When I was rushing to put up the match report on Sunday evening, pasting in to it as I did so a number of photos and the few video clips that I’d captured during (and after) the match, I overlooked a clip of what was, perhaps, our most important score of the day.
This was Cillian O’Connor’s late free, which came two minutes into injury time after we’d been held scoreless for over twenty minutes and which stretched our lead back out to three points. The roar that erupts from the stands as the ball sails over the bar says it all:
Never doubted him
I think thats when me voice went!!! 🙂
Until it dawns upon Mayo players, manager and supporters that ball RETENTION is the name of the game we will continue to loose gallantly and wonder why. Sunday last against Dublin is a perfect example of naieve play particularly when we were ten points up. That was when Mayo players should have resisted the temptation to give 50/50 passes in the pursuit of more scores – pursuing more scores is completely the wrong approach if in the process you turn-over possession. If however, after very careful build-up a scoring opportunity presents itself, of course its put over the bar and not blazing at the goalkeeper or wide.
Yeah Willie Joe, really important that one. In fact if you look at the end game from 68 minutes to 77 minutes, Mayo created four chances and scored two, while Dublin created four and a half (Cluxton’s 45 off Brogan’s goal attempt. Here’s the sequence:
McLoughlin returned in the 68th minute.
68:10: O’Connor misses after Gibbons lays off
68:50: McMenamin misses from way out at the Hogan Stand
70:20: Conroy fists wide after McLoughlin picks him out
71:57: O’Connor points after Freeman is fouled
73:29: Brogan points after O’Gara is pulled down
74:14: O’Shea points after Barrett lays off
75:54: Brogan blasts free leading to 45
76:46: Cluxton (the half chance!) lobs it in and Higgins collects
So, in that 9 minutes (an eternity), Mayo won that phase by two points to one and were fairly composed considering the previous eighteen minutes of point scoring by Dublin and casualties suffered (where Dublin dished it out big time).
This kind of composure will be as important the next day. All game plans will go out the window in the last seven or so minutes of a final.
Catcol , you cont argue with the facts and you certainly have the facts there. I taught one very bad decision made in that sequence of events..Gibbons should have kicked over himself, now I know Cillian was screaming for the ball and maybe he had a goal chance, but Mayo badly needed to stop the Dublin onslaght of scores & put one on the board ourselves. When Cillian got that ball he tried to place it in the top left of the net with Cluxton on his toe, an easier option would have been to lay it across to an unmarked Conroy for an easy goal to a empty net! But fair play to Cillian stepped up to the task to nail the crucial free & stop the rot! Thats what can happen in the white heat of a championship cliff hanger, I’m sure they will learn from it. At least when Kevin Mc loughlin came back we again began to make scoring chances, no concidence there!
Lads overseas i hope ye have all booked the flights, i booked mine sunday night one way from gatwick 38 sterling coming in saturday evening for BOWES IV… a fellow Chairde Mhaigheo London man mailed me today saying flights are a shocking price, my own flight is now 168 sterling… i’ll be doing the ferry back either straight after the game or a week or two after 🙂
With the help of God, Roger, Bowes V will be in Castlebar … or should that be Ballina, or maybe Westport …
Roger, probally a lot of Donegal emmigrants booking flights flights to Dublin, just like Mayo, I was that soldier myself ciming back from London & Berlin for All Ireland finals,Any exilef Mayo fans could concider flying to Mayo & travelling up with the posse from the West if prices go too mad! But be warned ye better have own ticket for game 5. I’m on a serious scrounge myself..as ever it wont be the fans that actually go to all the matchs that get first priority..scratching my head now to try an remember who I know in every othet county except Donegal!
You are right lobitin. Gibbons should have kicked/fisted as he had similar momentum at that stage to Seamie O’Shea a few mintues later. Cillian hadn’t had ball for ages so I suppose you could forgive him snatching at it.
Just saw copy of 1951 programme on hogans stand. Brilliant stuff. What a blast from the past. Seeing legents names in print, flanagan, langan, etc
Just wondering if todays team will be immortalised like them
Will we be talking about higgans and dillon in 60 yrs time. That wud be great. Hilarious section in programme of Irish phrases for match. Sweet afton was main sponsor. Worth a look Willie Joe.
As I turn 50 shortly, I very much doubt that I’ll talking about anyone in 60 years time! Hopefully, those that are still around will get the names hopelessly mixed up due the fact that we’ll have won so many All-Irelands in the intervening years.
Have you got a link for where the image of the 1951 programme is on Hogan Stand, by the way? I couldn’t find it but did I come across this appeal from the ISPCA which is relevant to the ovine discussions that have been going on here of late.
were you long in Berlin Lobitin ? i was in Frankfurt for a few years myself.
Bowes V in Tarmonbarry , do we dare to dream ?
Flight booked with the brother from JFK to Dublin. Was 1060.00 dollars. A cheap price if all goes well for us. Really looking forward to a few pints of the black stuff in Dublin on the Saturday night, where should we be heading to? Any pubs springing to mind as football fan type pubs?
@ David^^^ Try Bowe’s on Fleet Street on the Saturday night 😉
that be the same bowes that turned the tv over midway through the sunday game sunday evening ?
Mc Loughlin going off was a big problem for us &his reappearance coincided with our team steading up.
Remember we lost half our backline in the game.
I looked again at the Cork Donegal game—Cork were just not intense enough.
That’s the one alright, Peter – they probably wanted to switch channels before Tony Davis opened his gob!
I know there’s some talk about a Mayo GAA event taking place in the capital on Saturday night and if this is confirmed then it’d obviously make sense to go there rather than Bowe’s for Bowe’s IV. All going to plan, we can then have Bowe’s V in Mick Byrne’s on the Monday night.
hi willie joe Im similar age group so have been through all our previous finals. 96 still burns. Wudnt mind just one before Im too old to see the bloody match.
That programme is there on Mayo Hogan stand under heading Mayo Long Ago. I can just about send a text so cant send a link. But well worth a look.
Thanks for that, r51 – I’m out at the minute but will post the link to it later on when I’m back home.
Roger 5 years, 93 to 98, incidently Quinn’s hsd a pub in Rosa Luxemburg Platz, they used to show the Gaa match’s, at least up untill the soccer season started up cross channel, the dearest pub in Berlin!
thats as good as reason as any wj cant blame them for that what a bore that man is , is it right pat spillane got a few clips of some donegal so called fans coming out of croker,its a bad day for genuine fans ifs its true,no need for that in our culture that is the championship
Everyone agrees that Mayo’s defence has been very tight this year and has really settled down since JH’s arrival. You could be forgiven for thinking that it has been unchanged forever and a day. Interesting then to compare v Dublin 2012 and v Roscommon 2011, where we conceded 2 points in the second half
from one to eight (2011 in brackets):
Clarke (Hennelly)
Keane (Cunniffe)
Cafferkey (A. Feeney)
Higgins (Higgins)
Keegan (R. Feeney)
Vaughan (Vaughan)
Mortimer (Boyle/Barrett)
Moran (S.O’Shea)
Quite a turnover. In fact the forwards have been more stable! Hope to do an analysis on the changing 16 to 26 names over the course of this championship.
I’m the lucky owner of 1950/51 original Mayo double match programmes in lovely condition……Very carefully hidden away and guarded !! Every year I take them out and whisper and pray to them that this’ll be the big one…..I’ll have them under the pillow now until the 23rd !!
http://www.hoganstand.com/Mayo/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=176563 is the link for the programme of 1951
Anybody know where the banquet dinner is being held on the 23rd? Its not our usual “drowned our sorrows post All Ireland Sunday nite out” in the “City West” (might be a good omen not having it there) and its not the Burlo as the opposition have setup camp there. wherever it is, I’m thinking of checking in for the weekend!!! I might even wind back the clock to 89/96/97/04/06 and end up in Coppers on the Saturday night!!! (just for old time sake)
I know this wont reach every Mayo supporter in the land, but I really hope that we maintain our dignity as we have always done, by not resulting to the Donegal soccer tactics of booing free takers and making general pricks of ourselves like they have (for example assaulting Pat Spillane), no matter what happens on the 23rd.
I was at the other semi and you could tell that most of them are more used to following Celtic than Donegal, every time Cork got a free close in the booing was a joke. Then a few eeijets go and give an owl fella a few digs. They’ll run out of admirers pretty quick at this rate.
It wont matter a damn come the 23rd, but you have to say after week 1 of the build up its 1-0 to us with the Pat Sillane stuff, and the nonsense about the homecoming and them winning all before them at the Ulster football allstars yesterday. None of them have absolutely anything to do with the Donegal team, but if any of those 3 were associated with us I’d be absolutely raging. We’ll have a press night next week so lets hope our lads bore the arse off the journos with empty meaningless statements and lots of plaudits about the opposition.
In 2007 Mc Hale park, someone took a wooden spoon, that St Patrick ‘one of Mayo’s most colorfull fans’ used to beat his bohran and threw it at Kieran Donaghay. Another time a woman came in and clattered a Galway player with her handbag, for an over robust tackle on a Mayo player, in a NFL match in 2006…look everyone is responsible to behave themselves, we are well used to the big occasion in Mayo, and people should remain calm. We in Mayo are as cool as a breeze, hopefully we will be the ones celebrating when tne final whistle is blown, and dont go over the top. A young Donegal fan tragicaly lost his life in the mist of the semifinal celebrations, of what should have been a happy occasion. You have to feel for that young mans family & friends…but we have all got to learn the lessons, it is an occasions to celebrate in style but with everybody’s safety in mind!
On a completely different tack to earlier discussions, but I don’t know how to open a new thread (or even if it’s possible), I was in the bookies’ yesterday and saw that Donegal are 2/1 on favourites. That’s pretty scary given that the bookies aren’t often on the losing side. On the other hand, I was encouraged by the stats on our performances against Ulster teams. Since 2002, we have played 13 games (excluding replays, but including the final result) in the quarter-finals or later. Our record is just over 50% (7/13), but we have a 100% record (3 our of 3) against Ulster teams – beat Tyrone and Fermanagh in ’04, Down in ’12. For the rest of the country, our record is 4/10. We won against Dublin in ’06 and ’12, against Laois in ’06 and Cork in ’11. Our six losses were against Kerry in ’04, ’05, ’06 and ’11, against Cork in ’02 and Meath in ’09.
Didn’t we lose to Tyrone in QF in 08 by a point as well?
We should have had a free near the end to tie it up, but wasn’t given….
Should have checked WJ’s archive before I posted! It was Rd 3 qualifier in 08, not QF.
I’m not sure how relevant the historical stats are to be honest, but if you’re looking at it, we have a poor record against Donegal.
Hammered by them in Ballyshannon in the league this year, and the last championship meeting was that woeful semi-final in 92.
Whatever about Ballyshannon (and Horan is quick to point out it was one bad half in a league game in March), 1992 has no bearing on this year’s final at all.
Cillian O’Connor, was he even born??
I think I read the Mayo team are staying in the Regency or something. Maybe that’s only the night before though.
I read that as well about the Regency and it said the post-match banquet will also be held there. So no treks out to Citywest this year!
Dont worry about the bookies, we were big underdogs against Dublin too. I think cork made Donegal look alot better than they are, if we play on the day we have every chance.