Mayo GAA Discussion Thread

Credit to Kerry for a very determined display.

However, the GAA will have to look at the very serious issue of sub-standard referees. Mayo is a perfect example of the level of commitment and professionalism now employed by players and management not to mention the expense and effort from their supporters.
Sides like Mayo, Kerry, Dublin and Donegal all deserve top quality officiating and certainly, it's not good enough when their efforts are frustrated by an incompetent official such as Mr. O Reilly. As a Cork Supporter, I was very annoyed at some of his very questionable decisions in our defeat by Mayo but I must admit we were 2nd best on the day - however, yesterday, I'm convinced that Mayo would have won convincingly if Reilly got the big calls correct.

Kerry's 1st penalty was a very poor decision - the forward clearly threw himself to the ground with minimal contact from the defenders. I'm not sure on the rule re sliding or foot tackles but I felt that the 2nd Kerry penalty was harsh too - both players tried to kick the ball and IMO, the Mayo Defender just reacted quicker - It was not a foul IMO.

However, the 2 frees in the first period of ET were outrageous - absolutely no fouls - both playeers challenged for the ball- these were huge calls at a crucial stage. I can recall at least 2 blatant black card offences by Kerry players that were ignored - Donncha Walsh cynically pulled down a Mayo Player and the drag-down for the penalty. Kerry clearly attempted to stop Mayo's running game by fouling the player at the start of the move. Reilly continually failed to stamp this out.

I saw Anthony Nolan give a shocking reffing display in the U21 semi final and now Reilly - that's semis in the 2 top competitions decided by woefully inept refs.

Mayo can't highlight this as it will be seen as whinging and James Horan has other things on his mind today. However, players, management and supporters deserve fair play as a minimum and what we saw from Mr Reilly was nowhere near good enough, IMO.

Gary Neville wrote: »

Did you see the 2 frees he awarded to Kerry in the first period of extra time ? Did you think either was a free ? Everyone bar Kerrymen disagreed with the 2 decisions - the RTE commentator and co-commentator and most neutrals thought Reilly got it wrong.

These were huge calls IMO - Mayo started ET with huge energy and scored 2 excellent points yet they ended the half level, entirely due to Mr. Reilly's incompetence - this was a huge boost to Kerry who knew that they had been handed a life-line after playing badly. But for those frees, Mayo would have probably won and at worst got a draw.

Reilly was very poor in the closing minutes of the Cork v Mayo game as well and IMO, he's one of the poorest IC Refs.

After everything that I've read, I keep going back to those 2 frees. I don't think people realise it wasn't just 2 points for them.
We seem to lose faith.
Almost like we worked so hard for our two points and then the Ref gives Kerry 2 back.

Mayo had the momentum in the extra time and were well worth their two point lead, Reilly gifted Kerry two points, they were awful decisions, gave Kerry a badly needed lift at a critical time. Id a feeling before the game he wasnt up to it, but as a neutral I thought Kerry got close to ten major decisions in their favour. There was one in particular where the kerry man ploughed head first into the mayo defender, injured him and one himself a free, it beggered belief.

Gary Neville wrote: »

Credit to Kerry for a very determined display.

However, the GAA will have to look at the very serious issue of sub-standard referees. Mayo is a perfect example of the level of commitment and professionalism now employed by players and management not to mention the expense and effort from their supporters.
Sides like Mayo, Kerry, Dublin and Donegal all deserve top quality officiating and certainly, it's not good enough when their efforts are frustrated by an incompetent official such as Mr. O Reilly. As a Cork Supporter, I was very annoyed at some of his very questionable decisions in our defeat by Mayo but I must admit we were 2nd best on the day - however, yesterday, I'm convinced that Mayo would have won convincingly if Reilly got the big calls correct.

Well a few dubious calls certainly went Kerry's way but that's laying it on a bit thick no? Re the broader point, Gaelic is intrinsically a very difficult game to officiate, owing to the lack of a clearly defined tackle, and has only become more so in recent years due to the business of 'swarming' the man in possession. Soccer has a similar problem, and the increased professionalisation of refereeing doesn't seem to have improved matters much...

Mayo started ET with huge energy and scored 2 excellent points yet they ended the half level

Mayos final score of the game came in 73rd minute I was very surprised how Mayo one of the fittest and conditioned teams around fell away so badly. Going the final 17 mins of the game without scoring was one of the main differences yesterday IMO.

The reality is that it wouldn't even have gone to extra time had the ref not handed Kerry at least 3 if not 4 non existant frees on Donaghy in normal time and a soft peno where O Donoghue kicked the mayo defenders leg when pulling on the ball and end up arse over t*t.

threeball wrote: »

You're applying soccer standards to a GAA game. We don't object to the physicality. We object to the blatantly biased calls that were obvious to everyone yesterday and the lack of consistency. I was a neutral yesterday and some of the calls were ridiculous and if I were from Mayo I'd be hopping.

I was actually aiming for good standards, be it any sport in any part of the world,
You could say we have 7 important games, I just think they should look to see how to make the game more fair, how die hards put up with it I'll never know.

I'm not going to comment too much on ref. its all been said. I will
say this though Donaghy and Cafferkey/Keane had a real good physical tussle. pulling,dragging bumping off the ball on both sides. Donaghy only had one free given against him. in extra time. that sums up the refs performance.
An ex footballer (I can't recall who) said in an article during the week said Reilly is the worst kind of ref as he sets out to even up personal scores with players/teams . Mayo paid dearly for the Keegan appeal.
What are the repercussions for Reilly ? none.
he will still get the big games next year.
Gaelic football players and management are basically professional now in training and approach.
Their games are being reffed / ruined by amateurs

km79 wrote: »

I'm not going to comment too much on ref. its all been said. I will
say this though Donaghy and Cafferkey/Keane had a real good physical tussle. pulling,dragging bumping off the ball on both sides. Donaghy only had one free given against him. in extra time. that sums up the refs performance.
An ex footballer (I can't recall who) said in an article during the week said Reilly is the worst kind of ref as he sets out to even up personal scores with players/teams . Mayo paid dearly for the Keegan appeal.
What are the repercussions for Reilly ? none.
he will still get the big games next year.
Gaelic football players and management are basically professional now in training and approach.
Their games are being reffed / ruined by amateurs

I posted much the same opinion yesterday. it looked like Reilly didn't take kindly to the overturned card and Mayo paid for it in spades

threeball wrote: »

I posted much the same opinion yesterday. it looked like Reilly didn't take kindly to the overturned card and Mayo paid for it in spades

Did the same Ref do both games?

Peist2007 wrote: »

The referee's poor decisions in favour of Kerry swung the game in their favour. No one is laying anything on thick.

Well I still think it's OTT to say Mayo would have won 'convincingly' if Reilly was on his game. It would have been a tight game regardless of who was refereeing...

The final whistle blew yesterday and I had to go to a birthday party of someone else that had already started in living room. Trust me that was tough.
Today we mainly need perspective:
1. Ref was poor is widely acknowledged. If you wanted proof can't really look past the Enright no yellow card for penalty, the Peter Crowley head down charge on Colm Boyle, the free for the pickup on Keegan evem though Keegan seemed to make a perfect pickup action or else if was for a foul on Donaghy didn't look much, of anything for that free, allowing Donaghy hold the ball for 20 secs with no yellow card, the free against a legitimate Colm Boyle tackle, late in the game Kevin Keane ahead of Donaghy both advancing for the ball Reilly has a good 15 yards of Donaghy holding to observe with no foul from Keane and no free out. TV commentators picked up that one.
In his defence the first Donaghy free in ET there was an arm hold early.
Overall the main point is Reilly deliberately after calling the penalty ignored to issue a card as he knew he'd have to send off Enright. Never even consulted his umpire. A two armed swing to the ground is an automatic yellow card minimum anywhere on the pitch.
Conversely it is hard to think of a soft free or decision in Mayos favour over close to 100 minutes of play. People pointing out things in the brawl - the brawl was a mess wouldn't base anything on that.
Perspective is that clearly we were good enough yesterday and the ref made a big difference in a game that finished level.
2. Management. Horan and the backroom team have Mayo fitter and more skillful than ever. People may question fitness but will come back to that point later of why we died off in second period ET. Skill wise can easily be seen with amount of players who can left handpass and our improved pass completion.
3. Philosophy of selection/tactics/in-game mgmt
This has been and still is this Mayo mgmt teams weakness and there were no signs of improvement.
Take yesterday's game n look for positives. Michael Conroy as a runner - left too late in the game and waaaay too late in the 4 year mgmt period. It looks like he's an excellent solo runner from midfield. How was this only discovered a man down against Kerry? Game situation dictated to come back help out n make sure of keeping posession by running with ball n finding a handpass. Conroy was better by a huge distance in that role than himself in a corner forward role!!!! 4 years to discover that by accident!
Freeman winning ball n passing it - left too late n the player poorly managed to this point in the 4 years.
Negatives in-game yesterday:
Once could be seen that Donaghy was not going to be contained by Cafferkey (predictable) and that the referee was not allowing on the ground containment (during game should have been obvious) Mayo should have made a switch. Keane did better than Cafferkey. But Seamus OShea clearly should have been brought back on Donaghy.
Team selection contradicted our tactics. Barry Moran is our slowest player and we knew we had the best success with the running game. If David Moran outfielded the 4 other midfield options in the last game it was misguided hopefulness to think Barry Moran would fair better. Bad bad call by mgmt. Also as we needed as many runners on the pitch after the exertions of last week.
The usage of substitutions. It was predictable that the running speed of Colm Boyle/AOS/Kevin McGloughlin would be affected by last week. AOS should have been subbed after his injury. Donal Vaughan ex cross country athlete gets subbed while still able for more (looked annoyed) McGloughlin and Boyle both played to a jog by mgmt. Bad bad calls n nothing there not being utterly controllable or predictable.
Simply mgmt had a succesful philosophy of how to play the game. They improved the fitness n skills of the players to allow them play it. Unfortunately they didn't fully base team selection on the philosophy to have runners on the pitch n runners to replace them They also didn't correct our weakness at full back.
Persective is a lack of follow through on our football philosophy on how to play the game.
4. Forwards.
We had Cillian/Andy n JDOC played well yesterday. Freeman got on ball late in the game n passed well. The pitch was too tight for Dillon.
But we were well beaten at midfield. N didn't have many bad wides. New forwards can be found but we need to evolve to a system of practiced plays. It still looks individualistic.
5. Midfield. We should never ever ignore running speed again pre-game in selection or in-game. In-game we need to adjust to short kickouts puzzled that we kept going long?
6. Defence. Full back a problem. Seamus Cunniffe might be knocking on the door in two years aged 20 so hopes are bright. Tom Cunniffe didnt look pacey yesterday? There's a few young defenders with pace around the 19-22 age bracket, I know of one ex-sprinter for example. We need to add fresh faces not just upfront.
Final perspective, where to from here?
Relentlessly forward because the world will bounce off us before we give up this march.
We can all play our part bigger than you think.
1. This week lets all ensure the pitch invader n Chrona Esler for her tweet properly reprimanded. Contact County Board n Western people.
2. Setup via the progressive Mayo News a player-watch online. Any young player anywhere can now be highlighted. I know a pacey young defender who is excellent at blocks. A guy like Edwin McGreal the Mayo news can get a players name looked at. He knew about Barry Moran being picked pretty much in interview before the game. I'll check if Edwin McGreal interested.
3. Don't say "something needs to be done" think of something you can do and do it. I'm currently working on a software application which is Gaa related. I'll see how goes contacting Edwin McGreal as it is in his domain. If the Mayo news not interested the Western people. Then direct to County Board.
We cannot be stopped Mhaigh Eo abu.