Derry Club Football & Hurling original

[Estimator]

As previously mentioned by other posters, unfortunately, there is no point grouping Conor McCluskey with players that could be playing C'ship football this year for Derry.

[THEALBION1878]

do we know any of the names on the development squad? a good idea if used correctly.

[GTP]

Do we know who is in the senior, under 20 or minor squads?

[Derry Optimist]

GTP has just asked the very pertinent question."Do we know the names of all the members of the Senior,U20 and minor County panels?" The answer is simple. "we do not".

This has always been a bugbear with me. If we respect the national importance of our games, the players and the supporters, the County Board should insist that all management teams under their jurisdiction, including Development panels, should publish the names  of all team members at the beginning of the season.

It is only right and proper for the status of the games themselves and the respect of players and supporters that this should be done. What better way to market our games than to release this information.

A far as I remember former minor manager Damien McErlain was our only manager who consistently published the names of his panel at the beginning of the season. Now I only hope as our u20  manager that he will continue his good work in this regard.

[GTP]

The under 20 panel already exists as they have played a couple of challenge games. The minor team have won a match in the Ulster League, and I have seen neither team or panel named.
Derry LGFA seem to put out a release for panels from under 14 up although not sure they are easy to find, but at least players get a bit of recognition, and I presume feel valued.
Maybe I am being naïve in thinking players and their clubs would take a bit of pride in them being selected for the county and supporters actually knowing it.
Seems to be a problem across the counties and whilst I am sure the PROs are doing their best it does seem a simple thing to put a squad up somewhere and try to generate a bit of interest.
On an optimistic point the tweaks to the new rules might suit Derry since we don't have a big reliance on the roving goalkeeper.

[Wildweasel74]

Is Rory McGill Lavey on the county panel? I take it C Murphy is injured again? Did S Downey drop off the panel, notice he wasn't on the last 2/3 panel lists?

[JE23]

Derry really do an awful job at marketing our teams / games. Compare to Tyrone and we are really embarrassing.

[jb77]

No Rodgers and possibly no McEvoy

[theticklemister]

The under 20 panel already exists as they have played a couple of challenge games. The minor team have won a match in the Ulster League, and I have seen neither team or panel named.
Derry LGFA seem to put out a release for panels from under 14 up although not sure they are easy to find, but at least players get a bit of recognition, and I presume feel valued.
Maybe I am being naïve in thinking players and their clubs would take a bit of pride in them being selected for the county and supporters actually knowing it.
Seems to be a problem across the counties and whilst I am sure the PROs are doing their best it does seem a simple thing to put a squad up somewhere and try to generate a bit of interest.
On an optimistic point the tweaks to the new rules might suit Derry since we don't have a big reliance on the roving goalkeeper.

Maybe the respective managers don't want to have their teams known to others.

On that, the GAA as a whole, is a strange beast. We shoot ourselves in the foot in promotion of our games. There is a culture not to let any other team know they are doing.

Their lack of player availability to the media is shocking.

We have a league here where the marketing system of the GAA refuse to promote ( hopefully Allianz is on its last legs with their continuing insurance of Elbit systems). The finals are a week before the Championship for some teams and managers who are on the cusp of winning this competition, openly state they don't want to win it.

The GAA should put in place laws where counties have to release players for media duties.

[GTP]

Maybe the respective managers don't want to have their teams known to others.

I was thinking this, but a list of players would hardly be giving away state secrets and the minors don't seem to have got a mention anywhere despite playing an official match. But it probably is the reason though I doubt it will contribute to any success they have.
Minor being an age group with unprecedented success over the last two years should be publicised more. And it would also be a reason to promote the u20s, with supporters given the chance to see our Ulster and All Ireland minor winners maybe win something and progress towards senior football. (if any of them are on the panel)

[toby47]

No Rodgers and possibly no McEvoy

Some hole in the team.

Imagine last year saying we will be playing meaningful games without -
Chrissy
McKinless
Rodgers
McEvoy
McCluskey

And then you consider Chrissy is gone full time, and McKinless/McCluskeys seasons are over.

3 Weeks to the Donegal games and Rodgers isn't fit, McEvoy carrying a niggle again, McFaul played very little, Murphy is injured with a groin injury, Gilmore is out.

Is Eunan Mulholland still on the panel? Any of the Downeys?

[tbrick18]

As previously mentioned by other posters, unfortunately, there is no point grouping Conor McCluskey with players that could be playing C'ship football this year for Derry.

That's a huge blow for Derry, particularly with McKinless out too.
What injury has he?

[tbrick18]

Maybe the respective managers don't want to have their teams known to others.

I was thinking this, but a list of players would hardly be giving away state secrets and the minors don't seem to have got a mention anywhere despite playing an official match. But it probably is the reason though I doubt it will contribute to any success they have.
Minor being an age group with unprecedented success over the last two years should be publicised more. And it would also be a reason to promote the u20s, with supporters given the chance to see our Ulster and All Ireland minor winners maybe win something and progress towards senior football. (if any of them are on the panel)

Perhaps it's to protect players, particularly younger players. If they make an early panel but are subsequently dropped, maybe it protects them from undue criticism?
Younger generation these days do not take rejection very well, so maybe this lessens the blow?
No idea if this is the reasoning, but I do agree, it's frustrating to not know who is on the county panels.

[theticklemister]

Martin Brehony hit the nail on the head....

Downgrading leagues is damaging GAA business


The mere possibility that counties want to avoid deciders harms credibility
Liverpool play Newcastle in the English League Cup final on Sunday. Status-wise, the competition is third of three in England's domestic pecking order and fourth of four for the clubs qualified for Europe.

Not a whole lot to get excited about then, a low-key event which doesn't matter very much to either club or the general public. Actually, not true.
Sky Sports and indeed the rest of the English media will hype it all week, Wembley will be packed and the winners will behave as winners should - openly enjoying the occasion without self-consciously trying to conceal their delight in case rivals sneer at them for celebrating success in a lower-ranked event.
If Newcastle win, it will be their first big silverware day since lifting the FA Cup in 1955 and will be followed by a Geordie carnival, overflowing with lots of 'grown men crying' sentimentality.
Contrast that with the Allianz Leagues, specifically the approach of Division 1 teams in both codes to even reaching the final, let alone winning it.
There's a distinct impression that several counties, especially in football, prefer to finish between third and sixth, thereby missing the final, avoiding relegation and free to begin the championship build-up.
It's not quite as marked in hurling, but you still feel that none of them would care very much if they don't make the final. Tipperary manager Liam Cahill appeared to suggest otherwise after the win over Kilkenny on Sunday, saying they would be delighted to win the title.
However, he also mentioned how the first round of the Munster SHC (two weeks after the league final) was very much in their thinking even now.
That he was asked about Tipp's attitude towards the league is interesting. Still, it was a perfectly valid question.
However, it's never one that arises in other sports, where every competition is treated as important. They are not all equal, of course, but the participants never downgrade any of them by implying that they have eyes only for the super prizes.
It's different in GAA, certainly in football, where avoiding the Division 1 final isn't only deemed smart, but necessary in some cases.
Take Donegal as an example. There has been much public musing, some of it fuelled by comments from Jim McGuinness, as to whether they want to be in the final on March 30.
With an Ulster first-round tie against Derry a week later, there's a view that Donegal would be better off missing the league final and spending the weekend of March 29-30 studying Jim's indoctrination manual while locked away in a Rottweiler-guarded location.
Mayo 2023 are, allegedly, living proof of how reaching the league final can damage a season for finalists who have a championship game a week later. Mayo won the league two years ago but lost to Roscommon in the Connacht quarter-final.
The defeat was largely attributed to the quick turnaround, something of an insult to Roscommon, who had finished just two points behind Mayo on the league table. Besides, Roscommon beating Mayo can never be regarded as a major surprise.
The same applies to Derry beating Donegal. Despite that, it will be put forward as the reason if Donegal reach the league final and lose a week later. Still, it's wrong that the league finals and football championship launch are so close. A two-week break makes far more sense, not just for the teams but also from a promotional viewpoint.
The leagues are being downgraded by a schedule which has - rightly or wrongly - created the impression that reaching the finals isn't good for championship prospects.
Of course, it doesn't apply to all counties. Because of the draw restrictions imposed in Leinster and Munster, you won't find Dublin or Kerry facing a championship game a week after the league final. It's a case of success begetting privilege.
There's an obvious solution to all of this. Playing the All-Ireland finals in the second half of August would allow the season to breathe again. Instead, it's squeezed into six months, with the leagues the main casualties.
It's utterly illogical from a promotional viewpoint, but that doesn't seem to register among the decision-makers.
Other sports are working assiduously at maximising promotional opportunities - meanwhile, the GAA allow the leagues to be undermined by scheduling nonsense.
They will come to regret it.

[toby47]

Maybe the respective managers don't want to have their teams known to others.

I was thinking this, but a list of players would hardly be giving away state secrets and the minors don't seem to have got a mention anywhere despite playing an official match. But it probably is the reason though I doubt it will contribute to any success they have.
Minor being an age group with unprecedented success over the last two years should be publicised more. And it would also be a reason to promote the u20s, with supporters given the chance to see our Ulster and All Ireland minor winners maybe win something and progress towards senior football. (if any of them are on the panel)

Perhaps it's to protect players, particularly younger players. If they make an early panel but are subsequently dropped, maybe it protects them from undue criticism?
Younger generation these days do not take rejection very well, so maybe this lessens the blow?
No idea if this is the reasoning, but I do agree, it's frustrating to not know who is on the county panels.

I have heard it all now!