What a difference a week makes

Catch a grip of yourself. It was a great game of football. Very high standard and the atmosphere was one of the best I have seen at Croke Park outside of sell out match and it near full.

Thought players did well in tough conditions.

Can't remember a game with so much foot passing.

Sorry Paddletoe but i thought the kicking was some of the worst i had ever seen not to mention the speed, Tyrone being the biggest culprits btw in terms of kicking.

WHO/WHAT WAS NEAR FULL PADDLETOE

Paddletoe must have been full, full of porter. Near full my hole, there wasnt a sinner at it.

Not sure what the attendance was but I would have guessed around 60,000 with just the top deck behind the Canal End empty and Hill 16 not totally full. Maybe it seemed more at the ground as there was such a loud atmosphere with all good turnovers being cheered.

I am not going to say anything negative about hurling but I don't see the comparisons between football.

" there wasn't a sinner at it "

A lot of good people must have attended,well over fifty thousand.

I prefer hurling but that was a right match,thought Tyrone were hard done by.

Maybe neutrals see it differently but I thought Tyrone ran themselves into the ground yesterday against a team with far superior footballing skills when they have the ball in hand or at feet. The game was on edge the whole way through. Kerry always had the power to score a quick brace of points even when being pushed back but Tyrone, unusually for them always looked like they could score goals anytime they attacked. Tyrone played some very good football which I don't see how anyone could find unattractive. 
The atmosphere was more than usually vocal spurred on by all the media attention which hopefully will now stop. You cant blame individual opposing supporters at the match for saying things in the heat of the moment against players from the other team especially when some parts of the southern media seem to always look for reasons to single out Tyrone. At least that's the perception in Tyrone. When we go down to Dublin and stand for our national anthem we don't like to hear the captain of our team being called a tinker two minutes later as i  heard from behind me yesterday when he goes for his first ball and falls down fouled. Within a minute another Tyrone player went down and stayed down and shouts went up get off the effing ground. It was far more than a game of football for Tyrone players and their supporters yesterday for all those reasons and more.
Rant over.

A third of the ground was empty, as i said,there was nobody at it.
It was an All Ireland semi final, there wont be a spare seat there next week.

The fact that hurling hasn't changed to become so defensively as some teams play football is due I would have thought to the goalkeeper in huling being able to score a point from a kick out. How can you defend against that. Well almost.

You also don't seem to get the same kind of fouling in hurling as in football because having a potentially dangerous weapon in their hand instills some self control!

" as I said there was nobody at it "

There was 53,000 plus at it

Compare this to your beloved Premiership

            23,256 at the Chelsea game
            20,166 at the Southampton game
           39,499 at the Manchester City game


For such a wet day it was some crowd.

Kerry people traditionally dont travel in droves to semi finals , its in their DNA to be there most years at that stage , and the weather would have put anyone but the committed off . So 53,000 plus not bad .

Excellent game of football , cant see why anyone would feel they didn't get their moneys worth . Still a bit too much hand passing / basketball for my liking , will be thus until they grasp the nettle and limit the number of consecutive hand passes .  At times Kerry had possession of the ball for up to 90 seconds , defenders now have to be very wary of black cards , maybe they need a black and yellow card  , 2 and you have to be replaced  , you daren't touch a man who is off balance without risking expulsion  , particularly if they are skilled in the art of falling over .

Hartes relationship with the media and the public also played a part in what happened on the pitch . Referees and crowds watch matches too in front of their telly , and form opinions rightly or wrongly . Human nature . Sometimes its better to bite the bullet and re-assess things for another day , but quietly .

No referee sets out to do anything other than a fair job but any hint of gamesmanship yesterday from Tyrone (even when non existed) was going to inevitably put pressure on the referee due to the GAA's decision to bring unfair rulebook charges against Tyrone when they let themselves be influenced by some elements in the media. I don't blame the referee but he was influenced yesterday in the key penalty decision and a few others by outside elements.

Dan, they were all capacity crowds, ya dunkey ya.
1/3 of Croker was empty.

53,000 is a good crowd for any sporting venue. I feel Rocketfingers pain when I see some big sports in action, We both follow small sports of a similar size, greyhound racing and league of Ireland soccer. We might see 1/10th of the 53,000 (5300) once a year at one of our venues. I could take the 2 sports each about 2 months to see 53000 punters. Man City and the big boys will heap more pressure on next season when they have Friday night games. I fear for our small sports but knocking the big ones is not the way forward.

53,000 that is counting the 10 year ticket holders, private boxes customers etc etc even if these people don't turn up, i know someone in HQ he said it looks good so they over state the crowd. But back to the game very poor standard, maybe if you like to watch hand passing and terrible shooting this was a game for you.

It's tough my good friend. In a couple of weeks it will be all over and you can bash the Rugby then.

Typical superficial Mincer.

The stadiums looked full so then its a big crowd,some empty seats in Croke Park means not a sinner at it.

They weren't capacity crowds in the Premiership matches either.

for me and im sure many others this was the most enjoyable game of the football championship so far.

I,m not surprised for some reason the formula one made the gaelic football seem pedestrian Rocket as you maintain in your opening post,twas a right good game and Sunday should be as good if not better.

It should be a cracker of a game PA, I have a feeling this is Mayos year.

I don't know Frank,i like Dublin's football,think they have been a bit of fresh air the last couple of years. I will like most be wanting Mayo to get through all the same. I won't be watching Swansea vs Man U anyway.

Poor stuff, great crowd although a couple of years ago it would have been more

Aug 31, 2015 -- 3:39AM, Rocketfingers wrote:

Poor stuff, great crowd although a couple of years ago it would have been more

Strange considering this was sold out about 2 weeks ago.

Your attacks on the GAA are becoming more and more irrational. The fact of the matter is that there is only a 2 bob crowd attending LOI matches and there are 80,000 plus attending Croker.

To be fair to Rocketfingers, he posted on the wrong thread. I put it over on the LOI one. His club might not get 80000 for the entire season. Cut him some slack, it's tough following a small sport.

He posted it on the wrong week as well Gant.

Not sure why all the bitterness, man comes on here and gives his honest and very respected opinion about a game and there is a country lynch mob that crops up. You seriously can#t compare the football to the Hurling again this year, sorry to say lads.