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

I dunno Galway were in an AI final last year gave a great account of themselves, this year they were unfortunate that their two main forwards - Comer went off injured, and Walsh had probably his worst game in the Maroon geansai. It would be the equivalent of Kerry having S.Shea off injured and David Clifford having a terrible match.

I think a lot of that Mayo panel would walk into the Dublin team, if they wore a Dublin jersey the mindset and psychology of them would be completely different. It is a lack of 'cultural confidence' that Mayo players have IMO.

I can't exactly remember the fellas name but I think it was an Offaly fella won a Sam with them, switched to Mayo played inter-county with them 1980's or so. And was shocked at the high standard of players Mayo had, who said if they had Offaly jersey's on they would win AI's

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Last Sunday Mayo had Dublin but folded. In Dessie Farrell's interview he was asked what he said to the Dublin players at HT. I was thinking it wasn't anything Dessie said to Gee them up! Dessie wouldn't be the most motivational fella.

And he said in the interview 'I did not say much to be honest'. 'It was the lads themselves that did it'. That to me shows the mindset of the players that is mental strength under severe pressure. Mayo went the other other way mental weakness under severe pressure.

Those two sets of supporters cause trouble where ever they go, football or social events. The worst of both counties. (and I'm from Monaghan)

Time the GAA banned them from games altogether. Zero tolerance.

With all that being said, your "bleeding yerra" schtick is comically bad.

Meant as reply to gormDaragorm

Look back at the Dublin thread so it is all there, comments on league, championship.Even O'Byrne Cup over the years. And that is just my comments on the footballers.

Looking at it logically I had

Kerry no1 (following the Peak Dublin defensive blueprint) letting the magic forwards do the damage upfront while grinding down teams chipping away at the score board not doing anything silly

I had Mayo second great in the league - a vibrant young team, with pace and power

Galway were a solid third in my mind at the start of the championship - if Comer stayed fit and Walsh fired a match for any side

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Then below that there was Tyrone, Monaghan, Dublin, Derry, Cork, Armagh, Kildare all vying for that fourth spot.

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Plus Dublin had a very average league in div2 - struggled v Kildare, Clare, Cork, lost to Derry once. Plus the main reason Dublin won div2 v Derry was that Glass went off injured early on in the final and it turned the game. Then struggled again v Kildare in Leinster.

I could go back further on the Dublin decline in the year previous to that, so yes I definitely would have been delighted with a SF spot at the start of this year for Dublin.

So Derry and Monaghan are competitive, but Armagh is abysmal even though both those teams only beat Armagh on penalties after extra time? Or Galway is abysmal because Armagh and Mayo beat them narrowly? Kerry and Dublin are a bit ahead, but the next half dozen teams are much the same in standard.

Both and to override the antiquated provincial system. The way the AI series is set up is the way the provinces should be. Weeds out the poor sides no flukes. Gives all teams a 'cut at it' no excuses. Westmeath were in hard luck in it, the the Rossies had good showings, and Kildare's inconsistencies were shown up by the AI series.

Until there is enough of people who want to get rid of the provincial system, this was the best solution the GAA could come up with

The league does matter IMO for the last 20 plus years there has been a direct correlation between successful league teams and championship. Go down through the years if you don't believe me. Also it is crucial for Dublin to be in div1 - as they get no proper games in Leinster the majority of the time as most teams there are lower div 2 - div 3 and div 4.

Dublin fans have called me worse than a troll, the year I said Kerry would beat Dublin in the AI SF they called me a Kerryman!! And one poster was kind enough to rejig my grav with flatcap and pipe, which I kept!

"Flukes" are the main excitement part for a neutral. The new format was a load of shite. Endless games just to again have a Dublin Kerry final. They're going to kill off general interest in football with this approach. Group formats only work if there's an actual risk to a contender.

Imo, Cork knocking out Kerry in 2020 and then getting knocked out by Tipp was the kind of excitement that's been missing from football for years. No sense of danger for any big team until the quarter finals. And even there the really big teams will avoid each other

Ya. Agree completely with your last line. It was like as if at half time, Dublin players were revved up to go out and destroy Mayo in 10 minutes. But the Mayo mindset was a nervous hope that they wouldn't get blitzed. I think the Mayo team were more focused on that negative factor, rather than focusing on remaining determined to bring the game to Dublin. If I recall correctly, McCarthy jumped about 20 feet in the second half throw-in to punch the ball towards the Mayo goal side, and Dublin got a point from it. And it was curtains then from Mayo - like as if they were afraid to take up the challenge. The majority of the Mayo players went missing. I was watching to see the off the ball running, and there was none. Many of the players did not want to demand the ball to produce anything useful. At 8 points down, they were still content to be kicking the ball back and forth across their own '45. Didn't have that drive to try to penetrate through the Dublin defense. Of course, that is easier said than done.

Disappointing weekend of action whereby the scheduling played a big part in making two of the Quarter finals total mis-matches in the 2nd halves and I believe Cork would have received the same trimming had they played Kerry or Dublin instead of Derry as they were totally gassed for the majority of the 2nd half.

The one competitive Quarter final between Armagh and Monaghan will hardly live long in the memory unless from Monaghan. I know some Monaghan supporters don't like this said about them but they are one county punching above their weight. 2nd semi final now in 5 years and nine consecutive years in Div 1.

The semi final v Dublin will be bridge too far for them but hopefully they give a decent account of themselves.

The way Derry set up should make it difficult for Kerry but won't have the scoring power to topple Kerry

Bookies don't ride around on bicycles from the start of the championship they had Kerry and Dublin 1 and 2 in the betting and that's how this championship will likely finish.