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while on the topic, it appears that enter my mam (inter milan) have put in a bid for the dirkster....going by f365 website....interesting.....

It was only a matter of time... How could Inter resist the sheer technique of the Dirkster... Surely the swap for Sneijder is on...

Just wanted to add my thanks to James Horan and his team for a stirring year that restored great pride in Mayo football.

Great buzz in Croke Park yesterday and, though Kerry were the better team, the contest was alive for an hour. Mayo dished out the hits and threw all they had at Kerry. There was no bending of the knee. Andy Moran and Cillian O'Connor confirmed themselves as very good forwards at this level; Donal Vaughan and Ger Cafferkey looked the part at the back.

A pity that Cunniffe wasn't switched off the Gooch earlier, and that McGarrity wasn't brought in sooner. Some of our team made mistakes at times, some were naive at times, gave possession away etc. But they're young, they have the right man in charge, and they'll learn. They certainly don't look afraid of the big stage.

There's no doubt that this is one of the greatest eras in Kerry football. That team will beat whoever comes out of the other semi-final. They're just a superb outfit.

Rather than being apprehensive it sure as hell beats last 4 years. Best Summer since 06.

+1 - The team have given us a great year, whatever happens on Sunday. Personally I'm just hoping they really charge at Kerry, really give them a good rattle. F*ck it, nothing to lose. Leave everything they have on the field and see what happens.

Read Kings of September by Michael Foley for a second time last week and think it's the best GAA book I've come across.

I liked The Club but was definitely over rated

Has anyone read Working on a Dream by Damien Lawlor?

Would agree that Kings of September is a fabulous read. Really gives a sense of the build up to the game from both sides. You would feel like it was 1982 reading it.

There was another book by Keith Duggan a few years ago - The Lifelong season with different chapters devoted to different players/strands of the GAA. Great chapters on Frank McGuigan and Brian McEniff.

+1 - Duggan is just a class act. The stuff on Leslie McGettigan, St Jarlath's etc. is excellent too.

Don't think anybody has given a shout to 'Hurling : The Revolution Years' by Denis Walsh yet. Tremendous read imo.

[Mayo carried the ball into tackles and turned it over far too much in their matches]

Bomber Liston was on Newstalk this morning - he didn't sound worried. He said Mayo had blown their cover against Cork, and Kerry will be ready for them. He said Kerry would have too much for Mayo, and that Mayo carried the ball into tackles and turned it over far too much in their matches. The only weakness he saw was around Kerry's midfield, but he didn't seem to think it could cost them the game.

He was spot on with that - we really need to cut down on that and move the ball fast rather than carrying it into tackles where we're likely to lose the ball or at best, lose momentum.

Yep, it was the two O'Sheas who were the main guilty parties - led directly to Cork's second goal. I'm sure that's been addressed since though, so hopefully we won't see the same again. Seamie's kick passing wasn't hectic either, would want to work on that. But overall the two of them are a great pairing to have in the middle, and really suit the style Mayo are playing to this year.

Agreed. Great to have some genuine physical presence in the engine room again. Please God they'll do their stuff on Sunday.

[Mayo carried the ball into tackles and turned it over far too much in their matches]

Bomber Liston was on Newstalk this morning - he didn't sound worried. He said Mayo had blown their cover against Cork, and Kerry will be ready for them. He said Kerry would have too much for Mayo, and that Mayo carried the ball into tackles and turned it over far too much in their matches. The only weakness he saw was around Kerry's midfield, but he didn't seem to think it could cost them the game.

He was spot on with that - we really need to cut down on that and move the ball fast rather than carrying it into tackles where we're likely to lose the ball or at best, lose momentum.

You just got there before me macdanger2 - hopefully Horan has worked on this with both O'Sheas in particular, as Kerry will punish this more severely than Cork. Our best hope is not to give them the chance - once the ball is won, give it to a team-mate rather than going on a solo run.

[The majority of people are cautiously optimistic or quietly confident.]

Will Mayo bring a big crowd for this?
What's the vibe around the place?

I would expect a big Mayo crowd. Wouldnt be surprised to see over the 30,000 mark.
The majority of people are cautiously optimistic or quietly confident.

I have not heard anyone say hands down that Mayo will beat Kerry, but at the same time there is hope we can.

And the rest? 

Morbidly depressed at the prospect of another merciless pummeling a la '04/'06 

Seriously - was down in Mayo at the weekend and I heard very little about the game. And what I did hear was more realistic than optimistic. The people I spoke to are not expecting a win : they just want the team to stand up and compete as hard as they can for as long as they can (nobody wants another lie-down-and-die "performance" like we had in those two finals).

And if Mayo can do that on Sunday, and if Horan can ingrain that culture into Mayo football teams, then as a football county we really will be going places.

I think Sunday will be a hurdle too high - this is a Kerry team that reached 6 successive AI finals before last year - but let's see how close a hard-hitting, hard-working Mayo can run them. I'll be there to shout them on anyway - here's hoping we get several rubs of the green!

Terrific win for Mayo. It's sweet to be a Mayo man in Cork tonight 

Great to see the guts and determination the team showed from start to finish. That's all I was hoping for from the game - the win was a fantastic bonus.

There were mistakes - both of the O'Sheas (Aidan especially) need to give the ball once they've won it rather than walk into contact. And we wasted a lot of possession in the ten minutes after we went a point up. Kerry will punish those mistakes. But really, those are minor complaints on a day like this. Mayo and Connacht football are standing tall once more.

The semi-final? We're underdogs, but as long as the team fight to the end - as they've done all year - this fan will be content whatever the result.

Things must be looking up for Mayo - Liam Hayes has forecast a 'relatively easy win for Roscommon' (last night's 'Off The Ball' on Newstalk). Not only that, but Mayo's record over the last 25 years makes them a 'failed entity' according to Liameen. In fact, he doesn't see any evidence as to why Mayo should be considered one of the big two in Connaught!!!

Fortunately Eugene McGee was on hand to talk some sense. Although he went for a Ros win too.

Ros may win, but I don't see it being 'relatively easy'...

Wrong, the 'this is not a rebel song' introduction on 'the unforgettable fire' kinda aborted your argument decades before it was born. Nice try though, no doubt you were watchin the muppet show at the time and it wore off.

Bollocks.

Lennon's song is a rebel song specifically about Bloody Sunday, Derry, 1972. Look at the lyrics. He is explicitly referring to Bloody Sunday in Derry and saying 'Brits f*ck off out of Northern Ireland'.

U2's is not. It's a non-specific peace song. The lyrics convey a horrification at war and all that comes with it. They sing 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' as the chorus, but make no mention of anything to with Derry, and there's no 'taking sides' anywhere in the lyric (and I've been listening to that song for 28 years). They might as well be singing about Croke Park in 1920. Therefore it is not a rewrite of Lennon's.

Don't believe me? Try this from Larry Mullen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Bloody_Sunday) :

"We're into the politics of people, we're not into politics. Like you talk about Northern Ireland, 'Sunday Bloody Sunday,' people sort of think, 'Oh, that time when 13 Catholics were shot by British soldiers'; that's not what the song is about. That's an incident, the most famous incident in Northern Ireland and it's the strongest way of saying, 'How long? How long do we have to put up with this?' I don't care who's who - Catholics, Protestants, whatever. You know people are dying every single day through bitterness and hate, and we're saying why? What's the point? And you can move that into places like El Salvador and other similar situations - people dying. Let's forget the politics, let's stop shooting each other and sit around the table and talk about it... There are a lot of bands taking sides saying politics is crap, etc. Well, so what! The real battle is people dying, that's the real battle."[9]

It is.

Cheers Dinny.

Anyone know if this is the live game on TV3 on Saturday evening?

It amuses me to hear all the talk about Mayo footballers being chokers.
They have in my memory been beaten in AI senior football finals in 1989,1996,1997,2004 and 2006.
Only once (1996) could it be said that they blew it as I agree they probably should have beaten Meath that year.
On each of the other years they simply were not good enough and were beaten by better teams so I don't see how that can be classed as choking.
Kerry annihilated them in 04 & 06 and anyone who watches the 97 final again would surely agree that they were blessed to get within 3 points of Kerry that day. Cork in 89 were simply a better team also.
Being beaten by a superior team is very different to choking under pressure

With respect galwayman, I'd throw the 1997 final in there too. I was at that game, and as bad as Mayo were, they rallied after the penalty, drew within a point of Kerry and had them on the rack. Had Mayo had the guts to push on, as they did against the same opposition a year before, not even Maurice Fitz himself would have stopped them.

But when the game was there for them to take, they choked. Kerry eventually nailed another score and as soon as that went over, Mayo were gone. The rest was window-dressing for Maurice.

You're right about '04 and '06 - Kerry were miles better. But imho, Mayo were shameful on those two days. When you wear the county jersey, you have to stand up like a man and fight. Mayo might as well have rolled out the red carpet for Star and the Gooch.

Until they win the Sam, the 'chokers' tag is going to stay with Mayo.

Iniesta wasn't banned in the end. Is he injured?

Yep. Calf muscle.

Watched the Copa Del Rey last Wednesday and Real were full value for their win. Man-for-man Barca are a better side, but Mourinho has finally got under their skin, and has got a draw and a win against them in the last two meetings. With Pep clearly rattled, don't be surprised to see Jose v Fergie at Wembley next month.

2) He has done a decent job of reviving FGs fortunes but avoiding Vincent Browne and Today FM smacks of cowardice.

Far too much being made of this IMHO. Enda knows full well how difficult VB can make life for him, so he's cute enough to avoid it. Just like Brian Cowen did for his entire tenure as Taoiseach, despite several requests from the Vincent Browne programme to appear on it. I don't remember anyone calling Cowen a coward just because he wouldn't get in the ring with Vincent.

And anyway, does doing well on Vincent Browne or Matt Cooper make you a leader or win you elections? Micheál Martin went on to Vincent last week and, as usual, was slippery and aggressive. VB couldn't lay a glove on him. He then did the same on the Last Word (telling Cooper to 'get over himself' at one stage).

The Independent and other media were killed telling us how great Micheál did. The effect on FF's showing in the opinion polls? Zero.