My fellow Mayo GAA blogger TIALTNGO has the world exclusive on this one: our 2009 championship panel has just been announced. My world exclusive on this is a far humbler one: I can reveal that, unlike last year, this time Johnno has gone the whole hog and named a panel of 30 players for the upcoming summer campaign.
As you’d expect, there are no major shocks (and so no Super Mac but that was never on anyway) but the exclusion of Aidan Higgins – who only returned to the panel a few weeks ago – will raise a few eyebrows. The cutting of Mickey Mullins and Colm Boyle from the NFL panel would have largely been expected and while Robert Hennelly also loses out, that’s no reflection on the capabilities of this year’s U21 net-minder: he’ll surely own the keeper’s jersey for the county in the years to come. In addition, last year’s club player of the year, Barry Regan, doesn’t feature but I assume this is because he has some kind of long-term injury.
TIALTNGO lists the panel in alphabetical order so just to be different I’ll do so in terms of broad positions (even if this means putting a few square pegs in round holes). Here’s the list in full:
Goalkeepers (2): David Clarke (Ballina), Kenneth O’Malley (Ballinrobe)
Backs (13): Chris Barrett (Belmullet), Ger Cafferkey (Ballina), Ciaran Conroy (Shrule/Glencorrib), Tom Cunniffe (Castlebar), Peadar Gardiner (Crossmolina), David Heaney (Swinford), Keith Higgins (Ballyhaunis), Trevor Howley (Knockmore), Kevin McLoughlin (Knockmore), Andy Moran (Ballaghaderreen), James Nallen (Crossmolina), Liam O’Malley (Burrishoole), Donal Vaughan (Ballinrobe).
Midfielders (4): Patrick Harte (Ballina), Ronan McGarrity (Ballina), Seamus O’Shea (Breaffy), Tom Parsons (Charlestown).
Forwards (11): Alan Dillon (Ballintubber), Barry Kelly (Ballaghaderreen), Aidan Kilcoyne (Knockmore), Barry Moran (Castlebar), Conor Mortimer (Shrule/Glenocorrib), Trevor Mortimer (Shrule/Glencorrib), Austin O’Malley (St Vincent’s), Aidan O’Shea (Breaffy), Billy Joe Padden (Belmullet), Mark Ronaldson (Shrule/Glencorrib), Mikey Sweeney (Kiltane).
Predictable enough panel. I suppose Aiden Higgins can feel hard done by. I presume that there is a stand by group where he can be accomodated. Tyrone had a panel of 33 plus last year, I hope this paltry allownece players get from the public purse is not causing panels to be set in stone. Looking at the forwards I cannot see one better than the great man whos name we can no longer mention. Sad really.
The great man was great but is 34/35 now – we have to move on. Whether he could do a job for us now is questionable. It is 3 years since he played a proper championship game at full fitness.
If age was the only criteria then heaney and Nallen would be excluded also. They take up two spots in an area where we have ample cover. Again , its ability that counts, not age. good job Galway dont adopt the same attitude to Joyce or Sligo towards O Hara. Kerry with all their talent and cover can make room for Darragh and what can we say about Dooher. A half fit “man with no name” is still better than some of the alleged forwards we possess. Take a look at the size of the forwards, Sweeney, Conor and Ronaldson…you will get away with one of them.
On the Road is on the money. McDonald’s exclusion has nothing to do with age, or if it has, the manager should come out and say so. John O’Mahony clearly thinks that these eleven forwards named have more to offer than Ciarán McDonald. And that is very difficult to understand.
I completely agree with the comments made by the guys above …. if your good enough your old enough is what people say … in mac donalds case if your good enough your good enough …. and he definitely is
no mcdonald surely he still has what it takes this isnt about age its the age old bugbear that has haunted mayo gaa down the years dont upset the establishment and as for the exclusion of higgins it beggers belief wasnt he one of the men that saved mayo from one of the biggest hammerings of all time last year against galway all we have to look forward to is a connaught final defeat and the usual back door exit rest in peace mayo football
Everyone seems to think Mahony is to blame for not having mcdonald back….God ye have short memories Lads.
Remind us Ted…I cannot recall anything major. The point is this (A) We need a player of McDonalds ability.(B) Age does not matter; ability does.(C) MCDonald wants to play, certainly he has not retired, its up to the manager to accomodate him.(D) I say it again, tell me ONE of the 11 listed forwards that are better than McDonald at the moment.
Of course I live in the real world and McDonald wont be back, however neither will we grace any winning enclosures this year either.
Mcdonald was asked back last year for a trial game but felt it was beneath him and didnt show. And before you go on about Mcdonald having nothing to prove, James Nallen attended the same trial game.
It is personal. If O’Mahoney was not managing -McDonald would be on the squad. The stats show our weakness is in our strike power. We were among the poorest in Division1. This does not bode well for our chances in the championship. McDonald could change this and take some pressure off Mortimer.
JOM made a balls of this last year.
But McDonald wasn’t without fault either and his on/off Mayo career was accepted for years because of his brilliance.
Has he even played for Crossmolina this year?
He was never a prospect to wear the green and red jersey this season and so there are other things that we would be better off discussing
Oh come on guys….maughan had the same problems…so did holmes…not sure if Mickey had to go down on his knee’s and beg as well??? ANyway there are other options we must now explore….why not stick parsons or even mcgarrity in there….we need to build for the future
Mac is a legend and his place in Mayo footballing folklore is guaranteed even if he never dons the sacred jersey again. I suspect one of the reasons keeping him out of contention is his fitness and his exposure on counter-attacks. While his skill is undoubtedly unequaled anywhere he lacks that vital element so omnipresent in today’s game…pace. When an attack breaks down he’s caught out on the turn and the team is effectively a man down when defending.
We badly need leaders. The team does not play with any confidence. Sure they have plenty of spirit (evidenced in their recent habit of second half combacks) but they do not play with any belief in themselves. We as a county make the mistake of confusing confidence with arrogance. There is nothing wrong with being confident and maybe if the lads put their chests out, shoulders back and played like a band of brothers that cup that has been missing for so long would come home.
I am at a loss to recall the last time I saw any mayo forward track back and defend, nothing wrong with that anyway. physically McDonald wouldgive us an impetus on the inside line. A full forward line of McDonaldm O Shea and O Malley would worry any full back line. Recall how Micky Harte was able to us his veteren Peter the Great in the 2005 Final. On and off and on for that great goal worked between him and Mulligan. We on the other hand still play pass the parcel up front, the most recent example of that was the recent U21 All_Ireland semi-final when the pressure came on.
For any team we would play they would put 2 men on McDonald! That says something…
So if Aidan O’ Shea were to suddenly develop what JOM would perceive to be an attitude problem would be also be dropped…
Tis not a fuckin summer camp JOM is running, its a merciless-mean-machine to get an All Ireland. He should awaken to this fact pretty quickly and put his own ego to one side for the moment because at this moment in time he has achieved NOTHING with Mayo.
McD is gone and debating why and whose fault it is and is he still good aenough and what if he could be coaxed back etc. isn’t going to change it. But the legend of the man will never be forgotten esaily and isn’t it absolutely amazing though that the announcement of the Mayo panel makes more headlines about who is left out rather than who is in as per this one on RTE today http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/championship/2009/0422/mayo.html
I am at a loss to understand why this is still an issue-surely the fact that he was out of it last year should be read that he is not part of the plans? MacD was a very talented player- but good as he was, he was nowhere near the level of a Maurice Fitz who carried an otherwise average team to an all-ireland.
However, he demands the ball in his own half backline- when he’s supposed to be playing in the forwards- Picking lovely passes with time and space will get you so far, but the game is won in the frontline trenches 20-30 yards out from goal.
His exceptional passing ability won the day against the leser teams but not against the best- because they know how to exploit his tactical indiscipline- i.e his drifting out of position as he alone sees fit.
PJ for Galway may face the same problem later on against tactically astute teams who seek to sever that link between him and MMeehan.
It’s obvious that he is a tremendous player but he will go down in my book as someone who seemed unwilling or unable to harness the final, crucial part of his potential.
Innocentbystander. You make very valid points. I have often made similar. Unfortunatly for us we have nobody better than McD at the moment. Go through the 11 listed forwards. Is there even one good enough to touch him?. At least when we had McD we got to meet the big guns, alas no more going on the last two years. A good man manager would give him a game plan, force him to stick to it and we would all benefit. After New York its all about winning the next match. Its not how you win that matters, its the winning. OMahony job is to build on a team who contested two All-Ireland finals plus a national league final in a 3 year spell. So far he has failed miserably.
Interesting discussion. My view on McDonald is two-fold. Firstly he does take a bit of management. More than most. But its an effort that is worthwhile. I feel John O’Mahony feels he could do without the hassle. Ten years ago he would have bent over backwards to sort it out (John Donnellan anyone?) but he doesn’t have the heart for it now. That’s why texting him about a trial game as the first means of communication for the year was a means of of constructive dismissal.
That is a pity and it can be held against O’Mahony in any review of his term. But it ain’t going to change now and for the moment talking about McDonald, whatever the rigths and wrongs, is pointless and having a negative impact on the current squad. We do need to move on. It was the wrong decision, no doubt. But we are only perpetuating matters by continually going over it.
we are giving our galway neighbours the boost they needed after losing two leauge games on the bounce with mcdonald on the bench at worst it would force a rethink in the tribesmen camp but alas weve had our victory over galway for this year even a backdoor quaterfinal place seems impossible a horror leauge campaing culdnt beat a bad dublin team in our own backyard aand a tyrone team just going through the motions with mayo busting a gut to stay in touch with them its time the manager and the county board woke up and smelled the coffee we are an average team with maybe two or three players of county standard we boxed above our weight in getting to two finals didnt kerry prove that in two finals i wouldnt bother putting the holidays on hold in case the third sunday in september is needed not for the foseablefuture and beyond will we grace a senior allireland final never mind winning it best of luck lads god knows youll need it
ontheroad, while I agree he is, in terms of talent, the best forward Mayo have got, it is the appropriate harnessing of that talent that has me foxed! I would agree though, that Mayo seem to have receeded slowly since getting to the last All-Ireland final. Ciaran McD is hanging over JOM’s head a bit, so perhaps it would have been politically cuter to have him in the panel at least, if at all possible.
I must say I like McDonalds style, that he has not ran to the press giving guff about the decision, but that is a mark of the man.
The McDonald debate isn’t a rehash of old arguments. The reason McDonald is being debated is because there were stories in the papers for a fortnight speculating that he’d be back.
Personally, I’d have him back, even if he could only stand on one damned leg, because his very presence would force opposition teams to plan for him. Just in case. The Spanish won a big victory over the Moors when they put El Cid’s corpse in full armour up on a horse, to make the Moors think he was still alive. McDonald’s name alone is worth that. In my opinion.
“The Spanish won a big victory over the Moors when they put El Cid’s corpse in full armour up on a horse, to make the Moors think he was still alive.”
Could we paint a few tatoo’s and dye the hair more blonde on Austie and maybe let on McD was back?!?!? 😉 he’d take a shot at goal though and the secret would be out!!
Excellent idea, Mayoman – maybe the whole team should go blond for the summer. That’d really confuse everyone!