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If we do beat the Rossies, I think Monaghan would be a good bet to beat us in the last round of league games.

I sincerely hope so..  The margin of victory for Dublin over the last few meetings has been varied, so it's hard to call.. Ye gave us a good batin 2 years ago (I think..) in Clones in the last round on an Easter Sunday. I'm honestly not sure what Monaghan's plans are, they may be happy now with div 1 safety and use the last 2 games to give the new lads more game time, which hasn't been bad to us this year so far. They may also go all out for the final. It's close enough to the preliminary round game against Fermanagh (3/4 weeks I think) which is no foregone conclusion..

Personally, I'd like to see them continue to be competitive in every match as there is no substitute for winning ways.. In saying that, the Kerry game showed us that as a small county if you go all out to win every game you will pay for it in injuries, so there's a trade-off to be made..

I'm looking forward to the last 2 games in any case as both opponents tend to fire Monaghan up.. 

I think a lot depends on Sunday. If they lose that then they are likely to rest anyone with as much as a bruise for the Dublin game. Hope not as I'm going to the Dublin game and would like to see a contest and lets face it they need to have their best team out to have any chance.

I realise Ireland's world cup history is poor but I still think Ireland are punching above their weight. Resources wise Ireland a long way behind NZ, Aus, SA, England & France so to beating many of these teams as often as they do surely indicates that their punching above their weight. I'm far from an expert on Rugby Union but Ireland appear to have a brilliant structure with the players only spread across 4 teams which appears to have certainly benefitted them rather than hindered.

I do think there is some sort of middle ground between those who get far too carried away with a win and those who are always talking down any sort of good result.

We'll agree to differ.

I will agree that we shouldn't draw comparisons with NZ, Aus, SA, England and France as that's not fair. I do think however that it is fair to compare the records of the next level of teams in the WC. We have never got beyond the quarters. We've never won a game of knock out rugby. Wales and Argentina have done so twice each and Scotland have done it once. Only when we achieve this relatively modest task can we talk about boxing above our weight.

[we punch above our weights]

Jeez people are awful hard on the Rugby guys. I enjoy Rugby because it gives a sense of unity to all parts of this country, except in the darkest TUV voting pockets. For a game that is at best third in a country with a population around the 7m mark we punch above our weights. When we give one in the eye to the AB's or England it matters not that the game is not going to change anything, I just rejoice in the moment. Neither do I lose too much sleep when we are defeated. So well done Ireland for now and lets see the 4 Proud Provinces well 3 1/2  give the Pro 12/Champions Cup a go, delete as appropriate.

I'd largely agree with you except for the bold bit. There are at best 9 good teams in the world and we are one of them. Not once in the world cup have we managed to get to the last 4. If that were to happen then you might be able to claim that we are punching above our weight but at the moment we are threading water at best. On the other hand our soccer team consistently punches above its weight with average players but then strangely gets criticised when they don't make a major tournament or get knocked out early. From some reason that I don't understand rugby escapes similar scrutiny.

Having said that any day we beat england at anything is a good day so well done.

I though it was a great game.

Ok - there was a lot of off-the-ball shite but in terms of passion and excitement it was hard to beat.

Kerry threw it away of course at the end.

I was at it and really enjoyed it.

1st half was dire and nasty at times but the 2nd half more than made up for it. From a dublin perspective I thought the draw was barely (if even) deserved but i'll take it. Ref had a hard job to do and he didn't seem to get much help from the other officials but overall he did well - if anything maybe dublin got the rub of the green overall.

I loved the ground. I was early enough to get into the stand which was great. 12,000 odd people packed in made for a great occasion.

never a free out there

How long more will pathetic Deegan let Crokes cynically foul

yeah - sneaky kick there to the lad over the sideline

I wonder how long Monaghan can stay in D1. The team seems to have peaked and the older lads have been retiring.

It will always be a struggle for them but they have done remarkably well and they also seem to have brought a few new players in this year. If you look at this population list you have to say that Rossies, Cavan and monaghan are all boxing way above their weight evenin being in div 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Irish_counties_by_population

They must all be doing something right at grass roots organisational level to be competing at the top level while others with vastly greater populations are languishing below them (e.g. Meath, Kildare, Cork and Galway).

No more than Celtic deserve they've been terrible this second half!

Yes Hats of to Rangers they upped it in the second half. Could nick all three yet!

yes but shocking bottle job by the ref - stone wall peno

He'd of been guessing from where he was.. Damn near gave it, watch him start to move whistle to mouth, Rangers deserved their draw though.

naw - it was clear cut. Doesn't matter about deserving. He had a clear view but he bottled it

No more than Celtic deserve they've been terrible this second half!

Yes Hats of to Rangers they upped it in the second half. Could nick all three yet!

yes but shocking bottle job by the ref - stone wall peno

Rangers are awful .  Any League of Ireland club with aspiration to finish in top 6 would not sign any of that dross .

over the years they would always have players that you'd take. Not now. There's isn't one of them that would get a game for celtic

Celtic getting a game!

should be able to push on now and win this comfortably

So the famed bottles bottled it again?

What's the excuse this time?

Surely Joe Shit will be out of a job?

Zzzzzzzzz back commenting on rugby Bomber.  Obviously your quite entitled to your opinion but what motivates you to constantly come on a thread about a sport your clearly dont like?  Why do you even pay attention to the results?

Disproportionate coverage and interest in a game that has little grass roots popularity on the island.

If I want to challenge this barbaric game and the sheep who follow it, I will.

Apparently the tv rights are a package which means if you want the 6 nations you have to take the women and u20s and show the whole lot. I have v little interest either but i do know my way around the remote control - this is useful at this time of year. Think positive - it will all be over this time next week.

Yeah would need satellite and internet...

I have Satellite, but I've just got Sky Q in. When this contract runs out I might look into this.

I had multiscreen with sky so I cancelled and put in a zgemma to see how it would work out. Delighted with it - the odd time it does freeze for a few seconds (even with a hardwired BB connection) but that's a small price to pay

Ten goals conceded over two legs with some of the most shocking poor defending you will ever see in Champions league football 

I was coaching  a u11 team last night. They have a retreat zone at that age which basically means that in 7 a side the keeper can roll the ball out to a defender. The opposition can only press with 1 player until the defender touches the ball. Then the game is on. We have been struggling with it and giving away stupid goals.

anyway, got home last night and turned on the arsenal game. Lo and behold Bayern's 4th goal came which was exactly the point I was trying to explain to the boys earlier. Straight to the whatsapp group telling the parents to show that goal to their kids and to then ask them to stop moaning about my boring drills  . Its was unbelievable to watch the schoolboy defending that was going on. They just gave up and that's not good.

Yeah it's just you straightred.
Monaghan seem to do a lot better against non Ulster teams but when they come up against Tyrone or Donegal they often over do the physical stuff and cross the line. They need to calm down a bit and stop showing Tyrone so much fear.

Can you point out one incident in the match that Tyrone overstepped the mark?

I can't because I was in Croker on Saturday and have only seen the few minutes highlights that were on the rte last night.

That wasn't my point though. I could only smile when I saw a Tyrone poster giving out about playing "on the edge". After all the pulling and dragging and mouthing and diving that has gone on you don't get to go all angelic all of a sudden. Maybe you didn't go down that route on Saturday - I don't know. However it will take me a bit longer to give you a clean bill of health.

Ffs, which holier than thou county do you follow which gives you impunity to comment on players over stepping the mark?

Another sensitive one I see. If you check the thread you'll see that I didn't initiate this. I simply decided that some of us might find it hard to accept a tyrone person moaning about the opposition playing on the edge. That's all.

Dublin with a bit of Monaghan blood if you must know but I rarely see Monaghan live.

If you think Tyrone have turned over a new leaf and left all the cynical stuff behind then fine. Let's see how it plays out over the next few months. I'll happily come back in September and admit I was wrong. In the meantime I'll remain skeptical.