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I think Horan owes his players big time over the next 2 games. Yes Kerry were superb all over their field the field, but Mayo set up was shockingly naive from the off. Leaving defenders isolated 1 on 1, no visible strategy for their own or Kerry kickouts, wrong match ups etc.
Neither Tyrone or Dublin will leave the Kerry inside line 1 on 1, or as much space for the runners from deep.
Difficult to see Mayo recovering from this one.

Have fermanagh ever been in division 1 before?

Spent 2004 in Div 1A, got relegated, and promoted back up at the end of 2005 league. Did ok in 2006 when back in Div1 (beat Dublin & Tyrone in Enniskillen from memory).
I think we would have done enough to survive on the current basis (maybe 3rd from bottom), but did they re-grade the leagues for 2007 campaign, and we were designated as a Division 2 team. That started our yo-yo between divisions 2,3 & 4!

Great win for Fermanagh in Letterkenny - came from 5 down, to win by 3.

Ferm Gael - hard to argue with anything you said there. The only thing i'd add was the 3 chances that dropped short after we got our noses in front (2 of which the keeper caught above the cross bar), which were even more demoralising than the bad wides. A game we should have won, but lucky to get the draw in.
This has all the makings of a poor league for us. We have a couple of defenders to return, but we looked reasonably comfortable today with the 14man blanket we had. We offer nothing up front in terms of movement or direct running - and are very easy to defend against - we had that 15minute purple patch after half-time, but there doesnt appear to be the emphasis from the line to play that way for longer spells in the game. Once Cork got to grips with the limited attacking options we had, we returned to being very pedestrian again. Division 2 is a big step up from 3, and we arent going to score more than 10-12pts in any game which wont win too many.
I can't speak for the the other 3 games in the Division today, but if there are 2 poorer teams than Fermanagh and Cork I would be very surprised. We have a tough away schedule and will really struggle to pick up more points.

I think Dublin will win their fifth in succession with the same comfort they won this year.
The challenge thereafter will be if Gavin calls it a day, but more critically Cluxton. I imagine both their appetites will be sated with that place in the record books.
The additional loss of experience from the bench McAuley, Flynn, Andrews etc will bring them closer to the chasing pack.
The problem is that there is a gap which will remain with the rest, bar probably Kerry.

It is likely that Dublin / Kerry will win 7/8 out of the next 10 - with the odd miracle win making up the difference.

You seriously think Kerry will be a threat? Based on what? a few decent Minor teams?

Was minor success the template for the current Dublin side? Do any of them have even Leinster Minor medals?

Dublin hammered Meath in Leinster Minorf final in 2011. They were beaten by a last gasp goal by Tipperary in the All Ireland final.
Plenty of players from yesterday team and extended panel came through from that team. Mannion, McCaffrey, Costello, Kilkenny, Small, Scully, Lowndes, O Conaghaile.

Who else can seriously challenge Dublin, other than Kerry? I think winning 5 All Ireland minor titles in a row guarantees them a decent quality and volume of player coming through. I think over the next 10yrs they will be the main challengers.
None of the others in my view have the player numbers to make a serious dent on the dominance - or to sustain a challenge over 1 or 2 seasons.
As I said there may be the odd bolter, but if the Super 8 format continues even that is unlikely - given that traditionally the best chance for a bolter was if the top 2 met in a semi.

I think Dublin will win their fifth in succession with the same comfort they won this year.
The challenge thereafter will be if Gavin calls it a day, but more critically Cluxton. I imagine both their appetites will be sated with that place in the record books.
The additional loss of experience from the bench McAuley, Flynn, Andrews etc will bring them closer to the chasing pack.
The problem is that there is a gap which will remain with the rest, bar probably Kerry.

It is likely that Dublin / Kerry will win 7/8 out of the next 10 - with the odd miracle win making up the difference.

Damien Cassidys great score in Ulster Final in brutal conditions.
Semi v Dublin was a cracking game - Tohill and Henry Downey were superb for Derry. Jonny McBrides winner was some kick.

Showing my age, but the 90's was a great decade - 3 different winners from Ulster.  Dubs, Meath and Kildare battling it out in Leinster, along with a breakthrough for Offaly - Kerry and Cork splitting the honours in Munster, and similar in Connacht.
7 different All Ireland winners as well?

1997 1st round game v Cavan. The drawn game we should have won, before Jim Currans 7mins of injury time! In hindsight maybe our best chance to win Ulster, when everyone else took a year off.
That was even worse than Athletic Grounds 1993, when realistically we wouldn't have gone any further anyway.

Neil Collins
Kieran McKeever
Darren Fay
Tony Scullion
Paul Curran
Glenn Ryan
Sean Og DePaor
Anthony Tohill
John McDermott
Graham Geraghty
Greg Blaney
Ja Fallon
Mickey Linden
Peter Canavan
Maurice Fitzgerald

It is easier to pick a 90's team, as generally, players can be picked in their positions, or certainly in the same line that they operated in!
Neil Collins was the best keeper in Ireland in the first half of 90's - ironically John O'Leary was getting the All-Stars he probably didnt deserve, and Cluxton who has set the bar so high currently struggles to get them.
Although Derry only won Ulster/All Ireland in '93 and Ulster '98, they were consistnetly a high performing league side as well, hence 3 for them - hard to think of 2 better corner backs.
Curran was a Rolls Royce of a player, and for me deserves to be mentioned alongside O'Se, McCaffrey etc as great half backs.
Midfield picks itself.
Forwards for me also picked themselves. Giles was excellent, but not in the same class as Geraghty. Toss of a coin between Fallon/Donnellan, but for me Fallon was the consistently high performer in the 90's.

I thought both teams showed the effects of a tough run of games over the past number of weeks, and the game reflected that. Monaghan turned over possession countless times in both halves carrying ball into contact which is unlike them. Tyrone didn't seem to break with the same pace and direction as they normally do in those situations. Both sides kicked numerous bad wides, and some of the decision making was awful.
Tyrone should have been out of sight at half time, and were particularly wasteful - McAlliskey hit a great free, and missed two terrible efforts from play after that. I lost count of Burns wides and couldn't understand why when he had time and was in space seemed to always turn onto his left - he is a right footer?
Monaghan got themselves together in the second half, and when they got their noses in front I thought they would push on. Only for the fortunate goal, albeit a good finish from Sludden, Tyrone were struggling to get anything together up front - only Harte showed up in the second half.
I thought ref was poor for both teams - I was sitting in a Monaghan section and to be fair there was no immediate reaction after the game on the ref. I thought in the last incident that Hughes took a dive - and ref was probably influenced by him doing something similar a few minutes earlier.
Tyrone will benefit from 3 weeks to prepare for the final, and after yesterday they will need it. The changes before the game didn't work - Brennan couldn't get into the game at all. Bradley looks a player who can get settled into a game more quickly, and would expect Brennan to start on the bench in the final.

Alot went wrong for Armagh that night in Enniskillen, but for me the biggest issue for them was the absence of Rory Grugan. Any time I've seen him play he has been seriously impressive, and Armagh looked clueless in attack that night without him.
I give Armagh a decent chance in the game. Roscommon are no world beaters, and despite the Connacht final being the closest of the four provincial finalists, it can't hide how one sided the second half of that game was, with Galway in complete control.

Jeez Ferm Gael - that was a poor 25mins alright. We must have had around 7 or 8 wides before Kildare scored,  and each one sucked whatever bit of life was left in the team.
Hard to know how things will recover for this one, and what the managements attitude will be.
I'd make a few changes - depending on Seamie's state of health I'd start him and Tomas - and keep Sean on the bench. I'd be tempted to move Ryan to full forward, Conall to wing forward, and Aidan Breen to midfield. Kildare are a huge mobile team, and we need to match them early on.
Would love to see the brakes come off a bit but that is unlikely.
Hard to see a positive result in this one, and if I'm honest I don't think 3 games in the super 8 is what we need this year. See if we can unearth a few more young players in the club championship and Rory and co can reflect on whether the style of 2018 will survive division 2 in 2019, and if we can build for championship next year.

Gough savagely harsh on Kildare here. Very soft frees to Mayo and Kildare having to work hard for theirs.

Terrible shame for McBrearty.
Had the misfortune to be sitting at the Roslea end on Sunday watching him torture our defenders for the 1st half. Might only have scored 1 from play, but his movement is fantastic and his runs unselfish. He created a lot of space for McHugh, McGlynn & Gallagher coming from deep, by drawing defenders to him all the time.
I'd say his loss alone, places the best qualifier coming into that group 2nd favourites ahead of Donegal now.

Not particularly excited about this one to be honest. I think the step up here is huge, and I suspect Monaghan will do what they have done to us in the past few meetings and run out 7 or 8 point winners.
Having watched the Armagh game over again - I thought we were quite poor. Our comfortable win was more down to how utterly useless Armagh were on the night. Defence looked ok, but Armagh got a lot of shots off, and you'd imagine Monaghan will be a lot more efficient in front of goal. I think we still lack abit of pace in the full back line outside of Mickey Jones which would be a concern.
Midfield were excellent, and it will be interesting to see what Beggan does with his kickouts. Armagh keeper was spooked in the q/f and didnt go long once. Yet we didnt push up at all and force him to kick it long, and offered him a corner back for at least all his 1st half kick outs. Donnelly and Jones were excellent, but the Hughes brothers bring a different aggression, so we cant rely on Eoin and Ryan to carry as much as they did the last day. I suspect Ryan's late runs will be tagged better by the Monaghan defence, which could reduce our scoring threat from that area.
We really lack speed inside, and if Tomas is fit he has to start. Seamus and Sean aren't natural ball winners, so the long ball option on top of them isnt going to work often enough in a game to get a scoring return from it. The McCusker's are great workers, but need to be careful of carrying into contact against a better organised team - they can be prone to turning over possession cheaply. Aidan Breen was quite quiet against Armagh, and he definitely has more in him for Sunday.
For me the performance is more important than the result this weekend, and we will need a decent showing to bring some momentum into the qualifiers. Hate to be negative, but I suspect both teams will probably score about the same as their respective quarter finals - with a fairly comfortable Monaghan win.