I’ve been fairly inactive here the last while for the simple reason that I was away on holidays. I did pack the laptop alright but it wasn’t opened much over the last two weeks, what with all that switching off and tuning out that needed to be done.
Our return from the sun late last night appears to have coincided with the end of the second week of summer weather here. Oh well, we saw plenty of sun ourselves over the last fortnight so we’ve no complaints to make on that score, despite the frequent monsoon downpours here today.
There’s been some stuff going on over the last few weeks while I was otherwise engaged and so didn’t mention here. Such as the Liam McHale interview and his reported interest in the Mayo LGFA manager’s job, the proposals reportedly being put to the upcoming Special Congress about League finals and the need to create a gap to the start of the Championship, not to mention all the ongoing club Championship action, in both football and hurling.
Then there was the Mayo Masters’ All-Ireland Plate final win over Roscommon yesterday and Breaffy’s All-Ireland Senior Ladies Rounders Championship final win over Glynn Barntown today. Well done to both of them.
Mike and Rob have also kept the fires stoked on the podcast with plenty of new shows available on Patreon over the past two weeks. Pick of the bunch there were the episodes featuring interviews with Conor Diskin and Kevin McLoughlin, as well as all the club Championship coverage.
There’s more club Championship action this coming weekend, of course, as the group stage in the Senior, Intermediate and Junior football Championships conclude and the knockouts beckon. More on all that over the next few days.
Glad you enjoyed your break WJ. The Kevin Mac interview was particularly enjoyable though tinged with sadness. Conor Diskin also came across well. The Liam McHale business seems absurd. Surely the management team had their objectives set out before getting the job.
On another note, yesterday’s ladies final between Knockmore and Westport seems to have been one of the games of the summer but why oh why did it not take place in McHale Park instead of Bekan? Are we going to continue disrespecting our ladies and girls?
Yes it should be in McHale Park. It’s Mayo’s Croke Park.
https://westernpeople.ie/2023/09/10/no-off-season-in-mayo/?fbclid=IwAR1fO3zAIAS21KMjB3JNScMgjsJs5RhiQvmD6eOkG_bQ7gLiNga9RWIHxfA
Great read by John Cuffe in the Western People this week
Think he somes it up well in quoting Stephen Rochfords Ah Ref interview that there will still be 25 of last years panel all involved again after that 12 point defeat to Dublin and a team that coughed up a 5 point lead to Cork.
Does anyone really think that 25 are going to challenge Dublin or Kerry in the 3 remaining years of McStays contract?
The panel really needs some freshness from Horans era and we need to identify key positions in Centre back , Midfield ,and Centre Forward .We need a midfielder who can contest in the air if that means calling Jason Gibbons back still best midfielder in the club game or trying out Matthew Lenehan whos form has been very good or giving Bob Tuohy an extended run there next year.We need a playmaker at 11 and a stopper at 6 to protect our defence.
Players like Fergal Boland and Eoin O ‘Donoghue should all be given chances again if they make themselves available for selection.
Fáilte romhat ar ais Willie Joe. I wondered why the place was so quiet!
The full panel is nearer to 40 when you include players being monitored on a program. The outer fringe after jerseys 34.
So, 25 players being involved again is to be expected.
Lads like James McCormack, Towey, Darren McHale, have been around the Mayo panel a few years now and have got very little championship game time. These lads should be given the equivalent of at least 3.5 games in the national league and after that they are either good enough for championship or they should be let go back to there clubs.
Achill,E ODonoghue is in Australia,has been for a few years
@South Mayo Exile, the 3 you mentioned have been on the fringe for a few years and have not obviously shown anything in training to make the team.
Time to widen the net.
If we consider top six in Division one Mayo has around 13 division one players. The rest is moving around for no major impact.
We’ll be more Sam competitive when that division one number gets out to 19/20.
So, yes, we are in the top six, but there’s a core of 5 or 6 players do most the heavy lifting.
I think over the next four years we will expand our depth.
That tranche from Ryan O’Donoghue u25 down to this year’s u17s is a good eight year tranche. When Ryan is 29 the u17s will be 21.
Achill75…in fairness Jason is playing well at club level but his age and plus he has several runs with Mayo and never made much impact may go against him now .
Think league will be used to try out new players so much so we may be relegated but so be it if we found a few new players.
Hopefully after next weekend we might see some that may be added to the panel .
Gibbons is the same age as Paul Conroy 34 I think, David Moran won an All Ireland at 34 last season.He could gives us 2 years as we are struggling very bad in this area,hes definitely not lacking in strength and conditioning.If anything we are lacking experience now.We had no option for long kickouts when the Dubs squeezed up on us in the 2nd half.Reape lost most of his kickouts long.Matty, Diarmuid and even Jordan are all box to box midfielders but not great fielders.Both Matty Ruane and Jack Carney both seem to lack the aggression and leadership needed in Midfield to compete with Fenton and James McCarthy.I personally would like to see Gibbons and Diarmuid together they know each others game inside out from Ballintubber and complement each other well.After Bob Tuohy and Jack Carney who are the next options in the County? Gibbons would beat all of them in the air.
Did Gibbons leave the panel or was he dropped?
Rock is a prime example, over the top but Dublin invariably bring him on for the last few minutes hoping he will convert a free.
Jr
https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2019/04/18/horan-begins-trimming-his-mayo-squad-ahead-of-championship-series/
Dropped by Horan in April 2019
Lenegham from Charlestown Merits a look, Possibly Gibbons as a last 20 minute man, Fionnan Ryan Belmullet should be added to the Panel competed well with Gibbons in Championship game also an ption at Full Forward , James McCormack these are options for around the middle that need to be reviewed as what we have isnt working . At Centre Back I woulld try Diarmuid, we need a solid man that will shore up the centre another option is to coax Eoin O Donoghue back from Australia or develop Sam Callinan (Bit young) into a solid centre back. Ryan O Donoghue is the glaringly obvious choice for #11 , a leader , brave on breaking ball, work rate , intelligence, brilliant vision can take a score comming on to moves he is a natural Centre Forward