padd b1975 wrote: » Its hard to think of a softer AI than Galway in 98. Thats just a fact. They did do the business in 01 and should have won the drawn game the year before, credit where its due they were quality.
BENDYBINN wrote: » Ultimately,it came down to performing inthe last twenty minutes of both finals......Mayo have nothin in the tank going into the last quarter. Why is this?
Fr Tod Umptious wrote: » I'm not diminishing the success of Galway in 98, just pointing out that when it came to the final they were not up against either the best team of the decade (Kerry in the 00s), or the best team of the all time (Dublin).
charlie14 wrote: » Fair dues, ye gave that Dublin team as good a rattle as anyone has given them in a long time.I`m not being condescending or casting aspersions on any of your teams over the past decade, but if I was a Mayo man I would be looking at the future with this present team with great confidence. I had doubts about Clarke but he was excellent. Same on midfield with Fenton and Cluxton if Mayo pushed up on Dublin kick-outs but Mayo negated both doing so. I also had worries about Kilkenny but he was well held also. Unfortunately the introduction of Howard and Mannion and Durcan having to go off let Fenton and Kilkenny back into it. Just small margins that were no reflection of the score or the game overall. It`s always a downer to lose, but being the resilient lot ye are and from that performance yesterday ye should be looking to the future with a damn sight more confidence than gloom today. That was one of the finest Mayo performances I have seen in a while and those new lads are class which that experience will only bring on further.
Girly Gal wrote: » 2012 mayo were more experienced than Donegal and ye still couldn't take ye're chance, It's about taking your opportunities when they present themselves. There's no doubt Mayo should have beaten Dublin the year they scored the two own goals. The reality is Mayo have never had enough clinical forwards to win an All Ireland, that's always been Mayo's downfall and nothing this year suggests it's been solved. Mayo always produce good defenders and midfielders but for some reason can't seem to produce top enough quality forwards.
jmayo wrote: » One last thing. I refrained from posting on the main All Ireland thread even though some right boll**ology is being spouted about Mayo not having bottle and one right ar**hole had the gall to claim he would never want to be in a foxhole with Mayo men. Well has there ever been a team that has come back year after year, giving their all despite setbacks, despite sore and painful losses. If that is not the definition of dedication and bottle then I don't know what is. And if ever one was to find oneself in a foxhole then I could think of no finer men to share it with than those Mayo players of the last 20 odd years. You would know damn well they won't cowardly slink off from a fight and a give up on a cause no matter what.
PressRun wrote: » Conroy is a good find in the forwards though? He didn't have a great day yesterday but he's overall had a good year and that experience should bring him on. He's only 20 or something.
Always_Running wrote: » Connacht minor championship result. Sligo 1-9 Mayo 1-7. It's knock out football so a Sligo v Roscommon final
Higgins5473 wrote: » Very good article, a lot truth in it. December 19 2020 09:58 PM Dublin are all the things that are good about life and sport... Mayo are doomed until their celebrity culture is banished Joe Brolly Did you hear the one about Santa and the Mayo youngster? Santa: What would you like for Christmas little one? Child: A unicorn. Santa: Ah come on, be realistic. Choose something else. Child: Mayo to win Sam. Santa: What colour unicorn would you like? In the 50th minute Cillian O’Connor scored a simple free to bring Mayo level at 2-8 to 0-14. The rest was Dublin time. Paul Mannion and Brian Howard had come on. They went to battle speed and you know the rest. David Hickey said on Saturday morning that he had "no time for this Mayo team, they are a tragic outfit. They win All-Star awards and Player of the Year awards and all that sort of crap. Dublin win All-Irelands." Mayo have now played in five All-Ireland finals since 2012 and lost all five. The team embodies the culture of the individual that is at the heart of Mayo's dysfunction. Pat Gilroy, who watched the game with me, had a simple mission statement when he took over Dublin, who were at that time very similar to this Mayo group. "If you are not completely happy to sacrifice yourself for the team, find another pastime." The group talked about this incessantly. Gilroy ruthlessly culled those players who set themselves above the group. It was, as he says, nothing personal. "They just weren’t suited to serving a cause. It was not their fault. But they could not be accommodated. Otherwise, it is like a cancer. Leave even a little bit of it in and it will spread and eventually kill the culture," he said. When Darren Coen came on in the last quarter and kicked several pot-shots into Stephen Cluxton's hands and all over the place, Gilroy nodded at me and pointed. “There you have it, Joe. There you have it.” Aidan O'Shea, for example, was anonymous again, but this is not his fault. He is not built to serve a cause. A lovely, personable lad he is, but a serious footballer he is not. Like a number of others in this group, he succumbed at an early stage in his career to what Hickey calls "the curse of individuality". James Horan has a charmed group of untouchables. This is corrosive to the culture. The others feel they are dispensable and when they are unable to logically justify the disparity in treatment, they become aggrieved, the bonds of togetherness essential for serious success are not forged and the project is doomed. It would be patronising and dishonest to say Mayo played bravely and were only beaten by the greatest team the game has ever seen. In 2012, they were crushed by Donegal. In 2014, by a very young Kerry team who galloped through them in the semi-final replay. Kildare beat them in 2018. They shook their heads and refused to go to war in the dying moments against Dublin in 2015, 2016 and 2017. This group is doomed and will not win an All-Ireland until the celebrity culture is banished by a manager who is not himself a part of the celebrity culture. Pat Holmes and Noel Connelly tried but were ejected after one season by a coup spearheaded by the charmed inner circle. Stephen Rochford brought them closer than anyone with the excellence of his coaching. But they were doomed to fail, inevitably losing out when it came to the crunch, because Rochford did not have the courage to take on the problem. Instead, the players quietly got rid of him after three seasons, preferring to go back to the comfort of their first coach. Things would be just the way they liked them under Horan. Another three years of plucky failures, plenty of commercial opportunities, lots of TV time and a smattering of All-Star awards. Dublin were scatty on Saturday and by their standards poor in the first half. Cluxton’s kick-out was disastrous. He took six long ones, losing all six. He kicked one too short which was thrown up, then almost gifted Mayo a goal with a kamikaze short one. Even at half pace, Dublin reached half-time two up, courtesy of an easy training ground goal after 13 seconds and an astounding second goal from Con O’Callaghan, which underlined his all-round magnificence. The second half was depressing. Dublin's culture meant victory was inevitable and an easy victory at that. This Mayo group truly does not understand the joy of football, which is all in the journey, not in the anti-climax of a victory. They are a team that does not operate in the real world. They do not face the truth and deal with it. Instead, they are happy with the instant gratification that comes from awards and a victory here and there. A league title. A Connacht title. Dublin, meanwhile, are all the things that are good about life and sport. Like the All Blacks, they serve something bigger than themselves. They have total respect for the game and the opposition. They do everything in their body to achieve the perfect performance. The needs of others are considered ahead of their own. It is inspiring and humbling. They provide us with a guidebook not just for sport, but life. We are lucky to have them, this special, devoted, selfless collective, where the team is the star and tik tok is the sound of a clock. Online Editors Rock and O'Callaghan goals key as Dublin's history-makers overcome battling Mayo to make it six-in-a-row Gaelic Football
wirelessdude01 wrote: » Look at the respective benches, who came on and their impact on the game. Also loosing Durcan to injury allowed Kilkenny more freedom. We do have the playing pool to pick from that Dublin have so not having two certain starters in Harry and Doc leaves the bench even lighter.
BENDYBINN wrote: » Disagree, A football mad county like Mayo will always have 20 plus quality players.......it comes down to poor coaching at the end of the day. Turnovers and poor on field decisions cost Mayo big time. To win all Ireland’s you have to play smart. Really feel John O Mahoney should be given another chance with Mayo.. Galway can thank him for their 2 Ireland’s
Barlett wrote: » I think I gave up putting any value in a Joe Brolly article about Mayo football when he said the team was ‘finished’ way back in June 2016. It’s all pantomime nonsense and the above is no different, he knows it himself, his analysis is nothing to be taken seriously & that’s why he writes the way he does , it’s all a laugh .
Fann Linn wrote: » I actually think you're right. He writes for the reaction and even when doing commentary on tv he lobs in the grenade to be controversial. I take Joe's articles with a pinch of salt and for their comedic value.
wirelessdude01 wrote: » Totally disagree. Johno burned all his bridges the last time. In my opinion what is needed on the sideline is someone like Rochie or Solan, someone for the analytical stuff who can dovetail with Horan, Burke and McD Horan can be a little naive at times when it comes to that very top level.
wirelessdude01 wrote: » Brolly if he isn't careful will end up going down the Ewan McKenna road of outlandish nonsense.
washman3 wrote: » As a neutral looking from the outside in, the article is spot on. No point in burying heads in the sand and pretending otherwise. Time to call a spade a spade.!!
