I know we’re approaching the decisive part of the year from a footballing point of view but personal and work commitments mean that it’ll be a bit hit and miss for me in terms of what I’ll be doing here over the next two weeks. We’re off to the west for a few days today and when we get back I’m straight out the door again on a work trip. Once I’m back from that we’re all then decamping to Yerra Central for the week, arriving back here the day before the match.
I should, in theory, be online for a good bit of this time but I’m not sure if this’ll hold in practice as well so it’s best to let you know in advance that I might not be around as much as you might expect in the lead-up to Sunday week. In the meantime, keep up the Musha-it’s-a-privilege-to-be-sharing-the-same-pitch-as-these-lads and the Sure-we’ll-do-our-best-to-keep-the-ball-kicked-out-to-ye and all the rest.
The Dubs to do the business today by about 15. One step closer to The People’s Final
Cracking post yesterday Joe Ruane, the great John B would have been envious of a couple of those lines…well yerra one or two of them anyway. Although there is a bit of rebuilding going on in the Kingdom there is one thing to say for sure – they are an absolute joy to watch in full flight – I was at their semi last year and their football was just sublime. Looking again at their Galway game, they still have the ability to produce magic that none other can match – for me Declan O’Sullivan is one of their best ever, his ability to sell the dumb, step around the man and solo all at the same time is the kind of skill which blows all others away. Even the all conquering Dublin lads have possible only one player in their ranks capable of matching that kind of skill. With Kerry having at least 2 players of that sheer class in their forward unit alone there is really only one question to answer on semi final day – does Mayo have the edge when it comes to strength and stamina to overcome Kerry’s superior class and skill – Its a tough one to answer we will only find on the day, its no surprise that the bookies cannot separate them.
Might head over to this one for a look – it’ll probably be our last day out this year, after all ….
#yerra
I don’t know about the rest of ye but I’m sitting down to watch Donegal with a few cans. It’s my birthday. I feel we could be meeting Donegal this year
Marty Duffy turns my stomach…clown.
Game over within 6 mins….damage limitation now for Monaghan but I except the dubs to increase their lead. I kinda hope they do.
In an ideal world if were were to beat Kerry and meet Dublin in the final, I would like them to land there untested and in hype overdrive
Like last year Steve…….
Far more hyped up this year than last year Martin. The thing about being on top is everyone wants to knock you off . The other thing is the bigger they are the harder they fall 😉
mind you in saying that ye do look awesome!
God god what a scoreline. Congrats Martin the Dub – you must be feeling confident after that!
Thanks Anne-Marie and Mayomaningalway, Yerra Yerra Yerra Yerra Hahahaha now I know what that means………see you on the 21st of September!
Hahaha! We’ll see 😉
God help anyone v the jacks!!!:/
Dublin are fantastic , they looked unplayable at times tonight . I have never seen anything like their movement it’s incredible doesnt matter how much time is gne, they are everywhere , the speed and accuracy too is nearly faultless. The kingdom will have their worked cut out for the showpiece.
Dublin at 1/4 with paddy power to win Sam looks like the bet of the year . Kerry will not be able to contain them .
Well at least u guys will be able to say, i told you so!!
Unbelievable stuff from de Dubs. 17 point win over the runners-up from Ulster. Seriously, though, has any other team ever had a win like that over the runners-up from Ulster?
Unstoppable.
Not that I can think of Gerry. I can’t remember any team beating an Ulster runner-up by exactly 17 points in an All Ireland Quarter-Final in Croke Park.
The People’s Final Beckons
Kerry 4-15 Dublin 2-21
Replay
Kerry 3-21 Dublin 3-23
It’s a hell of a score to put on the runners-up from Ulster, alright Mark.
Surely in keeping with their last three All-Ireland triumphs, Dublin are destined to win The People’s Final 3-22 to 3-21?
They’ll have trouble containing JOD, but they will just have too much fire power for kerry in the end. To be fair ta JH 4 semis in a row is a serious achievement. Hate to say it but the dubs are the definition of “total football”. I wouldn’t bet against them doing a 3 in row with the squad they have now plus their fantastic under age teams coming through, #bluetiderising
Beware the self-fulfilling prophecies, however tongue-in-cheek.
As they said about the Titanic-“God himself couldn’t sink this(blue)ship”……….
Aye but Dublin have plenty of lifeboats on the sideline,god forbit they actually needed them.
Dublin will win this All Ireland pulling up
What a team!! I’m generally As optimistic a mayo fan as you’d meet but we sadly had our big chance last year
Juan to be honest I reckon 3 in a row is a massive understatement sadly
Anything less than 10 in a row would be a failure for the boys in blue. Simply untouchable
This was the defining game of the 2014 Championship in my opinion. Would have expected Monaghan to be well able to keep the Dublin scoreline down with their defensive strengths and give some indication of Dublin’s ability to cope with a highly organised defense – but the manner in which they were cut open by the sheer power and pace of the Dubs was frightening. Dublin have not only made a statement of intent but a statement of fact they have clearly improved as a squad since last year. Can anyone (ourselves included) beat them at this stage?
I knew Monaghan had no chance yesterday but what Dublin did in a ten minute spell was ……….a bit depressing if I am to be honest. I know people will say they haven’t been tested yet……….that’s because they are so bloody good that no one is fit to test them so far.
If we do get past Kerry the big question is how exactly do we go about beating the dubs?
Monaghan were out on their feet after 25mins, they had no bench and simply had not fully recovered from last weeks exploits (how could they in 7 days). Donegal.will be fresher and will be able to stay with them for a bit longer.
The injury to Monaghans number 4 was crucial –it was immediatly after that Dublin got the 2 goals.
Tongue in cheek aside for a moment, the facts around Dublin are simply this, they are awesome and certainly one of the most explosive teams ever. However Dublin are tier 1 team with Mayo, Kerry, Donegal Cork and Tyrone in tier 2. Up until this point so far this year Dublin have only played tier 3 teams and and so since they lifted Sam last year they were ALWAYS only 70 minutes away from an all-ireland place again this year. It would be fool hardy to back against them in their semi-final but it is important to keep a bit of perspective on it. But for a bit of lady luck which shone firstly on Kildare in Ennis and Monaghan in Croker a week ago, the Clare footballers may quite easily have contested yesterdays quarter-final against Dublin.
Any Mayo fan with the attitude that Dublin are unstoppable would be as well to stay at home. If every match was decided on paper we wouldn’t bother playing at all.
We had them by the balls for the 1st half of last years final and a poxy goal kept them in it. I love having a go at them and I know the boys do too.
We have the little ,matter of the biggest super power in gaelic football to deal with first however.
We were obsessed by doing Donegal last year and were flat afterwards, lets not become obsessed by the Dubs until we actually get a rattle at them,
Roll on game 5.
Well said Alf.
Took myself along to Croker last evening & Dublin were indeed impressive but I have to say that Monaghan looked second rate. Prevent Dublin from scoring goals & they become more manageable would be my take on the game.
Anyway we need to concentrate on our next hurdle now against the Kingdom.
It is time for us to get that particular monkey off our backs …. something along the lines of ‘who’s the kingdom now, baby ?’ .
No team is unbeatable…fact.
Good to see a little sanity returning to blogs. Mayo have only shown glimpses of what they can do this year and yet are in the semi final. Last year we were doing a ” dublin” on teams and where did it get us. There’s a steel about mayo this year that is different. I suppose it is a culmination of all the hard knocks that we have endured over the last 4 years that screams out ” enough! Let’s go and fight for this bloody cup”. I really hope we meet dublin. Will they enjoy meeting us?
Couldnt care less about Dublin now, all about the kingdom from here on in. Hope JH devises a good plan to neutralise the kerry forwards (if thats possible) double team jod and give caff the protection he needs, if that means our attack is less effective so be it. We need to grind this one out and flake into them from the start, we are far superior physically and need to let them know that from the off.
Yerra sure it’s only second place were playing Kerry for now anyway sure Dublin has it in the bag already might as will give them Sam now NOT
Now lads, first we focus on Kerry.
Dublin are not in final yet.
Think we bet donegal well last year and everyone said we bet noone yet.
How is this different for Dublin?
No team is unbeatable.
I would not be panicking over Dublin”s demolition of Monaghan yesterday. I don’t know the exact age profile of Monaghan but they seem to have too many older players to be able to cope with the Dubs. Players like Dick Clerkin, Vinny Corey,Dessie Mone, Paul Finlay and a number of others have been around for a long time and played most of their football in the middle tier. They were lucky enough to win against Kildare who seem to have made an art of losing matches they should win and didn’t make it to the semi final last year after winning Ulster.
Also I do not believe that a defensive “Ulster” tactic is the tactic which will beat the Dubs. Asking them to come at you while limiting your own attacking options does not seem to make sense to me. To me you need to put pressure on them from the very start and that is with Cluxton’s kickouts. If they have a weakness it is, I believe, a dependance on those kickouts for primary possession. It will be interesting to see how Donegal fare with them. Meantime we have a little bit of business to do ourselves.
Both Semis nicely set up now with Donegal scraping in to a semi with the red hot Dubs. and we just doing enough to get by Cork while Kerry Coast in via Galway.
Expect media to go into overdrive on the unbeatable Dubs and the prospect of a Dub Kerry final.!
We know better roll on semis great times to be a Mayo fan.
Talk of us meeting Dublin in September is not only arrogant but also foolish. We have to focus solely on Kerry. Anything else is stupid and I have no doubt that Horan and his players are looking only to the Kerry game and nothing else. Our championship record against Kerry is very poor and our only thoughts should be on changing that fact.
I think the mayo and Donegal co boards should agree to give Dublin and Kerry walkovers and maybe the gaa might move the final forward,cos I can’t wait for the “people’s final”
Lads! There’s no need for anyone getting tetchy! This is not the Mayo squad……it is a blog where talk IS permitted. It has no impact on the lads who will tog out in 2 weeks. Mind you if the players or management were talking about Sep then that would be a problem but for us mere mortals to speculate a little is no harm. It’s just talk at the end of the day.
was up at the games yday, ya dub looked impressive but monaghan were their own worst enemies. Primarily, Monaghan left Ckuxton with any amount of options for his quick kickout, and with all the possession, the dubs just toyed with them. There was zero movement for Monaghans kickout, all slow, long and predictable, and at least 3 were kicked straight into Dublin hands. So no midfield, coupled with “sweepers” marking no mans land for the Dub kickout, they hadn’t a hope. And McManus was v inaccurate in the first half. I would expect Donegal to go man to man for the kickouts, force Cluxton to go long, and then we can more accurately rate the Dublin machine!
Not long ago Kilkenny were unbeatable in hurling, barcalona in soccer , tiger woods in golf . These things come along in every sport every so often . Donegal seemed unbeatable in 2012 when after winning Sam it was said they had changed the way Gaelic football was played and would retain Sam again in 2013. Dublin come along and seem unbeatable now but no team continues to win forever . Things change . Despite Dublin having a great squad they can still only put 15 on the pitch at any one time . Of course they are beatable , it will take a huge effort from the opposition to unruffle them but that day will happen . Donegal might do it . If not Kerry or ourselves will give it a go . But it will be done some day ………
I had the pleasure of watching both games on the GAAGO service, which I might add, is hard to beat for quality and value.
The Armagh Donegal match was interesting in that it was close, physical and had a nasty undertone to it. It almost blew up several times but the ref did a decent job of policing it. Donegal looked to be home safe in the 60 minute, leading by 3 or 4 pts, but for what ever reason, Armagh came back at them. That told me more about Donegal than it did Armagh, they are not the same Donegal of 2012, better than last year but not as good as 2012.
Now the Dublin Monaghan match was over as a contest when Dublin banged in two goals within minutes of each other. After that it was just slow torturous death for Monaghan. Never once did Monaghan threaten Dublins supremacy and tbh, Dublin should have banged in at least 2 more goals, Costello sent a screamer just wide and Connelly tried too hard to place it when on another day, he’d have crushed it! I thought O’Gara played really well and Monaghan just couldn’t handle him or BB. So Dublin out up a huge score, even though I thought MDM, Kevin Mac and Alan B weren’t at their best! Some feat! Certainly, Dublin looked really good but lets not cod ourselves if we think Monaghan are the benchmark by which they should be judged. Monaghan were piss poor yesterday, eg. never once did they challenge Cluxtons short kick out strategy, and went long and lost their own kick outs ! Basically they allowed Cluxtons to set the table, sat back and allowed Dublin to take the ball up field at thier will. I can’t imagine donegal or us, for that matter allowing them to do that! Having said that, I think Dublin will beat Donegal handy enough, by a few points.
But before we worry about Dublin, we have Kerry. It’s time for us to put a lotta hurt on Kerry, make sure they understand this is a different era, ours, not theirs.
Btw, forgot to mention in previous post, did anyone see the Donegal team doctor landing on his arse in yesterday’s match?, courtesy of a push from Arron Findon of Armagh during a frakas around the 14 yard line.
Findon is getting some stick for this, but my question would be, why the hell was the Donegal team doctor on the field of play when play was continuing? Seriously, he was very lucky he wasn’t seriously injured.
Officials running onto the field of play, at their own discretion has to stop! Findon got a yellow, but the doctor should have got a red.
After a couple a bouls of neat stirabout, I got to thinking about me childrens childrens and all that. I was thinking about me 12 year auld daughter who must trudge beside me as we make our journey to the hallowed ground once. I have her two aulder brothers completly destroyed from days past and it is only fitting that I continue on the legacy. It is her birthright and I will ensure that whatever hope she has inside will be baten clane out of her two weeks from this day. She still has the hope do you see and hope is a dangerous and confusing thing to have harbouring around the place, when your Father is cursed forever and a rake of days because he was born in The County of Mayo.
I try in quiet desperation to focus on the positives but alas there are none other than my child can parry on tales to her children about the day she bore to witness to the wonders of The JoD. There is a slim chance that maybe Cuniffe can lay a pawing hand upon the geansai of The Jod and maybe then if we can shake the hand of Cunniffe, (after we take another almighty batin, of course) she can always and forever take with her, that she shook the hand that briefly glanced off the geansai of The Jod.
Another positive is that mercifully it will all be over in two weeks time. The Blue team have 15 Jod’s, with six more Jod’s on the bench and a further nine Jod’s involved in heated battles, just to get near to the bench. That’s 30 Jods in total.
Thank Jod, that’s a thought that me tortured and shattered Mayo mind won’t have to endure.
I agree with pebbles. Talk of the dubs is ridiculous at this stage. Looking at Kerry gaa forum online they are very confident of beating us, feel that we are underestimating them a bit, especially their other forwards besides JOD. Stephen O Brien is regarded as a key man for them if fit, I thought he was impressive in the league against us too. Scored a great goal. It would be so typically Kerry for us to all obsess over JOD, and then for a fella most people have never heard of to do all the damage instead. I feel Johnny Buckley and Aidan o Mahoney are weak links for them but would expect them to be replaced by David Moran and Peter Crowley to add some physicality and power to their ranks. Make no mistake Kerry will be up for this, and we need to be on our guard big time to have a chance of beating them.
Joe, you’re a hoot 😀
I hope freeman gets the nod over andy for the kerry game, he made an immediate impact against cork with his turnover setting up aidans goal, andy off the pace the whole game against cork. Freeman has to start if we are to have any chance against kerry, his physicality and pace will do damage provided he’s given proper ball. Then andy to come on with 15 to go to help steer us home.
Joe Ruane we understand your pain and the torment that has you up at half six in the morming to try desperately to put pen to paper in an effort to sooth your tortured soul. But youre doing the right thing boy. Furure generations must know. They will understand that it all happened because we were born in the County of Mayo. Sure we were up against it from the start. Even when its a fine day in Dublin isn’ t it lashing down here. Just take one look at the Dublin manager in his post match interview and see how calm and self assured the man is. We’er doomed. God help us.
Away from football, enjoyable article about one of Mayo’s best hurlers – http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/hurling/the-comeback-kid-christopher-mccruddens-recovery-30490613.html
I never saw Ciaran Whealan so chuffed with himself as he was on Sunday Game last night – the cat that got the cream. In fairness he was doing his best to keep it cool, but it was clear he was beaming. Seems like a decent bloke though, and good analyst.
Kerry will have it all to do in the final.
Whealan was beaming and why wouldnt he be, i like him as well seems like a good guy, went out to watch it on Sky (crap commentry) after 25 minutes it was all even but once the goals went in there heads droped and the flood gates opened Donegal will struggle with them too as you cant invite them on to you and expect to contain them. In the league game we pushed up and gave them no soft kick outs if we get to the final we can do this again and we will be in with a chance, Kerry wont be afarid of them either. Whoever gets to the final will give them a good game it may not be enough but to think there unbeatable is ridicoulous
Nice to see Gavin Duffy doing so well at weekend and fair play to james for taking time to watch him.Maybe its a pipe dream that he will play some part but I prefer to take the view that no stone was left unturned.
With regard to Dublin they canbe disrupted but lets put that on ice until we finish with didrupting Kerry.
I actually believe its all going well and there is little or no hype or overconfidence which is great.
I like Kerry people but feel its a two horse match…sorry about clumsy metaphors…could be our year.
As long as mayo beat Kerry I will be happy when was the last mayo managed to beat Kerry hopefully cillian will stick a goal in against them. By the way I wonder what sort of a plan mcgunnines will have for the likes of Connolly that what Donegal will do provik him. What do yes think.
Remember 1996 Cait and Horan’s spectacular goal? One to savour!
Yeah forgot that can our lord Jim mcgunnines beat the dubs.
Horan must concentrate fully on Kerry, for now. We need to win that one before we can move on. That will be a tough a day but I think that we will pull through but it won’t be easy. The best that we can hope for is that The Dubs do the bizz over Donegal as well. Hopefully the dubs will annihilate Donegal. If Mayo are still there and that’s a big maybe based solely on what I have seen “to date” there would be no better way of arriving than to beat the unbeatables in the penultimate match, on the only day that counts. Are we for real? They’ll soon find out and so will we.
Believe the imposible dream and all that.
Good man Joe , tis a rare thing for a Mayo man to talk more sense at 10 at night than 7 in the morning,so keep a cool head and loose trousers and come back again tomorrow night.
Sleep well Joe.
Let’s face the music as I think Sunday we are in for a beating, no way will we contain their forward line. Kerry will get 4 or 5 goals, as our full back line is just not good enough.
J Moore – I think we all get the point you’re trying to make at this stage. Constantly repeating it isn’t necessary and is getting a bit wearing.