Reffing a football ( or hurling ) match is not like being a snooker referee .  With 15 on either side on a pitch 160 by 90 approx there is a lot of ground to be covered quickly , especially in hurling where the ball can move so fast from end to end .  Mistakes are going to happen , Mayo followers probably resent the events which helped them lose to Kerry. Kerry got nothing from the ref in the first match against Mayo , and at one stage on Sunday I wondered what a Kerry man had to do to get a free like the softies Donegal got . 47 minutes before I saw a free for over carrying or charging with the ball , Kerry dont play that way , they are skilful enough not to ,  other teams do .

At the end of the day though , cant believe there is anyone in Ireland who does not think that Kerry are worthy champions . Like Donegal they came slightly out of the clouds , few predicted their progress except to a Munster final . They played the best football of the year , Dublin included , in their destruction of Cork in the Munster final , Brian Sheehan and Declan O'Sullivan starring but being unable for whatever reason to play a full part subsequently in their ultimate success . A template for the ultimate way to play the game . And no Gooch to help quell the opposition .

Kerry vs the Dubs would have been a great final football wise , but maybe thats one for another year !

very selective Kavie - of course it was a 45 but dont think I have ever seen a Kerry crowd as animated as they were in the first half on Sunday - the free count was 10 1 in Donegals favour and the one free Kerry did get was soft.  Jim has his team well disiplined but not that well.
Good contribution Kelly - a lot of sour grapes around about Kerry at the moment.  Kerry played some super football earlier in the year.  They did what they had to do in an ugly fashion on Sunday.  Not their fault that they had to lower themselves to Donegal's level to beat them. Getting beat by another northern team in a final was not on Fitzmaurice's agenda and did what was necessary.  Hopefully they will revert to open football next year.

No idea why there are sour grapes around about Kerry , the jolly . Can only surmise it is pocket talk .

Lol what a fool richters is half there 37 wins they have been lucky in, i mean that is laughable in 2 counts. A that Kerry have been so lucky and B because richters is somehow halfing 37 right down the middle to give us 18.5 finals they have been lucky in. The facts are dickie steamed into Donegal after they beat Dublin ans as Kelly says it is pocket talk him and a few others are at.

not pocket talk with me.in fact i got A  lot of money out of kerry this yrs munster final(double minor and senior 6/1).and over the years i always liked their way of playing football..i agree that fitz had to out ulster an ulster team in an all ireland and fair play to him.but i was just pointing out a few facts..mayo were rode.an undisputable fact...now if mayo had got through against kerry they still mightnt have beaten donegal.but it was their best ever chance of winning one ruined by an incompetemt referee.

I thought Kerry were lucky in both games against Mayo, typical of Mayo not being able to finish a game off.

I was not that surprised that they beat Donegal in the final.

credit to them for beating those 2 counties as underdogs but I've seen better teams out of the Kingdom . and would probably have lost to Dublin had they met.

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Well it is a better post than you usually make i'll give you that.

the thing with pocket talkers is, they are always arguing against the obvius,against logic.its any flimsy excuse to justify their mug punting.it's always some 1 elses fault,never their own .

Mr phantom , the 2 Kerry goals happened for specific reasons . The first goal came from the Donegal defence being suckered into leaving a forward with a record of good high catching one on one with a defender , the other backs were miles away from protecting their goal . Average play by Donegal . A la Dublin in the semi .

The second goal came largely as a result of the Kerry lads being aware that Donegal goalkeeper was using a short kickout very often throughout the match ( watch the video ) . Works OK until someone makes a mistake , then its curtains  . Pressure on kickouts built up , some blame must attach to midfield diamond , or credit to Kerry diamond  .

Kerry missed 2 other goals by small margins / decisions . Donegal hardly threatened a goal in the 70 minutes , goals win matches . Kerry missed a bagful  of points too .

Average teams win All-Irelands .  Can remember quite a few in last 20 years , and even more going back in time . Saying a team is average is not to denigrate them , it is merely a statement that they are not going to be written about as "great " in years to come , it takes time to digest a teams worth viewed in the passage of time . I would argue that current Donegal team is probably not as good a set of footballers as their 1992 team , interesting to hear how people rated that squad .

Great teams come only rarely , but they stand out . And generally they are not dependent on "systems " . Teams employing "systems" in my view are making up for deficiencies in various departments skill and personnel wise .  If you dont have forwards who can outplay defences , you try to turn it into attrition based football , with a 12 man defence . Armagh and Tyrone did itto a degree , Donegal are doing it .  Thank goodness there are still a few teams about who prefer to play open traditional football where the hand pass / possession syndrome is not king . I will always support them , no matter what  province or part of Ireland they come from .

It is a sad reflection that Kerry largely imitated Donegal tactics defensively for much of the match , but it is understandable when you know you are going to get only one bite at the cherry . Officialdom needs to sit down and have a think about the game .  The black card system has improved the game a lot , not sure why it took so long for someone to figure it out , nobody wants pullers and draggers on our fields , its not rugby .

Kerry have yet to prove they are an above average team , but they do have the potential  , they will get 5 All stars probably , and the best of the lot should be back next year DV . There is the prospect of Dublin and Kerry playing high performance matches in the next few years , dont think many other counties have got their potential .

For what its worth I reckon the pecking order on teams about currently is :

Dublin , Kerry , Mayo , Donegal , then it gets harder , but Donegal were only marginally better than Monaghan and Armagh . Most  neutral fans would find it hard to disagree violently with my ratings I suspect  , but any continuous review of teams such as I keep in my head tells me that there are few "great" teams about  , above average teams win regularly and handle lesser teams with an element of disdain . Dublin did that up to the semi , reckon a lot are still trying to figure out what happened there . And it leaves a big question mark about the Dubs , I think they will rise to it , lets hope they do , they play high octane football , but they need a footballing brain at full forward , and a few defensive lessons re marking and protecting against down the middle attackers .

I admire Donegal for what they do day in and day out for grass roots GAA community , delighted to see them getting the succes they have had over the last 4/5 years , it cant be easy in a county failry sparesly populated ( apart from us northerners with footholds in their beautiful county ) , and they are relatively isolated from their 25 fellow counties . Interesting that 3 of our 4 best sets of footballers currently all have western seaboards and emigration issues .

Of course it was kavvie , but Kerry looked more like scoring goals all through the match than Donegal did .  Donegal made the most of their limited opportunities to score , but they did not have the forwards to break down Kerry's defence .

I thought Toye was the most effective Donegal player , why did he not start ?

Will keep an eye out for them reb , the province could do with more competitive games than at present .

Never said it was a planned move , mr phantom .  Anyway in a dynamic fluid game most plays are intuitive  , its not like soccer corners etc . Not protecting your goal is a cardinal error .

The second goal might well have been a mishit by the goalie , but it wouldn't have happened if he had been attempting a "normal " kick out .

Quotation from todays Sunday Times --Michael Foley : "Their goals were a result of Kerry's success in isolating Paul Geaney on Paddy McGrath and Paul Durcan's reluctance to kick the ball long and bring Kerry's catchers into play " .  Might have been reading our forum .

Not sure many would dispute the top 4 I named , but any valid opinion is always welcome and sparks debate .