224 thoughts on “Dublin 1-16 Mayo 0-7: capital punishment ”

1. Absolutely horrendous stuff from start to finish. Not a single good performance. No ideas, shocking shooting, basic ball handling and passing was atrocious. Everyone involved in that needs to take a long, hard look at themselves. Shocking that supporters travelled and paid for that unmitigated shite.

2. That was horrific. Didn’t think for a second we’d take a beating like that. Higgins, Boyle and Coen the only ones who came out of it with any credit. Even Clarke, who made a brilliant penalty save, had a bad evening with kick outs. Very hard to be optimistic after that. It’s only March, granted, but that was hard to take.

3. Wow. I`m trying to think of something good to say. Em …. the penalty save. That`s about it.

4. Cillian had a nightmare. Keegan totally ineffective. Andy was skinned. Second to every ball. Worst performance by our forwards in a long time. No scores from play in the first half. Naive in the extreme to expect a result with so many newbies and missing so much experienced players. Clarke, Boyler and McLoughlin can hold their heads high but not much else in the way of positives. Doherty was badly missed, perhaps this will put the talk to bed of how he should be dropped. We came into this game on the crest of a wave and got washed up on the sand. Hard to be upbeat after this but we have three winnable games left and hopefully we will get a big response from the players

5. Dunno how anyone expected anything less. End of the day, it won’t matter a jot IF we meet in the summer.

6. I’m amazed how poor Mayo were on and off the field. Worst thing about the result was that Dublin rested 10 possible championship players and Mayo were only missing Aidan O Shea,Seamus O Shea and Jason Doc?

   It was a night to lay down a marker for Mayo tonight instead it was almighty trimming.

7. Thank God for Clarke . Boland did well
   Other than that thank God for the M50 home

8. Juan I expect a lot more from this team. Fans pouring out with 15 minutes to go… said it all. Can’t recall a worse performance in Croker since the Kerry tankings

9. Feel bad for people who travelled up for the match. A shameful performance, no heart, no desire. Unbelievably poor passing & shooting. Men against boys. We need to stop thinking of this as a rivalry, it’s not a rivalry when one team keeps beating you.

10. Did Keegan and Durcan play in the FB line?

    Sorry I only got to listen to the match on radio.

11. Clarke’s kickouts resulted in the goal and a number of points. That’s going to be a major issue going forward.

12. Feel sorry for anybody that travelled a round trip from Castlebar to witness a load of shite like that.

    Thats up there with Tuam, July 1982 and v Cork, August 1993.

    Some had given up trying long before the end. Unacceptable.

13. WTF was that , i thought Rochford’s decision to drop Clarke last September was strange but compared to his tactics of allowing Dublin to play their own game at their own pace by not playing a man to man marking game was “BIZARRE”. especially after using the system so well in earlier games.

14. Clarke’s saves a major plus going forward dreamysleepysnoozy………

15. Don’t know what I can say ,
    It was the worst display ever , – apart from Clarke saving that penalty , plus Mcloughlin and Boyle ,
    We were flat , lifeless , showed no heart ,
    Passing was cat bad, I know it’s march but ffs
    We were shite, as was said above every one involved needs to take a long hard look at that performance!

16. getting rid of the sweeper and the kick pass into inside forward line clearly did not work. We really are a running team I’m afraid and that is where we got most joy this evening.
    Trying to turn us in to a corofin won’t work. Even the odd ball that was won inside there was no support there. Several times in the 1st half we ignored the runners on the shoulder for the long kick inside.

    Also why would we spend a whole year getting K Mac to perfect the sweeper to role (which took a very long time) and then to move him away from there this year.

    Looks like we are re-inventing the wheel again this year. We just needed a bit more forward line tweaking after last year, not a whole new game plan.

17. Great headline WJ !!

18. I thought the bad old days were behind us. Tonight was borderline shameful.

19. I guess we got our reality check. So how did we do. Beaten all ends up imo is a fair summary. For many contributors the perforncae was more important than the results, so what about the performance?

    No point looking at the performance in a negative light either. Its all about what needs to be done to be a competitive championship side.

20. It puts to bed any notion of not using a more defensive/sweeper/counter attack system. We could have conceded 4 goals. McLoughlin is the ideal guy for this because he doesn’t have an eye for scores. He’s the link man, not the finisher.

    Speaking of finishers, Regan has no right foot. We were very average in attack but it’s only early March. Dublin have the strength in depth to be able to gung-ho in the league. No one else can.

    I agree with Juan, summer will be different.

    However, the reality is this some of our older players have lots of mileage and the fringe players were anonymous tonight. Regan has no right foot. Coen didn’t do anything in midfield. I think he’s a defender, that’s it. Keegan, Harry, Disrmuid are only just back…we can hardly expect them to impress this time of the year and so soon back. Unlike others I didn’t think Diarmuid was buzzing last weekend. He’ll be fine in the summer.

    Loftus, Irwin and other fringe players should have had more/some game time.

    Management now need to get our system right. We played like it was a training game…

21. Willie Joe, this was worse than the Rossies performance last week.
    They scored 0-14 from play against us and created 3 or 4 clearcut goal chances.
    They are a young team in a bit of turmoil.

    Mayo are much further down the road in every respect, so what the hell was that about tonight?

    Yes, its only March, but its the month of March in Dublin as well. Our defensive setup and structure has been a shambles Iin this league.

22. Forwards were herendous backs couldn’t have been any looser always 2nd to the ball.Coen had an alright game but there wasn’t much else. Still look to the next game. Hon mayo

23. Didn’t know what to say first but time for a rant now……

    For the entire game players were or seemed to be either behind or standing back of their men. No one at all with a bit of fight. Come one like!!!! Even when things are blatantly going against you and wrong well that is when you expect a guy to put in a serious hit just to lay down some sort or any kind of marker. Even if he has to take a really hard yellow card for it so what.

    Instead we had a team that stayed off their men and let that Dublin team run through as they wanted. That for me was the worst thing. Picking the individual player limitations or mistakes seems pointless cos there were so many.

    Management have a lot to answer with the mentality of that team put out tonight.

24. Pile of shite for sure but Jim thats not reminiscent of Mayo v Cork 1993…….a game that I was at……….Just a one-off shit display tonight that we’ll learn a lit from……….It won’t matter one bit I we rev it up come championship time

25. Good point @centerfield. We did have a Dynamic halfbackline. Going forward many of our best scores came from that line. And we anchor Keegan and Durcan into the full back line.
    The one word that describes the difference between the two teams tonight is DYNAMIC.
    Dublins Dynamism came from their two livewire midfielders in particular. Very flat performance in the midfield from us. Our dynamism comes from our half back line and we stuck them back into corner back positions.

26. At least we’re led to believe that ‘young Mc Hugh’ has a Mayo dad. So there!!

27. Very poor display by a team capable of much better. It’s amazing how the other crowd who have won so much are still flying up and down the field like young bullocks on fresh grass. Amazing stuff for sure.
    Anyways, we lost a game, move along and regroup for the next game and win it. Best not dwell on a bad performance, when it really mattered last autumn, this Mayo team almost toppled the monster the gaa created. I have no doubt they will be around again to gmhave another shot at it this summer/ autumn. Unlike the Meaths and Kildare who have given up fighting the monster in the province, sadly.

28. What’s hardest to do is come up with a reason for such a flop. We thought we had some bit of an awakening in the area of passing and movement at pace but that now seemed like a false dawn. Instead the Dubs showed again how this game is played. Is it their players or the training? I don’t know but I do know they define this game! We all know its about running but not around in circles! We sure witnessed an exhibition of this art tonight.
    Well done David Clarke and Kevin McLoughlin .

29. Jim………Sorry I need to explain myself……..That 1993 Mayo v Cork team completely gave up in the last 5 mins and let in 3 goals……..Tonight our boys just weren’t at the races…….but kept trying and didn’t down tools……….1993 team disgraced themselves……..no disgrace tonight in.my.opinion

30. On theditchditch personally I would be picking 6 backs and Keegan and Durcan named as 2 of the 6 named forwards.
    The 2 lads should compress the space when we’re defending and license to attack when we have the ball. Playing two of the top 5 half backs in the full back line is simply idiotic.

31. I dont really blame the players for that shambolic mess. Mgmt gameplan was utterly clueless. Within 10 minutes it was obvious the kick passing game was not going to work. It was a night for the running game. MAYO ARE A RUNNING TEAM!! Thats when they are at their best.

    No point going into individual performances as when the when the collective is shambolic thats where the problem is ..

    Ive had my doubts about Rochford but in the big games last year he delivered (ish) so he deserves the benefit of ths doubt but he needs to start learning fast.

    Like someone said defensively we were excellent last year so why abandon that. What we needed this year was a more comprehensive attacking plan and to blood loftus etc .. but now we seem to have nothing .. neither an attacking or defensive plan..

32. @mayonaze I agree that we have to play a sweeper system and mcloughlin is prob the best for that role given his experience. But he needs his knuckles wrapped for unnecessary pulling dragging fouls committed in easy scoring positions. This game needs big time analysis by the management. They need to stop tinkering with the team and start playing to our strengths

33. ‘Young McHugh’ certainly has a Mayo Dad……Seamus, from Swinford……..and Seamie is as passionate a Mayo fan as you’ll get……..from a great sporting family…..I grew up with them all

34. Just to dwell on that point centerfield. Keegan and durcan are good defenders and scoring players. I think they are more likely to get the space to pop up into scoring positions by the runs they make from the half balk line. The way the game is played nowadays half forwards dont get that many scoring chance. I dont think we got one score today from our half forward line

35. look we lost DUBLIN 2-18 MAYO 0-10 at home in Castlebar 2 years ago (with a stronger team) and we came back to contend very strongly. Remember theres very few of the Dublin players who are sure of themselves given the depth of their squad so every match is full out for them.

    What worries me more is that Rochford doesnt seem to be learning.
    Surely to god when you play the Dubs the perimeter around the goal should be completely locked down. Just copy what Donegal and Tyrone do against them (who always cause them trouble).

36. Pocamoira. Dont recall coming across you before, I have posted here since 2007. No , it doesn’t confer any rights on me but seeing as I’m the guy who posted “young McHugh has a Mayo dad” can you explain your issue with that? Did you think it funny? Did you think me stupid? What are you trying to say? Looking forward to your reply and it not hidden behind a keyboard makey up name.

37. Hard to know what to think after that, its along time since I witnessed a drubbing of this scale in Croker, could have lost by more.
    How can Mayo can compete when the championship comes around?. Total fear of the opposition was shown by all, Dublin must have had 75% possession and without three or four of their better known players.
    Very frustrating for us supporters, one to forget asap.

38. Disaster of a night. No win against Dublin in 11 games. That’s not a rivalry and there is no reason to believe we will beat their A team come Summer. Tonight is the night the dream died for this great team. We may have a good Summer but there is no objective analysis that would see us beating the Dubs

39. Awful night for the Red & Green but remember March 2015 in Castlebar was avtually worse!! Durcan @ Keegan would be worth a try in half forward line, both possess both defensive @ attacking qualities.

40. I’m by no means a great reader of the game but from my seat in 305 of the Cusack stand I could see Mayo badly need a proven forward coach to devolop and implement an attacking plan we looked clueless in the forwards tonight

41. very disappointing, for all the moaning that goes on about the osheas there were sorely missed tonight. performance was flat just seem so easy for dublin to get scores and open us up time after time. it backs up to the same failing that costs us over and over again, not having free scoring forward or a coherent forward plan for big games. until we start believing we can beat dublin we don’t have any hope

42. Bad night for Mayo football worst since Cork in the early ’90s but im sure the management will have come away knowing that the only way to beat Dublin is the Tyrone and Donegal way like we did last year

43. Not one to forget but one needing deep analysis so that we come away with the semplance of a plan going forward.
    If its not broken why are we fixing it. Patrick Durcan was developing as a quality attacking half back. He offset the loss of black carded keegan last year. So now we stick him into a corner and curb his opportunities to come forward…

44. Maybe we had it too easy last week. We didn’t go for the match with conviction and precision. Dublin were awesome, even had a goal disallowed, and a brilliant double save from Clarke and helped out by Boyler. Mayo’s highlight of the match no doubt, the rest was highlights for Dublin. There you go, so much went wrong on the night, no finger can be pointed at anyone. We all in the back of our mind’s, worried if Cillian and Andy were both to have off day’s, where would we get our score’s from?. Too many of our kickout’s were won by the Dublin midfield, practically all the Dublin kickouts were won by Dublin, Dean Rock was imperious, Mayo were second best all over the field. We have to take it on the chin, we can only learn from this bitter experience. Bring on Cavan, it’s two weeks to the next match, plenty to work in the meantime!

45. This is the first time in a long time I’ve been really disappointed in this team. And it’s been an even longer time since I’ve felt angry with this team. Tonight, it’s both.

    To lie down like that was just embarrassing and shameful. We looked like an U14 team visiting Dublin for the first time. Meanwhile the Dubs’s “second string” outfit looked like they owned the joint. Credit to them, they were excellent. Lowndes and McHugh (Mayo stock!) were outstanding.

    This was the worst possible outcome, and the reaction to this will define our season. I know this will hit the lads hard and that there will be a reaction, but we needed – at the very least – a performance tonight.

    Talk of “it’s only March” rings hollow tonight, but it IS only March. And that’s all we can cling to for now …

46. Rather get the wake up call call in March than in June/July.

    I don’t mind half arsed performances in Feb/March/April but I’ve been saying for weeks now that we need to be testing more fringe players. I don’t like seeing Colm Boyle bursting a gut in Croker in March or Andy buzzing in Tralee in February. What bloody use is that!???

    O’Donoghue, Nally, Coen, boland, Loftus etc… We NEED these guys impressing this time of the year to increase competition. I want management taking risks this time of the year. Trying and testing etc

    It’s early days yet, and while tonight we were useless and opened up like a division 3 team, it’s March, early March at that. We’ve 4 points on the board, with home games v Cavan and D’gal to come. I’m not overly concerned about our Div 1 status. We were flattened by the dubs two years ago in the league and it really counts for little come the summer.

    Yes, tonight was shite, in every capacity. The media and people like D Brady built this up like a ‘must win’ pyschologically for Mayo. I didn’t buy that at all.

    Everyone, take a deep breath. It’s a whole now til Summer. That’s when results and performances matter.

47. Also, it really bugged me tonight that we didn’t just throw on our young lads to feck when our goose was cooked. Irwin, Loftus, O’Donoghue. Give them more game time in Croker. Why on earth not? They couldn’t have fared any worse.

48. If the plan was to lure the Dubs into a false since of security, then we have them where we want them! If the plan was to open them up with our kick passing and half forwards who could find space then we have some work to do. We could also work on a kick out strategy while we are at it, we were second best here also.

49. Mayo want to PEAK in September not March and May, although if they do PEAK in September it will be Andy Moran, Keith Higgins and Alan Dillon’s last chance, due to the mileage on their bodies.

50. This was a bad loss- no doubt, but it is March. We have had bad losses in the league in the last number of years but we have always been involved in the business end of the championship. Yes, as other have said the tactics were wrong tonight but as I was watching it there was a little bit of me saying to myself that Rochford is smarter than the average person. I personally think that he didn’t purposely go out to lose the game but he didn’t go full on to win it either. I don’t mean that as an insult to the man but a complement. Did he go out to see what Dublin had available and what they could present with what they had available. We know a lot more about Dublin tonight than we did a few hours ago. We as a team will be fine and I fully expect both these teams to oppose each other in this year All Ireland Final and tonight’s venture and analysis will go along way to getting us over the line come September

51. What is the forward plan ? What’s mayos style in attack , its totally fooked up, there’s nothing to it . pure useless in attack plan. Rocford needs to liven up and address the issues , you can’t just expect them to sort themselves out that’s what you’re there for. Regan is too predictable mostly , really had high hopes for him but its just not clicking for him , hopefully it changes . Lots of management mistakes , don’t understand some selections and I can’t fathom for the life of me what they are trying to do tactically .

    Dubs were brilliant , they put their foot to our throats and stamped on it till we were near dead . They own us and its hard (not impossible though) to see that changing . sad night for mayo football . league game or not . no doubt the more rational posters will laugh at all the overreaction but that’s the way it is.

52. Men against boys. Mayo didn’t turn up. What can you say…We’ve been here before a few times actually 2 years ago in Castlebar in league against Dublin also for example. But it’s hard to find positives no forward score from play . Gaping hole on FB line. Flat performance no edge or desire to put down psychological marker. It will be interesting to see what management have to say.
    Don’t think you should bother with MOM pole WJ!

53. In my opinion, the youth should shake themselves, make a pact in blood to train like dogs and grow up – there’s some serious top talent there if they work their arses off………….I agree with poster up there, these new players should be the ones to give an all-out effort at this time of year …I shudder to think that later in the league…then Summer, we’ll be reliant on AOS (who rarely delivers) and SOS, who is better, but inconsistent….we need the young talent we have to die for the cause and commit to matching their Dublin counterparts…..the aforementioned ‘young McHugh’ etc. There’s no reason at all as to why the hell they can’t be as good as the 20-23 year old Dubs. Evan should have a look at himself too and commit more…..He’s a seriously talented left footer who is needed more than ever……He has his chance to shine…..let’s see him do it.

54. Jesus, would ye all lighten up a bit. Ok we all know it was awful and a game like that will never happen in championship time. It’s early March and expectations are horrendous from players all the time from Mayo supporters. They will process that game themselves. No need to be rubbing salt into their already wounds tonite.
    They will bounce back as they always do. By the way please dont feel sorry for us who travelled
    The distance to see them. They are our boys and we follow them in good times and bad.
    Quit the harsh negativity. It’s only 1 game.

55. Mayo badly missed the physical presence of Aidan O Shea tonight. Aidan O Shea is the heart and soul of this Mayo team.

56. Forgot to say it was worth the journey to see David Clarke in action again tonite.
    Hope Martin o Neill doesnt take him from us.
    Well done David. Terrific.

57. -Tonight we were beaten out the gate when it came to fitness, speed, tactics, brains and determination. The signs were there against Kerry and the Rossies with all the goal chances we coughed up
    – Sinful that our management team allowed Fenton, MCCauley and Kilkenny to run riot for the whole of the first half. Even slower than Maughan used to be on the line.
    – McLoughlin only player who stood out plus Clarke. Boland to be fair did okay in the first half. Mid fielders need to mark and track their Men, Gibbons and Parsons take note.
    – This was a kick in the face for Mayo supporters who again travelled in huge numbers.
    – One match only defines your year if you let it. This group of players owe it to themselves more than anyone else to rectify this during our final three league games. Do it lads.

58. Clark kickouts were very poor & mayo midfield v poor. If no short option clark needs to be kick the ball long and hard …. not these high loopy short balls. ….

59. Was totally athe faultimate for the Dublin goal ….

60. Olive, I feel like you right now, but Mairéad is absolutely right…………Read her piece again……….sit back and chill………….the lads themselves will sort this. They know they blew it and only they can remedy the situation. Three games to go in Div 1 and they can go all out and win them, I’ve no doubt. Will whet the appetite even more for another shot at the Dubs later in the year !

61. Hate the fact that I predicted this a couple of days ago. Our defence has been wide open in the league. All it needed was a good team to exploit it.

62. All the people who were calling for the o Shea’s and in particular Aidan not to be in a championship starting 15 need to look at tonight and compare how much ball we won with the other meetings with the dubs
    Men against boys tonight
    We need the o Shea’s physicality
    Yes Aidan runs into trouble at times but ya know what ? He must have the ball to run into trouble with it !!!!! We won zero ball tonight in the middle sector
    And we also seen why rochford took the big call to drop Clarke for the AI final. The dubs targeted his kickout tonight and he was all over the place with them
    They did it last year
    They will do it again if we meet in autumn
    It’s a problem

63. As is usual in Mayo, those who didnt play emerged with most credit. Last week some would have us believe we didnt need the O sheas. Well we do. And Cafferky, Harrison and also Freeman. We were dire tonight and our subs made no impact. Dubs were excellent and they have loads of guys to come back if needed. In Horans time we played a running game and got lots of scores from our half backs. Now we kick it long to forwards who cant win it and play two of the best half backs in the country in the full back line. We have a brilliant goalie in Clarke as a shot stopper and he is a dominant figure around the square, but there are issues with his kickouts and those issues did not start tonight. Cillian is not playing anything up to his standard and worse still his free taking has not been at the desired level. We supporters possibly need a reality check. Look at the poll on this site as to who would win. A huge majority went for Mayo. Based on what. We bet Ros last week, Dubs had 32 game unbeaten run. We hadnt beaten them in 10 matches prior to tonight. Its a sobering night for team and supporters. Back to the drawing board for us all. Management need to work on a defensive strategy but also need to allow our strong half backs to drive forward and kick scores when opportunity arises. No forward scored from play tonight.

64. km79
    Clarkes kickouts werent a big issue in the first match last year or in the replay so why would they be an issue this year?

65. Every day is like Sunday, every day is silent and gray

66. Centerfield they were a massive issue in the first game
    Almost cost us right at the end
    There was a lot of discussion about it after and obviously the management thought so
    When he is under pressure to get them off quick he makes mistakes
    Evident again tonight
    The dubs had it sussed last year

67. Just as well the kids weren’t able to come to the match with me tonight, that was cruelty to watch. Dublin so much crisper in their passing & sharper in their execution when it mattered.
    Match sharpness, tactics, kickout strategy – plenty of pointers to what we need to improve. But I am starting to get seriously worried about our decision making at times under pressure. Again today, too many wrong options, trying to force plays that weren’t on, going for goals when points were there for the taking… it got worse and worse as the game went on and is something a team that’s as long on the road as this one should not suffer from.

68. centrefield, they were. Three points were conceded at the end of the drawn match directly from his kickouts. I know we’re all big Clarke fans and he makes spectacular saves, but his kickouts are a problem and will continue to be.

69. Not much to be positive about but it is March not August.
    Lot of it is correctable.Dont care where someones Dad is from if he is playing for Dublin…it was an inocuous comment followed by a disappointed one so both totally understandable.
    Points about Clarke interesting…so very good and yet…video analysis required methinks.
    For me only positive is S.Coen.Nailing his place in my view.
    I have not lost hope but Rochford has work to do.Forget papers blogs etc…get the work done.

70. I hope there is some grand plan that we don’t know about, but this getting worrying. While the greatest strength of the Horan era was attacking half backs, it could also be a weakness in that the surging half backs left things at the back wide open for a counter attack. Last year the porous nature of the back line was addressed and Mayo was better defensively and Tony McEntee was credited for this. It took Kevin McLoughlin a while to get his mo jo, but by the end of the season he was getting the hang of it,
    The signs of the defence going dysfunctional were to be seen against the Rossies, but they hadn’t the fire power to punish us. We just don’t have the forwards to run up a high score, and we need to tighten up at the back..
    We have gone from having surging half backs to sticking them into the full back line. The sweeper which shored up the defence is gone leaving it wide open, on a counter attack in particular. The forwards tonight were shocking, it was not a case of bad shot selection, it was just piss poor shooting. There were at least three shots at goal that should have been taken as points to keep the scoreboard ticking over in the first half. The Dublin defense was far more intense than our forwards in tackling.
    This fixture last year occurred following a drubbing to Cork. Let s hope this is the drubbing for 2017

71. Get Bohan that is a ridiculously defeatist attitude. Sure why even bother carrying on so if the dubs are unbeatable so? I hope the players and management don’t have your attitude.

    They were awful tonight on and off the pitch and no one will know that more than themselves. But no all Ireland has ever been won in March. How many times have this team been told their finished by the public, journalists, pundits etc only to reach another all Ireland final and consistently be in the top 2/3 teams in the country for the last 6 years?

    To reach the promised land, that whole squad are now going to have to go somewhere they’ve never gone before, physically and mentally to be fitter and more fearless than ever before. Now is not the time for lying down, it’s time to stand up and be counted.

72. They simply were not “a massive issue in the first game”. There was no big debate about Clarkes kickouts after the first match. The keeper is only one part of the equation in winning your own kickout.

    As usual our big issue in the first match was our defence getting opened up easily and conceding goals. The 2 goals conceded in the first half killed the chance of winning the first match

73. Clarke definitely has his fan’s on this site,. Many intercounty Goalkeeper’s would have conceded more than one goal on this night. One poor kickout led to Dublins goal, but Dublins awareness, and instant crisp passing, coupled with our lack of a defenceive screen at that particular time made it look easy for Dublin. At worst his long kickouts were 50/50.or a little better than 50/50 but we were totally cleaned in that area too. If we came close to parity in fielding our own long kickouts we would not have been beaten by 12 points. Our primary ball winner’s have to do much better even if Mayo can’t boast a goalkeeper with the precision of Stephen Cluxton, regardless of who Mayo play in goal. But when you weigh it all up, who can command the square like Clarke in Ireland?. Who indeed? Bear in mind, his excellent shot stopping, and two out of two penalty saves with four league matches played. But let’s not kid ourselves, Stephen Cluxton and Rory Beggan is where the bar is at in terms of top class kickouts /restarts, Mayo must work on this, if we do this, improvement will come. Loads of other areas of concern as well. What we as Mayo supporters can do now, is turn out, loyal, loud and boisterous, just like we did V Fermanagh after a very disappointing defeat to Galway last year. let’s show our support V Cavan in two weeks time, the lads will respond, I certain of this!

74. Clarkes kickouts in the drawn game were obviously a problem particularly in the final 10mins, that was the sole reason Hennelly started in the replay (didnt end well but it was a an issue the management thought needed to be addressed).

    Clarke will definitely start every game for the rest of the year and he has generally been outstanding but the kickouts are a serious problem.

    Keegan and Durcan are playing in the fb line for now but seriously does anyone think thats where they will play in the summer. They will be back at hb. Keegan played fb last year in the league but not in the championship.

    Yes Mayo were a running team under Horan and it brought a certain level of success but it didnt land the big one. Everyone was shouting for more improvement in the forwards, Rochford is at least trying things out (failed big time tonight).

    Against Cavan we really need to see Loftus and Irwin start and possibly Gallagher from the bench.

75. Centrefield, they were enough of an issue that Rochford saw fit to make that change. Think back to the end of that match where Clarke hit four or five poor ones in the space of a couple of minutes that helped put Dublin up by 3.

76. Excellent points, mayomad.
    The kicking long didn’t really work tonight in any way, shape or form but I guess Mayo need to be trying more than their running game.
    The lack of pace in their forwards is problematic. For that reason I really don’t see Irwin featuring that much this year, nor Gallagher if I’m being honest. When it comes to it, Cillian is probably going to end up playing in the full forward line as we have enough half forwards and midfielders and he’s the only one likely to get the scores inside.

77. Not sure why David Clarke is being voted MOTM. His kickouts after tonight need serious improving. Way too high in the air. Either get a smaller tee or else practice taking them totally off the ground. But those very high looping ones fed into Dublins hands all night.

78. Let’s look at the psychological balance before the Finals last Sept/Oct…Mayo had run Dub very close the previous season and equally in the final of 2013. No one looked at or ranked league tussles between the sides. Prior to last Sept, Dublin had the upper hand in terms of results and all that goes with that but the reality was that Mayo were the one team they found hardest to overcome. The AIF ’16 and replay solidified that position and in many respects Mayo, despite losing the replay, proved there was nothing between the sides. They cemented this.
    So, coming into this weekends match and in view of Dublin’s two drawn games v Tyrone and D’gal, they had a lot more to prove…they’ll have felt they didn’t get the credit for beating Mayo last autumn whereas Mayo were being told, there’s nothing between you two.

    This all combined to this big win for the dubs tonight. They needed to prove themselves v Mayo whereas Mayo didn’t have anything much to prove. We showed last sept/oct and the previous years semi that there’s nothing between the sides.

    Tonight tells us we must improve even further to be the best. That’s all.

    The main disappointment tonight is management didn’t give the young lads and fringe players the chance and have done enough in the league. Tonight was ideal to start both Loftus and Irwin. We had 4 points already in the league!!!

79. Centrefield, look back at the last 4 points Dublin scored in the drawn game and tell me the source.
    If ever there was a justification for Rochfords decision to start Hennelly in the replay it was very evident tonight.

    As it happens I do prefer Clarke in goals as he is a far better shot stopper and commands the square better than any, but his kickouts are his one and only problem area. Tonight this was badly exposed and due to what looked like and all systems malfunction, he had many kickouts to make.
    Literally anything that could go wrong, went wrong. Poor passes, poor shot selection, you name it.

    All over the field we were sub par, exception for me being Paddy Durcan and Stephen Coen.

    Andy has lost his run of form and should have been pulled ashore earlier. Cillian had an off night, as did his brother and Fergal Boland was well marshalled. I’m starting to have niggling doubts about Evan, and McLoughlin should be returned to the sweeper role, in my view. I did like the idea of Kirby up front to see what he might do but I don’t recall him getting near the ball once.
    Say what you like about Jason Doherty but you can be sure that our forwards will not get shoved around when he’s on the field.
    And also – let there be no further doubt about the effectiveness of having Aidan available either from the bench or to start. He’s simply a horse of a man and you can be damn sure that while he’s on the field it does not look like Dublin have an extra player like they did this evening.

    I’ll put this evening down to a one off. Pretty much everyone was off the pace and this was not a reflection of this teams capabilities, in any way shape or form.

    You can also put your house on it that if the chance comes again later in the year this team will be looking to right the wrongs of this evening in the biggest way possible.

80. Simple simple analysis…………..Fellas were not willing to work tonight, not willing to run in formation and support each other………..simple as that. If all 15 were up for it, it would have been a competitive game……..They weren’t, and so it was dramatically one-sided, for sure. Rochford isn’t solely to blame, the guys on the pitch were lacklustre irrespective of positioning, management strategy or tactics and didn’t bother their arses to sustain a 70 minute performance. I love this team and will support them forever but tonight they have to hold their hands up and admit they blew it. Dublin are being hailed as legends but the truth is that they were let walk all over us and on another day we’d be well capable of giving them their cumuppins………….Don’t forget after 140 tough competitive minutes 6 months ago, they only beat us by a single point in an AIF…………we don’t change into a shit outfit overnight………..Far from it, I believe we have the resources to go all out this year again to win the big one………………But it will take serious ‘togetherness’ on the field and a 75 minute comittment to die for the cause for us to be on the top step come September…………….I believe we can do it !

81. Just to be crystal clear
    I like Clarke and wanted him in ahead of hennelly all last year as he is a much more commanding keeper BUT there is an issue with his lockouts . And the dubs in particular seem to turn the screw on him . If we were to meet again in the latter stages I’d be worried about it . Will be fine against most teams till then
    Just seen another poster mention Jason Doherty
    Another player people wanted jettisoned
    Well who will replace him based on the league so far ?
    He is a proven championship player
    We just do not and will not have the free scoring forwards or some other teams
    We Will have to win it with a physical attritional approach like last year
    Lads like himself and the o Shea’s will be very important

82. Keyboard makey up names should be excluded from posting on this site.

83. Have skipped over the 80+comments posted before me til tomorrow …Alot of head scratching done in pubs around Drumcondra and further a field tonight..Was squirming in my seat very early on and actually heard myself say at one pt that we were lucky to only be 9 pts down..Never imagined it…Was behind Regan when he attempted a shot at one stage only to put it wide and honestly it should have been a dead cert..that summed up our night..wide wide wide of the mark every where..and I won’t start on our defence..Back to the bar..

84. If you can make one heap of all your winnings
    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
    And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
    And never breathe a word about your loss:
    If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
    To serve your turn long after they are gone,
    And so hold on when there is nothing in you
    Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

    Source: http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/if-by-rudyard-kipling

85. https://twitter.com/eirSport/status/838084202046324736

86. I really do struggle with all this ‘It’s only March’ or ‘It’s only the League’ or ‘It will be different come the Summer’ or ‘You don’t peak in March, you peak in September’. Recent history would show that not to be the case….
    The Dubs want / need to win every game / competition and not just using the League to get it right for the summer!! Now correct me if I am wrong but this plan has not worked for Mayo in the last number of years.
    To go full throttle at the league (and maybe even win it) is what Mayo need!! God help us when the Super 8s come into play, with our current form in ‘Round Robin Football’

    A NFL title has got to be more important to the team, than another Connacht title???
    (To win a final at Croker, would give the players the little bit extra to get over the line come September).

    Roll on Cavan 2 points is a must, with the Ulster heavyweights waiting in the wings.

87. Just in the door that was bad no heart no fight no tactics.
    It was a real baptism of fire for the young lads at least they know now were they have to be to compete with the big teams.
    The Team played tonight like a group who never played together before.
    The most thing that annoyed me is you would never see any of the other division 1 one teams to set up as open as us.
    Rochford and co need to knuckle down get what ever help that’s out there and come up with some sort of system to cause a scoring threat that will complement the defensive system from last years allirelands.
    Diarmuid and cillian look very heavy legged hopefully its down to training.

88. Ben Miles, Dublin are able to go full throttle in the league. Name another team who has in the past 6/7 years on a consistent basis? None.

    You cannot compare our strength in depth to theirs. No other county can at the moment.

    The facts are that it is ‘different in the summer’. Look at Mayo’s form in championship over the past few years, compare it with league form and it’s very clear that we are different.

    I’d take winning a provincial championship over a league title. Why? The former guarantees you a Q/F against a non-seeded team. A league win? Praise in April. Grand for a young up and coming team to win a league and maybe gain some confidence from it but this Mayo squad couldn’t give a jacks about winning a league medal and not do I. Mayo in its current state winning a league would be akin to our league success in 2001..a second rate victory.

89. Agree with the posts which say it’s a head scratcher we’re playing Andy Moran, Keith Higgins and lads with serious mileage so often in the league. Even Keegan surely needs a few weeks rest. We need new blood asap in the forward line. Otherwise a Connacht title is all that we should be hoping to win.

90. That was very tough to watch. If we can’t beat them now when they’re missing so many, what hope have we in championship?

    Coen, Boyler, Durcan and McLoughlin all gave adequate 6/10 performances. Everyone else was way off the pace unfortunately.

91. The reality check we need to understand is that this Dublin team is one of the greatest ever to play the game. They are going for five in a row leagues and four out of five AI this year. They are superb footballers , athletes and can think through games and grind out results . We simply are nowhere near as good as this Dublin team and if we played them twenty times we would probably win three times at most. If Mayo have any kind of off day Dublin will exploit it ruthlessly.

    What I think struck me about this Mayo team over the last period of time ( and especially today ) is that they look like they are not having fun .The weight of expectation placed on them by themselves and by us is wearing them down .The fact is they are already getting the best out of themselves. Today they had a bad day but those two performances last September/ October were absolutely heroic even though they ended in failure. There are only so many times you can’ perform this Sisyphean task ( from a sometimes modest team )before burnout becomes an issue.

    They looked a beaten docket all day today and by that I mean they were unable to lift themselves out of whatever funk they are in . They did not enjoy a minute of that match.

    The Boston Red Sox went 84 years without winning a World Series and it was only when they literally started having fun and acting like all they wanted to do was play that they broke the so called curse of the bambino.

    Mayo bear more than a passing similarity to The Red Sox. I think they need to borrow from The Sox and enjoy this ( sorry about this ) “process ” more. Make it more about the enjoyment inherent in the journey and to hell with 65 years of pent up frustration .

    I believe that Modern methods of training are making the game less joyful ( though not joyless as Joe Brolly would have us believe ). Dublin did not seem to enjoy their victory today either and that’s a problem too. It was not for no reason that Rory O Caroll left a winning Dublin team or that nine Roscommon players left the panel or multiple Tyrone players quit on Mickey Harte two years ago or that there were coup d’etats against management in Mayo , Clare and Galway. This is all of a pattern of both seriousness of purpose and joyless ( bloodless ) pursuit of victory . It is turning these fabulous guys into robots and setting them up for long term unhappiness . If this Mayo team especially can enjoy themselves more and get back to the joy of playing running football and practicing skills with abandon then they may be able to reach their ultimate goal . The funny thing is they need to change their focus away from the serious purpose now in order to achieve it.

92. Ros fan here,left castlebar last week with embarrasment,mayo are in top 3 in ireland but have sublime players up to midfield but there is no ciaran mc like befoe, just google him and see why football looks so easy to natural talent,we had it with frankie dolan ,but the dubs have it in numbers,ye will still be there come septemer but there is definetely someone in mayo that has that x factor, sorry not a rant but a very dellusioned ros fan

93. As some old time boxer was reputed to have said after a bad night “I shoulda stood in bed”. And as somebody else, was it a musician?, said “We’ll have days like this”. Last nght, liek a similar outing in Castlebar not so long ago signifies not too much except Dublin’s wealth of talent, the product of intensive investment in coaching with Croke Park’s assistance over several years now. Aided in recent years by burgeoning sponsorship income. Do Mayo have an “official men’s wear partner” or any other “official” partners? [Official programme] Another issue in comparing the two counties is Dublin’s ability to get all players together for training as often as they wish. Have Mayo got their players together midweek this year yet? I do not know but I would think not too often. Travelling from Dublin or elsewhere in the country in mid winter would not make sense. I referred to Dublin’s wealth of talent. It does not compare with Mayo’s. But they can only put fifteen on the field at any one time and only twenty one during anay one game. So that is what we have to match – Dublin’s best twenty one when it matters, next August or September. Can we do it? I believe we can but we must start casting the net a bit wider. It’s time to give the likes of Conor Loftus and Liam Irwin their opportunity. We also need to look at Dublin’s strenghts and weaknesses, see what we can do to negate the strengths and exploit the weaknesses. Like giving Cluxton the freedom of the park in choosing where to place his kickouts. And standing off Dublin players like they smelled of Poolbeg Sewage station.

94. Played 11 Won 0 Drawn 3 Lost 8

    That’s our record against Jim Gavin. If we’re that close to them in terms of ability why haven’t we beaten them yet?

95. Jesus . Bad result but believe that the players will be totally disappointed and will work their arses off to put thIngs right. Feck it we are not the rossies and let’s get behind the lads and let’s not get the knives out for Rochford. We owe them alot

96. Swahill – Great point. Certainly the pressure on our lads is incessant but they can rise to it as Championship 2016 has shown. Last night……for whatever reason……..they were clueless and disjointed. They above all will know that. Funny old game…..If they power on and win all three remaining games all will be forgiven, the tails will be up for Championship 2017 and we can look forward to another shot at the Dubs hopefully.

97. David Clarke coming under a lot of criticism here, I think it is very harsh

    He pulled off a number of world class saves and was our best player yet again as the vote suggests on here.

    Dublin press his kick outs ok and we have problems, do Mayo manament not need to devise a tactical plan for this ?

    Our guys were way off the pace for croke park , with some carrying a bit , I won’t name guys in accordance with your rules willie joe.
    The performance is a bit worrying, but let’s not forget it’s only march

    What is the story with Neil Douglas ? Andy unfortunately maybe only a 20 min man now in croke park.

98. Firstly, league results have no baring on championship. We all know this. Come August /September the was Dublin acted in the last 20 minutes better be used as ammunition against them. For the first time in an age I couldn’t travel so had to contend watching on tv. Was woeful viewing, so many things wrong it’d take a full A4 fulscap to list them all. Have to admit when the teams lined out last night and we had 2 changes and they had none, like James horan on eir I said definitely a Mayo win! I’m a David Clarke fan all day long, and believe he is without doubt our no 1 and the country’s top goalkeeper. That being said, his kickouts killed us. I read in the posts above, that we are a running team, a running team or any team for the matter wouldn’t drop as many balls in passing transition than we do and did last night! It’s so frustrating, indicative of a team who didn’t get off the bus. That to me is worrying, your biggest rivals and your a no show. I’ll ask you willie Joe, and all other posters, if Mayo started a team like Dublin did last night (5 championship starters, 1 potentially and the rest young lads) how would we have fared against the dubs had they lined out an experienced team like we did?

99. MartyK we have no business meeting the Dubs this year again. There is only so much this team can take I think we will beat Cavan at home and be safe in Div one then Rochford should use the 2 remaining games to devolop an attacking plan capable of beating Galway. That’s the game that will really define our season and they will relish playing us in Salthill plus they have better forwards than us

100. I was at the game and I could see it as plain as day guys were not interested in making runs for our kick outs

101. Comments after a defeat outnumber comments after a victory by 2:1. What does that say about us? Bad day at the office for sure and I lost my bingo money to make it worse. When you see optimists like Ger getting despondent maybe it’s time to worry, when a man has to eat a lemon in the morning to ease his bitterness…..

102. Agree with you there Backdoor Sam. People on here should stop building players up to be things they are not.

103. Its remarkable to see the amount of people on here still talking about next September, how to beat the Dubs, its only March etc and shite like that.

     Unless our management devise a defensive structure that prevents opposing teams cutting us open right down the middle, this could be a much shorter Summer for us than some of you realise.
     This Mayo team cannot repeatedly continue to reach All Ireland Finals. One day, it all stops.
     Tonight, I thought some of our players looked old and worn out.

     Right now, its about surviving in Division 1.
     After that, we shouldn`t be looking any further than trying to regain our Connacht Title, something that won`t be easy.

104. Beaten all over the pitch. I have serious concerns about the management team. Decision making is poor for big games and delayed in substitution. No more tactics get back to basics defence midfield and forwards.

105. Clarke alone is not responsible for the kickout strategy. Its an area of massive concern still. Mayo were outworked by dublin in every department. Dublin won every break. We set up to take them on man to man. Was rochford hoping not to show his hand? Possibly, but unfortunately we just didnt show up. Response needed from every single member of the panel and management.

106. We’re not as far behind Dublin as last night suggests but we are behind them and it’ll take something special to beat them later this year.
     Clark is far and away the best goalie in Mayo, yes he needs to work on kickouts but the goalkeeping debate was settled for good in replay last year. Kerry bitzed Cluxton’s kickouts in the semi last year and teams can target Cluxton’s kickouts and rattle Dublin but there’s no goalkeeping debate in Dublin, Cluxton and Clark are supreme shotstoppers and can be trusted around their squares. Why we can’t win his kickouts are not entierely his fault.
     There’s lots of players on this panel with weak points and skills that still need to be worked on as Kieran Shannon pointed out in a piece last October. We have players who are very dependent on 1 foot, have they worked enough on developing their weaker feet? Have we a second reliable freetaker if Cillian’s form drops?
     Cillian and Andy are the only score getters I’ld have trust to deliver in a crunch game in Aug/Sept (in fact all year around, FBD league, national league or Connaught Championship) so we’re still deficient in the skill
     of taking scores.
     Last night was a gut check, we’re not going to win the big one just by pulling like dogs and running ourselves into the ground like we’ve done for the last 5 – 6 years. Rochford and Co need to find the fundamental pieces that are still missing or our limitations will mean we end up short like we have done in recent years.

107. A sizeable Mayo support in Croke Park last night. The team and co and abologize to the fans for such s disgraceful performance. I don’t mind being beat by the better team which lets face it dublin are far superior to us all over the field but we were second to every ball. Shameful stuff

108. @Swahili
     The best post in long time. I think sometimes we need to detach ourselves from the passion and acknowledge just how good this Dublin team is. Their attitude, athleticism and hunger is beyond anything the game has seen. That a county with 1/10th their population and 1/25th of their financial resources has managed to run them to a point in a replayed All Ireland is massive credit to our lads.
     I firmly believe we can and would beat any other team team in the country and to think that we are the team that most people believe are closest to beating Dublin should be sobering.

109. Just reviewed the comments after a night’s kip away from the laptop. Unlike our performance on the field, the display shown by those commenting in the aftermath of the game has been great. Plenty of criticism, which is fine, but all of it fair and measured, which is great. Well done all.

110. That was a shocking performance – literally. It was so shocking/surprising/disappointing to see a Mayo team get hammered – we were out fought and out played from start to finish.
     Only the league I know, but our standards haven’t dropped so low since Johnno era in my opinion. Very disheartening and worrying.

111. The smoke has cleared a bit from the bloody field and I’m left playing around with the idea of D Clarke considering whether he should chase out the field and catch his own bloody balls like Cu Chulainn used to do and then further…. sure he might as well finish it off and put it in the back of their net! No matter what kind of a kick is coming your way surely you’ll break even at least and if you feel you’re up against it you’ll break it down to someone else…pref to one of your own! Somethings about the game don’t change that much.
     Our midfield would have been just as effective last night if they had spent the evening sitting in the stand.An attempt to right things was made at the interval but the replacement for J Gibbons might as well have been sitting beside him. It was the most inept bit of midfield play that I think I’ve ever seen.
     But of course that’s only part of the story. Getting possession of the ball is one thing but doing something with it is the other. For long enough now it is known to all that this is a running game. You run the feckin thing and u don’t let go of it till it’s over the bar. How far were we from this task last night? I even felt fellas were kicking to get rid of the responsibility…! This kick thing is imo not ever going to compete with close ball possession..It can’t happen because it’s too loose,too prone to break down…giving opp too much of a chance to get in the game. That’s what Dublins superior handling passing running did to us last night. They have adopted this style from Tyrone and Donegal and have brought it to a near perfection. And it was said by many back then that the only way to beat this style is to do it better. The Dubs are doing it the best and it’s up to the other few hopefuls to beat this best!
     There was one bit of inter passing last night in the second half that was abs mesmerising leading to a score and I rem thinking that if that is not an eye opener then no eye will see!
     I enjoyed two things about last night…. D Clarkes display and the thought of this Mayo team passing/ running/ scoring with such ease as did the Dubs!

112. I must also add Dublin are a fantastic team. You have to hand it too them. The hunger and attitude is right on cue. They have the talent and the right mentality. Jim Gavin is some operator.

113. The less said about that performance last night the better….

114. Agree with a poster above , maybe signs that this team is coming to the end .. but we must keep the faith !!

115. Mayo have put incredible effort in over the past few years and I am very proud to say they are my team when it comes to Gealic football.

     However, I think this is the average level of play for both teams. While Mayo love football and continue to do their best, I don’t feel this is our problem.

     There is great rivalry in the GAA and it’s difficult to find words to describe this problem without causing offence or appearing aggrieved and therefore irrelevant. Maybe that’s why the GAA are continuing down the same path.

     The super 8. The extra games and condensed schedule is going to suit a county which has invested in the development of too many players for an average season, while also boosting revenue further. To be honest, I also thought there was something not right about how it was pushed through.

     From a wider perspective. In business or economics, when there is great interest or effort by one person, there is the opportunity for an other to take advantage.

     The most important thing for Mayo is that we, as a county continue to stick together and don’t let any outside influence create doubt in our minds. If we can do this, the possibilities are still there.

116. I wonder if the Dubs will even give us the body back after the ‘Capital Punishment’ ?
     Some very good posts above and I really enjoyed the posts of ‘Swahili’ and ‘Backdoor Sam’.
     I think it is very premature for some of us to be talking of August/September when our concerns are much more immediate. The two matches that jump out at me at this point are our next match against Cavan and our June 11th encounter in Salthill. We need to get the 2 points against Cavan as otherwise we could have a very uncomfortable match at home against Donegal in our final league game.
     We also need to focus on the big danger to us regaining our Connact title as otherwise we’ll be on the Backdoor Trail again and I can’t see that going well for us.
     The top contenders are ahead of us in the skills and execution areas and the only way we can compete is by bringing a huge workrate which we are only capable of bringing on a small number of occasions per year.
     This has been the story of the past few years.
     When we fall down on our ‘workrate’ and ‘tracking duties’ particularly around the midfield area we get days like yesterday.

117. Not overworried about the result.Is it absolutely necessary for the goalie to take the kickouts? Can he not mark a forward & let a back take them?Perhaps it is time to try a new keeper? Pressure is now off Mayo–a lot of people saying that we are finished–music to my ears at this time of year.We showed last year that we can fix our backs,but why do we persist with CoC roaming the field

118. While we were very second best all over the field;no one has touched on David Coldricks team & their performance. Like last years replay & Parsons getting blooded-Did Regan last night cut himself???. So many Mayo attackers were cynically fouled in the second half – no free!,no card!…Dublin come out with the ball & invariably score!
     Right beside us in the lower Cusack,a Dub picked the ball clean off the ground along the sideline-linesman right beside it & Dublin keep possession – Donie was the nearest & u could tell he was as angered as the rest of us…that has to frustrate lads as if things weren’t bad enough!

119. My next gripe; this Clarke & “I love his saves but his kick outs hang too long” – well – suggest a better option then! The “other” options kick outs were & WOULD AGAIN be well & truely sussed by Dublin & can never be trusted not to have a meltdown V Dublin again. Do we not all revel in Cluxton having a mini 5 minute meltdown V Kerry or Donegal or ourselves to a lesser extent?
     As long as Clarke presents himself for selection then he will shot stop, organise & command his area better than anyone.

120. Some say the league doesn’t matter , some say we don’t have the strength and depth to play like dublin do in the league. Let’s say I agree with that narrative , then why start Andy , why not give loftus a full game ?

     What’s the story with ger caff? Barrett? Two o sheas ?

     This team should have one last assault at landing Sam , the team needs very little addition in personal or tactic since horan left , we need to revert back to our running game .

     win or lose this year , next year should be about building a new team and I’m not so sure rochford is the man to do lead it.

121. Final gripe! – “Mayo now haven’t beaten Dublin in 11 attempts” … “this isn’t a rivalry”.
     While the record books are all that matter,I’ve said it numerous times in them 11 games – a lot of the 8 defeats need a huge asterisk after them!, We have been robbed & rode so often that we’d have a better than 50% record in that spell I’ve no doubt. Each of the 3 draws needless to say we ought to have won too…whether it’s Maurice deegans conscience getting him months later or McQuillan / Coldrick (& Gough too?) turning a blind eye to filth – I feel a bit like Balotelli “Why always me (us)”

122. This fascination with not having a 100% perfect goal keeper is like a broke record at this stage, Clarke top class but like every other lad who every played gaelic football he has a flaw or two – the main one being that when he looks and looks for a short kick-out and one just does not surface he has to step back and go long. He needed to do that last night perhaps on a few more occasions that he did. However out the middle of the park was dreadful – midfielders can have off days, we did field a couple of nice high catches but it was the breaking ball situation which was shocking to watch. And it was little wonder when one looks at it coldly – kicking directly out the middle is definitely not on so the main route is always left or right where wing backs play a vital role – our best two wing backs for those breaking balls being Boyle and Durcan were not occupying those positions on the field and that is what needs addressing first and foremost. If you need to look to any goal keeper performance against Dublin look back to Niall Morgan for Tyrone – he pretty much cannot do short kick out as he addresses the ball in a similar fashion to R Hennelly. And so he goes long almost every time yet Tyrone were able to win more than their face share of their long kicks simple down to good tactical awareness, planning, aggression, working like dogs on the ground for the breaking ball. So much more wrong last night but this constant goal keeper issue is pathetic. As for the triple penalty save fair play to you David Clarke, if commentators were there last night they would know that as bad as the night was it would have been completely humiliating to have had to pick the ball out of the net under the gaze and jubilation of hill 16, jez I was proud of the lad.

123. What we witnessed last night was simple the result of s tactical mismatch against the best team in the country. Get this wrong and they will destroy you especially if you don’t adjust the game plan and persist with plan A. Many posts here are critical of our forwards but remember Dublin had 15 men inside their own 45 on a number of occasions tonight. There intention was to never let us get a foothold on the game. Our attacks were completely suffocated by Dublin players defending in numbers. Mayo on the other hand never defended like this and we paid a heavy price for it. Clark is outstanding and there’s no point blaming him for poor kick outs when no one out the field is giving him an option. Cluxton on the other hand always had a loose man to kick to. We’re not as bad as the score suggests. Cavan could get a severe backlash.

124. The warning signs were there from the earlier games. When your goalkeeper keeps been named man of the match then there is something seriously wrong with your defending. Having said that we were here before two years ago when they came to Castlebar and did the exact same as last night. What has made this year so disappointing so far is that last year it seemed we had finally developed a defensive system that worked yet now all that good work has been thrown away. We have to revert to using a sweeper.
     Its easy blame Clarke for the kick outs but the players outfield have to take responsibility as well To often they just stood back and did not compete. No other keeper in the country could have pulled of that triple safe from the penalty. The O’Shea’s and the physicality they bring were badly missed. Having said that Dublin were magnificent last night. They had players out to impress and take advantage of the opportunity they were getting. The gap between Dublin and the rest is only going to widen in the years ahead.
     For Mayo a reaction is now badly not just in the next game but in all three. And as for thinking ahead to September our only focus now as far as the championship goes is Galway in Salthill.

125. We are to Dublin now what Roscommon are to us…can’t beat them and won’t beat them.

126. True Sean,no one seems to know the status of Cafferkey / Barrett / Seamie or Aidan / is Dillon gone?. Several fans have lauded Aidan’s size & presence being missed…well he’s being shackled by Philly & co as often as Lee has shackled SquareJaw so forget about him V Dublin too. I said it tongue in cheek at FT towards the hill that “wait till we have Doherty back” – he’s a hard trier but does he ever score more than twice in a game for Mayo???. Adam Gallagher gave a virtuoso display in Omagh years ago & I heard he & Conor Loftus were the fittest in a recent Mayo fitness test…he’s a free taker & he’s been around the block;he’s more ready than most I’d say to stake a claim.
     Our forwards didn’t score from play so nobody is too big to be dropped;some said Andy DIDNT win a ball-he did but he was up against better than average backs,it’ll take a fair player or County to overcome these Jackeens Im afraid!

127. @swahili Great post!
     Last night was about the championship. Dublin rightly saw Mayo as the biggest threat to their three in a row ambitions. They went out to bury us and and bury any hope or ambitions we might have about beating them in an All Ireland. They saw it as a strategic opportunity to get rid of one of their big rivals for once and for all by killing our belief and our confidence. What keeps lads coming back again and again and putting in huge commitment and effort other than the hope and belief that they will win an all Ireland? Did that hope and belief die last night? Possibly. At the very least it was critically injured. Certainly it was Jim Gavins ambition to kill us and our dreams. And when the cheers/ jeers from the hill ‘Cheerio, cheerio, cheerio’ rang out I felt we had reached a critical point in our journey as a team. Can Higgins, Boyle, Vaughan et al turn up for training this week with the energy and zest you need to be the best? Not so sure anymore.

128. It’s only March but constantly being beaten by Dublin can’t be good confidence wise. Aside from our dismal performance, when is a Mayo player going to lay Dean Rock out?? Bullied Higgins in the replay and was being a hard man again last night. This fella has been a coward all his career but obviously doesn’t fear a backlash from our boys.Best in Ireland but I find Dublin very boring. Safety first always. Short kickouts, handpasses, recycling, extra defenders. They play a very conservative, low risk game. Watch Kilkenny, more possession than anyone but rarely kicks the ball, safety first always

129. To Sean and others who say we should revert to our running game I say that our running game was of an old variety bred out of a then odd v brave venture forth from the back to take an unsuspecting defence for a score or two. What is now needed and more than chic is what we saw last night. It is the complete game from start to finish and if u want to play u need to do a lot of homework to hone the tools.
     Donegal were reported to be gone and Tyrone are on the up while we may indeed be on the way out! It may be that we haven’t the phy or talent to really compete in the modern game and that may explain our dilemma but I’m not convinced fully of that.
     It will be v interesting to see how both T&Dong get on this year and then there’s ourselves! That’s a lot to whet the appetites.

130. Mistified like so many others leaving Croker last night.
     2 of the best attacking half backs in the country playing in the full back line?
     Boyler one of the country’s most tenacious man markers now being asked to mark space?
     McLoughlin dropped from sweeper role that he was growing into perfectly?
     Refusing to go man to man on Dublins kickouts which would give us a 50/50 or even a 40/60 chance of winning possesion?
     Oppertunity missed in not getting good game experience for fringe players ?
     Some posters here point to defeats in the past and how we have bounced back from them to be there at the business end of the championship. You cant rely on past achievements nor should we be content with a defeat of this nature.
     2 points against Cavan is a must and then let the fringe players show what they can do.
     Lots of work and hopefully changes ahead.

131. Fair point diehard on concern whether the lads will have the energy and zest required but in reality we have no choice and I still believe these the finest bunch in my time will not give up whilst they wear the county jersey . we need a reaction now and there’s ample time for one. As supporters we should give them our full support , a massive McHale park roar for the Cavan game , as a supporter its when the chips are down and you just don’t feel like it is when you’re needed most.

     When the disappointment dies now from last night we need to look to the positives . we have four points bagged with three games to go , we have lots of time to rectify mistakes and make necessary improvements , we have massive players to return , we will be wrote off by many now +good.

     This dream will not die , don’t throw in the towel just yet , we’re made of stronger stuff than that.

132. Oh dear lots of commentary here on what was very disappointing night in Dublin. It was bad, real bad. Where was the intensity? Where was the pride? How could the entire team go so flat? Should it not have meant more to us to have the good performance than the Dubs.
     Its an attitude, it’s a bad attitude. Are we being selective in the matches we want to perform in or is there something more going on.
     Where is Doh gone all of a sudden? Wasnt even on the bench? Saw him in jury’s before the match, gear and all. Strange.
     Let there be no mistake David Clarke is our best keeper at the moment. His primary role as a keeper is to prevent goals. He’s doing that in style. His kick out’s are varied, ok not all perfect but neither were cluxtons. The ball receiver has a responsibility too. To win the best ball. We were very poor at that last night. And we allowed them all their short kickouts.
     Some of our shot selection was desperate. Wild kicks to nothing. Tells it own story. V disappointing.
     A costly night for the supporters to witness that. But we keep going. It’s what we do.

133. Mayo repeatedly get highlighted for our over reliance on Cillian from the dead ball. Well Rock popped over eight last night. For sure when Rock flounders Dublin don’t go as good and last years drawn all Ireland is proof of that. Mayo -this team – kept the greatest team ever scoreless for the first half all but for a free from Rock? We’ve been here before over the years with shite games in February and March and still remain in Div.1 and contend in August and September. Yes, a shite display in Croker park is a dose but I still maintain that as good as they are they’re there for the taking and Mayo the best suited to do it. Cluxton and Rock gone or badly outta sorts and Dublin are there to be mauled… We’ve seen it already.

134. Terrible performance and a big setback I think. True reflection on where we are at both on and off the pitch. Only March alright but Dublin are not saying that. Winning is a habit and we just don’t have it when it comes to big games.

135. Folks……….After a downbeat night in HQ, a happy thought has just occurred to me. Remember Mayo V Donegal, the 2 goal shock etc.etc ……then in the next championship encounter we ran the same team……the All-Ireland champs….off the field in Croker with one of the sweetest, most majestic running-game Mayo performances I’ve ever seen. My point is – this is Mayo……..We either blind you with brilliance or the complete opposite. Let’s look forward to the next few games and the Summer ahead and as Mairéad said last night, give our lads the continuous feverish support they deserve, and if that’s enough to secure us more big big days at the top end, I’ll be a happy camper !

136. A couple of things from just scanning da comments & my own observations from last night.
     1. Clarke no 1. He’s is our best keeper but his kickouts aren’t good enough. Which aren’t completely his fault but still has a big responsibility for them. A plan needs to be but in place to find lads n space out da field and a lot of work on us winning da dirty ball round da middle. Clarke not playing is not an option 4 me.
     2. Blaming da ref. Of course he made bad calls but to suggest that he had any influence on that game is sticking ur head in da sand.
     3. Midfield woes. We were just terrible in this sector last night. Fenton & MDM done wat they wanted when they wanted and dictated the game from start to finish with out a glove been laid on them.
     4. Difference in defences. Any time a ball was played in to a Dublin attacker he had 2 yards space from a mayo defender.
     Down da other end dey were touch tight or n some cases ahead of our attackers.

     Winning a league would be massive 4 Mayo. Any team that’s won one in da last 10 or more years has won Sam not long after. We can still achieve this but will want to win our last 3 games. And right a few wrongs from last night n da final I suspect.
     Very disappointed in how Loftus only got 8 min last night and Irwin none at all. We know wat COS is about at this stage the game was gone at that stage leave boland on as he done ok ( which was better than most) and c wat they could do. In all honesty they couldn’t have done any worse.

     Finally I was so angry leaving Dublin last night by da performance first time in 6/7 years I felt that way. I can handle losing but that was unacceptable. I hope da players responded well from this. They always do not fairness.
     Better days ahead

137. The focus needs to me on the 6 points and Salthill in June. Galway got a boost with Meehan rejoining the panel and they’re doing well in Div 2 though not sure if Armstrong isn’t a distraction, talented but hasn’t delivered for them often enough.
     Cavan our best chance, Donegal look fairly good and Tyrone we always struggle against in the league. I suspect we’re in heavy training, we can put in some serious sessions safe in the knowledge of 2 weeks and Cavan have to play an extra game which might weaken them.

138. I suspect Ros not as bad as last week because of heavy training and we’re not as bad as last night for the same reason. One thing that annoys me is people saying Andy is a 20 minute man, that’s plain ridiculous. When a team malfunctions the inside men are the ones who suffer most and always first to get hauled off. Dublin despite good record not happy with what Andy has done to them over time and are constantly looking to improve.
     Our best ball poacher from midfield breaks is Kevin Mc so whatever about sweeper role I feel he needs to be in that area for kickouts. Keegan and Durcan need to be in half backs for the same reason. Really hope Caff gets back championship fit for June. Also needs game time for his club. SOS same, missed fair bit of game time now so hope he’s closing in on playing. Barrett returning would also be a boost but that lad has been unlucky with injury. Harry will improve more and he’s young with less mileage but play him full back if we have to. His trajectory definitely up.

139. Have awoken today and found out that I wasnt dreaming, but that I was at last nights match and it was a reality. In any system of football the midfielders, half backs / half forwards must win the ball or the breaking ball, Mayo lost hugely in this area. The forwards tried to run at the Dublin defenders yesterday and when they were man for man, the Mayo forwards stopped and turned inside, then the Dubs had one or two additional defenders to swallow up the options. Dublin are so predictable at the moment, ie, their short kick outs, if, they go long it is always to the wing right or left of midfield, marking space is never going to beat a team like the Dubs. I think a packed midfield area / half back line with three LIGHTNING fast forwards would be the key, Tyrone are adopting this style and will probably play Dublin in the All Ireland semi final later this year. Cant afford to let the Dubs hold the ball or settle on the ball for too long, this requires a huge fitness effort. Having played a good bit of Football as a wing back / corner back personally, I know what it is like when the opposition midfelders / half backs are coming at you unopposed, it is an impossible tack to defend against. I agree with one of the earlier contributors in this blog, the Dubs style is boring, ie, passing the ball back and forth in the centre of the pitch, but they seem to have all the freedom of the world to do this. Their freetaker is having too much of an influence in Mayo v Dublin matches, this need to be addressed. The ref let Dublin away with alot last night. The list is as follows
     1, Rock holding his marker by the throat on the ground.
     2, O Gara with a two hand slam into a defender as he was coming out ( no free given ).
     3, Dublin defender holding / tugging a Mayo players jersey as he was racing away.
     4, Cluxton with a dangerous flying kick at the ball
     5, A Dublin player deliberately colliding into a Mayo forward as himself and Cluxton were racing after a ball heading out to the wing on the Cusack stand side.
     Time to come up with a few new ideas for the next time we meet.

140. Clarke – again the one outstanding performance for us – can’t be allowed to take all the blame for loss of possession from kick-outs. Total lack of tactical awareness from outfield players regarding the timing of their runs, decoy runs,making space and giving David an option of where to place the ball.In contrast watch Cluxton’s kick-outs and how the Dublin players make the space available for him to kick into. The Mayo lads just don’t appear to be streetwise here and really need to knuckle down and practice options with the goalie in training. Seems to be plain daft to be sacrificing our two speed merchants and scoring threats Keegan and Durcan by keeping them in the full back line. Keith Higgins is clearly not a full back. Andy doesn’t have the pace – at best is a twenty minute impact sub when backs are beginning to tire. Aidan at centre back may be an option – need a physical presence at the back and not allow ourselves to be bullied so easily, hopefully Ger Caff will return shortly. Seamie to add a bit of steel to midfield. Cillian and Diarmuid can’t be as poor again. Fergie Boland is definitely worth persevering with – maybe closer to goal as he can take his point. Hopefully last night is the low point of the season for us – – a huge reality check for this particular group of players and management – -it is worrying – – but the 2017 season is far from over, onwards and upwards.

141. horrific stuff…hard to listen to and always a feling that our goose was cooked. I think this shows who the real champions are and we either wake up and more than rattle their cage or accept that we are second best and just make shapes. Such a disappointment for our supporters. Yes, I am sure the lads are hurting too but feck it have we no one who can put the fear of God into another team on a regular basis and torment them as has been done to us by so many top teams too often…

     It’s time for Mayo to either put up or move on…

142. From reading the various posts since the final whistle, just a few things I noticed,

     People keep mentioning Galway in Salthill, is our next championship game not against Sligo/New York at the end of may!

     The OSheas physicality are sorely missing and are a vital part of the Mayo setup. In saying that it has become fairly obvious the AOS in the forwards is not working and will never work. He is too much of a focal point and makes us very predictable. Dublin have countered him in the past and will do in the future. AOS needs to be in Midfield or in a defensive mf position.

     Jason Doherty comes in for some criticism at the start of each season but the fact is that he to is a very important part of the squad. Horan always said he was the first name on the team sheet. He does what Kilkenny and flynn does for dub. May not be eye catching but is hugely important especially when defending from the front and slowing opposition.

     Lets not start up the whole keeper debate, Clake is the no one keeper and will start the championship. However people must acknowledge there is a huge issue regarding kickouts. That high looping style just invites attacking runners onto it. Clarke is an excellent keeper but over the past few years as possession has become more and more important, kickouts have become vital. Clarke isnt going to change his style at this stage so the only real option I see is for him to go long on every kickout and for Mayo to flood midfield and try to gain parity, AOS to mf would aid this. On a side note Hennelly got highly criticized for one kickout v galway last year, Clake last night made a very similar error which has hardly been mentioned, double standards possibly?

     Finally while I am happy Boland has progressed and loftus finally is fit, over the league so far I am hugely disappointed not to have seen Irwin, Reape, Douglas and now Gallagher get any meaningful time on the pitch. Mayo need these guys as the forward unit we currently have are simply not good enough to beat Dublin as no wins in 11games proves. They may not be the answer but we cant find out when they are sitting on the bench or at home.

143. It was easy for Cluxton to find his men with his kick outs as we did not mark tightly,

     Carke was under pressure as Dublin marked us hard on our kick outs

     The long ball from Clarke was won by Dublin as they were much stronger in mid field

     when we were attacking we kept trying to try and go through the middle ,

     not enough of fast support play when attacking

     Back too loose

     No one in the number 3 position in any of the league games to date

144. I’ve been paying particular attention to our attack this year…going forward we are too slow and ponderous…we are unable to unlock a mass decense. I couldn’t 8 times last night where only Dean Rock was forward…every Dublin man behind the ball and then broke at ferikus pace…a Dublin player has options to his left and right going forward…meanwhile we are pumping ball into 33 year old Andy Moran and hoping fir a miracle. It’s ridiculous

145. Huge difference in the way the dubs set things up at the back. All over every mayo forward, on the limit of whats allowable. In your face defending, aggressive, strong, nasty almost. They are the benchmark an having travelled from clare to watch it, i find it hard to see them not retaining sam on the back of last night. Not to mention who they were without, competition for a starting jersey in the capital must be unreal. An it could have been worse had o’gara shown any bit of composure in front of goal. On clarkes kickouts, they are too long in the air, allows players to attack them. Even the short ones to the sideline on the 21 are in the sky for an eternity! The saves from penalty were top notch though.

146. MayoRoosterman, blaming the ref for many of our 8 defeats is a tired excuse & that’s all it is…an excuse. We can’t keep falling back on that, when we had them there for the taking last September & the August the year before we couldn’t push on . That wasn’t the refs fault, that was our own. I’m sick of us always blaming referees, Tyrone had those hard luck stories before they made the break through, blaming referees is a waste of time.

     They are better than us, the record books don’t lie

147. Great result. Management may now realise that our forwards are not up to it.
     How come Dublin can bring in new players and we persist with the same o.
     Time for a big clean out. I repeat we are picking the wrong type of players. Players must be able to win 50/50 ball and have pace-the Brian Cody theory. How many Mayo players fit into that. We have over achieved with what we have.
     Very good analysis from Bernard Flynn and Padraig Joyce. CIllian playing too far from goals and midfield too slow.

148. We were flat flat flat last night we are at our best when we play with intensity and a full court press we got neither last night for one reason or another maybe we cant play flat out every week maybe we are in heavy training at the moment players looked shagged after 20 mins last night .
     Dublin have 2 panel of players their 2nd panel won the OByrne cup they have massive completion for places hense the 2 panels are busting a gut, we are trying to introduce maybe 4 or 5 players into squad….We now need to forget about Dublin we may not get to play them again this year (Tyrone could beat them in semi) we need to play our young guns against Cavan not for 7 mins like last night for Loftus Kirby only came on with 5 mins left Irwin didn’t come on at all…Maybe management might be protecting them until they have good 8 to 10 week high intense training done …..Cavan wont be easy they are fighting relegation but we should trust the likes of Odonaghue Coen Loftus Irwin Boland Kirby Osheas to start game for a change….

149. Dublin had a game plan, Mayo were clueless. Dublin started the game with up to ten regulars missing, Mayo were short five at most. Dublin players played in their best positions, Mayo had two great half backs in the corner, a corner back at fullback. Dublin ran through Mayo’s defence like a knife through butter, Mayo turned back as soon as they were tackled and gave Dublin a chance to regroup. Thing’s not looking good for Mayo, it’s scary when your keeper has become your most important player.

150. I think we need to pick a team along the following lines if we play the Dub in the championship.

     Clarke

     Harrison
     Cafferkey
     Higgins

     Coen

     Boyle
     Vaughan
     Barrett

     Keegan
     AOS
     Parsons
     Durcan

     DOC
     McLaughlin

     COC

     Pick the most the most athletic team and play a high tempo counter attacking game.

     Swamp the defence when they have the ball with specific plans to disrupt MCauley and Fenton

151. Having been saying it a long time now, Cillian is wasted in the middle third. Simple as.

     Just a note, our build up play and attacking movement has been laboured and lateral for the past few years in the NFL, so nothing new in 2017 so far about that at all. The team have been lot more fluid in the summer.

152. One bad game does not equal a bad team. Players who were praised in the last two games are now not up to it. Players we could do without in last two games are now vital. Look we were brutal last night against an excellent team and as for the suggestion that players and management should apologise to all of us who went to Croker, thats daft. No one dragged me by the hand to the match I went of my own free will to support my county. They played poorly. We lost. I was disappointed. I survived and will head to Castlrbar to see them play Cavan.

153. Well that’s at the end of the day that’s very true

154. Let’s get some perspective on this, starting with the players.

     By my count we had 13 wides and at least 2 lobbed into the keeper’s hands and clear goal chances for Kevin Mc and Evan Regan. if we converted 7 of those chances, we would have been a lot closer. 14 points would have made a contest out of it. A total of 7 points, 3 from play and none from our starting forwards is simply pathetic. This is not due to the game plan, not due to the kick outs, not due to the selection, and not due to Dublin smothering us. They were simply very bad shots – Dublin hit those shots over most of the time. This is key to our loss. If you can’t stay in touch you are on a hiding to nothing.

     And the management? For the second week in a row they name David Drake at left half back. Don’t start him, don’t spring him from the bench, and ultimate indignity, give his no 7 shirt to Shane Nally last week and Danny Kirby last night. What is that saying to Drake?

     And, why not make 5 substitutions? In fact we could have made 6 with Donie’s black card.

155. Clarke is without doubt the best shot stopper in the country, but our restarts from his kickouts are terrible.

     Against Monaghan, for first 15, we were under pressure with our restarts until Monaghan took the foot of the gas a little, they can’t keep that full court press going for a full game. Dublin can.
     Same against Kerry and even Roscommon at the start.

     For me, this is the single biggest thing to be addressed by management. Retaining possession from our own kickouts, and preferably not under pressure on our own 13 metre line when we do it.

156. Firstly, we are not as bad as last night’s performance suggests.
     The players were guilty of some terrible shot selections in terms of the positions they were shooting from and also forcing shots when under pressure. Contrast this to what we did in Tralee and v Roscommon where we retained possession and continued to recycle the ball until the chance was really on. Granted, the opponent last night was far superior than either of our last two but the principal is the same. On top of that the supply to our inside forwards was pathetic, we forced them to run out to the corners all night and that suited the crowded Dublin defense. Against all that, and as bad as we were, we left a lot of scores behind us last night.
     Regarding Clarke’s kick outs? If his targets out the field are static and marked what is meant to do? Go short, but Dublin had pushed up so his options there were limited too. The irony is, it was us 2 years ago who showed how to combat Cluxtons kick outs but we failed to address it to our own!
     Defensively was a total shambles, mismatched, out muscled, out fought, out ran and bullied throughout. Embarrassing to watch and listen to.
     To be honest, after 20 mins I hoped we would have forgotten about the game and started knocking some teeth out and standing up for ourselves! Fuck the cards that would have came. I also thought Donie should have landed Dunne on his little arse when he wouldn’t leave the pitch.
     We might be fit and strong but there’s no dirt in us! We allowed Regans nose to be broken by a jackeen defender, as Regan was in his back, and no one took out the assailant. Even the two on looking umpires “didn’t see it”‘. Regan is a young lad trying to force his way into the team and no one backed him up. Some fucking teammates.

157. As I have posted my feelings already and yes came away disappointed from croker last nite but the slating of our players on the blog is as bad as the match. I’m rite sick of it now and i’m getting angry. Now I know some of you may be ex players, some club,some managers or ex managers and ye all experts on tactics etc etc. Has anyone spared a tght or a prayer for how these lads are feeling today. Doesnt seem so. Well I have. I feel for them waking up this morning as much as they feel it themselves. I empathize with them but I will walk P.G. into mcHale park to see Cavan match with head up, a smile on my face, and a skip with hope. I will do that coz that’s that’s what our lads will do too.
     Is it any wonder the joy is gone. When you see and read what your very own supporters say bout you. The years of brillant football gone as if it never happened with majority on here.
     I luv the blog W.J. but listening to your audio coming down last nite depressing.sometimes it ‘s best to say nothing when there’s nothing to say. Give the guys a break especially after a game like that.It just was one of those nites to be put aside and let’s all move onn. All the analysis in the world wont change it. Just support, encourage,encourage. For God’s sake chill. Have a few glasses a wine with yere dinner today.

158. How many Dublin and Mayo players will receive a 1 match ban for “contributing to a melee”? after the Diarmuid incident.
     I said it earlier and I’ll say it again, why does this blog receive 2 times the post count after a defeat as after a victory? What does that say about us?

159. Pebblesmeller, I though Cillian sorted out McMahon shortly afterwards with an elbow in the face which could have earned him a straight red…..or was I seeing things.

160. Cillian did leave the elbow in McMahon. Didn’t bother me in the slightest. McMahon’s no shrinking violet himself.

161. I think, to be fair, Mairead, the criticisms on the blog of the team and the last night’s performance has been measured enough, not least given how poor the display was. Can you point to any specific examples of “the slating of our players on the blog”? I don’t honestly think this allegation is a fair or accurate reflection of the post-match comments on the site. There’s been criticism, sure, but I don’t think it has crossed the line at all. To be honest, I’m a bit surprised that the criticisms have been as measured as they are. On the post-match audio, I do the same thing after every game – record a few immediate thoughts on the game right after the final whistle. If I only did this after good performances then I may as well not bother doing it at all.

162. A lot of keen observatins by contributors reading through a plethora of comments. Beaten in every deprtment and tactically naive sums it up for me. Many contributors also talk of things being different in September. Am I missing something? Have we automatic qualification to ‘September’.
     Imo our focus here should be on construtive suggestions for the team and management going forward.
     I will start the ball rolling with two.
     Dubs dynamism came from the fenton mcauley midfield partnership. Our dynamic line is half back Keegan Boyle and Durcan being the preferred three. And remeber Durcan still a work in progress. Restore this line for the Cavan game.
     I did post concerns about Keegan before Game. My opinion has not changed, Lee is football ‘drunk’. Give his understudy much needed experience,we have two ulster heavyweights to play yet, and Lee the break he we deserves.

163. it was as though we went out to not compete and by half time the plan had done its job! Removed us from the game.
     the jackeens full of running and we allowed them to look like a professional team of athletes when in reality, (apart from free subaru cars and flights with aer Lingus,etc,etc) they are no different to Mayo players. Evan regans bloodied nose going unpunished is not good either, one of our fellas should have taken a straight red make a point that we don’t accept scumbaggery from anyone.

     Anyways, onwards we go, by league end we will know a lot about if Rochford and co are jokers or actually able to manage, at that stage we will have seen a few u21 lads for longer spells on the field or it’s the same old same old for summer.

164. Observer 2. Great post..
     Everyone can talk and hope themselves into a knot and if Mayo don’t get a defensive system into operation, as a priority, like the Dubs and so many more now,, we will piss against the wind for years to come. The forwards can come second!! Fuck Sam this year. Let’s develop a real team first!!!! Then, and only then, look at Sam!!

165. One of our lads should have got a straight red for sure. Cillian for his elbow on McMahon! I wouldn’t be his biggest fan but if it happened to one of ours we would be livid! How did Evan get his bloody nose?

166. Well obviously Liam people aren’t going to be heaping praise on a facile victory over Roscommon in comparison to a heavy defeat to the team that’s stood between us and destiny the last two years.

     You’re a fantastic poster both informative and witty but your one trait of trying to dismiss certain posters (not posts) as complete nutters is pure shitehouse talk. But you get a free ride in this sense as I’ve picked up on you know this guy who runs the show personally.

167. Facetheball you are spot on. Go back to our system from last year, get our running game going with Leeroy Durkan Vaughan getting forward along with eeking improved performances from Cillian, Diarmuid & Aidan we might get back to last years level.
     Cillian looks very frustrated at his performances as he is lashing out in games, hopefully with a full pre season and league behind him he’ll give us more from play this championship.
     Midfield needs to give more as we have been struggling there for 12 months thinking of Tyrone & Tipp games last Aug, is it worth playing Diarmuid there as he can give an option for kickouts?? Vaughan is for me a halfback and really an impact sub due to his periferal performances.
     In summary, get back to last years template, get 10% more from forwards and try the likes of Diarmuid at midfield to improve that ailing area.

168. In the interest of full disclosure, Sean, I can confirm that I know Liam personally, as I do a number of others who comment regularly here. I don’t accept, though, that Liam or anyone else gets a free ride in terms of what’s said in the comments. All I try to do is keep the debate reasoned and measured, which I hope it is most of the time.

169. What a difference a week makes.Very very disappointed .Other than Clarkeys saves there was no other stand out performance .No man put his hand up not one.You could get the sense they gave up by half time.Rocheford could have given some more game time to younger lads.The game was well over early in second half. Nothing else to say its up to the lads now.

170. Seàn,
     There is no denying that as a group of supporters we are one of the most mentally fragile groups in the land. 20 years of heartbreak has left a lot of us prone to yo-yo emotions, either we’re the best or the worst, no middle ground and I’m as guilty as the next man at times. What bugs me though is that some posters only appear after a defeat and it’s clear that certain posters have agendas, the Breheny article last December proved this. I enjoy reading the vast majority of posters here, some of the tactical awareness people possess staggers me at times, but there is no denying that a few posters are bananas (present company excluded).
     For the record I do know John and I might add he owes me €20 from the last night in Coppers.

171. Bob, I would agree with you to a certain extent, we do need to get back to the defensive structure we played with in the latter stages of last years championship, which I am fully confident we will. Harrison and Caff will be fit and back in the fb line with leeroy and paddy in the hb line. McLaughlin or A.N. other will be deployed as a sweeper. With everyone fit and after championship training I full expect the defensive structure to be back to at least last years standards, I have little worries on that front.

     Where I would disagree with you is regarding the forwards. I just dont see us getting another 10percent from the current forwards unit particularly playing a running game. 2014 was this teams peak in terms of forward play. Other than DOC no improvement has been made in the forwards since then, it fact I would say a steady decline has happened, this can be seen by the reduction in scores from play. The main factors I can see is a lack of fresh talent being introduced and that the top teams have learned to combat our running game by funnelling back numbers, slowing us down and forcing shots from difficult angles.

     A return to the all out running game if the past is not the answer, it hasnt worked for the past six years and it wont work now. Elements need to be kept but develop a quick passing game also to make us more unpredictable and generate quicker counter attacks. I think Rochford has seen this and is trying to address the issue but its not going to happen over night, it takes time and a little trial and error to get things working. He has brought in Boland who can play and I am very interested in seeing what Gallagher can do (I dont believe the myth that he is slow, no one can be that slow). I would like to see Reape Loftus and Douglas given the rest of the league to get experience. I think the ingredients are there for a good attacking platform but it will take time to get it working, it may not be this year before we see results but a little patience must be shown.

     While last night was highly disappointing it is not the end of the world and plenty more football has yet to be played.

172. Nobody needs to spell it out to this Mayo team of players where they went wrong last night… they are fully capable of doing that themselves. Let’s give them and management the time and space to do just that. Let’s trust them and let them get on with it.

173. I think Willie Joe is right the responses on the blog have been measured after last nights defeat probably because we know the lads train hard and do their level best and don’t go out to lose. They are our team we win with them we lose with them we take no pleasure in them losing in the manner that they did. If I’m being honest I think we have to say goodbye to a few of the forwards last night and give Irwin Loftus Reape Boland Gallagher and Conor o Shea a chance we wlll probably have to rebuild next year it’s no shame the lads have done their best Dublin are a phenomenal team and it’s not many teams that can match them. Now I might get barred for this but when Rochfords reign is up in 2018 I think we should break the bank and bring in a proven all ireland winner like Jack O Connor make him an offer he can’t refuse we have to end this famine it’s becoming a weight around all our necks

174. As I left Croke Park last night I thought that Stephen Rochford had a big challenge on his hands to lift this team following such a humiliation. But I hope he is better in the dressing room than he was in his RTÉ interview, repeated today on Midwest. His own confidence seems to have taken a hammering and he didn’t sound at all convincing to me when he talked about getting to 10 points in the league.

175. I’d put my money on jack o Connor having his eyes on another stint with Kerry senior set up. I’d be inclined to think his move to train under age Kerry teams and successful ones to boot are part of a bigger plan to mould them players into a successful senior outfit.

     We will have to wait and see what rochford can do this year and most likely next year , I’m just not convinced he’s bringing much to the table as is evident so far this year. On reflection , we had a poor enough league last year , got caught cold by galway in championship and had a very handy run to final bar the Tyrone game , a game I believe Tyrone lost more than we won but we put in two very good performance’s in final and replay but again management made a ridiculous blunder in dropping Clarke . The crux of my point/question what has rochford done that separates him from noel and pat the year previous? ( I really wish James horan had of stuck with this team now in hindsight )

176. Can someone riddle me this, what the f@ck is dunnes role and why is he allowed on the pitch? (seemed to be on it for most of the match). I’d seen his antics at the 2 final matches last year, anyone else spotted this?

177. Jack O Connor wouldn’t touch us with a barge pole..Nor would I want him to..We have to dust ourselves down again and focus on cavan..Talk of a clean out in the middle of a league and future mgmt candidates is just pointless..

178. Willie Joe, sorry for using the word ‘slat’ of course the analysis is always measured and well expressed after every game, and I learn from it I have to say but the negativity after last nite’s game is still too much for me in fairness.
     E.g. David Clarkes kickouts! Can anyone imagine the scoreboard if David not in there. Could be 4.16 or more. Results from David’s kickouts not entirely his fault imo. Take a look in Sports joe of breakdown of treble save in photos. I just think we have to take positives. Last even was a one off. They hyped up to ‘psychologically’ beat the Dubs too much and they may have allowed that to get to them but like I said before,they are well capable of rectifying that performance. They are a far superior team as a whole to what we saw last night. That I do firmly believe.

179. Kerry beaten by Dublin by 2-18 to 0-13 in League Final last year, should have beaten Dublin in All Ireland Semi last yr, League and Championship different worlds. Looking to the year ahead, PACE needed at midfield and in the full forward line, more of the under twenty ones need to be bloodied .Stephen should get a forwards coach, Kerry have Sheehy and now Fitzgerald, Dublin have Sherlock. I liked Gavin’s comments after the Game, three hard games ahead for us, always playing it down.

180. Maybe dunnes role is to show the jackeens how to land sneaky sleeveen punches? Evan Regan would be the best one to ask about the punch he received and how it was given in front of 2 match officials and get his thoughts on why it went unpunished. I could give a list of times that they land dirty sneaky punches and get away with it. But I won’t because that’s “whining”.
     Anyways, we made them look like they were super, we stood off them and didn’t do what I know we are capable of interns of blocking them. All is not lost, get our act together and win one more and stay in division 1, but for gods sake please start using those younger lads up front. Forget the league and 10 points, just get those young forwards in there now and see what they are made of, we are crying out for one more of them to stand up, Boland has and 1 more would be really helpful for the championship. We don’t want to be like Galway, counting on an ex great with no cartilage in his knee to come back and save the day. Irwin, reape, Duffy and co are well able to do the job, let them at it.

181. Tactically we got it all wrong. Played the game in the style and pace of an open championship match. About two notches above our capabilities at this time of year but inside Dublins comfort zone.
     This pace was typified by the speed at which Clarke felt he had to get the ball back into play.
     Now its about learning our lessons, playing in a structured way that suits the team of players we have.

182. So we now know for sure Clarkes kick outs come with a health warning. We know that since 2005 but happy to leave it. Sure he makes great saves but that’s his job.

     Having written this Mayo team off so often and proved wrong, perhaps I’m not in a position to comment expertly. However what I saw last night reminded me of Castlebar v Ballyboden. A Dublin team at half pace killing off a disjointed Western effort. Bodens number 2 last St Patrick’s day won MOM with 3 points from play. Philly got it last night with 2.

     So what’s it with us this time? To me the body language of the players looked tired and clearly operating without a plan. The whip tackling v Galway/Donegal 2013 was a distant memory. But when you play two of your best players in the corner, don’t expect anything else.

     Cillian was poor. One incident stood out. Having pointed his first 45 he then dropped the next in to Fitzsimmons. When number three 45 came up, Andy came out to take it only to be told to go back in. Cillian promptly drove it high and wide into a gloating Hill. In the second half I saw him back in the half back full back line looking for the ball.

     Youth prospers when surrounded by a strong framework. So I’ll hold my opinion on Boland . However Reagan is fashioned from the same box of tricks as Nestor, Maloney and countless other tidy but ultimately limited Mayo 13/15s have been. Good with a glowing tide, luxury when we need scores.

     “Young McHugh of the Mayo dad” fitted in seamlessly as did the growing Lowdnes. Our lack of midfield pace stood out. In fact I thought Dublin were experimenting with a drill. Long fist of feet passes stitched together as they probed for a goal. The Oles ringing out behind me were a stark reminder of our display. Simply and comfortably out ran, out fought and out thought.

     James Horans mission statement was simple. It was to make Mayo consistently consistant. We slipped from the written word last night.

183. We left the stadium with about 10 mins to go,not angered but in disbelief and frustration.Like?where do you start with that performance,a complete and utter system failure.The Dubs are good but not that good.You would think from the hurt of last september that the Mayo players would be up for it and at least be competitive.

     Afterwards,talking among ourselves and other supporters,the overriding feeling was,Why were they so bad?It’s a worry but we will be at the next game against Cavan,what else can you do and hope that debacle last night is of no relevance in the over all scheme of things.

184. Well beaten last night by a Dublin team shorn of most of their best players. We need fresh talent to be tried out before the end of the league if we are to improve things before the championship starts. Dublin made sure they were going to crush any thoughts that Mayo might have had of revenge. Dublin look extremely fit and mean at this stage the year. Mayo were well beat and there are no excuses really.
     Mayo need to show less respect for the Dubs than they are currently showing them. The Dubs certainly don’t show us any thats for sure. Philly was at it again last night swinging the fists and getting away with it as well as scoring a few points as well. And all the commentaters and analysts thought he was great giving him Man of the Match. Perhaps we can get the services of Henry Coyle or some other reputable boxer to help out Mayo in this regard, I’m not joking.
     The GAA espouse this ethos ” Give Respect, Get respect” but really it’s only a cool slogan, they don’t really mean it. Opening up the Hill for a small group of Dub fans whose only contribution is to jeer and intimidate opposing free takers proves that. At 12 euro a ticket for stand tickets there was no need to accommodate these fans other to tip the balance their way as usual. The odds will always be against any other team winning any more All Ireland’s unless there is a more even playing field put in place.

185. Ye can forget about Jack O’Connor. He is setting himself up for another crack with the Kerry seniors. anyway he only looks to come in when there is a good prospect of winning and improving his own record. and its hard to see many positives after last nights performance for the long term future of Mayo Senior footballers.

186. MAYO will just about beet cavan but will not beet donegal or tyrone it was a long Drive back to donegal last night it will be a longer day at work tomorrow

187. AOS needs to go back to midfield when fit and be left there for the rest of the year. we need someone that’s dominant in the air to give a long rang kick out option when short ones are not on

188. It’s a home game for Dublin, why wouldn’t they open Hill 16??

189. Not a moan, just a question / observation.

     The Dublin shirt seems to rip at the slightest grab, yet other shirts including the Mayo shirt seem to take a lot more before getting ripped.

     Is it a design issue, or has it been designed that way??

     Got to say, standing in front of a ref with a ripped shirt, will always make the ref think it was the other player who was the aggressor!

     But guessing it just a collar issue…..

190. Everhopeful the Dublin co board have to hire out Croker and if they want the hill open that is their prerogative. It s 15 euro a ticket for the hill 3 more than a seat. But if you think that’s hindering Mayo and everyone else well I don t know ..

191. Agree totally centre field aos needs to be put back into midfield

     If a Fenton or someone like that is running him all over the place, Put him into full forward

     Cannot get over the criticism here Willie joe of clarke , he has been our best player in the league this year … 3/4 man of the match votes on your blog

     The players gave him zero options last night , unlike what cluxton had

192. Hard to say but 24 hours on I still think this was an end of era performance.

     The team we know we must beat to win sam and we were stuck to the ground. Did they fatally wound us last October? Certainly instead of looking to put down a marker we shat ourselves and blew a chance to win a league. That is very disappointing.

     Where to now? Well we need corner backs playing corner back. Full backs at full back and half backs at half back. A consistent 1 to 9 to help Clarke tie down some type of kick out strategy and a game plan that is not so much controlled but allows us to just let rip and bring those high tempo high pressure attacking spells that stand us so well.

     Looking back over the last 18 months our performances have been at best patchy and you must think luck of the draw last year might have got us further than our ability at this time.

     Hard talking over the next two weeks is needed

193. Get Bohan we lost an all ireland after replay by a point and we got further than our ability???

194. Ger ..I am as confused by your comment as I am by the teams performance last night..Did luck carry us through 140 mins of football in croke Pk in the two finals last year?

195. Ger caff is back to full training this week so at least that something. We’re also on schedule to have a full panel(bar keane) to select from for the end of the league:

196. Our best / only tactic without AOS is our running game .

     We cannot play to our strengths in the Winter especially during heavy core strength and conditioning training.

     Any posters here who kicked a ball would know that.

     Move on and enough of the criticism.

     Harsh words on that podcast also. Bit OTT.

197. We did well but failed to win all Ireland but would we have beaten Kerry in a semi rather than Tipp? We’ll never know. Home games and Westmeath too was as good as we could have asked for.

     We had 4 games against top quality teams last summer. Beat Tyrone. Lost to Galway. Drew and lost with Dubs

198. I think we need rein in our expectations of Ger Caff when he comes back…not going to be a silver bullet, will take him lots of games to get back up to speed. Same injury ended Paul O Connells career and Tommy Walsh of Kerry has hardly been seen since coming back from Australia.
     Should have been beaten by 20 points last night in reaility. Never mind not laying a glove on the Dubs, our lads couldn’t get near them…serious lack of pace was evident. No plan in attack whatsoever also….worrying.

199. Well said Mayo 51. Total agreement there.

200. The most thing that annoyed me last night was the way the Dublin supporters treated the Mayo team. A mild term to use would be to call it a hostile reception. When our team ran out onto the field there were hisses and jeers coming for the Dublin fans. Then when Cillian was taking his frees, the booing was very unsporting and not nice to see at all. When you think about it, the amount of advantages that they have going for them and to think that they still have to resort to that and doing things like vilifying Lee Keegan before last year’s replay. It’s really not nice to see at all and would almost put you off the GAA. They were almost like they wanted to humiliate us. For example we beat Roscommon well last week but we didn’t resort to trying to humiliate them, like they did to us.

     To the game itself, Dublin really just wiped us out in midfield and picked up all of the breaking ball. Hence the hammering. It was like last weekend we cleaned Roscommon out in the middle third and hence, we hammered them. In saying that early in the game, I couldn’t understand why we were going for goals when we should have been popping over points. When it was 1-2 to 0-2 for example, Kevin Mc went for a goal when he probably should have taken a point. So rather than us getting back to been only 2 points behind after a very shaky start when we were still kinda in the game, they came down the field and popped over a point to go 4 up instead. That was the story of the game from then on. The sooner we get our defence sorted out the batter.

201. And yet, Ger, had Conor Lane penalised Denis Bastick for a clear pick-up off the ground from Cluxton’s kick-out after Cillian’s equaliser, we’d have had a 20-metre free, with the final kick of the game, to win Sam. That’s how close we came to winning it last year and, had we done so, you can be damn sure there’d have been precious little talk about how fortunate or imperfect our run to glory would have been.

202. @Ger Bohan, certainly last night had that ‘end of an era’ feel about it. Swahili earlier observed that the joy seems to be gone out of playing football at this level. I strongly suspect that the toll of continuous high expectation and the subsequent disappointment is at last taking a severe toll on some of our top players. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that some are simply fed up with it all. And could you blame them? I recently heard of how our Dublin based players on one occasion recently had to get off work at 3pm to catch a bus down to Bekan for midweek training. The training didn’t finish until 9:45 after which these lads had to have a meal and then get on the bus back to Dublin and go to work / college the next morning. How long can players keep up this level of commitment especially when you get a hammering like we got on Saturday?
     I have the greatest respect for our lads and what they have given us over recent years and if this is indeed the end of an era all I can say is thanks for the good times. We were probably unfortunate to have our best team at a time when Dublin produced a team of exceptional ability!

203. Again I agree Willie Joe. I have huge respect and support for our team. But the killing thing about coming up short is the hurt and questions

204. At the start of the season I foresaw that we needed to introduce or try new things with the forwards. Now half way through the the league all we got to show is we have tried our best to fcuk up would that was working for us. The best half back line in the country. Rochford plain and simple has to take the blame for last night. His selection, lack of a game plan and ability to change tactics during the game all come in question. He was out schooled last night and got his arse handed to him. Not sure why some players are on the bench when he has no intention of playing them. Why was Gallagher not on the bench. Not sure why Andy lasted so long last night. He wasn’t at the races. What’s with the late substitutions, so little time for loftus, Kirby and none for Irwin. Definitely building confidence here. AOS and SOS stock is rising again after that display. Gibbons and Parson pairing didn’t work. Both where below bar. Felton was head and shoulders above both of them. Not sure if I would give MOTM to anyone. Durcan and Boyle as usual wore his heart on his sleeve. Not much else. Wouldn’t play as bad again but a big waking call and a clear understanding on how not to play Dublin and play players in their best positions. First time in a long time we where we’ll beaten in the middle third of the field.

205. Much is being made of David Clarke’s kickouts but the reasons they did not look good were 1. Dublin contested every kickout whether long or short. At midfield Brian Fenton is probably the best fielder in the game today and, as for short kickouts such as the one which led to the goal, they are always a lottery when contested. 2. We did not contest Cluxton’s kickouts, particularly the short ones, allowing Dublin build movements from the back. with Dublin”s ability to get all players together for every training session they have a huge advantage on us at this time of year. I can never understand why we do not contest short kickouts. Surely that is the area where possession is best won, near the opposition goal? And what are we doing when not contesting the kickout? Answers please.

206. Lol will some of ye quit with the snowflake shtuff. The dubs were booing , sure ffs they’ve been doing that for years to all teams . ” its like they wanted to humiliate us” ? And we didn’t want to v Roscommon , well maybe that tells a story in itself .

207. Football isn’t life or death a fact that I’ve had to live with in the recent past and ongoing into the near future. I have not posted here in awhile but have always been unboard. Last night was not great. One swallow and all that . This team let themselves down and I believe are well capable of righting that wrong. This is not the end nor is it a new beginning. I listened to the commentary on mid west. Apart from The Mort on about camera angles, it wasn’t too bad and I got the picture. Word to the mort, you’re on the wireless and less about cameras and Clukos and you’ll do alright.

     I’m sad and angry to hear words like shameful and disgraceful used to denigrate this bunch of lads that we are privileged to have and that have given us so much, with so much more left to come.

     Do not lose The Faith!

208. Can we go easy on the valedictions?

     Dublin beat us hollow two years ago – at home, at fortress McHale Park. We recovered. The league is a topsy turvy business and today’s nightmare can turn into next week’s (or fortnight’s in this case) joyride. Teams are not training at full tilt, availability is a big issue, and away matches can take their toll even on the winners.

     It’s Cavan up next. Win that and we’re safe – almost. We could even stay up on four points! And why should we fear Tyrone and Donegal after that?

209. Ah sur the point I was making was that the amount of Mayo people that travel to Dublin for matches, spending their money there, in restaurants, in the pubs, staying overnight in Hotels etc. Out of any county we probably spend the most up there. Then the Dubs trying to make gobshites out of us. I know that some of our own are well able to make gobshites of themselves too getting pissed etc. etc. up there but it’s just really sickening to see the Dubs looking down on us like that, trying to make gobshites out of us, on and off the field so it’s all the more reason why you’d love to see us batter them the next time that we play them. Both on the field and on the scoreboard! Roll on the next game.

210. Some of the posts over the last 24 hours have been way over the top. The sacrifices these lads make are incredible. Those supporters moaning about having to make the journey up to watch that shite etc need to get a grip. Try doing that 3 times a week to train. It was a bad day at the office. But the mgmt and players need a chance to put it right. They have given us the most amazing journey over the last 6 years. Now more than ever they need the supporters to show they still believe in them. Mayo are still 9/2 for the AI , no change there with paddypower .. stay calm .. deep breaths and lets see how the next 3 games go

211. Good points, Swahili. Dublin have been head and shoulders above everyone since 2014, regardless of the Donegal upset. They are now further from the peloton than ever and in that context what we did last September was extraordinary. Let’s put things in perspective and write last night off. Did we really learn anything that we didn’t know before. Dublin are brilliant and if we don’t have our shit together they can demolish us. What’s new. Maybe we made a balls of our build-up, collectively over-trained or something like that – the boys all looked very heavy legged. They were lepping and gliding around against the Rossies but were way off the pace in Corker. Was this worse than the hiding we got from Cork in Pairc Ui Rinn last year? I really don’t think so. We were awful that day and seemed to get a pass because it was our first day out. Dublin never relented and their new players were on a roll, smelt blood and knew it was a great opportunity to pitch for a starting place. We’re not immune this sort of shambles occasionally and never really have been, even under Horan. The lads will park it and move on, and we should take their lead.

212. Good post Hego.
     Plus Dublin are a province on their own, twice and half the population of our own little province and 10 times the population of Mayo. What Mayo done last autumn was phenomenal when the numbers are broken down and all things are considered. We should remember that Dublin will slip one day somewhere least expected and that’s why we must be ready, the last time they slipped was 2014 against donegal, I was watching that game and waiting for the floodgates to open and wash donegal way but they got stuck. Donegal rode their luck big time in that first half and the human side of Dublin, like every empire in history, showed and they lost on the day, but would have won 9 times out of 10 against donegal.
     Our defense is sound, our midfield is ok but our forwards need adjustment, if Andy is expected at 33 to carry us, then we are not using the young champions on our panel properly. We need to put Irwin and the others in the game in their proper positions and let them deliver on the ability they have, and not wait til andys legs are ground to a halt or cillian is black carded or whatever may happen in a game.

213. Thank god for these last few more positive posts on a Monday morning. One hellish match. We have one most years and always in Spring. We still contend. Like Mairead I admire and love all the tactics and analysis here especially as I’ve never played and don’t see the intricacies. Don’t worry I’m finished with chanting but stand up for your Mayo men ffs. One woeful night of football. Let’s move on with them and get behind them. They deserve our belief in them.

214. Thank you AT and Sinead37.
     Cant say it enough times. These guys deserve our undying support no matter what happens on the pitch. We are a big reason they get up and move onn again. Comments like the dream died the last nite in Dublin is not right imo. Our players would never never think like that as they have proven time and time again.But they are human and we all have days we’d like to forget not just in sport.it’s over now. We keep on rolling.
     Mayo forever.

215. At half time the result was never in doubt so why not give some of the younger lads more game time. Bringing Kirby and Loftus on so late and not bringing Irwin on was disappointing. We know what we will get from Andy at this stage and its clear Dublin have the measure of him so we should have brought one of the new lads on sooner to give them experience playing against the best.

216. I must admit to being amused by the latest edition to the litany of Mayo hard luck stories. I am referring to the free that was not given. Does it ever end?

     Firstly I am sure lots of things happen in a game that could have gone just as easily numerous other ways with different results. If a free had been given it would if my memory serves me right have been from a less than straight forward angle. A Mayo footballer taking a free in CP with an AI at stake. Now who on here would put a considerable mount of their life savings on that player coldly taking us over the line? I wonder. I like a punt myself, but would be looking for odds.

217. Berry – Cillian O’Connor 20 metres out, not too far out on the right, Sam in the bag if he pops it. Yeah, I’d have fancied his chances of sealing the deal in such circumstances.

218. But if memory serves he could have been easily black carded 5 mins before he got the equalizer no? Luck is whatever way you choose to look at it imo

219. Fair point but if you look at who did and didn’t get cards – especially in the replay – we certainly have no luck (if that’s what it is) in that department either.

220. Question, and maybe you have an answer here Willie Joe:

     How many nights a week are Dublin training at the moment?
     How many nights a week are Mayo training? (a follow on question might be, how many guys are available to Rochy for training sessions)?

221. Catcol – I don’t have an answer, I’m afraid, to either of those questions.

222. Yeah the free with 76.59 on the clock that was never given. To the right of the posts and not far out, and kicking into the “scoring end” of Croke Park. Would have fancied Cillian with that one.

     Not going to go through all the incidents of that day again but we had fuck all luck in that game. Ancient history now anyway.

     Is there anything to be said for saying an owl mass?

223. Easy enough find out how many nights a week dublin train. What diff does it make really though ?! Will always be the same and easier for them than our lads – any time of the year. They will always have that advantage including all their other perks. Yes they should Prob be fitter and more used to playing together – 2nd team/newbies etc etc. I’m beginning to hate them all over again!

224. Oh I hope I am not late in the commentary for this match. Have been away for the last week. I come with my tail between my legs given my comments of the previous week.
     But I do not apologise for my dare to dream. When you get a kick in the butt it is your ability to get up and dust yourself off and try again that is the measure of you. And I believe in this team. They deserve our support I will share in their victory later on.