Donegal v Kerry - 2025 All-Ireland Football Final

[Blowitupref]

Kerry were bookies favourite from the get go. I dont understand why the rules are getting ALL the credit, kerry weren't actually tested properly  in an All Ireland final because they were too good.

"Kerry were written off" is a line I have heard after Meath. Gavin White talked about the pace of the new rules & the possible injury factor as a result, but we have to wait for stats etc.

They have a bunch of the finest footballers in the country for the last 4-5 years now beginning to realise their potential.



Lightning doesn't strike twice and they produced devastating purple patches in key moments against Armagh and Donegal.

Donegal in theory could have gotten closer but kerry probably would have ramped up again, we will never know.

They are a tougher bunch than many kerry teams of past, mentally and physically.

These were the odds before All Ireland Quarter finals. 


3/1        Donegal

7/2        Armagh

4/1        Galway

9/2        Kerry

7/1        Dublin

7/1        Tyrone

20/1      Monaghan

25/1      Meath


Before last Sunday's final Kerry were slight favourites with the handicap 1 point.  Ended up winning by 10, was it case that Kerry made the most out of the new rules in the final or Donegal performed below to their expected level? I think probably the latter when you consider coming into the match Donegal's average score per game was 27 points and had conceded 19.  Had they got close to either of those averages it would be a more competitive final as was expected by the bookies.  Then again 5 two pointers for Kerry to none for Donegal played it's part in the 10 point margin. 

[DaleCooper]

What part of "from the get go" dont you understand. Kerry were bookies favourite before a ball was kicked.

[Blowitupref]

What part of "from the get go" dont you understand. Kerry were bookies favourite before a ball was kicked.

And then weren't favourites fell down to 4th.

[DaleCooper]

Dara O Baoill had several howlers by contrast, quality and experience told in the end.

Felt a lot like Tyrone 2018 V Dublin.

But Tyrone people mostly accepted before the game they had v little chance. Game was never really in doubt from 20th minute.

[thejuice]

Does anyone else find the criticism of Jim McGuinness and his strategy a bit OTT after the final. In particular from Spillane and Parkinson. It's not like it's a completely broken system of play.

They got to a final in convincing fashion. They won Ulster. Granted it's not flawless but no system is perfect, had Kerry an off day in terms of shooting 2 pointers we'd be having a different conversation.

A bit of tweaking and loosening up might be all it needs for them to get over the line.

[APM]

In terms of the rules suiting Kerry - is that surprising? the FRC based the rules in large part on that survey that almost 10,000 players, coaches, manager and GAA folk answered.

They released the report of what people said they wanted to see under the new rules.

The top five skills that people like are kicking, catching, scoring of long-range points, goal scoring and general creative play.
• The top three tactical skills were: 1 v 1 contests to gain possession of the ball; taking on an opponent in a 1 v 1 situation; and good support play during speedy attacking transitions.
• There was a strong dislike from people regarding dissent towards match officials and cynical/delaying tactics.
• In general, people want to see:
- A game where skill and risk taking are rewarded.
- A game which encourages forward momentum.
- A game of contests.

Full report is at the link

There's also a raft of data indicating that the people who responded to the various FRC surverys

Folk going as if the new rules are only popular because of some sort of GAA media conspiracy really need to give their heads a wobble. 

https://www.gaa.ie/api/images/image/upload/prd/kiulqmb3ytauroc5prmi.pdf

Also in terms of it being some conspiracy against Northern teams the makeup of the committee

PETER CANAVAN - Errigal Ciaran GAA, County Tyrone
COLM COLLINS - Cratloe GAA, County Clare
MAURICE DEEGAN - Stradbally GAA, County Laois
PATRICK DOHERTY - The Downs GAA, County Westmeath
ÉAMONN FITZMAURICE - Finuge GAA, County Kerry
SHANE FLANAGAN - Johnstownbridge GAA, County Kildare
JIM GAVIN - Round Towers GAA, Clondalkin, County Dublin
JAMES HORAN - Ballintubber GAA, County Mayo
ALEC McQUILLAN - Con Magees Glenravel GAC, County Antrim
MICHAEL MEANEY - Old Leighlin GAA, County Carlow
COLM NALLY - Newtown Blues GAA, County Louth
SÉAMUS KENNY (Runaí) – Simonstown Gaels GFC, County Meath

Plus Jim Gavin as chairperson

Michael Murphy and Malachy O'Rourke were there for a bit as well.

If this was some Kerry grand plan against the North, Eamonn Fitzmaurice must be one hell of a slick-tongued operator.

Not surprising at all that the rules would suit Kerry - in fact it was predicted.

Look anyone going down the route of it being a conspiracy against Northern teams, they're wide of the mark IMO.

But it took rule changes for Kerry and Clifford to get back to this level. Is anyone disputing that? Does anyone believe that Kerry were on their way to becoming champions in 2025 regardless?

I mean it took extra-time for Armagh to beat them in the semi-final last year, they lost the final in 2023 by 2 points and they won it in 2022, so there's a strong chance they could have won it this year under the old rules as well so anyone saying they definitely wouldn't have won it under the old rules would have difficulty making all that strong a case. Any rules changes that favoured attacking football were always going to favour a side who had the strongest attack.

This is spot on.

There is an eejit on this board who has described their win as almost fraudulent as they claim it required new rules to manufacture the Kerry win. Apparently, this is a northern viewpoint, although that may be a generalisation.

Is it possible we have malevolent bots trying to sow division and disinformation in the GAA board because these couldn't be  the views of actual people, could they???

 

[J70]

Does anyone else find the criticism of Jim McGuinness and his strategy a bit OTT after the final. In particular from Spillane and Parkinson. It's not like it's a completely broken system of play.

They got to a final in convincing fashion. They won Ulster. Granted it's not flawless but no system is perfect, had Kerry an off day in terms of shooting 2 pointers we'd be having a different conversation.

A bit of tweaking and loosening up might be all it needs for them to get over the line.

Of course it's over the top. Good old fashioned Irish begrudgery.

Jim has overwhelming backing within Donegal, as well as our gratitude, and rightly so. He's human, and at the end of the day it's sport. He'll learn from his mistakes and will have the team pushing for Ulster again next year and, hopefully, another AI semi at least.

[J70]

In terms of the rules suiting Kerry - is that surprising? the FRC based the rules in large part on that survey that almost 10,000 players, coaches, manager and GAA folk answered.

They released the report of what people said they wanted to see under the new rules.

The top five skills that people like are kicking, catching, scoring of long-range points, goal scoring and general creative play.
• The top three tactical skills were: 1 v 1 contests to gain possession of the ball; taking on an opponent in a 1 v 1 situation; and good support play during speedy attacking transitions.
• There was a strong dislike from people regarding dissent towards match officials and cynical/delaying tactics.
• In general, people want to see:
- A game where skill and risk taking are rewarded.
- A game which encourages forward momentum.
- A game of contests.

Full report is at the link

There's also a raft of data indicating that the people who responded to the various FRC surverys

Folk going as if the new rules are only popular because of some sort of GAA media conspiracy really need to give their heads a wobble. 

https://www.gaa.ie/api/images/image/upload/prd/kiulqmb3ytauroc5prmi.pdf

Also in terms of it being some conspiracy against Northern teams the makeup of the committee

PETER CANAVAN - Errigal Ciaran GAA, County Tyrone
COLM COLLINS - Cratloe GAA, County Clare
MAURICE DEEGAN - Stradbally GAA, County Laois
PATRICK DOHERTY - The Downs GAA, County Westmeath
ÉAMONN FITZMAURICE - Finuge GAA, County Kerry
SHANE FLANAGAN - Johnstownbridge GAA, County Kildare
JIM GAVIN - Round Towers GAA, Clondalkin, County Dublin
JAMES HORAN - Ballintubber GAA, County Mayo
ALEC McQUILLAN - Con Magees Glenravel GAC, County Antrim
MICHAEL MEANEY - Old Leighlin GAA, County Carlow
COLM NALLY - Newtown Blues GAA, County Louth
SÉAMUS KENNY (Runaí) – Simonstown Gaels GFC, County Meath

Plus Jim Gavin as chairperson

Michael Murphy and Malachy O'Rourke were there for a bit as well.

If this was some Kerry grand plan against the North, Eamonn Fitzmaurice must be one hell of a slick-tongued operator.

Not surprising at all that the rules would suit Kerry - in fact it was predicted.

Look anyone going down the route of it being a conspiracy against Northern teams, they're wide of the mark IMO.

But it took rule changes for Kerry and Clifford to get back to this level. Is anyone disputing that? Does anyone believe that Kerry were on their way to becoming champions in 2025 regardless?

I mean it took extra-time for Armagh to beat them in the semi-final last year, they lost the final in 2023 by 2 points and they won it in 2022, so there's a strong chance they could have won it this year under the old rules as well so anyone saying they definitely wouldn't have won it under the old rules would have difficulty making all that strong a case. Any rules changes that favoured attacking football were always going to favour a side who had the strongest attack.

This is spot on.

There is an eejit on this board who has described their win as almost fraudulent as they claim it required new rules to manufacture the Kerry win. Apparently, this is a northern viewpoint, although that may be a generalisation.

Is it possible we have malevolent bots trying to sow division and disinformation in the GAA board because these couldn't be  the views of actual people, could they???

 

As a northerner whose team were just very publicly on the receiving end of Kerry's excellence, I have not seen or heard anyone from my county utter a word about fraud or unfairness. Kerry were absolutely brilliant on the day and played by the same rules we did. They had an all time great player at the top of his game, along with top class performances from a number of his teammates. We were beaten fair and square in almost every position on the field.

This "debate", like much else going on on this board lately, is just internet ignorance platforming and attention seeking and symptomatic of the decline of this place. In my opinion of course.

Fraudulent win me arse.

[twohands!!!]

Does anyone else find the criticism of Jim McGuinness and his strategy a bit OTT after the final. In particular from Spillane and Parkinson. It's not like it's a completely broken system of play.

They got to a final in convincing fashion. They won Ulster. Granted it's not flawless but no system is perfect, had Kerry an off day in terms of shooting 2 pointers we'd be having a different conversation.

A bit of tweaking and loosening up might be all it needs for them to get over the line.

Of course it's over the top. Good old fashioned Irish begrudgery.

Jim has overwhelming backing within Donegal, as well as our gratitude, and rightly so. He's human, and at the end of the day it's sport. He'll learn from his mistakes and will have the team pushing for Ulster again next year and, hopefully, another AI semi at least.

First of how many people take the opinion of Spillane and Parkinson seriously ?

Spillane I'd say at this stage doesn't even seem to take his opinion seriously (most of the time he seems to be jsu playing the class clown and taking money for his old rope opinions while Parkinson the poor lad seems to want to be seen as some great thinker on the game, but pretty much everything he comes out with seems to be something someone else said previously rehashed.

I don't think it's begrudgery so much as it's a pretty strong habit in the GAA that whoever wins the final is right in absolutely everything they did and whoever loses it, is wrong in everything they did.

[Armagh18]

Does anyone else find the criticism of Jim McGuinness and his strategy a bit OTT after the final. In particular from Spillane and Parkinson. It's not like it's a completely broken system of play.

They got to a final in convincing fashion. They won Ulster. Granted it's not flawless but no system is perfect, had Kerry an off day in terms of shooting 2 pointers we'd be having a different conversation.

A bit of tweaking and loosening up might be all it needs for them to get over the line.

Leaving Paudie Clifford free was ridiculous.

[APM]

Does anyone else find the criticism of Jim McGuinness and his strategy a bit OTT after the final. In particular from Spillane and Parkinson. It's not like it's a completely broken system of play.

They got to a final in convincing fashion. They won Ulster. Granted it's not flawless but no system is perfect, had Kerry an off day in terms of shooting 2 pointers we'd be having a different conversation.

A bit of tweaking and loosening up might be all it needs for them to get over the line.

Leaving Paudie Clifford free was ridiculous.

Agree but there's an element of building him up as the messiah only to knock him off his perch. Typical media crap

[thejuice]

Perhaps but there's a lot talk saying that the zonal defence is done for. I don't think it's off the table because it probably will still work against a lot of teams.

Donegal just need to find another way to defend if a game needs it.

[bennydorano]

Does anyone else find the criticism of Jim McGuinness and his strategy a bit OTT after the final. In particular from Spillane and Parkinson. It's not like it's a completely broken system of play.

They got to a final in convincing fashion. They won Ulster. Granted it's not flawless but no system is perfect, had Kerry an off day in terms of shooting 2 pointers we'd be having a different conversation.

A bit of tweaking and loosening up might be all it needs for them to get over the line.

Of course it's over the top. Good old fashioned Irish begrudgery.

Jim has overwhelming backing within Donegal, as well as our gratitude, and rightly so. He's human, and at the end of the day it's sport. He'll learn from his mistakes and will have the team pushing for Ulster again next year and, hopefully, another AI semi at least.

And the joy they take in putting the boot in, Parkinson and Dick Clerkin in particular are childish.

I think the era of the podcast has made them all worse, talk shite bigging teams up and then are waiting for the fall to put the boot in (because they all fail bar AI winning team). Classic Brit redtop tabloid approach.

[Wildweasel74]

Hardly OTT when 90% of people would picked up on marking P Clifford 20mins in at least. He let that mistake go the whole game.

[tyrone08]

Personally i find mcguiness over rated in the sense that his management style wouldn't work in any other county. He relies heavily on donegal players buying into the believe that they are some how treated unfairly and forgotten about. He demands absolute dedication and sacrifice.

His path to the final was probably the easiest he could have wished for but did some amount of giving out when every time they lost apart from the final. As soon as any soccer job comes along he will be off however this may not happen as it has been proven his style and approach doesnt work in soccer.