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Two good high intensity semi finals yesterday whereby the two best teams won or be made it harder for themselves.

Makes for interesting final and with a lot of top quality players in action hopefully the weather is decent (less fog and frost) and it's a good competitive final.

I'm expecting Glen to edge it. Intermediate and Junior I think will be won by Cullyhanna and Listowel Emmets.

Mayo need to peak at the right time and ignore  wins when they don't matter . That has to be the goal this year after what happened last year They beat Kerry before it counted and Kerry got to the all Ireland final.

Not sure about peaking especially nowadays in such a congested season but the round 3 group game was the killer for Mayo. It was directly into the last 8 had Mayo avoided defeat against Cork and up against a team that would be playing their 3rd match in 3 weeks in the last 8. The manner of the defeat was bad also out scored 1-6 without reply in the final quarter v Cork.

On the defeat to London yesterday I can imagine plenty of starters will have ruled themselves out from featuring much if at in the upcoming NFL.

Sky Sports News had a segment on Varane on that he is to leave Manchester United because he needs to "cement his place in the France squad for the upcoming Euros".   The same Varane that retired from international duty after the World Cup!
An hour later they've re-recorded the segment with no mention of France.

Just one example of the type of poor English media reporting with their so called "sources"

Inconsistent Man United very much seen in the last two games. consistently inconsistent is probably what to expect from that United group of players for the 2nd half of this season.

The likes of Neville, Redknapp on Sky losing the run of themselves with their "great" Forest performance opinion when in reality they were impressive with how clinical they were with two goals two shots on target but along with United they very much played their part in one of the lowest quality games I've watched this season.

Plenty of character and togetherness shown in that win/performance tonight. I thought the performance was good even at 2-0 but Villa two in front from two shots on target at half time and the first was a cross that ended up in the net. Those gifts of goals a story of Uniteds season however.

Garnacho the clear MOTM a hairline away from scoring a hat-trick and what a way for Hojlund to get off the mark in the Premier League, has been fed on scraps all season in truth.

Still no win in seven attempts for Emery in Old Trafford at 2-0 today he was looking very cocky on the sideline not so much at full time.

Second lowest goal scorers in the league level with Luton. Never thought I'd see those sort of stats for a Utd team.

What's the latest on the mini takeover? And what will be achieved by this? Immediate changes, long term plan or both?

Hard to know whether to stick with ETH or not. I would say yes as they can't keep just sacking the manager. Lots of players to come back from injury, whether they are  much better than what they currently have remains to be seen. One thing is though they don't have any forwards to come back who will add goals. Is there money available in Jan? If so they will probably get shafted.

Announced today. 25% takeover and full control of all mens, womens and academy teams. Its a step in the right direction

A deal in place for some time and announcing it on Christmas eve after another defeat is typical of the Glazers PR.

Remains to be seen what difference it makes. Having someone else run the football operations that aren't as clueless as the Glazers business men buddies is a step in the right direction but the use of revenue generated by the club, investment into the club and the management of debt remain issues that directly impact football operations. Without full control of the club, INEOS will to some degree be operating with their hands tied in terms of football operations. Main question is should one expect a significant change when the club is in Glazer rather than INEOS control?

Does the game still need these pre season tournaments ?

Not much need anymore and these pre-competitions are heading for the chop and this could well be the last year of it. John Prenty will have played his part in that by playing these FBD games indoors which is little or no prep for the outdoors NFL games to come.

Steve Cooper looking a new job. And on the mouth of Christmas.

And Forest are holding talks with former Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo to replace him

A draw and clean sheet a totally unexpected result for any United, Liverpool and neutral supporter that sat down to watch that game.  Serious shift put in defensively especially Shaw, Varane restricting Liverpool to few if any decent goal scoring chances. Arguably the best chances in the match fell to Garnacho Hojlund.

Now that the match is over Jcpen might be able to settle himself as between this thread, Liverpool and Premier league thread he was like a dog in heat.

Is Beggan expected to miss all of the NFL for Monaghan or just a few games?

So the Glazers can't be credited when they win trophies, but are to blame when they don't?

The Glazers worth and usefulness has been seen since Alex Ferguson and David Gill departed over 10 years ago, not within an asses roar of challenging for major honour never mind winning one. Klopp in comparison has "done just fine" because it's a well ran club he's managing. Might not get his first choice signings all the time but each signing is done with proper recruitment and each player fits the right profile with no silly wages. Competent people in charge such as Michael Edwards compared to Ed Woodward makes a world of difference.

As for Sunday. United don't make themselves hard to score against and majority of goals conceded come from their own errors. Liverpool with their pressing game feeds off errors and clinical against teams that makes errors against them. It should be a minimum 3 or 4-0 win for Liverpool anything else will be a big surprise.

No leadership and characters in that group of United players. The goal conceded summed United's defending up in all of this group campaign with woeful efforts by midfielders to tackle and defender switching off by playing the goal scorer onside.

Shaw, Maguire injuries simply added salt to the wounds.

Credit to Copenhagen deserved their 2nd place spot or be it got that bit of luck by playing United for an hour with ten men.

Bayern have absolutely nothing to play for. They're assured of first place. United are at home with everything on the line.

Surely United should be winning this game?

Bayern Munich usually top their group and have nothing to play for come round 6. It's ten years since they lost a round 6 tie played 9, won 8 and 1 draw in that time. The one draw was 3-3 with Ten Hag's Ajax this day 5 years ago.

Senior All-Ireland semi finals set for Sunday, January 7th

St. Brigid's (Roscommon) v Castlehaven (Cork), Semple Stadium, Thurles, 13.45pm.

Kilmacud Crokes (Dublin) v Watty Grahan's Glen (Derry), Páirc Esler, Newry, 3.45pm.

Pat Flanagans letter after leaving Newbridge 

https://x.com/johnnyrc88/status/1733279207105442111?s=46

Didn't he agree to join a club in Meath before joining Newbridge?