Messages

[To stop all this you need to cut the head of the snake]

Been a Lurgan man all my life, it has its downsides surely but has some great positives too. It's no different to any other town, it has it's fights and it's anti-social behaviour but the drugs thing is a real problem. this drug thing is not just for Lurgan, the whole country is awash with Cocaine and other substances. I had a conversation last night with one of the top trainers in the GAA circles and he told me you'd be astonished by the people who take Cocaine, County players, club players, professionals, basically all walks of life and he said it's not just weekends either. I have heard all the stories about it and maybe i'm a wee bit green when it comes to things like that. The thing that goes on now is not sectarian as these drug dealers are from both communities and religion would very rarely come into it, it's all about the drugs and money and I've no doubt the source is all coming from Dublin. To stop all this you need to cut the head of the snake and we all know who the snake is...This is the only aspect i miss the Ra for, these Dublin cartels may well have been eliminated many years ago before they got to the "untouchable" stage.

I think the issue now is that you are in the minority if you are not taking drugs unfortunately.  There is a casualness to it that is unfathomable to me.  You cut the head off the snake and another will fill the gap, supply and demand and all that. 

I agree in part to your Ra statement.  These cartels have grown to a level that is above policing, a slap on the wrist or a few years in jail is not deterrent to them. 


On Lurgan, I have been many times and it's no rougher than any other big town.  Areas you wouldn't venture into etc. 

I have worked with Lurgan people professionally and within the GAA and I find them very respectful and good natured to be honest.

I understand what is being said about Avra, and the league and championship being separate, it just seems a bit abstract that a senior league team is playing the lowest championship tier.  Intermediate wouldn't be as big a shock. 

Regarding Cullyhanna, they had been slowly regressing for a while this past 10 years and wouldn't have been competing consistently for senior honors.  A bad year last year doomed them to intermediate, but it was always a threat of happening. 

I think they will fair grand back in the senior league, but don't be fooled into thinking they are going to be swinging at the top 3/4 teams next year either. 

Watched the highlights there, Jesus the mentality is not there to win at all.  Dalot literally moves out of the way of the ball for the final goal ffs.  Shows how much he wants to win when he is afraid of getting hit by a football. 

Rashford decision harsh also, technically a foul, but not intentional, there was no malice in that, merely trying to shield the ball from his opponent. 

Glad to see Maguire have a run of good form also.  Ironically a player ETH didn't want and made his feelings clear on that over the summer, Maguire is one of the few at the moment keeping ETH afloat. 

Big few weeks ahead for ETH. 

[They won 2 from 12 without county men and finished bottom of the table. Then ambushed a relegation playoff.]

Championship should absolutely be linked to leagues. if you're div 1 league you're playing against better teams and therefore your team are used to playing at a higher standard than those playing in the divisions below, I honestly cant understand how anyone can say a div 1 team are a Junior club

But equally can't see how playing in a League that is set to run without county players etc. means a team who managed to reach Division 1 and barely held on means they'll be good enough for Senior. Especially when their Championship results over last 8 years show they deserved to be a Junior team.

Is it hard to understand that a diluted League with no County men might not be the best judge of a team?

They stayed in Div 1 mainly wihtout their county men so surely they are stronger with them?

They won 2 from 12 without county men and finished bottom of the table. Then ambushed a relegation playoff.

Make no mistake, they are not a Senior level team. I cannot understand how people can think a team that got relegated to Junior in 21 and lost a Junior final in 22 are suddenly fit to be a Senior team. Their Championship results show that. An odd League set-up which is played without county players is not representative of all the teams. Is this really hard to understand?

I really struggle to see your argument. 
I mean, a team that is capable of winning 2 games against other senior teams, and then manage to defeat another senior team to stay in the top division, cannot be that bad that they compete in junior?

No disrespect to any junior teams in Armagh, but if they were playing in the top division in the league, they would be getting tanked every week, there would be no wins for them, no draws,  no close results. 
Senior teams are senior for a reason, and junior are junior for a reason and compete at that level come championship, because the playing field is truly level. 

The other junior teams in Cavan that play junior league, whats their stance on teams plying their trade all year in the senior team playing junior champo, surley they cannot be happy with that?

Hand on heart hard to see Donegal match the top teams.  McGuniness will take them on and get them in the best place they can be expected to get for sure, but I don't think they have the quality or depth to compete. 

Derry with Harte could go either way in my head. It could be the extra experience needed to push on, or his own style of play may not suite that group of players. 

Galway know they have a good team and, luck with injuries and a bit of form, will safely be the third best team able to complete with the top 2. 

Tyrone and Armagh, as I mentioned last year, to much Jekyll and Hyde.  On a good day they can compete, on a bad day they look inept.  Form is everything for these two teams.  Hit a bit of form, and they can cause any team headaches. 

Looks like Trillick will be the Tyrone team in Ulster


Hold that!

Finished it out. Here's hoping they party like fcuk for a few weeks!

They'll be spent seeing as it's the toughest championship in the northern hemisphere

  ive been looking forward to this conversation coming up

My own club is in a similar scenario.  Only into intermediate a few years and they have hired in an outside manager. 

This guy comes with a host of coaches, all are being paid, the team is getting buses to matches and all new gear and that.  Big money for a club that isn't coming down with it.   

The team is struggling to beat teams they really should be beating, their style of play has little to no flair and they are setup to defend 1 point leads. 

My immediate thinking when watching them all year, is that this clown is being paid to get these fellas fit to run, and not play football. 

Countless times in their last match, with 14 players behind the ball, when they were breaking out, they were getting to the 40yard line and turning back.  On one occasion our star player was 1v1 in the full forward line, the team had broke, and instead of kicking the ball in, they played it safe and turned back to maintain possession.  (I would say there was less than 20 kickpasses the entire game, I doubt the players would trust themselves to kick anymore)

The manager himself is essentially being paid £20k to make the players worse, has kept the team playing well below their level and will walk away doing short term financial damage to the club, and long term development damage to the players. 

Its a serious issue

[Scouting units can collect a million stats on passes completed, assists, sprints, XGs and all that. It's the other intangibles that can dictate how much a player can achieve.]

I suspect that back in Ferguson's day he would have sniffed out and swerved past players who had talent but didn't have the required dedication.

Pogba, Martial, Sancho are soccer's version of the GAA townie in white boots.
Look flash in the good times, but don't roll up their sleeves for any dirty work.

Scouting units can collect a million stats on passes completed, assists, sprints, XGs and all that. It's the other intangibles that can dictate how much a player can achieve.
Certain players kick back and relax once they've gotten the cars and the super models.

Ferguson once said that when Utd were pursuing Stan Collymore, his tendency to be a lad off the pitch put him off.
Collymore ended up at Liverpool where it was white booted, (or white suited) townie central, Redknapp, McManaman, Fowler etc.
All guys who had ability but not the mentality.
Utd are now the ones with the spice boy problem.

That in a nutshell is the issue with recent signings.  On paper their stats are insane, mentality wise, they are not willing to do what champions do. 

Ten Hag to his credit has done it his way from day 1.  Ronaldo and now Sancho, he is demanding his rules are obeyed by at all costs. He seems to have taken heed of Roy Keanes warning from years ago whereby the players are going to cost the manager his job and is not allowing recent history to repeat itself.

So did anyone find anything reasonable in the couple of YouTube links I posted?

Some very black and white perspectives being taken here.

Never watched the videos, but if he has been accused by multiple women of rape/sexual assault, then surly that needs followed up, that is black and white, surly you can understand that, he has been accused of serious crimes.     

Talk of the establishment trying to shut him down may well be true to some degree.  It wouldn't be far fetched to believe that his influence on his followers would garner negative connotations for media outlets he talks about. 

It also wouldn't be far fetched to believe a self confessed sex addict, who would have been making production companies serious money in his day and would be self aware to know what type of power that in itself wields, has taken full advantage of that position to 'prey' on women, and, allegedly, crossed the line to something illegal.
 

It really is disgusting and the same type of people even do similar on Christmas Day showing off all the presents that they have got.

Aye, the Christmas stuff bothers me a lot.  I know a girl who gives her children a serious quantity of presents (that doesn't negate the quality btw) and puts the videos up for all to see.  The message it must teach her kids, that more is better, bigger is better.

The same girl recently put a post on facebook about giving away her baby furniture to a 'needy family' as she was done having more.  The gesture itself was great, it was a lot of good stuff, but she lives a half a mile down the road from a community center that are constantly asking for donations for families on facebook.  She no more needed to advertise it, other than to get the "oh my goodness that is brilliant" posts streaming through. 

[and perceived power some of these celebs think that they have.]

Genuinely what did people expect?

There was no good going to come of this situation for any of the sides involved.

It was a sh*t sandwich from day one and everyone had to take a bite.

He is out of the club now, will receive a pay off I'm sure and everyone moves on.

But for the likes of Rachel Riley to try to dictate to anyone what they should do, highlights the ridiculous nature of SM and perceived power some of these celebs think that they have.

In the world we live in now celebs do wield some power in terms of their voices being heard by the masses, and the financial knock on effect that could have for the club.  Although Riley does not have a massive Instagram following by comparison to some, 1 negative message from her would be seen by 500k people. 

Would love to see Jim back at donegal as it will expose him for what he is. A one trick pony who took a talented bunch of players and pushed them to the absolute extreme and managed to squeeze out an AI.

He probably shorted a few players career's with his extreme training but rode off into the sunset a hero after only a few years there. Now as a failed soccer manager he might be back.

Best case is he wins an ulster. Could be proven wrong but time will tell.

The bitterness of this post 😂😂😂😂
He put Tyrone in his box for sure.

No bitterness at all. Donegal continued to beat Tyrone for many of years after he left. Tell me this, do you disagree with what I said. Would you consider Jim a top manager ?

His record is

1st year. Beat by dublin after donegal scored 6 points in the entire game.

2nd year. Won the ai against mayo. Pretty much standard lol.

3rd year. Lost quater final by 16 points against mayo.

4th year. Lost final against kerry

Then left for a soccer career with 1 win in about 15 matches in USA.

Something about how you have worded it makes it read bitter tbf

But I think your point is valid, it'll be interesting to see how good he actually is with this crop of players and the counry teams playing the way they are. 

I know  you can't exactly  go all Amish  with kids  these days regarding technology , but  I see worrying trends.

Friends of ours have  3 kids (under 7) , all had an iPad  from around a year old .  The kids don't  seem to  be able to travel in the  car , eat their  dinner  or entertain themselves without the  pads.  Countless times  I've heard both parents bemoaning about the pads ,  giving out to the kids for constantly being on them , or  not finding something else  to do .  At the same time , a fortune is spent at Xmas and birthdays on other toys , which are  never looked at, nor does the  time on the pads seem to be curtailed

Know of 2  instances of teens with  clear addiction issues and behavioural  issues regarding phones . Basically , it seems  to me because the parents   never curtailed the  amount of time spent on them . The kids got used to  being on them as much as they  wanted , and  now it's near impossible to deal with . One having anxiety issues and  other won't go to school or do  anything  they're told .  Everything's a screaming match, violent outbursts , the lot. Everything is all about  the phone . Hygiene, hanging out, reading,  sport, friends  ,all  gone for a burton, as Del Boy would say.

I have relatives in the same boat.  All kids under 5 have their own tablets and are never off them.  The two younger ones have issues talking and interacting.  The 5 year old has no interest in outdoor activities anymore, and has serious bags under his eyes. 

My brother on the other hand is the opposite with his kids roughly the same age.  They have a tablet between 4 of them, but they are not dependent on it and they have a lot of outside the house activities to get on with.

In an odd social experiment type way I am curious to see how they all pan out over the back of it. 
Each to their own, but my kids won't be sitting slaving away over tablets when they are young, no need for it.   

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-66310919

Man serves 17 years for a rape and attempted murder he did not commit, 10 of which was because he wouldn't confess. Scary how this can happen.

A lot of sexual offences are not proved beyond reasonable doubt, but people are convicted anyhow. There are no witnesses and it is one person's word against the other. There is legitimate concern about women not being believed, but sending some to jail for a long period should require evidence and there often isn't.

Follow up to this:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66324801

To summarise:
"Even if you fight tooth and nail and gain compensation, you have to pay the Prison Service for so-called 'board and lodging'."

Sorry about jailing you incorrectly for 17 years.  That'll be £100k please. 

Another year gone, another opportunity to take a step forward gone with it. 

Armagh lack that edge to take games by the scruff and force them over the line, it is what is going to keep them at the level they are at. 

The game itself was a poor spectacle, although the flair Kerry played with before hand maybe showed this game in a poorer light again. 

On the game itself Armagh were passive, letting Monaghan control the ball and dictate play.  Several players severely unperformed also.

Monaghan again showing true grit to get the win. 

I thought the ref was terrible also (that black card for Monaghan was a terrible decision), perhaps at this level they need more help as the pace is too quick? The decision to award McManus that free at the end was spot on however, sloppy tired tackling by that Armagh player cost them the game. 

Some of the fans going to these games are only there for a big day out drinking and really let themselves down.  I would be hesitant to bring my kids to games these days knowing the stuff they will see and have to hear.   Embarrassing stuff. 

For the Tyronies on here posting, its heartening to know Armagh getting beat on penalties (by the same team that knocked yous out of ulster in normal time) softens the blow of getting put in your rightful place when it comes to the top tier.  The amount of rubbish the rest of us have had to endure about this Tyrone team causing the big teams issues and as potential AI contenders has been ridiculous this past few weeks and months.