Mayo GAA Discussion Thread

Blackjack

yop wrote: »

Agreed, himself and Varley are on their last legs.

I was very surprised that Doc had scored that amount and Adam Gallagher.

I KNOW its the league and I am not naive, but that return from the 6 forwards I mentioned above is decent.

I have Higgins as a back, I know he played forward, so it proves with only 2 points that he is not a scoring back from the 1/2 forward line.

Yeah, hate to say it about amateur players, but i just don't see the value in Conroy this year and Varley, well never rated him strongly enough, personally.

Conroy doesn't seem to have recovered from the injury he got last April. Its a shame, he was decent in 2012.

MaroonAndGreen

Blackjack wrote: »

Yeah, hate to say it about amateur players, but i just don't see the value in Conroy this year and Varley, well never rated him strongly enough, personally.

Conroy doesn't seem to have recovered from the injury he got last April. Its a shame, he was decent in 2012.

Varley's only real good performance was the 2012 final v Donegal, cant remember many others.

ColeTrain

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

Varley's only real good performance was the 2012 final v Donegal, cant remember many others.

He played well in the Salthill Massacre last year...

MaroonAndGreen

ColeTrain wrote: »

He played well in the Salthill Massacre last year...

True. Must apologise to Enda, thats 2 good performances not just the one.

SeanJ09

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

Varley's only real good performance was the 2012 final v Donegal, cant remember many others.

Ya he was good that day, but he still ended up missing what could have been vital scores. Seem to remember COC bringing it up after the 2012 final about some of the frees Varley missed that day. His inconsistency is infuriating.

harpsman

SeanJ09 wrote: »

Ya he was good that day, but he still ended up missing what could have been vital scores. Seem to remember COC bringing it up after the 2012 final about some of the frees Varley missed that day. His inconsistency is infuriating.

Thought he was q good against Dublin in semi too-and COC has a nerve

DDC1990

harpsman wrote: »

Thought he was q good against Dublin in semi too-and COC has a nerve

http://balls.ie/gaa/bottler-overused-term-abuse-sport/

There is a class of sports fan currently at large in pubs across Ireland. A wizened old sage, when he observes a team fall to a defeat he nods his head wearily at all the commonplace explanations for said loss he hears around about him.

He is unimpressed by your tactical analysis. He sneers at the idea of know-all, chart peddling statisticians. He is sceptical that even technical ability accounts for the loss. No, no this man delves deeper. He looks into the very psyche of the poor vanquished outfit.

‘Bottler’ is one of the Irish sports fan most cherished terms of abuse. Rather than merely questioning someone’s technical proficiency, the bread and butter of criticism, it goes further and questions one’s whole character. As opposed to just being a bungler who’s bad at his job, the bottler is a nervy, blithering wreck who’s no kind of man at all.

It does not amount to very forensic criticism. Most of the folk who toss around the term ‘bottler’’ tend to have little technical expertise in the sport on which they are commenting.

A good read, and a few things to reply to the idiots who keep referring to any Mayo loss in Croke Park as them "bottling" it.

harpsman

DDC1990 wrote: »

http://balls.ie/gaa/bottler-overused-term-abuse-sport/



A good read, and a few things to reply to the idiots who keep referring to any Mayo loss in Croke Park as them "bottling" it.

I agree, but there are alot of idiots out there who would be better advised to get a basic grasp of comprehension of the english language before they take to reading articles which are beyond their level.

SeanJ09

jack o shea wrote: »

ye wont get any respect til ye win sam, and dont deserve it til ye do either,tough but thats life.

Define Respect.

Defiler Of The Coffin

Never mind him, he's a troll with nothing better for doing

yop

SeanJ09 wrote: »

Define Respect.

He's on holidays, don't worry about him

anoh77

I think Sunday could could be a defining game for the Keith Higgins experiment. Firstly, who will get the start at 4, presuming Higgins starts in half forward line? Keane and Harrison have both had indifferent performances in the league, I'm expecting Derry to target our full back line, didnt see their first 15 in action, but i hear they're big and physical. If we come under pressure will Higgins be moved back? I have nothing against Keane or Harrison, but from this league campaign, I just feel that a fit Chris Barrett is a must to allow Higgins play as a forward, otherwise we're weakened too much at the back. Would love one of the other lads to prove me wrong Sunday though.

LadyLucinda

Mayo could easily get to another all Ireland final this year but we won't win it because of the following. We don't have enough out and out forwards.

Keith Higgins- Defender
Andy Moran- Played a lot of his career as a defender, won an all star as a forward but he is a natural defender in my opinion.
Kevin McLoughlin- Not a natural forward
Jason Doherty- A natural forward but can blow hot and cold, like freeman, he is not reliable
Alan Freeman- Plays midfield with his club- Middling at best I think. Very good until he comes up against a quality full back. Rangy but not powerful.
Cillian O Connor- Our main man

GBXI

LadyLucinda wrote: »

Mayo could easily get to another all Ireland final this year but we won't win it because of the following. We don't have enough out and out forwards.

Keith Higgins- Defender
Andy Moran- Played a lot of his career as a defender, won an all star as a forward but he is a natural defender in my opinion.
Kevin McLoughlin- Not a natural forward
Jason Doherty- A natural forward but can blow hot and cold, like freeman, he is not reliable
Alan Freeman- Plays midfield with his club- Middling at best I think. Very good until he comes up against a quality full back. Rangy but not powerful.
Cillian O Connor- Our main man

A prime example of the ****e that crops up on the internet.

Andy Moran - a natural defender? He's a f***ing All Star full forward!

Kevin McLoughlin - not a natural forward? The 1-24 he's scored so far in the league has been very "unnatural" all right

Alan Freeman - middling? He'd start full-forward for nearly every team in the country right now.

LadyLucinda

GBXI wrote: »

A prime example of the ****e that crops up on the internet.

Andy Moran - a natural defender? He's a f***ing All Star full forward!

Kevin McLoughlin - not a natural forward? The 1-24 he's scored so far in the league has been very "unnatural" all right

Alan Freeman - middling? He'd start full-forward for nearly every team in the country right now.

Andy moran played most of his career with Ballagh, Sligo IT and Mayo in defence if my memory serves me correctly. He doesn't have the instinct of a natural forward but can pick a pass which is his best asset at the moment.

Mcloughlin may well have scored that but how much was that from frees? Again doesn't have the natural instinct an inter county forward should possess. A workhorse and very mobile but not a prolific forward by any means.

Freeman plays well when he is given perfect ball and against bad defenses. I hope he proves me wrong but a physical full back would have him in his pocket at ease. We saw this in the Dublin game with Rory O Carroll. No point lumping high ball into this man on a big day in croker against a quality full back.

By the way I hope all these players prove me wrong but I just fear for us in the forward department

GBXI

LadyLucinda wrote: »

Andy moran played most of his career with Ballagh, Sligo IT and Mayo in defence if my memory serves me correctly. He doesn't have the instinct of a natural forward but can pick a pass which is his best asset at the moment.

Mcloughlin may well have scored that but how much was that from frees? Again doesn't have the natural instinct an inter county forward should possess. A workhorse and very mobile but not a prolific forward by any means.

Freeman plays well when he is given perfect ball and against bad defenses. I hope he proves me wrong but a physical full back would have him in his pocket at ease. We saw this in the Dublin game with Rory O Carroll. No point lumping high ball into this man on a big day in croker against a quality full back.

By the way I hope all these players prove me wrong but I just fear for us in the forward department

You're talking ****e. These players have already proved you wrong for many seasons.

Andy played wing-back for Mayo for one season. He's played as a forward in every other season. He's is one of the most natural forwards in the county ffs.

McLoughlin scores as much from play as any other half-forward in Ireland, and probably more. He's probably in the top 4 wing-forwards in Ireland for the last 3 years. Did you not manage to see the goal he scored v Dublin this year or Cork in 2011 AIQF?

Nobody plays well without being given the correct ball. Freeman comfortably had the better of O'Carroll in the final last year before he was subbed. Freeman has proven himself against nearly every top team.

LadyLucinda

We have no class forward who will score you a point or a goal from nothing, if you look back at all teams that have won an all ireland, they all have at least one forward who is a class act. We don't have one, never mind two.

We will be waiting for an All Ireland if we are relying on Moran Mc loughlin and freeman.

statto25

LadyLucinda wrote: »

We have no class forward who will score you a point or a goal from nothing, if you look back at all teams that have won an all ireland, they all have at least one forward who is a class act. We don't have one, never mind two.

We will be waiting for an All Ireland if we are relying on Moran Mc loughlin and freeman.

Cillian O'Connor isn't a "Class Forward"? Seriously?

yop

LadyLucinda wrote: »

Mayo could easily get to another all Ireland final this year but we won't win it because of the following. We don't have enough out and out forwards.

Keith Higgins- Defender
Andy Moran- Played a lot of his career as a defender, won an all star as a forward but he is a natural defender in my opinion.
Kevin McLoughlin- Not a natural forward
Jason Doherty- A natural forward but can blow hot and cold, like freeman, he is not reliable
Alan Freeman- Plays midfield with his club- Middling at best I think. Very good until he comes up against a quality full back. Rangy but not powerful.
Cillian O Connor- Our main man

Ah come on!!
Looks at the league stats! No natural forwards..... So we are the highest scorers in the league and have no forwards!

Total Scorers
A Freeman 4-16 (9f) (one ’45)
K McLoughlin 1-24 (10f)
A Gallagher 0-14 (9f)
C O’Connor 1-11 (6f)
J Doherty 2-4
Mikey Sweeney 2-03
L Keegan 1-06
A Moran 1-03

MaroonAndGreen

I agree on one thing, Cillian O Connor is not a class forward. There are lots of games where all hes offered was free taking

WesternZulu

What standards are people judging a good forward on because it seems that if Mayo forwards don't match up to the Coopers and Brogans of this world then they are good for nothing!

Mayo are probably missing one forward in the class of the two I mentioned above but that shouldn't mean that the others are discredited as they'd walk into every team in the country (bar maybe Dublin, who have an exceptional forward line).

LadyLucinda

yop wrote: »

Ah come on!!
Looks at the league stats! No natural forwards..... So we are the highest scorers in the league and have no forwards!

Total Scorers
A Freeman 4-16 (9f) (one ’45)
K McLoughlin 1-24 (10f)
A Gallagher 0-14 (9f)
C O’Connor 1-11 (6f)
J Doherty 2-4
Mikey Sweeney 2-03
L Keegan 1-06
A Moran 1-03

LEAGUE being the big word there, doing it on the biggest stage in a semi AND all ireland final is where a player earns his reputation

LadyLucinda

statto25 wrote: »

Cillian O'Connor isn't a "Class Forward"? Seriously?

He will be regarded as a top forward if he leads the mayo forward line to All Ireland. He has yet failed to do so. At the moment I think he is very mark able

yop

LadyLucinda wrote: »

LEAGUE being the big word there, doing it on the biggest stage in a semi AND all ireland final is where a player earns his reputation

Ok, so who were the star forwards in the last 4 semi finals which Mayo appeared in then.

yop

LadyLucinda wrote: »

He will be regarded as a top forward if he leads the mayo forward line to All Ireland. He has yet failed to do so. At the moment I think he is very mark able

You'd want to tell that to the players who voted him young player of the year in 2011 and 2012 and an award he would have probably won again in 2013 but for injury....

WesternZulu

LadyLucinda wrote: »

He will be regarded as a top forward if he leads the mayo forward line to All Ireland. He has yet failed to do so. At the moment I think he is very mark able

What young forward would you rate as being better than him?

LadyLucinda

yop wrote: »

Ok, so who were the star forwards in the last 4 semi finals which Mayo appeared in then.

Its all good and well getting to a semi if you don't go on to win them

LadyLucinda

WesternZulu wrote: »

What young forward would you rate as being better than him?

Cillian O Connor is a very good player, I have said that in my first post. However him alone will not win us sam. Has he lost a bit of pace in the last couple of seasons?

yop

LadyLucinda wrote: »

LEAGUE being the big word there, doing it on the biggest stage in a semi AND all ireland final is where a player earns his reputation

LadyLucinda wrote: »

Its all good and well getting to a semi if you don't go on to win them

Ah so you are now contradicting yourself. :rolleyes:

I will ask you again, who were the star forwards in the last 4 semi finals, 2012 and 2013.
Who were the star forwards in the 2012 and 2013 finals.

yop

LadyLucinda wrote: »

Cillian O Connor is a very good player, I have said that in my first post. However him alone will not win us sam. Has he lost a bit of pace in the last couple of seasons?

Well your the expert, you tell us.

I refer again to the league scoring, against the top teams in the country, league or no league. Hence why the teams take it so serious as its a stepping stone to AI success.