Mayo V Galway

charba

Well noone seems to have started a post about this weekends connaught final.

Being a mayo lass myself I can hope there is only one winner.

Unfortunately they haven't really had the spark this year. And in the second half against leitrim were very poor.

However this is equated by Galways awful performance against roscommon in the first half.

so who do people think is going to win.

Font22

Galway, no doubt!

Breezer

Hard to say. Both gave great performances for one half of their last game, and were non-existent for the other half. Galway seem to have made a lot of changes to their line-up from the Roscommon game too, so it's hard to judge on that, and I read today that Trevor Mortimer might be coming back for Mayo so there could be changes there too.

In other words I have absolutely no idea but I'm gonna take a wild stab in the dark and say Mayo

threebeards

I have to fancy Mayo in Castlebar but the full back line will need to be a lot tighter than it was in Carrick a few weeks ago. It was only a wasteful performance from the Leitrim forwards that got us out of jail. McDonald is yet to turn it on and is due a big game. One of the best games I ever saw him play was against Galway a few years ago in McHale Park and it would be great if he could repeat that. From what I'm told, the Mayo players are really up for Sunday. Here's another person that can't wait!!

nollaig

This could be a classic, The game of the year. There is so so little between these teams, except Mayo are a bunch of losers:D .

Galway to win by 3, a goal. Something like 2-10 to 1-10.

Culchie

High Scoring game, Mayo to win by 2-4 points.

elurhs

I'm from Mayo, but I have no faith in them. Moran doesn't know what he's doing, so I think Galway will win. Will probably still be tight though, so Galway by 3 points max.

Mikosyko

Oh ye of little faith!:p

Mayo should have that wrapped up well before the end. Still another Connacht title is sweet!

Culchie

Mixed emotions.

They beat Galway all over the pitch but nearly blew it because they couldn't put the ball over the bar. Should have been out of sight by half time.

This Mayo team will take some stopping if they can increase their scoring %'s ..... IF !

Kojak

As a Galway man I supposed I should be frustrated but I'm not really. Mayo had enough chances to win 2 matches yesterday and deserved to win yesterday.

For both teams this was their All-Ireland, IMO. Neither will win the All-Ireland. I would have said this even if Galway had won yesterday.

Mikosyko

Kojak wrote:

As a Galway man I supposed I should be frustrated but I'm not really. Mayo had enough chances to win 2 matches yesterday and deserved to win yesterday.

For both teams this was their All-Ireland, IMO. Neither will win the All-Ireland. I would have said this even if Galway had won yesterday.

I have to agree!

threebeards

So frustrating to see that yesterday, so much possession and yet so lucky to come away with the win. Anyone else think that the referee approached Mortimer before he kicked the winner to tell him it was the last kick? The 3 minutes were up at that stage but he still found 2 minutes more and a chance for an equaliser. I suppose we'll never know but I would be fairly sure that if Mortimer had missed the free, the game would've been blown up. Just the cynical side of me coming out!!!

yurmothrintites

elurhs wrote:

I'm from Mayo, but I have no faith in them. Moran doesn't know what he's doing, so I think Galway will win. Will probably still be tight though, so Galway by 3 points max.

God you're a great fan! Being a huge mayo fan myself I feel Moran did a brilliant job this year and it payed off in the connaught final. We should of won by more but a win is a win. I feel mayo will win sam this year. Tyrone are gone and kerry are gone crap and so is the gooch. Mayo are underestimated. Moran did alot for this team. He brought in new and old faces like Ger Brady, David Brady, Pat Harte, John Healy, Kevin O'Neill who are crucial players. A true mayo fan HAS faith in them and it shows that they can do well, they just won the connaught final for god sake. This is their year!

kevmy

yurmothrintites wrote:

God you're a great fan! Being a huge mayo fan myself I feel Moran did a brilliant job this year and it payed off in the connaught final. We should of won by more but a win is a win. I feel mayo will win sam this year. Tyrone are gone and kerry are gone crap and so is the gooch. Mayo are underestimated. Moran did alot for this team. He brought in new and old faces like Ger Brady, David Brady, Pat Harte, John Healy, Kevin O'Neill who are crucial players. A true mayo fan HAS faith in them and it shows that they can do well, they just won the connaught final for god sake. This is their year!

In fairness the 'nut' formation he persisted with up until Sunday was a recipie for disaster. Now maybe he planned to change back all along to a more orthodox forward line but still there was no way to know he would drop this idea as he had played it all year long. I'm thankful he did as i belive that formation turned over too much ball, didn't create as much chances (even if we didn't take them all on Sunday), was too easy to counter and didn't make good use of Mac and Alan Dillion (two of our best players)

However fair play to Moran he made good changes at the right times, changed the forward line and has brought the players with him seemingly.

Hope it continues. Will have to improve the shooting for Laois (probably) the next day out.

mickd

V disappointed with Galway yesterday hopefully they can up their performance against Westmeath then its a quarter final meeting with Dublin.

UnitedIrishman

Sweet jerusalem, where did that performance come from.

Before the game I was extremely pessimistic. Probabley the least optimistic I've been going into a Connacht final. I thought it'd be a fairly easy win for Galway. But instead we saw quite a comprehensive performance from Mayo. Okay, so the scores didn't come and we left it late. But I've never seen Mayo so dominant over Galway. McGarrity and Harte absolutley cleaned up in midfield. Meehan was decent but was non-existant in comparison to previous outtings. Joyce was kept quiet once again by Heaney. So there is a lot of positives to be taken from the game.

Firstly, we kept going and going until the end. The stamina was there when it was needed whereas in league games we were playing until the 60 minute mark and disappearing. We never gave up either. The heads didn't drop. We kept creating in the hope we got something. And finally, the big guys stood up and led by example (Heaney, Nallen at full back, MacDonald, McGarrity). It was badly needed and Mortimor kept his bottle at the end for a tough free.

The only negative I can see is that we squandered chances and too often gifted back possesion. The age old story of Mayo being unable to score!

This is a good squad we have and everyone is a bit more trusting of Moran and Morrison after this game. We have a panel of 22-23 that could easily fill the starting 15. Outside what started on Sunday there's Barry Moran, David Brady, Austin O'Malley, Kevin O'Neill (who was superb when he came on and should be used as an impact sub), Trevor Mortimor, Trevor Howley and David Clarke. So we're building a well rounded side. Not jut all pace players or all power players. They're all different and that'll help when we play the likes Dublin/Laois/Offaly.

So the future is bright. We've achieved what I think every Mayo fan expected this year which is a Connacht title. Anything after this is an achievement. But after our performance last Sunday, and the way this Championship is very open, we could go a long way.

Mikosyko

If Mayo come up against say Dublin, it'll take a lot to win.

Culchie

Mikosyko wrote:

If Mayo come up against say Dublin, it'll take a lot to win.

Yes it will.

Long way to go yet, but Mayo basically beat galway off the park on Sunday, except for goalkeeper, we won every single position on the pitch.

Yes, alot of chances were squandered, but I'd rather see that, than not create chances.

If players can't convert from 14-21 yards out, we can't blame the management. In fairness they got their act together second half, and reacted well to the Galway goal...and their fitness on such a hot day was amazing.

I seen two exeptional minors as well, Hanley (Ballaghaderren) and Parsons (Charlestown) so things are looking quite good, we're under 21 champions as well and player confidence (note I said Player not supporter which is important) is also growing.

Dublin and Armagh are the teams to beat in my view, but it's hard to sustain the form they have produced thus far over the lenght of the summer, I like the way Mayo look like they are coming good.
Strong bench now as well.


Dare I dream?

Nosh*tsherlock

Mikosyko wrote:

If Mayo come up against say Dublin, it'll take a lot to win.

I think the first place to start has to be the hit the target, no matter how much possession we have if you can't score then forget it.

The other place could be to introduce moving goalposts.....;)

UnitedIrishman

I seen two exeptional minors as well, Hanley (Ballaghaderren) and Parsons (Charlestown) so things are looking quite good, we're under 21 champions as well and player confidence (note I said Player not supporter which is important) is also growing.

As a minor myself who will have to play either of these lads this year, I must admit they are good players. Parsons in particular is a great ball winner. Hanley played poor against Ros. He didn't look bothered and didn't work enough for the win.

elurhs

yurmothrintites wrote:

God you're a great fan! Being a huge mayo fan myself I feel Moran did a brilliant job this year and it payed off in the connaught final. We should of won by more but a win is a win. I feel mayo will win sam this year. Tyrone are gone and kerry are gone crap and so is the gooch. Mayo are underestimated. Moran did alot for this team. He brought in new and old faces like Ger Brady, David Brady, Pat Harte, John Healy, Kevin O'Neill who are crucial players. A true mayo fan HAS faith in them and it shows that they can do well, they just won the connaught final for god sake. This is their year!

Just because I didn't express blind faith that Mayo would win doesn't mean i am not a true fan. As commented by United Irishman, the performance was a bit out of the blue, but I'm delighted with it. We beat Galway off the field, just some early wayward shooting let us down (12 wides, 4 in the first 6 mins - Galway also had 12 wides). I'm glad Moran proved me wrong and changed things around tactically. He also made some good substitions and switches, which was always Maughan's weak point.

I was happy to see Mort getting the winner, not just for the obvious reason that it was the winner, but because it makes up for his miss in '02. He gets a lot of stick from fans, some of it justified, but he's usually good for 4 points and we missed him badly in the league.

Us fans are going to get excited now and predict Mayo for Sam. Maybe, but it won't be easy. Dublin and Armagh are favourites, but both are beatable. Dublin were praised for beating a Laois team that gave up in the second half, and an Offaly team that just collapsed with 20 minutes to go. Incidentally, how many wides had Dublin? 14, two more than Mayo.

Culchie

UnitedIrishman wrote:

As a minor myself who will have to play either of these lads this year, I must admit they are good players. Parsons in particular is a great ball winner. Hanley played poor against Ros. He didn't look bothered and didn't work enough for the win.

We either must have been looking at a different player or a different match, Hanley is a class player, he has a lanquid Padraig Brogan style about him, but he is quality.
I think Roscommon got stuck into the Mayo backs who were alot smaller than their Roscommon forward counterparts in the second half, put them on back foot and cut off a lot of supply to Mayo forwards, including Hanley.
Hard to influence a game in the forwards with no ball coming your way.

I heard he has been offered a pro contract in Austrailia with Sydney Swans.


Parsons look the part as well. Hopefully an up and coming replacement for David Heaney.

UnitedIrishman

Culchie wrote:

We either must have been looking at a different player or a different match, Hanley is a class player, he has a lanquid Padraig Brogan style about him, but he is quality.
I think Roscommon got stuck into the Mayo backs who were alot smaller than their Roscommon forward counterparts in the second half, put them on back foot and cut off a lot of supply to Mayo forwards, including Hanley.
Hard to influence a game in the forwards with no ball coming your way.

I heard he has been offered a pro contract in Austrailia with Sydney Swans.


Parsons look the part as well. Hopefully an up and coming replacement for David Heaney.

I didn't mean that Hanley is a poor player. He's a superb talent. Probabley the best I've ever seen at his age. He has Ger Brady like qualities with his running ability. He looks like a senior playing amongst minors. His kicking ability is superb also.

But I wasn't impressed with him last sunday. He was quiet most of the game and wasn't tracking his man when he bombed forward. His kicking wasn't great either. He has all the talent in the world at his disposal, but he looked like a player thinking above his station. This loss should bring him back into the fold again.

Parsons is a level headed guy and always has been. Very like David Heaney. No doubt he'll play many times for Mayo in the future.

cjs

:cool: :cool: MAYO FOR SAM:cool: :cool: