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[They don't have the consistent range of kickers that Dublin or Galway have right now.]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/2023/06/07/darragh-o-se-dublin-are-being-written-off-and-thats-what-they-will-like/

Mayo kept tipping and tapping away against Louth, but struggled to kick points the way they did against Kerry. Sure, Matthew Ruane kicked a great point, Paddy Durcan later on too, but they didn't get the same spread of scorers, or range of kickers, as the last day.

That's still their Achilles heel and could come back to haunt them. They don't have the consistent range of kickers that Dublin or Galway have right now.

The talk of Galway depth upfront is overplayed.
In terms of the forwards, outside of Comer and Walsh, no one has put up a big match winning scoring contribution in a match that mattered in CP. Galway depth at the minute is in the middle eight, plenty of lads in HF line that can chip in with one or two points (maybe that's all that will be needed but we didn't get it in the final last year) but would be worried that Walsh is miles out of form. Galway really need another heavy scorer to step up, Finnerty could be that player but he's been injured all year basically, if the ankle has hobbled him again then forget any meaningful impact this year given how much of the IC season is left. Tierney has it in him but needs to do it more often, Ian Burke is never going to be that big scorer, Cooke will get scores but unrealistic to expect 4 points from him every day given his role. Galway are really poor at finishing goal chances this year as well, my biggest worry about the team is up front to be honest.

Mayo don't even have one marquee forward. They don't produce them, for some reason
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nFGkGbs4DE&t=1012s

They have the top scorer of all time, I'm no fan of O'Connor because of his other antics but he scores often and scores heavy, how is that not marquee?

He is some freetaker but at the business end in all of those finals Mayo always seemed to come up against a scoring ceiling. This problem is very old. A marquee forward would have fixed it with a bit of support.

He kicked the equaliser for the draw 2016 final and it was not some easy tap over free, just inside the 45 and as high pressure a kick as you'd get. Middling lads don't get that score, I don't think on mature reflection that he is the reason they lost any of the finals, you mention a lack of support for a "marquee", I'd say that's more the issue.
I can't believe I'm having to defend a player I absolutely can't stand but here we are.

The main problem is a lack of scoring forwards and no sign of a culture of producing them. Mayo would be morchuid runners, gannchuid shooters and that problem goes back to the 90s if not before. Something got lost post 1951.

The great struggle of Connacht football between 1995 and 1999 was settled by 2 scoring forwards- Joyce and Donnellan. Mayo got very close in 96 and 97 but no cigar.
You need scoring forwards to win stuff. Frees are not enough.

Galway forwards outside of Shane Walsh and possibly Comer are unproven on the big day. Tierney and Larry Finnerty  big tallies in league and against minnows in Connacht.

You counting Roscommon in the minnows? Their top class performances have come against them I suppose to be fair

Ian Burke had top class performances v Kerry in Croker in 2017 and 2018. Was very lively v Dublin in 2018 semi in the first half, until Galway got killed in the second. Don't think he's played IC there since, only winning in club

Disagree totally on Breffni, we may as well have had a toss for match to be there or the Hyde then, Breffni is unbelievably inconvenient for Galway support compared to Armagh.

You could hardly argue that Breffni was more inconvenient for Galway than Carrick is for Armagh?

Is this a joke? It's near the same distance for both.

You're saying above "There isn't an absolutely ideal ground for this game but Breffni was as close as you could get". For starters I can think of 4 grounds.

But to play your game, in which possibly way would Hyde Park Roscommon for instance not be as fair or fairer than Breffini? Why shouldn't it be played there?

On CoS it looks like it's c1hr15mins from Tuam and Ballinasloe. No part of Armagh is remotely as close.  1hr50 from Galway city is still a bit shorter than any part of Armagh. But the number of towns that people travelling from any part of Armagh is going to drive match day travel time way up. There will be match day traffic coming from Galway as well and nobody is going to achieve satnav projected times but it looks way worse for armagh.

On Hyde vs Breffni. Again Hyde is 38 mins from Ballinasloe and 54 from Tuam. That's a bit long from even the nearest parts of Armagh.

But again none of the above takes in the context of the other matches.

Objectively all parts is Armagh to Roscommon is more difficult than any part of Galway other than the extreme west and the islands to Breffni. So no, not a joke.

Yawn. You disregard predominantly football parts of Galway like Knocknacarra, Bearna and Clifden that doesn't suit your argument but happy to include Ballinasloe, a mainly hurling town that does. Cavan is closer to the Athletic grounds than Pearse stadium is to Roscommon.

Note that no Galway person is saying the Hyde would be fair. All we've done is refute the suggestion that somehow Breffini is fair, or in your words "There isn't an absolutely ideal ground for this game but Breffni was as close as you could get.

Judging by what's gone on in the last 24 hours at the announcement of a perfectly fair venue in COS, then thank god it wasn't fixed for the Hyde. You'd almost let Armagh have home advantage to avoid the headache. I can't wait to see the new dual carriageways available to us for avoiding the likes of Castlerea and Frenchpark

Disagree totally on Breffni, we may as well have had a toss for match to be there or the Hyde then, Breffni is unbelievably inconvenient for Galway support compared to Armagh.

You could hardly argue that Breffni was more inconvenient for Galway than Carrick is for Armagh?

Is this a joke? It's near the same distance for both.

You're saying above "There isn't an absolutely ideal ground for this game but Breffni was as close as you could get". For starters I can think of 4 grounds.

But to play your game, in which possibly way would Hyde Park Roscommon for instance not be as fair or fairer than Breffini? Why shouldn't it be played there?

PSmD has a capacity of 9k. What happens if projected numbers exceed that ?

Then tough I suppose. Games sell out

I can't see how they will exceed that though. Unless Armagh can beat Galway by 7+, which is possible but unlikely, or Westmeath get a result v Tyrone, then Armagh are booked for third. If only 8k were at Tyrone v Armagh with loads on the line, then I can't see how more than that will show up to this one once that reality dawn's on people

It'll be a sparse crowd from Galway also. For once, there was actually a very decent Galway crowd in Mullingar, I thought it was 50/50 or so. But they won't make this trip in numbers when rightly or wrongly, the vast majority expect they'll top the group regardless. There's also a Leinster final to travel for this weekend for the dual folk

If I had to guess on the delay, i'd say what's been leaked for the past number of days was the plan for the last week or so. Namely Derry v Clare, Galway v Armagh in Croker, with the rest set in double headers in Tullamore, Portlaoise, Tyrone v Westmeath in Cavan and Monaghan v Donegal in Omagh.

Now, after their lovely long weekend off, they're in a pickle as Derry V Clare is a dead rubber that won't attract 1k and Galway v Armagh, a weird game with likely outcomes for each and a star player probably missing, won't attract 10k. So that coupled with shiite attendances last weekend probably want them moving that game out of Croker. I'd hazard a guess there's been a objection by Galway to Breffini, and also they've to find a new venue for the Tyrone game

Wouldn't be happy with Breffni as a venue, a joke for Galway really given the travel distance compared to the opposition. Anywhere in South Armagh about an hour away, it's two hours from Tuam and as for travelling from West Galway forget it. I don't want to hear about the size of the Galway support base and how many might travel either way, this is an advantage that shouldn't be given in terms of venue access to Armagh.

What do you propose? Having it in the Hyde, that would advantage Galway just as much? Longford and Mullingar simply are too small.

If it was in the Hyde, the vocal Armagh support would (rightly) go bananas. Breffini is equally an unfair venue, if not worse

After a weekend of poor attendances though, it makes a decent crowd more likely, being close to the bigger fanbase. Still doesn't mean Galway should be the ones getting screwed though. Tullamore was/is a perfectly fair venue for both and more than big enough but sounds as if it's been allocated elsewhere

How would Breffni be less fare than Roscommon?

Breffni is significantly closer to equidistant than Roscommon.

Don't think there is a perfect venue. Breffni looks the best. And if it is Cavan just hope it doesn't rain. We got drenched there in the first round of the Ulster championship.

Both cities are 2hr 25 from the further venue. Galway city is slightly further from Roscommon than Armagh from Cavan.

I won't get into a tit for tat on smaller towns but suffice to say that large swathes of Galway are 3-4 hrs from Cavan and there's not the equivalent.

There are perfectly fair venues available, namely Mullingar, Tullamore and Portloaise. The latter two comfortably cover any capacity concerns

Wouldn't be happy with Breffni as a venue, a joke for Galway really given the travel distance compared to the opposition. Anywhere in South Armagh about an hour away, it's two hours from Tuam and as for travelling from West Galway forget it. I don't want to hear about the size of the Galway support base and how many might travel either way, this is an advantage that shouldn't be given in terms of venue access to Armagh.

What do you propose? Having it in the Hyde, that would advantage Galway just as much? Longford and Mullingar simply are too small.

If it was in the Hyde, the vocal Armagh support would (rightly) go bananas. Breffini is equally an unfair venue, if not worse

After a weekend of poor attendances though, it makes a decent crowd more likely, being close to the bigger fanbase. Still doesn't mean Galway should be the ones getting screwed though. Tullamore was/is a perfectly fair venue for both and more than big enough but sounds as if it's been allocated elsewhere

Provincial finalists need a longer break before the groups. There should be a round without them played first to avoid the situation where some team has 4 weeks to prepare for a provincial finalist eg monaghan or mayo putting the finalists at a big disadvantage

Something needs to be done alright to make it more of an advantage to win your provincial, and punish those that don't. If you qualify in seed 3 or 4 you don't deserve the level playing field of one home, one away etc. Never mind actually having an advantage, with the 4-6 week break prior. Hard to know exactly how to construct it though

Galway v Armagh the next day is such a weird game. Unless Armagh think Tyrone may lay an egg v Westmeath (possible because Westmeath are decent), they're completely booked for third. Galway need to take it semi serious incase they get beat and and Tyrone run the score up on Westmeath, but still it's hard to imagine they'll be gung ho in a situation of ifs and buts. Armagh missing their best player also, which probably puts paid to the idea it'll be in Croker in front of a big crowd. Very odd situation

Strange to say we had 3 or 4 top class performances and yet it was a poor display overall. Shows that others were well off the pace, and as a whole, the team is just a bit disjointed at present.

Sending off made a difference, but we were getting on top at that point and would've won regardless. That still doesn't change the fact that Westmeath were probably better for the first 45 mins. For all the talk about our 'control', we still keep kicking ball away.

Cooke and McGrath were immense. Comer and Maher made a savage difference once they came on. Kelly had a good first half and Hernon shook off a shaky first half to get two good scores. Not sure anyone else can be satisfied with their performance.

Hard to know where we are. Keep winning games but bar the odd good half here and there (Monaghan second half, Roscommon first half, Kerry game), I'm not sure we've put in a very good performance all season. You can take positives or negatives from it though, depending on your outlook

Important to note the 5 missed goal chances though (and zero for Westmeath). Had 1 or 2 of those gone in, I suppose the narrative would be different. Not the first time this season we've been incredibly wasteful

Loving it. Potentially the only thing I'd change is 2 getting out from the groups over 3. But still, every weekend there's heaps of football on that I want to watch

Il never understand the attitude of wanting less top level football, to basically going back to seeing your teams and other rival teams playing once or twice a championship. In top level Soccer we see the biggest teams play twice a week for around 30 weeks of the year. A large portion of those games have miniscule importance to the overall picture but doesn't stop people tuning in

In American football, we see teams play for 17 weeks, week on week, until the 'real stuff ' starts with the playoffs. A team can know they're in the playoffs by week 10, and all they've to play for from there is a top seed and bye week (similar to our groups), and yet every game is taken seriously and the fans are still bananas for it.

Over here, if every game isn't a straight knockout it supposedly doesn't matter. We're spitting fire that our best and most successful team might have to play a mere 8 or 9 games to win in a season

Any grand ideas we may have had about increased capacity were crushed around the end of the noughties. It used to be a near sell out for every Dublin game back then, and 3-4 extra per season. Now it's only a true sell out for the finals, with 65k+ attendances reserved for certain big days involving Limerick or Cork hurlers, or an odd football double header including the likes of Armagh or a blockbuster semi like Kerry v Dublin. If anything the stadiums considerably too big now

The oldest part of the stadium, the Cusack, is still perfectly adequate in basically all areas. Corporate facilities there are still not far behind the Hogan side. To have that being the case 30 years on is probably testament to the vision of the admin behind the reconstruction at that time. I suspect we'll see near to zero changes to the stadium for the next 20 years

Jesus I hate to say it but that panel is off the charts with talent , won't be beat this year . I have them backed before I'm accused of form of yerra . Got them @ 13/2 a couple of weeks back .the winnings will help soften the blow

Yeah tis like looking at a Dublin 6 in a row match day panel in their pomp alright.

Stop the lights Larry, you are some ticket.

Haha yeah exactly. Galway fans might know that Fitz was really solid in the league or know of Tomo's talent but I doubt too many outsiders do. I'd say many look at our subs list and say "I thought they were supposed to have added depth??" To be honest, they wouldn't be fully wrong, I think we have a very good 20 or so but there 4 or so there that have no hope of seeing significant gametime this year

A return of McHugh, Eoghan Kelly and potentially Molloy would make it look a lot stronger, hopefully they're all reasonably close. Patrick Kelly would be a great option as cover for one of Tierney/Cooke but is struggling with his back I think.

Dublin still rated as favourites for all ireland with the bookies which given the performance on Sunday and against Kildare is hard to believe.  Be interesting to see who tops the group will expect it to come down to score difference.

There's a high percentage Kerry meet the Group 2 winners (Galway favs at this point) with all the rules about no repeat group pairings, which lengthens boths price from where it could be. Mayo have rightly shortened in, and Dublin still look very likely to top their group

As proud as Roscommon can be with their performance Sunday, I'd be absolutely sick they didn't win if I was a fan. It doesn't materially change their chances of topping the group all that much, as it will now likely come down to scoring difference and Dublin have Sligo in the final game, potentially having an educated guess at how much they'll need to score. We've seen what Dublin can do to teams like this, i.e Laois, and having that game last is a huge advantage.

Roscommon's best hope may be Kildare nabbing something from this weeks game with Dublin, given Dublin's injuries

See, no.

It's the same rule change that was needed a few years ago to prevent teams in front from clock-killing, of which Dublin were prime exponents and Ciaran Kilkenny was executor in chief.

It was a dour way to win games when Dublin did it. It's a dour way to stay competitive now Ros does it.

As mentioned above I have absolute respect for Ros for being competitive and disciplined.

But anyone who believes that our game would not be improved by the prevention elongated periods of non-contact possession, I honestly feel sorry for you. The Gaelic football bar now has been set so low for you, that you can gain enjoyment from a handful of passages of play, over 70 minutes. This is no way to live folks. Demand better.

There a quick fix option to help that would upset noone and it's so painfully obvious that I'm starting to second guess myself at this stage. Just go back to the defined striking action with a closed fist, same as we used to have not long ago whatsoever. Not sure why it was ever changed

It won't stop teams being able to punch it round outside the 65 when there's no press. However when there is a press, all those little easy flicks over the head, or flick backwards while your being tackled, all of a sudden become much harder to execute. It's very difficult to get a closed fistpass away accurately when someone has hands on you. It's very easy to get the little flick with the fingers away.

Team would actually then have a reason to press, having a realistic chance of a turnover. At the moment there's no point, you just tire yourself chasing shadows while the other team plays basketball only without a shot clock