Following Tyrone’s shock win over Kerry in last Saturday’s second All-Ireland semi-final, the countdown to this year’s Sam Maguire decider now begins in earnest. In this episode of the Mayo News football podcast we set the scene for the lead-in to what is set to be a novel All-Ireland final, with Mayo and Tyrone meeting for the first ever time in a Championship decider.
Rob Murphy hosts this show, which begins at Croke Park last Saturday shortly after the final whistle had sounded, where I join Rob in the Lower Davin to provide a few initial thoughts on Tyrone’s defeat of Kerry and what this means for Mayo on 11th September.
Next Rob catches up for an in-depth chat with GAA journalist and writer Declan Bogue about Tyrone’s victory, both in terms of the way it was achieved and the kind of opposition the O’Neill County are likely to provide Mayo with in the final. Rob then chats with Mayo News columnist Ger Flanagan and me about last Saturday’s semi-final before we turn our thoughts ahead to the final on Saturday week.
This episode of the Mayo News football podcast is now online and is available to listen to on iTunes, SoundCloud, Podomatic and Spotify. You can also listen to it directly on the Mayo News website as well as here on the blog using the SoundCloud player below or the one on the panel on the right.
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The Mayo News football podcast is produced and edited by Ger Duffy Media. The show is sponsored by Ceramic City and Swinford Motors, two fine Mayo businesses with whom we’re proud to be associated this year, all the way to the All-Ireland final.
Just finished the podcast……Great discussion and insights……
Just a random question……..Because both finalists have a bit of red in their shirts, is it a given that one or both will have to revert to a second strip ?……Or how does that work ?
@MartyK: I don’t think so, any previous time we have played them both sides have lined out in their regular colours.
Great podcast again. It’s just amazing.
A few thoughts on the game.
Historic games between the teams is probably not going to be relevant for the final.
This game is going to be elemental
It’ll be all about energy,hunger, belief , fitness,speed and collective will.
At key moments if not the entire game we have to hunt in packs to turnover ball. One thing is for sure is that our forwards will be hunted by their packs and will find themselves turned over.
The opening has to be cagey and we have to keep the scoreboard ticking over while not conceding goals.
If we have to take long distance points we should have a go at it just do not drop the ball short. Give the ball to Loftus , Diarmuid, Kevin McLoughlin ,Darren Coen, Paddy Durcan or James Carr.
We can not let them park the bus for 70+minutes. So we have to try to get ahead early in the second half.
We have to plan on turning over some of their counter attacks using a pack mentality. And moving the ball in fast from there.
We will be turned over at times but we must limit giving the ball away with sloppy passing.
There is every reason to believe that these two teams coming together could be a car crash. Fitness levels will be tested to the ultimate. I expect the ref to issue lots of cards of all colors. I expect dog days of football.
I would man mark Canavan or Bradley if they come on. They can’t be left to wander.
Whoever has the fitness in the last ten minutes will win this in regular time.
If both Hession and Oisin Mullin are fit and playing then I believe we will win. You can’t have a great strategy for speed like that. It would give me great confidence to see both of those guys playing.
Hession ideal to come on and man mark Canavan when he comes on. Personally think he’s over rated because of who is father is, if you look at his goal chance the last day, he kicked it straight at the keeper fron point blank range, only for the lucky bounce to McShane Kerry would be in the final. Yeah he’s quick, but no Kevin McMenamon or Paul Mannion when it comes to an impact sub.
The more I think about Tyrone the stronger they seem. I thought they had 2 good scoring forwards going into the Kerry game, Donnelly and McCurry, but there were 2 better finishers on the day, Mckenna and McShane.
They took their goals really well, didn’t miss.
Mayo will have to look at the middle 8, is Jordan back in the mix, or Walsh from Ballintubber ?, it will be dogged on the day.
The Tyrone Centre back is small, if high ball was played to his opponent it could work well.
Has Mayo a good height advantage in key areas around the pitch.
Any chance of a ticket anywhere, I’m getting my speak in early.
It means nothing………………….thanks for that..
Not that it makes much difference but Mayo will warm up the Hill 16 end for the final. It was the Canal end for the Galway and Dublin game.
P.s. which also means we’ll be in a different dressing room. Again, all this makes no odds. Just throwing it out there.
Really enjoyed the podcast. Keep them coming.
Declan B feels it is Tyrone’s to lose. An honest opinion I must say but I think he is favoring them by the narrowest of margins. I enjoyed his input and his suggestion that this might be a Colm Boyle type of game. Not sure we’ll see that, but yes, it would be another way sand bag up the defense, especially in the early exchanges.
I hope we are tuning up on rapid hand pass drills, need to have the ball away before the Tyrone pack close in on whoever is in possession.
Also need to stay away from head down soloing in to Tyrone arms. Solo away, no problem, but make sure there is a support runner making the run as well to dish off to.
Ryan, Conor and Mattie to have a few long range cracks each, at the posts in the first 20 minutes. If they could hit a few over from between the 40 and 50 it would unsettle Tyrone and draw them out. Then we might be able to exploit them in behind.
Many all Ireland football final results are decided or greatly influenced by refereeing decisions or lack of same. This one i expect will be similar. It’s a case of each teams ability to infringe to the max and get punished the min. I don’t expect a classic.
The build up had been a simmer, now with this pod it’s started to bubble a bit more, Declan did state on his last pod visit that Tyrone had no real hope of winning, we all know that result. His opening remarks were that 3 of their better players weren’t even available due to Covid (maybe). So advantage them?! We’d no Oisin and Aidan had a rare off day, advantage us?
No matter what way you perceive the Tyrone v Kerry match, hard work and a whole lot of luck favoured Tyrone to win. Looking back at it Kerry were so so wasteful and had no apparent tactics.
We’ve all plenty of time until the 11th to convince ourselves we’ll win and similarly put the fear of God into us that we’ll lose.
All thoughts will be irrelevant until the whistle is blown, the O’Neill’s size 5 is lofted into the air and we go to hell to seize they leather for a real royal rumble.
I’ve no idea how the game will play out but, one thing is for sure, the plan will come together nicely.
Hup. Mayo.
One question I ask myself is if the semi finals were reversed and Mayo played Kerry and Dublin v Tyrone who would win. I think Mayo would have caused havok against Kerry while I don’t believe Tyrone would have been able to score enough against a much more organised Dublin team. Tyrone will pack the defence which will negate our running game so we will need to be patient and wait for moments. Need to have runners off the shoulder and do not bring it into the tackle. I do believe Mayo are much better than Kerry at holding the ball and making the decision to pass back and move across the field. The amount of times during the game that a kerry man tried to run past his marker only to run into cul de sac. The battles over the years against Dublin who are the most organised team in the country has meant we had to change our game. We are still not great at breaking down packed defences but maybe Tyrone will play more open as they don’t fear Mayos forwards which could play into our hands. Mayo do have a tendency to leak goals but we showed against Dublin that we can keep a clean sheet when he play a bit deeper but then that takes away from our attacking game. Will 2 weeks be enough time for Tyrone to come down, recover and prepare for the final? Is 4 weeks too long between games for Mayo to keep their match fitness up. I dono what Mayo did but I guess for last 2 weeks they analysed the Dublin game, did some light training and recovery and now for next 2 weeks build up again, Probably have an A v B game next weekend.
Half way though the semi I was doing something I never thought I would do, pray that Kerry would get over the line so we could, and I believe would beat them in the final.
Tyrone not so sure, not sure if the pessimism thats been beaten into me over the years but if there’s any pressure going into this one its now on us. The narrative are Tyrone are in bonus territory and its ours to lose and if we do then all the old shite will come out again about us. Thats pressure. Tyrone also have men in their dressing room who know how to win an allireland seniors, we do not. Young tyrone players can look to Dooher for advice on getting over the line, we dont have anyone in our camp who can say that on the biggest stage. Yes I know we have winners at underage and club but this is different.
Look, this is a fan site, what any of us say is a million miles away from what players feel/think but just giving my opinion on how I see the whole thing going.
I think we had the indian sign over Mickey Harte Tyrone teams, this is a different kettle of fish
Great pod Lads, really enjoyed that. My appetite for all things final related is at its usual level of voraciousness, constantly checking for podcast and print media updates, scouring the internet for any and every opinion on the final.
Something’s different though – I feel calm rather than spiky, excited rather than trepidatious, content to lean in, rather than endure, the build up. The only nervousness I feel ahead of this one is around securing a ticket! Who knows, it may be all different next week, but for now, I’m enjoying the run in.
I think one of the reasons why I’m so sanguine, is I’m a little perplexed and yet very comfortable, with the narrative that seems to be building around Tyrone. Whilst the bookies may make us marginal favourites, there does seem to be a real consensus out there that Mayo will be hard pressed to stop Tyrone, and in Declan’s words, this is theirs to lose. This notion that Mayo would have preferred to play Kerry has been mentioned more than once, because we’d know what we were going to face, and now we don’t. I’m not sure I buy that as a binary argument, but I’m quite happy for that narrative to build, all the same. Tyrone have gone from no hopers, to almost even money (they were 15/1 for Sam before the Kerry game) after one game, in which they played pretty poorly at times.
Also, whilst I really enjoyed Declan Bogue’s analysis, it did feel a little on the giddy side for me – dare I say it, somewhat reminiscent of our own Mayo tinted analysis, in advance of finals after big wins along the way like Tyrone in ’04 & Dublin in ’06, maybe even Dublin in ’12? In hindsight we can all agree, with the exception of maybe ’12, we lost the run of ourselves in advance of both. In fact, I think there are serious correlations to be drawn between this Tyrone team, and the Mayo team of ’06. They’d both been in recent finals, only to get their asses handed to them by far better teams. They both found themselves back in finals, after beating one of the main contenders despite being unbackable to do so, with imperfect performances that were full of courage, determination and no little luck. They also both won a psychological war of sorts (Hillgate v Covidgate) in advance of throw in. I’d also venture, that the Dublin team of ’06 performed considerably better than the Kerry team of ’21!
Look I appreciate all of that is a little tenuous in this day and age, the game has changed so much and teams are so well prepared now, its hard to make any valid comparisons between ’06 and now, granted. But having said that, the media have been quite happy to point to Tyrone as an irresistible, immovable footballing object, on the cusp of great things. Maybe they are, but I have my doubts.
Ultimately, I’d much prefer to be where we are – heading into the final game of the championship, undefeated in the calendar year, quietly building a plan, devoid of hype and drama. This one feels different because it is different folks – lean into it, enjoy it, let it all wash over you, what will be will be, and we will be ready!
East cork exile I was doing the same, I would have preferred Kerry.
Listened to the podcast over the breakfast earlier, good job lads. WJ was saying that he couldn’t understand where the narrative about Kerry came from (relative to the narrative about Mayo).
It’s fairly obvious that it comes from our own record in finals. As good and as resilient as we have been, until we win the big one, we will simply never receive the respect we feel our lads deserve as a team. The reality of the present matters not a jot; fact that we are streets ahead of this current Kerry team in terms of ability counts for nothing. It is the perception that counts and Kerry are still perceived as winners. And let’s face it, we’ve been challenging since 2011, but Kerry actually won a final in that period.
Until we win a final, we will continue to be dismissed and that’s the way it’s going to be. Hopefully that will come to an end on September 11.
Out of interest (and don’t shoot me), has the GAA specified a date for a potential replay? Glad to see this final won’t be decided on penalties at least!!
The referee is going to have a massive impact I believe and more importantly our ability to read how he is letting the game develop. In the first few minutes on Saturday’s game when Tyrone tore into Kerry, I was expecting Coldrick to blow up for Tyrone fouls on numerous occasions as were the Kerry players no doubt. The Tyrone lads were probing how far they could push things and quickly realised the edges of the envelope were fairly elastic. Limerick 2014 Kerry realised the game was being fought in an octagon (illegally so because of Reilly’s cowardly incompetence) while we were still playing Queensbury.
When Tyrone come barreling in testing the limits of the referees tolerances we need to react immediately. If he starts pinging Tyrone for too much aggression that will put them off their game and allow us to run bald headed at them, however, if he is allowing thing to go like our semi and borderline loses control of the game then it’s into the trenches we go.
If it does go into the trenches then I’d expect to see Colm Boyle entering the fray soon there after.
Evidently An Geata Mor (See what I did there? :)) the problem over the years, even taking my red and green glasses off, is that when we start responding to thuggery not being called out by the ref, he inevitably suddenly wakes up to the rules and starts punishing someone (i.e us) when we start standing up for ourselves.
I pray it will be David Gough, hes the obvious choice not only given his competence but also the fact that he is from neither province which I know isnt a rule but it certainly helps. Here are the choices
For what its worth I watch the 2020 Cork senior final on Sunday, Conor was at the same shite again, missing everything and flashing a load of blacks at the very end when it didn’t really matter anymore, hes toast as far as I’m concerned at any sort of high level.
2021 inter-county senior football championship referees panel – Barry Cassidy (Derry), Conor Lane (Cork), Derek O’Mahoney (Tipperary), Joe McQuillan (Cavan), Niall Cullen (Fermanagh), Brendan Cawley (Kildare), David Coldrick (Meath), Fergal Kelly (Longford), Martin McNally (Monaghan), Paul Faloon (Down), Ciaran Branagan (Down), David Gough (Meath), Jerome Henry (Mayo), Maurice Deegan (Laois), Sean Hurson (Tyrone).
I could do without seeing articles like Martin Brehenys one in the indo today where he announces Mayo have it in the bag for the final with absolute certainty.
I think he is being a bit disinegenuos there id say, not sure if he is attempting a reverse jinx or if he trying to whip up hysteria with mayo fans. Best ignored, ditto for David Brady
@Anne marie
Where are you seeing this about a potential replay? Surely it will go down to extra time in the event of a draw again? Seeing as competition is already 2 weeks behind schedule as it is
Yes Supermac it will go to extra time in the event of a draw. I meant if it’s not decided after extra time. I just like to spend the days in a run-up to a final torturing myself with every worst case scenario I possibly can.
I had nearly forgotten that Martin Breheny existed to be honest. I think we’re lucky that we have so many great sports writers at the moment that it means he is more easily ignored thankfully. I really enjoyed Colin Sheridan’s piece earlier in the Examiner, here’s a quote:
“There have been books written on the back of Tyrone’s utter indifference to tradition. Their defiance. The gargantuan chip on their persecuted shoulders. There should be another book written deconstructing Kerry’s dedication to hubris. For the last two years they have become the perfect working-from-home team, appearing on every Zoom call looking a million bucks and convincing us they were working their backsides off, meanwhile they couldn’t be arsed putting any trousers on.”
Great post, Exiled in Dublin. I think I needed to read that today!
Thanks Anne-Marie! I absolutely loved Colin Sheridan’s article as well – particularly the piece around the surfers and the Ulster final! Its more likely one of them is called Tyrone Monaghan than any one of them having any interest or consciousness of the Ulster final taking place! Classic stuff altogether! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Darren Coen has come into my thinking as a possible starter for this one. I keep flip flopping on whether AOS should start or not, but i believe he takes far too much out of the ball and Tyrone backs love that as we seen against kerry time and time again, scores are going to be hard earned and we may find oursleves needing to be accurate from long range, we need our most accurate shooters on the pitch and Coen fits the ball for that. I also believe Hession is now a cert to start as is Mullins, all our athletic hard runners from deep will be needed in this one. As it stands i would start as follows
Hennelly
S. Coen
O’Hora
Plunkett
Keegan
Mullin
Hession
Loftus
Diarmuid o’c
Ruane
Kev McLoughlin
Paddy Durcan
ROD
D Coen
Tommy Conroy
No extra capacity for the All Ireland according to Stephen Donnelly today.
Exiled in Dublin, really liked your post too. Perception does play a big role, doesn’t it?
If our camp is like a forest right now, there seems barely a rustle, a peep, all is gentle silence. Thank God. And maybe James and lads are going about their business calmly. Go n’éirí libh.
Isn’t it great that 90% of the discussion this year is about Dublin and how they’ve gone backwards, Tyrone with COVID, their dogedness and lots more and Kerry and how they got everything wrong…I’m loving hearing nothing about Mayo.
This is a serious panel with serious management (not that we didn’t have serious people before). There is no hype, no daft, loose talk – just one plan!
@Supermac I think Coen would be more effective coming off the bench Saturday Week, when the game is in the melting pot this is when you need your Sharpshooters in position to pounce (Like we seen V Dublin.) With regards to AoS, there is no way he doesn’t start this game for me, even if he has not put in a consistent performance in the last two games he still gives the opposition a headache on how to deal with him. I’d like to see Carr start at 14, AoS at 11, and switch them in and out throughout the first 3 quarters. The hard task for the man at 11 however Saturday week, will be having to deal with Kieran McGeary. Finally, I think Plunkett misses out at corner back, Paddy should start where he is at his best (wing back) meaning Keegan will remain in the corner.
So many possibilities for positions but that’s a good thing.
thanks Swallow Swoops – agreed, God knows we’ve had enough hype to last us a lifetime, the quieter the better. Our mid Ulster brothers and sisters can crank up their hype machine, for once, we wont be biting, let them and everyone else for that matter, draw their own conclusions on how this one will transpire.
I see our friend Joe McQuillan has been selected as the match referee for the All-Ireland final next week.
https://www.gaa.ie/football/news/joe-mcquillan-to-referee-all-ireland-sfc-final/
It seems odd to me that a referee and several of the match officials come from Ulster, the same province as one of the teams. There are no Connacht men amongst the match officials, nor have there been for some time in All-Ireland finals.
But I guess we have to deal with now and move on.
Interesting. So Mayo will tog out in a different dressing room. We’ve been in the same dressing since 2012.
Totally agree with John’s point in the podcast about all the hype around Kerry – there was a lot of talk about them when realistically they have done very little the last couple of years! Think it was more their reputation and their historical achievements that we were all so hung up on!