
Local GAA Discussion / Re: Ulster Club Hurling League
December 10, 2007, 02:18:22 PM
Div 4 Final, St.Endas Glengormley v St.Brigids Cloughmills was played at the Mid Ulster Sports Arena on Saturday. Old rivalries were renewed but the Endas ran out convincing winners 3-7 to 0-9. A game of 2 halves due to the weather but the biddies couldn't create a goal chance.
#1027
Antrim / Re: ANTRIM HURLING
December 07, 2007, 11:06:56 PM
Don't think you could do any better than that G2, looks well balanced from 1 to 4. If certain teams don't let their egos cloud their thinking then they should be looking for this. Whats the chances of good sense though.
#1028
GAA Discussion / Re: Managers/Trainers
November 14, 2007, 11:55:44 AM
Quote from: orangeman on November 10, 2007, 09:22:39 PM
I'm told MickeY Harte gets NOTHING ! Nil - that's why he probably felt comfortable speaking out against the strike.
If you talk to people in the know in tyrone you will hear that MH does rather well. The money might not come from the county board but there are other ways donating a few quid to him
#1029
Antrim / Re: ANTRIM HURLING
November 13, 2007, 10:20:49 AM
One of the better analysis I've read about the Greedy Pricks Association.
By Darragh McManus
Tuesday November 13 2007

Have you ever heard of someone "striking" against their own hobby? No, me neither, but for Dessie Farrell and his cohort in the Gaelic Players' Association (GPA), the impossible is not only possible, but likely.


Let's be clear about what hurling and football are to inter-county players: a pastime, freely chosen, which they do because they enjoy it. Despite extravagant declarations about player "sacrifice" which is costing them time and money, they are not forced to play, by anybody or for anybody.

They are free to quit entirely or swap to other sports at any time. Indeed, there is a club level in GAA to suit all tastes, from top-quality senior sides to Division 10 junior teams who only meet up for matches.

The essential point again: this is a hobby. To expect to be financially recompensed for your hobby -- and to threaten a so-called "strike" if your demands are not met -- is totally unreasonable, not to mention absurd.

It's also unworkable. These players are not employed by the GAA, so who exactly do they intend to "strike" against, what form will it take and what effect do they expect it to have?

Inter-county players are voluntary members of GAA clubs who are invited, by their county board in the person of the team manager, to play on the county team; nothing more nor less. Should they decline that invitation, as is their right, the county board has the responsibility and obligation to extend the invitation to alternative players.

There are thousands of fine talents across the country who would give their right arm to play for the county, and the paying public will follow these players in their thousands. GPA mouthpieces may say that the big stars are the main attraction, but this is untrue.

While they have affection for individual players, GAA people follow their club and county -- team members are considered privileged to wear that coveted jersey. This is why inter-county and club competitions have thrived for 13 decades, long before the current era of hype and "the big occasion", and why the recent inter-provincials in Croke Park -- despite gathering an impressive collection of star players -- were attended by less than 10,000 people.

And please, enough of the loaded terminology, like "crossing the picket line", to emotionally blackmail other players into supporting this "strike": nobody's employment is under threat, and replacements have every moral right to play. (Enough, also, of self-fulfilling prophecies which declare, like Sean Diffley in this paper on Saturday, that professionalism in the GAA is inevitable. It only is if you keep saying it is.) A GPA "strike" will not succeed, and should not. The GAA was set up as a cultural and community organisation, to foster indigenous games and arts.

It exists so that every child or adult who wants to play has a field, a dressing room, a hurley or football, and someone to coach them and arrange matches.

It is an elemental force in Irish life, and cannot be held hostage by a contentious, and tiny, group of elite players. (The GPA represents less than 2,000 members of an organisation totalling more than 800,000 -- not even a quarter of one per cent.)

The GAA is immeasurably bigger, and more important, than individual players, managers, club members, famous stars, media commentators or anybody else.

And it is worth preserving at any expense. The inter-county championship may be the jewel in the crown, but the GAA can survive without it.

But it won't come to that, anyway. Despite claims to the contrary, I don't believe the ordinary grassroots member supports this GPA brinkmanship; I don't even believe they support the principle of grant payments for inter-county players. Many nervously see it as the thin end of the wedge regarding full professionalism, and considering how money-oriented the GPA has proven itself, they are right to be nervous.

If I had GAA President Nickey Brennan on the phone, I would tell him, hold fast in the face of this provocation -- the people will support you.

Donal Og Cusack and his ilk endlessly recite the mantra, "It's all about respect". Well, you have to give respect if you want to receive it. Where is the GPA respect, for example, for GAA officials at all levels, those sneered-at "suits" who do the tedious, unglamorous jobs behind the scenes?

All they get is contempt and abuse, despite the fact that their dedication is as great as inter-county players and their work just as important.

Where is the respect for the club member who doesn't want to see his association threatened by avarice and discord? Or the hugely committed inter-county camogie player or women's footballer, or senior club player?

Here's one example: my father was club chairman for 18 years. He coached primary schools teams, boys and girls, under-age and adult club teams, played, attended meetings, drove us to matches, sold lotto tickets, helped gather the grass when the pitch was mown. Post-retirement he is still involved, as a club-man, supporter and selector on the county U21 football team.

People like this made the GAA the most remarkable sporting organisation on the planet.

To concede the principle of elitism, to stratify the assocation, to yield to threats and media pressure, to open up the appalling vista of professionalism, is to betray the values and principles that inspired them.

My father was not unique, but the GAA is -- let's keep it that way.

Darragh McManus is author of 'GAA Confidential (Everything you never knew you wanted to know about Gaelic games)'

- Darragh McManus
#1030
Hurling Discussion / Re: Ulster championship to make bow
November 09, 2007, 03:12:54 PM
Well said BtK, let them strike, the show must and will go on. They are either greedy or just plain thick and easily led by the other greedy feicers........what a bunch of tossers!! >:(
#1031
Antrim / Re: ANTRIM HURLING
November 07, 2007, 09:13:11 AM
I agree Skull but it is an easier point to make if your club has experienced a bit of glory. Urban areas are a special case perhaps and football is dominating in Belfast at the minute unfortunately. Lets face it, it's easier to be good at it and a good hurler will always have the makins of a good footballer. I am speaking from a hurling perspective and getting a bit of mommentum back into it in Belfast throughout all levels is a priority. At the end of the day this may not be the answer but a bit of lateral thinking is needed for sure to keep lads hurling.
#1032
Antrim / Re: ANTRIM HURLING
November 06, 2007, 04:31:39 PM
Nobody can say it was a bad move for him .
#1033
Antrim / Re: ANTRIM HURLING
November 06, 2007, 04:00:53 PM
St.Endas, think he played there until minor
#1034
Antrim / Re: ANTRIM HURLING
November 06, 2007, 02:54:07 PM
A Lazy choice of words on my part MR as that was not the thrust of my argument, but I'd say Sean Burns went to yous exclusively for the football but by all accounts was a very capable hurler at the time and as far as I know never played hurling again.  We dont know the reasons for that of course but it still could be worth considering greater flexibility for dual players
#1035
Antrim / Re: ANTRIM HURLING
November 06, 2007, 09:58:14 AM
Quote from: Lecale2 on November 05, 2007, 09:46:45 PM
That rule is doing hurling harm in Belfast!
No doubt about it, I'd say there must be a fair few players that have been hoovered up by the likes of St.galls for example with the enticement of football success and never hurled again, a tragedy for both them and their original clubs. :(