Messages

This "greatest team ever" guff is just a sarcastic sneer and not taken seriously at all.

Kerry team of 70s/80s the best ever and will probably never be matched.

This current Dublin team is (again imo) competing with an awful lot of teams to be rated as second ............ Tyrone in the 00s, Down in the 1960s, Kerry in the 00s again, Galway 3 in a row team, Kerry in the 1930s ( I presume) , Dublin in the 70s  Sean Boylan teams etc. Many others

Take your pick, all have merit.

Funnily enough, I think the fact that it is Mayo in a final is of benefit to the opposing team. Definitely a case of "not on our watch" oddly galvanizes that team as rightly or wrongly no county wants to be the designated  "chump" when Mayo break their hoodoo. Grimly determines that county in question.

Definitely  a backhanded compliment , but would prefer not to have to play Mayo for some time now. Some serious bruising encounters with them the last 10 years or so. Supporters clearly  dislike each other alot which doesn't help.

Unfortunately for Mayo, and imo again two handling errors cost them dearly in 2012 and 2016 finals.

I think it was a foul, that connolly made the most of, certainly not a black card.
The one by John Small was most certainly a black card.
The Cooper one probably was by the letter of the law but is debatable.

The trouble is, these decisions are just too hard to call in real time alot of the time and have led to a huge amount of wrong decisions over the course of the championship.
These are the countries top referees we are talking about that are struggling with it, anyone involved in club football over the last wile can see how bad it has become.

Eamon McGee put it well on twitter the other day

'On the black card its a bit like communism, great idea on paper but impossible to implement.'

To be brutally honest I have seen the black card better implemented at club level.

Some amount of "mouths" have been blackcarded at adult club level. Really imo anyway has improved the game.

Major problem is at the elite level, players are well able to "disguise" the deliberateness of what they are doing.

Firstly, hard luck to the Mayo posters on here.

Haven't seen any highlights of the game, but thought each and every one of our subs brought something to the table when they came on and for that the Manager must take great credit.

Thought Cluxton was immense yesterday as he has been all season imo ( bar 10 mins in AISF) . Have to say , I would not like to be in the Dublin full back line with those kick outs coming your way with no margin for errors. One of the very few  players who has changed the  role of a football position so much. Maybe Paul Curran as an attacking wing back, Brian Dooher/ Paul Galvin as the up and down the pitch wing forwards or Sean Cavanagh likewise as midfielder.

Didn't see the card or non card issues or replays but in real time from the Canal End the Keegan black card looked a definite one.

Have to say that I have a major issue with CP not showing replays on the screen of so called contentious issues. Fans have paid serious money to get in and imo deserve better. If a supporter or supporter get het up afterwards, then they can be ejected from the grounds. Why should the people watching at home get the benefit of replays only?


Will be very curious next year to see whether the 6 minutes additional time is added on in most games or just for AIFs. Very annoyed with the extra 2 minutes added on to the additional time at the end.

Anyway, congrats to the lads and once again hard luck to the Mayo posters here.

Mayo being widely tipped in the papers I read this morning. Big difference from a couple of weeks ago.

Lashing rain here at the moment and Mayo once again have brought the rain with them to Dublin.

Hope Ciaran K lets the ball in to the inside forward line alot..... alot quicker today.

Good luck to both teams............. hopefully one more than the other

Yeah all the Mayo blow in fans, where were all the Mayo fans v Tipp.

The GAA desperate for Mayo to win this, desperate, the country is desperate.

Anyway, I have my tickets, enjoy the game lads.

Bejaysus, you must have had some night. last night!
Head must be a bit sore right now.
Have you add idea how much it costs fans in Mayo to come to Dublin for a game?
Especially when you throw in the missus and a couple of kids.
The average Dub wouldn't spend as much in a year and that includes the obligatory stop off at Meagher's pub in Fairview first, before arriving late and stumbling up the steps to The Hill.
Of course the rest of the civilised world (including Roscommon) are desperate for a Mayo win.
Why wouldn't they when yiz are trying to pass yizzer selves of as being no different to any other county, even though Dublin's population is ten times that of Mayo!
G'wan, get a carton of cold milk and down the hatch with it.
Best cure for a hangover there is.

Probably a difference of say E50  petrol expenses Larnaparka I would say. Maybe an additional E10 on top for parking.


Ticket prices the same for everyone as are the price of a pint or cost of a meal if you so choose. Packed lunch would reduce the cost alot.

Seems a bit excessive this time though. Connolly is no saint and Cavanagh was a villain until a year or two ago and is now whiter than white making Keegan look bad. Sure Crowley was always as bad on Cavanagh anyway when he marked him.

Do you not just think it is a case of the Dubs camp taking advantage of the newspapers that are desperate to sell papers? With Dublin being where they will sell the most papers , having a piece with some ex Dublin hero attached to it is going to sell more copy than with an ex Mayo stars' name attached to it.

If the Dubs think they will sink Mayo by pressurising a ref to book or send off Keegan through the papers then let them at it but I think they have gone way over the top this week and it could well backfire on them.

If it is the article I read this morning, I can't see what the fuss is all about. Gist of what I read is that DC is usually targetted ( correct ) by opponents to try and put him off his game because of his suspect temperament (correct) and that any defender would be mad not to do so (correct again).

Bit of faux outrage if you ask me.

Btw, think Dublin will start the same team again next Saturday.

Seems even worse here for tickets in Dublin for the replay. Honestly, don't know a single person who has one yet bar the two Mayo girls in the job who have them without breaking a sweat.

Get the feeling the MU fans never deep down took to Rooney. Great player for them imo, but for me the absolute adulation the MU fans for example had for Cantona, Scholes, Schmeiche, Giggs, Ronaldo (while there)   etc never went Rooney's way.

Are there many "undecideds" at this stage ?

Not too many, but they and in particular the ones in the so called swing states usually decide the elections.

Reckon both camps each have give or take 45%  hard core voters.

Thought the tackling in the game was excellent.

Kicking points from distance a big problem for both teams yesterday. Cork have some defensive set up. Always seemed to have 7 or 8 players around the D when Dublin were attacking.

Chatting to alot of non/ casual interest in  GAA people over the last few days. Seemed to be an awful lot of them going into town for the evening . Regardless of result, reckon town will be hopping that Saturday.

You have to understand that there are people in Dublin who think the first round of the Leinster championship is the start of their season.

And people in Meath  who think it is the end of their own season. 


Sorry , couldn't resist.

"age profile of a lot of key dublin players now an issue"

Yes 13 days older is a significant amount of time in the age profile of the modern footballer.

It was the 30 or so years before the 13 days I was more concerned about.

Dublin have 11 minor titles. Kerry have 14 3 won in a row. So its not a bad record. Think they were in 2011 final won it 2012. Terrible record alright.

If Dublin won 3 minors in a row there'd be talk that Dublin should be split in two at minor level.

100% correct.

In addition, if it was a Dublin equivalent of Cillian O'Connor who equalized 7 minutes into added time after that tackle the country would have gone ape.