It’s Monday morning so that means it’s time for a quick gallop through the coverage that’s online about our match yesterday. A good one it was too from our perspective – with Cork’s sensational extra-time win over Kerry keeping us nicely away from the limelight – as we qualified for the Connacht final for the first time in five years.
We still have to win it, of course, but that’s one for another day. For now, we’re entitled to look back on yesterday’s game and what’s being said about it. Here goes:
Locals: Mayo News, Mayo Advertiser, Connaught Telegraph, Western People, Roscommon Herald.
Nationals: Irish Times, Irish Examiner, Irish Independent, Irish Sun, Irish Mirror (live blog).
Others: GAA, RTÉ (match reports, Cillian O’Connor post-match quotes), Sky Sports, The 42 (match report, live blog), Sports Joe.
Photos: Sportsfile, Inpho.
The Mayo ladies also had a great Championship win over the weekend, where they proved far too strong for Tyrone. Here are the match reports on that one: Mayo Advertiser, Connaught Telegraph, Western People, Irish Independent, Ladies Football, BBC, Team Talk Mag.
The big match review episode of the Mayo News football podcast will be up a bit later this morning. Andy Moran and Martin Carney feature in it and you can be sure it’ll be well worth a listen.
The Man of the Match poll will, as usual, keep running until this evening so have your spake there if you haven’t done so already.
The Mayo GAA Lotto is a great way to support the lads. There’s a €7,800 jackpot prize on offer in tonight’s draw and you can play the Lotto here.
Hope I’m not the only one feeling a bit giddy this morning. All of a sudden we’re joint second favourites to win the All Ireland.
It’s opened up nicely for us, if were good enough.
Galway is all that matters for now. No need to look beyond that game.
Quietly happy with James H attitude to the young lads.. they’re getting every chance .. Galway is going to be soo tough … Hopefully we can keep improving Maigheo abú
Our only focus should be on the Galway game, they are hurting badly after the league game and are gunning for us. The talk from Galway is that this game has been their focus all year, they didn’t have to peak until now. This is a very dangerous game for Mayo, it’s one we can win, but we need to be tuned in 100% for this. Talk about All Irelands is premature, (look at what happened to Kerry yesterday, many people’s favourites for Sam), let’s look at the next game first, one game at a time.
Forget talk of all Ireland’s – it’s pie in the sky stuff. All that matters is Galway, the league means nothing now, there’s a Connacht title to be won for many of our players for the first time. Galway will be bulling to get a shot at us, let’s make sure we’re quicker on the draw!
Paddy Durcan has just bolted upfield and zipped by Cillian O’Connor in the MOTM poll. This is far closer than Georgia! Loads of time yet to cast your vote (no mail-in ballots accepted sadly) if you haven’t yet done so.
A surprisingly poor showing from Roscommon yesterday and a very solid performance by our lads. Most of our powder is still dry and will be available for next Sunday against Galway. After Cork’s surprising win it is unwise to make any predictions as to what the outcome will be but we can feel confident that we are in a good place and will not go down easily.
I think Peter Keane is in serious bother and would not be surprised if he is not there next year. Tomas O’Shea ripped him a new one last night and looked ready to cry! The boy wonder missed two simple close in frees that cost them dearly. Tommy Walsh and the keeper will have nightmares for the winter. Pateen will be sharpening the knife this morning. Kerry were so keen on getting their new defensive approach for the Dublin game that they neglected the attacking side of things. Tipperary could be the dark horse this year.
Tipp struggled badly to get past Limerick. Limerick had a mark to send it to penalties, but the poor fella skied it high and wide. I also thought Limerick should have had a penalty earlier.
So I don’t think Tipp are a real threat – maybe they could be a threat to Cork if yesterday was a flash in the pan (but I doubt it), but I’d have no worries about Mayo facing them.
I agree with the posts saying that Galway is our biggest danger, they were in disarray a few weeks ago but will have settled and be ready with fresh legs and a plan of play for Mayo. FOR CERTAIN. Dont believe the poormouth talk from any of them, they were flying in spring and have top quality players all over the field,they didn’t become a bad team overnight.
Keane would be no loss to the game anyway. His game plan is rubbish and he’s worse than Gavin or Horan in the post match stuff. “Lookit, yerra we’ll see sure, dya know like”
Hi Willie joe. Yesterday was a good one for me and I was not one bit surprised by Corks victory but I must say Kerry were shocking. Of course Cork will now talk in terms of The Double. So will Tipp and Galway. As for Mayo….. job well done but Galway will be a different kettle of fish. Seriously though I expect it to be a Mayo/ Cork semi final and hopefully we will get revenge for 89. Despite the COVID , isn’t life great? Up mayo and keep safe everybody
After yesterday’s result in Cork where the only enjoyable part was the last 10 seconds it’s OK to let the mind wander a bit and look at what has opened up. Jeez we need a bit of escapism in these times. Having said that anyone who knows anything about football knows the huge task ahead of us at the weekend. Galway have some great players with lots of potential and as stated earlier in posts are hurting but I think mayo will have a couple points to spare in the end. Tho that prediction could change nearer game day. Galway Cork and tipp will also be giddy about what potentially lies ahead. Just enjoy the next few days and see where it takes us.
On physcological advantage a few have commented on for the Galway game. I think its important to note what happened in the Tyrone game, we did succumb to complacency a bit (evident in 1st half at least) and were even suckered to a degree (I’d say management more so than players). So how did Tyrone do this: 1. The covid leak. 2. Not naming a team (eneded up been a strong one), 3. Perception they are concentrating on the ‘Donegal’ game. All of these contributed to team selection, tactics, motivation, intensity, mindset on the day etc..Not saying the exact same will apply for Galway but 1. Jim McGuineas ‘Mayo for Sam’ 2. We have no chance as we were hammered a few weeks ago. 3. Mayo are deserved red hot favorites..4.????? 5..?????????..There will be a couple of more to come this week and before kick off no doubt…If Mayo are fully tune in we have a great chance if not then who knows…
Very impressed with K Mc L yesterday. So composed on the ball and great link up play. Match ups will be crucial at the back next week. I live in Galway and they are hyping us up big time but we all know what to expect…
Galway have won 2 Connacht titles and featured in two other decides since we’ve last played in one. Hard to believe it’s that many years ago.
Our lads should be absolutely gunning for it this weekend. 5 years is a bit embarrassing to be honest.
@Way out West, you’re right. Galway have been able to focus on this one game for months. Because of our poor start to the league we didnt have the luxury and had to come out blazing in Tuam 4 wks ago whereas Galway were a month out from having to peak.
I’d actually prefer to be in Galways shoes. 2 week break coming into a conn final…and low expectations. Although the Irish times had their pundits predictions for the year last week and 5 of 7 predicted Galway would win Connacht so many people fancy them and recognised that the game in Tuam was a ‘nothing game’ from Galways perspective.
I was far more confident of victory ahead of roscommon. Galway are better than roscommon despite what some might try to tell you! Galway will be a huge test for Mayo and as i said before, if we dont bring our A-Game our championship will be over in 7 days time. We need to be quite a bit better than yesterday. We fell asleep for the entire 2nd quarter and blipped midway thru the 1st half before Durcan stopped the rossie comeback. Also, galway will be like tigers…roscommon were unusually tame yesterday. It was hardly championship pace at all.
If Eoghan McLaughlin doesn’t win the MOTM award, I will taking a case to the Supreme Court. #stopthecount….. but only when Eoghan is in front!
Mayonaze I admire your optimism in relation to Galway but there is simply no proof that Galway will come out like “tigers” as you say.
Galway havent done anything like that in years..
When the chips are down we simply fold up the tent, as shown in our two recent Connacht final defeats, the league game in Tuam, I could go on.. Show me the evidence to suggest Galway will play like that…
When someone suggested here after the Tuam game that Galway were in heavy training, many here ridiculed why any team would do that considering the very tight schedule.
We are seriously lacking leaders esp without Damian Comer but he hasn’t played a serious game for us in 2 years..
I just dont see any evidence at all that we can raise our game physically and mentally and beat the bookies second favourite, one of the in form teams in the country next Sunday..
Podcast is up.
Tuamstar, I’m laughing here, I hope the galway co board are paying you well. Lol.
The perfect weekend really for me: Saturday, (our own) Joe B. won big; fantastic wins for Irish horses in the Breeder’s Cup, (the Olympics of flat racing), in the US; Sunday, demolition derby at the Hyde, and Kerry gone by tea-time.
Now, as Cillian, and James said, it’s on to Tuesday night for training. Wonder who’ll go well? Will Boyler force his way back? Is Rory Brickenden the coming man at CHB? Can Paul Towey make an impact? Has Rory Byrne any chance of seeing game time?
Then, maybe I’ll look forward to Thursday night.
While complacency is an issue, (as Kerry learnt to to their cost yesterday!) Let’s not underestimate the physiological damage out in Tuam. Galway will be a wounded animal and we will need to play as well as we can, but I don’t know if 5 weeks will be enough to recover for them and that is the big question. They have it all to do.
It took Mayo at least a decade to put the ghost of Kerry thumpings to bed and I don’t know if you can differentiate league from championship so easily this year due to it being so close in schedule.
Let’s approach this game with confidence and if we can play to our strengths there’s absolutely no reason why we can’t win.
Personally I do not suspect Galway will come out to play and will bring the bus for the day, so if that turns out to be the case, long range shooting, accuracy and clever game management will be vital.
Rory didn’t make the subs bench yesterday so probably back to a Clarke/Hennelly combo for how ever long this adventure continues .
The Darkyfinn, Yes I bought all that Tyrone Covid story etc. Weakened team etc.
I would say JH is very focused. He really seems to be able to prepare the team. So many crunch games but he is a natural motivator and leader. A win next Sunday will probably drive us all doolally???
Catcol. Thoroughly agree that it was a great weekend . I knew the omens were good when Joe from Mayo won in the U S and then an Irish horse in green and red (Welds) won the Breeders Cup .I don’t rate Galway and we’ll only lose by complacency.Tuamstar… stop trying to build us up. We beat a very poor team yesterday and we all know that Galway will be no easy pickings but we’ll beat ye all the same.
Tuamstar I hope you’re right but I think there will be more to this Galway team than you think. They certainly have the talent in the ranks to beat us on a given day and I fully expect they’ll be giving it 100% at the weekend.
But I still hope you’re right.
Its the same narrative as 2016 with Galway, back then it was “Oh we barely have a squad, oh 50 players turned down the chance to come to training”….its the same thing now, just rebranded to “oh ye hammered us in the league etc”. We were sucker punched then, and we’ll be sucker punched Sunday if we beileve this tripe. Jimmy McGuinness’ appearance at a Galway training session, sent the media into over drive and the hype on Galway was immense. The loss to us then quietened the hype big time, even Jimmy went and tipped us for the AI ffs.
Be under no illusion, Galway have been preparing for this game all year. The heat is off them now, especially with us playing two games with the whole country watching. They will be as fit as fiddles, while we’re starting to clock up the mileage with 5 games on the trot.
Very happy with yesterday’s win. The hunger and intensity we showed for the bulk of 75 minutes was heartening. Serious competition for places now. Very hard to know who will play week in week out.
Between cillian And diarmaid o Connor they scored 1.10 out of mayos 1.16. That’s some return. Bar paddy durcan we need more scores from the others like ruane, conroy, mcloughlin, o se etc. If cillian gets injured I fear for us.
One interesting fact I’ve thought about is that James horan as mayo manager has never lost to Galway in Championship. Hopefully that won’t change for a long, long time. Up Mayo.
The bookies have Mayo at 10/11 and Galway 11/10.
I think that’s about right and sums up what we’re in store for on Sunday – a white knuckle ride and a game that’s 50/50 and too close to call.
Look as Tuamstar says we might all wish for Galway to explode out of the blocks and lay waste to Mayo but there is nothing there that suggests this will happen. We don’t have a new goalkeeper to surprise ye with, Daly is missing in the backs and Comer is out upfront. Walsh has played little football and Burke is now injured too. We don’t appear able to get Steed ready in time either so its damage limitation on Sunday with Galway doing all they can but Mayo are raging hot favourites, odds on in the bookies and sure once ye beat Cork then only the Dubs can stop ye.
A great win yesterday and not a minutes stress through the whole game.
Goalie was very good.
The backs upped their game and did well.
Midfield did their job and improving.
Our forwards need to improve if we are to keep going on through next weekend.
We were 8 or 9 up in the first half and won by 6.
Cillian again I thought was outstanding.
Diarmuid had as good a finish for that goal as you would be likely to see anywhere. He also scored a peach of a point.
Aidan worked hard as he always does.
I just felt that up front we can improve quite a bit on yesterday’s performance. 2 or 3 of the lads seemed to be a little out of the game. I think we need to be more cohesive in the forwards if we are going to beat Galway. A little more help on the scoreboard for Cillian from the other forwards.
Yesterday did seem cushy, but while we did put in a pretty good showing I felt Roscommon were not at their best.
On the positive side we are still in the championship and plenty of room for improvement.
This is an exciting team playing exciting football and I truly believe that we have not seen close to their best yet.
Read many of the comments in terms of Galway. I don’t get the fear going on. Not giving any respect to them, I live there, they won’t beat us. Not a hope 19/18/17 i would have said yes, maybe, not this year. We will beat them badly, throw your money down now, be all about minus points…6 or more.I’ll Keep saying it until my lungs fail me, this Mayo team is different and Galway will be a walk into Cork… Cork might cause issues, but not this Galway crew… They are already hurt by us.
Peter above stop being so negative haha. Have trust in this group.
Mayo by 6 and over, sky is the limit.
MayoUntilDeathDoesMePart( will sign in later, at work )
Where is next Sundays game scheduled for, Salthill or Tuam?
A bit of good news, could be absolutely great news, for the GAA, and virtually everything else as well for next year… Trials on the Pfzier/BioNtec Covid Vacine have been over 90% effective.. The EU is in negotiations for 300 millions doses of the Vacine, and more potential successful Vacines coming closer to finaltrials as well, probably even more important than Galway V Mayo…It won’t happen next Sunday, but hopefully the next time they play each other, we will be able to be there in person…. Donald Trump even thinks it’s good news, at last I agree with the Donald on something.
Delighted with the win yesterday. Played well, and probably should have won by more. That’s 4 tough games ina row now for Mayo. Just wondering will Galway be a little off match fitness now, as they got a bye yesterday from Sligo?
Some result by Cork. The weather conditions in this years championship is a real leveler and no wins are guaranteed, even for Dublin. Its great to be able to have championship games this time of year, not the same I know, but better than nothing
ITS awful disappointing not being able to attend the games. i miss it an awful lot and then in the pub that night having a feed of pints and discussing the game. i think we will the connacht final but it will not be easy ,a one point win will do me.
Ah ye Galway boys are cute. I expect it’ll be one tough game and nothing will come easy for Mayo. We’ve done well so far but Galway will most certainly be wired for this one. I’m hopeful for a good Mayo performance but I know Galway are well capable of taking us on Sunday. Not for a minute do I believe the sad story from you boys. Hope Mayo are totally focused and ready for the onslaught.
Maigheo go deo.
Dcomer is definitely injured and if PJ is daft enough to bring him on then they are desperate… He was playing junior hurling all year with his club Annaghdown.. seemingly he was injured and he kept playing.. nothing new with that club they have some young lad who got picked for Galway hurling team and now they think they are gods… a very poor team seemingly..
They came close to beating corofin a couple of years ago with a good manager and they got rid of him.. comer more or less injured since then.
Paddy durcan and keegan are the key players sunday and also Clarke but the kickouts must be perfect.. full back is still an issue and a fully fit and stopping chris barrett is essential.