Mayo GAA Discussion

I see the U20 panel has been released.

Disappointed to see no Maheady or Ronan Clarke involved. I think Clarke may have had some injury problems and hope it’s nothing major. What’s the story with Maheady though. He was a big part of the Crossmolina AI and I though he would be involved

The problem being that we never do things the easy way. Donegal coming down and not really going for the win isn't a comforting as it should be. We rarely stick to the script.

Welcome back Tim, I see you're still as poisonous as ever. At least England are on the up, you can go back to flashing lads at soccer matches

I was very pessimistic about this team at the end of last season and the early part of this league.

But it's good to see them improving.

It's always better to be finishing the league playing better than to start it off all guns blazing and then fade.

Galway are doing a bit of the latter at the moment.

I know how you feel. We were pretty good shredders of scripts ourselves under various management. Not so much with the present. If I was Mayo I would take a lot of encouragement from us losing at home to our neighbours and most bitter rivals over the past 20 odd years, and everybody going home happy.

Delighted with the big jumps forward from Neary, Reid, Irwin, Morahan & Kelly. They've made significant gains & achieved the main goal of the league most of us would hope for, but I'd be greedy and still be a little disappointed we've not seen some time between Thornton, Ivers, Akram, Coggins or Quinn.

Possibly they're just not performing in training to warrant it, which would excuse management completely & this isn't aimed at them, but that'd possibly more disappointing.

A real shame McLaughlin & McHale picked up the injuries when they did. Awful timing for it. You'd have hoped Finbar would get some time early on when we were short bodies & that Cian might have seen a chunk more if not for the surgery.

Championship is less than 3 weeks away. If I was the manager, I would be looking at getting a settled first 15 in play from now on. I'd be instructing to give it a good lash against Donegal. I think a league final would be great experience going into the championship - considering that they have Sligo at home in the first championship game. That's a lot different than the Roscommon situation a couple of years ago. Big Aidan has done really well in the recent matches, but I'm sure he could do with the match practice after being out for several months.

Of course, if key players get injured in a league final, then that plan backfires. But as Del Boy says - "he who dares".

Also, I wouldn't be so casual about potential relegation. Tyrone beating Dublin is very possible. Dublin are grand in Croke Park. But not so hot when they are on their travels.

You are spot on on both topics.

A league final would be of no hinderance for Mayo the way it was a few years ago and the way it is for Donegal right now.

And I'd not be counting any chickens as regards relegation, the outcomes that have to occur on Sunday to relegate Mayo are not outlandish.

We do not want to be in a final against Galway when we meet them in the final providing we beat the sligo /letrim we need to be hurt from the hammering we got from them an raw to get revenge.

On the evidence of the first 3 rounds of the league you would have to say criticism of McStay was well warranted. It was like the worst aspects of last years tactics were doubled down on and the consequences of rule changes appeared to not be taken into account at all.

The subsequent 3 rounds have seen a return to more traditional Mayo virtues of hard running, utilising space and hard pressing, as well as systems of play to exploit the opportunities presented by the new rules, which is great to see. It is however to be noted that in each of those 3 games there were significant periods where we regressed to the passive stand-offish patterns that were their last year and in the early rounds. Both in and out of possession. That wont work in later rounds of the championship. All in all I am now more positive than negative in outlook for this year, especially if we get a fully fit DOC, Tommy and Paddy at some stage. However with fears of reversion to the static style and also that we may be exposed by teams with good 2pt options and our press could be undone by a good long passing game.

I agree go out to win sunday but ideally still not make league final would be my preference. Unless Sligo are very weak I'd sooner have more than 2 weeks to approach that game. It's takes up to a week to come down from a league final and that only leaves a week to ramp up.

I don't understand not wanting to make it to a league final. I don't see any downside to it, could you

explain why this would be a bad thing?

I appreciate where you are coming from, but I think you are thinking far too conservatively. If Mayo had Roscommon or Galway in the first round of the championship, I would think along your lines. But I think with it being Sligo, it offers a great opportunity for Mayo to put the foot on the gas this Sunday against Donegal. Match practice is better than any training session. For the Donegal game, I would go with whatever starting 15 McStay hopes to go with in the Sligo game. If they beat Donegal and if other results go their way, the bonus would be a league final in Croke Park the following week. Again, that would be great preparation kicking into Championship season. Could then bring on the subs at half time in the league final to give them a good 35 mins to prove themselves. The alternative is losing against Donegal, possibly getting promoted and a 2 week lead into the Sligo game of just training, and getting over the unexpected shock that they may be playing division 2 football next year, and listening to media crap about having a poor year.

I was looking at Sligos results in the league. Laois, Kildare and Cavan have beaten them. And they drew against Fermanagh. I know it sounds cocky, but it really should not be a problem for Mayo. I really hope these comments don't come back to haunt me. :(

I think there's a stronger case than most years for the advantages of the league final. A competitive game under new rules in Croke Park would be a plus. The Championship draw could have been a lot worse for us with regards making a league final.

I still can't get it out of my head that it could all go wrong at the weekend though. I know everything is pointing to a home win for us… but that's the worry.

The league should be a straight league (no final) OR there should be a few weeks break at the very minimum between the final and Championship. The Donegal situation makes a farce of the competition and that's not pointing fingers at Donegal, it's the format or timing that is the problem.

What's the story with Tommy Conroy? Long time since I even heard him mentioned in conversation about returning players.