Photo: @Kildare365
The red alerts have all passed, the country’s getting back to normal and last weekend’s slew of postponed football matches have all been re-confirmed for this coming weekend. For us, it’s a must-win basement battle against Kildare at St Conleth’s Park in Newbridge, a match that’s been fixed for Sunday with a 2pm throw-in.
We had a decent fall of snow up here in the capital last week but what fell hereabouts was nothing compared to the volume that dumped down across the Short Grass County. One can only hope that the thaw will have transformed St Conleth’s Park from what it looked like when the above photo was taken (last Thursday) into a surface that’s at least playable.
Edwin McGreal has an informative piece in this week’s Mayo News (here) about Newbridge, including practicalities on tickets and all that. There was a fair old delay getting into the ground the last time we played there – back in 2014 – so the advice to buy your tickets in advance and get to Newbridge as early as possible on Sunday is sensible.
As Ed points out in that piece, though, the capacity of the ground has been increased to around 12,000 (up from under 7,000 the last time we played there) so there shouldn’t be any problems getting into the place. You might, though, have to do with a spot on the terrace but, sure, there are worse trials in life. You’d never know, you might come across Rob and myself on podcasting duties during the match if you do.
That piece by Ed, by the way, also states that both Paddy Durcan and Tom Parsons, along with the now unsuspended Cillian O’Connor, could be in line to start for us on Sunday. The more reinforcements we’re able to call on for this one, the better.
I have 2 tickets for Sundays match. I got them for last Sundays match. Unfortunately i cannot go this Sunday. Tickets purchased for last Sundays match are fine for this Sunday. Anyone want them?
Is there an alternative venue for this fixture as the thaw is very slow or indeed hardly at all in my back garden here in Baile Loch Garman. Coupled with this is the Met Eireann forecast for the week which will not be conductive for the melting of the sneachta! Like Loch Garman Cill Dara got a real pounding. Even if the sneachta is gone the soil will be completely saturated and probably dangerous to play! Mar a deirtear feicfidh muidh. Ar aon nos go neiri le foireann Mhuigheo i gconai ! Mhuigheo Abu !
Just a thought ! . If we lose and end up relegated . Would it be the worst thing in the world ? Look at our panel – its ageing a bit a new players take time to develop . Its pretty obvious that Mayo are never too worried about the league, only staying up in Div 1. IF we went down , it would be easier rest key players who hopefully will have a long years football and their bodies need time to recover plus holidays etc and still be competitive in div 2 whilst still blooding new players . My point is that I believe we could easily be relegated but could also end up in the All Ireland final again this year and to be honest that’s all any of us want , that’s Sam .
This is going to be a dogfight but at the end of the day we can’t beat Kildare we don’t deserve to be in division one.
Everyone keeps going on about the players we are missing and that we “always” come good in the later part of the league. I have my doubts that we can just turn it off and on like a tap.
We have issues in the full back line and we are finding it terribly hard to score. Delighted Parsons is back and thought SOS done well driving forward against Dublin. Would like to see Treacy given a chance at some point in the last 3 games. He has a bit of bite to him judging by the 3 games I’ve seen him.
Does anybody have any info on how Mayo may have trained over the weekend? Surely no pitch in Mayo was playable
@RosTown If the tickets are still available I’ll definitely take them.
Lads any word on Evan Regan? Been over a month now since he was injured and supposedly out for six or seven weeks, mustn’t be too far away from a comeback?? Or at least some moderate contact training?
Kildare have been unlucky in most of their games in the league so far and will probably have the edge in midfield. Their FF is dangerous as well.
We have a proud record of the longest serving Div. 1 team (since 1998) and I don’t want to lose it. Div. 1 is the place to be . Some say it wouldn’t be the end of the world to be relegated…but I wouldn’t take to it too kindly.
IMO we’ve been the least impressive team in Div.1 thus far (Kildare and Donegal) have put in better performances than us despite their points tally. In fairness, we really haven’t been at the races so far…….that needs to change on Sunday.
I see Cora Staunton is going well in Oz- good luck to her. Should she have picked the pro career when she was younger?
Clubman51
Mayo trained in the Claremorris Athletic track Friday and in Ballinrobes secondary school pitch Sunday morning it said on the Mayo News today.
Yes I would have to agree with you on Ciaran Treacy he looked the most exciting forward in the Fbd and deserves his chance very fast and kicked some fine points from distance, great to hear Tom Parsons is back too will really help strengthen Midfield .
Hopefully Shane Nally gets a full game to prove himself at maybe Midfield or Centre forward hes a really stylish footballer I would say maybe the best kickpasser in the county so he deserves a chance as I don’t think we are getting the most out of him, I think he struggles defensively like in the Kerry game he was playing too deep cause his marking isn’t his strong point, he was better against Monaghan playing in a more central role in Midfield. He has a sweet left peg and can deliver long range passes to our Full forward line.
What are the chances of Keith Higgins making a special guest appearance this weekend? The hurlers have a dead rubber game against Down so he could help the footballers out against Kildare
Just a thought on an alternative venue if newbridge cannot host the game.both Offaly and Laois are away this weekend so portlaoise and tullamore would be two venues.westmeath are at home so that would be ruled out.
Aiden, Croke Park @ 2 pm should also be available as Dublin and Kerry do not play until 4 pm. I just hope that they will make a decision in good time to allow people to plan.
Clubman, Billy Joe Padden [or was it Edwin McGreal?] outlined Mayo’s training prog last w/e in his piece in the Mayo News for which Willie Joe gives a link above. In it he speculates about the ideal training base / C of E for Mayo in future. Do we not need a base somewhere in the midlands to allow home based and Dublin based players to meet regularly along with a Mayo centre which can also be used by our underage players? Perhaps a link with a club in the midlands would meet this need. Incidentally Leitrim also have a C of E on the N4 about 10 miles south of Carrick on Shannon [as have Sligo on the Sligo – Strandhill road].
Hi All,
Paddy Power have Kildare 4/6 and Mayo 6/4 for Sunday’s game….this has to be an error on their part otherwise the 6/4 on Mayo is the bet of the decade!!
Kind Regards
Martin the Dub
Just noticed it now Martin, they have switched the odds. Damn it , wish I had of beaten them there , very rare you get a chance to beat the bookie . Kildare were 11/8 on first show, Mayo at 6/4 now, lets say a ton on both , €30 on draw. Total stake , €230 , minimum guaranteed profit of €7.50. Increase the stake , vary the spread more . Paddy power goes bust by monday morning hahaha.
It’s hard to believe that in 2012 we got scalded at full back and here we are 6 years later wondering what sort of a damage limitations job can be done at our full back position. Imagine in 6 years we haven’t come up with someone recognised to fill the position we were squealing out for in 2012. Then we had Brogan slapping the ball in to the Mayo net the following year. Surely somewhere in Mayo, across all teams in the different divisions there is a competent full back. Ffs, would a good footballer getting a bit of specialised training not be ready to make a good reliable full back at this stage. It’s very frustrating having to watch managment having to rejig the team every time we face a dangerous full forward. It might patch the problem on the.full back line putting the likes of aos or donie back for a particular match but that always takes away from the team further up the pitch.
@Revelino. Hopefully the coaching initiative in terms of identifying young players with the physical and playing characteristics for positions like full back. Lots of underage midfielders would benefit from an earlier switch to full back.
That 2013 final was bizarre. Cafferkey actually won his tussle with Brogan imo, yet BB got 2-2 (two tap ins). Any 50/50 ball Caff won it.
Since that Donaghy fiasco in 2014 though it’s definitely been a problem position but we didn’t fare too badly the last two seasons with no “orthodox” full-back
I always thought that Coen would be an ideal full back. He’s a strong lad, he’s got a great pair of hands and he’s a good man-marker (remember the 2016 game when he came in due to Lee’s black card and kept Connolly quiet for the rest of the match). Along with that he is a good passer of the ball and the only thing that seems to let him down is his pace.
In my book, he would fit in there nicely to deal with any threat from a big strong full forward.
Four Goals. He does ok with his club at midfield. I have not been impressed with him at midfield on the county team, but he is too good a footballer to not have him involved. Full back would be an interesting move. He needs to be in the thick of the action.
Get there early if ye are going lads. The place could well be full to overflowing an hour before the game even starts. 12,000 is nothing when the best supported team in the country come to town.
Will the huge Mayo flag be there or is that still banned on health and safety grounds incase it kills somebody?
Will second Jim’s point above, if you want a good spot, get in nice and early, the seating in the stand is very limited, only a small section in the middle has seats, the rest of the covered section as well as the other three sides is terraced and exposed. In addition to this, there is a wall and high fencing at the front of the terraces so it would be best to move back from this as it will impede your view of the game. Best advice is to get your tickets in advance if you can so as to avoid the queues on the day.
The huge Mayo flag won’t be there on Sunday Jim, it’s having a face lift at the minute in preparation for the summer.
Safe travel to all heading to Newbridge on Sunday. Hopefully the weather will be better than it has been.
Aidan says:
March 7, 2018 at 1:39 am
Just a thought on an alternative venue if newbridge cannot host the game.both Offaly and Laois are away this weekend so portlaoise and tullamore would be two venues.westmeath are at home so that would be ruled out.
Portlaoise is being used as Laois hurlers are at home to Dublin on Sunday. Offally hurlers are at home to Antrim but that game is on in Birr so Tullamore is free.
Full Back Issues:
If its any consolation to yee lads, the hurlers haven’t had a home grown specialist full back in over a decade either. Our last 3 full-backs have all been Permission Players. Aidan Connolly (Castlegar), Ger McManus (St Judes) and now Conor Daly (Killimorday) have all been drafted in on permission rules and have filled that gap for us well. We are a county that just cant nurture specialist full-backs for some reason.
We haven’t had a proper full back since Kevin Cahill or a proper scoring full forward since Joe Corcoran/Padraig Brogan imagine if we could fill those positions in the same season we’d be very hard to beat Galway seem to have a conveyor belt of good forwards it’s hard to fathom why we don’t. We are the lowest scoring team of division one.
@backdoorsam . The game has evolved since them boys played . No half forwards covering back or sweeper’s those day’s therefore lots more space . Andy Moran would surely thrive in those conditions but maybe ya have to be retired in Mayo before yer one of the greats ,!!
Doesn’t matter how much the game has evolved ,what ever team scores more wins. We absolutely do lack scoring forwards and a full back too. This line of “sure havent we done alright without ”
How about “sure we would of won a couple of all Irelands if we had them though” .
Did Tommy Conroy ever make any inroads , he got injured in 15 and again in 16 before 21s had started up, . Crikey that was the best full forward line I ever seen for Mayo at any level , the 13 minors , himself , Irwin and the late D Doherty (RIP). That goal Irwin got v Roscommon, it was a joy to watch them bucks. I really got carried away though, thought we were about to start producing kerry/Galwayesque type forwards all of a sudden.
Why is a doubt about the venue being raised here?
There is no indication whatsoever from Kildare that Newbridge has or is a problem.
A good article here:
http://www.the42.ie/derek-mcgrath-waterford-hurling-6-3890444-Mar2018/
Dec M you mean to tell me Tom Langan would be a start if he was in his prime today and playing? Give me a break the game has evolved but at the same time it’s still all about Putting the ball over the bar and scoring goals. Andy is a class forward and we are blessed to have him but he’s 34 he needs the guys around him to back themselves and have a go. I was embarrassed watching the Mayo forwards against Kerry it was like they had never played together before
That should read you mean to tell me Tom Langan wouldn’t be a star. In other words he would because from what I heard he was pure class even allowing for legend adding to it
Irish Rail have announced special trains running to and from Newbridge on Sunday for fans. Arrives into Newbridge for 10.30, with the station a 10 minute walk to the town centre. Mass in the parish church is at 11am and is just over the bridge from the main St (20 mins from station), if you were so inclined.
Return trains at 4pm and 6.55pm.
On a training base venue…it must be in Mayo. Maybe south Mayo would be the best location given the proximity to the new motorway from Tuam…Ballindine / Ballinrobe areas ?
Louise Heneghan just seen your post now. I have someone else interested in those tickets. Will not know until Friday what the story is.If they are not required you will be the 1st in line. Let you know on Friday.
Anyone watching Laochra Gael re Graham Geraghty…how did we not win in 1996…i thought we had it the first day. And then the disaster of Liam McHale being sent off in replay. Isnt it hard to believe 22 years later we still havent won Sam. It a tragedy. And yet here we are still hoping and believing.
Your name says it all goagain. It is hard to believe, but that’s what we must do.
Full back issues
We actually need a couple of options at full back. One that can handle the fast tricky customer and another who can cope when a big lump of a man like Donaghy appears on the scene. The same full back isn’t likely to be able to do both jobs.
For me the ideal full back should be big enough not to get pushed about and have the speed and agility to compete for 50/50 balls and of course the footballing / defending skills. A lot of our defenders are top class on those criteria and I would have no reservations in slotting any number of them into full back. It seemed to work pretty well last year.
The problem is when a Donaghy-like guy appears. Remember how we had to deploy Aidan O Shea last year against Kerry. It worked to a certain degree but I would prefer to see Aidan further up the field. This is where we need to take one of our big guys and work hard to develop the necessary skills and techniques to cope with that kind of scenario. Ger McDonagh, Jason Gibbons, Shane Nally, Caolan Crowe, Donie Vaughan are some names that spring to mind if we are worried that Ger Cafferky hasn’t regained sufficient form to be considered.
@backdoorsam . Fair point but I can only comment on player’s I seen playing , not ‘from what I’ve heard’ about players of old . Agree though re forwards and why we will probably fall short of an All Ireland again this year . Pound for pound Galway always seem to have more natural forwards than us but still expect us to beat them come championship . Looking forward to Sunday and hopefully see Tom back and Seamie get a run out again .We should have enough to pip them as its just about getting the win .
Goagain, I too was watching Graham Geraghty on the TG4 channel, he was a brilliant footballer and athlete and a player I always admired. It may be 22 years ago now, but some things haven’t changed, in 96 Mayo relied heavily on Maurice Sheridan to score from frees, Mayo didn’t have an out and out full forward, but Casey was deployed there ( never his preferred position). Mayo got 1 – 11 in the replayed final, alot of the scores were from frees, Meath got 2-09, goals won out in the end, Mayo lead by 6 points at one stage in the game. I will be haunted forever from three things in that replay.
1, Mayo lost the fight.
2, Tommy Dowd got a goal while lying on the ground.
3, Colm McMenamin played as a free man, but every time he got the ball in midfield, he kicked it straight into the centre forward position ie, where the Meath centre back ( McManus) was all alone to mop it up.
Anybody able to tell me if season tickets holders need to print tickets ahead of Sunday’s game? For some reason I seem to be left out of Croke Park’s email list re season tickets. They insist I am not but I never get an email. I have the junk mail option switched off in my computer so that is not the reason.
Curragh Plains Drifter,… A special train to Newbridge, But from where?… But thank’s for the information,…. We now know how to get outa Town pronto, with the 2 point’s in our Saddle Bag’s,… Down here in the Wild West, they stopped hanging in the Mall in Castlebar a few years back, even for horse stealing.. If we don’t steal the 2 point’s on Sunday,… I’m making off with the finest horse that I can find in the vicinity of Newbridge,… But I got to be careful now, I’m straying into Revellino Western territory,…. If he takes dislike to someone, even from Mayo straying in there without first asking permission,…(he won’t mind anyone stealing a Kildare horse, , just so long as it’s a good horse).. I could be in big trouble, If he’s as good with a six gun as he is with the ‘Western’s’… I’d better hope that the Kildare Posse catch me before ‘Revellino’… Only today , I seen a poster with his picture on it’ ‘Rev’ in the local Barber’s/Dentist /Surgeon shop … It started off… ‘ ‘Wanted Dead or Alive ‘…. Revellino,…The Legend . How the Mayo men of the West finally won? ,… The women folk, seemed to stare at it for quite a while, Some of the younger women just smiled and blushed,… Some of the older one’s seemed to get weak at knees,… Well, as for the Men Folk, they were just afraid to look even at a likeness of ‘Revellino’ straight in the eye….. Mayo should do the business on Sunday!…
1996 is of course the biggest regret of all…..threw it away. Don’t take my word for it though….just ask any Meath supporter and they’ll tell you likewise! Truth is we had no self belief albeit the luck didn’t shine on us either.
BTW, there’s a certain tension between us and the Meath supporters. There seems to be a bit of a dislike that we don’t really have with any other county. Do ye remember the ‘You took our land but you won’t take Sam’ banners.
To this day the 2009 quarter final loss is one of the most painful defeats- didn’t see it coming and got pilfered by the ref with some terrible decisions.
any word on cian hanley
Just reading posts. Only in from work.
Your making me laugh Leantimes. A witty way of putting things. Bate away into the Westerns. We need as big a posse as possible.
Mayo88. There might be a 4th regret. Was 96 not the year that Pat Fallon had been playing brilliant. We were briniging him on in games, usually in the 2nd half. He was playing out of his skin and chipping in on the scoreboard as well. Then for some unknown reason he wasn’t included in the squad. Might have been for the replay, cannot remember now. It was an awful mistake. He had been playing all star football that year.
Regards full backs. Big, fast, brave and above all, been able to read the game. I think it takes more courage to be a full back than any other position on the pitch.
Jaysus if we had started fine tuning a couple of 15 or 16 year olds back in 2012 for full back, they would be 21 or 22 now and ready for action.
I might have to pull on the old cowboy boots at the weekend and slot in at full back. Yeehaw.
Ninety seven we left it behind us worst final ever i was at ,even the Kerry supporters were embarrassed,must say I have enjoyed banter with every counties supporters apart from Meaths who I found very dour but I only met them in Croke Park,I am sure there are good ones as well.Hopefully Sunday will be start of another journey with a successful outcome this year,up Mayo
@sean burke
Tommy Conroy had double hip surgery in 2016 and has been injured almost every year since the minors with hips, knees, shoulders etc. He has had a very unfortunate run, but was fully fit this year. He is tough as nails and built like a brick shithouse for his height, has that bite that we sometimes lack up front. But, I think life has taken him other directions over the course of the injuries, and although he is still playing with the club, I would be very surprised if he pulls on the green and red, would love to be proven wrong though! On a brighter note, watch out for his younger brother Mikie coming through underage the next couple of years, a real hot prospect!!
Stephen Coen should be tried out at fullback for a few games He has everything for that position, but give him a few games there not just 10 minutes
The answer to the full back problem in my opinion is Seamus Cunniffe. Only problem being is he has chosen to concentrate on his studies instead of committing to the county set up.
Another player who I would like to get info on is Donnocha Cosgrave from Kiltmagh? Pretty sure he captained the minors 2/3 years ago. Big strong lad. Anybody know what happened him?
Galway seem to have a converabelt of full backs with Sean Og and then the minor captain Mulkerrin also sniffing around.
One to watch out for is Rory Brickedon (Westport) saw him playing only twice but was very impressed by him. Big, fast and reads the game very well. Not sure if he’s still minor this year.
Meath supporters are fine. We had great craic with them in 96. They are a small bit cocky but thats alright – better than the condescending attitude from the Kerry supporters. Some of the worst behaved supporters I have seen this year (8 matches already!) have been Mayo supporters especially the usual whiney stuff thrown at AOS and Rochford – especially bad at the Dublin game. Even in the league we are attracting hangers on who have no appreciation of the game and the hard work our players put in.
Reminiscing on lost all irelands past is painful exercise. Exciting times for Westport and Horan. Rice College and the club still churning out young lads. Best of luck to college and C&C management team in senior A final at weekend.
No need for Season ticket holders to print tickets ahead of Sundays game AndyD. It is a case of presenting Card/Badge at the turnstile. Whenever i look at my account in seasontickets.ie and the my tickets category it will usually say Card/Badge if this is the means of entry. I only discovered recently that the emails i get from Crole Park are held in the promotions section of Gmail. This may be the same for you and the last email i received was on the 1st March. I marked it as important so hopefully Gmail will prioritize and alert me of that email in future. Hope that helps
AndyD
Re: Season Ticket Holders/Emails – email received on Jan 24 said weekly email will not be distributed to season ticket holders during league – they are using the official GAA website to publish information.
Good that Tom Parsons is available for selection at the weekend. Will add a bit of strength to midfield. But its great that Conor O shea is fit for the Kildare game. Will make a massive difference to our forward line. We need to put up a big score at the weekend because Kildare always score big.
The Main reason we lost that 96 final is because our 2 best forwards in the County Ciaran McDonald and Kevin O’Neill wern’t playing.
McDonald went to Chicago for the summer on a J1 and John Maughan never picked Kevin O’Neill for whatever stupid reason.Could you imagine Meath without Geraghty and Giles or Galway without Donnellan and Joyce yet we had our 2 best players missing for that 96 final.
We owned possesion in them 2 games but we kicked some really bad wides and gave away possesion to easily.
Dessie Farrell from Dublin said once he could not understand how Kevin O’Neill could not make the Mayo team regularly cause he was one of the top forwards in Dublin club football when he played with Na Fianna.
The main reason we lost the 1996 final was bottle. Nerve. Composure. Call it what you want.
We were six points up with 15 minutes left. What do Kerry do in that situation? They go 7 points up. Then 8. Then 9. And they don’t stop until they see the opposition’s heads drop.
What do Mayo teams do in that situation? Freeze and try to hang on.
We’ve seen it time and time and time again, from Mayo teams of all ages, as long as I am watching football.
Only twice, in championship games of any consequence, have I seen Mayo properly drive on with a big lead; the quarter-final v Donegal in 2013, and the Connacht final v Sligo in 2015.
@ Spotlight: I lived in Meath for five years, they really don’t like us up there. A lot of comes from the 96 fiasco, but also I think from some historical stuff such as the Land Commission. One of my Royal County friends makes it his business to contact me after every All-Ireland defeat (I’ve been out of the country the past seven years). Personally, they can’t stay down in the doldrums long enough as far as I’m concerned.
The Kevin O’Neill thing was weird, think a lot of stemmed from Maughan’s inflexible attitude towards training. Knockmore went on All-Ireland club runs in 1996 and 1997, and obviously O’Neill had to go with them until that finished, but JM wasn’t willing to accommodate that. Likewise, Pat Fallon wasn’t selected due to having to go to a family occasion a few weeks before the All-Ireland final, thus missing a session.
For all the good that Maughan did for Mayo football, I think if he could have his time again, he’d probably cut some of those guys a little more slack.
Re: Cora, she won two WFAI Cups in soccer, and also a Connacht League as a rugby player (I believe she scored six tries on her debut!). The WAFL has only been around the past year or so, but I think she would have had a fair shot at some sort of pro career if she hasn’t been so dedicated to Mayo GAA. According to her Wikipedia page, she also turned down trials for the Irish U-16 team to play for Mayo, and indeed played in the Women’s Uefa Cup.
Davy J: I agree entirely. I was 8 years old watching the 1996 final in a London pub, but remember asking myself why Mayo were sitting back on their lead instead of pushing one, you could see the fear creep in as the game headed into the closing stages. We didn’t have the belief that the Meath guys had, which was a shame as we dominated most of the two games.
This is a trait that seems to be inherited by most of our teams, with some notable exceptions (2013 and 2016 All-Ireland winning sides). I never trust a Mayo side with a big lead as we seem to stop playing, whether through a sudden over-confidence or through fear of winning.
Thans, Aine and Toetohand for that info re season tickets.
Regards ’96 I think I heard Maughan say afterwards that the only thing they hhad not discussed was the possibility of being 6 points upp with 15 mins to go as they never envisaged that happening. Anyway no use crying after spilt milk.
On ninty six i taught Liam McHale gave as fine a display from a midfielder as ever I seen for fifty minutes all over the field and completely dominated Meath,but understandably ran out of steam,we needed Pat Fallon but he was not named in the subs,I believe if we put him on we would have won easily
1996,…Milk, long since spilled…. My biggest regret about 96,..is that, I’m not as young as I was back then… Earning plenty of Deutchmarks, living in Berlin…. I had a sun tan that would put John Maughan to shame, and no sun bed used either… Flight’s to Ireland were dear back then,.. All Ireland tickets were hard to find, just like now…. Yeah Pat Fallon should have played,.. Kevin O Neil too,…. The ball from Colm Coyle was allowed bounce over the bar to equalise… (Shouldn’t be allowed to happen) , When we were in that position so late in the game, you know that your management got most thing’s right….But couldn’t be on the field, doing what the player’s should,.. We should have put our foot on the accelerator when we were six up (it was a mix up in the Meath defence that allowed Demphsy to score)… Nothing quite like being wise after the event…. That team wouldn’t live with our present team, not within an Asses Roar,… Some of the players playing would not get near a senior club in Mayo nowadays!
96-99 , three nestor cups,
Two all Ireland defeats .
Galway , 1998 , All Ireland champions, bring sam maguire across the shannon for the first time since their three in a row in the 60s.
Just remember thats all people remember from outside of Mayo , Galway won it , we didn’t. Sad thing is the rotten hoors shouldnt of even made it past Castlebar in 98.
1998 was a very close run thing, always thought Martin McNamara footblocked David Nestor in the build-up to Galway’s goal, Ciaran Mac was very close to rattling the net for a third time. Fine margins.
Think Ciaran mc rattled the underside of the crossbar and ball bounced down and then cleared. That ball looked.very close.to been over.the line but of course no sky video analysis.
What year was it that Spillane told mayo to stay at home in bed because we had no chance of beating galway. We won anyway on the day.
@Revellino: 1996. I remember because as an eight year old living over in London, I was back in Ireland for the holidays watching my first game of Gaelic football. ‘Twasn’t a bad one!
Seem to remember Spillane backer against us every game that year, he’d have to have been right once of course 🙁
Back in them days horan was a great man for kicking long points in Croker. @It means nothing to me, I was the same age in 1996 that you are now. Hope in 2040 we’re not talking about lack of scoring forwards and the likes. Of course by then gaa matches will only be shown in cinemas.
Rebellion,
Speaking of cross bars I find it unusual that in 2018 the crossbar in Castlebar is flat and presumably made of timber while almost every ground that I have attended have the round steel crossbar. This version is far more forgiving to the accurate kick which will either glance over or under on contact while the flat surface will result in a straight rebound in far more occasions. I know it’s equal money for both teams but I think I would rather the option with the more forgiving nature.
Sorry that should read Revellino
Wouldn’t yea think the crossbars would have to be standard. I think one year a player hung off the crossbar and down came the whole thing.
I do indeed which is in itself an admission of my lived years, if I’m not mistaken a Connaught final was time delayed because of that very event when a player swung from the upright in a moment of celebration
I played on the sacred sod in McHale Park and the uprights were always metal. Mind you, it’s been some time now, but it would be strange if they had reverted to wooden posts.