Photo: @MayoGAA
The County Board’s well attended opening evening at McHale Park earlier on this evening seemed to go very well, if all the photos tweeted by @MayoGAA, @mayo_mick and others are anything to go by. Fair play to James and the lads for giving so generously of their time for the event and well done to the County Board for putting the effort in to make the evening a success.
We’re having our own party day up here tomorrow with an event in the house to mark the small lad’s Communion. My, aren’t the years flying by? The ladies team are, I know, in action just up the road from here in Parnell Park tomorrow afternoon but, given the festivities that are on here, I won’t, I’m afraid, be able to follow their NFL final against Cork at all closely. Still, the best of luck to the girls as they once again do battle at the highest level in this code.
The one other bit of news is that Sligo’s Marty Duffy will ref our Connacht championship preliminary round clash with Galway on Sunday week. We’ve seen a fair bit of Marty on the NFL circuit – most recently against Donegal back at the end of March – but I can’t find any record of his having reffed a Connacht championship match we were involved in (that’s not saying he hasn’t ever done so, just that I can’t find any examples to point to). However, we know enough about Marty to know that he can often be a pernikity so-and-so and this is obviously something the lads will need to bear in mind when putting in place their tactics for Pearse Stadium the next day.
All the refs in both the league and championship are desperate, unfit and useless, I don’t understand why you always find the need to even mention them in yr blogs before each match as if it makes a difference?!?! Mon Mayo!!!
Ur right mayodub,the standard of refs is very poor,but as wj says the lads should know what to expect and play to suit each refs style no more excuses,as for wj telling us who is the ref,he is just relaying on the info as he gets it.so let’s not shoot the messenger.
I think the standard of ref is generally quite high. Duffy is a good ref, I’m glad he got the gig. The problem with Gaa is not the ref it’s the rules. They are difficult to implement and are open to imterpetation. Refs are told to be strict and clamp don’t early on, show the players who’s boss so to speak. And this is often necessary as games can over heat resulting in sending offs.
What bugs me about refs is how big decision often rob us of momentum in big games. Such as the foul on O’Connor in the AIF. This could be called bad luck, however luck can change. Up Mayo.
@Ceideboy Marty Duffy is not of a high standard of reffing, example against Donegal last year in the league in ballyshannon. Very poor to both sides! Doesn’t let the game flow at all! Doesn’t allow momentum, so a very stop start game in prospect!
Nothing wrong with the rules, its the idiots that referee who dont apply them uniformly. Tyrone are reffed different than Mayo. That said Duffy is a good ref, he treats both sides the same. Most refs dont treat Mayo on a parity with the other team.
Martin Duffy is by no means a good ref! When we played Donegal any time he blew up ya weren’t too sure which way the free was going! John cuffe is spot on he’s useless towards both teams!!!! Himself and Maurice Deegan should be put out to stud!!!!
Jaysus Wensam
Put Duffy and Deegan out to stud????; surely you don’t want a continuation of that breeding
p.s make sure all your vehicle lights are in order as it will be faily dark when we get out of Salthill
True citog no more of that kind needed!! How does spike island sound??!!
See rte panelist s on radio tipping dubs to win all Ireland personally I. Rate them at number 3 put Kerry and Donegal ahead of them and still believe Donegal beat Dublin and put the out of the all Ireland race anyone agree or disagree hopefully mayo will win on sun
Hi Cc…its Martin the Dub here, firstly the very best of luck to Mayo next weekend and throughout the Championship. I listened to the RTE panellists and 2 of them went for Kerry (McHugh and your own man from Mayo) so I think only Tommy Carr went for the Dubs. I am not so sure about Donegal and I don’t think Jim McGuinness has covered himself in glory recently however we shall see in the coming weeks and months. Once again best of luck and maybe we’ll see you in Sept!!!!
Kind Regards,
Martin
a lot depends on who comes out of each province. This year I believe Mayo (presuming we get that far) are due to play Ulster champs in the semi finals (presuming they also get that far) . And on the other side it would be Kerry v Dublin (again presuming……)
Martin McHugh let the mask slip today by inferring that the Donegal V Tyrone match is the big one for both teams as basicallly they both want to go thru the front door because Ulster QF winners will face the Connacht QF winners in the semi. It was very clear that he sees the winners of the Connacht QF as the easiest opposition…. and maybe so. I think McHugh is just a bit ahead of himself but time will tell. Anyone think a draw is a realistic prospect on Sunday ??. A lot depends on the weather and if it’s anything like today it will be heavily influenced by the wind, I hope JH has a few surprizes in store….we need to shake things up and bit and get Galway and Alan Mulholland under pressure on the sideline. Go for it Mayo.
I think a draw is a strong possibility. It wouldn’t be the worst thing for Mayo if they got a second competitive game with Galway in Castlebar..
Not having a go at the dub s at all I think Dublin will win leister but am not so sure after the league would the run out of steam same thing happened to mayo two years ago
Anyone heard Eamonn O’Hara’s comments about Mayo v Galway. he thinks Galway could catch Mayo. I feel a lot of mayo supporters are not taking Galway serious enough. The All Ireland winning U21 team before this last one played some breathtaking football as did the new one. Surely Galway are just waiting to get stuck into Mayo. Mayo have never handled the mantle of favourites well and remember Michael Meehan is back; one of the best forwards in the country who, over the years, has done a lot of damage to Mayo.
All I am saying before the ‘Positive’ brigade start losing their heads is that Galway should be treated with great respect A lot of you are dismissing them and playing for the next game. Let’s get really stuck into Galway first.
I haven’t seen much evidence of
overconfidence on this site
Sorry, I have been reading the other one as well and possibly am commenting on the wrong one. Maybe I’m over-reacting but quite a few have dismissed Galway and I dread Mayo being caught on the hop.
This overconfidence stuff is in my opinion a load of nonsense, does anyone in their right mind think that J H and his team are not planning for a Galway ambush and as such, are not fully prepared to meet that challenge head on. They will know that anything less than a complete performance won’t be good enough. I firmly believe that this Mayo team have the experience and the where with all to meet the Galway challenge and show that reaching last years A I F was no fluke.
If we loose, then we should have no complaints, because it would mean we’re not good enough and if we see ourselves as serious contenders for Sam this year, then winning Connaught should be a given. This is surely the time for this Mayo team to man up and let the the rest of the Country know they are a team to be reckoned with in 2013.
Come on Mayo !!!!!
Only for Colm o rourke and perhaps tohill I think we may as well listen to someone from Poland talking about Gaelic football. Brolly especially is so far away from making sense that its a joke. Eamon o hara would have little time for mayo after the puck in the mouth last summer so he cannot be asked to be honest and ray silke never made sense anyway. The recent Kerry retirees are the best bet in hearing how the teams are set to win or not win Sam.
Plus , it’s on the day. Ask man city
Neale GAA Club are holding an ‘up for match’ type event in O’Malleys Bar Cross on Saturday night, food, drink, music, stars of the past and plenty of craic are on the cards. The club has members from both sides of the border and there is great banter in the club when the two counties meet. Ray Silke, Pat Fallon and many others.
I actually think Brolly is quite a good analyst and gets a lot of calls right.
He was spot on last year about Donegal in every game.