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Sure Andy might tog himself

I was wondering alright which ex Mayo manager was going to be the next Galway manager to win the all Ireland

Mayo groundsman has been admitted to St Marys in Castlebar, all of his hard work getting the pitch ready and now its full of dead patches where Galway players lay so long on the ground they killed the grass. Thoughts and prayers.

Only taking the piss Galway people, fair play on the win, Cian O'Neil showed his worth with the tactic of blocking up the "Mayo attacking" channels with the wing forwards. A joke that after so many years managing at a high level JH couldn't find a way around it but there it is. I dont rate O'Neill, I'm sure hes worried, but hes become such a journeyman at this stage its a bit of a joke. I think thats all he will contribute positively to Galway this year.

The backdoor will suit Mayo if the injuries clear up and they could find themselves in a semi, however I said there was no point in Horan coming back unless he had improved his tactical abilities and was willing to be less stubborn and listen to others. Neither has happened so Mayo wont be winning any All Ireland this year and thoughts must start to turn to who next. Problem is there are no obvious choices unless we were willing to go mad an look at someone like Jim McGuinness. Not sure he would be an answer either, I believe, as much as it pains me to say it, if they had been playing any other top team of that era except James Horans Mayo they probably wouldn't have won that All Ireland. I know they beat Dublin
The answer to get over the line last year was getting in Rochford for 3 weeks before the All Ireland to help plan the tactics, I think Sam would have been nestling in the West now. It was wishful thinking of course because JH would never consider it. I dont know if Rochford is the answer either but we do love to go back to a previous manager in Mayo (would that be the 5th time?) so who knows

So that's the end of the league, and it was interesting right up until the end with relegation and a final place all at stake. 

Well done Monaghan on top result yesterday, good morale boosting win, they should be confident knowing they can beat any team on their day. 

Not sure if Kildare will sense blood in the water, but if they are ever to win Leinster this is the year.  Dublin are not dead in the water, but that allure of being unbeatable is not there the way it used to be.

Top result for Tyrone also, again winning games will breed confidence and they are winning at the right time of the year. 

For Armagh division 1 status was their aim so well done, goes to show you need a fast start in the league. 

Donegal and Mayo are still a mixed bag to me and its hard to see if they will actually be contenders this year going off their leagues, watching them a handful of times its hard to know. 

Kerry seem to be the standout team at the moment

How many times will people make that mistake to judge Mayo on the league, every year with the exception of 2019, and even then, people prob wouldn't even have said Mayo would win Connacht. Now they may not this year either as Galway are going well, but it wouldnt be the first year thats been the case either and Mayo still win Connacht.
I still dont think JH has the ability to win an all ireland final given his track record on the line in his 4 finals (is my number correct?)  but think they probably have a good chance of getting there.

Culturally the GAA doesn't want to fix this no matter what they say, if they did it would have been fixed long ago

Watched it!



But the GAA have a problem: 

Clubs and Counties have opened the door to every Tom, Dick and Harry to suck money out of the system, either directly from the GAA or through communities that fundraise.  GAA clubs and counties have been foolish enough to pay it, whether it is for management, coaching, coaching coaches, video analysis and all sorts of other business ventures. 

The GAA has let all of this go and why would anyone be surprised when the players want a piece of the action. 

The GAA needs to have a damn good look at what it now means to be an amateur organisation and it needs to renew its commitment to amateurism.

Absolutely spot on, I'm managing my local adult football team this year, both myself and the lad who is in as coach with me are local and don't want nor will we receive any money. Maybe we'll have an allright season and someone will say thanks at the AGM or club social. But sitting through last years AGMs its a bit gauling when I see the sums that were handed over last season and in other seasons for management and coaching. I don't want any money but wtf are clubs paying these people for? I know the answer is "success" but 90% of them arent successful, its a huge drain on clubs not to mention the county board finances for the big bucks IC manager.
also its only a matter of time before revenue get their teeth into this, its on the annual financial report of every club in the country

Strong finish from Mayo coming from 3 down to win by 2.  Armagh leading the whole match up until the 30th min or so.  Was always going to be a tough match.

Sounds like a typical Mayo win.

and even gave them the traditional Mayo straight from the throw in 3 point lead
Jays if we keep this up all the 80s kings Ger Canning, Colm O'Rourke etc will have to switch the "they're never beaten" automatic sound board quote from Meath to Mayo.
Although of course, I forgot, creation of commentary cliches stopped for them lads in the mid 90s when they broke the cliche machines and cant afford a new one, all because of them bollixes not paying their license fee

[there's no evidence they're any closer to winning an All-Ireland.]

It's coming every year, they don't have it in them to do it

I completely disagree. We shall soon find out.

Year on year the media and fans alike fall over themselves to proclaim Kerry as the Champions in waiting. This is Clifford's 5th year on the panel and there's no evidence they're any closer to winning an All-Ireland.

Now that Dublin aren't nailed on, Kerry have a very good chance of winning the AI.

Didn't you say the same thing last year? 

That sort of punditry would get you a job on RTE or the Irish Independent for life ,"I think Kerry will do it this year", bound to be right once every 10 years also "I cant see Mayo doing it this year". I've just written Martin Breheny's columns for the next two years

What a bench again...surely #Mayo4Sam!
They have so much quality this year and are able to ease lads back in too.

Well you can say that if the non household name lads who are starting do the business, if they dont and all the cavalry have to come off the bench early then it doesn't look as good.
Most of them did well against Dublin but I think we are all still wondering where Dublin are at.
Except Pat of course, he knows the Kingdom are the standard everyone else needs to go to so the Mayo Armagh match is kinda irrelevant.

Dunno what the last 10 pages have said, but looking at the title, he may well surpass the Gooch, but will he surpass Cillian O'Connor?

Americans ask you all the time do Irish people hate the British

I tell them that the Irish probably hate the people living in the next village over way more than they hate the British

Ireland is a very tribal society and the GAA is a perfect outlet for some of the aggressions that would formerly have been settled via faction fighting

I've heard stuff drug up at matches that happened decades ago and had nothing to do with football

Spot on
And the one eyedness of it, I've seen mentors from our club verbally abuse under age players, free takers for example. One Regularly gets sent off, bawling at the ref all the time, same man would start a fight in a phone box. Our gang tut tut and shake their heads as "hes one of ours" but nobody does nothing. A mentor from an opposition team ever does half of what our lad does and theirs outrage "disgrace, should be ashamed etc etc" The hypocrisy at times is unreal. I'm also involved with underage rugby and its generally not tolerated, two mothers abused a ref after an underage match recently, followed him to the dressing room shouting abuse at him. Club was fined 500 euro and the sanction was going to be increased if we didnt show that we had dealt with the parents, the mothers weren't club members so there wasn't much that could be done but the club had to send them letters telling them they werent welcome at games if they couldn't behave themselves and if it happened again their children would unfortunately be asked to play somewhere else. I know rugby is not GAA but if there's consequences to your actions people can generally find a way to  control themselves.

Conor O'Shea is well able to kick a point, I'd nearly have him in over the brother based on that performance

For a second there I thought it was a new fundraiser different than the "Win a House", "Win an Inter county manager"

AOS just needed to look to his left for that free, Conor Loftus was unmarked out on the wing, simple 20 yard pass was on, he never looked, queue boost to Tyrone, they are on the attack.

[hes just not going to win it with Mayo so whats the point.]

No-one is saying JH is shite, but what is Mayo about at this stage if its not about winning Sam?
3 finals he has done exactly the same thing, he is a phenomenal manager, hes just not going to win it with Mayo so whats the point.

Phenomenal, and then the bit in bold. That's your opinion. COC back next year, Doherty too, the forwards a year wiser.

Well he is phenomenal to be fair to him, his record by any standard is just that. Semi finals in each of his years, but hes got an issue with tactics and his teams have completely underperformed in 3 finals now. Rochford lost 2 but had the team very well prepared tactically and I think the general consensus was that most of those teams performed to the peak of their powers on the day. Thats all you can ask. It looks like JH will keep the team in the top 3 to 4 but he wont win it. Its been 70 fecken years, 3rd or 4th is no good anymore.