For the neutral supporter, this was a cracking final. The result in this afternoon’s All-Ireland decider was in doubt right up until the final few minutes, with Kerry coming with a late surge, scoring four unanswered points to seal their first All-Ireland title since 2014 and their 38th in all.
It was, I guess, a game of two halves. Galway were impressive, in particular the outstanding Shane Walsh, in the opening half and they deservedly led at the break, even though Kerry had seen more of the ball. Galway’s shooting was exemplary in the first half, converting 80% of the chances they created and recording just a single wide.
Kerry, for all their possession, were sloppy in front of the post. Seven wides, including two horror misses from Geaney, told the story in this respect and but for the three marks they pointed – one from Geaney and two from the unmarkable David Clifford – they could have been in an even bigger hole at midway.
Clifford had, in large part, kept them in the hunt with a regular supply of scores and he continued in this vein after the break too. Galway, always struggling in the middle where Paul Conroy never looked right having taken two heavy falls in the first half, found the going much tougher once Kerry quickly reeled them in after the Westerners had made a positive start after the break.
Galway’s wide count rose to six over the course of the second half and their increasing raggedness was also demonstrated at the other end when goalie Conor Gleeson dragged down Kerry sub Killian Spillane to prevent a goal scoring chance. It looked a definite black card but ref Seán Hurson kept his book in his pocket.
Hurson’s later call when he penalised John Daly for holding Spillane looked harsh (Clifford scored from the resultant free to put Kerry ahead, a lead they’d never then lose) but Galway can’t – and surely won’t – blame the ref for this loss.
Put simply, the Tribesmen ran out of gas down the home stretch, with Kerry’s bench having by far the bigger impact. Galway will surely rue too what little influence Damien Comer and some of their other forwards had on the game, in particular in the second half when everyone needed to stand up. Shane Walsh – who bagged nine points, four from play – was imperious and Cillian McDaid, who bagged four points, was excellent but more was needed from the supporting cast.
Kerry, ultimately, were worthy winners today. They never panicked at any point, O’Connor’s switches worked and they showed coolness and calmness to pick off those late match-winning scores.
In some ways, there’s an air of inevitability about this All-Ireland success. Kerry set out their stall early this year – fielding Championship quality teams in the McGrath Cup in the depths of winter – with Jack O’Connor then following his well-worn template of League success followed by the Sam Maguire.
They won Munster in a canter, they never had to hit top gear to beat us in the quarters and they finally got the Dublin monkey off their back in the semi-final. Faced with some tough questions posed by Galway today, they found the answers in the second half to seal the deal and, with it, the All-Ireland title.
Defeat for Kerry this afternoon would have been a hammer blow to them, one they might well have struggled to come back from. This gilded generation of players have had to cope with a huge weight of expectation and the way they’ve been lauded so much in advance of landing the big prize will have only added to the burden they had to carry into today’s decider.
That weight will now surely fall from their shoulders and it’s unlikely to be the last title they’ll win. Have we witnessed the start of a new dynasty? Time will tell, I guess.
Galway will, of course, have regrets about this loss. They pretty much did everything right in the first half but they’ll be disappointed at how they faded after the break. In that respect, though they battled bravely from first to last, their performance over the game as a whole wasn’t at the level required to win an All-Ireland. This is a topic we’re all too well versed in, having seen our lads come up short repeatedly on the big day.
In time, though, Galway are certain to look back on 2022 in a positive light. Few would have said at the start of the year that they’d reach an All-Ireland, still less be ahead on the scoreboard for much of the seventy minutes today. When Padraic Joyce and his management team review their year, they’ll know they’ve made very solid progress this season and that they have much to build on for next year.
So, to the victors, the spoils. Kerry once more have possession of the Sam Maguire and few can quibble about their worth as champions. They were the best team in the country this year and they’re deserving winners of the All-Ireland too. Well done to them and commiserations to Galway on today’s loss, in a final where they gave it a right good rattle.
To me it always looked like Kerry were going to win it. The game reminded me of the 1989 final when CORK like KERRY today scored the last four points of the game. Rob Finnerty had a fierce disappointing game for the second game in a row. Sean Kelly is not a full back and David Clifford destroyed him. I think that harshly given free towards the end was the pivotal moment of the game.
Reminds me of the 2017 final the way Galway just ran out of juice and not enough of the forwards were able to pop over a few scores at the end.
@jimbo – there was no harshly given free towards the end the ref got the call right. The better team won but Galway can take plenty from their performance.
A final can do strange things to good men. We certainly know that more than most. Kelly definitely wasn’t himself today and looked nervy. He looks like a number 6 to me. Not sure he’d have the height for centrefield?
Sean Kelly is bizarrely tall compared to what one thinks he is from telly. He’s about the same height as McDaid.
I’m inspired for next year. We have work to do. Let’s get to it
“ Reminds me of the 2017 final the way Galway just ran out of juice and not enough of the forwards were able to pop over a few scores at the end.”
Think that’s a bit off . 2017 was a one point game for a start .
I feel the same as JP I think , not a lot of evidence in 22 there will be a dominant force in the future . Kerry are a very good side and deserving winners this year but no way are they machine like the way the dubs were . I think the biggest factor in this year’s championship was the top sides that were lucky to have their star players injury free and in good shape did well .
I love to know what the soft free at the end was. Its about time refs pull players trying to pull the marker in and fooling the referees. In the semi final and final other than 2 outstanding individual performances galway forwards were poor. Against derry no player kicked a point from play in the 2nd half and in the final a performance for the ages by Walsh papers over the fact the others contributed very little to the scoreboard aside from McDaid. Mayo would be torn apart by the analysts in this scenario
Galway have serious momentum now lads. We need a few players crucial to get Mulkerrin back at 3 so Sean can move up pitch. Bear in mind Rob is a very young lad when being critical. The Galway team average age is 25.6 slightly younger than Kerry. I know it wont be popular but the wheel has turned in Connacht and its Galways turn now to try to bring Sam west in next few years. Division 1 next year will bring us on further. Im not sure where Mayo are given injuries but ye will need a full deck to play with in 2023. The format keeps changing but if there are 2 places in business end then both Mayo and Galway are top 8 teams and should make QF in 2023. I was very disappointed with poor decision by Hurson which impacted game at a critical time. We didnt have panel depth or more likely its lack of experience to beat Kerry. Time is on our side so we can look forward to 2023. Best wishes to ye for rest of 2022.
Galway had 2 forwards that scored from play today. Walsh (very good for 55 min and some exceptional points) and Johnny Heaney. If that was a Mayo narrative we’d be torn asunder by the usual pundits.
McDaid kept them in it also with some good scores, Comer was no where to be seen and Conroy was ineffective.
It was a good game of football overall.
Wide open for Sam next year.
Interestingly none of Kilkenny of the 00s, Dublin of the 2010s and this current limerick team did two in a row at the first time of asking
Maybe next year is truly the year to catch Kerry, as it’s hard to see them not being the real dominant side of the 2020s
Let’s see if the wheel has turned Chesney. We’re all at the bottom of the mountain in 2023. Mayo will have a couple of key players back and a few more developing so we’ll see what happens. We definitely can’t have such a bad run of injury luck ever again. Connaught should be tasty given Galway’s rise this year. But there’s no guarantee you’ll get another opportunity.
“ I know it wont be popular but the wheel has turned in Connacht and its Galways turn now to try to bring Sam west in next few years”
The wheels on your coach will be turning towards the road west in the morning without the big cup . That’s your momentum for now anyway . We shall have to wait and see how 2023 goes for ye .
The game was down to springing lively legs of the bench…..
Roll on 2 September now for Mayo fans and start of club championship
We may even have a new management team by then.
Yes Galway will set the pace in Connacht, a lot to look forward to
Disappointed with Joyce giving out about the refereeing decision. Reality is Hurson had a good game. If anything, he was harsh on Kerry. Gleeson should have been black carded and Galway had a soft free for a perfect shoulder. It wasn’t the referee that did Galway out of the game. The lack of a bench for Galway was critical, as was the lack of a plan from the sideline once they went behind and were faced by a mass defence.
Joyce was slow to make subs – Conroy never got to the pace of the game and was left on way too long. On the other hand, Moran actually had a decent game but was hooked at half time by O’Connor.
Was rooting for Galway today but the reality was Kerry were the better team. Galway were over reliant on Walsh and McDaid and when their shots started going wide, that was curtains.
I believe Galway have a serious platform now, with some very classy young footballers. If they continue to improve, they’ll be in a great position to kick on next year. Their first choice keeper and full back returning to the fold would leave them firm favourites for Connacht at least.
Is that the date for club championship, 2nd of sept ? My god what was the point in the quick championship so ?
Joyce has made progress with this team this year, to be fair his first two years were pretty disappointing. The challenge for next year will be to build on this as they need more than one forward playing well to succeed. Some players will learn but not all will make the step up.
I actually think that Mayo will step up next year so no guarantee that Galway will make it back to the same stage next year, sport can be very unforgiving, let’s see what comes out of the club championship for both counties.
@Chesneychet- Come off it the wheel hasn’t turned in Connacht. Galway are a good team but on their Day no better than current mayo squad. If robbie hennelly, paddy durcan, jordan flynn and tommy conroy were available for mayo in the connacht championship Galways season could have played out totally different.
It will be 50/50 games between Mayo and Galway over the next few years and the rossies will be competitive. It was a great season overall for Galway but there is still lots ye need to improve on before there is any wheels turning in Connacht.
I’d definitely have Galway ahead of mayo for next year but I wouldn’t get overly sensitive about it, these things go in cycles, mayo had the benefit of a good decade of dominance yet couldn’t take advantage.
Mayo’s own choice to start club champ so late Sean, plenty counties are already under way, Galway start in two weeks
The wheel always turns in Connacht Sean with the odd Rossie revival thrown in. Its clear the wheel has turned towards Galway now as the Mayo team that lost out to the best ever Dublin team has suffered retirements, injuries, miles on the clock . The 64-66 team believed they should have won 67 too but were stopped by Mayo I believe and Galway didnt appear in another final for 32 years. I could be proved wrong but these things are cyclical.
Wow, just read Joyce’s comments on the phantom free. I understand his fury but he might have been better saying nothing. Kerry will use that as ammo when they meet again. Galway got a few soft calls too, especially the goalie black card that wasn’t given.
Thank you to Mayo and Roscommon for your support. The better team won on the day. Mayo have a lot of talent, and I’d like to see them winning an AI. Roscommon good too.
Lol , I think I’ll leave ye to it tonight , I’ll have absolutely no fear of Galway next year though that’s for sure .Dublin , Kerry , Tyrone and ourselves will be the top four next year , would be my bold prediction.
Im surprised Comer was brought on at some stage
Hopefully we have Cillian , Tommy Conroy and and Ryan O Donoghue all fit next year at the same time .
They have not all been fit together for over 12 months . We have been missing at least 2 of them fully fit for the entire time.
Look at todays finalists
Take just Clifford away from Kerry. They do not win that game .
Comer and Finnerty didn’t perform for Galway. But their replacements (there were none ) are vastly inferior .
Forwards win finals I’ve been told repeatedly. We won’t be far away if we can avoid injuries in training. Change of management may help that or not . Who knows
On a positive note, we have the minor AI – some silverware at least. Mayo pushed us all the way after beating an excellent Kerry team..
Absolutely ridiculous that our club championship starting in September in a split season year and us out of the championship since June, a new manager has to go out and find new players based on low scoring games played in the winter mud.
Galway will probably bring in mulkerrin and cooke next year to build on what they have, they urgently need a goalkeeper too because the one they have is a shambles.
Mayo have bodies to come back too tho especially in attack and hopefully a new manager bounce
Dubs will have con callaghan
Tyrone will have gotten the hangover out if their system.
Armagh should kick on again.
Donegal will likely be stronger under a new manager
Basically…its all to play for in 2023, every team has flaws but no reason at least 6 teams including mayo can’t be thinking big
@Chesney you’re right Galway have serious momentum now. Classy team. Those lads did brilliant today and Joyce in fairness is doing a brilliant job.
But can’t have complaints with ref. It was a stonewall black card for the keeper…who by the way, had a good game. Looked far more solid under high ball and I can only remember one dodgy kickout. His positioning too for the P Clifford goal chance was excellent.
Also, the shoulder on McDaid (my POTY) was fair. Galway will be one of the favourites next year and rightly now after this season.
Any thoughts of McStay getting the Mayo managers job will turn we away completely from football.
He seems to go against Mayo and Galway in calling out their fouls in big games in the Commentary box.
Not a word from the RTE Commentary when Clifford hit Kelly a belt in the face in 1st half.
Galway were robbed a bit when Kerry were awarded a handy close in free to go one up at 66 minutes, again RTE Commentary saw it as ” a right call ” by the Referee.
Galway management should have brought Comer to midfield at halftime, big error.
Cooke is gone next year
He’s a loss but I’d expect his clubmates James McLaughlin, eoghan and Paul Kelly to push on now next season
Has any player marked David Clifford as good as Oisin Mullin has this year in the quarter final? Surely in with a shout for team of the year ,man of the match against Kildare too.
True Mayonaze I thought Gleeson pulled Kerry lad down. I thought they sandwiched McDaid and thats why he blew it. It’s up to Galway to build on it but we need a few lads back and unearth a few. Mayo need a few lads back too and new manager will need to hit ground running. Agree Sean that Mayo could be in top 4 next year if ye depose us but not sure of Tyrone maybe Armagh and Donegal under new manager. It’s all to play for maybe history isn’t as cyclical as I stated given the training standards are so high compared to decades ago when lads might have a fag and a bottle at half time. At least we have something to look forward to its not even end July and all games over!
Haven’t heard Joyce’s interview but he’s a proud Galway man who wears his heart on his sleeve I do think his general honesty in interviews is refreshing
He’ll be hugely disappointed despite the fact they were heavy underdogs and playing div 2 football earlier this year
Dunno how people can go predicting top 4 teams and stuff next year, who on earth saw Derry playing Galway in a semi this time last year??
Agree with Chesney, Galway are definitely the team in Connacht now. Yes Mayo were missing their two best forwards this year but Mayo haven’t played like Galway did today since maybe against Donegal in 2019. Also people saying oh Mayo would be criticized for only have 2 forwards score in a final but Rob Finnerty and Comer would walk into the Mayo forward line. So would Heaney. Galway have confidence now that Mayo don’t.
Galway have momentum and improved this year but Dublin and Kerry are a good bit ahead of them and Mayo will be a different proposition when injury free.
2022 is over and reality is Galway blew that today.
Getting a feeling that a few posters on here trying to stir the pot and get a reaction from Mayo fans. Pure nonsense being spouted.
GBXI
Hold your horses, you cant judge Mayo without a fully fit Cillian and Ryan O’Donoghue and Tommy Conroy back.4 Galway forwards failed to score today.if new manager opts to play Lee and Oisin at half back and Midfield Mayo could well challenge Kerry next year.
@Sam Og…it was a wet greasy ball..ideal for a defender. Not trying to take it from Mullin but it suited a defender. Also Clifford wasn’t fit. He clearly tweaked the injury he had previously in the year but they couldn’t afford to take him off.
Mayo have tonnes of work to do. Need a proper defensive system. We also need some luck with injuries, which over the past few years have been farcical. But looking at Cillian McDaid today I could only think of Mattie Ruane and how poor he played 12 months ago…but Mattie has the talent to get back to a top level. Work harder and start using the oul noggin’ better. Also…Diarmuid who I’ve been a long time fan of, but time now Diarmuid to start leading the Mayo team. Performances like the one in Newbridge in 2018 need to become common occurrences. Hopefully a new manager can get some zip back in him. Diarmuid is ‘box to box’ but can score too. Take a leaf from McDaid’s book. Time to step up Diarmuid and show the country (and yourself) what you’re made of. Cmon!
*and whoever gets the Mayo job. Play him in a central role. For the love of God, not at wing forward!!!!!
Mayonaze
Ya Clifford seemed to pull up with the injury alrite when Oisin bet him to the ball,but he could sprint flat out and rifle the ball to the net when he got away from Paddy for the goal.Good forwards play well in all conditions.Injury looked abit put onto me cause Oisin was getting the better of him but i am not denying hes class but Oisin is one of the top 10 players in the game but we are playing him full back.He has to be at 6 or partner Matty next year in Midfield.
A new Mayo manager will make positional changes ( hopefully ) and bring in at least 10 or 12 new panel members.
Time to cull the older guys, never nice but time moves on for everyone.
Top class from Galway today, they performed very well on the big stage, they should have won but have loads to work with. They done Connacht proud, best performance from a Connacht team in an All Ireland in years. Mayo haven’t played a good game in the Championship since 2019 for context, fits and starts here and there only. Keeper and defence solid, no goals conceded. This is only the start of this Galway team, fully expect them back in a final next year and to dominate Connacht for the next 5 years. Walsh will only get better, a class act.
In fairness Galway gave it a fair old craic but ultimately the better team won. Shane Walsh was phenomenal,some of his score taking was out of this world. If I was nit picking I don’t think he should have tried scoring that free from out on the sideline but when you hit the levels he did today I guess you feel you can kick anything.
I am not sure the tide has shifted that much in Connaught. Galway beat Mayo by a point although it should have been more. Call a spade a spade having to beat Armagh and Derry to get to an AI final is not the hardest path to tread. I think it is underestimated how huge a loss ROD and Tommy C have been. Take Shane Walsh and Damien Comer out of that Galway team and there’d be no AI final for them.I would say there is very little between the teams on any given day.
Mayo88, yes, we are all hoping the new manager will bring a bounce.
Not sure who you are wanting to cull though. I’m thinking there are four players you might mean but you’d be robbing two scorers, a multiple All-Star defender and a man who’d make a great impact sub (or more, depending on use).
I’m pretty sure Colm Boyle said that he thought the new manager’s first priority would be to phone the older players (the leaders) and make sure they’d stay on next year. I think he thought we needed development, not rebuilding.
I am just after reading a couple of the posts..someone better tell those Galway lads they lost.
Jack o Connor. No messing about. Geany off at half time. Spillane on. Game changer. Would a mayo manager take cillian off at half time if he had a bad first half. To date no. The most individualistic final ever. Clifford and Walsh. No other forwards on both sides turned up really. Spillane s did make a difference. On galway. Was conroy injured or could Joyce have stuck him in at the edge of the square.
While this year’s Galway mayo match was absolutely crucial, next year’s provincial game is actually fairly meaningless given the new format
Mayo88 be sensible now ,Leeroy is older and is still in our top 3 players, he has to be played in the half back line though, Aido has a role in coming off the bench like he had in the early part of the league.Kevin McLoughlin has played alot of football with Knockmores long run last year and could do with a rest .Cillian just needs time and plenty of football to get back to his form of 2020.
An injury free mayo as good as any of those 2 on show today
The importance of a strong panel can’t be overstated ……..subs today told a tale …….and neither side too ravaged with injuries
Looking forward to next year
Did Joyce seriously give out about the ref? Not a great mentality from their leader. I know he’s hurting but he has no reason to feel aggrieved at the ref and he’ll see that when he watches the game back. Hurson had a very good game and was fair to both sides. The only call he got badly wrong was not black carding the Galway goalie
Km 79. Kerry were blessed this year .playing mayo without Rod Tommy plunkett Harrison. And Dublin without con. They’re not going to dominate from here. They were very lucky. Would they have sam if Clifford got injured. What did Sean o shea do today. Nothing
I don’t read anything into “cycles” “team in Connacht”, if anything it’s as wide open in 2023 as it ever was.
On today, let’s be realistic the bookies had Galway 3/1 and I found it difficult to see a Galway win. I was however delighted at half time as I feared Kerry goals in the first half and that the would be “liberated” as Colm Keyed put it.
Galway were good today and scores were going to be tough to get against the Paddy Tally organised defensive set up.
What today does for Galway in my opinion is now make it attractive for guys to want to play for Galway again. There are loads of class footballers in Galway(and Mayo) and we need the best on the panel. Sigerson(not all Galway, 2022), Corofin(multiple all Ireland’s), Oughterard(Intermediate All Ireland 2020), Under 20 2020, Minor 22. Sean Mulkerrin, Conor Flaherty(goals), Peter Cooke, Michael Daly, Adrian Varley, even bloody Daithi Burke might have done a job on Clifford today!!
@South Stand, that’s a fair point and you’re right. The Galway defence were excellent the past few games I thought. Joyce and O’Neill have done a superb job in shoring things up. Kerry only had a half goal chance today. Let’s face it the two Armagh goals were flukes – Galway were miles better than them and aside from the opening 15 mins, they completely controlled Derry. With Mulkerrins back in, it’ll free Kelly up. That Galway defence are as strong now as any in the country.
Comer to midfield might have made the difference today. Conroy clearly took a knock. He’s been in brilliant form all year.
Or if they had a midfielder on the panel to bring on and not having to move their full forward out to midfield ?
We won’t be far away next year if we can stop beating each other up in training 😀
It was a game I didn’t want either team to win and so a very disappointing football year draws to a close.
Not a high quality game overall but the scoring was excellent from Walsh and Clifford. Looks like puke football per Pateen is now just good defending.
Why did Joyce take Comer out of the attack and out of the game? I don’t think he touched the ball in the first half. It left space inside and no ball went in there in the second half.
Let’s see how many more AIFs Galway get to in the next 10 years.
While ROD and T Conroy are good forwards they are not in the class of Walsh and Clifford. We need to find that exceptional forward or a few more good ones to join ROD and Tommy.
Connacht is meaningless for Mayo Galway Roscommon next year but if they all ended up on the ne side of the draw it would be an incredible opportunity for Leitrim Sligo or London….
@ Km79…..We need a settled back 6 tho. OK injuries have been a huge issue, Harry, Plunkett…but we just aren’t settled there and don’t have a clear system whereas Galway do. They’ve played an identical counter attacking pattern all championship which will stand to them next year. I’m a bit concerned about us in that department and whoever comes in should get us really tight at the back, first and foremost. I think if we can keep ROD, Tommy and Cillian all fit next year we’ll naturally see a more productive attack. But we need more from Carr, Diarmuid and to be frank, everyone!!!
Again @SouthStand51 made a point, we’ve not actually put in a really impressive 70 mins championship performance since 2019.
Predictably Clifford gets motm but I’m honestly struggling to recall a better all Ireland performance period than Shane Walsh today. He absolutely has it all
Funny enough team of the year too, but these things are impossible to pick in fairness
You’re right there lahanman, this year’s Galway mayo match could be the last proper one we see for quite some time.. will be only shadow boxing in Connacht next year – totally meaningless
Niall Daly and Paul Kelly were valid midfield options today but after being used early in year both have been more or less discounted since.. Owen Gallagher is similar
It’s clear Joyce was just banking on the same 17/18 lads all season, and he may have some “trust” issues for lack of a better term .. probably a bit fortunate to pick up no injuries this campaign, but they’ll need far more options next year. The good news for him is there is plenty of talent within the county and a full league and pointless Connacht championship next year to try out plenty
Similar for mayo, if they can keep players fit the manager has more than enough time to find a settled team
An enjoyable match today, better than I expected. Credit to Galway though I felt they had a good chance before the game. Share Walsh was really excellent, a lovely balanced player who kicked some brilliant scores but as good as he was, Clifford was outstanding. The disappointing thing for Galway is that other than Walsh the Galway forwards were inept. We have got so much stick about our forwards in AI finals but the other 5 Galway forwards contributed so little. While Galway are getting some deserved praise for their gallant performance they were no better in performance than we were v Dublin in 2016 and 2017. Gallant losers is no good as we well know. The Galway defensive system is very impressive and McDaid was top class.Galway will improve and surely the likes of Tierney, Finnerty and especially Comer will be better. Credit to Kerry. Clifford outstanding and the rest of their forwards a bit better than Galway. Good defensive system also. We have a bit of catching up to do so the choice of next manager is absolutely crucial. High profile with a good management team needed, otherwise we could get left behind at a time when anyone of 7 or 8 teams are capable of lifting Sam
@KM 79, .. Good point re injuries!
Hard luck to our neighbours Galway, did a lot right and unlike Mayo in AI final didn’t concede any soft or sill goals and no shame in coming up just short against what was the best team this year far more organised now under Jack O’Connor.
Some great scores and forward play especially from Walsh,McDaid and Clifford but what won yet another AI was a solid defensive effort making the least amount of mistakes.
I never mentioned the scoreline Sean Burke. I just referenced how in 2017 we ran out of steam at the end of an absorbing match and how our forwards on the pitch at the end of that match were unable to get a few crucial scores for us i.e. our subs did not have the desired impact. Hope the walk on Malahide strand was nice for you today. Up Mayo
Can’t believe Paudie Clifford is on team of the year and no mention of Lee Keegan and McStay had a say.
Fair play to O’Rourke for saying the free that McStay said was correct should have been to Galway. What could you expect from Paddy Tallys clubman. When it got crucial near the end the ref took over.
Galway should have a free from both throw ins. All the Kerry player did was wrap around Conroy. Reminded me of Dublin Joe against us.
@Chesneychet remains to be seen can Galway build on the progress made this year. in 2018 lets not forget Galway reached the Div 1 final and All Ireland semi final only beaten by the best in both games Dublin. By 2019 Galway were beaten by Roscommon in the Connacht final and made their exit from the championship at the hands of Mayo. Walsh then stepped aside the good 2018 was quickly forgotten about. In other words 2023 a big year for Joyce and will need to build on what was done this year.
I agree with you Ciaran.
Shane Walshe was motm and if Galway had won would have received the award.
He outgunned David Clifford even though Clifford had better service to him. He wiped out Clifford’s 8 points and scored an extra one for good measure.
I’m sure if he was the same height as Clifford he would have fetched a few marks and added another few points, but he had to engineer his scores.
I actually thought both players were excellent but Walshe showed more all around ability today.
I think Clifford is absolutely phenomenal, the winning team was always going to get the MotM award. Shane Walsh definitely faster than David Clifford, probably not as good a fielder as Clifford.. Walsh is more natural two footed, and Walsh is a better free taker . Absolutely no doubt about it that the two player’s are the most natural talented, and absolutely wonderful to watch in the Inter County game today. But Walsh is about 6 year’s older than Clifford.. But in fairness to both, it was wonderful that both of those Superstars of the game, and both poetry in motion to watch, got to play and produce so much magic watched by a TV audience all over the world of several millions…One crucial free late on given to Kerry and scored by David Clifford should have been a free out, it was a huge moment..On the other side of the coin, The Galway keeper should have been black carded… Séan Hurson got very little wrong today and I taught had an excellent game overall… The game was very structured all trough, and I taught the Galway structure broke down a little in the last 5 minutes and Kerry made them pay.. When Galway are reviewing and probably regretting a few things..I think think they needed a way to get Damien Comer into the game in the full forward line, if they had been able to do that, I just think Kerry would have really struggled to deal with the twin threat.. Just my analysis, were Galway somehow unconsciously happy enough early on when Shane Walsh was on fire, and Killian McDaid both going so well?.. Maybe in hindsight, and it’s easy to talk I understand, but I think Padraig Joyce probably needed to do something radical to bring Comer into the game in the first half..He did do something in the second half, which was to get Damien Comer much more involved around the middle of the field, and again I understand with Paul Conroy not really having the hoped for impact around the middle, he had to do something there as well… Decisions taken on the sideline in real time are crucial especially in All Ireland finals as we know in Mayo.. Anyhow it was a very good match, the outstanding performance of David Clifford, Killian McDaid and Shane Walsh won’t be forgotten for a very long time, none of those deserved to be on the losing side..
Hi all.
Posting late and it’s been a long day.. probably wondering why a Galway man would post after losing a final today but in fairness I would have posted over the years after Mayo losses. I flew through a few comments there and I don’t see any point in blaming anyone.
It’s been some year and as I said today the absolute key for Galway is to make sure we build on today.
For that Flaherty will get back after his injury for goal, Mulkerrins the same for full back, and that frees kelly etc to move up the field. We gave it everything, a few lads found it tough but hopefully they’ll gain so much by this experience.
Congratulations to Kerry .. we’ll all start again the the Dome in January!
Finally Shane Walsh….. out of this world.. a true marquee forward…
Pauddie Clifford in a team ahead of keegan. Who the hell is picking this team. I have leeroy nailed on for an all star.
Reality is Galway wont have a better chance of winning an all ireland again for a long time, the handiest of passages through the all ireland series and an unconfident Kerry team there for the taking.
Todays win will grow that Kerry team no end and if Mayo get the manager choice right then they will be a serious team again next year.
@Travelling Wilbury for the 2017 AI final comparison
Galway took the lead seven times against Kerry , which equals the record for a losing team in All Ireland final (Mayo 2017).
East Cork exile.. your so right. Never an easier passage and kerry with 7 or 8 wides and only 2 points from play in the first half. We could never be that lucky but we will be back next year to challenge big time le cunamh de. No more injuries hopefully ?
We’ve had a few easy passages to the final also in recent times I think? Over the past decade. Was there one year we didn’t meet Div 1 opposition until the final?
While Shane Walsh was absolutely brilliant, yesterday was the first day this season that he really delivered this year on his enormous potential. Was ok v us, got a great goal v Ross, just fair v Armagh and other than his frees was just fair v Derry. Credit to him though he did it yesterday on the biggest day of all. Clifford has been outstanding in almost all games. Destroyed us in league final, cracking goal against us in AIQF, the winning of the game v Dublin and imperious yesterday. Undoubted player of the year. What we would give for those type of players in Mayo. Tommy C and Ryan have merits of their own but realistically are not on the same level as the above named two. Galway have had a good year. Joyce got a huge amount right. Defensive system is very good and so hard to break down. Kerry struggled with it for long periods yesterday. McDaid has had a super season at mid field but I don’t think Conroy had a great championship.. I can’t figure out the Galway forwards. The two wing men do a defensive job but don’t score much. I expected a lot more from Tierney at CHF. Finnerty was excellent v Armagh good v Ross, but had a poor semi final and final. Comer was top class v Derry, ok in the other games but poor yesterday. He should not be in Sunday Game Team of the Year ahead of Shane McGuigan from Derry in my opinion. Strength of Galway bench is not great at the moment, but will improve as well, as returning players like Mulkerrins and the goalie. Galway were definitely the best team in Connacht this year but 2022 is over (shockingly in July) and who knows what 2023 will bring. I expected Kerry to win AI from the start and they did just that but to be honest they were not massively impressive. O Connor targeted the league like no other manager and they cruised through it. With Tally on board it was inevitable that their defensive problems would be sorted and they conceded very few goals in league or championship.. Midfield ok but Id say Morans best days are behind him. David Clifford simply outstanding but the other forwards were patchy. Even Sean O Shea was only ok yesterday, O Brien is hardworking, Geaney had poor final and semi final. Paudie Clifford has been good for them all year with the exception of the day he met Leeroy.They have a far superior bench to any other team. Interesting that Jack o Connor left Tom o Sullivan on Walsh all day yesterday. If Kerry had lost would people be claiming ” they lost it on the line” which is the usual mantra in Mayo. Likewise Sean Kelly was left on Clfford all day. I think OSullivan and Kelly are two great players who just happened to end up marking two outstanding players yesterday. Thats football. Sometimes your opponent is simply too good for you. Can’t understand some ( not many) posters being critical of McStay yesterday. Thought his analysis throughout was balanced. Likewise I thought referee did very well. I thought THAT free was debateable alright but Hurson must have been absolutely certain to give that free at such a crucial time. I also thought Galway goalie should have got black card but other than that it was well reffed in my opinion.
@Chesneychet come off it the wheels haven’t turned in connaught we had poor form this year and to many injuries but we will be back at the business end of it again next year so don’t go writing us off before it’s even started again!
In fairness, it’s not a direct choice between Keegan and Paudi Clifford for a place on the team of the year. Far more competition in the defense this year.
People mentioning Galway had a handy run to a final,
Mayo Injuries , we couldn’t be that lucky with Kerry missing 7+ Isn’t logically. We had similar chances and didn’t take it.
From my perspective we a long way off.
We have exited the last 4 championships by an average of +7, We havnt a forward in the class of Walsh/Clifford, and Tyrone’s are more efficient/mean.
Dublin have better forwards. Then the rest.
Lads scoring a few points while on holiday in Chicago
Doesn’t give me hope,
We lossing our edge and I feel new group lack the maturity of our former groups
gone and we will struggle unless it changes.
In truth, the better team won. Galway performed admirably, but lack of experience/quality off the bench told. I don’t think it’s fair to blame the ref. He did a good job, and let’s be honest our goalie could easily have received a black card.
David Clifford consistently combines great leadership and teamwork qualities – a very rare phenomenon and definitely man of the match. Shane Walsh fired great scores and deserved his big day out.. Naturally, I feel disappointed, but also proud of Galway’s footballing tradition. So, let these great young men take a well-earned break. They too, have family and other every day commitments like the rest of us.
Finally, I thought Sean O’Shea’s victory speech was so selfless and uplifting. All these lads are great ambassadors for their counties. Sometimes, I feel we don’t fully appreciate what we have…
Well done to Kerry were worth their win this year and after breezing thorough Munster they had a tough run in to the final and answered many of questions lots said they wouldn’t. There is a big monkey off their back now and will be interesting to see if they kick on to another level in 2023.
Hard luck to Galway. Shane Walsh and Cillian McDaid put on an exhibition yesterday but unfortunately the game passed by many others.
I think some prescriptive is needed for Galway , the route to the final will never be that straight forward every year, we had a similar route in 2016 and 2020. A new system was introduced which worked very well and protected a backline who would ship out massive scores in previous years, teams will know what they are facing next year so this will need to be developed . The injury front was also very good to ye and not every year will the rub of the green come like that. Joyce has a job on his hand now to develop a squad with depth as it is clear there is players good enough to start who can get ye to the business end of the season, but one or two injury to key players and there could be a few long days out against the top teams.
In regards to a passing off the guard in Connaught it is definitely not the case and there is zero basis to argue a comment like that, there is plenty of talent coming through in Mayo and Galway and a serious base to work with in both camps. James Horan has left us in a great place in terms of squad and depth but its up to our new manager to come in and bring us to the next level.
No break for these boys Oneinallin, they’ll be down at club training by Thursday, and dead right – no better way to distract themselves again and get over the disappointment
A certain P Joyce will be one keen observer over the next few weeks
Worth keeping a special eye out on Moycullen, Mountbellew and Corofin, the “big three” who supplied 16 of this year’s panel, Salthill also supplied 4 others and – along with Claregalway – have lots of younger talent in their ranks, who’ll be looking to put their hands up
Perspective works both ways Jkel, maybe they got a degree of good fortune this year at stages (they did get the toughest possible Connacht and quarter final draw though, had their captain sent off for no reason in the quarter and had a very arguable free given against them yesterday at a crucial stage) but last year they shipped a 20-odd point hiding to Kerry, got relegated, and collapsed in the 2nd half v Mayo in ch’ship.. an All Ireland final looked a long, long way away at Galway races time last year. Similarly a good year this year doesn’t guarantee anything the next, all this will have been for nothing unless they can push on now.. and they certainly have the tools to do so
For Kerry, its very hard to say yet exactly how dominant they’ll be going forward.. they’re not the real complete package yet to be honest (if we compare them to previous great sides), yet they won all that there is to be won this year, and were a Clifford injury against Tyrone last year from likely playing for 3 in a row next year. The ominous thing is there is room for improvement
For 2023 though its looking like a fairly open all Ireland right now.. the new format will obviously play a role, but surely more inclined to suit the Dublins and Kerrys more than anything
I think some of ye are getting very sensitive to Chesney’s comment
Right now he’s absolutely correct, Galway are certainly the better side at the moment.. this could always change again in a flash who knows, but he’s more than entitled to make his point, and if we’re honest would be getting much more agreement on a more objective platform
Mayo absolutely have it all to prove in 2023 and we don’t even know who the manager is going to be yet
Ciaran – The bookies dont agree with yourself and Chesney. Boylesports currently have Mayo 3rd Favorite and Galway 4th Favorite for Sam in 2023. We could argue all day about who is better and make a case for both but we wont know until this time next season.
Jaysus, does Joyce ever stop whinging. Gleeson should have been in the sin bin twice over, when Kerry were letting rip, shoulder on Comer no free from where I was.
Galway needed a goal to really rattle Kerry, and Comer was nowhere to be seen. Galway were tiring and Kerry were firing, and the Galway bench had nothing to offer, whereas Kerry subs, Spillanes especially, increased their pace, and mobility.
Clifford’s free taking was huge, but he didn’t look fully fit – again. His catches to make the marks were brilliant though – Willie Joe stuff. I was right in them at the Davin end. That’s something Mayo have to work on – catch a high ball in around the full forward line.
It’s a bit Irish to have Galway fans tell us they’re better than us immediately after they’ve lost the All Ireland.
Kerry worthy winners but yesterday’s game showed that Mayo are still not that far away if we get the management appointment right. There was nothing great about either Kerry or Galway yesterday and Mayo and Dublin in particular will have been watching that thinking there is no reason 2023 cant go their way. I don’t think there is a Kerry Dynasty coming out of this particular team.
No real proof of wheels turning in connacht. Last 6 connacht winners, Mayo 2, galway 2, roscommon 2.
Cleanest AI we’ve seen for years. Devoid of physicality or cynical play. Fair play to both sides.
Best individual performances we’ve seen for years. Walsh edged it for me, though clifford was class too.
Kerry played with nerves and know they can play better, but now with the job done they’re a real dangerous animal. They’ll be back next year with more confidence, more belief and I also expect the kerry swagger to return. Unfortunately this is only the beginning.
Cant understand why Managers wont play full forwards anymore, Murphy still best full in country Bonner wont play him there , Joyce with Commer yesterday took him away from his best position, Horan with Aiden O Shea only plays him there for a few minutes its his only position going forward. In contrast Kerry play Clifford at full forward
forfull game and we saw results yesterday. Play a full forward in his position and see how football improves.
Culmore couldn’t agree more and exactly what I have being saying all year. Any chance of you going for the Mayo job. You could even go as a selector for Cody. I’m afraid Kerry will be around for a number of years and they will go all out to beat Dublin’s record.
Galway bottled it. End of story. They led by 3 points on two occassions in the first half and kept Kerry to 2 points from play in the opening 35 mins. They led THREE times in the second half and yet still lost by FOUR points!
For the record, that’s their 13 final defeat in 22 attempts. That is a 60% loss ratio and not the 100% success rate that is often spun about them.
They should look back at this defeat as one that got away and as one that they left behind. Kerry were flat, surprisingly inefficient in front of goal, only scoring from dead balls and could not contain Walsh. All the things that Galway would have wished for before throw in were happening for them and for long periods of the game it looked like the weight of pressure on Kerry was holding them down. In the end, the much vaunted attack of Galway (in my opinion hugely overrated) was reduced to Walsh with help from the excelent McDaid and a few scores from the back. In the end only two of their starting forwards scored from play (Heaney with 1 point and Walsh with 4) and Comer and Conroy were anonymous for almost all of the match. And yet STILL they should have won it.
Kerry are no great shakes and are certainly nowhere near Dublin 2015 to 2020. As for the “wheel turning in Connaught towards Galway”? Time will tell but we’ve heard that before from them, in 2016 and 2017, and it didn’t stunt our growth. Truth is, in MacHale Park they just about beat the worst Mayo performance in probably the last 6 or 7 years. We won’t be that bad next year.
Galway had their chance and blew it.
There’s very little between Mayo and Galway at the moment. Galway have a great recent record against Mayo but at the end of the day in 2019, 2020 and 2021 when the two teams met in a pure knock out match, Mayo won all three games.
Galway might well have the best players of the two teams but if you were to pick a best 15 of the two, you’d pick more Mayo players without a doubt.
Anyway, we have 5 months to discuss this! But I must add, I was impressed by Galway today but I’m not sure if they can actually get much better.
On Joyce’s comments, I’m not that surprised to be honest. Has struck me as an awful moaner the last few years and never seems to have the good grace to praise the winning team.
@Liberal, I’m not from Galway and I am saying that Galway are better than Mayo right now. Mayo were utter muck all year bar a couple of league games. Kerry beat us by 9 points pulling up! Bar ROD and TC, Mayo forwards are so poor. Cillian has gone way back. What gives me hope from a Mayo perspective in Connacht is that I really don’t think PJ is a good manager and is overly emotional to be one of the best. You never hear Gavin, O’Connor, McGuinness, even Horan complaining about referees win or lose, it sends out the wrong message.
Galway and Kerry have improved a lot since their provincial finals and will be better for it next year. They have also found star players in the likes of McDaid and Daly that we would kill for in Mayo. Most of all, and hopefully this will change with a new manager in Mayo, but Mayo have are so one dimensional in defense and attack.
Pebblesmeller; Galway didn’t hold Kerry to two points from play in the first half……..it was Kerry themselves, plenty of chances and poor shooting!!
Only 2 Galway forwards scored from play. One got just 1 pt. If Mayo in an AI final only got that return from their forwards, 2 pts in the final 28minutes, the pundits/media would live off it until Xmas.
Pebblesmeller – Harsh but some truth being spoken. If Mayo lost that final in same fashion we would be branded as Bottlers this morning.
Comer couldn’t find any space inside as Kerry had that area well clogged up and Galway didn’t really risk kicking any ball into him bar one or two. If anything he should have been moved out much sooner. When Galway eventually moved him out he started winning kick outs and making turnovers. Just happened too late.
Actually thought Galway were very good defensively yesterday. Silke nullified O’Shea. Molloy saw off Geaney and even young Glynn did quite a good job on Paudie Clifford who scored 0-2 but wasn’t in the game for long spells. John Daly was very good again. Kelly had his hands full with Clifford but who wouldn’t?
Galway just didn’t get enough from Comer, Finnerty and Tierney. They needed a few scores from them and I don’t think Comer and Finnerty even had a shot at the posts. Walsh and McDaid were both sensational. Walsh has always had outrageous talent but he put it all together yesterday while McDaid is a genuine superstar level footballer now. Had Galway gotten over the line I think he should have won footballer of the year. Galway have a few lads to come back from injury and travel so they will hope that will lead to them having a stronger bench for next year.
Doubt they will stick with Gleeson in goal. That said I don’t think he should have been black carded yesterday. It was a jersey pull rather than a drag down. So a free was the right call. That free against Daly near the end was a killer. Galway just won a turnover to a huge roar and then for Kerry to basically get awarded a tap over free to nudge them ahead again. That was tough to take at that point in the game. Everyone would have been happy to see them play on without the ref getting involved.
“Bottled it” is obviously ridiculously over the top, but it is a bit of a chance missed (and I’m sure they’ll acknowledge that)… that said they were much underdogs on the day, and Kerry have been earmarked as winners since the beginning of the year, was always going to be difficult to topple them
The Galway forwards were indeed subdued but a lot of that was balanced by Shane Walsh’s out of this world performance and McDaid kicking 4 points.. more or less unheard of in a final for a midfielder.
Its all about what follows from this really.. probably won’t be able to really analyse this for a couple of years.. it might prove to be the case they had to indeed “win one to lose one”, or it could be that this ends up being a one-off final appearance and there may be some regrets down the line (especially if Kerry go on to improve even more)
Galway didn’t have the legs to see it through. Kerry’s graph was upward, and Galway’s downward during the final twelve or so minutes – certainly from 66 mins to 76. The argument about the rest of their forwards doesn’t really matter because Walsh was doing the business, magnificently, for most of the match. Most of it, though is the key point because he tired as well over those last ten minutes. That sideline free was difficult but kickable, given his form on the day, and that went wide.
Also, I felt, little things went Galway’s way: Gleeson’s non-punishment, quite a few reffing decisions, Hawkeye decisions, Kerry’s first half wides (big things). They needed a goal to really rattle Kerry.
Mac, your talking about the free against Daly. In that play, Comer touched the ball on the ground. Free to Kerry. Mentioned on Sunday game last night.
Thought Galway were excellent. Some super performances from Liam Silke, McDaid & Shane Walsh was utterly amazing. But Kerry deserved it , and this despite being very wasteful in front of goal. I don’t have the stats but it looked to me that Kerry had more attacks, more shots and more possession. And when you add to to their quality in final 3rd, they will win most games.
Galway very efficient and it was only in last 15 mins or so that they started to kick wides and make mistakes. But they should be very hopeful for future. And their fans should be very proud.
Pains me to say, but I think they are a bit closer to Sam than us. We have edge in physicaluty & athleticism in my view. But Galway are way more accurate in front of the posts and can score off limited ball. I think their weaknesses are more easily fixable than ours.
Well done to Kerry also. I believe they may go up a level after breaking through. But next year could be an open championship again!
I think we are behind in physicality and athleticism. How many of our players have a springy leap or great driving pace or if we look at height and muscle mass?
Think we’ve a lot of work to do in selection and SnC.
I think we do a lot right in S&C, we can play for 80 or 90 minutes, but there’s a lot more to work on, that’s for sure.
And, btw, wasn’t it just great to be at an AIF, good seats, no worries, enjoying the game, objective about it, and even better, enjoying the aftermath, shaking my head at the condescension of Kerry people at The Palace (no, I was never worried, I always knew we had an extra gear), and waking up this morning and feeling just as good about things?
@JP – One department we dont lack in is our physicality, athleticism or our S&C. The way some people are talking ya would swear we have been living in Galway and Kerry’s shadows the last 5 years. There will be nothing between us next year and it will all depend on our new managment and injurys on if we can go on and win sam.
@Seanie CH, That’s your opinion, many share it, some this year questioning it.
I’ve a view that agrees with Catcol that we can go 80/90 minutes a lot of our players
We outlasted Dublin in 2021.
But through selection and more of a stamina based SnC our players are not particularly quick or having a good leap.
Dublin have good stamina through a different way, their leg strength looks higher than ours.
Dublin probably wouldn’t do a lot in that 10 * 100m test that we do. I’m questioning how representative that is of 2022 fitness to compete.
Some of our best athletes like Oisin likely would be midpack in a 10*100m test.
From interviews that is a test Mayo have used with best times well under 3 mins, bear in mind one needs to turn at each end.
A decathlete relies on leg strength, power per kg and 400m ability to produce a decent 1500m.
No top decathlete trains for the 1500m or even really the 400m. This is because training too specialised for those will tip the balance too much towards stamina and away from explosive power. I have a worry we train specific for stamina with a lot of 3/4 pace and 60% pace kilometres each week. James Horan referenced with confidence in an interview players needing to hit a certain amount of kilometres a week.
Feels a bit behind the curve. I couldn’t see Dublin or Kerry having those legs grinding out steady kilometres.
A new level of entitlement…does Galway not have a blog to bitch on. I would never dream of posting on another counties blog. Ye lost. The problem is connacht. If we actually worked together with resources etc maybe we could maximise all our potential instead of petty nonsense. Yes, this is what it feels like to lose an All Ireland. It hurts deeply and if it happens a few times it will cut to the bone. Let that test the mettle of any group of guys to keep coming back. The amount of times Mayo mentioned yesterday was high farce. No team goes out to lose and you are not bottlers or anything else when you lose. You just didnt score enough. When we mentioned daft refs decisions we were whingers, we were petty. Well thems are the margins lads. So maybe your fans who were quick enough to get the knife in at every available opportunity might be a little more circumspect in the future or maybe re educate the two grown men telling a bunch of kids from Mayo at the Kerry Mayo match that they were losers, would always be f*ucking losers and would never see an All Ireland while others with no back bone condoned that behaviour. Stay classy Mayo supporters and blog contributors and dont get dragged into idiotic behaviour. I am sorry for Galway that they lost. I am sorry for any lad that stands in Croke Park and has to watch another team lift the cup. So lets not put up 3 billboards now kicking any county. Every dog will get their day. Maigheo Abu!!
Just looking again at the format for next year, its even madder than I thought (how did this get passed so emphatically at congress?)
https://www.the42.ie/new-all-ireland-football-format-2023-green-proposal-congress-5694871-Feb2022/
Basically the Provincial championships are completely meaningless for any division 1 side
“Well you can avoid Kerry or Dublin’s group” I hear you say… that’s all well and good but THREE out of 4 teams qualify from the group.. (top goes straight into quarter, 2nd and 3rd into preliminary quarters).. so it doesn’t matter a jot if you get Dublin or Kerry or not, as every half decent side is making the final 12
It all looks very convoluted, and basically gives the top sides an extra league campaign to experiment before the final 12
It also basically reduces any chances of a shock semi-finalist, and the days of a handy route to a final are likely gone too. Maybe no harm in one way but I can’t see how this won’t fully play into Dublin and Kerry’s hands more than anyone
For our own sake its probably a welcome format though, given the new manager and potential changes in personnel. The last thing we probably need is a do or die early match against Galway, it’ll only be shadow boxing in the circumstances, and we should have well enough to make it to a quarter final ultimately – where basically it becomes a new tournament. This gives us time to grow into the season
Interesting to see the knock-on effects it has on the league also
@Ciaran; Agree with you on the format. One could just use the provincials for squad depth development and protect your best players until the group stages. If you are qualified then, again back to more deity development and not playing your core players. An odd SnC coach will request they want the best players on strength development and not playing games and unleashed peak fit later in the season.
Deity development 🙂 No false Gods, Depth development.
Wide ball. Obviously it not a choice between Clifford and leeroy. But Lee was more prolific in his games Than Clifford. Plus I’m taking about all stars which were based on league and championship. It doesn’t matter anyhow. Its sam we are looking for. Not all stars. Just nice to see a great player like leeroy get recognition. We will be big challenger s next year I hope if we get the right management in place. I suspect that mat involve slolan and my old mate Rochford possibly. If so they are inheriting another practical ready made team.
The very much maligned Mayo half forward line could drink tea with the Galway half forward line. One point only from play.
Galway certainly didn’t bottle it. They performed quite well. Sure they possibly didn’t get as much from some of their players but that’s the case in most games, nevermind finals.
At half time, even though Galway were winning, I felt Kerry were winning too much around the middle, and unless Galway could end up breaking even there, Kerry would eventually end up ahead on the score board.
Galway looked to me two, maybe three top quality players short of competing at the top table. Kerry are probably similarly short, if their ambition is to replace Dublin and truly dominate the sport. 1-9 they were no better individually than Galway yesterday. I wouldn’t say that there’s a top top player in either team there. I don’t look at those players and see a future footballer of the year.
From a Mayo point of view, we don’t look too far away at all, and without a GOAT looming on the horizon, you’d be more optimistic about our chances over the next few years, even if we aren’t at the level of the 2014-17 team.
News Just in Colm o’Rourke announced as Meath manager, the biggest football name in Meath Gaa ,If he cant get improve them no one will.
In hindsight looking back on the season I feel galway were lucky. Would galway have won against mayo if O’Shea collected the ball ahead of Heaney and mayo weren’t missing so many. They avoided the big teams after that until the final. In the semi final as i stated on another thread they didn’t kick a point from play in the 2nd half and relied on Walsh frees and a goal into an empty net and in the final only for an outstanding display by Walsh and McDaid they struggled for scores and too many underperformed. Personally I think they missed the boat and may not get a chance again for a while without finding a few players to impact off the bench.
To be honest I’ve seen Galway teams bottle a few particularly the hurlers but I wouldn’t consider what I saw yesterday as bottling it. No 3/1 shot in a 2 horse race ever bottles it, I’d say something if we were odds on favourites but we weren’t and for good reason. The teams were level and then the Kerry subs all made a difference while the Galway subs had no impact. I think that was the winning of the game. Finnerty, Tierney, Conroy had little impact but neither did Sean O’Shea, Geaney and David Moran.
Finally on the Comer thing and not using him right. Morley was 3 yards in front of Foley and Comer all game, it would have been madness to kick it in as all he had to do was break it. No scores came from inside yesterday or against Dublin, that’s a Paddy Tally thing, circle the D and just cover it all off.
McDaid showed the way to counter it(break the line at pace) and that tactic was never going to work for Comer.
That’s an interesting appointment.
spot on proud Mayo supporter
I must say I’ve always probably unfairly thought of jack o’connor as a lucky general as opposed to a talented one, with his previous AI titles having been won against poor mayo and Cork teams I always thought he was in the right place at the right time.
However he deserves credit for this year for a number of reasons, his recruitment of paddy tally was a masterstroke. Silly goals have cost them for years now and they have conceded just 3 all year, the same amount as they conceded v tyrone in 1 game last year. Serious going.
…also he made a few huge ballsy calls yesterday in whipping off his 2 most experienced players geaney and moran yesterday. Ruthless but ultimately vindicated calls. You would wonder if any of the recent or prospective mayo managers would have the balls to whip off cillian & AoS at halftime if they were having stinkers…
@Sam Og
I assumed you were joking, so I looked on RTE.
My god what are they thinking.
Mayo too, should go for an AI winner as manager, or at least a backroom team member.
Pat Spillane always said he’d like to be involved in IC team management. Seeing as he’s now left the Sunday Game, he surely would have time to commit – an excellent forwards coach.
His wife is a native of Sligo and his son is developing as a fine footballer for the Yeats county. So the Connaught connection is there..
I think yesterday proves that there is not alot between ourselves Dublin, Kerry and Galway and none of the 4 teams can afford to have any of their top players injured. Dublin would have beaten Kerry imo if they had Con and Kerry would not have won yesterday if Clifford was out and it’s absolutely no coincidence that Galway’s best year came when Walsh and Comer both stayed fit. If we have our best 15 fit next year and some good impact subs we will put it up to anything that is out there. Some better tactics and decision making on the line and you would be excited about the future. What i really struggle to get my head around is why we have not put in a 70 + minutes performance since the 2017 All Ireland final, as we seen yesterday you have to stick with teams and then find a bit extra going down the stretch rather than relying on heroic comebacks.
On a separate note, I thought Sean Cavanagh was really appalling yesterday on RTE. He offered no meaningful analysis and seemed like his only objective was to wind up Pat Spillane.
Wonder did anyone else think the same?
I hope the result is a lesson in humility for those who mock us and (more than) question our character for not having won an All Ireland. I thought it was appropriate that the president of the GAA asked everyone to refrain from potentially abusive social media posts, just before presenting the cup. However, I think they should be doing alot more.
We have often been told that winning finals is all that matters and it appears that it’s a worse thing to lose in the final than in the first round. After the 2017 final, RTE lined up their Sunday Game pundits to ask if Mayo would ever win an All Ireland.
I’m living abroad at the moment and seeing the price of €20 to watch the game online, decided to tune into RTE radio 1 instead. I thought the commentary was generally good, however, towards the end of the broadcast Anna Geary who “has never lost an All Ireland”, asserted that Galway might win an All Ireland before Mayo do.
I think that as long as people of influence have this hard line attitude towards the end result, the volunteers and amateur players that make up the backbone of the GAA are going to be open to abuse and destructive criticism.
I think the biggest thing the GAA can do to counter these circumstances would be to introduce a silver medal and a third placed play-off for bronze.
There were lads saying beforehand that Kerry would bate Galway by 8, 10 or even 12 points. Instead Galway actually led for the majority of the game and they were level with a few minutes left to play. Others saying they got lucky with who they played when they were underdogs in every game they played apart from Roscommon and even then plenty were tipping Roscommon to beat them. This is a good Galway side now with a good management set up (despite some odd subs yesterday) and plenty of talent coming through and I expect they’ll be there or thereabouts over the next few years in what looks like being a much more open championship now the Dubs have fallen back to the pack. I don’t see Kerry being anywhere the dominant force that Gavin’s Dubs were. They have a few more flaws despite their talent.
Certainly don’t think Galway “bottled” it. They were just beaten by a better team. I hate that phrase that a team “bottled” it. It has been thrown at us for years and it is totally inappropriate.. Those fantastic players who represented Mayo were anything but bottlers. The fact that some Galway ” fans” gleefully labelled us as “bottlers” leads to a sense that when they lost a close AI we call them bottlers also. Perfectly understandable but not really true of yesterday’s Galway performance.
@ to win just once, that’s exactly why I used the phrase. Maybe now they’ll know what it feels like when they hear it thrown at them.
Some desperately sad news being reported this evening on most main news sites that firmly puts football in perspective.
I’ll defer to willie joe on this one as it probably wouldn’t be right to publish insensitive details unless confirmed
It’s all just a game of football. Furthest thing from Oisín Mullins mind today and for the foreseeable future. Thinking of him and his family. Devastating. RIP to his brother Brian and girlfriend Sharon who were killed in a car crash in Limerick last night.
Do people really think Mayo are capable of Winning the All Ireland next year as some on here suggest, I think we are a way off being able to challenge Kerry for a number of reasons.
– We dont have enough quality on the bench, this became evident after a few injuries to starting players. we might have had a 40+ panel but not all are county standard. Even if there are club players/development players with potential it will take a couple of seasons to get up to the required conditioning.
– We badly need a modern defensive strategy to prevent leaking soft goals (and points), we have the players but not the strategy, this will take time to bed in and get right. we will also need the right coach to implement.
– Half forward line is a big issue, needs serious work. We offer no threat of long range scores.
-Long range free taker is needed, Robbie does okay but we need someone with a high conversion rate. Its no coincidence this years finalists had the two best long range free takers. How many time did Cluxton & Rock win/keep Dublin in games with long range frees.
-Our whole attacking plan needs an overhaul, we cant breakdown a basic mass defence and our transition from defence to attack is painfully slow. Needs a whole new plan and time to perfect.
The new manager who ever it is (Dempsey or Solan) have a lot of work to do to challenge the likes of Kerry, I really cant see this being achievable over the course of one season.
@Mayomad, Two seasons minimum I would say. Agree with all your points. Totally disagree with the view that we are close. Mister scoreboard doesn’t lie over the last three seasons.
Mayomad i get your point that there is loads of work to be done over the next few seasons but i just don’t think Kerry are that good and Dublin’s bench was poor against Kerry and their young players are way off the calibre of the Brogans, Mcmenamin, Macauley etc. Con and Clifford are their main advantages over us but i think Rod and Tommy Conroy are improving year on year and if Diarmuid can rediscover his old form and scoring and have Darren Mchale in the half forwards with him and Fergal Boland as an impact sub we will not be in bad shape.
@Inittillwewinit; Get your points but aren’t some of those formlines on our side at this stage confirmed as off the level needed?
I’d be a fan of giving Diarmuid a new role at six. Tell me who’s a better six if we factor size, handling, passing, pace and ability to read the game?
We need some new players to shake things up.
We need to play a different way.
We need to have a bench and train those players based on 25 mins game time not 80.
Not using Aidan this year as a sub was bizarre. He could have been trained based on a 20 min role. We rarely seem to be bringing anything interesting in tactics, selection or bench.
That’s really sad news about Oisin Mullin’s brother and his brothers girlfriend. Really tragic. May they Rest In Peace.
Kerry were actually there for the taking in our quarter this year.. Clifford on one leg at stages, no test whatsoever in Munster, coming in as roaring favourites.. yet we wasted an absolute power of chances early in the 2nd half which would have asked serious questions
Granted we were missing ROD and Conroy but we were bet comfortably by them twice this season. Will never ever fault our application but we just don’t convert nearly enough chances.. an age old issue. And if we’re honest (which we need to be) Galway were a few points better than us in Connacht also in a do or die game (which ROD played). This was a shaky enough Galway too who actually improved significantly from that game as the season went on
A fresh approach may well see an improvement but I just fear we may not have the personnel yet
If we take the 2021 All Ireland final team vs the 2017 one, I couldn’t make much case for many of the 2021 edition making a combined team
Inittillwewinit, Tommy and Ryan fit will be an addition but all the players you mentioned were available for two loosing all ireland finals, these are not new players being brought in to strengthen the panel. We need additions on top of these players to add real depth to the panel.
@Ciaran, There were too many players shooting pot shots or 60% shots when they themselves have been low shooting %.
To add to that issue the attacking plan in terms of shooters was open democracy. I seen no pattern as to who our shooters were. Whomever ended up in space and fancied a shot took it on.
Fully agree JP
Kerry may not go on to become as dominant a force as Dublin were, but you’d still suspect there’s a 90plus per cent you’ll have to beat them to win an All Ireland over the next few seasons
Honestly I can’t see them being as vulnerable again as they were against us this year, and we never really laid a meaningful glove on them that day – we would need to improve vastly to usurp them going forward, not impossible but definitely unlikely in the short term imo
And the very same may transpire for Galway, maybe yesterday was the day to actually beat them from their perspective aswell (I still always think guys like Walsh and usually Comer, and now McDaid, give them a live chance in any game though)
Terrible news about Brian Mullin and his girlfriend. RIP both
Our conversion rate in the game v Kerry was abysmal, I’d say it ranks up there with one of the lowest ever . Accurate shooting is the single most important aspect to your game as a forward , For some reason we always pussy foot around that conversation in Mayo .
No names have been confirmed publicly as yet in relation to that awful road accident in Limerick so out of respect to those who have tragically lost their lives and their families please stop posting comments with their names included. It’s a shocking tragedy and I know people are only looking to express condolences but no names please until such time as this is confirmed.
@Sean Burke, Our defence and midfield get away even worse in the shooting conversation.
Defenders and midfielders had an appalling shooting %, lower than our forwards.
Very sad. RIP ?.
https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2022/07/25/south-mayo-in-shock-over-deaths-of-two-local-people-in-limerick-crash/?fbclid=IwAR2AdNWQKcrD9F2rBxIbPZjD3IyPe2-pmS3VK-oao4OBUsmUD1UoeraCUMY&fs=e&s=cl#l611gpy2w1ajgv3vcei
May they Rest In Peace 🙁
That’s so sad. Condolences to Oisín and the rest of the families.
Terrible news god help their families
Such tragic news..Devastating for both families and communities..So saddened to.hear that news..
Rest in peace to Brian and Sharon, gone far too soon. My deepest condolences to both of their families and friends/communities and of course our own Oisin. Really puts things in perspective folks, football is just a game so we should all take it easy on the players and management when critiquing going forward – they will make mistakes but never intentionally and they are all people With far more important issues than a game of football. Devastated to hear this terrible news
That is such sad news condolences to oisin mullin and his family and also to Sharon’s family really makes you think such shocking sad news tonight RIP
@jp and @mayomad we do need some additions but if these players don’t emerge for a while i just think we were not getting anywhere near the best of the players we have. Loads of our team are being played out of position and they are being made into work horses and yhe footballing parts of their game is being neglected. Our best shooters don’t get on the end of moves or get in the pocket to shoot. Diarmuid, loftus, Cillian, Rod, Mattie etc can all shoot long range points but the running high intensity game plan has taken a toll on these lads. We hit great scores and totals and our conversion of chances was pretty good in JH first stint but the obseession with copying how Dublin play has taken our natural style away. Under the new management we need players to inter change far more Cillian going out to Cf at times and Ryan also and Diarmuid going into full forward at times to keep the opposition guessing and give defenders problems with height and strength mis matches because our predictability the last couple of years was so easy to counteract. I would consider Swanny at 6 as he is good on the ball and can break tackles Oisín to midfield with Jordan and Mattie to wing forward leroy bk to half bk line with paddy Mcbrien, Brickenden, and Plunkett or Mchugh in the full bk line and i think we would be a much better prospect. New talent is always welcome but against Tyrone it was poor performance on the day on the field and on the line that cost us not a lack of quality players.
Is it correct that Colm O’Rourke has Eamon Fitz and Donie Buckley tied in with him for the Meath gig?
Or is it just another wild made up rumour?
Condolences to the Mullin family..RIP
@Pebblesmeller
Don’t agree with your view that Galway bottled it.
Main reason why Galway led by 3 points on two occasions in the first half and kept Kerry to 2 points from play in the opening 35 mins was because the Kerry radar was off 7 wides before Galway kicked their 1st in the 32nd minute.
When they gave it their best shot and conceded no goals in doing so they shouldn’t look back at this defeat as one that got away and as one that they left behind. Few if any team could contain Walsh in the form he was in yesterday kicking incredible scores . Kerry because of their solid defending held 4 of Galway’s 6 starting forwards scoreless and apart from the Heaney chance Galway didn’t get a sniff of goal chance so Kerry was far from flat in that regard. Kerry might be nowhere near Dublin 2015 to 2020 but Kerry’s 70 minute performance was as good as Dublins in 2015 and both finals in 2016.
Lastly RIP to Oisin Mullin brother and girlfriend Sharon puts sport into perspective
Very decent of both Galway and Kerry management teams to continually give appreciation to the supporters in speeches, statements and interviews. Have to say on reflection we got a raw deal last year which continued into this year .
Pullhard, wild rumour, O’Rourke nominated Stephen Bray and Barry Callaghan as his selectors.
Regarding Managers, Connacht Telegragh saying Declan Shaw has been nominated for the Mayo job. Won 3 in a row with Mitchels, a Connacht title & beat Crossmaglen to reach AI Final. Not saying he is the right man for the job but on paper probably has a better CV than others being mentioned.
There is nothing more important than the lives of the people we love. My heart goes out to the families of all those who have died this weekend in tragic road accidents. It is heart ache beyond imagining. God give them rest and bless the people who have to continue life with such huge loss. My thought and prayers to Oisin and all his family.
Pull hard it does not matter who O’Rourke has with him, the Meath players are just not good enough at present. There are no gems out there not on Meath panel.
One thing struck me about both camps was the postivity from both managers all year. Smiling and happy managers. Players looked like they were enjoying football.
Thats what we need back in Mayo Senior football. United county Fans-media-management-players = success.
Totally agree reek , whatever about taking the bullshit out of Mayo football, we need to get a positive energy back , a bit more craic about the place .
Reek:100% agree.
Have to agree there. Each manager has their own style, but Joyce and O Connor jumping on the sidelines full of enthusiasm, as opposed to Horan strolling along looking down at his feet. Youd have to imagine that the players feed off the energy from the sideline in some way.
Initillwewinit. I totally agree. Of course we have the players if played in the right attacking positions. You would think what we saw on Sunday was on another level to us the way some are talking. It was a very average final dominated by 2 fantastic footballer s. Not 30 fantastic footballer s. We can match anyone injury free
Lads, as much as I’d like to believe it, positive belief among the fans is not going to land us the biggest prize. The hashtags employed by Mayo fans like “inthistogether” etc are the bs that I think is killing us. There is a difference between fans and cheerleaders and I think we have a lot of the latter.
We’ll win an All-Ireland when the players are there and the correct manager is there. We’ve had times when the players were there (12-14) and not the correct manager, times when the manager was there but not the correct players (06) and times when the stars aligned and we had both (16&17). We didn’t win either of those due to some horrendous hard luck and individuals letting us down.
The fans will have an impact but not to the level some of us believe.
We aren’t in the running for Sam in the next couple of years. The next manager needs to get rid of about five players that I can see, including a few sacred cows. I’m not going to name them individually.
That’s a rebuild job. Either we do that, and build to hit form in 3 years time, or we do as some suggest – keep the same team with minor adjustments. If we do the latter we’ll probably keep ourselves relevant and maybe even make a semi but we’ll never win it.
We need a top class manager and one who is given time with a very good backroom team to install a proper system to get us to the top.
This is the same way “Clifford Is not a special talent “ grew legs in here when indeed not one poster said such a thing .
Tommy+joe above says “Lads as much as I’d like to believe it , positive belief among the fans is not going to land us the big prize “ So before we delve any deeper who are you responding to for a start ? As in who said positive belief among the fans would land the big prize ?
I’m not being smart btw , the whole Clifford thing annoyed me with people purposely taking no context from what was been said and now this , like as if someone said if we all sing the green n red of Mayo at the same time we would win the all Ireland . It’s ridiculous and pure daft .
Odd question but would anyone be able to tell me what the mood is like with our other neighbors, the Rossies.
Was talking to a friend of mine a few weeks ago, and he was absolutely shocked when I suggested that their defeat to Clare was not acceptable and that Cunningham should be replaced. He said there’s been year on year improvement, which is possibly true. He’s more of a rugby head than GAA man.
Just wondering if anyone could what the feeling is in Roscommon GAA circles.
Oddly enough, when I suggested to my friend that they ditch Cunningham and replace him with Rochford, he was quite intrigued. That’d be a very good appointment for everyone imo. Rossies have almost exactly the age profile of players that I think Stephen works best with, and I believe he works in the county.
Not trying to dismiss him for Mayo either, but imo he’s 100% mayo’s next manager after this appointment ie the age profile of the squad will suit his strengths better in 3 or 4 years. I think it’s something we need to manage better and have the right manager for the place the squad is at in it’s lifecycle.
Craggy, I like your optimism and really hope you are right but I can’t see it. We played Kerry three time this year and were beaten three times, we didn’t lay a glove on them in league final and AI quarter. Yes we were missing some players but I couldn’t see us winning even with a full panel. Galway embarrassed us in McHale Park (but for the last 5 mins which took the shine off their win). We had Ryan and Tommy for last years final and still lost.
We really need to stop the narrative about us being able to “put it up to anyone on our day” with everyone fit etc etc, this has been doing on for years. I cringe when I hear someone say we were the only ones to put it up to the Dubs, we lost though. We lost to them league and championship for the guts of a decade and finally only beat them when they were in decline. People spend years calling ourselves the second best team in the country, thats meaningless rubbish.
As Tommy+Joe suggested we need to stop being cheerleaders and start addressing the obvious weaknesses and failings of the team and the setup as a whole, only then will we be in aposition to win the big one.
Hi,
Very sad to read of car crash. We fret and worry about all sorts of things
CT reporting that the manager of Castlebar Mitchell’s 3 in a row Connacht Champions in the running. Could do worse and it might work.
Just a thought
Ciarán 2.
Mayomad – yes Ryan and Tommy were available last year and we couldn’t beat Tyrone, but the Kerry team from the weekend was pretty much the same one which blew the games vs Cork and Tyrone in recent years. The Tyrone team which won last year were also rans under Mickey Harte. Galway were destroyed by us in the connacht final only 12 months ago. They didn’t score from play in the 2nd half.
The point is with a new voice and some fresh ideas from management big improvements can be made in a short space of time. We’re not far off the top teams.
Good post mayomad
“I cringe when I hear someone say we were the only ones to put it up to the Dubs, we lost though”
yep you hear this a lot, but it actually isn’t even strictly true in fairness.. Kerry drew with them in 2019, lost in injury time in 2016 after being denied a blatant late free, lost by 3 in 2015 and lost a very tight game of the ages in 2013. bet them in league final 2017
And this was very much a non vintage Kerry for the most part. But boy are they always competitive, so much of it down to mentality alone
Rumours that Galway could be down a couple of big players next year due to them heading off traveling. Can’t blame any young lad who wanted to head off on an adventure but would seem like unfortunate timing when you’ve just got back to an All-Ireland final and you’d certainly expect them to be challenging next year.
@MAC – Hard to blame any lad who wants to travel after the few years of COVID restrictions and Lockdown`s.
My worry for Mayo is if the right manager is not appointed we could lose some of our experienced players to retirement and younger players to travelling.
We need to find a ‘walsh’ or a ‘Clifford’. Some superhero who can lead. A player with supreme believe in their own ability. What a pleasure it was to see them trade blow for blow in the greatest stage of all.
Hopefully the club championship will throw light on that possibility,
We also need a hell of a management team to get Mayo mentally and physically right. Simple as that.
Not asking much.
@FrostTHammer
My own take on the Rossie situation is that we are woefully inconsistent!
There was strong optimism after the league this year, but the championship was a major disappointment, yet again. Aside from our unacceptable turnover against Clare (the way we threw it away), we were under par against Sligo and Galway. We have only registered one championship victory since 2019 (against Sligo).
There are a split feelings on AC but I think the broad view is, unless we have someone very capable lined up then it may be best to stick with him for another year, perhaps with a updates to the backroom team (I’m not sure if his current term is up). That said, Rochford would be an interesting proposition if available. He is a highly rated coach.
There is a stronger feeling that a ‘mini’ clear-out is required in the playing ranks . Some names have consistently under-performed and very few new faces have been introduced. I will be hoping to see promotion of more of our U-20s next year, in particular the 2020 crop which pushed Offaly all the way in that year’s All-Ireland final. Similarly, the club scene is strong.
Next year’s championship format with a D1 campaign thrown in will be challenging – a strong squad will be required.
Take ‘travelling’ rumours with a pinch of salt for the most part – especially so close to an All Ireland final, was the same every year with ourselves
Ontheditch -Walsh while fantastic on Sunday (gave an exhibition of long range shooting from play) he can be very inconsistent and make one or two big errors per game, he has also been shown to be able to get marked out of Game`s. Let`s not forget Cillian O`Connor scored 0-9 in 2020 all ireland final and Ryan scored 0-8 in last years final so it is not uncommon for the marquee forward to get a big score.
David Clifford on the other hand is a freak of nature and at 23 i am scared to this what sort of ceiling he has.
Whether people like it or not, the past decade will be known mostly for the great Dublin v Mayo rivalry. The Dublin players and fans will even admit that themselves. Not so much anyone else, just Mayo.
Pretty much like 75 to 85 will always be remembered for the Kerry Dublin rivalry.
@Rostafarian
Thanks for that
“Next year’s championship format with a D1 campaign thrown in will be challenging – a strong squad will be required.”
– The other side of this is, it’ll really help you develop squad depth. I would think you’ll be in a far better place in this regard after next year, particularly if there’s a lot of young players around the squad.
Reading between the lines of what you said, would it be fair to say that the supporters don’t see an outstanding managerial candidate within the county at the moment?
Very sorry to hear of the deaths of OisinMullins brother and his girlfriend in that terrible accident. It puts AI wins and losses in perspective. May they rest in peace.
Wide ball. We’ll said. And pure facts. I don’t concur with a rebuild needed. A bit of tweaking from a shrude manager. For god sake we only played for 10 minutes against galway and should have had them.
Walsh played way too deep against Armagh and Derry, it was a conscious decision to play him closer to goal (where he’s obviously a far greater threat) on Sunday and obviously worked an absolute dream..
The big conundrum for Galway is whether him and Comer can both fit in an orthodox FF line (Finnerty is very much a natural corner forward too). Comer, for a big man, spent a lot of time out the field this year also during games, which I don’t necessarily agree with either. I’m not really sure he can be truly effective for Galway unless he’s placed at the edge of the square
Craggy boglands – agreed we’re not in a rebuilding phase at all. Majority of the Mayo team are in their prime or approaching it. What’s going to change in a few years time to make us more likely to win Sam? Say the new manager comes up with this grand 3 year plan, 2025 rolls around and our 2 best players get injured. What happens then?
Derry came from nowhere this year to make a semi final. Galway came from being 7th or 8th best nationally to pushing for an All Ireland win in injury time the last day. Sam has to be the aim for us next year.
Wide Ball, I would love to say you are right but I can’t see how anyone can say we have a panel that’s capable of challanging for an AI and all that’s needed is the right manager, a panel which could be argued isn’t as good as the 2016/17 panel. A manager with the right backroom team would make a difference but there are problems with the panel that are not going to be fixed easily.
– defence is probably our strongest area, we have cover for most positions but are still missing a recognised full back and a centre back who can pick out medium to long range passes. If we are going to play a more kicking game we really need a centre back capable of accurate kick passing. We have loads of running machines but few kick passers in this area. Lacking in kick passers frowm defence has contributed to our slow transition from defence to attack.
– midfield, we only have one recognised midfielder in Mattie, Loftus and Flynn are not natural midfielders, AOS is not the answer anymore either. An area that was so strong in the past is now a weakness.
-half forwards, where do you start with this line, outside of DOC options are very limited, particularly scoring options.
-Full forward line, everyone fit we have our best full forward line in decades, one injury to the starting 3 and it starts to look ominous.
– long range free taker, we need one with a high conversion rate, I don’t see any options here so we have to stick with Robbie who does Okay, but scores are wasted.
We have potential players such as McDonagh, Moran, Irwin, Callanan, McHugh etc who may fill some of these positions but it will take time, cant see it happening in time for next season. And of course players can be moved around as usual to fill gaps, but is that not just robbing Peter to pay Paul, the problem of Panel depth still remains.
Mark Moran has huge potential to be a playmaker in our half forward line and so has Enda Hession. Have seen Moran pull the strings for Rice college in there run to the Hogan cup final in 2018.He was a joy to watch.probably the best footpasser in the County at present, Enda Hession too played centre half forward for Colmans in the Hogan cup semi final in 2019 ,has been used as a back by James Horan for his running game, but I think he offers more as a half forward as hes has a very high skill set and is well able to mix it with running the ball and making accurate footpasses and taking a score,he played this role really well against Dublin in the 2nd half last year.
Mayo 2023 forward line potentially
10.Enda Hession
11.Diarmuid O’Connor
12.Mark Moran
13.Ryan O’Donoghue
14.Cillian O’Connor
15.Tommy Conroy
@FrostTHammer
I wouldn’t be across every detail of the club scene but my sense is no, maybe not just now.
Of the big 3 (Pearses, Clann and Brigid’s) all have appointments from outside the county. Upcoming local talents include Frankie D at Roscommon Gaels, Cian Smith at Boyle and maybe the likes of Don Connellan who is based in Galway.
@mayomad
I respectfully disagree.
I struggling to think of a time this year when we could name an unchanged team. There seemed to be a new injury every week, to point that we struggled to even have continuity in the individual lines.
That stuff really does make a difference. Particularly for a team struggling with performance and consistency.
Whoever does come in, I’d like to see them take a more of a Jack O’Connor approach and try to have a more settled team week in week out.
While we have extremely good defenders individually such as Keegan,Durcan, Oisin etc what we don’t have is an extremely good defensive system. Kerry have it since Tally came in and in fairness Galway have a really good defensive system also. We have had some of the absolute best defenders in the country in the last 12 years but we never developed a water tight system and almost always conceded goals in big games. Individually We might argue now that our defenders are as good if not better than Galway but as a collective Galway are much better.Players like Glynn, Daly, McHugh are really comfortable in their system. Seán Kelly Who is probably their best defender may have struggled with Clifford (who wouldn’t) but I don’t see him as a full back anyway. Silke had a brilliant game on Sunday. The point I am making is a lot of those Galway defenders were not well known a year ago but Galway have developed a system that gets the best out of them. I think that’s the first task for our new manager.
No frost hammer this year was considered a bad year overall for the Rossies the national league final win against Galway was put in its place par Joyce had his eyes on Castlebar
They had a good start in the Connaught final but after 15 minutes where goosed.
To Win Just Once, I’ve been thinking about Galway’s and Kerry’s system (similar) and then Mayo’s and Dublin’s, for example.
It seems to me that there are different styles of play here, different ideas upon which the teams are founded to win Sam.
A poster referred to this the other day when he/she mentioned Mayo having more athletic and physical type of players than Galway. I agree. That’s what we founded our challenge for Sam on these last few years. Galway have founded their challenge on a different concept and style – defensive system and individually talented scorers.
Mayomad raised an interesting point recently in relation to the new manager. Do we develop a new style of play? Or adjust the one we have founded our success on over the last decade (athletic/strength, running, and man on man defence)?
Since Tyrone’s breakthrough last year, mass defending doesn’t seem to be going away and we need to find a way to confidently unlock it. (On that note, I LOVED how Galway found ways to cut inside the Kerry D area in the first half on Sunday. It proves it can be done).
I suppose my point is that there are different styles of play out there in Gaelic teams at the moment. Ours v Galway’s – does it marry? Can we deal with the other style?
This is the first time Shane Walsh really exploded on to the championship stage. He has been patchy at times in his career. But Sunday he was undoubtedly man of the match. Who s to say conroy or Rod cannot do the same. And I am by no means a cheerleader or green and red tinted. I firmly believe we have the players. Doc at 11 against Dublin in the league looks at home there. Why did we move him to the wing as a runner cover player. Killing himself in the process.
I would echo to win just once’s comments re systems.
Here’s some thoughts on where I think we stand v Galway.
Mayo/Galway combo team -based solely on 2022 performances.
Hennelly
Liam Silke
Oisin Mullen
Lee Keegan
Paddy Durcan
John Daly
E.McLoughlin /K Molloy/Sean Kelly
McDaid
Conroy or Jordan Flynn
Patrick Kelly
Tierney
Heaney /Jack Carney
Ryan O Donoghue
Comer
Shane Walsh
When you look at Galway’s forwards as individuals they are quite a distance ahead of ours. Imo only one or two of our forwards could be guaranteed a place on a combination Mayo/Galway team and that’s Ryan O Donoghue and possibly Jack Carney. Yet Galway managed ( with the exception of Shane Walsh)to perform a lot like our forwards have done in more recent finals.They struggled to create the space to score.
Defensively,looking at individuals, only two (or at a stretch three )of the Galway defense today would feature in this combo team with Mayo having the individually superior defenders.
And yet the Galway defence -as a system-did not concede a goal to a much vaunted Kerry attack. Stopping attackers- you need a system-and with a system they can be stopped. Defensively a system is more important.
In attack you need a system and a few magicians too.
We need a better defensive system to not concede goals. We need all our forwards healthy including Tommy Conroy and James Carr. We need a new half forward line and a new system of forward play ( it’s depressing how far behind the rest we are on this line)We need to be rid of reliance on Aidan and Cillian.
Our midfield are in position to progress big time and they must make this leap for us to succeed. This year was not good enough( somewhat due to Jordan’s injury)
Hennelly is a great keeper now but I’m not sure of our depth in terms of replacements for him.
Sam og hits on a few good points about the value of a kickpasser.
It was notable watching galway this year the brilliant kickpassing option they had with John Daly, in the semi and the final he played in lovely bouncing balls on the money to the forward. Also as brilliant as clifford is the quality of ball being kicked into him,especially from his brother is exceptional
Mayo under horan have never had a kicking game, it was great up to a point as we had back kicking 5 or 6 points a game and could run the legs of 80% of the team but tyrone showed up horanball badly last year and every team mayo played this year in championship copied the formula.
For all the talk of mayo attacking woes I actually think we aren’t too bad inside with conroy/rod/carr.
The priority for me has to be a creative kickpassing baller at number 6 or 11. The entire middle 8 are all far too samey.
Mark moran or a similar kickpasser type could be worth a good look
@Food4thought – no chance patrick kelly or johnny heaney start ahead of a fully fit Diarmuid or Tommy Conroy in a combined team. Sean Kelly would also definitely start.
If you’ve seen Moneyball. What traits are we overrating in Mayo and what traits underrating?
Seanie CH: I would agree normally. It’s just based on 2022 form.
The kick passing thing is an important point. Lee Keegan is our best back at the long drilled kick pass. They’re the ones that spook opposition defenses. Lee has given in some brilliant balls in recent years. Maybe having him as number 6 next year could work? Probably not as much running required compared to wing back which would suit at his age.
Durcan, Mullin, Plunkett and Hession are good at the short – mid range ones which they should use more often to beat the first line of the opposition press.
Jordan Flynn at midfield is a quality kick passer. Ryan O’Donoghue is another one so potentially play him at 11. Persisting with Jack Carney at 14 gives us a target man and you could have 2 from Cillian, Tommy, Carr or possibly Towey playing beside him.
Just thinking out loud there but getting more of a kicking game going doesn’t require the whole team to be ripped up. Can still have Eoghan McLaughlin, Mattie Ruane etc running off the shoulder at times too.
Sean kelly will likely get an all star this year so would definitely have to feature in a team like that
I’d cheat though and move him up to half forward where he would equally be as comfortable 😉 and I’d likely move Conroy or Flynn (Mayo’s best player this year imo) up aswell, impossible leave either out. Patrick Kelly and Heaney are solid rather than spectacular.. Molloy is better than McLaughlin also
Other than that very solid selection 🙂
Ive always wanted to play the joint team game and ye started it so here goes my 15 plus subs – Also if not injured in 2022 S Mulkerrins and T Conroy would go into my team instead of Mullen and Finnerty.
R Hennelly
L Silke
O Mullen
L Keegan
P Durcan
J Daly
K Molloy
C McDaid
J Flynn
S Kelly
M Tierney
D O Connor
R O Donoghue
D Comer
S Walsh
Subs
J Glynn
P Conroy
C O Connor
R Finnerty
M Ruane
Bring back the Railway Cup
I learned of the tragedy in limerick on Sunday night and was deeply saddened to hear on Monday that the deceased were a lovely young couple from Mayo. With the family connection to Oisín Mullin it seemed a little more personal to the wider GAA community and I can’t even comprehend the devastation to their heartbroken families and communities in general. So so sad may they rest in peace.
Wouldnt disagree with any of that Chesney!
Eoghan McLaughlin was well ahead of Paddy Durcan if you’re just going on 2022 form.
Next year Kerry will have a head start on most everyone else with the exception of say Tyrone or Dublin because they have the monkey off the back. The weight of expectation has been removed and its very easy to turn up to training with a celtic cross in your back pocket and everyone telling you how great you are. And even when things may not be going well for ya in 2023 you have the confidence there to draw on that we crossed the line.. we’ve done it already, we have the know how and we can do it again. This is what made Dublin such a formidable force.. there was no wasted energy on expectation or anxiety and when the game was in the melting pot there was confidence.. calmness to make correct decision. When people talk about how near or far away different teams are from Kerry you will have to factor in that by this time next year you will be dealing with a very very different Kerry animal from the nervy first half display we saw at the weekend. This was a lost opportunity for Galway.. like many they will not bridge the gap between themselves and Kerry next year. Will Mayo be able to bridge the gap
Kerry are reliant on an injury free Clifford to a large extent so there is no guarantee they will become like Dublins great 6 in a row team. The roll of honour is littered with teams winning 1 All Ireland there is no guarantee of another just look at Tyrones rapid decline following their win over Mayo.
@Chesneychet – agree with most of your selection but i see zero basis to have Mullkerrin in ahead of Mullin if your going off the last 3 seasons.
It appears the longer Mullkerrin is out injured the better he is getting with Galway fans. He is a great player but is a long way off the level of Mullin.
Sam og, it’s interesting that you should opt for Hession in the half forwards as I have done so too but for McBrides Enda is in the fullback line and E. McLaughin plays in the forwards. Jack Carney I believe is going to be one of our most important players from now on but needs to be used centrally and not as a wing forward. Looking back to minor and U21 Mayo teams, Andy Moran was a wing back, Diarmuid O’connor always lined out in midfield and Michael Plunkett was a half forward so switching from line to line often works.
You are probably right there SeanieCH. Sean has it to prove so Oisin should get the nod at 3. It would be some Railway Cup team would any Roscommon, Sligo,Leitrim player make the panel?
It would be an exciting team alright, i havent seen enough of Sligo and Leitrim to give them the nod over anyone you have named. In regards to the Rossies i cant see any of their players starting in that team, ultan harney had a great season but i wouldnt have him over the Galway or Mayo midfield. Enda Smith maybe for Tierney at 11 but Matthew had a great season. There is no doubt Sean Mulkerrin will be a fine footballer if he comes back to his best after his injury. He reminds me a bit of our own Stephen Coen, seems like a real leader and has great respect around the dressing room at such a young age, no doubt a future Galway captain.
Matthew Tierney had a great season? going by his high standards i think he was fairly average. His best performance was against Armagh but in other games included the AI Sunday he looked like a young lad that played too much football over the last few years with club,college and county teams.
Shane Walsh remains the enigma. Him at his best was seen on Sunday but at aged 29 he’s been unable to show a high level of consistency. Prior to Sunday’s final he had scored 1-6 from play in this years championship 1-3 of that came in the Connacht final. In the league he was similar this year for example 2-7 against Cork and 0-8 against Meath and then didn’t score at all against Clare,Offaly.
Hello! Willie Joe and all other Mayo posters and from further afield
Firstly, I would like to send my condolences to the family of Óisín Mullin on the tragic death of his brother and his girlfriend in Limerick last Sunday. May God protect their poor souls.
I came across this tragedy on my way down from this match last Sunday, it only happened minutes before I came across it.
It’s an image I’ll take to my grave. RIP.
It put a real dampner on the end of the day celebrations. Puts life into perspective. The fragility of life.
As for the match itself, we barely did it, I was a very worried man at half time, we were big time in trouble.
We finally made it over the finishing line, with unbridled joy, after not playing well at all. Galway, commiserations, well coached side, they did their homework on us, and could have won it.
Seanie, White, Geaney, not great. Clifford was excellent throughout, eventhough the 25 yard kicks from the hands masked his contribution in a big way for the positive. Hate free kicks out of the hand, full stop. His fielding for the marks was superb. Kelly had his work cut out. Comer was marked out of it by the very modest Foley. I thought McDaud had a superb game, Shane Walsh was my Man of the Match, but the winners get the MOTM tag unfortunately.
Once Geaney went off, our players pushed up on the nervy Gleeson’s kick starts, the Spillane’s were roving in the free open spaces, with our half forwards pushing up, running off the shoulder.
I’ve been told that the game was great to watch on TV. From being at it, it was a microcosm of the standard this year really, poor to average. At Minor, u20 and senior.
I’m absolutely delighted for this particular bunch of Kerry players, very likeable lads, but they are not as good as Dublin 6 in a row, no way. We are way too reliant on Clifford and O’Shea. Those kind of teams will only achieve one in a row. Its a very decent to very good Kerry team now, but not as good as previous Kerry teams.
I’ve stated this down here, they are the most limited I’ve seen since 1996 Kerry teams. Definitely the most limited of Jack’s three Kerry teams.
The best lap of honour around Croke Park at the end of the game by a Kerry team i have ever seen, that was special, the Homecoming in rural Kerry from Tralee to Killarney was beyond a special memory, tear jerking moment, even if the Homecoming in Killarney was a damp squib, Tralee was superb. St.Patrick’s Day parade on steroids!
I think with Mayo, you have got to demand only success, nothing less will do, I’ve seen in the past, as I work up in Mayo, people celebrating without winning the prize yet, this would be from Mayo supporters that must not go to much games, the seasoned supporter would be demanding, and rightly so, it was said to me by Mayo supporters themselves, there needs to be a culture change, as anything will do, is not good for the team, only seeps into the psyche. This I feel, is not good.
Ye need to get the new management right, ye are excellent at uncovering new players every year. I’m a huge fan of Ryan, what a forward.
I would dearly love to see Mayo win Sam, a person with a heart of stone would not. I have felt your pain up there.
Alan Dillon is correct in giving out about the rushed, shortened season, absolutely ? ?. During a cost of living crisis, one can’t expect a family to go to games week after week. After winning the final, I can attest, that the same feeling is not there as winning in September, no build up in schools anymore, mental health issue, isolated OAP’s long winter now, no intercounty until next January/ February, and it will be a tough winter.
GAA HQ prioritising Gareth Brooks gigs over our finals it seems, purely for greed. Wait until the body bags ( injuries to players) mount up from the war ( shortened season). I’d give it 3 years, until they revert back to type.
I’ve been derided, targeted down here in my own county by a few, just a few ignorant and uneducated types that like to charachter assassinate, and dismiss any points of view offered on things such as the Kerry team wearing suits for the Homecoming, the standards of our team etc,
Thank God, it’s just a few of these negatrons, maybe Páidí was referring to the “f*****g animals” comment, I will attribute to those low lifes. Who pissed in their cornflakes. They should be happy and joyous we’ve won an All-Ireland. Any county would kill for one.
They can’t handle facts, the truth, they lack social graces, culture and experiences. Basic respect.
Thanks bit of God the game and the world is bigger than them.
A prophet is never appreciated in his homeland.
Apologies for the rant Mayo posters.
Go raibh maith agibh.
Mind yourselves.
Hard luck to Galway, we down here in Kerry, were very, very lucky to get out alive last Sunday with that win.
Hello! Willie Joe and Mayo poster and other beyond,
Firstly, sympathies and condolences to Óisín Mullen and his family on the liss of his brother and her girlfriend, I had the misfortune in coming across this tragedy last Sunday evening, minutes after it happened. It is an image that will remain with me to my last breath. Devastating, there’s two family grieving. God protect their poor souls. RIP.
It put a real dampner on the celebrations for Sunday. I was not in the form when I got home. I didn’t go out.
As for the match itself, as I have alluded to above in my brief precursor statement, Kerry were very lucky to win that game, very, very lucky. Without Clifford, no way. I’ve been slated in some quarters down here in Kerry, that this is the most limited Kerry team since 1996. Only people that seem to know their football, seem to agree.
Seanie was quiet on Sunday, Geaney and White poor.
I was at the game, poor enough standard, if excited in the end. Its a microcosm of the general standard this year at Minor, U20 and Senior, very poor to below average.
Clifford was superb, albeit, his 25 yard kicks, frees and marks, I hate the kick from the hand maske his contribution beyond I feel. His fielding superb, he wanted it. I’m just delighted that this particular team finally got over the line, deservedly so after the heartache of 2019. This is a decent to very good Kerry team, but not a great team, no way as good as the Dublin 6 in a row team. I cannot see this this team do back to back at all next year.
The Homecoming was special, from the lap of honour in Croke Park to seeing people in rural Kerry out, was tear jerkingly special. Killarney was a damp squib.
I’ve been derided, targeted amongst a few negatrons down here for discussing the wearing of their suits for The Homecoming. Ignorance is sadly boss amongst the few know alls down here, as I’m honest, upfront and principled in what I express, to the state that Mayo supporters need to demand more of their players in getting to the Amber nectar, no toleration by the unseasonal fans that get too carried away, until silverware is attained. Demanding standards is key.
I know of many a great Mayo supporter that uphold this philosophy, and rightly so, as it’s not good if acceptance of coming up short from the masses, it seeps into player’s heads.
I want to see Mayo win Sam, I’ve felt your pain up there as I work up there, it would be seismic for the county, as it would be for the country.
The best intercounty followers in the country without any doubt is Mayo. They are the facts.
Another thing I was shot down for, was the shortened season, Alan Dillon is spot on, this is most unfair for families travelling to games during a cost of living crisis, as well as wait until the injuries pile up from players, I’d give it 3 years. There’s a mental health issue too, OAP’s living on their own in isolated rural Ireland. No intercounty now until next January/ February just plain wrong. GAA HQ need to revert back to type, is Gareth Brooks greed worth musical chairs?
A few useful idiots down here are uneducated and don’t appreciate culture. Cant deal with the facts, the truth, realism, freedom of expression.
Your own can be your worst as they say.
A prophet is never appreciated in his homeland, holds true.
Anyway, I’ve said enough.
Go raibh mile maith agaibh.
Thank you to the overwhelming knowledgeable types on this forum and general goodwill towards last Sunday.
Very much appreciated.
Mind yourselves.
Good post Micko
Many thanks Food4thought. Much appreciated man. Nice people on the Mayo forum, as you appreciate people and things, unlike the few negatrons on the Kerry forum.
Always a decency to Mayo folks,.