Photo: @officialgaa
The GAA have this afternoon confirmed the arrangements for next Sunday’s NFL semi-final double-header at Croke Park. Tyrone play Kildare at 2pm – in what will be a re-run of last year’s Division Two decider – and then our clash with Dublin throws in at 3.45pm. No word yet on who’ll be reffing both matches but all will be revealed, no doubt, in due course.
UPDATE: It’s now been confirmed that our old pal Joe McQuillan has got the job. Rory Hickey will ref the other semi-final.
Good to see the mind games have started already for Sunday – in the above photo you can see that Cillian O’Connor is wearing the no.6 jersey. After those two sublime sideline efforts down at Páirc Uí Chaoimh yesterday, Cillian has shown he’s a man of many talents and I’m sure he’ll do grand at centre-back the next day.
Bet you…one from Deegan/Reilly/Coldrick…spare us the boy from Derry .
The way i see it is for the teams we play against if they want to work the ball up to their own forward line then let them work hard for it. I think the pressure the Mayo forwards put on the Cork back line was immense. And as far as i recall the two late points O Connor got came as a result from pressure from Mayo forwards.
Hames horan sounded happy to be getting his team back in Croker so soon after September. We are a bit spoiled though we win very little silverware. What would Roscommon or Louth give to be in so many high profile games. And this despite the underage structures the dubs or Tyrone have in place, just having the likes of Boyle, conroy, Moran etc makes it that much easier I suppose. I think Dublin will really be hard to beat next Sunday , they in my mind are going to win Sam this year.
Someone complained about mid west commentary, John Casey is good but needs somebody with a pulse beside him.
Joe McQuillan…………
Joe McQuillan. unbelievable. Home advantage, home referee.
We really shouldn’t be surprised
That’s a bit unfair, PB. The Dubs have home advantage alright (this will be their sixth match at HQ from eight games played) but I wouldn’t call Joe McQuillan a home ref. I don’t think much of him as a ref but we can’t have any complaints at how he reffed us against Dublin in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final.
Joe will line out at center field for Dublin.;-)
Agree with your earlier comment WJ concerning the colour of the jerseys, as I too have the same problem. For me it gets worse if its raining, as the green appears to darken. Missed the game yesterday , first this year , due to flu but watched it on tv and have to say was very proud of our lads, dug deep and got the result they deserved. Wee Martin said last week , Mayo couldn’t beat two big teams in a row, well we just did, and at a good time of the year as well . Bring on the Dubs.
Well said Nephin. Wee Martin and Jimmy the Redeemer can stick that in their pipes. Looking forward to Sunday now. Come on Mayo!
I felt we owed Cork that defeat after our defeat in the league final. Not just for the defeat in itself but the manner of it and the tactics they employed, and were allowed get away with.
Third man tackles, off the ball hits, pulling and dragging and worst of all, the terrible decision by the ref not to give us a free-in (at least, if not a penalty) when Vaughan was bombing through on goal in the second half and was blatantly pushed in the back. No free of any kind, instead Cork attack down the field and a high looping ball comes off the post into the arms of a Cork forward who then dispatches it into the net.
Not too bothered whether we progress any further to be honest but hope that some of the fringe lads get a run out in Croker so they will all be used to it when it counts, on the 3rd Sunday of September.
Good win yesterday. Well done to the supporters who travelled. Mayo should have pushed on after Cillian kicked the brillIant side line frees, we were playing with the breeze.
Dublin are favourites and rightly so. ONE GAME AT A TIME, TREAT EVERY TEAM WITH RESPECT BUT FEAR NONE.
On the question of jerseys and colour contrasts, the GAA should insist on similar sized numbers on the front of the jersey as they display on the back.
In Croke Park, trying to pick out a guy at the opposite end of the field is impossible if he is facing you; and in hurling of course it is even worse.
I think COC may have created a record of some sorts yesterday. Has anyone ever kicked over two sideline balls in the one match. I am pretty sure no one has ever done that from opposite sides of the pitch during the same half. I stand corrected.
Ah come on WJ, joe mcquillan had the whistle for all but two of dublins games in their all Ireland winning year from the league final to September and by god did he ride Kerry in the big one. I agree that he did us no harm in the semi last year but your talking about a man who has been reffing dublin training games under gilroys reign. That’s not right in my book
Can’t believe I find myself cast in the role of Joe McQuillan’s defender but I honestly don’t think it’s correct to term him as a pro-Dublin ref. As far as I know that story about his reffing Dublin training games is actually an urban myth and the last time he did a Dublin/Mayo match he did okay from our point of view. My issues with him relate to basic competence (going back to the Meath game in 2009 and prior to that the 2007 match against Galway in Salthill) and it’s that rather than any far-fetched notions of bias that would concern me.
I know that JH is not a man that could be accused of being radical but, of he’s for, surely there’s now a case for Higgins in a wing half back position and Lee in the No 6 shirt? Justsayin like, seeing as Keane, McHale, Barrett and Walsh are available for the two corners!
It’s not the referee we should be worrying about for Sunday, it’s how we go about marking those slick Dublin forwards. We don’t want the dubs building up a head of steam, so we’ll need to keep things very tight at the back in those early stages of the match. Hopefully we have learned our lesson from last years final and not leave defenders one on one with the likes of Brogan and co.
This is a match we can win but it is going to take an almighty effort and total concentration from every player to make that happen and of course eliminating those silly turnovers is a must. We know we are very lucky to be in the semi-final, as Cork had some glorious chances to put us away at the end. The fact that we got out of jail, as I believe we did, is all the more reason we grab this opportunity with both hands.
‘of he’s for’ should have read ‘if he’s fit’ in that last comment. Fkn predictive text me arse!
I dont know if I entirely agree with you mayo mchale, when you say we are lucky to be in the semi as a result of Corks missed chances. The true worth and measure of a team is to be found in its ability to perform in all conditions and pressure situations.
Cork showed that with the wind at their backs and their “gander up” that they were excellent. They were dominant at the back, winning midfield and their forwards were finding space and kicking scores for fun. They had a 6 point lead with 6 minutes to go to half time let’s not forget, but Mayo hung in and battled even when everything was going wrong for them. This effort resulted in closing that gap to a very managable 3 points and I believe that this was the winning of the game.
The fact that Mayo kept chipping away at this lead and eventually went in front, and held the lead for the final 8 minutes against some desperate Cork attacks, meant that when the game was there to be won it was Mayo that had the hunger and ability to win out. Fair and square. We missed as many chances in the second half as they did in the first.
I do accept, however, that we were lucky in the way that other results went our way to put us in the semi-final. It just reaffirms to me that we are, and have been for the last 18 months, one of the top 4 teams in the country, are a dogged unit who will lie down to no-one and it will take a good side to beat us this summer.
Credit to the lads and role on Sunday.
Looks like we’ll be in section 302 for the season ticket holders….stuck in the corner. Thanks Croke Park!
Nothing far fetched about his blatant bias against the kingdom in 2011.He pushed Dublin over the line that day, what amazed me more was general reaction across the board from media to joe bloggs, hardly a mention of refs contribution.
” kerry have enough” seemed to be the tone taken among the masses.
[Deleted].
Brogan is back from what I read today, he roasted us the last day and not sure if there is anything caff can do tbh, we need to cut supply, we need to use the same tactic we used in castlebar last year for cluxtons kickouts, pressure pressure all the time.
It would be great to see Mayo surprise the jacks with a surprise inclusion on the day.
Mayo……mannerly bunch
Flushing the jacks since 06.
Sean – I’ve deleted a bit of that comment, i.e. the particularly inflammatory piece that contained an unacceptable reference to a specific Dublin player. This is not the place for that kind of stuff so please bear in mind for future reference.
I don’t agree with you either on the “blatant bias” charge either. I’d watch the 2011 final again if I were you before making allegations of that kind and while you’re at it watch that year’s quarter-final between Dublin and Tyrone. Then tell me if your charge still stands up.
I got my ticket today. It’s in Section 306
Any special login for that Grainne? I logged in a few times before printing and 302 were the only ones available.
If Brogan is back for Dublin then it will be a real test for Mayo and for James. What is the tactic to stop him? – putting pressure on the ball carrier to cut off the supply only works to a certain extent. Playing a sweeper would also limit the number of times he gets the ball. Brogan will still get the ball in his hands at least 10-12 times in the game within scoring distance (outside of frees), what has Caff et al learned from the first match to limit the number of point from play?
There is the additional problem, that even if Brogan is kept to 2-3 points, any of Andrews, Connolly, Mannion, Kilkenny etc could easily hit us for 4-5 from play. It will be a real test for us, but, great prep for the Galway game. Galway are a good side, but, they dont have that kind of firepower.
Although I wish Barry and all the injured guys the best, I think having the more mobile Gibbons in MF for this game might be a blessing in disguise. This is a huge opportunity for him. I thought he was good against Cork, but this will be a different challenge. I am assuming Doc is back at FF, also a big day for him. Someone has to put up their hand and nail down that position soon.
Good points Mike…also if Brogan is double teamed it will free up another one fo those Dublin forwards…there will be serious pressure on the Mayo backs and might I say the mid fileld to help out back there. The sole focus should not be on Brogan alone, for as Mike said, there are many others who can hurt us. But Brogan is gifted and cooling his jets will mean we have a chance to win this game.
I’d put Doc in at CHF and this is a good opp to try Aiden at Full. Time to nail the poistions down now.
I wouldn’t say we are lucky at all to be in the semi-final.
I was delighted first and foremost that we stayed up, but more delighted that we stayed up off our own backs and didn’t have to rely on other results.
I think even if we drew with Cork we would have made the semis.
It’s not as though Cork outplayed us and hit a rake of wides, It was an even game that we dug deep in and came out the right side. A good sign I think. I don’t think this teams guts or determination can ever be doubted.
We were unlucky to lose to Kildare and Down especially and could have conceivably won any of our games in this league.
I’d go so far as to say we were unlucky to be invloved in a relegation scrap at all on the last day. If anything luck deserted us throughout the league, so we are where we belong.
Over the last few years we have fully established ourselves as one of the top teams in the country, a far cry from the disaster that was 2010.
Let the press keep talking up teams like Tyrone and Kildare (they won a Leinster U21 in case you didn’t read the 2 page article in the Indo last week…), we are where we are on merit.
Agree fully with you Dan, this team have learned to close out the tight games and have the best guts Ive seen in a Mayo team for manys the year, what must be frightening for any of their future opponents is,that if they cut out the errors and play the football they are capable of, then some of those opposition is goin to get a mighty hammering,,,,,,,refreshing also to see o leary having to get a few repairs last Sunday, sends out a message that this Mayo are a tough outfit and can mix it, if needed……..We,ve all wanted a Mayo team to able to win ugly aswell as classy.
I think the Dubs will have as much respect for us as we will have for them and ,yes , we can win this one. Maigh Eo Abu
Sorry Alf only saw your post now. I collected my ticket from the County Board at the Spórtlann.
There is one sure way to deal with brogan ………….mark him tighter than he has ever been marked before and with a mean, ugly stubborn attitude! Very old fashioned I know and im sure there are more modern sophisticated methods but hell I cant think of them right now!!! Oh and I would write the same prescription for any other hot-shot forward. Its amazing how shooting accuracy diminishes when you have to attend to your physical well being while shooting. No dirt just uncompromising physical pressure for 70 mins.
And wouldnt that be heart warming as we approach the championship.
Good man JJ agree fully, O Leary made two pit stops and was relegated to 33, Aidan finished with his own 11. Kilcullen and Richie did the same v same opposition 2011 in Castlebar .Same result , hardly a coincidence .
Old Mayo is copping on.
Die Hard, that’s like a speech Pat Short would give. I guess no one has ever thought of trying that before,genius idea!