Replying To Whyme923:  "Cloughaneely I hear are losing a player this year to a transfer"

Replying To Whyme923:  "Cloughaneely I hear are losing a player this year to a transfer"

Replying To PeterQ92:  "Great to see 2 teams in McRory Cup Semi Final. I guess this is a sign of how strong underage football in the county?? Yet this doesnt seem to be transferring to county level as we are not seeing Minor or U20 success. Why is this?"

Replying To ThroughTheGap:  "I think the work in Four Masters speaks for itself given their recent wins. But the SW team isn't really a sign of strength of underage football in the county. A team pulled from about 10 clubs, strong ones at that, is overdoing it a little I think. And as someone else said, the big schools in Ulster probably will try and take steps to stop in happening again.

Imagine they beat the Abbey by a point and then run away with the final? Then the losing finalists get to go forward to play in the All Ireland!

But then I suppose the likes of Omagh are pulling from lots of clubs as well. And maybe even going far afield and recruiting players. I just don't think it's fair on the Abbey, from a Donegal perspective. I have zero sympathy for the big schools in Ulster."

Replying To TheRock2121:  "Id imagine when you look at the 20 odd clubs in the Mc Rory this year, the two Donegal teams have the least amount of clubs to pick from in comparison to the other 16-18 schools in the north. Credit to Abbey who are pulling from 3/4 clubs and also to SW who have six clubs in their panel.

Each Mc Rory team in the competition has about 10-20 clubs in their squad. Sometimes more. So both Donegal teams are doing well to compete against numerical disadvantages.

Abbey defeated Newry in the 1/4 finals. Newry had 20 feeder clubs in their entire squad so this is an achievement that can't go unnoticed. While the SW team bet a Omagh school with 14 different clubs in their squad going by the online match programme on Ulster GAA TV.. Some of these 14 clubs would be well away from the Omagh catchment area also, schools in the north recruit players from anywhere and everywhere.

Most of the schools in the north have several thousand boys in attendance so when you consider Abbey and the SW are mixed gender schools, both schools would fall way behind in terms of student population in addition to the amount of clubs they can pick from as highlighted above.

I read an interesting article about St Pat's Cavan who were in the Mc Rory this year. Their second squad/development squad, players 27-50 who didn't play Mc Rory football this year took to the field against Virginia College, the next highest-ranked secondary school team in Cavan, in the C Ulster competition. Pats Cavan were playing without 26 of their panel available due to then being ineligible due to the Mc Rory Cup.Remarkably, St Pat's came away with a two-point victory. Pat's have around 20 feeder clubs also. This shows that Mc Rory teams in Ulster go recruiting for the best players in that county, no matter the club/area they are from and players want to join these schools to play at the highest level.

Both Donegal schools are doing well to compete at this level."

Replying To TheRock2121:  "Id imagine when you look at the 20 odd clubs in the Mc Rory this year, the two Donegal teams have the least amount of clubs to pick from in comparison to the other 16-18 schools in the north. Credit to Abbey who are pulling from 3/4 clubs and also to SW who have six clubs in their panel.

Each Mc Rory team in the competition has about 10-20 clubs in their squad. Sometimes more. So both Donegal teams are doing well to compete against numerical disadvantages.

Abbey defeated Newry in the 1/4 finals. Newry had 20 feeder clubs in their entire squad so this is an achievement that can't go unnoticed. While the SW team bet a Omagh school with 14 different clubs in their squad going by the online match programme on Ulster GAA TV.. Some of these 14 clubs would be well away from the Omagh catchment area also, schools in the north recruit players from anywhere and everywhere.

Most of the schools in the north have several thousand boys in attendance so when you consider Abbey and the SW are mixed gender schools, both schools would fall way behind in terms of student population in addition to the amount of clubs they can pick from as highlighted above.

I read an interesting article about St Pat's Cavan who were in the Mc Rory this year. Their second squad/development squad, players 27-50 who didn't play Mc Rory football this year took to the field against Virginia College, the next highest-ranked secondary school team in Cavan, in the C Ulster competition. Pats Cavan were playing without 26 of their panel available due to then being ineligible due to the Mc Rory Cup.Remarkably, St Pat's came away with a two-point victory. Pat's have around 20 feeder clubs also. This shows that Mc Rory teams in Ulster go recruiting for the best players in that county, no matter the club/area they are from and players want to join these schools to play at the highest level.

Both Donegal schools are doing well to compete at this level."