There are a few guys saying that this isnt what ulster football is like. But if that is the case then why does it happen every year in the ulster championship? If you watch the entire ulster championship the only thing you are guaranteed is two or three games like this. I dont really get it to be honest. I didnt see anyone gaining any advantage from it. The derry fella got sent off, freeman got booked and that lad who threw the knee is going to get banned. Why bother?

TheMaster (Mayo) - Posts: 16187 - 25/05/2009 11:23:00    292784

ok so what, we are going to get these games every year in ulster. in munster we are going to get pointless games like cork v waterford yesterday, galway v new york in connact and the excitement of longford v wicklow in leinster.

Lets face it, the fact that everyone is writing about the ulster game yesterday and not the others proves it the best and most intriguing championship in the country.

Fermfave (Fermanagh) - Posts: 118 - 25/05/2009 13:30:20    292962

Ulster, Munster, Connacht or Leinster it doesn't really matter about the province in question. It's 15 lads against 15 lads and it's up to them how they conduct themselves on the pitch. It's all been pointed out already so I don't have to mention the incidents again, but I think Derry & Monaghan have let the whole country down with a performance like that, it was live to the entire country, shameful stuff really and the question has to be asked about the failed introduction of the "new rules". Ulster posters on this site spoke out very strongly against them, but surely after a game like that some of the proposed rules will be back on the table next year, and rightly so and you won't have to look very far for someone to blame, The two teams involved deserve the criticism... Not Ulster Football!!...Anyone with half a brain can see the outstanding talent that Ulster can and has produced over the years, so the blame has to rest with those 30 or so players that took the field and indeed the management. I really hope certain players take no part in the rest of the Championship, because they don't deserve to IMO. I'm 100% hopeful that Derry and Monaghan will make a swift exit from this year's championship. I'm really starting to fear for the future because I couldn't be bothered watching that sort of Football for much longer. I really hope the rest of the teams in Ulster will also look on with disappointment and play the game like it should be played, hard, physical but with some GOD DAMN RESPECT for their fellow players and the entire GAA community North and South, for shame Derry and Monaghan, I wonder how many kids were watching the rugby over the weekend?? Think about it... You owe an apology to Ulster Football and the entire GAA community, and thanks to yourselves it really is a terrible start to the Championship, You behaved like thugs live to the entire nation. I'd say the very same of any county that behaved in such a manner, Dublin included... so please don't try in vain to somehow defend the indefensible... accept it.

jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20763 - 25/05/2009 14:11:56    293015

Excellent post there Jimbodub
In fairness to Brentheredhand and Ulsterman they are acknowledging the dreadfulness of yesterdays match. I dont think anyone no matter what county their from could call themselves a football man and yet still condone the actions of Derry/Monaghan. I agree with Jimbo, the sooner their both out of the championship the better for football as a whole.

mossbags (Galway) - Posts: 1089 - 25/05/2009 15:56:05    293156

I knew as soon as the match yesterday started descending into a farce that this would lead to hysterical claims about Ulster football. Firstly, there were players there yesterday that shamed themselves, their families and their parishes, never mind their county. Anyone who deliberately knees a lad in the groin deserves a lengthy ban that will show people that the GAA isn't gonna tolerate it. As for Doherty, he's behaved like that in past matches and will again I'd say. Now onto this Ulster witchhunt. Let's be honest, there were lads dying to see a filthy match so they could turn around and rant. Ulster matches have always been tough, tightly-contested affairs but yesterday wasn't an example of that. Ulster teams tend to play hard and put their bodies on the line in the Ulster championship but the tradition I grew up with was that you went on to support the team that beat you. What we saw yesterday was players on both sides feeding off a long-running poison that has bugger all to do with the Ulster GAA tradition. Basically, there's a few heads out there who seem to be obsessed with the "Ulster" issue and determined to see Ulster football as the antithesis of this mythical pure football. When this pure form of football was played I don't know. I'd family that played inter-county in the 60's and 70's and it was no bed of roses. I don't remember hearing too many stories of Cuchulainn-like youths springing 10 feet into the air to pluck a ball from the skies, while avoiding all bodily contact with the opposing players, who diligently maintained a respectful distance. Neither do I remember hearing too many stories of them launching a 120 metre pass into the arms of a forward who kicked the ball over the bar while reciting the poems of WB Yeats. Let's get some perspective. Football is football. Boys will cross the line on the pitch. They always have done. It doesn't necessarily mean that there is some disease at the heart of their entire province.

Naomh Ultan Abú (Donegal) - Posts: 298 - 25/05/2009 17:01:37    293251

How come when any two Ulster team have an unsavoury game riddled with fouls its 'typical Ulster football' but for example if Dublin and Meath or Cork and Kerry kick lumps out of each other no province is mentioned. Yesterdays game was not played like that because of any influence of Cavan or Donegal or Antrim etc so get this Ulster siege mentality out of your heads.

Niamh (Derry) - Posts: 2397 - 25/05/2009 17:24:32    293287

Listen - Will everybody just settle down.
The game was highly charged - It went off a bit - It happens sometimes - Nobody got seriously hurt or injured.

It doesn't means Monaghan are a dirty team - It doesn't mean Derry are a dirty team - It doesn't mean that there is a sickness in Ulster football.
It wasn't pretty - but not every game is - Get over it and move on.

There was no 'free for all' just some over the top stuff cause of the over charged atmosphere. It wasn't Meath V Mayo, it wasn't Dublin V Tyrone.

Next week there'll be a new game - Hopfully it will be better - End of Story

The Sage (Monaghan) - Posts: 351 - 25/05/2009 17:55:26    293335

You're damn right it wasn't Meath v Mayo the sage.
I'd rather see 2 teams go toe to toe like men, than watch this half-assed greco-roman wrestling that passes for football in Ulster.
Sly kicks, knees in the groin, head-butts, diving etc.
And some people have the cheek to call this "intensity".
In recent years it's become apparent that of the Ulster teams, only Tyrone and to a lesser extent Armagh are capable of playing proper football when they get out of Ulster.
The rest of ye would want to stop riding their coat-tails and banging on about how strong Ulster football is.

Coylers Elbow (Meath) - Posts: 1075 - 25/05/2009 18:08:19    293348

its not an ulster problem the occasion got to the players it went a bit over board at times now can we stop all this moaning lads and lassies there wont be another game like that this year

hipster (Dublin) - Posts: 2509 - 25/05/2009 18:10:06    293351

Why cant people take notice of counties that stick to the principals of good football. Take Galway for instance . They might not win All Irelands every year but they are committed to playing their brand of football and how they believe football should be played.
When they won in 98 it was as fine as any all Ireland for as long as I remember.
Mayo also play good football .
I hate this blanket defence where there is no structure. There are no positions any more. Look at the games from the 70s. Kerry v Dublin. its been a while since we've seen games like that.
A short pass is good for one thing and that is to set up a long ball. lets play football again and leave the handball and basketball out of it.

mtarps (USA) - Posts: 33 - 25/05/2009 18:12:11    293352

when tyrone lost to meath in 1996 we were told by the southern press to toughen up if we wanted to win an all ireland. we listened!!:-)

talktothehand (Tyrone) - Posts: 21 - 25/05/2009 19:37:33    293448

There were a couple of incidents that warrant hefty punishments however I don't think the teams outside of Ulster realise the passion there is football within the province and teams are incredibly fired up. Derry and Monaghan have been the nearly men of Ulster for a number of years now and both knew that losing yesterday would not only be the end of their Ulster Championship but probably the end of their teams. Monaghan will find it very difficult to come through the qualifiers. This led to two teams who went over the top at times.
I found Paddy Bradley's comments a little strange about standing up for themselves. Derry backs targeted Finaly and Freeman from the start. I don't think that you can classify initiating trouble as standing up for yourself.
I felt sorry for the referee yesterday as the assistance provided by the other officials was poor. The umpires seem to take the attitude that they are only there to adjudicate if the ball went over the bar or was wide. Much of the niggle at any match can be sorted if the umpires pick out culprits at an early stage but they chose to ignore many incidents.
Yesterday's match was not a classic but was always exciting. A lot of non-Ulster members of this board are taking their opportunity to slag Ulster football but to be fair if it wasn't for the controversy in this game, the Championship would have been a damp squib so far. Roll on next Sunday.

MB1 (Tyrone) - Posts: 360 - 25/05/2009 20:10:29    293470

Fair point and well made jimbo. I simply cant sit back and say that yesterdays fare was an isolated example, it wasn't the first and it wont be the last I fear. In fact the game between my beloved Tyrone & Armagh on sunday could be a classic of free flowing football or a candidate for worst game so far, in cometition with yesterdays dirge, heres hoping that come sunday evening we will all be applauding the efforts of two fine footballing sides.

brendtheredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 10897 - 25/05/2009 21:05:52    293535

Well said talktothehand

trilaecAbu (Tyrone) - Posts: 134 - 25/05/2009 21:18:07    293553

Agree well said labhairleisanlámh. Why not talktotheredhand?:)

In my opinion those dirty Farney Free Staters corrupted the Northern Lights of the Oak Leaf...

Seriously, stuff there yesterday that, let's say, were Messrs Ó Gealbháin, Ó Mathúna and Ó Sé is sine to deny ever having partaken in such effrontery, would considerably lengthen their noses (and in the case of the former two, they can't really afford much more in that department).

Anyway no single incident yesterday was fractionally as dangerous as Mattie Forde head-stepping a few years ago v Uíbh Fháilí, for example- no province has a monopoly

an tseabhac (Kerry) - Posts: 441 - 25/05/2009 22:40:37    293683

It was obvious yesterday that derry's true colours came to the fore in spite of what their apologists in the shape of brolly and tohill might say...but if the ref and officials had done their jobs right then maybe we would have seen doherty, mccloy and gillis all lined along with hanratty and of course mullan. the referreing was pathetic with eoin bradley allowed to commit 6 fouls pulling and dragging monaghan defenders to the ground...not even a warning from the ref..pathetic!!

and just a small statistic for mossbags and the rest of the northern bashers...49 fouls committed yesterday in celtic park, 52 committed in semple stadium...just a little bit of perspective needed!!

mayotyroneman (Tyrone) - Posts: 1821 - 25/05/2009 22:53:19    293698

about Derry v Monaghan and the real Fundamanetal sickness at the heart of GAA is the failure to find referees who operate the rules when things get rough and deal with the thuggery nipping it in the bud. That referee was just as bad as any of the players. If he had sent two off before the 20minute mark that could well have ended up a great match. That does not excuse the players or even more the management who are meant be in charge in some sense I believe! Now let us all compare the outcome with the treatment of Tommy McGuigan and let us see justice done in kind! lastly regarding a recently restored RTE analyst with reference to systems I think it was Warren Buffett said " an idiot with a plan is better than a genius with none"

cjx (Tyrone) - Posts: 270 - 25/05/2009 23:03:09    293712

The rules were already in place to deal with these incidents and referees were copping out by not implementing them. Of course yesterday's match was over physical and the guilty should be dealt with by the existing disciplinary process. I mean anyone stupid enough to stamp on someone or kick them off the ball deserves to be punished for their stupidity alone given the amount of TV cameras and what's been happening this year. However this sweeping attack on Ulster football is a disgrace and goes beyond football. It's a vent for other agendas and the simple fact is that many outside the province can't stomach Northern hordes making off with Sam. I remember a few years ago Ken Doherty was knocked out of a snooker tournament by Joe Swail from Belfast. A woman called up the RTE sports phone in on the Monday afterwards and bemoaned the fact than an Irishman had been knocked out ..........by an Irishman. When reminded of this she stammered and said "Yeh yeh but it's not the same". That sums up the mindset that many in the South hold towards Ulster and the North.

Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9816 - 25/05/2009 23:18:29    293730

In my opinion there is alot of people on this site who have forgotten what it is like to play the gaa competitively who can't remember what its like when you get that rush of blood to the head and do something stupid like many of the incidents in yesterdays game. But it happens especially when so much was at stake yesterday in terms of rivalry between the two counties. The media was predicting a lively hard fought encounter they got that and a bit more but now their complaining because it boiled over at times.

Blue and Black (Monaghan) - Posts: 187 - 25/05/2009 23:56:21    293793

I know b & b but some of that stuff yesterday has no place in our games. For some reason Monaghan especially have lost their football game in the rush to stand up physically to others. When Monaghan concentrate on football they can be very effective as they showed against Kerry a few years back. That's not to single Monaghan out but they tried to intimidate Derry and that's one county that can stand up for themselves. It was never going to work against them and Monaghan should have just used their fast forwards instead of squaring up all the time. However as I said the match is being used to vent other agendas against Ulster from certain GAA & Southern media quarters.

Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9816 - 26/05/2009 00:11:21    293799