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Just watching this game now, some scores being kicked so far!!

Where are you watching it?

If Monaghan play with the same intensity that they did today I would put them among the list of contenders. It's gonna be a question of how quickly they can put their feet on the ground after today's achievement. It's starting to look like it will be a bumper quarter final weekend this year.

None of Kerry, Mayo or Dublin will want to draw Donegal now presuming that they get over Laois. When interviewed after the match Jimmy said that he would have to study the match towards the end of the week to see what went wrong. I don't think he realised the qualifiers were in 6 days! His biggest job will be picking up his players mentally and physically in such a short time frame after today's bruising encounter.

Brilliant achievement by O'Rourke, tactically a very shrewd manager and his track record speaks for itself. Won an Ulster club with the Loup, should have beaten Armagh in the Ulster final in 2008 when beaten by a point in a replay and now winning an USFC with Monaghan. Has had consistent success with what many would have perceived to be lesser sides. Thought I read somewhere before that he is an Errigal Ciaran club man yet he is a Fermanagh man, so where are his allegiances?

Bit disappointing how TV3 cut away so quickly from the celebrations to go to ads.

Exactly, couldn't wait to get to an ad break.

[Deegans]

Ref v poor today. Dreadful decisions and Monaghan don't need any help, they are by far the better team.

Are donegal too complacent?

Heard from within their camp that they are looking to peak later on in the year!
The qualifier route and the extra game will actually help them!
( unless they play cork!!)

I'm not Deegans biggest fan but I think he contributed to the fast flowing high intensity game today. Ok he got the odd marginal decision wrong but it was definitely one of his best games.

As for the complacency bit and looking to peak later in the season. The AI qfinal are 2 weeks away so when are they looking to peak for? 4th week of September? How about they were beaten by a better hungrier team on the day.

]

Dave Goldrick was the ref.

:)You know what I meant.

Ref v poor today. Dreadful decisions and Monaghan don't need any help, they are by far the better team.

Are donegal too complacent?

Heard from within their camp that they are looking to peak later on in the year!
The qualifier route and the extra game will actually help them!
( unless they play cork!!)

I'm not Deegans biggest fan but I think he contributed to the fast flowing high intensity game today. Ok he got the odd marginal decision wrong but it was definitely one of his best games.

As for the complacency bit and looking to peak later in the season. The AI qfinal are 2 weeks away so when are they looking to peak for? 4th week of September? How about they were beaten by a better hungrier team on the day.

Unreal intensity this match, Donegal first time ever deviating from their gameplan now that they are behind.

Two McGees getting cleaned. Without bodies in front of them they are average footballers.

Manic intensity from Monaghan, if their energy levels don't drop off and they avoid conceding score able free kicks they will win this. Donegal look rattled and even McGuinness has a bemused looking expression atm. It might be ugly football with as many backward passes as forward passes and with more emphasis on turnovers than scores but its still enthralling viewing.

The standout bet for the weekend has to be Mayo -17 points. They are going to be extremely cold going into an AI quarter final and can't afford to take things easy. In any case the battle for starting places should be sufficient motivation for them.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/jul/18/team-sky-chris-froome-data?CMP=twt_gu

Interesting stuff

Good article. Releasing the power output data definitely helps Sky in the PR department and they should be taking steps such as this to becoming more transparent. This will all help in convincing the doubters but there will always be sceptics who will find another angle. They could for instance also release the data prior to the 2011 Vuelta which is when his performance first exceeded the form he had shown to that point. I think Froome has handled himself really well with the media on the tour considering the pounding he has taken and imo he is a lot more likeable than Wiggins was.

Anyway todays stage is an absolute brute, crowds of up to 1 million people expected on the double ascent of Alpe d'huez, should be some spectacle.

[Cork will be the real tester of how good Armagh are.]

Who was it that thought Paul Grimley's Armagh would not win one game this year?

Some boy Brolly.


But to be fair Armagh have been fed cannon fodder since the Cavan game.


Don't forget that Galway went out of last year's championship in Casement Park ( no disrespect meant to Antrim ).


Cork will be the real tester of how good Armagh are.

Brolly certainly has lit them up and they had no mercy at all last Saturday.

Silly presumptuous statement. Galway in Pearse Stadium will be a difficult task I feel, if we were playing at home I would be confident of a win but based on League form Galway are probably at least the equal of Armagh. I suppose a lot depends on the Galway players attitude, they have been one of the poorest teams when it comes to their appetite for the qualifiers in recent years.

Someone mentioned to me that Froome is quicker than Lance at his peak.

Are we supposed to believe he is clean?

He was marginally quicker up mont ventoux yes. There could be a lot of factors in that - like was one of them riding into a head wind the other a tail wind. What was the distance cycled before the climb, what was the pace like before that. Froome is a much more natural climber than Armstrong ever was in terms of his build and power to weight ratio. Armstrong was on his own mainly chasing down Pantani, Froome had Quintana to draft behind for a few km.

Or he could be doped to the eye balls. Dont think the debate is going to go away, if he is clean as a whistle i feel for him

That pretty much sums up my feelings on it as well. If he is clean he is already one of the most talented riders of all time and will likely go on to win multiple tours barring injury. If that is the case I feel for him as well since he has not got the acclaim he should be getting for his achievements in blowing the field away on the tour. The French public are apparently highly sceptical of his performances. The barrage of questioning must be seriously vexing for him if he is clean. On the other hand he could be doping but there is no concrete evidence of this other than pure innuendo surrounding the non release of data from Sky, the times on some of the climbs and the prior association with Leinders etc.

Leaving aside his allegiance to his paymaster Murdoch, David Walsh seems convinced that he is clean and for now we should trust the judgement of a man who has been a long standing anti doping crusader and the biggest thorn in the side of Lance Armstrong. Would he put his credibility on the line for the sake of a pay packet with his job in the Sunday Times?

They better hope they don't get out of Newbridge. 

I believe that Meath and Kildare would be a very close run affair in Croke Park but if Tyrone got a head of steam then they would have too much for Meath. The challenge for Meath is to re-produce the level of performance on Sunday and improve on the decision making and shot selection from scoring positions. Whether they can rectify that in 2 weeks is debatable but they have definitely got better with each game to date. However the gap between Div 1 and Div 2/3 is still going to be hard to bridge. Could be wrong but I don't think anyone from a lower division has beaten a division 1 team in this years championship to date (other than Derry who replaced Down this year).

Can't see how Kerry will win an All Ireland unless they happen to avoid Dublin (unlikely) and get Mayo in the final. The age of their side alone isn't enough to put me off them but the amount of matches that their best players have played is savage. They almost sneaked an AI title in 2011 and arguably should have won it, but other than that they have been in terminal decline for the last 3/4 years. the younger players don't have the same ability as the veterans. They would get steamrolled in a high intensity contest that the likes of Dublin, Donegal and Tyrone engage in whilst only for Mayo's mental deficiencies against them the same would apply there.

For me it's Donegal as favourites at the minute followed by Dublin and then Mayo. I can't see Kerry or Cork having the mental fortitude to win it but Tyrone could be a lively outsider IF they get out of Newbridge on Saturday which could be a tough task.