Mayo GAA Discussion Thread

So the club championship resumes this weekend

Predictions:

Crossmolina v Davitts - CROSSMOLINA (Davitts to struggle again without Michael Conroy)
Breaffy v Castlebar - BREAFFY (expecting it to be very tight, home advantage may be the difference, but tough to call and arguments can be made for both sides)

Claremorris v Ballina - CLAREMORRIS (have a sneaky feeling Claremorris can pull it off, another close game expected though)
Ballintubber v Shrule - BALLINTUBBER (most one-sided game of the weekend surely)

Knockmore v Charlestown - KNOCKMORE
Tourmakeady v Westport - WESTPORT (derby match could go either way but Westport have the better panel)

Ballaghaderreen v Garrymore - BALLAGH'
Aghamore v Ballinrobe - AGHAMORE (Aghamore showing good form and should win)

Always_Running wrote: »

No team is unbeatable though i feel the side that beats them will win the All Ireland.

Can't read much into the league Mayo lost to Tyrone,Kildare,Down if they play them in the championship they will beat them all. Injuries will play a big part and i think Mayo will cope better without a few key men than Donegal will.

Who knows how Donegal would cope though?

There are 5-6 teams capable of beating eachother and winning Sam!

You couldnt really predict it at this stage of the year

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

Can you just tell us why you DO NOT think Mayo are possible finalists or Champions.
I am saying why I think they are, so lets have your side of it.
Who do you think are finalists ?

I never said Mayo are not All-Ireland contenders. I absolutely think they are. I remember talking to a Mayo fan outside Croke Pk after last years final and even then, I considered them to be contenders for this year All-ireland.

However, Mayo have still not won Connacht and you are talking about an All-Ireland final. There is a lot of distance between now and an All-Ireland final. There is a lot of improving to do.

You can pick out flaws from any team in the country. Every one of them have their strengths and weaknesses. I am not going through each of the teams (cos Ill be here all night otherwise) but here are some snippets of what I think of Mayo.

- I think Vaughan is a weak link at number 6. He is good on the ball going forward but I feel he is not tight enough on his man. I would wonder how he would do against a top class number 11. If Mayo met Kerry, I would be intrigued as to how the battle between him and Declan OSullivan would pan out

- I think Aidan OSe is a quality midfielder. One of the best in the country. Seamus O'Se had a thundering game against Roscommon but has disappeared in big games before and that is a worry.

- I think Kevin McLoughlin is an absolutely fantastic player. I have loved watching him since he came on the Mayo team. He was a superb wing back and I could not undertsnad why he was moved to the forwards (Is his background as defender or forward?). But in the games I have seen this year, his form has been up and down. He needs to improve if Mayo are going to get to an All-Ireland final. I think he is really crucial to Mayo doing well.

- I am still not convinced by Feeney at number 11. He was good against Roscommon but I think they let him roam about and do his own thing rather than picking him up. That suited him. I played with Feeney briefly on a colleges team a good few years back. Back then, he was a tenacious tough corner back, a zillion miles away from the number 11 who scored quite a classy point the last day. Funny how a player evolves. I havent seen much of him in the forwards so maybe that is his best position.

- Carolan at number 12 has always looked average to me but in fairness I havent seen too much of him yet. He doesnt look like a player good enough for the Dublin, Donegal or Kerry teams however.

- Freeman is a player I really really like when he is on form. However, he has to be one of the most frustrating players in that he disappears too often. You see him play brilliantly in one match, then you dont hear his name in the next. His fielding the last day was good. But he would catch that kind of clean ball against the likes of Donegal.

- I think Mayo lack a real top class forward. A forward that you can 99% rely on having a good game. A Murphy / McFadden from Donegal, a Cooper from Kerry, a Brogan from Dublin, O'Neill from Tyrone. You could argue Andy Moran and the quicker he gets back into the starting 15, the better Mayo chances will become.

Again, I re-iterate that I consider Mayo AI contenders, just like I consider Dublin, Donegal, Tyrone, Cork, Kerry to be contenders. But we are in June - June! And you are talking about Mayo being in an All-Ireland final! This is not the time to be talking about All-Ireland finals.

And I do hope the team are thinking the same way as me, I'd be very p**ed off if they were sitting in the dressing room at training tonight being told by Horan and Co that are not good enough to beat Donegal (for example).

Ok I disagree completely. I do not think it would be good for the management to be telling them "Geez,lads ye are great altogether, mighty stuff, just as good as the all-Ireland champions". What have they done to earn such praise? I would much prefer the management to say to them after a training session "If there is any of ye that feels you have not given everything you can, given your absolute all, your absolute heart and soul, then now is the time to stand up, go out there and do it, cos you know what?, the lads up in Donegal are giving it their all, the lads in Dublin are giving their heart and soul, the lads in Cork & Kerry are leaving everything out on their training fields and most importantly, the lads who you play next in Leitrim / London are giving it their all. And if you are not doing the same, you will not be coming home with any trophy this year". This reminds me of a story in Tony Griffin's (Clare Hurler) book. He essentially took a year out where he trained as a professional athlete. He speaks of a story where he was racing to the ball with an opponent. His opponent went ahead of him. But Griffin thought back to the training he did and it gave him the confidence to overtake the opponent. This is what Mayo need to do. They need to do more than they did last year or any other recent previous year as that was not good enough! Sitting around slapping each other on the back saying they are just as good as Donegal does not make them as good as the AI champions. Putting in the hard work and then going out and actually beating them makes them as good (better) than Donegal!

And I am beginning to think that you may just be a very disappointed Galway fan, seeing Mayo on the rise while your own crowd cannot even keep their discipline or put up a fight at home in a championship opener.

I am disappointed with the current state of Galway football. I think any football supporter should be. But why would I be disappointed that Mayo are 'on the rise'? I have always said that I like to see the best team win. If Mayo are the best team in Ireland this year, I will be delighted to see them win the AI. I was happy to see Donegal win last year cos they were the best team. I was happy to see Dublin win the year before cos I felt they were the best team. I was happy to see Tyrone win the years they won cos I thought they deserved. it. I can remember all-irelands since 1990 and I think the team that wins the All-Ireland is always the team that deserves it. In '00, Kerry beat Galway. Kerry deserved to win and I got to see two really fantastic teams in an AI final at that time. I cannot think of any year that a team won where I would begrudge them that victory. I would not be any different with Mayo.

2 teams have to be in the final and fr tod is making fairly reasonable points (bar the donegal one) of why he thinks its gonna be mayo.

I think the Cork one is not a good point also. Wasnt it in 2011 that Mayo drew with London? So by that logic, London can draw with Mayo in the connacht final because they drew with them in 2011?

On what logic do you think mayo wont beat leitrim or london well? Theres nothing cockey about it at all, except for coincidence that he is from mayo. If a dublin man tipped mayo to win you wouldnt be calling him cockey..

I do not think Mayo will lose against Leitrim or London! My point all along is that there is a hell of a distance between now and an all-ireland final. And if the Mayo supporters are thinking of AI finals, it could also rub off on the players (that is the problem with hype). If they are thinking of AI finals, then there is potential that they could take their eye off the ball. Shocks do happen in sport and it is when teams are looking further ahead and not respecting their opponent. It almost happened in the Galway - Laois hurling game this weekend (you could argue there is a similar level of difference in those 2 teams as there is between Mayo / Leitrim /London). It did happen in the Tipp Limerick match albeit the level between those 2 teams is much smaller. As I said earlier, sport history is littered with shocks - Munster beat the All Blacks, Wimbledon beat Liverpool, Offaly beat Kerry, in 1994, Leitrim beat Mayo, geez, even this year in the Connacht championship London beating Sligo. Almost all of these can be atrributed to the favourite team "taking the eye off the ball" believing they had it already won.

I would not call anyone cocky for suggesting Mayo will beat Leitrim or London. But you do not get to an AI final by winning a Connacht title. I do think it is cocky that people think Mayo will get to an AI final when it is only June and they haven't exactly seen any huge improvement on last year (in fairness, they have not been given the opportunity).

he is a galway head so let him eat sour grapes.no doubt he is just trooling.no point in feeding the trool Fr tod.check the galway thread to see

Where have I ever trolled? Either here or on the Galway thread? What are you pointing to in the Galway thread? I frequent the Galway thread cos that is where I am from and that is where I attend club matches so that is the GAA scene I am most familiar with.

I have no sour grapes. I think Mayo are better than Galway at the moment. I think Galway were better than Mayo in 1998, I think Mayo were better in 1999, I think Mayo were better in 1997, I think Mayo were better in 1996.

I have far too much respect for websites like boards.ie to ever troll on such a site. I work in developing similar sites and therefore try to respect sites like this. Because of that, I am really curious to know why you think I am trolling.

The good teams all think that way, nobody who is any use apologizes for expecting to beat other teams.

I agree nobody should apologise for winning. But if you think you are in an all-ireland final before you are even in an all-ireland quarter final, you wont be reaching any all-ireland final. That kind of thinking is alluding to you thinking you already have the hard work done .

McFaddens goal was the real turning point.
A result of a free-out, wrongly awarded against COC imo, that led to an attempted point coming off the post into the Donegal forwards arms.
On another day Mayo might have got the free in and tagged on a point instead, or that attempt for that Donegal point would have gone over, or wide, and not hit the post.

Or Mayo may have missed the free and Donegal may have scored a goal from the resulting kickout..... There is no point in dealing with hypthetical situations like that. In the '03 all ireland, Armagh would have won if the defender (Gormley?) hadnt made a suoperb block at the end. In the '11 all-ireland, Kerry could have won if Cluxton had dropped his kick short. There are tonnes of what ifs in all-irelands.

What I am trying to say is that luck has a huge element to play and Mayo didn't get any in last years AIF.
Mayo/Donegal/Kerry/Dublin will not win the All-Ireland this year without some luck along the way.

I fully agree that luck plays a part, it does in every sport. But I would suggest it is probably 95% skill / preparation (being a better team) and 5% luck.

There are 5-6 teams capable of beating eachother and winning Sam!

You couldnt really predict it at this stage of the year

This is exactly the point I was trying to make, rather poorly it would seem!

But do Mayo fans really not see the folly of discussing potential AI opponents at this time of year? If a stranger read through the last few posts, they would think Mayo & Donegal are already scheduled to play each other in an AI semi-final. For Mayo's sake, I sincerely hope the players are focused on the connacht final and if they win that, then they are focused on the QF, and then if they win that they can start thinking about a SF.

June is no time to be discussing a potential AI final.

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

But why is it too early to talk of how far we can go and who we can beat
?
Why as a Mayo fan should I be suppressing my confidence and expectation that this team can win an All Ireland in 2013 ?

And why is it to early to speculate on possible opposition, the way the provincial championships are going it's not that difficult

Most likely three of the following four will be possible 'tough' quarter final opposition, Cork, Kerry, Tyrone, Kildare. Other QF opposition will be of a lower standard.
Donegal are most likely going to be Ulster champs and if they keep winning and Mayo keep winning will meet in a semi-final.
Dublin are most likely going to be Leinster champs and if they keep winning and Mayo keep winning will meet in a final.
The winner of Munster will not meet Mayo either until a final, but the loser could meet them in a QF or possibly a SF.

Look Tod, you're entitled to talk about All-Irelands if you want. Personally I won't talk about winning an all-ireland nor will I be ever confident of one until I witness it. I've seen us lose 5. Of course I'll be the first to say that this is a completely different team etc but that's just the way it is for me.

Also it's Championship football. We lost a quarter final against Meath in '09 when we were the better team. Anything can happen on the day. I've an eye on the Quarters for now and that's it for me.