Football Championship 2026 (Mod Note in OP)

WIn as expected for Mayo in this seasons championship opener. London 1-15 Mayo 0-31

A bit surprised Mayo didn't win more than 13 points. Less margin than Sligo 14 in 2023, Galway 27 points in 2024 and Roscommon 19 points last year. I suppose you can say less because of no goals which is somewhat surprising also.

Maybe not a shock, but wasn't expecting the final winning margin for Laois. 3-12 to 0-12 v Offaly.

Probably should have been bigger, easy see why Offaly were relegated, and the ref turned down a strong Laois penalty claim.

Leitrim looking good in Markievicz Park.

Thought armagh were meant to be just behind donegal and kerry. They're a country mile behind them by the looks of it, just as well Tyrone can't score at all

Congratulations Leitrim!

Congrats Eamonn O'Hara on finally delivering a big championship win to Leitrim 😁

This is turgid stuff, Donegal and Kerry won't be losing sleep watching these 2

Much better from Tyrone this half. Really sorted the poor shooting decisions.

Tyrone level against Armagh after a goal with 2 minutes left.

It's gone to extra-time. And Armagh will be a man down as the late red card carries in to extra-time.

Crazy for McElhome to go for goal there.

Carlow and Longford who both contested the Div 4 final both go out of Leinster after big beatings

Armagh are a weird team. Hard to know what to make of them. I think it was Whelan on analysis that said they always find a way to bring a game down to the wire. I understood what he meant.

I think they are basically a blend of similar style players, probably the dictionary definition of a 'better than the sum of their parts'.

Like I could barely name the team that won the All-Ireland two years ago (could reel off the 02 team no problem in comparison). McCambridge had a big year that year, Conaty had his breakthrough and Rian O'Neill had his moments. But most of the rest of that team are largely forgettable (not that they would give two f**ks)

I saw Armagh in CP v Dublin in the league. Wind was used as the excuse of the difference how Armagh played in the first half v the second. But that can’t just be it.

I can only describe them as muck the first half v Dublin. I remember thinking how have Armagh got so bad?

And the second half there were Armagh lads running off angles, there was off the ball movement. Two point shots. Fellas tearing around the place.

The last day v Tyrone I was watching thinking Armagh were going to win handy. Seemed in control likely to push on. Yet Armagh somehow managed to let Tyrone back into it. Arguably Armagh were lucky to win it in the end.

So your theory probably is a valid one, some of the Armagh lads seem to go through spells of complete disinterest, in a match.

No worries. A lot of the rub of the green, then?

The interesting thing about it for me is that I rarely hear people talk about how unlucky Armagh have been over the years when we missed out, and believe me there is a rich vein of what Armagh folk would consider hard luck stories, that go back to the noughties and beyond. When it comes to matters of luck, it only ever seems to apply when Armagh win, but agonising defeats are usually labelled along the lines of Armagh aren't good enough.