It was a measure of how badly things had gone for us today that, when the announcement was made about the five minutes of added time, a large collective groan went out around Páirc Uí Rinn. We hugely outnumbered the home support in the 4,649 official attendance but that was the only area in which we were on top this afternoon. In the end, the final whistle couldn’t come soon enough for us.
Up until the ball was thrown in, the day was, I felt, going swimmingly well. The drive down from Dublin was a breeze, parking close to the ground was secured without any problems and the spuds were got at the Silver Key with the minimum of fuss. The stand at Páirc Uí Rinn was starting to fill up when we got to the ground forty or so minutes ahead of throw-in but it was well packed by the time the ball was thrown in.
We made two changes prior to throw-in, with Colm Boyle starting in place of Shane McHale in the corner, while Conor O’Shea replaced big brother Aidan at centre-forward. Donal Vaughan, named at 14, lined out in the half-backs, with Caolan Crowe pushing up to wing-forward.
Cork had the wind in the first half and two early frees got them moving. Brian Hurley and Lee Keegan, who tangled in a bad-tempered manner for as long as they were paired on the field, both got booked as early as the fourth minute.
We were back on terms quickly enough. Jason Doherty got the first from play and popped over the second from a free. We had two chances to take the lead but Evan Regan skied a free badly wide and Jason Doherty’s bending shot didn’t bend enough and ended the wrong side of the post.
Hurley, from a Paul Kerrigan assist, pointed smartly to put Cork back in front and it was Hurley who got their next one too, this one from a free. Soon the lead was out to four, Clancy belting one over from way out and then Kerrigan recovered the ball after his initial shot was blocked and fired it over.
Conor O’Shea, taking the pass from Evan Regan, was fouled at least twice before he managed to get his shot away. When he did, though, it was a good one, his point cutting the gap to three.
Less than ten minutes later, however, we were eight down and in serious bother all over the field. Cork took a vice-like grip around the middle, where they won every ball going and the resultant attacks yielded five points, two from placed balls. The final one in this spell was an absolute belter by Daniel Goulding from way out on the right wing.
By now, we’d lost Kevin McLoughlin – to a hamstring injury, someone said to me on the way out of the ground – with Aidan O’Shea coming on to replace him. Soon after he came on, Aidan missed a chance to cut the gap but, after Goulding’s glorious score, we did finally get a fourth point, Lee Keegan raiding forward to point.
O’Driscoll then restored Cork’s eight-point advantage, a score set up by Kerrigan, one that looked all too easy from our perspective. Evan Regan probably shouldn’t have shot for goal with the chance he had just before the break, as O’Halloran was equal to the Ballina man’s effort.
We simply had to tear into them with everything we had after the break if we were going to get anything from this game. Sadly, this didn’t happen as we had to wait a further 16 minutes to get our first score of the second half.
By then, Cork were out of sight. They were thirteen points ahead of us before that 51st minute point from Conor O’Shea but we could have been even further adrift at that stage. Robbie Hennelly fouled Hurley in the square but he then got down well to save the resultant spot-kick.
We were ringing the changes by now. A double switch saw Mikey Sweeney and David Drake coming on for Caolan Crowe and Donal Vaughan, with Michael Hall replacing Shane Nally soon after.
Lee Keegan should also have been taken off then, following a crunching collision with Eoin Cadogan. It looked as if the team doctor tried, but failed, to persuade the captain to come ashore but Lee looked shaken from incident and had to be assisted off the field, clearly in trouble, barely ten minutes later. I heard it was reported on the radio that he’s now out of the Dublin game, as I guess Kevin McLoughlin is too.
Conor O’Shea’s point was followed by scores from Evan Regan (a free) and Mikey Sweeney as we cut the gap to ten. Soon, though, it was a yawning fourteen-point margin.
Kerrigan pointed from play and then a softish penalty was awarded to Cork for a bit of pushing. Hurley made no mistake, ramming it into the corner of Robbie’s net.
Although Cork raided forward several times after that, they failed to add any further to their 1-18 tally. We got the final five points of the game, with frees from Evan Regan and Conor O’Shea, two from play by Tom Parsons and the final score of the day coming from a Mikey Sweeney free.
Cork, by the way, played out those final few minutes with just thirteen players. Two of their lads (I’m not sure who) were ordered off – one on a black card, the other on a second yellow – in one incident and they had used up all their subs by then. Sadly, though, it was far too late for us to profit, though it did enable us to get the final losing margin back down (just about) to single figures.
This wasn’t a performance that will live long in the memory. We were second best pretty much all over the field for most of the day and it’d be hard to pick any high points from this display. Robbie’s shot-stopping was as good as his one-dimensional kickouts were bad, Brendan Harrison did well in an overworked full-back line, while further up the field Conor O’Shea was the pick of the bunch.
All we can do after today’s thumping is dust ourselves down and move onto the next challenge facing us in this year’s League campaign. A big challenge it is too, with Dublin rolling into town next Saturday evening and our cause won’t be helped if, as expected, Lee Keegan and Kevin McLoughlin are added to an already too-long injury list for that one. A major improvement in performance will be needed from us in six days time or else our poor start to the season could, at least in the short-term, get a whole load worse.
Mayo: Robbie Hennelly; Brendan Harrison, Ger Cafferkey, Colm Boyle; Lee Keegan (0-1), Caolan Crowe, Shane Nally; Tom Parsons (0-2), Jason Gibbons; Kevin McLoughlin, Conor O’Shea (0-3, one free), Diarmuid O’Connor; Evan Regan (0-2, frees), Donal Vaughan, Jason Doherty (0-2, one free). Subs: Aidan O’Shea for McLoughlin, Mikey Sweeney (0-2, one free) for Crowe, David Drake for Vaughan, Michael Hall for Nally, Cathal Carolan for O’Connor, Padraig O’Hora for Keegan.
Post-match audio report:
Who was our MOTM against Cork?
- Conor O'Shea (30%, 120 Votes)
- Robbie Hennelly (27%, 107 Votes)
- Tom Parsons (12%, 46 Votes)
- Brendan Harrison (5%, 18 Votes)
- Lee Keegan (4%, 15 Votes)
- Evan Regan (4%, 14 Votes)
- Padraig O'Hora (4%, 14 Votes)
- Diarmuid O'Connor (3%, 12 Votes)
- Jason Gibbons (3%, 11 Votes)
- Ger Cafferkey (3%, 10 Votes)
- Jason Doherty (3%, 10 Votes)
- Mikey Sweeney (2%, 7 Votes)
- Cathal Carolan (1%, 5 Votes)
- Colm Boyle (1%, 2 Votes)
- Aidan O'Shea (1%, 2 Votes)
- Kevin McLoughlin (0%, 1 Votes)
- Shane Nally (0%, 1 Votes)
- Donal Vaughan (0%, 1 Votes)
- David Drake (0%, 1 Votes)
- Michael Hall (0%, 1 Votes)
- Caolan Crowe (0%, 1 Votes)
Total Voters: 399
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oh dear is right, they had better bag that one and throw it in the river, the dubs are coming and we will be doing well to keep it respectable when you see what they done to kerry in the terms of play, never mind the scoreboard.
Well,a lot of work to do but we can do it I would think we are four or five weeks behind,but with time and better ground it will improve ,I always think that you need an early start to be ready for the league,but we can only get better
I am genuinely surprised then I guess.
no need for panic
Rememer Dublin last year and look where they ended up.
Cork were always going to be up for this
Mayo probably needed the good start to stay with them taking into account all the players we are missing but the oppsite happened
Squad depth is clearly not there. We had 10 regulars involved today.vaughan at 14? Forwards very poor throughout. Defense needs a lot of work.we need some tactics and fast or else.. on to the dubs eh
I didnt except us to win but didn’t foresee that performance. Ok we are not back long training but you would think the lads playing Instead of the regulars would have wanted to lay down a marker….but alas nothing was shown. Second to every ball and we were second fiddle in every sector.
No need to panic but a huge improvement is needed next week in order to even keep with Dublin.
Early days no need for panic least Ross neat themselves
I wouldn’t panic ok it’s a bad day at the office but I think we will survive this division let’s try out a few new players as we are doing and park all talk of Mayo for Sam or conversely Mayo for Division 2 until the end of the league
Your never as good as people say,
Your never as bad as people say.
My only worry is for Leroy, hope he’s okay.
Ouch. Cork looked a fair bit ahead of the game in terms of pace and communication….and us a few weeks behind them as a result of the change in leadership. A reason or excuse I’m not sure but we need a doubling of efforts just to keep the scorline respectable next week against Dublin. Either way, I feel Conor O’Shea is going to turn into e real talent in a coupla years. Early days, we wont panic etc etc…….
I’d like our manager to get our players focussed on the competition we’re currently involved in.
I’d be surprised if Dublin, Donegal, Monaghan and especially Kevin McStay are not thrilled to see that most Mayo-focussed media attention during the past week related to one of our players going to the US to spend a week in the NFL with, I don’t remember, Pitsburgh Steelers, or some such team. I know how I’d handle that.
We lost today by, how much…..I can hear, it already, “ah it’s early days, it’s only the league”. We thought today was bad? Wait for next Sat night. Putting these thoughts in print gives me no pleasure whatsoever.
Maybe a blessing in disguise Mayo be complete underdogs for next weeks game against the dubs it’s only the league. The hype will be off Mayo so that’s a good thing. Is Keegan out or what’s the story with him.
Agree with the source of the robe … I know it was discussed here bout players making money from the status they have in the media
But why in the middle of the season ? It’s just daftness in o she’s going state side
Hard to know what to make of that. Not going to lose any sleep over it as most players aren’t even at 60% yet in terms of fitness.only two players that held there own were Hennelly and Gibbions . Evan regan as with all the forwards played poorly today but more game time against good opposition can only improve these fringe players
O sheas journey stateside aside that was a pretty bad collision between keegan and cadogan..they should both have been taken off the pitch..
The worst thing I found about the defeat was there was so much wrong.
Surely with such a strong breeze the tactics should have been to drop men deeper and defend en masse from the 45 metre line. But we seemed to be nearly 15 on 15 throughout. Naive at this level I thought.
Then Cork seemed to be able to run through us at will. The first time I saw a proper belt was when Keegan hit Cadogen with that shoulder. That was the 50th minute when we were 10+ down. Are players protecting themselves for something else? It amy be hard to blame the new guys but if they are going to cut it at this level they will have to toughen up especially the backs. Overall I couldn’t see any bite in that team at all.
Our shooting and more importantly shot selection was very poor. E.g. Doherty going for a goal while running at full pace away from the goal. A really low % shot and it ran away tamely across the goal. Some really poor wides as well which doesn’t reflect well on the attacking 1/2 backs and forwards.
Ah come on and face facts.
We’ve had a good run. The pendelum swings.
Thanks lads.
Dont think many expected Mayo to win today I didnt anyway as it was obvious cork would be well up for it with home advantage, new manager McGrath cup in the bag and Mayo well behind in training. Having said that it was a very disappointing effort. Hennelly very good. C O Shea good and Leroy ok though he should have come off after clash with cadogan and hope he is ok.Doc started ok but went downhill and rest of them were not great. It is early days and I expect defeat again next week meaning we probably need to win 3 of last 5. Hopefully we can stay above Ros and Down who will both be disappointed after weekend. Long year and it would be silly to rush to judgement yet. Trying to remember when we last got roasting like that. In fairness over last 5 years those type of performances have been very unusual
The passing of Fr Peter Quinn this weekend is to be mourned. Fr Peter won two All Ireland’s with the county in 1950/51. A Dheis de ar a ainm dilis agus go mbeidh se sna Flaitheas Ard anocht.
On the way home from Cork: First impressions on a day to forget!
First the positives – Robbie Hennelly, superb
Tom Parsons and Jason gibbons tried manfully at mid field but Cork won most breaking ball!
Aiden ‘O’ Shea clearly injured or at least not the Aiden of old!
Referee very fussy.
Cork have pace and in Hurley, Kerrigan, and Goulding forwards who are far superior to ours with the exception of COC.
Talk of Sam should be kept under wraps and focus on one league game at a time!
Will returning players make up the deficit???
Yet criticism Of new management way of line. Give them a chance. I did wonder why AOS wasn’t left at full forward in the 2nd half where he might have done some damage!
Embarrassment. A performance like that isn’t good enough for a challenge match, FBD and definitely not a division 1 national league game. The lack of organisation, no bite in the tackles, terrible shot selection and above all the body language was so disappointing. I felt sorry for all the supporters who travelled such a distance to watch it. Most will say it’s only the first game of the season, new management and lots of injuries. I accept all those but I just don’t think what we got today is good enough from where we have been for the last 5 years. Hopefully we get a response next week against the Dubs.
My MotM from a Mayo point of view was Tom Parsons, fabulous work rate, tracked, scored don’t know if there is a better midfielder on Ireland at the moment? Look over all, poor poor display, some simple thing to sort out. The amount of easy kick outs won by Cork without Mayo forwards putting on any pressure was criminal. Cluxton looked in rude health last night we have been warned, he’s coming to town next Saturday. We seriously need a free taker, in the absence of Cillian bring back Freeman let him take all the frees, I would suggest that Freezers worst ever performance in the green and red was better than one or two of the Mayo forwards today. Henelly saved us from a terrible hiding altogether. The second penalty award was as far from a penalty as is possible, not that it mattered. Even in a bad performance like todays some Mayo players can hold their heads up. The DOC and the other DOC, Jason gave it everything and tracked their men, Connor O Shea took some wonderful points, Leroy was good, Parsons, Harrison, Henelly, Padraig O Hora when he came on was tigerish and gave Cork nothing easy and Micheal Hall for the limited time they got were all right. The rest have ask had better games and will again no doubt. I’ve just finished my glass of milk with my dinner. But I’m going end on a glass half full optimistic note. This is it the clink of light yer all waiting for “There is no way Aiden O Shea will be staying in the US playing American football, he’s in no way fit enough” you know he had me worried there with his interview last Wednesday on News Talk. That’s all folks for now!
So Mayo medical team admit Leroy should have been withdrawn earlier.
Cannot believe protocols were not followed immediately.Simply not good enough.Leroy deserves better.
oops! I don`t think they had their weetabix today. Can`t remember a collective
performance that bad in a while. Still — if their has to be a reality check I suppose
January is as good a month as any. (ask any Cork supporter about last Summer if
you don`t believe me)
So.. much training much running and much talking in the months ahead. I just
hope they dont run the legs off them this week as its a six day turnaround. There will
be plenty of time for that.
The main issue was the space Mayo left in important areas of the field, especially between the 40’s. Think that was down to fitness and training. Saw a lot of players not tracking their men. Some positives too with Conor O’Shea and Evan Reagan. Should look a completely different team after the league break. You can see that there is also a change in tactics being planned. Roll on the Championship!
Just a bad time to be facing the dubs.
No need to panic…between injuries and players absent for club commitments. … Cork traditionally early out of the traps for national league. … change of Management. … when Mayo are up to fitness level they’ll be there or there abouts
Dismal day all round. Newcomers showed the same lack of interest as established players. Criticism of Hennelly completely OTT. Seems all the energy has been expended in removing the last management team. Pat Spillane said about three years ago,” I don’t see any discernable plan of attack or defense in this Mayo team”. the same could be said with equal validity today. Another tonking on Saturday should wake us up and maybe put some performances in the crosshairs.
The ghost of ’89 comes back to haunt us again. What is with Cork that appears to defy Mayo logic.
Some say Hennelly saved the day, so to speak. Unfortunately he has failed in the past when it most counted. Our last outing in Croker is a prime example. We need Davie Clarke back between the uprights.
The great 50/51 All Irl winner Fr Peter Quinn has gone to his eternal reward. A humble giant among his peers
May he rest in peace.
I dread to think if we loose the ‘veil of the curse,’ what excuse will be put forward for poor performance on days when it really counts?.
The Lee Keegan case is not acceptable.
We already went through this error of judgement in 2014 with Aido.
Wow, all the doom merchants are coming out of the woodwork today. Most balanced supporters rightly predicted that we would be lucky to take 1-2 points from the first 3 games. We’ve a long injury list, which it looks like we just added to, we’ve 3 team in All Ireland club action and we are about a month behind in training while also under new management. We took a hiding today, we could well take another next Saturday, but I predict that after that we should start turning over teams, starting with Donegal.
Give everyone a chance to get their collective shit together and maybe focus that negativity that many of you seem to thrive on somewhere else for a few weeks.
RIP Fr Quinn. I doubt that his presence and now his departure will have much influence on Mayos luck. Today was a strange day, the gaps and amount of free cork players was astounding, our midfield was well beaten and still we persisted rather than go short or out the wings with it. Still, no point in getting all excited, it’s over now, just focus on not letting Dublin get goals and keeping it respectable is the best we can hope from that match and the ones after that are winnable as the team and panel will grow an awful lot stronger over the next 6 weeks.
Just have to take today for what it was – a solid beating in the first serious game of the year. No point reading into it anymore than that. If there’s no sign of improvement after 3 games, then we can start getting concerned.
Next Sat could be another hard result to take.
A lot of bedding in to be done – players, mgmt, tactics, and of course fitness is behind most teams because of the late mgmt appointment.
The Mayo County Board PRO has this evening issued the following statement on behalf of the Mayo GAA management in relation to the injury picked up by Mayo’s Lee Keegan during the course of today’s game.
‘In today’s Allianz NFL Division 1 clash with Cork in Páirc UiRinn, Mayo player Lee Keegan was substituted with concussion symptoms.
The Mayo medical team accept that Lee should have been withdrawn as a precaution a number of minutes earlier when the collision occurred.
Player welfare is of paramount importance to all involved with Mayo GAA and members of the Mayo medical team have been to the forefront of player welfare initiatives in the GAA nationally.
Lee is recovering and will continue to be monitored over the coming days. As always, Mayo will follow the established Return to Play protocols.’
living here in Dublin and the abuse has started already, they reckon they will beat us by 30 points
hard to take but based on todays game they could be right
Ok, at least someone has been man enough to step up and acknowledge the mistake made on behalf of the Mayo medical team. But it simply cannot reoccur again and players countrywide need to accept the authority of the medical team in these situations and always succumb to their professional judgement. The very best of recovery to Lee and take as much time as necessary to recover and by all means abide by the medical protocols before returning to play.
Harrison, C O’Shea and Regan stepped up today and will no doubt nail down starting jerseys over the coming months so some big positives on an otherwise gloomy Sunday in JANUARY.
I’m dreading next Saturday’s outing judging on today’s performance. Cork won practically all the physical battles and cut through us at times at will. Of course when marking is as slack as it often was today that is inevitable. I’m convinced that small light forwards have no place in modern intercounty football. So I’m going to be mighty surprised if Evan Regan makes it. Even his much vaunted freetaking was iffy today. As was Jason Doherty’s. Cork could kick frees with the wind from nearly 60 yards while we were kicking them into the goalkeepers hands from c. 30 yards. Another weakness we had, a carryover from last year, was giving Cork handy possession from short kickouts. No that they needed it as the won almost every breaking ball around the middle and they broke most of them.
I don’t think that I heard Fr Peter Quinn’s name mentioned when the minutes silence was announced today. And I was beginning to wonder if half of Cork had died. An oversight by who?
baz, keep your head low,it will only get worse for you, although you can throw the sponsorship millions and ten times bigger population at them if you wish to fight back. realistically, we will do well to keep it respectable in our weakened state if today is any indicator.
If i were in charge i would pack the defense and stick aos at ff with regan near him, bypass the half forward line as much as possible and just keep hitting it in high and see what happens. thats as much as we can do in attack, keeping our goal safe is our biggest issue, go for broke in that regard and keep the dubs to 10 points. I cannot see us beat them but it would be bad for morale to let them go to town at our expense. defend, defend, defend.
evan regan looks to have the goods, and will improve with games, conor s shea too. I am not despondent tonight, its january and after the dubs we have a string of teams to play that we should be able for even in a weak state.
I cant agree with people praising regan and c o’shea. I thought regan struggled to make any real impact and struggled to get away from his man, and o’shea tried to do the same thing every time – take a solo run hard onto his right and shoot.
Also, you can see the move towards kickpassing, but our guys dont seem to be very good at delivering good ball.
I don’t think he was mentioned alright AndyD but I assume this will be done before throw-in at Castlebar on Saturday next.
Willie, how come my comment disappeared?
What comment? Only in the door a short while ago now so just catching up properly on what’s going on.
Don’t worry about it.
Theres enough being said, but we shouldn’t bury the facts.
Face them and we might improve.
Well if Evan is too light what in the name of fook are we still trying out mickey Sweeney for ,I mean if they don’t have the grass cut at the Hyde by Easter you won’t see Sweeney out there .Regan did grand today , didn’t stand out but he would be the least of my concerns on today’s showings . You cannot be casting lads aside after one show whilst there are near cult heroes out there a couple of years who quite frankly have never made any impact. .
Just a quick comment.Nobody mentioned Cork today. I thought they were a terrific team. Firstly, they were huge, fast and agile. Their long pinpointed kick passing along the sideline was a joy to watch, kick passing at it’s best. Their speed of movement was terrific and their accuracy from play and free kicks was fantastic.. Their no 14 was the size of two men put together and the rest of them were huge men. I don’t know what they are feeding them in Cork.
In an interview after the match, Kerrigan said that most of those players have been around for over two years and they are missing quite a few yet. That is a problem Mayo have, not enough new players have been brought on and hardened.
A Kerry friend of mine said today about the match, “men and boys!” He didn’t think much of Kerry last night either. I feel Mayo need another year to get it right..
By the way, i love football and it doesn’t matter who’s playing, if they’re good they’re good.
Agreed Maestro. Although Conor was that bit busier and effective today. For the first time I saw some hope there that he has potential at county senior.
Doh was unlucky today. Things didn’t go so well for him. But at least he won ball on the full forward line where it could have been fruitful on another day. Most ball that came his way stuck.
But we are so poor at delivering good and early ball.
Hope they will show more urgency about them the next day. It was far too casual today.
Would like to see the management team trying to groom a FF and FB. Aido should be played in midfield.
Anyone else find it frustrating the see Caolan C named a 6 and not playing there. Donie named at 14 and not playing there. Caolan was lost today.
And I was so happy that O’driscol get his black card…. And not before time. The amount of niggling that he was going on with KevinMc was infuriating. Fair play to Kevin for keeping his cool.
Joe Mc – yes Cork were super and they took some beautiful scores. I hope we just made they look better than they are. But you can’t argue with the scoring. Exhibition stuff at times.
No big deal.First run out.
Patience, patience, patience…. Well done to the Mayo ladies team today who beat Cork in Mallow.
The rubicon was crossed when these players initiated their heave against the former management last Autumn. There is nowhere left for them to point their fingers of blame other than inward. Todays game may just well be chalked down as a bad day at the office when the history books are written on our 2016 campaign, however, should a performance like todays be repeated then the Mayo publics’ tolerance of players who fail to stand up and take full responsibility for their recent actions will soon run out.
Anyone see the exchange between Sean McGoldrick and Aidan O Se in the Sunday World today? He really takes a cut of him for going to the states.
45 – careful there, that’s wandering a bit too close to trash-talking of the players for my liking. I doubt very much they need telling that today’s performance wasn’t up to scratch. Also not all the players involved today were involved in the heave so your comment has even less validity on that basis.
Found it, Mjbvp12 – it ended up in the spam bucket for some reason but it’s back up now. I don’t agree with the sentiment in it, by the way, but there you go.
Mayo were not as bad as the final tally on the scoreline stated. Mayo created lots of solid chances but were not able to capitilise on them. Kerrigan was able to waltze through our backs when he took the bull by the horns. Something to be looked at moving forward. O’Hora impressed me today. Plenty of fight in that man. The Dubs are comming next week. You have to admire them. All the pressure is on them. Every team wants to stick it to them. They gave Kerry a good hiding last night. Fair play to them. Can hardly wait for next Saturday evening.
Didn’t take long for the digs regarding players revolt to start..almost get the impression that some posters were hoping for a capitulation just to prove a point..a very half baked performance from the team ..Cork clearly superior in every part of the pitch..really not looking forward to the dubs arrival and don’t see much changing in six days..However, have no intention of pressing panic button just yet..Still annoyed bout the keegan incident..Was very sobering watching two people have to link him off..
Remember our managers message to the supporters to have patience! He said the football we be playing at this time of year won’t be the football we be playing in summer time!
We lost one league game have a lot of injuries are not long back training!
Patience patience patience please the daffodils aren’t even out yet!!!
Haven’t seen the game yet but I’ll watch it on the tg4 player.
Based on neutral comments on the gaaboard id be going along with what Joe Ruane says. I believe cork got a good run on us when they had the wind. Sometimes in the league these little things are a bigger factor than people realise.
p.s it’s like yer man 45 is waiting for the lads to cave in this year, you’ll be waiting I reckon
It should be remembered that in some positions we were forced to use our third or even fourth choice options today. We actually started the game well, we were moving the ball at speed. The game went away from us in the middle of the first half when we missed some great chances. Our confidence then drained away and Cork grew in confidence. We have two All-Ireland club finals to look forward to next weekend and the Dubs are coming to town.
i forgot to mention also, the medical team need to take a look at themselves in respect of Leeroy, DISGRACEFUL there job is primarily player welfare and nothing else!!
Liam…………..I disagree – it’s time some of the the occasional ‘doom merchants’ got it off the chest. This forum, while brilliant, is far too often so rose-tinted, you’d think all we need to do is turn up. There are many teams and individual players out there putting in the hard work over the Winter, and chomping at the bit for a shot at the league and to showcase their individual talent for selection come Summer, that we should have expected Cork to be up for it…..That said, I didn’t think they were necessarily the potentially better team today, even 20 minutes into the game. Mayo were just atrocious, disjointed, and let Cork walk it…….that’s my simple analysis. I feel that with a serious bit of urgent remedial action by the manager, and some actual commitment by the men on the field, we could have been competitive the whole way through. On the positive side, although Evan Regan looked to me like a poor man’s Dean Rock today, I feel that he has serious potential to be a great forward once his confidence and tactical skills develop.
Poor game today.
But in saying in that it was expected. So many injuries .I wouldn’t be even slightly concerned. I’m quite happy with some of what i seen with a few of the new players.
Harrison looks decent , played a decent game.
connor o shea looks like he has great potential and looks well capable joining o’shea ltd.
Evan regan played quite well but you have to take into consideration he wasn’t getting anywhere near the amount of ball that he might have got if our full team was playing, he will improve into a great player i have no doubt.
Paraic o’hora was good for the few mins he came on. It will be good to see a bit more of him in the future, he has always been a wirey player and gets stuck in .
As for the old stock obviously hennelly and Parsons stood out . Regardless the league is about trying things out , summer is the main goal. Last year we got kicked around the place by the dubs in the league and come summer we were within a kick of a ball of beating them.
Hi BazHam19,
I don’t know of any genuine Dubs fan who would even think we could beat Mayo by 30 points in Castlebar so with the greatest respect in the world you must have been talking to some idiots who haven’t a clue. Its always hard to beat Mayo and although you guys are a few weeks behind in training the genuine Dub fans know whats waiting for us in Castlebar….best of luck to Mayo in the League, cheers
Kind Regards,
Martin the Dub
Like I said on the previous thread, today was just a mess. I believe we have far more potential this year than what we saw today, and that forgiveness and belief will soon again blossom when our first League win kicks in. I agree with Joe’s, Regina’s and Aidan’s optimism above, and am looking forward to the 2016 campaign.
In fairness to the medical team, BazHam19, they came out with their hands up in the statement issued earlier this evening on the Lee Keegan issue so I don’t think there’s anything to be gained at this stage from bawling them out of it.
Thought we started reasonably well today, it was nice to see for a change us driving the ball at speed up through the centre as opposed to going out to the wings and in the end getting nowhere. This is new to us and will take a while to get used to. Most worrying thing I took from today was Lee’s knock, and why the hell he was let play in for another 11 mins, he was clearly in bother. All in all it’s only January, let’s dust off and go again!
Thanks for the audioboom Willie Joe. I think it’s a Great idea and gives good honest feedback straight after the game.
Long way to go yet. Mayo disappointing today. I know game was long over but at least they kept going at the end.
Hope Lee ok, think medics have hard job in that situation. Lee fought to stay on and must have gave enough of signal that he was ok. Medics have worked v close with team for years and not going to deliberately risk any player. RIP Rev Peter Quinn
Our first choice corner backs were missing today, Higgins and Barrett. Next in line Cunniffe and Keane were not available. Then Shane McHale didn’t make it. We ended up with Hall and O’Hora as our corner backs and fair play to them they got stuck in. Everything went wrong for us and everything went right for them. Cork kicked some great scores. They had a stronger team out than us. Roll on the next game.
At least the medic s came and said they made a mistake roll on dubs next sat.
Joe Ruane were as bad as the scoreline stated. Cork missed a Lorry load of chances including a penalty and Mayo tagged on late scores to give the scoreboard a better look.
Total disjointed performance against a less than full strength Cork either. Has to be lack of training for such a bad display and are unlikely to see much improvement v Dublin next week.
Outside of COS the lack of scores from play from the starting 6 forwards was poor again. Evan Regan for one needs to show better in the NFL remaining games if he hopes to start come championship time.
The defeat was expected but not the manner of it. How concerned should we be? Cork were 20 points better than us today. Taticacally we were poor and didn’t respond when things were obviously going wrong. That is concerning bit. It was like a junior team playing Cork today. But Cork are a decent team and potentially can have a big year. A response is required from Mayo next week and even then given our fitness and tactical level we will be half a dozen points adrift. But it’s along time till the the AL quarterfinals in August when the season realky starts. So don’t panic yet…..
My god im dreading getting hammered by london. Typical mayo supporters. After 5 fantastic years, one crappy match in january is the end of civilisation as we know it.
We now know a bit more about where we’re at, and it may disappoint us that we’re not where we would like to be. That said, Cork were a class act today and would have beaten any other team bar Dublin, who it would appear are streets ahead of the rest. After todays game the new lads will have got a rude awakening as to the standard required to be a County player. Unfortunately another baptism could await them again next Saturday evening in Castlebar, and this may be as painful as todays affair, but will hopefully stand to them in the months ahead. Rochford will have to do a bit of head scratching too, and with injuries piling up, his task for the immediate future looks anything but clear-cut.
On another note, Lee Keegan looked shuck enough when coming off the field, we can only hope his head injury isn’t to serious and wish him a speedy recovery.
Mayo magic I would agree with alot that your saying. With the exception of O’Hora I didn’t see that much flair from the new lads. This is early days now. No need for panic. Next weekend will be “abit” of a litmus test for Mayo. Let’s wait and see. Cork were the better team on the day but I still believe that Mayo were not near as poor as the final score.
Mayo, today collectively and individually rusty, twill take more than a week to sort that. More interesting will be the conversation between all the management and players, that will tell the tale.
Cork will always win the first 4/5 rounds of the league no matter who they’re facing…Hurley is hard managed & Kerrigan must be speedier than Keith Higgins & that Meath sprinter cum footballer who’s name escapes me!.
Pitch was dry but whilst at the time I could see sand but the “town end” goalmouth didn’t look clever!.As through the FBD it was the hungrier guys who looked sharper than the regulars in my eyes.Someone earlier shocked at Donie at #14 when he didn’t spend a minute there.There will be a backlash Saturday under lights but hard to see that being enough…a good start is imperative
The first 10 minutes weren’t bad at all. We saw glimpses of the game Rochford wants to play, fast moving ball and good kick passing. I honestly thought we were looking good at that stage and that we would be in for a good competitive game at least. But the second quarter onwards was disastrous. Everything Cork kicked (and they had some belters) went over while we couldn’t convert any of the minuscule possession up front at all. It was painful to watch, second to every ball and cleaned out in the middle third. Bossed out of it in the forwards. No cover in the backs. Didn’t get going in the 2nd half until the horse was long bolted. It’s early days yet, and our record in the league of late has been mediocre but if we go man to man against Dublin like we did today we will have a similar result to last year. And then we find ourselves under pressure in a very competitive division. Not ideal at all. I hope the lads play like they have a point to prove next week. I’m not expecting much but we’ve been surprised before
The mayo fitness levels are pretty bad at the moment and I doubt they will improve in the short term. Cork were very good today and were really up for the game. They could win Munster after losing narrowly to Kerry last year. They seem to be on a mission. They showed a lot of fight and hunger.
After the Dublin game I’ll be expecting mayo to come good. I can’t see us beating the dubs but ya never know. I just hope the guys are hurting after today and use that hurt against the dubs. I’m not worried after today’s game as it is only January. A good performance on Saturday is required though. I hope lee Keegan is ok. He shook every nerve in cadogan with that hit.
Look it! If we had scored 1-2 more the final result would be 1-18 to 1-14. So things are not as bad as they appear considering the nature of our present dilemma. We are looking for time to cure many of our failings and that will happen . And on the quiet,Regan,Harrison and Conor OShea have definitely stepped forward
Is that audio report by you Willie Joe ?
By the sounds of things you weren’t impressed with hennelly ?
Can you explain why ???
His kickouts, as I’d already explained in the audio and the match report. His shot-stopping was, though, excellent.
very hard to do anything when we are missing a full team through injury and club commitments. I’m probably missing some
Clarke
Barrett Keane Higgins
Cunniffe Coen Durcan
Barry Moran , Seamus oShea
Loftus ,Oconnor , Freeman
Moran, kirby, Douglas
subs dillon, ronaldson
We were playing with the wind and the 2 smallest players in the full forward line on their own, can anyone explain, I can’t fathom it.
Whatever about that game, if they could only sort out that blasted N20! Long old trek back tonight and fair play to everyone that travelled. In spite of the result, a good weekend was had in the “real” capital.
Firstly, credit to Mayo GAA for so quickly acknowledging their error today in not taking Lee off after the impact. It was a serious lapse in judgement but it’s refreshing (and somewhat new) to see them put their hands up and say “we were wrong” and that is to be commended. The lack of action at the time is indicative of a wider culture in sport where concussion or risk of concussion is still just not taken seriously enough; it’s a brain injury at the end of the day and where safety is at stake the decision should not be left in a players’ hands. Lessons will have been learned. Wishing Lee a speedy recovery.
Liam (as always) above is a rock of sense. What he said.
Thirdly, Joe Mc, I 100% agree, some of Cork’s play and shooting today was a joy to watch. We’ve even been known to play ourselves like that from time to time 🙂
Today was a big disappointment from our point of view and no matter how much we’ll try to remain calm and logical about it, of course we’ll feel concerned. But we’ve had days like this before and will again – c’est la vie. Like most others I’m feeling a bit apprehensive about Saturday, but every game is different. The weeks after the league break will tell a lot.
Martin the Dub, kind words as always. Are you travelling to Castlebar?
Lost for words
Surprised Aidan o Shea wasn’t put in full forward when he came on today. He was so unfit walking around the middle with his hands on his hips surely he would have been better suited in full forward line.
Done Deal, The trouble today was that we needed about 6 Aiden O’Sheas. When he came on we weren’t getting much possession around the middle of the field so there wasn’t much point putting him in at full forward. Agreed he was unfit – he had to be after spending the winter nursing an injury. Nor do I agree with those who criticise him for his trip to America. He has said he wants to see if he can learn anything from American football, esp planned plays. The role of the receiver in American football has a lot in common with the role he played last year. The question is how do you ensure that he is getting possession without half of an entire defence on top of him as v Dublin last year.
Jesus the negativity around here is something else. Its the 31st of January ffs!!! Anyone who has any interest in football knows that Cork fly out of the traps every year, its a given! They bet the almighty Dubs in their first game (at home) last year, And where were they come August??….exactly!! I did’nt think we’d be played off the field but was full sure we’d lose this one.
Think people are playing up Evan Regans performance on here. That missed free was criminal, it would have put us in front for the first time and lads may have kicked on. He has got talent and will make a seirious impact, but today he was very poor. Conor O Shea is worth persisting with, few lovely points today, hes got the size we need, so shud start more league games.
The main positive from today is that Roscommon did’nt get the win at home that they badly needed. I honestly think we’ll stay up because of that result alone, we’ll be a different team in a few weeks, and todays game will be long forgotten about.
It’s one thing being after a game which can be completely understanding and acceptable but to read so many comments already throwing in the towel ahead of next weekend is really terrible and shameful. Every time a Mayo team take the field, especially on home soil, we should believe in victory and demand it, to a point. Otherwise, forget about being successful.
Now how does that line go again…. ‘so boys pull together in all kinds of weather, DONT SHOW THE WHITE FEATHER…..’
When James Horan came in he brought a new mentality to Mayo football. It would be a shame to let that legacy fade. We, as a county, should expect victory and success. If we don’t, standards will drop.
Success breeds success.
Point 1 – to the woman sitting in front of me who moaned “I wish I stayed at home” ….. I wish she did too!!!
Point 2 – it’s better to lose the first competitive game of the year than the last!!!
Done deal ….. That is some amount of players to be missing …. And gave me lots of hope after yesterday
Positives after yday …..Conor o she’a ….
Regan tried hard …. But I’m not sure can he win his own 50 50 ball….
Padraig o hora looked very tigerish when he came on and is definitely worth keeping on
Vaughan looked totally off his feet yday , his passing and overall fitness looked way off
3 wins in Div 1 you’d imagine we’d be safe … Need to up the performance for the dubs 100 per cent
Its interesting to note that all of the teams that won the pre-season tournaments: Cork, Meath, Galway and Tyrone all had good wins yesterday. Again that shows the teams who have more work done and are showing good form at the moment. Its a long year yet.
First up I think Keegan should have been removed immediately after the collision with Cadogan. But – to be fair to the medical team, he argued vehemently to stay on. He should have been ignored but he has to accept some personal responsibility too. Aidan O’Shea spoke about this last year, you try to stay on and play the martyr but are you doing your team mates any favourable? I think it was helpful that the Mayo medical team admonished thesmelves publicly. The lessons have hopefully been learned and we move on.
On the game itself. Not much to say other than we were comprehensively beaten all over the pitch. Pretty clear twenty minutes in that Cork are a lot further down the line with the their prep. Far more cohesive unit, looked fit and hungry for the ball. We struggled to win possession, track runners and lost too many collisions. Just not a good day at the office for anyone.
It’s cause for concern but not panic. Far too early to read too much into it. At this stage of the season I’m looking for new players to step up and I thought Conor O’Shea was very good all through. Harrison also looked decent at times. Regan didn’t get on the ball much but it’s not a game you could judge him on. Hennelly made some fine stops but I agree with WJ, his distribution is becoming a real problem. We broke up one particular attack late on and instead of looking for a pop pass to a defender he boomed it fifty yards to a herd of Cork players. We need him to make the right decisions and it’s definitely something he needs to address.
The Dubs come to town this weekend and are taking the league very seriously on viewing the team out against Kerry. We may well struggle again and will be missing one or two more.
Jesus the negativity here is especially depressing. Have the doomsayers been asleep the last 2 months? Have they followed the early season form and fitness of the squad, or, are they Glory Hunters belatedly jumping on the bandwagon expecting and demanding faultless free-flowing football and big winning margins against everyone? I accept that everyone is entitled to express their opinion on here but sweet Christ it is meant to be an informed and intelligent forum for debate!!
Realistically we had six certain championship starters missing in Barrett, Higgins, Cunniffe, the two O’Sheas and Cillian. The starting 15 was strong enough to be expected to perform, all things being equal. But all things were not equal as our squad is only training since December 29th as opposed to Cork who were together 5 weeks before us. Also, half our lads are training in Dublin at this time of the year and so the group, as a collective, would not have had a lot of time together to gel under the new management. As a result Corks superior fitness led to them being much sharper than us and a yard quicker than us around the pitch. Their systems of play and tactics were more defined because they have trained together for longer and so are more comfortable with what they want to do and how they want to move the ball around the pitch (which they did excellently). And it helps that everything they kicked, from almost every angle of the pitch, right foot or left, half forward or corner back, flew straight over the bar.
No excuses, Cork were much the sharper, more organised and better side. It will be the same next weekend also. That is not to say that we are spent as a force or on the slide but it will take time for the management to put their stamp on this squad.
As for positives? I thought Conor O’Shea and Evan Regan did well on limited supply and showed that they may have something to offer with more game time at this level. Apart from that there was not a lot more to say. I thought Harrison was poor and got taken for 4 or 5 points from play and I also believe we have a major problem in goals. Hennelly is undoubtedly a very good shot stopper and only for him yesterday we would have shipped another 2 goals but, in the modern game, a good shot stopper is a bonus and NOT the main attribute required of a keeper. He doesn’t organize his defense, doesn’t control his area physically and his kickouts are very poor. Also, when the pressure is at it’s highest I believe he buckles and there is always a mistake in him. I know I’ll get called up on that but it is a fair and critical assessment of him as a keeper I believe.
Now, on to next Saturday.
Was at the game yesterday and decided to leave comments until now and let the blood cool down, Mayo midfield dominated the 1st 20 minutes of the game and then fell out of the game. Thought Parsons was the better of the 2 midfielders. Gibbons cost Mayo at least 4 points with his slopy passing and disposessions. I see alot of posters mention C O Shea had a good game, He ran into blind alleys and coughed up dispossession, the exact same way Aidan was a couple of years ago, so this will have to be worked on if he is to hold his place. I was a big fan of Evan Regan upto this game, but he looks very light build and was disappointed with his performance. Donnie looked out of sorts and way way of the pace, worrying for him to get a starting place. Very worrying about the Dublin match, if we play this bad again, it will be a 20 point drubbing.
Re: Comments on players been too light. That’s a bullshit argument and a few nippy corner forwards are what’s needed. Look at the damage Ryan McHugh did at the weekend. He’s only half an O’Shea.
I too attended and agree fully with Mayomanindublin’s observations.
Robbie as usual made great stops but kickout variation remains a problem.
Brendan tried his heart out but may be more of a half back
Ger made some great interventions but isn’t back to his form of 3/4 years ago
Lee took the fight to them, hope he is ok
Donal looks like he needs a lot of training
Colm won a lot of loose ball, but looks under pressure when run at
Shane held Collins scoreless, but needed to show a lot more himself
Tom thought he was our standout performer
Jason had a good 20 minutes, but gave away too much ball
Diarmuid took a lot of attention from Cork Backs, worked hard
Kevin looked very lively while he was on
Caolan looked like he didn’t know was he a sweeper or forward
Conor kicked three good points, lost some vital ball early on when we were in the game
Jason looked great in the first twenty minutes, faded like the other lads
Evan mixed good with the bad, plenty of possession but needs to kick points
Have to agree with Bill Connolly and his post I was at all the FBD games and watched yesterday’s game and I am very disappointed that there isn’t a shred of evidence to suggest we have or are devoloping an attacking plan it’s just not there were running into blind alleys very disappointing
Kickouts define a keepers performance not shot stopping. Stephen cluxton isnt the best shot stopper in the world but his kickouts are one of the main reasons dublin have won their all irelands.I have to agree with the host….the quality of his kickouts had us on the backfoot from very early in the game. Cork sensed it and pounced on the opportunity to exploit them.
Those posters with a negative disposition have let themselves and the team down again, nothing new there. Take a closer look at the “glass half empty” in front of you and ask yourself “what have you ever done to solve the problem”. Agree with many contributors that Cork were great yesterday. It was fantastic to see so many Mayo supporters make the long trek to Cork. The only tougher journey would have been Killarney. My humble opinion is we did not have the legs that Cork had yesterday. Cork had some great scores and lots of time and space and fair play to them on that.
Would agree with Done Deal. The team of players not available would beat the team that played. I was impressed with regan taking on his marker, will do damage when fit. Coshea showed well, wasnt impressed with harrison, not marking agressively enough. Cant figure sweeney on a county panel. Rossies, down, monaghan will fight out relegation slots. Team only weeks back training. This cork team should have beaten kerry, then hammered by kildare a 3rd division team, just a few months ago, while mayo pushed the dubs all the way. Yesterdays match while painful is irrelevant in terms of team rankings.
Amazing what a good nights sleep and good breakfast can do for the spirits….with a gust of fresh air and some early morning sunshine!
There are two salient points crystallizing as I run through all the stuff;
1) Done Deal reminds us of the players
not available yesterday.
2) The lethargy in evidence can be
explained by the type of training
they are going through at the
moment.
The wiser council is to have
patience and keep up the support.
Mayos success in the past has relied heavily on work rate and intensity and ferocious and relentless tackling. It also relied on hard running and support play. We weren’t physically or mentally able to perform to that level of intensity yesterday and thus the bad result. Hopefully when we get back to the level of fitness required to play that kind of game and get our big guns back we will be competitive again. But that’s unlikely to be next Saturday. The focus of that games has to be defence -from no. 15 to back no1.
If I was Jim Gavin I would really target Mayo and try to deliver a humiliating defeat – a knockout blow – that would set us back a lot and undermine our confidence for later in the season. This we must avoid at all costs no matter what we have to do.
We have to agree with TED says above re kick outs .
R Hennelly seems unable to see the vacant spaces where a team mate can
readily go.Blasting the ball out to anywhere is no use anymore.
Several Cork attacks were made when clear and safe options were available .
It should be fairly simple to rectify the problem.
Was at match yesterday, enough said already, Mayo were a long way off in fitness. Cork looked good yesterday, A fair bit said about Mayo midfield yesterday. The best midfielder on the pitch by a mile was Ian Maguire. Tom P only got a few balls in the last 10 mins when Cork were down to 13 men. Gibbons did a power of good work yesterday, but ran out of steam in the last quarter, I see where Aido is going to USA.? On yesterdays evidence I hope its for vacation. Still I cannot figure why we keep persisting with Donal Vaughan on Mayo team? We will probably get beaten by Dublin and Donegal, and after the break we should be able to get a few wins.
Could Mayo GAA put up a TV Screen in Elverys McHale Park next Saturday evening to see watch the AI club finals. It would be a nice geasture.
Everyone entitled to an opinion and all that but there are some pure ignorant comments on Mayo players here.
The first one is regarding Hennelly, and I know I’ve disagreed with you on this before WJ but it was clearly, blatantly obvious, particularly in the first half, a tactic to not kick short but to go for Parsons every time. I don’t agree with it but it’s not Hennelly’s fault. Sure if no outfield player shows for the ball, what can he do but boom it down the field. He is one or the better keepers in the country at kick passing. And pebblesmeller he has performed very well in high pressure situations before. Keeper is so not an issue for Mayo. I think he’s also not “country” enough for some Mayo supporters.
Secondly, Harrison. How anyone thinks he had a bad game is beyond me! Himself and Parsons were Mayo’s two best players. Will surely start next week again.
Finally, laughable comments admonishing the medical team for not taking Keegan off straight away. He clearly seemed fine to play on at the time. As if a concussion is always easily spotted.
GBXI, I agree with your comments up the last paragraph but couldn’t disagree more with that. No, those comments are not laughable, purely because concussion does not always display immediate or visible symptoms. A player may seem perfectly fine to play on, yet they could have sustained a serious injury.
Where there is a head impact such as that belt sustained by Keegan and Cadogan, the soft brain tissue is slammed against the hard skull – it doesn’t take a genius or a medical expert to understand how that can cause the brain firstly to swell, and secondly to affect or damage the way it works. There are plenty of stories out there but if you google Benjamin Robinson’s, it’s a good start in understanding how invisible injuries can be potentially lethal.
If there is a head impact, a player needs to come off and be assessed properly – end of, for their own safety. Clearly the management team realised they had made a serious error in this regard themselves when they (commendably) issued their statement.
The days of “man up and get on with it” are over; GAA, like rugby needs to start taking the threat of concussion seriously and start leading by example at senior level.
I’m not saying that it’s not a serious issue or that the medical team didn’t make a mistake Anne Marie, but it’s not that easy to spot. Rochford did say they should have made the substitution when they say the video replay on the sideline and I think that’s what the apology is for. Anyway, I’m quite certain everything the medical team do is in the best interest of the players and at all times.
Think the criticism o hennelly is a bit harsh Pebblemeister ??
Are you saying Clarke if fit will provide all these attributes that hennelly does not ?
A lot of the players looked way off it yday , think
Management will have to go back to that drawing board.
pebblesmeller , Don’t know where your coming from saying Harrison was poor, he was one of Mayo’s standout players. He will surely be pushing for a starting jersey come championship. Also there is know problem in goal.
Thought Conor O’shea was good. Hopefully Lee is ok and is back soon.
Its a very tough job been a keeper, all players make mistakes but when the keeper makes them, it usually ends up as a score for the opposition. Even Stephen Cluxton when he is put under pressure is very prone to making errors but the Dubs are usually so far ahead it doesn’t matter that much, remember the mistake that he made against Fermanagh last year for one of their goals. Also when we were all over them in the closing stages of the drawn semi-final, he was really panicking then. Even if you go back to 2013 final, everyone remembers Robbie’s mistake because we lost but Cluxton made a mess of the goal that we scored by Andy Moran, he also came off his line when he shouldn’t have. He messed up for Donegal’s first goal in the 2014 semi-final defeat as well. Paul Durcan, the Donegal All-Star keeper is always prone to a few costly errors also. In saying that if David Clarke was fully fit, I’d prefer him as our no. 1 keeper but he must be getting on in age too at this stage. 2012, his last full season is a good few years ago now. Robbie does seem to get a bit nervous alright at crucial times but he never gifted the ball to a opposition player bearing down on goal like Paul Durcan did with Donaghy in the 2014 final. It’ll be interesting to see if Matthew Flanagan will get a run out in any of the games.
Crazy the way there’s such a massive difference of opinion on certain players , be hardly any parish pump type politics in here ?
Higgans, Barrett , cunnife and Keane are our first four corner backs , Harrison has not shown he is in their category as of yet.
Just watched the highlights on line. Some of our veterans backs need to take a good look at themselves. How the cork lads were able to turn our backs inside out on one on ones is inexcusable at this level, at least give away a free. Better for this type of exposure this time of year and not come championship. Fair enough the younger lads deserve another chance but it should be impact sub material for some veterans of this continues.
Unless the full back line is overhauled and a sweeper in place we have no chance against the dubs. I’ve faith in the management to see this for next week and make the changes.
The knockers are,not surprisingly, in action at the first opportunity both inside and outside the County. Listening to Sunday evenings RTE sports roundup featuring so called pundits Tom Carr and Eamon O.Hara, and in particular Carr’s withering and dismissive analysis of Mayo as a force for the future it ocoured to me that it might be more than a co-incidence that this pundit is well known to be closely aligned to a former Mayo Manager who in turn is closely aligned to a recent Mayo manager. Objective analysis ? or is it wheels within wheels one might ask
Wouldn’t pay any attention to Carr. In 2014 he was on the radio saying that it wasn’t a question about who was going to be All-Ireland champions, but about who was going to be the runners up. Basically any team that doesn’t wear the sky-blue are a joke and are not worth bothering with. It’ll be the same again this year. Let them all at it, paper never refused ink and a microphone never refused sound waves. Mayo could win 5 AIs in a row and we would still be labelled as chokers for losing the sixth.
True Willie Joe but i think they had to after that, was just making the point
Hi Martin the Dub, fair enough they did exaggerate with 30 points but that’s all it was, but you cant seriously think that this will be a close game,
ill still be keeping the faith, just booked flights for the london game in May