Photo: The 42
There’s been a fair bit of fire and fury on here and across social media following yesterday’s events at Castlebar. But the sun’s back up again this morning, the world is still turning and now there are three FBD League matches on the way in a hectic five day spell.
First up is the Round 3 match against Leitrim – whose game against Sligo also fell foul of the freezing conditions yesterday – at MacHale Park on Wednesday night at 7pm. The Castlebar venue is also where the refixed Round 2 match against Galway will be played on Friday evening, where throw-in has been set for 7.30pm. Then, next Sunday, it’s Hyde Park for our annual pre-season joust with Roscommon.
Largely lost amidst the welter of giving-out yesterday was our interesting team selection for the game. By my reckoning the starting fifteen we named – details here in case you missed it – contained no fewer than six players making their inter-county debuts at senior level.
Had the match gone ahead it would have seen Steven Duffy, Jamie Oates, Shairoze Akram, Matthew Ruane, Ryan O’Donoghue and Peter Naughton all make their first senior start for the county. In addition, Fionn McDonagh would have been making his first appearance since his debut in the opening FBD match this time last year, another game in which a raft of newbies were fielded.
But yesterday’s line-up wasn’t just about the fresh faces. Kevin Keane, back in action once again after his cruciate lay-off, was named to start at full-back, Jason Gibbons was recalled to midfield, while Neil Douglas and Adam Gallagher were both due to feature in the forwards, with Alan Freeman a further option in that sector off the bench.
Clearly, with three pre-season matches coming up between Wednesday and Sunday there’ll need to be plenty of player rotation. The 2017 squad will be back off their holliers this week so a number of them are likely to feature on Sunday but I suppose a few could be pressed into service on Friday evening as well.
The need for cover in the squad was underscored by Stephen Rochford yesterday. Speaking with Colm Gannon of the Mayo Advertiser (report here) after the match was postponed, the manager confirmed that Seamus O’Shea, Donal Vaughan and Chris Barrett are likely to miss much, if not all, of the upcoming League campaign through injury. Lee Keegan has already been ruled out for the entire spring set of games due to the double hip surgery he underwent before Christmas.
Necessity is, though, the mother of invention. With a number of front-rank performers on the sidelines for the League, it’s an opportunity for others to stake a claim for inclusion, not just in the match-day 26 this summer but in the team itself.
Stephen Rochford is clearly open to seeing new talent emerging in his squad. He moved yesterday, however, to dampen down the expectation that this year will see major changes within the panel (quote from the Irish Independent – here):
That seems to be a common perception for the last number of years. We’ll find the players that are there. We’re always of a mind that there’s good youthful footballers in Mayo, and if they’re good enough, they’ll be in the squad and might push out somebody that was there last year.
I think we’ll certainly see some changes this year compared to last. Injuries could force us into unplanned line-up alterations and form will, as it always does, have a major bearing on team selection. But whatever changes are made, they’re likely to be gradual. Which is exactly what you’d expect in a team operating at the level we’re at.
The manager also took the opportunity yesterday to nail a few untruths concerning that rather stupid training camp story. Colm Gannon has also got the low-down on that one – it’s here.
Right, that’s your lot. No Monday match reports but, as you can see, plenty of other stuff to cover. In one way or another we’re back up and running once more.
Injury list worrying, given that we are talking about 4 of our All Ireland Team missing most if not all of the league!
Our focus as supporters needs to be about the remaining FBD fixtures and the newbies starting in them. The league always affords fringe players an opportunity to shine. Remember F Boland last year. Its not all negative but staying up has always been really tough.
Steven Duffy played in FBD league a few years ago against Sligo IT.
So he did, Done Deal, good spot! I’ll amend the post when I get a chance (still in transit, long story).
Imagine the disappointment of the lads named to make their debut for Mayo yesterday. I hope none of them are dropped to make way for the returning main team. It would be too cruel
I went to the FBD game yesterday, all be it a bit late in arriving at McHale Park, I seen the Mayo Clad heads going in the wrong direction away from McHale Park, so it was not a huge surprise to find that the fixture had been cancelled,… But it’s not good enough for those who travelled considerabe distance that it be cancelled at such a late hour…. And it’s certainly not good enough that those who purchased a ticket, not to be reimbursed…. I listened to RTE radio as I went on my short journey home, it didn’t affect me personally as I had not bought a ticket, but the explanation given to RTE was that the money was already lodged in a bank…. Now do they (the Connacht Council) really expect anyone to believe that???….Do any of ye remember the day of the Mayo /Dublin league and the fog came down, Did patrons get reimbursed on that day either? , I’m not sure, as I have a season ticket, it wouldn’t make much difference to me personally , but if memory serves me rightly, I don’t think people were reimbursed either??? … Some possible justification on that particular day as the game was abandoned at half time, but yesterday, and to add insult to injury, to come up with an explanation that the money was already lodged in a bank, almost immediately after the proposed time of the throw in… Really??? On a different subject, did anyone spot the, van parked beside the Connacht GAA ticket van?.. (giving an opinion on a proposed ammendment of the constitution)… I won’t give any opinion on the subject, but taught that it was odd…. Anyways despite the people leaving McHale Park and my knowing in my heart that the match was cancelled, I went into the Stadium and it was a picturesque sight , the very bright winter sunshine, the pitch looked perfect, the Sun was big and bright and low in the sky over the Albany End, as I looked from the Factory End. So I took the phone out to take a picture… So today I checked the picture in the phone.. The Sun was so bright that the pitch was all blurred in realitive darkness…. A beautiful winter day, shame that we didn’t have a match to go with the scene.
Leantimes , John Prenty was on Midwest radio earlier explaining that for security (with cash) and various entrance fees it would be a logistical nightmare to reimburse money which is understandable, he also stated that if patrons bring the voucher given out at McHale Park they can be used at any FBD match this season.. not just the Galway game, in the event someone cannot attend one and had a voucher then send it to Connaught Council in Bekan and they will be refunded… you must have the voucher though…
I am aware people were told at the gate that they can use the torn tickets at the next game but not mentioned today… on players welfare it was 100% correct call albeit the debutants would be very disappointed
As a goodwill gesture the Connacht council, oh hang a minute, what was i thinking about?
I wonder, of the six games postponed yesterday was the Mayo/Galway game the only one where a refund was not offered. Its the only one thats been reported about in the national media. If a refund was given at other grounds then Prentys statement holds no water.
Anyone notice James Carr’s name wasn’t mentioned on the programe yesterday? Leantimes I did not see the van promoting for a side on up coming referendum .I do not believe it is something that should be in peoples faces going to a GAA game.
MayomaninGalway….. There definitely was such a van parked right next to the Connacht Gaa Van.,…Privledged Fan… The explanation given to RTE yesterday was that the money was already lodged…. Of course it would be something of a logistical nightmare giving back the money… But as the Christmas season is coming an end, it probably is the case that certain people both Mayo and Galway fan’s may be in other countries by the time of the rescheduled fixture… Despite the inconvenience, the right thing to do would be to give people their money back, with an apology and an explanation as to why the match wasn’t cancelled earlier in the day…. Personally I was in no way inconvenienced…. But right is right!
I did not expect the game to go ahead, but would have through they could at least have cancelled it a lot earlier than it was. I was outside before 1.50 and did not get to buy a ticket as they had stopped selling them.
On a separate note, do you not all remember how us season ticket holders were treated in the stands two years ago when the Connacht council sold the “best seats in the house” for the Mayo Galway game? The whole thing was an absolute shambles with the Connacht Council doing NOTHING to rectify it, but stood back and allowed the stewards to get abused and the guards to step in. They have never, and will never treat fans fairly.
Leantimes, MayoGAA have announced that anyone who recieved a voucher yesterday can now get their money back by sending the voucher to Connacht Council. This is the correct thing to do, but should have been conveyed to to public yesterday to avoid this unnecessary bad publicity.
Disappointing move to fix the ladies game against Dublin for before our vital league game.
The pitch is bad enough at this time of year, and two games is more than it can take. Poor move by Mayo GAA. While there are times to help out the ladies organisation and provide them with pitches, not sure this is a good one, especially given the minimal interest in ladies football outside of All Ireland Sunday.
I was a bit disappointed not to see a game after a long period of hibernation. I was especially disappointed for those lads making their first appearance for Mayo.
For me It was an inconvenience but no worse than that. I got a ticket on my way out and I will be using it on Wed night. In situations like this, where life seeks to frustrate me, I simply adopt the ASFI philosophy …..(Ah Sure F*** It) and move on! That way I don’t have to take half as many tablets.
It probably should have been called off earlier but I’d say the pitch was very close to being playable. I think they were waiting for an area on the stand side to thaw, which was in the shade of the stand in the morning. Its a pity because it wa a glorious day for football.
Ah well on we go!
Seriously Cynthia? Please tell me your post is some sort of avant garde form of ironic humor that my uncultured brain isn’t able to grasp and not a serious opinion!
Anybody involved in collecting a gate wil realise that giving a refund when a game does not go ahead is a practical impossibility. The vast bulk of the money on hands is in €50 and €20 notes so trying to give back €10 and €5 notes is not a runner.
Also I’m pretty sure that there are fairly high security measures in those Connacht Council vans which probably prevent staff having access to the bulk of the money once collected so effectively the money was on its way to the bank when the match was called off.
I cannot recall money being refunded in any case of a game being called off in the past but can recall people being offered free admission for a replay. Yesterday there was a relatively small attendance but if it were a normal NFL attendance [for Mayo c.10k] I’m not sure how would the issueing of vouchers work? I’m pretty sure many would be getting a bit impatient and heading off home without.
Big question now is: will it be playable on Wednesday night?
Temp of -1forecast and it may not thaw out completely over the next 2 days.
Without the injured Keegan,Barrett,Vaughan,S O Shea for most of the NFL the strongest 15 IMO would be
David Clarke
Brendan Harrison, Kevin Keane, Keith Higgins
Paddy Durcan Colm Boyle Stephen Coen
Aidan O’Shea, Tom Parsons;
Kevin McLoughlin, Diarmuid O’Connor; Jason Doherty,
Conor Loftus Cillian O’Connor Andy Moran
and subs to bring on such as B Moran,J Gibbons,A Freeman,F Boland,B Reape,Neil Douglas. In my view that is a pick that is good enough to challenge for the NFL title.
Disappointing to hear of injuries mounting. Best of luck to all newbies and returning players. Hope Team had a great holiday. Tough league ahead and next thing it is mid May. On another matter- Nationwide was excellent on showing North Mayo, great to see the Mayo flags flying in height of our mighty 2017 season!
I think it is a great idea to play the ladies game on the same bill as the men’s. Long overdue. The compressed fixture list this year for both the League and FBD leaves very little room if any for postponements. If the games on Wednesday and Friday don’t get played we can forget about the FBD this year and the authorities better hope for a mild February..
I didn’t see the van outside MacHale Park
Yesterday in relation to the upcoming referendum No matter what way one will vote on it I think we should keep politics out of football God knows the matches are tense enough
Watching that micko documentary makes me wanting it even more to see us get over the line ….
Ah it will be fine catcol, a little soft if anything by Wednesday night. It will be as high as 8 degrees between now and then and plenty of rain too.
Mayomagic,
I’m glad you’re not in charge. No offense intended to you by the way. Mayo cannot challenge for a league title by using the same lads that busted a gut last September, they need rest and lots of it. Mayo are not dublin, we don’t have the facilities, players living locally or money to put that much effort into winning a league title. I think we will see the Mayo fellas preparing themselves to be at the peak of their power in July and August and that’s good enough for most Mayo fans. The league will be used to let a lot of these other players a good run and see who’s capable of adding something to an already good panel.
It is time the GAA look into 3G playing fields. Not just because of Sunday but most of the league will be played in fair/poor conditions. More important is all the club games at the back end, biggest games in most plyers lifetime deserves a good surface.
I really hope that none of Sunday’s players missed a chance to play for their county.
Yeah fully agree Dave, to be honest I think we need to face reality and realistically park any hopes of winning a league title
With all due respect it’s all about Championship and that is the be-all and end-all. This year in particular we have to be fully focused in early May, although I do expect we’ll still be aiming to fully peak in August
Three sets of managers now have given little effort in the League, so that tells you all you need to know. Our playing style is unsustainable at full flow for 8/9 months, and we don’t have the pick of Dublin or even Kerry. The lads are on holiday at the moment sure, and the League starts in a few weeks!
I think we need to be realistic about it, we’re most likely facing another relegation battle and given we now finally seem to have the actual 8 best teams in Ireland in Division 1 (Kildare touch-and-go but deserve their crack and are traditionally handy early in the year), there’ll be zero easy matches
I’m sure it won’t stop kneejerk woe-is-us assertions if that does transpire though.
Can anybody name the mayo man who won four allirelands in one year?
Almost knocked over Jack McCaffrey in Mater hospital today…he was hopping along on a crutch and I was talking to someone…we could have met by accident.!! We’re not only ones with injuries and I believe we have great talent waiting for the chance. Bring them on and let’s give them all our support.
Mayo magic… That’s a very strong ‘Alternative’ Mayo team, probably very near to our strongest possible… But even with that team and subs, we are going to need alternatives… Before the Championship begins (and let’s face it, even allowing for the possibility of relagation) 2018 has to be all about the Championship, beginning with Galway…. Other Div 1,team’s are not without their own difficulties…. Kerry are most definitely in transition, mind you the recent strength of the Kerry underage will be harnessed successfully…. Donegal are also in transition, Galway will be without the Corafin contingent…. Dublin have an almost unending conveyor belt of talent, but their C team will not win the pre season prize in Leinster this winter…. I hope the Mayo team selected for last Sunday gets to play versus Galway in the refixture…. Mayo are not in transition, just yet… It’s testimony to the dedication and longevity of many of our veteran warrior’s that, some like PotY, Andy Moran, Kieth Higgins, Chris Barrett and David Clarke were at top of their games after so many hard years in the biggest games of the recent Championship … Come the Championship of 2018 it is likely that our best player’s will be the household names we have come to know so well… We probably need to find one or two player’s, and even if means the absence of an All Star, or Four or Five, for the league, it’s most important to have our best possible 15/21ready and able for the championship, beginning with the Galway game in Castlebar, next Summer when we won’t need to worry about the frost.
I cant see Mayo pushing hard for a league title, it will be much the same build up to championship as the past few years, we just dont have enough players at home based training during the winter months. The only way Mayo will win the league is, like Kerry last year, they accidentally end up in the final beacuse of how other results go, sure while your in the final you may as well try and win it.
Mayos objectives are to maintain div 1 status and finalise the championship panel. I would say Rochford has a fair idea of what his panel would be and there isnt many places up for grabs. There are some tough decisions to make, I think Brian Reape will be introduced to the panel much like Boland last year. Keane, Freeman & Gibbons and available but its hard to see Rochford cutting three from last years panel, 1-2 maybe but really cant see many more. People hoping for a number of new faces in summer will be disappointed.
When you really think about it, the type of player that we need to find or develop is a player who will drag us over the line when an All-Ireland title is staring us in the face. That is all we have being missing. We have now being in 9 finals since 1989 and yet when we have had chances to grasp the nettle, no player has. Maybe Lee Keegan could be the exception. In fact we do the opposite. How many times have we scored goals at great times but not followed that up with killer scores. From Anthony Finnerty’s goal in 1989 to Lee Keegan’s goal in 2017, our players had rushes of blood to the head, hitting wides or taking the wrong options etc. when we should be landing the knock out blows on our opponents when we have them on the ropes.
Our minors in 2013 and our U21s in 2016 had that killer instinct to go for the jugular when the chances presented themselves. Developing players with killer instincts will be vital if we are to finally get over the line. I even heard Connacht’s new Rugby coach, Kieran Keane, talk about this when Connacht had something like 28 plays late in the game to get the winning score against Leinster in the RDS recently, they just could not finish the job like us against Dublin. He talked about players getting rushes of blood to the head and taking the wrong options.
So that’s probably the hardest piece of the jigsaw to find for an underdog trying to knock out a giant. Finding players with a killer instinct to finish the job. That could also be said about preventing goals at our end too. Remember Donal Vaughan took a black card against Clare very early in that match to prevent a goal and thus end his involvement in the game, he took one for the team in that game. Should someone have done the same to Con O’Callaghan in the final when he scored his early goal. They are the inches that are separating us from glory.
Hope Springs Eternal… On Con O Callaghan goal… It comes within the first two minutes of the All Ireland final…. Have a look at the match from the throw in….. Eoin O Gara starts for Dublin… An enormous surprise selection.. Was Eoin there for his 2017 football? … I think not… Eoin has a cynical, illegal and dangerous tackle on Colm Boyle, within the first minute .. The Ref Dublin Joe is ambivalent to the tackle… In the next play Con O Callaghan targets Colm Boyle, who is still conceivably seeing star’s after the Eoin O Gara tackle.. Con O Callaghan takes 7 steps twice in the lead up to the goal.. Donal Vaughan takes up a poor position in the lead up to the goal, his poor positioning is partially explained by Colm Boyle, being less than his forceful best….. The aquesance of the Referee was tested and confirmed immediately after the throw in, (when at least a yellow was warranted, Eoin O Gara was hardly picked to start an All Ireland final on purely football reasons, given his recent form and considering the player’s Dublin had left on the bench) and confirmed less than a minute later…. Something similar happened to Nicholas Murphy of Cork, when he was taken out of the game by Taigh Kennelly of Kerry in the 2009 All Ireland final…. You only need to look at the first two minutes of last year’s All Ireland final.
…
Leantimes, that is good tactics in my book. Its risky but worth it.
@Leantimes – excuses, excuses, excuses… unfortunately that’s the way it always seems to end up for us.
The main point I was making was that rushes of blood to the head has cost us in big games. For example what Vaughan did in the Clare game was the right thing to do, take the black card and prevent a goal. What he did against Dublin in the final was a rush of blood to the head moment for him which cost us big time. We need to cut those out.
If you looked at the first two minutes of the 2017 final dispassionately you would see us miss a chance for a point and concede a bad goal, again two things that have cost us dearly in finals. So we should have scored that chance and we should have taken O’Callaghan out to prevent their goal. Killer instinct.
2018 is a new year, best of luck to all involved for the year ahead, heres to us developing a killer instinct to kill off opponents when we have them on the ropes.
@HopeSpringsEternal… You can think of it as me looking for excuses…. I’m not really… I do acknowledge Vaughan is out of position for the goal conceded, bad positioning is bad positioning…. But I look at everything.. And We have to, if you think of the criticism of Roscommon Ref Paddy Nielan after the league final by Jim Gavin and I did post about it after the league final , Nielan performance was excellent, but despite he get any big match’s involving Dublin after that.. The GAA is not above critical comment… It continues to have, many many flaws,.. These last few decades have seen a fall from Grace of many of the one time Pillar’s of the community in Ireland in the eye’s of the public… The GAA has enjoyed a realitivly good press.. It has its strengths and weaknesses, but I for one don’t believe everything that I am told… Despite what even many Mayo fan’s might say, I believe that the best team didn’t win the All Ireland final of 2017.. In fact Dublin fan’s acknowledged as much to me and other’s immediately after the match… The critical analysis of the match on the Sunday Game afterwards was bizzare in so much as potentially penalties were completely ignored, never mind Dublin scores after liberal steps… Mayo didn’t win, because they were not sufficiently superior to Dublin, to make up for a Referee worth about 8 points to Dublin… It shouldn’t be so, I’m calling it as I seen it, in reality there on the day and after several subsequent viewings!
I watched the greatest GAA manager of all time on TV last night. I was at the final when Down won their 1st AI. It was my 1st time in Croke Parke and its a day I will always treasure. Micko said he got the Bomber Liston and was something special. Going back to Mayo for 2018, if we keep the same players from last year, we are not going to win A I. Right now we have 11 games to play in 11 weeks. We require at least a panel of 45 players . In my opinion when you have S O Shea again missing for the third league campaign in a row, and hoping to have him fit for Super 8’s its not going to work. Remember what Micko said ” I got 20/25 young players and developed them to the Greatest Gaelic Football of all time” Stephen Rochford needs to have a good luck at this. He has a young squad in training at the moment and he needs to keep this squad for the year. I hope he then has the balls to pick lads on the way they perform on the day and not bringing on lads who THINKS they still can play. Those lads who won Under 21 AI are now strong enough to claim places on Senior Team. Mayo Magic picked a team based on last year. I wonder what team he pits them against? I hope this year we play the players who are performing and not lads for sentimental reasons. Again we have Barry Moran on the panel and to be honest I think its about time we give an up and coming player his position, This year its S…t or get off the pot. Its time to move on.
@HopeSpringsEternal. I fully agree with your point of view. You can’t fault Mayo’s commitment and effort, it’s maybe just that small bit of viciousness tempered with a little bit more composure that’s needed. It’s no good that just a few players have this, everyone on the pitch and bench needs it too. Lee Keegan is the player to emulate here – tough as nails, knows what he has to do, and isn’t afraid to do it. His attitude is (a least to me) bang on.
But how do you instill this kind of attitude? That’s the $64,000 question.
@Leantimes, I think you might be mixing up your games. I’m pretty sure Colm Boyle never got near the ball before Cons goal. Aidan wins the throw in coming around the back, and Doc takes the shot on a layoff from McLoughlin. The next Mayo player to touch the ball is Clarke. O’Gara started ahead of Scully for a number of reasons – Track record against Mayo was good, Mayo are lacking a natural full back capable of marking him (Maybe forcing Rochford to use Aidan), and the back line are not that big. As it pans out, it was a bad decision, but I see the reasoning behind it. You seem to be laying responsibility for the goal on an event that didn’t happen.
True Grit – I agree with you. I know we haven’t kicked a ball in anger yet but I’m certainly hoping that by the time the FBD is wrapped up and the leage underway that there are a few of the 2017 extended panel looking fearfully over their shoulder at the real possiblility of new faces replacing them ahead of the championship. We will see what real options that we have over the coming weeks. I can think of at least 6 of last years group who could potentially find themselves in the drop zone if unable to bring their game to a new and more consistent level.
Leantimes, I wouldnt compare a bad tackle by OGara to what Kennelly did. Kennellys was assault pure and simple, if it happened in the street he would have seen the inside of a cell, he even admitted it was premeditated.
Mayomad.. You are quite right, the particular tackle wasn’t as bad as Kennelly’s on Nicholas Murphy … I was a neutral at that particular All Ireland (Mayo played Armagh in the minor)…. Kennelly should have received a definite Red.. The timing of the tackle is irrelevant .. and Marty Duffy the Ref on that particular occasion completely bottled the decision…. As I am sure Kerry knew he would….. But the game is a game of rules and should be administered the same regardless of who is playing… Killkenny in hurling have also benefited from dubious lack of decisions in the last decade as well… I think I know the rules by now.. They are the same from the throw in until the final whistle and also the same for every team and every player,… But if you take the case of Aiden OShea in the individual player… Ask yourself are the rules the same for every team and every player… Jaden… Review the opening seconds of the All Ireland final.. I can assure you that, Eoin O Gara elbow makes contact with Colm Boyle, not sure if Colm has actually touched the ball at this stage.
Strange team for tomorrow night thought rochie would have given the team named for Sunday another chance. Boyler starting and him barely off the plane.
Don’t believe Colm Boyle went, last minute drop out
Not sure if Boyle was away on the holiday? Last Sunday’s team will probably play against Galway on Friday.
Leantimes I agree with you that Dublin Joe was worth about 6 points to Dublin in the Final. I predicted this when I anticipated his selection for the final after we got the better of the Yerras. I posted as much on here also. How did I know you ask. I have lost count of all the times Croke Park and Mountjoy Square have relied on him to rescue the Dubs.You only have to look back at the way he controlled the game v Galway to realise what a waste of space we are dealing with. On the other habd Neilan from Rooscommon has a good game in the League final, implements the rules of the game as I have learned them and he gets slated by Gavin with the aid of the Dublin media. Croke Park fail us all once more and gives him the one way ticket to Van Deemaans Land. Like so many things in our country it is a pale of dung and it stink-it
Dont get me started on the rule keeping that goes on in the beautiful game of hurling. A man’s game of course, but one with rules. They only get implemented on a piecemeal basis. If you are Kilkenny in their heyday you could get away with anything. Ask anyone from Tipp. Some of the referees on his panel do not know the rules. Call a spade a spade.
Mayo team to play Leitrim tomorrow
1. Paddy O’Malley – Westport
2. Marcus Park – Knockmore
3. Ger McDonagh – Castlebar Mitchels
4. Aidan Butler – Claremorris
5. James Stretton – Claremorris
6. Colm Boyle – Davitts
7. James McCormack – Claremorris
8 . Barry Moran – Castlebar Mitchels
9. Jordan Flynn – Crossmolina
10. Fionn McDonagh – Westport
11. Neil Douglas – Castlebar Mitchels
12. Nathan Moran – Hollymount/Carramore
13. Ross Egan – Aghamore
14. Alan Freeman – Aghamore
15. Ciaran Treacy – Ballina Stephenites
Probably 15 changes to that line up for Friday night i’d say
Best of luck tomorrow to “Rochie’s babes”. Must say I’m looking forward to Friday evening in Castlebar – it’s great that both teams will have young exciting players on view. Dublin have raised the bar so high in recent years, but I feel now that Pat Gilroy and Anthony Cunningham are involved with hurlers, which will bring a new hype, this could be the year the footballers are taken down. All to play for..
Jaden, you say that Mayo need more like Keegan, what about Meath and Kildare? What would they need?
Would you feel that dublin May lose any of the next 10 Leinster finals? My bet is there won’t even be 10 more Leinster finals because soon enough there will be lots of room on the hill and in the stands, once the charade becomes apparent to the masses.