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

Would the likes of Val Andrews and Paddy Christie be considered if Dessie called it a day? Also Paul Curran, Mick Deegan or Jack Sheedy?

Simple Question Yes or No. On the day at that time was it the correct decision in your opinion?

Val Andrews - there is a name from the past that I have not heard mentioned for years. I don't think he would have the profile even though he managed Louth plus Cavan - has senior inter-county management experience. From what I remember talking to a few Louth fans when he was there. I don't think they took to him. No idea about what Cavan people thought of him.

Paddy Christie - I think he would be a more popular choice compared to Val Andrews given his profile, he is doing senior intercounty with Longford as well.

There is the Ballymun connection - maybe he could talk James McCarthy into staying for one more year? If ever there was a fella that could convert McCarthy to a badly needed FB - (if Fitzsimons leaves) Paddy would be the right man for the job

Paul Curran - he would have massive profile anyway and has managed Ballymun - so there will be that connection which could help as above. But he has not managed senior inter-county

Jack Sheedy - would definitely have the profile he would be hard to miss, had his stint Managing Longford was a decade ago.

I have no idea what Longford people thought of Jack Sheedy's tenure as Manager - or what they think of Paddy Christie as current manager- I suppose the Longford fans would be the people to ask - did Sheedy do a decent job- is Christie doing a good job?

Mick Deegan - again definite profile but no intercounty management - is managing in 'enemy territory' with Ashbourne - has the connection with Jim Gavin as selector- so that continuity would be nice

Johnny Magee - is another name you could add to your list - had a stint managing Wicklow at senior intercounty level there three years 2015 -2018. Again, I have no idea if he did a good job to be honest, because success and improvement are all relative to the level of players available.

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Off that list I suppose the most experienced candidate would be Val Andrews. And profile wise the highest profile would be Paul Curran I would say. But it is food for thought anyway.

I am sure the Dublin County Board have some list somewhere. But I would only be guessing on who who would get the Dublin job - if it becomes vacant again. There is no 'stand out' candidate IMO.

Did you dig deep to find that one? A partial extract from an interview as reported by a newspaper rather than a live one?

Remind me what trophy did Mayo win that day that Dessie should have congratulated them on?

Find one of Dessie's live interviews where he disrespected the opponents and didn't talk about how good they were. You will be searching. If you knew the topic, you would be more likely to accuse him of being patronising to opponents because he always talks them up, they gave us a hard test, we knew they would put it up to us, they are a good team etc.

You lose a final, you congratulate the winners. Kerry didn't, neither Jack O'Connor nor their Chairman, just the usual whinging. End of.

How do you know it was a 'partial' interview?

This is like a primary school stuff, 'He didn't praise me enough' and belittles decent Dub fans who aren't so insecure as to be looking for stuff to get offended about. You won, try to enjoy it.

Jack O Connor looks a little shellshocked to me. Which is understandable as he's just lost an All Ireland that he felt was there for the taking. He has never been able to win back to back All Irelands with Kerry and you can visibly see the hurt in his face.

Nope. Two of them at it was the word he got from the umpires. We have no idea who fouled first.

No issue with an opinion that Clifford is the best footballer in the country at the moment, though I would argue that Brian Fenton is better - whenever a game is in the balance, Fenton rises to the challenge - and others would argue for other candidates, however, the deluded opinion that Clifford is the GOAT based on his achievements to date I do take exception to.

Seems to be some inferiority complex they have with Kerry and it’s players in general.

Over on the Dublin forum some posters going on about the result put Kerry ‘in their place’ whatever that means.

The roll of honour for most All-Irelands still has the kingdom with a firm lead.

Fair play to Mick Fitzsimons in fairness. Cute head. A less experienced lad would have moaned about it to the ref, and the ref would tell him to shut up. And the umpires would have done nothing (as usual). But by running over to the umpires and shouting and waving the arms, he forced a decision in Goughs head that he should speak to the umpires, and then overruled his own decision. A huge moment in the match.

Would you say Kerry were second best in 2019? That's game was there for the taking too by Kerry. Probably had a chance there of coming away with a victory in my view in the first game.

I have no hatred of Kerry like you said, I like Kerry football actually and attend alot of Kerry championship games as there is always a great buzz about it and highly competitive. I try to keep up on Kerry GAA as much as Cork GAA as I have a divided interest in both counties, Yes I know Cork haven't won anything in a long time but I can only hope they come back again soon on both codes. We always get reminded of that by the Kerry fans and friends with a bit of banter.

When I say that Kerry fans can be bitter, I was in Killarney the day of the ROK and I was watching the Kerry v Tyrone game on the big screen in car park. I couldn't get over the amount of Kerry fans that were shouting "lets beat these fc@kers out the gate now" when Seanie O Shea scored the 2nd goal. Every horrible thing towards Tyrone. It was real bitterness. Many of the Kerry guys I know said afterwards you couldn't beat that shower by enough. I wondered have Tyrone really ruffled their feathers that much that they hate them that much? They obviously don't like you when you are beating them. Tyrone have beaten Kerry 4 times since 2000. But Kerry have also beaten Tyrone 4 times since 2000. I don't understand it. I would have thought is was a respectable rivalry between the two counties but it's more than that. It's bitterness.

Coming up to the final some of my Kerry friends were cautious of Dublin but many others were super confident and thought Dublin hadn't a hope this year. I didn't know what they were basing this on. Possibly the fact that Kerry got over the line in 2022 against Dublin and thought they would sail through this time. I didn't believe Dublin would win myself and proved me wrong. This is a great Dublin team and it has to be said whether people like them or not. They have produced the goods time and time again.

But thats not how it played out.

Gough gave a Kerry free because he saw Fitzsimons tangle with Clifford, then Fitzsimons reaction gave him enough pause to make it worth asking the umpires opinion. The umpire told him what he had seen, which was that Clifford started it. At point he has already stopped play so has to restart it somewhere, but it would be disgracefully unfair to continue with a Kerry free knowing that the Kerry man was the offender. The only real option available is what he did.

The umpires didn't pick and choose anything, had Gough not went to them they would have stood and done **** all like they always do.

If the Kerry chairman doesn't understand that then he may not be suited to the role.

The RTE Podcast - three journos, Ciaran Whelan and Tomas O'Se dissect the AI and the implications going forward

Your team won an AI and you still can’t be gracious in victory.

This imaginary ‘Kerry bitterness’ only exists in your head.

Better hope Clifford doesn’t get PoTY or else I feel for your mental state!

The Clifford campaign for PoTY reminds me of the Mayo campaign for David Clarke (remember him?) to get an All-Star ahead of Cluxton.