The GAA announced a short while ago that the Kerry/Tyrone semi-final will be pushed back by a further week and that, as a consequence, the final will also be moved back. The second semi-final will now be played on Saturday, 28th August, while the final is set for Saturday, 11th September. Times and dates for these revised fixtures have not yet been announced.
The GAA’s announcement on the change is here and RTÉ have a piece on it here.
This means we’re now set to have a four-week break between yesterday’s semi-final and the Sam Maguire decider. There are, obviously, pluses and minuses to the fixture change from our perspective but I’d reckon the positives outweigh the negatives for us.
We must have plenty of tired bodies in the ranks in the wake of yesterday’s shuddering contest and we’re also likely to have a few players carrying knocks, so the extra recovery time will be welcome from that point of view. While there’s still no word on the injury that kept Oisín Mullin out of the semi-final, you’d have to hope that the Kilmaine player will be okay for the final.
One player, sadly, who definitely won’t be is Eoghan McLaughlin. It was revealed today that John Small’s horrendous late challenge on the Westport player in the second half of last night’s game resulted in a double jaw fracture and Eoghan underwent surgery on it today. Here’s hoping all that went well and that he’s on the road to recovery and is back to full health as soon as possible.
911 we’ve only one plan
I hear what you’re saying about the recovery and hopefully having Oisin back, but 4 weeks is a long time without a game. Too long.
It’s advantage Kerry or Tyrone with this news, their 2 week gap to the final is pretty much ideal preparation.
I think James Horan even mentioned something about ideally having a game every 2 weeks, which is perfect for recovery and keeping momentum going.
I don’t suppose they will increase the capacity from 40,000 given that the new date is now 2 weeks later than the original late August date.
Surely 50,000 must be a possibility.
Personally I’d allow 82,300 into this game if it was up to me.
Jeez – it’s amazing how a what the tv coverage call a good old fashioned shoulder to shoulder results in a double fracture of the jaw………..
Challenge was full on but having watched it back a few times he never lifted his arm so it was abit unluck that he got hit on the jaw but no doubt he was trying to take him out. My only gripe as was Horans is that he should have stopped the game as it was obvious it was head high injury
Agree on the capacity, even if we had to wear mask for whole match id get over it
Is there any particular reason they are keeping the second All Ireland date to a Saturday?
It’s a plus for us with Oisin and I am sure there are other minor injuries after yesterday
It is good for Kerry to have a game but if they have any injuries 2 weeks is. Short recovery time
Roll on the final . Sitting here in western Canada, I cant leave the house due to smoke from forest fires. Really enjoyed watching the game back . Reading every bit of mayo gaa news I can find . Just seen a great clip on Mayo fans singing in Leeds Irish Ctr on youtube.
So glad we beat this great team, in the best way possible. Dublin always have got the soft decisions over the last 6 years, never concede a dodgy peno, man senf off wrongly etc personally I couldn’t understand it as its adds to lack of competitiveness.
As Padraig said we always put ourselves at the bottom of the hill! We like a challenge ! Great podcast, great blog! Good times are back !
Conor Lane should never be allowed to even hold a whistle ever again never mind ref a match. A total disgrace and a coward. Does somebody have to have their neck broken before some action is taken to remove this thuggery from the game.
The Dubs were reduced to their default mode of dirt when things weren’t going their way and not surprising when they get away with it year after year. Same goes for the yerras.
Aiden O’Shea is not a scoring forward and the tactic of positioning a big man on the edge of the square went out with Donaghy. It has never worked against the Dubs. Why was he left in there when no decent ball was going in to him and no support runners available. Don’t make him look like he hasn’t a clue. He has been immense for Mayo over his career and has sacrificed his own game to fulfill a role for the team e.g. full back to put Donaghy back in his box.
We are given the shit end of the stick once again by having the final moved to 11th of September. Why don’t they just move it to Limerick while they are it. No game for 4 weeks! What happens if Kerry catch covid?
What a performance yesterday! What a memory for every Mayo supporter to treasure for the rest of their days. One victory can erase many losses because our boys have always died with their boots on. This victory is for us, the Mayo tribe, and we could care less what anybody says about Dublin’s demise. We would not swap one of our lads for all Dublin and Kerry squads even if it means never winning an All Ireland. There are more important things than winning such as honour and fair play. Maybe I’m a fool but that’s how I see it.
Replying to Sabina. The Camogie final is on Sunday the 12th. Ladies football final the previous Sunday. As for capacity increase, the government are due to announce a further reopening plan by the end of August so hopefully by mid September a much higher capacity will be allowed in. We will be at 90% vaccinated by then. No reason why HQ can’t be full.
Good man bogman. Totally agree with last paragraph. Maybe I’m wrong lads but surely there was more than 24000 in attendance yesterday. In years to come every mayo fan you meet will all say they were there. Definitely would have said even taken the spread out of people that it looked like 30,35000 of a crowd imo.
Wow, no Ciaran Whelan on Sunday Game…..
And it’s killing Des so much!!
Full HQ please
No whelo on Sunday game? Strange
McStay’s admission did not go far enough … calling thuggery “lousy” won’t cut it… Dublin did not lose composure Des… at least McConville got closer to the truth
4 weeks until the next game is ridiculous. Kerry getting it all their own way, as usual. The only plus is that it offers more time to Mullin, but I don’t believe we’ll be seeing him for the final in any case.
Fair play to Oisin McConville and Colm Cooper for calling it as they saw it..Where was Whelo?..maybe even he didn’t have the brass neck to try and defend the indefensible
Well said Bogman.
Fair play to Oisin McConville, calling out Lane and Deggan. Under their watch, they allowed a young man to be assaulted and did nothing to protect him. McConville called them out and Mcstay slithered. The brave stand up in the moment. Too late for mea cuplas.
Well done to the team and management yesterday, unreal comeback and display in second half. Nerves if steel! Best of luck to Eoghan Mc Laughlin in recovery.
Fair play to McConville for pointing out some of awful decisions and cynical play. Should have been a few more red and black cards for Dublin. Paul Caffrey and Billy Joe on Offtheball talking about the match and the Small assault. BJ explains why it was terrible/dangerous/red card/duty of care etc etc. Caffrey then goes on to argue that it wasn’t even a foul!! Even the presenter couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Outrageous stuff, you couldn’t make it up, fuming!!
McStay admits he was wrong. Now says it should have been a red. The only people with case to answer are mr Lane and Mr Deegan. Of course they won’t answer. Wishing Eoghan a speedy recovery. Aidan should start at no 14 in final. No question of him being an impact sub as someone suggested. We’re good enough to destroy the Yerras. I sincerely hope we do
I dont get what the issue is with McStay. Watching the game yesterday where was he against us.
For the incident with Eoghan on my first two viewings I thought it was shoulder to shoulder. Yes he got it wrong but so did i. When Kevin Mc was pulled down he called for a black. He was not anti MAyo
I heard the MWR commenatary. Loved it. But Kevin couldnt do a Martin Carney on it and be completely unbiased. Mike Finnerty wasnt calling out anything either (and rightly so).
I was dying to know did the Dubs sweep up the dressing room, was waiting for Des to share that news
[Deleted].
That’s out of order Joesph Ruane. Kevin put his hands up,and admitted his mistake.
He’s as proud a Mayo man as you or I.
The photo of the hit / elbow to the jaw in the Irish Independent says far more than McStay
McConville has always”got mayo” and clearly likes that team so fair dues- he’s right as well … we need to come down before we can come back up for final, but 3 weeks was enough for that so advantage Kerry but it might be slight enough.. … …enjoy these weeks!
The only people who won’t have to defend themselves on this assault will be the ref and linesman, Lane and Deegan. Ironically, they are the only ones on the pitch getting paid. The officials were an utter disgrace yesterday.
John small was looking straight into eoghain macs eyes when he sized him up fir the hit. Ara the while rte job is rubbish. A poorly presented programme with as much professionalism as a group of Neanderthals. Sky analysis much more balanced and noone talking over anyone. We all know if Keegan struck a dublin player the same way lanes approach would be alot different.
Guys,
Mcstay made a mistake in his call and people are want him burnt on a stake, people moaning about the 4 weeks, that is only fair to Tyrone and kerry, kerry will have gone 6 before semi.
Balance is needed.
If we’re good enough we will win, if not it won’t be because of the 4 weeks
Well said Tommy Joe
Kevin Mcstay was wrong . And he admitted as such tonight. He was a co commentator not a match official
Let’s not make a villain out of a proud mayo man
I’m going to play devil’s advocate here.
Kevin Mcstay is a gentleman. A decent human being.
I disagree with him on the position he takes on dangerous tackles.
I also disagree with his view that referees never influence the outcome of games.
If Dublin had even fisted over that continuance of play instead of kicking wide after that shocking challenge they would probably be in the AI final.
I’ll go back to where I started.
As far as calling it as it happened, Kevin has not rocked the boat, and backed away from calling it thuggery, which that assault was.
I still think Kevin is a decent human being and I normally love listening to him, normally, except when he backs away from the facts.
Thought Mc Conville was very accurate in his assessment tonight..Flagging the ” duty of care” aspect of the game and in addition his confusion as to how Conor Lane/ Maurice Deegan missed that big call..
I couldn’t see how we would pull a win out of the bag yesterday ..Pure unadulterated joy when they proved me wrong..
Joseph Ruane – that comment was completely out of order but what’s even worse was that you admitted as much in posting it. That’s a gross abuse of a facility that’s maintained to allow people to conduct a fair and reasonable debate.
Well said km79.
Okay, all, I’m going to have to call an end to the debate on Kevin McStay’s opinions about the hit on Eoghan McLaughlin. He held his hand up tonight and admitted that his in-game assessment of the incident was wrong and I don’t see what more he can say.
Some of the stuff that certain people have tried to post here about him has been way out of order and those involved would do well to take a long, hard look in the mirror. None of us are perfect, we all make mistakes and nobody deserves to be flailed online when we get things wrong, still less when someone has the honesty to admit his error.
I was one of the first to call out Kevin yesterday but I accept his apology and am glad he recognised his error and said so on national Tv, we move on. I hope to God he learns from this though, try not to be so unbiased that you end up being biased against Mayo in future. As I said yesterday – the fitzsimons belt on keegan in last years final received a similar commentary from mcstay so it’s not a stand alone incident. If more people called out the dubs they wouldn’t repeatedly get away with the thuggery they’ve been practicing for years and leave a brilliant young footballer in hospital tonight for example
No talk of an imbalance now of resources lol ya cant buy what we showed yesterday
If Small hadn’t taken out Eoghan the game may not have gone into utter chaos which would have suited Dublin. I’m sure the hit also riled up our lads. As Gooch rightly pointed out, imagine if Dublin had scored that goal chance that came from it? Dublin rightly got a dose of karma. Surely Small’s card is marked for the future now.
I agree it’s time to move on from it now.
Get well soon Eoghan. We’ll miss you no end for the final.
Enjoyed the Sunday game tonight, surprisingly they made it about Mayo and rightly so. McStay admitted he called it wrong, and agree with some posters fair play to Cooper and McConville they called it out, at the end of the day it was the refs decision and they missed it, awful stuff to see a player in obvious distress and the game continued, that bit was really hard to take. Lets hope Eoin McLaughlin is OK. Anyway a lot to look forward to over the coming weeks. On a separate note did anyone read the article in the examiner by Colin Sheridan? It has to be the funniest, emotional yet accurate peice I have read, that sums up what happened yesterday.
The last thing I would like to say on the issue is,
I truly believe that K Mcstays character is so impecabble, and that he’s such a nice guy that he actually does not want to publicly highlight or blacken any player or official in public.
It may infuriate some people, but think about it.
The man has so much class, in a gig where we have people saying the most outrageous things to try and stay relevant.
The man loves football and talking and discussing football, but believe me, Kevin Mcstay has never earned his crust by going for the easy option and dragging individuals through the shit. Ever.
In my book, he’s a class act, and the podcasts here and the Sunday games have been richer with his involvement.
I personally know of an old classmate of mine, suffered a horrific injury. Kevin was the first man on board plugging a fundraising event that was taking place.
I hope someday that I might be half the man he is. A true gent.
So the Sunday Game couldn’t let Mayo have their day without them showing us a reprise of Dublin’s Glory Days. If I thought that was the last of them I might nearly have watched it. Thank God for Match of the Day!!
Kevin said he got the call wrong on national TV. What more do people want? Blood. Irrespective of the way things turned out nothing is going to unbreak Eoghan’s jaw. If its blood people are looking for I have no doubt there will be retrospective sanctions against Small. More blood you say like Lane step aside from refereeing, will that be enough? What the fuck will all that achieve, Eoaghan got hit in the head and the game should have stopped.. end of. This may happen again with different referees, different players different location and we need to know the game will be stopped and the player given immediate treatment or someone could die. This is what is important, is at stake and not some silly side show nonsense of who saw what. TMO, protocols swift action and save someone’s life down the road. GAA needs a video ref at the very least for these big games. Speedy recovery Eoaghan
Don’t know where all the abuse regarding the Sunday game is coming from. I enjoyed it and thought they gave mayo the praise they deserved. Maybe I missed something
Lads again I will say it as a Dub complete missed timed tackle and a Red Card all day. By the way better team won by a mile. But what piss is the the lack of balance. As I said last night Rory O’Caroll got 9 sitches in the head from an assault from a Mayo player in the 2013 final and had to come off. Off the ball incident by the way but sure listen we will forget about it.
@Everhopefull.
Dublin deserved to have a section of the Sunday game dedicated to them. For fucks sake they won 6 on the trot. It would have been a disgrace if there hadn’t been a segment on them.
I agree @No doubt. I thought the Sunday game was brilliant tonight. I was very happy to hear the panelists saying that the break before the final will benefit mayo as it might take the lads a week and a half to come down from this win.
Revellino, that was a very nice post about Kevin McStay, very well stated indeed.
Thank you for writing this.
Sometimes, there is a lot of brashness in public life and subtler things don’t always get highlighted, like people trying to have decorum.
I’m glad Kevin spoke out about the injury and admitted he got the call wrong.
I sense you are right about Kevin and I also do believe he is a proud Mayo and Ballina man, who loves Gaelic football.
I’m still wishing Eoghan all my best for his recovery.
@Swallow Swoops.
He’s one of the good ones. And that’s actually the line he used when advertising the function for my class mate who had the horrific accident.
If you cannot see how decent the man is when watching him on TV then the TV isn’t on.
Tonight’s Sunday Game was one of the first times that RTE and the panel had a honest, transparent discussion about the game they were reviewing including the assessment of the referee and his assistants. I don’t know was it a case of “The King is Dead” ‘Long live the King’ but this has rarely happened in recent times including recent All Ireland Finals where lots of contentious and controversial incidents were ignored. Oisin McConville and Colm Cooper were honest and excellent.
Mayo spent so much mental and physical energy on that game the lads will probably need till Wednesday this week doing little more than the swimming pool, stretching and sleeping. The 4 weeks is good for us, we are a team that beats you by outworking you. To be absolutely 100% ready to rock the 4 weeks helps.
Also it gives Diarmuid, Brendan Harrison, Oisin Mullen more time to be ready.
You make a fair point Mayohusband.Of course we do lack balance.What happened on Saturday and other days you mentioned is a symptom of lack of control in the game.There has to be room for retrospective action and VR in my book.Captains have to have the right of appeal on the field and refs have to be more consistent when given these tools.
Tom Parsons was headbutted by McMahon in an off the ball incident in 2016 went down the tunnel…linesman seen it and bottled it.Keegan was taken out last year just didn’t break his jaw but same kind of tackle….all the way back to John Finn in 1985……
It’s hard to get calls against Dublin in their home ground.
Of course our guys do the same at times I can’t mention the incidences because when your guys do it it’s brushed off…..
The point is it has to stop….because that kind of blow to the head can be fatal and no one wants that.
I accept Kevin Mc Stay’s apology but I never want him near a Mayo team managing it or having anything to do with it. I say this based on my memories of him being joint manager with Anthony Egan in 1995 and the hiding we got in Tuam losing by 10 points in the Connacht final. John Maughan brought the exact same team to within a dodgy bounce of the ball of winning Sam the following year. I know I need to get over that defeat but I have no time for McStay after that even tho I met him a few times after that and he was friendly and personable. What happened to Eoin Mc Laughlin was criminal I wish him well in his recovery
I think that the gaa will learn from this, Lane tends to let a lot of physicality go, he got this wrong. I do not believe that John Small wanted to break a jaw, he wanted to hit hard which is fair enough but there should have been a sanction as he got the hit slightly off.
Dublin frustrations got the better of them, this is human nature, ultimately this contributed to them losing the game.
In my opinion, a complete over reaction re Kevin McStay. Is it a case that some cannot forgive him for managing a local rival? Are there some people who never make mistakes? Fair dues, but you are the exception.
Funny Head down, stay goin…did they sweep the changing room….
Things happen. Emotions rise. Things get said. It is time to get some control on the refereeing and the linesman support. Maybe var or whatever is the answer. I don’t know.
It’s time now we focus on the plan…we only have one plan. Few words but some depth.
I’m so thinking of Eoghan right now. A young man who poured his heart out for us, for his beloved Mayo. His absence is huge. His injury is horrific. But his support needs to be positive and determined. Let’s stand together and focus on the positive, indomitable Mayo spirit. We need focus and belief and determination to get the mind right for 9/11. It’s time to dismantle the twin towers of Dublin and (if they get past Tyrone…which is no given!!) Kerry.
Let’s dance
Maigheo abú
I know it may be early days to be talking about tickets for the final but does any of ye know what sort of allocation is to be expected? What is the distribution of the tickets for the Hurling final, are tickets being allocated to all clubs in the country as before?
Will the GAA offer tickets to season ticket holders? I know many are not members of clubs so would be missing out.
I have seen from other sources that Cork County Board are offering tickets to their season ticket holders but doesnt seem to be the case from Limerick.
If enough of season ticket holders made contact with the GAA, would anything be done for them with the ticket distribution. Its very poor that the season ticket holders who have continously supported the team over the past number of years have just been dropped and forgotten about. For the final, all season ticket holders at the point of the discontinuation of scheme should be given the option of purchasing a ticket for the final. This is not too much to ask for given their commitment to the team over the past number of years.
@ Mayo Husband: I remember the incident you cited and yes, it was a nasty one. However, ROC was dragging out of the back of COC at the time, which mitigated the intent in my eyes. But maybe you have a different view of it.
I certainly remember the ire of a lot of the Dublin fans online at the time. Yet James McCarthy was at the centre of a similar thing with DOC and nothing has been said about it. Strange one.
I actually like McCarthy as a footballer but felt he let himself down a bit on Saturday evening. The black card at the end was crazy given that the Dubs needed to force a goal from the free.
As for McStay, fair play to him for owning up to his mistake, but I can’t look past this being one of several heavy fouls on Mayo footballers in recent Mayo v Dublin games that he has, at the very least, downplayed significantly. Other examples such as Mick Fitzsimon’s shoulder charge into Lee Keegan’s chest spring to mind, and even Dean Rock barrelling into Tommy Conroy’s chest three minutes in was downplayed as a harsh yellow.
His managerial record with Brigid’s and Roscommon shows that he knows the game, so it’s hard to accept this sort of analysis. And if he feels like it’s hard for him to call Mayo games, then he should pass the co-commentator’s gig to someone who will, like Oisín McConville.
The sweeping up the dressing room is a funny one, alright. It’s been a long-time tradition of the All-Blacks, who just happened to be sponsored by? That’s right, AIG. Between that and their lionising of Philly McMahon, the Dubs certainly know how to do media marketing…
I remember reading the Sunday Independent (I know, it was bought by my parents!) a few years ago before one of our All-Ireland final jousts with Dublin, which had a profile of all the players on both panels. Andy Moran and Philly McMahon are in the same business, yet the former was described as a “gym owner” while the latter was an “entrepreneur”. Just another example of some of the subtle media bias that exists…