Mayo GAA Discussion

Unless that's said in joy and disbelief at the great value, it's probably said to the wrong person.

I always think a tenner to watch a match I otherwise can't get to is unbelievable value (& I include every minor/underage/club match that wasn't part of an annual pass & the €100's if not more I've spent on them when saying that). When the profits (which should be significant enough between new rules and so many new faces*) are going to a charity too? I'd struggle to find any complaint.

Hopefully I won't be using it tomorrow, though with the weather the way it is who knows.

*New faces:

Its for charity ffs!

Yeah, PJ Wilson in as the new head of S&C. Looks a fantastic background on paper (Cardiff City soccer, a few different pro rugby clubs including going from an intern right up to head of S&C at Munster back in the day, senior educational role in S&C with Setanta in recent years so likely trained a few of our junior staff and background in explaining/coaching staff which should be helpful with the expanding team there).

Nollaig O'Sullivan in as the Performance Psychologist too, off the back of her All-Ireland win with Clare hurlers (and having previously worked with local clubs here). [In one of the recent interviews, Kevin also mentioned Giles Warrington our high-performance coach. Was around last year & you'd have seen him in with the lads, but the first time I'd come across his name. Again, a super impressive background. Mainly in Olympic athletes, but the culture side of things fairly standard across sports so wouldn't see that as a big hurdle to overcome.]

Yeah, surprising Pearse isn't involved in the panel. You'd imagine he must have been super close with his form last year. Though I guess you'd make a similar case for any of Carter, Slattery, Golden, R or M Murray, Cullen, N Armstrong, O McLaughlin or Ryan. You never know what niggles or commitments could be going on in the background to keep someone out despite solid performances, I guess.


A copy/paste from elsewhere on my thoughts for the game…
(Sounds like it was a step up from our performance against Roscommon on the Thursday night… so potentially still earlier in our programme than some & still getting our legs for now)

"Not much you’d hang your hat on as a plan or set-up there, but it’d take some time for us to notice real patterns taking shape. Looked like an early “go out and stretch the legs. Try and enjoy it”, which is pretty much what you’d expect with so many new faces all tossed in.

All sorts of caveats on weather conditions, ~12 lads high in the pecking order missing (our bench was down to pre-season squad number 48 – with potential for that to grow more if either of Jennings or Coggins end up involved as they potentially might), focus for the year (you’d imagine Monaghan should be well ahead in their programme with a much higher focus on the league than we’d have) but I guess there are still a few things we can probably take away.

– Definitely aimed to go for 2s, no question it was part of the plan with lads like RO’D or Boland frequently setting up in the pocket (a questionable enough choice in the conditions kicking a frozen block of ice, a big reason we ended up with the 10 shots short [felt like more], but I’d always prefer to see us trying too many than not enough so hard to fault it too much. If we have a malfunction in wet/windy conditions later in the year I can see us coming back to this one in terms of game & conditions management)

– Some kicks from our attacking 65 into the inside line (RO’D, Towey and Prendergast all got some joy from it) though a few too many bounced off the target (conditions a huge part to play there so again nice to see them at least attempted)

– Too few kicks (IMHO) from our own 45-65 in transition. It’d be nice to see that speeded up a bit (or a lot). Personnel could play a part there, none of Kelly/McBrien/McLaughlin/Thornton/Ivers/Reid would be overly known for their long range passing (would hopefully improve with lads like Durcan/DO’C/Flynn/Carney/Loftus/Tuohy in there, though it did look tactical or simply muscle memory from years of running games not broken yet).

– Looked a little predictable in the 1st half for where we made (or tried to make) progressive breaches. Nearly everything was going down Eoghan’s wing, with the majority of it going through Eoghan’s hands.

– No focus on getting restarts away short or in to space for runners, despite having a very young/light middle 8 for large periods. Possibly trying to get the lads in there working on the breaks/battles (it’s a skill to be trained like any other)… but we looked short on ideas too (on paper holding Monaghan to 50% of their own kicks and winning ~58% of our own looks grand… the where/when/why on our own lost ones paint a less positive picture than the numbers suggest)

Imagine the lads will have a lot more competitive and meaningful minutes played between now and Croker. Nothing you’d get excited about (overly positive or negative) but always nice to see lads like Vahey, Morahan, Prendergast & Duffy showing some sparks."

Eoghan played well. McHugh solid. Brick had a stormer in the second half. Of the newer lads Morahan, O'Flaherty, Duffy, F McLaughlin, Prendergast, Melvin, Vahey, Akram & Joyce all had some nice moments. Couldn't even begin to predict what the side might look like hitting the grass in Croker in a few weeks.

Interesting discussion on Monday's Ah Ref podcast with Enda suggesting that the new rules / goalkeeper role is designed for Cillian O'Connor.

I suppose the first stumbling block would be that he's not playing this year!

It'll be interesting to see if teams start to play outfielders in goal though.

I don't see the compelling case for Cillian as keeper. He is a good kick passer alright, although it's usually short range passing within forwards, not long range kick passing that a keeper would rely upon.

He has kicked long range points, but is he that much better at it than other players that it's worth playing him in goal? Not sure about that.

that's before we get to his pace if he needs to quickly get back in goal after a turnover.

Anyway, it's all moot, he won't be playing in any position this year.

yeah, them and Flynn potentially.

Maybe DOC but he doesn't tend to take on shots in recent times

I would have Coen at about 32/33... At that age, and considering the years spent not S&C'ing at county level, I wouldn't imagine there is any hope of a return.

Slim enough pickings really

Intermidiate club final pustponed. Some tragedy in crossmolina. RIP. Anyone know what happened?

Yeah for Cian. He scored some outrageous long-rangers this year, from play and dead-balls. He'd be fairly high up the list.

At underage you'd have a few more with a serious boot on them with potential for the future. Dara Neary (some of his long range scores for Gerald's last year were better than anything I've seen at Senior, nationally, in recent years), James Maheady (left & right), Darragh Beirne, Ronan Clarke, Dylan Gallagher, Oliver Armstrong, Jack Keane, Oisín Cronin, Dylan Flynn and Kobe MacDonald would all have hit a selection of screamers from distance. It'll be interesting to watch if coaches try and lean into it with any/all of them, or if they end up coached away from it if/when any of them progress on with senior clubs (Neary already doing it for Parke and Maheady the odd one for Cross, though most of his damage closer in).

All Mayo matches and training off until further notice due to Crossmolina situation

Not to be negative but loads of players can pop them over from 45m, it's being able to do it in a tight game under pressure from a top defender that differentiates at county level. Hopefully some of those lads will have the temperament for that

I don't see an issue in saying who died, but the cause of death doesn't need to be aired in public - and I'm saying that about any cause of death whether it be heart attack, stroke, cancer, suicide etc

Very sad few days, it has to be said. Hard to see how Crossmolina just get on with it. I'm sure things are on hold in intercounty set up too. Horrific tragedy.

I get the feeling they will fulfill the fixture. Whether Conor plays or not is entirely up to him and it will be understandable if he doesnt. If the deceased was directly a player or management it would probably would be forfeited.

As tragic as the situation is there may be a reluctance to cancel a final and set a precedent. The postponement was a mark of respect from the GAA and allowed space for the search and funeral. I think it will be rescheduled for an upcoming weekend.

I'm not sure what part of respecting the families wish for privacy was vague in the club statement.

Raising awareness is great. You only have to look to the Crossmolina jersey sponsor to see awareness of mental health being raised.

Discussing the details online in the immediate aftermath is not want friends and families want. Doesn't take much to respect that.