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Based on the last few seasons it's clear that cork have a lot to do to get back to the top so I was surprised that they were favourites going into this match. Galway seem to be getting their shit together- I hope it lasts.

Irish Times

SEÁN MORAN
Cork v Galway: ONE OF the most surprising aspects of tomorrow's final is that the two counties haven't met before at this stage, given that both have been to the – admittedly not overpopulated – forefront of the game over the past 35 years.
Despite tales of championship woe have accompanied league success for both counties – although Cork see the 1998 win as a big step in the progress to the following year's All-Ireland, in the immediate term they were-well beaten by Clare – there are no inhibitions going into this on either side.
Victory and a piece of national silverware would sit well in both counties and give the winners momentum for the summer.
Their ordinary league match doesn't provide much direction given the vastly different selections on both sides. Each team has injury problems but Galway's look worse in that Fergal Moore had been enjoying an excellent season whereas Niall Healy scored 2-9 in the regulation match in Salthill and would likely have started.
Coverage of Cork's injuries has tended to focus on Eoin Cadogan's unavailability at full back but they are also missing Niall McCarthy, whose form had been good to date. Denis Walsh's decision to pick Eoin Dillon at full back was a logical belief in the need for specialists in a specialist position.
It also perhaps reflects the fact that Dillon played well on the prodigious Joe Canning in the under-21 semi-final of 2007 when a ring-rusty Galway, on the way to the All-Ireland, nearly got caught by Cork and had to go to extra time before progressing. Canning had a stormer that day but mostly when switched out to the 40 after Dillon had done well against him on the edge of the square.
The significance for Cork tomorrow will probably be up front where Walsh decides to run with both of the twin towers, Aisake Ó hAilpín and Michael Cussen, to see if the team can accommodate both of them.
Shane Kavanagh will be in charge of combating the former's influence – ie not fouling him and making it difficult for his opponent to lay off ball.
John Lee's medical exam commitments have disrupted his preparation for the final and he starts on the bench with Tony Regan, who has done well this campaign, at centre back although Lee's big-match temperament may well see him introduced at some stage.
Centrefield will be especially important as the right ball into the full forwards will be vital with Pa Horgan's form so productive and at the other end Joe Canning waiting along with Damien Hayes to pounce. Galway's pairing of Ger Farragher and David Burke is a hurling unit and will need to create the space against the more dynamic-looking Cork combination of Tom Kenny and newcomer Lorcan McLoughlin.
Galway have put in some excellent performances during this league but there are good reasons to believe Cork will win this. They have had a more consistent campaign despite the experimenting and frequent changes of selection.
Crucially the half backs are looking more like their formidable selves with John Gardiner particularly returned to his best form.
Galway's half forwards will have their work cut out to stop the line becoming a platform for Cork's success.


Should be a good match

In addition to what it means to his family it's very bad news for 2fm. The advertising from the Gerry Ryan show subsidises everything else.

Maybe I have missed a few posts here but personally I found JQ to be the most boring sports presenter/reporter on the planet - and Logie the most embarrassing.
Both would protray themselves as "Mr GAA" types and maybe get carried away with their own publicity. Their absence from the airways will not diminish the image of the GAA in any way.

The GAA itself is seriously in default in failing to engage iby way of a professional PR approach with both BBC & UTV for the necessary improvement in GAA coverage.

what happened to Logan?

I remember listening to him when he used to have an evening show on Radio 2 around 1983. Very sad loss especially for his kids and ex wife.

The cats don't care about Munster. Neither does Mattie Murphy. Tipp wouldn't consider a munster minor championship an achievement. Why should Cork ?

I wonder if Tariq Sadiq is a muslim protestant or a muslim catholic.

[Put in some great matches that we argueably should have won against Tipp, but they don't make it onto the history walls, a great team, just no direction and rotten to the core, wrong teams picked, wrong players selected because of politics, an underage system drowning by itself, with not a hand in sight. We would have been a lot more succesfull had we any sort of set up at under age level. Like I said, the teams were always there or there about..

We won Munster in 05 and 07, and were runners up in 2003, 2004 and 2006.
Not too bad for a county with no structure or set up.

For a top 3 county Reillers the lack of cork minor and u-21 all-Irelands has been noted. Why have Galway a better minor record than cork over the last 10 years? Nobody cares about Munsters  btw. It's about all-Irelands, boy. Tipp have done it and the Cats have done it but where are the red jerseys?  Doesn't it concern you? 

Are waherford putting in much at underage level, Deiseach?  Cork have been crap at minor level for a number of years. 

How many more IC transfers would there be?

Precisely none.

The GAA could not support semi-professionalism across 32 teams. The money isn't there.

If the game goes semi-pro, it would have to be on an elite team basis to support itself, which would in turn mean freedom of contract to move between teams.

In which case the semi-pro game would be doomed, as it would need its own facilities and stadiums, and its own fanbase. And I couldn't tell the GPA enough times that as each year more people turn up to watch Down's second team playing in the McKenna Cup than watch Kerry play in the 1st round of the Championship, there is more than a strong indicator that GAA people follow their team, not its players.

You couldn't replicate the mental anguish of County Mayo in a professional context. Even in the darkest days in division 3 Man. city never got near it.   

Soon Ireland won't be big enough to run its own banks.  How anyone thinks GAA can go semi pro is beyond me. The League of Ireland would be a fate worse than death for the great sports we have today.

I think that's the way forward for Mayo. Structure  the Championship like the under-8's. It's about participation, not winning. Everybody gets a game. Scrap the Sam Maguire and give everybody a certificate. You've all done very well.

Meath should be able for under 12s surely

Is there any way of breaking the Mayo hoodoo ? How about doing something drastic like focusing on the fellas coming up at underage and building something over 5 years. Downplay the current seniors and write them off so nobody's expectations are unmet. If they win something, it's a bonus. An awful lot of money is just wasted on the senior team. Does Mayo have a top of the range underage system? If not why not?

See how teams from other sports in other countries have  overcome this problem. Schalke 04 are joint top of the Bundesliga under Felix Magath after a long history of collapse at the highest levels. How did they do it? Can Mayo learn anything from it.  Would a manager from a different sport work ?

Even Tyrone- how did they do it? Apparently HMG spent a lot of money on sports facilities to keep the kids away from paramilitarism. Is that something Mayo could look into? Part of the problem in this regard is the high degree of centralisation in Ireland. If Mayo could decide its own taxes it would probably be easier to fix the football.

The county has such a passion for football that the misfiring of the senior team has to be rectified. I wonder if John Casey had scored that point in 96 if it would all be different today.   

It looks as though there was a severe breakdown in the relationship between JQ and his superiors and that he made a stupid mistake which was punished to the full.  Maybe that wasn't the right job for him. He probably needs to have a good think about what's right for him and make a stab at building up his career again.  Norn Iron is a very small space though and once you burn your bridges with the BBC there isn't much left. 

Staggered on to two more All-Irelands with a whole new team, bar two players.

Good man Hardy. Sue them if they get too uppity.