Finished? After this afternoon’s devastating destruction of Roscommon at Croke Park it would appear that there’s life in this old dog yet. And some.
I said this morning that August in Croke Park is when – in this wonderful post-2011 era for the county – we tend to get motoring. I felt we could up it today but there’s no way I thought we could produce a performance like the one we did, a display of utter ruthlessness that laid waste to Roscommon’s challenge well before half-time and eventually sent them packing by a margin of 22 points.
Back in 2013, we did a similar number on the then defending All-Ireland champions Donegal. That day we started brightly and when we saw the chance to go for the jugular we did it. Today we did exactly the same.
I recall hailing that performance as one delivered by the demolition men. It seems appropriate, then, to accord the same language to today’s annihilation of the neighbours.
It was frustrating not to be there myself today to witness this performance. The GAA GO stream worked perfectly, though, so I got to see the whole thing, including RTÉ’s awful, amateurish attempts at “analysis”.
Prior to throw-in the Three Stooges were all about the woes of the world facing us. By half-time, though, they had switched with alacrity to lamenting about how poor Roscommon were. Then Brolly had a cut at Andy Moran over his goal celebrations. Yes, you read that right. What clowns they are – truly an embarrassment to the nation.
Down on the field ahead of throw-in, meanwhile, the fears about Lee Keegan became reality when the news broke that he wouldn’t be starting. No, he didn’t have his appendix out but whatever was ailing him was serious enough to keep the Footballer of the Year from playing.
Tom Parsons started in Lee’s place and Donal Vaughan came in for Ger Cafferkey at the back. Donie didn’t, though, operate as an orthodox full-back, pushing further up while Brendan Harrison went mano a mano with dangerman Diarmuid Murtagh.
The Rossies had switches to make too. Their two goalscorers from the drawn game – Fintan Cregg and captain Ciaran Murtagh – failed to line out. Cregg’s absence from the middle combined with Tom’s introduction altered the dynamic around the middle profoundly, a fact that soon became obvious once the ball was thrown in.
Last weekend, Roscommon grabbed the initiative right from the start but this time we were the ones to burst from the traps early. We won the throw-in, despite the Rossies using the same take-the-man-out-of-it tactic they’d employed in the drawn game.
We gradually made our dominance show on the scoreboard. Aidan O’Shea was fouled as he thundered forward and Cillian O’Connor knocked over the resultant free with two minutes on the clock.
A further four minutes would pass before our next score but it came via the same route. Another foul on Aidan resulted in a second pointed free by Cillian.
Already we looked the more settled team, the side with greater purpose. We were dominating the physical exchanges and we had a greater intensity to what we were doing.
The third point was when the first hint came of what was to follow. From the kickout after Cillian’s free, Donal Vaughan won the turnover, starting a sweeping move that ended with Donie himself firing over. Now we were beginning to motor, the gaps in their backline becoming obvious.
Another seven minutes passed without a further score but, importantly, Roscommon made no headway at all in our half in this period. The only shot on goal they’d had at this point was a ’45 their ‘keeper ballooned wide after our opening score. Every time they came forward, the danger was snuffed out effortlessly.
Eventually we broke again. This time it was Andy who was fouled. Cillian made no mistake with the free and we were four up.
Two points from play followed in rapid succession. Diarmuid O’Connor bagged the first and Jason Doherty the second. Six up and starting to clear our throats, the alarm bells surely now going off all over the place for the opposition.
We were nearly in on goal soon after, Roscommon’s jugular now exposed. We butchered the opportunity, however, and it looked as if they’d finally got a foothold in the contest when Enda Smith got their opening score of the day with twenty minutes on the clock. That came from play and so too did Sean Mullooly’s point two minutes later.
But the jugular was still exposed. Three goals in as many minutes saw us go for it with no little amount of ruthlessness.
The first was an absolute cracker, which had shades of 2011 all over it. Kevin McLoughlin picked up possession sixty yards out and hit off at speed on a mazy run towards the Davin End goal. He twisted and turned before eventually finding himself in space less than 20 yards out from where he delicately passed the ball into the Roscommon net.
Seconds later we rampaged forward again. This time it was Keith Higgins making the burst, the Ballyhaunis man offloading to Andy Moran who finished it emphatically.
Roscommon made a bags of the restart and we damn near made them pay. They managed to avert catastrophe then but catastrophe was still lurking and his name was Keith Higgins.
Like the first goal, there was no immediate danger to Roscommon’s net when Keith gained possession. He came forward initially at half-pace, sussing out the space ahead of him. Then a narrow channel opened up around the middle and he was off like a rocket.
The burst of speed carried Keith clear and in an instant he was eyeball-to-eyeball with the ‘keeper. You know the rest. Game over and only 23 minutes played.
Keith’s goal put us thirteen clear and that was the gap at the break. They posted two more points but so did we, courtesy of Aidan O’Shea and Jason Doherty. We were in for a possible fourth goal too, but Brendan Harrison – who in his spare time was keeping Murtagh in his pocket at the other end – saw his effort batted away.
The second half was little more than a training match. Bewildered, battered and beaten out the gate, Roscommon could do little to stop us winning the game by as much as we fancied. In the end we fancied a bit of a 22-point drilling.
An Aidan O’Shea point from play and another Cillian free, with Murtagh notching one for them, was all the scoring that occurred during the first ten pedestrian minutes on the resumption.
Then another turnover high up the field saw Diarmuid O’Connor feed big brother Cillian. The skipper had reversed sharply just before receiving the offload, giving him the space and time to pick his spot and nail the opportunity for the goal.
We began to run the bench at this stage. Jason Doherty – another strong and brave performance from the Burishoole man today – was first off, soon after banging his knee in a nasty fall. On came Conor Loftus in his place.
Further scores followed as the pace of the game slackened more and more. Tom Parsons meandered forward and lazily stroked it over from distance. They got one back but Andy responded in kind for us.
Then came the final talking point of the game. Diarmuid O’Connor was dragged down in the large square – a penalty all day long, by the way, but ref Anthony Nolan (who did okay, all told) was now in Lord-save-us-the-poor-buggers-are-getting-thrashed mode and gave a rather comical free out.
Diarmuid was on the floor surrounded by a few Rossies and wasn’t in any hurry to release the ball. Then Fintan Cregg, who’d come on at half-time, did a really dumb and sneaky thing by punching Diarmuid in the nuts while he lay prone on the turf.
The ref didn’t spot it but fair play to the umpires – they did. Cregg, already on yellow, got his marching orders with a second yellow but the ref clearly signalled it was for a punch and so it should have been a straight red. Never mind, it was the same result.
The hapless Rossies were now – 20 or so mortifying minutes still left to the final whistle – in danger of taking the kind of trimming that could destroy a team forever. If we’d been a little more accurate with our shooting from then to the finish that’s exactly what we could have done to them.
Conor Loftus missed a great goal chance when put clean through via a super crossfield pass, the Crossmolina man dragging his effort wide on the near-hand side. But Cillian did manage to keep the scoreboard ticking, with a pointed free and then one from play.
The changes continued to be rung in our ranks. David Drake, who’d seen action early on as a blood sub for Chris Barrett, came on again, this time for Kevin McLoughlin. Donie Vaughan made way too, Stephen Coen coming on and a huge roar of appreciation rang out around the stadium when Andy trotted off to be replaced by fellow veteran Alan Dillon.
Chris Barrett raided forward and decided – sure why not? – to have a pop at the posts. Over it went as another huge roar rang out when Aidan O’Shea – RTÉ’s Man of the Match – trooped off, Danny Kirby coming on for him.
They got a seventh point but then David Drake bagged his first championship score. Finding himself in space close to the opposition posts he did the right thing by fisting it over.
With five minutes to go Shane Nally came on as our final sub, Chris Barrett the man to go off. The Garrymore man made the most of his short time on the pitch, though, as it was he who bagged two of our final three points of the game, the second of which was a real trademark boomer from way out.
Stephen Coen – another man, I’m almost sure, scoring for his first time in the championship – got the other one. Eventually, after four minutes of added time, Anthony Nolan brought Roscommon’s misery to and end and we were the winners by 22 points.
Clearly, this was a storming performance with major contributions all over the field. We were much tighter at the back than we’ve been all year – though there’s work to be done yet to shore up the backline still further – and we were far stronger in midfield than we’ve been all summer.
Up front we were pretty effective too, as the scoreline would suggest, but some of the wastefulness we displayed wasn’t pretty. Against a better team than today’s opposition – say, for example, Kerry – such profligacy wouldn’t be a good idea.
But today’s performance was good enough to rout the Rossies and show them, Nestor Cup or no Nestor Cup, who really are the kings of the west. Now that this bit of local business is out of the way, it’s time to switch the focus to what lies ahead.
Way back at the start of the year – possibly before then – we would have known that a semi-final joust with Kerry was on the cards for us this August. We sure have taken the scenic route to this assignment but we’ve finally got there.
We’re back in the final four – for the seventh successive year – and once again we’re in the hunt for the prize we all crave. What a privilege it is for us to follow this team, this band of fighters, this group that simply refuses to yield. Welcome back, demolition men – now let’s go do some real demolition.
Mayo: David Clarke; Brendan Harrison, Donal Vaughan (0-1), Keith Higgins (1-0); Colm Boyle, Chris Barrett (0-1), Paddy Durcan; Tom Parsons (0-1), Seamus O’Shea; Kevin McLoughlin (1-0), Aidan O’Shea (0-2), Diarmuid O’Connor (0-1); Jason Doherty (0-2), Cillian O’Connor (1-6, five frees), Andy Moran (1-1). Subs: Conor Loftus for Doherty, David Drake (0-1) for McLoughlin, Stephen Coen (0-1) for Vaughan, Alan Dillon for Moran, Danny Kirby for Aidan O’Shea, Shane Nally (0-2) for Barrett.
PS: Thanks to The Brother for the two photos above that he took at the game. Cheers, Bro.
Who was our MOTM against Roscommon?
- Keith Higgins (48%, 589 Votes)
- Aidan O'Shea (19%, 236 Votes)
- Tom Parsons (7%, 89 Votes)
- Donal Vaughan (5%, 59 Votes)
- Kevin McLoughlin (4%, 55 Votes)
- Brendan Harrison (3%, 43 Votes)
- Seamus O'Shea (3%, 40 Votes)
- Colm Boyle (2%, 27 Votes)
- Shane Nally (1%, 18 Votes)
- Cillian O'Connor (1%, 17 Votes)
- Diarmuid O'Connor (1%, 15 Votes)
- Andy Moran (1%, 13 Votes)
- Chris Barrett (1%, 10 Votes)
- Jason Doherty (1%, 10 Votes)
- David Clarke (1%, 7 Votes)
- Alan Dillon (0%, 3 Votes)
- Paddy Durcan (0%, 2 Votes)
- Conor Loftus (0%, 2 Votes)
- David Drake (0%, 1 Votes)
- Stephen Coen (0%, 1 Votes)
- Danny Kirby (0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,237
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What a display. Where are all the Rochford haters now?
For those who have been claiming that Mayo are past their best – SHAME ON YOU !
That was the answer to the knockers today. Great boost of confidence facing into the big game against the Kingdom. Well done Mayo.
The best performance I’ve seen from this team since Donegal in 2013. A vintage display. Well done to everyone involved for coming back and proving everyone wrong, including myself. It was like watching this team at their best under Horan. Our running game is immense. The best performance of any team over the weekend as well. Firmly back in contention.
Well we scraped through, congratulations to the team and management, well deserved ,will management be blamed for this,just have faith in the best squad of players I have seen in fifty five years of following Mayo
The big plus today was the return of SOS to some form and TP. Make no bones about it we need a functioning midfield.
Question to all: What’s our plan for Donaghy?
I hope a lot of you have your heads hung in shame. Back to your high high perches vultures, away from the arrows. To think the player of the year was on the bench…
If any Roscommon man ever says anything you don’t like about Mayo football from now on, remind him of today and send him on his way.
Record breaking, outstanding and incredible from our team, all while the Rossies were disgracing themselves on and off the field.
From their number 10 Cregg punching a man on the ground this week to their supporters booing one of the modern day greats of the game last week, they are a disgrace to their county and the GAA.
Gave my vote to Parsons, it could have been any of the players. Higgins, AOS, Diarmuid, Doc, Kevin the lost goes on. Hard running, pace, power but also intelligence, pushed up on the kick out but on the rare occasion where Roscommon came forward we had a sweeper in place to deal with the threat. A credit to the team the way they stood up to the negative coverage. We were all disappointed in the performance last week, we looked tired and disjointed, in hindsight perhaps we paid Roscommon too much respect. Today though we were a different beast, some wonderful scores today and a great spread of scorers.
On to Kerry now, a team that we are certainly capable of beating.
On a side note, GAAGO is a terrible service, I don’t think I have watched a game without issues!
What a performance I have to admit I thought we were tired after so much football but they ran the legs off themselves today and have lots left in tank. Love this team county…did we pick up any injuries? Genuinely not cribbing but had good few wides on point that we need to curtail but wow demolition men is right! Two weeks off now!
mighty game , the players were really let play today ,
@ Sopotlight the plan for Donahey is simple starve him of ball along with the entire kerry full forward line.
All done without Player of the year for 2016!!Never saw that coming if Im honest and thats what makes it all the sweeter..Hats off boys that was a serious statement of intent..Rochford will really enjoy that one..Have to say Mc Stay was honest as always in his post match interview and I felt for him today..Not easy leaving Croke Pk after that..
Crazy! What a game!
Plan for Kerry coming up!
Maigheo Abu
Great display I hope Rochford lets the lads out for a few well deserved pints tonight we can worry about Donaghy and Kerry tomorrow.
Anyone any suggestions as to what the helll to do next weekend?
Agreed re Seamie, he looked two yards faster today than previous matches this year. A big plus.
Well done Mayo.
Here here Declan. Cregg an absolute disgrace. Diarmuid ships some abuse and never stops trying.
Well done Keith higgens…roll back the years. Performance wanted performance well and truly given. Proud of the lads. Onwards and upwards.Yer a credit to yer county. Up Mayo
Mayo looked so much more solid at the back with Harrison at fullback! Still a bit concerned about Keiths defensive role as sweeper although brilliant going forward & can really trouble the Kerry backline with those runs.
Parsons was awesome at Midfield with great support from Diarmuid, Kevin Mac & Donie !!
Concerned at some easy misses in front of goal – Nally looked impressive & showed he can kick a point !!
Roll on Sunday week – – can’t wait to take on those Kerry boys !!!
Great display today, forever proud of these young men. There’s tougher opposition ahead but for this evening…. credit for a job well done today. Enjoy an emphatic victory and look forward. Onwards and upwards ?
Sublime. Outstanding performances all over the field. Point at the scoreboard and tell them where to go.
The platform for today’s victory was midfield, SOS had his best game in a long time. First to every ball. Pacey. Strong. Him and Parsons collected every breaking ball. We pushed up hard on their kickouts and they had no answer. Paid dividends for us. This is exactly what Ed Coughlan was talking about during the week. Let the players off the leash and let them express themselves. It’s funny how a season can pan out. Had we gone via route one would we now be riding on the crest of a wave like we are now?
Bring on the kingdom! Hon Maigh Eo!
I enjoyed that. Boo-boys back in their box.
Well done all. But keep the head. We’re not gone yet, nor have we won anything yet. Of course we’ll have a big say in where Sam is going this year, as Brogan said.
And who’s to say he wont come west? Its just two games, and with that attitude and approach its quite possible.
YES WE CAN.
Tom Parson makes a massive difference to this team. Manager made the hard calls today. The best team was on the pitch and the defense looked impressive today as well as totally dominating midfield. Glad Nally got on the pitch today as I feel he is being under used. Loved what I saw today thought Higgins was like man possessed he kept popping up all over the field. Hard call who is going to make way for Lee against Kerry I felt all the backs played well.
Yeah Higgins my clear motm
Well it was great to see such intensity and energy again. Most assured performance in years really. still some poor shot selection though and no one really scored heavily but look it was all about winning and we did that in abbundance
Look much better equipped to challenge Kerry after that, need a few days before i can start really looking forward to it tho!
Lads, easy now…Kerry are a different opposition with quality, consistancy and a storied history. Let’s enjoy this emphatic win but not get carried away. No doubt, we’ve given them something to chew on.
The really championship starts Sunday week.
Kieran Donaghey
Thank you , you are brilliant . The pride that ye have given to our county will live forever.
Great win but let’s cool the jets. Haven’t beaten Kerry in 21 years in the championship. This will all be for nothing if we lose the next day.
I believe when we win Sam some supporters will only accept it around Christmas time,look we won easily today ,enjoy it give due credit to players and management, they will have a plan for Kerry, let them worry about us
Wow just wow , if I’m totally honest I didn’t see that coming , thought they would win but not in that fashion , great to see , delighted nally got on and 2 nice points too , delighted some of the subs got a run , hard to believe Lee keegan was not on the pitch and they won so comfortable, thought Keith Higgins had a great game.
That was the complete performance we’ve been looking for. All over the field they were bouncing with energy. The leaders in every line deleiverd and made sure they dominated every facet of the game.
It was really encouraging to see the lads go for the jugular and not let up. The guys off the bench contributed and there’s now serious competition for places.
What a performance. Most complete one since Donegal in 2013. Back to our hard running at pace and imposing our physicality. It seems we were determined to prove anything the other three semi finalists can do we can as well. Really looking forward to watching it on the DVR and fast forwarding the three amigos. Do I understand Tommy Carr was on commentary, well you can’t have everything. I was delighted to see Donie and Tom start but was very concerned to see Lee was missing as had been widely predicted. Still it is one less match to worry about him picking up a suspension and he will be needed the next day.,
Very happy obviously. Good win against an awful poor Roscommon team(on the day). Yes, we made them look poor but their defence parted like the Red Sea in time and again in the first half. Game was over at HT.
You always need to look on how you can improve. Ok, so today in the first half Ros ran down the middle a couple of times and they hit 3 or 4 dreadful wides. Kerry would probably have notched 1-2 from similar positions.
Our forward play was a bit disjointed too at times and we hit some poor wides. Was it 11 or 12 in total? This needs improvement.
I’m glad today wasn’t an energy sapping day. That’s the last thing we needed ahead of a mammoth task against the National League and Munster Champions and a team this Mayo side has failed to beat in championship.
We all remember Limerick but we shouldn’t speak too much of it. It’s negative energy – this Mayo team need no motivation to beat Kerry. Pat Spillane said he’d ‘eat his shirt’ if Mayo win an All Ireland this year. That’s what Kerry think of Mayo. We’ll hear the usual stuff in the media over the coming fortnight but it’s all guff. You’ll also hear the shite that Kerry didn’t get credit for their win in Limerick. Seriously!?
It’s going to be a huge game for us in two weeks. A big test for Rochford & Co too. Match ups needs to be right. Kerry are a wily bunch. I sat in the bar in Heuston station after the drawn game last weekend and Fitzmaurice was sitting at a table with Maurice Fitz, Mikey Sheehy…
Kerry are fav’s. Paddy power have them 1/2 on to beat us.
Can Mayo can beat Kerry for the first time since 1996? Yes, but it’ll require our best 70 mins since last September and the rub of the green.
These are the four teams everyone expected to still be in the running at this point of the season. Are we better to have gone through the back door? Yes.. It’s not easy but I think we are the better for it. The one thing that remains the same though is that if Mayo turn up and have the right tactics in play we can beat anyone (of course the opposite is also true). How and ever.. by god did we turn up today with pace and power to boot and blew away a Rossi team with great expectations. They just couldn’t live with us and that my friends is what you need to bring to the table if you want to compete for Sam. We need to keep this intensity going and up it another few notches because let’s call a spade a spade.. Ros were woeful and Kerry will be? well Kerry! But today is all about the win, savouring that win (cause they don’t come much sweeter) and re-establishing our position. Well done to the team and management you have done your County proud. Now take a rest.. I certainly will.. after all this travelling I need a lie down 🙂
So nice leaving a Mayo match with my heart not bursting out of my chest. Except with pride in our men
Mayo going forward.are hard to beat. Leaders stood up to the plate. Got the team right and got the tactics right. Fair play to Rochford and co. Still two matches from lifting Sam. Requires professional approach to Kerry. We owe them one and if we stay focused we can beat them. Mayo moving forward are impressive. It requires bravery and can leave you vulnerable on the counter attack. But fortune favours the brave. The motto should be ‘ Do not be afraid ‘. Ar aghaidh Linn Mhuigheo. Let the word go out. Mayo are serious contenders.
That’s more like it, just to out and play to our strengths and we were always going to steamroll Roscommon!
Rochford out
Mcstay in
Let’s enjoy the win 😉
Well done Mayo. Keith Higgins my man of the match by a mile. Such a superb athlete. What a joy to watch as he steps on the gas around middle of the park and leaves opposition players in his slipstream. Boyle a warrior as always. Great energy from Paddy Durkan, Diarmuid, Donal, Jason. And Harrison making that full back line his own. Poor Roscommon team. This is not May or June now. Different football in August. Everything before today is now irrelevant. 4 teams left. Mayo a match for any of them
Plenty of slices of pie lads, it’s not the most palatable but lots of you were well able to dish it out.
I know i said it before but its true. We bloggers have a different grouch after every game. This was not good
preparation for the semi. The media will hype us up to high heaven. Just what the Kerry boys want. We are not as
bad as we looked last week. We are not as good as we looked this week. Feet on the ground colleagues please!
Mayonaze it was only yesterday you said Kerry would put up a cricket score on us and now you think we could beat them.
We should never doubt this team. Their record is phenomenal. Ok they haven’t won an AI but they have a never say die attitude and when a play at a high intensity with good support play they are a match for any team. This team is far from finished! Up Mayo
Willie Joe said expect the unexpected. Roscommon just missing or we rang rings around them?
I think we were caught on the hop last week but management and squad figured it out. Well done.
Need a game plan for Kerry but believe Rochford has it.
Just brilliant stuff from all concerned, great team, great panel, great management great support, green and red everywhere. There may have been a fair few heralding their demise but thank God that does not in anyway affect the conviction of the tens of thousands who are only too delighted to follow these lads. PS I know a few might like to throw a jibe or two at the Rossies, but today they came in their droves too, decent friendly people young and old so hard luck today neighbours.
Hello, Just to add my tuppence worth.. I am more than happy to leave the Management to do their job after this. I thought there was marvellous use of handpassing and every kind of pass seemed to reach intended target. Even the final kick when lying on the ground surrounded seemed to find a Teammate.
I think it is great for the Team and for the first time this year they can realy relax in a footballing sense. The subs are now settled?
It was an awful day for the Rossie Supporters who arrived with so much hope
We can all look forward to the Kerry Match. Everything going according to the Master Plan, i think. We will have to wait to see it.
James, I said the Ros defence is average at best and we should attack them. I said if Ros beat us Kerry will put up a cricket score on them!!!
The goal Conor Loftus scored against Derry in 69th minute at mchale pk could be the most important goal scored there in decades …..The loudest roar i ever heard anyway goals win games and Kerrys full back line are there for the taking….
I do think we need to keep the heads. I think this is the performance they were probably hoping to save for Kerry. They’ve shown their hand now. Next game won’t be easy by any stretch of the imagination. I do think donaghy will play a huge part next time though.
This is exactly what I said yesterday James:-
“Ros forwards too should be better. They went scoreless for 20 mins in the first half and Diarmuid Murtagh was below par. I don’t think we attacked enough or had our forward players threatening enough. That Ros defence is average at best and we struggled to break them down. If they get past tnro the Kerry forwards will put up a cricket score.”
My point being that ‘they’ the Roscommon defence was vulnerable and that was proven today.
Anyway…Mr Donaghy…we meet again… How will Mayo quell this potent Kerry attack?
Hype Machine in full swing here. A bit of perspective needed. Brilliant win. Some great performances.
I agree with previous poster. Any chance of Kerry being complacent is gone. I still have no idea how we’re going to deal with that full forward line of Kerrys. My main worry tho is the strength off the bench especially up top. I don’t know what Fergal Boland has done but for Dillon to get a run out in Croke Park before him is madness.
Best of luck Mayo team management and fans
I hope ye go on and win it like Galway in 1998
great game all round, new positives were Nally looked good and Harrison played well in Full Back, but Donaghy has 5 inches over him, and we cannot play without a real plan to deal with him conclusively
Dreamysleepy…. In years gone by I’d agree Mayo were best when ‘not showing our full hand’ ahead of a team like Kerry. But feckin hell we are long enough on the road that teams know what we are capable of. We shouldnt be relying anymore on coming in under the radar. If this Mayo team want to be the best they need to be comfortable with sizeable wins. Our form this year has been fairly grim…scraping by, by the skin of our teeth. The big question now is can Mayo put back to back performances together. That’s the task. We’ll need to otherwise all the grinding and slugging it out against Derry, Clare, cork and Ros will all have been for nothing.
This Mayo squad are as mature and experienced as anyone in the country. They know what’s required. They’ll have already put today’s result out of their minds. We should too.
Great to see return of the Mayo running game and less of an over focus on the opposition’s tactics. Well done all, roll on the 20th.
Excellent.
We’re all guilty of swarming to this excellent blog – Willie Joe, don’t ever let some keyboard warrior after 8 pints convince you any differently – after a tepid performance and start asking a lot of questions. I asked a lot of questions 8 days ago. We all did. The sign of a good side is to answer those questions. Today, many were answered emphatically.
From the throw-in, when AOS gathered the ball, held off a few challenges, and fed the ball, you had the sense that maybe, just maybe, this Mayo team would blitz the opponent and do what they’ve threatened to do for quite some time. Yes sir.
Where do you begin? I thought it was outstanding. The second it was a replay, I managed to move about 5 things around to organise a “work from home” day. [CEO, if you’re reading this, I’m 3 pints in but still replying to eMails.], and boy am I happy I witnessed this performance live. Someone above mentioned the slaying of Donegal at this same stage during the Horan era as a comparative display. I would agree. With the exception that on this occasion, though arguably we were pinned against “lesser” opposition – the media are now fascinated with this Top 3/4 distinction – the knives were out a lot more today. The team is spent. Too much football. Management have lost it [if they ever had it]. Our forwards couldn’t score in a brothel. And so on.
I take no pleasure in seeing Mayo demolish any team. Even the neighbours. I do take a lot of pleasure in seeing this team put in a complete performance. And we were nearly there today.
Brendan Harrison looked assured. Who knows if he’ll ever have a more straightforward game, but anything that came, he dealt with. An excellent man marker, I saw him a few times today barking orders and organising things. That was as promising as the performance itself. Boyle may not have been as adventurous as his meandering runs last week, but he broke up a lot of ball in the back line and, as usual, led by example. Vaughan was an inspired inclusion – where in God’s name was he playing/does it matter? – and his slick score in the first half and eager running shows and reconfirms to any doubters what he can bring to this team. Barrett took a horrible hit in the first half – accidental, it must be said – and shook off any cobwebs to put in an assured performance. He even scored a point if memory serves, and had a goal attempt saved – not something we’d normally associate with him. Keith Higgins. Full stop. A goal and the golden creator of another. And that’s only him in attack. His defensive mopping up and ability to link defence and attack is crucial to our team.
As many of you have correctly touched on, the midfield pairing today was fantastic. Seamus and Parsons put on nothing short of a masterclass. They fielded, won breaking ball, turned things over, and left nothing to chance. If there were any doubts about the importance of a fully fit Parsons in this team, perhaps they have been dispelled today.
RTE’s main of the match Aidan played out of his skin. He looked leggy in the first game, but that aside, he has taken up where he left off since the Derry game. Derry, Clare, Cork he led those boys into battle when the chips were down. The difference today was he didn’t wait for a disaster to be imminent. He hit it hard from the start. Both of his points, as an aside, were sweetly taken, and once more he took every belt and hit with a discipline that is both admirable and perplexing.
As for our forwards. Those wasteful bunch of you-know-whats. Goals galore. Chances aplenty. Ironically, I still didn’t think Cillian had his shooting boots on in their fullest, though I think he ended up with 1-06 or 1-07. The fact that there’s more to come from him [ala Cork] makes me giddier than a child on Christmas Eve. Stand up Kevin Mac – great performance, brilliant ball carrying and link up play, and a wonderful goal [I heard there was a double hop for the goal?]. Andy huffed and puffed, pulled that Roscommon defence into areas they hated, and selflessly created space for other runners. Classic Andy doing what he does best. Tireless work from Diarmuid [yes, I did say he looked tired last weekend] and a great score, though I felt he could have had a few more. It was also great to see Doherty knock a few over – I thought his first score was one of the better ones of the day.
And how about our much derided bench? 2 scores from Nally – the second was a scorcher – as well as scores from Drake and Coen. The pressure was off but those boys will grow in confidence a lot from that. Poor Loftus pulled his goal attempt wide – just wide, in spite of the commentators saying he was wasteful – but he also looked lively. Not bad.
Collectively, they got it spot on. I genuinely felt bad for the Roscommon keeper. Because of the pressure exerted by the whole team, he didn’t know what to do with the ball. Kick it long and invariably Tom, Aidan, or Seamus will field it. Kick it short and there will be a multitude of Mayo lads putting pressure on ball and man. Excellent. It was a far cry from our semi-final debacle of two years ago – first game I believe – where we didn’t know what to do with Cluxton’s kick outs. Today we dictated.
What now? Take everything with a pinch of salt because it’s poor old Roscommon? Maybe, or maybe not. They’re Connacht champions – they beat a team that we lost to earlier in the Championship [doesn’t it feel like a lifetime ago?], and took us all the way 8 days ago. They didn’t become a brutal side overnight.
Assume all the cliches. Kerry will be a different proposition. But a twenty-two point win in Croke Park is not something to ignore. Let’s be reflective for a second – I think we still ended up with 12 or 13 wides. 6 or 7 of those should have been scores. It’s important to acknowledge this – not as a means of criticism but holding the lads to the standards that we need to in order to finally achieve glory. There is still work to be done.
But the pace we moved the ball today, the movement off the ball, and the hunger to win every single ball from first minute to last [74th?] means we’re on the right path. We may worry about Donaghy, but Kerry should worry about our fluid half-back line steaming forward, our midfield fielding, and our expert free-kick taker.
Where to now? We did all of this without Lee Keegan. He will surely return the next day but then the questions resurface [good questions!]. Who drops out? Vaughan being dropped would seem harsh after today. A midfield shuffle? For the first time this season, Rochford and co have good headaches. And whilst the questions are tough to answer again, this time, it’s because there are a multitude of answers.
No one wins an All Ireland in the first weekend of August. But teams can lay a bench mark down.
Today we dispelled a lot of myths about us being a spent force. Let’s continue to do just that. One question at a time. Call us the myth busters. Call us Mayo.
Also, even tho Kerry pundits might say they’ll eat a shirt if Mayo win this year, you can be damn certain Fitzmaurice and Kerry will be 100% focused and will have zero complacency. Even if we’d only scrapped by today it still would have been the same.
Mayo need to do it this year. A win over Kerry is long overdue.
Did all ye fly home or something ? ust below Athlone now and feeling pretty good, gotta love everything about Mayo Gaa and I do Maigheabu
Ok sorry mayonaze I misread it.
Donaghy is a threat and I think the way to deal with him is to put someone on him that can match him physically because he thrives on a full back that stands off. Barry moran would match him but he hasnt played enough football to be thrown in. We coped well with the high ball today by breaking it and then getting players around to pick up the loose ball. Clarke again came for a few today and cleared the danger
There are more threats than him though. Geaney and o Donoghue. Harrison is now our best man marker in my opinion and I would put him on o donoghue with higgins on geaney
How many times can u say 4-19 to 0-9 in wan minit???
What a performance lads. So happy with the guts and class shown.
In sorry ado but Keith was motm by a mile.
Great report WJ. The only point I’d take you up on was your suggestion that we didn’t quite give them a level of beating that would destroy them forever. For me, that’s exactly what we have done. And even better, we did it in Croke Park.
A whole new generation of Rossie players have now got the same psychological baggage attached to playing Mayo as every generation of their team has had since the early 90s. Now that they’ve seen the true standard gap I could see quite a few of them taking a summer or two off to go overseas.
On that note – that must surely be a record margin of victory over them. I think the old record was 20 points in 2009.
And the notion that McStay was somehow the genius we missed out on has been blown away also. What ever happens this year from here today is a day we can savour for years to come.
Let Kerry worry about us for a change because if they don’t have a plan they will be off with no plans for third summer in September. Simple as we are good enough and we still want it and are up for it. Look at interviews afterwards no hype by team not shocked they are where they knew they would be. Also they believe they good enough. What more can you want.
FB line should be
Higgins
Moran
Harrison
with Boyle sweeping in front. Give Barry instruction to break anything kicked in on top of Donnaghey
Great performance without our best player Lee keegan on bench,but I would like to question some of the subs that came on ,Alan Dillon is way past it,David drake is only a average club footballer,on the plus side Shane nally kicked two great points and Kirby wasn’t there long enough to rate,Stephen coen is definely a back??,
– This was all about power, pace and precision passing and they worked nonstop right to the 74 minute. We did to the Rossies exactly what Dublin, Kerry or Tyrone would have done.
– 8 points plus was my prediction two weeks ago as I always felt we were a far superior team but I did not see that hammering coming
-I was critical of Higgins in earlier matches but he was MOM today.
– SOS had his best game all year and really everyone played well.
– Kerry is for another day for now show your support. I was in Blacksod yesterday for first time ever (lovely spot John Cuffe) and there were way more flags flyin in Erris than in Westport and Castlebar so please put up your flags and show your appreciation for these warriors.
– Nobody needs to tell the genuine Mayo supporters that we have won nothing yet, we know that. We all have learned very hard lessons.
Can’t argue with that. Emphatic. Maybe a 3 tier championship is justified? Problem is it would only have 4 teams based on this weekends evidence! Physicality and intensity the key common denominator between those 4 and rest …although Kerry didn’t even do that or have to…
Game reduced to farce levels in 2nd half. Roscommon downed tools. Players soloing 50-60 yards in straight lines into their half unopposed. 4th goal was actually a 5 on 3 situation….when the jaysus do u see that. I have little sympathy for Ros when I see that sort of capitulation…
Not that it would have affected result but blatant 2 hops from mcloughlin for first goal…
One thing is certain. None of the last 4 are going to allow short kick outs and concede possession from kick out like in basketball…if they do I am certain they will lose….so pressure will be on keepers big style from here on in.
Great win ..really impressed with the work rate of Diarmuid …Donnie and Jason …Keith was my man of the match ..Seamie much improved and Tom proved how much he was missed ..thought Harrison was brilliant too..Rossies were white but never let play …Donnie only one I can think of to mark Donehy but from what I saw against galway he is nearly unmarkable ..anyway we are where we wanted to be …Bring on the Kingdom !!
@Declan easy on McStay, he’s smart and a class act. that team is way behind Mayo from a development and experience pov.
Someone said we are not as bad as looked last week,and not as good as we looked today I agree we are twice as good as we looked today, up Mayo
@ maigh Eo go deo – not sure why you getting excited about Rochford? There was no management master class today. Just a team with far superior players. Mayo played great, Roscommon are poor. They were allowed to play their real game today and Roscommon could never match that. Good to finally see an aggressive full back for once .
Jesus some of ye will find anything to complain about !
A magnificent displayed exemplified by the usual honest effort from Donie Vaughan .
Kerry have plenty to worry about …….where have they been the last few years……their game plan is built around high ball into a 34 year old who lasts 50 minutes …….stop the supply !
If I asked most of ye to name their half backs midfield and half forward line ye wouldn’t be able to. I know I wouldn’t .
Everyone knows ours . That’s where the game will be won and lost. No ball in no scores .
Well done Rochford . Completely and utterly outfoxed mcstay.
And all without Keegan ………
We might be worrying about Donaghy but I can tell you all that Kerry will be worrying abot AOS if he plays like that next day, if AOS plays forward which of the Kerry backs have the physicality to mark him, I cannot see which one..
Let donaghy jump alone
Thank you guys for being the amazing guys ye all are. That was a huge team display each and everyone of you stood up. Luv ye to bits.
Sad not to be there due to family illness. Mayo forever. Credit to yere County. So athletic. Joy to watch.
Really proud of the team today. It was even more complete a performance tham Donegal 2013.
I dont even want to think of Kerry for a few days.
We’re still here at the top table with three or four quality young players coming up.
Today said in most emphatic terms “We’re not going away any time soon”.
Would people really not be able to name kerry’s 5 to 12? they’ve 3 all stars there…
Donaghy barely played FF last year so I wouldn’t say their game is built around lobbing ball into him
Actually Buckley has an all star too doesn’t he? So 4
Well done to all involved. It was great to get a win like that. You could not have asked for anything more from our lads today. We’ll think about Kerry tomorrow. There is a saying that everyone some days should be allowed to wake up in the morning with the sweet taste of victory in their mouths, we can do that in the morning. There is life in the old dog yet!
Great performance and while I did not doubt them today, like so many others I did not see it coming. SR got this group to an AI final replay and he did not become useless overnight as some people would have you believe. We have enjoyed yet another great summer of fun and trills on the road following this great team. Roscommon were poor today but they are the Connacht Champions and they played football in Croker in August. Only a handful of counties can say that as they shine their silverware. The Rossies turned out in high numbers and cheered their hero’s to the bitter end. Well done to them.
No I could not name all 8 players from 5-12
Kerry barely played him FF last year and didn’t make the final .
They have changed tact this year but still won’t make the final .
Who will mark Cillain ?
Andy ?
Diarmuid ?
Aidan ?
Will stub outfield parsons? And Seamie ?
And I haven’t even got to our strongest sector !
I hope Rochford focuses on all our strengths and plays to them
Up mayo ANOTHER great day
Although I think the game before made me prouder . We were heavy legged . 8 points down . Tired. The doom merchants were sharpening their knifes BUT this great team clawed their way out of a massive hole.
Have the Kerry team had to show character like that ? Do they have it ? We don’t know
But i know our boys do
That was just great to witness. Best performance in years.
We’ll need an equally good (or probably better) performance to beat Kerry, but who would back against us providing it?
These lads have continually battled for the cause and never once lost faith. Some supporters did, but now’s not the time for recriminations. We’re all Mayo, so let’s get fully behind them all now for the semi.
Kerry are the one and only top team we haven’t beaten in championship since the Horan years, so let’s put that right.
I’m assuming Donaghy wasn’t cited for that ‘choke’ on the Galway player? Wishful thinking I know…
We need to have a plan for him and the rest of the Kerry forwards. They’ve a serious forward unit.
Definite weaknesses in their backs though, especially when you run at them.
That’s why it was so pleasing to see our running game functioning again like it did a few years ago. We destroyed Kerry for large parts of the 2nd half in 2014 by utilising this.
Still, that’s for another day. Let’s enjoy a great day and be thankful the players now have 2 weeks to recharge.
One query I have. What has happened to Fergal Boland. An ever present in the first half of the year and a player who will be a key part of the team going forward but has now seemingly fallen out of favour. I would have thought today was a perfect opportunity to give him game time in Croke Park.
Please stop focusing on Donaghey as though he wins games on his own for Kerry. The MAYO TEAM will deal with Donaghey not just any one player marking him. One man has never won an All Ireland for anyone. T he best organised TEAM will win this one. Give us a break to take in what this fantastic team of players did today. This team will deal with Donaghey.
Donaghy always wears 14 but was out the field a lot last year, with geaney the target man.
He will be ff for certain against ourselves but id highly doubt it’ll be all route one.
Between Morley, Crowley, Murphy, Moran, Maher, Barry (probable all star already), darran, geaney, donncha Walsh and buckley they’ve serious quality out the field and to come in to these positions off the bench.
It’s hard to measure have they improved since 2014 but I do think they have. They were a little unlucky v the dubs last year a blatant free wasnt awarded to them to give them an injury time lead
Tom really is a pure athlete, and as cool as a breeze under pressure. he is a brilliant midfielder and All-Star nominee last year. It is mind boggling to think that he was completely out of the picture for 4-5 years under JH………I saw him play on Mayo senior Team years ago in Carrick-on-Shannon, then……………gone………….until last 2 years…………..How can that happen !
Agree Sean …nealy pointless trying to catch a ball with Donehy..maybe let him catch it and try be in best position to tackle /defend ..ah feck it let’s just enjoy this win !!
Whoever is saying that Barry Moran should start the next day, are crazy, why would you start him because he is tall,
same FB line as today and im assuming Harrison will be on Donaghy, he does not need to catch it just break it down and get the sweeper to clean up, I know easier said than done but that is the only way to do it, look at when AOS goes FF and even last year his marker kept breaking it down and sweeper cleaned up, McMahon and Cian O Sullivan come to mind,
Great job today lads , but lets keep the feet grounded
today was the first day in a long time we played without fear and that we played with huge intensity . fair play to everyone ye continue to amaze us. as for kerry we won’t be bullied like we were in limerick . we owe them big time and they’ll get it in two weeks . as for donaghey david brady showed how to mark him, hes 34 now we have athletes that will make him look as slow as a snail . and our mayo media people can always help by highlighting how he rearly gets called for overcarrying the ball or for pushing his marker while the ball is in flight . we are just as good as them and don’t fear them. we’re going to teach them a lesson they deserve to get . cmon mayo!
Excellent today by players and management alike. I thought our running game was wonderful. One observation I would like to make, at times when we were running down the wings there were big gaps left in the centre (by Mayo and Rose) and I felt that we had opportunities to use these spaces.
Overall best performance in a long time. More of it for the semi-final
I was very impressed with Shane Nally when he came on
Upwards and onwards.
I know its probably robbing Peter to pay Paul but I think Tom Parsons is perfectly suited to playing that sweeper role similar to Colm Kavanagh. He has the fetching ability,is mobile, a good tackler & reads the game very well & can give efficient protection to the full back line.Also has the ability to break forward when the opportunity presents itself & can be very effective in wiinning our own kickouts, I think he has ability to completely close down the Kerry full forward threat with Donaghy coming off early !!
Play Keegan in Midfield which will give us a whole new option & put Kerry on the back foot !!
When in the warm glow of victory after a virtuoso display people can lose the run of themselves a bit….and fair enough. I saw one poster say ye will always have this day to remember if nothing else….this day will be forgotten outside local bragging rights by next week.
In the last 2 years Roscommon has beaten New York (1pt) sligo, Leitrim and Galway (who did the hard work for them to win CSFC)…they won 1 league game this year and were relegated….those that lauded the genius last week ignored these facts. Those facts should equally not be ignored now in the context of the win.
The main positive was the ruthlessness Mayo showed when they got in driving seat – unlike v Cork. Outside of that I don’t think any serious analyst could take anymore form this game. You simply don’t ignore Mayos previous 7 games, focus on this one to assess where they are. Mayo always has the capability of beating middle tier teams like this…they played 5 such teams already and this was the first they pulverised. Yes I am throwing cold water on this but part of me can’t help but feel Mayo would have gained more sneaking through last week by a point – any chance Kerry would have been sub consciously complacent – because it’s always in the sub concious and never deliberate – has been completely wiped away after that display.
But this is where Mayo wanted to be and they’ve done it again. A remarkable run of 7 years reaching this stage. That in itself should be acknowledged but we all know only 1 outcome will satisfy anyone now.” And no one will be holding on to the memory of today if that is not achieved.
Kerry have beat Clare …..Cork …… and Galway .
Last year ? The year before ?
Ok so
Run for cover
Good job Rochford didn’t listen to the doom merchants on here and drop half the team based on last week !
What did cillain kick today ? 1 09 or so I’d say ……
Sometimes I think mayo supporters just don’t know how to handle victory .
Every team we play is “dangerous ” until we beat them and then the revisionism begins !
This team didn’t go away after being the second best team in the country for the last few years
Now it’s time to be the best 🙂
Delighted with that win.
Delighted Rochford showed his worth too. It must be so hard to know what to say or do to this team to get them ready.
I know Kerry is a big test but I think we rise our game against better position
Donaghy is a big factor but he isn’t always stationed at fullforward.
I think Donie is the right man for him.
He’s aggressive and can compete aerially
He will always run the hell out of donaghy and make him defend.
Ya Vaughan will do a job on him no worries
Barrett will have to go to corner for geney while Harrison picks up JOD
We should at least break even in that regard.
David Moran is one of very best players in county and he will take more planning to nullify rather than any other Kerry layer in my opinion.
Maher and Barry are two good options too.
So I think they have more to worry about us than we do them.
If forwards are on form we will beat Kerry just special consideration for Moran and geaney rather than anyone else and let us play our own best running game and then book your tickets for another September final
While i never lost faith in the players, i had to a large degree lost faith in the mgmt.
Couldnt understand their tactics or substitutions over the year.
Couldnt understand why KMcL was moved from sweeper when we spent the whole
of last summer bedding him into that role and it looked like he had it mastered it and
we’d stopped conceding soft goals. Then we go back to letting in soft goals this year ..
But i hold my hands up. Mgmt nailed it today.
Learnt from their mistakes which is the key to good mgmt.
Ran at the Rossies. Stopped kicking 40/60 balls into Cillian and Andy.
Higgins was immense. The lad is 32 going on 19. Gliding past lads 10 years younger.
Sweeping, scoring. setting up goals. One of the great players of the modern era.
Clarke bossed the box. Dealt with high balls with authority (he’ll need to do that and then some the next day)
Defence was brillant. Everyone winning their individual battle. Harrison is a brillant man marker.
SOS got a burst of energy from somewhere. Tom is vital to the team and makes it tick around the middle.
DOC had his best game in a long time. Full of running, tacking, good passing.
KMcL was immense. Such an illusive players. Can turn on a six pence and has PACE.
Another great performance from Aiden. He’s making the right choices 90% of the time this year.
Doherty was great at the start but grew into it. His physicality and ability to win his own ball is a big part
of this team.
Andy and Cillian played well but both can still play better.
Thought Drake played well. He has a good engine and seems pacy.
Loftus a bit disappointing. Thought he’d bury that goal chance.
Coen solid in defence. Needs to back himself a bit more when he has a shooting chance.
Nally great intro. Has to be an option the next day.
MGMT great performance. Next Challenge is huge but you’re giving me hope ..
So the running game is back with a vengeance for many of our would be manager’s. I see short memories here. Our last outing against the Kingdom was full of running and attacking fotball. Defenders running from deep to pop up and take the scores. Question though how many goals did these point scoring defenders conceed down in Limerick. Einstein’s theory was if you continue to repeat the same actions and expect different results you will not beat any Kerry team…… or something like that. SR had better had another plan for Kerry. That’s why I am glad he is the manager. He will ask defenders to defend first.
Great win today folks and congrats to all, Roscommon played conservatively and didn’t commit to the attack with enough gusto. Mayo just went for it baldheaded and blew them away, when ye pushed up on their kick outs they were like a rabbit in the headlights and just didn’t seem to be able to adapt to the change in current.
Kerry will ask questions that haven’t been asked of ye thus far and Mayo will oblige in doing the same to Kerry. We both need a real quality check and we are now going to get one on the 20th, this test could prove vital for whoever prevails as an untested team meeting either Dublin or Tyrone in the final…
It’s a great result from Mayo and it was great to see them attack like the Warriors that we all know from recent years. As a kerryman I am also pleased as I was fearing one point win after a tight battle where questionable skills were evident. This scenario could have led to complacency seeping into Kerry heads but there is little chance of that now. I can’t wish ye well in the clash with Kerry but if ye beat us I will certainly be in your corner against either Dublin or Tyrone.
Trust me lads, the Kerry defence will be the tightest and toughest rearguard we’ll have faced all year.
Seamie was good today but Ros midfield were anonymous. Can he (and Tom) put back to back performances together?
Consistency. That’s what wins titles. Barring today, we’ve stuttered our way back to the last 4, and we’ve been extremely lucky at times! Yes, lovely to hammer the rossies today but as some have already said, perspective is required. Ros were absolutely dreadful. Like, woefully so.
We’ve not been good this year. That’s why no one was rating us as contenders. Cheap media will now rave about today’s mauling but anyone clued in at all knows that it’ll take a massive performance in two weeks to topple Kerry. Paddy power have them as 1/2 and us as 9/4. Says it all.
Welcome back the real mayo.
I told u all to relax and enjoy your team .
It is a fantastic team that won’t be around forever.
So enjoy them, memorise the great moments ,
in years to come u will tell ur children u saw AOS and Lee and Andy in the flesh.
U will beat Kerry and then play Dublin in the final.
That’s been my prediction all season.
As a dub fan I can genuinely say that I have no clue who will win the final .If Dublin must be beat then I hope it’s by this great Mayo team.They were awesome today.
Marty K,
Tom Parsons did play under James Horan. He was studying in Wales and could only come to trsin at weekends and then he seemed to be very injury prone. This is old ground on this site and don’t know why you would bring it up now. Tom decided to come home and play for Mayo. He was always welcome and not forgotten.
Bravo bravo massive performance! Up there with cork 2011 and Donegal 2013!
Management deserve huge credit after all the negative crap!
There is one thing with fair and balanced criticism but some of the stuff that was being said was out of control!
Great to be back in a semi! How we deal with donaghy who does lee replace great problems to have!
well done to the supporters today really backed this team and well done to the team!
A wonderful evening sitting by a calm shooeeing sea here in Brittany and thinking no further than a fine meal on the up and garnished with thoughts of what occurred today. You think they can do it, you hope they can do it and here it is happening in front of your own two eyes unfolding with such simplicity and alacrity that you near fall into a slumber, and harbour thoughts for the poor unfortunate opposition and good friends you have in the fine flat lands of the OConnors. But not for long. It’s no All Ireland this….. A young green Ros team…..Rugged roads ahead…and how many times have we crawled back home with our tails stuck between our own legs. So commiserations despatched the way is clear ahead and what we must bring to the next party is becoming an increasingly attainable possibility.
And I think we saw today the qualities that can give us immense hope in the days to come. Foremost in this regard, this was a team victory all the way into the bench…. a long time a coming. We also saw the importance of the McL and Higgins heartbeats where they matter most and have most devastating results….is there anything like a few goals to warm up a team? And what does it take but the odd little bit of magic here and there …..and not a lot!!!
So here’s to all on duty today and I especially raise a glass of the best Cellier Des Dauphins to the warriors who did us proud in the park and indeed to the….was it fourteen scorers who amassed the total?
What is with all the infighting folks, jeez we just had a brilliant win. People are different , none of us are right all the time , some like to be cautious but each and everyone one of us love Mayo football. Show some solidarity ffs.
On todays form we are capable of besting kerry , we didnt show that all year thiugh , supporters can only analyze current form to an extent .
Everyone is proud of these bucks,.stop trying to make out some of ye are uber supporters.
This journey is so extraordinary and exciting , embrace it together like they do on the pitch. We are 70mins away from another final , it will be tough but fook me they proved it today they can still do this. #soproud
well done mayo great win funny feeling mayo could cause an upset and beat kerry no of the experts will give mayo a chance what do you think
Have to say, I just love this bunch of players/team. You’d think I’d have learnt by now but every time I begin to slightly doubt they soon set me straight. Bravest bunch I’ve ever seen, all Ireland or none. Congrats to all..
Woah !!!,
well done the lads today, everybody is buzzing after a great win….
We played well today and showed what we can do…However we shouldnt be in the situation of playing these games in the first place… many of us here have been shot down for being critical of our performances over the last while, I stand by that, the performance today is even more vindication of that…and no rushing to comment by the early posters here can dissuade me…
We are so much better than Galway, Cork, Clare, Derry and Roscommon and the fact that we laboured against all those teams raises obvious questions….
Ruthlessly pushed up on rossies today, Aiden playing where he is most effective, midfielders well on top and back to our running game. I certainly couldn’t have asked for more today. I and others called for our lads to piss or get off the pot, after 73mins I can safely say the pot was well overflowing.
Well timed and much needed confidence booster.
For the lover ofor God …..
why oh why was A Dillon introduced today. … surely it would have been better to reintroduce fregal Boland to the team !!!
In each game Alan has been introduced he has contributed nothing …. except to show the years of wear and tear on his body. Not fair to him or this team.
Today shows that D Vaughan should be on this Mayo team in Croke park. Does a lot of good stuff and as important … does nothing silly. Uses him experience well. With regards to a position .. take ur pick…. depends where needs must I suppose and what suits for the opposition.
Against Kerry… possibly Buckley (of our halfbacks maybe donie is the best suited. He has the size and easily has the pace for him. And he can compete with Buckley in the air.)
The only thing I worry about, you wont beat a Kerry team twice in the same year. I think we are getting carried away because we beat a poor Roscommon team today.
Kerry doesn’t give two fucks about us. They are also able to make changes to manage us. I said at the start of the year Kerry will win Sam in 2017, and I still believe they will. We are saying that we beat Kerry well in the first round of the League, but who won the league? Kerry. We will give them a game alright, but they have better footballers and better knowhow. They will outsmart Rochford and co. To me its still Kerry V Dublin. I am not sure we can repeat this performance of today ,as the opposition are not in Croke Park, with championship history like Roscommon.
Previous Mayo managers forgot about Donaghy – resulting in dire consequences on each occasiom. We have to get our man-marking of him spot on all thru the match, while all he needs is one or two opportunitiet. Congratt to all involved today including travelling supporters ‘- great occasion once again.
we all wondered whether that sort of performance was still in the locker and it shows there is life in us yet.
barrett for leroy aside todays team was the team that almost took out dublin in the final last year. no co-incidence there then.
i’m convinced the qualifiers will have done us no harm at all. the likes of aos and barrett certainly look stronger than they did 6 weeks ago.
10 days to rest up and we’ll be good to go again, hopefully leroy will be ok and we can go out there with our high octane running game and really put it up to kerry.
cant wait
Fair play to John and other real Dubs supporters and other non Mayo fans who contribute constructively here, great to see positive feedback and empathy, its what makes GAA and being Irish great!
So where will Leroy come back into the team …..
Let KERRY spend a few training sessions worrying about that !!!
Let mayo people be thankful that he play for US.
Would agree there RiseAgain regarding Donal Vaughan.
He simply has to be in the team. Streetwise and a warrior and a player you wouldn’t fancy playing against.
Although we have been no great shakes ourselves you could say the same about Kerry. They were hardly convincing against Clare and Galway created enough clear goal chances to have made that game a lot closer than it ended up being.
Both semi finals look as though they could be classics.
Well done to the lads and the sideline too. Just great to see us scoring goals in Croker. Ya ok Roscommon weren’t great but as the fella sez, you can only play what’s in front of ya. And by the looks of there was a plan and it worked today.
Ye were very lucky today… : ) Can we make it a best of 3?
Seriously, well played and good luck against Kerry.
So proud. Exactly what I ordered!
Why should be afraid of Kerry? I think it is they who should be more worried. As far as I’m concerned all they have done is won an all Ireland that should have been ours.
Now keep believing and stay positive. I have no doubt we will still be there in September.
Thanks Tulsk Lord Edward and Ballinlough Lad – that was a really tough day for you guys. It’s not easy seeing your team take such a pounding but you’ll have better days. Heartening to see you come on here after what happened today and thanks for the good wishes against Kerry. Chin up, up the West.
True Grit – finding it hard to agree with any of that.
Do you think the Mayo players “give two fucks about” Kerry? I don’t.
Are we not able to make changes to manage them?? I think we are.
Kerry won the league after finishing on the same points as us, they got through on points difference, that’s all.
I do not believe they have better footballers than us. There’s not much in it. I’ve gone through both teams previously in my head, I’ve always ended up with more Mayo players in my first 15.
We’ve just won a QF by 22 points, enjoy the night!
I know I should be basking in the glory of what was a great victory, but all I can think about now is Kerry Kerry Kerry, Donaghy, O’Donoghue, Geaney, who’s going to ref the match, “the rough and tumble stuff out around the middle of the field, the fuckin’ breaking ball”…………Sorry, just getting a bit carried away here.
2014 all Ireland final if I remember right Kerry v Donegal.people on about Donaghy again.Geaney went in full forward and donaghy went out pitch straight away.
Bang first high ball in to Geaney and a goal! Geaney is a man that might need more watching than Donaghy possibly!
Kerry might try something similar again maybe!
Ciaran 2,
Thanks for that clarification. I wasn’t stirring it at all, just an honest point/question. Not being very close to the grapevine, I didn’t know how or why Tom would have been out of the panel for that long. You’ve explained it…..thanks for that.
I’m delighted with our performance today. Best I’ve seen for years. I’m just hoping that we don’t go to the Kerry game overly confident. Ok yes, we hammered Roscommon today but they didn’t play at all and everything went against them. I’m sure a lot of you won’t agree with me here but I think nearly all decisions made by the Ref suited us whether he was right or wrong. Not only that but mcLoughlins goal should not have been allowed and Murtagh was pushed over the line by three Mayo players right beside the umpire and he said it was wide. I was delighted to hear very little booing today. The only booing I heard was some of the Mayo fans when Roscommon got a free in the second half and a small group of kids a few rows behind me booed Andy.
Energetic let it rip performance. We now have 4 super teams. Mentally and physically in the right place today. Well done to Management and players. I would like to have seen more of our subs, game was over as a contest by half time. Nally took this little opportunity to show his worth and Kirby looked physically stronger.
Today was a very sweet day to be a Mayo fan, the team were unstoppable. How bad is Keegan’s injury?
@Sean Bourke what are the bookies saying now. I hope you got a bit of Mayo for the Kerry game before today’s performance
Just a note ..Geaney is very good in the air as well …
What a display of greatness from this bunch of lads. They’ve answered all their critics and haters yet again. I love this team, I love Mayo GAA and as much as I hate Rollercoasters I’m definitely happy to stay on this one!!! You just couldn’t make it and I knew they had it in them. Living in Co. Roscommon I’m going to quietly enjoy this very sweet victory. Hon Mayo
Thanks Gamechanger10 and likewise we cannot wish yee the best in the next venture either. Soo now the real fun begins. I can’t ever believe that a Kerry team, in an All-Ireland semi, would become complacent of a Mayo team falling over the line with questionable skills. Mayo not having bet Kerry in championship football for quite some time would reflect that. So the way I see it, both teams are said to have questionable defences, strong midfields with Kerry having Marquee forwards and Mayo having none. So it’s advantage Kerry with Paddy Power liking the cut of yee aswell.. ohh and let’s not forget Donaghy. Ahh but don’t you just love the uncertainty of these things until the fat lady herself sings the tune
I have to say, much admiration to kevin mcstay. He was so honest when interviewed after the match. He gave a very fair of appraisal and said he had thought himself that there would not be much between the 2 teams today. He said Roscommon got hijacked by Mayo and that they were frazzled after 20 to 25 minutes. You could see how bad he was feeling for his young players. Roscommon will keep building and will be back at the big table again soon. Hard luck to them today. Mayo are a bit like that Japanese knot weed. Nearly impossible to kill and will always come back. Most of what Mayo did today was thrilling. No doubt the lads will be looking to improve again on a few things and there is absolutely no doubt about their hunger. What a bunch of warriors we have. Very very proud of the mayo team tonight. They are an incredible bunch of players. Poor kerry won’t know what to analyse in preparation. We play a different strategy every game. A nightmare for any opponent. Sam is close. I can sense him.
Everyone is talking about Donaghy, how do we set-up for him but in Tralee in the league game they had a player called Jack Savage, who is a very handy forward in the mould of Geaney and O’Donoghue playing at no. 13, so that’s something that we need to think about as well.
If all of our plans are made for Donaghy but then they play three speedsters instead up front, we need to be ready for that as well. So the moral of the story is to be ready for a Kerry team with or without him. They might not even start him but bring him on as in 2014. They have to make plans for Aidan O’Shea as well, so its all to play for.
For me Donaghy isnt the issue v Kerry or the rest of their ff line, truth is you can pick the best defenders in the country to mark them and they would struggle. The semi final will be won and lost between to two 45s. Dominate the middle and cut off the supply to their forwards is the only way to beat them, Donaghy and co can do feck all without the ball. If they are allowed to send in good quality ball then its too late, doesnt matter who is marking who.
Jaysus, Willie Joe said to expect the unexpected, but a 22 pint mauling. Come on. How many of ye saw this coming.
Now its time for revenge for what happened in Limerick in 2014. Its time to put right one of the greatest wrongs in GAA history. A lot of talk on here about Donaghey. Its 11 years since he destroyed us in the 2006 final. He was in his prime then. Nobody knows exactly what age he is but he must be nearly 40. An old man by now. We’re coming for you Kieran.
I know we have had alot of games already ths year, but tbh, our season is only just about to start.
To win a Senior All Ireland, you have to beat at least one of Kerry or Dublin in a semi or Final, in any given year.
This year is no different, we have it all to do.
Congrats to the players and to the supporters for dragging us to this position.
What a ruthless power packed display from each and every one of them. Management got the match ups spot on and tactically were on the money. Huge credit is due to them and I am the first to give it as I have been critical of some aspects of their performances this season. However, great work today.
The players, yet again confound the critics and keep coming back for more. Doherty and DOC were excellent today and took serious physical punishment with it. Seamie was one of my front runners for MOTM and had his best game this season. Higgins though, gets better with age. A serious threat from deep with his balance and acceleration he is almost unmarkable.
Two points though, our game wasn’t solely based on our old running game. We had runners coming from deep and running on to popped passes off our full forward line but our half backs foot passed accurately in to our forwards, in cemtral areas, and that made a huge difference. Also, I don’t believe Harrison had it as easy as you suggested WJ, Murtagh won plenty of ball and held him off fairly well considering he was living off scraps. Harry battled well but at best he broke even 50:50 with him.
I hope the management and players enjoy tonight because they’ve trodden a hard road this far. The fight is still most definitely there and the legs are far from gone.
Hon Mayo.
For once I’m not going to get drawn into today’s or next opposition or any imperfections in our own game.
I’m going to savour the victory and say well done to the lads for a massive performance of relentlessness and ruthlessness. Never took the foot of the pedal and greatly improves the confidence. Well done also to management who probably looked at themselves too. Credit due to all.
Great performance. But, a couple of observations.
Turnip head, I completely agree with you. What was Alan Dillon doing on the field while Fergal Borland and Evan Regan remained on the bench? The only answer I can come up with is that Stephen Rochford wants to keep the young fellas below the radar and not let them be seen. After all, they are the future. Alan has given us Stirling service and fair play to him. But I wonder how the young guns felt when they saw Alan running on.
Secondly, I want to highlight an incident which occurred in Croke Park today during the playing of Amhrán na bhFiann. The RTE cameras panned from various images of one team line up to the other. The Mayo men are focused and soldier like. Lo and behold, what do we see in the ranks of the Rossies during the anthem? Arms around shoulders, one primrose and blue clad warrior begins to stroke the cheek of his comrade to the left with hand and thumb. The player whose cheek is stroked reciprocates by trying to lick the hand of his stroker. I kid ye not. Those of you who have the game recorded can witness this scene and the general air of hilarity which ensued among two or three Ros players at this time. What exactly was going on here? A snippet of this cameo was sent to me and I can’t believe what I’m seeing.
Yea don’t have to catch the ball against Donaghey you just make sure he doesn’t catch it. Fist the ball Everytime and make sure he doesn’t collect it. Small preparation should be good enough to scupper his game. We are a top team and will need to drive at Kerry in the semi. Let their backs worry about the.waves they will have to face. We have to be positive and go.at.them like we did today. It’s time we accepted that we have top top players. We are too good to spend too much time thinking about sitting back and soaking up pressure. Let them soak up the pressure, but I do think as good as ketry can be they will not handle this mayo team if we really go positive. We have several positions where we have the top players in the country. The team played like they were possessed today. Nobody wants.to face us playing like that. I do believe that we have the talent and the hunger to finish the job this year. We certainly have.the players. This crap about not having beaten kerry since how long, BS we were robbed by a completely incompetent referee back in Limerick. We were not beaten by Kerry we were robbed by the referee. I said imcompetent and I was been nice about it, I think he knew damn well what he was at. Anyway we get our chance again in 13 days. Hope all players keep fit and healthy. I think they cannot wait for this match. I know I cannot.
Have to say while the win today was great it is tinged with a bit of regret that Roscommon were the victims of such a thrashing. It is not nice to see a team get beat so badly. It is hard on those young lads and will test their resolve to come back from it.
As regards Kerry. We need to be tough and ruthless in the combat. No quarter given and contest everything. This will be a tough physical battle and this Mayo team are well able for them. True grit you are talking thru your arse.
I mirror a lot of what is stated above.
But one swallow never made a summer springs to mind!
Donaghy a threat but the biggest threat is in the middle of the field. Moran, Barry, Maher and the option of Donaghy. Buckley and D Walsh all good in the air and masters at cleaning up the breaking ball.
That’s going to be the challenge and it’s where Kerry have the edge on us if we can counter that threat well we’llbe there or there bouts.
Just another point, do not mean to signal out any player in particular. But the exclusion of GCaff was the right call it enforced a ring of steal in the FB line and this needs to be the case the next day. Unfortunately, it probably means DV being dropped for LKee.
I have never posted here before, today was one of our greatest days as mayo fans. This team owe us nothing. Well done to Stephen and the lads.
Just for interest…paddy power have it as:-
Dublin 11/10; Kerry 21/10; Tyrone 5/1 and poor oul Mayo making up the numbers at 13/2….
Sure we may as well show up on Sunday week anyway…
Thanks Mayonaze. I’m off to put a few bob on Mayo. A four horse race and the outsider has just won his last race by a mile.
Happy Days – Enjoy tonight anyway lads :-).
2017 the year to. Anish demons???
Limerick: tick
Replay Win: tick
2014: ????
3rd Sun Sept:???
UpMayo
I thought Vaughan played very well today, he is a real Croke Park player, always does well there.
Yeah Mayonaze. Paddy power had Leicester at 5000 / 1 to win the premiership as well. 13/2 think could be worth a little flutter 🙂
Devastating performance from our lads today. Absolutely brilliant. Enjoy the moment sure but Kerry next up means minds need to refocus fast. It’s a privilege to follow this team.
The cut off the supply merchants are out again re Donaghey.
Fact is you cannot cut off the possession to him. Kerry have got the better of us at midfield in every championship match since 96 and deliver the ball better to their inside line than anyone else.
We need to go after Donaghey. That means AOS/SOS/Parsons/Moran on him no one else on the squad is big enough. As David Brady said he went out to deny him possession in 06 when he came on. That should be the mindset of whoever picks him up with a sweeper picking up the breaks. We need to go after that whole full forward line in a big way and get serious pressure on them then counter attack at pace. We can beat them but we have got to contain there forwards and dictate the pattern of the game to them
Goodman Muckle. Put on 200 for me. I’ll give it back to yea when the weather picks up a bit.
Surprised to see Roscommon unable to match Mayo at all but the last 8 days seem to have rejuvenated Mayo and this emphatic victory will boost morale ahead of the match against the kingdom. Well done to the Mayo team.
We totally ran out of ideas and belief against Kerry last week but created 4 clear goal chances that on another day we could have scored at least two of them with a bit of luck and I dont see any reason why Mayo can not also drive forward and expose Kerrys weaknesses. Many of ye would have been at that match and noted the intensity of the Kerry tackle yet Galway were still able to get through.
I feel Mayo have a real chance against Kerry as ye will surely contest the midfield battles with more success than Galway who lost the centre despite have big men competing for the ball.
I to be honest thought ye were fading out of All-Ireland contention after many years of valiant efforts but now I think ye has reestablished yer place in the top four. Dublin could yet stumble against an improving Tyrone and I think Kerry will need a massive improvement to beat Mayo if they have now hit their stride as it appears they have.
Well done Mayo but spare a thought for Roscommon who are also proud west of Ireland people and no one should gloat about a team from the west being humiliated in Croke Park.
Difficult to select a MOM but for me, what a difference Tom Parsons made in the starting lineout. He played with a controlled aggression, a performance that puts him up there with the best midfielders in the country.
Wondering who to drop to make space for Lee Keegan. Can rule out Boyler, Harrison and Keith. Have no idea where Donie was meant to be playing but he sure was good today. People saying Doherty played well but Keegan would add an extra dimension to our forward play. Barrett could be sacrificed I guess but he played more as a corner back today so that would mean moving Durcan back. Durcan missed a few and Donie probably doing the right thing more often by bursting the line and offloading to more advanced players. I guess performances in training will have to be the criteria as no idea who should be dropped. Drake keeps getting chances replacing forwards and he looked more like a good player today so I can only guess that he’s showing up very well in training. Nally was the best of our subs and looks good any chance he gets.
Great performace by Mayo today but I am still not convinced. I am still afeared of Kerry and Dublin in particular.
Roscommon are poor. Donaghy will need two men on him.
The Kerry defence is poor so we have a chance of scoring goals. If Kerry meet Dublin it will be the same old result…Dublin will win again…and comfortably. Dublin have a good enough defence..Kerry’s is porous.
If we play Dublin we could bayte them I feel if Dublin have an off day.
Allez Mayo!!
Quite predictable that the yerra-ing has begun already, the spin-machine well and truly kicking into gear. Started with John Evans on the wireless earlier. They’re delighted that Kerry have now been warned. Mayo have shown their form so there’ll be no complacency.
I’d counter that by saying I’d rather we find form now rather than trying to find it going into a semi against them.
You can be sure Kerry will not afford us the same space and hands-off type defending that the Rossies did today.
I hope it’s an epic match. It will all be on the day and no amount of spin either way will change that fact.
true grit u say Kerry won’t be worried about us but let me tell you a little story. fitzmaurice was seated in the vip box in limerick just in front of where i was seated and he was flanked by two other men i didn’t know . i was watching now and again during the game and they were deep in conversation with him during the game so it was obvious that they were with him. when cork got the second goal one of them jumped so high that he nearly hit the roof of the mackey stand. obviously fitzmaurice didn’t react but this is one of fitzmaurices buddies cheering for cork . so think again that they don’t fear us . it’s time we throw everything at this next match . all the bombers etc will be mouthing off next week we have to match them in the media. and by Jesus we’ll roar them out of croke park in two weeks . we are mayo and we fear or bow to no one .
Great to see Mayo finally play to their potential and still plenty to improve on (shooting) before facing Kerry. Kerry will not relish playing Mayo one bit and we won’t want for motivation having been pickpocketed by them in 2014. It seems we may be peaking at the right time – I believe AOS is being truthful when he says that their numbers are getting better all the time. I’m going to call it here and now – Mayo will beat Kerry on Sunday week. We have now got momentum: Kerry have an error-ridden nothing of a game against frightened opponents (Galway) and no test all summer. That they still need Donaghy as their most potent weapon and I’m sure our boys can do a job on the Geaneys and ODonoghue. Believe.
Not worried in the slightest what Kerry pundits throw out there either plamasing us or trying to put negative thoughts into our heads. They will be favourites and the way to beat them is huge intensity and relentlessness and our fans creating a great atmosphere. They have some excellent players from midfield up and we can’t expect to dominate their midfield like today, simply close down space as often as we can and get at their defense which is well drilled but isn’t full of world beaters. If Enright gets black or Yellow carded there’s no O Shea to bring on. Their danger men this year are Moran, Buckley, Murphy, Donaghy, O Donoghue (probably) and Geaney. Main sub to watch is O Brien. Donnacha Walsh is a work horse but have our pacey half backs put him on the back foot. In a dogfight Kerry will also dig deep and not give up, they showed that by winning in 2014 so our players need to dig really deep. They couldn’t mark Cillian back then, let’s hope they have plenty of trouble marking him in the semi. Mayo have improved at the right time. Now it’s about digging real deep within.
Well done on a super performance today. Yet again this team has delivered for us all. Yet despite a 22 point win, some here still have a go at Rochford. His crime this week is he brought on A Dillon for last ten minutes. What a thing to do. Shock. Horror. Now it just might be the case that Dillo is doing better than the other lads in training or maybe Rochford is looking ahead to the final minutes of Mayo v Kerry and we need a point to win. Who do you want on the ball. Dillon, Regan or Boland. I say this with absolutely no disrespect to the other two lads but I remember in last few minutes v Dubs in drawn semi final 2015 where I am convinced if we had Dillon on we could have sneaked it. Anyway brilliant today, but dont get carried away. 8 days brought a huge change in our performance. Who knows what 13 days can bring. And go easy on the Rossies. They brought great colour and support over the last 2 games and today is a difficult day for them. I remember losing 2 17 to 1 6 v Kerry in 1981, 5 15 to 0 10 v cork in 1993. 1 20 to 2 9 v kerry in 2004 and 4 15 to 3 5 v kerry in 2006. We were not in a good place on those days, so spare a thought for the neighbours now. Kevin McStay honest and honourable today and S Rochford very well done. By the way an earlier poster with similar name to mine at 6 53. One of us may need to put the Number 2 after our name. Thanks again WJ for this brilliant site. Thanks again Mayo players for this brilliant team. The dream is still alive.
Great piece there from Lost in London, yes poor McStay & McHale done their best with what they had once the prima donnas left the squad after last season…they can’t be blamed for the childishness their young lads were at during the national anthem
Fantastic performance today (without Lee Keegan) the slack was more than taken up, considering the absence of Mayo’s and Ireland’s, player of the year… BUT, while Mayo were superb, in every player’s and some aspects of the game absolutely an incredible the improvement, sublime… We must take into account, that the Rossi were caught in the headlights, over powered, over ran, out taught and out fought… However I remember very well in 2013, Mayo did similar against the then All Ireland champions Donegal, at one stage we were 21 points in the lead against the All Ireland champions, Donegal… We won that match versus the then All Ireland champions by an incredible 17 point’s.. Roscommon are not as bad as they seemed today, and Mayo while we were superb, were not as good as the scoreline suggests.. ..Kerry are a different animal, a very different animal…. However I am certain that, we can beat them, I am also certain that the Kingdom can beat us….. Don’t expect it to be a fair football match, if Kerry feel that they won’t be able to run the ball so athletically and as Mayo did today… Kerry despite their reputation as ‘Aristoracts’ of the game, are NOT unacquainted with the dark arts……. Today I really enjoyed the first half,… It was all over before half time… Fair play to the Rossi supporters who stayed on to support their team on such a difficult day…. That too, was our fate on difficult days in Croke Park, I know what it feels like, it’s tough to take that on the chin…. Probably some Rossi fan’s maybe don’t deserve praise for their efforts last week, but the vast majority of them. are honorable people,… I don’t like, some of the comments of some very wishey washey Mayo fans (who weren’t at the match, or any match this year,) who apparently want to twist the knife into their team and their supporters.. I heard plenty of that in a certain public house tonight when I got back from the match..
I don’t much like that, ‘kicking a man when he’s down’ real supporter’s are better than that!
..
It wouldnt suprise me if lads like Danny Kirby and Fergal Boland have been doing weights and intensive fitness right through the summer and hence have not been matchday options.
Danny was sprung yesterday.
For Kerry game need a bit more shooting practice. Our intensity was great and cut through like a knife yesterday. What I’m most pleased about was our defense. We gobbled them up for most of the match and didn’t allow a single goal chance. Our midfield improved greatly too.
… that said Spillane made a good point saying no point analysing such a one sided match. There is one thing I would deduct though is that Mayo’s confidence to beat Kerry is greatly boosted now. For that reason alone I’m glad Ros took us to a replay.
Liam (who commented last night at 12.44) and To Win Just Once (who commented at 6.53 yesterday) – I’ve added a “2” to your respective handles as those names are already taken by other posters. Can you take note of this for future reference or else find a different handle to post under? Thanks.
Id say O’Brien will start shuffly deck. Can see young coming in the backs too
Lord did I enjoy that.
BUT, did rochford and his team give in to all the criticism? Were they holding back? Did they always have this performance in their back pocket? Have they shown their hand too early???
Fitzmaurices job just got a whole lot easier.
We always new Mayo could produce this, when we run at teams we are at are best so I hope to see more of that in semi, Parson was also major for us and Seamus was much improved, if we can win midfield and have a platform we have a great chance of beating Kerry. Think are best fullback was also on display yesterday as well.
Liam 2 – there were four Kerry fans (well seasoned men) behind me at the drawn game last week. They cheered each and every score from Ross.
Now this might simply be supporting the contender but I also sensed that they would prefer to avoid Mayo. They’ll still fancy their chances but I think they know we’ll give them their fill of it.
willie joe – quick q will we have to wear the black and red away jersey the next day??
Agree with all the comments regarding pace, strength, running etc from the team yesterday
What was really noticeable for me were the skills. People often ask ‘what are they doing in training’ – well – hand passing and foot passing off the weaker foot, especially when under pressure was top notch yesterday. Even great players like Keith could not execute those skills to this level in 2011. Credit to them all and to the backroom team.
We are right to be worried about that Kerry FF line, but, I dont doubt that that they will have a few anxious moments thinking about Keith, Colm, Lee and Co charging at their goal every chance they get.
Good performance and I dont remember a lot of sympathy from Rossies when we so narrowly lost AI though they have some excellent supporters .Their journos get carried away though.
Anyway on to next game.I truly believe we know our best 18 or 19 but management will have to come up to the plate as they did yesterday.
Though following football for a long time I havent a clue if we will beat Kerry or not.This team is a confusing entity.Our job I guess is to be there and hope.On a good day we could and vice versa.
Lets hope for a good day.
On another note feel I know many posters personally at this point.This page has brought a unity of purpose so hats off to WJ.Fair play.
Roscommon were poor. Let’s not forget that. We also missed a few easy scoring chances. Nevertheless all our players played well especially Higgins and mcloughlin Kerry will be strong throughout the field but I think their fullback line is dodgy. If we play Aidan at ff we might upset their plans a little I must now get on the road back to cork and will put football out of my head until after next Sunday. Great to have a distraction like a hurling game.
That Kerry defence are far stronger than some will have you think. Let’s not forget our defence has been opened up all summer only Clare and Derry were unable to capitalise. Cork did though. I really don’t think we can read much into yesterday’s game. Roscommon were atrocious. We looked to have a bounce back in our step, sure and I think it’ll be a good morale booster but when we analyse our team lets look at the summer as a whole, a balanced view rather than focusing on yesterday alone. Taking the latter option is only foolish.
Fitzmaurice will have his defence in good nick on Sunday week and Mayo need to be ready. Our shot selection and shooting wasn’t great yesterday. This match will be a huge challenge. This Mayo team has yet to beat Kerry (when it counts) so they’re going to have to do something they’ve not done yet. It can be done but let’s not get carried away on yesterday’s mis-match.
Great performance by OUR TEAM ,delighted for every one involved with The Team. We now need a plan to deal with Kerry’s midfield and full forward line.
corick bridge, your right, I had to laugh.
If we wont the all Ireland this year there’d be some supporters commenting about how that perofmrance willnever do against London in the first round of the Connacht Championship in 2018!
Lets enjoy it for what it was, we can speculate all we want about the Kerry match but none of us have a fecking clue so lets just be thankful we are still on the road and the Rossies have been put back in their box, without any bubble wrap and well and truly selotaped up and shipped back home.
That should have read “won the all Ireland this year”
Kerry will target ANDY and CILLIAN. You can be assured of this.
Huge challenge now for Rochford & Co.
Fantastic performance yesterday, the intensity was savage. Back in the semi finals with a pep in our step, two weeks off to prepare.
I thought Rochford’s comments yesterday on the week gone were very interesting – he said they only trained once, knowing that they were already at peak condition and maxing out effort wise, and that they spent the weak analyzing where they had been going wrong and getting themselves mentally ready to perform like they can.
A lot was made of the line calls last week and SR shipped some slack over that, but the knowing use of time between the games must be acknowledged too. It has allowed the team hit the heights they are used to and credit to him for a shrewd call that has paid dividends.
Liam2,
We may not fear or bow to anyone but when it comes down to it, we don’t bayte anyone either when it matters i.e All-Ireland finals.
We need to change this and fast.
Mayo abu!
Great win think players and management needed to get that performance out of there system.
Don’t think anyone will get carried away,Kerry are a serious hurdle but expect us to be fired up for this one.did we show our hand yesterday don’t think so.
People are constantly asking for different sub’s to be played but as JP pointed out there to far behind in s/c yet.you could see that with a lot of ros players yesterday so they need time.
Thought rochford seemed very emotional in his interview he was under serious pressure coming into this game and the players did him proud.
To much focus on donaghy won’t win the next game and putting a tall inexperienced player like galway did on him will only play into their hands.
Our 2 corner backs will need to have the game’s of there life’s to stop there men and cut out donaghys off loads.
Plus the Kerry lads seem to be mad anxious for O’Shea to play up front I wonder why.
Seen something from Mayo backroom team yesterday after the second goal went in,all I’d say is get to the bookies lads.
Hate to see any Connacht team go down like that the ros fans were sound before during and after the match around us.heads up lads ye are heading in the right direction.
Sorry Aidan O’Shea but Keith Higgins was my man of the match he was everywhere yesterday.
Wow, just wow. An awesome performance of handling and running lines in that first half. Say what you like that it Ross we’re shite etc etc but the team fired today for the first time in years and kept it going. The most complete performance of rochford’s tenure. What now? Well it won’t be lost on them that cork ran at Kerry and created 4 clear cut goal opportunities. Harrison looked assured, albeit under little pressure, at fb. Zippy looks like a new player and was my mom. Keegan to come back in. I don’t mind saying it, I’ve a pep in my step this morning. Let Kerry worry about us and let’s try and put 2 70 minute performances back to back and see where it takes us. Thanks lads, that was a joy, now onwards to claim what’s yours, Maigh Eo abú!
2017 could be our year Great performance yesterday
Ah Now! ….I hope you disposed of that pot ecologically…. and maybe you ‘ll need a slightly roomier one for the next day.
Tickets on sale!
Just checked on line …can’t see tickets for sale … Where did you see them??
Yeah tickets are on tickets.ie now
45 euro stand
30 hill
3.30 throw in
Was wondering would it be 4 like the hurling . Why was that changed ?
Last year we saw it opening up with Tyrone QF and the reward being Tipp in SF. This year the 2 semis will be like AI finals with not much in either game. It’s massive but win it and our team will be up to AI final standard. I agree Kerry backs are good but in 2014 AI final it was super organisation that made them look really good. Last year Dubs were significantly better than them but timely goals made it a very tight game. This year they look better than last but they haven’t been tested and in a tight game anything can happen. Beating their midfield is a tough task. Moran is a really top player who bettered Fenton in league final, parity against him is a good day, Maher at his very best is very good too but it’s all about the team, breaking ball and closing the space. We should be running the legs off Maher or young Jack or whoever they put in. Same with Walsh and their half forwards, put them on the back foot and tire them out. Paul Murphy seems to be the player who most makes them tick. Donie is probably the man for Buckley meaning Barrett could lose out. I don’t think their FB line is all that strong but their confidence needs to be dented. Enright is a black card waiting to happen and if he does anything dodgy the Mayo fans should be outraged. Indeed there’s some scope for mind games. Kerry will probably pick at something in the media, most likely our form pre Ros. We should be ready to sow some doubt in them having not been tested yet. Maybe lucky to hold on in league final with black card offense. Target their cynicism. I don’t like the silly games but if they start it Brady, Mort, Billy Joe and whoever need to be preped to find a weakness.
@Km79 – The first hurling semi was at 4pm as it was a triple header along with the U-17 Final and Minor Semi (12 noon, 2pm and 4pm). The second hurling semi and both football semis are reverting to the traditional 1.30pm and 3.30pm throw in times for Minor/Senior double headers.
That makes sense thanks Federale
I know Aidan and Lee have grabbed the headlines with match-winning performances this year, but Cillian’s outstanding Championship must be acknowledged too. He now has 3-52 for the year – this is the 3rd highest total ever for an individual season, and he still has 1 more game at least.
Of course, he would be the first to admit that it will mean nothing to him without a Celtic Cross at the end of the year, but it would be an amazing achievement if he could overhaul Brian Stafford’s record haul from 1991 (4-62).
Feferale ….
Can you do something for me …
Exclude frees and what has Cillian scored from play ?
Sure free taking is critical but from general play Cillian is having a good season but not exceptional.
Ya don’t know what’s the logic bringing on Dillon ahead of regan or boland ??
He has 3-12 from play to date, top scorer for Championship 2017 in that category too. The value of a dead-eyed free taker is something always overlooked until you need one (ask the Dublin teams of 2001-2009) and I don’t think the fact he has scored 0-40 from frees should be some sort of stick to mitigate the perception of his contribution
When you consider that he has a chance at breaking the record of most points in a season (at a scoring rate of 8.7 points per game), frees or not, that’s nothing else but exceptional.
We abandon the ultra defensive kick passing strategy and go back to our
high press running game and lo and behold look what happened.
The wheel did not need to be re-invented for this team.
Football is not as complicated sometimes and coaches try and make it.
We have been a yer and half waiting for that performance. Did not need to be that long.
The Kerry full forward line will score, no doubt! How do we curtail them ? – limit their supply- our midfield and halfbacks to be on top, 50/50 position in this area would do in my opinion if we can bomb forward like yesterday. I believe it will be a high scoring game and we should concentrate on scoring more than them, simple really isn’t it????
Facetheball, agreed the running game suits Mayo and the players available but there has been times in the past particularly in big games when teams have set up effectively to counteract the running game. Its necessary to have the option to change to a more direct kicking approach in a game if needed. How many times has it been said after big losses that we need to get more direct kicking into our game. Now the option is there and could make the difference in games ahead.
Agree with mayo mad even dubs used ogara as target man for quick movement out of defence and Kerry’s Trump card is still the long ball to donnaghy.
We need to be able to mix it though I do think Kerry are not going to enjoy us running at them
Unbelievable introduction of Dillon. Boland and Regan needed to bonded into this panel of players and yesterday was ideal opportunity to boost their confidence levels. They may not have the s and c of experienced players like Dillon but neither has Loftus and neither had the opposition. Wasted opportunity.
No way would i drop Chris Barrett for Keegan…I would bring in Keegan in as a 3rd midfielder at the expence of Jason Doherty with the whole tactic of running game all day long at Kerry ….keegan Higgins Vaughan Boyle Durcan all running through the heart of Kerry with Aidan 2 Oconnors Andy and Kevin Mc feeding off them runners….We can bring in a fresh Jason Doc and Conor Loftus later in the game….
At last the month of August has arrived and appropriately we put a brilliant performance together. But…. its a performance that really should have came last week. Anyways, we have been in this position before. Havent bet Kerry now for 21 yrs. We need to repeat yesterdays performance again. still the post mortems on this teams were a little bit early. certainly played as well yesterday as I have ever seen them play. . Who know could be a Mayo / Tyrone final. YOu never know
will it be the black and red jersey v Kerry ??
might buy it
Preferably the Black, the grim reapers 🙂
That was a performance to gladden the heart.
On the basis that both Kerry and ourselves generally change when we meet, I expect that we will be in the Ballyhaunis colours the next day. Unless Kerry has a new away strip, they will be in the blue jersey.
On another issue folks, its time to get sorted with the Seating Groups. As payments for season tickets will be made on Friday morning, this is a job to get done in the next 2 days.
Feck the hay. It’ll wait!
How much money on Cormac Reilly to ref?
What a brilliant performance yesterday. It was just the tonic I needed, to be honest I wasn’t sure had we still that type of performance in us. It was a joy to watch, the best performance we have put in for a few years. Rochy will have a nice headache working out who misses out for Lee when we play Kerry.
Also, Roscommon and their supporters should be very proud. They nearly brought the house down when their team entered the field. They cheered their team on until the end.
We’ve been there before, and it’s our next opponent who has done that to us on many occassions over the last 20 years. Now we have our chance to do battle with our old foes once again. I can’t wait
The team looked extremely fit yesterday. So I think we may have risked a lot of fitness work right through the summer.
You normally go easy the week of a match.
Jason Doherty looks a bit more explosive off the mark as an example.
Some of you who were at the match may have missed the post match interview with Aido..Joanne asked Aido about fatigue and all….he dismissed that and alluded to their “numbers getting better” .
She pressed him to explain what he meant but he didn’t and was coy about it..fair play. This tells me they are exactly where they expect to be from a conditioning perspective.
For this reason, I’m more confident than before, heading into the clash with the Kingdom.
I see F Boland is the latest all star,now I know that he will have a big future with Mayo but I would imagine that he needs s\c I am open to correction but I believe that C Loftus has been on the panel longer, that would give him a headstart, J Goran gave game time to DOC and COS it took them sometime to make an impression Donegal tried young players it did not work,I also belive that A Dillon may have something to offer in a tight match
Marty K,
Thank you. He is a very fit man and hope he takes it easy now.
Have to admit I, like other posters was a critic of SR. Yesterday he got it right. He dropped caff and it worked like a dream. I feel for caff as he is a great servant to mayo but doesn’t have the physicality for this stage of the c’ship. Donie and Harrison were superb. The old mayo were back yesterday with vicious tackling, great and attacking pace with wonderful running passing off the shoulder. AOS wreaked havoc and boyler and Higgins were unbelievable. KmcL as usual got on an incredible amount of ball. The team’s confidence will be though the roof and we needed that. SR’s substitutions pretty much all worked and he has made me eat my words from last week.
However, at the risk of sounding negative, yes we very much do need to worry about Donaghy! Not to mention geaney and JOD!of course we need to worry about kerry. How do we handle Donaghy? Haven’t a clue, maybe like others have suggested get donie to break ball and pray boyler and Higgins mop it up. On the plus side we can really hurt kerry defence, but not with some of ththose terrible wides yesterday, umber no pressure. Sorry to be a killjoy, but kerry are better the Ross in every position on the pitch. Mayo can beat them over what will be at least an 80 minute game, but they need to iron out a few problems. Alan dillon too old to be playing at this level and is a waste of a sub. Possibly he can win us a cute free in injury time but that’s about it. Shane nally was excellent when he came on, has physicality and can score
A few things Ky are going to do and we need to be prepared for are: they will push up on our short kick outs and force us to kick long where they believe Moran will dominate for them. They will also use a lot of long kick outs themselves- we need beavers around the breaks at midfield. Their half forwards will foul tactically all day – if they get away with it- to stop us getting our running game going. Don’t be surprised to see Donaghy out the field as a decoy with Geaney moving into full forward where he very dangerous. I think Harrison is the man for Geaney. Vaughan for Donaghy and Keith in front as sweeper. Looking back at Ros game again – they are very very poor. We need to mix up our game between the running game and good long passes into the forwards. Three words in the mindset going out should be – pressure pressure pressure – don’t give them time n the ball.
For once I agree with several posters.
1) Who Keegan replaces, could be Barrett but he offers more as a 3rd midfielder in for Doherty who is playing well enough and working hard enough but no putting the fear of God into opposition.
2) Donie on Donaghy though I would Slightly favour Seamie for his huge strength and if Donaghy comes out so does Seamie. When he goes out some other Mayo player goes in. Moving Seamie means of course we need someone else in midfield so that’s a risk but Donie is fairly well suited to marking Buckley not that it’s an easy job but he’s similar enough size and strength and buckets of stamina if Buckley breaks free to catch him up.
3) Expecting Kerry dark arts on stopping our runners. Our media machine needs to be on the case.
4) Yer probably correct on kick outs. Tom P to mark Moran and our other midfielder to try and run the legs off his counterpart. We need to be like mad dogs for the breaking ball like we were a few years back.
Dubs have the only half forward line brilliant at both attack and to some degree defense at the same time. Tyrone like Mayo rely on a spread of scorers. Kerry it’s mostly the inside line. Though Buckley on form and Murphy is a good player who can supply quality ball but our half backs can put them on the back foot depending on who wins more breaks.
I would be using the Galway Tipp hurling match as motivation for this to say make it a dogfight from start to finish. Tipp were better at team play and Galway had the better individuals. McInerney was a huge platform from CHB and wiped out Tipp’s heartbeat player. As for leadership Galway stood up. Make it a pressure cooker for Kerry to play in and force mistakes.
I like Freespoons idea of Keegan in place of JD and etc. and whoever points to the variation we need to include. Don’t think they have to be reminded of this …. it’s part of any maturing team nearing a fairly high level of attainment as we now feel Mayo are ….. but also Kerry Tyrone and Dublin are in the same kind of milieu. Whatever about the down side of the C’ship in evolutionary terms the remaining games are going to provide the best entertainment in years. If we re to be there on those steps we will need things to generally go our way , have luck… tenacity to the end, scoring at appropriate times and some major performances throughout the field not to mention a right dose of that je ne sais quoi or as WJ calls it, the ….what might even happen!!
A v pleasing aspect of yesterday’s game was the coolness of the recycling… no panic . Also , the gyrations of a number of hand passing episodes which involved players in a keep ball gesture while waiting for the opening to appear. And then he was there.That v thing requires an awful lot of trust and maturity and it’s what Ros just ain’t got yet….in time hopefully. I think they will appreciate that now after their recent experiences but that’s no guarantee of anything much either, if they don’t have the characters in their midst!
With us It wasn’t just the redundant looking lateral stuff but a more pressing/questioning probing type of thing requiring all to be v much on the same page.
Yes I too was waiting for Regan to appear but not a budge….injured? …. or could they be that hard hearted? Was it Crowe and himself and Boland didn’t get a sniff?….. dont know about that! I know that subbing issues can cause as much angst as the named team or even more but still….!!!!! we re not talking charity here.
One other thing …. The ff’s Donaghy + Dub pair x 2 prosper well from their grabbing the ball on a v quick turn and taking it from there….either on their own or with the assist of an other!!! I would hope we know that and we’ll have the whatsit to nullify any resulting consequences. Of course you can prepare for eventualities once you know what they are and that’s the off pitch group’s resp to have it sussed and well heralded.
Let’s be approaching the rest of the C’ship not with hautiness but more like with pride and confidence in our own hard earned abilities.
Ar aghaidh aris aris Maigh Eo…
Yes, I agree to some extent that our media guys need to get ahead of the Kerry propaganda machine. They are already setting the stage, i.e talking up our skills in the dark arts and pushing for Reilly to ref it…is it coddin they are? no.
To every Mayo man,woman and child and exiles around the country please travel to Croker for the Kerry game on August 20th.Tickets are already on sale now on Tickets.ie and in Supervalu stores.
Our record against the aristocrats of the game is not good.We have only beaten Kerry once in 66 years in 96,and hav lost to them on 8 occasions since in 1969,81,97,2004,05,06,11,and 14.We need to fill croker with Green and Red and be the 16th man again.We need every advantage we can get over Kerry.We owe them one for what they did us 3 years ago down in Limerick.This could also be one of the last big days for this team as a group.So please come out in your numbers.
One things for sure, after Mayo’s performance yesterday, Kerry will be well grounded for the next couple of weeks
That was an awesome display last Monday .lets respect Kerry but dont be overawed by them .Lets run at their defence especially down the middle like Galway did .
We have the Players who can do that
Come on Mayo