Mayo GAA Discussion

I would agree that coaching of particular skills within the Mayo system has been found wanting however playing heads up football is not about skill its about coaching. The ability to find space or execute a 30 yard foot pass should be a coachable skill for any footballer good enough to be selected for inter county. And in fact, we the advent of the 2 point line, given the deficiencies in shooting skills among Mayo footballers, utilising space and executing quick transitions are skills with should maximise rather than abandon.

Agree with you when you say that things like working on the weaker foot and point scoring need to be worked on and encourage from a young age. But in terms of the way we played last Sunday and kick passing in general, that's a mindset more so than any deficiency in skill set imo.

A county footballer is well able to pass a ball into space, some better than others obviously. Management putting a premium on not losing possession is a surefire way to increase simple hand passes.

I had actually thought that we opened up / freed our style of play a fair bit after half time in the Armagh game. It was an unpleasant surprise to see us going back to the very laborious build up play against Kerry. Way too cautious.

As the rounds went on in the league, the importance of the two pointer decreased rather than increased. The biggest opportunity presented by the new rules is space, not two pointers and you have gradually also seen an increase in goal chances in the later rounds due to this. Kerry, with excellent shooters, pretty much ignore the two pointer unless a clear opportunity presents itself, and instead utilise space to maximise scoring opportunities. In the absence of a raft of long shooters tactics need to evolve to better utilise space and execute fast transitions. This is not a skills issue, its a tactics one. Looking to maximise and exploit space is 100% something that teams should look to implement in training. The expectation of being able to spot and execute a 30 yard pass is not something that should be beyond the ability of any footballer worth their salt. No one is suggesting they should be executing 50 yard outside on the wrong foot passes to the chest of a corner forward.

The extra space can be attributed at least partly to the threat of 2 pointers. With 6 players confined to the opposite end of the field the defence is stretched more and there is more space for goal chances. But also the arc needs to be defended to prevent 2 pointers as Kerry demonstrated Sunday.

The team Horan finished with in 2022 was a running team and I can't think of any good kick passers on it apart from Paddy Durcan. There is no one in the middle 8 known for delivering regular 30 yard kick passes to forwards with the possible exception of Jordan as i mentioned here ther other day.

I think McStay will finish up at the end of the championship and people will look forward to a transformed team under a new manager (I can't think who that manager will be but thats for another day). After an initial bounce and a few decent results the excitement will build before the realisation sets in that it's mainly the same players with the same limitations again. The current U20 teams gives me hope for the future, when we may have a few big ball winners and quality finishers capable of playing with a direct style with plenty of kick passing but it's gonna take a few years with many of the current squad retired or gone from the panel.

I agree with all that and it's one thing I agree with Joe Brolly on that clubs should not have outside men where possible. They have no interest in where the club will be at 5 or 10 years down the line.

Yes I know one u20 team isn't a guarantee of anything but at least it shows a template for the type of players we should be producing.

The CT a bit late with that story, I think that was based on a Rochford interview from Monday. Neither in the 26 man squad released earlier today anyway, but great to hear they're getting back to fitness.

Hadn't heard or read that Rochford interview. They are against the clock eason wise but will hopefully get game time very soon.

Yeah. That chat was part of the "official" Championship launch… so kinda understandable some of it being held until after the league final finished I guess. Though a little odd running with the injury updates as the headline so late after the fact.

A longer than usual chat with Stephen - Injury updates in the last minute or so if you fancy hearing the nuances of it @Westernview.

Darren has been one of our top winners (I'd guess the top, & potentially by a margin) of breaking ball this year.

One of the areas we've been quite poor in for all of our defeats and an area we've been stronger on for each of our victories. Not as glamorous as kicking 2s or setting up goals, but often a vital part of winning games (often turns a -1 to a +1). Plenty of pros in starting Darren and bringing Fergie off the bench as a shooter when there's likely to be more space for him to exploit. All said as someone who would personally be choosing Fergie to start for tomorrow.

Not an especially new thing with the positioning in the inside line. We've been doing it for a couple of years now since we stopped kicking in mid '23. Looks even worse as a tactic with the new rules than it did with the old, though it hits about the same level of productivity with both (showed up especially poorly in the Connacht Final last year, earning comments on the Sunday Game who seldom go into tactical details like that, where the Galway sweepers frequently completely ignored the runner but we still chose not to deliver in a pass). I'm not sure what Canney/Rochford see in that particular tactic, haven't seen a benefit once this year (arguably could have helped last year with 15 back - before teams realised to ignore it), but we do seem to be sticking with it.

Boland must be injured when he didn't feature on Sunday. I cant see why MacHale would be coming on instead when his impact is usually minimal. Paddy Andrews said every Dublin forward was expected to score at least 1 point and it didn't matter what you were contributing besides. If you hadn't scored by 50 mins then it's likely you'd be hauled off.

I'd have Coen instead of EMcL any day. EMcL is at best a sub as proven last week when he gave away so much ball leading to counter attacks and scores. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if Coen has scored more than MacHale since McStay took over. He has come up with a few long range beauties at critical moments in games and has scored goals.

Anyone know a pub in London showing the game today?

Messaged them on Facebook, they are showing it, cheers

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we need to be putting this to bed now