Game day: get the job done

Mayo flag at Croke Park

Morning has broken – and another perfect summer’s one it is over here – on a day where, for the sixth successive year, the county team takes the field aiming for a place in the All-Ireland football final. The last two years the game’s two biggest powers barred our path to the September decider but this time we’re strong favourites going into the semi-final as we get ready to do battle with championship 2016 surprise packets Tipperary.

It’s a battle that, sadly, I’ll be following from afar today. Instead of being in the thick of it at the cauldron that is Croke Park on a day like this, I’ll be watching on from over here, looking at the action on Sky over an iPad. Does this all feel more than a bit weird? Too right it does but there’s nothing I can do about it now.

By the sounds of it, though, such is the size of the likely turnout from the county at HQ today I won’t be missed. The players have more than once this year referenced the boost the strong support they get from the stands gives them and they’re sure to feel this even more when they run out on the sacred turf this afternoon.

Across the country, Tipp will, understandably, attract widespread neutral support today as the plucky underdog. Inside Croke Park is, however, where this contest will be decided and so it’s all the more important that our vocal support makes it feel like a home game for us.

And the lads should feel at home on the big stage at HQ. They’re used to big days like this and they’ve proved repeatedly in recent years that they thrive in the pressure-cooker environment that is the business end of the championship.

That edge should ensure it’s the players in Green and Red that set the tempo in this contest. The job today will be far easier done if the lads settle into their task right from the throw-in and set about asking the most searching of questions of their opponents.

While Tipp have every right to expect nothing but the height of respect from us, they should know – and hopefully they’ll find out in short order – what cost this entails. We need to hit them with everything we’ve got and only let up when we’re 100% sure the result is in the bag.

There’s a job to be done today (and, yes, I do feel guilty not being there to add my puny tuppence-worth of hoarse-throated shouting to the cause) and I’ve every hope we’ll see this task carried out in the manner that an All-Ireland semi-final demands. The prize of a place in the final is there for us to grasp and now we’ve got to get out there and do this. Best of luck to the lads today and safe travelling all. Up Mayo!

43 thoughts on “Game day: get the job done

  1. You WILL be missed Willie Joe but we will shout that little bit harder on your absence. Enjoy the game Up Mayo

  2. Surely you can find a pub showing it live from sky or illegally from RTE and recreate the atmosphere like we do over here in London. Next best thing in my book.

  3. Enjoy your break WJ . I’m both nervous and excited this morning , would like to see Tom P starting . I think we should have enough to beat them . Jesus this is some dedicated and talented group of players . Things might not be easy to day so let’s get behind our bucks and roar them home ! Safe journey to all

  4. Enjoy the match Willie Joe! We might organise a draw so that you can be at the replay! Only joking!

  5. You’re exactly WJ when you state we need to set the tempo. Mayo need to play this game on their terms and leave little in terms of scope for optimism to Tipp.

    I don’t think we’ll look to start cautiously like the quarter. I’d like to us look to dominate from the throw in and get running at them as early as possible.

    Looking forward to it now. Sounds like there’ll be a decent enough crowd at it and that’s testament to the relentless support for this team.

  6. Putting on the overalls for one last time this year. Get in, get the job done and get out. I expect to see a trick or two being pulled from managements hat. I also expect to see some of our “sun glasses in the hair, fair weather supporters” present, for the first time this year! I hope they’re as vocal as they are visual!!
    Safe travelling.
    Hon Mayo

  7. Safe traveling to all, fair and foul. Anyone at the game today will have either bought or got a ticket somehow, nobody needs to account to anybody else for why or how they got there. If you have sunglasses do what you want with them, FTB. Criost Linn.

  8. We need the work rate and intensity up. Keep the pressure on Tipperary.

    Then let’s see who can play football.

  9. With my Tipp woman sitting beside
    and all the times she had come with me to roar Mayo on, today is a day I did not think would ever come but it has so let’s put this game to bed early! Tipp for the hurling but this is our day.
    Maigheo Abu

  10. WJ you might want to check your Sky Go because I was in Italy for the quarter finals and it said the match wasn’t available in my region. I had to buy the match on GAA Go.

  11. Just get the job done simple as that We could be playing with the black jerseys in the final if kerry get through. The black kit has been lucky for us.

  12. Pebbles…don’t be like that! Rem, any kind of a score is a score for us no matter where or how it arrives and look at the grand morning that’s in it!

  13. Willie joe. I know the feeling. I was abroad last year for the Dublin replay The thing is I was glad I missed it. You will be sorry. Looking forward toa10plus point victory today and a meeting with Kerry in four weeks. Come on Mayo

  14. Any tickets on sale today in drumcondra? 2 tickets needed together for my 9 yearold and me. I had tickets organised(i thaught)but have bean let down at the 11th hour.

  15. This is what the players have worked so hard for all year – to be playing in an AI semi final and within 70 mins of getting back to a September final day show down where the lessons learned from the past five years can be channelled into one last massive push for Sam. Just like two weeks ago, nothing less than a gut busting, life-on-the-line performance will be required to drag ourselves over the line today. If we do we will win. Make it happen lads !! We’ll be there shouting ye on !

  16. McH
    The ticket kiosk opposite Gill’s Pub on the North Circular Road will be operating from mid morning. Also the GAA ticket office on Dorset Street should be selling them.

  17. Missing this one myself. Feels very strange. Arriving in wales on family holiday this morning.
    I’m banking on the fact that sky go works in the UK
    After listening to horan on the radio the other night, he has me convinced mayo will win pulling up.

  18. I can see a few goals for Mayo today but no runaway point scoring.
    Mayo. 4-13
    Tipp. 1-10

    Also, fair play to Tipp for getting here with all the odds they have faced, they deserve a lot of credit for the fight they have in them.

  19. Best of luck to the lads today. Times like this that the GAAGo package comes in handy! Will u be doing the audio report anyway WJ?
    Safe travels everyone and always, Up Mayo!

  20. Best of luck to all involved today. I fully expect a comfortable Mayo win and a few rabbits pulled from the hat tactics wise.

    Safe travelling to all going. Big crowd from Mayo by the sounds of it.
    I’ll be in a Kerry pub in London. Be interesting to hear what they have to say if we do win. Expecting plenty of yerra from them regarding next weeks match, even though I do have a feeling we could see a surprise there. Anyway, today is all that matters.

    Up Mayo

  21. Think Barry will start in a sweeping role, Aidan to ff from the start, with high balls going in early to test them out. Need to hit them hard, giving them no sniff of an upset.

  22. Nice one WJ, I was away myself last year for the 1st Dublin game. Hope we get a different result today.

    Forecast has wind and rain arriving for 2nd half so I hope we build up some sort of lead at half time.

    I expect lots of goals today especially from us.

    -5 in handicap is buying money we will win this by over 10 points. It’s a game made for us.

  23. Best of luck to the lads today. A good performance, efficient with no paperwork or injuries for the final. Safe travelling to all. Hon Mayo.

  24. The best of luck to our boys and management today and to all travelling or watching to the game.

    MaighEo Abú

  25. A few of those marroonies will cause us an amount of pain down the line. Well done the G’s!

  26. It makes sense. Quinlivan is simply too tall for likes of Keegan or Keane. If Parsons and COS come in later we will have a very big physical team to finish out.

  27. Watching Mayo is just like watching your 2 year old walking across a highway on her own and then she stands the far side of the thing waving back at you after she crosses

  28. If they can manage to play for ten to fifteen minutes they should handle the Dubs or Kerry!

  29. Not a classic by any means but a win nonetheless. No injuries, no cards and a place in an All Ireland in a month. I’d have taken that walkin up Mc Hale Road after the Galway game. We still haven’t played well consistently in any game really and today our shooting was not great but here we are again. Hon Mayo!

  30. In all my days travelling to Mayo match’s, All Irelands included, I’ve never seen a bigger Mayo support at a match. Colour was brilliant (though the audio levels will need to be turned up a bit more for the final!). The trail of Mayo traffic heading back west was something else to see! I counted 15 52 seater coach’s as well as a load of mini bus’s and all the cars in Ferrick’s after the match, busier than an All Ireland final day!

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