We’re back in National League action this evening, this time up in Healy Park where we take on All-Ireland champions Tyrone. Throw-in at Omagh is 5.45pm, the match is live on RTÉ2 and Maurice Deegan is the ref.
It would be tempting to see this as a rematch of last September’s All-Ireland final but we all know it’s no such thing. Sam Maguire isn’t on offer for the winners at Healy Park this evening and, while we’d definitely get a degree of satisfaction from beating them in this game (not least given that it was they who relegated us from Division One in 2020), we know full well that it’d be scant consolation for the way they turned us over last September.
If that recognition needs to be admitted up front in relation to this evening’s match, then so too does the two counties’ respective positions in Division One this year. Arising from this, the relative importance this game has for both needs also to be recognised.
In short, while we would like a win tonight, we’re in no dire need of a result. They are.
But it’s also the case that their need stems from a fairly dire run of form in Division One this spring, where they’ve won once, drawn once and lost three times. They’re coming into this one having been beaten in their last two matches – first against Donegal, where, having played so well in the first half, they lost their way completely after the break, and then when they found a rejuvenated Dublin way too hot to handle at Healy Park last weekend – and it’s not wholly clear that they’ll be able to rediscover the form they so badly need tonight.
Although we’re also coming into this game off the back of a defeat last time out, the manner of our minimum margin loss away to Kerry a week ago left us plenty to be encouraged about, albeit a fair bit to work on too. Seen in this light, Tyrone’s less-than-stellar form in recent matches compared to our more solid showings – where we’ve taken five points from a possible six against Ulster opposition so far in this campaign – bodes reasonably well for us.
This line of argument, however, ignores the widespread experimentation James has opted for in selecting his team for this game. Five changes from Tralee, with neither Paddy Durcan nor Diarmuid O’Connor in the match day 26, and Aidan O’Shea picked, for the first time at senior level for Mayo, to play at centre-back.
Peter Canavan stated on the ‘Here Comes the Weekend’ podcast that what sways him towards Tyrone is the fact that they need the win more urgently than we do. Will that be enough for them to do it? Maybe it will but maybe it won’t.
From our perspective, our need to win isn’t an elemental kill-or-be-killed one. We’re safe in Division One and a place in the League final is there to be grasped – if we’re of a mind to go for it – but we also have the luxury of largely tuning out of the chatter surrounding the League and starting to concentrate more fully instead on our Connacht Championship meeting with Galway late next month.
If, as a result, we come into this evening’s match with any air of insouciance then I think we’re pretty much guaranteed that the All-Ireland champions will be alert to this and will deal with us accordingly. That scenario could turn out ugly from our point of view.
On the other hand, if our experimentation pays off, which it only can if we approach the match with the seriousness it merits, then we may well be in for another profitable outing in Omagh. Here’s hoping that this is the more likely scenario facing us this evening.
* * * * *
A quick word about the women, who are also taking on the current All-Ireland champions today. They play Meath in this afternoon’s LGFA NFL Division One semi-final, a game that throws in at St Tiernach’s Park in Clones at 3pm today. The match is being shown live on TG4.
Shorn of several heavy-hitters this spring, Michael Moyles’ refashioned, youthful Mayo team have made great progress in this League campaign. You can’t ask for more than three wins from three outings but today’s meeting with Meath represents a far harder challenge for them.
Taking on the best always gives a team a good indication of where they’re at and this should certainly be the case today. It will also be a great opportunity for the newcomers to taste what football is like at this level. So far, they’ve given every indication that they’re well up for it and it would be great to see them prosper in such exalted company today.
* * * * *
Let’s not forget the county’s camogie team either, another outfit who are doing us all proud this spring. Like the women footballers, they’re unbeaten so far this year and, same as the lads, they’re tussling with Tyrone this afternoon. That Camogie League clash with the O’Neill County throws in At Adrian Freeman Park, Tooreen, at 2pm today.
* * * * *
Right, I need to sort a few bits before hitting the road, which I’ll be doing in the early afternoon for what’s little more than a two-hour drive from here in the capital. Safe driving all and the best of luck to all three Mayo teams playing today. A win for any of them would be good, a win for all of them would be great.
Here’s to great. Up Mayo.
A good assessment of the relative importance of this game for both sides.
We would like a win but would be happy enough with a performance. Tyrone really need a win today.
I think our focus will be on some of the new lads and seeing how they fare. If we get them further along the line I think we’ll be pretty happy. I really don’t think James has much interest in reaching the league final.
I voted for a win and think we’ll be up for getting it too.
As Thedarkyfinn said in an earlier thread, this is the game I too have been waiting for during this League.
I think we can shuffle our personnel if we need extra strength in the second half,
I’d like us to deal with McShane and especially Morgan.
This is something I want to see – can we deal with Tyrone’s style of play? We’ve always struggled somewhat with it. Previous wins that we’ve had in the League are nice but Tyrone are their own entity and I want to see if we can take them on skilfully.
Mayo by three.
To all travelling to the game, have a great day!
I’d love a crack at Kerry in the league final tbh but that’s just an aul supporters pov.
Safe travelling to everyone heading for Omagh this evening. Clear Blue sky’s makes a welcome change from last weekend in less than Tropical Tralee!
Jeez remember the stormer fionn McDonough had up here in 19 . He was magnificent that day
Thanks again Willie Joe for your coverage it is brilliant,safe travels to all I hope that it is a great game with no injuries to either team,I am starting to lose confidence in Mayo a little bit,I think that we will only have a winning margin of around seven or eight points but small fish are sweet
Good luck to the team and management this evening.
If we think Tyrone are going to be there again at the business end of the championship, then I don’t think this is the evening to go pulling the rabbit out of the hat. We’ll need all our surprise’s for later in the year I think.
You would have to hope that the players looking for a championship spot will ensure that our approach will be competitive. After that, it is up to the players to show what they can do, if we are close with 10 to go, then will our bench seal the deal? I think that we need to expect the team will step up to the challenge, and really test the Tyrone mentality. That’s all that I want to see.
Without Paddy and Diarmuid 2 in-form layers I can’t see it being won this evening.
Ill be happy to come out of this one with no injures and a few newer players putting their hand up for a place in the starting team / match-day squad.
Im expecting a change or two before throw inn.
Safe Travels everyone and lets not get too stressed out about the result if it doesn’t go our way, tyrone need it more than us and its an experimental team we are going with.
A “win” could be seeing mcbrien / mchugh have great games, orme and boland showing good scoring threat and link play and Jason not getting injured. If we did get all of that you’ll probably get the result anyway
Massive players to be missing . We have ten maybe 11 imo that are top drawer players to our jigsaw , one of them players is definitely out for the year , another hasn’t played since league game v Clare last year with injury , adding two more of that 11 to the absent list tonight and you’d imagine it will be a struggle . On the other hand you’ve 3/4 lads who will be playing out of their skin cause they know they’re in with a shot of getting into that top drawer category and becoming a vital cog in the set up . Boland, orme for a start . Mcbrien will want to make an impression this evening . I suppose what I’m trying to say is either way whatever players are out there will be busting a gut whether we suspect Horan does or doesn’t want a league final I very much doubt he will be instructing anyone to shy away from the battle .
Very strong Tyrone team named. Looks like 10 of the starting 15 from last September plus Sludden, McShane and Canavan. We’ll be doing very well to get anything from this game.
They’ve all been arrogant shadows of themselves, so far…
Any changes ?
No word of any yet, Sean, but there’s still an hour to go to throw-in.
Hi Wiile Joe. I can’t understand this mentality of going into a match to draw it, or to lose without any injuries type of scenario. Mayo Players and Management should be busting a gut to win every game, every time They go out to represent this Proud County. . Nothing is better for preparation for the coming Championship than a Win. It breeds positivity, it breeds Ruthlessness, it breeds a Winning mentality. It makes getting a Jersey all that harder and keeps Team players on their toes. Mayo should be targeting a League Final. Get back to Croke Park playing a Kerry or Armagh Team in a League Final. Winning the League would be a massive boost for this Team especially for the New Lads.
We should be beating Tyrone Today and Kildare in our last match. There is only one Plan.
No Rob Hennelly – Rory Byrne wearing 1, Colm Reape wearing 16.
I spotted him tweaking his leg during the Kerry game but he played on
I hope its nothing serious with Robbie. He (Robbie) will be our main man between the sticks this year, but I’m happy that Rory is getting more experience against top class opposition. He did very little wrong v Armagh, maybe a tad unlucky with the goal conceded (some might say his positioning was poor), but played very well after that esp in the latter stages and with conditions tricky enough.
Good luck this evening Mayo, experimental team or not, we are well fit to quieten the red hand.
A win for us by 3/4 pts.
Up Mayo!
This is shocking stuff
Lads, these mayo shorts are a horror show lol
Warning signs were there in Tralee. We haven’t a clue how to beat the blanket defence.
This is abysmal stuff. Has anyone the confidence to take a shot anymore?
We have the look of a team who had a week of heavy physical training .
They need to win it but look awful given that they have a big breeze by all accounts
Worst performance by Mayo in the league thus far, a number of players playing themselves out of the starting team v Galway next month. First score now after 24 minutes..
Maurice Deegan…..
Not sure blaming the ref is the way to go here.
True Dave. Its appaling stuff from Mayo
Tyrone are the ones who need to win this
They have been septic
That was awful stuff
Terrible stuff so far. We look clueless going forward, completely out of ideas on how to create scores. I’m afraid, it isn’t going to improve come championship either. Not even Ryan O’Donoghue can carry them today.
Mayo are toying with Tyrone,we will hammer them in the second half
Look very leggy out there and some of the forwards playing are physically not upto it at this level.
Few changes needed in the second half as the game can still be won, tyrone are no better.
They gave possession away far too cheaply in Tralee as well.Turnovers killed us in that half.
Unfortunately does not look like we have a strong panel. Some of our replacements are miles off the pace. A few changes needed at half time
Also worth saying that Tyrone don’t look great either but they will improve more than us come championship.
I’m not being critical here, but Boland is seriously struggling in terms of physicality. Perhaps this is why successive managers have been shy to play him.
I’m glad someone said it before me cause with all the scientific this and that if you cannot tell that some of these lads been touted are simply too light there’s something wrong with you . And they could kick a couple of scores now with the wind surely but no way are they big enough for it in the grand scheme of things
Most posts here during the week weren’t bothered about a win we’ll that’s what you get with an attitude like that. Need a huge improvement in the 2nd half but looks like a crazy move to go with such an experimental team against an almost full championship team
Nothing much has worked for us in that half. Too many unforced errors, poor decisions, lacking in ideas, haven’t seen a half as bad as that from us in some time.
Half time couldn’t come quick enough, glad we’re only 5 adrift
Time to turn things round..
0-5 to 0-0 after 23 mins. 0-3 since then so improvement. The wind advantage now and can’t be as bad as the opening 23 mins surely?
Kevin Mc should be subbed back off. Putrid. Towey would have been way better.
Woefully stuff from Mayo. So many handling errors and bad decisions in second half
Startled earwigs, headless chickens. And that’s only the ref and his assistants.
Awful awful stuff
Deegan has to get man of the match,he was outstanding for Tyrone,only reason we lost
Horanball won’t beat Tyrone.
Worst game I’ve even seen Kevin Mc play in a Mayo jersey, so much possession turned over. Tyrone so hard to play against defensively
The only way to beat them is not only fast ball, but quick one twos and overlaps to weave through the blanket. Sharp skillet, ie like Dubs in their prime. We neither had the skill nor personell this eve.
For the ‘Horan is building a strong panel’ brigade… There’s yer panel. Last week we had no plan B once our attacking half backs were shut down, tonight we had no plan at all
I am sulking… Ah! Disappointing. We really need to find a way to beat a strong defence and I’d love to see more solid forwards.
Neither Doc nor Kev Mc nor Fergal B had performances near what they are capable of.
ROD, Jordan Flynn and Aido played well.
James Carney had the right attitude.
I thought their energy was very good in the second half.
Boo hoo!
I hope that the team gained something from tonight as regards experience.
No need to panic but by god I want to see Cillian togged next weekend .
Can’t believe we are back to Darren Coen again .
And as I said before Boland is just too small for the modern game . It’s harsh but it’s the reality
@corick+bridge your posts are getting sillier each time. Some terrible play from mayo and like the all ireland Tyrone beat them again without playing well.
I haven’t seen many worse Mayo performances in recent years. A lot of players shown to be short of the standard at inter county. Doherty was poor. Orme non existent (don’t get the hype around this guy), thought Carney was lacking in physical intensity, no real pace either. McHugh and McBrien? Didn’t show much. That second half by Kevin Mc is gonna take some making up for. Wow.
Once again Ruane and Ryan were so much better than any other Mayo player. Very reliant on them.
Tommy Conroy is such a huge loss in the forwards. We have zero pace in there and Cillian won’t solve that.
Looking forward to Oisin Mullen playing well again because it’s been over a year now.
Positives? Thought Aiden was comfortable in the backs!
Game lost in the opening 23 mins. At least won the second half 6-3. The quality of the game was poor i thought expected a lot better from the repeat of last years All-Ireland final.
Them Univet 93/94 Jerseys never brought us any luck, the worst Mayo team to play in Croke Park against Cork in 1993 and losing Leitrim in 1994.
Something didn’t seem right with Mayo. An error count like that it truly unbelievable, especially when it’s from the more reliable and experienced players. Literally felt like they’d a running session this morning.
Captaincy hasn’t helped Stephen Coen, he has gone back alot since All Ireland Final, anonymous again tonight, will be very lucky to start against Galway in 5 weeks when Durcan and McLaughlin are back in.Oisin Mullin particularly quite tonight too.
we badly missed Rob, Paddy, Eoghan, Diamuid and Cillian ..Too many silly mistakes tonight but let there be no panic. Let’s concentrate now on the Galway match
3 losses in a row to Tyrone now.. they have us well sussed
Same pedestrian, lethargic build up play.. oh so easy to defend against. Not something that will be fixed overnight either
There won’t be many teams who score as little as 9 scores this weekend
Once again the main positive is the workrate and intensity. That alone ensures we’re contenders, but as things stand Galway will be absolutely relishing a crack at us. If comer and/or Walsh have a field day – which they’re well capable of – we will be in serious bother, as we simply don’t create or score enough unfortunately
Looks like we’ll be both hoping to squeeze them out around the middle (to prevent them winning primary possession with which to feed their dangerous forward line) and to force turnovers in their defence with our high press (which will likely prove our best method of creating our own chances as our build up play is just not functioning at all)
That said our physicality alone will be a huge but asset in that match up but right now I’m definitely a little anxious
Yeah those jerseys can piss off back to 1994. What in earth was the idea in resurrecting those? Synonymous with some of the worst Mayo football performances of all time!
GBXI – i thought Jack Carney and David Mcbrien were two of our better players.
The starting half forward line will be lucky to see any game-time come championship.
I would like to see aidan orme take on shots more he does be in great scoring positions but doesnt have the confidence to take on shots.
It was fairly clear this evening that James Horan had no interest in playing in League final.
Team played ;Ike a group cobbled together at the crossroads an hour before… we’re going backwards lads and not just literally.
Hopefully Paddy & D’OC have not picked up bad injuries or we could be in real bother.
All credit to experimentation as Roy might say but 5/6 of these lads are not up to this level ,no matter how much we might like them to be.
McBrien & Carney worth persisting with.
Liberal I said it early on that due to the amount of handling errors and lethargy I’d be certain they had a heavy weeks physical training. That’s why I would not be overly concerned ………our inability to even take on kickable scores outside 30 yards is worrying though.
The modern day disease of kicking long back passes needs to be eradicated too. So annoying . Rod the main culprit tonight !
Also have to agree with Km79 on Darren Coen, nothing personal at all and he did nothing wrong today but like come on – Horan just has some favourites and there’s no doubting it. Disagree with you though on Boland, physicality is important but Boland is aggressive and brave, and like Ryan that can make up for lack of physicality. Boland is not the problem, even if he was quiet today. He is our best wing forward after Diarmuid.
Hennelly’s kickouts were badly missed in the first half.
Regarding a strong panel. When a strong team is on the field it’s much easier integrate subs without taking from the team and hopefully adding to it but when a b team starts and are struggling it’s usually hard to turn things around. If ó hora ,2 o’connors, Harrison and durcan were available tonight then yes it would be a strong squad
That was the as bad as all Ireland final, probably worse, Maurice Deegan had a good game, gave Mayo some interesting decisions in second half. The tactics for the forwards was pathetic, several players dropping the ball, kicking the passes over the side line & end line. R O Donoghue only one trying, awful to watch. Galway will be waiting in the long grass.
Boring and predictable
I never like to say a lad doesn’t appear up to it but I’ve never seen orme do anything. Carr, yes but cos Andy namechecked him 4 or 5 years ago he is judged to a higher standard. His flashes of class deserve greater nurturing.
Mayo are average amongst top teams but the hope remains, because so are Tyrone and they won the All Ireland. Don’t give up yet folks.
Also. It’s the league. A glorified nothing competition where the only target is to avoid relegation. No glory with winning. Only hype with success which invariably does no teams any favours. You’re better off just using it to blood players.
Km79, I agree with you on all that. I would worry about Galway match. They’ll play defensive too and frustrate us. We might not have the answers, certainly not on tonight’s evidence.
O hora and Harrison were unused subs
No doubt,no doubt
I’m clutching at straws here.
Tyrone is a tricky team for Mayo.
Same as last September the Tyrone defending made so many of our players look poor.
A fast track to changing that is to have experience of games against them. Two losses now. We can’t pretend next time we don’t know how to play them. As a previous poster said we’ll have to get to work on methods.
Actually getting in for scores is the goal.
And having the personnel who are confident then to shoot.
On a different note, I thought our defence was very good this evening, in that we stifled a lot of the big opposition players from scoring.
Larry Duff
Was some Allianz 20 year Sponsorship anniversary bullshit, its a horrible Jersey and even worse pair of shorts whoever the hell designed it.No wonder we never did well? https://inpho.ie/media/b4qocJ72F35aS_Gy_lc99w..a
Felt sorry for Jason Doc. Clearly unfit. Plagued with injuries. He should be rested for 5 or 6 weeks at least. Forget about him for the Galway match, and have him fit and ready for the rest of the championship.
https://inpho.ie/media/b4qocJ72F35aS_Gy_lc99w..a?ts=_R8iOieZItLe_D39yhnjqbhd2JhtrvH3iNzjX30rjnI.a
Can’t understand Harrison not getting game time if he’s fit. Time to be getting more time on the pitch now if he’s to be there for championship or has he slipped that far down the pecking order. Maybe the posters who don’t care about the league are right but jeez every time mayo play I want them to win.
I dont mind losing the odd time after all you cant win them all provided the performance is ok. But tonight it was disapointing to see Mayo footballers afraid to take on shots
It’s a dangerous game not putting in the required effort to win. Winning is a habit. Maybe James wasn’t pushed this evening, and the team named (and subs who came in) is evidence of this. I’d worry a little about that.
Think JH was looking to who he could forget about rather than who he needs. Sad to see F.McDonagh get injured. Timing pretty much means season gone.
Tonight’s starting line up gave chances to a few.
Mc Hugh did nothing wrong…welldone.
David McBrien left a great impression.
Backs…..fine.
Midfield…fine
Half fwds …anon
Ffs ROD class. Doc. Rusty. Orme..getting there.
Mchugh did nothing wrong ? I must be watching a different game . Orme , getting there , really .
Dear mayo football people , a forwards job is primarily to score . Rod can score , cillian can score , James Carr can score .
MOTM poll is up. Final Whistle pod is also up for club members on Patreon.
Mayo have 1 issue and 1 issue only.
Get COC back on the field and have more than one threat up front.
Sort that and your there in my opinion.
What a terrible first half by Mayo and second not much better. Mayo have plenty of defenders and Byrne is ok as reserve keeper. Midfield is ok olso. Forward line very poor ,only R O D good enough to play in Championship from todays team and maybe Orme and Carney , rest not just up to standard for Championship football. Aiden not needed in defence saying that he had a good game tonight there. Impact sub in second half is his place from now on, Management are selecting very strange teams of late surely they are good enough judges of players to know that some of the men they have given numerous chances are not good enough for Championship football and never will
Disagree West Kerry. He’ll be a great addition but Mayo need pace in their towards in the absence of Tommy, and Cillian and Ryan don’t have that. Unfortunately, I can’t think of anyone in the county who is similar and I think Tommy’s injury will be our downfall this year.
My take, Aidan is an impact sub
I thought Mc brien did well
I thought Carney did well when he came on
Mattie excellent Flynn good.
We need to play most of our championship team against Kildare and win it
Fair point GBX1 however there is lots of pace in other areas like mullins, Durcan who can punch holes and create space.
Mayo desperately need more scoring threats.
The problem with such an experimental side is you can’t judge anything.
Players play shit because the team is just too “experimental” and there is just no stability to ‘fit in with’.
I think Orme is good and will get better.
Boland as well got 3 points last week so in my view you can’t walk away from that especially when we don’t have scoring forwards coming our of our ears.
Jack Carney as well is promising…..however at some point we have to move on from “promising” and get the fucking job done.
I don’t for a minute agree the league doesn’t matter…you need to win every game or go out there trying to.
We are making basic skills mistakes all over the place and getting turned over.No cutting edge tonight to get it done when the chance was well there to do it.
The most disappointing aspect about the game was that around 7 players – 5 in the forwards- were given a chance tonight to grab a jersey to start against Galway and none of them put there hand up.
I thought McBrien did ok. Looks like a big lad that might have a bit of pace as well. Hession surely worth trying at wing forward v Kildare. He has the bit of pace needed to go past a defender and can also score
That was a terrible display from Mayo. I thought they would push on in the second half but honestly lads, and it’s a common theme here, when your forwards kick 2 points from playvin a game your going nowhere fast…
Yes, we need to improve our forward play. And our defense is porous. Just like the final last year, the Tyrone attackers got the time to get their shots off. No pressure on them and I have to think that like the AIF, it wasnt that Mayo were off this eve, its that we couldnt handle their intensity and pavked defence. They picked holes through us this eve, Horan and co still havent set up a system to beat this Tyrone team.
That’s why I like the idea of Hession at HF. It doesn’t necessarily matter if he’s not popping over points. As long as he breaks the line and creates overlaps. He’ll lay-off to a scorer or he might create goal opportunities. Unfortunately the likes of Fionn, Conor, Towey have really struggled and they just don’t seem able to punch holes against packed defences, ie Kerry, Galway, Tyrone.
We’re missing Eoghan McLaughlin in a big way also. Sure, he’s loose on the ball and prone to mistakes but he’s real wild card, a joker in the pack in a good way, capable of creating chaos and uncertainty for the opposition. He’s certainly way ahead of the above 3 players i mention.
The big difference I see between us and Kerry, Tyrone and Galway is our inability to retreat and pack our defence like those teams. It’s just not Horan’s way. But it’s so effective for those teams.
The last 10 mins of the game brought panic type team play from mayo. They knew what they had to do, appeared to have Tyrone on the ropes but yet couldn’t do it. So confidence and a ruthless streak still a problem.
Other thing; I only ever see a half-kick type of kick into the forwards; but it cannot always be the right decision. Also the accuracy and appropriateness of these half-kicks are often questionable. From what i can tell from the TV, the ball quality is so bad that the defender doesn’t look disadvantaged most times.
What is this telling us? I think it is saying we are still a bit one dimensional. Obsession with short, low risk hand passes that, as the move progresses, suddenly become a high risk option; and this before we come within an asses roar of the opposition’s goalmouth. And then the odd half-kick that a forward is not entirely expecting. I hope i am wrong but i have an awful feeling players are bashing away with the same old tactic of ‘make sure we don’t lose possession’ rather than going out and expressing youself, take risks etc.
@1989.agree totally. For me the time to see what a player is made of is putting him in with 13 or 14 seasoned players and not when 7 or 8 others are trying to make a name for themselves. Regarding orme I have great hopes for him but I can’t understand why he’s afraid to take on a shot. It’s puzzling all the chances he passes up including left footed frees considering he’s not afraid to take the same shots with knockmore.
On a positive note I think we have found our midfield pairing . Flynn is really coming along nicely .
Forwards barring ROD were very poor tonight . We seem to have no plan against a blanket defense. The lads need to put more effort into shooting practice as they continually turn down shooting opportunities and look for ROD or Ruane to kick etc. Forwards need to try and score . We cannot carry so many non scoring forwards in a game .
This will be an unpopular opinion but I think mullin needs to improve . You can see he’s a fine footballer but I cannot remember a game that he took over. He’s been caught out so many times by not marking tight. Would remind you of Higgins marking but Higgins turned so many games going forward too
Agree about McLaughlin Liberal, he should be nailed on starter because of his elite pace. Mullin, Durcan, McLaughlin half back line.
I’d be a bit less despondent, at least for now. Very unfortunate for fionn, but he wasn’t making an impact. Felt like too many periphal squad members given a go at the same time, but I’d personally stick with Boland over Towey and see how he gets on with a stronger HF line around him, at least for Kildare. Think same applies with Orme, especially if COC won’t be back for Galway. If a stronger forward unit without support from HB runners are having same issues for Kildare that’s when I’d start to get concerned
People can whinge about forwards until their cows come home but if the general play is sloppy and lads are getting turned over for fun then focusing on forwards is only covering up the cracks.
Before tonight’s shambles we were the third highest scorers in the league and only about an average of 2 points per game behind Kerry and Tyrone were the lowest scorers, and still are.
I expected us to win tonight and we didn’t lose because of a lack of forwards, we lost because of out and out sloppiness combined with having seemingly learned nothing about how to play against Tyrone.
Yes we have injuries but if there was one team that “experimenting” should have been shelved it was against Tyrone because if we face them in the championship what has been learned by regulars, nothing.
I’m beginning to have serious doubts about the ability to learn on many fronts.
We pride ourselves on the S & C and without that I dread to think where we’d be but whatever Tyrone are doing they are stronger than us, and these are fellas who’ve had months on the beer.
And this craic of naming the team on a Wednesday needs to be cut out, if you’re naming the team so early then not much homework is being done on the opposition, still a lot of naivety lingering.
Horan used to get critised for not naming teams until the last minute. Now he is being critiqued for naming team too early. Was there not a directive brought in whereby teams had to be in by Thursday morning of game week?
The game itself. Shambles. Haven’t a clue how to break down a blanket apart from try and barge through it. I hope we trained heavy this week/this morning, as we seemed very flat.
McBrien did well I thought. Mullin just isn’t firing and in my view he hasn’t since the 2020 season. Hopefully he’ll find his way soon
Lads, that Jersey, although hailing from those nightmare years of 1993/94, isn’t bad at all. Actually it’s a very nice design, easy on the eye. Compared to some of the ridiculous strips of recent years, I’d take it.
For those posters who don’t know, all counties are wearing a retro Jersey this weekend, it’s a fundraising initiative in aid of women’s aid.
Re the game this evening, one swallow doesn’t make a summer and all that, and we won’t go too hard on JH and team over one result.. It was a hard watch surely, and maybe all the xperimentation unsettled us. Also, aside from Tyrone parking the bus, feck all worked for us on the night – making a bad start and not getting a grip on things until after the break, not playing well – too many errors, turnovers etc, and not taking our chances up front (not being allowed maybe).
Funny enough we could still have nicked it at the end, but onwards and upwards. We have fellas coming back and we could still make a league final. PG, Fionns injury isn’t too serious. I thought our MF and full back were excellent and a few others were ok, but too many had an off nght.
A bad day for ourselves and our ladies too, but its not the end of the world.
Up Mayo!
Viper We lost because our forwards were not good enough. One starting forwards scored one point from play. Simple as that We score 9 points so don’t win the game. We were a point down against a mediocre Tyrone team with 20 minutes to go and a strong wind at our back. It’s hardly our backs or midfield that needs to shoulder the blame Loads of time, loads of possession but pass the ball around rather than take the responsibility to shoot.