We enjoyed a big win over Kildare in the sun yesterday at our rather lovely temporary home by the Shannon, a result that now sends us forward to a National League decider against Kerry at Croke Park on Sunday (throw-in there will be 4pm). Here’s what’s online about yesterday’s game:
Locals: Mayo Advertiser, Connaught Telegraph, Western People.
Nationals: Irish Times, Irish Examiner, Irish Independent, Irish Sun.
Photos: Inpho, Sportsfile.
Video: GAA (highlights), Off The Ball (post-match with Colm Boyle).
Not a whole pile of coverage, admittedly, but that’s a reflection of just how many matches were on yesterday. No harm flying under the radar, I guess.
We’ll have our match review podcast – with special guests Martin Carney and Colm Boyle – online for club members on Patreon today and, of course, our Final Whistle pod went online soon after the match ended yesterday. We’ll also have plenty more podcast content to come in the lead-up to Sunday’s final.
The Man of the Match poll on yesterday’s game is still open as well. Ryan O’Donoghue is out in front once more, as he was every time the ball came in his direction yesterday. The Belmullet powerhouse looks set to claim the gong for the third successive game but the MOTM poll will remain open until this evening so, if you haven’t yet voted, there’s still plenty of time to do so.
I see some outlets have Carr scoring 0-1, others have Ryan down for 1-1, one of them I think has only scoring 18 points if you look at the scorers list. Either which way, we had a nice spread of scorers and a full forward line where everyone scored. Very pleasantly surprised by that result and performance.
The likes of Doc, Carney and Carr really seem to be putting the hand up for a place in the forwards, not to mention the maurading O’Hora. Horan really has developed a nice panel of players and hopefully a balance between defence and attacking play like yesterday can be found. Still to be convinced about unlocking a tough Tyrone or blanket style defence but we are heading in the right direction.
Into a league final which I think is superb preparation for a crack at Galway, testing ourselves against an all Ireland contender. We have no reason to fear Kerry and will be returning to a nice quick pitch in Croker.
The games coming thick and fast is excellent, the players must be really enjoying it as Lee said.
Shoutout to leeroy keegan too for schooling young Hyland yesterday.
It remains one of life’s simple pleasures seeing a highly touted forward in great form coming into a game against mayo only for keegan to spoil the party and put them back in their box
Great result yesterday in a match many were cautious about and maby so but we’re never as good as we are or never as bad as we are in the league and once again it proves you just can’t judge teams in the league as it clearly showed yesterday Monaghan beating Dublin after getting a hiding the week before by a Kildare team that we were always in control of but ever year teams come out of the blocks flying and it’s usually promoted teams and the media jump on them as potential contenders and as the league goes on they start to go back a bit as the resident division 1 teams start to get moving for example Armagh this year and Galway and Roscommon in recent years so that’s why the saying ( it’s only the league) has definitely got merit , so 3 Connaught teams in croker will be interesting to see I think there is a bit of a gulf between division 1 and division 2 so been realistic I wouldn’t be worried about Galway or Roscommon but shurly cautious
Seen a good question asked on another forum , would we rather win a national league title Sunday or the Connaught title? , for me its the Connaught title all day long it would be great to win both but winning Connaught and going through the front door is all that matters
If JH wasn’t arsed about the league and wanted Mayo to get to the Galway game under the radar, the other selectors might be on the naughty step this morning 🙂
I said on here before the match that Mayo might struggle to win. This was based on the brilliantly porformance by the kildare forwards in their previous match against Monoghan and the poor showing by the Mayo forwards against Tyrone.
And even though the kildare forwards did have a decent return with 18 points, (something our defence should be a little worried about) but surprise, surprise, our own guys suddenly found their shooting boots.
What a difference a week makes…roll on the league final!!!
I don’t think there’s any doubt that Mayo were up for that game and wanting to make the league final. My guess is they had the previous game marked for heavy training in the calendar and so had Tyrone who were also no great slakes that day. This weekend both played very well. The weather also helped. Will be harder to pull a blanket over us in Croker which is the only other place Tyrone could meet us this year. It wasn’t so much the blanket anyway as a bad day out.
Would be great if Doc performs well again the next day at FF and reckon Carr would love a cut at Kerry so Orme may be edged out. Nice to see O Hora come up the field with scores, didn’t know he had it in his locker so pretty much every Mayo player is a score taker.
John+McHale – Our forwards get a lot of unfair flak. If it’s an open end to end game, we’ll rack up scores better than anyone. Most of the big games we’ve lost in recent years have been when the opposition stop us from getting into that rhythm. Bad weather lends itself to those low scoring slug fests as well, which doesn’t suit us.
Why not set winning both the league and connacht as goals or are dublin and kerry the only counties that set their goals that high. Kerry outclassed by Tyrone yesterday.
Agree with Supermac about Lee Keegan. For his fine display he gets 52 votes in MOM which is fine considering all the great displays yesterday by other players. But how can someone who comes on with 3 mins plus injury get 18 votes. Doesn’t make sense to me. Do people vote more than once or is that even allowed.
Ontheditch, saying Kerry were outclassed yesterday could be stretching things just a tad ,no ?
You’re allowed to vote for three people, Sticks for the Reek, so some voters obviously like to share the love, which they’re entitled to do. It’s partly my fault, as I include everyone who plays a part in the game (however small) in these polls but I feel this is better than drawing an arbitrary line to exclude some players.
@Paddyjoejohntom, maybe a little, but they did show up vulnerabilities in kerry defence. Kkerry goalkeepers??. How did we do yesterday retaining possession from our kickouts. It was impossible to tell frm the radio show.
On the positive side we created lots of chances. Kildare appeared to be very effective in taking ling range points. Were in a good place for a final at croke park. Get our heads in the right place now…..
Virtually all our restarts went short yesterday, Ontheditch. They didn’t push up on us at all.
Season ticket holders can now download their tickets for next Sunday on Ticketmaster. Section 307 is what I got, around the 65m line on the Hill 16 end. Excellent seats.
Are we a consistent team yet? In my view far from it. So another game is welcome. Success for us is all about us being really consistent at Div 1 teams type level. That’s what gives you the fighting chance of a Sam.
Any chance Mike could get Dara O’Se or Dara O’Cinneide as special guest from Kerry this week??
Don’t worry, Sam Og, Mike is thumbing through his little book of contacts even as we speak. And what a book it it!
Tenacious view we can win both
Anyone else notice how many pundits and commentators are so gentle & meek about the Dubs demotion? The Sunday Game was a joke – they spent 10 years spewing superlatives (and mostly deserved) about the mighty Dubs yet no balance when the sh&t has hit the fan. Why wasn’t Whelan quizzed about the players character etc last night? This is always the ‘go-to’ when slating Mayo. Likewise Anthony Moyles on Off the Ball. They’re all afraid to put the boot in and offend the bulk of their audience.
Thanks wj. Kildare seemed to go long with kickouts and got a good return.
I dont think the Kerry backs will enjoy our style of play. We are capable of opening them up in croker. We just got to get a better scores return from chances created
OntheDitch……..Why not League, Connacht and Sam !
Its a fair incredible change 1st Gen Dub, 15 months after winning 6 all irelands in a row and Dublin are in Division 2. Records show that in modern times, teams do not win all irelands from Division 2. You would imagine the Dubs will just bounce straight up again but its not a great environment to be developing young players that you expect to be quickly at the highest level. It probably helped us but JH seems to be somehow able to fasttrack our young bucks faster than Dublin seem to be able to (or anyone else for that matter)
Decent seats still available in Hogan and Cusack, nice to have a league final as the first live game I’m able to make!
Got the first sunburn of the year in Carrick and clocked up the steps from where I parked!!
Kildare had good return from going long on their kick outs. Can’t figure out why they didn’t push up on our kickouts in the second half . Other teams may learn a bit from that.
Overall delighted with the win .
Panel certainly got a run out so far in the league.
Plenty of starting places up for grabs . Good strong Panel is key to us beating galway.
Think Coen is more solid at 6 than Aiden, although he did well yesterday.
The Connaught Telegraph are reporting that Paddy Durcan could be in contention to make a return for next weekend and that Cillian is flying in Training.
Less positive on Diarmuid and Brendan Harrison.
https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2022/03/28/diarmuid-oconnor-a-major-doubt-for-kerry-showdown/
Now youre talking Marty K. Going to croker on back of promising performance
Thanks for that My Ball. It was guesswork on radio show. I expect kerry will go long but also push up on our kickouts. Kerry keeper very suspect, and defence dont like players running at them. Any news on Hennelly?
Moyles is the worst analyst in Meath
Kerry don’t have a Kevin Feely in midfield who will catch everything, at least not until David Moran returns. The tactics on kickouts yesterday were strange. We pushed up on Kildare, forced them long and Feely won almost everything. Yet they allowed us take short ones all day!
That’s a promising update on Cillian in the Conn Tel. Let’s hope it’s true!
Cillian flying in training ! Diarmuid out for a few wks and not looking good for Harry…
https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2022/03/28/diarmuid-oconnor-a-major-doubt-for-kerry-showdown/
Hello! To all Mayo posts. Kerryman up here in Mayo working.
I was at my county’s game in the majestic setting of Fitzgerald stsdium yesterday. Our goalkeeper is going to cost us big time this year, goalkeeping position is now nearly up there with any position on the pitch in instigating game plan vision and attacking strategy. Midfield did not exist yesterday, as the Covid Evaders (Tyrone) handpass the shit out of the ball, their feigning of injuries and time-wasting by Morgan are a sight for sore eyes, yet Colwick, an experienced referee fell for every trick in the book they used.
Tyrone are the most cynical team out there, they only know in how to play one way, Tyrone cannot and are incapable of playing open pure football. I wish they had been relegated over Dublin.
We have the fastest player right now in the country in Gavin White, eventhough he’s not 100% fit after an injury.
I agree, Clifford is classy, but he’s not the greatest, Gooch Copper was better than he was, at the same age. One thing I will say, Clifford is the best Long range kicker for scores in Ireland, he’s kicks are like Russian hypersonic missiles, unstoppable and cannot be defended, still, he can drift in and out of games, I think he could be and should be better.
Ye will outnumber us by 4/1 on Sunday support wise, we will be wearing our blue trim outfit, which has never been lucky v Mayo, not since 2011. Roscommon, Galway there too, don’t know if ye will all be supporting eachother. I think Mayo will be physically more stronger than us, our defence has improved hugely, I think ye will be more determined to win it too. I’m nudging for a very close affair with Mayo as winners.
The very best of luck! to all Mayo folk and stay safe, safe travelling.
so as things stand, what we thinking the starting xv for galway will look like, ill have a stab…
Hennelly
O’Hora
Keegan
Plunkett
Durcan
S Coen
Mullin
Ruane
Flynn
Carney
Diarmuid
???
Carr
Doherty
ROD
Id be fairly confident on 80% of that lineup, imo there is still one position up for grabs in hf line (anyone of Hession/Boland/AOS/eoghan to take it depending on how we set up)
No 13 very much up for grabs too but i fancy Carr just to pip orme to it
That’s a lovely post Micro, with some shrewd observations on Tyrone – and Kerry too.
Not so sure Rossies or Galway folk will be hanging around to lend us support, but you never know.
Pity about diarmaid probably got another bit of a tweet from his previous injury best thing now is to let him settle and be ready for Galway, cillian will most probably get a run out Sunday in some shape or form is what Iv heard , most definitely no reason what do ever we can’t win all that’s in front of us , great to see carr get some game time another start on Sunday against a tight defense might bring him on further, with paddy coming back things look like there coming along nicely fingers ,arms ,legs and toes crossed
Gooch was more accurate, but Clifford is more suitable to the modem game and has ten yards further range. I think Clifford is and will be the best of all time.
I think both managers are going to go hammer and tongs to win this league final. It should, hopefully be a fiercely contested final. I’m predicting it to be better than any championship game we are likely to get in 2022.
Agree 100% with all Micko said there about Clifford. Great score taker with the tendency to drift in and out of games.
The injuries are a curse. We’ll have to soldier on and hope that the O’Connor’s will be back within the month.
@JP. Some days Clifford doesn’t even look to be the best player on the Kerry team, nevermind the best of all time.
@Revellino, that’s applicable to many players. How about Clifford getting the goals from play per game record last year? And the most consecutive games with a goal? And the amount of games he is motm?
Clifford has a lot to do to fill gooch`s boots but hes going in the right direction.
The admission alone will be worth it Sunday to see Ryan and Clifford in action. The two best forward`s in the country.
Well that’s the career achievements factor.
With a transfer market of any player last twenty years I’m confident Clifford would be the most popular choice.
If we had a player of Clifford’s ability over the last 10 years – averaging 4-5 points from play in every game he plays – I have no doubt we would have 2 or 3 all Irelands in the bag.
@JP. Based on this does Clifford have to score more than 4-9 in a single game to become a better player than Cillian O’Connor.
Jamie Vardy a few years back broke a record for scoring in more consecutive games than anyone else. It didn’t make him the best player in the premiership.
I suppose people have their own favourites and I’m not saying that Clifford isn’t a fine footballer.
I just think that sometimes he is over hyped.
Not his own fault by the way.
I’ve seen his own brother outshine him on quite a few occasions.
Not sure I’d share all the negative opinions on David Clifford being over-hyped. Mind you like Cillian and a number of other fantastic players he has no all Ireland medal so perhaps judgement there should be applied equally.
Personally I think he’s a class act and is dangerous any time he gets the ball within his pretty extensive scoring range. I think it was Billy Joe that mentioned in one of the podcasts that you have to accept that he’s going to score 4 or 5 from play and the best way to manage him is damage limitation.
Sunday will be very different.Kerry play a mass Northern style defence and rocket quick transition to their full forward line.
They entered give us the space we got from Kildare at all
Clifford relies alot on strength and power.Cooper never did.If you can find a guy to stand him up you might have a chance and that’s not easy.Amazing footballer would love to have him.
Is the bring a friend option gone from the season tickets? Literally asking for a friend ?
” Clifford has alot to do to fill Gooch’s boots”. If people are saying that because he hasn’t won a senior All Ireland ,then maybe. But outside of that, he’s already filled Gooch’s boots, 3 times over …
@Paddyjoejohntom its easy to pick and choose parts of a sentence and take your own spin on it.
I said “Clifford has a lot to do to fill Gooch`s boots but hes going in the right direction” why leave out the last part ?
I would have no issue taking Clifford into any team, he is still maturing as a player but has all the skills. He is such a marked man and is expected to deliver every game which can create such mental pressure but he seems to manage it very well. He is still very young to be the player to carry a team. If he continues to develop then we will be privileged to watch him.
ROD is great and is under estimated nationally given that he is a Mayo forward, will be good to see both next Sunday. I would not compare them, any team would like to have both in their FF line.
Clifford is an excellent footballer but he also didnt have enough in him to make the difference in 2019 to stop dublin winning 5 in a row . id argue con o callaghan and dean rock produced the goods a little moreso.
Wayne, I do not see the bring a friend option anymore.
Match review pod is now up on Patreon for club members. Rob, Mike and me, with Martin Carney and Colm Boyle.
I’ll look into Cliffords key stats to date. Quite a few records already I’d say particularly around goals, highest scorer from play, consecutive goals. Take such a body of work over many games and it is evidence towards making greatness judgements. Not singular games.
Clifford is a class act. Clearly the best forward in the game currently and assuming he avoids injury, will go down as the best ever.
You can point to an odd game where his brother or Sean O’Shea out perform him, but they are the exception.
Sorry if I offend anyone,but I’ve heard enough Clifford talk on here.We have plenty of our own lads to talk about,and let James and co worry about the Kerry challenge.
JKEL88, because the line ” he’s going in the right direction ” would refer to something happening in the future. Thats why i didnt include that line.
To me, he has Already surpassed Gooch’s brilliance.
I think Clifford is outstanding. That 2019 final, I believe he was 19 years old at most. Pretty sure he won a penalty, got Jonny Cooper sent off and scored a number of points from play. What more could he have done. Tore us apart in Killarney that year too.
Against Tyrone last year he was absolutely sublime, and Kerry would probably have won had he not gotten injured. They would have won if they were better organised in defence anyways.
If we had Clifford, we would have probably won a couple of All Irelands. I love our lads, but this guy is different gravy
@Mayo Focus.
Kerry were beaten a couple of years ago in the Munster semi final by a team who barely avoided the drop yesterday to division three.
The supposed ” best player of all time ” failed to score from play that day.
If he got one point itself from play he might have saved them that day, but as a Kerry man said earlier on the thread, his consistency isn’t guaranteed.
The Gooch for sure had way more natural talent and put us to the sword more than once, when it really mattered. On AI final day.
Revellino – Clifford got 4 points, 3 from play in that defeat to cork. The fact everyone thinks he was poor in that game shows what his usual standard is.
@Revellino. It’s been made pretty clear that it’s a total nonsense to judge a player based on one game. It’s a body of work over seasons.
Let’s hope we dont gave the farce we had in Tralee when both teams changed to avoid a colour clash – and ended up creating another colour clash.
The obvious this is a coin toss with the winner keeping their traditional jersey and other team changing.
Leroy and Ryan named in the team of the week.
The good news with Ryan is that I think there is more to come from him and that is really saying something because he is already a superb player.
@ Wideball. You are correct about that match.
It was actually last year that had it in my head.
Kerry hammered Cork 4-22 to 1-9 and I think Clifford ended up with 1 point which he scored from a free.
By the way, I’m not disagreeing that Clifford is not a very good footballer but I wouldn’t be calling him the best of all time.
Even in yesterday’s match I think it was a Tyrone man that stole the show.
In the drawn 2019 AI final Sean O’Shea ended up with 10 points and Clifford scored 2. They got 5 apiece in the replay but ended up well beaten.
I’m sure someday both O’Shea and Clifford will get their AI’s I just hope they wait their turn because we’re planning on winning it this year please God.
After we do the business and win our All Ireland and our lads collect their medals, I’ll happily watch Oshea and Clifford win theirs.
I was in contact with my county board today, so we ( Kerry) will be wearing blue for Sunday. They told me this. Thats been confirmed by them, I really don’t know what ye ( Mayo) will be wearing. Seems daft, both teams wearing their dark trim like it was down home in Tralee. It was hard to make out the teams in the rain under floodlights. Wouldn’t be as difficult on a dry day under natural light. Still shouldn’t happen though.
@Paddyjoejohntom
Fair enough if you think Clifford has already passed Gooch`s brilliance, but for me Gooch is the greatest player i have seen in the flesh.
willie Joe,, I see that Kerry will wear the same colour Jersey that they wore in Tralee. I sincerely hope we don’t wear the dark colour one we had the same night . It was so difficult to differentiate from a distance. Give me the green and red anyday ! Did we nii oh t wear those Kerry colours when we beat them a few years ago?
I share that same concern, Michael – I found it difficult at times to differentiate between the teams down in Tralee as well. The rule – a daft one – is that both teams play in their alternate strip so for us it’s that black number while, as you say, they’ll be in a strip very similar to the one we beat them in back in 2019.
Love the green and red, or the red and green we used to play in. Or even the white of Connaught. Not a fan of the black or the blue Jersey.
2019.. League Final, Kerry played in the StarTreck inspired little Gold number designed by a famous, Kerry exfootballer, I suspect that they were rustproof but it didn’t Galvanise the Kerry team on that day, and Captain Kerry did not lift the cup on that occasion, .. Warp Speed 7, back to the Kingdom, back to the drawing board, because whatever about losing, them Jerseys take some forgetting . .. Mayo played in a delightful Blue creation inspired no doubt by the seats in McHale Park..
I fully concur Leantimes, our startrek jersey ‘designed’ by my relation, Paul Galvin, I don’t think he can actually draw / sketch at all, I can, its my livelihood was pretty disgusting. The gold was the wrong shade and variant, no thanks to O’ Neills. The mostly black with gold was a beauty of a jersey. But I will not miss that Black n’ Tan obscenity of a ‘ gold’ jersey. It looked more like a bad aftercourse of dirty protest of curry in Long Kesh prison.
We had nicer jersey’s in the past, the first county to use a silk jersey in GAA in 1981.
I remember that 1981 number, Micko – if I’m not mistaken it was by Adidas and there was a minor kerfuffle about it because of this.
Spot on! Willie Joe, caused a lot of outrage alright, hence, it was a precursor to the O’ Neills v Adidas Three stripes v Two stripes Court ruling in 1986. Micko O’ Dwyer was definitely anti establishment of GAA HQ, hence they never cared for him. O’ Dwyer was GPA before there was any GPA, he really cared about the players. Look at O’ Neills today, stingey, lazy designers playing musical chairs with copy and paste designs and colours for templates county gear. Make them more individual. Bespoke is a word that is sadly not in the O’ Neills vocabulary area of design.
Agree there Micko. I think the Mayo jersey gets worse every year.
Have to agree there Micko on the copy and paste templates. The Mayo away jersey appears to be the only one with any sort of a unique design, and that was designed by a child.