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Sixty thousand empty seats in Croke Park for a Dublin Meath championship match.  What a sad state of affairs.

Sad indeed

A number of obvious reasons for it , but one thing I have to say  from watching  a numbers of games this weekend, is that  the quality of football right now is  absolutely dire

As a spectacle it really has become a poor game to watch. Ruined by over coaching and stats, the level of crowd engagement at a match has never been lower.

Yes and no.  The league final was a fantastic game. The latter stages of the AI last year were pretty compelling.  Lots of mismatches in the early stages, like every year, but that's not uncommon in sport. Look at the top 5 or 6 European soccer leagues this year, and the top teams are pretty much scunnering everyone else.

Nor will they until they're found guilty of something.

Screamer!!!

Once Fernandes figures out that tricky bit about passing the ball to a guy in the same color shirt, he'll be a pretty decent player.

Didn't even notice it.

Best not arrive late.

How Dublin escaped the mini-melee and the final melee after the goal in extra time with a single yellow card is bizarre.

No Derry players carded?

A foul on the player passing the ball.   If you watch right after the call, Lane clearly indicates that there was high contact from the defender across the neck.   The replays are inconclusive about whether it was high or not, but the defender got player, not  ball, so it was a foul.

Thought that one was crap myself.  Usually enjoy Aussie horror, but not this one.

Happy enough with the league this year. Obviously would have preferred a different result today, but a bunch of lads who have been at the periphery of the squad in recent times got a lot of game time over the course of the league, and some of those had today  their first taste of a high-intensity game with something on the line.

I think some of our younger defenders aren't quite at the level required yet, but I'd be fairly hopeful that today will help bring them on, and, as I said above, I'd be fairly confident that the old guard have another tilt in them this year.

Would like to have seen Theo Clancy get more game time during league.

He got enough time to show he's one for the future.

Also looking forward to a few years of Dublin/Derry rivalry to come, based on today.

I thought Derry were a little unfortunate to lose out to Kerry in last year's semi-final, and today will certainly add to their self-belief.

Happy enough with the league this year. Obviously would have preferred a different result today, but a bunch of lads who have been at the periphery of the squad in recent times got a lot of game time over the course of the league, and some of those had today  their first taste of a high-intensity game with something on the line.

I think some of our younger defenders aren't quite at the level required yet, but I'd be fairly hopeful that today will help bring them on, and, as I said above, I'd be fairly confident that the old guard have another tilt in them this year.

Can't see how you'd class Spurs at Anfield as a difficult game.  Must be one of the most lopsided fixtures in England.

True, but you can keep on relying on them till you can't. We'll see soon enough what they bring this year.

Can we assume Dublin defence be much tighter in the championship? Derry could/should have 5 goals..

Can imagine so as they won't be retaining the All Ireland be defending in the manner they have done today. 

Unless there are retirements, the defensive line has McCaffrey, McCarthy, Gannon, Fitzsimons and Cluxton all to return.

Dublin are missing the old guard. In the build up the media said this team would wipe the floor with everyone. Now they are beat they are missing x y or z. McCaffrey isn't a starter now. McCarthy, cluxton and Fitzsimmons maybe but they are old and will they be an improvement and they haven't played a tap all year.

Yes can't keep relying on the old guard, just because it worked last year doesn't mean history will repeat itself this summer.

True, but you can keep on relying on them till you can't. We'll see soon enough what they bring this year.

Can we assume Dublin defence be much tighter in the championship? Derry could/should have 5 goals..

Can imagine so as they won't be retaining the All Ireland be defending in the manner they have done today. 

Unless there are retirements, the defensive line has McCaffrey, McCarthy, Gannon, Fitzsimons and Cluxton all to return.