Dr McKenna Cup - second most important trophy?

Hmmm .... not liked by the players for trying to improve their lot eh!! Who'd be a trade unionist ... I'd say other people here might have a view on this ....

Jayo Cluxton wrote:Hmmm .... not liked by the players for trying to improve their lot eh!! Who'd be a trade unionist ... I'd say other people here might have a view on this ....

not trying to improve THEIR lot JC - his own lot yes, anyone else lot perhaps not so vigourous in his attempts to improve it.

GPA is not a big thing amongst the Tyrone squad several players donate the grant they get to their clubs!!!!

bocerty wrote:

Jayo Cluxton wrote:Hmmm .... not liked by the players for trying to improve their lot eh!! Who'd be a trade unionist ... I'd say other people here might have a view on this ....

not trying to improve THEIR lot JC - his own lot yes, anyone else lot perhaps not so vigourous in his attempts to improve it.

GPA is not a big thing amongst the Tyrone squad several players donate the grant they get to their clubs!!!!

They must be getting xtra money from somewhere..A friend of mine played in an All-Ireland Final..and was glad of his expenses and mileage after a long year..

mullins wrote:

bocerty wrote:

Jayo Cluxton wrote:Hmmm .... not liked by the players for trying to improve their lot eh!! Who'd be a trade unionist ... I'd say other people here might have a view on this ....

not trying to improve THEIR lot JC - his own lot yes, anyone else lot perhaps not so vigourous in his attempts to improve it.

GPA is not a big thing amongst the Tyrone squad several players donate the grant they get to their clubs!!!!

They must be getting xtra money from somewhere..A friend of mine played in an All-Ireland Final..and was glad of his expenses and mileage after a long year..

Spoken like the true socialist that you claim to be. Err, no, hang on...

The Tyrone players, in general, have never supported the GPA to the degree that many other counties have. When the GPA called on all players to delay the start of league games by 15 minutes a few years ago, Tyrone were playing away to Mayo. Tyrone were on the field 15-20 minutes before the scheduled throw in time, and ready to play. Mayo arrived onto the field some 25 minutes later. The comments from Tyrone players at the time were that they were well looked after in terms of meals, mileage, kit etc, and felt it would be wrong to protest when they already had all that they wanted.

bocerty wrote:

Thomas Clarke wrote:

OMAR wrote: One of the people at the table mentioned a comment that SC had made in the papers relating to the GPA.
I won't document MH's reply but given the year that SC had just had it was surprising

SC's 2008 is a thing of myth. He was very good against the Dubs, quite good against Wexford, and outstanding against Kerry. For the 8 months before that he did very little. Enda McGinley should have been player of the year in 2008, and Dooher or Ricey would have been next on the list from a Tyrone perspective.

Sean Cavanagh was immense from 2003-2005, but his only sparkled in patches since then. He hasn't even done that in the last 2 years, and has looked miserable on the field. Having said that, he is too talented to let drift away, and getting him happy with his football again should be Mickey's top priority for 2011.

SC is not a very popular member of the Tyrone squad from what i can gather particularly amongst the senior members - if he paid half as much attention to improving his game and footballing duties as he does to GPA duties he would be a grand fella

You must have been at the same lunch

[quote="Thomas Clarke"

The Tyrone players, in general, have never supported the GPA to the degree that many other counties have. When the GPA called on all players to delay the start of league games by 15 minutes a few years ago, Tyrone were playing away to Mayo. Tyrone were on the field 15-20 minutes before the scheduled throw in time, and ready to play. Mayo arrived onto the field some 25 minutes later. The comments from Tyrone players at the time were that they were well looked after in terms of meals, mileage, kit etc, and felt it would be wrong to protest when they already had all that they wanted.[/quote]

Though to be fair the structures that tyrone have had for the last decade in terms of funding "Team Tyrone" etc is more advanced than a lot (if not all) counties so they are in a better position to be "independent" than counties who do not have the same level of organisation in terms of finanical support especially those that have almost no structure other than the odd big cheque from a developer which Im sure is an even bigger challenge at present.

OMAR wrote:

bocerty wrote:

Thomas Clarke wrote:

OMAR wrote: One of the people at the table mentioned a comment that SC had made in the papers relating to the GPA.
I won't document MH's reply but given the year that SC had just had it was surprising

SC's 2008 is a thing of myth. He was very good against the Dubs, quite good against Wexford, and outstanding against Kerry. For the 8 months before that he did very little. Enda McGinley should have been player of the year in 2008, and Dooher or Ricey would have been next on the list from a Tyrone perspective.

Sean Cavanagh was immense from 2003-2005, but his only sparkled in patches since then. He hasn't even done that in the last 2 years, and has looked miserable on the field. Having said that, he is too talented to let drift away, and getting him happy with his football again should be Mickey's top priority for 2011.

SC is not a very popular member of the Tyrone squad from what i can gather particularly amongst the senior members - if he paid half as much attention to improving his game and footballing duties as he does to GPA duties he would be a grand fella

You must have been at the same lunch

i was one of the waiters who served the lunch OMAR - i am a nosey baxtard by nature!!!!!

I think the GPA have done a great job in Tyrone,long may it continue Keep it lit Dessie

As TC quite rightly points out there isn't very much new about this years McKenna cup squad in Tyrone that would encourage me to go into Healy park on Sunday. No, my focus for the early part of the season will be over the ditch in Derry. I was speking to an old school friend of mine in Omagh yesterday who now has the task of training John Brennan's charges and is getting them ready for Monaghan who are also under new management. The word is that the Bradleys are towing the line after a bit of a telling off at the start to show who was boss and the mood is generally good in the camp. Derry will be my tip for the McKenna cup this year and my only real interest in it by the looks of things closer to home

I'll be somewhat interested to see how Jim lines the boys out. I suspect it will be Murphy and Molloy up front with everyone else working back. This will mean we are in for a year of sometimes effective but always hard to watch football.
Come on Jim, surprise me!

mugsys_barber wrote:As TC quite rightly points out there isn't very much new about this years McKenna cup squad in Tyrone that would encourage me to go into Healy park on Sunday. No, my focus for the early part of the season will be over the ditch in Derry. I was speking to an old school friend of mine in Omagh yesterday who now has the task of training John Brennan's charges and is getting them ready for Monaghan who are also under new management. The word is that the Bradleys are towing the line after a bit of a telling off at the start to show who was boss and the mood is generally good in the camp. Derry will be my tip for the McKenna cup this year and my only real interest in it by the looks of things closer to home

Mugsy i take it its Mr Sheridan your on about here - interestig to hear you say 'old school friend' as he done 7 years with me in the CBS too, i'll have to put the word out to suss your real identity

Cant say there is much interest from me in the Tyrone setup either, with the weather, the cost of getting in to watch crap and the lack of any real change in the squad i cant see me venturing too far either. Interesting to see Tony Donnelly defending the limited changes to the squad, almost blaming too much change for last years poor showing

bocerty wrote:Mugsy i take it its Mr Sheridan your on about here - interestig to hear you say 'old school friend' as he done 7 years with me in the CBS too,

Poor Mr Sheridan - he musta broke a mirror .....

RMDrive wrote:I'll be somewhat interested to see how Jim lines the boys out. I suspect it will be Murphy and Molloy up front with everyone else working back. This will mean we are in for a year of sometimes effective but always hard to watch football.
Come on Jim, surprise me!

RM Will Jim simply be adopting the system of play employed by big Cathal Coary in the Glenties that fell to pieces when they met Cross??

Jayo Cluxton wrote:

bocerty wrote:Mugsy i take it its Mr Sheridan your on about here - interestig to hear you say 'old school friend' as he done 7 years with me in the CBS too,

Poor Mr Sheridan - he musta broke a mirror .....

a superstitious Dublin comedian - what a combination

mugsys_barber wrote:

RMDrive wrote:I'll be somewhat interested to see how Jim lines the boys out. I suspect it will be Murphy and Molloy up front with everyone else working back. This will mean we are in for a year of sometimes effective but always hard to watch football.
Come on Jim, surprise me!

RM Will Jim simply be adopting the system of play employed by big Cathal Coary in the Glenties that fell to pieces when they met Cross??

I think feel to pieces is a bit harsh Mugsy. It was inexperiece for the 2 goals that really less Cross get away from them.

The Glenties system has a lot of Jims fingerprints on it too. He was involved with them for a few years and when you look at their style and that of the U21s, they are all similar.

Jayo Cluxton wrote:

bocerty wrote:Mugsy i take it its Mr Sheridan your on about here - interestig to hear you say 'old school friend' as he done 7 years with me in the CBS too,

Poor Mr Sheridan - he musta broke a mirror .....

lol, seven years with Boc in the school and now a coaching role with Derry under John Brennan - He's an unfortunate boy alright!!

I would have spent five years in the brothers with Sheridan Boc and would have played mcRory football along with him for two of those years. I didn't read Donnelly's article but thought that Paddy Heaney had some interesting things to say about last years squad in a recent article where he basically defended harte for sticking with the tried and tested formula last year

I know alot of people might be starting to lose patience with the Harte especially if Munroe can achieve something with the under 21's in the next three years. At this stage no one could rule out the possibility of Dooher still being captain in 2016 if Harte is in charge.

RMDrive wrote:

mugsys_barber wrote:

RMDrive wrote:I'll be somewhat interested to see how Jim lines the boys out. I suspect it will be Murphy and Molloy up front with everyone else working back. This will mean we are in for a year of sometimes effective but always hard to watch football.
Come on Jim, surprise me!

RM Will Jim simply be adopting the system of play employed by big Cathal Coary in the Glenties that fell to pieces when they met Cross??

I think feel to pieces is a bit harsh Mugsy. It was inexperiece for the 2 goals that really less Cross get away from them.

The Glenties system has a lot of Jims fingerprints on it too. He was involved with them for a few years and when you look at their style and that of the U21s, they are all similar.

Fair enough RM, inexperience had a small part to play but the continual high ball that was being sent in on top of Molly was wee buns for the Cross defence. Both Molloy and Murphy will be a handful for most full back lines, I remember Murphy last year in the mcKenna cup in Ballybofey and thought he was immense ao playing Molly alongside him will certainly spice things up. What about McFadden this year? Another big man that could cause problems if his mind was on his game.

Jayo Cluxton wrote:Yes very good P - but we are on about the McKenna here - having already dissed the provincial c'ships (do read the posts please). The club title matters only to 400 people in Newtownshandrum or 68 in Kilmurry-Ibricane. It is a nice competition and keeps you out of the pub on Paddys Day but does not carry the importance of Sam (obviously) or the Bishop Mc. As stated earlier Antrim have not won this since 1981 - the longest drought of Ulster counties. Do they not take it seriously enough or are they all on the piss for December and January?

I remember Antrim captained by Tony McAtamney winning this around 1966/67. It was fairly big then.

We all knew we would win because we played Tyrone in the final, so that was more or less a walk over to us, aged 13.

I mean who were Tyrone. Two Ulster titles in a million years? And us from Andersonstown, the biggest stronghold of Gaelic games in Ireland with Ulster's top stadium, Ireland's second best in those days.

I don't think I have seen a McKenna Cup game since then.

Was it Tyrone, or some other bad lot like Monaghan or Armagh? In those days we were running Down close.

1966 it was, and 4 wins in the 1940s when Antrim were dominant in GAA.

Apart from Cork.

OMAR wrote:[quote="Thomas Clarke"

The Tyrone players, in general, have never supported the GPA to the degree that many other counties have. When the GPA called on all players to delay the start of league games by 15 minutes a few years ago, Tyrone were playing away to Mayo. Tyrone were on the field 15-20 minutes before the scheduled throw in time, and ready to play. Mayo arrived onto the field some 25 minutes later. The comments from Tyrone players at the time were that they were well looked after in terms of meals, mileage, kit etc, and felt it would be wrong to protest when they already had all that they wanted.

Though to be fair the structures that tyrone have had for the last decade in terms of funding "Team Tyrone" etc is more advanced than a lot (if not all) counties so they are in a better position to be "independent" than counties who do not have the same level of organisation in terms of finanical support especially those that have almost no structure other than the odd big cheque from a developer which Im sure is an even bigger challenge at present.





So, Tyrone are scabs as well as the rest?

Should have known.

I'd be optimistic that Tyrone will introduce a couple of new faces this year but, as I said earlier, a lot will depend on how the U-21s do.

U-21s like Kyle Coney, Ronan McNabb, Mattie Donnelly, Niall McKenna, Peter Harte & Gavin Teague were all introduced last year, and should all come on again a bit this year. I know that some of them aren't in the McKenna Cup squad, but those that aren't are playing for universities, so I think it is fair to assume that most of them will be back again. On top of that you have 4 other new faces in the McKenna Cup squad.

So you have roughly 10 lads in the extended squad who are yet to make an impact on the first team, which is enough in any panel of 36/7 or whetever it ends up. You also have the likes of Cathal McCarron, PJ Quinn, Sean O'Neill, Martin Swift, Colm Cavanagh, Aidan Cassidy and, to a lesser extent, Dermot Carlin who should all still be at the stage of their careers where they are improving.

Of the established players, I'm afraid that I don't see what Dooher or Gourley have to offer anymore, but they are the only ones. Maybe Brian McGuigan, but it would be hard to just cast him aside, as his form last year was better than it has been since 2005.

Davy Harte would not be my choice at RHB, but he is still young enough to justify a place on the panel, especially considering he has been a good performer over the last 5 years. Same goes for Enda McGinley. Ricey's leadership, attitude and experience is worth retaining, although I wouldn't like to think he would be a regular this year at corner back. I don't think anyone in Tyrone would pick a panel without Conor Gormley, while Phily Jordan was the best half back in Ireland last year.

Overall, I'm enough happy with the panel, but would be very keen that the first 15 starts to take a different shape this year, especially in attack.

Thomas Clarke wrote:while Phily Jordan was the best half back in Ireland last year.

In fairness I think Paudie Kissane with a League/Championship double and an All Star & GPA team of the year double deserves that accolade.

Jayo Cluxton wrote:

Thomas Clarke wrote:while Phily Jordan was the best half back in Ireland last year.

In fairness I think Paudie Kissane with a League/Championship double and an All Star & GPA team of the year double deserves that accolade.

Each to their own, but Philly Jordan got an all-star on a team the were eliminated at the qtr final stage, which is always impressive. Not too sure what a league and championship double has to do with individual awards. Also, as Jordan isn't a member of the GPA, he wasn't likely to get one of those awards.

TC, there won't be much change in attack for the McKenna cup with only two "trialists" on show in the form of McNeice and Girvan. Two lads I was very impressed with at minor level but must be noted that both have suffered from injury or perhaps burnout since winning the minor title in 2008. The new defenders McCrory from Errigal has been a solid club performer and young McNally from the island also deserves a run. Johnathan Curran had an impressive club championship and could be pushing big Packie for the number one position with Devine being relegated to third choice.

I suppose looking at the McKenna cup squad it will be interesting to see how Aidan Cassidy, PJ quinn and Damien McCaul have all recovered from their injuries, whether or not Cathal McCarron and Mark Donnelly can prove their worth on a tyrone panel as i feel they are only really there to make up ther in-house game numbers. I'd be hoping that Mulligan can keep up the good from from last year. O'Neill is always flying at this time of year, its just a pity he couldn't hold off until about July or August or at least stay injury free until then. Penrose has been a steady enough performer over the years but probably is better suited closer to the goals as opposed to this Dooher role they tried to make him play in last year. I agree with you in what you say about Dooher and Gourley, Can I also add Hub Hughes to that list. Another man that definitely hasn't 70 minutes of performance in Croke park in him anymore and has failed miserably last year against Dublin and the year previous against Cork. McGuigan may have a small bit part role to play but again not 70 minutes either.

There are many college students spread across the three teams - For me the jury is well and truly out on Red Sean O'Neill, He hasn't lived up to his early promise and his club form has been dire - He's been far too fond of show boating and carrying the ball into tackles.

We will see young Mattie Donnelly in action when we play UUJ, his lack of pace may be an issue but appears to be a strong lad who is capable of the spectacular score. UUJ would also have fringe players club players looking to impress like Pickering, Ciaran McGinley (errigal), mcNulty (Gortin) Hughes (ESkra) but don't expect any of them to make the breakthrough tbh.
Queens have Niall McKenna who we should hopefully see more of in 2011 and also Michael Gallagher from Omagh who I have been impressed by this year. They also have coalisland's Tiranan O'Hagan but sadly not in the same mould as the father, he did have a reasonable club championship even though the local papers blew him up a bit more than he maybe deserved.
St Mary's is loaded with Tyrone Players with Pete Harte, Gavin Teague and Kevin Mossey the stand out names. Young Campbell from Ardboe isn't a bad talent either, the rest should all be good club men in the years to come but don't think they'll make the breakthrough at senior level, unless maybe Roger can persuade Mickey to take a look at big Ruairi for the middle of the field .

Thomas Clarke wrote:Not too sure what a league and championship double has to do with individual awards.

The point is that Kissane was on a team that won both National titles last year and also picked up both individual awards available to him. I think its fair to say that a League and Championship double to me would reflect consistency over the whole year by all players and an All Star and GPA award would reflect individual consistency and excellence. You said Jordan was the best half back last year. Unfortunately his side were relegated in the League and lost out at QF stage in the C'ship - hard to see how you could pick him above Kissane.

Those are the facts but then I suppose I am only wumming here or maybe have a chip on my shoulder or something. The thing I've noticed a lot recently is that if you don't agree with TCs world view on sport (and your knowledge is phenomenal) then you are a wum or have a chip on your shoulder. Yours is only an opinion TC - same as the rest of us - carries the same weight - it is not the gospel.