Monday match reports

Willie Joe

Mayo v NUIG

Photo: MichaelMaye.com

It’s Monday, the festive holiday season is over but it could be worse: it’s a decent morning out there and we’ve football to be talking about. And match reports to peruse. Indeed, it’s a veritable multimedia show this morning, with written accounts, photos, audio and video to get through so no time for dawdling.

Let’s start with the match reports themselves. Here are all the ones my trawl this morning has caught:

Mayo Advertiser, Irish Independent, Irish Times, Irish Examiner, The 42, And it’s over the bar. FBD round-ups: RTÉ, Breaking News, Hogan Stand.  I’ll be putting all these links, and any others I come across, with the result and team details in the results section of the site in due course, as another year of the results archive gets assembled match-by-match.

Photos: Mayo Mick, Inpho, Sportsfile.

Audio comes from Colm Gannon of the Mayo Advertiser, who provides a summary of the action and some post-match quotes from a happy-sounding Stephen Rochford – here.

And the video? This is a cracker from @EmmaMc7, capturing Robbie Hennelly’s booming long-range free, a score that made the game safe for us yesterday:

Yes – 2016 is up and running for us alright. Enjoy your Monday, folks.

66 thoughts on “Monday match reports”

  1. Are you going to do a Man of the Match Poll after games this year? Always enjoy the variance of opinion

  2. I will, Redcol, but I’ve always taken the view that FBD matches are just warm-up affairs so it’d be a bit OTT to be running MOTM polls on them. The full service will be rolled out again, though, once the NFL starts up.

  3. Thanks once again for running this service willie joe. It’s one I check in on every day.

  4. A happy New Year to you Willie Joe. In all fairness, you are doing a great job with wonderful benefits for all Mayo supporters. May you be granted the health to continue for many years to come.

  5. I saw the article on a o Shea good interview by the way just a though I don’t think cillian o Connor gets as much media attention as o Shea

  6. Yes, Cait, very good interview; he pointed out, quite honestly, that he was in bad shape when JH arrived, due to the usual things – bad diet, away from home etc.

    It really does make you wonder what the O’Mahony management was doing with the players that could let such a situation develop and be on the verge of losing what is proving to be a sensational talent.

  7. How was the weather down in castle bar see cillian is keeping very quiet from the media very underrated player not a word of him.

  8. One thing to take note of from the week-end is that Adam Gallagher was the only Mayo forward on show that scored more than once from play (as far as my deductions go anyway). Two of his points from a tally of 1-4 for NUIG were from play. I wasn’t at the game so I am just going by the match reports.

    Mayo scored a total of 1-5 from play, Colm Boyle scored one of those, so five of the six starting forwards got one score from play each with Kevin Mc getting the goal. Evan Regan scored 1-3 for UUJ with the 3 points coming from placed balls. It’ll be interesting to take note of this in the coming weeks, i.e. our forwards scoring tallies from play.

    While if you look at the scorers for the U21 game against Fermanagh, two of our forwards: Fionan Duffy 0-4 (1f) and Brian Reape 0-3 got three points each from play (again I am just going by the match report). Those are the kind of consistent scoring tallies we should be looking for from some of our senior forwards to allow us to move onto the next level of winning national titles.

    The only team that achieved this consistently for Mayo was the 2013 Minor team, i.e. a number of forwards getting a number of scores from play on a consistent basis. Its no coincidence that this was an All-Ireland winning team. Something to ponder on for the future.

  9. Cait,What do u want Cillian to say???.These guys do their finest talking on the pitch.-best that way do you not think?.

  10. HopeSpringsEternal,

    Good point, it would be great if you could continue to post this info. The discovery of a “consistent” scoring forward could to a certain extent dictate how far we go into the autumn.

  11. Whilst I agree that Cillian is underrated, there is no doubt that Lee Keegan must be the most underrated player ever. In my opinion he is now the best player in the country, he has managed and gor the better of the so called best player in the country in their last 4 confrontations v Dublin and never gets a mention. At least he gets his All Stars..

  12. Well spotted HSE as regards the quality of our teams sharp shooters . It’s easy to talk from the arm chair or even the bed would you believe,but whether you were at the game or listening to it you still witnessed hasty,hope for the best,here goes types of shots coming from various players.

    It’s a serious malaise that’s been with us for some time and yesterday I found myself comparing the solution to what will have to be done in the long term to rectify the Shannon overflow…the word ‘Drastic ‘ suggested itself. Something drastic needs to be introduced to enlighten players to the errors of their ways. How many shots were taken from wrong positions by wrong players at wrong times,without composure.? I was listening and saying ‘ there goes another’

    I’ve said it before and here goes again. There ll be no great achievement until we institute a proper pattern of forward play where those in positions know how to use each other effectively and profitably. It requires thought we know and sometime we see a bit of it here and there but not to the extent that they realize that this ought to be the main menu!

    So I for one will be looking out for that kind of player and also I’ll be looking for the emergence of that kinda pattern that could credibly slip us into line for major honours!

    The Dutch can teach us about water affairs but I think we must have it in us to score a few more scores from regular play.

  13. Thanks joemamas and Inbetweener, it was one of the features of the Corofin team under Stephen Rochford, having free scoring forwards, especially their full-forward line, so it’ll be interesting to see how this develops in the Mayo team.

    One hallmark of Dublin’s scoring forwards as well, is their ability to score with both feet. The Brogans, Ciaran Kilkenny, Paddy Andrews, Kevin McMenamin and Diarmuid Connolly are all capable of doing this. It makes it much harder to mark a two footed forward.

    Two footed forwards don’t grow on trees so it’ll be a case of taking each game as it comes for us and see how it goes. Of course shoring up weaknesses at the back will be key for us as well in the future.

    Remember Inbetweener, The Dutch thought us the concept of total football as well in another code, so they are smart those Dutch guys! As you said though, getting players to always take the right option will be vital going forward, it can be taught and players can be coached in this art. Reading Jimmy McGuinness’s book, it was one of the key aspects that he ingrained in the Donegal players. Roll on the next game…

  14. Where is there an U21 match report?
    I’v been saying for some time that Fionan Duffy and Brian Reapes scoring rate from play on every team they play on is way above average. Duffy is my bolter for the summer. He’s built like a tank and has an accurate right foot.
    Brian Reape almost never misses goal chances. That is no exageration, if a chance is on he buries it with accuracy and power. Crucially close to goal he asks no permission about taking a goal.
    Aghamores U21 forward line are tremendous. They had only 3 or 4 wides winning the U21 final. Some great points from play. Young Ross Egan can move with the ball well and is two footed. Minor next year.

  15. Courtesy of Digits on the U21s provide winning start to the year thread:
    ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….

    Digits says:
    January 4, 2016 at 11:15 am

    I sourced the lineups and scorers from the Western this morning:

    SCORERS – Mayo: Fionan Duffy 0-4 (1f), Sharoize Akram 1-0, Brian Reape 0-3, Matthew Ruane 0-2, Barry Duffy and Jason Forkan 0-1 each.

    MAYO: Matthew Flanagan; Eddie Doran, Seamus Cunniffe, Ciaran Harrison; James Kelly, Sharoize Akram, Jason Forkan; Matthew Ruane, Val Roughneen; Fergal Boland, Michael Plunkett, Barry Duffy; Cathal Barrett, Brian Reape, Fionan Duffy. Subs: James Lyons (for
    Barrett 40), James Carr (for Reape 49), Conor Kilkenny (for Doran 50 – inj), Ronan Carolan (for F Duffy 52), Colm Reape (for Roughneen 52), Ryan Lynch (for Plunkett 52)

  16. Take the point about consistent scoring forwards, but in the modern senior game, forwards are asked to do so much more, whereas in U21 and minor they are mainly expected to score.

    Think Galway in 2013 with a star studded lineup, including many U21 AI winners, and including a few 6’4″s. We chewed them up and spat them out and the game was over within 15 minutes.

    At the very highest level, it’s extraordinary difficult for forwards. Even Bernard Brogan had a stinker in the final. I watched him from the Upper Cusack and saw him mess up the first five balls that came his way.

    Still, if Brian Reape (whom I have great time for) and Fionan Duffy do the business at the business end, I won’t be complaining.

  18. Your welcome JP and thanks to Digits as well. Yes it’s great to see them back alright.

    That’s the thing catcol with the Dubs, if Bernard Brogan is held someone else will take up the slack for him, like Paddy Andrews did. For us when Aidan O’Shea was rendered ineffective we struggled big time. Whoever they turn out to be, we need some more reliable scorers up front.

  19. HSE,

    Yes, we need scorers up front. If we think of scorers in a Mayo context we might think of Cillian O’Connor, but was he upfront last year against the Dubs? Sometimes, but as often he was tracking back in defence. Basically Aiden had no consistent support up front against Dublin last year so it was easy for Dublin to double mark him. As it turns out Cillian, it seems, was struggling to some degree with a knee injury all last year, and we were asking him to track back. Have you ever seen Bernard Brogan tracking back in defence? Or Paddy Andrews tracking back last year?

  20. Exactly AndyD, Dublin always keep at least three of their forwards very close to the opposition’s goals. They might start with Rock, Andrews and B Brogan. Then they have the luxury of bringing on McMenamin and A Brogan when needed. Thats what you are up against. This year O’Gara and Paul Mannion will probably be back in the fold as well and Conor McHugh could come into the reckoning too to give them even more options.

    That was the real killer for us this year, not giving O’Shea enough support, along with not having sufficient midfield cover. Jason Doc, Kevin Mc and Diarmuid O’Connor were essentially fulfilling very similar roles. What we gained with Diarmuid we probably lost with Jason Doc and Kevin Mc. We needed to sacrifice one of these players to get an extra scoring option like Freeman, Dillon or Sweeney on the field to support O’Shea and Cillian. With Vaughan injured for the replay against Dublin we could have even played Kevin Mc on the half-back line as he did when Lee Keegan got sent off against Kerry in 2014.

  21. Kevin Mc is able to hit those catchable low trajectory backspinners, similarily Higgins. I dont know why we don’t tee them up more like quarter backs. That wouldnt be SOS or Parsons forte. Then have runners on the loop across AOS.

  22. I wouldn’t read too much into forwards scoring stats this time of year. Heavy pitches suits the backs. B Brogan didn’t have a stinker in AI final, he played the conditions as best he could. But it shows if the best corner forward of 2015 struggles on a wet day, they all can. Gooch had more of a stinker than BB in the AI final. Conditions just suited the backs. Fair play to some of the U21S for managing 3 points but I wouldn’t expect the same lads to do it every game this end of the year. Good to see 3 Balla lads on the team too, Barry Duffy just out of minors so his progress will be interesting.

  23. what six forwards do we need come the start of the championship to capture sam? I believe that D O’ Connor, Aido, Douglas would be a spectacular half forward line, with the full forward line consisting of C O’ Connor, Kirby, Regan. I think that forward line would match most in the country!

  25. alot of talk about scoring forwards and of course its vital to our ambition. what seperates the great forwards from the not so great is the ability to get into correct positions to recieve the pass. then be able to operate under intense pressure that comes from the top teams. Brogan and gooch were the finest i ever saw under these conditions. cute as foxes. there primary job was to destroy. Not easy come across the likes of them. We have good forwards coming through this year. Stop giving away soft goals and sam is on his way to mayo lol

  26. Totally forgot about McLoughlin diehard, i would on second thoughts have to put him in the half forward line in place of Douglas. We would have a strong bench with regards to forwards then, with the like’s of Doherty, Douglas, Loftus, Freeman

  27. Good man toughnup spot on there we start at the back and get three top class DEFENDERS in the full back line.
    The big problem we have hasn’t changed ..we have hundreds of half backs in the county these guys are all great footballers but are not,in most cases good defenders or good scoring forewards .
    So like all good teams with ambitions we need to learn to defend first before we can dream of big things to come.
    I hope this Armagh man knows a few tricks and that the management make the big calls and for once and for all put on a couple more out and out DEFENDERS on this great team of ours.
    Up Mayo..*

  28. pat Gunnigan we’re thinkin along same lines. u need ruthless defenders and ruthless forwards. As i said long time ago were not to far away. We had no cavalry to call on against dublin when we had them on the ropes. Gibbons was a loss last year for his experience. I would prefer more speed on the full forward line. O shea would be better burstin through recieving a pass and puttin the ball his marker the full back the goalie and the whole lot in the back of the net lol

  31. A couple of questions …

    Hennelly or Clarke in goal ?

    Who would people like to see play full back ?

    Where would be best to play AOS ?

  32. Mayo 51,

    I would like to see Seamus O’Shea tried at full back to see how he would fare out. I don’t think that he would do too badly. Aiden at full forward with support but not at centre forward. Clarke would have a slight vote ahead of Hennelly from me but form would be important, there’s not much between them. Matthew Flanagan looks a very good prospect although maybe a little lacking in height . I would like to see O’Malley back in the panel and three ‘keepers retained all year.

  33. Full back is a position you cant change into in your late 20s and certainly not a player who played in midfield and attack all his years. An experienced full forward would give him the run around.
    Marking Kieran Donaghy is not the equivalent of being first choice full back. He might be great defensive cover. But not an out and out no. 3.

  34. I cannot see any of the Castlebar or Hollymount Carramore lads having a major input to Mayo fortunes in 2016. In particular if they progress to the final. I see someone name 2 Castlebar men in the forwards for Mayo for the championship. Consider the effects of a 15 month club championship on these club players. Expecting them to hit the ground running with all the others in July 2016 is native at best. Look at the Bridgets men that lined out against us the year they took the title. Or the Corofin guys last season. Someone is having a laugh here.

  35. John O Keefe started his career at midfield and turned into an all star fullback Sean Walsh played midfield and full forward before ending his career as a full back .I think that if Keane is giving a chance he is as good as we have in the county I feel he got a raw deal last year not getting any time in either of the Dublin games he was silly against Donegal but he paid to high a price Brogan wouldn’t have cut across the endline for the second goal if Keane was marking him.

  37. Talking of full backs, who exactly played at full back last season? I could never figure it out.

    Huge amount of discussion on Caff v Keane and strengths and weaknesses etc, yet all I ever seemed to see was Tom Cunniffe or Chris Barrett in the eye of the storm.

  39. Is Alan Dillen going to be fit enough to merit a place on the mayo panel this year. It looks like he has a long term injury. I dont remember him taking any part in the league last year i only remember him against galway and he wasnt great when he came on. Given his age and his injury even if he does recover for summer it is hard to see him making match day 26.

  40. could not agree more with you jr i see maybe five castlebar lads fighting to get a place in our starting 15, they will come in fitter than most of they lads already in the panel. I see cunniffe, Durcan, Moran, Douglas and Kirby all fighting for a place in the staring 15. I belive 3/4 could start come may

  41. Well to get into specifics SOS wouldnt be agile or sharp enough over the first five yards for full back. Its why you see 6’5″ full forwards but you never see 6’5″ full backs. SOS is not overly tall but speed off the mark is not his thing.
    Personally I think there’s been insufficient trawling of the club scene for full back specialists. There are enough full backs that it shouldn’t have been only Caff v Keane v Mchale the last four years. Wont get into names but one minor full back thought should have at least been trialed there under Horan.

  44. The job is to prevent goals and be a rock of consistency and toughness for your goalkeeper and corner backs.
    – Ability to catch a ball above your head
    – Ability to make blocks, break away ball
    – Never lose posession cheaply
    – Ability to make quick decisions on positioning and who to pickup
    – Have to be of a certain size roughly 6′ – 6’3″ and 85-95kg to be strong yet quick

  45. CHB is as big a problem for us as FB. We need a stopper there to take pressure off our FB.
    A good FB keeps the ball away from the FF–he need not be a fetcher–look at Darren Fay in his day.

  46. Darren Fay had great hands too. Buy yes he was great at using his body to hit man and ball at same time. He knocked Ian Robertson for the first five balls in in that manner once versus Dublin. They had a set to then.

  47. Full back?
    You need two different types of FB these days. One big strong horse who can handle the likes of Donaghy, O Shea, Murphy etc. the other able to match the fast, agile, tricky FF. It’s hard if not impossible to get all those characteristics in one player. So flexibility in the panel is key. It’s a horses for courses type strategy.

  48. You need someone hard and dirty in the FB line.

    Dublin have it in McMahon and Cooper. Kerry have it O’Mahoney and Marc O’Sé wasn’t afraid to do the indecent thing when required. Tyrone – well is there any need to talk about them? Or Donegal when you consider the McGees. Cork have Cadogen.

    Our FB line is too nice.
    Maybe Kevin Keane will develop a meaner streak.

  49. First focus on 6 out and out defenders. We can see all sorts of problems with the Mayo defenders when half of them go off up the field into attack with the ball in hand. Great attacking ploy back in the eighties but time and football has moved on. Look at Dublin Kerry or Corofin the ball is delivered quick and accurate to a half forward line on the run inside. In between the semi finals last summer this site was awash with suggestions of using our running game and strongest players against a side that was fitter and sharper than us. The hole we left in the center of our defense in the first half and in the second half was large enough to swallow all the flood water we are worrying about at present. A dub pointed to this out to me just after McMahon sent a screamer over the bar instead of under it in the first half of the replay game..That was a kamikaze approach to defending and that is the first thing I would change. Premature talk of personnel changes is not the way I would start. We all need to change the way we analyses the root cause.of our weakness in defending. Keith was the most frustrated player in Croke Park last summer as he single handed tried to keep the rising tide at bay. Hope we are all better than all this. KH is still the best defender in the country, now we need the other 5 to do their bit.

  50. From the last para in the Examiner today –

    Mayo supporters can look ahead to 2016 with more than hope even if their behaviour – their self-fulfilling prophetic quietness when games are in the balance, their over-elaborate, sweetly-sick PDAs – indicates that’s all they have.

    Grossly unfair in my opinion.

  51. Something seems to be eating away at Fogarty re Mayo support. Or maybe we just genuinely wreck his head . Either way I’m not bothered too much.

    Are we a bit” in your face “supporters ? Do we go overboard with ” mayo4sam” and the daft songs if we make the final . Probably , maybe I don’t know . But we are who we are , we love the craic , we are barmy about our county team . They will miss us if we step back a biteen and that’s the truth .

    I love being a Mayo supporter and part of it all, all the money or Sam maguires in the world couldn’t buy that . Sometimes I look up at the sky when the summer begins and thank aul Richard Burke for gettin his leg over Grainne mhaol all this centuries ago . Mayo4sam

  52. This site is really hotting up lately for some reason or other. The two outstanding features for me have been the excellent FB analyses by Diehard,JP and JPM. Step out there the three of ye and fix that spot! The demands of the position are such that it’s no great surprise that complete full backs are in such short supply all over.
    It’s a vital position,influencing all around,inspiring,a psychological boost and the very opposite if you re not quite it!

    And it’s true that we ve not just had the two contestents for the spot.This reflects the efforts made over the last few years to compensate for the lack that’s bothered us so much! So boys!!! More of your suggestions as to what is best for no 3 in the current circumstances.

    The other stand out feature I referred to is S Burkes ref to Aul R Burke getting his ….. Etc. What’s that Sean? Grand to see a bit of historical content in the blog.

    And still, regardless of what the FB job entails,I would love to see SOS posted at no 3 for the next couple of FBD games.

  53. Lol, pure pseudohistory inbetweener . I just make that stuff up as I go along , put two and two together and think I have four but i rarely do.

  54. PJ McManus,

    Can yo tell me which of the current top teams feature six out and out defenders? For Dublin Jack McCaffrey and James McCarthy do not strike me as out and out defenders. Kerry’s half backs also make their contribution to attack, look at Tomás O Sé’s scoring stats, they are not those of a stay at home defender. [I know he is now retired]. Ulster teams style is different in that there is not much difference between a half back and half forward but when it comes to attack all can go forward. Thing is they can all get back quickly too.
    Mayo need to show more awareness of leaving gaps when attacking as Dublin did this year with Cian O’Sullivan a reliable cover. No serious team would ignore the contribution of Lee Keegan or Donal Vaughan in attack.
    The full back question is another where we need convincing answers. Nobody has convinced there since Kevin Cahill. David Heaney had a lot of the qualities needed but not the physicality. John O’Mahony tried several in the position including James Kilcullen, Kieran Conroy, BJ Padden, Liam O’Malley and Tom Cunniffe before settling on Ger Cafferkey in 2010. There is no fixed prototype of full back, all are different in their own way. Instance of an individual is Matt Gallagher of Donegal’s 1992 team. In the All Ireland final he never competed with Vinny Murphy in the air but took the ball from him or did not allow him use it when Murphy came back down to earth. The tactic might not have worked a second time but it did on the day which mattered. I believe that we do need to settle on a regular full back. Past managements do not seem to have been convinced by Kevin Keane even though he has a lot of the qualities needed. If it were just one management team I would not mind so much but neither JH or H & C seemed to be convinced. H & C seemed to chop and change all the time which is not good. Nobody else seems able to suggest a likely candidate from outside the panel. I suggested Seamus O’Shea as possible candidate. To say that nobody has made the conversion from midfield to full back in the past is just factually wrong. If he has one weakness which would worry me it is that his ball control when he tries to solo/play ball is very loose and that might be targeted if it were a feature of his game at full back. But perhaps he could avoid playing high risk football at full back and simply deliver the ball.

  55. So who would you we go for at full Keane or cafferkey , cause that’s our only option.?

    I think I would go with Clarke in goal if fit, gives the defenders assurance, is cool under pressure and 9 /10 will not let you down.

    As regards AOS I think he should be played at centre forward and drink in to the full forward line.

    Our defenders are too nice , I am hoping Tony mc entee will bring that northern / Armagh streak into them .

    I think we are close and am really positive about the year ahead.
    Could this finally be the year ….. I guess we can dream and hope it finally is.

  56. Good stuff there SB.

    That’s a right good run down of the attempts to fill the FB spot over the years from AndyD. On the other hand maybe we hav nt been too badly served at all in recent times by our full backs.Maybe we were just v unlucky. K Keane and Caff. have done a good job generally and would go on as two fine players if what happened on their watch had nt happened. And in another time those instances might not have occurred for when have we had FF’s like Donaghy,Murphy and the Dub?

    So,maybe the worst is over for us! In the meantime I’d still like to see SOS in there …..just to see! His pace off the mark would worry me a bit and his turn but I’m not sure.And he might take to it like a duck to water!

  57. Seriously pjmac you think Keith is the best defender in the country?He’s probably the best footballer along with Lee in our defence but IMO he can be very loose at times in defence.
    He has an annoying habit of standing 20 foot away from his man and then trying to make up ground when the ball comes in.
    He made Paddy Andrews look like a super star in the replay and who was on his arse when Mc Menamon was burying it in the back of the net in the same game?
    Chris Barrett was the stand out defender in the full back line that day from what i could see.There is a place for Keith in our team but don’t leave him in the full back line

  58. How about giving Clarke a run at 3? We are not short of keepers and he is tall and strong and a good fielder of a ball.

  59. KH is usually 20 yards from his man when he is trying to cover 2 angles of attack. Ask yourself this question who was in the second last line of defense while this was happening. Then ask yourself how did Dublin get the ball to Andrews. You made my points better than I could myself but arrived you at the wrong conclusion. I watched the videos and I know the answers to those questions I posed.

  60. In club games I often saw Clarke do an excellent job of keeping goal while helping out the full back. While he had a top class goalie in him for the last 10 years, I have always felt that we have lost out on a great No 3.

  61. Maybe you’re right pj but I’ve seen Keith’s direct man getting a lot of scores in more than one game.Hopefully the Armagh man will be able to work the oracle with our defence.We have more or less the same players in defence for the last five years, and a good number of those are all stars,but we have been beaten in several high profile games by leaking goals at crucial times.
    So where do you start trying to fix things in defence?It’s probably just as well that I’m not in charge lol ..!

  63. Pat I hope and I think you are correct about the Armagh guy. Probably what was missing from last years setup.

  64. Tom I have to agree regarding Clarke at No 3 at this stage of his career. I am always happy to see him between the posts

  66. mighty debate on fb position. thanks for all the great insight. thats what the blog is about. i believe myself its how u set up defensively. To many times in the past our fb has been left exposed. Cafferkey earned an all star in 2012. He is a good full back. The most important ingredient a fb MUST have is cuteness. Donaghy got the better of most full backs in his time. Tyrone tactic was let him win the ball. then when he arrives to ground tackle him ferociuosly. what might suit today might not suit tomorrow. If brogan is on ff line then its different propisition. Ultimately u must set up properly and not leave the fb exposed. vaughan is not a chb. he enjoys attacking to much.

    My next question for everyone is what makes a good centre half back ?

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