I’m a bit behind the times on this, I know, as I’m only in the door from a local event but, in any case, I can see that discussion is already well underway on the team we’ve named for our League opener against Monaghan. Here’s the team we’ve announced for the game:
Mayo (NFL Division One v Monaghan, 4/2/2017): David Clarke (Ballina Stephenites); Donie Newcombe (Castlebar Mitchels), Keith Higgins (Ballyhaunis), Paddy Durcan (Castlebar Mitchels); Colm Boyle (Davitts), Stephen Coen (Hollymount/Carramore), David Drake (Ballaghaderreen); Donal Vaughan (Ballinrobe), Danny Kirby (Castlebar Mitchels); Fergal Boland (Aghamore), Kevin McLoughlin (Knockmore), Jason Doherty (Burrishoole); Evan Regan (Ballina Stephenites), Alan Freeman (Aghamore), Cillian O’Connor (Ballintubber).
So, as expected, there’s a fair bit of mixing between experience and experimentation for our first competitive outing of 2017. The team named contains two League debutants – Donie Newcombe at corner-back and Fergal Boland at wing-forward (the very best, by the way, to both of them) – and there’s eight changes from the side that lined out in our most recent competitive game, which was, of course, last year’s All-Ireland final replay against Dublin.
Gone from that team are Robbie Hennelly, Brendan Harrison (injured), Lee Keegan (club-tied), Seamus O’Shea (injured), Tom Parsons, Aidan O’Shea (injured), Diarmuid O’Connor (injured) and Andy Moran. In come David Clarke, Donie Newcombe, Stephen Coen, David Drake, Danny Kirby, Fergal Boland, Evan Regan and Alan Freeman. Of those, David Clarke and Stephen Coen came in off the bench last October, while Evan Regan appeared as a sub in the drawn final.
Best of luck to the lads as they go in search of a winning start to this year’s League campaign.
In fairness to Stephen Rochford he is giving the three new panel additions who performed well and consistently throughout the FBD an opportunity tonight. Best of luck to Donie, Danny and Fergal. Would love to see all three progress this spring and show that they can significantly strengthen the panel by the time summer comes around.
One thing I noticed with that team named. It’s a very pacey and athletic backline. Drake, Durcan, Higgins, Newcombe and Coen are all agile and quick. Then you have Donie who will get up and down the pitch all day.
McGloughlin will get up and down quickly.
Boland and Regan are quick. Then a bit o strength and size with JDoc, Cillian and Freeman.
A really well balanced team. I think we can win this one. Guys like Drake and Newcombe will be hungry for a jersey.
McManus if isolated will get crowded out with all that speed back there.
Let another league campaign. My37th if I recall. This time I start my journey 30 miles south of Heathrow.7pm.hon mayo
Fair play to you Raz that’s commitment coming home for a league game in deepest Winter. Best of luck to the team and especially Fergal Danny and Donie we go again hope springs eternal as they say
Best wishes to Donie Newcombe and Fergal Boland. Like Brendan Harrison, Donie is a very game lad so he should be a good replacement for him. It’ll be interesting to see how Fergal will get on, a lot of the time Alan Freeman and Evan Regan’s biggest problem has been getting the ball into their hands, hopefully a playmaker like Boland will be able to bring some of the other forwards into the game a bit more.
Midfield would be a bit of a concern for us with the O’Sheas missing and I think that Barry Moran and Jason Gibbons will be missing as well. We will need a massive shift from Donie Vaughan as it’s a big ask for Danny Kirby coming into a game like this, playing in the middle of the park. Best of luck to Danny as well. Hopefully Tom Parsons will be ready to go at any time, if required.
One thing that I have noticed this week, I have seen no interviews with any of the Mayo players or anyone from the management team in the national media. There have been a lot of interviews with personal from some of the other teams but none from Mayo. It’ll be interesting to see if this continues. Maybe after all of the ructions in the press before Christmas, there could be a bit of a reluctance to engage much with the national media. Any comments I have seen have been as follows, Stephen Rochford speaking to the Western People or to the Mayo News, said the following etc.
I suppose with Mayo been 8 points behind Roscommon with only a few minutes left in the last game, it shows the improvement that we’ll have to make to win this game. With away trips to Tyrone, Dublin and Kerry ahead, you’d love to see us get the two points in this game. We could need a few goals to win this one as well. Best of luck to all involved!
Glad they went with Clarke . Hope they have the cop on to play him in 90 per cent of the league games . Let him perfect what they want for the summer , because come the heat he won’t let us down
Good luck to the Team and Management tonight.I hope there is big Mayo support in Mac Hale Park. Monaghan will pose a big threat, I hope the Team are really up for the challenge.If any of the players are asked about (washing the dirty linen in public before xmas)it should be NO COMMENT,the less said in the media by players the better.
Hopesprings I’ve been of the same opinion as you about giving the right ball to Freeman. He has proven in the past to be deadly in front of goal but has only been a bit player since the disaster that was 2013 when he was taken off in the final.
He has been a giant for Aghamore all along. Regan is also very skillful so now could be the time for both of them to stand up and be counted.
Really looking forward to getting back on the horse this evening!! PJ and Hope Springs, I couldnt agree more re Freeman. I think his confidence has been low since 13. But I think he has what it takes, if he can get a bit of self belief back.
Best of luck to Newcombe, Kirby and Boland this evening. Here we go again!!
Belated birthday greetings to the Blog by the way WJ. Love the new look!
Chomping….
Yeah pj and the view, I’m happy to see that we have three out and our scorers in the full-forward line for the game this evening. There should be goals in those lads, as long as they do all play in those positions, close to the Monaghan goals.