Photo: Mayo Mick
You’re right lads – it’s time to be looking ahead to the 25th and not to be glancing dreamily backwards but seeing as it was such a momentous weekend for the county, I think it’s worth one more bit of looking back before girding our collective loins ahead of what’s facing us next.
The minors are, of course, worth a special mention in this regard and accounts of their victory over Westmeath yesterday in Tullamore is covered today in the Irish Independent, Irish Times as well as in the Mayo News and Connaught Telegraph. We’re now the 2/1 second favourites to lift the Tom Markham Cup and somewhat ironically it’s the Rossies – who we beat in the Connacht final but who yesterday unseated the highly-fancied (but only because they were the Leinster champions?) Kildare – who are now the 15/8 frontrunners in the race for All-Ireland minor glory. An all-Connacht U18 decider is now a distinct possibility – the first one ever in football – and it’d be great for football in Connacht to see that happen. With us winning it, needless to say.
There’s plenty more to read about the seniors’ annihilation of Donegal too, of course, with the Mayo News as usual leading the online charge. There’s Mike Finnerty’s match report, post-match quotes by Daniel Carey with Aidan O’Shea and Colm Boyle and Sean Rice’s analysis. There’s loads more in the paper itself, of course, and you’d be well advised to go out an get a copy to pig out on all this coverage. You may as well get the Western and the Telegraph while you’re at it and go the hound on it completely.
Also worth a listen is the Mayo News’ post-match podcast where poor old Martin McHugh was dragged in front of the mic by Rob, Mike Ed and Danny an hour after the final whistle sounded and had his ribs tickled to get him to admit how great we were.
Finally, if you were unlucky enough not to have been in Croke Park on Sunday then I hope you were instead in The White House in Swinford where free pints were on offer for every goal we banged in. Whether or not you were the recipient of a freebie there, I reckon that’s one we can all drink to.
If only all weekends were like this one! Lot of travelling – Croker and back Sunday, Tullamore and back yesterday. However, the results made the travelling so, so easy!
Sunday was incredible. What a performance. All the injuries clearing up, Andy was getting better as the game went on. So many positives. Barrett was brilliant in the corner, Aidan and Seamus amazing, Cillian and Alan outstanding. One could write pages and pages on the performance of the team. I won’t!
Two slight negatives. Robbie’s kicking wasn’t overly bad but they’ll need to work on short kickouts. The two O’Sheas won’t rule the skies like that in every game and they’ll need other methods of winning kickouts. It’s something that can be worked on I’m sure. The only other negative was Coen’s kicking. He showed up well for the ball but he’s hit four or five wides in two games and he’s killing his chances of being involved in any future games.
The minors were good yesterday. They break at some pace and the two wing forwards, Hanley and Loftus were very good as well as the roving corner back, Michael Hall. The two inside forwards, Doherty and Irwin, look dangerous and they won oceans of ball at midfield, which had been their big problem against Roscommon. However, Westmeath were atrocious and gave up when they conceded the penalty. They were lamentable in the second half. One would hope that Croke Park will suit the way in which Mayo break at speed against Monaghan. However, they will really find out whether they have solved their midfield problems that day. Something to look forward to!
I agree with a previous poster re. David Brady and also John Maughan on 2FM yesterday. In house tactics should be kept in house. Jim McGuinness kicked Cassidy off the panel yesterday for divulging tactics to the press and Brady and Maughan should know better.
People in Mayo should also know better than to be talking about finals. Hype has been a killer for Mayo before. Tyrone will be difficult to beat and Mayo will do very well to reach that level of performance again. While we all do think they will, talk of finals is foolish and immature. There will be 4 weeks to do that if they win.
Great to see the amount of hits on the site, Willie Joe! Now roll on the 25th of August!
Had to wait to come down to earth after Sunday. As someone who moved to Roscommon in 1964 I have come back down the N4 on many occasions since hailing the champions elect only to fall through the trap door before getting to the final destination. While I have alwaysbeen disappointed there were only two occasions when we felt that it might have been different. In 1989 the injury to Jimmy Burke destroyed what chance we might have had and in 1996 we left it behind. However last Sunday’s master class opens up a whole new vista. In all my many years I have never seen a team where the entire15 played at or above what was expected. Even those who came off the bench looked as if they too, would fit seamlessly into the first 15. The belief,committment and herculean endeavour right to the final whistle was a true pleasure.
I have to single out Aidan O’Shea for special mention as he epitomised the burning desire within the team. I sat between two Kerrymen in the upper Hogan and I will quote two of their comments. The first described the tackle that earned O’Shea his first yellow: “That was a man tackle”. Personally I thought it was straight out of the Stephen Sweeny manual for bonecrunching: and the second comment was: “Is there any chance we might get the Shea boys back to Kerry”.
As somebody who has often been over critical I have now been silenced and I hope that continues. Remember Tyrone strung the first blanket together and it has been copied many times since. It took Donegal to add an element of nastiness to is that has earned them the opprobrium of most genuine followers. Midfield dominance, speed of transfer and accuracy will take care of the blanket. Tyrone will pose their own problems but, I believe, a repeat of last Sunday’s display should initiate the greatest ticket hunt of all time.
Finally, as one who has not been the greatest fan of Cillian O’Connor, I have to admit that he is sending a large slice of humble pie in my direction. I hope to consume it with relish off the appropriate silverware.
Keep her goin’ lads.
Have to agree with you horans brigade on darren coen, i was annoyed at him for kickin those two wides because he has real potential, and was giving a chance to show what he could do, its a pity he just fluffed his lines. But he is young and will no doubt become an important player in years to come.
I watched the monaghan and tyrone game again, an noticed the amount of space given to their backs on their own kickouts, they built attack after attack as a result of the monaghan players retreating to their own half. They will not get this space from our forwards or midfield so without being cocky we really should get through this game based alone on our intensity and tackling from the front. They will try to stop us playing but our intelligent lines off running should prove eneough to win on the day. Lets just pray for no more injuries between now and august 25th.
Heard Brolly on the Matt Cooper show this evening, no pulling of punches. He really went after Tyrone again he may be doing us a favour this year. Anyhow time to focus on what Mayo can do to improve for the 25th. Andy needs every minute of the next 3 weeks to get that extra yard of pace which he is still lacking but he will get there. Need more from Freeman and Kevin Mc will need to step up to his usual level. Agree with comments about Coen was shooting from impossible angles and i was on the hill so had a great view, probably trying to hard to win a place but he is a good prospect. I have to mention our slowness in lining the goal for close in frees and i know we were a fleet of points ahead but these simple things need to be done organised. Finally we have too many ex players and mgmt in the media, cool it please and put ur county ahead of ur ego. We need a confident, composed and ruthless MAYO next day out in croker.
Well said Olive and Horans brigade!keep comments real and secrets inside!
Juan-good point regarding the Tyrone game, noticed that myself when watching it. Olive-your entire comment was spot on. We all just need to focus. @john griffin I didn’t really understand your comment it made zero sense to me. Congrats willie joe on an excellent blog.
Surprised at Brady letting slip, but Maughan should just shut the hell up. He had his chances and blew them (’96 was bad enough leaving Fallon on the bench but 1997 – 1 injury and makes 6 changes to compensate, leaves Maurice Fitz free to rule the game instead of putting Mortimor on him?). Horan and co. certainly don’t need advice or analysis from him. He would help the cause a lot more by shutting up.
It’s one thing to be a paid pundit and voice an opinion it is quite another to mouth off “behind the scenes” privileges which would only work against your own county.
Tickets sorted for the game . Not the best i the world, Section 336 lower hogan but feck it will be there and thats the main thing. I didnt hear what Brady was said. But i would have thought he was smarter than that. As i have said before Sean Cavanagh is the main man and i believe he has carried this Tyrone team all through league and so far in Championship . Anyone recall how he played during the Championship game against Donegal i can bearly recall but im sure he didnt figure too much i could be wrong though. I checked back on results Sean Cavanagh only scored 2 points in that game ad they went down by 2 goals in the end. Would i be right in thinking Penrose is out for this game?
Mayomaningalway, yeah Penrose out and a possibility that the CCCC might hand out a ban to another Tyrone player for a possible strike on an Monaghan player as they went off at half time.
Would David Brady ever stop saying on radio what the Mayo team r up to at trainings. I nearly threw my dinner plate at the radio listening to newstalk. Feckn Mayo this, Mayo that … Not one feckn mention of the other semi finalists. I hope to God Horan has these guys well cocooned!!! :/
David Brady must not be getting the message about keeping in house training issues off the air. I have just heard him speaking on Newstalk about Mayo’s use of headphones in training. Somebody should make it their business to get him to understand that, as the wartime saying in Britain went, “Loose lips cost”.
Grainnemhuile
Same point as all the comments that came after!sorry you were unable to understand.
Pebblesmeller cheers, Whose is the other player do ya know? I think we can be expecting that kind of craic from Tyrone against us. Whatever they can do to get an advantage over us and that includes trying to get into the lads heads . Wouldn’t be surprised if they use bit of verbal to try and rile our lads up. Im sure Horan will have the lads well warned to keep the heads and yes i do respect the danger that Tyrone pose but at same time confident we will win . The lads are confident no harm either and man for man we have players who i believe are that bit better than the tyrone lads and certainly a stronger bench. Steven O’Neill has being quiet as a mouse in last few games . But i wouldnt be surprised if Tyrone move him out the field a bite. Whether he has the pace is another thing.
Conor Gormley is the man.
I agree that Tyrone will need due care and attention but I believe they will not have the pace, movement or spread of scores to beat us in the end. As was correctly pointed out, our forwards will not allow the Tyrone backs to play it out from the back and McConnell will have little option but to hit it long. Their right back is very slow and got skinned by McBrearty earlier this year and should be “targetted” while McMahon is a tough customer, he is very immobile and wont have the agility or reflexes to restrict or runners.
I would go along with those points Pebblesmeller . I tell ya what if they loose Gormley along with Penrose they will be a big loss. Mickey harte would always have planned around having those lads in the team. Now he will have to draft up a new plan . But i can only see them doing there best to slow it down. They wont be able to do that for 70 minutes but they will try . Good news for us if there both out.
Agree that ex players should be keeping their mouths shut regards what’s going on in training. They should know better and can talk all they want when the championship is over.
However, it does add to the aura surrounding this Mayo team. Again underlines what a serious piece of machinery we are. Donegal had a similar sense to them last year, if this spooks the opposition a little bit, no harm. Let this be the last of it though.
ALL Please remember that if you check back over the last 13 years there have been several teams who have had big wins in the quarter or semi finals only to fail at the next match, I am very worried as everyone I meet is talking about the final . TYRONE are still there , Remember Brolly and several others believed that Cork would wipe the floor with us and we caught them. Look at the game on Sunday again and Donegal were worse than London, Galway, or Roscommon. Keep our feet on the ground . One match at a time,
Just watched the Dublin v Cork match again. Thought Dublin looked better when I was at the match but when looking at it again they gave Cork quite a few goal chances and I think there was a penalty to Cork at the end when Goulding was taken out of it in the air inside the box. Dublin were far from impressive. We look a good bit better than the rest at this stage. It’s ours to lose really.
Its a pity Donegal were not at full strength Sunday Mayo would have still won- by less but won. and not being in any way arrogant it will be good for us if Tyrone are at full strength also as we need to play a strong team in the semi ..if we are to go all the way.We need to be a confident team going into the semi ,not hoping Tyrone might loose half their team before the game.
Bookies have us as favourites and every pundit is tipping us. I still think that Kerry will take the Dubs, but, regardless. If we get over Tyrone no-one will beat us. No-one.
Just being mulling over the League results. I know a lot of people don’t give much attention to it. But i thought Dublin were awesome during the league well ahead of everyone . They came out in the Championship i know they are playing well but i think they are not as impressive as in the League. Tyrone i thought played very well and of coarse ended up loosing to Dublin by a single point. Mayo look like they have come on a enormously since the League . I remember posing the question could it be possible that Horan could have delayed the lads from peaking too soon i think i got the answer to that last Sunday . I also wondered at the time could would it be possible for Dublin to hold that level of performance all the way through the Championship . I dont believe they have. I remember Jim Gavin complaining about the length of time between League and Championship . Tyrone dont look as good as they did during the championship and neither do Dublin Horan however seems to have timed the lads peaking to perfection.
We were blessed with our run from Connaught because, and I mean no disrespect to the other Connaught counties, we did not need to be at our peak fitness for any of them and the London game allowed us to play Higgins at half forward for the last 20 mins. of the game. This was done because we knew that at some stage we would meet Donegal and then the tactic could be employed. We are simmering along nicely and if we avoid any injuries we should be just about right for the 25th. With hopefully another 5% to 10% left to go to our peak fitness for September.
I think it was Shankley that said, when asked about his great Liverpool side and their run to numerous FA Cup finals, “you wear your overalls to get to the final but when you are there, you wear your Sunday best”. Let’s hope we are all sending the good suit to the cleaners fairly soon.
Pebblesmeller….I saw the half-time incident in the Tyrone V Monaghan game and if I recall correctly it was the same unfortunate Monaghan man (No 7) who got clocked on the jaw 2 times in the space of 30 seconds by two different Tyrone men….and all under the ref’s nose !!….I thought both would be red carded before the second half throw in, but he just went with the first fouler.
Bill Connolly……Great observations and reflections on 89 and 96…..I was there for them all. one point you make on Sunday’s game stands out for me and is so true…..All 15 on our team ‘turned up’ as I say…..all gave a great individual account of themselves and that is the absolute winning formula, if it can be rolled out again.
Not enough superlatives to describe that performance.
Everything just went right on the day, the spirit of this squad is something i have never seen from a Mayo team. As a supporter you nearly feel guilty if you pick out individuals for praise as its such a solid team effort .
No Mayo GAA supporter needs telling that nothing is won yet , we are well aware of that and need to remain grounded.
Tyrone will bring a fair bit more stubborn attitude than anything we have played yet , they have beaten us in the league this year and even though it was a last min penalty , they were the better team on the day. SON has been kept quiet mostly this year but he has still has the ability to destroy imo , there was glimpses of it v Kildare in the first half , he had them run ragged. Kavanagh is still a class act too.
The county is starting to buzz a bit, everyone is proud of the display. It’s great times to be a Mayo supporter, the support was good in hq last sunday but i still think we can do better.
There also seems to be a great relationship developing between the team and fans , they come across as a very likable bunch, taking time to sign autographs and stand for pics etc. The atmosphere is near perfect and tipping along nicely.
Brilliant win for the minors yesterday, great to have them along with the seniors the next day .
Btw this blog is hugely popular , was pulled up a couple of times the weekend about it .
I’ve been watching the Tyrone Monaghan game on Setanta just now and despite the underfoot conditions after all the rain in was still a cracking match. Had they shown a bit more composure at crucial times especially near the end, Moneghan might well have won this match. That said you have to hand it to Tyrone for despite been a man down for most of the second half, they never stopped coming forward and it was their experience in the end that brought them over the line.
This may not be as good a team as Tyrone teams of the past, but Mayo can be well warned that they won’t lie down like Donegal. Far from it, they seem to be as tough as nails,have more strings to their bow than Cavanagh and will relish the prospect of putting a halt to our gallop.
Of course all that’s gone before will count for nothing if we falter now and the road ahead has many bends but with James and the boys at the helm we must believe.
By the way listening to that Martin McHugh fella talking on the Mayo News Pod Cast would make a man sick. Did ya hear him when asked what he thought of our performance telling us what a lovely people we Mayo people are, while at the same time putting the knife in by reminding us how we’ve won nothing yet. does he think we don’t know that ourselves…….
Great all around preformance from the lads Sunday. I’ve been watching Mayo teams for years but I think this one was the most complete from all 15 and the subs also. We need to stay grounded as fans and not get ahead of ourselfs as for the players James will keep them focused Everyone said before the game this was going to be the test we needed, I think we passed with flying colours.
I listened to the podcasts and I thought Martin Mccughs observations were fair enought and to be honest, so was Jimmy McGuinness after the game. Time to move on now.
In hindsight, was surprised that Mickey Harte didn’t substitute Penrose at half time…. If he hadn’t come out after half time he couldn’t have been sent off right? If that’s the case, really surprised Tyrone missed that, as it was a clear red card ofence.
Btw, AndyD, reference the bladdering by Maughan and Brady, the full saying is “lose lips, sink ships”.
Mr Mayor.
In my opinion Cork and Tyrone are the 2 most cynical teams Mayo have ever played while at the league game this year v Tyrone (which we should have won ) they were punching hitting kicking off the ball and I got into an argument with Mickys deputy can’t rem his name but he was very unprofessional anyway I took offence when he kept telling ‘petey’ Harte to ‘give to him Petey stick him Petey using his own elbows and fist for reference told him it was disgusting and why couldn’t they just play football … A very thick arrogant man and I’m very worried for the next day as to who is going to get red carded or seriously injured
Job one for the next day will be dont get wound up, Aidoxi will especially be targeted for that. He’ll be targetted for the physical stuff too but I have no worries about him, or anyone else on this team standing up to that, its potentially reacting to it that can be a problem.
Having said that, he already got a trial run of that against Donegal, their “Man Utd” like surrounding of the ref every time there was a free against him to prompt Joe McQuillian to give a second yellow, has no place in the game. I would dearly hope we wouldnt do something similar.
I’d like to say Joe didnt react but he did, as some of the frees he gave against us during that period were laughable, and it was only he that kept them in it. I was afraid of that as Joe had given us a good few soft ones in the first half v Dublin, probably in reaction to the whole “he refs Dublin training games” chat at the time, and I was afraid this would be payback. He was heading that way but thankfully we were so superior he couldn’t have any real influence on the game. However, if it was close I think we would have been talking alot more about him.
As regards Tyrone, baring complacency, injuries to key personnel, indiscipline or a reffing meltdown from the man in the middle we should get past them. Final is a completely different issue, and as we well know if it was Kerry, whatever we, or anyone else thinks of them up to the final. Kerry in an all ireland final is a completely different animal then whatever they looked like before the third Sunday in September.
@Mistermayor, when making a substitution at half time you still have to go into the reff with a slip of paper indicating the change, so i think maybe harte took a gamble leavin him on incase the reff wasnt sure who threw the punch, and didnt want to draw the attention on pemrose just incase..
Pat McEnananey came on the radio and said if they tried to substitute him, it wouldn’t have been allowed and he would have been sent off regardless. So you can’t sub a player with an outstanding disciplinary problem during a match.
@Juan….thanks fo the clarification and Digits I didnt realize McEnaneney had commented on it.
Cheers lads.