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The closer this game gets the more concerned I am for Clare.

I'd imagine Rory Gallagher as meticulous as he is will have had Derry training on a surface as close to Croke Parks as possible and will have had the squad down for a tour of the facilities. A number of the Derry players will have played there for their clubs and school. Both teams are as susceptible to the atmosphere and size of the crowd in attendance.

In my opinion the speed of the surface will suit Derry's counter attacking game. Think Tyrone in the latter years under Mickey Harte. When Clare meet the mass zonal defence it, the only way to unlock it is through patient movement trying to open gaps in it. If Derry get a turnover they'll have 60-80 metres of wide open spaces to carry into. Every turnover Derry get will boost their morale and sap Clare's. Tyrone have destroyed teams playing like this but it was never enough to win an All-Ireland. As brutal as it would be to watch the only way Clare have a chance is to mimic Derry but there's no way they've had enough time to prepare that sort of game plan.

Dublin are the masters of unlocking this sort of defence. You often hear talk of how they would have worked with basketball coaches on their movement to open up the spaces. Very similar scenario except obviously on a larger scale.

On another note Derry like Armagh will fully be convinced they can beat anyone. Rory Gallagher's intense style of management has a limited life space. You'd imagine Derry have this year and next year to challenge for an AI under Gallagher before fatigue sets into the group.

The Tailteann Cup seems to have been a success. Giving the games their own weekend was brilliant. With no soccer or rugby to contend with the games really took centre stage. Being from Ulster we rarely get to see much from counties outside the province. There was some fantastic football on show and 4 teams really going for it.

As a Tyrone man dare I say I'm backing (and slightly hoping) our neighbours to do the business on Sunday.

To me both teams have have had the makings of a side that could challenge the top teams for a few years now but have been struggling to put the puzzle together. They seem to have both found the balance they were looking for. It could be a cracking game.

The momentum and support Armagh have will be enough to get them over the line. Their confidence will be sky high and they'll genuinely go into this All-Ireland series believing they can beat anyone and that alone can often be enough to transform players.

Word's reached me from a normally reliable source that the ACL games will be reverting to Sundays after the July break.

Really hope this isn't true Fionntamhnach. Friday night games have been fantastic since their introduction. I was trying to see what stage the league reverted to Sundays last year but can only tell it was as early as the first weekend of September.

They don't represent  mine.

Apart from the removal of the forward mark (which is a load of shite) I disagree with the rest of that

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Trying to manipulate the spectacle of the sport through rule changes is a very difficult thing to do. Rather than trying to change fundamentals of the game and adding more onus on the referees in my opinion the law makers would be better focussing in on preventing teams from intentionally slowing play and committing cynical fouls. The game is blighted by intentional fouls and players delaying free kicks as a way to provide time for their team mates to get into cover. Very hard to clamp own on the fouls themselves as most are minor infractions. It would be good to see players picking up cards for intentionally delaying a free kick or midfield mark being taken. Moving the ball up is great but its also slow and not really advantageous if the other team has time to get cover in place.

We also have the absurd situation where nearly 10 years after the black card was introduced there are still loopholes to cynically foul a player through on the goal and not pick one up.

Some interesting results tonight:
Greencastle return to Senior going well with big win over Moortown (Think they celebrated too long after beating Ardboe... was a mini champo session I believe)
Owen Roes go to Pomeroy and turn them over

Also on another note what is up with 2 senior teams not being able to field a reserve team so early in the year???

Moy and derrylaughan notorious for not fielding reserves. The thinking round our club was moy we're at home so they would field reserves, unfortunately not the case. Disappointing as 20+ lads left with no football

You only have to look at the early league table to see these clubs are struggling. Obviously no strength and depth in the clubs. Derrylaughan have 4 reserve league points moy look to have took a few hammerings, probably didn't fancy another from Carrickmore.

Perhaps a reserve league independent from senior status would help. I dunno throwing it out there. Although if you don't have players where will that pull them out from.

Tyrone leagues have been crying out for years for reserve and senior to be split. Reserve league should be played separate with proper relegation and division, atleast to level the playing field. Senior Friday evenings, reserve Saturdays.

I agree. Certainly worth trialling for a year or two anyway, particulrly now with the split season

How sustainable would that be? Everyone would love if reserve football was slightly more competitive and had its own promotion and relegation but there are many key factors which would stop this.  It would mean that fringe players are out on a Friday evening on a senior bench, out again on a saturday for a reserve game and more than likely expected to be out again on a sunday morning/evening for club training to make a training worthwhile.

Clubs which also have only around 30/35 players (between both panels) are more than likely going to throw the reserve game on a saturday if they pick up a few senior injuries.

I would love to see some sort of modification to the current system but I don't think splitting the games / days is something which is practical.

The reserve leagues are a difficult one. Some clubs just don't have the numbers to be competitive on both senior and reserve fronts especially with the contrast in the size of clubs in Div. 1 where there's some clubs fielding thirds teams every week. Sending a reserve team out to ship a tanking week after week serves no purpose for either team. The winning team doesn't learn much about themselves and it destroys morale for the losing team.

Its a fairly viscous cycle were a team needs to be competitive to encourage guys out but you need those numbers in the first place to be competitive.

The booing yesterday was disappointing and unfortunately it's dominating the talk when the 1st half yesterday was incredibly enjoyable from a neutral point of view. It was clear on the TV that Murphy was being booed when kicking frees and any wides he hit cheered. Also thought Rafferty was being booed for some reason. Would need to watch it back again.

On the game itself the 1st half was incredible. Armagh could have been dead and buried only for the 10 second goal. Donegal came at them like a train after it but Armagh did exceptionally well to weather that purple patch and take control of the game.

It was crazy stuff from Patton pulling Nugent down, he just completely panicked. Penalty from R'ON was exceptional. Great player he's up there with the best in the country.

Armagh controlled the second half well and never gave Donegal a sniff of momentum. They'll be more than a handful for Galway. I just hope they come out and go for like yesterday.

[As mentioned by previous posters who in under god would want to do nets]

Brolly's new rule suggestions:

1.  The ball cannot be passed back to the goalkeeper.
2.  Kick-outs must go beyond the 45'.
3.  The ball can't go back into your half after passing the halfway line.
4.  Put an official in each half to ensure no sweepers are played, with a failure to follow the rule resulting in a 21-yard free for the opposition.

1. Why would anyone ever want to be a keeper if they can't play a little bit of ball? We may as well dress him in armour like hockey keepers.

2. Impractical when the wind is up.

Any suggestion of double scores for shots beyond the 45 or whatever also has big implications on a windy day. Wind is hardly unusual in Ireland.

I think the only implementable rule is one to require teams to keep 3 players (or some other number) in each half.

I don't think Brolly has put much thought into this. He's speaking for the sake of speaking.

1.  The ball cannot be passed back to the goalkeeper. As mentioned by previous posters who in under god would want to do nets
2.  Kick-outs must go beyond the 45'. Teams will just pull all their forwards back behind the opposition 45. Kick outs will become a scrappy mess with so many bodies in the same zone
3.  The ball can't go back into your half after passing the halfway line. Encourages teams to drop off and wait at the halfway line before launching a press as soon as the opposition cross the halfway line knowing the opposition are trapped
4.  Put an official in each half to ensure no sweepers are played, with a failure to follow the rule resulting in a 21-yard free for the opposition. Don't understand how you're supposed to police this. If a forward gets away from his man and a team mate covers for the defender it's a free?

Fantastic draw for Derry. Realistically they should expect to beat Clare although there's no doubt Clare will give a very good account of themselves.