Mayo GAA Discussion Thread

JayReale

eljoker wrote: »

I was a Mayo fan a few years ago but after years hoping they would win in Croker i have given up. Chokers big time. No neutral supports them anymore

Heartbreaking to read. We're ashamed of ourselves to have disappointed you so. Is there anything we can do to change your mind? Anything?

eljoker

Get players with balls that don't choke. I had a laugh when i read the report on the Tyrone game, choking at home already. I laugh every year at the fact that all the farmers spend a fortune going to Dublin from Mayo and to then go home disappointed in traffic on one of the worst roads in the country. You might be better playing the hardy bucks.

Defiler Of The Coffin

eljoker wrote: »

Get players with balls that don't choke

We have another Mick O'Dwyer here folks

Barlett

He reminds me of that eejit from Limerick that used to troll here two years ago. Pathetic.Worry about your own team and leave us to worry about ours. Good Lad.

MaroonAndGreen

Paddy Power's take on this year's club championship:

Ballintubber - 5/2
Ballaghaderreen - 4/1
Castlebar - 9/2
Knockmore - 13/2
Crossmolina - 7/1
Breaffy - 12/1
Ballina - 14/1
Charlestown - 14/1
Westport - 16/1
Shrule/Glencorrib - 20/1
Davitts - 22/1
Garrymore - 22/1
Claremorris - 22/1
Ballinrobe - 28/1
Aghamore - 40/1
Tourmakeady - 66/1

Group Stage draw on Monday night I think.. The 25th of February

ColeTrain

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

Paddy Power's take on this year's club championship:


Charlestown - 14/1

Very decent bet each way^

MaroonAndGreen

ColeTrain wrote: »

Very decent bet each way^

Agree with ya there! They are being underestimated by Paddy Power..

Bit surprised by Breaffy and Ballina being so high up the list..

Also Shrule/Glencorrib, Garrymore and Claremorris' odds should be alot closer to 40/1 than 20/1 IMO.. Cant see them threatening really!

Caiseoipe19

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

Agree with ya there! They are being underestimated by Paddy Power..

Bit surprised by Breaffy and Ballina being so high up the list..

Also Shrule/Glencorrib, Garrymore and Claremorris' odds should be alot closer to 40/1 than 20/1 IMO.. Cant see them threatening really!

Whatever about Garrymore and Claremorris, Shrule/Glencorrib should definitely be way down the list.

Can't see Ballaghaderreen doing it again...although I didn't give them much of a chance going into the final last year and Andy Moran will be a huge difference.

Breaffy at 12/1 despite finishing bottom of their group last year and so are 4th seed?

Ballina finished bottom of theirs as well last year although under new management they might sort themselves out this year.

MaroonAndGreen

Cygnus wrote: »

Whatever about Garrymore and Claremorris, Shrule/Glencorrib should definitely be way down the list.

Can't see Ballaghaderreen doing it again...although I didn't give them much of a chance going into the final last year and Andy Moran will be a huge difference.

Breaffy at 12/1 despite finishing bottom of their group last year and so are 4th seed?

Ballina finished bottom of theirs as well last year although under new management they might sort themselves out this year.

I think thats its between 'Tubber, Mitchels and Ballagh' again..

My bet is that its going to be Mitchel's year!

For relegation its between Tourmak', Aghamore, Shrule and Ballinrobe id say? Maybe even Breaffy or Garrymore too.

Fr Tod Umptious

Interesting team for Saturday's game v Dublin

Barrent gone into corner back, Keegan returns to wing back, Gibbons and Moran in midfield and AOS at half forward.

Looking forward to seeing how that midfield play, a lot of talk about Gibbons over the past yaer or so.

Would also like to see how Varley and Donerty do in the forwards, they are two guys who really need to step up in 2013

Mayo XV to play Dublin in Allianz FL at Croke Park on Saturday 2 March, throw-in 7.00pm:

1 Kenneth O'Malley, 2 Chris Barrett, 3 Ger Cafferkey, 4 Keith Higgins, 5 Lee Keegan, 6 Donal Vaughan, 7 Colm Boyle, 8 Jason Gibbons, 9 Barry Moran, 10 Kevin McLoughlin, 11 Aidan O'Shea, 12 Richie Feeney, 13 Enda Varley, 14 Jason Doherty, 15 Michael Conroy

Always_Running

Can't see O'Shea playing at 11 probably a third midfielder. Doherty needs to take all the frees and keep Varley away from them. Dillion becoming more of squad player than starter? i don't see the point of selecting Feeney a defender instead of him.

SomethingElse

Always_Running wrote: »

Can't see O'Shea playing at 11 probably a third midfielder. Doherty needs to take all the frees and keep Varley away from them. Dillion becoming more of squad player than starter? i don't see the point of selecting Feeney a defender instead of him.

He's out injured at the moment http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/football/2013/0227/369797-mayo-still-without-dillon-and-oconnor/

threebeards

Always_Running wrote: »

Dillion becoming more of squad player than starter?

Nonsense. He has a slight injury. Come the business end of the league he'll be to the fore and will be a key player come championship time, as will Andy Moran

Caiseoipe19

According to rte sport, Dillon is injured and not training.
Don't know about O'Shea at 11...not agile or fast enough I think. He can also be very bad for running into trouble and turning over possession. His strong point is his height, which is utilised much less if he stays at 11. Just can't see that working.

keane2097

Nah if anything O'Shea has moved onto a different level again this year and is certainly now in the very top tier of footballers in the country, wouldn't be in the slightest worried about him at CHF.

This could be a really great game, two of the strongest teams in the country coming up against one another, probably two of the top three at the moment.

Fowler87

Gonna be interesting seeing O'Shea in the forward role again as the last time he played 11, he was raw enough and somewhat clumsy at times on the ball. But he's improved a fair bit since and his passing range has come on alot too. As a couple said already, the benefit of a 3rd midfielder instead of bringing a corner forward back for the breaking ball should help the attacking numbers too. We lacked depth in full forward the last day

Syferus

I'd be careful about thinking about it as a three-man midfield until I see them line-up - a lot of times managers play silly games and name a midfielder at 11 and play him exclusively in the middle while one of the named midfielders drops back to be a sweeper. With gibbons being the added man you'd expect a three-man midfield but who knows? Aidan O'Shea at 11 is odd enough - 14 would seem to be the obvious spot for him if you are really moving him out of the middle - so there could be anything in store.

seligehgit

Anybody heading to Croker?Heading up,I reckon there could be a decent crowd.Pretty worried that the Dubs might give us a bit of a beating.Really can't see how we are in the top 3 teams in the country at present on the basis of current form,having said that it is quite early in the season.

Fireball07

keane2097 wrote: »

Nah if anything O'Shea has moved onto a different level again this year and is certainly now in the very top tier of footballers in the country, wouldn't be in the slightest worried about him at CHF.

I'd disagree there. O'Shea is a good player but I definitely don't think he's in the very top tier of footballers in the country, he still has plenty of flaws in his game. Mayo have a good few players better than him.

Fr Tod Umptious

I think the main point of the change of O' Shea from midfield to half forward is more to do with seeing Gibbons at midfield than it is to do with seeing what O' Shea can do at half forward.

As I said earlier there has been a lot of talk about Gibbons over the past few months, by all accounts he had Barry Moran in his pocket during the Ballintubber v Castlebar quarter final in August, a time when Moran was the talk of the nation as a result of his performances for the Mayo senior team.

O' Shea has been predominately a forward before Horan too over in 2010/2011. But he has not been as effective there as when he was a minor. As minor he was the biggest guy on the filed and would have 2 or 3 backs hanging on to him as he barged through all before him.
He could not do that at senior.
I think he is better at midfield and as I have just said the experiment now is to see who is the best partner for him

By the way , I think this game on Saturday is an All Ireland final preview.

keane2097

Fireball07 wrote: »

I'd disagree there. O'Shea is a good player but I definitely don't think he's in the very top tier of footballers in the country, he still has plenty of flaws in his game. Mayo have a good few players better than him.

Not really, O'Shea is by far the player whose loss would hurt Mayo the most at the moment and that's even accounting for the decent depth Mayo have at midfield.

That's not a slight on the likes of McLoughlin or Doherty either who have become very good players, but no way do Mayo have "a good few" players better than AOS.

manofwisdom

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

By the way , I think this game on Saturday is an All Ireland final preview.

Bold prediction so early in the season.

keane2097 wrote: »

no way do Mayo have "a good few" players better than AOS.

I would say Keith Higgins,Alan Dillion,Andy Moran,Ger Cafferkey are all better players than AOS currently however, O'Shea is younger than all of them and in the years ahead he could be Mayo's most important player.

seligehgit

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

By the way , I think this game on Saturday is an All Ireland final preview.

Yip very bold prediction,I hope you are right.

ColeTrain

manofwisdom wrote: »

I would say Keith Higgins,Alan Dillion,Andy Moran,Ger Cafferkey are all better players than AOS currently however, O'Shea is younger than all of them and in the years ahead he could be Mayo's most important player.

The thing is though if all of the players above were guaranteed to be on top form but you could only choose one, who would you go for? For importance to the whole team, I'd go with AOS because when he's at the top of his game he can really dominate the middle.

manofwisdom

ColeTrain wrote: »

The thing is though if all of the players above were guaranteed to be on top form but you could only choose one, who would you go for? For importance to the whole team, I'd go with AOS because when he's at the top of his game he can really dominate the middle.

Mayo's main strength is their defence Keith Higgins drives the team forward Ger Cafferkey is one of the best defenders around if those two were missing Mayo would struggle to replace them.

AOS can still blow hot and cold i think needs a good partner in midfield to bring out the best in him (probably Barry Moran) of course it doesn't help when managers choose to move him around the field, he's at age now that he should have settled position in the team.

ColeTrain

manofwisdom wrote: »

Mayo's main strength is their defence Keith Higgins drives the team forward Ger Cafferkey is one of the best defenders around if those two were missing Mayo would struggle to replace them.

AOS can still blow hot and cold i think needs a good partner in midfield to bring out the best in him (probably Barry Moran) of course it doesn't help when managers choose to move him around the field, he's at age now that he should have settled position in the team.

There is certainly arguments to be made that Higgins and Cafferkey are more important but we've lacked a dominant midfielder for a while now. Even take the Sligo game last year, we struggled in there that day and when a half fit AOS came on it seemed to turn the game for us.
Hopefully we can keep all of our best players fit for the season ahead.

Blackjack

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

By the way , I think this game on Saturday is an All Ireland final preview.

I agree. However regardless of the result this weekend, I would have to tip Dublin based on results so far to be lifting Sam. Hope I'm right on the first part but wrong on the second.
Very early days yet, but if Paddy Power was taking money now on a Mayo v Dublin final, I'd be putting my money there....

Syferus

manofwisdom wrote: »

Bold prediction so early in the season.



I would say Keith Higgins,Alan Dillion,Andy Moran,Ger Cafferkey are all better players than AOS currently however, O'Shea is younger than all of them and in the years ahead he could be Mayo's most important player.

Well he said right now so Andy and Dillion are out the window in this debate.

I agree Keith Higgins is a better player but Aidan O'Shea is a more important one. Andy Moran is about the only player on the fully-fit panel that exerts more influence on how well the Mayo team play right now, O'Shea's ability to win ball alone can swing games Mayo's way and he's obviously become much better taking shots from distance and going forward with the ball.

Fr Tod Umptious

manofwisdom wrote: »

Bold prediction so early in the season.
.

Not that bold a prediction

Probably belongs in another thread but here goes

Genuine contenders are few in the first place

Even with the likes of Gooch etc back Kerry really lack depth and are not genuine final contenders this year

Donegal will do well to reproduce the intensity of last year, and have a very tough opening to 2013 v Tyrone.

Not sure what Cork are up to.

That leaves Dublin and Mayo who will avoid each other if they both win their provinces.

manofwisdom

Syferus wrote: »

Well he said right now so Andy and Dillion are out the window in this debate.

If he said right now i'm sure he meant the season ahead and not few league games played in February.

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

Not that bold a prediction

You reckon?

If Mayo win Connacht again and reach another All Ireland semi final they will likely face the Ulster champions probably Tyrone or Donegal to be honest i would fancy both of those sides to defeat Mayo. On the other side of the draw Dublin could end up playing Cork or Kerry and going on last year form they will do well to progress past them and reach a final. (remember Donegal had to at their best to beat both Kerry,Cork.)

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

Genuine contenders are few in the first place

Agreed only a few. Mayo wouldn't be one of them IMO.