My sweet lord the referee in the Barnabus v Casements game was atrocious (not sure what his name is). Do they have to go on any courses or anything? I understand people put the effort in etc to keep the game going but turning up there and producing a performance like that, I have never seen the likes of it. The Casements manager screamed expletives at him throughout the game and was not sent from the line, at one point a Casements lad had a Barnabus fella be the throat and ya man was shouting "nothing in it". Be God it was a sight to behold.

On the plus it was a great game to watch despite that performance from the man in the middle there boys.

intheno (UK) - Posts: 207 - 23/08/2010 13:45:23    753596

I caught the second half of that game Casements vs Barnabas and noticed the referee asking the Barnabas manager what he had down as the score as the ref didn't seem to have a clue, he's from Finbarrs, Martin I think he's called. What I did notice from the game was that Casements outclassed Barnabas all over the park second half. Looked to me that the Barnabas lads have tired legs and ran out of steam.

Effin_Eddie (Tipperary) - Posts: 14 - 23/08/2010 15:01:52    753702

Was at the game in coventry yesterday, and have to say that i thought the referee had a decent game. I didn't see that he got any major decisions wrong although he did do casements out of a point that he did not record. I think this is what the majority of the shouting was about by the casements manager. would have been a travesty if the were denied by a point, but a well taken goal in the last few minutes ensured that was not the case.

gael2000 (Mayo) - Posts: 81 - 23/08/2010 15:04:48    753706

effin-eddie doubt u werent at the same game as anybody else yesterday casements started second half on fire hitting 6 on the trot to go 2 up, but barnabas had a 15 minute spell where they dominated midfield then regained lead to 2 points and only for the casements keeper pulling of a good save it may av been a different story. im sure casements will say themselves they didnt outclass barnabas in second half it was nip and tuck betweeen 2 footballing sides...would make a good county final

magic_johnson (Cork) - Posts: 181 - 23/08/2010 17:24:23    753945

Referee's do have to go on courses but we'll find ourselves struggling for refs before too long because they all need experience, something which like the players they aren't getting and they're getting abused from the sidelines every game, they will quickly be dropping out. Reffin is the hardest thing in the game, and something that can be a breeze but will often be extremely difficult. More should be done to protect them from idiots on the sideline.

Everybody has a different viewpoint on decision that has to be made, but it is only the ref's opinion that counts, shouting and screaming will get you nowhere!!!

uwic (UK) - Posts: 64 - 23/08/2010 19:14:00    754103

That was a good performance by the ref from his standards! Just wondering how many yellow cards St B received for trips, that seemed to be something they've worked on in training. All that being said it was a good game to watch and could have gone either way, St B will rue some missed chances

thesilentone (UK) - Posts: 146 - 23/08/2010 19:31:04    754121

just wondering all this talk about macs v casement semi-final, why is it that casements were looking for the game to be changed to a different date, something to do with a wedding within the club. From what i hear it isn`t even a club member that is getting married, but someone from an irish dancing school in coventry, how can casements justify asking for this game off ?

Has the county board gone soft ? Apparently this game is now fixed for a 7pm throw-in on a bank holiday sunday, it will be dark before its finished.

No wonder Warwickshire football is in the mess it is, league campaigns never finished and games being played in december. Absolute joke.

mayoallstar (Mayo) - Posts: 259 - 25/08/2010 21:27:56    756518

There is obviously a lot of things that could improve within warwickshire.
This would be my soloution.
Revert back to two leagues. The problem this usually throws up is that Clubs' like Mitchells and casements second teams are too strong for smaller clubs like O Rahillys etc. And to be honest. Winning trophies at this level does not have the same meaning to big Clubs as it does to the smaller clubs in my opinion.
So to circumvent this problem i would introduce a reserve league for Mitchels/casements/ EGB and Macs and also barnabas and brendans if they have second teams next year. With reserve games being played on the same day and same venue as the corresponding Senior Fixtures with the Exception of St Brendans
Senior league: Macs, EGB, RC, JM, FM, StB and StM
Junior League: StF, NP, StBrens, StC, Gaels, Sons ofE and O Rahillys.
If everybody plays each other twice it would mean playing 12 league games. These should be all played from April to end of July and the leagues finished even if games are played in evenings in June such as the MSC which would need reformatting with the expansion of the Senior league.
From july on, teams could concentrate on Championship and other cups. Qf's last week july, semis Last week August and allow few weeks off as seems to be the general consensus.
I would make the senior Championship a straight knock out, and allow the winner of the junior league to make up the eigth berth, and give them a bye to the semis in the Junior Championship.
An Intermediette Championship might also be an option, to give the teams at the bottom of Senior a chance of silverware. This could include the bottom three senior teams, top three juniors and top 2 Reserve. Making 4 Quarter finalBe interested to see what people think

Hman (Donegal) - Posts: 111 - 25/08/2010 21:58:13    756552

Hman is right.

unless you give the smaller/lower clubs something to play for they will lose interest and GAA in warwickshire will die on its arse. The bigger mcs/egb etc are always going to be around and winning trophies so the spirit will never die at these clubs.

the county board need to start making it more competative outside of the senior teams.

HowstheHorse (UK) - Posts: 81 - 26/08/2010 13:34:15    756855

Very good idea Hman, reserve league seems to work okay in London where the larger clubs play each other. Also serves as a good breeding ground for potential senior players as matches will be competitive. Could probably alter the eligibilty criteria for the reserve championships, each team can play 2 or 3 senior panellists or players who have played in the SFC.

The smaller clubs are struggling and will continue to struggle whilst they are being hammered week in week out. Chads and Finbars should both be junior in my opinion as their is more chance of them fielding.

Also playing SFL games in August has completely devalued the league. As Hman has said league should be finished prior to the SFC commencing. August should be used for Cup comps eg Sugrue, Fr Forde etc.

Need to get this proposed from your club and hopefully the clubs will support. Seems a very good idea in principle.

Lethal (Derry) - Posts: 281 - 27/08/2010 12:47:46    757740

Plan on heading out the Pairc tonight to watch Macs and Casements hope it will be a good close game and that it starts on time. If it doesn't i'd say the county board could end up with the farce of having the county semi final called off due to a lack of light. The recent posts concerning the restructuring of the leagues and cups make a lot of sense but I would doubt any changes will be made and the county will be in the same state this time next year.

FYRNBF (UK) - Posts: 43 - 29/08/2010 13:07:30    759007

I think Casements are hoping for a solar eclipse tonight, to get the game called off.

Effin_Eddie (Tipperary) - Posts: 14 - 29/08/2010 15:43:38    759125

Just talk a call from a mate of mine who works at Knock airport , he's telling me the casements lads are togged out in Departures doing some stretches

knowle (Roscommon) - Posts: 82 - 29/08/2010 17:36:00    759238

Was out at the casements macs game last night which macs won handy enough - scoreline was 0-17 to 0-9. Casements seemed to be missing a number of players but i doubt they would have been strong enough even with a full squad. Macs were very strong up the middle of the park with some tremendous fielding of the ball in the middle of the park. Their defence looked very solid with Dave Lyons putting in a performance that could have Pat Gilroy on the telephone. Only area of concern for macs management team would surround their two wing half forwards who appeared to be off the pace of the game. With Ossie Bennett still to come in for the final them two fellas could be having sleepless nights ahead of them over the next fortnight. On a final note the I see the refs in Warwickshire have been getting some stick on this webpage however the ref had an excellent game last night. Hopefully the County Board show some sense and give him the final to referee.

Decisionmaker (Donegal) - Posts: 4 - 30/08/2010 11:16:14    759812

knowle, by the look of their performance they would have been better off staying at the so called wedding they were at, or was it creamfields in liverpool ???

their lads knew about this game some time ago, so obviously the commitment musnt be there with some players.

Liked the comment about lyons & the call from Pat Gilroy, he certainly rolled backed the years & surely now Boyle must be considering retirement, i wonder has he come out of Lyons pocket yet.

Also as regards the ref, he had an excellent game & should most definatley get the final.

The managament on the Macs team may have a few problems in selection for the final with Bennett still to come into the side.

mayoallstar (Mayo) - Posts: 259 - 30/08/2010 11:57:29    759912

who was the ref?

andquick (UK) - Posts: 60 - 30/08/2010 12:08:19    759928

Ref was mark mcloughlin of mitchels

Decisionmaker (Donegal) - Posts: 4 - 30/08/2010 12:15:49    759941

Mayoallstar: What game were you watching? Boyle may be off the pace in the forward line, but when he was changed positionally he had a better game on the left hand side. I believe he made a full run along the left going past three challenges. Casements were under strength, and would have made a better showing.

Typical macs. They are bad sportsmen to say the least. Buying players in for previous finals, ok they may have a few legitimate players now, but thats hardly showing strength or confidence in their side in previous years. There was the lad from Galway who came over when they played finbarrs in the championship final and he changed the game after coming on at half time, only to be fined and banned when the GAA found out. Thats on a long line of misdemeanours!

Intheno: As for the referee, he had a decent game. But going back to a previous comment made, Martin Coen of Finbarrs is the poorest referee in my opinion.

paddywontplayme (Sligo) - Posts: 8 - 30/08/2010 13:04:56    760044

Have to say I agree with paddywontplayme I thought Boyle had a gud game and handled alot of ball...pat gilroy would be best keeping Lyons out of his team as i think he is too slow a fast player would destroy him..

Michael_Lyster (Tyrone) - Posts: 37 - 30/08/2010 13:18:19    760073

I honestly think that game will retire alot of the current casements squad, very poor showing but how goods was lyons, keeps rolling back the years.

macsforfive (Tipperary) - Posts: 164 - 30/08/2010 18:36:04    760590