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I think it says a lot for the Kerry football mentality as they would be prepared to sacrifice the most precocious talent in the game for a catch and kick footballer.  Goochs career has been the biggest victim of this unsporting wit it or bin it type of football from Kerry.

Cooper's the best footballer that I've watched in the flesh. In the Dr. Crokes club final last year he was picking out passes that nobody in the crowd (with the benefit of a plan view of the pitch) could see. We'd love to have him up in Donegal.

Aye, I suppose we could fit him in. Sure we are flat out brining on the Kilkenny hurlers with this "twinning" thing so we may as well teal the Gooch something 

I think that the easiest way to an AI is "through the front door". The fewer matches the better. I reckon the statistics would show that. Of course it brings extra problems with long breaks but I still think that the fewer games you play then the better chance you have of progressing.

So who counts their medals like the 'Mericans and who does it like the Chinese?
I have to say that the Chinese method seems the best to me. Otherwise you are placing no more value on a Gold over a Bronze and that goes against everything that competitive sport is about. Political games!!

One of the main elements of skill that has almost died out over the past decade is kicking a dead ball on the ground - almost all pointed frees these days come from the hands which although is easy to do is difficult to master right and leads to a lot of mis-hit shots.

Therefore the only things I would propose is that a free kick would only be taken from the hands by the player who was fouled or by the player who was closest to the ball - any other player taking the free would have to do so from the ground.

Why do you care whether free's are taken from the hand or from the ground? Teams are well able to decide for themselves which is the more accurate way and if they decide to kick from the hands then obviously that is the more accurate method for that player. I've heard people calling for this enforced kicking from the ground before and I can only put it down to nostalgia. The only thing that matters is that the free is scored. Whether that is out of the hands, from the ground or with his arse shouldn't matter to you.

It's very simple - levels of skill. Its nothing to do with levels of nostalgia for me as most of my time spent playing/coaching football has been done with any player able to kick a free from the hands.

The problem lies in that very few children, if any, are now coached into being able to kick a dead ball from the ground which is still important to learn for players to take 45's or penalties. I've lost count of games where teams have been awarded 45's and nobody is willing to step up to take a kick because they don't know how to and have never been coached into doing so, therefore most of them play a short one-two instead. It's the same with penalties because most players haven't a clue to take such an important kick - this includes "star forwards" who might rake up something like 3-6 in a game, get a late penalty to take and then either completely fluffs it or just toe pokes it and hopes for the best with no effort to place the ball.

It's also false that kicking the ball from the hands is more accurate than kicking a dead ball on the ground - because a kicked ball from the hands is moving when it is struck it is much more likely to go in a direction other than where the player wants it whereas a dead ball, when learned correctly, is much easier to control its direction.

I take your point about the 45's and as don't get me started on penalty kicks (Michael Murphy for Donegal seems to be one of the few that I have seen that look very confident taking a penalty). I have to disagree about the accuracy differences between kicking from the ground vs the hands. Surely the top players and coaches are going to go with the method that is most accurate. If Finlay wants to kick from his hands then surely thats because it is the more accurate way. I know you could argue that if he was never coached to kick from the ground that he may not have the option to kick from the ground but look at Colm McFadden who is a great striker of the ball off the ground. He still chooses to take his frees from the hand.

What did they actually do to the field to improve it?  I know it was closed for a while, but surely it wasn't relaid again?

Was it not just the natural development of the grass root structure? I think that it just needed time to "bed-in" properly. Could be wrong though.

One of the main elements of skill that has almost died out over the past decade is kicking a dead ball on the ground - almost all pointed frees these days come from the hands which although is easy to do is difficult to master right and leads to a lot of mis-hit shots.

Therefore the only things I would propose is that a free kick would only be taken from the hands by the player who was fouled or by the player who was closest to the ball - any other player taking the free would have to do so from the ground.

Why do you care whether free's are taken from the hand or from the ground? Teams are well able to decide for themselves which is the more accurate way and if they decide to kick from the hands then obviously that is the more accurate method for that player. I've heard people calling for this enforced kicking from the ground before and I can only put it down to nostalgia. The only thing that matters is that the free is scored. Whether that is out of the hands, from the ground or with his arse shouldn't matter to you.

Fair play to him. Great display. Watch out China (medals table)!!

As my father used to say ... If it looks like a drug-taking chicken and swims like a drug-taking chicken then it's most likely a drug-taking chicken.

Yawn. Puke Journalism.

What was number one??

Keano ! Saipan

LOL. Should have guessed.

Nope, we didn't even do that. For two bloody years it was nothing but Roddy McCordy!!

LOL. That brings back memories! Roddy McCorley and The Dawning of the Day. And me flat out saying the notes in my head all the time. ABAFADAFA .... (Thats not either tune by the way)

The tin whistle is a great way to get into music. Relatively easy to get the basiscs down (it's not just a simple instrument though) and so cheap you won't feel guilty if you don't keep it up. Go for it.

Sutherland is boxing at 1pm Irish time. Best of luck to him.

What was number one??

I don't know about the resentment bit.
If there was any left I think most GAA fans got over that by the end of the Munster Final.

Yeah, we are a forgiving lot all right 
Looking forward to a great game with Kerry to push ahead by 3 in the last 10.

While I'm sure the ref information will be useful, when (if) they are put on players it should be very interesting. Live feeds of players work rates etc. Mad!