Mayo GAA Discussion

Vish81 · 13-03-2026 09:35PM

Team v Kerry.

1. Rob Hennelly – Raheny
2. Jack Coyne (C) – Ballyhaunis
3. Rory Brickenden – Westport
4. Donnacha McHugh – Castlebar Mitchels
5. Sam Callinan – Ballina Stephenites
6. Diarmuid O’Connor – Ballintubber
7. Conal Dawson – Westport
8. Bob Tuohy – Castlebar Mitchels
9. David McBrien – Ballaghaderreen
10. Jack Carney – Kilmeena
11. Ryan O’Donoghue – Belmullet
12. Jordan Flynn – Crossmolina Deel Rovers
13. Darragh Beirne – Claremorris
14. Aidan O’Shea – Breaffy
15. Fergal Boland – Aghamore

16. Jack Livingstone – Breaffy
17. Diarmuid Duffy – Ballinrobe
18. Michael Plunkett – Ballintubber
19. Stephen Coen – Hollymount/Carramore
20. Fenton Kelly – Davitts
21. Seamus Howard – Belmullet
22. Kobe McDonald – Crossmolina Deel Rovers
23. Sean Morahan – Castlebar Mitchels
24. Cian McHale – Moy Davitts
25. Paul Towey – Charlestown Sarsfields
26. Cillian O’Connor – Ballintubber

Solid squad despite missing Conor Loftus , Tommy Conroy, Paddy Durcan , Matthew Ruane, Enda Hession.

eastie17 · 13-03-2026 09:41PM

jaysys when is he ever going to give Livingston a game? He was great against Down apparently and Cillian scored 4 goals from FF

MacDanger · 13-03-2026 10:15PM

Wouldn't mind seeing Livingston get a game alright, mcstay was the same last year with giving every min to Reape.

Is Dawson better as a hb or a hf?

Will be interesting to see how Diarmuid goes at 6

Fairly strong kerry team named but no elder Clifford in the panel

Vish81 · 13-03-2026 11:00PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124310445#Comment_124310445

Kerry not the game for him, especially with something at stake .

Win or lose tomorrow, the Roscommon game will most likely end up been a meaningless fixture so it will be the perfect opportunity to play him , and id give him the London game too.

Westernview · 14-03-2026 04:35PM

Kobe starting. Im surprised with another game on Wednesday but hopefully he will get through it.

Cartman78 · 14-03-2026 05:17PM

I've no idea if we'll achieve anything meaningful this year but at least it'll be more entertaining than the dirge of the last few years.

crusd · 14-03-2026 05:31PM

I know with being safe on the league it’s time to experiment a bit, but DOC and Dawson in the HB line with Brick on Clifford is madness

Blackjack · 14-03-2026 06:21PM

bloodbath at the moment.

Westernview · 14-03-2026 06:22PM

Reality check part 2. Donegal and Kerry are way out in front of the pack. This is definitely only year one of the 3 year project. A glaring lack of physicality today.

Hennelly taking frees needs to stop.

Vish81 · 14-03-2026 06:50PM

We are shocking at the back,

Not only do we lack aggression and pace, we also stand off opposition forwards allowing them to do as they please.

Sooner Ruane comes back, the sooner we can put McBrien back in his natural position.

The return of Durcan & Loftus will offer more physicality & composure and it will help protect our full backline too,

Arkiema · 14-03-2026 06:59PM

Let's not panic too much.

https://munster.gaa.ie/event/2021-allianz-football-league-division-1-semi-final-kerry-v-tyrone/

maximus15 · 14-03-2026 09:40PM

BIt of a hiding but armagh should beat kerry and den we beat rossies to make league final . Either way it's the league and a learning process .

blowitupref · 15-03-2026 12:02AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124312217#Comment_124312217

That game 21 score to 17. Today 25 to 13

Westernview · 15-03-2026 01:14AM

I don't think anyone is panicking. It's more a concern as to how poor we were in areas that should be better. Almost all the central positions look unresolved. Over dependent on 2 pointers and unable to cut through more directly to create closer in goal and point chances. Too predictable.

Im afraid Aidan, Cillian, Diarmuid and probably Hennelly all look past it. Id be pissed off if I was Cian McHale.

S and C standards also seem to have dropped off for some reason.

spakman · 15-03-2026 09:10AM

S & C seems way off, unable to put in a hard tackle all day.

Andy mentioned it himself afterwards - said that physically, not fitness, Kerry looked a couple of months ahead of us and had a lot of work done.

I haven't a clue about S&C loads, but surely it takes longer than a couple of months to put on the muscle and strength needed?

Andy seemed to suggest its something that would be sorted by championship..

eastie17 · 15-03-2026 09:55AM

dunno about that, Kerry still had the feet up while we were doing training camps in portugal.

robbiezero · 15-03-2026 10:18AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124312698#Comment_124312698

Id imagine Kerry will be favs v Armagh?

Benedict XVI · 15-03-2026 10:59AM

I wouldn't be panicking folks because in reality our ceiling is well below that of Kerry's.

For me a Connacht championship and at least a quarter final is the ceiling of this team.

A semi final appearance and a decent performance would be a bonus.

Like others I'm not convinced Hennelly is the answer in goals or is the drop off to Livingstone that bad that he's the only option?

I don't think Brickendon is up to this level, he's decent but not the type of guy you can trust with your life.

I was awful watching how Kerry could eat into that 5 point lead against the wind by just running at the backs and poping over fisted points, then they kept the fancy stuff like the two pointers for when they had the wind to stretch the lead.

I thought they had solved the defense a few years ago around the second year of McStay, but it's gone to pot again.

A few years ago we were up in arms about Loftus at 6, but he was really missed there yesterday.

They have one more crack at experimenting v Roscommon, I hope it yeilds something.

spakman · 15-03-2026 11:21AM

I have always thought a semi-final would be the height of our abilities this year, but I'm not seeing the signs of progression in the last couple of games.

Maybe it was Andy keeping something in reserve, maybe it was the clichèd "heavy block of training", but the lack of tackling and ease with which Kerry ran through us was shocking

MacDanger · 15-03-2026 11:27AM

A fairly chastening day at the office, kerry & Donegal are absolutely miles ahead of us.

I thought the contrast in defence was huge, kerry backs were all over our forwards, only Boland really managed to win much ball out in front whereas their forwards had acres as space as we were nowhere near tight enough. That lead to them having a v high conversion rate and there's no way back from that

We were good from 2 pointers but once the play slowed up, we were out of ideas and everyone clogging up the centre instead of spreading the play.

No harm to get a harsh lesson this time of year though

MacDanger · 15-03-2026 12:52PM

I saw on twitter that kerry scored 25/26 shots (Clifford with the one wide I think) - that's unreal scoring and maybe you can make allowances for say Clifford & SOS but we should be able to apply way more pressure on the other kerry shooters ffs

Westernview · 15-03-2026 02:02PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124313709#Comment_124313709

I thought that was a strange comment from Andy about S&C given that we don't even have months to make up the difference. London game is 11th April and Roscommon will be 25/26th April. Not sure what they have been doing since the training camp.

Midfield Is the main issue IMO. If we haven't the men to win enough primary possession our forwards will be starved and defence will be over run.

The Supporter · 16-03-2026 09:01PM

From the Kerry GAA Forum"

I wouldn't be getting anyway excited about the performance yesterday - that Mayo team is miles off being a serious All-Ireland competitor at the moment. Kerry shooting almost 100% was helped out massively by how bad their defence was. Lads going on like Kerry beat a Mayo from a decade ago when they were in their pomp as opposed to a side who failed to get out of their group in the championship last year behind Cavan and Tyrone whose concerns at the moment are trying to avoid playing Tailteann Cup football in the summer.

I thought their subs was a bleak insight into the current state of the Mayo squad - with the lads who came on either in the battling hanging up the boots category or the callow inexperience young lads getting their first taste of senior intercounty football category. Combine that with the fact that they started 2 lads who will be playing U20 for them this week shows what sort of a state their panel is at.

At a quick glance Mayo's 4 league wins sounds impressive but when you look back at them Galway were no great shakes in that 3 points win, Dublin were brutal (and were down to 14 for the entire 2nd half) in that 6 point win, came out the right side (by a point) in terrible conditions against Armagh and went to town against a dire Monaghan. For me the fact that both Kerry and Donegal beat them at a canter gives the best picture of where they are currently in terms of All-Ireland contenders for 2026." Personally I was very impressed with Roscommon yesterday, they will be a hard nut to crack come championship, Kerry showed us how to defend,we have a lot to learn in this area.

MacDanger · 16-03-2026 11:23PM

That's not an unfair assessment

Audioslaven · 17-03-2026 04:06PM

There has been some harsh readings with very valid points this week and in particular our man from north mayo.

naughto · 17-03-2026 05:31PM

Th subs alone is a fair knowledge to where we are,I also think or keeper needs to be looked at,it's like jobs for a boys with hennelly coc oshea doc.

The two lads should have being taking off with the game tomorrow we where never at the races bar the 1st 10,15 mins.

Audioslaven · 17-03-2026 07:30PM

The problem is it’s getting late now to start making drastic changes. Andy has set his stall now so he is going to have to go with what he has and see where it lands. He cut a few lads about two weeks ago and a few more to go after the league by all accounts.

Westernview · 17-03-2026 07:55PM

The worry some of us here had when Andy was appointed was that he would be too loyal to his former team mates. I thought he should have either stayed away from the job until they were all gone or else carried out a polite thanks for your service clear out.

Given that nearly all the missing Kerry players from Saturday - Paudie Clifford, Gavin White, Diarmuid OConnor and Begley - would get on the Mayo team (I wouldn't like to go through the Mayo team to see what players would make the Kerry 15) I think its time to get realistic and Andy needs to focus on the long term by giving as much game time to players under the age of 25 as possible. The older players couldn't get over the line in their prime and the quality just isn't in the squad now to make use of whatever they have left to offer.

irishgeo · 18-03-2026 08:15AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124320197#Comment_124320197

Youll need the older players experience in the championship to help the young lads out.

You can't just throw them in there. Even it's just simple advice on kick out strategy of certain teams or how a player is most likely to turn.

Even practical things to keep out of the press or keep focused when your mates are out socialising and you can't go join them.

Westernview · 18-03-2026 09:42AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124320883#Comment_124320883

But we do have an experienced core of players. ROD, Coen, Durcan, Loftus, Ruane, Plunkett,Jordan, Hession,Tommy have all played in AI finals. There are also plenty of other experienced players like McBrien, Carney, Boland, Coyne there too. More than enough.

Mayo GAA Discussion

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