Messages

REDHAND SANTA! I would keep it shtum about what people think about refs. You lot moan, shout and cry about EVERY free that goes against you, sure wasnt it the ref that lost you the Ulster Final in 2005? Shhh mate, worry about Monaghan on Sunday and stop makin yourself out to be an eejit.

Massive thread this and have only skimmed its content but... On the issue of comparisons of J. Sheridan and Meath to T. Henry and France i would say there is a comparison i could make. On both these occasions players did something in a split second, without contemplation, which were contrary to the rules and which consequently defeated the superior team.
        On each occasion i would lay the blame fairly and and squarely at the feet of the officials. In each case TV showed that even if the referee didnt, other officials had a clear view of what happened and there was no communication as to what either saw.
    Players constantly, constantly bend and break the rules the officials are there to ensure the rules are applied. There are several officials in GAA so that they can work together to ensure this happens. On Sunday at Croke Park. Mr Sludden showed arrogance beyond belief. It is this arrogance that is giving referees a poor reputation not only county level but also club level. The most arrogant Refs seem to get the higher profile games (Pat McEnaney aside).
      As for the GAA... I would not expect anything else from them-spineless deflecting responsibility onto either the officials or Meath. It would be a noble move by Meath to grant a replay but it should've been taken out of their hands long ago.

I agree with taking kids to Europe/Britain, but not ones who are not going to play the game again. This is nothing short of a Junkett for the top Ulster Council bods.

Reading The Irish News today i came on piece about the Enniskillen Cuhulainns.The piece was accompanied by a photograph of the team on the Croke Park surface. For those who are not aware of this phenomenon, it is a squad which is made up of young people from a mixture of schools and backgrounds, in this case, all in the Enniskillen area- Protestant, Catholic and Integrated who have - and i quote "..little or no experience playing football before getting involved" This squad will now travel to Long Island NY to compete in the U.16 Continental Youth Championships. This follows hot on the heals of the Belfast Cuchulianns project which was similar but focused on Belfast schools. I had previously heard about the Belfast Cuchulianns when attending the Club Maith seminar at the Europa a couple of years ago where it was introduced and explained to club delegates along with a slide show of their visit to the states (in this case they visited more than one city)

On each occasion the emotions i felt were annoyance and even anger. Although it is only right and proper to spread the word of our games and open our games up to all of Irish society, are there not more prudent ways of doing this than taking a squad of 20 along with a clutch of mentors (Ulster council faces i recognised from the slides) to the other side of the world ? These young people never played the game before this year...at 16 what are the chances of them continuing to play GAA beyond this trip? slim to none i would've thought - therefore what has been achieved regarding the promotion of our games?

What about Young people of that age who have trained and played the game since the age of 6/7? where is their reward or trip to the states? Where is their trip to Croke Park? This is a clear PR stunt by the Ulster Council to recieve funding... if they were serious about promoting the games there are more practical, and might i suggest cheaper, ways of doing so ie targeting coaching in non gaa primary and seconday schools and helping provide links between those schools and their local clubs. At least that way there would be a chance of them continuing to play the game - this IMO will achieve nothing as regards furthering the reach of the GAA and results only in a free trip to the states for the Ulster Council guys...

Anyone who has attended McKenna Cup games this year and paid extortionate prices or tried to get a family ticket for the Ulster Championship without success...perhaps now we know the reason.

i can assure you mack that i,m not on my own when i say keady is a hole, my wife and i met another couple in it for a drink last year. by 10.30 on a saturday night the streets were empty the biggest pub in the town the was closing because we were the only ones in it. we did end up in a small place and we did enjoy the night there. afterwards we crossed to a chinks while my mate and i were inside our wives were attacked outside by two fellas about 25yrs old i dont mean sexually i mean these two guys wanted to fight i,m not kidding. after we lost them we were desperate to get out of the kip. even when we we're trying to get a taxi more idiots were appearing from out of nowhere all wanting a scrap.  it was like a low budget zombie movie, finally we flagged a guy down and he whisked us to safety. he was a local lad and he told us that he wouldnt stay in the town on a saturday night for diamonds the pubs are full of tinkers and arseholes who knew we werent local and we were lucky to get away. never again! obviously i respect john toals efforts to raise money for his club but i suspect that it will backfire. something tells me john toal is with another club coaching or managing?? i could be wrong

I'm not sure what your beef is with Keady sir but it appears that you have been trying to rope like minded people in for a spot of 'Keady bashing' which has not succeeded.
Keady has bad elements just the same as Armagh, Lurgan, Portadown, newtown and Newry. Perhaps in the past a young Keady lass broke your heart? Perhaps a young lad did? MAybe you were on the wrong end of a couple of beatings from keady dwyers (physical or otherwise) ...who knows?
But your attempts at bringing keady down on a thread like this are slightly unfortunate and even a little sad. But that said we would be delighted to have you and your wife with us again over the weekend so that we can redress the balance of your previous weekend. In fact if you make yourself known to one of the bands or DJs...hell i'll even buy you a beer...cant say fairer than that!