CLG (GAA)

[Pedrito]

If the Dubs play as well as they can it'll be a slaughter I reckon.

[Ollkiller]

If the Dubs play as well as they can it'll be a slaughter I reckon.

Great game so far. Mayo will have to get at least 2 goals in the second half to have any chance. First 10 mins of the second half is key. Can't let them blow us out like last year.

[Caomhaoin]

Should be level. Two sitters missed by Mayo.

[Ollkiller]

My heart can't take this.

[Ollkiller]

Ya Dublin experience and game management won that game. Mayo need to be able to perform for 70 minutes and not just the first half. Not despondent though. Lots of good young players coming through so hope for the future.

[Caomhaoin]

6 in a row. As much as I hate to say it, this is the best team in the history of the game. Mayo were stiffer opposition by far than any of the other cakewalks they've had this year, but not stiff enough.

[Ollkiller]

6 in a row. As much as I hate to say it, this is the best team in the history of the game. Mayo were stiffer opposition by far than any of the other cakewalks they've had this year, but not stiff enough.

They are the best team ever. There's no doubt about it.

[Don Gately]

Well certainly the best financed etc etc

[Pedrito]

They're just a brilliant team. Better skill levels, a brilliant group, coached well, and most importantly they know how to win. Money and investment is definitely a factor but you cannot buy success. Mayo have been there numerous times and should probably have won at least a couple of titles, but they don't know how to. They lose the rag, fall to pieces etc. All that said, it won't last forever. Kilkenny were the exact same in hurling in the not too distant past. An amazing run of success but it has its time too.

[astfgyl]

Mayo population 130,000

Dublin population 1.4 Million.

That alone gives them a massive advantage over all other teams and it's just as well they aren't mad about the hurling too. Doesn't make them any less a great team but they have a large head start.

[Caomhaoin]

Kilkenny has a much smaller population that Cork and have won more hurling all Ireland's, and Cork is a huge small ball county. It's all about how the sport is perceived and developed. Carlow, Laois, Wexford and others have comparable populations and almost zero success, so I think sheer numbers of breathing humans has little to do with it, Dublin have been financed and organised on a quasi-professional platform over the last 10 years, and that's the principal reason they have no viable rivals, not even Kerry.

[Pedrito]

Population numbers is nonsense. Kerry has almost the same population as Mayo. They have a golden generation and made it pay. Mayo had a golden generation and fell on their faces. Tyrone has a larger population but I'm sure there's a fair heap of protestants there that never kicked a ball in their lives. So, it has something to do but it's not the full story.

[astfgyl]

I said it didn't mean they weren't a great team but saying that they have such a large pool to choose from and it doesn't give them a head start isn't right either. Of course the culture and coaching has to be right too and that's what I was getting at with the hurling part of the comment

[Ollkiller]

That was the craziest game I think I've ever watched. Finally got over the line against the Dubs. Our bench was sensational. Horans best game in charge. Now to not fuck up in the final.

[open face surgery]

We shared a few words about it in the simple pleasures thread. Man, it was fuckin wild. Glad I watched it at home so didn't miss a bit of it.