Donegal vs Kerry . 3.30 .

could not get any more in the way than cormac o'reilly ,could he?

Just hope there are not too many contentious issues , carrot !

Donegal tighten in on the outright market , and drift like a barge on the match market . Curious logic .

how incompetent are the umpires?  donegal goal chance,goalie saves it,going out for a 45.kerry defender kicks it out just in case,, wide ball!!

Disappointing match so far .  Just looks like 2 average teams scrapping it out . We expected more .

Poor football both very defensive. Proper puke football.

the ref has got it spot on , kerry wont be fouling their way to this all ireland

both teams ultra defensive.not a great advertisement for the game after the great semis

Can't understand how anybody thought the game would be any different. Kerry playing the same game as Donegal. Perhaps they should do what Dublin did & play like apes & just get overrun!

Kavvie, were they great games for the losers of both Semi's? I don't think so.

I take back what I said earlier and apologise to puke football.

kerry look to be running on empty , and its donegals to lose

Donegal an average team . Kerry made it hard for themselves , but thank goodness the better footballing side won .

The after match analysis following the Donegal vs Dubs match might be interesting to revisit .

if u live by the sword u die by the sword

Donegal only focussed on one game all year and that was the semi final v Dublin, that was their All Ireland.

GAA must be the only sport in the world where the acceptance speech doesn't BEGIN with an acknowledgement of your opponent.

Same every year. Most uncouth.

Fair play to SKY for going to ads.

sky commentry was a joke ,no one had scored for narly 15 minutes and the clown was calling it a wonderful game

Jaysus Christ

well done kerry at least the better team won, thought they could have won by more

Ko2, never noticed a registration date of 01 Jan 2000 before. You were very early onto Betfair! Was Epsom Oaks day June 2000 not the first race traded?

Early bird all right , ko2 . I joined in March 2001 , and the objective then was to turn over a million in a week -- that included everything , every body , effectively just £500,000 bet .

You were in on the ground floor too Mordin !

Hi Kelly, I could write book. Few golden years from 2004-2007 before people figured out there was money to be had on this new trading lark!!

Yes Mordin , the years from 2003 onwards were brilliant for anyone who figured it out . Unfortunately it only lasted for about 5 years , when all the drawbridges got pulled up .  Only ticking over these days . Think some people got together in 2009 , think thats when the bubble burst a bit .

Had great few years on Irish racing, horses backed from eg 25/1 into 16/1 were available to back on Betfair at 80 etc etc. In last few years Irish betting follows Betfair price moves or the opposite happens. Had to invent new angles or edges and big profits hard to achieve. I cant handle premium charge withdrawals from my account at all!

In all fairness betfair was a terrific invention.......it is hard to imagine how somebody ever came up with a gambling platform where everybody won......I suppose it couldn't last forever.......

Betfair is a brilliant concept . Came from the stock exchange essentially from someone who understood gambling . Could have been any one of a number of like minded people who came up with the concept , Andrew Black hit the jackpot , fair play to him .

Regarding profitability , as someone else posted on another thread , the only guaranteed profit is simultaneous arbitrage . We would all love that , but does not happen often , and the bookies have adjusted their systems to be Betfair trackers , that eliminates possibilities .

Anticipating the market will always yield profit if you can do it , and are not greedy .

And people who can do sums can winkle out profit , particularly in running .  Yesterday the back percentage in the match hit 93% at one time . And it was over 100% at various times in the lay market .

Awful final - right result I think - hope Brolly is wrong in thinking that is going to be Kerry's template going forward.  Kerry should resort to type when up against the Dubs, Mayo, Cork  etc - may have to be the template to beat the teams from the north.

Was early to Betfair myself but gave up on the forum when the muppets came to town. Tune in occasionally and see they have been replaced by a new batch.

to the purists,it was not a great game of football.i doubt anybody will be buying the dvd,even kerry people.the donegal crowd took it on the chin(take note mayo) but the fact is fitzmaurice had to do it because he knew this present kerry team were not good enough to play it with finesse.but it was still a grest occasion and the game turned on a packie bonner!the pressure in the cauldron of croke pk got to durkan(then fell apart)and he will have to learn to live with that.

   on a side note,i see the gobshytes of the mayo county board have appointed a joint management team(wtf does that mean?)of noel connelly and pat holmes(a failed mayo manager before).i doubt they even canvassed the oppinion of the senior players within the mayo squad .i can safely say that this present mayo team are finished now!

Can't understand why they dismissed the candidacy of Liam McHale and the former Ballymun great Kevin McStay, baffling?

2 average teams on the day neither performed. Reason Kerry won was because of basic errors in lead up to both goals. You don't win 2 Ulster titles, an All Ireland and reach another final by been an average team.

*3 Ulster titles in 4 years......on another note has anybody else's forum thread gone a little haywire?

I believe Connelly and Holmes were chosen cos they have brought through much of this team from 2005 - 2008 as U-21 managers during which time they were unbeaten in Connacht and managed to win one All-Ireland. Connelly has also been involved in many development squads in Mayo and is generally well thought of across the county. Holmes is his Brother in law and got Castlebar to the Club final last yr only to be beaten by a very strong St Vincents.  I think both tickets were strong and would have been happy with either. I hope they can do what Horan set out to do and be 'consistently competitive' and be in the shakeup when Augusts come around.

In hindsight this year was Mayo's best chance of winning an All Ireland. Could have won that match last Sunday with Donegal no world beaters after all.

Mordin , Dublin were an undisputed 4/9 shot to win out before the semis , most judges wondered only who they would beat in the final . If you had taken the Dubs out of the equation , Mayo would have been marginal favourites with Kerry just behind them and Donegal whipper in . That is what surprised me in the lead up to the final , Kerry ground out a victory over a tried and trusted ( and equal on the day) Mayo team , Donegal picked Dublins pockets for 3 goals and suddenly they were going for a victory lap on the third Sunday .

We had seen Donegal struggle against Monaghan and Armagh , they were Division 2 National League , but the rosy tinted goggles were about the North West  , and the media were pushing the band wagon .

Kerry are not the finished article , but they have a good set of young legs who will now have the confidence to wear the shirt for years to come , injury etc permitting . Just a pity the best footballer in the country over  the last 10 years missed out going up the steps to receive Sam .

Donegal may have to deal with some retirements , but presumably some of their minor squad will progress to senior status ( as will their conquerors Kerry ) . I admire the Donegal effort in keeping the flag flying in their spread out county on our western shores , only consolation for them is that if you had painted a picture of what took them to near glory on Sunday 3 months ago , a lot of people would have told you to go and have your eyes examined .

Very disappointing result for Donegal. This history that Kerry have and Kilkenny in hurling were young fellas grow up with there main ambition to win an All Ireland for their county really is priceless for developing the game in a county from U6's up.

Tradition a big factor in many counties , Mordin . One of the best aspects of the newer championship arrangements is that a lot of counties who only got one match a year can look forward to more matches at the competitive level . We in Down had no success at all relatively speaking  , no tradition in All-Ireland terms , until Maurice Hayes and co figured it out and took the selection of the county team away from the county board .  And they played anybody , anywhere , all to gain experience and match themselves against as good teams as would play them in challenges etc . 

I have seen football in a lot of different counties over the years , in some of the "weaker" counties I have easily identified players we would loved to "adopt" . If it was a professional sport I have no doubt that would be happening , and while it might yield dividends ( and glory) for individuals I am not sure it would be good for the game overall .

In the meantime its back to the drawing boards for most counties . Just wonder how the Dubs will react , wish we had most of their players !

in my view,the mayo county board have appointed a couple of yes men.(lick arses)just because they are involved in mayo football all their lives,doesn't mean they are any good.a county manager needs to be a player's man 1st.the only dealings he should have with the county board is when he is looking for the money and tell them to go  f**k themselves as regards the running of the county team.

also its    uno duce,una voce     thats a 1st principle

buy hey?the best of luck to them.

to be fair to all involved and im not whinging i think mayo were rode out of the all ireland by cormac o reilly.the fact mayo lost a 5 point lead is incidental really.it was a match,mayo were winning it by two points close to ht in extra time, despite the ref failing to reduce kerry to 14 men early in the game.he then inexplicably awarded kerry two non frees to bring them back into it and give kerry a huge lift.two points at that stage of extra time would have been a huge lead.another thing i see every year is the way the media decide issues about games and the general public seem to follow like sheep.there was very little made of the umpires amazing decision to not award donegal a 45 in the first half?it was a clear 45 when the goalie saved it but just to make sure a keery man tapped it out.again an almost certain point by murphy had been denied.im an admirer of kerry football etc but facts are facts..

blah  blah  blah ,there is a loser written all over that geezer.
on the plus side ,my followers and i will get a juicy price on galway to win the connaught championship 2015.

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 !

The ultimate way to play the game? What game to you watch on Sunday? You're an incredible windbag.

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.

The Icchantika , occasionally you might read posts properly . The ultimate way to play the game referred specifically to the Kerry -Cork Munster final . Not the All-Ireland final which I mentioned in other posts as very average fare .

Not surprised though by your comments , our card is marked .

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

No kelly I do not think Kerry are worthy champions and of all their 37 wins id say probably half of them were worthy because ye see as ive said on here 100 times before the current all Ireland system favours Kerry,given a token munster semi final against tipp Waterford limerick or clare they then have cork in a munster final were the losers are guaranteed a place in the last 12.
Een before the days of the back door system Kerry often played 3 games to be in an all Ireland final,this would hardly get you to an ulster final,as colm o rourke says last sunday night ulster is the only functional competitive province and it is time for a level playing field and an overhaul of the current provincial structures.
As pat spillane repeatedly tells us the cream will rise to the top,will the Kerry cream rise to the top if they have to play in a 34 county open draw structure or even if Kerry were to compete in ulster for a year,i think not.
In my honest opinion this was the softest all Ireland won since cork beat Down in 2010 in fact id go as far as to say Kerry are indeed the 4th best team in the country behind Dublin,donegal and Mayo

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.

bird o donnell please do not comment on threads you obviously know phuck all about....thanks

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.

kavvie correct and right,mayo were screwed by Cormac reilly and by the games committee re:the limerick saga,the most disappointing thing is that the mayo county board didnt back up horan and his players,i think they need to appoint the mayo bull to the county board with immeadiate effect...

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.

So Kerry kicked 13 more wides than Donegal and their top scorer was marked out of it yet and did not score, yet somehow Kavvie, dickie and Neddie K says they were lucky as Kelly says who i think is a good judge you lads are speaking through the pocket ! Lads you are some bunch

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Even some of the die hard Kerry supporters were not very confident about their team in early summer . At the usual post church gathering I was at in Kerry on the morning of the Munster final , I was the most confident person there about Kerry winning .  Some approached me later that week with comments about their surprise on the way Kerry played .  Their fans appreciate class , they are used to it , and they had not seen the Munster final performance coming .

One thing the Kerry lads will be practising during the winter will be long range point taking . If they had converted even half of their wides on Sunday it would have been easy peasy . Plus Donaghy free on the edge of the square to palm home an open goal .  Oodles of chances Kerry , far more than Donegal .

Kerry are still not the finished article , may not even be as good as the Dubs wearing a different type hat style wise .  But they have young legs , and a good minor team . Anyone not taking these factors on baord will probably be out of pocket opposing them in the foreseeable future . And they prefer to play open football , how far would they have won on Sunday if there was restriction on the hand pass crap ?

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

That was directed at richters not you Kelly

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 .

I was not out of pocket as I had no vested interest. My posts after the Dublin game were in relation to the general discredit Jim McGuiness gets on here and in general. I respect Kelly's views and he obviously knows his onions but still uses words such as average to describe Donegal. You do not win 3 Ulster titles, make 2 All Ireland appearances winning one in 4 years by been an average team, that is just nonsense logic. As for the game itself, both teams were poor. Donegal actually out scored Kerry by 12 scores to 11. Both Kerry goals were not from good football, they were gifts. Kerry got all the rubs of green on the day and that was the difference. When the Donegal players look back on their careers in years to come, everyone to a man will know this years All Ireland was one they should have won. Hats off to Eamon Fitz, he has done a great job and got all the calls right on the day. That with getting the breaks on the day is why Kerry are now the All Ireland champs. Well done to Kelly and those who made money by them doing so.

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 .

well said kelly .agree with most of it.but would you not cnsider mcfaddens attempt that came of the pot a threat to kerrys goal?

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 ?

I have a fancy for Roscommon to do well next year. They have a strong physical team that could be going places.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guoQK5mXJMg

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

The first goal was not a planned move Kelly. The Kerry player was taking a punt at a point, the Donegal defenders hand deflected and took pace off the ball and into Geaney's hands. It was a fortuitous break for Kerry and obviously not for Donegal, great finish by Geaney afterwards granted. The second goal was a clear mishit from Durkan nothing else and I have watched the replay enough times. The Kerry point chances you talk of were out the field common against Donegal and only so many you can hit. You are also forgetting Jigger O'Connors goal chance which Kerry goalkeeper deflected wide without knowing too much about it. As for your top 4, the Dubs would be no 1 but as for the make up of the next 3 I think there are merits for numerous different standings.

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 .