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Christ Almighty... I know it's not over yet, but when's the last time we've had a winning margin like this in a semi final?

Kerry Cork 2002 is all  I can recall (15 points)

Cork v Mayo in 1993 (20pts)
5-15 v 0-10

Did I see a Meath player with a hearing aid?

Think he had tucked his gun shield behind his ear

Kerry gonna rue these missed chances to keep the score board ticking over.

The way McCurry is going he might not see half time*..







*Guaranteed he scores 1-04 now.

An absolute shambles.

Kerr replaced in the line up.

How did Galway let them get the short kick away on that last play? Complete switch off.

Bad call on the advantage with Galway through on goal.

Bad call there. Definitely wide.

Derry v Dublin in Newry on  Saturday 14th @ 6.30pm

[Derry should be the front runners for the next two seasons.]

Tyrone fully deserved their win. On the balance of play 5 to 7 point margin would be a better reflection.  14 points separated the sides at the end with how ruthless Tyrone was and Louth far too wasteful. All the Tyrone players talked well after the match all knew they were in tough game regardless of the margin in the end, sounds very competitive at club and schools level and that keep them ticking over for the U20 grade. 

Should be another Ulster winner of this competition next year with the last two U17 All Ireland finals all Ulster finals. 

Tyrone's team over the next two years wouldn't stand out as much as the previous 4. Although Conor Devlin, Conor O'Neill and Ruairi McCullagh are still underage which is a good starting block. Derry should be the front runners for the next two seasons.

Derry are indeed the team to watch at this age group for 2026 and 2027.

Derry's two AI minor victories probably put them in the hotseat, but Monaghan, Tyrone and Donegal will all be ready to take on that mantle. 

If memory serves me right Tyrone probably should've beat Monaghan in their Ulster semi final (Minor 2023) but couldn't close out in normal time or extra time despite being 4/5pts up both times. And only lost on penalties. They'll be keen to right that wrong.

Monaghan will be out for revenge having lost the 2023 Ulster and AI finals.

Four Masters and Abbey Vocational have produced a couple of very good teams in the last two years, and almost took out Tyrone this year in the U20s.

So next year's Ulster will be ultra competitive.

I'd say the defender was as much to blame as the keeler for the second goal. He'd no need to be inside the arc and that definitely confused the keeper.

[We lost control at midfield when the changes were made and Derry went for goals.]

I wouldn't over analyse the last 10 mins of that game. We lost control at midfield when the changes were made and Derry went for goals. There are things the team can learn from that, but better it happened in a game that was basically done than getting mugged in a closer one. Happy enough where Armagh are at the minute.

The changes shouldn't have had that big an impact on the last ten minutes when you consider that the Armagh subs probably had more AI Final appearances between them that the Derry subs had C'ship appearances between them.

How many supporters did Derry have there yesterday? I was behind the left goals and I say it would been near 50+ to 1 supporters in that end.

Difficult to say. Certainly more than the League game v Armagh. But that was a pitiful crowd.

Was in the covered terrace close to the Niall's Crescent end. There was only a small handful in that area.

In fairness, I was surprised that they allowed free movement between the terraced areas. I thought the tickets were set for specific locations - and stile entry.

The kickouts at both ends of the field are  still killing us... And the fact that its so obvious is more annoying.

Once Rafferty was forced to think about the kicks he started to struggle.

McKinless had a couple of opportunities to hit shorts in the first half, but either didn't fancy it or didn't see it.

Toner will run all day, but at times he was completely mismatched on kickouts ended up on Duffy in midfield a few times

Maybe Armagh switched off, but Derry started running at pace and looking for the forward pass in the last 10mins. Higgins and Glass took there goals well, unfortunately it was Rogers on the end of 3 of the other goal opportunities. Rafferty made a couple of decent saves too.

McGuigan's and Glass's wides were costly too at the stage of the game.

Thought Glass would've come off - even for a check - after that hit in the middle of the field.

Hopefully the likes of Murray and Bradley will be available for the next two games.