The majestic Magillicuddy Reeks provided an idyllic backdrop to today’s Super 8s meeting with Kerry at Fitzgerald Stadium. Down on the pitch, though, where the sun beat down and where the temperature was in the high twenties, what was on view was, from our perspective, far less attractive. Kerry were always on top in this game and they beat us with considerable ease.
We lined out as selected, going with minimal change from the last day and with no Paddy Durcan on the bench either. They made four changes before throw-in, which, in essence, meant switching out most of the young lads from the named team and going instead with more experienced heads.
We opened the scoring, Lee Keegan pointing inside the first minute. But before we had time to settle at all, Kerry reeled off four points without reply in as many minutes, two of these from Clifford, one from Geaney and the first a pointed free from O’Shea.
We responded well, though, with Darren Coen set up nicely by Cillian O’Connor before firing over and then Fionn McDonagh thumping over to cut the gap to one.
Three fairly silly fouls presented O’Shea with the straightforward task of extending Kerry’s lead to four from the resultant frees. They had a goal chance soon after too, which we managed to scramble away, and Cillian opened his account with a smartly taken point on the turn.
It was during this period that our forays forward ended repeatedly by our having attempted kickpasses intercepted. Each time this happened it gave them – and their increasingly vociferous supporters – a lift, deflating us in the process.
Kerry upped the pressure, in particular on our restarts, where they deployed a full press, with the result that our kickout strategy fell to pieces.
If we went short we struggled to get the ball out, if we went long the ball ended up in the grateful hands of the brilliant David Moran.
All those attacks and those, mostly successful, shots at the target meant there were plenty of restarts for us in that half. We lost the bulk of them and, by half-time, we’d lost the game as well.
By then we were bleeding badly, 0-15 to 0-6 in arrears, by which time it was clear that we were now in damage limitation mode. The prospect of a first Championship hammering in well over a decade was now a real and present danger for us.
In truth, they could easily have been completely out of sight at that stage. David Clarke had saved brilliantly from Geaney shortly before half-time, pushing the full-forward’s piledriver onto the crossbar and over. That was Kerry’s clearest goal chance of the half but we had a few other hairy moments close to our goals besides.
We made one change at half-time, Seamus O’Shea coming on for Fionn McDonagh. We got the half’s opening score, Cillian edging closer to the all-time Championship top scorer record.
We enjoyed our best period of the game – such as it was – in that third quarter. Andy Moran came on for James Carr, Ciaran Treacy replaced Kevin McLoughlin and Fergal Boland was introduced for Darren Coen. With the injection of fresh blood we began to show a bit more purpose in attack.
A pointed free brought Cillian level with Gooch’s all-time record and a goal effort soon after, which cannoned back off the crossbar, very nearly saw him become the all-time Championship top scorer in spectacular style. More pertinently, a goal then would have cut the gap to just six points.
A free a few minutes later made Cillian the all-time top scorer but there was little time to celebrate this achievement. After Jason Doherty was penalised for a double-hop, Kerry swept downfield, Stephen O’Brien’s hard running cutting us open. He bore down on goal and then laid it on a plate for Geaney to palm the ball to the net.
They got the next two points as well to widen the gap to thirteen points. Fair play to the lads, though, they fought back, with points in quick succession from Fergal Boland, Andy Moran and Ciaran Treacy.
A great run by James McCormack – who’d come on for Lee – ended with a foul in the square and a penalty for us. Up until today, Cillian had never before failed to extract maximum punishment from the penalty spot but Ryan superbly pawed Cillian’s spot-kick over the bar. It just wasn’t our day today.
Andy got another one to cut the gap back down to eight. They had the final say on the scoreboard, however, with two points in injury time sealing a ten-point win for them.
So it’s a second defeat for us in this year’s Championship but, by virtue of the current structure, it’s not one that eliminates us. But it’s a big setback for us, not least given that the margin of defeat is the worst we’ve suffered in the Championship for a very long time.
Walking up to Fitzgerald Stadium today we were lamenting the fact that we’d had no time at all to savour to the full last weekend’s delicious defeat of Galway. Well, the same is truly the case of this afternoon’s deflating loss. We’ve another game coming down the tracks fast at us next weekend and so the focus now needs to shift away from today’s train wreck and onto next Sunday and Meath.
Today’s reversal is a sobering one for us. It’s not, though, the end for us yet for this year. We’re down, for sure, but we’re not yet out. Battered and bruised we may be tonight but on we’ll go. We’ve no choice but to do so.
Mayo: David Clarke; Chris Barrett, Brendan Harrison, Keith Higgins; Lee Keegan (0-1), Colm Boyle, Stephen Coen; Donal Vaughan (0-1), Aidan O’Shea; Fionn McDonagh (0-1), Kevin McLoughlin, Jason Doherty; Cillian O’Connor (0-6, two frees and a penalty), Darren Coen (0-2), James Carr. Subs: Seamus O’Shea for McDonagh, Andy Moran (0-2) for Carr, Ciaran Treacy (0-1) for McLoughlin, Fergal Boland (0-1) for Darren Coen, James McCormack for Keegan, Eoin O’Donoghue for Barrett.
Who was our MOTM against Kerry? Pick your top three performers
- Cillian O'Connor (29%, 419 Votes)
- David Clarke (14%, 197 Votes)
- Aidan O'Shea (11%, 151 Votes)
- Andy Moran (8%, 112 Votes)
- Darren Coen (7%, 101 Votes)
- Keith Higgins (4%, 60 Votes)
- Donal Vaughan (4%, 59 Votes)
- Seamus O'Shea (4%, 59 Votes)
- Colm Boyle (4%, 55 Votes)
- Lee Keegan (2%, 34 Votes)
- Fergal Boland (2%, 29 Votes)
- Chris Barrett (2%, 25 Votes)
- Brendan Harrison (2%, 24 Votes)
- James McCormack (2%, 24 Votes)
- Stephen Coen (2%, 23 Votes)
- Jason Doherty (1%, 20 Votes)
- Eoin O'Donoghue (1%, 11 Votes)
- Ciaran Treacy (1%, 11 Votes)
- James Carr (0%, 7 Votes)
- Fionn McDonagh (0%, 6 Votes)
- Kevin McLoughlin (0%, 3 Votes)
Total Voters: 822
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Think we’re going to need Kerry to beat Donegal to have any chance of progression with that points difference! Can’t see us beating Meath by more than 5.
Well shook after that. A beating like that is awful. The lads will feel terrible. The injuries, knocks and so many tough games caught up with us today. Exhausting. So tough. Donie Buckleys finger prints all over that – he knows us too well (as will Stephen Rochford). And the jeering of Lee being substiuted…totally uncalled for.
when mgt leave David Clifford 1 on 1 against a defender you deserve to get hammered.Murphy on Keane 12 Brogan on Cafferkey 13. Cafferkey on Donaghy twice in 14. All the same approach with the same outcome by the same manager.
We have seen enough of Kerry over the last 20 years to know if you give them space and let them play football they annihilate you. However if you apply a lot of pressure and deny them space they are beatable. i said on this blog during the week that we needed to start SOS for physicality and play a sweeper to protect the FB line as they were clearly struggling this year.
Horan solution is to put Keegan back on Clifford which takes him out of the middle 8 where we’re already missing
DOC/Ruane/Durcan
We looked jaded, cleaned out in midfield in the first half also. I honestly feel if we played them when fresh the result could be very different, they had our number today though, all not lost yet, but Meath will smell blood now and our warriors don’t have much time to rest up
Hard luck lads the players where tired what’s the story on the injured lads
Disappointing. Watching the Super 8 games it appears that the most important trait a player needs is pace. While passion and heart are very important, pace is the key feature. This is an area I have been concerned about in our ranks for some time. We had a number of defenders today who are brave and whole hearted just lack raw speed.
Another aspect today was the matchups. We went with Aidan on Killian Spillane & Donie on David Moran. This gave Kerry a huge edge in Midfield. Also, the Stephen on Sean O Shea was a disaster call.
Going into Croke Park next week, I believe we need to introduce pace into our defence. Depending on player availability I would like to see. Drake Harrisson O Donoghue Mullin Keegan Durcan. Big ask for Oisin but I say throw him in.
As bad as the score line is, there is not that much between these teams.
Kerry just wanted it more today. Everything clicked for them and we saw them at their best. Well played.
Mayo will learn a lot from this game.
We are not out.
We are up against a quality Meath team next week and god knows we have a score to settle with them in Croke Park.
We have the experience to bounce back.
We will ultimately be all the better for this loss.
The worst championship performance since Longford 2010 – abject, no hunger, no usual mayo ferocity, no diving on a breaking ball or a Kerry man’s boot, no anger or hard hitting. No plan to counteract them inevitably pushing up on Clarke’s kickouts. That was the difference. Kerry must have felt like they were in dreamland how we played into their hands and stood off them. They have quality forwards but when a very average defender like Shane enright is made look good you know you’re doing something wrong. Mayo need to wake up NOW or great men like Andy Moran and Keith higgins are going to go out in a very forgettable way! Consistently competitive? Doesn’t feel that way tonight
A word of warning…..Let nobody underestimate Meath
The kick passing into the fowards was shocking. Our defenders were too far off their prey at all times. Centre field was really weak which contributed to Clarke’s woes. Unlikely we will beat Meath or Donegal.
Didn’t get going at all today. I was hoping we could stay in the game today and make it awkward. They stormed ahead and we never looked like we could get near them.
Need to pick up the pieces and move on. No point picking over the history books to compare the paucity of the performance or result.
A keeper’s long kick outs are only as good as the midfield their being kicked out to. Some of Cluxton’s kick outs were lost by Dublin in the 2half because Cork were good enough to take possession. Against Kerry and Mayo in previous years Cluxton has to kick short because of our midfield dominance (remember 2017 final first half)?
Are we saying RH kick outs would have produced a different result in the first half?
The reality is our midfield is struggling due to injuries and A downturn in AOS’s performances. That’s the real problem.
Not since Galway in 2007 have we suffered such a bad defeat.
REDCOL, I agree 100% . Dublin is a perfect example of how pace spreadeagles the opposition, leading to lots of overlap options. Cork was the most recent to discover that panting & gasping to stay with a faster opponent is a killer .Amazingly the commentary team agreed that Cork need to ‘get tighter’ – it never occurwd to them that too many of the Cork team were being run off their feet & unable to get tighter. Similarly with Mayo, draft in more mobility & persist with them. Incidentally David Clarke is one of my nominees for today’s MOTM. Down tonight but like Scarlet O’Hara ‘tomorrow is another day’
I like every one else am disappointed with the result, but kerry knew they’d be playing us as soon as we drew Galway
2 weeks to set the trap, get all the talk of synical mayo into the airwaves, and figure out which hammers to hammer. While on the other side we had 1 week to try and get as many totally fucked through injury or fatigue players ready for an almighty battle. Something had to give.
I love this group of players and their attitude is brilliant, they give it their all every game. I for 1 won’t be critical of them if they don’t get out of the super 8s. As Martin mcguinness once said
We haven’t gone away you know
– Kerry capitalized on all our mistakes and boy did we make mistakes and fully deserved their win.
– Many on here said earlier in earlier in the week that Clarke would be forced to go long with kickouts and so it transpired. Aido was completely out played by Moran in the first half and I would love to know what Vaughan was doing as he was yards off Adrian Spillane. Both himself and Coen who was caught for pace multiple times should both have been taken off in first half but of course that did not happen.
– To compound things the few times we did win possession we kicked it away by trying precision passing across field to the forwards which was intercepted at least on 5 occasions, can the mgmt not see when a tactic is not working and adjust.
– End result was Kerry whacking long ball into their forwards who kicked points from all angles with everything going right for them.
– We improved in the second half but left with a massive mountain to climb which we simply could not. SOS caught ball which shock horror is what midfielders do. Andy steady and a few great points, D Coen got caught with the big interview in the media before a big match syndrome. Carr was always going to be quieter today both though should start the next day
– Could you even list 3 Mayo MOM?…I could list at least 10 players who totally flopped.
– We are in the here and now with two more games to play in year 1 of Horans rebuild so use both games to do just that. No point in wallowing in the past or predicting doom for the future . Training 5 year olds to kick with 2 feet is no good to JH now or in the next 3 years. It may help in 14 years time but no.point going on about it now.
– To hell with supporters from other teams not respecting us , who cares and do we have much respect for Leitrim or Sligo ???
– Need a fresher livelier Mayo next Sunday and rain, it was very hot in Killarney today.
– Humiliated, bowed but NOT broken
Watching the game on TV it seemed that many Mayo players hardly touched the ball for long periods today,
The following players didn’t feature at all in the commentary, almost anonymous for the game.
McLoughlin
Stephen Coen
Doherty, only for his two hops
James Carr
Keegan
Barrett
Harrison
First time in a very long time but its impossible to pick any Mayo player for man of the match on Willie Joe’s poll, Boyle 1st half and Andy Moran for me.
Next ball.
This is not the End although it feels like it. We must beat Meath and Donegal and hope Kerry beat both as well. It could well come down to plus or minus on the scoring averages between us and Donegal.
There was 10 points in it at the end however we could have had 2 goals with Cillians superb second half strike and the penalty save/ point. We certainly played better in the second half but kicked the game away with too many sloppy kick passes and unnecessary frees in the first half.
Kerry were the better Team today and deserved to win although Mayo made life easy for them. Our Kick outs were not finding our men either and David Moran swallowed up the ball in Midfield. Maybe if Seamie had started with Aido we could have got a better foothold. The Ball seemed to come back into the Kerry forwards as soon as we kicked it out. As a consequence we could not get our Forwards moving and when we did kick long our passes went astray.
Lessons must be learned now for Meath. They wont be easy although playing in Croker often inspires us and the open spaces will suit our running game.
We will have to make changes as some players are undoubtedly tierd after 4 games in a row who wouldnt be?
Mayo can and will regroup. We were beaten by the better Team today. Lets learn from this match, pick ourselves Up and go again. Maybe mix it up against Meath, play Darren Coen at the edge of the small square and pump it in.
Lets hope we can turn it around, I know we can and with Donegal having to come to Castlebar we are still in with a Big Chance of making the Semi Final.
Good luck to James and the Lads. Congrats to Cillian and lets prepare now for Meath and a vital win.
A few years ago we used to dominate midfield by putting 6-7 players around the dropping ball. The likes of Kevin McLaughlin would clean up every knock down. Now we’ve gone to this fad of short kickouts, and trying to make David Clarke play as a 15th outfielder (another fad), a role he is totally unsuited for. Meanwhile, the 3-4 players in the middle of park were completely isolated today in 1 on 1 matchups. So their only option was to catch the ball cleanly. Knock downs were not an option as we weren’t bunched together. And the bottom line was Kerry are a bigger team than us, so we lost almost every long kick out in the first half. We need to get back to our old strategy.
We were mentally drained today. Who wouldn’t be after 3 nerve-shredding games in a row, and players getting injured every week? The schedule is ridiculous. The GAA has no respect and cares nothing for the welfare of the players. This a brutal sport, more like rugby that soccer in physicality. It’s not right to make players play a schedule like this. Hate the Super 8s. Get rid of them!
We didn’t have a man of the match. The men of the match were all Kerry men.
Olive – I agree with all you said.
Observer – I also agree with you, do not underestimate Meath, I live on the Meath border, they have a proud football tradition, they have an excellent backroom team this year, which is why they are doing better this year. I still think Mayo will beat them, but Meath will put it up to Mayo.
Onwards and upwards
1 A bad day. Hard luck to the team on a tough day for them.
2 Congratulations to Cillian o’connor.
3 Not winning Connacht meant we were exhausted before the ball was thrown in.
4 What genius sends their team out on a very hot day wearing dark jersies. Anyone knows that darker colours attract heat. It’s bad enough trying to keep up with a young fresh team without having the sun baking the shite out of you as well.
5 We were dealing with a kerry team that was much stronger having gotten several of their better players back.
6 Kerry were playing an exhausted Mayo team who were missing several of their top players.
7 The same situation occured last year. Screwed because of injuries. What was the great solution ? Force the manager out the door.
8 Where has that solution landed us ? We are about to find out in 3 weeks time.
I’m sorry we got hockeyed today. I thought all week it was a possibility but was hoping that somehow we could manage another win. I felt guilty even wishing for this given the injuries and the constant games.
Today was nobodies fault. The manager did his best with who he had available. The same as I believe that last year Rochford did his best with who was available.The players did the best they could with what was left in the tank. Today was a bridge too far.
Unavailable players and fatigue. It’s as simple as that.
Beaten,battered and bruised. Out thought off the field and out thought on the field. Too much was read into league results v Kerry, they mean nothing in the cut and thrust of championship football. No doubt about it now the mileage on the clock is clear to see now on the experienced players
All depends on how Mayo pick the chins up off the floor now as Meath and Donegal games are still very winnable.
Only positive that I took from today’s game is SOS is back and played well when introduced
Big Big game next week and Meath are favourites based on that performance.
I’m confused, People stating that 10 point defeat will have a bearing on Mayos chances of reaching Semis- if we beat Meath and Donegal- we will go through as we will have beaten Donegal on head to head?
We need to start winning Connacht titles again , the qualifiers are killing us, not enough time to rest , to recover from injuries, to plan for games, the players looked burned out today.
Not if 3 teams finish on 4 points Tricks
If Donegal win next weekend its done and dusted
Hi folks I hope all a safe journey home,
Headline should respectfully read
“WELCOME TO THE SUPER 8’s”
I’m not here to converse with the losing supporters with the hiccups and a smell of cheap Champaign of my breath. Mayo were soundly beaten today,I genuinely didn’t expect Kerry to dominate ye like that today, but ye set up in a way that gave us an opportunity to have a right go at ye.
The elephant in the room is that ye never played in the super 8’s and Kerry are still paying the hospital bills for the broken nose Galway gave us last year. I said it earlier in the week that there was a definite relief within the general consensus here that ye has managed to achieve a milestone.
We learned last year that the milestone isn’t a place for selfies and celebration, I’m not for one moment disrespecting either the Mayo team players or supporters but I know myself last year that the achievement of the wrist stamp to the Super ‘8s definitely gave Kerry the false measure of what’s expected in the first battle.
In Croker we were flat against a Galway team that we should have come out on top of. That was the first slap on the face that woke us up but the whole situation then came not sharp focus, it wasn’t good having to travel away to clones to play a carnivorous Monaghan with every trick in the book being used, and why not as they earned it.
Ye are different as ye have Meath away and donegal at home as the sun sets in your super eights, the Mayo strong door stands once ye beat Meath next week, I think ye will and most Kerry supporters will cheer for ye (most)
On the previous thread some said they weren’t happy with Kerry supporters and aligned themselves with the Padí O’ Sé expression and more worryingly the Sean Cavanagh misguided and Tyrone esk version of his Sentiments.
Today I sat with lovely mayo people and we spoke and expressed our concerns and hopes for the lengthy period before the ball was thrown in (in the stand) I felt Kerry would win and many around me felt that the run into the Super 8’s would galvanize your team which would get ye over he line today.
I argued the toss but I backed Kerry as I didn’t see ye winning the joust at the Kings Castle for the reasons stated and , but I was far from confident. I didn’t experience either Kerry or Mayo fans booing frees and I felt that the required early arrival resulted in many fans having to engage in meaningful conversation about the game and all matters pertaining to same. I hate booing and while I have no doubt some engaged in this behavior I must say there was little evidence of it while placed balls were being kicked, individual experiences must be tempered with the overall experience, I and all here can call on specific and unpleasant experiences but to suggest that it was a generic experience would be very far off the mark.
Point I’m making is that this was a great occasion and despite the very unfortunate result from a Mayo prospective I very genuinely believe that this Mayo team will learn very valuable lessens going forward, I think ye will beat Meath and we may just give ye the result ye need next Sunday.
Kerry were carnivorous tonight because we swan in this creek last year, don’t board the life boat too soon as ye have a great team at the pumps and don’t be too critical of individual players as they will show their worth in the last of the summer months.
I certainly didn’t disagree but I did highlight my concerns about the Super 8 lull. The game kicked off and Kerry immediately clicked into a knock out mode, they brought an intensity that mayo were perhaps not quiet ready for.
Tricks – if Donegal beat Kerry (quite possible) and we beat Meath and Donegal. Then Mayo Donegal and Kerry will have two wins each – scoring difference kicks in then.
Yes we need Kerry to kick on and beat Donegal, if we beat Meath which is no gimme now then Donegal come to c’bar Having lost their previous game. Winner progresses to play dubs in the semifinal. It’s not over but Sunday is now a massive game.
You could see the emotion, the energy, the desire that Mayo had to beat a team we very badly needed to beat last last week in Limerick(Galway). … Kerry had all the same ingredients for us today, and More… It’s very hard to reciplicate that Two week’s in a row. (Especially with our misfortune regarding Injurys) It’s Meath next Sunday, we have no recent history with this particular Meath Team, One of either Mayo or Meath are going out of the Championship next Sunday…. Win it, and we’re still in it!… Com’On Mayo’, we’re not ready to give up on ye, and neither are ye!
Saw on RTÉ website – Super 8 rules
“In the event of two or more teams finishing level on points the next criteria for qualification will be the head-to-head result between the sides.
Has this changed?
Gamechanger.
Yea beat an exhausted team missing several key players. It has nothing to do with us not been in the Super 8’s before.
Yea did play well yourselves but we were shagged running on to the pitch.
If and it’s a big if.
If this had been our 1st match since a provincial final and if we hadn’t got our litany of injuries, you wouldn’t be on here commenting about beating us by 10 points. That’s for sure.
Firstly, congrats Cillian, a fabulous achievement at 27. Today was a bridge too far, fatigue and lack of pace in a few positions due mainly to injuries were the main issues, due to this we lacked the intensity required to deal with a very focused Kerry team. Match ups were wrong, Vaughan vs Moran, I just can’t get my head around that, and no change made there throughout 1st half, at least I think I’m correct there. Also coen does not have the pace for stephen o brien. Criticism of D Clarke is ridiculous, any goalkeeper when the short kick out is not an option must go long, when it goes long players contesting the ball must either win it or break it, we did neither, also we are not like dogs anymore around breaking ball, this has been a common theme for some qualifier matches, but not v Galway, but very evident today. We so need o connor, Ruane and durkan back next week but only Durcan May be available. Forgive me for repeating myself but the difference in the no of pacy players between Kerry and Mayo was v significant. This issue must be dealt with over the winter, for next week, hope we get a few players back. A bad day at the office, we go again next week!!!
@Gamechanger, -Congratulations on a very deserved victory today…You are indeed a Wise observer of the Game and indeed Humanity, I always read your Post’s twice at least, so as I too might be one day half as Wise!.. Thanks for the good wishes of at least some of the Kerry Supporter’s, sure we too now have to support ye in Croke Park next Sunday, even if our sentiment might not be as benign as you first my think- —We desperately need Kerry to beat Donegal to keep us in the Championship.. I’ll finish off on a positive note, even for us Mayo supporter’s….The pre-match entertainment (Celtic Steps) was first class, absolutely Fabulous!
We need to win against Meath next week and hope Kerry beat Donegal to have any chance. Nothing given in either scenario there
@Gamechanger
My experience would suggest Padí O’ Sé expression was accurate along with Sean Cavanagh’s. Ye are bad winners and worse losers. Clifford’s playing to the crowd and the cheering of Lee Keegan when he was taken off were two examples for all to see the rest were local to myself.
Kerry had one or two sweepers back all day. Where and who was our extra man?
Okay, it was a very bad day at the office. Nothing worked today, kickouts, kick passing into forward line, defensive strategy, cleaned at midfield, no luck with goal chances, ref was poor in first half. But beat Meath and we are back on in hunt for semi final spot. Need Kerry to beat Donegal. Our season will be on the line next weekend, so lads will be a completely different team then today. Narrative all week was this wasn’t do or die, and I think that actually doesn’t suit us.
Here we go again. Can we take it one game at a time. We were the worst team of the weekend. People on about beating Meath and Donegal. Today’s inept effort wouldn’t trouble any of the remaining teams.
We may need some of our injured players back next week, but for God’s sake, if they are not fully recovered, leave them on the sideline. Player welfare should be our first priority. If we beat Meath, good. If not there will be other days again. Let us be thankful for the great days this team has given us… even tho they didn’t win Sam, the greatest Mayo team ever.
It’s a blessing in disguise losing today. We will get revenge in the finals after we take out the Dubs in the semis. Tough to beat a team four times, so we will be hungry and Kerry will be overconfident.
On a serious note, what happened to the offensive attack? I kept hearing all week how Kerry can’t handle direct runs at them, and that Cork exposed that. I saw next to nothing of that today.
Will you go on out of that gamechanger. Galway beat ye fair and square last year and if you cast your mind back a year earlier Kerry beat Galway fair and square and yer fans were killing themselves to tell us we had lost to a really good Kerry team until ye were well beaten by Mayo in the next match then it was a young Kerry team needing experience. Which is it this year is this year ye will like Spillane gushed on RTE put it up to the Dubs or will ye go out and lose the next game to Donegal. One win on home soil in scorching heat against a underperforming Mayo and suddenly Kerry will win the All-Ireland. The key for me is David Moran grand lad and all being made to look like a superstar. Do you really believe those defensive issues have gone away in three weeks?
Kerry were flying today in Killarney . Mayo looked tired & never really got into the game . However Mayo are still in there & there is a lot of football to be played yet. We will know a bit more about where Kerry are next week against Donegal. Home advantage was very important today for us today . Mayo will beat Meath & if Kerry can beat Donegal Mayo will have home Advantage in the third round . Cork could beat Tyrone & then the fun would really start . Dublin look good BUT they won’t have it all their own way . The Semi final is the time to catch them . If they get to the Final they will have the 16th man in their corner . Mayo, Donegal, or Kerry can stop them in their tracks .
The team were very tired. Had not the legs. Liver glycogen levels depleted. A physical fact. Greatness is not measured by victory in a battle. It is measured by your ability to get back up and fight when your knocked down. I believe in this Mayo team. And right now they need your faith and they desrveit.
Tony Hannon
I think you are harsh, Keegan is a Warrior and when a warrior falls we cheer, do you think we for one moment don’t respect him ?? I for one would love to have him named as a Kery player and whilst I didn’t cheer at his departure I can very easily understand the relief of the Kerry supporters when a warrior like him is called ashore, statements like yours are very disrespectful to both the players who terrify and those cheer in relief at their departure
Well done Cillian O’Connor.
Maith thú, a mhic agus Dia go deo leat.
A great achievement by any means and a record he’ll be adding to long into the summer.
Nothing trivial about that Gamechagher10!
Gamechanger
Give me a break, ye were relieved by Lee being called ashore, 10 point up and you describe yourself as such by his departure. BTW it was the kerry supports that were jeering him not the players! It was not me that was showing disrespect, you have a false sense of reality
Let’s be honest here This was no big surprise Emotion and sentiment soared after Galway game but let’s take a proper look at things. Kerry scored 1 19 v Cork, yet we were told they were very poor. They had a 3 week break to fix their defensive problems and playing at home in Killarney after having a poor enough record against us lately meant they were really going to come at us. We have been labouring from game to game struggling over Down and Armagh before lifting our game v Galway, a game we dared not lose. Minus Durcan, Diarmaid and Ruane, with Leeroy clearly unfit and Cillian still in recovery mode meant that at least one third of our team were either missing or not fully fit on the back of 3 tough games. I am not making excuses but a lot of our lads did not play well today and some of our kick passing was very poor. Kerry were excellent in the first half. At half time it looked like we could take a 20 point hammering and we deserve credit for sticking at it when we were struggling in most positions. I have absolutely no intention of having a go at players who have been outstanding for us but who had a bad day today. I never cease to be amazed at the fickleness of some who went over the top when we beat Galway but now wish to go over the bottom when we lose to Kerry. No doubt after the usual bloodletting for a few days we will dust ourselves off and proclaim we will beat Meath. Well I can’t remember beating Meath in a championship game and am not confident we will do so Sunday. A win would be brilliant in that it would keep our season alive in to the bank holiday weekend. We may do it because the courage of these lads knows no bounds. After losing to Dublin and Galway in the league the knives were out but then they won in Kerry and went on to win the league. At the very least they deserve our respect and continued support. Two other points I was surrounded by Kerr y supporters both at the game and afterwards and did not hear any negative or nasty comments. They gave us a good beating. It meant a lot to them. Full stop. Finally well done to Cillian. A great man and a great achievement.
I for one Don’t want us to meet Dublin in the Semi Finals they would wipe the floor with us and humiliate us. That’s not the way I want to see Keith Andy or Colm end their Mayo careers and after today’s showing us being ravaged by injuries and possibly being the most unlucky team ever to play sports in any part of the universe don’t tell me Dublin wouldn’t tear us apart and win by about
15 points cos they would
Tony Hannon,
I agree totally,
Good man you are!!
To the collective I hope your return journeys were not to arduous and I hope your hearts are not too low as there is much work yet to be done. Ye will win next week and then sound the drums in Castlebar.
On the Keegan substitution, I remember Donaghy being jeered in Machale Park after being sent off in a league game. People in glasshouses etc
For us to progress, Kerry must beat Donegal and we must beat both Meath and Donegal. Correct?
Up Mayo, yes that is basically how it’s panning out due to score difference.
I don’t see a much improved performance coming next week. How are we going to have improved? Are all the players we have in the sick bay going to suddenly come right and be able to play? No, I don’t think so. We might have Paddy Durcan back, that’s about it. Still major problems with the midfield. Aidan is not fit. It’s plain as day for anyone to see and continuing to ask him to singlehandedly carry the midfield came home to roost today and it will again before this Super 8s is over.
The goalkeeper issue is not going away either.
As I walked to the stadium today and felt the sun beating down I was worried. I was worried we wouldn’t have the legs. The optimism I had felt was fading. I was also worried about the middle of the field. Aido is having to do a lot of the work there and to me I dont think he looks fully fit…definitely not influencing things the way he was before the Galway game.
It was talked about before the match how Kerry didn’t like teams running at them but we never did…I dont think we had it in the legs today. I didn’t see any possession stats but Kerry seemed to have all the ball in the first half. We were cleaned out at midfield. We were under tremendous pressure on our own kickouts. When we had possesion we kicked some terrible balls into the forwards and turned over a huge amount of ball very softly. If you give the Kerry forwards that much possesion the result is a foregone conclusion they will do tremendous damage.
I think we can beat Meath but I would be nowhere as confident as I was of doing so. I dont think this team will go out without one hell of a fight and shear determination may get us over the line in that one.Kerry can beat Donegal but will find it much tougher going than today. Donegal will bring a physicality that we didn’t bring today. Bookies have this as a coin toss and I think thats about right. If Donegal win I think our number is up, I do not see us bridging the points difference gap.
I am glad to see the initial blame gam has subsided a bit, as this defeat sinks in. This was always going to be a big ask, what was really disappointing was the performance in the first half in particular which put the game beyond reach.
We faced the perfect storm here today and I reckon the following played into it before a ball was kicked.
1. Kerry were fired up for this, to a Newbridge or no where level. They had been defeated twice in the league, and they were still smarting from the 2017 matches. Add to this, the “history of 26 years of victories in Killarney” coupled with loose lips from Horan telling the media that Mayo could have beat them by 12 points. When will Mayo players, managers and ex players learn that media terms it is brilliant to be regarded as a boring shite and don’t give away what you are thinking. Loose lips sink ships.
As well as that the Kerry team doesnt think they got proper recognition for their Munster final win. There was a lot of wounded pride there before a ball was thrown in.
2. The seeds of this defeat was sown in McHale park when we lost to Roscommon. This led to the qualifiers roadshow, which was exhausting. So you had our tired fellas who have been on the road for the last three weeks up against a bunch of young bucks rearing to go. Then a plethora of injuries depleted the middle third. We came into Killarney on a tank running on empty.
3. This depleted middle third meant we are very weak in the middle of the field. While David Clarke’s kickouts are not the gold standard, he needs someone to kick to, and there was no one competing for the ball for stretches and there was even fewer mopping up breaking ball. The blame cannot all be left at Clarke’s foot.
4. Speaking of not competing, I felt some of our forwards were ball watching today when they had well lined up passes snatched from them. Then balls were kicked into space on the expectation some one was running into that space, but no one arrived. The so called weak Kerry defence didn’t look so weak today.
5. We have or will face three teams, (KY, DL and Arm) where members of the previous management team now working directly (Buckley and Rockford) or have links with the opponents operations. These fellas will have intimate knowledge of our set up, they might even have confidential information or data which can be used against us in the season immediately after their departures. The split didn’t seem amicable in at least one case, and one way or the other, their loyalties lie elsewhere now. Assuming these fellas were on the payroll, why was there no cooling off periods in their contracts, preventing them from plotting against us so quickly.
Victory against Meath is now crucial. We may still be running on empty but Meath are unlikely to be as fired up as Kerry were today. However, as others have already said, they cannot be taken for granted. This is a must win game for Mayo, and there is no point in looking beyond next weekend.
Whilst we were off colour;anyone think Hurson was absolutely chronic?…final play of first half in the corner we win a free out & Geaney lies on top of the man & they get a free in but then his conscience must’ve got him & blew for half time. When you thought they’d won a free we’d get it & vice versa
Mayo v Galway was knockout. Mayo totally committed to the fixture and deservedly prevailed. The downside was always going to be psychological/physical toll and, the unrealistic recovery period of 8 days (that’s another argument in itself)…
Of course Kerry have the bragging rights and, they deserve it. But “what’s done is done and, cannot be undone”.
There are still 2 games to be played in this series – now is the time for leaders to lead, evaluate, and show team’s/supporters’ true intellect and character.
There is the possibility that this team may have run it’s course – unfortunately sport can be cruel. But all genuine GAA supporters acknowledge their greatness.
So get up, dust yourselves down, continue to do Mayo proud and go again, and also bear in mind the upcoming quality at u-17/u20’s…
Fatigue v freshness! That’s about as much analysis as I can muster.
As to the future? Most of our lads have been on the go for a very long time and have suffered dreadful disappointments. The energy levels are way down – the batteries are flat – and today’s defeat was perhaps an event waiting to happen. If we were tired today are we likely to have recovered by Sunday after such a demoralising defeat? If so can we go again for the Donegal game? And after that for a possible semifinal v the Dubs? Mmmmmmm! Not sure I would be relishing that prospect. It could be ugly.
Still proud and grateful for many great days.
Super 8s are such a load of fucking bullshit. Tyrone and Dublin will win next week meaning 2 dead rubbers in that group the last weekend. Either Mayo or Meath will tog our in the last match with nothing to play for only pride as well. THIS IS NOT CHAMPIONSHIP FOOTBALL!! It’s total nonsense, the GAA are destroying what made our sport great and unique. How can you play senior intercounty championship matches when a team has nothing to play for? On top of that is the disgraceful scheduling of the games. Teams like Mayo and Tyrone expected to play for 7 weeks straight? John Horan and Tom Ryan are in danger of totally destroying the sport.
Hi Willie Joe,
: I hope I’m not stepping over the Mark but I want to say to the kerry man gamechanger10…leave the Mayo people alone you might mean well but best to leave them people alone
Kind Regards
Martin the Dub
Aidan o Mahoney on twitter goading Mayo under his gym account. “Ye are a nice league team”
Daithi Regan of Offaly another one putting the boot into Cillian this evening. We need to put that in the hurt locker like Kerry did with horans comments after league final. Fat Des on the Sunday game with his annual question “are Mayo finished? Are they gone now?” Tossers the lot of them. Always knew o Mahoney was a bollox – he did appear on dancing with the stars after all!
@larry Duff. To be fair. That is sour grapes at its finest. That was championship football yesterday. Playing Kerry in Killarney in front of a sell out crowd in July. Doesn’t get more championship than that. Its not the gaa’s fault we lost. And as for playing 6 or 7 weeks in a row. Well we failed to take the direct route through the championship by losing to ros. All in our own hands.
Daithi Regan should spend his time worrying about Offaly hurling and football before worrying about Mayo.
Very disappointing today, but not unexpected given the accumulation of games and injuries. I could write thousands of words on performances, individuals, selection, tactics etc., but I will resist. I have great admiration for this group of players and James Horan and they have given us many great moments & memories. Just a few observations. We simply do not put opposition players under the same close intense pressure as other top teams and, consequently, are much easier to score against. Our full back line seem always to stay behind their man and not compete and then do not get close enough. I like Brendan Harrison, but he is simply not a full back(I know we probably don’t have an alternative). Donal Vaughan in not a midfielder as he is not a good high fielder and so today David Clark’s options were limited. We lack pace all over the field. Why do we not press up on kick outs? This was never going to be our year-I think it is almost impossible to come thro’ the Qualifiers and reach the final, so it is imperative we start winning Connacht again. Lots of new and fringe players getting high level game time this year, which will benefit them hugely. Finally, not looking good for remaining two games, but would love to see us put in two really spirited performances-wouldn’t it be great to win both, if only to shove it up that Bollox, Brolly.
When did we last lose by 10 points in the championship. Lets hope we can lift it for Meath match as they played some great football against Donegal before running out of steam in the end. If we start thinking about the Donegal game, could be out before it!
So we have to beat Donegal and Meath and hope kerry beat Donegal is that correct ?
Does it go down to head to head then ?
Kerry beat us by 9 in 2011. Prior to that we have to go back to the dark old days of AI hammerings by, you guessed it, Kerry. I partially agree with the negative comments about the Super 8s and structure of Championship. Lots of heavy defeats at the weekend. While Meath and Cork were competitive for long periods there were wide margins in the end. We were well beaten while Tyrone and Ross was reasonably tight though the outcome was inevitable. I still think the overall structure is wrong. After Mayo got beaten in Connacht they had to wait 4 weeks to kick a ball, then play 5 games in 5 weeks. That’s not sour grapes, just a poorly designed structure. Don’t be wasting your energy worrying about Daithi Regan. Just read what he had to say about his own county management because they dropped a player from his club. Totally OTT. And finally speaking of experts. Isn’t it amazing that the Asal always seems to appear on the Sunday Game when we lose so that he can wave his hands in the air and rant and rave. Speaking of rants, that’s the end of mine.
Injuries caught up on the team today. It was inevitable.
Missing 3 big players with others clearly carrying knocks.
4 weekends in a row. 3 on the road. That would catch up on any team with the exception of Dublin.
Kerry are a coming team that is well known. They took a step forward yesterday.
Horan was poor on the line yesterday. It was a no brainer to push up on mayo. Theyve struggled in all qualifier games when opposition did it.
The cross field ball in the first 20 got cut out everytime but there was no plan b.
Keep landing it on top of moran. No in game mgmt to change things.
With the ghe injuries i saw the super 8s as bonus territory. I still see it as that.
Blood eod McCormick carr mddonagh plunkett tracey against meath. Meetingdublin in the semi is ghe end anyways so blood the young lads..
Congrats to cillian. Played v well yesterday
I think Kerry were always going to wear us down if they didn’t get an early run. They looked fresh.
Our lads wasted a lot of ball just after Kerry led 4-3. All our attacks resulted in a breakdown usually from a misdirected pass and not necessarily from Kerry pressure as some pundits were saying. That and midfield are the main things to fix.
A few things for Meath game.
1) We need Seamie on the field for his physicality and fielding as Donie isn’t a high fielder when pitched against taller players who’ve played most of their football in midfield. OK he won’t finish the game but even 45+ mins would help our cause. Seamie hit 2 wayward passes so his role for now should be compete, win and offload.
For lads giving out about Kerry supporters jeering – there was a lot more jeering from Mayo supporters when Donaghy was sent off at the end of the semi final two years ago. I was sitting beside a very decent Kerryman and like Mayo supporters the vast majority are sound. Of course they want Kerry to win all the time and don’t like losing – can’t fault them for that mentality. Gamechanger always comes across as a decent lad and very knowledgeable.
I feel bad for the players and managment. Football is a tough place when your not able to call on all the best players and when the bit of tiredness sets in.
It’s tough on the fans too but not nearly as bad as what the players will be feeling.
I wouldn’t pay too much attention these coming days about what ex Kerry players and fat tv hosts are saying. It’s nothing now but all about kerrys upward spiral. Let them off.
Kerry recently celebrated a 1 point win in Kerry in the league over the Dubs with fist pumps a pitch invasion hugs and a reaction like it was an all Ireland victory.
They will find out if they progress from the 8’s that maybe their little victory dance that night was a bit premature. The Dubs don’t forget these types of transgressions and will send their upward spiral in the other direction fairly rapid.
While I often have a prod at the funding side of things regarding Dublin, I always admire how their players conduct themselves, as I do our own players.
They play their football shake hands when the job is done and they don’t gloat when their job is done. Hard to say after so many 1 point defeats to them but the Dublin players are great role models for their county their fans and for any fans.
Our lads are great role models too. They have a big job this week now to get rested and energised and to try and down Meath next Sunday.
I think we will have the same obstacles to overcome as yesterday. A bit of fatigue and who is available.
A week is not a long time but you can bet that the Meath backroom will have studied our game inside out.
We’ll keep marching this year. Battles still to be won. No retreat.
Congrats to kerry fine performance.
We had no energy yesterday but think if we went full trottle yesterday we still wouldnt have won.
We have a big game sunday think we will have more energy than meath who threw everything at donegal.
Had no injuries yesterday which is a big plus.
I doubt mayo could have put much prep for this game with the quick turn around from galway game(tired bodies and all)
Hoping croker will spark a bit of life into us next weekend.
The truth to our position this year was the roscommon game,left ourselves to much to do.
Still i give us a real chance to make semi.
As they say be careful what you wish for.
If we dont we still have made great strides this year with all the injuries.
@JustoutsideBallagh: Last time I remember us being beaten by ten was in Derry in the qualifiers, back in 2007. Ciaran Mac’s last game in a Mayo jersey if I remember rightly?
..
2) Andy Moran is a better option than James Carr. Start Andy and he will win any half decent ball. James may shine as a sub if we’re well in the meath game.
3) Work on kick passing fluency during the week. A hot day suited the better kick passers which was Kerry. In fairness they’ve been working on a kicking game for a while.
4) Alternate to the running game several times a game. Donie did cause Kerry problems so the tactic shouldn’t be abandoned completely.
Leroy subbed yesterday to have him good for Meath game and give game time to Plunkett, fair enough ploy.
Those are a few suggestions. Beat Meath and fatigue sets into Kerry and Donegal for game 3 while although depleted we’re battle hardened and fitness then swings back in our favour. No gap before super 8’s or qfs is a joke GAA need to revisit. Very few qualifiers get through that fixture, us being a rare exception beating Tyrone and drawing with Ros who we hammered in a replay.
..beat Donegal and I think there’s a 2 week break ie full recovery. I’d still rather make semis albeit as huge underdogs than not. Our lads have gone to the well many times and capable of repeating.
Just didn’t happen for Mayo yesterday. Whether it was injuries or fatigue, there will be days like that. Thought Horan was very slow to react on the line.
Midfield was a wasteland in the first half for Mayo. Ye got a good foothold there when SOS came in. Congrats to Cillian.
I know it is a clique but it is not over until it is over – you just never know what could happen next
Shuffly Deck…..The reason that Keegan was taken off was because he was getting close to being sent off.
He was already on a yellow card, and after one altercation on the terrace side, Clifford was mouthing at him, and light pushing started. He was hauled off shortly afterwards.
Game changer is a fine example of a ga a supporter,always makes good sense when he contributes to the blog,I must say almost all Kerry supporters are very good company ,so can we acknowledge that a couple people are not the only ones to look out of place,yesterday was a bad day at the office for us but we have to forward to next week,up Mayo
Good stuff there Gamechanger – as usual.
Not much point in raking over the coals. On to the next game.
Getting our heads right should be the key thing. Why exhaustion? We weren’t exhausted against Galway. But our lack of pace is the big worry, and Kerry exploited this to the full.
Revellino A really good post there and so true and accurate
Had such a feeling of dread heading into this one. I just didnt buy the narrative that Kerry were in danger of being bullied. 15 weeks since the league final, us decimated by injuries, and playing our 5th game on the trot, against a fresh, young and wounded Kerry? They were brilliant in that first half and full value for their 10 point win, could’ve been more. Having said that they were at a very high emotional pitch for this one, and rightly so given all the guff coming their way, they may struggle to replicate that in Croker next week in what promises to be a cracker. I’m struggling to pinpoint where all of this leaves us. We have the look and feel of Donegal post 2014 for me, jaded but still somewhat capable, competitive but lacking real dynamism and verve. We’ll come out swinging against Meath for sure, and no question we’ll need fresh legs so I’d expect a few changes for next week. Its an odd sensation though, this super 8’s craic, not sure its my bag to be honest, great occasion yesterday, but it feels like the wrong format this late in the summer. Anyway, we’ll keep the faith, we always do, its always darkest before the dawn!
Very disappointing performance yesterday. Failed badly in three vital areas.
1.restsrts
2.poor passing and. possession retention.
3.poor shooting.Even Cillian in the second half missed an open goal , a penalty and. two very kickable frees.
Why was M.Schlingermann not given a chance in goal during the league? His understudy at Sligo Rovers is doing very well for Donegal.
Why. is Conor Loftus not starting for Mayo?
Players and management face a huge task next weekend.If we beat Meath and Kerry beat Donegal we”re back in contention.So in the words of Jack Charlton GIVE IT A LASH!
Lads,you have given us great times .
You can still do it! With you all the way.
Best of luck!
Well done on the positive headline, it was a sore day to recall.
Kerry must fancy themselves for the all Ireland after that.
I strongly agree with Mayonite and others – The GAA has no respect and cares nothing for the welfare of the players. This Super 8s is a money-making caper leaving a trail of injuries.
To the game – the perennial full-back problem – not enough speed further afield.
Go Mayo!