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Mayo's full back will wear the number 3 in the final....

[Its Amazing how Kerry are favourites for 2013!!!]

I wonder will Mayo or Donegal's odds get better or worse if they win the 2012 All-Ireland. The whole difficult to defend your title the next year scenario. Its Amazing how Kerry are favourites for 2013!!!Kerry      11/4
Donegal   9/2
Dublin   9/2
Cork      9/2
Mayo      13/2

Any truth in rumour that Cian O'Neill (fitness conditioner etc with Mayo, ex-Tipp) is going to Kerry next year?  May have something to do with their odds...

[alot]

Our county council is kind enough to fund Ballagh GAA. How sweet of them. I'm going to ask the next councillor I meet why the overall issue of Ballagh has been more forcefully contested by them. I've lived here all my life and I can barely remember hearing a peep from local politicians. Now that Ballagh is paired with Castlerea as one electoral area maybe a Castlerea councillor on the boil will be opportunistic enough to push this into the agenda.

The town itself most certainly has alot of Roscommon people, with the players who want to have the chance of palying for their county playing for the nearest Roscommon club. The exact split is murky because alot of people from outside the town itself identify themselves as part of the community and they come with perhaps even more baggage than the residents. Even Sligo is within throwing distance, there was always a few Sligoians in Nathy's in every year in my school days. The main street looked like it was decked out by a colour blind event organiser before the 2006 AI finals. It's the place you want to be if you want some championship banter with your drink, that's for sure.

This whole issue isn't even as simple as one family being on one side or the other. As an example, two of Andy Moran's cousins, Seanie McDermott, the Roscommon inter-county corner-back, and Derek Moran play for Western Gaels, a Roscommon club. Even Andy's father is a Roscommon man. It's got to the point now that people actively choose sides as children - do I support my parents' county or do I play with all my school friends at the local club? The whole situation is as complete a mess as you're likely to ever find.

I think the end-game is inevitable and will be that Ballagh GAA will either get an exception to allow its players to play for Roscommon or be forced to play in Roscommon as a club. It may even take decades more, but Ballagh GAA's make-up is becoming less and less hard-line Mayo and more of a mixture of both counties. The idea of a separate club was tried but it didn't take hold and Mayo people should be thanking their lucky stars for that because if one became established Ballagh's Mayo heritage would be washed away in a generation. The writing has been on the wall from the moment Ballagh moved to Roscommon, no matter what the emotional position of Mayo people.

In the interests of accuracy, however belated, Seanie McDermott is a first cousin of Derek Moran's, Derek Moran is a first cousin of Andy Moran, but Seanie is not a cousin of Andy.

Michael Quinn plays centre half back for Longford, had a spell in Australia, looked a real quality player during the league, adds another layer to a team that has been making steady progress over the last few years - they play a very organised yet positive brand of football. Testimony to the value of giving a manager a decent amount of time to build a team. Expect them to make some ripples this year if their key players remain injury free.

These were teams today according to breakingnews.ie - why wasn't Cathal Cregg playing for DCU, I wonder?

DCU: M Boyle; P McMahon, K Gavin, E Culligan; N Collins, J Cooper, J McCarthy; F O'Shea, C Begley (0-1); P Flynn (1-3), D Rock (0-4, 0-1f), D Keenan (0-2); J Brady, E O'Gara (0-4), A McFadden.

Subs used: D Kelly (1-1) for Brady (31 mins), M Murphy (0-1) for Keenan (40), G Sweeney (0-1) for Rock (48), R Hennelly for Boyle (54), F O'Curraoin for O'Gara (57).

NUI Maynooth: S Connolly; K O'Brien, K Lynch, D Dalton (0-1); T Moolick (0-1), J McDermott, S Denvir; C Berrigan (0-1), C Brophy; P Cahillane (0-1), S Hurley, C Mullins; M Newman (0-2, 0-1f), D Quinn (0-1), J Califf.

Subs used: S Fahey for Califf (34 mins), T Johnson for Denvir (38), D Quinn for Berrigan (45), W Ryan for Lynch (49), P Og O'Griofa for Mullins (54).

Today's Sigerson Cup Final winning margin (16 points, 2-17 to 0-7) is the biggest since 33 years ago today when UCC beat UCG by 2-15 to 0-2 - thanks to Statto Donal for that.

Sorry, Statto Donal has that wrong, UCD won the Sigerson that year beating UCG in final in Pairc Ui Chaoimh by that record scoreline. Great UCD team in those days, all of them doing legit courses, mostly undergraduate with maybe a couple doing Masters or H. Dips in Ed.
Team was - John Murphy (Sligo), Sean Doherty (Tyrone), Paddy O'Donoghue {Kildare), Joe Joe O'Sullivan (Kerry); Declan Carey( Down), P J Finlay (Monaghan), Barry O'Donoghue (Kildare); Colm O'Rourke (Meath), John Caffrey (Dublin); Andy Roche (Dublin), Tony McManus (Roscommon, captain), Morgan Hughes (Galway); Jimmy Lyons (Mayo), Tommy Murphy (Wicklow), Frank Sullivan ( Meath).

Some names to conjure with there, and 12 counties represented...

Cheers.

Do you know the teams?

Liam Hayes wrote Out of our Skins - updated and re-published last year.

If their spelling and punctuation is anything to go by, I would be wary...

Is there any sports book published this year which hasn't made the list?

[On Sunday night he mentioned something about Kyle Coney and Penrose which was totally inaccurate.]

I agree. To me Davis seems to be a bit of a puppet. He seems easily influenced and to me is a bit of a yes man.

On Sunday night he mentioned something about Kyle Coney and Penrose which was totally inaccurate. I can't recall just now what he said.
Tohill was not so easily lead by the line of questioning that Spillane used to fire at him.
Unlike Brolly, he'd sit quietly and let others have their say and then he'd politely disagree with them and speak his own mind and not care what people think about it. Davis is more worried about who he might upset.

Mickey Harte has always been excellent with the media over the years and comes out and talks openly when asked. Many see him as a goodie two shoes but after that piss take on RTE I think he's well within his rights to give the interviews a break for a while anyway.

He was saying how great it was to see new names on the Tyrone team and included Marty Penrose amongst them...

Fellas, I don't see the Sunday Game every night - has Anthony Tohill been on much this year?

The reason I ask is because Tohill was one of my favourites. I thought he knew his stuff and was able to get his points across. And now I can't remember him being on any Sunday Game I've seen this year.

The reason I mention it here is because RTÉ did a lot of huffing and puffing about how they'd choose who did their shows and wouldn't be dictated too. I seem to remember Tohill ruffling some feathers in the past though, and I can't help but put two and two together.

I'm sure I'm doing RTÉ a disservice. Has Tohill been on the Sunday Game much this year?

I heard it came down to a straight choice between Tony Davis and Tohill. No choice really now was it?

Were Michael Murphy and Cathal Cregg playing?

Anyone know what the DCU team was? - usually have a county team left on the bench - they'll be in some state of shock after that defeat...