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[I'll be surprised if you can find a Mayo man who wouldn't swap their 10 or so forwards on their panel for their Dublin counterparts.]

For all the talk about the forwards and ability to score, here's a few stats.

In Mayo's four All-Ireland finals since 2012 inclusive, they've got a total of 58 scores to their opponents' combined 54.

In their six championship matches against Dublin since 2012 inclusive, Mayo have got 95 scores to Dublin's 89.

The clear difference is goals.

Dublin have got 10 goals over the course of those 6 games, Mayo have got 4, and never more than 1 in any single game.

Of those 10 Dublin goals:
2 were own goals
2 were penalties (one wrongly awarded - the one in the 2015 drawn game as the foul was outside the penalty area, the other a result of a catastrophic goalkeeping error)
2 clear goalkeeping errors (Brogan 2013, McMahon 2015 replay)
4 others

I'll be surprised if you can find a Mayo man who wouldn't swap their 10 or so forwards on their panel for their Dublin counterparts.

Dublin are considerably better in that department.

I think I know what you mean, but most Gaa supporters wouldn't really want to 'swap' their players with another county. Also, I reckon both panels have about forward 4 All-Stars, which considering Dublin's 3 All-Ireland wins (not counting this year as the All-Stars haven't been awarded) is remarkably even.

Regarding goalkeepers, Cluxton has made many mistakes on the big stage. We seem to watch these mistakes and get nothing out of them. Our mistakes seem be clinically punished, with the exception of a couple of Clarke errors in the drawn game.

It maybe evenish in terms of All Stars but the Dubs have more quality and certainly more options and variety to their attack.

My vote would go to Keegan for POTY but I just don't see that happening unfortunately.

For all the talk about the forwards and ability to score, here's a few stats.

In Mayo's four All-Ireland finals since 2012 inclusive, they've got a total of 58 scores to their opponents' combined 54.

In their six championship matches against Dublin since 2012 inclusive, Mayo have got 95 scores to Dublin's 89.

The clear difference is goals.

Dublin have got 10 goals over the course of those 6 games, Mayo have got 4, and never more than 1 in any single game.

Of those 10 Dublin goals:
2 were own goals
2 were penalties (one wrongly awarded - the one in the 2015 drawn game as the foul was outside the penalty area, the other a result of a catastrophic goalkeeping error)
2 clear goalkeeping errors (Brogan 2013, McMahon 2015 replay)
4 others

I'll be surprised if you can find a Mayo man who wouldn't swap their 10 or so forwards on their panel for their Dublin counterparts.

Dublin are considerably better in that department.

I think the GDO's and how they work just isn't working. Looking from the outside it just seems an attempt at the GAA to get kids interested in the sport and keep them away from other sports in Dublin.  I don't think its much as an advantage to Dublin as many are making out; The money would be better spent elsewhere.

We have a GDO over here, he's a brilliant coach and great at his job but I think we'd all benefit a lot more if the money was given directly to the clubs.

Clarke
Harrison
Cooper
McMahon
Keegan
Boyle
Durcan
Fenton
Donnelly
Harte
Kilkenny
Connolly
Rock
Geaney
Quinlivan

Not 100% about Clarke given what happened the replay, not convinced about McMahon, Boyle, Durcan, Donnelly or Rock either. The rest are 100% nailed on to get one.

Whats worrying is the amount of people from Mayo who actually believe Hennelly was picked because of the O'Shea's. Rochford has got so much right since the defeat to Galway and even if Mayo had started with Clarke I'm far from convinced Mayo would have won. If only Rochford had got the job a year earlier things may have been very different.

So one county accounts for over 50% of the GDO funding but the rest of us who think this is unfair are just ignorant. 

I really don't know how many young kids are playing Gaelic football in Dublin but a report (and I'm tired of referring to it) came out in the early 90s.
Central Council had been worries by the high dropout rate of kids in the Dublin area and to compare that with other counties. ( That's no well put I know but its meaning should be clear enough.)
"Lack of penetration" was the buzz term then.
There was a huge number of very young kids playing at the lowest (youngest) level but the numbers decreased dramatically as the youngsters moved up through the ranks. CC felt that the earlier a kid dropped out, the less the chances f him or her taking part in club activity of any sort. In effect they were being lost to the GAA.
The committee (including Eugene McGee and Colm O'Rourke) reported back that there were five Dublin clubs who each could field more juvenile players that any one of five different counties.
Accepting that there is always a natural fall out rate as kids grow older, the report concluded that the problem was exacerbated in Dublin because superclubs tend to discard players as the number of teams fielded decrease as kids grow older.
Smaller clubs don't have this problem to the same degree as they don't start off with the same number of u10s or other very young age groups.
Many kids are forced to drop out against their will and as a result many who leave  bear a resentment to their former clubs. 
As usual, the report was not acted upon but  the problems as outlined have become very much worse.

From my experience, these GPO's that are with most Dublin clubs spend most of their time in primary schools trying to win the battle for youngsters v soccer and rugby. They'll take a regular PE class during school time and teach basic skills to junior/senior infants and encourage them to join the club.

My lad has been with the local GAA club for 6 years has received 2 training sessions at the club from the GPO in that time. (I know they do help arrange the Cul Camp / Summer Camp thingy for 2 different weeks in the summer, but my lad won't go to them.)

From my club's point of view there is a debate each year about whether the cost of the GPO is worth it. (I thought it was the same for any club, that if you put up 50% of the cost, central coffers would fund the rest?). As you can imagine there is plenty of giving out about someone getting paid versus the rest of us volunteers. We've had 3 different GPOs in my time, the first was absolutely useless, the second a complete headcase. The third seems a bit better, although I haven't seen much of him and he's never been at a training session or match involving my son's team.

I don't doubt any of that but surely you can see why the rest of us think  its grossly unfair why your county is benefiting from a huge percentage of the funding?

Also, all this talk about Mayo needing scoring forwards. Their total yesterday would have won the last 5-6 All Irelands, and that was recorded against a highly impressive defense, so I think they have the players (a couple of new additions wouldn't hurt) but they have the team to win one, just need to drive over that winning line

In the seven championship meetings between Dublin and Mayo since 2006, the scores are remarkably similar.

Dublin scored 2-12, 0-16, 2-12, 2-12, 3-15, 2-9 and 1-15. Four times out of seven they scored 18 overall points, with only the 3-15 in the 2015 replay being a high outlier, with the 2-9 in this year's draw being the lowest.

Mayo's scoring in these games is very consistent. They scored 1-16, 0-19, 1-14, 1-15, 1-14, 0-15 and 1-14. All within a four point range, with three identical 1-14s in there. Take out the drawn final this year and it's a two point range in six games.

1-14 or the equivalent is also the highest losing score in a 70 minute All-Ireland final, being managed four times - Kerry (0-17) in 1982, Meath in 1991, Mayo in 2013 and Mayo in 2016.

Get to 1-15 or the equivalent and you'll win an All-Ireland final.

They've lost 3 of the last 5 finals to teams with a superior forward line. Its not too say they can't win an All Ireland when playing a team with a better set of forwards but it would certainly help their cause if they had better forwards.

'Not for the first time the GAA has found itself defending an apparent bias in funding towards Dublin. Figures released in the 2014 financial report show that Dublin received €1.46 million for games development – more than the other 31 counties combined'

No doubt this will be spun or ignored.

I know it is wrong about Dublin getting so much funding, but are the rest of the county boards so powerless that they can't ask questions as to why not us? Just wondering. Surely it would be no harm in asking for increased funding...

I just don't know how everyone else has stood back and allowed it to happen.

The money is per registered player. Not sure how that doesn't show the truth.

I suspect you won't get a response from any Dub.

Rightly so their hot favourites to retain their crown, will McCaffrey & ROC be returning next season?

Mayo will be challenging again as long as there is no major retirements although they certainly need the emergence of something different in the front 6 to go and win it. I'm not convinced about Regan so no doubt there will be plenty of pressure on Loftus to make the step up.

I know its a little bit of subject but there is certainly a connection between the 2 but there certainly appears to be a lot more scores from frees in the big games then there ever has been previously.

What do Man Utd fans make of I rahimovic? I've always felt he never produced in big games and was a bit over rated although you can't knock the mans goal record. However at 33/34 I don't feel as though Man Utd should be pinning their hopes on a man who although technically good is not the most mobile and whose best days are behind him. Should be building that attack around Martial and Rashford imo.

I'm delighted we signed him and haven't changed my opinion since, as long as there's plenty of pace around him he'll be a huge asset.

As for the performance we created enough good chances to win 2 games so I can't complain.