It’s only Monday but already we need to start thinking about the matches coming up next weekend. There are three of them, two on Saturday and one on Sunday, and here are the essential details about these games.
First a heads-up on the U20 footballers, who aren’t playing this weekend. The original fixture schedule for the Leo Murphy Cup had their Round 3 game against Donegal on this coming Saturday but it’s not, it’s on Saturday week. That match, on Saturday 4th March, throws in at Bekan at 1pm.
Back to this Saturday where both of our matches are being shown live on TG4.
The first one is the LGFA National League Division One match against Dublin. This is another tough away assignment for the women and it’s being played up the road from here at DCU St Clare’s. Throw-in there is 4.30pm on Saturday.
Match tickets for this one are available to purchase here. There’s car parking at the nearby Na Fianna GAA club on St Mobhi Road – details on that here.
Then later that evening, back on home turf at MacHale Park, it’s the turn of the men who face Tyrone in Round 4 of the National League. This one throws in at the slightly earlier time of 7pm and Noel Mooney of Cavan is the ref for it. Tickets are available to purchase here.
On Sunday, meanwhile, the focus switches to the county’s hurlers. They’re in NHL Division 3A action against Armagh at the Athletic Grounds that afternoon, where throw-in is 2pm. The ticket link for that one is here.
The best of luck to all three Mayo teams in action this weekend.
Great to have games coming regularly it really shortens the weeks. On another note I see Keith Beirne made team of the week 3 weeks in a row. Right now he seems to be the 2nd best forward in the country i have never seen him play but by all accounts he’s the real deal. I wonder could Andy get him a job in mayo.
Incredible amount of talk about Aido in the media, ie RTE pod today and Boyler on OTB for starters. It’s all very positive talk of course but it’s getting far too giddy. McStay was right to calm it down afterwards.
We’ve been here before with Mayo and with hyping Aido. There’d be no happier man than me if it continues, but it’s still only February. There are positive changes evident in the way we’re using him as the pundits are describing, namely better ball going in, Mayo rotating forwards in-game, ie him and Ryan, and Aido laying off ball and creating chances for others. Plus, he’s occupying the opposition’s best man-markers, allowing space for Ryan and James Carr.
We must continue with this, and not get into a situation where he’s frustrated at FF and starts drifting out. But you’d have to say it’s promising.
I read a stat that AOS had a hand in 0-8 of our 2-14 score the other night. Primary contributor was the term used.
There is no question he will continue to play in the forward line.
The proof he occupies defenders was in Jordan Flynn’s score the other night. The one where he bounced off Morley. Aido had 3 men around him when he got the hand pass away to Flynn. The fact that the ball sticks to Aido will also give others the confidence to make runs off and around him.
There are aspects to try and improve further. Can we get him taking more marks and knocking them over?
For teams playing against us they will have their work cut out defensively. AOS, Carr and Ryan will take some marking and that is without Cillian and Tommy and the sniper that is Jordan Flynn.
Interesting times ahead.
Good to have the games coming thick and fast. Would be brilliant to get a good result this weekend and take the pressure off for the coming weeks. Love to see fringe players get more game time to improve panel depth and rest key players for championship.
@Liberal role….
Agreed, I’m a bit uncomfortable with all the AOS chat across all the media. Being set up for a fall and a backlash again, Through no fault of his own. Pretty much every media outlet dedicating slots to him specifically any time he has a decent game. Then when he has bad day in croker in the summer that will all be used to fuel the backlash.
He has contributed well in the last 2 games, a cog in the wheel performing a role for the team. No more no less. We should dampen expectations ourselves when it comes to hyping up individuals
For Aidan’s marks a Stephen McDonnell piece of advice. Pass the ball over the bar. Now, obviously this is only workable for maybe 35 yards or inside. McDonnell’s logic is when you see most planters warming up or making kickpasses in games, almost all the time the ball is well within 3.5 yards of the receiver. Well sure the goals is 7 yards wide. The idea was not shoot the ball and force or snatch at the shot but to calmly pass it over the bar.
It might need a tall forward to stand prominent in line with the black spot near goal.
I’ve seen teans try to have someone behind the goal (not allowed) to be the ultimate pass the ball over the bar target.
Most players * 🙂 McDonnell was not commenting slang on planters 🙂
We used to be pretty guilty of passing the ball in to the opposing goalkeepers hands. I say luck through the ball…a la Cillian. Head low , foot high.
*i.e.kick through.
Kick through the ball with a good connection.
Different sport but Ronnie O’Sullivan goes on about cue action and a consistent connection with the cue ball.
Yeah some of the commentary on the RTE blog was over the top imo. People getting carried away.
It’s a funny old game!! When we lost Keegan and Mullin, together with the long term injury to Harrison, it looked like we’d have trouble putting out a decent defence this year. These were huge players for us, and on their day would improve any team in the country. However, there are three league played and it turns out the defence are shaping up quite nicely. There is loads of improvement required of course, but when you add Durcan, O’Hora, McLoughlin, Coyne and Callinan to the six that started against Kerry, it gives a decent choice of defenders to pick from.
See Jack O Connor said have to gove mayo credit they were good and very fit in off the ball at least he did see a lot of kerry people saying it was a fluke and the kerry team where on hols etc ha.
Yes definetly rather less media on aido but sure what can you do ..
Looking forward to the Tyrone game !
*give
Agree.. would be great to get a win v Tyrone and give more players game time .. especially against Roscommon
Preparation for championship is the most important thing . Great to get the 2 points against Kerry .
I’m sure the players and management were thinking about Tyrone and where they need to improve before they left McHale Park Saturday night …
I think we need to keep up performances, for next two games. Ideally 2 points against Tyrone. Which is usually tight matches, with skin and hair flying. So it won’t be a push over. Again against Roscommon, be happy with a draw, as would give us 7 points, which I think would make us safe in league. Then we can do a little more squad rotation, give Duirmuid, a rest. Try and get Tommy/P. Durcan / Cillian / Robbie / Harrison/ McLoughlin more game time. Would not drop Aidan, because I say he enjoying his rich vein of form, and think resting him might not help him reset for Championship. If we got to League final, and roatated sqaud, I see little downside. But connaught championship has to be number 1 on our agenda.
Also if we got to 6/7 point in league, gives the management more scope to try different tactics, not complaining on what seen so far, but need to win games different ways, as too often we go into all-ireland final, playing expansive running game, and hit the rocks. Tyrone 2 years ago, changed up their tactics, and played less of blanket, and more of copied our style of running game, and more man on man marking, with high press, and we could not think our way out off it. We were afraid in that game to kick the ball, even with only 3 defenders marking 3 forwards, in their half of the field. We just wanted to run the ball, as we done all year. But encourging enough this year, as we are mixing it up a little from our traditional running game , to a little more kick passing
The one worrying thing about O’Shea is he still has to get battered before he gets a free. It’s a disgrace, if you touch the two Clifford’s or con o’Callaghan they have a free got in seconds.
When the ball is in the air the defender has no right be laying a hand on the attacker yet for years he has been getting pulled and dragged before he has the ball and he rarely gets a free.
It will be interesting to see what sort of treatment he gets off the Tyrone boys at the weekend and how the ref performs.
I think Boyler made a good point on OTB that that we didn’t use O’Shea properly when he was in full forward in the past. And that lays with Horan.
It’s also no wonder that Flynn, Loftus etc are starting to flourish under Rochfords and Mulligans guidance…
For me, of the starting 15 against Kerry, 8 are new/second season and would benefit from competitive games, 3 more are playing the football of their lives and should be allowed to play and continue on those performances.
That would leave 4 positions we could play around with imo and given that Durcan, O’hora, hennelly, Conroy, Plunkett, Walsh, Mcloughlin and Doherty, have yet to get much game time, and neither Coyne or Touhy started, we will imo not be doing a huge amount of experimentation
That would be my thinking about the Donegal game anyway, the Tyrone and Roscommon games are two I really want to be winning. The Monaghan one is a different story, if we’re already in a league final, then play a second string, but otherwise it’s much trickier for management. Ultimately managements jobs is to enable the players to win trophies, passing up an opportunity to win a national title is something imo that management needs to be very careful about
Not to be too critical of Horan, but in all 4 All Ireland finals he brought us to we probably underperformed in all of them.
2020, to be fair, that was a young team, but early goal calamity, just like 2012. No excuse for that.
So it could be argued that we weren’t properly prepared mentally for those 4 finals.
I agree with the comments above. A win this weekend won’t come easy though. I’d expect Tyrone to be more suited to Mchale Park than Tuam. It would be great to get a result, then rest a few and give a few more opportunities for the next two games. Then go hammer and tongs again v Monaghan see where that leaves us.
Personally I don’t see the benefit of a league final, I’d prefer just to get safe. I know the argument for silverware etc but we’ve see the other side of the result too, so maybe bring fresh for championship is better.
I believe Aidan O’ Shea is getting technically fouled well over 50% of the times he is in possession of the ball. But because he is a big man it is not given. The reality is with the size and power of Aidan O’ Shea very few players would have the strength to stop him legally…
Driveit..Yes he does and that prob wont change now.And then you see the yellow that was handed out in the Dub v Cork game for the tug of the jersey..
On the subject of jerseys, I cannot remember a worse one than our current one..Geuninely looks like a training bib.
Just checked the TG4 schedule and they are showing the Mayo V Tyrone match, Saturday 25th from 6.30 for anyone that can’t make it. Had a couple of Stout after the Kerry match myself WJ. Best first half performance I have witnessed from a Mayo side. Great to see Paddy Durcan back too.
Regina, I couldn’t agree more the jersey is behind woeful.
I’d like to see cillian get a full game and see what his fitness is like. I also think once we are safe we should give orme, towey, callinan, McLaughlin, Irwin a run out and see how they all cope
Durcan didn’t look match fit the last night. He will need to get a few minutes into his legs
And word on when Conroy or O’Hora are due back?
The Mayo team are going about there business (football) very well, they have a lot of work to do yet. It’s only February, so there is no need to go overboard with any players yet, they have won nothing in 2023 & when they start to play quality tough football for 70 minutes + making sure not to ease off the pedal in the last 15 minutes against the likes of Roscommon & Tyrone, then we’ll see who needs to be applauded
Agree with the comments about Aido being fouled and not getting frees and, by contrast, the Kerry jersey always seems to attract easier frees-we had a few recent examples the other night, with Clifford. Aido is so strong that he rarely goes down-maybe he should early in games to lay down a marker to the ref. A real irritant of mine is the way frees seem to be always awarded for a jersey pull, no matter how slight, whereas players get pushed, pulled, dragged, mauled and enveloped and no free. Quite often the slight jersey pull has no impact at all, but it is always a free.
No White Feather, I think what the first three games have shown is that Durcan, O’Hora, Plunkett, May well struggle to break in to the first six. Eoghan too. In that case, they will be very good subs to bring on, real impact people. At present, is Aidan and Cillian are both on the field, do we really have an impact sub?
From a strategic point of view Kevin McStay needs to make an issue of the fouling of O’Shea. McStay is in a good position to do this in the media and if Aidan is going to spend most of his time in the full forward line it could make a big difference in tight matches later in the season.
Hello! Willie Joe and all Mayo Posters.
As a proud Kerryman, I just want to congratulation Mayo on giving us one hell! of a bloody nose last Saturday night. You were terrific in every sector. I work up here in Mayo, and sent texts of congratulations to all my Mayo working colleagues.
It may be important to be agood winner, even more important to be a good lover too. Beaten comprehensively by the much better team on the night. No excuses, we move on.
Well done.
A good loser I meant!!!
Well you certainly aren’t the other.
Good lover pretty important too @ Micko.Lol.
Thanks for that. I’m sure Jack will use the defeat in a positive way.
Fair play Micko. I think I’d repeat what Ed McGreal said insofar as I don’t think ye’ll be as bad again. It was also one of those rare nights when most things went right for us and wrong for the opposition, but sometimes you make your own luck too. Clearly we have more training done but I found the decision for Kerry to travel up and back again the same day to be somewhat incredible and that said to me that Kerry management didn’t take the fixture seriously as one they would be getting points from. Or if they did think they might get something their decision on travel will be one they will surely regret now.
Something I liked against Kerry:
Enda Hession:
After dazzling in our comeback win over the dubs in the 2021 semi final, Enda didn’t really push on last year like we maybe thought he would, dealing with an awkward injury and not getting a consistent run of games. However when you think about how it was a dismal year of form throughout our team, hard to begrudge him for it. Also, with all our defenders last year looking to be runners, Enda didn’t get as many chances to run with the ball.
The first three games however has shown what a player this guy can be and will be.
Admittedly a quiet first half against Galway, Hession drove us on brilliantly in the second half, and got the stand going with bravery. It wasn’t a motm performance, but it was a good start.
Against Armagh Hession showed even more promise, especially in the second half, and gave us a jolt of energy and an option off the shoulder when we were on top around the middle.
And then last weekend, his best performance in a mayo jersey. While Hession has shown he can be brilliant with the ball, I wasn’t convinced defensively he’d be good enough to go man to man with another top intercounty forward, especially with no alternative with Loftus sweeping. If loftus is dropping into space, all other 5 defenders are gonna be man on man.
I thought he was brilliant on Paudie Clifford. Now Kerry weren’t brilliant but I felt it was Hession showcasing another tool in his box, one I wasn’t sure he had.
Conversely, he still showed what he has with the ball in his hands. While it’s handy to be the man running off the shoulder sometimes, Hession was a consistent ball winner for kickouts, and saying he bailed out Colm Reape would be harsh, but he was certainly the man taking the ball with his back to the opposition, and showed unbelievable bravery to be the man breaking the press consistently. Also forced our first goal with a great break up on Kerry’s kick out.
While obviously Mullin and Keegan are huge losses, are McBrien and Hession able to not be as good, but replicate what they do at least somewhat? It’s early days yet, but I feel they might not be too too far away.
Now the caveat is imagine what our defense would be like with those lads back!
Kerry’s decision to travel up and down to castlebar last weekend , I hear, was the non availability of accommodation to suit the 42 personnel involved.
Was the number that high Rober. I think at least 15 of them didn’t turn up.
Rober, maybe that’s revenge for 2019 in Killarney when some of the Kerry public apparently made a right racket (intentionally) outside of the Mayo team’s hotel the night before that qualifier match!!! Nothing would surprise me when it comes to Kerry cuteness.
See some kerry folk saying that Jack o connor wasnt bothered at all about the 1st half and that its nothing to worry about that they cant just admit that we were good can they not all kerry people of course but the arrogance is unreal from them at times.. haha
That’s interesting regarding the accommodation if true.
It’s something I think might crop up again during the summer. In this case, Kerry had a few months to find accommodation but come you might only have a week or less to sort something out at peak holiday season
*come summer
@Micko, Perhaps you may be interested in my new book, working title “An erotic weekend at the Connaught final”.
It’s 50 shades of gray like but with things like long lingering teas in Balla mart and letting a Roscommon barmaid beat you in pool.
Clare,
That’s the first I’ve heard of ‘ Kerry people not giving Mayo credit for their win last Saturday’.
I work up here during the week for the last 20 years, and I’m down home every weekend and holiday time, so in essence, there would be nobody, but nobody on the island more qualified than i am in making observations on a weekly continuous basis between the two counties, people’s wise. I heard nothing but disappointment and praise for Mayo from any Kerry folks amongst my own around me. Arrogance is not in our creed, I mean the real, genuine people would not be like that down home at all.
But all it takes is a few bad apples to infect an orchard of good apples. We have them below, every county has them. You’ll see about 8 of them on the Kerry Forum unfortunately. I believe in treating any people and any county with utmost of respect.
We lost fair and square. No if’s nor but’s.
I take my hat off you Mayo and congratulate you on a truly superb performance and a well deserved win.
There is no doubt Kerry will be the team to beat come Summer. If all there players were fit – they were missing 8 first choice players at the start of the game. We were only missing two players who would be guaranteed to start – Paddy D and Tommy C.
We are at least 6 weeks ahead of them in training and they spent 4-5 hours sitting in a bus on Saturday before the game. Armagh could feel the back lash on Saturday evening.
Saying that our lads played well – but we have much tougher tasks ahead.
@Micko I didnt mean any offence but I have seen some comments online and that. Theres a few bad apples in every county but I did see some comments like that I did say not everyone in kerry is like that.
I am sure mayo have some arrogant supporters to. Kerry people are great people I used to live in kenmare and had a family holiday house near the pats spilane pub haha.
Sorry if I caused offence. I am sure kerry will bounce back .
It’s a bit mean for Na Fianna to be charging for Car parking for the Ladies game on Saturday, taking money from fellow Gaels up from Mayo.
Clare
No problem at all, I trust you fully, like all Mayoites folk, you are the truest of the true. We will not fall out, don’t worry, adults that respect eachother should never have to fall out.
I truly have a great time for things Mayo in huge respect, so no, you did not offend me at all.
I trust the fact that you did come across some of those platforms, my apologies on behalf of those pretend Kingdomions for being arrogant. Nothing worse, I hate that trait in anyone from anywhere. I always tell my own crowd, behave, show courtesy, earn respect, you are representing your county in the stands and terraces up and down the country, behave, but be proud too.
Anyway, Mayo needed that win against us more than we did I feel, it’s good for the game and keeps neutrals interested.
@Micko agree mayo did need the win more then you guys needed to prove we can beat ye at least sometimes :p haha espcially after the aaful league final and the way we limped out in the quarters. Also feel new management needed to prove they mean business and mayo had a terrible yeat last year lost the confidence after the 21 final and we all felt it!
Hope you enjoy working in mayo ! Kerry will be the team to beat in the summer I would say.
Yes definetly helps the game when one team isnt allways winning thats why I glad the Dubs are no longer on the top as it got pretty boring th always winning ha!
And thanks as I said most kerry people are lovely people &good craic!
*awful