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When Mandela was released from Robben Island the joke was about the first question he asked ' is Martin Carney still playing for Mayo?'. These days the updated joke would have Mandela asking 'are those Mayo lads still trying to make out that austin O'malley is an inter county standard footballer?' 

One of the features of the present as compared to say 20 years ago is the large increase in  hacks writing about GAA over the period. The volume of published comment concerning the GAA has increased exponentially.  Some of the additional material produced is interesting but much of it could have been spelt out in the pub on a friday night with no need to print and nobody would have been worse off for it.  Who cares about the percentage  of passes completed in the all-Ireland final ?

Armagh will go down as a decent mid 00s team remembered in the same sequence as Paris Hilton and celeb journos the equivalent of Kieran Shannon will write articles about how Paris influenced celebrity over the decade and it'll fluff out a few magazines.  But that's about it. 

Kids in 10 years time will note they won one all-Ireland while Tyrone won more and that's really where it's at.  Who talks about underachieving catalyst teams from the 1990s? Nobody.

An amazing picture. It'll be one of the photos of the year.
I love the contrast between the clasp and the young fella wandering off with the hurl.   

Didn't Kelly move to Passage where the fiancee lives or something like that ?

Waterford have leaders all over the field and if they can get the rhythm going one more time they must be in with a chance. They must have 6 or 7 hurlers that would walk onto any team when they are on form.  Winning that semi might lift a lot of pressure off them. It's only 70 minutes of hurling for a chance at eternity. The Kilkenny lads would hardly miss one all Ireland either.   

KK look very good but this is the third year on the go and it's theirs to lose. It looks like the Liverpool-Wimbledon cup final of was it 1988 before the FA cup got all dull and predictable. 

It's very refreshing to have Cork out of the Championship by the middle of august too. Give me Waterford's electricity  over Donal Og Cusack's meticulousness any day. 

Seeing the thread header -all Ireland final- port lairge... does a lot of good.

Did Offay ever win an all Ireland where they started as favourites ?

I am really happy for all the good hurling people in Waterford - especially Deiseach and Deise girl. This  all-ireland final has been a very long time coming.  It seemed that true laochra iomanaiochta like Paul Flynn , Tony Browne and Ken McGrath would never get their day  in the sun. There were so many heartbreaks - I was in Porky Corky in 2000 when Tipp beat them and even then it was hard to stomach.

In terms of emotional impact I think only Mayo breaking the duck would be equivalent.   

If they stick with KK until the final 10 mins and are within 6 points then a Dooley style goal from a free and a couple of high balls into the full forward would be enough to make a 5 point win.

I am delighted for Eoin Kelly as well. As some fella from Mount Sion said about him, he's a fecker but he's their fecker.

After 9 years in a row of the old firm winning all-Irelands , nearly all of them involving 2 old firm teams in the final, it's about time the rest of the hurling world got a look in and things went against the natural order . When is the last time the hurling AIF was a surprise ?

Fair play to Mickey Harte for picking up the pieces and then some after the disaster against Down, when so many people were saying the game was up. It must have been really hard to walk out the gate after that match wondering if his time and his team were finished . 

They are only 70 minutes away from nirvana. The romance of it all is killing me.

1-18 Tiobraid Arainn
1-20 na Deise

Unbelievable. If there was one match that could capture the last 10 years of huffing and puffing versus the last 10 years of smooth achievement it would be KK versus Waherford.   

Very much a final to look forward to.

Wexferd in the final would be great unless they were to 'do a Mayo' or 'a cork' ( see  finals passim).
So it is tough call.

Ideally Cork would beat Kerry and then i couldn't care less who wins the other semi final.
A Throne-Kerry final would be as close to timber  as Gaelic football gets.

A Kerry 3 in a row made up of three soft all-Irelands would be a tragedy.  At least the cats are peerless but Kerry seem to have the flakiness that doesn't deserve a three in a row. I mean it's hardly their fault and it doesn't say much about them that the last 2 all-Irelands involved 'playing' teams that had severe confidence issues. Tyrone are unlikely to present the same sort of issues.

It was a pity that Galway had so many injuries and I suppose it was unfortunate to draw Kerry but there seem to be a good few positives coming out of this year and if there was an all Ireland a few years hence it would all be worth it. It's great to have those underage successes bubbling up.  Sorting out the hurling looks like a bigger challenge.


Up Wexford. I was hoping Fermanagh would win the ulsther final but Wexford in the all-Ireland semifinal is just as good, if not better. And nice to see Ormaugh out as well.

I don't really pay much attention to the GPA side of things but I  read Christy O'Connor's
book on hurling goalkeepers. Donal Og was probably the least sympathetic character in it. I thought he came across as being very driven and fairly one dimensional. Great man for a save and the odd puckout but I wouldn't want to go fishing with him.    He's no J Pilnton.

Have to say, very disappointing from the Galway perspective. Joe Canning is obviously something special, the Roger Federer of Galway hurling but what really galls me is the fact that it is 20 years since the last All-Ireland.

In the bigger scheme of things of course it could be much worse. At least the footballers have been there recently and there's a regular enough stream of underage all-Irelands and nothing can presumably compare to the mental torment of being a Mayo football fan but the waste of the last 20 years worth of Galway senior county hurling efforts is still something of note.

I like that Paddy Casey song that goes "anyone can make a mess, take so much and make it less". These days I often think of the banks but after losing a great match to Cork I'm thinking of the people behind how Galway hurling is organised.

In 20 years you can achieve a lot. Kilkenny must have at least 7 all-Irelands.  Winning isn't always about having the best team. It's making the best use of what you have, being organised, thinking long term . On all counts the Galway county board are hopeless.  20 years says it all.  I mean, even Tipperary got their shit together eventually !     

FL/Mayo - I am in Bombay at the moment.

The Mayo story is heartbreaking. I saw a thing there recently where the last Kerry manager Jack O'Connor?  is supposed to have gone into the Mayo dressingroom after the 06 final to say Kerry were more deserving as they had suffered so much after losing to Tyrone the previous year. The arrogance ! Nobody suffers more than Mayo fans.


At least with the Galway hurlers you know the county board couldn't give a shite as long as the county championship is run on time before mid December.   


May the best team win. I reckon being in Ballina or Castlebar on the Monday after the all-Ireland, whenever it does come will be an unstoppable expression of emotion up there with the best of them.   

Clann na nGael of Ros and all-Ireland club fame are the standard by which all chokers must be measured.

I think Cloyne hurlers have been waiting ages for a county title and very close on more than one occasion.