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Given all that he has been through, there is a question over the extent to which Toal will be able to play at the top level again. It is not desirable to push things too far too soon. However it would have been better for Joe to have consulted the man and to have said that if things go well with the club football that he might be considered for the county again.

Ball Hopper, Hound will explain his own system, but it was based on diminishing weights over a 5 year period.

The big question then becomes...who has time to figure all this out for 2006?  and 2005?  and 2004?

Hound, above, has already done this and a very good job it was. Hound's ranking reflects past performance, Brehony seems to be predicting the 2007 season, yet they are quite similar. The question for the front runners is whether Kerry are quite as good after some retirements, and whether Tyrone will get back the likes of McGuigan and whether they can really cope with the retirement of their deity.

Armaghniac - TG4 didn't cover that game - that day Nov 26th, they did the Ladies Club Final, the Leinster Hurling Club Final and the Connacht Football Final. We only have deferred rights to the AIB Club Championships, so if TG4 don't cover it, we can't show it during the week. If they had, we would have put it out, no bother.

Easytiger. Is this a question of cameras or rights? If you have the deferred rights to the AIB Club Championships can you not cover any game in that competition whether or not TG4 choose to show it live? If you are not allowed, it is a case of the GAA shooting itself in the foot (again) as I can't see why you shouldn't be allowed show deferred coverage of such a game. If you had the rights, then it is a pity a few cameras could not have been organised for this, especially as the wasters in the the Northern stations should have had cameras there.

The Ulster finals of that year against armagh, Canavan wasnt involved in PLAY

Indeed. I don't suppose the fact that Tyrone didn't win those games sheds any light on how they perform without their God.
Tyrone are a good team without Canavan, there isn't much clear evidence that they are No 1 though. 

gee, I wonder who that rule would be aimed at ?

It would be aimed at Cork, good to see Mike that you are so worried about them, or are you expecting Kerry to lose a lot of provincial finals! If a team wins the provincial final and then go on to win their next game then this wouldn't apply.

17th is awfully high for county Down

If you get a reputation for early rising, you can stay in bed until noon......

No doubt Cork are in favour of this, they are in a provincial final 95% of the time. This year in Ulster only one of Donegal, Armagh, Fermanagh and Tyrone can reach the provincial final, although these have all as well or better than Cork in recent years. Only two of these teams could play in a quarter final.

Could someone think of scheme where provincial winners could get back in, but in a format where they had to have won 4 games to reach the semis.

Easytiger - unless I missed it in the schedule you didn't show the Ulster club championship final, although you did show other club championship games that had been covered by TG4. I would have thought the Crossmaglen v Ballinderry game would have been of general interest to GAA viewers.

However regrettably few people travel to games from Derry city and Antrim rarely play in Clones. Places like West Tyrone and South Armagh where the GAA is strong are convenient enough to Clones. 

If I called my cat a dog, would that make it bark?

I am from NI, which means I am Irish and I am British.

So, you are from NI, this does not make you British. NI is in Union with Britain, this should not mean that it becomes Britain. Ireland is in the European Union with Italy, it is not Italian.

Monaghan are not "dictating" to the GAA, they are proposing a development and seeking support for it, as counties all over the country have done. The Maze stadium is something for nothing and that's a hard proposition to resist. But what's so good about its location?  Going to Clones you can stick the flag on your car and stop off en route for an ice cream, can you do that going to the Maze? The Maze location is extremely vulnerable to some future Drumcree type thing where somebody leaves a parcel under an M1 flyover. A roof on the Maze would be good for atmosphere, but when you come out, there is nothing outside the stadium.

Is the GAA really so "parochial", metaphorically as well as literally

the GAA is somewhat "parochial" in the best sense of the word. The GAA is based on people who have pride in their place. This doesn't fit well people who don't identify with the place they are associated with. Irish people who regard themselves as British, French or whatever, despite having no particular connection to Britain or France, have a rather different attitude than GAA members generally. You can criticise the GAA for its devotion to its founding values, although in fact the GAA evolves all of the time.  However a community who think of themselves as British because their ancestors came from Britain 400 years ago can hardly throw stones in regard to concern with outmoded values.

A couple of issues here. The traffic problems in Clones are considerable, but a similar crowd at another venue wouldn't be any better and the completion of the Castleblayney and Monaghan bypasses may improve things. Casement has the M1, but you either filter through the Stockman's lane roundabout or head off on city streets to another junction, neither of these options will be exactly free flowing. Congestion is worst when most of traffic approaching from the same direction. Omagh would not meet the bill in this case, any combination of Armagh/Cavan/Down/Monaghan would have pretty much everyone trying to make their way from Ballygawley.

The question is what should be capacity be? This may depend on whether the Maze is ever to be built. Of Ulster final combinations any combination of Fermanagh/Cavan/Monaghan/Derry/Antrim would probably fit into the current capacity and would be facilitated by a modest increase in capacity to 40000 and a roof or two. Donegal people seem more willing to travel to Croke Pk than Clones. Tyrone/Armagh/Down could probably raise a crowd beyond the current capacity, especially if one or more of these teams are competitive at national level. With the improvement in the Dublin-Belfast road Armagh and Down people could almost get to Croke Pk as handy as anywhere, if the capacity was needed. It might be better to improve Clones to a 400000-42000 capacity and still play games every few years in Croke Pk if the demand is there.

The Armagh one is not as bad as it used to be. Maybe 3rd division.

Lone Shark what odds will you offer that an article on county websites, much like this thread, appears in a national newspaper in the next month?