One change in team named to face Galway

Willie Joe

Mayo flag AIF 2013

Just a quick one to confirm that we’ve named our starting fifteen (but not our subs list) for the Connacht semi-final clash with Galway at MacHale Park on Saturday evening (throw-in 7pm). Here it is:

Mayo (Connacht SFC semi-final v Galway, 18/6/2016): Robbie Hennelly (Breaffy); Brendan Harrison (Aghamore), Kevin Keane (Westport), Keith Higgins (Ballyhaunis); Lee Keegan (Westport), Colm Boyle (Davitts), Paddy Durcan (Castlebar Mitchels); Tom Parsons (Charlestown Sarsfields), Jason Gibbons (Ballintubber); Kevin McLoughlin (Knockmore), Aidan O’Shea (Breaffy), Jason Doherty (Burrishoole); Evan Regan (Ballina Stephenites), Cillian O’Connor (Ballintubber, captain), Conor O’Shea (Breaffy).

So it’s just one change from the side that started in Ruislip, with Tom Parsons – who was named to start the last day but didn’t do so – coming in for Stephen Coen. Time will tell – as is always the case with team announcements these days – if this is actually the selection that’ll be on the pitch when the ball is thrown in on Saturday evening.

52 thoughts on “One change in team named to face Galway”

  1. Hope to god this is a dummy team. We really can’t take galway for granted saturday, i thought injuries had cleared for the most part? we need caff, seamie, Diarmuid starting from the outset

  2. I thought Seamie and Diarmuid’s injuries had cleared up too.

  3. There were reports earlier in the week that Caff was injured so that could have forced that change. In saying that, I think Keane is the man for the job on Comer. There’s a touch of a header in Comer and Keane loves that kind of battle. I’d be surprised if that’s the team that starts though.

  4. People panicking needlessly here, yes I would rather see the likes of DOC and SOS start and they might yet as changes usually happen match day. But Keane, Gibbons, Doherty are serious players and worthy of their place. These are the players we will be relying on to make impacts down the line. Its a strong team named and more than enough to win on Saturday.

  5. Very much doubt that team will start but as WJ says, this is very much part and parcel of pre-game antics now.

  6. Mayomad im with you. some posters nerves are at them bigtime. Yes Galway have some good players but we have better. My only concern would be at full back. Keane is good player but may not be flexible enough. I saw him get turned very easily in the galway game last year. Hoping for better return from him this year. Is he our only cover at full back? i think he is so its important he gets game time. Darren Mchugh would be good cover but he not in the panel.

    Another chance for Conor o Shea. Would like big performance from him. Now is the time for it. Even if we have most of panel fit its good test for the team thats picked. Lets not forget that if we are to be successful we need a PANEL. Not just 15 players. As things roll on we need impact from the bench which has been in short supply over the years. So im happy enough with the team picked if that is the team to start….

  7. Numbers 1 to 7 are pretty obvious if Cafferky not fully fit with a toss up between Clarke and Hennelly for the keeper’s shirt. Keane’s physique will ensure a right good tussle with Comer.

    Big chance for the two Jasons and Conor to make their case as the others from 8-15 are almost automatic selections.

    Strong team overall with ten or eleven of our best fifteen on show. Interesting to see the subs and if there are any late changes.

  8. Conor O Shea a surprise, He was poor against London , Should have been taken off much earlier

  10. Happy with that team selection. Some serious players there and a chance to build a panel with game time. Often our downfall in the past. Much rather see SOS and DOC emerge in the second half. Full back line is a question of horses for courses. Some good decisions made there IMO.

  12. Mayomagic – this isn’t the place to be posting rumours about team selection, you should know that by now. By the way, what possible use do you think you’re serving by attempting to do this?

  13. Going to be a big one . We should have enough in the tank to defeat the tribesmen but not with this team . I’d say that there will be about three changes . As said it is going to be two big games ahead of the two jasons and I believe that they will step up to the mark.

  14. I cannot see the point in not naming subs at his stage. By rule they have to be named or Mayo get hit with a fine and possibly other penalties. I do not know the exact rule but it is the case that 26 have to be named. As the programme printers will have them too it is also likely that Galway have them, or will very shortly.

  15. John, if this team doesnt have enough to beat Galway, they may as well give up now and stop thinking on All Irelands. 12-13 of them are automatic starters with the others close and would be depended upon to make an impact throughout the championship. That team is more than capable of beating Galway and alot of other teams also.

  16. There will definitely be changes before throw in. This is the same team that was named to play London. Unless the likes of caff, sos and doc have had a recurrence of their injuries in the last few days, I’m sure they’ll start.

  17. Andy D. I remember getting hot and bothered about this one last year during the Connolly fiasco. The rule concerned is No 6.36 in Part 1 of the Official Guide, which states the following:

    “6.36 Registration/Lists for Inter-County Senior Championship Games – Special Provisions for Registration of Teams and supply of Team List to Referee for all Inter-County Senior Championship Games

    Notwithstanding the provisions of any other Rules, the following requirements shall specifically apply to all Inter-County Senior Championship Games:

    (a) For all Senior Inter-County Championship Games, the Team line-out (Fifteen Players and maximum Eleven Panel Members – total twenty six) shall be registered
    with the Committee-in-Charge not later than 9 am on the Thursday before a weekend game.

    Penalty: Withdrawal of Sideline Privileges from Bainisteoir for one game and/or maximum €1,000 fine on the County Committee, depending on the circumstances.

    (b) No Players may be added to the registered Team or Panel after it has been submitted to the Committee-in-Charge.

    Exception – A Goalkeeper or Sub-Goalkeeper may be replaced by another Goalkeeper and such replacement shall only be allowed to play as a Goalkeeper

    Penalty for playing, or including on the Team list submitted to the Referee, a player who has not been registered with the Committee-in-Charge: Forfeiture of Game.

    (c) A prescribed Team List (as issued by the Committee-in-Charge from time to time), confirming the 15 starting players and maximum 11 additional panel members, shall be submitted to the Referee not later than twenty minutes before the official starting times
    of the Game and shall only contain the names of Registered Players specified in paragraphs (a) or (b), together with the Team Officials.

    Penalty: Fine on the County Committee – up to a maximum of €1,000 for each minute over the prescribed time.”

    Paraic Duffy stated that the list did not have to be made public on the Thursday – just provided to the Committee-in-Charge (whoever they might be). As a result, I assume that our county officials provided the entire list to the relevant committee in advance of 9am this morning. We will get the details when we buy the programme on Saturday.

    How the Dubs got around 6.36 (b) and didn’t face the sanction of forfeiture for playing Connolly (who was not named in the original 26), is a question to which I have never received a satisfactory answer!

  18. Best of luck to the team and Stephen Rochford and his back room staff it should be a great game and great occasion I would pick a slightly different team but in Rochford we trust

  19. Looks like another high tally of “wides” if that is the starting 15.

    At least 2 fairly accurate forwards not staring and at least 2 who are prone to several atrocious wides per game keeping their place. (No names mentioned out of respect for Willie Joe’s house rules.)

    Hopefully this is all a dummy team.

  20. WJ, can I ask, what is the harm in posting rumours on team selection? With reference to mayo magic’s deleted post. Thanks

  21. When did Mayo supporters get so cynical, can we leave the criticism for after the game when there is actually something to analyse and actually support the team thats choosen. There will quiet likely be changes on game day as is the norm for every team but can we stop with the sly digs aimed at certain players (good players).

    The amount of negative comments over the last week regarding this game and now regarding the team selected is ridiculous for a county who supposedly prides its self on supporting their teams.

  22. John McHale – can you please stop trying to post player info that isn’t yet in the public domain? Getting slightly irked having to delete all those comments you’re trying to post.

  23. Clonee man – because this isn’t the local rumour mill and the position I take is that if management have chosen to keep info under wraps that’s a decision I respect and don’t want to see the site used to undermine this. If people really want to breach confidences there are plenty of other places on the internet to do it.

  26. Don’t see the issue with posting rumours about potential team isnt that the idea of a forum

  29. Best of luck to ALL our lads on Saturday. We know this isn’t our strongest team…

    It’s a while since I’ve seen Gibbons produce a big performance for us and Conor OS did very little throughout the league or in London to warrant a starting jersey in my opinion. Perhaps he is impressing in training but we have enough grafters up front, we need finishers. He has yet to prove he is one.

    It’s a very big day for Evan Regan, doing it in the league is one thing. Championship is an entirely different stage, although the Galway defence aren’t exactly the meanest he’ll face this summer. It’s all set up for him to impress and I hope he fulfills his potential, not just on Sat but over the comin years.

    Cafferkey is our best no.3 and it’s a concern to see him still out.

    When Rochford took over he made reference to the fact that our league football and championship football might be quite different. Saturday should be interesting do.

    Things are going well for Galway in training I’ve heard. Their key man is Conroy. He must be stopped.

  30. Caff is a big loss for sure.
    The one positional switch I would like to see this year more than any is Lee moving to number 6. I think it could be the difference for us…influential in the same way Lacey has been for Donegal for years. While Lee is obviously one of the best no. 5’s (if not the best) in the country, I don’t think we have gotten the max. out of him in the past couple of seasons. There is no reason why he cannot play the 6. positon superbly and hold the centre. One caveat would be to consider the extent to which this would curtail his man-marking mastery. We have ample cover in the half backs in Boyler, Durcan and Nally to cover him so there is every reason to test it out. I am sure it’s something management have tried out.

  31. I should have added, John, if information is published somewhere (and by that I mean in an article, not a post by an individual on a discussion board or somewhere on social media) then that’s fair game and is okay to be referenced and repeated here. It’s best to provide a link to the piece in question to verify this. By the way, I’ve just had a look on Hogan Stand and I can’t find any reference to that info you wanted to post but if you have a link to it that would be great.

    Sean – posting rumours might well be the idea of a discussion forum but this site isn’t really a forum in that sense. Instead it’s a website with a comment facility that has over time spawned a large and lively Mayo GAA community – one that brings to the table a rich variety of insights and opinions – but I’d never see it first and foremost as a forum in the way that gaaboard.com and other places are. I made a decision very earlier on in the site’s existence that it shouldn’t be a place where rumours from within the squad are started or allowed to spread and I’m happy that this is the right decision. I firmly believe the site would be a far lesser place if I’d allowed such a practice to take root here.

  32. Who do Galway have to curb the influence of Aidan O’Shea? Or Cillian O’Connor? Not too many talking about this side of the tussle.

  33. Right on WJ on the issue of rumours. Agree 100%. They add nothing to a discussion.

  34. The rumour mill actually does my head in. One guy is injured. One guy has left the panel. The great white hope is firing them over from the dressing room.

    Tedious and often complete scutter.

  36. On the issue of having to name 26 players only by 9 am Thursday morning before a game, I wonder what will happen someday when a virus or some other illness strikes a team. It can so easily happen, e.g. food poisoning etc. Even if only half a dozen players were unavailable it would put the affected team under a severe handicap and the powers that be would be left talking about “unfortunate, unforeseeable circumstances”. Those circumstances, when they arise, may be unfortunate but are not unforeseeable.
    Incidentally, if Diarmuid Connolly had been prevented from playing under that rule he would probably have gone to the DRA or the courts to overturn it, and won.

  37. WJ, agree totally, leave the rumours to the other sites until they are actually verified.

  39. God we are tetchy this weather! I know, should be the last to comment on that. Truth be told we should beat Galway. A point or ten points , makes no difference at this stage.

    I find the line out stale but proven to a point. Proven to deal with teams not as good as Mayo . I don’t see freshness, Higgins at 4 again , even if we move him we are back with musical chairs. McLoughlin at 10? For me it’s either McLoughlin or Higgins, both are foragers and ball carriers but both have been Sussed by the better outfits.

    The forwards , some of them, on a given day will score for fun but I count 3 who don’t contribute too much on the board. I don’t know, I have written this outfit off so many times and they ram it down my throat to a point. That point comes late in the season but unfortunately it comes with a finality. Sligo and Donegal tossed like rag dolls only to crack when the Dubs or Kerry crank the machine.

    I looked to the league for radical green shoots. I didn’t see any. I never bought into a hospital style injury list. COC and Barrett perhaps but all teams have injury issues. I didn’t buy into the Castlebar run as taking away a plethora of players. Only Durkan made the team and is it two more in the panel?

    I have said before that I cannot fathom what exactly our style is. We seem to operate piecemeal. Hopefully Saturday will see the parts all joined up. Looking at the line out and past performances I have to confess a certain weariness about the entire show. Bottom line should be an All Irl semi final but last years fall out demands more. The journey we take is getting more of a trudge than a joyous outing, well to me at least. We have done it so often, successfully but without final closure. Good luck Sat, we are off again.

  40. Willie Joe:

    Im an avid follower of your blog every day and waited with bated breath for the team announcement and sure enough I found it by one of your posters. This is the first time I have contributed and confess I did not know the rule about rumours. My apologies – it won’t happen again.
    I must confess I’m illiterate when it comes to computers – the first game I attended in Croke Park was back in 1955 the semi-final against Dublin with my late brother Jimmy who passed away a year ago – that shows you I’m no spring chicken! I did not know if you received my piece and may have sent it several times. Again, apologies. I found the article in HoganStand.com/Mayo – headed Team News: Parsons returns for mayo. Part of the article reads:” [Parsons] inclusion sees All-Ireland U 21 captain Stephen Coen drop to the bench…Conor Loftus, who struck 1-2 against the Exiles, is also among the substitutes with Ger Cafferkey, Brian Moran, Seamus O’Shea, and former Mayo captain Andy Moran.”
    Eveey year I say, maybe this year. So maybe this year? Here’s hoping!

  41. Interesting cornments all and a great and worthy build up to Saturday evenings fireworks! It’s a pity not to have the full desired fifteen but that might be more tequired for the next game if we scale the Galway hurl. A one point win will do me just fine even though I have them in for an awful lot more and the latter I expect. Hup Hup!!

  42. AndyD, the bit that was particularly baffling in the decision to overrule the rule in the Connolly case was the fact that the second paragraph of 6.36 states:

    ”Notwithstanding the provisions of any other Rules, the following requirements shall specifically apply to all Inter-County Senior Championship Games”.

    If no other rule can overrule this one, how was the decision that it was OK to do so arrived at?

  43. And John Cuffe, you ve got a lot right there but I’m sure you ll agree a couple of games coming up could make a very big difference!

  46. Best of luck to Stephen Rochford and his backroom team in their first home championship game in Castlebar. Best of luck to all of the players involved as well!

    One thing I would say about this game is that in the last few years especially in 2013 and 2014 the main advantage that we have had over Galway is our physicality. They have not been able to cope with that especially around the middle of the field. If the team picked starts with no Seamie, Vaughan or Barry Moran then that takes a lot of the physicality out of our team. This should even things up in terms of how the game will pan out. It is a chance for other players to stake their place though. Competition for places is always welcome.

    It is a game that we should win but shocks do happen. When you think back to our game against Roscommon in 2014, they should have beaten us that day and only for Andy Moran they probably would have. At that time they were a Division 3 team playing against a Division 1 team who had contested the previous year’s All-Ireland final. That should be a warning for us.

    People are saying that Galway are very quiet at the moment but to be honest our own camp has been very quiet too. I don’t think that I have seen any interviews etc. in the national media with any of our players. It’ll be interesting to see if there will be any in the coming days.

    I’d love to see us produce some dynamic play up front, like Corofin produced under Stephen. I thought in the Down game we seen one glimpse of this when there was some lovely link-up play between Cillian and Freeman with the boot, which resulted in a save by the Down keeper from a Freeman shot. More of that please. A solid defensive effort would be great to see as well. Roll on the game!

  47. Ok MayoMad I like your style…7+ will do fine too.
    We d all probably like to have seen a richer harvest of new faces comin out of the league. But we havnt done too badly when you think of it. Admittedly not many out on pitch yet but not far off.
    Last c’ship we did admirably with the team we had out…a few years a comin I know too, but to be greatly admired for the endeavour and honest commitment. That undoubtedly has to be still there but it can’t last forever for some of the fellas…they’ve given so much!
    However and
    probably at this stage not enough credence is being invested in the Rochford/ Mc Entee etc.factor. We were only a couple or points off last time and so many times before and if we can have all we’ve had plus 5% more ,then I think that could finish off the dish.
    I’m sincerely looking for the Roch/Mc factor to elevate us to another level.

  48. Really fancied our chances when I saw Galway team. Still expect to win but not as confident as I was based on this selection. But the truth of the matter is that the management know a lot better than any of us here as to who is fit, who is injured, who is going well in training etc etc so I think I will trust Mr Rochford on this one. If guys are injured then theres no point playing them. Better to wait til theyre fit. Cant say I really agree with J Cuffe re McLoughlin and Higgins. Two great players in my opinion. When have they been sussed out by superior teams. Granted Higgins got his fill of it v Paddy Andrews from Dublin last year, but other than that I have yet to see him get the run around Excellent v O Donaghue the previous year and even the Gooch rated him as one of the most difficult defenders he came up against.

  49. Saturdays game is about progressing to the next game. I do not want to see all of our new tactics to be reviled at this early stage in the season. Best wishes to all the team and panel members. They have given this supporter great years of enjoyment up and down the country and I am looking forward to the season ahead. That starts with a win of any kind over Galway this weekend.

  50. Yes the Higgins or McLoughlin argument makes no sense with Higgins in the backs and probably needed there due to injuries. Kevin Mc can be played as corner forward, centre forward or letting half back. The case for playing him diminishes if Regan scores for fun and Diarmaid back. However though they’re similar, I think Kevin edges out Doherty because of his pace and ability to kick a defence splitting pass. J DOC probably more of a sharp shooter alright. I would have said if Higgins plays in forwards he could edge out J DOC but not K Mc. Expect management picked fit team and those doing well in training. COS had one Mayo MOM and tapered off a bit during league but worth trying again in summer and he has a lot of physical advantages. There’s also match fitness so while the likes of Big Barry available, and same for Seamie they would need to catch up so that’s why Gibbons preferred, injury free in the lead up.

  51. Folks would anyone have a seat back to Dublin after the match Saturday?

    Please text whatsapp or viber me on +491626629167 I have an early flight on Sunday. Would be getting off at liffey valley

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