Lookit, I want to drop these on your lap as much as you want to read them but it’s part of the Monday morning routine after a game. Here goes, then, in relation to the coverage on yesterday’s one-point loss to Galway at Salthill.
Locals: Mayo Advertiser, Connaught Telegraph (match report, primer on qualifier route now facing us).
Nationals: Irish Examiner (match report, analysis by John Divilly), Irish Independent (match report, post-match quotes from Stephen Rochford), Irish Times (match report, post-match quotes), Irish Sun.
Others: GAA, Galway GAA, RTÉ, The 42 (liveblog, match report), Hogan Stand, Breaking News.
Photos: Sportsfile, Inpho, Mayo Mick.
Thanks all, by the way, for keeping everything reasonable in the comments last night. It was with a sense of dread that I opened the laptop this morning but it was all grand – there were a few contributions from trolls (there are always a few) which I deleted within the moderation process and so they never appeared on the site – and, as ever, it’s great to read all the different viewpoints from so many insightful supporters. Keep up the good work.
The latest Mayo News football podcast, another jam-packed edition that features plenty of Mayo and Galway voices at Pearse Stadium yesterday, should be available in the early afternoon today so watch out for details here when that happens. Also the MOTM poll is still open if you haven’t yet cast your vote there and want to do so.
That’s it for now. Keep ‘er lit and all that.
Thought Boland was impressive yday. Could grow into a handy player even if theres questions over his size. Qualifiers should give the likes of Kirby and Nally a start or at least considerable game time hopefully
Who will mayo have to play next is it the loser of donegal V Tyrone match
After watching the game back and looking at qualifier route I’m in much better form 😀
But the key is avoiding donegal /Tyrone . We will beat every other team on the A side
And who knows getting Kerry a game earlier than planned may be a blessing
I’m back
I was a depressed maneen last night
Agreed. We are where Are, so let’s look forward.
We now have an opportunity to give nally, Boland, Kirby, Harrison, loftus, cohen and a few more fringe players, lots of championship game time.
I’m not going to give my opinion on our management team yesterday, suffice to say C minus.
Mayo for ever – that link to the Connaught Telegraph piece I’ve provided explains everything about the road facing us in the qualifiers. The draw for Round 2A won’t be made until this day week so we won’t know who we’re playing next until then.
Thanks willie Joe please God we don’t get Tyrone or donegal we need our best players fit before we come up against any of them
You’d wonder what Connelly/Holmes are thinking! I’m not sure Rochford has made any great improvement to the team – in two seasons we haven’t even made a Connacht final. I know we played Galway twice but whilst they’ve improved the reality is they are very weak at the back and, don’t forget, we dominated the last 10 minutes plus injury time against them yesterday – we just failed to score.
I’d also be concerned as to mood in the camp (just my opinion- I’ve heard nothing). AM and KMC were visibly not happy coming off and AOS is probably not happy at not having started.
Where has Shane Nally disappeared to?
DOC’s format has flatlined since the Kildare qualifier last year.
Did anyone notice how tired SOS looked 10 minutes in to the 2nd half?
Finally, I’m a bit dissapointed with ERegan’s development. Hasn’t really happened for him, has it?
The doom merchants had their day out yesterday evening. What people conveniently forget is until the red we had a good attacking structure of using patience and dinked 25 and 30 yard kick passes. In 2nd half Cillian did very well getting into good receiving positions but players usually didn’t have the energy for good line breaks coming off him.
About the only thing I agree with the doom mongers was at present lack of pure goal scorers. Cillian in 2012 to 2013 could bang them in for fun and Diarmaid who also missed one he would normally score as both are meant to be really good soccer players too. On a few occasions in recent years he has hit the woodwork. Thought also Kirby could have pinpointed his strike better. So definitely some goal scoring drills are needed. Almost all our forwards can score goals just a case of building confidence to improve percentage. Of the subs Regan and Loftus are also fairly handy at scoring goals. But yes high intensity drills needed.
Like everyone I was surprised at Boyle dropped but the rationale makes total sense. Tom Flynn is 6’5″ and Coen can compete with that. When Boyler came on late saw a clear plan by management to switch him onto Gary O Donnell who was tiring and Boyler was all over him like a rash. Boyler switched Coen immediately onto a tall Galway midfielder. Unfortunately Boyle or Coen combined got penalised immediately on a 50 50 call which was looking like could win us the game had it gone our way. Had management tried it sooner it could probably have worked. People can say why leave it so late but Donie was having a good game all day and Coen had to be kept on to compete with their taller players. So damned if ye do and damned if ye don’t.
On another note Cillian was apoplectic about a penalty call seconds before our double missed chance. Did anyone see if it was a ref mistake or not. In any event we should have taken the gift that followed from Lavelle.
Looking at the forwards this morning and our forwards scored more than there’s from play even with a man down.
It will be hard result to take but if we get through a few games in the qualifiers and build momentum it will be quickly forgotten.
I think mcantee should bring his buddy Stevie McDonnell to a few training sessions could do no harm.
Onwards and upwards.
Fair enough shuffly but Flynn was sitting in the stand after 25 min? Why didn’t Boyle come in then? We needed boyler on the pitch yesterday. He’s a warrior and a leader of men. I don’t care what size he is. The current all star number six, and now he’s dropped because of a few big Galway bucks?? Not buying that rationale at all
Think there is some mistakes in Connaught Telagraph article about who we could meet in qualifiers. It’s Waterford instead of Wexford. Can’t play Kerry in round 3A. Tipperary are on B side. If we’re still in it on Sat July 22 it looks like we will be playing Cork or Roscommon in round 4A
Thanks for that, Michael. I want to do a qualifier post at some point this week but I haven’t the heart nor the time to do it now.
I haven’t read much reaction to the match – either newspapers or online forums. I have a feeling it wouldn’t do me much good! I was quite happy at HT – I thought he had played quite well against the wind. I was watching the Higgins/Comer incident and Keith was appealing to McQuillan to do something about Comer blocking him coming out. So to do something so stupid knowing the ref was watching was exactly that – so stupid.
The substitutions are what is really worrying me – we took off Moran and McLoughlin who were both playing reasonably well and I didn’t think looked particularly tired. In those last few mins, we really needed at least one of them.
By the way, thanks to Mayonaze for the parking tip – I was back home in Dublin for 8pm which must be some sort of a record 🙂
Macs left boot the other rationale for playing Coen ahead of Boyle is how long do you wait before blooding new guys in Championship so we have leaders coming on in any position. Look at Rugby, big names mean nothing it’s about the squad. Coen was doing absolutely nothing wrong so why sub him and Vaughan was having a good game up the wings better than Leroy and Durkan who were forced to play more conservatively due to pacy Galway forward line. Vaughan was played instead of Doherty not Boyle so it’s the Coen position is the only one Boyler can claim because Leroy and Durkan will be ahead of Boyler in pecking order. We have a surplus of half backs and it’s likely a top player who will lose out. Galway were tall even with Flynn off O Caorain is also 6’5″ and Conroy about 6’3″. Seamie never fully recovered from the hit so we were struggling until AOS started to impose himself which did fully happen for 5 or 10 mins.
Durkan showed his worth catching Cummins one of the fastest forwards around from about 5 yards behind him and stopping an almost certain goal had anyone else been chasing.
We have other people on here complaining about not blooding enough new players.
We have to look at the big picture realistically. Overall director of football now needed to identify and put in place the structures required to develop underage football and continue to produce a stream of quality players.
Galway are getting there, work in progress, but what we thought was a reasonable u17 side was brushed aside yesterday. Thats the reality.
We made very little use of FBD and league to blood new players and also to play with a structure. We are not scoring goals because we are not creating goal chances. Our forwads are generally to busy “sweeping”.
Yesterday in fairness there was the semblance of a plan, became difficult to execute in second half, when the 14men against 15 became a disadvantage. Unfortunately we reverted to short passing slow build up.
Nice one Tubberman, a few used it alrite. Great few shortcuts;)
What we do know about the qualifiers is that if we keep winning we’ll meet Kerry in the Q/Finals on the 29th of July (assuming they beat cork). Then working backwards, The week before will prob be cork on the 22nd, a tough qualifier on the 8th of July, and the 1st qualifier on the 1st July. Also when we beat Kerry we might face Galway ( if they are as good as we made them look yesterday) in the semi! Something to aim for! After that all that’s left is the draw and replay with the dubs!!
Re Galway and their attitude. They were certainly committed to big hits, they got very big hits in on many Mayo players. , several incidents were let go by a very accommodating Joe McWilliam. At the first throw in, a Galway half forward (can’t be 100% certain who? ) grabbed Paddy Durcan by the neck and hauled him to the ground, McQuillian was looking in the general direction, but no notice taken.. On taking up their positions, some Mayo player’s offered to shake hand’s with their Galway rivals, but Galway were having none of the niceties.. Galway played some fantastic football, great pace, aggression and planned cysisim.. Mayo were naive in comparison, but with a man down came within a whisker of claiming a draw. If we had, I would have no doubt, but that we would prevail in a replay.. Now we await our fate, that’s one of the ‘uncontrollables). for,.. A little down time, lick our wound’s dust ourselves down.. A one point lucky win over our next opponents would be manna from heaven right now,. Phsylogically, a win is a win, is a win! That’s what we need right now, our next opponent will sence a wounded animal and dream of taking a big scalp.. Let’s get behind this team right now , a win or two would do wonders ,. I have a feeling we could be meeting those Galway men one more time this year.. All is not lost,!
Puckout is it not Munster or Connacht winners in quarter final. Is there any reason we can’t play Galway in QFs
Seamie, Tom Parsons and Diarmuid all took what I thought were illegal full force shoulders in the back. Knocked the stuffing out of all three at that time.
Haven’t the heart for the papers. It was what it was. 10,000 words wouldn’t bring us any closer to a conclusion other than we don’t know how we would have been with 15 players on the pitch.
PS, another thing.. Just like in the lead up to any big match. There was a narrative, Galway controlled that narrative, with several ex Galway players spinning the line that Mayo continually played to win scorable free’s. Without any defence by any one from Mayo,. Did Dublin Joe, buy into that.? . Watch the match again, and make yer own mind’s up.!
Re- Just a thought – I think for the Q/Fs if teams have already met they keep them apart?
Puckout – only if they played each other in Proventil final
The only way we definitely can’t play Galway on the quarter is (assuming cork lost to Kerry in the minster final) cork win their round 4A qualifier which would mean they would play Galway as they couldn’t meet Kerry again in a repeat of the Munster final. Were cork to lose and Roscommon won their round 4A qualifier then it’s Galway for us. If both Ross/cork lost then it’s an open draw. Long way off that yet though!!
I think regardless of who we play next it could be a real struggle, even a div 3 tea or lower. Whoever it is will park the bus. Even an average team can muster up a very effective defence against higher calibre opposition.
I would urge everyone now to make sure to travel to our next match. Now, more than ever in this team’s history, are the Mayo supporters required. And will ye start bringing some flags. Hardly any yesterday in Pearse Stadium.
Time too the unfurl that big flag on a terrace of whichever ground we play next.
A trip to Waterford would be gas. Great county, mighty craic. Right, I’m fully back up and running.
I want Waterford in the next round in Waterford so I can tell the tale of that trip 🙂
What’s more frustrating is that the Galway defence is likely to be hosed in Croke Park, they were bet up a stick yesterday until Keith Higgins’ red. If/when Sean Andy from the 21s plays next year and if he can make the step up, Galway will be a tougher nut to crack.
Can we avoid the line of bickering that goes , you’re not a right supporter if you’re not behind this team all the way. We all are , honestly every single mayo supporter is proud as hell of this bunch .
Just because some might say rochford hasn’t brought much to this group , or its looking like we are seeing the downturn in this group , it desnt equate to not showing up the next day and roaring them on.
Team can’t go on forever without add ons .
Back to yesterday’s game. Boyler of course should of played , first battler on teamsheet for galway. Have ye not seen what tgis fixture means to him the last few years.
Personally I’m really down on rochford . Kirby on the edge was grand but put aido along side him ffs. How many times are we going to waste the target man tactic.
Yes McQuillan got three big hits all wrong and they all gave Galway momentum. Conroy tried to shoulder Seamie but was off target it was full frontal and may have got him in the head too. Diarmaid’s was so blatantly square in the middle of the back I don’t know what McQuillan was thinking. Tom’s was a bit harder to see but looked a foul too. Diarmaid’s was at a very crucial time in the game, a real turning point and a real cock up by Joe. He also gave a free against Cillian for throwing when his arm was being held.
However his biggest mistake of all was when Bradshaw picked the ball clean up off the ground when we were 1 point down at the very end. We would have had a 14 yard free from the left wing which Cillian would have brought out for an angle. He had reffed well enough up to last 10 apart from wrong calls on the hits but in the melting pot made plenty of mistakes. No doubt Galway would find a few too if they had lost. Time for 2 refs like the Ausies. There’s hardly a ref left who can be trusted to do the job properly and I’m one who normally says not to use them as an excuse.
Hard luck to Mayo, 14 men tried very hard and just fell short. Theres no reason in the world that there cannot be another good qualifier run and it could take the team anywhere at this stage, however, the whole lot of them need to find that aggression of a few years back, dont bother offering a handshake until the game is over, and dont let a dirty hard tackle go unpunished, line the tackler up and pay him back with interest in a legal way.
Galway can smile, until Tipp or Cavan or the likes meet them.
Sean Burke some of them aren’t real Mayo fans they’re Joe Duffy following moan heads. Some of them (not all trolls) only appear when we lose a game. Others have form. Reality is this is just a sport and we should be following it in a sporting way. Our players can not be faulted for effort. I don’t think anyone out there gave anything less than a huge effort.
At least the we have experience in organising transport to Waterford JP, sure it’s on the way to London town.
Actually I see Waterford aren’t on our side.
jP They are, they have Derry in 1st round.
Clutching at straws here, as I am absolutely crestfallen after yesterday, but I immensely enjoyed last season’s week-in week-out feel. I am looking forward to that again this year (for as long as we can keep winning).
I hope we get a couple of novelty away trips. And I’m not worried about avoiding anyone. Lets get Tyrone or Donegal in MacHale Park. What an occasion that would be!
You’d miss Barry Moran as well. Remember last year against Fermanagh, we brought him on at midfield which allowed us to move Aidan O’Shea into full-forward. With Seamie running out of steam we were short on midfield replacements last Sunday which meant that Aidan was brought on in midfield.
With Clarke been under a lot of pressure with his kick-outs, having Barry Moran on the field would allow Clarke to drive the kicks out longer, with the wind behind him, in Barry’s direction. He should be suited to winning marks but I suppose its not great to have to be relying on Barry Moran to come back into contention.
It was Alan Dillon that popped over a few points in that Fermanagh game as well, if he came on yesterday (if he was fit to be in the 26 man panel), he probably would have done the same but its not great to be expecting those boys to be bailing us out again this year.
I agree with Alf Stewart we were in total control yesterday untill Keiths Red card ….Then we done well against the wind going in a point down….The one thing Galway knew how to play against the wind in the 2 nd half and kept it stand side where there is more shelter they got 3 pts at the start of the 2nd why were we nit switched on from the off….At the start of the game we done about 3 hudles while the galway team were setup to start.
Going forward we have to freshen things up again and start Kirby Loftus and Aiden and Colm Boyle….David Clarke pulled off a couple of really good saves but his kick outs were nit good even with the wind.Evan Regan at least had a go if they had gone over he would be a hero today i say give him another go from the start as i think Andy is better as a impact sub….
Interesting stuff there leantimes.
Mayo players offering the hand shake and Galway not having it. Another example of us been too nice a fellas altogether. Will we ever learn? We dont have to be nice and civilised to these people. We are miles behind in “dark arts” usage.
Anyway we are all in a shite place this day but on we go. A few wins against a few mickey mouser’s and we will be facing Kerry a round earlier than we thought. We had to meet them sooner or later anyway. Only question is have Mayo got it in them for another long haul to August? Possibly not. That could well have been a fatal blow yesterday. Two years in a row losing to a very average Galway side who have now got 2 Connacht titles in a row (Rosgommon permitting).
This Mayo side are now in serious danger of taking their place in the record books as the “best team ever, never to win an All Ireland”.
I see Paddy Power now has us at 12/1 to win sam with Galway at 14/1.
Handshakes is a non issue if yer looking to improve this team.
Football side is where we are weak not these mythical dark arts.
I haven’t even bothered looking at perms for qualifiers . but quick question Jim flag if by some miracle we made a quarter final if its Kerry , would we play Connacht champions in semi final then after we beat Kerry of course but sure that’s a handy one.
Very disappointing yesterday but the biggest issue is what are Management bringing to the table. Have been giving SR benefit of the doubt up to now, but really have to question him and his management team now. Firstly, a mate of mine was making the point after the game that people in Mayo were making such an issue about joint managers when Holmes & Connelly were there, but he reckons it looks like that there is a Quadruple Management set-up now with Rochford, McEntee, Buckley and Burke, his point being that any one of them can be seen on the line leading the management effort any day. Basically it doesn’t always seem that SR is out in front and maybe there are too many opinions around the table. Enough has been said here questioning what management is bringing to the table and I agree with a lot of it, but FFS, can we just get back to some basics and start from there.
1. Please put Keegan back to 5. FFS he has won 4 all-stars and POTY in that position….what do we do? Move him out of there
2. It’s clear to everyone outside of Mayo that full back is a massive weak spot for us, yet we persist. If Comer stayed on his feet yesterday he could have killed us. How many times are we to be warned?
3. What is this lark with SOS going to half forwards for the throw-ins? And sending the lighter and smaller DOC in? If I’m correct, only Parsons directly contested the second-half throw-in. Bloody hell, are management over thinking and over complicating things? We gave away these to key possessions and they got two scores.
4. Name the fcking team that is going to play – I really don’t get that hood-winking stuff – who does it actually benefit? Certainly not the players that are named and then don’t start
5. We are suffering now with our failures not to properly blood players up front. Whether they are good enough or not, we have never trusted them. Galway were not afraid to throw in Daly who I thing is not 21 yet and leave Sice, Cummins, Lundy on the bench. He didn’t shoot the lights out but had a steady game and it will bring him on leaps. We have still not trusted Loftus or even come on to start and have Gallagher and Reape in some ‘development’ squad – time to show them some faith.
6. The timing and validity of substitutions – did we end up with a forward line of Drake, Coen, Doherty, COC, Kirby Regan? Very questionable and the timing of most of them very late in the game must have been very confusing for the players when calm heads were needed
7. We need to get back to what we are good at – high intensity tackling, breaking support runners from deep – lets face it, we are not going to un-earth a Conor McManus overnight.
8. The biggest thing I notice in the last while is our poor application to winning breaking ball around the middle third – KMcL was the best at this, despite showing well in the corner yesterday and as sweeper before, think we are missing him way too much for his ability to win breaks – time to restore him there
9. Finally, we need to have a serious look at midfield, we seem to have largely lost our ability to win primary possession and as a support to our attach, I think our current partnership are geally just conveying possession and don’t have the pace to break from midfield. Although SOS does try to kick pass to the corners
Still trying to recover from the kicking we took yesterday mentally. So frustrating that our lads can’t yet figure out how to win a tight game that’s there for the taking. All the great work they do up to the 21 yard line and no end result. Brilliant defensive work undone by a turnover or a wide up front. Anyway back to the drawing board, how about Barry Moran at 14 if fit, gives us another option. I seem to remember him scoring 1:2 against Derry in a qualifier before the good old days. Hopefully I will pick the bed up and walk later in the week.
Jim – just on the shaking hands incident, all the Galway lads were doing yesterday was getting back for what we’d done to them previously. Back in 2013, for example, Alan Dillon’s marker offered his hand in friendship before the throw-in and got landed on his arse by Alan for his trouble. More cuteness in the area of the dark arts wouldn’t go amiss, though – kneeing an opponent in the balls in full view of the ref won’t be recalled as one of our smartest moves yesterday.
@KL
Regarding points 2 and 9. Who would you put in there instead, interested to hear your selections.
Watch out for the Mickey Mousers Jim Flag Remember Longford…..
Just re. Connaught Telegraph piece on Mayo’s qualifier route, the piece lists Wexford as one possibility. That’s incorrect, it should be Waterford as they are playing Derry in round 1A. Although an away game at either would be a long trek!
When the game was in the melting pot yesterday in the last 15 minutes we needed a seasoned, level headed veteran to come on and push us over the line, that man is Andy Moran. He has done it on numerous occasions and was ideal for yesterday. With all the respect in the world to David Drake, is their a single person who would have him top of their list to come on and kick a late point for you?
Is Stephen Rochford strong enough to say to Andy or anyone else for that matter, “listen, I know you want to start but I need you to come on and close out the game for us”. We need to finish with our strongest 15.
I can also tell you that there will be sleepless nights in McHale park over the next few weeks. Should we end up coming a cropper early in the qualifiers the whole house of cards will collapse. After 6 of the best years in our history, we are one bad season away from financial collapse and I’m afraid the vast majority of supporters within the county are completely unaware of this.
As Bill Shankley once remarked, “football isn’t a matter of life and death, I can assure you it’s much more important than that”
29-30.07.2017 (Sat/Sun)
All-Ireland Quarter-Finals (A)
(Two Games)
Each of the two Provincial Final Winners (Connacht, Munster) shall play against one of the
two Winners of Round 4A.
Draw is Subject to Provincial Final Winners avoiding defeated finalists from their own
Province in this Round and to the avoidance of repeat pairings where possible
This is whats on the GAA website. Seems they try to keep repeat pairings apart where they can regardless if a team played each other in a provincial final or not. So if Galway win Connaught and Ross lose their qualifier its Kerry for us.
I’m actually a lot more positive today than yesterday evening. To be honest I’ve always had a soft spot for the qualifier format and the thick and fast matches are far better to follow. I think we’re still better than anyone who will come into the qualifiers (barring a shock provincial final result) and yesterday’s result is far from detrimental in terms of actually winning the All Ireland (we’ll still be favourites to make the knockouts either way). At the end of the day we probably should have at least drawn but it may well give us a kick and we’ll come out all guns blazing in the next few games.
Changes need to be made quickly though, and even if it took a July exit to sort them it may be worth it going forward, given the last 8 restructure next year. It’s clear as day we need a new plan up front and younger fellas need to be drafted in and some older ones put out to pasture.
That said aside from the AI finals last year we really haven’t played a great game under this management and that’s a huge worry
However apart from Dublin and Kerry there really are no world beaters out there. Even though we’re clearly much declined from 2011-2015 the competition is weaker now. Even Dublin and Kerry themselves come in with vulnerabilities this year
It was easy to be despondent last night but with clearer reflection I’m not going to lose hope until we’re knocked out. It’s not unheard of for some very lucky and handy All Irelands to be won
The lack of identification of weakness of the goalie and full back line of the Galway team prior to the match was mind boggling. Will be hard pressed to play against a weaker full back line and goalie for the remainder of this years championship.
I would be very concerned with the lack of underage talent coming through, the under-age management @ U-17 & U-18 is a complete joke. Nepotism is alive and well in Mayo.
Kerry in the quarters may well be the time to play them.
The reward then would be a far easier semi.
And if you win that, you’d never know then, Dublin may well have been “smashed and grabbed” by that stage in the other side
So who knows really, there’s always hope. The great things is for the moment though, we will have a handy opponent next so (like Tipperary in the hurling) it’s ideal to get back on the horse somewhat
Why bring on Drake with a minute or so left? I am already baffled by bringing on a player so late in a game you are chasing and not a forward at that. Now I have never managed a team but I am sure there are some club managers here that could answer me?
Also, anyone notice or warm up was delayed before throw in? We left the band waiting and then minutes later the ref and Galway waiting for throw in while we done some sort of running routine followed by a huddle but maybe this was on purpose?
@ Alf Stewart
Point 2 – There is no obvious full back to put in there, however I think we were more secure in the full back like last year. I would have probably put Vaughan or Coen in on Comer, or even Barrett or Harrison
Point 9 – an observation really re our midfielders, bit AOS made a massive difference when introduced. If we are not kicking long (which we are doing less and less) then we should look to a Coen or Ruane type player in the future with a classic midfielder alongside
Excellent piece, KL. We should have LeRoy in his rightful position at right half where he has won his All-Stars and , more importantly, always contributed a brace of points. And until Keith returns, the sweepers role should once again be entrusted to Kevin McLoughlin who is too cooped up in the full forward line.
Looking at the game it was so blatantly obvious that every time Cillian got the ball there was no one running off his shoulder – I think he was helped out in that regard only once. Have we yet got a forward coach – or do we have to wait for Cillian to be injured before he realise he cannot go on carrying the whole burden himself. Even in Monaghaan McManus is now being given the help he needs.
Didn’t see the game yesterday but another poster mentioned not having a forward inside for a Cillian 45, a very basic tactic for a flick on score. A dedicated forward coach is a no brainer.
Some fantastic football played by two great teams who were not willing to yield an inch, this was pride of the parish stuff as everyone gave their all. Seamus O Shea looked out on his feet very early and I felt it was more of a result of that shoulder that was misjudged and got him in the collarbone area and also impacted his head. I think Rochford should have replaced him with his brother much earlier.
I have only watched the game this minute as I was in Clare yesterday and even though I knew the result it was exciting stuff to watch coming down the home stretch. Keith Higgins was very foolish and for such a wonderful player who is never edgy or dirty he must be very down spirited today.
The realisation that we may very well have to meet a primed Mayo side in six weeks time is very sobering as should we get by cork in their spanking new stadium I feel there could be one or two of our lads either suspended or injured as that game will take on a life of its own.
Rochford will tweak his team now and he will start Keegan on the wing where does his talking. I can only presume that Boyler was carrying an injury yesterday as he would have surely started considering the history between the teams and warrior like temperament he has. He will return to the setup that served ye so well last year and if the draw is kind I fully expect to do battle with ye on the August weekend.
Mayo are a wonderful team and were it not for a few unusual and freakish events yesterday ye would now be heading into a provincial final and setting the rangefinder for the bank holiday weekend. Keith will miss the first qualifier game but he will then be back with a bang and your tilt for Sam will begin. Sport is an unusual animal and ye may yet be playing ball when your neighbours are up to their knees in postmortems. I agree that the slope has just gotten a little slippy but who will feel lucky when the official opened the little plastic ball and announces “MAYO” ?? I think it’s fair to say there will be a collective wince followed by a few expletives. Mayo on a run will be hard to stop and after all who will they fear once they win the next two games, I know if Cork beat us I would absolutely hate to meet ye,,, good luck to ye all.
Can anyone tell me how home advantage is decided for qualifiers??Is it the first team picked out ??
A biteen slow getting photos up after the match. Headed for the local last night instead to lubricate my sore throat from all the shouting yesterday, ended up drowning me sorrow’s 🙁
Anyway, photos and video now uploaded. Huge thanks to my niece Sarah, who did all the videoing for me. A great help!
https://michaelmaye.com/mayo-gaa-photos/mayo-gaa-photos-2017/
Willie Joe. , Yes, I recall that event as regards Alan Dillon and his Galway marker in 2013. I also recall a county final with Alan Dillon and Paddy Durcan marking him. Nothing naive about Dillon,…… . But I couldn’t help noticing yesterday that there was a similarty between Durcan being pulled to the ground at the throw’in and Gary Sice doing the exact same thing to Lee Keegan at the throw’in in 2015, and maybe for the first time in his life, Lee Keegan got a yellow after the scuffle that he didn’t deserve, that first yellow for Keegan that led to him getting sent off, following the intervention of Damien Comer,.. I was sitting in the stand on that day right next to the Galway subs,. I was in no doubt as to that Galway were intending to get a Mayo man sent off, the same evidence was there to be seen yesterday in my opinion. Whatever happens in the back door, we will be playing this Galway team again and we need to learn….. . Maybe some of our fan’s like to think of Galway in romantic terms of the great 60’s three in a row team,. or great forwards and great attacking play, Yes some of is evidently true . The 60’s were too early for me to remember, but from the Beatles, George Best, Arkle and Galway, the public can seem blinkered by romanticism of the 60s, and by association this Galway team, no doubt this Galway team have many fine qualities, but romantic they are not…. I can remember straight in front of me in McHale Park in 1998, Ray Silke had a hit on John Casey that even the recollection of would make you shiver. Mayo needs a hard edge, for these local derby’s with Galway,. Galway have had this clinical edge to them… ,. Certainly it was there to be seen in 2015, but because Mayo won, maybe we did not give it the attention it deserves. I don’t think that Galway brought that cynical edge to McHale Park last year, my guess is that Galway would not expect a referee to be so blind in Castlebar as he might be in Salthill….. Lessons need to be learned, but like last year, Stephen Rochford and this team will hopefully get more match’s to get things right,. I’m convinced that the the plan for this year is like last to peak later on in the year. Who knows maybe it’s a blessing in disguise!… And another Connacht Final for Mayo would be nice, but neither here nor there, in the final analysis, bitter as yesterday was, better to be taught a lesson and learn from it.. This need not a terminal wound,!
@KL
I see your point re full back line. Coen would be eaten in midfield at senior intercounty currently, Leitrim U21s skinned him there a few years ago in Carrick. Mattie Ruane had ankle surgery a few weeks ago I heard.
CH-icago
The Sligo match was the same just a goalie admiring the view on his own waiting for any ball dropping short from a free , yet if the game was at Croke park the square would be crowded just in case.
Yet at the opposite end there was always a Galway player there waiting for scraps to feed off, hardly rocket science is it
Lot of good points made by KL and also Leantimes in relation to the younger players coming through.
Rochford giving these boys one more chance and in fairness no one can deny them another tilt. Also fitness levels will be on the up and should rest in imptoved performances. There is the vulnerability there to be beaten be lesser opposition as was the case yesterday if you believe bookmaker reaction time.
But under age in crisis. No conveyor belt of quality players ready to make the transition to senior ranks.
May bevery lean times if we dont address this
Good to see a bit more positivity today Yesterday was desperately disappointing
You cheered me up anyway Gamechanger – Thanks :-). Looks like game won’t be in the fancy new stadium after all though!!
Gamechanger…..The munster final is set for Killarney as Corks new stadium will not be ready in time for either football or hurling Muster finals…
Does anyone know why Colm Boyle did not start, why Lee Keegan is not playing at no.5 and why Kevin McLoughlin is not given the space he thrives in?
Alf, Coen was brought on two years ago in an All Ireland Semi Final at Midfield.
Two weeks ago Bernard Flynn was talking nonsense really AOS. However, he was talking sense on 2FM tonight about SR’s decision-making. His gripe? The omission of Boyle.
We need Harrison back fit and to me there’s confusion over AOS. Is he carrying an injury or not. To be fair to him he made a difference when he came on using his physicality in the middle to win dirty ball – we need him fit.
BTW, can anyone clarify if Kildare or Meath are on our side of the draw.
Yeah I see that the stadium is not going to be ready,, if Clare squeezed by us yesterday it may just have been available as I can’t imaging the CCB would have liked to have been on the receiving end of a hoseing from the old enemy on The Grand Opening. We should beat Cork but they won’t lie down and I’d expect no less from the blood and bandage, a great GAA county in both codes and their current problems are not to our benifit as we are going to be cold and vulnerable in the quarterfinal if they give a no show. Imagine meeting ye without one battle under our belt and Mayo at full pelt with a thirst for blood,,,, ooh !! Perish the thought …
so what people critiquing Clarke here, what do they want putting hennelly back in goal again ,
we were bet sick in midfield and were a man down, which prevented Clarke a lot of the time going short
Yes Kildare and Meath on our side
so who exactly is on our side of the draw Willie Joe,??
Can’t answer that now I’m afraid, Morag – work has to take precedence today! I hope to do a post on that point if possible tomorrow.
– Is reasonable to expect that the next tactical masterstroke will be the dropping of all Star and 2016 footballer of the year for our first qualifier game ?
– One tactical blunder in AIF in October is bad but to follow-up with an equally bad tactical blunder in Connacht Semi is ridiculous, both made well in advance of the matches i.e while not under pressure on the side-line
– With the professionalism in GAA nowadays, no team manager worth their salt is going to be surprised by ANY player an opposing manager might start or sub in.
– The mole in the camp has re-emerged because the team changes had leaked out well in advance of the match, moles are dangerous because they can leak a lot more than changes to a starting 15 which as I have said above is of no consequence in this day and age.
Tried to read all the posts, skipped through most of the shi**. What is it about Mayo support ? The feeling I get from this thread is when the team are on a high we love them to bits, when they struggle they are useless! Very few constructive comments, but a few. My analysis, for what it’s worth blunt but honest.
1. We need a fullback who can dominate his area and thus give confidence to the players in front of him ( GC has been a great servante to the Green and Red, one our our best ever, but now through all his injuries I think he is past it at inter county standards)
2. When things are going well, don’t Chang the formula ( last Saturday, when we were cruising we replaced our two best holding backs). If they weren’t injured why ? Tactics? Tactics my arse! When I played 15 started, 15 finished unless you got injured or you had the balls to tell the sideline you weren’t going well.
3. Management get your arse in order, make the right decisions at the right time!
4. We only have to beat Roscommon, then Kerry or Galway, then possibly Dublin to take Sam back to Mayo – easy Peary…