145 thoughts on “Mayo 0-14 Kerry 2-13: going down?”

1. Do we deserve to stay up? We will probably survive if we beat Roscommon and Down but it will be one hell of a tough task to beat Roscommon

2. its early in the year but we could well go down now and having just watch Rosscommon beaten Donegal we will do well to get a result out of that either however we will be desperate and that might get us over the line. I’m delighted for McStay and Rosscommon this is great for them, as for us we need to sort out the frees and the wide because if we kicked half or wide’s we would have won the game.

3. Had to listen to it on Mid West. Sounded like the old failings came back to haunt us again. Too many wides and missed frees, it just won’t cut it at this level. Still haven’t got the required cover back, Boyle was left on his own for the first goal.

   We certainly are staring down the abyss at this moment in time, but with the Rossies safe in Div 1 we can make a big statement in two weeks. It ain’t over til it’s over. Two wins still perfectly doable.

4. 12 wides for us v 4 wides for them tells its own story. Nothing up front.

   Aiden O’ Shea is not a FF. Why do we persist with him up front. Catch the ball and barge through. Maybe get a free from 25 yards which will then be kicked wide. Why do we persist with a free taker who clearly does not want to take them?

   We might get away with these tactics against London and will probably only have limited success in division 2 next year.

   Rochford should have sorted the free taking issues by now. Seems like we make it up as we go along.

5. Two dams are about to burst,

   1. Mayo are gone, a spent force and will be lucky to beat London.
   2. The Rossies will win Sam and dominate Connacht for the next 15 years.

   I predict neither will happen.
   Your never as good and your never as bad they say you are.

6. Very disapointing!

   1) Free taking, 4+ points left behind
   2) Setup to be defensive but let in two goals, one right through the middle!
   3) No support for inside forward line, need to get bodies there earlier.
   4) Some of big game players did not perform or were kept quiet busy.

   Thought Tom Parsons had a good game started really well in first half.

   Need to regroup for the Rossies, can be done but we need a plan Bs in a number of areas, particularly when direct ball into FF not working.

7. One wonders what the Mayo forwards do in training – very poor indeed in ambition, imagination and execution today. Time to devise a pattern of forward-play, as it appears we do not have the quality synonymous with off-the-cuff instinctive movements – after all thats what coaches are meant to be doing

   Time to give a few score-taking fringe forwards an opporunity next time out but please no more talk of converting backs into forwards as the skills-sets involved are very different.

   Incidentally what a week-end for Roscommon (Minors, U21’s and Seniors)

8. Ultair and Liam, two wins are not perfectly doable, Crap.. They are possible and that’s all!!! Why can so many not say that the Rossies are now a bloody good team and fair play to them. Some of their scores against Donegal were breathtaking, against one of the best defences in the Country. Then, look at our brilliant display!! Realism needs to come into play here if we expect to improve!!!

9. I wouldn’t go writing post mortems just yet in March but this was a bad loss today.
   Just when they looked like they had turned a corner, they put in their poorest performance since Cork. They had a pretty strong team out today too so.
   Ref was poor but we can’t keep going back to that.
   Very good points by another poster – under Horan our tackling was superb, That wasn’t the case today, or last week. The O’Shea experiment at full forward is frustrating. He still has no one to play off inside there and is expected to do it all on his own. He’s not a natural scorer – can we please not bring him out the pitch for a while? Is there no other strategy except to rely on him alone?!
   I know Robbie is going to take stick on the frees tonight but he’s only filling in for Cillian in that respect. You can’t rely on 45 yard plus frees to be regularly scored. Even Sheehan hit a few awful ones today. I’d need to the goal again though, dunno how well he did there.
   Overall, it’s disappointing. While I think we can take it that we can beat Down at home alright, Roscommon away is going to be some challenge. They seem to be getting incredible results – Cork, Kerry, Donegal all away?! The fact that they will be gunning for us isn’t going to make it any easier. Still though, it’d be a fairly good time to send out a message and for Rochford to ease our fears.

10. We weren’t even at the top, 65 years since AllIreland win and 15 since league win, we have been mediocre except for the last few years when we may have punched above our capabilities. My bet is relegation and lose our provincial title and win a few rounds in qualifiers before going out to a middle of the road team. We simply do not have the players in depth, maybe the first 12-14 are good enough but beyond that it’s skimpy enough and the other top teams should those shortcomings. Monaghan are a one trick pony, so let’s keep that win in perspective, we lost close games but isn’t that what we do best. I am not looking forward to st Patrick’s day because I have a feeling we will be adding more misery to our big mountain of misery from final losses in Croker, please God I am forced to eat my words.
    How can we have such a great back room team and then not see that we had to protect our goal above all else today? Then add the free taking issue into the mix, we really are low on confidence and ideas.

11. Absolutely toothless in attack our undoing yet again. It’s quite unbelievable that we don’t have a single reliable free-taker apart from Cillian O’Connor and nobody who can score for fun from play. While the Rossie forwards are banging them over from all angles, our forwards are to-ing and fro-ing.

    The experiment with AOS as a forward has run its course. It’s not working and hasn’t since the Donegal game last year. He’s far too predictable in that role and defences know how to contain him at this stage. He was utterly ineffectice yet again today. We urgently need to figure out how to get the best out of him, because he’s far too good a player to waste in a role he isn’t suited to and doesn’t even look comfortable in.

    Tom Parsons acquitted himself well today, as he often does.

12. I’m actually genuinely worried now, that was awful! I’m not going to single any player out, but that was as limp, flaccid and uncohesive a performance as I’ve seen in many a long year! Without being harsh, and with infringing on house rules, some of our players would want to get their heads out of their asses, we are in relegation mode, and from the outset I said and thought this could be a real contention, but accepted that providing the performance in games were there, they were/are to an extent but today, was a harsh, tough lesson and unfortunately, still in March we are faced with a prospect that our neighbours are absolutely flying, we are obviously very worried about them! We Have to regroup, BIG TIME!!! and we are in a position that we have to beat roscommon to avoid relegation, it’s as easy as that!

13. Joe Mc,

    I never said two wins were easily doable, neither did I say the Rossies are crap. What I said was, that the manic depressive that is the Mayo supporter will hit rock bottom. We haven’t become a bad team over night and while the Rossies are in flying form, it’s a bit early to start handing out silverware before St Patricks day.
    I know the people who post here tend to be the more avid supporters, but for fuck sake, try and keep some semblance of balance and perspective.

14. Rochford is still only in the job a few months give the man a chance. We were
    beaten. Give the lads some breathing space far too much negativity. Believe.

15. We had a load of chances in the first half but we were unable to convert them. I thought we should have had a penalty when o Shea’s Jersey was pulled as he was in the square. We dominated posession in the first half and should have been 7/8 points up at half time. Unfortunately, we do not have enough forwards who are good enough to get the scores that our posession would warrant. That said we are far too slow moving the ball into the forwards and seem to prefer to move it laterally or backwards giving opponents time to set their defence. And let’s be honest when we did move it in fast we were unable to win posession and hold onto it. We have major problems in attack.
    Aidan O Shea needs to be given a more specific role and told to stick to it.
    Lee Keegan needs to be allowed to attack as he used to before. Most of our success in the past was down to a powerful running game from the back. There are risks to this style but we must go back to doing it again as we don’t have the lethal finishers up front.

16. Not on having Robbie taking frees. Sort out a free taker quick . What an amount of wides, same old story.

17. Bring back Clarke. He wouldn’t have fluffed that gift of a goal to kerry. Clarke would have taken man and ball. Hennelly has cost us points all league. Goal today and at least 3 wides.

18. Sadly we did not have any one to kick a free today. It was terrible. I had a Kerry supporter behind me in the main stand today and to say the least he was an utter disgrace to his county. I truly hope that fellas engine splits in two clean halves somewhere in the middle of no where later this evening on his way home. He did not have much pity on any of Mayos recent failings, lets put it that way. Any way why in the name of god is our goalie coming up to take free kicks which is totally killing momentum, taking an age to take only to hoof them wide, again and again and again. It was embarrassing. Surely Stephen rochford has seen this now. Missed frees killed us. Why was Alan freeman in the stand today, was he injured, he can kick a free and is as good as any forward if not better than what we had on display today. Madness

19. I predict that we will be in croke park in September

20. Don`t think our goose is cooked yet. But … I didnt make it to the game today so I don`t

    have a strong opinion on that. I will wait to hear what the responses here say.

    I did listen to Willie Joe`s audio and he was less than upbeat. A bit disappointed of

    course to be where we are at this point of the season as is everyone I`m sure.

21. All I want to say is that there is a better goalkeeper sitting on the bench at the minute. I have nothing against Robbie and would love as much as the next man to see him do well. If he was the only option then so be it – but he’s not.

22. Joe Mc, not sure what you are having a go at me for, when I said two wins are ‘perfectly doable’ I mean that we are fully capable of winning them. Nothing more. Do I think we will walk the games, of course not. But I will believe Roscommon are good enough to beat us when it happens, not a minute sooner. They are not at our level yet. Let’s not talk ourselves into relegation here, the team and management will well know that today’s performance wasn’t even close to good enough and I expect a big reaction against our neighbours for whom this team have no love lost for.

23. Now is not the time to be defeatist. I watched Galway v Tipp in hurling today and the similarities are apparent. Although it ended in a draw, truth was Tipp were far more economical in making/taking scoring chances. Joe mentioned after the match that they were 2 months behind the rest in preparation. Same applies to Mayo. Roscommon are a joy to behold given that management have to bypass midfield! And Galway got a valuable draw in Armagh. So, guys, I still think that year have the best chance this year, but proud the rest of Connaught Is at least getting up there!!

24. Surely its not down to the goalie or any other player.Maybe we expect too much from

    this group.Put simply ,maybe we are not good enough.

    How many of the panel would be an automatic selection on,say, the Dublin team?

    That is the yardstick for All Ireland success.

25. We need cilian back so as possible.

26. I have said it before and I will keep saying it, AOS is not a ff, he does not possess the required skills for the roll and he cant play with back too goal. Every team knows how to mark him know, he was in the Kerry full backs pocket all day and he was a much smaller man. AOS needs to be put back to midfield where he can get on ball and run at teams. Danny Kirby will be available next day out. He has a much better appreciation for the position and needs to get a run there. Durcan also needs to start with Douglas a place on the bench with some game time in second half. These guys need game time.

27. @observer, I had this debate with a colleague (I work in Dublin) and we came to the conclusion that CoC (tough to get him to agree ahead of andrews) was the only man to make the Dublin team. I pushed for Keegan but James mccarthy is ahead of him right now. I pushed for AoS also but he said no, that they shy away from individualism.

28. not a good day at the office. we were well on top in first half but could not drive on. we missed alot and at this level u cant afford to many. Cooper tore us to shreds with skills that cant be coached. His vision and array of passing was outstanding. There attacking play had purpose and ours simply had not. They are simply better footballers than us when it comes to winning games. so now its on to the hyde where we could beat the rossies. Just when u expect mayo to flop they could surprise us all. But i aint that confident as roscommon have very good attacking style and will be tough to beat

29. A very poor day for Mayo. Great first half
    rubbish second one. Our free taking abysmal. We don’t know how to get the best out of A O S He should be used as a distributer out field He is too predictable in near the goal too easily shut out. We are too slow getting the ball up to the scoring zone. I could go on and on but I am not going to bore you.

30. We will probably stay up. Monaghan have to play Donegal and Kerry yet I think. I don’t see them winning those games . Ros will beat us but two points v Down and our head to head win over Monaghan could save us. All is utterly changing in front of us. And we are running out of excuses. We are down now to the last two, Castlebar lads missing and COCs absence. It’s deeper folks. The team has suddenly got tired and the management don’t have a cure. Rotha mor an tsaoil ag obair.

31. Very disappointed with our management. 15 minutes in Buckley and Crowley were been left unmarked time after time and this was allowed to continue for most of the game and we were punished . Lee Keegan was left at Corner Back . a waste and his man scored two points while Chris was on the Sub Bench… A O Shea was not played at FF but at CHF and only went to the FF with 10 minutes to go when we needed a goal and Kerry crowed him out.
    Jason Doc was at FF for the first 50 min, double marked with A O Mahoney standing in front of him and the Kerry FB behind him. No proper free taker on the field, Regan is OK on one side but not playing today
    For the last 15 minutes Mayo tried to manufacture a goal chance when they could have taken points. Seemed to panic.
    Mc Loughlin is not a reliable freetaker, He missed one against Dunlin from 16 yards in front of the posts. Maybe Freeman could be worth a try. Having said this I must say that one would expect Mangement to have a place kicker on any starting 15
    The Referee was very good getting most calls right

32. Not good enough from mayo to day very poor if we play like that against Roscommon we are going down there not playing like a team same old thing let the young guns in can not get any worse for us probably the kick up the ass we need it on words and up words don’t give up just yet

33. We were within a whisker of beating the Dubs last year. Far too early to start writing off this team although the Rossies will be a good test in Connacht this year.

34. David Clarke, Keith Higgins, Patrick Durcan, Barry Moran, Neil Douglas and Alan Freeman all need to start against Roscommon.

35. I know WJ you might delete me for saying this. As long as we have O’Shea,s playing we will never win, Its about time we called a spade a spade. You cannot make a silk purse out of a sows ear. You cannot make a forward out of AOS. He does not have the skill or natural instincts a good forward has. To day Kerry,s second midfield pair took us to the cleaners. We were ran ragged all over the place. Last Sunday AOS was sent off, and that is why we won. I hate to say this but our big names are now coming back into panel,
    AOS, SOS, Andy, Vaughan and worse we are going. Just a thought, if Castlebar win on Thursday they would be a better team to play Roscommon in 2 weeks time. Today in Castlebar was the scraping of the barrel, in a nutshell DIRE.

36. I think Hennelly’s has come under a bit of undue criticism. He’s a good keeper. However, it’s time to give Clarke a run against ros and I’d also like to see Freeman get a go.

    Today was really depressing. I’m as concerned, if not more, by the lack of talent coming through. During the Horan years, I can’t think of anyone who broke through onto the team, apart from Cillian and possibly Harrison. This wasn’t Horans fault, I just think the players weren’t there but he didn’t really need them cos his was a relatively new team. Now in 2016 we look stale, low in energy and morale and a king in ideas. The lack of communication on the fee taking was indicative of a team without a plan and I thought Rochford was meant to be very thorough in this regard?

    New players: Parsons has come back into it the past 18 months and done well and Durcan is another who is very close to starting. Nally this year, but he was minor same year as AOS and so is no spring chicken at 25. The league so far, Conor O’Shea has done nothing for me. Carolan didn’t feature today. Regan too hasn’t done much to set the world alight and struggles to win 50/50 ball. He’s kicked some frees. Ironically today would have suited him and he more than likely would have slotted the two Kevin missed in the first half. In short we’ve f&ck all talent coming through in attack. Imagine how average we would be without Cillian!? Actually…we don’t need to imagine! We are seeing it first hand so far in the league.

    I’ll be a very interested spectator in Carrick next Sat. Firstly our minors have a lot to prove but then it’s our ‘only hope’ u21’s. How we need some underage success and for some more of them to make a break through into senior to shake things up a bit. Realistically, if you haven’t made the senior set up by 21, 22 latest then chances are you’re never gonna be more than a squad player at best. Shane Nally is bucking the trend but it’s rare that it happens. In a strange way, maybe a stint in Div 2 might not be a bad thing to bring through some of these boys next year…

    Assuming our u21’s beat Leitrim, I’d take us beating ros in the u21 provincial decider over us beating them at senior in the NFL(if given the choice of just 1!)

    We can’t afford another year without a provincial u21 title, at the very least.

37. First half I was marvelling at the improvement in Robbie Hennelly’s kickouts and freetaking. Second half I was wondering did the fairies abduct him and replace him with a lookalike who cannot kick consistently.
    All through the match I was wondering why we cannot decide where to play Aiden O’Shea. He is at full forward, centreforward and at times midfield. Until he is played consistently at full forward for a few games we cannot say whether that tactic is successful or not. Nor can other players learn to play off him.
    I was also wondering whether Evan Regan was injured today since he seems to be our only reliable freetaker. I seem to remember Mark Ronaldson was reasonably accurate from frees some years ago but am I the only one who remembers that.
    I expected Rochford to have our outfield players delivering fast ball to our full forward line but saw very little attempt at that today. The ball was moved upfield far too slowly and when it was sent in it was to a lone forward and two defenders. And the accuracy of the deliveries left a lot to be desired too, putting the receiving forward under pressure to firstly gain possession and then, if he did, to use the ball.
    Hopefully Castlebar can do the business on Paddy’s Day and have their players come back into the panel with their tails up and eager for action. Because the Rossies will certainly have their tails up when we meet them.

38. Ok. I know that it is only a few short hours since the result and people are angry, but come on guys. Perspective please. This team does not plummet from being top 4 to zero overnight.
    Does anyone recall Rochfords call for patience? Maybe WJ you could post the link in your match report ??. But this is a time for testing and experimentation. The style of football we play now will be different to that on the third Sunday in September was the general gist of Rochfords comments.
    Hero to zero in one week for Hennelly? Come on guys patience and perspective needed here. Calm heads, relax and breath. It is 13th March.

39. How many times have we seen Mayo not just today reach the oppositions 45 and start passing across and back….this shows a lack of creativity in finding space, Ken running off the ball and an inability to kick from distance….all traits a team needs to win an All Ireland. I am not writing us off but by god it is going to take some effort. I sincerely hope Castlbar can give us all a lift on Thirsday because there has been little to be happy about in 2016 so far.

40. One Freetaking option no one has mentioned is Liam Irwin. I think he needs to be drafted up immediately. He was taking frees earlier this year for the u21s. Kevin Mc is never going to cut it as a freetaker. Neither Jason Doherty and neither Hennelly. Freeman from the ground is probably best but seems injured. Which leaves Liam Irwin and Fionan Duffy as quality freetakers. We need to be shooting 75% from frees. We’re taking at best 50% this league.
    I’d be a fan of Aidan being used as an extra centre back. He is not getting his frees or penalties and he is not bringing others into the game. We should use SOS, Parsons, AOS, Boyle, Keegan. Higgins and Keane when he returns to construct an impenetrable muscular defence. Then push for the line with a change of selection and tactics in the last 20 minutes.

41. Clarke is our best goalie and is needed back in goal. In the absence of cillian o Connor ,Freeman needs to be starting. Aidan o Shea is not a full forward and Barry Moran or Kirby need to be looked at as a target man. Higgins should be back for next day too. Durcan and Douglas should also walk onto that team.

42. League Legends, I agree with you. Rochford more than anyone realises you cannot transcribe club template onto intercounty completely. He has to be given time to evaluate all talent at his disposal to come up with his blueprint! Now, unfortunately I agree his biggest problem may be a dearth in scoring talent, but at least afford the man the chance!! And rest assured all players be it in the stand or dugout will be considered!

43. Has anybody seen the picture at the head of the match report on the RTE website? Donaghy testing the quality on Aiden O’Shea’s jersey inside the small square, and a severe test it was too. The umpire looking on looks very well in it too. Could I suggest that as many people as possible print it and post it to Croke Park? Maybe we could organise a collection to pay for an eye test for Rory Hickey too.

44. The over reaction is just ridiculous. Give Rochford and his team a chance.
    We’ve seen it time and again where teams are average in the league but go
    on to have a great championship. So what if Mayo get relegated, they will come back
    up as per donegal and tyrone in recent years.
    Poor today.Fair enough but lets give the mgmt the last 2 matches before taking them out and shooting them.
    AOS is not a full forward. That is now established. Maybe he can drift in there on occasion but time to move on from that.
    Again soft goals kill us. Buckleys goal was straight down the middle. 2nd goal just shouldnt happened. Donaghey doing whats hes done to mayo for 10 years ..

    Rochford has blooded 5/6 new players this league. As he said at the start patience is needed while he tries to blood these players. Big players to come back.

    Roscommon is a big match. They are very defensive with a coherent attacking plan so it will be a big tactical test for Rochford ..

45. I think Hennelly was poor today, this article is worth a read, do we want the same mistakes if we get to the business end of the season

    He missed frees and is so inconsistent with basic goal keeping and was caught today ..

    Clarke for me is the better option , would like to see him get the start against the rossies !!

    http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/darragh-%C3%B3-s%C3%A9-it-s-hard-to-feel-sympathy-for-mayo-1.2344699

46. As was said earlier AOS didn’t play at ff today – Jason Doc did for most of the game! And we were dominant in the first half but failed miserably to convert our chances into scores. and then we give away a stupid goal just before halftime – momentum gone – belief and confidence undermined – game gone!

47. How come recommon have a coherent attacking plan while we are like a junior rugby team trudging sideways up the field allowing the opposition filter back. Like us, they have a new management team too… There’s has started tremendously well, ours hasn’t. At this point of the league the ‘they started training earlier than us’ excuse begins to fade. McStay has the rossies buzzing, away wins to cork, Kerry and Donegal….have we ever done that in recent years!??

    I thought a previous comment above by O’Sullivan made a lot of sense and rightly pointed out that AOS played the majority of the game today at chf, Doherty was at 14… It didn’t work. AOS only went into FF toward the end when the game was effectively lost.

    Our best forward on the pitch today was McLoughlin. He won almost every ball that came to him. Scored one from play, set up others and was good when not in possession. If he had managed to kick those frees, which were sitters.
    , he would have been my man of the match.

48. I couldn’t go but listened on the radio. We seemed to have good few lads performing in 1st half though not good on chances to scores ratio. Kerry had only 3 points after 30 mins. One of their goals came after a disputed free kinda like Donegal goal came after possible foul on Donie but either way it seems concentration drops in these turnover/ dispute type situations.
    Commentator was full of praise for Robbie when they were going over but it’s only a good tactic if he gets high percentage not 40% like today. Also they seemed to suggest he came out when no need for 2nd goal but would need to see it.
    I recall a few years ago Mayo killing teams in Connaught from turnovers. We would go for jugular. So in same situation reversed we need to really concentrate and restore that killer instinct.
    I didn’t hear Keegan’s name mentioned much apart from one or 2 DOS scores for Kerry. The 2 lads who seemed to be attracting positive comment throughout were Parsons and Boyler. Harrison also got good mention.

49. Jeez, tis awful disappointing journey back to Dublin this evening . So many negatives , forwards are pretty much not a forward unit , you can talk about lads who work their socks off till the cows come home but we have a serious lack of quick feet , quick forward thinking football brain . I know the game has changed tactically and all that razzle dazzle but ffs tonight man there are some things that don’t need to be over analysed , if your ff gets procession run ahead of him and collect the fucking ball in a forward motion , what on earth is the constant going back and forth for , yes by all means do it now and again if you have that killer move at the end of it after luring the opposition defence into a false sense of comfort like BJ padded alluded to last night about Dublin but we never do lately.

    Free kick taking , why drop Regan who was converting mgloughlin type misses this campaign , why after seeing this happening bring on mickey Sweeney ?

    I still think we will be grand if Clarke gets a run between the sticks , Barry Moran partners parsons (who had a decent game today) and somehow get something going up front maybe Douglas and kirby can add something .

    Mayonaze , I’m with you on 21s this year , Connacht title is needed desperately for some kind of going forward for the future .

    Ahh the Rossies , tis the buzz word in Gaa world , they are really turning on the style for sure. My dark horse bet for Sam .

50. On frees, I would say aptly named Freeman if fit could take right footed and dare I say (when Regan doesn’t play) Aido took the left footed ones quite successfully in his first season for Mayo seniors.
    Failing that Robbie was our best bet today and could use Doherty from 35m in and hope his ratio improves. In a way it’s a blessing we’re forced to look at free takers. They all seemed to be long range for right footer today but maybe a few quick ones would be better bet.
    Also Diarmaid and COS seem to be good long range right footed shooters (from hand at least), surely we could try them out for frees in training at least, especially given Diarmaid’s game temperament.
    And though risky both Andy and Diarmaid very good at outside of boot from wrong side which might translate to free taking. Otherwise either Sweeney or Evan have to play cause as we are well aware Kmcl doesn’t like free taking role.
    And if he can compete for place Alan Dillon used to take most of them pre COC.

51. Bad today but not as bad as that. I felt we were going in the right direct over the last 3 games, hopefully this is a blep as opposed to a trend.

    First half was solid, bar our inability to score from score taking positions. 2nd half was muck at times some really bad decision making.

    AOS isn’t the target man we would have liked I think CHF and a bit of room is his best position. We need to get a lot more out of our forward unit we also need to take our scores and be a bit smarter. If we took half of those wides (some of them very scorable) and didnt waste I think 3 great chances on stupid goal attempts we would have won.

    A few things struck me today:
    -Lee being left on osulllivan, he roasted him a few times won ball infront of him and set up 3/4 kerry points. I felt he should have been switched off him.
    -Robbie for the 2nd goal, he should have taken man, ball and everything with him to win that ball. This has happened before I think clarke should be given a chance.
    -2 softish goals once again killed us.
    – forward unit is not working, either its not working hard enough or ball isnt going in quick enough to beat the blanket. Score taking is shockin, whats up there ?
    – Where is Alan Freeman ???
    – felt we looked tired and no sense of urgency or passion today, massive crowd at the game but with 10 mins to go you could hear the players on the pitch, even the crowd was subdued.

    I’d give Rochford and McEntee a bit of time yet

52. A very emphatic win for Kerry. A few minutes into the second half and it was clear where it was going. The Forward play was very poor particularly the Ff line. We need a forward coach since JH has gone the forward play has steadily declined. In JH days we were able to kick points. The long ball into Ff line does not work and has never really worked in my opinion. Worrying there was no tatic change today when it clearly wasn’t working. Not having a free taker on the field was also a predictable mistake. Even after such a bad performance if you added the missed score able frees we might have got something out of this game. I don’t think RH was to blame for second goal. Full back went missing so what choice did he have but to come and Donaghy had very quick hands to lay on goal. The midfield performance was good and we had a lot of possession and 14 scores in a dreadful performance overall so its not all doom. I heard Tony McEntee being interviewed on way home in car and would be a little concerned by his attitude he seemed a little to eager to apportion blame for missed frees…interesting times ahead but it could be a difficult year for Mayo gaa…

53. – Kerry fielded a strong team
    -Kerry targeted our young DOC and Fionn Fitzgerald marked him almost out of the game
    – Buckley and Crowley played hell
    -All forwards should be able to take a free
    -Kerry were actually fitter and fresher and had better footballers than us on the pitch
    -Mayo showed no spirit today they lost their composure and there was no buzz. The huge crowd were silent all the way thru, why ?
    – Two games to redeem our league season, we are not finished yet but we have a he’ll of a battle ahead.
    -Are we going forward? , going backwards ? Or as I believe just SPINNING OUR WHEELS…..

54. Hard to expect the Castlebar lads to work miracles for us . If and when they are called up
    they must be given time to blend in, or is there a system to blend into?
    And Keith and Killian should not be rushed back. Give them as much time as they need.
    Summer is when we really need them at their best.
    Fair dues, people are being very considerate towards the management.
    But it would be nice for some improvement to be seen, soon.

55. Kerry were missing a few players too and the team in fairness did not give the fans a lot to shout about.

56. A few points:
    1. Heave on Holmes and Connelly was because the team felt that they were inches away from success. They couldn’t let a management team that didn’t perform basics lead them. Please tell me which of the players have shown basic performance. Imagine today from 6 forwards no one could comand the free-taking
    Please don’t say well we have Cillian, who is his understudy?, it’s a farce that Hennelly is taking them in the absence of Cillian. Basics lads!
    2. No leaders. We went for a goal today with 10 minutes left. 5 added later. Plenty of time to secure a result. Where is the strong voices on the pitch that were so vocal in the heave.
    3. Forward play is nonexistent. No natural forward on view , all harrowing and harassing.
    4. Rochford hasn’t shown any real leadership so far IMO. Same faces same story.

57. and todays lesson was that Kieran Donnaghey cannot be allowed to jump for a ball on the edge of our square without one of our midfielders in his face.

    10 years later and we still havent learned this f***in lesson.

58. A lot of calls for Clarke to be given a chance in goal Willie Joe , what do you think ?

59. Same things always let us down! Go 4 points up and concede a goal! Henelly comes for high ball it’s ends up in the net! When we do get into scoring range we keep hand passing til we lose it! We’re so predictable! I hope there’s a bit of change for the summer!

60. Not really sure how our goalkeeper kerps getting picked.

    Lost us a minor All Ireland, against Dubs and today with awful mistakes. His team mates expect them and it is a problem thar must be addressed if the manager is clued in. There is a strong alternative

61. The thing that concerns me is the amount of posters who are still hiding behind “ it`s only March “ and “we started 2 months behind Roscommon“.

    Ask ourselves, why did we start 2 months behind them.We all know the answer.
    Anyone talking about Croke Park in September needs a reality check.

    Ultair, you said that Roscommon aren`t at Mayo`s level.
    Which level would that be?…Our level of last year or our level tonight?

    Too many people aurtomatically expecting to revert to “ normal“ when it`s summer.Well, you know what they say in financial circles……..Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

62. As usual alot of talk regarding AOS, and what’s his best position and influence or lack thereof on games. How can AOS be best utilised?
    Firstly to paraphrase, Dermot Earley and Ciarán Whelan It was good to see them highlight on league Sunday tonight how he doesn’t get awarded enough free’s because of his size. They also stressed he is likely not match fit, when combined with how most of our attacking play goes through him it lessens our chances of getting other forwards into play, in the Monaghan game other forwards played better without him. It didn’t take the lads on league Sunday to be the first to point out these aspects of O Shea’s game as they have been noted on here a plenty since last year. At this stage is it too late to drop AOS for for the last two games? until match fitness improves. It would shake things up a bit, see how forward-play goes without his involvement he could have a greater influence if brought on to play midfield later on when bodies are tired. Plus it would be good to see Freeman get a go if he is anyway near fitness, and what’s happened to Ronaldson since his return last year I know he played in fbd, thought he always featured well and was capable of getting a score or two from play.

63. Observer 2,

    Why did we start two months behind Roscommon? Might it be that we finished two months behind them last summer? Do you want players to keep going right through the year without a break? For God’s sake give us all a break and think before you post.

64. Also I don’t feel the list of Mayo players should be there to pick man of the match!

65. Would I be correct to say that Aiden was our top scorer from play today? OK, only two points but even so why drop our top scorer when there a those contributing less. And to say that our forwards played better against Monaghan because Aiden was off is to ignore the fact that it was a different defence today.
    In James Horan’s era I called regularly for Barry Moran to be used at full forward but virtually nobody agreed. Now we have posters making the same call. When Alan Freeman was a regular many pronounced him “not good enough”. Now he is our great white hope. Incidentally I do think that he should be in the team – at corner forward. Many are also swearing by Neil Douglas who has not played a full game – other than FBD – for several years.

66. A lot of posters saying the AOS at FF experiment is not working??
    He didn’t play at FF today.
    He never plays in FF for a full game.

    I think it’s time to actually try AOS at FF, full time for a few full games. See how that works out.

67. Extremely disappointing performance. Despite Mayo upping their intensity and effort in the last couple of matches, the lack of scoring threat was still rightly flagged by several posters. Given that our defensive strategy had improved, I was staying positive that things would come right up front. However, those worries really came to light today.
    It’s a tired cliché at this stage, but our shooting continues to left us down, and today, as much as any other time I can remember, we were shocking up front in the second half especially and it was difficult to watch. An obvious lack of ideas, and when the chances did present we simply couldn’t put the ball over the bar.
    In addition to inaccuracy, forwards could not even win their ball – the exception being Kevin Mc, as a poster pointed out. Despite his missed frees, he did win every ball that came to him and he was under pressure for several of them. Failing to hold onto ball and kicking wides cannot be blamed on lack of fitness.
    I think we will drop down a division now, and might not be the end of the world. I think there still might be a big push from this team come C’ship and after today, maybe that’s where the focus will be. I don’t want to sound too despondent, as we still have a chance to stay up, but after that today, we are not looking like a division 1 team.

68. Waiting for Martin the dub to appear with a few measured words of wisdom…could be a while..

69. It was all going fine until the 35 minute when Kerry got the goal. Mayo were 0-7 to 0-3 up if they could have just seen it out until half time I think the outcome could have been different. The goal, was very soft. O’Sullivan was on the ground with 2 Mayo players around him and still managed to off load and set up the goal. We are much to easy to score goals against we need to be more cynical.

    I thought the tactic of playing Nally as a sweeper was a weird one. Buckley ran the show in the first half with nobody marking him.

    I think the AOS experiment at full forward has to stop now. He isn’t getting the protection in there and it’s not going to happen it’s been highlighted so many times and I think we have to accept that it’s not going to change.

    Also it’s a big ask to the Castlebar lads to come in and save the league campaign. If the win I can’t imagine Mayo will be on their minds for a couple of days with celebrations so you can hardly throw them in against a high flying Roscommon team in the Hyde.

    I think we just have to hope that Monaghan lose both our games and we can beat Down to survive.

70. We are playing “heads down” football. Kevin Mac is the only man who can direct a proper pass into the forwards. Parsons does it the odd time. Dillion in his day was good at it. I’d chance parsons in half forwards and have the 2 bears at midfield. Even move Nally to half forward (we are sound in the backs).

    Several times today Conor o Shea and Doherty were making lovely runs into space and or heads down lads couldn’t pick them out.

    After bursting a gut in 1st half and only going in a point up was bad luck in a way as the 1st goal came from an initial scramble that keegan should have pulled on and sent the ball over the line.

    Plenty of positives, Nally in first half, 2 midfielders, caff and Harrison. When the Mitchell’s lads come back we will be more like a div 1 team.

    I wouldn’t read too much into today’s result and divisional survival at this stage will be some fillip come championship. We will survive I’m sure of it.

71. One thing is for sure whatever about expressing our views on here about feeling defeatist we have a job to do as supporters when it comes match day and Hyde park Sunday week will be rocking with the high flying Rossies doing their best to relegate us (rightly so too) we need to let our bucks know we believe in them .
    I’ll always remember reading an article from Tomas o se where he told of the time they ran out onto the pitch for a qualifier obviously after getting beat by cork in Munster and he said the roar from the supporters let him and the team know they still believed they could do it .

    As great as we are at turning up in our thousands I don’t think we have that roar , from here on in I hope we find it.

72. @Behindenemylines

    Given the possession we had and amount of ball we put into our forward line, I don’t think we got a great return from the first 35.
    And Kerry didn’t really seem to have brought much intensity to the first half.

    When we get purple spells and dominate, we need to reflect the dominance on the scoreboard. It cost us the All-Ireland in 2013.

73. As much as we despise Kiran Donaghy it might do mayo management and AOS to watch a few videos of him. He moves the ball so quick if AOS could do that….of course we would need support players…

74. Andy D,

    Fair enough regarding points from play from AOS today and us playing against a different defence in Monaghan. Think AOS was at his best on a consistent basis the year before last when played at centre forward, others may disagree and say midfield. Either way there is an argument to be made is there not that our forward play is too reliant on AOS at the minute and as a result is easily read by the opposition, the big question as always is how to get the best out of him?

    I haven’t lauded Freeman as our great white hope just said it would be good to see him get a go if fit. Anyhow hoping forward play should improve with more options available from the bench, Freeman and Ronaldson for example have shown on occasion that they at the very least bring something a bit different to the table, our options are thin but would be good to see us get most out of squad.

75. Really poor performance considering last weeks result. A number of things really upset me.

    Why was Lee Keegan put into the FB line marking Daren O’Sullivan for the entire match? Are Mayo management that much afraid of Kerry (on Mayo’s home patch) that they have to put their best attacking half back in a man on man role and nullify his own known potential. Very, very negative I thought.

    When Kerry went down to 14 men and we were 5 points down in the game why did we persist with a sweeper? Stephen Coen came on as a fresh pair of legs and just stood there. He was marking nothing and surely management would have realised that Kerry when 5 points up, and and away from home, and down to 14 to boot, would probably not be all out offensive and more than likely adopt more defensive game themselves?

    But we persisted with the sweeper until the end of the match !!! This is a serious question management must answer. What was the game plan out there today?

    Overall the team look lethargic, tired and very off the pace. Aidan O’Shea in paricular is miles away fro where he was a couple of seasons ago. Is this where they are scheduled to be at this juncture in time? Because lets face it. Ross are flying and to be honest they will destroy this Mayo team when they meet them.

    Is Stephen Rochford satisfied with that. Because frankly I’m not.

76. The belly really hit the ground a few times today in the second half. Thirteen wides to four.It just didn’t happen up front….obvious.
    Goalie up five times …an admission of faith in our forwards! If he stayed where he was at least we could get practice at playing abit of football. How happy were the K backs when he fired wide?How much cockier did they get? No 2 up for a point.No 5 for his second.Another pain in the belly! And we had that K supporter behind us to contend with as well but I must say I was strangely intertained by his polluting presence.I began to believe that we deserved this so his pronouncements fell on deaf ears.
    Immediately afterwards from car radio came the following “tagann an cruatan
    I ndhiadh an caite”….the hardship comes after the extravagance! And of course when has it been otherwise? Enough ball today to win twice and you felt it as time ticked in and out.But when u don’t have those little wins, you’re shot through on the treble.
    However,they have to think that they ll be smarter next time or else what’s the point? At this stage it may be that we’ll have to resort to that type of statement…..when you least expect them etc.. Let’s live in hope! Out ye go again boys… And c’mon for feck sake!

77. There are a number of players on that team who need to have a serious talk with themselves tonight…particularly the core crew with the inflated self-worth who pointed the finger at Connelly & Holmes last Sept rather than taking responsibility for their own failings on the field (we all know who they are at this stage). Our problems are not of Stephen Rochford’s making. Players need to step up – the ringleaders need to learn a thing or two about real leadership.

78. If there was a like button here I’d like that 45.

79. 45 – I think 2/3 need to be dropped who have not performed this far….we all know who they are too. IF there is a such a thing as an un droppable player on this team then we are in serious bother.

80. @Paul, I agree with you and I’m not for one second saying it was perfect, but if we could have held out until half time with a 4 point or 3 point lead I think we all would have been happy. My main problem with the current Mayo team is that we are very easy to score goals against. We seem to have gaping holes in our defence. For the first goal Buckely could have passed it off to two more Kerry players who had tap ins also. As for the second goal…what a disaster, schoolboy stuff.

    But you are 100% correct we are not clinical enough. I read somewhere we had 14 wides. Some very bad ones especially in the second half.

    I thought we hit the panic button much too early. Andy Moran going for a goal from that 13 minute free was ridiculous we should have picked off our points.

    Very disappointing day!

81. Andy Morans third game in a row going for personal glory, learned nothing from semi final loss to Dublin last year.

82. Any particular reason why the management have picked Chris Barrett to start in last 2/3 matches but then replace him before throw in? Who are we trying to kid or is that some new master plan we have in place. I’d say the Kerry boss sweated when he saw that change today.

83. Its very annoying the way things finished up as we were well on top in the first half but this did not translate onto the scoreboard. We just can’t seem to get the scores when we are on top. We were four points up, had a couple of goal chances and missed some easy frees. Then to compound this we conceded a soft goal. We went in at half-time only one point up when we could have been 7 or 8 ahead. You could see that Kerry couldn’t believe that they were that close to us and it filled them full of confidence for the second half.

    You would have to say that without Cillian O’Connor in the team we are at least a five or six points worse team and this is making a huge difference at the moment. You’d have to think that our best hope of staying up is that Monaghan will lose their last two games.

    Kerry probably were due to get a win against us in the league but you just wish that it was not today. Best of luck to Castlebar on Thursday, we really need a win to boost morale….

84. Fair play to the Kery team. Best team won in this case. The ref had a great game in general which is a welcome change. Don’t understand some of the comments here. We have been getting about a dozen scores throught the league so far. Were you expecting something different today. Our defence is getting there but is not there yet. You should have expected a stern test because you were always going to get one from Kerry. Some good performances on the Mayo side should always be acknowledged. When faith is all that’s left, keep the faith. Fair play to the Rossies, even if its only March.

85. Well played Mr Rochford

    Yerra – its only the league
    Gave the Yerras absolutely nothing
    The Rossies be thinking we beat the yerras ergo we will beat neighbours if we played them them tomorrow (but they don’t )
    Might only need 4 points – Kerry need to beat monaghan to be safe and I don’t fancy monaghan to beat Donegal in the last game either.
    New players seen every week
    championship football is 2 1/2 months away
    Now wheres my half full pint.

86. PJ! The ref deprived us of a clear cut penalty in the first half. That would have made a difference in my opinion.

87. I think a lot of these lads have a lot of gas burned over the past 5/6 years.

    You get your time & you are either good enough to take the opportunity when it comes or you loose out.

    Only so many times you get the chance & this group of lads have had their chances of All Ireland’s

    just falling short on the home straight !

    I think the current bunch of lads will not win an All-Ireland & that’s the cold hard facts.
    When the chance is there to kill a game & Mayo have had them they just can’t drive on and win when it matters.

    These lads owe us nothing & continue to come back each year because they are the best players within our county & they love Playing Gaelic football.

    I will continue to support them through thick & thin.
    I think the next few years will be tougher for Mayo supporters but we have had a hell of a 5 year period without reaching the promised land.

    Roscommon are the Gaelic football version of Leicester City.
    Great league campaign so far & no fluke.
    Their is going to be real competition for Mayo to worry about in Connacht this year.

    Kerry are determined to win back Sam this year. A much better league campaign this year than the last few seasons.

88. Hi Regina,
    I just seen your comment and to be fair I hope nobody minds me commenting after a hard day that Mayo had. To be honest Kerry are always hard to beat lets not forget that people say Kerry are not really interested in the League yet they have won most of all at 19 titles!! Mayo are going through restructure etc…and that takes time as we Dubs know well over the years but I might make one observation and hopefully I don’t offend. I think this Mayo team have brought so much pressure on themselves to win Sam its unreal. I commented here some months ago that a great start for Mayo would be to give the League a real go but it looks like its all out for Sam for Mayo this year and nothing else will do. That seems to be reflecting on some of your lads at this stage and maybe sometimes Mayo get too wrapped up in what every other County is doing like Roscommon etc….your too big for that. Best of luck as always and once again I hope nobody took offence to anything I said, cheers.

    Kind Regards,
    Martin the Dub

89. Agree with Sean Burke in the relative silence of the home crowd. 13,000 and no real surge of support. Mayo ‘supporters’ need to learn how to be vocal when the team aren’t performing. It was a bit like the AIF in 2013.

    I was shouting my head off in the first half and honestly felt like the rowdy person in the library!

    We didn’t even get the basic old ‘Mayo! Mayo! Mayo!’ going today.. It was all very flat, flat on the pitch, flat on the line and flat in the stand/terrace.

    C’mon Mayo. Lift it! We are all better than this, right?

90. Agree with most of the above. I am very pessimistic after today’s game. We have nobody who can consistently kick points (apart from Cillian). We have one of the greatest physical resources in inter-county football yet his impact is becoming less with each game. The much=lauded management team has shown little by way of creativity. I thought we harried well in the first half; should have been about 7 points up coming up to the break yet ended it only 1 point ahead. For 3 years I am saying that we need Clarke in goal and today just illustrates that again, Why is Lee Keegan playing corner back? The only positives were Parsons and Harrison today ; also Kmac apart from the frees. DOC a tremendous footballer but not at his best today.

91. Martin I don’t think anybody takes offence of what you say here….a fair poster.
    It is indeed Sam or bust at this stage…. That’s the cold hard fact….I think the near misses have left many of us mentally fragile when it comes to football and I include myself in that…God only knows how our players feel but sure we keep at it.

92. Shur if Andy scored it he’d be a hero. That’s a fairly disparaging statement about a man that has given his heart and soul for the cause. Your some “supporter” . Andy has enough “personal” glory banked over the years, think of the dubs and Ross game, you fool!

    In any case it was the correct decision. We never looked like getting a goal in the previous 10 mins so why not go for it. Shur were we capable of getting six points in ten minutes in any event. Your a clown for posting that.

93. Not at all Martin. .I was being very genuine..I think we have seen so many great days over the past few years with this team that we expect a bit more than was on show today..the volume of comments tonight compared to those after our win against monaghan indicate the level of frustration..all is not lost though. .mitchels might sweeten us up mid week!!

94. I am thinking of the Dublin game highorlow when all he had to do was pass the ball to a man in front of open goal and we could have been in an all Ireland final. You seen what he done last week in clones as well I’m sure it could have cost us the game.

95. Hi yew-tree….I cant write here that I know what its like because I would be lying but Mayo’s day is coming sooner rather than later but I just think the Lads may have brought a lot of pressure on themselves. Just for the record if Mayo get to final and it was not against us Dubs I can safely say you would have the Capital on your side, cheers

    Kind Regards,
    Martin the Dub

96. Hard to know what approach we will take the next day against ye, we probably don’t want to show ye our full hand regarding tactics in case we manage to get to Connacht final, although if that game were to happen personnel would probably be different from league game as we are still missing up to 7 championship starters. On the other hand nothing would give us more delight than sending ye a step closer to division 2 so it should be an intriguing battle.

97. I see now that Monaghan have their last two games at home against Kerry and Donegal so that will be a boost for them as well……. We’ll see how it goes, we might need to make a few visits to Knock before the end of the league, prayers might be all that can save us now!

98. Ye already have shown your full hand or as good as so it doesn’t really matter what ye do in 2 wks time.

    On the flip side we don’t even know what hand we have, it’s all a bit of a mess.

99. It’s only the League.

    Observer 2 remarks up the way that saying “it’s only the League” doesn’t mean things will automatically right themselves come the summer. And he or she is right in that, of course. Mayo could get scutched in the Championship. Or Mayo could go on and finally win the damn thing. I don’t know, you don’t know, nobody knows.

    What we can be reasonably sure of is whether Mayo win the Championship or not has very little to do with how Mayo play in the League. Mayo got to the League Final in 2007 and 2010 and went one-and-done in the Championship both years. Equally, I seem to remember only the fog descending while Dublin were disembowelling Mayo in Castlebar saved Mayo from relegation the year they came out and butchered Galway in Salthill. More things happen in May and June than in February and March, as far as I can see.

    I wish Mayo were playing better. I hope they don’t get relegated. I think it’s 50/50 whether they do or not, but if they do I fully expect Mayo to bounce right back up the following year as Tyrone and doing now and Donegal did a few years ago.

    And the chief reason to keep reminding ourselves it’s only the League has to do with what yew_tree says about mental fragility. Do you really want to start putting yourself through all this before Saint Patrick’s Day? Anything less than Sam is a bust. We all know that. But where Sam goes won’t be decided for another six months. Try to calm down and take some breaths into paper bags. It’s only the League.

100. Nally doing fine as sweeper but taken off leaving gaping hole for Kerry to take advantage.
     Management mistakenly seem to regard our current goalie as Steven Cluxton calibre. Its time to bring back the rightful heir to the no 1 jersey,David Clarke.
     So many wides like days of old, its what’s on the board that counts when the final whistle sounds.
     The continuous ‘bullying’ of Aidan O’Shea with the protagonist’s escaping censure must be dealt with by referee’s. Its an ongoing occurrence and reflects badly on the supervision by referee’s, with umpires and linesmen alike.

101. its very dissappointing for sure, aos at ff is a lark. He is easy pickings for 2 defenders that hang out of him because he gets no protection from the ref and he doesnt seem to have the nasty personality of others in the big teams, ie, he doesnt bust any noses or jaws and pretend he was just saying hello..Put him at chf and leave him there. coc, freeman and kirby/loftus in the ff line, diarmuid, aos and higgins or mcloughlin at hf and allow the likes of keegan and durcan to go forward but not too often unless the game id Mayos already.
     Theres one thing that we should remember, aos is not being paid for any of this, he is an amateur and may just be getting tired of the whole thing? and he may have company in the panel, some may be just going through the motions and have lost the spark they had under Horan. its possible, because they were flying high a couple of years back and now seem to be tiring, not winning silverware has that effect. You can look at the aiden o mahony lad, 35 and still flying, we let ciaran macdonald walk away at that age or less. Martin the dub says they have brought pressure on themselves in 2016, Martin, Id say there will always be pressure, its how the ringleaders in the panel react to the pressure that will be interesting. They will have to either step away for a break or else get serious in the summer and not take any nonsense from opponents or referees. Just like kerry, dublin and donegal do.

102. Clarke
     Harrison cafferkey barrett
     Keegan Boyle Durcan
     Parsons Sos
     D Oconnor Aos McLoughlin
     Freeman B Moran Higgins

103. No more incompetence now please. Need to go out and put those Rossies to the sword and Down after them.

     This Roscommon team deserve no respect from us till they beat a top level team in the championship.

     Remember Derry getting to league final a few years ago and got hammered.then did nothing in championship.

     we won’t know where we’re at till we have close to full deck to pick from and the likes of OShea are fully fit

104. good selection Tommy K

105. As An Spailpin says, it’s only the league. And these days will hopefully be distant bad memories a few months down the line.

     But I’m normally a “glass half full” type, and I actually can’t think of one single positive to take from that performance today. No indication that we are learning, becoming smarter, getting better. And I’m getting worried.

     I will keep the faith because I know there have been dark days in the past in the league, followed by glorious performances in the summer months. I will keep the faith because I know we are missing at least three key players, with the potential of one or two more to step in who could also play key roles.

     I will keep the faith because, like most people here, I know no other way, but Christ, they really don’t make it easy at times, do they?

106. Hi Martin – you can rest assured that nobody could possibly take offence with anything you post on here. Keep chipping in, your input is always welcome.

107. I think it’s easy to get despondent after watching the match today. It wasn’t even that they lost, but it was the manner in which they lost too. They looked laboured and lethargic at times, and totally out of ideas up front. I don’t think I would have minded so much if it looked like they were at least trying new things. Even if they didn’t work, it would at least show evidence of some attempt at creativity. But it didn’t even look like they were doing that.

     But at the same time, as has been said above, it is only the league and we are without key players. The importance of Cillian O’Connor can’t be overstated. His return (hopefully in time for the championship) will give us back our free-taker and it may relieve some of the pressure currently on AOS. I also think Cillian is a leader on the pitch and has a strong presence that is missed right now.

108. Anne Marie, if you want you glass 3/4 full think back to 2004, I was on route back to Dublin and went to our last league game against Westmeath.

     On that day also I could not see one positive from our side and sent out a text to people to forget about our chances of winning a game come championship.

     Today’s performance was similar. If we won today it would be 5 league games on the trot against the kingdom, who gives a shite.

     We are a proven championship side and any match for the big boys on our day in Crocker.

     We could be looking back at today’s result as the spark.

109. AndyD……..the reason why we started 2 months behind them was because our players got rid of our management team with the result that everything was left in limbo.
     Are we any better off for it today?

110. The late start and poor league are not a disaster if we can scrape past Galway in Championship. At that stage our lads will have caught up any fitness lag. Being in Connaught is actually an advantage as we have fewer games and fine tuning usually comes good in 3rd or 4th game.
     I was for AOS at FF for this one as I thought they couldn’t cope with his height but sounds like the cute Kerrymen came with a plan (and another one for Diarmaid). However Cillian has been a serious threat at FF in the past and Barry Moran, Freeman and Kirby are also good options so best to try some of them options them in last 2 games and have plan B. Barry is the top fielder in the Country right now. Even Andy has done well there though it means more low rather than high ball which rules out 1 tactic.
     Also Nally as sweeper seemed like a good idea as he’s a lad with football in him so I wouldn’t criticise management for that call. I strongly believe Keith (hopefully fully fit) should be half forward sweeper come championship. We shouldn’t rush him back.

111. So someone wants AOS to start bursting noses and breaking jaws , and about 70% of Ye think he should not be at FF . Personally I’d leave him in at ff the whole time which has not been done yet . I wouldn’t bother advising him to start breaking people up either like I mean are ya for real ? What I would do though is I’d get the video analysis guy to put together a collection of incidents from the last few years where AOS is clearly fouled repeatedly without being awarded a free and I’d post it off to HQ with a letter of complaint . I’d then post the video to all social media , YouTube etc and get everyone chatting about it.

112. Making an issue of Aidan not getting frees is worth pursuing. By comparison Murphy and Donaghy are seen as untouchables.
     Thinking back with Cillian on frees and us converting what should have been a penalty likely we would have drawn or possibly won that game. Aidan not getting frees is actually an issue for the gameplan when the opposition can foul him with impunity instead of us being able to create what should be scoring chances or frees. Yesterday took the biscuit with a full two feet of his jersey trailing behind him and a sliding tackle coming in from the side.

113. I can’t understand why we are trying to reinvent the wheel, as far as Lee Keegan is concerned. Why is the best number 5 in the country left standing at corner back with his hands on his hips for most of the game. Should we not be trying out someone else at corner back, and leave Lee to do what he is good at??

114. [Deleted].

115. After some time to reflect on the game, There are some positives to take from it. The first half went quiet well and the defence were on top through out that half until the goal. Nally looked good and really does have a good appreciation of the sweeper role. Seamie O’Shea also had a good first half but faded in the second.

     Some posts on here are critical of Hennelly. He is our No 1 keeper end of. Clarke is close second but Robbie has been there for about 4 years now so must be doing something right. He is only taking the frees as no one else on the field can take them. As for the goal, damned if you do damned if you don’t, if he stayed on his line Donaghy catches it cleanly resulting in a goal.

     The forwards was my biggest concern as there seemed to be no ideas out there to break the Kerry defence down. Play was too slow and predictable. Too many players taking too much out of the ball, constantally trying to turn their man inside out where as Kerry let it go through hands quickly, no messing and over the bar.

     Regarding AOS, I have posted previously about my thoughts on his position so am not going into it but if he is playing at ff he is going to have to learn how to lay the ball off and also how to take a foul. Yes, absolutely yes he is being fouled. Instead of barging through and trying to carry everyone with him, he needs to learn that when he is fouled he has to fall to gain the free/penalty. Its not nice and the refs should be calling these fouls anyway but he is going to have to exaggerate the offence to get the rewards.

     Under Horan we had tackling down to an art form, forcing turnovers resulting in scores. Yesterday our tackling was poor and lazy, constantely leaving the hand in. This needs to be improved fast.

     Finally, this is the league, we don’t wake up at the start of the year and dream of league glory. Its the championship its all about plain and simple. Relegation is not the end of the world, there are actually benefits to a year away from Div one. So lets not get carried away with this league campaign. Mayo are not doing Championship training until the week after London game. In the Summer we will be fitter and wont be playing the same type of football.

116. Firstly,
     How can Crowley receive his second yellow card for his foul on O’Shea in the small rectangle, called correctly by the umpire, and Hickey NOT give a penalty? A foul in the rectangle is punishable by a penalty. Check the rule book Hickey.

     Secondly,
     Will the posters who were criticizing the performances of Evan Regan thus far in the league now realize his importance to the team? 8 dead ball chances went unpunished yesterday. I’d bet a pound to a pinch of shite that Evan would have got five of them.

     Thirdly,
     Is it really that bad that we have 8 outfield players in an opponents half of the field and NOT ONE OF THEM is capable of striking a free from the ground??? Inter-county players??? Could the fouled player not have used his head and played a short free from his hands to a running teammate? A quick one-two perhaps? No? Fuck sake lads, a bit of creativity, a bit of mental sharpness. Instead we decide to allow a keeper run 60 yards up the field to miss. People should not be blinded to the fact that Hennelly gets the odd one, his success rate is nearer to 35% from dead balls and that’s a terrible return for a free taker at this level. It’d pay him better to guard his goal and NOT PUNCH BALLS BACK INTO PLAY THAT ARE GOING WIDE ANYWAY.

117. Lads, look back to last December or Jan. We knew there would be many bumps along the road with the new management, it was said by many people back then not to go panicking if things weren’t going well, we would need to see the full season before we could judge, and what do we have, people panicking all over the place?
     Reading some people we may as well shut up shop now and throw in the towel. Toughen lads, it wasn’t a good day yesterday, made all the worse by our noisy neighbours, but tis a long road that doesn’t have a turn. All of this will make it even sweeter when we land Connacht Championship 6 in a row against them.
     Or maybe they will lose even before then, like last year!!!

     What would be of more concern to me is what happened in the minor league and our failings at U-21 level the past few years……I look at the Cork hurlers and the malaise they are in, all has it roots in a lack of proper structure in underage 10 years ago. Not saying we don’t have a proper structure as I don’t know enough about what is going on in the county, but last couple of years hasn’t been great at U-21. Good news is that we are still generally ultra competitive at minor so it may not be too bad

118. Mayo Mad “Some posts on here are critical of Hennelly. He is our No 1 keeper end of. Clarke is close second but Robbie has been there for about 4 years now so must be doing something right”.

     He is not no.1 keeper.Clarke is a better goalkeeper end of. This constant keeping hennelly in goals is a waste of time and have cost mayo dearly. Cost a goal yesterday, and another 3 missed frees. I suppose Hennelly wasnt at fault yesterday for kerrys goals. 1st goal he was nutmegged. 2nd he didnt command his box.

119. It is only March and the new management have only been working for 3 months and I accept all that. But the worrying fact for me, and it has become quite evident in our last 3 matches, is that we don’t have any in-game intelligence on the field. I’m not talking about management instructions or tactics, I’m talking about the individual players themselves KNOWING what to do in tight situations.
     When we were in a position to push on in Ballybofey in the second half and take the game, we didn’t. We made two or three individual errors that breathed life into Donegal, surrendered our lead (a 5 or 6 point turnaround) and NEVER looked like getting it back. Likewise v Monaghan, we were four points up and cruising, and instead of closing the game out we stalled when the finishing line was in view and did our best to let it slip. Yesterday, when chasing the lead with ten minutes to go it was like Ballybofey all over again. Aimless, clueless, lacking composure and panicking. Reverting to default, aimlessly running into crowded defenses, humping long balls out over the end line, no invention, no ingenuity. In truth our race was run with ten minutes to go yesterday. We led by four at one stage and were six down at another, a 10 point turnaround!.
     There is no brains on the field and I don’t mean that in an insulting way. For example, we worked the ball inside the Kerry 40 and were going over and back and running into Kerry bodies etc, why did no-one go on a wrap-around run behind the ball carrier using him as protection (ala Murphy and McFadden in their pomp) and attempt shots from 35 to 40 yards out. Thereby going over the massed defense. We still had time to get enough points to close the gap? Another example in the first half, Hennelly comes out to strike a 50m+ free. OK, he had the wind at his back but there was still a fair distance for the ball to travel and a good chance that it would fall short. Where was Aidan O’Shea? Standing 15 yards away from him. Not on the edge of the square!!!! Where did the ball end up? Falling short on the edge of the square where the Kerry fullback could rise unchallenged, fetch the ball unchallenged, land unchallenged and take two strides before any Mayo player laid a glove on him. That’s pathetic at any level of the game.
     Roscommon went seven points clear in Letterkenny and at no stage ever looked like losing the lead.

120. I wonder for the remaining two games of the league would it be worthwhile putting in Kirby at full forward and leave Aidan at 11 to see how that works out I don’t know who is coaching the forwards but we need to work on our frees big time all is not lost yet we still have a very useful team and a good panel

121. You’ve stepped over the mark there, mayo man in roscommon – if you’ve anything to say about a player, please confine it to what he did or didn’t do in yesterday’s game and keep it reasonable.

     All – same message re critiquing players. By all means, point out to errors that you saw being made but please stick to specifics and less of the “ringleaders” type of stuff.

122. No way is hennelly our first choice keeper Clarke is. Also certain players need to look at their own performances and stop trying to blame others.

123. Very disappointed with the game yesterday. It may well only be March be we are making a lot of mistakes that we have been making for good while. We wasted some amount of ball between missing good chances at scores and loosing possession in Kerry’s half .What is the situation with free taker? It’s only a few years ago the Doc was the top scorer in the league and as far as I remember the vast majority were from frees. How many times have we gone ahead in games and allowed the teams back into it.We were dominating Kerry yesterday and I think we started to give them confidence.The high ball in from free which led to second goal shows we still have difficulty in this area. We have to start learning from past mistakes.

124. Aidan O Shea was the top scorer from play yesterday even though he endured like he always does
     Abuse and continuous cynical fouling on him . He chooses not to retaliate or feign injury and lower himself and Mayo football to the opponents level. I agree totally that something needs to be done to protect him . For how much longer will he continue to take this abuse and bullying until he tires of the game ? Management need to take a stance on this before championship comes around .

125. mayomanindublin. Hennelly is not perfect and has made mistakes but the past three management teams have made him the number one keeper, they see the players in training and know more about who is better suited to the position. David Clarke is a fine keeper no question but hasn’t featured regularly for years so to say he is definitely a better keeper than Hennelly is a little off the mark.

     Robbie’s ability from free taking should be totally separate from his ability in goal. Everyone knows his success rate at them. Personally I don’t think he should be taking them but it looks as though he is forced to take frees as there is no other player on the field willing to have a go. Mayo need a captain on the field, this is sorely missed, someone to order the free taker to play short and retain possession as the distance is to great. Not enough leaders on the field.

126. A few observations from yesterday’s match, most of which go against a lot of what is being said above.

     Hennelly is Mayo’s number 1 keeper and has been for most of the last 5 years because he is so much better than Clarke at kickouts. Command of the square is fine in general tho he made a hash of that punch yesterday. Him kicking frees is a bonus, bigger issue is outfield teammates not taking frees. All in all, our keeper is not our problem, not even nearly.

     In the MOTM poll above I voted for Aidan O’Shea. He was our best player, followed by Nally, Parsons, and McLoughlin. It’s bordering on funny how underrated Aidan is by Mayo supporters. Bar the last 10 minutes he did not play full forward, he rarely ever has. He wins so much ball and frees, as well as scoring from play and should have had a penalty yesterday. If our other forwards could do the same we’d be at the other end of the league table. Again O’Shea is not the problem.

     Our problem, as most pundits are saying, is a lack of ball-winning and free-scoring corner forwards. CO’C will help that come summer but he is unlikely to be enough on his own. Mitchell’s don’t have anyone in that department either. The hope for me is Kevin Mc playing centre forward as he is the only player with the vision and passing ability to play there. DO’C and Higgins wing forward, with CO’C in one corner and Regan in the other. Aidan at FF. I’d like to see that forward line vs Ros with either Freeman if fit for Doherty in CO’C place. We have a major problem in the corner forward positions though.

127. Mayomad, how many times has clarke conceeded a goal from a high ball? Alot less than Hennelly. Clarke was injured last year. In semi final against Dublin he rushed kick out and cost a goal. All these errors and we still persist with him is infuriating.

     We needed leaders on the pitch yesterday, and we didnt have any. Somebody to slow the game down or speed it up. There is no cuteness to our game. Mayo worked the ball to half forward and were clueless. Take Kerry for example, played lovely balls from half forward position chest height into full forwards who turned and drove at Mayos defense. Mayo couldnt do this. Im wondering if Mayo have a forwards coach.

128. Memories are short in GAA for sure. Hennelly was the hero last week, but what I didn’t hear said about him yesterday. And that comment about Andy Moran looking for personal glory … I can’t even.

     I’m just baffled by how we persist in trying to channel ball through Aidan when (a) all our opposition are now wise to it (b) he takes so long to give possession and (c) he never has any help in there. I genuinely thought this era would see us starting to play with some more smarts so I’m struggling a bit with this one if I’m honest. Pebblesmeller as always gives a good reasonable analysis and I would share his concerns about our lack of intelligent play.

     But again, am going to be repeating ad nauseum today: “Only the league, only the league ….” We have had grim days and nights in the league before, followed by glorious summers. And there are a few pieces of this jigsaw missing yet (mostly the ones that can put the bloody ball over the bar)

     East Cork Exile, ultra competitive at minor? I wouldn’t be too convinced about that. I’m assuming you saw the weekend’s league result vs our noisy neighbours?

129. Ya, what he didn’t do would come to mind…

130. Anne-Marie, that was the first point I was making, “What would be of more concern to me is what happened in the minor league”
     Regarding being ultra competitive, I am talking on the whole the last 4 to 5 years, we have been at the business end of things at that grade bar last year

131. Just had a look at kerry forum and a poster there said that mayos weak link is their goalie, which strengthens my argument as they are neutral.

     Although i assume he means clarke instead of bourke.

     ” Mickmack
     Starting 15 Member
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     3 hours ago
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     Post by Mickmack on 3 hours ago
     dano Avatar
     9 hours ago dano said:
     Mickmack, Where did that clip come from, sounded like Ger Canning commentary. Any chance of seeing the whole game?

     Dano

     I dont have the whole game, just the bit shown on TV last night and that clip showed the two Kerry goals.

     In my opinion, Hennelly is a weak link for Mayo in goals.

     Remember the “tying the laces minute” v Dublin in 2015 and then the rushed kickout straight to a Dublin player and bang, Dublin have two goals in two minutes.

     He didnt exactly cover himself in glory for either of Kerrys goals today.
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9w963HoB9Y&feature=youtu.be

     Mayo had two goal chances…would have got a peno if AOS went down and Kealy saved the second chace with his face.

     The sooner Mayo get Bourke back the better for them.

     Read more: http://kerrygaa.proboards.com/thread/6534/nfl-rd-mayo-kerry-2016?page=1#ixzz42sJ6Xr7h
     “

132. It’s not the goalie or any one individual.
     Our footballers are up there with the best and have been since the mid eighties to my mind.There was a dark decade and a half before that
     Yesterday we saw the difference between them and us towards the end of the game.Its about knowing how to finish out! And I’m afraid it comes down to that word composure….. Possession of and the lack of! This necessary quality has become ethereal for us in the present and recent past. It is what protects Andy M, COS,C Carolan,DOC LK and SOS from embarrassing themselves if they had it yesterday during that dreadful last ten minutes esp.
     In contrast Kerry found pocketfuls,to the extent that they were able to play with our backs with their cute little one twos and short punts.We are going to make sure of this possession at this time!!You could also see it in Brendan OSullivan when he had to take the ball up the middle twice and over the bar….twice! Then there came their no 2 with another sickener.
     So,what does it take?Can you coach it or does it come with the breed? It doesn’t apply just to forwards either but is a team thing and is more noticeable in the case of scorers!
     We did notice as well that K didn’t resort to playing out the game either by tipping the ball around the half back line.That was not for yesterday! They knew they had us by the goolies!
     Is it an impossible task v Ros? From here it looks it but I’d advise that we take each game as it comes.

133. mayomanindublin we will just have to agree to disagree on the Hennelly issue. I do agree with you on the leader issue. We have no player willing to get on the ball and dictate play. We have plenty of power players and hard runners but we are lacking seriously in pure footballers, people who can pick a pass, dictate play and drive the team forwards on the field. It is unbelievable that a team captain has not been choosen yet for the year. As a result no one is taking responsibility on the field. Cillian is going to be made captain but this should already be made and he should be with the team and on the sideline.

     Anne-Marie I agree with you regarding AOS at ff and have said that plenty of times on here. Danny Kirby of even Dougie should get a run in that position next day out as I believe they have a much better appreciation for the position. AOS at midfield or on the 40 where he can face goal and power forward.

134. I like the look of that forward lineup GBXI. Durcan has to start when he returns. We’re overly reliant on COC but that’s where we are and he’s a huge miss. Higgins would provide some incision on the half forward line and can be spared at the back. AOS and COC could alternate as needs require.

     One final note – it never creases to amaze me how many of our own reach levels of absolute panic and hysteria in March. It’s fucking league matches in March people….

135. Agreed Rock re panic and hysteria – think how I feel having to sit on the saddle of this bucking bronco! It’s at moments like this that I really wonder about the monster I’ve created here …

136. AOS is never going to be at full tilt this time of year , I certainly don’t share the view that he shouldn’t be played at ff . I seem to remember him wrecking havoc v Finnian Hanley in the galway game last year, same v Sligo and a monster effort v Donegal too , dublin games he was doubled and trebled on , it’s our own fault we didn’t take advantage of that . Plus in all of them games he was out around the 40 at different times.

     Parsons and Barry Moran has to be the midfield pairing surely , Aido will come unstuck in the middle , too much stamina needed nowadays , look back to the 13 final to see where this new type of midfield came into play. Sticking to your guns over AOS is not a ff for the sake of it maybe? I’m an open book tell me which one of parsons and BM you would drop who would be my preference for midfield for the summer. It’s a very important area where we can dominate for our first game V galway and if the Harlem globetrotters come through the other side we are also capable of dominating this area v them.

137. I think you should contact the school of psychology in UCD Willie Joe. There has to be a doctorate in the fragile mind of the Mayo supporter.

138. Anne Marie – why should Andy Moran be immune from criticism?

139. Any year Clarke has been fit he has been No 1

     2012,2013 Until he got injured,2014 he was out injured and in 2015 he was back as No 1
     Its not the case that Robbie has been our no 1 for the past few years, obviously various managers have preferred Clarke if fit.

     Is it worth the chance with Robbie purely for kick outs and free kicks ?? I don’t think so.
     He is just too dodgy…… Dublin last year he cost us big time, yesterday too.

     If Clarke stays fit…… without any doubt he should be our No 1 . I just hope management can see it before it costs us again..

140. I get you now East Cork Exile, sorry. Missed the first part of that completely.

     Tommyk, no-one is beyond criticism (and there certainly a queue of people always ready to dish it out) but to accuse Moran above all players of seeking “personal glory” is just an absolute joke, frankly.

     As regards leadership Colm Boyle had it in spades last week, but there was very little leadership in evidence yesterday.

     Sean I didn’t say myself that AOS shouldn’t be played at FF – I definitely think there is merit in having him there – but the way he is being played there at the minute is of little benefit to anyone, least of all himself. How he emerges intact week on week is beyond me given the lack of protection he gets. If we’re going to do it we have to do it right and stop leaving him isolated inside with no-one to collect breaking ball, and he in turn has to give possession sooner.

     While I thought we were better up front last weekend without him (mainly because the rest of the lads stepped up) I think there might also be a bit of scapegoating going on here – like when Ger Caff is left isolated at the back he is blamed, despite often being the last line of defence. Our biggest issue at the minute is not having AOS at FF, I’m afraid it’s the apparent lack of confidence of the rest of our front 6-8 men to catch a ball, turn and pop it between the posts from beyond the 21 yard line. Kerry exhibited that skill perfectly yesterday at times. There are some exceptions (DOC being one) but they are not frequent or consistent enough. There’s a lot of talk about a forwards coach here in recent weeks – I’d be curious about their plans on that front too.

     Parsons and Moran are my midfield pairing of choice; Seamie at no. 11.

     Only March, only March … while I don’t tend to panic or get hysterical I am getting over yesterday’s negativity and starting to see the light again – we could put on a completely different show in two weeks’ time. Such is the league 😉

141. Good post Anne Marie .. Big debate here on who should be our keeper . Who do you think should be no 1 ?

142. Sorry anne-Marie but that’s my opinion, it cost us the semi final last year, could have cost us 2 points in monaghan and it didn’t make any difference yesterday.

143. Ballaghaman if we were in a perfect world I’d mash Rob Hennelly and David Clarke together and create the Ultimate Keeper. Rob’s kickouts, Davy’s command of the square, we’d have won three all-Irelands by now, seeing as goalkeepers alone cost us games these days.

     Seriously though, I’d genuinely find it hard to pick – but if someone put a gun to my head I would probably go with Clarke.

144. Harsh to say that goalkeepers ‘alone’ cost us these games.

145. We will deserve to go down based on the results however deserve to stay up based on preformence taking the kerry and Cork games aside . No forget it .