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If Division 2 can have a thread of its own then Division 1 should have one too.
Dublin to win comfortably, Jim Gavin was hurt losing it last year that is how he understood Mayo's pain. Kildare will struggle, everyone else will do well apart from the other relegated team.

Disagree that it's Dublin's to win comfortably. Last year showed how taking their hollier late, impacted their preparation for the league. They drew 3 games, that they were bloody lucky not to get bet in. Perhaps, other counties teams will see that now & will go after targeting the Dubs game for a win, when in previous campaigns they might have just thrown the towel in & presumed that a Dubs win was on the cards, even before a ball was thrown in.

Dublin aren't back training yet though.

I know they're not. Not sure if I get your point.

If Division 2 can have a thread of its own then Division 1 should have one too.
Dublin to win comfortably, Jim Gavin was hurt losing it last year that is how he understood Mayo's pain. Kildare will struggle, everyone else will do well apart from the other relegated team.

Disagree that it's Dublin's to win comfortably. Last year showed how taking their hollier late, impacted their preparation for the league. They drew 3 games, that they were bloody lucky not to get bet in. Perhaps, other counties teams will see that now & will go after targeting the Dubs game for a win, when in previous campaigns they might have just thrown the towel in & presumed that a Dubs win was on the cards, even before a ball was thrown in.

Not aware of 'rolling subs' being trialed.

Did I miss something?

https://youtu.be/2KPplYp7K7M

Rollin rollin rollin
All the subs are swollen
Keep them feckers rollin
Shannon side
Rain and wind and leather
Ó Byrne cup weather
Wishing the sensation would return to me fingers
Shannonside

Very good. 

In the midst of all the criticism of the Club, Brolly, Peadar himself etc is anybody criticising the real b**tards here - the cowardly anti democratic cnuts who tried to kill the poor chap?

No. And that is the real tragedy here.

[should of done jail time,]

The fascination continues. People care more about him than their own county players or club, sad really.

Bottom line, he did wrong 6 years ago, got away it with easily but that's the way the world works now.

I would also look at some the history of violence is some of your own counties GAA pitches were cowards keep their mouths shut, for example, Tyrone GAA was is and was built on violence and thuggery. Just ask the county chairman who was knocked out at a ladies county final.

Could you not just accept the story presented reads poorly for Connolly? Your post unfortunately is "the way the world works now" with people defending the indefensible when it suits and then taking the opposite tack when going after others. Very Trumpian.

I do, he did wrong, should of done jail time, got lucky, this was resolved in the courts a few years ago, suspended sentence, community service, anger management classes and a payment to the victim. Done. Now Victim wants money from Connolly and McGowan's, this is a civil matter. The criminal case long resolved. 

I also believe is 2nd chances and people make mistakes, small and big mistakes.

51 pages and counting.

Thankfully, I have zero personal experience of violent crime, so my knowledge of how our judicial system treats it would be minimal. But would it be the usual thing for someone to do jail time for a 1am drunken punch up in a pub, where someone gets their jaw broken?

I see a lot of people saying he should have been locked up for a spell, but is it the norm for a first offense? If I was the victim or his family, I'd probably think it should be. I'm no big fan of Connolly, or defending him, but shouldn't he be treated the same as everyone else & not receive a tougher sentence just because of who he is?

Like I said, I'm no expert, nor am I excusing his actions, but if every single bust up outside a chipper or pub, resulted in every single man who threw the first punch, doing serious jail time, we'd need a prison on every single street corner. Let's be honest here.

Cluxton played in a single competitive game all summer - you or I could have been the Dublin keeper in all but the AI final and the results would have been the same.

Clarke had a marathon summer and is the best shot stopper and the safest pair of hands under a high ball in the square in the country. He made a more meaningful contribution to his team's success this year than Cluxton did, if we're being honest about it.

Mayo didn't win the league, their provincial championship or the All Ireland. They won zero silverware all year long. Ok, they got to the AI final, but in the AI series, they lost to Galway, needed extra time to beat non Division 1 counties Derry and Cork, struggled to beat Clare and failed to beat both Roscommon and Kerry in their first encounters. Shouldn't all that - and Clarke's role in it - be all be taken into account too, when judging who is or is not worthy of post season awards? Yes, Cluxton only had one tough game all summer, but he played a massive role in the big gulf in class between Dublin and their opponents all summer long. Yet he should be penalized for it at awards time and Clarke shouldn't?

And people said the Kilkenny hurlers were boring !

I thought it was funny. Sums up the Kerry man very well.

Me too.

It does come across a tad bitchy alright, but I'd be lying if I denied that that level of mockery can be very, very funny at times. If the army of former Kerry players that have media gigs, didn't all sing from the same hymn sheet, in such an obvious way, perhaps it wouldn't be as easy to take piss out of them.

I can accept all of that without a bother but the fact remains that he had played in the final and got a red card for his troubles, the odds are that Mayo would have won that game, unless he was carded inside the last five minutes or do.
Gilroy and Diarmuid are Vins' men and the odds are that they will get along together.

Gilroy and Connolly being club mates and getting on well together, doesn't matter a damm, if Connolly can't control his temper and stay on the pitch. So so what if they get on together? I presume he gets on with Jim Gavin too. Gavin wouldn't have made him his vice captain, or defended him so strongly earlier in the summer, if they didn't get on well. It hasn't made a damm bit of difference to Connolly's horrendous disciplinary record over the past few years. Why would it be any different under Gilroy?

The Pope is coming to Ireland next year?

Jayzus, that's news to me.

Gas, the different Ireland we live in now, compared to the last time Himself paid us a visit, eh?

Oh Jesus, not the Jamie Clarke soap opera again.

You got it in one brother. 
That's all I was attempting to highlight. What Keegan, Costello, Kilkenny and just about everyone else on the field would stop  at nothing to win that game.
Concentrating on Keegan while ignoring what the opposition was up to is a bit unfair, isn't it?

I dunno. Taken as a whole, there seems to be far more attention on what the Dublin players were up to at the end of the game, than what Lee Keegan did. Listening to radio coverage (Off The Ball, Paul Kimmage creating a big stink, Eamon Dunphy weighing in etc) and reading the print media, there seems to be a lot more focus on Dublin's cynicism that Lee Keegans throwing his GPS at Dean Rock. Dublin winning the three in a row seems to have been forgotten about, in a rush to tar and feather them for deeds that were were just as cynical as those that Mayo engaged in back in 2012, when they needed to do what was needed to close out a win over Dublin. The fact that Lee Keegan did something so cynical and sneaky (not to mention being very, very unbecoming of the reigning Footballer of The Year) is getting mentioned as a mere after thought, if it gets mentioned at all. Charlie Redmond had a bit of a go, but it never gathered half as much steam as the media crusade that Paul Kimmage is going on.

When you mention Keegan's and Costello's deeds to a Mayo or Dublin fan, they are quick to play the whataboutery game. It would be nice to see both of them admit that what happened was very bad sportsmanship on both sides and leave it at that. No excuses of "you do what you have to do, to win the game"  or " if I was in his place, I'd do the very same thing." Just have the honesty to admit that it was what it was and stop playing the victim card. Leave the outraged sanctimony at being accused of not being as pure as the driven snow, at the door. No one is buying it anymore.

Link?

[main man on a team that has won 4 all Irelands.]

DC basically won the AI for Dublin in that last move when it mattered most. He took the game by the scruff got the free  that won it

Given his court appearance and his reaction to provocation on the litch he will never be  loved by any non Dub but he is one of if not the best player currently playing the game and certainly the most talented

All time great...yes he is...main man on a team that has won 4 all Irelands.

He is in his hole. Going into this years final, he wouldn't even make my list of the top 5 players that have made the biggest contributions to Dublins All Ireland medal haul. He'd be doing well to make the top 10. Philly McMahon, Kev Mc, Bernard Brogan, Cian O'Sullivan, James McCarthey and Michael Daragh McAuley have all made bigger contributions in AI finals and semi finals than Connolly has. None of them are as physically talented as him maybe, but that is a different argument entirely. Can you really say that he has more made more of an contribution than all  of those Dublin players have? Think about that for a sec.

[A supremely gifted and talented player but nowhere near one of the greatest of all time.The best are usually considered the best because they have the complete package which would include temperament,]

A supremely gifted and talented player but nowhere near one of the greatest of all time.
The best are usually considered the best because they have the complete package which would include temperament, character, reliability etc and unfortunately Connolly has shown to be lacking in a few of these areas in recent years. The best can also usually be relied upon 9 times out of 10 to perform to a level and where they can be the difference between winning and losing.

A supremely gifted footballer but a heck of a way to go before being considered one of the greatest of all time.

I'm sorry, but that's claptrap. Connolly is right up there as one of the greats of the modern era. The temperament line is always brought up, there's plenty of the all time greats had a fair bit of devilment in the locker

A bit if devilment is one thing. Spending as much time as he does mired in controversy, getting sent off, getting suspended etc etc is on a whole other level to anyone else. The true all time greats are able to rise above the on the pitch provocation, bullshit and gamesmanship and stay on the pitch long enough to influence the outcome of games, more often than not, when it really matters. They'll have their moments now and then, but they are there when it matters, most of the time. The problem with Connolly is that what is the exception to the rule for most other players, is becoming the norm for him. His physical skill set is never in question. His mental one is. That is part of the package when judging players place in the pantheon of All Time Greats imo.

He redeemed him self a lot with his performance in the AI final. But one could argue that Dublin probably wouldn't have been in the tricky position that they found himself in in the first place, if Connolly had started the game. Connolly would have occupied Lee Keegan's time as he normally does, leaving Ciaran Kilkenny free to play his usual playmaker role. That may have led to a more comfortable victory for Dublin. We'll never know for sure, if that would have ever happened. But the factors at play that resulted in Jim Gavin having doubts about starting Connolly, are Connolly's fault and no one elses.