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Old thread here......
https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2057962937/mayo-gaa-discussion-part-4#latest
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I think Maher fairly had his number yesterday. He was probably Galway's best performer on the day overall.
Did he lose possession at all yesterday? I can't remember any. He won a big turnover early in the first half that led to one of our points.
McDonagh got turned over 2 or 3 times, Carney had one very poor lateral hand pass that got intercepted and Ryan got turned over a couple of times including for their last score.
I don't see why Ruane is constantly singled out for losing possession.
I get that you'd favour your own clubman but both of the above statements are a bit of a stretch, certainly the one about Ruane. Matty has been outstanding in a number of games and the expectations and standards he is held to are higher than most.
I think it's more a case of reminding Galway of their lack of success given the amount of times we've had a number of the Galwegian contingent (a small but persistent group of Gobsh8's) remind us of ours. Galway Football has improved, but the smart remarks from that aforementioned contingent down the years of Mayo losing finals are coming home to roost now.
Not a scoring thing for me re Ruane. He's loose in possession, runs into traffic far too often and is too easily turned over for a man of his size and athleticism. I don't think he imposes himself on games enough anymore. Maybe it's a form thing or maybe most teams have his number now, I don't know.
That's not true. Sure he's barely played for knockmore the last two seasons due to injury.
Ruane was very good in the Galway and Armagh games earlier in the league too. I think he gets judged by higher standards to others. If he's not getting 2 or 3 scores from play people think he had a bad game.
That's simply not true. The standout forward for the past 3 years has been O'Donoghue.
You could also make an argument for Conroy as he was nominated for two All-Stars in that time.
McHale has never performed close to those levels at county level irrespective of what he has done for his club.
Standout forward in Mayo over the last three years
That Donegal match is Ruanes only decent performance since 2020
Ruane was close to man of the match vs Donegal and Carney was no better than him yesterday. With all due respect, McHale has done nothing to warrant a start.
Let's look at something more relevant to the current teams say the last 5 years for example.
Mayo,finals played in Croke Park
Played 5,lost 2,won 3
Galway,finals played in Croke Park
Played 4 lost 4,won 0
Probably a similar enough team for next Sunday. If I was McStay I'd drop Ruane, theres only so long he can keep underperforming, a kick up the hole might do him no harm. Flynn/Carney to the middle and McHale in the half forward line
Yeah there's all of that - we've played them 4 times now in Croker, 3 of those being Finals (1 Connacht in 2021 and 2 National Leagues, 2001 and 2023) and we've won each time.
😁😅😆
Hard to argue with that but Galway football has been largely in the doldrums between '01 up until PJ took over. There was a period there, apart from an occasional sporadic flicker, when a few seasons went by when they didn't play there at all. Simple fact of the matter is if you're good enough up there, you will win.
But c'mon, Mayo calling *our* record in CP 'interesting' for the past 20 years...????!!!!
It's bad alright.
So is Shane Walsh's. Being kind one might say he fluffed his lines again. Others might say he choked. But I always found that was a ridiculous thing to say even though it has been thrown at some Mayo players often enough from across the border. So if its good for the goose.........
I think it can actually be distilled down to 1 win in a knockout game 21+ years
They beat Kerry in the opening group stages QF in 2018, but that was not a knockout game.
They beat Armagh on penalties in 2022, but technically that was a draw.
So their only win in that sort of environment was the SF win v Derry in 2022.
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At the game & watched it back on TV but I'd very much doubt the 'knowing more' end of things.
He played a deeper role than most of his games this year alright. Galway don't leave much space to kick it inside (the first 15 minutes you can see how many times Durcan, Flynn or DOC were looking for space inside and having to recycle instead, despite a lot of movement inside which was being well tracked - Ironically enough Aido himself probably the only one executing good kicks early in the game as he found Ryan with a couple of lovely kicks to put him in behind or earn a mark or two despite the heavy pressure) so I'd imagine the goal was leaving him in and around 11 or midfield at others was aiming to get him more ball and influence the game while leaving more space inside for Carr and ROD to try and exploit. He did his end of things there incredibly well, sadly Galway defence did a solid job on stopping goal chances for the other lads (Carr with the one big chance rattling Gleeson's dome with his left in the second half).
He was a magnet for free kicks as they were completely unable to stop him legally (and the issues they've made of complaining about the refs performance seems to have brought a highlight on their questionable tackling techniques that could go on to bite them later in the year as other refs will be more inclined to notice it given Cawley correctly did), laid off some lovely passes the odd time he wasn't fouled and did a fantastic job on the press or defensively all game.
Wasn't quite at the level that Reape and Coyne hit for MOTM kind of thing but that was mostly a question of how often we were able to feed him where he barely put a foot wrong the whole game.
Galway were set up very defensively too with 7 defenders starting. They made sure to cut out any real kicking game for us.
No point O’Shea playing 14 in April Mcstay knows this. In the big semi final or whatever. If O’Shea waits inside. He only only needs a few good balls to cause wreck.
My thinking on this is that if he had been left inside that Kelly would have been off up the field being a bit more dangerous. Having him out the field early in the game reduced that risk. Also Galway were defending from out the field a bit so the good ball into Aido probably wasn't on very much. We've seen before how just lumping high ball into him is not the best use of the man. Getting him on the ball is more important than having him isolated inside.
He does a massive shift of the dirty work every week but has been right on the verge of the glamorous stuff a couple of times this year too. Games where he could have had 1-2 or 1-3 more on the scoreboard with a tiny bit more composure or touch more luck on the day. Very fine margins. Looking forward to the game where it finally falls in place for him. He's earned it.
Hopefully someone on the coaching team working on the final execution with Fionn and Eoghan in particular. If we can get those two with their powerful direct running getting on the end of the finish or providing that killer final ball for others it could make a real difference to the year.
Can someone who knows more than me and/or was at the game tell me how Aiden O' Shea played ?
From watching it on TV I saw him get on a lot of ball and do a lot of work, he had a very good game.
But was he utilized as a "big man inside" at all ?
I can't recall him being a target man at any time.
What was the reasoning for that. ?
Had Galway that angle covered ?
Yeah I've been critical of McDonagh, but I thought he was very good yesterday. A lot of the time, he was playing sweeper, or blocking the space in front of full back line, whatever you want to call it.
Actually saw a Galway player eyeing up the pass inside, but saw McDonagh and had to pass backwards instead. I'd say his role is the unglamorous hard work.
The saves from Maher and Comer were impressive. The Tierney and Cooke ones were very ambitious from a Galway perspective. Would expect any decent keeper to make them.
James Carr also had an excellent goal chance saved so Galway got away with one there.
Was talking to a lad about McDonagh this morning, did he do a lot of defending? Kelly has no interest in full back, he was more like a half forward and I think McDonagh was picking him up a lot of the time
Eoghan McLaughlin is really not a fella who can afford to miss a lot of football, his ball skills are poor at the best of times but when hes rusty they go out the window completely
Dublin Show Pony 🤣
The likes of the Cooke chance, the Maher one etc. were one's any keeper should be saving. Still had to be saved, but the only time they really cut us open was the Heaney one. Sometimes we talk about goal chances like you are not allowed have a good goalkeeper.
Have to agree on Ruane. I've said it before, but he's very loose in possession and his form generally is patchy. He isn't the player he was in 2021.
McDonagh is slightly off intercounty standard. As for Eoghan McLaughlin, well...the skills of the game desert him often. His pace is ridiculous, but he doesn't seem to be actually working on his skillset. Been a problem for a couple of years now and little improvement.
Diarmuid was terrific and I expect a big year from him. He was due a return to form. Coyne also was great and I have to commend McStay for the trust he placed in those young lads.
just to hone in on what would happen against a better team.
Yesterday we dismantled the 2nd best team in the country right now. there is no one better. Bask in the glory, and stop pondering the what ifs.
For context. mayo arent the finished article in April. Neither are kerry. Kerrys weaknesses are far greater than ours, and the aim is to keep it that way as the championship progresses. there is nothing to suggest they will overcome their issues sooner than we will, and vice versa. Take solace in the fact that mayo are the least flawed team in Ireland as of today.
for the lift of me i don't know! :P
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