Time to hit up to Armagh on Sunday as it could end up being the last game of Ulster Club action as we know it.
It will almost certainly be a better game than anything youâll see in 2025.
The new Orange flag for a two point score is a lovely gesture to our Ulster brethren.
Iâm seriously thinking of going to this via public transport.
God bless Translink.
Though may I reiterate my thanks to Roderic OâGorman for enabling public transport links to Aughrim Stadium on a Sunday.
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Thereâs been alot of rubbish football both club and inter county over the last 5 or so years so it isnât just at the parts of game taking it the most seriously, if youâve a problem with how things are going look close to home with how JP is bank rolling everything Green and White.
With all due respect the most consequential intercounty games are now end of June and month of July, how the feck is that the wrong time of the year, youâd swear with your comments there being played Xmas week, when the championship was going into August and September there was plenty of rubbish games too e.g Donegal Dublin 2011, 2014 Final. It must be remembered not 1 rule is in as things stand, 2025 is basically a trial year for football and personally i donât mind that as I think football doesnât need tweaking, it needs surgery.
Inter County Quarter Finals/Semi Finals and Finals in Late June/July just donât capture the imagination at all.
Dublin were beaten in a Quarter Final this year and it might as well not have been played. Dublin being beaten has always been a massive deal. It was about the 5th biggest occasion in Dublin that weekend and barely anybody saw it on TV either.
At least those bad games in 2011-2014 were still a big deal.
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Iv a couple of dozen posts bookmarked from posters saying âeven the commentators donât know the rulesâ or " the fans havenât a clue whatâs going on"
Looking forward to lashing them out liberally as soon as the league starts
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What game did you attend in Aughrim lately? Tinahealy v Tullamore or Bray v Rathnure?
I honestly donât think Iâll watch a single game of Gaelic football next year.
The new World Professional Darts championship started the weekend just gone. Despite it being the greatest prize in all of sport, you wouldnât know it was on.
Why? Three main reasons. 1 Itâs not in its traditional time slot starting on the first weekend in January. 2 Itâs not on the BBC. Online doesnât compare (hello GAAGO). 3 Itâs called the WDF World Professional Darts Championship not the BDO World Profesisonal Darts Championship. There are NO maroon blazers and no Chelsea Pensioners and this makes us angry.
The GAA just doesnât get that the real appeal of sporting events is in how they make you FEEL. And that the venue and the setting and the time slot and what TV coverage if any the event receives all matters immensely. The actual sport is merely the pastry in the pie, the toy in the Kinder Surprise, the joke in the Christmas cracker.
We donât really care about the Champions League or the Ireland team now Billo and Eamo and Gilesy and Liamo are gone. Do we?
We donât really care about the GAA now Brolly and Spillane are gone. Do we?
We donât really care about the Heino or rugby in general now Hook and McGuirk and POPEY are gone. Do we?
Not as much.
Sport is a conduit for RITUAL.
RITUAL.
Lakeside darts was about the first Saturday of the year and settling in to watch Stubbsy and Bobby George having the banter in the playersâ bar at Lakeside and then going over for a first round clash with epic walk ons. This was something you looked forward to EVERY YEAR in the SAME TIME SLOT. A ritual.
The same day was FA Cup Third Round Day. Giant killing. No more, and people in Britain are angry at that. Itâs why Brexit happened.
Then flick through the year.
Superbowl SUNDAY. This is not even the same since it was moved from the last Sunday in January. The second Sunday of February? Pah.
FEBRUARY and MARCH for The Six Nations.
The SECOND SUNDAY OF FEBRUARY for the Masters snooker at Wembley.
MARCH Madness.
The SATURDAY AFTER THE FIRST THURSDAY OF APRIL for the Grand National.
The SECOND SUNDAY OF APRIL for the US Masters.
APRIL WEDNESDAY NIGHTS for Champions League epics from the Nou Camp.
SUNNY APRIL SUNDAYS for Heino semi-finals involving Munster.
MAY BANK HOLIDAY MONDAY for the final at The Crucible.
JUNE AND JULY for major international association football tournaments.
JUNE AND JULY for Wimbledon.
Oppressive late JULY days for the mountain stages of the Tour.
LATE JULY AND AUGUST for the Olympics. July 14th for the next one? Pah. Too early.
A dead, oppressive, JULY SUNDAY for the Ulster Football final.
MID TO LATE AUGUST for major athletics championships.
The SEPTEMBER AIR of Croke Park for the All-Irelands.
The MCG on the LAST SATURDAY OF SEPTEMBER.
The OCTOBER AIR of Healy Park for a floodlit Tyrone SFC epic.
The LAST SUNDAY IN OCTOBER for the title deciding Japanese Grand Prix.
Baseballâs OCTOBER classic.
NOVEMBER for World Cup play-offs. The air of deathly winter finality to a deathly, intense soundtrack of My Bloody Valentine.
DECEMBER for the Ulster Club Football Final. The same air of deathly winter finality.
BOXING DAY at the MCG.
That period BETWEEN CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR for the fake darts.
This stuff doesnât stop at sport.
What if they moved the Eurovision to September?
What if they moved the US election to March?
What if they moved the Rose Of Tralee to January?
What if they moved the Calor Gas Housewife Of The Year competition away from April (or was it March?)
Whoâd care? Nobody, thatâs who. The Calor Gas Housewife Of The Year competition wouldnât even survive.
Any basic advertising or marketing course will tell you the USP of your product is how it makes people FEEL.
Iâve never done even a basic advertising or marketing course but even I know that.
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None. But I did toy with the idea of attending Tinahely v Tullamore and out of boredom researched could I get there via public transport.
I could have done. But I didnât bother.
You get the 10am bus from Busaras to Arklow, arriving about 11:40am. Then at midday you get a TFI Localink service to Aughrim (it terminates at Carlow), arriving around 20 minutes later, 12:24pm to be precise.
The match is at 1:30pm. Thereâs time for a pint in Aughrim afterwards.
Then you get the return service to Arklow at about 4pm arriving 20 minutes later and you then pick a random pub to have three pints in and get the bus back to Dublin about 7.
Thank you Roderic OâGorman.
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Darts isnât on til December 15th.
Weâre talking about the fare on the pitch, the decisions made last Saturday were about the spectacle on view not what youâre talking about here and what was spoken ad nauseum already on this thread.
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Iâd say final tickets for both hurling and football this year were the hardest got in many a year.
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But you are far more likely to get a good spectacle on the pitch when a game is played where and when it should be. Its unquantifiable but it matters.
Cuala v Naas in Newbridge on a Saturday night in November was a great game.
I guarantee next Sundayâs Ulster Club Final will be class. The last two editions have been epic.
Dublin v Derry in Croke Park in a League Final in April was a brilliant game.
Dublin v Roscommon in May in Croke Park just doesnât work and will never work no matter how much you try to basterdise the game.
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Pathetic
Sorry but this is nonsense, somehow a league final in April can be a classic and a championship game a few weeks later canât 
Reality is youâll have good and bad games all year round, like you said Cuala Naas was brilliant but Cualaâs next game v Tullamore 2 weeks later was shit.
The two assholes he tagged then looking for his pat on the back
So soccer is moving to the summer across the board or is it a choice of each district?
Somebody was always going to eat into early summer period the gaa has moved away from I guess.
I canât really see how itâs going to be great for soccer around the country but it also wonât help the gaa either.