Well, here we go: it’s a bit after nine in the morning and, in just under five hours, battle with the Royals at HQ will get underway. For the first time in ages, I’m not faced with hours behind the wheel before and after the game and instead we’ll head off from here a bit before one in the afternoon. I’m well pumped up for this one, I must admit, and with a crowd in the region of 65,000 expected at Croke Park today, it should certainly feel like a big match day. I’ve no idea on what kinds of numbers will be travelling from the west but hopefully there’ll be plenty of support there for the lads as they seek to secure a semi-final spot for the first time in three years.
I’m taking all three kids with me to this one (the little lad, having spent the week in therapy after the Dubs’ defeat, is now back onside and so will be roaring for us today) and this is only the second time I’ve done so for a championship game. I don’t recall getting overly worked up at any stage during the Tyrone game last year at HQ but I’m expecting today’s experience to be a bit more visceral so there’s a good chance they’ll get to see that dark, deranged side of their papa that only properly sees the light of day when all hell breaks loose in a tense championship encounter.
That’s enough gabble, I think – it’s now time for the words to cease and the deeds to begin. But, thanks to Twitter, the words won’t fully cease – I’ll do a few updates to the site during the game but I think that the lads at Club Mayo Dublin and the Mayo News will be doing more on that front so, if you’re into that kind of thing, make sure to follow them. If I still have hold of my senses (and my kids) after the match is over, I’ll do an in-the-moment audio piece, with the full prose version to come later on.
This is one we can win and one we will win. Now let’s go and do it.
Another disappointing result.If you are a reader of this site you would actually think we are half decent such is the crap thats spewed here.lets face reality here,Mayo are an average side.They were well beaten today by another average team.Willie joe and many other mayo fans are delusional and a big part of the problem.The christening of Barry Moran and Aidan o Se as the twin towers earlier this year by fans was laughable.With the exception of his goal against Galway,Moran has contributed nothing.He was awful against Galway and even worse against Roscommon.he is at best a decent club footballer.On the other hand o Se has a very bright future.Big and strong,accurate and makes smart decisions on the ball for a young lad.but his best attribute is that he doesnt hide like alot of current and past mayo fowards.he wants the ball all the time.Aidan,this is your team for the next decade and beyond but remember a few decent games this summer doesnt make you Eoin Liston as some clowns around the county would have you believe.Some of our other fowards are very limited.while dillon and c mortimer are good,they are second tier behind the elite fowards like gooch,s o neill,s mcdonnell etc.trevor mortimer is everything his brother isnt.hes a worker,a team player,very unselfish and unfortunately very limited.pat harte seems to have modeled himself on liam mchale.the pity for us is he only got the tan right.he will never be near mchale as a footballer.hes highly expendable,reminds me of james gill.young kilcoyne deserves another chance,played well today.at midfield we have serious problems.heaney,a great servant to mayo football is finished.thanks david for your efforts over the years.Ronan McGarrity is very overrated.He was totally anonymous today for final 20minutes which he is too often in big games.our backline suffered bigtime today.only keith higgins was up to par.we were beaten physically by the meath fowards.thats embarassing as its usually defenders out muscling fowards.And finally to our management.who in their right mind would bring bj padden into a big game and expect him to do anything.the man is not county standard.he wasnt 7 years ago and isnt now.get rid of him.Also,the decision to bring tom parsons back was mindboogling to say the least.another guy thats not up to it.when o se scored mayos goal in the 13th minute of second half it put mayo 4 pts up.good teams push on and win these games.what mayo did was fail to score again from play until 3mins into injury time.25mins! Frightening stuff.Face the facts people and stop listening to the shite in mayo papers and dopey websites.i love mayo and would do anything to watch them win an all ireland,but these are the hard cold facts.Take a lesson from Meath,do your talking on the pitch!
Fair enough, you’re entitled to your opinion but – you know what? – so are the rest of us. Nobody is forcing you to read what I (or anyone else) writes here. If you don’t like it, then go and read something else.
well done brighton811 you have shown great courage and manliness in your demolition job on mayo’s performance to day and you show great bravery in standing in judgement of players who have given their all for the cause
they may not be good enough certainly were not to day. some of the players you mention may not be of the calibre requires …but thats our team they were the best they could be to day not good enough ya but there the ones that were picked to give their all and I believe that they did
what the hell do you sugest we do ? apart from a few summary executions.. go and support kerry maybe??
Hind sight!!! I’d say he wached it on the telly(asshole)
I agree with brighton811 in some of his comments but he didnt need to be so harsh to other players because they had given all that they were able to contribute, as there skills were limited and were not up to county standard!
Today our luck ran out and our past came back to haunt us in our treatment of our former manager
Mickey Moran who was very badly treated in our county. Which many decent mayo people were ashamed of, after getting to an all ireland final with an average team.
The big question is: Why was James Nallen left on the sideline like he was against Derry before????!!
Listen albany,i know youre upset,so am I.But,do you want me to sugarcoat the truth? these are facts.come up with a decent argument.these guys are in the public eye.we pay decent money to watch them play,so we are entitled to our opinions.If this is what you think of mayo football (and it is,read above),then youre a joke!contrary to your piece,that was not the best they could do today.im a mayoman and i always think we can do better and we have people of the CALIBRE.we can be GOOD ENOUGH but we have to try that little bit extra.I want to hear mickey harte and jack o connor on tv say “well done mayo,they deserved to beat us today”.I want to win so many all irelands that we can surpass kerry.thats all i want and i believe its in our great county. [Remaining part of comment deleted – WJ]
That brighton811 is a far more reasoned post and having left out as you did this time the personal stuff against the players (say what you like about me ) you make some sense. I am not as you say, upset just disappointed that our performance wasn’t good enough intense enough or mentally tough enough near the end ..but I will never never stoop to the low of kicking decent young men when they are down because I can deal with my own disappointment without lashing out at these young guys who have done a lot more for mayo football that most of us armchair critics.