The Round 1 draw has just been made and we’ve been paired against Limerick. More later on.
144 thoughts on “It’s Limerick”
the draw I hoped for!thanks gooch
Plus the four of the other strong teams got each other taking out two of Derry – Kildare; Tyrone – Meath
You couldn’t have handpicked a better draw. Great stuff
Not the worst draw but will still be a bag of nerves before it moreso because the way we have played so far this season. Dont think there is any need to rush lee back just yet but we will need close to full strength team.
That’s a nice cold Carlsberg for Stephen Rochford this Monday morning.
A good draw as limerick are all over the place at the minute. Tyrone v Meath , they deserve each other.
Relief, handy as you can get really.
Limerick – – Your`e a Lady. But lets give them due respect. Never look beyond the next game.
Happy enough with that. Ease our way back into it.
Need to get our act in order though and get some form going AND some decent forward play.
That’s grand! I have a feeling that the backdoor will suit us. We will get plenty of competitive football and that’s as good or better than any ‘training’. It will give us a chance to sort ourselves out if we continue to win.
Very Favourable draw. …..
Give players like Nally, Hanley & Durkan game time.
Also two additional weeks for Keegan to get up to speed.
Start of a long summer of football ….
????
Can’t wait to get going again. An easy enough spin to Limerick as well with d’new road.
Up Mayo!
Nice one won’t be easy up a nice one all the same
Luck for the draw once again it must be said. Limerick only one win in Div 4 a one point win v fellow strugglers Waterford and in the Championship Clare hammered them scoring 1-23.
Winnable
Delighted with that
Wont be easy?? Limerick are in turmoil, probably the 3rd worst team in Ireland, up to 50 players not making themselves available for Billy Lee . Mayo should start with Adam Gallagher ( if fit) Hanley, Durcan etc and has to get these young lads playing and scoring. It has to be a cakewalk and a win by 15+
Plus the four of the other strong teams got each other taking out two of Derry – Kildare; Tyrone – Meath
that’s more significant
I presume this will be Saturday evening?
We’ll take it , give them respect and lets see how long the summer can last
Limerick hurlers playing at home to Waterford on June 10th so our match will surely be on the night before. Limerick football in disarray. Should be a good game for us to burn off the dirty diesel.
There were worse draws. But as mayonaze said we really need to change our style of play and get forward play and open football going. I think keegan should hopefully be back. I’d leave coen on the bench
Handy draw, a nice one to get back on the saddle.
Could it be a double header so?
Lovely stuff.
The prediction for this one will be a bit one sided.
If Limerick was to cause an (ah never mind).
That would be the biggest upset in Gaa history.
Looking forward to some fresh faces in the forwards for this one.
I doubt it will be a double header. Mayo supporters will travel in force and Limerick hurling is on the up. Can’t see the covered stand taking both sets of supporters.
No way it’ll be a double header. Our match has to be played to a finish and the ramifications for that (albeit remote) would have to be taken into account for the hurling throw-in time. It’ll be the day/evening before. Not on TV so most likely 3/5pm.
It’s our second ever meeting with Limerick in the championship, by the way. Our only previous clash was also in the qualifiers, back in 2002 when we beat them by a point at Hyde Park. A certain peroxide blonde forward parted company with his jersey when leaving the field that day as I recall.
Great opportunity to give all our fringe players the game time they deserve.
Gaelic grounds though …. nightmares still about that place
Game to leave all the over 30s on the bench and give full games to the likes of Hanley/Durcan/Regan/Loftus/Boland /Nally etc.
I thought all games were to be on the 9th with either a 5pm or 7pm kickoff?
Jaysus lads this isn’t a done deal. Have ye not heard this is the end of the road for this team, our goose is cooked etc?.
This would be a good experience to challenge fringe players. Basically we would be saying “Go and win us this game, you’re starting and playing the full match”.
Relieved this morning, and at 1/50 with Paddy Power, I don’t think it’s disrespectful to Limerick to say we should come through this handy enough. Would really love to see some of the newer players get some game time under their belts! Was rooting for Limerick against Tipp in the hurling and delighted to see them win!! Promise to support their hurlers as long as they stay in, but the big ball is ours!! Can’t wait now…
Great stuff Handy ould game that Maybe even give few new lads a run
Some reactions from around the country after we got drawn to face limerick.
Jim Gavin “Fu*k”
Sean Cavanagh “Limerick to put them away”
The O’sheas “A banana skin” ” Fu*k yea Tomas don’t eat all the bananas, they don’t grow on trees”.
Gaa “Another 150,000 for us”.
Paddy Power ” I told yea those odds were stupid, cut them now”.
Mick from Bellmullet “Mary, whatever yea do, don’t forget to put the mustard on the sandwiches for the trip to Limerick. You did that for the last match and it ruined the whole day”.
Marty M ” They’ll be tuning in from Senegal and Tibet, Tawain and Siberia.
Roscommon “The Rhubharbs got lucky”
Limerick manager. “Relax, we’re switching to the blanket defense for this one”.
Stephen Rochford “I’ll have another double there Joe”.
All games are on sat 9th
There is no provision for it to be on the Sunday
Hopefully 5pm not 7
An opportunity to give bench players much needed game time.
After this game and assuming we win, are we back into the same group for the next draw? of will there be another 8 teams added to the group and open draw again?
Most likely second round opponents from.
Down
Fermanagh
Tipp
Clare
Longford
Laois/Carlow
Sligo
Leitrim
Limerick will be all out to win this . Nothing to lose for them.
A good draw, probably the best we could have got in terms of logistics and opposition. Limerick, although at a low ebb need to be shown the respect that they deserve. They had a very competitive team from 2003 – 2010 however since then, they seem to have fallen off. (They were unlucky not to win two Munster Finals in 2004 and 2009). It is an ideal opportunity for the management team to give the more inexperienced players opportunities in this game. Squad rotation is key throughout the qualifiers, we will have to play four games in five weeks before we can even think about the super eights, so keeping players fresh and primed is key, week on week. No disrespect to Limerick, but we shouldn’t need to use a full ‘first 15’ to overcome them. Now is the time to use the likes of Nally, J Durcan, Hanley etc. Let’s see what they can bring to the party, it’ll do them good in the long run to build up some championship experience. I’ve no doubt that a large Mayo Support will make the journey down. It’s now motorway all the way from Tuam to Limerick, so from Ballindine to the Gaelic Grounds is 1 hour and 20 minutes. We as supporters have a key role in this qualifier run, just like last year let’s get behind them in massive numbers and show the team that we are still with them. Hon Mayo!
Tonyk – as I explained in a post about this last week, if we make it past Round 1 then it’s a beaten provincial semi-finalist we’d play next. Jay has posted the list of likely opponents there. Win that and it’s another open draw among the Round 2 survivors for the Round 3 games.
Congrats, Sean Burke! You win this week’s Statement of the Blindingly Obvious award for that truly insightful contribution to the debate.
Well, did the 3-legged jackass predict Limerick?.. He surely now deserves a break from the bog “cish”…
This is the game for Shane Nally to start along with James Durcan, and Evan Regan for right sided frees.It should also see Leeroy ,Cillian and Harrison return and get more game time into Chris Barrett and Keith Higgins who missed the National League.
Great draw. One game at a time and all that, but we should negotiate to round 3 without too much effort. In a way, depending on the draw, qualifiers route is decent in that it gives seasoned players a rest and new squad players championship game time.
Glass half full….
Relief is the overriding feeling. It certainly beats a trip to Omagh or Celtic Park or Navan which some of the MAD people on here were hoping/ voting for. Gives us a chance to get back on the horse and hopefully try out some fringe players. Get a couple of wins under our belts and gradually improve.
No one has mentioned the Limerick full forward yet,for the last couple of years all i have seen how dangerous the full forward on the opposing team by and large we have successfully managed them,anyway it is an easy draw up Mayo
When wil Sean Burke be presented with that fooken award. It should be a great fooken night.
My list is based on there being no major upsets in the provincial semi finals, it could change.
It’s a favourable and winnable draw for us but we will still have to perform to a high level to win in Limerick.
It bothers me when I see comments on here about playing fringe players and throwing the younger players in.
We will win no championship games with fringe players we wouldn’t beat even the weakest team that’s left in it if we were to make wholesale changes. I think also we have what we are going to get from our winning U21 team that is the 3 or 4 players that are currently involved in the squad, and I’m not convinced any of them should be starting If our strongest players are available for selection.
There may be a case to include Loftus however he needs to take his opportunities when given a chance and consistently make an impact if introduced from the bench.
We just don’t have the strength in depth which has been a contributing factor in finals closing out the last 15mins or so. It’s down to the likes of Regan and those few subs that have been getting some game time that the improvement will have to come from when they come off the bench.
The greatest team of all time Dublin who are supposed to have 2 teams didn’t play fringe players against Wicklow.
I want to see Keegan in midfield and the likes of Hanley, J Durcan and Regan starting – we need to give some young players a chance.
The obvious negative this year is the loss of TP – sadly there seems to be no obvious replacement and it seems this could cost us against the better teams.
Have to say RTE puzzles me. They’ve shown 4 live hurling games the last 2 Sunday’s – and then gave the hurling first billing on the evening edition of the Sunday game. Go figure!
He didn’t a mhachín, of all the permutations he didn’t see this one, I think it was because when I showed him a picture of the Dundons he thought it was a mirror I was holding. Hotel booked, ass put on notice he has a trip to Limerick and the hostelries informed to pull my stout from the locals tap. I fully expect Limericks stock to have risen to such an extent on this blog by next weekend that we’ll be lucky to escape by a point.
TH, like that team, although would consider starting O’Donoghue for game time and start Keith on the bench.
Worried about midfield cover – we may see Conor O’Shea back in the 26. God knows are we ever going to play Barry there again….
Anyone expecting Rochford to give fringe players a game should look at his selections over the last 2 years. He’s not one for big chances, even in the qualifiers. There will be 2 enforced changes but maybe no more. He rarely makes more than 2 or 3 changes. He seems to like a settled team, regardless of the opposition.
think hennelly should maybe given games in the qualifiers
Agree with posters above ,this should be for new lads and those that need game time. Not sure if Keegan is in the mix or not yet. I would go with something like the following:
1.David Clarke
2.Brendan Harrison
3.Ger Cafferkey
4. Eoin O’Donoghue
5.Lee Keegan
6. Chris Barrett
7. Donnie Vaughan
8. Shane Nally
9.Aidan O’Shea
10. Fergal Boland
11. Cian Hanley
12. Adam Gallagher/Loftus
13.Evan Regan
14. Cillian O’Connor
15.James Durcan
I would also try to give both D Kirby and B Moran a half as well, they have had little or no ball all year for club or county. The subs bench would look mighty strong too.
link to NFL table -Div 4 , Limerick won one game all year
This isn’t a challenge game we’re playing on 9th June! It’s knockout championship football from here to the Super Eights and so I expect us to field accordingly.
“Most likely second round opponents from.
Down
Fermanagh
Tipp
Clare
Longford
Laois/Carlow
Sligo
Leitrim”
Should win all those with a bit to spare too
Then Tyrone becomes a possibility again in R3. And likely Cork, Monaghan, Roscommon to enter the mix in Round 4 where we’ll be essentially guaranteed a tough test
But should be making Round 4 with little fuss, if we avoid Tyrone round 3
Target practice and lord knows we need it. Then Leitrim in the next round for more target practice cause we will need that too. Nice owl draw alright.
Ciaran. .
Will Tyrone be there …..
Well beaten by Monaghan. ..?
Also there is a bit of history between Tyrone & Meath.
I hope WJ will give a lengthy stay in the moderation box to the first poster who says “Limerick are a dark horse, they have such and such a corner forward who is lethal”.
I didn’t see Joe Brolly writing about his home county playing Castlebar in a challenge match during the week. Shows where a club is at that they need a county team to give them a decent game, despite missing the 6 lads on the county panel. It’s great to see himself and O’Rourke talking about counties in terminal decline, they have first hand knowledge of the illness.
Great draw. It’s winnable but we have to be on our game and Rochy will field a ‘full’ team. Let’s see how we are going before we give fringe guys game time.
Also, Gaelic Grounds one of my favourites now after last year. The reason? Not just winning, but not being in the Mackey Stand which is a joke. The terrace opposite (Uncovered Stand?) is the place to be, with raked terracing and seats not concrete. I had a perfect view from there.
On checking dimensions seems to be the same size as McHale Park, but it feels more spacious. We should be able to express ourselves, we’ll have had a full month to get Galway out of our system; I feel every day that passes is an advantage to us, but we have to show definite signs of an upward trajectory, from Castlebar.
Good draw, but what will be the mental state of Our Team? First back door game in 2016 v Fermanagh in MacHale park we struggled for long periods (we were 6 points down at halftime), we won by 5 points in the end. We were lucky against Derry last year in our first back door game, only for the magic of Conor Loftus we were gone. It is vital for management to get our players properly mentally prepared for the trip to Limerick.
BTW, WTF is going on?
Have only now seen that the Rossies beat Leitrim. Saw or heard absolutely nothing about that. Wasn’t tuned in round the clock, but I heard/saw about every other match. Rossies are only Connacht champions of course and a division one team in waiting.
Should be a nice easy opener
It shouldnt be wholesale changes but lord above they are one of the worst teams in the country, absolutely no reason why James Durcan, Cian Hanley couldnt start. You need to build up a panel and these guys need expierience.
I agree with posters saying we should give several fringe players a chance but certain key players (Kevin Mc especially, Aido (to maximise chance of midfield dominance) and Keith Higgins) are needed to keep team coherence and attacking shape.
I think James Durcan and Cian Hanley could be the bolters because of their athleticism. Rekon Boland won’t feature because despite all his skills he’s still too light for targeted kickouts (defensive and offensive) and to line break in championship. Hope I’m wrong there. Durcan maybe not bigger than Boland but with similar side step and probably more blistering speed. Nally a bit like Kirby, great shooter but championship pace is different to league which is presumably why he missed the 26 last game. Nally being a midfielder probably has a very good engine so wouldn’t rule him out.
Regan worth another run for left footed frees alone. If he had a strong right foot for points, it would be a big boost to his armoury. Good goal scorer similar to Loftus. If Regan bagged a couple of goals in a championship game he could take off.
The good thing about the backdoor is that it gradually ramps up the quality of the opposition. If we do make it through to the super 8s, we should be able to hit the ground running.
Can we informally ban the description of this game as being winnable? 🙂
I would definitely start James Durcan and Cian Hanley. Game theory stragey looking beyond the next game is important this year as you are extremely unlikely to progress out of the super 8’s if you arrive there with a small squad. Going with the old cliche of not looking beyond the next game is foolish. That would mean you only start your strongest team, you pick up inevitable minor injuries to starters, not getting game time into players who need it. You arrive at a rnd 3 or 4 qualifier with an unprepared squad or you arrive at the super 8’s with an unprepared squad.
Giving fringe players a lot of gametime versus a team like Limerick is essential for de-risking a problem that we know we have. A few seasons of evidence since 2012 has shown us we generally have 16/17 strong outfield players. We know that we need more like 21 strong outfield players more especialy this year than ever before.
You’d imagine they will RiseAgain, they seem to relish the Back Door almost as much as ourselves!
The problem with that strategy JP is that Vaughan, Harrison, and Keegan have had no game time to speak of, and Cillian has had very little. They have to get it against Limerick. Rochy will look to them first.
There won’t be wholesale changes but I would make a few.
Play Shane Nally in midfield in place of Tom P. I would also start Hanley and and J Durcan in place of Diarmuid and Doherty.
Cillian needs to get the full game, hopefully Vaughan and Leeroy will see plenty of minutes too.
What Mayo need now more than anything is to re-build a consistent, cohesive system of play particularly in attack. This means a settled team I’m afraid. That means finding your best 15 and giving them game time together. And unless fringe players are really stepping up to the mark in training and challenging the existing bunch I’d leave them on the bench for the start. If a lad is looking promising certainly give him a run but it’s about having our best combination when and if the big days come.
@catcol, we can play the two players I mentioned while giving plenty game time to returnees from injury.
James Durcan and Cian Hanley on the evidence to date have potentially a higher performance ceiling than most of our fringe players and indeed some of our starters. But what they need is game time.
Plenty of confidence here…. But a word of caution… Mayo can be very poor in the opening round of the qualifiers… And Limerick will play with allot of pride and that’s a cert… In sport anything can happen, didn’t Carlow beat Kildare yesterday…. If I were picking the team to start… I would include, James Durcan, Cian Hanley, Shane Nally, Mathew Ruane ,Danny Kirby and possibly Barry Moran..Seriously…. We can replace player’s early if we are in serious trouble… And we must do this… We will need to be able call on an extended panel if we are to progress with so many games in quick susession this year…. In the case of Barry Moran, probably one of the best fielder of a ball in Ireland… A veteran nowadays no doubt, but unused on the panel for a long time now.. Well my view is that if you are not good enough to be played in this qualifier in Limerick, you are not going to be good enough at any stage… If that is the case, Mayo would be better with a younger player in the Panel who may improve… Now that’s not my opinion of Barry Moran, just using him as an example if the ruthlessness of Sport… We seriously missed a trick in NOT putting in a big player ‘Why not Barry Moran?’ into the Galway full back line, with 3 of them on yellow from early on a few weeks ago…. What is now nessary is that our management needs to be fully researched into the player’s and tactics of the Limerick team. , Everyone in Limerick will know the player’s and the tactics that Mayo normally start with… It’s time for a serious shake up, and Stephen Rochford and Co, must make substiutions during the game than what has became the norm… Bringing on player’s close to the 70 minutes mark is absolutely stupid and something that we have done too often!
I don’t disagree with that JP. I’ve been sounding off about Durcan for a while and Hanley can bring athleticism to the table and ability to break the gain line, if the rugby argot is appropriate here.
Look if we can’t beat Limerick at this point in the journey then we’re as well to pack it in anyway. No point tying ourselves in knots being too respectful. Anything less than a resounding win would be surprising.
Yes, let’s get some fringe players in please. Let’s see what Durkan and Hanley can do as starters. Keegan in midfield a good bet. If Nally is good enough to bring on against Roscommon then surely he’s good enough for Limerick. Give him a start and surely there will be enough game time for the returning regulars to go around. We won’t get out of it or even get to the Super 8’s if the panel depth isn’t there
In my view only three positions need experimentation.Full back, midfield and a forward ( an individual rather than position) other than that ,go with the strongest available team.
I suppose we can expect a few posters on the road, from our Galway friends, wishing us luck on the way to Limerick …apart from Super Macs.. A Sligo victory next weekend, might stop put that sort of thing … And don’t rule out the possibility of that happening either!… Sure we could put up a few posters wishing Sligo the best of luck on the N17.
There is no comparison between Carlow beating Kildare and Mayo taking on this Limerick team.
Carlow won division 4 and have progressed on even more in championship and had a solid championship last year.
We seen Carlow not getting destroyed by Dublin last year and generally being competitive. They have a strong coaching team and a squad that are really onboard.
Kildare were relegated from division one and well beaten by ourselves. So it was Divison 2 meets Division 4.
Limerick were second from bottom of division 4 and are coming off a hammering by 12 points by Clare a mid table division 2 side.
We are coming off a narrow loss with 14 players to upper Division one Galway.
Concern over Barry arises from 2014 Kerry games when David Moran was in the form of his life and Barry I think not back long from injury. Same applies to AOS from 2013 AI final when mobility jumped in importance as a midfielder attribute. That game was played in 23 degree heat with Mayo having expended a lot of energy dominating Dublin but only 1 point up due to Brogans opportunist goal. That combined with the greatest 35 minute exhibition of kickouts seen in GAA undid not just Aidan but Seamie too. Brian Fenton 2017 and 2018 looks like Moran 2014 and so any team beating Dublin needs similar mobility even if it comes from a 3rd midfielder and both MacCauley and Mccarthy have loads of mobility too. I think AOS has more mobility than 2013. I think Donie’s superior engine and aggression maybe more useful than Nally’s superior football brain. Also Diarmaid’s role presuming we win round 1 could be modified. Barry would be a great option for our own kickouts. 2nd option for him is FF coming out for Mayo kickouts. But no guarantee FF part would work apart from as decoy to draw sweepers. Full back sweeper against Tipp worked well but at the detriment of team pace moving ball up the park. At the moment we have temperatures +4 degrees above normal for all next week, AOS probably wouldn’t last full 70 in midfield in that heat. Donie or Diarmaid or (maybe) Nally will be important for us going forward as 3rd midfielder option freeing Aido to attack. I think Gibbons being out of panel since spring goes against him returning.
I believe the Munster fowards pack are receiveing their official stewards bibs next weekend after a crash course by Peter Geraghty in case “The Mayo Bull” takes to the field again.
Our u20s are down to play Leitrim on June 9th/10th in Carrick. I’d imagine that will def go ahead on the Sunday now.
Good draw for us and with it not on TV a sizable Mayo support will travel.
Reckon we should start hanley, regan, loftus, doherty(needs game time), cillian and KevinMc against Limerick – backs\mf to be the tried and trusted – bring durcan (james), keegan and andy on for last 25 mins. Kick every free like our lives depended on them. A big problem over the years is how Mayo has allowed other teams to drag them down to their level. We need to realise that a score in 1st 5 mins is just as important as last 5 – the scoreboard looks after itself. We seem to be happy to keep it tight until half time instead of looking for 10 min blitzs here and there. Rossie Replay 2017 is the template! – young lads to get goals and to be bouncing! We can’t play our high octane for the 75 mins but we need to do it in pre-planned blitzs. Let’s put fear in the rest – the scraping thru lark is an accident waiting to happen – yes, great fun\drama last year, but i’d like a few ruthless 1-sided contests this year.
* Typo, Kildare – Carlow match was Division 2 meets Division *3*
Great draw for Mayo, I don’t agree with people looking for wholesale changes, some calling for up to 6 changes, there will be 2 to 3 max, for Tom and DOC and possibly one other. Play strongest team possible, guaranteed the win early on, then empty the bench. We don’t need to give Limerick hope and them to think this could be a competitive game.
I can’t believe the 3 plonkers on Sunday game last night had Tipperary in the qualifier draw.
A good draw but nothing is a foregone conclusion. If Mayo start experimenting too much with wholesale changes they could lose coherence and come unstuck. If we only get through by the skin of their teeth it will do nothing for Mayo’s confidence either. This is an opportunity to refine and hone some things but to also send out a clear statement. Did Dublin experiment against Wicklow yesterday? What about the Rossies? We should start with our strongest team, end the game as a contest by half-time and then introduce lads that we are seriously looking at to push the regulars. If Rochford and his management team are not serious about playing Shane Nally etc. as options going forward then we should forget about them. This is a time to oil the machine and “burn off the dirty diesel”. I’d be disappointed with anything less. Experimenting is for the league and FBD.
@mayomad, you could look at you logic another way. We have been in a bit of a rut since the All Ireland final.
Isn’t it time to be brave and try and shake ourselves out of this rut?
We won’t make it out of the super 8’s without some bravery in the here and now.
Sorry, but we are not losing to Limerick even if I tasked us with picking our weakest available selection from our squad.
JP I wouldn’t say we are in a “rut”. We are part of a ‘process’. We lost by a last minute goal to a resurgent Galway playing most of the game with 14 men. Our style of football that day was typical for that time of year given our fitness programme. Sharpness will come with games – we need stability..
A fit Aidan O Shea will destroy Limerick in midfield.
JP2 – Sean Cavanagh also thinks Tipp can make the super 8s but Mayo can’t…go figure
Does anyone know if the home and away rule for division 1 & 2 teams is in place for all of the qualifiers ie home advantage for division 3 and 4 teams if drawn against the top division teams
Mayomagic – that rule is in place for Rounds 1 to 3 inclusive. Round 4 ties are played at neutral venues, often (but not always) at Croke Park.
@leantimes and the posters. Very funny. We could start a side job on that.
If that’s what Sean Cavanagh is coming out with on the national airwaves, I’d be slow in paying my annual TV licence. He seems to be a very bitter lemon indeed.
Mayomagic- if 1st and 2nd Division teams meet, it’s the first team drawn that takes home advantage.
Thanks WJ. Very likely another (assuming we get over limerick) away game in round 2 based on the expected outcomes in the semi final losers
will the game be played on the 9th or 10th
JP, We are odds on to beat limerick, and should win comfortably. Last year we were odds on to beat Clare and Derry and very nearly got caught. The only way to approach games like these is to start strongly and put the game beyond doubt then empty the bench. We play a disjointed team who haven’t played together and you risk letting the opposition get a bit of momentum and confidence. Limerick could come out like Derry last year, nothing to lose and plenty to prove.
Mayomad, re the Clare game, we wrapped this up 10 minutes into the second half.
It’s likely to be the 9th, James, but the GAA website is still showing 9th or 10th with the finer details to be confirmed.
Liamintherinsince51M,… Re Jim Gavin and staying with a settled strongest team to play Wicklow.. Names such as, Michael Fitzsimmons, Eric Lowndres , Niall Sully, Paul Mannion, Brian Howard and the Current young player of the year, Con O Callaghan..all started against Wicklow, and are established by now, but hardly household names a two or maybe even one year ago,.. Brian Fenton is comparatively new, only twice on a losing Dublin team, so is Jack McCafferry, not yet back to full fitness, Colm Basquell, (Mayo connection,)… The Dublin team has been, making changes and bringing in new young players and more established senior star’s have been loosing out gradually for years… Mayo badly needs an infusion of new blood,. We desperately need a panel with more players having championship experience, not all will be a success, but some definitely will…. No one is ever going to make the grade, unless given a chance!
We were odds on to beat Clare and Derry, yes correct.
However we are 1/50 to beat Limerick a many multiple differential from the Clare and Derry game odds.
Limerick cannot point to a solid core of 10 footballers like Clare and Derry could at the time.
– Clare were a division 2 side facing us (promoted from 3)
– Derry were a division 3 side facing us
Even Derry now in Divison 4 are much stronger than Limerick. Sorry, but I have not time for this got to watch out for Limerick crack. It’s division one against lower division 4 and very evidently still in the championship as we speak solidly lower division 4.
Ourselves on the day falling to a lower division 3 level will still win this game with many points to spare.
Reckon we should experiment with starting lineup and adjust as needs be – rather than the pre-planned subtitutions that gets us into trouble on occasion e.g. against cork in 2nd half with injuries in the mix.
Gutted that i will be abroad for Limerick game, especially when i live only a few hundreds yards up from the Gaelic Grounds! Any sign of limerick game being televised? (have checked with no joy).
Finally, using Ciaran’s list of possible Round 2 teams (yeah, yeah beat Limerick 1st…) the possible *home* games could be against (presuming Dublin and Galway win their matches 😉 ):
-Fermanagh (Div 3 2018 up to Div 2 2019)*
-Tipp (div 2)
-Clare (div 2)
With definite *away* games to:
-Down (Div 2->3)
-Longford (Div 3)
-Laois/Carlow (both 4->3)
-Sligo (Div 3)
-Leitrim (Div 4)
*Presumably the GAA are using 2019 league divisions to decide qualifier Home\Away grounds rather than 2018?
so that im straight – is it a case that if we beat limerick, we play the beaten province semi finalists out of the list that jay provided and we avoid Tyrone etc ??
how does it work after that …is it open draw again?
Down
Fermanagh
Tipp
Clare
Longford
Laois/Carlow
Sligo
Leitrim
“Congrats, Sean Burke! You win this week’s Statement of the Blindingly Obvious award for that truly insightful contribution to the debate”
Lol. BTW do you believe every county team goes out to win their game ? I don’t have any inside knowledge of Wicklow but I doubt they approached the game this weekend thinking they could win. But I do have inside track on another county who did not believe or approach the game this weekend with a winning mentality, it was all about keeping it as small as defeat as they could manage and that is from a county player who played this weekend.
Try and keep up, Mayomafia! I posted full details on how the qualifiers work from our perspective and repeated the relevant points this morning. Round 2 is drawn with two points, the Round 1 winners in one and the beaten provincial semi-finalists in the other. After Round 2 there are eight teams, these are drawn against each other in an open draw for Round 3. The four winners there are drawn to play the beaten provincial finalists (two pots, as in Round 2) in Round 4 and the Round 4 winners go forward to the Super 8s.
Sean Burke – I doubt, given the many mismatches in the early rounds of the championship (including the Dublin/Wicklow one you reference), that every county truly believes they can win the game facing them. In the qualifiers it’s knockout so teams have no incentive other than to give their all, even if their all is in many cases unlikely to be enough to win.
Its 2018 they’re going by rakestreet.
Anyone that’s piping on about us not paying enough respect and getting caught by surprise needs to chill out.
That was the football draw this morning, not the hurling draw. If we don’t win this one fairly comfortably then it will be embarrassing.
If there aren’t at least 4 new championship starters for this 1 then its a big mistake by the manager. Start the newbies and let them stake their claims. Its only fair to the new lads, to the lads that are there for years (but also need so see progress at this stage to give them heart for the battles ahead), and for the supporters.
The most outrageous accuracy in all of sports history by Carlow (no wides, no post, no 45, no dropped short) was not mentioned by The Sunday Game.
This is throwing three nine dart finishes in a row.
This is two 147s in a row.
This is three eagles in a row in golf.
We wont live to see it repeated nor our Grandkids.
Presume we will be wearing our away strip?
Carlow are coached by Co down man Stephen Poacher. now he is a more defensive coach than Galway’s Pat Tally hard to believe but true.
Imagine that Carlow have no club or underage strength to be calling on. It’s incredible what they are achieving as a team and management.
I hope those who wanted Tyrone in the draw are not too disappointed. Themselves and Meath are welcome to each other. Hope we avoid them again in Round 3 if we are both still alive Limerick is ok. Probably the venue for 2 of the most exciting matches I have seen Kerry in 2014 and COrk last year. Rochford will treat them with respect and field a strong team. Lots of our players need game time and I expect our manager will do as Gavin did yesterday. I expect us to be sluggish as we were in our early qualifiers in the last two years. Win the game, gain confidence and momentum and pick up no injuries. That’s what is required.
Limerick are not at the same level as a few years ago when the put it up to Kerry. In fact bottom of div 4, beaten in league by Leitrim by 12 points, beaten by 12 by Clare last round. A victory by mayo by less than 10 points will be an embarrassment. We need get confidence back into the team and do what we did against Roscommon in quarter final replay. Our backs driving forward. Good support play and have a real big win. Take a leaf out of Jim Gavin’s book against Wicklow and start with strongest team, do not have a set plan for subs, take off the worst performers and if the guy who takes his place does better, start him the next match.
And bring on subs early
Pitch will suit Mayo but Rochford needs to get it right for this one in terms of subs and game time.
I think it is a good draw but Mayo need to kick on like they did against Kildare in Castlebar.Chance to build some confidence and badly needed too.
Limerick down to play Waterford at 2pm on Sunday June 10th in the Gaelic Grounds.
They would hardly have our game on the Sunday at 4pm? I couldn’t imagine the hurling fraternity waiting around to watch a football game.
I think the CCC are meeting tomorrow.
To add to that I done a scan of the Connacht Council website which states:
Mayo v Leitrim u20 Connacht Championship semi final is down for Sat June 9th at 5:00pm.
Mayo with the home venue.
I’m not sure I’d be too happy paying Munster hurling championship prices to watch a first round qualifier. Although they did make us for our AI hurling semi final prices for our 2009 quarter v meat lh
I get nightmares with the mention of Limerick. It’s in your records WJ…Centenary Cup 31/03/1985, Askeaton. I was hanging around with the team at the time and was one of the first into the dressing rooms with a kit bag; a greeting card left up against a lovely fresh vase of flowers, “Limerick welcomes Mayo”….we only scored five points to their 3-6.!!!!
Thanks Martin! (so to correct my earlier post – round 2, if Mayo out of bowl first, we could play Tipp, Clare or Down in Castlebar, otherwise, its away to Fermanagh, Longford,Laois/Carlow,Sligo or Leitrim. Only 3 outta 16 chance of Castlebar which may be a good thing given our recent home record – have a feelin it’ll be Longford, we kinda owe them a beatin’ :-))
Everyone is saying and rightly so about freshening up the team and I think by doing so we need to get back to our old game of overlapping runners going again. Modern game needs more athletic midfielders so would try something like
————-Clarke
Harrison Barrett odonoghue
Vaughan Coen —Durkan
———-keegan—AOS
Kevin Mc—Hanley—Higgins
————-Loftus
——Cillian-Doherty
The biggest thing that Tom P brought to the game was his atleticism, he would run all day for ya, added to our strength and depth and it’s this we need to replace. Rochford worked it for almost an entire season without a conventional full back, can he do it without a conventional midfielder?. He rejigged the way we set up rather than robbing Peter to pay Paul. I don’t think you can simply replace Tom P with either Vaughan or Keegan. They need to do their own jobs and should be left at it. Maybe we need to retry someone like Boland in a new role, set up differently with less emphasis on midfield because if we are to have any chance of progressing this year we need to have a plan. It’s this I will be looking for in Limerick and not the result. Kicking the shite out Limerick won’t serve us down the line. It’s been to long.. simply can’t wait to get on the road 🙂
Yew tree, When Connacht Council made that U20 fixture they knew [or should have known] that the 1st round qualifiers were on and that there was a reasonable chance that Mayo would be involved. But then with Connacht Council you never know.
Outside of the boot – We’re playing Limerick, why would you put an extra back in the forwards? I also don’t see why you would drop Andy. If we go deeper into the championship he’ll be starting, so Hanley, Durcan etc should be playing alongside him in these type of games.
If we need Andy for this game then it won’t be too long of a summer.
Higgins can play anywhere and creates the overlap and ball carrying of old as well as accurate kicking. We need to be moving the ball at paces through the hands or by foot and supporting player in possession and hard beat Higgins to do that.
It’s not about needing Andy, it’s that he’s great at winning ball and bringing others into play. It would be much easier for Durcan, Hanley and Loftus to play well if they had McLoughlin, Cillian and Andy alongside them.
Of course Higgins can do a job anywhere, but he’s best in the role he played against Galway. Is it not time to try out a couple of genuine forwards in a game like this?
I take your point leantimes (I know I’m responding very late!) but Dublin blooded these guys in over a long period through a combination of the league and the joke that is Leinster – not against Wicklow for the first time yesterday! Of the list you give only Colm Basquel is relatively new. The rest have All-ireland appearances and medals. Mayo had a chance in the league to blood new fellas but didn’t do it. Maybe there isn’t enough of them stepping up to the required level.
Without Parsons its the end of the long kick out, So it will be no surprise to me to see a new number 1 in Limerick, Present keeper briallant stopper but much to slow with short kickout
Nallys name keeps cropping up as a midfield option but he just dosent have the pace required Unless someone knows sometime i dont
Wouldn’t agree there Norris. Clarke is fine with the short kickouts, better than Robbie IMO. It’s his long ones that tend to hang in the air and cause us problems.
AT – Nally is the new Richie Feeney in the Mayo supporters mind. He deserves game time but I just feel people are building him up a bit much
Keeper is an issue.
You can see that all top teams winning in championship this year have a reliable long range keper i.e. Donegal, Dublin, Monaghan. Plus we need to start ot have alternatives in this Mayo team. SR has to start to think of the future.
He may focus on getting the team to the latter stages of the championship but for the good of the county he should also be thinking of when these more Senior players begin to pull back. Anyway – that team did not perform against Galway so I don’t see why we can’t have changes.
For me something like this has to start against Limerick.
1: Clarke
2: Harrisson
3: Crowe
4: O’Donoghue
5: Durcan
6: Coen
7: Keegan
8: Vaughan
9: AOS
10: J Doherty
11: Cillian
12: Hanley
13: Regan
14: Andy
15: Loftus
Leave heavy hitters like Higgins, Boyle, Barrett, SOS, KMac until needed into second half. After 50 mins switch AOS into FF and take of Andy. Bring on SOS into midfield. Try and keep the rest as fresh as long as possible.
Our backs are fine. All stars.
We have to have mobility and speed in midfield. We don’t necessarily have to have huge guys in midfield. We have the option of making sure the opposition don’t catch clean ball. A smaller player can get up and make sure he gets a fist to the ball and make sure the opposition cannot field it clean. Then we need war dogs in position to win the breaking balls.
It’s up front where this team can and have to make the improvments to make up for Toms absence and there is plenty of room for improvement up there. That’s why it’s crucial to at least give 3 or 4 of our hopefuls the start against Limerick.
I would include Cillian and kevin Mc in the starting 15 and go with Durkan, Hanley maybe Regan and 1 other.
If it didn’t work it answers a question. If we don’t try it now we’ll never know.
Please don’t tell me we’re having the keeper debate again
Clarke is no 1
I see poor ol Morag Bellingham is dead she wouldn’t belong whipping our forwards into shape she’d have some puss on her in the dressing room if we kept dropping the ball into the goalies hands and missing sitters
@giveitalashjack
Comment of the week.Linking Mayo football to an Aussie soap.What next!
the draw I hoped for!thanks gooch
Plus the four of the other strong teams got each other taking out two of Derry – Kildare; Tyrone – Meath
You couldn’t have handpicked a better draw. Great stuff
Not the worst draw but will still be a bag of nerves before it moreso because the way we have played so far this season. Dont think there is any need to rush lee back just yet but we will need close to full strength team.
That’s a nice cold Carlsberg for Stephen Rochford this Monday morning.
A good draw as limerick are all over the place at the minute. Tyrone v Meath , they deserve each other.
Relief, handy as you can get really.
Limerick – – Your`e a Lady. But lets give them due respect. Never look beyond the next game.
Happy enough with that. Ease our way back into it.
Need to get our act in order though and get some form going AND some decent forward play.
That’s grand! I have a feeling that the backdoor will suit us. We will get plenty of competitive football and that’s as good or better than any ‘training’. It will give us a chance to sort ourselves out if we continue to win.
Very Favourable draw. …..
Give players like Nally, Hanley & Durkan game time.
Also two additional weeks for Keegan to get up to speed.
Start of a long summer of football ….
????
Can’t wait to get going again. An easy enough spin to Limerick as well with d’new road.
Up Mayo!
Nice one won’t be easy up a nice one all the same
Luck for the draw once again it must be said. Limerick only one win in Div 4 a one point win v fellow strugglers Waterford and in the Championship Clare hammered them scoring 1-23.
Winnable
Delighted with that
Wont be easy?? Limerick are in turmoil, probably the 3rd worst team in Ireland, up to 50 players not making themselves available for Billy Lee . Mayo should start with Adam Gallagher ( if fit) Hanley, Durcan etc and has to get these young lads playing and scoring. It has to be a cakewalk and a win by 15+
Plus the four of the other strong teams got each other taking out two of Derry – Kildare; Tyrone – Meath
that’s more significant
I presume this will be Saturday evening?
We’ll take it , give them respect and lets see how long the summer can last
Limerick hurlers playing at home to Waterford on June 10th so our match will surely be on the night before. Limerick football in disarray. Should be a good game for us to burn off the dirty diesel.
There were worse draws. But as mayonaze said we really need to change our style of play and get forward play and open football going. I think keegan should hopefully be back. I’d leave coen on the bench
Handy draw, a nice one to get back on the saddle.
Could it be a double header so?
Lovely stuff.
The prediction for this one will be a bit one sided.
If Limerick was to cause an (ah never mind).
That would be the biggest upset in Gaa history.
Looking forward to some fresh faces in the forwards for this one.
I doubt it will be a double header. Mayo supporters will travel in force and Limerick hurling is on the up. Can’t see the covered stand taking both sets of supporters.
No way it’ll be a double header. Our match has to be played to a finish and the ramifications for that (albeit remote) would have to be taken into account for the hurling throw-in time. It’ll be the day/evening before. Not on TV so most likely 3/5pm.
It’s our second ever meeting with Limerick in the championship, by the way. Our only previous clash was also in the qualifiers, back in 2002 when we beat them by a point at Hyde Park. A certain peroxide blonde forward parted company with his jersey when leaving the field that day as I recall.
Great opportunity to give all our fringe players the game time they deserve.
Gaelic grounds though …. nightmares still about that place
Game to leave all the over 30s on the bench and give full games to the likes of Hanley/Durcan/Regan/Loftus/Boland /Nally etc.
I thought all games were to be on the 9th with either a 5pm or 7pm kickoff?
Jaysus lads this isn’t a done deal. Have ye not heard this is the end of the road for this team, our goose is cooked etc?.
This would be a good experience to challenge fringe players. Basically we would be saying “Go and win us this game, you’re starting and playing the full match”.
Relieved this morning, and at 1/50 with Paddy Power, I don’t think it’s disrespectful to Limerick to say we should come through this handy enough. Would really love to see some of the newer players get some game time under their belts! Was rooting for Limerick against Tipp in the hurling and delighted to see them win!! Promise to support their hurlers as long as they stay in, but the big ball is ours!! Can’t wait now…
Great stuff Handy ould game that Maybe even give few new lads a run
Some reactions from around the country after we got drawn to face limerick.
Jim Gavin “Fu*k”
Sean Cavanagh “Limerick to put them away”
The O’sheas “A banana skin” ” Fu*k yea Tomas don’t eat all the bananas, they don’t grow on trees”.
Gaa “Another 150,000 for us”.
Paddy Power ” I told yea those odds were stupid, cut them now”.
Mick from Bellmullet “Mary, whatever yea do, don’t forget to put the mustard on the sandwiches for the trip to Limerick. You did that for the last match and it ruined the whole day”.
Marty M ” They’ll be tuning in from Senegal and Tibet, Tawain and Siberia.
Roscommon “The Rhubharbs got lucky”
Limerick manager. “Relax, we’re switching to the blanket defense for this one”.
Stephen Rochford “I’ll have another double there Joe”.
All games are on sat 9th
There is no provision for it to be on the Sunday
Hopefully 5pm not 7
An opportunity to give bench players much needed game time.
After this game and assuming we win, are we back into the same group for the next draw? of will there be another 8 teams added to the group and open draw again?
Most likely second round opponents from.
Down
Fermanagh
Tipp
Clare
Longford
Laois/Carlow
Sligo
Leitrim
Limerick will be all out to win this . Nothing to lose for them.
A good draw, probably the best we could have got in terms of logistics and opposition. Limerick, although at a low ebb need to be shown the respect that they deserve. They had a very competitive team from 2003 – 2010 however since then, they seem to have fallen off. (They were unlucky not to win two Munster Finals in 2004 and 2009). It is an ideal opportunity for the management team to give the more inexperienced players opportunities in this game. Squad rotation is key throughout the qualifiers, we will have to play four games in five weeks before we can even think about the super eights, so keeping players fresh and primed is key, week on week. No disrespect to Limerick, but we shouldn’t need to use a full ‘first 15’ to overcome them. Now is the time to use the likes of Nally, J Durcan, Hanley etc. Let’s see what they can bring to the party, it’ll do them good in the long run to build up some championship experience. I’ve no doubt that a large Mayo Support will make the journey down. It’s now motorway all the way from Tuam to Limerick, so from Ballindine to the Gaelic Grounds is 1 hour and 20 minutes. We as supporters have a key role in this qualifier run, just like last year let’s get behind them in massive numbers and show the team that we are still with them. Hon Mayo!
Tonyk – as I explained in a post about this last week, if we make it past Round 1 then it’s a beaten provincial semi-finalist we’d play next. Jay has posted the list of likely opponents there. Win that and it’s another open draw among the Round 2 survivors for the Round 3 games.
Congrats, Sean Burke! You win this week’s Statement of the Blindingly Obvious award for that truly insightful contribution to the debate.
Well, did the 3-legged jackass predict Limerick?.. He surely now deserves a break from the bog “cish”…
This is the game for Shane Nally to start along with James Durcan, and Evan Regan for right sided frees.It should also see Leeroy ,Cillian and Harrison return and get more game time into Chris Barrett and Keith Higgins who missed the National League.
1.David Clarke
2.Brendan Harrison
3.Chris Barrett
4.Keith Higgins
5.Lee Keegan
6.Colm Boyle
7.Paddy Durcan
8.Seamus O’Shea
9.Aidan O’Shea
10.Shane Nally
11.Kevin McLoughlin
12.James Durcan
13.Evan Regan
14.Andy Moran
15.Cillian O’Connor
Thanks WJ & Jay.
Great draw. One game at a time and all that, but we should negotiate to round 3 without too much effort. In a way, depending on the draw, qualifiers route is decent in that it gives seasoned players a rest and new squad players championship game time.
Glass half full….
Relief is the overriding feeling. It certainly beats a trip to Omagh or Celtic Park or Navan which some of the MAD people on here were hoping/ voting for. Gives us a chance to get back on the horse and hopefully try out some fringe players. Get a couple of wins under our belts and gradually improve.
No one has mentioned the Limerick full forward yet,for the last couple of years all i have seen how dangerous the full forward on the opposing team by and large we have successfully managed them,anyway it is an easy draw up Mayo
When wil Sean Burke be presented with that fooken award. It should be a great fooken night.
My list is based on there being no major upsets in the provincial semi finals, it could change.
It’s a favourable and winnable draw for us but we will still have to perform to a high level to win in Limerick.
It bothers me when I see comments on here about playing fringe players and throwing the younger players in.
We will win no championship games with fringe players we wouldn’t beat even the weakest team that’s left in it if we were to make wholesale changes. I think also we have what we are going to get from our winning U21 team that is the 3 or 4 players that are currently involved in the squad, and I’m not convinced any of them should be starting If our strongest players are available for selection.
There may be a case to include Loftus however he needs to take his opportunities when given a chance and consistently make an impact if introduced from the bench.
We just don’t have the strength in depth which has been a contributing factor in finals closing out the last 15mins or so. It’s down to the likes of Regan and those few subs that have been getting some game time that the improvement will have to come from when they come off the bench.
The greatest team of all time Dublin who are supposed to have 2 teams didn’t play fringe players against Wicklow.
I want to see Keegan in midfield and the likes of Hanley, J Durcan and Regan starting – we need to give some young players a chance.
The obvious negative this year is the loss of TP – sadly there seems to be no obvious replacement and it seems this could cost us against the better teams.
Have to say RTE puzzles me. They’ve shown 4 live hurling games the last 2 Sunday’s – and then gave the hurling first billing on the evening edition of the Sunday game. Go figure!
He didn’t a mhachín, of all the permutations he didn’t see this one, I think it was because when I showed him a picture of the Dundons he thought it was a mirror I was holding. Hotel booked, ass put on notice he has a trip to Limerick and the hostelries informed to pull my stout from the locals tap. I fully expect Limericks stock to have risen to such an extent on this blog by next weekend that we’ll be lucky to escape by a point.
TH, like that team, although would consider starting O’Donoghue for game time and start Keith on the bench.
Worried about midfield cover – we may see Conor O’Shea back in the 26. God knows are we ever going to play Barry there again….
Anyone expecting Rochford to give fringe players a game should look at his selections over the last 2 years. He’s not one for big chances, even in the qualifiers. There will be 2 enforced changes but maybe no more. He rarely makes more than 2 or 3 changes. He seems to like a settled team, regardless of the opposition.
think hennelly should maybe given games in the qualifiers
Agree with posters above ,this should be for new lads and those that need game time. Not sure if Keegan is in the mix or not yet. I would go with something like the following:
1.David Clarke
2.Brendan Harrison
3.Ger Cafferkey
4. Eoin O’Donoghue
5.Lee Keegan
6. Chris Barrett
7. Donnie Vaughan
8. Shane Nally
9.Aidan O’Shea
10. Fergal Boland
11. Cian Hanley
12. Adam Gallagher/Loftus
13.Evan Regan
14. Cillian O’Connor
15.James Durcan
I would also try to give both D Kirby and B Moran a half as well, they have had little or no ball all year for club or county. The subs bench would look mighty strong too.
https://www.rte.ie/sport/results/gaa/2018/6119/tables/
link to NFL table -Div 4 , Limerick won one game all year
This isn’t a challenge game we’re playing on 9th June! It’s knockout championship football from here to the Super Eights and so I expect us to field accordingly.
“Most likely second round opponents from.
Down
Fermanagh
Tipp
Clare
Longford
Laois/Carlow
Sligo
Leitrim”
Should win all those with a bit to spare too
Then Tyrone becomes a possibility again in R3. And likely Cork, Monaghan, Roscommon to enter the mix in Round 4 where we’ll be essentially guaranteed a tough test
But should be making Round 4 with little fuss, if we avoid Tyrone round 3
Target practice and lord knows we need it. Then Leitrim in the next round for more target practice cause we will need that too. Nice owl draw alright.
Ciaran. .
Will Tyrone be there …..
Well beaten by Monaghan. ..?
Also there is a bit of history between Tyrone & Meath.
I hope WJ will give a lengthy stay in the moderation box to the first poster who says “Limerick are a dark horse, they have such and such a corner forward who is lethal”.
I didn’t see Joe Brolly writing about his home county playing Castlebar in a challenge match during the week. Shows where a club is at that they need a county team to give them a decent game, despite missing the 6 lads on the county panel. It’s great to see himself and O’Rourke talking about counties in terminal decline, they have first hand knowledge of the illness.
Great draw. It’s winnable but we have to be on our game and Rochy will field a ‘full’ team. Let’s see how we are going before we give fringe guys game time.
Also, Gaelic Grounds one of my favourites now after last year. The reason? Not just winning, but not being in the Mackey Stand which is a joke. The terrace opposite (Uncovered Stand?) is the place to be, with raked terracing and seats not concrete. I had a perfect view from there.
On checking dimensions seems to be the same size as McHale Park, but it feels more spacious. We should be able to express ourselves, we’ll have had a full month to get Galway out of our system; I feel every day that passes is an advantage to us, but we have to show definite signs of an upward trajectory, from Castlebar.
Good draw, but what will be the mental state of Our Team? First back door game in 2016 v Fermanagh in MacHale park we struggled for long periods (we were 6 points down at halftime), we won by 5 points in the end. We were lucky against Derry last year in our first back door game, only for the magic of Conor Loftus we were gone. It is vital for management to get our players properly mentally prepared for the trip to Limerick.
BTW, WTF is going on?
Have only now seen that the Rossies beat Leitrim. Saw or heard absolutely nothing about that. Wasn’t tuned in round the clock, but I heard/saw about every other match. Rossies are only Connacht champions of course and a division one team in waiting.
Should be a nice easy opener
It shouldnt be wholesale changes but lord above they are one of the worst teams in the country, absolutely no reason why James Durcan, Cian Hanley couldnt start. You need to build up a panel and these guys need expierience.
I agree with posters saying we should give several fringe players a chance but certain key players (Kevin Mc especially, Aido (to maximise chance of midfield dominance) and Keith Higgins) are needed to keep team coherence and attacking shape.
I think James Durcan and Cian Hanley could be the bolters because of their athleticism. Rekon Boland won’t feature because despite all his skills he’s still too light for targeted kickouts (defensive and offensive) and to line break in championship. Hope I’m wrong there. Durcan maybe not bigger than Boland but with similar side step and probably more blistering speed. Nally a bit like Kirby, great shooter but championship pace is different to league which is presumably why he missed the 26 last game. Nally being a midfielder probably has a very good engine so wouldn’t rule him out.
Regan worth another run for left footed frees alone. If he had a strong right foot for points, it would be a big boost to his armoury. Good goal scorer similar to Loftus. If Regan bagged a couple of goals in a championship game he could take off.
The good thing about the backdoor is that it gradually ramps up the quality of the opposition. If we do make it through to the super 8s, we should be able to hit the ground running.
Can we informally ban the description of this game as being winnable? 🙂
I would definitely start James Durcan and Cian Hanley. Game theory stragey looking beyond the next game is important this year as you are extremely unlikely to progress out of the super 8’s if you arrive there with a small squad. Going with the old cliche of not looking beyond the next game is foolish. That would mean you only start your strongest team, you pick up inevitable minor injuries to starters, not getting game time into players who need it. You arrive at a rnd 3 or 4 qualifier with an unprepared squad or you arrive at the super 8’s with an unprepared squad.
Giving fringe players a lot of gametime versus a team like Limerick is essential for de-risking a problem that we know we have. A few seasons of evidence since 2012 has shown us we generally have 16/17 strong outfield players. We know that we need more like 21 strong outfield players more especialy this year than ever before.
You’d imagine they will RiseAgain, they seem to relish the Back Door almost as much as ourselves!
The problem with that strategy JP is that Vaughan, Harrison, and Keegan have had no game time to speak of, and Cillian has had very little. They have to get it against Limerick. Rochy will look to them first.
There won’t be wholesale changes but I would make a few.
Play Shane Nally in midfield in place of Tom P. I would also start Hanley and and J Durcan in place of Diarmuid and Doherty.
Cillian needs to get the full game, hopefully Vaughan and Leeroy will see plenty of minutes too.
What Mayo need now more than anything is to re-build a consistent, cohesive system of play particularly in attack. This means a settled team I’m afraid. That means finding your best 15 and giving them game time together. And unless fringe players are really stepping up to the mark in training and challenging the existing bunch I’d leave them on the bench for the start. If a lad is looking promising certainly give him a run but it’s about having our best combination when and if the big days come.
@catcol, we can play the two players I mentioned while giving plenty game time to returnees from injury.
James Durcan and Cian Hanley on the evidence to date have potentially a higher performance ceiling than most of our fringe players and indeed some of our starters. But what they need is game time.
Plenty of confidence here…. But a word of caution… Mayo can be very poor in the opening round of the qualifiers… And Limerick will play with allot of pride and that’s a cert… In sport anything can happen, didn’t Carlow beat Kildare yesterday…. If I were picking the team to start… I would include, James Durcan, Cian Hanley, Shane Nally, Mathew Ruane ,Danny Kirby and possibly Barry Moran..Seriously…. We can replace player’s early if we are in serious trouble… And we must do this… We will need to be able call on an extended panel if we are to progress with so many games in quick susession this year…. In the case of Barry Moran, probably one of the best fielder of a ball in Ireland… A veteran nowadays no doubt, but unused on the panel for a long time now.. Well my view is that if you are not good enough to be played in this qualifier in Limerick, you are not going to be good enough at any stage… If that is the case, Mayo would be better with a younger player in the Panel who may improve… Now that’s not my opinion of Barry Moran, just using him as an example if the ruthlessness of Sport… We seriously missed a trick in NOT putting in a big player ‘Why not Barry Moran?’ into the Galway full back line, with 3 of them on yellow from early on a few weeks ago…. What is now nessary is that our management needs to be fully researched into the player’s and tactics of the Limerick team. , Everyone in Limerick will know the player’s and the tactics that Mayo normally start with… It’s time for a serious shake up, and Stephen Rochford and Co, must make substiutions during the game than what has became the norm… Bringing on player’s close to the 70 minutes mark is absolutely stupid and something that we have done too often!
I don’t disagree with that JP. I’ve been sounding off about Durcan for a while and Hanley can bring athleticism to the table and ability to break the gain line, if the rugby argot is appropriate here.
Look if we can’t beat Limerick at this point in the journey then we’re as well to pack it in anyway. No point tying ourselves in knots being too respectful. Anything less than a resounding win would be surprising.
Yes, let’s get some fringe players in please. Let’s see what Durkan and Hanley can do as starters. Keegan in midfield a good bet. If Nally is good enough to bring on against Roscommon then surely he’s good enough for Limerick. Give him a start and surely there will be enough game time for the returning regulars to go around. We won’t get out of it or even get to the Super 8’s if the panel depth isn’t there
In my view only three positions need experimentation.Full back, midfield and a forward ( an individual rather than position) other than that ,go with the strongest available team.
I suppose we can expect a few posters on the road, from our Galway friends, wishing us luck on the way to Limerick …apart from Super Macs.. A Sligo victory next weekend, might stop put that sort of thing … And don’t rule out the possibility of that happening either!… Sure we could put up a few posters wishing Sligo the best of luck on the N17.
There is no comparison between Carlow beating Kildare and Mayo taking on this Limerick team.
Carlow won division 4 and have progressed on even more in championship and had a solid championship last year.
We seen Carlow not getting destroyed by Dublin last year and generally being competitive. They have a strong coaching team and a squad that are really onboard.
Kildare were relegated from division one and well beaten by ourselves. So it was Divison 2 meets Division 4.
Limerick were second from bottom of division 4 and are coming off a hammering by 12 points by Clare a mid table division 2 side.
We are coming off a narrow loss with 14 players to upper Division one Galway.
Concern over Barry arises from 2014 Kerry games when David Moran was in the form of his life and Barry I think not back long from injury. Same applies to AOS from 2013 AI final when mobility jumped in importance as a midfielder attribute. That game was played in 23 degree heat with Mayo having expended a lot of energy dominating Dublin but only 1 point up due to Brogans opportunist goal. That combined with the greatest 35 minute exhibition of kickouts seen in GAA undid not just Aidan but Seamie too. Brian Fenton 2017 and 2018 looks like Moran 2014 and so any team beating Dublin needs similar mobility even if it comes from a 3rd midfielder and both MacCauley and Mccarthy have loads of mobility too. I think AOS has more mobility than 2013. I think Donie’s superior engine and aggression maybe more useful than Nally’s superior football brain. Also Diarmaid’s role presuming we win round 1 could be modified. Barry would be a great option for our own kickouts. 2nd option for him is FF coming out for Mayo kickouts. But no guarantee FF part would work apart from as decoy to draw sweepers. Full back sweeper against Tipp worked well but at the detriment of team pace moving ball up the park. At the moment we have temperatures +4 degrees above normal for all next week, AOS probably wouldn’t last full 70 in midfield in that heat. Donie or Diarmaid or (maybe) Nally will be important for us going forward as 3rd midfielder option freeing Aido to attack. I think Gibbons being out of panel since spring goes against him returning.
I believe the Munster fowards pack are receiveing their official stewards bibs next weekend after a crash course by Peter Geraghty in case “The Mayo Bull” takes to the field again.
Our u20s are down to play Leitrim on June 9th/10th in Carrick. I’d imagine that will def go ahead on the Sunday now.
Good draw for us and with it not on TV a sizable Mayo support will travel.
Reckon we should start hanley, regan, loftus, doherty(needs game time), cillian and KevinMc against Limerick – backs\mf to be the tried and trusted – bring durcan (james), keegan and andy on for last 25 mins. Kick every free like our lives depended on them. A big problem over the years is how Mayo has allowed other teams to drag them down to their level. We need to realise that a score in 1st 5 mins is just as important as last 5 – the scoreboard looks after itself. We seem to be happy to keep it tight until half time instead of looking for 10 min blitzs here and there. Rossie Replay 2017 is the template! – young lads to get goals and to be bouncing! We can’t play our high octane for the 75 mins but we need to do it in pre-planned blitzs. Let’s put fear in the rest – the scraping thru lark is an accident waiting to happen – yes, great fun\drama last year, but i’d like a few ruthless 1-sided contests this year.
* Typo, Kildare – Carlow match was Division 2 meets Division *3*
Great draw for Mayo, I don’t agree with people looking for wholesale changes, some calling for up to 6 changes, there will be 2 to 3 max, for Tom and DOC and possibly one other. Play strongest team possible, guaranteed the win early on, then empty the bench. We don’t need to give Limerick hope and them to think this could be a competitive game.
I can’t believe the 3 plonkers on Sunday game last night had Tipperary in the qualifier draw.
A good draw but nothing is a foregone conclusion. If Mayo start experimenting too much with wholesale changes they could lose coherence and come unstuck. If we only get through by the skin of their teeth it will do nothing for Mayo’s confidence either. This is an opportunity to refine and hone some things but to also send out a clear statement. Did Dublin experiment against Wicklow yesterday? What about the Rossies? We should start with our strongest team, end the game as a contest by half-time and then introduce lads that we are seriously looking at to push the regulars. If Rochford and his management team are not serious about playing Shane Nally etc. as options going forward then we should forget about them. This is a time to oil the machine and “burn off the dirty diesel”. I’d be disappointed with anything less. Experimenting is for the league and FBD.
@mayomad, you could look at you logic another way. We have been in a bit of a rut since the All Ireland final.
Isn’t it time to be brave and try and shake ourselves out of this rut?
We won’t make it out of the super 8’s without some bravery in the here and now.
Sorry, but we are not losing to Limerick even if I tasked us with picking our weakest available selection from our squad.
JP I wouldn’t say we are in a “rut”. We are part of a ‘process’. We lost by a last minute goal to a resurgent Galway playing most of the game with 14 men. Our style of football that day was typical for that time of year given our fitness programme. Sharpness will come with games – we need stability..
A fit Aidan O Shea will destroy Limerick in midfield.
JP2 – Sean Cavanagh also thinks Tipp can make the super 8s but Mayo can’t…go figure
Does anyone know if the home and away rule for division 1 & 2 teams is in place for all of the qualifiers ie home advantage for division 3 and 4 teams if drawn against the top division teams
Mayomagic – that rule is in place for Rounds 1 to 3 inclusive. Round 4 ties are played at neutral venues, often (but not always) at Croke Park.
@leantimes and the posters. Very funny. We could start a side job on that.
If that’s what Sean Cavanagh is coming out with on the national airwaves, I’d be slow in paying my annual TV licence. He seems to be a very bitter lemon indeed.
Mayomagic- if 1st and 2nd Division teams meet, it’s the first team drawn that takes home advantage.
Thanks WJ. Very likely another (assuming we get over limerick) away game in round 2 based on the expected outcomes in the semi final losers
will the game be played on the 9th or 10th
JP, We are odds on to beat limerick, and should win comfortably. Last year we were odds on to beat Clare and Derry and very nearly got caught. The only way to approach games like these is to start strongly and put the game beyond doubt then empty the bench. We play a disjointed team who haven’t played together and you risk letting the opposition get a bit of momentum and confidence. Limerick could come out like Derry last year, nothing to lose and plenty to prove.
Mayomad, re the Clare game, we wrapped this up 10 minutes into the second half.
It’s likely to be the 9th, James, but the GAA website is still showing 9th or 10th with the finer details to be confirmed.
Liamintherinsince51M,… Re Jim Gavin and staying with a settled strongest team to play Wicklow.. Names such as, Michael Fitzsimmons, Eric Lowndres , Niall Sully, Paul Mannion, Brian Howard and the Current young player of the year, Con O Callaghan..all started against Wicklow, and are established by now, but hardly household names a two or maybe even one year ago,.. Brian Fenton is comparatively new, only twice on a losing Dublin team, so is Jack McCafferry, not yet back to full fitness, Colm Basquell, (Mayo connection,)… The Dublin team has been, making changes and bringing in new young players and more established senior star’s have been loosing out gradually for years… Mayo badly needs an infusion of new blood,. We desperately need a panel with more players having championship experience, not all will be a success, but some definitely will…. No one is ever going to make the grade, unless given a chance!
We were odds on to beat Clare and Derry, yes correct.
However we are 1/50 to beat Limerick a many multiple differential from the Clare and Derry game odds.
Limerick cannot point to a solid core of 10 footballers like Clare and Derry could at the time.
– Clare were a division 2 side facing us (promoted from 3)
– Derry were a division 3 side facing us
Even Derry now in Divison 4 are much stronger than Limerick. Sorry, but I have not time for this got to watch out for Limerick crack. It’s division one against lower division 4 and very evidently still in the championship as we speak solidly lower division 4.
Ourselves on the day falling to a lower division 3 level will still win this game with many points to spare.
Reckon we should experiment with starting lineup and adjust as needs be – rather than the pre-planned subtitutions that gets us into trouble on occasion e.g. against cork in 2nd half with injuries in the mix.
Gutted that i will be abroad for Limerick game, especially when i live only a few hundreds yards up from the Gaelic Grounds! Any sign of limerick game being televised? (have checked with no joy).
Finally, using Ciaran’s list of possible Round 2 teams (yeah, yeah beat Limerick 1st…) the possible *home* games could be against (presuming Dublin and Galway win their matches 😉 ):
-Fermanagh (Div 3 2018 up to Div 2 2019)*
-Tipp (div 2)
-Clare (div 2)
With definite *away* games to:
-Down (Div 2->3)
-Longford (Div 3)
-Laois/Carlow (both 4->3)
-Sligo (Div 3)
-Leitrim (Div 4)
*Presumably the GAA are using 2019 league divisions to decide qualifier Home\Away grounds rather than 2018?
so that im straight – is it a case that if we beat limerick, we play the beaten province semi finalists out of the list that jay provided and we avoid Tyrone etc ??
how does it work after that …is it open draw again?
Down
Fermanagh
Tipp
Clare
Longford
Laois/Carlow
Sligo
Leitrim
“Congrats, Sean Burke! You win this week’s Statement of the Blindingly Obvious award for that truly insightful contribution to the debate”
Lol. BTW do you believe every county team goes out to win their game ? I don’t have any inside knowledge of Wicklow but I doubt they approached the game this weekend thinking they could win. But I do have inside track on another county who did not believe or approach the game this weekend with a winning mentality, it was all about keeping it as small as defeat as they could manage and that is from a county player who played this weekend.
Try and keep up, Mayomafia! I posted full details on how the qualifiers work from our perspective and repeated the relevant points this morning. Round 2 is drawn with two points, the Round 1 winners in one and the beaten provincial semi-finalists in the other. After Round 2 there are eight teams, these are drawn against each other in an open draw for Round 3. The four winners there are drawn to play the beaten provincial finalists (two pots, as in Round 2) in Round 4 and the Round 4 winners go forward to the Super 8s.
Sean Burke – I doubt, given the many mismatches in the early rounds of the championship (including the Dublin/Wicklow one you reference), that every county truly believes they can win the game facing them. In the qualifiers it’s knockout so teams have no incentive other than to give their all, even if their all is in many cases unlikely to be enough to win.
Its 2018 they’re going by rakestreet.
Anyone that’s piping on about us not paying enough respect and getting caught by surprise needs to chill out.
That was the football draw this morning, not the hurling draw. If we don’t win this one fairly comfortably then it will be embarrassing.
If there aren’t at least 4 new championship starters for this 1 then its a big mistake by the manager. Start the newbies and let them stake their claims. Its only fair to the new lads, to the lads that are there for years (but also need so see progress at this stage to give them heart for the battles ahead), and for the supporters.
The most outrageous accuracy in all of sports history by Carlow (no wides, no post, no 45, no dropped short) was not mentioned by The Sunday Game.
This is throwing three nine dart finishes in a row.
This is two 147s in a row.
This is three eagles in a row in golf.
We wont live to see it repeated nor our Grandkids.
Presume we will be wearing our away strip?
Carlow are coached by Co down man Stephen Poacher. now he is a more defensive coach than Galway’s Pat Tally hard to believe but true.
Imagine that Carlow have no club or underage strength to be calling on. It’s incredible what they are achieving as a team and management.
I hope those who wanted Tyrone in the draw are not too disappointed. Themselves and Meath are welcome to each other. Hope we avoid them again in Round 3 if we are both still alive Limerick is ok. Probably the venue for 2 of the most exciting matches I have seen Kerry in 2014 and COrk last year. Rochford will treat them with respect and field a strong team. Lots of our players need game time and I expect our manager will do as Gavin did yesterday. I expect us to be sluggish as we were in our early qualifiers in the last two years. Win the game, gain confidence and momentum and pick up no injuries. That’s what is required.
Limerick are not at the same level as a few years ago when the put it up to Kerry. In fact bottom of div 4, beaten in league by Leitrim by 12 points, beaten by 12 by Clare last round. A victory by mayo by less than 10 points will be an embarrassment. We need get confidence back into the team and do what we did against Roscommon in quarter final replay. Our backs driving forward. Good support play and have a real big win. Take a leaf out of Jim Gavin’s book against Wicklow and start with strongest team, do not have a set plan for subs, take off the worst performers and if the guy who takes his place does better, start him the next match.
And bring on subs early
Pitch will suit Mayo but Rochford needs to get it right for this one in terms of subs and game time.
I think it is a good draw but Mayo need to kick on like they did against Kildare in Castlebar.Chance to build some confidence and badly needed too.
Limerick down to play Waterford at 2pm on Sunday June 10th in the Gaelic Grounds.
They would hardly have our game on the Sunday at 4pm? I couldn’t imagine the hurling fraternity waiting around to watch a football game.
I think the CCC are meeting tomorrow.
To add to that I done a scan of the Connacht Council website which states:
Mayo v Leitrim u20 Connacht Championship semi final is down for Sat June 9th at 5:00pm.
Mayo with the home venue.
I’m not sure I’d be too happy paying Munster hurling championship prices to watch a first round qualifier. Although they did make us for our AI hurling semi final prices for our 2009 quarter v meat lh
I get nightmares with the mention of Limerick. It’s in your records WJ…Centenary Cup 31/03/1985, Askeaton. I was hanging around with the team at the time and was one of the first into the dressing rooms with a kit bag; a greeting card left up against a lovely fresh vase of flowers, “Limerick welcomes Mayo”….we only scored five points to their 3-6.!!!!
Thanks Martin! (so to correct my earlier post – round 2, if Mayo out of bowl first, we could play Tipp, Clare or Down in Castlebar, otherwise, its away to Fermanagh, Longford,Laois/Carlow,Sligo or Leitrim. Only 3 outta 16 chance of Castlebar which may be a good thing given our recent home record – have a feelin it’ll be Longford, we kinda owe them a beatin’ :-))
Everyone is saying and rightly so about freshening up the team and I think by doing so we need to get back to our old game of overlapping runners going again. Modern game needs more athletic midfielders so would try something like
————-Clarke
Harrison Barrett odonoghue
Vaughan Coen —Durkan
———-keegan—AOS
Kevin Mc—Hanley—Higgins
————-Loftus
——Cillian-Doherty
The biggest thing that Tom P brought to the game was his atleticism, he would run all day for ya, added to our strength and depth and it’s this we need to replace. Rochford worked it for almost an entire season without a conventional full back, can he do it without a conventional midfielder?. He rejigged the way we set up rather than robbing Peter to pay Paul. I don’t think you can simply replace Tom P with either Vaughan or Keegan. They need to do their own jobs and should be left at it. Maybe we need to retry someone like Boland in a new role, set up differently with less emphasis on midfield because if we are to have any chance of progressing this year we need to have a plan. It’s this I will be looking for in Limerick and not the result. Kicking the shite out Limerick won’t serve us down the line. It’s been to long.. simply can’t wait to get on the road 🙂
Yew tree, When Connacht Council made that U20 fixture they knew [or should have known] that the 1st round qualifiers were on and that there was a reasonable chance that Mayo would be involved. But then with Connacht Council you never know.
Outside of the boot – We’re playing Limerick, why would you put an extra back in the forwards? I also don’t see why you would drop Andy. If we go deeper into the championship he’ll be starting, so Hanley, Durcan etc should be playing alongside him in these type of games.
If we need Andy for this game then it won’t be too long of a summer.
Higgins can play anywhere and creates the overlap and ball carrying of old as well as accurate kicking. We need to be moving the ball at paces through the hands or by foot and supporting player in possession and hard beat Higgins to do that.
It’s not about needing Andy, it’s that he’s great at winning ball and bringing others into play. It would be much easier for Durcan, Hanley and Loftus to play well if they had McLoughlin, Cillian and Andy alongside them.
Of course Higgins can do a job anywhere, but he’s best in the role he played against Galway. Is it not time to try out a couple of genuine forwards in a game like this?
I take your point leantimes (I know I’m responding very late!) but Dublin blooded these guys in over a long period through a combination of the league and the joke that is Leinster – not against Wicklow for the first time yesterday! Of the list you give only Colm Basquel is relatively new. The rest have All-ireland appearances and medals. Mayo had a chance in the league to blood new fellas but didn’t do it. Maybe there isn’t enough of them stepping up to the required level.
Without Parsons its the end of the long kick out, So it will be no surprise to me to see a new number 1 in Limerick, Present keeper briallant stopper but much to slow with short kickout
Nallys name keeps cropping up as a midfield option but he just dosent have the pace required Unless someone knows sometime i dont
Wouldn’t agree there Norris. Clarke is fine with the short kickouts, better than Robbie IMO. It’s his long ones that tend to hang in the air and cause us problems.
AT – Nally is the new Richie Feeney in the Mayo supporters mind. He deserves game time but I just feel people are building him up a bit much
Keeper is an issue.
You can see that all top teams winning in championship this year have a reliable long range keper i.e. Donegal, Dublin, Monaghan. Plus we need to start ot have alternatives in this Mayo team. SR has to start to think of the future.
He may focus on getting the team to the latter stages of the championship but for the good of the county he should also be thinking of when these more Senior players begin to pull back. Anyway – that team did not perform against Galway so I don’t see why we can’t have changes.
For me something like this has to start against Limerick.
1: Clarke
2: Harrisson
3: Crowe
4: O’Donoghue
5: Durcan
6: Coen
7: Keegan
8: Vaughan
9: AOS
10: J Doherty
11: Cillian
12: Hanley
13: Regan
14: Andy
15: Loftus
Leave heavy hitters like Higgins, Boyle, Barrett, SOS, KMac until needed into second half. After 50 mins switch AOS into FF and take of Andy. Bring on SOS into midfield. Try and keep the rest as fresh as long as possible.
Our backs are fine. All stars.
We have to have mobility and speed in midfield. We don’t necessarily have to have huge guys in midfield. We have the option of making sure the opposition don’t catch clean ball. A smaller player can get up and make sure he gets a fist to the ball and make sure the opposition cannot field it clean. Then we need war dogs in position to win the breaking balls.
It’s up front where this team can and have to make the improvments to make up for Toms absence and there is plenty of room for improvement up there. That’s why it’s crucial to at least give 3 or 4 of our hopefuls the start against Limerick.
I would include Cillian and kevin Mc in the starting 15 and go with Durkan, Hanley maybe Regan and 1 other.
If it didn’t work it answers a question. If we don’t try it now we’ll never know.
Please don’t tell me we’re having the keeper debate again
Clarke is no 1
I see poor ol Morag Bellingham is dead she wouldn’t belong whipping our forwards into shape she’d have some puss on her in the dressing room if we kept dropping the ball into the goalies hands and missing sitters
@giveitalashjack
Comment of the week.Linking Mayo football to an Aussie soap.What next!