u/ZombieFrankSinatra

Seems like it's been an unreal weekend for GAA so as usual post a summary of your county.

Going to give the match a rewatch at some point at this week but still can't stop thinking about it.

We had a few lads in our group chat lament that the match was done and dusted when Kerry went 7 up after 17 minutes, even had one switch off and do some work in the garden. But to see the new generation not buy into it and actually settle was unreal.

Some discussion points:

• Any time we've seen Kerry play this year (bar Donegal) they've been able to keep teams at arms length. Getting a few scores and then going point for point or slowing the pace down to work a score after a bit. They got their flurry at the start and then weren't allowed to settle at all because....

• Mayos tackling was immense. They weren't content with jockeying which I think disrupted Kerry. Teams are coached so much to stand off and not let him past, whereas Mayo were going for the man and then if he did get past the Kerry lad had to commit to running hard where another Mayo lad was laying in wait with a trap. It disrupted ball to David and Paudie/Sean found it hard to get involved in playmaking

• Kerry key men didn't have a great day. Hard to appreciate that when David scores 1-6 but outside of the first 15 he had a much reduced impact on events. Paudie tried and tried and pushed them on a bit at the end of the 3rd quarter but it'll be a big day to forget for Sean O'Shea. Never hit his rhythm and hit some bad wides when it was in the mixing pot. Geaney was non-existent and big Joe did his bit to drive at them but didn't get much change. I know a few lads were struggling with fitness this year and didnt have much football under their belts and felt like that caught up with them.

• Conversely, a few big performances on the Mayo. O'Donoghue was immense and I'd say that passage of play where they turned over Kerry as they were steaming through the middle and Ryan brought it up the right wing for the goal was the point in the match where momentum changed. Similar the choice to spring Tommy Conroy early was a fantastic decision. Hession and Carney were key in bringing the ball up the field and although it didn't always work, backing themselves on 2pt-ers paid dividends in the end.

• Would say in my opinion that the ref let a lot of physicality go in the tackle at times but was consistent with it. Think this helped Mayo more as they opted for a high press on the ball carriers out full back line. They must have gotten 4/5 decent turnovers although didn't fully capitalise on them.

I couldn't pick a single winner out of those 4 upcoming fixtures.

Monaghan vs Westmeath:

• Monaghan have let teams get big leads ahead of them nearly every match before Lazarus like comebacks including several bouts of ET, losing out narrowly to Mayo before putting the Rossies to the sword

• Westmeath, massive hangover from Leinster, beating a Cavan team that was probably weakest in the Sam Maguire. No shame in losing to Galway, but thats also not a team thats been clicking throughout the year.

Dublin vs Donegal

• Dubs looked absolutely terrible in Leinster and still came within a whisker of winning it before getting beaten in what used to be their fortress by Louth. Again, played Cavan which was probably lucky but write them off at your peril

• Donegal, getting beat by Down in Ulster a few weeks after winning div 1 and beating Kerry only to go out the next match after and beat Kerry again, before losing out to the Munster finalists that Kerry beat in 2A

Mayo v Meath

• Mayo took a pasting from Rossies in Connacht and had a decent break, but after all that they still had the minimum between them and a Monaghan team that had a bruising Ulster campaign. The Tyrone match was nip and tuck and Morgans free to win was a thing of beauty, but they look dysfunctional at times

• Meath have gone slightly backwards this year, losing out to the eventual Leinster winners and then getting pipped by Cork in the first round of the AI. Derry were a poor prospect all year, so hard to tell what level they're at but some quality lads in the panel. Have other teams caught up to how they adapted to the rules last year?

Kerry v Armagh

• Div 1 finalists handily beat by last years finalists. Munster winners, although not as comfortable as they would have wanted, only to go out in the first AI match and be completely flat against a Donegal team clearly up for it. Injuries notwithstanding they should be doing better IMO

• Probably the most consistent team out of the lot bar the Monaghan blip. There has been inklings of complacency by letting Fermanagh get back into the second half of their match and not putting Monaghan to bed in normal time. Not to downplay them this week, they came back from a half time deficit and Louth were lucky to get the rub of the green, but theres a difference between belief and arrogance and I think they're still one of the main contenders if they can focus.

If so, wouldn't worry too much about the route up if you're just heading to the match. You'll be off the motorway and straight up to Andytown.

(Assuming nothing changes between now and the weekend.)

Decided to crack this out again now we're getting to the busy end.

Headlines:

• Westmeath, Bestmeath: full value for their win and probably should have closed it out normal time. Dublin kept in that match by Scully, Kilkenny and Costello but Westmeath a very tidy looking team with legs for days.

• Armagh: The Runaway Bride: Always the bridesmaids, sometimes the bride. Hats off to Monaghan who yet again don't know when they're beaten. I think the bit of rain was a leveller for Monaghan, but they have a sting in the tail and I don't think that's the last we've heard of them this year. Armagh on the other hand, relentless and direct. On another day they closed that out in normal time with a 6/7 point win. Can they push on from this?

• Down back up: Dogged Leitrim stayed in touch for the first half of their Tailteann match against Down with only 4 in it at the break and it was perplexing to see. Normal service was resumed in the second half and Down won by 14 in the end

With Tyrone's victory last night they're into yet another u20 All Ireland final. Having a look at previous years, it looks like Tyrone has really got it's house in order around the u20 level regarding development.

Since 2015, they've been in the final 8 times and won it 7 times, with this year being the third on the trot.

Obviously, minor is a different story but 4 appearances in the same period with 3 wins is still impressive.

Some folk think this is a low ebb for the senior team and part of a rebuild, but inside Tyrone whats the opinion?

I personally believe that these are the sort of cohorts that you can build a high performing team but you'll still need some fantastic players to push further than being competitive.