Lookit, you don’t really want to see these and I certainly could have done without the trauma of having to gather them all together. But it’s Monday, there was a match involving us yesterday so here’s a taste of what’s online about it.
Locals: Mayo Advertiser, Connaught Telegraph, Western People.
Nationals: Irish Examiner, Irish Times, Irish Independent, Irish Mirror (live blog, match report), Irish Sun.
Others: GAA, RTÉ (match report, post-game quotes), Sky Sports, The 42, Leitrim Observer.
Photos: Inpho, Sportsfile.
Video: GAA.
Stats: GAA Statsman.
That’s your lot – off with you now and enjoy your Monday. No, now that you ask, I don’t plan to enjoy it much either.
I don’t plan on reading any of these, though it can be a catarthic exercise.
Wouldn’t have fancied trawling through those to post them here, so credit where it’s due WJ. Wouldn’t envy you that job!
I was working shift yesterday and was tuned in to the wireless. In these local derbies it’s all about the start. Heaney’s goal was a matchwinner – even at such an early stage. Aido fell asleep at the wheel big time – psychologically, game over. O’Hara was so biased in his commentary – not a question of Galway winning it, but Mayo losing it. It has been a tough week for Galway Gaa and we are naturally delighted with a win. We’re not so delusional to think we can win Sam – that’s for David Clifford and Co. this year. But having been in Limerick the year Mayo humiliated us, it is a little consolation. Both teams need to improve a lot – but it’s good for Connaught football that it’s so competitive.
Enjoyed the day out yesterday. Disappointed with the performance & well done to Galway.
Who knows what could happen yet, the both of these teams could be taking a spin through the back door!
Hope Oisins injury isn’t serious.
The sunshine today is softening the blow – see ye all in the whirlwind that will be the back door. Up Mayo.
First time I saw Mayo loose both through ins. Lots of players off the pace. AIDO too slow as a sweeper. Goalie did well over all.
The county board need to set out a set minimum requirements for the next mgr backroom team.
part of that being an offensive and defensive coach.
Lads who have played in the FB line and FF line. Mayo haven’t scored a goal in last 3 championship matches.
The ability to defend our box is a bit of a joke at the this point. The one yesterday, the one that came back off the upright against Gal last year, Tyrone’s in AI and the multitude of other poor goals over the last 10 years.
We don’t protect our goal and don’t score goals the other end
I’ll need to watch it back to properly assess matchups but who on earth was tagging conroy, he absolutely dominated, kicking points, dominant in the air and on the ground.
Flynn was badly missed yesterday as Ruane had his worst game in a mayo Jersey and AOS seemed to be positioning himself in some weird pointless position in front of fullback line.
The galway keeper was clearly such a weak link on kickouts it was frustrating we couldn’t take advantage
6 weeks is a long time away, let some of them off to play with their clubs to blow off some steam
@Man of Aran.
I’d say congratulations and enjoy the win over us.
Especially enjoy it for what it is.
I think yea deserved to win overall.
Yea celebrated like yea had got all the lotto numbers.
The Galway lads were well primed and even had the time wasting and lying down well rehearesed.
Dublin would have been proud of yea.
Enjoy the celebrations like I said and remember, it won’t be the last time this year yea will spend half the match lying on your holes, because the first decent team that has half a game plan are going to show yea that real football matches, in the melting pot, are won by the team playing football and on their feet and not by the team feigning injuries and lying on their holes.
Unfortunately for us yesterday, we didn’t have a good enough game plan, too many missing players and we played poorly.
The time wasting got yea over the line yesterday but won’t work when yea are 10 points down to a Kerry or Dublin.
Game lost that should have been won, R O D should have been left on the frees, Lee Keegan should be played in halfback line, Aiden O Shea should be used in second half from now on only, Again line far too slow in making switches and then not making the correct ones, when will we ever learn.
People keep saying we have 6 weeks till the next match which is incorrect. Our next match is on the 21st of may . Would say that’s 4 weeks
Not bitter at all there revellino?
Manofaran has been fairly magnanimous in victory or do you only want to hear red n green tinted views
…also I don’t think we can afford to be snippy about diving especially after the black card incident
Keith Duggan sums it up “Galway played smarter football “.
We, of course, played the opposite, stupid football, the same stupid football we’ve been playing for 12 months.
We will be out in the next round if we meet an Ulster team, or if we don’t change our game plan .
Doherty had a dive, Cillian O’connor ran across a player and got him a black card and Ryan O’Donoghue seems to hit the deck every time he gets the ball. I don’t have an issue with any of it by the way Revellino.
I’d be more annoyed with a Galway player going near O’connor when they were running or leaving a hand in and making it easier for the ref to give a free. The better teams as you say(Tyrone) will make you work for scores not get caught for frees. And Galway aren’t great, won’t win a whole pile but we were full value for that win yesterday and should have won by more.
First of all congratulations to Galway, they took some fine scores yesterday and generally looked a bit sharper than us. If they can add a bit of doggedness to their artisans in the forward line, I think they can go a long way in the championship.
As for us, it was always going to be a difficult task, given the amount of nailed-on championship starters we are missing at the moment. A few others, like the O’Connors and Eoghan McLoughlin, are understandably a bit ginger having had injury lay-offs.
But even given that, we looked quite stale and bereft of ideas going forward yesterday. Horan has done a lot of good for Mayo football, but he has never worked out how to pierce a massed defence, and our attacking half back line often leaves us vulnerable to quick counter attacks when we are turned over. And so it proved again yesterday.
I think perhaps we are persisting with a hard running game plan which was grand for the twenty-something turbos of a decade ago, but these guys are a decade older now and are still (mostly) our most important players.
It also has to be said that some of the flaws on show yesterday perhaps reflect some of the flaws in our youth development system rather than JH’s coaching. How many Mayo footballers were afraid to shoot for points off their weaker foot yesterday? How many basic handpasses went astray? Our spatial awareness in the forward line has always been poor, in the three decades or so I have followed Mayo. Goalscoring is also an issue, and we remain very dependent on Ryan/Cillian for scores off frees, and Robbie Hennelly for 45s.
Come to think of it, in terms of outfield players we haven’t produced a reliable place-kicker (off the ground) since Maurice Sheridan, who retired in 2003, if I remember correctly. Shane Walsh demonstrated yesterday that this can be the winning and losing of a game, if your kicker is on-form.
How many points from play did we score yesterday, five or six? Not good enough at this level.
It will be a hard slog through the qualifiers now, and personally I think we can forget about really challenging for Sam in the next few years. But hopefully the six week layoff might be beneficial in getting back some of the short-term layoffs (Oisín Mullin’s hammer was another awful one).
@Onemoreyear. I’m not fully sure but I’d imagine it depends on how many Division 1 and 2 teams get knocked out of the championship. If there isn’t more than 8, then the preliminary round in May won’t be required?Open to clarification on this!
Bitter stuff Revellino
They were a long long way ahead right up to injury time and only they and their goalie crapped the bed a bit brought it close near the end. We had the bad luck of injuries but we also got the rub of the decisions. We had more than enough possession we just did nothing with it and they did
Actually Supermac.
I don’t think we go around feigning injuries at all.
Sure isn’t that why we always give out about not been able to close games out.
We don’t really do time wasting. We keep playing the game, and yes it probably has lost us games but it has won us games as well.
Am I been critical about the amount of feigning injuries and time wasting that Galway pulled off yesterday.
Yes.
Am I been disrespectful to Galways win.
No.
I’m just commenting on the amount of trickery that Galway used yesterday to get themselves over the line.
Culmore Cillian is our free taker end of story.
Why are you trying to make something out of nothing.10 points yesterday between them.
Cillian and Ryan are not the problem
@highorlow The same football we played each year under James Horan.
It doesn’t work.
I’m of the view it’s grinding our players mentally and physically.
Michael Murphy would struggle to make our team.
“Oh the madness, see that mad post”
Murphy would struggle to make our team because our team requires a physically grinding democracy for all 14 outfield players with no game plan to use a target man to relieve mileage on the legs. Murphy would just face a blanket and get critiqued for not covering enough ground.
Pressure, pressure, pressure, push up, push up.
Onemoreyear – that’s only the case if a preliminary round is needed in the qualifiers which, by the looks of it, won’t. That would only be required if a team that would otherwise be headed for the Tailteann Cup qualifies for a provincial final, in which case they get added to the Sam Maguire list, creating the knock-on effect of having to have one preliminary round match. 21st May has been fixed for such a match (and there only would be one match) if it’s needed but it’s unlikely it will. So Saturday 4th June remains almost certainly the date when we’re in action next, six weeks from last Saturday.
PS Just seen Conor W’s post now, which is correct on this too.
The Mayo C team didn’t play particularly well and only lost by a point.This Galway team are nowhere near as good as I thought they were,that’s disappointing for them,wouldn’t be surprised if Roscommon turn them over.
Mayo with a bit of a break and a few lads back will be playing later in the summer than Galway as usual.
We’ll still be involved when big boy football is being played in July.
Best report in the Irish Sun
I thought I was seeing things when Liverpool’s match was first up in the Western People. Which brings me to Johnny Giles point on managers when he says that 90% of a good managers job is picking the right players for their system of play. Over the years we have always had one or two players that we persisted with that were not up to the mark. They must like bad horses great on the gallops but not on the race track and the bookies driving the big cars.
We’re not going to do much this year if we’re not even creating goal chances let alone scoring them. I’ll eat my hat if we make a Semi this year.
1st round of qualifiers should look similar to this assuming Tyrone make UF: Mayo, Armagh, Derry, Monaghan, Cork, Limerick, Meath, Louth
4 Ulster teams to avoid if you want to include Louth.
Clare could be a potential opponent in the next round (if they get past Tip). A chance to bury 2018 with Kildare and a replay with Galway also on the cards? Donegal/Tyrone as the trap door
Should be fun..
@revellino
you are living a sheltered life if you think every team in the country doesn’t employ such tricks, call it ‘cuteness’ or game management or whatever but its part and parcel of the game and mayo have plenty of lads (cillian, o hora and Lee especially) who are streetwise too.
Maybe a bit of self reflection on where things went wrong would be more helpful than blaming opposition/referees/media/conspiracies etc
WJ. Well five1st and 2nd division teams in Ulster so 3 will goes into the qualifier + Mayo .. 4 Leinster teams in top 2 divisions so 2 will have to go into the qualifiers.4 Munster in top 2 divisions so 2 will have to go through the qualifiers. so that’s a Minimum of 8. Got to be qualifiers on the 21st.
There were a number of occasions yesterday when we were 25, 30 yards out with a chance to shoot .. we didn’t.
On one such occasion Diarmuid who did very well yesterday, kicked it over the bar. Eamon Fitz said that he had added this to his game. I am not surprised that he said this because it has been a while, but as many have, he forgets Diarmuid is a natural point scorer and kicked some monsters in 2019 for example. We saw he was getting back to that this year. He is a prime example as to why our half forward line has been an issue for so long. This is not an attack on him. I’m a massive fan.
We have had plenty of scoring half forwards Loftus being another one, converted in to lads who end up working between the 2 45s up and down up and down.
The instinct and confidence to go for goal slowly evaporates and that spreads.
Paul Galvin spotted the problem with this one plan of attacking half backs 10 years ago. The opposition filter back and yer forwards have no space.
In the league game against Dublin this year, I saw a glimmer of change. Long diagonal kick passing to space.. I thought okay, that’s new.. well that’s gone.
Dublin, Kerry, Donegal, Armagh, Roscommon Galway (i can go on) .., have half forwards that will kick over the blanket .. we had the chances…
Please, for the love of Jesus can we pick three lads in the half forwards that can score AND LEAVE THEM THERE.
Plunkett, Diarmuid and Ryan… Try that. Lads, have a go. Throw the shackles off.
The few weeks off might suit, but there will be no soft draw to ease back. A plan B has to be worked on. If it isn’t it’ll be time for a new set up.
That’s the exact number likely to be involved in Round 1 of the qualifiers, onemoreyear. It’s only if a Division 3 or 4 team makes a provincial final (which, as I’ve already said, looks unlikely) that ONE preliminary qualifier tie will be needed on 21st May and, even if this is needed, we may not be pulled from the hat for it.
Galway certainly played smarter football. Forget all the nonsense about a good team will hammer Galway etc. That’s only a means of deflecting and neither here nor there.
It was a Galway v Mayo game and Galway played smarter football, had a game plan that exploited Mayo weaknesses, managed the game the way they had to (killed momentum with injuries etc) and got their win.
We can blow a team away in 10 mins with momentum and passion. They were determined not to let us get into that zone.
We are Dublin prior to 2013/2015, we can blow a team away but we can also be found out because we dont have proper systems. Mayo people dont want proper systems, they dont want men behind the ball like Galway had or like Kerry are now starting to do or like Tyrone did to win an all Ireland.
Systems take time to develop. At the moment, Mayo people dont have that patience and dont want to watch that kind of football.
I count 5 turn overs leading to galway scores in the first 20 mins of the second half yesterday. Alot of peoples answer to that is to run harder into the Galway defence or kick the ball into it – meanwhile we are completely unstructured if the ball is lost because we are in an attack formation.
While people may not like it, and while certain people heavily criticised the under 20 team for it, if met with a packed defence you cannot turnover the ball.
@Mayo2022 Some truth to what you say, some.
I would say the bigger frustration is we basically a 14 outfield player chaos in attack and defence.
I watched the Donegal Armagh game.
Both teams were much better than us in how their attack was coached. Now, Armagh butchered chances but this was some poor shooting and good defending, but the approach play was good.
Our approach play in attack is not Horanball, it’s the shuffle ball part of Horanball once the ball is advanced inside the opposition 40 yards. Teams drop off not inside the 45, it’s deeper, 5 yards inside the 45. They know we are happy to run it on into the wings 25 yards from the end line.
We’ve no kicking game or attacking plays.
Mayo have won 2 out of the last 7 Connacht titles at senior level.
Mayo have won 2 out of the last 13 connacht titles at under 20/21 level. I thought it was 3 out of 13 but appears to be 2 out of 13.
Mayo have won 1 out of the last 7 connacht minor titles.
I don’t agree with all tactics. I think JH has been great but may be need for new blood after this year.
But we should start to consider what these managers are dealing with in terms of talent versus the talent in other counties.
Such a limited amount of connacht titles at under 20 and minor level cannot be the fault of all the various managers at those levels over the last 7 to 10 years.
We all need to put the shoulder to the wheel
WJ. Your correct on the qualifiers. Sorry my info was wrong. This gives us a better chance of getting players back from injury.
Well done Galway. Slap a ban on all back door permutation talk WJ and save the headache. But….out of stupid curiosity, if Leitrim were to beat Galway, could we play Galway in back door round 1? Is it completely open door draw? Probably a more relevant question – if Cavan beat Donegal, could Donegal potentially face Monaghan again in back door round 1?
There’s absolutely nothing “disappointing” for Galway yesterday, that win was absolutely humongous for them. They’d have taken an underserved one point win with a few fluke goals if offered it right from when this draw was made. Its a results business, and this result is their most significant of the Joyce era. They’ll have one heck of a spring in their step this week, and good luck to them
In fact, we could be looking back on it in time as a big watershed moment for them under Joyce
In truth they were 6 or 7 better than us and getting over the line in their biggest win in 2018 will only galvanise them going forward.
Dare I say it with the exception of Leitrim it will only get tougher for them from here on though.
Horan is rightly criticised at times but he worked absolute wonders getting this group of players to two finals in a row the last two seasons, on paper we’re no more than 6th or 7th best in the country (maybe that’s even being generous, our forwards aren’t top 10 in the country as a unit) and sadly that’s now being reflected in actual results and performances, which was always going to happen eventually. We don’t hold a candle to the class of 2012-17 these days. And that’s understandable.. all teams (even Kerry and Dublin) go through varying spells of form from decade to decade.
In truth it was time Galway bet us, they should have done so two years ago, and in last year ‘s game Walsh and Kelly going off early was a huge turning point. But now they’ve got their win – and Comer and Conroy are in the form of their lives – they could build up a serious head of steam
A fair few bitter comments on this since yesterday – although in fairness the majority are very well measured – I think some are privately very worried seeing the run Galway have ahead of them.. if they win Connacht and all goes to plan in the other provinces, they only really have Tyrone standing in their way of a final, and as solid a side as they are, they are far from world beaters (in truth they took advantage in a sub standard covid-hit season last year)
Any team with Shane Walsh, Paul Conroy and Damien Comer have a shout.. proven consistent top class players and match winners. Conroy is a lesson to anyone, playing the ball of his life at 33, and after being dogged with injuries.
No worries, onemoreyear! The extra few weeks should be of benefit to us alright, though, as others are pointing out, we need to see a fresh approach tactics-wise too if we’re to make progress this year.
Culmore , Game lost that should have been won , did you watch the game we were 2nd best in every department
I don’t get the bitterness towards Galway for this win, to be honest. And I grew up 5 miles from the Galway border!! Past games, 2016 to 2018 especially in the league, we had reason to gripe, but not yesterday. Galway, from side-line to the players on the pitch were far cuter than us and were a 5 to 6 point better team. Don’t let our very late surge of points cloud what was a braindead performance, on many fronts. The naivety in our play, coupled with the lack of alternative plans when our one and only plan was not working, all contributed to a sound beating.
In any game you are taught to play your opponent, play the ref and play the conditions (e.g. the weather, the pitch, the clock). Galway were fully entitled to try and buy time in any way they could get away with it. From their own kick outs, to rolling balls onto the field (and slowly handpassing them back off!) to delay our own kick outs, to feigning injury. These are all tricks of the trade, it’s senior intercounty football and people would want to stop whinging about it. It’d pay us better to be more annoyed at our own performance that saw us 6 points down, in both halves, scoreless from play until the 18th minute, had an extra man for 10mins and only drew level on the 28th minute! Once Galway knew that Coldrick was not going to punish them they kept at it. Being extra cute, they regularly clutched their heads knowing that Coldrick had no option then but to stop play.
We were soundly beaten so it’s time to take stock and look at the reasons WHY we were beaten instead of looking for excuses about injured players, Galway timewasting and not enough added time. Sometimes the real reasons for defeat are much closer to home.
Super post Pebblesmeller
Anyone know what pathway we reside on in the qualifiers, ie is it fully open draw? Could we meet gakway again in qf or are we in the kerry/dublin half of draw now
Can anyone tell me the last score we got in championship against a division one team where we had a kickpass inside followed by a handpass layoff bsck to an incoming runner moving into a shooting space?
2017 final we had such scores. In the Horan era part 2. Have we one example of what Galway managed around six times yesterday in a single game?
The lack of this basic move is killing our attacking ability.
By 7 minutes yesterday, 4 Galway starting forwards had scored from play.. only 3 starting Mayo forwards scored from play the whole match yesterday
Comer became their 5th not long after that either
Stats don’t get much more sobering than that from a Mayo POV
No team in Ireland, including Kerry, could suffer the number of injuries we have had to cope with and remain competitive. So surely the big question is what is wrong with our strength and conditioning programme that seems to lead to all these injuries. No matter how good the game plan is, it cannot be implemented without some of your best players, including for a long period the top scorer ever in the championship
Very disappointed again, frustrated that we don’t seem to learn. Galway looked at what Tyrone did last year copy and paste and we were bet. Gave us our kick out let us run to their 45 and they packed it out. No direct or fast ball into forwards at any stage. Felt early on we needed a better defensive system, that was a poor goal to concede – sweeper type set up when not in possession is needed. Our gameplan for Comer, Walshe and Conroy wasn’t good enough and they won the game for them. Looking at the bigger picture the break I feel will suit Mayo and give time to get players back and fit. Tactically though will we improve ? this has been JH’s downfall but we’ll live in hope for some learnings… Galway are average enough and may struggle to beat the Rossie’s but I dont see them going much further
When you leave three days grazing of space in front of Comer at Galway frees around the middle, well, you have no defensive plan.
Our defensive plan relies on team trying to run the ball through us..
So flat from Mayo yesterday, team was flat, crowd was flat (as a result), strange derby game.
The frustration is that we knew exactly how Galway would play and yet played in to their hands. Of our 6 starting forwards there were only 2 that have any real speed (Carr and ROD, both of whom did well) so how would we break down that packed defence? We dont have reliable shooters from 30y+ and we dont have a long range free taker. Whomever we draw in the qualifers will surely set up the same way as Galway becuase if you limit Mayo to 013-16 points, mosts teams in Div 1 and 2 will outscore them. Mayo are almost gauranteed to give up at least 1 or 2 goals per game as we will play man on man regardless of opposition.
The visitors didn’t edge it yesterday. The visitors schooled us in our own backyard yesterday. They eased off and let us back in towards the end, no panic, they had it won. Way too much disrespect for a great Galway performance yesterday full of hunger and fight epitomised by Damien Comer. We’re too predictable under James Horan. 3 big games in a row now where we were found out. Get Stephen Rochford back at the end of this season or find another coach who can bring this group further with more variation of tactics. All teams have to cope with injuries. We had no excuses yesterday. Galway were miles ahead of us. Congratulations to them.
There was a glimmer of hope when we played a kicking game against Dublin in the league and more importantly the lads seemed to gel…passionate play. Certainly we seem to have just gone backwards in every game since. This constant hand passing and back passing is sucking the life out of the game …but ..we seem to have to do it to suit the pace of some players. Goals win matches lads and we are not able to manufacture them. From listening to a lot of people today I feel that the All Ireland loss against Tyrone is slowly but surely in the fans minds and I dont think the management team will see a second forgiveness if we continue on this trajectory. Injuries or not – we have a massive panel so other lads either stand up and be counted and earn your shirt.
@Greennred – Galway were not miles ahead of us and they didnt school us. They were the team with a game plan and a well executed one even though they nearly threw the game away twice. We shot 12 wides and dropped 2 shots short and lost by 1 point, we had plenty of chances to win it and we didn’t deserve to.
As for getting rid of horan mid season and getting Stephen rochford in for the rest of it that is up there with one of the daftest things i have read in the past 24 hours.
I agree we are to predictable under Horan and i was holding out for hope that we had a plan B for the championship, yesterday proved that we didn’t take any learning from last years all Ireland defeat. The game was lost on the sideline, once we made changes in the forwards we had a rally towards the end but it was too late. Jack Carney and Kevin McLoughlin came on after 60 mins when we were 6 points down, both should have been in for Loftus and Doherty at half time.
I also would like to know why the game plan implemented against the Dubs in Feb was all but abandoned? That was the most comfortable and cohesive I’ve seen us play this year and it worked. But now we’ve gone back to this laborious hand-passing game that simply isn’t going to win anything.
Against Dublin in February they left their full back line completely exposed 1 v 1, which Galway didn’t. We also had hennelly and Flynn on the pitch which meant more long kickouts resulting in quicker ball into the forwards.
This talk of our forwards not being good enough after every defeat is lazy analysis to be honest. ROD was the most dangerous inside forward on show yesterday when he got on ball. James Carr got 2 points from play, more than any of the much vaunted Galway FF line. Cillian was much sharper than I thought he’d be after such a long absence and Diarmuid was very good in the HF line.
Paul Conroy was the key man between the 3 points from play and his kick passing. The fact we’d no real plan to mark him was crazy. That kind of detailed role would have been ideal for Stephen Coen IMO. Mattie Ruane was a big disappointment considering how well he usually plays vs Galway.
Substitutions were made far too late. Even though Kevin McLoughlin had a poor league, he had to be brought on early in the 2nd half along with Carney. We pissed away over 20 minutes just going sideways along their 45.
Along with Conroy, the other key difference was obviously free taking. Don’t think letting Ryan take them would have made a difference either. Hennelly seems the only one confident of hitting a long range free off the ground and none of the citógs seem capable of taking a free from the right!
The Dublin game was great, but the kicking there was allowed due to them going man for man and leaving less cover if I remember correctly. I’m not expecting even with a kicking game for us to always get ahead of a blanket set-up, and so I can see why recycling the ball will be needed as possession is crucial / turnovers in particular are deadly (we’ve had as much confirmed by loads of guests on the podcast including Rochford). The problem is we do get turned over in centre a lot and suffer as a result, something which doesn’t seem to have been fixed. The injuries are going to massively upset any teams plan given how many 1st team players are out, but hopefully the next 6 weeks will give the team and management some really breathing space to see what else can be done if enough of those players aren’t back / fully fit. We’ve got a have a Plan B anyway
Agree with posters above, the kicking v Dublin in the league cannot be compared to the Galway game. Dublin had a 1 v1 non existent defence with alot of space for our inside forwards. Galway had blocked up the passing channels.
The lack of a plan for Galway key men was and is mind boggling. Eamon Fitzmaurice suggested we were rotating players on Walsh. To be honest, I think that was being polite.
Walsh and Conroy had the run of the pitch and no player seemed to be specifically assigned to man mark either – hard to believe you would allow a player like Shane Walsh to roam free
What’s the obsession with getting Rochford back BTW? Do people not remember his attempts at beating Galway? There was certainly no great kicking strategy in those games either.
@wide ball
Yeah I would kind of agree with you when saying ‘fowards not being good enough’ is lazy analysis, instead I would rephrase it as our ‘attacking play not being good enough’, Carr and rod were actually 2 of our better performers yesterday even though they were living on scraps. There is no creativity or variation further out the field in our attacking play, just endless runs from deep into crowded areas on the 40. Tyrone will vary it with a mix of kicking or attacking from the wings. Kerry players are all 2 footed so they can kickpass as well as do hard runs. We have only 1 way of playing under JH and far better managers than joyce will have worked it out by now
@wide ball
There is a weird obsession in mayo with getting previous managers back, we done it with Maughan/o mahony/horan and now everyone calling for Rochford. Rewriting history that all these men were the answer when none of them got us over the line.
Do people realise managing mayo previously is not a pre requisite.
Fwiw I would be looking for jim mcguinness whenever horan leaves, he has the cv and he definitely has the ego that would be required
Well said Pebblesmeller
It would have been robbery if we had won that in the end . Galway were better than us in every Dept . Especially the sideline
The players were fitter, sharper and hungrier .
That’s the most worrying aspect for me
Something isn’t right ……
Well done to Galway. Heaney again. The injury situation is not helping and another 6 weeks off will help with that provided the training isn’t too mental and we don’t pick up more.
The Galway lads time management, while frustrating, is part of the game whether we like it or not.
But two big defeats in 3 weeks can’t be helping with morale.
@JKEL88 – I think they were well ahead of us. Plenty of our wides down to pressure from Galway. I didn’t say change Horan before the end of the season. Agree strongly on subs, far too late. He’s getting on in year’s, hadn’t a great league, limited gametime but I’d start Kevin McLoughlin every day. His pace has slowed but his brain and decision making is what’s needed. A bit of kicking game where he can pull the strings is worth a go. But we’d still use the running tactics and Galway had us sussed. Too many looking at the last 15 minutes as a gauge from yesterday. Galway had it well won before that. Tactics need to change for the qualifier round.
Any Galway fans know the story with Paul Kelly? Presume he’s coming back from an injury? There’s surely no way he has genuinely regressed to their 4th or 5th choice sub?
If he regains full form and fitness he’ll be a serious asset to them, and his clubmate McLaughlin (assume injured yest) looks a real star in the making also
Also think there’s a serious footballer waiting to break out in McDaid, he showed some good glimpses yesterday, he was a real star at underage level but has stalled a bit with injuries since coming back from Oz.
The other side of all that is that Matthew Tierney has had a few disappointing days now in big games – but has bags of potential and is still very young. There’s certainly enough talent in the county to win an All Ireland in the coming years imo
@supermac definitely someone who has won one anyway
Full of the joys of championship anticipation on Friday I made my way into Elverys in Ballina to buy myself a nice new hat to keep the sun out of my eyes over the long and fruitful summer ahead. Only to leave it behind on the terraces on its first outing, amidst the disappointment at that performance.
But at least I have a nice photo of it now!!
There’s a correlation I’ve noticed between where we find ourselves now, and the last days of Joe Schmidt’s Ireland. I appreciate they’re entirely different sports, but there’s a staleness about our play, that seems to be rooted in an overly rigid game plan, that would appear to lead to players taking less risks. Now before anyone points out to me that Aidan Orme took a significant risk by going for the posts with the last kick, that’s not the type of risk I’m talking about, i.e. low percentage. I’m talking more about a rigid game plan not allowing for players having the option, or indeed the licence, for higher % risk passes or scores. For that to work, you cant have 2 or 3 players going off cuff, it has to be a collective appreciation and trust within the playing group, that’s facilitated and encouraged by mgmt. My suspicion is that the players are being over coached, to a playbook that is too specific and as a result, too restrictive. In reference to the last days of Schmidt, loads of players have since come out and talked about the fear of the Monday morning video analysis session. I cant help but feel a lot of our players are playing within themselves, playing with a bit of fear, not wanting to be the ones singled out. Added to this, the dogs on the street know what game plan Horan is bringing, it hasn’t changed in 11 years. Horan and Mayo may prove me wrong. But I’ve serious concerns about how this squad is being managed now.
Wow, Anne-Marie, thats a helluva ominous omen for 2022!
I’m to blame for that omen too, as I took the photo! I’d no idea who it belonged to and just noticed it on the empty terrace. With the Galway crowd still celebrating with gusto out on the pitch I felt the juxtaposition of the two would make for a good shot.
Prior to the game I didn’t actually believe that Mayo would win yesterday for 3 reasons . No1.. Just too many injuries. to compete with Galway. ..No2 , In the league games versus both Kerry in the League Final and versus Tyrone in Omagh, the two games we needed most to show we had learned from what we done wrong in the All Ireland final, and what NOT to do, we actually repeated the same mistakes by repeatedly running into traffic in both games, instead of trying to practice an alternative which would have to involve much more kick passing into the full forward area in real game condition’s.. … No3, James Horan didn’t at any stage in those League Games versus Tyrone or Kerry, show any willingness to make changes in a timely manner on the sideline when things were obviously going wrong either tactical or in terms of personal. The Mayo Style of Horanball, seeing as we are so good at it, has I’m afraid been decoded by all the top team’s . If Donal Vaughan, Colm Boyle, Kieth Higgins were still with Mayo and a few years younger and both Paddy Durcan and Oisin Mullen were fully fit , Horanball is and would be still decoded. I think under Stephen Rochford, Mayo did have a kicking game, both Cillian O Connor and a Full Forward Player of the Year winning All Star Andy Moran won plenty of ball from accurate kicked passing into them back in 2016 & 2017, At least 50%+ of our attack’s would involve an accurate and timely kicked ball into the forwards..I remember Connor Louftus long, immediate and accurate kicked pass to Andy Moran, the One/Two with Cillian and Goal v Kerry in an All Ireland semifinal replay.. I remember the Lee Keegan Goal v Dublin in 2016, the long kicked pass to AOS who immediately turned, drew the cover played in Keegan for a marvelous Goal. We actually got a Goal because of a long early and accurate kicked pass into AOS in last year’s Connacht Final, AOS wins the long ball plays in Mathew Ruane brought down for a penalty, and Ryan O Donoghue slots the Penalty Goal, but kicking the ball into the full forward line has been a rarity under James Horan, I wonder what is the actual percentage of our attempted attack’s involving a long ball into the scoring zone… In 6 weeks time, I hope that we will have several players returned to full fitness, and Mayo will be a different proposition and a serious challenge to anyone whoever it is. And I wouldn’t write off Mayo, in James Carr, if he can stay fully fit,we have a natural ball winning full forward,who can score, and win scorable frees. But is it too late for James Horan to actually try to develop such a game plan?. Training for such a game plan would be less attritional than the current game plan and I would imagine less likely to lead to as many injuries as Mayo are picking up… On the Injury front, no doubt Mayo have been seriously unlucky and James Horan or management can’t be blamed in any way for several of our unfortunate injuries.. But it is also true, that Mayo player’s have picked up allot of injuries in training!
In ballagh after a big Connacht championship game it’s a kinda tradition on the Monday for a few of us to gather , in all my years I’ve never known such despair and that company includes some former player too .
I honestly don’t know what to think anymore , how we can keep persisting with such a flawed tactical plan is just depressing.
I see huge scope for improvement in Galway. I was delighted to see McDaid getting back and Paul Kelly needs more game time. Get the 1st choice goalie back and Mulkerrins, M Daly and Cooke and there is a tilt at the AI but its unlikely the lads will come back while PJ is manager. Varley too of course. Galway were far better than a 1 point win with the softy black card for O Connors dive a serious error by flagman. Galway need to learn to put teams away as Kerry would have crucified Mayo yesterday not let thwm back but the kickouts are a problem. Its a pity Sean Kelly has to play so far back. Galway will relish the chance to play Roscommon again.
They say a picture paints a thousand words, John! It gave me a good giggle, I’ll admit on, on a day there isn’t a lot about which to smile from a football point of view.
So many thoughts, many of them already articulated in the comments above and on the other posts, but honestly, it feels a bit pointless dissecting it any more when there is no sign of a change of tack or mindset on the sideline. Although, maybe Horan’s tactic here is actually to aim for the qualifiers given the injury problems, but that’s probably fantasy talk.
Tough day yesterday. And disullusioned after it. As time moves on the loss in September will haunt us for years. The lack of performance was very disappointing and therw seemed to be no plan again. I was James Horan’s biggest fan and wanted him back for second term – but his time on the sideline needs to end when this season ends. I think the majority of fans have lost faith in his ability. I know its been said before the Chairman (whose the boss) should have insisted a shake up of his backroom team. Look at the difference Paddy Tally and Cian O’Neill have made. Also could anyone explain what does a ‘Player Welfare’ person actually do. I have had a look at other counties backroom teams and none seem to have one.
Jesus Anne Marie, that story puts a different slant on things. It’s that type of story that is so synonymous with the game that we love. Pure madness, daftness or whatever. We do have to remember that “it’s only a game” a bit more. Personally, I find it hard to live by that mantra but I have been trying hard. Today I felt very miserable about the match but mood has improved as the sun arced across the sky. Congrats to Galway and well done. Best of luck from her on in.
Bigger things in life. Can’t help but think about poor Kate Moran. Went out to play a game and didn’t come home. We should be glad of what we have.
And if we lose a hat, make sure WJ is around to capture the moment before that happens!
@ Supernac
Open draw for R1 & R2 of Qualifiers – no mention of avoiding repeat pairings.
R1 first team out gets home advantage – for R2 CCCC decide venues
Repeat pairings are specifically avoided in QF’s.
According to GAA master Schedule.
Whether qualifier teams are on Kerry/Dublin or Ulster/ Connacht SF side won’t be known till QF draw is made.
Roscommon could do us a favour by winning Connacht – as that means it 50/50 on getting Kerry or Dublin in Qtrs as opposed to 2 chances in 3 – thats if we make quarters.
James Horan is begining to look like a broken man. Things don’t seem to be working out at all at all for him and his quest to bring Sam Maguire back to Mayo. As a player and as a manager he has failed on ”7” occasions and this is the last throw of the dice. I Feel if he had listened to Cian o Neill about the defensive plan for the 2012 final and listened to other SMART football people and brought back ”our Conor” for the 2012 final we would have beaten Donegal. Cian o Neill came back to haunt mayo yesterday with Galways defensive plan. A lot of supporters were very quiet yesterday .I tried to get the MAYO MAYO chant going but a lot of supporters would not join in the loud cheering. IT WAS VERY DISAPPOINTING. The wind seems to be knocked out of a lot of the supporters as well. I still think MAYO will go far this year and I for one will never give up supporting the Mayo team.
Further to my last post ……
In fact if the Rossies did us a favour we could get Galway in R2 and Ros themselves in QF. Wouldn’t that be sweet – or very sour. “Be careful what you wish for”
Lean times
Remember Andys kick to Ciaran Treacy to win the league final too….What happened to Ciaran Treacy
I was looking forward to this game in a big way and from a totally neutral viewpoint it was a very interesting encounter, it had some great scores, some gamesmanship, obvious tactics versus a rigid style and a dessert of a nail biting finally.
Firstly commiserations to all as it’s never a nice feeling loosing to those whose hens are clucking and eating in your own back yard. It’s a difficult game to evaluate with regard to concluding which team has the best players considering the shocking injury list that Mayo currently have. I believe with two or three of that list Mayo would probably have got over the line despite their apparent failure to bring a plan B to the tactical table.
The first half was was the pick of the two with some lovely football and some quality scores from both sides. The second half was a harder watch with Mayo continually running the ball down blind ally’s and with the hot day and the amount of ground covered their decision making started to fray and Galway started to gain the upper hand.
A game of this magnitude will have consumed every thought in every minute for all those involved in the run up to this game. When you start to go under it’s very difficult to grab or wrench back the momentum and players start thinking “don’t turn it over and don’t do something seismicly stupid” this results in an over elaboration of lateral hand passing. Players start to look for the next safe pass and won’t take a punt or risk on trying to engineer a score or a pass inside that might get turned over. Keegan of course, who else finally said gimme the ball and put it over with the outside of the boot. This put a bit of fire in the belly and Mayo finally just went for it, McLoughlin did as he does every time Mayo find themselves at hells door and kicked a great point (should have been on the field a lot earlier). Galway were now on the back foot and the adrenaline in their veins was rapidly being replaced with the the fear of losing a game they had in the bank and I felt that they were fortunate not to have to play extra time as there should have been at least another minute played due to injury time the five minutes of extra time.
All that said Galway were the deserving winners as Mayo failed to have a strategy for extra defenders in their preparations and I simply can’t understand why. Mayo in their previous two games were frustrated by players funnelling into defence by Tyrone and again Kerry in the league final. Everyone expected Galway to populate that territory to frustrate Mayo but equally I expected Mayo to have set plays and tactics to break it down or open it up a little to get a few scores.
I also thought it may have served Mayo better to bring cillian O C in rather than starting him. He has played no real competitive ball in over a year and a cauldron like this requires players to be at their best and he is well short of that in my opinion.
Mayo are the team that keep on giving, keeps on punching itself off the ropes and back to life when the pens are being sharpened for their end of year campaign obituary. They are up against it now tho unless the injuries clear up and ye get a couple of those critical players back to full fitness. Mullen looks like he will be nursing that hammer for at least six weeks so it could be two months before he’s costing some guy a full nights sleep, I hope I’m wrong but he pulled up painfully and very quickly.
Despite the loss ye will be up and at it in a little over five weeks, the returnees will have many hours of ball in their legs with training games and the hurt will be replaced with hunger again. Mayo to put it mildly are a team that no team will want to draw in the qualifiers, I wish ye every good fortune until we meet again.
Chin up and good health, GC10
Castlebar continues to be a graveyard for us. Was Sligo in ’17 the last championship win? Connaught championship anyway.
Some poster has made the point – JP probably – about our running game with slow paced players. We added to them yesterday and Galway exploited that. Galway also move the ball quickly and got scores from three or so moves. People say that we don’t get men behind the ball, but we do, regularly, only not so effectively. Our turnover skills seems to have deserted us.
Still, I felt we were well in it until Oisín went off. Galway made hay after that, but we were within a whisker at the end – undeservedly, but who would have cared?
Could we possibly have Paddy, Jordan, Robbie and Oisín back by June 4th?
Twss another poster Catcol, but it’s a thought I gave up on long ago regarding pace. Our manager selects democratic mix n match teams. David Clifford would be blowing his hammer in our squad keeping his working back stats up to scratch. Cillian back making tackles in our full backline. Ryan last week. Headless chaosball.
Shades of 1998 about yesterdays defeat
@Mayo88 – id say more shades of 2008.
Cian O’Neill has paid his way as far as Galway are concerned this year, thats about all he will do for them but its a pity our very experienced manager couldn’t counteract that. Hard to believe that Cian probably only had to say, “in 2012/2013 he played like this, so if we block these areas they’ll be going no where” and that was enough.
Wonder where he’ll be off to next season?
JP – was Comer not back in the full back line for Galway regularly? And Walsh too, though not so much yesterday.
I don’t even get upset anymore when we lose.
We are becoming like the Kardashians-famous for being famous, entertaining, nice to look at but no real accomplishments
Am I right in saying that if there are only 7 teams in round 1 of the qualifiers, one team will get a bye into round 2?
I’d have to rewatch Catcol. Which I can’t bring myself to do.
Cian o Neill was the man behind the Galway performance yesterday.
O’Neill has a good track record:
Part of Limerick football managerial team that almost won a Munster senior title a number of times.
Part of Tipp hurling set up that won an all Ireland.
Helped in no small way to make Mayo consistently compeditive when he was involved.
Part of Kerry managerial team that won 2014 all Ireland.
Improved significantly the standard in Kildare and Cork football while he was involved.
Smart move by Joyce to get him into the Galway backroom team.
Similar to o ‘Connor in Kerry bringing in Paddy Tally a coach with a proven track record. I think our backroom team is very weak in terms of experience and proven track records.
It needs to be addressed big time in the new managerial set up.
Comer is on fire right now. The sheer power and speed combined was something we were badly missing yesterday. He’s certainly in top form. I enjoy watching him.
@ Deel River
Technically you are correct but it’s not possible for there to be less than 8 Div 1 or 2 teams in qualifiers. If there are more than 8 – in the unlikely event of say Tipp/Waterford beating Clare/limerick in Munster SF for example – then there will be a prelim Qualifier.
Horans time is up,James made us a top 3 team for a decade with great organisination and preparation that we lacked in this County for decades but when it comes to tactics and team selection he has came up short too many times in landing Sam.Would like to see Ray Dempsey and Stephen Rochford brought in or go outside and go for Eamon Fitzmaurice and Paul Galvin next year.We will win remaining qualifier games no doubt but we are looking at a quarter final exit to Kerry, Dublin or the Ulster champions.
@JP – id imagine its 8 as there is 16 teams between div 1 & 2 and only 8 of those will be able to make a provincial final .
@Southmayo Exile – I mentioned similar points re the backroom team earlier. But then again would the manager listen to anyone? It seems to be his way or the highway. The players didnt seem to be able to lift themselves yesterday. (until the last few minutes). Its some mess.
You could add roscommon too sam og
Serious question
Tell me: Which teams in Ireland would this team not beat and why ?
Assume we are playing a mix of direct and running football. Assume that Aido is playing a little deep behind his “official line” and Ryan O Donoghue is playing a little in front of half toward line.
Hennelly
O Hora (Hession /Coen/Harrison)
Mullen
Keegan
Aido
Durcan
Eoghan McLoughlin
Ruane
Jordan Flynn
Diarmuid
Carney (or Boland or Loftus)
Ryan O Donoghue
Cillian
Carr
Tommy Conroy
**And then realize that every single one of these players are protégés of James Horan.
@catcol: We beat Leitrim in MacHale Park last year.
@JP2, Bad an all as we were yesterday, id fully fancy us to beat Roscommon well in a quarter final at croker.
6 weeks is a God send. It will be like a whole new competition for these lads. An awful lot has been said about Horan since yesterday, alot of which I agree with….but i’d just hold off on writing his obituary yet, he’s earned that respect after guiding us to the last 4 every year.
Food4thought – I would think most Mayo supporters – including myself – are very thankful to James Horan for the work he has done for Mayo gaa. He has made us a top 4 team and made us consistently compeditive. However, he has some serious weaknesses as a manager and it seems everyone inside and outside the county know this except James himself. Either he acknowledges his weakness in terms of our style of play and listens to his selectors etc and changes in the next few weeks – or else we are going nowhere in the back door this year.
Food4thought.
Serious answer give it a rest would ya ffs. From your love letter last week to this crap.
If your bizarrely claiming these to be horans protégés then everyone on the panel yesterday was a horan protege too, and what did we get?
Assume we’re playing a system everyone is crying out for??? But we’re not are we. Who’s that down to? Have you an answer to that simple question?
I stand corrected IMNTM. Still…
Supporting Mayo… God it’s a double edged sword. I love our team, enthusiasm and that belief that we can spar with the very best. But I always have the nagging feeling we could lose to the minnows.
We’re not winners. We’re Mr Nice Guy… kinda. But we’re not there for the big night out…the one that really matters.
I know we have fallen off many people’s favourite list cause for too long we have flattered to deceive.
Sadly I’m feeling apathetic myself now. I didn’t want to kick and scream and rant at the world after our loss, yesterday. I’m getting used to losing and I hate that.
Mayo…dare I even hope now. I’ll be a doubting Thomas… when I see a Mayo captain holding Sam aloft, then I’ll believe.
I can’t imagine how the team are feeling. I can’t put myself in JH’s shoes. I truly admire and appreciate every ounce of effort but I’m spent. I think I’m not alone.
TBH I was not trying to be controversial but I saw some comments that looked like Horan is already written off and we should be focusing on the incoming management(I think that’s premature and disrespectful to the manager and is not going to inspire anyone)This was just a counter balance to that. I was predicting that this trashing of James Horan could start up when I penned the original article on Friday. That response was predictable too.It’s almost like those posters -ahem-never learn. Try to be respectful to James and his team. They are trying to be their very best. Until there’s a change that’s the team we have. I predict once again we could get to semi final.
@James Horan deserves great credit with his input into the development of several County players going back the last 11 years with Mayo.. However, the most credit for those player’s is deserved by the player’s themselves, the hour’s and years of dedication , talent and self discipline, their parents when as teenager’s those young player’s first showed talent and none would come to be the fine players so many turned out to be without serious backing, and of course their Clubs the hour’s of dedication from so many Club Volunteers. .. Horanball was brilliant for so long, but it’s day is long gone, and now is going nowhere, it had many good year’s and brought about several great days out and several great victories… It was never the complete package….. Other top team’s now set up for to allow Mayo beat themselves by setting up like Galway, like Kerry did in the league final, and like Tyrone done in the All Ireland final and in Omagh last month. We haven’t evolved at all… Padraig Joyce today is basking in yesterday’s deserved Glory…. But he done nothing special tactically, just copy and paste the Tyrone template from last September All Ireland final… Trainer’s Doctors and Medics coming on the pitch, breaking any and all i Mayo got any sniff of Momentum…If any of ye remember the first 20 minutes of last year’s All Ireland final, the amount of attempted stoppages of play by Tyrone, in fairness to Joe McQuillian he wasn’t as accommodating as David Coldrick, who Galway tolerance of such shenanigans Galway exploited to the Max…. The nature of our defeat v Kerry in the league final, for me has to have a serious psychological effect on player’s confidence in the System… Especially with the depleted squad Mayo went to Croke Park,it was us rather than Kerry that should have played with the Blanket….. Of the 3 Big Connacht Team’s for me Antony Cunningham is by far the best Manager tactically, and the Rossies will not be as accommodating…I don’t know where a Connacht Final between Roscommon and Galway is scheduled for,if it comes to pass… Either way, if it’s the Dr Hyde Park or Pearce Stadium, doubt that either the Roscommon or Galway County Board will allow their opposition practice in their own field a few days prior to the game… Leitrim Manager Andy Moran was in Castlebar yesterday learning about Galway, I imagine there’s not much that he doesn’t know about Mayo already…It’s hard to see Leitrim actually beating Galway, but stranger things have happened…If he has a credible plan in place to frustrate Galway… Guess who will be the people’s favorite to replace James Horan when that day finally arrives?
Only looking at this thread now. Congrats on the win yesterday Man of Aran, an good luck against Leitrim the next day.
You were listening to ‘ the wireless’ yet you say Aidan O’Shea fell asleep at the wheel big time! How do you know, who’s the OHara that was commentating, is that Aran Island fms analysis?
I can’t figure why people constantly have a go at AOS. Seamie came out recently with the same Q, couldn’t understand why the bro was being targeted for abuse from all sides.. I wonder does the big man read any of the shite that ppl go on about.
I actually thought he played well yesterday, won plenty of ball, made some good passes and linked play fairly well.
There’s an obsession with ppl singling AOS out an criticising him when we lose or play badly. It’s a bit f#€king irritating really and usually unjustified. I’m not the chair of his fan club or anything, but the Breaffy man has been one of our great servants, an deserves more, both from within the county and outside. He gets enough of abuse on the field (and to his credit doesn’tusually retaliate), as a young amateur sportsman, he doesn’t need anymore off it. Give respect, get respect an all that.
RP McMurphy: I agree. Aidan was good yesterday and without him we would have been beaten by more.
After last year’s final v Tyrone opposition teams have figured out that Mayo are a momentum team and that the way to stop momentum is to slow the game by feigning injury. Tyrone did it very obviously in the final and it was clearly part of Galway’s playbook. The number of times that physiotherapists came on the field in both matches was remarkable.
Referees aren’t wise to this and it will be a long time before they do us any favours on this front.
The only thing that can be done is for supporters to get on the referee’s case when this starts happening. There is little enough we can do as supporters but this should be actively targeted.
If I thought for a second that any of our pundits would do something useful by highlighting this I would be delighted, but experience suggests there is no chance of this happening.
Agree, RP McMurphy. Aidan was very good yesterday, excellent in the first half in particular. Cannot understand why people are so keen to berate him, particularly Mayo people. I’ve long said there are not 15 better players than him in the county. He was instrumental to pulling Mayo back into the game. There were far too many other players that the game passed by.
Food4thought
Sorry but these players are not “protégé of JH”.
They were all accomplished athletes before he met them and they were developed by their club coaches Minor and U21 coaches and Rugby coaches in the case of Lee Keegan.Did Horan develop them …yes but that’s what he is supposed to do as manager that’s what’s expected its not something we have to be greatful for
We have had 5 different managers bring Mayo to All Ireland finals often over achieving in reality to get that far….they all conrributed to developing footballers which is what they should do.
It seems we are expected to believe that 2011 is year 0 in Mayo football and everything before that didn’t exist and everything after that (that’s good) is because of James Horan and everything bad is just glossed over or its disprespectful to bring it up.
Sorry no….. sure James gave us great days but there were bad days too….
Kerry in 2014 first game ……don’t mind Limerick
Falling out with Conor Mortimer our leading scorer at that time because he wouldn’t track back ….allegedly???. Now we wonder why we never develop scoring marquis forwards…maybe venture managers like JH don’t allow them to play like marquis forwards ie just score and nothing else….
We can’t give JH the praise for developing players and not give him criticism for not developing them.
….and my own personal bugbear pulling Alan Freeman after 20 minutes in an All Ireland final when he was the form forward in the country going into that match.Its remarkable that a manager that seems to wait until 5 minutes before the end of games to do substitutions made the fastest substitution in history in an All Ireland final why was that….flu…really? then why play him at all
and of course there are the last number of performances which to be fair I think are down to injuries but also maybe we can consider cutting the cloth in certain games like particularly the league final…ie at least keep the score down make sure we don’t get a hammering when we are under strenght.Maybe even use it as an opportunity to try a defensive system…
James Horan is a great Mayoman and deserves to be given every chance and support but it’s ok to ask questions as well.
Open for correction but assuming all results go as planned and there is no upsets the teams we can meet in the qualifiers
Round 1
Armagh
Derry
Monaghan
Cork
Limerick
Meath
Louth
Round 2
Donegal
Kildare
Clare
Roscommon (assuming Galway win)
No one is “thrashing” James Horan @Food for Thought- we are just being realistic and speaking home truths.
@Seanie CH Mayo should reach the last 8 as i don’t see any of those teams beating Mayo with 6 weeks to prepare for it. Ideal AI QF would be getting Tyrone (we all know Mayos record against defending champs) and then get Galway in the AI semi final and gain a measure of revenge.
James Horan deserves alot of credit yes.
But as other posters have pointed out we have to be realistic also. Since James took the wheel in 2011 he improved standards no end. Credit to him.
In the 4 years he was not manager, from 2015 to 2018 inclusive, we appeared in an all Ireland semi final (which went to a replay against Dublin) and 2 all Ireland finals (both against Dublin, one of which went to a replay).
I have not named the different management teams in 2015 and 2016/2017 because my point isn’t specifically about them. My point is that other people also brought us as far as James has.
P, on the question of momentum, recall the semi v Dublin last year, when Eoghan was down for an eternity. The momentum we had was lost, Eoghan was off, Dublin scored a point straight away, and yet we found a way to unlock them.
@RP McMurphy Aidan played well yesterday. Should have done better for the goal, but he’s not a defender. But the real question to be asked for the goal is why are 4 defenders ball watching on the stand side when Comer is passing the ball leaving an acre of space on front of the goal for Galway to exploit, which Heaney did and very well. Aidan seems to be go to blame man within and outside the county when things go wrong for clueless keyboard warriors. Many of them just whingers who hate to see anyone doing well for themselves. They’re best ignored, he certainly ignores them.
@Mayo2022 2015 to 2018 was basically the teams Horan built very little change in personal. The 2015 replay was Mayos heaviest defeat to Dublin in a championship game at the time for a number of years. 2016/17 let’s be honest really rode our luck to reach those finals. The drawn 2016 final Dublin produced a truly awful display but management at time couldn’t find a way to win that game. The luck that was rode in qualifier games 2016, 17 eventually ran out against Kildare in 2018.
This could well be Horan last year and unlike 2014 i don’t think the same seasoned, experienced and most importantly quality team/panel will be left behind as that had one as it had once in a generation type players Higgins; L Keegan, C Boyle, A Moran etc players at their peak and total warriors.
.
Sheanie CH are the qualifier games at neutral venues and can we meet Galway if Ross beat them
@jr – Again i am open for correction but i assume based on previous years that round 1 will be home / away with first team drawn out getting home advantage and then round 2 against provincial finalists will be neutral venue. We could well find ourselves with a day out in the Gaelic Grounds again at some stage.