Photo: MichaelMaye.com
Roscommon named their team for the replay earlier on today. The only surprise was that Kevin McStay opted to wait this long to do so – he normally makes the announcement a week out from the fixture and he had his pick for the drawn game out before our lads had warmed down properly after the Cork match.
This time he’s held off a bit longer but has, as expected, named an unchanged fifteen for the replay.
Roscommon (All-Ireland Quarter-Final Replay v Mayo, 7/8/2017): Colm Lavin (Éire Óg); Sean McDermott (Western Gaels), Niall McInerney (St. Brigid’s), David Murray (Padraig Pearses); John McManus (Roscommon Gaels), Sean Mullooly (Strokestown), Brian Stack (St Brigid’s); Tadgh O’Rourke (Tulsk), Enda Smith (Boyle); Fintan Cregg (Elphin), Niall Kilroy (Fuerty), Conor Devaney (Kilbride); Ciaráin Murtagh (St Faithleach’s), Diarmuid Murtagh (St Faithleach’s), Cian Connolly (Roscommon Gaels).
There’s a bit of twiddling with shirt numbers in that fifteen. Next Monday John McManus will wear the no.5 shirt in a direct swap with Niall McInerney who’ll line out at no.3. Fintan Cregg will don the no.10 jersey in a swap with Tadgh O’Rourke while Niall Kilroy and Cian Connolly switch numbers in the forward line, the former lining out at 11 on Monday while the latter will wear 15.
Does any of this mean anything? Probably not.
We usually name our team on the Friday night before we play but I’m not sure if we’re going to observe that particular convention this time around. Expect the unexpected. Up Mayo.
Didn’t know much about Ros team apart from the big names but last weekend I thought they were quite a good team apart from some big occasion mistakes. Definitely an up and coming force if their back line is strong.
Noticed two of their subs had huge contrast, one with serious gym physique and another who looked like a teenager. Didn’t notice either from play but another sub Donie Smith had very cool nerves altogether nailing that free, on Cillian would be proud of. Despite our sluggishness and energy burned turning around a 7 point deficit we finished the stronger team with more of the late chances. Saw the Coen pickup just once on playback and looked legit though TV angle blocked. In any event we had a few chances to finish them before that. Need to be absolutely ruthless on Monday if the chance presents itself. I think their backs will buckle more next day as I think Mayo will have figured out some weaknesses. I also think Ros will improve in terms of fewer poor choices in the forwards.
Not surprised they’ve come forward with the same line-up again. McStay being credited with instilling/showing real confidence by naming his side on the early side of the week. Maybe so but I’m not convinced.
I understand we are going to name our notional team tomorrow – @MayoGaa tweeted as much earlier this evening.
Willie Joe, think Mayo GAA put out a tweet earlier saying the team would be announced tomorrow night.
Now I’d be shocked if they don’t announce the same team as the last day with the changes only being announced at 1.40….
Would imagine that won’t be too far off their starting team with the possibility of Donie Smyth coming in for Connolly.
Was very impressed with Sean Mullohly at centre back. He used the Philly McMahon blue print of putting AOS on the back foot. I’m hoping that Aidan was juiced from the tough run of games and will be a new man come Monday.
My other worry was how and why they managed to win nearly all of their kick outs (mainly going short). We have to dry and put more of a squeeze on them the next day.
Their forwards no more than our own didn’t play well the last day and have room for improvement which is worrying. Maybe that was down to our backs. The question is whether to start with TaCaff again or rejig our backline.
Parsons for Caff would be my only change. I think we will bull through them the next day and to squeeze through.
We have to learn the art of breaking ball down to our own players.
Decided that after all of the criticism (and frankly, the abuse) that Caf received both during and after the game, that I would do a forensic analysis of his performance on Sunday.
Now it should be noted, that I fully accept that Ger isn’t playing his best football, that he is a yard or two off the pace, but tonight I think I have been as impartial as I could have been. I’ve also referenced the times at which Caff was directly involved so ye can look for yourselves and challenge me on any of the below points.
It also should be noted, that this is done through a TV lens, which can be far different from the matchday experience. As it happens, when I returned home to see comments about Caff online on Sunday, I was genuinely surprised as I originally thought he had played well. Anyways, here goes.
First ten minutes, nothing to report. Caf not at fault in any obvious way for goal number 1.
11th minute: Goal number 2. Caff leaves his man, Connolly (11) as Diarmuid Murtagh was free at the edge of the square. Looks as if Harri lost his man on this one. Keith Higgins (sweeper), obviously is up the field, because he is nowhere to be seen. Caff applies pressure from behind, Barrett loses his man (Ciaran Murtagh) who finishes to the net after a good offload from Diarmuid Murtagh. My estimation is that Caff is in no way at fault for this goal, as he is trying to cover for his colleague’s mistake.
13th minute: Good general defending by Mayo, Caff is tight to Connolly, he breaks up play and wins a free.
15th minute: Caff way off Connolly, who gets a shot off. Poor shot from Connolly lets Caff off the hook.
18th minute: Loose on Connolly again, but stayed goal side and keeps him away from goal. Connolly laid the ball off. Caff needs to be tighter here.
28th: Classic Caff! From behind, ball played to Connolly, Caff gets foot in from behind, breaks up play – turnover.
29th: Appalling refereeing here. Caff dragged to ground by his arm, somehow a free-in for Ros, which they miss.
39th: Pass to Connolly, Ger breaks it initially, Connolly controls after. Tight play by Ger keeps Connolly wide, syatys goal side. Connolly tried to brun Caff, but he stays strong and stays goal side. Ball recycled. Turned over by teammate within 5 seconds. Solid defending.
43rd: Another example of no outball for full back line which was apparent in the second half. Ger makes long, overlapping run to make an option for Zippy. Lays ball off to Boyler, starts attack.
45th: Loses his man who sets up Diarmuid Murtagh for score. In fairness to Caf here, he gets his legs tangled with Connolly and trips before he offloads to Murtagh.
47th: Caff loses Enda Smith in 1v1, who is then fouled by Lee. Free scored.
50th: 50/50 high ball, Caff breaks to Zippy. Attack starts.
55th: Ball played to Connolly, Caff is tight, Connolly spills ball. Job done.
74th: From the 45m line, when my life was flashing before my eyes, and I thought we were goosed, Caff shepherds their number 19 (not sure of the name) all the way into the corner flag. Excellent, disciplined defending. Turns the ball over in the corner. We break up the field.
Synopsis: Not his best game, but by no means his worst. The criticism levelled at Caff for THIS particular performance is, frankly, baffling. His man set up 1 point. He didn’t score for the entire game, although Enda Smith burned him in the corner that led to an easy free.
Make of that what ye will, but all of the above is still on RTE player, I’d be happy to hear your opinions on it!
Sound fair enough. My question is not about Ros but should Mayo win, can 2017 Caff keep a hold on an in form Donaghy. While treating Ros with utmost respect, some element of planning ahead is needed. My question is if we put a ball player or a strong man like SOS in, how would they fare. It’s obvious from your analysis Caff has a good grasp of full back play that no one else has. Harry is the most similar player in style but is a much better footballer though I doubt he’s as strong as Caff or as tall (Caff is about 6’2″). SOS is the same height and an extremely strong guy who could muscle out a big man but has no experience in the role unless it’s been tried in training.
I think 2014 has been exaggerated as Caff had called to be replaced with cramp before that goal the first game and 2nd day Donaghy goal was a rebound block from Keith that that came straight to him though I do recall Caff having some trouble before Keane replaced him. The penalty for me anyway wasn’t a foot block on JOD, it was a toe poke from behind /side with attacker not in control of the ball. However Donaghy is a starter this year unlike 2014 and proofing himself a handful for 50 mins.
Mayo Mark!… Yes Ger Cafferkey was better last Sunday than against Cork, but was he good enough?.. Maybe he is our best option for a conventional Full Back? ,….. But then again, maybe Mayo should not play a conventional Full Back… As ‘September Santa’ correctly noted, in my opinion, Séan Mullohly targeted AOS in a very similar way to Philly McMahon,. I think the comparison goes further,.. I believe that template Kevin McStay is using is almost an exact replica of the Dublin team, and the way they have played Mayo, in recent time’s….. Roscommon are not as good as Dublin, not yet anyhow.. They obviously lack a Stephen Cluxton, But this is in my opinion after being at match, and watching twice in full on the Telly afterwards… Dublin severely burned Ger Cafferkey in both match’s in 2015,.. But, they didn’t burn Mayo in 2016 , this unusual and unique trick, Mayo managed to for Dublin, what Dublin couldn’t do for themselves, on both day’s in 2016,.. I would go for the same defence as last September and October, with these changes, Chris Barrett would now be included in place of Donal Vaughan, who wore No 3, back then, but played in attack and defence, and I would play Donal Vaughan in the place of SOS in midfield…and I would play Kevin McLoughlin as sweeper… Both Caff and SOS can be brought on in the second half, depending on the circumstances, with Donie returning to the half back line… If Colm Boyle was to be withdrawn, as has been happening around the 50 minute mark? .. Anyway Mayo Mark, thank’s for the indept analysis of Ger Cafferkey contribution last Sunday, he wasn’t as you say, that bad, but at time’s it looked like the dam was going to burst .. . If Ger is picked to start next Monday, I will support him and whoever else get’s the manager’s approval, as best and as vocal as I can, from 306 in the Lower Cusack.. … .
Mayo Mark were you in 303 the last day? Think I might have been talking to you about being happy for Caff on his inproved performance
@MayoMark really appreciate your work on that post. Just a few points to debate on it. (This is not to prove you wrong, Im interested in debate on good posts ….sadly lacking lately).
1. I believe a Stephen Coen or a Donal Vaughan would get a bigger hit in with their tackle for the second goal. This is not all on Ger, no way. But I thought it was a moment where the fullback needs to break the man in posessions forward momentum n even disposess which he does but the forward recollects and goes by.
2. That is a long spell 55th to 74th minute where Ger is not impacting the game. Overall reading your analysis there isnt a single cleanly won and cleared posession (open to correction)
3. It still doesn’t read as many successful moments one on one. He had help shepherding to the corner in the 74th minute it was two defenders on one forward.
Not his worst game, far from it, I thought similar during the week.
But I still think short of what we need.
One thing I noticed from looking at some of the pictures from the game, there seemed to be a no. of times when our players were surrounded by 2 or 3 Roscommon men, especially up front. This happened to Andy Moran a few times. You’d like to see us get more players forward in support of Andy etc. in situations like that. It would be great to see us produce some of the football that we produced in extra-time against Derry and in the second-half against Clare.
Great post Mayomark
Surprised to see that Roscommon have named their team.
One of their selectors said on Tuesday that they would be training on Wednesday and Saturday and would announce their team on Saturday.
By all accounts, the players are rearing to go, and they believe they will win.
Great review of Ger Cafferky above
That’s Caff”s style of play.. he gets the long paw in and prevents the forward from getting clean possession. Would like to see him even closer to the forward.. but still he’s improving. It’s horses for courses fokes.. we are not playing Dublin or Kerry and I believe Caff is the best option for Ros right now. The score I was most dissapointed with the last day was the score directly after half time. We lost possession in midfield where we clearly should have held on to it and then the ball into the forwards was held up and the situation in control but we missed the off load to the runner. It gave Ros belief whereas if we had gone three points ahead and continued our scoring I think it was game over at that point. Still think AOS should be held back defensively (defensive midfielder) for the first half of the game at least and gradually push him forward as the game develops especially in running athletic games like Ros and Dub.. not so much so again likes of Tyrone. Vaughan and keegan much more suited to running midfield game. I would even go as far as saying that AOS should come on as a second half impact sub. The lift he would give the team and support coming off the bench would be huge. Probably not a very popular concept though.
@Leantimes
On what basis do you make the statement that this Roscommon team can be as good as Dublin? Is it because they took us to a draw? If that’s the case then surely Derry and Cork are in the same catagory. I know that any team can be as good as Dublin theoretically, but I cannot see on what basis we are building this Roscommon team up to be such a great team. People here keep saying we struggled against a poor Derry team and poor Cork team, yet both these teams got the exact same result as the Rossies at the end of normal time. Did the Roscommon forwards have an off day or was it down to our All Star backs? The same backs who’ve made Dublin, Tyrone, Donegal and Kerry forwards have a bad day. Did our forwards have an off day or was it down to the Roscommon backs? These fowards have the golden boot amongst them and kicked within a point of Dublin two years in a row.
Let’s keep a bit of perspective here and stop buying into the hype they’re creating about themselves, they did the same after the drawn game against Galway last year and we know how that ended.
Can somebody answer this for me.
Why do Mayo persist with naming a false team..with the 2 changes..Who is it fooling. Don`t think it really fools the opposition does it.
Some posters on here laughed at Mc Stay and said Ros were still celebrating the Connacht win , because they named their team a week before the game.
Yet when match day came, that was the tesm they sent out.
We were at the same crack during the league. How many times was David Drake named to start games, but never did.
And another thing….if these late Mayo changes are supposed to be kept as an in house secret, how come a Roscommon supporter was able to tell me in Dublin last Saturday night that neither Parsons or Loftus was starting ??
well done @mayomark, fully concur with your analysis! Think Caff has been hung out to dry by the media and even by our own. Lets get something straight, there has been no fullback that could properly mark Donaghy in his pomp, some could be somewhat effective but caff couldn’t mark him or his type, but that FF is a dying breed, Caff can capably mark any other type of FF and mark them well. It is an achievement that he has come back to this level after his horrific injury that is a crippler to most other athletes. We are still in the game, I expect Caff to be tighter again this Monday, and if we Get over this hurdle then Rochford will earn his bread with a gameplan to tackle the afore mentioned!
Observer 2, what harm does it do? If it creates the smallest bit of thought for the opposition, it’s worth it. Also, if you manage to keep a surprise change under wraps, it could cause serious problems for the managerial team across from you if they aren’t ready for it.
Just look at Shane O’Donnell of Clare being named at the last minute for the 2013 AI Hurling Final Replay – Cork had no plan for a hulking, mobile full-forward and proceeded to concede 3 goals to him in the first half.
Good analysis there Mayo Mark.
Management will not be changing Caff – if they didn’t change him after the Cork game, by Sunday’s reckoning he had a stormer. My own non-scientific impression was that he played well on Sunday. Seamie could be the one to lose out but Donie’s black/yellow card issues could come against him.
We have got to get our throw in approach right. Does it really matter if we don’t catch – as long as we prevent a searing run through the middle?
Only midfielders are really capable of marking an in form Donaghy with exception of Donegal’s McGee. Tyrone found a way using the 2 Mcmahons to mark the twin towers but some here have suggested they got away with blue murder that day. Joe Mc was a number 12 but did a great job that day as 3. Also Tyrone were at their swarming best back then making the quality of any ball in less potent. In 2017 though most teams offload before trouble arrives so passing quality has a chance to improve.
The Donaghy debate though does suggest we should target AOS more close to goal as he’s more explosive than Donaghy. I know teams plan for it but in 2014 vs Kerry replay Aido broke free of Kerry and won a great ball to set up Cillian’s goal. Kerry’s Enright was unable to mark Cillian that day even under the high ball.
So against Ros we could have Aido and Cillian alternating in FF HF lines with Aido drifting in 5-10 times per half. Also forces Ros to stay back more if AOS near the square. Both Ros and Mayo identified the run off the big man as a tactic the last day. Mayo had more success with Lee’s heroics but Aido was kept fairly quiet despite doing some good things including his match saving intervention. Ros probably need Smith more outfield whereas if Tom P fit we can afford our man inside.
Well done mayo mark
I believe Caff improved the last day and hope he does another bit on Monday
We will see where we are then!
I’ve repeatedly seen people wanting to put Stephen Coen in full back instead of our recognised full back . Based on what I do not know !!!!!
In defensive positions when the games were in the melting point he cost is goals against cork and the win against Roscommon . Now that’s being harsh and blinkered but what’s good for the goods is good for the gander.
This is probably the biggest game ever for this team now (every one from Clare on was ) and people are still suggesting to put a player who has played wing forward as much as wing back in as full back?????? Really ?????
And then there was one person suggesting David Drake.
Thank god it’s Rochford and not some of us over the team.
Someone jokingly (I hope) suggested playing hennelly in goals for his kick outs and Clarke at full back to protect him!!!! It makes as much sense as Coen or Drake
If we get over Monday and caff doesn’t play well then we are looking at probably bringing Donie back as he has played there before. But we will need him out around the middle on Monday and I think Caff did enough to justify another chance. His man didn’t even score !!!!!!
Roscommon will have the experience of playing a Quarter final and as a result will probably improve on last Sunday’s performance, as a result Mayo will have to up their game considerably on the last day’s performance. Mayo subs have to make a bigger impact when introduced. Remember Mac Stay and McHale are highly motivated to take down Mayo (because of past history with Mayo County Board). Mayo players will have to be very careful with their tackling as Ref Anthony Nolan is not shy to dish out Black Cards. Mayo supporters not very vocal in the Stadium the last day, we have to really get behind the Team on Monday.
Midfield is a bigger issue for us than FB or shooting in my opinion. We are being wiped. SOS/AOS are struggling aerobically, Barry Moran won’t be anywhere near match fit and remains to be seen how long we can get out of Tom Parsons.
Our once stronghold is a big worry.
Ger Caff was much improved the last day… But there was a lot more than him that have to improve their game the next day ..feckin hell there seems to be a lot ready to kick certain players and management if we loose ..I’m going up there and will roar and encourage each and every one of them …if we play to our potential we will win ..
Agree myball – there is a lot of room for improvement from a number of our players. Not going to single them out but by my reckoning, at least 5 of ours were below par, and I would fully expect each of these to be performing at a higher level on Monday.
Right, I’ve a lot of comments to reply to so I might start on that later =D
Trevor, that was me alright. I’m the lad who said he nearly fainted on 3 or 4 occasions due to over exuberance! That’s true by the way. I had to stop shouting after the Cillian shoulder because I went daft at Mcquillan. I had to sit down because I went light headed and nearly bloody fainted. Any time I shouted or chanted after that I went light headed again. =(
Anyways, I’ve know ye two to see for a few years so now you’ve a face to my name! The two of ye are a credit, ye never let up! Fair play to ye!
Mayo Mark, that was an excellent post and very good analysis of Caff performance. Yes not his best but nowhere near deserving of the criticism he is getting.
Some people making the argument that he isnt playing well enough to mark Donaghy, I just have to laugh, fact is we dont have anyone who can mark Donaghy one on one in the large square, putting a midfielder back is suicide, imagine the frees and penos that would be conceeded. You can pick the best three defenders in the country and they would struggle to contain that Kerry ff line. The only way to beat them is the starve them of possession. Win and control midfield and Kerry will fall. All theoretical really as we are not playing Kerry.
Where has the grinning Maurice Deegan gone from the photo up top?
Has somebody invented a magic wand to make him disappear or something?
Even though it’s silly talk about Kerry as er may not even see them but Stephen McDonnell said on GAA hour that the most effective marking he saw on Donaghy was when in a railway cup match, Ulster v Munster, the backs didn’t contest the jump with Donaaght but waited ready when he landed & then aim to dispossess him then. Thought it made sense & I feel like I’ve seen teams do it before.
Anyway when the feck is it Monday.
I tell ya this much Jim flag that picture is a hell of a lot more pleasing on the eye since the exclusion of Deegan…
I’m down the country and I heard a man talking earlier , he reckons this mayo team will come good yet , he said they have unbelievable supporters , he was full of praise , I then got into my car , with my two flags flying , he gave me the thumbs up and a big shout , up mayo he said ,
Did my heart good ,
Cmon mayo
On both throw in’s the last day Aido was illegally impeded from getting the ball. His man just blocked him off with no intention of contesting for the ball himself. This was literally in front of mcquillan’s nose. I think the next day they should set up the same but Aido should just go for Tom Parsons man to block him. That way Aido will be taking care of the two roscommon midfielders and Parsons will have an easy catch………………………jesus, I’ve been thinking about this game way too much!!!
Think donie Smyth will start for Devaney.
Devaney looked gassed after he came off.
Donie smyths a bit of a loose cannon, could be interesting to see how he gets on.
Getting ready again for Monday. Really looking forward to the rematch.
I’m curious from all the comments made since last Sunday that I don’t recall seeing any comment on our continued use of a sweeper. I honestly can’t see how we have benefitted in any game this year from using a sweeper. Yes , Keith did play well last week, but imagine how much more influential he could be, floating around further up the pitch…ditto if we use Lee as free man to match the Ros sweeper.
Are we so afraid of the Ros forwards, that we can’t go toe to toe….don’t tell me we need to worry about man marking E Smith….he wouldn’t make the Kerry team, so potentially we might need to worry about playing a team with six forwards better than him.
We have been too conservatative all year…too many short kick outs…playing a sweeper….very low on goal opportunities….too predictable in our play. That is why we have been in a dog fight every match….teams know exactly what we will do every play.
I think we would win this game comfortably if we just went for it….push up on their kick out….no sweeper….mix our kick outs up a bit more….more width in our play…..and play more of the game in their half. Last week Roscommon I think had 56% possession….we gave away the ball too often due to lack of options ahead of the ball carrier.
Push more bodies up the pitch and we will dominate the game……and win.
Wish people would stop talking about donaghy till we beat the Rossies.
@Liam,… Re read my comments, I said ‘Roscommon are NOT as good as Dublin, NOT YET anyhow!’ … Cork and Derry are irrelevant, I never mentioned them in the post…. The style of football played by Roscommon is ‘my opinion’ played is very similar to the style employed by Jim Gavin’s Dublin versus Mayo…. A style that severely burned, Ger Cafferkey and our entire defence in 2015,.. And the system Mayo employed last Autumn was far superior, without a specialist full back at all … Cork and Derry, play their own style and our full back was burned as well,… What I want, is for Mayo to play the defensive system that works best,… I certainly re read your post, and there is allot of generalisation in it,.. And of course, I didn’t make any such statement, such as ‘Roscommon can be as good as Dublin’ .. I backed up my argument (which is I accept only my opinion) with facts, nothing ‘Theoretical’ about it…. If Ger Cafferkey is picked, the better he plays, the happier I’ll be!… if Mayo win? , I’ll have loads more opinions as to how we won the match and how to beat Kerry the next day out…. If we lose? , I still have opinions, but I never expect my ‘opinions’ to meet with universal approval, win lose or draw,… OH NO, NOT ANOTHER DRAW, I CAN’T TAKE IT ANY MORE!
Totally agree @Green back
Drive on and we will win comfortably.
Go all defensive and we are in a unnecessary dog fight once again.
Good to put a face to the name Mayo Mark!! Will know you for next time! Up Mayo!!
What was refreshing about having Keegan at midfield
1he is inspirational to players around him
2 a midfielder who can score
In Keegan we have a midfielder that stacks up with the best.
Can we afford to release him for 70 mins? In my opinion yes. Donie well capable of holding down half back position.
In relation to sweeper, we have been carved open too easily by moderate opposition, McLoughlin the man for me.
Tactically we should be setting out our stall offensively. Also counteract any of mcstays positional switches. He is shrewd operator.
I hope SR makes a change up front. Kirby at FF and Loftus in the corner. Bring on AM in 2nd half. The team needs a small bit of freshening up and I really hope SR delivers on this.They’ll be no changes to the backs although someone will have to give way for Tom Parsons (He’s vital for us now and was missed last weekend). It would be so disappointing to lose having not made some minor changes.
TO should read Parsons
Appreciate the analysis of FB MayoMark, and I usually see things the way you do, but honestly I think you’ve added a lot of color where there is little 🙂 particularly on goal number 2.
I think some/many are missing the point about the criticism of Ger. Ger is the Full Back, thats not just any position or role on the team. Its a role that requires a combination of skills and attributes that quite frankly, are not that common. Therefore I concede its not at all easy to find a player with those skills and attributes.
Having said that, we all know the margins in games at this time of year are often the minimum and goals conceded are daggers, often fatal. Its not only the boost it gives to an opposing team but more the hole our team has to dig out of, time and time again. Even one goal conceded at this stage can be fatal! Therefore the FB line must prevent at all costs, and particularly the FB, the concession of goals. That’s his job! If you want evidence of why this is so, just look back at our semi and final appearances over the past few years.
If Ger is playing Monday, I wish him the best, I really do because a lot hinges on his ability to marshall that FB line be the boss and prevent the goals.
My worry about Caff is he is rarely first to the ball. I can only remember him toe poking one ball away in Roscommon game. But I accept marks analysis
So his game is around directing a player in possession away from goal. He was very good at this before his injury and is not back to that level.
Who is setting the standard as fb at the moment . Who should we be looking at in tomorrow’s games
In Fairness Caff can’t be held responsible if we are being carved open up the middle and he has to make decision of closing down man on ball or staying with his own man. If the opposition are smart enough to create this two on one situation we can’t point the finger at Caff. And remember this has been happening all season, how many times has Clarke been our MOM.
Its gas the way opinions differ. Lots of people here saying Mayo were wiped at midfield, yet at the same time its reckoned putting Leeroy to midfield was a master stroke and he scored 1 3. Good analysis above on Caff a player for whom I have a lot of time, but to be honest I dont think he had the ball in hand 4 times over the last 2 games. Now I am aware defenders can have decent games without gaining possession as long as they keep their opponent quiet and in fairness to Caff, he was never the type of full back who caught the high ball and thundered out of defence with it. His style is more of shadowing his man, getting a hand or foot in etc. Caff has got lots of criticism from the experts as well as from some of ourselves, but I think we defended better as a unit last year when we lined out without an orthodox full back and each defender was given a man to mark and this was supplemented by our effective use of a sweeper. For some reason we abandoned that policy this year. Anyway as has been previously said, management see them in training and know who is playing well or not. So we need to trust them and hope the players perform to the best of their ability, while our job is to get behind and support these guys who have made us all proud to be from Mayo over the last 6 or 7 years.
Team I’d like to see to give us some fresh legs:
Clarke
Higgins Harrison Barrett
Vaughan Boyle Durcan
Keegan Parsons
McLoughlin Aidan Loftus
Regan Cillian Moran
I like that team HSE
‘cept I’d make these changes
Clarke
Higgins Harrison Barrett
Boyle Coen Durcan (Coen could rotate/cover midfield with Leeroy)
Keegan Parsons
McLoughlin Aidan Loftus
Cillian Kirby Moran
anyway, carry on…
Ah sure Mister Mayor its all a bit of craic!
One thing that I noticed from the new picture is that Danny Kirby is a big man. I didn’t think that he was that tall. I’d actually be keeping him for the final 10-15 minutes and put him in full-forward then to cause a bit of havoc.
I would go with your team HSE except Kirby for Moran
Don’t think it’s fair bring on sub from bench who has hardly seen championship football for the last quarter when the pressure stakes are greatest. I would prefer to see Andy coming off bench. The trouble his do we now need Andy at the start to settle us in with a couple of scores
I would start Andy along with Cillian and Danny Kirby up front .Keep the pressure high up and on the Roscommon kick out, defend offensively and we will beat them.
Come On Mayo
Please can anyone tell me if there are buses travelling through Kiltimagh to the game on Monday please?
I’ve said it before, but Aidan is a worry.
He’s doing magnificent work, but on 70% capacity. He can’t sprint and the Rossies knew that on Sunday and took advantage of it. His other contributions are very effective, but this aspect leaves us exposed to runs up the centre.
Need more pace in middle 1/3rd. If a player cannot compete for speed it inevitably leads to overlaps from opposition and gut-wrenching covering from colleagues. But of course that doesn’t matter as long as the tried and trusted are in place. I’m saying it again, unless Mayo management freshen-up last weeks team with a few bucks from the bench we are making it easier for the opposition. I accept that SR hasn’t had the best of luck when springing surprises but needs must.
Best of luck to panel, management and supporters.