Mayo GAA Discussion Part 2

martyos121

PressRun wrote: »

So it seems Rochford's proposed backroom team has been confirmed.

http://www.gaa.ie/gaa-news-and-videos/daily-news/2/2611150802-rochford-finalises-mayo-management-line-up/

The back-room team he's assembled is All Ireland winning calibre IMO, even though the groundwork was partly done for it before he arrived, he just improved it.

The jury is obviously still out on Rochford himself, being new to the inter-county scene, but I have faith in him to at least get us to another final or two if he's given the time. The success of this season will be largely dependent on how COC recovers from his surgery and if he can hit the ground running when he returns. Could be an All Star year for his brother if he continues to develop as quickly as he has been. Exciting times.

PressRun

I'm very interested to see what Tony McEntee brings to the table. That Armagh team of 2002 were tanks, one of my favourites.

wazzer1

McEntee has done a pretty awful job in Dublin with Brigids this year anyway.

PressRun

Rochford to be ratified tonight apparently.

seligehgit

Stephen Rochford has tonight been ratified as Manager of the Mayo Senior Football Team on an initial 3 year term to be reviewed annually.Joining Stephen on the backroom team will be Tony McEntee (Selector/Coach),Donie Buckley (Selector/Coach),Barry Solan (Head of S & C),Sean Carey (Selector),Dr. Sean Moffatt (Head of Medical),Maurice Horan (Stats),Eoin Rochford (Logistics).

Fowler87

seligehgit wrote: »

Stephen Rochford has tonight been ratified as Manager of the Mayo Senior Football Team on an initial 3 year term to be reviewed annually.Joining Stephen on the backroom team will be Tony McEntee (Selector/Coach),Donie Buckley (Selector/Coach),Barry Solan (Head of S & C),Sean Carey (Selector),Dr. Sean Moffatt (Head of Medical),Maurice Horan (Stats),Eoin Rochford (Logistics).

Best of luck to them. Big year ahead

padd b1975

Three year term to be reviewed annually.....basically a one year deal dressed up to give the impression of stability.

I wish him well.

yop

For some strange reason this feels like if he doesn't do it we will be "quite" for a lot of years. There is a crop of players there who will probably retire and will be hard replaced.
He could be the one of just another one. Best of luck to them all.

Audioslaven

http://www.thejournal.ie/old-moores-almanac-2016-2473872-Nov2015/

PressRun

I'd like to think he'll have one eye on the future, beyond 2016. I think there's a lot of talk about things just having to come together in 2016 or that will somehow just be the end of it, which isn't how I feel about it at all. There needs to be a long term aim, not just all this fretting about 2016.

seligehgit

Very best of luck to Stephen and his backroom team,I really do think he's likely to give youth it's chance.The setup needs a bit of a freshening up.

Fr Tod Umptious

PressRun wrote: »

I'd like to think he'll have one eye on the future, beyond 2016. I think there's a lot of talk about things just having to come together in 2016 or that will somehow just be the end of it, which isn't how I feel about it at all. There needs to be a long term aim, not just all this fretting about 2016.

Yes the future is important but 2016 should not be sacrificed for the sake of rebuilding.

Mayo avoid both Dublin and Kerry, so all other things being equal, the path to the final should be easier than the last few years.

The likes of Higgins, Seamus O Shea, Ger Cafferkey, Tom Cuniffe, Barry Moran and certainly Andy Moran are all pushing on in age and mileage, they really cannot afford to look too fat ahead.

And finally the players decided that the previous setup did not give them the best chance of winning in 2016, that's why they rebeled, had they been content with rebuilding they may have given H&C another year.

PressRun

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

Yes the future is important but 2016 should not be sacrificed for the sake of rebuilding.

Mayo avoid both Dublin and Kerry, so all other things being equal, the path to the final should be easier than the last few years.

The likes of Higgins, Seamus O Shea, Ger Cafferkey, Tom Cuniffe, Barry Moran and certainly Andy Moran are all pushing on in age and mileage, they really cannot afford to look too fat ahead.

And finally the players decided that the previous setup did not give them the best chance of winning in 2016, that's why they rebeled, had they been content with rebuilding they may have given H&C another year.

I'm not saying 2016 should be sacrificed for the sake of rebuilding, but life goes on after 2016, and I don't think we should lose sight of that either. I'd be wary of people working themselves into a frenzy over 2016. I'm excited for next year, but I'm also interested in what's going to happen in the future and what new players are going to come into the fold. I'd like to see many years of Mayo doing well rather than doing well in 2016 only to stagnate for a few years afterwards because nobody was thinking beyond that.

ProudDUB

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

Yes the future is important but 2016 should not be sacrificed for the sake of rebuilding.

Mayo avoid both Dublin and Kerry, so all other things being equal, the path to the final should be easier than the last few years.

The likes of Higgins, Seamus O Shea, Ger Cafferkey, Tom Cuniffe, Barry Moran and certainly Andy Moran are all pushing on in age and mileage, they really cannot afford to look too fat ahead.

And finally the players decided that the previous setup did not give them the best chance of winning in 2016, that's why they rebeled, had they been content with rebuilding they may have given H&C another year.

Is having a so called "easy" path to the final, really an advantage these days? It may be on paper, but is it in cold, hard reality? In 2014 & 2015, both Dublin and Kerry benefited massively from having 2 tough semi final encounters, to battle harden them for their subsequent AI finals.

This year, having two tough games against Cork, really stood to Kerry. It didn't stand to them in the final, but it might have meant more, if they weren't facing a team that had come thru the replay wars of their own.

So all in all, am not so sure if having a cushy road to the AI final is a massive benefit in reality, that it may initially appear to be.

kupus

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

The likes of Higgins, Seamus O Shea, Ger Cafferkey, Tom Cuniffe, Barry Moran and certainly Andy Moran are all pushing on in age and mileage, they really cannot afford to look too fat ahead.

not really that fat imo, pudgy at a stretch, but not fat.

Fr Tod Umptious

ProudDUB wrote: »

Is having a so called "easy" path to the final, really an advantage these days? It may be on paper, but is it in cold, hard reality? In 2014 & 2015, both Dublin and Kerry benefited massively from having 2 tough semi final encounters, to battle harden them for their subsequent AI finals.

This year, having two tough games against Cork, really stood to Kerry. It didn't stand to them in the final, but it might have meant more, if they weren't facing a team that had come thru the replay wars of their own.

So all in all, am not so sure if having a cushy road to the AI final is a massive benefit in reality, that it may initially appear to be.

I'd argue that Dublin's failure to beat Donegal had more to do with Kerry winning in 2014 than Kerry's two tough games v Mayo.


I'm not a believer in the idea that teams like Mayo, Dublin and Kerry need a test before a final.

At this stage in the decade we know what those 3 are about
Its only when teams emerge from the field haveingplayed questionable opposition that we need to ask if they are real contenders or not.

Dublin would have still won the AI had they beat Mayo by 8 the first day.

Cosmo Kramer

Just a heads up for anyone interested - the Mayo GAA (€99) Season Ticket is back on sale this morning. First time I've seen it on sale in two years. It will just be a resale of tickets that were not renewed so they probably won't be around for long.

Fr Tod Umptious

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

Just a heads up for anyone interested - the Mayo GAA (€99) Season Ticket is back on sale this morning. First time I've seen it on sale in two years. It will just be a resale of tickets that were not renewed so they probably won't be around for long.

Just been on the site, they only seem to be selling the e200 season ticket + Cairdre Maigheo tickets.
Must be sold out of the season ticket only option.

Cosmo Kramer

They had the €99 option earlier, they also had a few Dublin season tickets which I see are gone also.

glack

They had emailed those on the waiting list last night and said they would be sold on a first come, first served basis this morning at 10am.

RD10

I've a good feeling for 2016. We have the players, we know we can beat the best. Its just getting over the line. Even if we stumble over i dont care! Come on mayo!

PressRun

Rochford on Off The Ball now.

Edit: He sounded good. Calm and collected, but confident that he could build upon the strong foundations that are already there. Podcasts from the show are put up on soundcloud, so can be found there, if anyone missed it.

ProudDUB

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

I'd argue that Dublin's failure to beat Donegal had more to do with Kerry winning in 2014 than Kerry's two tough games v Mayo.


I'm not a believer in the idea that teams like Mayo, Dublin and Kerry need a test before a final.

At this stage in the decade we know what those 3 are about
Its only when teams emerge from the field haveingplayed questionable opposition that we need to ask if they are real contenders or not.

Dublin would have still won the AI had they beat Mayo by 8 the first day.

We'll never know though, as they never played each other. There is no way of knowing for sure, that if Dublin got past Donegal, the same flaws that were exposed in that game, wouldn't have reared their ugly head in the final against Kerry. If they did, I think Kerry may have had their number. All we do know for sure, is what has happened in the past. And in the past two AI campaigns, Sam was won by the counties who had the benefit of a two, hard fought games under their belt. Coincidence?

If you go back even further, in 2013 Dublin had the epic semi final against Kerry to draw on. In 2012, Donegal beat Tyrone, Cork, Kerry & Mayo on the way to Sam. In 2011, Dublin had the game that many players rank as their hardest game ever (the infamous 0-8 to 0-6 semi final against Donegal) in the tank before the final.

So overall, recent history does not point to the counties having the easier routes to the final, actually profiting from it, even though it is very tempting to want to avoid playing your biggest rivals, until as late as possible.

happyoutscan

Best of luck to Rochford and his staff.

Stoner

ProudDUB wrote:

So overall, recent history does not point to the counties having the easier routes to the final, actually profiting from it, even though it is very tempting to want to avoid playing your biggest rivals, until as late as possible.

I'd say that between Donegal, Dublin, Mayo and Kerry the main thing I'd take from recent years is that out of any match up from the four that the most likely win would be Mayo beating Donegal. The others could go either way, you could argue that on recent form Dublin would beat Kerry too but nothing has been as convincing as Mayos wins over Donegal .

I would agree a little with Fr Tod but the first Mayo Dublin game fixed Dublin IMO but I dont think that the Cork game fixed Kerry, I think Kerry knew they were better and underperformed in the first game.
For example IMO Mayo and Dublin would have beaten Cork at the first asking with a bit to spare, Donegal would have too, but it would have been closer.
When you look at it Kildare beat Cork by a decent margin and kildare shipped what was it 19 and 24 point losses this year? I know it was a short turn around for Cork but they've been at sea now for about three years. They haven't given anyone a serious test they way Tyrone, Kerry, Mayo ,Donegal or Dublin have since 2011.

Finally I understand that you could say that a more testing path would be more likely to bring success, but the path Mayo had this year was potentially difficult
Donegal, Dublin, Kerry.

What ever about needing to play two of the top three, but all of them is a hard call.
Overall I'd prefer Mayos matches for 2016 compared to 2015.

PressRun

I wouldn't like to get complacent either with the 'easy route to the final' talk. That's the kind of thing that could lead to a nasty shock!

ProudDUB

Stoner wrote: »

What ever about needing to play two of the top three, but all of them is a hard call.
Overall I'd prefer Mayos matches for 2016 compared to 2015.

I get where you're coming from, but I suppose we all look at these things from our own counties perspectives. In 2012, we thought that we had the easy side of the draw, as Donegal, Kerry, Cork & Tyrone were all on the other side of the draw. We "only" had to get past Mayo and we were in the AI final again, easy peasy. And as Mayo hadn't been in an AI final in 6 years, we thought they'd be easy enough to overcome & a spot in the final was guaranteed to be ours. Boy we were ever wrong ! If that is the Mayo mindset next year, it could be a problem, just as it was for us.

Fr Tod Umptious

ProudDUB wrote: »

I get where you're coming from, but I suppose we all look at these things from our own counties perspectives. In 2012, we thought that we had the easy side of the draw, as Donegal, Kerry, Cork & Tyrone were all on the other side of the draw. We "only" had to get past Mayo and we were in the AI final again, easy peasy. And as Mayo hadn't been in an AI final in 6 years, we thought they'd be easy enough to overcome & a spot in the final was guaranteed to be ours. Boy we were ever wrong ! If that is the Mayo mindset next year, it could be a problem, just as it was for us.

It may be the mindset of the fans which is fine, but it won't be the mindset of the team/manager.

charlie14

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

It may be the mindset of the fans which is fine, but it won't be the mindset of the team/manager.

Unfortunately such a mindset can easily transfer to the players. Dublin just one example in recent years.

ProudDUB

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

It may be the mindset of the fans which is fine, but it won't be the mindset of the team/manager.

But you don't know that. Lets say (for arguments sake) that Mayo play Roscommon (stop laughing ) and Tyrone in their 2016 AI quarter final & semifinal.

With human nature being the way that it is, there is no way, that every single Mayo player will be as mentally locked in and fired up to play them, as much as they would be if Kerry and Dublin were their opponents. No way. The teams that you have played your most important games with in the past, are always the ones that you get fired up for, just that little bit more.

That is the very nature of sport. It catches teams out all the time, when the underestimated team has a sting in the tail that comes unexpectedly to their opponent. That may or may not be a problem for Mayo (or any other county) next year, in terms of match results. But there is no way that we can say with 100% accuracy, that it won't be an issue for 30 odd players, when its been an issue for all players since team sports were first invented.