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It's obvious if Croke's beat Cross they will be odds on in the final as result little pressure on the other two sides.

I feel like I'm back in Cam with herself's family. All around me people are saying that Brigids came oh-so-close to beating Cross last year, and that if only they had played more long ball in on top of Kilbride they'd have won. I have to stay quiet so as not to cause a row when with the in-laws, but I was at the game and I didn't see that at all. I wanted Brigids to win for the sake of all the people I now know in the club, but I though Cross always had that match under control and the reason Senan didn't get much ball was because Frankie wasted a mountain of it. If Brigids got a few more scores, I think Cross would too.

It has to be made clear that Brigids, even this season, refuse to use Kilbride correctly - he was dragged out for frees that Frankie would be fully capable of taking and not removing one of the best big men in the country from the fray. The most bizarre sight of the entire year for me me was when Brigids got a last gasp free in the game against Cross - needing a goal - and for a reason only known to God and Noel O'Brien Kilbride marches out to take a drop in. Yeah. Not so much.

Brigids genuinely do not play enough direct football through their inter-county-level spine of Dominican, Mannion, Frankie and Kilbride. Frankie is obviously a great passer but half the time when he gets the ball in the half forward line his best weapon, Kilbride, is pretty much parallel to him, and that's obviously tactics. Playing Kilbride a little deeper and more directly would benefit McHugh too, who is hardly a small man himself.

Cross had more guile and cuteness when it came down to it, but any of the Cross supporters and they'll willingly tell you Kilbride could have caused alot more damage in that final. It was a final where it was never not in the mix, nevermind one where Cross where able to have something in reserve.

For once some senseible reporting from Breheny.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/fixture-pileup-makes-no-sense-2971129.html

Wonder how will putting Longford in Connacht sort out the mess that is GAA fixtures/structures etc?

It's the same story he and all the other papers trot out at this time of the year.

I said it before, but there's nothing stopping the GAA sorting out its schedules without adding or altering counties to provinces, indeed that should be the  first thing to do before attempting any blue sky thinking that will be hugely controversial at best. Tackle the low hanging fruit first.

Can't see anyone is writing off Brigid's this year, particularly after the nightmare Senan Kilbride gave to Cross in this year's final.

Kilbride was indeed the best man on the pitch that day. However, if Brigid's come up against Cross' again then Cross will also have experience of dealing with him too.

Who plays for Dr. Crokes? Only the most adored player (and rightly in my opinion) of his generation, Colm Cooper.

Was there some talk of Cooper having an operation? Is this going to happen after Crokes are eliminated or is he using the Christmas period?

Now you mention it I remember the talk of that operation too. He said he'd hold off on doing it until Crokes were out of the club championship, which does put him in a bind now as if he waits until February (or at 'worst' mid-March), he'll be laid up for at least the entire NFL and the first month of the championship as recovery is about three months, something that would put paid to trying to get it done before Christmas and being ready for Feb. 18th.

[You think "Paddy" Power don't have a niche knowledge of local football?]

Bronson also plays, they between them have 12 or so All Ireland medals. Not bad.

But dare to dream and you'll get good odds and you could win big money

You think "Paddy" Power don't have a niche knowledge of local football?

I don't think you read what I said correctly!

They're a Kerry senior club, hence the number of medals, but a raft All-Ireland medals don't count for very much at this level. Clubs from counties that are regard as lesser lights have ever abilitiy of being able to beat the Krry champions, the Cork champions or, as we saw last weekend, the Dublin champions. St. Gall's winning it, Galway clubs like Corofin reaching the final back-to-back while the inter-county team is in the doldrums, it's a different landscape and one where a sprinkling of inter-county stars is rarely, if ever, enough to elevate any team beyond reach.

Dr. Crokes are a fine team that's fully capable of wining the All-Ireland, but it's a fallacy to think that Brigids aren't every bit as good as Crokes, and indeed on recent form, perhaps a little better.

[bound to be on tv]

Noticed Cross are 4/7 to beat Crokes. Thats a fair price and evens minus one

Would have went to the game but it's in Portlaois and bound to be on tv. Seen Crokes 3 times on tv this year and they only caught fire last day out (final) Cross have been consistant all year.

Not so sure, both semi finals are on the same day with the same throw in time & the other semi final seems to capturing the media imagination more.

I'd imagine one of the semi finals will be live and the other one deferred on TG4. I'd say both semi finals will get the same coverage, both attractive in their own right, Crokes and Cross will be seen as the real final and then the strong local interest in the other one. There'll be some traffic heading to Longford from Athlone anyway on the 18th.

Can't see anyone is writing off Brigid's this year, particularly after the nightmare Senan Kilbride gave to Cross in this year's final. All Brigid's needed to do was stop hauling him out to take drop in frees and used him more directly as a target man and they would have likely won the final; they're a better team this year for that experience and I can imagine that only ignorance would lead anyone in the country to think that either semi-final is "the real final".

The bookies don't seem to think so, their knowledge is what makes them rich  

As you said Brigids will be a better team for the experience but so will Cross and Crokes who have also played at Croke Park, and eventually lost to Cross.

Betting odds, especially in a (relatively speaking) niche knowledge area like club football, are alot closer to X-Factor style popularity votes than the betters and bookies would have you believe. Let's look at the Paddy Power odds:

Crossmaglen 10/11
Dr Crokes 5/2
St Brigids 7/2
Garrycastle 7/1

Despite Dr. Crokes having a recent record in the competition that is inferior to St. Brigids, as well as playing the odds-on favorite in the semi-final, they've shorter odds than the Connacht champions. Who plays for Dr. Crokes? Only the most adored player (and rightly in my opinion) of his generation, Colm Cooper.

For me, even removing myself as much as I can from my bias, it's a toss up between Cross, Brigid's and Crokes (and in that order if I'm forced) for the All-Ireland with Garrycastle having the most to prove to be considered serious contenders.

[bound to be on tv]

Noticed Cross are 4/7 to beat Crokes. Thats a fair price and evens minus one

Would have went to the game but it's in Portlaois and bound to be on tv. Seen Crokes 3 times on tv this year and they only caught fire last day out (final) Cross have been consistant all year.

Not so sure, both semi finals are on the same day with the same throw in time & the other semi final seems to capturing the media imagination more.

I'd imagine one of the semi finals will be live and the other one deferred on TG4. I'd say both semi finals will get the same coverage, both attractive in their own right, Crokes and Cross will be seen as the real final and then the strong local interest in the other one. There'll be some traffic heading to Longford from Athlone anyway on the 18th.

Can't see anyone is writing off Brigid's this year, particularly after the nightmare Senan Kilbride gave to Cross in this year's final. All Brigid's needed to do was stop hauling him out to take drop in frees and used him more directly as a target man and they would have likely won the final; they're a better team this year for that experience and I can imagine that only ignorance would lead anyone in the country to think that either semi-final is "the real final".

Feck me that's tragic - such an absolutely brutal turn of events, the lad must have had demons in his head that we couldn't imagine! Hardly a time to have a dig at the Guards!

Not really. It was a horrible failure to let it happen, for the victims and for understanding what makes a person capable of an act like this and helping prevent it in the future before it ever gets to the stage of someone else dying.

Where will the semi-final be played, Portlaoise?
I'd imagine it'll draw a big crowd.

A game between two Athlone teams in Portlaoise? Tullamore and Longford are the obvious neutral grounds.

I'd say they will struggle from this point, Great for them to win it, just don't see them putting up to the other st Brigids.

All form will be out the window in as huge a local derby as the semi-final, but Brigid's have the experience at this level to be able to eek out a place in the final.

So what's the deal with London? Obviously they're trying to reduce travel costs by playing two games each weekend but surely they'll have to field almost entirely different teams for both games.

Martin Breheny's piece on this during the week was actually quite sensible.
Longford and Donegal joining the west, wexford and carlow joining the south. 

The only fly  was that he ignored NY.  Maybe you could have an international championship including London and NY to determine who takes that 32nd spot.  Although if Kilkenny ever start treating football seriously it would throw the whole lot out.

Anyway, surely the benefits just to the fixture scheduling of having 4 conferences of eight teams each doesnt need any explaining.
The objections raised by the Musnter council chairman was more to do with the fear that it would be the first step in a campaign to do away with provincial councils than with the idea itself.

The gaps and delays in the current setup are very unfair and very inefficient.

See, those gaps should first be adjusted within the current system before any changes are made, doing it any other way is putting the cart in front of the donkey. HQ needs to make a concerted effort to force the councils to  produce fixture lists that don't include six week gaps between games, and that can be solved without adding a single to team to any province.

The Indo chased this story down, these lines come up from this or that report each year and you can tell it's close season in the GAA when the journalist needs to repackage an existing story to fill out the pages.

I don't see much change happening in the short term because it means the provincial councils are weakened and they'll never allow that as long as they can veto it. The basic idea of four provincial championships still remains a completely valid (and at this wldly fantastic) and essential part of the championship, any moves to make an open draw or round robin is dead in the water before they even escape a given person's head.

On a Connacht level I could see Longford slotting in, but Donegal, the obvious second team to add to Connacht, represents exactly the brand of football that Connacht football has largely avoided through thick and thin and whatever else can be said about Connacht teams, they mostly play positive brands of football. I don't like the idea of the Donegal contagion being spread to an entirely new province.

Well done to the Kiltoom/Cam bucks as they continue their assault on the Andy Merrigan.
Went about it the right way today -- hit the ground running and don't give the underdogs a chance to get into the game.

If they meet Garrycastle I wonder where they will play it.?
If Munster Council fixture logic is used it'll probably be in Wexford Park 

Pairc Ciarain well able to take a crowd

I'd imagine the county ground (and at a neutral venue in this case) rule would still stand so that's not an option, which is a real pity.

It'd likely be Pearse Park or O'Connor Park, Tullamore is particularly near. St. Brendan's Park in Birr might be a dark horse if they wanted a more compact ground.

Ah c'mon now, spuds. I think the vast majority of Roscommon/Brigids supporters have said the ref was very fussy and it'd have been better to have a more open game. The ref got the big call right and the rest was him going to the letter of the law with most things, be it steps or pushes, Brigids may have gotten the majority of the breaks but that can also be explained by the tight Corofin defending and the rather loose Brigids defending in the first half, meaning there was less latitude for Corofin players to win frees.

It wasn't the travestry of refereeing some would have you believe because in the end what decided the game was Brigids pulling away when it really mattered and Corofin not finding it within themselves to kick an equalizer from a series of half-chances they had near the end. It was hardly vintage stuff but it was definitely an entertaining and exciting game.

Anyone who can call that a square ball from that angle must have some  depth perception skills. Maybe a free out, but that isn't what the ref gave.

The ref was out of his depth & had a shocker. You would have to question how these guys are appointed with so little experience.

Should never have played the game in brigid's ground either. Totally unsuitable for the game. Neutral venues for provincial finals should be a given.

The venue was perfect for this level of match and it's the second county ground, which is why it was an option in the first place. More club finals should be played at smaller venues as the atmosphere is far better than sticking 4-5,000 into stadia built for 30,000+.