It won’t, I’m sure, come as an enormous shock to you to learn that we’ve named the same team that started in last Sunday’s drawn match for tomorrow’s All-Ireland semi-final replay against Kerry at Croke Park tomorrow (throw-in 3pm). For the record, here’s the team we’ve named.
Mayo (All-Ireland SFC semi-final replay v Kerry, 26/8/2017): David Clarke (Ballina Stephenites); Brendan Harrison (Aghamore), Donal Vaughan (Ballinrobe), Keith Higgins (Ballyhaunis); Lee Keegan (Westport), Chris Barrett (Belmullet), Colm Boyle (Davitts); Seamus O’Shea (Breaffy), Tom Parsons (Charlestown Sarsfields); Kevin McLoughlin (Knockmore), Aidan O’Shea (Breaffy), Diarmuid O’Connor (Ballintubber); Jason Doherty (Burrishoole), Cillian O’Connor (Ballintubber), Andy Moran (Ballaghaderreen).
C’mon Mayo!!!! No surrender!!!!!!!
Remember what Tomás Ó Sé said before the drawn game: Knock Aidan O’Shea on his a*** and you knock the whole of Mayo.
If Aidan comes out the field tomorrow, they will try to do that, so we need to have his back tomorrow. We have to make our feelings known in the stands and on the terraces.
As Andy Moran said, ‘We’re Mayo and we’re in this together’. Roll on the game!
We knew who the personnel would be – the question is where will they play? Roch could be throwing a curveball here and make 2 changes before throw in I suppose we will only know tomorrow. I expect Lee Keegan to take Donnacha Walsh.
As was quoted earlier this week in the Mayo news the Lyrics from a famous Mayo song…says it all really.
“So boys cling together in all kinds of weather
‘Don’t show the white feather’ wherever you go
be like a brother and help one another
like the true hearted men from the County Mayo”!!!
We so need to be behind our lads tomorrow. Let our lads be brave and have Courage and the fans to have the voice from the stands. Come on MAYO.
Can’t b at the game tomorrow will be watching from South America role 9.00am good start to role over the kingdom up Mayo where ever you go
That’s a great Confidence boost for the Mayo players, starting the same team shows great Confidence & courage. No doubt they will switch 2 or 3 players straight away to confuse Kerry & also it says to me they are backing themselves Big time. Com’ on MAYO.
When I was driving past Croker today the Foo Fighters came on the radio with –
“This will be our year
Took a long time to come”
Just sayin’…..
Just thinking today. If the team unexpectedly changed back to the green and red kit for this match and let Kerry keep the blue kit it would be some statement to Kerry. We are Mayo. We are green and red. We are at home. We will dominate. We will win. Just thinking….hmmm. Maybe be a bit of a financial fine to the county board but I’m sure everyone in the stands would chip in a few cent…..
Good news. We know we have their measure, now to translate that into a result. Remember. 1948 0-13 to 0-3 without a score in the second half when the “mighty mighty” McAndrew gave endless enjoyment to Michael O’ Hehir; 1951 when the incomparable Tom Langan an d the peerless Paddy Prendergast dragged us out of a raging furnace to a replay and hauled us over the line in the replay and finally 1996 when James Nallen aided by the much maligned Liam McHale scored what was probably the best Mayo goal ever scored in Croke Park.
Those are the results we must and undoubtedly can replicate tomorrow.
League Legends – No. That would be embarrassing and immature.
Just realised, come tomorrow afternoon (for 24 hours at least) we will have played more championship matches at Croke Park this year than Dublin!
Best wishes to the Mayo Team and to everyone travelling to Croke Park tomorrow. Also thinking of the legion of fans throughout the globe….what many of them would give to join us in the stands. Not to mention those who may not get to see it while in hospital or else where. Our hearts and souls belong to Mayo. We are so proud of our team and eventhough we face an almighty battle ..again…..we do so with pride and belief. Brave warriors one and all. Can’t wait for the battle.
140th game for Keith tomorrow. Need the team to help him celebrate in style!!
Team predictable. The subs list will tell us if we have learned from first game. We need players to come on that will make an impact, they need to have been playing regularly this year. Players can not come back from long term injuries into a semi final
Yes cosa bana and we have played in front of bigger crowds than the Dubs in Croke Park this year in fact the last time the Dubs played in front of a full house in Croker was against us….I dont normally pass much heed on Brolly but hes right when he urges a Mayo player to score the winner not just the equaliser its time to score the winner
Its going to be hot hot hot on the pitch tomoro and a dry ball just like Ennis Limerick and the replay against the Rossies Extra time could even be needed to seperate us …I predict we will definetly use our full 6 subs this time and hopefully no black or red cards for us
Up Mayo
stop conceding goals that would be my recommendation. that will go a long way towards winning the match
Pressure is for tyres. Go out and blow these guys away. We all support you. What a year! What a team! Seriously proud old fella here.
Prayer for Sam.
If pain was ever measured
By the time you have to wait
Lord, you would give us Sam Maguire
On a gilded silver plate
We’ve been so close so many times
There’s one thing that’s for sure
If tears were Celtic Crosses
We’d have All Irelands by the score
If it’s courage that is needed Lord
And if it’s that, that lifts the crown
This year the men on Mayo’s team
Would throw courage out of town
If it’s effort that your looking for
And if thats what gets it done
Then why are we still waiting
Since 1951
We would love to know that feeling
What it’s like to lift the cup
But if it doesn’t happen this year
We’re never giving up
And if pain was ever measured
Along with every drop of tear
With our courage and our effort
Maybe this will be our year.
gutted to be missing this one. I have a prior commitment to be running up knocknarea at 3pm. i will be thinking of the team and all the amazing supporters packing into croke park while I am pounding the pavements. I know Mayo will do this! Massive game coming up from Lee and Cillian. hoping for good news when I arrive back into strandhill. safe trip to all!
All quiet on the western front.
The Nearly Men are comming
Scribes inking for the hunt
The Nearly men are running
The tunnel , it is open
empty as the air
Spirits that have spoken
linger in our stare
Shackles that are broken
lie within our lair.
It’s Time
no more rhyme
the nearly men are here…
Come On Mayo!!!
Ye all know what to do. Mayo! Mayo! Mayo! I wish I was there and I would not be anywhere else.
Thanks Joe …tomorrow as supporters is our time to stand up ,be counted and heard ..I don’t live in Mayo but so feckin proud to be from there .,.one club ,one life ,only one MAYO !!
Walsh, if fully fit, is a huge addition to Kerry and does so much work knitting their middle third and their full forward line. Not blessed with pace or silky skills but he is fundamental to Kerrys attack and hugely underrated.
Either Kerry are desparate and are chancing him 1 week after failing a fitness test on a hamstring, or, it’s a dummy ploy. If Walsh was fully fit and motoring he would have featured last week at some stage so I think it’s a chancy call. I expect Kerry to be a little sharper than last week so we will have to find another gear. And use it.
I don’t expect us to line out as named.
Why is it easy to spot a Kerry man at an All-Ireland semi final?…..because he’s the only one there.
On that note it’s another home game for us. So lets roar the place down and turn it into Castlebar.
M’on Mayo
It’s going to be a long night
Biggest game yet for this Mayo team, win this one and nobody will stop us taking Sam this year! Make sure you are hoarse leaving Croker.
May God bless these lads tomorrow.
We owe them more than what they owe us.
What a year it’s turned out to be. So so proud of our team and county. We are the ambassadors for all our people abroad that cannot attend the games. Hope ye hear us loud and clear. MAYO MAYO.
Also Let us all spare a thought for the Gavin family and pray that David will get home to Mayo soon. I’m sure wherever David is, he will be with the Breaffy lads and the team in spirit.
Win this and we’ll win the AI. Beating Kerry is the mental breakthrough this team needs. Seize yer moment lads. Let us all leave our throats in the stand, roar them on tommorow at all times! We can do it.
Looking forward to tomorrow , I’m not as nervous as I usually am , I guess I trust this team to deliver , because they are the better team , and because they are different and hungry this year , and I think they will twist that mental switch , Mayo to win !!! Simply because they want it more .
Not sure if that Kerry team will start, Fitzmaurice rarely names bogus teams but in Kerry the talk is if Walsh couldn’t make the extended panel last Sunday how is he fit to start tomorrow. In saying that they will not waste a potential starter by using him as a tactical black spot for the Mayo management in their consideration for the actual team that will start tomorrow.
This is a real game of chess and it’s hard to predict what size hat both managers will bring to Croke Park tomorrow. Will it be another huge one capable of concealing Aidan o Shea or will it be less of a drumroll in the more subtle tactical levels.
Rochford definitely has the perception of being the more if not the most ballsy manager in the game. If the Gods didn’t conspire against ye last year we would all be reading of the incredible tactical acumen of a man that denied the Dublin team of the the ripe dropping fruit offered be Clarkes kick starts. That’s how close you are to either pulling the handle of the guillotine or hearing the crowds calling for the blade drop on your neck. We here are but fools surmising on the best tactic while the real warlords have consideration for every eventuality.
They have on their ever increasing high tension bleeping monitor considerations like age, pace, ability to nullify while conceding certain strengths to a totally different player within tactical radius, form, mental fortitude to either start or bring on when the juices are right, history between players as this is huge, if some one pisses on your shoes you tend to drink plenty of water prior to you next meeting, weather, wind, referee and that’s just a few ingredients.
Rochford and Fitzy have the reigns and I lift my hat to them, tomorrow there will be wonderful players emptying their hearts and souls on the grass of Croke Park. There will be brave men pacing the sidelines as well and when the final whistle blows maybe we should all stand back and hold our breath before we visit our particular luckybag of opinions on their measured plans. Opinion is a right but retrospective abuse is like speaking from the all wise pulpit, you know what went wrong but you are stupid enough to pretend you saw it coming !!!!.
Tomorrows managers have made these plans based on all they know, tonight in the pubs of Kerry and Mayo we make ours. Our opinions can lead to a slagging but theirs will lead to national scrutiny and abuse. This week we read of a family man who has given his all for his county being described as a donkey. How dare that cowardly scribe snipe from the safety of a keyboard and insult a man who steps out from the line and take the baton. It really infuriated me ,,,
Anyway safe journey to all, I’m off to bed this second and I must get the game out of my head or else it’s no sleep,, yet again.
Hard hard to call, Ciarraí Abú
”Mayo twice suffered huge momentum-shifts when they gave away those goals last Sunday. And yet they recovered. There is a chance that Mayo are an even better team than they know. Life doesn’t always have to be hard. Can they discover that? Avoid those gifts of goals, attack with more ferocity and don’t look back and they can manage their first championship win over Kerry in two decades.
Verdict: MAYO” (Keith Duggan The Irish Times)
Sweet dreams everyone!
good man/woman gamechanger. glad you’re here.
I’m guilty of throwing a few snide ones about players and referees…..from the couch.
My reflection isn’t so appealing when the mirror is held up like that.
Ah jaysus revellino if that doesn’t get us all going nothing will! Inspirational stuff there. I’m still buzzing from your eulogy to leeroy last week. Come on Mayo.
Any Mayo person there tomorrow who does not join in when the “Mayo Mayo” chant starts up, should be ashamed of themselves. Roaring is mandatory not optional.
I said last week that a draw was no good to Mayo. Ya need to take Kerry out on the first day. I hope to Gawd that i am proved wrong tomorrow and am eating humble pie at 5pm.
With all the chat about McGregor and Mayweather this week, the thought struck me that there will be 30 men out on the pitch tomorrow, any of whom are ten times the man as either of them. No need for $100 million dollar pay days to perform, no need for trash talking and racist insults, just complete dedication and love of the game and their county. It’s days like these that really make you appreciate that we have something special in the GAA.
Oh and you too joe ruane. Can’t wait till 3 tomorrow. Safe journey tomorrow one and all! Manuka honey (and vallium!) needed for every one of us but it’ll be worth it!
Well said Gamechanger10. Safe travelling to you all also. Maigheo Abu
Well said Bruce ,thinkung the same myself all week Ive so much about Mayweather and McGregor when all im thinking and excited about is Mayo and Kerry .Being Irish, people here seem to think McGregor must be so important for us .The power of the media I suppose . Theres a naturalness and genuineness about gaa thats unique and I hope it never changes. Greatest sport in the world and Mayo have the greatest fans. Wish I was tommorrow .
mayo win
Drive it home boys…It can be done..
I have a felling we will see the real Lee Keegan in Croker tomorrow (today)……can’t wait……
Can’t sleep. Excited. Raring to go. Like a dog waiting for the trap to open. Let me at them. Give me a Valium. Stop thinking. Love my county. Love my people. Love the team. Go to sleep you daft eijit. Can’t sleep. Anyone else awake? Blog not helping,
Plenty of bards on the post. Love you all. Goodnight. For tomorrow is another day.
We have such a bad replay record,I really think if we beat Kerry tomorrow we can win the final against Ether dubs or tyrobe
Our tails will be up
Read all the posts-And so far this had been best I have ever read on the Mayo gaa blog (And there in the past have been threads of incredible quality, and this time there not even all from Mayo) -Genuine knowledge, emotion, hope, rhyme and reason…. Either way it’s where we want to be…. Good night and sleep well… It should be an exciting Saturday……… What it is it about Mayo,? …… That never let’s us give in…… No matter how often we’ve been beaten….. We always come back again…. .. And back again we are…..Through Rain and Shine we played…. Are we near, or are we far?… Can the Kingdom be finally slayed?….. Today it is to do, but it is never to die…..The dream that is of Mayo…… Lifting Sam under a September Sky!…. ….
I fully believe this time tomorrow we will be planning for an All Ireland final.
Let’s get it done boys.
And as for us supporters – let’s make them as proud of us as we are of them.
Up Mayo!!
Time to travel again. Train. Plane. Bus. Croker.
Wouldn’t have it any other way. Hon Maigh Eo.
Awake , ready to rock ,
Can’t wait to pull that jersey on ,
And get going ,
Loads of noise today folks , the 16 th man has been called up for a fulll game today, from the get go , we need noise and Colour
We can do this ,
We are mayo ,
In this together
Cmon mayo !
Safe travelling to everyone !
Good Morning MAY O
Destiny Awaits Us
So lets Shout And Roar
In Croker Today
Mayo We Can Do It
Strain Every Muscle
Roar Our Head Off
And Believe We Can Do It
Mayo Mayo Mayo
I awaken to the sound of bells ringing in local church in Tintineac Brittany ….what a reminder for the day that’s in it…’ Do they toll for me or for thee?’ A poignant awakening if ever there was one for all who will tune into the match today …. be they in the Hogan or the Nally or in farthest China.There’s nothing in it to tell us the match outcome don’t mind the score but reminds us that what you do or don’t do affects us all.
C’mon Mayo! You can do it.
If this was a league game we wouldn’t blink at the thought of beating Kerry so beating them is nothing new to this team, now let’s start the tradition of beating them in the summer as being no big deal.
Use of fresh legs in a timely manner and calm heads near the Kerry goal will reap the rewards today.
Awake at 7am…happy enough with that. Heads up, game faces on. I fully believe in this team. No more are the days where we almost sneak into Croke Park and “hope” for the best. No, those days are long gone. We have the confidence to compete and beat the best.
Safe traveling to all Mayo and Kerry fans today. I do believe though it will be us Mayo fans who are celebrating tonight.
Up Mayo
Freespoonwitheverytub….I actually think there was probably the same amount in Croker for the Leinster Final as was there for your Semi and our Quarter Final albeit a double header was a full house. Best of Luck to Mayo today!!
Kind Regards
Martin the Dub
please God let Mayo win today. That is all.
Hello Melbourne based Mayo fans!
As we have a replay on Saturday and don’t have to rise for work hours after the final whistle where are people heading to watch it? Any recommendations of good pubs to watch it?
Our own Bowes congregation, WJ would surely approve of!
You’re right martin. Thanks as always for your good wishes!
Come on lads finish them off now. Its halftime, need to drive on now. Lets get this Mayo chant echoing throughout from the start. We can pull them over the line, all in this together!.
It’s die dog now or ate hatchet! Come on Mayooooo
Safe travel to one and all. Up Mayo. Win this and we won’t be stopped.
If we can stop Donaghy today we will win. If we can’t, we won’t.
Was trying to think of something witty or profound to say but I can’t think of anything, I’m more wound up than a Swiss watch factory. Let’s just knock seven shades of shite out of them.
Mayo by 5
Think Eamonn Sweeney should donate a part of his salary to Mayo supporters club by way of apology.