The league is a shame.

@seanBurke. Go easy with your winnings. Hope you can pay of the mortgage.

Lucky enough to get the win today considering Donegal missed penalty and struck crossbar with a bullet of a shot when game in melting pot.
Great performances from Ryan and Jack Carney but to be honest. A depleted Donegal side were on top in first 15 mins and for majority of second half. Midfield a bit of a problem today. Second best at clean fielding and mopping up breaking ball. Thought penalty a bit harsh but good stop. Couldnt accuse Donegal of trying to lose. Their forward penetration better than hours by a bit over the seventy minutes.
Being in final headache for management. Sligo will fancy a crack at us. They have few recent wins and with fortnight now to orepare while Mayo will have a very fractured run in to that game and a possibly deflating result next Sunday. Next fortnight will clear up whether they serious contenders or not this year.

While it's nice to get to a final Donegals b team probably should have beaten us today.
When teams run direct at us we are wide open.
Kerrys forwards could put a couple of goals on us next weekend if we don't make changes.
Personally think we should have Mc Brien at 3 with Callinan at 6.
I thought Eoin o donoghue did well in his 2 games but hasn't been seen since.Id have him corner back with Mc Hugh the other corner.
Hession wing back with Kelly the other side.

Thought we were poor today. Still in a league final so might as well go all out to win it now.

I think McHugh on David and Hessian on Paudie as before.
Mad fixtures.
Give it a lash.
Extra time would be a disaster.

What are we paying a TV license for. You would swear Mayo aren't in the final. All about the other teams.

FRC needs to fix the league too! Schedule is all it needs. It's the best competition for everyone so competitive everyone playing against sides at the same level. It should be a real aim to win the league not go for the first few games and taper off. Look at soccer there's 4 trophies for the top sides to win every year.
The tv highlights quality of mayo Donegal were appealing

League is league but kerry will be going for an all out win here . And we should be doing the same.

I said previously go for 2nd string team..

But no think we should go to win it if we are good enough to win it and then go beat sligo the following week will tell slot .

GAA super powers need to look at themselves why soo many games at once and such a quick season ?unreal. Money talks sure .

Either McBrien or McHugh at 3. We need some kind of
Sweeper system for Kerry, Coen the best man to mop up and read the danger. We might need 2 up but shouldn’t stop us having a sweeper. Very few team have sweeper under new rules but important to have lads that can cover the line behind and in front of themselves. CHB sweeper, 1 midfielder half covering CHB. Obviously need to push up on kickouts etc.

@Shuffy Deck..100% correct

@ blond64… Fully agree
Also, We topped the table and we got there fair and square. Mcstay has brought his team to the final and will do all in his power to win it. I would like to see our X Mayo players get behind the team and drive home Mayo’s success. This Kerry hype is unjustified.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, why haven't we tried a alternative keeper. Nothing against Reape at all but jayus we've had keepers dropped for less at more important stages (maybe that's why refusal to make a change).
Team's are going to go hard after our kickouts and running at us through the middle..

It's an achievement considering the earlier results. Take it on its merits and treat it as another game. Neither side will be putting on a footballing masterclass. Yes, Donegal looked in control at times but so did Derry in their early league games. Some dead rubbers in the mix yesterday too. Nobody knows too much this early on except, perhaps, I think Donegal are the team to beat.

Well that was some craic yesterday. Not knowing how the other games were going and how they were impacting us was weird to say the least. However, like it or not we're in the final and though the timing isn't perfect it gives the lads another big game at Croker which could be priceless to the new players.
Just had a look a AI odds with Paddy Power.
Kerry 7/2
Donegal 7/2
Dublin 4/1
Galway 9/2
Tyrone 10/1
Armagh 10/1
Derry 12/1
Mayo 16/1
Roscommon 50/1
At those odds I'd be tempted to have a few euros on Mayo but as I tend to jinx anything I bet on I'll have a small wager on the top 7 in the betting.

I hope next week will be like the old Listerine advert,Clifford has a problem.
Seriously we need a plan for him next week,Buckley will have a busy week.

The horse that is Mayo would have given you a great run for your money at relegation odds of 66/1 yesterday.
Winning in the final furlong but pipped on the line at the end.

Mad to think you top the league and the two relegated teams have shorter odds to win the All Ireland.

Problems on the kick out to address, can’t understand how we don’t have a go to kick out with O’Shea, McBrien, Carney and Flynn contesting in a group.

I wonder would we receive any hearing if we requested to play the final on the Saturday afternoon. Put the Division 1 final on with one of the other final pairings. Perhaps select another league final which may have a team out in championship action a week later. First up I'm sure Kerry won't mind too much as we both played at the same time yesterday. Secondly they can only refuse our request but in so refusing it will again highlight an indifference to player welfare. And lastly, the final attendances will be modest at best and probably a flop at worst. So even a small tweak in putting div 1 and div 3 finals together on a Saturday might help a tad to rejuvenate things. Any such request would need communicate with Kerry and would need to land in croker early today.

I was literally about to pose the same question ! The finals involving those with championship the following week should be played Saturday .
That would also mean I can go but I don’t think the GAA will take this into consideration :D

@Richie Duck you are bang on. We have Vahey & Phillips. And neither have had a minute. A league final is hardly the game to blood them, but when else do we have a game with little on the line? Perhaps the Leitrim game, if we beat Sligo (which is not a guarantee)

Our own Kickouts are a concern. There is no urgency to get them out. I can't see any gameplan for them. Perhaps we are keeping stuff in reserve, but I'd have my doubts.

When and where will tickets come on sale for the League Final

Happy to be in the league final and give it a right go, great experience for the newer lads and it will be played at championship tempo so another test of where we are at. The only fear is injuries so hopefully no issues.

Do Kerry have a full complement to pick from ? White , SOS etc..? any injuries or lads sidelined

Yesterday really felt like a game played at 90%.
Still think we need added depth for high summer from returnee from injuries and if we have an u20 bolter. Lot of weeks yet into end of May early June.

@James. Once the day & time is finalised for next weekend, they will presumably be on ticketmaster & also available in Super Valu/Centra

Thanks rusty

The pre season competitions were scrapped. Because of this, the league could easily have been started a week earlier, allowing two weeks between end of league and start of championship. Not rocket science.

The league final scenario is a complete farce. Two of the teams at the top of the league checked out 3 wks ago (Donegal and Galway) resting key players in their final two rounds. Dublin weren’t bothered either. We are in a final only because we had to win the match for for fear of being relegated - Kerry too (they had to go full throttle yesterday in Salthill while Joyce had the luxury of resting Walsh. Even if we win it, it’d be almost embarrassing to raise a cheer given that half the teams didn’t want to be in the final. What a complete mess by the GAA. I doubt many will bother travelling to Croke Pk.

On what basis, other than their name and past successes, are Dublin 4 to 1...based on their league form, they ain't no better than mayo at 16's...to be honest, none of the teams are much if any better than mayo...all are capable of playing well like ourselves, but are all beatable...

Yesterday was very poor and my optimism has decreased . We were playing against a Donegal team who were missing the majority of their main men, they opened us up the majority of the times they attacked.

We struggled very badly. Has there been an update on Paddy and Tommy C? Also has the time been set for the league final on Sunday?

We were up and down for sure yesterday ..

But there are positives to take from it we went and won the game when Donegal were really coming at us colm reapes save was crucial on that penalty and Ryan O D showed his class again at the end.

Mattie Ruane showing his best again and great yo see him come back to form ..

Lots to work on for sure but let's go out and win it .

It will be tough but we have beaten kerry 3 out of the last 4 times so we are well able to do it .

Clare if the penalty which was a pathetic effort had gone in we were relegated.we were extremely poor in the second half yesterday and the last thing we need is a pointless league a week out from the Sligo game .Sligo have been targeting this game since draw was made and if our inability to win possession in the midfield continues then we will be in one hell of a battle.The league has been turned into a totally farcical competition.i have never been less interested in mayo being in a final

There is only two national competitions and an opportunity to win one should be embraced.

No disrespect here but if a team of Mayos quality and holding something back for Sligo then I'd question the all Ireland chances.

From our perspective we have improved since the game in Castlebar however injuries are a concern.

OConnor is out.
Seanie is out.
Tom Sullivan might be back.
OBrien who's been solid looks doubtful now aswell.

Midfield is therefore a concern.

Kerry like to kick the ball and our kicking has been very good with 3.24 yesterday and 2 wides.

Clifford got in the ball 34 times and brought so many others into the game.

Looking forward to Croke Park next week.

@ west Kerry yea there are only two competitions but everyone has the same objective in the championship but nobody has any idea what ambitions are at play in the league mainly now because of the close proximity to the championship.Sligo might not be world beaters but on a given day they can cause an upset.i remember David Kelly having the chance to eliminate Kerry back in 2009.you could see from mcstays interview he wasn’t exactly ecstatic to be in the final

The GAA are to blame for this,

For the life of me I don't know why there isint a minimum 2 week break between league and championship.

As for Sligo I was standing beside Diarmuid Murphy last week who saved that peno in Tralee safe to say that was the catalyst for that all Ireland.

@west kerry. I'm with you completely on what you said. I'm not overly excited about making the final but a day out in Croker for a national title should not be sniffed at.
Also, you're spot on about Sligo. I think they're a very decent team but if we can't beat them, we've no business pretending we're challenging for the biggest prize.

Sligo beat us in 2010 after we had lost league final to cork and while I think we will beat them it is also the exact scenario Sligo would have wanted coming to this game and they have nothing to lose.The 2022 league final was a disaster for us in terms of the bad beating we took and the injuries which effectively ended our summer

One way or the other I think a word of 'well done' is due to the team and management for getting us to a league final. In the old days this would have been a great achievement and it still is something to be proud of.

I see TG4 has Sunday's final on live and also streaming the U20's game again on Wednesday evening against Galway. Great service in fairness when one cant get to the games...