It’s Monday but it’s also a Bank Holiday and after that month’s worth of rain that fell here in less than 24 hours over the weekend, the sun is out again. And we’re back in the All-Ireland semi-final, for the fourth year in a row.
There’s a whole truckload of stuff in the papers about yesterday’s match and I’ll do a quick sweep of what’s out there in a minute. First, there are the two controversial issues arising from the game that merit a bit of discussion.
The first relates to the time-keeping and Colm O’Neill’s decision to go for the point rather than have a pot at goal with that last-second free. It’s easy, and cost-free, for us to sympathise with the Leesiders on this one, given that we were in the same position at the end of last year’s All-Ireland final. My own viewpoint on yesterday’s brouhaha is the same as what I expressed when it happened to us last September – O’Neill, like Cillian then, probably should have gone for goal but most likely (like Cillian) he’d have missed. We ultimately secured the win through those late points from Donie (which I think has to go right in there as one of my most favourite Mayo points of all time – an ungainly, hoofing up-and-under that somehow ended on target) and Lee, leaving them with the impossible task of getting a third goal to pull the match from the fire.
The second issue centres on James Horan’s post-match comments and his refusal at the end of the game to shake hands with Brian Cuthbert. I know there won’t be universal agreement on this but I think our man was absolutely right to do what he did and say what he said. He was right to be hacked off with Cork’s sneaky, underhand tactics and equally right to call them out over it. Shaking Cuthbert’s hand and then giving the Cork management a bollocking when speaking with the press could have laid him open to the charge of being a hypocrite so I say fair play to him for being consistent on the issue.
And I’m not surprised he’s so pissed off about it either. What Cork did was wholly deliberate – the management naming Kevin and Cillian in advance and then their players rough-housing them from start to finish during the game. Kevin got dog’s abuse from them all day, was laid out early on and then Shields tried to drag him off the floor in the aftermath to that incident. I know it was more than a bit silly of Kevin to stretch Goold when he came back on but if ever there was an emphatic “Don’t Fuck With Me” message, then that was it.
Anyway, they’re out, we’re still in and once again we’re gearing up for an All-Ireland semi-final. Right so, onto the papers.
Starting local, the Mayo Advertiser has a report on the senior match, the minor match and post-match quotes from James Horan.
The Irish Independent has a report on the senior match, the minor match, post-match quotes from the two managers, a kind of overview piece by Vincent Hogan, analysis from Eoin Liston (in which Bomber focuses exclusively on the fouling we did while remaining silent on the thuggery they perpetrated throughout – the Yerras are getting the subliminal messages in early it would appear) and analysis of both matches from Eugene McGee.
The Irish Times has a report on the senior match, the minor match, post-match quotes, another piece on those comments from James and analysis from John O’Keeffe.
The Irish Examiner has a report on the senior match, quotes from James, quotes from Colm O’Neill and Brian Cuthbert and an overview piece, with more quotes, on the day’s two games.
Others: GAA (senior match, minor match), RTÉ (match report, quotes from James on the match and on Cork), The Score (senior match, minor match, match tracker, MOTM poll (which bizarrely doesn’t have Sheamie on its shortlist), post-match talking points, quotes from James, quotes from O’Neill and Cuthbert), Hogan Stand (senior match, minor match, quotes from Enda Gilvarry, quotes from James about the game and about Cork, quotes from Seamus O’Shea), Breaking News (match report, quotes).
That should be more than enough for you to sit and drink your fill on yesterday’s action.
Two final things before finishing up. The first is to reiterate what I said earlier in the week about the colour clash in yesterday’s match, which turned out to be even worse in reality than what I was anticipating based on my memory of past games between ourselves and the Leesiders. It was like Man United and Liverpool playing against each other in their home strips, only with less theatrical diving. From start to finish I struggled to tell the teams apart, continually repeating to myself a refrain of “I don’t know which side has it but I hope to fuck it’s us”. It was a complete joke and if I can find the time and energy to summon myself to action it’s one that I intend to write a stern letter to Padraig Duffy about.
Finally, I don’t want to end on a moan so I have to bring up Martin McHugh’s incredibly stupid comment on The Sunday Game last night that Colm Cooper (you’re right, that’s him, The Gooch – the finest forward anyone of us is ever likely to see play the game) was no more than a “two-trick pony”. I know the point he was trying to make about James O’Donoghue being a great talent was a valid one but, when challenged by Kevin McStay and Dermot Earley, the poor eejit then let his mouth run away with him, culminating in his casting a truly ludicrous slur on one of the real greats of the game. Just when you think The Sunday Game has no surprises left to offer, out pops this classic. Unbelievable, Marty.
personally i do not have any crumbs about Horan not shaking hands with Cutbert. Horan wasnt happy with his comments in the media so why shake hands with someone then and act all nice about it. I was very surprised with Mchughs comments on the Gooch.However in my opinion O’donoghue could be as good as the gooch and possibly better he has really impressed on me . But i wouldnt agree with Mchugh comments on the gooch being a 2 trick pony.Mchugh then went on to say that Kildare had no heart which i think was out of line. Will be interesting to see how Dublin fair out against Monaghon.
Any word on cillians shoulder. We need him to get over kerry
I think cooper is better I wonder how monoghand gets on against dubs personally I think dublin will beat them well I wonder will they have blankets defence and also McMauson won’t get any headway against j cooper can’t wait for 3 weeks
Fair play to James Horan for standing up for his players.
It is right that we don’t allow our players be bullied on the field or off it , such comments , by the Cork management, were out of order.
We always play football clean and by the rules, unlike other teams.
If the roles were reversed, I wonder what would the response be, from Cork.
Well done James.
As a GAA fan number 1, those comments about Colm Cooper are bang out of order. Even though he has tormented us in the past, he is pure class. This is just another part in the terrible so called analysis that RTE dish out to us. Could you imagine any of the hurling lads calling Henry Shefflin a one trick pony, or Brent Pope/George Hook calling Paul O Connell the same. We need more of Dermot Early, Thomas O Shea and even Ciarain Whelan on our screens instead of what we currently have. A simple James O Donoghue is very good and has the potential to be near Colm Coopers level would have done. Maby they could then have shown us some technical similarities/attributes of both players etc. Its not that hard RTE.
Now that was one serious examination we got yesterday .. hard championship minutes .. under the most extreme physical pressure. Make no mistake about it that Cork side has some of the best forwards in the land. Yesterday with their season riding on it they came to play. It took a serious amount of committment from our boys to ride out the storm.
What I took from this game in the overall sense was that we have 12/13 truly fantastic players but are somewhat lacking in finding the remaining 7/8. With the exception of the Roscommon game our substitutions are having little or no impact … in fact it could be argued that we are getting worse with each substitution. In addition to this we have a serious lack of physicality in our full back line especially as we tire towards the end of matches, push forward too much and new forwards appear for the opposition e.g. Donncha O Connor yesterday. The ‘russian roulette’ in front of our goals towards the end yesterday was something to behold. If James is to go down in one or other of the two possible remaining matches then we found out that he is not going to be alone … Enda Varley is going to be right there on the bridge by his side !
It really is time for the game management/ substitution issues to be dealt with at this stage.
The big plays yesterday as I saw them were our taking of two points at the start of the second half when we could have had two slap-in goals (Andy & Donie).
Two big turnovers towards the end that led directly to the two Cork goals (Doc & Varley)
and a failure to step into Hurley’s space towards the end for Hurley’s goal (Keith).
Joey
You are spot on.Very good analysis.
Well done James Horan ,if we want to be taken serious as a county team we cannot let that trash talk from Cork get away without some sort of backlash .We now under James headship have now become a very battled hardened team and ours heads will not drop when a few scores go against us
well pm i,m also concerned about cillians shoulder heard nothing from paper or management yet will keep ye posted will be a very big loss i did heard rumours that his shoulder is at him and they are confident that it is his shoulder hopefully its not would be a big loss what can you do just cant keep depending on him well done mayo yesterday up mayo rise high and some one else to start practicing in score points from long range fingers crossed
absolute rubbish about time from Cork yesterday.2 mins 51 seconds played. It would havebeen shocking if any more time were allowed.Also well done Horan on calling Cuthbert and Cork for their cynical attempt to pre bias the ref.They were very cynical rigjt through the pitch and a lotof frees given to them they didnt deserve.Better team won.
Anyone know who minors playing next is it Donegal & will it be on same day as seniors
On midwest last night cillian said his leg was cramping. There was no mention of a shoulder. Overall he had a quiet game. Let’s hope he is ok for 3 wks.
Kerry pundits already starting more if the same shite in paper…the bomber saying Doc fouled all day…rubbish. Not a mention of the blatant almost textbook push on Varleys back, no free given.
Look lads lassies…. The big thing for Mayo now is the defence. Much vaunted over the past few years and rightly so, it has lost its MOJO! Caff needs to rediscover his confidence! Higgins is needed in the full back line. We have shipped far too many scores all year. This MUST improve. We have the players, the ability… Just need the form to reappear!
Assuming Kerry’s minors beat Kildare today (which they look like doing at this stage) it’s them we’ll be playing in the semi as the curtain raiser to the senior match on the 24th.
Lets not stsrt a runaway train bout Cillians shoulder lads n lassies.He got a bang on the ‘other’ shoulder-no after effects.Came off because of being cramped up.Someone said above thst he had a quiet game-By Cils standar mabye, but he scored 5 and set up another with a touch of audacious skill
It was me who said he was quiet, yes by his own standards. Hoping he shoots the lights out in 3 wks…bit disappointed we didn’t score another goal or two yesterday.
Did we run outta steam with 10 mins to go?? Cillian cramping. I haven’t seen any comments about our fitness. What are yer opinions on this? I’m not sure myself.
I totally agree with James Horan’s refusal to shake hands with Cuthbert yesterday. He did a god job in speaking up for his players throughout the past week since Cork started stirring it. In fact it was Cork who introduced the physicality into the game yesterday with their badgering and pushing from the outset,
Regards the timekeeping, the time is shown on the big screens for everybody to see. While these are not the official time they are invariably accurate and it was obvious for anybody to see that time was up when O’Neill was taking that free. Introducing a time signal as in the ladies game would not have given O’Neill any more info than he had on the big screen.
While I agree with James Horan’s reaction to the Cork management team I cannot understand his substitution of Andy Moran with Enda Varley. While Enda is an honest wholehearted player he rarely has any positive impact on games when brought in. He had at least two chances of scores yesterday which he missed due to being slow to shoot and at least one wide which should have been scored.
I have not had time to go through this site properly yet so my next question may already been answered: What happened to Barry Moran yesterday, is he injured again or what?
I noticed cillian calling to come off and hobbling a bit then he was getting his leg streched so I think he was just fucked. AOS was shattered .As a unit they don’t seem as fit as they were this time last year.I think yesterday would have being their biggest test on their fitness levels in the championship.I don’t think there are as fit as this time last year dliberatly .If we can get over next hurdle land into final nice and fresh and put in a performance like we did last year in championship against Donegal we can beat any team.I do feel there is a big game in our lads.
I agree with McHugh about the Gooch…….he is a two trick pony! Trick no.1 he wins the ball. Trick no2 he scores! Not great tricks are they really………..!!!
Obviously JH was furious about corks bleating during the week and naming Cillian and K Mac as tactical foulers. I have never seen or heard him react like that before. He is normally unflappable. Hope the pressure is not getting to him. Was not amused by sonny liston in the indo today stressing cork were hard done by the ref and naming Jason Doc for professional fouling. Maybe he was gone for a pint when cadogan hit K Mac with the elbow as there was no reference to that at all in his analysis. Looks like the kerrymen are starting early with their mind games. Saw gooch during Kerry warm up. Wonder if theres any slight chance that he may be able to play some part against us. Remember Kerry training is behind closed doors. McHughs comments about him last night were unfair as was his reference to Kildare lacking heart. Think Whelan is better analyst than many others employed by rte
TWJO,I dont think the pressure is gettin to James.I think he was absolutely furious with the low handed shite,pushed back his big pair of shoulders and laid it on the line….”If you gonna fuck with us, its gonna hurt ye NOT us!!”
Didn’t hear liston come and say we were hard done in the final.Aside from what happened at the end of the game yesterday the standard of reffing at the top level is shite and what’s more annoying is there is no consistency between referees. No team should have to worry about other counties spouting crap about the opposition.A good referee would not take any heed of that kind of it .
that good allforsam great new hopefully he will be ok in 3 week in general he had a good game he had intelligent tactics yesterday when the ball came forward in to the square all they had to do is pass the ball probably didn,t acknowledge them they went for the point instead he s always good his
hearth is really in to mayo football wish him well
Agree with pretty much everything that has been said above, and the less said about Liston and The Sunday Game the better. This place is as biased as it gets towards Mayo yet the analysis from many of the posters here is consistently superior.
I tweeted in support of Horan last night only to have a Corkman come back and say it was poor of him not to shake hands, his reaction was OTT and that what was said wasn’t nasty enough to merit that response. I replied saying if it had been me, I’d probably have shook on the victory if only not to sink to Cork’s low standards. He didn’t have much of a response to that.
Frankly, I’ve no beef with Horan blanking Cuthbert – the opposite in fact. I’m proud of him for standing up for the integrity of our team and his comments were entirely reasonable and justified. Cork started this battle without a shred of class and finished it with less – between their pissing on the pitch and pissing about before the final whistle I’ve not an ounce of sympathy for them. The clock was there for all to see – and were they not watching us last September?!
Too often we’ve been on the wrong side of those calls and I’m more than happy for our lads to start baring their teeth at this point. Worked for northern teams for years, worked for Dublin last year, it’s time we caught up. I’m quite happy to see the back of Mr. Nice Guy.
A guy I know well from Tralee…who would consider himself to be ‘in the know’ said to me three weeks ago that Gooch was back kicking a ball.
Who knows. That Fitzmaurice is cute and you can be damn sure he’ll have a trick up his sleeve for the semi.
Horan and Mayo need to be ready.
So many things to discuss about yesterday really.
1-once again Horan gambled with his selection and subs and won.
2-while I and many others had reservations about Dillon and Moran starting, both did reasonably well yesterday.
3-our full back line is very vulnerable and has been for a long time, yet many ppl are for some reason unwilling to recognize that. Many are fingering Barett as the weakness here but let’s be honest, ger was roasted again yesterday. Time and time again, he’s behind his man, instead of being in front. We’ve all heard the cliche, ‘you can’t lead from behind’ well, it’s seems too often get is behind his man. He was lucky not to have conceded a peno yesterday with the foot trip, another ref may have given it.
4-sideline and subs. I thought I heard a collective groan from the Mayo crowd when varley was announced as the first sub when this game was calling out for a freeman and feeney’ I don’t want to be too harsh on varley but he nearly cost us the game, what with another poor shooting effort and then the turnover that led to a cork goal. But the real issue is why Horan can’t seem to see what the vast majority of us see! I just couldn’t see the point in bringing in varley, when feeney or Sweeney were IMO much better proven options. Anyway….
5- post match carry on. Look, Horan was probably irritated by the cork camps whining during the week but still I think he would have been better off taking the high road saying something like ‘that was out answer today’ instead of going off in a huff not shaking hands and such. Then again, maybe he’s more wound up this year and feeling the pressure himself. Whatever, I thought it was out of character for him to take that approach. And as for cork complaining about what the ref said was left, ffs are they school boys? It wasn’t up to the ref to tell cork to go for a goal or a point….that was corks decision. Time was already up before he tapped it over so they should have no reason to complain.serioisly!
6- cute hoorism, Kerry lads already at it with the bomber singling out Doc…Doc! Ffs. Who next? They will continue this no doubt. , but we shouldn’t let it get to us. Dish out the same reponse as Cork got yesterday instead of a war of words.
7-the o’shea brothers. Wow, pure class yesterday, bossed the middle yesterday and we should have punished cork more with the dominance we exerted from the middle third.
Roll on Kerry!
Think we are in great shape, so many players played well yeterday and we know the rest can improve. We should be able for Kerry even with the Gooch. Roll on Aug 24
In my opinion part, perhaps the major part, of Ger Caffs problem is that he again was not playing full back. It was the same in the league last March when he was tracking Colm O’Neill in the corner. When he switched back inside that day our problems were solved.
Also much of the problem this summer has been players coming through our midfield/half backs carrying the ball. A full back line in that situation is on a hiding to nothing.
I think it’s maybe time to put up some defence of the decision to bring on Enda Varley yesterday. The best time for introducing him has always been in the second half when we’ve got the opposition on the rack, which was exactly the position we were in yesterday when he came on for Andy. This substitution has worked in the past, with Enda knocking over one or two spectaculars to crown a win and I think that may have been the plan yesterday. If it was it didn’t work but that doesn’t mean James was wrong to try it.
I do think, though, that there’s a wider issue about our game management, in that we appear to see the introduction of subs as a reactive thing that is somehow forced on us, rather than a proactive switch to give us a different edge as the match is opening up. It’s not just Dublin that see it in the latter light, Cork’s introduction of Donncha O’Connor was a positive tactical switch that paid great dividends for them yesterday. This whole area is a weakness for us, which is something we need to recognise and do something about.
Slightly off topic but I need to get this off my chest. JH must be operating a direct replacement strategy.. in other words he picks two teams before the game and if the full forward for team A is not playing well then he replaces him with the full forward from team B, simple as. There is merit in this in that it doesn’t impact on the structure of the team when the game is in full flow but here’s the rub.. With this game plan you won’t get what I believe many of us on this site perceive to be the best players in the best positions of the field at any one time. Personally I would be more of an advocate for tweaking things slightly on the field of play in order to get, lets say Freeman into full forward position (what ever forward goes off first Freeman is next in). In defence I would go for direct replacements but further out the field I would definitely mix it up more. Its less predictable.. wouldn’t it be great to see Feeney or Jason Gibbons coming on at centre half forward and tearing up the middle of the Kerry defence. We have the players, we just need to use them.. and not be bringing on Jason Gibbons in the last 5mins when AOS gets tired because he’s the direct replacement. Look at the game as it develops.. see a weakness and put in your best player to exploit it.. think on your feet
My lasting memory of Liston as a player is of him running for his life from a certin Depiear Diminico.Also re the sunday game, What a bunch of clueless arseholes.I personally think brolly is a knacker but he achieved a new low in mentioning his colleagues financial problems and NAMA
Fair play to Horan in the way he dealt with Cuthbert et al yesterday. It’s about bloody time the team were backed in this way.
I must say that’s a horrible piece by Liston and it’s blatantly clear what he’s up to. In fact, it’s just as bad, if not worse, than the nonsense Cork were at last week – especially in the context of the way certain Mayo players were targeted physically yesterday. He knows better and anyone at that game yesterday could see what Cork were at. I’d expect more from someone of his standing.
I guess we can expect an awful lot of rubbish of all sorts in the media over the next three weeks, given who our opponents will be; and it was essential that James got his spake in early and defended the lads and set things straight. Mayo must stand united now more than ever.
Liston wouldn’t be the first to give the ‘big dipper’ a wide berth and his comments on Doc aren’t that far off the mark. But then isn’t that what we want from our players – playing on the edge and getting away with it. All successful teams do it. Doc was excellent yesterday……..his work rate was very impressive and he is a strong physical presence also. I’m delighted he has come good.
I’m delighted that James Horan said what he said. I think that there is still a perception out there among the big teams that they can get away with a lot more against Mayo than they can get away with against other teams, they still think (Ah its only Mayo). Would Cork have come out with those comments about Dublin for example, if they were playing them. Would they mention players like Diarmuid Connolly, Eoghan O’Gara or Ger Brennan, who are all well able to do things on the pitch that they should not do. There would be an uproar in Dublin if they did that. But they think that they can get away with these things against Mayo but James Horan didn’t let them get away with it this time.
I read Brollys article on the Mail on Sunday–he said our problem is our backs leaking goals–not our forwards.
He was spot on.
I’ve just watched the game again and I’ve been looking at our full backs and how we handled O’Neill and Hurley.
I think that people are being overly critical of Cafferkey in particular.
In the first half Caff started on O’Neill and Barret on Hurley- Hurley goes onto score 2-3 great points from play beating Barret each time. O’Neill didnt score
So 20 mins in Caff switches to Hurley and marks him until around 60 mins- Hurley doesn’t score during this period. O’Neill finished the second half beating Barret again 2-3 times with points from play.
After half time Cuniffe moves back to mark O’Neill and Caff stays on Hurley until about 60 mins- Caff fouls hurley once for a free in, Cuniffe fouls O’Neill twice for a free in.
After 60 mins Caff switches back to O’Neill and Keith Higgins moves back onto Hurley. Hurley wins a ball and beats Keith Higgins for his goal. Caff gets turned easily by O’Neill in what I believe was his only real mistake. He manages to disposses O’Neill again though (legally according to the ref).
Neither O’Neill or Hurley scored from play whilst Caffs was marking them!!
Overall the full back line was under huge pressure and the lads were isolated one on one alot. Barret struggled hugely, Cafferkey not so much
This year with Mayo the more that you see the less you know. I think there definetly is a bit of intrigue about Mayo this year. Keep them guessing. We scraped by yesterday and one point is quite sufficient to take us to the next game, job done. I think Kerry should start as favourites and that’s not a bad thing , as Rachel Wise stated, it looks like Dublin Kerry final. She’s not been too far away with her predictions and her hair wouldn’t budge an inch, in a force ten hurricane. Alot to be said for that, I’m sure you will agree.
On a side note it’s kinda uncomfortable watching Brolly unravel on national television. I mean in fairness the man seems to be seriously disturbed. I used to look on Joe as being a deluded attention seeking chump. I found him to be slightly amusing and slimey, slimey in the way your hands would feel after scooping frogspawn from a pond into a jamjar, back in the day. O’Rourke and Whelan seem to a little freaked out by his meandering self obseesed comments. I just can’t laugh at him anymore and would highly recommend that somebody should get that man some help, rapid.
Mayo are still there and under the radar. Cuberth is just water under the bridge. Time to move on because we can.
Delighted with James’s response to Cork yesterday , kept quiet until they were beaten and then let rip. About time we had someone to stand up to those who treat us like fools.Remember the 1/4 final of 2009 against Meath , when , I think there was a 10 point swing by reffing decisions. Diplomatic John O, didn’t open his mouth. The 2001 Connacht final, another example, Ray Connelly got sent off in the wrong, by cute hoorism by Frankie Dolan. They got two goals from his wing after and won the match and Ray just seemed to fade away afterwards..I always think it really affected him and if he was half as good as his brother Noel what a career he might have had. No complaints from nice Mayo then either.
Maybe we’re finally beginning to believe in Boys pull together.
I have started to move my thoughts away from the Cork game and starting to focus on Kerry just to say I had good banter with the other mayo supporters and a Kerry lad who was well up for the crack.
Galway missed 10 shots in the first halfand yet for about 55 mins or so that game was in the balance and Kerry was there for the taken. Any Kerry team I ever remember would have killed off a team that played as poorly as Galway did in the past. No doubt they have great forwards and lets be realistic we prob will concede a goal or 2 but we won’t give them as much space as Galway did.I just believe that our lads are stonger in more positions than Kerry are.Our lads will cut out more challenges than Kerry will to us.I think we forget sometimes just how strong and physical we are from our half back line through to the foward line.Once we show up on the day put in a good performance from 1 to 15 I know in my heart this Mayo team is a better outfit than Kerry.
I really believe we’re going to get something special in terms of a performance out of this team,but I think it’s all about September.I’ve been going to mayo games for nearly 40 years and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a calmer bunch of lads in mayo shirts.they have done their homework they knew they would be playing cork and Kerry in quarters and simis months ago and dub in final.different gameplay for each,it dosent have to be “total football”every time if ever but it’s working.maigheo Abu
Great win for both sides yesterday, was at a Christening but managed to get to see the game albeit on tv.
Can’t add much to what’s been said above and on previous posts except that I think Horan was right not to shake hands, I think if we lost he would have to let it go. He instead used it as a precursor to enable him to defend his players against the disgraceful accusations used by Cork to influence the referee. If he had (shook) and then went on to make the same statement then that would have been weak and hypocritical.
The tactic worked for Cutbert and co. as Kevin Mc and Cillian were singled out for ‘special treatment’ and the ref. seemed to be of the presumption that they must be the perpetrators of all that they were involved in………..Cork were dirty and milked the ref in this.
Kudos to both for the way they dealt with it and it was worth the yellow to see Kevin give a bit back.
When the likes of Cork and now Kerry through Liston start bleating it makes me wonder if they are afraid of us and that the ‘shaking of the jersey at us’ will only succeed in strengthening our resolve whereas in the past they were of the impression that it was enough to send us retreating into our shells.
McHugh’s comment about JOD makes me wonder if he is worried about the possibility of us meeting Donegal and by his ‘way out’ statement is trying to psyche us out in a reverse way.
The Varley issue had me scratching me head but I think JH is saving his best hand, it was a gamble and nearly cost us but the last 5 mins. showed what a unit this team is.
I am of a mind that when we went 7up that the sideline didn’t want to hammer Cork as it could give false positives (ala donegal last year) and would only serve as fodder for those to come………..Nobody, not even us know what Mayo will do next and that keeps us in the long grass.
WJ; The ‘I don’t know who has it but I hope to fuck it’s us’ has to be the best line I’ve come across for a long,long time, thankfully I don’t suffer from colour blindness but I was hoping to fuck it was us throughout. Class!
Don’t understand why the Cuthbert / Horan issue has ended up as a debate about the lack of a handshake. The issue was caused by ”disrespect’ coming from Cuthbert and Cork camp that is what should be discussed There is a GAA code of conduct on this that is drilled home at every level of the GAA but Cuthbert & Co doesn’t think it applies to them http://www.gaa.ie/content/documents/publications/coaching_and_games/respect/GAA_Respect_Toolkit.pdf
Just back, so too late to comment on the match. It’s all been said.
JH had the right to react as he saw fit. Good luck to him. For me the hand shake is important, but I would have told Cuthbert l thought he was totally out of order and that I wouldn’t hold back in the post match interview.
I expect little will come out of the Mayo camp before the semi-finals final. At least I hope not. You will hear nothing from Kerry.
Congratulations to the team. I haven’t read List on’s article, but he needs peripheral vision. There was plenty coming the other way. I was 60 yards away, but KM was deliberately taken out.
Focus now on cutting out ball to O’Donnoghue. Yesterday, he and Heaney were around the middle, as the ball was passed through midfield they simply pointed to the wing and ran like Bolt. They are too fast for one to one marking. Speed in any sport is devastating.
Minors were excellent. Kerry are favourites for the minors, but it is interesting what WJ was told last year. I read today that only one of last year’s team played yesterday.
In relation to Kerry, we should remember that they beat Cork by 12 points and we only beat them by one. Although we beat Galway by 7 as Kerry did too, so that probably shows that our game against them is about a 50/50 game. It is really important that we keep a very close eye on James O’Donoghue but also we can’t forget about the other boys that they have up front. The Geaney boys are handy enough too. Declan O’Sullivan could play closer to goal against us as well rather than the deep role he has been playing. Their subs also scored five points while ours scored none. They also have Darren O’Sullivan and Kieran Donaghy on their subs bench too. Is their one kick left in those boys? Again going into this game we should be confident that we can get a win but not be over confident. Overall we probably have a little bit more experience than them built up over recent years. Also at the back Marc O’Se and Aidan O’Mahoney are both 33, we seen what happened when Galway ran at the heart of their defence. They got goals so we should try this as well. Roll on the big games!
On Liston, I think only the headline which may well not be him but be a cute editor up to a bit of devilment with a good headline & he only singled out Jason D. I think Mayo should calmly point out that we only conceded 6 frees in each half of last years final and have been praised for a couple of years now for how we turnover teams without fouling with D Buckley’s coaching. Don’t think Liston’s on Kerry backroom so it’s a bit different. Anyway we know what happened Sonny when he met Casius Clay (although I think it was Clay doing the jibing that time). We had a higher free count yesterday but Cork were hell bent on making it a war of attrition so we had to match that & free count for both teams about the same. Our discipline in no one lashing out was encouraging.
On the no shake, I think he should shake (kids are watching) & not worry about the supposed hypocracy of verbal lashing afters. I’d be hoping we ignore any similar jibes from Kerry if they try it on. One of the many impressive things about JH before now is his composure, wouldn’t like to see that change. Seige mentality thing in sport is a load of crap.
On the ref, fairly good overall, I’d say he gave a vague answer to the time Q. and misinterpreted by Cork but in any event goal shot or time for another go at a point they were on a wing & a prayer. On Caf’s foul, in real time looked a black card but in slowmo he kicked between O Neill’s 2 legs and nicked the ball and caught his leg but foot tackle not allowed… free not penalty (outside) but Cork got a goal shortly after so that more than cancelled any bad luck of not getting the free. After Hennelly’s save I thought in real time AOS covered the ball without touching with his hands but McStay correctly spotted the Cork foul which was hard to see – so excellent call by the ref there.
Inconsistency re Keegan not getting a black at the very end but made no difference to outcome.
I don’t remember Enda Varley ever coming on and scoring 2 spectacular points. Maybe it happened in a league game
Would anyone know where I could get tapes of the Mayo minor
victories over Galway, Roscommon, and Armagh ? Thanks !
Watched the Sunday game back there. Don’t know why people are getting upset…Joe Brolly’s analysis of the team & performance was spot on…thought all the analysis of Mayo live & on highlights was very fair to be honest.
Yeah I agree Joe, Brolly was spot on, at half time and in his post match. Whelan was good too.
I agree with what Brolly and Whealan said, one time we couldnt score now we cant defend, when we push up we leave gaps we will have to get the right balance against Kerry but if we do we can win this game.
Michael, are you from Kerry? 🙂
We have no chance against Kerry. We’d be doing well to get within 10. Dublin Kerry is the final the people want. And the people’s final is what we will get!
Yeah true MayoMark. Its funny how the team with the “best forwards ever besides Dublin” score 1-20 against a poor defense yet the team with no forwards scores 1-19 against a blanket defense
Great to win our 4th QF in a row yesterday. I take great pleasure in beating Cork at anything; as I pointed out last week we owe them about six more. They are as cute as shit house rats. Name check certain players and then target them in the match itself.
We showed great character to withstand that late challenge. Cork are masters at whittling down a big lead and usually win out – ask Dublin, or Kerry.
I think we should try to nail this stuff about fouling. Jason Doc is a classic example who works like a trojan, turns over a hell of a lot of ball, but is often whistled for fouling when he technically doing his job. Some refs do not know what a foul is.
For sure we pull down cynically at times, but this is a different thing to the Doherty case. The same applies to Colm Boyle who is often whistled in the same way and you can see it on his face – ref I am tackling fair and square here, what am I to do. More than likely another ref might have booked him or black carded him for that tackle on Comer in the CF.
JH and Donie B have done a hell of a lot of work on this and we pulverise a lot of teams with our ‘blender’, but we get punished as often as we get the nod.
We need to go public on this, because we risk getting the Kerry brigade on our back in the lead up to the semi and they will be able to point to the stats.
I’ll never forget after the throw-in for the second half against Tyrone last year when Boyler tracked his man and cleanly knocked the ball out of his hands. Didn’t touch any of the man, just knocked the ball out. Free-in. It’s incredibly frustrating for players when that happens. Same happened to Tom Cunniffe Sundday in front of the posts.
Going to watch again tonight in full on RTE player. But some things never change. Kevin McGloughlin punched in the face in front of the ref and he gives advantage to Cork. Keeper catches the ball and burrows his head in Cillian’s chest, free out to Cork. Absolutely bizarre stuff.
Anyways, as I said, Kerry by 10+ 😉
Interesting analysis on the full back line Mayo Maori. Haven’t watched the highlights of the game yet but will check that out.