The GAA have, at last, confirmed the fixture details for all of the All-Ireland SFC Round 3 group stage games the weekend after next. After various rumours and counter-rumours in recent days, our game against Cork has been fixed for the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick on Sunday 18th June, with a 2pm throw-in.
This – along with Cusack Park in Ennis – was always the likely neutral venue for a game between ourselves and Cork. Why it took the GAA so long to confirm this and all the other Round 3 matches is beyond me but at least we’ve clarity on it now.
We’ve bad and good memories of playing Championship matches at the Gaelic Grounds. The first cut – in 2014 – was, of course, the deepest but since then we’ve won at the venue three times, all in qualifier matches. We beat Cork there in 2017, Limerick in 2018 and Galway in 2019. The photo above was taken the evening of that latter game, which was the most recent time we’ve played there.
Full details on all the Round 3 games, none of which, by the way, are set to be played at Croke Park, are here.
There will be a cracking atmosphere at that game imo
Anybody remember the game in Limerick v Cork in 2017?
I sure do,only about 10k at it and it was a special atmosphere, one of top 5 I’ve ever been at and I’ve been going to games since the 80s.
Cork really raised their game for us that day and Sean Powter played puck from the hb line.
The crowd roared Mayo over the line that day,I wouldn’t mind a repeat of that!
Think Ennis would have been preferable as it would at least be a bit nearer for us and plenty big enough. I also see the Mayo Community Games finals are on in Claremorris that day which is going to be a problem for quite a few.
For anyone looking for parking behind the munster ground a good few parks am I the only one nervous about the cork game we need to sort out playing against the blanket defence
Tullamore would have been a way better choice imo. Full size pitch in town well serviced by train service.
Same dimensions as McHale Park. I agree with Sean Cavanagh assessment
Since poor-to-middling teams tend to find skillful, stylish attackers harder to come by than they do big awkward stoppers, then it stands to reason they would prefer pitches where the space is rather easier to condense.
Hence the ‘tight pitch’ is more to the underdogs’ liking. It’s the ‘wide open spaces’ that they fear.
FW I stayed overnight in Limerick after that game, went to extra time.
Bar owner opposite the pitch told me he wished Mayo played there every week
Powter did indeed play puck with us but has gone back a lot I think due to injuries.
Mayo hammered Galway the last time they played in Limer
Ick
Dimensions not the same!
McHale Park 142 x 82mtrs
Gaelic Grounds 143 x 88mtrs (same width as Croke Park)
If we finish top of the group I think we get a home quarter final. If that is the case can we nominate a ground or does it have to be McHale Park? If we can nominate would we be wise to do so? Must reaffirm here that I’m not dissing Cork who will be a serious test but just wondering about that possible scenario.
I am wrong! Mea culpa ??
@Joe. G.: Home/away is only for the pQF. All 4 Quarter Finals are in Croker (the Master Fixture List has them as to be decided by CCCC but they’ve had them listed on the Croke Park season ticket since the start of the year. Two double headers for QF weekend)
@Joe.G I’m pretty sure home advantage is for pre limanary quarter finals & quarter finals in croke Park
Don’t think so Joe. Only second teams in each group have home advantage in a preliminary QF. All QFs in neutral grounds as far as I know.
RTE sport report that all 8 games to be played on Saturday 17th.
Croker prob suit us better then mchale Park if we go straight through anyway haha
Christ it’s hard plan anything with so much conflicting information now
RTÉ are wrong! Only the Group 4 matches are on Saturday, the rest are on Sunday, ours included.
Thanks for putting me straight folks. Croker would definitely be our first choice.
So even if we draw with cork does that give us enough to go straight through to quarters? Or we have to win it? Confusing ha
About time they informed us… the people who pay for their exalted positions.
The confusion and delay are inevitably going to leave room for more confusion. I’ve had it with GAA and although I’d love to be there it’s not going to happen.
I hope Mayo win and. I hope GAA learn to respect the supporters. They aren’t doing a great job at the moment.
Maigheo Abu
Yes 5 points would guarantee top of group but you never play for a draw. It’s a confidence builder/ restorer, a win is the only positive result for us. Key back on the horse and start building momentum again
@ontheditch oh totally agree with you on that! We must go out to win every game ..!
Say there will be a big performance from our guys after the louth game..
We can’t plan beyond our next game because we are neither first nor second in our group yet. But I agree, the GAA are not exactly playing a blinder….
On the pitch dimensions thing,
I know you can Google and some sources will have the Gaelic grounds the same size as MacHale Park but sources are often wrong and that exact info is hard to verify.
What I will say is that anybody who has been to both venues (which I’d assume is almost everybody here) can tell you which pitch is bigger.
The GAA have made a bit of a mess of this alright haha I’m still glad we didn’t hammer louth keeps it all exciting you never can write mayo off let everyone else write us off but at that their peril as they say haha.
Hope cillian is back heard mcstay saying after the louth game he was so close to playing against louth but they weren’t 100% convinced right call though mot to push players back to soon .
Weirdly enough I’m much more optimistic for this game then imI was for the louth game ..
Yes Clare, the bounce back factor will kick in. But imo it’s the management that have to up their game after Louth match. We have a strong panel of players. Get tactics right. At least two players forward at all times(takes 3 to mark them). Quick break, long foot pass once we get the turnover(negates the small pitch and makes it easier for skillful players to get space). Thirdly if Loftus I CHB, then sit down with him, go through the Louth match with him, highlight the number of times we continued to run forward after lateral passing, and when we were turned over he was isolated at the wrong end of the pitch when his role is to marshall the defence.
To his credit, he was adequate when he was actually defending and his ability to hold up an attacker has improved. But we can’t afford wreckless defending. There’s a need for some straight talking…
Was at both the Cork and Galway matches there. Yes Powter was immense in the Cork game. We were cruising and suddenly lost grip and were lucky to scrape the win. Exciting for everyone bar the Mayo supporters. Re the Galway game, yeah very solid performance and great win. Funnily enough the main performance I remember from that day was Peter Cooke. Physically he seemed to be matching Aidan that day and kicked some great scores. Thought he’d have a bigger impact for Galway in the following seasons (unsure did he get injured??). Seems to be back on form again.
Really looking forward to this next challenge.
@onthe ditch totally agree !
Management need to prove a point to come cork even though we still won a hard fought match they will want to prove a point come cork .
I hear loads of people saying now that cork will beat us. No way cant see it but delighted they are thinking that :p haha
Exactly we have one of the strongest panels in the country how lucky are we?.. also some credit to colm reape I don’t blame him at all for the goal going over the weekend he’s still my number 1 choice.
Yes so true the bounce will be back come cork an the guys know it’s the last match to get straight through to quarters and I bet they are fuming at reading all the stuff online about us being written off to (again) ha
Mayo by 5 or 6.
I feel like i’m going round the twist! First I was figuring out how i’d get to Tullamore. Then as soon as I saw the RTÉ website I booked my train to Limerick for Saturday. Give me patience!
Limerick is a good choice. Easy to get in and out of. Great playing surface and comfortable seating opposite Mackey stand with unobstructed view of pitch. Ennis is closer but is mainly standing room only. Cork always raise their game against us but will they go balls out to beat us considering they will probably have to play a preliminary quarter final the following week? We can’t take any chances and we will need Diarmuid starting and hopefully Cillian back in the saddle aswell. Start strong, control the game and another one point win will do me, however we have to start taking our goal chances from here on in.
We need to be braver than last Sunday. We need to be faster on the counter. We need to be willing to take the goal shot occasionally rather than fisting over the bar and be aware of all the options around us. We need to maintain concentration for the full match. I think we were seven or eight points better than Louth. Add a goal to the five we were ahead at the 73rd minute and that was our potential. We just need to polish up on a few elements of our game. We have the talent. But, as they say, practice makes perfect. Mayo by five against Cork. Venue will suit us.
@Muckle totally agree with you..we were def 5 or 6 points better then louth maybe even 6 or 7 when we got our running game on ( when we were able to do it v louth) we looked the far better team and louth knew we were the better team thats why they set up soo defensively but anyway time to move onto cork …
I agree mayo will go full force at this one mayo by 5 or 6 or even 7 /8 ( no disrespect to cork)
Sad news coming out of Cork. Teddy McCarthy passed away, only 58. RIP.
@Blond64 that is sad very young . RIP Teddy McCarthy
While the GAA certainly dragged their feet before announcing the times, dates and venues for these games, they have at least made the right choice of venue here. From a supporters standpoint, Limerick is easy to get to, great for parking and is a nice ground. From the team’s perspective, it’s a wide open pitch that a lot of them are used to and that suits our style far better than a tighter one. We’re also very lucky not to be facing a ticket scramble like Armagh. Honestly, what genius thought of sending one of the best supported teams to a small ground like Carrick? It’s not like they didn’t have plenty of time to think about it…
Just seen that former cork player teddy McCarthy has passed away.A tremendous high fielder.always reminded me of our own willie joe padden.RIP
Management do need to up their game from the Louth game – too slow making changes etc.
However the players also need to take responsibility and recognise Sundays performance wasn’t good enough and it won’t be good enough moving forward. Management can prepare tactics etc but it’s up to the players on the field to play out these tactics and to a man give 100% every time they cross the white line from throw in all the way through to the final whistle –
No switching off – when your gassed someone else will come on and take the jersey.
Not many of the players could honestly say they gave 100% on Sunday, that isn’t on management. Turn up every time, no excuses, consistent high performances week in week out for the whole game is what’s required.
Not an attack on the players by the way, just the truth of what makes a successful team – players taking responsibility and leading on the field
Shocked about Teddy Mc Carthy,a wonderful sportsman,may be rest in peace, we must always be kind
@our time has come well said I said it before we always seem to put our best forward for the big teams to prove we can beat the best ( we usually are to) then complacency seems to set in for the weaker teams. Like we let our guard down our something. But blanket defence is really hard and frustrating especially in 25 degrees heat so have to factor that in to we still win and we were the better team throughout tbh.
We have an amazing bunch of players no question but we need to prove ourselves against cork ( the critics say… ) and I’ve no doubt that we will do that. We will come bouncing back ..doubt eoghan mc is ready for cork game?
So sad about Teddy McCarthy. Himself and Jimmy Barry Murphy were true dual legends. Terrible loss for his family and Cork GAA. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam.
No real need for pessimism!
Yes Mayo had a close call against Louth but…..
Kerry only scraped past Cork.
Dublin drew with Roscommon
Galway were not hugely spectacular against 14 man Tyrone.
We’re not the only ones chugging along at the moment. But crucially the top teams (apart from Kerry) didn’t lose.
What’s important against Cork is not a spectacular display of football but a win. One point would do me grand.
@ Michael incork. You have a train service to Limerick.
RIP Teddy McCarthy, of of Corks finest.
A great fielder indeed and tough as nails.
I think he was the only player ever to win two senior all Irl medals in the one year – in 1990, for hurling and football with Cork.
Yes ,Ontheditch, panic over. Train now booked for Sunday but there were only 2 seats left ! Teddy was a superstar winning AI medals in football and hurling in the same year. May he rest in peace
Jesus teddy was a fine player. May he rest in peace. Are we televised I wonder
Only two games in the set up with both teams playing outside their province!
This may be naive of me, and I say it in hope more than anything else, but what if we have a plan for breaking down the blanket defence but we’re just not showing our hand yet. I’m just going to cling to that idea until it’s proven to be complete nonsense.
Watched the Louth goal back and Conor Loftus is in the full back position totally isolated with no sign of David mcbrien.you have coyne and callinan running back towards their own goal .baffling how players got into theese positions on a Louth kickout .why was out full back not even in his own half of the field.seems to have been a total switch off
We were 5 points up on Kerry in the 2014 semifinal in CP with minutes to go. Donaghy comes on in midfield and later he drifts into the full forward line, taps a ball to O Donahue and goal. Should never have been allowed. Aidan should have followed him in. Foul or whatever was necessary, just don’t concede a goal. 9 years on and we still haven’t learned the lesson.
@1985: David McBrien was doing his job marking his man on the other wing. He was just beyond the back post, having sprinted well ahead of his man when it was clear where the danger was developing, when the goal was scored. Very much in his own half and doing the job he’d been asked to.
Plenty of room to have a pop at Coen, O’Donoghue, Durcan or O’Hora (ranging from pretty harsh against them to really needed to do better there) that were on that side of the field and responsible for tagging those runners without dragging in others.
Rip Teddy. A great dual player in an era when dual players were getting scarce on the ground. Limerick is a decent venue. One of the most exciting games I ever saw was in 2014 v Kerry. Had we won that I would have probably rated it as the best game I had attended. Was behind the goals in Mayo section and atmosphere was outstanding but Cormac Reilly had a nightmare and Aldo and Cillian clashed heads so it ultimately turned out to be one of my biggest disappointments ever. It was made worse the following day when Donegal ambushed the Dubs. We would surely have won the A I that year. Super game v cork in 2017 also. Drew with Derry and Ross that year also and Cork despite being totally written off and with a very poor support took us all the way to extra time and might even have beaten us. Beware of writing off Cork. They won’t lack self confidence and although we have had the upper hand on them with wins in 2011, 2014 and 2017, prior to that we hadn’t beaten them since early in the 20th century. In fact they used to love playing us and were responsible for my worst day ever in Croker. 5 15 to 0 10 in 1993. So I don’t take any team for granted and certainly not Cork, who have an unbelievable amount of fellas playing football and who have got the upper hand on Kerry at underage in the last few years (excluding this year) One game at a time. No predicting big wins as v Louth. Get out with a win, pick up no injuries and move on to quarter final.
Mayo45, I have had similar feelings that maybe perhaps we are not showing everything when it comes to our ability against the blanket. I think Mayo are happy to tell people we got past Louth with one point only.
It might seem crazy to think this, but if we’re looking for all crucial little margins against blankets and esp our neighbours, wouldn’t keeping a damper on our ability be one little margin?
(I admit it is far fetched but I do have a little feeling about it, like you).
Willie joe.. Do you know if rte will show it or gaago
Firstly, sad to hear about the passing of Teddy McCarthy. Not very tall, indeed similar in height to our own Willie Joe, two of the finest fielders that I have ever seen. May he Rest in Peace. Many saying that we beat Louth and “that’s all that matters”, except it might’nt be-remains to be seen. The points difference by no means leaves us safe. Cork could give us a lot of problems and even beat us and they would leapfrog us with a 3/4 point win. This would also give Kerry a strong chance of overtaking us, as I expect them to beat Louth comfortably. It would be a real downer to be relegated to third after beating the Champions in their own backyard. Some also suggesting that we were not going full pelt against Louth in order to reduce the risk of injuries. I can’t imagine that management would consider such an approach, as if we lose top spot, it could have the opposite effect-extra games increase the risk of injuries.
Not saying to take cork for granted course not they are a good team and will test us for sure. Still going with prediction that we will win we tend to up our game when it comes near knock out stages or last end stages of group / qualifiers . Should be a cracker of a match either way !
Teddy McCarthy . If it weren’t for Teddy the phrase Mayo For Sam would never have become a thing as we would have won Sam in 1989 if he wasn’t on the opposition that day, a year in which he got Player of the year. RIP a legend.
No idea, Craggy. I don’t think that’s been decided yet.
New pod reviewing the Louth game in detail went up on Patreon late last night. Mike, Billy Joe Padden and Stephen Drake are on it.
Michaelincork. Only 2 seats left? Cork fans must be travelling enmass! Glad you got sorted and a lot of the angst comes from idiots spreading rumours and the GAA dragging their heels. It’s not like the round 3 opponents weren’t known all along.
RIP Teddy McCarthy.
Have to say I have watched the Louth goal back a few times and cannot see mcbrien in the picture but my point was that on a Louth kickout how did we have so many players out of position and running back towards their own goal
Before the group stage we all thought Mayo and Kerry would easily get past Louth and Cork. Now it seems like the gap between divisions is not as wide as previously thought or else there was a bit of overconfidence / complacency somewhere in the psyche of some of the fancied teams. If we bring our A game and Cork don’t park the bus I’d have us favourites by 3-5 points. No chance of Cork holding back because if the win they could top the group on points difference unless we all hear Kerry has a big gap on Louth at HT in which case Cork don’t need a win and will know they can’t top the group. More important to have Diarmaid back IMO. Who was our 2nd midfielder vs Louth, Jason or Jack? Was hardly Donnacha McHugh who was listed there. In any event we didn’t dominate and Cork by all accounts did dominate Louth there. If Diarmaid is back I’d be more confident. If Cillian is back do we drop Carr who is a confidence player? We know Cillian can perform when fit.
McStay and Co will drill into the lads the need for a win at all costs to keep the championship in our control. I expect Hurley is the main danger, a job for McBrien, limiting his impact could go a long way.
The gap between the divisions is still huge. Most counties cannot live with the Million+ teams e.g. Mayo, Dublin, Galway.
They can set up to frustrate them like Sunday, and keep scorelines respectable but in the end Dublin, Mayo, Kerry, Galway win.
The GAA badly needs another 40k stadium in the Northern half of the country. When you think of Thurles, Killarney, Gaelic Grounds , Pairc Ui Chaoimh all in Munster. You could say now there is a need between Louth, Meath, Westmeath, Longford. Even the Northwest, Carrick on Shannon is not a neutral venue for Galway Armagh and I say that as a Galway man. They couldn’t play everything in Breffni however
When is the Kerry v Louth game on ,Is it on the same time as the Mayo v Cork game?
Are the tickets available for the Mayo v Cork game ?
Don’t seem to have the latest podcast, anyone else not have it.
@1985: Might be worth another look.
McBrien is visible for most of the goal at the top of your screen. Closest Mayo player to the Albany/Stand corner picking up their main dangerman and preventing him getting in on the stand side of the pitch.
Callinan had gone off for Hession some time earlier (are you thinking of McHugh? Did a good job sticking with his man. No blame there).
Coyne was tagging the run of number 15 through the middle, doing a solid job of minimising his danger. Showed great game IQ to quickly switch from the number 8 he had been tagging as the danger moved further up the field. Gets top marks on this one. Solid play from him throughout the move and not of position.
Everyone has jobs to do in the system and they were all doing them fine/well.
The gap came when other players switched off. Coen, O’Donoghue, Durcan and O’Hora will be the ones getting the heat in the video review (Loftus could have had a little more pressure on his man receiving so less time to pick out the pass for the goal so in that conversation too but you could understand him taking a stance goal side to prevent his man an easy goal chance so less culpability in my mind. If the runs had been tagged by his teammates, as they should have been, there was little risk there).
@ James Fleming,yes same with all groups.
I don’t think we’re holding anything back per se with the blanket.
I do think we’ll be better prepared in most cases.
Wrt Louth there wasn’t any real history of playing against them for either management or players.
Compare this to Kerry where we looked so organized and tuned in to how they play etc
We the exception of possibly Derry we know most of the other contenders inside out, and as a result you would expect our performance to be better.
You could argue that we should have been better prepared for Louth, but I wouldn’t go along with that. Imo we have, and should have, one eye on the quarters, and instead of focusing entirely on Louth, we should be putting work into analysing the teams we’ll be facing come the business end of the season
thanks Jr
Ok always prepared to listen to someone else’s view .not being critical of mcbrien .I think he is a great prospect but the end result was a disastrous goal being given away.it’s the starting position of everyone on a Louth kickout that has to be questioned.running back facing your own goal is not where you want to be .the danger came from the right hand side of the pitch in that particular move
Perhaps we should take a leaf from Louths playbook, and drop everyone behind our own 45 when defending a late lead
Nephin – it’s up on Patreon alright, it went online around eleven last night.
Thanks WJ. I’m on holidays and was a problem with my email. All good again. Ready to listen to it now.
@frost iv been wondering for the last few years why we don’t. We are probably the best team at the forward press, but what happens when we lose possession or foul when the opposition need to score…. Sunday happens….
Teams giving up the kickout is awful to watch but I can see why they do it. They can set up around and inside the 45.
In 21, Tyrone went short a lot with kickoutsall year so we assumed they’d do it again. They were ready for that and quick ball over the top caught us out..and also we played exactly how we had played all Yr so we were figured out. We are getting figured out again. Galway, Dublin, Derry are keeping things tight like kerry did last year then pressing up when game opens up.
I was hoping to see more kick passes in to the FF line but they seemed to be very deep this weekend. Kerry supporters are demanding a more kicking game because slow build up lessens the chance of their speed merchants or ffs beating their men.
DOC is a big loss in this regard..
I definitely think we cannot go forward pressing all game or we tire and get caught out of position.
Good stuff, Nephin, glad it’s sorted. It’s a nice bumper one, weighing in at an hour and twenty, with Billy Joe and Drakey in flying form. Ideal holiday listening!
Enjoyed this podcast. Glad the lads touched on something I’ve thinking about since the Kerry game. In that one we brought on Paddy, Enda , Eoghan and Tommy if my memory is correct. Again on Sunday all except Eoghan for obvious reasons. Are management thinking along the lines of speed merchants coming in to finish games. Seems to work too especially the Kerry game, but even on Sunday the pace of the game seemed to increase when the boys came on.
Whats the latest on Cillians fitness, did Kevin or Stephen mention it in post match interviews?
The lads on the podcast said he’s 95% ready, seems like they just didn’t want to risk him.
Kevin Mcstay’s exact words after the match and quoted in the Mayo News:
Cillian could have almost played today, but it’s our judgement and the medical judgement that he’s not quite there yet.”
Mayo 45 and Swallow Swoops I agree with your thinking. It may be that Kevin McStay was wisely keeping his powder dry for future conflicts. You get two points for winning by 1 point, exactly the same as if you won by 20 points. Boylesports seem to agree as well. They have installed us as joint second favourites with Kerry. I don’t think any of the bookies have moved us down the rankings after Sunday
@Moose79
I’d agree, it’s a string we could do with adding to our bow.
In fairness to management, I felt over the league we were missing a long kick out option, and they turned it around and we scored well off our long kick out against Kerry. So hopefully something we could see yet.
@Grainne Uaille I checked in to Boylesports this evening (Wed), and the current favourites to lift Sam next month are priced as follows;
Dublin 9/4, Kerry 10/3 and Mayo and Galway at 4/1 each.
I’m not sure if we (Mayo) were ever 2nd favourites, I may be wrong.
Boylesports: to win all Ireland
Dublin 9/4
Mayo 7/2
Kerry 7/2
Galway 9/2
Derry 14/1
Tyrone 20/1
Armagh28/1
Roscommon 33/1
Mayo 4/9 to reach semi final
But the best bet of the lot 8/15 Roscommon to reach quarter final .
Seán Burke: Yes, they are the odds I had seen
Galway are 4th favourites, am I missing something?
I still think it’ll ultimately be Dublin, but Galway are patently the form team in the country at the minute – the only side with a 100% record this year and are now 9 wins out of 10 in championship games, and have made the last 2 national finals
I can’t ever recall an Ulster champion being such long odds either
That is awful value for Mayo (they were similar match odds in previous all Ireland finals alone, with a better team). Bookies overreacting massively to the Kerry game. The other championship games were a loss and a one point win against a poor team, you’d be mad altogether to take them odds at the minute. If Kerry and Dublin walk their quarters (and Kerry the preliminary), Mayo mightn’t actually be any shorter come the semis if they make it.
On another note, I’ve seen far worse each way bets than Tyrone… there’s no way them and Derry are that much worse than the top few. Given Kerry are likely to get either Dublin or Galway in a quarter, the draw is going to open up for one of the “outsiders”. Momentum will play a huge role this year, and it wouldn’t surprise me to only see 2 of the 4 favourites in the semis
The odds indicate a very open championship, you could actually back a fair few of them teams and spread your stake to be in profit .
€1 on Derry = €15 back
€2 on Galway = €11
€3 on Kerry = €13.50
€0.50 on Tyrone = €10.50
€€3.50 on Dublin = €11.30 odd
Could you actually back all the contenders bar mayo , ros and Armagh and be in profit or am I calculating wrong ?
Could someone please explain. What date will our qf be in a scenario where we top the group
@John o Donnell: QFs are the weekend of the 1st/2nd July with two days of double headers in Croker.
Nothing pre-determined in terms of Group numbers or the likes so will come down to the team we draw and how HQ/TV/other logistics wrangle to decide on the rest of the specifics.