We’ve just named our team for Sunday’s All-Ireland final against Donegal at Croke Park (throw-in 3.30pm) and despite all the talk about Colm and Lee and Aidan and all the rest, the same team that was selected to start against Dublin gets the nod again for Game 5. This means that Chris Barrett, a late replacement for Colm Boyle prior to throw-in against Dublin, reverts to the bench with the Davitts man picked to line out at left half-back.
Here’s the team:
Mayo (All-Ireland SFC final v Donegal, 23/9/2012): David Clarke (Ballina Stephenites); Kevin Keane (Westport), Ger Cafferkey (Ballina Stephenites), Keith Higgins (Ballyhaunis); Lee Keegan (Westport), Donal Vaughan (Ballinrobe), Colm Boyle (Davitts); Barry Moran (Castlebar Mitchels), Aidan O’Shea (Breaffy); Kevin McLoughlin (Knockmore), Jason Doherty (Burrishoole), Alan Dillon (Ballintubber); Enda Varley (Garrymore), Cillian O’Connor (Ballintubber), Michael Conroy (Davitts).
As is normal practice now, we haven’t released any details of the list of subs at this stage.
Great idea naming Andy Moran as a selector. He deserves to be on the team sheet in some form.
Barrett is slightly unlucky to lose out after a fine outing against the Dubs but I’m delighted to see our regular half-back line restored.
Listened to the Green and Red of Mayo on repeat the whole way to work this morning. Bring em on!!
I hope Declan your’re correct, it would be fitting to have Andy named on the TEAM sheet as a selector.
Best of luck to the boys, will be roaring ye on from the cussack .
Think its just a year to early for our lads yet but ya never know on the day.
Great to see that , we have all ready and set for battle.
If we believe all we read then Donegal are champions in waiting, the experts and pundits all, even a lot of our own see no other outcome on Sunday next. Our recent history and indeed our history since 51 makes it very hard for most to see it any other way, it is indeed a trait of human nature to go with the flow and as is the case with the present consensus ,it would take the mad ravings of a lunatic to go against that———or maybe not——-maybe it only takes cojones to dare see the outcome and a Mayo win, to dream of the same and have faith that it will happen. This Mayo team above all others in the last 61 years have that and we don’t have to peek through our fingers, whilst burying our heads in our hands ,watching our county team perform any more.
But you say ‘Donegal have beaten everyone this year’ !——-No they haven’t, they haven’t beaten the best , their equals. They haven’t met a team that can be so delightfully brilliant and unpredictable a team that believe and want success at all costs and have the players and management to match.
Brolly is flapping, maybe a mouthpiece for the concerns held within the Donegal camp as the day draws nearer to try and influence the officials, a sign of fear in itself and if I were from Donegal ,I think those pangs of fear would be getting a grip now with only two days to go, reality dawning and euphoria put on hold because a match has to be played, maybe even a war engaged in and a formidable opponent to be overcome.
We are going to win this one as we have no other option, no putting on hold for future improvements for next year or the year after, now is our time and when it does happen, then we wont be relinquishing this trophy for some time to come, we will have beaten the best and the rest and the others will have to raise themselves to our level now that the monkey has been shook off our backs by this new Mayo that believe in themselves.
I see Donegal rattled badly in the first half and an uncharacteristic collapse of the ‘system’ to follow, because hype will come face to face with hunger and left rudderless, the men from the northwest will be overrun by the ruthless drive of the men from the west.
Mayo by 5 or 6
Maigh Eo Abu
Declan is correct, Mick – Andy’s named as a selector in the team sheet posted on the Mayo GAA website here. It’s a lovely, generous and wholly appropriate thing to do.
The giddiness is rising now – I see An Taoiseach is going to ask the Pope for divine intervention on our behalf for Sunday! Well – it’s worth asking anyway, whatever response he gets…
Anyway, despite attending all Mayo championship games and four of the league ones (a record for me!), and having hunted high and low, I find myself ticketless today.
I’m going to head on up regardless and try my luck on the day – my question for the good denizens of this board is, where would ye recommend looking i.e. which pubs, hotels etc have ye had a bit of luck in in years gone by? Any help is greatly appreciated…
Thanks JJ if I wasn’t up for the cup I am now.
I agree the pressure is mounting on Donegal with every passing day; as more and more people EXPECT them to win and we move onwards and upwards under the radar. I firmly believe our day has come and what a day it will be.
I sense a belief with all Mayo people that we no longer expect to fail and that even from my neck of the woods in Glasgow and wind of change has occurred under Horan’s regime..
Sunday is a day to forget history – Sunday is a day to create new heroes and new legends.
GO MAIGH EO GO
Maigheolad
Davy J, I hear ya. I’m heading to the All Ireland Football sevens Tomorrow at Kilmacud Crokes. I have been successful there before.
I’m def signing up for the season ticket next year, with all the games I’ve been at, I would qualified for an all-ireland ticket.
Just get there. “You have a date with destiny on sunday”
Best of luck to all-not able to write anything else!!!
JJ, I think I love you.
I’m with you all the way. You are truly inspirational. It’s hard being a cheerleader, but that’s our job and in your case, i feel that (like me), you really believe we can do it.
It’s a helpless situation, being a football fan. We can’t do anything to influence results; we can’t help them train or do anything constructive. But we have been there all season throughout the league and championship, cheering on the team through historically dire weather and even some poor results (back in the early Spring).
This team has grown and grown. And on Sunday, we will do our (small) part again. The famous Mayo support needs to be full of hope and belief that we can do it. We all need to get behind the team.
This will be my seventh All-Ireland final. Let’s bring Sam home this time!
Sick with excitement and nerves….need the killer instinct to finish the job. Maigh Eo Abu!
We’re going to win this weekend. I know it in my heart and soul! and I’m delighted to see jj, katharina and ye think so too.
This is our year! however its going to be done and whatever it takes them lads wil do it. and no matter how doubtful anyone is and if mayo find themselves down at any stage of the match, this does not mean its over and I hope that all those unsure people out there will keep roaring for our team unitl there voices are no more, because we will win!
Not only do we have the best team we’ve had since I cant remember, the best panel since i cant remember, the best manager since i cant remember and the best background team since i cant remember, we also have experience on our side. we’ve been there, and as good as donegal are, they don’t have the experience we have, even if that experience didnt get us Sam!!! not only experience as players but as supporters! donegal are going mad up there, the hype is crazy! but mighty mayo and mighty James horan have calmed it down but at the same time are showing as much support as we can, we;ve all learned. I hear donegal were even arguing about where to have a homecoming!!!!!not mayo!!!!!and to top it all off, I entered a guess the score draw, and put down that donegal would score one goal against mayo, and then spoke to one of our goalies and he said lisa, we wont concead a goal!! The green and red of mayo will be emitted so load out of croke parke on the 23rd of september 2012 that it will echo in peoples minds, hearts and souls forever!!!!!maigheo abu!!!!
Ithink its a great stroke by jam horan bring,n andy as selector, shows the bond that is there btween the entire squad an management,forget about next year the time is now and i wonder about brollys comments an how cyn. mayo was against dublin, if kerry were las year they,d be all ire champs. woud love to meet tha bollix on jones road next sunday even. aroun 7 clock wen they,d be no 1 around.. ANYWAY C,MON MAYO THE TIME IS NOW…TA AR LA AG TEACHT…
@ Sean Burke – “a year too early” me arse. Carpe diem, cause Mayo will never again find an easier route to an All Ireland final. I really hope you guys do it.
its a year too early to retain it alright , its the perfect year to lift it though!
I agree, James – there are only two counties now competing in the 2012 championship, there’ll be 32 in the 2013 one. This is definitely the one to win. Thanks for the good wishes and also thanks to KC for similar sentiments expressed from the Galway side of the fence yesterday. A Galway-Mayo hurling/football double would really be something else.
The following is taken from the RTE website:
“Another worry from a Donegal point of view is that if they don’t win on Sunday, it would be unbelievably difficult for them to come back with the same effort again next year. Also, everything has gone their way this summer, and if they were to fall at the final hurdle it could feel like they are destined not to lift the Sam Maguire.
On the other hand, you get the sense that this Mayo side could survive a final defeat and come back stronger next year. Not that James Horan & Co will be contemplating that theory at the moment.
Donegal deserve an All-Ireland title. They just need another 70 minutes of their claustrophobia-inducing best to achieve it.”
So Mayo doesn’t deserve it on the basis that we could cope better with losing? Did you ever read the likes of this shite in your life!!! This on top of the nonsense from Brolly and Cahill yesterday.
Has RTE got an agenda? Independent and providing a public service for all, my arse!
when are we going to make official complaint to RTE about bollix brolly and his disgusting attitude and complete lack of respect for CO MAYO? we all have to pay tv licence and listen to that idiot every sunday,I thought panel was to give nuetral view!!!you know when we win sunday he will still try to insult us,an idiot from derry one of the worst football teams in the country. anyways sorry for moaning on,roll on sunday LETS GO MAYO
Well RTE probably think we have had enough practise of losing to be able to easily handle another defeat. Personally I don’t think I could handle another one.
Right time to banish the negative thoughts and let the hype roam free. Based on the impression of unity of purpose and confidence underlying the Mayo squad this week and all the intelligent analysis put forth on here and elsewhere regarding what we need to do to win I think we’ll do it. I think composure and concentration/workrate are the main compnents required to see out the scemarios that anyone has put forward to stopping Donegal and these traits can only come if the players know their jobs (having prepared for these situations) and real confidence in the team and it’s direction. I don’t think we have any major doubts about the ability of the players individually and as a collective at this stage so my prediction has changed to Mayo 1-12 Donegal 0-09 after an earth shattering physical and chess like tatical battle. See you all in Coppers Sunday night!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mhaigheo Abu
This is the year, this is the team, this is the cup and its ours. Mayo abhu.
best wishes lads, team selectors and all.
Now this is no bullshine…met an empty open top double decker on the N17 at 11.a.m this very morning between Knock and Kilkelly heading northwards. What in Gods name would such a vechicle be required for up that neck of the woods?????
sean burke says:
September 21, 2012 at 11:56 am
Best of luck to the boys, will be roaring ye on from the cussack .
Think its just a year to early for our lads yet but ya never know on the day.
Nonsense Sean, It’s the hear and now! it took us 6 year to reach this final who knows how long it will take to reach another final if we lose on Sunday?
Donegal are beatable don’t listen to the hype and remember this is a Mayo side that were defeating Dublin on their home patch by 10pts we should fear no one one last last push to end the famine and we have the manager,players and supporters to do it.
2 days before the most important game of his life Aiden O Shea called to see one of the most important men in mine my Dad … Says a lot about them both … Aiden fine by the way
Nice to hear the optimistic view of John Maughan on the news this evening. Enda meeting Pope Benedict is another hopeful sign!
It looks good to me.
I’m hoping that we play to our potential. In the past finals we left our best performance in the semis or the quarters, if we play as we did for the first 50 against the Dubs, we will win. Just praying that we do not suffer any dodgy refereeing or any injuries.
Good luck mayo please do the double mayo and galway
That’s great Livenhope, a nice touch by Aiden. I hope both of them are over the moon Sunday evening. Did your Dad give Aiden a fitness test to check his hamstring out?
boyle is back
You don’t win titles because you deserve them. Neither do you don’t win titles because it’s your turn, or because it’s 61 years since your last one. Or indeed, because you’re a great bunch of lads. You win them because you go out on that final day and beat what’s put in front of you.
I cannot fathom why Donegal are such red-hot favourites. Yes, they are a good side and have beaten some good teams to get to the AIF, but so have Mayo. Mayo have beaten the reigning All-Ireland Champions and destroyed the losing Ulster finalists, yet it would appear that they must be judged on a hard-fought, narrow win against Sligo in the Connacht Final.
By virtue of beating Tyrone, Kerry and Cork, Donegal deserve to be marginal favourites at best. Both sides are unbeaten in the championship. But why are Mayo seen as just being there on Sunday just to make up the numbers?
Pundits will say that Donegal are better “on paper”. Grand. But paper isn’t where the AIF will be played. And anyway, let’s look at that “paper”.
Donegal have played six games to get to the All-Ireland, Mayo four. Donegal have scored 6-87 and conceded 3-63, their average per game being 17.5 points to 12, or an average win margin of 5.5 points. Mayo have scored 7-69 and conceded 2-45 in their four games, their average per game being 22.5 points to 12.75, an average win margin of 10.25 points.
Now it could be argued that Donegal had the tougher route to get here, but Mayo could only play what was put in front of them. Donegal’s wins against Tyrone (0-10 – 0-12) Kerry (1-12 – 1-10) and Cork (0-16 – 1-11) were, remarkably, each by two points. The only team they both beat was Down – Donegal dispatching the by ten points in the Ulster final, while Mayo put an extra four on that margin in the AIQF.
A two-point win is within the bounds of luck. A bounce of the ball, a favourable decision by a ref, a smack off the crossbar. It is not by any means a comprehensive victory.
I’m not saying Mayo *will* win on Sunday, but I will say that their chance is easily as good as Donegal’s, and much better than the pundits make out. I don’t even claim to be any sort of GAA expert – rugby’s more my game. It will be a tight game and the winning margin will be no more than a goal’s worth. It could hinge on a stroke of luck, good or bad, or the ref making a decision in our favour or against.
But, even though I’m resident in Laois (Ref – are you listening??), and am married to a Cork woman (gave my rugby allegiance to Munster at the altar), I hope to Christ that my native Mayo do the business on Sunday.
Maigh Eo Abú!!
Lovely piece about Mayo on the 9 o’clock news tonight, not sure about the green sausages though !!. As Joe Kiernan said this evening Mayo have won the build-up battle by keeping the players and supporters composed so let’s cut loose on Sunday and support this team, let them hear the Mayo crowd in full voice before they even come out onto the pitch. Hope all the geninue supporters have tickets although I am sure there some are struggling, try the 7’s in Kilmacud Crokes on Saturday.
It’s now over to the players, the management and most of all us the supporters who will be in Croker on Sunday so make it happen.
I an sure you will all agree that it cuts when you have to hear the jibes about Mayo not able to play football in September etc etc etc. The only way to silence all of our detractors is to win on Sunday and that will soon put a halt to Brolly and co although personally I have been ignoring RTE and most of the main broadsheets as it is just one so-called anaylst re-hasing another so-called analyst’s comments, not one original thinker among them and how many of them tipped Mayo to beat Dublin ????.
So safe traveling to all of those coming from all over Ireland and from abroad and best of luck to the two covies on the team and hi to all the covies especially those in Drummin and Erriff !!. GO MAYO GO.
My final thoughts on the game and then I’m off.
Defensive systems like systems in any other aspect of life can only cope with what they were designed to cope with – give them different problems and they are typicallly fcuked!
The ‘Donegal so called system’ was designed to defend against the handpassing game and it is effective against such a predictable approach. Cork had 100 hand passes to Donegals 10 at one stage in the semifinal and yet the scores were even – Lesson!! HAND PASSING ON ITS OWN WILL GET YOU NOWHERE. We need to use every and any approach available – high skyscrapers into the square – clever solos + dummies – diagonal bullets into space – off the shoulder running – bulldozing (by those big enough to do the like) – long distance kicks – soft frees – and anything else you can think of. Unpredictability and variety will be the key to screw up ‘the system’.
Paul Galvin put it well – he said you have to kinda pull the rug from under them from early on – and boy dont we know what that felt like in 04 06 when Kerry did it to us! You simply cannot be predictable! Seamie O sea, Geraghty and Gibbons offer us interesting options in that department as does Keith Higgins as an attacking 1/2 back! Shuffle the pack a little is what i say. Give them reason to doubt their ‘so called system’ and watch it crumble……….and watch it crumble!
Mayo by a snot!
Jaysus…….what a string of mega-inspirational messages…….Talk about adrenalin, butterflies…….you’d know we were getting nearer and nearer the big day !!!…….I’m logging into this site daily for my fix for the past 3 weeks…….and dying to see the hoards of green n’ reds on the streets of the Capital in two days time.
Katharina………….Your reference to ‘seven All-Irelands’ strikes a major chord with me.
Counting the replay in 1996, since 1989, Sunday’s match will be the seventh throw in of a ball for a Mayo All-Ireland final for me too…..7 !!!! – Hard to believe, but one thing really sticks out for me….It’s all on the day and surely our guys are now as prepared a team and as fearless a gang of players as we’ve ever seen don the Mayo jersey…..There’s a serious togetherness there and it really feels like this could be the one, and not being greedy, one is all I’ll ever need….for life…..”to win just once” as the Tuam lads sing….
My oul fella, who drove us to Dublin and carried me for years over the stiles and into Croker for every Mayo appearance is still hanging on in but alas not able to travel to games anymore, but I dream about that phonecall to him when the whistle finally blows, the dream becomes reality, and the tears start to flow……Amid the din of Croker I’ll make that call and utter the immortal line….Dad……the famine is over !!!!
Important to remember…..if our 15 lads in the dressing room silently nod to each other that they’ll never let each other down, that they’ll never stop running for 70 minutes-plus, that they’ll selflessly die for the County trying to cross that line, then that will get them there for sure….Nirvana !!!……They have suffered and committed to pain on the training ground, and we respect them for that……Now it’s payback time for that committment and dedication.
Mayo abú !!!!
Lads forget this talk of the Double- for us doughty souls in the west are going to do the TREBLE when the wee bit of red annex the association football version too.
Best of luck to the team this weekend – you’ve given us another great journey through 2012 and I sincerely hope you bring home that Celtic Cross as a reward for all your hard work.
Safe journey too to all those making the trip from all sorts of destinations. Have a great weekend everyone.
The omens are good 23 sept.[same as ’51]…opponents county colours the same[ meath an donegal] an the ref is a laois man[same ’51].. KENNY MEET,N THA POPE TOMORR. .We cannot an will not lose, c,mon lads ur time is now,ur county an its people need you and ye will be legends for generations to come …MAIGH EO ABU
Fuck Joe Brolly, fuck RTE, fuck the lot of them. It’s not about them anymore, it’s about US. History awaits. I know we can do it. And never mind next year or the year after, it’s this year – BELIEVE.
I have a flight over in a few hours and I can’t sleep…but at least I have this site to ramble on about nothing in particular, only the shared love we have for our county.
Jesus Christ WJ, do you have any idea what will happen to this site if we go on and win the fecking thing…..
Word of thanks to WJ for all the info and links to all things Mayo GAA this week.
It added to the excitement of the build up particularly for those of who no longer based at home in Mayo
Safe travelling Sunday and lets make sure we don’t leave without Sam
Is Feidir Linn
Maigh Eo Abu