Mayo GAA Discussion Thread

harpsman

same oul Mayo.Loads a good footballers. Very few top class players(possibly only Lee(the wink) Keegan and Higgins). Dont have it mentally-will always find a way to lose it when the chips are down. And i think yous are lookin back on pre injury Andy Moran with rose(and green:)) tinted glasses-he was never that good.
By the looks of things Cork will be too good for yous in Semi.

WesternZulu

harpsman wrote: »

same oul Mayo.Loads a good footballers. Very few top class players(possibly only Lee(the wink) Keegan). Dont have it mentally-will always find a way to lose it when the chips are down. And i think yous are lookin back on pre injury Andy Moran with rose(and green:)) tinted glasses-he was never that good.
By the looks of things Cork will be too good for yous in Semi.

Any other tired cliches you want to throw in there while you're at it?

tacofries

On a positive note at least we're not peaking to soon.. who knows, with higgins back in the corner the team could tighten up amd maybe just maybe everypne might hit form progressively each week up to the final!

Heres to the eternal optimist!

homewardbound11

harpsman wrote: »

same oul Mayo.Loads a good footballers. Very few top class players(possibly only Lee(the wink) Keegan and Higgins). Dont have it mentally-will always find a way to lose it when the chips are down. And i think yous are lookin back on pre injury Andy Moran with rose(and green:)) tinted glasses-he was never that good.
By the looks of things Cork will be too good for yous in Semi.

If Dublin win the double I'll take any flack from "yous" looks like both finalists last year are not up for it
Some turnaround since last comment. Where's my straw hat.

harpsman

homewardbound11 wrote: »

If Dublin win the double I'll take any flack from "yous" looks like both finalists last year are not up for it
Some turnaround since last comment. Where's my straw hat.

Im guessing from that gobbledygook youre saying Dublin not up for it-oops, time to hit that edit button:rolleyes:

ColeTrain

harpsman wrote: »

same oul Mayo.Loads a good footballers. Very few top class players(possibly only Lee(the wink) Keegan and Higgins). Dont have it mentally-will always find a way to lose it when the chips are down. And i think yous are lookin back on pre injury Andy Moran with rose(and green:)) tinted glasses-he was never that good.
By the looks of things Cork will be too good for yous in Semi.

I'm not arsed giving a reply to your ****e trolling. We only see you after a defeat with your poor 'analysis'.

harpsman

ColeTrain wrote: »

I'm not arsed giving a reply to your ****e trolling. We only see you after a defeat with your poor 'analysis'.

Thats right-any criticism of Mayo is trolling.Try being a little bit less insular- you ll learn alot more about the world.If you disagree with something try responding with the reasons why,rather than personal abuse and untruthes.

Fowler87

I think James Horan has taken us as far as he can. He's gotten the best out of this group when considering we don't have a real stand out half forward has been some achievement. The team looked dead on its feet today at times both physically and mentally. Positives from this campaign has to be the emergence of Gibbons (lots of options in this area now) and Sweeney. Need to keep the belief regardless of what any bitter people have to say about us

ColeTrain

harpsman wrote: »

Thats right-any criticism of Mayo is trolling.Try being a little bit less insular- you ll learn alot more about the world.If you disagree with something try responding with the reasons why,rather than personal abuse and untruthes.

Personal abuse? Don't be a little girl now.

Your post was a ball of **** and didn't warrant a genuine response.

yop

harpsman wrote: »

Thats right-any criticism of Mayo is trolling.Try being a little bit less insular- you ll learn alot more about the world.If you disagree with something try responding with the reasons why,rather than personal abuse and untruthes.

Ah, you didn't answer the posts which were made last week, but the minute Mayo lose you are back on.
Since you have told us, your Dad is a Mayo man, am sure he is well proud of you.

yop

Fowler87 wrote: »

I think James Horan has taken us as far as he can. He's gotten the best out of this group when considering we don't have a real stand out half forward has been some achievement. The team looked dead on its feet today at times both physically and mentally. Positives from this campaign has to be the emergence of Gibbons (lots of options in this area now) and Sweeney. Need to keep the belief regardless of what any bitter people have to say about us

Agree with you on this, I defended him to the hilt after the defeat last AI, but his tactical decisions and substitutions today and in other games beggared belief.
Confidence is well shot now in the camp I am sure.

Defiler Of The Coffin

We had a similar result last year at this stage and still blazed our way to the final. Glass being half empty though the team looked tired and rudderless and bringing Feeney on with 2 minutes to go for Doc who had been misfiring all day was laughable. The individual performances in the half backs were excellent with Colm Boyle playing his heart out and Vaughan and Keegan giving their all, however they didn't play as a unit and Derry's first goal was the result of the half backs gone AWOL. The Higgins experiment has to end, I can't remember a league where we conceded so many scores. Plenty to work on for the championship, the team badly needs rejuvenation, although it's hard to shake the feeling that this current team is nearing the end of its cycle. Underage needs to be worked on, badly.

yop

Defiler Of The Coffin wrote: »

We had a similar result last year at this stage and still blazed our way to the final. Glass being half empty though the team looked tired and rudderless and bringing Feeney on with 2 minutes to go for Doc who had been misfiring all day was laughable. The individual performances in the half backs were excellent with Colm Boyle playing his heart out and Vaughan and Keegan giving their all, however they didn't play as a unit and Derry's first goal was the result of the half backs gone AWOL. The Higgins experiment has to end, I can't remember a league where we conceded so many scores. Plenty to work on for the championship, the team badly needs rejuvenation, although it's hard to shake the feeling that this current team is nearing the end of its cycle. Underage needs to be worked on, badly.

Listened to midwest review the game after, Billy Fitz made a good point as to why we are so lose. Our 1/2 back line now are more of an attacking force and instructed to so, to the detriment of the job they are meant to do which is defend. They spend so much time attacking that they are either caught up front and/or legless as they have burnt up so much energy.
Higgins should never have been taken off, he should have been moved back to where he "lives" in the backs, I like Kevin Keane as a person but he never got near his man. He is too slow.
Fitz says Horan is running one of the best backs in the Country and I have to agree with him, Higgins is like a man who is totally peed off.
McLoughs in the corner is another mess, should never have been there, but at least if he was to be moved, then take of Andy who is slowing the game down too much and move McLoughs in there, not take the man off!
AOS was out on his legs, he needed to be subbed, he was close to another yellow or a black and yet he goes and takes off Gibbons.

As for Varley!! Sweet God.

Feeney been brought on was a total insult and playing lip service only.

Its only a few hours after the game, but as a fan I am tired, we have had so many lows, yes we have had good wins, but just when we expect a good result we end up blowing it. Dublin 2 weeks ago the same thing. I don't know how the players feel but the league was there to be won, we need to win, its a habit.

I'm sure I will feel different tomorrow, but today I think Horans time is up, he has done brilliantly, but on the big games on the big stage, ultimately his decisions have cost us.

SeanJ09

As someone pointed out above, we did have a similar result against Dublin last year in the League Semi's. Nearly everyone wrote us off for the championship and I seem to remember two out of the three RTE panelists predicting a Galway win in our opening game of the championship.
But ya after today Horan must be thinking about reverting both Higgins and Mcloughlin back to their regular positions. Needs to sort out our full back line and a half forward line. Getting Dillion back is important. Even on his form last year he will have more of an impact than Jason Doc or Andy Moran. A lot of work to be done between now and August if Mayo are to have any chance of AI success.

Defiler Of The Coffin

yop wrote: »

Listened to midwest review the game after, Billy Fitz made a good point as to why we are so lose. Our 1/2 back line now are more of an attacking force and instructed to so, to the detriment of the job they are meant to do which is defend. They spend so much time attacking that they are either caught up front and/or legless as they have burnt up so much energy.
Higgins should never have been taken off, he should have been moved back to where he "lives" in the backs, I like Kevin Keane as a person but he never got near his man. He is too slow.
Fitz says Horan is running one of the best backs in the Country and I have to agree with him, Higgins is like a man who is totally peed off.
McLoughs in the corner is another mess, should never have been there, but at least if he was to be moved, then take of Andy who is slowing the game down too much and move McLoughs in there, not take the man off!
AOS was out on his legs, he needed to be subbed, he was close to another yellow or a black and yet he goes and takes off Gibbons.

As for Varley!! Sweet God.

Feeney been brought on was a total insult and playing lip service only.

Its only a few hours after the game, but as a fan I am tired, we have had so many lows, yes we have had good wins, but just when we expect a good result we end up blowing it. Dublin 2 weeks ago the same thing. I don't know how the players feel but the league was there to be won, we need to win, its a habit.

I'm sure I will feel different tomorrow, but today I think Horans time is up, he has done brilliantly, but on the big games on the big stage, ultimately his decisions have cost us.

There's little to disagree with there, the game has changed even in the last 3 years Horan has been in charge, wide open football with emphasis on attack and the Dublins of this world have it down to a fine art. It's like the management team keep doing the same things over and over again and expect different results. We all know the players who aren't up to it at this level but Horan persists with them time after time. It was obvious at half time that we were in trouble and that certain changes needed to be made, but the wrong changes were made at the wrong times, as you said Gibbons should not have been taken off and you could tell by the look on Higgins' face as he went off that he wasn't one bit happy. It's unreal that we couldn't make proper use of the extra man, Derry called it exactly right in not marking McHale, Derry badly wanted the win and each of their players lifted their games accordingly, unbelievable that in the space of two weeks we can draw one game and lose another against 14-men.

All the things we were doing right last year, good hard tackling, rock solid defence, solid in midfield, it all seemed to fall apart in the final last year and hasn't been fixed since. The attacking half backs are a major asset against lesser opposition but we simply can't afford that level of exposure against the top teams. Not saying Derry are a top team but the amount of space they had in Mayo's third was criminal. The half backs were clearly exhausted today and are clearly being asked too much of. The half forwards were problematic last year and it's still killing us.

McLoughlin had a very quiet game today even though he was instrumental in setting up the goal. It's hard to know, he played in the corner against Kildare and I thought he done well that day, plus he seemed to take on a more forward role against Dublin and got MOTM. It really does show how much of a key player he is though, any time he has had a bad game Mayo have usually been in serious trouble.

I know what you're saying about being tired as a fan, today we left with our tails between our legs and meanwhile the Dubs are turning around 15 points against Cork. Two great chances to bring home Sam and today we look like we're on the decline. You'd wonder sometimes if all the heartbreak is really worth it! Still, easy to forget the good times on days like these! Keep the faith!

Oldtree

we are just playing possum in readiness for the championship I'm sure of it.

Fowler87

Defiler Of The Coffin wrote: »

We had a similar result last year at this stage and still blazed our way to the final. Glass being half empty though the team looked tired and rudderless and bringing Feeney on with 2 minutes to go for Doc who had been misfiring all day was laughable. The individual performances in the half backs were excellent with Colm Boyle playing his heart out and Vaughan and Keegan giving their all, however they didn't play as a unit and Derry's first goal was the result of the half backs gone AWOL. The Higgins experiment has to end, I can't remember a league where we conceded so many scores. Plenty to work on for the championship, the team badly needs rejuvenation, although it's hard to shake the feeling that this current team is nearing the end of its cycle. Underage needs to be worked on, badly.

Agree but it will be a shame because Keith had a good game at 10 today and scored a fine point to boot. Starting to find his feet there. Unfortunately the other options we have (lets not forget we were missing our other 2 fbs and also the early Caff injury) or very limited at the moment.

The hunger and fire is fading. Lack of aggression, focus and teamwork in the tackle today is one of our main attributes. But that has been absent for most of this campaign with that second Derry goal basically summing up their state adding also to Horans' defensive tactical change (which others have stated is becoming dated now).

Or maybe we expect too much from this team who have achieved a hell of alot (perhaps overachieved) from where we were in the not too distant past.

seligehgit

Throwing my tuppence in after the long journey home.
The substitution of Jason Gibbons our best player bar none was mind boggling.
Keith Higgins game is suffering greatly with his repositioning in the half forward line and his return to the corner is imperative.
Kevin McLaughlin is more suited to the half forward line than the corner as it allows him to best fulfill his creative potential.
How on earth was Richie Feeney only introduced with a minute left on the clock?He should have come on at half time for either Andy Moran or Jason Doherty.Tad strange introducing Tom Parsons for Jason Doherty.Unfortunately IMO Doc and Andy are not good enough for the championship first 15.Alan Dillon is most certainly not the answer to our woes,impact substitute at best.
Billy Fitz is correct re the gung ho attacking by our half backs.It's fine against weaker teams but we need them to defend firstly against the better teams.Unfortunately it's a catch 22 with the pressure on our scoring half backs to compensate for the lack of quality up front.
What has happened to our exceptional tackling and ability to have a man on the shoulder for the easy offload of the ball at great pace to kick the scores?
Thought Robert Hennelly had a solid day in goal,Colm Boyle stood out in a solid half back line.Yet again Jason Gibbons took all the plaudits in midfield,superb.Mikey Sweeney was the one shining light up front.
At the moment it hard to see beyond an All Ireland quarter final and the Dubs reclaiming Sam.I feel for the lads but we must keep the faith!:)

Fr Tod Umptious

harpsman wrote: »

Thats right-any criticism of Mayo is trolling.Try being a little bit less insular- you ll learn alot more about the world.If you disagree with something try responding with the reasons why,rather than personal abuse and untruthes.

IMO it is trolling.
There are a few non Mayo people who come on here, midweek, after wins, after losses etc, and give good honest and properly structured opinion about whether Mayo are good bad or indifferent.
And I like their posts, and their opinions and appreciate their knowledge and insight.

All you do is come on after a loss and bang out a few old clichés as if you were the first man/woman in the world to come up then.
That is just trolling, plain and simple.
But hey whatever you are into.

davegrohl48

The big positive from today is that it highlights so clearly what our problems are.
1. The concession of goals.
2. The same faces will not work at half forward.

To solve (1) we can move Higgins back and select Seamus OShea as a 3rd defensive midfielder along with AOS sitting back as well. That would force all opposition attacks out to the wings. It's harder to force an overlap from the wing.
To solve (2) Id like to see a forward line of:
Adam Gallagher OConnor McGloughlin
Sweeney Freeman SOS
If Adam Gallagher is losing out due to performance in training that's crazy. He had good games for Mayo when no one else upfront wanted to know. That deserves recognition. Else it makes players unsure of the performance criteria for selection. He hasn't kicked many wides and setup Gibbons for a goal with quick hands against Kildare.
I think we need OConnors consistency and football brain out at 11. Despite what some would say he is a fine passer of the ball. Best in the squad I would think to pick out a scoring assist that others might not see.
Finally I think it is very naive to think Dillon is going to slot in n speed up our play or boost the overall team. Dillon also takes time on the ball and many of his perfect passes are out to the wing out of the danger zone.
Derry are contenders as well. This team beat Dublin yet are not considered contenders!!!!

harpsman

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

IMO it is trolling.
There are a few non Mayo people who come on here, midweek, after wins, after losses etc, and give good honest and properly structured opinion about whether Mayo are good bad or indifferent.
And I like their posts, and their opinions and appreciate their knowledge and insight.

All you do is come on after a loss and bang out a few old clichés as if you were the first man/woman in the world to come up then.
That is just trolling, plain and simple.
But hey whatever you are into.

Im heart broken I havent won your approval-dont worry I ll leave you to it from now on,a local thread for local people. I prefer a bit of intelligent debate myself.

royster999

Horans management is bearing similarities to Maughans in the 90s.

- Team emerging from nowhere to challenge for top honours.
- Poor tactical decisions made in AI finals.
- Lack of top quality forwards.
- Moving an multiple all star corner back to the half forward line to inject much needed impetus to stuttering attack (Mortimer 99', Higgins 14')

yop

harpsman wrote: »

Im heart broken I havent won your approval-dont worry I ll leave you to it from now on,a local thread for local people. I prefer a bit of intelligent debate myself.

LOL, well you won't keep yourself company then. You head for the hills if anyone else does.

Cheerio. You won't be missed.

Fr Tod Umptious

WesternZulu wrote: »

......Could be a blessing in disguise, the last thing this Mayo team needs before the Championship is to lose another final in Croke Park and I can't see anyone stopping Dublin.

Defiler Of The Coffin wrote: »

We had a similar result last year at this stage and still blazed our way to the final.....

SeanJ09 wrote: »

As someone pointed out above, we did have a similar result against Dublin last year in the League Semi's. Nearly everyone wrote us off for the championship and I seem to remember two out of the three RTE panelists predicting a Galway win in our opening game of the championship....

I'm sorry but I cannot see this as any anything other than a indicator that this team, both the players and management, are not able to put in what is needed to improve in 2014 on what has been done since 2011

That is no criticisms on them either by the way, I always thought it would be an impossible task to go to the well again in 2014 after the defeats of 2012 and 2013.

That was a game that they should have won.
Yes Derry are better than people expected but Mayo had an extra man for most of the game and were leading late in the 2nd half.
As I said on Friday there was no upside to loosing this game, and there still is none.

And I don't think you can compare it with last years loss. Last year they had what was expected to be a tough game v Galway coming up in mid May, so they did not need extra league games to prepare for it. League safety was the main aim, the fact that they ended up in the playoffs was just a coincidence of how the league turned out.
In the SF v Dublin they went 2 goals down in quick succession, as they failed to close the gap in the 2nd half Horan emptied the bench to give guys a run out in Croke Park.

It was a million miles way from yesterday. This year the league title was the aim, winning it would have laid down a marker, it would have been a national title and a win v Dublin or Cork in Croke Park, plus two extra big games before the charade that is a trip to NY and then a lay off until mid June.
But they failed miserably to achieve that goal, and it's worrying why they did.

The whole league has been a worry.
Higgins is required in the full back line, but that leaves a huge hole in the half forward line.
Andy Moran is regressing.
Conroy will not regain the form he had for the 2012 Championship.
On the plus side Jason Gibbons has done well, but we have loads of mid fielders.
Freeman has been consistent
McLoughlin seems to be returning to pre 2013 form.
Sweeny, or Gallagher or someone may be a find in the forwards.
We will see what the summer brings, apart from possibly Roscommon in Hyde Pk, I don't really see much of a challenge for them in Connaught.

They may get to another final seeing as they are on the opposite side to Dublin, but I fear they will be getting to that final in the form of the '04 and '06 teams rather than the form of the '12 and '13 teams.

But at least now my expectations have been set for the year

Fr Tod Umptious

harpsman wrote: »

Im heart broken I havent won your approval-dont worry I ll leave you to it from now on,a local thread for local people. I prefer a bit of intelligent debate myself.

Spoken like a true troll.
If what you posted after the game counts for, in your eyes, 'intelligent debate', I will not be visiting your counties thread anytime soon to get a feel for how they are doing or what the locals think.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

There have been some bizarre suggestions on the Mayo GAA facebook page that we are better off having lost that game as it sets us up better for the championship. I don't know about anybody else, but I want to see Mayo win every competition they can.

Fr Tod Umptious

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

There have been some bizarre suggestions on the Mayo GAA facebook page that we are better off having lost that game as it sets us up better for the championship. I don't know about anybody else, but I want to see Mayo win every competition they can.

It's a common enough reaction, a bit like "sure aren't they better to get beaten now than getting hammered by Dublin", BS that you hear.

yop

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

There have been some bizarre suggestions on the Mayo GAA facebook page that we are better off having lost that game as it sets us up better for the championship. I don't know about anybody else, but I want to see Mayo win every competition they can.

Wireless is available in pubs, easy access to Facebook, enough said.;)

davegrohl48

We only require a slight improvement in defence and attack to have won every game played this year. Thats the overall trend. Simplistic, but true.
The fitness cycle will be to peak in 6 weeks from August - September. Which means the team after its Dubai holiday is doing strength building work right now. Hence not full of running in second half of games. People are talking as if improvement is impossible. Perspective and patience needed.
But yes Horan seems to be making some mistakes and some strange ones. But they have a clear run to a quarter final from here with a large squad. Half forward line requires major change and defensive tactics/selection but that is surely going to happen.

Past30Now

Leaving AOS on the pitch yesterday was a deliberate decision by your management, not an error or mistake. He was clearly out on his feet, but he's supposed to be one of your top players, and has to be able to last the 70 mins. You could see him looking to the bench, almost willing to be subbed, for most of the last 15 minutes. This seemed to me to be a tough love policy by James Horan.

Having been at your last two games, from a football perspective Mayo aren't as bad as the two results might indicate. None of the Connacht teams will beat Mayo,so you'll more than likely qualify for the last 8. At that point, you'll have your defence tightened up, midfield going well, and hopefully (for you) your forwards beginning to fire. The Gibbons guy looks like a quality midfielder (A lot better than some of the options chosen by my own county). Him and SOS could become an excellent pairing, and then put AOS in the half forward line as a third midfielder.