It’s been a news-free zone of late in relation to the Mayo Senior football panel, a situation that has caused frustration to journalists and supporters alike, not least given the fact that while it’s known some players have been out due to injury, there’s been no hard information at all on what the position is about individual players and how long they might be out for.
Michael Gallagher in this week’s Mayo News (paper and digital variants) has, though, succeeded in getting the first bit of proper news in a long time on this front and he got this new from Mayo GAA Secretary Dermot Butler.
The first item to report is that both Brendan Harrison and Jordan Flynn will definitely not be available for the Galway game. Dermot Butler confirmed as much to Michael, though it was, I thought, amusing that the Secretary prefaced this confirmation by saying “of course” they wouldn’t be fit to play on Sunday week.
Of course? Well, in the sense that, in Brendan’s case, the injury looked bad in real time while unconfirmed news about the damage to Jordan’s foot gained wide currency in the days after the League final. Up until today’s piece in the Mayo News, though, there was no official confirmation that the players were even injured and we still don’t know for sure what the nature of their injuries are. Of course, indeed.
The good news, though, is that they’re the only two players who are definitely ruled out of the Galway game. All the others are, according to Dermot Butler, “making progress” but there’s still no confirmation as to how many of the lads currently working their way back to fitness are likely to be okay for Sunday week.
On that score, Ger Flanagan revealed on our latest podcast (online already on Patreon and available on all other platforms tomorrow) that neither Diarmuid O’Connor nor Paddy Durcan have returned to full training as yet and are only expected to do so the week of the game. As a result, it remains to be seen if either of them will be fit and available for selection for the Galway match.
So, that’s the latest on player availability ahead of the start of the Championship. Hopefully, there’ll be more in the way of news on this front between now and Sunday week but I wouldn’t bet on that.
Very odd to see the secretary briefing media on injuries?
What is the nature of Harrisons injury? Is it ACL?
The secrecy is head scratching. In recent times though it does seem its all very cloak and dagger from so many inter county setups. Its seems to be a case of say nothing and keep saying it.
In any case it’ll be great to be back in McHale Park once again and taking on the old enemy.
Fair play to you WJ for a bit of information anyway. Tough on Flynn and Harrison and I suppose in fairness we were all expecting that. Could have done with Diarmuid and Paddy in full training but we are where we are. At least they’re heading in right direction Even if we lose to Galway the season is not over so crucial to get lads back fit ASAP
Well Dermot was very helpful. He might as well have said ( like the Add on Tv ) shure ya know yershelf.
It’s not clear what it is, Doc, aside from “of course” he’s not okay to play against Galway. The only other piece of information Mayo GAA issued about Brendan came a full week after the Kildare game when they said he was being assessed by the medical team.
I dont hear any other county team manager giving updates on any injured players- so why should we. Did Jack o Connor give any update on Paul Murphys, Setphan Ekunbourg, Dan o Donoghue, Sean o Shea etc – while they were/are injured?
If Paddy and Diarmuid are only returning to full training the week before the game – it is hard to see them making any contribution in the Galway game. There will be no way they will be any where close to 100% fit – never mind match sharpness. Plus the danger if they come back too soon- they could end up doing more long term damage.
@Southmayo Exile, yeah. Jack has been giving the odd update on their lads over the year alright.
https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/kingdom-awaits-return-of-team-captain-joe-o-connor-1.4826671
A few other updates from the likes of the Kerryman that looked well beyond speculation and could well have come from management.
Do ye remember the two Minister’s when asked were the Troika in Town?.. It’s nearly getting to that stage now!
@Southmayo Exile, Actually that’s not true, Jack O’Connor did give a pretty good update on a number of injured players including the type of injuries and expected return dates.
He had no issue with telling the media that Sean O’Shea had dislocated his big toe or that Gavin White had a tricky enough hamstring injury, but that he was making very good progress and was back doing a bit of running at the time.
Unfortunately there’s very little in that’s…none the wiser really!
If Jordan is out do we revert to Conor Loftus in midfield ? Hard to see many other options unless we go for conor o shea who i think is a better forward than midfielder. Its a pity we didnt give jack carney a run out there during the league.
Mayo fans seem to think they have the divine right to know what’s going on inside the Mayo camp. It was the same after we lost the all Ireland last year, we seemed to think that we deserved some answers, nearly as if we owned them or something. Really gets on my nerves. Just let them get on with it!
Aidan O’Shea or Loftus the obvious choices for me. Diarmuid should be kept in the forwards assuming he’s fit. Oisín Mullin will be needed to mark either Walsh or Comer.
Seanie……..with all due respect, COS ?
@martyk- he wouldn’t be my first choice but if Diarmuid and Jordan aren’t options not sure who else can slot into midfield.
Ah no……I see your point there Seanie
AOS moves to midfield for me. With no Robby, need kick out options. Oisen Mullin’s availability is critical. I’m fine with PD, DOC and COC coming on with 20 min left to seal the deal. Kevin McL gets the start in half forward line. EH holds down a half back position. All good!
I’d be a bit on the nosey side when it comes to mayo football I want to know everything but I’m OK with the secrecy regarding injuries. As supporters we haven’t a clue what 15 will start so imagine how little galway know about the team. No harm to keep them in the dark.
Think we started Jordan in midfield for every league game and he had established his position with Mattie. Big loss as are Paddy, Diarmuid and Robbie. New pitch, unknown team, will be impossible to know how this one is going to go but given Galway’s form in the league, would have to be favourites going in to this one.
Aidan to midfield, picking up Conroy. He definitely has the legs and the knowhow. Can envisage a full forward li e of ROD, COC, Carr. Half forwards dependent on DOC being ready. I would go Carney, DOC, Darren McHale/Orme. Hennelly in goal if fully fit but no problem with RB. Full back line. Lee, and O’Hora in the corners with David Marie if fit at full back. If all fit half back line picks itself. Paddy. Oisin. Eoghan Mc/Hessian.
Didn’t realise how much we appreciated management updates until they were gone.
I wouldn’t be opposed to playing Jack Carney in midfield. Plays there for Kilmeena so knows the role. Feel he is quicker than Loftus and more mobile. Conor Oshea and Aiden are too slow for midfield. Only way I would play one of them there is if the conditions are terrible but if its a nice day that would get played around to easily.
Assuming we are carrying injury’s, lads haven’t trained and Jordan and Brendan are only 2 definitely out i would go with the following team. This game will be won in the last 25 minutes so i feel a stronger team needs to finish the game.
1. Rory Byrne
2. Lee Keegan 3.David McBrien 4.Padraig O`Hora
5. Oisin Mullin 6.Stephen Coen 7.Eoghan McLaughlin
8. Mattie Ruane 9. Jack Carney
10. Michael Plunkett 11. Kev McLoughlin 12. Bryan Walsh / Fionn McDonagh
13. James Carr 14. Jason Doherty 15. Ryan O`Donaghue
16. Robbie Hennelly / Colm Reape
17. Enda Hession
18. Rory Brickiden
19. Paddy Durcan
20. Bryan Walsh / Fionn McDonagh
21. Aidan O`Shea
22. Darren McHale
23. Diarmuid O`Connor
24. Conor Loftus
25. Cillian O`Connor
26. Aiden Orme
Agreed with Southmayo exile, apart from general curiosity and discussion points why on earth should we know every little detail about who is available or what goes on in camp.
Keep everything in house and most importantly keep galway guessing, we aren’t owed a status update on everything that goes on behind the scenes
@jkel88 I like that team a lot and think you may not be far off.
Injuries allowing, Would be expecting diarmuid and paddy to start for sure.
Love Kevin but he has shown absolutely nothing to justify a starting berth so would have duarmuid in at 11, then would bring paddy Durcan in at wingback moving oisin to midfield and carney to wing forward. Think oisin can match up on conroy well there as conroy is very attack minded
Only question then us whether to start cillian or hold him in reserve, without seeing him in training we don’t know how sharp he is but watching the kerry goalkeeper burn him for pace suggested he wasnt fully up to speed v kerry
No way McBrien will start
I wouldn’t be convinced jack carney is physically ready for championship midfield.
New podcast episode up now, available on all platforms, featuring Ger Flanagan, Stephen Drake and me with chat about MacHale Park, a look ahead to Mayo/Galway, the U20s, the Camogie League win and some club stuff.
Tickets for the Mayo/Galway game are now available for season ticket holders – email just received.
Thanks Willy Joe, do ya know when they will be available for general sale. I could only get 1 with the season ticket.
Don’t think players should be rushed back for the Galway game. The qualifiers wont be a disaster, one extra match. Games to be played on 22nd/23rd of May. Don’t think any team in the draw will frighten us. Would say in with us (if we lose to Galway) could be ..Cork, Limerick, Meath, Louth, Derry Monaghan and the one we would like to avoid Donegal or Armagh. For me lets get them fully fit and not ruin it by bringing players back to soon.
One of the reasons for the current Omertà may be our leaky-as-a-sieve set up down through the years. For instance, I (and I’m sure every poster on the blog), was aware of the Robbie for David substitution in the AIF replay in 2016, on the morning of the match. Did I need to?
Jack Carney is not ready yet for either half forward line or midfield. The most glaringly obvious partner for Mattie is Oisin. Put Mullin on Conroy and he see how he likes running up and down the length of MacHale park at 33/34 years of age?. Oisin is pur rolls royce engine, let him loosd.
Team id start for Galway
1. Hennelly
2. Keegan
3. McBrien (if recovered)
4. O’Hora
5. Durcan
6. Coen
7. McLaughlin
8. Mattie
9. Oisin
10. Plunkett (sweeper now an again)
11. Aidan
12. Diarmuid
13. ROD
14. Doc
15. Carr
A team we would all love to see start Line Ball but not sure if we will have that luxury of selecting all them players with the injuries we have.
If Oisin wasn’t played in midfield during the league i cant see him playing there come championship.
What has McBrien done to deserve a start. It appears to me that the less you play the more you are respected by fans.
Am I missing something, is he shooting the lights out at club level.
I think you may be on to something there Catcol. I recall hearing that news, asking what the source was and hearing it was a then former player from Ballina, and then being absolutely disgusted at hearing who he was quoting as his source. I lost a lot of respect for both of them as a result.
Jrb, I wouldn’t want our full back shooting out the lights. I’d want him preventing the opposition from doing so!
I know Seanie CH, bar Jordan and Harrison its a team that could potentially start (fingers crossed). With no Tommy this year we are lacking serious gas so McLaughlin has to start if fit.
JrB, McBrien has done plenty to deserve a shot at a championship start. Is an out an out defender, has the bulk and a bit of pace to be a serious full back for us. If he hadnt picked up a knock in his last game he would of started the final.
How would Loftus be an obvious choice for midfield. On what basis?
What does he do in the air, defensively and missed 1-3 from play in AI final last year incl. an open goal.
But Ya he’s an obvious option for midfield.
it’s a pity the management group aren’t as good setting up a defence and stopping concession of goals in big games as they are at not releasing info about the squad.
Would go with a lineup along the following lines.
Sweeper needed as any decent team is going to be going after us for goals now.
Byrne
Hession
OHora
McBrien
OShea (Sweeper cutting out high ball)
EMcl
Durcan
Plunkett
Keegan
Mullin
Ruane
DOC
McDonagh
ROD
Carr
@catcol, to be fair you can’t really compare the leaking of a significant tactical change and the reluctance to give reasonable updates regarding injured players.
I would say Mayo supporters have spent far more money following their team than any other county over the last decade, no question about that ,and they don’t follow the County Board or the manager, they follow the team, something that will be there when the rest of them are brown bread.
There are no secrets about how Mayo set up under Horan so there will definitely be no leaks regarding significant tactical changes, you can be sure of that !
Galway will be putting out their best 15 available and have their own plan, I’d say Joyce wont be one bit concerned who’s in or out for Mayo.
Top Inter County managers need to be able to react quickly in real time anyway, if they can’t do that then they aren’t top managers.
I’d say Joyce certainly WILL be concerned who’s in or out for Mayo. If he knew DOC and Durcan were both definitely out, he’d be delighted and could assume we’d be fairly toothless on the break.
When there’s no news coming from inside the camp, it’s a pain for the media who have to fill column inches and air time.
For the ordinary supporter, it means we have a bit less to be talking about, but so what?
As long as we win, I couldn’t give a damn if we don’t know a thing about who’s fit until we see the players run out onto the pitch
@Tubberman, so he’ll envisage they are in and then what ? Get a boost if they aren’t and if they are he’ll have planned for that anyway.
It’s a Connacht QF we are talking about, and regardless of who starts it should be a tight enough game.
It’s been a while since our opponents didn’t know exactly how Mayo were going to set up and our tactics before we met. And they didn’t need any leaks in the camp to know that. Still I remember that Padraig Joyce was fuming when a video clip emerged with Jim McGuiness taking a training session in Pearce Stadium, he didn’t want anyone to know that, especially Mayo, but what conceivable advantage it conferred on Mayo, I’m not so sure?.. Happened around October 2020 just before the resumption of the National League!
If I recall Mayo hammered Galway by about 20 points in that league game where Joyce was being secretive about Jimmy Mc.
What matters more is how the players who take the field do. There are only a few pivotal positions to decide
1) who plays midfield, for me AOS is the obvious choice especially given how reliant Galway have recently been on Conroy.
2) who marks Comer and Walsh. As others have said Oisin needs to be on the of the 2.
If McBrien has marked trickier guys than Comer I’d risk him and hopefully he’s doing the biz in training. Otherwise Keegan and Mullen are quicker than OHora and Comer works off explosive first 5m. At FF Jason vs COC is a marginal call. Jason has been good 50% of the time this year and not so good the other 50. Hopefully improved championship fitness will earn him a start. Cillian will have 3 more weeks in the bag so should be at a minimum a great sub option. Most other calls are marginal. Prefer other alternatives to Bryan W but Kerry persisted with Dara Moynihan and he a more influential player now so same can happen some of our fringe players. Not convinced we should start Eoghan Mc or Fionn McD either. Prefer Plunkett in either role as he’s very much a team player albeit less quick. Boland and Carr are good options. Carr may edge Orme.