All-Ireland Series Sam Maguire 2026

[thewobbler]

Perhaps I'm getting all Roy Keane on it in my old age.... But was Evans not just doing his job?

I mean I'm not denying it wasn't  athletic, and it was most certainly eye catching. But McKernan couldn't have made it any more obvious what he was going to do, had he written it in letters forty-foot high.

[Main Street]

Was at the games
Jeez Monaghan missed Beggan , he plays they win 99 times out of 100.
Fair play to Louth though they stuck in
Got lucky with keepers in last two games and I fancy them to do a job on Mayo
Second game though Galway were cruising after their goal and then simply crashed .
Would see a few of their veterans stepping back .

Louth really got lucky going from Beggan in goals to a 19 year old making his intercounty debut. There was a fairly stark difference in the overall quality of the kickouts which was made worse by Louth's big men around the middle. They also missed him as a scoring threat. Saw he scored 0-21 in the championship this year before yesterday.

Can see a lot of the older lads in Galway packing it in - they've a fair few over 30 at this stage ; especially as Joyce seemed stubborn about staying on in his post-match comments. Conroy, Comer, Walsh, Gleeson, Silke, and Molloy are all over the 30 mark and I'm could be missing more. Whatever about the penalty, Galway were 6 points up and let Dublin score 3 points in a row before the penalty to narrow the gap.

Of course Monaghan missed Beggan but them's the challenges in the game which Monaghan failed to meet on the day. Westmeath had their nr.3 keeper, a young lad in  against us and he did grand. I think Mayo had a debutante against us. Monaghan needed to have a sub keeper ready to perform the kick outs especially in the last 1/4, the rest of the team there to support him and they failed against 14. For example the defensive tackling intensity in the 2nd half  was píss poor, very standoffish. They needed to up the intensity as Mayo did v Meath.

I thought the young keeper did well stepping in for Beggan 60% on his kick outs and some good saves. 

The very standoffish play mirrored what Roscommon did in Clones recently it was very surprising to see Monaghan do that in All-Ireland Quarter-final. Did Louth going down to 14 men bring some complacency or did the 3 games in 14 days use up a lot of the energy and Monaghan struggled to produce the
intensity they normally give in these knock out games?

Would you not be disappointed with 60% on own kickouts with an extra man for most of game in Croke Park? You would imagine Beggan is getting north of 80% in same scenario. 

What matters in most games are the stats in the last 1/4 where teams go all out or teams are under pressure, in that last 1/4 Louth won the vital possessions from kick outs and were allowed to prance around without a hand being laid on them, the rest of the team should have stood up when needed to support the goalie, i.e. win possession back.  Overall in that last 1/4 no  player  took the lead to get on the ball and inspire the team forward in complete contrast to the Louth men.

[David McKeown]

I realise I'm foolish going up against a solicitor but I'll give it a go. 😂. I can't see any result in the current All Ireland series where Dublin beat Louth by ten points. It may happen in the final but my crystal balls a bit cloudy.

Not sure who the solicitor is but in case you are referring to me (I am not a solicitor) I think the answer to the question whether they are completely separate competitions is answered by 6.12 of the official guide:

The Championships shall be organised as follows: INTER-COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS
(A) All-Ireland Senior Football Championship:
(i) Provincial Championships These Championships shall be played on a Knockout Format. Group or 'RoundRobin' Formats may not be used.
(ii) Tier 1 (Sam Maguire Cup) 

So the Provincial Championship and Sam Maguire Cup as they call it make up the All Ireland Senior Football Championship.

So on a technical level Dublin have beaten Louth in the All Ireland Senior Football Championship this year but not in the Sam Maguire Cup as the rules call it

Apologies David, that was an assumption on my part. I had asked a legal question on the Dup thread directly to yourself. You had answered it and quite a few others. The tone of the other posts had led me to believe you were a solicitor. I will rephrase the original controversial post. Would it be fair to say of the sixteen teams entered in the Sam Maguire Cup Louth are the only side still unbeaten.

Fair enough assumption but I'm not that side of the profession.

Yes in the Sam Maguire Cup portion of the All Ireland Championship they remain the only unbeaten side. However it's equally true to say in the All Ireland Championship both they and Kerry have only lost one game.

[DaleCooper]

You can talk about refs etc - that block won Kerry the game. That goes over Tyrone win it

Reminds of Conor Gormley's block on Stephen McDonald at the end of the 2003 All Ireland final. Unreal stuff

It's better than Gormley's block I'd say.

Gormleys block was ridiculous due to timing, denying McDonnell a likely goal to level the game 2mins from full time in an All Ireland final.

McKernan told entire Kerry defence he was about to shoot

[David McKeown]

The thing I think about kick out stats is that they don't really tell the whole story.

Take Armagh for example. With Hughes ability to disguise his kickouts and change direction in a split second Armagh where able to win a lot of uncontested possession in good areas with space to run. With Rafferty whilst Armagh still won a decent amount of possession it was more often in congested areas that didn't provide as good an attacking platform.

So when considering kickouts won I think where and how the kickouts were won are also very important.

[Armagh18]

Perhaps I'm getting all Roy Keane on it in my old age.... But was Evans not just doing his job?

I mean I'm not denying it wasn't  athletic, and it was most certainly eye catching. But McKernan couldn't have made it any more obvious what he was going to do, had he written it in letters forty-foot high.

Look at the angle he turns and gets down. The power in the legs needed to do that and not fall on your arse is huge. Big difference in knowing he's going to shoot and actually making that block

[Maroon Manc]

So the free count from Sunday was 21-6 in Dublins favour, Galway every right to feel cheated. Countless frees for a Dublin player grabbing a Galways players arm and holding it in, thought refs were wise to this especially when it happened in full view of Gough. He was right in front of Conroy in the build up to the penalty when he went to grab a bouncing ball when the boot of a Dublin player came in, a free obvious free which he would given in the other direction.


Bad enough trying to win a game when the kickout out strategy stinks but you've got no chance with a ref like that.

[naka]

The thing I think about kick out stats is that they don't really tell the whole story.

Take Armagh for example. With Hughes ability to disguise his kickouts and change direction in a split second Armagh where able to win a lot of uncontested possession in good areas with space to run. With Rafferty whilst Armagh still won a decent amount of possession it was more often in congested areas that didn't provide as good an attacking platform.

So when considering kickouts won I think where and how the kickouts were won are also very important.

Agree with this
I believe
If Hughes played against Louth Armagh win
If Beggan  played against Louth Monaghan win
Reality the congested season is causing more and more injuries across the board.
Chatting to a fair few guys who are involved with their respective counties and every one felt that the present set up is a death knell for the provincials which will become irrelevant if no change to set up.
Interesting also that we  all agreed that there is probably only 3/4 decent referees with the rest being mediocre at best .

[Rossfan]

Who are the 3 or 4?

[Armagh18]

Hurson usually good but seems to have gone to feck lately. McNally a decent ref, should have had the common sense not to move that free up for Donegal but was right by the letter of the law. Falloon a good ref lets the game go.

[naka]

Hurson usually good but seems to have gone to feck lately. McNally a decent ref, should have had the common sense not to move that free up for Donegal but was right by the letter of the law. Falloon a good ref lets the game go.

Faloon, mc nally, Cawley , hurson and paddy neilan
All are decent in my eyes .

[Armamike]

Perhaps I'm getting all Roy Keane on it in my old age.... But was Evans not just doing his job?

I mean I'm not denying it wasn't  athletic, and it was most certainly eye catching. But McKernan couldn't have made it any more obvious what he was going to do, had he written it in letters forty-foot high.

Can't remember seeing too many blocks like this before, turning back like that. 

[Rossfan]

No foul Faloon fairly dirtied his bib in the rhubarbs/royals game.

[DaleCooper]

Do GAA plus show the games in full at any stage this week or where can they be watched back?

No. The tapes go via Shannon to Hangar 51.

Jokes aside If you have GAA+ then you have access to replays for a while. Or pay €15 should work

https://www.gaaplus.ie/payment/PC15-26-F-AIQF2

Thanks sir

GAA+ has the games for free now so if you sign up now you can watch back weekends games they had plus a load of classics. They should be promoting this tbh.

[WT4E]

You can talk about refs etc - that block won Kerry the game. That goes over Tyrone win it

Reminds of Conor Gormley's block on Stephen McDonald at the end of the 2003 All Ireland final. Unreal stuff

It's better than Gormley's block I'd say.

Gormleys block was ridiculous due to timing, denying McDonnell a likely goal to level the game 2mins from full time in an All Ireland final.

McKernan told entire Kerry defence he was about to shoot

For sure if u consider when Gormley blocked the ball it was unbelievable. I was more talking about technique - the agility of this one is unmatched! This block will likely win Kerry an All Ireland also!