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A little off topic, but just watched  Mayo V Tyrone again.
Paul Earley is an hateful anti Mayo p***k.
His commentary in the first half was disgraceful has reinforced everything I thought of him over past few years. Pathetic .

Totally agree with you there. I try not to be blinkered and react to perceived slights, but I first cottoned on to him during the Kildare game. I actually thought I was watching a different match, he kept going on about how Kildare were winning the second half and how good they were, and how poor Mayo are. WHAT??? We were 7 points up with 10 minutes to go when he was blathering that. Mike Finnerty should give him a dig.
That's the end of him for this season anyway. Wont have to listen to him again.

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He's completely missing the point.

We don't want sympathy, what we want is people to be consistent.

Lee Keegan's role in getting Cavanagh sent off has been completely airbrushed by the pundits and journalists, had it been Aidan O'Shea has dismissed we would no doubt have journalists and pundits hand wringing about the role of McCarron and McNamee in it.

As for Darragh O'Se, he spent most of his games against Tyrone trying to get under the skin of Cavanagh so he's a good man talking.
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Bomber Keegan didn't force Cavanagh to make the high challenge on AOS. For a player of his experience he should have known better. End of.
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Keegan was at Cavanagh by illegal means all game, I don't have an issue with Keegan for it, he is clearly very clever at it and we have our own players who engage in it.

My issue is that had we succeeded in getting a player sent off with these tactics it would have been the usual hysteric reaction, instead it's Lee Keegan of Mayo, who has succeeded in this avenue before and it's ignored, Mayo aren't associated with their past actions.
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But you do want sympathy, why are your main men still crying in the media if you dont? When we were at this after losing against Kerry in 2014 I was cringing everytime someone came out and said something about it. You take your beating and move on, anything else is considered whinging. Do you want us to offer a replay?
On your ridiculous notions about Keegan, it seems to be thus. Keegan, by your assertion, winds people up and somehow forces them into getting cards. you offer no evidence of this except essentially there's no smoke without fire, and Keegan has been around incidents before. He played such trickery with Sean Cavanaghs apparently weak mind (despite winning 3 All Ireland senior medals) that he fooled him into shouldering him in the back after half time, getting a reaction, creating a schmozzle and getting them both booked. Then he continued his dastardly plan by using his Dr. Evil mind powers to drive poor Seanie's forearm across Aidan O'Sheas face right in front of the referee? Have I got that right?
I believe your other assertion was that he also managed to get Diarmuid Connolly to throw a few digs into his face. Was it yourself that got the Dublin county board the evidence they used to get Diarmuids red overturned before the replay last year? Was it your expert evidence that helped get him off by asserting you could read Keegans lips saying "Hit me Diarmo, Hit me"?
Hes some lad Keegan apparently, he can setup a mind control stall at the bottom of the Reek once he hangs up his boots. A fiver and Lee will take over your mind and make your body do all sorts of mad things against your will!

Donegal and Tyrone fans who take the position that 'everyone is at it' fail to realise that THEY are the common denominator.
Other teams are at it when they play YOU because they know the level of jig-acting they're going to face.
We will see little or nothing of this sort of behaviour in the semi-finals.

The most posionous game last year was Dublin and Mayo. Free staters have a hypocrisy complex, all you have to do is look at how they view the 1916 rising in comparison to the troubles. They never want a fair fight, they are like Commodus in Gladiator, they want to fight a wounded opponent with all the advantages tipped in their favour and the biased media coverage they show against Ulster teams is as evident as the day is long.

Lee Keegan has been a common denominator in flash points in the past two years with Damien Comer, Diarmuid Connolly and Sean Cavanagh.

He has been because hes an annoying, athletic, tight man marker who wont go away and would annoy the f**k outta ya. Connolly and Cavanagh have a list of incidents as long as yer arm without Lee Keegan even being on the same pitch, and they don't like it when he just doesn't f**k off and leave them at it

Whats the story in Tipp with the county board and the West Clubs who have been thrown out of the football competition?
Not a distraction the players need but could help with a siege mentality when they might feel they need to be giving two fingers to their county board, "no-one likes us but we don't care" kinda thing in the hurling v football civil war?

This equating of punching versus the in your face bullshit misses a fairly important point. If you punch someone, you are going to get the line 9 times out of 10. If you act the bollox and insult every seed and breed of your opponent, and roar and shout in his face, you will likely get no sanction and in fact if the lad reacts as most people would, he'll be the one who gets in trouble.

That, more than anything, is why I hate it. I don't know how Aidan O'Shea, in particular, didn't absolutely poleaxe that full back.

Because he would have been sent off and banned. Then we'd have all the experts telling him how he needs to learn to live with it, and to be a top player he has to get over it.
In the ironic, hypocritical world of GAA officiating, Cavanaghs and Hartes antics in the press since will pretty much guarantee lee Keegan some treatment from the officials over the next game, or two, if they get that far.

I was listening to newstalk off the ball this evening - they where really pushing the Tyrone and the dark arts theme again - was it that bad? Thought it was a strange angle on an intriguing game.

Its just the standard now at this stage.
Tyrone certainly did get in the face of Aidan o'se, and if they want to criticise that, i have no problem with that, but i dont know how you can single Tyrone out for the 'dark arts' when Lee Keegan spent the whole game trying to get Cavanagh the line.
Personally i dont like it, from either Tyrone or anyone else, but there are alot of pundits out there who need to either accept it as part of the game, or else or call all teams and players out for it, not just Tyrone & Donegal.

Bullshit. I was at the match. Coming out for the second half, Cavanagh shouldered into the back of Keegan as he had his back turned. Keegan reacted and grabbed his shirt, Cavanagh pulled him down on top of him and Keegan kept a hold on him. The opposite was what was going on, Cavanagh wanted Keegan sent off as he had him tucked in his back pocket and it was the only card, excuse the pun, Cavanagh had left to play. Gough gave him a chance from another tackle before he finally got his second yellow. The second yellow was probably unlucky as I think he was trying to hit the ball, but you put yourself in that situation, that's what happens.
"keegan" instigated it, is the same tired owl shite that the Dubs come out with every time Diarmuid Connolly loses the head with how annoying Keegan can be as a man marker who just wont go away. Some of these boys can give it, but they just cant take it.

Lookit Mayo are not good as 2013 they are closer to 2011 than 2013 but this time its Tipp instead of Kerry in All Ireland semi final.

Kevin McLoughlin started out as a defender at least his current role in defence shouldn't be foreign to him. Playing without a full back was the right call for Rochford as Tyrone don't play with a traditional full forward and Sean Cavanagh was completely man marked out of the game by Keegan as Connolly was in the semi finals last year.

I don't think anyone really knows how good or bad Mayo really are, and that's the intriguing thing. Management seem capable of doing anything. Conor Loftus might appear the next day and score 1-5 and not be seen again this year. So anyone throwing out opinions that they are better or worse than other years might as well be roaring into a field of thistles for all the sense they make.

I think Mayo's tactics were bang on and it's the only way to really beat a team playing with such a defensive system.
Look how Kerry beat Donegal 2 years ago. It is horrible to watch for many but it's a battle of wits and who can take their chances the most. Tyrone stuck much too rigidly to their system and showed no variation and very little pace or support play for the player in possession. I think that's why we had so many wides as we had to shoot from under pressure a lot of the time.

You could see it was a big step up from the teams we had met all year both with their experience and physicality. Mayo's defence dealt quite easily with our forwards whereas Tyrone struggled a bit with O'Shea and Moran.

I can see Mayo frustrate Tipp by playing a similar game rather than opening up and playing a more gung ho style again. I'd love to see Tyrone move away from this style of game but I fear they won't. Did neutrals think it was a good game or just more boring cat and mouse stuff?

I'm not a neutral but I thought, even though the scoreline was low, that it was a more exciting game than the Ulster Final for example. Some of the point scoring was excellent as was some of the kick passing. There was a lot more "go forward" ball as well despite the defensive systems in place and less back and forth and over, besides the last 5 minutes from Mayo when they were trying to hold onto the ball and the lead

Not saying it was a tactical masterclass, but compared to the past, (with the exception of Dublin round 1 last year where Barry Moran played a sweeper role) when our tactics seemed to consist of "go out and play ball lads", it is. We've never done anything as radical before as drop our full back and put a 34 year old corner forward in instead to get him to act as another link man. I believe Dillon had the most possessions on the pitch in the first half and he used the ball intelligently. Having the cop on to know he only had a half in him playing like that was to be applauded also.

Rochford seems very capable of playing "horses for courses", and reacting to what's happening on the pitch. For example once Sean Cavanagh was gone, Lee Keegan was told to go and mind Mattie Donnelley, Donnelley was a lot less effective after that. My point is that's something which has been lacking from Mayo the past few years

Delighted for the players and the management team. I think the raw emotion at the end was a release of the massive pressure the team have been under due to their actions in getting rid of last years management team. Whether people agree with what they did or not, it was a hugely brave move. The whole country is just waiting for them to fail, and if they had lost yesterday many would have been only too delighted to get the hobnails on, give them a good kicking and dance on their collective graves. Because losing yesterday would have meant they had gone backwards and would have even them probably questioning if they had done the right thing, and I think that, more so than anything else, the devastation of losing those other big games, the miles on the clock for some etc. would probably have killed them over the winter, led to even more doubt and probably finished some of them.
Winning yesterday means that, while it doesn't tell us if they are really any closer to the holy grail, the manner of the victory in relation to the brave positional changes and structure the management team put in place, means that they the players didn't make the wrong choice in doing what they did. Even if we are not to win it this year, the sideline showed that they have what it takes.  We have enough good footballers coming in, and plenty that have been around for years that are still very young. Cillian O'Connor has been through it all but is still only 24, Diarmuid is 21, Brendan Harrison, Paddy Durcan etc. So yesterday seems to be a strong indication that we have a good management team, and even if its not won this year, they may just have what it takes over the next couple. Over the past 5 years, Mayo having good footballers have never been in doubt, we just didn't have it tactically. This management team would have stuck a midfielder on Kieran Donaghy when Fitzmaurice through his last dice in the 2014 semi final, and Mayo would have been in the final. For too long Mayo wanted to just trust the player in the position and "hope" it would work out. It didn't and it never would unfortunately.
I think until yesterday some of the senior players on this squad had doubts about the management team, I think yesterday dispelled those doubts. Its very hard to be successful if you don't trust the men making those decisions. I think Mayo players will now feel a little lighter and happier in themselves and I think that will see them taking it up another level again.
Tipp have to be respected, we should have been caught in 2004 in very similar circumstances, beat Tyrone in a battle, "only" Fermanagh in the semi, and they should have beaten us the first day. No question. Thankfully we still have two members of that squad Alan Dillon and Andy Moran still around to remind the lads of that. Tipp will ask different questions, and I would say for a while in that game we will probably look like we are on trouble. I expect Mayo to win but not by a huge margin. And anyone who thinks Tipp have nothing to lose is deluding themselves, do you think the Tipp players will not be burning to get into an AIF? Course they will, and that is very much something to lose. That will create its own pressure. Some Mayo fans will of course get carried away with themselves, but I don't believe the team or management will and will come up with another game plan to try and beat Tipp.

One for the Tyrone dressing room wall so "The Hogan Stand website showed us no respect"

No there wont be a Mayo team announced, given the bookies predictions, the fact that only Eoin "Bomber, why can we not go back to the 80s again" Liston has tipped Mayo and all the in fighting in the camp we've decided not to bother.
The county board has decided it is only right that we don't stand in the way of the peoples choice, a Tyrone V Dublin final.

If any of the fans travelling would like a crack at Tyrone instead, meet at 2:30 near section 331, bring white shorts and moulded studs boots (no blades please). Socks and jerseys will be provided, but you will have to give them back next year for when we go back at this craic again minus Tony McIntee

I think if Clare had just concentrated on hurling, especially in the first half, instead of the sideshow antics, they would have been alot better off. They have a right to be aggrieved at some of the referring decisions but the abuse that the Clare players, and in particular hurley carrier number 2 for Clare (wearing the number 2 bib) were throwing at the officials can only do one  thing, and subconsciously at least, turn them against you. Yer man was a joke, running all over the field, getting involved in everything, he was about to have a word with Pa Horgan at one stage when he was lining up for a free, Brian Gavin tells him to "cop the f*ck on" and get off the pitch (or words to that affect) and yer man sends a torrent of abuse Gavins way and ends up practically squaring up to him. Cork on the other hand appear almost gentlemanly in their approach, that has to have an impact on officials whether they are aware of it or not.

So, is he injured or not. Dont tell me I have to go over to Hogan Stand to find out!

Any word on Jason Gibbons ankle?

When Mannion scored his fisted goal against Kerry, the co-commentator (I think it was McStay) said he 'tomahawked' it into the net. Hilarious!

Leave K-Mac alone. No wonder he's the only man alive to coach the green and red to a senior AI if the rest of ye are so easily assumed

I hadnt heard that Ballina's Tommy Lyons was dead. When in the bayjsus did that happen? Does he know? I only saw him last week and he didnt seem to know he was dead.