That was more than a little frustrating.
With fifteen minutes left on the clock, we’d reduced the deficit to just a single point and all the game’s momentum in our favour, aided by the strong wind at our backs, all we needed to do was drive on and win it. Instead, we lost our way entirely and Galway righted themselves sufficiently to eke out a deserved two-point win.
The conditions were always going to have a major impact on this contest. The wind blew hard all evening, diagonally into the bacon factory end, and it was obvious that whichever side had it at their backs for the first half would have the opportunity to run up a lead at the break.
Galway won the toss and unsurprisingly opted to play with the wind. Although we got the night’s first score – from a Jason Doherty free – they had four points on the board without reply with less than ten minutes played.
David Clarke’s kickouts – boomed high up in the air where his men had little or no chance of claiming possession – were the root cause of these scores as Galway claimed the ball from the restarts and shot from distance.
A second free from Jason cut the deficit, though, and after Cummins belted another wind-assisted one over for them, another free by the Burrishoole man brought the gap back again to two.
Then Galway had two of their players – Michael Daly and Barry McHugh – black carded in quick succession. Shorn of two of their fifteen, that should have made Galway’s swarming blanket a bit more porous. We failed, however, to add to our total while the two Galway lads were kicking their heels on the sideline.
Instead, we contrived to concede a really poor goal while they still had only the thirteen players on the field. We got caught out by a long ball in, which was gathered by Heaney and he lofted it over David Clarke’s head to Cummins who pawed it to the net.
At half-time we trailed by 1-7 to 0-3 and the night looked ominous for us. Sure, we’d now have the wind with us but the poor way we’d managed the conditions in the first half didn’t augur well for how we’d handle things in the second half.
Early on after the break those fears seemed to be well-founded. Ten minutes into the half and we were still six in arrears, with a point from play by Mattie Ruane and another free from Jason for us and a Walsh free for them.
Then, after we’d made our second switch – with Andy Moran coming on for Stephen Coen, Kevin McLoughlin having replaced James Durcan at the break – we suddenly began to motor. Five points without reply sailed over the bar at the bacon factory end, to leave us just one down with a full fifteen minutes left to play.
We definitely should have won it from there. We had plenty of chances too but we butchered one opportunity after another, while at the other end we conceded three daft frees within range, all of which were converted by Shane Walsh. And that was where the game was won and lost.
It was deep in injury time before we managed to score again – after a barren spell that had lasted all of twenty minutes – but those two points, from Diarmuid O’Connor and Donal Vaughan, came too late, merely reducing the eventual losing margin to two points.
So it’s a first ever loss to Galway for James Horan in a competitive fixture. It also continues the miserable head-to-head we’ve had against them, where we’ve lost every single match we’ve played them in since 2016.
This defeat means that, for sure, we won’t need to plan for a League final this year. Instead we have to keep an eye on what’s happening below us in the table, as we’re still not completely sure of retaining our top tier status for next year. Those worries aren’t likely to be eased next time out – as we face a tough away fixture against table-toppers Kerry – which could mean we’ll be going into our final round match, against Monaghan, needing something from it to stay up.
That wasn’t how we saw the script playing out after winning the first three matches. It’s where we’re at now, though, and it’s up to us to do what we need to do to end this campaign having ensured that we’ll still be playing Division One football next year.
Mayo: David Clarke; Chris Barrett, Brendan Harrison, Keith Higgins; Lee Keegan, Colm Boyle, Stephen Coen; Matthew Ruane (0-1), Donal Vaughan (0-1); Fionn McDonagh, Aidan O’Shea, Diarmuid O’Connor (0-1); James Durcan, Darren Coen (0-1), Jason Doherty (0-7, six frees). Subs: Kevin McLoughlin for Durcan, Andy Moran (0-1) for Stephen Coen, Brian Reape for McDonagh.
Who was our Man of the Match against Galway? Pick your top three performers
- Matthew Ruane (35%, 374 Votes)
- Jason Doherty (17%, 179 Votes)
- Aidan O'Shea (9%, 92 Votes)
- Keith Higgins (8%, 89 Votes)
- Colm Boyle (8%, 81 Votes)
- Chris Barrett (4%, 42 Votes)
- Diarmuid O'Connor (3%, 32 Votes)
- Brendan Harrison (3%, 28 Votes)
- Darren Coen (3%, 28 Votes)
- David Clarke (2%, 23 Votes)
- Fionn McDonagh (2%, 22 Votes)
- Donal Vaughan (2%, 17 Votes)
- Kevin McLoughlin (1%, 15 Votes)
- Andy Moran (1%, 11 Votes)
- Lee Keegan (1%, 9 Votes)
- Brian Reape (1%, 8 Votes)
- James Durcan (1%, 6 Votes)
- Stephen Coen (0%, 5 Votes)
Total Voters: 661
Loading ...A quick word about the ladies, who also lost to Galway this evening – this one finished 1-11 to 0-8 in Galway’s favour.
The visitors were six points to four up at the break but with the wind at their backs in the second half they gradually pulled away and, once they’d bagged the game’s only goal, the result was never in doubt.
So it’s one win from four for Peter Leahy’s side in this year’s League campaign. Despite that, though, the team is going okay this year and providing they keep playing in the same confident manner they’ll surely soon start to see the results going in their direction.
As I repeatedly said last week our FB line is too slow with no new talent coming through and also no new talent or ‘go to’ man in the FF line either.
Galway won coz they were slicker up front and we’re out in front of our FBs.
Meanwhile we had no cutting edge up front and had our usual quota of crappy wides.
I firmly believe that Galway have a better team than us now and we are set for a period of mediocrity.
I’ll say it again- FB and FF lines are the real problem.
Abject and incredibly frustrating 1st half. Over carrying, lateral hand passing, concede 1.1 against 13 men, wild shot selection.
2/3 of 2nd half much better, attacking powerful play let down after 55 minutes with no composure.
Better than last week but still poor.
Losing again to Galway is hard to take.
3/5 and 2 to go plus a lot of refining selection wise too.
Have to say I’m worried by what I watched tonight. That’s by no means a full strength Galway and they once again proved too much for us. What really gets me is that they’re just far cuter than us too. When they needed a few scores to steady the ship they were able to buy frees close in.
This might sound like heresey but I’ve been watching Lee closely over the last three games and he’s really struggling. The only time he’s visible is when he’s wrestling with his opponent. He’s not carrying the ball or bursting forward as he normally does.
Galway have our number at the moment. Really disappointed with that performance and there are certainly issues that need to be resolved quickly.
Good Report WJ and as a Galway man I want to allay your fears, there isn’t a hope of Mayo going down. Cavan will go down and one of Roscommon/Mayo. Galway at 9/4 was outrageous odds even without a lot of players.
If Galway and Mayo play in the summer and I used the word if, it will be a completely different game, add in the cleverness of Ian Burke and Cillian O’Connor alone. We will see a very competitive and hard fought Connacht Championship this year. Galway Roscommon Mayo and even Leitrim may have a say.
Pace in our team is now a real issue , we are exposed in many areas.
Pathetic and clueless, on and off the field. Bar Aidan O’Se, Coen in the first half and Ruane there isn’t a single player out there who could honestly say they deserve the jersey v Kerry.
Horan stalled amd stuttered on the line and bringing Reape in as our 3rd sub in the 34th minute of the second half just said it all. Walsh, for all his negativity, is far sharper in the line, had 2 subs in at half time and all in with 6 to go. Us???
Major major problem in every line on the field, hammered on kickouts, failed to do damage on the scoreboard when we had a bit of momentum in the second half and, make no mistake, Galway have our number big time. They were streets ahead of us all night, smarter with and without the ball, wore down the clock when they had to and deserved to win by more.
How Boyle could be left on is a question Horan must be asked. Plunkett did more than enough to warrant a run at 6 after his first two outings but Boyle was a weak link on the counter attack all night, and that’s after the roasting he got in Dublin last weekend.
Major questions to be asked because we are all out of excuses now.
OMG that was poor. 1st half so disappointing. Where was the urgency, the desire, the hunger?
IMO wrong choice of keeper for the conditions.
We have no midfield. Its been a problem for a while. No one able to field a ball. And very little dirty ball won.
Conceding a goal against 13 men was v disappointing.
Second half brought more urgency and that nearly turned it but really the damage was done.
As regards AOS we really don’t know how to play him. He’s not a fielder of the ball when under pressure so he’s not suited to midfield or full forward.
Back to the drawing board I fear.
First the positive. Matthew Ruane announced himself tonight. A great display and now he looks the big find of the league.
David Clarke – Goalkeeping excellent, Restarts problematic
Chris Barrett – Drove Forward but little end product
Brendan Harrison – Not his best night. Struggled particularly in first half
Lee Keegan – Loiks laboured no zip in his play. Maybe a break might be needed
Keith Higgins – Super footballer but
I think he needs to go to half Forward line. Getting caught defensively
Colm Boyle – Got over zealous tonight and it cost us. Don’t know what M Plunkett done to lose his spot
Stephen Coen – He togged out
Donie Vaughan – See Stephen Coen
Fionn McDonagh- Got caught by Heaney a couple of times but we must persist
Aidan O Shea – Trying his heart out, but slowing up the attack. Brolly May be right
Diarmuid O Connor – Gave everything but another who just can’t find that zip in his legs at the moment
James Durcan – Nothing went right for him tonight
Darren Coen – Took on the shots which shows something needs mire game time
Jason Doherty – Pick of the six forwards for me
Out of respect for WJ and the blog I will not say what I am really thinking.
We were deplorable.
First half was abject.. no score with a two man advantage.
And ask for the second half…..
We panicked when we got it back to one point, kicked stupid and pathetic wide..
The full back line then got suckered into stupid frees..
Out thought,out smarted and frankly brain-dead.
Sickening.
Worryingly we seem to be bereft of any ideas up front. Foolishly taking the ball into tackle and time after time been turned over. Going to Tralee and getting a result seems way beyond us. Only positive I took was Matthew ruanes performance. Getting better fame by game and the only player willing to take them on.
Hard luck Mayo and well done to the neighbors weather did not help
Goals win matches. And did we ever really look like positively bagging one… once again,
apart from Boyle’s effort And fair play to him for that. But we shouldn’t be relying on a back again. Last week it was our goalie coming to our aid. Before we needed Paddy Durcan and Lee hitting an odd one over, We are badly in need of more work on our forwards. We must develop the skill of kicking from distance, when we have half a chance. It is not looking too good, but we must keep going.
We can take out some good teams out yet, but time is not on our side.
Well done young Ruane.
Meant one of Roscommon/Monaghan to go down with Cavan
When is Cillian back. We might go out and win in Killarney you just can tell
Tactically we were naieve over the last 2 games. Announcing the team 2 days before the Dublin game with no sweeper gave Dublin forwards the impetus to tear us apart. Tonight JH went mano a mano yet again with no cognisance made of the wind. Surely you have to adapt to the conditions. Can’t get my around conceding the goal with 15 against 13. Lack of leadership on the pitch. Think 2019 is now a write off.
I am perplexed by that match, it was one that got away or more precisely was let away.
Firstly, at the very least you should nt let a goal in when you have two more men than the opposition, instinctively you would have thought you would have made that count on the scoreboard. Galway must have been well buoyed up by that.
I was surprised by the 6 changes from last week, and more surprisingly the lack of game time some of them got in previous league and FBD games. After last week s game against Dublin and our recent history with Galway that was a game we needed to win. This is starting to look like our recent history with Dublin, but the difference is Galway is no Dublin.
The backs seemed very heavy legged.. I felt whenever the forwards ran to Galway they looked vulnerable, which made the side to side crack more frustrating
We were poor tonight but probably it was better to lose and hopefully have a real appetite when and if we meet them in championship which is all that matters in 2019.
Just a few observations :
1. We need to work tirelessly in training to get forwards to kick the ball over the the bar – the only area Galway are better than us.
2. Galway went down like sacks of spuds when tackled and killed Mayo’s momentum.
3 . Referee was terrible .
4. The gap between Galway and Dublin is a chasm – a worry for Galway if the have ambitions of winning Sam.
James Horan was correct to experiment for this game as , after all it’s only the league!
Sadly WJ I think your first paragraph says it all. It is worrying that we got to a point, had the momentum, but we’re unable to push on. Instead we made it easy for Galway by silly fouls.
I also concur with points made by Olive. Very incisive observations.
On positive note, Mark Ruane cane through the game with flying colors.
So a serious reality check and a lot of work to be done.food for thought for management. We move forward with intent out of defence but flattened out to lateral passing by the time we got to forty. We’re a bit if a one trick pony right now. We need imo a focal player in ff line, a “Comer”, that can give us option of moving directly with fair chance of keeping possession.
How many goal chances did we create tonight?
Dont forget the loss of player of calibre of Tom Parsons is huge!
Horans in game “management “ again non existent !
Did he not watch Galway play in his time on Sky ?
Rochford getting more credit with every game .
Maybe the reason he took Boyle off so often was down to the fact he seems to lose discipline when he tires. Like tonight . He should have been subbed as soon as he had his hissy fit at deegan . Cost us the game in the end .
Ruane was excellent and the only bright spot
What was most concerning was the lack of shape 1st half and no evidence of any system or pattern of play. Diarmuid O’Connor is pivotal for Mayo and he was deployed at no.12 hugging the touchline for the 1st half. Kevin Walsh must have been delighted with this!
Our transition from defence to attack was shambolic. We looked like a bunch of 15 players who never took the field together. No unity of purpose.
Then when the game was there to be won and Galway were on the ropes we didn’t have the ability to do it.
A LOT OF SOUL SEARCHING AND REASSESSING REQUIRED.
Two years ago on this blog I suggested we tried to get Peter Canavan in as a forwards coach. For God sake is there anyone in the county or country who can show these lads how to cut out the lateral passing and kick it over the bar or go for goal. Honestly it’s not rocket science even Carlow and Leitrim have better forwards than us. If we had Emelyn Mulligan we’d have at least two all Ireland’s now. We need a top class forward coach and we need him or her yesterday
Is the loss of experience (McEntee, Barry Solan and Buckley) in the backroom team starting to show. Even the warm-up had no intensity and it carried through into first half of game.
Galway-Ros is big game now. If Ros win they have a Kerry team at home in final game who will already be in final. We would likely have to get minimum draw home to Monaghan – that wouldn’t be easy the way we are playing.
Where the hell are CONOR DISKIN and MICHAEL PLUNKETT .Two of the Success stories of our 1st 3 games!! Diskins physique and blistering pace is what we badly needed in our full forward line.Discipline in the tackle was well off tonite eventhough Deegan that Laois prick gave us nothing and never punished Shane Walsh for consistent time wasting with his frees , how many easy frees did we give Galway tonite!!
I Still would rather lose then play and win like Galway did tonite, pure negative horseshit football, Connacht Council should ban them and let them off up to Ulster to play that shite!!
When I compare who we have to come back and who Galway have to come back we will have a much tougher job to try and beat them in the summer.
Not much to look forward to.
Few things I want to say without sounding to negative.
The sideline were to slow at making changes tonight . 2/3 subs we did make were the tried and tested and the “younger player” got 5 mins when Galway were creeping out of sight.
What has Plunket and Diskin done to have fallen out of contention. I felt they showed really well when they have played.
We were so poor in attack the players getting on the end of the ball in scoring positions were not forwards. Nobody wanted to stand up and take a shot we just pass it around and then take a crazy shot selection.
The age is starting to show in our backs we need to bring in some younger blood for the next game or two.
I’m not worried I think we are safe and we have found 2/3 starters come championship. It’s just frustrating losing to Galway again and especially in the manner we lost it. Conceding a goal against 13 men is not what should be happening a team with ambitions of making the super 8s.
Does anybody know when Ryan O’Donaghue is expected to be back running ? I would like to see him at number 11 before the end of the league if at all possible.
I wouldn’t lay this at the door of the forwards. If we had the Galway half backline we’d have won the game comfortably.
– We need to move on from thinking we have a top half backline. Carrying the ball up the pitch is an out of date tactic.
– They left the full backline exposed all night and fouled continuously. We don’t know what is needed in a half back in 2019, it is Michael Plunkett that is needed. Tina Turners song comes to mind, we don’t need another hero.
We have too many players in our middle third trying to win the game on their own
Our forwards can’t get any semblance of run-pass-collect-shoot/layoff going as you can’t predict when our 5-9 will actually let the ball in.
David Drake clearly needs to be in our full backline and it be Higgins in our half backline with Plunkett and Durcan when he’s fit.
A fucking embarrassment. Out foxed and out played by a second string Galway team. Cleaned out at midfield and absolutely no structure to our defense, with forwards who won’t take on a shot at goal even with a gale behind them. Out of ideas and out of gas…..this team is finished.
I forgot to say that I thought Matthew Ruane was excellent tonight. Showed great leadership for a young guy.
I’m not going to get into naming who I thought was very poor again.
The final point I’ll make is where is our intensity (I’m saying this to myself and I sound like Pat Spillane) where is our spirit? Our will to win? It’s a game of football not a cuddling match.
It’s not intensity or fitness we need, it’s brains and structure.
We’re all action and no brains.
I agree JP but I’d hope to see some fight from us.
Maybe some of the guys are just getting sick of playing, hard to be expected to produce good performances on a weekly basis, most of the guys are a long number of years on the road.
Deserved win for Galway. Kevin Walsh has had Mayos number since 2016 and Mayo can’t seem to beat or score high against them. Only 0-4 from play all evening and conceding 1-1 against 13 men was embarrassing for Mayo lets be honest.
Such a pity we didn’t try out Aidan on the edge of the square in the first half. We were caught 40 – 50 m out with very few options for much of the first half, playing the high ball into Ado would potentially create additional scoring opportunities, some success would be better than what occurred. Second half was better, we put more pressure on Galway, bringing on KMc had a positive effect, we need to see more of him. We are fortunate to have 6 points in the bag, the prospect of Kerry in their own backyard is disconcerting…… It’s the league, and we’re building.
Aidan O Shea is a fantastic footballer but imo should either play defensive midfield or center half back. Has a good read on the game and any “would be number 11 “trying to get past him would want to watch it.
He has to be the best player in the country at dispossessing opponents. To see the way he pushed Sean Andy around today was incredible . And believe me Sean Andy looked like he hadn’t left the gym in months while Aido’s arms looked thin on the TV.
Ruane is exactly what I had thought and hoped he would be. He’s an all around midfielder who can do everything well. Good decision making while in possession and under pressure. He’s a find. McDonough too is good but Heaney got the better of him tonight. He gives me hope cause I think he learns during the game and he’ll learn from this.
Ruane and Aido is ( shall we say ) not a bad midfield with Parsons and Seamie as back up .
Our much vaunted half back line was taken out and when that happens it’s like gutting the engine of the Mayo team. We missed Paddy Durcan tonight and his daring forays . Lee is not himself . Boyler should be impact sub. Akram or others should be reconsidered ??
There was little direct play tonight and we just don’t do the other type well except in August in Croke Park. Aido holds up the play too much , an old habit .
I’d definitely not be in the camp of writing off this team . Yet ! The game against Kerry will tell a lot. We are playing them later than usual and we ideally want a result. Kerry don’t need a result and will likely play a less than full first team . If we don’t show real fight in that game then …!!!
The most frustrating thing about following Mayo is that at this late stage not having the craft or cuteness to eke our scores when things are not going well or to learn as we go along. Galway are cuter than us by a distance .
For example we played Roscommon in similar conditions and did we learn the lessons ? It didn’t look like it.
In that game Hennelly almost created a 1 on 1 goal chance with a kick out . Not sure if he was available but he would have put Galway under immense pressure had he been the keeper tonight .
To go along with that I had thought prior to the Roscommon game that the players should have been out practicing long shots before the game. All of them . Ditto tonight.
Finally , tonight was the night to play three players up front at all times and drive long ball in , in front of the forwards. If I am making it sound simplistic well it is all that. I’m not saying it’s easy to execute but nonetheless it should have been a big part of our strategy in the second half.
James Horan too needs to find form after three years out. It takes time and we are in transition. Of that there is little doubt. We need to allow them time to breathe. Talking about All Ireland’s is off the mark by a big distance right now. Galway though do this early season thing where they fire up big time in the league and by August they’re done ! Pooped !
To me Horan could be ( I say could ) very shrewd keeping the real heavy training until next month and after with a view to a later peak . I say that because our upper body strength and conditioning was non existent breaking the tackle tonight.
I hope and pray that the Boys of Summer have one last go at this because I have to believe some will not be back next year. But it’s one game at a time and surely , if ever it could be said , these guys owe us nothing .
Joe 2 – please use another handle. I’ve added a 2 to differentiate you from the original Joe who also posts regularly here.
At least we continued on wer we left off against Dublin not laying a glove on a man all evening!!!! Galways first 3 or 4 points…..talk about giving teams space and respect my god!
Said it here last week. Two things, Lee Keegan is so far off the pace which is such a shame and we need to find the right ONE position for AOS.
Ruane excellent player. Very direct runner and not afraid.
What a shambolic display tonight. I cant remember a worse effort at home. Maybe JH thinks we are staying up and is giving a new crop their chance but where is the intensity and desire when you put on that green and red? Mayo should be invincible at home.
Its the same old story lateral handpassing, cant win our kick outs, no body off the shoulder, too scared to kick in front of the posts, certain players slowing down the play. What are we doing at training? Its as if we are caught in a slow motion time warp.
You cant blame the conditions its the same for Galway. Running down blind ally ways and getting smothered only leads to frustration and stupid fouls.
Why cant the Team think for themselves? Surely AOS could move into FF for some of the 2nd Half with a gale blowing in our favour and disrupt the Galway FB line? No strategy. No intelligence and No balls. We need Plunkettband Diskin back for Kerry. DOC needs to play in midfield along with Mattie Ruane our only bright Light tonight. Move AOS into FF and leave him there. I keep saying this use him as aTarget it has to work.
The doom mongers out in force again which is a bit frustrating, which tonight’s match also was. Horan went for experimentation and it didn’t work. James Durcan who is just back from injury had a quiet half and Kevin Mc when introduced was quiet by his high standards.
Darren Coen showed well and showed some good vision on the ball. When ye look back on the replay ye will see this lad is a real footballer. Doesn’t seem to have killer pace but seems to find space regardless. Took up some great positions and wasn’t spotted. Also togged a lot bigger than I recall him from a previous era in the jersey. Was the one forward really using his brains in the 1st half with 2 great kick passes and just 1 mistake. Fionn McDonagh was quiet tonight. I also think the team had put in some serious training midweek and not saying Galway hadn’t either but it puts a bit of perspective.
Negative posters about Keegan didn’t notice he spent most of the game in around full back man marking Walsh which he did well – didn’t score form play.
There are negatives which I’ll post next and we have our work cut out to beat Galway and the Rosies come summer but I think it’s doable.
Those of us of a certain age can remember Mayo having footballers of the ilk of T. J. Kilgallon around the middle of the park. Not the best or classiest footballers in Ireland ( nor would they claim to be) and not part of the best team in Ireland but, my God, they were effective. They made things happen. They stopped players from playing while making it possible to allow others to play.When TJ & Co hit you, you stayed hit. Legally. The current set up, while much more highly vaunted and celebrated ( despite having achieved no more than their predecessors) are sadly short of people like TJ. Doers. Effective operators. Opponents knew for some days afterwards that they had played in a football match. Enough said at this hour but not before singling young Matthew Ruane for his great efforts last week and again tonight.
Backdoorsam – Leitrim/Carlow do not have better forwards than us. Ridiculous thing to say. Why isn’t Canavan coaching Tyrone if he’s so good? Stephen O’Neill is with them the last few years and it hasn’t made much difference.
I didn’t think we did much wrong in the first half playing against the gale. The goal was a killer however. People in the crowd getting frustrated with the keep ball probably contributed to the Galway goal on the counter. If there was no scores in that 10 minutes it would have been a good result for us.
Indiscipline cost us in the 2nd half. The Galway frees killed our momentum. Unfortunately I thought Boyle was especially rash. Keegan anonymous.
We need to try someone else at number 11. Aidan never kicks the ball in so it’s impossible for the full forward line to play well.
I’m not buying this new experiment, heavy training crap. Galway beat us again 2nte with an under strenght team and they have some tasty players to come back into the mix (mainly forwards)
We got bullied last week in croke park and had a great chance tonight to restore abit of pride and send them back down the n17 with a loss but no cudnt/didnt do it.
I know it’s early in the season but rule #1 ya never let the noisy neighbours come and bully ya in your own back garden.
There have been plenty of worse efforts at home, To Win Just Once 2. Last year against Tyrone was way worse than tonight’s display.
When they went down to 13 our lads seemed to go for the jugular and try to put Galway away with all out attack. All we had to do was to make sure to keep Galway scoreless during that period and possibly tack on a point ourselves and it would be – game over. We would have overtaken them in the second half. It was nearly impossible to score into the Albany end tonight from play.
Instead we forgot completely about defending. Our forwards let a defender carry the ball straight through them without a finger being laid on him. The goal that resulted was a killer in every sense because it gave Galway an almighty morale boost as well as a handsome lead. Remember we scored 13 points to their 12 as bad and all as we were. This was a game we should have won no question.
I agree with previous posters who mentioned Diarmuid O Connor playing along the sideline. If Diarmuid is one of our better players then he either needs to be in the middle or the ball should be played out to him. Otherwise it is a waste of good talent to have his likes chasing up and down the wing and not getting on the ball.
Missed goal chances proved costly tonight.
I think 1 of our first half goal chances ended up as a point at the other end.
The negatives for me were players running into mass contact (Donie and Jason in 1st half) and the fact that the Galway no 12 kept looping round the big fielders and mopping kickouts and Mayo had no one doing the same job. In the past it was Kevin Mc (who I think might have been stationed in corner forward when he came on) and Jason but neither were assigned to that task tonight. Whenever Lavelle had no one to kick it to he sent it into a a big malee on his left side and more often than not Galway came out with the ball but it was the moppers not the fielders that did the damage.
The second was 2 missed frees from the right, something which was flagged before. I for one was calling for McDonagh to take one from there and it didn’t work out, maybe nerves. Jason’s miss of the upright was an 80/20 at the very least and was a real momentum changer as had we scored it I think we’d have kicked on from there. Bit like Donegal and Tyrone league matches a few years back where misses dropped the confidence to kick on and win.
On Aido, I think ye’ll find he was one of our better performers. Won a few frees, few brilliant catches and kicked in a great pass for Andy’s brilliant advanced mark. Also robbed Lavelle on one of his runs out which the referee spoiled by getting in the way.
The biggest negative was how we contrived to concede a goal when Galway were down to 13 and how we didn’t come up with a way to tear them apart during that spell. Dublin or Kerry would have.
A few normal experienced big performers were below par and I put that down to hard training but that’s just a theory. Without Paddy Durcan in there we don’t have a great half back line right now.
Out goal right now has to be to win Connaught and worry about where that takes us. Either of our main opponents in Connaught could take us out. I wouldn’t be getting too worried about Galway racking up another win, just about improving our performances in advance of the championship.
Lee Keagan is out of sorts not sure why he has not been taken off in any game. Eoin o Donoghue Needs to be back in the team. Maybe the younger lads don’t need as much game time as they have been playing college football but we need to be gelling a team together.
In look bad tonight but we’re a couple of plus’s Mathew Ruane looked the seasoned pro instead of his older teammates. Well done young man. I suppose the other positive that James Carr was listed on the bench for the first time this year so he must be getting over his injury.
A Few surprises for me James Kelly and Conor loftus we’re on the match day panel against Dublin they didn’t get on but today no sight of them and Conor o Shea and James Carr comes in. I felt that Darran Coen tried hard and in better conditions desires another start. Caolan Crowe what is his roll. What is his best position. Michael Plunkett needs to be brought back in for his foot passing alone. Thought Galway looked to have more footballers on the train field tonight playing with intelligence. We ran into dead ends at times. Still think we are sort in midfield with Ruane our best option. Where we Seamus o Shea tonight
3 points in 38 mins of 1st half . A hell of a lot to work on yet .
3 subs made today
One in the 69th minute
Eoin o Donoghue and Plunkett amongst the unused subs
Conor Loftus nowhere to be seen whilst Darren Coen (selected by no mayo manager bar Horan ) played the full game
Horan was blessed imo to have the most talented group of players ever in his first stint . In their prime. He had his chance .
Rochford must have a wry smile on his face tonight
Might start getting some credit now
He made some bold calls in big games . Some worked . Some didn’t .
But he made the calls
And ultimately came closer to winning an AI than Horan did . Or will imo .
This expression of being bullied really pisses me off. It’s simply not the case, it was a fairly physical game by both teams which lacked intensity in a few phases of the game and both teams let it drop on occasion but for the most part the effort made was big. Complain about the quality if you like but the being bullied thing is pure shite. Galway have more height than most teams in Ireland and are no pushover but bully us they didn’t. Most people saying Ruane did well and I agree but they also say we lost midfield. We lost the game mainly because of kickouts on a windy night. Lavelle is a better kicker and when forced to kick long he picked the less worse options. The momentum was with us and we lost it following that missed free off the post.
km79 following that comment you may as well give up and stop supporting Mayo. I wouldn’t want you beside me in the stands with that level of negativity. Dissing Coen who looked good on the ball, showed well and often wasn’t given it and dissing Horan even down to the point of saying Roch would have a smile on his face which is the greatest insult to both managers IMO. Are you actually a Mayo fan or just a troll?
In fairness folks, people throw out that heavy training every time we lose a game, can we move away from that ? We can’t be the only team heavy training.
Would like to see what Schlingermann is made of, named repeatedly on panel but that’s about it. Clarke is slipping and Hennelly still gives us the fear, albeit Hennellys last 2 performances have been solid. We can’t be letting theses soft goals in.
Ruane is very exciting, deffo has secured his championship spot.
Want to see more starts by Diskin and Reape. Give them real game time, useless coming in with 2-3 mins to go.
Wide ball Emelyn Mulligan would walk on to this Mayo team name one Mayo forward that’s better than him from play and is not afflicted by the lateral pass curse and has the balls to kick it over the bar. I still say we need a forwards coach.well you know what I’m sick of losing to Galway and losing big games to Donegal Kerry Dublin and throw in Meath and Cork while we’re at it cos we hadn’t a forward to take the game by the scruff of the neck and put the ball over the bar. I know fellas that would score more on a night out than we scored
In the first half tonight. Why is it that Galway have consistently produced better forwards than us.
Win Connacht someone suggests? I don’t think that’s a likely outcome. An under strength Galway team beat us last night. Galway will be a bigger force as the year unfolds and as Corofin players become available. Ok, we have Cillian to return to the fold but I feel, on the evidence available thus far, that in the pecking order we are well behind the Tribesmen. When the excrement hit the air conditioning in McHale Park we looked to 35 year old loyal and dependable Andy to bail us out. This is the future folks. And to those of us who accept unvarnished truths it sure as hell ain’t rosy.
Higgins needs to be in half back line. Full back line should come from Barrett Harrison o donoughue drake and Cafferkey. Half backs Durcan Keegan Higgins Plunkett Vaughan. Midfield Aidan Diarmuid and Ruane . Aidan has many attributes but scoring isn’t one forwards need to kick points first and foremost. Half forwards McLoughlin McDonagh Diskin loftus . Cillian Doherty Reape Coen r o donoughue
Emlyn Mulligan doesn’t even start for division 4 Leitrim these days so we have plenty better than him. It’s a it disrespectful to Andy, Cillian, Jason, Kevin, Diarmuid and 1 or 2 others to say that.
I am not the To win just once who posted at 11 48. Having said that I am equally disappointed but not as pessimistic. First of all tonight is a wake up for some fans. The amount of people here tipping us to beat Dublin and Galway is incredible. We simply can’t live with dublin at this time of the year and Galway are unbeaten against us since 2015. Added to that we have a new manager who is doing a huge amount of experimentation as we have already 6 points so where is all this optimism coming from.We are very mediocre at the moment. We got Tyrone at the right time. Horan has introduced some new players.As such they are inconsistent. Some play well one day,another plays well the next but it takes time so we must be patient. We have been desperately unlucky with the weather in castlebar. How can a new lad trying to impress play well in those type of conditions. For years we have been talking about giving all these new lads a good run but the fact is that none of them have really impressed on a consistent basis. So we have to turn to the older lads again and the problem is that some of those great warriors are just not playing well at the moment. My favourite player Leeroy has been poor in the league and while Boyler was his usual wholehearted self he conceded some stupid frees. Donie wasn’t great and even Andy did not impress. So tonight was very disappointing but it’s in summer we make the judgements. Galway appear to he better than us now but if we beat them in June tonight will be forgotten about. We as supporters need to accept the limitations of this team but we also need to acknowledge that we were as bad or worse in the league in previous years but were superb in the championship in those same years. So stop getting carried away when we win a game and stop crying when we lose one. The aim of the league for us is to survive in Division One and bring in new players. We look on course to do both of those.
There are no excuses anymore. No “sure we’re only back training since January “, or “just off the plane last week from the Players holiday” bullshit. Galway were far smarter and incisive with the ball. Example, in the first half their no.15 hit a 50m pass with the wind to the stand side, he then sprinted through the middle untouched, received the return pass, shimmied, and drove it straight over the bar from 40m out. 3 passes from back to front and over the bar. Simple. We couldn’t do that.
Another example, 3 or 4 times in the first half when they had the wind, they attacked down their left hand side, recycled the ball back out to a forward coming around on the loop, and bang. Over the bar from 40m with just 3 or 4 passes to the right man, in the right position on the field and the wind at his back.
When we had the wind we never even thought of trying anything like that. We handpassed over and back in front of their defense and waited for a half back to rugby style bulldoze his way through. We did this over and over again and got nothing for it. During this stage we scored 1 pt in 18 mins from 6 shots at goal!
We got what we deserved and truth be told the writing was on the wall at half time because we were never going to score enough against their defense to claw back a 7 pt arrears.
Apologies, To Win Just Once (i.e. the original one) – I didn’t realise that wasn’t you.
To Win Just Once (i.e. the not-original one) – please find another handle as that one is taken.
All – this is an increasing problem. If you’re posting for the first time, then please do what yoj can to ensure you’re not using a handle that is in use by someone else.
But that’s not wholly true, Pebblesmeller – we’d cut the deficit back to just a single point with fifteeen minutes left to play. We’d loads of time to close out the win from there but we blew it, plain and simple. That was the real frustration about tonight. Galway weren’t, as many are claiming, streets ahead of us or anything like that. We had them at our mercy and simply failed to complete the job.
Heavy training
Rebuilding
Boys of summer
Bullshit
You don’t hear this crap coming from Dublin.
No matter what level of player you have available you have to
1. Play with some sort of game plan.
2. Play like you’ve actually trained together
3. Put the ball over the bar.
The only consistency we are seeing is consistently below par team displays.
Do we look like we are tactically astute ? No
Introducing new players into a team has to have some semblance of organisation attached to it.
You cannot build a team by introducing new players on to a team that doesn’t have a proper system of playing to begin with.
It increases the haphazardous way we play and teaches the new lads how to play in an unorganised fashion.
We look unqualified to play against middling teams.
The main goal of playing football is to move the ball up the field and kick it over the bar and have a system in place that allows us.to do that repeatedly.
We don’t seem to have that.
@ to win just once…careful there! that sort of balanced view wont be popular….there is a lot of venting going on. mean we just lost a league game at home and that has never happened before…oh wait..
All we can do now is stand by them and not give up.
When you honor in song and in story
The names of the patriot men,
Whose valor has covered with glory
Full many a mountain and glen,
Forget not the boys of the heather
Who rallied their bravest and best
When Ireland was broken in Wexford
And looked for revenge to the West.
I give you the gallant old Mayo boys,
Where rallied our bravest and best
When Ireland lay broken and bleeding;
Hurrah for the men of the West!
The hilltops with glory were glowing
‘Twas the eve of a bright harvest day,
When the ship we’d been wearily waiting
Sailed into Killala’s broad bay.
And over the hills went the slogan
To awaken in every breast
The fire that has never been quenched, boys,
Among the true hearts of the West.
I give you the gallant old Mayo, boys,
Where rallied our bravest and best
When Ireland lay broken and bleeding;
Hurrah for the men of the West!
Killala was ours ere the midnight,
And high over Ballina town
Our banners in triumph were waving
Before the next sun had gone down.
We gathered to speed the good work, boys
And history can tell how we routed
The redcoats through old Castlebar.
I give you the gallant old Mayo, boys,
Where rallied our bravest and best
When Ireland lay broken and bleeding;
Hurrah for the men of the West!
Up Mayo. Tonight was shit but we keep the faith. Fight the good fight and never give up.
Mayo were brutal tonight, plain and simple but we still should have won, Galway were not as good as some are saying. The goal was a joke, Galway had only one man in our half but he still was allowed to collect the ball and wait for support, all the while Mayo having 2 extra men, ridiculous stuff.
Still we should have won, 1 pt behind with 15 mins to go with all the momentum, that game should have been closed out. The senior players really let the side down at this stage, following the free off the post, Andy hit a wild shot that nearly hit the corner flag, Higgins, Boyle, Keegan giving away silly frees on our own 20 yrd line was absolutely shocking. The only man to play with any maturity was Mattie Ruane who looked a seasoned operator, best mayo man for miles.
Also while in the car home Mid west commentators talking about possible league final, crazy stuff, were they actually at the game.
Wowza, that was tough. Time to shift gears and get ready for NYC. Sorry to say that if you’re not in the 2019 plans or a possible future contributor, there’s no time for you. Got to start to refine who’s helping this summer. Like others have already stated and as I have been begging for, how come Plunkett has disappeared? Been asking for minutes for Drake but that opportunity has passed for now.
We lost the game when it reached championship
Level in the final 15 minutes .Both teams got more aggressive and we lost our brains giving away silly frees.
THE POSITIVES are that it was a day that suited a mean defence.
Matthew Ruane was superb .
With the chance of the league gone we might
Unearth another forward ( Diskin ,Moran ,Treacy
Coen ,O Donoughue ,Reape and Loftus all should
get a run if fit.)
Mayo are a Summer Team .
Who’s teaching these young lads how to shoot!!!
A glimpse of what’s to come in the summer.
“Heavy training”, “wait til Cillian comes back”, “it’ll be different come championship” – all complete denial. That was a second string Galway team.
The team has no pace or organisation. The defence hugely problematic, forwards who are afraid to shoot, and a midfield that will be even more well beat come summer. As for Horan, he is playing as if it’s simply 15v15 and everyone just goes out and does their best – no tactical awareness at all. I’m starting to think Buckley left because he knew it was over in Mayo and the future is Kerry. His absence is very noticeable by the way – the quality of our tackling has been shocking.
We are facing into a difficult time. Things aren’t going to magically improve in the summer. We won’t win connacht and we are not a super 8 team. That’s becoming more apparent.
The 4 horsemen of the apocalypse must have held station in McHale park tonight! Such is the level of doom here since the final whistle.
We’ve a few games left for try a few more players and tactics etc… Then it’s head down for the Nestor Cup.
The team isn’t dead but we definitely aren’t firing on all cylinders.
We win a game they are heroes, we lose again it’s literally the world is over.
Keep the faith.
We are not dead but we are in decline…it’s clear and you can see it. Horan needs to play as many young lads as possible now for the rest of the league. It’s sad but our great team since 2011 while giving us many great days failed to win Sam and it’s sickening.
Galway have better players now than us and we could be in for a tough few years.
Can someone tell me who are all these injured players on the galway team everyone is on about?
Can only think of 2 comer and conroy.
Ian burke with corrifin.
Galway had a serious panel there last night but for our woeful shooting they would have lost.
Fustrating game to watch from a mayo point of view but i have seen alot worse in previous years in league incounters.
Cant understand oshea and diarmuid taking line balls when they should be in there themselves.
Nobody in for the ball off the post again will we ever learn.
Well done matty ruane.
I would say Comer, Burke, Liam Silke, Sean Kelly Dylan Wall from Corofin and the goalie Bernard Power from Corofin. To be honest Galway have developed a good panel and the likes of John Daly, Antaine O’Laoi are the future whereas great servants like Bradshaw, O’Donnell and Conroy likely panelists from here on.
Honestly, Galway definite starters for summer missing last night, Declan Kyne, Liam Silke, Paul Conroy, Cillian Mc Daid, Ian Burke, Damien Comer.
Last night Galway were excellent in the first half , dominated half back and midfield and got great scores. Antaine OLaoi making his second ever start had a stormer. We knew at half time against the wind and with the home crowd there would be kick in Mayo.
However the biggest reason was Tom Flynn and Barry Mc Hugh going off injured and the break. We had only one recognized midfielder for the whole second half. I thought Mayo would win this game but JH went back to the older players and in my opinion he is not persisting with the younger lads.
Great stuff mayonaze
People on about galway having a lot of players with corofin and players injured at the end of the day they can only put 15 on the field the same for us it’s harder to take when it’s galway well it’s going to be like that for the next few years we had better players on the bench last night but they didn’t get a chance it’s time to let the youth take over sorry but it’s the end for a lot of them this year but we will be there in July and August it’s only early
Look folks when yu have to keep bringing andy moran on to rescue it says alot fair play andy great player nothing to prove but i fear james is trying to keep this team afloat we just dont seem to have forwards to kick from 30yrds galway kicks from out kerry do it all day dublin kicks points from 45 all day we have to carry the ball right up to the wire passing ball over and back side to side poorr state of play sorry but mayo football in decline
The only positive I seen was Ruane. Move on.
Incredibly frustrating and demoralising performance. Abject first half, playing worse against 13 than 15. Then a frantic spell in 2nd half when we get it back to a point and have all the ball and momentum. But yet again we didn’t have the composure or smarts to close it out. instead we gave away stupid stupid frees for Galway to keep their noses in front.
I’m as pessimistic about the championship as i have been since before Horan mark 1 tbh
Galway’s goal chance couldn’t have been taken any better, regardless of who was in the team to take it.
Easy to forget things when they go your way, but what was going on with the umpire in the second half? Wanted to give a point despite not knowing. Eventually given wide.
Don’t expect to win a match if your team miss frees from 14 yards, Mayo missed 3 very handy tap overs last night but seemed to score from the longer range ones. This has happened on a few occasions in McHale Park. I don’t recall Cillian missing any of those handy ones ever.
Fitness and particularly strength is lacking in a number of players, when a few of the older guys got a knock they were slow to get back up.
People on this site we’re wondering why Mayo gave away frees late in the game, this can be either the referee being too particular or probably a lack of fitness and being clumsy in a lazy tackle. Thanks mayomick for the footage of the match.
We had a very kickable free to level the game with fifteen minutes to go last night. Doc hits the post with it but we win the ball back immediately and hit Andy with a decent long ball into the corner. Andy then took on the shot when he would have been much better advised to look for support.
We’re not miles off Galway but the decision making is suspect at the minute.
I said during the week that Aiden OShea should try and score more from his position. He is playing in forwards. He gets a lot of posession but passes ball away and after three or four passes the ball in sent wide or lost. He has scored some great goals in the past. He should kick for points from distance and will of course miss some but will also score some and should practice kicking points between now and next match. We are not getting enough scores from his good posession and work rate. Badly need free taker back.
Next time I see that eir van I am going to stop it and get cillian out and tell him mayo needs him big time level it with me ??
The wounds are still fresh this morning, thought I would feel better about last night’s disaster but if anything, the dejected feeling is much worse. Sadly, I feel that the Galway game marks the beginning of the end for this Mayo squad (including management) and in a way it could also be viewed as the beginning of something new because for sure we need a clean slate approach in Mayo. Just to be clear, I’m not for one second blaming any individual for our inability to play consistent quality football, I’m sure each member of the squad always plays to their best ability but their best or even best++ is just not even close to the standard required to win an All-Ireland.
Its pretty obvious to everyone that our current (+past) form is all about not being able to execute the one basic task in Gaelic football … score points. I don’t know the reasons for this but I’m sure a lot stems from management’s complicated coaching tactics and they sometimes forget that GAA football in it’s pure form is a very simple game .. strike the ball from 20 or 30 yards between two uprights 6.5m apart. I don’t know if we have a full-time forward coach and if yes then he needs to be replaced urgently because when you play almost 2 hours of football and you score only 3 points from play plus have 30+ wides then something is radically, radically wrong and it is not all down to the players.
So, where do we go from here … we will probably get another lesson on how to play the simple game by the Kerry gasúrs and then struggle to get a point from the Monaghan game to stay up. Would going down to Div 2 be a bad thing, might it be the genuine reality check we need, might it take the pressure off everyone and give the county a chance to re-group/re-build from bottom up.
Whatever happens, Mayo will always have a huge loyal following because we are passionate about our football and boy does it hurt when we are beaten off the pitch. Finally, let’s all please think about the players/management because when we feel the supporter’s pain can you imagine what they are going through.
Up Mayo !!.
Very disappointed with that but we have to keep going. Mayo will be alright come summer. If we had won there last night it would have only papered over the cracks. You learn more in defeat than in winning and you can use that pain as a serious motivator later on when it really matters. I said here after the Dublin game that we would most likely shuffle it around again and probably lose to Galway in the process. Unfortunately I was proven correct. The real trick here for JH is not to allow these defeats to damage confidence. We should be used of this in the league by now – we’ve plodded along in Division 1 like this for years!
I have done it myself , dipping into nostalgia and history forgetting that sport is about now. So quoting about fiery Mayo Men of West when Wexford lay broken and bleeding needs context. A series of skirmishes was brutally extinguished in Ballinamuck. The French officers treated as gentlemen and unharmed. The Irish immediately hung as traitors. And Humbert? He died a presceful death as s school master in New Orleans USA . History won’t turn us now. Kicking the ball over the bar without fuss might be a good place to start.
Tuamstar forgot about McDaid. Definite championship starter. Serious footballer box to box style. Conroy not sure. Maybe more impact at this point of his career. As for Mayo Horan trying guys only way forward although where is Diskin. Reape and McDonagh need to be persisted with. Connacht will be very competitive. Not sure of Mayo’s ambitions in Horan’s first year but KW no doubt is in ‘drive on mode’ to reflect the serious talent in the Galway squad.
All the negatives this morning for sure. Galway needed 2 to be safe and they are now. We were safe before this game started. There was an urgency about their game that was lacking in ours until the second half. Stop trying to hang those you are supposed to be supporting. The positives are and always will be that some more members of the panel got good experience of Div 1 football. The negatives are that our transition from defence to attack is woefully inadequate. We take an age to counter attack. Very obvious last week when we faced a team with real pace. Second thing is we want to hold on to possession with short hand passing movements at the same time loosing the ball in the tackle or get penalised for over carrying. Head frying stuff to watch, very inefficient and ultimately counter productive. Where is our kick passing game gone. It’s still early season, 2 teams in totally different places at the present time. It will all come good in a couple of months. In James we trust.
How many times have we seen Mayo tear up the field stop around the 40, look, pass back, across, back, across etc etc…they is no rhythm to our forward play. We struggle against mass defenses but come on, our shot selection was poor agin last night and as mentioned the routine free kicks were missed.
For the first time since 2011 I am not feeling great about the summer ahead. Established great Players are getting older, more mileage, injuries and youth while been given a chance needs to be persisted with.
We will be doing well to win a Connacht title this year.
It’s difficult to make an assessment about how the championship is likely to go based on five league games but what we’ve seen so far is not encouraging. The forwards looked clueless in the first half yesterday and some of the new guys did not look like they will be making an impression any time soon. The breeze was certainly a factor but in those conditions you need to be locking down your defence and not giving away silly frees close to goal. It beggars belief that we could not at least stop Galway from scoring during the time when they were down to 13 men. Given all that transpired however the game was still there to be won from 10-15 minutes out but the 7-point deficit at the break was just one step too far. Despite how often the age-profile of the team is mentioned Galway looked a far more experienced and cuter team last night in how they managed the game given the weather conditions at hand. I think we are just going to have to accept that it isn’t going to be a quick transition period for this team and we will see a lot more of these kind of matches before a new panel emerges and starts to gel together.
We are not safe from relegation in 6 points.
Dreading the Kerry game.
I think the reason people are so upset is after the first 3 games it seemed we were further along than we actually were. The league is about finding new players, it’s year one for Horan here, it’s walshes 5th year with Galway so it’s to be expected that they’d be more advanced with their style of play. A couple of inaccuracies being spouted about here since the game
Galway are miles ahead of mayo – not true, we had them on the ropes last night but lack of composure killed us. They’re was also a mile or space in front of Galways one or two forwards that they could run into, the space wasn’t there in Galway defense so we couldn’t get the same type of scores. Not making excuses, our forward unit didn’t function and we should have had a man covering the between midfield and their forward unit. Also some of our senior players not playing well the last two games.
Need to give new players a chance – Horan has started reape, Coen, ruane, plunkett, McDonagh, McCormack, Treacy, he’s also made around 6 changes to the starting team from game to game. You can’t just parachute in 15 new players and hope for the best! They need to play with experienced players.
The beginning of the end for team and management – it’s horans 4th game……..
If the league has shown us anything it’s the value of cillian o Connor to this team. An experienced proven free taker is an absolute must at this level. Hennelly should have started last night. It wasn’t a night for Clarke’s restarts.
We are not a super 8 team…Leitrim and Cavan have better forwards. End of the road for management. For fuck sake…would people get a grip. If Leitrim and Cavan had better forwards maybe the would be Div 1 teams? Can someone please name the eight teams in the country better than us? Maybe the current management need a little longer than 5 league games before they are judged!
Can we reach the levels of a couple of years ago…who knows? I think the big question is whether some of our more senior players have enough in the tank to give it another proper lash come championship time? If they can hit somewhere near those levels and one or two of the younger guys coming through can make an impact I expect us to be very competitive..if not I still think we will make the super 8s but that will probably be that.
It is not all doom an gloom..Mattie Ruane was very good last night. Fionn Mcdonagh looks like a proper baller. I would like to see more of Diskin and Plunkett..they have also looked very impressive from what I have seen. There is a lot of young talent in the county which gives me plenty of hope we wont be far from the top table for long.
I like everyone was disappointed with last night’s efforts. As poor as we were at times we lost by two points not twenty two as you may believe the score to have been if you read some of the comments here without seeing the result. The much lauded Kerry beat this Galway team by a single point last weekend.
I also notice people dismissing the fact that Mayo have played their best football in the summer…well I hate to break it to you but in recent years this is very much the case…the results speak for themselves. So until the Summer comes I will reserve judgement on the current team and management and keep the faith.
That should read horan’s 5th game.
A bad result;
Ruane did not look out of place.Needs a strong player with him SoS?
We now know why Boyle is always substituted
Leeroys form is a big worry.
I was worried about Clarkes kickouts in the first half but the Galway keeper did no better.
I think Darren Coen will make team by summer
Keith Higgins as a sweeper or forward.
I wonder where all the “we need a strong Galway” posters are gone?
People on here need to calm down a bit. End of the road for the management team…he’s been in the job for about 5 mins. Its still only March. Im not sayin we’re going to win sam this year. But its still another 3 months before championship time. All is not lost yet.
Well said NiallMc1983, Walterwhite and Dave Johnston. Mayonaze, enjoyed that.
Very disappointing overall. We matched them with intensity but they were cuter when it mattered. We always seem very naive and just go to play our normal game without taking into accout the opposition or conditions
Ruane good again
Happy with how McDonagh is progressing
I was happy with Darren Coen. 3 clever kick passes in the first half set up a bit.
Felt sorry for Durcan. Not a great half to make a start
Overall the younger players seemed more likely to kick pass than the older players, i dont know what that means.
Worried about management, very slow to do anything good or bad. Admired Rochford for making calls
So hard for inside forwards to show well with the way we play. Its just too congested when the ball gets up to the last third
If it were to be a Mayo v Galway connacht final, where would it be played ?
Altair, sorry but the 7 point deficit was not a step too far. We were 1 point down with 15mins to go with a gale force wind at our backs. We should have won that game by 3 or 4 points at the end. Galway deserved the win but Mayo should have collected the points from that position.
Decision making on the field was atrocious and this included senior players who should know better. Higgins, Keegan and Boyle guilty of conceeding stupid frees on our own 20 yrd line, schoolboy stuff. Shot selection very poor from all involved.
Positives and they were not many, ruane shook head and shoulders above everyone else in a Mayo shirt. Darren Coen showed glimpses of quality and deserves more game time, Barrett looked okay and will improve with games.
Well said Walter white, I too will reserve judgement until summer comes and keep the faith. Ok it wasn’t what we hoped for but we’ve been here at this time of year many times.
IT WAS a terrible night for football, and it was a game of 2 halves.
Try to feel what players feel this morning and alto I love this blog I feel that those writing off mgmt and team for this year is so wrong.
Less pressure from us the better. The players will move on as they always do.
Let’s all just continue to support, and we do that in a way that no other county does.
Looking forward to May w’end in NY miles away from a cold raining gail force winds McHale Park.
@paddyjoejohntom – a Galway Mayo Connacht final would be in Pearse Stadium.
I wouldn’t be getting carried away with last night from either supporters point of view.
We are obviously happy to have got the win but summer football is completely different.
At the end of the day – a meeting between these 2 teams during the summer will be 50/50 as it almost always is.
When one team is generally going better – the other is always capable of stepping up and winning (ala Mayo in 1999 & Galway in 2016).
I agree with Walter White and Mairead and will also reserve judgement until the (summer), towards the end of July, if we make it that far.
These defeats are not easy to take, given what we have seen of this team’s achievements and nous in the past. I too felt a bit sorry last night seeing strong individual Galway players and ourselves struggling.
However, let’s reserve the doom until summer – it’s too easy to fall into that pit.
I think Horan has continued being committed to introducing and rotating players just as much as wanting to win games. We supporters want to win games, of course, but it must only be a joint priority for Horan. I say this because he decided to give Clarke an outing this time although Hennelly was stellar last week. I’m not talking about the importance of either of those players last night – I’m just giving an example. Surely Hennelly would have been a surer bet given his performance last week but maybe that wasn’t the only priority for the manager.
He’s committed to rolling out different players and giving them some time, maybe in part working off a sort of schedule or plan he has done up. If Horan was solely anxious for a win yesterday and NOTHING else I don’t know would he have put on Darren Coen against Galway (that’s absolutely no comment on his skill, as I thought he had a very good game) – Darrren hasn’t played competitive football with Mayo in a good long time until last night.
Another interesting point – we’ve discovered Mattie Ruane and he’s excellent. From the bit I’ve seen of him I like his temperament – he’s solid, brave and gets stuck in. He’s a real find and I think can walk into a championship team. That’s a real positive for us in the overall scheme of things to get back to where we want to be (and to fit into the Mayo team we know).
We’re playing these games without Tom Parsons, a real loss. Another positive and another area Horan experimented with last night (giving it a go, maybe not going all hung ho for winning as a sole priority) – we fielded a mid-field without Seamie O’Shea, Tom Parsons OR Diarmuid O’C, our recent go-to midfield. We had Donal Vaughan and Mattie Ruane in there all game and they held out. It’s interesting that this frees up DOC for being used in a role elsewhere on the pitch if need be. That’s a discovery.
Lee will improve as summer comes. As a player his trademark for me is incisive running – we haven’t had much opportunities for this yet and maybe the team aren’t at that level of training yet.
But the most thing that gives me hope is that we have seen evidence so far this Spring that we can play – we haven’t gone belly-up. The fast slick running and scoring against Tyrone, that prolonged period of “getting it together” last night against Galway in the second half and the build up for the goal attempt by Andy Moran against Dublin – great movement, co-operation and co-ordination. Mayo are mesmerising when they are like this and they’re hard to live with. We haven’t seen much of it yet as it’s only March, and we don’t know if we will see it later, but Horan and co have a vision, I would say, of how they want Mayo to play. Whether they manage to get it to fruition come June/July is a different question but let’s have a closer look then. In those few examples above we’ve shown we can do it.
There’s also the thing that Mayo might themselves need to have some time to get into their groove since the end June 2018 layoff. Although they have been training maybe we need to consider that they also need time to reach the levels needed for high level competitive football.
People have been giving out about Boyler but I personally was delighted to hear him getting stuck into the game last night. I listened on Mid West. Seeing one of our stalwarts getting involved like this gave me encouragement. This was a lot better than what appeared like apathy last week against Dublin.
Let’s try to chill a little and support the lads. I know it’s hard to relax on these but let’s see how we go in a few months.
Reape has a serious record against that Galway full back. Has cleaned him out at underage and senior level. Bought him on with couple minutes left. Crazy stuff. Very amateur mgt at this level .
I agree Reape should have been brought on earlier and as already alluded to Horan must persist with the new guys. The underage match you refer to against SA O’Ceallaigh was in the provincial u21 semi in 2017. In fairness Reape was Mayo’s best player but overall Galway a good bit better. I recall Sean Andy having a serious campaign that year with the Reape match up certainly not his best performance.
Swallow Swoops you just nailed it ! 🙂
Thank you Swallow Swoops. You said what I feel but better at expressing it.
Christ almighty the doomsday stuff on here is way over the top. It was a poor first half and poor decision making when the game was there for us to get a result. We are all sick of losing to Galway, it’s gone on way too long – especially with the stuff coming from their fans in the crowd (nasty goading stuff last night). But a bit of perspective please: is our division 1 status secure? when is the last time we were consistently good in the league (including JH last period)? What serious team plays only new players in division 1? How many encouraging young performers will we have at the end of this campaign? Did reaching a final and winning the league do much for Kerry’s summer success in 2016 and 2017? How has the messiah James Horan become so useless after a few league games? Some of the older players may be near the end but can we have a bit of faith in James Horan that he is smart enough to not indulge them. If he plays them, I’m sure he has a reason. Probably a more information based reason than us!!! Tactically and style of play we may have reason to be a bit anxious… but let’s calm the F down with all the other Mayo Apocalypse stuff!!!!
Thanks Swallow and Walter, ye got the sanity plea in before me.
Great post Swallow, we are as very fickle bunch. As a Mayo man living and working in Galway the defeats are very hard to stomach, but we must be patient. We all wanted new blood last year, it takes time for the new lads to integrate and prove their mettle. James needs to be given time. As bad and all as we feel….the lads will be feeling a lot worse. #rebuild #rally
In defense of Horan and co I’d say the rotation of the team can’t be easy. Lads playing with a bit of fear trying to either hold onto their place or not lose it.
Probably time now to settle on the same first team for a few games.
Good to see Darren Coen finally get a chance after being unfairly excluded for over 4 years. Despite no game time he was one of the few bright spots – he showed well and played some great kick passes that ended in scores – good vision on the ball too but over-anxious in 2nd half. Mayo suffer from “fear of winning syndrome” – we all know, from bitter experience that Mayo usually start to fold in the final quarter. Irish rugby had a similar problem pre-Schmidt – that malaise can be fixed – it’s MOSTLY IN THEIR HEADS!
People need to get a bit of perspective. Swallow??/ said all in his/her post. Just a league game in February. When have we ever taken these matches serious? We usually do enough to survive and leave the real stuff for the summer. This is what we do and I include the Kildare game last year. Serious effort made. People with absolute opinions. We are finished! Mayo are a spent force! Get a grip lads. Homer Simpson would not be out of place here with the swings in emotion from week to week. We lost to Galway by a point. Galway lost to Kerry by a point. Dublin are on a different level altogether. Their panel is so big they can stroll through the league. I still think that come championship when we have hard ground, a full panel, injuries managed and opposition analysed that we can compete. The negativity may lead me to wonder should I sit in the far corner of the ground on my own and not listen to the vile opinions being expressed around me at matches and should I stay off GAA blogs that come up with the same highs and lows from week to week. Whilst I note house rules about not commenting on other posters I feel I have to as they are affecting the team and the atmosphere surrounding the commentary of and about the team which eventually feeds into the psyche of the team and the county.
Sinabhuil – Yes we’ve had poor league performances in recent years but why can’t this year be different? We haven’t beaten Galway in 4 years so what we’ve done the last few years hasn’t worked.
You can write it off as just the league but grinding out narrow wins at this time of year will stand to us later on. We should be looking to Kerry as an example. Like us, they were knocked out early last year and have a new manager. They haven’t been playing champagne football so far but the winning habit is massive for young players.