Mayo GAA Discussion

I no longer like you and hope you bite your tongue next time you eat Cornflakes for that horrid news!

Gutted. I hadn't noticed that had come from the CT to begin with. Should have known better. (Out of touch with everything from the press conference yesterday too so a lot of catching up to do)

Have to imagine it's Evan himself unable/unwilling to commit (understandable when he's working with the likes of UFC/professional rugby teams). Can't imagine there's a manager out there that wouldn't be picking up the phone to try and get him involved.... or just asking him when he's the room for nutritionist work.

Cillian has only played well once in 6 years? Half his career?!

Ah listen,if that's your level I'll leave ya to it.

It's a fair walk from the city center and a disaster for traffic. Get there early and park up, be prepared to sit in traffic afterwards or grab the dinner to kill time

What team would you have selected?

Mattie,DOC and Hession injured.

A good strong team when everything taken into account.Im not sure ROD or Tommy will line out,might come on as subs.

Galway missing a few aswell but I'd expect them to win it,they need it more.

Sam played the +1 last year against Kerry so wouldn't be shocked if they used him for that (if not on Sunday at least in some games).

A lot of flexibility between 2, 3, 5, 6 and 9 (Brickenden and EMcL the only ones you'd imagine locked in specific lines). Any of those could easily end up playing an orthodox 6, a man marking role, a zonal tagging role or as a +1 depending on the setup they go for. From the selection I'd personally expect to see Brickenden > Comer, Callinan > Walsh, Durcan/Coen > Heaney and zonal for the rest with McBrien as the +1.... but all sorts of ways they could end up shifting that around in terms of personnel or setup.

A solid team if it starts but disappointing to see a lack of new faces, particularly in the forwards. Boland tried before and at best an ok sub option. He lacks the physicality against the top teams.

Encouraging to see Touhy at midfield. Will be interesting to see if he has benefitted from the extra year of conditioning.

Basically what I was trying to say

Anyone saying the management should be injecting 'new blood' and failing to name specific players sounds a bit disingenuous. At best.

Other than Evan Regan who I'd make a strong case for myself (not exactly 'new' and would likely get a similar reaction to Fergal being back) who's missing?

Staunton, McGlynn and Joyce at Kilmeena had great years and wouldn't be out of place (a little disappointed in Keaveney and Ryder this year in the games I caught, had expected them to push on a bit more and break into the squad but still a bit short imho). Reape at Moy Davitts was very solid (he and young Clarke looked a real handful together all year). Hopkins from Knockmore looked a serious option in a few games, could be a great backup to Aidan if we wanted an alternative while keeping a big man inside (more natural forward than just pushing in Tuohy/Carney there). Neary from Breaffy with a lot of potential. A few of the Mitchell's lads you could potentially make a case for (Fahy, Dolan, J Tuohy, Morahan, Heneghan, Cunningham and Gibbons) and similar at Ballina/Westport. With plenty of others at that type of level around the county.....

No glaring omissions there though.

Lads that could do a job if called and plenty with the potential to go on and become serious ballers but nothing you'd be overly upset at either not being on the panel this year or not being selected for the 1st team.

We've a really young panel with potential throughout it. The team named has 1 player over 30 and an average ago of ~25. We've a tonne of exceptional young talent coming through too at 21s and below so will see plenty of new faces coming through in time. This screaming for new faces at the weekend for the sake of new faces is a little baffling to me (from Enda or anyone else).

[This coming from someone who very much sees the league for experimenting with, especially this year. I'd actually love to see us relegated so we can throw in some of the current u19s at a slightly lower intensity in Division 2 next year.]