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Kieran Donaghy steps away from position as Armagh selector and forwards coach.  Eyeing  up a manager role or coach elsewhere for 2025?

[Kerry much more experienced side.]

Have my money where my mouth is from Semi final winnings [donegal -3] [kerry-4].

Kerry -2 for Sam

Reasons : kerry are possessed this year. Their defence is underrated.

Despite some injuries they have some depth.

Really rate Dylan Geaney over Paul tbh despite him being raw.

Patton is vulnerable. Gallens form not great but semi will help him.

Kerry much more experienced side. Expect a less heralded player to produce a big display.

Shall wait and see what the Guru comes up with, kerry will take some beating.

In the terms of age profile and championship appearances Donegal are the more experienced side.

[Hurling fans are set to be disappointed as the demand for All-Ireland hurling final tickets once again is set to outweigh supply.]

From RTE.

Hurling fans are set to be disappointed as the demand for All-Ireland hurling final tickets once again is set to outweigh supply.

Tipperary face Cork for the first time in an All-Ireland hurling final at Croke Park on Sunday.

Cork GAA have issued a statement acknowledging the huge demand for tickets and thanking their local clubs for playing a crucial part in distributing their allocation.

Cork GAA Chief Executive Kevin O'Donovan described it as a "bittersweet time" for hurling fans.

Speaking to RTÉ's News At One, he said: "It's a bittersweet time for us here, all looking forward to Sunday, but understanding there's a lot of heartbreak along the way for our supporters too."

"In terms of the numbers, we would have 60,000 at the All-Ireland semi-final. Our allocation for the final is closer to 20,000, so you can imagine it's a case of the loaves and fishes then."

Mr O'Donovan said Cork would have liked to have received a higher allocation of tickets, but acknowledged that the All-Ireland final is a national occasion.




"I suppose if you look at the 80,000 ballpark figure at an All-Ireland final, let's say Cork get 20,000, Tipperary get 20,000, another 20,000 are for central distribution by Croke Park and roughly 20,000 go to the other counties.

"I think it's important to recognise that All-Ireland final day is a national occasion. It's for every boy and girl in the country, it's not confined to Cork and Tipperary.

"I do understand there's the national element that An Cumann Lúthchleas Gael have to adhere to as well. It's not a simple matter of just distributing every ticket to the two participating counties," he added.

Mr O'Donovan said he had never seen such demand for All-Ireland tickets.

"This is a new era for us, Tipperary have a very short famine. We have a 20-year famine. You have a massive backlog of people trying to get to that elusive All-Ireland final and be there, if we were lucky enough to cross the finishing line.

"What we've seen this year and it's really come about over the last 12 months, is a youth movement, a whole generation of people who have never seen Cork win, and they're absolutely drawing on tickets now.

"For our previous games, we've had eight consecutive sellout fixtures. That generation are just cleaning up tickets. Anything goes on public sale, they gobble them up.

"Unfortunately, there's no public sale this time, so they're left a little bit shortchanged and we regret that," he said.

Mr O'Donovan said that plans are in place for fans who are not lucky enough to get their hands on a ticket for Sunday's final, but reiterated that all tickets from Cork had been distributed.

"We're delighted with the support. We'll have a fanzone with 20,000 more spectators on the field in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoímh on Sunday. We're doing our best to be informative and honest, and help as many people as possible get there.

"With e-ticketing now and with the processes before, it would take four weeks to distribute All-Ireland final tickets. Now all that's done within a week, and our clubs have distributed theirs, and we've distributed ours. So I think it's fair on our voluntary officials now to let it lie.

"Maybe a ticket will return from another county and somebody might be lucky with a cousin living elsewhere. But in terms of the official distribution channels of ours, they're all simply closed at this point,"

Donegal the first team to ever win 9 championship games in one season and the first side ever to play an 11th game in a single season. 


Kerry played 8 won 7 lost 1  scored 15-175 (220)  conceded 4-160 (172)  average per game scored 27.5 and conceded 21.5

David Clifford 8-53,Sean O'Shea 1-44 a total of 9-97 (124)  Kerry scores without those two 6-78 (96)


Donegal played 10  won 9 lost 1  scored 13-229 (268)  and conceded 6-172 (190) average per game scored 27 and conceded  19

Michael Murphy top scorer with 0-44.  they have 3 of the top 5 scorers from play in the championship in Conor O'Donnell 3-21, Michael Langan 1-23 qnd Oisin Gallen 1-21. 



Last years scoring averages before the final, showing this year with the new rules teams are scoring and conceding a lot more.

Armagh 19 points per game and conceded 14.
Galway 18 points per game and conceded 12.


The bookies and their punters had Galway to win by 1 point the opposite happened,  this time they think Kerry to win by 1 point,  to be right this time or the opposite to happen again?

Are the pre-season competitions gone for good now e.g. Mc Kenna Cup and O'Byrne Cup etc.?

Other than the McKenna Cup are any of them worth bringing back?


O'Byrne cup became a competition of opt outs

FBD once moved into the air dome the lack of interest was seen with Galway fielding a development panel while their senior panel was off playing challenges else where.

The McGrath Cup the last few years did give Cork,Clare,Limerick the opportunity to win it.

I've said it a few times this year, with the new rules we'll have as many rubbish, middling and good games as under the old rules. Nothing I've seen this year has changed my mind, but I do think the game will improve as the rules bed in over time.

I would have been happy enough to have left the old rules in place but for Ulster schools & colleges football, I watched a lot over the past few years and it genuinely needed saving from itself.

More tweaks will probably be needed to hope things improve over time.  At the moment things are too in favour of forward play,  truly good games has a good balance between defence and attack in matches. 

How do we rebalance to  help defenders?
Strict enforcement of the 4 step rule? Good luck with that!
Allow 1 man to hold the opponent with  the ball? Smacks of rugger/AFL.
Allow stripping the ball from opponents hand? Why not?
Any thoughts?

That's what the FRC need to look at. They were first brought in to move away from a defensive and possession focus game and now need to strike a balance.

This year was basically trial year to see what does and doesn't work before the rules are locked in for a few years.

Rockin' All Over the World
Caroline
In the Army now.

Clifford is a modern day Matt Connor for me, enjoy it while it lasts

100%. Matt Connor remains the best I've seen, a pity he never got to play out a full career. In time Clifford may well surpass him.

Best I've seen also. His career sadly cut short at the age around Clifford currently is and had a better scoring average. Can only imagine what his stats would have been if he played into his 30s.

I think despite wonderful service that McCurry has given that is the last time we will see McCurry start for Tyrone.

A bold statement, He's still only 32?  started all bar two league/Championship games and was Tyrone top scorer this year with 0-61. 

Thunder and lots of lightning tonight, what we get on this island after a very short spell of sunny warm weather.

Probably the worst Connacht Final ever.

Agreed - Woeful stuff. Imagine winning a title with 6 scores.

It's was an era that Leitrim should have won a few Connacht senior titles than just one.  Meath will be hoping to repeat what Mayo did after that 20 point All Ireland semi final loss to 1993,  which was recovering to reach the All Ireland final three years later.

I've said it a few times this year, with the new rules we'll have as many rubbish, middling and good games as under the old rules. Nothing I've seen this year has changed my mind, but I do think the game will improve as the rules bed in over time.

I would have been happy enough to have left the old rules in place but for Ulster schools & colleges football, I watched a lot over the past few years and it genuinely needed saving from itself.

More tweaks will probably be needed to hope things improve over time.  At the moment things are too in favour of forward play,  truly good games has a good balance between defence and attack in matches. 

Whoever wins they will be the first team since Cork in 2010 to not automatically qualify for the Quarter Finals and win the All Ireland.

Was our shot selection bad or we just didn't execute? I thought we missed a lot of scorable chances.

Shooting efficiency poor 13 scores from 31 shots.

Donegal in the 2nd half shooting to scores was 80%