Photo: Mayo Mick
The GAA have today announced that Maurice Deegan will take charge of our All-Ireland semi-final against Tyrone on Sunday week (throw-in 3.30pm). The weak-as-water Laois whistler needs no introduction to Mayo supporters, given the total bags he made of the two national finals we were involved in last year, and he certainly wouldn’t have been my choice for the game, not least given the way Tyrone are likely to approach the contest. But he is the choice of Pat McEneaney and his chums and so we’re stuck with him: here’s hoping that the lads can put in the kind of performance that will make the standard of reffing irrelevant, which is pretty much what they managed to do against Donegal.
Incidentally, the last time Deegan reffed a match involving us was when we carved out that gutsy win over Cork in Páirc Uí Chaoimh back in April but it’s his handling of our league match against Tyrone in MacHale Park two months prior to that which is likely to be remembered more readily. I know that his performance that day resulted in a fair bit of teeth grinding amongst the home support but I thought he gave us a fair enough shake in that one and that the decisive penalty award against us in the dying moments of that game was reasonable enough.
Anyway, there’s nothing we can do about it now and he’s the man in the hot seat on Sunday week. Let’s hope he’s up to the task, that the crucial decisions break around 50:50 and that the lads do the rest.
The ref for the minors’ semi-final with Monaghan has also been announced – Anthony Nolan from Wicklow will be doing this one. As always seems to be the case when the name of the ref for minor matches is unveiled, I must once again confess that I’ve never heard of this guy before. Where do all these minor match refs come from? Where do they all go to?
Oh Jesus another three days in the confession box for me after this one with all the f***s I’ll have put into him!
hearing the groans from across the atlantic this evening…honestly lads…does it really matter who the ref is? It is what it is…we just gottta go out and make it happen.
We sure do mister mayor but been as unfortunate as to draw the most inconsistent ref of all time surely doesn’t help! As Willie Joe said hopefully we’ll have it in the bag that the pressure won’t be on him! But my fear is that if it’s tight in the last five minutes his decisions won’t help one bit! P.S. I’m not just talking from a Mayo side here he makes a shambles of a game for the both teams!!!
Hope the ref is irrevelant as was the case against donegal. Must keep focus on ourselves.
Anto nolan is a young up and coming ref in wicklow where i live. Its a big game for him and he is by and large a good ref. He is tight on discipline and likes to give penalties. Overall hope he does well and like the seniors hope both refs arent making headlines on mon week.
Regardless of who the ref is, the team that applies the most pressure, especially when the match is there to be won usually gets the decisions – it makes since, the team hanging on are usually the ones doing the fouling. So I’m inclined to agree with Mister Mayor on this one. The only worry I would have is our lade overreacting to Tyrones dirty tactics, James Horan would be well advised to make some public comments on this…..
I thought we had seen the back of McEaneaney back in 96. It appears he is still out to screw us.
Wensam, I hear you, I’m thinking Maurice should let the game flow and not be too quick to dish out cards early on….know what I mean 😉 Our lads can give it as good as they get it from Tyrone 😉
I dont know why everyone is so worried about the ref.We have a team that will beat Tyrone out the gate and a management team that will have our boys well briefed on how to play the ref.So forget about him and get behind both teams and make your presence felt and start making preparations for the Finals.Never show the white feather
We won’t win with any help from Deegan.
I remember our last match very well. I was one of the crowd to leave very angry with the ref. He simply did not apply the rules of the game. The game ending like something from rugby league. The TG4 commentator likened it to a game of rugby particularly in the second half. You can talk about cynical play all you like, but the ref has to apply the rules. If the ref fails you end up with bunch of lads and a scrap in the yard.
On the day Tyrone were the fitted team by a mile, and Sean Cavanagh was class with O’Neill not far behind. The tyrone foot passing throught the field was class also. These were the 2 things I rember most about Tyrone. Keane pushed O’Neill to the ground with a push in the back and the ref was no more than 10 feet away. That ref is a joke.It was one of many instances gone unpunished. Tyrone defended in numbers having a dozen or more defenders back inside the 40 every time Mayo setup an attack. At midfield there were about 5 tyrone men waiting for a break while Clark or Cavanagh contested. A further 4 or 5 Tyrone waiting in the wings to offer support. Lots of bodies then to setup the ruck. The speed they moved the ball out of defence and setup the next attack was impressive. It was not unusual to see the same guy defending one minute and at the edge of the attack the next. IMO they could/should have won by 5 or 6 on the day.
Oh Christ not him. Still, a repeat of our performance against The Hills men will make him and his decisions irrelevant against the Red Hand on the 25th. I wonder how strict is he on stuff like spitting, biting, gouging, diving, faking injury, backchat, clinched fist tackling, rugby tackling, stamping on the back of the head, off the ball common assault and general grievous bodily harm?. Most of that list will be encountered on the day. Hopefully he will clamp down on it and send 2 or 3 of them off. As long as we keep our discipline and dont retaliate we will be alright. We are holding the trump cards. Its in our own hands. We wont need any favours off him. 50/50 from him will suffice. Lets hope we get that.
Deegan cannot influence a 10 point lead lads… Lets do it!!!!
Off topic but has Gormley been hit with ban tonight?
Think so Sean – that’s what the tyronies on gaaboard are saying. Looks like he’ll be out for Sunday week. His was more of a punch than Penrose anyway.
We couldn’t have got a worse ref for the game but sure McEnaney would love to pile the pressure on us by selecting him for our game. This game will not be as easy to win as a lot of people think, Mickey Harte will have his homework done on our players and they will pull and drag us all day and try and stop us from playing football, I hope we can hold the head. Roll on the 25th……
Just heard Conor Gormley has been banned for the Mayo Match
for foul on Dessie Moone the last Day
pjmcmanus, I also felt that Tyrone were the better team on the day, but, Mayo in the League were far from impressive and we have a very different team now.
Could everyone shut to fuck up about the referee. If we have to depend on a ref, we’re gone and if we are really as good as I think we are, the ref is not important.
Gormley is a loss for Tyrone – a calm head out in the fray. Whoever replaces him won’t be up to the same standard. Penrose not a loss at all, as he wasn’t playing well anyway.
This is a waste of energy talking about the ref.Yes i know they can make crucial decisions .If we are good enough we wont leave ourselves in situation that one or two wrong decisions by the ref to loose the game. So Whats the craic with the flags ? My god its the longest build up.Totally consumed my life 🙂
Most referees might be poor but rarely are they biased (despite claims by fervent county supporters). Deegan was good in the league game and got most calls right. He made one bad call when he didn’t give O’Connor a free in the final – he didn’t make the ball drop out of Kevin Keane’s hands. Other than that, he was reasonably good. He won’t lose us the game – we’re good enough to worry only about ourselves and not him.
Conor Gormley being suspended for the match is a big plus for Mayo. Whilst not at the same level as what he was a few years ago, Tyrone’s bench isn’t as good as what they would like to believe. Missing Pemrose and Gormley is good news. Lodging appeals and the like will only serve to distract them also. With Mayo at full tilt without injuries and Tyrone suffering from these suspensions, it’s good news for Mayo!
McMahon is supposed to be fighting injury as well.maybe some folk are disapointed because they wanted Marty Duffy 🙂
Agree with Mayomaningalway and Joe Mac, Leave the ref out of it, we are good enough to see this one through without help help from anyone, just keep the heads and play OUR game and we may well surpass the target Eugene McGee says is the requirement.
Who cares what McGee says!!?!
Tyrone will appeal but truth is Gormely’s punch was worse than Penrose’s. Monaghan player must have said something but that’s irrelevant. Tho the GAA/Cccc never fail to amaze me with some if their illogical decision making!? So who knows what’ll happen. Anyway best thing for Zmayo is to keep tight lipped on it all. Heads down, get to work.
Without three time All-star Gormley Tyrone will be more worried than ever. If Joe McMahon is passed fit he will likely drop back into defence and won’t he have the legs for Mayos pace.
Unless Deegan is going to kick 8 points from play for Tyrone it doesn’t matter. We will be prepared and informed as to what to expect from the ref and Tyrone. As Horan always says, we will go out and try to play the best we can irrespective of the opposition.
At this stage of our development we do not need to be looking to see who the ref is and wondering is he going to do us any favours. We will dictate the game right from the throw-in and it will be up to Tyrone to stop us. O’Connor could very well have a field day from frees.
I agree pebblesmeller, but Tyrone will target Cillian for special treatment, there’s no doubt about that and he will have to curb his temper (ala throwing the punch in last years AIF, lucky not sent off). He’s too important to this team as is Aido.
If Mayo go about their business and make it happen, Deegan won’t make a damn bit if difference.
Well said pebblemaster.
Well everyone this is going to be my last input for a while … Really need to focus on other stuff ( just for a few days anyway 😉 my beloved Mayo has my life taken over !!! anyway have decided this is the only site ill be checking out from now on the other ones making me cross and all this odds stacked against us mayo having advantage etc coming from Tyrone camp even the players driving me cracked the genuine Mayo supporter is confident of one thing only and that is in our team they will give it everything on the day and if turns out its not good enough well so be it and it will be back to the cold wet foggy January/February days on the sideline once again with one thing on our mind and that’s only the supporters !!! Hopefully Mayo will knock a few chips /boulders off their shoulders here’s hoping anyway … Maigheo Abu!
Oh sugar forgot to tell ye all check out the Facebook page we set up for seaofgreenandredred we would love to see photos especially of bygone days if ye can thanks a mil