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Is there home advantage for the Ulster Final? I'd assume ticket availability is 50/50 - with Tyrone having a much larger population and traditionally big support, they might even have more people there.  Add that to the fact that Tyrone have played way more championship games in Clones in the past few years. I can't really see any 'home advantage' being a factor.

Just up on RTE.ie

Monaghan unchanged for Ulster final
Tuesday, 10 July 2007 20:39
Monaghan manager Seamus McEnaney has named the same XV that started against Derry in the semi-final for Sunday's final against Tyrone in Clones at 2.15pm.

The only changes the Monaghan manager has made are positional.

In the defence, Damien Freeman switches to the left half-back position where he will pick up Brian Dooher thereby putting the two captains in direct opposition.

John Paul Mone is moved to midfield and is most likely to pick up on Sean Cavanagh while Shane smith moved to the 40 in a switch with Rory Woods.

Monaghan hope to end their 19-year wait for an Ulster title when they take on Mickey Harte's side.

Monaghan:

1 S Duffy,
2 D Mone, 3 V Corey, 4 D McArdle,
5 D Morgan, 6 G McQuaid, 7 D Freeman (Capt),
8 E Lennon, 9 JP Mone,
10 D Clerkin, 11 S Smyth, 12 S Gollogly,
13 C Hanratty, 14 R Woods, 15 T Freeman.

No surprises with personnel, but a few positional tweaks. Not sure i'd have Woods at FF - he's one of our better distance kickers, although Smyth has been a bit lost up front, so who knows.

Monaghan team will be somthing like this:

Shane Duffy
Dessie Mone
Vinny Corey
Dermot Mc Ardle
Donal Morgan
Gary Mc Quaid
Damian Freeman
Lennon
JP Mone
Dick Clerkin
Shane Smith
Stephen Gollogly
Ciaran Hanratty
Woods
Tommy

In truth, the team hasn't changed much during the year - a few positions are fluid, but most of the rest is a given.
Potential subs during the game could be:
IN
Finlay, McManus, MyElroy, McKenna
OUT
Clerkin/Woods, Smith, McArdle

Yes, but for Antrim, you'd probably have to discount at least 60-70% of the population to get a better idea of the population that would play/have an interest in/have schools who participate in GAA.

Ah, I see. So when calculating the pool for potential GAA fans in a particular county, you discount people who have no interest in the GAA - except in Dublin. Thanks for that.

Well no, obviously.  But it's a bigger issue in northern counties. 

I wasnt seriously comparing Dublin GAA and London or NY , i just hate this population argument .
At the end of the day their are many soccer/rugby/other sports clubs in parts of the world  with far larger populations who would love to get 20,000 in crowds let alone 80,000

Having a small population has never done Kilkenny any harm.
Having a large population has never done Antrim any good.

As you say, population isn't everything.

Yes, but for Antrim, you'd probably have to discount at least 60-70% of the population to get a better idea of the population that would play/have an interest in/have schools who participate in GAA.

Using the approximate figures below for comparison:

Monaghan - Population 55,000
Dublin - Population 1186,000

A crowd of 82,000 Dubs represents approx 6.7% of the county's population.
If only 6.7% of Monaghan's population was to turn up, there'd be a grand total of 3685 at their games.

I know these are very crude measurements, but 82,000 looks much less impressive when you do consider the population differences.
Yes, the Dubs do bring great support and money to the games (although not always in time for the start of the game  ), but to ignore the population in your analysis just doesn't work.

I read that there was a grand attendance at the Antrim/Kilkenny match of............wait for it.........31!
Antrim could have dedicated a score to each punter!

Did Calvo start against Fermanagh? I know he kicked the winner but can't mind if he started a championship game the year. He's a big miss, class act on his day..

Don't think he started, but was pretty effective when he came on - not least for the last point. He would be a loss.

What's population got to do with it. I don't see 80,000 turning up to see London or NY play

No Gaelic grounds in London or NY holds 80,000 Gnevin

Ok but their a city's in UK and Europe that have over 2 million people and the local soccer team wouldnt get anywhere near 20,000 let alone 80,000 and its not like following the Dubs is a sure thing . Like the bigger clubs in the uk

How can you compare dublin GAA with London or New York?
Firstly, it's largely only ex-pats who play/watch GAA outside Ireland. Secondly, London has how many premiership clubs? (I honestly don't know - i'm not into soccer, but i know there's a few and would guess that if there was only one, they'd hardly have a problem topping 80,000) You're argument doesn't really stand up.
You can't separate the level of support for Dublin from the fact that it has over 20% of the country's population.

I'm confused. I was at this game as a neutral and thought Stephen was one of Armagh's best players!

The weather? Sure it's nearly 2 weeks away - have you got super long-term forecast?

Yo!

Just bought my tickets for the final - up now on ticketmaster.ie