Photo: Mayo Advertiser (Sportsfile)
Voting has now concluded in the first Mayo GAA Blog Man of the Match poll for 2018 and we have a winner. With 36% of the vote, our MOTM from yesterday’s NFL Division One opener against Monaghan is Eoin O’Donoghue.
The young Belmullet man has been in the senior squad for well over a year at this stage but he’s had to wait patiently for his chance to shine. He made an impressive debut off the bench last February against Kerry in Tralee but it wasn’t until yesterday that he made his full competitive debut at senior level for the county.
He sure made the most of it, putting in a confident display combining vigilant defending and attacking verve. As debuts go, this was an impressive one. Huge congrats to Eoin on his performance yesterday and on being voted our MOTM by the blog’s readers.
Others who stood out yesterday and who polled well in the vote were match-winner Paddy Durcan (16% of the vote), Ger Cafferky (12%) and Neil Douglas (8%). Well done to all of them.
Details of the main vote-getters in this week’s MOTM poll are as follows:
Well done Eoin. Voted for him, but can’t understand how Boyler is well down the table. He had a stormer.
Looks a real prospect. Backs himself to win every ball and is aggressive in the tackle. Has just the right amount of narkiness too!
Congrats to Eoin, well used to seeing him perform like that at minor and U21, great young man with a bright future for Mayo
Enjoyed the podcast WJ well done to all who participated. Love Clones and the Monaghan people. So down to earth. Nothing beats walking passed the big church on the hill and 2 points in the back pockets. So looking forward to Saturday night in Castlebar and the buzz around the town. It will be a tough call I believe. Finally well done to Eoin. A great young man with a big future.
Well done to young o donoghue. He’s learning the trade from some of the best to ever play the game for Mayo.
Will this kerry game be on the Tv? It’ll be interesting to see who Mayo put on young Clifford, and how he manages it. Maybe this weeks man of the match will repeat the performance next Saturday on Kerry’s new star.
Well done Eoin.. Fantastic debut league performance yesterday… I was slightly surprised that Stephen Coen was so far down the voting list, he put in a very energetic performance yesterday, covering the ground from end to end….turning up to offer an outlet time after time, don’t think he gave the ball away even once…. Be honest with ye, even though I travelled yesterday, it was more in hope than confidence, I was delighted with the result and indeed the performance… A wonderful mixture of youth and experience and defiying their critics, big style!
On that performance O’Donoghue is our corner back for the foreseeable future. which means that Keith is released for duty elsewhere where he is more than likely to make a major contribution. Another potent arrow in our armory. Looking forward to Saturday night v Kerry’s young [and not so young] guns. Should be some night. I see that Kerry had a marvellous turnout of supporters on Sunday – it will be interesting to see how many turn up in Castlebar, seeing as they have a score to settle. It’s not like Kerry to be willing to settle for defeat twice in a row. Great performance from Douglas on frees, esp long range, after missing that early one. Some speak of his lack of bulk. At 29 or thereabouts he is unlikely to improve that facet of his game and whether he will be able to hold a place is in question.
Its a massive positive to see him perform like that. The talk will soon creep in “higgins is a once in a lifetime type of footballer ” and he is but we might just have a lad to take his place down the line. We already have a youngish paddy durcan for the next line ,Andy will be tougher again to replace , of course this is further down the line im talking but im not sure Mayo will die the death a lot predict when the old guard of this great team do call it a day.
Eoin ODonoghue is just a damn good defender and pretty decent coming out with the ball. As a corner forward yer thinking “F*ckit anyways” when he walks over to mark you.
Keith Higgins could be used as a counter attacking player from our middle third. In the big games he has done damage from that part of the pitch.
For Kerry next weekend we need to pick plenty of height and power. Kerry looked underpowered in general.
Well done to Eoin, keep up the great work!
Yes the FB line have a bigger challenge in Kerry with Geaney and either Clifford or James OD. BJohn Keane contributed well for them also the last day and high scoring game v Donegal. Their midfield lacks experience so that should be an area to target although Brendan OS is about 6’5″ and athletic, looked a potential rising star before his ban.
Well done to Eoin. Being honest he surprised me with his performance, looks like a guy who could hold down that jersey for some time to come. He wasn’t afraid to mix it with the Monaghan lads and had one massive turnover at the end.
A cause for concern would be the way Boyler went down. It was some clatter, hopefully nothing more than a dead leg. We have a bit of a selection headache up front with Cillian I presume to come back in and the likes of Douglas/Regan putting their hands up for selection. Knowing Rochford he will have a surprise up his sleeve next Saturday. I personally would not have Andy Moran playing in January. Hes 34 and we have enough cover in his position with LOftus/Regan/Freeman/Doherty/Cillian/Treacy to name a few. What does he have to prove at this stage, give these young lads a proper run of games and Andy a little extra rest.
Is EOD the first starting debutant to win the man of the match Willie Joe? Just curious.
Looking at Kerry’s defence I’d he hoping we can get 2 goals out if it .
after the success of E O D last Sunday time to give more of that u 21 All Ireland winning team the start.
Reading some of the comments since Sunday ….. most of them seem fair & balanced.
It is only January.
One area of concern seems to be D Clarkes long, high & loopey kickouts. I wonder will any of the other two keepers be given game time during the league.
Well, I think not bad numbers Culmore from that team.
Eoin ODonoghue
Stephen Coen
Diarmuid OConnor
Conor Loftus sub
Sharoize Akram sub
Waiting in the wings from that team Fergal Boland, Brian Reape, Matthew Ruane, Michael Hall and Michael Plunkett.
We have to recognize the fact that U24 Adam Gallagher, U25 Evan Regan and U29 Neil Douglas would walk onto that team if we reconstituted those 2016 U21s as an U23 team.
Similar Kevin Keane, Ger McDonagh U28, Jason Gibbons U30.
The bigger story for our panel this year I think will be the push on by all of these mid to late 20’s players who were on the fringes of or returned to the panel.
From what I can see, Joet1480, he must be. I’ve looked back through the archive and I can’t find any other examples. In fact, I’m struggling to think of another recent debutant who played so well on his first full start.
I’d imagine Paddy Durcans first full start he played quite well as I can’t recall Paddy Durcan even having an average performance all that often. I think it would have been mentioned on here at the time quite strongly if a debutant ended up being MOTM. Paddy or Diarmuid probably came closest as debutants.
Lads whilst it is ‘nice’ to praise a player when he does play well I feel that we, and the player himself, could well be better served if we tempered our praise a little bit. Yes he did play well in the FBD and the first league game but lets leave it at that and give the man a little bit of space to develop. No point in putting a target on his chest.
Great win and congrats to Eoin. Didn’t think that this early we would be coming away with a win against a seasoned Nordie team. Well deserved by all accounts. Another 2 points on Saturday now and the team would be well on the way to maintaining the divisional status. Could even maybe give lesser lads more game time in later stages for a change?
On an aside can anyone help. I will be in Westport for night on Sat and was wondering if there is any private bus going from there to Castlebar and back for the game on Sat even (presuming it goes ahead)? Any local knowledge advice most appreciated.
Lads, Eoin had a good game on Sunday but lets not get carried away, he is the real deal but he has to go up against the serious operators yet. Games against Kerry and Dublin will tell alot about where he is at. Also just beacuse one of the U21s had a good game doesnt mean a host of them needs to be introduced.
Feckin hell. We really, really need to be open to the fact that, despite winning an All Ireland in 2016, some of the U21 lads from that year may not be, and may never be good enough to play senior. We have a huge amount of them already involved and if they are good enough they will get their chance. Just like Conor, DOC, Coen, EOD and Boland.
This idea that we need to be fast tracking them in is a constant theme (albeit throughout social media).
Eoin is most certainly the real deal. Looking forward to seeing how he manages the challenge of higher quality opposition in the next few weeks.
Its amazing the difference between a one point win and a one point defeat! If the ref had given a free to Monaghan at the end before Paddy scored and they won by one point then we would be fairly pissed off at losing that game. The ref would turn from being great to being shite and the media would be talking about our defenders scoring more from play than our forwards. Those are the tight margins between victory and defeat.
We lost to Monaghan last year and we beat them this year, so that was great to see. That is an improvement for us from last year, that’s all we can ask for so far. We had chances at the end of last year’s game but could not get an equaliser. This year Paddy came to the rescue. It was Fergal Boland last year that had a pot shot but missed. This year Adam Gallagher missed a great chance but Paddy did the business in the end, a lad with a bit more experience. That should be a lesson for us, the chances of a player with a bit more experience nailing a winner like that is a lot higher than depending on a newbie. I remember Kevin McLoughlin doing the same against Tryrone last year in the league. I also remember a couple of years ago Paddy missed a great chance against Donegal at the end of the game, in the league in Castlebar and we ended up drawing that game. A couple of years of experience is vital for any player.
We beat Kerry with a great display of heart down in Tralee last year so we’ll see if we can match that this year. You’d love to see a new forward doing what Eoin did against Monaghan, putting in a motm display and kicking a few scores from play etc.
The default for the Ulster teams in the league seems to be thuggery and shlobberin. Last year in Omagh and Ballybofey those games were for the home sides to win and when the pressure came on they resorted to spoiling. Monaghan the same on Sunday. A great thing to see is our fellas are digging out these wins by not getting dragged down to their level and sticking to the plan. EOD looks like he’ll follow the plan and bring his own game too.
JPM if you’re stuck, Irish Rail do a service between Castlebar and Westport, to and fro, throughout the day. It’s all fairly handy.
Joet 1480.. Last year, Mayo didn’t play in Ballybofey… We played Donegal in Castlebar…First half Donegal were in control with Michael Murphy) the man with Mayo roots, Bonnieconlon ) pulling all the strings, Aiden came on as a sub in the second half…and things changed Aiden came in for what’s referred to as ‘special attention’… Personally I too think Thuggery is a better name for it…. with Michael Murphy leading the way in ‘special attention’ and Donegal were were eventually reduced to 14 men…. None other than Mayo’s least favourite Ref Cormac Reilly brandishing the Red Card to a Donegal Man.. Result, Mayo won and stayed up… Donegal lost the match and to rub salt into the wound, also lost out on a place in the League Final… It was hard to find any sympathy for them!
@Leant!!
Oh Michael Murphy’s Dad is from Corrimbla which is in the parish of Ballina not Bonniconlon!! While it may not seem much of a difference to you or me my Granny was a Corrimbla woman and if you told here she was from Bonniconlon lets just say the consequenses would be far worse than anything that the Monaghan players got up to off the ball the last day!!!
What’s the pitch expected to be like on Saturday? Can’t help but think it won’t be great with the way it was in the FBD. Would be great to see a league game in Ballina but it probably wouldn’t be able to cater for a Mayo game these days, although the pitch does seem to be in great condition.
I remember these games only from the radio as I usually work Sundays but even on the radio the thuggery dealt to AOS was easy to imagine. No doubt their discipline let them down badly. Again from the radio it seemed a similar exercise in Omagh. O’Sheas ability to keep the cool is really amazing. Then they’re off to Australia, the best a buddies!!!!!!!
Visitor I don’t think Ballina has floodlights – not sure which grounds do and which would be able to manage the crowd for a league game.
Open to correction on that.
@Crete Boom… You would think that ‘Leant’ would know the difference in between the town lands of Corrimbla and Bonnieconlon in North East Mayo !… Actually it is I ‘Leantimes’ that was not as well informed. as I would like …I somehow neglected to put in the ‘imes’ in my name.. It goes to prove that ‘you learn something new every day you live’… & that I will need to live an awful long time… After the Mayo /Donegal match last year, I was talking to one of the Mayo players that played that day… He was telling me about the ‘Special attention’ Mayo had expected for Aido.. The same thing had happened the previous week to that particular Donegal match, in Healy Park in Omagh, when again Aiden came in for ‘Special attention’ after coming on as a sub in the second half of the Tyrone league match…. I think ‘Referee’s’ in general are becoming more aware of the abuse that Aiden in particular has had to put up with… In the last two years, from what I can remember,… At least 3 red card’s were issued due to fouls on Aiden… Sean Cavanagh, in the 2016 quarter final… (no doubt that was in the Tyrone mind’s in the league last year ) Donegal in last year’s league had a player red carded for a foul on Aiden , and again Monaghan last Sunday, at least one of the red’s was specifically for a hit on Aiden and I think the first ‘yellow’ issued to the other player sent off was also for a foul on Aiden … It is I think thankfully beginning to back fire on team’s that revert to ‘special attention’.. Against Monaghan last Sunday, I taught that Evan Regan was given plenty of’ Special attention’ in particular… It didn’t pay for Monaghan.. With all the converted free’s for Mayo, and Monaghan reduced number’s in the final minute’s all playing their part in Mayo bringing home the two point’s… Oh and Paddy D’s finish from out on the wing, with 30 second’s remaining on the clock wasn’t bad either!
Delighted for Eoin as I said before he’s the real deal
And please God will have a bright future With Mayo. Just wondering is Alan Freeman still on the panel? Didn’t see him togged the last day
joet1840- Eoin O’Donoghue played most of game last year in Kerry. He done really well that night too. So last Sunday was his second game for Mayo. Adam Gallagher won motm in his second game 4 years ago against Tyrone and played very little since.
Thanks Done Deal. Early in the year or not it’s great to see. Tougher tests await.
Has anybody got a view of the foul on Colm Boyle which led to his injury. As I saw it it was a deliberate attempt at a trip, the Monaghan man’s boot hitting Colm’s shin as he went forward. It was at a minimum a black card but in my opinion a red as it could have easily broken Colm’s leg.
It wasnt a red card. The clip is in Mayo Micks video on Youtube. A yellow card was the correct decision.
If there is a problem with the pitch for Saturday – can’t they just cover it midweek to keep off the rain?
Delighted o donaghue’s scoops mom. Adam Gallagher a mystery as to why he is not getting more game time. Two objectives in league, stay up and develop a panel… challenging but we’ve got to see more of the new guys…
Would like to see Brian Reape finally get a start for Mayo on Sat to see what he has to offer. Also need to bring on subs with at least 25 mins to go. Surely with heavy pitches and heavy training fresh legs need to be brought in sooner. In league games there should be at least 3 subs on with 25 mins left – similar to rugby where players are routinely replaced with at least 20 mins left to play.
Brian Reape will likely have Sigerson with DCU tomorrow at 19:00. So I don’t think they’ll tog him again three days later.
The game is changing. These challenges (Corofin, DCU and so on), show that management want to keep two teams on the go as much as possible. This makes sense with the Super8’s coming later in the year. That means the Reapes Gallaghes etc will be getting plenty of game time and slotting into the first 15 as required. Interesting that Rochy name checked Douglas, who I didn’t think was great on Sunday, but struck over 2 vital 45s – he’s probably thinking of a job he could do late in a game as a squad player.
Sigerson cup tonight Fionn McDonagh came off the bench for University Limerick and scored a point to make it through to the semi finals James Lyons aghamore and Joe Mason Cill Chomain also came off the bench for UL. Stephen Coen with UCD and Adam Gallagher NUIG got through to the QF last week Stephen Brennan Claremorris also played for NUIG. Tomorrow it’s DCU turn, Reape Akram, Plunkett and Ruane hopefully involved. I still think that is still a small amount of players playing Div One / Sigerson football.
When you look at Tralee IT, Cork IT, UCC and UL and see the amount of Kerry players makes you think. Clifford for Tralee IT, Sean o Shea and Killian Spillane for UCC look the real deal. Very impressed with Sean o Shea last weekend.
Paddy Durcan and Diarmuid are on that DCU side as well. Conor Loftus is playing for DIT today.
Adam Gallagher is an excellent worker – has always got stuck in and given his all every time at every level. He certainly deserves a bit of game time. However, we already have plenty of grafters on our team – it’s top class finishers that we need – fellas who have the speed, strength and skill to turn and kick from distance even with two or three defenders giving very close attention. There really is no forward of that ilk coming through. We can’t keep depending on Andy Moran if we want to be up there with the top teams in the coming years. Regan has never done it for me and is certainly not going to become the next Paul Geaney / Bernard Brogan at this point. Same goes for Douglas. I’d rather see some younger lads get a go in the forward line. They may be no better but at least they have potential and plenty of time on their side to be coached at the highest level. Hopefully more will get time as the league goes on. Kerry and Dublin are doing it every year and with their constant blooding of new quality forwards all the time that will ensure that they will be the ones continuing to shoot it out for All Ireland titles over the next 10 years. Our window of opportunity is diminishing rapidly and yet we keep looking to the same pool of over tested / under delivering bench players.
I would say our forward options will get better each year over the next few years.
U18 John Gallagher, Kuba Callaghan.
U19 Tommy Conroy/Pat Lambert/Michael Keane.
U20 Oisin McLoughlin/Colm Moran/Ryan ODonoghue/Ross Egan/Evan Ronane
U21 Fionn McDonagh/Peter Naughton/James Carr
U22 Brian Reape
U23 Conor Loftus/Diarmuid OConnor/Ciaran Treacy
U24 Adam Gallagher
U25 Evan Regan/Conor OShea
U26 Cillian OConnor
U28 Aidan OShea
U29 Jdoc/Kevin Mc/Neil Douglas
U18 – u23 looks a serious tranche of forwards.
Definitely a name I would have on my short list for the future is Westports Brian O Malley. Versatile, intelligent, athlete capable of developing into the Fenton mould and he has the right man in James Horan looking after him in the interim. As JP points out from list above the future is bright for next crop. It is important that they do not regress and that they grow in confidence.
I have a sympathy for Evan Regan who was introduced as a very late sub v Galway and then had to take flak for having a go at a couple of outside chances. Evan was an outstanding prospect and I still believe he can come good.
Can anyone shed some light on the Fergal Boland situation? I heard from family members in Mayo last year that he’s an excellent prospect so I’ve been keeping an eye out for him, but he doesn’t seem to be involved in the squad right now. Cheers
Wounded Knee – as others have said re Fergal Boland, the situation is that up until very recently he was committed to the Tooreen hurlers, whose club run is now over. I reckon you can expect to see him back at some point over the coming weeks.
Fergal Boland is in the panel, he had the hurling commitement with Tooreen. I knew I left someone out of the U23 list 🙂
Thanks Willie Joe and JP! Sorry, hadn’t seen earlier comments about him.
Wideball
100% right about Diarmuid wasn’t sure about Paddy, I remember his brother James played for them last year. Is Liam Irwin at DIT as well. Conor Loftus has in the past Been listed as being at DCU but don’t recall him ever playing for either DCU or DIT. Did Dublin colleges play in the o Byrne Cup this year it was it the same as in the FBD with only inter county teams this year.
JP
I know they fallen off the map but still young U23 Liam Irwin Tommy Conroy and U22 Fionan Duffy
Also a couple of Aghamore men James Lyons U21 comes from good stock and Fergal Boland U23
I would have hopes for James Lyons Mayomessi. From what I have seen he has a good skill level and he comes in around the 6 foot mark.
Higgins coming off the bench with 20 mins to go into the half forward line…..hmmmmm