Dublin v Mayo - AISF

[Crete Boom]

I am loving the disrespect from the media, the neturals and the Dubs (I don't personally think the Dubs at full hilt are actually better than us).

How many times have we seen games build up just like this for us to rip the f**kers (no particular county) to pieces. I only start to worry when the feckers start talking us up.

Off the mark dude...................majority of dubs have the upmost respect for the mayo buckos................its your country brethren, media and pundits who are showing possible disrespect and baying for a dub vs donegal final

Actually think mayo will win this

Saying that though I think they're quietly confident that a return of the 2011 performances will be good enough to knock us out.

In the absence of an AI win for Mayo I would think that's a pretty fair assesment would you not?

It's definitely a fair assessment and if you'd quoted that sentence in my full post I thought it'd be fairly clear that I wasn't questioning that point? If not my apologies.
Don't think you'd get much of an argument from most Mayo posters that the Dub's 2011 All Ireland wining form would beat us . If they recapture that level of performance on Sunday and were capable of sustaining it you will be celebrating back to back titles in my opinion.

[Mayo4Sam]

Jinxy he'll need to sort out the hair alright

[Crete Boom]

I am loving the disrespect from the media, the neturals and the Dubs (I don't personally think the Dubs at full hilt are actually better than us).

How many times have we seen games build up just like this for us to rip the f**kers (no particular county) to pieces. I only start to worry when the feckers start talking us up.

Off the mark dude...................majority of dubs have the upmost respect for the mayo buckos................its your country brethren, media and pundits who are showing possible disrespect and baying for a dub vs donegal final

Actually think mayo will win this

You no more think that Squire than Spillane thinks it, or Mickey Whelan apparently and why would you, yer All-Ireland champs, FFS stop actly like the little innocents there to make up the numbers.

Personnally I'm nervous to believe, not until I can put my hand in his side as Thomas would have said.
For too long I've been sucked in by Mayo teams, '92 v Donegal, '96 finals, '99 god help us, '09 Meath were all days I looked at and couldn't see us losing. Maybe it's old age but more likely experience that makes me look at this team and ask where are our 16 points going to come from, I'd think this should win this match but for that you're relying on Dillon and our half backs putting in quality ball to the FF line and scoring probably 5-6 points, COC kicking 6 from frees/play and our other two FFs scoring 5/6 between them, I can't see that happening.
If AOS can play to his potential then we have a chance, for me he's the great white hope and can become the finest footballer to ever pull on the red and green. He'll have his toughest day yet on Sunday against some huge men that will make him look when normal size in comparison. If he steps up to the plate then we have some hope

Better than Anthony Finnerty?
Big call.

While Fat Larry was undisputely the best Drinker/Irish dancer you'd be pushing it to say he was the best player ever.
( He could duck and cover with the best of the as well just reference the 96 melee )

[Farrandeelin]

Like Mayo4Sam, I'm too nervous to believe about this game yet. I'm trying to think positive and granted after the Down game I was, but not now. I just can't see us getting enough scores to win this game. Maybe I might be wrong, I hope to Christ that I am. I wouldn't be a fan of having Varley at no 14, but if he's 'going well in training', I suppose he's done his bit for the management to start. It'll be interesting to see if Dublin can raise their game, I know I said already it will be tight and I still believe it will, but I can't see us scoring enough. Dublin will know that form can't be turned on like a tap either however. I think that AOS will be better than the last day to be honest. I think he will have benefitted from the extra 4 weeks and he (hopefully) will get on the ball more often. It's just the inside forward line that worry me.

[Crete Boom]

Like Mayo4Sam, I'm too nervous to believe about this game yet. I'm trying to think positive and granted after the Down game I was, but not now. I just can't see us getting enough scores to win this game. Maybe I might be wrong, I hope to Christ that I am. I wouldn't be a fan of having Varley at no 14, but if he's 'going well in training', I suppose he's done his bit for the management to start. It'll be interesting to see if Dublin can raise their game, I know I said already it will be tight and I still believe it will, but I can't see us scoring enough. Dublin will know that form can't be turned on like a tap either however. I think that AOS will be better than the last day to be honest. I think he will have benefitted from the extra 4 weeks and he (hopefully) will get on the ball more often. It's just the inside forward line that worry me.

I'm thinking along the same lines about our inside line and I'm also a little worried about midfield because I think Dublin will attack there especially to gain a foothold for the game.

[Syferus]

And half the hearts in Mayo skip a beat.

[Lar Naparka]

Like Mayo4Sam, I'm too nervous to believe about this game yet. I'm trying to think positive and granted after the Down game I was, but not now. I just can't see us getting enough scores to win this game. Maybe I might be wrong, I hope to Christ that I am. I wouldn't be a fan of having Varley at no 14, but if he's 'going well in training', I suppose he's done his bit for the management to start. It'll be interesting to see if Dublin can raise their game, I know I said already it will be tight and I still believe it will, but I can't see us scoring enough. Dublin will know that form can't be turned on like a tap either however. I think that AOS will be better than the last day to be honest. I think he will have benefitted from the extra 4 weeks and he (hopefully) will get on the ball more often. It's just the inside forward line that worry me.

Right now, that's what worries us all.
Whether by accident or design, JH had been doing a mighty job of building a team and he has done this from the goalie outwards, line by line. Getting a FF trio to click has been the last hurdle to cross and I thought, during the last game, that Doherty and Conroy were going to be the ones to join Andy. That's not going to happen now but he still has the best available for  the positions 1-12.
But, as Emmet said, the Dubs won't know what to expect until the  game begins.
Therein lies our hope.
Keep the Faith!

[TyrionLannister]

Nice article from Ciaran McDonald that Syferus pic was lifted from on www.gaa.ie
http://www.gaa.ie/gaa-news-and-videos/daily-news/2/3008121447-the-big-interview-ciaran-mcdonald/

The Big Interview: Ciarán McDonald

Ciarán McDonald knows what it takes to beat Dublin in an All-Ireland semi-final.
In fact he knows what it feels like to kick the winning point in an All-Ireland semi-final against Dublin in Croke Park (see YouTube video below).
McDonald, therefore, is better placed than anybody to give his opinion on Sunday's hugely-anticipated game.
Speaking to GAA.ie at a Vodafone GAA Football All-Ireland semi-final press conference ahead of Sunday's clash, the Crossmolina legend first looks back at that epic semi-final in which he played a starring role in 2006.
"I remember kicking that point and the crowd going crazy," McDonald, now 37, recalls. "I remember being seven points down and the substitutes that we put in all clicking. I remember Andy Moran's goal.
"But my biggest memory is is giving an absolutely brutal pass that Darren Magee cut out. The ball went down to the far corner of the Canal End and I said to myself, 'here we go again'.
"It went out for a 45, a combination of Clarkey (goalkeeper David Clarke) and David Brady punched it out. It just shows the thin line from one second being totally elated to making an absolute mess of things a minute later."

Mayo were famously destroyed by Kerry in the subsequent All-Ireland final and McDonald missed his big chance to crown a remarkable career with a Celtic Cross.
Still, he cherishes the memories of that All-Ireland semi-final, sacking the mighty Dubs in their own castle.
"Dublin! Dublin in Croke Park, it doesn't get any bigger. An All-Ireland semi-final with 82,000 people in Croke Park...it's just a shame it wasn't the final!
"At the time it was a means to an end, to get to an All-Ireland final and repair what was so bad in 2004. That's what I wanted.
"I remember coming off the field, I went straight to the dressing room and I was in a car going home insde 15 minutes. 'Here we are, going for an All-Ireland final.'
"And yet, a month later it was the same old same old."

Fast-forward six years and James Horan's recalibrated Mayo side are once again within touching distance of the Promised Land.
If McDonald was the star of the 2006 side, then Andy Moran was undoubtedly his contemporary until he had his season cruelly cut short by injury in the quarter-final win over Down.
McDonald is not one to mince his words and he refuses to play down the significance of Moran's absence on Sunday.
"He's one of the few fellas you can say would make any team in the country," McDonald says. "I put my hand on my heart when I say that.
"He lives and breathes football, whether it is Ballaghaderreen or Mayo. It's 24/7 yap, yap, yap. He'd probably wreck your head at times when you are around him!
"He's a go-to man. If you're a wing-back or a midfielder and you look up, I can guarantee he's the first guy who'll get in your eyeline. He's over and back the field and he wants the ball, he's the first fella they'll see. Instead of ball getting turned over, they know they've an outlet. It's him.
"Can you replace that? No, I don't think so. Who ever comes in, and we have a great 32-man panel, but it's silly to say you can replace him.
"You can play football without him, but very few offer what Andy has. He's a massive, massive loss.
"It's the same as if Alan Brogan was missing for Dublin. He makes everyone around him look better. I can't speak of him any higher than that."

Asked for his opinion on Dublin centre-forward Alan Brogan, McDonald beams with positivity. "A ball player" is his description of the Footballer of the Year. From possibly the greatest "ball player" of the modern era, it's a serious compliment.
"He's a player, he's a ball player," McDonald enthuses. "When he's on his game everybody plays better and looks better when he's on the field. Dublin look rudderless without him.
"They want him on the ball, the players want him on the ball because they know they are going to get a ball back. They'll get a good ball back.
"He'd be a massive, massive loss to Dublin but a massive plus if he starts."
McDonald has seen a killer instinct in this Mayo side under James Horan. They have scored seven goals in their three championship games to date this summer, and he argues that they will have to be equally ruthless to depose the All-Ireland champions.
"Goals win games. Mayo have realised that now. Whereas before they would have been happy to take a 30-yard point or a 21-yard tap over, they now want to work the 'keeper and go for goal. They realise that.
"I would say they now firmly believe that they have to put one or two past Cluxton to win. They know that. In the last two games they have been goal hungry.
"They have been goal hungry in the league and the championship whereas other Mayo teams haven't been. They want goals and that's the main thing, they realise that they aren't going to outpoint Dublin."
McDonald is in full flow. His reputation as being notoriously media shy and a reluctant star is hard to tally with the animated, passionate man in front of us.
It's hard to ignore, too, that he is in remarkable shape, as toned, lean and tanned as in his heyday in a green and red jersey.
The reports coming back from the west these days are that he is playing some of the best football of his life for Crossmolina. He's never officially retired from inter-county football, and while he wouldn't say no to a call from his former team-mate, he doesn't expect James Horan's number to appear on his phone any time soon.
"Would I love to put on the green and red again? I suppose every person that pulled on an inter-county jersey never wants to give it up.
"I am playing OK football. I love my club. Thanks God our club is doing well in the championship. We still have a lot of work to do, but we are doing alright.
"I am playing alright football, yeah. I'm enjoying it. Is there any chance of James Horan giving me a ring? I don't think so."
And still, he has nothing but good things to say about Horan.
"Having played with James, I know what he is all about. He did a great job with Ballintubber before he took over Mayo. He's a great manager.
"His life is solely devoted around Mayo football or wherever he puts his energy in to. The boys have rowed in with it.
"He has a great backroom team. James Nallen from our own club, who knows what it takes to be a Mayo footballer. He has instilled the belief in them that they can come out and beat Dublin and then beat Donegal in All-Ireland final."
Finally, does he think Mayo can win on Sunday? Of course he does. And he thinks they can beat Donegal in the final too.
"They are not putting in the hours that every other inter-county team is with the hope of not winning an All-Ireland title. They all want to win an All-Ireland title. They are in the last three.
"Do they fear Dublin? I'd say they don't fear anybody. They have to go out with that mentality that they are going to win an All-Ireland title and I firmly believe that they are going to get over Dublin and hatch some gameplan then for Donegal."

[Tubberman]

And half the hearts in Mayo skip a beat.

Imagine...... right, stop day-dreaming! Get those notions out of your head, and get back to work.

[Sam2011]

Great to see Mac back in the green and red! Also nice to see him breaking his media silence and conducted himself very well in the interview for someone who has rarely spoken to the press.

Anyway onto the match I really don't know how this game is going to go, but obviously I would like to see Mayo prevail. I have two questions but can not come up with the answers.
Can Dublin just switch on the form when needed? What are we going to do now that Andy is out?
I agree though that we have a slight advantage with the element of suprise now that Andy is out.

People are wondering where we are going to get the scores- this is where I think we will out score Dublin:
1)Goals, like Mac has eluded to we are goal hungry and Horan has realised that if we are going to beat the big teams we are going to need goals because we haven't got that one special forward yet that can chip over a few points in a game. I think we will need at least one or two goals on Sunday.
2)Half backs, Dillon and McLoughlin, will be expected to pop over the points when they are sure there is no goal on.
3) Frees, they could be key in this game. Dublin have been very sloppy tackling this year and Cillian will have to be on his game here.

[Tubberman]

Ciaran McDonald will be on Off The Ball on Newstalk tonight at around 8:20pm!
The man rarely does interviews, don't know what's going on today, but it's great to hear from the legend!

[criostlinn]

Who gets to warm up in front of the hill

[Syferus]

Who gets to warm up in front of the hill

If Off the Ball have even an ounce of comic timing that should be the very first question they ask Ciaran Mc.

[seanog]

Theyt asked Kevin o Neill the other night about running into the hill in 06 " ahh it wasn't premeditated, its just how it worked out, we ran to the left and the hill happen to be down that way"  lol

[squire_in_navy_slacks]

Brady is blowing his load on newstalk now ..............................

Donegal are like the new girl in town who everyone wants to ride