Photo: MichaelMaye.com
The votes are in on our sixth Man of the Match poll of 2016 and, for the fifth time this year, it’s a forward who scoops the award. (Yes, I thought that noteworthy too). Evan Regan’s 1-3 in yesterday’s win over Roscommon saw him garner 39% in the poll and he finishes ahead of Seamus O’Shea on 27%, Tom Parsons (9%) and Aidan O’Shea (5%).
Congrats to Evan and to the rest of the lads who worked so hard for yesterday’s win. By the way, Evan has also been shortlisted for the GAA’s Player of the Week award and he could do with your support in that poll (RT the tweet from @officialgaa – here) as it looks like it’ll go down to the wire.
I was in the terrace yesterday the amount of work Regan put in was unreal. Also ref & linesman were shocking. Jason Doherty & Aido were being held constantly as they tried to make runs in our HF line. Never once spotted. I felt like doing a Mayo Bull at one stage!
Congrats Evan.. its is surely heartening to see a forward, and a relatively new recruit at that, get the gong on this occasion. Hopefully this MOTM performance is only the start of an upward trajectory. Role on Down
Trevor, spotted that as well. At one stage DOC turned to the linesman, who was 6 feet away, as he was being held and his geansai was being stretched by the Rossie! No foul.
Well done to young Evan Regan. His chance has come, his window of opportunity has opened up before him. I earnestly hope, for us and for him, that he avails of it. He’s a really talented young man.
Agree that great work was done out the field and MOTM could have landed in a few spots. However this kind of class is rare and let’s hope he blossoms into the future and becomes an important part of the team.
Evan was a very good archer before football took him over and so had a sharp eye from an early time.
Well done to Evan, keep up the great work. He put in his best performance in our most important match so far, that’s a good sign for the future. He showed by scoring with both his left and his right legs that he has a few strings to his bow and that’s exactly what you want to see with your forwards.
Well done to Evan and hopefully he can nail down a spot for summer. To be fair lads, I wouldnt be too harsh on the ref – tough gig on a day like that and I thought he was fair overall. To be honest, if Leeroy was playing against us there would be a heap of people on here after games screaming blue murder!! A class act, but he walks a fine line – was obviously told to eliminate Creggs influence, who is arguably Roscommons best player this year, and he certainly succeeded. I’m delighted to see it as you don’t win all irelands with 15 nice guys. We need more men with his attitude to succeed in the biggest games. The donaghys and neil mc gees of this works are the men with the medals at the end of the day.
Totally agree Trevor we were in the stand in the first few minutes Diarmuid O Connor pushed to the ground and a hand in the face to go with it right in front of linesman right in front of him nothing done !! the rossies were constantly pulling & dragging and got away with it I can’t understand it must be so frustrating for the players !!! Thrilled for Evan Regan that performance was coming for a while watched match back again yesterday and didn’t realise on Sunday how much running defending and everything else Seamie O Shea did unreal !! and very impressed with Aidan did an unreal amount of work he needs to play around midfield I’ve always thought that’s his best position ! Disappointed to see an experienced defender has decided to opt out for 2016 according to Mayo News anyone know who that is? đ
Threw a wild twenty on this lad to be player of the year back in November. Got him at 66/1 , one bookies now has him at 33/1 hopefully with a continuation of performances like this one and a Mayo team that will go as far as September ,those odds will continue to shorten. Great to see an old friend from the quay doing well for the green and red, fair play.
It was also great to see Alan Dillon getting a run towards the end. It would be a huge bonus if we could get himself and Andy Moran fit enough to give us 20 mins at the crux of big games. Andy had a huge impact against Dublin last year and I was slightly surprised that it wasn’t Dillon that was introduced late in the drawn game when we had them on the run.
It’s Tom Cunniffe, Livenhope. The paper says that he told Stephen Rochford he intends to do some travelling over the coming months so isn’t in a position to rejoin the panel.
I had that feeling Willie Joe đ thanks for that disappointed but best of luck to him ! He’s been brilliant for us the past few years !
Great to see Evan step up on Sunday. Still can and need’s to improve but very encouraging.
Well done Evan – deserved MOTM vote.
On a reviewing last night a few things struck me:
*Evan: goal of course, but what about that point from the sideline? How the hell did he get such height on a placed ball – against the wind? Unbelievable. What does he have to do to get on the HS team of the week?
*O’Sheas: Again echoing Fergie O’Donnell’s comments, three of them are going to frighten a lot of opponents. There was one passage where Aido was coming through, two men on him, offloaded to Seamie who took it further, Parsons may have handled, before Conor came through at steam. The looks on the Rossies suggested: where the hell are all these f*****s coming from?
Frees: some have complained about our low score from play. I say we got 7 points from frees from 3 players. That’s a good day’s work.
Leroy: he needs to be careful.
Wouldn’t worry to much about Leeroy. That “lovely footballers, but a touch soft” tag that we have and annoys so many people here, can work for you as well. We’re not seen as dirty footballers and as a poster rightly pointed out, we would be swinging from the rafters screaming about Keegan. He is a terror on the field and is the only player I know who can completely neutralise Connolly in a game and to be honest, he’s been my favourite player over the last 5 years (difficult thing to say as its like having to choose a favourite child). The image of him balling tears after the 2013 AI final still upsets me.
If you get the name of an early riser….
I think both managers will be happy enough with Sundays game. Rochford obviously because they got the two points which helps towards safety and McStay/McHale because it dampens the hype in Roscommon a bit and despite only having about 25% possession they only lost by 4 points in the end.
I was very impressed with Mayoâs tackling. Roscommon are one of the smallest inter county teams I have seen and Mayo almost bullied them at times. Also the fact that Roscommon have absolutely no midfield makes them a very easy side to set up against as all you need to do is force them to kick the ball long. A lot of people saying that Roscommon were missing players so I wouldnât be reading too much into the game.
Could probably do without Horanâs comments. I know they are just his opinions and its his job to give them but he is always going to be associated with this team so I wouldnât mind sometimes if he was a bit more tactical with his columns.
That’s disappointing news to hear about Tom Cunniffe. Best of luck to him on his travels, he owes us nothing. The full-back line is one area that we are short on cover for. Lee Keegan even had to play in that position a few times this year. Remember last year we ended up short of cover in midfield when Semie got black carded against the Dubs. We don’t want to see the same thing happening this year in another position.
The visual and atmosphere of matchday is what you don’t get sitting at TG4.
On Sunday there was act1scene1…the brush boys in the far corner. Brush 1 loses head ….brush 2 brought into action.Then operations cease…’better keep this wan for the next day’
Act 1 scene11…musical overture..nice young voice but too low and too slow! Later on my Rossie friend suggested that she it was who set the pace of the game!
Final act….1-10 to 4pts. ‘Only thing to cheer up this game is for Ros to get a goal’……and dum di dum di dum…on the button, Hennelly looking back under his legs!
And that wasn’t all for when Regan scored the gem a pair of gents glasses from in front were seen to land three rows back.
And can’t but mention the squawkiest female mentor of advanced yrs that I’ve ever had the displeasure to endure, two seats away. I don’t think she was from Mayo!
So,what a day! Who could miss it?
Well done Evan Regan credit where credit is due also best of luck to Tom Cuniffe great servant to Mayo over the years hope he enjoys a well deserved break
Good luck to Tom Cunniffe, body on the line for many years with no brake pedal once he crossed those white lines.
We will be fine with full back cover. Keith Higgins and Kevin Keanes return will help that. Temporarily (right now) yes we are short of cover given Ger Cafferkeys injury at the weekend. When it all settles down in a few weeks covered for full back and corners.
I see that Hyde Park is declared playable for the visit of the Dubs on Sunday.
Thats a good one. The Dubs will love that.
I know of a fella who went into the loo there on Sunday and there were footprints on the toilet seat. Seems like some fella had a “pony and trap” while standing up in there!!!!. Slightly off topic i know.
It seems the U21 game is now going to Markivicz in Sligo and not Carrick after all.
Good luck to Tom and he will be missed. Had him pencilled In as a man marker. Not many options at corner back and not sure if Higgins has the appetite for that position, he prob prefers forwards now.
Plenty options at corner back. As I said, right now this week we are short of options. Return of Ger Cafferkey, Keith Higgins and Kevin Keane changes that situation. Kevin Keane has played full back and corner back. You even possibly have yer full backline with best experience of those three. Young Harrison has been playing well. Chris Barret is an experienced player. Stephen Coen is improving. Four experienced players and two younger improving players all set to be involved.
The Hyde pitch was holding so much water it was a Health & Safety issue. Surprised Ros County Board haven’t sought ‘Cakes’ expertise in the field of flooding. Rumour has it that he can stop water like he stopped goals,
Evan Regan is an inspiration and played like a seasoned campaigner.
The standard of umpires and linesmen inactions recently leave alot to be desired. Maybe a visit to Specs is on the cards. AOS in particular has taken relentless abuse both on and off the ball.
Looking forward to Down game with confidence.
Still think Mayo good bet for September !
I think it would be a mistake to start our first and second choice full-backs in the one game. This was the fatal mistake that we made last year when we started all of our midfield options against Dublin in the replay and finished up with Alan Freeman and Stephen Coen playing at midfield. This was after Seamie got black-carded and Tom Parsons got injured. For example if we started Ger Caff and Kevin Keane, then if one got black carded and other got injured, we would be in serious bother. The mistake Noel and Pat made by doing this, i.e. not having another midfielder on the bench was probably one of the final straws that broke the camel’s back for their intercounty management careers. Chris Barrett was probably our best corner last year, especially in the Dublin games but he can be a bit injury prone too. Remember going back to the 2013 final when Tom Cunniffe got injured we had to move Keith Higgins back there as James Horan didn’t trust any of his other defensive options on the bench. Therefore this is not a recent problem for us. Brendan Harrison is doing very well for us at the moment but I do feel that it’s an area that we need to keep a close watch on for the coming months. We know that we lack natural forwards but you get the feeling that we lack natural corner backs at times as well.
The Dubs will not be too pleased with that condition of a playing surface if it’s even half as bad as it was on Sunday.
I think they’ll have to get a few pumps onto the pitch to remove some of the surface water if there is a chance of getting it into any sort of shape for the next game.
Aside from that, I thought we played well the last day, a lot of concentration on retained possession. AOS appears to have much improved in terms of laying off the ball rather than running into tackles – he was clearly looking for support to lay it off to once any Rossies were closing in, rather than making a run for it.
Very impressed with Seamie and Parsons, Seamie’s footpassing was very accurate and his workrate phenomenal.
I think a lot was made of our wides, I thought many of them came from over-cooked passes into the forwards, which was probably a symptom of the conditions rather than anything else. I had a look back at the first half last night, and I think on a decent pitch, either Regan or Freeman would have been on the end of those. There were a few missed attempts proper, but again the conditions along with the wind were fairly atrocious.
Keeping the Rossies to 4 scores in either half I thought was pretty impressive, that was their lowest haul in the League so far, and it was at home for them.
It’s great to see Cillian back too. He really is an outstanding talent, as is his brother.
There’s some room for improvement but having watched how we played on Sunday, there’s a lot to be positive about too.
As long as we win against Down, and by more than Monaghan (might) beat Donegal by, then I’d be reasonably satisfied with our League performance. We’ve had a bad run of luck with absence and injuries, but it’s given the opportunity to some of the younger lads (the likes of Hall, Nally, Loftus and very much so for Conor O’Shea and Regan) to get more game time is fantastic. If we can manage to stay up with all of that happening, we’ll have done quite well.
True on the wide count. There were three long passes which skidded over the endline which Regan couldn’t get to. That’s not really a wife. For me a wide is where you took on the shot and it went over the endline.
* For certain not a wife đ “That’s not really a wide”.
HSE you have put your finger on a lot of issues there re FB line and the policy of back up.
It does look as if Leroy is a potential back up there, while we have at least six half backs to choose from: (Keegan, Vaughan, Boyle, Durcan, Coen, Nally)
I see U21 final venue switched to Sligo. FFS!
Yeah catcol, its amazing the amount of half-backs that we have alright, Michael Hall would naturally be a half-back too and we have Drake and Crowe also. As well as this you would have liked to have seen Keith Higgins tried in the no. 7 role this year as he didn’t have the best time of it last year at corner-back especially against Paddy Andrews. Keith at 7 could either play as a sweeper between the half-back and full-back lines or push forward to unleash those diagonal passes of his, depending on the opposition. Seamie, Tom Parsons, Diarmuid or Kevin Mc would then be options to cover back for him when he would make his forward breaks. I think when he played as an out and out half-forward, the games seemed to bypass him a lot of the time. I remember seeing him coming off against Derry in the league semi-final in 2014 and he looked very frustrated that day as he had played much of that league campaign in the half-forward line and it didn’t really work out for him.
Yes HSE you are right to mention the others too. And Carolan has also played there.
Re Keith, yes have been a bit worried about him. Richie was trying him against Monaghan when his latest injury occurred, so it might be interesting to see how he might tweak that HF role. Small tweaks can make a big difference, but having the pace of Keith and Evan supplemented by the complementary qualities of the other forwards could make things interesting.
What about making the semi finals? If Kerry beat Cork and monaghan beat Donegal and we beat Down ….. 4 teams on 6 points… cork and Down relegated….we make semi’s
Sorry to see tom cunniffe is stepping away, if it was my decision I would have done 2016 with Mayo and travelled next year, this team will be in the running late this summer/autumn I think, once there’s a full strenght panel only one or two teams are capable of holding them and even those teams will struggle. But anyway, he needs to follow his heart I suppose.
That tackle he put on Harte of Tyrone a few years back still makes me shudder to look at. Unmerciful.
What Mayo need is a bit of silverware and soon, at a national level or else others may just decide they have other things to do as well.
Nice piece by BJ Padden on the game in the Mayo News. He really can read a game. Wouldnt be suprised to see him feature in management somewhere in the future.
Good luck to Tom. There’s a world outside football that’s worth exploring and if he feels there’s no time like the present to go and do it, he might as well. You never know what the time away might do for him either. Maybe he’ll be back next year and feel completely re-energized and ready to throw himself back into it.
Oneelanj – the only way we could reach the semi’s were if we had an absolutely astronomical winning margin over Down on Sunday – it would need to be of the magnitude of 25pts minus the winning margin of Monaghan over Donegal. We should be looking to beat Down by a good margin on Sunday but we’re not going to get anywhere close to what we’d need to make 4th place in the table. Unlikely Monaghan will beat Donegal in any case..
45, agreed no pt thinking of semi, beyond us at this stage. Would like to see us build on Sundays performance, be more composed in front of goal, more minutes for cillian and freezer. With DOC and Loftus gone to U21, KMc and Sweeney injured, I think we will see a couple of new faces in the squad for this sunday. Possibly Kirby, Douglas, DCoen. Adam Gallagher is also available following injury.
I agree. Any talk of a semi final spot is pie in the sky. We win one game and some of us get carried away again. When will we learn to just chill out. Like last week the league didnt matter and now we are all guns ready for September. Just a bit of perspective. I also dont thing Monaghan will beat Donegal.
Sorry to see Cunniffe go. He really didnt look himself the day of the Club All Ireland. Losing as many finals as he has must take a toll on you. If he needs a year out then take it. If we had gone down to division 2 my fear would have been that a few more would follow if we didnt land the big one in September. Only so much going back to the well an amateur play can do. Good luck to him
The aim for the Down match should be to improve on the last performance. Seeing Evan Regan capitalize off his big performance would be good and maybe seeing a bit more of Patrick Durcan. I was impressed with him when he came on the last day. Less of the nodding off towards the end of the match would be nice to see too.
On the Higgins tactic, it worked well in 2013 AI final until Tom’s injury forced him back to corner back.
Against Donegal in league before he got injured he was spraying the ball around for fun. It hasn’t always worked but we all know about his long range passing.
Kerry had same issue with Moynahan back in the day, great player wasted in full back line. Needs must. We however should put confidence in Harrison for now and also give game time also to Drake who has the cut of a dominant defender. So if Keith fit would be good to play him in the forwards.
Kevin mcgloughlin is injured I presume , will he be out for long ?
Watched the game on TG4 player earlier. Aidan O Shea had a massive game. In an earlier post I suggested he and Seamie on some occasions needed to lay off the ball earlier instead of trying to barge through defenders. I have to say he did that almost to perfection against the Rossies (and I misjudged him on just one incident). If he is being specifically coached on this aspect of his play (and I presume he is) then it is starting to work. He also won a lot of ‘dirty ball’ and using his great physical strength he converted it into usable posession for the other lads on several occasions. An earlier poster pointed out how himself and Seamie break the tackle and that unlocks defences. That’s true too but it only really works when you take on just one defender. Try breaking through two defenders and that’s where you get in trouble. All they have to do is just back off a little and you are suckered into a trap where you have to turn back and probably into more traffic! It’s all about learning. The very best players are continually learning how to become better. We seem to be getting to a stage now where we know our best 15 – now it’s about individual improvement and learning how to play together and off each other as a team.
VERY hopeful!
The best way to break tackles is to avoid them as far as possible by gettin rid of the ball sooner. A fella gets a ball and is too often left stranded by the colleagues who are not yet tuned into this thing enough. I don’t always have to show I can solo the ball!! I wont have to if there’s someone in there like a shot and up for it.
An interesting article here:
http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/stern-words-for-team-from-straight-talking-mayo-selector-tony-mcentee-1.2591209
Good sound heartening views expressed there….his mind is no sanctuary for hubris.
Looking forward to visiting Queen Maeve and the Countess on Saturday!
he is right, you cant win many matches without a free taker, we will potentially have three on the field come June. Good too see some steel in the management who wont settle for a win and will look to constantly improve.
Or,you can win many matches without a freetaker but you won’t win the big important ones and they re the ones we hav nt been able to bag.The article shows too that there are a few other little matters to deal with to make this great team a really great team!
Good to hear him say openly that the focus isn’t just September, but winning in September. While I’m not an advocate of getting ahead of ourselves, I do think we need to settle into this frame of mind and start really believing that not only should we be playing football in September, but that we’re good enough to win then too. The Kerrys, Dublins, Kilkennys of the world almost certainly operate on this premise and since we’ve been regularly there or thereabouts, we should too. That self-belief needs to really be hammered home.
Kevin McLoughlin’s injury is not serious. Should be ok this weekend.
I like what Tony Mc Entee is saying I don’t think he is driving down from Armagh to Mayo cos he likes listening to Garth Brooks on his CD player he’s in it to win it
I’d go with the following for Sunday,
Hennelly – I’d sooner go with Clarke to give him a run out but as Caff is injured it’s too much of a risk bringing a new keeper and full back in for what is another must win game.
Harrison
Keane
Barrett
Keegan
Boyle
Durcan – his pace on the attack will open up space and he’s in better form than Vaughan.
Parsons and Seamie O’Shea in the middle.
Diarmuid unavailable with the U21’s so Jason Doherty (despite his poor form)
Aidan O’Shea
Loftus unavailable with the U21’s so McLoughlin (assuming he’s fit)
Regan
Freeman
Connor O’Shea
That ll be grand pebbles but I’d like to see Kirby in corner for a stint and COS out to half forward line.
Tony mcentee sounds impressive, and clearly unhappy with silly wides and county players unable to take frees. He knows the potential is there but mentally weak. Hopefully he’ll help drive them on.
They wouldn’t want to take Down lightly and Caff is a big loss.
Keane needs time on the field. Regan and Freeman have too start to add to building confidence. Cillian will get a half.
I would like us to start like last week and make the game safe so some fringe forwards can get some minutes
Freeman should be nailed on to start again, his frees from the left are vital plus he’s a top player when the confidence is up. Down could be dangerous for us, hope managment don’t let them ease up in the build up, would be an awful kick in the balls if we got caught out on Sunday. But in sure Rochford won’t let that happen.
Went on to that rossie forum that was mentioned here a few days sgo, had a good read through it and my God its comical, and people say that we are delusional???? Lol best laugh I had all week. Oh yeah, why are we called rhubarbs??
If there was an award for being happiest man leaving hyde last sunday i would have been in the running for it. For me it was extremely important to win as staying in division 1 is key to proper preparation for championship. I was in roscommon on sunday night and met few of their supporters who were not best pleased lol.
The day suited us but the game still had to be won and fair play the guys stood firm. Our physicallity over them was very evident and our patience with possession was quiet good also although our shooting was bit off. Twas a difficult day for football. Our dominance was eventually goin to lead to a goal and fair play to evan for a top display. For me he showed alot of maturity on sunday that is coming into his game every time he plays. We have been crying out for forwards so lets hope his development continues in right direction.
The competitivness of the league is gonna stand bigtime to our newcomers. Harry.Regan.Conor. Hall.Nally. Have all done well and i believe these guys are the future. I have said before alot of current panel are past it or not good enough so new blood on the scene is great to see. But its one game at a time, Consistency is key to succeeding. Down are next and they still must be beaten.
Rochford has called it right. Asking for patience which i sometimes can be short of lol. But with all who were unavailable at begining of his tenour to scrape away from relegation was on the cards. Were safer now than we were last week. Priority number 1 is nearly achieved. Alot of new blood fighting for places. All in all we should be happy enough. Great to see cillian back. Vital cog in our wheel. If fully fit this year what an asset we have. Our marque forward.
Whats yer views here on Cillian o Connors’ best position?
I wonder is there any truth in the rumour that the Mort has been recalled to the Mayo panel or is it just an early April fools joke
Seen that … Surely it’s an April fools joke ?
Is the mort still playing club football with parnells Willie Joe ?
That’s why it’s called banter…backdoor. I had it sent to me direct!
As regards COC’s best spot it gives me the shivers to see him swapping intelligently with AOS, with everyone else up to full scratch.
I like McEntee’s attitude, I like it a lot.
As far as I know he is but I’m not 100% sure on that.
Same as that love mcentee’s attitude straight talker , no bull shit
Outlines where we went down in the past and steps they are taking to try and rectify the problem
Mortimer tweeted something about “resurrection” just now. Hope this isn’t true, if I’m honest.
I have great faith in Rochford and Mc Entee and indeed Buckley and Carey so will trust their judgement on whoever
They bring into the panel
Any source for the rumours aside from his own Twitter account?
If it’s true and he’s still able to kick the ball over the bar then why not… It’s not like we’re blessed with forwards. But in for a penny in for a pound, if he’s not willing to commit 100% and liable to bail when the going gets tough then he’s just wasting everyone’s time. We don’t need another Gavin Duffy situation where a high profile return turned out to be a damp squib.
I heard recently that Mortimer is playing soccer this year and not playing Gaa. I don’t believe a word of this.
Re Mort- Very interesting if true, though possibly a year or two too late . Think we could really have done with him in the final in 2013 but cest la vie
Certainly an interesting left field option though and to be honest I’d sooner see him coming in than a few lads that featured the past few years. Outside of Cillian we’ve really struggled to nail down a consistent corner forward over the past few seasons
The margins are very small, a late free kick or two could be the difference in bringing home Sam. I’d imagine he’s still potentially the best citeog we have in the squad on the frees. we haven’t seen any of regan in a high octane pressure championship match to judge him properly yet by comparison.
Bit like Duffy a few years ago, feck it- nothing to lose!
It’ll be funny to see the shitstorm it causes if true, Conor is such a divisive character! Always liked him myself
I’d be concerned about this if it’s true. Especially the atmosphere he could cause in the dressing room if he wasn’t getting picked.
“I have great faith in Rochford and Mc Entee and indeed Buckley and Carey so will trust their judgement on whoever
They bring into the panel”
we need to remember this. These lads are far more qualified than anyone posting here, and have full on access to all players, training etc.
I suspect a lot of the skepticism will simply be down to who he is though. the guy is one of the most enigmatic characters in the history of the GAA. You really either love him or hate him!
Mortimer will hardly be back but he was a scoring type forward even in that game in Croker in 2011 where mayo best Kerry in league semi. Will he be back ? No in my opinion. Would I bring him in as a panel member to have as an option? Maybe, I think if he was going well in club he may be worth a look.
I know Mayo have a great back room team in place, but not sure any of them have the child minding skills required for this . Don’t know much about Mc Entee, maybe he’s the motherly, cuddly sort.
Yeah, I wouldn’t say the concern surrounding reintroducing Mort has much to do with whether or not he can still kick a ball and more to do with his attitude. Do we really want someone who could potentially cause havoc coming back into the dressing room?
Mort is def not coming back, there has been rumors of him coming back for the last 4 yrs when we have had a poor game in front of the posts. He was a reliable corner forward 5 years ago. But 5 years is a long time. He would be so far behind regarding level of fitness required for inter county. Also not sure how young players like Regan and COS would feel about him rocking up out of the blue, he isnt the type to settle for a spot on the bench.
Ha ha crying laughing at that post Nephin đ Thank you đ
And they said contributors here were of the more informed coped on wans .
I haven’t missed the irony that this conversation is taking place in a thread about “new” corner forward Evan regan getting man of the match on Sunday!
He’s not even playing club football anymore so doubt it’s true
Good man Ciaran and no Sean we copped on 14 yrs ago , but only really copped on 4 yrs ago.
Add in player of the the week for Evan too. Well done.
Ara lads, if Mort is coming back I’ll eat my bobbly hat đ The rumour was started earlier on Facebook by someone I suspect knows him and is on for a bit of divilment.
But it never fails to amaze me the vitriol he inspires among Mayo people – like it or not he’s contributed more to Mayo football than most. And I reckon he’d still be able to score more points than some of our current forwards …
Is anyone surprised at the gullibility on show here since the great news broke or am I the only one?
Yes, all is solved ….he’s the missing link! Drop all ….this is the year!
There’s no doubt Conor would be more reliable than all bar Cillian at frees but a lighter faster player is going to be at a disadvantage a few years into his 30’s if he lost even a yard of pace. Talented guy but Mayo defend from 1 to 15 now, a skill he never acquired. Also there are no reports good or bad of his club form sense his departure. Regan, Loftus and Conor OS and a few of the U21s are the future. We saw how much Diarmaid improved with summer training last year, same could happen with others. The other thing is despite his super point scoring record all the new guns have goal potential too.
Would we have made 2012 final, if he stayed.. possibly not, could we have won 2013 final with him there, possibly yes.
On the Down game I’d be hoping Kirby gets a run possibly in place of Doherty who can come in during 2nd half if needed.
On goalies, I like Clarke but it tends to be the man with the jersey who holds it and if it ain’t broke maybe don’t fix it. My only criticism of Hennelly last day is goal which may have gotten a deflection or not… but have to say it was very accurate shot but slow enough to maybe save. In all other respects it was a very good performance from him.
If a Mayo flag gets wrapped around its flagpole by the wind, the shaft ends up being red but there can still be a green bit at the end, because the flag doesn’t wrap evenly. Hence, rhubarb.
Ah for Christs sake ,, will ya stop going on about a player who was mighty and clocked up big scores against the likes of Leitrim,, walked away when the going got tough ,, move on to more important things like the down match and the up and coming ,hard working, dedicated players we have on our panel at the moment ! !
Let that be an end to talk of mort, well done Evan. Hopefully he can nail down the position and improve through the championship. I don’t think 6 scoring forwards are absolutely required to win the big one, and it’s very difficult for our half forward line to get on the score board much with all the work they have to do out the field, but we need our full forward line to be a serious threat. In my opinion this will hopefully be regan, freeman & COC although I guess that depends wether we go with 5 or 6 forwards.
Just read a few of the comments and noticed that we tend to go on a lot about refs and that there is some conspiracy against Mayo, look it, we have a few guys who walk the line ourselves and need to be careful, Lee Keegan the main man at this. Great player but needs to be careful..
On another note, I have to say I am delighted that Regan is being given a proper chance, he is a flair player who can ‘strut’ his stuff, we need players like this. Mortimer was one and may have made difference in 2013.
Lee Keegan is an honest player who will give as good as he gets.
The standard of refereeing is very inconsistent, and there are too many debatable situations in gaelic football in general. Everyone has to argue their case.
If Mayo win an All Ireland it wont matter who put the ball between the posts.
Time to bring Maurice Sheridan back.If its a freetaker we want why go elsewhere?
OK WJ will take my punishment if Im banned for this!
Finally you’re getting it Inbetweener! đ Saw someone suggesting elsewhere earlier we should bring back Larry Finnerty while we’re at it, no better man for the job!
Sure we have 3 O’Sheas, may as well bring Kenneth and Trevor and finally have the Morts all together.
On the refereeing. It is terribly annoying the inconsistency referees show throughout games. I know alot of Mayo fans believe refs are unnecessarily harsh on us but we do actually get our fair share of decisions. Someone mentioned Leeroy as one player who lives on the edge and I would have to agree another would be KMc who gets himself in a lot of niggly situations.
In the cold light of day refs have a tough job, not made easier by increased speed and tackling in games. Not to mention the abuse from the stands. I really dont know why anyone would want to ref.
In my opinion this inconsistency in decisions will continue until the GAA define the tackle better and limit the number of tackling players. That is the one area that is most frustrating.
It is increasingly obvious that there are two big areas we need to improve on:
1. Converting our posession into scores
2. Avoid leaking soft goals
The conversion rate is dependant on accurate free taking in the first instance. It also depends on players having just enough time and space to have a shot. Here is crunch – we need our ball winners to lay off the ball to our most accurate kickers asap………no delays. A split second can make the difference between a point and a wide.
Spot on both last bloggers…agreed!
And there’s nothing like a nice streaky rasher on a morning like that.
Thank you Aine Marie for the high acclaim. I’d have you in the left corner anytime before C.Mort.Any chance?
Lee Keegan made these comments in his interview in The Irish Times on Saturday:
(Dublin were better than us in the end up last year, no arguments. They kicked the ball over the bar more times than we did. I never hold a grudge about these games, I never get so caught up in them that I canât see who deserved to win and who didnât. I never look back in a bitter way at anything â not last year, not 2014, not either of the All-Ireland finals. If we were good enough, we would have won. When we are, we will. Simple as.)
Very sensible words indeed…..
In other words: we can’t blame venues, we can’t blame referees, we can’t blame bad luck, we can’t blame the curse, etc. etc. etc…..
We simply have not been good enough to win the big one, when we are good enough then we will win it and not before then. Roll on the Down game!
Where refs are being let down is by their linesmen and umpires. The amount of off-the-ball stuff that goes on when play is at the other end of the pitch is incredible, and the only official that can possibly see that is the umpire. The surprising thing is that a ref is assessed on not only his performance but also that of his linesmen and umpires. So, as a ref, if your officials are missing stuff then it negatively effects your own rating.
I thought Deegan got most things the last day, he may have been a little picky with the tackle from behind but at least he consistent right from the off on it and he punished both sides equally. Regarding the steps issue with Regans goal, the actual ruling is not 4 steps, it is the time taken to take 4 steps. So, technically, he could take 7 or 8 very short quick steps and still not concede a free! To be honest though, it looked from the stand that he had over-carried.
I’m, as the man says, a bit indisposed right now so not in a position to direct the chat onto more fruitful territory. But c’mon – Mort? You can all do better than that surely! For what it’s worth, I have it on good authority that that particular rumour is 100% horse shit.
He’s a sad sad man Willie Joe .. Out of the lime light and craves attention
On Leeroy. I love his niggly/annoying way of playing. We need more like that.
I’d imagine opposition players must dread coming up against him. He’s always at them, pulling and dragging and whispering sweet nothings to them. It’s great to see.
All teams have players like that.
But the main thing about him is that he can back all that up by being a truly great player. Probably the best half back in the country and one of the best I’ve ever seen wear the green and red.
Just look at the list of top players he has marked out a game.
As for this ‘he needs to be careful’ line. I wouldn’t change a single thing about how he plays. He seems to know exactly how far he can push things and what he can get away with before he might get the line.
Ballaghaman – there’s no need for that, or for what you said about him last night either (which I’ve since deleted). As far as I’m concerned, any player who pulls on a shirt to play for his county deserves respect.
ye can all relax it’s not true
Have to agree with Ballaghman. Pathetic attention seeking. While Conor deserves respect for his performances for Mayo he really does let himself down sometimes.
To be fair to Conoreen I don’t think it was him that started this. He may have added fuel to the fire with his “resurrection” tweet but that was about all I saw from him on this, it was probably a bit of divilment more than anything else.
Would I want him back?. I’ve no idea. I’ve not seen him play and I’ve no idea of his form. There was no doubting he was a great scorer on his good days and in the last league game he played against Dublin he tore them apart. He did himself no favours with the statements post departure but that’s all water under the bridge now and whatever people might think of him the record books still have him as our top scorer of all time.
That was all a while ago now and its hard to see he would have that ability still.
As we are in pipe dream mode mind – If I had a choice of Conor to join the Mayo setup, it would be McManus from Monaghan. Can you imagine the damage we would do if we had him up front?.
Keegan has the right attitude. its all about continuous improvement. Hopefully his thinking is widely shared within the squad.
Conor has just tweeted to say the following: “Simply only a silly but rather funny rumour.” Can we leave it at that? I’m not too gone on some of these personal comments being made about him, which are veering badly towards the disrespectful.
I think many people are forgetting what day it is tomorrow.
If the fella who started the rumor looks at this page he or she will get a right laugh….easy fishing.
Willie Joe,
Forgive me for this but the Mayo support is huge and ye are majorly into your footballers which is a good thing as so are we down here. One concern that I would have tho is that I reckon that any player that makes the county team must be treated like a demigod up there. This adulation by that percentage brings pressure and distraction of several kinds and I’d respectfully say there are probably a few players that need two mirrors to get a proper view of the head while they style their hair in the morning.
Mortimer was in my opinion a lovely corner forward, he had all the necessary silken skills suitable to his position with the exception of winning his own ball consistently. In that I am saying when the likes of Tom O Sullivan was marking him he had the ability to burn and gag him badly. I also remember a few years back at a league game in Tralee he came off the bench and was again being marked by Tom, he proceeded to skin him and he kicked some of the best points I have seen being kicked in that field and in that form he was lethal.
Personally I think Horan didn’t handle him correctly and his absence probably cost ye in those finals, against Dublin in particular. I know a manager can’t be expected to widen the dressing room door to accommodate some fellas head but he had a badly needed skill that was not evident in many of his teammates and that was an upper percentile when it came to accuracy. Getting back to one of the symptoms of swelled heads, supporters that throw petals at the feet of maybe the as of yet undeserving.
I am not suggesting that your players are undeserving but watching Aiden on the TV last week as he was speaking to the last player to win in ’51. It was sobering to hear a player of his caliber say that he only had five conaught final medals in his war chest, I thought to myself we are spoiled with success and far too demanding of our players in Kerry but maybe equally there is perhaps too much enthusiasm and pressure by the Mayo supporters put on their intercounty players.
I agree with the posters on Keegan, he is hard, abrasive, in your face and a wonderfully skilled half back. This is what any team needs in these critical positions, Cillian is another that brings fire onto the field. He is fired up in the big games and his head is in the right place, he is shouting at his fellow players demanding the required standard off them. This is the leadership you need, barking at the referees demanding sanction for particular fouls, in the faces of opposing players after they foul one of his team mates, this is exactly what is needed from top players wearing a county jersey, all too often posters here criticize opposing players for displaying these gladiatorial type traits (within reason, I don’t condone nasty or dangerous play of course). There are two or three players that are a little timid for the level of competition they are playing at, these games are not county league or even county championship games. In late summer you are playing the best players in the country and players must have the right mindset and attitude when encountering this standard. Just an observation and not meant to be a swipe at the county set up or anything like that, mindset is a huge part of success in all facets of life !!
Well I had a bit of a laugh anyway as it seemed so ridiculous of an idea. Still like the Gavin Duffy situation a while back its stuff that we dont need. We do tend to lose the run of ourselves and are easy targets for rumours. We are so involved in it all and thats possibly why we think that refs and and venue’s etc are against us. We do have a reputation of whinging a bit whether we like it or not. Lee Keegan is right. We cant blame anyone, we just need to be good enough
We dont need conmort. Mayb few years ago he may have made difference but we now have group of players that are more in touch with todays inter county game. Our new comers are doing alright. If they keep up their good attitude (Which is the most important thing) then we should be happy with that. That cryptic tweet should not be read into anymore, leave the past where it is.
When Roscommon were playing in the lower divisions Mayo were mixing it with the best in the country. So when it comes to intensity and power they may be found wanting this year. The next two games for them could be season defining. Two good beatings would not bode well for championship.
An update from the Mayo camp ahead of the week-end:
http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/mayo-unlikely-to-risk-higgins-with-cafferkey-out-of-down-tie-34586344.html
Good man conor, gone 3-4 years and still causing commotion. It was a bad move for sure by Horan to allow lesser scoring players on the field ahead of conor but that’s all history now.
I wonder if kevin Keane will get the run on Sunday? Or Kirby and any of those other late comers to the party? surely with u21 game on Saturday we will have a few spots to fill in with these guys and especially against the weakest team in division 1?
Keane is a nailed on starter, our only recognised fb. The indo says Higgins is in a race against time to make it. I would def not play zippy even if fully fit, he has pulled up twice with the hammer. muscle injuries can ruin a season if they become niggly recurring issues, zippy is not required for sunday. If we cant beat Down then we definitely deserve to be relegated.
I would like too see the likes of Kirby and Douglas get a run with cillian and Dillon getting more time on the pitch.
In my opinion Horan was 100 percent right the way he dealt with Mort. It might have cost us in the long run but at the time it was the right call. We had just got out of LONDON bearly and were not going well. The decisions Horan made and the resulting fallout in my opinion galvanized the team and was the catalyst for what was to follow.
@Gamechanger10, nail on head there!
My take on Connor Mortimer , if he was good enough I’d pick him, pick the best you have, if his current form was good enough to be in the first 15 or first 26.. Pick him or whoever cuts it at that level…. When he was dropped he definitely was in our first 15 (IN MY OPINION)… .But it is always the managers and sectors opinions that count and always will be their prerogative to pick so they see a the best for the team… . In the same week that Connor regretfully walked, Hennellys walked the same week for work reasons….. . Yet Connor being the high profile player he was, it was the story of the week, RTE, Newstalk , Today’ FM, TV3 and all the National paper’s couldn’t get enough of the story, the family rowed in and added unneeded fuel to the fire……. Horan said he was going with corner forward that could score goals. Mayo after a struggle beat Sligo in the Connacht final and yet our 2(goal scoring) corner forwards of that day, Varley and Convoy didn’t manage a point between them or even a goal scoring chance……. Two sides to every story, but these are the facts.. . So for those posters here who can see nothing good in Mortimer and take a swipe at him every chance that presents itself, will ye please Base your (Opinions) on facts or otherwise these opinions are nothing but (Prejudices)… . The same could said for some of the negative comments aimed at our Roscommon friends, family from time to time! …. Anyhow to end with, I hope Freeman and Kirkby get picked in the full forward line next Sunday ,.. That would be an interesting ball winning combination… It’s a very long shot but in theory we could make the semi’s and you never know after that… It would be a great year to make the league final, got an email today from the GAA detailing the 1916 centeny celebrations and music planned for the league final Sunday, worth being at!
Would love to see U21 success but I think it will be difficult despite some excellent players.Ros have serious u21s too and going well.Murtagh and Harney particularly good.I know we look good too but I think Ros bit more together..Seriously hope Im wrong.
The U21 final will be Roscommon’s seventh final in a row at this grade and they are going for a 3 in a row of Connacht titles. It would be great if we could get the win against them. We have only played one game so far against Leitrim while they have played two against Galway and Sligo, so the start of this game will be vital.
I see that Tyrone and Monaghan have made it to the Ulster final and as far as I can remember we beat these two teams at minor level in 2013 on the way to winning the title, so these two teams must be coming along nicely as well at this grade. It would be a great boost to the senior team also to win this game. You’d love to see these lads keep up their winning habits from 2013 as a winning mentality cannot be underestimated.
Lean Times, Facts are Conor played two All Ireland Finals and scored 0-1 from play. Conroy scored 1-2 from play in All Irelands. Varley only started one all Ireland and scored 0-0 the same as Conor managed in his first All Ireland.
Watch out for Down on Sunday. A proud county with solid history. Beating Rossies in a semi lake??? Love Mayo but am worried by a county with nothing to lose and the underlying assumption in Mayo that Sunday is easy. Far from it. I am a Mayo man living in Down.
Bottom line is that Conor Mortimer is currently not even playing with Parnells who are in Division 2 of Dublin Senior League (He has not played in their first 2 league matches which they have lost). They appear to be in a freefall.
If he is not playing football now, how can he be considered for Mayo.. He was a good player and if playing and playing well would be an asset to any team.
By the way lads and lassies ,,, . Mayo have a huge game against down on Sunday,, move on , please ,, getting sick of this mort shite
Excellent post Gamechanger10 on all fronts.
Myball, ya know you could be from Sligo or Carlow or the likes where there’s never a mort type figure to be talked about. That would be worse than a bit of fireworks on any forum in the end of march, no? Anyway , mort is finished and after he left he said enough to kill any chance of a return.he goes down with Mac and Mchale and all the rest that won flip all. One national league title since 1971 and that by a point in a final where the best team of those days was absent because of foot and mouth disease. It’s up to Rochford and co to guide the present team to the final and have another try.
For this Sunday it would be great to see Kirby tried in there with Alan freeman and maybe Barry Moran, just to make it interesting for all.
Keane is a nailed on starter, our only recognised fb.
Disagree mayomad.
Cafferkey was and still is the best fb Mayo have showed that again on Sunday and some were quick to judge him when he played games when not fully fit.
The U21 final Saturday will go to wire wouldn’t be surprised if it takes a replay to find a winner.
Time to move on from Mort and get behind the Under 21 team on Saturday evening and the Seniors on Sunday
Jesus, I know I’m no one to talk but the abuse/remarks flung at men who served us well over the years is nothing short of a disgrace. Conor Mortimor is Mayos top scorer ever. McDonald was a joy to behold, McHale, who also gets dogs abuse, served this county well.
This current team has laboured at the coal face for five years. They are not the greatest Mayo team since 1951. The team that actually drew the 1996 All Ireland hold that accolade simply on that result. Disabusing men who tried and ultimately came up short tells us more about ourselves and it’s not nice.
The pick of Doherty, Regan, Freeman, A Moran , Carolan, Sweeney, Conroy etc pale in comparison to Morts returns. Take a look at the excellent results archive from 2002 until he packed it in and view Conor’s returns, consistent from frees, and play. By the way, all his scores weren’t against Leitrim . Easy on the Mayo folks.
” It’s not four steps but the time it takes to take four steps” So you can have five or six or seven as long as it does nt take you too long! So how long is a step and how long is long? I’ve been trying to work this out but it’s not working.Can anyone come up with some enlightenment….or what is the rule exactly or can I use that word in the context?
Just to put this to bed once and for all.
The story about Conor Mortimer is not true. There is nothing in it. It is an early April Fools gag. He had no part in it.
So there ye have it. A lesson in not believing all that we read on the internet learned by many đ
Big game Sunday and im afraid of a sting in the tail from Down!
Yep don’t understand the only v Leitrim thing , must of not gone to a lot of the Galway games in his years. Held his nerve when donellan didn’t to take the Nestor cup being a standout memory for one. A class act he was , as a die hard like all of ye in here my regret is being too harsh on him in a couple of games in croke park . He did his county proud and stood his ground in a game where men his size have to have a right set of danglers on them .
My mother always told me that the best way to change the subject is to talk about the weather, lol, we are Irish afterall, so what’s the weather promised like for the week-end??? Rain???
Flooding đ
Ah km79, at least we’re not heading to Hyde Park so we should be alright this week-end in Sligo (U21 game) and MacHale Park (Down game) !!!
Sean agree with all your posts here but will have to disagree with ya on mr mort , croke park is where the true greats stand up ,, kinda annoyed this lad that never chased a defender when beat and turned out was not a squad player gets soo much attention when so many players like nallen , Heaney , and that type of team player slip off into the sunset and never did or since seek the lime light ,, roll on sat and Sunday .2 big games ahead ,, much more important than the past ,
Sorry willie joe ,, that’s the end of that chat ,, roll on the weekend
Looking like there’s a serious amount of rain on the way for weekend alright. Hyde park could be in serious trouble again. Thankfully we’ll be in Markiveic on Sat eve, hopefully we can get the win. Hope to make it down myself, shout the lads on. Looking forward to Sunday too, never know how we’ll finish in the table, 22pt turnaround and we *could* be in the semi’s (now there’s hoping!).
john cuffe,
i am now and always was a huge fan of c mac,liam machale, brady etc, i am not disrespecting anyone even if my wording suggested it. I applaud any guy that can put in the effort and try winning on our behalf.
@Pebblemaster and @inbetweener
Here is the rule; (Its actually a rule that is driving me crazy because referees are enforcing 1.4 a (second part) and not the first part.
1.4 When a player is in possession of the ball, it
may be:-
(a) carried for a maximum of four consecutive
steps or held in the hand(s) for no longer
than the time needed to take four steps;
(b) played from the foot to the hand(s) -toetapped;
(c) bounced once, and once after each toetap;
(d) changed from one hand to the other once,
with the original holding hand maintaining
contact until the change is completed;
(e) struck with the open hand(s) or fist,
provided there is a definite striking action;
(f) tossed for a kick, a toe-tap or a pass with
the hand(s).
The ball may be knocked from an opponentâs
hand(s) by flicking it with the open hand.
So Even Regan definitely took too many steps, incidentally its something myself and a Roscommon fan remarked on during the game about Connaught teams being too honest in this regard,
1. Many Mayo players (particularly Seamie) and even Evan Regan at the start of this move solo the ball into or at contact.
2. Kerry and Donegal players sprint about 10 steps away from contact without ever soloing then when in open space they throw a solo in (remember Darran O’Sullivan the week before for the Kerry goal he took 11 steps and a pirouette before laying off to Buckley for the goal)
http://www.leinstergaa.ie/_fileupload/Playing_Rules_of_Football_.pdf
My ball if Croke park is where the true greats stand up then we havent had too many greats for quite a while Even C Mac who I consider great would not look back too fondly on 1997, 2004 or 2006. The same shite has been thrown at A Dillon for years about not performing on the big day.. The vitriol which some people throw at C Mort is a bit shameful for Mayo people to level at a fellow Mayo man . The same people are fawning over E Regans performance in a league game last Sunday. I hope Regan goes on to perform as well for Mayo for ten plus years as Mortimer did. I hope Regan overtakes Mort as Mayos all time top scorer, though no doubt Cillian will do that first. I hope Regan is still flying in 6 years time with a couple of AI medals in his back pocket And finally I hope we all learn to respect all the footballers who have and continue to represent our county to the best of their abilities.
REDCOL, what you say maybe true, but I was talking about the time he was dropped for Connacht Final. He played very very well in the 2006 semi final, The facts are. Mayo were totally outplayed in the 2004 and 2006 All Irelands the ball rarly came his direction at all, by I do agree he has terrible games (except from frees) in both All Ireland saws so many Mayo players in this games. Had be stayed and played a (he had to be picked first) the he probably, going by his relative competence at free taking hag given us a point or two of versus Donegal, don’t forget be was pretty good at winning the odd free or two, could have come in very handy in the All Ireland of 2012 and 2013!
My Ball :.He was an extraordinary underage player who evolved into a major force in that Mayo team.I feel he’s gotten his due acknowledgement for his contribution to the Mayo cause and also his due criticism for his short comings . I’m sure that Conor himself would accept this and further I believe he probably regrets the fact that things turned out the way they did.
Now, what about Markiewicz and McHale …how good are they going to be?
Gamechanger n- that is spot on. As a huge Mayo supporter living in Galway now most my life Ive seen first hand the difference in the way the Mayo public and Galway public act in terms of adulation of players etc… Even when Galway are doing well, its far more subdued. Another big difference can be seen in the media. The Mayo papers have 20 page supplements for teams that get to a final, galway papers will have a few pages in the sports section…Junior football in Mayo gets as much coverage as senior club in Galway.
There no doubt that Mayo players walking down streets in the county are treated as heroes, even though theyve won nothing on a national level and certainly that doesn’t do us any good whereas in galway it’s a much more subdued level. Probably comes from our lack of national titles coupled with Mayo being more football mad!
The big game of the weekend for me is the u21 final. We are long overdue an u21 title. Our performance in the semi v leitirm was only average and wont be sufficient to beat roscommon, that’s for sure.
Ahh, I think its just we’re *stone mad* over football here in Mayo!
Some of the comments on players performances in AI finals is off the mark. Ciaran Mc most people would say gave his all in 2004, maybe one of the few who came out with reputation intact. In 2006 he went into game injured (back I think). Not long after start of 2nd half when we were looking for a swing in our favour Aiden O Mahony hit him a fair and very hard shoulder and dispossessed him. The Kerry crowd let up a big cheer and the life drained from Mayo. The moment we knew it was not our day. If 100% fit he probably wouldn’t be dispossessed. Kerry knew the significance of that moment.
Mort played well enough in 2006 given the hammering we got. Before any Kerry goal he and another Mayo player went for a goal from a quick short free and we could have started the game a goal up.
No doubt young Ciaran wasn’t ready for free taking duties in 1997 as Sheridan was only free taker those days before his half time injury. However Mc did score one of the best penalties ever seen in Croke Park that day. There was an impending bereavement which may have impacted the atmosphere on the day as players and fans many of whom heard it would no doubt have a lot of sympathy and the player himself bravely chose to play. That was a final Mayo had perhaps the better team apart from Maurice Fitz who our manager chose the wrong match up for. We had the best corner back in the game Kenneth Mortimer. Despite a poor first half for Mayo Sheridan had a great chance of a goal on stroke of half time but pulled his hamstring at precisely that moment and was forced to punch over the bar. It was a flat performance and Kerry were poor enough that day too apart from their star man.
In 1996 draw Liam McHale hit the upright when we were 6 up and I thought no problem the cushion is big enough. Meath found a clever tactic of not competing in midfield and just punching direct into forwards and to end it Colm Coyle scored the poxiest point seen in Croker. The replay had lots of talking points but think we were ahead or level and Brendan Reilly scored a super point to win it. The turning point when we were ahead was a quick short free which I think Tommy Dowd was on the end of and scored. In both 96 days I’d say players really gave there all and had more possession than Meath but a few players did have the yips with shooting. Training was more amateur back then before sports science and Maughan achieved good results by training Mayo to a very high physical standard.
Mayo Mick,!.. . As it happens I remember seeing that rather eye catching “STONE MAD”, catch phrase ‘etched in stone: on my way back from Roscommon last Sunday. Did anyone else notice it? Will it be written on all our grave stones? , Sure as Eamon Dunphy the might say “Its only a game” never read it(his book) myself!….. Unless you have seen this advertisement for a business on the left hand side of the road as you drive from Tulsk towards Ballaghdreen, as I did last Sunday, this cryptic post won’t! make any sence at all. So beak means rack yer brains!
Some news on the Mayo football academy here:
http://www.mayonews.ie/sports/27576-solan-to-head-up-mayo-football-academy
This rain is the best April fools joke yet! Did rosgaa really think the hyde would be ready for the dubs.
Willie Joe, I notice that in Results 2016 you have Matthew Ruane in goal for the U21 championship win over Leitrim. I’m fairly sure that it was Matthew Flanagan between the sticks that day. Could happen the bishop!
Mayo Team I would play v Down
_________Hennelly
Harrison___Keane__Barrett
Keegan____Boyle__Nally
_______SOS___Parsons
DOC____AOS__Carolan
Regan__Freeman__COS
If Andy was fit and DOC needed a rest I would play Andy inside and push out COS to 10 .
outside of the boot
id go along wit ya though i feel it suits conor better on half forward line as his physical presence and shooting from long range are useful tools further out the field. What do ya think?
Tks Citywest and HopeSorings for links. There is much there to stimulate or rack the brain.So, we can conclude that, in relation to over carrying, referees are very often over challenged in monitoring the number of steps taken between legit hops and solos etc.That is to be expected now a days given the speed at which the game is played and the emphasis that is placed on carrying ……to make ground or draw a free or as in our case often,because there’s not the ready support there should be to take the pass.
As regards the Academy, this looks like a good move with Solan stepping up.Id say B Mc has too much on his plate to cover this role anyways adequately. It’s ok saying there should be this and that but to have a functional fit for purpose system going would def take great planning to suit all.
As regards the weather……F— it!
I like the thought of Conor on the inside line as with more confidence and decent solid ground beneath him , in theory he should be unstoppable.
He is doing well and showing some great flashes of play.
Having 3 strong lads who can hold their own inside in conor,Cillian and Freeman/Andy means most corner back will be overwhelmed by the sheer scale of them, every team has a small corner back if not two.
It is sort of replicating Donegal in 2013 with Mcbreaty, McFadden and Murphy, one was as strong as the next so hard to set out to man mark one .
He is showing well and if he could get a few scores even a goal this weekend it should boost him on a bit as he is well able to mix it just needs that swagger you only get from confidence .
I think he can play but maybe lost at halforward as gets tied up in backtracking too much which may exhaust him and lessen his attacking options.
Carolan/Doh/DOC/Kevin Mc/Higgins can all play the drop back halfforwards role so would prefer to see Conor nearer posts.
Be interested to see the game was hoping for better weather faster ball and seeing the Rochie kick game in action but will be another heavy underfoot game.
Weather is a shame also for the U-21′ s as also looking forward to our array of attacking talent excelling on dry turf but hopefully they can still produce .
outside of the boot
good points there on conor. He has played well out the field also. so a good option for either forward line. And an unselfish player also. Playing better than jason doherty at moment. He may recapture a bit of form soon. He will need to as there are alot of guys pressing for places
there is a fine panel of lads pushing hard for places I was only thinking of it the last day but the squad is probably looking something like;
GK – Hennelly, Clarke
Fullback – Harrision,Caff, Barrett,Higgins,Keane,Hall
Halfbacks – Keegan,Boyle,Nally,Coen,Durkan,Drake
Mid – SOS,Parsons,Barry, Gibbons
Halforwards – DOC,AOS,Kmc,Carolan,Doh,Dillon
FullFWD – Cillian,Freeman,COS,Andy,Regan,Loftus
thats a panel of 30 without
Mikey Sweeney
Crowe
O Reilly
Douglas
Walsh
Shane McHale
Nice to hear some good news on the Academy. Sounds like a very limited effort though. Now for the improved plan and investment to follow. Am I alone in expecting a big challenge from the Down team on Sunday, a team with nothing to loose?
And Donie Vaughan O of Boot
Yeah PJ, you’d just like to see Mayo going out to win the game first and not thinking about the points difference. You often see in Rugby games where teams go out to score tries in the first few minutes, running the ball from everywhere and then these tactics backfiring. As they say take your points and the goals will come.
You’d reckon that either Monaghan or Cork won’t get the result that they will need, so that would mean that we’d only need to get the win. Their two games should be right dogfights as Donegal and Kerry have an opportunity of damaging their main provincial opposition’s prospects for the year ahead.
We gave a flat performance against Kerry after the win against Monaghan so you’d be hoping that won’t happen again. It took Cork a good while to get on top of Down last week-end so we need to be patient as well and not expect Down to roll over easily.
Story doing the rounds that 5 players released from the panel last weekend M F mentioned it in commentary last Sunday only heard one name and that player is picked on most teams appearing here in posts in hb line I was in roscommon but I am told it was mentioned on mw commentary but it hasn’t appeared in local press .I would be very surprised as the player has had a good league campaign but didn’t feature in roscommon.
Oh ya sorry donie, just goes to show the strength we actually have minus Cunniffe who I rate very highly we still have such competition for places even without considering addiitonal/ on form u-21’s
Anyone else notice we have won games when Rochie didnt wear that stupid Bobel head wooly cap so no more green bobbles please
And KIRBY. OOB….when you re doin a job wii you do it right. That’s an awful slip up <( :- )
What about a new anthem before kick off with dubs in the Hyde. Paul Simon ” slip sliding away, slip, slip sliding…”
Murt,I thought we’ve already played the Dubs……….
Opt2. Given that we have played the Dubs and the only team left to play them is the Rossies and the Ros / Dub match is scheduled for the Hyde on Sunday, I didnt think i needed to spell it all out that i meant Ros Dub match. Just a reflection following our experience there last week.
Ros heading to croke park this sunday. Great how these sensible decisions can be make well in advance.
I hope the Mayo team and management are better clued in to what Down are capable of on Sunday than many of your posters. Over-confidence and disrespect for the Down team are very dangerous ingredients in a game that just requires Down to spark to build some confidence for them for the summer. I do not care how many times they have been beaten in the league. Still a county team whose record in finals Mayo would die for. Come on Mayo. On guard.
Nicely said one mayo man in down. If there is one county in Ireland that has no right to be cocky it’s Mayo. We beat Ross last week and I’m happy out with the win, but we should have been out of sight by 70 minutes. Once more, we let a team peg back a big lead and frankly it’s a massive weakness that we are still a long, long way from solving. While there are positives to take, there are zero signs that this aspect is improving. Zero.
We might change our tune in summer when we’re playing other Div 1 teams including Ross again potentially, and we may well be put in our place. Down have a serious history and record and are a proud county and we’ll be doing well to beat them on Sunday despite their poor league thus far. They’ll not be giving us any respect and why should they.
M in D …. I don’t think many of these bloggers will make the team for Sunday!
Inbetweener, I love all these bloggers. But please be careful and respectful of some great GAA players who give all to their teams. Would die happy if Mayo bridge the gap in September. Up the Neale.
Well maybe Down will give us a game but why have they lost all the games so far (some badly)? I cannot see them getting up of the canvas enough in the last game to beat us, especially since we have to win or we could be joining them. Mayo by a few points on Sunday or it’ll be a major surprise. If Down are out of their depth,they’re out of their depth and will need to reset the way they are operating and hope a few new players pop up as well. It will happen to Mayo someday but hopefully not this Sunday
Dave, Down had actually got off to good starts in some league games they lost and with very little different happening they might well have gone on to win some of those games. A little bit of luck here and there and some crucial decisions from various referees we might have been looking at very different outcomes. Who does that remind you of over many games and years? After Mayo, Down can make the pulse race. Hope not on Sunday. Come on the red and green.
Very little talk over here about game tomorrow? How do any of Ye see it playing out. IMO if we get good games out of Muragh and Harney we will win
I saw James McCartan playing in a seven aside tournament in a field near islandmore ( Cloughjordan??) shortly after winning the All Ireland when some of the Down team were relaxing in mayo after winning the All Ireland. McCartan in full flight was something to behold. A bit like Tom Langan fisting goals when needed against Galway etc Great counties Mayo and Down. Come on Mayo.
Sounds like you have adopted Down as your second team, good for you. And very true about the close calls and referee decisions. Hopefully it won’t come down to that on Sunday. I lived in a few different counties but could never warm to the county teams in those counties, even the weaker ones. Mayo or nobody. My bet is Mayo to go full throttle on Sunday and win the game by a few scores, with the competition for jerseys in the Mayo panel there will be nobody sitting back to enjoy the view.
Mayo In Down, why on earth should we show them any respect when they kicked, dragged and punched their way to victory over us three years ago? They are a nasty, cynical little team and I hope we beat them out the gate on their way out to Division 2 where they belong.
good luck to the lads on Sunday, i hope they get the win and the other results go our way as well, we are now into our sixth year with this great team, i know we have no nationals titles to show, but they have been and still are a great team, ok lacking that one spark either on the field or perhaps on the sideline, but they gave it their best shot, so lets stay with them to the end, and who knows by the time the bulk of this team walk away we may have got our hands on the one cup all mayo GAA people crave, and if not they at least have lit the hunger for success in the county once more, so hears to long summer days and the cry of come on mayo,
I don’t remember Down playing us in Castlebar before….when was the last time we met on Mayo soil?
Ultair – I’m glad someone remembers it!! That was a shocking display (and a 10 hour return trip :”( ). I’ll never forget, just before the final whistle, around half way on the stand side of the pitch, 3 down fellas dragging Aidan down and him getting up and running with one still on his bloody back!!! And the ref still didn’t give a free!! Unbelievable
Ultair / Mayo Mark; I was up in Pairc Esler that night. I remember it well. Was a Saturday evening. Ireland & France drew in the 6 nations just beforehand. Then we were treated to the most disgraceful 70 minutes of rugby & off the ball stuff.
Is the team being picked to night?
Team picked ! On mayo gaa website ,
The Mayo team for Sunday’s round seven Allianz Football League clash against Down in Elverys MacHale Park at 2pm is:
1. David Clarke (Ballina Stephenites)
2. Brendan Harrison (Aghamore)
3. Kevin Keane (Westport)
4. Chris Barrett (Belmullet)
5. Lee Keegan (Westport)
6. Colm Boyle (Davitts)
7. Shane Nally (Garrymore)
8. Tom Parsons (Charlestown)
9. Seamus O’Shea (Breaffy)
10. Conor OâShea (Breaffy)
11. Aidan OâShea (Breaffy)
12. Jason Doherty (Burrishoole)
13. Evan Regan (Ballina Stephenites)
14. Alan Freeman (Aghamore)
15. Cillian OâConnor (Ballintubber).
MayoMark, I remember that incident with O’Shea as well. It happened right in front of the linesman in injury time. The same linesman who clearly was able to see that one of their points was wide. And they had another wide given as a point as well. Caff had to go off with a bloody nose. It was the same craic in 2012. A cynical northern team who knew they had a weak ref and capitalised on it.
The 2013 league campaign was one where we naively lost to some very limited teams, and Down were one of them. We were certainly missing a bit of steel in the mid-part of that campaign, and only for COC pointed us twice from the sideline we would have gone through the trap door at the end.
I hope those who lined out that night remember all that went down, and I seriously hope we give them a tanking in the vein of the 2012 QF, not just because we need to secure Division 1 status but because they deserve it.
Does anybody know what’s wrong with Kevin McLoughlin? I hadn’t heard why he wasn’t on the panel last week and not in the starting team this week either
Well fair dues to the memories and they become more important as time moves on.Sometimes I think memories are more important than their actual contents! I can’t remember Down visiting our shores before and if so and even if not,we ought to give him a fine welcome on Sunday.
Exile…I think there’s something grand about that blog of yours!
Sligo,, 6oc tomorrow evening!!!
yew_tree, we last played them at home in 2012.
I was up in Pairc Elser that night too and I remember Aidan O Shea being singled out for “special” treatment on the stand side of the pitch near the sideline it’s a credit to him how he keeps his discipline. I like the look of the team named for Sunday would have liked to see Kirby get a run but am happy with the team and will be there roaring them on as usual good to see not taking anything away from Robbie but good to see Clarke getting a run too
Interesting team ,, still places up for grabs . I remember when ya cud name the mayo team in January,,, ! Special group of players , . Big game Sunday ,, let’s go in huge numbers and roar on our lads again ,, these are great times for mayo football , , let’s enjoy them while we have them ,,, safe journey to all ,
Couldn’t agree more Ultair and MayoMark, a lot of us won’t forget that night in a hurry. It was disgraceful stuff and as usual AOS got no protection from the referee – if I recall correctly David Coldrick was the man in the middle that night. I hope we absolutely wallop them out the gates and back up the road with their tails between their legs.
I will say though that Pairc Esler is one of the nicest grounds I’ve ever visited, but I hope we don’t get to see it again any time soon.
It was in March 2012, Yew Tree. We lost by five points, Aidan O’Shea was red-carded very early on and we lost our way in the game after that.
Yes, they always seem to pick an interesting team. This one really stands out for the full forward line and no doubt he plans to give sometime to others.
Unless Paddy Power has become senile it should it should be a nice wet evening for Mayo.
We will all be wiser in 40hrs or so.
Ciaran 2
Surprised Patrick Durcan not playing. Maybe he’ll come on as a sub. Delighted Cillian starts. Lack of a free taker cost us in early rounds. What about McLoughlin?
Best way of getting a good score is not letting in goals. Do we have a sweeper or What? Looked at the end of the Dublin replay recently. Three goals and no effective sweeper. Now’s the time to nail down a defensive system. We had Dublin beaten if we didn’t let in a goal. Then we conceded three of them. Most important task for championship. Mayo’s doom is not wides or low scoring but conceding goals.
Is Durcan not still U21 Up She Flew?
No durcan is a year too old for u21
My mistake!
We have lost our two games at home so far in the league so you would think that the lads won’t want to lose their three home games, we’d probably deserve to get relegated if that happens. So you would expect to see a big performance from us on Sunday. We have a good mix in that team, between experienced lads and lads trying to impress and break into the first 15. Best of luck to all involved!
Any word on the U21 team? Here’s the team that played against Leitrim:
Mayo: B Reape (2-4 ), F Duffy (1-2, 1f ), C Loftus (0-4, 1f ), D OâConnor (1-0, 1 pen ), F Boland (0-2 ), M Ruane (0-1 )
Mayo: M Flanagan; E Doran, S Cunniffe, C Harrision; D Kenny, M Hall, J Kelly; V Roughneen, S Coen; F Boland, C Loftus, S OâConnor; M Plunkett, B Reape. Subs: M Ruane for V Roughneen, S Akram for J Kelly, E OâDonoghue for S Cunniffe (BS ), E OâDonoghue for M Hall, J Lyons for C Loftus, TJ Byrne for D OâConnor, M Murray.
Just noticed Fionan Duffy was missing from the above line up per the Mayo Advertiser. Below from The42:
Mayo
1. Matthew Flanagan (Balla)
2. Eddie Doran (Achill)
3. Seamus Cunniffe (Ballaghaderreen)
4. Ciaran Harrison (Aghamore)
5. David Kenny (Aghamore)
6. Michael Hall (Breaffy)
7. James Kelly (Belmullet)
8. Val Roughneen (Balla)
9. Stephen Coen (Hollymount/Carramore â captain)
10. Fergal Boland (Aghamore)
11. Conor Loftus (Crossmolina)
12. Diarmuid OâConnor (Ballintubber)
13. Michael Plunkett (Ballintubber)
14. Brian Reape (Moy Davitts)
15. Fionan Duffy (Crossmolina)
Subs
23.Matthew Ruane for Roughneen (19)
17. Sharoize Akram for Kelly (half-time)
21. Eoin OâDonnoghe for Cunniffe (34, blood sub)
3. Seamus Cunniffe for OâDonoghue (42, blood sub)
21. Eoin OâDonoghue for Hall (45)
20. James Lyons for Loftus (45)
18. TJ Byrne for OâConnor (54)
24. Mikey Murrey for Coen (56)
It is important Clarke gets game time ahead of the championship in case of an injury to Hennelly who seems to be No 1 at this stage.
You really wouldn’t know for sure who might start on Sunday – I certainly expect Durkan to get a run.
I agree we should really ware into Down and put them to the sword if for no other reason than that’s what we should do to any team we play. We also need to try to correct some of the shortcomings we have seen so far – converting posession into a decent score on the scoreboard for one thing.
i expect the lads to treat it like championship – they are too long on the road to get caught napping. They well remember London 2012!
One game I remember was early on when JH took over. It was under lights at McHale Park. A truly cracking game of football. Something like 2.13 to 3.10 and Benny Coulter was at his best. Down can play football and I feel we need to be a lot sharper in front of goal than that which got us over the line in Dr Hyde Park last weekend. The lads from the Mourne mountains and around places like Rostrevor love their football and would to wrap up this campaign with a win over Mayo. In my time we have never had it easy against them particularly in the league. I like the team that is names and its probably the strongest team we had so far this year.
Not any suprises for starting line up. Would like to have Durcan from the start but Nally has done nothing wrong and is there on merit.
In my opinion its our strongest ff line and would expect that to start for championship.
Add Caff, Zippy and KMc and it would be our strongest team overall.
Plus DOC of course
I would expect ruane and akram to start tomorrow. I also think coen should move back to backs.
Only change I would like to have seen is Durkan as Nally got fair few chances (done well yes) and would be nice to see the dynamic running of Durkan for 70.
Be good to see Kirby get a run too if any of the starting 6 fall short. Doherty under pressure and if subbed would be good to see Carolan get another run to see what he brings to the table.
Great to see Cillian back as he looked classy last day despite all the missed games, must have been training hard to come back so seamlessly. Makes up for loss of his brother to U21s.
I read where our Dublin based u21s train with our Dublin based seniors under Tony McEntee.
That is a really good development.
Article with interview with Brian Reape on the42.ie
That will be mighty for those lads progress.
Will many Mayo fans travel to Sligo today? Not really much talk about it at all do Mayo fan even realise he are in connaght final today
Heading up alright Oliver and honestly looking forward to this game more than the Down one! It’s a massive day for us and I think we have a great chance of ending the drought today. Would be a great 7 days for mayo football if we win today and tomorrow!
I have actually been looking forward to this game more than senior game last weekend and our game against the dubs tomorrow. Should be an absolute cracker hopefully conditions don’t ruin it like our kip did last weekend. The minor match 3 years ago was some match with Mayo going 2-1 to no score up and we got back to three points with Nearly getting a goal of long ball in last kick game. From Ros perspective we have improved from minor team in defence which a very talented Mayo full forward line destroyed. Our hopes rely on big games from Murtagh and Harney. Our bench is weekend with losses of jack early and Noel Gatley so we won’t have much options to change game should things be going against us
Great win for our u21s tonight
What a come back!
Maigheo Abu ???