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The elongated journey home via planes, trains and automobiles is never easy after you have lost a Championship match but it can be slightly more tolerable when you accept you have been beaten by a better team, and yesterday we were. So congrats first and foremost to Donegal who were outstanding on the day. They won all the battles that had to be won on the pitch and tactically were always a step or two ahead of Cork. Theyhave one huge hurdle to overcome yet but on yesterday's evidence it will take a serious effort to stop them now.

Even before a ball was kicked Cork were on the back foot, re-arranging three lines on the team to adjust to the opposition which was lunacy given the team would only have had two weeks together to prepare for any change in formation. Lining up with five defenders is fine when you have the ball but if you lose possession round the middle those defenders will be swamped by the waves of Donegal players on the counter-attack. The more Cork lost their defensive shape by pushing forward trying to create over-laps to reduce the deficit the more it played into Donegal's hands. We may have lost in any event but Cork's best chance of a win was to stick to what we had been doing all year.

Yesterday game will most likely mark the end of the Counihan era and the feeling in Cork was this year's success or otherwise would define his legacy. The verdict will not be hugely favourable now. A new man will most likely come in but not sure what kind of approach Cork will take in the future. The game has changed considerably since 2009-2010 and Cork will tactically need to adapt accordingly.

I think the logic behind starting Murphy at full-forward would be to vary the attacking build-up, mix the running game with short and longer deliveries. Then introduce Goulding early in the second half as the game opens up, well as open as it will get against Donegal.

The problem up until now for me is Murphy hasn't really been contributing enough in general play and his inclusion is dislodging Donncha O'Connor away from full-forward where he can be at his most effective.

Sheehan, Pearse O'Neill and Goulding is some firepower to bring off the bench but by not starting with your best team you do run the risk of having to claw back a deficit which will be easier said than done on Sunday.

Still wouldn't surprise me if there was one change announced before the throw-in.

He's not forward more of midfielder Goold or Goulding should be starting instead of him.

Agreed, he has offered very little in the full-forward line thus far to be honest. It is not that he has been wasteful but he is just not seeing enough of the ball. Ironically this is the one game where his inclusion actually makes some sense but I would still start Goulding. Goulding is too good of a player to hold in reserve in a game where every point will be crucial. Sheehan could be the one used as an impact sub.

Cork will name their team later with three positions up for grabs:  Carey, whether he is fit to start or not?; and two forward spots, realistically two from Goold, Sheehan, Murphy and Goulding. Would be surprised/disappointed if Kelly doesn't start.

The Cork team that finished the Kildare game was better than the one that started but not sure such a policy would be wise against Donegal.

Fairly low-key build-up to this one in Cork. I think there is an element of hoping for the best but recognizing Galway look that bit stronger and more settled as a team than we are at the moment.

A bit disappointed Sweetnam is not picked. I would started him in midfield and moved Cronin to wing-forward. Coughlan could thrive in Croke Park but I might have held him in reserve to begin with.

I'd give another vote in the 'Galway should win' category. The headline in the Irish Times today kind of summed it up for me, 'Cork's best may not be enough' but I will say if the game is tight in the last ten minutes then Cork will have a real chance of nicking it.

I agree with you. I think some times managers stay on too long. The thing is that most people wanted him to stay. Is it me or is Footballl getting much more serious.

I think he was right to stay on this year. It would have been very difficult to walk away from the game after losing last year's All-Ireland in the manner they did. If he retired last winter there would always have been a lingering element of 'if what'. Better to stay on a year too late than retire too early.

Football is a serious business these days and directly or indirectly I think the 'results-first' philosophy inhibited O'Connor's thinking this year. At times Kerry seemed to be playing with the hand-brake on. The gameplan was more conservative than before, with an over-emphasis on the lateral hand-passing and as a result too much slow ball going in to the inside forward line.

The pressure to succeed is always there in Kerry, but maybe over the last 12 months they became too pragmatic and lost a bit of their 'off the cuff' style of football which didn't suit them?

I'd have a lot of respect for Jack O'Connor. He was a very good manager who got an awful lot more right than wrong. I'd say two of his sweetest days were the Armagh QF in 2006 and AIF in 2009, two games where his tactical input was a key factor.

Where this leaves Kerry will be interesting. A new guy could come in and keep things ticking over with the same squad and Kerry wouldn't be far from winning an All-Ireland. And in Kerry the only objective at the start of any year is to win the Sam Maguire. But the longer Kerry delay over-hauling the squad the longer it will be for the 'new' Kerry team to bed in and win an All Ireland of their own further down the line.

I think the opening might have come too soon for Eamon Fitzmaurice who may prefer to keep working with the under-21s for another couple of years until he takes over with his Kerry group of players.  Until then, maybe John Evans would be a good option?

took me over an hour to write out an explanation of post-structuralism and how it applies to donegal, then i lost the feckin' thing becasue i had stopped being logged in.

Systems failure, a sign of things to come on the 26th. 

I had to google post-structuralism and having digested it I still hadn't a clue how it applied to Donegal. That probably had a lot to do with me still not fully understanding post-structuralism even after the google search. Throw up the executive summary up there when you get another chance.

Early reports are the Cork players came through their club games ok so far, with a couple more to play tomorrow. Kant is happy regardless, Bentham and Canty are keeping their fingers crossed.

Will Kanty be fit?

Should be, and if he does he will probably be sacrificing his own attacking instincts to operate as a sweeper in front of McFadden. Pure utilitarianism at its best in the pursuit of the greater good. 

Cork's deontological brand of attacking football should ultimately overcome Donegal's consequentialist approach.

Utilitarianism + Kanty + Deontological ethics > Utilitarianism on its own = Cork win.

I'd expect a decent Cork crowd to travel for this one, over 15,000 or so. There was sizeable Cork crowds for the Semis in 2009 v Tyrone and in 2010 v Dublin and I could see a similar turnout for this one.

Like Kerry and Kilkenny Cork folk are spoilt and tend to be fussy in which games they decide to attend. Various factors come into play, one of which is the level of respect they'd have for the opposition. That sounds arrogant and it probably is but when people have to pick and choose the games they attend they will pick the ones with the higher profile. Donegal are correctly perceived as been a top contender so the game will attract a bigger than normal Cork crowd.

But overall I wouldn't see the attendance topping 50,000 so no issue with tickets.

I thought Donegal were well worth their win today. They even threw in a mini-collapse at the end so they could win it twice, which probably made it all the sweeter. Kerry were a little bit unlucky in that their more senior players picked up untimely injuries when they did which disrupted their shape and rhythm but Donegal looked stronger when both teams had their full compliment.

Cork will probably not be able to beat Donegal the same way we beat Kildare. The running game up the middle will play into their hands. We need to be more clever and patient in delivering the ball to our better forwards to shoot for the posts. Sheehan is probably our best long-range shooter but was badly off-form today. Colm O'Neill and Kerrigan tried too many hail mary shots as well off their weaker foot today which is meat and drink to the Donegal system. Alan O'Connor hasn't replicated his league form in the Championship and will be lucky to hold off Pearse O'Neill.

Cork have conceded two goals in twelve games this year. If we can keep another clean sheet I would fancy our chances but there is still three weeks to prepare for what should be a fascinating game.

Delighted and pleasantly surprised with that performance to be honest. Cork were lucky to take a three point lead into the interval as the two goals were fortunate enough. Was worried at half time but the bout of handbags at the start of the second half seemed to focus the team and we pushed on from there. The defense was excellent, with Canty and Kissane excelling. Aidan Walsh was outstanding. He made one or two sloppy turnovers at the end of the first half but he was totally dominant in the second period.

Goold had a fine game today, picking up plenty of broken ball and pushing the team forward. Kelly and Pearse O'Neill made a big difference when introduced from the bench. Colm O'Neill has talent but was lazy enough and needs to work harder. The Nicholas Murphy at full forward experiment isn't working and needs to be dispensed into the Plan B folder. Goulding offered more with his first touch than Murphy did for 41 minutes.

Kildare ran out of steam in the second half. Their ability to break into the top echelon of counties will ultimately depend on the younger players they have coming through, particularly forwards like Dowling and Fogarty. Competing the top division can only be a benefit in the long-term.

No Paddy Kelly, is he injured?

Took a full part in training during the week and looked fine apparently. So he is either being kept in reserve or that is a dummy team? I hope it is the latter.

The Donegal game is going to be a very tough one and it was interesting to hear Rory Gallagher say he expects a high-scoring game..could be mind games, but both teams have been scoring decently lately...who knows. All we know for sure is that there will be a high level of intensity and hopefully a lot of good football played.

I don't think it is in Donegal's best interests for a open, high-scoring game to develop. They could still win it of course and they have dabbled with a more expansive gameplan but not to the extent they would want to go toe to toe with Kerry in an attacking game. Not yet anyway. Their best chance of progressing is still in a low-scoring tactical game with an emphasis on tight defending so that is what I would expect to see on Sunday.

I think they will keep it defensive for 45-50 minutes, keep it tight and low-scoring and then mix it up a bit in the last 20. They had Dublin on the ropes late on last year but seemed too paralysed by their rigid adherence to the defensive system to take advantage. This time they will try to land the knock-out punch of their own if they get the chance rather than having to squeeze the life out of the opposition for 70 minutes.

I'd fancy Mayo here. Down's success in 2010 was founded on an excellent forward unit but they look to have gone back somewhat in that department. Clarke is obviously a big loss but Hughes and McComisky were key performers as well but both have been unavailable for different reasons. There is a chance Hughes could recover from injury in time for this one but you'd have to worry about his match fitness even if he does start.

Poland, Coulter and Laverty carry the main danger now but Mayo will feel they have the defensive personnel here (Cafferkey, Higgins and Vaughan) that can keep restrict their influence and keep Down to a manageable score. Which Mayo will probably need as they don't tend to put up big scores of their own.

I'd go along with the forwards Kevmy named. Freeman at centre-forward, O'Connor and Conroy in the corners. Down's tend to leave their full-back line exposed so Moran and O'Connor should be delegated to the inside forward line. Conroy is a feast or famine type of corner forward. You generally know what you will get from him early on so if he is struggling early, expect Doherty or Varley to see action.

The one big addition to Down since 2010 is the return of Rogers. The midfield tussle will be revealing. If Mayo get on top here there is only going to be one winner for me. Down will need big games here from King and Duffin sweeping back.

Down will need goals, maybe a couple of them, but overall it is still Mayo for me. Looking forward to what should be an interesting game.