Right – I’m in a major hurry this morning so I’ll make this brief. Here are the usual links to the coverage that’s out there about yesterday’s match against Galway.
Locals: Mayo Advertiser, Connaught Telegraph, Galway Bay FM (match tracker).
Nationals: Irish Independent (web, paper), Irish Examiner (web, paper), Irish Times, Irish Sun, Irish Mirror.
Others: GAA (includes video highlights), RTÉ (match report, post-match comments by Ray Silke), The 42, Hogan Stand, Breaking News, Sports Joe.
Photos: Mayo Mick, Inpho, Sportsfile.
Video: Mayo Mick.
Stats: GAA Stats Man.
That’s it. Back a bit after lunchtime with this week’s Mayo News football podcast, which was recorded at Pearse Stadium yesterday, and then later on tonight back again with the result in the MOTM poll. Voting on that remains open all day.
Understandable reaction from the fans on here. So far there has been no stand out performances from anyone. As Wooly Parkinson said yesterday – it’s that time of year when everyone starts saying Mayo are finished.
But I have no doubt we’ll have a big season yet. Since 2011, when James Horan came in and started making Mayo a serious championship force, our league record has been patchy at best.
Before that, we were something of league specialists. I remember O’Mahoney had us flying in the league of 2010. Reached a league final I think after winning 5 or 6 in a row. Wasn’t much use when Sligo and Longford took us out in summer though was it?
The ridiculously early start to the season in 2018 has made the league almost like a separate season. You could call it the 2018a season. There will be a closed season of about 7 weeks before the 2018b season starts in May. That’s what matters.
We need to be ready for 2018b, so does Leroy, Chris Barrett, seamie, Donie, Andy, Higgins etc.
on that point actually – is Higgins taking the whole league off to play hurling?
Honestly can’t remember the last time Chris Barrett or Seamie played league games, must be 3 years now I’d say??
We are in a nice position against Galway in May now with revenge fresh on our minds and a huge incentive to beat them.
I wouldn’t be overly worried about the league however we can all agree that we are lookin for that something extra especially up front that might make to cross the line at last….sadly so far we haven’t seen anything yet.
Just after reading ray silke comment w.j
Is it me or am i missing something.
For me im glad galway and the rossies have stepped up.
There was always a bit of verbals between us but as far as i have seen that was it.
I’ve zero doubt we will beat them in may
Conroy and Bradshaw can have the “compliments ” they gave towards the end of the game returned
Twas like an AI win yday ………
I watched the Dublin V Donegal game last night. Could Mayo management sit down and have a look at how football could be played. Donegal at last are letting the ball do the work. Long ball in over the backs to a forward who can catch and score. The cute Tomas O Se could see that the Dubs will be beaten. If our present midfielders were allowed to kick a long direct ball in to a forward who could catch and score we might have one or two more scores on the board. It appears from yesterdays game plan, players were not allowed to kick long ball in. When our forwards can only score 1 point from play, it shows that there is something seriously wrong. I won,t go on a rant about players as it would take a lot of writing. I thought we caught a lot of ball around the centre of the pitch in first half. When Gibbons was taken off we fell apart in this area. In fairness to Coen he is not a midfielder. Management were not up with the game yesterday. If this is the type of plan that Mayo are going to put out against the Dubs, it will be ” Good Night Irene”. Somebody said Buckley is back, that means all “Buckleys Babes” will again be on team. You could that from yesterdays fiasco.
In fairness it wasn’t great from a Mayo perspective yesterday alright and there does seem to be limitations off the bench currently with all the injuries. However surely Galway are at different levels of fitness than us now and further down the road with their conditioning this year or am i clutching at straws?
Their game plan worked well yesterday and we were lacking direct runners like they had, namely Comer and Walsh.
In saying that the 13th of May is 12 weeks away and increased Mayo fitness levels and probable dry pitch will make it different. Our tactics will be like chalk and cheese compared to yesterday. Higgins, Keegan, Boyle and Durcan running at Galway backs like racehorses and fellas off their shoulders ready to receive?
The Galway boys will need their weetabix on the Sunday morning in May i feel and surely there’ll be close to a full house in Mchale park to add to the already tense atmosphere with what went on yesterday especially towards the end? What is the official capacity anyhow?
We cannot just rely on that idea that when we get the other senior players back everything will be ok. We need genuine talent coming through as follows:
(1) Full-back (Caff threading water)
(2) Midfield options (not convinced about Gibbons)
(3) Of course the forwards (Hanley and Reape hopefully)
For example, Kerry have found new forward talent and Dublin have brought in Howard and Basquel (of Mayo parents actually).
We can’t always escape relegation either and there are some tricky tied left yet.
In relation to the rules of the game two points:
(1) Used there be a thing called a black card for when the likes of K McLoughlin was pulled back on the terrace side yesterday or am I imagining this?
(2) When COC was sent off did you notice we still got the line ball instead of it being a Galway free – the mind boggles!
I think it’s 42000.capacity.
Galway are.flying fit and nearly the strongest team out. It would be nearly impossible to pick the mayo starting line up there is so much chopping and changing. If Hanley is fit I think he’ll be getting his chance soon enough.
We’ll do well to.stay in the division without the old guard back in action. We cannot rush players back early either until they are fully ready and completely over their injuries. I’d like to see more chances given to some of the forwards who haven’t got a fair run yet. The backs have to be reorganised as well. All we want from the Dublin game is a bit of proper structure. Backs playing as a unit and the same with the forwards.
A lot being said about Cillian .. we won’t have him for the dubs so, who is going to stand up and take his place the next day?
Adam Gallagher played in the league a couple of years ago and was very good ( remember against Tyrone?) I also remember him kicking some great points from way out playing for nuig last year.
Could this be the time to give him his head against the dubs .. think it would be worth a go we have nothing to loose .. can we realisticly beat the dubs right now? ? .
I agree with Cait ..Boyle for captain what a man !!
Spotlight, did you not get the memo? The black card is nothing more than a suggestion which is to be used at the discretion of a referee, depending on his mood or bottle for making a big call. Galway FB’s pull-back on McLoughlin was as text-book an offence as you’ll get. There is no point getting into a big discussion here about refereeing consistency as it gets plenty of airtime but it is clear to see that the reason we are seeing so much fouling and dirty play in the modern game is purely down to the GAA being way behind the curve when it comes to discipline. Teams know they can foul and hit all day long and the worst they will get is a few yellow-cards and maybe a red or two when the game is already won.
If you met a man from Mongolia yesterday evening after the match and explained the situation to him regarding the teams, do you think he’d be surprised we lost? One team is months ahead fitness and training with 90% of their full team playing, the other is just starting back after the winter off. They’re missing half their starting 15 including the current player of the year, the previous player of the year, one of the top 3 midfielders in the game as well as 3/4 All Star defenders.
I understand Stephen Rochford had a big part to play in Hanley’s return and that he is very much going to be part of this years plans.
Just looking at the owl table there and it seems we still have to play the 3 teams below us (as well as the Dubs). We are still 2 pints clear of the drop. Kildare away will be a “must win” game. Beating either Tyrone at home or “the hills” away should suffice.
So lookit. Its still only late January with snow on the ground and someone on here said that the serious training only gets done in April. We will be alright by May when we have something more resembling our first 15 back. We’ll take Galway out of it in Mchale Park.
Well done Willie Joe. A busy last 24 hours for you in this place trying to keep the place from descending into a zoo while making your way back to the capital. Followed by a great moderation post when you got home.
14allinall41
Youre missing nothing.Silke trying to make himself important.All day he spoke about what a great day it was for Galway even when speaking about other matches.
Casey let it go too.The analysis is shocking even on Sunday Game.Kavanagh had nothing new to say and O Sè had to reference Kerry of course to run down Mayo.
31 counties would not like us to win All Ireland despite the hype.
Losing to Galway is never easy and we looked completely clueless yesterday, the most disappointing thing was no one seemed to want to take on the shot when they did get an opportunity and preferred to recycle the ball. Not even going to comment on the whole Caff situation think it’s been clear with a while now he simply doesn’t have the pace.
With regard to Cillian it was absolutely a red no one is disagreeing with that but I do think it was out of complete frustration more than malice and hopefully he will learn from it. The amount of abuse he has been getting online lastnight though is nothing short of disgraceful, the dubs page only seem to be waiting for the chance to lay into him and seem to think all their own are angels it’s embarasing to read!!
Again watching how O’Shea gets treated by opposition and by officials is completely not acceptable time for Rockford to speak out about it, the only reason I can think for him not addressing it is he doesn’t want it to look like sour grapes but enough is enough if it was a Dublin or Kerry player we’d all be sick of hearing about it from their managers and ex players, time for Rochford to wise up as it’s becoming obvious if he doesn’t stick up for his own no one will!!
After yesterday’s debacle I still back Rochford to get it right for May against Galway even tho I’d like to se Reape and Gallagher get an extended run. Maybe Cian Hanley will fit in nicely and contribute on the scoreboard if we beat Galway in May we are away again on a Summer odyssey and who knows where it leads though we do seem to improve as the Summer goes on. In the meantime I expect Dublin to inflict maximum pain on us but maybe we can pick up the pieces against Kildare Tyrone and Donegal we might even go on a run and win all 3 matches.
I am normally optimistic at this stage of the league but not this year. Fact is this squad is a year older, played 5 of the 6 AI final forwards playing and could only score 1pt from play. No sign of an additional talent to make a real impact. So we might beat Galway in May but will we get through the super eights and semis relying on the same 17 or 18 players? Also we had no injuries to deal with. Again as I said before what is the logic of playing all your main forwards who are not playing well and not giving others an extended run in the league to try to stake a claim, it’s a lose lose situation.
Maybe we should be asking all the forwards to shoot from anywhere from the 40 in if they have 2 yards of space. We lost tonnes of ball and turnovers by over playing the ball in the forwards yesterday. So what if alot of them don’t go over. It must be demoralising to be on the attack and then see the ball been worked back down the other way at pace. At least after a wide you’d expect a 50 50 chance getting the back on the kickouts and your also positioned correctly on the pitch, whereas on turnovers we seemed to be chasing our tails.
I’m with the ones here who are not overly panicking at this stage. We’ve been here before (every fecking year it seems…). We’re clearly well behind in terms of fitness and of course the ongoing issue of no collective training. Not to mention the 6 or 7 almost certain starters we have missing.
While not entirely writing off the Dublin game, we really need to target the Kildare game to get a win. Lose that and I’d be very surprised if we manage to avoid the drop. While it wouldn’t be the end of the world in terms of this year, it’s more the effect that could have of future years I’d be worried about.. We’ve seen with Galway and now Cork how hard it can be to get back up again, especially considering how piss poor our early season form tends to be.
Incredible the amount of comments posted here after a league game in February, I’ve gotten very little work done this morning going through a lot of them. Some over reactions, as always seems to be the case.
But I have to say that the comments regarding our forward play are hard to disagree with. We must surely have the lowest return of points from play of any team in any of the 4 divisions.
The tactical plan for our forward play seems hard to fathom
Loved that post by WJ last night on all of the people that were moderated.
I’m sure it wasn’t fun having to trawl through all of that shite, but you gave us all a great laugh with the responses!
Any of the forwards should be having a minimum of 3 attempts at scoring in any game. God.knows we need the practise and we need to build big time confidence in all the front men so if I was manager I’d be ordering all of them to take the shots on when they get half a chance. It’s amazing what a couple of successful kicks will do for any forwards confidence.
Lots of talk about it’s only February, don’t panic etc. But I think there needs to be an improvement in league soon as it is a concern. Last season the league was poor and this was telling come the championship. We were knocked out of Connaught, could have gone out against Derry , took it to the wire against Cork, lucky in first game v Roscommon and I don’t think we can push it like that again.
A defeat in any of those backdoor games and the season would have been a shambles.
This year we need to get players playing properly in league, like Galway have, otherwise it will be another year with no Connaught title and anything can happen after that.
Winning breeds positivity, that’s why we need to get a grip ASAP . At moment confidence for Galway sky high and Mayo need to build their own
I’m not sure that’s necessarily the case, JC, though I would agree that a bit of positive form sometime soon wouldn’t go amiss. As has already been pointed out by others, we’ve had dodgy League campaigns every single year since 2013 (when we only avoided relegation in the last few minutes of our final game, beating Cork by a point in the old Pairc Ui Chaoimh) and it’s had little or no bearing on us come summer. I’d agree with Dan that relegation this spring wouldn’t be likely to knock us back for summer but would, most likely, cause us problems next year if we started as slowly as we normally tend to do every year.
Don’t know about everyone else, but its tough going in work today being a Mayo supporter. Getting a lot of digs left right and centre! I think we need to get a siege mentality for the rest of the year! I’m keeping quiet today, but it is very clear the joy that is being wallowed in by many at Cillian’s red yesterday…
I don’t think all is lost, by a long shot! I did check with Paddy Power though to put my mind at ease! He doesn’t see us being relegated either!
@ Liam how reliable is your scource re Hanley?
I agree it is possible that a drop is likely and as Willie Joe said it wont be this year that will affect us but it will be next year when we next year when we are not exposed to Division 1 football .I am not quiet sure what the story is with Cillian.He is not himself for sure scoring is nowhere near as it was and its disappointing to see him get involved in niggley stuff .I hope he can find who true character soon.
3 points from play in 81 mins of football, 2 of those from defenders, Lavelle not forced into a save of any kind and held scoreless from the 24th to 35th minute! It took us 13 mins to register a score in the first half, and 8 mins in the second half. It is safe to say that yesterday was as poor an attacking performance as we have seen for a long time. Much of what happened yesterday was a mirror image of what occurred when they beat us in Connacht last year. And yet we learned absolutely nothing from that defeat. That day, like yesterday, we were chasing a game, with the wind at our backs and allowed ourselves to be forced lateral with each attack. Slow movement of the ball from our midfield to our half forwards meant that the Galway defense had time to reset and get numbers back in to the scoring zone. This forced us over and back the Galway 45 while our inside line were trying to make runs in what was an already crowded area. This defensive set up is very primitive but very effective and the most disappointing thing is that we never tried anything different. We never tried to shoot from distance, we never tried to leave AOS in there and clip in a few high balls, nothing.
Now, before the panic sets in, we need to look at some hard facts.
1. Mayo are back training solidly for 4 or 5 weeks, as opposed to Galway being at it flat out since the end of November. That will make a big difference this early in the year. No doubt.
2. There are probably 2, maybe 3, more additions expected to the Galway panel between now and May, once the Corofin lads finish up with the club. Mayo had 7 or 8 players not in attendance yesterday that will almost certainly be lining out in May. That’s more than half a team.
3. Galway, quiet rightly, have targeted staying in Div 1 and the best way to do that, as Roscommon proved two seasons ago, is to get points early while Kerry, Mayo and Dublin might be a little vulnerable. Mayo are looking to avoid relegation – a completely different mindset.
Those points do not excuse the pathetic 2nd half performance yesterday but they do put some reason on it. Galway finished strongly and were full of running where our lads struggled to keep up with them, I do not expect to see that in May. However, there are some serious warning lights flashing that can not be ignored.
1. It looks like their younger lads are better than our younger lads.
2. Their forwards are 2 levels above anything we have, e.g. Walsh, Comer, McHugh and Brannigan would walk on to our front 6.
3. There is no inferiority complex in them anymore, remember Salthill a few years back when we annihilated them, their heads were gone at the 25 min mark. That won’t happen in May.
As for the remainder of the league? I don’t fancy us to keep with 6 points of Dublin when they arrive to town, nor do I expect us to do what no Mayo team has ever done, and win a league game in Donegal. Donegal are playing some outstanding football and are cursed to have 0 points to show for it. McBrearty alone has 26 points scored in 3 league games! So it’s down to beating a much improved and physically imposing Kildare away from home and trying to play through another blanket defense v Tyrone.
No need to panic yet, but it is certainly time to be sitting up and taking notice.
Leave the Mogolians out of it Liam, they’ll be looking for entry to the Connacht championship soon 🙂
I’d agree with JC to a certain extent, others are correct we have had poor enough leagues on other years and then done well in championship.
However this year is completley different, we are playing championship in early May AND we have to win that match.
With the Super 8s we cant afford to go through the back door, make no mistake we really do need to win Connacht.
In other years we have had the luxury, if you could call it that of timing our run and focusing on being really good in August.
Things are different this year in that we probably need to be at July levels in May, if that makes sense. Its down to S&C periodiasation and its quiet difficult to change a cycle where athletes are very use to a fairly different cycle.
Yes of course the goal is still to peak in late August/early September but we’re having to come at it from a different base.
Its a fundamental question, does the location of our players and they way we do things mean that we cannot be where we want to be earlier in the championship and still peak in September? It occured to me that might be the case when the fixtures were first announced. I’m starting to get worried that might be the case.
Overall, we cant use the rule of “past performance is an indication of future performance” because the goalposts have changed signifigantly now in the shape of the calander.
Watching Galway yesterday remnded me of the Rossies their first year in Div 1. Hit the ground running, fitness ahead of everybody else and beat Kerry to boot, in their first game. But that was where it ended and they will do well to get back to Div 1 again this year.
My one worry is that in the absence of so many of our regulars the supposedly up and coming players are not up and coming. Apart from Eoin O’Donoghue nobody has emerged so far. Hall, I believe is to small and light to makea real impact and Loftus was very disappointing yesterday, not able to win ball. Are Diarmuid and Stephen Coen to be the only real stars emerging fom the 2013 minors/2016 U21’s? If so it will be a very sudden and shocking awakening when the current bunch in or around the 30 year mark retire. Div 2, Div 3????
Pebblesmeller excellent analysis as usual.
Boyle’s footpassing very very suspect. His poor pass led directly to Galway’s third point.
I commentated a few weeks back that Diarmuid and Cillian have looked for a while now like two players who are not enjoying their football. Has the pressure and closes misses when trying to land SAM become too much of a burden for them. Same for ourselves as supporters – has the fun gone out of supporting Mayo, is this SAM Maguire quest becoming too much. Is the pain of losing outweighing the joys of winning games? Mabye everyone associated with the Mayo team (including supporters) need to lighten up a small bit and enjoy the games a bit more. Might be for the better. It is sport afterall.
Again just to clarify , Galway had a team meeting in late November, were in the gym in December , but started outdoor fitness work just after Stephens day for the first FBD game on Jan 4th. They were no where near training in November..
Just getting to the keyboard now. It was bad, bad bad. No other three words for it. And let me get in a plug for Salthill for once: pitch in great nick, even after the women’s match (which was very entertaining); near perfect weather for playing – damn cold for watching; and I liked very much the kids welcoming the teams onto the pitch.
Didn’t even vote for a man of the match – there was no one for us. Even at the warm up stage I felt Mayo were going through the motions, and I haven’t felt that for a long time.Management didn’t have a great game – I was right behind Rochy and there seemed to be a lack of a management ‘team’ as far as I could see. Donie Buckley seemed detached somehow. It’s now totally predictable that Galway try to win games, put them to bed in the third quarter and shut up shop thereafter. They duly did and we let them waltz through to go four and five ahead.
A lot of clamour for new faces. But here the management have actually introduced a lot so far. By my count, ten players, O’Donoghue, Crowe, Newcombe, Hall, Akram, Nally, Gallagher, Stretton, Douglas, McDonagh, can be considered new faces. Ok, ok, Nally not but he hadn’t got much game time last year. That, is a positive even if only a handful have really shone so far. Naming names O’Donoghue and Gallagher have caught my eye. Gallagher hasn’t done much, but he just looks very comfortable on the ball and able to make some space for himself. Crowe could develop with game time.
That’s about it.
I kinda agree with you South Mayo Exile I find it hard to go to a match now and enjoy it as much as I used to. Even in the run up to the All Ireland final last year there wasn’t a bit of Craic no hype at all as if subconsciously we knew we’d get the same ol result. Maybe no hype is a good thing we don’t want to go back to the craziness of 89 or 96 97 but for the first year ever I wasn’t rearing to go for the FBD league so imagine how team feels. Sooner or later an early exit will occur so we can all recharge the batteries but I hope it’s later rather than sooner
Galway players minus the Corofin lads started training in the second week of October i know this because relations of a few of the players told me. @Pebblesmeller there younger lads are better than Mayos and you only have to look at last few minors and U21 meetings between the sides to know this.
Interesting statistical breakdown from Sean Murphy @gaastatsman on Twitter. From what I can see there was 35 kick outs and our Midfielders won 3. We did take a good few short kick outs over the course of the game
Jeez there would be serious craic in here if we pulled off a shock win v Dubs.
Mayomagic, the Galway senior and under 21 championship was still on in October, i dont know where your getting that info but they were not back on the field until after Christmas day.
Tuamstar , this whole county is full of mythical tales GAA related. All the dublin lads dont have to work, our county board are all ejits who want farmers to train county teams, Ciaran Mac was with Berties side and thats why johnoo dropped him, o mahony was only managing mayo to get elected, Aidan o shea picks the Mayo team, kevin mcstay wanted the Arabs of Man City to pay his million pound salary , posters on the Mayo blog have massive influence on all matters . Tis all pure true.
To get to your point though , Galway have been trianing not all that longer than our bucks. Galway have the makings of a great side , theyve had the nice footballers for a few years now and at last they look like they are really tightening up both defensively and conditioning . I cant see there been much difficulty in ye taking the next step, ye have our measure now and castlebar should prove that im afraid .
@Tuamstar just ask those in the know and you will get similar info. Galway also have had intense gym session for the last few months, they have targeted the early rounds of the league for points and to their credit they have succeeded now with 6 points from 6. It will be May before Mayo gets to Galway current fittest level and Galway could be burnt out by then.
Hahaha, ive a health and safety officer here who’s mates with Danny cummins amd he says thats not true mayomagic.
I heard a different story to both of you. Looks like there’s some fake news coming out of Galway!! But some of the Galway and Kerry players look like they’ve been pumping the iron for a while, comer of Galway looks like a rugby player, shoulders and arms like a pro. By May we should be in good shape ourselves and the football will do the talking
@Sean Burke, Cummins hasn’t been involved due to club commitments and then injury. You are known for playing the poor mouth better than most from Kerry and you can take my word on it or not. At the end of the day my main point is that Mayo will beat Galway in May and it will because in no small part that Mayo will then have the fitness advantage in that game.
It’s starting to become farcical in here. Does it really matter when Galway started their gym work or training, it doesn’t excuse our poor performance yesterday, nor does it make it any more or less likely what the outcome in May will be. That kind of complacency is what got us knocked out of Connacht two years in a row. Fair enough, we don’t want to peak in February/March but I fear we’re walking a very dangerous tightrope between keeping our powder dry and staying in Division 1. Unless we get the conveyor belt rolling again then one of these years we are going to fall off spectacularly.
Sean Burke, I remember one poster tipping Roscommon for Sam during their impressive league run two years ago, you wouldn’t happen to be spreading the Kerrygold over our nice neighbours now would you?!
I think everyone needs a deep breath. It’s february lads.
Lol I didnt tip ros for Sam , john evans did.
Im not so sure the fun has gone out of being a Mayo supporter South Mayo Exile.I think we had a very long campaign last year and 8 or 9 live or die games and ultimately frustration at the end of it. It seems every single game as supporters we expect a win or performance and when its not there it is feeding into a years of frustation and heart break.Social media is not the place of media this is the first year I have held back from responding to keybord warriers who are mad to see our downfall. But fuck it Id rather everyone hated us than call us a nice guys of football.
As regard’s comparisons in the fitness of both team’s yesterday… Galway certainly looked the fitter.. Almost all club player’s nowadays are doing their own personal training virtually year round , never mind the intecounty player’s… What is almost a certainty, is that many of Mayo player’s took a bit of a break post All Ireland final,.. And the team holiday to Malaysia… It’s well they deserved their break.. The Mayo team is older than the Galway team in general as well.. So it is to be totally expected that Galway would be fitter than Mayo yesterday… By next May, their won’t be much in in regard’s to fitness…. But Mayo might have a problem with other Div 1 team’s in the fitness department before then… Starting with Dublin next Saturday week… Dublin like Mayo were on a well deserved team holiday, but have came up with a few new excellent players, who weren’t on holidays, the numbers of very good players available to Jim Gavin early in the year, in addition to the fact that all the Dublin players can train together all the time, give them them a huge advantage… We will know more about Galway, after they have played Kerry and Dublin in the League, and we will know more about Mayo, after the upcoming Dublin match… Yesterday we were missing, Higgins, Barrett, Vaughan, Keegan, Harrison, Seamus OShea, Parsons, & Andy.. Those players have won a total of 10 All Star’s, the current Player of the Year award, and the previous year PotY, and a Young Player of the Year award. All have been nominated for All Stars several times… By May, who knows, Cian Hanley might be playing with Mayo….. Last night I was in the pub,.. The prophet’s of Mayo’s doom were there as well.. Like the ‘Grim Reaper’ or the cry of the ‘Old Banshee’…. But Mark Twain wrote along time ago as a character in one of his novels walked into a church to his surprise to see his own funeral service ..’ Rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated ‘..
Look anyone with even half a brain could see that both Kerry and Galway were at least a yard of pace ahead of us at all times.
Dublin seem to be the only team that can perform at this time of the year and in September probably due to their strength in depth.
We even seen Kerry and Tyrone doing well early in the year last year but they fell away by the end of the year while we got stronger as the year progressed.
In saying that some of our decision making at times would drive you mad. Players running into blind alleys losing the ball rather than letting the ball go to free players in space then doing the opposite when they have space in front of them, kicking the ball into the keepers hands rather than backing themselves and exploiting the space in front of them. We really have to improve in these kinds of areas.
Correction.. The player’s missing from Mayo’s line up yesterday have won 11, All Star awards, not 10.
Tuamstar A Galway friend of mine told me in Oct 17 the boys were back again. It was about one month after the AI. At the time I did not believe him, as I thought he was on a wind up. He pointed out they were doing gym work for Div 1 games I had this fact verified later by a second source around Christmas. The real test thought was on a cold Friday night in Castlebar in that FBD game. On a cold night with a heavy pitch they were flying against a squad of newbies that had been assembled in Mayo in December or a little earlier. Trying to convince anyone that this was the result of a couple weeks training is not on I am afraid. They have also been coached by a guy from Tyrone on the puke football that Kevin started to introduce in 2015.
Well Paul Conroy is certaintly doing plenty of gym work as he pulled Aido along the ground like a rag doll.
Double sweeper against the Dubs plus some scores from play from at least 4 of our forwards and a bit of spirit would not go astray.
Twas the Galway game
And the horse shit flowed
And WJ was on the road
On Mayo’s side no celebration
And 20 now in moderation
Their futures now are not so bright
Condemned and shot for talking shite
He welcomes all on to the blog
But 1 or 2, they do the dog
If you’ve had your scorn and lies deleted
We’ll see yea when your terms completed
Our Galway friends we’ll see in May
It will be for them, their Judgement day.
Anyone who thinks that every county player in Ireland is not training in October and November is deluded. Brian Cody had Kilkenny back on 17 Oct this year. Are we supposed to believe county players are bumming around in oct and nov eating pizza and drinking beer non stop?
@Larry Duff. I dunno, Keith Moon could play a 3 hour full on set every night for weeks on end on a diet lacking in many basic nutrients apart from brandy.
Ah Pj he was pulling your leg!!!
Nice one Revellino – great to see all that latent talent bloom!
Lads lads lads.
And ladies
https://www.balls.ie/gaa/absolute-disgrace-way-aidan-oshea-getting-treated-383180 – Brady speaks on Aido
I have to hold my hands up and say that I was one of the people giving out about Kerry last week and the acceptable standards of how they play. I was very disappointed with Cillian yesterday. There was no need for it. He has a while now (hopefully a short while) to think about it all. We dont seem to be connecting and its understandable when there are different groups training together, its difficult to gel as a unit. While it didnt work out yesterday how we wanted it, I am not throwing in the towel yet on this year and what we could possibly achieve.
About time Brady spoke out.A few more can do the same.
I don’t buy all of the relax it’s only February…I buy some of it but not all. For the die hard mayo gaa fan we have to have some things to worry about going forward:
– the team that started, the way they set up and the subs used were all wrong
-current and previous management teams rarely if at all make tactical changes in 1st half and are too slow to make changes and sometimes make absurd ones
-This shite that were the best tacklers in the country…now lads our defence last year up until the roscommon replay was pretty shocking and has been this league campaign. Let’s get a 6 to hold middle and not all go forward and put in tackles… Very few put in this league campaign
-the underage mayo teams are falling way behind our connacht counterparts
-discipline…how many frees were brought in yday and COC needs to cut out the dirty play. He even got 2 consecutive reds in club championship
Does anyone know if Brian Reape, Ciaran Treacy, and Alan Freeman are still in the Mayo panel? We are playing only 1 natural inside forward thats Cillian.Loftus and Doherty are more natural half forwards.Why arent they gettin there chance?
I was watching young Peter Naughton from Knockmore in the warm up before the game his shooting from distance of either foot was really impressive, he would remind you of a young Kevin O’Neill.Glad to see he was included probably needs to put on a stone of muscle but is very skillful and is tall enough about 6ft 2.
Yerra, we wont keep the ball kicked out to Galway in Castlebar, lucky to get within 5 again I’d say.
Sure Ray Swilke might join big Kev’s back room team and lead them to the promised land again.
I cant listen to DB anymore, a lovely lad and great craic but he talks some shite. His mouth appears to be ahead of his brain all the time.
And yes he was right in saying Aidan was targeted, but he then gave the impression that Aidan was giving plenty of it as well and that’s what the OTB boys took from it. I would have preffered him to finish that off by being a lot more categorical about what was going on. I turned off after that for reasons already mentioned. Aidans restraint is unbelievable and our bucks in the media should be making lots of noise about it, and more importantly tapping up their buddies from other counties who may be fair minded men to do the same. someone said it earlier and in fairness to him I don’t know how he manages to put up with it. Very difficult to get any enjoyment out of playing ball when the opposition are cheating you ALL the time.
Nice one Revellino!!!