Image: @MayoGAA
It’s just been confirmed that our Round 2A qualifier against Derry next Saturday evening at MacHale Park (throw-in 5pm) will be shown live on RTÉ2 television and will also be streamed live on the RTÉ Player. Coverage starts on the day at 4.30pm.
On another note If I may. I cannot believe the stance adopted by Jim Gavin regarding the Connolly incident. Of course you’d expect the Manager to back the player, thats fair enough. But to say that his good name is been tarnished is a bit of a joke. Why this incident took on so much attention is that once again one of the finest footballers in the country loses the head over a small incident. Mr. Gavin would need to look at the record book here. He appears to be adopting a bullish role like that of a certain Mr. Trump where he cannot decipher between reality and fiction and certainly throws a blind eye to any one of a number of incidents during the past 4 years involving the player in question. He must think we are all fools and interestingly this topic had died down completely until he re-ignited it again yesterday. any other thoughts???
Anyways we should be beating Derry handy if we are to have any real ambitions to be winning Sam.
“Anyways we should be beating Derry handy if we are to have any real ambitions to be winning Sam”
Daft comment. Should we have beaten Fermanagh, Kildare and Westmeath out the gate so? How about Kerry scraping by Sligo and Westmeath not so long ago. Armagh in 2002 needed a replay to beat Sligo. Anything can happen and it’s arrogance to suggest we should be able to stroll through the qualifiers.
If your watching Mayo games lately, then you understand this will be a close game.
Our attitude has to be right, if it is we win. If our attitude is not right then yes yew tree anything can happen.
Have been hearing some disconcerting stuff about the injuries within the team. This is really a dangerous match.
@ Yew_tree, actually yes. with the exception of Kildare last year all of the other games on paper were games we should have won at a stroll. Refer to comments on this website here last year and all were in agreement. But how we setup invites teams to be in with a chance right to the end. Ina nutshell, if we cannot beat Derry (preferably handy i.e 6 or more points) then we need to be logical and forget about our ambitions for later in the year. I am not suggesting for 1 minute the back door will be a stroll. Our history tells us otherwise. But this game needs to be closed out quickly!!!!!
A win with no controversies involved and I’d be happy with that.
With what I’m hearing about injuries it seems our luck may be abandoning us again. I am very very nervous about this game.
Also I’m sickened that RTE are showing the game. Their coverage is piss poor to be honest.
How could you be sickened that Rte are showing the game niall We don’t all have Sky fecken sports
Hope this doesn’t affect the owl attendance.
I’d rather pay for sky sports then watch that muck. It’s 30 euro well spent not to have to listen to brolly, carr and the rest. Will be going to the game anyway but always watch it back afterwards. Mayo were treated appalling by RTE last year, the accusation that aido dived, showing the footage right after to the Fermanagh manager, giving whelan a platform to start the lee Keegan smear campaign and the constant abuse from brolly. I wrote a letter of complaint and didn’t even receive a reply so will not watch RTE coverage anymore.
This could be a banana skin for us if we are not in the proper frame of mind. Monaghan believed all the hype about themselves and Down just went out and gave it a rattle and it worked. Down had nothing to lose and played with no weight on their shoulders. Monaghan were caught like we were last year by Galway. Gavin has made a twat of himself over Connolly ban. Playing to the gallery on the hill. Turning into a Mourinho! Give a dog a good name!
Will be in Castlebar to cheer the lads on to victory.
Ger Canning advising us for the 234th time (well it feels like it)to sit back and admire this Dublin team is enough to make anyone tune out from rte…
And 103 people think we will have exited the Championship before the Connacht final is even played..A sobering thought.
Do you think there’ll be any more updates on the injuries before the end of the week, Willie Joe? The rumour mill is absolutely flying.
Me too dreamysleepy. Not good. I voted that we would beat Derry but as it draws closer I’m getting very anxious.
It is for sure, dreamysleepy, but I guess it’ll be close to throw-in on Saturday evening before we’ll know exactly who’s starting and who isn’t. I doubt there’ll be any official update before then on the state of play with injuries and I doubt too that the team named will be the one that starts.
Best way to watch Mayo on RTE is with the volume down. This is a potential banana skin so we need to be at our best and play with a high tempo from the beginning and take every chance we create. With regard to Jim Gavin while I agree with Willie Joe on how hypocritical this is it would be nice sometime to see our management stand up for the players in the same manner.
I think even allowing for any injuries we have a big panel with some very experienced players like Alan Dillon waiting for a chance should anyone be a problem starter. In HF line, Nally, Kirby Dillon, Donie could all be used. If Keegan can’t start then Boyler gets the chance to shine and gives Donie or Coen a shout too. Nally can play there too. Main area of concern would be midfield where Barry is only just back and Coen mightn’t yet be ready for the engine room so only really Donie to cover if AOS not fit to risk. Or at a push Kirby. The only other line we need cover in is FB line with Keith and possibly Caff out, hope Harrison is ready by now as would need a half back to fill the role cause I don’t think Newcombe or O’ Donohue ready for championship yet but Drake or Coen could I guess.Of course Keegan would be very hard jersey to fill but we have plenty of excellent half backs if needed.
On the Gavin thing my tuppence worth is it’s a distraction the Dubs don’t need. They just won by a huge margin so why harp about something negative. He shouldn’t be caring as they have just made an AI statement on the pitch. Mind games and in particular seige mentality is of limited benefit. His team should be on a high instead of in a negative spotlight for upcoming games which is what is likely to happen. I know Mickey Harte does it too but that controversy has long passed.
Gavins comments were to ensure no broadcaster speaks out against his players again, right or wrong. And the worst thing about it is it will probably work.
Gavin’s a tosser. However it’s a pity rochford didn’t cone out as strong in defence of Leroy after last years drawn final. Mayo management far too nice as always.
Hopefully The Mayo News will have an update on the injury situation etc. tomorrow. They are usually pretty good that way.
Gavins holier-than-thou attitude really makes my stomach turn every time he’s on TV. So from that point of view I hope they keep up their boycott. It’s laughable him talking about Connolly’s “good name”. He gave up any right to a “good name” when he assaulted a man on the street and broke his jaw. Connolly has made his own bed, Gavin should learn to live with it.
Jaysus all, I couldn’t give two hoots about Gavin at this stage.
I would love to get word from the Derry camp to see how they are viewing us. My guess is they will be quietly (loudly?) confident. They will think we are a beaten docket. It’s backs to the wall time, no doubt about it.
RTE were scared shitless that Gavin would follow Micky Harte’s lead and boycott them permanently. Brolly and Dolan were falling over themselves trying to get the Dubs back on side.
Your wish is my command, Catcol! The views of Derry selector Hugh McGrath on facing us are here. Interesting stuff and definitely of more relevance for us now than Blathergate.
We need to see a real statement of intent from our lads on Saturday. If only we could get ourselves back playing with the same type of hunger, intensity, unity of purpose, speed of passing and angles of running that Down showed the last evening. It was not only a joy to behold, but also a blueprint for dismantling the blanket. Instead what we are more are likely to see is the same old slow, constipated, ponderous dithering in attack that we’ve grown accustomed to this year. As previous posters have commented we should be beating Derry out the gate…..we have the players to do so….but the way Rochford is setting us up leaves us vulnerable and plays into the oppositions hands as we can’t seem to shake off even the most average of teams any more.
“Blathergate” 🙂 🙂 🙂
Gavins outburst is a ploy to create a siege mentality within the Dublin camp to keep them motivated for their 3 in a row bid. However, he should be called out in his hypocrisy bearing in mind his comments over P Neilan, the league final ref when he questioned his competency for reefing that final.
Did anyone notice Brolly’s comment on the SG last night when he said that the reason Down have won All Irelands in the past, in comparison to Mayo, was because they have ‘conviction’.
WE need good and vocal support on saturday to win this game.hope fully the big flag will be unveiled at the pre-match parade before the game .it should get everybody in the mood for cheering on the TEAM in the game.This has the potential to be a very dodgy game,but i think we will come out on top by a few points.I HOPE S.R. only picks players who are fully fit and let the injured players get fit and not be risking further injuries to them.surely we have enough fit players onthe panel. signed; the mayo jimbo
My worry for Mayo is not the players or the standard of the opposition but the difficulty we have against the blanket defence setup. We just don’t seem to have any clear tactic against teams that use it.
Our main tactic is our players have a go to break the line but usually waltz into the heavy traffic and ball turned over or final pass is mopped up. And i don’t recall any match where we tried to draw out the opposition defence and kick in long over the top. Granted we have pressed defensive teams on their kick out now and again with some success but not convinced we have ever come to terms with playing blanket defences.We struggle badly against average teams who deliberately go out to stop us.
I do believe we can and will win on Saturday. A banana skin for sure and Derry not a team to be taken for granted. Not sure Derry are as up there with the blanket defence approach as other Ulster counties but if they do setup with a very defensive setup watch out but don’t expect they will and any kind of open game against them we should prevail.
Exactly NiallMc1983 that is Gavin’s intention. Dublin were left with little option where Diarmuid Connolly was concerned and rightly or wrongly, depending on your view, had to accept the full penalty. To make the best of it Dublin are now using “the Diarmuid situation” to give an advantage to their team by, not so much building a siege mentality, but more of a warning “you can burn me once but you can’t burn me twice”. This Gavin TV show was more than just a warning to the broadcaster, the Sunday game and the media about saying another single bad word about their angelic team for the rest of the year (which you are right, they will get away with) but it is also a warning to other pretenders to the crown that they are holding the ‘trump card of comparison’ which they will use when the time is right. Gavin is also looking out for his good self too remember.. because when this show comes crashing down, and it most certainly will in time (I’ve had the belief this year that Tyrone might put a stop to their gallop) then he will need someone to blame.
But from now until Saturday my focus is on Derry.. one player I hope can make it back in time is Lee.. no one better to clip over a few long range outside of the boot efforts. We can definitely do this, I for one am delighted that the lads met up and aired out a few things.. ultimately they will know by talking to each other whether they are willing and able for the fight. So let’s go out and fight like dogs and support our hero’s.. the side shows will be for another day.
I think Gavin was right. The panel on the Sunday game have no respect for players & most of them should be replaced. They do not compare well to their Hurling counterparts.
Thanks for the Derry view Willie Joe!!
McGrath’s comments are interesting, indeed refreshing. He has given his interviewer a lot of intelligent, platitude- free thoughts and is not afraid to name names of those going well. Felt he might mention Mark Lynch who didn’t do much against Tyrone, but who would be a real handful if he hit form
I remember Pete McGrath the Fermanagh manager coming out with similar comments before our first qualifier game with them last year. So its up to us to show Derry that we are still up for the battle.
HopeSE I think that is the big question. Are we up for the battle?
I don’t know. None of us do. The performance in Salthill was ok on the pitch to a degree, and very poor on the sideline. You would have to think if Higgins and Boyle were on the pitch for most of the game that we woudl have won. You just never know though.
2 years of poor performances in general, and arguably declining performances when you look at league and championship this season, make it hard to see us come anywhere close to winning the 6 games needed to win Sam.
Injuries and suspension to Keith are mounting so we are very vulnerable on Saturday. If the determination is not there we will lose because whatever others might say Derry are good enough to implement a defensive game plan to win a one-off game and have some very good players. Our forwards have fallen for that trick too many times.
So we need any type of win and move on from there. One game at a time.
The alternative is unthinkable. Next week could be full of recriminations, the search for a new manager, some retirements, and talk of transition.
Alot on the line
Yeah Ger, you have summed things up very well there.
When you think back to the Fermanagh game last year, we were 6 points down at half-time, after our very poor performance against Galway, things were looking very bleak. We managed to summon up a performance and get over the line.
Against Kerry, Tyrone and Donegal this year in the league, we managed to do the same thing. So it has been moreso heart and spirit that has kept us going rather than methods of play. You get the feeling though that we will have to find a lot more method to our play this year, especially up front, as its very hard to see heart and spirit solely keeping us going this year.
We did see some flashes of brilliance last year, like Diarmuid O’Connor’s performance against Kildare and in general we were more solid at the back. We do need to produce a bit more attacking flair this year. So its all to play for, we are still in the competition at the moment anyway so anything can happen. Best of luck to all involved on Sunday.
Posters are talking about Derry as a potential banana-skin. That thinking is the rock on which Mayo will perish. Derry are not a maybe slipup, they are a give it your absolute best, or it’s curtains on the year.
On paper, you’d think, sure, no problem. But games aren’t played on paper.
Mayo have always struggled against the blanket defence, relying on a fast counter attack from turned over ball to get scores. The potential absence of Keegan will limit this avenue of scoring. Build up in the Galway game was ponderous at times, and downright glacial at others. This will allow Derry to reset, making them ten times harder to break down.
Derry have discipline in the tackle when defending, but there are scores to be got here, if you can get into COCs range and draw the foul. He’ll need his A game to make the most of these chances, in a contest that I honestly can’t see going above 22-25 scores.
The Slaughtneil lads are All-Ireland club finalists, (and but for a stupid red might very well be champions) and form the backbone of this Derry side. They’ll know what to do when the chips are down.
Where Mayo have the clear advantage is in fitness and conditioning. To win, they are going to need to grind Derry down, and press on when the Derry engine stalls at about the 60 minute mark.
Dublin scored 2-6 the last day in injury time, when they were already 20 points up. Can Mayo match that level of ruthlessness? We’ll find out soon enough.
Even though I’m not a Mayo man I would come over and look at the blog once a week to see whats going on.
I have to say I don’t expect Mayo to have any problems beating Derry as long as Mayo operate at a similar standard as they did against Galway, I think Mayo are in a lot better shape then they were this time last year.
I remember vividly meeting someone before the Mitchels v Ballyboden game last year who basically said the game was in the bag for Mitchels…We all know how that ended up..When I read comments about Mayo not having any problems beating Derry it always sends off alarm.bells as it’s exactly the attitude I hope neither players nor supporters have..