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I am not a big fan of this 'award' as too often it flies in the face of reality.  Players picked to get them an award rather than picked in the position they played.

Surprising to see only 5 for Kerry and 3 each for beaten semi-finalists.  Fairly sure if Dublin won the AI, they would have 7-9 All Stars.  Poor selection to 3 Dubs honoured; these guys destroyed inferior division two/three teams and then when the crunch came they were nowhere to be seen against Donegal.  PF and DC were excellent for the first 20 minutes of that game, but when the team needed them to deliver scores in the second half they failed.  Connelly definitely deserved one he was excellent even in that second half. Flynn was not there when it mattered; he got a 'handy' one I feel.  Unbelievably James Mccarthy gets an all-star despite their whole half-back line getting destroyed against Donegal.  This is the award I have most issues with; I can't see any way he deserved one.

For me Aidan O'Mahony is the big looser, he is nine years older than Michael Murphy and completely nullified him in the biggest game of the year.  He was fantastic all year for us and definitely deserved one ahead of McCarthy. Frank McGlynn & Thompson deserved one ahead of McCarthy as well.  A special mention for Donncha Walsh, another consistently good year for him, in my view well deserving of an all-star but alas he doesn't have the media profile of other candidates; hopefully a county final; medal on Sunday will make-up for his omission. 

Only the GAA could have taken a classic last Sunday and have nobody talking about it within 5  mins of the end. 

Limerick is a shocking decision; why would they bring a game there; Thurles maybe but Limerick is a crap stadium to watch a match in.  The stand has to have the worst gradient in the country and no matter where you sit a pole will obstruct your view of both goals.

Contrary to Mayo public opinion, Kerry do not train there every night; indeed we play there approximately once every 6 years in the Championship (last in 2011 & 2005 before that).  Underage game can be played there but rarely, usually NewCastleWest or Asketon.  Our club teams do play there a lot however which is how I know the stadium.  Nightmare to get out of as well due to the bridge.

The GAA must do something about suspensions.  When was the last time a player accepted a red card in a knock-out match & served a suspension? Galvin & Tomas O'Se for the QF in 2010; Ger Brennan for the QF in 2009 or Darragh for the Semi in 2008. It was a harsh sending off but the GAA disciplinary system is a farce.

This is the 6th time a red card was either overturned or not applied on video evidence since 2006 by a team we are facing next in the championship. The full list is Anthony Lynch in 2006; Noel O'Leary in 2007; Donnacha O'Connor in 2008; John Miscalla in 2009 & Diarmuid Connelly in 2011.

David Coldrick had a very poor day at the office the last day.  The perception down here (rightly or wrongly) is that we did not get the decisions in the final third and a score from frees stat of 1-5 to 0-2 does support this view.

We remain a work in progress; and while this will probably be Declan's last year (knee trouble) the squad has picked up valuable experience and we have come some distance since the Cork hammering in the League.

Mayo just have more to lose I feel. This coupled to the tighter pitch, greater physical presence and crap weather forecast will see a 6 point win for Mayo.  Traveling more in hope than confidence just like we did when we went to Cork this year and that didn't end that badly :-)

Guys,  I have a questions that the rules aficionado might be able to help me with. 

We are back training the club underage team this week and the handpass got an airing. 

The new rules allows a player in possession to score a point with an openhanded hand-pass.  What I have been unable to determine is if the close fist must still be used in hand-passing or if the GAA have one rule for scoring (open Hand allowed) and another rule for general play (close fist only).   I feel it is the latter but I am not sure.

Here is an article after last years Dublin / Mayo game where the bould Pat McEnaney discusses Joe and the Dubs - http://www.irishexaminer.com/archives/2012/0904/ireland/blood-subs-come-under-scrutiny-206384.html

So in 2012 he had not done an internal training game for two years and he took the FF defense before that (can't remember).  Either he did or he didn't the can't remember line isn't great.

Joe would have been better to come out and say I did these games in the past and as an intercounty ref I shouldn't have.  As usual the story is more in the cover-up than the event. If in fact he did any in house matches as if Joe can't remember we can't say for definite.  I wounder does he remember the final from two years ago?

Shocked he has got two finals in three years.  God help football if he is the best ref out there. 
GAA has done him no favours either as the preception is there (righrly or wrongly) that he is too familar with Dublin and this preception will be fed by every free he gives them.  Crazy own goal by the GAA.  He has done Dublin A vs B games in the past and was quoted that his favourite moment was being on the pitch for the Dublin goal in 2011 so he has done himself no favours either. http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2056501759/1/#post76287562

There is no way that this team will start against Kerry. C Sheehan & A Walsh will definitely start with one or two more changes likely as well.  Langers are the worst offenders of the ould dummy teams. Two years ago Cork came to Killarney all set for a handy win and got a terrible shock; two years on and a whole pile of underage success later they rightly start as favourites.  Too many if's against us.

Most low key build-up to a Munster Final ever!!!!  Got my season ticket yesterday; worst ticket I ever got for Killarney.  This is a good scheme but the assigned tickets should not be worse than what is available on Tickermaster.   There should really be an option of a terrace ticket as well. The terrace in Killarney is a great place to watch a match from!!

Head says Donegal; heart says Mayo - come on MAYO.

Donegal smiling after the result today. It will be hard to convince them that they don't have it in the bag already (cue  @brendandevanny). I hope Mayo win to be honest; no fans deserve it more hopefully the house of pain to stops in three weeks!!!!! What is rare is wonderful - it should be a great build-up and while i want to see Mayo win; its great that the alternative is Donegal.   

BTW how the hell does Joe McQuillan get to ref in Croke Park on big days. He seemed to realise that he will have no A v B game to do in the last 20 mins when everything went for Dublin. Another inept referring display.

I have to say I am a tad annoyed by the tone of the comments here and a little bit of balance needed. Those who say Kerry can't win tight games look at the losses only - here are the tight victories:
2012 QR2 v Westmeath;
2011 MF v Cork; 
2010 MSF replay v Cork; MF v Limerick; 
2009 AIF v Cork; AISF v Meath; QR4 v Antrim; QR3 v Sligo; 
2008 AISF Replay v Cork; AIQF v Galway; QR4 v Monaghan; 
2007 AISF v Dublin; AIQF v Monaghan; MF v Cork
2006 AISF v Cork; AIQF v Armagh

Kerry have only lost to great teams in knockout football - Dublin 2011 (which was thrown away with a lot of help from an inept refereing performance) Tyrone 05 & 08 - were great games with Tyrone better on the day, disappointing from a Kerry point of view but not a disgrace to have lost those two games to a great team. Tyrone 03 was a blowout even if we were only 4 down going into injury time; Tyrone scored 3 points in injury time to win 0-13 to 0-6. Down 2010 was the only time we lost to a team that was inferior to us (not on on the day but we had the better team but didn't perform on the day). 

What i could never understand is why Tyrone never got criticism for not achieving more with the team they had. That team should have contested more than three All-Irelands but losing to Mayo 04, Laois 06, Meath 07, while being destroyed by Cork 09, Dublin 11 & Kerry 12 is a poor return for such a talented team with consistent underage success. The question I have for the posters here is - did Tyrone choke in those years?

We are rightly proud of this team that we had the privilege of supporting since the end of the famine in 1997. Win or lose on Sunday we will continue to support the team and will continue to dispel the myths surrounding this team. In the history of the GAA only two team have been more consistent than this team Kilkenny (2000 - present) and Kerry (1975 to 1986). 

The end may come on Sunday, time will tell, however the last time this forum was in such unanimity over the result of a Kerry vs Ulster champions didn't work out too badly for us.

Only watched the last 10 mins of this game. However one thing that did annoy me was the kick-out after the Armagh forward kicked a free wide. The Cork goalie picked out Alan O'Connor who won a good ball and was fouled, got up took a quick free and Cork appeared to be on their way when the ref for some unknown bizarre reason holds up the game to book a player for a challenge that was not worthy of a yellow card.

Did the ref ever play the game!!!! Why in gods name could he not let play go on and book him later if needs be. The booking played into the Armagh defence hands; everyone funnels back when the boy in black notes a number. Anyone with a feel for the game would have let the play develop. The biggest crisis facing the game if the quality of refs; or indeed how they are trained / assessed.

Incidentely the muppet did the same thing when the game ended. Surly the advantage has to be with the team attaching. With all the technology why can't we wait for the next big break to book a player. Rant over (and it only the first weekend of the league).

Mayo 2-14

Kerry 1-17

What's the deal if there is a draw? Will the teams be made aware of extra-time or will there be a replay?

Replay

Yerra I'd say they will make their mind up on the day like the minor hurling semi-final.

Not a great draw for us to be honest.
We will be expected to (and should) win with a bit to spare.
Then we will probably face Cork with no idea of where our form is at.
The general sense down here is that we wanted Kildare.
Not many will travel to Croker for this one.
Horror draw from Limerick too I'd imagine.

Great first half; well done Maher the best of the midfielders.
Walsh should just not kick the ball. Great athlete but poor kicking again.
Hopefully when Tomas & Galvin are back we will pick up more breaking ball which we were cleaned out on in the second half.
Gooch poor from open play and frees and Kerry win - happy days!!!
Darren O'Sullivan gets better with every outing.
Though Enright did well for his first big day out.
Donaghy should have got the line but O'Leary bouncing up when the yellow card was given was as bad as O'Mahoney in the 08 semi final.
Felt sorry for Canty in the first half; Counihan should have moved him sooner.
His lack of training was cruely exposed.
I would be surprised if they don't meet again this summer.

While I agree that this is Corks final to lose I still have questions over Corks midfield.
Alan O'Connor has never set the world on fire and is in my opinion no better than Maher.
Then we have the Aiden Walsh debate; how good is he? Or how good can he become?
He won a very soft all-star on the back of a very good second half in the all-Ireland final.
His foot passing is quite poor but this is compensated by his ability to win primary possession.

Bryan Sheehan has been the outstanding midfielder in Kerry at club level for the last few years while his engine is not as good as Walsh he is a better overall footballer.

The Kerry forwards are better than the Cork back but the Cork forwards are better than the Kerry backs; so Sunday probably does depend on who wins midfield.

I think Cork will want it more and will win by 3 to 6.

Note: the next Kerry team selected will have Galvin, Tomas and Sheamus Scanlon in so I would expect Kerry to improve after this game.

So far there has been a Lot of promises and very little action on the signing front.
Worrying still and the people we are lined to Jay Bothroyd a a Korean who can't get into the Celtic side.
We need two wingers badly and prefereably someone faster than Kuyt (which Downing isn't).
Good old Damian seems to want to sign every central midfielder going as well.