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Off the top of my head Tyrone, Monaghan, Cavan, Galway, Limerick and Cork all have that same template. Not exactly original.

Here's Dara's bit about Monaghan:

After that, it comes down to what happens in Salthill. My sense of it is people down here have latched onto the fact that if Monaghan couldn't put Kerry away at home, when they were the better team on the day, then they probably aren't going to be good enough to beat Galway away.

For what it's worth, that's more or less how I see it. The Monaghan team I saw in Clones played a fine game but it was maybe not just the fantastic performance everyone made it out to be. I don't think they will get away with relying on Rory Beggan at one end and Conor McManus at the other, the way they did against Kerry.

Take those two out of the picture and they got four points from the rest of the team in a game where they were on top for long periods. That's not going to get things done against Galway. For a start, McManus is going to be double marked and the Galway defence isn't going to play nice about it. He'll remember the Kerry game as a kind of a holiday romance, a dream he had one time that he'll never see again.

As for Beggan, I'm not so sure he'll be able to have the influence on the scoreboard he had the last day. Okay, his kick-outs should still be up to par – Monaghan are really well-drilled on that aspect of the game, even though Kerry did get to grips with him in the second half.

But at the other end of the pitch, I'll be surprised to see Beggan put up four points or anything like it. Kerry gave Monaghan 12 kickable frees in Clones – McManus took five of them and Beggan took seven. I'll have a bet with anyone that Galway won't be offering up 12 kickable frees on Saturday.

Go back through the games Galway have played in the championship and look at the scoring chances they've been conceding from frees. Against Mayo, it was six. Against Roscommon, it was down to four. Same with Kildare, just four. Even against Dublin in the league final, Dean Rock only got four frees he could kick at goal and one 45.

I know Beggan can kick them from further out than anybody else but even allowing for that, I just can't see Galway giving up as many chances as Kerry did for him to strut his stuff. They're very disciplined in the tackle. They crowd around the man in possession and rough him up without going too far.

And even if they do give Beggan a few kicks, you can be damn sure somebody will do a Kieran Donaghy on it. I'd say it was no coincidence that Beggan's radar started going a bit wonky in the second half when Donaghy started hopping and trotting and mouthing and generally making a nuisance of himself every time he tried a kick.

So if you have McManus double-marked and you have Beggan's scoring power halved or more, where are the Monaghan scores going to come from?

I keep hearing about Conor McCarthy and Jack McCarron and these lads but I haven't seen them go out and win a championship game for Monaghan when the fat is in the fire. It's all grand and fine running up big scores against Division Four teams in the qualifiers. This is big boy stuff now.

I could be wrong but I don't see Monaghan scoring enough to beat Galway. I don't buy this idea either that Galway will be distracted or will be minding themselves for the semi-final. It doesn't work like that at this time of year.


Will be pretty easy job for Malachy O'Rourke to motivate McCarthy and McCarron anyway, just tell them to read that paragraph about them a few times before the game!

Monaghan have kicked 15 or more wides against Cavan, Down and now Carlow. It's been absolutely killing them and if they don't sort it out they won't get to a quarter final never mind win one.

It's a foot-trip.
The only question is if it was deliberate or accidental.
Hard to say.

That's it though, it's impossible to tell if that's deliberate, surely the benefit of the doubt should be given?

That's a ridiculous black card!

That was clearly wide. 

And it's going to screw us over at the end, I just know it...

In case anyone doesn't know if you have eir broadband you can watch eir sport and BT sport for free here: http://live.eirsport.ie/live/

Have to use Firefox as it uses Silver light for the media player

Yeah another good point I suppose, I agree the provincial champions deserve a slight advantage but a balance has to be struck though. I think the short turnaround exacerbates the difference in quality of teams at that stage of the championship, and has lead to less interesting all-Ireland quarter finals the last few years.

For example last year Kildare conceded 7-16 in the quarter final a week after beating Cork, and Donegal were beaten by 8 points by Mayo a week after beating Galway well. It was similar 2 years ago when Dublin beat Monaghan by 17 points a week after Monaghan beat Kildare after extra time (since then Monaghan have run Dublin to a point twice), and Kerry beat Galway by 7 points a week after they beat Tipperary. Would these games have been such blowouts if they had more time to recover and prepare?

But whatever about championship structure, the game on Saturday will hopefully be another cracker.

Experience tells us that if you're going to go via the back door this is the time to do it...not that either Donegal or Monaghan will want to go that route.

Losing an Ulster final is far more risky given the unfair turnaround. But who'd trade a tie with Longford (no disrespect to them) for an Ulster Final in Clones?

Good point, whoever loses the Ulster final this year will more than likely get no further than the quarter final. They have to win a 4B qualifier on the weekend of the 1st of August and if they win that they can only get Dublin(assuming they beat Westmeath) in the quarter final just 1 week later (4B winners play either Leinster or Ulster champions and provincial final pairings can't be repeated).

To be honest there should be a 2 week break between Round 4 qualifiers and the quarter final to give the qualifiers a better chance to recover. The main problem is probably Ulster taking so long to complete as there's only one game each weekend (except replays). It could be fixed by playing the quarter finals over 2 weekends instead of four and then the Ulster final can be played 2 weeks earlier, giving plenty of time for qualifiers, etc.

And there was an idiot from Magheracloone who also threw sectarian abuse against one of the Wylies in a  Monaghan club game.

Wasn't the whole reason for Magheracloone refusing to play games at any level because they were absolutely adamant that the player didn't say anything remotely sectarian? They won their appeal to the ulster council against a ban because there was no proof of any abuse.

Anyway back to the topic, Monaghan's best chance for an all-Ireland was probably last year to be honest. If they can actually put some good performances together in Croke Park you never know but they'd need a good bit of luck. Cavan are definitely going in the right direction but they're still a few years off yet.

I take your point and accept it, but I personally chose to believe the Ballybay men who I know would not make up serious stuff like that. But I was not there in person to hear it for myself.
When there is not enough supporting independent evidence, then it is a one person's word against another and that is not enough for a punishment. The punishment btw, is a mere one game ban for the offender.

Fair point as well I wasn't at the game so I can't be sure, I know the player who was at the centre of the allegation and it just seems completely against his character and personality. That as well as extremity of Magheracloone's response to the 8 week ban makes me give him the benefit of the doubt, but I suppose nobody can know for sure.

Found a report on it here: http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/magheracloone-back-in-action-as-accused-player-fights-abuse-ban-29285950.html

Anyway I don't know how a fairly simple thread got onto the topic of sectarianism but sure anyway  In the short term I think Monaghan have a better chance of an all-Ireland but Cavan have improved a lot. Doesn't mean either will actually win one any time soon.

the player

And there was an idiot from Magheracloone who also threw sectarian abuse against one of the Wylies in a  Monaghan club game.

Wasn't the whole reason for Magheracloone refusing to play games at any level because they were absolutely adamant that the player didn't say anything remotely sectarian? They won their appeal to the ulster council against a ban because there was no proof of any abuse.

Anyway back to the topic, Monaghan's best chance for an all-Ireland was probably last year to be honest. If they can actually put some good performances together in Croke Park you never know but they'd need a good bit of luck. Cavan are definitely going in the right direction but they're still a few years off yet.

Absolutely gutted with that result, a bit of composure in the last few minutes and Monaghan would have got something out of the game. Was seriously annoyed about that last minute free for Dublin. Should have gone the other way and given Monaghan a chance to draw. Still, a great performance especially from the younger lads, and McManus was just absolutely sensational. That will probably be the best performance we see from a single player all year.

Half time Monaghan 0-9 Down 0-6
Down were 0-5 to 0-2 up after 15 minutes but then Monaghan scored 6 points without reply. McManus almost scored another goal from a poor kickout but this time it went over the bar.

[I downloaded Hola]

I forgot about certain TG4 content being geo-blocked.
I downloaded Hola the other day and use it with Firefox, selected Ireland  as to where I want to browse from and now I can watch some previously geo-blocked drama, eg  The Bridge and Borgen as regular gaelic language transmissions are not geo-blocked.

You should uninstall that straight away.

http://adios-hola.org/

I'm starting to think that Donegals refusal to play with any sort of attacking intent against us in the league was all just a big ploy for next Sunday....

It was the long con from the beginning!