Mayo vs Galway NFL Round 1

MayoForSam

No thread on this, but I thought Mayo thoroughly deserved the win today with plenty to spare. Early days yet but a few of the young lads looked well fit, mobile and very up for it. Pretty decent mix of experience and youth - James Nallen and Heaney have finally gone out to pasture. O'Shea has put on a bit of bulk over the winter and will be the target man. Galway missing a few key men especially Padraic Joyce (irreplaceable really). Mayo's midfield (McGarrity and Parsons) were far superior to Galway's and the Tribesmen need to fix this area or they will be in trouble this year again.

So are Mayo dark horses for the league (and hopefully a long summer )? Is Joe Kernan's honeymoon over? Much too early to say I should think.

toiletduck

Mayo deserved to win but a poor match overall. If I were a Mayo man I wouldn't be impressed with some shocking wides, Aiden O'Shea's (seeming) lack of fitness and somehow managing to let a 13+ lead slip away giving Galway an (undeserved) 'respectable' scoreline.

Analysing Galway's game I don't even know where to start! Interesting seeing the mark in use. Plenty of them in the first half (some fine ones from Mayo midfield) and then the second half saw none.

Wasn't impressed with Mortimer or the crowd giving him a round of appaulse on seeing red. He shouldered a player to the head... Wtf did they expect to happen?

Very poor from us, you could give us any manager in the country, but with that same group of players we'll never get anywhere.

Bergin could suffice as a ''second-string'' midfielder if we could get somebody else is there. Lydon has been tried numerous times and he's very poor tbh, the less said about Barry Cullinane the better, looking at him you'd think he could catch a few balls but he's beyond poor and his kicking/general play is truly shocking.
With that in mind you, it's worth mentioning that Greg Higgins from Tuam, who was voted ''Players player of the year'' in either the Co.Championship/League and who plays Midfield isn't even in the squad, maybe there's a reason for this but i never saw one mentioned.

Declan Meehan looked how he did during last summers championship- a spent force, kicked away so much ball today, great servant for many years but his day has come and gone.

All in all i think only around 5/6 of these lads have an AI in them- Bradshaw, Doherty, Hanley, Meehan, Armstrong, Joyce and maybe N.Joyce, Bergin, Blake and Damien Burke on a good day.

I think our GK/FB line and FF line are as good as any but there's just too many holes around the crucial areas, and looking at the panel, no efforts have been made to change this, apart from a few Connachts we have been down right embarrassing for years now, there's no way there aren't a few lads in the county who couldn't improve on some of the current panel

fergalfrog

I was at the game too and while you can be hard on Barry Cullnane he did make a bit of a difference at midfield and stopped Ronan McGarrity getting marks and winning ball at midfield.

The one thing I thought was despite Kernan asking all clubs to send in their best players there were no good new players to come on the scene yesterday. Dublin had new players who came in and made a big difference. Kildare blamed their loss to Down on heavy training they are doing - I hope that's the same problem with Galway.

Other than Armstong and Nicky Joyce in patches there was nothing happening for the forwards in the first half. Michael Martin never got going although to be fair there was very little play up his end for the whole of the first half. I was thinking the wind was stronger than it looked but this didn't come true for the second half.

I agree that Mortimer had to go (as did Mayo man Kevin McStay last night) - it was a stupid tackle that was never going to go well. He was giving verbals to the ref as he was shown the card and I wouldn't blame Duffy for putting this in his report. The ref had a tough job with the new rules etc but he did well on the day.

I think Mayo can't read much into it but both sides will see where they really are at with tougher league games ahead (Cork, Kerry, Dublin etc).

CyberDave

gilberto_eire wrote: »

Very poor from us, you could give us any manager in the country, but with that same group of players we'll never get anywhere.

Bergin could suffice as a ''second-string'' midfielder if we could get somebody else is there. Lydon has been tried numerous times and he's very poor tbh, the less said about Barry Cullinane the better, looking at him you'd think he could catch a few balls but he's beyond poor and his kicking/general play is truly shocking.
With that in mind you, it's worth mentioning that Greg Higgins from Tuam, who was voted ''Players player of the year'' in either the Co.Championship/League and who plays Midfield isn't even in the squad, maybe there's a reason for this but i never saw one mentioned.

Declan Meehan looked how he did during last summers championship- a spent force, kicked away so much ball today, great servant for many years but his day has come and gone.

All in all i think only around 5/6 of these lads have an AI in them- Bradshaw, Doherty, Hanley, Meehan, Armstrong, Joyce and maybe N.Joyce, Bergin, Blake and Damien Burke on a good day.

I think our GK/FB line and FF line are as good as any but there's just too many holes around the crucial areas, and looking at the panel, no efforts have been made to change this, apart from a few Connachts we have been down right embarrassing for years now, there's no way there aren't a few lads in the county who couldn't improve on some of the current panel

Big Joe has a lot of work to do. Didn't see the match, but I was shocked when I heard the result. Mayo are not that much better than Galway. I'm with you on Greg Higgins, it baffles me why he hasn't been given a chance and the likes of Cullinane is still around. He is too slow for inter-county football. This result only goes to show, how much Galway still rely on Padraic Joyce.

aidan24326

gilberto_eire wrote: »

the less said about Barry Cullinane the better, looking at him you'd think he could catch a few balls but he's beyond poor and his kicking/general play is truly shocking.

Cullinane is nowhere near to being an intercounty footballer. He can catch the odd ball but his footballing skills are virtually non-existent. If there isn't better than him in the county things are really bad.

With that in mind you, it's worth mentioning that Greg Higgins from Tuam, who was voted ''Players player of the year'' in either the Co.Championship/League and who plays Midfield isn't even in the squad, maybe there's a reason for this but i never saw one mentioned.

Greg Higgins is from Corofin, not Tuam. The reason he's not in the squad is due to Corofin's continued involvement in the All-Ireland Club Championship. Once Corofin are finished with that I'm sure he's a player that will be on Kernan's radar.

Declan Meehan looked how he did during last summers championship- a spent force, kicked away so much ball today, great servant for many years but his day has come and gone.

I'd agree with this. Great player in his day, that goes without saying. But I think he's finished at this level, and someone like Alan Burke would be a better option in that number 5 position.

I think our GK/FB line and FF line are as good as any but there's just too many holes around the crucial areas, and looking at the panel, no efforts have been made to change this, apart from a few Connachts we have been down right embarrassing for years now, there's no way there aren't a few lads in the county who couldn't improve on some of the current panel

Be fair now, Kernan is only in the door so let's give the man a chance. Yesteray he was without P Joyce and Meehan at the start plus the Corofin contingent of Damien Burke, Kieran Fitz etc. He needs the younger lads like Michael Martin to step up to the mark, and Paul Conroy to emerge as a real force in the team. A bad start fro sure but give it time. League games in February mean fcuk all anyway, ultimtaely we'll judge the team and Kernan by what they do in July and August, not February.

aidan24326

aidan24326 wrote: »

Greg Higgins is from Corofin, not Tuam. The reason he's not in the squad is due to Corofin's continued involvement in the All-Ireland Club Championship. Once Corofin are finished with that I'm sure he's a player that will be on Kernan's radar.

Be fair now, Kernan is only in the door so let's give the man a chance. Yesteray he was without P Joyce and Meehan at the start plus the Corofin contingent of Damien Burke, Kieran Fitz etc. He needs the younger lads like Michael Martin to step up to the mark, and Paul Conroy to emerge as a real force in the team. A bad start fro sure but give it time. League games in February mean fcuk all anyway, ultimtaely we'll judge the team and Kernan by what they do in July and August, not February.

In relation to Higgins i wasn't aware he was Corofin, was sure he was Tuam for some reason.

I'm not against Joe in any way, but the panel looks basically the same as it has for a number of years now, while you couldn't have a go at all these players for the shambles of the past 8 years, in fairness the bulk have been around for 4/5.
The problem with the county team is evident in the club scene where Corofin are dominating, yet there only real contribution to the team at present is a couple of defenders

Pocaide

Have to say was surprised with the scoreline didn't think before hand that there was all that much between the teams

Starie1975

Pocaide wrote: »

Have to say was surprised with the scoreline didn't think before hand that there was all that much between the teams

Surprised here too, didn't thing that would happen when I entred the new stand. Great job BTW. Pity about the lights but we've the same peoblem in salthill.

Very disappointing to lose so badly against our biggest rivals, (got a load of slagging on Monday) if you can't play with a bit of passion v's Mayo (with Galway lacked) then what chance v's other counties. Mayo players looked a hell of a lot fitter, sharper and just did the simple thing right. In fairness the score line and the highlights on the RTE media player didn't really show how bad Galway played.

Hopefully it was just one of those days and thing will pick up again on Sunday.

Galway have to perform better even if we don't get a result.

aidan24326

Starie1975 wrote: »

Galway have to perform better even if we don't get a result.

That's it really, performances now are as important or even more important than results. We need to see some of the new players stepping up to the mark, and we seriously need Kernan to find a miracle solution for the midfield. I'd have hopes for Greg Higgins if he is called into the panel but he's unproven at this level so no guarantees.

Another defeat next Sunday will leave Galway facing a probable relegation battle, though in fairness relegation wouldn't be the end of the world as you'd still be playing pretty good teams in division 2 (this season there's Donegal, Kildare, Meath, Armagh etc)

TheWestsAwake

Pocaide wrote: »

Have to say was surprised with the scoreline didn't think before hand that there was all that much between the teams

The scoreline really flattered Galway, but I reckon the Tribesmen have very little ballwork and carido work done so far, also a major work in process from the looks of it.