Messages

Mayo have a great chance here, going in as underdogs. Would be great to see Donegal or Mayo win Sam.

Dublin have really only played 1 decent half of football in the last 3 games and they looked bereft of leadership in the closing stages of the last 2 games.Bernard Brogan could come to life next day out but if Mayo can keep him frustrated they are in with a real shout.

Will there be a toss of a coin to see who gets the hill this time?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=mGs-0u1E3uw

Corks style of play will play into Donegals hands. Lateral passing and breaking tackles, can see them getting frustrated as they did v Mayo last year.

Jim McGuinness has done an unbelievable job with Donegal. The system and work rate have been well documeted but he has turned the likes of Rory Kavanagh and Colm McFadden who were always good players on their day into players who will give an 8/10 performance every time. To beat Cork they will need Murphy to find a bit of form (still doesn't seem fully fit).

Has there been a more divisive figure since Roy Keane 10 years ago?

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/0804/1224321434497.html

Once the roof closed Federer could do little wrong, Murray was fantastic in this final however on the couple of occasions were he should have hit winners he bottled it, that was huge in the end.

Federer's movement is incredible and his forehand is out of this world, he and Laver stand as the two greatest players of all time, and he is only about to become 31.

Murray will win a major, he is improving all the time and i hope he does win one, that said I wish he would relax and smile once in a while, after all he has everything he could ever possibly need or want and it wouldnt kill him to take the sour look of his face now and again.

People said the same thing about Colin Montgomerie, it never happened. Murray seems to be just missing that 1 or 2% of mental strength required to hang in when things are going well. Doesn't matter if he is sour or not.

Having Lendl as a mentor wouldn't help much, how many Wimbeldon finals did he lose without winning one?

While it would make you yearn for the free flowing puke football of 2003 it is hard to see many teams coping with Donegal this year.

Dublin at their best,Kerry if they can regain their hunger. I think Donegal would beat Cork handily, player for player you would put them ahead of Donegal but hey always seem to lack a sense of purpose, lateral passing without any particular game plan.

Michael Murphy did not look fit aginst Tyrone, if he doesn't hit top form and or McFadden got injured it would be difficult to see Donegal getting further than last year.

Mickey Harte had 12 months to try and crack the Donegal problem and couldn't find an answer. Not many teams in the country may be able to.

Tyrone were well set up defensively but Donegal gradually wore them down. Unbelievable levels of fitness and strength on display. It is a machine in the way Armagh were for a few years. Armagh had more natural forwards though.

The Donegal system is built around not conceding goals. They rode their luck against Kildare and Dublin last year, goals which were disallowed and missed respectively would have finished them. Down need to find a way to get 1 or even 2 goals and keep the concession of frees to a minimum.

Maybe go with a new approach. You are not going to run through Donegal. Maybe play a 3 man full forward line of Coulter,Gordon and Poland with half forwards of Carr,Laverty and Hughes as a screen in front of midfield to stop Donegal runners.

spain now have to be regarded as 1 of the best teams ever. 3 tournament victories in a row. italy chasing shadows all night.

Thought Italy played ok until they went down to 10 men. Spain saved their best to the final though, some achievement winning 3 tournamnnts in a row. 7 players played in all 3 finals.

What odds 4 in a row in Brazil 2014?

Ulster football has been on the slide for a while,Armagh since 2006 and Tyrone since they squeezed an AI out of 2008.

These things go through cycles, Ulster had a good spell from 1991 to 1995 and will have another one again.

is there some sort of split on Armagh behin the scenes or what?
what is the crux of the problem.
some people on suggesting that Grimley should be let in charge is ridiculous to me, sure he is part responsible for the so called debacle of a year.
McGeeney if he had any sense wouldnt touch it i wouldnt think, although if he is knocked out in the next gane then he would be glad of the job offer.

See Aaron Cunningham tweeting earlier that there is an anti-Cross mentality in the Armagh set up. If some of the best players in the county are not making themselves available then Armagh are going nowhere.

No one doubts Paddy O'Rourke did his best and he seems like a decent sort of fella but he was never the right man for the job.

Most Armagh supporters were shocked upon hearing of his appointment initially but despite the occasional good result/performance it was usually followed by a poor one.
Who will take over now? Will Paul Grimley get the job?

Most supporters are realistic to know that Armagh are a long way off the top but we have the best club team in Ireland and there have been good minor treams over the last 4 years (although this hasn't followed through to U21) so there is no doubt we have underacheived the last few years.

Heaven and earth should be moved to get TonyMcEntee in. He may have his sights set on 3 in a row but it is worth trying. Ive said it before there are not better players in Donegal than Armagh, it is just that they have a system and style of play that comes from temanager that is effective.

Case in point, here is the Donegal team hammered by Armagh 2 years ago. 11 players started yesterdays game v Tyrone.

Donegal – P Durcan, P McGrath, N McGee, K Lacey, M Maguire, B Dunnion, F McGlynn, N Gallagher (0-1), K Cassidy, M McHugh (0-1), R Kavanagh, D Walsh, C McFadden (0-1), M Murphy (0-7, 4f), C Dunne. Subs – E Wade for McGrath, E McGee for Maguire, C Toye for Dunne, A Hanlon (0-1) for McFadden

3 QFS, 3 Real Madrid scorers. Unlikely to be a 4th tomorrow night unless there is transfer activity in the next 24 hours.

Would it be cynical to suggest New Zealand didn't want to hammer Ireland last week as their was a 3rd test coming up and they wanted to keep a bit of interest alive?

That's some scoring record that klose has 64 goals, dunno how many matches he has played. Really looking forward to spain and france game tomorrow .

4 goals behind Gerd Mullers record. 3rd player to score in 5 major championships for Germany.

[Main reasons for being pointless]

As we are out of the Euro's, time to go back to old stream.....

Main reasons for being pointless

Our main achievement was qualifying. Remember we had not qualified for this tournament since 1988 and we have not qualified for a major tournament since 2002. The Big tournament mentality was not with us.

Our Group was probably as difficult as one could get, Spain champions of Europe and the World, Italy world champions 2006 and serial tournament achievers, Croatia have qualified for 4 of the last 5 tournaments since 2002. When you think that there was a possibility of a group with Poland, England and Greece. You see the difference.

Injuries and coming back from injuries, Given, Dunne and O'Shea were not 100% for this tournament. The back-up for these guys were non existent.

Some players past their best,  Keane, Given, O'Shea, Duff and possibly Dunne.

We have no representative player from the top 8 teams in the Premier League.

O'Shea, Whelan and Duff were the only midtable premier league players from the regular starting 11.

Small sample of squad used in three games.

Trap named his squad too early, The Foley incident proved that.

To many different Hotels – five I'm told! That sounds like a lot of bag handling and moving about.

Squad brought too early together. There was a need for a break between football.  McGeady talked of fatigue.

We are a small nation. And don't give me that should not be a reason. If so why don't Iceland Qualify for tournaments?

We have no Soccer culture in this county.

We have no Soccer infrastructure in this country.

We depend on our coaching from an inferior British coaching system.

Not as many players declare for us under the Granny rule.

Don't forget

It rained in the 1st 2 games making it harder when your game plan is based around chasing around to win back the bll you have just given away.

Bar the free kick for St Ledgers goal set pieces were woeful. Getting someone who can reliably take a free kick or corner in the team should be a must.

Duff. Not bad. I'd have put him with Saint Ledger and Andrews as Irelands 'top' three. Still not the player of old, but he wasn't bad.

Have heard Duff getting a bit of abuse because he is not going past people and getting in crosses as he did at his best but I still think he is Irelands best passer of a ball certainly in the current squad. Ryan Giggs made the move from winger to central midfield and there is a case that Duff could do this allowing McClean or someone else a chance on the wing.