Mayo GAA Discussion Thread

What's the point in ever winning anything if you're not going to enjoy the journey. Embrace the hype for **** sake, you don't get too many days like ye had last Sunday.

Of course there is no harm in enjoying the good times/embracing the hype but it needs to be kept in perspective.Believe me Mayo people enjoy the good times and love their football.However overhyping things primes Mayo supporters for a big let down if things do not work out as they expect.

It's not hype really. Mayo should easily dismantle Tyrone. They are quite the team. I imagine they'll brush off Dublin then in the final.

Be positive. Mayo for Sam.

132-MO-SAM

The new version of the number plates look sh1te too.

It occurred to me as I watched some Donegal fans leave early, some left 10 minutes into the second half, how fickle fans can be. Mayo through sheer suffering seem to be stouter supporters. If you support a team you should consider yourself almost a part of he setup. Leaving early because things are not going your way is disgraceful, people who do that should never get a ticket again.Especialy so in the case of a Donegal team who gave such enjoyment to those fans over the last few years.If you were relying on people like that you wouldn't win much. Rant over, its just a personal bugbear with me and it wasn't that many fans to be fair.

seligehgit wrote: »

Like ColeTrain said I really believe in this team and their manager.I agree that we are good enough to defeat Tyrone but one must take this game on it's merits.Overconfidence/complacency can be fatal flaws.I would be surprised if the Dubs do not defeat the Kingdom,if this comes to pass it should be an almighty battle against the Dubs,this Dublin team along with Mayo has serious long term potential.I was really impressed with them in the league game in Croker,how on earth does Jim Gavin pick his first 15 with the panel at his disposal?!

This is correct. Mayo seem to be the strongest team left in the competition but you cant legislate for fortune in a knockout format. Nobody seems to consider how unlucky Mayo are to have lost both keepers for the season. The 2 of them are as good or better than every other goalkeeper in football. There is nothing wrong with Hennelly but he is a level behind the other two and it will be a factor before silverware is won and lost hopefully not the decisive factor but it remains to be seen.

Astala wrote: »

Unfortunately, these are often the same people who manage to get All-Ireland final tickets. When we were playing Cork in 2011-a match where we regarded as massive underdogs, I asked a neighbour of ours:

''Did ye head to Croke Park for the match last Sunday?''

''No, we thought Mayo would lose,'' came the reply!

This same crowd have managed to get tickets for every final we've been in, while I, despite attending all of Mayo's games, had no such luck. I live outside of Mayo so don't have membership with the club; only my dad does. I do have a season ticket though, so last year I got there for the final!:)

Mayo fans are those who go to matches and support their team-not those for whom turning up at a semi- and irritatingly, final match, is a mark of being a Mayo fan. I'll always remember about half-way through the 2004 and 2006 finals when RTE flicked over to a view of Jones' rd.- literally hundreds of Mayo fans were flooding out: what I would have given to have taken just one of the seats that they had vacated to shout on our lads who had given everything all year to fight for Sam Maguire.

As a very wise man above said: the Mayo Players, Mayo Supporters, and Mayo Management, make up one team-the Mayo team.

Which, oddly enough, can be identified as PSM-'Procuring Sam Maguire!!'

HUP MAYO!!:cool:

Feel for you re not getting a ticket for those finals,I remember well those so called Mayo supporters running out the door early in the second halves.I stayed until the final whistle like the players deserved, it was the right thing to do although excruciating.In the same boat, the season ticket is a super concept, mind you it still doesn't prevent bandwagon supporters jumping on board.

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

Rumor has it, that Aidan O Shea can make square bales using a round baler...

Aidan got a brand new Welger, he got rid o that old New Holland ...

I looked back at the game the other evening and a few things struck me, below in no particular order

It wasn't the perfect performance, excellent but not perfect. We faded in the last 8-10 minutes which is understandable to a certain extent but we gave up 3 goal chances in that period. Also the period of 10 mins either side of the second goal we weren't dominating at all.

We gave away a lot more frees than Donegal, even if some of these were soft it should be looked at. In a tight game it could keep the other team in it.

Hennelly gave away the ball twice which ended up being two out of Donegal's first three points. Again understandable as he's been out of the panel a while but something to work on.

Dillon was unbelievable in the first 20 mins when the game was in the pot, better than O'Shea in this period I thought. Also extremely prominent at this stage were Higgins, Vaughan, Freeman.

Some great ball went into Cillian but it didn't always stick. This was simialr to the final last year. He's improved on this aspect of his game but it can get better. We should try and hit Andy or Freeman more often than Cillian with long ball.

Andy isn't at top pace yet. He's grand once he has ball in hand but he's not out in front as much as he used to be. But the more game time he gets the better, if he can get back anywhere near the level of the last two years it would be a massive boost.

Jesus, Chris Barrett has turned into a serious footballer.

Our half-back line in general was awesome, with Zippy helping out majorly. I was uncertain of this tactic in the lead-up to the game but it really worked. It freed up two of the four guys to go forward with two covering back. If Cunniffe is fit it could be a runner again for the semi. Having an extra defender there to track Cavanagh's runs would be a plus.

I forgot just how many really good goal chances we created and didn't take. I counted four more goals we left there. Cillian had one cleared off the line in the first half, Carolan hit the post on the stroke of half time, Keegan had one saved in 2nd half and right before Andy went off himself and Freeman almost combined again.

kevmy85 wrote: »

Jesus, Chris Barrett has turned into a serious footballer.

As a neutral at the match I'm surprised he hasn't gotten more attention, he was tremendous I thought. Quick and strong and his man never got near the ball. Kicked a great point too. Hadn't heard of him beforehand(insert ignorant Dublin fan joke here) but I sure know about him now.

kevmy85 wrote: »

I looked back at the game the other evening and a few things struck me, below in no particular order

• 
  It wasn't the perfect performance, excellent but not perfect. We faded in the last 8-10 minutes which is understandable to a certain extent but we gave up 3 goal chances in that period. Also the period of 10 mins either side of the second goal we weren't dominating at all.

• 
  We gave away a lot more frees than Donegal, even if some of these were soft it should be looked at. In a tight game it could keep the other team in it.

• 
  Hennelly gave away the ball twice which ended up being two out of Donegal's first three points. Again understandable as he's been out of the panel a while but something to work on.

• 
  Dillon was unbelievable in the first 20 mins when the game was in the pot, better than O'Shea in this period I thought. Also extremely prominent at this stage were Higgins, Vaughan, Freeman.

• 
  Some great ball went into Cillian but it didn't always stick. This was simialr to the final last year. He's improved on this aspect of his game but it can get better. We should try and hit Andy or Freeman more often than Cillian with long ball.

• 
  Andy isn't at top pace yet. He's grand once he has ball in hand but he's not out in front as much as he used to be. But the more game time he gets the better, if he can get back anywhere near the level of the last two years it would be a massive boost.

• 
  Jesus, Chris Barrett has turned into a serious footballer.

• 
  Our half-back line in general was awesome, with Zippy helping out majorly. I was uncertain of this tactic in the lead-up to the game but it really worked. It freed up two of the four guys to go forward with two covering back. If Cunniffe is fit it could be a runner again for the semi. Having an extra defender there to track Cavanagh's runs would be a plus.

• 
  I forgot just how many really good goal chances we created and didn't take. I counted four more goals we left there. Cillian had one cleared off the line in the first half, Carolan hit the post on the stroke of half time, Keegan had one saved in 2nd half and right before Andy went off himself and Freeman almost combined again.

Good post Kevmy, I watched the game back last night (thanks again Something Else) and came to a lot of the same conclusions actually.

Hennelly didn't have a great first half but improved as it went on - I think he will be fine in goal and I would keep him there even if O'Malley came back to fitness (If Clarke was to come back I would still go with Clarke). Good save near the end and kickouts improved as the game went on.

Barrett - outstanding and not really noticed by the wider media. His reputation has suffered a bit ever since the Dublin game in the league a few years ago where he was played at full back, he is not a full back. Great corner back though and a huge asset to us.

Andy is definitely not fully fit yet and I don't think he will be as good this year as he was before the injury, it will take until next year for him to get back to full tilt. He is still capable of winning a lot of direct ball in due to his strength though.

Four missed goal chances and at least eight wides - so it can't be said that it was one of those days that everything fell in our favour or anything like that. We could and should have beaten them by more. Cillian was unlucky that McHugh got back in behind Durcan for his chance, Carolan was unlucky to hit the post but McLoughlin should have picked it up - O'Connor would have turned the last defender and scored from that position. Keegan maybe should have passed for his and a sloppy pass cost the other chance, can't remember who it was.

Carolan played very well and while he's not our most natural forward by a long shot he has a lot to offer with his strength and energy - he's a bit like Colin McManamon but potentially better in possession I think.

The Cunniffe substitution - what exactly happened there - too much switching I thought, Carolan went sweeper, Higgins to centre half back...did Vaughan go in the corner on McBrearty? The ball never went near McBrearty for the rest of the game so it was hard to tell. If we're playing Higgins as sweeper we are maybe a bit light on cover at corner back. Barrett and Cunniffe are starters but the only direct cover with any experience seems to be Keane. I'd like to have seen Michael Walsh get some game time before now as he is highly rated but barring a string of injuries I doubt we'll se him this year.

We have yet to play a full 70 minutes in the championship and we didn't again on Sunday, despite Horan sending messages to keep the pressure up we faded in the last 15 minutes. There are definitely things to work on, it was a great performance but far from perfect. That's not necessarily a bad thing though.

Edit: One other thing, at one stage in the first half the free count was something like 13-2 against us. I thought we were denied a few blatant frees by McQuillan but sometimes that happens when one team is dominating the other, it happened a lot against London as well, but even allowing for that there is still probably room for improvement in our tackling. When we get a few defenders on one man it is top quality but there are still a lot of times when it is one v one and we cough up a lot of frees in these situations. Something else that will hopefully be worked on in the next few weeks.

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

Feeney ahead of Barrett at corner back? Can't agree with you there. Barrett may take over the role long held by McLoughlin as Mayo's most underrated player, he offers more than Feeney in that position. Feeney's role now is an impact sub I think, as a half forward who goes back into defence a lot but maybe picks off a point or two as well.

The switch to put Barrett in was for Feeney, but Higgins took Feeney's sweeper role and Barrett the corner. Feeney has done nothing to deserve being dropped IMO and was thriving in his role between the 45's.

I don't think Andy Moran is getting enough credit for his performance against Donegal. Obviously he's not 100% fit, but I thought he had a very good game overall:

He scored that peach of a point in the early stages
It was his shot which led to COC's third goal
he was out in front of his man plenty of times (at 100% fitness he'll always win it cleanly)
He kicked a magnificent pass off the ground (it was essentially a cross) to Freeman for his first point
His movement off the ball was good and he put in one or two clean tackles

Considering his fitness level I think he did a great job on Sunday