Like the Seniors last Sunday, the county’s U20 Connacht campaign this year lasted just the length of a single match. Unlike the Seniors, though, at U20 level the Connacht Championship is straight knockout and so this evening’s 0-17 to 1-9 defeat to an impressive Sligo outfit means the end of the road for them.
This match was meant to be played at MacHale Park but was switched today to the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence pitch at Bekan. Last year’s U20s prevailed over Galway at the same venue in similarly wet and windy conditions but this evening the current year’s crop – still managed by Maurice Sheridan – were comprehensively outclassed by a well-drilled, hard-working and talented Sligo team.
Dara Hurley bagged the game’s opening score but a foretaste of what was to come came after Sligo had levelled. They put on a full press and turned our restart over twice in succession, bagging points on both occasions to lead by two.
We hit back well, though, with Bob Tuohy landing a nice score from distance and then Fenton Kelly palmed to the net to put us two points clear. Bob Tuohy curled over a cracking score after that, the ball swirling in from the right and over.
Sligo had a bit of a let-off soon after when, in our next attack, Conal Dawson shot from out on the left wing, the ball dipping rapidly as Tom O’Flaherty and the Sligo ‘keeper both rushed to meet it. It ended up going over the bar but the leather could just as easily have ended in the net.
Three up, we looked to be taking control of the game but then, all of a sudden, fortunes shifted strongly in Sligo’s favour. They got a hold around the middle and, by a combination of hard, off-the-shoulder running, cleverly executed handpasses (which, unlike ours, went forward) and precise shooting, they proceeded to turn a three-point deficit into a two-point half-time lead.
By then we’d lost Seán Morahan to the sin bin for ten minutes and his absence was to prove extremely costly to us early in the second half. Now with their tails up, the Magpies came at us in waves, banging over a succession of points to put the game beyond our reach.
Seven points without reply in this spell saw Sligo stretch their lead by nine. On the rare occasions we broke out, our transition to attack was way too slow, our handpasses still all lateral, and Sligo – like the Rossies last Sunday – guarded the D as if their young lives depended on it.
It was only when the result was beyond doubt that we finally began to find our range but the four unanswered points we got to close out the game were all no more than consolation scores. These points – three from Fenton Kelly and one from sub Ryan Fadden – cut Sligo’s victory margin to five points but it was a margin of defeat that flattered us. In every other sense, this was a hammering.
So, that’s it for the county at U20 level this year. Sligo, the defending Connacht champions who beat Roscommon last week before accounting for us tonight, now go on to face Galway in next week’s final. On tonight’s evidence, they looked well placed to secure back-to-back provincial titles at this level.
We got exactly what we deserved, nothing. Sligo the better team no doubt, but another shambles under Sheridan. They looked clueless and only started to play a bit when it was too late. We were outscored by something like 7-1 with the wind behind us.
Drove 2 hrs to see it .
Lots of talent on both sides. Sligo were the better team
Agree @ Nephin … Sheridans set up with such talent is not up to what we expect in progressing Mayo football.
Let these young lads express themselves on the pitch .
Hard luck lads …
Well done My Ball. Travelling 2 hours to support and kind in your observations.
Our lads never stopped trying but sligo were just way ahead. It’s tough on the Mayo boys.
I know nothing about Sheridan and his team but felt we had no edge to our play. No threat, couldn’t win our kick out, no cohesion in attack and they seemed less fit too. Hard luck to our Mayo lads and hats off to Sligo. They were so deserving of their victory. Onward and hopeful, always hopeful.
Maigheo abu
Not good at all I’m afraid. Even the bookies were well out. They had us as warm favourites, based on tradition no doubt as traditionally we would be expected to beat Sligo. BUT things are changing. Sligo won Connacht U20 last year in a game we should have won. No such complaints tonight. Sligo far superior, very well coached, excellent forwards and good game management. Remember Summerhill got to all Ireland colleges final, beating a Kerry school in semi, only to be beaten by an incredible Tyrone school team. Add to that they also won the Connacht B schools as well. They look confident and played a lovely brand of fast attacking football. They fairly easily dismissed Roscommon last week and hopefully will finish the job next week v Galway. In contrast our brand of football is not at all exciting to watch. With a huge selection advantage, there is something terribly wrong. We were convinced we had a fantastic U17 team last year, but were easily beaten by Galway when it really mattered. I have no idea as to what the solution is. It is of course very easy to blame management and of course they have to take some responsibility, but problems are deeper than that. We get carried away with a few good results and then hit the depths when we lose a few. There never seems to be any middle ground in Mayo. We have just had a golden generation of great players between 2011 and 2020 so hopefully some of those fellas get involved. In our darkest days in the 70s and 80s we were winning All Ireland underage titles and competing in finals with swashbuckling entertaining football. Now we seem almost afraid to go for it. Is it our coaching, our mindset or the decline of our schools. We have a lot to ponder and think about. Our neighbours to the south and east seem to be able to produce forwards who can kick wonderful scores, Walsh, Finnerty, Murtagh, Smith etc. We have really willing forwards like Ryan, Tommy etc., but when you think of it, with the exception of Cillian, and Andy for a couple of years, have we really produced top class forwards upon whom you can really depend on to kick a point from 30 -40 yards when the chips are down. This is not a criticism as many of our players have truly wonderful qualities, but is there any chance of us producing a Clifford. Walsh, McManus, Canavan etc. Presumably that requires coaching of the highest level from an early stage not to mention a smattering of natural talent. Having one player like that would be the difference between winning and losing in games of really tight margins.
Not sure James Horan would be interested in taking an underage team now.no doubt he still has something to offer though
Sligo have always had Summerhill and lately other schools to produce talent but we have Colmans,Gerards, and many others.Difference is in coaching and selection.I am sure Sheridan tries but he is not adventurous or even tactical.This is not like last Sunday.These seniors will come good I feel but u20s never in it despite senior footballers.
Lets have new structues before it is too late.
to win just once – i agree with what you say in that change is needed but to say that mayo dont have players like murtagh, smith, and finnerty is a joke! Any team in the country would happily take rod, tommy c, or james carr… a single defeat to roscommon doesnt suddenly change their quality. Do you think that when the kerry team lost to donegal or got trashed by mayo this year that they suddenly wished they had a paddy mcbrearty or a mayo forward? No, they know that a single performance doesnt define their players, clifford will still be clifford, o shea will be oshea etc. So to wish for a murtagh or a finnerty in mayo is outrageous – we have players every bit as good and better. Just on mayo forwards – we have the all time leading championship scorer in Cillian O’C and the minor team last year had plenty of impressive talent coming through too (we had the top scorer in ireland as far as i know)
The worst underage display I have seen
In a very long time. Depressing.
Sliho had a game plan Mayo didn’t seem to have any plan.
Sligo had a sound kick out strategy but Mayo didn’t.
Slig appeared to be better conditioned and their basic skills were superior.
Hard to pick too many positives but Fenton Kelly with 1-03 did his bit and Bob had some good moments including 2 terrific points. In all honesty we were overrun for most of the game.
Ridiculous that after months of training they don’t get a chance to redeem themselves. Well done to Sligo and I hope they go all the way.
Galway is divided between Hurling and Football. Mayo in reality is by and large mainly Football. Therefore we should expect to be winning Connacht Titles at all grades on a regular basis as we have a large population compared to Sligo Leitrim. Roscommon and the fact that South Galway is mainly hurling. However we are by and large very poor at underage bar the under 17s last year. Many are now critical of Horans style of play but before he came along Longford knocked us out of the championship. The League win is irrelevant. . Nice to have won it but no one asks who won the League. It’s all about the Championship. Mayo may well be in a better place having lost last Sunday. They need a rest. It would not be ideal to be playing Galway next Sunday week. We can learn from the defeat. Also we may get some of the injured players back. A bit of luck in the group stage and who knows. We are always better for some reason when we are underdogs.
what sort of rubbish is this? @Osullivan “The league win was irrelevant…mayo may well be in a better place having lost it”. Jesus if thats what people are saying imagine what abuse would be written here if mayo lost to galway on sunday. ‘Mayo bottlers’…’Galway are on the up, all ireland appearance last year now beat us in the league final’.
The whole thing with mayo is that after our proud history, we have little silverware to show for. Now when we do finally win, its somehow a bad thing?
Just not good enough
Sligo a much better team on the night
We don’t have a devine right to beat them, hope they go all the way
Look at what a small club like Glen have done in Derry with good coaching and how Burren now have 8 starters on the Down under 20 team that’s beating all round them.
It proves that you really only need a couple of quality/fanatical coaches in clubs to provide a basis for a strong county team. Would be nice to hear what the Mayo coaching officers plans are going forward.
Centre of excellence in Sligo has to be a factor in their underage talent the last three years . Fair play to Sligo GAA .
Last year our u20 display was poor but we were unlucky not to win connacht. Tonight was way worse. Players looked like they were afraid to play. No creativity. The stories of “only pass if your 80% sure” look like they could be true. We only went for it when it was too late.Not just one man’s fault , selectors must be agreeing to the structure and plan. How come you never see a manager from a u20 club team in charge or given a chance. Doesn’t always have to be a past player!
Let’s see, I don’t know is u20 particularly anything at this stage in terms of needing to win titles.
Seems we don’t have our prep done in terms of SnC and modem tactics.
But, we are still producing a few good players each team.
Then every second year we usually have one exceptional player.
U17 I think shows you a bit more of what you have. U20 has turned nationally into a blanket v blanket bore fest.
Gweestion. Read my post again. I said we may be in a better place having lost to last Sunday. (Roscommon Game ). as we are not at the moment ready for Galaxy in two weeks time. We got all the luck in the League final. The League is irrelevant. No one cares who wins it. I am lucky enough to be at the last three we have won 2019 was special but when Roscommon beat us in the Championship it mattered little.
How’s our Centre of Excellence coming along???
Oh…wait….
What is it we cannot do currently without the Centre of excellence?
There’s some training doesn’t happen?
The west is best .This Down u20 team were hammered by Fermanagh when they were minor. A group of players regarded by Down supporters as the best in a generation. Steven Poacher was brought in to coach them at minor and made them into a team of robots. Sideways,backways anyway but forward. Now he’s gone their allowed to express themselves. When the trophy been handed out they’ll be there about.
Thanks onemoreyear. Coaches have a huge influence.
My main point is that one club has produced half that team. That didn’t start at county under 17 level. Someone turned them boys into super footballers when they were nippers.
It’s very simple this. The manager is not up to the job. Wasn’t last year either. We kept him there. You reap what you sow. You only need to see carney callinan and Bob playing senior to see where the problem lies. A restricted lateral football . Time to move on.
Well done sligo, honest and willing and coached .
Congrats to Sligo – fully deserved winners and sometimes you have to acknowledge that on the night they were just the better team. I hope it doesn’t sign post a general decline but it does seem that we’ve seriously lost our way at this level whereas Sligo have really maximised their resources and got their house in order. Everybody with a vested interest in safeguarding the future of how we produce players needs to look long and hard at this and chart a way forward – we have no devine right to win these games and competitions – but look what has happened to Cork and Meath. Powerhouses for decades now more likely to be in the Tailteann Cup. I fear this could be us in the not too distant future. On tonight’s game I was very disappointed by how Mayo set up. All lateral and sideways passing – Mayo teams always should have the arrogance to be direct and have a go – push up on everything and kick ball into the forwards. We didn’t do that. I have some sympathy for Maurice and the lads tonight – anybody can get it wrong in a one off game and it’s cruel that there’s no back door. It is telling however that we are closer to the bottom of the pile in Connacht right now at underage than the top and that should be the canary in the coal-mine warning us to urgently review our structures.
Sheridan a pure disaster. Could not begin to understand how he was left in the job after the shambles of last year. Feel sorry for those young lads. Please please please Mayo County Board can you appoint a manager that those players deserve.
Missing my point Gweestion (maybe not all that clearly made in fairness) My point was intended to point out that the likes of Finnerty, Murtagh and Smith etc are just natural score getters who can normally be relied upon to kick a few points from play most days. Bearing in mind that as a team we kicked 4 from play in league final and not many more last Sunday is my point – the lack of natural scorers. I am not even talking about outstanding talents like Clifford and Walsh, merely ok forwards who can kick the ball over the bar on a fairly regular basis. Do I think Ryan and Tommy have other admirable qualities.? Absolutely. They are creative and dynamic and hardworking
Firstly, hearty congratulations to a very fine Sligo team. They were well coached, well organization, well st-up and well up for it, all of the things that we were not. After our poor performance last Sunday, I was looking forward to our U20s brightening my mood with a good positive adventurous display, regardless of the result. What I got was a negative, shambolic, clueless performance, which was an embarrassment and makes me despair about our near future. I have no problem with losing games, but what I have a problem with is wasting of our young talent and the ingraining of this negative style of play into them. Fair play to Sligo and I would love to see them go all the way, but nobody can convince me that Sligo have a bigger selection of talented young players than we do in Mayo. So it comes down to the way both teams are coached and this is no surprise, as we witnessed it last year also. Our default setting is slow lateral passing and our first instinct seems to be to pass back rather than forward and our defence was as porous as a colander-we seemed to struggle to get scores, whereas, in contrast, Sligo waltzed thro’ and picked off much easier scores. We also had our usual bad habits, carrying the ball into traffic, sloppy passes etc. We seem to have some kind of a problem in Mayo with defending, at all levels,as to my eye, the opposition scores always seem to come easier. It’s one thing to be disappointed when we are beaten, while trying to play positive football, but it is far more infuriating when we are playing this negative,slow possession football. We have talented young footballers-for God’s sake, let them play and express themselves. And let’s have none of this nonsense about the weather and “only amateurs”, plus today, “they’re only young lads” – the same applied to both teams, on Sunday and today. No, the sole responsibility, for this latest shambles, lies squarely at the door of Maurice Sheridan and his coaching team-I assume that he decides the style, system etc and the County Board-how on earth did they give him another year after last year’s shambles. Given the poor performances, I honestly think that these youngsters are not happy with the style and system that they are being asked to play and their hearts are not really in it. Going forward, I would like to see the Board appoint an overall Director of Underage Teams-Horan would be a good choice, if he was interested and maybe someone from Senior Management, like Liam McHale could be given some role with the U20s, to provide a link between the two. Finally, it is a shocking indictment of the Connacht Council that some of these teams only get one game.
Glasagusdearg, is that not Liam McHales job already….
In fairness I wouldn’t be blaming the manager. He isn’t appointing himself each year.
If the issue is with the way the team is prepared and set up, and if it’s been going on for sometime, then surely the blame, all the blame lies with whoever is responsible for picking the manager and putting the manager in place.
I wouldn’t be too critical of Sheridan. He’s trying his best, which it appears, is not good enough.
The next manager needs to be the right fit for the job, and from alot of the comments, the whole fleet of managers, right down to young underage needs to be well thought out before they are appointed.
That team last evening lost all their shape as the game went on.
They did far better in the last 10 minutes when the plans were thrown out the window and they started throwing caution to the wind.
Hard luck to them and well done Sligo.
Gizmobobs, wasn’t aware that McHale had a role with the U20s already-do we know what the nature of his involvement is?
Revellino, Of course the initial responsibly lies with whoever appointed Maurice Sheridan, in the first place, which has turned out to be a mistake. But they made an even bigger mistake, when they kept in charge for this year, after witnessing the appalling style of play and performance last year. Maurice Sheridan must shoulder the blame for this horrible system of play and the poor performances.
Jp , I can’t answer that with specifics cause I’m not qualified or informed . What I can do is answer it by giving examples of counties who are starting to either rise and have built one or a county like Tyrone who have been successful and have had one a while . Think owenbeg (derry) garvaghy,(Tyrone ) , Sligo , a county like Kerry whom are always on the ball when it comes to evolving with the times and currans .
“Aileen Foley, the manager of the centre of excellence, pointed out that the campus contains four full-sized sand-based, floodlit pitches, a large state-of-the-art gym, video analysis room, eight dressing rooms, dining area, and offices and meeting rooms.” (Kerry ). You think they have built this for show ?
When Ciaran mac was involved he gave an interview and articulated why he thought a centre of excellence in lough lanagh was going to be a great addition , a focal point for the most promising footballers in Mayo to train and learn to become the best .
Its my opinion we need to get this sorted as a priority, it’s only an opinion but that’s it in a nutshell . Get the fields , get the planning and start the drive for fundraising.
I could have this wrong but when Tyrone had the drive to fundraise for garvaghey If my memory serves me right they had a club500 thing . Bring that up to speed with todays money and call it GrandMayo club or something like that seeking €1000 off supporters interested .
That’s it Seán, I know loads of Mayo supporters who would willingly put their hands in their pockets and donate toward a centre of excellence. Mayo GAA has never tapped into the huge depth of support, not just within the county but outside it including internationally. Few if any other county in Ireland has the degree of support Mayo has but we have failed to harness that in any meaningful and effective manner and instead we just have people writing Mayo for Sam anywhere in the world or shining green & red lights on some iconic building etc all of which has become a token of ridicule at this point. It’s absolutely bonkers that a county which claims to be so obsessed in the pursuit of Sam has not been able to assemble top level structures and facilities so as to enable us to maximise our potential. It’s a massive failure by Mayo GAA. A failure by us.
Who are the top coaches and managers in Mayo?.
Surely Horan has a role if he wants it.
Last years minors will be coming along.
Most important coaches in Mayo are at club level u8s to u14s ..
Has to be fun !!
Kicking/ soloing left and right .catching, Kicking L+R ..playing with their head up
You don’t need to be an ex county player to be a good coach !!!
Time to give someone new a crack at the Mayo u20 job.
GlasagusDearg, Liam McHale has the responsibility of county U20 liaison
Spot on My Ball, it’s club underage football that’s most important and the Mayo CB are not doing nearly enough to help out here. If you look at the National Feile results over the years, under14/15’s, they you will see that all the Feile winners challenge for county and All-Ireland titles within 5 or 6 years. Sheridan is getting an awful lot of flack for Mayo’s performance last night, but the performance of McStay’s senior team was just as bad and in many ways worse considering the players he had available. Sligo have really maximizing their resources with this group. The looked stronger, faster, more assured and never panicked. By contrast our Mayo Under 20’s and Senior teams, seem to hit the panic button once any pressure is applied. Maybe it’s over coaching and lads cannot think for themselves.
The money, time and effort should be put into developing a coaching structure and employing people to implement it – having a building with ‘centre of excellence’ written on it doesn’t mean things will automatically improve.
I’m not going to argue tubber but wasn’t it your own townie who said our senior team who were challenging for an all Ireland and ended up in the final we’re struggling to even get a friggin pitch to train on in 2021 .
That must be one the best Sligo underage teams ever. They were so far ahead of Mayo – and Mayo had many good players. Their number 15 was superb. Congrats to Sligo and I hope they go on to win the All Ireland.
Sheridan was blessed to get a 3rd year with this group. Maybe there just isn’t much interest in managing the U20s in Mayo…
We need to bring in a progressive manager at U20 level for the next 2/3 years who will work with the minors of 2021/22. (I like Sheridan, he was a very good player for us over the years, but his style of management has not worked since 2021). We have a talented group of players in that age group, with the right manager, he could develop these players to get ready for the step up to senior level. (And also push for Connacht titles / All Irelands). (23 of yesterday’s panel are underage again next year, thanks to the Ah Ref podcast for that stat). Get Horan in, give him the scope to develop players so that by the time they reach the end of their U20 careers, they can step straight up to senior level. Horan has proven that he is more than able to develop young talent. U20 is a key age group, 2 titles since 2009, not good enough.
I don’t know the guy personally but I was always struck by Sheridan’s interview after we beat Galway on penalties in Tuam in 2021. I think it was on the Mayo News Podcast at the time.
The interview was a mess, he didn’t seem to know who we were playing in the Connacht Final, wasn’t sure was the next match a Connacht final or semi-final. It seemed like no work had been done other than on Galway and sure enough, Roscommon absolutely filleted us in that final.
Time for change.
Heavy legged Mayo could benefit from long break – https://www.rte.ie/sport/football/2023/0412/1376604-heavy-legged-mayo-could-benefit-from-long-break/
Good article by Lee Keegan. Nice style of writing. It’s an interesting read for sure
Horan has done his bit for Mayo and will not be returning. but Kevin McLoughlin should have a good handle on underage football and young talent.
Thanks @Sean Burke good post on Centre of Excellence.
I’m uncertain. I often wonder the contrast of putting that budget to the existing coaching, underage teams and clubs.
However some big hitters have done COE.
Dublin didn’t, an outlier with us.
I understand Leitrim stopped off at the Meath centre of excellence to get a chance to train on an astro turf pitch.
Hopefully with Joe Biden coming to town, there are people filling his ear with how he could immortalise his Mayo heritage by announcing funding for the Joe Biden centre of excellence in Ballina tomorrow.
You’d build it for half the cost of a cruise missile.
A good analysis by Enda Mcgearty on the AH Ref podcast. He stated that there are 7-8 of last years u17 but made the point that they are too young-men against boys! He also named 7/8 under 20 that played senior football with their clubs last year that were not on this years Mayo panel! He was scathing of the set up re how players are selected! Folks something not right here!
Listen to the latest Af Ref podcast!
https://www.the42.ie/dublin-gaa-centre-of-excellence-5927794-Nov2022/ Dublin will have their Centre of Excellence. How have Mayo GAA not made this happen over the years is beyond me. A crying shame. Shocking last night and there will surely be a change in management now.
Would it be an outrageous thought to insist that all underage (I also mean u20 team) teams have a designated youth worker knocking about? You may not need one for each team, but someone to advise (and implement) on strategy around good practice..I’m not on about safeguarding.. I’m on about Player Wellness.. how are they doing? Voice being heard? Struggling with commitment? Issues at home? Manager ignoring them in their eyes? Issues with selector? Negative comments hurting, especially online? If you don’t know youth work you may struggle to understand what I’m talking about.. its not counselling either.. its someone to say to the manager perhaps think of this.. the players might be feeling this etc.. just be aware of this etc..
Let me give you an example.. a relation of mine made a county development set up.. christ he was on cloud 9 making it.. but.. in the same email to the club, his club mate got told thanks for coming to trials but not required.. now seriously, how do you think that child feels?? Imagine if someone who understands young people is able to advise the county to say look this is how we handle bringing in players and this is how we handle letting some go.. I’m telling you, all that stuff leaves a serious mark, both good and bad, on young players.. what was the exit strategy after we lost to sligo? Good luck and God bless leaving the dressing room? Or would it be best that each player gets a sit down over the next few weeks and talk it out on what they thought? What they need to work on going forward? That will benefit the player going back to the club.. the club team will improve.. then that player will be chomping at the bit going into the next Mayo camp whatever level that is…
Just a thought
Oilean acla, i heard the Ah Ref podcast and enjoy the banter but on this one don’t agree with Enda….the 7/8 lads he name checked that played senior/intermediate or junior football for their clubs last year and didn’t feature in this years u20 team….were all asked into the training panels since last Nov… i have a lad also involved and saW most of them get game time in challenge games….others couldn’t /wouldn’t commit to the heavy training schedules….and 2 lads where carrying injuries who could not commit…. life changes for lads from 17-20…its not that straight forward as Enda portrays it……this is a good Sligo squad, they have been coming for the last 4-5 years through the schools and county underage…lets give them credit where its due….they will make the backbone of at least a div 2 Sligo senior team in the next 3-4 years in my view…for us we have to regroup and go again next year….
Mile buiochas Mayo for Sam for your information.
That’s puts a different slant on it. Am sure the manager and his backroom team did their very best also the team.
It seems Sligo were superior on the night. Go neiri le foireann Sligeagh.
Our lads are young and will be back next year le cunadh De!
Mhuigeo Abu
@Mayo for Sam, I think one point we can agree on and this is more than more than fair.
Our u20 manager should not be spread out across so many teams over the past 3 years.
Trying to think the Galway club side I seen and Maurice name came up part of backroom.
Sigerson, school and club and u20 he was spread too thin.
I do believe there is talent there so no issues with the players. However they appear not very well coached from a unit perspective, throw in a poor game system and poor game management which has been the same throughout Sheridans reign. I remember the shock and awe that was on here last year when he was given another year so there should be no shock and awe of another bad year of U20 football !. Lateral and crop circle play with emphasis on possession and pass accuracy doesnt cut it yet again !. there is to much of a told you so about this one / this year !
Are the Coaches good enough in the development of underage teams, here in Dublin this starts at u14 for Boys and Girls, where clubs nominate players to go for trials and the panel is brought down to 60 players for training etc.
Sheridan juggling too many balls at once. Surely at under 20 level, the manager should be 100 percent committed to the job. If you have too many jobs you can’t be as committed to them all as you should
Too much negative being said about last night performance. President Joe Biden won’t be slating Mayo in the eyes of the whole world..Bask in the glow Boys and Girls we are in the Attention of the whole world.. Hope that the weather stays good, hope all the places in Mayo the he visits looks at it’s mighty best..
Great publicity for Mayo Séan all the same..I often wonder with our own politicians how they ever got elected as well!
Speaking of Ballina, motormouth was on otb again today blustering away. He does us no service with his media contributions, almost always sets us up for a fall.
Could do with getting the heads down in the media for a few weeks.
Sean
I think we should stick to Mayo football and let The Americans choose their president.
I dont think any of us are in a posotion to criticise Joe Biden…..
Agreed, 1989, political discussion isn’t encouraged here.
Sean – for that reason, I’ve deleted that comment of yours. This isn’t the place to be ventilating such opinions.
Tomorrow,..Mayo is very likely to be one the most Googled words. It’s possible many will find their way to the Mayo GAA Blog..I hope those who do Google the word Mayo and didn’t previously know much about us, come away with a good opinion of us!
Sligo have been doing significant work over the last 10+ years in terms of coaching development, development teams plus the centre of excellence. They targetted coaches to support the squads and as they have fewer schools, they encourage players to change schools to benefit from stronger teams in Summerhill and Attractas in Tubbercurry. This also helps as these schoo are split across the county.
They have made great strides and hopefully will continue to progress, in particular in Sligo Town which is still very strongly focused on soccer. Rugby is also strong in the county and I have seen players lost to it in the important late teen years. So their progress is based on a clear plan and required great enthusiasm and dedication by a small number of people to get to this stage. As others have alluded to, if the process and structures are aligned then success can come, and I really hope that they win the back to back.
Mayo GAA and Politics often go hand in hand…..could make a man sick so to speak 🙂
Supermac, The American president will likely be seeing some of our Senior players tomorrow. We do not seem to do heads down/keeping out of media that well 🙂
What is it with Mayo supporters and managers,it’s a very short distance between a clap on the back and a kick in the backside.
Players must take responsibility, we are short of leaders on the field.
Yesterday’s defeat to Sligo was so disappointing on so many fronts. Firstly it is so sad to see a group of footballers with talent and ability and to have that talent and ability basically coached out of them. When you demand players play to that rigid negative style of play this is the result. Philosophy is do not pass the ball unless the pass is 80% on. The management went out last night with no intention of winning the game. They went out last night with the intention of not losing the game. There is a huge difference. Sligo knew how to beat that style of play, actually not that hard. Once Mayo gave up possession, and that is generally going to happen when you keep going over and back and rarely even try and go forward nothing as sure as there will be a turnover. Sligo just hit the isolated spots where it was so easy to get possession and just put the scores up. We are going nowhere with this approach and feel for the players who work so hard and commit so much and in a lot of cases are never able to express their talent. Best of luck to Sligo, they have a good group there.
@supermac I saw that to he did a pre match off the ball one for last Sunday and was like well mayo will have a good tough match against Galway in salt Hill ha he does mayo no favours sometimes .
I am actually glad of the break now and I’m sure the mayo guys are to loved Lee keegan article says it like it is in reality the result Sunday does not change our position but your close rivals get one up on you and bragging points and that our safety net was one of the reasons we lost on Sunday says it like it is facts.
Anyway hard luck again for our under 20s they have lots of time to learn and get more control of the game not the end of the world !
New pod up, this one a free one with Rob and me, in which we provide a taster of some of the shows we’ve put out on Patreon over the last week. Plenty of voices from the Roscommon match on Sunday and the U20 match last night.
The senior s have a valid excuse. They put in a massive shift 6 days earlier. And will come back. No excuses for Sheridan. Nobody could believe he got another year after 2022 s embarrassing performances. The buck stops with his rubbish football. Clueless
Craggy, does the game the week prior give Senior Management the excuse for the game tactics deployed last week?
Time for new direction in under age teams and coaching. Let the young lads play football and express themselves, its far better to even loose a game playing good football than getting beat knowing that you could play better and enjoy the game better if you were let play the game. For young fellows, the better you play the more you enjoy the game, and the more you enjoy the game the better you play.
Giz. No but I’d cut them a bit of slack in a dead rubber encounter with a weakened team. Sheridan as everyone knows was writing on the wall.
Craggy, I see where you coming from. But McStay was the one bigging up importance of Connacht championship and trying to win through the Connacht system. The defensive set up the week before in a national final and in many of our games YTD would not fill a man with warm fuzzy feels.
Gizz . I couldn’t agree more about the defence. Loftus at 6 not for me. We got away with it in the league final thanks to reape s heroic s
Is Claremorris and Balla that good at U20 level to have 11 players on the panel or does this represent selectors picking players that they know and trust?