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I don't like this idea, Westmeath have a good chance of winning in reality, and Ulster Champions 2009 - Westmeath just doesn't sound right.  And sure what is the point when basically the Ulster Championship doesn't mean anything anymore when the winner doesn't get qualification into the Liam McCarthy Cup???

This is pretty much the same reason that some people in Galway didnt want us entering Leinster

mate you mistake closeness for quality. mayo and galway are barely top8 football teams yet you compare them to the greatest team in history. Revise your post and come back to me.

I dont want to get into a debate about the quality of Connacht football on a hurling thread but to say that Galway/Mayo are barely top 8 teams is just ridiculous. Mayo ran the eventual all-ireland champions closer than anyone this year. And Galway werent too far off beating Kerry so I just cant see where you are coming from??? The only possible teams I'd have ahead of them are Tyrone, Kerry, Cork? I cant see how you can claim any of the other teams are definitely ahead of them  
Comparing Connacht football with Leinster hurling makes just no sense because you are not comparing like with like.

Back to the hurling, You seem to be suggesting that there is quality in Leinster hurling outside Kilkenny? And your evidence is where exactly? That some leinster teams NEARLY beat some Munster teams this year & that Offaly beat a very poor Limerick team. If these Leinster teams were genuinely on par with the top teams in Munster (Cork, Waterford & Tipp) then they would be BEATING these teams and getting into an all-ireland final with Kilkenny themselves. I would also imagine that we would be seeing these teams competing for league titles (especially as a league title should mean more to these guys than it does to Kilkenny) but I dont think theres been a League winner outside Leinster (apart from Kilkenny) for years (Did Offaly & Wexford play in a final a while back?)

The connacht football championship is a crap championship as well, would galway and mayo appreciate it if tyrone were invited into their provincial championship? I doubt it. the leinster championship is distorted by having the greatest team in the history of hurling in it and offaly, wexford and to a lesser extent dublin proved that when they played the "might" of munster this year. Weall want galway to improve, but does it have to be at the expense of everyone else?

You are comparing the leinster hurling with connacht football? In Leinster, there is NO competition for Kilkenny.

In Connacht, matches are generally very competitive. Leitrim ran Galway very close this year, Sligo won Connacht last year, Roscommon generally arent far off & of course, there is usually nothing between Galway & Mayo so I dont really see your point & how you can compare them.

I would prefer if the leinster championship was abandoned to be replaced by a rest of Ireland championship (If the draw allows, a Galway-Antrim leinster final would not be the craziest idea ever). But I would have Westmeth & Carlow in there as well.

Dublin v Antrim is a game both teams will feel they can win...should be a good competitive game.  Draw with replay in Casement???

Would a replay be allowed to be in Casement? As far as I'm aware, none of the venues have been decided yet Galway dont know if they will have home advantage

Antrim have been doing this for the last four years or so. Since the link was broken between the ulster championship and the all ireland in 2004 it does not matter who the ulster champions are. A lot of people have not realised this since Antrim have continued to win ulster but it has no link to all-ireland series.
The proposals seem fair enough the only issue being could antrim be playing an ulster championship one week and leinster the next, timing injuries suspensions could be an issue to say nothing of the knock on effect for club games in antrim. But despite those concerns I would be broadly in favour.

It was a very competitive Ulster champinship this year with Down running Antrim close. So maybe the ulster champions being rewarded with a plce in a "rest of Ireland champinsip" might be a good idea.

anything around 85% of the cork performance from the cats will be more than enough. i worry about the waterford defence, just can't  see them stopping the cats scoring goals.

Dont know about that. I feel Kilkenny will actually have to perform better than they have all year to win

Kilkenny are a real class team so its awfully hard to go against them. I would say that about 11 of the Kilkenny team are good enough to start on the Waterford team (Plus a few of their subs)

But they have to have a bad day some time and I think the lack of real tests this year may be what tips this in Waterfords favour. I can also see Shanahan having a good game because he played damn wel in the semi despite what some journalists would have you believe. He set up a lot of scores (Just because hes not on the end of moves doesnt mean he has played badly) and I can see him having a key role. Sure, not the form of last year but still playing well and has been improving with every game this year

I was never into the whole Ken McGrath full back thing but its a shame that we didnt see a McGrath/Corbett battle in the semi and now we wont see a McGrath/Shefflin battle in the final (assuming Shefflin is at full-forward)

How are tickets going for this? I remember hearing after last years final that there were a lot still knocking about on the day. If thats the case, I wouldnt mind wandering down on the off chance.

Clare- Luimneach 1996 and THAT Ciaran Carey point. 

Was that at Croker? Thought it was in Thurles 

I have a sneaky feeling big Dan is due a big game and the final could be the time he'll do it.

You might not be far off the mark here. He didnt have a terrible game in the semi. He seemed to be the one laying off the ball for a lot of Waterfords scores. He could be on fire in the final.

Did Mount Sion not get rid of him after a row ?

The version I heard was that he was getting fed up of people from Mount Sion spying on him al the time. He would be in the pub drinking a lucozade for a few minutes and it would get back to Mount Sion that he was out on the tear all night. and so he left. Dont know how true that is though

This is a very different version to what was in ithe Irish independent today which suggested that he could be on the way out

If Brian O'Driscoll had any balls on him he would have dumped Martin Johnson on his hole the day of the anthems in Landsdowne Road, Would have loved to see the reaction if Mick Galway or Paul O'Connell was captain that day.

Yeah, would have loved to seen what happened if Galwey was captain.

O'Driscoll mentioned that some of the team wanted to stand in front of the england team but he decided not to.

He "admired" them for doing it 

Decent performance. To compare it to 2002 is very unfair. 2002 was pretty much the end of the 98 era and a lot of players on that panel were on the way out but here a number of players are still only in their mid 20's.

Very disappointed by Sammon on Saturday. Starting Matt Clancy & then bringing him on again? Why not bring on a fit player instead? Darren Mullahy could have played in that role. Thought Bergin was introduced a little too early too but then I guess he got the goal.

And when players stand away off you.

When the ball is moved quickly (ie by kicking it!) then it is impossible for defenders to get near. I actually thought we saw some superb defensive play today as well as great scores.

Only Dublin can stop Kerry now. 

Does anyone else get the sickening feeling that Cork will dispose of Kildare by 3 or 4 points tomorrow only to capitulate to Kerry again in the semi?

This is exactly what I thought would happen immediately after Cork beat them in Munster