Photo: MichaelMaye.com
The GAA have now confirmed fixture details for our Round 3A qualifier meeting with Clare. The match will take place at Cusack Park in Ennis next Saturday (8th July) and throw-in has been set for 5pm that evening.
As most of you know, Cusack Park is a small enough ground, with capacity no higher than 15,000. Tickets for the game shouldn’t really be an issue – the fact that Clare play Cork in the Munster hurling final the following afternoon at Thurles might dampen the home interest in the fixture somewhat, though pushing in the other direction will be the novelty factor of a first football championship clash between the counties – but it’d be safer to get them sorted sooner rather than later.
While I have your attention, I may as well let you know that the usual Monday edition of the Mayo News football podcast will appear a little later than normal today. Because the Mayo GAA story is a developing one today, this edition has been held back to enable inclusion of some discussion on this morning’s qualifier draw. The podcast will be available to listen to later on this evening – stay tuned for it then.
Cusack Park stand is tiny and the most uncomfortable place to sit in. If the day is good then it is probably better to watch it from the terrace. It is a great ground for atmosphere as the seating and terrace are very close to the sidelines and endlines. Most people from the outside looking in probably feel that Mayo supporters are hard done by. I just love the journey and even last Saturday evening it was a pleasure to be part of something special. You can fault our players play but you cannot fault their effort and refusal to lie down. Even hitting the woodwork 5 times and having to put up with constant off the ball dragging and pulling and hitting , pinching and dragging and pulling after the decisions were given (what were the officials watching!) Mayo still held their nerve and got through. Some journey. The Mayo supporters were also magnificent. The Derry supporter sitting beside me said that he had not seen anything like it in a qualifier match as repeatedly the chant of Mayo, Mayo kept coming out.
Match is live on RTE
Promised herself I’d bring her to Coldplay. How does a man get out of this one?!
Long time reader first time poster!
I never, ever miss a game but unfortunately am going to Coldplay (incidentally I will be in Croke Park while Mayo are in Cusack Park). Does anyone know any pubs in Dublin that will be showing the game? Preferably on the Northside?
I live in Dublin but have never had this dilemma as I am always at the games myself! Any help greatly appreciated.
Thanks Willie Joe. I see posters have commented on the narrowness of the pitch in Ennis.
Here are some stats (from Wikipedia, so treat with caution), though Goddamit Wiki goes where other sites often don’t. Metric sizes used:
Cusack Park Ennis 145X90
MacHale Park 137X82
Croker 145X88
Hyde Pk Rosc 145X90
Pearse Stadium 145X90
Semple Stadium 145X90
Clones 142X87
Killarney 144X82
Some myths shattered there, for me anyway – (would have bet the house on Castbebar being bigger than the Hyde).
At least with us playing Clare there will be no baggage attached. If we were playing Meath, the talk would be about selfiegate and Bernard Flynn or about 1996. If it was Donegal the talk would be about O’Shea v Murphy or about 2012 etc.
We seen that this year we went to Salthill and lost to an improving team. This time we are going to Ennis and again playing against an improving team, so this time we need to set the record straight.
Will miss the game also, going to Coldplay too, I will probably go to Kavanagh’s to watch the match, I am presuming they will show it but not sure.
@catcol
As Mike Scott said “Wikipedia is fantastic because anyone from anywhere can say anything they want…so you know ur getting the best possible information”.
Jaysus, 123 comments on the draw in a few short hours since it was made!.
One or two questioning Cillian. You will only clearly see how valuable he is to the team after he retires and you’re sitting there in Mchale Park watching free after free after free going wide from 21 yards out. We have had brief visions of this already when he leaves frees to somebody else.
Is the giant green and red Mayo flag making the trip to Cusack Park? It would look good in the packed terrace. Mayo will probably outnumber the locals and maybe take over the place entirely.
The comment level is mad at the minute alright, Jim. Driven by the hit count – 16,226 on Friday, 20,637 on Saturday, 21,786 yesterday and 10,399 so far today.
Who needs Coldplay Saturday Night Fever is where it’s at in Ennis. Don’t know why, I’m surviving every lonely day…
Well Cantini, the best strategy would be to disprove those dimensions.
Its nearly impossible to get accomadation in Ennis for Saturday night.
@catc
Having played on cusack park I can assure u it is neither tight nor short so at an anecdotal level ur information seems sound to me.
Sell the Coldplay tickets and go to Ennis. Ye’ll probably get enough cash to cover most of the weekend.
Ye’ll be sitting in a pub in Ennis after the game, drinking a black, black pint of Guinness thinking “Ya, that was the right thing to do”.
Jim Flag, I cant speak for the owner of the massive flag but Big Bertha will be onsite on the town end terrace on Saturday and I expect that is where Mayo supporters will be encouraged to congregate. It’s the west terrace I believe and the one we played into in the 2nd half of the u21 final last year.
We have an opportunity on Sat to really show how strong our travelling support can be.
Get to the terrace and BRING A FLAG!
There was 3 dubs shouting for derry in my local ,my bet is there afraid if we get going there in trouble ,ha ha .great goal from o conor gave team a much needed lift.
lets hope the shooting improves for saturday
There does not seem to be any clear attacking strategy apart from kicking the ball
long into Any and Cillian.
Playing Coen and Vaughan in the forward line against Derry was absolutely crazy.
Time and time again players who are not scorers (Coen, Parsons, Vaughan) found themselves in
great positions but could not convert. What exactly did the management expect ?
You need to have at least 5 scoring forwards on the pitch but the management think it is k to play with only two.
And we did not even defend well with all the defensive minded players on the pitch.
No progress being made tactically at all by the management in 2 years.
It wash the players that got us of out jail on Saturday and have so for the last two years.
Very negative and baffling. Crazy stuff.
amb38 – O’Connor didn’t score a goal, although can I just point out to everyone that is not me running down a amateur athlete or saying I can do better etc. (lots of people very upset by suggesting it wasn’t man of match performance from him.)
I think both Dublin and Kerry are worried by Mayo after the encounters over the last few years. As much as there are nerves on here regarding Saturdays game, the truth is that no one will want to play us should we win.
It could be cold turkey if u don’t take herself to cold play …hin mayo
I have not had a chance to read all of the comments and have not posted in a while. I think as supporters we have gone back to being unsure of ourselves, which is the same as where the team are at. After Longford an all time low hit. It took a while to gain back confidence in the team and when did, we became slightly over confident.
Now because of the way the team are performing and we dont know which team is going to show up, our lack of confidence is seeping through. Dont get me wrong, the throat is sore after each game from shouting and alot more people should follow suit, but you can see where some people are coming from.
We are nervous at the start of each game, treading water to see where the land lies. We shout and encourage, in the hope that Leeroy or Boyler or Parsons can hear us and it gives them that extra pep in the step to do whats needed. We go on an absolute roller coaster of emotions and still hope & pray at the final whistle we are still in it.
On Saturday evening I heard that the curse must be alive and well in McHale park as the simplest of scores would not even go over. Today I heard “can you use the opt-out” as its a long trip to Ennis.
I for one will be parked up about an hour and a half before the game starts (as usual) and sit there with a ball of knots in my tummy until throw in. Then roar til i hear the final whistle. I expect all “supporters” to do the same.
To answer on question asked earlier, season ticket has been updated.
We Need another target man up front Bring on Danny Kirby AND Aiden O Shea in Midfield. Two Big MEN and Cillian to feed of them
Coldplay bound Mayo/Clare Fans, think ‘Kavanagh’s’ is most definitely not the place to watch the match.. Because they don’t have a Telly,.. Quinn’s, The Hogan Stand, Hill 16, Pub or Caufields Hotel seems to show the GAA match’s… Not there is much interest in the GAA in Dublin Pub’s, when the Dubs are not playing, more likely to be showing Wimbledon, Any news concerning their real hero Jose Morhino,(as An Spalpian might say) or their other hero’s the British Royal Family…or Big Brother not much difference really!… If you couldn’t get a ticket for the match and were in Ennis next Saturday, at least you might get a bit of traditional music in a pub… After watching the match, which definitely would be shown.. Plenty of entertainment on offer, for once I’d settle for a bit less drama than last Saturday.
Tickets are on sale now at gaa.ie
Going to back up Mayonaze’s point there regarding the support for Saturday. We’ll be meeting on the Town End Terrace / West Terrace of Cusack Park. We would encourage as many Mayo supporters to gather here as possible. Bring your flags and banners and show this team that we are behind them and that we are the best supporters in the country. We will have a number of flags to give out on this terrace to people who want to join in. The support on Saturday was brilliant, especially when we were staring down the barrel of the gun. The stand in Ennis is very small, so the terraces will have to be used on Saturday. On a side note, tickets are now on sale generally through the usual outlets. There seems to be a massive demand as I was directed into a waiting queue online. What I would say is to get your tickets as early as possible to avoid disappointment.
Took a few days ti bite my tongue, at least we are still in it but a serious wake up call for Rochford. Having watch Kerry forwards against Cork you can tell what came off the training pitch. Two identical moves to start the game AOS and Moran from Kerry both caught the ball and tore up the middle the only difference for me was the forward movement when this happened.Kerry had a plan Mayo didn’t.Kerry played players who are pure forwards Mayo had defenders And let their best young forwards go off to the US for the summer. Instead Rochford is.keeping Newcombe and o donoghue who even with injuries would see the light of day on the panel. What happens when COC goes down injured in a game who takes over taking these frees. He was hobbling badly at the end I don’t see anyone of his caliber able to take a free. Rochford decision making is starting to worry me. Conor loftus showed us what a young hungry player can do. It’s a pity Reape and Adam Gallagher aren’t part of this panel as nobody can tell me they are better forwards than Stephen Coen. Adam Gallagher is a needed as COC backup alone. Getting back to Kerry’s movement they had players coming out to meet the runner, hand off, roll around and over the bar. We have players running away from the ball, afraid to shoot, off balance when they do. Yes forward a forward thing coach is needed. Not sure who in the mayo setup is best suited for this, not sure what Peter Burke brings to the table. Enough of the experiments. Also hats off to AOS, true leader for me and best game I seen him play for quite some time. He look like he had something to prove
Clarke
Barrett Harrison Higgins
Keagan Coen. Boyle
AOS Parson
DOC Loftus. McLaughlin
Moran COC Doherty
Still don’t know what Nally has did wrong his passing and ability to score was astandout the last few games of the league yet he is the last to come off the bench. Can’t make sense of it. I
A lot of rubbish spoken last week that this team didn’t want to play for the County and were full of themselves. They answered that drivel on Saturday it was plain to see on their faces they are proud athletes doing their utmost always for the cause. Quit the uninformed qossip and show respect and gratitude to a bunch of lads who have sacrificed a lot to give us such enjoyment and pride. Good luck in Ennis I have no doubts in our team and panel.
Does anyone agree that we should be keeping Andy in reserve these days and bringing him on in the last 20?
Loftus and Doherty put their hands up for starting places the last day. Diarmuid o Connor less so ( He just doesn’t look fully right).
The Hill 16 bar on Gardiner Street Mayo owned. I am sure they will be showing the Mayo game.
Agree mayomessi, hard to see any forward plan and the evidence is starting to stack up against Rochford. We started the 2nd half against Derry, at home with Coen and Vaughan as wing forwards. Maybe there is a master plan being built to deal with Kerry and Dublin coming down the tracks but for sure Fitzmaurice’s or Jim Gavin’s analysts at these qualifier matches will have a hard job trying to explain what it is. A cunning plan indeed…..
I’m of the same mind lads as regards tactics in the sense of I am not sure what the hell they are! But don’t forget Rochford had the right plan for Tyrone last year and for the dubs in the first game as well. OK the plan for the replay wasn’t the best š but lets not rule him out tactically just yet. His job now is to nurse this team to croker and he will get kudos from me if he does.
Kerry unveiled a new Gaelic football move. Kick pass forward ball bouncing out in front, receiving forward does not catch the ball but palms it sideways to a runner coming at pace. They got two points like this in the first half.
I can tell ye for sure Lee Keegan puts the fear into the Dublin supporters, I know alot of them here in Dublin, they don’t like his close tackling / tracking / busting forward.
As we get further into the qualifiers we need to experiment a bit more, ie, look at other full back options, type of ball played into the full forward line, track runners through from centrefield. I can see why management went with a permanent sweeper last year, this fully protected the full back line, this is ok against medicore oppostion, but to beat the very fast / explosive teams, ie, Dublin & Kerry, we need every man to cover for himself.
Hopefully the injuries picked up on Saturday will be minor and those players can play at the weekend.
As with every match different players have good days, hoping most will reach their ability on Saturday next.
No point talking about Dublin because we have many hurdles to jump before we can even dream about Croke Park. With 2 mins to go in normal time it was looking like it was all over.
I would like to but he has still the best footballing brain on this team, he is the only one with COC showing the required movement of a county standard footballer. I would alternate him with Alan Dillon when fit. With Dillon in reserve.
JP
I saw that move myself. It’s all about movement even in tight spaces it works. Inside forward coming to take a ball cutting inside and over the bar. Or coming out and and palming off to an approaching third man runner. In our case this runner would have been Stephen Coen at the 12 spot. A lot of this could be put down to a forwards instinct. Loftus and Andy have it. I believe loftus best position is on the half forward line thought as his McDonald like passing can be utilized. I might be a bit hard on Boland mayo he can be used on the half back line as he played there the last Two years for limerick in the Sigerson. Not sure what his best position is. Mcloughlin looks a better player coming from deep to. He also started out for mayo u21s on the half back line.
When will there be a decision on Durcans punishment and should the co board appeal.?
Did AOS not have a move similar to that on sat evening JP and Mayomessi….? I seem to remember him palming a ball down to his right on a kickout rather than catching it. Worked well.
I think he did, Yew Tree, but the two instances the Kerry lads did it (two different players if I’m not mistaken) were particularly effective. Both times it was a ball played into round the fifty and the player batting it down did so to a teammate bursting through at pace. Super teamwork and movement.
Glad some other eagle eyes spotted what I spotted. What was unusual was they were touching the ball on sideways. You see lots of knocking the ball down. These cases the ball went sideways into the path of a close by runner.
Aidan is good at various knockdowns.
long drive coming up WJ… any sign of the podcast??? I jest of course š
Ya was just going to ask the same , where’s the podcast
It’s not ready yet, lads. As I mentioned in the post, it’s delayed because of the backdoor route but it will include some chat about Clare as well as a review of the Derry game. It’ll be later on tonight when it’s ready to go.
One thing about the quailifer route is there is great excitement to our championship with the games coming quick after one another
I don’t know think Kerry plays were planned. I think it was pure improvisation by top class players. Can’t teach it. You trust them to do it.
Any news on Keegan’s condition. And what’s the story on Durcan?
Cantina
Having seen a lot of Kerry coaches believe me these moves are off the training ground, they don’t leave anything to chance. They only two players I see linking up instinctively is Andy and Cillian. We have a lot of players running up cul de sacs or across the pitch like headless chickens. Need more coming from the half forwards, but it’s seems their primary duty to to run the opposite direction and cover for our half backs. If that performance in shooting came from an young underage team you would having them doing shooting drills all week.
Won’t make the game as attending wedding. In negotiations with man getting married but it seems unlikely wedding is going be cancelled at this stage,some people can be so inconsiderate. Sky go will be on the go.
I’m sure big crowd of the faithful will travel in support and hopefully behave themselves! While far and away the majority of our fans are exemplary, was really disappointed with a small minority near me. The language was unreal some from young, old, male and female and I’m partial to cupla focal myself. Throwing of banana skins and other items at officials also disappointing and won’t do anything in regards getting favourable decisions.
Kerry put on a top class performance yesterday. All last week Darragh and Marc O She and Eoin Liston talked up Cork, they made sure that Kerry were not complacent. Marc O She said this evening that Clare will give Mayo a very tough game I am surprised with the views of some people on this site (Talking down Clare) maybe they are not Mayo Supporters. Clare went to Portlaoise and defeated Laois by ten points, that performance has to give Clare great confidence.
Got my tickets in Supervalue earlier. They are 20e for this match.
Whether planned or improvised. A fit o donoghue and geaney are frightening propositions for any defence now. 2 genuine marquee forwards to use the cliche…
Some interesting analysis here:
http://www.the42.ie/kerry-cork-tactical-analysis-3476784-Jul2017/
Watched Sunday Game highlights. Highlights poor of course – they never show enough here. But credit where it’s due, I thought the analysis was good and on the money on our sweeper system, whatever it is, on the pulling and dragging of Aido and the graphics were good on our misses, not that we really needed them -they were burned on my psyche as the horror show unfolded.
Saturday was one of those evenings you couldn’t really make up. I’ll hold my hands up and say I had them written off with five to go and I felt sad watching Andy Moran come off for what could potentially have been his last appearance in a Mayo shirt (not that I’m writing you off Andy, you’ll probably still be playing at 40!). I felt we’d had a good innings and I was nearly looking forward to the break š
Then Conor Loftus came on and all I could think was wow, following this team is never easy, but it sure as hell is never boring. And just like that, the buzz came back.
After that performance on Saturday If I hear one more snide remark from a Mayo person this year about Aidan O’Shea I won’t be responsible for my actions.
Looking forward to Saturday, not least for the novelty factor of playing senior championship in Ennis. Every smaller team left in the qualifiers will relish having a crack at us; like last year, there will be no easy games and I expect us to have another battle on our hands against a confident Clare outfit. However there are a few happy memories tied up in that ground and hopefully come 6:30pm on Saturday there will be a few more.
The support on Saturday was absolutely phenomenal, for what was a relatively small crowd. Well done to everyone who raised their voices and roared on the lads. Well done too to the MISC on their giant flag and accompanying flags – it looked great. Pro tip for Saturday – as others have said, head for the terraces. Cusack Park is a lovely ground, but that stand was apparently built solely for vertically challenged people; there is zero leg room and it’s seriously uncomfortable.
5pm Saturday – bring it on. The journey continues!
I honestly don’t think we had a game plan the last night,if we did nobody knew what it was,
Think playing the sweeper caused us more harm than good.
I’d drop the sweeper starting off the next day and see how it goes man for man then we will have six forwards for a change.
The messing has to stop with some of these tactics doine and coen playing the forwards was crazy one shot at the posts from both players says it all and that was a miss.coen played alright besides but doine was lost.think the game will stand to us going forward a lot of players got game time got the result but Jesus its not good for the ticker.
We would have one by 2 or 3 if we took our points instead of going for goals.
There’s a lot said about cillian hitting wides but from play this year he has being taking a lot of shots from his left foot which is a sign of a guy always willing to improve.
Couldn’t careless what other counties say about him,he’s ours and we are dam glad to have him.
If people are finding it difficult to get accommodation in Ennis for the weekend there may be rooms in some neighbouring towns – short taxi journey. Quin – Abbey Tavern have rooms as far as I know, even Shannon isn’t too far by taxi if people are sharing. Plenty B and Bs around the town too but may not be on some of the booking sites. Rowan Tree hostel is right in the middle of town also and has rooms.
I’ve never heard anyone from another county say anything negative about Cillian O’Connor, the complete opposite to be honest. It’s our own who seem to be his harshest critics.
The two championship cameo’s that Conor Loftus has played this summer he has made a significant impact. He needs to start next Saturday for a variety of reasons. First off, we need our best in form forwards on the pitch to give us every chance of success on Saturday. Secondly, we all know we need to blood at least one new corner forward with impact if we are to compete with any of the top teams later this summer. Thirdly, we cannot wait until FBD next January to be looking to begin the transition plan from our thirty something forwards on the panel. Lets hope Stephen Rochford acts now.
While all the posts and comments here speak of tactics, our forward play, and Tomas o Shea saying last night we’d never win an all ireland with poor shooting I ‘ve come to believe that each of our games now takes onn a life of its own and anything is possible with these boys. That’s what makes them the greatest, most entertaining team in the championship.in fact it would be as dull as dishwater without our boys.
They are still top 4 and they aint ever going to give up. Enjoy Coldplay to those of ye heading that direction but I’m heading for’ Hotplay in Cusack Pk’ where everyone knows their names.
MAYO MAYO
Having watched back the game it certainly was worrying. Playing two back in the forwards simply did not work. This left us with boland, McLoughlin, Andy and Cillian as forwards. Boland could not get into the game and didn’t have the physicality for his man. McLoughlin whose shooting does be hit and miss was very much miss but his general play was good. So we were essentially left with 2 scoring forwards. The shooting by everybody was atrocious, while I’m sure it will not be this bad again it really is worrying how devoid of confidence we were. Defensively we were a bit disorganised. This was due to a lack of a full time sweeper, so lads were not sure who was picking up who, and Derry defenders not being tracked, this is where boland fell down big time.
Positives were the performance of our midfield, aido near to his best, clarkes kickouts and of course loftus.
I would go back to playing McLoughlin as a full time sweeper. It’s avoids confusion in the defence and allows us to play with 5 forwards. I would def give loftus serious game time next weekend but I’m not sure if I would start him. Possibly he would do more damage off the bench.
I think the coaches job is to provide a structure within which the players play but once the game starts situations arise from where the player must decide what he should do and then execute the move.
The Kerry lay offs were great to look at and skillfully executed. Given where the receiver was it had to be palmed as to hold it first the receiver would be gone ahead of the player passing. The move has a better chance coming off from a stationery pass. I would prefer to see timing displayed by Loftus for o connor’s lay off for the goal.
As much praise as Conor is getting for his excellent cameo, it’s worth noting that had Paddy Durcan not kicked that monster score, I think we would be out of the championship. It was vital and it really rallied the crowd as well
These boys never stop. I’m glad to say that, in the stands on Saturday, neither did we. Proud
liam – once again read the comments. It relates to a suggestion he should have been man of the match. Not criticising him but was he man of the match.? I don’t think so , do you?
I’m amazed at the amount of posters questioning us playing 2 defenders in the forwards but Vaughan was actually playing midfield, granted coen didn’t offer a scoring threat. Also although I thought Vaughan played well v Galway I think the game bypassed him on Saturday. Also posters question us playing a sweeper we didn’t play a sweeper what happened was boyle and barrets men went back and the lads held which was a disaster as all it meant that derry always had a man on the overlap which was why they caused us so much bother running straight through the centre of our defence. Unfortunately management couldn’t see that this would be easily solved by boyle and Chris pushing up on their men.
You can push up on your man without fear if you have a sweeper behind
How could we have been so disorganised in defence and attack on Saturday. This is
Absolutely not the players fault.
Really frustrating given the talent at our disposal.
You’d wonder what a certain man hitting to
China would have won with this group of players.
No point pining for someone who was never there in the first place, facetheball.
Looking in me crystal ball here into the future. If we manage to beat Clare on Saturday and the rossies beat Galway, wont we then have to play Cork? In Limerick anyone? Croker will be off limits to All Ireland championship football on the 22nd due to u2
Mother of God, do not mention Limerick. Is the very word not banned in these parts?!