Messages

Allowing that it's often wrong ... for the craic I asked AI to tell me the average age of the 2 teams: Donegal 25.9, Meath 26.6.

I then asked it to look at the teams named in their AIQF's and it gave the same figures.
Asking for the starting 15 gave Donegal 29.0, Meath 27.3.

Donegal has a few older stalwarts for sure, but we have a good few youngsters in there too with the likes of Roarty and Moore.

If you are subscribed to GAA+ do you have the ability watch games back on demand?

Great 2nd half from Donegal ... but we've now had 2 games where we've depended on one strong half to get the job done. That won't cut it in a semi-final.

Beggan's 2 pointer at the half - he was probably 50-55m out? And it cleared the posts with a good bit to spare. I'd say he'd have knocked it over from 70m. Unreal.

Watching the Pacers in the Playoffs this year has been such fun. They are a great team to watch and have a very unique style. Siakam immense all year and his experience is really helping them. Hali with another game winner - unreal. Still reckon OKC will win it out, but stealing Game 1 on the road makes it interesting.

Mayo folk are delighted with the venue (as they should be). A short drive from their main population centres and a venue that they are intimately familiar with as underage and senior players.

There's an understaendable frustration for Donegal supporters. We were dragged to Castlebar to play Galway in a qualifier in 2003 and it feels like the county is always at the rough end of these decisions. Hopefully we'll get a similar result to 2003. Up Donegal.

These threads are always fun because everyone has a slightly different understanding of the purpose.

Michael Murphy is not the best player in the country, he's probably not the best all-round footballer, but as I look back on his career, I don't there are too many lads who:
- take 45's (mostly goalies these days)
- primary free taker
- option for a high ball into the square
- 2-point threat this year
- regular kick-out target
- attacking playmaker out around the 45

His versatility is impressive, not least because all of things remain true this year at 35yo.

If today showed anything its that you need a bit of luck to fall your way. Got our share last year, hopefully it'll come again.

This is it for me. Incredibly narrow margins between these two teams and between winning and losing.

We had a lot of luck today and I'm delighted for that. To see what it meant to Murphy was brilliant. An Ulster will never be meaningless to Donegal.

That's a class Armagh team. Wonderful to think we are at their level and that we'll both get to fight it out for Sam.

The quality of the direction and camera work in Clones is diabolical.

Anyone able to point me to any formal definition of "Disruptive Conduct"? The words appear frequently enough in the Official Guide but I can't find any actual definition anywhere.

Asking questions like that.

I'm still in the paranoid phase where I'm comparing the .ie prices with the converted .co.uk prices. Will be disappointed if I don't find out that they are trying to screw me.

Really enjoyed watching it live last night. My son and I were glued to it and even the missus got emotionally involved towards the end.

Some idiot was cutting onions in my house as I watched his walk from the green to the clubhouse (or wherever they do the formalities). Just amazing stuff - he's just ridiculously authentic. I think that's what separates him from the rest of the global sports stars. It's like watching a child - every emotion is written there plain and easy to see. You could see how nervous he was on the first; you could see his heart break when he chipped into the water; you could see how much it meant to him when he won. There's an honesty to him that I find very compelling.

Did anyone enjoy the league?
The two relegated teams say it doesn't matter we can rebuild next year.
The two finalists get to say it is only the league, good to get a game in Croke Park, we are preparing for championship whatever the result.
And the other 4 get to hang about to play the big boys next year in a bunch of games they may or may not care about depending on how they are going.

If Donegal didn't have a critical championship game one week after a potential league final, then you can bet that the team would be going all out for it. A county like Donegal has won so little that any chance to compete for a national title would be a big deal.

I think it'd ridiculous how "look how they celebrated winning the league" is used as some kind of insult. There are only 3 trophys that an intercounty team can win in any year (sorry Dr McKenna) and the idea that you shouldn't be happy if you win one of them is madness.

https://x.com/RobMcGravytrain/status/1897751095247577467

Trump on the Irish. 
"They're great people. You have to like them, you know you're not supposed to, but you have like them."

Not sure if that's the exact quote. He said you gotta like how they voted for him.

Yeah that's how I heard it too.

Jamie Brennan will do well not do get hooked imminently the way he's been going through last 10 mins.

Yeah. A really poor few minutes. Trying to make up for mistakes.

And as I type this ...

Shock horror. 2 good teams that are in relegation trouble have come out strongly in the first halves of their games.

Very open in Ballyshannon. Tis a cliche but you'd think that both are keeping the good stuff till the championship.