The stereotypical Mayo/Galway game is one that goes right down to the wire, the match won or lost by a single kick of the ball. In that respect, today’s tense but enthralling All-Ireland SFC preliminary quarter-final was true to type.
At half-time, while we weren’t completely out of it, we were in major bother. Our kickout strategy in tatters, utterly destroyed around the middle and having failed to raise a white flag since the seventh minute, we looked well on our way to a chastening defeat to Galway and an earlier than expected exit from the Championship.
Fast-forward to full-time and we’re the winners. Not decisive winners by any measure but in a low-scoring nervy encounter, to come out on top by a point – which we did – was good enough. The almighty roar that erupted around Pearse Stadium as Seán Hurson blew the final whistle showed how much this meant to the big Mayo support, in the same way that the crestfallen looks on the departing Galway fans did too.
Pearse Stadium was full to the rafters for this all-or-nothing encounter between these two great rivals. Neither of us welcomed this showdown but we both knew we were stuck with it. We also knew that only one of us would be standing at the finish.
There’s been plenty of debate on here and elsewhere about our team selection for today. The team we named on Friday showed just one change from the fifteen who’d lined out against Cork but less than half an hour before throw-in news came through that we were making more radical switches.
We made four changes in total before throw-in. In came Eoghan McLaughlin, Kevin McLoughlin, Jason Doherty and Tommy Conroy while out went Padraig O’Hora, Conor Loftus, Matthew Ruane and James Carr.
As an aside, news also emerged today about a food poisoning incident that affected some of the players ahead of the Cork game and the effect of which may not have fully worn off. This explains, at least in part, our late fade-out in Limerick and could also have been a factor in some of today’s switches.
Whatever the reason, changing one-third of last week’s starting team was a ballsy move. Now the issue was how well our reshuffled forces would do against Galway’s more settled outfit. Set against that was the uncertainty around the fitness of both Seán Kelly and Damien Comer. They both lined out but Comer only made it to half-time while Kelly was clearly operating at well below full-pelt.
Galway had the wind in the first half and although we opened brightly, leading by three points to one on seven minutes, they dominated from then to the break. We failed to score again before half-time, with the home team keeping us pinned back in defence, winning the bulk of our restarts and scoring seven points without reply to lead by five at the short whistle.
It could have been much worse for us at this stage. Colm Reape pulled off a super point-blank save from Comer, who collected a long ball in and rammed a shot that Colm did really well to stop. Galway’s wide count was high in that opening half too, with Shane Walsh – once again off-song for his team – a particularly notable culprit.
We were in serious bother at half-time. With the wind such a major factor, though, our cause wasn’t yet a hopeless one, although it did have a bit of a forlorn look about it all the same.
We made one change for the second half. Enda Hession joined the fray, replacing Jason Doherty. As already mentioned, they lost Comer at that point too, a significant loss as it gave David McBrien increased licence to raid forward, which he duly did.
We came roaring back into the contest on the resumption. In under twenty minutes, we hit them with 1-5 without reply, to alter this game’s narrative beyond recognition. Now it was Galway who were under the hammer.
Before the goal, Ryan scored points from a free and from play to cut the gap to three. The goal was a real beauty, with the Ballagh full-back galloping down the throat of the Galway backline, did a quick give and go with Aidan O’Shea and crashed the ball to the net.
From being in a deep hole at half-time, now, just seven minutes later, we were all-square and had the benefit of the wind for the rest of the game too.
Cillian had come on now and his first play saw him angle over a cracking score from the right to edge us ahead. Then Paddy Durcan – off target twice in the closing stages last weekend – knocked over two great scores to stretch our lead to three.
Just after that Galway had their second goal chance. Kelly created the opening with a perfeclty weighted handpass to Tierney who shot from a central position but Reape managed to stop it with his legs.
They ended a long scoreless spell soon after with one from play. We got the next point, though, fisted over by Tommy Conroy, who was taken out of it crudely after he’d scored.
Two Walsh frees, ten minutes apart, cut the gap to the minimum. The match was now entering the four minutes of injury time that had been signalled and, after we’d played keep-ball for a full minute, sub James Carr knocked over what proved to be a priceless score, edging us two in front.
From then to the end was frantic. Galway were now trying to burrow their way through for a goal but Eoghan McLaughlin was on the line and he punched it out over the end-line. The resultant ’45 produced another goalmouth scramble but a shot from Maher was deflected over the bar and that was that.
No matter how you cut it this was as big a win for us as it was a crushing defeat for Galway. We’re still standing in this year’s Championship while their year – in such cruel fashion – is already over.
There’s precious little time for us to pause for breath at this stage. We’re back in the draw at 8.30am tomorrow and in that draw we’ll be paired in next weekend’s All-Ireland quarter-finals against one of Armagh, Derry or Dublin.
We’re still alive. And now, finally, we’re off to Croke Park. Bring it on.
Mayo: Colm Reape; Jack Coyne, David McBrien (1-0), Eoghan McLaughlin; Sam Callinan, Kevin McLoughlin (0-1), Paddy Durcan (0-2); Stephen Coen (0-1), Jason Doherty; Diarmuid O’Connor, Jack Carney, Jordan Flynn; Aidan O’Shea, Tommy Conroy (0-2), Ryan O’Donoghue (0-2, one free). Subs: Enda Hession for Doherty, Cillian O’Connor (0-1) for McLoughlin, Matthew Ruane for Carney, James Carr (0-1) for O’Shea, Donnacha McHugh for Coyne.
Our Mayo Football Podcast Final Whistle show recorded at Pearse Stadium today is now online on Patreon. Rob, Mike and I are on it and we’ve post-game analysis from Martin Carney and Barry Cullinane and post-match reaction from Stephen Rochford. It’s available to listen to here.
Who was our MOTM against Galway? Pick your top three performers
- Diarmuid O'Connor (26%, 946 Votes)
- Paddy Durcan (22%, 788 Votes)
- David McBrien (19%, 677 Votes)
- Tommy Conroy (8%, 303 Votes)
- Colm Reape (7%, 245 Votes)
- Sam Callinan (4%, 138 Votes)
- Aidan O'Shea (3%, 97 Votes)
- Jordan Flynn (2%, 69 Votes)
- Eoghan McLaughlin (2%, 65 Votes)
- Cillian O'Connor (2%, 57 Votes)
- Ryan O'Donoghue (1%, 54 Votes)
- Stephen Coen (1%, 35 Votes)
- Kevin McLoughlin (1%, 25 Votes)
- Jack Coyne (1%, 23 Votes)
- Enda Hession (1%, 21 Votes)
- Matthew Ruane (1%, 19 Votes)
- Jason Doherty (0%, 13 Votes)
- Donnacha McHugh (0%, 12 Votes)
- Jack Carney (0%, 11 Votes)
- James Carr (0%, 9 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,687
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Mayo v Armagh. Dublin v monaghan. Kerry v tyrone. Cork v Derry.
Match report up, Final Whistle pod up, drive to Dublin to do now. I’m really going to enjoy looking back over all those ‘We’re doomed, Captain!” comments posted in the first half.
All about the result today. Galway mayo games never high on quality. We march on
Few big calls made by management which mostly worked.
Loads to improve on and several lads didnt perform today but we will improve in croker no doubt.
Massive shifts from durcan, d’oc, mcbrien and flynn especially. My top 4 today. Thought Reape done as well as could be expected in that farcical wind too.
Chest out again well done to all especially the line.
Well Willie Joe. Entertainment at its best. That’s why we support this team . I hope we draw the Dubs!! Then we might get the Yerras in the Semi and beat them again !And maybe Cork in the final!!
Today was all about the result.yes we were beaten in midfield but in fairness it was extremely difficult for reape kicking into that wind .Tyrone were very lucky against Westmeath and they will still fancy their chances.we should enjoy the win and take whatever comes now .we all would have settled for that this morning
Unreal i knew we could do it yes we had a bad form louth/ cork but when our backs against the eall we show up and we did.. not saying we will all Ireland of course but fair play to our guys truly a never say die attitude…
As I said Tommy conroy done us proud and cillia o Connor ill be waving the mayo flag among confused French people ha in Paris next weekend!
Be great to see Tyrone take a Dublin or Kerry out in the quarter finals.
We did OK in the first half , except score a couple of kick able points .
Fair play to the lads .
Great hunger and passion.
Clever game management.
Credit to management today , brave call in starting team and introduced subs at correct times and they all played their part .
Christ .. Diarmuid will sleep tonight, some effort. I’m just home and wrecked myself.
Thank you Mayo .
The kick out strategy really needs to addressed. Look back at the Louth and Cork games, and when there’s no option for Reape to go short, players are slow to make runs or form pods for him to aim at. Carr is good at winning breaking ball, when he’s on the pitch but it’s an area we can improve. Sometimes it may be better to concede a sideline ball 50 meters out rather than risk a quick break from the opposition.
First half was tough we had the grease I was nervous as any of us in that…..
2nd half we stood to Galway..
I. Soo proud of of our guys today too say we were written off was understatement…
As I alwfaywayss say never write off mayo…
Soo proud of our guys!
Sorry typos there as usal for me but unreal to fair to our guys everyone wrote Us of pre game as usual
And what a player Tommy conroye is…….
Clare you seem to have created a whole new language
Congrat Mayo team, background, S&C, & esp the management.. so well done, proud of every one of ye. The best! Sweet one.
What I witnessed today from some opposition supporters towards Mayo players was shocking, no need for personal, verbal attacks on lads. Maigh Eo Abú
If only we had Galways forwards we would win the games that matter more
That’s the narrative right ?
They stood up when their backs were against the firing squad wall…fire and steel! Hon Mayo
Not easy on Reape in fairness against that breeze plus a line of seriously good Galway fielders in his eye line, he brought of a couple of crucial saves .. look it , we beat Galway without playing to our potential and plenty to work on .
Our stronger subs bench was crucial also .
I’m just going to enjoy the win , Kevin and Rochford and Co will probably be analysing where we need to improve tonight as we go for a nice creamy pint !!
Id love to know what Karen made of it all. Well done Mayo and Kevin McStay in particular for having the Cahuna’s to make big calls and big changes. I was one of those negative nellies at halftime who thought we were im jeopardy and doomed captain but Mayo are Mayo and even though we were cleaned at midfield they made a way to win. Roll on the quarterfinals
@1985 I know my typos are unreal haha but come on mayo tough…
I’ll be a happy woman in Paris next week either way!
The points scored today from cillian o Connor Ryan o Donaghue,James Carr and the two from paddy durcan were as good as you will see from any forwards.lee keegans comments didn’t suddenly drive Shane Walsh on and I think lee knew what he was doing as he has being talking Galway up all year
What happened to O hora today. A concern is our scoring ratio, the defence scored more than the attack.
I’m enjoying this, just back from my local after a couple of post match pints, in fairness they were all gracious.
Don’t want to over analyse right now BUT to the statisticians out there how many breaking balls did we win/lose today ? don’t think we won many ! winning breaking ball was a forte of past Mayo teams .
Anyway, I’ll enjoy this until 08.30am tomorrow and then further to the weekend.
I would be too excited. It was a poor game and had Galway taken half their chances in the first half we would be doing a lot of crying.
We were badly done at midfield and only scored 11 times.
Will need double that next week.
Some worrying stats, apart from more, possession and less wides, I think galway had more shots, more own kickouts won. So we alot to do. But before match, I said the breeze was a 5 point advantage. So I wasn’t hitting panic buttons. But so much to fix, but still in it
Can’t believe people are complaining if a poor game.. Moat here thought we would be wilped the floor of Galway a hammering most said…
Can’t people just happy we won? Against the totaol odds? Or has the last couple of years totally scared everyone we have to be negative even if we win?
Fair play to our guys never doubted ye..bring on quarter finals!!
Culmore, ohora was out due to a bug, as confirmed by manager post match
Ideal draw for me
Armagh for us
Derry Monaghan on our side
On the other side
Kerry Tyrone
Dublin cork
Luck counts for a lot. We need the draw that gives us the best possible chance and I think that’s it.
I’ve said it here b4 and someone else on the last thread why don’t posters wait until after game b4 posting as it makes some look silly after and also the neysayers try wait a day or 2 and let’s enjoy the win. A great 2nd half performance and Galway only scoring 3pts b4 injury time in the 2nd half showed what the breeze meant in the 1st half and maybe explained some of the misses. The players will definitely be sore for a few days after that and I’m sure Ryan will be targeted the next time we meet after his coming together (putting it mildly) with Kelly at start of 2nd half. Overall well done and the team should be in better form going into q/f than if they had scraped over cork last week.
Swap Cork for Monaghan and I’d still be happy
Well done Mayo and your supporters…you were loud and clear today.
It was a tough game and lots to improve for next game. Management showed a glimpse of a plan today…having the courage to drop lads who might not be clicking.
McBrien is a gem, as is Callinan. Eoin Mc L is a ball of energy. he had a goal disallowed and I am not sure why, but that’s the way it went. Ref saw something I didn’t see.
Galway’s injuries were tough and we had to take advantage of it…and we did.
I am intrigued at the negativity of some Mayo supporters. We are dead and buried at 5 points down, useless, rubbish, lost, goodnight, time to go home and then when we win we still are no good. Time for a few heads to lighten up and see the glass half full. We may not win this year but we are still in it.
We had our own dose of injuries last year and over the years. All you can do is your best and I was happy we got that today.
I have no doubt there will be lots to improve on for the next game. That’s how it should be.
Well done to the lads.
hard luck to the women…that was a shitty way to lose. But I hope we see both teams getting back on the horse next week and giving it a right go.
Maigheo go deo…
Clare, did most people not go for Mayo in the pregame poll? 🙂
KM79, I’d think Armagh as well of the Northern teams think they the one to suit us best.
Do we know which changes were injury/sickness concerns and which were tactical?
@,Gizmobs their was a lot of negativity pre game here to be fair ha …
I’m talking about after game people saying it was poor game et
No exsauxes from Galway or it was a poor game mayo came through and performed end of.
In the words of Eamonn fitmaurice during commentary,
” they gain momentum, they go mad and here they go ”
Let’s go Mayo!
Delighted with a battling win for Mayo even if performance was far from perfect,but we’re back in Croke park and as Diarmuid said post match momentum is a huge factor.
Also kudos to Mike on the recent pod with Boyler,who highlighted how important it could be to have David Mc B break the line at speed. He did it today in spectacular fashion.
Also I hope Eoghan Mac doesn’t become the Conor for this week. He might be a bit raw in some areas of his game but more plus than minus for me and delighted to see him in.
@km79
Points from play for Ryan,Tommy, Cillian and James Carr. An assist from AOS for the goal.
Contributions from all of them.
We have 5 forwards for 3 places. You wouldn’t be unhappy with any combination.
The game will do Tommy the world of good today. Must be a nightmare to play against.
In my eyes there were 5 contenders including Tyrone who you could never right off. Make that 4 after today. I’m not sure about Derry.
We’ll sleep well tonight. Fingers crossed we are OK with injuries and if we get a bit of luck in the draw then who knows.
We have a bit of momentum.
Ideal draw is anyone , but Dublin would be nice
I hope its the dubs so Sunday instead of Saturday. Watched it with a Dublin crowd all pissed Galway didn’t win. They don’t want us they were hoping Galway downed us.
Midfield I thought we broke even. On our kick outs our lads go hiding. Wing forwards is E Mcloughlin’s position, I think the critism he got was a little bit over board.
I thought our tactical fouling through out was clever.
Great win to eek out of a local Darby like that so hats off to all. The low scoring by both teams with the wind probably resulted from the pressure of battle with the coloured history of so many provincial clashes in the memory bank. I know when we ever met cork in a winner takes all and losers take year ending fall game the stress seeped into the stands and terraces so it must be very challenging for the players on occasions like this.
Canavan made a very good point when he said if Galway had taken care of Armagh they would have had an extra week to get players ready for the battle which would undoubtedly served them well. Kelly is a fine player but he was clearly carrying a slight injury and Comber was also a huge loss for the entire second half and Peter Cooke also limped off with an injury. Considering those injuries it is far better for the Championship that a fully fit Mayo team carries the Connaught torch forward in the All Ireland series. Every team that wins an All Ireland has a pinch of luck be it with a refereeing decision or an unfortunate injury or injuries as we saw today but that’s just Championship football so take it and go forward with confidence.
I am grateful that we are not a possible pairing tomorrow morning and I’m sure that Armagh, Derry or dublin will all want to avoid Mayo so it will be interesting to see what it throws up. Derry play a septic style of game but I suppose it works for them but I hope Mayo get either Armagh or Dublin as they largely play a game that will suit a fast running attacking style of play that Mayo excel at.
Best of luck and I hope ye come through the game next weekend (particularly if it’s dublin) as the quarters is the best opportunity to catch them given that they haven’t played a top team from division 1 this year and Mayo are now on a battle footing and will be a very difficult ask next weekend.
Up Mayo for another eight days at least
Did padrig Joyce give an interview after the match his position could be up for debate his a few years at the table still no change hard to believe galway have not beaten mayo in knockout championship since 98
My grandmother was from Lettermore and we loved telling her how lucky she was we rescued her and brought her to north Mayo!
We got it done. Fell over the line in the end but that will do today.
Diarmuid was superb. He set the tone and led the fight. I thought Paddy really stood up today too after a ropey outing last week. Tommy Conroy getter better all the time, and Jordan Flynn did some serious work. McBrien showed why we’ve been waiting on him for a few years now.
Don’t think we played well but that’s fine today, and leaves room for improvement. We’ll take what we get in the draw tomorrow morning.
Up Mayo!!
In relation to the draw, I wouldn’t be looking for an easy passageway into a final, but a breather game next week would be good.
On the plus side, we made great use of the width of Pearse. St. With players hugging the sidelines to make space for runners coming through. Give us space and we are a much better team.
On the negative side, we were 3 points up and a gale at our back, and we cling on to win by a point, conceding a couple of unnecessary frees.
Lots to work on but we’re in the draw at 8:30 Monday
McStay explained O’Horas absence in this off the ball interview, out because of a last minute sickness apparently, which explains his absence today.
https://twitter.com/mayogaa/status/1673035244629368834?s=46&t=4oNPlJ4DTpqjeW9TeVhysQ
Great to get the win in a close game. Lots to work on during the week too, especially around kick outs but we are still in it and going into the quarter finals with everyone fit, fighting for positions and looking to improve may suit us next weekend
That was a great win and badly needed. I thought we did well to contain Galway in the first half despite them winning a heap of possession in the middle. We also missed a couple of decent point chances ourselves.
We were all wondering about the collapse against Louth and Cork. It now seems there was a sickness problem which would certainly account for our lack of energy. For want of knowing better I was worried that we had peaked against Kerry or that we were just plain complacent. It now seems the Kerry win was no anomaly but a good indicator of our true worth and that both the Louth and Cork games were the real anomalies. At least I hope so!
Well done to McStay for making a call that seemed obvious to a lot of us. We were a lot more effective in our defence despite being over run at midfield on the kickout.
We haven’t gone away ya know!
We played well in the first half but there was a couple wides. Reape made so great saves and bar the few kickouts that went out over the sideline his kickouts where good it’s just that there was poor fielding. Tommy conroy was great and he should be starting more match’s Sam callinan is great and he will only get better as he gets more game time.
Mac brien is great but we need him at chb he is a great fielder of the ball and he can defend and attack. On the second half our defending was great. Paddy Durcan scored two great points and he is playing very good this year and I believe he will walk up the steps of the hogan stand this year. Mathew ruane needs to start playing better as we rely on him to mark other teams best midfielder and win kickouts. I think our subs won us the game as coc and enda Hession where great
On mayo???
Diarmuid O’Connor was immense today, took a cart-load of ‘treatment’ from the Galway boys and was involved in almost every play. Aidan O’Shea unreal again, was gassed in the fourth quarter after dropping back deep to try and put out the fires in midfield. This whole revelation about the food poisoning puts a different slant on today and last week. From here onwards we need Tommy in from the start. Galway undone in the end by the loss of so many soldiers. Not going to bother speculating on who might be the best draw for next week, we get who we get and we will give them a hell of a battle. Up Mayo!
I come on here on occasion so need to step up this evening. Thought Mayo were the better team today and deserved the win. Thought the young defenders on both teams were excellent, Callinan, McBrien, Carney, Fitzgerald, Glynn, McGrath. Some brilliant pieces of defending on show. The only 2 bits of quality the other side was the McBrien goal and Cillian O’Connors point. Thought it was poor enough in quality vs other Galway Mayo clashes but ye won’t care tonight. Best of luck next weekend
@km79
I’m open to correction on this but I think the ‘sides’ of the draw are already known if in not mistaken.
So on one half of the draw it’s armagh and dubllin.
In we end up in the other half of the draw it’s derry kerry.
So high probability we will get armagh in the qf and then dubs in a semi
Hats off to Kevin , he dropped 3 men who he played all year after there recent poor performances, that takes balls, Thats a manager doing his job.Hopefully Derry or Armagh next Sunday.If it the Dubs so be it.They havnt been tested all year.
Brilliant Mayo win..great attitude throughout..tough conditions…onwards and upwards..how good is it to beat Galway..we have a serious team here even if we do reach the Holy Grail this year..
Did the players decide to go back to full Horanball today? Certainly looks that way. Cillian and Conroy back defending, full backs scoring etc. If that’s not Horanball, what is? Eoin Mc does a huge amount of good work, but he really needs to work on his tackling technique. He was extremely lucky not to pick up a second yellow for persisting fouling. Himself, Conroy and Durcan have some speed. Great to see McLoughlin and Doherty playing so well. Possibly our two greatest servants over the past 15 years.
Not in agreement with any of this move McBrien out of fullback talk. Full back is a specialised position that few excel at and is the position the keeper relies on most. David is a fantastic fullback and we’re lucky to have him. Just let him do his job.
Just listened to the pod and a great listen it was too. Heard a rumour during the week about food poisoning but fobbed it off as nonsense but seemingly it was an issue for the Cork game and again today. Really pleased that management refuse to use it as an excuse and won’t comment on it. Clare, enjoy Paris and sing loud and proud on Sunday.
After listening to the podcast, the talk about food poisoning in the team last week. Why couldn’t management say so and taken some heat off themselves and certain players. I’m sure supporters would have had a different attitude here if the situation was known. I can’t understand the secrecy, maybe afraid of people saying it’s excuses.
Was quite pessimistic going into this one. Thought we’d more structural issues to our team than Galway.
To be fair to management, I thought they tried to rectify them. Loftus at centre back just wasn’t working and Ruane had no form. I’m not sure if the Doherty experiment fully worked but I thought the other changes, by and large, did. McLoughlin was excellent in the first half and Tommy was superb. Eoghan was very good for the first 50 minutes but tired towards the end. The more football he gets, the better he will get and Croke Park will suit him.
Though pessimistic at the start, I wasn’t at half time. Galway missed plenty of chances and had a gale behind them. Walsh was awful and missed huge chances. I was pretty happy at half time. It was very hard to kick with that wind, something missed by so called pundits at half time. Kick outs didn’t work but again, it’s exceptionally hard to kick into that wind.
They did well in third quarter but I’d be very concerned by last quarter. They faded badly and lacked composure.
But the positives.
Any day you beat Galway in Salthill is a good day. Galway are hard beaten, were many people’s tips for the All Ireland.
Key players were back in form. Tommy, Paddy, Diarmuid, Ryan, Kevin Mc looked sharp. Definitely more of a threat pace wise going forward. Some of the keep ball in the first half was excellent. Think they’d 65% possession in the first half. That’s good game management.
Cillian got game time. He will improve. I also think the same about Eoghan McLaughlin though there’s no disguising the lack of ball handling skills with him at times. His goal chance was butchered and was definitely a free out (charging and/or steps, take your pick). I’d still stick with him, he’ll improve the more minutes he plays.
New players played well – Callinan, Coyne and McBrien in particular have done well in their breakout year, no more so than today and that augurs well for the future.
Negatives:
Midfield were well beaten, particularly under the high ball. No point pushing up on kickouts in future and forcing teams to kick long if we can’t win them. We simply don’t have the high fielders like 2017 etc. I was hoping Ruane would play his way into form but he was anonymous when he came on.
They faded badly again in the last quarter. I thought when they went 3 points up that they’d counter attack and see it home comfortably but they were hanging on for dear life at the end.
Kickpassing – the kickpassing game was competely dispensed with. Fair enough in the first half but you would have thought it was on in the second. They just went back with what they know but they’ll need more.
Centre Back – don’t know if Doherty is really the answer here. Maybe O’Hora if he got back?
Look, it’s a win and that’s more than what Galway have. The injuries were a killer for Galway. Even McDaid didn’t look right. I’d fancy a crack at Armagh next weekend – but I don’t think the formlines would indicate that Mayo could take Dublin or Derry.
They keep surprising us and we’ll hope that will continue again next weekend. But it’ll probably need a favourable draw, to be honest.
Ok…a few things and I’ve not read any post after the match.
Firstly, I don’t know how we won. Galway must have won 70% at midfield.
Secondly, we need to seriously improve.
Thirdly @ Seán Burke, I brought Bertha but the stick I had broke early 1st half. At HT I ran back home and got a telescopic fishing rod I’ve used in previous finals in Croke Park. I got back to Pearse Stadium just in time with new rod and a can of bulmers. 5 mins into 2nd half, it broke. So, Bertha was there but not in full flight.
Mayo were far from full flight today. We are still in it. That’s enough for now. Lots, lots to do to improve
Clare,don’t do as I did in a restaurant in my very best English, I said very slowly,do_you_ understand _English,the waitress said of course I do I am from Tipperary,enjoy your break
The RTE.ie headline “Mayo find second gear to knock Galway out of the championship” summed it up about right. It wasn’t a great performance and for once I really struggled to come up with three names for the MOTM poll: Paddy Durcan for recovering his scoring form of seasons past, Diarmuid for workload, Ryan O’Donoghue for always seeming to give 100% and taking on scores where others would lay off the ball. And even that was a stretch. But we got the result and hopefully next week we’ll finally be in Croke Park where I think we play our best football.
On the plus side, it felt like a proper championship game: packed house, great weather, hell for leather winner-takes-all finish. (Compared to Roscommon game in April when it was wet, cold and barely mattered – to us at least – if we won or lost.) On the negative, is Pearse Stadium really a suitable venue for hosting major games? As much as I enjoy a pint on the prom in Salthill after a pint, the fact is the traffic getting into Galway is always a disaster and the wind always plays havoc for the team kicking into the sea end goal.
Thomas O Shea must be worried about us….
Just saw the Ryan a Donaghue incident on the Sunday game.looks like Kelly is trying to intimidate enda Hession.Galway supporters making an issue of this .hard to tell what exactly Ryan was up to!!!!!
On the Ditch – I don’t think there are any breather game options left !!………..Myself, I’d like the Dubs next week.
@Eoin
I’ll give you a hand if you’re struggling to find 3 picks for man of the match bar Paddy Ryan and Diarmuid:
Mcbrien – Pace to burn and popped up with a vital goal. Colm Boyle and Andy Moran weren’t wrong when they said he would be Mayo number 3 for a decade if he could avoid injuries.
Callinan – Kept Walsh scoreless from play.
Conroy – Edging back towards his best. Croke Park will suit him.
Honourable mentions to Jordan and Aido who both put in some shift today.
I wonder will anything happen to Ryan donahue didn’t see all of it we need him next week
Kerry mafia back in action tonite with that bullshit from Tomas O’Se.Pat Spillane done the same to Diarmuid Connolly got him suspended a few years back for a nothing push on a ref v Carlow! In fairness to Cavanagh he called it right , you can’t see any follow through on the clip.Nothing in it.
To win while not playing well is a good sign. Yes, we rode our luck a little bit but we went for it more than Galway. This was a high pressure game and the confidence gained will be significant.
We certainly showed that we have a deeper squad than Galway and also plenty to work on. It is surprising that we lose midfield so comprehensively but still manage to eke out the win. Management were bold, the players worked hard and more stepped up as leaders. We just needed to survive which we did so onwards to whoever pops out of the drum tomorrow morning.
@big Mike. Thanks for that. In truth it could have gone either way and fell for us this time. Couldn’t believe when I read mayo have knocked galway out of 4 of the last 5 championships.
Trial by SG once again
https://twitter.com/TheSundayGame/status/1673073712235679745?t=MKivpa16T_5XZlXh5oGD-g&s=19
It did look like he was looking down!! Ffs!!
Poor quality game from both teams. Partly forgivable for the woefully breezy conditions and the massively high stakes involved. But it’s a win over Galway and any day you get a win over Galway is a good day. Great experience for the younger lads with more valuable croke park experience to be gained next week. We might not or realistically probably won’t win the All Ireland this year. But every big game these younger lads experience will stand to them. A new team is being built.
Hats off to management today on massive pre game calls.
Can’t resist, but was wondering if PJ was annoyed about all but one of our scores coming from play.
McBrien has all the attributes to make a commanding centre half back imo. Not going to happen this year but he is a wonderful find.
Dub or Kerry setting the pace at this stage. We’re in qf and that’s where we deserve to be. And it’s not over yet. Let’s hope we have full panel for next week
Lovely to see PJ as gracious in defeat as ever…what a great manager.
@walter, he’s a disgrace. Imagine blaming the ref after all those wides. Shane Walsh should have been subbed off for Tomo but he didn’t have the courage. He’s such an unlikable character. Have a bit of class win you lose.
Haha exactly Walter. I was waiting to see what he’d say!!! He certainly didn’t disappoint. Gas.
In fairness, Galway supporters were sound afterwards. The best team won.
Have doubts about the Dubs setting the pace if I’m being honest. Am I right in thinking they’ve played one division 1 team all season? The draw with Roscommon? They’ve yet to be tested.
Joyce has always had serious dislike of all things mayo.whatever about our setup it appears the newbridge or nowhere lad calls the shots in Galway
I’d heard about the food poisoning earlier in the week but didn’t feel it was appropriate to mention it here. Mayo were brilliant today and it was so so sweet. Onwards and upwards. Surely we won’t play until Sunday? Saturday is out?
@Mind the House – You’re right, of course, there were others who deserved credit. I suppose I felt a bit of sympathy for Ryan as he seeed to be moved out of position to accomodate Cillian when the latter came in. From ROD’s perspective, he could be forgiven for wondering what more he has to do to lock that position down. But he didn’t complain.
Was management being as brave with the pre match changes as we are giving them credit for or was that down to availability due to food bug? Either way it worked out ok.
I think there will be a huge sense of relief to be back at h.q.and I expect us to throw off the shackles and really go for it, regardless of opposition.
Sam og, could be saved as unlikely a better angle
I knew PJ would be moaning. Heard him on Radio 1 after the game and he said nothing too controversial. However, his interview on the Sunday Game was the PJ we all know and dislike. Moaning about the referee when the ref wasn’t a factor, look at your own decisions and your teams wayward shooting Padraig and give us all some peace.
PJ gracious in defeat as always (not).
Lots to work on, but great to be in the hat tomorrow
I see RTE trying to vilify our Ryan to deflect attention from their Ryan……..
PJ interview summary:
No rub o the green
Hand trips
No cards shown
No Damien
No rub o the green
Things have really changed in football when Dublin and kerry are being lauded and as a result supposedly ahead of everyone after beating sligo and louth respectively. God almighty if mayo and kildare had beaten those 2 teams we’d be told it’s only sligo and louth.
The referee! Ffs. He gave Galway 9 frees in kickable areas of which they scored 5 and missed 4 while he gave us a single one that ROD scored. Overall he gave Galway 21 frees while only 10 to Mayo. Joyce is an absolute dose with his fecking whining!
Looking at the slow motion there is no conclusive evidence that Ryan did connect unless they have another angle.
If Ryan did connect it would have been on Kelly’s left foot but the angle isn’t wide enough.
Kelly then holds his right foot.
Kelly has a bit of previous for feigning. Look at his effort to try and get Duffy of Monaghan sent off.
@David. That’s how PP sees it.
All Ireland Football Outright Betting
Each Way: 1/3 Odds, 1,2 places
Kerry 2/1
Dublin 9/4
Mayo 9/2
Derry 9/1
Armagh 9/1
Tyrone 11/1
Cork 28/1
Monaghan 33/1
JoeG – Galway definitely got the “rub o the green” in terms of free count hands down. Some were very soft. Thankfully in my over 40yrs supporting Mayo, I’ve never heard one of our managers come out with such nonsense !
Poor Joyce! He is confused. They got the rub of the green alright and red from our men. Lucky them! Wouldn’t mind it myself 😉
Can’t believe the Sunday game didn’t show Cillians point. He’s still the man. Noticed in the programme the list of the top 10 scorers in the championship this season,no Mayo man in sight,that never happened when Cillian was in pomp.
Salthill some kip to get in and out of.
PJ would want to be a bit more humble than he has been, and be grateful they were fortunate enough to get to an All Ireland final last year with virtually the same team in each match without picking up knocks. Injuries happen, so suck it up!
As for his moaning about handtrips etc, perhaps he’d want to take the plank out of his own eye before complaining about a splinter in somebody else’s. Kelly, Comer, Conroy & co are no angels. Heaney should have walked for a swinging arm on Diarmuid. Who was it that hit Tommy late after he scored his point late in the game and only got a yellow when it could have been black?
Galway lost today primarily because their golden boy Walsh couldn’t put the ball over the bar, as has happened to Mayo so many times in the past. Callinan had him in his pocket from open play. I think it’s laughable that he’s spoken of in the same sentence as David Clifford.
Sour grapes come to mind…
Sour grapes – PJ sounds like a wine expert at this stage !
Congratulations Mayo,
Showed real guts today, 2nd half was a step up on a very poor first half.
I mentioned during the week how I couldn’t understand how Conroy wasn’t in the first 15 and by god he showed it today. Lovely player.
Mayo are a croke park team so really anything can happen now.
On a separate note Kevin McStay is an incredibly likeable man and I’m delighted for him.
Ahnow, I’m chuckling at your reminder that only one of our scores came from a free and maybe PJ was annoyed at that.
Ahhhh, I’m so pleased we turned the table upside down on that one. Hurray!
Great to be still standing. Let’s keep standing for a while longer. I don’t want to leave the fun just yet.
Whine expert!
That the last of his summer whines anyway
Thank you, West Kerry.
Brilliant 2 hops!!!
Bringing us back to earth a little. It’s concerning we didn’t score for the last 30 minutes of the first half…
That won’t beat the Durbs.
@Swallow Swoops
Did you enjoy the way we went about protecting our lead? Keep ball being the preferred method on this occasion!!!!
There were an awful lot of pundits tipping Galway to go all the way. It was great to see us prevail in a tight game like that.
[Deleted].
Tommy Goals is different gravy, has to start from here on in. Disappointed to hear the usual moaning here on our performance after a high pressure game on a pitch that shouldn’t even be allowed for championship football with the obvious gale force winds spoiler. Now to Croker with the sun on our backs and momentum back in the right direction, dare we dream.
Congratulations Mayo, Hard Luck Galway, it was the type of game that would remind me of many Galway/Mayo games back in the 1980s. Back then with any combination of Willie Joe, TJ Killgallon, Liam McHale and Sean Maher Mayo absolutely dominated contested possession around midfield to the same degree that Galway dominated today, and Galway would have a very narrow win leaving us in Mayo deeply frustrated, not since the 1993 Connacht Final v Roscommon would Mayo have won a championship game with so little primary possession. I dont really believe that Padraig Joyce can have any justified reason to be critical of the Ref, in contrast to Kevin McStay who had every reason to be very critical of the Ref the previous week versus Cork in Limerick. Us Mayo fans need to be honest as well both Sean Kelly(I rate only David Clifford ahead of a fit Sean Kelly, so far in 2023) and Damien Comer were far from fully fit,..For me goal was the difference today and what a brilliant goal it was. Actually David McBrien was my man of the match. Its all about whoever comes out the box when (Ryan Tuberity is it?) make the draw at 8.30 AM on RTE, onwards and upwards..I think in his absence for most of the match today Mathew Ruane probably played himself back into a starting place with Galway winning about 70/80% of the contested ball around the middle today . I expect thays what will be worked on this week.
West Kerry,always good posts and yea Tommy conroy is a serious talent.his pace is frightening but I suppose management were trying to ease him in and use his pace late in games.As a matter of interest what’s the feeling in Kerry do ye feel ye are on track to retain yer title
Mind the House, yes, I thought Mayo were brave and skillful the way they kept the ball, even going back into their own half to stretch Galway, to keep the lead. I was actually shouting out loud at this point because it makes me so nervous. But it was the right thing to do here as it did draw Galway out. Then Mayo also did the right thing by being patient and working the ball up the field into a scoring position and getting a point.
Karen, I have no desire to create friction or discontent here. However, have you expressed good feeling or congratulations here about the Mayo win? I haven’t seen that. Instead you say people here have condoned hurting another player – that is not true. You also appear very confident that ROD did strike Kelly. It may be so and we hope it was not. ROD is not known as a filthy player, as you put it, and it would be out of character for him.
Karen you can’t condone or condemn what you can’t see unless you have another angle.would you condone Paul conroy kneeing Aidan o Shea into the head in the 2020 Connacht final which is actually caught on camera
It would have to be a Karen
The Sunday Game didnt even show Cillians point .
No comment
@Karen
What did you make of Sean Kelly’s antics against Monaghan when he tried to get his man sent off?
If Ryan did connect then it was with Kelly’s left foot. Why would Kelly then hold his right foot?
Sean Kelly is one of the best players around by the way.
@Karen,
I am very fair in the assessment of teams and how they win and am a long time involved in football and miss very little in a game.
There is a nastiness in some of the Galway players, look back at the full game and you will see for yourself.
I admired Padraig Joyce as a player but as a manager he is a sore loser always has to blame others.
I wish Galway well in the Hurling semi.
Karen , look at the late hit on Tommy Conroy after his point. If you’re Galway just admit it and stop the foot in both camps bs……and lay off Clare……..Maigheo Abu.
1985,
I saw something different in Kerry last weekend, A bite, A hunger, That simply wasn’t there all year.
Now albeit it was against Louth its was more the attitude I was looking for along with the individual form of certain lads.
I’ve no doubt we will draw Tyrone tomorrow and I’d be fairly nervous about that… But Tyrone have given me PTSD over the years.
West Kerry.yea Kerry are probably timing their run .Tyrone seem to have come alive also .darragh canavan is a reincarnation of his father.that would be some battle at this stage
The RTE highlights were a disgrace. They showed a lot more of the other matches. I would like to see Eoghan McLoughlins disallowed goal as it did not seem that many steps. I have seen goals scored with a lot more steps. Then Joyce whenging again when the ref was completely biased in their favour. No word from Kavanagh on that. It’s time that Lee stuck up for the side like O’Shea and Kavanagh do for Kerry and Tyrone.
The players gave their all but it all seemed to be off the cuff. Maybe that’s what Mayo do best as Paul Flynn said once you play Mayo the process goes out the window. We thrive on chaos.
Shame on you, Karen – you bought the RTE propaganda hook, line and sinker! I’ve deleted that comment of yours.
As Sean Cavanagh pointed out on The Sunday Game, the video of that incident proves nothing. Everyone can have an opinion on what they think might have happened but the video doesn’t show conclusively what did happen. Unlike the Maguire smash on Jack Carney last weekend, which was caught on camera but which The Sunday Game didn’t feature at all.
I think what happened with McLaughlin goal chance was he sort of stumbled with his head down which looked odd even though I don’t think he over carried it .The whistle had blown anyway before he shot
Is there anything sweeter than beating a 16 man Galway team (sorry PJ but the stats don’t back up your whinging about the ref) in Salthill in knockout football. We got the reaction we expected from the players and in fairness management stood up to the plate aswell. Plenty to work on, which will be hard considering we could have a 6 day turnaround. Hope we draw the Dubs in the morning.
Thrilled with that. Great to be still in it. Had great banter with Galway supporters before and after.
More often than not there’s a significant wind in Salthill that brings an X factor that not even Galway themselves can legislate for.
Haven’t seen any replay yet, but would be interested in looking at Galway’s 4th point. Thought there might have been steps involved there. Immaterial at this stage I guess.
Gutsy second half performance, but lots to improve on as we know. Hopefully no serious knocks from today, and O Hora will be needed.
Well done to Kevin and all. Assuming Mayo will be given a Sunday draw.
First of all an absolutely great win against our nearest and not so dearest rivals. Game may have been low on quality but high on excitement and those last few minutes were so nerve wracking. Every Mayo player stood up and was counted and when you see lads give 100% for the cause whether they are playing well or otherwise then that’s all you can ask for . Our lads did that in spades today. While it was difficult to call and in the balance right up to the end two things never change. As predicted by WJ we had the usual keyboard warriors whinging at half time. Maybe if they went to the match they’d have less time to be typing negative stuff. I would consider myself a pessimist but I never whinge about Mayo during the course of the game, I just support the team. Second constant is good old PJ. One of the greatest players I have ever seen and one of the greatest whinger as a manager I have ever seen. Now I accept that as a Galway man(anger) it’s tough to lose to Mayo a bit of graciousness wouldn’t go astray. Obviously the ref and injuries and the wind and loads of other reasons were behind Galway’s FBD defeat, draw in the league, loss in the league final and now the loss today. Buy yourself a mirror PJ.
Classy Big Mike.
But Salthill is the real culprit. Galway is brilliant, the atmosphere around the place was fantastic, the stadium is fine, pitch terrific, but it’s in the wrong place. The wind was horrible, desperately hard to play into, and event play with. And that’s the default position. I can see why Team heads won’t go there.
Mayo measured it very well, especially in the second half, where there were very few wasted chances. Our performance on the breaking ball has to improve, or we’ll be cleaned by any of the other three.
It is really is quite unbelievable that Thomas O Shea is there questioning whether further action against ROD should be taken when there is no footage of him striking. Last week a Cork player clearly strikes Jack Carney on the head and it doesn’t even bear mentioning.
As someone else mentioned, how does the best point of the game not end up in the highlights? I really think the only thing for the SG is to switch it off.
I’ve said it on here before that I would be amazed if Galway won an AI under PJ. A manager is more than just picking a team and tactics, there are many other qualities required that PJ simply does not have. The man is constantly looking for excuses, for others to blame and is incapable of accepting any responsibility in defeat. It really shows a terrible lack of character and not someone I would look to for leadership.
The goal was a terrific example of beating the blanket, move the ball, probe down the sides, recycle if needed and then inject speed when it is on. Aido inside really showed his worth, two Galway lads near him, sweeper dropped a bit deeper as he was concerned about him.
It was great to see the patience throughout from Mayo today, it didn’t feel like we ran blindly down the corridors and into tackles resulting in turnovers as we did against Louth and Cork.
Work seem to be done as well on ensuring there was a sweeper back protecting the D, only the Tierney chance after Kelly’s handball was a time we were caught without sweeper in place.
The energy levels, pace and power seemed to return, with runners available off the shoulder.
Midfield and breaking ball is a big concern. Galway are powerful around the middle but we really didn’t get to grips with them at all.
Sam Callinan, again I have to mention him, what a superb talent he is. At the opposite end, the experience of Doc, McLoughlin, Aido and Cillian really told today.
Goals win matches, we got one, could have had another and didn’t concede. Onwards to next week.
Fair play to management and players.
On the ROD stuff, Leeroy needs to use his RTE column to put that stuff to bed and call out O’Se.
Rte as national broadcaster are required to provide fair, accurate, impartial coverage, what we saw on the Sunday Game was conjecture. A deliberate attack, without conclusive evidence on a player. You’d wonder – although given the payment fiasco not for too long – how Rte producers would deem a pundit wildly speculating on the incident as appropriate coverage.
Agree about Thomas O Sheas comments..no mention Rory Brickendon injury after Kerry played Mayo in McHale Pk in spring..still out. Me thinks O Shea is using his position to influence against Mayo for the future. Ryan they must be very wary of you down there….
Boy, not pretty, but so sweet-beating our great rivals, favourites and in their own back yard-bragging rights until next year. Wind made a bit of a mess of the game and, in fairness to Galway, they were hampered by injuries, especially the loss of Comer at half-time. Two decisive incidents probably decided the outcome, McBrien’s wonder goal, as he, ironically, did a Sean Kelly(our best full-back in MA y a long year) and Reape’s vital save from Tierney. Joyce moaning as usual, same after every defeat. Not sure what he was moaning about, as for me, he awarded Galway some really soft frees and also, 21 to 10 frees in Galway’s favour.
Well done tomas o shea on the Sunday game. No mention of what they done down in limerick 2014. At least cavananagh was open minded. Kelly is no angel. Typical cute kerry man trying to fuck us up with a ban. Sad.
Whatever was said at half time, let it be stay said for next weekend!!!
@JoeG? Thanks : )
So proud of our guys they stood up yes wasn’t a pretty game but don’t really care ha they stood up yesterday and so did management in fairness!
Muting rte commentary on match day from now on they are unreal…
What the chances we draw the Dubs today ? Bet we will and hope we do ha…
Funny how neither the umpires or the camera behind the goal didn’t pick up Ryan’s “kick”.
Looking forward to the draw, now is the time to face the Dubs!
Fair play to Kevin and all the backroom team, made all the right changes at the right time yesterday.
Also Paul Conroys point in the 2nd half looked wide on TV, anyone at the game have a better angle of it?
Joyce has made same mistake before, starting an injured player. Mayo have done it as well in the past. Another problem they have is relying on a super star. McStay nailed it in his post match commentary. It came down to a better squad of players. Mayo strength since Horan sorted it is we play as a team and a squad. Despite all the comments, we still had a terrible first half and were only in the game at half time due to a string of wides from Galway. Onwards and upwards in Croker and congrats to the players and management team!
Is it half eight yet….
I’d agree that the incident highlighted on the Sunday Game would look bad and be hard to defend-if there was footage actually showing Ryan kicking Sean Kelly.
Willie Joe you are wrong about Maguire smash on Carney not featuring on Sunday Game it was condemned and called red card by all pundits. Peter Canavan said it’s from a different code
Fair enough, El Tod, my mistake. I don’t recall it featuring on the evening show last week and they didn’t go to the trouble either of tweeting the video clip, as they did with the incident in yesterday’s game.
Didn’t actually think we were terrible in first half. We started well and had three points on the board after 10 minutes. Playing against that Galway defence is no easy task and playing against the gale made it exceptionally difficult. We missed three good chances to reduce the lead before half time. Galway found it equally difficult to score against the wind. Don’t think we should get too worked up about rte. O Shea highlighting issue with Ryan and Kelly is fair enough but pictures did not look conclusive to me. Of course Cillians point should have been on Sunday Game but they showed highlights of 8 games so presume lots of other good points weren’t seen either. Interesting that Leeroy was very critical of us at half time and was lavishing praise on Galway while Canavan was more measured.The fact is we won the dogfight. Galway as has been the case all season kept their opponents score low but on this occasion didn’t score enough to win. That is their own fault because they have some seriously good forwards One other irony though for some reason PJ forgot to mention it afterwards is that we allegedly play for frees and get most of our scores from them. Not so yesterday where we only got one point from a free. In contrast Galway got loads of frees quite a few which they missed.
If RTÉ could stop talking about RTÉ for a few minutes, we might get this draw shortly …
Dublin, again. Kerry vs Tyrone as well
Hot balls did the trick on the double!
Larry McCarthy said on the radio just now that he could see no reason why we wouldn’t get a Sunday game, seeing as we were in action yesterday. He also confirmed that a draw for the semi-final would be held if needed but that the rule preventing repeat pairings could mean this isn’t necessary.
Does Paddypower know something the even the GAA don’t ?
They have Kerry v Tyrone at 13.45 and Dublin v Mayo at 16.00 on Sunday !
Well that draw seemed to be fairly inevitable anyway.
That aside – we certainly had a good slice of our own luck vs Galway. I’ll caveat that by saying we had to work an awful lot harder and be hit an awful lot harder to get a free than Galway did, case in point being the bear hug on Cillian when he only had one man to beat. Now was that not a clear foul, and if he was in any way generous, a black card and a penalty?. I also felt Hurson was very harsh on Eoghan McLaughlin throughout the game – I felt Eoghan was fouled several times getting no joy, and I’m still not sure why his goal was disallowed. Anyway we’ll try not to end up like Padraig Joyce after a game.
Aside from that and I’m not usually downbeat, I think Galway managed to throw that one away. The had the aid of the gale in the first half and fluffer their lines so many times. Realistically they should have been home and hosed at half time but they had a gilt edged goal chance which Comer blasting the ball straight at Reape and then then Walsh having a meltdown under a little pressure.
Looking at stats from the excellent @gaelicstatsman twitter account:
Galway scored 8 from 15 attempts in the first half, 5 scores from 10 attempts from play, and 3 scores from 5 placed balls. Some of those frees were very scorable and certainly a player that’s rated as highly as Walsh is would be expected to put those over the bar.
Galway completely dominated midfield, and our kickouts, but did not capitalise on any of that.
Callinan kept Walsh scoreless from play, McBrien took what was probably our only goal chance, and for a change, we were accurate. Sure we had 5 wides in the first half against the gale, but in the second half we had only the 1 wide from play and a 45 going astray. Conditions were the same for us as they were for them so they can’t use that as an excuse.
So we have a bit of work to do. I’ll enjoy the podcasts and the build up to the game at the weekend, and hopefully come Monday morning I’ll be able to enjoy the same again, but we’ve a fair bit of improving to do for that to happen I think.
@mayoman89.conroy point correct decision. Had perfect view
You can clearly see from the expression on RODs face that he was desperately trying to avoid contact with Kelly,enough said
There is absolutely no conclusive evidence of Ryan O’Donoghue doing much to Sean Kelly. There are however multiple examples of Kelly and other Galway players feigning injuries. This BIG MEAN MAYO narrative is fairly being pushed, particularly by Kerry mouthpieces. They are obviously worried about losing to us for the third time this year. Of course the Sunday game didn’t show Cillian’s point (the best point of the game). They’ve done this before. Showing him getting a score like that would go against their narrative that he’s not a ‘marquee forward’. If he’d missed, they’d be very quick to show it along with questioning every element of his play and character. No doubt if Comer or Walsh had nailed a score like that they’d still be wetting their pants over it.
Also, it goes without saying that if there is any retrospective action taken on Ryan after all the crap other teams have got away with, we riot.
Sam Callinan, Paddy Durcan and Diarmuid O’Connor are all on the GAA’s Team of the Week and Diarmuid is on the shortlist for Player of the Week. The MOTM winner on the blog + Player of the Week double is on, yet again!
@corrig bridge, you’re some shit stirred, you’ve been at it all week, support Mayo or don’t, and by the way I believe you ARE a Mayo supporter and would like to see then win the AI like 99.99% of posters on here but at times your posts are offside.
“Stirrer”
The Dubs are not the force of old and look to be very unsure of themselves at times. No doubt they’d have wanted an easier game to shake off the dust. It’s wide open this yr.