Mayo GAA Discussion

Didn't seem to be a foul in real time there anyway. I could see the couple of Galway fellas homing in on him, and I thought "oh fu@k". He just didn't seem to have the composure to get rid of it on time.

But I think he should start against Dublin. Need that pace up the wing.

Ya, I had a great view of it. They didnt foul him to be fair. He was probably unlucky with the steps call in truth, you see lads get away with more steps than that. It was probably just the awkward look of it. He is very raw. He gets caught the wrong side for a lot of tackles and then fouls. The one early in the first half was a bad one as we had the guy surrounded. He has a good type of cynicism about him though that we are probably short on in general. A couple of those fouls were deliberate also and its about time we caught up on that front.

He will definitely feature against dublin.

Who picks up Ocallaghan is the one for me. Not sure who will match him up. Mcbrien maybe?

Not sure he has the power to mach up with ocallaghan just yet. Might suit mannion better. It will be interesting to see how they go about it.

Have a look at it from this angle and see what do you think happened? Whether Kelly should have been there or not is entirely irrelevant.

well MF man i think its fair to say ye got the moral victory. Hope ye go out an celebrate it. unfortunately the mayo players are in no position for celebrating as they are out again this Sunday, but fair play to galway, they can put their feet up now and enjoy themselves. we have another few days to enjoy, it might be over this weekend..

but we've dealt galway the biggest blessing they could have ever got. PJ should leave of his own volition now, and ye can actually develop talent. I would admit that there is definitely more to the galway team than they show, but it wont be PJ that brings it out.

You're actually wrong about his football skills - they are at least solid. He can solo the ball running at pace, his hand-passing off either side is solid, he's a decent kicker of the ball but obviously decides to run it more often. It's decision-making he needs to tidy up. Overall, it's obvious as day why he plays so much, he also scores quite regularly as well as having an ability to make turn-overs I would say that are second only to AOS. He has the courage of his convictions to take on players and go for scores.

On the opposite side you have players like Coen and Carney who don't make many mistakes but actually contribute so little to the team.

Ah come one, Coen is very lucky to start. He's so slow and it's not like he's such a good man-maker that we can say, "oh great - he'll do a good job on Con next weekend". His fielding is not that good or he would start midfield regularly and Mayo wouldn't have such trouble with catching clean ball - in fairness to Coen he can't make himself 3 inches taller. But did you see his lack of footwork for the kick-out Reape sent him in the first half? He drops the ball and then pulls down Conroy after - I think Walsh scored the subsequent free. I think managers keep picking him out of an abundance of safety more than anything else.

Carney just doesn't impose himself on games. Maybe this will come with experience but I've seen nearly all Mayo games since he broke through and despite natural talent he doesn't affect the game much, if at all. Again, he is lucky that we don't have many options at half-forward. I won't start a Fergal Boland debate here!

People just remember what they want to remember. Look at the games more closely and you will see all the positive turnovers Eoghan has, his involvement in other players' scores. Look at his scoring rate (it's high relative to the few games he has played). Yes, he needs to be more clever in his tackling and a bit more thoughtful on front of goal but he can be the difference in Mayo beating a team like Dublin - it's highly unlikely Coen or Carney will be that difference. I think McStay and Rochford see him as an automatic starter, once fit, and especially in Croke Park.

Sorry, but you are miles off here.

Mclaughlin is probably the luckiest of the three. He is rash in the tackle and gets wrong side often. He is very inconsistent in front of goal yet persists with not offloading to the shooters. He is yet to learn to play to his strengths and is a very raw footballer in general. He has good traits also but he is the most likely of the three to make a daft decision. He will learn but it will take time.

Coen is a team man and very dedicated to the role. He is composed and safe in possession and fills in gaps at the back with the relish that most go up shooting at the posts with. He is a good aggressive tackler, is very mobile and makes good decisions. He is your didi hamann type player and anyone who has had a guy like that in the team knows he makes you an awful lot harder to break down. He might not excite like a mclaughlin can, but he wont cost you a fraction of the scores mclaughlin will either. He actually had a good game for the most part against galway, not sure why people are on his case.

Carney is also very composed, hugely mobile, can score, picks good passes, keeps posession well and is a great option in the air. He is well placed to hurt dublin next day out. He was under pressure against galway because they are massive in the air in that area and were killing us on the breaks - not really his fault to be fair.

As I pointed out last week, Coen's scoring record is pretty decent for a back. Not Paddy Durcan standard but he pops up with scores, especially in a lot of the big championship games. Last weekend was another example.

I think you're spot on with the above - it was a statement that neither he nor his teammate were going to be bullied on his watch.

At one stage when one of the Galway backs was coming out from the back in the 2nd half, Ryan fouled him and made sure the defender felt the hits as part of the foul. I had no problem with him doing that, because he gets it back in spades when the roles are reversed. Sometimes you just take a foul to make a point, and it's great to have someone who's able to look after themselves on the pitch.

I won't be crying when the opposition does the same back (as long as it's not over the top) - it's just part of the game.