On a day where two unfancied Munster counties lit up the senior football championship – and well done to both Clare and Tipperary – the county’s Junior footballers qualified for their second All-Ireland final in a row. This afternoon at O’Connor Park in Tullamore they got the better of Wexford, winning out by 2-10 to 0-10.
I haven’t a whole pile of detail on the ebb and flow of this contest but I know a man who does – Colm Gannon’s match report for the Mayo Advertiser is here.
Congrats to the Juniors on a great win, one that earns them a place in the All-Ireland JFC final. As was the case last year, their opponents in the decider – to be played on 6th August at a venue and time to be confirmed – will be Kerry. The Kingdom lads were level with Lancashire at the break in today’s other semi-final but they pulled away in the second half, running out winners over in Manchester by 4-17 to 3-10.
A round-up report on the two semi-finals by The 42 is here.
In separate news, the Mayo Masters began their championship campaign this afternoon when they took on Sligo in Ballymote. It was a winning start for them too, as they came out on top by 1-12 to 0-11. Well done to them.
Well done to our junior team today and best of luck to them in the final!
You’d reckon with the policy that we are using this year of having young up and coming players along with some players who are on the fringes of the senior set-up, involved in the team, we should at least be a lot more competitive in this years final, compared to last year. Kerry have been using the same policy for the last number of years at this grade and it seems to have worked well for them.
It’s interesting to note now that with 6 teams into the quarter final stages, there are 2 Division 1 teams, 2 Division 2 teams and 2 Division 3 teams involved. It’s up to us now to join that motley crew next week. Best of luck to all involved. Roll on the next game!
Congrats to Juniors today. Will Tipp win have any difference on our options in draw if we beat Westmeath?
Great consistency from the Juniors. Would be great to see them finish the job this year.
Justoutsideballagh, no it makes no difference to us in quarters. We play dublin or Tyrone if we win. Tipp play Galway.
If Mayo and Donegal win, we play Tyrone. Mayo and cork win means a draw for games v dublin and Tyrone
Well done to the Juniors. Qualifying for an AI Final is a great achievement. Still cant figure out this Junior grade It seems to be different rules in each county but needless to say Kerry have it figured out. Hope we are competitive in the final. Last year we took a bit of a hiding from a very talented kingdom team.
Congratulations to the Mayo Junior team. What a great achievement to be back in an All Ireland Final against Kerry. This is a great run by McLoughlin and his team. Especially since there are a lot of changes in personnel since they won the Connacht Final v Galway. Great to see so many young lads involved with Junior football. August 6th is firmly added to the diary. Didnt make the game but I was surprised to see J Leonard listed in the subs. He was a star defender in last years run. Maybe we are building a bit of depth or something?
Great win for the juniors today. Best of luck in the final. Good to see so many of the u 21s and fringe seniors doing so well in this grade. A great way to develop talent. It seems Kerry are using mainly U 23s so hopefully we will be more competitive and go on to win this year.
Kerry beat Clare,tip and now play Clare again for a place in all Ireland simi that’s just wrong on every level the system needs reform but dothe gaa hierarchy have the balls or will to do it.is the Provencal structure too important to do away with
Eddie K. Your right. but if you are a Mayo person just concentrate on Mayos journey
Well done to the Juniors. Good to see so many of the U21’s involved and with the appetite for more success. Didn’t make it today but hopefully will get to the Final.
Well done to juniors, kerry will be tough as the ridiculously low number of senior teams in kerry (nine) means that they are always in the final of this competition. Still it’s a stronger looking Mayo side than last year so should have a chance.
Hard luck to roscommon – a game they should have won, but a shocking lack of leaders was apparent today. Mc stays tactics so far appear clueless also, I’m delighted he never got the Mayo job.
Also glad to see WJ ensuring the Rossie bashing is restricted here. It’s something I really struggle to get my head around – especially when I see people from North and west Mayo engaging in it. Can understand a keen rivalry around the border area in fairness. Still nothing worse than kicking someone when they are down, we’ve been there ourselves many times and it’s not nice!
As for the Mayo GAA banter page – surely the must odious, obnoxious and idiotic platform for “fans” that I’ve ever come across. It epitomises everything that’s wrong with social media nowadays, it might have 25,000 likes but it certainly has zero class. Thank God for this blog is all I can say.
Clare will enjoy the day out next week but realistically the game will be over before half time. Tipp could put it up to galway though – big doubts about how good they Really are in light of Roscommons dismal effort today. Also think cork have every chance of beating a demoralised Donegal next week – momentum appears to be a huge factor in these 4th round qualifiers. Hopefully will see us home too next week ?
Forget having a go at Roscommon it belittles us doing that. They had a squad of players who want the same as ours. They may not be as good at the moment but why would we want to laugh or take the p@@s out the fact they want to achieve the same holy grail as us. In sport some times the draw is kind (look at Portugal) other times u take ur chance and are glad of it (Tyrone 2008). As off this weekend we still have a chance we are in the last 10. Can we win it who knows but do we have a fighting chance my heart says yes. But it always has one day we will all be right and when we win it it won’t be perfect but the win will.
As we look forward to a match with Westmeath which won’t be easy but one we should win. What is the easier side of draw a Dublin side that beats everyone pulling up and not tested or a Tyrone side followed by a clash with Galway or Tipperary. It’s a big dilemma cos if we were to get to quarters (no guarantee) we would have to play first or second favourite for all Ireland and if we win social media would say we got a chance again. My belief we play all games at last ever chance play like you get to wear the shirt just once and every time you get it again it a bonus. That bonus gets better and better. I remember my time at jarlaths playing with some Mayo greats (Galway too they won ultimate prize)! And every time u trained u believed ur were best and u ultimately won more than u lost.
Banter page caters for a certain age group mostly, the butthurt it causes in here with some of ye is a little comical. Not everwhere has to be serious discussion with a gentlemanly mannerism applied.
As for feeling sorry for roscommon, would ye ever grow a pair honestly . You’ll have to start asking yourself you want the team to be ruthless with a streak in them but you yourself want to get the kleenex out for poor aul rossie, boo hoo
.See when theyre down now , ya want to be thinking cant wait to put the foot on their neck next spring and stamp our authority over them . Thats all that matters when it comes to ros that we keep beating them and keep their morale low.
Must agree with conollygf. I am a passionate Mayo supporter who lives now in Roscommon. Let me assure you Roscommon supporters do not have 2 heads or are members of ISIS. They want success for their county and the players put in the same effort as Mayo or any other county.They have the same proportion of dickhead supporters as Mayo or any other county. They have had a bad run in recent years just like we did in many years.Let”s concentrate on supporting Mayo and cut out the ignorant snide remarks about other teams. After all, we are not Trump supporters are we?
Eddie k, clare have worked very hard to claw there way back to get into a quarter final for the first time in 35 years but all your concerned about (along with the media) is changing things up so that shouldnt or doesnt happen. We should be appluading the likes of tipp and clare for their efforts….teams with huge hurling tradition. For me this just proves theres a systematic negativity in our inter county gaa game
Sean..understand your sentiments re ros but think it was the manner of the loss that may have some us feeling a shred of sympathy (and I emphasise shred)..They are better than they showed yesterday..All gone pete tong for them.There by the grace of God and all that..Congrats to juniors..All motoring on nicely..slow and steady folks..?
Finbar/ThomasG …agree entirely with all you both say and with anyone else of the same mind.Your fine sentiments cannot be aired often enough and are a credit to you.
Clare/Tipp success was like a breath of fresh air yesterday and a hearty congrats to them both!
Ros should learn a great deal from the year and with patience and a player or two they’ll be challenging again next year.
Well done to the juniors, hopefully they’ll be all fired up for the final and go out to really get stuck in.
I am sorry for the Ross crowd, it’s a bastard to lose but they had galway and should have beaten them the first day, that would have set them up to meet tipp and perhaps a semifinal. Keep at it is all they can do. I am a fan of tipp football since Declan brown times, so it’s great to see them moving so well and Clare too, tipp could beat Galway I’d imagine and be in a semi, a crazy situation for tipp football and marvelous for the game. Clare will probably go out when they meet Kerry, but I wouldn’t bet on that neither, it would be something if they find a way of beating them, just to see donaghys face at the final whistle.
Anyways, as far as we go, I really hope that our fellas are not thinking beyond Westmeath. It is a game where the Westmeath lads are rested for 2 weeks and they have some real talent that will beat us if we aren’t tuned in properly, this game is westmeaths all Ireland.
Well done to the Junior team…great promise there.
Those who want to stick the knife into Ros are sad really.I would prefer to support Mayo without running down others .We dont like it when others run us down and hypocrisy is not a nice trait.
I fully admit there is nothing better than beating Roscommon any day of the week, league, championship it doesn’t matter.. the more often the better and I’m sure the opposite is true for them given the opportunity.. that’s what you call a healthy rivalry. But it has to be said there is something a little bit sad in people luxuriating in others misfortunes. This is not about feeling sympathy it’s about having a certain level of decorum and cop on. What some people describe as having a bit of a laugh or pulling the piss out of others when they are bottomed out is nothing short of dum-ass crass. All people should have to say is nothing which in itself would speak volumes for the result itself. In conclusion the banter page should be burnt and justifying it’s behaviour and existence because of its age profile usage don’t really stack up. As the saying goes.. “if you haven’t anything nice to say.. then say nothing at all.” Rant over
Well Regina, you’re back I’m guessing. Did ya make it to the big church 😉
Jesus Christ, by reading some of these posts, you’d swear the whole County of Roscommon was hit by an earth quake, and we are standing on the border laughing at them. They lost a game of football, nothing else. Some of us are delighted, and theirs nothing “sad” about that. Its a sporting rivalry!. Fans are entitled to feel good seeing another team lose, without being made feel like we’re evil sadists taking enjoyment out of another teams misfortune. They’re big enough and bold enough to take it. If Roscommon never won a match again I would’nt be losing any sleep.
Some of ye should look up the Roscommon blog stolensheep and see what they think of us. They hate us and rightly so, and if we get beaten by Westmeath they will revel in it…as will the rest of the Country.
The only time it’s good to see another side lose is if they tried to win by cheating or played the game and their opponents in an unsporting manner.
Imo supporting my team to the hilt win or lose creates adequate emotion be it wellbeing or despair or whatever and leaves no room for gloating at the misfortune of others and I would have it no other way.
The roots of racism could well have evolved from the hatred of the next parish, county,country or continent.
I don’t feel sorry for Roscommon or any other of our opponents, but I refuse to ridicule them and hide behind a pseudonym, that’s not my style. We all know that Cork hate Kerry and Galway Roscommon Sligo etc. hate,us so what.Clubs in Mayo also hate each other, that’s the nature of sport.
We won’t win anything by being nice, but we can be like the the Kerry men such as O Dwyer, Paudie, Jack O Connor and play the game, and say all the right things.
I lived in Boyle in the seventies when Roscommon were hammering us and I can assure you that they hadn’t much sympathy for us, and rubbed it in on a regular basis. So no I don’t have any sympathy for them and I don’t have any hang ups about it.
Congratulations to our Junior team, any time a Mayo team get into an All Ireland is a good day.
Philor/Juan…hate is too big a word for that spot perhaps and stolensheep are not a great example for anyone. Sin sin anois!
JJ, this is becoming a serious football blog when we’re talking about racism, there’s a dark negative side to everybody, but only if you let the negativity win. Of course your right in what you say!. When General Humbert came to Mayo in 1798, he gathered up men all the way from Killala on his journey to Castlebar, his hardest job was to stop these men from neighbouring parishes fighting among themselves. There’s some good humoured slagging and banter between rival sides. And then there’s a line you shouldn’t cross, twisting the knife when your neighbours are down is is not the finest trait of humanity. I wish Rossi had won yesterday, I know they didn’t deserve to, but it would be good for Connaught football, to have 3 teams in the Quarters, not counting my chickens or anything Mayo are not there yet! . Look at the way Leinster football has gone, is that in anyone’s interest, I also hope Galway get up to the Div 1, next year if for no other reason the shorter travelling distance for away matches would be welcome. I like my neighbours to do well, just not as well as us, Mayo!
If Mayo beat Westmeath and Cork beat Donegal, is it a draw for quarter final opponents??? Or is it preordained that if Mayo beat Westmeath they automatically play Tyrone?? If it’s not preordained, what happens if one match is a draw, after extra time.
There’s some eejits in Roscommon as they’re are in Mayo but there’s are some very fine decent people in Roscommon too I remember watching Willie Joe and a few more of the Mayo team carrying Dermot Early off the field in his last game In 1985 the players don’t hate each other so the Fans shouldn’t either OK a bit of banter and harmless rivalry is no harm but I wouldn’t like to see us go the way of English soccer fans.
@joet…Tis some church alrite!!made it in one piece although felt like a lightweight compared to those walking 5/600 km!!
Regina
It is 800k in total.
I did not walk to Finnistere—the end of the earth, as i reckoned Blacksod was further west.
Walking reminds me of a Mayo journalist who said in the sixties that he would walk home if Mayo were beaten by Galway which of course they were.
Just been reading some of ‘Lowdown on Westmeath’ thread, Allot about the ‘Thank GAA it’s Friday’ programme and further attacks on AOS. Now I must confess that I didn’t see the programme! But if it’s ‘gamesmanship’ that RTE like to talk about, a little balance would be welcome.. Last year, Mayo V Dublin, In one incident lasting maybe 10 to 15 seconds Philly McMahon , attempts a ‘Headbutt’ on AOS, then having not connected, Philly feigned a supposed ‘Strick’ by AOS on himself, falls to the ground like he was shot, To make matters more sinister a number of the Dublin mentors, trainers, rush to get the ‘Supposedly stricken Philly who is now motionless. This all takes place close to the sideline of the Hogan Stand close to the Dublin mentors who’s reaction to the Philly going down would put’ Usain Bolts ‘reaction to the’ Starters Pistol’to shame!.. they sprint to Philly and feign alarm at their supposedly injured ‘Hero’
… Seems to me at least that there was a premeditated plan to do get AOS sent off, and there were more involved than just Philly McMahon, my guess is the Dublin management and backroom team planned this, such was the coordination involved… Anybody can take a look at incident if you have the match recorded! A shame that RTE didn’t seem to take too much notice!
Leantimes that’s the way things are. Gaa now being corporate business pays well to keep the dubs on top. But they are great team but I reckon we could catch them cold on qf if the draw falls that way and of course we beat the lake county. If dublin get any more injuries they are in bother. I don’t give a fuck how deep panel is.
Ya know above anything this year I’d like to see justice for all regarding referees. The in inconsistencies are dire. Though I’m always a believer that u will always get enough chances to win a game I’d like to see more assertive officiating
Just got banned from Roscommons’ gaa blog ‘stolensheep’ for telling them they are not as good as they thought they were during the league , sad actually. I couldn’t care less if a Dub came here slagging us it’s part and parcel of life.
Some clips here of Philly McMahon in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mCrvSNuAM8
I find myself repeating a post similar to one I put up here twelve months ago.
This time I’ll use the simplest words and sentences I can.
Roscommon are now out of the picture. They’ve left the arena. They’ve togged in.
We, however, are still in the game. We have loftier ambitions than the Rossies. Always had. And have had for the past twenty years. Could we please stop dancing on graves? It’s not a very honourable art form. Let us behave with the dignity and decorum befitting our county, our football team, our reputation and our tradition. We have bigger days ahead and more momentuous games to play. Regardless of how Roscommon supporters might/ can/ do behave let us act with the honour and the composure which should accompany our standing as a football power. Cut out the pettiness and self-degrading bullshit. Leave the Rossies to lick their wounds and let us concentrate on our future rather than Roscommon’s past.
Hear, hear Sourceoftherobe. Leave them be and concentrate on our own.
There may well exist a parallel universe in which everyone lives in harmony, hand in hand, singing kumbaya and reminiscing of great days gone by. I however did not sign up for such a ride, call me old school but I like my Rossies beaten and my beer cold.
If we didn’t have parochialism and bigortry then where would we be? Going around like a bunch of crusties like you’d see in Galway, that’s where.
Embrace the anger and let’s make Mayo great again.
I also plan to build a wall around Roscommon/Galway and make them pay for it.
Let’s make Mayo great again.
Liam, How would we get to Croke Park then?
Liam,
You’ve obviously missed my point.
For me, you can’t beat Roscommon too often or by too much. We’re agreed on that?? OK
But Mayo have now moved on. Roscommon are of no consequence to us. Teams like Westmeath, Tyrone, Dublin and Kerry are.
Ah, look. For those Mayo people who have moved on and forgotten about Roscommon no explanation is necessary. For those who haven’t and simply wish to dwell in some sort of knife-twisting fest none is possible.
Just a bit of craic Source, just a bit of craic, tongue firmly in my cheek.
As for how we get to Croker leantimes, the man who orchestrated the famous Berlin airlift had Geesala connections I believe and we have our own airport.
Liam,
Sound out there.
Liam, you refer to Tempelhof Airport, West Berlin and there was an Air Corridor in operation at the time! , sure I know it and flew into it, but it’s closed now! Our ‘Intelegence Services :tell me what that those Tribesman won’t give us our’ Nestor Cup”back, next year, and that the Rossies were in league with them, it was all a deviious plan against us. Breaking News on CNN just now, Roscommon and Galway have put in place a “No Fly Zone ‘against Mayo. There’s no way the ‘ UN’ will let us invade Roscommon because there’s no’ Weapons of Mass destruction ‘there or if there is there well hidden, hold on a second there (Tony Blair has just been on the phone to me, he said that there was a 7 year old boy in Strokestown with a water pistol) The UN security council might sanction invasion in that extreme case.) . That’s not the case south of our border, with Cummins, Comer and Walsh, there’s no way any County should be able to harbour such dangerous men, We’ll try sanctions first and if that doesn’t work we have to invade. Now as I write the our FCA are marching to Ballaghdreen and forming a ring of the steel all the way to Leenane protecting our borders, before Liam gets that Wall built. A sort of ‘Iron Curtain’! Only way to Croker now is Via Sligo hope we don’t fall out with the’ Yeats Men!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there really is no subject that the purveyors of this blog can’t wax lyrical on. An eclectic bunch if ever there was one.
Just heard there that a Division 1 League game in Donegal today between Glenswilly and St Eunans without their inter county players finished 3 pts to 2 pts..That speaks volumes of the state of gaelic football at the moment.
Tried getting on stolensheep site and failed. Any advice
There must have been a strong breeze in donegal. To be fair to Roscommon, they are trying to build a decent senior team and are in division 1 again next spring, they took off last February at the start of the 2016 marathon and sprinted, a very bad move and they have paid the price. Time yourselves and forget being super fit for division 1,if it’s above your grade then go down a step and prepare for summer football Instead of being all wound up for a meaningless league.
Absolute rubbish been talked on this trend 🙂 , you’ll have to start a new one WJ about the task ahead
That’s an interesting score line in that Donegal club match Ros Town!
After our league visit to Ballybo this year I referred to the kids who played during the interval.It was literally up and down the field hand passing the whole way but the notable thing about it was how well they executed the skill of the pass.There was rarely a ball kicked. So I hope I’m wrong but there is the game being coached out of existence.The powers will need to take a serious look at this thing when they get a breather!
M 51…..on the contrary…I enjoyed immensely the set to of the three boyoes!!!!
Come on lads forget about the Rossies. They should not be on our radar until the League game in 2017 as a team knocked out of this years championship.
This year so far has been a year of shocks…we are very much under the radar at present. I am hoping we can continue our performance and make it to the quarter final.
McStay is no eejit. This year’s objective was Division 1 league. Next year we will see a more orthodox approach to the Championship. At least the Rossies will give him a second year, unlike us with our joint managers.
McStay has found that there is huge step up from club to county manager. He has the advantage of having played inter county himself but the gap in time is probably too long. We might suffer from the same problem–you have to be a quick learner in this business.
Can we please stop talking about Roscommon, they are gone. They tried to play a defensive game even though they have no decent defenders. We dont need to give them a second thought again until the league next year.
Anyone at the junior game who can give a lowdown on the U21s who were playing?
As in anyone who was at the game who can tell us who performed well.
Liam , you are a tonic, laughing out loud here.
massively interested to see how good tyrone look when they hit croke park , joe brolly has already canonised them in his column. they have done well in Ulster
I wonder are many of the minors who lost to mayo on the team ? now that was a young shower of hatchetmen , from my vantage point along the sideline it was a wonder a few of them stayed on the pitch that day.
Roger – they learn early up there. Schoolboys learn the ropes and they get better and better (depending on your viewpoint) as they ‘mature’. They are champions of the dark arts, but it’s just as competitive as the championship itself. Monaghan set out to ‘do’ Cian Hanley in the SF and succeeded admirably – he missed the final.
Catcol..Did Jack o Connor not do the same(only with more success,he couldn’t continue) in the simi 12 months later.the dark arts are being practiced all around us,Kerry and Dublin don’t play in Ulster.but the media would have you think it’s an Ulster thing