Those ever-informative Club Mayo Dublin people are saying that it’ll be Sunday before we find out for definite what the team to face Westmeath is going to be but they do provide details of the team that’ll appear in the match programme. This confirms that Barry Moran, Pat Harte and Billy Joe are definite absentees but the jury appears to be still out on whether or not Ger Cafferkey or Alan Dillon will be okay to line out. Definitely coming into the team are Barry Kelly at right half-forward, Austin O’Malley at full-forward and Mark Ronaldson at top-of-the-left. As expected, Andy Moran is named at left half-back, having done well when moved there for the second half against Donegal.
Once again, Mikey Sweeney has to be content with a place on the bench. There’s no sign, either, of Barry Regan – I assume he must be injured as he’s not even listed amongst the subs. As a result, Austie is probably the only option we have for full-forward on Sunday but I assume that, given his penchant for wandering out beyond the fifty and Mark Ronaldson’s inclusion inside, we could be back into the land of pumping high ball into small men down in Charlestown.
For the record, then, here’s the holding fifteen named for Sunday but stand by with your biros ahead of the throw-in for details of further possible last-minute changes:
MAYO (NFL Division 1 v Westmeath, 8/3/2009): David Clarke; Liam O’Malley, Ger Cafferkey, Donal Vaughan; Peadar Gardiner, Tom Cunniffe, Andy Moran; Tom Parsons, Ronan McGarritty; Barry Kelly, Trevor Mortimer, Alan Dillon; Conor Mortimer, Austin O’Malley, Mark Ronaldson.
Westmeath have also named their team for Sunday, which shows four changes – including three inter-county debutants – from the one beaten out the door by Derry in their last outing (more on these changes here). Here it is:
WESTMEATH (NFL Division 1 v Mayo, 8/3/2009): G Connaughton; F Boyle, K Gavin, J Keane; M Ennis, D Heavin, D Harte; N Kilcoyne, D Duffy; E Leonard, P Kelly, C Reilly; K Martin, T McDaniel, D Glennon.
Oh, before I forget – for those of you in the Face The Ball Mini-League, you’ll need to complete your weekend predictions by midnight tonight as there are a number of matches being played tomorrow.
Heard that Austin O’Malley was Mayo’s best player in a recent challenge match against Meath. Game was in Kiltoom and finished in a draw.
why is austy playing, he clearly is not going to play championship football, he is like a ship turning, surely a younger player should be giving a chance,there has to be someone elswe,dont get me wrong he is a good league player but what use is that to anyone,cast your minds back to the games vs galway and sligo season, he is greedy,couldnt spot a pass to save his life,slow as a wet week,come on johnn…. lets face it league does not matter probably never will,build for the championship
why is austin o malley selected can anyone tell me,does anybody think he deserves another chance, another decent league run and then completly out of his dept when it comes to championship, i was a fan until last year until the sligo game, he is so slow,greedy,would not spot a pass in a decade, the league really does not matter, why not give youth a chance(plenty of forwards u25 deserve a chance garrymores enda varley,castlebars sean ryder to think but a few) come on johnno stop going backwards,does anybody feel the same?
No future with Austin – an average league player that hasn’t the pace, vision, or toughness for top-level football. It really is alarming how bad a team we are becoming!
In defence of Austie (and I wouldn’t be his greatest fan or anything), he did well in much of the league last year – remember, for example, the fine displays against Laois and Kerry (his winner in that one was his fifth point of the day)? I agree that he’s had his chips as an option for the championship but we’re not exactly brimming with other options right now and it could be that he’ll do okay against a team like Westmeath.
Austie is a real enigma alright, it a great pity that his Winter form deserts him come the Summer. If I remember his best Summer game was against Kerry in 2005.
Have to agree with Eriad, we seem to be regressing and its not like the old days when league form could be disregarded.
a little reminder – just because AOM is in the team going to print in the match programme doesn’t mean he’s a 100% certainty to start – suspect the starting 15 could vary a bit from what’s going to be in the programme.
However have to agree that the he is not a real championship contender based on past form. So, maybe it’s a case he just fits well for this weekends fixture and can do the business against westmeath
Agree that AOM is not a real future option for the full-forward line, but I think JOM just sees him as the best option for the game against Westmeath. While it may well only be a league game, it’s one we simply have to win. Otherwise I can see only relegation. I don’t agree with this ‘the league means nothing’ stuff anyway. It’s no coincidence that all the top teams are currently in Div 1 (bar Cork maybe) and AI winners tend to have had a good league campaign. We should have it instilled in us that every game should be won and every competition we enter should be won.
We simply don’t have that winning mentality at the moment