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Football was much better in Manus's heyday.

Take the provincial finals in 1993, for instance.

Derry 0-8 Donegal 0-6
Dublin 0-11 Kildare 0-7
Mayo 1-5 Roscommon 0-7

Free flowing classics all. And the kicking skills were wonderful, certainly Manus's kick on Johnny McGurk, which saw him get the line, was anyway.

That Mayo Roscommon game was arguably the worst ever Connacht final with two very average teams involved. Mayo ended up losing to Cork by 20 points. Derry Donegal game was played on a waterlogged pitch. I found the 1993 Leinster final more intriguing than this year final which the media/pundits were very patronizing to Kildare for getting within 9 points of Dublin who didn't get out of 2nd gear.

From €75 when it was introduced in 2009 to €120 now is ridiculous increase in a short space of time. I presume the reason for it is because of the "money spinning" super 8 games will be set you back €105 is you wanted to go all 3 games.

Anyone would be better than Carew who was kept on too long leaving a lot of damage behind.  Cathal Corey,Tony Scullion,Conleth Gilligan all on Sligos management should that mean extra focus to improve them defensively?

A lot of huffing and puffing from United this afternoon, Huddersfield deserved the win for how well they defended. Just 22% possession is all they had which proves possession stats mean SFA.

Huddersfield two attacks two goals. The defending by Lindelof on the 2nd goal was dreadful and Mata wasn't to clever on the 1st goal either.

It's not quite as simple as that. . . Has anybody heard form Tommy Walsh since he came home?

I watched Tommy Walsh in recent club action on Eir sports. He was hobbling around for about 40 mins before a clueless management took him off. On Ciaran Sheehan just 6 games in 4 season he didn't make it out there like Zach Tuohy did.

Pogba was sent to Miami to speed up on his hamstring injury i'm sure Jose knows the situation but is keeping the media guessing.

[it's a fact]

Gaelic football is being played to a superior level now than it has ever been.

The great matches we've seen this decade are the greatest matches of all time.

This won't fit the narrative, but it's a fact.

Its a opinion. My opinion is football played today especially in the latter stages of the championship is more low risk than ever before. Another opinion is Kerry,Tyrone who are two of the current top 4 teams collectively and individually wouldn't be a patch of 00s kerry,Tyrone teams and how good would those teams have been if they were exposed to the high range training and expertise that Dublin seniors are currently getting.

Because the game has changed, how well would guys like Dara O'Cinneide or Kevin Hughes cope with the pace of the modern day game? There are as good as footballers out there as there was 10 years ago but the athleticism and fitness has gone up a few levels since then and if you're not as genetically gifted in that manner it would be tough to make it in the modern game.

There were plenty of small, skillful slight forwards on the county scene 10-15 years ago - they're ten a penny with the big teams now and it is not counties getting more risk adverse, its counties adjusting to the reality of the modern game. I don't like the way the game is now compared to 10-15 years ago and it's nothing to do with the style of football. Back then you had sides like Laois and Westmeath winning provincials, Sligo, Fermanagh and Wexford going on extended runs. There was a belief most counties could go out there and compete with the top counties. It's now a case of 5-6 counties believing they can make an impact at the latter end of the season and everyone else just making up the numbers.

As a matter of preference I'd rather watach a 0-9 to 0-8 game where the opponents were really made work for their scores than a 4-18 to 2-14 game where teams just run down the centre at will and get easy scores, but maybe that's just me.

Are you suggesting the required for "modern football" is to have mostly 6 footers and pacy players? Mayo have pushed Dublin all the way the last few years but a good number of their players are under 6ft and wouldn't be regarded as overly pacy either.

On your final point i too would prefer to see a matches where sides has to work for their scores but i think many on here are not fans of the art of defending.

[it's a fact]

Gaelic football is being played to a superior level now than it has ever been.

The great matches we've seen this decade are the greatest matches of all time.

This won't fit the narrative, but it's a fact.

Its a opinion. My opinion is football played today especially in the latter stages of the championship is more low risk than ever before. Another opinion is Kerry,Tyrone who are two of the current top 4 teams collectively and individually wouldn't be a patch of 00s kerry,Tyrone teams and how good would those teams have been if they were exposed to the high range training and expertise that Dublin seniors are currently getting.

But the inverse of this is that the current Dublin and Mayo teams would absolutely destroy Dublin and Mayo from the noughties. And they both would have been in the top 4-5 teams in the noughties.

Not sure would Dublin have been regarded as top 4 or 5 team in 00s they received a few trimmings back then didn't reach any All Ireland final, could count on one hand how many semi finals they reached while the likes of Westmeath,Laois and Kildare won Leinster titles. They "arrived" as a new and improved Dublin outfit in 2011.

Mayo reached two All Ireland finals in the 00s but hammered in both. Outside of those 04,06 finals where they struggled past Laois,Fermanagh to get there it was a lot of early championship exits to likes of Westmeath,Derry,Fermanagh,Meath. Again debatable if Mayo were top 4-5 team back then. 

[it's a fact]

Gaelic football is being played to a superior level now than it has ever been.

The great matches we've seen this decade are the greatest matches of all time.

This won't fit the narrative, but it's a fact.

Its a opinion. My opinion is football played today especially in the latter stages of the championship is more low risk than ever before. Another opinion is Kerry,Tyrone who are two of the current top 4 teams collectively and individually wouldn't be a patch of 00s kerry,Tyrone teams and how good would those teams have been if they were exposed to the high range training and expertise that Dublin seniors are currently getting.

No Dubs for International rules by the sounds of it.

There is likely to be no Dublin players in Ireland's international rules travelling party, which leaves for Australia in just over two weeks. This would be the first time that All-Ireland champions have been unrepresented in the 33-year history of the series.

Dermot Earley, who is one of manager Joe Kernan's selectors, revealed the prospect at a press conference in DCU on Thursday.

"There haven't been any (Dublin players) in training. We've asked a lot of the Dublin squad to come in but just because of injuries, club commitments, guys just wanting to take a break, I don't think there will be any Dublin representation on this but again, that's for Joe to announce."

Jim Gavin's panel have been involved in county championship matches since the All-Ireland final in September and although just the Dublin final remains, a number of high-profile players are still involved with their clubs whereas others have work commitments.

The poor defensive teams still go man to man and that explains why few of them if any are unable to make progress.

[Mayo club championship reduced to farce]

Mayo club championship reduced to farce


Last night, Castlebar Mitchels played Garrymore in the Mayo senior football championship semi-final. In three days' time, the winners of that game will play a county final. Waiting for them will be Ballintubber, who eight days ago faced Hollymount-Carramore in a quarter-final replay, before beating Claremorris in their semi-final last Sunday.

And all this mad rush to ensure that, allowing a week for a replay if the final ends in a draw, Mayo have a representative in the Connacht club championship to face Leitrim champions Mohill on November 4th.

To say this is a ridiculous state of affairs is to state the obvious. Maybe Mayo's ten-game run through the 2017 championship explains it, and maybe it doesn't, but either way the idea that so many club players have to travel from Galway or from Dublin, as would have been the case for players on all four teams asked to play the biggest game of their year under lights in the middle of the week, is pretty shabby.

The Mayo champions will either beat Mohill, or they won't on November 4th. But the fact that the efforts of all the club players in Mayo are demeaned by being asked to play such important games on a Wednesday night, to facilitate the Connacht club championship never ceases to amaze.

Ballintubber have never won a Connacht club title, but they've only ever won three Mayo championships. Maybe they'll care about the Connacht club championship, but maybe that'll only happen when they get there and they're finished celebrating.

The provincial club championships can be glorious, can provide us with some brilliant games, and keep us all entertained in the winter if you can't face the Premier League or the rugby, but let's keep some perspective, please.

For club players of every stripe, your county championship is the blue riband. It's the be-all and end-all. It needs to be treated as such.

The Connacht Council set a date in their diary for the first round of their provincial club championship, and just like that, the Mayo County board has to scramble madly to have a team for that date.

This is putting the cart before the horse on a grand scale – it's telling David Lean to hurry up and chop 75 minutes off Lawrence of Arabia to ensure it fits on a double-bill with a Hammer horror movie.
Serial winners

There are a number of football clubs in the entire country for whom the provincial and All-Ireland club championships are a major goal – Corofin; Castlebar Mitchels; St Brigid's; Kilcoo, given the regularity with which they win the Down county championship; Slaughtneil; Crossmaglen, until recently; Dr Crokes; Portlaoise; Rhode; St Vincent's. Am I forgetting anyone?

And what unites all these clubs is that they're all serial winners. Their county championship only has reduced meaning for them because they keep winning it. For everyone else the county final is the date in the diary that has real meaning.

The chance to prove yourself the best team in the province is a nice challenge, and if you were to go on a run and win a few games, well that would be great too. But defeat is never too bitter a pill to swallow, because let's face it – from the minute you won your county final, you were in bonus territory.

County boards should never unduly hasten their county championships to facilitate those nine or ten clubs who care about what comes next – in fact, it's madness to think that they ever would in the first place.

The only people put out by not starting the provincial club championships until all of the county finals are finished, are the winners of the other county championships – and those lads are happy enough.

Wait until you have all the teams are ready to play, and then play every game to a finish – as many periods of extra-time as required, or a free-taking competition – but no draws, and three or four weekends would see all the provincial competitions taken care of.

If that means some of the provincial championships have to be finished in January, then so be it – I would have far less of a problem with that than with what is going on in Mayo at the moment. Those teams who would have to wait until after Christmas for defeat to come their way in the provincial championship would still have their county medals. All the losers will have from last night are regrets.

Playing county semi-finals on a Wednesday evening in late October, and then asking the winners to line out in a county final four days later, is unconscionable. It demeans the idea of the county championship for no good reason.


https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/ciar%C3%A1n-murphy-mayo-club-championship-reduced-to-farce-1.3261096

Another poor spectacle. Tough on the 18 year old keeper to concede a goal like that.  Rashford limped off tonight the injuries are mounting up with Pogba, Bailly, Fellaini, Carrick, Zlatan already out.

Anyone here have any luck purchasing presale tickets this morning?