Mayo’s Minor Championship campaign started and finished after little over an hour’s football at Dr Hyde Park this evening. Roscommon banged in four first half goals in this Connacht MFC quarter-final and with that buffer they were able to see out the win with relative ease. They beat our lads by 4-13 to 2-12 at the finish.
I was otherwise engaged while the match was on so I didn’t get to see the live stream. As well as that I only managed to tune into Midwest Radio for the final ten minutes or so and because of this I don’t have a load of detail on the game.
I could, though, see from the score updates on Twitter that this was a game that ran away from us in the first half. With ten minutes played we led by four points to two but fifteen minutes later that scoreline had changed to 3-5 to 0-5 in the home team’s favour.
We managed to pull a goal back but they then added a fourth. We were 4-6 to 1-8 down at half-time and in serious bother. In truth, the game was all but gone from us even at that stage.
To the lads’ credit, though, they kept plugging away. Midway through the second half, our having bagged a second goal, the gap was down to six points. While this still looked a daunting deficit to make good, we were now in a far better place than we’d been at the midway point.
But it got no better than that from our perspective. Roscommon were able to keep us at bay comfortably enough and they closed out a seven-point win without too much fuss.
So it’s two underage Championship losses to the Rossies this week, as our dismal inter-county underage record shows no sign of improving. That’s it for our lads in this year’s Minor Championship as Roscommon progress to the semi-final. Good luck to them in that and commiserations to our lads.
At least its Galway on Sunday and not the Rossies again. Hard luck to the Mayo minors, not right that the season is all over after one game especially at this grade.
Another very poor underage result. Just another in the consistency sequence of highly disappointing minor results over the past decade.
I think at this point even the most optimistic of Mayo supporter must agree now that there is something seriously wrong. I said it in a post after the u20 shambles, but worth highlighting again that our ‘consistently competitive’ levels at senior since 2012 was built upon a foundation of a decade (1999 through to 2009) where we dominated Connacht at minor and u21, reaching the all ireland final on average every second season during that ten year period. In 2022, itll be 1 all Ireland minor appearance in 12 years. Chalk and cheese.
Anyone who thinks we can stay ‘consistently competitive’ is living in dream world. And to be frank, consistently competitive isnt even good enough if we dont win Sam. By my reckoning our window of opportunity to do that will close is 3, maybe 4 years time and unless there is a dramatic increase in the standard of underage teams, it could be a long wait before we have any chance. That’s what’s coming down the tracks.
Mayo GAA should chase Stephen Rochford or a proven coach to take over the Minor job…. it’s a very important one. Perhaps Ray Dempsey again. The goal should be replicate what Kerry did with Jack O’Connor. It’s the reason they are now set to win All Irelands again.
It needs to happen in the schools too and yes, Mayo schools have done far better in Connacht in recent years but that’s only because St Jarlaths isnt border anymore and St Mary’s Galway, to a lesser degree…allowing Colemans, Gerards a clearer path to provincial success.
We really only need to pull a few lads out of each age group to keep the fires lit. We have a top quality setup at senior level to bring talented young lads through. Look at the likes of Mullin, Tommy Conroy and Eoghan McLoughlin. None of these lads were on successful minor/U17 teams. They were beaten by Galway at U20. They never got out of Connacht.
A few of the lads from the U20 the other night have potential to step up. The big question is if they have teh appetite for the job ahead of them. Demspey, Carney, Irwin and others can be what they want to be coming in to a group of seniors that set the standards for them.
Mayonaze, the County board shafted Stephen Rochford once. Would be salt in the wound to ask the man back as minor manager in fairness
It doesn’t matter who the Mayo minor manager is. Whatever is going wrong, the players they have available and their level isn’t at a high enough level.
At a guess the fix is long term and a mix of:
– A James Horan modem 2021 type figure controlling our underage development that supports clubs, schools, county underage, skills development, coaching development, teacher training, organising amalgamated clubs support, strength and conditioning long term plan u14 to u20.
If an under resourced 16 year old .can win the Eurooean u20 3000m I think we can show more ambition with the plan for the fitness of our u17s and u20s.
Reality checks are great at underage level. Both underage teams got lessons this week. More work to do. Only listening to it on radko and reading WJ excellent summary, players taking wrong options cost us dearly. And Roscommon were excellent on counter attack. But it was a ding dong match otherwise
Midweek, Roscommon had the game plan, zonal defending on the 40 and we fell for the trap. Time and time again we were forced into lateral passing going nowhere until we were turned over. Fingers burned and hopefully lessons learned. Not a time to press the panic button however… And in time, there will be new lads on the block as managers, personally im looking forward to the Andy Moran era
Would love to see Andy Moran as a director of underage football in the county.
If money is the issue – with proper marketing to the wealthy Mayo people around the world there would be no problem getting the funding – example a package to sponsor a full time coach in North Mayo etc.
It would need to be properly structured so that the u17 coaches are doing the proper training and coaching with their age group etc .
If something isn’t done we will end up back in the middle of the pack and it will be hard to get out of there.
It needs to be addressed urgently
We’re a shambles underage due to a few factors that will seriously haunt us at senior level in 2-3 years as someone alluded to.
School football not being played this year hurt us very badly because our lads missed out on serious games against other schools at A level.
I think there are four or five of the 8 connacht colleges A teams coming from Mayo. School football being cancelled for the year absolutely killed our lads. It levelled the playing field for the likes of Roscommon too.
There is a massive reliance on teachers to give up their free time to train teams after school. I see it in my own locality – teacher there in a normal year takes a team twice a week for an hour and a half each time.
That’s replicated across the county at primary level too with the cumann na mbunscoil setup.
We have a ridiculously small number of Development officers going throughout the county and again, I think someone said we have no full time officer in North Mayo. That is beyond a joke.
Croke park pay a good portion of the gpo salary if we actually hire them. Is there no money at all in our accounts? Seriously, what is the story there? Paying crippling debts on a stadium with a brutal stand and a brutal pitch and the best we can come up with is selling tiles. Clubs like Westport have better fundraisers than our county.
Sorry for the rant but Mayo GAA are neglecting the future to make money on a current brand. We have a sponsor who can’t afford to sponsor us, while advertising Dublin jerseys on their Christmas advert. I’m afraid for the future under the current regime.
I absolutely adore Mayo GAA as most of us here do. I’ll go to Croke Park on Sunday with a heart and a half and roar our lads on. I despair for what’s coming down the tracks though. And so should everyone else before it’s too bloody late.
I agree completely with your first line JP. The standard at U17 is very low. That it does not progress between U17 and U20 is unforgivable. I cannot believe there are not better footballers in Mayo than what we are looking at. James Horan has brought us consistently competitive and I don’t care if I never see Sam coming to Mayo. Consistently competitive will gives us a chance of winning it most years. Outside the senior setup under Horan we are consistently mediocre. Mediocrity is our middle name. Take James Horan out of the equation and what’s left is a poor standard.
@PJMcManus – that is my fear. I think with the end of this current team/James Horan departing, we will return to the the type of results we had after 2006. Qualifier exits and quarter final losses to teams we think we’re better than, but actually aren’t.
If we don’t get our act together, the pack will swallow us up. The likes of Meath, Armagh, Cork, Derry and others would only love our place at the top table and they are all putting the structures in place to take it. While they’re all on the rise, there can be little doubt that we are taking on water.
Should we loose to Galway on Sunday and that’s a definite possibility, then it would surely be time to press the panic button.
Rochford. He is just after having a nightmare in donegal. Leave him there. Slolan. Dempsey. Any one but him. Hard luck on the minors. At least they put up a better battle than the u 20s.. Kevin mcstay was more shafted by the county board than anyone. Also micky moran. The Players had enough of Rochford. Anyhow Sunday is all that matters.
All Dublin clubs have at least one GPO, the guy in my kids club works with approximately 8 Primary Schools in the catchment area.
Then again for 2 underage kids in the club the dee us about 250 basic membership, I think the club has over 3000 members.
The best player in the County Minor Final last year was Eoin Hughes scoring 2-3 for Castlebar Mitchels not even on the Under 20 panel the last day yet we played a player usually a defender at right half forward. Are we identifiying the Right talent and playing players in there best position ?
Another Mitchels player Paul Walsh who looked a really skillful for our Minors 2 years ago no where to be seen on panel on Wednesday.Never was happy to see a man based in Galway with no involvement with Mayo underage or club football given the task of managing our Under 20 team.
I think panic buttons being pressed prematurely, look success at minor or under 20 is no guarantee of big numbers making it to senior, I think what’s forgotten here is age, that one year has made a big difference in that an under 17 is not as street wise as he would be a year later same can be said for under 20s. Heads can go down very easily when 16 to 17 years, fair play to the lads tonight they did not throw in the towel and had a reasonably good second half.
Some fantastic county players never made it at underage,
That’s my twopence worth
The thing that still mystifies me. Is it some quirk of social and genetics that we have literally shrunk in height at minor grade?
The 99 minors I counted up had ten physically strong players on the tram with seven of them over the 6’1″ mark. There were a few in the 6’2″ to 6’3″ range. They had powerful 40 yard boots on three of the forwards. Eoghan Gallagher could kick the ball twice the height of the goalposts. That wasn’t unusual for the time, we togged big at minor.
There’s a year in the age difference but you have most of your height by 16. Tonight there was only the sub midfielder who came on who was around the 6’3″ mark. Physical players with power was only really centre back Jack Ferguson .
I’m not saying this is conditioning, you won’t gym an 11 stone 5-11″ minor into 5-11″ 12 stone 7lbs.
99 minors did not do weights those lads were genetically born that way of being either tall or squat and powerful.
Possibly a declining birth rate reduces the available players with naturally that type of build.
Its the 2008 minors since we’ve had it
It is very important that weight training for young ones is supervised and foows a carefully designed plan. As you know incorrect use of weights can damage growth plates
Gyms are to my knowledge very strict about this
JP – that looked the case with our minors, but the U20s were a very tall side. Carney, Dempsey, Dunleavy, Irwin and Reid were all 6’2″ plus. Dylan Thornton coming off the bench was similar. High fielding was the main positive I took from the team!
The other side of the coin is ros bet us out the gate in 2014 21s , four of that team start sunday i make it.
Mentioned in an earlier post, we need people in charge that are familiar with the age group , they should also have a proven track record before they get the job. Have the current managers at minor or u20 level every managed an underage team in mayo to a county final at any grade. Did any winning club manager get the minor or u20 job recently? Past players should not walk into these underage jobs without cutting their teeth at club level. Feel sorry for the young lads tonight, knockout football is cruel. Difficult to prepare in current circumstances but it’s the same for all counties.
Richard, you got a few wrong there. Oisin Mullin was on the panel of the u20 team that won Connacht in 2018 and got to the All Ireland Final. Tommy C was starting on that team!!
Paddy Joe…surely moffatt and roch both being crossmolina means something. I’d be very surprised if roch didnt have ambition to manage Mayo again.
PJ.. I dont understand the line, you dont care if you ever see Sam!?? What’s the point in playing if that’s not the goal. Consistently competitive isnt good enough unless you finish top every so often.
And while James Horan is good at developing youth into senior players, he didnt just wave a magic wand in 2011. He had a serious supply chain of 5 Connacht u21 winning sides in a row!! Unfortunately today if someone told you that over the next 10 years we’d win 5 Connacht u20s in a row and get to 5 AIF at minor, people would tell you to wake up from your dream. But that really happened in the noughties (including 1999) and that is the primary reason we have had a strong senior team since 2011…
But it wont continue indefinitely and the signs now at underage are more than a little concerning. Our results have nosedived. The conveyor belt is broken.
Andy Moran could be a very good man to bring in aa Head of Underage Development.
Head of underage development would have to be a full time paid position. Andy is busy running a large gym.
It’s difficult to develop your players in a county set up if you are consistently getting eliminated in your own province and unfortunately that is what is happening to us on a far too regular basis. We need to be getting to the All Ireland series, playing AI finals and semi finals as much as possible. These longer campaigns allow for greater development, help players gel together and give the taste of success. It’s extremely hard to develop footballers at the required standard if they are only getting one or two competitive games per year. Our success at Senior in the last decade has been helped enormously by u 21 wins in 2006 and 2016 plus minor in 2013 and even reaching the u20 final a few years ago. Another year will now pass with no underage success and while I get the argument that if we even get a small few lads developing into seniors being ok look at what our U21 team of 2006 contributed to our senior set up. While we slumber at underage our rivals are making progress. Imagine the feel good factor Roscommon has this morning having defeated Mayo at u17 and u20 in the last few days. Those guys won’t fear playing Mayo in the future. Galway won the U20 last year and are providing a really steady line of excellent footballers which will embellish their senior team in the next number of years. Look down south to Cork who have really got their underage structure flying. Despite being dominated by Kerry at minor level for years they are now developing really serious attack minded teams as witnessed by their 3 12 return v Kerry and 3 20 v Tipperary.. In contrast our lads hit 0 11 after extra time v Galway and 1 7 v Ross. Offalys victory over Dublin in Leinster shows what can be done with good management and an innovative playing style. Our senior team has, despite a few begrudgers, been hugely admired throughout the country for their exciting, brave style of play and for our resilience. We obviously produced a crop of really top class men who made huge sacrifices and devoted themselves to getting better and representing their county with pride. They were enabled by the quality of managers we had in that time but remember lots of those lads had underage success with the county. We really need to develop a system and style of play at underage and employ management teams that not only do this but also inspire pride in the jersey and to have a situation where lads are absolutely determined to play for the county and to make the the necessary sacrifices to do so. Being part of successful underage teams will help development of players and give them a path to make it at senior level. Should we lose to Galway tomorrow (entirely possible) it will have been a terrible week for Mayo football.
What happens county wise to these players now , the under 20 lads especially & the minors who dont make the under 20 squad for next season ? Despite all the big talk about a school of excellence in lough lannagh , nothing has come of it to my knowledge ? So is there even a meeting point for development squads? Worst case scenario we should be taking a few lad from these teams and building elite squads, working on them . Despite what billy mc said this week ,I have my doubts we are structured properly. There needs to be a school of excellence, a physical meeting point with the necesaary facilities required .
Am I wrong, is there any progress been made on lough lannagh ?
See Rochford being mentioned and dismissed this thread. In all likelihood he will manage Mayo again, probably after Horan.
Why? Because every Mayo man in recent times gets a second chance. Why? Because the longer they’re out of the Mayo job, the better they get, much like the player who’s injured or that player who just doesn’t get a perceived fair run.
Horan x 2
Holmes x 2
O mahony x 2
Maughan x 2
Rochford x 2???
@Ah Now, there is a pattern in Mayo management over the years for sure, but it still has not delivered the All Ireland.
For the record, the second term of the managers was not as good as their first term.
Maybe Horan can rectify this by winning the All Ireland this year or next year.
For some reason former good / great players just do not cut it in management Gaa or Soccer.
Ye need to get away from this idea.
The cleverest guys are the top managers and just know how to get over the line.
Under age football should not be seen just as a nursery to some senior status in the future! It should be an end in
itself for the enjoyment (and success) of the players involved. I agree with the poster who says you can`t really
parachute managers in. They should “come up along” with a team from say …. under twelve or thirteen.
Maybe the Rossies are starting to see the benefits of the Ballymore money. We definitely need to get that
piece of the jigsaw in place too I feel.
yep it doesnt always work out , we’ve had great success at senior compared to galway since they last landed sam but theyve won five 20/21 all irelands since 2001 and a minor in 2007 with very little to show how that translated into senior success . All im saying is its not black n white formula albeit it is still concerning .
Agree with evergreennred , mulryans help is definitely helping ros . How we dont have some big fish committed to the cause is disastrous but weve beeen over that time n time again, diaspora , diaspora, diaspora, transparency , transparency .
The slowness of manager/selectors to make decisions. Our full back line was very poor from the very first minute but still waited until the second half to make changes. At that stage it was too late. It was a most enjoyable game of football played in the right spirit.
[Deleted].
Underage success is huge for future success at senior especially Mayo to stay competitive in the business end. When James Horan first arrived his Mayo side was built on the success at U21 level. 4 in a row Connacht titles and the All-Ireland in 2006.
His return is building another team and again he’s looked to underage success by forminf his starting 15 around loads of the 2016 U21 All-Ireland winners and the 2018 U20 All-Ireland finalists.
The last few years at underage has not gone well and no need to paint it any other way.
U20
2019 well beaten by Galway
2020 out after the quarter final or be on penalties
2021 Well beaten by Roscommon
At Minior/U17 just 1 Connacht title won in the last 7 campaigns.
Well beaten by the Rossies at underage twice in 48hrs is a clear sign that things has turned south. I’d go as far to say that a underage Connacht title in 2022 will be more important than a senior one as the rut must be stopped and success breeds success for Mayo.
[Deleted].
Any sign of the subs for tomorrow
With the sudden crazy increase in building materials, the developers sponsorship could evaporate, some prices have doubled this past few months.
Financial committee doing great work and just need a bit of time.
Anyone know what’s the story with clonliffe college parking tomorrow. Link goes to ticketmaster but no sign of parking then.
Agree with evergreen and red and I think pplayers are starting to feel the pressure of being evaluated for a future senior panel.
Its not good, players become individuals concerned about their own personal performance. They should be enjoying the challenges and bonding as a team.
Management cant take all the blame, players have responsibilities too. Did Martin Carney et al do a review of underage structures. Were their recomendations taken on board.
I do think itis time for an overall director of underage football. How quickly we forget that our u20 team beat a highly fancied Galway team allbeit on penalties and last nights game was very entertaining.
Until the arrival of the James Horan era Mayo snr teams were, too often, physically bullied and appeared to lack a playing philosophy.
Would love to see James Horan being appointed a Director of Footbal (men & women) for the county. Therein, his philosophy and know-how could translate through qualified coaches and underage structures so as to maximise the potential out there.
Our present underage teams, in both codes, reminds me of where the snr team was at, prior to the advent of James Horran.
Good luck tomorrow; Mayo snrs.
Onemoreyear/Tubberman – that topic and that name are off limits, for legal reasons. Better to focus on the game.
@Ah now, the car park at Whitehall Church is free. Loads of buses pass that car park so no hassle getting to Clonliffe Road. Plus, if you feel up to it it’s a short enough walk from Whitehall to croker.
It’s just an easy option if Clonliffe ain’t open.
Great minor and u21 teams do not necessarily mean good seniors, just look at Galway hurlers. Some of our managers put steel into our player’s. It started with Liam ó Néill. Horan has made us hard to beat and a respected team. No place for for anyone that is shy in battle, you are picked on lots of aspects of your game but most important is the players attitude.
The hurlers are back in the Rackard Cup final – a big second half display saw them beat Armagh today by 2-23 to 2-9.
The women footballers are heading for defeat, though, as they trail Armagh by 3-10 to 0-9 at the second water break. Aimee Mackin has got 3-5 of Armagh’s total, what a talent she is.
Definitely a crisis now at underage level. Maybe it’s time to send for 15 Dublin women or if they’re not available maybe 15 Kerry women. I know there’s a correspondent regularly on here who has a soft spot for another Connaught county but I don’t think they’d make up the difference.
Kickhams man
Thanks for that, sounds good.
Seems clonliffe is actually sold out.
I would agree that there is an issue at underage level. Have been reading the comments here for the last few days and did some research.
From 2011 to 2021 Mayo will have won only 3 connacht minor titles.
In the same 10 year period at under 20/21 level, Mayo will have won 2 connacht under 20 titles.
It is too easy to simply criticise management. Take the under 20 team for instance, I was just as frustrated as everyone else. But look at the previous results for that team at minor level in 2018:
Galway 15 to Mayo 1-9
Roscommon 4-12 to Mayo 0-11
It would have taken a drastic change for that team to then go and win a connacht title. More work is needed with these lads during their time when they are not involved with Mayo panels.
Forward line that should have started against roscommon
10-Ciaran mylett
11-Frank Irwin
12-Dylan Thornton
13-Paul walsh
14-Jack mahon
15-Cian mchale
The management set the mayo team up not to lose when they should have set them up to win
This craic about a crisis in mayo makes me laugh
Yes we lost twice in one week and yes it is concerning
But we have players coming through it’s just about developing them physically
Ethan Henry should have been at 6
Ruari Keane should have been at midfield
Enda hession is a corner back that will be on the mayo team for years and years to come
Ronan clarke is a special forward coming through and he is minor again next year
Oisin Tunney is going to be out future full back he is 18 and on the mayo senior development squads
Please just give it time and all these lads will come through and be successful in years to come
@mayoman6789 was Tunney injured for u20s?
Also re clarke he is a forward?
Enda Hession I recall played as a forward for the county minors and was a decent free takers also.
Look .the limerick hurlers had 3 under 21 titles in a row quite some time ago and could not translate it to senior success..I think Eamonn Creggan was there at the time..2 or 3 of the u 20s will play senior and we pick up a few from club football like Darren mchale as emerged. Management in both cases this week will have to be looked at for sure. We are not that bad. Best of luck to our senior team on Sunday under the guidance of James who picked mayo football off the floor in 2010. Mayo abu
Great win for Hurlers U17 won as well
We have a pick of footballers bigger than most counties so even by doing very little, some top players will come through. Lee Keegan and Eoghan McLaughlin played hardly any football underage yet still made the grade at senior. Darren McHale and Bryan Walsh are 2 others.
It still doesn’t mean we shouldn’t question the underage performances. Narrow defeats wouldn’t bother me, but there have been several heavy beatings to Roscommon and Galway which just shouldn’t happen if we have our house in order.
Yes wide ball i would agree with that. Many of these posts would make depressing reading for the players themselves.
They are all outstanding players in their own clubs, with potential to be Mayo seniors in the future.
But as wide ball says, time to get our house in order structurally so that we can enjoy succesful campaigncs at underage.
Of the 2, i would fancy Rossies u17 to go furthest
As far as I know Aidan he was yes because he was almost a guaranteed starter if available for selection
Clarke started 14 for the minors yesterday and is young enough for minor again next year along with 3 other players that started
Diarmuid Duffy
Lorcan silke
James maheady
Would say Keane,Carney. Irwin + Hession will play senior in the next few years. Dunleavy had a great game against Galway. Another good prospect. Ronan Clarke looked a class act in the minor game.