There I was propped up in the bed this morning doing my normal early doors iPhone reccie of what’s in the papers when I came across this story in the Indo. It was always likely that the new rules would get it in the neck from the manager community sooner rather than later (this is an annual occurrence, after all) so it was interesting to see who was lining up to have the first pop at the 2010 under-the-bonnet tinkering. Oh look, there’s Johnno. And Johnno. And – could it be? – yes it is, good old Johnno again. Now – is there anyone else amongst you who wants to say anything? Come on now, lads, don’t be shy! What about you, Mickey – you’re always good for a quote or two? No, that’s grand then. What about you, Big Joe – cat got your tongue? Jack? Too cute to open your gob, as usual. Conor? Ditto – wouldn’t want to cause another strike or anything, would we? That’s it, then, just the Deputy it is … again.
It is, of course, a bit of a non-story but, after all his recent bleatings about pre-Christmas training, you’d think our man would now want to fly under the radar for a bit. It’s not as if he had anything illuminating to say about the new rules – the point about the ref not being able to see each and every pass was, I thought particularly asinine. Since when did any of us expect that refs would see everything that goes on in a match? Sure, we’d have nothing to give out about if they did.
Enough of this twaddle. That Indo report does, however, contain some proper news which is that Pat Harte is set to miss “the first half” of our league campaign while the perennially crocked Barry Moran is once again crocked, this time with ankle ligament trouble, which will keep him out of action for the first two league matches. As Club Mayo Dublin point out, this means that the cupboard is now looking a bit bare for us in the forwards, what with Dillon and Mort still on their Antipodean road trip, Killer a long-term absentee through injury and now Harte and Moran out of the picture as well.
Apart from the good early form shown by Aidan O’Shea and Mark Ronaldson, our attack hasn’t exactly functioned like a well-oiled machine in our two matches to date and with that quintet all missing for the early part of the league (including two of three home games), we could be struggling – like, really struggling – to keep up with the herd in Division 1 this year. Has anyone seen a few scoring forwards we could draft in? Oh look, here’s one that might fit the bill.
You read my mail/mind Willie. You would think that at this stage Johnno knows that refs cannot get a simple thing like a line ball right or the fact a keeper walks over his own line with the ball as happened in the Meath V Mayo quarter final some months back.
At this stage O Mahoney worries me. I hate this negative pose he assumes, just waiting for the rain to spill on us all the time. Glad you highlighted Varley, would rather see him than the likes of Sweeney in the team also would love to know what the Kilcullens or Seamus O Shea did. Liam O Malley gets almost six years to tie down a spot and other boys get the lenght it would take to send a text.
I have noticed that Big Joe next door has said nadda, likewise Big Walsh in Sligo. Come to think of it even John Morrison is quite, no mention of Big Fergal either but the Depety talks for them all.
Pity about the injuries but sure Barry Moran was a cert to miss most of the year AGAIN! The poor lad….i dont know why he bothers…all that training & more often than not nothing to show for it. However it does give some others a chance which is no bad thing either I suppose. Plus O Shea looks like he is going to occupy the position on he edge of the square, and command it, in the years to come(hopefully!). What will we learn from watcing Mort jnr and dillon again this winter…nada! Harte will be a loss for league but i have to say he was one of the biggest disappointments for me in croker last august….and thats saying something cos there were a lot of candidates on show. Anyway, lets not start complaining in advance…lets see what happens. Expectations pretty bloody low so it could be a better than expected season.
I was at the DUB VMeath game. The mark is a bit of a joke .. I thought that the new square rule caused a lot of excitement in that area–Donaghy will be a handfull.
There were no frees for illegal fisted passes.
One of the local Meath wags wanted to know where the real Dublin team were training last night.
On another note I see that up to five men that might consider themselves as first choice starters on the Mayo forward line are absent for a while for one reason or another. Gone are the eternally injured Barry Moran along with Pat Harte, Aiden Kilcoyne and the travelling Dillon and Mortimor. Strangely I dont see that as a fatal blow at all. If another county say Kerry, Tyrone or even Galway lost five forwards I think they might be in trouble. We lose them and it appears to make no material difference. We will replace them with something similar and apart from Harte , equally as lukewarm. One day they look world class, the next they are as poor as poor can be. It seems all our eggs are in a basket called Aiden O Shea. Just a thought or am I making any sense at all?
agree that of all our forwards these days the only one that would cause real concern to Mayo fans at large, if he wasn’t available for any reason, would be A OShea. He is definitely the best forward we have produced for many a year and one of the best in the country. Others may not be missed so much in the likes of the FBD – however, when it comes to the big championship days I believe that Dillon and Kilcoyne would be key parts of our best forward line. We may be able to carry on without them now and have adaquate replacements that make it look like they are not missed that much but that ‘sticking plaster’ type lineout wouldn’t have a hope in hell aginst the big boys on a big day !
I hope all 5 are back and available in time for the championship plus would like to see a few others such as Varley, as WJ points out, getting a try.
The worry as I see it is not the forwards – they may not all be world beaters as you say ontheroad but we have a long bench of them. I’m more concerned about midfield engine where ‘lukewarm’ could be applied to many of the performaces of the present incumbants RMcG and TP. We need some options there badly !
agree with ontheroad. Change is good for sure even though its enforced but sure if we even unearthed one or two in their absence it would be great. We have become stale and predictable. O Shea has been a God send and will prob be a more effective and more consistent conrtibutor than his predecessor Ciaran Mc. Of course they are totally different players but i think O Shea will bring more to the party as long as we can hold on to the “ladeen”. Mark Ronaldson will prob be a cert which u cant argue with but u can be sure some “beauts” will get a run out too. Austie might even get the nod and sure the Utility man BJ Padden will plug some sort of hole too you would imagine. Id stick Parsons it at center forward but if i seen Andy Moran in the forwards ill go nuts.
I have a feeling, and i really hope im wrong, that we could get trimmed by Galway. i doesnt happen often in Mayo/Galway games but i just get the feeling that we’re all over the place and not as inspired by our gaffer as the Galway lads will be by theirs thats for sure. Sorry for the negative vibe but sure if we do win, everything will be rosy again. Id take the draw for sure..