Midweek already with the warm glow of sending the Kerry lads back home crying to their mammies without a second half score to show for their troubles now receding and the prospect of the significant challenge that Tyrone will represent this coming weekend starting to come into view. It’s another one I’ll be sitting out, I’m afraid – this one was never on my radar and I’ve domestic commitments up here on Sunday which prevent me from heading west for it.
Sunday will definitely be one for the hard core fraternity, both in McHale Park and down in Killarney, with both matches going head-to-head with the Six Nations rugby clash with England that afternoon. Kerry have said they’ve no problem with the 2pm throw-in for their match with the Dubs on Sunday, which is understandable given that manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice is lining out for Finuge at Croke Park in the All-Ireland Intermediate club final on Saturday night, but you’d wonder why our match isn’t being played that evening as well.
Well, sort of. The reason why we’re playing on Sunday afternoon appears to be linked to that hoary old issue of TV rights, as our match is being shown in full as the deferred coverage game on TG4 that afternoon. On the one hand, it’s a bit daft to have installed those floodlights at McHale Park and then only use them the very odd time for league matches but, on the other, it’s kinda nice that they’re showing our match on the telly (especially for those of us who can’t be there).
Not much word as yet on the game itself. This piece by Mike Finnerty in the Mayo News says that Alan Dillon, Evan Regan and long-term absentee Cillian O’Connor remain sidelined, while there are doubts over Richie Feeney – who came off injured late on the last day – and Donal Vaughan, who never went to post due to hamstring trouble. I guess all will be revealed when we name our team at 3am on Saturday morning.
You’ll probably know by know that the ref for Sunday is our old pal Maurice Deegan. His inept handling of both national finals we were involved in last year has meant that the Laois whistler has now supplanted Joe McQuillan in the pantheon of Mayo GAA-related shite refereeing but there’s nothing we can do about that now and we’re stuck with him for Sunday. All we can hope for, I guess, is that, unlike last September, he’ll keep an eye out this coming Sunday for cynical fouling perpetrated by both teams.
Agree, It’s a shame both the rugby and football clash. Saturday evening in Castlebar would have been ideal for the vast majority of people. It’s even more baffling that a “glamour” tie like Dublin vs Kerry is also on the Sunday.
I think an awful lot has to do with the TV rights, Setanta have the rights to show all match’s played under lights, so a lot would be to do with what will fit in with their schedule. I’d say that’s one of the reasons also that it was left so late to confirm the dates and times for the league. The dates & times were first announced more than a week before Christmas, yet they were not confirmed until about the middle of January, (we had to take a chance when booking for the away match’s!)
Says a lot that Deegan would be appointed so quickly after less than two distinguished finals (League and AIF) from a Mayo viewpoint. Then again I suppose if our masters didn’t complain about him McEneaneay or whoever runs the referee’s show had every right to appoint him. He is only after refereeing us two competitive matches back.
Apoligies now for leaving comment here but the email address under the contact me tab does not seem to work Can you please confirm the email address.
Thanks
That email address should be working – I’m certainly getting the odd email at that address, though I’m not always the quickest in replying at the minute.
My mistake i had copied and pasted the full stop at the end of the email address as well 🙂
All sorted thanks.
Will be great to see the lads build on last weeks game and hopefully see more lads score
Regarding the referee it doesnt matter a shite if Mick Curley is reffing Sunday 🙂 you should be able to win regardless of the ref if you are serious. It makes me cringe when people whinge or complain about refs. We did it in 96 and we are still doing it…we need to make our own luck on the pitch and not blame other factors like refs
Pk your spot on,I have a habit of ref bashing myself.let da lads play the games as they see fit,be tough,hard and fair and we won’t be too far away (whoever da ref is) maigheo abu
I agree mayo.mick, but if you have seven away matches every year it does not worry you. Was there last week, God spares me, next week, and on the big day in September. That’s the price we pay for the love of our county
I dont see anybody blaming refs for losing here, my point is a simple one. I want mayo to get the same treatment as every other county does. Highlighted above were two examples of poor refereeing that we saw in two finals last year. Probably we still would not have won but we are entitled to fairplay, we are also entitled to highlight it.
Referees are but one factor of course, but they are possibly the most important factor especially if you have a team doing most things correct. I spoke to a former intercounty All Star player early this week. He stopped going to matches years ago mainly due to shite refereeing matches.No hes not a Mayo man but he had this to say , the performance of the minor ref in Mayo v Meath this year made him weep for Mayo. He referenced Mayo seniors v same county in 2009.
So its not as simple as manning up and asking to get it up the pipe and saying nothing. We have done that and still get rode.
My Kerry pals tell me that Donie Buckley had the Crokes lads flying in training on Monday night, for the upcoming semi-final – making the long journey from his Mayo charges in Castlebar.
Interesting that Crokes have a swathe of Kerry panellists in their line up. Could get very interesting later in the year; hope we will be the ones who benefit.
The referee should be irrelevent to us. Like players, refs have bad games sometimes. We need to try and get rid of this mindset of blaming the refs or the media or whoever. Horan going on about Brolly was a stupid sideshow and this is something similar. Focus on what we can control. Don’t worry about things which are beyond your control as you can’t affect them. And Williejoe – I doubt the Kerry lads were crying on the way home last weekend. They are notoriously slow starters in the league and I don’t think they will be overly concerned about it. It’s usually April by the time they wake from their slumber. Anyway, I’ve a feeling this game on Sunday could be a draw but if I had to call it I’d go for Tyrone by 1 or 2. I’ve a feeling there’ll be some fireworks also. They’ll be gunning for a win.
Ah here john do u honestly think we get treated any differently? And yeah its the oldest cliche to blame the ref. One might say the ref is an extrinsic factor that mayo, or any other team for that matter, cant control. We need to focus on instrinsic factors mainly training, tactics and players attitude.
I personally dont think we are being rode as you so colourfully put it! I will come back with 2 examples for you john. Cork got a man sent off in an u21 all Ireland which certainly helped our chances of winning and as a mayo man I thoughy it was a harsh call but we took it and got an all ireland title that day. So we do get the calls to go our way too john and dont forget thay and think people are out to get us. And the 2nd example I will give is the doubtful point vs sligo in the connacht final. So I use these examples to say no we are not being ‘rode’
Pk, do you think refereeing standards in general are fine and dandy?
In any sport digits there will be mistakes. But yes at county level I think the gaa has a pretty good standard. At club level in the county I have seen some shocking decisions but you have to rememer that in league games in particulat often times the ref does not have linesmen, umpires of his own to back him up so it is very difficult for them. But I do think standards can improve at club level in mayo and i think this is reflected in the fact that intercounty refs from mayo havent gotten too many high profile games such as the latter stages of the championship