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2 days out from the all Ireland and not a single article from a Dublin pundit about how the ref needs to be cute enough for Mayo's cynicism; normally you'd expect the Keegan (v Tipp) and McLaughlin (v Galway) incidents to be the topic of several pieces by Brogan, Whelan, etc.

That's how little we worry the Dubs this year 

We're probably going to come under serious pressure on our own kickouts. Clarke isn't a brilliant kicker of the ball but when you look at the options he has to aim at, they're not great either:

Mullin/Barrett/Keegan - this is where Clarke would like to go but I presume Dublin will push right up and cut off these esp. if the game is in the balance

Coen/McLoughlin/Durcan - all decent options in the air but if one of these loses a high ball on the 45, the Dublin runner is straight in on goal, draws the cover, pops it inside and it's a goal

Ruane/Loftus - the best you can hope for here is that Ruane pulls Fenton away, Loftus/AN Other can break it and we swarm in to pick up the loose ball

DOC/ROD/McLoughlin - of these three, only DOC is likely to win a high ball and imo this should be our out ball if we're under pressure - midfield pulls to one wing, high ball to Diarmuid on the far touchline with a half back supporting

It doesn't make for hopeful reading tbh

[Mannion, Howard and Costello of the bench to save them]

Mayo by 1 to 3 points, Dublin haven't been tested at all this year, Mayo a different animal, the intensity they bring to their Dublin games is unreal, Dublin could be caught out, However Dublin will probably require Mannion, Howard and Costello of the bench to save them.

At least two of those would be starters for Mayo I'd say, maybe all 3

9/2 Lar

[Your Rock and COC analysis seems odd when you compare what you say about bot]

Looking at the match ups and who might have the advantage in each of them:

Clarke v Cluxton: Dublin
Mullin v Small: Split
Barrett v Rock: Dublin (split from play but Dublin because he'll score every free inside 45m)
Keegan v O'Callaghan: Dublin
Durcan v KK: split
Coen v Bugler: split
McLaughlin v Scully: Mayo
Loftus v McCarthy: Dublin
Ruane v Fenton: Dublin
McLoughlin v McDaid: Mayo
ROD v Small: Dublin
DOC v Murchin: split
Conroy v Bryne: Mayo
AOS v Cooper: split
COC v Fitzsimons: split

So even with my red & green tinted glasses, I have it as a 6 v 9 in favour of Dublin; we'd need to turn 4 of those splits into a Mayo win to just edge ahead. And that's not even considering the Dublin bench which is better than ours.

Your Rock and COC analysis seems odd when you compare what you say about both. Also I doubt you'd swap Barrett for Fitz would you?
I'd say you'd also be hopeful that DOC and AOS would win their battles?

That's the thing though - if we have any 45s, I wouldn't fancy Cillian to put them over, he's missed 5-6 in this years championship - he should really go short with them at this stage. I think Rock will put any 45 he gets over.

I rate Murchin highly so if DOC breaks even with him, he'll be doing okay. If DOC can make himself available for our kickouts, he could have a big impact.

True, I'm hopeful that AOS can have a big game but I don't think we'll win enough ball in the middle to supply him which either means he'll be starved inside or has to come out the field where Dublin will run the legs off him.

Hadn't noticed that re Cillian. Fair enough. Rock doesn't get all his, but it is unexpected when he misses.

If Dublin don't start Howard then Mayo will definitely have more kickouts options than Dublin if keepers are forced to kick long. Hard to imagine us not starting Howard, but I've been saying that for the last 2 games too!

Mayo tend to make the mistake of leaving AOS isolated. They can do that against anyone else and Aidan still has a big impact.  Against the Dubs he needs to have his collegagues close so he can 1v1 versus his opponent.

Yeah, in previous games against Dublin, he's been left very isolated. He took two high balls against Tipp and Conroy was very close to him even if he didn't receive the ball so I'd be hopeful that the two of them can play off each other like that.

One unknown going into the match is Dessie Farrell - is he as good on the line as Jim Gavin if things get tight?

[Your Rock and COC analysis seems odd when you compare what you say about bot]

Looking at the match ups and who might have the advantage in each of them:

Clarke v Cluxton: Dublin
Mullin v Small: Split
Barrett v Rock: Dublin (split from play but Dublin because he'll score every free inside 45m)
Keegan v O'Callaghan: Dublin
Durcan v KK: split
Coen v Bugler: split
McLaughlin v Scully: Mayo
Loftus v McCarthy: Dublin
Ruane v Fenton: Dublin
McLoughlin v McDaid: Mayo
ROD v Small: Dublin
DOC v Murchin: split
Conroy v Bryne: Mayo
AOS v Cooper: split
COC v Fitzsimons: split

So even with my red & green tinted glasses, I have it as a 6 v 9 in favour of Dublin; we'd need to turn 4 of those splits into a Mayo win to just edge ahead. And that's not even considering the Dublin bench which is better than ours.

Your Rock and COC analysis seems odd when you compare what you say about both. Also I doubt you'd swap Barrett for Fitz would you?
I'd say you'd also be hopeful that DOC and AOS would win their battles?

That's the thing though - if we have any 45s, I wouldn't fancy Cillian to put them over, he's missed 5-6 in this years championship - he should really go short with them at this stage. I think Rock will put any 45 he gets over.

I rate Murchin highly so if DOC breaks even with him, he'll be doing okay. If DOC can make himself available for our kickouts, he could have a big impact.

True, I'm hopeful that AOS can have a big game but I don't think we'll win enough ball in the middle to supply him which either means he'll be starved inside or has to come out the field where Dublin will run the legs off him.

Donaghy joining the Armagh backroom team. He always sounds knowledgeable on the radio so it'll be interesting to see how he gets on. Was he with the Galway hurlers for a season recently?

Donaghy?

https://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2020/1214/1184320-donaghy-set-for-role-with-armagh-in-2021/

Donaghy joining the Armagh backroom team. He always sounds knowledgeable on the radio so it'll be interesting to see how he gets on. Was he with the Galway hurlers for a season recently?

Looking at the match ups and who might have the advantage in each of them:

Clarke v Cluxton: Dublin
Mullin v Small: Split
Barrett v Rock: Dublin (split from play but Dublin because he'll score every free inside 45m)
Keegan v O'Callaghan: Dublin
Durcan v KK: split
Coen v Bugler: split
McLaughlin v Scully: Mayo
Loftus v McCarthy: Dublin
Ruane v Fenton: Dublin
McLoughlin v McDaid: Mayo
ROD v Small: Dublin
DOC v Murchin: split
Conroy v Bryne: Mayo
AOS v Cooper: split
COC v Fitzsimons: split

So even with my red & green tinted glasses, I have it as a 6 v 9 in favour of Dublin; we'd need to turn 4 of those splits into a Mayo win to just edge ahead. And that's not even considering the Dublin bench which is better than ours.

Mayo are going into this game battle hardened with nothing to lose and it's a free hit for them. Horan has plenty of experience as he has been here before while It's Dessie Farrell's 1st final and the dubs even by there standards have strolled into the final without being tested.

While I think the dubs will win I don't think they'll stroll it like people are predicting. If Mayo can start well and get an early lead I think they'll have a great chance.

"battle hardened"? 

If we're going to have a chance of beating Dublin, we'll need to disrupt Cluxton somehow. I think we need to put a few early diagonal balls in around the square (dropping just on the edge of the small rectangle) - chances are Cluxton will be well able for it but if he has a collison or two with Aido, it might give him something to think about and he won't be his usual imperious self; we might even get a score or two out of it. The hard part of that plan though is getting the right quality of ball in and I'm not sure who we really have for that, possibly McLoughlin? I think it's something we should try 4-5 times anyway; if Cluxton plays the way he normally does, it won't end well for us

How to disrupt Cluxton isn't about the high ball, it's to take control of his kickouts away from him. Which is in reality 10,000 times more difficult in practice than in theory. For the theory behind it is quite simple:

1. Press up and don't allow short restarts.
2. As soon as there's a wide or a score, immediately man his left half-back and left half-forward channel, even if there's no Dubs in it yet, as that's his preferred option for quickly launching counterattacks from kickouts.
3. Once closed off, immediately swarm his far right channel at exactly midfield, as that's his fallback when 1 and 2 are closed out, and Dublin are exceptionally quick to recognise this situation and swamp this channel, to tilt the breaking ball percentage on their favour.

As I say I don't know if you can really prevent all 3 all of the time. But if Mayo force no.3 and then more than break even with these restarts, then Clucko might have to some thinking on his feet. Which, let's be honest, he rarely has to do.

Greatest keeper of all time by a distance by the way. But the patterns are there.

That would be a better option alright but much harder to execute and I'm not sure we have the players for it

If we're going to have a chance of beating Dublin, we'll need to disrupt Cluxton somehow. I think we need to put a few early diagonal balls in around the square (dropping just on the edge of the small rectangle) - chances are Cluxton will be well able for it but if he has a collison or two with Aido, it might give him something to think about and he won't be his usual imperious self; we might even get a score or two out of it. The hard part of that plan though is getting the right quality of ball in and I'm not sure who we really have for that, possibly McLoughlin? I think it's something we should try 4-5 times anyway; if Cluxton plays the way he normally does, it won't end well for us

   https://www.ft.com/content/b7b5da3f-f863-4cf2-bd0d-2694dfe6ae1e

   The race for a Covid-19 vaccine was hit by twin setbacks as Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline delayed the rollout of their jab until the end of next year and Australia abandoned a shot that produced "false positives" for HIV.

France's Sanofi and GSK of the UK said on Friday their vaccine had failed to produce a strong immune response in the elderly as they explained the delay until at least the last quarter of 2021.

That's odd, you'd expect the scientists working for big pharma to just ignore the results and rush to get the vaccine released anyway so that the share price would go up

You don't think it happens?

I KNOW it happens, only the sheeple would believe otherwise. I'm just surprised that it didn't happen in this case, it's very peculiar

   https://www.ft.com/content/b7b5da3f-f863-4cf2-bd0d-2694dfe6ae1e

   The race for a Covid-19 vaccine was hit by twin setbacks as Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline delayed the rollout of their jab until the end of next year and Australia abandoned a shot that produced "false positives" for HIV.

France's Sanofi and GSK of the UK said on Friday their vaccine had failed to produce a strong immune response in the elderly as they explained the delay until at least the last quarter of 2021.

That's odd, you'd expect the scientists working for big pharma to just ignore the results and rush to get the vaccine released anyway so that the share price would go up

[after]

Am I correct in understanding that the vaccine doesn't stop you from getting Covid or transmitting it, but will stop you from getting very sick from it?

The vaccine (like most vaccines) trains your body to fight the virus. If you get covid, your body will be able to respond immediately and kill it - as such, you'll have it in much lower quantities and for less time than you would if you were unvaccinated and had to learn to fight it after getting it