As has already been referenced in the comments, the team and subs for our our final FBD group match, against Roscommon in just under an hour from now at MacHale Park, has been named. Details are as follows:
Mayo (FBD League v Roscommon, 18/1/2015): Kenneth O’Malley (Ballinrobe); Chris Barrett (Belmullet), Donal Vaughan (Ballinrobe), Lee Keegan (Westport); Colm Boyle (Davitts), Stephen Coen (Hollymount/Carramore), David Drake (Ballaghaderreen); Seamus O’Shea (Breaffy), Barry Moran (Castlebar Mitchels); Kevin McLoughlin (Knockmore), Morgan Lyons (Ballyhaunis), Diarmuid O’Connor (Ballintubber); Enda Varley (Garrymore), Jason Doherty (Burrishoole), Darren Coen (Hollymount/Carramore). Subs: Robbie Hennelly (Breaffy), Keith Rogers (Ballaghaderreen), Caolan Crowe (Garrymore); Darren McHugh (Hollymount/Carramore), Jason Gibbons (Ballintubber), Neil Douglas (Castlebar Mitchels), Mark Ronaldson (Shrule/Glencorrib), Alan Freeman (Aghamore).
Loads more experimentation and the welcome return of a few more of the battle-hardened fraternity as Noel and Pat get set for their first proper inter-county challenge. Best of luck to all of them.
I had hoped I might make it to MacHale Park myself today but, for a variety of reasons, I wasn’t able to head west so, in a late change, Mike Kelly has kindly stepped in on the match reporting side and his report will be up here later on.
is it on radio?
It’s on Midwest, Dave – they have regular updates, though, rather than full commentary on it.
tuned in there, thanks wj. Roscommon were ready for business it seems and they got it done. Good for managers to see who of our newer faces were able to show a sign that they can operate at the intercounty level. Onwards to Kerry.
An early reminder to all involved that winning Connaught this year will be no walk in the park.There’s never a good time to loose to Roscommon but if it’s going to happen, then an FBD match in January is as good a time as any, and with the League just around the corner Management will have enough to be getting on with. Blooding a few new players will be uppermost in their minds right now, while at the same time hoping to pick up enough points to retain division one status.
An exciting if nail biting season lies ahead for sure!
A very useful pre season, a lot of positives. Roscommon did seem fitter, which isn’t a huge surprise. Onwards to Killarney! Yahoo!
The Gavin Duffy situation is becoming weird .
The negative vibes of players being unhappy with new management look to have some basis after that awful performance
Ger Bohan says:
January 18, 2015 at 4:40 pm
The negative vibes of players being unhappy with new management look to have some basis after that awful performance
Woah, woah, hold on here. Any chance you can elaborate here?
Jaysus Ger, it was only a pre-season game in the middle of January! As Mark says, a bit of elaboration (which you’d need to be able to corroborate in some way) wouldn’t go amiss, otherwise you might be looking at a yellow card for spreading unsubstantiated rumours.
Horrible display by Mayo only 2 points from play all game? and only for O Malley the rossies would have scored 5 goals. Speed and movement of the Murtaghs,Smiths caused a lot of damage the Mayo defence will need to be reshaped before the trip to Kerry.
Better to find the flaws now before the league but the lads will have to get their heads down in training over the next few weeks now.
The day you only score 2 points from play you’re going nowhere. That was our lot in todays game. We had 6 forwards and none of them 5 hands higher than a duck, It was a pitiful site to watch. In fairness to the Rossies they were all 6 footers. It was pathetic to watch the way we were fucked about. It was a shambles and reminds me a lot like in Johnno’s time. We were 2nd best to every ball, and at times we were caught ball watching. Only for O’Malleys great saves in goal we would be truly hammered, Roscommon waltzed through us like a dose of salt. We lacked men and guts. I know the refeering was disgraceful and the guy was gutless. If he had sent of 4 players instead of issuing yellow cards, those ugly brawls would be stopped and this type of behaviour is not warranted on the playing of our games. Shame on the powers at the top that will not put a stop to this thuggary.
For Mayo Kenneth O Malley was be far the best player on the field. Where this present management outfit are going its hard to know. Senan Kilbride gave a lesson to Donie Vaughan on cuteness and craft. Seamus and Barry in midfield were outclassed and outplayed. Jason Gibbons when he came in steadied the midfield rot. Up front Jason Doherty. Diarmuid. and Alan Freeman were the pick of the bunch. I suppose its early days yet but if we keep playing like today our season will be short.
True Grit, Diarmuid o C is 6’2″……
Two comments giving out about management and ye call yourselves supporters it January ffs
Diarmuid O C not ready for senior yet should be left with U21s to develop.
True Grit
Jason Doherty is a fair size too!
Reading the comments here our season is over before it starts at all.Yes we were well beating today,only two points from play,small forward,bullied in several positions,beating in mid field,too slow to the ball but it’s an FBD game for God sake.Unsupported crap about players unrest with management,yet no player has walked or retired basically the usual shite you get in the middle of January.Roscommon were bigger and fitter than us to day and started more or less their first team.We started 6/7 of our first team and most of them playing out of position.Management use the FBD to try out new and fringe players and rightly so but it seems your fucked if you do and fucked if you don’t.For me our first game proper is against Kerry in two weeks.If we can find 2/3 players to improve out team,stay in division 1 and still be in with a shout come September I’ll be happy with that.Looking forward to the trip to Kerry in two weeks and supporting the lads,Maigheo Abu.
Time to move on looking forward to kerry maybe it did no harm getting beat today.
I’d be guessing that some of the posters here might be our neighbours feeling a little giddy after they’re first senior win against us in
McHale since 1986.
If your season ends in late June or early July then you should be peaking in January.
I have a feeling that should we meet the Rossies in July that the firm ground and fair weather might suit the skill of our lads over the bulk of their players.
On a final note, I talked to a very prominent member of the panel yesterday and his enthusiasm startled me. His view of the new management and back room team couldn’t be more positive. Unlike some posters, I can verify that should WJ like to contact me.
The fbd is treated no more than a training session,trying new lads,tactics etc etc.
Todays game was probably the only chance the sheep steelers have of beating us and they knew it hence a decent Rossie team out.
It will be a different story in Kerry in 2 weeks time.
A bit early to be having a go at manager or players yet. Its only January and management are entitled to experiment. But underestimate Ross at your peril. They were very unlucky to lose to us last year and have lots of big strong talented players. Add an emerging Galway under K Walsh and we really have an interesting Connacht championship. The days of cakewalks through Connacht is over I think. Don’t forget Galway will have played 2 games before they meet us in Pearse Stadium and I expect a very determined Ros to be waiting in final. Apologies to all from Sligo Leitrim London and New York but I expect its between the big three this year.
Replying to true grit there Donal Vaughan had an excellent game at full back.i know o malley made 2 good saves but he’s distribution from kickouts was poor.stephen coen and diarmuid o Connor did well as did mcloughlin and Doherty.we were bet in minfield today.roscommon were more hungry all over and in Diarmuid murtagh and Enda smith they have 2 top class forwards.our 2 corner forwards today were poor and this is an area of concern.
It’s very early days I wouldn’t read a thing into this defeat the exact same thing happened in Ballinlough this time last year and we had a good season the time to beat Roscommon is June or July I think it’s great the new management are trying out new players and players in new position winning the FBD league is worthless finding 2 or 3 new lads to bolster our squad……. Priceless
Early days for sure. Mayo a bit naive it seemed today and bullied by a more experienced and mature roscommon team……and maybe the ref was too. Anyway, this is the time of year for it so it’s onwards to feb. 1. Does anyone know if a supporters bus is heading south for the game?
Rossies looked far hungrier and faster today..game against kerry will be interesting to say the least..
Just wonder if it’s possible to find out anything from these kind of games. Win it and you learn nothing. Play a team that’s twice as fit and bigger and on heavy ground and what do you discover from that?
Or could our intrepid posters zone in on any chink of light that might be relevant later in the year?
Bring back john o Mahony. These fellas will win nothing.
Oh wait, it’s the fbd in January , hold the firings yet.
Who of our newer lads looked up to it?i was hoping Gavin Duffy got a run but he was working today it seems. Maybe he ll get a baptism of fire against Kerry for 20 minutes? Is cillian o Connor suspended for that game?
Hi All,
Hard luck today but its great to see the future getting a run out, best of luck in the Leagues and I look forward to seeing you in Croker soon,cheers.
Kind Regards,
Martin the Dub
Hard to say whether our management were interested in winning today. certainly the team selected did not indicate anxiety to win, As today, Roscommon had an almost full team selection last week and that could have been expected again today. Certainly They looked fitter and much hungrier than Mayo today. The nap taken by one of our defenders [was it Colm Boyle?] in the lead up to Roscommon’s second goal illustrated that hunger. If today’s effort was an opportunity for new/fringe players to make their mark very few did so. And these were players who I would have expected to be reasonably fit and anxious to take their chance. Darren Coen and Enda Varley did nothing to earn a seat on the bus to Kerry in two weeks. Morgan Lyons is a million miles from a senior intercounty player physically and whatever about his football skills he needs a long year of gym work if he is to make it. David Drake obviously has zero confidence in his shooting and justified that lack of confidence in his rushed shot just after half time. Hopefully Kerry will be no further advanced in their preparation than Mayo. Otherwise it could be a long journey home.
Regards the referee, it was as bad a performance as I have seen in the FBD. He totally played into Roscommon’s hands in allowing all manner of tackling, At least two black cards should have been issued for pull down “tackles” on Mayo players early in the second half [Diarmuid O’Connor was one] while his ambling around as melees developed was disgraceful.
If there is ever a time to take a beating and to start a learning upward curve, it is now but it has to be seen as that and used thus wise.
The big problem for Mayo this year could be midfield. Lots of options but are they good enough. Ado I thought did well at 11 last year but looks like he is needed back in the middle.
Look the last couple weeks we could do no wrong, so this week we are useless, get a grip, hopefully we will improve , I am not as sure we will get over the line, I hope I am wrong
Andy D – I would agree with your views on the new/fringe players today. On reflection on our FBD campaign it’s hard pick out too many new players who demonstrated the potential to strengthen our squad in 2015 with the size and strength to compete at the highest level. Only Stephen Coen showed that he has the physical attributes to potentially make an impact this summer in my opinion. I’m disappointed bigger players like Danny Kirby did not get a chance to stake a claim in the FBD. We need big mobile players who can physically impose themselves on the opposition ….the fact that we were physically bullied out there today by a young Roscommon team should be duly noted by the management team. Not unearthing any new talent for our full forward line is also a notable concern. Will we see top class talent emerge in the national league? Lets hope so…
What’s the story with kirby is he being looked at. Could do with a big man full forward. Hard to believe we looked at no new options there in fbd.
It’s only January, no big deal and probably a bit much to expect the new lads to shine straight away. Look how long it took for Jason Doherty to really make an impact.Patience will be required and maybe try one or two in the League with the more experienced lads.
I’d nearly be more concerned about how u21 progresses over the next few months. Need to win Connacht this year at that level.
Success breeds success. The rossies have two corner forwards oozing class…murtagh and smith. They’ve been far stronger than us at u21 for the past 4 years….the success of our senior side has papered over the cracks.
Result means sfa!! Wats worrying is the way we were bullied all over the field! We didn’t pass the test in one physical battle(ball or no ball)! We need to learn if a ref is going to let the fisty cuffs go on we need to give as good as we get if not a little more! It was a major part of our downfall in Limerick too!!! It’s not all about stylish football anymore! It’s about not been pushed around and playing the nice boys football anymore!!!!!
In reply to Joet .
Ann Baynes bus is going to Killarney from Westport but is full up I’d imagine.Going on the Saturday . Can’t wait.
Ros are a good team but they are over hyped
For all those saying we had almost full team today we had 9 starters from June encounter, i think ye had 7. From our point of view result means very little except we will get another competitive game in hopefully next weekend against Galway which will be better than a few training sessions
One of the worst performances by Mayo in MacHale park for a very long time. If the rossies had won by ten points their could be little complaints. Mayo defence cut open time and time again O Malley kept Mayo in the game with a number of fine saves and you won’t win many matches with just 0-2 from play. From the last meeting in June Ros had 9 starters to Mayo 7 today and the Rossies had no Kevin Higgins,OGara,Keenan,Both Shines etc today.
Without stating the obvious big improvement needed from Mayo before the Kerry game on Feb 1st.
From the last meeting
Those young rossie players are getting used to easy wins in machale park. Anyone here at the u21 fixture last spring. It was woeful and worrying.
I would read into fbd at all but things r gonna be a hell of a lot tougher in Connacht for the next 6/7 years
Mayonaze ! talking sense.
We need to know our enemy , Galway and Ross are our obstacles we know of every year. Ross and Galway have potent skillfull forwards coming through but they have weakness too and that is where we need to be hitting even in the likes of these meaningless games. We have have lads that are capable of hitting and they should of been used todat to put the fear of god in them young buckos.
Evans put his marker down today , Connelly and Holmes failed their first test, albeit meaningless.
The end of the world is nigh. The Rossies finally have our number. I’ll put my neck out and make 2 bold predictions.
1. We’ll beat Roscommon in the Connacht final.
2. We’ll be playing football in September.
Brave man Liam. I hope you’re right, I care little about winning any fbd game as long as we see if there is a player out there that will add to the cause in 2015. Do we have any?
And about being shoved around by Roscommon, not on I’m afraid, leather into them even if it meant red cards and a meaningless victory for them. I’ve watched a lot if mayos recent big championship games and I think we have a big problem in that we allow teams to physically try the bully tactics in one on one situations, if enda varley is getting dragged up after having his nose busted his nearest team mate should be in there hard and heavy to stop it and be prepared for a fight. Or if cluxton is on the edge of the square waiting for a dropping ball don’t just admire his catching skills, put him and the ball into the net if he’s outside the square or on the line. Mayo need more aggression, that’s my opinion after watching back a fair few games, we are still too nice to win.
No 2 is bold prediction liam as possible AI semi opponents would be Dublin in August.
Ros tried to bully and intimidate but I thought our lads wore into them too when needed! There were a few – exchanges – in the second half where we didn’t stand back, unless I’m badly mistaken or need to go back to Specsavers.
Where we did fail was…….Our attacking play was very poor to say the least. We didn’t look like scoring. Roscommon got two extra defenders back and we couldn’t play the long ball in as we were outnumbered in there. We should have been running the ball at speed using our two free men but there didn’t seem to be the appetite for that type of work rate around midfield or half forward line. Maybe the lads had a rough training session yesterday because they didn’t look fresh and sharp to me. It’s the time of year for that type of thing so I wouldn’t worry too much.
On the other side of the coin Ros had a few very talented forwards who are well capable of making and taking scores.
One lesson from FBD is that the old brigade will be very hard to dislodge come June. I didn’t see too much to get excited about by way of new talent in FBD.
Obviously Roscommon will win Connacht. Similiarly, Derry will walk all over Donegal in Ulster after beating them by 10 points last week. Offaly will also run Dublin close in Leinster like they did last week. And it goes without saying that after Waterford’s defeat of Cork today, I fully expect them to get to at least an All Ireland Semi Final. WATERFORD 4 SAM!
Well said Digits , , ,