Mayo’s return to the top tier of the National League this spring has proved very successful, with Sunday’s win over Kildare confirming their place in the Division One final. It’ll be the county’s second appearance in the decider in four years and, like 2019, their League final opponents on Sunday at Croke Park will be Kerry, the form team so far this year.
In this episode of the Mayo News Football Podcast, host Rob Murphy is joined by podcast regular Edwin McGreal and by special guest Kevin McStay to look ahead to Sunday’s League decider. They first review Sunday’s win over Kildare and what we learned from it before examining in detail the county’s League form in Division One this spring, with a particular focus on the positive and negative aspects of Mayo’s attacking play.
Turning the focus towards Sunday’s big game at Croke Park, the lads ponder on the relative importance of the fixture and the prize at stake, as well as how it fits into the team’s overall objectives for the year. They also consider how best to mark the menace that is David Clifford.
This episode of the Mayo News Football Podcast is now online and is available to listen to on iTunes, SoundCloud, Podomatic and Spotify. You can also listen to it directly on the Mayo News website as well as here on the blog using the SoundCloud player below.
The podcast is on Patreon as well, where club members enjoy exclusive access to bonus episodes and much more besides. The Patreon variant of this episode is an extended one, focusing on the Mayo support and their continued commitment year after year, which is all the more noteworthy this season after last year’s huge disappointment in the All-Ireland final.
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The Mayo News Football Podcast is proudly sponsored by the Oxford Arms, a really lovely pub in London’s Camden Town, and the podcast is produced and edited by Ger Duffy Media.
The big question is, did Kevin have the emails on the screen for the lads to see?
I enjoy listening to McStay, he got serious abuse after the Dublin game but he is always very knowledgeable about the game. His points about the forwards are well made and a lot will be made of how they perform on Sunday.
Great that he shone a light on our continued inability to take goal chances, pointing out that the two in Carrick were damn lucky really, awkward fumbling with ball eventually ending up in net.
Also, they rightly shine a light on our inability to use the ball properly off the shoulder, again when building for or creating goal chances. It’s a huge problem, one that was very evident in Carrick.
Another key point was unwillingness to take on shots when we are playing defensive teams. We have to be able to adapt our style to play defensive teams who sit back and hit us on the break. Teams like Kerry are happy to let us have the ball if we go over and back in front of them and do not take on our shots. We have to learn from the last 20 minutes in Killarney when the shots were so obvious but we turned back every time! Agree we have 1 to 9 sorted and would say 3 forward positions as well Ryan, Jason and Diarmuid. Other 3 up for grabs.
The jury is definitely still out on the forwards. I personally think we are short in this area and the chickens will come home to roost eventually come championship but we’ll see.
Kevin Mcstay makes a good point that a 50% shot is only a 50% shot with a proper shooter on the ball.
Galway game on April 24th down for 4pm on Gaa website
After listening to people talking about not wanting to win the final I hope that’s not the case with the panel and management at this stage. A trip to the game for me and family will cost at least 250 euro and I’d be sickened if I thought I was sitting there watching a team who don’t care. I really hope they go all out to win as finals aren’t something to be taken lightly. I don’t understand this talk about minding players as a player could get injured in training or the warm-up (Robbie) or the first minutes of the game (Harry). Put out the best team available and see what happens.
Great post no doubt we all sick of losing final back in my young day we give and thing to be where we are good lucky to our team
100% correct No Doubt.
They will want to win and correct players can get injured all the time in fact didn’t Ruand and DOC get injured in 2019 in training.
There is nothing to be gained by losing
We are not travelling to be second.
Well I was one of those who questioned if James & Co actually wanted to reach the final. I wasn’t convinced that we had any interest in it and if I’m honest, I could understand why we might want to steer clear.
Having said all that, I’m flying home on Sunday morning for the game! I’ve been starved of football over the last two years and I can’t stay away.
It’s the red and green in Croke Park. That will always draw me in.
We may have broken hearts from years of losing but by god we have the hearts of lions. The tar will surely be meltin come Sunday and the cuckoos singing. Il be there with me ham sandwich and flask a tea and as the auld lad would say , we’ll leave them nathin’.
Mayo by 2.
Just to make all season ticket holders aware that you can purchase extra tickets on your account now if you need to.
I emailed ticket office and sent me details of how to do it. I can post the details showing how to do it if that is ok with Willie Joe. As a season ticket holder If you want to bring a friend and want to be seated together it will give you the option but you will be moving from the original seat given to you.
There seem`s to be a narrative building on national podcast`s that if Mayo lose it will be our usual failing`s in a final and we don`t have the firepower up front.
Where as Galway if they lose, well… they have their eye on the Mayo Game in 3 week time.
Fire ahead, longtimeontherun, if you want to post those details.
J Casey tweeted he’s heard cillian in the 26 for Sunday
Thanks Willie Joe,
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Fantastic news on Cillian if true.
Cillian’s flying in training so I’m not surprised.
We don’t have a successful enough history to be passing up the opportunity of winning a National title, so in my opinion, any thoughts of “not being too fussed” is a losers mentality.
There is no point in building depth of quality in your panel and sticking our chests out about it, if you don’t back it when you need it. I hope Horan goes with the strongest team possible, while keeping any injury doubts away from the game. If Diarmuid O’Connor or Paddy Durcan are doubts (expecially hamstring doubts which can take nearly as long to rehab from as a broken bone) then I’d leave them in their tracksuits. Otherwise, go balls and all for the win and rattle the Yerras. They still have this vulnerability in tight games, they led all game v us and only for a sloppy, lazy AOS tackle gifted them a winning free deep into injury time, that would have been another tight game not won. Tyrone beat them well in their favoured back yard, in a game Kerry undoubtedly went out to win. So there is pressure on them to beat us, finally, in Croker and a defeat to them would be a much bigger blow than a defeat to us.
As above, I expect Cillian to be on the bench because I saw him train last Friday night and he took a full part in everything and didn’t hold back. In truth, we’ll need him if we are to progress deep into the Championship. To that end, I don’t see us winning Sam without a full forward line of ROD, COC and Conroy. Had those 3 been fit and in form it is undeniably an All Ireland winning full forward line and would be the best we’ve had in my memory – 40 years. You can progress so far by making and matching and patching certain areas of your side, but, when the frenzy, white heat of a final is at it’s peak, that patced up part will fail.
As regards Sunday? A lot will depend on how the much improved Kerry defense performs in the wide, lush pitch of Croker. They have a much better shape and structure around them, but, in a big wide pitch backs can be isolated one-on-one and then we will see just how good they are. If they close out their scoring zone with numbers then we will struggle to get the scores we will need to beat them. In our current attack, we don’t have enough “natural” forwards, players who can beat their marker one-on-one, beat them with pace or a change of direction, make a 2nd or 3rd run to get free and in space. Players like ROD, Conroy, Geaney, Clifford, O’Callaghan, McCurry etc. And that is what will get us in the end as regards winning Sam.
It might be enough to do the businees on Sunday but I expect a Kerry win by 3 or 4 points.
I wholeheartedly agree with you pebbles re having a ff line of said three would of been our best chance but I believe Carr can deliver if given the chance .
I hear ya Sean Burke, but my fear for Carr is that he has been on the scene now for over 3 years (since THAT goal v Galway) and has yet failed to nail down a spot. For one reason or another, injuries included, he just hasn’t fulfilled his undoubted potential. Hopefully 2022 will be the year.
I’d start Cillian if he’s as “flying” as people say he is.
He’s our biggest goal threat, if not in whole country. He’ll probably need a few minutes to get up to speed and I’d rather that was at the start of the game, rather than throwing him in chasing the game and putting pressure on him to be at it immediately.
Tbh if the Galway wasn’t so close or it was one of the division 4 counties we were playing, I’d leave him out entirely and let the lads who got us to the final play but we don’t have that luxury
You play to win always. And the management team have done a tremendous job of taking us to the final and at the same time given more players than any other county, opportunities to put their hand up for the championship to follow.
Mayo have continued with a patern of finishing out games strongly, boosted by impact subs. Its winning games and it got Dublin over the line too on many occasions
It’s not something that Mayo have been involved in this year’s league campaign but I think it’s very important to keep in mind, that it’s definitely not in our long term interest to get involved in any Melee, especially after the final whistle on Sunday.. Tyrone already have had 5 suspensions after an unsavory incident involving a number of players after the final whistle in the Armagh/Tyrone league game earlier this year.. More suspensions likely to be handed out, 3 to Armagh and 2 to Donegal players following a similar incident last Sunday.. I believe, and rightly so that the GAA is going do everything in it’s power to clamp down on such behavior, bar bringing placards to be game’s saying ‘Down with this sort of thing’.. This year already, one particular recently retired Dublin player and now GAA Pundit’ (far from an Angel himself) has mentioned a number of times in a national newspaper, that one particular Mayo player should have been suspended following a rumpus just after the full time whistle in the All Ireland semifinal last August. Something to be aware of.. We don’t want any suspensions for the Galway game later on in April.. And nothing any player does will have any effect on the game after the final whistle is blown, but it might have an effect on the next game coming up.
This isn’t the 96/97 team
We’re cute enough with our scuffling, tend to do it in the tunnel where everyone is too crammed together for the officials to get a proper look
@leantimes, i have no doubt we will be on our best behaviour for this upcoming new ref.
Its a national final. Were back in croke park. It brings individual and collective pressure. Thats the way we want it. Thriving under pressure.
I think these new lads will be mentally up for it. Great oportunity for Carney and others.
Admittedly it will require an upping in performance, but Kerry are not the finished product. I think their backs are uncomfortable when the ball is taken at them at pace. We must take our chances.
@Ontheditch,.. I don’t believe that Kerry will be particularly interested in causing a Melee either, but their next game is versus Cork now moved to fortress Killarney.. where the scenery is always excellent but the standard of competitive football in the Championship rare….Last year Kerry beat Cork by a whopping 22 points in the Championship at the same venue and the Golden Boy didn’t score from play, at all,at all… So Kerry could afford easily 14 suspensions for the Cork game and still be expected to win easily.. They don’t want David Clifford suspended because of the barefaced cheek of Cork in holding him scoreless from play last Summer, Cillian 4.09 Championship scoring record will be under threat when Kerry will surely whopp the Rebels again! .. Very different seneario for Mayo, the last 2 time’s Galway played us in the Championship in Castlebar, Galway won.
I do think the narrowness of castlebar does not suit our style because we are generally fitter than the opposition but a narrow pitch does not allow us to exploit that.
That said, wheres the sixteenth man? Shouldnt that get us over the line?
Im not into statsistics as a reason for a particular result. And now we have a new pitch. An opportunity to make it a fortress once more.
If its anywhere as good as the Hyde, ill be happy.
But first Croker. Ignore all stats on finals. Meaningless in terms of Sundays game unless you want it to be.
I’m surprised at ye for seeing Kerry as the second best team in Ireland.
Surely ye know that that great honour is reserved for the Mayo B side !!
@Joey
Nothing is won in March / April and rankings mean for nothing unless your lifting Sam in July.
As it stands Tyrone have bragging rights and everyone else is second best.
Can I suggest the the panel for Man of the Match be reduced to 4 or 5 players
as some of the voting makes little or no sense. The reduced number would be
a better reflection of the players.
Another win like 2019 will do just nicely, we need a lot lot more to make up for 2014… I pray we get them in AI final, the script is written…hon mayo!
Beaten in Connaught after winning league in 2019 … keep the feet on the ground. Panel development going well but loads to improve on
@Pebblesmeller. Great post.
I couldn’t wait to see Cillian,Tommy and Ryan as a front 3 this year. Gutted for Tommy but if Cillian can get back then 2 out of 3 ain’t bad and I would say Jason Doc although a totally different player to Tommy is more than capable of contributing scores. I view Jason as the master of the dirty ball and that might just be what we need in tight niggly games.
I know what you mean, Observer, but that would bring too much subjectivity into it. My top 4/5 wouldn’t be everyone’s pick and I don’t think it would produce a better outcome. Voters can pick three players so that gives a decent spread and the poll results provide a good insight into who impressed most from the fans’ perspective. It’s no more than a snapshot but it can often be an informative one.
If Cillian is available I wouldn’t start him, no chance.
The benefits of bringing Cillian on for the last 20 minutes would be far greater, it would lift the players around him and would rock the Mayo supporters as well, not to mention the quality that he is.
In my opinion Doherty is a far better finisher than ROD, Ryan contributes so much in so many other ways but his scoring return from play is low.
@Pebblesmeller. Great post as usual.
Quote
” If they close out their scoring zone with numbers then we will struggle to get the scores we will need to beat them. In our current attack, we don’t have enough “natural” forwards, players who can beat their marker one-on-one, beat them with pace or a change of direction, make a 2nd or 3rd run to get free and in space.”
Agree 100%, we have for too many years we initiated almost every attacks from our half backs or midfield, if the player in possession is turned away from goal then the backs job is half done as the ball will be recycled again and again, Tyrone last September, Kerry and Tyrone in the league.
I watched the Dublin V Donegal highlights from the league in early March, the Dublin forwards just took on the Donegal defenders, space opened up and they had the speed to keep going and shoot, if the space did not open up and the Donegal inside backs committed they then passed in to another inside forward.
Bottom line to win in Croke park in June, July ,August you need speed up front and forwards who are not afraid to shoot from 30-35 yards out.
No one from u18 county champions claremorris on the county team this year surely a few was good enough
I was at the match last Sunday in Killarney. Tyrone played the man, never the ball, the man being, the player or the referee, Coldrick fell for every trick they tried to pull, by clock killing and off the ball stuff last Sunday.
Tyrone are a decent to very good side, but no great shakes, they have an excellent game management strategy, which won’t win any friends nor fair play awards, but it’s effective for them. They are workmanlike, but very inconsistent, and are a one trick pony, come up with a longe range shooting, multi player game plan, they would be wiped off the face of the pitch. They are very one dimensional. Tyrone will not win a high scoring game. I’ve been saying this since 2018, and now again, Tyrone are currently the weakest winners of the All-Ireland since Cork’s tight win in a very poor final back in 2010. Tyrone will DEFINITELY NOT win an All-Ireland this year, as I have alluded to, over the years, they are consistently in inconsistent, they are incapable of doing back to back titles.
Hence Mayo’s tight loss to them up in Omagh. I thought you should have won that game myself.
Tyrone didn’t win it, Mayo lost it unfortunately. Low scoring of course.
If Mayo have their full deck of cards stacked properly on Sunday, it’ll be close, but I reckon you will win it, if the shooting boots are on and you are hungry enough.
The Kerry supporters do not trust this Kerry team at all, it is still the weakest Kerry team since 1995!! Not a patch on the great Kerry team of the early 2000’s to 2011, and nowhere near the Golden Year’s Kerry team. Most down home agree with that.
Ryan O’ Donoghue is right now, the best forward in the country., Young Player of the Year Elect, if he keeps it up and you get to a Semi final this year, he’ll be Player of the Year. Fantastic player.
https://twitter.com/RTEgaa/status/1509604439841288197?t=01ycUIZNCSssYrz42xzkZQ&s=19
Pat Gobshite Spillane having a go at Ryan’s O’Donoghue scoring average, in the words of John O’Mahony , there’s only one fucking answer to that!!
There goes Peter Canavan again…only this time with a Kerry accent. # nice one Micko.
@Sam Og,
I won’t be clicking on that link,by sharing and clicking you ensure him and his ilk will come up with some equally inane bullshit next week/every week.
Whilst Pat is a whole lot more likeable than the likes of Brolly he is still an irrelevance, do you think Horan or any players ever read this stuff?
I’m confident myself or 80% of the posters on here would run rings around Pat Spillane and the other noise merchants in analysing Mayo football over the years.Any time you see these clickbait articles just stand back,take a moment and log on here instead!
Players gain experience and are expected to show it and learn from mistakes.Fans should do the same,this kind of shitetalk is a total irrelevance and doesnt impact on us one bit……unless you let it.
Will the team news be released tonight?
About 5 minutes after Kerry name their team would be the appropriate time in my view @that team won’t start.
But yes it probably will.
@Micko, ah no, Ryan is a fantastic player alright but he’s not the best forward in the country.
Spoken like a true Micko
People are giving out about forwards not scoring enough and then when you hit them with facts we have the best forward in the country.
Ryan is our free taker, a fantastic player, a work horse and a good assister but he doesn’t score much from play, that just a fact.
1 point from play v Donegal
A goal and a 1 point from play v Monaghan
No score at all v Dublin
1 point from play v Armagh
No score at all v Kerry
1 point from play v Tyrone
A goal and 2 points from play v Kildare
And as far as I can recall 1 point from play in the All-Ireland final v Tyrone.
I’m not knocking him by the way, just pointing out that he doesn’t score much from play.
@Viper he will score more from play when the burden of creating chances and taking the frees is eased on him. Ryan, as Kevin McStay mentioned, is our best inside forward and also our best centre forward. Also, Ryan can score a goal out of nothing which has been missing in the Mayo full forward line for decades.
Galway team named, no Shane Walsh meaning they resting him completely for Mayo..
Ryan has scored marginally more so far in this League campaign (2-32) than David Clifford (4-22), though obviously most of Ryan’s scores have been from placed balls by Clifford’s have, in the main, been from play. Curiously, they both count the same on the board.
What makes Ryan so good, though, is his creative role. He laid the ball on a platter for most of Jason Doc’s points the last day and set up three clear goal chances (all butchered, but sin sceil eile). His eye for the killer assist is just phenomenal.
Sadly, Micko, our man is over age for YFOTY and I guess it’s way too soon to be crowning anyone yet for the main prize. Many’s the player has strutted into an All-Ireland final thinking he had that gong in the bag only to emerge without even an All-Star!
Yerra if we count assists Ryan has some record.
I would think Ryan’s record from play would be pretty similar to Cillian’s at the same age.
Although I believe Cillian came on the scene a little younger, so maybe same stage in his career might be more accurate
FW
100% Correct.Tgese guys get paid on clicks and how many followers they have.
Just don’t partake.
There is lots of good coverage of games on here and other fan blogs with ex players contributing
Paging FDB, come in FDB … ! He’s the undoubted authority on Cillian’s stats and I know he recently opened a file on Ryan too so no better man to enlighten everyone on that score (ouch, pardon the pun).
@GBXI, it’s the whole forward 6 who are not scoring enough from play, it’s not just Ryan.
A quick tally shows our forward 6 scored 4-31 from play in the league.
That’s 35 scores from play in 490 minutes of football or the equivalent of 43 points and an average of a point every 11.5 minutes from the front 6 or an average of a point from play per individual forward every 68 minutes.
What I’m illustrating really is our over dependence on the running game and there’s nothing wrong with it per se because all scores have the same value regardless who scores them.
But its easy to see where a good analyst and tactician would target Mayo and starve them of vital scores.
But we do have the Ruane and Flynn factor which is hugely beneficial.
In Cillian’s last 10 games for Mayo he scored a whopping 7-74 and only 18 of those points were from play and at least 2 of the goals were penalties and 4 of the 7 goals were scored against Tipperary in the 2020 All-Ireland semi final.
Spot on WJ. When Rock scored the winner in 17 from a free, nobody ever said, they won by less than a point.
How many of them viper though were frees from been fouled from a position of a near sure score ? Stats are great but can be misleading , ie if cillian is through and all but pulled the trigger from 20yds or nearer but fouled , I’d argue it would of been a point from play 9/10 times but he was fouled and converts the free . Nothing soft about it , free was earned .
Players do stupid things “when sweat falls in their eyes”, i.e. indiscipline. Nice way of putting it Kevin McStay.
Meant what I said about Ryan O’ Donoghue in absolute sincerity. I’m a big fan of his. Long way to go yet in the season. So far, so good for him.
@Sean Burke, of course that’s true but it’s also true for all teams and I don’t believe that we are being awarded any more than the average amount of frees than other top tier teams so both Kerry and Mayo would have been awarded and scored a similar amount of frees over the course of the league and you could argue that Kerry were missing Sean O’Shea for the last 3 games.
So basically frees cancel each other out.
Excluding frees, Kerry’s forward unit scored 9-54 compared to our 4-31.
It doesn’t mean we can’t beat them of course because we do have a bigger spread of scorers (unless they are shackled).
We need to get in their faces though to beat them but can’t afford to be ill-disciplined either as suspensions will carry over to the Championship.
A hybrid of typical Mayo Croke Park performance with a sprinkling of Tyrone thrown in will be a match for Kerry.
Hennelly a huge loss though.
Willie Joe I’m away at the minute so don’t have full access to the data I’ve collated from the archives but must detail the records as requested once I have the access and opportunity to do so. Will do when the opportunity presents itself.
Good decision to rest Shane he will be raring to go against Mayo. Strong Galway team should have too much up front for Roscommon. Kerry iffy in defence but Mayo fearful in attack should be a tight match with Clifford again to carry Kerry.