Mayo GAA Discussion - Part 3

Met Eireann forecast for Saturday.

Mainly dry and bright for the bulk of the country with just the occasional shower over more northern counties.There should be good sunshine for most places through the day and highest temperatures will range from 16 to 19 degrees in westerly breezes.

seligehgit wrote: »

It was last year's semi final.

True

Martin Breheny now suggesting that perhaps the players picked Aidan full back
!
Jesus they have no respect in the media for Rochford whatsoever
Aidan was clearly not happy playing FB the last day BUT his MANAGER instructed him to do so

I now hope Rochford sticks to his guns if he believes AOS did a good job leave him there and feckin win it !

Fitzmaurice had NO defensive game plan whatsoever but is getting away scot free

Kauto wrote: »

As long as Aidan O'Shea is nowhere near the Mayo forward line slowing the play down, Mayo will win. Dont think its any coincidence that it was our best forward display of the year.

It wasn't
And we only won 3 frees within scoring distance
Also no coincidence

km79 wrote: »

Martin Breheny now suggesting that perhaps the players picked Aidan full back
!
Jesus they have no respect in the media for Rochford whatsoever
Aidan was clearly not happy playing FB the last day BUT his MANAGER instructed him to do so

I now hope Rochford sticks to his guns if he believes AOS did a good job leave him there and feckin win it !

Fitzmaurice had NO defensive game plan whatsoever but is getting away scot free

But he plays such beautiful football...

Rochford has no mafia members on his side in the media ya see.

km79 wrote: »

Martin Breheny now suggesting that perhaps the players picked Aidan full back
!
Jesus they have no respect in the media for Rochford whatsoever
Aidan was clearly not happy playing FB the last day BUT his MANAGER instructed him to do so

I now hope Rochford sticks to his guns if he believes AOS did a good job leave him there and feckin win it !

Fitzmaurice had NO defensive game plan whatsoever but is getting away scot free

Is there no end to his animosity towards Mayo?!

Yeah Aido and the lads conspired to play him in a position he didn't wish to play,lazy journalism.

Totally agree Fitzmaurice is largely getting a free pass in comparison to the criticism Stephen Rochford receives.

I might have queried the switch but he's not afraid to make the big call and back himself.Fair play to him with his ability to think outside the box.Keep them guessing.

Wooly interviewed him on the GAA hour and feels he gets no credit for any of the left of field switches he makes that do work and of course one can't have predicted the meltdown Robert Hennelly would have in last year's replay.

km79 wrote: »

Same as that
But under cover for the fine day

We'll be able to wave at aido

seligehgit wrote: »

Father Tod are Kerry likely to play a sweeper?

I really don’t know

Looking at a pure optimistic Mayo hat on I’m not sure if they can afford to.

James O’ Donaughe, for whatever reason, is not back to his 2014 best.

A bit better marking and more critical thinking and Donaghey does not have the influence he had Sunday.

Donnacha Walsh is unlikely to be fit.

Michael Ganey may not start with someone like Savage in his place.

So they already have some personnel issues in the FF and HF line and they may have to deplete it even more by taking someone from there to help the backs.

McCarthy who had a good league has not featured all championship, has he ?
At the back they have to change it up, but I don’t think they have the bodies to do so, the only straight replacement they can make is Fionn Fitzgerald in one of the corners.

Ronan Shannhan played the league at corner back but did not appear yet in the championship, do you throw him into the fire.

If they flood the middle to stop the Mayo’s running they potentially open themselves up to what happened on Sunday with Andy Moran (keeping in mind that Mayo rarely put two great displays of forward play together back to back)

If they give Mayo space they run at them and cause more trouble.

I will say that I expect Barry to appear at midfield and that will be a plus on their side.

Overall I think that Fitzmaurice has a lot more thinking to do this week than Rochford.

Obviously Kerry are still favorites and favorites usually win replays, but Kerry may just be fatally flawed with regard to what they have to do to stop Mayo, i.e they may not have the right people for it.

What exactly did Breheny say? Any links?

Call me Al wrote: »

It's on independent.ie.

That man is unhinged. He seems to have some sort of irrational vendetta against Rochford and support team, and all the players on the Mayo panel.
It's plain rude, and bad journalism, at this stage.
Here's a quote ....

"Granted, his defensive set-up was questioned but not to anything like the same degree as Rochford's call on O'Shea. That's assuming, of course, that the Mayo manager and his assistants, Tony McEntee, Donie Buckley and Peter Burke, were solely responsible for it.

Could it have been a squad initiative, a meeting of minds among players that the best man to mark basketballer Donaghy was basketballer O'Shea?

Former joint-managers Pat Holmes and Noel Connelly revealed last year that attempts were made by some squad members to influence team selections in 2015.

If it happened then, presumably it could happen again, even if it didn't work first time.

Whatever the origin of the decision, the switch certainly generated a major talking point in Sunday's semi-final."

That's one almighty sh*t stirring article.

Shyte journalism, but what can one expect from Irish papers anymore.

jmayo wrote: »

That's one almighty sh*t stirring article.

Shyte journalism, but what can one expect from Irish papers anymore.

It's like some bizarre attempt to keep the Holmes and Connelly article from last December relevant.

That piece held no water when Mayo lost an All Ireland final replay by a single point.

It holds less water now as they are a game away from another All Ireland final, and one of the stars of the summer has been Aiden O Shea, ego in chief.

But somewhere in the bowles of the Independent's editorial board someone wants to keep going back to it.

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

Sub headline in the sports section of The Kerryman.

"Gough to ref first Kerry game since Buckley tackle"

And they accuse us if being obsessed by refs.

Sorry I'm way off on this.

I just flicked through The Kerryman in the shop this morning and tried to remember the headline (not the main one on the page) as I left the shop.

It was Crowley the hit was on and in the SF last year, and the headline was something like "Gough to ref first Kerry game since Crowley hit"

Anyway I found it funny.

Coillte_Bhoy wrote: »

What exactly did Breheny say? Any links?

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/martin-breheny-its-backs-to-the-walls-for-fitzmaurice-and-rochford-36059875.html

Squatman wrote: »

having rewatched the match last night, i think mayo made a big mistake by not pushing up hard on Kerrys kickouts - they werent put under pressure at all, and if they were, i think we could have capitalised on them - he often kicked short uncontested kickouts, where had we pushed forwards, we could have intercepted

You don't actually win many interceptions with that approach, do you though? More likely force them to kick it long.