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Football Championship 2026

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One big call went against Dublin. It was a square ball for Kerrys 2nd goal. I am not convinced on the other 2. I think it was a foul on Joe O'Connor. It was not shoulder to shoulder. Not sure if all the ball crossed the line either. I do agree that technology is needed for these decisions. Ladies football already use this so why not use the same here. In fairness the umpire was nowhere near where he should have been. I do think Kerry were the better team overall. Would Thomas Kennedy have gone for a point near the end and would Clifford have gone for goal if Kerry were behind. He had the legs on the Dublin defender here. Dublin did kick a lot of wides but in fairness there was a strong enough breeze so you cant fault them for some of their misses. Kerry kicked one or 2 bad wides in that 2nd half as well Ger Brennan will win the AI with this Dublin team. He has done a great job with them. I think he is a top manager. aidan64 (Kerry) - Posts: 674 - 13/07/2026 11:06:18 2685553 Link
Why don't they just bite the bullet and each province employ say 4 full time referees. They would have a weeks work each week between third level, colleges, inter county and proper training, preparation and analysis. Then for the latter stages you have all of that pool of 16 involved as umpires etc in Croke Park all micd up. That's the only fair way to do this. The GAA have the money and the days of some school teacher rocking up with 4 of his friends to officiate a frenetic high stakes game in front of over 80k people should be over. I don't blame officials, I think the game has moved on to a level fitness and intensity wise but refereeing hasn't moved with that. smallfrank (Galway) - Posts: 612 - 13/07/2026 11:46:03 2685566 Link
Replying To Fionn: "To have all 3 big decisions be incorrect is not acceptable Barney. Hopefully their luck, as Jack called it, runs out in the Final. Will Mayo finally break their hoodoo - very unlikely tbh, but we all live in hope…. ;o) lol A quick word on Kobe - what a talent he is. Unbelievable potential. And only 18. Wow. Superb." They weren't all incorrect though. The square ball obviously was but the penalty call was correct (it's a stupid foul by O Cofaigh Byrne but it's definitely a foul) and the disallowed goal isn't clearly wrong either. I've seen a bunch of angles in it and I think you can squint a d imagine the compressed ball is fractionally over the line, but even then I'm not sure. You're saying it as if it's obvious and it most certainly is not. If those two calls had gone against Kerry I'd be fairly annoyed. That says they were marginal ones. Not clearly wrong MunsterFan (Kerry) - Posts: 33 - 13/07/2026 12:02:57 2685572 Link
Replying To aidan64: "One big call went against Dublin. It was a square ball for Kerrys 2nd goal. I am not convinced on the other 2. I think it was a foul on Joe O'Connor. It was not shoulder to shoulder. Not sure if all the ball crossed the line either. I do agree that technology is needed for these decisions. Ladies football already use this so why not use the same here. In fairness the umpire was nowhere near where he should have been. I do think Kerry were the better team overall. Would Thomas Kennedy have gone for a point near the end and would Clifford have gone for goal if Kerry were behind. He had the legs on the Dublin defender here. Dublin did kick a lot of wides but in fairness there was a strong enough breeze so you cant fault them for some of their misses. Kerry kicked one or 2 bad wides in that 2nd half as well Ger Brennan will win the AI with this Dublin team. He has done a great job with them. I think he is a top manager." I thought Dublin were the better team in general play. They mopped up in midfield as the game wore on and forced a lot more turnovers too. Those chances you mentioned for Kennedy and Clifford at the end only came about because Dublin had push up and throw caution to the wind due to the scoreline and how late it was in the game. Kerry didn't create a real goal chance aside from those. Dublin created a lot more scoring chances overall. Goals are massive momentum changes and the decisions which went Kerry's way had a big impact on what Dublin then felt they had to do. WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 2947 - 13/07/2026 17:27:26 2685639 Link
Replying To MunsterFan: "They weren't all incorrect though. The square ball obviously was but the penalty call was correct (it's a stupid foul by O Cofaigh Byrne but it's definitely a foul) and the disallowed goal isn't clearly wrong either. I've seen a bunch of angles in it and I think you can squint a d imagine the compressed ball is fractionally over the line, but even then I'm not sure. You're saying it as if it's obvious and it most certainly is not. If those two calls had gone against Kerry I'd be fairly annoyed. That says they were marginal ones. Not clearly wrong" You are right; just the square ball was an error by the officials. Dublin benefited from decisions in the Galway game, so it balances out. Mayo will probably win the final, as they have better forwards overall. maroondiesel (Mayo) - Posts: 1284 - 13/07/2026 18:02:17 2685643 Link
Will Paul Geaney victory speech be in Irish or English? Hear big celebrations to be held in Dingle this day two weeks. hlynch12 (Limerick) - Posts: 200 - 13/07/2026 18:28:39 2685644 Link
Dublin scored a legitimate goal. Kerry got one that was not. That's the way. Leanfaimid ar aghaidh BarneyGrant (Dublin) - Posts: 4483 - 13/07/2026 20:41:28 2685657 Link
Replying To BarneyGrant: "Dublin scored a legitimate goal. Kerry got one that was not. That's the way. Leanfaimid ar aghaidh" Half right but sure you can rest calm in the knowledge that the tales of Dublin's demise have been proven false and ye have unearthed a few genuine intercounty quality players this year. MunsterFan (Kerry) - Posts: 33 - 13/07/2026 21:02:16 2685662 Link
GAA have marketed the life out of Clifford, RTE also heavily invested. In these days of generating commercial revenue, clicks and content, the GAA failed the sport yesterday with very blatant weighted decisions. The Championship this year just lacks any credibility now, pity, was some great games this year - but it ended yesterday. Congratulations to the Dublin team, heads held high, always Guardians of the game. TheUsername (Dublin) - Posts: 4531 - 13/07/2026 22:04:57 2685672 Link
The Dubs were very unlucky but Kerry are ticking over nicely. Can see David having a big final - lot of unnecessary commentary about him at moment in media. Footballer of a generation hurler301 (Tipperary) - Posts: 16 - 13/07/2026 22:33:15 2685680 Link
When they show the penalty incident from the view the ref had, I can see why the ref gave it, looked like a shoulder to the head, theatrics from Joe O Connor didnt help. But from other angles it should not have been a penalty, closer to a free a out for charging than a penalty. The square ball was a terrible miss by the umpires. Still no picture that actually shows the ball over the line, people just assuming it was over and want the umpires to do the same. Niall Scully could easily got a red, he raised his hands to two Kerry players, dont know how it wasnt spotted, well actually I do with the poor day the umpires had. When they had to go to hawkeye for a ball clipping the post and going wide it was not a good start. tommy132 (Mayo) - Posts: 689 - 13/07/2026 22:44:06 2685681 Link
Replying To MunsterFan: "They weren't all incorrect though. The square ball obviously was but the penalty call was correct (it's a stupid foul by O Cofaigh Byrne but it's definitely a foul) and the disallowed goal isn't clearly wrong either. I've seen a bunch of angles in it and I think you can squint a d imagine the compressed ball is fractionally over the line, but even then I'm not sure. You're saying it as if it's obvious and it most certainly is not. If those two calls had gone against Kerry I'd be fairly annoyed. That says they were marginal ones. Not clearly wrong" For the penalty, Joe O'Connor led with the shoulder into POCB, not the other way round. Free out if a free at all Eddie the Exile (Monaghan) - Posts: 1381 - 13/07/2026 22:48:30 2685682 Link
Dublin had the rub of the green in the quarter final. It went against them then in semi final. That's the way the cookie crumbles. More often than not decisions seem to favour Dublin in their home league ground. Usually a double whammy on top of drawing Dublin in their home league ground at the business end of the championship. Dublin actually got a flavour on Sunday of what it is like to be the away team. Tyrone have set the blueprint in the 25 quarter final. All Ireland contenders have to be able to flip the script against Dublin in Croke Park. Anyone not prepared for the battle of playing Dublin in Croke Park are going to come up short. That's the reality of it. Sin é. legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 9969 - 14/07/2026 04:59:32 2685694 Link
Replying To BarneyGrant: "Dublin scored a legitimate goal. Kerry got one that was not. That's the way. Leanfaimid ar aghaidh" Without wanting to cause a stir here and I genuinely mean this but two weeks ago Galway were very hard done by with the Dublin penalty and John Maher not receiving a penalty at the other end. Thats a possible 6 point swing and these calls happen a lot but there was no noise in the media about it, the Analysts on Sunday game didnt go to town on it, it didnt make radio 1 the next day...Why? Dothesimplethingswell (Sligo) - Posts: 107 - 14/07/2026 07:15:21 2685695 Link
There was what - 7 strong All Ireland contenders. 6 of the 7 have to have a strong game plan for playing against Dublin at the business end of the championship. Mayo, Kerry, Dublin and Monaghan all utilised the Round 3 draw. Travelling to Armagh or Donegal would have been different games. Donegal and Galway will have to spend the winter mulling over where they came up short. hlynch12 (Limerick) - Posts: 200 - 14/07/2026 11:24:51 2685713 Link