Power NI Dr. McKenna Cup 2013

County football returns this weekend with the following fixtures -

6th Jan (Sun): Round 1:

Section A
Muineachán v Colaiste Naomh Mhuire at Clones

Section B
Bye v Ard Mhacha at Athletic Grounds
An Cabhán v An Dún at Kingspan Breffni Park

Section C
Ollscoil Baile Shurtain v Aontroim at Casement Park
Tír Eoghain v Doíre at Healy Park

9th Jan (Wed): Round 1: Section A
Fear Manach v Dún na nGall at Brewster Park

Queens have pulled out and Jordanstown last week launched an attack on 3 counties for making their varsity players sign letters saying they will play for their county over their Uni, i find this disgusting and don't really blame Queens for pulling out.

Anyone care to add views or predictions?

Found the tweet from Jordanstown RE player selection -

@JordanstownGaa: Making young lads sign letters not to play for their University in the Mc Kenna Cup is wrong. Shame Armagh, Tyrone , Fermanagh

The format of the 2013 McKenna will not be changed despite Queen's University's withdrawal from the competition.

There will be two groups of four teams and one of three with the groups winners and one best runners-up going through to the semi-finals.
The team second in the three-team group will not have as good as chance of progressing, after just two matches.

Queen's pulled out after a dispute over the availability of their county players.
The college teams used to have first call on their players who were also involved with county squad.
But in recent years those students have come under increasing pressure to further their county prospects, rather than represent their university.

The colleges teams - Queen's St Mary's and the University of Ulster at Jordanstown - had argued that they needed their full panels to have any chance of competing against Ulster's nine senior county teams.

They also wanted a full quota of players in the build-up to the Sigerson Cup, an All-Ireland competition which is regarded as a highlight of the college football calendar.
Queen's, who lost all three of their matches in the 2012 McKenna Cup, would have played Armagh, Cavan and Down in this year's competition.

Those counties now make up Section B while Section A contains Donegal, Fermanagh, Monaghan and St Mary's and Section C comprises Derry, Tyrone, Antrim and UUJ.
The Ulster Council revealed that five players included in the Queen's panel for the McKenna Cup had also been named in county squads.

Last month, Council president Aogan Farrell appealed to counties to ensure that the universities teams would have first call on student players in the competition.

Taken from BBC Sport Online.

What do county teams get out of this competition that a few challenge games wouldn't give? Colleges are doing too much moaning.

RMDrive wrote:What do county teams get out of this competition that a few challenge games wouldn't give? Colleges are doing too much moaning.

RMD with a very grumpy response here, perhaps the return to work after Christmas has not been welcomed!

I would scrap all pre-season comps RMD, have the provincial champs as a bridging comp between the league & open draw championship with teams seeded depending on league & provincial champs performances. But that's another story....

bald eagle wrote:

RMDrive wrote:What do county teams get out of this competition that a few challenge games wouldn't give? Colleges are doing too much moaning.

RMD with a very grumpy response here, perhaps the return to work after Christmas has not been welcomed!

I would scrap all pre-season comps RMD, have the provincial champs as a bridging comp between the league & open draw championship with teams seeded depending on league & provincial champs performances. But that's another story....

More time-pressed than grumpy BE!! I've read a lot of poor-me stories from the colleges and a few people have mentioned that their addition to the McKenna cup revitalised it. I'm not sure about this.

I'd agree 100% with scrapping them.

Downs McKenna Cup matches are being streamed live by Destination Newry, link below -

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bald eagle wrote:Found the tweet from Jordanstown RE player selection -

@JordanstownGaa: Making young lads sign letters not to play for their University in the Mc Kenna Cup is wrong. Shame Armagh, Tyrone , Fermanagh

'Making young lads sign letters'. Yes, I can imagine that there were guns at heads alright.

I've always felt that county managers should be releasing players to the universities in this competition, but the rules allow the players to play for whoever they want and, given that, the uni's need to dry their eyes and accept the choices that are made.

Thomas Clarke wrote:

bald eagle wrote:Found the tweet from Jordanstown RE player selection -

@JordanstownGaa: Making young lads sign letters not to play for their University in the Mc Kenna Cup is wrong. Shame Armagh, Tyrone , Fermanagh

'Making young lads sign letters'. Yes, I can imagine that there were guns at heads alright.

I've always felt that county managers should be releasing players to the universities in this competition, but the rules allow the players to play for whoever they want and, given that, the uni's need to dry their eyes and accept the choices that are made.

the rules TC under the new format were that the Universities were to get first refusal on players, i dont think its a case of needing to dry their eyes at all, there were promises made to them and these have now been broken, what the point in them playing competitive games when in some cases their starting 15 are playing for other teams!!!!!

I know Jarlath Burns had a go at Tyrone over this and Mickey Harte responded in his column in the Irish News but i cant help feel the likes of Mickey who cries quite a bit about not scrapping this competition has done his best to drive a final nail in its coffin.

County lads are being bullied and threatened into opting for the counties and whilst it might not quite be a gun to the head job if you are told that opting for the University will rule you out of county contention then there really is only one option. Funny thing is these lads opt for the county and get 15 minutes here and there whereas by allowing them to play for the Uni team would guarantee them a lot more game time.

Its time Mickey and the lads made up their minds what they really want.

bocerty wrote: the rules TC under the new format were that the Universities were to get first refusal on players

Are you sure about that Boc? I know it started that way, but i'm pretty certain that it changed a couple of years ago, and the players can now play for whoever they choose.

I don't believe that anyone is being bullied or threatened, and whille I'd release the players if I was a county manager (for the same reasons as you've stated), under the rules Mickey and the others aren't obliged to do so.

BE has this one sussed, though. Scrap the McKenna Cup etc, and just go for:

League > Provincials > 32 county knockout AI. That is the way to go.

Thomas Clarke wrote:

bocerty wrote: the rules TC under the new format were that the Universities were to get first refusal on players

Are you sure about that Boc? I know it started that way, but i'm pretty certain that it changed a couple of years ago, and the players can now play for whoever they choose.

I don't believe that anyone is being bullied or threatened, and whille I'd release the players if I was a county manager (for the same reasons as you've stated), under the rules Mickey and the others aren't obliged to do so.

BE has this one sussed, though. Scrap the McKenna Cup etc, and just go for:

League > Provincials > 32 county knockout AI. That is the way to go.

not sure that it did change TC, if it had i would be fairly sure the Universities would have pulled out at this stage. Its more a case of the county managers forcing an unofficial change by bullying the players into choosing the county team over their college team.

The end is nigh for this competition of that there is no doubt.

More importantly, Boc, did you see Tyrone yesterday and, if so, what were your impressions?!

Thomas Clarke wrote:More importantly, Boc, did you see Tyrone yesterday and, if so, what were your impressions?!

TC didnt go near it, listened to it on the Radio and while the commentators certainly didnt help it sounded like a pretty poor game.

Spoke to a guy this morning who was at it and he said the ref was the worst he had ever seen, a number of incidents happened under his nose mostly involving Eoin Bradley from what i could gather and he should have walked but ref never even stopped play.

He said Carlin had a good game on Bradley, McBride and Gallagher played well as did the young lad McCurry from Edendork who was excellent in his opinion.

He also said Clarke at midfield was schite (his words not mine)!!!!!

bocerty wrote:

Thomas Clarke wrote:More importantly, Boc, did you see Tyrone yesterday and, if so, what were your impressions?!

TC didnt go near it, listened to it on the Radio and while the commentators certainly didnt help it sounded like a pretty poor game.

Spoke to a guy this morning who was at it and he said the ref was the worst he had ever seen, a number of incidents happened under his nose mostly involving Eoin Bradley from what i could gather and he should have walked but ref never even stopped play.

He said Carlin had a good game on Bradley, McBride and Gallagher played well as did the young lad McCurry from Edendork who was excellent in his opinion.

He also said Clarke at midfield was schite (his words not mine)!!!!!

Sounds very similar to what my father said, although he also added that Sean Cavanagh was very poor aside from a 10 minute burst. He felt that Carlin was the best of a reasonable defence, but we had little up front. He came away feeling disappointed, and would worry about our lack of size & strength come the summer.

Like you, I had to summer Noel and Kevin on the radio. They weren't helped by the commentary box completely blotting out the crowd noise (sometimes it's the opposite problem, but it did leave the whole thing very flat). It's also very hard to get an honest impression of what is going on from Kevin Kelly, as he won't criticise anything to do with Tyrone.

Thomas Clarke wrote:

bocerty wrote:

Thomas Clarke wrote:More importantly, Boc, did you see Tyrone yesterday and, if so, what were your impressions?!

TC didnt go near it, listened to it on the Radio and while the commentators certainly didnt help it sounded like a pretty poor game.

Spoke to a guy this morning who was at it and he said the ref was the worst he had ever seen, a number of incidents happened under his nose mostly involving Eoin Bradley from what i could gather and he should have walked but ref never even stopped play.

He said Carlin had a good game on Bradley, McBride and Gallagher played well as did the young lad McCurry from Edendork who was excellent in his opinion.

He also said Clarke at midfield was schite (his words not mine)!!!!!

Sounds very similar to what my father said, although he also added that Sean Cavanagh was very poor aside from a 10 minute burst. He felt that Carlin was the best of a reasonable defence, but we had little up front. He came away feeling disappointed, and would worry about our lack of size & strength come the summer.

Like you, I had to summer Noel and Kevin on the radio. They weren't helped by the commentary box completely blotting out the crowd noise (sometimes it's the opposite problem, but it did leave the whole thing very flat). It's also very hard to get an honest impression of what is going on from Kevin Kelly, as he won't criticise anything to do with Tyrone.

was it not Paddy Hunter who was the problem. Kevin Kellys role is only to set up the whole equipment for the transmission, i know they do call on him occasionally especially when they are looking someone to fill a few seconds but in the main its Noel and Paddy.

If Noel would only dispense with Hunters services he would get on better, however there is likely an issue with q101 radio and the coverage of these games.

You could well be right, Boc. Perhaps I've done Kelly a disservice (on this occasion!).

Noel has built a strong reputation for his honest analysis but, given his need to be nice to the players to get interviews etc, he too is not quite as forthright as he once was.

As I've said before, we should have podcasts here, and let the people of the country get proper, unflinching analysis of all the big GAA issues!

January intercounty football

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Irish Independent full of praise for Cav .....

Cavanagh comeback inspires Tyrone to deny valiant Derry

Tyrone 1-14 Derry 0-15 Dr McKenna Cup (SF)

Sean Cavanagh returned from his injury nightmare to inspire Tyrone to a narrow win over bitter rivals Derry at Healy Park.

The former Footballer of the Year – in his first appearance since last season's National League Division 2 final against Kildare – fired over seven points as the holders came from behind to win a repeat of last year's final in front of a crowd of 4,089.

Conor McAliskey, one of eight Red Hand debutants, came off the bench to score the crucial goal three minutes from the end to deny a dogged Oak Leaf side that looked set to claim the victory.

Derry new boys Ryan Ferris and Ryan Bell showed up well in the opening half – with Ballinderry attacker Bell slotting a '45' and landing a wonderful point from play.

The Red Hands remained in touch thanks to the place-kicking of Cavanagh and Stephen O'Neill – although they didn't register their first point from play until the 23rd minute, when O'Neill gave them the lead for the first time.

Cavanagh and Mattie Donnelly tagged on quality scores to open up a three-point advantage, but an Oak Leaf blitz in the closing minutes of the half saw Eoin Bradley knock over two points and James Kielt hoist a spectacular effort to tie it up at 0-7 each.

Derry made it six on the spin, midfielder PJ McCloskey powering over a couple of points to push them three ahead. But back came Tyrone, two more Cavanagh frees tying it up at 0-10 apiece.

Another Kielt special restored Derry's three-point cushion, but McAliskey's opportunistic goal was the decisive score and there was no way back for the disappointed Derry side after Colin Devlin sent a snapshot just wide of the post in the dying moments.

I've heard a couple of reports from people whose opinions I'd trust more than the Indo, and they felt that Sean was poor for large chunks of the game. Couple of nice points, but much more industry required.

I'm not convinced that midfield is the place for Sean at this stage of his career, and would prefer to see him return to an advanced attacking role.

Your avatar is reminiscent of a self portrait by van Gogh ....

Parouisa wrote:Your avatar is reminiscent of a self portrait by van Gogh ....

With ears like that no wonder he started hacking them

Donegal 5 down to Fermnagh

Fog very bad. Wee Martin can't see the far side of the pitch.

RMDrive wrote:Fog very bad. Wee Martin can't see the far side of the pitch.

Fermanagh can see the posts 14 ahead

Donegal 2-06 Fermanagh 2-13

We're a 2nd half team