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Just watched the first 3 minutes and Johnny McCormack looks as good a forward as you'd see nowadays! Two fine points from play. Quick thinking and fine execution for the first. Genius skill and accuracy for the second. Take a bow Johnny!

[All the shite has been talked]

And go 4 miles past Ballaghaderreen before the meeting the Welcome to Mayo" sign.
All the shite has been talked allthe banter has been engaged in and now it's up to the 2 teams to see what happens.
A very big ask for our small young teameen to overturn the Big Bastes of Mayowestros but sure the cycle of teams and all that givessels us hope.
Rhubarbs on the downward slope while we are on the up.
Result will depend on whether our up curve has reached their down curve.
Hopefully it has and that tomorrow will prove it.

You contradicted yourself by not ending your post right there.

Anybody know what crowd is expected on Sunday?

At least Regan had the balls to have a go. How much time would have been chewed up going back and forth if he hadn't have gone for the first one? Who would have taken on the shot? Would he then have been made the scapegoat if he missed. Mayo were winning every kickout anyway at that stage so he would have calculated there would be enough time for a shot and another opportunity from the next kick out then. Which did arise and he took on the shot again. Hindsight is a great thing. He might have been better off trying to draw a free at that stage.

Well done to Galway. That loss left a bitter taste in the mouth. It would be nice to meet in Croke Park in August. An Fhairche Abu has summed it up fairly well. Didn't see the Higgins hit in 2011 so can't comment on that.
Seamus O'Shea is not up to it in my view. Played well against Sligo but can't cut it in the big games. We'd be better off with Vaughan at midfield and a halfback line of Keegan, Coen and Durcan.

Galway have stepped up the physicality stakes from last year. It must have been a great game for the neutral to watch. Connacht football is back on the map :p

Weighted squats and lunges in addition to the rigors of high intensity aerobic exercise (sprints, training drills etc.) don't go well together. I have seen doing these in isolation to each other isn't too bad but combined can be dangerous.

I was a bit shocked to hear my cousin who is 15\16 i doing the above type of training with his club. In my opinion, this is setting these lads up for failure by the time they reach their late 20s. It is not sustainable.

Keegan POTY....absoulute joke

Welcome to the board and a huge thanks for that valuable contribution.

Any Mayo people like to comment on the hypocrisy of the Connacht senior club being pushed back to suit Mayo not being able to complete their championship on time but the Connacht intermediate not being rearranged when there was a draw in the Roscommon final last week? Roscommon champions will have to play the replay on Saturday and the Connacht match on Sunday.

f**k you, John.

Ah come off it. If any of the Mayo senior semi championship games are a draw or the final is a draw, they'll be asked to back it up Saturday/Sunday the following week too.
The bigger issue is that catches the fixtures scheduling commitee by surprise every year. Even at county level. You'd swear the chances of draws are nil. The various proposals have been done to death by now so there is no point getting into that here.

Where has all our top forwards gone?

Have a look in Lee Keegan's back pocket. 

How to unlock the Dublin defence. Well, how to make Aidan O'Shea effective at full forward.
Mayo's biggest mistake with the long balls into O'Shea during the two semis last year was that he was surrounded by three Dublin defenders. Why was that you might ask? It can't be that hard to figure out. Dublin were playing a sweeper and he was instructed to be in front of O'Shea at all times. So where did the third defender come out of?
Easy. The third defender was the man marking Cillian O'Connor. Whenever the ball was played in, that defender sprinted straight away over to stand beside O'Shea. What Mayo got wrong is that Cillian O'Connor and O'Shea should do what happened in the first half of the semi final replay last year in the passage of Play leading up to Aidan O'Shea's point in the first half. Drag their markers out and that leaves the sweeper to mark the space in between them. In this phase of Play I have mentioned, a long ball is played in to O'Shea who has made a run out towards the Hogan stand sideline and O'Coonor headed out in the opoosite direction towards the Cusack and brought his man with him. McMahon got his hands to the ball but it was the only time they were one on one to a high ball in the two games.
O'Shea won it and scored a point.
Now, hopefully Rochford and co. have picked up on this. What is missing from this is somebody bursting through for O'Shea to pass to and you would then have 2 on 2 or maybe a 2 on 1 and a goalscoring chance.

I watched it on Gaago in Wollongong.
Only had two minor issues but quality was fine for me. Missed the last few minutes of the Mayo-Tipp first half but haven't had many issues for any of the other games I have been watching (mostly Mayo games).

[P Flynn, K McManamon (0-2), C Kilkenny;]

I'd love to see Mayo win an AI. I don't have the perceived dislike Mayo think we have of them. I think it's be great for the game. The problem  is I just can't see them outscoring Dublin. Their half forwards barely score 0-1 a game outside DOC against top class opposition.

Dublin - S Cluxton; P McMahon (0-1), J Cooper, D Byrne; J McCarthy, C O'Sullivan, J Small; B Fenton (0-1), M D Macauley; P Flynn, K McManamon (0-2), C Kilkenny; D Rock (0-12, 8f, 2'45), D Connolly (0-3), B Brogan (0-2)

As opposed to what? Two points?

In all seriousness. 3 (Flynn, Kilkenny and Brogan) out of Dublin's 6 forwards had poor games by their standards. This is down in most part to their Kerry markers but it still worries me.
It will take a performance of epic proportions for us to outscore ye. Need to be at the same intensity as the Donegal 1\4 final in '13. Especially start the game at that intensity and lay down a mark.

Congrats Galway on winning Connacht. Well deserved.

Been doing a few 10K runs lately. about 1 a week. Not races just on my own. No great times. Then did a 11 mile run at the weekend (Preparing for a Half). But I've had a pain in the sole of my foot since. Really sore when walking. I don't think I've broken anything but feels like really bad bruised. Any ideas of what it might be and what to do? Don't really want to rest too long given the timeframe for the half.

Recommend seeing your local sports physician or chartered physiotherapist. Likely to be nothing serious but best off getting it looked at for A) accurate diagnosis B) find out what caused problem in 1st place.

This is going to sound mental to some people but I had something similar before and guess how I overcame it? More running! The old saying run it off isn't a myth.
I did Connemarathon last year and it was absolutely brilliant. Just wish I was back home for it this year. A seriously well organised event.

Great win for Roscommon. Well done lads!

[There's no doubt about it that we need to stick with Holmes and Connelly]

If somebody was to tell me this time last year that Mayo would still be playing football in September 2015 I would be absolutely over the moon.
There's no doubt about it that we need to stick with Holmes and Connelly. This is the most talented set of Mayo footballers I've seen in my lifetime anyway. Some of them aren't getting any younger but we have found some real gems in Durcan and Diarmuid O'Connor. Add to that the likes of Stephen Coen, Michael Hall, Evan Regan and David Drake. People have mentioned Conor Loftus too. These lads need to be given as much game time as possible in the league next year, especially Regan. I know it's been talked to death but what else can we do but look ahead to 2016.
I have no doubt that these lads have already forgotten about last Saturday and are already mad to get back playing football again.

An bhfuil tú off do rocker!!

Bhí mè glan as mo mheabhair an seachtain seo chaite ach níl mè ro-dhona anois, buìochas le dia.
Tà a fhios agat fèin nach mbeidh bannisteoir nua again an bhliain seo chugainn. Is dóigh liom gur  mbeadh James Horan ar ais an bhliain ina dhiaidh sin. An t-aon rud atà eagla orm faoi ná gur mbeadh Donnie Buckley linn an bhliain seo chugainn. Caithfidh an mbord gach uile rud a dheanamh chun an fear sin a choinnèail.

If somebody was to tell me this time last year that Mayo would still be playing football in September 2015 I would be absolutely over the moon.
There's no doubt about it that we need to stick with Holmes and Connelly. This is the most talented set of Mayo footballers I've seen in my lifetime anyway. Some of them aren't getting any younger but we have found some real gems in Durcan and Diarmuid O'Connor. Add to that the likes of Stephen Coen, Michael Hall, Evan Regan and David Drake. People have mentioned Conor Loftus too. These lads need to be given as much game time as possible in the league next year, especially Regan. I know it's been talked to death but what else can we do but look ahead to 2016.
I have no doubt that these lads have already forgotten about last Saturday and are already mad to get back playing football again.