The 2021 All Ireland Senior Football Championship

This final will be between two of my favourite non Cork football counties. But really i hope Mayo get over the line this time. Mayo have no historical baggage with Tyrone in all Ireland finals, in the way that they historically do with Dublin and Kerry, so that will be an advantage to them. 1989 1996 1997 2004 2006 2012 2013 2016 2017 2020 2021. That is an awesome record with regards to consistency for making finals. Muppets like that pompous ignorant and classless attention seeker David Hickey call Mayo a tragic county. But the way i see it Mayo are a very competitive football county who deserve serious respect, and surely to god 2021 will be the year they finally land that long awaited and long deserved all Ireland. Best of luck Mayo and bring Sam back home.👍️

Way more teams of a decent standard?

I'm not so sure of that. Much of a muchness in terms of actually competitive counties.

Way more counties playing football alright but about 30 of them are perennial also rans.

There's nothing competitive about Munster or Connacht! Mayo and Kerry showed that with their absolute cricket scores. Leinster has three competitive counties at best. And that's stretching the credibility of competitive.

So really what you actually meant, was the Ulster championship is competitive. But even at that you're maybe talking about 2/3 serious contenders.

Overall more counties of a poor standard than a decent standard is how I'd see it.

Just from reading the papers and listening to radio yest seems to be a “hint” going on that Tyrone were not overly honest about the covid excuse

if this is true that they were playing fast and loose with the truth about covid in their camp then HQ should declare that Tyrone are banned from the championship for 3 years and also strip them of their win last Saturday and let Kerry into the final against Mayo

I believe the Covid issue is quite genuine and they were right to ask for their 2 weeks, and the GAA and the other teams were correct in giving them the time needed. Declan Bogue puts it very well in this article, in particular how Spillane starts his rant about how from a vacuum of information comes false narratives and innuendo, then how QUOTE he was allowed to lay down a series of what he described himself as "false narrative and innuendo". UNQUOTE

Don’t shoot the messenger

the hints were in lot of newspaper articles and I listened to the Newstalk sports show yest also - I’m just saying if it was proven that Tyrone were “not exactly on the level” on the issue - sanctions should be imposed and publicly to send out a message

I don't think anyone really cares what was true and what was not. Kerry should have been good enough to beat them last Saturday, or next month or in 6 months time. They weren't and they have no excuses and in fairness, they are not making any either.

Tyrone are where they deserve to be, in the AI final.

Ah whist would ya for the love of god.

I like to see stats from both sets of trackers. If you look at extra time Kerry looked to be the team with more running.

Normally a team without the ball has to work more. But Tyrone have a good defensive setup. It probably allowed th.to conserve energy. Kerry were doing a lot of running off the ball especially wing and corner backs. The workload on them from the Kerry system is huge. When Tyrone broke down field they had less work to get there scores. As well Kerry were carrying a immobile midfield and had no workhorses in there forwards.

I love to see both sets of stats from the GPS trackers

A great line from Joe Brolly yesterday,

“At the final whistle, all that remained was for Pat Spillane to go and have a good puke”.

Summed up the day in a few words.

Do people really belief Tyrone faked the covid? I mean I find it laughable that it is even used as an excuse or back story. It belongs the conspiracy theories threads on boards.ie. Any Kerry people or Kerry fans who imply it was a conspiracy need to take a long hard look at themselves and cop themselves on a bit. I mean it is natural that some have sour grapes at losing. But this takes it to a whole new level conspiracy theories!

Hurling is an much more niche sport than football simple as that. And is evident how hurling is broken up into tiers. Plus there is very little progress in weaker hurling counties v weaker football counties. I have already said why I believe the final narrative is a logical fallacy. I am not sure you understand my point or look at the bigger overall picture?

I was, clearly Horan had a tactical plan be hard to break down no goals conceded v Dublin stay in the game first half. It worked no goals conceded. To me that showed managerial nous and maturity from Horan taking lessons from previous Dublin encounters. And even Mayo games like the 2012 final. I was at the Connacht final and was damn impressed with Mayo's pace, movement and composure. Like you I hope Mayo do it. I honestly think they can. An experienced sideline can be the difference in a tense big game.

Tyrone will love going into this as underdogs. If Mayo give even a hint of complacency I think their hearts will be broken again.

I honestly think if it is tactical mastermind v tactical mastermind, Tyrone win hands down. Haven't seen a team yet that can get to Tyrone's intensity levels and stay there. They looked a tired beaten team going into extra time but came out and raised the levels again.

If they get to that pitch again I can't see Mayo winning.