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Before this All-Ireland final I would have agreed with the article but now I am not so sure.

This Dublin team are not as great as the sum of all their parts.

They staggered over the line helped by Mayo's naivety/bad luck/poor decision making.  Nothing to do with money.

I'm sure Mickey Harte was ruefully looking on thinking what a missed opportunity.

Just out of interest, are there many neutrals on here wanting the Dubs to win or am I the only one?

This is Galbally we are talking about.  One of the very hottest of hot beds of Republican activism.

Maybe the close (some might allege too close) association with a huge PSNI contract could have played a part too. 

Not that that is a defense of course.

Don't be kidding yourself lad. We could easily say the same thing. You lost a very tight match, there are fine margins in games like that. Take it on the chin

Tubberman, I am taking it on the chin. Doesn't mean to say I can't be disappointed. I genuinely wish Mayo well in the semi-final and hopefully final.  You deserved your win.

The point Omagh Gael highlighted is so right because when a team loses focus the way some of the Tyrone players did - well, even at underage club level you see the result of this.

I stand by my assertion that Tyrone would easily have won had their mental attitude been different

A lot has been made of all the missed chances from Tyrone and rightly so but that many misses cannot simply be put down to poor kicking and poor shot selection.

I think the biggest battle that was lost on the day was the mental one and in such a close scoring encounter this proved decisive.

Games like this happen where the deeper you have to dig the harder it becomes.  You lose your shape, your confidence, your legs feel like lead.  The post become narrower and narrower and your brain is 2 seconds slower than normal.

The disappointment is that this was not a phenomenally good Mayo team and on another day I have no doubt we would have destroyed them.

This game will fully test Micky Harte's tactical abilities

Great timing Rory. 

Couple of nights with the Norn Ireland supporters and you suddenly with careful consideration decide you might be exposed to a health scare.

I genuinely would have 100% more admiration for people like him if he was upfront about his loyalties.

I would also suggested he does what Greg Rutherford has done and freeze his sperm but I suppose you need a set of balls for that.

Why does the NI team remind me so much of this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PbP_pIgR4s

Who was our resident grass watcher from last week?

Thon turf on MacCumhaill Park looked very long.


Fermanagh gave it their best but I sense that Donegal had a lot more gears to go up if needed.

Would love to see a Tyrone v Donegal rematch in the final.

Not much between them and it would be good to get the excitement levels up.

they had

Really? That would explain it then.

I have to admit the way the academy is run I actually think given time it will strengthen the relationship between club and county.

Hope you are right rrhf but without wanting to publicly dis my own club they pay no heed whatsoever in encouraging young lads to attend these academies or give little acknowledgement to those who do.

Even in the warm up the two teams were a sight to behold.

The intensity from Tyrone was amazing compared to Derry who I honestly thought had already warmed up before they came out.

The difference was a gulf.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/36191466

He seems to have relaxed a bit afterwards.

Stick to the snooker son.

I wonder will the chickens come home to roost?

Well spotted Rufus - the deliberate mistake I mean.   

I suppose your enjoyment of any television sport is relative to how much you actually like the game.


I really do get the mental strength needed for this particular tournament and I think Selby was absolutely drained at the end.

I think he knew he wasn't fit for much more as Ding was coming back strong and only for Selby's flying start, Ding would have won.

Ding deserved to win because he played the better snooker throughout the whole tournament.


Selby dragged the game right down to a slow level Ding had not been used to and it worked.


This year a lot of players fell way behind in the first couple of sessions and there was no way back despite some valiant efforts.

Unusually quiet on this thread at such a late stage of this year's competition.

Anyway, that last frame of Fu's and Selby . Is Mark Allen now vindicated for his cheat accusation?

I played a wee bit of snooker in my time and Steve Davis was right.  Anyone involved in the game of snooker knows when they have touched a ball during a shot.
Stephen Hendry also amazed that he didn't call the fowl on himself.
And the boys in the box (John Parrot and Denis Taylor) also speechless for a minute or so.