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Declan Bogue normally talks quite sensibly and without the blinkers and he does it again on Shane Stapleton's show.
His view - only the defender should have got the yellow card.

Not sure if Kerry would have won with Clifford though - Declan Bogue also talks about Tyrone's overall tactics and how they were finishing much stronger than Kerry in the last 15.

He also talks about how the issue of the defender grappling is perceived as a Tyrone issue when the reality is that all the top teams do it - you only have to remove the blinkers and look how McShane was welcomed back yesterday off the ball, or see the treatment dished out to Harte.

Personally I would like to see all this crap dealt with by the ref, or the linesmen, or the umpires - prefer to see good football - but that will only happen when everyone calls for it and acknowledges that their own teams are as guilty as everyone else.

All for David Clifford protection, but also Dean Rock, Ryan Mc Hugh, Petey Harte, and all the others!

I do not think this can be a simple parallel drawn with Kerry's history and experience.
Even in their prime decades they didn't dominate as much as Dublin have in this decade - and in this time there have been a few more counties trying to develop, raise their own bar and compete - the fact that they are not even getting close speaks volumes.
Only that Dublin were ambushed by Mc Guinness we would already be looking at 7-in-a-row.

Kerry were a great team in those decades - just as Dublin are a great team this decade - but it felt as though the odds were not artificially stacked in Kerry's favour then - with population, financial sponsorship, club finance, travel, home advantage, grants, etc.

That's not to be bitter about the Dublin team per se - they are phenomenal to watch - but we need a few teams to be phenomenal to make the championship interesting. Watching Dublin beat the spread will quickly get boring even for the most avid fans.
Just look at the Scottish Premier League to see how it actually belittles the achievements of the winners.
Imagine if there were another three teams at any time at a similar level to Dublin and what that would do for the game.

I realise the particular issues (certainly historically) with Dublin and why the GAA wanted to fund and develop the games.
You can question the benefits of that funding and direct impact on the current team, but the infrastructure is now in place for Dublin to reap the benefits of for many years to come - combined with many of their existing natural advantages.

The question now is what message does the GAA want to deliver to the other counties - what is their strategy to level the playing field over the next ten years - not to bring Dublin down but to bring the others up?

A lot of the rules are a mess - particularly around the black card.
However, it's the enforcement of the rules that is the biggest mess.
I'm not sure why the linesmen and umpires are not more actively involved in the officiating.
The nonsense that goes on off the ball is just deemed to be 'part of the game' - but the game is football and GAA rules should always be progressing to encourage good football instead of rewarding pulling and pushing and sledging.

In fairness to Mc Stay he has been making these points for the last number of years.
He was frustrated with Roscommon because of the glass ceiling imposed with funding, travelling, etc - although its a bit of a misnomer to call it glass - its not that breakable!

All the predictions on Dublin domination, which started many years ago and seemed to have been largely ignored, have now come to pass.
Up until now the other top teams and the fans have traded on hope - even the glimmers of it - that has kept attendances relatively buoyant, but as that hope dies so will attendances and viewers and interest.

I think the GAA do recognise the problem but I think a large contingent are enjoying seeing Dublin win, given their history - they may even be delusional enough to feel part of it.
Historically, the GAA has been a slow reactive organisation with little imagination to resolve problems - so there will not be any change any time soon.

Goal was a pre-planned move in that Dublin always look for that direct run from the throw-in - before extra defensive cover can be put in place - lucky in some ways with the breaking ball but that direct run has been seen in a few games. The forwards pulling defenders out of the way is a common sense response in some ways but I would imagine it has also been drummed in through various training drills so it is an automatic reaction when the circumstances are right.

I'd imagine with Dublin's level of players and coaching they have quite a few such set plays - quite loose in some ways but automatic adaption on the pitch when the circumstances are right.

"It was the first time in the history of the club that O'Dwyer's had won a hurling league"

More important question - how did the driver manage to do that - I could do with a coaching class from this guy!

Another smashing article by enda McGinley in today's Irish news. Great read every Friday. A Tyrone man on top of his game.

Can you provide a link?

Who are the assumed retirees from the Dublin panel?
I suspect they still have have players coming through and quite a few young players who have already made the team in the last few years will be there for quite a few years yet.

The biggest issue may be replacing Stephen Cluxton - not just for his kickouts but the standards he seems to set for the team in training and everything else.

All Stars always seems too coloured by which teams get to the final.

Probably need a better system of analysis - the Fink Tank and others used to do a soccer appraisal on players based on an analysis of every meaningful contribution they made over the course of the season.

The current All Stars selection punishes good players from the weaker counties!

I think Mark Bradley was away at college and couldn't commit for the year.

I think Cian O'Sullivan carried his injury into the game - Mark Bradley got early joy against him but I think Dublin also resolved the problem relatively early in the game.

Just wondering if Mark Bradley makes a good partner up front for Cathal Mc Shane up front in the future - shame they didn't get a chance to try it out this year.