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"The incident happened in a tunnel....."

And the award for the most unfortunate double entendre in a news report goes to........

Last night I dreamt that somebody loved me by the Smiths.

As Tyrone would attest themselves in 2005 - the back door system definitely helps a team build momentum. Momemtum is understated in this current format. Having experienced the taste of defeat as master Mickey alluded to yesterday can be a positive experience to draw from if a team is lookin to get a run and get their stars alligned.

^^^^^
THIS

How Tyrone go from here goes further than just Harte and the senior team right now. The county has badly performed in U21 in the last few years and the effects are starting to show. Cork, Dublin and Down have done well at this level in the last few years and the results for them are starting to come through. The All Ireland winning teams of Tyrone came from a strong U21 team a decade ago. Right now Tyrone are not bringing their minor players through to senior via the U21s with too much relied on or loyalty shown to players reaching the sunset of their county careers.

Use the NFL next year to blood young players fully and use the likes of Cavanagh, Carlin, Hughes to mentor them. Do not take the Ulster championship seriously next year, it is now no advantage to any team wanting to win the All Ireland. If Tyrone win it, good. If not, start being serious from the first time they enter the qualifier. Harte has one year left on his current term, he should help bring through the next generation next year in the league and championship and play down expectations in Tyrone.

I agree with alot of that, especially with the failure of the under 21s over the last few years to make a serious impact on the championship. The 08 minor team will all be available for the under 21 championship next year, if they are as good as we all hope they are then they should be challenging for an ulster title at least. College football in the autumn will give a lot of them a decent quality of football.

I would disagree with the Harte having one year left on his current term as such. I think he's got as long in charge of the Tyrone team as he chooses.

Donnelly and Coyle being in charge of the U21 team has been very poor especially with what they did at minor level. The eye has been too easily taken off them because of senior and minor success but at county level U21 football is becoming an important bridge for bringing players into senior. University football is also good, but it does not have the sense of continuity you have at county level.

As for Harte, he has one year left on his current term. It would take a brave man to say no to Harte if he wanted to continue, but I would hope his ego would not get the better of him for the sake of Tyrone football. He might become a Sean Boylan who had a second lease of life as a manager or he could end up a Pete Mc Grath who didn't know when to stop until Down were humiliated.

The results over the weekend say two things. First is that for the third year in a row the All Ireland champion will not be a provincial winner, we will have the sixth back door winner in ten years. Second is that along with the first thing, the provincial championships have now been devalued. Badly. Managers know that winning your province no longer helps you to win the All Ireland.

It can be easy to dismiss the results that mean the four All Ireland semi finalists this year did not even reach their provincial finals as a fluke. But if something like that happens next year, say only one provincial winner gets to the semis, then it will be time to have a serious look at how the football championship is run before provincial titles start becoming worthless and the whole thing becoming a shambles.

I think the provincial championships have only been devalued to the more successful counties, because to them, those titles are only seen now as a stepping stone to Sam.
Then, if they don't win Sam, the provincial title tends to get overlooked.

However, this is not the case with the ''weaker'' counties.
Do you think the Connacht Title means any less to Roscommon tonight, just because Cork beat them today. Nobody outside the county will ever know what that title means to the people of Roscommon.

If Sligo had won it, the same would have applied.

Imagine if Louth hadn't been the victims of daylight robbery in the Leinster Final and had claimed their first title in whatever number of years it was.
Would they feel the Leinster Title was devalued because they didn't win Sam?

This idea of provincial titles being devalued is a reaction from the so-called 'elitist' teams to failing to kick on and win Sam.
But, you know, there are other counties out there to whom winning a provincial title means everything.

If the main teams aiming for All Ireland success decide that it is not important to win your provincial title then the provincial titles are going to get devalued, like it or not.

To counties like Roscommon and Louth, provincial titles may still hold some value because of how rare they claim them, but that has always been the case.

Before the back door Kerry held the Munster title as a step to the All Ireland but it was the ONLY step to an All Ireland semi final therefore they had to play at their best in the Munster Championship. Now the Munster Championship is a sideshow because it is not of importance to Kerry or Cork. If Limerick, Tipperary, Clare or Waterford now win a Munster title, you won't be able to dismiss the fact that Kerry and Cork have one eye on bigger things if they are capable of winning the All Ireland. Sad, but that is true. If Clare win another Munster title with the present system, it will not hold the same prestige as in 1992.

Senior provincial titles have done nothing for Dublin in the last few years. They done nothing for Tyrone except in 2003. Kerry won the All Ireland last year through the back door. Cork right now are progressing nicely. Time to accept that the provincial senior medal is not what it once was.

What a threat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Norn Iron soccer fans would not have the guts to try and cause chaos in the Aviva or any stadium except their own dingy shithole in Windsor Park as they would not know any better thinking Stormont would bail them out. Combat 18 they are not. They are not so big when they don't have the RUC around them or loyalist housing estates. Nah, when there is a few hundred of them surrounded by 'beggars', the Guards and with a surrounding area not loyal to them they will shit their underpants once they are getting their heads cracked open by a few night sticks from the guards or worse if a load of southern supporters got to them. And what a wonderful scene for the TV cameras around the world it would be of the IFA who would then be kicked out of Euro and World Cup tournaments. The only thing their fans would then start to mope even more about is when Cameron and Clegg tells Buff Sammy that they won't be 'sponging' off the English any more.

All mouth and no balls the lot of them. If they really did have any, the Poles would have thrown it right back at them.

Down were well deserving winners yesterday and I'm not too shocked that they did, but if was a Down man I would not be getting carried away. Beating Kerry could have been their All Ireland final for them. In the last few years teams like Monaghan, Sligo and Longford have like Down had the chance to put away Kerry in championship games when the Kingdom have been vulnerable. Only Down have the lack of fear of the green and gold to fully put them away when other teams except maybe Tyrone and Cork can't.

Kerry looked ill disciplined yesterday and lacked leadership. Down commanded the pitch for around two thirds of the game and buried them in the last 15. The forward line is as strong as any in Ireland but midfield and defence are a bit suspect. McVeigh did well with two good stops to deny Kerry getting one foot back in the door in the second half. If Down really want to go all the way they will need to stay alert for the 70 minutes and chalk up a big half time lead against Kildare or the win against Kerry will be the only positive to take from this year. Everything clicked yesterday, the same might not happen against Kildare when you don't have an underdog tag.

I think it is Cork's to lose right now.

The results over the weekend say two things. First is that for the third year in a row the All Ireland champion will not be a provincial winner, we will have the sixth back door winner in ten years. Second is that along with the first thing, the provincial championships have now been devalued. Badly. Managers know that winning your province no longer helps you to win the All Ireland.

It can be easy to dismiss the results that mean the four All Ireland semi finalists this year did not even reach their provincial finals as a fluke. But if something like that happens next year, say only one provincial winner gets to the semis, then it will be time to have a serious look at how the football championship is run before provincial titles start becoming worthless and the whole thing becoming a shambles.

Dublin had a little bit of luck near the end but they deserved to get something out of the game as they were a bit better over all compared to Tyrone. Gilroy had his homework done.

Mickey Harte was shown up not for the first time as having no clear plan B when plan A is not working. When things go well they go very well but when they don't next to nothing is done. It was the case in Laois in 2006, Against Cork in Croke Park last year and against Dublin yesterday. Tyrone might have been in the game for all except the last few minutes but they never looked like putting Dublin away.

How Tyrone go from here goes further than just Harte and the senior team right now. The county has badly performed in U21 in the last few years and the effects are starting to show. Cork, Dublin and Down have done well at this level in the last few years and the results for them are starting to come through. The All Ireland winning teams of Tyrone came from a strong U21 team a decade ago. Right now Tyrone are not bringing their minor players through to senior via the U21s with too much relied on or loyalty shown to players reaching the sunset of their county careers.

Use the NFL next year to blood young players fully and use the likes of Cavanagh, Carlin, Hughes to mentor them. Do not take the Ulster championship seriously next year, it is now no advantage to any team wanting to win the All Ireland. If Tyrone win it, good. If not, start being serious from the first time they enter the qualifier. Harte has one year left on his current term, he should help bring through the next generation next year in the league and championship and play down expectations in Tyrone.

Can't say I have a strong preference for any of the last four teams remaining. All have their good and bad points.

Cork. Plus, maybe the best team left and a good team to watch. Minus, that Peoples Republic Of Cork shite is hard to listen to and if they win it this year it will likely be the start of a run like Kerry and Tyrone had done in the last decade.

Dublin. Plus, they bring great colour to Croke Park for the big game. Minus, the Dublin based press will be masturbating hard for a "GAA needed a Dublin All Ireland win" line for years to come.

Down. Plus, a good team to watch, forwards played very well against Kerry. Minus, their support are awful shower of hoors to listen to at the best of times. They will be even harder to listen to if they get this All Ireland out of nowhere like 1994.

Kildare. Plus, it might put a smile again on Mc Geenys face. Minus, it might put a smile again on Mc Geenys face.

Jerome Quinn, a good GAA man but he screwed up his job at the BBC from how he acted. No surprise he lost his case.

I'm sick of watching all this rubbish on the news about some killer, I would turn it off but no one can find the dam Raoulmoat.