2016 Ulster Senior Football Championsip - Its happening again

It is a serious pitch to be fair.

A truly dreadful 2016 renewal is franked by the awful displays of all the Ulster counties in the qualifiers and All Ireland series.

That wasn’t an awful display by tyrone mate. Just beaten by a better, more experienced side

It didn’t take a great performance from Mayo to beat them though. Tyrone were massively overhyped (particularly here) with little to back it up. Their lack of sportsmanship over many years means plenty will revel on their misfortune.

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I’m ok with this. I’d like to see Dinky McBride, McGleenan,or any Tyrone man succeed Malachy.

I presume their will be a mass exodus this year like Donegal?

Corey, Mone, Finlay, Clerkin are all over the 30 mark now and only Corey was getting his place last year.

I couldn’t understand why Mone was on the bench in the Championship this year.

Ah look the same thing was said at the end of last year and the older group rallied together for another shot.
Clerkin is a gltton for punishment and may soldier on for another campaign, however ill-advised. Jap would be a bit prouder and may focus on the club if he feels he’s offering nothing from the bench. Gollogly is another who might pack it in.
Hard to know what happened with Mone. There have been no rumours doing the rounds as they’re usually might be with a Mone dropping.

At the end of it all,i think they’ll all hold fire until the championship draw (dec/jan?) Another handy run to the final like '15 and you’ll see a few old troops pick up the boots for another year.

I think it would be best if they walked away. They are all well past their best though I still think Mone has a lot to offer. Corey looked a bit off the pace this year from what I saw. They have a few good young players now comingthey should be trying to develop and in many ways these old lads are holding them back, much like Donegal.

It would be best. But Malachy staying on leads me to infer that there won’t be much of a changeover in playing personnel. Any considerable exodus would probably have seen mcBride get the gig for a 3 year transition period. I suspect this team thinks it has another Ulster in them. Which is entirely possible if somebody else looked after Tyrone for them.

I’ll be interested to see how Donegal go next year, I think a lot of the young guys are more than ready to offer something to them but Gallagher has held them back. I couldn’t understand the continued selection of Anthony Thompson whose legs look to have gone and isn’t the most accomplished footballer along with that ahead of guys like Gillespie, Stephen McBrearty, Carroll, Ciaran Thompson etc.

I was expecting Gallagher to give a lot more of them a shot this year than he did but the retirements will certainly force his hand a bit more to this now.

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Is it something to do with physical conditioning? Kerry haven’t brought through many of their minors from the last few years either.

I wouldn’t think so, more loyalty to the old guard I would say.

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It is usually. The difference these days between a 19/20 year old and someone with 3/4 years training experience is far more pronounced than it used to be.

Talking to a Kerry player recently he said some of the younger lads take awful belts.

DERRY are bracing themselves for an exodus of experienced players for the 2017 season, The Irish News understands.

As many as eight of the squad - all of whom have played regular Championship football in the last two years - are believed to have made themselves unavailable for selection next season. Damian Barton and his management team of Tony Scullion and Brian McGuckin were returned for a second season in charge earlier this month, but it looks like they may have to prepare without some key figures.

The Oak Leafers, on the surface, appeared to have made progress in the Newbridge man’s first year in charge. They reached the last-12 of the Championship and led Tipperary until the dying minutes, only to concede the final three points and lose a thrilling game by the narrowest of margins. Victory would have taken Derry into a first All-Ireland quarter-final since 2007.

Having reached the McKenna Cup final in January, they began the National League with two straight victories and looked set for a promotion charge, only to fail to win another game and narrowly avoid relegation on points difference. A heavy Ulster Championship defeat at home by arch-rivals Tyrone appeared to signal a short summer, but Derry recovered to beat Louth, Meath and Cavan to reach round four of the Qualifiers.

But the absence of so many key men will undoubtedly undermine Derry’s hopes for promotion out of the second-tier and a tilt at ending their 19-year wait for an Ulster title.


The apathy to county level at Derry is bizarre. They have very good players, their club championship is one of the strongest and most competitive in the country. They have dominated at schools level in Ulster over the past few years, they have being going really well at underage in the past few years but they don’t seem to give it a shit about playing for their county.

They have the potential to be winning Ulsters and being competitive at the latter end of Championship but it seems players are much more concerned in playing for their clubs.

Oooft.

The Irish News has named the nine as Danny Heavron, Ciaran McFaul, Conor McAtamney, Eoghan Brown, Emmett Bradley, Christopher Brown, Gareth McKinless, Sean Leo McGoldrick and Liam McGoldrick. The newspaper is also reporting that the McGoldricks’ cousin and fellow Eoghan Rua, Coleraine player Niall Holly is considering his future with the Oak Leafers.

Heavron is their best player.
McAntamney, Bradley and Holly are their three best midfield options from last year’s panel.
Sean Leo and McKinless are definite starters when fit.