The team to play Derry up in Celtic Park in the fourth round of this year’s League campaign (throw-in 2.30pm) was named a short while ago. Here’s the starting fifteen we’ve named:
Mayo (NFL Division One v Derry 8/3/2015): Kenneth O’Malley (Ballinrobe); Tom Cunniffe (Castlebar Mitchels), Kevin Keane (Westport), Keith Higgins (Ballyhaunis); Lee Keegan (Westport), Ger Cafferkey (Ballina Stephenites), Colm Boyle (Davitts); Seamus O’Shea (Breaffy), Danny Kirby (Castlebar Mitchels); Kevin McLoughlin (Knockmore), Aidan O’Shea (Breaffy), Micheál Forde (Ballycastle); Mark Ronaldson (Shrule/Glencorrib), Cillian O’Connor (Ballintubber), Jason Doherty (Burrishoole).
So, it’s five changes from the Monaghan match, with ‘keeper Robbie Hennelly, the unavailable U21 trio – Stephen Coen, Patrick Durcan and Diarmuid O’Connor – and the injured Donal Vaughan replaced by Kenneth O’Malley, Ger Cafferkey, Colm Boyle, Danny Kirby and Micheál Forde. In the case of the latter two, it’ll be their first full League outing for the county, both having made their first appearance off the bench the last day.
Derry have also named their team for Sunday, full details here.
Good to see Kirby getting a chance although I would prefer to see him at full forward.Going to be tough but I’m going for Mayo by 2pts
Is Hennelly is injured when you say he is unavailable?
Its good to see Kenneth O’Malley getting a game between the posts, we really have very talented goal-keepers. I remember reading that he scored something like five or six points for his club from frees, in a club game, so he should be a good option for long range frees as well. It’ll be interesting to see how our back six will line-up. It’s nice to see Ger getting a chance too. Kirby and Forde getting some game-time as well. Best of luck to them. Still plenty of experimentation on show and some old hands as well. Roll on the game!
Interesting to see how Caff gets on at 6 and good to try Kirby . I always had the idea that playing for Castlebar, he seemed slow, but thought he was fine last Sunday . Anyway good luck to both and Ml Forde. This will be a huge test for all, but hopefully we can get the win.
I didn’t say Robbie was unavailable, Drog. It looks like there’s a policy of rotating ‘keepers at the minute.
Cafferkey
Kirby—SOS
AOS
Why go around them when you can go through them.
I clearly misread that first time – though it said with with keeper Robbie Hennelly unavailable. Didn’t see the apostrophe or the!! Must remember to wear my glasses!!!!!
I’m open to correction but by my count Derry only have seven same starters from the league semi final last year? between club commitments and injuries they must be missing plenty.
So it’s Forde for Diarmuid in the forward line with the same five as last week. Leaves the option there of switching AOS into FF again and bringing Doherty out. Hope Kirby goes well. Would be interesting to see what happens if he was moved into the FF line…
A case of eats, shoots and leaves!
Very surprised if caff starts anywhere else than at full back, it’d be more likely that Kevin plays center back but sure we will see on Sunday.
Impressive and brave selection. Management are trying new ideas. The spine is getting bigger and stronger which is one of things management said they would do. Will be tough game..
Caff used to play underage at centre half back for Ballina. Pity we can’t see the subs bench, that’ll make for interesting reading on Sunday.
Not to be negative, but I agree above that if Caff is to play it’s full back and that’s it. He just doesn’t have the distribution for centre back but sure hopefully he does well there.
It will be very interesting to see how Kirby and Forde get on. It is a tough place to get your debut but then again, an All Ireland club final in Croker and Junior football in North Mayo isn’t a walk in the park either.
The old adage that a “good big ‘un will always beat a good little ‘un” is obviously uppermost in managements mind. It will be important to see if we can continue the tactical development that is seeing us switch from a hand-passing counter-attacking “last man back type” defending team to a more tactically flexible, foot-passing, defensively secure outfit. It wasn’t noted on any match reports from Sundays game but we had a bit of a blanket ourselves, or maybe a sheet. On a number of occasions we had only 2 Mayomen inside the Monaghan ’45. It will be tough on Sunday but a victory will set us up nicely and it is well within the ability of that lineup.
Hon Mayo.
I’ve only seen Caff play two or three times for Ballina in the last two years but on each occasion he played at centre half back.Given the team that’s named there could well be a few positional changes once the ball is thrown in,Caff to 3,Keane to 6,Kirby to 14,Doherty to 11,Aido to 8 or 14.Should be interesting.
Digits, question is how many subs will we actually have? If U21s are gone, and known injuries, and panel drop outs are taken into account, by my reckoning that only leaves the following:
McHugh (?), Drake, Moran, Sweeney, Freeman, Douglas and a goalkeeper.
@ catcol, it’ll be interesting to see if any of the lads coming back from injury are available too i.e. Parsons, Gibbons, Conroy, Dillon and Andy Moran, hopefully a few of them will be on the bench.
Centre-half back will be a very important position on Sunday as Mark Lynch, probably Derry’s best player is playing at centre-half forward. He killed us in last year’s League semi-final. He scored a good few points from play that day, Boyler really struggled on him due to Lynch’s height, bulk and strength. They tore through the heart of our defence a number of times in that game, especially for their goals. I read a piece by Tomas O’Shea saying that even though he is a big man, he has pace too, he found him to be a very hard man to mark. So whoever Noel and Pat play at no. 6 will probably come down to who they feel can handle Lynch the best. Potentially we have three players who could play in that position, Caff, Keane or even Cunniffe. With Eoin Bradley not available and Fergal Doherty not starting, Lynch will be their key man.
Nice look to that team, with plenty of on field alternatives. I for one hope that Keane holds the no 3 shirt. He has had enough of lets try you here lets try you there over the years which all culminated in a lack of confidence and him mostly wearing the no 30 shirt. Cafferkey is some asset to have in reserve, however it will be a ringing endorsement on behalf of team mangt in Keane should he maintain the fullback berth with Caff on the field at the same time. As for the concern that Caff’s distribution is less than ideal, I think we need to see him in the no 6 shirt first to answer those concerns but at any rate the day of the no 6 being a foot passer is long gone regrettably. The handpass is the preferred tool of the no 6 now whereas the wing backs actually need the be as adept at distributing with the boot.
Anyway onwards and upwards.
Ken Kennedy
Trying to figure out your remark in relation to the players mentioned,”why go around them when you can go through them” please enlighten me.
Apart from above I think Ger Cafferty will be quite capable of holding his own at no 6.
He is a good footballer but not a fullback. I like the way the team is selected, no switching around, just filling the vacant spots thus giving players more time and experience in their positions.
Philor my remark was based on the centre and spine of the team getting bigger and stronger.
Keane is our No. 1 full back at the moment and that is where he has to play. End of story. We were roasted all year in that position last year so we need to bed in a solid full back with as many games as possible in that position, Makes no sense whatsoever playing him out of position because our centre back is missing.. Thee is no way Keane will play there later in the summer so why try it now. Leave him where he is getting on just fine.
Great to see Ger C at number 6. I believe he has all the attributes to be top class there. His confidence as a number 3 must have taken a battering against Donaghy and he is too good a footballer not to have on the team. This could be a master stroke by management. Great to see our’ Sherman Tank’ at number 11. Opposition number 6’s will need reinforcements every time AOS gets possession and this will free up KMcL and Doc to get scores! Fingers crossed!!
I suppose we still need to make sure if players get injured that we have players to slot in who have got game time during the season. That’s another reason why its great to see O’Mallay getting a game and Caff. That was a big problem for us last year in the All-Ireland semi-final and replay, Gibbons, Feeney and Barry Moran coming on and you could see that they were a bit ring rusty.
There is a different look to the team this year from the previous three years. It is time for change and hopefully it brings success but eve so, at least Holmes and Connelly are trying.
Ken Kennedy
Thanks for the clarification,that makes sense.
Considering Derry are missing so many good players like Bradley, mckeigue and mcgoldrick I’d be very disappointed if mayo don’t win on Sunday. It’s a good team named. Plenty of experimentation there. The positions of certain players will be interesting before the ball is thrown in.
The management have been getting praise for trying some new things and I have endorsed that in earlier posts. The sub text might be that JH was averse to making change and there is some evidence for that, latterly. However, thinking about it, James did a lot of experimentation too:
* Rescued Mayo career of AOS by relocating him from FF to midfield
* Converted Kevin Mac from wing back to half forward
* Converted Donie V from corner to centre back and pushed him to CF
* Experimented with Keith H in half forwards
* Pushed AOS forward to CHF
* Tried Andy in almost all forward positions
* Tried Barry Moran at FF
* Dropped Ronaldson, Parsons, Barry M, Mikey Sweeney and brought them all back bar Ronaldson
Where is Jason Gibbons. Injured??
firstly well done to the mayo lads on a good win last sunday, the highlight of which was breaffy man aiden o sheas 1-3 as he went to town on a monaghan team that fell well short on the day.cillian o connors o-5 also helped to put daylight between the sides on a day mayo had nine men that raised flags.
seven days later and they must do it all again, minus 5 starters from the last day, all of which will be a loss to the team, and so the replacements will have to hit the ground running on sunday, particularly those in the mid field half back areas.you know who you are lads!in this respect i would like to see one of our half fowards track back to midfield for opposition kick outs and mop up any breaking ball if the need arises.
i reckon sunday is a must win game for mayo and they need to play the effective link /support game in evidence last sunday, with quick movement of the ball into the full foward.its going to be alot tougher game on sunday and expect some of the outrage of manager brian mciver with ref david goldrick from last sunday to be transferred onto his team the next day.Derry are fighting for division one status and mayo cannot afford to be missing chances early on in the game like against monaghan.Early dominance on the scoreboard usually finds its way to the finishing post so from the get go on sunday lads.
A Kerry friend of mine, (a sacrilege i know), spent last week in Kerry and a footballing friend of his told him that before one of their important games, (i don’t know which one), they never touched a football for a week. They practiced tackling for a whole week. Now that’s dedication.
I don’t think I can travel to Derry at this stage, but I have been pondering it and checking the public transport ‘arrangements’.
They are a joke.
Think train: maybe an interesting journey from Dublin via Belfast? There is one train from Belfast to Dublin on Sundays – at 9AM.
Bus gets you in after a 4 hour journey with a half hour to spare and departs at 4:30, another 4 hours ahead of you. Some bus journeys take 7 hours.
Even the road journey takes far longer than a comparable journey in the South – I have checked the AA times and compared Dublin to Derry with Dublin to Killarney; not quite comparable in length but pro rata the time favours the Southern journey significantly.
Derry is a major city on the island. We are not at war (any longer). What is going on?
Joe Mc , had they lost that game, it would have been stupidity, not dedication.
Mayo does a lot right, we don’t need to ape everything Kerry do
Nice spread of players from around the county involved this year, good to see
Catcol it’s a bit of a joke for sure. i can put you in touch with a couple of people who offered space in their cars going from Dublin on Sunday morning if you’d be interested? I’d offer myself but I’m heading up first thing tomorrow morning to make a weekend of it with my sister.
It must be said too though catcol – the roads in the North are much, much better than the ones we’re used to. I’ll be travelling from Dublin this time and I’m going via Belfast. It’s longer distance-wise but it’ll be motorway/dual carriageway quality roads all the way – no sitting behind lorries on twisty boreens. Going cross-country is shorter but will take a lot longer and be a lot more stressful!
DavyJ, the road from Belfast to Derry is poor in parts, particularly before you cross into County Derry from Antrim. It’s certainly not dual-carriageway all the way and not worth detouring to Belfast for. You’re better off just taking the N3 from Dublin. Overall I would say the roads in the Republic are superior to the ones up north, wasn’t always the case but now these days we have motorways connecting every city to Dublin and huge improvements in infrastructure in other places. Our friends up north haven’t really kept up.
@ Tubberman. Here we have the sensitivity of the Mayo supporter at its best. I was only passing a bit of information about how Kerry goes about it’s business. I found it very interesting; but of course, once again, who are Kerry??? They know nothing about football!!! We, in Mayo, are the experts and they can teach us nothing.
I said, “that is dedication” for want of a better word and at its best it was tongue in cheek. Not for a minute was i suggesting we ape Kerry. That would be terrible for you, to maybe learn something from them. Look at all the times we have won Sam in over 60 years, they cannot teach us anything.
@ Tubberman, Oh yes and how the hell can quality footballers become stupid in a week?? You might inform me.
Any pub beforehand?? I’m off to Derry tomorrow… Anyone meeting up pre-match?
Ultair,
I would have thought that the N2 or better again the N1 to J14,and the N33 to the N2 at Ardee would be much more logical than the N3 if you are going to Derry. The N3 will take you to Cavan/Belturbet and then you are on a poor road to Enniskillen and on to Omagh. The N2 is dual carriageway for about half its length through Monaghan. It’s a long time since I travelled Monaghan – Omagh but it is certainly better than Belturbet – Omagh. I do know the Belturbet – Omagh road.
Mayonaze,
I’m sure I saw The Bogside Inn mentioned as the prematch venue, about 10 mins walk to Celtic Park. More than that I cannot tell you.
The Bogside Inn was indeed mentioned, I think its nearly the only pub near the pitch (10/15 min walk) There is another, but its like going into someones sitting room! One of the best pints of Guinness I ever had was in the Bogside, that was a few years ago though, 07 I think? The last time I was there (for match) it was closed down but has opened again in 2012 I think. Sadly I won’t be able to sample the Guinness this time as I’m on pilot duty. I will sample plenty the night before though! Good crowd of us heading up tomorrow.
Best of luck on Sunday guys
BBQ and music for Mayo supporters in Frank Owens’ Bar in Limavady tomorrow night too if anyone is around. I hope the Guinness is good there Mayo Mick!
On the best route from Dublin to Derry, I checked with AA route planner and they recommend going via Dundalk and on to Castleblayney [N53]. I travelled that road a few years ago and it is no great shakes [like most of our secondary N roads] I never rely on the AA advice anyway – I’ve seen some crazy stuff at times. The N33 seems to be a be a new road. Where the dual carriageway kicks in between Ardee and Carrickmacross I do not know but that is the route I would use anyway. Ardee, Carrickmacross, Castleblayney and Monaghan town are now all bypassed.
AndyD, you are correct, the N2 was the one I had in mind.
Safe journey everyone, whichever way you go!
Dublin to Derry on the N2 is a great road these days, driven it more times than I care to remember. You could go on the M1 as far as Ardee but to be honest on a Sunday morning I’d be inclined to just go N2 all the way (through Slane etc.) I definitely wouldn’t entertain any of the other routes suggested by AA. Believe me, I have tried and tested all options down through the years!
Ye’ve twisted my arm… I’ll chance the M1 to Ardee and the N2/A5 from there to Derry so. But if I get caught behind seventeen tractors in the middle of Monaghan, there’ll be questions asked of some of the people on this board ;o)
Safe traveling tommorow have you used the sap nap up to DErry no harm trying caff at 6 a brave decision up mayo
Thanks Andy D…
What’s the only word in the english language with 6 silent letters???
L@&*!^derry!!! 😉
Ha DavyJ, I can’t guarantee the tractors won’t be out but I promise it’s a grand road most of the way! Just a tad twisty near Emyvale and not brilliant in parts between Omagh and Sion Mills. Safe journey anyway and I hope you’re travelling back south happy.
Anyone know what’s the story with Neill Douglas??
Anne Marie, many thanks for the offer and the help, but I won’t be able to go at this stage.
Does anyone know where to park near the ground
WJ,
Do you allow for the “Rossie factor” when taking the polls? They must account for a large portion of the negative votes. I know we can be a fickle bunch but I doubt one quarter of us expect to lose a game everytime we play. I suspect if you traced the IP addresses of the negative voters, most would domicile within the borders of our sheep thieving neighbours.
I like the selection and I like the options it gives us. As already said here by many posters we have an air of unpredictability about us now and the number on man’s back means very little in a positional since. This will not only help us in setting up our own attack but also in countering the opositions. There is however one position that is pretty much fixed and for me at the moment is one of the last great pieces to the Mayo jig saw.. Hennelly as goalkeeper. I have seen nothing yet that would displace him. What we need in a goal keeper is a person who can read the game, has inch pefect distribution, can kick over 45 in their sleep, controls his defence, is good under the ball, a good shot stopper and exudes confidence. Im not saying that Hennelly has all these attributes but can you say the guys challenging for this position have it either. The spine of a team is crucial and it starts with the GK. How many All Stars over the past few years have we at goal keeper. I really hope Kenneth plays out of his skin tomorrow because more than any other position at the mo we really need serious competition here. Best of luck to all involved and I hope we can come away with the 2 points and secure division 1 status.
Goalkeeper has three good candidated. If Kenneth OMalley has a good day on 45’s to 55’s that would be a factor. Hennelys percentage on frees in last years league championship was only okay. I think our best goalkeeper under high ball is Clarke.
The last piece of the jigsaw for me is centre back. Primarily we need someone with the height, strength and aggression that teams will choose to avoid him or struggle to go through him. Someone capable of breaking out of cover and pinging AOS from 40 yards. No. 6 is quite an open jersey yet I think. The two factors outlined are not that common even at this level. We might have to convert someone back from upfront in order to get that size/tackling with that kinda distribution.
I’m not sure the Rossies are that interested in us, Liam! The polls are no more than a snapshot of opinion and though the poll results often tally with what subsequently happens on the pitch, oftentimes they don’t.
Liam,
Why would you doubt the sincerity of the poll for this match? Meeting Derry is a tricky assignment at any time, but on their home patch on Sunday, will be as tough as it gets, and the 26% is in my opinion, rightly reflecting that. And why should every Mayo supporter be so blinkered, as not to assess each match on it’s merits, and vote accordingly? Of course we would all like our lads to win every match and I’ve no doubt some supporters voted that way, but always allowing the heart to rule the head, is in my opinion, not doing justice to Willie Joe’s pole.
Anyone predicting a draw tommorow
I cant predict a draw, Mayo should win this game by a good score with goals involved. even allowing for the missing players theres a very strong backbone in tomorrows team and derry are missing a few too which will have an effect.
Mayo 3 14
Derry 1 11
Those of us travelling up the west coast, tomorrow, there might be some heavy traffic around Letterkenny tomorrow, Donegal play Monaghan at 2pm in Letterkenny. Should be fine but just be aware it’s on
Tongue in cheek lads, bit of light heartedness no harm every now and then. However WJ, as a man who works in the heartland of Roscommon I can assure you they are indeed very interested in everything Mayo does and a very large proportion log onto this site regularly to see what we’re yapping about.
Have to agree with Liam there regarding the Rossies….they are borderline obsessed with what we do, and lots of them took a bit too much satisfaction out of an oul fbd game in january!!! They also dance with delight when we are beating all-irelands, id go as far to say they hate us more than Galway!!. I voted we’ll lose on the poll, as i think Derry will be too much in there own ground and especially now they ard fighting for survival, i obviously hope we win and secure our status, but have a feeling Derry will pip us by 2. Safe travelling to all supporters.
Goochooper, I’ll be one of those cars heading to the game in letterkenny tomorrow but I’ll be coming south from the derry direction. I don’t think you should be affected too badly other than maybe a bit of a queue at the Dry Arch roundabout. You have the option of carrying on through ballybofey/ stranorlar and up through strabane if the traffic is looking heavy coming from South donegal.
We will likely see Mayo in 10 more senior finals before Roscommon even make a semi final, and that must annoy them a lot.
1944, indeed.
Not so sure either Ros or Galway hate us as much as some here make out. Lots of well wishes signs on roadside in Ros especially when we playing in AIF s down through the years. Sure they absolutely love to beat us but I certainly get great satisfaction when we beat them in the Hyde and when we beat Galway. Most Ros supporters are very passionate about their team which reflects well on them bearing in mind that they haven’t been too successful. In contrast lots of Galway people are fair weather supporters. Some very low turnouts when they not going too well but when flying in 1998 and 2001 massive crowds. Remember the quarter final last year. Cheers for their scores would have been rather low without the Mayo voices. Anyway I wish all Connacht teams well so long as they are not playing against us.
Should be no problem with traffic around Letterkenny as you will not have to go into the town or near O Donnell Pk on the way to Derry. if u are using that route N13 turn right at Newtowncunninham and follow the R237 through Killea. this road brings you into Derry right at The Brandywell and Celtic Pk. Stewards or PSNI. should direct you for parking. safe traveling to you all I only have a short hop from Newton for this one. Lovely to see Mayo Team Bus on the way into Letterkenny around 4 this evening hope the lads have a great nights sleep and looking forward to the game tomorrow ,Would be great to get a Mayo win on my Birthday.
Can anyone explain the position re stand seats on Sat. next? I’m trying to book three, and tickets are available at 10 euro each for “general admission”. Will it cost extra to get into the stand?
Thanks in anticipation of enlightenment.
Hi folks, travelling up to Sligo tomorrow and car pooling from there to Derry. Anyone have any idea where I would be safe to park my car in Sligo for the day? I would assume most spots will be free parking on a Sunday?
Big result in Croke Park tonight, a draw between Tyrone and Dublin . The Dubs will be coming to Castlebar next week on three points. A win against Derry tomorrow for us is now even more vital, to put as much distance as possible between ourselves and the teams at the bottom of the table. Come on Mayo!
To win just once,
Them road signs were probably in around the Ballaghaderren area lol #Gazastrip
Howayajoe. Park at Horkans garden centre/garage on da far side of sligo. Its da handiest cos yer on da main sligo 2 bundoran rd.
mayo by 7 but i havent got a clue.
Just back from Croker. The dubs were blessed with the last minute goal. Tyrone missed loads. Dubs look very average without their A players. They are there for the taking next weekend.
Don’t worry about dubs looking average, when they need the points badly enough they’ll be hard stopped. We simply have to win tomorrow, flitter into Derry from the start and go for goal, Dublin cork and donegal will be at full throttle to stay in division 1 and will be hard beaten. I’m sure our bucks know this very well too.
It would be good to see Kirby and aos both playing near the goal at seperate times and creating havoc for Derry, here’s hoping we see more of last weeks efforts.
Fair play to ya Tommy, gentleman!
What’s with the story with the love in with Galway and Rossies?? Try living beside them. Firstly, no one took more joy in seeing us buckle in the all Ireland finals than the Herring Chokers. They are still saying that they will win a final before we will! As for the Rossies, I won’t start.
Mayo by 5.
Jaysus Pebbles, you’re going down below. Jesus said “love thy neighbour as thyself” and all that . 😉
I remember watching the news and seeing during the year what I presume was an elderly Galway man at a water protest holding a placard saying “we will pay for water when mayo win an all Ireland”. Hopefully he will be paying it by the end if the year.
Don’t be fooled, many Galway supporters love seeing us fail especially at the final hurdle.
Good luck to the lads tomorrow.
Pat – it is unallocated seating in the stand, you can just sit where you want, €10 does get you in there
all the comments re Ger C not being a very good Full Back are daft, When Mayo were beaten by Kerry in Limerick everyone said the Mc Gees from Donegal would show how to mark the Star, Who won the final for Kerry, If the referee was fair Caffrey had a great game in Limerick , No 10 from Monaghan gave Keane a fai beating last Sunday ,
i am from outside Castlebar and netural getting old and would die happy if Mayo lift SAM SOON
Jaysus pebble a man after my own heart. They both hate our guts & don’t anyone ever forget it.
Have to disagree somewhat here about the Rossies
I travelled to Knock in ’89 after the final. What an occasion! it was something special. And some of the special things about it were the number of Roscommon supporters there with Roscommon flags, welcoming home beaten Mayo finalists
Don’t forget either the flags and banners that were on display all through Roscommon towns and villages willing Mayo on.
It was all very touching.
Joe Mc,
Jesus didn’t meet any Rossies or Galways in his time here.
With all his charity I don’t think that he would advise loving sheep stealers.
Hi just what to ask is the away jersey the team are wearing or is it usuall green and red one. As this is away game.
Ah ladies and gentlemen, forget about Galway and Roscommon!!! For the moment anyway. Our objective this year is to get our own house in order. We have to worry about the uncut grass in our own garden rather than worrying about our neighbour’s growing gardens. We need to devise a strategy to get to the promised land, stick to it and make sure that we get our tactics right on the day. That is the task for Noel and Pat, best of luck to them. Roll on the Derry game!
Do you need £££ for Celtic park, or will they take euro?