Photo: MichaelMaye.com
A bit later getting going today and it’s a nice Easter Monday up here in the capital weather-wise so I don’t intend to be chained to the laptop for long. Long enough, though, to do a quick gallop through the reports on yesterday’s back in yer box win over the Rossies. Here’s the collection:
Locals: Mayo Advertiser (match report, quotes from Stephen Rochford), Connaught Telegraph.
Nationals: Irish Independent (match report, Eugene McGee analysis), Irish Examiner, Irish Times (match report, overview by Malachy Clerkin), Irish Sun (includes video).
Others: GAA, RTÉ (match report, post-match video piece with Stephen Rochford), The 42, Breaking News, Hogan Stand (match report, James Horan analysis).
Photos: Mayo Mick, Inpho, Sportsfile.
The one bit I’d draw your attention to from all the above is that quotes piece in the Mayo Advertiser in which Stephen Rochford confirmed that Ger Cafferkey was withdrawn yesterday due to an injury involving his “hamstring into his groin.” Ger’s been in cracking form all spring but he’s got to be a doubt for the Down game. At least Kevin Keane is back and so could slot in there next Sunday.
Stephen also confirmed in that piece that Donal Vaughan isn’t at full tilt yet with the calf problem that’s been at him for some weeks now. What a luxury it was, then, to have a player of Paddy Durcan’s calibre in reserve yesterday. I’d say the Mitchels flyer will get the nod to start there on home turf the next day.
That’s your lot, enjoy the rest of your Bank Holiday and don’t forget to vote in the Man of the Match poll if you haven’t yet done so. Evan Almighty seems to have this one in the bag – he was the TG4 MOTM yesterday – but, as the saying goes, every vote counts. Back later with the result.
There’s nothing quite like that deep seated feeling of self contintedness when reading through the national papers the day after. It was sweet yesterday and it’s still sweet today ?
Completely agree toe to hand!!. I knew yesterday was never in doubt, don’t give a hoot about semi’s just want us to beat Down, stay up, and head off and get ready for the real football. Fair play to everyone involved yesterday, Freeman was very good for first game out, quality player. Nice double landed for me with Mayo and Hennellys horse Solita doing the bizz, now to whack it all on the boys to win sam 😉
I thought Seamie was immense all through yesterday. Really went after them around the middle and was extremely forceful on the ball.
Pitch was unplayable yesterday. I feel if both managers left it to the Ref to decide the game would not have gone ahead.Involving the managers was a cop out.
Pitch was like a swimming bath am sure the dubs won’t want to play there. Hope the move u21 match as well.
A lot of rumours swirling about that the 21s game is being moved to Carrick on Shannon. Had hoped for Castlebar but anywhere would be better than the Hyde at this stage.
Freeman was a tad unlucky to be black-carded I thought. Looked more like he was trying to get back on his feet as opposed to a deliberate hand-trip. But the referee didn’t have the benefit of the replay I suppose. Diarmuid’s kick wasn’t deliberate either. Referee got it correct.
All in all I was happy to see our intensity return. Mayo played at championship levels yesterday. Aido and Seamie were beasts. A big performance was called for and the lads delivered. Can’t ask for more than that. The scores to wides ratio is still worrying but Tony McEntee said as much on Mid West afterwards. No doubt there will be plenty of work put into it between here and summer. Regan seemed to come of age yesterday.
I don’t know what the pitch looked like up close but on TV it looked terrible. Splashing and sliding galore. Any criticism thrown at Roscommon for the state it was in is fully justified. Reminded me of that pitch down in Cork that was so badly flooded last year you cold barely see the crossbar. Don’t forget the glove, goggles and snorkels lads.
Reading the match reports there, O’Donnell has some nerve blaming the result on the condition of their home pitch. It’s a similar theme on the Roscommon forum Stolen Sheep, which I’d recommend any Mayo fan should join purely for the comedy value.
Ten pages of how they’re miles ahead of us, can’t wait to relegate us and don’t do whinging (like we supposedly do) in the run up to the game followed by five pages (and counting) of whinging, blaming the pitch, the ref, the dirty Mayo players and anything else they can think of since about 5pm yesterday. Brilliant stuff.
Looking ahead, it would be good to see Clarke, Durcan, Moran, maybe COC and one or two fringe players who aren’t with the 21s get a start next Sunday. We’ve got to believe we can beat Down at home while still experimenting a little bit at the same time.
It’s right good to feel that we re one of the top teams still and after all…thanks to that durability of the senior members of the squad and the emerging players Durcan,Harrison,Nally,Coen and Regan and Conor OS.
We probably are in a better position than this time last year right enough and what a summer it promises to be.
Would like to see Kirby in the next day for a while btw.
Looking back over game I was trying to convince myself that ball was being released a bit sharper….maybe!….loads to be done!
Well done to all the Mayo lads yesterday, it must have been hard to run never mind play football on the wet pitch and I think we were lucky to not have any real injuries because of it. Riscommon have improved a lot but still probably lack the power to impose themselves at the top level if the opponent needs to win. Would you bet much on Roscommon beating any of the top 5-6 teams in August in croke park? I certainly wouldn’t, not yet anyway, but they have some class players and will be a problem for Mayo before long.
Regan done some lovely work to get himself in position with the ball on his boot for the goal, the chip points to a class act in the rough, I think he will become a major weapon for Mayo. Well done to all.
Can’t help but mention Eugene McGee saying that Kevin keane could have broken Murphy’s jaw with the wild punch last year, no mention of Murphy’s punch on keane. Of course if Eugene got the glasses he needs he would see the “wild swinging punch” was actually a slap with an open hand. The type slap that Eugene needs to wake him up.
I think those Rossies will be no pushover on a fast pitch in July. Their management will be happy it dampens expectations and refocuses the players on what it will take to beat Mayo should we overcome Galway first.
They showed enough snippets of talent in few times they got the ball that with a clever game plan they could go on a run. They won’t beat a top 6 team on a wet heavy pitch but could on a fast dry one.
Juan,
I agree with you – Freeman was really good and showed great determination yesterday. Went at it full throttle for some low and dirty balls. He always looks to me like a really dedicated Mayo lad with the heart very much in the right place, and wanting to hone his skills as a forward. As the year goes on, I hope he’s given the opportunity to do so, and I believe he will ‘stand up’ and deliver for us when we need it.
In Gaelic football analysis there always seems to be contradictions .
Evan Regan had his best game in a Mayo shirt for the seniors. He is a light nippy type forward , after the first two league games this was alluded to on this blog by several posters as been a weakness , too small, too light etc.
Yesterday’s game wouldn’t /didn’t suit light fast forwards of Roscommon .
Anyway we will have to see in the summer whether the challenge from Galway or Roscommon is enough to take the Nestor cup off us.
I think some commentators are focussing too much on one or two balls that Freeman struggled to get hands on yesterday. They’ve missed the fact that the balls in were dreadful and he did well in some instances to make the defenders scrap for possession at all.
Number of things.
We are inclined to get carried away.We were not good enough last year and nothing to suggest anything radical has happened since.Let’s build on small progress.Roscommon have excuses…slow pitch…missing both midfielders as well as Cathal Shine…these things of course matter.Still I feel they wont be any bigger of a threat than Galway.
I really believe our forwards were poor enough finishing yesterday.Yes Regan got goal and that put gloss on it but our wides are unsustainable.Ros actually kicked better scores with practically no possession.
The same old faults are still with us and we need to be realistic and hope we can inprove.Problem under high ball also continued.
I am hopeful these things can be sorted and while yesterday was a great day it is time to realise we are a long way off anything real at this point.
Everything from the announcer to the pitch was wrong with the hyde but I am not alone in being delighted it went ahead!
Great result and win. As usual however some Mayo fans taking a routine win over Roscommon far too seriously. I saw plenty of flaws in that performance yesterday that won’t cut it against the top teams. Wastefulness and a lack of a killer instinct when ahead are two failings all too familiar to us and they were very much on show again yesterday. Regan was very impressive and looks a find, however it’s only the league so as always, the jury remains out until we see him to it in autumn. Great to see the Aido at full forward tactic finally ditched, that kind of one dimensional stuff won’t cut it against the Dublin’s and Kerry’s of this world, as was so clearly demonstrated last August in croke park. Not for the first time Diarmuid murtagh came on and caused Mayo trouble, he will be a real thorn in our side for many years to come. However as long as the o Shea’s, parsons, keegan boyler and DOC are on the pitch Roscommon will not beat Mayo in an important game, they just don’t have the physical power to outmuscle Mayo in the middle third where games are won and lost. Rossies Talking about senan Kilbride being missing is silly, he is the very definition of a league player who has never cut it at championship level against good opposition. I think Jason doc will find it hard to nail down a championship start without a big performance the next day. Kevin Mac, Cillian and higgins are all to be accomodated too. Interesting to see what happens.
Yet another contradiction . So Regan has to prove it in the Autumn against Kerry or Dublin . Fair enough I’d agree partly he certainly has to prove it first anyway in championship . But D. murtagh has done it all and will be a thorn in our side for years to come. Again I’d agree partly he looks good at times but it he still has to prove it surely just like Evan Regan against the top sides like you said .
Great game for Mayo. AoS back in MF, Freeman up front. Regan played well. Roscommon did not show anything however.
I hope we see a full forward line of COC, Freeman, Regan next Sunday. Plenty of Rossies reckon the result will be different in Castlebar in July anyway
Agree there Sean Burke. Acid test is AIF. We have failed on this test I have to say, but at least we have competed in this cauldron, so if we have shortcomings, they have only been exposed at the highest level.. But, as I said in other posts on Castlebar, we really have to put our thinking caps on about how we approach these occasions.
Well done yesterday but please dont get carried away. Mayo were so professional, dominating the middle third and playing with a great hunger which is incredible for a team on their sixth year. This group of players are simply remarkable and we should be so proud of them. They are a credit to their county. But Ross will learn and dont forget they were missing a few yesterday so dont write them off. They reminded me of Mayo in league semi v Derry in 1996, outclassed physically and the experts said then we were not up to it. Well that year we came within a hop of the ball of landing Sam so the experts were well out. Delighted for Regan but again dont get carried away. His first point was excellent, he landed a brilliant free and took his goal well albeit he should have been penalised for overcarrying. Other than that he found it hard going and that is not a criticism as I definitely want to see him succeed. For me MoM award was deserved by one of our midfielders who were immense throughout.. Overall a great result and we should stop complaining about the Hyde. It is our favourite ground and we do really welkl there can only remember losing there to last minute goal in 2001 Other than that unbelievable record and before thatLeitrim in 1994 so 2 defeats in 22 years is not bad
I like the balance of the combined talents/abilities of Cillian Freeman Regan.
Pace, brains, power, height, goal scoring and tracking. Regan obviously not as physical but would benefit from playing near Cillian Freeman.
BTW, and I have mentioned Fergie O’Donnell on the conditions suiting us, there now seems to be a buy in to the idea that we are a heavy sod brigade.
I thought it was interesting how well we did on this type of pitch, given that over the last 5 years almost every game (certainly championship game) we played was in near perfect conditions. So much so that I began to fear for us if we got a bad day.
Well, fear not, it seems
I am tired of hearing some posters referring to the ploy of playing AOS at full forward as a disaster. Have they forgotten his performances against Galway, Sligo and Donegal last year. He was completely devastating and unmarkable. It didn’t work out against Dublin because the ball in wasn’t good enough and there needed to be more variety in the way he was used. It was too predictable for a brilliant Dublin full back line. To say he should never head into the full forward line in a match would be to my mind totally wasting this amazing weapon that we possess.
He should be used as he was yesterday as an extra centrefielder but with frequent forays into the full forward line. I was astonished that he didn’t do that a few times against Roscommon in the first half when we had the wind at our backs. Some high ball into the square would be a different option, instead of trying to run the ball into the goal on a wet heavy pitch and being continually dispossessed.I don’t think the Roscommon backs would have coped with him and I was disappointed that it was not tried even a few times.
Perhaps he still does not have the level of fitness yet, but it must be an option for the championship. It is basically what Murphy and Donaghy do so effectively for Donegal and Kerry, and must be part of our armoury too. AOS is an amazing player and last year added playing full forward to his skill set. That should not be wasted.
Agreed up she flew and the first slot I’d give him at ff would be v Galway in June , in ya go there and make a boy of Hanley again lad .
Anyone else hearing the rumour of carrick for under 21 final ?
Having seen the game again I’d actually take my vote back from Regan, who had his best game for Mayo, and give it to Seamie O’Shea. He just gets through so much important work that he makes the more “ball playing” midfield partners of his into better players. A serious compliment.
We still have serious issues in the scoring department. Our mid field and backs win so much ball but our forwards have a poor return from play. Regan should be spending hours every week just practicing frees from the right hand side.
Ros have some classy forwards and they will be beat teams that are better than them from time to time because of this but even though they were missing some players they are still not at Mayo’s level yet.
AOS is 100kg or so with speed. Asking him to foray forward thats a full 70 yards forward. He’s best when we keep his mileage low and support him properly when he gets posssion.
Yesterday he had options to lay the ball off to.
With him around the middle with Parsons SOS we get a certain guaranteed level of performance. With him at full forward we are at the mercy of refereeing.
Up She Flew, I see your point and I’d fire Aido into FF in every game without hesitation if I thought he’d get the support he needs in there, but he doesn’t. Our current use of him in that position is wildly unimaginative and one-dimensional and I would argue, counter-productive because we are too focused on channelling the ball through him rather than taking on the shot from distance – his unplanned absence from the Monaghan game demonstrated the latter pretty clearly. Contrast that to how Kerry play Donaghy – he is rarely left isolated and probably sets up more than he scores.
I agree strongly that not using him in that role at times would be a criminal waste but confining him to that role without some intelligent thinking around him would be even worse so I hope we work on this one.
While our wide count was almost embarrassing yesterday I will say I was heartened to at least see players trying by taking on the shots from further out. I’d be far more concerned about our failure to push on and bury teams when we’re ahead. As a Mayo supporter you can’t relax even after opening up an eight, nine, ten-point lead – (will we ever forget that game v Dublin in 2012?)
and it’s a fact that almost every time we score a goal, we inevitably concede one too.
That Rossie forum has made my night. It might only be the League, but we just cannot beat them enough in my mind.
Ros can blame the pitch all they want, they could have had the game moved earlier in the week but choose not too, tough. On a hard pitch Mayo will also improve, Keegan, Durcan, Higgins stretching the legs. Ros have players to come back but they are not that much better than that which lined out yesterday. They have very good forwards who can shoot from anywhere, there defence is average and they are hopeless at midfield. They can not cope with our middle 8, I dont care who they have to come back thats not going to change in July. Mayo have alot of scope for improvement whereby Ros are almost at their peak for this year. I would focus on Galway as our main rival beacuse Ros will not beat us in Castlebar this year.
Must have been orders from the boss when AOS not once ventured into ff.However I can’t imagine that we won’t see him there ever again. It is a great option but has to be worked right which hasn’t been the case in recent times.So till circumstances change no11 might be most profitable.
It will be mighty interesting to watch all these devs. unfolding over the weeks.
Has anyone got news of Kirby?
Have to agree on the posters who say Aido at FF is too predictable and the Murphy Donaghy role is Ideal for a big man because we need to have him involved in the game. Donegal 2013 was his greatest hour in a Mayo jersey where he played in midfield. 40+ possessions – massive. Yesterday Ros with 2 or 3 hanging off him couldn’t rob him, got the ball away many times in tight situations. Picking him at 11 allows the rotation tactic 4 or 5 times a game with others instructed to fill 11 any time Aido drifts in to 14. His Limerick setup of COC vs Kerry was perfect example of the tactic working. Most of the time could be spent in midfield with 2 other midfielders playing and helping defense like yesterday.
At FF he’d be lucky to get 15 possessions a game. Cillian and Freeman can win high ball and more likely would be quality ball aimed as they’re not as big.
Side issue posters saying Regan is light are off the mark. Probably 5’11 and 13st. Think he needs bit of battle hardening alright but summer training A vs B should do that.
CHF may be the best position for AOS to get the best return for the team but a nice option at FF in certain situations now that he has some experience in that position.
Say all you like about good forwards I know there important but if they dont get enough ball there is nothing they can do on the law of averages most games are won by the teames with the best halfback line and dominant midfield we saw that to our cost when Seamie got black carded in the replay last year
I don’t want to drag this site into the gutter but I had to share this gem from the Stolen Sheep forum.
“They (Mayo) hate if anyone says anything bad about them but they can gloat all they want. The thing about the rhubarbs is this. A rhubarb left unmaintained grows wild and is an eyesore. Even a maintained rhubarb still leaves a very sore taste in your mouth.”
Now for ye!
I’m quite partial to anything with rhubarb in it but then you’d expect me to say this, I suppose.
Anne-marie, have read that a few times and I still dont know what the hell he is on about.
I will be meeting a few die hard Rossies in work tomorrow afternoon, sometimes life is good 🙂
With his power and height Aiden has to have a lot more to offer at full forward than we have seen to date. Most of the problems last year v Dublin were due to lack of support in the full forward line resulting in Dublin being easily able to double mark him. In addition our only tactic seemed to be the high ball into Aiden. If we were playing Cillian and another corner forward and giving them a share of the ball in Dublin would have found it much harder to double mark Aiden. Another tactic I would like to see is the ball being crossed into the square and Aiden arriving to punch to the net rather than catch. It’s a tactic which would have to be worked on in training to get the timing right but I’m quite sure it would work.again it’s not a tactic to be used slavishly, we need to be able to vary our tactics and keep defences guessing.
I would like to see Danny Kirby in the full forward line next week and think that there is a good chance that we will. So far Stephen has given practically all of our forwards some game time in the league which is important in keeping them interested. I think Danny’s turn could come next Sunday.
Yep that’s true md but the quality of distribution into ff line is lacking , take for example the Ros goal in comparison a beautiful ball into murtagh left two of our bucks gawkin at him , same with a pass from gooch in the Kerry game. I’d still like to see Cillian at CHF for this reason or maybe Loftus in time .
As for the wild rhubarb , they have their uses , often used one as an umberalla in Achill .
Ann Marie
That comment off their page is very good. We cant get upset with stuff like that. I saw a comment on here saying the Rossies were like a weed that needs trimming so if we dish it out we need to take it. Im still laughing at it as my mother used to always giving out about sour rhubarb when I was younger and she would never make a rhubarb pie which my father loves. She would only make apple ones. It brought me back 40 years. She was a Clare woman and my father a Mayo man
For us now we can forget about Roscommon, they have Dublin next week and probably a league semi-final after that, after those two games we should know a hell of a lot more about them. Also with Galway, they have Cavan away next week to beat, to get promoted to Division 1, again we’ll know more about them after that game.
We have to figure out how to convert all of the possession that we win into scores on the board and how to prevent sloppy goals been conceded. It’s the story of Mayo football really in the last few years.
There should be great competition for places now going forward. The amount of options for the half-back line is mouth watering. We have plenty of midfield combinations. Trying to find the right mix up front will be very important. I would be inclined to use Aidan O’Shea at times at full-forward but no. eleven is probably the best compromise position for him as in the 2013 final the legs were run off him playing midfield, by the Dubs kick-out strategy. I’d say if you ask any full-back in the country would they like to have to face him at stages during games, they would say no. He gives us something no one else has at 14, a monster to cause havoc when used correctly.
We need scorers up front too so Cillian, Regan and Freeman can give us this. We can’t forget about Andy and Alan Dillon also. In Diarmuid and Kevin Mc, we have two half forwards as good as any. Conor O’Shea and Loftus are up and coming too and could be options here as well. Hopefully Jason Doc will get back to form. One area that we might be a bit lacking in is our full-back line. Barrett and Cunniffe can be injury prone. It’s great to see Harrison doing well there anyway. We’ll see how it goes. Roll on the Down game.
Anne Marie – the quote you posted above is from a poster who registered on Stolen Sheep on March 28th, 2016. In other words a troll. It’s clearly a troll because it the same post he encouraged stolen sheep readers to read what was posted here. It’s strange that someone familiar with both sites would only be registering today. By the way I am not implying he’s one of yours. Just that he is definitely not a regular and only registered to start some aggro. And now that we’ve all fed the troll I am sure he’s happy. Also he’s one of many that just registered yesterday and today with the same intent. Congrats yesterday.
Galway will be Mayo’s main rival this summer in Connacht, have seen this written on here now a few times, may i ask what this is judged on? Galway have only won two of their 6 league games in average div two and they haven’t got within of one score of Mayo in the championship since 2009.
Any word from Tommy “know all” Carr, McGee and himself would make great anti Mayo team
MO2016, I to think Galway will be our biggest rival in Connacht. They have only won two games in league, like ourselves. You cant read too much into league form for the Championship. The main reason I think Galway will give us a game is the fact that they really should have beaten us last year. If they came out to play football in the first half and not trying to get our half back line sent off then they would have won. Also Galway are not one bit afraid of Mayo. If they were mid table in div 4 they would still fancy their chances of beating us
Where Mayo are ahead of both Galway and Ross is physicality around the middle third. Both teams will fancy their chances however as Mayo’s forward line will not frighten the life out of them. We seen it last Sunday. If it was Kerry or the Dubs who enjoyed such dominance they game would have been over after 20 mins. It was good to see Regan step up in the 2nd half. Hopefully he can maintain that and one or 2 more put there hands up too.
Dr Hyde, I joined the stolen-sheep proboards website yesterday and the amount of anti-mayo comments are shocking. A poster mentioned mayogaablog website and they mentioned how biased it was and everyone on it needed their ego massaged. I read the comments and they slated Mayo, how good it would be to knock them down and they are a shower of $$$$’s. Unbelievable stuff and thats only some of the stuff, so I’m glad Mayo gave them a dose of reality. They have a poll on the site and they call us The Rhubards.
I’m glad Willy Joe keeps a good hold of the trash talk unlike the admin from their site.
Roll on the Down game. Maigh Eo Abu
Mayomanindublin
Ye are the rhubarbs and we are the sheepstealers. Alot of red and green tainted glasses been worn here. Still the 55 Mayo followers who joined after the mention on here are welcome. The admin pointed that out and asked them to discuss and debate. I bit like here. Some of the comments on here about the Rossies are very cutting and on other forums are downright disgraceful so like people in glasshouses should not throw stones. Enjoy your day and as always to the genuine Mayo supporters have a good season.
Over and out
Rossie Shane, thats the first time I have ever heard Mayo supporters called rhubards. We all know ye are called the sheepstealers, sure ye even have a sheeps head on your jersey. Where did the admin on that site tell posters to stop the trash talk and bad language? Can you show us the comments where bad language was used on thie mayogaablog site. Exactly no where.
Galway Exile, agreed Mayos physicality and power around the middle third sets them apart in Connacht. Cant see us being matched there. We will beat most teams simply by the shear amount of possession we win which starves teams that rely on good forwards like Ros.
Our problem is when we meet teams like Dublin and Kerry who can win their share of possession. We are not economical enough in front of goal when possession stats are closer to 50:50
Just read comments from Ros gaa regarding the ground for next week. They are saying that games will go ahead as scheduled, “the pitch needs a little tender loving care from our groundsman”.
Well I checked the weather, its going to piss rain on friday afternoon in Roscommon. It took me all of 30 seconds to find this out. Why wait fingers crossed hoping for devine intervention, the games need to be moved. Rosgaa, be fair to the players and the travelling support and do the right thing, move the games.
There’s been plenty of bad language on here, mayomanindublin, and I’ve not been above using it myself from time to time. And of course what’s said here comes through Green and Red specs – as someone here pointed out to an outsider once (can’t recall who said it), all you need to do is look at the sign above the door. At the end of the day, I guess, it’s just talk and what’s said here or on other forums matters a lot less than what’s done on the pitch.
Sorry, just seen that the connacht council havee decided to move U21 to sligo next sat at 6. Someone withcommon sense finally.
MO2016
Galway likely to be in Div 1 next year .They just have to beat Cavan which admittedly wont be easy but can be done.
The fact they havent been close to us is not relevant…I think they have made improvements.
I do not think they will beat Mayo but that is not the point.Connacht will be more competitive this year.
And yes we can.be a bit biased but we wouldnt be real if we didnt see the positives in our team.
Thats what all.supporters do surely.I have great respect for Roscommon…just don’t think.they are as polished as many thought and they havent the s&c done.I do think when Donie Shine Niall.Carty Senan Kilbride and Niall Daly and Diarmaid Murtagh come back in they will offer a challenge but by then we will have our fav 15 available too so it evens out.
Glad to see Rochford used the league well…in fairness he gave everyone a chance.Think McStay has also done good job.
Finally Horan entitled to say what he likes…does not say anything that is not said here anyway.
Why are people getting embroiled in arguments with Roscommon bloggers and even joining their blogs to see what they think of us? I grew up in an East Mayo border town and Rossies traveled into my home town the evening of the All Ireland defeats (all of them!) to drink and gloat and brag at our disappointment and pain. They are a newly promoted division 2 team (division 3 the year before) and they performed just as that.
They were put in their place on Sunday, end of. Physically they were bullied out of it for approximately 80% of the game. Starved of possession, out-tackled, out-ran and out-muscled from start to finish. Dispossessed by Mayo like they were little laddeens and to think their supporters were excited at half time because they were only 2 points behind. Comments such as “we have them where we want them”, “we won’t miss 10 shots at goal” and “sure with that wind we’ll hammer them” were all not only inaccurate but failed to take into account Mayos strength and what they had just witnessed.
“we have them where we want them” – so the game plan was to be completely dominated in the first half, be 2 points down and allow 10 wides plus 2 certain goal efforts saved? That’s a unique game plan for sure!
“we won’t miss 10 shots at goal” – they were right there, but only because they didn’t get enough ball to generate 10 chances!
“sure with that wind we’ll hammer them” – totally failing to take into account Mayos superior fitness (despite being 6 weeks behind the Rossies, we were constantly reminded) and ability to run the ball at speed from deep, and, failing to know that at times a very strong wind from behind can be as difficult to play with as against, because the ball will travel and bounce on much further.
Ducks have to listen to thunder and they had their little excitement up until 3.35 on Sunday. We got the points we needed and we move on. Roscommon will be the only threat to us in Connaught this year as Galway have regressed if anything.
From our point of view we should be wondering why in a game that we had about 70 to 80 percent of the ball, we were only three points ahead with a few minutes left. We actually had a chance to break Roscommon’s spirit for the season ahead like Dublin did to Derry and Cork in the last two League finals by dishing out a big hammering. Derry and Cork never really recovered from them defeats. Imagine if Roscommon had managed to score another late goal. So for us, we have to finish off teams when we get a chance like Kerry did to Monaghan last Sunday. This is something that we have to do this weekend against Down.
I think the fitness thing gets overdone. It’s not as if inter county players coming up from Division two would not be eating right and on the proper fitness program.
Roscommon have a few guys to come back who are simply taller and heavier who will be able to mix it a bit better. I still think we have the advantage in that department but there won’t be as obvious a gap come summer time.
All of following are to return from top of my head:
– Senan Kilbride
– Kevin Higgins
– Diarmuid Murtagh (from the start)
There is three lads alone who won’t get bossed out of it as easily. There are some others also.
JP, agreed they have players to come back, of the three mentioned Murtagh would be a danger. The others I still dont think can compete with OSheas and Parsons. The other players they say have to come back are really on the same standard as was on show yesterday. What they have is real pace which can be dangerous on solid ground but thats no good if you dont have the ball.
Its not just the midfielders, its the intensity of our middle 8 which I think only Dublin and Kerry can handle. Keegan, Durcan, DOC are immence with KMc to come. Boyle is on another level this year. Rochford must have him on a diet of raw meat and cold showers as his aggression level has gone through the roof.
Mayo will win most of games simply by the sheer amount of possession the middle 8 wins. Its when we come up against a team that can challange that possession is when we have problems. Thats when our forwards are called upon to convert a higher percentage of shots which is not happening so far.
Better to be a Rhubarb than a Daffodil, lovely in spring but long forgotten in summer.
Mayomad Galway should have won last year what game where you watching? It was a comfortable win for Mayo or be it got a lucky goal. Never looked like losing when that goal was scored.
The one game Mayo could have lost in Connacht the last 4 years was 2014 v the rossies the relief on the Mayo players faces at the final whistle was proof of this. Unlike Galway the rossies are preparing for the championship in the top division against the best teams and their form seems to be on road.
The nickname rhubarbs I heard and seen written many times a rhubarb plant is green and red.
If your going by form then Roscommon beat Cork by 18 points away and also beat Kerry and Donegal away this year. Galway have drew their last three games against Fermanagh, Armagh and Meath. So based on that, Roscommon’s form has been much better. As I said earlier, Roscommon have Dublin at home and a possible semi-final against Kerry to look forward to, we should know after those two games where they are going. The last few years Galway have been just below the top two teams in Division 2. They have a chance to make the top two positions this week-end and until they do, you can’t really say that they have made any significant progress. A few years ago a last minute penalty conceded against Kildare denied them promotion, they have not got any closer to Division 1 since that game.
Ah lads how do ye not known ye are called the rhubarbs. The colour is the main reason. After ye lost the All Ireland final to Dublin there was a headline removed from one of the red tops the next day as it was felt it was a bit insensitive to the Mayo team. The picture had one of the Mayo players sitting on the pitch after the defeat and the headline was “Rhubarb Crumble” This was pulled for fear of a backlash. I cant believe supporters dont know this nickname. Dont be so sensitive as plenty of ye have loads to say at times. Thats what makes a rivalry. Like the build up to the match last week was great. Loads of excitement and tension. I will be the first to admit tbe pitch was a disgrace and let Roscommon people everywhere down but give me a big match like that every year in the league. Thats why I always wanted ye to stay up and I also hope Galway win on Sunday and get promoted. Nice to see ye have an interest on the stolensheep forum and so many of ye joined for a read.
Sorry to hear Cunniffe left the panel but that wont effect ye. Mayo have plenty of good defenders.
Spot on Liam. Daffodil suits them a lot better!!!
Declan. How do you get on to Stolen Sheep Roscommon forum. I’ve tried but failed
Ross for my sins
You just google stolensheep and register. Its very easy. Half of the contributors on here have joined already. Not must participation from them yet apart from comments back here about it. When u join play nicely and everyone welcome. Hope this helps.