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Division 3 Relegation

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Can't believe first and foremost that my beloved county has hit a new low and been relegated to Division 4. The league table doesn't lie but I have to question other results. Example, Westmeath still in with a chance of promotion get beat by Offaly, the only other team they beat thus campaign was Wexford. Now, both Sligo and Offaly played out a dire low scoring draw last Monday. Yet, today Iffaly turnover Westmeath by 5 points........I question this result. A betting man wouldn't have put money on Offaly beating Westmeath today. I am thinking this result was a gift to Offaly. Questions need to be asked. Also, how come Sligo failed to play against Offaly the way they played against Derry today. I wonder how much money was placed on an Offaly or Sligo victory or victories today? OakGael (Derry) - Posts: 293 - 25/03/2018 16:51:43 2087719 Link
Wow. m_the_d (None) - Posts: 1099 - 25/03/2018 16:57:53 2087723 Link
Westmeath needed a miracle set of results to go up. Needed a draw in Longford game and a 27 point win, which was never going to happen. Meanwhile Offaly were fighting for their lives and had started to piece together some results in the later stages of the league.Not a hugely surprising result Regardless, very sad to see Derry go down. Its been a slow decline, and I know that they were missing Slaughtneil players, but I'm amazed that its come to this. Hopefully this will kickstart something in the county petejoeduff (Donegal) - Posts: 329 - 25/03/2018 16:57:57 2087724 Link
Ah stop with the conspiracy. There is genuine hatred between Westmeath and Offaly and there was nothing more they wanted than to relegate us today. The fact is they are 1 man team and without Heslin they are poor. If Derry were good enough they would have stayed up tonorio (Offaly) - Posts: 608 - 25/03/2018 16:58:51 2087728 Link
If Derry had beaten Sligo today they wouldn't have been relegated so why blame anyone else. Hard to believe Derry are in Division 4 but the table doesn't lie. BlueHeaven (Cavan) - Posts: 75 - 25/03/2018 17:01:44 2087736 Link
Derry in Division 4, can't believe it. What has happened to the county team? It's clear from the strength of the club championship that Derry can still produce good footballers. Big problem for my own county next year as Antrim and Wexford are effectively playing for one promotion spot now. Regarding their relegation, it looked extremely unlikely last week but a combination of results has seen them go down - Offaly/Sligo drawing last week coupled with Westmeath having nothing to play for today has seen the Faithful sneak out of it. M Lyster (Antrim) - Posts: 461 - 25/03/2018 17:06:02 2087744 Link
Replying To tonorio: "Ah stop with the conspiracy. There is genuine hatred between Westmeath and Offaly and there was nothing more they wanted than to relegate us today. The fact is they are 1 man team and without Heslin they are poor. If Derry were good enough they would have stayed up" Here here Torino. As a regular visitor to the area I know exactly what you mean . If that Derry poster had ANY idea of the rivalry ( almost hatred) that exists between yourselves and Westmeath, they certainly wouldn't have come out with such a ridiculous accusation. yelowbelly (Wexford) - Posts: 409 - 25/03/2018 17:06:42 2087746 Link
Question - How did both Offaly and Sligo turn in performances like they did today compared to last Monday? OakGael (Derry) - Posts: 293 - 25/03/2018 17:27:04 2087771 Link
Replying To OakGael: "Question - How did both Offaly and Sligo turn in performances like they did today compared to last Monday?" Answer: Because that's how sport works. Teams play to different levels on different days against different teams. That's why we have leagues and championships, so that teams play several games in order to get an idea of their average level. Teams that win a lot go up, teams that lose a lot (e.g. Derry) go down. Take in division 2 for example. Meath hammered Clare, before Cork beat Meath comfortably. Logic dictates that Cork would trounce Clare, but Clare beat Cork in Cork. There's no conspiracy there, just the unpredictability of sport. CastleBravo (Meath) - Posts: 1643 - 25/03/2018 18:03:47 2087791 Link
Replying To OakGael: "Question - How did both Offaly and Sligo turn in performances like they did today compared to last Monday?" Maybe Sligo looked better today because they were playing weaker opposition? Westmeath had 3 men sent off today which would not be that unusual in games between them and Offaly as there is a real rivalry there. Unfortunately for Derry both Sligo and Offaly have shown real heart and determination in recent years to stay in Division 3 and Derry have not displayed any such qualities in a few years. Anyone who grew up watching Tohill, Downey, Bradley etc will be sorry to see how far they have fallen but they are where they deserve to be. Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 25/03/2018 18:15:09 2087804 Link
Offaly put in a gutsy display today. They won by 6 points, possibly should have been more. Offaly were7 points up in the first half, but Westmeath rallied and went in 2 points down at half time Westmeath had 3 players red carded in the second half, and Offaly finished 6 ahead at the end. They needed a 6 point cushion as they were 5 behind Sligo on score difference, in the event of a draw in Sligo. Good result for Offaly after a difficult campaign. Surprised to see Derry relegated to bottom tier. thelongridge (Offaly) - Posts: 1735 - 25/03/2018 18:36:32 2087823 Link
What has happened to us. We have lost pride and respect in the County, the Jersey and the Crest. We need a manager from a neural county so then they will pick the best players there is. Too much politics in Derry Football unfortunately. Disgrace!!! oakleafersir (Derry) - Posts: 808 - 25/03/2018 18:48:41 2087838 Link
What has happened to us. We have lost pride and respect in the County, the Jersey and the Crest. We need a manager from a neural county so then they will pick the best players there is. Too much politics in Derry Football unfortunately. Disgrace!!! oakleafersir (Derry) - Posts: 808 - 25/03/2018 18:49:07 2087839 Link
Replying To Soma: "Maybe Sligo looked better today because they were playing weaker opposition? Westmeath had 3 men sent off today which would not be that unusual in games between them and Offaly as there is a real rivalry there. Unfortunately for Derry both Sligo and Offaly have shown real heart and determination in recent years to stay in Division 3 and Derry have not displayed any such qualities in a few years. Anyone who grew up watching Tohill, Downey, Bradley etc will be sorry to see how far they have fallen but they are where they deserve to be." Westmeath 3 men red carded in 2nd half and you say that's not unusual in a game between both sides.. well I beg to differ. I have seen many a Dery v Tyrone battles and believe me they are as fierce as you can get, not so much recently though and never seen either side get 3 2nd half red cards. Westmeath lay down and gifted the match. OakGael (Derry) - Posts: 293 - 25/03/2018 18:56:34 2087848 Link
Replying To OakGael: "Westmeath 3 men red carded in 2nd half and you say that's not unusual in a game between both sides.. well I beg to differ. I have seen many a Dery v Tyrone battles and believe me they are as fierce as you can get, not so much recently though and never seen either side get 3 2nd half red cards. Westmeath lay down and gifted the match." Offaly had 2 men sent off against Westmeath last year in their drawn championship game, and another in the replay. There is a great rivalry there, Westmeath would love to have relegated Offaly. Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 25/03/2018 19:20:02 2087870 Link
Replying To OakGael: "Westmeath 3 men red carded in 2nd half and you say that's not unusual in a game between both sides.. well I beg to differ. I have seen many a Dery v Tyrone battles and believe me they are as fierce as you can get, not so much recently though and never seen either side get 3 2nd half red cards. Westmeath lay down and gifted the match." We had 2 players sent off in the championship against Westmeath last year, year before we had 2 black carded and there was a mass brawl at the final whistle. And today they were all 2 yellows. If they were throwing the game they wouldn't bother tackling tonorio (Offaly) - Posts: 608 - 25/03/2018 19:24:27 2087873 Link
Replying To tonorio: "We had 2 players sent off in the championship against Westmeath last year, year before we had 2 black carded and there was a mass brawl at the final whistle. And today they were all 2 yellows. If they were throwing the game they wouldn't bother tackling" Killian Daly's was a straight red. The other two were second yellows. LooseCannon (Offaly) - Posts: 86 - 25/03/2018 23:27:40 2088046 Link
I wont harp on too much, but everything was in Derry's own hands yesterday. All they needed to do was get a result and they were safe. When you start looking elsewhere at results 'not going your way' then you really are trying to deflect blame. The bottom line is that Derry only managed to win 2 out of 7 games. Regardless of the Offaly Westmeath result, winning 2 out of 7 games is not displaying good enough form to ensure your divisional status for another season. From what I can see from results, Derry were relatively competitive in all of their games. But no more than Offaly were. With the Longford game being notable exception for Offaly, although Derry went down easily enough against them too. Its a shame to see them go down, but it isn't a shame if my own county survived because of it. We all played the same teams and Offaly ended up with one more point from those games than Derry and that's basically that. OffalyBigBall (Offaly) - Posts: 625 - 26/03/2018 09:52:15 2088129 Link
As someone who witnessed the great Tyrone - Derry battles against the likes of Eamon Coleman it was embarrassing how easy it was for Tyrone in the championship in 2016/2017. While there may be good footballers in Derry under various managers they do not appear to be committed to playing a style of football whether defensive or attacking and they fall in between two stools. Whether people like it or not Tyrone, Donegal, Cavan, Fermanagh and Armagh have all taken on board changes in the playing style of football. Maybe Derry and possibly Down are not sure of what route to take. Byanthon (Tyrone) - Posts: 1780 - 26/03/2018 11:56:45 2088219 Link