General GAA - AOB

Round trip from Athy to Omagh is 510km.. whatever about the 65 cent per Km. It would be serious dedication.

over €300 per night . Is he worth it ?

He'll probably do what Parkinson and the other Laois lads used to do. 4 or 5 of them would carpool down and all of them would claim their €200 expenses every week.

Ger Canning saying that Fenton has improved as the year went on. No he just hasn't met anyone as good as Kevin Feely since the Leinster Final.

[quote="SeamusMurphy"]Do the Kildare Players not get a mileage expense ?.[/quote]


Kildare don't have any players living/working as far away as Tyrone to best of my knowledge

Here's a stat on our relationship with our neighbours that amidst all the celebrations today is worth noting. By the way they are a truly incredible team but there's plenty more coming behind them as tell Rock and Costello and O'Callaghan and Small and Mannion that what went before was once in a lifetime.

So for a second try and forget the vast unmatched biased money they get from the association and their ability to gain massive sponsorship, the special funding the government gave them in just five years would take us 117 years and four months to match via our current GAA Games Development handout. This isn't going to get better.

Unfortunately you are right Tommy... There's a new generation settling in now after the 2011 team. The likelihood is that Dublin will win another shedload of All Irelands over the next decade to go with the five they already have.

The game is basically dead in Leinster and the GAA are well on the way to repeating the dose at national level. As you say, Dublin are an exceptional team but the reality is the whole thing has been paid for. Their fans don't like hearing it but it's the truth.

Anyway, we probably not far off a genuine crisis in Leinster championship so the GAA have that to look forward to. And they only have themselves to blame as we've been warning them for past few years.

Celebrations? What celebrations? I've seen more animation at a wake. That AI meant very little to Dublin and their fans. A truly awful football championship overall apart from Mayo. What a team they are. Mayo have absolutely no right to be competing with Dublin. Gutted for them.

Regarding the AI series, the saving grace for the GAA is Kerry, four minor titles in a row and David Clifford to come on stream will keep the sense of competition going and all is well in the world for the GAA coffers. Hard to see Mayo coming back for more next year, a few retirements and mental health checks should see them down for a few years.

Taibi it's a very good point you make about Kerry but I can tell you there's concern in the Kingdom on a couple of fronts: (1) massive expectation on these young lads as they are coming into a culture that by Kerry standards isn't a winning one (ie. one All Ireland in nearly a decade). Fitzmaurice or whoever has to mould them into senior contenders more or less from scratch. (2) If young Clifford slings his hook it's a blow symbolically, literally and every other way - and the air could go out of the balloon pretty fast.

All remains to be seen. Still maintain there's a serious chance Dubs could win seven or eight of next ten All Irelands. By the time we get to the fourth or fifth appetite for the county game nationally should be at a dangerous low. As I say, great work by the GAA.

Actually - scratch that. If they win again next no one will give a toss. As Taibi pointed out, Dublin supporters today barely did themselves.

Be interesting to see Sunday Game team of the year tonight. For me the midfield pairing should be James McCarthy and Kevin Feely. In my opinion it's a disgrace if Feely is not on both that team and the All Stars.

David Clifford is off to the AFL I believe... Don't have the lure of whatever Dublin offer lads to keep them here.

Kevin Feely in team of the year? It's funny how deluded we are in this county

Feely was not prominent against Armagh. He might get a nomination but has absolutely no chance of an All Star.

As for today's game, Vaughan must be raging at his lack of self control. Small was already getting the line and Mayo had a kickable free in front of the posts to draw level. Apart from that moment of madness it's hard to see what more Mayo could have done to win. Dublin just have that little bit more depth and quality. As much as it galls me to say it as a Kildare supporter, there is a lot to admire about their players and the way they can see out high stakes games like that.

Jim Gavin won't be going anywhere and is well on his way to building a Cody/Micko style legacy (would it kill the chap to show a tiny bit of emotion though?). It has been said before but it's more than likely that Mayo have missed the boat. Kerry will take up the mantle of challengers when Mayo fall back to the pack but it's hard to see any other county even threatening to bridge the gap to Dublin over the next decade.

Anyone with a brain can see Kevin Feely was one of the outstanding midfielders in the country this year. Was up against the outstanding team in the country in Leinster final and destroyed their midfield. If people aren't bright enough to see that - and clearly a few on here aren't - it's not my problem. Would suggest you read Eamon Donoghue's article in Irish Times recently about why Feely is one of the handful of players outside of Dublin and Mayo who deserve an All Star. If any of you ever actually read anything, that is.

Now that I won that debate comfortably - the only team with a prayer of challenging Dublin's All Ireland dominance over the next decade is Kerry. But it Clifford walks, that's a seriously bad start.

You can only go to the well so many times. That Mayo team must be nearly at an end. The just have a self destruct gene in them. Vaughan getting sent of was the activation this year. He was crazy, 14 v 15 and Mayo win. Dublin were starting to creak physically. You could see them struggle to track their men back at times. Playing with a man down and it would have been to much. 11 finals in a row they have lost. I'm still smarting from 1998. Jesus I'd be in a padded cell by now eating crayons if that were Kildare.

On another note, heard that collosal prick Bertie on the radio. Telling everyone it's a Golden generation and to enjoy it while it lasts. After the stroke he pulled of pumping millions into Dublin I'm surprised he just didn't laugh down the microphone. The GAA have got what it wanted, but now it's beyond their control. Their cash cow will consume all until there is nothing left for them apart from a  Country wide football wasteland. Leinster is already gone.

Donoghue did much better job of advocating for Feely than me... Btw he isn't from Kildare in case anyone starts on with that feeble rubbish again

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/gaa-statistics-should-anyone-outside-of-mayo-and-dublin-win-an-all-star-1.3212631?mode=amp

Not sure Dublin Joe was going to send off Small before Vaughan leapt in. A lot easier on the ref to make it 14 v 14 than 15 v 14 in the biggest game of the year.

Shergar, I think that could be a real point of debate over next few days. I really thought there was an argument that Vaughan's card was a yellow... Doesn't excuse Vaughan losing the head but as you say a hell of a lot easier to make even numbers against the most glamorous, powerful county in the country.

Referee would have no option but to send Small off. Fecker dodged a black card last year and didn't deserve to get lucky again. Vaughan has to be the dumbest footballer in the country to do that. They would have had a great chance with the extra man.
Sadly think they can't come back from that and their chance is gone. For all the talk about this great Dublin team how many of their 5 AI' s have they won by a point?

Ah look it crazy, crazy from Vaughan. Mayo fans must have no hair left tearing out with stuff like that.

Murof true Dubs have had some titanic battles but the question is how do you actually beat them. Even if you throw the kitchen sink at them as Mayo and Kerry have done the cavalry coming off the bench makes it exceptionally hard to seal the deal.

They've lost a grand total of two significant games under Gavin - Donegal 2014 and league final this year. It's absolutely phenomenal, unprecedented. It's not going to get much better over next few years and unfortunately it's killing interest in the game.

One thing I will say about this Mayo team though - they are an example we need to follow (I'll leave the barb about silverware at the end of it all to someone else). They always front up to Dubs and give them plenty of it in championship... I truly hope that games such as our disgraceful 2015 non-showing against them are a thing of the past.

Getting over the Dublin juggernaut is one thing but there is no excuse for us - or Meath, or Cork or whoever - not being competitive against them. You could tell this Mayo group would die rather than let them walk all over them. They will have a multi-faceted legacy but that's one element we seriously need to draw on.

To be fair to Vaughan, I don't think he meant to hit Small so high. He went in for a shoulder but seemed to slide up and catch Small's face. Thought McQuillan was very poor. Mayo had a blatant penalty given as a free and that glorified battering ram, O'Gara, should have walked for eye-gouging.

HG, Feely is a special player no doubt, but he shouldn't be anywhere near an All-Star, didn't do enough against Armagh and that was only a QF.

Actually don't feel bad about Feely not getting in Sunday Game team as Keegan not being in it clearly makes it a farce, which Joe Brolly to his credit pointed out.

Anyway, no doubt boring the arse off everyone with this one at this stage so will knock it on head.

It wasn't even a QF.  Parsons deserves one more than Feely although he should get a nomination.