All-Ireland Series Sam Maguire 2026

[DaleCooper]

Dont think Mayo will be fazed at all and the speed of schedule really helps in this regard.

Mayos bench has some solid options.

Fortune favours the brave and they have goals in them. Kerry you would think have used up their luck to get to this final. A potential classic.

[thewobbler]

Why Mayo can win. Plenty of reasons. They've a goalkeeper who makes the game look easy. They've a nice balance of size and athleticism in defence. They've developed a central player - McHugh - who seems to understand now he's not a county level midfielder but is a county level spoiler of athletic players. Their midfield is functional ie they are honest, hard working spoilers. They've got a highest class wing forward in  Flynn. They've got pacy, ball winning finishers up front. Their star player ROD has finally learned how to handle Croke Park. They've got serious cover on their bench in pretty much every position. They've got the perfect age profile to win Sam, with most of the team seasoned D1 footballers. They've got a manager who so far has shown he's not sentimental, but same manager still can throw a buffalo into FF if needed. But most of all, they're neither predictable nor reliant on any particular type of football or any single player.

Why Mayo could get smashed to bits. Nothing to do with ability, composure, experience. This boils down to two sides of a mental equation. One being that Mayo in AI finals usually find some brand new way to make their lives more difficult than needs be, especially in the first half. The other being that it's Kerry they're up against, and they'll smell a mismatch before anyone notices, and exploit it before anyone can change it up.

I genuinely believe that if Ruane and/or DOC are brought into the Mayo team as WHBs, then they'll be able to weather any early storm / limit Kerry's ability to win 10 kickouts in a row and end the game while  their big men are still full of running. That move would allow McBrien to go to FB on O'Shea or Geaney, Callinan or Hession to sweep / take turns at Paudie, and leave McHugh to accept that keeping David Clifford to 1.04 or 1.06 from play, means Mayo will likely win.

The first half is more important than the second half this weekend.

[Cunny Funt]

Former Mayo manager Stephen Rochford said in Irish Times no miracle is needed to beat Kerry just need to get the match ups right to win.

Possible match ups?

David McBrien v Séan O'Shea
Donnacha McHugh v David Clifford
Enda Hession v Paudie Clifford
Sam Callinan v Joe O'Connor

Paul Murphy v Darragh Beirne
Jason Foley v Ryan O'Donoghue
Dylan Casey v Kobe McDonald
Gavin White v Jordan Flynn


Whats scored and conceded on turnovers and shooting efficiency will be key as it has been in the majority of matches under these new rule.   Hurling All-Ireland final was poor for the 2nd year in a row hopefully the same doesn't happen with the football final.

[DaleCooper]

DOC? As in Diarmuid O'Connor?

He hasnt featured much

Sub V Meath
Not in panel V Cork/Tyrone
Not used V Louth

[thewobbler]

DOC? As in Diarmuid O'Connor?

He hasnt featured much

Sub V Meath
Not in panel V Cork/Tyrone
Not used V Louth

Yup.

It would be a left field selection of course. He's obviously not the player he once was. But as the teams that have kept Kerry close have been the ones who've been able to fend off Kerry dismantling their kickout, it has to considered.

Or to put it another way - is Stephen Coen / Conor Loftus a more suitable candidate for O'Connor and O'Shea, than DOC?

[DaleCooper]

Coen at least has some shithousery. Martin McNally booked him for a "mistimed" block against Cork.

Andy will not change much imo

[bennydorano]

Every game has a life of it's own and with the new rules that has been amplified so much, but its still very hard to see Kerry not winning, altho I do agree the short turnaround could work in Mayo's favour, they won't have time to overthink it!

I have not rated Mayo at all this year, they were  the team I was hoping Armagh would get in the draws tbh, but they are where they are and good luck to them. I reckon a hiding is more likely than a Mayo win, but I genuinely hope they win.

[DaleCooper]

Mayo have Dubs and Tyrone to thank for exposing some of Kerry weaknesses and tendencies.

Kerry havent conceded goals since Donegal. If Mayo nab 2 goals they could create some serious doubts in Kerry.

Going back to back is rarely done for good reason , to do it with many top men not really firing would be some achievement for Kerry.

[Crete Boom]

Here is Darragh's Article from the Times:

Darragh Ó Sé: In this All-Ireland final, it's hard to see anything other than a Kerry win
Mayo will try to target any weakness in the Kerry full-back line but there are too many areas where Jack O'Connor's side are stronger

The more I think about Sunday's All-Ireland final, the more straightforward it looks. This wouldn't normally be the way of it. Most years, you spend the week talking away about how it's going to be a close one and how there's very little to choose between the two teams. But I think when you stand back from it this time around, it's very hard to come up with anything other than a Kerry win.
I might turn out to be wrong. If I am, it wouldn't be the first time or the last time. But you have to break these games down to known metrics and you can only go with what's in front of you before a game. To me, there's a very clear line of form here – Kerry have beaten Dublin, Tyrone and Armagh in their last three games, Mayo have beaten Louth and Cork and lost to Tyrone.

I'm not saying Mayo can't improve. All I'm saying is that the evidence we have so far is that Kerry have been beating a higher level of opponent than Mayo have. So that has to be the starting point. What are these teams capable of? If we go by the results so far, Kerry are capable of beating All-Ireland contenders. We can't say the same about Mayo. Not yet anyway.

The other thing Kerry have in their favour is the experience of winning finals. All these players have won an All-Ireland and a lot of them have won two. The likes of Paul Geaney and Paul Murphy have three. They know how these games go. The occasion won't affect them. Being favourites won't affect them. These are all things Kerry don't have to worry about.

Jack O'Connor knows the road as well, obviously. In the build-up to a final, Jack always puts a high premium on freshness. That's his number one requirement going into any final – that every Kerry player heads to the stadium feeling fresh and ready to perform. He's been around for a few losing finals and that can help as well. He knows what has worked and what hasn't.

O'Connor won't complicate things. The Kerry attitude to finals is fairly simple. The starting point is usually something along the lines of, "Where do the opposition think we're weak?" And once they've identified that, they go after it, double down on it and aim to turn it into a strength.

So for this final, Mayo probably think that there's a bit of joy to be got targeting Dylan Casey and Paul Murphy in Kerry's full-back line. Tyrone and Dublin both had plenty of scoring chances, so if you're in the Mayo camp you're thinking that if those chances fall to Ryan O'Donoghue, Darragh Beirne or Kobe McDonald, then you could be in business.

My guess would be that O'Connor and his management team will be challenging Murphy and Casey and putting the onus on them. Mayo think they're going to send a couple of young fellas in there to go to town on ye lads – what are you going to do about it? They can do that because they know that if it doesn't go to plan, Kerry have the personnel to change it up. Tom O'Sullivan is waiting in the wings.

That's what it all comes down to, really. If you look through the squads available to the two managers, Kerry just have more good players than Mayo. They're able to field a starting team without Tom O'Sullivan, Brian Ó Beaglaoich, Paul Geaney and Shane Ryan. Add in Tadhg Morley and that's five All Stars that O'Connor is able to leave on the bench. He won't be doing it out of loyalty – he'll be doing it because he thinks the players ahead of them are in better form.

So the task for Mayo looks very difficult. If they are going to have any chance, I think they will need at least 13 players performing above the ability they have shown so far. All-Ireland finals are about executing the skills of the game at a speed you haven't had to do them at before. Speed is what separates teams at this level – speed of thought, speed of decision-making, speed of execution.

I would be confident that a lot of the Kerry players' skills will hold up at a higher speed, purely because we've seen them do it before. But you can't be sure of that with enough of the Mayo players. They might find out very quickly that the things they were able to do against Cork and Louth in Croke Park don't get them the same results in an All-Ireland final. And by then, it'll be too late.

So many unlikely things have to come together for Mayo to win this. They have to shut down both Cliffords and Seánie O'Shea. And by shutting them down, I mean it's not going to be good enough to say David only scored 1-5 and Paudie was held to 0-4 and Seánie was kept to 0-5 from frees. Those would be respectable enough tallies from a Mayo point of view but that's 1-14 on the board before either of the Geaneys or the O'Connors or Gavin White or any of the rest of them kick a score.

There are just too many fires for Mayo to put out. The hurling final showed the template – Limerick had all the aces but they also worked like dogs until the game was killed stone dead either side of half-time. That's what Kerry will be aiming for on Sunday.

Because the really ominous thing for Mayo is that Kerry haven't put in a complete performance yet. They haven't opened their shoulders or come off the pitch going, "That's it, lads – that was the performance we've been looking for all year." No better place than a final for it to happen.
If Kerry do that, it's going to be a huge ask for anyone to match them. I just don't see Mayo being up to it.

[DaleCooper]

"Kerry just have more good players than Mayo"

And he gets paid to write?

[Captain Obvious]

That public display of confidence is a fair swing in a little over a year by Darragh Ó Sé's in his columns, where he suggested the Kerry team should be "put out of their misery," ended up unintentionally providing the ultimate motivational fuel.


Those comments, made after an underwhelming performance against Meath, caused quite a stir in the Kingdom. It deeply hurt the players, but the fallout proved incredibly galvanizing. Both Jack O'Connor and Paudie Clifford publicly referenced Ó Sé's critique as the spark that ignited their championship fire, propelling the squad to rally and silence the critics

A slap on the wrist and forced to talk up Kerry from now on?  Sure their two defeats to Donegal this year was similar to that Meath defeat and performance last year.

[Crete Boom]

I suppose when you look at it coldly Kerry just need to hit their level from last years final (which isn't that much of a jump) to win whereas, Mayo being more of an unknown need everything to go right for us to win.
That probably explains Kerry's more open show of confidence in the win than the usual yerrah we are used to?

[Rossfan]

McStay picking a strange time (4 days before the Final) to air his grievances over his sacking.


https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/arid-41884396.html

[johnnycool]

Are we looking at another hurling final rerun?

The men from the West have surprised everyone, including themselves in getting to a final.

They face a hardened, winning team with generational players from Munster and are banking on a few 19 year olds in their forwards to somehow make the difference.

Will this one be over by half time as well?

[DaleCooper]

Would Mayo fear the Dubs? Or kerry with a half fit David?

People are right to say Kerry havent hit the heights but they are leaving it long enough. You dont magically turn form on, even though this particular side can get out of jail via individual brilliance.

I would give Mayo a bigger chance than most. Its rare to see Kerry folk be so openly confident of victory.

The quick turnaround is a gift but have to feel this could be won on the sideline as much as anything.