The 2021 All Ireland Senior Football Championship

First half was a containing job from Mayo though making sure they would not concede. Play cagey stay in the game etc.

If Dublin got goals early the game was dead as a contest. Horan had the cop to know that.

Then he went for it in the second half full pelt. Mayo did something I am always giving out about in Football, most teams only seem to think a team can play one way - no plan B.

Donegal under Jim McGuinness prime example, only knew one way of playing. Why not have a team that can vary their play a bit when required?

Horan went up way in my estimation after it as if rebuilding a team in a few years is not enough. He now does tactical variations in style waits patience.

In the Connacht Final Mayo never panicked - 5 down v Galway as if they knew they would pull away. I was at it in CP, very composed stuff. And great fitness and pace.

Summed up well in this report:

"Trailing by five points at the turnaround and seemingly in all sorts of bother, Mayo remained cool under duress to annihilate Galway after the restart."

https://www.gaa.ie/football/news/connacht-sfc-final-mayo-triumph-at-croke-park/

The bookies prices only reflect the masses perception though. If more money is put on one side the odds shorten on one and lengthen on the other. UK bookies can be a bit shaky on GAA odds though, I will give you that.

Irish bookies have a closer reflection of the man on the street's view.

Underdogs usually lose it just doesn't look that way because the memorable upsets stick out but they are upsets for a reason. There was similar barstool talk about "Corkness" over on the hurling forum a few weeks back.

Just on this game I don't think it has an underdog or favourite and the close betting reflects that (not that betting is always accurate as was pointed out earlier)

Cant agree with the containment thing. You dont do that for a half and then decide to play in order to not concede goals. Surely they are better just conceding the goals early on and having the rest of the half to get the 6 points back, rather than needing to get 6 points back after half time? At least with the goals you have 50 odd minutes rather than 35 to do the same thing? It doesnt make sense.

No thanks, I’ll stay right here. The discussion is relating to the one particular game. Because in your view in other games x happened... I’m not sure I’m the the person that would need to be the one extricating myself to the ‘conspiracy theory forum ‘, you are a bit emotive there... telling people to ‘fûck off’ isn’t in any way enabling your argument or indeed credibility.

dublin were far from thugs in fact practically the entire population of sports / GAA journalists commentating on the inability of the referee to get to grips with Mayos skullduggery and cheating, high tackles, pulling jerseys, spending the last 15 minutes kicking balls away when it was a free or a line ball to Dublin, or lying on the ball :)

zero class whatsoever... it would be an absolute travesty for the sport if Mayo won...absolute team of chancers the way they play , Kerry are footballers, sportspeople, sporting people... skill over swill, hopefully they’ll win, send Mayo packing, it will be a victory for the sport and sporting people.

Apparently, Strumms hasn't been told Kerry lost. 😁

The lads on the Sunday game all played the sport at a much higher level than you and things didn't look too gracious on the TV last week

Lad must be colour blind, mixing up jersey colours or something

I did like when he just ended the black card argument by practically telling Sean to shut up and cop on but overall they were both a joke

Such nonsense. Winning a game comes down to 2 basic things.

Workrate, in defense and attack.

Skill, in tackling and scoring.

Teams lose because they are behind their opponent in one or all of the above. Kerry lost for the same reason. They have also failed to beat a Div 1 team in the championship since 2019. Their skills, and workrate are insufficient.

This post should be pinned to the front page of every championship thread.

Might be a bit a of that. But I was at the Connacht final. Did not get a ticket for AISF. But I was tipping Dublin to lose to Mayo beforehand, because I had seen the stupid stuff Dublin were at in the games prior.

Admittedly, I have not seen Tyrone live in the flesh - Dooher's/Lohan's style. But I feel Mayo are more than a match for Tyrone fitness wise. Plus I think Mayo are a better all round squad - just about. On top of that dare I say it Mayo seem to have a 'swagger and confidence' about them - fearless young lads. Like you say I think it will be tight. But on paper I would say Mayo have more than Tyrone. But on the day the better team on paper is not guaranteed a win.

Plus, I think Kerry should wait until after the final and 'sound out' James Horan for the Kerry job to see if he would be interested at all.

Were Kerry underdogs in 2009? Or was it just over excited Dubs backing them? I will check that. I remember going in just hope to that QF no expectations. It was Kerry.

You are right about Tyrone, they love proving people wrong. Dooher played like that, and he does have a determined 'prove people wrong' head on him.