Mayo GAA Discussion

Well done to dublin. They made hay when their chance arose. A few things fell their way at the right times and allowed them to sit back and counter and they seen it out very well.

I feel the sideline didnt help our cause. Oshea shouldnt have been taken off for starters, he was our only outlet for a longer kickout and he was actually winning ball in the air inside. Instead of passing back and over, we should have tried a few earlier balls into him when it was 1 on 1 - like dublin did for their first goal. We were too catious in general in this regard and maybe seemed a bit spooked by the fear of doing the wrong thing.

In the 2nd half we just couldnt win a ball around the middle and this gave the dublin attack a platform to pull away. Taking him off was helping their cause.

Flynn very unlucky with the goal chance, as was mcloughlin to be fair to him, while the second dublin goal was never happening but for a rookie mistake from a teenager. That is a full 9 point swing so the scoreline is going to be a bit skewed, but dublin are better than we are this year either way.

We have lost keegan and mullin and that was evident yesterday, while oconnor has probably been robbed of what would have been his peak years as a footballer. Meanwhile dublin can get mannion and mccaffrey back, that difference was noticeable yesterday. Can anyone see mullin going had he been from dublin? I cant personally.

As for galway lads commenting, pretty sad in fairness.

20mins without scoring in the previous 3 games and scoring 3 points in the 2nd half is not going to win you games against the serious teams in the heat of the championship.

But it's only 1 year of mcstay management so let's how he approaches year 2.

Disappointing yesterday but the damage was done against Cork

Lots to digest, no midfield is the main issue IMO, no one to catch a ball in the middle of the field, I've been saying all year that Matthew Ruane isn't playing well, he just doesn't seem to have the dog in him when things get tough. Maybe the good year was the anomaly? Hes never really been brilliant for Breaffy either. Maybe theres a spot for him in the half forwards but he shouldn't be midfield for a serious team. A lot resting on Tuohy fulfilling his potential.

O'Hora, great club player where heart is a bigger ingredient but when hes come up against proper intercounty players he has been roasted time and again.

McLaughlin, not a footballer but I think there is a role for him in the team, other than the miss yesterday he did ok when he wasn't tasked with marking someone

Carney needs to improve, he did finally show some heart towards the end yesterday when others had given up

Flynn was first class in attitude, he really has matured and took the fight to Dublin to the end

Management need to work on a better plan for using what we have

I'm definitely on the more pessimistic side of things. I think year 1 is the year for a new management team to really make an impact.

The lack of fight in the second half is a huge concern for me. I don't mind losing to a better team, which we did, but the manner of that performance was shocking. The sign of good management imo is that when a team is bettered, they still never give up... I think a lot of players gave up yesterday.

When Thomas O'Se is saying how refreshing it is to have such an honest and open manager as McStay and that he's brilliant for the game... Maybe it's time to be concerned.

Maybe I'll be less pessimistic in a week or so but there's not a whole pile to be taking from this year for me.

Kerry person here. Mayo play a running game I assume because there isn’t enough skilled footballers in the county. Surely there are guys not on the panel who can kick a ball? Aidan o Shea created scores yesterday when the ball was kicked to him, he can’t play a running game. Ryan O Donoghue is the only real kicker on that team now that Cillian is only a bit part player. Maclaughlin for example isn’t the first cousin of a footballer, he would struggle to get on some club teams down here. He’s a phenomenal athlete but it surely has to click at some stage with a Mayo management that they have to have options of both running the ball and kicking the ball. It’s so easy for teams now to set up blanket against running teams.

Mayo have the guts of a team that can win an All Ireland. Maybe do like Kerry did bringing in Tally as a defensive coach and bring in a Kerry coach as a kicking/forwards coach. Otherwise it will be like Groundhog Day again next year.

Blew top spot in limerick no doubt but as for All-Ireland contenders one example would be in 2017 when Mayo lost to Galway in Connacht. Needed extra time to beat both Cork and Derry (both Div 2 teams at the time) and needed replays to overcome Roscommon and Kerry.

All of that probably should have pointed to a comfortable win for a stronger Dublin than they currently are but only won by 1 point in contest that swung with a moment madness from Donal Vaughan.

McCarthy dropped two short and had a shocking wide in the first half.

My thoughts overall could be summed up with: could see it coming. The championship was a bust once we lost to Cork and the Galway win papered over a lot of cracks - we were very lucky to win that game against a Galway team that were half in A&E and a lot of the issues we had in that game were waiting to be ruthlessly exploited.

We have very serious problems in midfield and have had for a couple of years. Tyrone exposed it in 2021 and little has been done to come up with some sort of strategy. It was being consistently exposed again all this year - beaten comprehensively around the middle by Roscommon and Cork even before yesterday. And then we were physically bullied badly around that area by the Dubs. I don't know what the answer is but, imo, we need a change in personnel there. We need an out and out fielder, not just someone with an engine. We're also lacking players with the smarts of a Jason Doherty or Kevin McLoughlin, who know when to wait and watch for the breaking ball. Instead we have three fellas jumping up for the same ball and none of them catching it and it eventually falling into opposition hands. No sense or cuteness.

Very naive in defence too and suffering for the lack of a proper number 6 to keep things defensively stable. We need to sort out this position once and for all and stop trying to force square pegs into round holes.

We also have too many of the same type of players - athletic types who actually lack a lot of the basic skills. Some of the handling was shocking, not to mention the shooting.

Some of the subs were strange too - O'Hora needed to be hooked sooner and there is no reason why Hession can't start games. Made no sense to take O'Shea off - he was winning ball and once he came off, the attack lost a focal point, made the whole thing even more aimless.

The heads dropped completely once the second goal went in and I'm sorry to say but it was very reminiscent of Mayo teams in the 00s, as opposed to the 2010s.

Generally speaking on the year - it was great to win the league obviously, but I'm not overly optimistic about winning an AI any time in the near future. We have a lot of issues to sort out and I'm not fully convinced some of these younger players are the answer.

The handling was bad in the second half as they were out of gas and tired. The games added up. Agree totally that we have a problem in mid field and centre back. Guys like ruane coen eml O'Hara have a place but maybe it's time they become panel players rather than definite starters as some people make you believe. If we can't find players that offer more we better get used to results like yesterday.... Mcstay has a job on his hands.

I don't think we can really compare the 2017 team to the current one.In 2017 we had players who had a lot of credit in the bank and we kinda new we could count on them to perform on the big days even if we were struggling to put away inferior opposition. ultimately they fell short but more often than not they gave 💯.

The current team has no such credit in the bank Most of us hadn't a clue what to expect from them yesterday.A few lads are in their 1st season so they can be given a pass but we have too many players who are good one day and average or poor the next.

The last 3 championships have seen us rarely put in convincing displays.Even the great victory against the dubs in 2021 we weren't by any means convincing till the last 10 mins of normal time and extra time.

That year we played Donegal in a knockout 7 days before that hammering.

A 2 week break would have probably have prevented both hammerings imo, but the result would have remained the same ( 5/6 point loss with the victors pulling up )

Mayo need to unearth a few more players this winter & the management staff should now know at this stage what they need to do to try and bridge the gap.

It will in theory, but he has played what, one full season of the last four? Theyve already figured out how to play without him I think

Soft chat I'd say, I'd imagine none of them lads know themselves yet, not the kinda decision you make the day after a loss

It's sad to say but after Sunday you'd have to think that we definitively say that it's clear that the '13 Minor/'16 u21 have not and will not provide us with the platform for success that many of us thought they would. The likes of Ruane, Coen, Carr and Loftus (not to mention Boland, Plunkett and a few others before them) are good players but all (except maybe Carr) have regressed since '21, when they were all around 25/26 and should really have been hitting their prime.

Even Diarmuid O'Connor, undoubtedly the best of them and the only one I'd hope will be a mainstay for the next 5 years, has probably not hit the potential expected of him. For sure he'll be remembered as a great servant to the county, but not an all time great for us.