Mayo GAA Discussion

PressRun

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121813346#Comment_121813346

That's all grand, but the issue for me is that I'm not seeing any evidence that anything new is being tried from last year or that any young players are really putting up their hand. I'd take the beating and even relegation if it looked like we were working on something or like we were starting to see green shoots re real viable future talent. Realistically, the personnel is going to be the same group who capitulated against Dublin and Cork last year and I'm not sure this group have the skillset nor the strength between the ears to not do the same this year. I don't see anything to suggest that the forward options are improving - comparing the variety of forward play (all clearly coached and worked on) by Dublin last night, it couldn't be more obvious how completely un-creative and under-coached we are in this area.

Also, feel like a broken record saying it, but until we find midfielders who can cleanly field a ball and retain possession from the kickout, we are going nowhere. Any team with a decent midfield will be in with a shout to beat us no matter what so long as this area stays as it is. It's a huge problem going on 3 years now. You can't seriously be hoping to be in contention come business end when you can't win possession from the kick out.

We can say "it's only the league" til the cows come home, but there are lots of the same worrying signs still lingering from last year, and the signs have been there in all games so far, including the ones we won (how we won the Dublin game, I do not know).

Westernview

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121815263#Comment_121815263

It can't be very enjoyable being a mayo forward waiting for a ball in. You'd imagine a lot of Mayo defenders and midfielders would love to see forwards like Tommy and Ryan ahead of them and would try and find them as soon as possible. Instead we are stuck in a safety first slow approach.

km79

So we are still third …..

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121815977#Comment_121815977

Yea, and with games v Roscommon and Monaghan coming up that they should be targeting to win they could very easily find themselves in the final.

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121815345#Comment_121815345

Agree with all of that.

The reality is that Mayo are no better equipped to beat Dublin or Kerry at the knockout stages than they have been in the last two years.

MacDanger

I see Cillian is 5th in the poll on the blog, maybe I need to watch it back but I thought he was v poor yesterday - first time I've ever thought that he's really struggled for us like that.

Westernview

The blog polls are not always logical. Diarmuid got 19 votes even though he pulled a hamstring and went off in the opening minutes. Usually after the top 3 it's just a popularity contest.

Keegan's analysis on RTE just now more or less repeated what I said earlier. The ponderous low risk approach play isn't suiting our forwards. Tyrone in contrast were much more direct - in the 2nd half especially. McCurry and Canavan lapped it up.

MacDanger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121817515#Comment_121817515

Question for anyone who was at the match, did we drop a sweeper in in front of mccurry & canavan during the 2nd half? Wasn't able to see on the telly

Big game coming up next week against the Rossies, should be a good atmosphere in Castlebar; I know we're a bit out yet but the weather is looking decent too

PARlance

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121815345#Comment_121815345

The worry is that McStay sees the big gain this year being in the form of a steady improvement from some of the newer faces rather than anything else. He said as much after Galway.

A lot of the team are relatively new and we should expect improvement but it won't be enough.

It's like we are about 5 years behind Kerry or Dublin in terms of what we're trying to do in attack with set build-up plays / looking for runners of the shoulder versus a packed defence. It's like watching average enough club football in terms of the strategy (lack of) of it all.

I wasn't as frustrated as some about the match but we would want to see some signs of some decent forward play over the next few matches.

Tyrone were excellent in the second half, hopefully it's a serious wake call.

Blackjack

While the result on Saturday night was disappointing, I think we got what we deserved and the same applies to a number of supporters and self appointed commentators who called for players to be dropped and demanding others be given game time.

I do think if we had Aido playing on Saturday night we’d have certainly garnered a few more scorable frees out of the game but I don’t believe it would have changed the result. If you look back at how few frrrs there were from within the 45 you could see where Tyrone were concentrating efforts on, in contrast to how we started the second half. Tyrone came out of the blocks like a rocket in the second half and eliminated our advantage very quickly. Our defense was nowhere near as cohesive as it has been and we were getting destroyed at midfield. Our lads did look lethargic generally and I’d wonder if that was perhaps down to where we are in terms of training schedule. I’d certainly hope that’s a factor as if not, we’re in bigger bother. Tyrone were getting frees in scorable positions and that allowed McCurry to rack up 6 scores from frees from when he came on at half time.

On the positives Duffy and Cillian both started and finished the game thereby getting valuable minutes. Plunkett, McStay and Matty all featured and we found out a bit about where they are. Robbie had a bad evening and I think it places Reape firmly as the number one keeper.

injury rumours are worrying, if we’re going to be missing Paddy and Diarmuid then we’ll need a number of others to stand up.

we need a big response for this coming Saturday.

Westernview

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121819092#Comment_121819092

I'd agree with some of your points. Not sure what you mean by "self appointed commentators" but I didn't see anyone on this thread calling for 8 changes to the team and that amount of disruption was always going to be risky in terms of cohesive play.

A lot of us just wanted Towey or McHale started in the forward line with Aidan coming off the bench. You wanted Aidan to start the game but if he did it is unlikely he would have scored or finished it. IMO a couple of extra frees won isn't a great trade off against having players more likely to score themselves so I'd still prefer to still see Aidan come on when the game slows down a bit . But somehow I get the feeling he will start the next day.

I agree about midfield. I got shot down here when I mentioned it last week as an issue but it is obvious that we have been struggling there for some time. Relying on Jordan other other players to support the main 2 isn't great as they should be coming in on breaks and starting attacks. But that's all we have to work with it seems.

I also agree that training schedules may be affecting energy levels. I hope that's the case and I'd have no issue with it as we want to peak at the right time in summer unlike last year.

Sunday is a great opportunity I think. Roscommon are quite strong with good forwards and will be fully up for it. We will need a response.

Blackjack

Wasn’t referring to anyone here specifically in terms of self appointed commentators. I’ve just seen loads of commentary about dropping specific players and trying out loads of fellas and the game on Saturday demonstrates that indeed a finer balance is how that should be done. I have seen some reasonably prominent folk on Twitter calling for all the changes and then turning around after Saturday and saying it was too much. To me, those folks have egg on their face as they got exactly what they asked for.

I wasn’t necessarily suggesting Aido should start and agree Aido wouldn’t necessarily have scored but Tommy didn’t get any scores either. I just think it would have been easier to get the ball closer to the scoring positions or creat more scoring opportunities if Aido had been there as a target man.

Westernview

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121819380#Comment_121819380

Yes Tommy isn't scoring either. Would expect him to come good though and I'd say McStay is trying to put miles in his legs. He is also vice captain so will usually play if Paddy is injured.

Regardless of Mayo's form it look's like Dublin could be winding up for a period of dominance again. The irish indo recently had a piece on the continued lop-sided GAA funding bias towards Dublin. A bigger population to spread it across yes but how any other county is expected to compete with that I'll never know. And that's only for coaching and games development. Factor in sponsorship and other corporate sources Dublin has and the gap widens even more.

Panrich

We were flying this time last year while Dublin were spluttering along unimpressively in Division 2 against the likes of Clare.

I’d be happy if we can get the 2 points on the board against the Rossies no matter how we manage it and then keep our powder dry for a big run at the Connacht championship.

Be-Jaysus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121819560#Comment_121819560

Except there is no sign of any powder, and Dublin as a team have been there & done that..so the comparison is a mute point.

Anyone that watches Mayo games this season can clearly see that there has been little or no change from last seasons campaign, but what remains are those 2nd half collapses when the heat is put on them by the opposition & the inability to win our own kick-outs whether we go long or short.

Bigging up a "Connacht title assault" just shows how low the expectation levels have dropped with some of our fans ,when the minimum expectation this season should be sufficient improvements been made on the pitch , so we don't roll over for a 3rd time against the Kerrys/Dublins at Croke Park.

MacDanger

Was just looking at Mayo GAA twitter there and they have posts up about U14 & U16 leagues - Westport the only club with a C team in either and they have a C team in both. Serious numbers for a town that was a soccer town not so long ago

Westernview

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121835256#Comment_121835256

It's a numbers game alright. In fact there are so many kids that a lot of them have to be bused over and back to Sancta Maria school in Louisburgh every day as the schools in Westport are at capacity. Sancta Maria are now having to add classrooms as a result.

Loafing Oaf

Brutal evening for a game here in castlebar. Big Eskimo duffel coat on me and I’m still 🥶

km79

Conroy for Towey at HT has to happen

His shot selection every time he plays is ridiculous

he must be kicking long range scores from acute angles off both feet in training !

Fr Tod Umptious

McLaughlin has pace up the wing, but his soloing is brutal, lost an awful ball there a minute ago while if full flight straight into a Roscommon player's hands.

lillielad

Eoghan McCloughlin has been super that solo aside.

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121843333#Comment_121843333

Yea he's doing great work, but he got pulled for over carrying earlier and the solos have been scary.

Unlucky not to have a goal there just now.

lillielad

Such an unfortunate injury there, exact same as Lee Gannon's earlier tonight.

Sebastian Dangerfield

Am I losing my mind or was RoD playing in the full back line the last 10 mins?

homewardbound11

Ryan was cornerback and supporting him was Tommy conroy and Cillian on and off .

Westernview

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121843333#Comment_121843333

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121843360#Comment_121843360

I was 50/50 on EMcL up to now weighing up his pace and power versus wastage and fouling. But I think now I'd play him as at least he is hard running towards goal. Anything is better than the laboured lateral play we've had from defence which won't cause any problems to the top teams. Hopefully his injury will clean up soon.

Panrich

Well job done against the Rossies. I'm delighted with how things are going this year. Nothing flashy or anything to suggest we're giving it 100% but we've 3 wins on the board and the last two games can be used to give fringe or returning players valuable game time.

crusd

At this stage if we are not careful we will end up in a league final.

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844333#Comment_121844333

I really don't see the harm in making a league final when they are playing New York the next week.

It would take a catastrophic set of circumstances to see this Mayo panel lose to New York.

It should really be a formality.

Plus I'd like to see them be competitive v Derry in a few weeks and in a final possibly.

Derry like Mayo are being touted as just below Dublin and Kerry, so I'd like to see how Mayo would get on against them.

If Mayo wish to avoid the league final while also performing on the field they need Kerry to keep winning, because that would keep it a three way tie with Dublin on top by scoring difference, Mayo have the head to head v Dublin and always will have since they beat them in round two.

Blackjack

Yeah I wouldn’t mind us getting to a league final but I wouldn’t be too bothered if we missed out either.

Aside from that, it’s always nice to beat Roscommon, even if we were below par last night. A lot of that could be put down to conditions but some of our passing was poor enough quality, making the recipient having to do more than they should have in order to collect.

I’m less inclined to be listening to some commentators continued calls for giving Towey game time. He has had chances and hasn’t really impressed me a lot when he’s had the opportunities. No doubt he’s a good club player but this is different gravy. Maybe he’s more suited to harder ground. I suppose if he’s not given game time then the Richie Feeney effect comes into play and he gets better in the eyes of some the less he plays.

Tommy also needs to start troubling the scoreboard though he certainly made more of an impact when he came on.

Eoghans injury is such a kicker given he was having such a good game. He does lack in some of the final footballing touches but his runs up the left wing were causing the Roscommon lads awful bother, he was burning them for pace on a night that wasn’t made for the speedy player. I have to say I really do like Stephen Coen - he’s so understated, rarely makes a mistake and has quite a physical presence. It’s easy to see why he’s Captain material. Jordan also did well and really has become such an important player for us. Enda was very good as well, and Ryan was his usual best. Donnacha McHugh did very well also.

All the positives come with the health warning that the opposition were poor, despite them having had so many collective training sessions. They have reasonably talented forwards but I think their management is more concerned with the sound of his own voice than getting the best from his players. If he spent more time coaching them how to play rather than going down and feigning head injuries he might get a better tune out of them. Methinks he may be angling for a way out of his current role with an eye on a role in his home county.