175 thoughts on “Mayo 0-10 Roscommon 2-8: League winning hoodoo hits again”

1. I hate blaming referees, but I’ve never seen a poorer performance. We got absolutely nothing and he gave the rossies everything. How was that a penalty? Every tackle was a free to them. My god that was a tough watch all around

2. The simple fact is we’re not good enough up front and players like Ruane, Flynn and McDonagh are contributing little – Flynn and Ruane in particular have been major disappointments of late.

   Also, RoD not playing very well…and what does it say of our bench when Jason Doherty is being brought on?

   We took on very few shots in the second half and ran the ball into the tackle.

   Has there really been that much of a change since Horan left other than Reape and Loftus at 6?

   We can fool ourselves into thinking that 6 weeks will change things..however the reality is we’re not good enough up front (in fact we’ve been shocking up front of late)…and the loss of form in midfield has carried on from last year.

   Imagine..only 2 Connacht crowns in 8 years…sad statistic!

   The bottom line is we are not what we think we are and the same old failings are arising despite the change in management…and no, 6 weeks and bitching about the ref won’t change that!

3. I don’t fully blame McStay for today either as he only has the same raw material that Horan had…but there has to be a managing of expectations amongst Mayo supporters which is that when it comes to winning Sam we don’t have sufficient quality?

4. Final point from me- similar to Horan’s time there are no scores coming from the HF line….Fionn McDonagh in particular cannot seem to find the posts and had a terrible wide in the 2nd half.

   Today is a day to acknowledge our limitations rather than make silly complaints and understand we’re not quite where we think we are.

5. Mayo got what deserved out of the game, nothing. Rossies to credit came with a plan and executed it. I think Enda Smith and Diarmuid Murtagh showed they are at their peaks now and not 2017 as a few posters was debating with me before the game.

   It’s a long 6/7 week break now Mayo can recovered have done so before but round 1 match could be away to Kerry or Dublin

6. A win today and we get another tough game against Galway in two weeks. Lose that one and we’re in the same position as we are now. That’s the sour grapes argument but the layoff will do us no harm. Roscommon used the conditions to their advantage and defended very well today, aside from Coen and O’Shea we barely got a sniff. Their game management was evident for all to see, there should have been another five minutes injury time with all the ‘casualties’ out there. One minute for the first-half was a joke. Should have opted against the wind in the first half and defended like demons. Not a whole pile of impact from the bench, Cillian aside. We needed to shake things up at half time. Loftus put in a decent shift today, as did Fionn. I fully expect Loftus will be (unfairly) blamed for both of the goals. The worst performance from the forwards in a long time. Two points from play? It’s like the days of old. Best to get the reality check now. We’re still in it

7. Deserved win for ros .
   We played into their trap .
   Enda Smith turned back the clock, we overall the ball into the corners and got swallowed up.
   Carr was a big loss as with the bad weather the ball.into ROD and Tommy had to be 100% and wasn’t.
   Nothing stuck for O shea in one of those days .
   Midfield were beaten all ends up and our shooting confidence deserted us .
   It nearly happened against Galway it did here so lesson’s to be learnt but today was one of those days, the hunger team won it but we didn’t play anything like we can for reasons we need to find out .

8. Spotlight

   I think saying Jordan Flynn not being up to standard is a silly comment. He may not be scoring like that game against Kerry but you can see he is the hardest worker on the pitch by a mile and willing to pass the ball to the man in the best position unlike other players.

9. Can’t blame the ref. We got the benefit of a kind ref last week. You won’t get that every week. We just looked clueless again when the opposition sit in and don’t turn games into track meetings going helter skelter up and down the field. We coughed up 5 goal chances last week to Galway and 2 or 3 today to Roscommon. Only difference was Roscommon took some of theirs today. Championship certainly not over but we’ll end up in a tough group now as 3rd seeds and some of the old failings have not gone away yet.

10. Penalty was for a push on the number, was behind the goal and had a good view of it.
    Rossies wanted it more and showed serious intensity for a deserved win.

    Time for Mayo to regroup from this setback more than capable.

11. No inter county or meaningful football for us for 6/7 weeks now…so much for congested season..

12. Best team won on the day. Left 1-05 behind us in first half – let the Rossies dictate the game for all but first 17/18 mins of second half.
    A rest, recharge needed.

13. Agreed 100% mac. Swings and roundabouts with refs. We done very well out of the ref last week and got very little of ref today.

    It wasn’t why we lost the game. The thing that annoyed me about was the rossies identified quickly to the ref and played the smart game to suit,mayo showed no cuteness in that regard and reverted to horanball running into blind alleys waiting for the whistle to come

14. No shock in this result.
    Weather poor
    Ref poor.
    At half time, we were in the position Galway were last week, playing poorly and finding scores difficult. McHale Park is a tight field and we couldn’t break Ros defence down. All Ros had to do was tag on a few second half scores, defend like demons and Mayo had a tough hill to climb and though we battled bravely, it wasn’t enough to day.
    Fair play to Roscommon, a dangerous team we knew that beforehand and they did a smash and grab on us today.

15. Spotlight who was it that had us play with a sweeper with a gale on our back and pressed us up on their kicks when we were being beat up a stick in the middle?

16. Just watched the first half highlights on GAA now , and everything you need to know about our performance can be summed up in the fact that the highlights included two Roscommon goals against the wind and two points from us one from play and a Colin Reape 45

17. MitchellHughes/
    What I said was that Flynn has contributed little in the last few matches..I didn’t say that he wasn’t up to County standard. I don’t think that’s a silly observation at all….we need more from him in attacking sense…and we’re not getting it. It’s a view shared by many others I might add.

18. Thought the ref came down on Roscommons side today, but Mayo should have enough experience to know how to play different refs at this stage, the strangest sight was seen big Aid and others celebrate pushing a Rossi out for a 45,,really thought if they’re celebrating 45s heads aren’t right for the win. But seems to be something Aidan has let into his game over top celebrating frees, would make you wonder.. Anyway I’m sure Mayo will be in the mix end of summer and hopefully we’ll see yous there

19. Terrible performance. Running into each other going forward. No shape to our attack. Midfield cleaned out. It was one of those days when we could do nothing right. Seeing Eoghan McLaughlin running around for 7 or 8 miniutes with an injury was typical of how unprepared we were for this match today. Hate to say it but Tommy was clueless in a lot of his play running into cover. Ref was appalling. Roscommon were not even that impressive, we just handed it to them on a plate. Let’s hope the 6 week break helps us get the focus back as we were a beaten team from the start today.

20. @Spotlight – Completely agree re Ruane, McDonagh – silly turn overs and simply not accurate enough, loose on the ball etc. Agree that Flynn has not shown as much in the last few weeks, however he has that strength over the others and maybe slightly more accurate or has the neck to take the chance and kick the ball over…. Although it doesn’t always workout. Midfield a huge disappointment today IMO

21. Tbh, I think Mayo are being a bit harsh on themselves.. There was always going to be an element of “jetlag” after winning league.

    Aside from the refs. performance, which was “questionable” to say the least, what struck me was that all Mayo players bought into the “process”. By that, I mean they kept adhering to best practice, confident that they could come out on the right side at the end – while playing below par. Imo, that’s a huge testament to management and players alike. So, forget about the obvious Galway slagging.. You have a great management team.

    And also, fair play to the Rossies, they were third in league, so no mugs – a proud Gaa County! Their goalie played under-age with Galway, but due to staunch Ros. family connections, now plays with the fatherland.. Isn’t that what the Gaa should be all about..

22. That was tough to stomach to be honest.. it was fine margins.. 2 inches really.. coen shot, 2 inches lower and its in.. hand pass to Tommy 2 inches lower he’s 1v1.. that’s 6 points left behind..
    Reasonable soft penalty I felt.. so that’s a 9 point swing on another day out!! Fine margins..
    Rather than focusing on could have would have should have re them breaks above I’d rather focus on players, as to be honest there were basic mistakes made by the players that killed us.. time and again we ran into 3 bodies and got bottled up.. Mattie, as has been pointed out time and time again is really struggling for consistency.. he needs the serious chat this week, and to be told if he doesn’t up it then mayo are finding a new midfielder.
    Eoghan mc seems to have lost pace or confidence?
    Anyway, as always we will be back.. and will go deep

23. Disappointed is an understatement, but we can’t be blaming Ref or weather, Ros well worth their win. Damage done in the first half, 4 pts down at HT after a having a strong wind was the losing of the game. 6 week break is no harm and I would still expect us to be in the shake up come the business end of the season.
    A couple of points though, when chasing a game in what world does McHale come on before Cillian? Darren is a good player but Cillian impacted the game immediately so definitely a mistake by management here.
    The GAA really does have to do something about players fainting injury after every challenge, this was rampant today and is a blight on the game in general, Ros physio was the busiest man in the stadium. GAA have to follow soccers lead here, if treatment is required a player must leave the field and can only come back on during the next break in play, this would reduce alot of those “sore” head injuries.

24. Spotlight

    I think that’s silly if you want more from him attacking wise as you can’t have all your forwards scoring e.g
    Aidan vs Donegal wasn’t a game for James Carr.
    What I am trying to say is not all forwards can score every game

25. “Imagine..only 2 Connacht crowns in 8 years…sad statistic!”

    Wow, definitely doesn’t read well at all!

    If we’re honest Mayo have been clearly getting away with it a bit the last few weeks, and a bit of a humbling was always on the cards

    It isn’t the end of the world in itself and in reality it should be well set up for Mayo now to regroup and recharge and come back fully firing for the group stage and knockouts, but can we really honestly rattle big teams in the peak of championship when it comes down to it? Too many raw players, an out of form midfield, a centre back playing out of position and a forward line (outside of O’Connor) afraid to shoot. Keegan and Mullin are astronomical losses and the bench is very threadbare judging by some of the players who came on today

    Still think there will be some push in Mayo, and I wouldn’t rule out a famous win somewhere before the year is out to get the hype machine into overdrive again, but sadly will come unstuck eventually in a quarter or semi, as there’s simply not near enough scoring power to put away the big guns. That’s the reality sadly

26. Alot of us saw this happening, and thats the frustrating part. I said earlier in the week that Roscommon had the perfect preperation for this game. We were flat from the get go. 6 week break is badly needed.

27. @Ciaran.

    Impossible to tell if this Mayo team can rattle a big team when they meet them (like you ask).

    They haven’t played one yet.

28. In a more general picture , we’ve come the far side of an era where we had generational players , Boyler , higggins , Barrett ,Leroy , Tom p , seamie o se , Andy , these guys coming in the last couple of seasons are doing all they can to fill them jerseys but let’s be honest they are big jerseys to fill . It’s depressing to face the reality but when Dublin , Kerry , Galway and Tyrone (imo ) start to hit the hard ground at 100mph over the next couple of months we honestly won’t be n that category.

    I hope to Christ I’m so wrong .

29. By the way, full congratulations to Roscommon who executed their game plan superbly, and all of their players put in a monstrous shift. Some real classy scores also

    Clearly being written off by all and sundry during the week galvanised them hugely. I didn’t see this coming personally, despite acknowledging that in many ways it was a perfect storm for an ambush, but sport always makes a fool out of us

    With all due respect they’re still far from world beaters – and that makes the loss more galling. They did plenty wrong today and in my view looked liable to implode a bit if they were put under real pressure, but when lads are running down blind alleys trying to buy penalties and others are afraid to shoot from tap-over positions it made their job so much easier
    I really hope they push on now and back this up, but it wouldn’t shock me either if they struggled hugely in the group stage. I hope I’m wrong though, I wish them very well, lads like the Smiths and Murtaghs are great warriors who have soldiered with them through thick and thin, and some very dark days

30. Not too disappointed …. Always going to be very difficult to lift it for lads after a great league title win last week so not suprised that that Rossies were up for it, fair dues …lads need a 2 week break and then get back into serious training for the All Ireland series …it could work to our advantage with giving lads time to recover from injury etc …..

31. Have to say I also found bizarre the celebrating of winning a 45.not sure when this daftness crept in but it looks ridiculous.anyway I’m off for a few pints.as usual we will start looking at the positives tomorrow

32. Sean Burke – all those players you named were brilliant servants for the county. However, do you not remember the last championship match vs Roscommon in Castlebar? Very similar story and we had 6 or 7 weeks after that league final win to prepare.

33. For me when the referee is atrocious he’s fair game for criticism and can have a huge impact on a game. 2 or 3 bad decisions could lead to scores and an unassailable lead. Also the teams failure to shoot from 30 yards on loads of occasions is very frustrating and I can’t understand how flynn didn’t see the empty goal when the keeper was overturned and just a matter of hitting the target at least have a go when the chances arrives.

34. Conditions and ref played Into Rosscomon hands today, was dossapointed with are decision making, looking to create a goal when we were only a point or 2 down.
    We play Rosscomon 10 times I think we win 9 of them, nonthing fell for us today.
    Kerry and Dublin, we don’t know were there at but if we get to croke park for semi we will still be in mix.
    Thought we should have made changes earlier, forward line never clicked today

35. I’m abstaining from voting in this man of the match poll as frankly not one Mayo player can hold their head high and say “I done all that I could”

36. There was a lot of debate earlier in the season about whether a league final was worth reaching with Ros to come a week later. I thought we’d be ok but in truth we lost Carr and McBrien to injuries and Tuohy and Callinan to fixture timing re. the U20s. Fair play to McStay and co for not calling on Sam and Bob. Maybe that reflects how they really regarded this game. Surely league finalists will never have a one week turnaround to championship again. Beaten provincial finalists used to be out the following weekend and invariably lost, so they changed it because it wasn’t fair.
    Yes the referee was atrocious and the Rossie keeper and their horizontal heroes got away with murder in the time wasting stakes and can anyone explain what the penalty was for? At least 4 times the ref should have thrown up the ball due to the keeper’s delayed (timewasting) kickouts.
    As I said I thought we’d be ok but in truth we looked a bit leggy and lacking in sharpness. Too many players a few degrees below their best and against motivated and well rested team that’s enough. Certainly not giving up on the year ahead. We won’t be far away I reckon.

37. The worst place to be after mayo lose a game they were expected to win is this blog!

    A reality check today but it would have been really tough to win in Salthill had we won today so it’s certainly not the end of the world, some posters here would make you believe that it is!

38. Rossies deserved their win without a doubt, the big surprise for me was that they dominated the middle third which meant that they controlled the ball and the pace of the game. They defended resolutely but we showed no imagination or drive in attack.

    The players and management need to have a real hard discussion around what is expected and their reaction will be interesting to see. There was some evidence some players were getting very frustrated with their team mates during the second half so maybe just need to trash this out over the next week or two and then stuck into some hard training.

    Do 3rd seeds play away to a provincial champion in round 1? If so, that will be a real test of the management’s leadership skills as two defeats in a row will shatter the teams confidence irrespective of whether we subsequently make it through to a quarter final. Time for players to step up now or some big decisions required on who plays.

39. Loftus came in clumsily on the back of David Murray’s legs knocking him over. The replay showed it pretty clear. It was a penalty.

40. I think the response to the defeat today on this blog is disgraceful. Last week you were full of praise. Now you denigrate the same players. Shame on you. This can happen to a team that has climbed to a summit and find it hard to go again. They were not mentally prepared not was there a game plan. It can happen. Everything went against them including the ref. That is not to take away from the Roscommon performance. They were prepared and had a game plan. But you the supporters leave a lot to be desired. Mayo will pick themselves up and will be there in the mix come Summer. I am finished with this blog. Not that I’ll be missed. It seems to me that this is a forum for people venting when things go wrong. You don’t deserve this Mayo team.

41. People blaming or even going on about the ref after watching how poor we played today. Stop the lights.

42. Mikey – why would 2 defeats in a row shatter their confidence? Complete hyperbole when 3/4 teams qualify from the groups.

43. DonegalExile above makes the best sense for me.

    Celebrating a 45 made sense to me. When you’re playing against a defence where scores are like hen’s teeth – and we’re behind – forcing a 45 is a win. It’s a route to a score if you have someone as reliable as Colm Reape taking the shot. (It’s also a kind of turnover, and maybe Aido’s reaction shows some of the team’s game plan and psychology today – that they were geared to hunt for turnovers, in particular).

    It is sad though and shows the pressure Mayo are under when chasing the game against these types of team set-ups who flood their defence. Ultra-fine margins matter.

    I reflected that the game versus Galway last week could have been disastrous for us if Galway got ahead first. Galway knew they’d squeeze Mayo if that happened. Joyce said afterwards – and it shows his and Cian O’Neill’s confidence with their defensive gameplan – that he KNEW Mayo would be replying on frees. (The arrogance of that!)

    In addition, there were times during the League where things fell kindly for us and we rampaged to a good result, but if things had not fallen kindly we could have sunk badly. Things look worse when you lose as our reactions on the blog show today.

    I think it’s work we need to do on the game plan and tactics. It’s also a bit worrying that our panel seems to have thinned out with injuries. Let’s give the dice a throw and see where it takes us.

    This is our first loss in weeks. Maybe it’s good it came now. You learn things from a loss that you don’t learn from a win. It’s a chance to tighten up.

    Maigh Eo abú!

44. Everyone should just head off for an early bed. It’s just a day where everything went wrong and almost nothing went right. There are things to fix and we looked tired and disjointed.

45. Muckle fully agree. Too many moaners on this blog …lads have given us great entertainment and a league title so far ….today didn’t matter and it was clear we weren’t at the pace of the game early on . The break is what’s needed now and we will be different team for the All Ireland series. Now let’s get behind the U20s on Wed evening vs Sligo in the Con semi final and give them our full support in. If numbers rather than continue to negatively comment on blogs like this .

46. Too many of our lads playing below par today, despite McStay refusing to use it as an excuse (to his credit), last weeks game would have taken a bit out of us, we just seemed to lack a bit of sharpness today, weather didn’t suit our style either. With such a young FB line, we need McBrien playing, young as he is himself he brings a sense of composure. Once again, as we did umpteen times during the league, we turned the ball over with our high and hard press, but just didn’t seem to know what to do with it… the break might do us good.

47. I voted for Jack Coyne, Diarmuid O’Connor and Ryan O’Donoghue in the MOTM poll. ROD awesome on turnovers. You wouldn’t want him chasing after you!
    I know we lost but these guys showed class.

48. Mitchell Hughes- I just wish some of our forwards could score some of the time..surely not a silly aspiration!

49. I actually think that today’s result is a blessing in disguise.

    Go celebrate the National League tonight and take two weeks with no training and then begin to tune in again.

50. Not the end of the world at all. People need to realise that the Connacht Championship is meaningless from 2023 onwards. Of course they’re nice to win, but they hold no currency the way the new system is set up. The 6 week break will do us good, we’ve played 4 games in 4 weeks, that’s bound to take its toll on players, they’re only human. Rest up, regroup and move on. I’m glad we don’t have to play Galway in 2 weeks, at the end of the day, if we were to win/lose that game, we’d still be in the AI group stages. The provincial winners will have a busy schedule between now and the end of May, where as we’ll be well rested by then. We’ll still have a huge say on where Sam will go in 2023, we have loads to work on / improve, but when the serious stuff starts, we’ll be right in the mix.

51. Cillian O Connor for me has to start. Ryan O Donoghue did not score from play today or in the league final . I know Ryan gives everything he has but O Connor has that bit extra. O Connor is the best forward we have

52. I agree on cillian – surely fionn has had his chance now. As for Mattie, maybe Jordan now and/or bob tuohy in future might challenge his position. Mattie is great at getting a score but we need him winning more kickouts and dominating the middle third, simple as

53. Agree, I think Galway would have turned us over in salthill, this way we avoid injury and go in fresh, we didn’t become a bad team overnight, we have ability to beat and team on our day

54. Mayo definitely lack physicality to win contested ball in midfield. Going back to the 2021 All Ireland final and it’s still the same. Now I taught the ref was atrocious today, and I don’t expect Mr Mooney to have enhanced his reputation much today, whether he gets any more big game’s or not remains to be seen. On the other hand Mayo done as much running into traffic today as the under James Horan, and we seemed to get more frustrated as attack after attack broke down, never a hint of a free in for Mayo. In actual fact time after time it was a free out for Roscommon and another long delay to further frustrate Mayo player’s and fan’s. Possibly Aiden should have been brought out the middle and Cillian brought on much earlier And the amount of time wasting allowed was astonishing. I taught the ref got a few decisions wrong against Roscommon as well, but definitely Mayo were more sinned against . Only one minute added on at end of the first half, and the Roscommon goalkeeper took an inordinate amount of time with each and every restart and it never entered the Refs head to throw the ball in. But after all the giving out about Padraig Joyce giving out about the Ref last Sunday, I don’t expect any sympathy for Mayo today. This is a serious Roscommon team and could easily beat Galway in two weeks time. But Padraig Joyce is forewarned and undoubtedly will be forearmed. Another wet day will suit the Rossies. Either New York or Sligo will be higher seeds than Mayo..Mayo now third seed’s, from a King to a Jack is space of a week. Congratulations Roscommon and Padraig Joyce!

55. Congratulations to Roscommon, they were the better team. Watching first 10 minutes, Roscommon seemed so defensive, I was thinking this will never work. But they got their chances and took them . We lost to better tactics . We were exposed. Our forwards couldn’t penetrate their defence. Depressing to see how easy it was for them to stop us.

56. Let everyone take a chill pill. Win a league title and everything is perfect. Loose today and it’s doom and gloom. Yes Team looked flat today and far from their best. Roscommon deserve their victory today 100%
    6 week break the best thing for the squad right now. Over all young new squad new management. Go again in 6 weeks and see how it rolls. That’s championship football.

57. This is absolutely perfect for us,mark my word!!where will they be when things matter, no where.blessing in disguise this.thank me later in th -summer-

58. I don’t get the criticism of Mattie or Jordan. Ok midfield was not good today but it was for all of league.

    I don’t understand why cillian was not brought on sooner. Game was crying out for him.

    Agree Fionn is on at the level for starting.

    Disappointed we didn’t see more from Tommy.

59. Way out West, exactly. If we had poxed a result today, we’d be out again in a few weeks against Galway, kicking lump’s out of each other and to what end. The team and management need a rest and a reboot. There’s loads of issues that need addressing that we wouldn’t have had time to do so if we were facing Galway.
    Losing today wasn’t the end of the world.
    We looked like a team that needs a reset. Our decision making was horrible. One cameo summed it up. McStay caught a ball right in front of the posts and instead of calling a mark and popping it over, he recycled the ball and we came away with nothing. We were going for a goal when we should have been taking our points.
    Anyway, we have plenty of time now to reflect. The business end of the championship doesn’t start until the end of the group stages.

60. I was disappointed earlier for sure but we knew this could happen our guys looked dead flat on their feet but that was bound to happen . I think this is actually good thing for us now they need a break to recover and mentally to I think the 6 break will be good for us and will stop us picking up any more injuries to.

    Sure on the news they were saying that they should get rid of the provisional championship that they are pointless now with the new structure . On our day we are well able to beat the Rossies and any other team. Today we played well below the level we can play at!

    We will bounce back from this and go again in 6 weeks fresh ready and be firing in to prove ourselves once again after today. Thanks to the guys and management ye gave mayo a bounce and something to be excited about over the league no way are we finished yet not the end of the road at all !,

    Chin up everyone we will be back with a vengeance!

    I’m going to switch off from gaa world as I said earlier ha until the dust settles and the trolls have crept back into their box haha and we can all breath again and realise that this is actually probably a good thing for us let the Rossies have their moment but we will be going further then them at the business end but today fair play to them.

    Anyway I’m off to hava drink or two to drown my sorrows haha Chin up guys and gals mayo will be back with a bounce !

61. Couldn’t believe Mayo played with the wind in the first half and played a sweeper, and left Aidan up on his own, still conceded two goals and let Roscommon solo and pass around their defence keeping ball.
    Physically Roscommon put in some hits , think McLoughlin got two big shoulders in a row.. They were well up for it . Mayo bet at midfield and struggling in defence so lots of work to do..

62. Well done and all the best to Roscommon. My own view is that we weren’t all that bothered about this game. When you look at our team selection and the subs used on the day – it just looked like we had the handbrake on….Will be a different animal in 6wks time.

63. No MOTM today, except for smith.
    Couldn’t pick a mayo man today and until Reapes last few saves last week was very hard to pick a mayo man last week.
    The way I see it.
    Played poorly last week and won.
    Played poorly today and lost.
    Not rocket science.

64. The best result for Mayo if we have All Ireland ambitions this year. Did we we really want to
    Be playing Galway in 2 weeks time again in Salthill. A loss there and we are in the same position as we are now. We must have Played 8 games in the last 10 weeks. Today’s loss will not have any impact on our All Ireland chances, probably increases them but we are behind Dublin, Kerry and Galway at this stage.
    Connacht titles are meaningless to the likes of Mayo, especially with the new format.
    Hopefully we have McBrien, Hession, and the
    Two under 20s back in the mixer in 6 weeks time.
    Then we go full throttle whether it will
    Be enough is doubtful, but today is not fatal.

65. Today’s result will have Very little or no effect on this year’s The All Ireland football championship.
    Mayo will be back in 6 weeks really to do their best to win Sam.
    The National football league is finished if they expect any Team in any Division to play in a Final and play the first round of the Championship the next week..
    Play the league and whoever finished top of their Division wins it. simple as that.
    Then give a 2 week break before the start of the Championship.
    How in the Hell any County delegates ect agreed to the current system I do not know..
    Maigh eo Abu.

66. Congrats to Roscommon – better performance on the day and that’s it.

    The game, a Connacht championship quarter final, meant soo much to Roscommon, the manager stated in interview that it meant everything to beat Mayo and had been targeting game since he took the job and by God were they up for it.

    Very hard & frustrating watch for so many reasons but we you’d think we couldn’t be as bad again . . . .
    I’m one of those that is happy enough that we get the break now but I have right now no idea what’s right or wrong here – you look at Dublin/Kerry and you’d feel there’s no way they’d be falling short in similar situation as us today.

    Anyway, we will now watch on the semi finals and see who comes out on top in Connacht.

    Maigheo go Deo.

67. Clare, enjoy that drink or two!
    We’ll set our sights to chilling now.

68. I actually thought Fionn was good today. It was one of his better games, didn’t think he deserved to the taken off.
    We need cillian starting, he’s to good to be an impact sub.

69. In the grand scheme of things, a win for Ros is worth a lot more than the other way around.
    Mayo are in the early stages of a rebuild, and 6 weeks away from the spotlight will give ample time to work on flaws. I thought we were very focused and organised today, I was genuinely worried about getting steamrolled in the first quarter. The two goal chances in the first 10 minutes could have killed us, and I think that we got the lion’s share of soft frees, but on many of those occasions they were there to be played for. I’m not a fan of time-wasting, but it’s part of the whatever it takes basket. All the big teams are able for it, so it’s part and parcel- if that’s what it takes to be competing with the best, then I’ll accept it reluctantly rather than being an honest but naive team that the bigger outfits don’t respect or fear.
    Mayo have been at the business end so long, we’ve had a fair few cringe days through the super 8s and so on. We showed a lot of battling qualities today, and I’d like to think that today was more about us showing our potential than it just being an off-day for Mayo. We have definitely improved a fair bit. Have Mayo regressed that much? I’m not sure. If both sides were to meet in an AI semi-final, it’s obvious Mayo would have much more scope to improve. We’re learning to fly, but have a lot to learn and a long way to go before Ros for Sam becomes a saying.
    Best of luck in the next stages- still think it’s possible we’ll be putting the jerseys in the hotpress before ye this year.

70. Facetheball – totally agree with you. Think this is a better route for us based on where we are currently. I rather meet a Kerry / Dublin early and not in a semi / final.

71. It would be nice if management would bring in Cian Hanley and Fergie Boland to the panel! Hanley was in team of the year re Sigerson cup.Boland was always good to score especially in tight defences!
    Cad bhur bharuil?

72. MaigheogalinGaillaimh our own management have bigged up the importance of Connacht from early doors..

    As I’ve said many times this loss isn’t critical, we can even lose our next two. Players need a rest, we haven’t done much rotation, so this is far from a critical blow. We are one the top 3/4 still, we have the players.

    Hopefully management can learn from this, we need system modifications and a plan B.

73. I thought during the League that McStay was gradually getting Mayo playing a more direct game even without much kicking but, but, but nearly every time they got in the vicinity of the D the only thing on their minds was to whom they could handpass the responsibility.

74. PM – I also thought Fionn was good, especially in the first half. Very harsh to take him off so early. Missed a couple of chances but at least he took some responsibility!

75. First off congrats to Roscommon, they won the game fair and square
    Secondly it’s disappointing to see how easy some posters sway from hero to zero criticizing players, @muckle totally agree these lads are amateurs giving up their time for the pride of the jerseys and our entertainment. Exactly one week ago theses bunch of lads won a national title, came home and went to work Monday like most of us. No celebration!!, . As mentioned by a previous poster @DermotF both Diarmuid and Matthew had a good league bar a few games @Gaaobsessed given your criticism of Mattie, who would you drop him for? Do you think he does not warrant a place in the team?, personally I think Jordan works better with Matthew purely based on both he and Diamond have similar attributes, mobile etc .. when Tom P was there he had Seamie O’Shea to be the physical player, Brian Fenton was made look good with James McCarthy doing the hard work..
    The six week break is badly needed and will be a huge benefit to the team…they went from league to championship in a week, mentally this is a big ask?, judge the lads at the end of the season and be grateful for this team…

76. Thanks @swallow swoops definitely will enjoy !

    I’m strangely feeling a lot better now then I was earlier about this loss its no way the end of the road for us !

    We are definitely still one of the top 4/6 teams in the country when we are in top form just were not tonight but everyone has off days !

    We will be back ..and this might oddly benefit us to

    Maigheo go deo !

77. Hopefully we’ll have a few U20 games to keep the mood up over the next 6 weeks!

78. Certainly no fear now of Cillian getting his place back.

    Need Hession big time and the u20s. Young Touhy and Callinan. Maybe O’Hora might spark yet.

79. Too many workhorses not enough finishers or fellas to take on the shots. It’s imbalanced

80. I mean to say Cillian will get his place back!

81. Mackle is right a lot of Padraig Joyce’s cousins are on here
    Celebrate the National league congrats Rossies and regroup
    Very disappointed in the booing I am afraid that’s a habit picked up from Hill 16 Crowd

82. League winning hoodoo bit generous there 😉 all the genuine concerns people had during the league, and were told to stop being so negative came home to roost today. Terrible performance, and nothing 6 weeks will fix. Imagine what a Clifford or Con would do against that defence. While the big players went missing when it counted again. Nothing against Roscommon, but they’re outside the top 6 of possible Sam winners.

83. Mayo are now guaranteed 3rd seeds and they play provincial winners and runners up in the first two matches

    Its very unlikely that today will have a huge impact but its still undoubtedly better to win your province at the same time

    Finishing 3rd in the group means an away prelim quarter final. Finishing 2nd brings an extra knockout game (more chance for injuries, more hectic schedule). You ideally want to top the group, and that is a much easier task when you go in as top seeds and are guaranteed to avoid Dublin and Kerry

    A group of Armagh, Sligo and Louth would obviously be a breeze, but a group of Kerry, Tyrone and Cork would become much more problematic. Even in that scenario – if you assume Kerry get the maximum 6 points – you could lose to Tyrone and beat Cork and then still finish bottom if Cork bet Tyrone and bettered Mayo’s score difference

    Both are extreme outlier scenarios but, regardless, topping the group now becomes a huge ask. 2nd place could be very important as it is hard to see anything soft in an away preliminary knockout game. It should be very achievable though if you avoid the Ulster runners up. Luckily Galway or Roscommon will also be third seeds, along with two Ulster teams

84. ^^^ The fact losing your province ensures you are still 3rd seeds and can’t meet fellow 3rd seeds does go to show how important staying in Division 1 is

85. Two points down and two players passed up attempts at the posts that most of us would have even chanced.

    Ball turned over, Roscommon break and hit a dinger from far out left over the posts.

    Not good enough. If we don’t have the guts to take on obvious shots then what is the point. Get it to one point and we are in with a chance.

    As for the ref, he was hopeless. Jesus what would it be like to have refs that can be fairly consistent week in/out without saying ‘its all swings and roundabouts with the decisions you get, you win some and lost some’. He was awful, absolutely awful and that is only with the basics. Roscommon with more head injuries in 70 minutes than a rubbish boxer would take in a career. The ref bought all of them.

    But… we allowed that to contribute to our downfall in a big way. Naivety. Played straight into Ros hands and I think the sideline had a lot to answer for today.

    Half forwards who will take on a shot is a start.

    I don’t agree with the thought that a layoff is a good thing. We’ve plenty of young players who need game experience and not having a game for weeks won’t be a good thing.

    I bloody hate losing to Roscommon, but kudos to them. They didn’t do a single thing we weren’t expecting, yet we played straight into their hands.

    If we can’t beat Roscommon then it is crazy to think we can’t be as bad again.

    *None of the above is aimed at any posters comments, just my own thinkings.

86. Well said Deal river ..

87. Mayo looked jaded after their storming League campaign – Enda Smith and Murtagh showed the way but far too much gamesmanship and feigned injuries by Roscommon also – a bad look for the GAA. Our half-forwards don’t score and we’re very vulnerable through the middle, especially on the break. Still small margins today.

88. Losing is one thing but the manner of defeat is another. That was a disheartening defeat and it was obvious after 10 minutes we were not at the races. Losing McBrien was huge and his replacement Mcloughlin is nowhere near his best after a long layoff. Support play was lacking and our reluctance to shoot is reaching chronic proportions. We carried so much ball into traffic today it was ridiculous. No line functioned over 50% today. Changes should have been made at half time. Tuohy and Callinan were spared for the U20s so it makes me think winning today was not the out and out priority. On the ref I say bring back Dublin Joe!

    Rochford called on us supporters to come out in big numbers today and we did. Unfortunately we had very little to shout about and had to listen to a group of wet behind the ears Rossies laughing and jeering at Mayo. Have been to 10 of Mayo’s 11 games (Missed 1 FBD game) this year. We have 6 weeks to get our act together and hopefully have all injuries cleared up. We are still League Champions so no reason we can’t regroup. New format to look forward to so looking forward to hitting the road to God knows where!

89. Disappointed but not devastated. I always felt a Connacht title would be unlikely this year given the completely lopsided draw. Nonetheless, this was a sobering day for McStay, the players and the many supporters who can’t help losing the run of themselves every time we manage to string a few victories together. Roscommon welcomed us to the championship jungle today and by God did it rattle us. Six weeks now to regroup and work on getting better at dealing with guerrilla warfare.

90. I agree with O’Sullivan Cillian O Connor is the best forward we have he has to start everytime he is injury free. Its not the end of the World to lose today but realisticially we can forget about winning Sam this year We need to shore up our defence and keep developing scoring forwards.

91. Love that, 45 – “Roscommon welcomed us to the championship jungle today and by God did it rattle us” and “Six weeks now to regroup and work on getting better at dealing with guerrilla warfare…”
    Very well put : )

92. Always said cillian should start be starting!

93. Like others I wasn’t overly devastated by the loss but the manner of it was disappointing. A lot of the same mistakes are reoccurring. Driving into traffic, passing in to a player in traffic , not kicking for scores when the opportunity is on ,slow on substitutions,and that press,OMG. When it was obvious after first 3/4 kickouts all safely delivered over our press did we not just abandon press and contest. Jordan and Aiden had chances to ;on the keeper but didn’t take them on. But this is why we have a star- studded management team in place. They have 6 weeks to iron out our flaws and give it a right lash which I’m sure they’ll do.
    A break for us all might be just what’s needed.
    Having said that. Roll on Wednesday evening.

94. *lob the keeper*

95. Glory Days, I agree you cannot possibly dispense (to a degree), with players like Cillian O’Connor – rendering them to “supporting acts”. He was a real scoring threat when introduced today.

    I sometimes wonder was there a “take it or leave it contract” along the lines that management was now moving on, and that he would be called upon, only when needed. And the same proposition was presented to Lee, which he rejected. Two class players…??

96. @privileged+.. iv wrote a few times re my concerns for Mattie around consistency.. iv started he’s an excellent player, however of late his consistency isn’t where we need it to be.. I don’t think it’s as simple as dropping Mattie.. I think during this period Mattie and management need to figure out how to get his game back up.. on a personal note, it has always driven me crazy as to why Aiden goes up for the jump.. its nearly an insult to the starting mid fielder that your trusted with all aspects of midfield except the jump!! And its not like we win them all the time! I would rather see Jordan and Mattie together and have DOC in Jordans position.. but having DOC playing further forward.. I think Matties confidence has taken a hit and yes DOC is class but the problem with having DOC as your midfield partner is that he roams all over the place that you (Mattie in this case) might be reluctant to attack yourself as your not fully sure is your partner covering you! I guess I might be a tad harsh on Mattie, it’s just iv not seen many over the years with his all round ability from midfield and its annoying me that he isn’t in the top 5 week in week out as he can be that good.. on his good days, he’s nearly as good as Fenton I feel

97. Is it correct to say our first group game will be away to a provincial winner ?

98. I would say the Galway county board are not too pleased with mayo ,with all the lost revenue and a meaningless game going to roscommon and the hyde ,be careful watch you wish for.enjoy the summer.

99. – A lot of things stacked against us today with the players looking tired, slow reaction times, poor conditions and some key decisions going against us
    – I had expected management to have the players finely tuned for today but that was not to be.
    – Asking tired players to wear themselves out doing a high agressive press on the Roscommon kickout to force it long was daft as Roscommon had us cleaned out at midfield.
    – Carrying the ball into tackle after tackle between the 30 and 20 metre lines resulting in turnovers or free outs was a throw back to our worst habits from the past.
    – Niall Daly done a lot of damage in the first half and Enda Smith was made look like an aging David Clifford. Roscommon deserved their win and were the best team by far today.
    – I had Mayo’s target this year to win Connacht as I dont believe we are near an All Ireland winning team at the moment.
    – There is no hype…there is maybe one or two posters on here who believe Mayo can win Sam this year but that is probably only 0.001 percent of the bloggers. BTW they are absolutely entitled to that opinion.
    – Today was not good, improvements can and most be made.
    – I hope they all get some will deserved downtime to recharge and regroup.

100. Nail on the head GAA obsessed – Mattie has buckets of ability but he needs to be more assertive and aggressive I feel. Maybe the break will do him good and give him and the lads a chance to reorganise and refocus

101. @Gaa obsessed, point taken, would not disagree on your points
     It’s something management need to address

102. Nothing controversial about that opinion on Ruane. He hasn’t quite capitalised on the potential he showed a couple of years ago, in my view. There were times in 2021 where he was one of the best midfielders in Ireland and I don’t feel that is the case anymore. I feel his confidence took a huge hit in the 2021 final and he hasn’t quite reached what he is capable of since.

103. He’s shown previously he has the ability so if there is a mental block with Mattie then Niamh Fitzpatrick should be working hard with him

104. McStay should explain why Sam Callihan didn’t start and Bob Tuohy failed to make the 26.
     Was McStay told that they were wanted for the u20 game in midweek.?

105. @Davyslad.. Connacht Championship revenue goes to Connacht GAA..it should sell out in the Hyde in two weeks time, very similar capacity to Salthill, ..Salthills loss is Roscommon gain, in fairness the Rossies will turn out in numbers. With all the matches this year (far too many in my opinion) ..it’s ridiculous that victory today would have possibly meant more games for Mayo , instead of less. For any team with ambition of lifting Sam. I think down the line, allot of people will vote with their feet to stay at home for those round robin fixtures that involves allot of travel.. Cost of living crisis, and you’d need to win the lottery to stay in a hotel in Ireland. It probably will become an issue for those season ticket holders, if every game is going to be charged for. It was quite a weekend for the Underdog.

106. Personally I’m Dissapointed. However The Year Is Only Starting. Mayo Can Still Win The All Ireland. I missed the first half because I was at a Club Game. The midfield is not good enough. The no 6 position won’t do it the Championshipi think Padraig O’Hora . At 6. Jordan Flynn at 8 is the Right Option. No point in AOS at 14 If you don’t send A Fast Diagonall ball into him. B

107. The backs have always been our problem, very sexy going forward and scoring but defending is their priority.
     Our defence today was atrocious, no defensive plan.
     Sort that out first,like the foundations of a building.
     Give good quality ball into the forwards and see how we go

108. I think the short turnaround from being crowned National league champions to embarking onto our championship campaign was a major factor today. We created alot of chances but couldn’t harness real momentum. The break will donus good . Fair play to Roscommon. They’re manager has an infectious persona that permeates through his team. Ours seems to loaded with clichéd soundbites and banality. We are still going to have a say in this championship.

109. I’m not disappointed about the result as it will do us good in the long run as we will have a rest and time to assess. This will show us if management make the right choices. Half the battle is picking the right players but for years Mayo always have a few favourites that no matter how badly they play they keep getting picked. What’s disappointing is that we made the same mistakes as in the league final and we have reverted back to last year’s style of play of running with the ball into cul de sacs. Where has our kick passing of the early league games gone.
     Surely now we have learned that Loftus is not a defender and Coen doesn’t have the pace to help him out so imo a big revamp needed in the half back line.

110. Jr – and scoring? How many points from play scored today?

111. What’s all the doom and gloom about, we are the League Champions.
     We got through to the All Ireland final a few times without winning the Connaught Final.
     O.K. we have a problem in the half back line, Connor Loftus is not a CHB, he is a good footballer who would be better employed as a wing forward or C. F.
     I would be looking at Hession or Callinan to fill this role.
     We have a half forward line that can’t score.
     Bring Tommy Conroy out to the half forward line, along with Ryan O Donohue Cillian O Connor to corner forward, Carr to F.F. with Aidan at 13.
     Ruane needs a break and should be an impact sub with Flynn or Conor Loftus with Diarmuid O Connor at C.F.
     It’s not all over yet.

112. Agree with GaaObsessed on Ruane..has heaps of potential but goes missing in games more regularly than he should. He’s not a young fella now. He should be a leading figure.

     6 weeks is not long enough to sort out forward play that much. It comes down to players form, confidence and perhaps working more on how best to use AOS at 14 because he was fairly well snuffed out today. I do think we persist with him inside.

     6 weeks however is decent time to implement a tighter defensive structure and to fine tune this area of our game. As things stand we simply are too open..it’s naive and we’ll win no championship playing this way. Galway have a better defensive structure and set up. In short it’s more difficult to break them. It naturally draws teams on to you, gets them clogged up making I statistically higher that you’ll turn them over and then a rapid counter attack ensues. Donegal were masters of it a decade ago.

     It doesn’t mean Galway have better defenders than us, so there’s no reason why Mayo can’t be more compact and solid at the back. That’s where the focus needs to be for the next 6 wks. At the other end, let Tommy and Cillian get back into the groove. Neither have had a chance to really get motoring yet. A few, ROD in particular, look like a little rest would help.

113. *why isn’t Durcan put at 6??

     Where was Plunkett?

114. Great game today by Roscommon, the most controlled game I have seen us play since the 2018 connacht final (which we lost).
     Watching the game live, I thought we might have got a few soft frees… but just looked at the whole game back and I have to say Mooney had an ok game – he just didn’t give soft frees and as Lee Keegan said post match “he let the game flow”.

     Anyway, great to see such a competitive Connacht championship this year. The round robin will be a whole new competition – hopefully all 4 Connacht teams go well in the group games and can have an impact on the race for Sam Maguire.

115. Congrats to Roscommon – the simple fact is they were the better team on the day. Mayo were so flat all over the pitch – it felt like they could be out there playing yet and they still wouldnt have yielded another score! It got me thinking afterwards that the scheduling of this game was a disgrace given that almost 20,000 of us paid in to see it. I went there today with more hope than expectation. All we want is balance, fairness and an equal chance for both teams. Clearly from the get go Mayo had no chance in this one given their exploits a week ago. Did they even have a proper training session to prepare for today? Why could this game have not been put out by another week? In hurling, Limerick, who won the league today have 2 weeks to prepare for the munster championship. Im sure I’m not the only one today who would have loved to have seen how this game would have unfolded had both teams played with equal lead in time. A man beside me today from Galway made the point that if Galway had played the Rossies today they would have been just as flat. Its hard to analyse a game when you dont have all the underlying data to hand. Overall I think this loss and the 6 week break will stand to us – it can only be a blessing in disguise. There’ll be soul searching and anger but also a renewed focus on fixing our weaknesses in that time. We’ll also get the likes of David McBrien, Enda Hession, Rory Brickenden and James Carr back which will be a big plus. We’ll also avoid another potentially energy sapping and attritional game against Galway which we dont need right now. The next few weeks is where we’ll see if McStay and his crew can earn their spurs. Nothing lost yet.

116. We seem focused on a high press for the past few seasons (our forwards pressing the kick out). This is a good tactic if your midfield wins over 70% of long ball or breaking ball (remember Mcloughlin and Doherty like dogs on the breaking ball in years gone by). However where your midfield is not dominating, the high press can be bypassed and leaves your defence vulnerable to direct runners.

     If your midfield is not dominant then perhaps a better tactic is forwards to withdraw on opposition kickouts and adopt a high octane press on the ball carrier further out the field ala Tyrone 2002. I don’t like giving up kickouts but I think this could reduce our goal concession rate

117. No big surprise today. First off congrats to Roscommon. Definitely
     deserving winners. Secondly lots of wise posters here were highlighting how getting to a league final was going to have a seriously negative impact on us today. That is not rocket science, it is football logic. Roscommon had a clear run at today, we did not. It’s not an excuse, it makes perfect sense. We were flat today. We battled hard, but really had no luck at all. Also a good dose of realism. We are not in the top 2 or 3 in the country and are not as good as some think we are. We have a lot of inexperienced players and have struggled to break down defensive teams for years. As always the players who didn’t play shoot up the pecking order. Tommy was not great today. I would prefer him as impact sub, but don’t forget he is returning from a terrible injury so it is great to have him at all. I would always start Cillian as he has been our best forward since 2011. Mattie, Jordan and Ryan are not playing well at the moment, but form is temporary and hopefully they will be better in a few weeks. No way would I be over critical of these players. They delivered a league title last week and I expect a strong performance in the round robin. Personally I don’t like losing but I’d far prefer to lose today than against Galway in two weeks which is what I expect would have happened. While I accept we can’t blame the ref every time we lose, he was atrocious today. After a ref who gave us a number of decisions last week it was business as usual re refereeing A O Shea again. Anyway need to relax for a few weeks now and enjoy watching the championship unfold. There were some surprises this weekend and I am sure we will rise again. Not rise to the top because I doubt we are good enough but if we can build a bit of momentum we could squeeze into the semi finals.

118. There isn’t an awful lot to add to what has been said already.
     It’s a poor result but credit to Roscommon, who came with a very clear game plan and stuck to it manfully. A real wake up call for us. We’re nowhere near Dublin or kerry or sadly Galway, who will easily win Connacht. I’m not saying that in an overly negative way, as I felt this team needs a rebuild and that was never going to happen in a matter of months. McStay and his team will needs a couple of years to get things right.
     On another note, was Carr injured today? I know a lot of people felt Aidan wasn’t winning frees but he needed hooking anyway and I thought Carr would have been a good bet at half time.
     Only an observation.

119. Carr was withdrawn from the panel before the game Tommy+Joe most likely injured

120. Why all the negativity? We have a fine bunch of young men teamed with a few experienced players who are in their first season under Kevin McStay. They have played nine matches in a very short time and have you all forgotten about all the great days they have given us, topped up by winning the National League. They are amateur players who give up so much to earn the wearing of the Mayo jersey. Please stop and think before your continuous criticism. Mayo team: rest up and celebrate your great National League win. Great days ahead.

121. Tommy+Joe – why exactly are we nowhere near Galway? You’ll have to explain that one.

122. Far too much negativity on the game. Same cohort of England soccer fan types around with roller coaster emotions as the past need to be ignored and some trolls to be booted out.
     Some identified beforehand this as a game it would be no disaster to lose. Of course the players tried very hard to win and were very competitive. We dominated for 25 but were only 0-1 to 0-1 after 2 missing good goal chances… had either gone in would be a very different game. 2nd Ros goal fortuitous, a Mayo player executes a good block and it shoots straight to a Ros player just the right distance from his foot In that 1st 25 we had them in a bit of bother a few times with the high press and Ros were playing a high risk game always in danger of being turned over near their own goal. People complaining about Mattie should watch his work rate against Galway. If any players were likely to fatigue earlier than normal would be him and Diarmaid. As it happened Jordan was also subbed and was (being a big lad) likely from playing too many games in a row. Diarmaid was still good today but he has an unreal engine.
     I am not without criticism as we tried to work goals when chipping at their lead a point at a time could have done the job. Our composure in the later minutes and injury time let us down even Ryan hitting a stupid pass or 2. Bit at that stage a goal was needed. An extra ball or 2 into Aido in 2nd half was needed too, on one occasion he was screaming for it in a fairly good position inside and our player in possession didn’t see the pass.
     I still think we’ve added well to the panel this year and will go far in the championship. Our S&C will be savage come the next game.
     Re management I think an instruction to tag on long range points regardless of risk of wides when playing wit the wind should have been called.

123. A bit late in the night to be posting this.. but I hope those young men who represented Mayo today are out enjoying themselves tonight regardless of the result today.. You only live once and your only young once as well. For the team and management let yer hair down. (Less hair to let down now that Oisin Mullen has gone to Australia and Padraig O’Hora has a Moyhecian ) The National Football league in itself deserves celebration.. ..No one with an ounce of common sense would deny the lads a night out, or even two. .. Might even do us the world of good. .. Hope Paddy Joe the Barber and Roscommon most famous fan, is letting his hair down as well.. sure he will have plenty of hair to cut again very soon, when the Rossies are coming in for their championship haircut’s Friday or Saturday week! .. Over and out for tonight, I wish I was young enough to be joining them!

124. Watched back on the penalty incident. No complaints, Loftus fouled David Murray and was possible foot block before that also. The defending on both goals very poor. Mayo conceding goals has been the main issue in not winning All Ireland finals.

125. sean burke says:
     April 9, 2023 at 10:32 pm
     Is it correct to say our first group game will be away to a provincial winner ?

     ———————–
     That’s correct Sean, so could be Kerry in Killarney

126. Best outcome for Mayo AI aspirations. These guys are amatuers and any S&C coach will tell you that you can’t sustain a high level of fitness for the length of time from January to end of July. Brentford beat Man City in their backyard before break for the World Cup but City are still a better team than them. We are a better team than Roscommon but weren’t today. Fair play to them. I have no doubt we will be much stronger after a break and with the Sun on our backs later on in the year. I hope Kevin Mac told the players to have a few drinks tonight and celebrate our great achievement of League Champions in first year as a new team just developing. So I don’t think this is the time for criticism and let’s look forward to a totally new competition which starts in 6 weeks. We got knocked out of a competition today which will have no significance on where Sam goes this year. I bet the Kerry’s Dublins of this world won’t fancy Mayo as the 3rd seed in their group come round Robin. Chin up and enjoy the break

127. I will have to watch the game back to properly assess our performance. Initial reaction is that I was not shocked by our defeat, but I was by our poor performance and the manner of the defeat. I have said before that I think that this year is too soon for this new young team and I honestly don’t think we have a hope in hell of winning Sam-obviously I would love to be wrong. For me this is a year for developing a strong squad and lmplementing and perfecting a playing style and system and getting our newer younger players game time and experience. We have made good progress, so far and, hopefully, this will continue over the coming years, with the addition of more young talent. Retaining Division 1 status was achieved and winning the title was a bonus and, hopefully, we will give a good account of ourselves in the group stages. The game itself was awful, even allowing for the conditions. The weather and the narrow confines of McHale Park suites Roscommon’s system and game plan, but we were the main architects of our downfall. We played right into their hands and many of our bad habits resurfaced, bad wides, wrong options, taking the ball into traffic and conceding soft goals. I could not understand the game we were playing, Tommy up top where he was regularly outnumbered and bottled up, when he needs to be out from goal,in space, where he can use his pace-instead he was inside, with his back to goal, battling with defenders. I thought, with the wind behind us, we should have tried some long kick-outs, bypassing midfield. We could and should have had a good start, when we had some bad wides and butchered two clear goal chances-Stephen was a bit unlucky, but Tommy fisted wide, with, at least, two teammates free in front of goal. I am not by any means blaming the referee for our defeat, but he was atrocious and I was completely baffled by many of his decisions. He started by giving Roscommon an early free for an off the ball tug, way up the field and then proceeded to completely ignore all sorts of pulling and dragging, which completely played into Roscommon’s defensive game plan. The penalty was extremely soft, his decisions seemed to be a lottery, Aido, again, could’nt buy a free and I have no idea why he penalized him for those two late throw ups. Back to the game, we also have a habit of playing ourselves into the corners during our attacks and we panicked near the e d, going for goals, when we had plenty of time to get the points needed. Ironically, the enforced break might do us good, get us rested and refreshed and give us time to work on sorting out our problems, while Roscommon and Galway kick lumps out of each other. We need McBrien and Hession back and, later, Callinan and Tuohy.

128. This defeat may work out to be a big positive yet. Some lads are injured and some will be a bit weary after a long run of games. Lads still have to go to work. As we know Kerry and the Dubs will have almost no work to do to get to qualifiers (stupid really). We can now join them in that lucky club even though we are seeded third. We can watch the whole Championship pan out now and make our moves later with full knowledge.

     Also as said by @ Shuffley Deck ‘Our S&C will be savage come the next game’ – another major advantage. Any injuries from now on out should be avoided – no excuses in that department. The pressure is now off us and on the rest of the field. The only thing of concern with management teams accross all sport is whether they are willing to change tactics as necessary – this remains to be seen. The war is not over yet – relax and watch the Rossies and Galway bate each other to death in a few weeks.

129. A lot of old failings from Mayo in the second half. 12 years on from McGuinness unveiling the “low block” v Dublin and Mayo still haven’t figured it out.
     A blind man could have spotted what Roscommon we’re going to do, especially on a bad day on a short pitch.

     The tactics were poor from the start, but the problem got worse due to poor spacing and a lack of patience at the end.
     1. Should have conceeded the kickout in the first half. – let them run the ball into the wind and we sit in a low block waiting for them. Then hit them on the break.
     2. Should have kicked all our own kickouts long. When you have the wind, use it.
     3. Don’t be afraid to let the game go to sh#te, we don’t have to be the ones playing the good football. Kerry showed how it’s done in 2014.
     4. A wet windy day is the day for the big man at midfield not ff. You can’t put good ball into a FF on a day like that so use him to win it at midfield when it hangs up in the air when the opposition kick long into the wind. You learn that playing national schools football in North Mayo.
     5. Don’t be afraid to shoot from distance when you have the wind. It draws out the defence, which creates goal chances. Use the wind, a decent county player should kick 40-50% over.

     In the first half, Mayo were clearly not at the pitch of the game, and seemed not to be all that bothered if they lost.
     Mayo were the better team in the second half and did a lot right to get back to within a point.
     It was a real lack of composure/leadership to start going for goals on 60 mins. You need patience to catch a defensive team, you just have to keep the ball moving and don’t run into tackles. Mayo just started to low forward with the head down hoping to get a free.
     Keep the ball moving and get fresh legs in. Tiring legs/heads make bad choices.

     Hopefully a lot learned but with Mayo leaving O Connor on the bench and Callinan and Touhy in the stand, they weren’t all that bothered. McStay didn’t seem to be afterwards anyway.

     If they can get McBrien, Hession, O Connor, Callinan, Touhy and Carr back at full tilt in Croke Park they will be a whole different animal and better prepared after the lesson Roscommon gave them.

130. Tommy +Joe strongly disagree with that comment we are well as good as Galway the Dubs are still poor I still think. They beat a division 2 Derry side and would struggle against a division 1 side. It was not our day yesterday and our guys need a rest every team has off days .

     This game was always likely we would loose after the high of last week and the rossies determined to win it we didn’t really need to win it. Give the guys a break they have been the best team in the league and we were just not in form yesterday for whatever reason tired legs for sure..on top form we can beat Amy team in the country.

     We will be back in 6 weeks with a bounce guarantee that this is actually a good thing for us.

     Our guys got a reality check yesterday and that’s probably a good thing and they will come back fighting like hell in 6 weeks time and we will have hession callinan and Bob touhy back so be kind to our guys it’s only a game at the end of today where they play for free.

     Let other counties come out in their droves and laugh at us sure what do we care?? Proud of this mayo team who give us great days out and still come back after all the slagging .

     We will be back with a bounce!

131. Looking back at the first half we really lost all sense of composure and played completely into their hands. If anything it looked like Roscommon were the more seasoned side. Several times we rushed to take quick sidelines that weren’t on, started getting rattled when not awarded frees , all of this meat and drink to the Rossies who played that first half solely to keep the scoreline down and disrupt us

     Any top team should never panic in a situation like that and we should have been happy enough going in level or only a score or two up, as then Roscommon needed to take the game to us and this would suit us. Instead we became completely flustered and then started leaving huge gaps at the back which Ros exploited.

     As we saw in the 2nd half Roscommon were liable to implode but all their hard work was done in the first half.

     Losing isn’t always the end of the world, and take Galway for example, they took lots of positives out of croke park last Sunday. I don’t think there’d be too much despondency if we got pinged in a similar manner to 2019

     However losing in the manner of yesterday is definitely concerning. We were well outthought and outfought by a team most likely still outside the top 6

     Granted this will be completely forgotten if we win the first round robin game, but lose that one (away to provincial winner) and it’ll be very hard to generate any momentum again

     The mgmt team did excellent to get the lads in super condition for the league, but sadly you just can’t coach composure. In reality it’s a squad with plenty of raw players (the team really won’t scare many on paper to near the same extent as the 2013-17 era), and Keegan and mullin were two awful blows. We definitely benefitted from a new manager bounce, it’s just a pity the momentum wasn’t carried forward to the championship where a Connacht title would have been a great achievement in year one

132. I like Tirawleybaron’s analysis – we must be prepared to make adjustments in the course of difficulties. I’ve seen the quotation from Einstein posted a few times here, but it was never more applicable than yesterday – he once said that “insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result”!

133. Tirawleybaron, I fully agree, and I think Aido should have been moved to midfield and Ruane and/or Flynn whipped off earlier to the bench. I’d have thrown the dice and brought on a O’Hora maybe. It was plain to see to every man, woman and child that we were getting stuffed at midfield and were simply incapable of putting a good ball into Aido. Ryan’s shocker pass into Tommy Conroy summed up the day for me. Simply no excuse for that at this level. So many Mayo players were playing at about 4 out of 10, horrid stuff.

     Back to Aido: two balls in to him in the entire match. Management have a lot to answer for yday and it would make me wonder about McStay’s decision making. And why the hell were Touhy and Callinan so central all league then all of a sudden released for the u20s right before our biggest matches of the year so far (Touhy for league final and both of them unavailable yday). McStay should know you can’t screw around with a team like that on the commencement of championship. Otherwise what was the point playing them for league? If I was either of them I’d be raging, especially given the injuries to other players. We needed all our fit, in-form men yday.

     I’m of the view that we’re simply not good enough this year. No shame there. But yesterday was a tactical disaster. Putting a positive spin on it, maybe there was psychological slump from the come-down from the league. I watched it back on rte player last night and I think it was Canavan who said the Mayo players last Sunday evening would have gotten pats on the back from everyone, being told how brilliant they are. Then bang, ambush central yesterday. But that shouldn’t happen to a really quality team. We should have bigger ambitions. We’re too emotional as a team and county. Aido banging the sod in joy and thanking the heavens after the league win summed it all up. There’s no doubt we lost focus for yesterday.

134. On reflection and looking back on the game , taking into consideration senior management agreed not to play sam callinan and to a lesser extent Tuohy , could be wishful thinking but im now not convinced mcstay and co went full tilt for victory yesterday .

135. @sean Burke totally agree with you they would not have released them to under 20s if they were going at full tilt honestly think the 6 weeks break will bring us back down to earth as if we haven’t been brought back already ha!

     We will have hession back to in 6 weeks to guarantee the players will be fuming now at themselves for letting their guards down even though they should be proud of themselves .

     This will actually do them good and they will come back fighting like hell in 6 weeks time that’s one thing for sure.

136. In my opinion to sort out middle third it has to be Mattie and Jordan, when they played together it was being considered one of the best pairings in the country, Jordan being the physical one..Diamond O ‘Connor is so Fluid and always covering he could play 6 or half forward possibly alternating with Conor Loftus. A point to note is that both Stephen Coen and Mattie have started every games in the League and like Diamond have covered every inch of each pitch they played on, no player can stay in games at that level (14 kilometers was mentioned) we need to be realistic. Yesterday we did not get enough ball into Aidan but it was a day for him around the middle third.. we have a lot to work on but here’s hoping ?

137. Possibly Sean but I genuinely think management don’t think that way. They want to win.
     You’re only making a rod for your own back down the line by getting a lower seeding/ranking.

138. Yesterday was a shambles,some of our players were just not good enough on the day.
     Am I right vin saying we now have a 50;50 chance of being vin the same group as the Connaught or Ulster champions?
     The way things are planning out the second seeds will be poor as will the forth seeds
     Some of the best teams will be third seeds and we will avoid them in the round robin
     We need massive improvement to be successful this year, hope the rest does is good.

139. Felt bad for mcstay in his post match interviewee looked soo disappointed and the players I’m sure where the same as he said he has just come out from the post match team talk so be kind about the players and management as I am sure they know full well we messed up yesterday and they probably do read this blog I would say they put a huge amount of time into training etc and give up their spare time.

140. You’re fairly emotional yourself there Liberal.
     Callinan and Tuohy weren’t played because of u20 match this week – the fact that u20s took precedence over yesterday tells it own story.
     But Mayo still should have been good enough but weren’t. It might be good in the long run to give them a kick up the arse, or it could be that we’re just not as good as we thought – time will tell.
     We are still almost certainly going to get to quarter final because seed 2 from Connacht, Leinster and Munster will be a poor enough side.

141. I agree with the decision to hold both Callinan and Touhy for the U20’s match. They should not be expected to be the leaders in a senior championship match but will be expected to step up on Wednesday night.

     If we learn from yesterday then it was beneficial and as we have the 6 week break, there is really no excuses if we do not improve. On our day we are definitely a top 6 team, we need to work on our weaknesses as these will be (and were) ruthlessly exposed in championship matches whereas you can get away with this in league football.

     This will be a great test of the strength of the management team. They have the experience and time to fix the errors but the results of the round robin will be the ultimate measure.

142. I definitely am Tubberman!! I’ll accept I’m part of the problem. Maybe it’s a mindset we all get sucked into.

     The big issue for us is that from now on the other top 4 or 5 teams are going to get fitter and stronger over the next couple of months. Can we improve or did we see us at our ceiling during league?? That’s the big question.

143. Guys ye certainly don’t want to be going onto the mayo gaa Facebook page the amount of trolls coming in from other counties slagging us off typical whenever we loose let them at it I’m going into hibernation for the next week or so haha!!

     We will be back and as others have said 6 weeks should be time to fix the problems and improve we need Niamh to talk to the guys is well to mentally recover from that!

144. I was saying during the week I feared injuries more than a loss. I voted for ross to win. I really couldn’t see how mayo could be up for this one. Then with the weather and the changes I was convinced it’d be one of those days. The performance wasn’t good, but let’s remember something, there’s no better team for bouncing back.
     Lots of pundits spoke about the difficulty mayo faced with the fixtures and how other counties suffered the same fate after a big win. It happens. Personally, I’d rather have lost yesterday than the next day…but that’s just me. Pundits also built us up during the league. The same ones will have the knives out today. Let them. The last people sticking the knives in should be us though…
     Let’s look at the bigger picture. We now get a few weeks rest that other teams have had. Mgmt can take stock and look at what’s working and what isn’t. The ground will harden and this might suit. I was very worried with Lees comments at half time where he said we needed to revert to the mayo style of running the ball. We did and we lost. Just like we lost against Tyrone…running in to defenses. That loss against Tyrone and the covid one against Dublin really hit me hard. Iv struggled to get back on the road since but i saw green shoots this year…what was great earlier in the league was our ability to mix it up. I think this will come back when the legs are fresher.
     I’m not saying all is rosy in the garden, far from it but the swing in emotions on here is a bit OTT We go from contenders to awful in 24 hours. We will be competitive in the groups if we stay fit. The comments will come in from across the border, the league will be belittled..let them off. There was no one belittling it in the few days before the final….our lads have a medal in their pockets…. let them enjoy that now and then when they are ready, they now know what they have to do…..

145. No point blaiming players when it’s the management team that sent them out yesterday to play with a sweeper for the whole 1st half despite having a storm at their back. You wouldn’t see it at an under 8 game. As a result Ross always had free men to pass the ball to and they ran down the clock really well. The fact that McStay, Rochford, McHale or Mulligan could spot this is shocking. Maybe one of them did, but with too many chiefs, no one made the call. 13 or 14 games in and I still don’t see any change to our style of play in attack or defense. We played a very seasoned team yesterday, people hoping that a couple of 18/19 year olds will improve things are delusional. They are both great young players but neither will probably start in the Summer.

146. Mayomagic
     Penalty was given for a foot block which it obviously was not.
     There was a two foot gap between the kicker and where it was blocked.
     The referee clearly indicated foot block.

147. @the west is best, but those two young players were a hell of a lot more influential during the league than Jason Doherty and Darren McHale for instance. So why wouldn’t they have made an impact?? Small margins. Roscommon certainly were no world beaters yesterday. Anyone could see that. They’re two really quality players.

     And no, I’m certainly not delusional thank you very much.

     Perhaps a bigger worry is why Ruane and Jordan Flynn’s (and other’s) form has fallen off a cliff…

148. Maybe flogged to death in too many games @Liberal role in the tie. Sure it’s been pretty much the exact same team that have played in all of the games.

149. Jordan flying had 1 bad game yesterday he was still in form for most of the league give the guy a break . As for mattie he’s been on/off form since 21 I think . He needs to recover mentally from that and Niamh needs to help him through that he has huge potential but 21 knocked the confidence out of him.

150. Very good point The West is Best. We were running around using up energy as we had a sweeper in place with a gale behind us. Our sweeper was also not a sweeper as cruely exposed in The Sunday Game. In the wrong position and clumsy tackle to give away the penalty. 6 weeks to try and sort out our defensive set up or we will have to settle for a National League title this year.

151. Ahh im not suggesting management actually gave the teamtalk with anything other than go out and win this yesterday. Management teams dont always let you know everything though . Fook it, its neither here nor there now anyway .
     Im sure Niamh Fitzpatrick will have them mentally prepared for the group stages with six weeks now of positive energy . Youd imagine its an easy one to put a positive spin on the way the championship is structured .

152. Liberal of course the players who played were more influential than they players who didn’t. We played same team more or less constantly, bar the dead rubber game.

     For me the biggest concern with yesterday is that tactically after 13 or so games we do not seem to be learning lessons from issues exposed.

     I still am confident we will make semifinal or final because of the talented panel we have and strength of opposition. But tactically unless things change I am less confident in the 14/1 coming off, and change doesn’t seem on the cards. Hopefully it will and we will see in round 1 of the groups.

153. @Moose79, great summary, concur with all your points there. We looked jaded yesterday, lacking intensity and strewn with errors. The 7 day turnaround between a league final and the first round of the championship is a complete and utter joke. Funny that under Horan, the constant gripe was no plan B, and yesterday, after plan A didnt really work, we reverted to our new plan B , or the old plan A, aka Horan ball, which failed (not aided by the ref it must be said)
     Anyways, IMO, better to lose yeasterday and get a decent break in which we can let injuries heal, McBrien a massive loss yesterday, try to avoid new ones, take stock and get the heads/ bodies right for what’s going to be an intense, quick championship summer. Let’s not forget the closest we came, 2017, was predicated by a championship of extra time and replays. Alls not lost yet, championship wide open. Now, any hope Leeroy could pull a Cluxton, we can allways dream

154. As well documented on here already, yesterday’s performance was very poor and worrying. The lack of scoring from play in the league final and again yesterday is particularly disappointing.

     Just looking forward to the group stages, is there any confirmation on scheduling of games. I know some posters have mentioned our first game is against a provincial winner but I thought I read somewhere that the provincial winner plays seed 4 in first game and seeds 2 and 3 face off. I may be wrong but wondering is there any official gaa confirmation at this point?

155. Can’t beat looking back in the cold light of the day after.
     We were out-played yesterday by a fresher and more organised side that executed a perfect game plan.
     The referee hadn’t a good day but you have to above his influences and not let their errors influence the result – we didn’t.
     They had Enda Smith putting in a serious shift and the Rossies rallied around him. We had Diarmuid driving us forward but the support players looked weary.
     Besides the result, I was disappointed with two things – the first was obvious when watching a replay of the match – we had lots of half chances for points when small cracks appeared in the Rossies good defensive system and several lads didn’t have tve confidence to pull the trigger. Most held the ball too long and got overturned.
     The second disappointment was the seemingly poor lack of influence and reaction from our more experienced management team when the Rosie’s tactics were obvious to all. Their first back-foot test and they failed. I hope they take learnings from yesterday.
     The rest and recovery time, the knocks and injuries given more time and we can hopefully look forward to a very focused and good tactical performance against a provincial champions away in a months time.
     I m’d hope and expect this next big game will tell us more about our squad and management, than yesterday or the National League did. Onwards and upwards.

156. It wasn’t just under Horan we had no plan B. Roscommon yesterday were straight from the Kevin Walsh playbook which Rochford and Buckley couldn’t figure out 3 years running.

     Moose79 – Lee was correct we had to run the ball after halftime. That’s common sense playing into a gale. We lost it in the first half messing up 2 good goal chances. Also looking back the one O’Shea got bottled up was a poor decision by Diarmuid. If he passed to his left in the build up Jordan Flynn was 1v1 on the goalkeeper.

157. Wow, I think people are getting a little bit too caught up in all the negatives. We were always going to be flat after beating Galway in the National Football League final The players and management are not machines. Conditions suited Roscommon big time for their ambush and their preparation fair play to them for getting that right. There is no way on earth mayo could keep motoring forward like they had done in the National Football League and the six week break will do him the world of good both mentally and physically for the challenges that lie ahead. most people may not know it yet but yesterday‘s defeat was a blessing in disguise. I hope management and players let the hair down this week it’s well deserved.

158. I see the blame game has now moved to management. Let me point out there’s merit to sticking to your guns regarding bedding down a style. There’s only 1 team ever came up with the solution for puke mass defence and that’s Jim Gavin’s Dublin playing in triangle movements, hogging the ball and moving the ball patiently from side to side until a gap appears. And he did it with the greatest collection of individuals to play in a gaa team. Not saying management are free from mistakes but we could have tagged Ros with points yesterday and that was the players panicking not management. We had 6 minutes of injury time to tag 3 points. Doable and we’ve done it before. But the panic started earlier. Granted Dublin never had to come from 3 down with their team and usually unlocked these defences in the 1st half but we didn’t see the panic as much as opponents coming down the straight in tight games. Nothing wrong with celebrating a 45 either, we nearly turned them over for a goal and then nearly lost the ball before winning something back out of it. And it gets in opponents heads a small bit. We see hurlers celebrating frees all the time. Also nothing wrong with pounding the ground in celebration of a league win, medals in the pockets. The daftness on here sometimes astounds me. I’ve no doubt McStay wanted to do well in the league and build winning ways and as we neared the final we absolutely had to go for it. Also correct call letting U20s go as we could get more of these confident young players on a conveyor if we go on a run and the panel is plenty big enough. So called fans doing down J Doc and McHale not on either, both have served us well, Jason for more than a decade. If both were given extended time in the league could have made a similar impact to the newbies.

159. … Real fans get behind their team or at least be constructive on criticisms not complain all the time or target individual players.

160. @Shuffy Deck I agree 100 per cent.
     Not finished yet by a long shot.

161. @Shuffly Deck – I agree that real fans should not turn on individual players who are amateurs afterall. And similarly with individuals in the management team.
     However, real and realistic fans have a right to voice their opinions in a logical and not vindictive way.
     Yesterday, a 34 year-old manager came up with a game plan and defensive system that defeated the National League champions in our backyard. Our vastly more experienced management team had no answer – that’s constructive criticism and a fact. To their credit they didn’t blame the tired looking players.
     To steal an old political line – A lot done but still a lot to do.

162. Roscommon best team on the day – no excuses. Credit to their management.
     -6 week break is 100% a total blessing for Mayo team and management
     -Connacht title would be nice, but, honestly what does it really mean at this point for Mayo fans
     -Hard fast pitches of summer will suit this team and style of play much better, curve is still upwards I think
     -Even after last week, I thought we were probably 4th favs for AI, haven’t changed that opinion
     -Personnaly would have settled for a league title and AI semi at start of year and that is still 100% on the cards
     -last comment – gaelic football is fast becomming unwatchable, feigning injury and lateral /backward passing is so painful and boring to watch. GAA have to think about limiting possession to 10-12 or banning back passes outside squares. Awful stuff to watch IMO

163. Mayo clearly have not given a damn about winning Connacht for seven years and this year a provincial title means even less. They’ve lost early games to Galway and the rassies every year (except for 20 and 21 when they had to win in order to progress and all of a sudden it was no problem) and got further on in the championship than both of those counties most years. The six week break will be ideal for rehabbing injuries and prepping for the real championship instead of fluting around in meaningless Connacht games, picking up more injuries and giving Padraic Joyce more opportunities to be whinging about BIG BAD MAYO and getting in the ear of refs. I for one am delighted not to have to go to that absolute kip that is Salthill. Up Mayo.

164. # 1 stop conceding goals. Thisis a fundamental problem with Mayo in championship going back to the 2000s. For me Paddy Durcan should be playing sweeper role similar to the way Cian OSullivan played for Dublin with an orthodox 6 picked aswell.

     Ball being overplayed and unnecessarily being brought into contact was really noticeable yesterday.
     Wouldn’t really be worried about the match itself as everything was on the Rossies side and meant far more to them but the constant coughing up of goal chances will end our championship early if not addressed.

     It needs to be in every players head on the pitch that conceding goals is not acceptable that didn’t look to be the case when you see that second goal being defended and only 3-4 lads really running or tackling with real intensity. Needs to be a swarm on front of our goal in these situations

165. Would echo what Mike said.

     I feel there is no doubt whatever happens we are better off with the break.
     Roscommon are over the moon to win the quarter final beating Mayo – I don’t think any one in Mayo would’ve been as happen if we had actually won Connacht – as Mike said what does Connacht mean to us anymore bad being ‘nice’.
     I would take the league title all day ahead of it.

166. The referees wasn’t the reason we lost yesterday but some of his decisions were comical .the first free in is extraordinary and if he gives that one then would be a free in every 30 seconds.if you meet a referee and ask about theese decisions they will quote some nonsense to explain it .in reality alot of decisions are total lottery’s and no one has a clue which way the decision will go .i actually asked a qualified referee a few years ago about the constant sledging by the Dublin backs and why black cards weren’t being issued.he told me sledging wasn’t a black card offence.i looked up the official rules and sent it too him .he replied by asking me was I up all night reading the rules.regarding the midfield issue have never seen Matt ruane as a ball winner at inter county level and a rest isn’t going to change that .he is a good footballer but he had no influence on yesterday’s game.If we are going to continue with the high press then we need to find an out and out ball winner in that area .the ease in which Roscommon found enda smith with very straight forward restarts was alarming

167. 1895 – I 100% agree with your comment on the lottery nature of football decision making, but, in fairness to referees, doesnt a lot of this come from the definition of a tackle in football?. if referees were to actually follow the letter of the law on the tackle there would be 80+ frees per game. Refs are inconsistent, but last week in the league final Mayo’s free were deemed ‘soft’ while in each case they were 100% per the rules. The fact of the matter is that same rule was interputed completely differently yesterday. This will go on until that rule is clarified. Again – not using this as an excude for the loss yesterday, Roscommon were the better team regardless.

168. For whatever reason or reasons this was a lacklustre performance. I believe it needed an injection from the likes of Padraig O Hora, the best player of last season’s Mayo Championship.
     Hopefully all will be well to go in a few weeks and we can have a crack at the big one.

169. 100% Suffly Deck
     I was going to write a post but you hit all the points I was going to make.
     Highs are too high and lows are too low on this blog.
     In both cases people lose the run of themselves one way or the other.

170. Mcstay has a bad record in games between roscommon and mayo no matter which camp he is in

171. Looking at the draw, we are not in a bad position really.

     First seeds will be Dublin, Galway/Roscommon, Kerry and Tyrone/Derry

     2nd seeds are Sligo, Clare, Kildare and Armagh

     3rd seeds are Mayo, Derry/Tyrone, Monaghan, Roscommon/Galway

     4th Seeds are Westmeath, Donegal, Cork, Louth

     If it all plays out
     We will have something like
     Dublin, Cork, Armagh at worst
     Tyrone, Clare, Westmeath at best

     If we cant get out of either group we are at nothing anyway

172. Always disappointing to lose a championship game regardless.
     But the Connacht championship is relatively meaningless this year. Mayo will qualify out of the group no matter what realistically (as should we whether we win or lose in two weeks).
     The 6 weeks off could be a godsend for Mayo.

173. @Galwayman fair play for the nice comment. Yes exactly always tough but it really means nothing this year with the new change . Best of luck against the Rossies.

174. This was a bit of a shock for Mayo yesterday regardless. They had rested practically the entire team for the Monaghan game, were obviously confident having just won the league and were playing at home in front of a full house. They were tactically outdone by Roscommon and this would be a major surprise to McStay and his backroom team no matter how you dress it up.

175. We can blame refs and tactics and the weather and all sorts but, if you miss 6 shots on goal with the wind at your back in a period of the game when we were totally dominant then you deserve to get beaten. Left 2-3 off the scoreboard at that stage and had we even nudged ahead by 3 or 4 points then there was no way Roscommon were coming back from that with their puke football. 60 mins to score a point from play!
     I hope to sweet Jesus that we meet these feckers again.