Mayo GAA Discussion

"Against the likes of Kerry he'll have to mark someone"

Ehhh?

The whole role Conor's playing as sweeper (except the league final with Diarmuid sweeping and the odd 10-20 minutes here and there in the league) is the spare man. His role is to not be marking someone and ensure we have numerical superiority in the most dangerous position at any given time. The job of the rest of the team is to ensure the spare man left over is kept somewhere they can't hurt us, either behind the ball in 95% of the play or when an overload is attempted on one side everyone shuffles over to keep the spare man on the other side away from the ball. He won't be marking anyone if he's playing that role be it against Kerry, Dublin, Galway (where he was used differently to mark Heaney in the final) or anyone else.

Plenty of reasons I don't think he's working especially well in the sweeper role but important to recognise what the job is before suggesting someone isn't doing it well enough or calling for someone else that would do it better.

Conor spent the vast majority of the league the free man sweeping in our set defence. Every other player playing either a man marking role (quite rare, normally 2 per game sometimes 3) or a zonal defensive role tagging and switching between runners, which Diarmuid did exceptionally.

Diarmuid often ended up positioned further back than Conor tracking a man there but was seldom free or sweeping when it happened. He did sweep for 10 or 15 minute spells in a couple of games and for a significant period in the final until Heaney picked up the injury but was the exception rather than the rule this year.

Diarmuid is positioned where he's making more judgement calls than most on where and when to float from one player to another as the point of danger changes (some great clips from Stephen O'Meara on The Square D this year highlighting Diarmuid's play). He's been one of the fastest to adapt to the new system and has put in some incredible performances on the back of it. Huge game IQ.

Wouldn't be the least bit surprised seeing him continue in the role going forward as he played for much of the final but not what he's been playing most of the year.

According to Leo keegan mayo have a lot of injuries…….roughly translated mayo wont be showing their hand on Saturday.

meaningless game really.

Only someone actually injured won't be playing and Mayo will start their strongest available team against Kerry.

Not meaningless. Finishing top of the group will have the advantage of avoiding the play off round and a week rest against your Quarter final opponent and the winner on Saturday should top the group.

I can't wait for it, think it will be a great game, I'd be happy enough if we are competitive and have a chance of winning with 10 minutes left. It'll show we could beat them in Croke park.

I think those 3 have been our best performers in those positions YTD. That could be our FB line for years to come. Hession I feel would be better utilised further up

Anyone thinking this game is meaningless is codding themselves - a defeat like we had in 2019 will be a massive set back . If we are All Ireland contenders, we should see a performance in this game

We will not be playing Louth or Cork if we finish second or third, why do people keep saying this? We would be playing a second or third placed team form another group like happens in any other sport

Thanks Coillte Bhoy. I had just heard all along that second plays third. I hadn't considered that it was second in one group plays third in another group.

But that definitely does make sense alright. That makes it worse so. If Mayo finished third, then for the play-off, there is a good chance they could be playing one of the following away - Armagh, Tyrone, Roscommon, Kildare, Monaghan, Donegal. Wouldn't like to be meeting any of the nordies teams in a do-or-die game in their home territory.

Notable both Brickenden and Hession had played every minute of every league game available up until picking up their injuries.

Be interesting to see how it evolves during the year. Brickenden, O'Hora, Harrison, McLoughlin, Plunkett, Hession & Doherty all biting at the heels can only be a good thing.

Agreed,

Mayo could lose to any of those teams but really if we are at the top table (and I believe we are) we should be beating teams like the above when the chips are down......and we do.

The thing that'll catch us is injuries and fatigue from playing too many games so that plus a possibly more favourable draw means it would be good to top the group.

I wouldn't be surprised though if we lose in Killarney and still go deep in the championship.

Exactly which is why its important to finish as high up in the group as you can. I dont understand people saying tomorrow's game isnt really important, it's crucial imo

You can, but then after you get an email saying that by using the discount, it cant be watched on an app and can only be watched on gaago.ie through a browser.

Literally the most useless service Ive ever seen or heard of.

Is that on top of the thing where you can (natively - plenty of ways to work around it) cast to your TV from the app but not from the browser they do with the season pass?

Jeeze... they don't make it half as attractive as it should be.