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

That's like not ratings Conor McManus because he never won an All Ireland.

Dublin won because they had a small bit better team performance. Both had five scorers from play which while watching I would have thought Dublin had more of a spread.

Its great for him. He is having a marvellous career and seems to be enjoying it apart from yesterday. Who wouldnt want to be talked as the top player in the country.

Too soon for GOAT, but he is on the way to it, but who knows, his form might fall away too.

He’s not the greatest of all time by any metric yet. He’s probably the most talented footballer to emerge in a long time. And is currently the best player in the country you could argue. A bit to go to be the goat.

Good post. Clifford nonsense is tiresome at this stage.

Dublin were super yesterday. Coming down the stretch in the last quarter they won 7-2. Compsure, leadership, class, exerting huge pressure on the opposition. There has never been a team like them and in that death zone of the last 10 minutes of a close AI final, they are at their best.

The greatest team of all time was never going to go gently into the night and that one will be one of the sweetest for them.

Clifford is an excellent footballer and one of the best forwards in the game at the moment. All this talk of the GOAT should not be even in the conversation. Is he better than Pat Spillane, Gooch, Conor McManus or any number of other wonderful players who have lit up games with outstanding performances - who knows and who cares. Football is a team sport and any single player is only part of the collective. Clifford benefits from a good team around him who deliver ball to him etc.? Would he be the GOAT if he played for Waterford?

On the day, Dublin edged it. 2 excellent teams, but one who could find a way to just have their nose in front at the final whistle.

Clifford and Kerry will collect more All Irelands in the years to come, and then some new stars will come along, and they will be talked about as the GOAT.

Will many of the dub players walk after yesterday?

Claxton is superb. Walking out to team.mates telling them to cop out after gloating fellas. Fencing glides around the field, so effortless. What height is he?

Mannion massive plus to the team.with Rock on the last legs and him back his experience stood to the team while a newbie could have been overawed.

I never said I didn't rate Clifford or Conor McManus or Cillian O'Connor or Shane Walsh. However, I would have none of them in a GOAT conversation, that is a different level and none of them are on that.

I got one at 3.10pm yesterday at the Clonliffe Road/Drumcondra junction. Asked a Garda did he know anyone selling and he pointed me to two different people (not touts).

Rain kept most of the casual supporters away I think.

Not the first time I got a ticket an hour before a match. There's always someone missing for some reason and €80 is nice bit of money to forego. No minor match helps as well.

If people said he was currently the best forward in the country I wouldn't bat an eyelid, they would be right.

But the greatest player ever seen, that is just rubbish.

As an aside I don't think it helps that there is a real dearth of top level players around at the minute, there isn't really anybody else playing at the minute who can stake a claim to be better than Clifford. Walsh is too inconsistent, McShane disappeared, Con O Callaghan playing really poor, Murphy is gone, McManus in the twilight of his career. It says a lot that McGuigan and Basquel are the top scorers, neither of them exactly top class players. Hopefully the 2 Canavans and a few others can step up and make it a conversation.

To compare just look at the 2000's. Off the top of my head, back then you had Canavan, O Neill, Mulligan, Sean Cavanagh, McGuigan, Paddy Bradley, Enda Muldoon, Gooch, Donaghy, Galvin, O Sullivan, Declan Browne, Matty Forde, Stevie McDonnell, McConville, Ronan Clarke, Sean Cavanagh, Brogan. Thats just the forward line and most of them all playing in and around the same time. Bloody stacked, the quality today just isn't the same.

Every player will have off days. Greatness is consistently delivering when it matters. Mikey Sheehy and Colm Cooper have scored goals in 4 different all Ireland finals. Mikey Sheehy scored 2-6 in a single All Ireland final (as did Jimmy Keaveny). He is just the latest, and we are conditioned to think the latest great player is the best. At the moment, he is the best around, but he has a bit go to overshadow all the greats that have played the game - even just the Kerry greats.

On a side note, are we looking at a monopoly of dublin kerry all irelands for this decade ahead? Tyrone done well in 21 to get Sam.

I dont think either team are that far ahead of the pack. Both teams seem to need find a handful of players (especially if all the Dub players who suggest retirement do the deed).