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Joe doing a right job of keeping Monaghan in the game, who have only scored the single point from play.

He's some boy Joe, I thought Cavan people weren't fond of Mongahan wans? Some of those frees were laughable.

Serious performances by Omagh in the semi and final...winning by 18 and 17 points respectively. Almost a pity it was so one sided as the atmosphere never really got going in Croker. Great achievement for my own club having 3 players on the 15 one being the captain with 2-5 from play and another being man of the match.

Any one of 4 or 5 schools in Ulster could have made a great cracking at winning today. Standard very high across the province this year.

Ruairi Canavan is thrilled to have the opportunity to represent Tyrone at both under-20 and senior level this season, following a recent change to GAA rules.

Canavan says it's important to him to be able to play with the group of friends he has progressed through the Tyrone academy with and represent the county at U-20.

The Errigal Ciaran youngster, a precocious forward talent, has little to prove in this year's EirGrid under-20 grade after winning Footballer of the Year at that level last season.

But he is adamant that the buzz of playing games is what drives him on.

"I get the buzz from playing games with boys I have been training with and friends with for years," the younger son of Tyrone great Peter tells RTE Sport.

"I love getting to the pitch with a few footballs to kick about with my brother, cousins and teammates. It is important for me to play Under-20.

"I came up through the ranks with a good lot of coaches and players and it was class last year when we got a bit of a reward but we will push on again now hopefully."

Tyrone meet Down at the end of the month in the Eirgrid U-20 Ulster championship. Soon after Canavan, and brother Darragh, will be in senior provincial action with the county.

The lethal young attacker hit 1-04 from play and 1-07 in total as Paul Devlin's side beat Brian Flanagan's Kildare in the 2022 All-Ireland final.

A week earlier he hit 0-08 in the semi-final against Kerry. That was in keeping with his general prowess in front of the posts as he accumulated 1-34 across five games in the Ulster and All-Ireland series.


Ruairí Canavan (L) celebrates with team-mate Lórcan McGarrity after winning the 2022 EirGrid GAA Football All-Ireland Under 20 Championship
Getting the top young players to play in this competition has not always been simple. Until recently the GAA applied a rule effectively preventing youngsters who had played senior championship from lining out with their under-20 side in the same season.

But backed by fellow dual counties Cork and Galway, Wexford proposed a new seven-day window at the recent GAA Congress and saw it sail through with 82% of the vote , meaning that an U20 player can play for both his under-age and senior county teams - just not within a defined seven-day period, Friday morning to Thursday evening.

And yet difficulties remain in assembling players of this age cohort.

"It is hard to get everyone together at this level all over the country, that is clear to see," Canavan says.

"Even this year, Tyrone has three schools in All-Ireland finals, including the Hogan Cup and we are still waiting on boys to come back from that.

"There are also the Fresher and Sigerson competitions taking players but everyone is the same. It's not easy to blend everyone together and you just have work with what you have.

"At least boys are playing at a good level and will come back in good shape."

Canavan's under-20 manager Devlin is now seven seasons in the job as under-20 boss.

"Paul is all about developing players, as are Mugsy (Owen Mulligan) and Dermy (Dermot Carlin) in his backroom. They just want to make us better.

"The end goal is for lads to play with the seniors on big days at Croke Park but if we get success at under-20 level too, we will take that.

"Those lads will take as much satisfaction if a few of us go to play senior football in Croke Park."

Canavan believes that the gap between U-20 and senior is not as wide as people may think.

"There are some differences, you might have that split second on the ball that you won't get at senior level and, physically, there might be elements, but the gap is not as wide as you may imagine."

Speaking of senior level, he says his teammates will take a lot of confidence from their recent win over Kerry in the Allianz League.

"Yeah, it's a big thing for us, I think so," he said.

"We were getting a wild lot of stick there for a few weeks so it was nice to put in a performance.

"We'd been training hard for weeks but it just wasn't showing up on the pitch so it was great to get that win. Hopefully we can drive on now."

Canavan will be looking to do that at both levels. He wouldn't want it any other way.

Jarlath Burns today...

"I would like to see a situation where on a referee's report there is an index, one to five, of how the home team, opposing team and supporters behaved so then we will be dealing with data," he said

So which clubs are going to be at the bottom of the table in this league? 😉

Was playing football here last night. The policeman's kids were there and witnessed it. Policeman involved has been in the media a lot recently with a very high profile case in the North.

Utter scum, hearing multiple different sources suggesting that this might not be straightforward dissidents.

Loughmacrory lads playing well 😎

Big win for St Joe's Donaghmore in the McLarnon.

Not too distant future could see Cookstown, Dungannon, Omagh and Donaghmore competing in the A grade. Possibly Ballygawley too.

Some year for Tyrone schools winning the ulster A, B and C grade competitions.

Could be another blast of snow later in the month

  https://www.independent.ie/weather/beast-from-the-east-2-a-possibility-later-this-month-as-sudden-stratospheric-warming-event-looms-42335708.html

Absolute rubbish, there is a chance of a SSW but there's every possibility it won't affect our weather at all. No computer models can predict the weather with any degree if certainty more than 5 days in advance. These clickbait articles aren't worth the paper they are written on.

Found it strange the diver was able to speak so freely. I suppose how can they stop him? He made very valid points and will know exactly what is realistic v not realistic. What struck me was it was a very calm stretch of water and apparently people were in the water relatively quickly. Seems to be a very strange and absolutely tragic case.

R.I.P. Farrandeelin.  Passed away today, only a young man with a very young family.  He would have been on here posting this evening had things been different. A gentleman and great servant of Knockmore GAA here in his beloved Co. Mayo.

That is absolutely shocking, he was a firm fixture here for years and I always enjoyed his posts. May he rest in peace.

Frank Burns had a big performance, in from the start, helped Tyrone massively in transition. Kennedy and Kilpatrick very good in the middle and covered serious ground. Canavan and McCurry a real handful inside and a lot better from McShane in terms of showing and ball winning. McGeary and Meyler will have better days in a Tyrone jersey than today.
Ruairi Canavan added to the Tyrone bench today, is that confirmation that he won't be released for U20s this year?
Good to see Oguz back, hopefully see gametime over the remaining 5 games.
In saying all that, Donegal absolutely awful, still be improvements needed to get anything from Galway or Mayo on the road.

Fair analysis...although I'd disagree on McGeary, thought he did well. Our defence along our 45 line was fantastic, turned over the ball multiple times and the tackling intensity was through the roof compared to previous games.

[. In saying that, Donegal were absolutely atrocious, how the feck they beat Kerry last week is anyone's guess.]

Great win for us in Omagj today, easily our best performance since Kerry last year at the end of the league. In saying that, Donegal were absolutely atrocious, how the feck they beat Kerry last week is anyone's guess.

Particularly pleased with our togerish defence and movement getting the ball forward, much more use of the wings and some great ball into the forwards. Still lots to work on too as we'd a few very good chances to work goals that we didn't exploit.

Galway getting turned over by the Rossies puts a slightly different slant on our result down there last week, clearly a team in good form.

In general a much more positive outlook for Tyrone heading into our next.game.

They played much better last week in a home game against the AI champions?

They have some inexperienced players in the line up due to injuries and retirements and players taking a break?

It's the early rounds of the league?

Tyrone had more at stake?

Some of your passing/distribution today (especially in 2nd half) must have drove you mad...very poor

Are people actually complaining about Armagh getting a soft free? Clearly didn't watch the full game

Saw most of the second half and ref was seriously hard on Mayo imo. Also, rafferty is a great man to field and burst through lines but his hand passing distribution is shocking.

Great win for us in Omagj today, easily our best performance since Kerry last year at the end of the league. In saying that, Donegal were absolutely atrocious, how the feck they beat Kerry last week is anyone's guess.

Particularly pleased with our togerish defence and movement getting the ball forward, much more use of the wings and some great ball into the forwards. Still lots to work on too as we'd a few very good chances to work goals that we didn't exploit.

Galway getting turned over by the Rossies puts a slightly different slant on our result down there last week, clearly a team in good form.

In general a much more positive outlook for Tyrone heading into our next.game.

Cheers weedons, was speaking to them and woman seemed confident it would be ready within the hour. Flight is at 5pm so will be cutting it tight enough but should be grand.