In different ways, for some matches it doesn’t seem right to hold a MOTM poll. After a bad defeat, for example, but also after a game of games like yesterday’s, in which every single one of our players gave their all.
But the point of the poll remains the same no matter what the game and that’s to identify and salute the players who you think stood tallest for us. So many did so yesterday.
Two players attracted most support in the poll, with Padraig O’Hora – RTÉ’s choice of MOTM – narrowly edging out Lee Keegan, who got the nod from Sky Sports. I’d give it to the both of them but you, the voters, have given it to Swanny. Congrats to him.
As you can see below, the vote was a tight one, with Padraig prevailing with 22% of the vote, just ahead of Lee on 21% and Robbie only a bit behind on 19%. Well done to them too and to all the lads who played their part in the dethroning of the Dubs last night.
Up Mayo! Fair play to everyone of them. Warriors. A special mention to Paddy Durcan as well. Immense yesterday from start to finish.
Goodman Swanee.
We only have one plan.
Yesterday yea were all man of the matches.
In 2017 we had the best team of the decade, bar one team. In 2021 we have a young team with a few veterans who sat in the stands for the last ten years and have witnessed how close we’ve come. These young guys know nothing else that seeing their team perform at the highest level every day in Croke Park. These young players with the Lee, Aidan, Rob, Paddy, Kevin, will have no fear of winning an All Ireland. James has learned too, his in game changes are much Better than last time. All in all this is our time, we can be low key but confident. As supporters we’ve been here before but our time has arrived.
Well done Padraig, Lee, Robbie, Paddy and all. Padraig is now a key leader of this team. I remember first seeing him bombing up the wing at an FBD match some years ago in Ballina. Even then he caught the eye and you got the sense he was destined for bigger things. I like the way he emphasised the “team” in his post match interview, the collective, not the individual.
Watching it back, couldn’t believe how awesome Paddy also was in extra time! He was everywhere, intercepting, driving forward. Class.
By God will this 4 weeks rest do the world of good for the lads. They’ll all hopefully be well recovered by then and will have come well and truly back to earth after yesterday, given its significance.
Padraig is the hardest defender we’ve had since Tom Cunniffe. Might not be silky skillful but he comes to perform ready to hit every 30:70 like it’s a 50:50.
Yes Liberal I remember that match too. Was there too. It was against it sligo. Eoin ban and I think Stephen mcbrearty from donegal played. . 2016 I think. Seen him in fbd against nuig too. Thought he had a cut about him. Was raw and rash in the challenge s but the great man horan has sorted that out and he is now a.fantastic leader. Massive win for the green and red. Proud to be a mayo man
Back in the old days, when you didn’t step on an opponents turf ( might I add, my main attraction), I stepped in to a pub, many moons ago in Ballina. Me been from Crossmolina but having moved to Ballina.
A meeting point for all things Ballina.
Me, a humble auld gobshite, ventured in to this establishment, and from the next parish over, even life wasn’t guaranteed.
I spent years drinking in this pub with what would be uncles,(may be even father, I’m not sure) , of Padraic and can honestly say, I can see where the pride and ruthlessness comes from.
They didn’t suffer idiots, and so a wise man I became. Treated as one of their own, I want to give a shout out to all my old drinking buddies when I supped in Thornton’s in Ballina.
I have another great story of a good drink I had across the road with a Mr Brady, but maybe for another time, I will add, a gentleman to his core.
I have also signed my autograph for kids in the hotel in castlebar after mayo games . I happened to be in deep conversation with mayo players when kids came along and the group lined out.
When it got to me one of the mayo players said to me ” sign the fucken thing “.
Appologies to any mayo program that has my scribble on it.
I also have several epic stories about myself and a mayo legend. Back in the day we were friends, not that we are not now, just that we met alot more back then. Details will never be revealed.
I also want to bed in the house of this mayo legend only to wake up on the couch in the sitting room
When I went to check who was in my bed, it was another mayo legend.
I think both have all-stars and me involved in the whole lot got no all star.
As the auld woman said getting in to the cue for the plane ” I rest my case “.
Well done Padraig o Hora and the the entire Mayo Panel, you make us all so proud to be from Mayo.
Mayo have definitely tightened at the back,
Allowed 3 points from frees to Galway in the 2nd half and 3 yesterday to the Dubs.
O hora has done very well since he came back into the team.
O Hora is some man. All season I was waiting for him to really announce himself and couldn’t understand why we were not seeing more of him. He is physically tough but more importantly mentally tough on another level to most. He is the kind of man you would want leading you in battle. I find his MOTM interview addictive – cannot get enough of it. Calm, commanding and courage/belief giving.
If O Hora has a plan, by God it’s going to happen. For me it is how the team were 2017 after winning the semi replay against Kerry. Nothing was going to stop them winning Sam and most of us agree that nothing should have.
So Conor Lane may have actually done us a favour – final piece in the puzzle solved – in this year’s Connacht final and AI semi final we have finally worked out how to beat EVERYTHING thrown at us. We got two runs at beating officials( and throw in without/losing key players for good measure and more practice at our favoured 6/7 point deficit comebacks). We shot the lights out in the league and Connacht final run in. Slogged it out last night. 2nd AI Final in 8 months. We have never been better prepared for anything that can happen. Our time has come. Nothing will stop us now. We have only one plan.
Sinead, very well said. In my opinion
O hora will make a great captain some day.
He has that bit of toughness about him.
On another topic, Billy Joe Padden and Piller Caffrey interview on off the ball was interesting.
Piller said that Smalls shoulder was legal but the game should have being stopped.
I feel so bad for Eoin, I had a broken jaw myself and spent 3 months sucking out of a straw.
Deserved MOTM for sure. I’ve a neighbour from Kerry, I’m from Mayo, we talk football whenever we see each other. He’s a long time Kerry fan. He said to me pre the semi final we’ll beat Dublin, the reason he said we will it’s because of Padraig, his words were, “you need a bit an animal back there” he meant it as a compliment. He also said Kerry don’t have anything like the backs we have, O’Hora, Keegan, Durcan, Mullin, Hession and Coen. He wouldn’t be drawn if we’d beat them but stop the 2 Clifford’s and Sean O’Shea and you stop Kerry.
Note, I’m assuming Kerry beat Tyrone.
Well deserved. Any update on Oisin Mullin? I’ve heard people saying that it’s a quad tear and he’s out for 12 weeks. John Casey on Midwest yesterday said that it’s not as bad as was thought and it’s a quad strain with a 2 week recovery time. Hopefully the latter. He’d be some boost for the final especially with Eoghan Mcglaughlin definitely unavailable.
Well done Padraig.My pick was Robbie but who can argue that one?….
Eoghan is a huge loss….especially in light of Oisin’s situation….however Hession really showed up on Saturday.
Again the situation with dangerous play has to stop in the game….eventully a blow to the head can be even more serious than what we just experienced
Revelinio you sound like some character bring out a book for Christmas and we will all buy it
Hi, The win seems to be getting better and better after a free read of the papers locally and the joy it has brought.
Dublin supporters did feel they were slipping.
Delighted to see that Aidan came back on the field to be with his team at the end of normal time. Just caught up with the Padraig O Hora interview.
I understand the desperation of the Dublin players after winning for so long. My view of human nature is that we are all the same on the negative side but some rise above it. We carry hurts for years without being conscious of it but it is eating you away.
Hope to enjoy the moment and to paraphrase someone “We won’t be worrying if it is Kerry or Tyrone. There are so many role models in the Mayo team over the last ten years.
Thanks to James Horan, Ciaran Mc Donald +++++++++++++++++ and all that have gone before.
Well done to Pádraig…. It won’t be his last one.
He’ll be puttin on the tux in November too, I’d say.
Anyway, looking at the game again it is Robbie Hennelly that impressed the most. Alot has been said about the stick he has received over the years but Saturday put that to rest. He made point blank save in the 2019 League final that assured us the win. He kicks a 77th minute equaliser from 45m after 5+ plus minutes of play being held up. The stats for his kick outs are ridiculous, 94% or something. He was composed and the whole team were too. Just a great performance.
-Great stuff O’Hora, the thump from your fair shoulder on Howard could be heard in the Stand and you did not even fall while Howard was on his knees for a few mins getting treatment
-Paddy was my MOM simply because he was super from the very start to the very end and I thought Stephen Coen has a superb last 50 mins. DOC wins Octopus of the year award for saving that ball going out over the end-line.
-Best wishes to Eoghan McL, what happened you on a pitch should never have happened because the GAA should have taken action on similar types of ‘shoulders’ that occurred in the last few years. Niall Morgan’s ‘shoulder’ on Paddy Andrews which broke his jaw and of course McNulty’s ‘shoulder’ on Keegan which put him out for months.
-Time now Larry McCarthy to make your mark as GAA president. TMO needs to be introduced in Croke Park and Semple Stadium. People have accepted that Hawkeye is only available for the two main grounds, adding TMO to both grounds will help and TMO can be mobile so no reason why it could not be bought to any big match.
-Secondly get rid of the black card because there is too much discretion in it. Simply add a 10 minute sin-bin for a yellow card and just watch the number of yellow cards dwindle. The appeals process that was introduced for cards a number of years ago has now meant that there are no 6 month of 12 month actual bans for dirty players. When was the last time any inter county footballer got banned for 12 months ??
– Finally Purple Pat and his Yerra pals absolutely believe they have this All Ireland in the bag, the only thing that irks them is that they cannot beat Dublin in the final.
Keegan just shades it for me, he was incredible but great to see O’Hora making a name for himself, i must say when i didnt see him feature much in the league i though his chance had passed. Great to see. He will relish the chance to sow it into clifford in a final.
Great to see mcconville call out Hession too though, he was excellent when he came in and should start the final now
My man of the match was James Horan though,
I’ve questioned some of his in game decisions in the past but he got every big tactical call right on saturday, whipping AOS was 100% the right call. Bringing conroy out to the 40 for extra time was inspired too and putting O’Hora onto Kilkenny
Conroy going out to number 11 for extra time was a very interesting move. I never saw him playing anywhere but corner forward. It worked a treat though.
Didn’t realise how well Paddy Durcan played until I watched it back. He was our best player in the first half especially.
The extra space at number 11 seemed to suit Tommy. I still think there is more in him. However, he is still young and kicked three massive points.
well said Olive, you know your stuff
Ah lads, I still can’t believe we won. What a day. Swanny was fantastic, he’s been tearing it up in club football for years now, probably the best defender in Senior Club Championship last year, I can’t believe it took them so long to get him in.
For me the MOTM was lee Keegan, he marshalled that defence like a general, as he always does, even when he’s not doing the flashy stuff. In my lifetime he’s the best I’ve ever seen play for mayo. After a hard time in 2019 he wasn’t afraid to put con in his pocket yesterday.
I was in the upper Davin on Sunday which was a change as with the season ticket I’m normally on the lower cusack, fantastic view from up there, you can really see attacks developing. I’d start james Carr at 14 for the final, I know he missed two scorable shots but his movement was excellent, the forward unit worked better when he went in there.
Tommy Conroy came of age yesterday, the amount of work he got through, and even at the end of the game he didn’t even look like he broke a sweat, what a day!
O’Hora played well but the lack of appreciation for Ryan O’D is unbelievable. He was by far Mayo’s best player. 5 points, 2 from play (both outstanding), a very good mark, and a huge pressure free in injury time. Then there’s the team-play. 2 crucial turnovers that resulted in scores for Mayo in the 2nd half (McLoughlin’s and Ryan’s other close in free). People, myself included, said we had no chance without Cillian because of his leadership, free-taking, work-rate, and scores from play. Well, Ryan has covered all those and I actually think he offers more from play than Cillian because of his pace. For the first time in decades Mayo have two really dangerous forwards, in Conroy and Ryan.
Hennelly was huge for Mayo too. Delighted for him to show what a great keeper he is after the all the abuse he took over the years (plenty from posters in the comments section of this blog). One more good performance and he’ll have an All Star – what a story that would be.
Crikey. It’s Monday morning after one of Mayo’s greatest wins and I still haven’t posted anything. I’ve been so busy watching back, and soaking it all up I haven’t done anything. Willie Joe, your productivity is simply amazing.
Well done Padraig; you are fast becoming a legend, and fulfilling the promise I detected when I saw you on your debut (in Pairc Ui Rinn, if I’m not mistaken), when we were dire against Cork in an opening Div 1 match.
Voted for Robbie. I think all season he has been immense. Sure some goals have gone in, he hasn’t got everything right, but he has been ultra reliable. Now that Clarkey (legend) has retired, the arguments are over, he has no one looking over his shoulder, and he is more relaxed, more assured really. His kicking has given us a great platform; remember last season when the kicks out were dominating discussion all through the season. Joining the half back line for the Dublin kicks also cut down the space for Comerford. A risk, but a measured risk, in contrast to the mad hatter stuff abounding in goalkeeping this season.
Also gave Enda Hession a vote. Wow, JH really let him off the leash on Saturday. My seat at the very back of the Upper Hogan was so bad I couldn’t make out our own players at times (I’m not complaining though!!), and I wondered if Oisin was actually playing? I’ve liked the look of him since the Down game, and by God, he came of age on Saturday.
No lack of appreciation GBXI – just a lot of lads played very well. ROD is really stepping up this year which is a credit to him and long may it continue – he’s a class act
Olive, I love the Octopus of the Year award for DOC.
NiallMc1983, I confirm what you noticed when Carr came on. From that moment, I noticed Mayo just starting to change and turn into a different animal – Carr’s pace was a game changer at that moment (added to the lads already there, incl Hession). I was sorry his point attempts didn’t go over but his pace was the big addition. I noticed this from high up in the Cusack stand, looking down on play.
And on another day, maybe with more steadiness, he’d be able to nail those points, I feel sure.
I also really liked seeing Horan’s decisiveness making a substitution early (Hession) when Dublin were starting to pull away. That gave me a good feeling like we’re watching and we have some element of control here.
My top pick went to Robbie, kicked 3 monster points, one to save us from an undeserved defeat and has 91% accuracy on kickouts.
I went 1,2,3 but ROD was absolutely massive in that game aswell and Tommy came real good as well as rookie Hession who proved me wrong and could be a player for the ages. Fair play to JH for unearthing this talent. Also Paddy, Matthew and Conor had great games and all others on the field worked their socks off from.
He’s never given the recognition he deserves but Stephen Coen is one hell of a player. He does such a great job man marking, blocking lanes etc that he’s never involved in the biggest plays in the game, but by God does he earn his spot…. game in and game out
If we win the All Ireland I’d say O’hora will be in running for Player of the Year.
Revellino ,a great post,now for the final I will be greedy for that by at least ten
My MOTM would also have been Robbie. He was immense under pressure. And credit to him and our backs, the goal never looked like it was on for Dublin (if Basquel had scored when O’Donoghue was down it would have been disgraceful). This is a controversial one (and Cillian is obviously missed) but if Cillian was on the pitch on Saturday he would have been given most of those frees to take and I’m not confident he would have scored them all. Pity AO’S had to be taken off but he attracts such attention from Dublin, him not being there did open this up. I agree with James Carr at full forward for the next day and start Aido somewhere else. He could be the right man for a shnakey goal. Maigh Eo abú!
Padraig has been a revelation this season. He’s added some real character to the squad and we’ve another bit to do yet this year.
Up Mayo.
Well deserved.
As all the players on the day performed out of their skin. AOS wasn’t at the races and I think we as supporters and coaches need to be ok with AOS just not suiting certain games. A full forward against Dublin may require pace and movement to free up other players.
Cillian may well have opened up the space for Conroy/ROD et al and also got in on the scoring.
The backline is going through transition and POH is cementing his place at the heart of it.
I was thinking last night about how there were supposed dark days ahead for Mayo football. All our warriors were on their last legs and every pundit delighted in declaring how the cupboard was bare regarding new talent coming through. Mayo would be gone for a decade they said.
Whatever the outcome may be against Kerry there will be no dark days ahead and indeed only sunshine around the corner.
I’m sure the players are aware but I cannot state enough the pride every single Mayo person has in their team.
Still cant believe Tommy Conroy’s three scintillating points from play didn’t get him the man TOTM award on Sunday , never mind not making the top three on here .
My MOTM would also have been Robbie, followed by Ryan O’Donoghue. Padraig O’Hora took the fight.to Dublin but was left on his heels by Kilkenny for Dublin scores early on. Mayo supporters let their heart rule the head? Up Mayo.
‘We have only one plan’
What a great line
John Martin: I agree with your choices and here are a few others. Tommy Conroy was targeted all day long by Dublin for serious “ treatment” We truly witnessed the coming of age of an absolutely brilliant footballer. Top Cat – remember that show- remember to call him TC. Well Tommy Conroy (TC)moves like a leopard and has the heart of a real lion. He is truly fierce. Four Absolutely savage points from play at key moments. When he sensed blood he took out some of the aging members of the Dublin pack. Ruthless.
Diarmuid O Connor received dogs abuse from at least three Dublin players. His last gasp , absurd save of a line ball that led to Kevin’s point was the pivot at the end of the game that set us on the path to victory. This , for me, was the living embodiment of the old adage “never give up”. Diarmuid does this kind of thing routinely. He is the embodiment of how to play sport.
Lee Keegan: Just brilliant all day long. Back to his very best.
Stephen Coen: If Mayo team were a house , Stephen would be the corner stone. Plays so solidly all the time .
Truly this was a team effort. For those who think Kerry have better forwards I’m going to say something really out there. Tommy Conroy and Ryan O Donoghue will relieve Kerry of any conceit that Mayo don’t have scoring forwards. These guys will expose any weakness in the Kerry defense. We also have scoring defenders. And midfielders. And Goalkeeper. And subs. After that I think Kerry have the upper hand.
Whitey: Totally agree
Jeff: Totally agree