I’m not a great one for Mondays at the best of times, especially ones that herald a return to work after two weeks of blissful indolence, and so I could have plenty of reasons for getting out of bed like a bear with a sore hole this morning. But, hombres, this is no ordinary Monday morning: it is, instead, the morning after the day before and what a day it was too. Some of the ecstatic post-match high might have been dulled a bit by the shite post-match radio coverage on RTE and NewsTalk (i.e. there was virtually none) and the horrendous traffic on the way out of Galway (where it appears that there were no traffic management arrangements in place at all) but I did manage to make it home just in time to see the highlights on The Sunday Game and I even watched some more of it on the web later on (if you’re on the island, there’s access to the entire match on RTE’s website).
There are obviously plenty of match reports to wade through this morning. In no particular order, here are the ones from RTE, the Irish Times, the Indo, Hogan Stand and the Mayo Advertiser. As well as that lot, in the Indo (where, incidentally, in his match report Martin Breheny is incorrect to say that it’s the first Connacht title we’ve won at Pearse Stadium since 1967 – it’s the first one ever as that 1967 win occurred in the penultimate round of the Connacht championship and not the final) Eugene McGee has a fair enough piece of analysis while John O’Keeffe’s analysis in the Times covers much of the same ground. Both make the point that we could have made better use of the wind in the first half and they’re both correct enough in doing so, I reckon, though with the wind as strong as it was it seemed difficult enough for the players to judge how much welly they needed to give it. The Times also has a post-match quotes piece where Johnno has plenty of nice things to say about his players and RTE have quotes (lifted from the Star) from Peadar Gardiner who expresses his delight at kicking the winning score but who stops a bit short of Mort’s 2006 declaration at his joy of having beaten Galway on his own. And, of course, RTE have the whole match up on the web too: I can’t get a link directly to the match stream – you need to get to the match report (here) and navigate from there.
If that’s not enough for you, I don’t know what is. Oh wait, yes I do: here’s a video clip I took of Trev’s post-match acceptance speech. I couldn’t make out a word of it at the ground and I’m none the wiser having looked at it on video but the words (for all I know he could have been giving a eulogy to the late Micheal Jackson, though I somehow doubt it) aren’t important. Instead, just sit back and enjoy the sight of a Mayo captain raising the Nestor Cup for the first time ever at that windswept, godforsaken hole in the middle of a housing estate in Salthill. I’ve seen worse Mondays, for sure.
Great win but lets not get carried away.
Hard to believe none of our backs could shackle nicky Joyce.
Perhaps we should have taken off Heaney a little earlier–must say he had a great game.
i was not impressed with Conors antics after his goal.
Perhaps we now have him in the right place–on the bench!!!!
Hope kilcoynes injury is not too serious.
Ronaldson could work as a corner forward with the 2 big men
I certainly think that Killer is a better bet than C-Mort in the long (and short) run. The latter made the back page of today’s Metro with his sombre gesture to the fallen Micheál Jackson (his spelling, not mine). I was speaking with a former Mayo legend today who feels that Conor has always come up short on the big stage, and it’s big stage all the way for Mayo now. My brother reckoned that one of the key moments for Andy Moran yesterday was not giving C-Mort the ball in the 74th minute, and I must say I’m in agreement. Ronaldo did tremendously well in the role he was asked to play – definitely a hell of a weapon to spring from the bench, as is Conor, if he could cop himself on a bit.
Please God Killer will be back in fighting form before long. Obviously it depends on fitness and who we end up playing, but, as of now, I don’t see any reason to alter the team too much. Perhaps Donal Vaughan for Liam O’Malley, but nothing else.
Willie Joe a few comments.
1st of all from a Galway ultra fan congrats on the victory. Not a crib from us and if you saw the magnaminous interview by our manager afterwards this reflects all that has been good about us and our tradition down through the yrs. Also i reckon you should cut it about the continuous boring rant about Pearse Stadium. It is getting a bit monotonous. In terms of the ref i think the 6-2 card count reflects who was more guilty yesterday. Also you conveniently forgot to note the 3 clear pick ups off the ground from Mayo players that went unpunished. I am not using these as excuses merely pointing out that we can throw stones as well but do not feel worth it as we hopefully will pick up the pieces against Donegal next Sat in our true tradition. As for ye i would think the momentum of yesterday will serve ye well and as pointed out in an earlier post all the talk is of Tyrone, Dublin etc so that in itself will be help.
Just finished watching the first half. I am still not as convinced about our performance as most people seem to be. Galway certainly had more possession in the first half. They won a huge amount of breaking ball (where was Pat Harte). We were extremely lucky twice that Nicky Joyce did not bury a goal. One went over and he let the other slip from his grasp when free inside. Cafferkey who I had great hopes for was not commanding at all at full back. There was about five 50/50 balls with Meehan. Meehan won 4 of them. First Half summary, Mayo efficient(well taken scores) and also a lucky goal. Sorry to sound pessimistic but Galway made a lot of unforced errors in the half as opposed to Mayo being that impressive.
Watch it again.
facetheball, you are being harsh on cafferky and Mayo in general. A good FF like Meehan is always going to win ball. Its the FB job to stay goal side of him and stop him from doing damage with the ball he does win. He made life difficult for Meehan even for his goal at the end. I think cafferky is a great find and in many ways a better prospect than Kevin Cahill( who had some real nightmares in his time dont forget. He was also know to give away cheap frees). Nothing I saw on Sun changed my mind about Cafferky. FB is the most thankless job on the field…you can snuff out 95 % of the danger but all people will remember you for is the 5% that went pear shaped. You also have to take into account the guy he was on…possibly the best in his position in the country. For me cafferky did really well and is there for the long haul. Also Galway DID make a lot of errors but not unforced!! THe key to mayos victory was the pressure the put on every Galway player when in possession. OMalley did struggle….that was the only real negative but this was cancelled out by Vaughans mature performance….a definite starter the next day you would think.