The 2024 All Ireland Senior Football Championship (Sam Maguire Cup)

That Armagh fan you quote must surely have been impressed with Armagh's performance for a lot of this years Ulster final. Did you watch it yourself? The first half was by a distance the best half of football i've seen this year. Both teams played a lovely brand of attacking football. Think it was something like 10 points apiece at the break with the a huge amount of scores from play and long range points from all angles. Armagh had an 80% shot to score ratio in that half. There is not one Armagh fan or any neutral for that matter that could not have been impressed with that half.

Its only the last 15 minutes of normal time where Armagh went into their old defensive habits trying to close up shop.

It's interesting that almost everyone giving Donegal a decent shout of winning the All Ireland but some dismiss Armagh completely. The same Armagh that had Donegal almost bet in Ulster final normal time and again in extra time only to lose on penalties.

I think Kerry will have a little too much for Armagh but still give Armagh a chance. And if somehow they did make it to the final against Galway or Donegal it would be pretty much 50/50 for me.

And recover from that Ulster final heartbreak to finish top of what many said was the hardest group, battering Derry in Celtic Park, beating Westmeath and drawing with Galway which was what they needed to be group winners. You're right though they get very little credit.

Yes you're correct. I suppose there's a chance a Louth player will get one. Reaching a second Leinster final in a row and making the quarter finals is a pretty good year for Louth. I think Tommy Durnin was excellent against Donegal knocking over four points. Has he done enough this year for an All Star?

folks, no one gives a s***e about all star awards anymore, not even the players.

I'll be very surprised if Louth don't win at least one All-Star. They'll be rewarded for their first ever last 8 appearance and two or three Louth players really stood out in games against Cork,Donegal,Dublin matches that journalists take note of as it's them that who decide on All-stars.

They also were very lucky to beat Sligo and got some very questionable calls against Mayo to win the Connacht final with the last kick of the game.

They're a very good team when everyone is fully fit but they've just about gotten away with carrying so many causalities so far. You'd wonder if it will catch up with them.

I'm not sure how good Galway are really, beat Sligo by a point injury time, got 3-4 very questionable decisions to beat Mayo in injury time, beat Derry who had a man sent off after 20 mins, just about got over Westmeath where they handed a goal to Shane Walsh, drew with Armagh and Dublin should have been 5-6 points up at half time but some how collapsed in the last 20 mins.

It's Kerry for me unfortunately again.

Agree, Galway should be closing out games when they're on top. Mayo and Dublin should have been beaten out the gate but yet were lucky to fall over the line in the end

Galway getting some amount of stick and no good jibes at them for a team unbeaten in a run of fixtures that have included mayo Derry Armagh and Dublin among others all while dealing with injuries to key players . Must be a lot of bad teams in championship so !

It was less of an Armagh comeback and more of a Galway sloppy late error. Galway dominated that group game v Armagh. To say Galway were robbed and Armagh were lucky is an understatement.

Then Armagh again were lucky to face a Roscommon team that were 14 down for most of it and very poor there after.

If Armagh do get the result v Kerry fair play. But if you watch Armagh live they more try and “not get involved” in a game of football hoping the opposing side lose it rather than them winning it.

the All stars haven't been televised in years

What about the bug, Dublin supposed to have had, they weren't as fresh in the last 5 or 6 minute as they usually were, that's where Dublin won a lot of there games in the 70th minute they seemed to always be better in last few minutes Galway are a very confident bunch of people met a good few last week all saying they want to meet Kerry in the final. Armagh and Donegal might have other ideas.

I haven't watched them in a long time. But isn't there something like the All-Stars and known and announced for the football before the actual TV show. And that the main thing on the night is the player of the year and the young player of the year.

The "bug" is one in a long line of excuses after losing a game they were in full control of and let slip away.

The game was lost on the line and in the team selection. Anyone with a brain saw how Jack Mc and James Mc changed the game by coming on previously. Legs weren't there for full 70mins.

But you'll have lads blaming individual players, the ref, a call here or there, and now a bug in the camp. Plus whatever else lads want to use as an excuse for a loss.

It's hard as a fan to see your team lose but the beginning of the end was signalled by Mayo beating them in 2021. I've been a huge fan of this dublin team, despite them breaking my heart on many occasions over the last decade+ but a couple of lads on the panel overstaying things at this point and a refresh is required for them. It should open the football up for a few years though because for all the Kerry hype, they haven't produced the goods with any kind of consistency

If you watch Galway's last point, you can see James McCarthy's legs are gone as he's chasing back.

So, he should've been subbed off by that point or not started and subbed on. So that's on the manager Dessie.

Dublin started 9 players over 30 so obviously need a rebuild. They'll always be very strong but not as dominant. Their underage teams haven't been great for a while.

Legs and energy are so important so they need an injection of youth.

Kerry are definitely favourites of the final 4 semi finalists but really anyone can win. I think Kerry will be happy to play defensively and grind out a couple of wins and take Sam home.

They've a strong, experienced panel now and know that they should be winning more AIs with Dublin weak.