I’m already counting down the time.
@Smark please make this a sticky
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Can’t wait for this. Anyone can win it bar Antrim. So you have eight teams that can win it, that’s savage competitiveness.
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really looking forward to this
so competitive,so enjoyable
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Can’t wait. If it wasn’t for Ulster football there’d be no point in watching games til the middle of August.
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Donegal 13/8
Tyrone 10/3
Monaghan 5/1
Derry 13/2
Armagh 8/1
Cavan 12/1
Down 16/1
Fermanagh 33/1
Antrim 250/1
Armagh will be without Caolan Rafferty and Stephen Harold this year, not sure if Clarke will be taking a year out yet either. They were extremely disappointing in Championship last year and badly need to unearth some defenders.
Plenty of good forwards available to McGeeney but he needs to get the balance right between athletes and footballers in this department, when Dyas is out Armagh look very blunt with the way they attack. Dampened expectations after last year will probably help them, Rory Grugan likely to be available again this year which will be a boost as he’s a classy player.
There will be an awful lot of pressure on Tyrone to win an Ulster next year, tough draw with them likely having to face their two most fierce rivals if they are to make the final.
Not sure what to make about Monaghan or Donegal yet, bound to be hit by a few retirements and I think both sides need some freshening up.
Derry are under new management but Barton’s track record doesn’t leave much to be desired. I see he has already being laying into the players before he has even started - not sure this will be the best approach to a squad which in that past has seen quite a high number of players seem quite apathetic to their cause. Some very good players there and a really good age profile. If Barton turns out to be competent then 13/2 is good value.
Down - meh. Some lovely footballers there but lacking players in important positions like full back, centre back and midfield. No new manager appointed and a very unproven squad at this stage in time, having Marty Clarke back and Mooney with a year’s football under his belt should be some positives to take. I have a gut feeling that they’ll topple Monaghan in the quarters before Donegal devour them in the semis.
Cavan - good honest group of players but lacking in any sort of decent scoring forward.
Fermanagh - very tough draw on them, they’re looking at a quarter final exit.
Antrim - will lose to Fermanagh. Getting out of Div 4 would be a good year for them.
Eoin and Paddy Bradley left out of Derry’s provisional squad for 2016
Further blackguarding of Paddy, albeit, at 35, and with his injury profile, most likely done at this stage.
Bradley is one of the top 5 forwards of the last 20 years. Shame how it played out for him in the end.
A great pity the Derry County Board were unable to give him and his team mates at the time the platform and structure to maximise his potential. A story as old as the GAA itself.
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Derry is a strange one, in many ways it’s almost like the whole county wants them to fail. Club is king in Derry.
Shows the miracle Eamon Coleman produced to get them over the line that year. And blackguarded to America thereafter by the Derry County Board. If only Billy Walsh had been paying attention.
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What’s the story here? Rumours before the two boys were an “unsettling” force in the dressing room. Is there beef with the new manager as well from the past?
They are known to be particularly difficult.
Outstanding footballers though.
It’s just age with Paddy, still probably one of the best forwards available to Derry but the fact he’ll be 35 next year and hasn’t played in the past three seasons for the county is the issue there.
Barton ripped into the players for their commitment last year after he was appointed, in Eoin’s case it’s definitely to with him playing for Glenavon. Barton seems like a no-nonsense manager and I’d imagine he’s going to be very uncompromising.
Paddy could definitely be seen as quite flighty but to be fair to him he carried Derry on his back for the guts of 10 years and was probably pissed off with the attitude of some around them. He famously walked out a few nights before a qualifier clash with Monaghan after a bust-up with management only to return for the match and take Dessie Mone for 2-06 from play.
Caolan O’Boyle does finally seem to be fulfilling his potential and Ryan “Sucky” Bell is a player to watch out for next year. They’re still lacking an out and out score getter which is why I think Paddy Bradley would still do a job for them, most of their inside forward options are big target men and ball winners rather than scorers.
More if this is needed.
Fair play to them, hope it works. But anyone planning a coup should know by now you do your canvassing in secrecy. These auld boys know how to whip the vote in most counties and will be hard bet.
Jack O Connor, the multiple AI winning manager, seems to toally disagree with bombers thoughts on playing competitive games here.