Oisin McConville has bemoaned the lack of quality in the Monaghan-Tyrone All-Ireland semi-final, adding that what played out is another reason why "fans are zoning out".
The Red Hand prevailed by a point to set up a date with Dublin in the decider but McConville felt both counties did not play anywhere close to their potential.
"Both teams looked very, very nervous and nerves were still there late on in the game," was McConville's part summation when speaking on RTÉ Radio's Morning Ireland
"Monaghan will be kicking themselves at the quality of their performance, they are much better than that. Tyrone also have more in them. It was just very edgy. You knew there was a lot riding on the game.
"It was like a game of rugby league – one team attacked and then the other attacked. There was very little quality at the top end of the pitch and that’s not that something you associate with these teams.
"I was at the Limerick-Cork hurling semi-final and it's alarming the difference in excitement and atmosphere"
"The decision making was very, very poor at times."
For McConville, the Ulster derby at GAA HQ was another game that did little to raise football's stock in a summer where hurling has provided much thrills and spills.
"It’s very difficult for supporters to get involved in a game," he said.
"A lot of lateral passing across the field. Fans are zoning out. It’s very difficult to get a top class game.
"I was at the Limerick-Cork hurling semi-final and it's alarming the difference in excitement and atmosphere."
McConville echoed the thoughts of others when saying that Mayo's early exit from the championship has removed much of the interest from the business end of the championship.
"It's only now you realise just how much Mayo brought to the table. They were the team that could challenge Dublin physically. They matched up man-to-man. I don’t see any other team that can do that."
Looking ahead to the All-Ireland final, the 2002 winner feels that Tyrone can improve, but the level may not be enough against a Dublin side with so many options.
"Tyrone's performance against Monaghan would be nowhere near good enough to even put a challenge up to Dublin but they have it in them to improve," he predicted.
"Tactically, they will need to change a few things. They will need to win some sort of possession off Dublin’s kickouts and therefore they won't be as defensive as they have been.
"Their full-back line won’t have the comfort zone of two or three players in front of them like Frank Burns and Colm Cavanagh, who was exceptional against Monaghan.
"But Dublin have so much power and pace. They have so many options off the bench; it's scary."
