Our victory over Dublin was only last Saturday night and the All-Ireland final is the best part of four weeks into the future, with the second semi-final not taking place now until Saturday week.
Despite this rather leisurely timetable from our perspective, it’s worth shifting the focus for the first time to the decider and, in particular, to consider who we’ll be playing for possession of the Sam Maguire.
The Munster champions Kerry are huge favourites to come through, which if they do, will be the first time we’ll have met them in the final since 2006, while Tyrone, with such significant Covid problems in their ranks, come into this game as the underdogs. While we’ve crossed swords with the O’Neill County at the quarter-final and semi-final stage in the Championship, we’ve yet to meet them in a final.
On 11th September we’ll be be meeting one of them in this year’s All-Ireland final. Which one of them do you think it’ll be?
Who will we be meeting in the final?
- Kerry (74%, 1,258 Votes)
- Tyrone (26%, 441 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,699
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I am interested to see how Tyrone approach this game, and if they manage to identify weaknesses in Kerry. The kingdom have been impressive but no team has put them on the back foot really. Cork did manage some early scores on the counter attack but faded badly. I would prefer Tyrone but think that Kerry will come through, and will be surprised if Tyrone get within 5 points at the end.
I would prefer Tyrone we have a good record against them in Croke Park. We can sit back and watch the two teams and plan for whoever win. Obviously Kerry will be hard to beat but they have to be beaten and we saw on Saturday no team us unbeatable. If we don’t pick up any more injuries we have to have a good chance of willing the final provided we start playing from the throw in. It will be a different game but James Horan will have the team primed and surely 70 years of hurt will drive us on. It won’t be easy but Mayo don’t do easy so lots to look forward to.
Not really bothered who wins, probably be nice to beat kerry as it would add more value to the win. Beating dublin and kerry in the same year.
Who ever it is, we will beat them. Yes I’m confident, how could you not be after Saturday. We’ve not beaten the greatest team of all time by any fluke, we deserved to beat them. Tainted only by Eoghans horrific injury. For me my abiding memories from Saturday will be that horror tackle and O Horas speech. One knocks me back every time I replay it in my head, the other lifts we up knowing that this team is not going forward in hope but in confidence.
Thank God the 4th official was Paul Faloon.It was him who told Lane that the Mayo had 16 men on the field when Robbie took the missed 50. Like I posted on this blog before that Faloon was a man who’s not afraid to make a big decision. Remember Galway v Dublin under 21 final. I’m sure if it was one of those so called elite officials the wide would stood. Faloon stuck to his guns on Saturday and Lane had no option but to have it retaken. Think Faloon will get the final. Top ref.
It doesn’t really matter too much, to win the All Ireland you got to beat any team in the final.
Not surprised with Hession ability, Garrymore have produced some lovely footballers for many years.
One of the unsung heroes is Stephen Coen, he goes about his work with no fuss, very solid, doesn’t give the ball away and won alot of ball in the centre back position on Saturday.
Mayo88 I agree with u in Coen. He is solid performer and better in possession these days as he was a bit loose. The big difference in our forward line is pace. Pace and power. Nothing else is any good. Tommy and ryan are top class marquee forwards in my book. Start james carr at 14 in final . He needs time to get into a game. For me that’s our best ff line. O donoghue, carr and conroy
Twice in a row Mayo “under-performed” in the first half. Both times the same result. Devastating, controlled aggression, power, speed and accuracy delivered spectacular second half performances and results. Was that part of the plan?
Is this our year? If they bring that second half (and extra time) intensity and accuracy to the final it doesn’t matter who Mayo play.
Nothing won yet but that’s as good a semi-final performance as we’ve seen in a long, long time.
Maigheo abú
Louisburghexile I think it is part of the plan to stay in touch for first half then give it hell in the second. No way u could go with that intensity for the whole game
Kerry will win handily.
Wow what a 2nd half performance, :some pressure on the croi!. Great team effort. Safe to say our bench was pivotal and fair dues to Robbie pressure kick!
Cynical play by a few Dublin players! Cannot understand the terrible assault not a tackle on Eoghan! Hope he recovers soon le cunadh De!
Go neiri le foireann Mhuigheo i gconai. Bfeidir go bfuil Sam ag teacht
God Bless the optimism of 22% of you 🙂
On no planet are Tyrone winning this with all the disruption – not only have they been unable to train as a full collective panel, but they have players actively recovering from covid (it knocks a damn lot out of even young fit men who get infected and show symptoms)
The GAA were always going to allow the rescheduling of this, and I’m glad they did for the integrity of the championship, but it will be a facile win for Kerry, which is no harm at all from our perspective
I know a few have mentioned already but Robbie Hennelly deserves nothing but praise and admiration for his performance on Saturday (thought he was excellent in the Connaught final also). His Saturday performance was up there with the very best we have seen of any goal keeper. I know there were heroes all over the park but to me he needs special mention as he probably more than any other player over the yrs has had to endure some serious mental anguish. That had to have taken its toll. All those ghosts are now buried and will surely have a huge effect on his own confidence, He has risen from the Ashes in his last 2 games, a big well done and I’m delighted for him…
Fancy Kerry to win .
Think one discussion that will come up in the coming weeks is our great servant Aiden O Shea. Do other teams see him as a weakness as he is not a mobile as he used to be .Can’t see him not starting. Think James did brilliantly and subs all improved our overall performance.
Hopefully Mullen back and Hessions pace was magnificent to watch ..so plenty for management to think about.
I have to admit I didn’t think we would win and was sure we wouldn’t at half time ..
The final whistle gave me a glimpse of what winning an All Ireland might feel like ..
The month to prepare will be good re injuries and also to come down from the high of knocking the Dubs off their perch ..
Padraic O Horas interview was really special.
Top lad
I would have given Tyrone a great chance to win only for the covid situation. They have a great panel to pick from with big names on the bench. Obviously now we don’t know how they fixed so it’s hard to judge them. If mayo are to win the all ireland they have to beat the best teams in the land so bring on any of them it’s great to be there. Kerry have brilliant forwards but if they starved of possession they can’t do much and mayo are capable of doing this. Also we haven’t seen kerry under pressure for a long time so don’t know how they’d react and they probably don’t know themselves.
[Deleted].
I’m presuming it will be Kerry. We cannot afford to play like we did V Galway and Dublin in the first half against them if it is. But I think if we are in touch at half time either up or down, then we can go on and win it.
Kerry do have the best forwards in the country, but we have arguably the best backs IF we can get everyone back fit and we choose the right matchups.
The Aidan thing at FF, I dont know, I think its nearly a distraction for the players that isn’t helping us, we’re not using the high ball effectively enough and its in players head when running forward to have a look to see if we should hit him with it. that distracts them from head down, speed attack that we do so well. Its so hard to get that high ball right I think we should keep it for a 10 minute period in the game and leave it at that.
My strategy would be not to start him, to bring him on in midfield at the start of the second half to shore that area up and put him at the edge of the square for the last 10 minutes. Name him at FF of course and start Darren Coen instead. Enda Hession for Eoghan McLoughlin and hope Oisin is fit to move back into the FB line, Lee to 6
No doubt – I’ve deleted that comment. You post here regularly so you know that posting unconfirmed rumours isn’t allowed but still you do it. I’m getting very hacked off with people casually abusing the comments facility here. There’s a crackdown coming if people don’t cop themselves on.
Aiden ó Shea will be back with a bang.
Dont know if this has being asked already, but does anyone know if Hurling Final Tickets were distributed nationally as normal, as in every club got tickets or were tickets kept for Cork and Limerick outside of the cooperate and sponsors obligations
The ball into Aidan was actually quite good on Saturday unlike other occasions. He also caught them very well on at least three occasions. However, having done the hard bit he failed to kick two very easy chances. The third ball was incorrectly flagged wide. I think he possibly lost confidence at missing those two and he became frustrated.
But had he slotted those two points (which you would expect any forward to convert) then positioning him at FF would be talked about as a tactical success. And here’s the point. Do we play him at 14 next day? My answer is yes. I would expect that given that kind of possession in front of goal again he would do real damage. Now if he’s not capable of that then we are in very different territory. But for now I would give him a chance to redeem himself. He deserves that and I reckon he will deliver.
I’d prefer Tyrone, but would relish beating Kerry if that makes any sense. However I can’t see anything other than a big-margin win for the latter that will probably put the fear of god into some of us. I think we still have a lot of work to do ourselves, but I’m really not buying the Kerry hype just yet and I think we’re well capable of beating them.
The Aido question will dominate discussions over the next month. I’d be inclined to start without him; what a weapon to be able to unleash when Kerry legs are tiring. I know James Carr had a couple of terrible and inexplicable wides on Saturday but I still thought his movement and work rate were very good (I may be slightly biased though).
Mayo88 you’re spot on about Coen. He just quietly gets on with it in every game, is solid and dependable and rarely gets recognised. He put in a monster shift on Saturday and let’s not forget he captained an All-Ireland winning team not too long ago. Conor Loftus rarely gets acknowledged either but he has barely put a foot wrong this season.
We’ll have ourselves driven demented by the end of this four weeks!
I was a bit suprised and disappointed (for him) at the lack of mobility from Aidan the last day maybe he was carrying an injury. I think he’d be better stationed at 11 bombing forward winning us frees. I doubt he’ll have as bad a game again Aidan has been a fantastic warrior for us
Do we know for sure if Tyrone have been that badly affected by the virus ?
I like to observe the players on the pitch in the warm up and the first few minutes into the game. One thing I noticed was the Mayo defenders looked very stiff early in the game, I’m wondering is this nerves, where the body tightens up or was it from the type of training done in the build up to the game ?
I noticed on TV yesterday the look J Small gave to Cooper as they were preparing for the Anthem, i am guessing these guys don’t get on so well.
Are the 1st half performances in the past 2 games by design or natural ?, shades of the Meath team in early 1990’s.
It’s very hard to see past a comfortable win for the Kingdom, given that Kerry hockied Tyrone by six goals in their recent meeting and now with the Red Hands’ covid travails.
Irrespective of who faces us, we have work to do. For starters, we gave Dublin two (three?) goal chances while not creating any ourselves. Kerry have been bagging goals throughout the league and championship and will probably get at least one against us, so we need to bag a major to win, in my opinion.
We also need to do better in the opening period. We can’t keep relying on barnstorming second halves against the best teams, because if we give the likes of Kerry a six point lead, they are unlikely to be so obliging as to let us back into it.
The other thing is that even though the conditions weren’t great, we made a lot of basic errors the last day, loose hand and footpasses from short distances, missing simple shots from twenty metres out etc. This also needs to be tidied up.
Hopefully Oisín will be fit, seeing as Eoghan will probably miss the final now.
My thoughts on the game – genuinely thought we were going to have to apply damage limitation in the second half as we were 7 points down before Conor Loftus pulled it back to 6. We were 5 down with 8 minutes of normal time remaining. Now first of all – if that were us in that position, what would the media have to say about it?. Not doubt there would be some very nasty stuff written about the character of the players. Can’t see anyone in the media willing to take that shot.
But then Diarmuid does what he always does and gave it everything he had, left a ball in play that was going wide, covering huge ground to get to it and passing 4 dubs. Probably the one occasion on the day when they didn’t try a sly dig to put him off. Their backs were not quite to the wall at that stage, which is when they usually revert to their default setting. From then on, it was all Mayo. We had greater energy, greater belief and all the ideas.
Was hugely impressed with Enda Hession and Jordan Flynn when they came on. Not going to go through all the players, they were all exceptional and if they were not being exceptional, then Horan pulled them ashore. Credit has to go to James Horan for that – he got his substitutions bang on. Taking Aido off was a big call, but it was the right call. Dublin have had Aido’s number every time we’ve played them, but he owes us nothing and he certainly deserves a pass on that from all of us. He’ll be back for whoever wins between Kerry and Tyrone and he’ll be imperious that day too, I’ve no doubt about it.
Hard to pick a MOTM. Could have been Lee, Padraig, Tommy, Ryan, Paddy or Robbie and even a few more after that.
I’m delighted that Oisin McConville was on the Sunday game last night and called out the thuggery and poor officiating of that game. For too long that sort of craic has been going on and it’s been dismissed by those who fawn over that Dublin team as “knowing how to win games”.
You could see Cahill was disgusted with the result and could barely bring himself to congratulate Mayo, doing so through gritted teeth.
Last word on the game (for now at least). We won that game playing poorly for the first 50 minutes. We’ve a lot to work on but that’s certainly a positive and we have 4 weeks to get things in order.
As for Kerry vs Tyrone – I’m glad the GAA has seen sense on this, finally. Tyrone were dead right to stick to their guns. They asked for 2 weeks and were arrogantly told “you can have 6 days”. Credit to Kerry (and to a lesser extent ourselves) for agreeing to the change of timing.
That being the case – Covid is a bad bad dose, it’s hard to see how Tyrone could recover in time to have anything resembling their potential to take on Kerry and I fear that this will be a repeat of what happened them in the League.
I suspect Aidan will start
Given McLaughlin surely won’t make it unfortunately, and McHale is unlikely to feature, it’d be a big call to make 3 changes. Also he obviously brings so much experience and as pointed out above he’ll hardly be as peripheral the next day out (hopefully anyway)
I suspect though from next season (especially with O’Connor back) he’ll be utilised more as an impact sub, but for now I think he’ll be in the 15 for the final alright
Agree with others in relation to our slow starts. We went in at 5 and 6 down in the last two games respectively. Something that can’t be ignored is the power of the Kerry bench (yes, yes assuming its Kerry and all that). Taking the team that started against Cork the two Spillanes, and Tommy Walsh are serious options to spring, and Dara Moynihan missed out through injury. Its a huge step up in terms of quality in relation to the substitutes we’ve faced all season to date. I’d be very, very surprised if Kerry only scored 3 or 4 points in the 2nd half. There’s not many teams where James O’Donoghue could leave the panel and it barely registers a murmur
Suspect we’ll need to come straight out of the blocks – boy how good an early goal or two would be – as I just can’t see Kerry (or even Tyrone if they somehow eke through) being as forgiving when in a significant winning position
Don’t think we’ve scored 2 goals in a final since that 2006 massacre where it mattered little… that will need to change
Anne Marie, I cannot agree with you. Aidan has to start in the final .he is a superb captain and showed that on Saturday. I think James and Darren will be great impact subs coming on for whatever forwards are not having a good day, even Aidan but that I doubt . As regards the semi, Kerry are 1/7 and that reflects their perceived superiority . I’d love it to be Tyrone though. Up Mayo
Assuming it is to be Kerry and I have not watched their League campaign this year. What is the story with the Kerry defence? It has been under question for a few years now. Of course their forwards and midfield (Moran older but still effective) is top class. Has their backline been tightened up?
In relation to Aidan I, would start him for sure, I think he will learn a lot from Saturday and he will come good, he has been a great servant to mayo football. Isn’t it great to have a final to look forward to, happy days.
I expect Kerry to beat Tyrone in any possible scenario and since the result isn’t in doubt I would like to see Kerry beat them by 25 points and become un-backable favourites for the final. Worst case scenario is that Kerry just fall over the line in a dour affair on a wet slobbery day and lead us all into a false sense of what they can really bring to the table. And come All-Ireland day Kerry’s true self will appear. We have some fallen soldiers but we have four weeks for others from the 41 to pick up their shields and take them into battle. Jesus, I’ll never survive the anticipation over four weeks!
In regard to all the AOS talk..Aidan was carrying an injury into that game and hadn’t trained…I would not be judging what he can bring to the table solely based on last Saturday.
Apologies Willie Joe. lesson learned
Aiden is caught for pace. Simple. He ain’t a ff. Simple. So where do u play him ?
Quite a conundrum Spectre. I would tend to agree with your points. I’ve always felt that Aido is lost as a full forward and that isn’t his fault. He’s not a natural in there, his first instinct is to catch the ball. But sometimes a flick on or knock down to an oncoming runner is what is needed. Having said that, when he is in there, he gets very little support. We had much more flow on Saturday when we had natural forwards in there.
If he is at 11, a good centre back will bomb forward & potentially cause mayhem if left untracked. The only match up for me that makes sense would be David Moran, should Kerry win their semi. But to be honest, I would be targeting Moran with legs.
Could you imagine Aido coming on for the last 20 mins with a full tank? Potentially a wrecking ball. But James will have the answers, it’s all about the squad now and what is best on the day
I just wonder if the speed of the game is now too much for Aidan. Certainly it is for 70mins. We saw it in the first half v Galway and again on Saturday night. It has always been evident against Dublin, regardless of whether he’s played at FF, CHF or MF.
Since 2012, I’ve counted 9 times Mayo have played the Dubs in championship (if replays are included) and he has struggled in all, bar a decent first half in 2017. 9 times is a pattern we must learn from and in this respect, signs are good from last Saturday. He wasn’t performing, therefore, like any other player he was subbed. But fair play James, its still always a big call to take off the captain.
My worry for the final is that the Kerry of today, athletically, are comparable to Dublin of the past decade. This of course remains to be seen, but the indicators are there I feel. They’re a team filled with youth and athleticism. Aidan played well against Kerry in ’17 but that was a different Kerry team to now, and he was marking Donaghy, and could keep up with him pace-wise.
So how to use Aidan to the teams advantage in this year’s final? I fear he could really struggle. James needs to figure out how and where he fits into the Mayo team given the team’s pace and running style. He needs to do this without negatively affecting or hindering the style of play we’re developing and that’s natural to us.
I didn’t know Aidan was carrying an injury on Saturday. But that still doesn’t account for missing two easy kicks for points. For some reason or other his confidence deserted him on the day and the two missed chances just added further to his problems. It was a big call to replace him but it was absolutely the right thing to do
Mind you if we lost some people would have slaughtered James Horan for that call. His hand pass to a Dublin player in the second half just put the tin hat on a poor day for Aidan. I felt sorry for him because playing badly and being replaced as captain is humiliating.
How he now responds to this is what matters. He has a month to recover and reset himself. I look forward to a huge statement from Aidan if he starts the next which I hope he does.
I think the aido argument is simple,
on the flip side, we could be saying he did very well, missed two sitters he normally would get,
he would be confident then and coudl have been different game. Also i feel he was isolated in Ff line, conroy and o donn or others need to get closer to him in there,
if you look back at “The star” he always had someone to pass it to like the gooch etc.
Aido will start in Centre forward i feel instead of McHale, and will be a force for sure….
Assault on Eoghan McLoughlin was unacceptable. Not part of sport and would not be tolerated in any other sport or walk of life.
It has been mentioned above, but I think Conor Loftus has been instrumental in Mayos last two games. He goes under the radar as he is not the typical midfielder, i.e. 6′ plus and 14 stone. He is however the ideal modern day midfielder in that he can cover the 9km to 12km needed in the middle and also he retains possession. I don’t think he misplaced a pass on Saturday, either by foot or hand. He is a wonderful mid to long range foot passer which has led to 3 scored marks over the last 2 games. His constant angled runs mean that the opposition midfield/middle third is always being shifted around the pitch, and so he is creating space for others to run into. He is also a very accurate long range shooter and has scored in every championship game this season.
While he most likely will never be a “stand-out” man of the match performer, for me, he knits that middle third together beautifully and compliments the game plan.
I have never posted before but I can’t let the assault on our young player go without mentioning something – I do martial arts and elbow strikes in what I do are last resort if in danger. If you shoulder someone there is no way on earth that your arm or elbow will rise – it actually presses into your chest. Watch the clip – elbow/arm is coming from an upward to downward position – it could not ever have been a “fair” shoulder. Also, an elbow strike can kill – it can put someone into convulsions and lead to a stroke. For too long our Mayo players have been punching bags for others. RTE have become YES men to a Leinster Agenda. if this assault is not called out and dealt with the possibility in the future is a young lad in a wheelchair or death. Pulling down a man led to the black card rule so we know that the GAA can act if they want to. ~Time to end yes men on the sideline and refs family members behind the goals. The game is now too fast and too serious and any wife, girlfriend, partner watching what could happen to their loved one will make some question putting their bodies on the line.
Tyrone are a proud GAA county & I guarantee they will bedelighted to be massive underdogs when they play Kerry Sat week, they will relish the challenge & will beat Kerry.
you’re not wrong about the pride and the underdogs thing but with a number of them not being able to train collectively alone is a bad enough start but also the numbers having had Covid, it’s a very big ask. If there was no Covid in their camp, I’d certainly be giving them a big chance, but recovering from Covid to be back to full fitness is not something that even the 2 weeks grace will allow for.
Now that the dust is beginning to settle and we begin to look forward to 4 weeks time, it’s also time to reflect on the win and what it means to the approach for the final.
First and foremost I think every Mayo man, woman and child should have Eoghan Mc Laughlin in their mind and wishing and praying that he will recover 100%.
I think the method of the win will cause huge headaches for JH and his management team – the big question is how/ where do we use Aiden O’ Shea. And before I’m accused once again of “playing the man rather than the ball” by the moderator I have the highest respect for AOS and what he has done for his county. But last Saturday the turning point of the game was when he was replaced. Simply Mayo played better without him. Perhaps it was game management that went wrong and the excellence of the management team saw that and made the big decision to take him off and change tactics. Without doubt AOS is a massive asset and cannot be done without, so how best to utilise him is the conundrum – full forward, I don’t think so, super sub, nah !, compete with the opposing midfield maybe, playmaker around the midfield maybe,. I really don’t know but surely he has to have an input !
A lot being made of the impact of our subs on Sat but looking ahead to an AI final I would have the forwards in this order (assuming starting forwards are DOC, Kev Mc, Brian Walsh, Conroy, AOS, R O’D)
D Coen – crucuial point on Sat. In general is a perfect sub as he is very accurate but needs that little bit of space that opens up more after 60mins.
Darren McHale – My guess is he may not start but could be a great option from the bench. Has not happend for him in last 2 games
James Durcan – Live wire, plenty of speed. make those darting run that can draw frees at end of games
Paul Towey – Will be a big player for Mayo in future I think. Would back him although he is young.
Conor O’Shea – Good option. Maybe not first choice if we are chasing the game and need scores, but could do an effective job.
J Carr – dont have the exact stats but my reckoning is that he has scored 3 points from 10 shots in the 4 matches. goal threat and Great movement but takes on too many low % shots IMO
That’s fair enough, No Doubt, apology accepted.
@Pebblesmeller.
I have to agree with you fully on Conor Loftus.
He really has played some wonderful stuff this year.
In possession while moving with the ball he was actually directing his team mates where exactly he wanted them to go and what angle he wanted them to run at.
He never panics. His head is always up looking around for every option open to him and his foot passing was superb on Saturday.
I’m a big fan of Conors and the coolness he keeps about himself will surely be needed in the final.
His point just before half time was a big lift for the team heading into the dressing rooms.
I think the lack of belief in the media that we could win on Saturday, on top of us playing without our injured players really brought the best out of us.
I still cannot believe the way we came back and won that game. It was absolutely incredible. I’m still in Dreamland, on cloud nine, and we still have an AI final to look forward to. We must be the luckiest fans in the world.
Agree with FDBinashui unless they were completely asymptomatic (and even still they would be long enough without physical training) there’s little chance of any covid positive cases in the last week or two even featuring for Tyrone in this semi, given the recovery needed
Totally agree Pebblesmeller (2.12pm) Conor Loftus is a superb operator – a really class footballer possessing mobility, vision and a cultured foot-passer. I seem to recall he was the free-taker on the 2016 U21 team, so he is well
acquainted with the pressure of expectation.
Mayo focus I hear ya. I fully charged aiden for last 20min would be some asset.
Check carefully when clicking on links in emails. I got one today from “manny mayo” which makes me suspicious. It looks like a mayo gaa lotto email but not sent from mayo GAA??
PS: please do keep on playing the mayo GAA lotto using a genuine link. I just did that too.
Willie Joe, is there any chance Season Tickets will be issued for the final?
@the Islander …… I doubt it given the number of Mayo season ticket holders. However, Cork county board decided to give tickets out of their allocation to the Season ticket holders for the hurling final …..but I can’t see Mayo doing that …..although I wish they would
What time and date is the All Ireland football final on at.?
Isnt it great to be able to put the feet up for 4 weeks and sit back and watch tyrone and kerry beat the tar out of each other.
Far too many people dismissing tyrone there, they would love nothing better than to sicken Kerry and they have done it in the past.
Kerry have an unreal forward line, we know that. Best forward line in the county by miles but they still havent found a single defender
Question: Name one kerry defender you would have in that mayo defence? Exactly
Does anyone know how many season tickets are in cork hurling and how many are in mayo football? and also do we know the breakdown between club plus (formerly chairde maigheo) tickets and standard season tickets in mayo? I see limerick and cork county boards received 1500 additional tickets each compared to the semi finals. so 3000 out of an additional 16000 tickets have ended up with their clubs i presume, meaning the increase in attendance wont mean much to the grassroots on the biggest day of the year
@Proud Mayo Supporter
Of all the posts your ‘first post’ will be the one that will remain with me. I have two sons involved in GAA and I can see this kind of behaviour will only spread if allowed to go unpunished. Imagine how family and friends were feeling in the immediate aftermath, not to mention the pain and torment Eoghan was feeling. Even at club level most players are so fit and conditioned these days that they are capable of inflicting life changing injuries…especially if there is intent to cause damage.
Proud Mayo Supporter : I couldn’t agree with you more. This is the most important thing to be talking about today,namely player welfare. You are spot on with this post.
The “ nice” people, the “decent chaps” who go along with mealy mouthed verbiage handed down by RTÉ are no different from other “nice “ people who didn’t or don’t speak up for fear of rocking the boat.There is another word for nice people who can see injustice with their own eyes but don’t speak up about it.
And the apposition of the tremendous courage of our heroes on the field and sidelines with this so called “ decency” is kind of sickening.
Tell me, what is not nice or what is indecent about calling out the flagrant abuse of our players ? Give me true courage any day of the week before niceness or decency.
Our players are both decent ,nice guys yet they show tremendous courage in every way , every day. We would do well to understand the true meaning of the sport we are watching. To show us the meaning of courage and resilience no matter the odds. To understand true soldierly fellowship and to never ever ever bend the knee to fucking evil of the nice type or any other type. We would do well to emulate the fierce courage of our Men Of Mayo. Or at least try.
@Proud Mayo Supporter, interesting post. A hit like that can induce a Stroke!!
I was seated in the Lower Davin and almost as far away from the incident as you could be in the ground. Even from my view you could see the hit was massive. When the head flies up and the body slumps hard to the deck without an outstretched arm or hand to try and cushion the fall, you just know that there is a bad injury and a certain concussion. The reactions of Horan and Diarmuid O’Connor said it all because they knew just how bad things were.
Regardless of a red card or not, Lane displayed terrible control and judgement by not immediately blowing up and stopping play. He stopped it for Murchins cramp for fuck sake. And for those saying “there was no intent”? Firstly, that is completely irrelevant as regards the rules, and secondly, there was a hell of an amount of intent in order to inflict such force.
Tom Cunnifes shoulder on Peter Harte from a few years back came to mind, but that hit was a square on, shoulder to shoulder collision. Yes, Harte was hospitalized and suffered a bad injury, but his head was never touched. That was a text book, hard hit. Smalls shoulder was an opportunity to nail a player who was obviously in a slightly prone position. And nail him he did.
I just wonder how much the Kerry forwards have improved since this day last week?
It seems an awful lot going by what is being written here.
Kerry haven’t go the better of us in Croker in 10 years. The equal yes, the better, no.
The momentum is with Mayo.
Martiniin, got the same “manny Mayo” email. Perhaps you and I should tighten up on our security or maybe the blog site should !
And while I’m thinking about it – any chance that an option could be introduced for us mortals to review our posts before we submit them therefore avoiding admonishing from the moderators .
@TheIslander – it will be a bit of a kick in the teeth for us season ticket holders to be left out in the cold whilst tickets are distributed around the Country after all the support we have given over the years. Hopefully common sense or people power will force their hand..
Food4Thought, you make an important point about the need to display courage to speak out in the face of abuses, injustice or where the status quo puts someone in danger
I’m not sure who ‘the nice people’ are that you are referring to in your post.
Personally I had a problem with people taking aim at one person (the co-commentator on the game).
We all have voices. If we are that exercised we can all speak out. Why target one person? It’s lazy behaviour, in my view, and I dislike tarring someone unjustly. Aim at one person? You can do damage by harming that person’s reputation when we do not know all the factors. This happens again and again in public life and it’s lazy.
My focus was on Eoghan’s situation. I pray he is OK. There are avenues to call out the situation where these dangerous impacts (tackles, whatever you want to call it) are allowed to persist in the game.
I absolutely agree with you that this needs to be a watershed and change needs to come from here. The possibility that Eoghan had a bad concussion worries and actually sickens me. Please God, he will be back in great form soon.
Swallow Swoops: Like you I’m reluctant to target an individual in this way. It’s not fair. But I believe the more important point is that we speak up about injustice.
Food4thought, we are in agreement then.
I just took issue with your use of the words ‘nice people’ and having a go at them (however you imagine them to be).
Nice people can be courageous lions too – they are not mutually exclusive.
To finish, we don’t want to see our players being put in this position again. This was enough. A push is needed to bring in measures to stamp this out (camera replay, harsh penalties, onus on the person making the tackle to ensure it is safe).
Thank you for your reply.
“Nice people can be courageous lions too – they are not mutually exclusive”
Yes indeed Swallow Swoops. Our Mayo team being a prime example.
Good on you, Food4thought. Wonderfully put!
@Proud Mayo Supporter, 100% agree with you on everything you have said there.. The game is the and there is no room for reckless endangerment to any players health on the field.. My first All Ireland final as a teenager was the 1983 All Ireland final between Dublin and Galway, to support our neighbors to the South, A buddy of mine an me paid the princely sum of £1 as an under 12 to get into the Canal End terrace as it was then, the last time an All Ireland final was played that wasn’t all ticket, we were under 12 years of course, .. Of course it wasn’t a football game at by any standards, in fairness to the referee on the day he showed great objectivity in the very trying circumstances, 3 Dublin player’s got the line and rightly so.. There was Dublin violence all over the pitch and I believe to this day believe it was premeditated, someone was actually stabbed in Croke Park and Galway busses were pelted with stones, the Dublin media tried to make light of the overall disgrace of what should be a celebration, branding Dublin the 12 apostles, on Saturday a number of Dublin players were just as contemptable as so many back in 1983.. Many so called pundits, somehow like to glorified this thuggary, one particular RTE pundit likes to tell I don’t know times about how many times Meath and Dublin ‘flaked hell and nearly each other’ but all apparently is well because they shook hands with each other at the end of it.. What utter neantheral nonsense to come repeatly come out with, .. Saturday was close to being as bad as 1983, but the ref and his team of officials did not have the courage to do the right thing, bottling several big calls.. Again in 1995 the media made light of the thuggary inflicted on one of the greatest ever GAA players, Tyrone’s Peter Canavan in the All Ireland final again the rules seems to be different for Dublin, .. Ciaran Whelan almost takes the head off Mayo’s Ronan McGarrity in 2006 and again the rules seems to be different for Dublin, Michael Fitzsimmons last December in the All Ireland final and again the rules seems to be different for Dublin, and the (objective? so called punditary seems to be different) now Michael Fitzsimmons in my opinion is a brilliant player and in many years watching him play and admiring him, it’s not his normal form, just a mistimed challenge, but a Red none the less, .. Last Saturday, the absolute assault on Eoghan McLoughlin is not where the line is for a Red Card in Gaelic Football, it’s where the line is for a jail sentence in normal life,..
That’s an option I’d like to have, RahoonSean, but it’s still on the to-do list of possible future improvements. Sad individual that I am, I often correct grammatical and spelling mistakes people make in their comments after they’ve been posted. Lookit, we all have our crosses to bear …
If Aiden doesn’t start …..
3 times S Coen has led a team onto the pitch in an All – Ireland final
3 times he has lifted the cup
You know it makes sense
Willie Joe, that is so very funny (your admission about corrections). I’m guffawing here, in fact : )
@Supermac: Aye, but forwards win games. Kerry will probably beat Tyrone given that the Ulstermen are less likely to score goals.
If we don’t defend properly, the same thing would happen to us in the final.
The referee and the officials from the ladies game were sitting in the same section as us in the Upper Hogan.
I would say they left the big game knowing what hardcore Mayo support is all about.
It would be great to get tickets for the final in the Lower Davin.
Yes Wille Joe, “Sometimes I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy “ but at times I don’t know which one I need !
Onwards and upwards all in the cause of Mayo football !
Any update on this “Manny Mayo” email .
To me it looks like the Mayo GAA website has been hacked !
I’d find it hard to leave Paul Murphy out of any team Supermac!
I agree with your all round sentiment however, although in fairness I thought the Kerry defence generally held their own in both 2019 finals
The murchan wonder goal was the difference
I would give a fully fit Tyrone team as good as chance as we had v the Dubs.. Last Spring incredible reversal in Kerry something of an outlier in Tyrone’s consistency in a very much tougher Ulster Championship.. As far as I can remember, due to Covid regulations the Tyrone player’s had to drive individually in their cars the not inconsiderable distance to the Kingdom for that game, .. I think in general even in Mayos case where our players had to drive alone the much less distance for our away games v Westmeath and Clare, our performance was not nearly as good as at home.. I certainly give Tyrone a realistic chance, and wish them well with their Covid travails.. But the possibility for Covid affecting any of the 3 teams in the Championship will and must be a serious concern..
Well said Proud Mayo Supporter!
Totally agree with you, thing I’d like to know
What’s going to be done about it, are our management going to demand from HQTS that this behaviour never happens again and a solution sought which will protect our players in the future from serious head injury or the unthinkable happening.
If Michael Murphy scored the penalty and managed to keep himself on the field of play Donegal would easily have beaten Tyrone. As it was with 14 men for the largest part of the game they managed to stay with them until their numerical advantage won it at the end. Tyrone just fell over the line against a Monaghan side who uncharacteristically kicked a hat full of wides. Like us Kerry are built for Croker and are much further on with their development than Tyrone. With Covid and everything it’s a free shot for Tyrone and I would love to see them really go after Kerry but I’m not sure if they can or will. Hope it’s not a boring Kildare damage limitation type game.
Make no mistake Kerry will win the other semi final and we will need to Improve to beat them – we can’t wait until half time to come to life like the Galway and Dublin games – if we do it’ll be game over.
Remember 2014 – don’t let these yerras rob us again, Our Time has come, but nothings given we have to make it happen
@rahoonsean.maybe I’m not the one to give advice ,today anyway after messing up with an earlier post but regarding checking posts before they go up on the blog I suppose the best and easiest option is to read it back before you hit the post comment on the phone.
What about bringing Keith Higgins into the panel and throwing him on for the last 20 minutes up front? His fitness wouldn’t be a problem because he has trained and won the Nicky Rackard with the Hurlers it’s a genuine question I’m not winding Anyone up.
If we take the 2nd half in the last 2 games combined plus 25 minutes injury time mayo only conceded 4pts from play in something like 110 minutes of football. That’s pretty good defense work.
I was listening to the gaa hour and Wooly (Who I usually have a lot of time for but he was wrecking my head today!) was calling it a disgrace the pictues online of John Small with his elbow up in the air…trying to make him look bad! Now I know he didn’t lead with his elbow but he did follow through raising his elbow…now can someone answer me this..is that natural momentum after hitting hard with a shoulder?because to me there is no way your arm and elbow rise that high naturally after making the hit…however I am happy to stand corrected and I am sure there are plenty on here who have received and given far bigger hits than I ever did in my time.
To All Season Ticket Holders
What do you think of below?
I would ask that we all contact Mayo GAA and ask that they follow the example of Cork in issuing Season ticket holders the opportunity to purchase a ticket to the final. It would of course be a good gesture of the support we have shown each year.
I am a big fan of allowing clubs allocation of tickets but that system is ran very differently from club to club ( Open draws , it can be about WHO you know ). With reduction of available tickets for this years final I believe that we should also prioritise season ticket holders from 2020 along with clubs.
Pat201
Kerry have to be favourites given the form lines and the whole covid upset for Tyrone. I have a sneaking suspicion that the game might be tighter than people think. Both sides will be rusty enough after a long time without a game. Kerry have been dazzling so far but against poor sides. In the championship game last November it was tight going into the final quarter, Kerry panicked and a poor team Cork picked their pockets. Those doubts must still be there. I would completely disregard anything we saw in the league. Tyrone were going really well until covid struck. Kerry to win the semi but it’s not a certainty. Mayo won’t fear any of those two in the final.
I watched that on youtube walterwhite – it’s better can you can watch how bitter Ger Brennan is that it was Mayo that beat them on Saturday.
I have just watched the game here at home and it was mighty watching it on tv. the turning point was diarmuid o connors kung – fu kick back to kevin who kicked a great score. tommy conroy was terrific in the last 20 minutes of normal time and in extra time .Tommy was lucky he did not become the meat in the dublin sandwich (aka mickey ned o sullivan of kerry in the 1975 final) when he burst through to score a point. Aidan has to and will start the final and I think he will play a blinder and will collect the sam maguire cup after the match. it would be great to allow 60000 supporters into the final. roll on 9 / 11.
Just some random musing 48 hours after the event:
– Mullin was said to have a “quad strain”. If true he should be well fit to play by 11 sept. If not, there was clearly a muscle tear of some sort and a more serious injury than was reported.
– big fan of the slower more controlled starts and convinced it’s by design. Horanball is not possible to play flat out for 77 odd min straight. Every other year we have been out on our feet against the dubs after 50 mins. This time there was plenty in the tank.
The second half of these big games is where men are made. Great teams finish strongly in big games and overall we have rarely done this in previous finals. This year appears different.
– I’m certain we will be playing kerry due to the covid situation in Tyrone, there no way they can prepare properly and beat kerry. ideally kerry get a facile win where their forwards look class with plenty of space and no real experience of the intensity we are going to bring in the final.
– mayos athleticism and conditioning is phenomenal. Kerry will not have played anything like this in the championship this year. We will need to take the likes of Clifford and Sean o Shea to places they have never been before in terms of mental and physical warfare.
– I’m convinced that Kerry’s defence is weaker than Dublins. Let’s see Jason foley with T Conroy running full tilt at him? In fact, many of their players have much less experience than ours of high octane championship football. Yeah they look great in the highlights packages against inferior sides. But players like keegan and Diarmuid have played 10 times more “battles” at this level than many of this kerry team. We simply cannot christen this kerry side as a great team until they have come though some proper adversity.
– last time kerry beat us in a AI final in 2006 we had to listen to rubbish afterwards about how their “need” was so much greater than ours and they were more ravenously hungry than us. Kerry’s one year drought for Sam in 2006 was so much more intense than our 55 year one you see?
Fuck them. We’ll see who wants it more this time.
I turned it off Walter white after bitter ger Brennan accused diarmuid of being a diver.
@FBD, I had it on in the car, I didn’t get to listen to it all but I had to laugh when he wanted a bit more balance on The Sunday Game..Last night was the first time I think I ever watched it where there were balanced views given…and I have a feeling if there was a replay to be played it would have been a very different show!
@walterwhite I listened to the gaa hour earlier, quite embarrassing how they brushed off John Smalls and James McCarthys assaults as normal in game incidents but were outraged at Aido for coming on at the end of normal time and DOC and Kevin for going to ground easily
@NiallMc, Ger Brennan came across terribly..it was awful listening.
@Mayoman89..I know they spent more time going on about Aido on the pitch than the filth that was being dished out..rediculous stuff
Jesus Ger Brennan is a sore loser.
Had a dig at Diarmuid and even Cillian who wasn’t even involved in the game!
Paul Caffreys interview on OTB was disgusting . A magnificent hit by Small apparently and not even a foul. No duty of care towards opposing players . What a wonderful message that sends out
WJ: one man’s English you won’t have to correct is Colin Sheridan’s. He writes in poetry, capturing the emotion perfectly. Well done Colin.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/arid-40359656.html
Where was Ciaran Whelan on Sunday night when we wanted him.
Aidan didnt break any rules at the end of the game. The referee had blown the final whistle so the game was over. He was entitled to be on the field at that stage as much as anyone else. Dublin people trying to raise the Aidan issue are trying to take attention away from the Dublin antics.
KM79 – is Paul Caffrey not a guard as well in his day job. If Small did that out on the street – he would be in court for assault
He is indeed SouthMayo Exile
Unfortunately Aido was in the pitch before the final whistle went .
We might be as well off just to move on from this game quickly . Can’t afford to lose him for final as well
I think AOS goes half forward and will support midfeild, not going to make it at FF
Brilliant Colin Sheridan article, ending as follows, think it’s worthy of repeating:
“If Mayo were born broken, then they have truly lived by mending. Theirs is a perennially outstretched leg, chasing a lost cause. A bit daft, half-cracked, and utterly, utterly beautiful.”
Great piece by Sheridan.
Pundits cannot win, people criticised McStay for not standing up for Mayo and now criticising Dublin pundits for defending Small. Quirke and Cinneide on OTB thought that the hit was fair in real time, also Ger Brennan did state that he did not rate Lane. It is fair enough for people to have different opinions. Can we move onto another topic now?
Lads if you look back at the clip where the camera catches McCarthy elbowing Diarmuid in the neck you’ll see lane holding out his arms to indicate the end of the game. It was over by the time Aido came on the pitch and Lane and all the officials were on the pitch indicating to the players to go to the dressing room.
Don’t be mislead by the mischievous ones. Aido was as entitled to be on the pitch then as any other player.
A couple of years ago on here I listed numerous occasions throughout the decade where Dublin were very lucky to get past mayo and the one that sticks in my head the most was 2015 drawn game which was so similar to Saturdays normal time finish except this time mayo had extra time to finish the job. If people remember we were 7pts down with 8 minutes left and hit 1-4 without reply and cracked cluxton while Dublin fell apart. Andy had a great chance to win it (when he should have passed to any of the o’connors) but that man again Small tipped Andys shot onto the post. If that went in their 5 in a row dream was dead.
@williejoe. How long have I to wait in moderation? I thought that was cleared up
All valid points above. I do think we need to look at our full forward line and what will give us the best chance going into the dying minutes vs Kerry or Tyrone. I have grown to the opinion that finishing with your strongest forwards may be the way to go, but the changes need to be made at the right time and not when it’s too late.
Carr offers the X Factor for those who have seen him at club level and underage level with Mayo. Looks like a lack of confidence in shooting but as mentioned, his movement was much better in recent games. Goal threat and has had a look at Kerry in the past in a big game in Croker.
Darren Coen is looking fitter than previous years. He is a sharp shooter and coming up against a defense that could give some space, he could have a field day. I think we should be finishing with him against tired legs.
Even James Durcan is rapid and could cause havoc against a tired team also.
Those are three forwards that could genuinely come in and not let you down. I don’t think we’ve said that in a while about the Mayo bench.
I see Cork GAA are offering all Ireland tickets to season ticket holders to thank them for their loyalty. I wonder if we have any hope of ours doing the same?
I wonder what will they do with the Dublin parade bus this year.
I urge people NOT to listen to what Pillar Caffrey had to say on Newstalk. It will only put you in bad form.
No, instead re watch the whole game , much better for your head (well maybe not the first half)
Cork hurling season ticket holders from 2020 were indeed offered the chance to buy one final ticket each ………
If Mayo were to have an A v B game in a couple of weeks it would be a great opportunity for a fundraiser.
They could let 6,000 of us in to see it and charge a good entrance fee, say 50 euros a pop. That would be 300,000 raised in a couple of hours.
Imagine we could get to see all our players plus some of the lads that we are always enquiring as to how they are getting on in training.
Maybe the prep will be kept hush hush but it would be a great chance to raise some money. I’m sure the tickets would sell out rapidly.
With all due respect an open training session for fans would and should never happen. It would turn into a circus. Leave the team be and let them prepare quietly.
Listened to Gaa hour with Wooly. At least they all agreed it was a straight red. They also agreed it was a “disgrace” Lane didn’t stop play. Ger Brennan really lays into Conor Lane. Says he’s simply not up to it at this level.
A few of us were taken to task during the week for saying just that about Lane during the week. He just isn’t up to games of this level.
It’s now reached the stage that he I so far out of his depth player welfare is being endangered . Surely the end for him………….
Remember the end of 2016 . Clear pick off the ground at The end . Blew up instead of having to make a big decision . A sure sign of a weak ref.
Same thing happened Saturday
Paddyjoejohntom. Is that the same Pillar Cafferkey who behaved with so much grace before the 2006 All Ireland semifinal?.. I know only 83,000 people were there to witness, but someone decided to full on shoulder charge into the back of the late Great Gael , the legentary John Morrison, in a most cowardly and blatent fashion, a dead ringer for Pillar Cafferkey, wondering was did? Wondering did the Gardai ever find out who done it to.. It’s on YouTube if you don’t believe me!
How do they actually decide who refs the games ?
@KM79 I think Lane is also a liability as a ref at this level and is really a byproduct of one of the GAAs biggest issues – getting competent refs for their biggest games.
However I have watched that 2016 Dennis Bastick pickup a million times on YouTube and cannot fully make up my mind if he put his foot under it. So I’m prepared to give Lane a dubious pass on that one. Frees like that should not be awarded unless 100% certain, in the last second of an AI final.
Unfortunately the same applies a year later too. The free awarded to Dublin for the foul on connolly in the last min of the 2017 was a “soft” free too IMO, and given the enormity of what the decision resulted in, equally should not have been given unless absolutely certain by the ref, Joe mcquillan in that instance.
South Mayo, game was not over when Aido came on. Bad judgment imo. Hope he doesn’t suffer any consequences; if he does, we won’t be having a debate. Others have been punished fir this stuff. Will Lane’s report have a bearing here I wonder?
Gaa hour unanimously vote Lee for MOTM. They think he has to be released from the FB line and allowed back to no.5. Could Harrison slot back to no.2 for final? Unlikely given lack of match fitness. Only James and the medical team know where he’s at fitness-wise. But he’s a great option as a sub. He’s a top class footballer. I truly hope he has 70mins in him because if so he’s a nailed on starter.
Imagine having a FB line of Harrison, Swannie, and Hessian (Hessian possibly starting ahead of Plunkett)?
HB line of Lee, Paddy, Oisin?!!! Dear God. Stephen Coen for me makes the starting 15 for sure right now, so he’s also an option in the FB line. Hessian and Plunkett held back as subs.
You’d have to think that the reason James has Lee at no.3 is twofold: we’re short on personnel back there, and he may have felt Lee no longer has the legs for no 5. However, that thesis is disproved on the evidence of Saturday. Lee was running, running running right til the end, so legs are not an issue.
That said, I just feel its unlikely James will reposition him at this stage, not this year anyway. He don’t want disrupting the FB line like that, not with Kerry next up.
In the first half I thought we defended very well. Dublin scored points off us but those points were all super scores. Nothing much a defender could do about them. Crucially, Dublin hadn’t a sniff at goal. We should have been closer on the scoreboard only for woeful shooting.
In Kerry, we’ll be facing the most formidable forward unit in Ireland right now, by a considerable distance. Once again, defence will be paramount, and I’d expect us to start cagey again. Knock the Cliffords and the Sean O’Sés off their stride. Then bring chaos in the second half. Repeat the dose on Kerry in other words.
Another quick point on our current FB line: it looks like Lee and Swannie are developing a real understanding and synchronicity, a bit like Cooper and Rory O’Carrol several years ago. It may be dangerous to meddle with this just before a final…
Decisions Decisions.. but sure aren’t these wonderful dilemmas to have!!
Great idea Revellino. And make sure its a really intense A vs B game for the entertainment of the paying crowd. Sure what could go wrong a few weeks before an All Ireland final. Have we not enough injury worries as it is?
Actually Dave, many of the analysts were making the point that ideally you need to be playing two weeks before an all Ireland final and that the winner of the 2nd of the AI finals will have that advantage of having played closer to the AI than us and will be sharper because of that.
4 weeks is a long stretch to the final. It took us a long time on Saturday to get to the pitch of the game.
Whoever we end up playing, you can bet will be going at us a hundred miles an hour from the throw in. They will be sharp having played just 2 weeks earlier. If we have any cobwebs in four weeks time through rustiness then I believe we will be in trouble.
The three week gap between the CF and the semi played a part I believe in why it took is so long to kick in to full stride. I would be worried about wrapping lads in cotton wool for the next 4 weeks.
Agree that an open training session is a bad idea, I seem to remember that one was held before the 2004 final and look how that turned out.
Best to leave the players alone and free from distraction.
No reason why this can’t have full capacity on Sept 11th
Make no mistake, Kerry are sickened they didn’t get a chance to beat Dublin first. They don’t rate us at all, despite all their yerra-ing. Would love an opportunity to play them.
Pat Spillane and Tomás Ó Sé especially have been writing us off all year. It will be interesting to see if their tune changes now.
I was just thinking again of the Eoghan McLoughlin incident last night and I cannot imagine the furore and outcry that would have occurred had the same hit happened on one of Dublin’s ‘sacred lambs’ such as Murchin or ‘King Con’, their ‘Daddy Solicitors” would no doubt be looking for ‘blood’ and imagine if it had been little ‘king Cormac’ Jesus the Legals would certainly be in overdrive then…as we know.
Wishing Eoghan a full and speedy recovery from the terrible injury and back again the the jersey. I thought he had a super game and completely nullified the threat of Scully.
Willie Joe
Do you think Stephen Rochford might be back on the blog to discuss Saturday and the game ahead.Himself and also Sheamie were really interesting
Before the semifinal I wouldn’t have given us any chance of winning an All Ireland this year. But now I wouldn’t put anything past these lads. If they play with the same spirit and cut out the mistakes then they are in with a huge chance. That victory will give them great confidence which is a vital ingredient in an AI final. Kerry and Dublin never lacked confidence and now we are the same level.
Tommy Conroy and Ryan O Donoghue had outstanding games. I watched the game a few times and the more I watched the more impressed I am with those two lads. Conroy’s point kicking was simply in a class of its own while O Donoghue’s work rate, leadership and skill is very exciting and he has a bit of X factor. A pity he didn’t get the goal at the end!
Now what is needed is a big performance from Aidan O Shea with Kevin McL being his usual self with Diarmuid working like a horse and we will win. I don’t know who else he will pick (McHale, Coen, Carr, Walsh or…) but any of them will relish an opportunity to be part of something special.
If Oisin Mullin and Brendan Harrison are ready then we are well capable of containing any forward line. I hate all Ireland finals – my heart is always in my mouth and no wonder given our record. But this time I am confident for the first time ever. Bring it on!
Diehard – I agree with your post and funny I hate all Ireland too for the same reason as you. Like you I also feel different for the first time ever I feel confident, every other time I felt small bits of doubt but mostly hope, this time I’m 100% confident.
Don’t think an open training session is a good idea in terms of an A vs B game.
I think a couple of open training sessions a year is no harm though for some fundraising. Nice light training session and a kick about with some games for kids and young adults to get in on.
As for tickets. While I agree that season ticket holders should be looked after, it’s particularly hard for some people who may have given up their season tickets in previous years and can’t get one now, or for some club players etc who wouldn’t have season tickets as the majority of the time, they have to travel home for their own game or need to miss league games as club games sometimes fell on the same day.
Personally I will miss out I think on a couple of tickets as I had to give up my Cairde season ticket 3-4 years ago.
Let’s hope everyone who wants a ticket will get one.
That’s an interesting question, Pat. We’re trying to plan the lead-up to the final at the minute so I’ll tip that suggestion into the pot.
Pick your 6 starting backs from
Harrison,
O’Hora,
Keegan,
Plunkett,
Coen,
Durcan,
Hession,
Mullin,
Choices…..
Don’t think the 6 goal league demolition will be a huge factor, Tyrone must have been training heavily.
Tyrone will need a defensive game plan as their fitness will be off with so much disruption. Contain and counter. McShane and Canavan could damage Kerry. All said though it looks like a big ask for Tyrone in current circumstances.
Willie Joe,
Would you consider having a “around the clubs” lead up in the couple of weeks before the game? Thinking something in terms of getting reaction and stories from members or past players of each of the clubs represented.
Might be nice for contribuors to the blog who may not get home for the final to hear from the likes of Oisin Mullins, Jack Carney, Paul Toweys clubs or past players etc that you might not always hear from. I’m sure there’s great stories out there.
Just a thought.
Revellino..The lads have one job..A winning performance in September..I would imagine they would baulk at the thought of thousands of supporters watching an AVB game in the run up..
Some great debate on here folks and, in general, post Sat – I’ve been absorbing it, assimilating it, just drinking the absolute life out of it all if I’m honest, its great to be alive!
To the question at hand, Kerry or Tyrone – there’s only one winner. Kerry are at a different level this year, be under no illusions – they’re playing to their cultural strengths, whilst their physical conditioning, is at a different level, to almost everyone. Tyrone may have had an outside chance of matching Kerry physically, but that’s gone now. If they can live with them for 50 to 60 mins I’d be flabbergasted. And I think that suits us. As I said, I feel Kerry are on a different level to “almost” everyone, conditioning wise, bar us. We’ll go to high altitude with them, of course we will.
Secondly, the extended lead time is perfect for us to get our lads back to peak condition.
Thirdly, there’s a good chance Kerry come in undercooked, if they put Tyrone to the sword like I expect them to.
Personally, I want Kerry in the final. The prospect of having put away Dublin, and then Kerry, in the year we finally get across the line, would represent a catharsis laden full circle, of unparalleled proportions.
Finally, I had a real good laugh at David Hickey’s comments in the Examiner today! I’ve had Meath, Kerry and more recently and more regularly, Dublin fans tell me all we do is whinge and feel sorry for ourselves, when we lose. I always felt it was unfair, apart from ’96, I dont think I’ve ever felt hard done by. By and large, we’ve worn defeat with honour. Not so the ‘bauld David. As the say up here David, “Ger-rup-ow-ra-da”!
Tyrone were missing players against Donegal and Monaghan in particular and have only very limitley used McShane and McKenna so far. They are 2 top players who can hurt Kerry big time. I just have a sneaky feeling Tyrone could be waiting in the long grass for them and have been planning for Kerry all year long. It is hard to know what the COVID effect will be but you never know.
The management have done an outstanding job this year. Their reading of the games and the changes they have made during the games has been spot on.
James and the team he has around him now have really matured in to a very good management outfit. The sideline seems to be a total think tank as games unfold.
It must be a great incentive to the lads on the pitch, that if things aren’t going to plan the lads on the sideline will be sending on reinforcements to redress any imbalance.
Management and players really appear to be one big happy unit.
Even the younger lads, when their sent on seem full of intent and confidence. It’s brilliant to see.
The camaraderie between the whole unit has been a joy to watch all year.
Hugs, smiles fist pumps complete joy across all their faces. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this level of unity on any panel before.
I’ve had my doubts in the past on whether James could make the right tactical calls during matches, but it’s been a masterclass from the sideline all year.
Long may it continue.
I have to say that the piece by Darran O’Sullivan at Balls.ie really sums up what I was trying to get at re Eoghans injury. As a centre half back all through my playing career there was nothing more I liked than that perfectly timed hit. The physicality is ingrained in our game but seeing as what happened at the weekend and seeing it all to often down through the years its time for change. This type of hit needs to be taken out of our game. It says something when a player from a county well adept in the dark arts are calling for this also.
totally agree toe to hand – I’ve been thinking back to Tom Cunniffe’s hit on Pete Harte in 2013, through all of this. It was a legitimate hit, per the rules, but even then, 8 years ago now, there was debate on it. It took Tyrone’s most important player out of the game, and I cant actually recall, but I’m pretty sure he was out for a significant period of time. In this day and age, the blind shoulder is too dangerous, regardless of height. By all means, allow guys challenge each other shoulder to shoulder, if they’re in a side by side foot race for the ball. Tbh I’ve been really disappointed with a lot of the reaction to the Small hit, especially ex players in the main, so fairplay to Darran O’Sullivan. Ultimately for me, the blind hit, to time it right and legitimately, is fairly low % at any rate. The main aim is to hurt the player, take the wind out of him, maybe even put him out of the game. The % chance of causing significant physical damage, as well as getting the timing wrong, is simply too high. Outlawing it does not take away significantly from the physical contact nature of our game, in my view. Some of the commentary on it, from ex players in particular, has missed the point completely in my view. I’m not even going to go there on Pillar Caffrey’s embarrassing reaction to it on OTB.
@Exiled in Dublin, I read the article by the bauld David Hickey and had a good laugh. He’s obviously having difficulty coming to terms with the defeat. He wrote as bad an article prior to December’s final.
I watched Ger Brennan last night and laughed. Went after mayo players.
I watched Pillar and he insisting that the horrendous tackle wasn’t even a foul.
I can get the disappointment and their frustration at having to say goodbye to Sam, but the game is over now. Dublin had up on 100 minutes with the injury time to beat us on Saturday and it wasn’t to be their day.
Mind you, I couldn’t understand their style of play. They started the over and back the pitch keep ball early in the first half when they were having great joy going at us. Football was the winner on Saturday. The goalposts are at the ends of the pitch and not out on the sidelines.
The only way we will get the adulation we rightly deserve for winning the Sam Maguire is if we defeat Kerry in the final , bring it on and lets see the “so called pundits” then try and put us down , again.
NiallMc1983 .
“I see Cork GAA are offering all Ireland tickets to season ticket holders to thank them for their loyalty. I wonder if we have any hope of ours doing the same?”
I would prefer it if the GAA just looked after the two final teams given the reduced capacity.
@13MAYOGB….
Indeed we have an embarassment of riches in defence, i was just trying to work it out last night myself who will be selected there for semi final. Hession was immense when he came on and really put his hand up for a start the next day. I agree with the lads on the GAA hour who were lobbying for keegan in the halfback line, he is the best halfback in history according to aaron kernan so i would leave him there.
My thinking is given the embrarasment of riches we have in halfback line we can afford to push one of them into half forward line, paddy durcan played this role to great affect in 2019 pinning back ryan mchugh and jack mccaffrey.
My starting team for the final (though i will likely change my mind on this 20 times in the next few weeks)
Hennelly (who i owe a massive grovelling apology to)
O’Hora
Harrison
Hession
Keegan
S Coen
Mullin
Ruane
Loftus
Paddy Durcan
Kev
Diarmuid o’connor
Carr
Conroy
ROD
Pat201, I agree 100% with your comments re club allocations and season tickets. I am willing to email the county board but would not be expecting much change from them unfortunately, it cant do us any harm anyway to shoot off an email and see what they come back with. A better approach would be to get one of our respected local journalists to raise the issue in an article / tweet, the county board officials might take more notice of this? Does anyone know how to best go about this?
@Revellino – lack of class all round I felt, including Ger Brennan, who like a lot of ex players, is missing the point completely re: the Small tackle. Felt Wooly held him to task well over his comments on DO’C though, the elbow to the throat would send any player to the floor, there was no need to start making it personal.
Yes, Exiled in Dublin. The point has been missed by so many. Of course we can all understand the initial reaction to the injury and the jump to blame.. but you have to move on quickly to firstly enquire about the welfare of the player and secondly what is needed to be done to stop this from happening again. Referees only role is to take retrospective action (rightly or wrongly) won’t change the initial impact damage to the player. This is all about a lifetime of ingrained player behaviour and the historically acceptable hit which if timed a fraction wrong could potentially put someone in hospital.
It’s not called a hospital pass for no reason. It has to go from our game or we will be revisiting this debate again and again.
@Pat201 – Yes I agree totally with what you are saying. I think Mayo GAA County Board have received enough bad press lately so would like to avoid more and if pressure came on they would surely look after their most loyal of supporters.
As has been said the club allocations are a lottery and many season ticket holders may not even be club members for many reasons.
Yeah was an interesting listen to the GAA hour alright, it generally is a good listen and woolie tbf to him tends to give loads of credit to Mayo.
Ger Brennan was very salty though, calling diarmuid o’connor and cillian divers was completely off the point and bitter when the topic for discussion was the small hit.
Had a full rewatch of the game last night and tried to watch it with a clearer head without the heart thumping, few observations on rewatch.
– such a weird game, we were actually really poor for the first 50 minutes or so of that game. Defence was good throughout and kept out the goal chances, was only when we ran the bench in 2nd half when things changed. There was only one winner in extra time, dub heads were completely gone and conroy decided to grab game by the throat
– dublin deserved to be beaten for their cowardly possession football in the 3rd quarter, they have been playing that way for 2 years now under farrell so great to see them get caught. Running down the clock from the 35th minute with possession game is against the spirit of the game and is dreadul to watch. Scully the worst culprit
– Speaking of dublin, the bauld John Small was actually their best player on the night by far. The only one who seemed up for it and blotted out Kev pretty well
– diarmuid o’connors retreival of that wayward 45 really was phenomenal, that one moment was argubaly the winning of the game. It was a complete lost cause, he had no business even running after it. Incredible determination
– Horan had his best day ever on the line, got every call right. Switching o’hora and keegan worked, hession came in at the right time too,whipping AOS 100% the right call too, conroy out to the 40
– On keegan again, rewatch confirmed for me he was motm. An absolute collosus of a footballer, i dont really now what else to say about him at this stage, his attitude is infectious. I put his second half up there as the best individual performance i have seen from a mayo player, he was everywhere. iTs no wonder the youngsters felt emboldened when they see leeroy charging around like a man possessed, he was like Roy Keane in turin 99.
Our greatest ever player
We’ll have to tie up the two Cliffords and Sean O’Shea to have a chance – hammer the hammers – put keegan on one and Durcan on another and probably Mullen on the other – that means at least one of our best half backs in the full back line unfortunately but that’s the way it is as particularly keegan and Durcan are our best man markers
Cork county board giving season ticket holders for final and what do Mayo county board give us……
@Our time has come
I wouldnt be sleeping on Stephen o’Brien either, he tends to be very good against us with his direct runs.
In terms of matchups id let keegan out on geaney at number 12, geaney is a quality finisher but like a lot of those quality kerry forwards he would like to be chasing back all the time. Im not sure if paudie clifford is the real deal yet as we have only seen him against shite teams, killian spillane off the bench with his guaranteed 3points is a bigger worry imo
Stick o’hora on david clifford and let him pull out all the dark arts in his little black book.
Id be going with Leeroy on geaney, Mullin on Sean o’shea, o’hora on david clifford, probably young hession on stephen o’brien.
Im sticking to my guns on my patrick durcan to wing forward tactic, :-p pinning back one of gavin white or paul murphy
Somebody above asked about what Pat Spillane thinks of us now. Check today’s independent.
What is the state of play of the Kerry six backs? Who will be holding their full-back position?
On another score if Tyrone feel they may be under covid pressure what about stacking 12 players at the back and leave McKenna, McShane and Donnelly to roam. Basically puke football to save and spoil given their covid circumstance. This is not done and dusted yet. They have an excellent keeper also to add to the mix – assuming he is fit.
Does anybody know if there is a forum like this down in Kerry – we could get a feel of how they feel – as it were.
Ah lads, pay no heed to spillane for god sake, surely we know better than that at this stage…
The fact is for all Kerrys undoubted natural talent there has been nothing yet to disprove the notion that they are soft-centered. Can they really slog it out in a tough gritty encounter, im not so sure.
Lets not forget they hockeyed everyone in the league last year too before having their pants pulled down by a terrible cork side in an unforgivable defeat.
If a mayo manager lost to that cork team in a knockout game we would rightly be calling for his head
The weather will have a huge bearing on things again, if its a wet day its advantage mayo
….also out of the 3 teams left Kerry have by far the weakest goalkeeper and defence
I am loathe to write off david moran just yet though seeing as he gave one of the greatest midfield displays i ever seen against us in 2014 in limerick
Think David Moran is past it supermac but if he plays I could see aido reverting to midfield to mark him as aido would have the legs for him and would relish that battle. Having aido angry and tearing to go for a final after a sub-par semi final performance is a
great way for Him to be. Fair point re paddy Durcan half forward particularly for the in-form gavin white. I think paudie clifford is very under-rated nationally and will need watching. O’hora may be able to deal with David Clifford but this guy is the best there is, we can’t underestimate their forwards – they are better than ours. Thankfully our defence is better than theirs so time will tell
If Aido goes to midfield, who is the FF line?
Do you leave the two guys in there and let Conor Loftus float from midfield and half forward line?
How are we going to cope in the next….. 3 weeks and 4 days haha
Yeah i think leave just the 2 man inside forward line in there to start with (ROD/Conroy) and give them plenty of space, there will be plenty of support runners bombing on from deep anyway in ruane, kev, durcan, mullin etc so not worried about them being isolated
I really have no idea what to do with AOS, I was thinking his best use might be as impact sub and i was saying that long before saturday night, if he is to start the only place that he might fit is somewhere around the 40 helping with the pressing and tackling around there and let kev off to move round the pitch and probe
Supermac…..Your observations on your re-watch noted with interest. Can I add one to that from my repeated reviews of the action. For me, a glorious, glorious moment in the game was when Ryan (I think) gave a hand pass offload back to Darren C who pipped a long range shot over the bar. Such a calm, confident, measured display by Coen in that moment…..He reached up with one hand, eyes squarely on the Dublin posts, pulled the ball down and in one fluid movement….pop !!, it was over the black spot. What a feckin brilliant score. Correct me if I’m wrong but Darren blows hot and cold. In warm to hot mode, he’s a super accurate forward. I shudder to think what he could be capable of on a fully ‘hot’ day in an AIF……….Super footballer.
I think Darren Coen is probably our most accurate shooter but it’s lack of pace is his issue – he does require space so is probably better coming off the bench in the second half when/if space frees up a bit
Our time has come……..Gotcha, I didnt realise the pace was the issue and was just scratching the head as to why we didnt see Darren more often…….Truly a majestic point when he was needed last Saturday…….
As others have said Darren Coen is a confidence player too. So if he nails that first score you would nearly put your house on him to put them over from anywhere after that. Would love to see him play with abandon and do it in a final
Not a chance Loftus will be shifted from MF after his excellent performance Saturday. Our MF is Mattie and Conor.
I felt Conor had an extra swagger and confidence about him. Very satisfying to see him break through the tackle from a couple of blue shirts over on Cusack side. He can build on that even further. He has the ability and the strength.
I’ll be shot for saying it but if Aidan plays anywhere I’m betting it will once again be FF. Horan might be thinking Kerrys defence has yet to be tested and he could be right.
Alot are putting Kerry right in to the final.
I wouldn’t rule Tyrone out just yet.
@Our Time Has Come – you’re right about Paudie Clifford. He has been at the heart of everything good that Kerry have done this year. He has a serious engine and can ping 40/50 yard passes on the run with incredible accuracy. He’s a serious baller. I dont think its an understatement to say that if he continues his hot run of form against Tyrone, he may well be the shortest price for footballer of the year, in advance of the final. I actually hope he is, because if we put Paddy or Oisin or Lee on him, we’re giving him a proposition he’ll not have faced, in his first all ireland final.
Obviously this Kerry team have threats everywhere, not least in Paudie’s younger brother. But I do think he’s become absolutely crucial to how Kerry want to play.
cant see it Revellino but I’ve been wrong before!
Congrats to Mayo on a great victory . Well deserved and by far the best team on the day . I posted before the game that I believed u would beat ,my team , Dublin . I do worry that Kerry will be too strong for u but I will be cheering for a Mayo win .
Hopefully we will be back to challenge the AI winners next year . Please God we will be back to playing fast attacking football and not that boring backwards , side to side keep ball.
AOS in at centre back? Where he will strip ball from the Kerry/Tyrone forwards, be short range target for our kick outs and then drop to midfield to compete on the Kerry kick out if it’s going to David Moran.
By dropping him short for our kick outs it should pull a Kerry/Tyrone midfielder or half forward out of position and open up space in the middle where Hennelly could decide to go long over AOS in to our midfield or half forward line.
The thing about leaving AOS inside as a FF, that tactic will not work unless there are runners or support in and around him, e.g. Ruanes goal v Galway. Expecting him to win it cleanly, land, stay upright and then get a shot off while being pulled and dragged by 2 or 3 defenders is too much. Having O’Donoghue or Conroy snuffling in around him waiting for a flick on, or tap down to them in space? Now that’s a different story.
Pebblesmeller, balls into Aido and hoping for tap downs can work as long as is part of a varied attack and not the main point of attack. It gets very predictable if used to often and easy to defend against by placing sweeper in front of him or closing down diagonal balls in to him. Aido also needs to be used as a decoy, he needs to make runs out during attacks, drag defenders with him to create space behind. With our running game this would be a far more effective strategy.
So embarrassing to read David Brady in the Irish Independent on the Eoghan McLaughlin incident stating, the following ” “I do think that that incident affected the game. And it affected it in a positive way for Mayo,” explained Brady.
Because I do think that Conor Lane knew he made a mistake and then he refereed it that way. And it wasn’t just the sense of injustice that caused that swing but also the performance of the officials as Mayo began to reel the Dubs in, according to the Ballina man.
“I do think that that incident affected the game. And it affected it in a positive way for Mayo,” explained Brady.
“Because I do think that Conor Lane knew he made a mistake and then he refereed it that way.
If doing nothing while Small continued to assault Mayo players is helping put right Lane’s error i would hate to see how he would ref us if he never made mistakes.
Ya I believe the precedent has been set now by Cork with regards to season tickets. As season ticket holder i have only been contacted so far by Mayo GAA in 2021 regarding purchasing of a tile for Mchale park. They have a list of season ticket holders that could be added to club allocation to ensure the right people get to the final. We need to get in early to try and put pressure on to accommodate this request.
With regards to game against Dublin ( what a fantastic day it was for us) i would like to raise the below 2 point. I hope neither point breaks house rules
1: On the Eoghan challenge do we believe the same result would have happened if it was say Fenton , Scully or McCaffrey making that challenge? Not having good reviews of a player incidents in past has allowed this to happen. Every team has a player that plays too close to the edge and I have no doubt that when opportunity arose for that Dublin player to do that hit he did not think twice about it .
2: There is a lot of talk in last few days about Dublin and the dark arts. For me Dublin were no dirtier in play than other years obviously the Eoghan injury aside as Keegan took a similar hit last year but did not get seriously hurt. The main difference this year was they lost. You have a lot of analysts/journalists from others counties now willing to twist the knife but when they were winning that type of play was ignored and never called out on TV or papers. Not much coming from the Mayo camp as we finally managed to come out on top but im sure a lot of supporters have noticed the very different media coverage post the loss.
Cant see Tyrone beating Kerry unless they go ultra defensive and Kerry have a bad day up front but stranger things have happened but I expect Mayo will face Kerry who expect to beat ye every single time they play ye have no doubt about it. The worry I would have if from Kerry would be no full back, poor backs in general and suspect midfield. Up front they can destroy any team on their day. No more than against Dublin Mayo have to hang in there but these poor first halfs against us and Dublin I dont think ye can afford a third. Mayo are close to an All Ireland now its going to be a great match.
Pat201 – I’ve noticed that with regard your second point. 2 examples.
https://www.balls.ie/gaa/dublin-mayo-dark-arts-478440
and
https://twitter.com/offtheball/status/1427224870455332864
I mean both commentaries are 100% on the money. It’s just remarkable that this has been the case since 2011 and it’s only being mentioned now.
Exactly right Pat201.
The winners write the script in GAA more than any other sport. Any unsavoury incidents in the game by the winners get brushed under the carpet.
The pundits on the Sunday game are the worst. There is this kinda macho attitude that if you lose, you go away and say nothing no matter what injustices were done during the game. Don’t want to be seen as a sore loser at any costs. I think it’s a cultural thing in GAA and I hate it.
Had basquels goal gone in after the Dublin hit, and we went on to lose, I doubt the likes of Tomas o se would even mention the incident afterwards.
Plenty of dark arts from Dublin have not been called out in the past when they won and it’s infuriating and needs to change
Watched it back – again – last night. My Virgin recording stopped at HT in ET. Don’t know if others had that problem. However, that temporary subscription to NOW was great because the SKY recording was just sitting there.
How we did it I still don’t know. Everyone is talking about Dublin’s 3 points, but they were killers; at just the right time and great scores as well, Rock’s free and Small’s point. So it was a slow-burn comeback. Tommy didn’t score until the 69th minute! Don’t think it was visible on TV but Robbie moving to HB line on Comerford kicks was very effective.
When I did see the second half of ET, I thought we were brilliant. Composed and assured in seeing it out. Oh, and giving Dublin a dose of their own medicine.
Interestingly Andy Moran and Paddy Andrew’s debate the reason why teams score less into hill 16 than the canal end on “the football pod” this week. Paddy attributes it to “there’s always wind at hill 16”
I said it myself here a couple days ago, the hit on Eoghan absolutely helped us. Brady is correct. We failed to control some controllables on Saturday and if we repeat that in the final we’ll get absolutely smashed, plain and simple. Against a Tyrone or more likely a young ravenous Kerry team on a mission.
Look back at the first 5 or minutes after half time of normal time. We had tons of possession, we were driving forward, but alas we turned over ball and missed our opportunities. Only for Dublin being off colour we’d have lost the match.
James and Team will know this and I trust they’ll improve. But let’s not fool ourselves. We were lucky in many ways on Saturday, albeit deserving winners.
Pat201: You make very good points.
There is a tendency to be biased in a positive way towards winners. Also there is a marked tendency in GAA to look at any ( legitimate or not) criticism by the losers as “whining”
Basically they are saying if you lost you’re a loser in every way and no one therefore can take what you say seriously.
For my purposes today I will accept the gift of the status quo and call out Ger Brainconcussion Brennan as an out and out whiner.
This guy elbowed Declan O Sullivan (in the most cowardly way possible )in the head causing him to be concussed ( only the Kerry sideline didn’t understand the seriousness of it ) This guy calling Diarmuid O Connor ( one of the bravest men to ever represent Mayo- calling him a diver) is about as shameless as it gets.
Here are some excerpts from my analysis of the commentary on RTÉ
14 mins in co-commentator audibly gasps when John Small punches Diarmuid in the face. Daragh Moloney “John Small and Diarmuid O Connor coming together “.
As in Diarmuid’s face came right across John Small’s fist. Co-commentator silent.
17 minutes :Davy Byrne clocks Diarmuid as he runs by him landing Diarmuid on the ground. It was a clear black ( possibly red )card offense seen by all.There’s huge boos from the crowd.Conor Lane is looking directly at it.Does nothing.No card. Crickets from both commentators
77 minutes :McCarthy with karate chop to Diarmuids larynx as he passes him by.
Daragh “ There was a coming together with James McCarthy” I presume as in …Diarmuids larynx comes together with James McCarthys fist.
I mean these things happen. Apparently this is “C’est la vie” around Dublin.
“Diarmuid O Connor is clutching his stomach “ ya know – that stomach that’s right next to your thyroid.Co-commentator – crickets.
Now no matter what else a chop to the throat is a serious assault.Kids watching at home think this is ok because the commentators said diddly-allowing this abuse to continue in the future.
Break before extra time.
O Rourke : “It’s dangerous for Mayo now going to extra time “ presumably “dangerous “as in they might be assaulted by John Small or James McCarthy.
There were three assaults on Diarmuid who was clearly targeted beforehand. Of that there is little doubt.
We need to temper our joy and excitement with some realism.
The extra two weeks are goldust for us. If we were playing the final in two weeks from now as originally scheduled I’d be worried, ie fearing Saturday was our final and focus wouldn’t yet be regained.
Now James and Team have ample time to debrief and come down from Saturday. In 3 weeks time for instance, our team will be thinking ‘Dublin who?’ Saturday will be a distant memory and our eyes will only be on one thing.
Larry Duff: I agree 100%
file:///var/mobile/Library/SMS/Attachments/9b/11/7F3A13C4-80EB-4608-A734-E3032838BC1A/88ea9331-d867-4c65-b88f-9732730070e7.mov
A little levity
I’d be interested in hearing some people’s thoughts on Dublin’s fitness levels on Saturday. I saw a few comments made by some Dublin fans online that they were disappointed with where their fitness levels were from previous years . One point was made that one of them went down with cramp was it 46 or 49 mins in . I vaguely remember it as so much was happening .
We definitely looked the fitter team from the last 10 mins and even after the final whistle blew it looked like we would have gone another 20 mins .
I’m just wondering have Dublin fitness levels gone backwards or have we just brought it to another level ?
I would imagine keeping up the kind of fitness levels the dubs have had would be extremely difficult year on year. We seem to be getting fitter game on game. Our u21 all Ireland winners of 2016 are peaking now and those guys have winning mentality in abundance
Lads and ladies, can we please just bury the idea of the county board looking after season ticket holders. The secretary said in today’s Mayo News that’s its a no go.
We are only giving ourselves false hope if we think they’ll change they mind.
I hope its not a sly dig by him when he said ‘ I hope they manage to get tickets through their clubs”, when he knows to well that alot of holders are not members of their clubs.
As a person who has used the card to get into club championship games, I’m often met with cold stares by stewards on the gate, as if to say, here’s another one milking the system and we’re not getting any cash of this guy today.
Spectre. Any of the four officials involved last Saturday or the four for the second semi final will play no part in the final.
Onemoreyear thanks for that. If gough dont do the other semi he could be in line for final.
Coldrick is the ref for the Kerry/Tyrone game. Gough would be the front runner for the final.
We don’t need to start worrying about the ref already. We’ve a lot to get right to prepare for that game as we were not at our finest for much of normal time the last day.
It was a wonderful win and as Swanee said it was a team performance by outrageous players. It is now time to look forward to the final and it would be great if we could get an analysis of Kerry who I think will beat Tyrone.
I hear comments on Kerry having great forwards but their backs are suspect. We have the best backline in the country and I have no doubt they can handle Kerry forwards. But I think it might be a mistake to do too much of a man to man mark up. We have to be able to unleash our half back line(and indeed on occasions our full back line) to inflict our game on Kerry. As to our forwards I think they are magnificent and know where the posts are. We were a bit wasteful in the first half against Dublin but that has already been addressed.
As regards Aidan I think the big man will feature. Whether he starts or is brought on at a time when we might need a boost it does not matter. I think Aidan was not fully fit on Saturday and that might have been because he could not train as a result of a niggling injury. I expect he will be roaring fit for the final and will be our MOTM. But he is part of a fabulous team.
If I was Horan I would play Aido much like Tyrone played Peter Canavan when they won their All Ireland. Start him at FF until the first water break and take him off for a rest, unless of course he is playing a blinder. I’m not sure he has the legs for a full 70 mins anymore. He also needs to work on punching the ball down to our oncoming forwards rather than catching it totally for a mark. Kerry should they win their Semi Final, (don’t write off Tyrone) will probably spring Tommy Walsh from the Bench at some stage in the 2nd half. Mayo have always had trouble with the high ball into their FB line in times past. What a job Aido did on the Star a few years ago!!! That was in my opinion one of his best performances for the green and red. I would have him glued to Walsh and help out minding the house with Clifford and Co ,snuff out that aerial threat. Kerry put on a big man we put on an even bigger man!! If we gift them more than two goals it’s curtains in my opinion, mind the house, if possible try and keep a clean sheet should be our mantra. If it’s a dogfight, I feel we have the legs on Kerry, we will win!! You can’t let Kerry play their expansive, pretty, purist game or they will destroy you. Controlled absolute in your face aggression is what’s needed, starting with our FF line all the way back, bully them, make it painful, make them earn everything, just like we did with Dublin. It’s been a while since Kerry had an all out white heat type of battle, and I would question how their young players would react after their cakewalk in Munster this year. Unless we are missing something it should on paper be an easy game against Tyrone with all their COVID issues. This is not about destroying Kerry on the scoreboard. It’s about staying with them and then closing out the game in the last 10 mins. If we can do that, we can win. But it’s just that easy right!!!
Mayomaningalway – the player that went down with a cramp was Eoin Murchan, I believe. Just back from a long-term injury, so probably not 100% match fit. However, I felt early on in the game when he was running at us, we were struggling to collar him at times.
However, I did think Dublin’s legs looked gone completely in extra time. McCarthy, a player I always thought could run for days, looked knackered. At one point in extra time, Tommy Conroy hit him a big shoulder and left him on the deck, and he just seemed to give up in that moment. Similarly, O’Donoghue dispossessed him in extra time, something you’d never really have seen much in the past, another sure sign of tiredness setting in.
@Paddyjoejohntom I mean no offence by this but that is wrong attitude to have . We should be able to raise this issue. Giving Clubs an extra 10 tickets may not be of any benefit to anyone who has travelled the country with this team and attended all the matches possible before Covid. As I said before there will be many a season ticket holder that will be unable to source a ticket and there is also many a person in the know who will be able.
My question to the secretary would be why can the season ticket holders not be accommodated. They have a list to work from as we already were contacted this year regarding fundraising. There could be valid reasons but id rather hear them than a blanket No. Would clubs except a blanket no to their allocation of final tickets?
Id also like to add sponsors into that question. Seems one group will be frozen out from usual allocation which I think is a point that should be addressed properly.
Pat 201, how is it the wrong attitude, The county board have said there bit, we need to move on. There’s no point us getting in a stew about it.
They’ve made zero contact with us since Covid began, so i don’t expect them to go running to us now with a bunch tickets on offer .
Do ye know what, I clearly believe the Gaa / match officials decided in extra time that they just simply could not accommodate the Dubs anymore by letting them away with the kind of stuff we have seen them do for years.
I’m a club member . Based on the mayo news article our club will get 25 tickets . Minimum pods of two. Membership of over 200.
I’ve also had 2 season tickets for a decade.
I am not optimistic i’ll get tickets at all now which is very disappointing.
For the year thats in it it makes no sense to send so many tickets outside of the competing counties. If they are so worried about the COVID aspect of it with reduced capacity, pods etc they probably should be limiting the number of neutrals from around the country attending ……….
Did Jim Gavin not comment on the refereeing of the 2017 league final. I have heard little on that same referee since.
25 tickets per club? Is that real? That’s less than 2,000 tickets going to the clubs and with a minimum of 2 per person, it’ll be a disaster.
No more than a lot of people here. We’ve all contributed in some capacity, whether we coached underage senior, intermediate, junior and so on.
Not everybody can get tickets, we get that but to say that we pay club memberships, only for 95% of tickets to go outside of clubs and none to season ticket holders… Is laughable
Junior club
Got 100 for semi final (intermediates got 135, senior 165)
Mayo news article states that allocation is expected to be cut by up to 75% for the final
So that would leave it at 25 for Junior clubs
Does anyone know if all clubs gave pods of tickets to individual members the last day? Why cant it be 1 ticket per member where you will be sitting in a pod with other people from your club and everyone wear their mask. That way as many club members as possible will get a ticket
One thing which would help Tyrone greatly to win is mark David Moran who despite getting on a bit is still the guy who makes them tick. He seems to always play the right ball so sticking to him is imperative. He’s no longer quick so marker needs to stay close enough to prevent easy out ball, make him do a simple sideways offload more often than not. The other man who has to be marked tight is Paudie Clifford. He can cause all sorts of trouble if let. We know his brother is probably the best forward in the country but Cork marked him well despite being hammered so it’s doable but Paudie often plays further out and can do real damage with his runs. Sean O Shea is a fine footballer with very good skillset but not as quick as Paudie, markable. Their other forwards are good too but can’t stop them all. Paudie is a big part of the reason Kerry were so hot in the league.
Good on you Food4thought on highlighting those assaults on Diarmuid – shocking and then the commentators just passing all them hits/belts off – it is so frustrating. We are all upset over Eoghan and i am still so mad everytime I think of the hit, the ignoring of him lying on ground by officials, how distraught his team mates were and Kevin McStay’s comments. To finish i am so happy for Robbie and his fantastic performance. He has had a tough few years and it had to be very difficult for him and his family. Early in 2020 i contacted the Mayo PRO about the poor moderation on the official site as the abuse he was getting from so called fans was disgraceful (thanks to the posters here at the time who also made contact).
Mayo88 I doubt that was the case. Though if true it would have been the first time since the 1983 final (when 3 of them got the line) that a referee clamped down on them.
Mayo’s victory is all the more remarkable considering that Lane and Deegan were officiating.
Mayo beat the system, the GAA heiricahy, the officials, the thuggery, the odds, RTE, the Dublin media, the Dublin spin machine, Hawkeye and Dublin Des (did you see the smile run away from his face).
They did it despite acquiring a broken jaw and getting smashed in the face by an elbow which both went unpunished.
I would say that a post-mortem has already been held by the men in grey suits as to how this disastrous result was let happen despite the deck been so uneven.
@km79 The Mayo News article says that non-competing counties clubs could be cut by 75% not the competing counties.
Back on line for the first time since Friday. Have to say what a performance, the best I’ve seen in fifty years of watching Mayo. Enda Hession’s performance was a breath of fresh air and so crucial.
It will definitely be Kerry in the final unless Tyrone’s management throw out the Ulster tactics book and do something totally different. Ulster style defensive football will never win anything except an Ulster title. After all, when Donegal beat us in 2012 Jim McGuinness did something he had never done before and no Donegal manager has done since. He played Michael Murphy at full forward. Starting a novena now for Oisín’s recovery. Starting a second one that John Small gets his just deserts. Too much to hope for?
Anyone know the last time a div 2 team made an AI final?
If we finally reach the promised land, then you know what my next question would be.
I’m just after watching the game back for about the 3rd time.
We really were so poor for large parts of the game. How on earth we ended up still beating the 6 in a row champions/best team ever etc. etc. I just don’t know. If ever sheer grit, determination and will to win can get you over the line, then we saw it there.
The thing is, we can play so much better and for longer periods. If we can somehow work out how to do that without running out of steam too early, then I don’t care how good Kerry (just can’t see any way Tyrone can win) look, they’re not beating us.
We just have to cut down on these lull periods of play. And when we are conserving energy, just batten down the hatches and slow the game down. Then unleash once again – we have the athleticism and stamina now to do this for longer periods of play than previously.
That 2nd half against Galway in the CF and that 2nd half against Kerry in 2014 should be the template.
Andy Moran said on the Football Pod that Oisín Mullin will be back for the final and he heard “on the ground” that he was close to togging out at the weekend. Fantastic news if that’s true
Think I’ll leave this blog till after the final, getting sick and tired already about people on about the season tickets.
It’s not happening lads. End of.
Ah apologies
Right you are Kildare Exile
There is hope yet so !
Cod that is fantastic if true.
Eoghan is a huge loss….I have been reading ip on his surgery and effects and what’s involved…I have to say its quite upsetting he will probably be wired up for 5 weeks.Cant eat easily.Is he in college, work? what’s the effect there.
Simply not good enough
Paddyjoejohntom, its like the talk on various social media outlets of aiden o shea getting dropped for the final. Theres a better chance of season ticket holders getting 3 tickets each than aiden getting dropped, and rightly so. Expect a big game from him in midfield in the final!!!!
Maolla – I don’t know if it was the most recent time but Armagh were in Division 2 in 2002. And, yes, they beat Dublin in the All-Ireland semi-final that year followed by Kerry in the final.
Into my 50’s now, have played and seen alot of football and can honestly say the challenge on Eoghan was scary, I knew straight away that it was going to be bad.
I hope he makes a successful recovery.
I agree with one of the previous posters, Mayo did indeed beat the system on Saturday.
I believe it must be a case that Mayo will now win the All Ireland not if they can win it.
A previous Dublin great from 40 years ago reckons it’s Mayo’s year.
Remember what I wrote here on a blog in late Jan / early Feb 2019. It was A O Shea holding Sam Maguire aloft but there was a wait for one other Mayo player to hoist it with him.
It can be done.
RTÉ commentary Mayo v Dublin August 14 th,2021
Daragh Moloney
Co Commentator Kevin McStay
Willie Joe ,I’m hoping you can see my true intent here which is to advocate for player welfare through better refereeing and by prodding commentators to call out b s behavior. Children are watching this. We all need to call out brutality wherever we see it. Whoever said we beat the system – they nailed it.
I’m doing this to objectively document what the RTÉ commentary was like. I’m also pointing to bad behavior by players on both sides. But there is little doubt who the major transgressors are. And hint : it’s not Mayo. But this documents all the transgressions. All the commentary about those transgressions. And please don’t tell me I’m being unfair. Where I use quotes they are exact.
I am not picking on one commentator.
Kevin McStay must be given the benefit of the doubt because he completely corrected the situation today in The Irish times.
3 minutes: Rock frontal challenge on Conroy. Yellow card. Even when replay clearly shows it was literally frontal co-commentator says “ that’s a tough card if it is given “
I think this falls under the category of “ the ref shouldn’t make major calls in the first few minutes of a major match no matter how egregious “
(by comparison see co commentators comment 4 minutes into extra time below) Conroy targeted all day long by Dublin.
14 mins in co-commentator audibly gasps when Small punches Diarmuid in the face. Daragh Moloney “John Small and Diarmuid O Connor coming together “. As in Diarmuid’s face came right across John Small’s fist. Co-commentator silent.
17 minutes Davy Byrne clocks Diarmuid as he runs by him landing Diarmuid on the ground. It was a clear black ( possibly red )card offense seen by all.There’s huge boos from the crowd.Conor Lane is looking directly at it.Does nothing.No card.
Crickets from both commentators.
This passage of play continues for a minute when Lane gives a tap in free for absolutely nothing ( and I mean nothing )against Eoghan McLaughlin.
20 mins Paddy Durcan leads with a dangerous elbow to Jonny Cooper’s face as he comes out with the ball. No comment from RTÉ.
Definite dangerous play. Definite yellow card. Player welfare ?
21 minutes Aidan makes a catch and calls for the mark after 1 1/2 seconds. Daragh goes on quite a bit about how this is “unpopular with the Dublin fans “ even though the rule is that he has five seconds to do it and Daragh shows he knows the rule. But apparently the rule ..“it’s unpopular with the Dublin fans” Who knew ?
32 minutes Aidan drags down John Small out of frustration with all the keep ball. No card. Daragh was actually saying “ he had to do it to (presumably stop the boredom )“
Maybe should’ve been a card ?
Half time :
O’ Rourke
“It’s an awesome display by Dublin , the game is over , we can go home”
Tomas O Se
“All Mayo’s big players aren’t playing
Dublin tackling with controlled insanity “
JoAnne
“Who knows what’s coming up for the men of the west”
“Mayo’s energy being drained “
36 minutes. Daragh”Kilkenny has bossed the duel with O Hora” ha ha especially considering he wasn’t even marking him in the first half.
41 minutes . Black card offense by Kevin McLoughlin. Third party tackle. Unpunished
47 Minutes yellow card for Con O Callaghan for stupid stuff. Could’ve been a black.
Dublin at this point are up 10 points to 5
56 minutes. E McLaughlin being treated on pitch – pivotal moment
Co commentator talking about “square hit” Of course he has since corrected his “error “under pressure from friends and colleagues.He mentions on the Sunday game a day later they had feed indicating it was a “serious hit”but they were reluctant to replay it.
He does not mention as Oisin McConville does on the Sunday game about the duty of the tackler to take proper care while performing a “square tackle”or face a red card.
My point here is that this is already Small’s second offense. See Minute 14 where co commentator said nothing. He should have shown his knowledge on square shoulder and duty of care. He chose not to. I know he knows the details. And while intent may be in question it’s still a red card. However it’s John Small so we all know what his intent is.
To be fair he calls out Small in today’s Irish times for clocking Ryan O Donoghue off the ball ( after these first two incidents)
62 minutes. * The inspirational moment. Mayo 5 points down. Diarmuid’s absurd and absolutely iconic sideline save leads to Kevin McLoughlin point.
66 minutes Daragh Moloney in full sky blue panic “ there’s two minutes left “
FFS ! not even including the 7 minutes attending to Eoghan or any comment about other extra time
73 minutes . Yellow card for Davy Byrne. Should’ve been black.
“ very cynical “ However you could use the “cancel out each other rule “ ( FYI there is none)here because Kevin deserved a black earlier.
77 minutes McCarthy with karate chop to Diarmuids larynx as he passes him.
Daragh “ There was a coming together with James McCarthy” as in Diarmuids larynx comes together with James McCarthys fist.
I mean these things happen. Apparently this is “C’est la vie” around Dublin. “ Diarmuid O Connor is clutching his stomach “ ya know – that stomach that’s right next to your thyroid.Co-commentator – crickets.
Now no matter what else a chop to the throat is a serious assault. By saying nothing co commentator is at least complicit in perpetrating this bs.Kids watching at home think this is ok because the commentators said diddly-allowing this abuse to continue.
Break before extra time.
O Rourke : “It’s dangerous for Mayo now going to extra time “ presumably “dangerous “as in they might be assaulted by John Small or James McCarthy.
Cora – there’s been a lot of Dublin cynicism. Joanne”yes but what about Hennelly “
Cora “ one of the only decisions Conor Lane got right all day( to retake the late free)
Co commentator questioned about Dublin Cynicism -“there was a lot of slobbering for the last ten minutes” -implying by both sides “
I mean …!!!! To be fair he totally called it out today.
Based on the documentation here this is absolutely infuriating doing a both sides(ism)when even Joanne Cantwell is talking about Dublin’s dark arts. Player welfare does not seem to come into it.
Tomas O Se ..called out James McCarthy. Said he should have gotten a Red card. Think about it. One of the greatest proponents and cheer leaders for the dark arts said that. Yet co commentator is silent.
Extra time
3 min C Basquel gets black card for third party on Bryan Walshe. Co commentator openly questions whether Walshe might have faked it.
4 minutes extra time: Co commentator
Tommy Conroy – “cynical “ for fouling to prevent Dublin going quickly down the field. See ( by contrast)regular time 3 minutes in where a full frontal on Conroy resulted in him saying that “the card was harsh”
Btw Conroy was targeted for rough treatment all day long by Dublin.
5 minutes extra time: Conroy puts Mayo in front
6 minutes . Darren Coen scores point
6 minutes Ryan O Donoghue scores point
7 minutes : Co commentator on Diarmuid “Cynical “( please go back to minutes 14 and 17 and 77 to see that co commentator said nothing about not one, not two but three outrageous attacks on Diarmuid)
NOT ONE WORD !!!
There is a pattern here. It’s bad enough that three different dubs made three egregious “ tackles” on Diarmuid ( John Small , Davy Byrne,James McCarthy) but to have the co commentator say not one word about any of them, or indeed about player welfare in general.
And then he calls Diarmuid cynical !!!
IMO there seems to be an issue here.
To be fair he called it out today and must be given every benefit of every doubt.
10 minutes extra time. Co commentator :”Kevin McLouglin quite cynical holding onto the ball “
11 minutes Ryan O Donoghue through on goal about to take a shot Fitzsimmons pushes him on the back in the large square. Clear penalty. McStay “great pressure by the defender “ Penalty never mentioned but on my review it’s a clear penalty IMO. In fact it’s weird how this was never even mentioned. IT WAS A PENALTY PERIOD!
FYI Conor Lane recently in the Connacht final denied Ryan O Donoghue a perfectly executed goal saying “free out “ for absolutely nothing.
12 minutes extra time: Paddy Small high tackle to throat on James Carr. Carr had to be helped off. Yellow card. No comment. Nothing about player welfare. Not even “ there was a coming together”
18 minutes:Davy Byrne another cynical foul on Kevin McLoughlin – yellow (again) This is Davy’s third major offense today.
21 minutes McCarthy black card for pulling down Keegan right in front of Lane. McCarthy has completely lost it and is best removed from play.
22 Minutes: Lahiff black card for throwing Hession to the ground.
23 minutes .Co commentator it’s all
coming apart now “.
Now ??….Dublin have scored one point in 30 minutes.
Or 4 points in 65 minutes.
35 seconds later the game is over .
Apparently it didn’t sink in that Dublin might lose until 35 seconds before the end. Even though they hadn’t scored at all for twenty minutes.
There were clear patterns of repeated bad behavior by John Small,Davy Byrne,James McCarthy, Paddy Small. All of these guys showed reckless disregard for player’s welfare. Were not called out by commentators.
There was clear targeting of Diarmuid , Tommy Conroy, Ryan O Donoghue
No Mayo player had a pattern of bad behaviors but Paddy D did one dangerous play and was involved in a scuffle that we couldn’t see. He got yellow carded for that.
Aidan got frustrated with boring keep ball play. Should’ve been carded. Kevin McLoughlin held the ball but should have been black carded for a third party tackle.
Mayo did not clearly target any particular Dublin player that I could see but that’s only based on what we can see on the T.V.
There is no comparison between what Mayo did with the litany of bad behaviors by sundry Dublin players who did not seem to care one whit about patient welfare. Moreso they targeted at least three of our players.
Now it’s been a recurrent theme for over forty years that Dublin ,when pressed ,play extreme dirty football. Mickey Ned 1975, 1983 the twelve apostles, John Finn broken jaw 1985, and up to last Saturday’s egregious series of assaults.
It’s always Dublin. It’s rarely other counties.
Players need protection. There needs to be an independent Referees association that is removed from the GAA. The GAA have made little inroads into curbing dangerous play in big games for over forty years. The athletes now are so fast and so well conditioned that the risk of serious injury is going up all the time. What does it say to children watching when there is no comment on flagrant brutality?
The time has come to radically change the refereeing of major games before someone loses their life. It is foreseeable. It is predictable. Will they act before it’s too late ?
Thanks WJ. Fair play.
There’s no question Dublin are a filthy team and have gotten away with it for the best part of a decade.
They showed their true colours when they knew they were facing defeat. Shame on them. They can’t stand us because it irks them that they literally fell over the line in all the All Ireland finals against us, bar last year when they ran out comfortable enough against a very young and inexperienced Mayo team in transition.
Dublin know that all previous finals against us could have gone either way. They don’t like this. But they still won so should be happy with that legacy. Their greed and sense of entitlement is astonishing.
@Food for taught, fair play for doing such hard work in relation, cynical/dirty play and what in my should be the duty of any objective pundit to call out the evidence before his eyes.. I agree with everything you write, and you would find the same pattern and similar cocommentary if you examined all the recent Dublin/Mayo clashes..No doubt about it, this is a pattern with Dublin and has been for many years, and a few ‘see no evil’ pundits as well..I wonder did John Gough the Antrim referee who reffed the 1983 All Ireland final, and rightly sent 3 Dublin players to the line on that day, ever get many more high profile intercounty games?..
Conar lane was poor but he had plenty of help by deegan.Deegan is a big part of the problem the same guy who was lineman to Reilly down in Limerick.
And Cormac Reilly was the linesman who had Lee Keegan sent off in Croke Park in 2014..
@Food4thought
Outstanding post. Huge time and effort putting that together.
Well, well done.
Just to add that I’d agree 100% with Darran O’Sullivan’s piece on balls.ie:
https://www.balls.ie/gaa/darran-osullivan-john-small-challenge-480667
@Food4thought.
That’s excellent analysis.
In the past I have, not in the precise way that you have above, but I have tried to highlight poor refereeing and dirty play.
Many posters called it sour grapes and making up excuses for why we didn’t win.
It absolutely was not.
Your piece holds more sway because we actually won this one, so no one can come on and accuse you of serving sour grapes.
If we had lost on Saturday, guaranteed, there would be posters asking you to stop whining. Guaranteed.
Whether the game is lost or won, dangerous play and squint eyed refereeing should be called exactly what it is.
There’s no doubt about it that the media and the gaa establishment are petrified of Dublin.
John Mac
Darren O’Sullivan makes a great suggestion in that link you posted, time for GAA to act on this before some gets permanently maimed
The Hypnotist’s Watch.
Over and back
Watch it
Over and back
Dubs are keeping the ball
Over and back.
Keep watching the Hypnotist’s Watch with your eye
Over and back
The free fell from the sky
But DOC wasn’t watching the over and back
Horizontal
His boot, met the ball with a crack
The ball made its way, out to Kevin Mc
Fuck the over and back
This was all out attack.
The hypnotist checked his watch
Over and back
The watch started spinning
It’s face started to crack.
Ryan met McCarthy
Oh boy
What a clatter
The glass in the watch
It had started to shatter.
The game like the watch
It now started to swing
And while Dublin were swinging
We were doing our thing.
Flynn, Coen and Conroy
They all raised the flag
The hypnotist put the watch back in its bag
Over and back, flag
Watch it
Over and back
We kept the umpire busy
Flag waving, over and back.
Over and back
Watch it
Over and back
Watch Dublin swing watch
Swing it over and back
RIP to the hypnotist
RIP over and back
The Hypnotist’s Watch
Smashed
By an all out attack.
Over and back
It’s over
Over and back
The hypnotist beaten
By O’Connor to Mc
No more of the Hypnotist’s
Over and back
The hypnotist conquered
Now football is back.
Watching the Small hit again, I think he intends to do Eoghan illegally. He goes from low to high when he sets himself, right into side of his face. I don’t think there was an attempt to go square with the hit. Truly appaling act. For a shoulder to shoulder your elbow doesn’t lift, even after the hit as some have suggested, ie ‘secondary contact’. Your shoulder/elbow is tucked, braced tight to the body. So I don’t see how there can be any mitigation in this case. No, Small wanted to nail him in the face.
Great post foodforthought .Dublin have always got the decisions over the years . I think the gaa, pundits & media push a certain pro dublin agenda for popularity and repeat work.
Horrible challenge on mclaughlin, amazed, shocked , disgusted no stoppage.
Im grateful he didnt score a goal after. I cant imagine if they won due to that incident . Ref was awful throughout, but im not bitter as we got lucky with free from dublin keepers steps and retaking 45 .
I see Pillars offtheball comments were noted here, I honestly couldnt believe what I was hearing “Good challenge” he’s disgraceful . How the hell can someone say that after watching back?
But bottom line is we won! Mayo are awesome . What non mayo fans dont understand is our journey . For me it started in 96 . Great games in mayo and trips around the country . Magical stuff great memories . Ive seen other counties win all irelands but you can tell no one elses experience comes close our mayo journey.
Unpopular opinion now but the players have a responsibility here also. We can’t keep piling on the refs. If that game was reffed now by video analysis after the game, there would possibly be 2 or 3 reds, 5 or 6 blacks and a load of yellows. And for anyone trying to blame Conor Lane, Cooper, Small, McMahon, Mccarthy, O’connor brothers, Keegan, O’Hora are sailing very close to the wind every day. Ref was brutal but a lot of these players(rightly so) are trying to get away with as much as they can every day.
Thanks Food4thought and my word had no idea it was as bad as that. I think James Horan is very aware of what has been going on. I recall what he thought of one of Joe Gavin’s remarks about it having being a clean game of football or something.
Thanks to Revellino for his usual poetic humour.
There does seem to be an extraordinary spirit in the team. Have no concerns about the expected Kerry game now. They will be well prepared.
Sky News: An asteroid has crashed into earth, it is the end of civilisation as we know it.
Darragh Maloney: There was a coming together..
Lots of detail there, Food4thought. I think, though, that you’re conflating co-commentary and analysis and much of the criticism you’ve made of the co-commentary falls on that basis. All the co-commentator can do is give his/her in-the-moment reaction to what’s happening in the game before the focus moves on to the next piece of action. And that’s only if the co-commentator gets a word in, which doesn’t always happen as they’re there to ride shotgun with the commentator.
Where I’d agree is that post-match analysis – especially on RTE – has been poor but this isn’t a recent phenomenon. They’ve been poor for years, covering all sorts of teams and this enables teams to be stereotyped – Tyrone always negative, Galway’s lovely forwards being two examples – with others, including Dublin and Kerry, getting a free pass on the darker arts. It needs to be said, though, that the analysis on The Sunday Game was top class from start to finish.
I do, however, think people need to wise up a bit about cynical tactics. Sentiments like “It’s always Dublin, it’s rarely anyone else” are so wide of the mark they’re laughable. Does anyone seriously think we’re not capable of lowering the blade when necessary? Or any of the other top teams? Really?
There’s a wider debate to be had about player safety and the duty of care and, indeed, whether shoulder charges should be allowed at all in the game. That’s a debate that needs to be had and soon.
Finally, on refereeing, I’d draw a direct comparison between last Saturday night and Limerick in 2014. In both cases, incompetent officials lost control of a game and the exchanges became lawless as a result. The difference from our point of view was the result, which, aside from Eoghan’s horrendous injury, sweetens the pill. But this abject level of incompetence needs to be a wake-up call for the GAA too and I don’t think it’s going too far to say that the likes of Lane or Deegan shouldn’t be let anywhere near high-profile matches in future after their performance the last night.
This is my final rant on the vicious assault on our player – so called experts saying that body mechanics mans your elbow goes up when you shoulder. I have been helping to show guys how to give and take shoulders for years and myself and my training partner (a proud Serbian Mayo supporter) have watched the incident over and over and tried to re create it and the shoulder was followed by an upward elbow strike – its the only way to explain that cos when you shoulder someone your elbow has to be tucked to your body. James Carr got an after punch to the face, Diarmuid got a throat slap (another extremely dangerous incident). If shoulders are allowed then the players need to be trained to give them, to avoid them (and there are many ways) and to take them and disperse the force of it. I am not saying that our lads are saints but I have never seen them to try to take someone out. It was like Dublin reverted to the old style of hurting people when they were losing. At the end of the day a young man has been physically damaged and the psychological impact to him will be immense. Refs have failed to protect our players and Maurice Deegan & Conor Lane either need to be retrained or dropped – end of
For me I try not to get into the player who carried out the foul or shoulder as let’s face it, we don’t know him, we don’t know if he’s a bad person. We see these players on the pitch, and we’ve all seen players in our clubs who are different off the pitch to on it. We can’t be going around calling them “scum” etc
The issue I have is the game should have been stopped on the spot. Whether the ref gives a free, a red, a yellow, a hop ball, it really doesn’t matter as the player was clearly out cold.
Change needs to come around this.
Maolla, Donegal were Division 2 in 2014 if I remember correctly
Ciaran + 2 we should be concerned about the expected Kerry game. Our performances to date won’t cut it, we have to be better and not give ourselves a mountain to climb at half time. We can win it but we need to improve and be at our very best.
Well said WJ. As history is always written by the victors though, it’ll never be said how they got a massive help from the officials in achieving their 6 in a row even if it’s true. 2016 bastick pick off the ground and 2017 ghost Dublin free before half time and certain keegan penalty towards the end not given spring to mind. However we have now slain that particular dragon so we must look forward and focus on this year as we can never change the past but we can influence the future. I’ve read some comments saying Kerry look angry this year – they’ve gone 7 years without Sam. Well Fuck them we’ve gone 70 years, we should be livid. We’re not leaving without Sam this year, God help anyone who stands in our way
You do remember correctly, Ciaran, good spot. I should have remembered that as I was at that League final where Monaghan beat Donegal in the Division Two decider.
By the way, for anyone who’s interested, all those historical results are on Wikipedia, you need to search for ‘NFL Ireland’ as otherwise you get the American version!
For the hurling final NON competing counties allocation has been reduced by 70%. Take that as official. The competing counties in Sunday’s game has had a increase on the semi final allocation. For those Mayo people living outside the county its a total disaster. Tickets will be impossible to get.
And if I’m not mistaken, Donegal came up from div 2 in 2011, beating Laois in the final. Marty Duffy reffed. I remember an enraged Laois fan shouting at him, when Donegal missed a free in: ‘hard luck Duffy’.
Oisin linked with multiple AFL clubs for next season again 🙁
Stop this don’t start AOS rubbish, appreciate he’s a legend and sometimes legends decline. However one swallow doesn’t make a Summer. So many people have short memories he turned the Connaught Final on its head with the catch in first minute of 2nd half which won the penalty. Play him in at Full Forward, he keeps 2 of opposition deep there which allows more space for our middle third runners when we turnover ball. If he drifts out to midfield take him off he slows the game down in possession there which does not suit Mayo’s new gun ho style. End of no other servant deserves to lift Sam after 70 years waiting
I saw that KM79. Disaster if he goes.
I think our starting forwards only scored two points from play in the first 75 minutes. That wont win an all Ireland. If we play the first half the next day like we played against Galway and Dublin – we will be bet out the gate. Ky will attack with a lot more speed and pace than Dublin did. Ky will also test our full back line a lot more and will go for goals with Geaney and David Clifford inside. What will Mayo do in first half the next day – sit back like last two games or go all out press/attack like the second halves. With the forwards ky have we cant afford to sit back too much.
Aiden at full forward worked to a degree the main issues were:
1. His bad wides, but he did secure the ball (there were 2pts thrown away at least which would have been massive in a low scoring game)
2. Not enough options close to him – no runner(s).
3. He did appear a bit off and his head dropped early for whatever reason.
4. He lacked movement – should have been circling between full and half (probably relates to No.3).
I do expect a different Aiden the next day if the body/head is right. Most of the are are fixable
@ TMoyles. I am glad someone has highlighted this. On the gaelic hour the boys were putting it down to..it’s just physics..that’s the motion of the body when you make a hit..I think that’s a load of bollox…A fair shoulder doesn’t involve a raised elbow at the end of it unless there was intent. Killing themselves trying to defend John Small…anyhow that’s my final rant also..
Willie Joe, I’d like to respond to this .
“I do, however, think people need to wise up a bit about cynical tactics. Sentiments like “It’s always Dublin, it’s rarely anyone else” are so wide of the mark they’re laughable. Does anyone seriously think we’re not capable of lowering the blade when necessary? Or any of the other top teams? Really?
I didn’t make it clear but what I was referring to in that particular part of my post was that when it comes to the really egregious stuff Dublin are always there. I cited a short list of examples going back decades. I did not want to make the post only about that so I didn’t mention any of the eye gouging by Philly or O Gara or Duff for example.
I didn’t say or imply that Mayo are saints. I set out to be impartial and pointed to Mayo infractions but I missed one ( Diarmuid’s yellow) for dangerous play. Btw Co Commentator on that particular one went out of his way to compare it with the hit on Eoghan McLoughlin!
Yes, that hit !! Let’s just say the co commentator had an off day.
Mayo are hard, play on the edge and definitely sometimes over the edge but I don’t see them breaking jaws ( plural) gouging eyes(plural) or doing throat punches( plural) However I do see Mayo players being sent off ( straight red)in major games for “ raising their leg” when no strike was inflicted and there was no contact.
Maybe it’s going on off camera but when the media are making such a big deal about Aidan’s one man pitch invasion, I’m sure we’d have heard about it if a Dublin player was in the hospital. In fact , we would never , ever hear the end of it .
Final fixed for 5pm Saturday 11th September with extra time if necessary. But I’d imagine if it’s level at end of extra time there would be a replay as it doesn’t say “winner on the day”. Still unusual to have extra time if necessary for an all Ireland final that’s not a replay. They obviously don’t want to affect the club calendar further
Thanks for that clarification, Food4thought. I think we can agree that Dublin generally get an easy ride from the media where it comes to the dark arts, though it’s interesting to see, as FDBinashui pointed out yesterday, that since they’ve at last been beaten the media have all of a sudden noticed this aspect to their play.
Oisin McConville called out Flynn for his anti Dublin bias talk on second captains. As Mayo people it’s nice to step back and watch other counties now saying this .
Some interesting views here, I was watching the game at home with my wife who is a nurse and we both recoiled when we saw the hit in real time. Lane was in a poor position and he obviously thought that it was shoulder to shoulder. He let the play continue which almost resulted in a goal for dublin. The way McLoughlin lifelessly collapsed was clearly a serious head injury and should have been instantly halted for the players safety, lane made several mistakes (for both sides) but this was simply unforgivable and he should be dropped from the panel of top referees as a result.
Mayo and Dublin was always going to be a tetchy affair with all the close games played between the two teams over the years, there were several incidents all over the field that should have been sited by the ref but to be fair with so much going on these incidents are often missed in games like this. I would imagine that a few of those dublin players will be sanctioned for the strikes and pal will be done for dangerous play.
I think it was Billyjo padden that said when a player lines someone up like that they take a risk that they might miss time the impact which runs the risk of connecting with the opposing players head and if they do mistime the challenge they should relieve a red card as it’s dangerous play and I totally agree with him. I can’t imagine that Small wanted to cause such a serious injury to McLoughlin and that it was a mistimed impact but that is no excuse and the injury he caused should have seen him walk full stop. To be honest I thought Mayo were very fortunate to be allowed to retake the 45 and the dublin keeper simply didn’t overcarry the ball but the dubs have had their fair share of favourable calls in tight games over the years so I won’t cry many tears for them.
On the game I thought that dublin have become totally obsessed with controlling the game and their flamboyant style of play of the past has been coached out of them. They were totally in charge in the first half and should have been further ahead at half time, their dominance in that first half almost lulled them into a place where they went into their obsessive tactic of holding the ball and wind down the clock far too early in the second half which resulted in their downfall.
Mayo have some real leaders on that team and they are for the most part in the 2-7 area of the field. Keegan is an absolute legend and he now has that Viking Warrior O Hora beside him, if we get over Tyrone I think there will be some battle between your backs and our forwards. I do have to say if Mayo don’t up the intensity in the first half of the game they could find themselves in bother against Kerry as they instinctively attack at every opportunity. It is strange that Mayo have been flat against both Galway and Dublin in the first half and monstered their way back into the game in the second half of both games and prevailed.
In Kerry people are concerned that if we get over Tyrone Mr Gough will get the final, I know ye think he is a great ref but we have suffered at his hands on a few occasions. The only time we got a fair shake off him was the 2019 drawn final but I suppose he is technically the best out there so if all the parts come together I wish him luck in the final and hope his involvement will be a good thing for both teams whether it is Kerry or Tyrone.
I was delighted that the GAA did the sensible thing in the end and gave Tyrone the extra week they requested, it was ridiculous to expect a team to prepare for a huge game like this in a week. It appears that one of their better players was hospitalised with COVID so I hope he makes a full and speedy recovery. I can’t imagine that he will be able to make a significant contribution in such a short period considering the fatigue this virus visits on the host. For Kerry it’s a vital game as we have been poorly tested thus far in the Championship and if we are to advance to the final we will need a good hard game to prepare for what Mayo will bring to the table on the 11th. If we make the final I will miss it as I strategically booked a holiday to Spain for ten days in early September thinking that it would go ahead on the 29/8 as originally planned so regardless who wins on Saturday week I’ll be watching the final in an Irish bar, haven’t missed a final involving Kerry since 1980 but I hope we get over Tyrone injury and card free. Tyrone are a good team for us to play in advance of a Mayo final should we beat them as they are a running team and will expose our weaknesses to runners which will allow us to work on, they also have target men for scuds and it will sharpen whoever is chosen to deal with O Shea in the final as he will definitely spend time inside as we are perceived to be dodgy older the high ball and play a more loose defence than the dubs.
Anyway we have to first win our semi final if we are to meet ye, in the meantime I hope McLoughlin makes a steady and full recovery from a horrific injury
That is an excellent post T Moyles – thank you for this. I feel strongly that this incident needs to be a catalyst for change.
As before I send my best wishes to Eoghan.
I also think more responsibility or onus needs to be on the attacking player. This is part of what the idea of ‘duty of care’ means. After all, who has more control on the outcome of a strong tackle situation? Person doing the shoulder, person taking the impact, ref & officials, GAA hierarchy, media? Yes, the player giving the tackle has the power to effect the outcome. The others have less capacity.
One of the most satisfying aspects of Saturday’s victory is that the absolute rubbish narrative that had been allowed develop around this Dublin team being some sort of pure of body and spirit Nietzsche-eques supermen has been completely destroyed. From Gavin describing their “Corinthian Spirit” to Brolly spewing about them being noble, pure etc., this narrative built up that they were somehow better men than other players. They were undoubtedly the best football team to have played the game but to somehow make out that they were better people than the teams they played was something that always upset me deeply. Gavin would look insulted and hurt if he was even asked about a unsavory incident committed by one of his players, as if that was something other, lesser people did.
The speed with which the media turned on them and pointed out their behavior also showed that they clearly knew what had been happening for years but choose or were told to ignore it and not upset the narrative. The ex-players and managers are out in force trying to make excuses and cover up the behavior but they seem genuinely shocked that people aren’t buying it this time. The last refuge of the scoundrel is now being wheeled out, its’s all anti-Dublin bias seemingly.
Listening to the OTB pod just now Andy said that Aidan had a foot injury last week and was in a medical ‘boot”. Interesting. Could explain his form on Sunday. I agree Darkyfinn, things nearly came off for him Saturday and in fairness he did win clean ball. I think after the first miss the nerves kicked in and drained him and if he was carrying an injury, which he was, as I trust Andy Moran, I’d give him the benefit of the doubt. James still needs to factor in Aidans struggles generally against Dublin and how he’d fare against a similarly athletic team like Kerry….
Never knew Hession played CHF for the minors. Not surprising given how comfortable he is on the ball.
Regarding Small, I’d never throw personal insults at a player and i care not what they’re like off the pitch, but we’re entitled to judge his on-field behaviour and boy has he got form, making it harder for me to give him the benefit of the doubt. In 2016 final he was flailing punches at Cillian on the ground. So on the field he’s proper nasty and the evidence is there.
It’s telling that after the hit on Eoghan, Small completely drifted out of the game and was eventually replaced. Perhaps his conscience got to him.
Just to address those contentious decisions that seemingly went our way, they were actually, and unusually, the ones that were correctly called decisions.
On the Comerford steps – he took more than 4 steps between each solo – watch this (slow it down to playback speed of 0.5 or less in the settings on Youtube).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VsNu4SC5GQ
from 1 hour, 14 minutes 30 seconds – its 5 or 6 steps from when he collects the ball to his first solo. 7 or 8 then to his second solo, 6 to his third, and a further 9 steps to his 4th solo. Lane calls it on that occasion.
That was the right call from Lane.
Also to point out on the reason Robbie was directed to re-take the 45 was because the Ref and Linesman would both have been impeding him for the first one.
First Clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVbtSD5fkJY&feature=youtu.be
Watch Lane just as Robbie starts his run up – seven seconds into that clip you can see Lane running towards Robbie with the hand up.
Deegan is no more than 2 yards to Robbie right hand side and still on the pitch, standing on the 45 and points just as Robbie is about to take the kick too to indicate to him not to take it – (both Lane and Deegan do this).
the Deegan thing is less visible on this clip but is on the orignal broadcast so can be checked here:
Watch from 1 hour 25 minutes.
Watch as Hennelly runs up just as he’s about to strike Deegan waves his right hand. At that point if Robbie was allowed to take the kick Deegan should be off the pitch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VsNu4SC5GQ
I also think his yellow card for Davy Byrne was correctly called as a yellow, but the problem with that type of foul and the black card, it’s very subjective.
Swallow Swoops, I couldn’t agree with you more on that. The duty of care simply must rest with the attacker; and out of all the blame being apportioned this week, there seems to be very little acknowledgement of that personal responsibility and indeed, any referee will tell you that ultimately it is the player that makes the challenge that must accept the responsibility.
I don’t know John Small, but I do know that he has form when it comes to aggression, as has been highlighted elsewhere. I don’t for a second believe that he set out to injure an opponent, but I cannot accept that he upheld his duty of care either. I would be amazed if the outcome of the challenge didn’t affect him on the day, and I am sure the subsequent commentary has affected him since. Perhaps it will make him think twice in future about how he approaches his game. And while I can’t bring myself to have an awful lot of sympathy for Conor Lane given his own record in letting such physicality go, I can’t imagine this week has been easy for him or his family either.
Finally, our own lads are no saints either; and for long enough we were. It’d be nice not to have to engage in gamesmanship but if you don’t, you get punished and your opposition doesn’t. Again, that’s where consistent, capable officiating comes into play. And what we have at present just isn’t enough of a deterrent.
Finally, Pillar would know a thing or two about dishing out dodgy shoulders – though his own ability there was somewhat limited. Treat those remarks with the contempt and ridicule they deserve – the only reaction they merit is a laugh.
Liberal role – Ed McGreal says the same about Aidan on our podcast, in the new episode that’ll be online, I think, later on this evening.
JP – I’ve only one word in response to that recommendation: Horanball!!!
Willie Joe, ye are amazing with the podcasts. V grateful.
(Also….hint hint hint Séamie was excellent last time, and Stephen Rochford).
Thank you, Anne-Marie, for your comments above.
Thanks WJ, looking forward to hearing the podcast later.