The first real test of the Championship faces us later on this evening at MacHale Park in Castlebar. Roscommon provide the opposition in this Connacht SFC semi-final, which throws in at 7pm and where Meath’s David Gough is the ref.
Needless to say, this is a match neither side wants to lose. For the winners there’s a place in the Connacht final – for us, it’d be the first time we’ve made it that far since 2015 – and a step closer to the Super 8s. For the losers, it’s the hard road of the qualifiers.
It’s a road we know but one we’d gladly avoid this year. Roscommon, likewise, won’t relish being sent on their travels in that direction. So tonight’s results has real consequences for both.
We know well what Anthony Cunningham’s team are likely to bring to the table tonight. They’ve developed a harder edge and a more defensive approach to their play this year, so the challenge they’ll pose for us will more resemble the tactics that have worked so well for Galway against us in recent years. We need to be ready for this and have the required plans to deal with it.
For what it’s worth, I think we’ll be able to do this. We’ve a solid backline, a strong middle sector – where they’re not overly powerful – and forwards who can ask awkward questions of what can at times be an uncertain defence.
James Horan likes his teams to play with a high tempo. If we go hard at them early on, it could pay rich dividends for us and could see us home without too much trouble.
But if the going is hard and it takes us longer to break them down then we need to be patient. We have to show that we’ve learned from those three defeats to Galway and that we know how to win no matter how the opposition lays out its stall.
Either way we should win but sadly I won’t be there myself to see it. It’s going to be a slightly out-of-body experience for me this evening, only catching echoes of the game via updates on the phone, but sure there you go.
I am, though, looking forward to reading Cian’s take on the game here on the blog afterwards and to see what all the rest of you have to say about the match as well.
Safe travelling to all heading to Castlebar later on today. While you’re on the road, you could do a lot worse than listen to our bumper, match preview episode of the podcast – it’s available here and from all the usual podcasting sources. And please give a shout or two extra for the team at the game on my behalf seeing as I won’t be there bellowing myself.
James Horan’s second coming as manager has begun in the most encouraging way. Tonight it would be great to see the first signs of real intent in this Championship from his reshaped and repurposed Mayo team. Or, in my case, to hear positive dispatches in this vein.
It’s time to get this moving. Up Mayo.
Great to get the championship started against our neighbours ‘The Rossies’. For those of us living on the border, this is the real derby game. Roll on 7pm and ‘Hon Mayo’!
Glad to see David Gough Reffing. Best ref in Ireland for me . Spots a lot of the off the ball stuff from corner backs that other refs don’t or choose to ignore
Andy to come on, score the winning goal, kiss the Crest, drive the Rossies mad!!
Seriously really looking forward to this one, intrigued to see if Mayo have really kicked on or was the league just that..league… I have a small feeling Anthony Cunningham will have a trick or two up his sleeve but still expect Mayo by 4
Brady is likeable but thats attention seeking bullshit.
Rossies are a decent side capable of springing a surprise ..
Regan really has to take his chance .. he can only get so many ..
Hopefully coen can score a few too.. his link up has been good but needs to add to that
Mayo by 5
Will this be on radio does anyone know?
Dont know why im so nervous about this one, probably because 2001 being the last time they bet us, , when we won the league and Cavan last bet Monaghan.History has a funny way of repeating itself.
For us to prevail, we need to take every goal chance we get. Boland needs to start goin for goals instead of fisting over IF he continues to drift in behind, he also needs protection from Gough as hes the only one the rossies can bully, and they will. A fast start vital, take the hope out of them early if possible. Big games for Coen, Plunkett, Ruane and Regan. League has never mattered a jot, this is this is the first real test of 2019.
I think we will win, but we could be in for a fright. I feel it might be touch and go.
Anyone around Castlebar yet that can get their hands on a programme, bench rumour doing my head in.
God call Sean – would love to see who has made the bench.
@Mayodunphy fully agree with your remark there re FB cutting in, take your points of course but 8/10 yards out you sometimes have to back yourself to drive in low and hard to the opposite side of the goal or else do what Keith did against Tyrone this year pass it into the net on the goalies near side.
We had 4/5 of these chances against Kerry in league final.
FB is playing some smart football this year and more importantly taking on and scoring long range points.
Can’t make the match tonight so it’s tv for me.
Mayo still by 4+
Can’t wait. Looking forward to buying those airline tix for 6/16 game as soon as the final whistle sounds. Been planning and dreaming of this trip for a long time like so many of you did to come to NYC so will be bitterly disappointed if it’s not happening. I expect it to be a goals distance between them late, just to torture me to the end!
Mayo13BG, exactly, the league final was a good example, had we lost we had only had ourselves to blame. Anything can happen that close to goal, deflections, own goals, anything. If Boland adds this to hos game he will become a serious inter county baller.
Ah ref on twitter reckons no cillian or vaughan in the programme, hes usually well clued in.
Stand tickets are now sold out and terrace tickets are only available in Supervalu and Centra stores!!
Don’t want to jinx it, but has the game to be decided tonight,? extra time, etc, think a game in Ulster went to E/T recently.
Have a great game everyone who’s going to it! Hope ye really enjoy it. I’ll be listening on radio and am looking forward to hearing our lads out playing in championship again, showing their skill and vim and vigour. I’m feeling a bit nervous but I have confidence in the lads and management. I hope we win of course and I hope we might even gain a bit of value out of playing against a packed defence and outsmarting it. We’ll only be able to relax and appreciate that, of course, when the match is over and a positive result in the bag : ) Fingers crossed.
Have a great day everyone! Let’s enjoy!
Mayo 1-19 Roscommon 1-09.
No James Carr in subs, must be injured???
No Carr and no cillian although expected I still thought he might be on the bench . Boyler is there as is Andy .
Who is on the subs bench?
Vaughan is a big miss today.
I agree Rock, Vaughan’s physicality will be sorely missed.
This is gonna be a tough one I reckon. The first 5 to 10 mins are crucial. Mayo can’t be on the back foot from early on and wait for some other teammate to step up.
Some ex players have been writing Anthony Cunninghams pre match talk for him which is not ideal and the rossies won’t be ‘wallflowers’ this evening!!
Having said that if Mayo can ‘survive’ the inevitable first 15 mins of physical onslaught they are more than good enough to pull away.
Otherwise draw and extra time?!!
Horan will have our lads well prepared for a physical battle. I don’t see that as being problematic for us, once our discipline holds. To be honest it might exactly what we need – it sometimes gets the dial moving right from the start.
The likes of Keegan needs to be careful off the ball. Gough is a stickler for pulling that stuff up.
Anyone know the subs list?
Subs:
Clarke
Coen
Drake
McCormack
O’Donoghue
Boyle
Loftus
Treacy
Moran
Durcan
Diskin
Good man wide ball. Thanks
Especially with Vaughan not there, the lack of a strong natural midfielder is a gap we have to focus on.
Best of luck to Mayo tonight.
A few musts for tonights game.
Discipline.
Roscommon will come to hit hard and play on the edge tonight. They will target certain Mayo players. We have to hold our head be patient and make no stupid ted card type fouls. Gough wont tolerate it on either side.
Focus.
Mayo need to start faster and stronger and take the game to Roscommon. Paddy snd Lee need to be taken off the leash and attack at pace. Marking must be strong tonight and we need to be ruthless in front of goal no slack play or marking.
Passing.
Mayo will need to pass the ball tonight and let the ball do the work. Passing will be vital tonight especialy if Roscommon deploy their blanket defence, we need to pass not run down blind alleys must have a team mate on the shoulder.
Scores.
Finally our scores have to improve from our play and frees. We are simply missing too many chances created. Our forwards must step up tonight and take their chances. There will be goal chances Mayo must be Ruthless in front of goal.
Mayo by 6 points.
Carr and Cillian and Vaughan out really weakens our bench. So big performances needed from all who are there.
Massive match and nothing about it is going to be easy. Our strong league must count for something and I expect that with horan back, mayo playing at home is going to be a different proposition to recent seasons.
Mayo by 5.
I agree with you Rock, discipline is the key to winning today. Best of luck to all the lads.
Hi,
Under 20’s have scored 4 goals. Leading by 13ts. On mayogaa twitter.
Mayo need to push up on Roscommon from the start and set the agenda good and early. We need to be clinical and take our chances. If we do that we’ll be ok. Alot of people drawing connections with Monaghan getting caught cold by Cavan or Limerick hurlers (League and AI champions) beaten by cork. This is a different game with different opposition and Mayo have alot to prove this year with a refreshed team. Hon Mayo!
Cillian, Seamie, Donal and Fionn are major losses that we can ill afford. Expect Roscommon to bring their A game and cause a major upset tonight…
I hope you are wrong 45!
Enjoy the game everyone . It will be interesting to see how Mayo set up. There are goals in Roscommon Forwards if we don’t close up the space in front of our FB line as we often don’t. …
Mhaigh Eo Abu….
I believe if we have a few sheep near McHale park we are home and dry ,we all know that Ros are sheep Steelers
I don’t agree that D Vaughans physicality will be missed.
Always a bit nervous before a game like this. But I’m confident that Mayo will be too strong overall. It’s alright talking up the rossies but really there is no basis for it. Current league champions against a team relegated from division 1. Have contested 7 out of the last 8 championship semi finals and a few finals. Roscommon have achieved little or nothing in terms of success in the last decade. The new additions of youth to the panel this year has brought a fresh look to the team. Nice blend of youth and experience. And although Ros have improved in strength and conditioning. They are still not near Mayos level. I think the game will be scrappy for the first 15 or 20 mins before Mayo settle into their stride and Keep the rossies at arms length for the remainder of the game. Mayo by a comfortable 7 or 8 point victory.
Where’s James Carr ??????
Not as confident of our bench as I was yesterday. Hopefully there will be a couple of additions before throw in. Good luck to all.
what sky station is the game on cant get it on any yet
Carr must be injured I’m guessing. He’d be starting otherwise.
Up Mayo ,win by ten at least,easy game for us,need to give some of the bench time for bigger tests later
Higgins caught again
Very dodgy stuff so far.
Always feel concerned about these kinds of matches with Mayo…they never seem to be at the right tempo the last number of years.
We’re all over the place here!
Jesus, this is going to get dirty.
Get Clark on
Our shape and positioning is terrible. Lateral even backwards passing. Rarely a player supporting off the shoulder at pace. Countless wides. Loose defending and acres of space in front of our full back line.
Of all 6 forwards the only one who can be anyway pleased is Darren Coen.
I wouldn’t mind but ros haven’t even played well.
Yikes
Well there you go. Sickening. We didn’t deserve to win.
What a disaster just raging with that
Absolute disaster!@@
Pale shadow of a team without Cillian.
Kind of felt there was a potential for disaster here and so there was. We don’t respect much of our opposition and get caught out too easily by teams we seem to perceive as being beneath us.
No free taker in the county?
No excuses.
Cannot blame the ref for that.
Shocked..Just didnt see that coming..Corickbridge..Twice you’ve referred to Rochford there..Its a pointless exercise..
Back door again for mayo Roscommon wanted it more
Terrible result for us. No standout player aside from maybe coen and boland. How did we not have one free take left on the pitch for the final whistle ?
Where were all our young new players who helped us to league success ?
Have to say I agree Larry Duff. Was very nervous about this match. No Cillian or Vaughan in the subs had me worried. Must be down 5/6 points a match without Cillian and more with the confidence he instills in others because of his accuracy and growing the scoreboard.
We were even a man up for 7/8 mins.
Congratulations to Roscommon. A fantastic and well deserved victory for them . They showed real leadership and courage when we faltered…
START OUR BEST GOD DAMN GOALIE
We are too smart for our own good
Congratulations to Roscommon, better team .
I free taker,simple as
David Clarke 2 time all star never lets us down but apparently not good enough
No free taker
Gutted
Well there you go a fourth consecutive Galway Roscommon final with Mayo taking the long road,Who would have thought that four years ago. Without Darren Coen and Fergal Boland’s two excellent second half points we would have been seriously embarrassed Otherwise we constantly took the wrong option. When are we ever going to learn you concede soft goals you lose matches It is a simple as that. What also costs us tonight was clearly the absence of a free taker Kevin McLoughlin is a great player but he is not now or ever been a free taker. Diarmuid would have been far better taking that last free rather than calling Kevin over.
Anyway we are where we are so lets dust ourselves down and get ready for the road ahead.
With all the giving out people will do I hope everyone appreciates a masterclass from Anthony Cunningham, fitness, selection, tackling, experiment in the league and finish the game with ball strikers on the pitch
Corick bridge – 2 hours ago you were bluffing about Mayo having an easy win by ten points. Maybe your attitude was symptomatic of a wider mood in Mayo about this game that seeped into players heads?
Humility is a trait that has been in very short supply for Mayo fans when discussing Roscommon in recent years. We need to take our medicine and get our heads down again for the qualifiers. And not disrespect Roscommon or anyone else again.
No free taker
Gutted,we really need a no3 badly,
Sean Burke better team because we beat ourselves. They are simply not a better team
So much for having options up front
Carrick bridge at 6 45pm
Up Mayo ,win by ten at least,easy game for us,need to give some of the bench time for bigger tests later
My word what a statement that was!
It really was an unbelievably brainless performance – how did DOC decide to give McLoughlin that free – he always misses them
Hasn’t loftus been kicking frees for crossmolina since he was 17? Everyone knows McLoughlin is not a free taker. Why also was Coen taken off and him having a career best game??
Well done to Roscommon, they got a great start, took their chances, and worked their socks off. We had our chances, not clear why Coen was taken off, Harry struggled, could have sneaked through with a reliable free taker but them’s the breaks.
DavyJ completely agree with you
The continued absence of Cillian has been worrying and it was really emphasised tonight. No team can hope to get very far without a good free taker and without him we don’t have one. But even more than that, do we really respect any teams outside of Kerry and Dublin? Do we try hard enough?
I find it hard to imagine the qualifiers going well even if we do get a “soft” draw because we simply don’t seem to be at the pitch of these games anymore.
A real shame, but making the Super 8s doesn’t even seem plausible right now.
DavyJ..Infinite chances apparently..It would melt your brain..
Steady steady lads
Yes it wasnt good but we are still alive.
Keep the faith.
Ros deserved it tonight but still could have been a draw and extra time.
Ho hum
Here we go again.
Thought Roscommon were deserving winners. The ref gave us every chance.
Don’t know the wide count tonight, but it was clearly a problem in New York. We were surprisingly loose at the back early on. 17 points is a good tally and we seemed satisfied with it.
Where was our super strong bench???
Very poor performance. Bar Darren Coen and Fergal Boland not really anyone played well. Slow outta blocks as well which cost us big time and too much complacency resulted in the first goal. Management have serious questions to answer as well after that. Championship is over now. Forget about super 8s. no way those older players going to go through the back door.
Nothing else to say except that, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen such a lazy performance by a a Mayo team. I had some concerns about the selection of henellly in goal, but I kept my powder dry. Yes, he was poor, but honestly, there is plenty of blame to go around. Aido, Higgins, Barrett, Keegan, Doherty, Kevin Mac and , was Diarmaid in this game at all.?
Now it’s the long hard road. Again. It’s unlikely at this point in time with the miles on some of those legs. A shame.
Great game first of all, and well done Roscommon, I had a feeling Anthony would work his magic.. As for Mayo you would wonder about James Horan and his selection issues.. Hennelly again cost the game but there were also issues all over the pitch. It just shows the league is a mile off championship and most teams target this time of year. Mayos early start last October means they may have already peaked for the league final.
Finally the absolute disgraceful disrespect shown by David Brady and John Maughan during the week was some spur for Roscommon.
Roscommon the better team tonight. Congratulations to them. We seemed toothless tonight – I’m not sure why. Each time the ball got into the Roscommon half I felt nervous. I don’t think we made them nervous like that when we got into their half. They had more threat and power in their general play.
I must say there are some ungracious comments on here about some of our players. And the same players are seen as brilliant when they score and play well. Take a look back at the comments and you’ll see clearly what I mean.
As someone else said above, we are where we are. Simply.
First time poster, long time lurker, why do they persist with Hennelly taking 45’s?whats his accuracy rate 20-25%? Please leave Clark in goals till he is no longer able to tie his own shoe laces.
Here we go again… Gough called a pretty good match as far as I’m concerned. It wasn’t lack of heart or anything in that regard by our side either. It simply came down to the fact we have no one capable of putting it between the posts in a free taking situation. The “second best team in the country” can’t continue to perform this way. We all sat here a couple weeks ago thinking the NY shot conversion was because of what that game was but after today I am not too sure. So many wasted opportunities . Even off breaking balls we would get possession and just pull the trigger . Coen is MOTM. Aido was Aido yet again. Robbie shit the bed with that kickout and the rest is history. Here’s to the bowl being good to us this year!
Jesus, o connor and mclaughlin will have nightmares about this game. Why on earth was regan taken off, as he is the only mayo player capable of taking a free. Aido and coen the only mayo players with any credit. This is bad as it gets. Gutted for the players but the whole performance was like a bad car crash. Hope they can bounce back and get something out of the season, but we are desperate for a forward
John Walsh really. Don’t think to many players stood up tonight.
* Each time the ball got into our half I felt nervous *
What would the bowl being good actually entail though?
Nobody would fear playing us and why would they? We struggle against the so called weaker counties. Genuinely can see another kildare situation happening again. A lot of miles on the clock now for a lot of those lads to be going the long route again.
Here we go again Fellas on here saying we would hammer Ross and as soon as we lose we turn on our players Best fans in the country my big toe Well done Ross by the way Deserved it and took advantage of our shortcomings Was wondering how long it would take to mention Rochford and Hennelly but hadn’t to wait long Anyway we we have to get on with it
I’ve been following Mayo football for far too long to sense that we were going to be threading treacherous waters tonight. This game was always going to be a major test of our lads mental resolve following the league victory and big party in NYC. Well done to Roscommon on a well planned, well executed and well deserved victory. Horanball not so slick any more when key players get left out of the match day 26.
I would respectfully suggest avoiding looking too far ahead and making predictions about how the qualifiers will go and the Super 8s and making comments about miles in the legs. Quite frankly the talk of miles in the legs is depressing. Let’s take it one game at a time. I can’t predict myself how things will turn out (of course there is a chance of a Kildare situation happening again but we don’t know as yet).
But I do think Mayo supporters will come out in the qualifiers and support their team. It’s horrible being in these dodgy situations though. Ooof!
Roscommon and Galway also have to navigate forward as do all the Ulster teams and Kerry etc. Let us see how we all do as things progress.
Some OTT and crude comments, some of you need to cop on, we are all disappointed but people need to chill out!
No connacht final appearance since 2015 swallow swoops now swallow swoops. Galway and Roscommon left to fight it out as the kingpins of connacht ever since. weve every right to be annoyed.
Desperately disappointing but need to stay the course. We’ve been here before – too often for comfort – but we can recover.
Darren Coen had a huge game. He was taken off because he could barely walk by that stage of the game. Doherty was in a similar condition and possibly should have been removed earlier.
It’s not difficult to fathom why we lost. We conceded two incredibly poor goals, missed two of our own and kicked a shocking number of wides. Roscommon played very well but we really had this game within our grasp.
The space we left in front on our full-back line was difficult to understand. Harrison, Barrett and Higgins struggled but they were given very little cover at times. As for the keeper – look we’ve been here before. He made a poor error and was visibly rattled by it. He never recovered so continuing either him on the frees was simply not an option as far as I’m concerned.
I thought Coen had his best game for Mayo. Paddy Durcan led the fight back and young Boland showed well when we needed him. I wa disappointed to see Regan taken off, I thought he was doing well and merited a few more minutes.
Diarmuid struggled very badly all evening. He simply couldn’t make any impact. I would go easy on McLoughlin – it’s clear to see he doesn’t want to take frees. He actually always misses on the near side – a cardinal sin of a decent free taker. It’s all about confidence, you have to want to take them. It would have been Loftus for me but that’s easy to say now.
I said it before the game, we’d miss the power of Vaughan and Seamie. Cillian has his detractors but fuck me he misses very few inside 40 meters. If we can get some of the senior guys back over the next few weeks we might be able to recover. Fionn McDonagh and James Carr will also hopefully be back into contention shortly.
It’s kick in the balls no doubt. JH first loss as a manager in Connacht. Time will tell if we have the stomach for the long road.
Leaderless. Shapeless. Bereft of tactics and when game in melting pot we made countless decision making errors. Took quick frees into the corner on wet conditions when Hennelly should have kicked them. You imagine he’d kick feckn 1 over!!! Kevin on the last one?? He’s awful on frees.
I’ve never seen us as weak defensively in years. None of our 6 backs dominated. Keegan and Durcan had zero impact. Hennelly had a poor game too.
Midfield we did ok.
Our forwards. Well what can you say. The media will have a field day and they’ll be right. Our forward unit in terms of performance were the standard of an average division 2 team at best. Boland came into it in 2nd period. Darren played decent. The rest were poor. The two docs were waaay off their best. Regan, same old story..only good for frees. I know hes had bas injuries but how many years are we waiting for him to produce a dominating performance against a team that isn’t div 3/4 standard? Diskin did nothinh when introduced except give a stupid free away on our 35. Andy…a great servant but a sub being subbed tells you all.
When Diarmuid doesn’t play well, Mayo don’t.
A lot of soul searching required. This performance from the perspective of devision makimg, defendimg, accuracy was as bad as ive seem in years.
I don’t even think roscommon played that well. Their forwards in fairness to them were far more economical than ours, thats about it. But then we gave them heaps of space to make them look good whereas when we got possesion they dropped all 15 back to defend. Their fans celebrated like a trophy was about to be presented. It was a bit cringe. The rotund middle aged roscommon man on the pitch at the end with his home made banner ‘Sam Dodgers are gone, Ros roll on’, just so he could unfurl it at the end and parade it on our pitch tells you alot of the psyche of our bitter neighbours.
Save your breath Mikey…the lunatics are well and truly out of the asylum.. Stephen Rochford…cartels no less…miles on the clock…out of interest what was the average starting age of that team tonight…are they really that fucking old? Lord fucking help us..same shite as when we lost to Galway in the league…dont get me wrong it was bad but the histrionics is all too much to take
Who’s decision was it to give Kevin McLoughlin the free taking responsibility at the end? He can’t possibly want to take them? Is that on management?
In the end though, we badly need cillian back and it’s worrying that he still doesn’t seem to be at a place where he’s ready to come back into the team.
Any sane thinking person knew there wouldn’t be more than a few points in this game either way. Roscommon are probably the 7th or 8th best team in the country. The posters (trolls) who predicted a hammering beforehand are straight in with the knife now.
Just can’t believe what I saw. Roscommon deserved it, but by god did we shoot ourselves in the foot. Full back line badly beaten. We had the majority of the ball, the shots, the wides. And don’t get me started on the frees. Coen had a great game but his legs had definitely gone, so was probably the right call to take him off. I thought our bench was lacking any spark (and I thought our bench was going to be the x factor). We need a lot of luck if we are going to throw any shapes this year
Dave Johnston, you make a good point – I don’t want to deny how people are feeling and I think we feel as we feel. Personally, I’m really disappointed – I just thought we’d have more threat or cohesion. I know that there are football people that have been following the team year in year out for decades and who really love Mayo and their football. This type of loss is a kick in the guts. I get that. And I get that it’s hard to lose to the neighbours too.
However, we have to move on (sooner or later). We just have to. We still have the same manager and we still have the same players. We need to do better the next time. We can’t get to replay this game. Personally I have to trust that Horan will sit down and review the game and somehow try to develop more teeth to the team in the next game(s). Look, we might lose again. Can we take that?
Look at the guts we showed versus Kerry at the end of March in that second half? I didn’t see that intent today. Again, I don’t know why.
We are still shaky, I feel. And the question is – can we bring that on? I am hopeful. Cautiously hopeful.
But again, I don’t want to take away from each person’s feeling about tonight’s result.
Good few of us saw this coming. Too much bullshit about the league that means fuck all really. Horan has a massive job on his hands.I’d said if we left our shooting boots at home we’d be in bother, thats how it turned out. Darren Coen was brilliant. Feel sorry for mcgloughlin not his fault,… Einsteins theory on insanity comes to mind.
I said months ago I’d be happy if we made the Connacht final, found 2 or 3 new starters and was competitive in the super 8’s, That was too much to hope for. It’s was a throwback to the bad parts of Horan mark era make 1. Our full back line was hung out to dry. No defensive shape. Our forwards apart from Coen were so poor. Most were afraid to shoot by the end. We simply can’t win tight games without cillian O’Connor, as for the goalkeeper, well it’s not like we have an all start goalkeeper on the bench. I don’t think there was any lack of effort tho, Roscommon’s forwards were simply better.
I understand a lot of punters are letting off steam – but you must accept this defeat with grace and dignity. Simple fact is Mayo had one eye on the Connacht final – the required focus wasn’t there. Roscommon took their chances and Mayo didn’t. I was amazed at the physical condition of the Ros players – so well conditioned. Conor Cox is a top marksman – I’m glad the move from Kerry has worked out well for him. As for the final v Galway – it all depends on what ROS turns up. I rem. 2001 championship, they got a run on us in Tuam – we later met in the qualifiers and it was no contest. The game today reminded me of that loss to Ros in Tuam. When they get the momentum up, they are very difficult to stop. Keep the heads up…history could repeat itself.
I’m absolutely gutted and it feels like a bad dream but let’s be fair, Roscommon were the better team by far. Mayo were shocking and just never really turned up for the game. They looked tired from the get go. As for the Roscommon fans celebrating they had every right too. They haven’t beaten us in McHale Park for years. Everyone wants to beat Mayo because, despite not being in a Connacht Final since 2015 we have been by far the best team in Connacht for sometime now and one of the top 4 teams in the country for the past number of years. I have to say all the presenters on sky seemed to be very smug about the Roscimmon win and a little bit too happy for my liking. Let’s let the dust settle and hopefully we can get back on the horse again.
where was Carr McDonagh and Vaughan to night, and no free taker tonight. Time to use new blood now in qualifier . Horan has learned nothing in his time away
John Walsh you seem to have a problem with ballintubber players. Doc was poor today by his standards but to say he shouldn’t captain the team again is a bit extreme. You have a short memory, remember back to the kildare last year, he left everything on the field. Every player has bad days.
@johnwalsh doc is not a freetaker, if he took it and missed you be given out about that too.
Well said Mayo Dunphy. Too much bullshit and to many bullshitters spinning the all too common and all too predictable “we’ll win this one comfortably” guff. It’s almost impossible to prevent this type of crap seeping into players heads in the lead up. Mayo players (and management) took their eye off the ball as a result – this was coming for weeks and was forewarned by those of us who have, unfortunately, all too often experienced Mayo teams fall down elevator shafts like this over the decades.
As a Rossie, delighted with that result and performance. Lord knows we’ve been on the receiving end of some drubbings in the past. 17 points kicked is not a bad return, but some amount missed too. We rode our luck and got a few lucky breaks. One thing I was worried about would be giving away goal chances- don’t recall many for ye. I’d still think ye will likely be in the championship longer than us. We live for days like today, ye have yer eyes on bigger things. If the draw falls yer way and ye sort out the conversion rate, things will pick up. Good luck on the road ahead.
Donnie Buckley was at the game, I wonder if he knew before it was Roscommon he was there to see.
Tonight was Roscommon’s all ireland
There was about six pages in the local Roscommon newspaper about the hoodoo
That Roscommon had playing in Castlebar that the last time they won was 33 years,interviews with players that played that day who told the present Roscommon players to go out and smash the fancy dans league champions
That they did the same in 1986, this gave them encouragement and the cherry on top was Mr Brady insulting remarks about at least 20 points
In fairness any sporting Mayo fan won’t begrudge the Rossies breaking that record
This moment shall pass and they is a good possibility that Mayo could be in the all Ireland later in the year and Galway and Roscommon not at the Races
Right, when are we playing the qualifier? Next weekend or two weeks time?
Very disappointing loss.
We won virtually all of the breaking ball and had most of the attempts on goal, but a lot of the time the efforts were speculative. We needed more hard running off the shoulder of the ball carrier.
Hindsight is twenty-twenty, but we conceded two very soft goals while spurning two ourselves. That’s a big turnaround.
Though Darren Coen had an excellent game, a few fine scores plus won a heap of ball. Fergal worked very hard and Aido put in a big shift, as did Paddy.
On the downsides, we really hit some shocking misses, Lee’s short effort towards the end possibly being the worst. As for Robbie, well, we have sadly been here before. Repeating the same mistake and expecting different results…Well, you know.
Hopefully this will put the NFL win in perspective and also will dampen some of the disparaging talk coming from the likes of Maughan and Brady this week. As a county, our pundits really do us no favours, especially when you compare them with how the Dubs and Kerry’s media men tow the party line.
As for Roscommon, well I dislike their support strongly, but every dog has its day and today was theirs. It’s hard to argue that they didn’t deserve to win quite frankly.
Congrats to Roscommon and well done. And I’ve no problem with them celebrating at the end. Last time we played Ross in championship was Croke Park 2017 where they took a 22 point drubbing. I felt for their supporters that day sitting there as we all left Croke Park.
Today we were not as hungry. We took too long to deal with the Cox threat. We arrived at the game without a free taking strategy. Jason & Evan were the free takers then we take both of them off. And long range frees. Does anybody practice this skill. Our kickouts were all over the place again. And subs need to get minimum 20 mins on the field. Diskin Loftus and Treacy only a few mins between them.
While it’s disappointing, we can go further this year. The more I see of Machale Park and it’s tight confines, the more I dislike the place. We need a full size pitch. Keep the faith.
Completely outsmarted by the Rossies. We never looked like winning the match. No free taker on the field for the entire game! Defence like a sieve! Is this great foireann Mhuigheo coming to an abrupt end! Lets hope not and now is the time to get behind the team and see where they might take us this summer! Comhgairdeas to the Rossies on a memorable night for them in Caislean ABharra!
Mhuigheo abu!
I’ve read the first fifty or so posts and I simply don’t have the patience to read any more. As someone who has rarely misssed the opportunity to support my County since my first outing in 1969, it gives me no pleasure to say that the pattern here is along expected lines. Phase 1. Criticise the team, the management and the tactics.
Phase 2. Criticise the critics in Phase 1. We are a County who are in denial as to our true worth. We have a team who have, on occasion, delivered Herculean efforts and have punched far, far above and outside our weight. But we are also a team who through County Board, players and management will never fail to find new ways to lose. I was ostracised on this platform six months ago when I said that Mayo are the third best team in Connacht. By repeating that assertion today, I am fully aware that I will bring down an avalanche of opprobrium on myself again.
Talk of being the only team that can put it up to the Dubs sounds great at the bar counter but a glance at the with facts is instructive. When and where it matters ( with the notable exception of the hiding we gave to Roscommon in a replay in HQ a few years ago) we are capable of beating NY, London, Sligo and Leitrim in this province.
We are away again on the highway to places of football renown such as Limerick, Ennis, Thurles, Cork and, dare I say it, Newbridge.
Finally, fair play to the Rossies. Despite having a wide ball awarded against us, ye still out thought us and out played us. Fair fucks to ye.
Good man Corick Bridge. I’m sure your posts can be found nailed to a wall in a dressing room somewhere