Return of the match reports

Willie Joe

Photo: MichaelMaye.com

Last day for me over here, I’m travelling back overnight tonight but before then it’s time for a quick gallop through the first batch of match reports and related coverage of this year. As it’s the FBD some of these are round-up pieces, which also include the Roscommon/Sligo match that was also played last night. Anyway, here they are:

Locals: Mayo News, Mayo Advertiser, Connaught Telegraph, Midwest Radio (video piece with Stephen Rochford interview), Leitrim Observer.

Nationals: Irish Mirror, Irish Times.

Others: The 42, GAA, RTÉ.

Photos: Mayo Mick, Inpho.

Video: Mayo Mick.

That’s not a bad haul, all told, for a pre-season match played on a wet Wednesday in January. For sure, we’re back up and running once more.

49 thoughts on “Return of the match reports”

  2. Hi John, thanks for everything. Just spotted in the fixtures section that the Tyrone game is down for the Saturday 17 March 2pm, i checked the Gaa website and its listed for the 18th

  4. For anyone looking for feedback from last night’s game here you go in a nutshell. It was an awful game full of errors. Alot of the young lads seemed physically inferior to leitrim and talk about cramming down the middle esp in the forwards and there was alot of poor decision making….there are corners and flanks too lads! Alot of overcooked and short passes worked out because of the slippy conditions and will not work in drier conditions against better opposition. Relax it’s only January and the championship team are only getting back after a well earned break but not too many stood up last night.

    From last night out of those who have played very little or have no previous intercounty football the players who I think we’re the best (most consistent with the least amount of errors) performers last night who could slot into league and are physically strong enough are ger Mcdonagh, Neil Douglas and id like to see more of Peter naughton. He’s a massive club player for Knockmore

  6. Good man David, you wouldn’t be able to divulge any more revealtions on other topics like Brexit, climate change and the Trump administration?? There is surely a senior role waitng for you at Bright Bart with that kind of fact based reporting!!
    Willie Joe Lock Him Up!! Willie Joe Lock Him Up!! etc…..

  11. @david Horan elaborate on your so called bullshit in mayo football? Man up!!!
    This is a fair and balanced site where critism is accepted as long as it’s fair and based on a something seen in a match e.g where a player needs to improve but personal critism is not accepted!

    So are you going to elaborate on this so called bullshit! Be respectful to when you at it!

    To me seems you have a personal grudge or grudges against some people in Mayo Gaa circles!

    Are you even from Mayo?

  12. Is it me or have the WUMs on this site gotten a lot less subtle and creative recently? And here was me thinking the schools had gone back already…

  13. I’m clearly slipping! I normally have a good nose for troublemakers and I did stop and think when ‘David’ (aka ‘John Gibbons’ from last night, I guess) posted his initial inoffensive comment earlier on but made the mistake of letting him pass. I should have trusted my instincts. I’m putting it down to my being out of the jurisdiction at the minute but I’m back home in the morning so I’m expecting my WUM antennae to be working normally once again then.

  16. pk Correct it was an error ridden game when compared to Sept 17th. For January FBD Game 1 in terrible conditions and a squad that had no previous inter county experience and 3 or 4 weeks training in terrible conditions your assessment of last nights game is well wide of the mark. Some of your comments were unfair and I am calling you out on this.

  17. explosive start to the year on the blog, Calm down all. there are gorillas in the mist, Id will hate to see what’s to come if we have a bad league game, or indeed campaign!
    #itsonlyfeckinjanuary

  18. Hopefully tommorow night the weather will be significantly better.. Give the lad’s from both Leitrim and Mayo a break…. The officiating I taught was pretty good as well in my opinion….. The weather has to factored in with the rain incessant as bad as I have ever experienced, the cold, thankfully it wasn’t windy but overall it a bad an evening for football imaginable, and the ground beginning to cut up… Allot of the football and handling was excellent in the circumstances… It produced a dramatic end…. I was happy enough, especially with Jason Gibbons, he seemed determined to put down a marker and impress Stephen Rochford, which considering that Séamus O Shea will be missing for a while is just what the doctor ordered at this time of year… Neil Douglas and Shane Nally were also impressive… I noticed that Kevin McLoughlin replaced Shane Nally in the half back line, I wonder is Stephen Rochford considering using Kevin Mac as a half back for a few games during the league,… It will be a while before Lee Keegan is 100% fit…. Just Wondering?

  19. Did not get to game cos of flu. But young players starting off deserve a chance, the weather was dreadful, it was their first time playing together and its January. No one goes out to play poorly but even the best players in every game have bad days. It will be better v Galway.

  20. I hope we stick with the young guns for Friday and Sunday. I’m sure there was plenty of butterflies last night playing for the county. It would.be nice to see if some of the new lads can grow in to the team over the next couple of games.

    It couldn’t be easy playing in the conditions and I’m sure the lads wouldn’t be overly familiar playing together.

    It’s nice to.hear about the things they did well. They’ll be learning and picking up experience and I’m sure a few of them wI’ll be pushing for the league panel.

    We all want to see if there are a few good enough to step up, and the FBD is the 1st step. There won’t be as much opportunity when the national league kicks off so good luck to all of them. Hope tomorrow goes well for all.

  22. Anyone hear off the ball AM this morning? Fergus Connolly has to be the biggest prick I’ve ever heard commenting on GAA matters in this country. And that’s saying something.

  24. A few thoughts on last night’s game:
    Leitrim seemed to be physically stronger which is understandable as mayo had a young team. A lot of mayo players lost the ball in the tackle. Just shows how much s+c work is required to play inter county and also shows why our team won’t be changed much this year takes a few years for young players to get up to that level.
    Mayo keeper looks a real prospect his kickouts were very good. Could he put pressure on hennelly for sub keeper this year?
    Thought Mcdonagh did well however a bit of inexperience showed at the very end, when you are 3 points up in injury time your full back should not be dragged out the field you should be at home minding and dominating the square.
    Thought park and Butler did ok Butler probably the better.
    Stretton also did OK got caught badly early on losing the ball tryingto round his man which led to a point. However won the penalty and settled after that.
    Nally had a good second half playing a similar role to cian of sullivan dropping off from CB to sweep. Maybe something the management are thinking of for the future?
    Mccormack was good the pick of the newcomers for me.
    Midfield was poor big Barry well off the pace, Jordan looked mobile and seems to have footballing ability. Gibbons was way more impressive in the second half. Interesting thing I noticed was for Leitrim kickouts he just stood on his own in the middle of the field obviously the management had spotted some tactics of Leitrim maybe pulling to the wings. Just shows our lads miss nothing.
    Thought Mcdonagh wasn’t great and the game passed young Moran by.
    Douglas was our best player by far. Won hard ball all night and passed very intelligently. Maybe Centre forward is his place?
    Adam Gallagher was very good when introduced.
    FF was poor enough. Very disappointed in freezer his movement was very poor. Often in behind his man.
    Ross Egan has 3 bad attempts for scores however he tried hard. Have seen a lot of him at underage and think he will be good, has 2 feet and lovely skills however I think he would be more of a playmaking centre forward than a scoring corner forward.
    Thought treacy did ok got 2 nice scores from play on a night that didn’t suit fast nippy corner forwards.
    Naughton got a lovely score when he came on and I think he has potential but needs a lot of bulking up. Then again being from Knockmore I’m sure he’s hardy!!

  25. Believe it or not I think I’ve cracked the Dublin code, it came to me while in bed last night. Since I watched the final on New years eve, I have done an analysis on the attacking / scoring positions that the Dubs got their scores. 90 % of their scores (goal, points from play and frees) came from positions on the left flank as they attacked the Mayo goal, only 3 or 4 points came on the right flank of their attack. I think the Dubs plan meticulously for each match, but when I think back to alot of their games this Summer, they seem to attack on the left side alot. Surely the Mayo management can see this. I am sure that they targeted our half back, very good going forward but not an out and out defender. Mayo have more variation in their scoring positions but as I said on this site before Xmas, we badly need 2 good left footed forwards this year.
    In the replayed final in 2016, some of their crucial scores came on the right flank of their attack, Rock in the 1st half and Costello in the 2nd half.
    I only hope our management came be one step ahead when we meet later in the Summer.
    Keegan had a good left foot, maybe he could be converted into a wing / centre forward.

  27. Galway team v Mayo

    Ruairi Lavelle (Renvyle)
    Eoghan Kerin (Annaghdown)
    Sean Andy O’Ceallaigh (Naomh Anna Leitir Mor)
    Sean Mulkerrin (Oileain Arann)
    Cathal Sweeney (Killanin)
    Gareth Bradshaw (Moycullen)
    Johnny Duane (St James)
    Paul Conroy (St James)
    Ciaran Duggan (Annaghdown)
    Eamonn Brannigan (St Michael’s)
    Peter Cooke (Moycullen)
    Sean Kelly (Moycullen)
    Barry McHugh (Mountbellew Moylough)
    Patrick Sweeney (Killanin)
    Padraic Cunningham (Headford)

  30. Any chance that this game will go ahead, lads? The Connaught Telegraph are reporting heavy rain warnings (30-50 mm!) for Co. Mayo on Friday night.

  31. Fergus Connolly comes across as a very intelligent and knowledgeable individual.
    His views on Mayo seem to be of a personal nature. I feel sorry for him really.
    He mentioned that his opinion was based mostly on a Mayo manager smugly gloating to an opposition back room staff member at half time in a league semi final. He didn’t mention who exactly it was. The two presenters in the studio called him out on this in fairness that he was making a big deal about one bad interaction. He used Aidan O’Shea going on the tv show as well as some sort of justification for his Mayo put down.

    His comment that “Mayo will never win an All Ireland” should be printed out in the biggest font possible and hung on the wall in the dressing room of every ground that Mayo play this year. If that’s not motivation, I don’t know what is!!!!

    We know full well that the Mayo management and players will pay no heed to this kind of trash talk.

  32. That pitch won’t take heavy rain too well. I am having doubts about this evening. Pitch will be in a sorry state after tonight with little time to recover before Kerry come to town in early Feb!

  33. There was a serious amount of rainfall in Castlebar from about 3 or 3.30 on Wednesday. Pitch was getting pretty cut up alright during the match Wednesday night. I’d say it could be in pretty poor shape after tonight’s match if we get all this rain that’s predicted this evening.

  34. Is there any chance it will be switched to Bekan?
    I believe there is a large amount of rain on the way this afternoon and evening.

  35. Can’t see it going ahead in Castlebar. Pitch will be destroyed if it does. Hopefully it won’t get moved to Bekan.

  36. When are we likely to know if it is going ahead or not ?
    is the bekan the only option outside of mchale?

  41. I hope a decision on the game goin ahead or not is made at least 3 hrs before its due to throw in.

    The skies look angry in Galway, not sure how it’s shaping up over castlebar.

  42. I’ll be bulling if I land over to Castlebar and it’s canceled again! Hopefully the decision is made in good time.

  43. Uncertainty over games going ahead really highlights the problem with playing matches in Dec/Jan. Those that do go ahead are of poor enough quality due to the conditions. In reality Intercounty matches should not be played this early in the year. If the GAA and Provincial councils really want January competitions then they should be scheduled to be played on All Weather pitches.

  44. Used to be a time when Galway v mayo games in fbd and minor leagues were played in ballinrobe, good lights and accessible to both counties. Big stand there too.

  45. Good summary Blondie McCormack surprised me and Naughton is one to watch.
    McHale Park can take this game but it will leave the ground in bad shape for Kerry and Dublin. Playing surface should be saved as much as possible in January. Still more rain to come this month. Can’t remember if Ballina have lights,

  46. i rang both connacht council office & McHale park offices,to see if anyone could shed some light on the match,
    no reply from either ,they couldn’t possibly postponed this match again, could they

  47. @pjmcmanus call me out all you want but if you don’t need positioning skills (ie full foreward line crammed like sheep and anticipation of breaks), Distribution skills and an ability to give an accurate hand pass over 5m at any time of year then I despair.

  48. And PJ my assessment was on lads who have had very little (eg douglas) or no mayo football. I specifically mentioned strength and conditioning…you will not get proper strength and conditioning between now and June. Most should be physically strong by now and as I said those 3 lads seemed most comfortable on ball and you will have stronger opposition. As I said I’d let the mayo lads have their break (anyone who thinks the mayo players from last year are off pace don’t look fit….good sign theyve had a good break. Look at the kk hurlers/kerry footballers when they came back it’s a well known fact they didn’t look sharp…They’re not supposed to be flying fit in Jan…20 year olds are) and let’s see if the next 4 games can throw up a few new names

  49. Raining very heavy here in Castlebar lads. Raining solid since lunch time. If it does go ahead its going to be a mud bath.

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