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Outside of occasionally Armagh and Dublin, no football teams fans can really hold a candle to Munster hurling teams at the moment

Not really fair comparing with the completely different setup in hurling.

The football provincials are not much more than a warm-up before the serious business starts with the group stages.

The Munster hurling round-robin has real jeopardy with every single game being critical given 40% of the teams taking part will be finished for the summer in a few weeks (and possibly even sooner depending on how results go).

But football fans aren't going to any games in those numbers is the point. If you took Armagh fan out of the All Ireland quarter final double header on the Saturday last year there'd have been less than 15k there. Similar for the Sunday double header if you took Dublin fans out. Those are exceptionally big games and nobody outside of an Armagh bandwagon will travel for them anymore

Hurling fans, especially in Munster, will travel for games currently tbf. Clare who are a small county have brought 35k+ to their last two semis. Limerick and Cork (hurling only) have huge support constantly

On the Sunday Game, there was a poor attendance at Sligo v Galway. The time wasn't ideal, but it shows that neither county is interested.

Galway don't have the best of support, might bring out more for the final but will be well outnumbered in support for the home final in two weeks. Sligo support highlights the lack hope they had for that match.  Maybe with more performances like that one will bring out more support. Strong at underage with lot of good players to bring through yet.

Not sure Galway will be well outnumbered at home in 2 weeks tbh, certainly wasn't the case for the qualifier game last year.

Mayo's support seems to be tapering off in recent times. Approx 7k or so Mayo fans at a short distance championship game there today in perfect weather doesn't seem excessive. Thought the Mayo crowds at the last two quarter final weekends in Croker were paltry also, absolutely dwarfed by Armagh fans on both occasions those weekends. The self annoionted "best fans in Ireland" title certainly has to be put back on the shelf for the foreseeable, cringe-fest's in times square or not

Outside of occasionally Armagh and Dublin, no football teams fans can really hold a candle to Munster hurling teams at the moment

"Get out of jail card" and daylight robbery that I keep seeing being mentioned everywhere suggests luck on Galway's side, not really having that. An absolutely dire performance yes. A great performance by Sligo, absolutely. Their conversion rate was superb

But everything seemed to go against Galway, from the point awarded to Sligo that was 4 foot wide, to some of the first half ref decisions and the 5 missed goal chances obviously. If even one of those chances goes in it's a very different game. Not that it means it's in anyway acceptable to be going into injury time a point behind a D3 side but it does explain a bit of how they got there

Agree with the above on O'Conghaile and McCabe. Like I get they're young but still it's completely inexcusable from management. O'Conghaile hasn't done a single positive thing since R1 of the league and McCabe couldn't even make the u20 side last year. Cunningham and o'Currain have done significantly more than either. You could play O'Flaherty in the forwards either who's in excellent form

Add John Maher, Tomo Culhane and possibly Heaney to the ever growing injury list. I've never seen anything like it in the GAA. Records aren't kept on this sort of stuff but it must be record breaking in nature

Whats the feeling on Shane Walsh in Galway.

Played first game or two of league and then got injured.

Has been on holiday since that and I see hes in Portugal this week too.

Definitely deserves a holiday considering all the football hes played.

But it seems as if he gets special treatment and that he seems more committed to Kilmacud than Galway.

But I may be totally wrong on that.

Odd post. Got injured in round 1 of the NFL and will be back playing for Galway once he overcomes it.

My gut feeling there's more to it than that but could be wrong

Yeah doesn't seem to be the most dedicated sort of boy. Don't know whether to describe him as flaky or if thats a bit harsh.

He's virtually been every present in the panel since the age of 19. Absolutely lives and breathes football, doesn't drink, rarely injured until this year.

It's incredible that if a lad throws a few dummy solos regularly, trys to kick spinners and has a tight haircut people assume he's flaky and probably soft. I've seen first hand the abuse Walsh has taken basically every day he's gone out in his career (at intermediate level in Galway it was as bad as it gets) and yet hes still there year after year

Not that it'll make a difference but 3 minutes added to round off an utter clown of a referee performance once more. The penalty situation took 3 minutes alone

Rodgers should've seen a second black for the dive

Two absolutely facical black card decisions and a pen against Galway to fully turn around the soft black against Derry in the first half. Another ref out of his depth

Don't like complaining about refs and a neutral in this one but how does Brendan Cawley keep getting games? Every time I watch him ref a game it's farcical and tonight was no different. Is there no judging panel?

Some absolutely bizarre decisions throughout, for both sides although Tyrone got the worst of it

I was at the game a d whilst I agree he was poor, I thought in the 2nd half in particular he was very good to tyrone.
Should have sent off Conn Kilpatrick near the end for attempting to strike, I stead he got away with a yellow. Numerous bad decisions on both sides but I think tyrone got the better of it.

Thought the black card and penalty was wrong and was such a big moment but yeah Tyrone got a couple of handy frees in the second half and that Conn moment was a definite sending off.

I actually thought the most bizarre part was his timekeeping. O'Donnell was down injured for 5 1/2 mins. They played 7 mins more after he went off, 1 of which was also a stoppage. And the second half was very stop start, so there should've been 5 or 6 more added even before the long injury

Don't like complaining about refs and a neutral in this one but how does Brendan Cawley keep getting games? Every time I watch him ref a game it's farcical and tonight was no different. Is there no judging panel?

Some absolutely bizarre decisions throughout, for both sides although Tyrone got the worst of it

Yep, I don't mean it'll suit either team, ive seen Galway fail to get to grips with a wind countless times. I just mean it puts a randomness factor into the game which could help the underdog.

If this was played on a dry calm day id see Derry winning by 6-10 points. That's the reality of where the two teams are at at this stage of the year and injury situations

The forecast is for a NW wind, rather than one coming off the sea and showers

Right cranky chippy system coming down from the north west alright. Caution advised

Away to Galway this weekend but can't see a win, our record against Galway is terrible, even when they had a bad team.Derry focus on winning their last 2 home games. Dublin may be tough if they need the points.

With Tierney and Conroy now out there's a fair argument to say that Galway's 7 most important players all won't be starting. 6 out injured for god knows how long and 1 (Kelly) will be on the bench. Ive never really known a situation like it

I wouldn't give them a prayer v Derry this weekend. Boyles went up 4/6 Derry which was an uber c**k up. Now 2/5 which is a little more correct but still a couple of notches too big. The only levelling factor I could envisage is a huge wind in salthill (not uncommon) and Derry not getting to grips with it

Plenty of strong winds up around Owenbeg and Celtic Park 

It's a factor yes but I don't think it is any big one. It's the same for both teams at the end of the day and Derry can easily adapt to playing against a wind with their strong running game.

Yep, I don't mean it'll suit either team, ive seen Galway fail to get to grips with a wind countless times. I just mean it puts a randomness factor into the game which could help the underdog.

If this was played on a dry calm day id see Derry winning by 6-10 points. That's the reality of where the two teams are at at this stage of the year and injury situations

Away to Galway this weekend but can't see a win, our record against Galway is terrible, even when they had a bad team.Derry focus on winning their last 2 home games. Dublin may be tough if they need the points.

With Tierney and Conroy now out there's a fair argument to say that Galway's 7 most important players all won't be starting. 6 out injured for god knows how long and 1 (Kelly) will be on the bench. Ive never really known a situation like it

I wouldn't give them a prayer v Derry this weekend. Boyles went up 4/6 Derry which was an uber c**k up. Now 2/5 which is a little more correct but still a couple of notches too big. The only levelling factor I could envisage is a huge wind in salthill (not uncommon) and Derry not getting to grips with it

Dublin were actually still probably the best team that year, but Mayo caught them on the hop, after years of been beat by them,then couldn't produce the same display after.

It's Kerry that should've won that all Ireland on the bridle. They left about 2-6 worth of easy scores behind against Tyrone and conceded 3 goals in an extra time loss

Nonsense. Tyrone were down to 14 for 20 minutes and visibly tired in the second half of extra time, allowing Kerry to get back within a point. People have an awful habit of overrating Kerry teams because of the name. It was a decent Kerry team but not a great one. The better team won that day.

Ultimately Tyrone had been knocking at the door for a few years but Dublin were well ahead and we were also hamstrung by an overly cautious approach. In 2021 they had a license to open up more, the Dubs had gone back a few levels, Mayo weren't the team who had pushed them so close, and Kerry were overrated. Tyrone were the best team.

In truth there was more in that team. McShane wasn't fully fit, Darragh was still very young and we hadn't quite worked out how best to employ McKenna. There were more gears. But they rightfully celebrated an unexpected AI and between that and sated ambitions, then injuries, retirals (and McKenna heading off), they never again got back on course before the team started to break up. And there's no crime in that.

I'm don't mean to diminish Tyrone, in the wider context of this discussion I actually think they were decent winners. McShane not starting and Tiernan McCann not even getting on the pitch are signs of a very strong squad overall. Morgan had a season of seasons, the midfield pair were excellent and their scoring efficiency in semi and final that year was superb

I don't think it changes the feeling though that Kerry completely threw it away that year. Simple goals not worked, extremely simple fisted points going wide, missing frees. All the while conceding very soft goals and the game was still a draw in normal time after all that. And the best player in the land couldn't play in ET remember

I don't think Kerry will mind all that much though in hindsight. Would they have brought in O'Connor and  Tally and set up the Tadgh Morley sweeper system that allowed them to win the following year had they got over the line in 21? Probably not

Dublin were actually still probably the best team that year, but Mayo caught them on the hop, after years of been beat by them,then couldn't produce the same display after.

That game was so odd. After a decade of some very good displays against Dublin and mostly losing narrowly, that was probably their worst display yet it was good enough to get over the line. That was a terrible semi final of very low quality, not helped by some poor conditions. Dublin were a beaten docket that year waiting to be put out of their misery, as was hinted at in Leinster

It's Kerry that should've won that all Ireland on the bridle. They left about 2-6 worth of easy scores behind against Tyrone and conceded 3 goals in an extra time loss