We should have won that match- better side in second half however we gifted them a goal that won them the match.

You have to wonder why that match was not the curtain raiser last Sunday! Lack of common sense to the GAA’s scheduling…and a little greed too!

Wouldn't call getting tackled when coming out of defende as a gift. Mayo got more of a gift on own goal when the rossie lad kicked it to Carey for a neat finish.

Good underage final and Mayo showed how much improving has been done since nine point beating against the same opposition 5 weeks ago. Decent chance to reach the last 4 v Louth or offaly next.

Great performance by Tony Carey again this evening. Himself and Oisìn Deane played very well for Tiernan's in the Colleges this year. Young Langan from Ballinrobe is a great prospect too.

Mo2023. I’d be worried about meeting Louth, a very good team. Not so much Offaly . Thought Kildare should have beaten them. With minors though it’s very hard to know.

[Deleted].

I don't think there's any minor team would have the depth to cover losing both midfielders just before and after the break though in fairness. They were both winning lots of primary and secondary possession around the middle. Eventually we got slightly over ran,the goal coming from that pressure.
I wouldn't be harsh on them on that performance,I thought they left it all out there.
If the lads make it back,we could still have a day.

I think everyone needs to remember we're talking about kids just starting out on their footballing adventures. Sixteen year olds will probably learn more from a close run defeat than from a big win. They deserve great praise to bring it to the death after the injury setbacks. They will still give it a go in the quarters. Well done lads.

Tirawleybaron - you'd want to go away and have a serious discussion with yourself after that comment, which I've now deleted. These are 16 and 17 year-old lads we're talking about here and you cannot saddle them with the failings of others. Shame on you for posting such utter nonsense.

Yes, it will be difficult to replace both midfielders for next game, although the subs did well.
No disadvantage to have to face Leinster champions next, imo. All good experience. I expect the Northern counties still have the edge, but these games are benefiting from the new rules.

Big picture view, we now have the scoring talent from Ryan O'Donoghue age 27 down to these u17s to be competing strongly for a Sam.
We cannot leave the development of the best scoring talent to chance.
Professional soccer knows the quality pros pretty well at 18 years of age.
We seem to pretend all talent is equal at times.
Mind your scorers like precious diamonds.

@Nephin I watched both Leinster semi-finals. Interesting Kildare,Dublin topped their groups but didn't win their semi-finals.

Louth are a big physical looking team with one giant in midfield and excellent forward who scored I think 0-11. Offaly put of pace and directness with a big eye for goals will be a challenge whoever it is. I'm guessing a Leinster venue will be chosen for the match.

@spotlight

It's to stop 16 year olds being exposed to 25 thousand overly emotional adults shouting and critiquing them. If here recently is anything to go by, it's been a good decision

No speech for U17s the correct decision?

@Stephenite. I hope Mayo do their homework, particularly if Louth, county on the up since the spell with Harte.
If it's Offaly, maybe Hyde in running, Louth. Tullamore? Both good venues and on the train run for young and old supporters

Stephenite. Yes that’s the reason and fair enough for 16 yr old lads not being exposed to too much pressure. But reading the Western People this week and there’s a photo of Hugh O’Loughlin getting his Motm award, but they didn’t call it that. It’s the Difference Maker award. Surely an U20 can handle getting a Motm award. There can be too much mollycoddling of young people nowadays. Some of our fathers had spent a few years working in England at that age.

In my view there was less attention on the minor teams when they were a warmup game before the senior action.
Now they can hear quite clearly mgmt and supporters shouting at them.

We are going to be ate alive on both sets of kickouts in game 3 no matter who wins this

Oh look
Good direct ball into a big FF is yielding scores
Who knew

Amazing the amount of scores that have come off poor kick outs in the Ulster final so far, very hard for keepers now.

Great game, has everything, including excellent arial battles. Agree with km79, mó direach to Murphy is yielding scores. Are our management watching?
Neither team relying on any one player to score...

Great second half, two really good teams in this Ulster final.

I think it will be Armagh in Mayo's group.

Physicality is what scares me tbh but we dealt with Galway mostly in this respect .

New rules are absolutely golden , we are looking at a totally different game , it’s exciting and high octane.

McGuinness often gets hailed as a genius, but he let the same player who destroyed Galway in the All-Ireland final run riot again today and that’s what kept Armagh in it.

On another note, Michael Murphy is an absolute machine.

Great game but Donegal should surely have seen it out but definitely the new rules have transformed the game

No wonder they want to hold onto Ulster championship.

Nothing between Armagh and Donegal for a 2nd year in a row. Leitrim got an awful trimming off Kildare today

Really hope this game doesn’t go to penalties for the third year in a row!

McGuinness not sparing anything in team talk.

Mayo v donegal either in hyde or cavan.

Imagine Mayo trying to mind the ball like that
Or reape trying to get a kickout away at any stage during ET

We need a serous new offehcd for goading post whistle. Donegal player goading an Armagh sub caught on video as the Flashpoint.

I wonder could they just announce all dates /venues and times on Monday after all the groups are decided or will it drag out for all to play the guessing game ?

Jesus christ lads,imagine if Michael Murphy stayed in Ballina all those years ago, we'd have had 5 in a row all Irelands.

A leader of men. On the biggest of occasions.

Mad thing is after a gruelling battle like that donegal are ripe for an ambush next week v tyrone

Another brilliant game of football

@Supermac: They don't play Tyrone until the following week.

Connacht and Munster Finalists up next weekend. Leinster & Ulster are up the following week. Then all play round 2 of the group stages the one weekend, with less break time for Leinster & Ulster (helping us ever so slightly against Tyrone off the back of their game with Donegal).

What a spectacle, different gravey to last Sunday. Mc Guinness is some operator in fairness....

Jimbo, I'd imagine Donegal will push for it to be in Clones. And as Jimmy is the Messiah of the Gaa, they will give him his wishes

Goals won it for Donegal but I feel Armagh left that one behind them. With Marky Park out of operation it's another likely trip to Carrick to face Donegal.

Tyrone will be delighted with how things went

Seemed spicy at the end there .

Not sure Murphy was motm tbh . Armagh will feel they left it behind them again (Ulster )but they have the memory of lifting Sam .

@Paddyjoejohntom

Yeah agree with that bet it will end up there .

Was done game though .

@Km79 yeah I agree !

@Sean Burke. That would be too sensible for GAA. I presume neutral venues will be worked out between boards involved.
I agree Armagh will feel they left it behind, but both teams have several go to players when it comes to scoring. We need players like Carney, Ruane, Flynn, McHale to step up to the plate and it starts with the Cavan game

We need to believe we can top our group ,all out to win all three games . We will need paddy back and hopefully Tommy can play some part too but all I’m getting is two very different rumoured reports as regards Tommy . Time will tell . Jordans form has taken a dip , that also will need to swing back , Diarmuid will also need to raise his game . Any word on mcbriens injury ?
That game will take a bit out of Donegal and the Tyrone game will be high intensity too you’d imagine , we are in the best position to shock the final standings in group who most have down as Donegal winning it . Can’t really back my prediction on form evidence but I think we are going to top the group , win our qf and that’s as far as my mystic bowl will allow me to go at this point , 9/4 Mayo to reach all Ireland semi final , ya heard it here first .

Sean we might also have to forget about Diarmuid seen as he went off at HT with what looked like yet another hamstring injury ?

I'm not buying all the hype about the new rules. While certain aspects have improved the game particularly the kickouts the elephant in the room still remains being hand passing over and back and no one trying to get the ball back until time is running out at the end. Remember the Ulster final last year was a great game and it ended 20 points apiece with no 2 pointers and that was with shorter game time because the clock wasn't stopped like today. I don't think either Armagh or Donegal have changed their style of play too much except for the odd long ball into Murphy.
The other worrying aspect of today was how badly Leitrim did considering the game they gave us.

People seem to forget that Jordan has been on the go non stop since the start of last year. Very difficult to be at the top of his game with little or no rest.

Regarding the venue for our final group game v Donegal.
I’d say it could be Cavan

Enniskillen will likely play host to Cavan v Tyrone

Carrick will likely play host to Galway v armagh on the same weekend

@Nephin I totally agree here .
He's been a starter nearly every game won an an Ireland in very emotional & such hard circumstances to . He's still one of our aces he should be rested one if the games tbh .

@seN Burke fully agree !

How Leitrem prepared for today's game is not our concern. Is about us pushing on from our last game and continue to progress to top table level. Improved possession from kickouts, more players on scoreboard, get away from over reliance on ROD, and managing the last quarter by putting distance between Cavan and ourselves. That will get us on course for Tyrone. Eerie silence re Conroy, but we get on with it. Can't allow ourselves to use injured players as a distraction

I have to say I found the camera angles very strange at times in the ulster final .closing in on one player where you can’t an idea how the move is developing.The kickout being shown from behind the goals which can also be difficult to see who has it and the re showing of simple enough points where the kickout is then missed..Both of those teams will still be in the shake up in July though.we played reasonably well at times in the Connacht final but I have a fear that after the razzmatazz of Connacht final day we will drop back to our Sligo/ Leitrim form .very difficult to dismiss our poor showing against Leitrim compared to what happened against Kildare today

Wonder how much Cillian kicked for Tubber this evening?
Not that it matters now

It really is amazing to think of it all. 2 years ago Donegal GAA was in turmoil. A good nice honest manager lost the dressing room. Carl Lacey walked away from the underage development setup and the county board was a shambles. Players looked lost on the field.

Then what happens, Jim comes back. Weather Donegal win an All Ireland or not, the transformation he has made to Donegal football will s nothing short of extraordinary. The character they showed to have to win a game on 3 separate occasions today was immense.

Our group stage is completely dependent on beating Cavan because there isn’t a hope in hell we beat the other two teams. Just look at the quality of Donegal (who were in a far worse place then Mayo 2 years ago) and ask yourself what the hell is actually going on with the mayo senior team?

Maybe Stephen Rochford might know what’s going on up there? He coached a style of football that was horrible to watch. Now McGuinness has them playing football from the ages, using the new rules to their advantage. It’s a bit sad that mayo were sold the Donegal dummy 3 years ago.

@Paddyjoejohntom: "Whats the Scór" has him with 12 scored, 4 from play.

1985 ya I thought those close up angles were very strange....I'd imagine that was a technical glitch. The replays are a pure joke. Tg4, RTEs baby brother, can use split screens & small windows to ensure you don't miss any action. RTE are miles behind in this regard.

I thought it was a superb game. Absolutely levels above what was on display last weekend. Personally felt Armagh were a few points the better team & would back them again if they are to meet. They had more attacks, created more opportunities but as they say, goals win games. Rafferty was sublime. Interesting enough, neither keeper once tried the suicide kick that we love.

I think Armagh would have torn us to shreds. Donegal, I'd give us a reasonable chance. So all is not lost.

First game is huge v Cavan .win sets up nice.Cavan are a decent team .
Do not be surprised to see 3 teams on 4 points so scoring difference could be a huge factor in this group.

TsuDhoNim, thank you, he's being hitting 10+ every week in the league. But as kevin mcstay said about Evan Regan last year, There's a world of difference between club and County.

Cough.

Who gives a shite now what Kevin thinks he will be out of a job in August.I would certainly love to see Tony McEntee take the the job if hes interested and his stong Mayo based backroom team.

There's no other team,, bar Armagh (possibly),with the spectrum of scorers Donegal has at their disposal. That said, they're a little unsteady at the back so it really is going to be some summer. My money is still on the tir chonaill men.

Evan Regan is better than Boland and certainly better than Towey but hey what would an ordinary Mayo supporter know

Glorydays - Regan had plenty of opportunities but never quite made the same impact at inter-county level. Similarly, Jason Gibbons and Neil Douglas two of the standout club players in Mayo over the past two decades didn’t have the same impact at IC level.

Excelling at club level doesn’t necessarily translate to success in inter-county football.

Was saying it throughout the league that it was inevitable that Flynn would either lose form or get injured. I couldn’t understand why he was brought back so quickly after club campaign. Pure daft.

I described McGuinness is a ‘magician’ several years ago and often said had he the Mayo job last decade we’d have won it all. Some agreed but as many ridiculed it. Twice now, he has transformed a team languishing in mediocrity to being in the serious shake up. He has amazing charisma. He’s strategically smarter than most. He instills his players with a level of self-confidence and belief that no other manager can. Regardless of how Donegal do, the debate over McGuinness is over.

Cillian is a big loss for Mayo not just in terms of his scoring potential; and the new rules definitely benefit him but also from a leadership perspective and this current Mayo team lack leaders….a tell tale sign being their inability to close out tight games (ones that matter). He wasn’t used properly last year.

Glorydays
The players you mentioned there would walk onto current Mayo team, yes they found it hard break into the best Mayo team of all time from 2013 to 2017.This team is well off that standard. David Drake is another.

As Tom Brady (Cavan lineage)said on Friday night..''are you willing to accept that things may get worse before they get better ''...mmm
We might have some accepting to do!

Towey and Boland not the required standard , have had plenty chances.
Regan, Orme not consistent and too one trick ponies.
Bring in the young lads and some of the top class talent whom are left at home . James Maheady is proven himself.yet again as one of the most talented forwards in the country and has even gone up levels from last year. 1-8 he scored last night on top of all he scored consistently the previous weeks.
This lad has to get game time , this seasons a write off but just cause it worked for Donegal , don't copy them , look to the future move forward and bring in the young lads

No doubt Maheady is a talent

I see Donegal squad looking well in matching polo shirts and trousers as they are led by a pipe band onto a stage in Donegal town to celebrate winning the province . Donegal songs been played etc to a screaming crowd .

Now personally at this point I don’t believe they are good enough to win the all Ireland but I see someone above mention about Jim’s ability to install belief , yes he does but that mainly stems from a starting point of absolute pride of place , he brings the supporters along the journey with him , they fookin love Donegal from its majestic scenery to the character of their people .

We struggle with such mostly and I have always believed it’s an issue with a large cohort of our support and mentors , James Horan the perfect example , he did brilliant but his lack of relationship with those outside the camp was astounding. He basically told us we were better off without support or something along them lines during the no crowd covid year . (A contradiction of his “where was the noise in 2013 when Andy scored goal ) Compare that to mcguinness in an interview last week where he backed supporters in the struggle to follow the team during a cost of living crisis . It’s chalk and cheese

I’m seeing a double header in Croker: Galway vs Armagh, and Mayo vs Donegal..

Has to, and new rules will make these final group matches must see.

Good point Sean

Paul faloon ref for the cavan game. Willie Joe, you'll be delighted with another Ulster ref!

It’s the gift that keeps giving, Tommy Joe! I’ll be well hacked off if our two other games against Ulster opposition don’t have refs from the same province too.

I think Donegal is a better draw for us than Armagh.
Had some bad wides in the last 15 minutes of normal time same as against Galway last year .

It’s gone past a joke WJ. All year Ulster refs for Ulster opposition. Didn’t give us one for the Connacht final when he probably would be impartial. Several refs in Leinster that are more suitable.

Well said Sean. I have always had a great affinity with Donegal due to the similarities in each county in terms of Geography, landscape and love of football. I see them as our crazier more fun cousins !
They unashamedly own their Donegalness and it stands to them on days like yesterday and hopefully (assuming we don’t win it ) they will be celebrating like mad in July again.
I feel like Mayo people are sometimes afraid to do the same. And the current team has also had fear coached into them. I feel we have lost our identity.
I hope and pray we let loose for the next 3 games. High pace high tempo and high balls into Aido. Go for it and if we lose at least we lose the right way.
Let’s own it and go full feckin Mayo !!!!

I agree fully with some posters comparing McGuiness's use of Murphy as a target man for the long ball and Mayo not using Aidan in the same way. Many have been saying it for a while.
When the new rules came in , particularly the added advantages to the advanced mark I assumed the Mayo management would maximise having a player like O'Shea. Alas , their failure to do so removed the last bit of confidence I had in this management. They are a big disappointment .I hope I'm eating my words in July. I'd like to see a new coaching set up next year.

Ye are forgetting that there is an Ulster man at the helm in the Gaa, Ulster Counties may get an advantage as the Season progresses, look at the new hotel being built at Croker, I have never seen that Contractor on a job in Dublin, the Dubs also enjoyed such advantages a few years ago with a local man was at the helm also.

@JR yeah agree I'm glad we have Donegal instead of Armagh .

Though we will have to throw everything at Donegal if we are to sneak a win even a draw .

Armagh could win sam again this year .

The first free in given to Michael Murphy yesterday when he half caught the ball with one hand would never have been given to Aidan o Shea in a million years.while I agree the current management haven’t used him properly he is not referreed in the same way as any other player.never has been and never will be .

Under 20 game Kerry v Tyrone is on tg4 , it’s half time now with Tyrone leading by 5 points . The physicality , speed and intensity is really top drawer stuff .

There's Lennon doing a Lee Keegan on it.

Amazing scenes at Croker . The Dubs domination made these occasions so rare
Hopefully we will have our own day up there at some stage

Well done Louth a great win

Just shows beating Dublin these days doesn't guarantee further success.

That Louth win was so refreshing to see.

First team of 2025 to break the duck of last victory was in the 50s .

Great to see especially after the county being robbed in 2010.football needs these days.Dublins domination and their endless games of keepball was in alot of ways the reasons for the rules being changed.For someone who began going to county games in the late seventies and eighties it’s fantastic to see the aerial contests in midfield back.Nothing like seeing a ball being plucked from the clouds

Aw fair play to Louth great to see!

From watching the games this weekend, how would Mayo get on against, Donegal, Armagh, Louth, Meath ?

Epic game in Croke Park. Louth worthy winners, what composure they showed in the second half after conceding such a goal totally against the run of play. Ger Brennan might be a guy we in Mayo might not find so easy to love, but you have to hand to the fella, he has done a great job with the 'Wee County' . Congratulations Louth.

Glad for Louth but Meath looked as though they'd spent their communion money before receiving it. I'd bet the Dublin county board will be ringing one of the Brennans in the next year or so.

Meaths goose could be cooked now, will find it hard in a group of Kerry, Cork and Roscommon

I think Mayo people are afraid to revel in our Mayoness as we've never been allowed to. We've spent years getting absolute dogs abuse from all corners - we don't win well, we don't lose well, we just can't do anything right according to so many. If we were having a homecoming after winning a provincial title we'd be ate alive. It's hard not to feel like a beaten dog just waiting for the next kick.

You’d have to fancy Meath to finish bottom of their group despite it been one of the easier groups , ros were their hope of a victory and I’d think the ros forwards will make light work of scoring heavy against that defence who seem to very open at times today .

Groups will be interesting bar Kerry’s group as you’d imagine they’ll win their group handy enough . Is there a kick in Derry yet , Galway might not have it as handy as predicted v dubs next weekend , time will tell , still a bit of proper talent running through that dubs team but Galway are rightly favs to win , win the group , win the all Ireland and the World Cup if they enter that too such is their brilliance.

@seanBurke. Don't forget they'll probably win the eurovision next week aswell. Great to see louth doing well that's senior provincial winners,u20 provincial winners and the minors in the final. That's a great step forward for a team seen as minnows. Any chance of getting mulroy a job in mayo

Haha Sean the World Athletic Championships are on this year too, so they'd probably be fancied to bag a world record amount of gold medals too :)

In all seriousness though, I have to say the Ulster final was miles ahead of last weekend. Miles! Armagh look to me like they are not letting Sam go easily. A lot of their fringe players have kicked on again. Ryan O Neill is back. Their goalie is excellent.. they have a mean defence, very strong midfield & a great spread of scorers all over the field. Their bench is loaded. I know they didn't win yesterday, but they were the better team imo & I'm glad in once sense they're not in our group as I feel they would have pissed on us. Though it would be nice to face them further down the track if we get there.
I'd have them as favourites right now for Sam

I have to say I thought Ger Brennan’s interview after the Louth win today was a real touch of class. The way he thanked all involved, especially the clubs and the work they do to help develop players was a real stand out point. His humility shone through. Really happy for him and all of Louth. He has built on Mickey Harte’s foundation and got a well deserved rewarded today. Definitely a star future manager, most likely with the Dubs, maybe next year? Unfortunately I can’t see him coming over to mayo as I heard him talk on a podcast a few years ago, how a certain mayo footballer insulted or made fun of his faith. It’s a shame because I think he would be the exact time of man mayo need.

@Sean Burke, Conlon played puck against Dublin, didn't get a sniff today.
A different Dublin against Galway.
As Martin Brehony said on the Irish Independent podcast, next Monday it could be Mayo 2 points and Galway 0.

1985 Dublin's endless keep ball was one of the reasons for the rules being changed. Is that some sort of a joke. Dublin played lovely attacking football with plenty of diagonal ball and were the first team to beat the blanket by using the wings and spreading play. Have the new rules solved the keep ball? Absolutely not. Cut out the back pass or bring in a shot clock. Something has to be done. But this will all be ignored by the Group Think pundits and commentators. All we'll hear is the great new game we have. Improved certainly but a long way to go.

No it’s not some sort of joke .Dublins style of play changed dramatically from 2018 on where they would put the hand up and hold on to the ball endlessly without any attempt to threaten in the event they were ahead.it led to ciaran Kilkenny being dropped as he became the main culprit.perhaps you missed those years with your undying admiration for the mighty dubs

See some Donegal players may face sanctions over that fight at the end probably Armagh to . Was not nice to see .

But such a high intensity match . I think Armagh looked the better team not much in it at all

Fair play to McGuninness though he's really turned Donegal around .

Looking at how Louth won today one would imagine a lot of credit must go to their manager for giving them the belief to go out and win the Leinster Final
It shouldn't be lost on Mayo supporters that Ger Brennan has a few celtic crosses in his pocket.

He sure does, John McHale. As I recall, he got what turned out to be the winning point against us in the 2013 final, a shot from nearly 50 yards out off his weaker foot too.

Delighted for Louth, as I’m sure most neutral fans are. I lived up there for a few years, worked in a pub along the Louth-Meath border the last time they met in a provincial final, and let’s just say the night of Joe Sheridan’s try was an interesting one.

Louth to me show what can be done with a solid plan and good management. They have about the same population that we do, but from my observation soccer was a far bigger game in Drogheda and Dundalk in my time there, and the southern part of the county is also saturated with blow-ins from Dublin. I think they’d put it up to us again if we met them this year.

As an aside, it’s also distressing to see the amount of reports and video footage of fans fighting during and after games now, a decidedly unwelcome development in our games, which was blessedly free of that kind of nonsense until recently.

Was listening to the commentary on LMFM while watching it on the telly, took a bit of finessing to get it synched but it was worth it.
The difference in the commentary between the local lads and Ger Cannings thesaurus monotone blather was day and night. Can the man please not retire.
I think on LMFM they had a few mins of a Meath man commentating and would then switch to the Louth lad and back and forth. Gas. Was very good commentary though, really added to the occasion when watching it.

I'd really miss Ger Canning's pronunciation of Oisin if he retired....O'Sheen.

@It means Nothing to me

Totally agree on the fighting between fans there's no need for it especially with little kids at the games to .

Yeah it seems lately that the fighting has been more regular .

It's right up there with Chaw Fitzpawtrick and loads of others, Ever the Optimist!

Robe Green and Red - the U20 game throws in at 7pm on Friday.

Armagh were the better team, finished the 70 much stronger than Donegal. Made harder work of maintaining momentum in extra time but had the 2 points lead before the sucker punch goal. I would criticise them for not pushing up man to man enough when the clock was getting close with a hooter and no added time. I don’t think Mayo would do that.
On whether Mayo would beat the Div 2 teams I’d say it comes down to momentum. Louth have it, and Meath (in a different place than prior years) and Cork gave good accounts of themselves. These are traditional counties some of whom won AI’s in the last few decades and we’ve no divine right to be above them.
That said, super and all as the Ulster final was, neither team looked man for man better than Mayo. It’s down to coaching them to the max performance on the day and gaining that momentum some of which we can gather if we beat Cavan with a good performance. We did as well as most will do in the middle third last week vs Galway and many including myself expected a 6+ defeat. A bit like Armagh, if we took more of our goal chances, would have won. Definitely some more drills needed as our goal return is poor compared to most. Eoghan Mac used to be our biggest culprit but following some work on this has now bagged 2 and more natural forwards should be able to convert more often than not. Both finals this week were won on goal conversion although Donegal had some luck for their first. Louths were superb.

It wasn't the Dubs keeping the ball that lead to the rule change. It was the Rossies going to up Croker and keeping the ball off the Dubs that was the final straw.

Speaking of commentator quirks, Marty Morrissy’s discovery of players nicknames and then he has to say them over and over. “Bubbles” Dwyer for example

Well done to Louth - was absolutely delighted for them. While its fair to say the standard of the Ulster final was well ahead of our game with Galway, I think its also fair to say that the standard of our game with Galway was streets ahead of yesterday's Leinster final.

I don't want to sound like a bitter man from the south but I have to say after the scenes at the full time whistle, there is a toxic masculinity to some of the northern teams that has become completely normalised. I'm seeing people saying the Donegal lad had it coming for goading the Armagh bench and I can only laugh. Maybe learn to control your emotions, you can't just assault someone.

There was constant off the ball stuff and goading after scores on Saturday night, and I only have to go back to Forker headbutting Murphy when he came off the bench in the league for more crap like that. These things need to be eradicated from our game and so do the accusations that you're soft if you don't agree with them.

Delighted for Louth.
Years of excellent work done at executive and coaching level finally comes to fruition, 9 of that team that started yesterday were playing when they got hockeyed by Leitrim by 10 points in a qualifier in 2018 I think.

A county all pulling in the same direction and a new stadium will only add the upward curve.

It was a marvellously entertaining game again but you would be confidence going up against either of those 2 teams if you met them in a pQF, the ulster final was on another level from all the other prov finals though, the quality, physicality and skill execution. Armagh and donegal both v strong ai contenders.

The key thing for me in the louth game was ultimately their big players, their key men in Durnin/Mulroy/Lennon absolutely grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck in the last 20 minutes.

It sounds simplistic but you absolutely need your talismen stepping up on the biggest occasions to lead

It's a bit of a mystery that Robbie Brennan didn't put more pressure on Mulroy. He seemed to have acres of space throughout the contest. As for Donegal and Armagh, no love lost there, as McConville iterated. I hope Tyrone give Donegal a good rattle in their group opener. That's another battle where no quarter shall be given.

There isn't a lot between Armagh, Donegal, Tyrone in what we've seen. I like a couple above thought Armagh left that game after them. Obviously we have to get over Cavan first but feel the Tyrone result will be a big barometer of where we are going.

On the U20's I had Kerry down as the main contenders but Tyrone sounded like they controlled the game, I didn't see it but am guessing they will be hot favourites for that crown

Carrick on Shannon looks most likely venue for Donegal game with Armagh and Galway in either Cavan or Roscommon.whats the capacity of Carrick?

9000 according to Wikipedia.
With the very obvious Sligo out of action, I think they will try to keep the Ulster Champions in Ulster and the Connacht Champions in Connacht.
So probably the Hyde for Galway Armagh, and Cavan (with Enniskillen as a wildcard) for Mayo Donegal.

@Thedarkyfinn: It was an odd one. They were the stronger team & had the better individuals on display, but far from a one sided game and one Kerry will feel they left behind them.

Kerry missed two gilt-edged goal chances and had a total of 5 or 6 they really should have goaled. They'd also almost twice the wides Tyrone hit, mainly from managing +80% retention on their own restarts and breaking 50% on Tyrones. Two fouls by Tyrone I'd have classed as black card offences while also preventing a goal-scoring opportunity so should have been penalties rather than the tap over frees rewarded, with one of those that really should have led to a red card for Daly (even if not correctly awarding the black for a hold up tackle it had to be a yellow, being far more blatant than the earlier one he had gotten a yellow for), who went on to have a stormer of a game for them.

So in lots of areas Kerry relatively dominated & be kicking themselves, just not enough of the areas that really count.

The Tyrone defence just never allowed them to put it on the scoreboard (along with some nerves and some uncharacteristically wasteful shooting) and at the other end Kerry never managed to get to grips with McElholm and McCullagh. They'll be red-hot favourites to retain the title whoever comes through on our side of the semi, but if a side can manage to put the clamps on the two lads up top (& Grimes along with them) they're there to be got out despite all the talent.

Thanks TsuD - great insight to that game. McElholm and McCullagh will take minding they a racking up some serious scores between them

Lets get over the semi first before we go talking about Tyrone! That Louth win yesterday will be worth 3 points to their u20s now!!

Yes, Louth u20 have a great full forward line and our FB line exposed against Roscommon.

@Mayo Man for life: For any football fan, it's always worth chatting about lads shining in the u20s competition. Whether Mayo are still involved in the campaign or not. No complacency displayed or required for a chat like that, simply folks enjoying good games and even more so great players.

We're already meeting the likes of McElholm & Healey at senior, with all signs that McCullagh, Kirby, Murphy or O'Neill won't be too far behind (I'd not be shocked with any of them joining up with their senior squads in the weeks ahead). Then Kennedy, Dennehy (probably the surprise of the 20s campaign so far nationally imho), Lane (surprisingly quiet the last day - but I'd err on giving the Tyrone defence credit there), Daly, Devlin & Clarke all pushing just behind. It'd be careless not to be paying attention to next waves.

If any of the chat was Mayo focused, we'd have been talking about the Louth lads plenty. More than enough to keep us busy there.

- They've a couple of seniors of their own (Markey, McDonnell, Callaghan and Grimes Murphy) and 7 lads that featured in last years Leinster Final side, so plenty of experience throughout their squad.
- In Markey they can usually drop their restarts inside the opposition 65, a huge boot on him.
- McDonnell is a driving wing back we'd be proud of here in Mayo, that topped his Man of the Match display in the Leinster Final kicking a gem of a 2 pointer from range.
- They've big lads all over the middle 8, with Callaghan, Maguire and Dorian sweeping back enough to cause headaches for any side.
- Then in Grimes Murphy & Gillespie they've enough firepower to threaten any defence.

No game at this grade more than any should ever be taken for granted (Kildare & Dublin were hot favourites to contest Leinster, Derry fancied to win Ulster & Galway being spoken about at the start of the year as potential winner), but absolutely no danger of that happening for anyone who's been paying attention to Louth over recent years (both of the sides in that Leinster Final lost all 3 of their games at minor 3 years ago, a clear sign of the great work being done in both). With the bounce coming from their Senior Provincial success & the minors hot-favourites to make it a treble in Leinster, you can be sure they'll come into Friday's game at 100mph and looking to keep their successes rolling.