Right, I may as well get this one over with as quickly and painlessly as possible. Here’s a rundown of the coverage on last night’s NFL defeat to Dublin at Croke Park, along with the available reports on the much more competitive LGFA encounter between the two counties at the same venue yesterday evening.
Locals: Mayo Advertiser, Connaught Telegraph.
Nationals: Irish Times, Irish Independent, Irish Examiner, Irish Sun.
Others: GAA, RTÉ (report, quotes), The 42 (report, analysis/quotes, player ratings), Sports Joe.
Photos: Sportsfile, Inpho.
Ladies match: Connaught Telegraph, RTÉ, Irish Times, The 42. Photos – Sportsfile, Inpho.
That’s the lot, from what I can see. Back later on with the latest episode of the Mayo News football podcast and later again with the result of the MOTM poll. By the looks of it, Robbie has that one in the bag already.
Best of luck, by the way, to the county’s hurlers who are in NHL Division 2A action against Antrim this afternoon. That match takes place at James Stephens Park in Ballina where throw-in is 1pm.
Me thinks the Galway game is more important anyway.
Fair Play to those Mayo fans who made the journey to Croke Park yesterday. Should be worth a few months less in Purgatory, even if all of us should go straight to Heaven in any event…. Dublin Superior all over the field.. Commerford restarts were imaculate apart from one effort…We didn’t manage to win a single Dublin kickout in the middle of the field…Re Jason Doc, missing a simple free and his Penalty been saved… Jason himself had been heavily fouled for both the free and the Penalty, when you are fouled by the Dubs, you stay fouled and maybe someone else might be better taking the shot in those circumstances…It was a pretty good Penalty in actual fact, but an even better save.. Johney Cooper deserved a Black Card at the very least, not that the Ref was responsible for our comprehensive defeat..Robbie Henelly’s performance was outstanding and saved us from an even worse hammering… Andy, Aido and Jason Doc tried very hard but all had far better day’s at the office, and will again have better day’s at the office versus the same opposition and the same venue. .. Horan’s team of yesterday were unlucky in the fact that Cafferkey and Tracy were both injured early door’s. . We played 20 minutes of the match with 14 Men… I don’t know if Paddy Durcan was injured or not? I taught that he was the best of our halfback line while on the pitch, and indeed Leroy and Boyler have had better days out in Croke Park as well.. But every halfback in the country is better going forward than when having to retreat . Still Gaelic football is a funny old game, Tyrone comprehensively? beaten by Mayo just a few weeks ago, were comprehensive winner’s over their. Ulster Rival’s Monaghan last night, and of course Monaghan defeated Dublin in round one of the league.. The positives from last night might be hard to see this morning. .But they are there, of the newcomers, Fionn McDonagh and Mathew Ruane looked to have plenty potential last night and we definitely need some new blood. .If we are to meet Dublin again in the coming year, we won’t be given a chance by the so called expert’s…We might even meet them in the league Final yet…Our upcoming game’s V Galway and Kerry will decide this…. Right now it’s all about Galway next Saturday evening in Castlebar… Hopefully this time next Sunday the papers will make much more pleasant reading!
For sure the quicker, we move on from this match the better for everyone. The Galway match is coming up all too fast in our rearview mirror for too much in-depth analysis at this time. Right now a positive frame of mind is what’s needed for next weekend otherwise, our good start to the League could become a distant memory. The Dublin game was always going to be a difficult fixture and one, few of us would have expected to win, so 100% focus for next Saturday evening in MacHale park is now a priority!
Does anyone know why Durcan went off at half time? I didn’t notice him struggling in the first half. Hope Treacy is okay, looked in pain when he was being helped off the pitch. Losing 3 players to injury is very unfortunate no matter what way you look at it.
Only 3 points for Galway in the first half today. It might not be a classic next Saturday in MacHale Park…
When is it ever @Wideball?! In recent years anyway. You never know though. Next Saturday could be the night. I’d take the rollercoaster experience again after last night 😉
Any word on the injuries kerry got the win over galway
Big game next week v Galway . What’s the latest on diarmuid ?
Glad Hennelly exorcised his demons of Croke Park..Buoyed by three wins on the trot I plugged for a draw but in truth if we had kept within 3/4 points of them I would have been OK with that..Aside from.one poster no one has really mentioned the void that has been left by Buckley and McEntee’s departure being evident last night..That is my worry for the months ahead..
Leantimes…. I said exactly the same to my group about Jason Doc. Gets up off the ground out of breath to take a free ( which should have been taken by a left footed player or else by a very good free taker)….. Jason presents to take the free. Knackered, hurt and out of breath. Under the watching and “helpful” outpourings from Hill 16. The fact that he kicked the ball well wide, came as absolutely no surprise.
Another observation about the Dublin goal as seen from my seat in the SECOND row from the Cusack Stand sideline. In the millisecond before Cormac Cosgrove shimmied and left Keith for dead I saw a very sizeable chunk of the pitch surface give way beneath the foot from which Keith wished to gain traction. This sod tore away and became detached from the ground beneath and left Keith floundering. In that instant, and as I gazed at the I sensed that serious consequences were afoot ( any pun is accidental and not intended to be funny).
Dublin, anyway, had at least six or seven other gilt edged goal opportunities which caused Robbie to produce one of the finest displays of goalkeeping seen at any level at HQ for years
I honestly think we’re are just not capable of reaching the necessary intensity in Croke Park at this time of year. Really poor. A win against Galway next week and I’m happy with the league regardless what happens against Kerry and Monaghan!
On another note, it’s still in our own hands to reach a final.
After our outing in the premiership on Sat night it’s back to the more sedate pace of first division next weekend. As a team we were not up to the pace and intensity of Dublin, but encouragingly Ruane mcDonagh and Treacy are fast tracking their way to regulars on the panel. Hennely performed heroics for us. I’m convinced Diskin has the class to faststream himself on to the panel too.
mcDonagh capable of centre half forward position and allow AOS to play a focal role at ff, giving him a Murphy like role. Higgins still has a lot to offer and maybe a new role. Give McCormack Plunkett and O Donaghue some game time.
Many of our mistakes, poor shot selections etc were forced on us because we were not up to the pace of dubs. It’s only Feb and we are not going to win the league.
Discipline still a problem. Reape showed a rather sulky attitude when things did not go right for him. Not helpful, I would start him against Galway and let’s see what he has learned.
Last year when we went out to Kildare and lost Stephen Rochford soon after people were saying that it was the end of the road for Mayo because our team was too old and we hadn’t any young or new players coming through. Then Suddenly we had James Horan back and a fairly long list of new players coming on the scene and our hopes were restored again then we had five games without defeat expect for a penalty shootout including beating Tyrone which nobody expected now we we were talking of a possible league final. Last night our team played very bad and suddenly according to some people we are light years behind Dublin the same Dublin that hammered Galway a few weeks ago the same Galway that came within a point of Kerry today and we know the Kerry Dublin result. So the moral of my story is don’t read too much into league results and remember we have a few good players to come back and a few months before we reach our peak. Hon Mayo.
Just watched the Galway/Kerry game there now, you’d have to think we would have to improve greatly to beat Galway . It’s a big test and will be a valuable one . I’d imagine we will know a little bit more about where we are at as regards the chasing pack seeding sort o speak.
You’re not wrong about Reape, Ontheditch. After that tangle he had on the deck early on with Jonny Cooper, he was trotting back out and swung a belt at Cooper, connecting with his head. The umpires had a clear view of it and the Hill got a bit agitated over it too but nothing further was made of it. Lucky boy.
There’s just no getting past it, there was a gulf in class there last night and it’s not something that will be bridged this year. This is a 3-4 year project and developing players must be the primary focus for the next year or two. We’re not going to get anywhere by throwing everything at winning Sam. That time has passed for now. A Connacht title and a good showing in the Super 8’s is the goal for this year.
For what it’s worth, I thought the backs did quite well last night, holding Dublin to 1-12 is not a bad showing, considering the amount of sustained pressure they had to endure for the entirety of the match, along with the lack of defensive cover. Of course a lot of that was down to Hennelly putting in a solid performance. But when your forward unit fails to function as badly as it did last night it puts massive pressure on the team as whole. No hard questions were asked of Dublin and yet again we get a league game with that’s practically over before half-time. The next couple of games will be very telling. Win all our games and we can still make a league final. Stranger things have happened!
Also, I read in the Irish Times that we haven’t scored a goal in a league game against Dublin since 2014. This ‘rivalry’ just gets better and better for us!
Those results today are almost perfect for us – they have eased my relegation worries!
We’re still top of the table – jointly. I don’t think at this stage we can make disparaging comments about any team; it’s a very competitive competition and any team is capable of beating the next one. On Reape, I posted about his 3 bad wides in front of me, but, do you know what, I’m glad to hear of that tangle with Cooper. Didn’t see it, I’m sure Cooper deserved it, but as a poster said a few days ago in relation to Jordan Flynn, I’d prefer to be working on cooling him down, rather than working him up!
But on discipline while overall not bad, 2 sin binnings in one match and one in the Cavan game are three too many. Leroy hasn’t really hit his stride yet which is a worry.
On the managerial front, JH had his hands full with injuries, but I’m disappointed to hear about lack of communication with players during the match. We don’t know what our best team is yet, and he may argue that this is all experimentation at this stage – hence results will happen like last night. However, the lack of quick movement from defence to attack from kick outs, is killing us; Tyrone had a lot more possession and attacks than their score showed, so we really have work to do there.
That’s correct, Ultair – the last time we scored a goal against them in the League was that mad shootout draw at Croke Park in 2014, that finished 3-14 to 2-17. The goals for/against total over recent years best exemplifies the gap between ourselves and Dublin. In the Jim Gavin era – over 14 matches (last night’s one included) – the aggregate score for/against now stands at 23-189 to 7-180.
Mayo second on the league table, we may get Kerry or the Dubs again in the league final.
Maybe the Mayo management decided to play man for man to see how the new guys featured, as it’s only Feb maybe Mayo should have adopted the blanket against the super fit dubs. Being able to deliver a performance when it’s required is Dublin’s greatest asset.
Alot of things went against Mayo last night, the first half injuries, Keegan’s black card, and the bad misses from frees and the penalty spot, these are hammer blows.
I believe we will see a better result v Galway next Saturday, thats what makes sport great, you move on to the next match and up the performance.
I had great hopes for Brian Reape but he did himself no favours last night. He seemed out of his depth and overawed by the occasion. I would be slow to write any young player off but he will be lucky to get another start.
In the past when we were able to put the Dubs to the pin of their collar our game plan was based on huge levels of fitness, intensity, hard running and ferocious tackling. Last night we were not near that level. Whether we can ever get up to that level again I’m not sure.
As other posters have already said the Galway game is now very important for several reasons. The lads really need a morale boost after last night.
The only positives last night for me were Matthew Ruane who held his own and Robbie Hennelly (our best player) who has taken a lot of flak some of it bordering of personal from within and outside the county.
Aidan O Se is a puzzle…no manager has been able to solve. He is a good tacker, big and strong but he contributed nothing last night…
He is a very high profile GAA player in this country but “on the field” is not doing it….has he ever been subbed? Conor Diskin and Darren Coen weren’t even on the bench last night.
But AOS always contributes hugely to practically all games. Last night was not his best night.
@ Sourceoftherobe, saw turf moving and coming up a few times last night esp over Cusack side of goal and def for Higgins and maybe Barrett. I was in the Davin row U. I was surprised to see this as its ‘Croke Park’.
Bad weekend for Mayo GAA as a whole. Hurlers shipped a serious tanking in Ballina. Might be best to just put down the phone…
Where’s Diskin @
Lots of talk ablut a league final appearance… unless we improve up front a lot next week, Galway will beat us easily and they are still not at full strenth. I was really hoping to get a win against them this year in the league… have my doubts
A player like Aidan will be targeted by the dubs and all top teams to be honest. He is capable of bossing a game if he isn’t shackled, he is like King Kong with the biplanes whizzing by and with every pass they take something out of him and distract and almost tease him with a view to achieving frustration that results in him trying to stamp his authority on a game (if he is on the wrong line). This in fact impacts on his game as he takes a little too much out of the ball trying to bull his way into his expected level of influence.
I have no doubt that a player like Aidan is the heart of the engine room of the Breaffy club team and players like him develop a firefighters mindset as in the more things begin to slip the more they try to exert influence on the ever moving events. Aidan has so much to offer in varied positions depending on the opposition and their preferred setup. The dubs would be uncomfortable with a man of his stature in the square and would be far more comfortable with O Shea out on the forty as their meticulously rehearsed transition from defense to attack would largely bypass (with intent) him. He is a player that could exert huge influence if the war games are correctly hatched regarding the opposition, I wouldn’t have him in the square for all games by any means but he would regularly visit that critical area in set pieces and indeed open play.
We The only way to disorganize an organized defense is fluid movement of players with different skill sets. The dubs were comfortable last night because Mayo were too conscious of turning the ball over, they had chances to ping early balls but they played goldfish bowl football to often, whoever is close gets the ball and anything risky might be to the detriment to my team but would certainly be detrimental to me should I try it and fail. Not saying horan is fussy but big games often bring out a frailty in a non settled team.
Horan will not be baying to the skies tonight wailing why me, he is a manager that operates ar a high level and he will learn much from the defeat last night. He will encourage the direct transition when playing Dublin and Kerry now that we have tuned into the more impotant telemetry settings with keane and Buckley and he will play a more measured approach fo oh teams.
Galway are a difficult nut to crack and seem determined to man the trenches regardless of opposition. They frustrated us today and I think we were lucky to get a result in Tuam. They are well coached in the black arts (as are any title hopefuls) and have some lovely players but I do think if they want to blossom fully they will have to sarcrafice a year or two in order to become a real potent dilemma for their opposition. The game changes when the birds flee their perches in Croke Park and if Galway want to be there they will have to up their game
I do try and wait until my emotions calmed a bit to try and look at the game. All in all, a disaster, bullied all over the pitch, looked tired and leggy. I would not read anawful lot into it though, the experience will do a lot for the younger lads, and show the level they need to get to. I would also note that they played challenge games Sunday and Wednesday as a potential reason as to why they looked so tired, and feel James may have already wrote off this game in the grand scheme. I wonder why James isn’t playing EO’D in the league more, was find of the year last year, and BH looked to be capable of doing thejob at 3 when moved in there?
I would looking ahead to the Galway game say that we really need to ladown a marker to them ahead of the summer though.