It’s set to be a case of Groundhog Day on the Mayo v Galway front next Sunday. (All together now: “Eggs and rashers for the Mayo slashers, barley (or should that be hay?) and oats for the Galway goats!” I haven’t been able to get that old ditty out of my head ever since Safetysam mentioned it in the comments yesterday evening). This is because the FBD “Home” Final has now been scheduled for this coming Sunday (21st February) at McHale Park, with a 2.30 pm throw-in. Not just that, but good old Marty Duffy will once again be doing his best to ruin proceedings with his own inimitable take on how to referee a football game.
We should, though, draw a line there in terms of the degree to which next Sunday’s meaningless clash with the neighbours may be seen as a re-run of that hugely enjoyable league encounter eight days ago. Big Joe and the Herrin Chokers will, for sure, roll into town hellbent on revenge for that hole-kicking but the last thing we should do next Sunday is to offer them the chance of redemption against anything resembling the same Mayo fifteen.
Instead, we should use Sunday’s game to give a run-out to every single one of those lads in the current 27-man panel who have yet to experience action since the NFL began and we should only field three or four of the lads that currently feature on the first team. So what if the Fat Controller sends out his strongest fifteen to face us? Sure, they could exact some revenge for the thumping we gave them the other week but it’d be the hollowest of victories for them if they prevail against a weakened Mayo side and such a tactic does of course run the significant danger of backfiring spectacularly if our second-rung team were to do the business against their first-choice selection.
The NFL encounter on 7th February is unlikely to be the last set-to we have with the Tribesmen this year but the only one we need to be thinking about now is the one that’s almost sure to be facing us in high summer, should we clear the hurdle that Sligo will place in our way beforehand. Sunday’s FBD encounter is of no consequence whatsoever and we should treat it accordingly. I plan to: not only will I not travel to it, I doubt if I’ll even be following this one live on the wireless.
I think we all know you will follow it on the radio WJ! If you could tweet out the half and full time it would be appreciated… Thanks for the fantastic twitter performance on sunday what with keeping up with both games. 🙂
I agree it is meaningless in one sense ……but there never is a meaningless match between Mayo and Galway! I remember an FBD match in Tuam where the fists were flying goodo. I say beat them again and use the opportunity to settle on the best 15.
While naturally it is nice to get a win over galway in any final, i would like to see lads who havnt seen much action this year getting a run out. If thats to be the case its up to those players to stand up and be counted. I agree it wont have a baring on the championship, but one game at a time, let them give the management something to think about for the dubs. A player may show signs that they are ready for the next step up in competition, the league, and from there who knows what could happen with a player getting some momentum going in their favour.
Yeah, its a perfect game to give more of the younger lads more game time. The pressure will all be on Galway, so what if they were to beat a reserve Mayo team in a second rate competition.
BTW anyone know when the the video evidence on the Tyrone game will be reviewed, we could be down a player after that?
Do we even have an option to put out the full first squad? Are there some of the lads ineligible as they played for other teams in the FBD?
As I see it, here are two options:
– Start at the guy that was No 16 the last day and work up from there
– Try out a few lads in different positions such as Full Back, CHB, No 11, etc. This would assess further options that might be available if we had injuries later in the year.
A game with Galway always has an edge to it. This is an opportunity to try new things at full match intensity. Sod the result as long as we learn something from it.
Keep the Faith!
Will look forward to it. I hope to the high heavens that Mayo dont do the ‘four in a row’ victories against us. Its a prefect time to get a few more lads tried out in different positions also.
Roll on Sunday.
Seáneen