Mayo GAA Discussion

One thing's for sure about McHale. He's more likely to become a regular starter for Mayo than it is that we'll get his name right.

Darryl McHale

(I said that as someone who will probably continue to call him Darren)

A good option for the 26 for sure, the biggest worry from Sunday's win for me was that, bar Flynn and Carr getting those early points, none of our forwards scored from play, and if Towey, Orme, Irwin or Conor McStay weren't called into action in a game like this as out forwards were fading a bit, will they be viable options off the bench as the summer goes on?

I know CO'C is still to come back but it's starting to feel like we're missing a bit of firepower of the bench again

I said I think Darren McHale is good enough to start for Mayo and I stand by it. When I said he was the best forward in Mayo over the last three years I obviously meant in Mayo club football. You could make the case for ROD or Naughton but it's McHale for me.

It's no coincidence that Darren coming home from Oz coincided with Knockmores revival. He's been ridiculous for us, he only played two championship games last year but if he'd been there for the full season I think we'd have three in a row. The two games he played he scored 3-3.

He was player of the year in 2020 and outstanding again in 2021.

Anyone who thinks he doesn't have the talent either hasn't been watching enough or doesn't know what they're looking at. He rarely loses the ball, always seems to have time, wins breaks, tracks back, can pick out a pass that makes other forwards look good and scores heavily from half forward.

Yes he only made his championship debut in 2021 but he was abroad, but he scored 3-7 in less than three and half matches before getting injured. The Monaghan game was the first time he's been available since.

We don't have a player like McHale, I know he hasn't impressed yet this year but given a chance he will, no doubt, just needs to stay injury free.

Horan considered him a starter and McStay seems to rate him, so that lad calling me a genius might need to talk to them too.

But since it's coming from the man who considers Eoghan McLaughlin one of our top 10 players, I'm happy enough sticking with McHale

He's a prospect alright. Looked great when we got to see him last year and hadn't realised he was still underage until the other week when he was announced as VC.

Have been looking forward to seeing this group breaking through for a couple of years now. Think it was '21 when Darragh Beirne was winning an U18 medal coming off the bench for Claremorris in the county final... with Rio starting in the same final. Ridiculous talent thinking they're only hitting u17 now.

Was tracking along with the Meath Laois game this evening on Score Beo and another nice shock there. Laois securing their place in the Leinster Semi over Meath. 5 point win with a cracking (/lucky?) goal there right at the end to seal it.

Not quite as much excitement with Galway Leitrim tonight where Galway have already secured their place in the Connacht Final (Sean Birmingham having a solid game. A familiar name to anyone following some of the schools games in recent years).

Sligo and Roscommon going at it at 5pm tomorrow in a QF with the winner facing our lads on the 12th and the final scheduled for the 19th. Unusual that Galway could go 15 days without a game and facing a Mayo side playing back to back games or a Sligo/Roscommon side facing games 3 weeks on the trot. Think I'd probably pick our position out of the 3 available if given the choice. Shame both the 12th and 19th are clashing with the rolling 7 days on our senior games. Sam and Bob would be big losses, for both the 20s or the seniors. I had been expecting them to be released down earlier in the year but with their recent performances together with knocks to some of the squad lowering options I'd be very surprised now if they were.

I heard Ronaldson and Ah ref suggesting he'd be better off as a sub coming in when people are tired

For your forwards I'd think Conroy and Carr are competing for the one spot, Cillian is a sub. If one was to move out to the HF line it would be ROD I think and he provides a lot of what McHale would provide

Interesting seeing Bob and Sam included, for now at least.

Very young panel but a lot of fantastic potential there.

When you consider no Diarmuid Duffy or Charlie Bourke included there (no idea on injury/availability of either) no shortage of talent to fill the spots either.

Diarmuid Duffy is a strange omission alright. At a guess, he probably opted out to focus on leaving cert. That's fairly common at U20 level.

Conroy is key to us beating the big teams. His pace is frightening for defenders and if he stays fit and gets game sharp then he has to start ahead of Carr or Mchale.

the upside is that you don't need an impact off the bench, and the game is already won.

their the three best forwards in mayo. No question. Do you drop Aidan then ?

I know the mark has been criticized, but I think Mayo could do a little more to utilise it a lot better through Ryan O'Donoghue. He is a great man to take a mark, and the main thing is that he has the capacity to score from his hands almost anywhere inside the 45. Most players will let the ball bounce in front of them when going for the ball. But O'Donoghue will dive towards the ball in order for it not to touch the ground and he can claim the mark. Ciaran Kilkenny is another man who does this, but he doesn't have the scoring ability of Ryan. To take the mark, it only needs a small 20 metre kick chest high. Mayo should be able to put a couple of plays together on the training pitch to allow Ryan to get a straightforward mark around the 30 metre line which for him would be a tap over. E.g, have another player block his marker to give Ryan free for a clean movement towards the ball. The crucial part is the quality of the kick - it is much easier to kick a low bouncing kick towards an oncoming forward; but the mark would require a tougher more precise kick. But the likes of paddy Durkan, Matthew Ruane, Conor Loftus are well capable of that.

Incidentally, I was looking up the Mark rules there, and there is something that I never I knew. If a player takes a mark but is too injured to take it, the ref will pass it to the closest teammate. I'm surprised this hasn't been exploited e.g. I have seen some players (defenders) get marks say around 35 yards out. The percentages may be quite low as to making that score. But they had their wits, had a look around to see if any scoring forwards in their vicinity and then go down with an "ankle injury", the ref should pass the mark to the scoring forward. I stand to be corrected on some of this, as it was just a quick look at the internet. THere was some issue where the person taking over the mark responsibility could not shoot direct, but I think that has been replaced.

Yeah. A little less than a 1/3 u18, a bit more than a 1/3 (I think it's 16 but could be as low as 13) u20 and the rest, the other ~1/3, still u19.

That said, a couple of those u19s unfortunate not to be involved with the seniors this year and very likely to be next year (Morahan in particular was outstanding for Mitchells and I'm a big of Dawson too) and some outrageous talent among the u18s so wouldn't hold the age against them. Throw in lads like Kelly who looked comfortable in the FBD this year and Fallon that would have looked right at home and you'd hope they can put a nice run together.