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ah yes romeo we have special people who shout for kildare.
i nearly dread goin to some league matches to be honest the poo ya have to listen to.

glen ryan will always cast a shadow over kildare until they find a proper replacement. hogarty is a good player but not at 6.
id still try glavin there as he played what was in essence a centre half backs role for moorefield all year and he seems to have matured alot as a player. and i woudlnt be his biggest fan

id say flangan will get moved into the edge of the box as the game moves on. jesus he is still pure class, even with dodgy ankles!
to be honest if he moves into FF at any stage he will clean up.

should be a good match and for what its worth rainbow desrves any hostile reception, that was terrible that day.

Well the fact that any forwrd thinking and younger manager has adopted a total new style of training regime means that yes it is.

something is really wrong when there are lads as young as 20 whose knees are fucked and hamstrings total dodgey.

at my club we havent done a single lap all year and we stretch like f**k and get the rest between games. it has been around but its just coming into the media now but as i said those who took it seriously have already made changes.

its still up to the manager in terms of respecting players. when rooney arrived you didnt see him playing for 3 england teams and his club. the managers can be greedy with prodigous talent and need to learn to respect it more.

I dont know what is wrong with this division cause there is something up if we are on top!!

At the Derry and louth matches both teams kicked away after wide. louth coud have had three goals too.

the worst thing is some Kildare fans are looking at the table and thinking "oh we're flyin". we are making U14 mistakes and our entire FF line don't ever make a run.

If i was from Louth or Derry i wouldnt worry too much. Derry didnt have Bradley that day either.
That would be us without Doyle, and i can tell ya we are screwed withou him.

cant comment on that ref but the other thing is pissin me off a lot.

we are though that if a man is going down on the ball not to touch him, especially kicking him.

the other effort of lads lying on the ball is even more grey. if a lad goes down and gets knocked over with three players on top of him he gets done for travelling or head down.

another instance he could get a free for a third man tackle, it is a rule that needs to looked at seriously.

personally i feel if a lad lay on the ball its a free but if he is trying to get up with two men on top of him it has to be free to him. as far as i know thats the way the rulebook interrprets it but refs seem to change their minds from instance to instance.

at the kildare louth match yesterday there were two instances where hogarty and raindow did sliding tackles without any punishment.
hogartys especially was definitely a yellow card.

also at our last two clubs games the ref has allowed lads to lead into tackles ith the boot plus a keano style lunge went unpunished.

What's the story and is this a common thing elsewhere?

lads did ye ever think we dont apprecoate enough of what we have now.

christy ring was a legend but sure sheff will probably be every bit as good but the auld lads would never admit it no matter what he does.
with the football too the names mentioned are all class but in general the players had no skill at all. did ya ever see a lad trying a solo in the 40's or 50's.
that being said it wasn't the thing to do then and the ball was as heavy as lead.

when i look for a great its looking for someone who looks ahead of his time. in the eighties even some of the best ballers looked awkward so ill put in my two cents and go with matt connors. he was doing stuff then maurice fitz was getting deified for years later. lovely player to watch.

ring was just used as an example there because as was pointed he gets bandied about all the time. o be honest i think he is in the same boat of pioneering new things in the game.

with gunner brady we should be appreciating him too NOW and not be harpin on when we are 70 to some poor unfortunate young lad.

camogie it's the downey sisters but ladies football is relatively young in terms of getting big. id say the likes of cora staunton and jliet murphy are already chaled down as legends in that code.

i dont undertand thoses kinda people.

but its not as if it doesnt happen in every part of the world, its not just an irish thing. ,y mate got absolutely battered in poland for a tenner.

no excuse for that shit no matter where it is. they weren't garsuns doin that in castelbar either, fuckin rejects. just coz none of them pulled they go chasin lads round the town. i give up.

how bad is it?

as was said id reckon there are plenty around who are in a similar mess. there are some serious clowns knockin around county boards.

the gaa need to get an auditor in to all counties i reckon. i know in my club we had one and the amount of money we wated in the last few years was serious and a bit of belt tightening and we're on the up again.

id hate to think what kind of debt aco board could rack up, ball park figure??

RTE GAA coverage isnt as bad as everyone seems to think. there is nothing wrong with michael lyster at all. i find him very good and he's not afraid to get joined in with a debate.
Spillane is much better away from presenting alrite but brolly and orourke have a great buzz off each other.
in the hurling cyril and ger can't be beaten, i love them.
i will concede that the commentators and pitch side lads let them down. ger canning "large paralellogram". its called the square ger!!

as for a sky effort no way. i dont care how many yards the wall was and i dont need a squiggle to show me the ball dipped and curled.

the other point about younger lads is crap too. grumpy aul lads say it straight. on the bbc and sky the ex players will never say shit in case they hurt an old mates feelings.
im happy with my lot anyway. get rid of ger, bring in daragh maloney and get the old music back.

this shite sickens me, at every league match you have a lad who only sees one side and then goes on about the ref when his team doesnt get a free.

so what if cavan did go out to upset o'hara. he should be old enough not to rise to it at this stage.

to call the ref a cheat is a joke. he just reacts to what he sees and hears. so if there is a decision in the balamce he's hardly going to go with the team who are bollicking him every minute. its human nature.

and just to annoy ya sligonian 

Sligo have been awarded the points from their Allianz National Football League match against Kildare at Markievicz Park on February 9. Kildare won the match, but the GAA's Games Administration Committee adjudged that the Lilywhites were in breach of Rule 109b (ii) of the GAA's Official Guide in that they failed to name their five substitutes on the day.

sticklers for rules and refereeing ye lot

seanie yae there is no doubt that under age development should be the main priority but a quick fix is no harm either.

if a lad moves to the county and the team improves their profile will get better and so lads will stay around longer.

no harm once there are young prospects being kept out of the team by an ex tipp or kk player. then i would have a problem.

Speedy recovery to ronan.

scary aul shit all the same, only a young lad!
just readin the indo this mornin and they were chattin bout the other lads.
deane just thought it was a groin strain and was playin away.

i know the ladies arent members but were they approached even?

you have the likes of rena buckley a dual star for cork in ucd, surely she would be a very high profile person to tag on. they ticked the boxes with hurlers from the weaker counties at least.

this thread has gone into the mire. if this conversation was in the pub somene would surely just come out with "stop talking shiite".

jaysus lads the game is over, its too late and we beat the crap out of the england rugby team, game over.

[and here's Brolly]

and here's Brolly!

When Tyrone's senior squad holidayed in Jamaica last year , they were given £3,000 per man spending money, which works out at roughly £100,000 of the hard earned money of the people of Tyrone. Sean Kavanagh probably thought the sun was too hot and Pat D'Arcy didn't do enough to get it turned down a notch. The good people of Tyrone do not begrudge it, but the players by the same token must start to appreciate what is done for them. Increasingly, the amount of money spent on county senior teams is a source of concern. On the one hand, clubs all over Ireland are struggling to make ends meet. On the other, we gave last year's All-Ireland finalists exactly 280,000 euro for team holidays. Is this fair? 280,000 euro would run most clubs for a decade. Alternatively, it can be blown in a week by simply lying on a beach, then issuing press releases complaining bitterly about the quality of the sand. It should be borne in mind that there are 12,000 boys and girls at all age levels playing Gaelic games in Tyrone, not 30.

Paddy Bradley is Derry's GPA rep. His situation is a good example of the dilemma created for players by the GPA. Glenullen's population is 700. In 1987 they built a pavilion. Materials cost £120,000, labour costs were nil. They built it themselves. Joiners, plumbers, brickies and electricians worked for free. On Boxing Day 1987, picture the scene at 8am in the half finished clubhouse. Ten men were plastering walls. Paddy's uncle Gabriel, a factory owner, was one of the labourers, mixing cement and carrying it to them. Forty people ferreting away. All for free, all for the good of the community. Like the Amish people building a barn for their neighbour.

Last Christmas, the great Martin Mullen, their chairman longer than Mao, dug the foundations for their new gym and sauna. Every weekend and holiday, a squad of local tradesmen arrived at 7.30am. During the dark mornings, the floodlights were switched on. The work is now finished, and the new facility is simply incredible. One of those labourers was Paddy Bradley. Which is more important?

The problem is that the GPA, founded by Donal O'Neill, a sports agent by trade, has encouraged players to look on the game with a selfish perspective i.e. the GAA is raking it in, we are the attraction, we deserve a cut. In principle, this is fundamentally wrong, but it is difficult for players not to think like this. If someone had offered me money to play when I was twenty, I would have said yes please. Young men find it hard to see the bigger picture. This is the dilemma. The players in a way are pigs in the middle and many of them are uneasy about what is happening. When I'm on the point, exactly how many real GPA members are there? In Derry, in the week of the fifteen minute strike, forms were brought to the changing room after training and the boys advised to sign them. Hey presto they were members. So 'Pay for Play', but not it seems 'Pay to Join.'

County players have a responsibility. They must appreciate their privileged place in the GAA community. The ' them and us' perception that exists, as if we are somehow the players' enemy, is a nonsense. There is no Ming the Merciless Style Dictator with pots of money, denying players what is rightfully theirs.

At the moment, the GPA is wearing sheep's clothing. The stated demands don't stand up to scrutiny, but appear reasonable and most importantly selfless. Sean Kavanagh can't sleep at night for worrying about the Tyrone hurlers. Dessie Farrell spoke sadly at a press conference recently about an unnamed footballer from a lesser county who had a serious injury and couldn't afford the repair operation. He wouldn't be drawn on his identity, perhaps because it would have intruded on his privacy but it was, Dessie assured us sadly, a terrible situation brought about by this cruel organisation that had been ruthlessly exploiting him and other footballers for years. In fairness to Dessie, it was clear he was sparing us a whole raft of other heart breaking tales of anonymous county players who had been bull-whipped to the training in heavy rain by sadistic GAA personnel, and eventually developed pneumonia and died. Is it any wonder he is such a gloomy person, saddled with the fight against such great injustice? Truly, the Nelson Mandela of county footballers and hurlers. Donal O'Neill sat there throughout, nodding sadly, touching Dessie's arm in a sympathetic way at the appropriate moments. The message was clear ' We Care, We care a lot.' They appear to be on the verge of renouncing all their worldly goods and heading for Africa.

Make no mistake about it, the raison d'etre of the GPA is the accumulation of money. Sponsorship deals, not membership dues, keep them going. Donal has given Dessie the rather grand title of Chief Executive. They believe that pay for play is achievable. They use the language of commerce. One of my favourites from their recent press conference was the possibility of ' a withdrawal of players' services.' In the press release supposedly issued on behalf of the Tyrone football and hurling panels last week, it was stated that in light of the ''co-operation of the Tyrone footballers'' in fulfilling their recent floodlit fixture at Croke Park, the GAA must immediately renounce the letter sent by the Tyrone County Board. To date we have politely ignored them and they have achieved nothing. The truth is that players are well looked after so they've had to cobble together increasingly vague demands, which no one can really understand. The GAA hierarchy should cut off all communication with the GPA. Under no circumstances should they be officially recognised. We have sustained them to date by tolerating them and being kind. We ought not to be afraid of them. When it comes down to it, the GPA is irrelevant. It is driven by a few people, perhaps ten or twenty. They get plenty of media publicity because its controversial and divisive, but they have nothing, just a begging bowl. It is a classic parasite. Why bargain with them when they have nothing to bargain with? Lets see if Donal and Dessie will persuade the players to strike, which of course would be their death knell.

I spent the last week at club matches. The Ulster Intermediate final between Ballymacnab and Coleraine at floodlit Casement Park was a very special occasion. Both teams had sets of brothers and cousins. Both clubs were created and maintained by the people in the communities, who have devoted their time and money to this great project. The aim? To create an amenity for young and old. To create a vibrant community. Not so that the few can be enriched financially, but so that everyone can be enriched in the only way that matters. Coleraine won it, scoring two sucker punch goals in the first ten minutes then riding out the storm, but my abiding memory will be the heroic effort of both teams. More importantly, no one was bleating on about mistreatment or not being paid. On Sunday past, we were treated to two great senior semi finals. Colin Cooper's impossibly beautiful goal, the refusal of Moorefield to accept defeat, the genius of Oisin McConville and stubborness of the Cross defence set against the enthusiasm and pace of St Brigids and the outrageous skill of Frankie Dolan. All of the boys were representing their families and clubs. All of them train as hard as any county player. This is heart and soul, not capitalism. This is the GAA.

When Ciaran McGeeney recently talked about 'The great men of the GAA' he wasn't referring to the countless really great GAA men. He wasn't referring to Liam Harry from Dungiven, doorman, selector, umpire, driver, cleaner who sold £24,000 worth of tickets in our recent club draw. He wasn't referring to the people in Coleraine or Ballymacnab, or the thousands of other places who have given their time, sweat and money for the good of us all. He was talking about a handful of county players: The boys who give least and get most. I know this, I was that man. I said some hurtful things about Mickey Moran once and he asked a very good question: ' What has Joe Brolly ever contributed to Derry?' When I thought about it, I realised the answer was very little. We get the kicks, the adulation, the spin offs, never mind the spiritual and physical well being that comes from playing team sport. Finally, we play because we love it. Someone forgot to tell Sean Kavanagh it wasn't compulsory. If I had never played for Derry I would still be training three times a week for my club. The reality is the county senior teams are the decoration on the cake. We support them because they are a part of us, and sometimes - not often - we get a terrific team that excites us and goes on to win something. In 1993 Derry won the All-Ireland. The GAA community in Derry wasn't depending on us. It had already been thriving for 100 years. It may be a while before we win anything else, but we will still support the team and put our hands in our pockets to keep the thing going.

The GAA is all of us, young and old, fit and unfit, talented and untalented, not just the 300 ( or is it 30) non paying members of Donal and Dessie's two bit outfit. It is the cement in our society, the greatest community organisation in the world. The GPA represents the first serious attack on the GAA since its foundation. That this near perfect organisation might be destroyed by simple greed is unthinkable. The legendary Sean O'Connell, perhaps Derry's greatest footballer, was asked once to sum up what it was that made the GAA extraordinary. He said it was because it was about giving not receiving. We need to remember this, before it is too late...