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They'll have to open up the Nally for Sunday if Ticketmaster is to be believed

Even allowing for a Dublin based walk up crowd, the Sunday could exceed the Saturday by 5-10k. Which is the opposite of what the GAA put out originally

Galway must be close to empty at this stage. Miles and years on the clock is a tough combination.
Always better to avoid that preliminary round.

Can Galway take anything away from their form in the second half of games this year? Armagh, Derry and the first half against Down they hit that purple patch..

Beating Meath would give them a period to get back at it again

The biggest issue I see for Galway at the moment is that we are absolutely haemorrhaging scores. Teams are opening us up at will.
This could be exposed even further in Croker.
I was at the league game against Dublin there earlier in the year and they waltzed through us time and again.
They could have had another 3 or 4 goals that night.
That's the biggest problem we have right now.

Why is this? Kelly, McHugh and Johnny McGrath are top players. Is that just that McDaid, Maher, Conroy and Tierney are too lumbersome in defence?

Lots going on. Spent 3 years perfecting a Cian O'Neill largely zonal system only for him to leave and the rules to change simultaneously. Seems in flux now between zonal and man to man and would suspect the coaching has taken a step down. Players who excelled in that system such as McHugh and Silke perhaps not being as good man to man. Lack of a stable and stationary center back (Kelly is all action around the pitch). And probably a couple of the large midfielders are slow on the transition the other way

I don't think any team is happy defensively really, just Galway seem a bit more unstable than most left. They had issues this time last year to a lesser extent and really turned it around with a fantastic display v Dublin in Croker so perhaps there's hope yet

If there's one thing you can't knock the GAA for it's the accommodation of kids. A fiver into the second or third biggest occasion of the year. No other sport does that to my knowledge, and when they do have family sections they're by and large stuck in a corner. Entire Cusack and Davin stand available for kids if you can get the decent tiks quick enough. Having the Hogan set aside is like having an adults only hotel and is very much appreciated also

Every fanbase universally hates their county board. So for Mayo people to now be coming out to bat for them shows how sensitive they are to any bit of outside criticism

Interesting to see Lee Keegan come out so strongly in the other direction

Only Mayo could put out a simple statement and unite the entire journalistic community of Ireland against them

Please please never change

CrokePark.ie expected attendances this weekend.  Saturday  65,000 and Sunday 55,000

Unless there's serious returns from season ticket holders (can't see it), the Sunday game will blast way past 55k. There's not that much left on Ticketmaster currently.

The ticket maps for both games are nearly identical actually, and the Saturday game went on sale 2 hours earlier which suggests the Sunday is actually selling slightly better

Jim not be happy 6 day turnaround CCC flexing their authority imo.

Luck of the draw

Why do you keep repeating that over and over? A draw is random.

This is a heavily thought out decision (rightly or wrongly)

Lot of talk about Kerry-Armagh game being next Saturday.
Surely the four teams that played this weekend should all get a 7 day turnaround?
I have a feeling we might get the short straw of the 6 day turnaround.
McGuinness' rant last week may end up bearing fruit next weekend after all.
 

That would result in a Armagh vs Kerry and Dublin vs Tyrone/meath/monaghan double header on the Saturday. Who cares about the traffic caused with 2 northern counties who have to travel the same route or the amount of people that will miss out on tickets having the 2 biggest supported teams being involved as long as Galway get an extra day to rest.

Fairly ironic given that your last all Ireland came about after throwing the toys out of the pram and strong-arming the GAA into an extra weeks rest

After years upon years of Meath not being liked, the vast majority of neutrals are now rooting for Meath. A very likeable team

All that needs to happen is for their fans to keep stum and not turn arrogant at the first sign of some decent results

And yet...

Meath have never been liked. Even during the Barron years. Never bothered me or anyone else. The 31 v 1 was very evident in Leinster final this year.
What's more is we have a manager and players that we can be arrogant about so we might as well be.
Do we care that some people will shout against us ? No it's how we roll. We thrive off it
Again won't win All Ireland this year. But it has been great to finally make the breakthrough that we knew this special group of very young players can do. For majority it is all about winning the all Ireland next or following year. The good times are back.
Hon the royal

The best service you can do for your county is to stop posting on multiple different websites over the following few weeks

After years upon years of Meath not being liked, the vast majority of neutrals are now rooting for Meath. A very likeable team

All that needs to happen is for their fans to keep stum and not turn arrogant at the first sign of some decent results

And yet...

[Donegal still got the short straw]

The only logical way to sort it is to use the respective county grounds as the distance points. Otherwise you can argue about your Inishowens and Blacksods and Clonakilties all day long. Galway with the Aran Islands in fact is probably never going to lose in that argument. Some counties will always be longer and wider than others

In respect of that, Donegal still got the short straw. I can understand why he was annoyed, even outside of him using it as a rallying call. Mayo know the place inside out. I also thought there was a very good explanation back from the GAA after the draw today explaining why all other halfway house venues were out of use

Did Kerry not get a  shorter straw?

Yes the short straw. They had to go to a place that was south of Mayos ground and to a place where every Mayo player has played countless times. It's the same as bringing Mayo to Celtic Park. Kerry didn't travel north of Meaths ground

Did you not read the rest of my post? I also said there was a very good explaintion for why it was in the Hyde and couldn't be elsewhere. I'm not from Donegal. That response also goes for that other buffoon mindlessly commenting above

Indeed Mayo are still complaining 11 years later about a somewhat halfway venue versus Kerry in Limerick. So they of all counties should understand the Donegal viewpoint. Most have gone into hibernation but a few are on calling Jimmy a whinger ironically

[Dropping in Inishowen, one of the most northerly points to exaggerate the point is petty stuff altogether.]

Read that myself this morning about mcguinness.  Yeah, he's trying to work an angle.

Also armagh fans seem to have gone very quiet all of a sudden.  They had a nice wee path sorted to the semi finals until meath fecked it up and now they're realising they're probably going to be playing kerry.  While I expect armagh to beat a kerry team playing 3 weeks on the trot it's funny how the best laid plans can come s cropper

Realistically if we're going to win an All Ireland which is obviously the aim, we'd most likely need to beat Kerry at some point. Surely getting them in a quarter final playing 3 weeks on the bounce and with a few injuries is our best chance at beating them. (Assuming the prelims go to script)

My thoughts exactly, prob best time to get them.  Armagh shouldn't have a big fear of any team coming out of that group tbh.  They seem to be comfortable competing against these big teams at the moment.  Shouldn't be any fear facing whoever.   

Regarding McGuniness, and to an extent Murphy, who was also feeding that 'hard done by travelling' narrative in his post game MOM interview, Donegal are situated in the top west corner of Ireland.  Unfortunately for them, being situated there will result in travelling.  Dropping in Inishowen, one of the most northerly points to exaggerate the point is petty stuff altogether. 

How about Gaoth Dobhair or Glencolmcille?

Your point being?

That the point is not exaggerated. It's a simple fact that a majority of the county has a fairly long trip just to get to Bundoran, never mind Roscommon town.

It's also a simple fact, as you say, that there wasn't much that could be done about it in this particular instance, but if McGuinness thinks he can get some mileage out of his with respect to his team's morale and attitude, he's entitled to do that. Everyone else is equally entitled to call him a moany bollocks!

Donegal is a long  county, top to bottom, and any  match is a bit of a trek,  for  north Donegal folk in particular. . But  if you go  by Mc Guinness's halfish-way geographical logic,  most neutral games Donegal  play would need  to  be in Ballyshannon .

The only logical way to sort it is to use the respective county grounds as the distance points. Otherwise you can argue about your Inishowens and Blacksods and Clonakilties all day long. Galway with the Aran Islands in fact is probably never going to lose in that argument. Some counties will always be longer and wider than others

In respect of that, Donegal still got the short straw. I can understand why he was annoyed, even outside of him using it as a rallying call. Mayo know the place inside out. I also thought there was a very good explanation back from the GAA after the draw today explaining why all other halfway house venues were out of use

[Q/finals]

Kerry v Cavan 3.30pm Saturday
Dublin v cork 6.15pm Saturday

Down v Galway 1.45pm Sunday
Donegal v Louth 4pm Sunday

All on GAA+ 

Assuming that Dublin, Donegal Kerry and Galway win (no disrespect meant, going off the odds)
then the two Saturday Q/finals will be

Armagh V Kerry
Dublin V ?

Sunday Q/Finals

will be

Donegal V ?
Galway v ?

As Donegal and Galway are playing next Sunday and (Jimmy and PJ will throw some tantrum,(justifiably so ) if they are asked to play six days later

Yep I think you're correct there, they're likely hamstrung in terms of when Donegal and Galway if they win can play, and Dublin often get that Saturday evening slot

I think you'll see a huge crowd that Saturday and if Dublin drew Meath then an 82k sellout. That potential Sunday won't be as busy but again if you had Meath playing that day it's probably 60k+

Like a lot of neutrals I was disappointed to see Mayo exit the championship - they bring so much to the competition.

Fair play to Donegal with the last play leading to the winner.
They could have kicked the play out of play after the hooter knowing they were through.
Had they taken that option it would have left a very sour taste in the Breffni County.

They've been by far the most turgid of the big teams to watch this year. Every one of their championship games has had under the average number of points this year, some of them significantly so.

The only common denominator there is Mayo. The new rules reward clever and classy forward play and that's something they've always struggled with, even back when they were good

Armagh will want to win this one. They've a chance to knock out one of the main teams who can stop them from retaining Sam. They'll go full strength.

While I think Armagh will go strong for this one for momentum reasons, I don't think this will be a factor why. The next time Galway and Armagh can realistically meet after Saturday is the All Ireland final. I think if Galway were the opponents at that point, Armagh would be ok with that, given that the alternatives are All Ireland favorites Kerry or Donegal who've pipped them twice. I think even Dublin with their records in finals would probably be less preferable. Not to say Galway are worse than either of the latter two but given all that I can't see how knocking Galway out will be a factor. You knock Galway out and you leave a dangerous Derry or Dublin in also