So I’m back. Well, after a fashion. We got back off our holliers last week and normality has once again begun to make its gravitational pull count. Seeing as this place has been part of normal life for me for several years now, I guess it’s worth sticking my head round the door to see if everything is still standing.
In another sense, of course, I haven’t been away at all. Just lurking there in the background, sifting through the comments – close to 500 of them on the most recent post, which went up two weeks ago today – and stepping in to deal with the odd few objectionable ones. In that respect, it’s been gratifying to see that these have been very much the exception rather than the norm.
But, of course, the fact that I’m back doesn’t mean you can expect a welter of activity here on the site over the next while. Our inter-county year finished up close on two months ago at senior level and more recently the U20 final and the ladies’ defeat at the All-Ireland quarter-final stage (which never got a mention here as I was in full-on holiday mode at that stage) brought down the curtain on all of our inter-county action for 2018.
So, for nearly another five months, we’re still in closed season mode from an inter-county perspective. There’ll, no doubt, be a bit to talk about off the field while the on-field focus shifts, in the shorter-term at least, to the club championships.
As regards the latter there’ll be some developments to share before too long, as there are podcast plans in the works. All will be revealed there shortly.
Aside from that, it’ll be the usual diet from the off-season menu here on the site over the next while, albeit minus any interest in things like the All-Stars on this occasion, as the impact of summer underachievement continues to be felt well into the back-end of the year. To be honest, from a footballing point of view the sooner we all forget about 2018 and start afresh next year, the better.
It’s a shame to end, though, on such a downbeat note. So let’s not do this and instead finish up by extending hearty congrats to Limerick’s hurlers. Close on a decade ago a book on Limerick hurling, entitled Unlimited Heartbreak, was published but yesterday’s All-Ireland victory by the Shannonsiders finally opened the way to the writing of an upbeat sequel. Maybe, just maybe, we’ll one day get to escape in the same way from our own House of Pain.
Well done Limerick. What inner belief from a very young team. Youth can win all Ireland’s too.
Meanwhile back to the club scene, which has been behind the door now for a few years. The demise of a great club like crossmolina on the playing pitch this year is worrying, so also davitts who are in a similar position. Club teams are suffering from a long drawn out season . Castlebar success long term will do as much for mayo club football as corofin had done in Galway . Nice to see the junior championships throw up the few surprises. Need some new club teams coming through to freshen the club scene up
Congratulations to Limerick. Fully deserved, they were much the better team for the vast majority of the game.
It was great to see the pure joy and tears from the Limerick gang near me in the pub. Couldn’t help but think what it would be like for us to be in that position.
WJ – welcome back.
Is there any info on the county board meeting this Thursday night?
Does Stephen have to have his backroom team decided by then for the county board to then ratify?
Not sure on the protocol for this meeting, but I’d imagine the management and backroom situation would have to be finalised on the night?
Was in Croker yesterday and whilst by no means a classic was very enjoyable and a great result for Limerick….emotional to day the least and nearly brought a tear to my eye…..I have no connection with Limerick but was so enthusiastic the Galway lads behind me congratulated me afterwards! Roll on 2019 ….onwards and upwards
Seán Flanagan (our last winning All Ireland captain) had a brother Séamus living in Limerick. He was CEO of Bord na gCon. I wonder if the Seamus Flanagan who had a great game for Limerick yesterday could possibly be a grandson of his. Does anyone of you know if there is any relationship?
Anyone that was supprised at the result of the game yesterday should look at galway’s results in finals which now stands at 24 losses and 5 wins .. a lot of those games they were expected to win.
Actually got a bit emotional myself watching Limerick get over the line yesterday. Lived with a few lads from Castletroy and Bruff when I was in college and they were sound men. We’ve been aligned in our heartbreak since the mid-90s but they’ve finally kicked the door down – and fair play to them.
I seen a few comments from Keegan and others on their success. Limerick could barely field a team ten years ago due to player unrest. We’ve been there too so the similarities are very evident.
We’re father away than ever but it’s up to us to set our own path.
Welcome Back,.. Willie Joe… 2018, was a bad year for our County Team’s… U20’s done very well,.. Kildare became our biggest rivals… More unwelcome Media coverage of ‘A Coup or Partial Coup by some of our Women Player’s, helped bring about an early end to Our Interest in the Liam Martin Cup… More bad performances than good, for our Senior Men,.. (In fact I’m not sure that Mayo played even one very good 70+ minutes in either League or Championship) Only for a late late brilliant Paddy Durcan winning point in Clones, and of course Kevin McLoughlin, late late late show and brilliant equaliser in Ballybofey !….. Manager to stay on? , No news on the management team yet!.. Is it ratified by the County Board, without a backroom team in place?… Who Knows?.. .. Who’s the Mayo Player of the year?… My Shortlist…. Not too Many… My Personal Opinion, Between, Paddy Durcan and Kevin McLoughlin…. Several good performances from, David Clarke, Aiden OShea, Eoin O Donaghue and the evergreen and ever ready Andy Moran!…. So loads to discuss, and the Club Championship is on again this weekend.
Emotional scenes in Croke Park yesterday. It’s great to see a team end a famine. Congrats to Limericak and hard luck to Galway. I am guessing I am not the only Mayo fan who wondered if we will ever experience that winning feeling….here’s hoping.
Limerick lost five finals since 1973 (famine of 45 yrs), John Kiely said after match “we felt over the 45 yrs we were second class citizens when it came to hurling, we were always the bridesmaids”. Mayo have lost nine finals since 1951(famine 67 yrs), do we not feel like second class citizens when it comes to football and when we are always the bridesmaids. What is the Mayo County board going to do?, should they not raise extra finances to help to prepare OUR TEAM BETTER? Mayo management needs to bring more young players onto the panel and put them now on a programme of strength an conditioning. Daragh O She wrote last week about the the skill levels of the current Dublin Team, why are not our current Team and panel working on their skills so that they can match the Dubs in that area?
The man of the match yerterday was a 20 year old. Limerick team is generally very young. If your good enough your old enough. We need a fresh injection of young blood.
I’ve said this before but I’ll say it again. We need to get a senior management team in place asap. Older players need to know who is going to be in charge for 2019 so that they can decide if they are up for another attempt or not. A new panel needs to be put in place and preparations started for the new season. We simply cannot afford to waste this period of valuable time. To everyone involved – ‘get on with it’ is what I say.
I totally agree with diehard we need to bring in younger lads also for the new management team take a leaf out of Limerick hurling team all young lads with no fear no conditioning and let them play and express themselves also no dithering on the sideline anymore from the management
PJ I find those figures for the Galway hurling amazing, but I think the losses stand at 20 and the wins around 5 which include the 3 wins in the 1980’s. Since the Mayo footballers will not be meeting up until the end of November or December at the earliest a full 3 and half months away, I do not see any panic in selecting a back room team. Its about 7 weeks since the game in Newbridge and at lease 15 or 16 weeks before there will be any collective training. The important thing is that the right people are selected. Is that not the priority in any selection process. Unrealistic deadlines is a sure fire way of arriving in the wrong place.
Usual Craic here the week after the hurling final calling for a load of young lads to be thrown in the deep end in championship. Gaelic football is not hurling. It’s rare to even see a player under the age of 21 even play in an All Ireland football final now, never mind be a main man and play a key role. Con o Callaghan was the only u21 player to start last years final. In 2016, Diarmuid o Connor was the only u21 to start the all Ireland final. I think you have to go back to 2013 to go as the last time a meaningful number of players aged u21 started an All Ireland. Cillian on our side and mannion, Kilkenny & Mccaffrey for Dublin (all three were substituted by the 47th minute that day btw, having made no impact on the game). You will always get a rare freak of nature like David Clifford who would undoubtedly make a big impact in an AI final at his current age of 19. Even as good as con o Callaghan was last year, he was anonymous after that early goal last year and was substituted late on. Now unless I missed something, I don’t see any David Clifford’s hanging around the Mayo u20 squad, or even con o Callaghans for that matter. So the idea we dump a bunch of youngsters in to get hammered next year is daft.
If you want to look as prospective new players in 2019, it’s the likes of Brian reape, Ciaran treacy, fergal boland James Carr, sharoize Akram that I’d be hoping will step up. Lads aged 23 or so with the required strength coming into their peak. Another lad that was hyped up was Cian Hanley but now he’s already written off by some people it seems. Might be a good thing actually – I think this guy has big potential with a full season ahead of him and hopefully he’ll make an impact in the club championship this year.
@PJ I agree with you that getting the right people involved in the management setup is the most important thing but that needn’t take an undue amount of time. The point I’m making is that the sooner that team is put in place the sooner they and the players can get their heads around 2019.I think there’s a lot of preparatory work that needs to be done before serious collective training begins…….including having a serious look at potential panel members as they play club championship……getting new panellists ready for intercounty football etc etc.
I would like clarification on the management situation too. Seems to be a lot of conflicting information floating around.
for those of you who havent been on twitter the mcbride club won the league over in chicago
Dreamy, There’s no information floating around about the Mayo management situation, conflcting or otherwise. There is however a lot of rumours around and everybody who pays attention to one is adding to them.
The hurry to get selection / backroom panel organised and announced makes no sense either. Many who are invited in may well be interested but waiting to see who else is involved. Some [probably from outside the county] may be waiting to see what other offers emerge which might suit them better. Afterall Kerry have yet to select a manager and somebody based in Dublin might have an interest in both Mayo and Kerry. Some who are involved with clubs in the championship may not want their name mentioned in connection with another job while they are in the championship. So I imagine that Stephen has as much waiting to do as the rest of us.
AndyD That post makes perfect sense.
Great post Larry Duff. I totally agree with that. The younger players did not step up. I wish they had and I hope they do this year. If the young, old and middle of the road could all get there act together at the same time it could be a perfect storm.. now wouldnt that be something
Great posts Larry Duff and AndyD
@Larry Duff. Absolutely spot on with that post.
Did anyone hear Marty’s little stumble on the 6pm news. He was at the homecoming in Gaelic Grounds. He said ” there’s a sea of green and red awaiting the team ”
Some day Marty. Some day soon. Very soon now le cunadh de.
Toe to hand when you say the younger players didn’t step up. Are you saying we didn’t have one player good enough under 23 to make a debut in the league and play some significant minutes.
Given her impressive track record in successful GAA teams (4 different all Ireland winning teams), Caroline Currid needs to be strongly considered for the back room team in my opinion!
A hearty Congratulations to Limerick. It was a heart in the mouth finish and well done to the all. I was surprised to see so many wides by both sides but even with that, I think hurling is the best game on the planet.
Let nobody ever say that 20 years old is too young to be playing in a final, if you’re good enough you’re old enough. Mayo please take note.
Western People seems to be suggesting that we may yet be getting a new manager
Michael We had this young guy from Belmullet called Eoin O’Donoghue. He would be 21 now. Got a year or so on the Mayo development squad and an early run out in Tralee as a sub late on in that game., before getting some proper game time in the FBD. He impressed a lot of stalwart supporters and he got his full game in Clones against Monaghan. He was MOTM that day on this Blog. He also made his debut in the Championship in May. If you ever see the Mayo team on the telly you could do worse than watch out for him.
PJ I think EOD came on very early in tralee. Someone came off injured. Can’t remember the who
You are correct Michael.. I did not say we didn’t have one player good enough under 23 to make a debut in the league and play some significant minutes. What I am saying is that we don’t have enough players under 23 coming through competing with and dislodging the old guard which is the norm across all counties. One corner back is not going to do it for us. Who put their hand up to replace the likes of Sheamy and take on the calibre of Brian Fenton? Who put their hands up to be the next full back and strive to be on a par to Cian O Sullivan? As already mentioned.. where are our Con O Callaghans and David Cliffords? What about a goal keeper that can float over 45’s for fun or accurately hit a low trajectory ball 50 yards out from their goal line into an area of space 5 sqft. The standard is very very high with grown adult men and women giving over their entire available free time to compete at the top of an amateur sport which really is in name only. And the bar is getting higher each year and so it seems to be proving extraordinarily difficult for younger talent to make the break through right across all counties aside from the few rare talents. Their time will come and they should get as much support and exposure as been competitive allows us. My belief is that we are expecting too much too soon from these youngs lads.. give them time to grow and not choke them out of the game with expectation and burden
Can’t wait for Championship this weekend, these next few weeks we are going to see which young lads are going to put the hand up to Rochy for 2019 panel and put some pressure on our bench.
Names to watch out for in Championship
Ballina Ciaran Treacy, Michael Murray,
Charlestown Jack Reilly
Moy Davitts Brian Reape
Ballagh Cian Hanley ,Seamus Cunniffe, Sharoize Akram
Knockmore Peter Naughton, Darren McHale, Claremorris Conor Diskin, James McCormack
Crossmolina Conor Loftus, Fionan Duffy
Ballintubber Michael Plunkett ,Stephen O’Malley
Aghamore Fergal Boland ,Ross Egan
Castlebar Mitchels James Durcan
Hollymount Darren Coen
Westport Colm Moran , Oisin McLaughlin, Paul Lambert
Breaffy Matthew Ruane ,Michael Hall
Belmullet Ryan O’Donoghue , James Kelly
Mayo Gaels Adam Gallagher
Achill Eddie Doran
The list above is why new backroom team should be installed ASAP
Have a chance to look at Club players BEFORE winter Programme begins
First time in 7 years or so management team has this opportunity and it’s imperative it is taken
Mayo News have front page headline “Rochford meets with Mayo officials” so it should all be sorted soon
MayoMark I stand corrected.
How are Cian Hanley and James durkan getting on with their clubs hopefully the extra year will stand to them both look like they have great potential.
Well done to Limerick but also well done to the posters who have pointed out the vast difference between Gaelic football and hurling as regards the promotion of younger players We had to listen to the same stuff after Clare’s young fellas contributed to their win in 2013. Physicality and strength and conditioning are far more necessary in football By all means bring in young lads but do it gradually. As other posters pointed out a lot of the young lads we tried have not done the business yet at any rate. Diarmaid has, Stephen Coen despite some of the criticism he gets here has done quite well and O Donaghue seems to have potential. Remember our AI winning U21 team of 2006 didn’t deliver at senior level until from 2011 onwards and fair play to them they delivered brilliantly since. So no need to panic about our 2016 U21 AI winners not delivering yet. And for those of you bemoaning our poor season you should have watched Eir Sport tonight. It showed Mayo v Leitrim in the 1994 Connacht Final I remember being at it and to say we were brutal would be an understatement They scored a goal in the first minute and a point in the next 60 minutes. The previous year Cork beat us by 20 points and the year after Galway hammered us in Tuam . Those were the bad days. Then Maugham came in and brought back our respectability, worked hard and had us competing in the AI Finals of 1996 and 1997. Some achievement, yet I still have to listen to people saying he ‘lost’ us 2 All Ireland’s. Hopefully we will never plumb the depths of 1993 – 1995 again. So those calling for radical changes in our set up , just be careful what you wish for.
Eoin O’Donoghue made his debut against Kerry in 2017 playing over 40 minuets
It’s all about the club championship now lads. If you have a vibrant club championship and some really high quality, close games, the new stars will emerge. This is the first time in nearly a decade that teams have had proper preparation and lead in time with all of their county stars training with their club mates. It would be good to see some new teams come to the fore also. The next 6 weeks are huge for Mayo football and even though I live on the other side of the world I can’t wait to tune into live streams, Mayo gaa tv, etc to get decent coverage on who is going well. Think of it this way – if you’re a fringe player who really dreams of having big Mayo career, now is your chance to step up and put your name on a jersey for next January. It’s almost like a clean slate and a new era feel, but the good thing is the established stars will still be there in 2019. Listening to Keith Higgins on Newstalk the other day – it was apparent to me he’s going to be back in 2019. Lots of doomsayers were saying he was finished after the Kildare game. What an asset to Mayo to have a player like zippy even off the bench next season, but I’d still probably start him!
Eoghan Lavin should be on people’s list it’s not all about senior championship look at the heights kiltimagh have reached this year drawing with mitchels beating ballina claremorris clubs that are being mentioned non stop here Donovan cosgrove?serious footballer why isn’t he been mentioned on here Liam Kelly is also another serious footballer and is young we need too look into intermediate clubs big weeks ahead for mayo gaa too determine our future
Opinions?
Hello all .
How do we improve mayo senior county football so we can have the day limerick enjoyed on Sunday ?
I presume most on this site played football at some stage in their life and those who have not were close enough to the game to know how its played or should be played .
Now this is just a question ?
How many of the Dublin senior players are from senior clubs ?
How many of the Kerry team of the 2000 were from senior clubs ?
How many of the Tyrone team of the 2000 Were from senior clubs?
How many of the Meath teams were senior club footballers ?
If you put dublin’s cormac Costello on the sligo team would he stand out ?
But if you put recently retired mark breheny from sligo on the Dublin team he would be a star .My point being I have always felt it easier to play with better players , you receive a better ball in position plus your pass does not have to be spot on .
How many of Mayos junior club footballers have been lost to playing senior football for Mayo ? Can you name a few that should have been given more time ? Yes they might need time to adjust but where is the time afforded them and I don’t think a few junior county games against leitrim will suffice they need more time and at the very least they should train with the seniors over the winter.
I played in west mayo part of a junior club but we played underage against all the bigger clubs at times , your were seeded according to how you did the year before for better or worse.
Some of the really good footballers from junior clubs played county football at under age level but when it came to making the jump from minor to senior county they got either lost or forgotten why ? Look at the records a lot of them still played club right thru . Is it because they were not from a senior club ? Did they just did not get picked because of this ? Does this bias still happen in Mayo ?
I personally saw that at County U21 level we were senior by then I got picked ahead of a junior club player , at minor level he was ahead of me a fine player equally as good and better again at U21 again but because I played senior club I felt i got the nod .
In my time some of the best players in the underage system in mayo were from junior clubs like. … Achill , mc namarra / Lynch / O Malley / lavell
Islandaady had the sweeney’s/ horans / Gibbons
Louisverge had the walshs and heneghans
Kilmeana had the Ryans and McIntyres
Tourmakeady had several fine players
Walsh’s / prendergast / fareagher
Balla had the clarks / gouldings / Dempseys .
I’m sure you all can think of at least one player that you thought should have surely have played senior for mayo but didnt because he was not for the right club ?
Who were them players ?
If we think there is a diamond in the rough now let’s get him out there
It’s not Stephen Rochfords team per say its Mayos Team .
Great post Michael. On this years junior team John Walsh, Duffy and Carr impressed.
It’s great to hear of so many potential players around the county being mentioned which shows that there is talent in the County. However people shouldn’t get cared away, there will not be mass changes to the panel next year, depending upon retirements and injuries I can’t see more that 3-4 next faces max on the panel come championship and these will come mainly from previous development panels so not really new faces as such. It’s ok saying we need new players but they need to be better than what’s already there, and as yet I don’t think the alternatives are.
The lowest point of mayo football -2010 in longford ,one would imagine ,the limerick captain Hannon did not say -manager -in his speech . He used another word, this is a blue print for mayo football now, there is a will to win in this Mayo under 20s team make no mistake. Kiely has come up with those players and it showed on sunday. Shankly said the muscles of the heart are the main ingredients of a good player, he must be right ,he won everything , and so did his successors , Fagan won the double in his first year. Shankly died from a heart attack at 68. slan
Limerick won the hurling with a very young team , and were not bullied by a bigger more physical Galway team , young men are in their prime from about 21 so there should be no fear of playing younger players ,one winter in the Gym will have their upper body strength good enough , and as I have said before 21 year old legs will out run 30 year old legs every time over an hours football , so give youth its chance
Has anyone read the Mayo News to see what it says about Rochford meeting with county board officials ?
KM79 – I am assuming it just needs to be ratified at the county board meting this week. I know a deal till the end of next year or was it 2020… but maybe with a new backroom team it needs to be rubberstamped?
Why do the County Board have to schedule 7 Senior Championship matches this Saturday and just 1 on Sunday???
Could they not just put 4 games on Saturday at 4pm and 6pm and 4 on Sunday at 2 and 4pm or even play 2 on a Friday evening give the Neutral a chance to get around to the games.
In the Galway football championship all games are spread out over Friday evening , Saturday and Sunday and they are all Double headers in Neutal Venues like Salthill ,Tuam and Athenry giving supporters a chance to see alot of a club action
Wonder how the club players feel about a Friday evening game after a day’s work ……..
Th it probably has something to do with the Pope and road closures
I don’t think the pope has any interest in football and I know for certain God isn’t a Mayo GAA fan. So let the games go ahead over the weekend.
Its only on the Claremorris to Charlestown part of the N17 that it might affect anyone with traffic with road been closed.thats just 3 clubs who could be affected Claremorris, Aghamore and Charlestown.
We are heading back to the 1960s . We will be there sooner rather than later, that stuff in the Mayo News rings a bell are they serious we wonder, players sitting down in a meeting with mcb and the manager. The Limerick setup is the
one we need now, this outdated stuff with selectors etc is past the sell date ,more of the same wont work .Mayo will
end up relegated. We will have one shot at the cup in 2020 imo if we are lucky. . slan
Wakeupnow – I think it’s time you started to take notice of the handle you’re using when posting here. I’ve no problem with criticisms being voiced here but this constant drip-drip of pessimism is getting a bit wearing at this stage. If this is all we can expect from you on an ongoing basis then I suggest you find another online outlet for it.
PjAnyone that was supprised at the result of the game yesterday should look at galway’s results in finals which now stands at 24 losses and 5 wins .. a lot of those games they were expected to win.
Afraid you are wrong there pj.Galway were not expected to win a lot of those games. We were underdogs in 79.80.85.86.87.90.93.01.05.12.15 and favs in 81.88.17. Dont think Mayo were favourites in any of the all-Irelands they lost recently and I dont know if they were favourites for the last win in early 1950s.
Mitchellsman I couldn’t agree more. Plenty of talent in the intermediate that don’t get a mention. The kilti full back is a better player than what we field at county level. Eoghan Lavin should be a shoe in and Mayo should look at the likes of David Lydon in the set up. I’m obviously a Kiltimagh man and have been wondering why no one mentions those lads, especially when they are beating or going toe to toe with all the big clubs and big name players of Mayo.
Schlingermann in goals back in the kiltimagh fold now too kiltilad should be looked at as a successor to clarke and brought in to the fold. Look at comerford for Dublin – under cluxtons wing learning the ropes ready in waiting for when cluxton steps aside
Completely agree with recruiting Caroline Currid. To think she was involved with Tyrone ’08, Tipperary ’10, Dublin ’11 and now Limerick ’18. Paul O’Connell gives her serious praise in his autobiography too and he’s a hard man to impress. Given our repeated psychological failings in finals, it’s an absolute no-brainer to get her on board.
@Davyj, She would be an excellent choice. But id be leaning towards wakeupnow as our psychological coach for the season ahead. Theyd be raring to go after a talk by that guy/girl.
Kiltilad Ye appear to have a decent midfield pair also. Better than Claremorris and Castlebar if the recent league game is anything to go by.?
Eoghan Lavin is definitely worth looking at and I’m not a Kiltimagh man. I know he was dogged by injury and hopefully he has put that behind him now. He is a very good footballer.
Wow well done Limerick. Amazing scenes on streets and in Gaelic Grounds. Reading Galway captain’s interview where he said re toll of 2 replays, injuries, recovery – well it just shows what a commitment the Mayo players put in last year (& previous years) with qualifiers, replays, extra time AND so many of team based in Dublin. Hopefully a really good coach and selectors will be recruited. So hard to replace Donie Buckley. Caroline Currid sounds so impressive. Surely we will soon be hearing of a big fundraising bash in New York in May. Limerick so lucky to have JP McManus as a backer.
Caroline Currid, certainly has an impressive CV.. And just added to it last Sunday…. Two questions for ye! Why would she want to leave Limerick?…… (A county not traditionally associated with success on the biggest day in hurling)… From a Mayo point of view, a Management team will have to be put in place in Mayo first of all… All for the science of Physiology myself, but we need to put all the pillars of the Management team in place firstly….. If you think about the ‘Physiology’ of expecting or hoping to get Caroline Currid to come to Mayo…. … Why would she want to come to Mayo?… After all at this precise moment in time, She wouldn’t know who are the members of our Management team… Therefore she couldn’t possibly know if she could work with them or not?…
Eoghan Lavin is unique in having height, size and pace. He is scoring consistently and has a fifty yard boot on him.
What is that backroom team costing in Limerick? Are they like the big soccer and rugby teams- buying success. Not every county team has a backer like JP. More power to them.
Interesting reading in the Mayo News. Seems like Stephen has some work to do to retain his position
Can someone give the gist of what was said in the mayo news
Same line of reporting in the Connacht telegraph, though not a paper I take much herd of.
Km79, Mayo News is online.
Ger Bohan, just read the article about meeting with county board on the Mayo News website. No where in that article does is suggest that Rochford has work to do to retain his position nor does it suggest his position is under threat. It simply says three positions are to be filled in the backroom team, when Stephen has them choosen he will put them on the table for ratification at the next meeting. Maybe you read a different article.
Thanks mayomad I never even thought to check the site !
Connolly clealrt states Rochford is the manager and backroom team is currently being assembled
You just have misread Ger as it is stated unequivocally that Rochford is the manager
So we can put that all to bed
Aidan Henry’s piece in this weeks CT states that the continuation of SR’s contract is contingent on him agreeing a new back room team i.e. since the old back room team is gone his position is no longer 100% secure – based on the terms of his contract. The article also states that he has struggled to find a new back room team.
However most disturbing is the claim of player unrest and that certain senior players might not return if SR stays.
I’m certainly not trying to create a rumour mill here (as I say it’s in Henry’s article); however there has to be an acknowledgement that something doesn’t appear quite right. There’s a certain ‘delay’ to confirmation of SR’s position and the back room team that doesn’t seem quite assuring.
I wouldnt wipe my arse with an Aidan Henry article! Send me off to sinbin if need be WJ, i just needed to say that.
Jez does that buck in connaught telegraph ever stop ‘snipping’ at Stephen Rochford and the players.
Understandable that he is struggling to form a new back room team because he had a fine back room team to start off with and I guess this next set up will have to be seen to be better. It’s not just case of ringing up a few buddies from the local. Tough ask to improve on what he had and I guess the County Board will want see what these new people will bring.. Only fair I suppose and there may be expenses involved which would have to be rubber stamped.
Tubberman Not in the least Tubberman. You will find many posters on here will feel the same about Henry article on any topic and especially Mayo Football.
Toe to Hand. This was mentioned in the MN. Donnie Tony and Peter are a hard act to follow. Replacing them will not happen overnight. Getting good people is paramount and so it should be. All to play for so.
I’d be in there with you on that one, Tubberman! Couldn’t put it better myself.
Henry is a freelance journalist feeding off the “anti” rump in Mayo football. He clearly has access to people with some inside knowledge, and his observations may not be as far off the mark as some dedicated S.R fans seem to think. As K M 79 says S. R. may have some convincing to do yet. Clearly it is a legitimate question to ask after 3 years of coming up short what can the same Manager do now, to make the vital difference ?.
Outside the Pale.
Maybe Steven hasn’t gotten all decisions right, BUT, he has been beaten in successive all Irelands by 1 point by what is been touted as one of the best teams of all time.
He may not have landed Sam but I believe what he has gotten out of this team is far removed from coming up short.
Maybe all 31 other county managers need to be kicked out the door as well as they have all come up short. Alot shorter than Mayo I might add.
The critical thing Revellino is what he AND his backroom achieved. How able is he without them. We had a disastrous year. No home wins. Beaten by Galway and a team who lost 4 (yes FOUR) championship matches.
I think change is warranted and it seems that if Stephen cannot convince the Board that he can get a quality ir any backroom, then they will look for change
Revellino, Whatever about the difference between coming up short ,and being beaten by a point, at this stage it is clear that the best approach to maximising the potential of the players available (old and new) in the immediate future, is with a new Manager( probably from outside the County) with no baggage, and who would be willing and strong enough to shake things up within the present set up and make one big push for glory with this group of players before its too late for them.
God preserve us from the “get an outside manager” brigade. How many outside maanagers have won Sam? One to the best of my recall and that was the man Mayo rejected, John O’Mahony. How many outside ,managers tried to win Sam? Many have and few of them achieved any real improvement with their adopted counties. Our own experiment with the great Jack O’Shea was an unmitigated disaster. Our second experiment with Mickey Moran was not much better, ok, he did get us to the All Ireland final but we got a mighty trashing. After all John Maughan’s Mayo were beaten by three points in the previous years QF by the same Kerry.
What outsider would get anything like general acceptance as Mayo manager? Don’t give me Jack O’Connor or Jim McGuinness. Jack will never leave Kerry and for Mayo to take him on it would have to be an effectively full time position. McGuinness is finished with GAA except for making a few bob from his punditry. Incidentally a journalist once told me that almost all of these explayer articles in national papers are ghost written just as their “auto” biographies are.
Ara pointless getting someone in outside of the county when what we need is someone who is well aware of what talent we have inside the county. Give the bucko a chance to see some talent during the club matches, he has the time now. For him to stay on with the amount of abuse he has got has to show he has some will for this team. All is not lost and with a few of the older bucks maybe taking a place on the bench and coming in later on in the games we could be as strong a force as we ever have being. Any team would fear seeing the likes of zippy coming in for the last 20 mins and running the shite out of his opponent. It will be an interesting year to come and hopefully he gets some progress made with younger bucks. Let’s all just hope the Dubs hammer the shite out of the red hand so we can remind them next year who is the only force closest to bringing them down. Onwards we go, roll on 2019…
The delay in getting the back room team in place is creating a vacuum and uncertainty.
Nature abhors a vacuum, but rumour mills and gossipers thrive on it. Until the back room team is confirmed this will continue. It would be preferable to get this stuff tied down so that the business of preparing for next year can start. I can’t see what an outside manager has to offer that a Mayo manager can’t, if a vacancy existed. A Mayo person would have more skin in the game, I would have thought.
Not sure what the two lads are up to currently – think at least one of them may be training the younger generation at club level – but what about Stephen calling upon two of his former club mates (and fellow all ireland winners) into his backroom team – James Nallen as backs coach and Ciaran McDonald as forwards coach.I firmly believe that we have enough talent inside the current squad and inside the county to mount a challenge and the Dubs could be for catching next year (that’s assuming that Tyrone don’t pull off a major shock Sunday week). If Stephen and the county board can get the coaching team right I really think we could experience the elation that Limerick did (and will continue to) in 2019. That said I am sad to see Tony McAntee and Donie Buckley go and wish them all the best in their futures as they put some hard work in and really bought into the Mayo quest for Sam.
Whoever manages Mayo this yearand I hope it’s Steven and expect it will be have a big job and alot of work to do to get this team to a standard of winning an all Ireland.
The goalie situation has to be addressed.
Clarke is a brilliant shot stopper. His limitations are he cannot kick the ball to midfield and his short kick outs are a risk.
Hennelly can kick long but is suspect under high balls in to the box.
The full back saga which has been an issue for decades at this stage has to be resolved. I wish we had a kevin Cahill like player available.
Midfield is a big wo?ry. Tom Parsons will do his damndest to get back playing but I think 2019 might come a bit quick for the injury Tom suffered.
Seamie will be there to play some part but really mobility is what we need to be gunning for at midfield and 2 lads that win the long kickouts. Diarmuid had a brilliant game at midfield against Kildare. We need to unearth another midfielder and very fast, before the league kicks off.
It’s hard to know where to start with the forwards. Realistically the brilliant Andy cannot be looked at as a 70 minute man this year. If we get a good 20 or 25 minutes from him at the end of games then that would be great.
KMc is a shoe in as well as Jason Doc and A O Shea.
Cillian will be there every game but needs maybe to be given more direction on how he plays I.e. feed him the ball and let him kick it over the bar instead of following the opposition all over.the pitch.
So that’s 4 good forwards so would say we need at a minimum to unearth 2 new forwards, lads that maybe haven’t been given a chance.
Durkan, Hanley and Loftus are I suppose in the might and might not develop category.
Loftus needs to step up and toughen up a bit to get the jersey.
Durkan and Hanley have yet to prove themselves.
Hopefully the manager will take say the top 6 or 7 scorers from the club games and give them proper game time in the fbd and league.
My wishlist for 2019 would be
New goalie
New full back
New mobile midfielder to partner Diarmuid
At least 2 new scoring forwards.
If we could unearth these I feel the bench would take care of itself.
It’s asking alot, but I think these are the type of changes needed to be serious contenders again.
Revellino
new goalie options Schlingermann, O’malley, Flanagan
Full Back Options Crowe, Cunniffe.
mobile midfielder- Ruane
Scoring forwards- McDonagh, Reape, Treacy
How would you fell of another Tuamstar been involved?
Yeah Kilti lad I’m a mitchels man but Go to a lot of club games and have have been impressed by many players eoghan Lavin in particular Your midfield is a mixture of height and strenght and yes I do believe the kiltimagh full back should be given a chance and maybe Sean Walsh too be bought in for the league serious fetcher of the ball any other young lads coming up too look out for?..
Just a thought.
Exactly the type of players you’ve named there now that need to be given a serious look at and a proper chance to make the mayo team.
The players we need are out there alright. The manager needs to get them on board and have these new lads playing right from the start of the fbd.
Established players need not be.cut from the squad but instead used to make up a serious bench. Something that we haven’t had as good and all as the past 6 or.7 years have been.
If the right decisions are made we could have a serious team on our hands in 2019 but it will take moving 4 or 5 of the regulars on to the subs bench.
Couldn’t agree more revelino benches win games the likes of Evan Regan fergal Boland haven’t hit the heights they need too be in for the fbd and the league eoghan Lavin in my opinion is a class footballer and don’t understand why they haven’t been brought in schlingermann going too be bought into the mayo set up even tho he’s not playing for kiltimagh?Jamie mcnicholas is in goals for them and is a quality keeper maybe a future mayo gk we need scoring forwards and 2 mobile midfielders opinions
Interesting questions, Leantimes. Firstly, someone like Caroline must be attracted by a psychological proposition like Mayo. With Limerick winning last Sunday, and Clare, Wexford, Offaly and Galway all getting over the line in the last 20 years, the only real hurling power left that’s waiting to end a decades-long famine is Waterford. She doesn’t seem to have a preference for hurling over football, but the most “celebrated” (if that’s the right word) famine left in GAA has to be Mayo’s long wait for Sam, especially as we’ve had five All-Ireland finals (including a replay) in this decade alone without success. I’m guessing that that kind of psychological puzzle must be exactly the kind of thing she loves to solve.
As for her signing on without knowing who she’ll be working with – fair point. But we can assume SR will be there, and his backing should be good enough to overrule any objections from potential backroom members. Barry Moran seems to be the only retiree, so there would be nothing to stop her working with the panel.
In any case, having her on board with Mayo is probably wishful thinking. I’d really love to see it though.
Tommy Conroy from the Neale needs to go into the development squad. If he was given the ball more in the U20 final we may have won that game. He has pace to burn and can beat players on the outside. How many Mayo players can do that? Also fail to see in the U20 game how Kildare were allowed to play such attractive open football. As a county we need to get much meaner and dirty if need be. Coming into a game where we all knew their full forward line was dangerous and not developing a plan to counteract this is just pure crazy. The ball was given to him at chest height each time. No player in front blocking the direct pass. At the very least make him go wide to receive the ball or make it that he has to get high ball. I am not being critical of the players. I am being critical of the support staff. Harsh but true.
Did Henry not write similar articles when Horan and Connelly/Holmes were involved? His articles reflect what I’ve heard in pubs in recent weeks….problem is most of it is bull in my experience.
As long as I remember there is always “stories” floating around in Mayo football…start a rumour at the bridge in Shrule in the mourning and guaranteed it will have reached Belmullet by tea time
With a few legs added to it
Yes the Kiltimagh midfield have recently taken the castlebar and Claremorris midfielders to town. It’ll be hard to find a better partnership in the county.
As for young lads coming through, it’s a bit early but Donovan cosgroves younger brother is an animal at 16 and I can only see him becoming one of the top Mayo players in years to come – fast big strong and skillful. A couple of other tidy young lads but they need to progress further before being mentioned at county status.
Schlingermann has started with Kiltimagh now and played with the junior team last week – he could be the catalyst for a higher scoring team and in my humble opinion, should be ahead of clarke automatically as Gaelic has changed and clarke while a great shot stopper doesn’t have the skills at his feet required by top teams. Michael is a great keeper for Jamie Mc to learn from in the Kiltimagh team.
Ps, Killian Finn is good enough to play for Mayo if he becomes more consistent and works on his temperament/attitude when things aren’t going well
Jesus lads – we will have 8-10 lads from Kiltamagh on the Mayo team soon. Was Donovan Cosgrave u20 this year. Looked very promising as a minor. Our u20 fullback line was weak enough – was surely worth a try if underage
Re Gaelic-football Goalkeeper’s… Clarke is DEFINITELY the best shot stopper in the Country,.. Command’s his area on the Ground, and in the Sky…. True he hasn’t the best kickout/restart in Ireland, and doesn’t take long range free’s…. But by my own observations and all the Mayo match’s I have been at, and other’s I seen on the Telly…. Clarke rates easily in the top 5 Gaelic-football Goalkeeper’s in the Country… His restart’s are not as good as, No 1, Rory Beggan, No 2 Stephen Cluxton, No 3 Evan Commerford (Dublin Sub Goalkeeper) & (On a good day) Possibly No 4 Tyrone’s Niall Morgan..(Strange Customer Niall Morgan, when he’s HOT, he’s HOT , and when he’s NOT , he’s NOT , he most definitely was NOT last time we played Tyrone in the championship, and a huge part of the reason Tyrone inexplicably lost that match, but he was HOT versus Monaghan recently and a big part of the reason Tyrone scrapped home ) . At Shot Stopping Clarke is No 1… But apart from, Beggan, Cluxton, Commerford and possibly Morgan on a good day, who can kick the ball out as well as Clarke… Despite the absence of, Séamus O Shea and Tom Parsons versus Kildare.. Clarke’s restart’s (most long to the wings past the 45) found their target every time, sometimes with minimal space to work in, Bar on 3 occasions… Considering Kildare have a big mobile midfield, Both Mayo’s first choice midfielder’s absence,.. Kildare scored 21 point’s and a number of wides, at least 30 restart’s all but 3 find their target fielder…. If Mayo were to have a good season, Clarke would possibly picking up a third All Star award… Comparison’s to the Outrageous and Consistent kicking standards of Beggan and Cluxton, should not blind us to just how great a goalkeeper David Clarke actually is!
BALLS.IE are reporting that Carnacon have been thrown out of the Mayo club championship by a vote of the Mayo County Board last night.
Thanks, Olive – link to that report on Balls.ie is here: https://www.balls.ie/gaa/carnacon-395353.
RTE have that report on Carnacon on their website too, Sorry, I don’t have the skills to put up a link. As my mother used say this has a touch of cutting off your nose to spite your face. I’m not sure about the legality of the move either. Whatever about the rules of the LGFA – the GAA used have a rule leaving a player who refused to play for his county open to suspension but it was dropped some considerable time ago as impracticable – banning an entire club because of the actions of a few seems like collective punishment and might not be entirely legal under the laws of the land. This one will, I think, run for a while and do absolutely no good for Mayo Ladies football at any level.
Not surprised…the dogs on the street had heard the Mayo walkout originated in Carnacon
Kiltilad, If Slingermann is such a good ‘keeper why is he back with Kiltimagh with his LOI career over at 26? He was dropped by Sligo Rovers who are no world beaters and apparently no other club wanted to sign him. He has never played fro any of the top LOI clubs in his eight or so years in LOI. I was at the Intermediate final last year and cannot recall any Kiltimagh player standing out as a potential county man.
Yew_tree,
The walkout may have had the support of all the Carnacon players but why blame the club? The players were not in charge of the club, they were in the hands of the County management. And they had the support of others in the panel as well? Why were the players involved in the walkout not all individually suspended for bringing the game into dispute? Was it because that would not have had the support of the other clubs affected? This has all the hallmarks of a “if we can’t beat them on the field we’ll beat them in the boardroom” tactic. In my opinion it won’t stand up under appeal and certainly not in a court of law. Incidentally why, if the Co Board say that the issue is not a player welfare one, do they not say what it is?
@Andy D,. Whatever (IT) is?. It didn’t seem to exist before the Connacht Final!… IT manifested itself subsequently, but not in a manner that made it Crystal Clear what exactly (IT) related to. The County Board never said it was a ‘Player Welfare issue’… Other’s from Carnacon did,! That’s a fact! Let those who articulated this’ Player Welfare Issue ‘ to the media when asked enlighten us further!….
The onus is on the players who walked out to explain the “player welfare” issues that caused them to walk. Any parent who has daughter asked to join a Mayo ladies team – will have concerns about how the Mayo county board treat player welfare because of the statement. That statement is too vague and maybe doing a disservice to the ladies county board. Is the real reason player selection/team selection. If it is the players who walked shouldn’t be hiding behind “player welfare” statements. Hard to see the suspension of Carnacon staying in place if they appeal.
Carly Simon’s – “Nobody does it better”, the lyrics says it all about how we do things in Mayo GAA !!
@Stephen Cowley.. What about the late great singer songwriter Leonard Cohen’s.. ‘Everybody Knows’…. In realition to the’ ‘Player Welfare Issues?.’..Those who speak about it but can’t get into detail about it! But in reality, .. Everybody Knows!
It would be good to get reports from posters on standout players in this weekend’s championship matches, regardless of level.
I plan on going to Knockmore v Moy Davitts and Ballina v Ballaghaderreen on Saturday. Will put up a post afterwards on what players impress.
I don’t know what exactly the “player welfare” issue causing the ladies walkout was or is and to be honest I don’t particularly want to know the details. At the time it was said to be “personal” to the player concerned and I am happy with that. If the management /county board disagreed they were entitled to say what they saw it as. But why were all those who walked out not treated equally? Was Carnacon’s influence seen as so great to exonorate the non Carnacon players? I want to be clear – I am not advocating more suspensions, I deplore all the suspensions/club banning but rather am asking why the disparity.
Whatever about “who knows what”, it’s fairly telling that the only time there is any significant engagement or discussion here around ladies football is when there’s scandal surrounding it!
As someone who doesn’t actually know exactly what the problems were (like most people I have an idea and suspicions but nothing more solid) this decision still smacks of spite from both the county board and the club delegates responsible, and is once again serving to place a spotlight on Mayo for unsavoury reasons. If there is anyone bringing the game into repute today, it is not the Carnacon players.
Edwin McGreal on with Joe Molloy this eve on Newstalk seemed to suggest the reasons for the walkout will be known very soon as all bets are off now.
I’ll agree with Joe though, Mayo Have an awful habit of showing up in the news for all the wrong reasons in the national spotlight. We should be very quiet but now this again….I know it’s. It realted in any way to Mayo GAA but it puts a bad focus on the county again
Anne Marie, I wholeheartedly agree with you on both counts. Regards the lack of engagement except when something hits the fan, that is partly due to the LGFA itself in not pushing for more publicity and lack of self promotion. I had a small part in getting ladies football established in my own area in that when the ladies wanted to start up I insisted that they should have a right to come under the umbrella of the existing GAA club. But since then I rarely know when they have a game as all publicity is via Facebook and Twitter and for my own reasons I refuse to use either. There is a section for ladies fixtures on the GAA Co Board website but they never use it. I have asked several LGFA officials why they do not push for more publicity in national press but they do not seem to be bothered about the lack of it.
I see Hogan Stand is speculating that Rochy May have Stephen Poacher ( Carlow ex Down) in his sights.
Seems to have done a good job on Carlow’s Shooting in any case.
Thanks Wide ball. Lot of interesting possibilities in those games.
AndyD, I couldn’t agree more with you on that count. I’ve queried that myself in the past only to be told that games can’t be publicised much in advance because the LGFA find it so hard to secure venues. But there’s no excuse for not updating a website with fixtures in advance – even dates, if there isn’t a venue agreed. The media often comes under fire for not promoting women’s sports, but the organisations themselves also need to step up.
I’m not shy to criticise the GAA but by god they get a lot of things right, and the LGFA, relatively speaking, is a shambles. Like Edwin, I only learned today that the LGFA has the power to suspend an individual player for up to 6 months if they decline to play for their county. Like, WTAF?
I hope Poacher isn’t brought on board. All his teams are blanket defence merchants. I’d like Alan Flynn as coach. He’s working with Castlebar Mitchels at the moment so I’d say he’d be willing to give us a go. Would also like Kevin O’Neill brought in as a selector/forwards coach. The final selector should be a midfielder if possible as we need new blood in that area.
Keep Poacher away from the Mayo. The most negative coach in the game. He withdrew from the Down manager’s job even though he was never on the shortlist.up his own arse is Stephen
It would appear that the County Board believes that the Cornacon club itself is collectively responsible for the decision for some of its members not to play for Mayo. Why else would it not take action against individuals and penalise the whole club instead. Whilst not knowing the whole storey here, and while I don’t fully agree with the decision of the County Board, it might not be the worst thing to happen in that it should bring the whole thing to a head quickly.. a good airing.. get to the route of the problem.. try and solve it if it can and then move on. What do they say.. isn’t all advertisement good advertisement even if it’s bad advertisement.
A few slight corrections for balance….
The entire club of Carnacon is not suspended. It is only the senior team that is in doubt.
Whether they meant it or not, the club is responsible for this as they formally withdrew the services of their players. It was not a case of the 8 players individually walking out. The club pulled them, hence the proposed sanction on Carnacon.
An extensive investigation supposedly found that there were no Player Welfare issues. Also, all avenues for the players to voice and address any issue was shunned by the players that walked. The county liasion officer was not contacted nor was any communication sent via the captain to county secretary or chairman.
It will all come out in the wash.
@toe to hand…. Love us or Hate us, you cannot ignore us… Mayo brings more drama than you’d get in the West End of London.. Mania from Heaven right now for the hard pressed, Gaelic-football journalists… Tyrone won’t talk to RTE…. Dublin will talk, but in the word’s of Poet Séamus Heany follow the mantra ‘Whatever you say, Say Nothing’.. So watch out Girl’s and try to control yerselves! …. Marty Morrissy might be about!… So some Good News for ye there !
Andy D i can correct you there kiltimagh didn’t have there full squad out in there intermediate final eoghan Lavin wasn’t playing etc etc as I said I’m a castlebar man but I’m interested in up and coming clubs and that kiltimagh team has improved immensely in the league drawing with all ireland club finalists beating ballina breaffy claremorris schlingermann well I don’t have much updates as of yet..opinions guys
Agree with you, Andy D, about Kiltimagh players, There are about fifty other clubs in the County with adult players of various abilities mostly as good or better than them. Seems like “Kiltilad ” would like the entire Mayo team to be made up of Coilltes.. Should Aido & Co. be getting worried about their places on the team ??
Hogan Stand also speculating about those two also Wide Ball!
Tell us more about Alan Flynn.
A few truths on ladies fixtures and cooperation with the GAA…..
Ladies fixtures, in a lot of cases, are subject to a pitch being available, i.e. not being used by the mens teams. Even taking that issue away, they cannot clash with mens fixtures as the refs are not there to cover both codes. Mens get priority for the refs.
Ladies football actually pay more to a ref than the men do, and pay up front at the game.. Mens refs wait for months before seeing any money.
Girls/ladies find it much, much harder to get time off work to get to training or a game. Lads seem to get off a lot easier. Too many examples to quote.
The Mayo ladies website results section is continually updated, bear in mind that there are 32 ladies teams in Mayo.
We have the third most amount of ladies games in the country.
U13, 15 & 17 development panels have been recently restructured and launched and Ladies football has the most strict Garda vetting and child safeguarding process to pass before you can even get near a pitch.
Regional development officers, full time, are being appointed and LiDL are on board in a highly publicized sponsor campaign.
The LGFA missed a chance a number of years ago by not coming in with the GAA. However this year a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by both GAA and LGFA that will see both organisations work more closely in the coming years. The LGFA offices are in Croke Park by the way.
Hogan Stand article is just a re hash of the Mayo News supplement from a number of weeks ago.
I’d like to see John Divilly come in with Pat Fallon. Fallon has done great work with Balla and rumour has it, he’s soon to move on?
Pat Fallon is a good shout, he’d fit the bill of selector/midfielder coach. So that’s…
Manager – Stephen Rochford
Coach – Alan Flynn or John Divilly
Selectors – Joe Keane, Kevin O’Neill and Pat Fallon
Bring in the Sligo psychologist and we’ll be unstoppable!
Outside the pale kiltimagh are challenging for the league title and would be sitting top only for lads being missing against ballintubber and breaffy whats your agenda against them?there competing at the highest level and with all due respect have gave some hidings too the”Big clubs”who are the only ones that get a look in in the county set up kilti lad isn’t saying that a team should be made out of culchies he’s saying they should be given a chance too show what they can do if they fail they fail if you don’t try you won’t succeed that goes for every other club from junior b too all ireland club finalists THERE’S TALENT OUT THERE THAT SHOULD BE GIVEN A CHANCE that’s why Kerry have been and will be so competitive in the history of gaelic football..opinions
Wide Ball, I,m afraid your faith in P.F is misplaced, not impressive with Balla,, decent players, but playing 14 behind the ball, and half way out the field instructing players etc..As for his midfield experience the midfielders role has changed utterly since his day,. eg placed restarts, box to box etc. K.O N, no experience of GAA management at any level. & J K,so qualification is ” from Crossmolina” !!! We need to think again.
Alan played his football in Tuam but got into coaching very young, he has coached a fair few club teams in Galway including taking Tuam Stars to a county final in 2011 unfortunately beaten by Corofin In the final .. He coached GMIT with Stephen as well so thry are well kn own to each other. Flynn managed Galway under 21s to an All Ireland and has been a selector/ coach with Clare for the last two years.He is also currently involved with Damien Comers Annaghdown. A very strong favourite i would imagine to be involved with Mayo next year..
It’s great to have the eyes done. I was misreading some words and some stories were making no sense to me at all. It’s all sorted now though and everything is sound.
Wasn’t I surprised then to read that the Mayo County Board are kicking the Corncrake out of the County. They’ll hardly get away with that. Sure isn’t the Corncrake a protected species.
The Corncrake numbers were on the rise too. There was 12 of them spotted in 1 small field a couple of months ago. It’s puzzling why the County Board would want to kick them out of the County.
Sure the poor old County Board have no time for ratifying managers or backroom teams because their up to their eyeballs dealing with this Corncrake epidemic.
The hearing isn’t the best either but I did hear a Mayo man on Newstalk yesterday explaining that the County board had taken this drastic measure because they were afraid the corncrake might interfere with the Pope’s flight in to knock.
I’ll be keeping my ears open and my eyes peeled and if I hear or see anything else about this I’ll update yea straight away.
Time to forget about selectors , let the Manager pick his own team . All that’s needed is a very good Fitness Instructor/Strength and Conditioning person to have them in best possible condition to last full game plus injury time . Also need is a forward and defence coach men like, Kevin O Neill/Ciaran McDonand / James Nallen plenty of them in home County
Now that Rochford is staying I think he should be left to assemble his back room team. Focus now on club championship this weekend.
Agree with coaches needed Culmore.
I might even go a step further and and have an individual coach for a couple of the players.
A o’Shea is a great footballer but I feel he is covering too much ground. With the big frame, he runs out of steam after 50 to 55 minites. He should be coached to taylor the area he needs to cover. This would allow him to.see out matches.
Cillian another great player. In his best efforts for the team he spends an awful lot of the time out of the scoring zone, chasing opponents even in to our own full back line. We have all star backs. I’d love to see him staying up in the forwards and doing what he does best.
Seamie. Any team in the country would.dread to see Seamie.coming in from the bench with 35 or 40 minutes to go. He’s another mighty player but flags after 50 – 55 minutes. Think he’d be.a mighty man coming in to hammer in to the opposition.
Several of our players don’t need any coaching. Kmc is unpredicatable, impossible for the opposition to read and that’s a major part of why he’s so good. I wouldn’t coach that out of him.
Don’t know how much shooting practise our forwards do but it needs to be increased and each forward should be given a target of what they are expected to contribute each game.
Any forward should be able to chip in with at least 2 points over 70+ minutes.
I would agree with a forwards.and a backs coach and micro manage a couple of the lads to add to their game and allow them to see out full games.
Revilino I have a friend down Erris country and she has a Corncrake in her meadow field and she’s convinced it’s the same corncrake that comes back every year she calls it Cora the corncrake no word of a lie. Any resemblance of this corncrake to footballers living or dead is purely coincidental.
Outside the pale, what are you talking about? Kiltimagh are comfortably in the top 10 teams in the county over the past 12 months and i’m sure you would find each team they have played would say the same. Castlebar showed great respect after the battle they had with Kiltimagh and complimented the team on going extremely well and tipped us to go far this year, which is positive to hear from a rival team that has reached the highest club levels in the country. If consistency over a sustained period of time in playing well is the key for making the grade at county level, then some Kiltimagh players deserve the chance to show that. Whatever you say about the Michael Walsh cup, we won it against Breaffy minus the 2 o’sheas, have won the centenary a couple of times against the likes of Aughamore and Charlestown, been at two consecutive county finals (lost obviously but could and should have won last year), came second behind Ballina last year in 1B only losing one game, which we lost to Ballina (who we beat this year) and now sit in joint second in the most competitive league we have 1A and as was mentioned would be top if we weren’t missing 6-7 first team players, which a club our size can’t do without to compete and win the highest honours. I don’t want to get into a debate about Kiltimagh, I am just stating that the club have done very well and are continuing to build as the year goes on and surely this deserves recognition for one, two or three of the players to get a look at county level and i’m sure you agree 😉
I hate to bring another negative strand into this, as since the championship negative the tone of commentary has been generally negative; understandable I suppose but we tend to go glass half empty way too easily as a county.
Anyway, I’m unfortunately going to add to this, below are reports from the excellent “rebel og” Cork underage website referring to the recent Adam Manaan U-15 tournament. Cork don’t enter a county team to some of these, they enter regional squads. In both U-15, as referred to below, and U-14 they beat us out the gate.
According to my sources who have sons on underage panels, this has been going on a for a few years now. they are now sometimes not inviting Mayo for challenge matches as the level of challenge we are putting up is not great.
Now this could be a reflection that Cork have gotten their house in order at underage, but I think it’s worrying, not because of individual results but because of what is the apparent trend at those vital age groups.
Would those in the county have an insight into what is going on in terms of underage development in the county? The recent colleges successes not to mention U-21 and U-20 paint a fairly rosy picture. But I would have thought given our footballing tradition we would be at least be competitive at those other age groups which are after all where the minors, U-20s and eventually hopefully seniors are going to come from.
“The West Squad, buoyed up by their recent success in the Munster Competition, were in excellent form once again and remain unbeaten this year winning out the Tournament. They beat Mayo in the quarter final before seeing off a determined challenge from the home county (Offaly) before advancing to beat North Kerry in the final on a scoreline of 3-11 to 1-09.
Our Fé 14 footballers were also in action. On this occasion, our West and Mid West squads were merged and our City East and North squads were playing together for the first time. Kerry and Mayo were the visitors to Mallow for a 2 groups of 3 format. Both Cork sides acquitted themselves well with both narrowly losing to the Kerry sides while both beat Mayo convincingly.”
To add to East Cork Exile – I know a parent who had a son playing with South Kerry in that u14 competition. He said South Kerry beat Mayo comfortably and also added that Mayo were “very poor”.
Is this the team some people are talking up as beating Dublin with Ciran McDonald involved. I hope not.
Do people think there is any chance of Ciaran McDonald actually being approached for a job in the senior set-up, or that he’d even be interested in such an offer? Seems like the kind of guy who might want to stay away from the attention that such a role brings.
Only 34 team competed in all Cork U21 club championships. 40 competed in the Mayo U21 club championships.
Now, does that not tell a more positive tale for where we will get players than being beaten in U14/15 invitationals after driving down on a 4/5 hour bus journey with probably 40% of our full panel and many elite players (few top class U14s do exist, in particular forwards) not part of that squad.
Cork have a huge U14 pick, quite clearly we will have the bigger pick once we are picking from U21 seven years down the line. Just think of the drop out rate in Cork city and the larger towns by the time they get to U21.
U14 and U15 results are a nonsense.
Great news that Mayo GAA have secured land at Lough Lannagh for a new Mayo GAA training facility.
http://mayogaa.com/news-detail/10042934/
@yew tree,
You won’t find too many people involved with clubs within the county jumping up and down at this news as ultimately it’s going to be the clubs paying for it. It’s all fine and we’ll saying Tyrone, Kerry and other counties have excellence centres, but those counties have proper functioning financial systems in place that will fundraise to cover these projects without burdening the clubs. Look at the stand, clubs are still being levied €7k a year to pay for that after all these years. The clubs need to block this from going any further until a commercial director is put in place and a detailed financial plan published to show how this will be funded.
Liam I get what your saying and I am involved in my club. I haven’t seen anywhere that says the clubs will be paying for this and I’m led to believe a change in fundraising is coming so let’s wait and see…
The fact our county senior team had to use the training facilities of Leitrim in a number of occasions this year is simply embarrassing.
MacHale Park or the back pitch beside MacHale Park is not suitable for inter county training.
Then I don’t need to remind you of the annual €7k county board levy that you pay if your club is Senior Yew Tree. That’s to pay for the stand supposedly, a stand that went out of all control and is still a yoke around the neck of the county. While I agree that the county needs training pitches, why are we building in Castlebar when the county team trains half the year in Longford because of all the Dublin based players. Why not develop an all weather pitch at a club in each division, that way the whole county benefits. It’s hard to see how a county board that steadfastly refuses to appoint a commercial director will have the wherewithal to put in place the fundraising structures to fund this without ultimately doing their usual trick and passing the burden onto the clubs.
Until we see the full cost analysis along with a detailed fundraising proposal I’ll be holding off on the celebrations and the appointment of a commercial director should be a prerequisite before the clubs support it.
I would agree with yew_tree. This is a collaborative project with Mayo County Council so a would assume they are contributing towards it. This isn’t a facility just for the senior elite teams but a facility for all including clubs, underage teams and the ladies teams. The location has actually been well thought out, beside the new swimming pool and Lannagh holiday homes. The plan is to create a complex that visiting teams can come as use ad a training camp (and be charged a fee). finally some joined up thinking, think of the advantages of having minor, U20 and seniors training in the same base, surely an advantage to management teams and backroom staff. I would say this will also reduce annual operating costs such as logistics and insurance as everything will be run from one location. County board get enough stick, they should also get the credit for what looks like a very well thought out project.
I agree with you Liam. The only structure in place at present is to levy the clubs. This is how it has always been done. What has changed that anybody can point to. Nothing. Very little ever changes in this county. Ask JH
@Yew_tree
“As long as I remember there is always “stories” floating around in Mayo football…start a rumour at the bridge in Shrule in the mourning and guaranteed it will have reached Belmullet by tea time
With a few legs added to it”
Ain’t that the truth yew-tree! Comment of the week …
Have great time for Pat Fallon, he knows the game very well. My only reservation is Balla got well beaten in the semi last year & John Maughan’s team went on to win Mayo & did well in Connaught too.
Don’t know if Laherdane were just better, fitter or the players performed (& Balla didn’t) or if it was down to tactics.
A manager can’t control fully if a team doesn’t perform but on that day ours certainly didn’t. Bit unlucky Barry Duffy got injured early and lasted to half time but even with him fully fit don’t think we’d have won.
I’m hoping Balla do well again in the coming weeks and would be very happy if Pat did get asked onto the Mayo setup in any capacity.
As for other options, Divilly was a defender so would prefer a good forwards coach as well.
But more importantly a forwards movement coach. Andy Moran seems to always be able to get free and hold onto the ball. Alan Dillon had a very high return rate as a Mayo player and always able to avoid contact with bigger players and blankets. Corofin seem to have some kind of telepathy in their passing (better than nearly all county teams) and Steven himself knows how they are doing that. Dublin seem to have done a lot of work on long range shooting which helps get around blanket defense restrictions. Many different ways to break down defenses & we need 3 or 4 of them perfected.