DCU commented on by Donegal Manager at Allianz's announcement

DCU commented on by Donegal Manager at Allianz's announcement Mon 30 Jan 2012
Jim McGuinness suggests that the Sigerson Cup be brought back to a November conclusion, that third-level teams should no longer be invited into pre-season provincial competitions like the McKenna and O'Byrne Cups.

"I think the whole thing needs to be looked at from the point of view of the players. There was a task force on burnout."

"It's (third-level conflict) the elephant in the room, it's not being dealt with and the players are stuck in the middle of it. There's an undercurrent as well that, if we help you through admissions and we put you up into digs and we pay your tuition fees, that there's an ownership situation."

"We had a meeting on January 2. Michael Murphy had the flu, Martin McElhinney had a sore foot and Michael Boyle, who wasn't at the meeting I don't think, had the vomiting bug.

"DCU were training the following day, the boys were home for Christmas but DCU told them they had to be up in Dublin for that session."

He also spoke at length about the ongoing row with DCU over the availability of Donegal player Martin McElhinney the weekend before last and said that he favoured the Sigerson Cup being concluded before the end of November and the third-level institutions not being allowed compete in the pre-season provincial tournaments.

McGuinness also said that even within the current system counties should have access to players at weekends while the colleges had them during the week and reiterated his threat to reconsider Donegal’s entry into next year’s McKenna Cup.

The Ulster council allows players make the choice between county or college in the competition. But speaking at the opening of the Allianz National Football League, McGuinness bemoaned the state of affairs where a division one county is forced to plan around third level institutions.

“We’d be better off forfeiting that there and letting people save their hard-earned money and just training ourselves, collectively, when we can get everyone together and build towards the national league that way and bring it forward as a group rather than what’s going on at the moment.”

Considering that there is no plan to change the rules for the McKenna Cup will Donegal be in that cup next year. ?

Power NI Dr McKenna Cup 2012 Section C
Position	Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Points
1	Derry	3	3	0	0	43	35	6
2	Cavan	3	2	0	1	45	41	4
3	University of Ulster Jordanstown	3	1	0	2	39	44	2
4	Donegal	3	0	0	3	32	39	0

Cloudsurfman

Meath ACFL to have just four divisions 2012

Meath ACFL to have just four divisions 2012
There will be four divisions instead of the five groups which had been in operation for many years, in the 2012 Meath All County A Football Leagues and the composition of the fourth section was the subject of some lively debate at Monday night's county committee meeting 23 Jan 2012.

Three 12-teams format for Divisions 1, 2 and 3. That would leave 16 in Division 4 .

Final decisions on the formation of the football championships and A and B leagues will be made at a further meeting next Monday night with clubs invited to send in proposals.

GAA considers payments to Managers

GAA considers payments to Managers
The long-awaited paper, originally presented to the GAA management committee 14 months ago, tackles the problem of irregular payments to managers and coaches by outlining three options; maintenance of the status quo; cracking down on such payments; or permitting structured and monitored payment.
Duffy association director general is at pains to point out that whereas he clearly doesn’t favour the first option, he is disinterested in whether the association chooses option two or three.

Option three is proposed with the proviso that all payments to club managers and coaches should continue to be prohibited by the rule book. It is also suggested that county boards become more involved in the fundraising activities of supporters’ clubs and private benefactors in order to curb the incidence of under-the-counter payments.

McElhinney misses DCU's Royal Rout

McElhinney misses DCU's Royal RoutStudents' boss Niall Moyna launched a scathing attack on Donegal manager Jim McGuinness after star midfielder Martin McElhinney was forced to miss this semi-final tie against Meath on sat 21 Jan 2012
Moyna claimed that McElhinney was threatened with expulsion from the Donegal county panel if he didn't make himself available for a challenge match earlier in the day.
"He's one of our key players and we may not have him for the Sigerson now," said Moyna. "We only knew at 5.15pm when the bus was leaving that he wouldn't be playing."

McElhinney is also a member of the DCU squad which has reached the O'Byrne Cup final and which will shortly be in action in the Sigerson Cup.
McElhinney injured his ankle in the warm-up for the challenge game and was unable to play for Donegal or for DCU against Meath in the O'Byrne Cup semi-final on Saturday night.

Jim McGuinness has hit back at claims by DCU boss Niall Moyna that he mistreated a Donegal player by insisting that he turned up for a challenge game last Saturday.

"It's pure nonsense. We weren't the ones who switched dates -- that happened when the O'Byrne Cup semi-final was brought forward from Sunday to Saturday," said McGuinness.
"The colleges have the players from October, while the county managers don't get them until Jan1"

"Counties are asked to play without the college players in January, which means the counties have very few days when they can get their full squad together for a National Leaguethat starts in February."

O'Byrne Cup Meath v DCU Sat 21 Jan 2012

O'Byrne Cup Meath v DCU Sat 21 Jan 2012
DCU 2-8  Meath 0-6
Meath  exited from the O'Byrne Cup proving no match for Dublin City University at Pairc Tailteann on Saturday night.
DCU had Dublin All-Ireland winners Philly McMahon, James McCarthy and Eoghan O'Gara and others to impress included Colm Begley from Laois, Dean Rock and, of course, Kelly.
This pperformance ensures the Royals have plenty of work to do in the next fortnight before commencing their NFLDivision Two campaign against Monaghan at the same venue on Saturday, February 3.

All Ireland Junior Football Semi Final Derrytresk v Dromid Pearses

All Ireland Junior Football Semi Final Derrytresk v Dromid Pearses
Derrytresk  1-10    Dromid Pearses 0-7

"We were beaten by unfair tactics. At the start of the game, three of my players were caught by the testicles," Mr O'Connell Dromid Pearses manager said.
Team Tactics
"When our fellas went to shake hands with them, the Derrytresk went for their testicles and pulled them at the start of the game. That conduct has no place on a football field. What they wanted was for our players to retaliate, but we are better than that."
Referee, linesmenn and umpires didn't have an issue with this as no action was taken.

During the scuffle, Dromid midfielder Thomas Curran suffered a concussion and was not able to take part in the second half.
"When wing-back Mr O'Sullivan came into the dressing room at half time, his number five jersey was shredded with stud marks at the back. We have pictures of his back which is like a dart board."

Fans also claimed they were subjected to intimidation by Co Tyrone supporters during the game.

Derrytresk officials were unavailable for comment.

There was chaos at O'Moore Park in Portlaoise, Co Laois, on Sunday 22 Jan 2012 when subs and supporters from Derrytresk jumped a barrier and invaded the pitch.
Derrytresk are due to face Clonbur of Galway in the All-Ireland junior football final on February 12th in Croke Park, a fixture that was already confirmed by the GAA yesterday afternoon Mon 23 Jan 2012 – and looks set to go ahead even if there are some suspensions coming down the line.
“I cannot understand how the GAA can allow this to happen."

There was chaos at O'Moore Park in Portlaoise, Co Laois, on Sunday when subs and supporters from Derrytresk jumped a barrier and invaded the pitch.

Derrytresk v Dromid Pearses Action

Somemore famous brawls

http://www.independent.ie/sport/pictures-infamous-pitch-brawls-2998567.html?ino=11

Did referee send anyone off for this ?