It was a case of another Mayo match, another second half collapse by a team in the Green and Red tonight at Kiltoom. We came into this Connacht U21 semi-final against Roscommon as slight favourites after our extra-time win over All-Ireland champions Galway last week and we justified this in the opening half, at the end of which we led by a point. However, just as happened to the seniors last Sunday, we were comprehensively blown away in the second half and ended up on the end of a decisive enough four-point defeat.
We suffered a blow before the action got underway at all when Danny Kirby was unable to take his place in the starting fifteen – due to a fractured thumb suffered at training last Sunday – with Aghamore’s Brendan Harrison starting instead of him. Roscommon had the edge at the outset where they led by four points to two after 10 minutes, our scores coming from Evan Regan and Aidan Walsh (free). Conor O’Shea got one from play for us but a Donie Smith free restored the home side’s two-point lead.
We gradually took over as the half went on, though, and four unanswered points – frees from Evan Regan and Cillian O’Connor (2) and another point from play by Conor O’Shea – propelled us briefly into the driving seat. We would have been even more in charge if an audacious pop at goal from over 30 yards out by Cillian – who’d spotted the ‘keeper stranded – had gone in but instead it was cleared off the line. The Rossies had the final say in the opening half, however, with a point by Niall Daly cutting the gap to the minimum before the half hour was up.
The home team also drew first blood after the restart when, after a patient build-up involving half a dozen passes, Donie Smith thumped over the equaliser. Soon after, Paul Mannion kicked a rather aimless free out the field where it was intercepted by Fintan Cregg who knocked it over to put the Sheepstealers back in front.
Ray Dempsey made his first change at this stage, with James Shaughnessy coming on for Brendan Harrison. The Claremorris man took up position at corner-forward, with Evan Regan moving out to half-forward.
Roscommon had us under more or less constant pressure for the next few minutes but they failed to add to their tally and instead it was us who scored next, Conor O’Shea with his third of the night getting us off the mark in the second half. Just before that score, Danny Kirby – broken thumb or no broken thumb – came on in place of Andrew Farrell and the Mitchels man joined Conor O’Shea in a two-man full-forward line.
Roscommon had another chance to reclaim the lead when David Gavin was penalised for touching the ball on the ground. Compton drove the free wide and another wide soon after by Shine was their ninth of the night. Another free, this time for a foul on Kilroy, gave the hosts another chance to pull ahead and this time they took it, with Smith notching his fourth point of the night.
Balla’s Conor Walsh then came on to replace Darren Coen, the Hollymount-Carramore player having failed to get into the action to any meaningful extent. Just after that, a long-range free by Cillian O’Connor just tailed off wide.
At the other end, Smith fed sub Oates who put it over to double Roscommon’s lead and seconds later Smith himself fielded a ball that seemed to be going wide and smashed it home for the night’s only goal. Another Rossie point followed and suddenly we found ourselves six down with time running out.
It was well into injury time when Cillian O’Connor, aiming for goal, had a free pushed over by the massed ranks on the Roscommon goal line and then James Shaughnessy pointed another free but it was all too little too late. Roscommon won by four and by the sounds of it were very deserving winners too.
So, after completing a provincial four-in-a-row between 2006 and 2009 (during which time – in ’06 – we also went all the way and won the All-Ireland) we’ve now followed it up with a hat-trick of Connacht losses, all to Roscommon. Indeed, under Ray Dempsey’s watch the U21s have failed to make it as far as the Connacht final in the past three years.
Sadly, all the hopes we may have had that those fine minors teams from a few years back would see us perform well at U21 level have now come to nothing. Instead, it’s back to the drawing board for us as, once again, we’re left to digest a wounding defeat.
Mayo: Paul Mannion; Michael Walsh, Niall Freeman, David Gavin; Caolan Crowe, Shane McDermott, Micheál Forde; Brendan Harrison, Danny Geraghty; Andrew Farrell, Aidan Walsh (0-1, free), Darren Coen; Evan Regan (0-2, one free), Cillian O’Connor (0-3, frees), Conor O’Shea (0-3). Subs: James Shaughnessy (0-1, free) for Harrison, Danny Kirby for Farrell, Conor Walsh for Darren Coen, Austin O’Toole for Regan.
Any one want to dust town the old review that never was?
It’s a while since i seen a Mayo side compressively outplayed outfought as they were tonight.
Soft frees had us leading at HT then Roscommon took total control in the 2nd half & we had no answer. 4 points in open play by us in 60mins tells it’s own tale.
The second half of this game told it’s own story. I cannot understand all the chopping and changing, swapping and Fu****g around that took place. Why did Harrison start in the half forward line? He is a corner back, end of. Why was Regan put out to the half forward line when he clearly more effective inside. Same with cillian o Connor! Why was Kirby brought on when he can’t catch a ball. Why was there not any changes in the full back line when they struggled throughout? I’m am totally bamboozled by the carry on tonite. The same manager has made a total and utter balls of the last two u21 county teams. How on earth did he get the job again?
As bad as the seniors were last weekend the second half tonight was pathetic. I’m completely disillusioned.
Observations:
– Kiltoom has a decent ground + traffic management system
– Aiden Walsh was the stand out performer for Mayo, fielding plenty of ball in the first half, where he played at midfield. Conor O’Shea had some good moments as well.
– There were some comments on Michael Walsh being excellent, but it was our no.7 Michael Forde who outplayed his marker and attacked with the ball in the second half, maybe there was some confusion?
– 1 score and 3 wides in normal time in the 2nd half tells its own story.
– There were subtle but big differences tonight between the teams:
1. For a start, Mayo didn’t seem to “empty the tank”. I really don’t feel that everything was left on the field.
2. Our handling was very poor. When we played the ball into the forward line, it didn’t stick, it bounced off us. The same could not be said of the Rossies forward line. I’ve noticed this creep into even senior games in the last few years, it’s like handling isn’t important anymore.
3. The Rossies play went incisively up the pitch – we were moving in diagonals, similiar to the seniors, allowing Roscommon to funnel back.
4. We didn’t or couldn’t tackle. I honestly can barely remember a Mayo player dispossessing an opponent. We put hands on them and bumped into them alright, but dispossessions were not executed.
5. Support play? What support play?
6. When Roscommon forwards got the ball, their first instinct is to look at the posts. I’ve noticed this in Roscommon minor teams of late as well. The cry was “Steady yourself for the shot”. If the shot wasn’t on, they’d move it to the next person, look at the posts and repeat. Mayo forwards first instinct was to put the head down and run a bit – why are we so afraid to shoot from more than 20 yards out?
7. In the 2nd half, Roscommon played a sweeper in front of their full back line. I cannot tell you where Mayo’s other man was, and I bet you Ray Dempsey cannot either.
8. Referee had a slight Rossie bias. And it’s not just me with my slight Mayo bias, the Rossie fans around me kept commenting on the lucky frees they were getting.
9. Our marking was slack, particularly at centre half back and in the full back line. The Roscommon forwards essentially had the freedom of the park, with our defenders standing a few metres off them.
10. Funny moment in the first half when Mayo were losing – they called over the loudspeaker for the Mayo bus driver to go to his bus – it was as if they already knew :p
Good stuff Patriot,youre starting to make sense finally.
I hate this…I actually do. I hate whinging, stating the obvious and been seen as a moan and wet rag …but then living in the badlands up here and probably seeing my home county through rose tinted glasses I will always have a passion for Mayo.
When the Roman empire started to untangle it wasn’t like Caesar looked out the window towards the Trevi fountain and said “Jeez missus I think we are crumbling”. No, it was some centurion up around Wallsend in Newcastle who was having his arse roasted by wild Scots that saw the first shift in the fall.
The fall of Hitler and Napoleon didn’t occur in a bunker in Berlin or the island of Elba. It was the frozen winters of Russia that did for them.None learned from history. The great work of Shankly and Paisley came to an end when Liverpool signed the likes of David Speedie, Julian Dicks, Neil Ruddock, Jimmy Carter and David Burrows. The end comes suddenly but fatally, the signs are always ignored.
I wrote about corncrakes last August and meant it but I now await the first call of the cuckoo to announce the good health of Mayo football. My ear is cocked and to the ground.
The Fog of Castlebar could not hide the flaws of the senior team. Down and Donegal hammered home a loud message. But its Roscommon that has or should have sounded the alarm bells. Our minors, our eternal minors got walloped by the Rossies a fortnight ago. Bigger, stronger and wiser than Mayo was the consensus.
For the third year in a row Roscommon U21s put our men to the sword. This group contain lads who got to the Minor finals of 2008 and 2009 plus a semi final in 2010. What has happened?
Lets put a perspective on this. U21 started in 1964. Since its inception we have won the Connacht title 23 times. Sligo has never won it. Combined the rest trail us. We have won four in a rows, three in a rows and have a healthy return at all Ireland level.
Two tall trees grew last year and smothered a document that actually charted a future for Mayo. The senior team against expectations had a run, they got to an All Ireland semi final…we had done it 46 times previously but this time it took on a new meaning.We saw another promised land…its starting to look like a mirage now.
The powers that be were happy with their vision of the future and the Strategic Review Plan was dust binned. So we are once more in stormy waters. I dont want to hear “agh for f’s sake its only March and the league”, I dont want to hear “ah thats Mayo people for you, its either all glory or all misery”. This is the third largest county in Ireland. And I have questions.
Who has decided that as a county, not just in James Horans reign but going back for ever, why do we play this short across the field game? Why must we have wing backs built like sprinters who look good bombing forward until they reach the 40 meter line and then freeze. Why can we not adapt to intelligent defence not the debacle in London where their corner back came up and shot two points whilst our extra man was camped supposedly defending.
All points are flukes so spake a man who trained St Jarlaths to victory many times yet we dont trust ourselves to have a bash. We carry it in, sprint around like bobbing corks and dervishes , all the time allowing the opposition to regroup. Enda varley is not afraid to let fly, I would rather see that than this tepid piss shooting of lobbing balls into the opposition goal keepers chest, neither a shot for a score nor a pass. The perfect example of men who lack steel.
We as a people deserve better than what is happening and this has nothing to do with James Horan or the seniors. He works with the end product. When Roscommon beat you three years in a row at U21 then you got MAJOR problems. When their minors are seen as giants and ours as to coin a fcking phrase I hate “laddeeens” then we got problems.
The Strategic review fell because it upset people. However nobody has a monopoly on what is right for Mayo.Like me those who were upset love Mayo football but sadly seem to monopolize it. But is that love killing OUR county. We all should have a say. My abiding memory of the debate on the SRC was a comment from the floor about those who helped frame the document “Who are those people anyway?” uttered with a certain disdain.
I tell you who I am, I am a Mayo man who lives in Meath, who has had shit tossed at me for years, who has fought the good fight, who doesn’t wear a fcking red and green tie, who never gets an invite to the big gig, nor a free ticket but who will defend my counties honour to the last.
With that in mind I wont stay silent either when I see us making tossers out of ourselves. Ciaran Fitzgerald asked a question once, he was brought up in Ballina for a while. This is the question !Where is your fffiinnggg pride?!”
Called this match badly wrong, Roscommon were al least 10 points a better team & it irks me somewhat that our forwards squandered a great chance to really put Mayo to the sword.
That Mayo team did get to minor finals in 2008 and 2009, but who did they beat on the way? Yes its was Roscommon and they were poxed to do so. Had we any sort of decent forwards in those games, we would have beaten you guys out the gate.
An Spailpin is a man I greatly respect, read his last piece and show a bit of humility, Mayo do not have a divine right to thump Roscommon year in year out. You have to work hard to do that and put a decent plan in place like Roscommon did back in 2000 when our arses were red raw from underage kickings from Galway and Mayo.
Mayo people feel the need to defend themselves from verbals from other counties such as Meath, Mayo do not have to answer to anybody.
The difference between a cock a hoop Mayo person that has just experienced a win and the crest fallen ones I seen coming out of Croke Park early, in September 2006 is truly frightening. Either full or empty with Mayo and that will continue until you win a senior All Ireland.
Donie Smith, one for the future, hopefully it will not be long before he torments Mayo defences again. Chin up guys things are not as bad as they seem, losing to a football mental county with an excellent underage structure is no shame.
john we are far from the third largest county in population , your stuff is great and one of the highlights of the site but we are in massive knee-jerk territory here…
that being said i think dempseys time is past.. 🙂
I had a bad nights sleep Roger allied to an overactive mind at sixty going on sixteen…too late to change though. But I accept your point….anyway food to be cooked, floor to be washed and dog sh…….to be cleaned. Life as they say ticks on.
Getting a bit carried away with your victory there mr. JOYCE.
“We have no devine right to beat Ross every year”
No we don’t but we have done it for the last twenty years bar that horrible day in the hyde in 01.
Football mad county ? So they say, what a load of sensationalist nonsense, I say. Been at plenty of mayo / Ross games where there wasn’t an awful lot of ye in attendance, qualifiers a few yrs back, the thrashing we gave ye in castlebar, are a couple that spring to mind.
Of course ye will swell grounds for minor finals, lets face it not a lot of travelling for yer seniors the last twenty year.
Mayo are still a few steps ahead of the ross of that I’m confident, its 2012 now, it will be castlebar if we meet this year, we won’t be beat by Ross this year imo. That’s another year gone, so in my lifetime we have been completely dominant so far, that will do for me.
Why are Ross gaa fans so deluded?
As i look back over the last two weeks or so i just have to admit that we as a football county we have gone seriously backwards.As i said before its the manner in which we are losing in all grades …. colleges, minor, u21 and senior…. parts where we have took complete controll but fail to put the scores on the board…. long periods when we can,t score either from play or frees and playing players completely out of position””’basis handling skills letting us down”””’ indiscipline ….THIS trend is there for every one to see.Our managers seem to be trying all different systems.They are slow to make changes and certain players get far more game time than others.Certain people may think tat we as supporters are over reacting at the moment but they need ta look at the facts and until we stop papering over the cracks we are on a downward trend.
Great stuff by you John as always – congrats.
The point that you raise is very interesting.
We are where we are and we have to deal with it. The problems in Mayo football did not disappear by beating Cork. Remember the league was not too inspiring. London, Galway, Roscommon and Kerry games were not too hot. And 20 minutes against Cork was awful. I don’t know what happened for the other 50 minutes. It was great, but it was not the solution.
I would second John’s proposal that the Strategic Review Report be revived. It is the only way forward.
The facts speak for themselves. It is not knee jerk to say that our senior footballers are in a bad place. They are. The Cork game aside we have had 5 shockin years, beaten by Sligo and longford and nearly by London. Nothing is really changing on the field.
At under 21 level we have had 3 disastrous season and three defeats to the Rossies with teams that had potential. Roscommon are obviously doing something right and we look like we could fall behind.
And then our minors produce an abysmal performance in last years championship.
On top of that we have mismanagement by the County Board and debt, that is destroying us. And the efforts to clear that appear to be made up as we go along. But these problems are hidden by distractions. Last year they filled newspapers with Strategic Review Committee stuff, and tore it apart bit by bit by bit and then buried it because it made uncomfortable reading and treated the people involved like dirt. And this year it is Club Mayo Dublin that gives them the distraction. But everything comes from the top and the change and bravery should come from the top.
Willie Joe, I know you were involved with the Strategic Review, and John I think you were as well. I would ask both of you to speak to Liam and to revive it. Ye have the right connections. PJ Monaghan spoke before about Mayo Supporters getting together to do what is needed. Now may be the time.
I really think ye are getting carried away, maybe there is a hint of truth in it but did you ever think maybe you’re not informed enough to make such harsh judgement.
What if mayo are purposely not in full throttle on account of us late in on the champioship?
I’m not suggesting we’re in a great place at the moment but the context of some posts are near suggesting,we should pull out of the champioship.
Too spoilt in recent times syndrome.
Its quiet clear Sean you must not have attended to many games over the last cupla years or else your even lying 2 yer self . What amount of information DO I NEED 2 KNOW for what i saw last night … PRESUME U WERE THERE
Lol, I attend as many games as I possibly can.
I wasn’t there last night, you’re correct.
Now that the “I’m a better fan than u are” has been conceded by my good self, we can pick up on your points made.
Ill ask you what do you want the county set up to do, to improve our county team?
Do you believe the selection process is fair? Ie is it the best panel of players available?
What do deem as a good season for the present senior team?
If we stay in the top division,win nestor and get to ai sf, would that be sufficient?
SEAN all i’m tryin to point out is if you were there you would have concurred wit alot of what has being said by different people. I for 1 did expect this team to go futher as it is presumed to be the best crop of players we had 4 a few years.YET it was the same out come as our seniors.Poor display by big players and players out of position etc……..
Sean the whole set up needs a total review and i believe an open forum needs to be established so tat people can have there say.The present setup is closed shop
I’m not disputing the fact last night was disappointing but I don’t buy into the hype they are an awful team either.
The reports I’m getting is mayo never showed on the night, inter county gaa is harsh in them terms, one loss and bang you’re gone, legacy of that team destroyed in sixty mins.
I just don’t believe it will have any bearing on the upcoming senior champioship.people are doin a lot of mixing today and coming up with very negative stuff.
Like I said before, what is good enough for the average mayo supporter, nothing bar sam maguire.which is ridiculous and very unfair on present and future players/management.
No county bar Kerry demand so much, paudis animal line would be well justified in Mayo at present.
Am amazed by some iof the comments one man claims roscommon played a sweeper . I CAN CONFIRM THEY DIDNT,
another says that mayo done to much running on diagonals, having looked at the DVD lastnite, they were far more straight and direct than roscommon.
i think mayo supporter need to look at this game again
on the night roscommon were much to hungry for a large and seeming carrying a little weight mayo team, who were poorly run .
SEAN wat should we as supporters say or do .Just stay quiet and not open our mouths.Pretend every things is ok and we’ll have fab year. or comment on what we see at all levels. By the what level are you involved wit
Raz,you are entitled to your opinion of course as an I.
All I was pointing out was that I find some reaction to this u21 game on relation to how the senior team will perform in the summer ahead almost nonsensical.
Roscommon ran straight until they got into our ’45, far more incisive. At that point they jinked left and right looking for an opening to shoot in. Kilroy their no.11 was the playmaker in every move.
Numerous times Mayo played ball into the forward line which was gobbled up by a spare Roscommon man before it even got into their 20 – if having a spare player hoovering up and double teaming the inside forward line, even if it always isn’t the same one, isn’t playing a “sweeper” as it’s called, then I don’t know what is. Of course, it may not have been deliberate, some Mayo player may have been running around elsewhere.
Where can one get a copy of the DVD of the match?
The U21s are an important bellwether for the talent coming through to the senior team over the next few years. That is the relation. We cannot have a short term view of “how we will fare this summer” alone. That is ultimately destructive to our chances of success. It’s all in the coaching.
I commented before and I’ll comment again, if we are lamenting the performances of the senior setup, we need to be more concerned that every U-18 player in the county can put the ball over the bar under pressure from 35 yards out with either foot consistently – that is the solution.
The question must be asked,what is been done by the people in charge of our school of excellence and development squad and who are they?Who gave them the blueprint to mould small light players for a physically demanding sport.Could these clowns take a trip up to Tyrone and study their brilliant youth structure.Or if they are too lazy to do that,take a trip to Roscommon and watch what the towbars are doing because right now they are light years ahead of us in nurturing young talent and good luck to them.
Ros should have won by more than four. By far the better team.
Better luck next years boys!
sean the senior management are looking to the u21’s ‘to develope the squad and 9 have being involved allready in some games and u don’t think it has any connection’ ………. ??think your winding me up
Taken completely out of context, I’m not going to further derail this thread.
My comment was this particular result will have little to no bearing on the senior champioship this year.
As for the 21s been a template for senior success in the yrs ahead, not always the case either ,its no harm but not necessary,.I’m not sure but how many have Kerry won?
Kerry prove me wrong there, haha, should of checked that.
Hi,
Long time reader, first time poster.
I didn’t go to the game last night due to work commitments, I did see last weeks U21 encounter with Galway.
To be honest I’m not in the least bit surprised that we lost to Ros. Realistically Galway were 8-10 points better than us, they had exceptionally bad luck on the night with injury, O’Curraoin & both Sweeneys injured.
Ray Dempsey had a great record against Galway as a player and he has maintained that as a manager. He has a dreadful record against Roscommon as a manager. I don’t think that he’s particularly bad or good compared to the general mgt standards in Mayo. Maybe I’m mistaken!
The crux of the matter for me is why our U21’s have not developed as players since they were minors. Perhaps we should focus on the high performance academy for the 18-20 year olds that was proposed in that famous review last year.
Sean burke are you 51longago from Hoganstand? you post the same nonsense. Pipe down like a good lad & give the better that was Roscommon last night more credit.
Lads – can you all please refrain from going after the man rather than the ball in your comments? I know we’re all a bit on the tetchy side in light of recent results but it’ll make for a better debate if the focus is on specifics relating to what’s been happening on the pitch rather than having a pop at others.
51longago?
Anyway, what’s nonsense about it, Ross beat us in an under 21 game , I still maintain it will have no scope come senior champioship this year.
Ill play devils advocate for the hell of it, Mayo won four u21 provincials 06 to 09 and an ai, so by the logic used today by reactionaries,we will be peaking for the next two to three yrs, so it will all be grand.
I attended all of RD games since he took over 3 years ago, except last night’s game in Kiltoom, and the first game in Clone 3 years ago. In general the man done his best in my oponion. He did not always have the best footballers in the county on the team or the panel, in my oponion. He always showed a great loyality to his former charges. This was a significant factor in all of the lost opportunities. I picked this u21 team one night during the long winter nights on the bases of what had happened in the previous years. I was only wrong in the positions they held on the pitch. I done this with my eyes shut. I was ignoring the hugh factor with comes into play when the boys become men, namely ambition. My selection was drawn from my memory in Croker in AI’s and AISF’S, and the form those boys showed back in the day. Life, experience, sport and ambition have all had a significant change in the lives of these boys. Some have been left behind lesser men. The team that took the field against Galway last week, lacked the required level of ambition to be successful. Thankfully none of them got injured
“Ill play devils advocate for the hell of it, Mayo won four u21 provincials 06 to 09 and an ai, so by the logic used today by reactionaries,we will be peaking for the next two to three yrs, so it will all be grand.”
We are ahead of the rest in senior Connacht football because what we did at U-21 level between 06 -09 & should be again this year however what worries me now is within 2-3 years we won’t be at the top because of what we did 2010,2011,2012 at U-21 level.
Nonsense is trying to ignore our U-21s performances of recent years & our minors have gone down a worrying level as well.
Ahh man come on ,I never said “ignore” .
I just don’t think it’s full proof you’ll produce them at senior, 2010 was the lowest I ever felt in longford, surely the 06 21s should of been primed by then but it didn’t work out like that.
There are some fine teams that the backbone come from a 21 side, Tyrone, ourselves in the nineties ,that was not the jist of my argument, maybe I struggle to articulate it right.
Just a thought on patterns. Galway minors won the 2002/03/04/05, a four in a row Connacht minor finals. It would be an assumption to make that they would then reappear at U21 from 2004 onward. However it was Mayo who in 2004/06/07/08/09 that stepped into that gap.
I am not sure what that shows other than there is a leap between minor and U21 and another huge step from U21 to senior. Better maybe to get one or two leaders from each year group than get a false indication through the various team successes at under age.
Even Tyrone is finding it difficult to bring through their last batch of successful minor teams. In the barren 1970s we won two All Ireland minor titles, getting to another final as well and won an U21 title plus a few finals. Sadly we failed to win a single Connacht senior title in that decade.
A senior footballer is a different beast altogether I would think.
a senior footballer is a completely different animal , there are many all-ireland medal holdrs at senior level who never featured at underage count level , just as many potential stars didnt make the grade
YES tat is true that some players don’t make the grade till later in their careers but if the trends are to be followed over the last decade…teams who have won sam have had a successful u21 team. What got me was that after watching the seniors minors and u21 is the way we are loosing games and the way teams are set up.I don.t think it matters who makes the grade or not at the minute unless we change our style we will not progress.
Given the way that we have lost the last few years at U21 level, I wouldn’t expect to see too many leaders emerge from those teams but you never know for sure.
Going back to our ‘good’ underage teams of the past twenty or thirty years that have gone on to supply good senior players, we have a couple of groups that stand out and there is about a 10 year gap between exceptional groups.
First off was the U-21 team of 83-84 who supplied many of the players of the 80’s. We had the likes of Brogan, McStay, Maughan, Forde, Geraghty, and Durkin to backbone our return to the top table.
The U-21 teams of 94-95 (with a lot of the 91 minors) were a vintage crop. These teams had the likes of Mortimer, Casey, Costello, Brady, O’Neill, Nestor, Sheridan and Nallen who all went on to feature prominently at senior. Since then, our most successful bunch would be the 2004-2006 U-21 winners. From that crop we have had Cafferkey, Higgins, Howley, Cunniffe, SOS, B Moran, Campbell, Kilcoyne, Varley, A Moran, Conroy and Ronaldson all figure for the seniors.
Looking forward to 2015 already.
i think a strong club game and mayo teams progressing in the club championships would be a better indcator of the counties strength.
also raz i dont think we need to change our style at all , we just need to stick to it.
mayo should be playing fast ball and going for scores , when we do that we look very good indeed , take the armagh game this year.
holding up play , dwelling on the ball , overplaying in possesion are enemies of mayo football, they look good and can often lead to a good score.,, but they wont lead to a championship.. in my opinion
Rodger if our style of play is IYO the way forward why are we coming out second best. IF you have attended as many games as i have u will realise its not working and i 4 one like many of my mates think we need ta change……. off ta the minor match this evenin .up mayo
Ah lads,i think dempseys time s up has,t done anything of note wit tha u.21,s tha las few years. Agree wit patriot play,n a corner back at half foward says he has,t a clue.By tha way he got tha job afta hav,n agood year wit tha minor team tha lost to tyrone few years bk. goodbye tks. for tha meomories..
Better by minors tonight 10pt win over Longford did we play a 2nd string side vs the Rossies?