Final 12 teams left in the football championship RANKED

[moysider]

We're going nowhere this year , hoor of a draw & are still on the crocked end of it.

Honestly it's Dublin v Kerry unless Mayo do something

It needed Cork to beat Kerry to make it interesting.

Mayo will burst themselves but we would need to play Dublin in McHale Park and get a ref v Kerry that is not bent. What's the chances of that happening?

[Syferus]

We're going nowhere this year , hoor of a draw & are still on the crocked end of it.

Honestly it's Dublin v Kerry unless Mayo do something

It needed Cork to beat Kerry to make it interesting.

Mayo will burst themselves but we would need to play Dublin in McHale Park and get a ref v Kerry that is not bent. What's the chances of that happening?

People really overlooking Monaghan. If they're good enough to beat that Donegal team they're capable enough to beat beat Tyrone/Sligo/Galway and Kerry. Their style is what has made Kerry come unstuck so many times in the past decade. That battle would probably be won or lost in their heads and in how fair the referee would decide to be.

Monaghan to win the AI looks improbable. Monaghan to gate-crash the Old Firm (which is fûcking sickening to watch for neutrals when it's an AI final)? That's something very different.

[Ciarrai_thuaidh]

Not much of an argument, since O Shea has been fit all season whereas Donaghy hadn't played a competitive game for Kerry through injury until the Mayo game.

And in a limited Kerry forward line at that. Which tells a story of where Fitz ranked Star until his cameo against Mayo.

1-17
0-24
1-20
1-16
3-16
2-9 (v Donegal)

Yeah fairly limited forward line to rack up poor totals like that last year alright. 

It was mostly going through one player last year until Fitzmaurice realised Mayo had trouble dealing with high balls and that he had a big lad sitting on the bench.

O'Donaghue flourished when out of Gooch's shadow but that was one of the poorest set of Kerry forwards in many years and many of them did their best work defending and turning ball over. The likes of Buckley and Sheehan were midfielders playing as HFs. Geaney has potential but he's not the finished article. The highest score there was also after extra time..

If you really knew your stuff you'd know that Geaney is a very good forward already AND was hugely important to Kerry last year, not least in the final. You would also know that every single Gaelic Football team in modern times has at least 1 half forward who  does their best work "defending and turning ball over" as you put it, so that part is nonsense.

Buckley was immense all through the championship at half forward (where he played every game NOT midfield) and of course Donaghy was hugely influential in the latter 3 games.

Pointless "debating" with you though as you'll just come back with more nonsense every time.

[moysider]

We're going nowhere this year , hoor of a draw & are still on the crocked end of it.

Honestly it's Dublin v Kerry unless Mayo do something

It needed Cork to beat Kerry to make it interesting.

Mayo will burst themselves but we would need to play Dublin in McHale Park and get a ref v Kerry that is not bent. What's the chances of that happening?

People really overlooking Monaghan. If they're good enough to beat that Donegal team they're capable enough to beat beat Tyrone/Sligo/Galway and Kerry. Their style is what has made Kerry come unstuck so many times in the past decade. That battle would probably be won or lost in their heads and in how fair the referee would decide to be.

Monaghan to win the aI looks improbable. Monaghan to gate-crash the Old Firm (which is fûcking sickening to watch for neutrals when it's an AI final)? That's something very different.

Good and all that Monaghan were - and they were very good, Donegal still should have drawn the game. Annoyed about that cause I was going to go to the replay if it happened. Donegal were flat and kicked some very bad wides. Murphy clearly injured as well.

The reality is though Kerry are now planning for an AI final. Even Jacko Shea could hardly disguise it. On radio he was hoping for Gooch to have 70 mins in him for the AI final. He said it with a bit of a grin ( sometimes ye can see a grin on radio ) but they know they are in the final.

[Syferus]

Not much of an argument, since O Shea has been fit all season whereas Donaghy hadn't played a competitive game for Kerry through injury until the Mayo game.

And in a limited Kerry forward line at that. Which tells a story of where Fitz ranked Star until his cameo against Mayo.

1-17
0-24
1-20
1-16
3-16
2-9 (v Donegal)

Yeah fairly limited forward line to rack up poor totals like that last year alright. 

It was mostly going through one player last year until Fitzmaurice realised Mayo had trouble dealing with high balls and that he had a big lad sitting on the bench.

O'Donaghue flourished when out of Gooch's shadow but that was one of the poorest set of Kerry forwards in many years and many of them did their best work defending and turning ball over. The likes of Buckley and Sheehan were midfielders playing as HFs. Geaney has potential but he's not the finished article. The highest score there was also after extra time..

If you really knew your stuff you'd know that Geaney is a very good forward already AND was hugely important to Kerry last year, not least in the final. You would also know that every single Gaelic Football team in modern times has at least 1 half forward who  does their best work "defending and turning ball over" as you put it, so that part is nonsense.

Buckley was immense all through the championship at half forward (where he played every game NOT midfield) and of course Donaghy was hugely influential in the latter 3 games.

Pointless "debating" with you though as you'll just come back with more nonsense every time.

Bit telling that you have to resort to insults.

If you can't accept Kerry were workmanlike last year I don't know what games you were watching. It was all about being compact and protecting a back-line with some mileage on the clock. Kerry last year had more in common with Monaghan with McManus than the Kerry teams that won AIs in the mid 00s with players like Gooch, Galvin, Star (yeah, he was pretty damn good at catching the ball before his dip in form), Declan O'S and Mike Frank in their primes.

You seem to assume being one of the poorest Kerry forward lines in years means they're a shite footballers. Of course not. They just weren't at the same level as what had come before them. I thought you'd have had the sense to see that before over-reacting.

[Ciarrai_thuaidh]

Not much of an argument, since O Shea has been fit all season whereas Donaghy hadn't played a competitive game for Kerry through injury until the Mayo game.

And in a limited Kerry forward line at that. Which tells a story of where Fitz ranked Star until his cameo against Mayo.

1-17
0-24
1-20
1-16
3-16
2-9 (v Donegal)

Yeah fairly limited forward line to rack up poor totals like that last year alright. 

It was mostly going through one player last year until Fitzmaurice realised Mayo had trouble dealing with high balls and that he had a big lad sitting on the bench.

O'Donaghue flourished when out of Gooch's shadow but that was one of the poorest set of Kerry forwards in many years and many of them did their best work defending and turning ball over. The likes of Buckley and Sheehan were midfielders playing as HFs. Geaney has potential but he's not the finished article. The highest score there was also after extra time..

If you really knew your stuff you'd know that Geaney is a very good forward already AND was hugely important to Kerry last year, not least in the final. You would also know that every single Gaelic Football team in modern times has at least 1 half forward who  does their best work "defending and turning ball over" as you put it, so that part is nonsense.

Buckley was immense all through the championship at half forward (where he played every game NOT midfield) and of course Donaghy was hugely influential in the latter 3 games.

Pointless "debating" with you though as you'll just come back with more nonsense every time.

Bit telling that you have to resort to insults.

If you can't accept Kerry were workmanlike last year I don't know what games you were watching. It was all about being compact and protecting a back-line with some mileage on the clock. Kerry last year had more in common with Monaghan with McManus than the Kerry teams that won AIs in the mid 00s with players like Gooch, Galvin, Star (yeah, he was pretty damn good at catching the ball before his dip in form), Declan O'S and Mike Frank in their primes.

You seem to assume being one of the poorest Kerry forward lines in years means they're a shite footballers. Of course not. They just weren't at the same level as what had come before them. I thought you'd have had the sense to see that before over-reacting.

"Pointless "debating" with you though as you'll just come back with more nonsense every time"

QED.

[Syferus]

Not much of an argument, since O Shea has been fit all season whereas Donaghy hadn't played a competitive game for Kerry through injury until the Mayo game.

And in a limited Kerry forward line at that. Which tells a story of where Fitz ranked Star until his cameo against Mayo.

1-17
0-24
1-20
1-16
3-16
2-9 (v Donegal)

Yeah fairly limited forward line to rack up poor totals like that last year alright. 

It was mostly going through one player last year until Fitzmaurice realised Mayo had trouble dealing with high balls and that he had a big lad sitting on the bench.

O'Donaghue flourished when out of Gooch's shadow but that was one of the poorest set of Kerry forwards in many years and many of them did their best work defending and turning ball over. The likes of Buckley and Sheehan were midfielders playing as HFs. Geaney has potential but he's not the finished article. The highest score there was also after extra time..

If you really knew your stuff you'd know that Geaney is a very good forward already AND was hugely important to Kerry last year, not least in the final. You would also know that every single Gaelic Football team in modern times has at least 1 half forward who  does their best work "defending and turning ball over" as you put it, so that part is nonsense.

Buckley was immense all through the championship at half forward (where he played every game NOT midfield) and of course Donaghy was hugely influential in the latter 3 games.

Pointless "debating" with you though as you'll just come back with more nonsense every time.

Bit telling that you have to resort to insults.

If you can't accept Kerry were workmanlike last year I don't know what games you were watching. It was all about being compact and protecting a back-line with some mileage on the clock. Kerry last year had more in common with Monaghan with McManus than the Kerry teams that won AIs in the mid 00s with players like Gooch, Galvin, Star (yeah, he was pretty damn good at catching the ball before his dip in form), Declan O'S and Mike Frank in their primes.

You seem to assume being one of the poorest Kerry forward lines in years means they're a shite footballers. Of course not. They just weren't at the same level as what had come before them. I thought you'd have had the sense to see that before over-reacting.

"Pointless "debating" with you though as you'll just come back with more nonsense every time"

QED.

Trying to dismiss something with quotation marks and childish insults rarely works very well.

[macdanger2]

We're going nowhere this year , hoor of a draw & are still on the crocked end of it.

Honestly it's Dublin v Kerry unless Mayo do something

It needed Cork to beat Kerry to make it interesting.

Mayo will burst themselves but we would need to play Dublin in McHale Park and get a ref v Kerry that is not bent. What's the chances of that happening?

People really overlooking Monaghan. If they're good enough to beat that Donegal team they're capable enough to beat beat Tyrone/Sligo/Galway and Kerry. Their style is what has made Kerry come unstuck so many times in the past decade. That battle would probably be won or lost in their heads and in how fair the referee would decide to be.

Monaghan to win the AI looks improbable. Monaghan to gate-crash the Old Firm (which is fûcking sickening to watch for neutrals when it's an AI final)? That's something very different.

I have to agree with you there Syf, Monaghan will be a sticky proposition for Kerry (if they both get that far) and I could eaily see them doing a Mayo on it i.e. brilliant semi final to beat Kerry and then flat in the final

[onlooker11]

Kerry Dublin final for me.

[Main Street]

I would fancy both Donegal and Tyrone to beat Monaghan if they play in Croke Park.

Because of the wide open spaces?

Donegal 15 + Tyrone 15 combined = 30 would probably beat a Monaghan 15. Not enough space for Monaghan.

Monaghan will have to revise their training strategy with practice games against a 30 player team instead of a 20 player team

[onlooker11]

I would fancy both Donegal and Tyrone to beat Monaghan if they play in Croke Park.

Because of the wide open spaces?

Donegal 15 + Tyrone 15 combined = 30 would probably beat a Monaghan 15. Not enough space for Monaghan.

Monaghan will have to revise their training strategy with practice games against a 30 player team instead of a 20 player team

Supposedly playing well and scoring 11 points is a shocking total. Wouldn't be getting carried away if I was a monaghan man.

[Schkite]

I would fancy both Donegal and Tyrone to beat Monaghan if they play in Croke Park.

Because of the wide open spaces?

Donegal 15 + Tyrone 15 combined = 30 would probably beat a Monaghan 15. Not enough space for Monaghan.

Monaghan will have to revise their training strategy with practice games against a 30 player team instead of a 20 player team

Supposedly playing well and scoring 11 points is a shocking total. Wouldn't be getting carried away if I was a monaghan man.

I wouldn't say we played particularly well, certainly not for over half the game. And anyway, the name of the game is to score more than your opponent, which we did. Not many teams run up a big score against Donegal, I'd be shocked if we score as low in the next game.

[haranguerer]

Monaghans defending was absolutely fantastic, but their kickouts were a disaster - Donegal pressured them and it really worked - they'll certainly be flat out working on those this week.They could go far, but anyone rooting for them (including myself) will need to have strong nerves - they invite teams onto themselves, at least they did last sunday; brave backing their defence, but its impossible to keep some of the forwards they are potentially coming up against out all the time, it remains to be seen whether they can do it enough to outscore them.

[Throw ball]

Can someone beat Donegal and Tyrone as soon as possible. The way they play is awful to watch. Armagh tried to mimic them this year and maybe if Tyrone and Donegal get well beat Geezer may decide playing football would be better. 14 men behind the ball is like watching George Graham's Arsenal.

[LCohen]

Can someone beat Donegal and Tyrone as soon as possible. The way they play is awful to watch. Armagh tried to mimic them this year and maybe if Tyrone and Donegal get well beat Geezer may decide playing football would be better. 14 men behind the ball is like watching George Graham's Arsenal.

I like the George Graham analogy.

The likes of Graham or Howard Wilkinson knew their stuff but their tactics and methods are old hat and they hadn't a clue how to adapt. A lot of GAA managers and McGeeney is square at the front of this particular queue are like this today. The "off the shelf" comment is apt.

Tyrone and Donegal are dire to watch. Monaghan are dire to watch but we like an underdog. Fermanagh are dire to watch but we love a super-underdog. Armagh are dire but you have to be from Armagh to love this version. In  short Ulster football is tight and tense but the quality is dire.