Start of the week, kids still comatose upstairs – their body clocks thinking it’s an hour earlier and no school to get roused for – but it’s a busy week work-wise before the Easter break. And match reports to wade through first.
Before delving into the reports on the game themselves, it’s worth looking at this handy overview by John Fogarty in the Irish Examiner of all the main relegation and issues to be resolved next Sunday. This doesn’t go into the Division One permutations in the forensic way that the issue was run to ground here in the comments last night but it’s a handy primer nonetheless.
I think you all know by now the way we stand heading into next Sunday. If we beat Donegal – for whom Michael Murphy will be suspended, as he picked up a second black card this year in yesterday’s game (a tactical ploy on his part, it was hinted on the radio yesterday) – then we’re in the play-offs. If we’re lose, we’re still safe … unless Donegal hammer us out the gate and only then if Tyrone also beat Kerry by more than two points.
As John Fogarty points out in that piece above, this isn’t the first time in recent years that Kerry have had to travel to Omagh needing a result to stay up. They’ll surely relish the opportunity of consigning the Red Hand and their shitball tactics to Division Two so regardless of how we fare against Donegal, you’d have to conclude that we’re almost certainly sure of our top flight status for yet another year.
Not wanting to get ahead of myself or anything but if that is the case – and it surely is – then, that thumping by the Dubs two weeks ago and the late goal concession yesterday notwithstanding, it also needs to be acknowledged that the first chapter of the Pat and Noel era looks set to be chalked down as a success. The aim at the outset of this League campaign was to survive in Division One while giving some new talent the chance to shine and it now looks – barring a disastrous reversal next Sunday – that this will indeed be achieved.
This should give the lads a bit of breathing space ahead of the serious stuff facing us over the summer. Talk about winning or not winning the All-Ireland is, a bit like all that incessant and extremely tiresome Mayo4Sam nonsense on social media, all a bit pointless at this time of year. Once the League is done with – which will more than likely be the case for us next Sunday but our interest could yet extend beyond that – then the focus has to be the first round of the championship and only the first round of the championship. One step at a time and all that.
Right, back to the papers where I may as well stick with the Irish Examiner which has a match report and post-match quotes from Brian Cuthbert and Pat Holmes. Other nationals: Irish Independent, Irish Times.
Colm Gannon’s report in the Mayo Advertiser features a cracking photo from Sportsfile of the fateful moment that Brian Hurley made contact with the ball for the game’s decisive goal. At this juncture, I have to mention again the ludicrous similarity in the two sets of jerseys – why the hell weren’t we wearing our shiny new black and luminous green ones yesterday? Also, how could a player on either team who is colour-blind be expected to tell his team-mates from his opponents? What about a colour-blind ref?
By the way, talking about refs Colm speculates that Mickey Conroy’s black card could have been for what he terms “simulating contact”, i.e. diving, even though Colm reckons the Davitts man was fouled. The incident happened close to where we were sitting and it certainly looked like our man was fouled but even if he did dive that isn’t one of the five specified black card offences. It’s not the first time in 2015 that Eddie Kinsella has made this kind of mistake and it’s not the first time this year either that we’ve been at the receiving end of his DIY interpretation of this particular rule.
Other online reports: GAA, RTÉ, The 42, Hogan Stand. Photos: Sportsfile, Inpho.
Right, that’s your lot. Just a final piece of early news about next Sunday’s match – Meath’s David Coldrick has been appointed to ref it. It’ll be the first time we’ve come across him since the drawn semi-final against Kerry last August.
The Conroy incident was right in front of me and for me he was clearly fouled.There were a good few Cork fans around us and even they couldn’t understand what the black card was for.It was not just the late goal that beat us yesterday,Coen was fouled in the lead up to the goal,should have been a free for us that would have helped us see out what little time was left,I didn’t see a board go up or hear any additional time announced,the hanhy free that Jason Doherty missed,had he got that one we would have drawn with them,the soft point they got where the ball was let bounce ten yards from goal and go over the bar,had that been picked up we would have won by one,so many things yesterday could have seen it end in a different result.I thought we defended really well yesterday but when we turned the ball over and launched it in to Kerby we were caught with too many men back and nobody for him to lay it off to.Next Sunday should be interesting but I think we showed enough improvement yesterday to suggest we can beat them.
I wasnt at the match WJ so didn’t see the black card and just speculating.
We all know the old forwards trick of grabbing the defenders hand under your arm and then falling to the ground, pulling your opponent down on top of you. This almost always results in a free for the forward.
IF this is what the ref saw then the offence “deliberately pulling an opponent to the ground” would warrant a black card.
What does anyone who was there think?
I think we need to go all out to beat Donegal and get into the semi final. We dont start championship til 14th june so thats 10 or 11 weeks without football after sunday if we dont make semis.
I think we need the extra games to find a settled team and get the likes of COC and Regan back into the team with game time.
I also hope thay we would get another chance at Dublin. The sooner we get the chance to overturn or at least improve on 2 weeks ago the better. Especially considering we are scheduled to meet them in an All Ireland semi if we get there. Be good to nit have our last meeting be a hammering in Castlebar heading in to that potential clash.
I agree WJ that if we stay up, despite all the negative that can be found, the first target for the season will have been achieved
I think that could well be it, Mayo Maori, but the incident happened very close to where I was sitting and it definitely looked as if Mickey was pulled down by the Cork player, not the other way around. There were plenty of incidents involving players pulling each other this way and that – Kerrigan had his shirt half torn off him, Jason Doc and one of their lads wrestled each other to the ground off the ball in the second half – so it was odd that the ref was so quick with the black card in the incident involving Mickey C. The poor guy was only on the pitch 30 seconds or so!
If we are playing cork again later in the year in either league or championship do you think county board would be willing to look at colour clash.
And the lesson at training sessions for Mayo this week is “How to defend a 2 pint lead as the clock ticks past the 70 minute mark”. You stop the opposition player bearing down on your goal by any means possible. Whether it means getting a black card, a yellow, a red card, a six month ban, a 12 month ban. You stop that mother before he gets anywhere near that goal. Too many leads have been thrown away in recent years in the last minute. A few lucky escapes too like Hyde Park 2014, or quarter final V Cork 2014.
Forget about lifting weights and finding out who the fittest man on the panel is.
Also need to practice the art of converting a 14 yard free from in front of the posts and not sending it into the housing estate around the back of the goal. Very important that one.
Sort these issues out and i would have no fear of facing Cork again in a possible league semi final in a few weeks. We know we have the beating of them.
Well said, Jim Flag, well said. 😉
In fairness Doc pretty good till now. Freeman was very good in 2013 at the frees. Kevin Mc had a couple of games in the past where he skied a few. There are less than 10 freetakers with Cillian’s abilities in the whole country but yes it’s an area of weakness. Each time should have 4 or 5 who do the frees for their club. AOS did the left footed one in his first season with Mayo. Lads have ability, just more need to practice the art. Cillian so good maybe he should coach the other lads how he does it.
It was all about the performance yesterday and I think we can all agree that we got one from the lads. I couldn’t make the trip cause of work and I tip my hat once again to the faithful who did, but for the first time this year I got the buzz back listening to the game.
I’m far from getting carried away this early in the year but I’m also feeling good about our prospects as well.
The new management had a hugely difficult job coming in after JH who had a cult like following amongst both the players and supporters ( or most of us anyway). They had to try and reinvigorate players who had suffered terrible defeats over a successful 4 year campaign along with the added baggage of a cocked up appointment process.
We now have a serious spine in the team with Keane, Vaughan, SoS, Parsons, AoS and Kirby running up the centre. Parsons is the perfect partner to Seamie in the middle with his athleticism and I believe the enthusiasm that he and others like Kirby, Ronaldson are showing is infectious and reinvigorating the other players. ( of all the negative shite posted on this blog since the Dublin game the worst was a comment by a long time contributer whose opinion I used to respect, who stated that Parsons was past it having peaked in 2008. Given that he’s 26, that would mean that he peaked at 19.)
Hopefully the managements job will be a little easier in getting the players to buy into the new system and it’ll also give them a little breathing space with the supporters. We’ll beat Donegal Sunday and I’m looking forward to the summer.
I was at the game yesterday, my takeaways were;
1. Tom Parsons, absolutely brilliant, in one passage of play he stopped one of the Cork players, before dispossessing the very next Cork player to receive the ball, a turnover that resulted in a score. His pass to Kevin McLoughlin after a great catch was a thing of beauty. 3 great points to boot.
2. We cleaned them out in the middle third, I am not sure what the stats were posession wise (and winning breaking ball) but they hardly won a ball in the middle third. Obviously Barry Moran contributed to this too.
3. Kevin Keane was pulled all over the pitch, he fumbled a lot of ball (at least 3 for turnovers) not his finest hour. (we have messed up here before, get the matchups right, if a guy is going to roam the pitch then match him with someone who can roam the pitch too?)
4. We started poorly, 2 frees and a giveaway goal (was ultimately our demise), not to mention when we had overturned a 1-2 to no score into a 1-2 to 0-7 lead we had a sideline ball (that I think Aidan took) instead of finding a man or driving the ball in we gave a 50-50 pass that resulted in a turnover and Corks first score for 28 minutes.
5. We owned the first 15 minutes of the second half but only scored once (from what I remember) (Doc missed a 14 yard free (can we not learn to take these from the ground?)
6. The Mickey C incident didnt seem like a drag down of the defender (but could have been) to me it looked like a straight up free (that was the one they bounced the ball over the bar from)
7. Clarke’s kickouts were well varied (and accurate)
8. The equalising goal had Conor O’Shea ball watching (if he had tracked his man then we would not have conceded) why oh why did Lee Keegan (who lost possession in traffic a couple of times yesterday too) not punch the ball (even over our own bar?).
9. Their no 5 was absolutely filthy, 3 of our guys received yellow cards from involvement with him?
10. Ref watch – Lot’s going on off the ball that he (or his linesmen did not deal with) some incidents in their square (Doc was pulled back for his tame goal shot into the goalkeepers hands) but nothing given (probably because Doc stayed on his feet). But refereeing modern Gaelic Football is not an easy task now.
Well said Liam, agree totally with your positive review of the game. As I’ve said on this before, we have the players, it’s about building around a core group of players that are up to it and having a plan. Parsons has tons of ability, and given he is having a good run at his football now thanks to being injury free he is showing his ability more and more.
Now we need to build on this solid performance. The players I think the team should be built around are Hennelly, Caff, Barrett, Keane, Boyle, Keegan, Vaughan, SOS, Parsons, AOS, Doherty, Kev McLoughlin, Cillian O’Connor. That is one super group of footballers. And there are plenty of talented lads in the squad that will play their parts around these lads.
Donegal will be buoyed following last weekend but I feel we will put in a solid performance and take the spoils.
I notice that Michael Conroy got 6 Man of the Match votes yesterday for his cameo role.Do you automatically get a certain number for a Black Card ? If the award was given based on the amount of time each player was on the pitch, he’d walk away with it !
Be interesting to see how motivated Donegal will be next Sunday ? Like us they have secured Div 1 status ( barring a complete walloping ) and may be letting their thoughts drift to the demands of summer Ulster Football. We both have the primary objective in the bag – survival, so be interesting to see who really wants to get to a semi-final.
Ger Caff showed yesterday what a fine man marker he is, and he has the required pace for this level. I’m afraid Keane doesn’t have that same level of pace and thus he gets the run around. Kevin mcmenamen did the same thing to him. He’ll always be a target for that, the rest of mayo backs have the required pace. So against the likes of Cork and Dublin I’m not sure Keane is viable. Selections should always horses for courses, especially at the back.
PJB Mayo
would you not include Higgins in that group of players?
Little to add to the comments already made apart to welcome the fighting spirit of yesterday but echo the disappointment about the manner of the loss. We still have a lot of work to do.
Kudos to Tom Parsons who for me was the best player on the pitch by a mile. Delighted to see him back and looking so fresh after his lay-off.
We were behind the goal Mayo were defending in the second half….Cork def had a point disallowed that should have been marked with a white flag. Difficult venue with very little space behind the goals and that breeze was tricky.
I also agree on the color clashes….maybe we should root out those slick new away jerseys the next time we play Cork.
We can take alot of positives from yesterday along with the few negatives all of which have already being pointed out. On the occasions we run DIRECT and let the ball in fast we look very dangerous and I think we all want to see that as opposed to zig zagging or cross field and backward passing. I think we will beat Donegal Sunday to make a league semi final the following weekend.
Anyone impressed with the high press we played at times yesterday, cork keeper was so out of options ref threw the ball up on a kickout. I think it really works well for us as we have some of the most anazingly skilful tacklers in the game.
Would love to see Regan back fit to see how it works with him in a corner playing off a target man .
Hard to believe we could be lokking at a fifth year challenging but Its certainly looking like it . I honestly don’t know at this stage would getting to the latter stages of the league be a good thing or bad thing , I could be swayed either way.
It would be good to see Cillians brains paired with Andy or Dillon back around the middle of the pitch. I don’t see any point in burying a recovering from injury Cillian in the part of the pitch where he’ll have to fight hardest for ball.
Cillian might get things flowing in terms of getting the ball in accurately and quick.
The days of Cillian scoring 2 and 3 goals in games will not happen this summer. Full backlines are covered by 4 and 5 players.
Sean I think a league semi would be of benefit. I could be wrong but I think we are the last team to enter the championship this year in mid June.
Anyone know the official attendance yesterday? Mayo supporters there in huge numbers and very vocal. Cork are an unusual crowd…some of them were not paying much attention or giving support to their footballers until they scored at the end. Some were only coming in towards the end.
Think Donegal in championship action in may so may not be too pushed about a prolonged league campaign. We not out til mid June so qualifying for semis would be important. Delighted for Tom Parsons, a man with lots of ability and as a poster pointed out he is in his mid twenties with little high octane football played so he could be a serious addition. One word of warning though re Tom. Don’t place him on a pedestal yet as the solution to all midfield concerns. We have a tendency to judge players positively and negatively on one or two performances. Hence Keane was the solution to all our full back problems after first league game v Kerry. All these lads need plenty time to grow into positions and playing for the county. One good or bad game shouldn’t give them hero or villain status. The fact theyre on the panel at all suggests they are bloody good players but they are human beings not machines and being inconsistent is part of human nature. So if Tom has another stormer next Sunday, great but if he does not, then cut him a bit of slack. Don’t forget the players are also in heavy training at the moment and they should not be expected to perform now like they hopefully will in summer. For me the Galway game in mid June is what we need to focus on and Galway who had been going poorly gave a reminder yesterday that they will be a serious threat in June.
Jp, goals might yet come from kirby, I was convinced yesterday he would of got his shot away ?X 3 only he seemed to slip at the crucial time, we know he has an eye for goal too.
Exactly , to win just once. Galway game is the big challange that lies ahead , their forward line is no joke , we will need to be solid and strong. Galway are slowly but surely introducing a bit of bite to their forward line on top of the usual nippy slick forward type attributes they have, look at Damien comer, big strong lad who will not be pushed aside come june.
@to win just once,
Agree with you regarding Parsons, I’m not trying to build him up, I’m just saying that people writing off a player, any player, as having peaked at 18 or 19 is foolish, especially someone who considers themselves a serious football analyst.
A lot of posters here are like addicts, swinging from the euphoric highs to the crushing lows with very little time spent in the middle.
It’s only March and one swallow does not a summer make, but I do think we’re starting to head in the right direction again.
Could anyone enlighten me on the full list of subs yesterday?
As I have pointed out previously, we have played most of this league with a seriously depleted squad; even the newbies have been affected: Diarmaid O’C, Patrick Durcan, Evan Regan for different reasons.
I can see both sets of management eyeing a draw next week, though that could take Donegal to semis. Not sure they want that with the Ulster clashing looming in mid May.
And us? I have been a defender of how we have done so far, but I’m not sure if we need a semi final appearance. And a beating? Don’t think we are in a position to really challenge for the league because of the aforementioned squad issues.
Getting all the squad back to full fitness, building up the strength of the new guys, practising frees, working on how to close out games – the next ten weeks could be usefully spent on these pressing issues.
If we do make the semi finals it is time to increase the game time for fringe and returning players. It could be Danny Kirby or Conor OShea winning a ball and giving a simple handpass that decides a game come summer time. They’ll need game time to do what they can do in training with ease. Similar it could be Darren McHugh being in off the bench that prevents a goal.
I always believe it’s more a mental thing rather than physical. With the ball in hand can the player remain calm and pick out a fast moving team mate in behind defenders and give a left handed handpass over the top. They’ll panic into the simplest option and solo direct into contact if they haven’t built up the game time minutes.
It’s exciting to think what all tall player options could do come summer time. Conor OShea/Kirby/AOS/Parsons/Barry Moran/Forde/Jason Gibbons/Seamus OShea. That’s eight tall players to pick from. Usually we’ve never had more than four.
We really should be looking to pair lads up in training. Get target men used to giving to likes of Ronaldson, Conroy, Regan, McGloughlin. Lads coming on the burst. We seemed to leave target men isolated yesterday.
Jesus Joe, apologies! Of course Keith gets in, top of the list! 🙂
Catcol,
Full list of Subs yesterday was: Kenneth O’Malley, Brendan Harrison, Michael Hall, Stephen Coen, David Drake, Conor O’Shea, Mikey Sweeney,Neil Douglas, Michael Conroy,Alan Freeman, Andy Moran.
Hopefully some of Douglas, Harrison, Drake, Sweeney, Andy Moran and Conor O’Shea will get some game time next Sunday. They have had little or none so far.
Thanks AndyD for that subs list.
Comparing this with the Dublin game, I note:
Additions: Kenneth O’Malley, Brendan Harrison, Neil Douglas, Andy Moran and Mickey C.
Micheal Forde no 24 against Dublin not on yesterday’s list.
Quote from Sean Burke above
” I honestly don’t know at this stage would getting to the latter stages of the league be a good thing or bad thing , I could be swayed either way.”
Very interesting comment. And I’m of the same thinking. While making the semis of any competition you play in must be commended and welcomed, there’s a part of me that just wants this very mixed league campaign to come to an end, and for us to suffer no more hammerings at the hands of Dublin* for example. So there is two ways of looking at it.
I know that sounds fairly negative but for me staying up was the huge priority. I’d be pleasantly surprised if we beat Dublin in Croke Park with all their big guns now back to be honest. Our last 4 matches against them have been disasters to say the least, each one of them. From that hammering in April 2013 to THAT All Ireland final, that infamous draw last March and of course a couple of weeks ago. The next time I really want to see them is an AI semi where they will be completely untested to that point. But really and truly there is no doubt we seem to have formed a complete mental block against them for whatever reason, and they really have inflicted some amount of misery on us in as little as a two year period!
However the catch 22 is that if we are not to make the semis it will mean we must lose to Donegal. Taking every game on its merits I wouldn’t be overly joyous to be beaten by a team, without their captain, who have been pretty up and down since 2012.
Even if we did pull off the upset v the Dubs, we haven’t had two consecutive performances in us yet, and I wouldn’t fancy yet another showpiece defeat in Croke Park
But then on the other hand you have to always aim as high as you can and constantly test yourself against the best. An early run out in CP is no harm either. And who knows with a bit of luck we might just win it out.
But it’s all academic anyway, I or anyone else can want whatever they like, but we can only deal with what happens as a result of the team’s efforts Sunday
So yeah right now while I’d be happy to make semis no doubt, I wouldn’t cry either if we didn’t as long as we have stayed up.
* I think it’s most likely we play Dubs in semi if we win Sunday
To quote Mike
“I also hope thay we would get another chance at Dublin. The sooner we get the chance to overturn or at least improve on 2 weeks ago the better. Especially considering we are scheduled to meet them in an All Ireland semi if we get there. Be good to nit have our last meeting be a hammering in Castlebar heading in to that potential clash.”
The other side of that Mike is that if our next meeting with them is indeed the AI semi we could well be going in completely written off and on a “hiding to nothing”, which would suit us down to the ground.
Though when all is said and done, that hypothetical match is exactly 5 months away or thereabouts. It’s very likely that any league matches will be more or less forgotten by that stage, with what happened in Provincial Championships/ Back door ( 😮 :o) and on the August Bank Hol taking centre stage in pre-match analysis
I’d gladly accept a game in Croker against Dublin in April. Kirby, parsons, Coen and co need some big games to take any nerves out of them, so, win lose or draw I hope we get the dubs for another game shortly.
My thinking in relation to the semi-finals would be, if we get some more bodies back in the coming weeks then the extra game would be no harm. So if the likes of Evan Regan, Jason Gibbons, Chris Barrett, Cillian O’Connor, Seamus O’Shea, Diarmuid O’Connor, Andy Moran etc. are available then an extra game would be great. It would be a big call to pick say Evan Regan etc. for the Championship match in Salthill if they have not played a competitive game in the mean time. At the moment Mark Ronaldson would be in pole position for a place in the full-forward line, based on his performances thus far, so it would be interesting to see how Evan Regan would get on for the full 70 minutes. Competition for places will be hotting up in the coming weeks, which is great to see.
Some of the posts on here baffle me. The negativity of some could be stiffling, if you let it gnaw in. Some people would rather Mayo to not face Dublin again in the league because a further hammering by the Dubs would not be good for the old moral. I don’t know what to make of that strategy. I’m better to throw a blanket on top of that thinking and hum away underneath. Fal le li dedi do and all that.
We were unlucky in the Cork game at the finish but the most important aspect is that our performance vastly improved. I was worried for the future of this great Mayo side after the Dublin debacle. Those lads showed up my wishy washy thinking for what it was, a load of bollix.
It was tough loss but we’ve had plenty of days when we have overcome deficiets to achieve victory and we will again.
Very disappointed that we conceded a late goal and that is going to be something we have to work on. Poor teams concede late goals, so let’s not see it again. A good team can play possession football and pack the defence when needed.
I thought the new midfield partnership worked well with Barry holding the middle and winning some clean ball and parsons going forward. It is worth noting that the midfield was poor in the previous games and not much clean ball was won so I’d be of the opinion to go with the same midfield partnership vs donegal. And clearly Vaughan is a centre back.
Bit disappointing to see Ronaldson pushed off the ball so easily. Would personally like to see bigger lads up front as teams like cork and even galway or roscommon will tend to try bully the forwards come summer. You won’t see the likes of Cillian and conroy pushed off a ball too easily. let’s hope we get a win vs donegal
There are many positives being mentioned re. the current situation, firstly the performance yesterday. The number of tall, talented footballers available is very encouraging. Tom Parsons had possibly his best day ever. Ger C showed how good a man-marker he is. It would be as foolish to write him off as it would be to write Keith Higgins off. We have the potential to field a great team.
To play in Croke Park in a couple of weeks can do us no harm. I agree that another shot at the Dubs., sooner rather than later, might be just what we need, a chance to “get back up on the horse” as soon as possible.
Clearly, there is work to be done, but I would like to see it being practiced on the pitch against stiff opposition.
It’ll actually be very interesting to see how Monaghan will get on at home against Dublin, after their great win away to Kerry. You’d expect the Dubs to get something out of the game but I make it that, if Monaghan were to win that game along with a win for us and Kerry, then the Dubs would not make the semis. Its something to ponder anyway but I suppose we should just be focusing our full attention on Donegal for the moment. You never know how things will go in this division, not many people would have predicted that Monaghan would get a win in Tralee.
Talk of making semi-finals seems a bit premature to me at this stage, like if it’s up to ourselves whether we want it badly enough or not. Or that Donegal mightn’t want any more involved in the League after Sunday, and would kinda throw us the game – well I couldn’t see that happening in a fit. These guys will take everything they can get, and will be fancying their chances against us.
In Donegal’s eyes, we’re a soft centre type of teams, who like to play football, and for Sunday I can see them set up their team to frustrate us, and then hit us on the break. Allowing us plenty of position outside their 45, where they know we can’t hurt them, will be their plan. And one can see it already, we hand passing the ball over and back across the field, with no loose men inside and then getting turned over, as Donegal are so good at.
I am setting out this scenario, because I fear this is how it could pan out, and I would hate that we would fall into their trap. With this in mind, I would hope, that Pat and Noel will be wise to this and will be planning accordingly.
I reckon let’s have another go at the Dubs if we can at all. We can’t possibly fare any worse than we did the last day (right? RIGHT?) so let’s redeem ourselves and move on. Though Ciaran your rationale is tempting not least because you are talking reaching about an AI SF only two weeks after that drubbing 😉
Any one know how league semi pairings work out is it ist v 4th and 2nd v 3rd or what story?
It’s 1st v 4th and 2nd v 3rd, Aidan. A rematch with Cork (Note to County Board: change our bloody jerseys this time!!!) would seem the most likely outcome should we beat Donegal, as they’re playing already relegated Derry.
Maybe màyo should play Donegal at their own game blanket defence it’s only way to beat them why match starting so late does anyone know.
What time match fixed for? Think once time changes matches go an hour later.
If Monaghan beat Dublin and Kerry beat Tyrone then unless it’s a draw semi finalists would be Cork, Monaghan, Kerry and the winners of our match next Sunday.
Sorry Joe Ruane, just a little thing; we were not unlucky to lose on Sunday. Luck had nothing to do with it. It was just poor defending. Is that a negative statement?
At the beginning of the league when you looked st the fixtures you would have put down yesterday as a loss for Mayo for a few reasons and it would not really worry to many. But in the context of how the season has gone yesterday’s game was very important for the players to put in a performance which they did and for the management to show some tactical insight which they Did to some extent. There were glimpse of some good direct fast ball from goal to goal which I think will pay dividends if we persist with it. However I am concerned about an anxiety that seems to be in our play with players not making the right call or rushing passes when there is no need to. Also scoring rates are very low with just 75 chances taken in our 6 games so far even when you count the turkey shoot against Monaghan. Interestingly we have conceded the same amount of scores which is positive. Next Sunday will be defining for win a home game to reach a league semifinal. Although I have previously advocated for ignoring the league I think the way the league has gone and for the teams confidence it is important to lay down a marker next Sunday.
firmly believe the way to play the dubs is to pull everyone back on their kickouts. let them play it short if they want but make sure they’re going into heavy traffic between half forward and half back line.
Then on our own knockout have 3 receivers spread out across the pitch SOS, AOS and another big lad (likely Parsons based on yesterday). This stops them swamping a singler receiver like they did to SOS
Imperative not to get into this wide open match that suits the athleticism of their players down to the ground.
I rang co board today re colour change for future Mayo cork games.
8% of males are colour blind. 99% of those cannot tell difference between green and red. Statistically speaking that would be one in every 12 male supporters and around 4 players (inc subs).
Anyone who was at Castlebar garrymore match this year might understand how hard it is to follow a game in such circumstances.
The man I spoke to told me it would not be possible to change because green jersey is our first choice and players prefer playing in it. Also that the jerseys for each game were decided on at start of year so it would be too late to change now. Very helpful.
This has been a strange league The Dubs struggled all through except against us, Kerry are in a bad place and Monaghan after been drubbed by us and Cork are in second place…………….Cork are the only top flight team showing any consistency.
On another note ……………………..Joe Brolly has ‘come out’ at last on RTE website, even saying he may never go to another Derry game again as football is becoming shite and more related to that unspellable rabbit disease than real football…….except for……………..Yes………..ourselves, who he claims are the only ones left who plays the game as it should be played.
Is the world going to end tomorrow or something???????
Maybe time to make amends with the Boss.
MaighEo Abu
I remember the way Roscommon played us last year in the Connacht championship. 12 men behind the ball but the defensive line was higher up the field on their own 45 metre line where they always had 5 or 6 fellas placed.
We were too far out to shoot most of the time and when we were dispossessed it allowed them to break far more quickly. I think that’s the model we should be aiming for against Dublin.
A blanket but one that has the defensive line higher up the pitch allowing for a quicker counter.
Thanks for that, Colour blind – I can’t in truth say I’m surprised at the rationale the County Board gave you. In the event that we do end up facing Cork in a League semi-final I’m seriously considering staying at home in protest rather than putting myself through the same experience as yesterday – at least then colour-blindness won’t be a problem for me if I’m listening in on the radio!
Personally I find it hard to believe that the players don’t like playing in our new jerseys, they didn’t seem to effect them in kerry. I think he just took it on himself to speak for the players, just like we heard at start of year the players didn’t want Mcstay, maybe they do carry out polls I don’t know.
I saw no comment about the Dubs v Derry game. Once again the Dubs were totally lost against the blanket defence and if Derry had a forward at all or took a few risks in the last 10 mins, they would have won. Now that would have been a shock. The Derry manager said he didn’t like to set up like that but he had no choice. Someone else commented that even poor teams, if they set up a blanket defence, can be very difficult to beat !!!
Love it JJ. :-))
Of course reaching a League semi would be a good thing! It’s a game in Croke Park FFS and we can never get enough of those – witness Alan Mulholland’s statement about Galway’s failure to win ANY game there since 2001; his opinion was that their losing streak was down to not playing there often enough.
As well as that, we’re not togging in championship until mid-June. How is an extra couple of training sessions better than a competitive game in headquarters against high-class opposition?
And as for those wanting to avoid the Dubs – give me strength. If we’re going to hide from playing big teams we have no business talking about All-Irelands in Mayo.
RE: Joe Brolly’s comments – that’s the second time this year he’s said we are the only team left playing ‘normal’ football, although I presume he means out of the top tier teams or the ones people see on tv regularly.
Still happy it’s like that, would hate to see Mayo go all defensive in the aim of winning at all costs.
At game last Sunday, was talking to a Co.Board official about the clash of colours with jerseys. He said some gobshite at County board meeting had a grip with the colours we wore in Kerry. I,m sure this same G……e never attended any away match this year.
Also some body said players didn’t like playing in those colours? They only played 1 game so what. It would be better off if we had colours we wore in Kerry. Remember when we won our 3 All Irelands we wore the white of Connacht. As for the game ( some people never learn on team) Kerry all over again.