Mayo GAA Discussion Thread

km79

Rte's and Joe Brolly's analysis of the game was a disrgrace. Ya would swear Cork strolled to victory from the first whistle. No mention of the foul on Keegan leading up to Cork goal. And Mayo gamesmanship ? I don't think there was enough of it from us to be honest ! Cork were very cute all day. Too cute for us and too cute for the man in black . I had assumed they might have highlighted Noel O Leary shaking Donie Vaughan by the shoulders while he was lying on the ground with a head injury but I was wrong. Anyway rant over

TomKat

DDC1990 wrote: »

Mayo were nearly there.
Im afraid Horan made a mistake in taking Gibbons off instead of Moran.
Don't think it lost the game for them, but it certainly didn't help.
Cork's experience over the last 4 years certainly stood to them, as well as a superior Subs bench.

Mayo were unlucky in not getting a free when Keegan burst through and was fouled by Pierce O'Neill (who was also on a yellow card). Cork wen't straight down and put the ball in the net, which effectivly ended the game.

Cork were the better team and deserved it, but Mayo certainly didn't lose any respect out there. They are still a little short in all areas of the field, and need to figure out their best Full Forward line. They need to get Cillian O'Connor into the game, as he is one of the most talented young footballers in the game. Michael Shields shut him down today in the second half, after he was productive in the first.

A Semi Final spot is a strong possiblility again for this Mayo team, maybe more. Horan is a very good manager, and has some great players to work with.
O'Connor, McLoughlin, Boyle, Cafferkey, Vaughan, Moran, Dillon, Keegan.
Lovely footballers. Fit, Pacey, Strong and hungry.

My advice is to cancel any holidays for August. A couple of big days in Croker beckon.

I think you're getting a little carried away there bud.... You'll piss Connacht but after that depends who ye meet

DDC1990

TomKat wrote: »

I think you're getting a little carried away there bud.... You'll piss Connacht but after that depends who ye meet

Seeing as Im a Kerryman I doubt "we'll piss connacht" :P

Im looking at this from a neutral standpoint. A lot for Mayo to be hopeful for.

Mayo can beat any team on their day, they showed that against Kerry a fortnight ago, and against the Dubs in Castlebar.

Is it a certainty that they will get to the Semis? No.
Is it a strong possibility if they get their act together, combined with a bit of luck? Of course it is.

Not getting carried away. Just have great admiration for this Mayo side and James Horan.

TomKat

DDC1990 wrote: »

Seeing as Im a Kerryman I doubt "we'll piss connacht" :P

Im looking at this from a neutral standpoint. A lot for Mayo to be hopeful for.

Mayo can beat any team on their day, they showed that against Kerry a fortnight ago, and against the Dubs in Castlebar.

Is it a certainty that they will get to the Semis? No.
Is it a strong possibility if they get their act together, combined with a bit of luck? Of course it is.

Not getting carried away. Just have great admiration for this Mayo side and James Horan.

Need to sort out their mental issues. Predicted a rubbish day for Alan Dillon before the game. Him and certain other players have bottled it time and time again on the big stage. I wish them well however but I think hyping them up will do more harm than good. Being from Galway I may change my tune on that last point though...

Syferus

The knives will be out in Connacht for Mayo, save Leitrim up-ending them the other three will be fancying Mayo in the final, and all three will have realistic ambitions of beating them. Mayo should have a good, long summer but if anyone thinks they'll win Connacht easy doesn't know very much about the other teams in the province.

GBXI

@TomKat I have to pull you up on the Dillon comment there. Well done on your prediction on Dillon, as he did have a pretty poor day. My reason for that would be that he was a forward on a team that were losing MF so he was always up against it, no Mayo forward played well by the way. Also, the guy always seems to struggle in wet weather for some reason or another.

But what are you on about re bottling?? When did he "bottle" it even once on the big stage? He has been one of Mayo's best players on the big and small stage over the last 10 years, that's not even up for debate.

TomKat

GBXI wrote: »

@TomKat I have to pull you up on the Dillon comment there. Well done on your prediction on Dillon, as he did have a pretty poor day. My reason for that would be that he was a forward on a team that were losing MF so he was always up against it, no Mayo forward played well by the way. Also, the guy always seems to struggle in wet weather for some reason or another.

But what are you on about re bottling?? When did he "bottle" it even once on the big stage? He has been one of Mayo's best players on the big and small stage over the last 10 years, that's not even up for debate.

He's a wonderful footballer, but for me lacks consistency

Defiler Of The Coffin

TomKat wrote: »

He's a wonderful footballer, but for me lacks consistency

I think you're being unfair on Dillon, he didn't 'bottle' it any more than the rest of the team. His performances are generally above average, it's rare he has a bad game.

Very disappointing day yesterday, the second half was drab from a Mayo point of view. Given how we performed against Kerry I thought we would get by without Aidan O'Shea but this wasn't the case at all, it was obvious midfield needed surgery from the first 10 minutes onwards, Barry Moran had an off-day and should have been brought off far sooner than he was.

Looks like Mayo can compete at the top-level but we haven't seen anything yet that suggests they can go the full way. Hard questions were asked at the beginning of the 2nd half and they weren't answered at all.

theoneeyedman

Syferus wrote: »

The knives will be out in Connacht for Mayo, save Leitrim up-ending them the other three will be fancying Mayo in the final, and all three will have realistic ambitions of beating them. Mayo should have a good, long summer but if anyone thinks they'll win Connacht easy doesn't know very much about the other teams in the province.

Leitrim are very weak this year.....the word on the ground is that they are fearful enough going to Ruislip but even getting over that they simply will not compete with Mayo in a Conn semi IMO. The winner of a Ros/galway semi will test Mayo i'd say, but win or lose connacht they will be a good bet for a semi final place come august depending on the draw.

re:yesterday's game, i think they struggled physically v a Cork team that played mr deegan very well. He allowed late/early hits and a lot of head high/shoulder high tackling which appeared to wear down mayo, which suprised me a little tbh. it was clear to me as a neutral that vaughan in particular was singled out for a lot of special treatment both on and off the ball, and as often happens high profile players like Canty/o'Niell et al were carrying their get out of jail free cards for all to see and good uld maurice hadn't the testicular fortitude to stand up to them. however, Mayo's insistance in carrying the ball into the tackle through the whole gme certainly didn't help. The difference in being where thay are now (prob top 6 IMO) to being AI winners will be to either adapt to change their style mid game in games like yesterday or else to dictate their exsting style on teams like Cork Kerry Dublin etc. They hadn't the power to outmuscle cork yesterday, and the inability to adapt midstream will have to be learned to get to the next level.

Paracore

Will Mayo be sending any of their divers over to compete in the Olympics in London? Pretty embarrassing stuff from their players yesterday tbh

blowitupref

Leitrim are very weak this year.....the word on the ground is that they are fearful enough going to Ruislip but even getting over that they simply will not compete with Mayo in a Conn semi IMO. The winner of a Ros/galway semi will test Mayo i'd say, but win or lose connacht they will be a good bet for a semi final place come august depending on the draw.

Can't Judge Leitrim on league form if you did they wouldn't have beaten Sligo away last year however it would be a major shock if they were to win in Castlebar. Mayo have a poor record in the qualifiers i think they will need to win Connacht to reach the semi final again.

ShamoBuc

Paracore wrote: »

Will Mayo be sending any of their divers over to compete in the Olympics in London? Pretty embarrassing stuff from their players yesterday tbh

Just:rolleyes:

Fr Tod Umptious

The poster above who mentioned that Mayo carry the ball into the tackle too much is spot on.

Too much good Mayo possession was squandered by them getting bogged down inside the 21 trying to find an angel to shoot

They need their forwards to shoot earlier, problem is they
do not have the quality of forward to shoot from long range.

Andy Moran may be able to do it, but when it comes to it he is often out of position developing the play in the first place, a bit like McDonald used to do

teednab-el

Paracore wrote: »

Will Mayo be sending any of their divers over to compete in the Olympics in London? Pretty embarrassing stuff from their players yesterday tbh

No I think Aidan o Mahoney of Kerry has the honours there of representing Ireland.
:-D

Padkir

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

The poster above who mentioned that Mayo carry the ball into the tackle too much is spot on.

Too much good Mayo possession was squandered by them getting bogged down inside the 21 trying to find an angel to shoot

They need their forwards to shoot earlier, problem is they
do not have the quality of forward to shoot from long range.

Andy Moran may be able to do it, but when it comes to it he is often out of position developing the play in the first place, a bit like McDonald used to do

I think that might be a bit unfair. We only did that in the 2nd half when we were against a severe wind, no one was kicking points from long range into the hill Sunday, from either game.

In the first half I thought they were playing very well, moving it quickly inside and were either fouled or spun over a few decent points. Problem was in the 2nd half Cork stopped fouling (well the ref stopped giving them anyway :rolleyes:) and we had to try getting the ball in very close, where their size and strength stood to them!

To be honest it was out the field I thought they lost it too easily in the 2nd half, coming out at the back. Lot of stray hand passes, few spilled balls. I know conditions were bad but they should have adapted to them and paid the price.

Overall though I think it's been a productive league campaign for Mayo, and the fact they weren't beaten out the gate by Cork will hopefully mean they won't lose their momentum heading into championship, like 2 years ago!

Gael85

teednab-el wrote: »

No I think Aidan o Mahoney of Kerry has the honours there of representing Ireland.
:-D

Marty Boyle-Donegal will be a close contender too

Paracore

Gael85 wrote: »

Marty Boyle-Donegal will be a close contender too

And Barry Cahill for the Karate...

Sir Vival

I've always admired keith higgins as a footballer but i've been really impressed with his last two televised performances. The ideal corner back and an absolute nightmare for corner forwards. The corner back is probably the most unheralded and most unattractive position in gaelic football nowadays but he's making it sexy again!

plasmaguy

I think some of the old Mayo faillings came back to haunt them again.

The two O'Shes were a big loss at midfield, where Mayo could get their hands on nothing in the second half.

When playing Cork, you need all your big men.

Conor Mortimor is often too easily marked when he comes up against quality defenders. He's always good in Connacht but once he comes up against teams like Kerry in the AI, he's usually annonymous.

The wind screwed up the game anyways and the loss of O'She was a big factor.

Mayo at full strength and no strong wind, lashing rain, etc, in the middle of summer, would be a closer game, although you'd still have to favour Cork.

Cork looking very strong this year.

Syferus

plasmaguy wrote: »

I think some of the old Mayo faillings came back to haunt them again.

The two O'Shes were a big loss at midfield, where Mayo could get their hands on nothing in the second half.

When playing Cork, you need all your big men.

Conor Mortimor is often too easily marked when he comes up against quality defenders. He's always good in Connacht but once he comes up against teams like Kerry in the AI, he's usually annonymous.

The wind screwed up the game anyways and the loss of O'She was a big factor.

Mayo at full strength and no strong wind, lashing rain, etc, in the middle of summer, would be a closer game, although you'd still have to favour Cork.

Cork looking very strong this year.

Lololol.

plasmaguy

Syferus wrote: »

Lololol.

Got a problem with that? Clearly you haven't seen him play against Kerry in the All Ireland.

Rawhead

Just a quick question lads. Are we traveling to New York in 2013?

ChocolateChip

Rawhead wrote: »

Just a quick question lads. Are we traveling to New York in 2013?

I think we played them in 2009 so I would think no, because we play them every 5 years. Unless of course, you would be planning on going over for the FBD final;)

Trying to plan you holidays early, I see?:pac:

Rawhead

That's even better. Start putting €50 a month away from now on. Just need to convince a few of the lads in these recessionary times.

ChocolateChip

Rawhead wrote: »

That's even better. Start putting €50 a month away from now on. Just need to convince a few of the lads in these recessionary times.

I admire your organisational skills! It costs too much to get a return flight to New York, I think. If I win the Lotto in the meantime though, God willing I'll be there 2014;)

keane2097

Ye could just try to put in one solid year and get yereselves on the panel.

mayo.mick

Rawhead wrote: »

Just a quick question lads. Are we traveling to New York in 2013?

I heard a rumour a couple of months ago, leitrim were due to go out to new york in 2013, but cannot afford to, so the mcb turned round and said that we would travel, instead of 2014, when we were due to go out there. If i hear anything deffinite, will post back here. We'll need time to start planning and saving:cool:

Fr Tod Umptious

At last Mayo are ready to enter this years championship.

The two extra league games at least narrowed a gap a bit between league and Championship

Team is named
Mayo (SFC v Leitrim) -- D Clarke; K Keane, G Cafferkey, K Higgins; L Keegan, D Vaughan, C Boyle; B Moran, D Geraghty; K McLoughlin, C O'Connor, A Dillon; A Freeman, A Moran, J Doherty.

Anyone know how Aidan O' Shea is doing and when he may be back ?

Interesting article here in the Independent by Breheny

Irish Independent wrote:

SUCH are the anomalies in the format of the All-Ireland football championship that Mayo exited the 2010 All-Ireland championships on June 26, but, two years on, they won't even join the Connacht race until June 24.
Their late arrival is one the inconsistencies in a championship system where Meath and Longford have already played three times, while eight other counties have had two [COLOR=#009900 !important]games[/COLOR] each.
Not that it concerns Mayo, who knew from last October that mid-summer's day would have passed before they began their bid to retain the Connacht title for the first time since 1997.
And since they are 1/80 favourites to beat Leitrim in the semi-[COLOR=#009900 !important]final[/COLOR] in Castlebar on Sunday and 2/7 favourites to win the Connacht title, their supporters are already looking forward to a trip to Croke Park on the first weekend in August for an All-Ireland quarter-final test.
Mayo's short-term optimism is based on a number of encouraging factors, not least that they have lost only three times to Leitrim in Connacht history and only once to Sligo in the final.
Add in Mayo's extended run in the Allianz League which took them to the Division 1 final and it's easy to understand why hopes are so high in the county that a return to Croke Park is virtually a done deal.
So, with all the other All-Ireland contenders having shown their hand, how do Mayo stand up to a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) test as they head into Championship 2012.
STRENGTHS
1 They have been in Division 1 of the NFL for 14 successive seasons, something no other county has achieved.
They may have won only one title in that period (2001), but their consistency in the group games has been remarkably solid. That should always be a good starting base for the championship.
2 They have gained valuable experience in Croke Park in recent years. They may have mixed the good with the bad, but they will have learned from it all. Better to know the Croke Park experience than try to visualise it.
3 They have as many natural footballers as any county and a whole lot more than most. When their game is going well, they play a highly productive game and are difficult to counteract.
4 They've added a steely edge to their game which wasn't always there.
5 On their day, they are capable of beating any county. Indeed, top All-Ireland contenders, Dublin, Cork and Tyrone all lost to Mayo in the championship over the last eight years, a treble success which not even Kerry managed.
Mayo beat Kerry in this year's league semi-final in Croke Park, which will be a further boost to their confidence.
WEAKNESSES
1The burden of history. Mayo always insist it doesn't bother them, but 61 years without an All-Ireland senior title (1951) for a county that had won four up to then must have a corrosive effect.
2Croke Park and big final syndrome. Mayo have won only once (2001 NFL) from their last 12 appearances in All-Ireland and NFL finals. A dreadful record which scarcely inspires confidence.
3Midfield. Mayo are not as well equipped in that general area as the other major All-Ireland contenders.
4Lack of real hard-edge tests in Connacht. If Mayo beat Leitrim and Sligo, they will be up against opposition who will have met Division 1 and/or 2 opposition in the All-Ireland quarter-final. It could be a big step up. Connacht has fallen behind the other three provinces, which is damaging to all western ambitions.
5Failure to deliver under real pressure. Mayo have regularly failed to do themselves justice on big days. What trips the doubt switch when things begin to go wrong during games at the business end of the championship?
OPPORTUNITIES
1 Mayo face Division 4 opponents (Leitrim) in the Connacht semi and, if they win, will meet Sligo, who wintered in Division 3. It makes Mayo the envy of all their peers in the other provinces.
2Their extended league campaign means that the late start to the championship is no disadvantage. On the contrary, it has enabled Mayo to plan the season to perfection.
3It's generally expected that Mayo will win Connacht, allowing them to arrive in the All-Ireland quarter-finals under the radar, which is a plus.
4The long wait for an All-Ireland win can be harnessed positively. Donegal, Derry, Armagh and Tyrone won All-Irelands for the first time over the last 20 years. It proves that a breakthrough is always possible if all the jigsaw pieces are slotted together properly.
5No dominant force in the land. There's little enough to choose between the main All-Ireland contenders, presenting Mayo with every chance to assert themselves.
THREATS
1Complacency in Connacht. James Horan will have worked hard to counteract it, but Mayo supporters assume the two-in-a-row is secure. If that seeps through to the players, it could be dangerous. Leitrim won't be strong enough to exploit it, but Sligo might. Failing to win the Connacht title would wreck Mayo's All-Ireland prospects.
2Post League final trauma. Mayo ran dismal championship campaigns after being league runners-up in 2007 and 2010. Also, none of the last 10 league runners-up have won the All-Ireland.
3Perception among strong opposition. Until such time as Mayo win an All-Ireland title, the major powers will always believe they can outwit them on the big day.
4Hype. It won't flare up if Mayo win Connacht, but if they reach an All-Ireland final, it could become corrosive as it did on occasions in the past.
5Recent Connacht history. Mayo won provincial titles in 1999-2004-2006-2009, but were beaten in the next years.
- Martin Breheny

Panrich

Dublin were league runners-up last year and went on to win the AI title. So that's one less 'threat'.

goodnightfrome

Anyone know of any links available?