Penalties aren’t the problem

TRILLICK boss Nigel Seaney wasn’t in the mood for bragging after his side’s penalty shoot-out victory over Killyclogher. Instead, he said that penalties are a terrible way to decide a game, and while it’s not ideal, it’s hard to think of a significantly better alternative. In last year’s Tyrone Intermediate Championship, Gortin were forced into playing three games in a week after one of their matches went to a replay. Then on Sunday, they beat Eglish on penalties, and you’d imagine their players were happy enough about the way that particular game panned out. They are especially sore on the losing team, but I still prefer them to free-kick competitions and they do make for gripping watching.

NIALL GARTLAND

Quinn can bring the X Factor

Mayobridge played very well for most of their game with Clonduff on Sunday, and much of their best stuff came courtesy of Corey Quinn. The attacker has taken well to life at inter-county level since Paddy Tally brought him in but has still not nailed down a starting place. There is something a bit different about him, he is unorthodox but he is quality. I’d expect him to become an even more important player for the Mourne county over the next couple of seasons. The fact that he has an eye for goal doesn’t hurt either.

NIALL MCCOY

Is this entertainment?

A cursory glance at some of the social media comments showed that there were a good deal of people who enjoyed the coverage of Friday night’s game between Killyclogher and Trillick. The game was shown on TG4 so the great and the good in Ulster had a chance to watch agmatch from a championship that I have previously tagged as one of the best in the province. At the final whistle after extra-time and penalties, the common opinion was that we’d watched a great game. Yet in the entire period of injury time, just four points were scored, and only one was scored in the entire second half. How is it that two good teams could only manage four points in 20 minutes? I suspect that the pressure of championship football may have something to do with it. But whatever it was, fans still enjoyed the game. Which casts aspersions over those who say great games of football are those that have loads of scores and very little mistakes.

RONAN SCOTT

Swimming with the streams

The streaming coverage is so abundant that it feels like we are close to drowning in live matches. There are great hordes of games being pumped out every week now. It is fantastic for those who longed for an alternative to the usual fare that you can watch at the weekend. Ever since they cancelled ‘The A-Team’, Saturday afternoon TV has taken a shocking dip. But now streaming is here, the future looks very good for club GAA fans. Yet there are some concerns. For streaming to be successful, quality internet connections are needed. Clubs need beefy internet set-ups so that streaming is possible. But will clubs be able to fork out for that if they aren’t sure if they are going to get regular coverage?

RONAN SCOTT

Why not scrap the league?

SO, the GAA’s fixtures taskforce convened last night to take the next step towards agreeing a split season structure. It’s primarily being pushed by Munster GAA, but one of the ideas knocking around the place at the minute is from the CPA, who have suggested effectively incorporating the league into the championship (albeit for football only). It’s not a revolutionary idea, but as long as there are still some knock-out rounds at the tail end of the championship, then I don’t see the problem with gelling the two competitions, particularly if we’re to have a more defined period for club football in future years.

NIALL GARTLAND

Hard lines for Kerr

Anyone in the GAA media world will know that Chris Kerr is always good for digging you out of a hole. An all-round nice guy, he will take a call without any drama and speaks very well too. Every injury is sad, but I must say that it was particularly galling to hear that he re-ruptured his ACL again after a slip in training last week. The St Gall’s man had put so much effort into getting back from the first cruciate injury, and to have it all taken away like that must be very hard to deal with. While he hasn’t ruled out a return, Kerr’s comments on social media during the week suggest that this could be the end of his playing career. A real shame that he has to go out on those terms.

NIALL MCCOY