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4 weeks till the final meaning Kerry will have only played 3 games in 12 weeks - talk about dragging things out.

I thought they looked very under-cooked in the 1st half against Mayo and for 20/25 mins looked off the pace, not sure O'Connor knows his best team but 4 weeks of skleping as the Kerry boys would say should resolve that.

The romantic in me wants a Kerry v Dublin final but equally the thoughts of a Kerry v Donegal final fascinates me.

Either way really looking forward to this final.

We don't get to many at any level so expect a good crowd from Kildare at this.

This is Kildare's Senior development squad, what's the story with Cork, development or pure Junior like the Dubs?

"Michael Dara McAuley maybe on a yellow but he's confident enough to go for a diagonal ball"

That doesn't make any sense.

And to paraphrase his quote on Diarmuid Connolly "He has scored 5 points from play and every single time with his left foot"

No Marty he didn't, he scored his second point with his right.

Anyway, he is sucking the life out of games with his inane comments and don't get me started on his useless pieces of information it's regrettable that it wasn't the "Gooch" that put in the first half performance from Connolly last because then Marty probably would have self-imploded.

No doubt this will be RTE's reply to any complaints against Marty.

[Where]

Where :New Zealand
When: Sept 9th - Oct 23rd

Ireland's Group
Australia
Ireland
Italy
Russia
USA

Pool Fixtures - Irish Time

Sept 11th Sunday 7am Ireland v USA RTE/BBC
Sept 17th Saturday 9:30am Australia v Ireland RTE/BBC
Sept 25th Sunday 6am Ireland v Russia RTE/BBC
Oct 2nd Sunday 8:30am Ireland v Italy RTE/BBC
________________________________________

First warm-up game this Saturday in Scotland. Ireland team to be announced today at lunch time. Going to be strange watch Ireland play rugby in August as they have games against Connacht, France x 2 and England.

Very low key build up which I like, think we might actually go well this year and a semi-final spot could be on the cards.

Anyone heading out?

Take the 8 teams over the weekend

Limerick were beaten before they even set foot on the pitch and this was reflected in a lifeless performance. Kerry expected to win, they have an unrivaled winning culture, a sense of entitlement that separates them from every County fueled by constant media eulogies of Kerry and the Kingdom. They don't lose to Limerick.

Kildare and Donegal went toe to toe for close to 100 mins and were eventually separated by 1 point, Kildare froze with 8 mins to go, dead on their feet and in their minds, Dongeal though drew on the experience of winning the National League and Ulster and saw a team not use to winning they sniffed blood and took the kill. Had Kildare gone into that game as Leinster Champions they would have won imho.

Tyrone played like a team that didn't believe it would lose to Roscommon, the infusion of younger blood has reignited the elder statesmen and they believe in their manager, they have a clear goal path in front of them, Dublin and 2010, Donegal  and Ulster semi-final, and then they would probably belive they have Kerry in the final (mouth watering in my opinion). Roscommon needed to win Connacht and probably their league title, they are very much like Kildare, they need to win as much as they can to truly believe they can cope with the Kerry's, Cork's and Tyrone's of the world. Deep down they didn't expect to win on Saturday.

Mayo went in as complete under-dogs but that Connacht title has given them great belief and they picked of a Cork team who weren't prepared mentally who had one eye on Kerry. Cork were so hung up on beating Kerry in Croke Park they just didn't prepare for the Mayo game.

So with 5 teams left and at the semi-final form lines go out the window you will have 4 teams in a very strong position, if Mayo truly believe their game against Kerry won't be about 'natural forwards' and history then I think they can and will take an under-cooked Kerry side because Kerry will under-estimate them, history dictates that. On the other side of the draw I think you will have 2 tremendous games, if Dublin beat Tyrone they will have massive confidence but the hype machine will kick in and Dublin have shown they just can't handle the pressure that brings leaving a Donegal team in the AIF. However if Tyrone win I think they are the last team Donegal will want to play and Tyrone will win that, they have the motivation that will counter Donegal's siege mentality and their experience will be crucial.

http://eircomsports.eircom.net/GAA-Football/news/gaa/Man-and-ball-July-28.aspx

When last did a Connacht team cause an upset? A positive one, that is. No, games against each other don't count, so Sligo beating traditional powerhouses Galway and Mayo last year doesn't count. Nor should it in any case, when you consider how meekly both teams exited the championship. Come to think of it, Sligo went out to the tune of 19 points to Down; make what you will of that six-day turnaround.

So just to get this straight, let's look at who eliminated Connacht's representatives in the All Ireland series in 2010: Mayo lost to Longford, Leitrim to Kildare, London and Galway to Wexford, Sligo to Down, and Roscommon to Cork. Outside the Connacht championship where it is unavoidable that someone should win, no side from the western province won a single game outside their own championship. Not one.

The All Ireland series wasn't a whole lot better in 2009: Roscommon drew with and then beat Wexford, Sligo beat Tipperary and then all the cards fell in on the Connacht house thereafter. Again, no big wins. How about 2008? Well no wins outside Connacht there either as three teams – Sligo, Leitrim and London – were all Division 4 so they never even got to go into the qualifiers, instead regressing to the Tommy Murphy Cup. The mud thickens.

The last time a Connacht side even got to an All Ireland semi-final was in 2006 when Mayo made it to the final, and they got spanked by Kerry – 4-15 to 3-05; only three points scored in the second half too with the game still alive. Just two men who started that final – Keith Higgins and Alan Dillon – will line out in the first XV against Cork, while Trevor Mortimer and Andy Moran featured from the bench in that final five years ago.

Then again, that can be seen as a positive. Mayo have been at nothing these past couple of years so manager James Horan has changed tack, brought in youngsters, reshuffled those who've stayed, and still delivered a Connacht title. Whether the title is even worth the leftover shavings from when their name was etched into the David Nestor Cup is another matter. It represented progress, as does an All Ireland quarter-final. They would have taken it before the start of the year.

Getting any farther than that is unrealistic. Cork are too strong, too fast, too athletic, and too indomitable a team. Donncha O'Connor was in sparkling form against Down and there is no reason to suggest that won't continue against the Westerners. The O'Shea brothers – Seamus and Aidan – have been sometimes impressive and sometimes sluggish in midfield for Mayo but they will be cleaned out by Alan O'Connor and Aidan Walsh, particularly if the latter's form improves from the Down game.

It's heavyweights against flyweights all over the pitch. Whether you believe Joe Brolly's assertion that the Rebels are just a battering ram of a team or not, you can't deny their effectiveness. Plus, the Down game did, as has been roundly agreed upon, show Cork at their most fluid since 2009. Paul Kerrigan and Paddy Kelly are two of the more clever forwards in football, and they will open up doors. Fintan Goold have been waiting in the shadows for a long time but he had Down chasing that very thing. There are many prongs to the Rebel attack.

A surprise just isn't going to happen, even if the All Ireland champions have plenty of forwards missing: Colm O'Neill, Ciarán Sheehan and Daniel Goulding. The bigger shocks tend to be against sides from Connacht against sides that are nominally in the same province. By all accounts, London should have beaten Mayo a few months ago. Oh the laughing that would have been had at Horan's expense.

That was saved instead for Fermanagh and manager John O'Neill, as the Erne County gave the Exiles a first championship win since 1977. Not that the other Connacht counties can share in the joke, London are after all the only western team – again, nominally – to win a game outside their province in 2011.

Roscommon and Mayo get their chances this weekend against Tyrone and Cork respectively. We fancy both non-western teams to beat the handicaps of five points.
Connacht teams don't really do August anymore.

The Hill wasn't open last weekend and supporters of Kildare, Cork and Down had to pay 25 Euro for a stand ticket U16s 5 Euro yet Wexford and Limerick supporters had an option terracing (10 Euro) or stand (15 Euro), under 16s free.

This weekend no Hill again and it's 30 Euro for a stand ticket meaning Tyrone/Roscommon fans will have to pay double the amount for their qualifier game than Limerick/Wexford fans did theirs and 5 Euro more than Kildare/Cork/Down.

The following weekend The Hill will be open allowing cheaper tickets to Dublin/Tyrone/Roscommon supporters.

How can they justify not opening the Hill and having such a variation in ticket pricing from game to game?

It was some catch from the langer..

Is this a by-product of hype?
Is there a hot-line we can direct them too?
Is there no summer camp they can join?

Any Tyronies or Kerry heads have advice?

So badly need an ignore button in this place!!!

We don't really but as we head towards August who would be in contention, my own team with not much thought gone into it....

1. Stephen Cluxton (Dublin)
2. Shane Enright (Kerry)
3. Rory O'Carroll (Dublin)
4. Hugh McGrillen (Kildare)
5. Aaron Kernan (Armagh)
6. Aidan Flynn (Wexford)
7. Karl Lacey (Donegal)
8. John Doyle (Kildare)
9. Brendan Murphy (Carlow)
10. Alan Brogan (Dublin)
11. Declan O'Sullivan (Kerry)
12. Colm McFadden (Donegal)
13. Colm Cooper (Kerry)
14. Michael Murphy (Donegal)
15. Kieran Donaghy (Kerry)

POTY

Alan Brogan

How does he still have this role? Since he became the top refereeing dog standards have declined at an awful rate.  All common sense is completed coached out referees and are exempt from accountability. Too many big decisions are wrong and this summer seems to be drifting from one controversy to another.

Has the professional approach of inter-county teams and the increasingly high standard of football by-passed the strictly amateur referees. Are they fit enough, lack of fitness will affect concentration levels which will affect decision making. Is it time to introduce two referees ion the field of play?

The only thing we can be sure of is that Michael Curley will tell us all is fine with our referees.

Appetite is back..

1. Ciarán Lyng (Wexford) 1-15(0-7fs)
2. Daniel Goulding (Cork) 2-10(6fs)
3. Eoin Bradley (Derry) 2-9(0-2fs)
4. Ben Brosnan (Wexford) 0-14 (8fs, 1 45)
5. Colm Cooper (Kerry) 0-12(3fs)
6. Senan Kilbride (Roscommon) 1-8(0-3fs)
Conleth Gilligan (Derry) 1-8(0-5fs)
8. Donie Shine (Roscommon) 1-7(1f, 1 45)
9.Darran O'Sullivan (Kerry) 1-6
Redmond Barry (Wexford) 2-3
Bryan Sheehan (Kerry) 2-3(1-0 pen, 0-1f, 0-1 45)
11.Colm McFadden (Donegal) 0-8(4fs)
Johnny Doyle (Kildare) 0-8(4fs)
Conor Beirne (Leitrim) 1-5(0-3fs)
Donncha O'Connor (Cork) 1-5 (0-3fs)


3 Wexford players in the top 10. With at least 3 games (no disrespect Carlow) to go including that game against Carlow, Lyng at 13/2 to be top championship scorer could be a nice bet...

http://eircomsports.eircom.net/News/news/gaa/TheChampionshipPowerRankingsJune20.aspx

Ewan MacKenna

1. Cork (No change from last week's ranking)
All roads lead to Killarney, but they were never going to take this side anywhere else. In fact, so emphatic have they been that they're the only team in the country so far this season who have inadvertently put forward the idea of a two-tier championship.

Consider the battles on and off the field this group have been through and you'll realise that saying last September was a victory for persistence rather than excellence isn't the insult it initially appears. From the problems with their own county board to their problems with Kerry and Croke Park, it took a mentally superb team to finally fall over the finishing line. Thing is, that win has helped this side evolve into a superb team when it comes to playing ability as well.

A group of once-flaky forwards kicked more points than anyone else this league if you take out Kilkenny's results, with Daniel Goulding and Donnacha O'Connor casting off self-doubt and Pearse O'Neill and Ciaran Sheehan shedding poor form. Throw in potential Player of the Year Paddy Kelly and the speed of Paul Kerrigan and suddenly their scoring power looks up there with their towering midfield, rugby league-like physicality and the drive that begins at the back. The only pity is Colm O'Neill won't get to develop with that forward unit in 2011 because of injury.

But as much as being All Ireland champions has improved Cork, it's raised a question and a nagging doubt that facile wins over Clare and Waterford just couldn't answer. The pain of losing initially brought Noel O'Leary and Michael Shields to Rylane Boxing Club in winter and last season the whole side danced on the canvas. But without pain, how will they react and where will the desperation to succeed come from when they face another contender? Graham Canty, Nicholas Murphy and O'Leary were old dogs for the hard road, but this is now a different road and while their journey to the top was tougher than most, it won't be any tougher than staying put on their perch. Were eased into the summer by Clare and Waterford but we won't learn much about their drive for a double-double until that Munster final in Killarney.

2. Kerry (-)
Like Cork, we won't know until these top two put antler to antler. What we do know is that Kerry are still right up near the top of the food chain. The wonderful interchange of their forwards at the Gaelic Grounds against Limerick underlined what a threat they still are going into the summer.

So far, the positives have been many: Kieran Donaghy, against poor opposition, showed the sort of form that will likely win an All Star a few months down the line and maybe even a Footballer of the Year accolade if his county go all the way; the Gooch keeps on kicking with another seven points; and Declan O'Sullivan is still arguably the most effective player in Ireland. On top of that, Tom O'Sullivan really came back into form and Marc Ó Sé once again looked solid at three.

But there has been a downside too. This group must be mentally strong to have won so much and to have conquered all before them. Which raises the question about why they lack such discipline. A meaningless early Munster win against Tipperary was turned by Kerry into a newsworthy event for no other reason than the fact they are susceptible to being wound up. They can publicly blame whoever and whatever they want, but like before, they have no one to blame but themselves. Now more than at any stage over the past 15 years, they need every one of their senior players each Sunday. Suddenly though, they don't have Tomás Ó Sé until the All Ireland quarter-finals. What's worse is that his red card casts a shadow over all the positives and hope that came flooding forward from the league and that Limerick win.

For the first time in an age, they don't look as strong as Cork on paper, with major problems around the middle, but while being declared team of the decade left them without a sense of mission, that has now returned and there is no more dangerous side when there is a chip on their shoulder and there is a point to prove. As long as they have their full compliment that is, and play ball with their heads and feet, not their fists.

3. Dublin (-)
Laois provided little or no contest for Dublin at Croke Park in the Leinster quarter-final and, on another day, what was an eight-point win could have been double that. Eoin Culliton pulled off a trio of wonderful saves before Diarmuid Connolly – who was rather wasteful on the day – slipped one through his legs. Bernard Brogan was not quite his usual deadly self but what we saw from brother Alan and Co means they will again go close later in the year. Pat Gilroy's team work harder than anyone else and while Darragh Ó Sé wrote recently that emptying the tank so early in games will cost them against the best sides, most will not get to the 60-minute mark retaining any hope of overtaking them.

But as much as finally reaching that national final this season was a serious accomplishment, not to mention the manner they went about it where they scored 18 goals in eight games, outside of Tyrone last year Dublin still haven't won that game against a heavyweight when the safety net has been taken away. The saying still holds true that while Dublin don't lose to lesser teams, they don't beat better teams either.

If this group didn't realise the importance of winning a league title during those cold 6am training sessions in Clontarf in January, they will have since the league final defeat. After all, before them that day was a team that evolved on the back of winning the league. As much as you need to lose one to win one, Dublin have lost too many. Yes, they have the players to go a long way, especially with Eamonn Fennell returning to the fold in a recent challenge game, but you wonder if they have the defence and more importantly the belief to go all the way and you wonder when their predictable counter-attacking style will be exploited by the opposition.

4. Tyrone (-)
Referee Cormac Reilly handed out 14 yellow cards in their game against Monaghan and the two that saw Dick Clerkin sent off after a half hour had a massive impact. But it was the Tyrone experience (and with seven starters being 30-plus, there was plenty) of Stephen O'Neill, Sean Cavanagh and Brian McGuigan that allowed them to squeeze through. Only just though, particularly when you consider the teams were separated by 10 points in last year's Ulster final and Monaghan are now in a transition period.

But it's too easy to forget they are reigning Ulster champions and could have won an All Ireland were it not for the bounce of the ball of a post in the quarter-final last season. Recently spent time being guided through a flexibility programme by the renowned Ger Hartmann in the University of Limerick but you get the feeling it's come along too late for the likes of Brian Dooher, O'Neill and Conor Gormley. And yet they are still so dependent on those three and so many of the names that were lighting up the summer six years ago.

A look through the teamsheet shows so many big names are still there, but that is part of the problem. As much as Mickey Harte's loyalty is admirable, a once pioneering side could learn from Cork's use of the bench and the Munster side's mix of youth and experience. Outside of Collie McCullough, Peter Harte and now Mark Donnelly, so few have broken through since 2005 and this in a county that has won three of the last four Ulster minor titles and two of the last three All Ireland minor titles. Instead the likes of Niall McKenna have been left to rot and regress on the bench. It's a numbers game and Tyrone need to realise it's about more than a mere 15 if they are to go all the way.

5. Kildare (-)
Though Brian Farrell was harshly sent off for Meath and Graham Geraghty's goal should have been allowed, Kildare deserved to win that game at a canter and it says something about this side that they can beat their great rivals without hitting anywhere near top speed. A big problem is that James Kavanagh hasn't found the starter on his engine yet as he could have had a couple of goals against Banty's side but it's been like that for Kildare as they have racked up an amazing 35 wides in two games.

All the same, you can see the raw materials are there – not to mention one of the most refined gems in Johnny Doyle and underrated footballers in Eamonn Callaghan – and Kieran McGeeney has put together a formidable unit. He doesn't want to hear about them being the fittest side in Gaelic football nor is he willing to say if the team are better than last year but so what, the clash against Dublin will answer both questions. It's that game that will define their season and it's why it's so important that Daryll Flynn returns.

Meath floundered badly in the Leinster quarter-final and Wicklow were eventually a walkover. It was easy for those sitting at home to criticise Kildare's shooting in that Wicklow game, but you had to be in O'Moore Park to get a sense of a wind that changed direction as often as it changed strength. But the positives should bury the 12 of 40 scoring opportunities taken that day and they range from Michael Foley's continuing growth into the full-back role, Hugh Lynch's efforts in the middle, Doyle filling in for Dermot Earley in body as well as soul and Tomas O'Connor's impact close to goal.

The circle seems to continue with Kildare. Good summer, creating high hopes, followed by a disappointing league, only for it all to begin again and any rust that formed over the colder months was brushed away in their opener. It's about timing with McGeeney and while it was off last year leading to that opening game defeat to Louth, it seems spot on this championship. But don't forget how bad the opposition were and don't forget a provincial title is a big ask this time around. When they play bigger and better teams, you get the feeling they are lightweight at midfield without Earley's guidance, are missing an All Star in corner-back Peter Kelly and you still wonder if all six forwards can turn them into the highest-scoring team in the nation for a second successive year, especially on the back of a league where they averaged less than 12 points per game and just half a goal per game.

6. Down (+1)
Armagh's collapse doesn't do them any favours but for a number of reasons it's too easy to describe them as one hit-wonders, unable to produce that difficult second album. Firstly, the qualifiers can do a confidence team like Down so much good. Secondly, they've been here before, just as they've been to the All Ireland final before. And thirdly, they can take solace in the fact that to produce a true heavyweight fight like that in the Athletic Grounds, it takes two serious opponents. In fact watching them fall made you think of just how important the qualifiers are to football, because to lose a team like this in May under the old system would lessen the championship as a whole.

But just as they showed in the league they are contenders, they showed in Armagh that to maintain their status as one of the best in the country, the likes of Kevin McKernan, Peter Fitzpatrick, Danny Hughes and Mark Poland will need another defining season while Benny Coulter will need to keep getting goals. On top of all that Marty Clarke needs to up his game to 2010 levels. They'll have plenty of game time to do all that now and we expect to see them much further down the line, despite the setback. Will annihilate Clare next day out and that will get the juggernaut rolling.

7. Donegal (+1)
It's not pretty but it's plenty effective and against Antrim and Cavan what we suspected all along came to pass. Now, after proving they are a legitimate top-eight team, they have the chance against Tyrone to prove they are a team capable of collecting silverware. Michael Murphy's revoked suspension will help in that aim as will the emerging influence of minor star Paddy McBrearty who could yet be a major factor in 2011, and of course beyond.

Under McGuinness the county has its most dedicated team in an age and their hassling and harrying at the back in Ulster so far shows as much. That they gave up their pre-championship night out, instead taking in the Scottish League Cup final back in March is another example of the unity and organisation in the group. The Ulster semi-final will be defining but belief is back under a man that should have been given the job before now. Have a chance at an Ulster title but even if that doesn't happen, anything less than an All Ireland quarter-final will be a disappointment and that shows how far they've come so quickly.

8. Mayo (+1)
Yes, yes, we saw it too. But there's no point in over-the-top reactions or in moving them down the rankings on the back of a freak occasion. As much as they could, and should, have been on the end of one of the greatest ever shocks the game has seen, they weren't. Their league solidity showed it was a bad day and despite their trip to London, this is a side that is gradually growing under James Horan. Consider this. In 2006 they didn't get us all hot and bothered during an opening-day win in Ruislip either and ended the year in the All Ireland final. We aren't saying that will happen again but they are still the best team in Connacht and outside of Andy Moran and Alan Dillon, every other player has so much to work on and so few excuses not to improve hugely ahead of the Galway game.

Haven't had a pop at the Dubs in a while but went to Reservoir Dubs to have an auld nose to see what they are saying about the Kildare v Dublin game and there low and  behold is a thread attacking (although some defending)  Jim McGuinness for calling Dublin 'Perennial Chokers'. Anyone who saw Jim's rant knew he was actually defending the Dubs. Seriously I thought I was been a tad precious about Kildare's stereotyped media coverage but this brings their preciousness to a new level up there with Tyrone and puke football.

Have a friend that works with the Carlow footballers, so knew they were going well. Also having Sean O'Brien around the camp can only be but a motivation mind you I still wouldn't have put money on them beating Louth.

Anyhow this is a Derby game, all the pressure will be on Wexford though.

When was the last time Carlow were in a Leinster Semi?

The lads are taking about this on the Kildare forum, John Doyle has played in 51 consecutive championship matches, is this a record, where would one find this information?

Plus he hasn't failed to score since the All-Ireland semi in 2000 - Legend!!!

A column that puts TSG to shame...simple and intelligent analysis

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2011/0525/1224297715797.html

The Irish Times - Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Doyle is consistency in a world gone mad
Last Sunday against Wicklow, when the wind held up every kick-out and made it very hard to make a clean catch at midfield, John Doyle was the one man who managed it. He kicked his frees and set up play as well. Last Sunday against Wicklow, when the wind held up every kick-out and made it very hard to make a clean catch at midfield, John Doyle was the one man who managed it. He kicked his frees and set up play as well.

THE MIDDLE THIRD: While the Kildare captain was easily the best man on show in Portlaoise on Sunday, the game also showed the maddening differences in referee styles which left both sides frustrated. But players can be as much to blame and the time has come to give the men in black a helping hand, writes DARRAGH Ó SÉ

I STARTED my championship summer at O'Moore Park in Portlaoise on Sunday, which must have just about the most accessible ground in the country. These are the things I notice now, traffic jams and the like of that. Big difference to when I was playing.

The season is a fortnight old and already we're stuck with the two of the same complaints as last year and every year.

Poor matches and inconsistent referees.

The double header was actually decent enough considering the serious wind there was in Portlaoise. Kildare and Laois both won without being brilliant but they both won, which is the main thing.

People get too carried away with looking for quality games at this time of year. The days of the great first-round games like Down v Derry in 1994 are gone, an unavoidable downside to the qualifiers.

The Kildare v Wicklow game was fine up until the last 20 minutes when we had a change of referee.

Marty Duffy was having an excellent game until he had to go off injured. He was letting the thing flow, not clamping down on small things. But the most important thing was he was being consistent. A free was a free no matter which team was fouling. You saw players on both sides get bottled up in traffic and be called for over-carrying. Players knew where they stood and knew what they could get away with and what they couldn't. It felt like Marty only blew the whistle to start the half and end it.

But then he went off with 20 minutes left. Syl Doyle, who had been doing the line, replaced him. Suddenly the whole dynamic of the game changed. The free-count went up and players started getting ratty. And you couldn't blame them. Doyle was a completely different kind of referee.

Suddenly, the smallest pull was a foul whereas it hadn't been before. Players were getting tangled up together and Doyle would blow the whistle but the whole crowd would be waiting for the arm to go up to see which way he was giving it.

Both sets of supporters started getting annoyed with him. They were getting riled up and putting pressure on him to make decisions and that only made his life more difficult.

It was interesting to watch it all unfold because it was as if we were seeing two different games played.

It's the best example I've seen in recent times of the inconsistency in refereeing. No matter whose approach is right and whose is wrong, the players deserve consistency. You'd maybe feel a bit sorry for Doyle because he came in cold.

But it just showed the difference that can be made when another style of referee is in charge of a game.

And in terms of the whole season, it shows what can make players frustrated.

The inconsistency of referees is a cancer in our game because it means that nobody knows what's legal and what's not from game to game.

Kildare are going to be playing again on Sunday week and they could very easily have a different style of referee again. There's just too much of a variance between how games are refereed.

It affects your preparation as a player, nearly as much as the opposition affects it. Teams have to tailor their approach to the different styles of refereeing they're going to get in each game.

If it's a Joe McQuillan or a Pat McEnaney, then you're fine. You know there'll be no messing, you know what they'll stand for. That's the level we need the referees to come up to.

I remember the famous game against Clare when Paddy Russell had the book knocked out of his hand by Paul Galvin. Now Paul did what he did and got rightly punished for it but what people forget is that after Paul went off, Paddy sent off a Clare fella a few minutes later who didn't come near to deserving the line. Standing beside him on the pitch, it looked to me like Paddy was trying to balance the whole thing out.

Players will look to get away with anything to try and win but a good referee will have your number. I was sent off once in Croke Park for an altercation with Cork's Pearse O'Neill.

I thought I was being cute. Pearse and myself were getting to know each other and all that goes with that and I brought it a step too far, not realising that Joe McQuillan had me covered.

He just looked round at exactly the right moment and caught me at it. Red card, no questions asked. I ran into Joe at a wedding a few months later in Cavan and we had a pint and laughed about it. He knew what to look out for.

Not all of them are as alert as him though and in fairness to referees, with some of the carry-on players get up to they'd need three pairs of eyes to keep up.

To my mind the most disappointing aspect of Gaelic football at the minute – and it isn't creeping in, it's definitely in already – is players and managers looking to get opponents sent off.

I can say, hand on heart, never once under four different Kerry managers did I hear an instruction go out to get an opposition player booked or sent off. It's not manly. It's cowardly.

Referees have a tough job and in case this looks like I'm having a right go at referees for the sake of it, I'm not. In terms of the quality of our game, referees are as important as players.

Referees should be looked after a little better in general, paid good money if it will help. No player in the country would begrudge a referee getting paid, given a holiday at the end of the year for him and his family or whatever. Reward the top performers, create an elite band of referees and we'd see the whole thing improve.

Also, I don't see why they shouldn't be given help from the stand. In this day and age, we should be able to do what they do in rugby.

For the big games – say, from provincial finals onwards – a referee should be able to consult someone with a monitor in front of them when it comes to big calls. It wouldn't disrupt the game any more than him jogging the length of the pitch to talk to an umpire who has his arm out. And at least the big calls would be right.

I think referees would be delighted with it. We've all seen a referee lose the run of a game because he was nervous about getting a big call wrong. But if you take away that danger and make it so that they know he'll be helped out when it comes to a penalty or a sending-off that he mightn't be sure of, he'll relax into the game.

We'll see better matches too. The six that were played last Sunday were good in places, patchy in others. The good players really stood out.

Nobody who watched the two matches in Portlaoise could have been in any doubt that John Doyle was easily the best player on show.

On a day when the wind held up every kick-out and made it very hard to make a clean catch at midfield, he was the one man who managed it. He kicked his frees and set up play as well.

But the one thing he did better than everyone else was make the right choices. That's what sets the best players apart. He wasn't taking on crazy shots, he wasn't going on silly runs into traffic. Just doing the simple thing and doing it right.

Pádraic Joyce does it, Bernard Brogan and Michael Murphy do it. Same with the Gooch and Declan O'Sullivan, same with Ciarán Sheehan and Donncha O'Connor.

Cork and Kerry both got the job done on Sunday without an awful lot of hassle. Those games are hard to get your mind right for because you know you're going to win.

That isn't being disrespectful, it's just a fact.

You know that your players are better and your preparation has been good so you're going to pull through. You know as well that there'll probably be plenty of off-the-ball stuff going on so you have to be ready for it and you have to ignore it.

There's nothing worse than winning a game easy but then losing a fella for a month because he retaliated and got sent off.

Tomás Ó Sé will miss the rest of the Munster championship because of his red card. At this stage of his career, he knows he should know better than to do what he did. Knowing the man and having spoken to him in the meantime, he'll take it on the chin and do his best to get back on the team later in the year.

Personally, the only beef I would have with the suspension is the 48-week carry-over. It's a ridiculous rule. And I'd be saying that no matter who it was that got the suspension.

PS. Fair play to Leitrim on beating Sligo, some performance given all they've had to deal with over the past year with the death of Philly McGuinness. But I must say I found Mickey Moran's interview on The Sunday Game afterwards hilarious.

If you put a Yank in front of the TV who knew nothing about the games and asked him to pick out which manager had lost that day, Mickey would have been the choice hands down!

I never saw a man look as fed-up about winning a game. It's long road, Mickey. Lighten up and enjoy the good days.

With the latest capitulation from the Dublin footballers and Arsenals end of season annual implosion following McIlroy's Masters melt down, the BBC have published an interesting article on choking..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/front_page/13185266.stm

The Champions League semi-finals are still a few days away, but the prospect of the dreaded penalty shoot-out is already looming.

Chelsea captain John Terry has admitted that it took months to come to terms with the spot-kick he missed in the Champions League final in 2008, when he slipped before making contact with the ball.

Former England defender Gareth Southgate will probably always be associated with his miss at the European Championship semi-final in 1996, when he shot with a woeful lack of conviction.

Both men have testified how treacherously difficult it is to score from 12 yards when you are shouldering the hopes of millions.

It is not the difficulty of the task - most top players invariably score during practice sessions - but the enormity of the moment. The problem is not ability but nerve. This, of course, is the essence of performance psychology.
John Terry slips while taking a penalty in the 2008 Champions League final Chelsea captain Terry slipped as he missed his penalty in 2008

The tendency to lose one's nerve - or "choke" - was seen in graphic fashion in the Masters at Augusta earlier this month. Rory McIlroy was within touching distance of the Green Jacket when he underwent a devastating implosion.

It was not just his woods and irons that deserted him, but his putting and chipping, too. For a while it was as if he had become a novice again.

Few of us have played international sport, but in a curious way we can all relate to the curse of choking. When we are interviewed for a job we don't care about, we are relaxed, confident and the answers flow.

But when we are interviewed for a job that means everything, that is when our mouth dries and our brain, all too often, stalls. We fluff our lines in precisely the same way McIlroy fluffed his drive on the 10th tee.

But why? Why are so many of us inclined to mess up at precisely the moment when messing up is most calamitous? Why are we so prone to fail when we most want to succeed?

For years the paradox of choking seemed incomprehensible to psychologists and sportsmen alike. It is only in recent years that neuroscientists have glimpsed the answers, and they are both intriguing and revelatory.

Consider what happens when you are learning a task, say driving a car. When you start out, you have to focus intently to move the gearstick while shifting the steering wheel and pushing the clutch. Indeed, at the beginning these tasks are so difficult to execute that the instructor starts you off in a car park.

But now consider what happens after hundreds of hours of practice. Now, you can perform these skills effortlessly, without any conscious control, so that you are able to arrive at your destination without even being aware of how you got there.

In effect, experts and novices use two completely different brain systems. Long practice enables experienced performers to encode a skill in implicit memory, and they perform almost without thinking about it.

This is called expert-induced amnesia. Novices, on the other hand, wield the explicit system, consciously monitoring what they are doing as they build the neural framework supporting the task.

But now suppose an expert were to suddenly find himself using the "wrong" system. It wouldn't matter how good he was because he would now be at the mercy of the explicit system.

The highly sophisticated skills encoded in the subconscious part of his brain would count for nothing. He would find himself striving for victory using neural pathways he last used as a novice.

This is the neurophysiology of choking. It is triggered when we get so anxious that we seize conscious control over a task that should be executed automatically.

That is why McIlroy's technique was so stilted - explicit monitoring was vying with implicit execution. The problem was not insufficient focus, but too much focus. Conscious monitoring had disrupted the smooth workings of the subconscious. He was, in a literal sense, a novice again.

This is why choking is so dramatic: it triggers a psychological metamorphosis. And this is why those slated to taken penalties in the semi-finals will be working as hard on their mental as their physical games.

There are many methods that can avert choking, but the ultimate objective can be summed up in one sentence. As the Nike ad puts it: "Just do it".