I doubt I was alone in feeling that it would be tough for us to come away from Dr Hyde Park with a result this afternoon. How wrong can you be? We almost strolled to victory over Roscommon this afternoon, the match won well before David Gough finally blew for full-time.
We made one change ahead of throw-in, opting to add a bit more experience to our ranks from the outset. Kevin McLoughlin was the man to come in, with Bryan Walsh dropping out.
With the wind behind us as we played into the town goal, we got the day’s opening score. Tommy Conroy was pulled around and Cillian O’Connor slotted over the free from twenty yards out.
Cillian got another chance from a placed ball soon after. Tommy Conroy’s shot was blocked down but flew out for a ’45. Cillian drove his attempt off the floor wide.
Roscommon then opened their account, when Conor Cox got out in front of Chris Barrett to claim the forward mark and tapped it over. We responded well, though, as Paddy Durcan went on a run through the middle of their defence. He was fouled but kept going and belted it over.
Our next score came from a Cillian free. Their ‘keeper Lavin was turned over by Kevin McLoughlin and Kevin was then fouled by the goalie and one of their defenders. Cillian obliged with the free.
Roscommon may not have been making much of an impact on scoreboard but already they were winning most of the clean ball at midfield. They got the next score, though, O’Rourke bagging that one.
But we were the ones keeping the guy perched in the elevated scoreboard box busier. Diarmuid O’Connor let fly with the outside of the boot from distance, a score we’d worked straight from our kickout. Then Kevin McLoughlin caught his marker napping as we restarted quickly from a line ball and knocked it over to extend our lead to three.
The O’Connor brothers got our next two scores. Cillian, once more in irrepressible mood today, claimed a loose ball that broke from a long delivery in and he hooked it over.
Diarmuid’s score was, though, of greater significance. Eoghan McLaughlin created the opening with brilliant, aggressive running, offloading at the perfect moment to the Ballintubber man. The old Diarmuid was back in evidence in how he finished it, waiting until just the right moment before pulling the trigger and then placing it beyond the ‘keeper’s reach into the far corner.
What a goal by Diamuid O'Connor for @MayoGAA pic.twitter.com/DJWCXL2Whf
— The GAA (@officialgaa) November 8, 2020
As the Roscommon lads trooped off for the first water break just after they already looked a disconsolate group. They weren’t beaten yet but that was clearly the direction of travel for them.
We got the next score, Aidan languidly stroking it over off his left following good approach work by Ryan O’Donoghue. Now we were eight clear.
When McKeown responded for them soon after it was their first score for almost fifteen minutes. We went through a mini trough at this time, however, failing to raise a flag for ten minutes, a barren run ended when Tommy Conroy pointed following great work by Conor Loftus.
We had a few chances during that scoreless period but hit three wides in quick succession. Our wide count was up to eight at the break at which time we were six to the good, leading by 1-8 to 0-5.
Roscommon simply had to make some impact on the scoreboard early in the second half or else they knew the game and their season would be at an end. Instead, though, it was our lads who upped it, with three points on the spin – all from Cillian – effectively putting the result beyond doubt.
He got the first one from play, ending a downfield move that had involved a necklace of a few dozen passes. He then converted a free after Ryan O’Donoghue, impishly taking off with a burst of speed, was hauled down. Another from play followed soon after.
When we didn’t have the ball, we dropped deep and worked hard to keep Roscommon well outside the scoring D. They were visibly labouring now, our lads looking more comfortable with each passing minute.
Donie Smith and Cillian, once again, traded frees before we made our first switch. Jordan Flynn had come on for a few minutes as a blood sub for Conor Loftus but Conor – who I thought was really solid for us today – was back on before Mark Moran, our latest Championship debutant, replaced Ryan O’Donoghue.
Roscommon then enjoyed a decent spell, shooting three points – two frees from Cox and one from play by Niall Daly – before Paddy went on another blistering run, landing the point as we took a seven-point lead into the second water break.
The match was all but over as a contest now. The pace dropped down a few notches, the home team increasingly looked devoid of ideas and when we got the ball we opted to knock it around, sucking ever more life out of their challenge.
Cox – our tormentor at MacHale Park last year – departed just before the 60-minute mark, having failed to find the target from open play in this game. We were changing our forces too, with Diarmuid O’Connor coming off to be replaced by Jordan Flynn.
Two more frees from Cillian followed. Mark Moran was fouled, the defender wrapping the two arms around the Westport man who had been nicely fed by the energetic Eoghan McLaughlin. Cillian converted with ease.
Our next score was great. We pressured Roscommon hard on the restart – you could hear James Horan looing like a bull, “Pressure! Pressure!”, as his players obliged, forcing Roscommon over and back inside their own ’45. When they eventually played it out, Eoghan McLaughlin pounced and he was joined by three teammates as we forced the Roscommon man to foul the ball. Cillian fired the free over from near the sideline.
McKeown converted a free for them before we got our final score of the day. The impressive Conor Loftus gleefully let fly from distance and over it sailed.
Conor Loftus clips over another score as @MayoGAA progress to the Connacht final – watch the conclusion and post-match analysis on @rte2 – watch highlights on @TheSundayGame at 9.30pm pic.twitter.com/eAhXuvWkEY
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) November 8, 2020
They got the game’s final three points but those scores were inconsequential to the result. We’d won playing well within ourselves and you got the impression that, had we not eased up a good twenty minutes before the finish, we could have won it by a lot more.
It was another good team performance by the lads today. The injection of experience in the form of Chris Barrett and Kevin McLoughlin certainly steadied us, Diarmuid rediscovering his mojo in the first half was a truly heartwarming sight, while Eoghan McLaughlin boosted his reputation with another strong showing.
Stephen Coen was steady in the backline, Paddy Durcan was full of dash and drive, while Conor Loftus was full of running in the middle.
Up front, Cillian was once more in imperious form. He added another nine points to his tally as the all-time top scorer in the Championship today, bagging three from play. With Cillian in this kind of mood, we have the potential to trouble any team.
But, of course, we cannot afford to think beyond the next team that’s facing us. Today’s win secures for us a very welcome place in the Connacht final – for the first time since 2015 – where Galway await us next Sunday. After today’s surprisingly comfortable dethroning of last year’s Connacht champions, we can now start to think about the Nestor Cup decider in earnest.
Mayo: David Clarke; Oisin Mullin, Chris Barrett, Lee Keegan; Paddy Durcan (0-2), Stephen Coen, Eoghan McLaughlin; Matthew Ruane, Conor Loftus (0-1); Kevin McLoughlin (0-1), Ryan O’Donoghue, Diarmuid O’Connor (1-1); Tommy Conroy (0-1), Aidan O’Shea (0-1), Cillian (0-9, three from play). Subs: Jordan Flynn (blood) for Loftus, Mark Moran for O’Donoghue, Jordan Flynn for Diarmuid O’Connor, Rory Brickenden for Ruane, James Carr for Conroy, Michael Plunkett for Coen.
Who was our Man of the Match against Roscommon? Pick your top three performers
- Paddy Durcan (31%, 780 Votes)
- Cillian O'Connor (29%, 733 Votes)
- Eoghan McLaughlin (10%, 253 Votes)
- Conor Loftus (6%, 158 Votes)
- Kevin McLoughlin (6%, 144 Votes)
- Diarmuid O'Connor (5%, 135 Votes)
- Chris Barrett (4%, 100 Votes)
- Stephen Coen (2%, 44 Votes)
- Lee Keegan (1%, 33 Votes)
- Tommy Conroy (1%, 27 Votes)
- David Clarke (1%, 23 Votes)
- Aidan O'Shea (1%, 22 Votes)
- Oisin Mullin (1%, 20 Votes)
- Mattie Ruane (0%, 10 Votes)
- Ryan O'Donoghue (0%, 9 Votes)
- Mark Moran (0%, 9 Votes)
- Jordan Flynn (0%, 8 Votes)
- Rory Brickenden (0%, 7 Votes)
- Michael Plunkett (0%, 7 Votes)
- James Carr (0%, 5 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,326
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Loftus deserves credit for his performances…Ruane is more the issue in midfield.
We need to compete better from the long kick outs in midfield…AOS and Ruane need to step up to the player here. Maybe Flynn can help out here.
Roscommon were overrated but a solid performance from us. Conroy was quiet but that’s ok and Barrett is a big plus in defence.
We have momentum now so fingers crossed.
Well Roscommon fell into that trap of believing their own hype. Thought they were poor and headless giving away daft frees early on.
From our point of view very impressive defensively never a fear Roscommon would score a goal. So we have that problem solved or definitely managing our defensive issues.
Midfield coped maybe caught in the air a few times.
Four of those eight wides in the first half should have been scores.
AOS and Conroy were quiet but roll on next Sunday. Now let Galway worry about us, we’ve done enough of it on here all week, worrying about the Rossies.
One other thing… Clarkes kick outs were decent. It’s not as big as problem as people make out …if you’re midfield is good enough.
Actually Clarke has been fantastic for us over the years and is very underrated nationally.
As stated above we need to start winning the aerial battles in midfield.
great work rate all around the pitch. Team performed well considering all the changes over the last few matches.
Roscommon extremely poor though. Next week will be a different proposition i believe.Galway will throw the kitchen sink at us and will be much better around the middle
107 votes each. I think Paddy Durcan should demand you stop the votes WJ. This MOTM poll is a fraud…sure cillian might have been on several lap tops and phones voting in the past hour.
They said (I said!) we lacked physicality, but what do they know?
Massively physical performance there today. They were simply ravenous and squeezed (as Cillian said) the Rossies around the middle. All this without catching a ball at midfield! Great transitioning; the half back line were so aggressive going forward, it created a lot of chances.
Talking of chances was another matter. Lots of work to do there, but it’s still early days.
Lads I know nothing about football. Handy win I thought it was going to be much harder
WJ – What’s the venue for next week? I think it’s Croker
Just imagine,
Cork to put Kerry out and Meath to knock the Dubs out.
Kerry really struggling in the rain here, could be a mega upset on the cards
I said it on the previous thread but it’s hard to learn much from today. In fact, a lot of players had relatively quiet games. Cillian, Paddy and McLaughlin were very good but apart from glimpses here and there, no one else had a stormers. For instance, Aidan only had an ok game. He played the last 15 mins floating around the middle as a link man which was the right thing to do killing the game but up until then he had less influence than in previous matches. Need him back motoring next weekend because he is pivotal against Galway. And Galway are far better than roscommon. I’ve said that all along. I wasnt one hyping roscommon up.
Our full back line weren’t tested today. Mullin too did fine but, like Aido, didn’t have a brilliant day. Was turned very easily by Smith for a score when everyone knows Smith wanted to kick with his left.
Barrett kept Cox quiet but Cox looked completely out of sorts and his form hasnt been near that of 2019. Chrissy gave away a sloppy free too which hopefully he wont do next wknd
Lee was ok. A bit quiet but that’s not a problem. Still looks a bit lost that far back.
Coen had a solid game. Once he keeps things simple he can be a strong presence for Mayo.
Thought Kevin Mc was useful. He’ll get better with the game under his belt and I really like him in that sweeping role. Ros hot the post and a dangerous ball dropped. Who collected it? Kev.
Loftus. Solid game against a hapless roscommon middle third. He is moving in the right direction. Needs to hit the gym come January but it’s good to see him potentially and finally coming of age.
Mattie and Diarmuid. Ok. Diarmuids goal was super. Take it away and it was an alright performance. I think he’ll gain confidence from today but we really need him on song for Galway. These two are key. There is still a heck lot more in these two.
ROD. Quiet. Got on ball. Linked well. Seems to lack confidence to shoot. When he did he skewed it well wide.
Tommy. Did ok. Took a very nice score in the first half. Faded a bit then. You’ll have those sort of games.
Overall, it was a satisfactory performance. When we raised the tempo ros couldn’t cope. When we tuned out we looked vulnerable. That needs to be cut out. Ros weren’t good enough to punish us for switching off. Galway will.
Focus immediately needs to turn to next weekend. Galway will be fresh and primed for revenge. It’s gonna be Too Hard to Call!!!
Thought our defensive effort was excellent, didn’t allow any runners to break through and contested every ball with anger. Need to work on high ball possession in midfield and shooting accuracy. Galway will punish us if we miss that many shots next week. But we seem to be rounding into form nicely.
Ah lads and lasses some people are really tuned towards seeing only the negatives. It was a solid TEAM performance. We’re heading in the right direction and we’ve every right to be confident heading into a Connacht final. Nobody will take Galway lightly or think it’s a foregone conclusion- we’ll have to play even better to beat them but we played well today and James and co are managing this transition well.
A lot of the “experts” will be revising their predictions in the morning papers
I think its Pearse Stadium next week.
Kerry in big trouble here
Well done on team . Happy to gloat and I say I predicted a comfortable 6 point win on the blog this morning. !! The league means nothing as Cork are also showing now. Next week however galway are an unknown quantity..
Hay saved, Rossies bet 😉
We looked very solid at the back, Chrissy snuffed out Cox completely. Once that happened, they had little threat really and never looked like scoring the goal they needed to get back into it.
We were a bit slow into the game in centre-field but we hoovered up a lot of the breaking ball after the first quarter.
We didn’t use the high ball into Aido much, hopefully that’s in the back pocket for next weekend given how much Galway struggled to deal with it in the league. Sean Andy had to resort to some MMA moves at times in an effort to control the Breaffy man.
One issue might be the opposition’s kickouts, the Rossies took several marks in the first half in particular. Clarkey’s restarts were generally pretty good today, I thought.
Really liked the look of some of the young guns today, Conroy and Oisín Mullen in particular.
No doubt the Galwegians will be a stiffer test next weekend but onwards and upwards.
Didn,t think we would win so easily. In fairness to the young guns they did well. But i suppose when you take out the O’Connor brothers 1-10 the 6 points from the other players is something management will have to look at. Carr again like last Sunday sent a simple score wide. Things like this we need to be scoring. Again our full forward only 1 point. We need a better return if we are to make any more progress. But they say a win is a win.
Make no mistake this is a tough tackling Cork VERY physical team, on a huge pitch today.
I down, come on Meath.
Cork…wow…
Sweet Jesus, what an end to the game down in Cork. Kerry seemed to think victory was their right, not something to be earned. Fair play to Cork, what a result. That fairly blows open our side of the draw!
” Kingdom gone “
Kerry out!
Kerry gone… A great chance for Mayo to finally break their duck and win Sam.. nothing in the way now until a meeting with the Dubs..
Was it a push in the back, who cares? Kerry gone!
Other than absolutely huge game next week Tuamstar, and if successfully negotiated another one against the likely munster champions elect!
Sweet mother of God.
Stakes are fucking MASSIVE next week now. There is a pathway to ai final for sure
Anyone catch colm O’Rourke earlier “mayo were alright but a long way off the level of a Dublin or kerry” lol
ANYTHING is possible in a winter champo
Tipp will fancy their chances!
Anything is possible this year
I am stressed about the match next weekend now and it’s a week away !
Imagine if covid was to intervene
Yeah, thought o’rourke and gooch were quite dismissive of Mayo earlier. Whats new. Suck on that Kerry. Dumped out.
I’d a good feeling about Cork all match. They’ll be no pushovers for winners of Connaught.
Mayo in a great place, 4 good games , 3 victories since the resumption, no injuries, lots of exciting new talent.
Galway just the 2 games, beaten in one, annihilated in the other, injuries mounting, straight into a Connacht final with no game, there can only be one winner..
And I’m not trying to stir it, its reality..
If you wrote a script for a sweet weekend for Mayo this would come pretty close..
Is it just me that feels lack of supporters at games is in some ways a blessing in disguise for Mayo lads?
Well what a weird year this is what happened to the Dublin Kerry final! Great to be still in and the Kingdom out. Roll on Sunday.
Are we aren’t up to Kerry standards, just shows any team can be beaten on any given day
Kerry are out but let’s concentrate on Galway one game at a time
Cork were terrific today. Kerry played with too much fear. Couldn’t be more delighted. A joyful day.
O Rourke and the Gooch having to backtrack earlier comments was worth it. Take one game at a time, we should be only looking at the Galway and bring this young team on.
Division 1 and 2 champions gone today.
Massive kudos to Cian O’Neil for having Cork primed from the start, and for providing the required conditioning to live in those torrid conditions and to come out on top after a gruelling period of extra time.
He has a nice habit of beating teams he’s previously been involved with. His stock has certainly risen again.
Make no mistake about it, Cork are now a massive threat. Personally I think Donegal, yet again, are overrated.
@Tuamstar, you must be on PJ’s payroll at this stage :p . Luckily its obvious what your trying to do. Thanks be to God JH pays no heed to this blog. Cannot beileve what I just watched. We need to focus on Galway only. 1 game at a time! We wont get a game as easy as today again. Galway well rested and fresh going into this, their A v B games would be as competitive as any Sligo challenge…thats just the reality.
Have to hand it to Loftus, he played well today, broke lots of ball, and didn’t cough it up as much in posession.
Watch the Kerry media boys de-value the championship now…. time a year, Covid fear etc etc. Dublin the big winners there this evening!
Goodman Tuamstar.
Joyce will have Galway absolutely primed for this weekend. Like I said 4 weeks ago, I know for a fact that Galway have been planning (training wise) for this game. The league was and always will be irrelevant to Padraig Joyce. Galway were not interested in Tuam and dont buy the talk of them wanting to relegate Mayo. Was a side thought at best. Since the resumption of matters Galway have been planning on a Connacht Final against us (they assumed like most we’d win today). Whereas we had two ‘do or die’ league games and then today’s game. We simply couldn’t look ahead.
Galway will be like demons at the weekend and will not want two provincial finals defeats in 2 years. I’m telling ye now, if Mayo dont bring the A-game to Salthill then we’ll be out. And dont be one bit surprised to see Damien Comer appear.
And a league relegation coupled with a provincial defeat(AGAIN) for Mayo would be a very bad season for Horan and the Mayo team. I hope they are absolutely gunning to atone for the relation and the fact that the Nestor Cup has been in maroon and white trim several times since we’ve had it.
Liberal role,
You’re forgetting someone, Tipperary. They are corks next game and are more than capable of getting a result. In case anyone hasn’t seen it, YouTube Tipperary player Conor sweeneys sideline score from yesterday’s game versus limerick. Incredible skill. I think 1999 champions league final was the last time I witnessed a team sport finish like that finish today. The free that Luke connolly scored just before the goal was a great score, a long way out and wet ground and when you look at the easy chances Kerry missed you’d say they took cork for granted. Clifford missed points he would normally score with a blindfold. He almost had a goal too but the upright instead. That’s the breaks and why Mayo and the others must keep pushing hard this year above any other year.
Fair points Dave. Still feel Cork have something about them! Certainly opens up the championship.
That Cork result will give Galway hope if not belief. Great to see Kerry gone. I was afraid the ref might go to VAR!!!!
Mayonaze . Teams dont lose to their bitter rivals by 15 points and then get it right three weeks later.
Galway were a shambles that day, Comer is out for the season, hamstring pulled completely, Ian Burke out along with most importantly John Daly with a cruciate.
Our goalkeeper, kick outs, full back line, midfield were in disarray from min one.
Granted Shane Walsh will be back , but that’s it..
Trust me , I would go as far to say that we could be looking at another heavy defeat..
Great result and spirited performance with some very expansive football.
Clarkie, Lee, Barrett Kevin Mc and Cillian were central pillars Loftus Durkan, Eoin Mac, and Diarmuid superb athletes and ballers.
I think we didn’t give away all our aces and there’s more twists and turns in this championship.
Think Armagh will put it up to Donegal.
AOS, Tommy Conroy and James Carr are three other dimensions we have that will only make us better and they will get better with each game.
It s too hard to call anything one twinge one injury, one concussion in back to back games anything can change and dependency on a squad was never greater, thankfully we have one of our better squads for long time
Well done today to Mayo, I’m down and Kerry are out…. I think that ye are the only team that can beat the dubs and I hope ye do go all the way.
Kerry were far to cautious today and played a very cautious and defensive game. In saying that we didn’t deserve it as we missed far too much in both open play and from placed balls. God O Shea and Clifford wouldn’t miss those tap overs in a month of sundays and it was hard got us to watch, I have no doubt it was joyous for all of you but that’s knockout Championship football and our year ended today. I look forward to supporting ye and I hope ye don’t get caught by Galway, no disrespect to Galway but they don’t have have what’s needed to test the dubs.
not a thing shocking about this lads. We are solid team. Believe it. Galway, good luck to them. Cork, decent team, very good but no,the dubs will be difficult as usual.
Us and them. Again this time we will have them by the throat. This year, we are ballers.
#believe
mayotilldeath
Regina, re lack of supporters or more accurately a ban on supporters I will start taking bets right now that if the Dubs are in the final in Croker this rule will be relaxed where there may be up to 10000 in attendance.
Surely other counties must look for neutral venues for both semis and the final.
Agree totally with you there Mayonaze.
I wasn’t overly worried about the Rossie challenge today, the real test comes next week.
It’ll be a ding dong battle which we have to be totally tuned in for. No doubt we will. Can’t wait for it.
Keep it coming Tuamstar, you’re fooling no-one!
Interesting to hear Colm ORourke comment on the high standard of club football in Mayo and he’s very impressed the young players James Horan has introduced
I take Tuamstar seriously, but that doesn’t say Galway won’t be ultra competitive. It will be all about mindset, and if some of the giddiness I detect here plays out, we’ll be in big trouble. I liked Cillian’s calm coherence in that interview. Roll on next Tuesday for training – that’s as far as he is looking!
Still on Galway, Tuamstar, would you agree that it was a very bad mistake by PJ to start Comer in Tuam, presumably knowing he wasn’t 100% fit?
Since Fungy left, Kerry are fecked!!
Delighted with the win today. On the other game I actually thought Cork were very poor in extra time and tried their best to throw it away – just the sucker punch in the end won it for them. Also the conditions were a bit of leveler throughout the game (imo it benefited a limited Cork bringing Kerry down to their level). One we have to watch next week as its likely to be wet with that swirly breeze…
The wind will be a factor in Salthill in the middle of July never mind the middle of November
Catcol yes it was a disaster of a decision, both Comer and joyce need to take responsibility.
But the biggest flaw on PJs behalf was after 10 mins you could see our goalkeeper was all at see with his kickouts, I mean in serious serious trouble and he left him in there.
He went on to cost us at least 1 3 after that.
I would hope Power starts next week, but as seen in Limerick last year he may not be the answer..
Mayo 88. I think the dubs having attendance for a final is a bit out there now to be far. That will be decided completely by nphet and the government and no county will be treated favourably. And I think that regarding neutral venues, there is no other venue other than croker than any team would want to be playing in the latter stages of any championship. Its the holy grail of GAA venues.
The goalie situation is beyond crisis but hopefully Power is fit. No its Mayos to lose this year but I prefer when we are underdogs. If Burke is out too that is another loss on top of Comer and of course Daly at the back. It will be a major upset if Galway can surprise a Mayo team improving in every game but we live in hope.
Cork result will give Galway hope and Cork even greater hope. They will see themselves as being the second team to make the All Ireland final from Div 3.
The compactness of this years championship makes it a championship like no other. I have long argued that trying to peak to win a provincial final in July [and oftentimes a crucial first round in May] and an All Ireland final in Sept was not possible. This, I argue, explains Mayo’s failure to win Connacht for the last few years. What other team in Connacht had ambitions about Sam in recent years?
Incidentally did Chris Barrett show us why Kerry were not upset to see Conor Cox depart for Roscommon?
Only got to listen to the game here in Wales but if the Mid West commentary was anything to go by Conor Loftus’s performance warrants serious consideration for man of the match , he only scored 0-1 but if the commentary was anything to go by his performance was on a par with C O’Connor 0-9. time after time he was called as either back winning the ball off a Roscommon player , breaking out through midfield or being the link to a score
Kerry – Cork game today a terrible advert for football. ‘Puke’ football at its worse I would say. Endless hand passing across and around the field until it’s lost and then the other team start the cycle again. But I thought Cork were the more guilty of it.
i don’t know who has put out the idea it turns into a 50:50 ball as soon as the ball is kicked in. And managers & players all over the country actually believe it.
But it’s not 50:50. it depends on the kicker being aware of the body position of the players inside and putting in a kick that gives his team mate an advantage. All it needs is a slight advantage and suddenly a score or easy free is on.
Coupled with torrential rain at times, I am bemused how county players can not see all it takes sometimes is a well directed ball torwards a team mate on the edge of the square to cause havoc.
Even the commentators/pundits are fuelling the ‘puke’ football. Not once was it mentioned to play the conditions. All the narrative is about not making a mistake – a ‘mistake’ being the act of kicking a long ball in and then losing possession. What nonsense.
I hope Pat Spillane calls both teams out tonight!!
Well done to our lads and no soft goals conceded. CIllian, Paddy & Kevin were excellent. Oh the excitment of that last minute Cork goal – unreal!
The poor mouthing from the Galway supporters here is funny, the league game three weeks ago will have zero impact on Sunday’s game. There is no way in hell that Galway and Joyce will allow any Mayo team to glide into Pearse Stadium and get anything easy. This is a very important week for Horan and his selectors, he needs to keep the lads focused and remind them that the league result means nothing. This will be a very tough game, possibly played in very bad weather. No matter how injured Comer is, he’ll appear on Sunday, even if just to lift the team for a quarter.
Regarding today, we played some good football in parts, still a lot to work on though. The poor spell of shooting before half time needs to be improved. Lots done, more to do, we move on.
Definitely flashes of 2011 in this youngish team, let hope
Wonder will there be pressure now on Peter Keane to step aside. I was never convinced by him.
‘Scannal’ tonight RTE2 9PM a look back at the 1996 All Ireland Final..Mayo V Meath.
Wasn’t there a poster on here saying his Kerry cousins were giving him an awful time over relegation?. Im happy for that poster tonight, the D1 champions knocked out by the D3 winners..
This has a whiff of 98 about it already. Mayo fancied to beat Galway in connacht, the rest is history. Joyce has the perfect stick to beat his players with after the league result. It was obvious Galway were in heavy training. Funnily, I think they have the physchological edge on this game now. Galways to lose imo. Our bodies will be tired from 3 games in a row now, Gakways fitness should see them through unfortunately.
– Delighted with that should have another 7 points on the board though.
– Horan got it spot on by putting Barrett on Cox and Paddy on Enda Smith
– While Compton won clean ball in midfield for the first 15 mins he could not deliver it and then Horan flooded midfield so that ball was punched down to a waiting Mayo player. We caught no ball at midfield until Jordan Flynn came on.
-Roscommons tactics were odd though even when 7 points down they never let fast ball into their FF line which could have really tested our FB line.
– Kevin Mc great first 20 mins he was the reason we were crusing. Barrett very solid, Loftus got thru a lot of ball, Ruane a bit more consistent but keeps carrying the ball into a bunch of players. Aido quiet, he should have been subbed instead of Conroy to keep in fresh for next week.
– Eoghan did some great work but his man McKeon got on a few runs. Oisin learning all the time and Tommy likewise.
-Paddy MOM, Enda Smith spent more time chasing towards his own goal rather than ours.
– Icing on the cake was Cork beating Kerry even if it was a dog of a match with all the frees and cynical play. Kerry can setup a alternate competition and play for the Fungie Memorial cup.
– The focus is now on Galway and only on Galway.
I’ve played against Killererin and PJ enough to know he’ll have some trick up his sleeve.
And I’ll only believe comer is out when the game is over and he hasnt played. Anyway, Galway have heaps of quality forwards. Shane Walsh, Burke, Varley, J Leonard (class), Michael Daly, Rob Finnerty and Dessie Connelly (both of whom will need serious watching, Connelly scored 1-8, was it? in the county final and one of the moycullen contingent not available v Mayo in Tuam, others being the Kelly’s and Bradshaw. You have oughterards Tierney from the u20’s who is buzzing and last but certainly not least, Paul Conroy who six points against the dubs.
Galway scored 17 points against us in Tuam. 17 points is an awful lot for a team who didnt even show up.
Dont get carried away with todays result
Roscommon where shocking
There GK was very poor his kickouts where straight down the middle never went short mayo mopped all the breaks set up the platform for multiple mayo attacks.
They had 1 CB who had absolutely no pace COC left him for dead in the 2nd half. never took him off
There forwards tackling back which is a must at this level was pathetic.
1 of there forward tried a as gooch referred to as a “bad soccer shot ” in the 1st half
i could go on but you can only beat what put in front of you.
Galway is a huge game. Team selection and match ups are crucial.
Best we hope for is Tipp to beat Cork & Dublin are ambushed by an ulster team in all ireland semi
Interesting times ahead
I think it was the hype as much as anything that affected the Rossies performance today. That used to happen to Mayo pre James Horan era. Thankfully James by and large has managed to maintain levels of consistency that he aimed for when first appointed. Roscommon aren’t as bad as their display today might suggest though.
We can’t overstate the importance of Paddy Durcan. Hopefully he’ll repeat the dose on Shane Walsh (that he dished out to E Smith today). Smith was in flying form prior today so it was no mean feat on Paddys part. Awesome player, and my man of the match all day.
Job done….not a top performance but honest and hard working. We can play much better than that but done enough to keep Roscommon at arms length. Once DOC hit that lovely finish there was never any doubt in my mind who was going to win the game.
Big shock down in Cork and well done to the rebels but Galway should be the only team we are focusing on now. They are in the long grass and won’t be near as bad as they were a few weeks ago. Also next week will be our 5th week out in a row so bench will be needed.
We will be strong favourites for the Galway game and rightly so. Our top players are performing well above anything we’ve seen from Galway so far. I don’t think Tuamstar is trying to stir up anything here, he is usually very fair in his analysis and calls it as he sees it. Is it really so difficult for posters here to believe that getting hammered by Mayo was not all part of some PJ master plan and perhaps all is not well in the Galway camp. Some commenters here are constantly posting negative write-ups about Mayo, it gets very tiring to read sometimes. Galway now apparently have the psychological edge over Mayo despite losing their last two games and coming in cold to a Connacht final. I’m no Frued but that seems tenuous to me at best. Galway will need to improve massively and be at their best to beat us, that I can say for sure.
It’s a very strange year.
Who would have thought that Kerry, Tyrone and Monaghan would not make their provincial Finals.
Galway will be a different challenge next Sunday.
They should be slight favorites playing in Salthill.
Great result and congrats to the team and management. Like many others I was very worried about this match. But in fairness Horan and the background team had the guys well prepared and in a good place. On the MOTM I see Cillian likely to win it and fair play. But I thought Kevin McLoughlin (in at the last moment) was very good today and did a lot of underrated stuff very very well
There are quite a few on here who think Roscommon were very poor. That’s not exactly true – we made them look poor because of our intensity and workrate. We worked our arses off particularly early on and completely frustrated them. They couldn’t get room to breathe.
We will need to do exactly the same against Galway who will be a different beast. We need to forget the recent league game – Galway won’t be forgetting it believe me! This game is a potential landline and we need to be ready for it or else ……..
Agree Ultair.
If we had Galway in a quarterfinal and the winner of Cork / Tipp in a semifinal, would we be worried. Well I’m not. That’s exactly what we face.
Well done Mayo, a good solid performance . Conor Cox & the Smiths were well marked . I must admit , as a Kerryman I expected a Cork win in Munster & It happened . History has a nasty habit of repeating itself . Jack ” The Lad ” O Connor, got rid of Donie Buckley after the 2011 All Ireland Final . Donegal beat Kerry in the Quarter Final in 2012 . Jack ” The Lad ” was gone after the Donegal Defeat. Peter Keane, got rid of Donie Buckley in 2020 & Cork beat Kerry in the Munster Semi Final . Time For Keane to Walk The Plank . On A Positive Note IT COULD VERY WELL BE A REPEAT OF THE 2012 FINAL. DONEGAL V MAYO . Hopefully Aidan O Shea will captain Mayo to win the Sam this time . Up Mayo .
Congrats to Mayo on today’s performance
& wishing ye all the best next Sunday,
Well done to our lads today-did what they had to do and came away with the win.
Was never convinced by this Kerry team that they were ready with their much vaunted forwards. In Castlebar, they scored 2 points from play with a gale force wind and against a team who were down to 14 men for 10 mins. Started bluffing then about how great they were after coming back from the break…
Thanks Eamon and Rossie. It was a hard day for both of you but I appreciate your magnanimity…
Let’s see how the next week pans out. Always full of hope but I know you guys will never be far away.
Well done to the mayo team and especially to James Horan. Got everything right today and hasn’t got much wrong since he came back. He’s building again and I think We are a year or two away from seeing the real potential of this team.
No surprise an over rated Kerry team got beaten. No doubt they will be over rated again next year. There’s only so long a team can live off its history.
I think we should lay off Kerry here. They’re in a bad spot after that debacle. Concentrate on ourselves on this blog. Another massive game next week. I hope they can keep up the intensity and no injuries
@Rossie68 fair play for coming in here, and hard luck.
@Ultair, I see your swipe at my post about Galway having a physchological edge coming into the final. Take today for example, our players have probably been waiting for that match since last May after the Rossies ambushed us. Galway only have to wait 4 weeks to exact a revenge for the league. I fitmly beileve them losing that game gives them an advantage. We are always at our most vulnerable after a good win….like the Tyrone game just gone, or winning the league last year, People from within the County start hyping us up to the high heavens…we are better with our backs against the wall, just like today, with our supporters playing down our chances. Galway will be absolutely breaking the door down to avenge the Tuam hammering, and if we are even 1% complacent going into this game, we’ll be dumped on our holes. The worrying part for me is, its very hard not to be complacent after the hammering we gave them. Which is why I still beileve Galway have the edge mentally going into this.
Very gracious of you, Rossie 68, fair play to you.
Paddy Durcan has quietly become mayos best player in the past few years. In all star form again.
He blitzed past 5 or 6 men for both his points.
In his last few championship games he has done a job on enda Smith, Jack mccaffrey and Ryan Mchugh. 3 of the best players in the game
Hopefully next week he repeats the dose on Walsh
Cillian is in top form. My only concern is not scoring any of the 3 x 45’s . In big games they could be costly and the likes of Dean Rock would get 2/3 minimum.
You could be right Mayonaze about Comer next weekend, he could appear!! Thank God for these games of football. Covid has not been to the fore of our thoughts in this house for the last few weekends. What odds would ya get on paddy durcan to be player of the year I wonder? He looks like he’s hitting form again big time
Well done to Mayo – a powerful footballing display. I never doubted the talent was there, and feel the confidence this will give to the younger players can only mean improvement and better team performances. If we can give ye a decent game I’ll be happy – but don’t think we’ll have an answer to the physicality Barrett, Keegan, Durcan and O’Donoghue will present.
What a day, so much fun. And a little icing on the cake seeing Kerry collapse at the final whistle. After Clifford’s incredible point, I thought it was part of the legend but then humanity, lol.
Loved how we avoided the slow start and jumped on them. Intensity was impressive. Glad DOC showed great form — augers well for next week. Same lineup => if it ain’t broke…
I’d fancy Cillian to land them in Croke Park, the form he’s in now. Not sure I’d put a whole load on Deano to be as unerring in Hyde Park.
Very Impressed with our work rate…. Galway will have learnt alot from out match vs Tyrone and the game today … Galway will have a much stronger team next Sunday and we will need to be at our best to win .
Still it’s great to head to bed after beating the Rossies… We should do it every week !!
Well done to our bucks today and heads down and get ready for battle next Sunday….
It’s going to be close on the MotM voting, hope that it doesn’t have to go the Supreme Court to sort this one out!
Supermac i agree Durcan is just a phenomenal player.
I think we have a window maybe 2 years where we still hopefully have AOS,OConnors, Durcan, Keegan, McLoughlin, maybe Barret along with young fellas where we can have a good shot at the AI.
Yep fair play Rossie , ye have div one to learn more , just didn’t fall right for ye today . Very strange decision to play against the wind after winning the toss .
Thanks Lads ,Nothing could delight me more
that seeing Mayo go all the way this year ,
Ye certainly deserve it ,Up Mayo
To be fair I think Tuamstar is looking at what he has seen if Galway can perform then he will be happy and of course they can win. What I am surprised about is suddenly the Rossies are no good according to the people who said they were excellent prior to the game. Mayo had no structure and should play with a sweeper?? Without being obvious JH doesn’t believe in sweepers as a philosophy of playing football so you have to respect that, also many times he has indicated a high press and pressure out the field is his policy and it has brought relative success. Mayo will put it up to anyone anytime when we play well it has and will be the case since 2011. As long as we are bang at it we are very hard to beat so in a knockout format we are more likely to play well, Horan had built two teams from scratch albeit this job is only beginning with this team but he doesn’t believe in being majorly tactical and that is not a bad thing especially this year in my opinion so think about that when the crazy negativity goes into overdrive!
It must be time to build a statue of Cillian outside Mchale Park. All time GAA leading scorer at age 27. If he plays as long as Andy, he could have an extremely large tally built up. Roscommon are Division 1in 2021. I don’t want to hear “he only does it against weak opposition”. He has scored vital scores for us in the past including all Ireland finals (equaliser in 2016) and semi finals. In my opinion he is the one player we can’t do without! Roll on Sunday – a win Sunday and we will have had a successful year – any logical mayo supporter would have accepted just being Connaught Champions in 2020. It was hard to expect much more given Kerry and Dublin played us off the park in championship last year. If Mayo win Sunday we’ve had a good year and anything else is a bonus!
Good rather than brilliant performance. What I’m happiest with though is the intensity which was there even through our mediocre spells.
I think we may still need to old warriors at least as subs and midfield isn’t great so maybe move Aido back out. Ruane shouldn’t be guaranteed his place, Aido and Diarmaid might be the best option there although Conor Loftus played well throughout and is maturing nicely, had put his hand up for a jersey.
I wouldn’t say they’re no good , definitely not as good as I thought they were though . I’m still not convinced by Ruane and Loftus at 8&9 especially Ruane , his form has dipped significantly in recent times .
Tbh this year is wrote off for everyone , Dublin will win it at a canter . Horans project should see us competing at the very top in time but I still don’t believe you can win it without protection for last line of defence against a potent forward unit .
As for Galway it’s obvious now they were lethargic from heavy training the other week. When you hear their talent listed, there’s plenty of good players about. Burke if injured is a blow and a less than 100% fit Comer wouldn’t be a massive threat. However Varley is well underrated by Galway, he always causes bother, Walsh has class and if he gets a good day can hurt any team and Conroy is on form these days. I think we’ve less injuries and a better panel so should be favourites but on the day they have plenty enough talent to beat us provided they don’t use the rookie Goalie who gave us so many stores.
There is no way Galway won’t put up a fight after having their pride badly hurt.
The pundits are right, we’re a team in Transition going well but Donegal are further down that road albeit we’re now on the easier side of the draw.
Good team performance, wasn’t a day for individuals, got the job done and we move on. Think we are all in agreement that Galway will give an almighty effort next weekend and I suppose we’ll know this day week whether it suited or didn’t suit Galway having no game. Have to agree with a poster on Loftus, I think he’s improving in midfield although I’m still not 100% sure it will make the cut in the long run. I’d be a bit worried about our shot selection today, but it has being pretty accurate up to now. We got our match ups spot on though and took out Roscommon’s big threats going forward. Roscommon didn’t bring anything new to the table today, they dropped back for far too long, never committing enough up front. Galway will bring a different challenge, I expect Galway to play man on man, they will put the pressure on Clarkie and they have enough big men to contest in the middle. Conditions will play a big part. Horan is sticking to his guns, I was hoping for McLoughlin to start today and I’d say thats the only bloody prediction I’ve got right so far this year. Interesting seeing Higgins and Boyle staying on the bench today, weren’t needed, be a different story next Sunday.
Sean Burke your observation may prove to be correct regarding protecting your full bk line but as we seen today playing negatively or practising playing negatively in the hope of beating certain teams down the road doesn’t work either. Chris Barrett gave an insight into what Mayo teams and management think of negative football when he analyzed the drawn game between Kerry and Dublin, he was not impressed by Kerry’s use of the extra man and their lack of positivity against 14 men and you could tell he thought and knew their goose was cooked for the replay. So like it or loathe it Horan will not show fear against anyone it is not in his DNA or in the DNA of Mayo teams since 2010 especially
After watching cork and kerry, I’m starting to think that this all Ireland might be won by hot water bottles
Wouldn’t be a bad idea to bring a few to Salthill on Sunday. If there was another downpour like that, then being able to bring a couple of subs who can feel their toes might make all the difference
Mayo, Galway, Cork or Tipp. One of them four teams will be in the final on 19th December.
Dublin, Laois, Kildare, Meath, Donegal, Armagh, Down or Cavan. One of them 8 teams will be in the final.
Surprisingly easy indeed the rossies weren’t at the races at all. Game was won and lost at first water break on 17 mins 1-6 to 0-2 ahead. 0-10 to 0-11 was the scoring after then. Wayward shooting and poor shot selection still an issue but were back to their defensive best with Keegan,Barrett,Durcan in stellar form. Mayo will also be hard stopped with COC playing at his best. Kerry defeat opens the gate for another All ireland final appearance and tbh i’ll be very surprised if Mayo don’t beat both Galway and Cork next.
I agree with you tuamstar, well said but different game nx sunday and as always has been mayo and galway bring out best in each other, not an inch giving…the hungrier team on day will shade it.
MayoDunphy we all have our own interpretation of the events over the past few weeks but I just cannot see how Galway now have any advantages over us (psychological or otherwise), given their poor form and list of injuries over the past month. Yes they will be badly hurting over what happened in Tuam but will that be enough to see them over the line? Given the fact that Mayo: 1) Have a chance to win a first Connacht title in five years 2) Have an opportunity to a win a Connacht medal for the first time for many of the players 3) Have a clear path to an All-Ireland final over the next few weeks, do you not think the Mayo players will be banging down the door to have a cut at Galway?
i generally like tomas o se but id say the people of sligo gaa allowed themselves a chuckle watching him rage over the kerry result last night
one of galway, mayo, tipperary or cork will be in an all ireland final, anything is possible in this championship
Damien comer plays for annaghdown a very very poor galway club one of those clubs that is neither a football or a hurling club… I would be delighted if Comer started or came on at the weekend. PJ is tactically very limited and he is quite a poor communicator.
Mayo have every chance of beating Galway but Galway will be tough Paul Conroy is playing very well and robert finnerty loves playing in salthill and will punish any errors. Oisin mullen must get tighter to his marker and unfortnuatley i have to see it – I like the guy but AOS really struggled the last day and like bobby firmino at liverpool for a FF he just does not score enough and a scoring FF like Carr along with cillian and tommy goals is what is needed.
Paddy durcan is a rolls royce
I said I was quietly confident last week and that confidence quietly grew as the week went on. There was a lot of talk coming out of Ross, not necessarily from the players tbf, but ultimately, you have to be able to walk the talk and they couldn’t do it. Much like ourselves, open confidence simply doesn’t fit their culture, and there was an abundance of it this week in the papers from commentators and former players, inside and outside of Ross, with barely a peep out of Mayo. I’m glad we left a bit out there too, we should’ve buried them in that first half, I think we had 5 bad wides in a row? No harm, we won comfortably without having to put in a 5 star performance, ideal for a semi. So onto Galway we go, and again, I’m quietly confident, and why shouldn’t I be? There’s so much to like about what we are doing right now. One of the things that really stands out is the width we are maintaining. That requires a real discipline and trust to maintain, shape wise, but it also requires a level of fitness that really only Dublin have been able to pull off successfully in the modern era. I’m not saying we are doing it as well as them, I’d need to see us in the flesh to try and make any judgement on that, but it looks like we’re trying to adopt a similar width based template, offensively and defensively. We’re in a good spot right now, and win lose or draw next week, I still think come championship 2021, we’ll be in the right in the mix. The weather will play a big part next week regardless, Galway will be chomping for a cut off us, sure isn’t it a marvelous spectacle to look forward lads! On we go!
Haven’t posted here in an age and I hope you are all well and surviving the madness.
What a weekend we have had; rapid-fire knockout football really is something else.
Congrats to Mayo yesterday on an excellent win; it was almost an anti-climax in the end. High points were the performances of Cillian, Conor Loftus, Paddy Durcan (isn’t he something else?), Barrett, McLoughlin and McLaughlin. Less high points would be our wide tally and shot selection, the slightly worrying midfield performance despite Conor Loftus’ work rate (I think someone said above that we didn’t actually catch a ball until Jordan Flynn came on), and those periods of the game where we were fairly insipid. Overall however the job was done and done well and we cannot ask for much more than that. Commiserations to the Rossies on here on a disappointing day.
This weekend is the real test; we currently have the upper hand and will rightly be favourites and I think we can deliver on that too. I don’t expect to see Comer appear; it was madness enough for Joyce to start him once while injured; he will not do it again (and on that note, do not tell me for one second that Joyce wasn’t bothered about winning that game – why else would he have taken a risk like that?). I do expect Galway to be much more organised and clinical however this weekend given that there are scores to be settled, and they didn’t suddenly become a brutal team (it’s not that long since they were on course to win the league!) but we have plenty of scores of our own to settle, and losing Connacht after a five-year absence in the decider is not on the to-do list this year, especially not now with so much at stake. Conditions could well be a leveller too, so we will need to be at our best with no complacency.
Like most people I am thoroughly delighted for Cork (it shows how far they have fallen when I can take any joy in a Cork victory!) and have no sympathy whatsoever for Kerry whose sense of entitlement shone throughout that game when very little else did. It was also rather delightful to see how dour the pundits were afterwards. I’d say Donie Buckley had a few thoughts running through his head too. Obviously it is disappointing for supporters (commiserations to Gamechanger10 whose contributions I always thoroughly enjoy here) but can you *imagine* if Mayo had been the ones to inexcusably blow a game like that? Can you imagine how much we would have been ripped apart? Tipperary will no doubt really fancy their chances now and there is something refreshing about a break from the norm like this.
Looking forward to a week of previews and anticipation and hopefully we will be celebrating this day week.
Have to say I thoroughly enjoyed that game and my fears of a Roscommon resurgence were put to bed. I’m not sure I can buy that Roscommon were that bad – perhaps some of the tactical decisions from the sideline were questionable however we were able to nullify their threats and got our match ups spot on. Barrett on Cox was absolutely the right call. We struggled for kickouts initially, adjusted, and started winning the ball around the middle in the second quarter. Our 8 wides in the first half were poor enough and really we should have converted 4 or more of those. The game would certainly have been well over at half time had that been the case. Moving Aido to around the middle of the park in the second half helped shore things up there and Jordan Flynn added a bit of height and Strength there to bolster.
Players I feel deserve a mention (yeah it’s most of them really):
Cillian as usual – he’s in great form at the moment and despite what fans of a certain county would try and have you believe, is an outstanding forward who does it on the big days and his average score against the Current champions is second highest only to Leitrim (and only after last weeks game against Leitrim is added) of all the teams he’s played more than once. “doesn’t do it in big games” is a comment that is trotted out by the ill-informed that does not stand up to scrutiny either, given his average in Semi Finals and Finals where he’s played more than 12 minutes of football is actually higher than his overall average. Anyway – more on that another day.
Paddy – really is an exceptional all round player. Second only to Cillian as regards importance to this team as far as I’m concerned.
the 2 McLoughlins – although their surnames might both be spelled differently, both are very impressive. Kevin is always one that does the work for us and how he’s never won an All Star will remain a mystery to me. Eoghan is seriously impressive for a lad who’s only a wet week in Intercounty football.
Stephen Coen – does a lot of the unseen dirty work that rarely gets credit particularly in the positions he’s placed in. Got a lovely shoulder in to flatten a Rossie at one point which I thought was great.
Conor Loftus – I thought he did very well after perhaps a poor enough starting quarter. Made some important tackes and runs and passes. Scored a peach of a point. Not entirely sold on the idea of him in midfield for the longer term but I’ll keep an open mind on it.
Aido – didn’t have a stand out game but was double and triple marked for his period up front which in itself will tell you the stock placed on him by opposition managers. Again not entirely sold on him at Full Forward and I have to say I was happier seeing him operating around the middle of the field in the latter parts of the game yesterday.
Jordan Flynn – Did well when he came on, shored things up a bit in midfield, caught a couple of marks, I like this fella, I think he’s a great distributor of the ball and I think we’re going to become quite dependent on him in future.
Chris Barrett – never disappoints. Will always do the job he’s tasked with.
Tommy Not Kiltane Goals Conroy – probably a quieter day than I expected but still put in a decent shift.
Diarmuid – scores 1-1 and did what he does well.
Overall a good day. A few things to work on, and I won’t be looking past Galway as they will be a different proposition to what we faced yesterday and a few weeks back.
Up Mayo.
Nail on the head FBDinashui, nail on the head.
Roscommon were surprisingly very timid, no off the ball stuff, no late hits, no bit of dirt at all from them. They played like a team who didn’t believe they could beat us.
For us, we win and we move on but I would not be getting too giddy yet. I posted here after the Galway game that despite our hammering of them we still conceded 17 points, and that “openness” at the back was fully exposed by Tyrone as they scored 3-14. Yesterday at one stage in the game we were 7 points clear but Roscommon had kicked 7 wides at that point. Had they been a little more clinical at that stage of the game their gander might have been up and they may have made a better game of it. We’ll never know that now and all we can do is beat whoever is put in front of us.
The more I see of the Loftus experiment at midfield the more I can see what Horan is trying to do. Without Parsons, Seamus O’Shea or Vaughan available for selection, we really only have Ruane as a genuine midfielder. Therefore, going long on our kick outs and having two big men out the middle looking to win primary possession is not an option to us. Given the way Clarkes kickouts can malfunction when going long, this may not be the worst thing in the world either! So to counter this, we have to re-jig our midfield and what we expect from it. We are continually going short on our kickouts, carrying it or working it through the hands and Loftus is demanding more ball in this situation. He is very comfortable carrying the ball at speed and his foot passing is excellent. Loftus has scored and assisted in every game he has played at midfield and yesterday he was all over the pitch. I wouldn’t have thought it but he has serious stamina too. He is no giant but has certainly bulked up and his ability to take and give hits has improved (e.g. his belt on Enda Smith in the second half yesterday finished Smith for the day).
The danger with having him in the middle is on our opponents kickouts, because they will see the height mismatch and almost always go long. We lost 4 of the first 5 Roscommon kickouts and Compton caught 2 marks in that time. However, just before the first water break our half back line seemed to push up and, with Ruane, just looked to break the ball down on the Roscommon kick out, where Loftus or Coen or McLaughlin scooped up the ball and tore away down the field. Risky, because we exposed their half forwards unmarked, but effective because we dominated midfield from then on and both Compton and O’Rourke were eventually replaced.
The next day will be a totally different game where we can expect a more aggressive and determined display from Galway. But that’s for then. For now we can enjoy a totally dominant and controlled performance against a team that for me (being from right on the East Mayo border) you just can’t bate enough. Well done to all and a special word of mention to Brendan Butler, Conor Finn and all involved on the S&C side of things, the lads are injury free and in serious condition. That is some achievement given the restrictions on collective training this year.
Hon Mayo.
That shoulder by Coen on Niall Daly was absolutely on point. I’ve replayed it about 5 times, Niall Daly is the buck who said his club team were referred to as the “Mayo of Roscommon football”. He was crippled getting up off the ground. Thanks Stephen.
Give it up for Eamon Ó Corcora, from Kerry, the Rossie guy, Man of Aran all wishing us well – respect to our neighbours.
Fingers x-ed for Pearse stadium, always hated playing there due to wind and sloped pitch but a happy memory of June 1967 when we halted the Galway 4 in a row locomotiv – Seamus O’Dowd goal! Up Mayo