Details of our match-day 26 for this evening’s FBD League semi-final against Galway in the Dome (throw-in 6pm) were announced late last night. Here’s the starting fifteen and subs we’ve named for this pre-season outing:
Mayo (FBD Connacht League semi-final v Galway, 7/1/2022): Rory Byrne (Castlebar Mitchels); Donnacha McHugh (Castlebar Mitchels), Padraig O’Hora (Ballina Stephenites), Sam Callinan (Ballina Stephenites); Paddy Durcan (Castlebar Mitchels, captain), Michael Plunkett (Ballintubber), Eoghan McLaughlin (Westport); Conor O’Shea (Breaffy), Jordan Flynn (Crossmolina Deel Rovers); Fergal Boland (Aghamore), Diarmuid O’Connor (Ballintubber), Frank Irwin (Ballina Stephenites); James Carr (Ardagh), Fionnan Duffy (Crossmolina Deel Rovers), Jack Mahon (Charlestown Sarsfields). Subs: Jack Livingstone (Breaffy), Paddy Heneghan (Castlebar Mitchels), Matthew Ruane (Breaffy), Robbie Hennelly (Breaffy), Stephen Coen (Hollymount/Carramore), Ruairi Keane (Mayo Gaels), Justin Healy (Cill Chomain), Rory Brickenden (Westport), Ryan O’Donoghue (Belmullet), Paul Towey (Charlestown Sarsfields), Darren Coen (Hollymount/Carramore).
Obviously, it’s all change from last time out. Just four of the starting fifteen named for this evening’s game also started in last September’s All-Ireland final, Padraig O’Hora, Paddy Durcan (who captains the team this evening), Michael Plunkett and Diarmuid O’Connor all lined out against Tyrone, while Jordan Flynn and James Carr, both of whom start this evening, joined the fray off the bench last September.
Five lads – Donnacha McHugh, Sam Callinan, Frank Irwin, Fionnan Duffy and Jack Mahon – are being given their first run-out at Senior level tonight. Four others – Jack Livingstone, Paddy Heneghan, Ruairi Keane, Justin Healy – feature within the match-day panel at Senior level for the first time.
The best of luck to the team this evening and special best wishes to all those players making their Senior debuts.
What surprises me, there
Is no Garrymore player in the squad.
Even though they were arguably the second best team in the championship last year.
Two crossmolina, who were admismal in the championship, and are a very low level
Now.
For example, Gary golden Garrymore at midfield
Is well ahead by miles of a lot players starting, but not given a chance.
Just shows what the fans do or don’t know. Lots of names there that were never flagged at all.
For about three or four years now, many posters have consistently remarked that one player in particular, Diarmuid, could do with a rest, or maybe a much later start to the year.
It’s a bit surprising to see him out in game 1 in the fbd.
If you purchase the game to stream this evening, is it possible to watch it back after? I am out until 6.30 or 7 but would still like to see it.
Don’t forget our friend COVID, who hasn’t gone away. This, and Knockmore absentees, are a big factor in the composition of the 26.
Little bit of pressure on some of existing squad members on show to perform. Could be worth watching
Not overly stacked with midfield options.
Diarmid, who starts & S.Coen coming on possibly if things aren’t working out…don’t know if Mattie can figure, considering what happened last time out.
Very experimental, but I guess that was what the combines were about.
New season…New fun. Good luck Mayo.
Couldnt get phone version of connachtgaa to work but no issues signing up for match via laptop.
You can buy and watch event after event has taken place. For example Leitrim vsligo is still available to buy/watch
2 hops, are you suggesting that Mattie can’t or won’t play ‘after what happened last time out”. Did you see his interview at the All Stars?
Happy to see lots of new names there, thats what the FBD is for. Its up to these guys to grab their chance with both hands and hold the jersey until someone takes it off them. There should be no sacred cows or lads walking onto the team.
Will be paying particular interest to sam callinan and Frank Irwin as i think they are 2 potential bolters, i have been calling for kieran king for years also so hope he is only excluded due to club commitments
Havent seen much of Charlestown in recnt years so cant say ive seen young Mahon in action? Whats he like?
The result not important tonight, Horan will be happy to see some newbies making a statement
Hard to believe the big one v galway is a s early as April 25th, cant wrap my head around how early that is for our biggest game of the year
@2 hops
re: Mattie i stand to be corrected but i suspect his suspension will go into next game of same competition, which will be Galway in the championship in April? Can somebody confirm this is the case
Though this is the GAA tbf so if we appeal it we will get him off lol
I think the suspension for Mattie will be in the league this year. Don’t think it has to be served in championship.
I would like to have seen Callinan selected in more forward position. More of half back/midfielder imo. Any news on Galway team. I presume experimental also.
Apologies 2hops – presume you are (correctly) referring to the sending off?
Hi. Happy new year all.
And so it begins, Galway team named, fairly experimental with a few of the All Ireland winning under 20s in there..
Horan must like what he sees in Callinan to give him a start at such a young age. It’s a chance for Carr as well as other fringe and younger players to grab the jersey and hold on to it.
Damian Comer listed at full forward for Galway – should be an interesting tussle with Padraic o Hora!!!
After months of recriminations, negativity and bitterness, I for one am thoroughly looking forward to this game. The location is one reason. But primarily it’s to watch another bunch of Mayo lads going out to do their best for our county.
I live in Scotland and am a Celtic season ticket holder. I would far prefer to spend that money on going to club and county GAA games but life and work took me elsewhere.
To my mind, win, lose or draw all of these lads, the management and the back room teams are heroes for what they give our county.
“It’s not just a county, it’s our home; it’s not just a kit it’s our colours; we’re not just 15, we’re thousands; we’re not just a crowd, we’re a family; it’s not just 70 minutes, it’sa lifetime; it’s not passion, it’s emotion; it’s not just a game, it’s our life. Maigheo abú”
Obviously Knockmore players are unavailable but very little representation from the other senior county semi-finalist sides also, I wonder were they called in a little later than the others?
If not, I’d doubt Belmullet and particularly Garrymore are too happy with their representation or lack thereof…
Also I would have liked to see the Morans or Kennedy from Westport involved, hopefully county football doesn’t pass them by as they are real talents. While the former 2 mightn’t be the traditional typical Horan type of player, with all due respect he may need to rethink a few things in terms of approach if we’re going to get over the line at all, so he should be open to anything
Galway have an interesting side out too, so should make for a great entertaining game. Surprised to see Comer in there though, to be honest I feel his career has been petering out a bit at this stage so thought they might try a new approach at full forward, but maybe Joyce is hoping to get one more full season out of him to see can he re-discover some of his old form..
Great to see horan giving the new lads a chance hopefully develop 2 or 3 more that can push for places this year and it’s definitely time for a few guys who have been around the panel for a few years who have been knocking at the door to either s..t or get of the pot at this stage . Wouldn’t read to much in Kevin macs comments in his interview about mullin he’s probably not with the county team at the moment due to club commitments and mightn’t no what’s going on at all but when it finally comes out I’m shur people will be pleasantly surprised and happy with the outcome
I agree about the Morans from Westport basing that on most recent viewing from County semi final they look dangerous at club level.
Always a few missed who people think should be there whether unavailable or they slip behind in pre season. Some may be omitted in order simply to new faces others and panel could change a lot for game 2 if they win.
No problem @catcol. That is what I was referring to…
If Mattie has to miss a game ,hopefully it is now. I feel he will be one of our 3 most important players this year.
Details of the team Galway have named are here.
Leaving out Tommy Conroy and Enda Hession who are injured. Not one other player in Mayo panel from Garrymore, Claremorris, Davitts, The Neale, Ballinrobe, Kilmaine, or Shrule tonight.
17 players from 26 come from 5 clubs Crossmolina, Breaffy, Westport, Castlebar and Ballina.12 of the starting 15 come from them 5 clubs.
Awh fuck it tis great or be back . This last final has hit me worst of all it really did . Only starting to thaw out now .
Interesting team . He has lads on the bench who have experience if we are in trouble . Well we never like to lose to Galway 🙂
Some set up in the dome . I watched some of the Sligo and Leitrim game . Ball moves fast .
Looking forward to seeing how some of these lads play . Haven’t seen much of Carr in the green of late . Callinan at the back and very interested to see how Jack Mahon gets on.
Anyway happy new year to all
Thanks Ontheditch for letting us know that we can watch games back if we buy a ticket to view online.
I’m really looking forward to the game this evening and am full of positivity for the year ahead whatever tussles and tight spots we get in and out of in the League.
Last year was just another game.
We have another shot this year with great players on our team to watch show us what they can do.
Enjoy the game, folks!
Not a pleasent statistic Sam Og. With so much covid about it may be difficult to ascertain who is available for game. None the less concerning. It is a reasonable expectation that the management have put a bit of thought into this fixture. Nice looking blend in that Galway team.
It’s a fair comment Sam og. A damning statistic. True we Don t know the impact of covid but after September it’s clear we need to look at new options. I thought we should have put diarmuid o Connor to full forward after 20 min in the all Ireland. Maybe he will go in there tonight.
According to the Connacht GAA program Conor Loftus is starting instead of James Carr
I would not be overly concerned about tonight or about our April clash either. James and Padraig J will have totally different perspectives in April. For James and for all Mayos it is about getting to, and ready for, the final in Croker. For Padraic the aim has to be a Connacht title, then hopefully more progress. That’s how Stephen Rochford saw it too and how, even if we had to take the long road, we put in two of out best ever final performances in his term.
Jesus Mayomagic you’re on the ball!
Happy new year everyone, fully agreed with Mayomaningalway – fantastic to have another Mayo match to look forward to, first time thinking about the county team where I’ve not had the final in the back of my mind (Belmullet’s mighty championship run was a nice distraction though!). Have the stream countdown going on in the background and can’t wait
Regarding players who “should get a run/be given a chance” do those advocating their cause know if they are available/interested?
I give you the cases of two players of recent times who looked like they were being neglected but came into the Senior team in their own good time. First, Mattie Ruane, a minor of 2014 who came into the senior team in 2019, apparently after his uni studies were concluded. Second Shane Nally, a minor of 2008 who also came into the team 6-7 years later, presumably of his own choice.
Technical question for this evenings game. Can you chrome cast from Connacht gaa web site to your TV from phone or iPad? Or would you need to connect your lap top with a HDMI cable to your TV?
Mayomagic2000 – i couldn’t use my chromecast or skybox for the sligo v leitrem game on Tuesday evening so had to watch it on the laptop. Your best bet is probably to connect the HDMI cable from the laptop to the TV.
Could be a few Mayo team changes in the starting lineup to match the stronger Galway players named in their team.
WJ, thanks for keeping us up to date on what’s happening in the FBD league, it makes this competition much more enjoyable.
Judging by a lot of the comments, we’re recovering from the biggest bout of gloom and feelings of hopelessness that we’ve experienced in a long time, including 2004 and 2006.
2022 really does feel like the beginning of a new era, hopefully successful, in Mayo football. If we can learn the important lessons from last year’s final, there’s every reason to believe we can retain our place in the the top 4/5 teams in the country. Wishing Mayo and our supporters the best of luck in the coming year. Also WJ, I know you’re considering changes to the way the blog is run, we’re all hoping you manage to keep it going, we’d be lost without it.
Mayo doing well.
The feed for me isn’t good,very stuttery and slowing down,speeding up constantly, almost unwatchable.Im on excellent Internet so it’s disappointing, hope it improves.Are others having the same issues?
Sorry … late home… how do I get to watch it
Normal service resumed here..fergal boland outstanding but won’t see a minute of championship and possibly league…whereas diarmuid very poor again and he’ll play every minute of mayos season
Three points directly conceded from Rory Byrne kick outs in that first half.
All these Robbie Hennelly replacement fans need to realise there is no one else near his level since Clarke left
Match is streamed on Connacht gaa web site once ya pay the few Bob .
No problems with streaming . Camera angles aren’t the best but other than that it’s fine
Struggling with our own kickouts and getting the ball to stick in the full forward line.
Sam Callinan and Donnacha McHugh doing pretty well. Fergal Boland also.
Toothless attack apart from Boland. Comer, Conroy exploiting a poor kick out routine.
Boland excellent.
Flynn is a liability with his reckless fouling
Callinan has had some flashes of real class
Durcan prob the best Mayo player so far.
DOC not looking sharp at all
Ohora and comer having a decent battle
OShea is pretty good
Ryan O’Donoghue delivering a big impact already.
Blondie is spot on
Callinan is the real deal,still at school too so lots of improvement left in him
We need a goal ?
We need a few forwards.
Very enjoyable game,great pace, Galway probably deserved it.
The Dome is some set up.
@yew tree… We have forwards. They get converted into half backs
A win Galway probably needed more, but 13 points aint going to win a whole lot of intercounty matches
No forward done enough damage on the scoreboard from play and that’s the crux of it
Will be going into the league now fairly cold and surely a bit hungover from last year, not ideal at all
The dome is class alright. Fair play to connaught gaa.
Would love to have had a run out in it myself:-(
It’s always been a mystery to me why fergal boland has been so marginalised especially when by far the weakest line of our team in recent years is our half forward line. A good half forward provides scores and creativity, both of which he provides
Decent game, both managers will be happy enough. Callinan the pick of the newbies
Galway deserved their win the better and fitter team. Not many newbies put their hands up for more starts for Mayo tonight. Boland and O Donoghue the stand outs.
Shane Walsh made a big impact when he came in.
Callinan was the only newbie to make any impact.
Our goalkeeping option appears to be just Robbie Hennelly, and then daylight to a bunch of guys that are only club standard players. It’s a real issue for Mayo. I shudder to think what we would be like if Robbie got injured.
Thought Mayo turned over a lot of cheap ball in that second half.
Poor Mayo performance
One of the positives I would take from that is Galway are no great shakes and they played a lot of key players.
None of the newbies made any impression apart from Callinan he was excellent and drove forward at any attempt.
Diarmuid extremely poor, gave away countless balls very lucky to see past half time.
Boland excellent, Ryan O D worked incredibly hard no around him to share the load.
ALso worth noting that its not at all inconceivable Galway could have 2 trophies under their belt by the time they face us in championship.
Any team with momentum will be dangerous. Add to that there’s been a lot of negative stuff said and written about this Galway team and their management after the past few season, they’re coming into this season with one serious point to prove as well
Definitely an anticlimax after all the hype.
Retain our division 1 status will be our next target!
A fired up Shane Walsh was always going to make an impact in those conditions.
Of the new lads,I thought Callinan and Duffy (in the first half did well)
I was impressed with Galways tactical shut down of ROD,he had a good bit of damage done then but didn’t have much help up front.
Galway well worth their win when you look at the wide count, goal chances and the shots they dropped short. I agree with you about the goalkeeper options @Larry Duff. Yet listening to some people it’s a conspiracy how Robbie and Aidan start every game!
Callinan, Durcan, Boland and Ryan O’Donoghue did well. Also thought Ruairí Keane looked good when he came on. He’s someone I rate highly.
We’ll need a few regulars back to really compete in division 1.
@supermac Boland not starting in the AI final last or at least being on the bench will be a black mark against Horan’s managerial alongside the Freeman subbing in 2013. No one can make sense of it.
Boland has always impressed me when playing against weaker opposition. Against the better teams/markers he tends to play in circles around the 40/50 m line without any penetration. I would not give up hope on him improving but he needs to move on.
Not a lot to be read into that game of course but we’ll take the win!
Two experimental sides but we had more guys who would be in contention for championship starts than ye had.
Don’t think any of the fringe Mayo lads put their hands up really apart from Callinan.
Durcan and ROD the stand outs I thought.
For us – I like the look of young McLoughlin that came on. Fitzgerald did well in the fullback line also. Conroy as usual was prominent. Walsh, Culhane, Kelly and Molloy made positive impacts off the bench.
McDaid was disappointing and that could be the last start he gets I fear now – he has had plenty of chances since Pj took over.
A decent runout for both teams.
Paddy and Fergal the 2 best for us, Callinan looks handy too.
Should have been a bigger margin at the end. We really lost all our shape in the last quarter. To be fair Galway did name a stonger team overall so can’t read too much into it, and it’s only January, but we will need Tommy and Cillian back and firing on all cylinders sooner rather than later.
I don’t think you can read anything into fbd games win or lose, hopefully some sort of structure is voted through in Congress and these pre season training sessions can finally be done away with.
Supermac, I don’t think Fergal has been marginalised, in fact he is highly thought of and is probably one of the best natural footballers we have, I would love to see him get a series of games and the team set up to his strengths, he is a class act when going well. His size has always been an issue and Horan finds it hard to fit him into his system that needs to be physical around the middle third. Horan tried him out at half back in a series of challenge games last year in an effort to find him space but that was never going to work with the talent we have there.
Best team won the game, Mayo flattered by only a 4 point defeat.. Good pace to the game, and the Dome looks great. very few stoppages for injuries.. All Mayo eye’s now need to be focused on Donegal,..
Enjoyable watch serious pace to that game.
The Dome makes for good viewing this time of year
Callinan was decent of the new players the rest were way off it.
Duffy adds nothing apart from frees as was evident in the second half. We have enough right sided freetakers.
Roll on the league
Dont know about the rest of ye – but I thought the camera work was very poor and very hard to follow the game – especially when it went over the far side of the field.
Not a good evening for Rory if he hope’s to dislodge Robbie. Hopefully Colm Reape will be more decisive on Sunday. I thought Jack Mahon was poor for the u20s last year and looked off the required standard tonight. The three inside lads probably needed more experienced lads playing inside in the full forward line with them.
Callinan for his age looked impressive, Donnacha McHugh did ok as well. Other than that – none of new players stood out.
Frank Irwin did well I thought.
Also was it Heneghan that came on and looked a real athlete…… to me at least…..
IMO Callinan really showed he ability so I think we have another one to work with.
We didn’t look as hungry as Galway…youknow Joyce has been seething since last Summer and you could see it
Wouldn’t be reading too much into that, Galway had the stronger team out, they have much more to prove at this stage of the year, they have a lot of hurt from the last two Connacht defeats. I’d expect them to have a good league this year. Callinan, Durcan and ROD were good. GK is a problem area. On we go.
Mayo,s best player Fergal Boland. Enjoyable game but camera focus very poor at times, unable to keep up with the game!
Galway look in transition, the team in April will be heavily influenced by the All Ireland U20 winning team in 2020. Conor Flaherty, Jonathan McGrath, Jack Glynn, Sean Fitzgerald, Tony Gill, Matthew Tierney, Patrick Kelly, Paul Kelly, James McLaughlin, Tomo Culhane all played this evening
Shane Walsh leaving Conor Loftus for dead, Ruane and O’Shea carrying ball into tackles and the inability of Jordan Flynn to execute a tackle shows that very little has changed and I don’t buy the excuse that it’s early in the season. The midfield area is certainly a big worry. I thought Sam Callinan impressed, but it’s totally unfair to put this sort of pressure on a LC student. Boland the pick of the crop tonight, apart from Ryan O’Donoghue who is operating at a higher level than all the rest at the moment.
Thought Mayo looked a bit toothless up front until ROD came on at HT. He gave the team a bit of a focal point and I think he scored 0-4 (2 frees) in about 10 minutes and then hit the post as well. I think Galway switched the young lad with the mullet on him and he actually seemed to do a decent job on ROD as he was running amok there for about 15 mins after the break.
Scoreline could have been worse though as Galway had about 4 good goal chances and didn’t take any of them.
Great Dome. Mayo gave away alot of cheap ball. Galway better on the night. I watched it on my laptop. It was fine in the small screen format but terrible on full screen. It may be the laptop but it has a reasonable spec and I was only running the one application so I dont see why it was bad on full screen. Any tech guru have any ideas,.
Desperate commentary and no replays also contributed to the presentation. God help anyone listening to this on radio. The 3 boys were in chat mode for long periods with only occasionnal commentary. At very least, i would expect analysis to be confined to when ball is out of play and water breaks / half time. Instead we had continuous repititive waffle.
The game itself, Galway were way the better team with Shane Walsh the standout player. McHugh looked good for Mayo as did Callinan, though i would like to have seen him switched to half back. I hope we dont make another Oisín Mullin out of him by wasting his talent in corner back.
Galway will take a lot of encouragement from this.
Galway seemed to be building for the league hence lined out a stronger team and probably learned a few things tonight.
Unfortunately I think it was a box ticking exercise for ourselves, give plenty of lads a chance so no one can be complaining and revert to type once more when the league starts. We learned nothing tonight and will be going into the league stone cold.
Its impossible job for one camera man. You probably have 10 in Croke Park which is what we are all used to seeing.
They could improve it massively with extra cameras ……of course then you have the cost of that.
Also I wonder why there are no adds at half time ……maybe the cost of production is too high etc.
Anyway it was nice to see a game again.
Agree with the comment above that we need scorers. Simply put, we need more people who can threaten points and/or goals. Once ROD was bottled up, there didn’t seem to be any other threat.
That said, in wide open spaces in summer we can string scores together from numerous players from different sources. But a few more dangerous forwards is at the top of my wish list.
Great to be back on the road again.
I listened on radio. Commentary was unprofessional and incompetent. Lucky I don’t own a dog or a cat or they might have got a few kicks when commentators waffled and the sound of the refs whistle was the only connection to reality.
Six players on that match day panel are still U20, Jack livingston, Sam Callinan U19, Donnacha McHugh, Frank Iwin, Paddy heneghan and Ruari Keane, not sure if i would like the U20 Squad torn apart this year would rather they go back to the U20s
Not sure what Horan has seen in Jack livingston as a goalkeeper, never been involved at underage and not first choice for his club and he is jumping over luke Jennings ballinrobe, a U20 panelist the last 2 years with Lee Tolan Jennings, don’t believe livingston me came up even for the u20 panel. also the likes of Jamie McNicholas and Matthew Flanagan would have desired a shot before him.. Is Conor o Shea and Jordan Flynn or best backup midfielders surely there is better out there, and as of the end of last year were was Fionn McDonagh and Mark Moran.
Nothing learned from that game. Still a problem at GK, and midfield, D O Connor need a complete break from football, no forwards to score from play apart from D O D, young Callinan a prospect but a defended which we have plenty of. looks like Aiden , Lee and Cillian will all be needed to stay in Division 1.
Nothing learnt. Early days but same problems can be seen. No enough forward swcoring from play. The half forward line is not functioning at all. Agree Diarmuid O Connor need a break…Conor Loftus, Jordan Flynn not offering enough in my opinion.
Boland and Paddy Durkan impressed, as did Ryan when introduced but he was isolated and Galway eventually tightened up. Horan was allowed bring on unlimited subs tonight…what’s the point in brining on D Coen with time almost up? Bizzare
We need to consider how many are likely to be isolating and injured/given a break and the knockmore game on Sunday.
We’ll likely have a very different line up for first league game.
We have an issue with back up to Hennelly (he’s the best we have by a good distance at the moment)
Midfield has been light for the last 2 years,was hoping Oisin might come in there this year but I’d say he’ll be gone soon.
We needed somebody to out their hand up in the forwards tonight but didn’t really happen.
I’m not surprised Galway won,they named a team nearer their best and were well up for it,PJ hopping and roaring in the sideline,in fairness he showed a bit of tactical smarts tonight aswell.
Surely someone in the media asked Horan about Oisin tonight no?
From Kevin Mcs comments it looks like Oisin is going.
Strange though, as I think I read a couple months ago that Geelong had already started training. It seems inconceivable that Oisin – a newbie to Ozzie rules – would miss out on the start of season, not only missing crucial time to build up his oval ball skills but also missing time to bond with his new teammates in a new country. A new continent. What the hell is going on?
Does anyone from Westport know where Conor O’Malley is?
Thought I read back in 2019 he was willing to come on board.
A serious option in goals if he’s around.