The Official GAA thread

Its totally fair and accurate as well. The Ulster Championship is the only really competitive provincial championship and in fairness the situation is arguably worse at the provincial level in Hurling even. It really IMHO would be best overall and by some distance if the provincials came first and then the league.

 

Great match between down and Waterford here

 

Better game today. Derry looking really good here

 

Come on Derry.

 

That should have been called back for a Derry free if Fenton got red

 

Have you learned nothing Gabriel? Northern teams get eff all.

 

The better team won. If I say what I really think, I'll get a ban. Suffice to say, Doire Abú.

 

Congrats to you as you say the better team on the day won. Your lads deserved it. Thankfully you and I get on a lot better then the lads on the field! That sure did get pretty nasty there. I had a feeling this was going to be a really good game and it certainly turned out that way. You always seemed to have the edge but we kept in touch and really the biggest positive from a Dublin perspective was in both normal time and again in extra time when we looked down and out we kept plugging away and got back on level terms. But even thought it took till pk's you deserved it on the day.
I was busy yesterday so other then watching Celtic I didn't get to watching this game until this afternoon hence the delayed response.

 

Good of you to get in touch eire4. I was too drained physically and emotionally to post anything and I don't like to do so anyway when we win. I was at Newry for minor footballers on Saturday lunchtime, then up to Owenbeg for the hurlers' final in the evening and finally on Sunday down to Dublin for the senior footballers. Getting too old for this game hopping. I arrived in Dublin still scarred by our hurlers' performance the evening before. We won but we made very hard work of it. Never ever thought I would see a Tyrone hurling team give us trouble. It was the one constant in my sporting life. Sunday was a mixed bag for me. Some fantastic individual performances especially from our young lads, McEvoy and Murray. To score 2-2 from centre back as a 20 year old was superb. Rogers ran Fenton ragged which is a rare occurence but you could tell in the ground both Rogers and Fenton knew that Rogers had the run on him. That's the second time Brendan has given Fenton his fill of problems which is encouraging. McFaul was brilliant, won every dirty ball and linked play so well. Very underrated player but one of the most important in the team. We showed we could man up individually and not be so system oriented, building on last year's AI semi. On a negative side, we didn't learn the lessons of the AI semi against Kerry. Missed four goal chances when a point would have done as we were 3-4 points clear at the time and in the home straight. Some of it was down to inexperience but our decision making needs to be better. I was very confident we would win the penalty shoot out. Lynch is a great shot stopper and I don't rate Comerford - too busy with the silly games. Lynch popped straight into goals and focused on the pens, Comerford arsed around and got nowhere near any of them. Cluxton would have been a different proposition. I know that Dublin will be completely different come summer so not reading very much into the result. It was important for our young players to experience winning in Croke Park as seniors. Our minor teams are now used to beating the Dublins, Kerrys, Galways so it was vital that they experience it at senior level. You mentioned the melee. Strangely, I do know that the players actually get on well which makes the melee difficult to understand. No idea why Small and a couple of others went after Conor McCloskey when you equalised. Ciaran Whelan passed it off as elation but I thought that was a strange comment.

You and I have talked about the structure of the season and another thing that needs to be looked at is the imbalance in the provincial series. Connacht and Munster in particular have a much easier ride than Ulster teams. We have a huge dogfight on our hands and will arrive in the groups scarred and drained. Clare only have to beat Waterford or Tipperary (ranked 30 and 32) to progress to a provincial final and therefore into the group stages. Down who beat them by 11 points in the league a couple of weeks ago will be in the Tailteann Cup. Both Ciaran Whelan and Tomás Ó Sé mentioned this on the highlights show. A lot of vested interests in the provinces so nothing is likely to be done. That debate is for another day. Anyway, thanks again for your magnanimous post.

 

Quite the busy weekend you had for yourself there but well worth the trip to Dublin to round it out for you nicely. Totally agree with you about the PK's I wasn't overly confident with Comerford in nets there. I think we will see Cluxton back between the sticks when it comes down to crunch time. For me while obviously disappointed with the outcome there is no question you deserved the victory and it didn't surprise me really. I felt coming in that you were much closer to your championship level then we were. All the back slapping over some of our wins the past month looked past the fact that yourselves Galway and Tyrone played significantly weakened sides. Granted we played well and made them pay but while we were missing some lads too it was a lot less then the opposition. On the positive side for us I feel like we have a lot more to come growth wise as this time we were the ones with more key guys not playing this weekend with no Cluxton, Fitzsimons, McCarthy, McCaffrey or Costello and Mannion only coming off the bench. Plus the experience some of our younger lads got in the league gives us I think more depth then we had last year. All in all I think the championship will come down to Dublin, Derry and Kerry when it gets right down to it. I don't see anybody else being able to go all the way.

We are totally on the same page about the provincials. No question it is a joke at this point that thats whats next when clearly they should be played at the start of the season.

 

Interesting article and analysis of the provincial series.

 

Ahh look at that we are only 99% in Leinster. We must be getting complacent

Jokes aside here is more on the why it is a no brainer that the provincials should be before the league. The sooner this happens the better.

Cleary questions GAA calendar as Cork prepare for Kerry (rte.ie)

 

Well done armaghs womens GAA team

 

Up Derry! Only joking, delighted for them.

 

Have to say eire4 I have very little interest in the Ulster championship this year. A small part of me would like us to do the 3 in a row simply because we have never done it before in our history. However, a much bigger part of me would prefer us to simply get ourselves ready for the groups and not to invest too much energy in Ulster championship. It's a chance to bring on some of the younger players and expose them to a different environment. Donegal will be really up for it and even if we do beat them, it's Tyrone then almost certainly Armagh. Those games could take their toll for the groups. I'm sure a lot of supporters feel the same.

 

Everything there makes total sense and I would probably feel the same if I was in your position. The fact that you have that mindset and I am sure a great many Derry GAA fans feel likewise is just another perfect example of what a joke having the provincials now is rather then at the start of the season prior to the league as they should be.

 

The attendances speak for themselves. There is a big Monaghan /Cavan rivalry yet their championship clash on Sunday at Clones only got 8000 fans. Derry v Donegal will be a 13,500 sell out with no public ticket sales likely. That's an outlier because of McGuinness's return to Donegal and Mickey Harte's first championship match in charge of Derry. There's just a total lack of jeopardy now with the provincials. Vinny Corey said Sunday's defeat to Cavan drew a line under their first part of the season. Last year, Derry dismantled Monaghan in Omagh in the Ulster semi final 1-21 to 2-10 in Derry's most complete performance for years. Four or five weeks later, Monaghan arrive at Celtic Park refreshed and re-energised to face Derry in the group stages. Derry had just won Ulster beating Armagh after extra time and pens. Derry were leggy and flat and Monaghan got a draw. Both teams made it to the AI semis. I do wonder what would have happened if we had invested less energy in Ulster because we had Kerry beaten but the legs went in the ladt 5 minutes. We needed to win Ulster in 2022 and I suppose to a lesser extent in 2023 following the AI performance against Galway in 2022. We do not need to win it this year. Donegal's need and Armagh's is much greater. Let them fight it out and we'll wait for them in the groups.

 

Everything you say there is completely spot on not just for your lads but for the provincials in general and the crowds all across the board will reflect that again. It actually * me off at this point that the provincials are not been moved to the beginning of the season where they belong.

 

Ulster championship really kicking off.

 

Can down cause an upset here