Mayo GAA Discussion Part 2

CONFIRMED Round 3A Qualifier: Clare v Mayo in Cusack Park, Ennis Saturday July 8th at 5pm. The game will be live on @RTEgaa. #mayogaa #gaa

Shurimgreat wrote: »

Its so obvious how to beat mayo, especially while cafferkey is in there. Stick in a big forward or midfielder, lump a few high balls in and you are guaranteed a goal or two. Kerry did it for fun in 2014. I hope Rochford has learned from that.

I don't rate Cafferkey, he's a weak link and you can get away with a weak link most places on the field but not at full back because it will lead to goals.

As for you saying that only Kerry or Tyrone will have a big man at FF, Dublin have O'Gara, Galway have Damien Comer who also ran riot against Cafferkey, Donegal can stick in Michael Murphy and so on. Virtually every county has the big man for the direct route tactic and it nearly always works against Mayo.

Its obvious to anyone with a clue about football he's a weak link. Nice fellow I'm sure but he doesn't justify his selection.

I don't think you are being fair there. He actually done a great job on murphy in there in 2012 when he was switched onto him.
Re comer, he won a nice few balls alright, but many of them were well out from goal, and he didn't actually score very much. You have to factor in that galway were creating space in front of him to attack as a kind of an outlet to hold up the ball, and comer would be more mobile than most fbs. Our issue there was our lack of a competent sweeper to counteract the tactic.

On the goal v derry, mark lynch is a monster of a man the ball in was perfect. Now he should have just stepped in front of him, upended the run and taken his chances with the ref, but it is still a bit harsh. Mayo's fullback line is a tough place to play. Open spaces down the middle, poorly co-ordinated defensive structures and unmarked runners are coming in every game. When Dublin played in a similar attacking way, I recall O'Carroll taking a few similar roastings. However, that changed and O'Carroll looked twice the player afterwards.

I think Cafferky is dodgy enough myself, even though he was having a good run of performances last year before getting injured, but I think we haven't done ourselves any favors by taking McLoughlin out of a role he adjusted to so well last year. We had that sweeper system well oiled by the final and we should be capitalising on it this year, imo. We were carved up through the middle on Saturday and that was our biggest problem. Lads sauntering through with not a glove put on them. For the Derry goal, the biggest concern for me was not that Clarke/Cafferky didn't clear the high ball, it was that the lad who let the ball in was given acres of space to jog up the pitch and drop it in with no one putting a hand on him.

Capacity of 28,000 stated so everyone should fit in

PARlance wrote: »

Any comment to go along with the image?

A long ball launched into the square is the goalkeepers responsibility all day long. He should have been up there with arms and legs flying, as he normally does so effectively. He was caught flat footed. The book starts and stops with Clarke on that for me.

Goalkeeper and full back were well beaten

BENDYBINN wrote: »

Feck off Aidan,
Your lad wouldn't have stopped it either.

I've no doubt about that, still might throw him in against Clare though. I'll be handing Stephen the team on Thursday.

Want a selfie?

Any news on Lee Keegan?

seligehgit wrote: »

Yes it was Clarke's ball all day,having said that Ger Caff has struggled greatly since his return most especially under the high ball.Plus ca change,he's struggled like all Mayo full back lines against an aerial bombardment since the All Ireland final 2004 and before.

Bernard Brogan has roasted him on numerous occasions and the management failure to deal with the Donaghy aerial threat in the 2014 semi final cost us the contest.

No easy solutions,Kevin Keane is injured and had his own issues at full back in 2012 final.Although he lacks in mobility it's a great shame he's injured as coped best with Donaghy when introduced in the replay.

This management team I am sure will have a plan,possibly similar to the Donegal quarter final of 2015 when Barry Moran sweeped back in the full back line in an attempt to nullify the Michael Murphy threat.

Anyway getting way ahead of myself,Clare are formidable opponents in their own backyard.Gary Brennan has the ability to dominate the middle of the park and David Tubridy is a forward of the highest quality.Is Podge Collins still togging out for the footballers?

I think Tubridy is past his best. Have seen him fairly recently in a couple of Clare matches and he looked slow. Might suit Cafferkey to mark him actually. Jamie Malone is Clare's best forward in the games I have seen

tanko wrote: »

Any news on Lee Keegan?

He'll be fine, mate was talking to him yesterday in Westport.

seligehgit wrote: »

Bernard Brogan has roasted him on numerous occasions and the management failure to deal with the Donaghy aerial threat in the 2014 semi final cost us the contest.

True, but should he be on a player of brogan's type in the first place? (although he did a good job on him in 2013) Like is cafferkey being sold up the river a bit there?
Again, I refer to O'Carroll on this point - a guy widely regarded as a great fb, getting roasted by Stephen Bray (in the twilight of his career I might add) in a one on one situation. He got another one off donaghy in the league as bad as the one cafferkey himself got (come championship they put Flynn back and double marked him). The point is if you can create a mismatch in attributes and isolate the guy, anyone can be in trouble, and when it is in front of the goal every move is analysed. A lot of it comes down to the matchups and being cute enough to not let the guy be isolated. A big rangy guy is always going to struggle on a quick guy, and frankly no fb out there can manage donaghy alone, with good ball coming in.

And of course, a lot less is made of something like that when your team wins.


I think personally the goal isn't really the correct thing to be focussing on. At the end of the day, it was a great ball in, lynch is a serious lump of a man and a fine player, it isn't beyond the realm of possibilities that he gets a fist to it. I think people are focussing on it because they just have reservations with cafferkey anyway.
Personally, Id have more issue with our insistence on kicking ball inside to two men being marked by four people. It's basically kicking away scoring opportunities. After that, Id have an issue with so many defenders on the pitch, and yet derry still bombing through the middle - that tactic is 100% not working.

Shurimgreat wrote: »

My Mayo team for rest of championship:

Clarke
Harrison
Seamie O'Shea
Barrett
Boyle
Keegan
Durkan
Parsons
AOS
Boland
Doherty
Coen(Sweeper)
DOC
COC
Loftus


K Mcl is way too inconsistent to justify starting. He can go from being one of the best in the country to one of the worst within minutes. Andy Moran has only the legs for impact player at this stage.

No Higgins ?