Most of you will no doubt have seen by now details of the team that’s been named to face Donegal in Sunday’s All-Ireland quarter-final at Croke Park (throw-in 4pm). Anyway, for the record, here it is – on this occasion James has opted to name both the starting fifteen and the subs:
Mayo (All-Ireland SFC quarter-final v Donegal, 4/8/2013): Rob Hennelly (Breaffy); Tom Cunniffe (Castlebar Mitchels), Ger Cafferkey (Ballina Stephenites), Keith Higgins (Ballyhaunis); Lee Keegan (Westport), Donal Vaughan (Ballinrobe), Colm Boyle (Davitts); Aidan O’Shea (Breaffy), Seamus O’Shea (Breaffy); Kevin McLoughlin (Knockmore), Richie Feeney (Castlebar Mitchels), Alan Dillon (Ballintubber); Cillian O’Connor (Ballintubber), Alan Freeman (Aghamore), Andy Moran (Ballaghaderreen). Subs: Brendan Walsh (Ballintubber), Shane McHale (Knockmore), Michael Walsh (Ardnaree), Kevin Keane (Westport), Barry Moran (Castlebar Mitchels), Enda Varley (Garrymore), Chris Barrett (Belmullet), Cathal Carolan (Crossmolina), Darren Coen (Hollymount/Carramore), Jason Doherty (Burrishoole), Jason Gibbons (Ballintubber).
So it’s two changes from the side that started in the Connacht final against London last month, with Donal Vaughan and Cillian O’Connor – who both featured as subs that day – returning to the starting line-up instead of Chris Barrett and Darren Coen respectively. With Donie named in his customary centre-back slot Keith switches back to the corner (where does that leave that story about him being deployed in a sweeping role, I wonder?) and there’s a bit of shuffling in the forwards too, with Richie named to start on the forty, Alan on the wing and Cillian at top-of-the-right. I don’t think the numbers the lads will be wearing will have too much relevance once hostilities commence on Sunday.
The team named to start on Sunday contains nine of the side that lined out in last September’s All-Ireland final. Missing from that day are goalkeeper David Clarke, as well as Kevin Keane, Barry Moran (good to see him back in the subs’ list), Jason Doherty, Enda Varley and Michael Conroy with Rob Hennelly, Tom Cunniffe, Seamus O’Shea, Richie Feeney, Alan Freeman and Andy Moran all coming on.
Nine of last year’s side, WJ. Conroy missing too.
Conservative selection but Horan doesn’t do radical. Don’t see any of the changes weakening the side from Sept. indeed some shoild have been there then. An all out effort is needed and I expect the bench to be emptied before the end. Not a day for faint hearts.Best of luck to all.
Great to see donie back in the side and Higgins revert back to the back line gives us a much stronger looking defence….
Really surprised to see Alan Dillon get the start…I would have preferred Coen, then again…I would like Regan too…anywayt, Dillon MUST be fit as he would have had to earn that spot off form, (not reputation or experience), given the bench we have.
I was surprised with Feeney too…maybe he plays around the middle third with super mac dropping further back as sweeper?
Can i just say that lets not give any more wasted time to the Donegal antics and what hey may have said it not .lets focus on the match in hand.I firmly believe this team can beat Donegal by 5 or 6 points.Looking forward now to waking up early Sunday morning.getting the breakfast and then getting bus to Dublin.Roll on Sunday.
Thanks for the correction, Horan’s Brigade, I’ll change the post to reflect this.
Irrespective of all the talk, in the end, it will boil down to the best team winning as it usually does. All that matters now is that we have the best 15 on the field and that they give it 100% and that we give them every support. Oh and it’s important that we enjoy it……these are indeed great days to be a mayo supporter.
Wouldn’t it be great if we beat them out the gate…….10+ points! I have a funny feeling this could turn out to be a day to remember.
This is only the QF.We’d think we’d be all high and mighty if we bate them out the gate…no..no…a good clean, tough battle with a 1 point win wil do fine.
Goalkeeper aside, aren’t all the changes from last year an improvement?
Bogus team again. Feeney wont start, Higgins will not be back in the corner and Barrett will start. Reliable source…:-)
I dont think will beat them out the gate because the way Donegal our set up, however if Dillion and Moran click the way we know they can and the rest of the lads play to there potential i think we will win comfortablly. (im nervously optimistic)
Barrett in the corner? Surely we’ll have learned that they will look to hit their high towers early like they did in September. I like Barrett I really do but it’ll be madness putting him in there against Donegal FF line.
Barrett doing a manmarking job on Mc Brearty. Higgins going to half forward line. Feeney going on standby for all positions by the looks of things..
NON-your source may be reliable but i’ve seen too many stories on top of sticks (esp at this time of year)to believe anything but the official line
Surely to god, surely to whatever looms above the mayo team and fans in croke park on days like these, surely to jaysus this time it can’t happen again alf Stewart, the team and the Monsignor must above all have covered that off.
Pretty much the team I was hoping for, particularly Cillian in the corner.Let’s hope all the patients are fully recovered and up to speed – anything less will not be good enough.
Good to see Barry Moran back on the panel, he could have a major impact in the last quarter. Few players have endured as much with injuries down the years and he deserves enormous credit for his courage and persistence. Roll on Sunday and hopefully there will be a huge and noisy Mayo turnout.
I have no doubt that if any player was off form (injury or otherwise) they would not make the first 15.. James will have run/developed a number of formats/plays to be deployed on the day but he will first send out what he feels to be the best combination of players available to him to unlock this Donegal mass defence and IMO the team named is it. We should not be overly concerned about one player starting ahead of another.. we have moved on from the day of the one player being better than another.. this is a team.
The above combination may not work and tweaks may need to be made and that’s where our strength in depth will come to the fore. It may be disappointing for some that a preferred player is not getting the start.. but we do not have the advantage of seeing them operate within a designed plan week in week out.. and therefore in James we trust and hope he can see the best 15.. know when its not working.. spot the changes needed to be made.. and make them.
The best we can hope for is.. that this is the settled team that can win the next three matches with the panel being used to consolidate positions and see out games.
We will respect this Donegal team but if we get a head start on them Sunday we will not look back.. C’mon Mayo
This is an extract from Sean Counihan’s article in The Kerryman today –
“The toughest match for me to call is Donegal and Mayo. Some say Donegals bench is stronger than last year, I am not so sure. As for the men from the west they have not been tested at all this year, which means they will come in very fresh and if there is ever a chance of Mayo doing something in Croke Park it has to start this weekend.
I am going to give my vote to Mayo to beat last years All Ireland Winners. Its now or never for these fellows. I know they have been playing some robust games behind closed doors so lets see if they have acquired the bottle to win. We know they have the footballers.
Its going to be a great weekend of football.”
He pretty much says it as it is and puts it up to us in a fair way. Lets get behind our “fellows”!!
Mon Mayo
mid west preview on now lads/lassies
Look … all this spindoctoring from donegal is desgned to make it look as tho theireye isoff the ball.
Couldnt be further from the truth.
They are not flat! They will b up fo it like dogs and so must we. Its gonna be a hell of a battle.
Looks a good strong team on paper. Hopefully every one of them is 100% fit. We cant afford to carry a passanger. All 15 need to be wary of picking up a red card too. Especially Cillian who could well be targeted. If we play to our potential and dont do anything stupid we will win. Also need to avoid dishing out presents (like 2 or 3 early goals). That went out of fashion long time ago. Good luck to Mayo.
13 from the 2011 sides that faced Cork,Kerry. The starting 15 is along the expected lines only Clarke if fit would get into that side. S O’Shea,Freeman good form would keep out Barry Moran,Conroy regardless is fit or not.
Sean Burke says:
August 1, 2013 at 10:20 pm
mid west preview on now lads/lassies
The presenter (can’t recall her name) read out all the predictions 2,4,6 and higher points wins for Mayo then when she read out one win for Donegal she laughed into the mic..
Sorry about being so pedantic, Willie Joe, my bad!
I don’t agree with the poster above about Conroy – a fully fit Conroy makes that team. He was outstanding last year, winning several frees, setting up several points and scoring a fantastic point himself. It’s a good team we have but let’s not fool ourselves either. And a fully fit Barry makes the team also as his ball winning ability is second to none – though I do grant you that Seamus is in great form making Barry’s loss all the more manageable.
It’s a strong team – noticeably a big team too, in terms of physique. All the forwards are six foot or over (apart from Kevin Mac maybe). My one worry with the forwards is the lack of pace. Aside from Kevin Mac, none of those forward possess real pace. Might not make much difference against Donegal maybe.
We probablyt won’t know if this is the real team until ten minutes before the game. Dillon probably will start having been named now. In fairness, most of the new players in from last year’s final are there on merit – Freeman, Feeney, Cuniffe, O’Shea are all playing extremely well. I’d have no fear of them letting the side down!
Willie Joe, you said in a piece in May that Donegal were fast becoming the most detested champions ever after the nonsense they went on with against Tyrone. That piece by Gallagher further emphasises your point. It is absolute tripe and extremely infuriating. I was very interested to see Donegal fans expressing their embarrassment about the piece.
That said, Donegal are All Ireland champions. They will raise their game for Sunday and the weather looks like it will aid them too. I do NOT like the way everyone is tipping Mayo in the general media and writing Donegal off. They are champions and champions always have a sting in their tail. Any time Mayo have gone in against a top four or five team, they have always been underdogs. They generally thrive in those conditions. When they are favourites on big occasions, they can buckle a little (Cork ’99, Fermanagh ’04, Meath ’09). This will be a watershed moment for this team if they win, make no mistake. But don’t be fooled into thinking Donegal will fold easily. All the talk is about the referee and Jimmy McGuinness this week and how Mayo will beat them. That is exactly how he wanted it. He may be crass but he is no fool either.
I believe Mayo will win – they have a lot of players on form that weren’t there last year and it looks a better team on paper than last year’s final. But this will be a nip and tuck game – the smallest thing could decide it in my view. With a bit of luck, the bounce of the ball will be in our favour Sunday.
You are missing the point i made Horan’s Brigade. Arguably Seamus O’Shea,Alan Freeman have been Mayos best players this summer. Conroy,Barry Moran would normally walk back into the side however not so this year with the form of their replacements.
Point I’m making is that Conroy and Barry Moran are not fit for action this year. If they were fit and in form they would be on that team. After all, when they were fit and in form last year – they did keep the two off the team! I hope they get back to fitness as I think Mayo need them. I do agree though, MO2013, that Freeman and O’Shea have been superb replacements and have been excellent all championship.
An anyway near fit Conroy has to play… He is our most natural scoring forward. Pity Aiden kilcoyne isn’t around.
Donegal fancy themselves big time ..make no mistake about it!!
The donegal lads i know are very confident they’ll beat us, i think in days gone by the favourites tag would have really effected us mentally, but not mow under jh, he’ll use it as an advantage. Im still cautious though, i cannot see us scoring goals on sunday so our long range shooting has to be bang on target. Hope a moran gets himself up for this game, a confident and free flowing andy moran will unlock any defence such his brilliant distribution to the man coming off his shoulder, its all gunna be about our lines off running in the final third and i think for what our forwards lack in pace they make up for in intelligence. Hopefully they click and we can sneak past the champions.
Also, i think cork will beat the dubs on saturday and tyrone to prevail in the all ulster clash. Rant over.
Mayonaze, Conroy is a good fielder of the ball and has the ability to win frees he would bring a little bit extra to the forward line however he isn’t natural scoring forward for example 2-4 he managed in 5 championship games last summer and 2-1 of that was scored v Down.
Do not agree with MO2013. Fully fit Conroy would be would be on that team, he was our most consisent forward in the league. Maybe MO2013 dose not go to league games.
It’s very simple. We will know after 5 minutes of this big game on Sunday whether Mayo will genuinely be in the hunt to beat Donegal.
They need to set the agenda from the very 1st second.
Win the throw in & get the 1st score of the game.
Otherwise we won’t win.
What beat Mayo last year in the All-Ireland Final was Donegal’s quicker start, hence the goal.
We were on the back foot from that time onwards & never really looked like they could genuinely win it from then on.
If we get a couple of quick point’s in the 1st five minutes & pressure Donegal with speed of movement when in attack & tackle ferociously when Donegal are in possession & frustrate them then I think it will set the game up for us to win.
If we play that way then yes we will win by 1 pint.
If we don’t start well then Donegal will take it by 5-6 points.
1st FIVE MINUTES OF THE GAME CRUCIAL FOR MAYO’s CHANCES TO WIN.
This is the same team as played Kerry in 2011 apart from the half back line and Lee Keegan came on that day. So it’s Colm Boyle in for Trevor Mort with a few lads in different positions.
Now I suppose there are two ways of looking at that.
First would be we weren’t good enough then and we haven’t come up with any new players since.
On the other hand these guys have been together most of three years now and some for much longer so they know one anothers game almost telepathically by now.
I would hope the latter would be the case and that we have improved big time since then.
Make no mistake Donegal will be very hard to beat but I saw us beat them already this year in a tight game.
I’ll be there with a car load as always loosin the head I’m sure at times and I think we might just do it. COME ON MAYO!!
One of our major problems in last year’s all-ireland was the ball wasn’t sticking in the FF line. The ball was coming back out as soon as it was kicked in, particularly in the opening minutes, and this put us under enormous pressure further up the field. Our FF looks a lot more powerful with all three capable of winning their own ball and that could well be the winning of the game.