All Ireland senior football final 2012 Donegal v Mayo

[sans pessimism]

Anyone hear that fuckass Brolly on 11am sportsnews radio 1 this
morning whinging about us being too cynical!FFS the asshole
spent years skitting with his other dimwits about the fact that we were
too 'nice'!!I know, I know fhag mar ata se.

[spuds]

Anyone hear that fuckass Brolly on 11am sportsnews radio 1 this
morning whinging about us being too cynical!FFS the asshole
spent years skitting with his other dimwits about the fact that we were
too 'nice'!!I know, I know fhag mar ata se.

All reasonable discussion and debate excludes Brolly at this stage. He reminds me of a slumped puppet who occasionally gets his strings pulled before flopping back on the chair.

[galwayman]

Have heard from a reliable source that the Mayo team was picked last night and Boyle is starting.

[Lar Naparka]

Anyone hear that fuckass Brolly on 11am sportsnews radio 1 this
morning whinging about us being too cynical!FFS the asshole
spent years skitting with his other dimwits about the fact that we were
too 'nice'!!I know, I know fhag mar ata se.

Stuff Brolly and all belonging to him.
As a good Donegal friend put it when I asked him what he thought of JB, "I wouldn't give the full of me arse of burnt snow for thon Brolly fella."
Well, I wouldn't give the full of his arse of burnt anything for what anyone has to say about Mayo's 'cynical' approach. (Mind you very big man, even bigger arse.)
As I recall, Mayo gave away four frees in the last quarter after having the crap kicked out of them throughout the entire game, with two blood subs on and Kevin Mac forced to go back in.
Anyway, off to the shamrock and heather now until Saturdays so f**k the begrudgers.

[Canalman]

Convinced Mayo will win this one with 4/5 points to spare.

Personally would like to see Donegal win it but won't lose sleep either way.

[the Deel Rover]

I seen today that there will be 21 players / coaches (18 players i think) involved in Sundays Match from both Mayo and Donegal that played for Sligo It .

[Crete Boom]

I've put together a tactical preview of the All-Ireland Final for anyone interested http://action81.com/blog/?p=6196

Excellent piece Emmet as always well apart from the prediction anyway
I really think the middle third is more vital to Mayo than Donegal. My reasoning is we need to get stuck in there if our defense is to have any joy against Murphy and McFadden. Having looked back over the Kerry and Cork v Donegal games I amazed that the majority of the reasons the neutrals give for Donegal beating us is fitness/intensity/belief etc.... and not one of them has highlighted the damage these two boys are doing. Murphy to me (apart from his free taking) is having a massive season. I like many others fell into the trap that he was playing below himself because he wasn't racking up huge scores but to watch the amount of scoring chances and the amount of players he brings into the attacking moves with his selfless play is a credit to him and the Donegal management. McFadden in fairness was only ever missing consistency and a little more composure in his shot selection from being a top notch forward. So to have a chance we need to cut off the supply to these two because McFadden will score at will and Murphy will make/score at least 7 or 8 points if allowed. So to controll them to say maybe 5 or 6 points scored ( directly or indirectly/from play or frees) between them would go along way to putting us in a position to challenge in the match. Personally I don't think our backs could do this without or midfield having the upper hand for the majority of the match and even if we manage this I still think the best case scenario is that we might be able to hold the Donegal running attack to maybe 6 or 7 scores.
  So in my mind the best we can hope for is holding Donegal to 13 score in total and our forwards are going to have to put in a serious scoring shift especially our full forward line. I have been unsure of our inside line all summer but they have prooven me wrong every time but I think they are going to have to manufacture at least one goal if we are going to prevail. Also I think we might see less scoring from our half forwards because they will have their hand full defending the Donegal running game high up the pitch. If we can force turnovers and be clinical in scoring off them this could turn the game for us. All in all a mammoth task but I'm looking forward to seeing it unfold.

Mhaigheo Abu.

[homeofhurling8]

Lads i was talking to Cian O'Neill ( trying to entice him back to the Golden Vale with the promise of unlimited limousin bullocks and buttermilk, he must be sick of eating rocks and drinking dew out west by now )  there earlier and for what its worth he told me Mayo won the All-Ireland by a couple of points on Sunday in a tight game, fair play to him he told me the same thing before the semi, so congrats to the land of my Granny and commiserations to the Donegal boys.

Now i seem to have taken a wrong turn there somewhere, could someone give me directions back to the Hurling board there lads, i was sure i took a right at that bent oak...

[AZOffaly]

Some success he's having in fairness, after the Tipp hurlers and now Mayo. Maybe McGeeney should be trying to get him in train over in Kildare, where he's from. Although 'twould be a hoor of a drive from UL.

[Dinny Breen]

He need some work with the Kildare minors last year and in fairness to Julie Davis I don't think we lack in the conditioning side. McGeeney is on his last year so I expect the new manager will have Cian as part of his ticket, seemingly he would love to be brought on board and you will always see him at Moorefield games so he's still got a good interest in Kildare GAA.

Personally I think Kieran Shannon's influence is far more important to Mayo this year, never seen a Mayo team look so focus and grounded and the important thing is despite Dublin's comeback Mayo got through it and thats the kind of shit that makes you really believe...

[Declan]

As I'm off tomorrow I'd like to wish both teams the best for Sunday and all the lads/lassies from here travelling I hope you all get tickets and enjoy the day/weekend.

I'll be hoping that Mayo win and think it'll be an awful lot closer than any of the predictions I've heard from people I've been discussing it with over the last few weeks. The general consensus from neutrals is that Donegal will win with a bit to spare but I've always thought since earlier this year that Mayo had a great chance.

Personally I think Kieran Shannon's influence is far more important to Mayo this year, never seen a Mayo team look so focus and grounded and the important thing is despite Dublin's comeback Mayo got through it and thats the kind of shit that makes you really believe...

Met Kieran at a coaching thing the Monday after the Dubs game and was mightily impressed with him.

Anyway enjoy   

[From the Bunker]

Anyone hear that fuckass Brolly on 11am sportsnews radio 1 this
morning whinging about us being too cynical!FFS the asshole
spent years skitting with his other dimwits about the fact that we were
too 'nice'!!I know, I know fhag mar ata se.

Yeah, thought it was a very dangerous interview from a Mayo point of view. He was basically telling the ref to sort out Mayo's tactical fouling. Asked if he had an agenda for Donegal, he said the only county he cared about Derry football. Anyway, these things when put out on the national stage can set an agenda.

[Lamh Dhearg Alba]

just watched the two semifinals again. god the Cork Donegal game was painful to watch. the referee could have give 100's of frees the quality of the game was a serious notch down from the Dublin Mayo one.
any  nerves i had  before i re-watched them are well gone.
Cork despite playing like headless chicken had the winning of the game right up till the last minute Donegal failure to score more than 2 points , both from placed ball, left the door wide open hopefully Mayo would be as polite as cork.

Cork didn't really have the winning of the game "right till the last minute". In truth Donegal had them well beaten in that final quarter and Cork knew it. Ok so Cork scored a goal at the vert end to bring themselves back into range on the scoreboard, but I think even they knew it was just a consolation score and that they weren't going to get back into the match. A 2 point defeat did not tell the story of that match, in the same way a 2 point defeat did not tell the story of the quarter-final. In reality Donegal beat Kerry and Cork quite comfortably. If there is something Mayo can perhaps take from those games it's that Donegal did not hammer the final nails into the coffin of the opposition and end up with a comfortable win on the scoreboard to match their dominance on the pitch.

If you are looking back at the semi-finals then I would be more concerned by Mayo's collapse against Dublin. Their first 50 minutes were excellent. At that stage Dublin were a beaten and bedraggled team yet they were allowed back into the match from an almost hopeless position. Mayo gave the ball away and gave Dublin attackers loads of space, and when Mayo forwards found themselves in great positions and with chances to steady the ship they panicked and made the wrong choices. Very worrying 20 minutes indeed from a Mayo point of view.

[Blowitupref]

Anyone hear that fuckass Brolly on 11am sportsnews radio 1 this
morning whinging about us being too cynical!FFS the asshole
spent years skitting with his other dimwits about the fact that we were
too 'nice'!!I know, I know fhag mar ata se.

Yeah, thought it was a very dangerous interview from a Mayo point of view. He was basically telling the ref to sort out Mayo's tactical fouling. Asked if he had an agenda for Donegal, he said the only county he cared about Derry football. Anyway, these things when put out on the national stage can set an agenda.

I don't think Brolly ever liked Donegal as player he use to blow kisses at them to wind them up now he's stacking all the hype on Donegal in the hope they flop in final.

[Farrandeelin]

Yes we collapsed LDA, but we still somehow got there. What if we don't collapse the next day?