We’ve just named our starting fifteen and subs for Sunday’s NFL Division One clash with Kerry at McHale Park (throw-in 2.30 pm). Here are the full details:
Mayo (NFL Division One v Kerry, 20/2/2011): Robert Hennelly (Breaffy); Tom Cunniffe (Castlebar Mitchels), Ger Cafferkey (Ballina Stephenites), Chris Barrett (Belmullet); Peadar Gardiner (Crossmolina), Trevor Howley (Knockmore), Kevin McLoughlin (Knockmore); Jason Gibbons (Ballintubber), Ronan McGarrity (Ballina Stephenites; Aidan Campbell (Swinford), Andy Moran (Ballaghaderreen), Alan Dillon (Ballintubber); Aidan O’Shea (Breaffy), Aidan Kilcoyne (Knockmore), Mark Ronaldson (Shrule-Glencorrib). Subs: Kenneth O’Malley (Ballinrobe), Cathal Hallinan (Ballintubber), James Burke (Ballymun Kickhams, Dublin), James Moran (Burrishoole), Tom Parsons (Charlestown), Cathal Freeman (Aghamore), Neil Douglas (Castlebar Mitchels), Jason Doherty (Burrishoole), Alan Feeney (Castlebar Mitchels), David Killeen (Ballinrobe), Cillian O’Connor (Ballintubber).
Plenty of talk about there. First up, switches from the Down game – six in total. In come Robert Hennelly, Chris Barrett, Peadar Gardiner, Trevor Howley, Aidan Campbell and Aidan Kilcoyne and out go Kenneth O’Malley, Cathal Hallinan, Keith Higgins, Richie Feeney, Enda Varley and Alan Freeman.
At least three (and possibly four) of those are easily explained, with Freeman and Varley both injured and with Keith Higgins away for a few weeks. Richie Feeney was taken off against Down suffering from what was described as “tight legs” so maybe he’s injured as well.
Kenneth O’Malley and Cathal Hallinan are both named in the subs so injury doesn’t appear to be a factor where they’re concerned. I can understand why the promising Breaffy man should be given his first league start between the sticks but I’ve no idea why Cathal has been dropped after his promising competitive debut against Down. This is especially so with Ger Cafferkey switching back to full-back and Trevor Howley coming in at centre-back. I thought Caff was being given a run at six (I know, Marty Clarke gave him a bit of a run-around there in the first half under the lights but James Horan professed himself happy with his second-half display) and you’d be hard pressed to find any brave soul who’d argue in favour of reinstating Trevor Howley in the pivotal centre-back position after the troubles he’s had there in the recent past. Why not Hallinan (or Killeen or maybe Alan Feeney) at 3 and leave Cafferkey at 6?
Further up, the selection is more along the lines expected, with Jason Gibbons now settling in at midfield and the two Aidans returning in the forwards. Andy Moran at 11 makes sense (keep belting them over Andy!) with Alan Dillon in his best position at 12. The injury list probably helped Aidan O’Shea to keep his place and while I’m not sure corner-forward is his ideal spot, he’ll probably be keeping Killer company there with Mark Ronaldson buzzing around further out.
It’s also interesting to see that Cathal Freeman and Jason Doherty are both named among the subs though whether or we’ll see them on the pitch at any stage is another matter.
That’s it – I think the Kerry team is due to be named later on and if it is, I’ll stick up the details here.
Wow. So we are back to the full and centre back from last year who are nowhere near good enough. What ever happened to full back Kevin Keane from the minors a few years back? There must be very few quality defenders in Mayo if they are still holding down the number 3 and 6 positions. So after all the searching we could only come up with two guys on the team who did not play last year.
All that is missing is T. Mort to really put the icing on the cake.
Trevor Howley might have something to offer, but not at CHB.A definite step backways. A O Shea very lucky to get another run ahead of C O Connor And J Doherty. K McLoughlin would want to tighten up on his defensive duties, but he,s a deadly footpasser of the ball. He set up a couple of great scores against down with long passes.
please be constructive in our criticism.
Do we actually learn anything in Mayo from the past? In 1993 Dermot Flanagan got injured v Cork in semi-final. The then manager made a series of moves starting with bringing on a forward and moving fellas all over the place. Hey presto in the 1997 final Flanagan injured again and the exact same f****g moves.
Kerry walloped us in 2004. We go out with a similar team two years later, play the same open honest game and get a dose , only its over even earlier than 2004.
We were dire in the spine positions for the last four years and tonight we are back at square one again. I would love to be constuctive…I just cannot find the words.
i hope that is not the exact team for sunday especially full back and centre cafferkey is not good enough in my judgement would have liked hallinan another chance . kevin keane is focused on u21 championship give him time. could be changes to this team before they line out sunday
Mmmmmm. Not the team we expected but lads maybe time for a bit of trust. Just because he has named lads doesnt mean he will play them there. like AOS at cornor forward?
Keith is away for a few weeks which is a pity. Forwards look good but Kerry have been scoring well so might be an open game.
Would like to see Doherty and Freeman get a run.
Going by the matches so far, he,l play the team as selected, barring injury! I,d say Caff gone to FB to renew his “love affair” with star, so that mightn,t be a permanent thing. I think Howley would make a good CB but not CHB. I don,t think It,s doing AOS confidence any good at this stage and that he should stick to u21 for the time being. I hope thats constructive enough. Looking forward to sunday. UP MAYO
Is the match on tv. Should try gardiner at chb
let them pick a constructive team and then maybe we can be a little more positive ,howley ,gardinar ,caferkey have all proven in the past that their not good enough in my opinion .i think we would be better off to lose with new players and start a new core to the team than revert to the older players that we know are’nt good enough to improve our overall position. FULL BACK and CENTRE BACK have to be sorted out,maybe take a leaf from a couple of northern teams and move a versatile midfielder (big man) back to full back ,but we just cant keep picking the same players over and over again and somehow expect them to improve. I was looking forward to changes under jh but dont see a lot in that team
We just dont have that many good defenders to pick from im afraid but surely its time for horan to think outside of the box. I think Cafferkys is the best FB option seeing as Kevin Keane doesnt appear to be in the mix. Howley is a real surprise having got more than his fair share of roastings. Why not try Tom Parsons there or something. Even Feeney?? From Midfield on its not too bad but AOS is a lucky boy….surely next stop the bench if he doesnt perform this weekend. Good chance for kiiller to stake a claim..
I think the disappointing this is that having gone with Cathal Hallinan for the Down game (where he did well on his debut), we now seem to be reverting to a line-up at 3 and 6 that plainly won’t work in high summer so you’d have to question why it’s being used in February. Maybe Cathal isn’t 100% fit (unlikely, given that he’s in the subs), maybe it’s horses for courses (but Kieran Conroy on Donaghy would then be a better option seeing as he has twice got the better of him in league matches over the past three years) and I guess, in relation to 6, the absence of Keith Higgins and Donal Vaughan could be a factor. Whatever it is, it’s worrying that we appear, once more, to be reverting to type where it comes to team selection at the very time when we need to be using matches like this to try to find a line-up that has some chance of working in the championship.
It’s pretty disappointing alright, I was hoping we’d try a few new players in those positions, positions we’ve seemed to struggle with for quite a while.
I’d be worried if this is the best that we have avaliable in the county.
Still, maybe Horan wants to give these players a chance to prove themselves again. With Cooper and Donaghy in the line up for tomorrow, we’ll know a lot more about them after the game.
Good scoring from the Mayo lads for NUIG last night – Gardiner 1-3, Dillon 0-3, Douglas 0-2, Doherty 1-1.
I think people are getting too worked up over this. It’s obvious from the 6 changes that Horan is going to change the team around throughout the league and asses every option before the Championship. Whether people are convinced about Cafferkey and Howley at 3 and 6 is beside the point – they are certainly options there and deserved to be looked at there through the fresh eyes of the new regime. I’ve a feeling we’ll see lots of fellas get a chance.
As for AO’S he hasn’t performed well of late but he is deadly with ball in hand close to goal. His problem, frustratingly, has been catching and holding the ball thats coming into him. I think if he improves on that – and there is a lot of improving to do – the rest will come to him. Imo he needs to be close to goal. I’m sure the other fellas will get a chance as Campbell, Hennelly, Gibbons, Barrett, Freeman and Hallinan all have so far.
the team will not line out as selected there will be 3-4 changes
A small bit surprised at the selection! For one thing I think Parsons should be on the field based on what I have seen of him so far his year. Why could we not try him at CHB or FB on Donaghy – yes I know he is not a traditional FB but neither was Seamus Moynihan nor Dan Gordan. Remember what Tyrone did in the Final in 2008 when they were facing problems at fullback!
We need to be more creative in the way we use our players in Mayo. And yes I know he underperformed in the past but I think he has potential that we need to tap if at all possible.
lads…….give it a chance …Febuary!!!!!!!!!!
I like the idea of Aiden O`Shea and Kilcoyne playing in the FF line.They played there a few times in 2009 and were doing well against Meath that forgettable day when both had to go off injured.Both of them, imo ,seem to be trying too hard and in the process making basic errors ,O`Sea spilling the ball and Kilcoyne taking snap shots and kicking wides in scorable positions.
They have both proved in the past to be good players but are lacking in confidence in a lot of games.I would hope to see them steady up in their play and do the simple things well in the next couple of games and then we could have two very good men to fit into our full foreward line as their confidence improves.
Totally agree with Facetheball.These 2 lads were cleaned at 3 and 6 last year.Hope this doesnt mean hes going to ask BJ Padden back.