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Horror goal there

Lifeline for Galway.

Dublin were out of the traps faster but Galway have settled into the game and are 3 points up.
Bad mistake from Silke to turnover and a terrible goal to give away to go a point up and then follow it up with a quick point to go 2 points up.

Just the 5 changes to the Dublin starting 15

Bugler, Costello, Alex Gavin, Sean MacMahon and Killian McGinnis all start in place of Conor Tyrrell, Cian Murphy, Tom Lahiff, Niall Scully and John Small.

One change for Galway

Cian Hernon comes in for Jack Glynn.

Tyrone will be strong favs for the final I'd imagine.

3 Kerry goals killed off that contest Roscommon defending poor for all of them. 

Cork and Meath will both be thinking there's goals to be got there.
Rossie performancce was very similar to their performance against Galway I thought - they never really looked getting a result in either game and neither side had to get out of 3rd gear to get the win. i'll be surprised if Burke survives the winter.

Learned nothing new about Kerry.

I thought there'd be a lot more direct long ball into the full forwards but it just seems to be more of the same re: don't give possession away, carry ball up and look for space in and around the D for the 1 pt.  If not, re-cycle and if chance, take the 2 pointer.

I think it will take a bit more time for players and management to adopt their games to the new rules.

I think so far it has been a story of teams getting used to the rule changes (and mid-league tweaks) and basically just playing the same way they have always played.

Teams don't seem to have strategically or tactically adjusted to the new rules in either attack or defence.

Armagh were rather subdued in the last two years in the first game against Westmeath, but very much got their act together against Derry. This year they need to skip the easy going stage. Even score difference might become relevant so there should be no easing up.

Any type of win the first day out after another Ulster final loss will take, wouldn't be thinking too much about score difference at this stage.  Armagh should not be taking Derry lightly and this is certainly not a game that they can ease into or they will get caught out.  If Armagh bring the level of performance they brought to Westmeath game in 2023/2024 they will not win the game. 

There's little talk about Derry and that will suit them.  2011 was similar story in Ulster semi final Armagh expected to win and Eoin Bradley gave Armagh the run around in emphatic Derry win.  There will be a few scores to settle from a Derry perspective following recent league game also.     

Big question after the final is what sort of state the Armagh (and Donegal) squad will be in with regards to injuries and knocks especially after the extra-time and the afters.

If nothing else the 50m penalty that has cut out all the sh1te at every free has been a great development. Along with the solo and go the game seems to be a bit more free-flowing.

It's really noticeable the difference between hurling and football at the moment in terms of stupid nonsense.

There's so much of it still in hurling and it has pretty much completely disappeared from football.

I'd imagine it will be only a matter of time before a similar rule is brought in for hurling.

The big lesson for me is that if you want to stamp out behaviour "harsh/decent" punishments are the way to go.

If you have "soft/weak" punishments it just means that teams will say it is worthwhile to break the rules and
will continue to do so.

Punish those who cheat and break the rules and protect and reward those who play the game in a fair and clean manner.

True but Comer nearly beat Mayo by himself in last year's Connacht final. Walsh nearly beat Mayo by himself in this year's league. Those lads are difference makers when they are fit and available. Which is increasingly rare unfortunately.

Both in their 30s with a lot of football played. REally only a matter of time before both depart the intercounty stage.

I think it says a lot about the strength of the Galway squad that despite neither being named in the 26, and especially where Mayo are at currently, that Galway are 4/9 favourites with PaddyPower at the moment.

The obvious solution is a seeding system that takes into account the teams you beat in the provincials. So beating Clare would not improve your seeding as much as beating Tyrone. if this happened then both Ulster finalists could be first seeds as they actually beat some teams along the way.

Would be fairer but sadly I'd doubt it would have much chance of been approved - I can already picture various people from provincial councils making speeches about how it would be underming the provincial championships and it's very hard to get anything new approved that provincial councils don't like.

Hard watch

Given how many basic mistakes both teams have made, whatever team gets the win will be considering themselves seriously fortunate.

It would be crazy to do away with the provincial championships. After the Munster Hurling Championship, the Ulster Football Championship is the most prestigious competition outside of All Irelands.

I don't think anyone has seriously suggested doing away with the provincial championships.

What was suggested and was voted on was breaking the link between the provincials championships and the All Ireland i.e the provincial championships would have no impact on the All Ireland series.
The Ulster counties pretty much all voted against this proposal even though keeping the link meant that they would always have a harder run of games to win Sam. If they'd voted for the proposal that would have based the All-Ireland seedings entirely off the league placings it would have made things far easier in terms of winning Sam. The Ulster Council somehow convinced the Ulster counties that keeping the link made the most sense for them. The fact is the Ulster Counties had the chance to make things easier for themselves and for whatever reason rejected it.

There's very little chance the provincial councils will allow this (breaking the link between the provincials and the All Ireland series) to be voted on for a long time to come.

Kerry going to be coming into the knockout stages seriously undercooked though with the soft draw. Definitely think that hindered them when it came to the Armagh game last year.

They have a trip to Pairc Ui Chaoimh to get through first. Bound to be a kick in Cork if they have anything about them.

Massive if there with Cork.

The last few years Cork have seemed to have developed a really bad habit of following up a good performance with an absolute stinker. Their inconsistency has been the only thing constant about their performances. Doubt any Cork supporter would be confident about what type of Cork will show up for that game against Kerry. You would think it would make more sense for Cork to be concentrating more on the games against Roscommon and loser of Meath/Louth. 

I hate the rule banning a keepers involvement. I think it's such a negative regressive rule. Like if Morgan or Beggan are coming bombing out of defence why should they be punished for playing a 1/2 or supporting an attack?

I agree the pass back to the keeper was a problem but it in itself should have been outlawed. I.e a keeper who just takes possession and shovelling it out to one side. But in a rule book littered with subjective interpretations it wouldn't have been hard to let keepers receive possession so long as they are using it in an attacking movement and not simply holding onto possession.

It's not a rule against goalkeepers involvement - it's a rule against allowing 12 attackers versus 11 defenders. Goalies can still be involved they just can't have the advantage of being unmarked.

Given how much the goalie position was used to waste time and just play keep ball I can totally see why the FRC put restrictions on them playing the ball in their own half.

I'm struggling to think of how you would word any rule that would let keepers receive possession so long as they are using it in an attacking movement and not simply holding onto possession.

Seems like to would be an awful mess trying to have a ref decide when a goalie is actually contributing to an attack in their own half versus just pretending to contribute to an attack to waste time.

Also taking the keeper out as an option for passes in their own half as really increased the incentive for pushing up and putting the opposition under pressure in their own half as opposed to just turning tail and sprinting back inside their own half.

The keeper can still play in the opposition half, his team just need to have 4 players back in defence.

Armagh potentially could have Tyrone, then Doengal and then Tyrone again.

Donegal will have had Derry, Monaghan, Down, Armagh, Tyrone, Mayo/Galway and Cavan to get to same stage as Kerry. Bit of a joke.

Kerry have Cork, Clare then Roscommon. Some difference there.

Kerry won't be well tested by the time it reaches knockout, could bite them in the arse.

Every year when the draw happens it becomes clearer and clearer how the Ulster counties absolutely screwed themselves by not voting to break the link between the provincials and the All-Ireland Series.
The thing was the Ulster counties are always going to have a harder route to the All-Ireland until that link is broken. The provincial councils are likely going to do all in their not insignifcant power to keep that link at all costs for the forseeable future. Looking back it's actually a bit amazing that the option to break the link was even put to a vote.