The votes are in and counted in the MOTM poll from last night’s match against Tyrone. There was a wide spread of support for a number of players in this one but, in the end, you’ve voted Enda Hession as the winner of the award. The Garrymore man came out on top having secured 28% support in the poll.
Other players to feature strongly in the vote were Diarmuid O’Connor, whom TG4 named as their MOTM on last night’s TV coverage (he got 22% of the vote), Jack Carney, whom Ger Flanagan named as his MOTM on the Final Whistle pod (14%) and Aidan O’Shea, whose rampaging display was also widely cited in the after-match chat on the podcast (11%). There’s the full leaderboard.
There was so much to like about last night’s display but it’s no surprise that Enda’s outrageous goal, which puts the contest to bed early in the second half, helped him to the top of the MOTM leaderboard on this occasion. Congrats to him on that achievement and on that brilliant goal.
Want to see it again? Thought so.
Enda Hession gets Mayo's third goal of the game following a beautiful link-up with Ryan O'Donoghue. pic.twitter.com/lRUPxKXDqD
— The GAA (@officialgaa) February 25, 2023
Enda Hession is way too good off a footballer to be playing corner back ,needs to be in the half back line or even the half forward line which I think is his best position ,thats where he destroyed the Dubs in 2nd half of the 21 semi final.Has potential to be as good as Michael Donnellan in his pomp playing at wing half forward.
Congrats Enda well done. I wouldn’t argue with that choice but also thought carney was outstanding probably his best game in a mayo Jersey. I liked the way he was always looking to get on the ball, took a big kick out mark and scored a nice point to cap it off
What beer you drinking tonight, Achill75?!!
He’s some baller alright and has a cheeky chappy attitude about him as well. Not a half forward though ..a half back for sure and give him road!!!!
Hession deserving winner, he was brilliant, followed closely by DOC, he covered some ground, and when he plays like that he’s unstoppable, if we can get Ruane back to his best, our midfield will be very strong and mobile with Flynn and Carney giving great kick out options to us. Love the way McBrien is quietly and confidently setting in, a proper full back in the making, has all the right attributes.
Gbxi. I think hessian is reading this blog. You have really fired him up. He s even scoring as well. Keep up the good work
What’s with Padraig O’Hora, has he been injured or is he on a break?
Enda can be the new leeroy…..
@John+McHale he got injured I think some kind of leg injury.
While can’t complain about result, I thought Fionn would have a bigger % than that. But congrat Enda
No Doubt, correct on Jack Carney, was brilliant, but in fairness so was Enda
I was thinking the same thing Craggy! Next thing he will turn into the new Michael Donnellan!
@ John+McHale, O Hora had a boot on the leg beginning of February.
Well done Enda.
In other news great to see Larry’s young fella back playing for Galway given that according to PJ after we played them it was looking likely that the young lad would never walk again.
Must have gone to Knock or something
Enda has youth on his side so can probably get away with playing from the FB line, though HB is his best position. After last night’s performance I’d leave it as is!!! No bother to him to run up and down the pitch numerous times per match.
Hope the injury is only minor.
Mayo 4th favourites for Sam at 9 to 1 behind Kerry Dublin and Galway…
Just a thought. If we qualify for the league final and were to decide to forfeit the game, what would the penalty be. A fine I presume. We surely could argue that if the Gaa hadn’t fixed our championship match for a week later, we would fulfill the fixture. Ball back in their court.
Well done Enda and what a goal.
Roscommon game scheduled on TG4.
That will be all 5 of our league games so far that have been shown live so we can have no complaints on that score.
Well done to Enda on possibly his first mom performance as per this blog? won’t be his last for sure.
I was questioning yesterday if Jordan’s temperament would hold under severe provocation. Well it did despite several late hits. He walked off at ht obviously in great pain, didn’t think we’d see him in the 2nd half but out he came and got on with it. So fair play to Jordan he passed a tough test with flying colours. A huge asset to Mayo now.
Interested to hear everyone’s thoughts on how Conor Loftus is doing. Always considerd him a very smart footballer. Doesn’t make many mistakes and uses the ball wisely. Could centre back be a position he will excel in?
A great performance by Enda last night, glad to see him kick on to the potential everyone knew he had.
On a side note, very poor coverage of the weekend games on RTE League Sunday. Thank god for local media.
Fully agree JKEL88. Thought the football would never start and when it did it was over in a twinkling. Fair play to Hession. I must have watched that goal 20 times today. To round the keeper in GAA comes with a government health warning. Thankfully Enda lived to tell the tale. Pure class!
GBXI your comment before the Kerry game.You must be the one drinking 😀
Hession isn’t remotely as far along as Eoghan. In the 2020 Connacht final in Salthill, Eoghan was our man of the match – that was a one point win in a knockout game and our biggest game before the final. Come back to me if/when Hession does that. Eoghan started the win against Dublin in 2021 until that awful hit by Small. Hession was on the bench. Like I said before, the only reason Eoghan hasn’t made more of a recent impact is because he has had some serious injuries. But he is crucial to any future Mayo success, much more than Hession.
Having watched the match again the defensive side of what Enda done was top notch. He is there first and foremost as a defender and after a few shaky first minutes, he settled in nicely and didn’t allow Tyrone an inch.
One other thing to note, DOC for his goal took the free the second time from about 10 yards further forward than the original. It got him a nice head start on his marker.
Aido top of the square was superb, he stayed inside even when ball wasn’t going in. It tied up two Tyrone players and allowed us to have much more room further out the pitch. Carr alongside him was also very disciplined, patient to wait for the ball and allow others more time and space.
Still plenty to improve on, not least Loftus developing into the sweeper role with each passing game.
Plenty lads on the bench now who are struggling to make the starting 15, competition in training must be fierce. The peak too early comment I don’t get. It’s a short condensed season, surely operating at a high level is sustainable for seven months of the year provided the players get sufficient rotation and rest. That will be down to McStay and co to manage for the rest of the league.
Corner back has become one of the key roles in the modern game and Hession is excellent in that position.Along with T O sullivan from kerry they are getting on some amount of ball.
Well done Enda.
Young lads bedding in really nicely.
McBrien (22) has been the steadiest full back I’ve seen for us defensively so far, certainly a more natural to the position than the likes of Mullin or O’Hora.
Enda Hession and Jack Coyne also at 22 were looking to make the leap despite limited gametime in their mayo careers so far, seem to be flying it.
Jack Carney at 21 showed what the modern gaa half forward should be. Put in an all round excellent performance that showcased all of his traits and tools in the bag. Gorgeous score off his left (still can’t work out what foot he is) in the first half to steady the ship for us. For Carrs goal, Carney is setting the press at Tyrones 45, ball goes over his head, sprints back, contests the ball and turns it over, leading to Hession getting the break, taking it quick to O’Se and the rest is history.
Furthermore however, his fetch in the second half in front of the stand was a thing of divine beauty. It was Mullin in the 2020 final esque. Carney needed a big game as he was just sort of floating so far in the league but hopefully this will bring him on.
While one of our quieter players, feel Donnacha McHugh (20) hasn’t put a foot wrong this league campaign. Felt he was excellent on Tony Brosnan last week and excellent on Saturday night. Confidence on the ball rapidly improving, and we’ve seen he has the athletic attributes to be at least somewhat impactful with the ball in his hands (his point against Kerry last week).
It’s defensively where his bread is buttered however. After holding the likes of Towey, Niall Treacy, Darren Quinn, Darren McHale, Mark Moran all scoreless from play in club championship, it seemed like he could have a role as a bit of a tagger.
Early days yet and bigger tests to come but the way he defends so patiently and without fouling no matter the situation is encouraging.
Quick straw poll guys.
If you had the choice to win connacht or win the division 1 final (which we almost certainly be in following yesterday’s results) what would you prefer?
I realise I’m very much in the minority but I’m leaning towards a division 1 title.
The way the championship is structured this season means the provincial titles have very little relevance to the all Ireland picture. We have connacht medals falling out of our pockets but national titles won in croker are a rare thing for mayo teams and should be gobbled up with both hands.
This talk of basically forfeiting a national final is totally absurd in my opinion
JKEL88. What RTE are serving up as a GAA highlights show is pretty pathetic tbh. The brief snatches of football would be missed if you blink and the punditry is contrived and boring as he’ll without one insightful comment throughout the show.
Brilliant performance by Enda and well deserved motm, his forward raids will give his markers plenty of anxious moments.
It’s Hession’s movement, creativity and decision making that sets him apart from other young players on the team.
And technical skill.
Retrocut, agree on Donnacha being a man marker. Darren Quinn got MOTM against Castlebar in the MayoNews. Scored 0-5 and 0-3 from play.
Well done Enda, and to be fair there were 8 plus out of 10 performances from most players again this week so another good overall team performance and no goal conceded. Everything moving along nicely and young lads stepping up game on game
@Supermac a league final rather win and I hope its kerry and that we beat them out the gate bit of pay back for last years league final haha but that might be getting a bit ahead but we should be able to win league titles to and not have the fear of finals .
In fairness to rte they have 8 divisions to cover on a weekend where hurling and football is played. Ok maybe the analysts aren’t up to scratch at times but it’ll do for now. Regarding league v connacht it’s probably not as straightforward as that. It would be great to win the league but for me it would be seen as a step backwards if they lost in Connacht after the high of winning the league and we all know what happens when a team loses momentum it may not be so easy to get back to winning ways again. Ok in a shootout between league and connacht if they’re were to be no effect on championship progress then I’d take a league title
Well done Enda on a fantastic performance. You can see the progression he has made from last year & he seems to have added the bit of strength required. And on Saturday he took it on that extra bit in attack & backed himself. Fair play.
Lots of other excellent performances but I thought Jack Carney just oozed class.
I thought I didn’t want to be in a league final but if we have no choice I’d like to win everything and come out of matches relatively injury free. When I saw Jack Coyne punching the grass the other night I was hyperventilating and then Hession going off later and last week hyperventilating when D O’C went off. After last year’s injury woes this season is bliss. Maybe better to be in final than injuring each other in A v B because many of our injuries last year were done to ourselves by ourselves!!!
I agree on the importance of Eoghan McLaughlin. He had nearly become one of our must have starters before injuries. Such an exciting player. Hession was also in 2021 showing what was to come. I just remember being very impressed with both. Last year to me is a year of injury after injury after injury. Sure realistically we had no settled team. A rotten year for us.
Also agree on Donncha McHugh quietly going about his business. I was wondering how young he was while while admiring his work rate up and down the field the other night. He literally never stopped.
Jack Carney was brilliant the other night. I thought he would get MOTM. But Diarmuid is back. THANK GOD
Achill75 – why not just be grateful to have both Hession and McLaughlin (a corner back and a half back) – two excellent players who haven’t yet hit their primes
It’s a tricky one, I don’t want to see them lose at all and the last two matches in particular have been great.
If the choice on when to lose is forced then I say league (inc. final) over first round of championship.
Enda Hession and Eoghan McLaughlin are different players.
Eoghan has an absolutely incredible engine on him, and has had that from day one.
Enda has great pace.
The use case for both players is different. Eoghan is wasted from the bench, not because he won’t make an impact but because his greatest strength is being able to last the pace. Enda is different, and the argument on has changed since 2021. At that time he was our least experienced defender and when the game plan was to keep it tight first half, it made sense to start more experienced lads and introduce Enda to raise the tempo
@supermac
I completely agree with you. National title all day long.
I’ve already been quite vocal on it, but I really don’t understand the other side of argument
If we play Roscommon in League final, then play all day long. But would not really like playing Kerry again. Have to beat them later on the in a quarter final / semi final / final I would imagine, if we get that far.
To me Ryan O’D was outstanding – once again
Involved on so many telling moments of the game. But well done Enda H.
Getting to the league final would be a chance for our returning injured players more game time. The two Macs. Jason Doc. C.O.C. Paddy Durcan. Tommy Conroy and Robbie all would benfit.
Supermac,I want us to be greedy and win both, I would not expect Kerry or Dublin to prioritise one over the other,and face it that is our standard now,we must acknowledge the work been done at underage and at senior level to keep us at the top table started by James Horan in 2010 and now been carried out by an outstanding management team
And what if we lost a league final? we have to go out and play Roscommon in championship a week later. We could do without a major setback a few days beforehand!
On the other hand, if we won the league final, the momentum is still with us, not that it did us any favours in 2019.
@Tubberman – we won the league in 2019 and then lost to roscommon in connaught.
Roscommon beat Galway in the div 2 league final in 2022 and Galway beat us a week later.
Hessions finish was composure personified. Carried out by a player with high confidence. A top class display. O sheas pass was awesome into carr. The quick ball beats all. It always did. Rochfords coaching is all over this. We are goin well. Imagine playing the rossies 3 times in short succession and beating them every time. None of us would turn that down. Time will tell how it pan’s out. No better prep for championship than winning a title a week before hand. The guys would be bouncing. We are fit enough to do this. Our panel is big enough. Lets go climb them steps
Ironically the last two times we lost to Roscommon in Connacht we won the league!!
I think at this stage a Mayo Kerry league final is inevitable
It’s actually three times, Ciaran! It happened in 1970 as well as in 2001 and 2019.
Time for Mayo to start breaking those types of patterns. Like the curse, it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Progress being made in this regard, i.e. making McHale Park a fortress again, including beating Tyrone there for the first time since 1992.
If we are to be considered serious All Ireland contenders we shouldn’t be worried about losing to Roscommon.
I’d fancy Galway to make league final. They have Monaghan at home next and they have Kerry at home last day, a game they will really want to win…and they still have one or two big player to take the field in the last couple of games
@supermac there are so many permutations it’s hard to come down on either side. There are pros and cons to both. The timing of the final doesn’t effect other teams as much. It would actually probably benefit Galway who are by no means out of it. They are having an up and down league but we had lots of them and ended up in all Ireland finals so extra game might benefit them.
Yes, keep winning while the going is good, but can u go full tilt at a final with a game a week later? . Another loss in CP etc etc….
It’s great we are in this position, playing well but still areas to improve on. The press are building us up, other teams will be delighted with that, but hopefully management and a few older heads will be keeping things calm.
Fair play to enda. I thought the back as a unit were very good. The fitness and intelligence on and off the ball goin forward is very noticeable.
Incredible stat, WJ!
Do any of ye believe in omens? 😀
After yesterday, Galway’s focus is on survival only. Its early days yet but it has to be worrying for their fans how there are no real signs of them kicking on from last year. For all their talent there’s so few standing up in the forwards in Comer/Walsh’s absence, except for Tierney – who in fairness looks to have moved his game to the next level. Only for him, and some awful Donegal shooting, they would have lost by 7 or 8 yesterday.
As always there’s a great team waiting to break out in them, but for a county with a lot of talented forwards and a raft of excellent club players they are playing completely within themselves
Derry have to be the story of the league so far, every chance they would have made the D1 final if they were in it also. What a rise it has been – almost from nowhere – the last 2 seasons. Remind you of anyone? (clue – Rory Gallagher was involved there also!). Watch this space..
Keep the focus on next weekend for the moment imo
Kerry have a long journey to Healy park and a Tyrone win would really throw the cat among the pigeons.
Travel times appear to be playing a big role in this year’s competition
Hard to go compare this league with previous ones we won on account of there being no break between both competitions. Can’t really tailor training towards championship this year so imo momentum is hugely important,so keep winning. Also with astute rotation of our squadwe should be able to rest the majority of ”1st teamers” at some stage as there is very little between lots of these panel members. Important to give game time to a few more in the next couple of games though. Sam Callinan,Towey Gibbons and Tommy among others.
@Ciaran, do you think Derry could win the All Ireland? I actually think the whole thing is so wide open.
Kerry are ahead of everyone else but only because of Clifford and a terribly non-competitive Munster. They are unlikely to have the same hunger this year though. Dublin have no competition in Leinster and with the return of Con, Jack Mc, and Mannion they will be in contention. I think we are returning to a period like pre-2004 when there is no dominant force. Kerry, Dublin, Galway, Mayo, Derry, Armagh will all feel they can have a right rattle at the All Ireland. Tyrone are in a very poor place since their 2021 win. Interesting times for football.
Derry looking very good but can they make that step? They have certainly improved from last year but Galway beat them quite comfortably in all ireland semi (in the end). Can they get enough scores when they get to the business end of the championship?
I think it’s open this year for someone to swoop in. Kerry should be there, but they won’t have the insatiable hunger that they had last year. Dublin will have Con, Mannion & Jack back but they are still a long way off where they were in their pomp. Ourselves and Galway are probably there or thereabouts. Can Derry & Armagh step up? Tyrone – you can never rule them out
Think it makes sense to rotate our team a bit now.
I’d start Cillian instead of Ryan against Roscommon, as he’s played pretty much every minute so far. Jack Coyne is surely out, judging by his expressions walking off the pitch on Saturday. Hession is also doubtful at best so I’d start Durcan and Brickenden, or Callinan if Brick is still injured.
Callinan did seem a bit less composed when he came on, which makes perfect sense given how young he is. Getting him a start with the like of Durcan and Coen (or O’Hora once injury permits) would make a lot of sense.
Agree GBXI, we could very well be heading for a early 00s-like period which would be very refreshing
Obviously its early days with Derry, but so far they seem to be really backing up their Ulster win, and if they keep going the way they, are they really much worse than Galway (I think people tend to forget Derry had chances to almost be out of sight by half time in last year’s semi), and Tyrone and even ourselves in 2021? There are definitely similarities with Donegal in 2012, except the latter had more bigger names up front
The two in a row is notoriously tough to do, the Kilkenny team of the 00s, Dublin in the 2010s and the current Limerick side all failed in their first 2 in a row bid. Even Kerry and Tyrone only did it once combined in the 00s. Add to the fact I thought Kerry made heavier weather of all their knockout games last year than they needed to (people forget just how many chances we missed in the quarter).
The new format only adds to the intrigue. Not beyond the realms of possibility a team could have a shocker provincial campaign and then build some momentum once the group stages kick in and go on a run. Right now I could see maybe Galway and Armagh perhaps being candidates here
Talking to people from some other Ulster counties today, they all fancy Tyrone to come good by championship and be contenders again, interestingly. They reckon the underage scene and club scene is humming at the moment and they have bags of talent when everyone is available. I thought they looked low Division 2 standard on Saturday. They have a heck of a lot of work to do in my eyes
Its easy to forget that despite Dublin’s “decline” they were potentially a retaken free and a fit Con O’Callaghan from winning 8 in a row
Very interesting season ahead
@Exile, Callinan was very poor when he came on the last day – most worryingly he didn’t look that fast.
The league is far from decided this year. I think Mayo are much more fragile than people realise. Let’s see how they bounce back if they lose to the Rossies. 6 points can easily go down this year. 8 points could also have you in final.
Yeah, Dublin are much closer than their league positions suggests. Though four from four in D2 is still good going. Is there a chance Kildare will be playing Tailteann Cup if they get relegated (very likely) and don’t make the Leinster final?
The Roscommon game is an ideal chance to give squad players games and returning players game time. We saw last Saturday Sam Callinan gave the ball away a few times due to lack of match practice.
Assuming they are fit I would like to see the following start against Ros – sam Callinan, Paddy D, Eoghan and Kevin McLoughlin, Cillian, Bob Tuohy, Paul Towey, Aidan Orme. Its surely a chance to get these lads game time and rest lads like Diarmuid, James Carr, ROD and David McBrien
D3 promoted teams are ranked higher than the D2 relegated teams. Meaning that the relegated teams will never play for Sam based on league position.
Kildare are same side of Leinster as the Dubs.
Worst case for Leinster is that Westmeath make a Leinster final, which could mean only two of their teams play for Sam
Safe in D1 and winners of D2 are the only guaranteed teams to play for Sam based off of league position.
The pressure mounts. Which is exactly what these guys need. How do they perform under pressure. One things for sure, the’ve worked their socks off to get to the level of fitness they are at currently. And they’re not going to throw it all away just because some posters here feel we shouldnt be trying to win the league.
We managed our lead well, something we weren’t doing in the past.
The D3 winners could play for Sam if Westmeath make a Leinster final
Agree on rotation for next game apart from McBrien. No obvious full back replacement and he’s still relatively new so the more game time he gets the better especially to size up Rossies for the championship. Brickenden is more a utility player. Not quite as fast as some others so I think he can get game time at corner and wing back but we’ve found our natural full back / danger man marker.
McStay himself said before the league started that once we got safe in the league the emphasis would change to the Roscommon championship game and he referenced the fact that league final was a week before the Roscommon game.
Mabye some poster here feel we are good enough to go to Croke Park on a Sunday and beat Kerry in a league final – come back down to earth and beat the Rossies a week later. I don’t think we are.
I’d prefer to see the team on the weekend of the league final preparing the game plan in McHale park for the Rossies the following week and keeping it low profile. McStay has said he has no interest in a league final. If we end up there and not wanting to be there- we could get beaten out the gate like what happened last year.
I think Kildare should be fine?
Meath, Louth, Limerick all left I believe (this is off top of my head so apologies if I have it wrong)
To be honest they could very well go 3 from 3 and actually end up with 8 points
They could, Ciaran, but they could also lose away to Louth and at home to Meath. They should beat Limerick. 4 points would surely send them down. They’re playing awful stuff – heard they were luck to get 2 points in the 1st round.
I do not agree with the idea of making wholesale changes to the team for this weekend, IMO no better preparation for the championship than beating the Rossies well (cant really beat them enough), burst that little bit of confidence they have and let them know they are nowhere near us. We are heading into a two week break anyway so players will get a rest. Playing a weakened team and Ros coming away with a result would not not be good preparation for Connacht championship .
We need McBrien to stay injury free. Brickenden not slow but taking a bit of time to believe in himself. We’ll see the best side of him yet.
We still have to work out how to utilise AOS best. When he stayed forward, he took one or 2 players out of the game. And wandering goalkeepers will be a little bit more weary going forward. When AOS went back into mayo defence, he brought his marker, Pádraig Hampsey with him and Hampsey was rampant.
I just dont see the sense of it.
Oh for sure GBXI, they’ll surely beat Limerick but could very well lose the other 2
They remain one of the great GAA mysteries. A county with huge interest, a rapidly growing population, most players can still be based at home even if commuting to Dublin, and some great underage sides of recent
To be honest they absolutely blew it against us last year and that could well be the straw that broke the camel’s back for them – as a quarter final run last year would have been very encouraging and something to build on.
Saw some neutrals from certain counties where saying Tyrone were unlycky not to be up and win by 6 points what even.. some neutrals just hate seeing mayo play well I feel ha..
*unlucky
Love the look of Donnacha McHugh, quietly going about his business, so well able. Im sure a lot of teams are deceived by his youthful appearance but he is doing a great job, continued success.
Congrats Enda, hope you are recovering well.
*Can the camera man who had his flash on while standing on the end line please ensure he turns it off for future games. I didnt recognise him as one of the usual guys..everytime play came downfield a flash went off in the player face, really offputting. Plus its a health & safety risk for people with light sensitive epilepsy.
Clare I wouldn’t be paying much heed to comments like that on social media. Indeed there are commentators that could qualify as trolls with some of the stuff that is written.
Either ways – I’m surprised no one has mentioned that only two of our started forwards kicked a point from play on Saturday and only with the left foot the last day. Surely that sort of trend has to be worrying someone. Why the rest of our starting forward’s aren’t chipping in with kicked point scores from the right boot is a worrying stat.
Ignoring fully that the other starting forwards contributed 2-4 and our midfield another 1-1, someone somewhere is bound to be losing sleep over that contrived problem.
Look – it’s only February, and we’ve a lot of games to come and we’re not guaranteed anything yet. Even If we beat Roscommon, we’re not guaranteed a League final spot then as we would still need to get at least a point from the remaining 2 games after that.
However we’re playing lovely football, putting Champions to the sword, scoring goals and the incredibly youthful back line are doing very well – I believe 5 of the starting 15 on Saturday were under 20 in 2020.
It’s great to watch, its entertaining football, and our team is winning. No reason we can’t be enjoying that.
@FDBinashui yes your totally right I really shouldn’t pay any heed there is always gonna be mad stuff said online about mayo as Lee keagan said himself I don’t pay any heed to whats said online about mayo gaa as youd be there for a year looking at it and its a circus very true haha.
Onwards and hopefully upwards to the Rossies!
Should league final be scrapped? Team top of group wins. We have 2 many games in GAA so surely easy one to kill .
New management, new team, new game plan. Go out to win every game rotate the team and have players ready to slot in if someone is unlucky to get injured. At the moment there seems a lot of dismissing the league. National titles are hard to come by and should be respected. Mayo moving along nicely.
While Mayo are playing brilliant football at the moment,its still only late February and any thoughts of competing for Sam should be banished at this stage.
Remember we were beaten in the 2021 final by an Inferior Tyrone team and that was harder to take than any of the Dubs defeats and soured a lot of Mayo fans.
I agree League should be run on league basis, end of story. A team could win all its league matches and lose tthe final maybe due to injury to key players. Doesent seem fair.
Remember the way the Dubs routinely filleted us in the league 6 or 7 years ago and still won Sam. Maybe we didn’t deserve to win the All Ireland in those years given those embarrassing league performances. Just a thought. Winning is a habit. It was genuinely a remarkable feat the way we played so well in the ’16 and ’17 finals, and even to get there in the first place. Kudos to the team and to Rochy for that. But it was an anomaly in my opinion, as we should have been in decline.
I’m thrilled with our current form. I’m still cautiously confident. Too much hurt to get ahead of ourselves. The real plus is that it’s largely a new team now.
A win in the league should be awarded by 3 points not 2, the same as Soccer.
This would give teams more incentive.
The Gaa need to move with the times.
Yes the league final should be scrapped completely, as in any other Sport the team that finishes on top of the League wins the League.
Pure enjoyment watching Mayo play at the moment.
Think we became so desperate for Andy, Keith, Colm B , Lee and Co to have a Celtic cross that the enjoyment had left the building for alot of games..It had for me anyway.
New faces emerge and boots are filled..Boots I thought would take years to fill.I know it’s only February but as someone posted yesterday, full of appreciation and gratitude for this team at the moment..
RichieO – fair play reminding us about the 2021 final, I had nearly forgotten. Do you mind me asking what relevance that has in the middle of the 2023 league?
I’m not a Man Utd fan, but for those avoiding the league final, Man Utd played yesterdays League Cup final, starting with the same team that had started three days earlier against Barcelona in their European cup tie.
Its a nonsense fearing playing the first round of the championship after the league final on the following weekend.
As it is we are playing league games on consecutive weekends and I’m sure we will also be playing championship games on several consecutive weekends, so its puzzling to see so many people getting over concerned that we might end up in the league final.
Time to get a grip.
The Man Utd players didn’t have to be back at work at 9 am the following morning after the Barcelona game. They returned to their training ground today at 1.30 pm after having a nice lie in this morning and wont be doing a weeks work in the real world this week.
@Southmayo exile.
What point are you trying to make.
Don’t the players go to work after every match they play whether the matches are on consecutive weeks or not. They have always done the same. Why should a league final be any different ?
Only 2 National titles on offer and some people think we should put all the eggs in one basket. The team would probably benefit far more from a real final rather than some kick around or challenge match in which they are as likely to get injured.
It wasn’t the same United team that started the league final that played three days earlier.
I wouldn’t know mayomayo. I’m not a United fan but did hear a sports commentator say that United were going with the same line up that had started 3 days earlier.
In any case, if the main argument for not playing a league final is because the lads have to be up at 9 o’clock the following morning then there isn’t any reason for not trying to win the league.
Comparing fill time professional sports people with amateurs who have a career outside of their sport is not a valid comparison in my opinion.
Arguing that playing on consecutive weekends, something that we already do and have done for decades is certainly not a valid argument.
I made no like for like comparison. I said the professionals played after a 3 day break. Mayo would be having a 7 day break. Big difference.
I think Paddy , Eoghan, Sam,Kevin,Bob,and Cillian should start the next day. It’s not going to weaken the team to any great degree.
Rest Aido Diarmuid both corner backs, Jason and Ryan.
More game time will only benefit the likes of Colm,Mc Brien, Conor & James Carr so I’d like to see those lads starting.
Any sports person who plays to a decent level will try and win a 5 v 5 kick about in a car park.. so to suggest Mayo should lose any game is a non runner.. these athletes are conditioned to think they are the best.. playing to lose just wouldn’t feature in the minds of the players.
Management, however, might temper things a bit by resting certain players and so forth, but again they will not want to lose. That’s why I was stunned with Burkes comments after they lost to Monaghan. That shows me there is a weakness there, and that won’t go unnoticed by the players, and that’s why we will beat Roscommon in the league and championship. Our mindset is better both re the players and the Management.
The issue isn’t totally about playing 2 games in 7 days moreso preparing for the rossies. I know the back door games are often a week apart but it’s the same for both teams but let’s say mayo face kerry in a League final and while mayo are concentrating on kerry the rossies are quitely preparing for mayo and after a win or loss mayo have a week to lift morale or come down from a high of a win. At what stage does attention turn to the roscommon game fail to prepare and all that so it’s not as straight forward as it seems though no doubt I’ll be told it is. I would love a league final win but not if it comes at a cost.
@No doubt.
Are the losers of the Mayo v Roscommon game out of the championship ?
Would the National League finalists not make it in to the round robin whether they win the final or not ?
If a team has any designs on winning an all Ireland, should they be worried about what group of four they end up in ?
@GAA obsessed
You are completely correct but there does appear to some nuance in there.
In particular there appears to be two types of players, those who are completely focused on winning and those who are more inclined to feed off momentum and positivity.
We see this in the comments from our recently retired. The winning focus guys tend to feel that the 2012 final against a similarly inexperienced Donegal team was the one that got away. The momentum guys the 2013 one, where we were thumping everyone on route
I’m not sure who mentioned that Sam didn’t look that fast etc.. I thought a few times over on the stand side when he broke forward that he looked very fast! However, what impressed me the most about him was his first few contributions weren’t great to be fair, but he showed incredible resilience to dust himself down and made a few good drives forward. Could you imagine at that age, in front of that crowd how you would react after getting off to a difficult start!! I for one would be hoping the ground would open up and in i go!!
@revelino.1) No, 2)probably,3) possibly
I thought the same@obsessed. A bit naive maybe but no shortage of dash or hunger for the job at hand. Just needs game time.