The 2023 All Ireland Senior Football Championship (Sam Maguire Cup)

Omagh is 17k capacity. It's not like it takes a record breaking crowd to sell it out.

Ya I'm being a bit harsh. Always great to see people enjoy live sport whatever the tournament.

Cant see them winning it either. They dont seem to be consistent enough to win enough top level games that they will need to so win the AI.

However they could easily take out a live contender e.g. Kerry.

Mccurry’s point was over rte showed and not given, that’s on the umpires more than the ref I suppose to be fair. Thought Monaghan got a fair few soft frees personally, especially in the first half that kept them within shouting distance.

Tyrone scored three frees and Monaghan ten, I’m not sure how many each missed but Monaghan certainly got far more scoreable frees imo when I didn’t think there was much if any difference in how the two teams defended.

All this talk about teams losing on purpose will be funny if the group draws don’t turn out as some teams hoped they would.

I got it wrong, never afraid to admit it when it happens.

Problem is it is THE ONLY provincial football championship that matters, more often than not the sides are so competitive with each other - they all play the same way and it ends up dour.

The Tyrone v Monaghan match is hopefully not a one off, and is a sign of things to come.

It is no confidence that there is only one half decent hurling county from Ulster, the main focus is football - so the depth in Ulster is strong. Maybe someone can explain to me why football is so strong in comparison to hurling in almost all of the counties from Ulster? I know a few are going to mention Shaughneil's but that is at club level.

As far as I can remember I always associate Ulster with football. With Antrim being the odd ones out capable of causing hurling shocks. Is it just a quirk of geography/history or both?

Connacht matters. Anyone of three Div 1 teams can win it with big crowds turning up for those games and Sligo with the work they are doing at underage should improve in the years ahead. While Kerry and Dublin should still win their provincial championship comfortably the new format adds a bit of spice to certain matches such as Clare needing to win v Cork to avoid the B All Ireland and Meath probably in a similar situation in Leinster. 

Antrim would be the strongest Hurling team in Ulster followed by Derry,Tyrone who play in the Christy Ring Cup at least every Ulster county team competes in the league and championship hurling unlike Kilkenny footballers who withdrew from the NFL in 2012 and still showing no sign of returning.

Third seeds are away to provincial winners in Round 1. Losing the first game will be putting themselves under a bit of pressure. A good Seed 2 at home will beat the Seed 4 team in Round 1.

I disagree on Connacht as well Mayo have stopped worrying about it long ago. Galway heading the same way.

The Rossies are decent now. But historically it's only really two teams. The last time I can remember Connacht 'meaning' something was when Sligo won it.

The fact is the backdoor system has made the provincials an afterthought. How many neutrals remember that the Rossies beat Galway in 2001? The record books say Galway won Sam that is what most remember.

Everyone at a soccer match jumps up whenever their team scores a goal. Goals can be crucial in Gaelic like yesterday, but not usually as crucial as in soccer. Yesterday's game had 3 goals and 35 points, and like a lot of games, a few scoreable chances that were missed made the difference.

You would be limiting the chances for players to score points, sometimes from situations where it is hard to swing a leg, never mind kick for goals. Like the experiment to limit the hand pass to 3, I think this one would be roundly rejected by the players.

Was it a good system when Derry as reigning Ulster and All Ireland Champions got just one game the following year? It served well enough for around 100 years, and allowed Kerry to amass a host of All Irelands. The Qualifiers gave teams another chance. But last year it still led to Tyrone as reigning Ulster and All Ireland champions having just three games. Another nod to the also rans was the Tommy Murphy and now the Tailteann.

At least Tyrone will get a couple of extra games this year, and if they are good enough they will progress. Whether counties are deliberately setting out to second guess if it is better to lose a provincial game I don't know, but it is dangerous territory if they are. All ways round, it is still trying to turn a flawed (skewed provinces) knockout competition into something it can never be. An equal chance for Kerry and Wicklow to win an All Ireland.

The best system, which I know will never happen, is to have a home and away League.

Rubbish in fairness. Tyrone were out for the count after that. They desperately tried for the win.

Mayo got beaten by Div 1 teams in Connacht in recent years more than not worrying about it, when appointed McStay let it known to media that they would be aiming to win Connacht and Joyce with Galway has always had that view also. Did you see the reaction to Galway,Roscommon Connacht title success in 2016,2017,2018,2019 to see how much it meant? It was still a memorable 2001 Connacht campaign whereby Galway learnt plenty about themselves and corrected the issues they had. One shouldn't underestimate the attraction and interest of neighbours facing off in championship encounters especially in Connacht and Ulster.

Nobody said it's supposed to be easy - scoring should be a little difficult. Flicking over the bar with the hand IMHO is TOO easy, there is no skill in it.

If O'Toole took his point yesterday, there is every chance Tyrone would have come back up the field and scored the winner, there was plenty of time for them to do it and then cause a row and finish the game out. The goal was the killer, there was really no way back, apart from getting a goal themselves for Tyrone.

Interesting to see Jayo mentioned above - I was at the classic Mayo Dublin semifinal in 2006.Jayo was 1v1 with the goalie when Dublin wet ahead (probably 4 points up, I can't recall exactly) and he flicked it over with his hand, rather than going for the goal from what was a straightforward angle. The Dub crowd to a man applauded him for being clever and taking his point, but at the time I felt he had the chance to kill Mayo off and he turned it down, and Mayo came back famously and won the game.

Goals win games and provide great excitement, should be encouraged. Maybe give 4 points instead of 3,i dunno.