Well, lads, how are the hangovers getting on? My prosecco for breakfast went down rather nicely, I have to say, as did my final beer and pizza of the holiday a short while ago. But the holiday is all but over now and by this time tomorrow we’ll be back at home.
You’ll probably have seen all the match reports at this stage but in case you haven’t, I’ve got links to twelve of them in the ‘2011 Results’ area of the site (I haven’t the time or, if I’m honest, the inclination to provide the links here again). If the hangover still hasn’t cleared, you might get some respite by trawling through them.
And don’t worry about the pundits, lads – all we need to focus on is that we’ve won back the Nestor Cup and an All-Ireland Quarter-Final appearance now awaits us. We don’t know who’ll we’ll be facing then and we don’t know how we’ll fare out but the team have given us more this year than they’ve done in recent years and it could well be the case that they’re not done giving yet. So, fuck the pundits and roll on Croker. Arrivederci!
Well done Willie Joe and I am delighted to see that you can afford a Glass of Prosecco for breakfast now that the Celtic Tiger is dead and buried.
Any chance you could bring back a few bottles of the Prosecco for the boys in the County Board? They would love it!! That cheap Merlot is crap in comparison.
Press Officer – I’ll see if there are any good deals on the bubbly when I’m passing through Departures tomorrow morning!
I see, as of now ,that 21 people in the poll think we’ll win Sam.God love them!
Eddie Cuffe has good deals going in sparkling wine
Another hard fought victory against an overhyped outfit, deadly stuff! I do get wound up by the pundits but at the end of the day they are the ones who look stupid when they get it so wrong. It is disappointing tho that David Brady and Kevin McStay don’t challenge on a football basis and point out that the other provinces haven’t had sterling games this year either. But if they haven’t the balls to do that, again they are just making themselves look like cowards, so feck the pundits let’s see what happens on the field of play!!
I’ve just listened back to the GAA sections on Newstalk from the Thursday before and the Monday after the game.
The overarching point I think Hayes was making was that Roscommon shouldn’t have anything to fear in Mayo on recent form – no real arguments there. He makes the point that while he thought that Mayo deserved to be in the All-Irelands they made and were good enough to win some of them; that they didn’t points to a fundamental flaw in those respective teams. Again, this is a point that some of the regular contributors and bloggers to this site have alluded to in the recent past.
I don’t agree with his points that Mayo haven’t achieved anything in the last 25 years – we obviously have. I mean, if you applied the same logic to Dublin where would you rank them? They’re a team that have promised much but have consistently come-up short and twice capitulated against Tyrone and Kerry in ’07 and ’08 respectively.
The point Andy Moran made when he was interviewed is that Mayo and Connacht is an easy target and suffers from lazy generalisations – but again we get this all the time. We have every right to be proud, and get (over)excited when we get on a run – it’s what makes following teams through the good/bad time so exhilarating/gut wrenching.
So let Spillane and Hayes say what they like, what it comes down to is that we have a great chance to ram it all this back down their respective throats come the bank holiday.
Brighton811 , you’ve got to have a dream !
Theprizelamb. You make a lot of sense. Well said sir.
Just saw the last few minutes of the game on Setanta again. That was some take from over the crossbar by Hennelly. Has that been done before? Did Clarke do similar against the Dubs in 2006 from a Vaughan shot?
facetheball,
it was brady that actually punched the vaughan shot out from the goalmouth. i watched sundays game on the box and enjoyed it, knew full well at half time that roscommon needed a bigger lead with the wind in it and the fact that mayo love to come back when all seems lost. the media are generally dopes, let them put mayo down, brady and co should stand up for their county anyway but the best response is to keep winning.
mayo are due a good perormance and the next game may be it so a semi or final is possible. if horan has them thinking of it in terms of one game at a time and there are 3 left to play against teams they play all the time and beat in the league then anything can happen.
ya facetheball it was clarke and brady who took the ball off the crossbar from a vaughan free.
I have never felt like this with a mayo team. Usually we arrive in a quarter final(semi final) expecting great things. This year we all seem to believe that the lads whoever they play will put up a valiant show but still lose. In my opinion we are coming in to the quarter final stage in a way even we aren’t used to of late. We have played in shite conditions that made it seem like fbd league football but we have come through unbeaten. the core of the team has held up better than we expected and we have few injuries. The national media have created an opinion about us that we are average and have beaten no one. This holds for Connacht football. In my opinion this suits us down to the ground(dublin ’06, tyrone ’04). We will show up in the quarters and we will put in our best performance in croker since ’06 in my opinion. We have a good, hard working bunch who are out there to win bring on the challengers!! mayo abu
It doenst matter what kind of players you have, a good manager can add spirit and structure.
With spirit and structure you can achieve alot.
James Horan appears to have added spirit and structure and fair play to him for that.
I’m not saying we dont have the players, some of them were some of the best U-18s and U-21s in the country at their time; we dont yet know where we stand in the pecking order, but given that spirit and structure appears present I think we dont need to fear anyone in terms of getting beaten badly.
Personally, if Cork beat Down I wouldnt mind getting them in the quarters. No matter what Conor Counihan says to them the players wont rate us, their last experience of us being no better than a training match in the league final.
Anyway, its a great place to be looking forward to the quarter finals and not being worried about the chicken and chips circuit of the back door.
It’s a strange feeling alright this year. I have no real expectations either, I do almost feel that anything that happens after this is a bonus. I know we should aim higher and think along the lines of winning the thing outright, but realistically we all know it’s very unlikely.
We have a young manager and a largely young set of players, so progress and signs of hope for the future are enough for me right now. Thankfully the management and players have given me that.
But who knows? I don’t think many expected Down to reach the final last year, and we saw how close they came to actually winning it. I think they were 40/1 at the beginning of last year to win Sam. So who can tell how far we can go with a bit of luck along the way.
we won a tight game in awful conditions with our full back, Centre back, Full forward and corner forward getting absolutely roasted. Im really not sure where we stand on the national scene but i would imagine that if we played cork and those same players get the same roastings then we will be beaten out the gate. thats the reality. Imagine if our freetaking woes were brought into the game last Sunday. Ross werent good enough to make us pay. Cork and the likes will. Still a lot of issues to sort out before we can mix it with the big boys. All that said great win the last day.
…to add I think horan has done as much as could be expected of him so far…timely subs and a motivated team. thats all i ask for.
I think An Spailpin made a point two year sback that everything after the Connacht final was jam.. in that case it was a rather sickening raspberry served up by Meath but I think it is certainly true this time round , we may get a chance to match ourselves with the cream of the code and we may even best them and proceed further , but really only a complete surrender could colour the progress made by the team this year. I just hope all our potential opponents were listening to Spillane and believe that our football is Junk beofre they actually have to play us.
How many teams have used the siege mentality to their benefit, Kerry are one that springs to mind , when everyone was saying they were killing each other.
Really we have not had the chance to show what we have on a nice summers day, would worry about vaughan in the wide open croke park.
All said I would be happy with the yaer as it is , as long as we dont get a performance like the last visit to croke park.
The positive I hold to is Cillian has put some performances in C
How many teams have used the siege mentality to their benefit, Kerry are one that springs to mind , when everyone was saying they were killing each other.
Really we have not had the chance to show what we have on a nice summers day, would worry about vaughan in the wide open croke park.
All said I would be happy with the yaer as it is , as long as we dont get a performance like the last visit to croke park.
The positive I hold to is Cillian has put some performances in C
Great win the last day in what were by all accounts shocking conditions for football. As a few lads have said its more difficult to gauge where we are at given we havent played on a dry day, but a few observations from the galway and ross games (the less said about ruislip the better).
Positives:
1. We have a freetaker. Young O Connor was impressive the last day. Held his nerve v well and kicked crucial frees in the last 15 mins when pressure was greatest. His previous experience in croke park will also be useful the next day.
2. Richie Feeney. Really stepped up the last day. outstanding in 2nd half, now an established member of our championship team Tom cunniffe and K Higgins also did v well.
3. The team fight like dogs for every ball. I know this should be a given for all mayo teams but it something we didnt see much of in O Mahoneys time in charge, I doubt if we’l surrender as meekly as we did to meath in 09, Horan just wont allow it.
4. We’re coming in with no expectations. This is always a great thing for Mayo, we rarely perform in croke park when the hype machine is in full swing within the county, another low key tie v wexford/limerick where we might scrape home would perfectly set us up to face kerry as perceived no hopers in a semi.
Negatives:
1. Put simply, the heart of our defence, on all the evidence we’ve seen so far just wont cut it against the big boys. alan feeney had a nightmare the last day, while the thought of the likes of Declan O Sullivan running at Donal Vaughan in the sunshine at Croker would give many mayo fans sleepless nights
2. Our starting full forward line failed to score from play the last day. Doherty still hasn’t shown he’s up to this level of football, he needs to step it up very quickly now with varley waiting in the wings, while Freeman was also pretty poor the last day.
3. We tend to take too much out of the ball (A Moran and Dillon, T Mortimer). We need to move the ball quicker to the full forward line like we did against Galway in 2nd half and stop trying to walk through defences. We are not like Cork with giants like Pearse o neill or speedsters like Paul Kerrigan to carry the ball from 60/70 yards out to the opposition goal. Freemans goal v Galway was the perfect example of what our style of play should be, direct football where the likes of Andy moran and Dillon release the ball quickly to inside forwards.
Really looking forward to q-final to get a better idea of exactly where we stand.
P.s. Lads we have to grow a thicker skin RE national media. We’ll always be the butt of jokes until we win an all ireland, anyway i distinctly remember Liam hayes confidently predicting we would beat kerry in the sunday times I think it was, on the morning of all Ireland 06. He must lost a few quid, I wouldn’t take him to seriously anyway, only tryin to build his profile as a shit stirrer a la Spillane and Brolly, seems it working too!
Good comment Aussie Exile. I think that under O’Mahony we still had a bit of cockiness left over from having been in finals and most of the country wanting us to win. Now we’re back down in the “junk” area and egos are not a factor anymore. Everyone has a point to prove now and some are stepping up to the mark incredibly well. I think Cillian O’Connor showed remarkable poise considering his display in McHale Park wasn’t stellar, good luck to him and all the lads. I hope that no matter who we meet it will be a true contest and may the best team win. Up Mayo!
What would really impress me is to see James Horan put out a different sytle of play when we get to Croker. I think what we produced for Connacht worked (duh!) and it was appropriate as every game is a derby. Move to the wide open spaces of Croker and I’d love it if we started playing some fast open football as some posters have said allready.
In general I think the tide is going to turn tactically, everyone is getting sickened by this over physical 14 man defence style of play. That can be beaten with fast slick play and then if someone manages to win with it everyone will adopt it that style. Why not us, I think we have the forward line to do that if they are let loose.
If you move the ball fast and accurately with passes into space (the way football used to be played!) its very hard to combat legally, and we have a freetaker or two to punish that.
I think Donegal are going to open up when they get to Croker as well, I think Jim McGuinness has them playing one way for Ulster and will fashion another for Croker. They would be my outside bet to win it, besides us if we get the rub of the green.
Great to win at anytime – especially in the championship. And well done to the lads and all involved.
However, what happens next is what really matters now. We need to ensure that we do not allow any forward line run riot like Dublin did in the first half – and I still have a slight doubt that this could well happen.
I must say I cannot watch 5 minutes of any Donegal football match this year. Puke football at it’s worst. I’m sure Donegal are delighted with it, but watching the mass defence and all the hand passes gets me reaching for the remote every time. There has to be a better way of winning matches.
So for the quarters we can’t be drawn against Tyrone, armagh or Roscommon?? Looks like it will be Cork, Kildare or Wexford, who are all probably favourites to win their matches this weekend. I think cork are to be avoided at this stage, it would be interesting to see how we’d fare against Kildare. They are a decent side but I feel they are slightly over-rated by the national media, It would be a fascinating tie.
I would’nt fear anyone at this stage, not because of over-confidance but a belief that we have to measure ourselves against the best.If we learn from this-win or lose, then the team imo will come back stronger whether thats in a semi-final or next year.
Why cant we get Armagh or tyrone Aussie dub? I think we can, its open draw, you just cant play your fellow provincial finalists, if Rosscommon lose to Tymagh then I believe we can play the winners
well i would fear many but i take ur point Op2 miss teek. our lads have done well but when you take a step back and analyse it we beat a galway team both david brady and liam mchale said was the worst they have ever seen, and to be honest I think roscommon were very ordinary too and i think if we got them again on a drier day we could have done a real job. We beat what was put infront of us and hats off to the boys but our true worth wont be known until we meet the likes of Kildare/Down or Derry.
Yes ted as I said,its only then we’ll know where we are for better or worse-but at least if the day is fine the performance can be judged-unlike the last two days out where you could’nt really measure where this team is at(except in their never say die attitude!).
will make a nice change to play on a dry open pitch for sure….could liberate us!!
Got this from the Western about the QF draw:
If any of next week-end’s qualifier games finish in a draw, however, Sunday night’s scheduled quarter-final draw will not take place. If it does, it’s understood, Mayo will not be drawn to play the winners of the Roscommon vs Tyrone or Armagh round 4 qualifier, but could meet the winners of the Cork/Down, Derry/Kildare and Wexford/Limerick games
east cork exile, dan just answered your question there, we cant play them because when the draw is made on sun evening ross will stil be in the hat, therefore we cant be drawn against them. As dan said though, a draw AET in any of this weekends qualifiers will throw that out the window, leading to no quarter finals on the bank holiday weekend and fixture mayhem for the GAA