Mayo GAA Discussion Thread

ultrapercy wrote: »

Freeman had flu, COC had a dislocated shoulder, Moran is fighting back manfully from career threatening injury. McLoughlin has been off form all year, Higgins is a back and Dillion is Dillion. All this and yet, and yet they scored more times than Dublin. If they stoped throwing in soft goals they would win an AI. They hammered Dublin into the ground in the first half in a harder manner even than what they did to Donegal and still only had a 1 point lead at the break.

Dillon has been injured since before the 2012 season ended.

What shennanigans with Freeman? He came off with the flu and was under the weather.

Neeson wrote: »

Don't know about the bust up before the match but it was said that Horan bust up Freeman after the match because he was in a huff that he was taken off and wouldn't get onto the team bus.

Don't think this is true though. Freeman had the flu and wanted off but was disappointed he couldn't play with the rest of the boys in the final and felt he let his county down.

Agree with Something Else and Rockfish's buddy, there was nothing at all wrong with him and he was and is amazed & disappointed at being taken off. No flu, no cough, no row with Horan - before or since. I don't know what Horan's game was. Alan Freeman is not the kind of person to take a huff and refuse to get on the bus, who would do that?

Gerry91 wrote: »

Just saw bit from Donegal game, makes me even more upset

We absolutely blew them away, I had us as certs for Sam after that

Not easy lads not easy. How we couldn't even reach 10% of that level on Sunday I don't know...

In fairness we were up against a far better team on Sunday. Granted they didnt play to their potential but they were never gonna be "blown away".

Have had the week to digest what happened. The Donegal game probably gave us all a bit too much confidence.

Ultimately, when you only have a one point game, any single one decision by players or management can be key. It boils down to a few simple things.
1. We missed too many chances in the first half. Some of our forwards didn't perform - again - in Croker on AI final day for whatever reason.
2. We gave up far too much easy ball - more that we did all year against anyone. Why?
3. There were some failings from the sideline. Some of the calls were strange at best - however I suppose if the scoreline had gone the other way they would have been "inspired" and this is the difference at this level.

There has been an immense amount of effort put in by players and management for 3 years now and I do think that we need some changes in the forward line in order to make that breakthrough.
But once we can take connacht we are two games away from an AI again next year - hoping major lessons have been learned the past two years and this team goes on to emulate the team of '48-'51.

ultrapercy wrote: »

Freeman had flu, COC had a dislocated shoulder, Moran is fighting back manfully from career threatening injury. McLoughlin has been off form all year, Higgins is a back and Dillion is Dillion. All this and yet, and yet they scored more times than Dublin. If they stoped throwing in soft goals they would win an AI. They hammered Dublin into the ground in the first half in a harder manner even than what they did to Donegal and still only had a 1 point lead at the break.

Deleted User wrote: »

Yeah! taken off while been the most dangerous forward at the time, there was a stark contrast in the mayo forwards after Freeman was taken off. Why wasn't Dillon taken off earlier, he was the worst player on the pitch but was left for fifty minutes to run around in circles. . It was an All Ireland left behind by Mayo, left behind by the manager.

But Its not just about this year, it's about every All Ireland final we have contested since '51
On no occasion have they gone out and played to or above their potential

'96 - Why did they not do like Clare did this year and come out stronger and win the replay
'97 - Wht did they so under perform that they allowed thenselves to be beaten by one man. If I recall Maurice Sheridan could not even score 21 yard frees that day

'06 - Why did they allow themselves be humiliated again after what happened in '04

'12 - Why did they sleep walk through the first 10 mins

'13 - Why did they not put Dublin away in the first half with all their possession, as mayomaffia says above it Dublin's worst display for the season and with only 13 fit players for the last 15 minutes, why did Mayo not grab it by the scruff of the neck and win it

The best feeling I got all year was when they scored the two early goals v Donegal, that was what I wanted to see from Mayo, playing out of their skins.

Why can the likes of Donegal, Down, Derry, Armagh, Galway, Tyrone go on and do it and Mayo cannot, with all the chances they have been given.
Why do they always manage to F**k it up on the big day.

It's really sickening

kippy wrote: »

The thing is,
We've beaten the previous years AI champions every year for the past three or four years and I don't necessarily think Horan has gone out since the previous November to do that. He's gone out with the intention of winning an AI - no matter who we come up against.

I hope Horan and the core of the backroom and players decide to hang on for another year and that we manage to bring on/unearth some more talent.

Would have to mostly agree with that. I'd like to see Horan & Co stick at it for another year.

However, I think the forwards are there at the minute, if we can keep them fit and get them to fire consistently. In saying that, one or two U-21s or minors to step up a level and push for places would be good.

If you have a fit and sharp McLoughlin, Dillon, O'Connor, Moran, and Freeman/Conroy along with Higgins as the front 6, then very few defences would cope with them, particularly as they are supplemented by raiding half-backs.

There's no need for drastic changes like being suggested by some here; a few tweaks certainly are needed and a bit of luck.

Remember, we scored 1-14 against Dublin with none of our forwards firing (bar Andy at a push, and even then I think he has more to offer when fully sharp than he did last week).

It will take a huge effort to come back from this year but knowing some of the players personally and having played with a couple of them, I have full faith in their character and mentality and think they will certainly be there or thereabouts come next September. Will any of the current panel be retiring after this year? I can't think of any off the top of my head.

I'm having a rant now but I am sick to the teeth of the slating that has been given out by some on this thread following the game. We lost by a point to the favourites and a team that were about on a par with ourselves. Neither fired on the big day and Dublin limped over the line. That's life; get up and move on. It's not as if we lost to a team we should have beaten. We could have, no doubt about that, but to say we should have is arrogant. The support will be there again next year hopefully and we might be able to push over the line.

ultrapercy wrote: »

Freeman definitely had flu, fact.

No, he didn't. Fact.

And the fact that that story is being pushed is what's going to cause trouble in the team/management setup, no more than the craic about Feeney.

Gerry91 wrote: »

I wouldn't go that far, they beat Laois the week before, a competent "qualifiers" team for want of a better term and quarter finalists 12 months previous

No since last November I think Horan had already been working on a plan to tackle Donegal, as he would've expected to tackle them in semis. They were always going to be on an absolute mission when they met them

It'll be the same with the Dubs now but there's no way they'll be as poor

That game v laois was level until Donegal tagged on a few late scores to win it. Donegal only performed decent in one championship game this summer and that was against Tyrone in June. They were clearly there for the taking for any of the provincial winners and once Mayo scored the early goals they didn't want to know. That type of situation was never going to happen v Dublin.

ultrapercy wrote: »

Mayo had a large slice of bad injury luck this year. People don't seem to understand the seriousness of CoC injury. They lost 2 goalkeepers through injury. Barry Moran and Andy moran are both returning to their best form. Freeman definitely had flu, fact. For what its worth I cant understand how anyone could watch that game and not see how badly he was struggling, I thought it was nerves but the subsequent flu explaination joined the dots.

Didn't have the best luck with injuries however Rob played very well in goals in this year and filled the void he was 1st choice in 2011 and better keeper than O'Malley IMO. Barry Morans replacement was Seamus O'Shea and he's been arguably Mayos best player this summer,Andy Moran delivered his best performance for some time by scoring 1-2 in final, O'Connor didn't hold back on the heavy hits last Sunday and managed to score more than he did in last years final and having watched the game back a few times i didn't see Freeman struggling but i saw a man frustrated that he was taken off after 27mins. The Conroy switch didn't work.

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

But I'm not suggesting anything about curses or the like.

I am just pointing out from a Mayo fan's point of view how sickening it is to look at other "lesser" teams win All Irelands by playing brilliantly and playing either too or above their potential, while our lot have failed to do so seven times in a row now.

Since 1989 the following is the All Ireland finals records of teams who have contested them, and their win % in order of final appearances

It's shocking to look at it

Kerry P11 W6 D1 L4 54%
Mayo P8 W0 D1 L7 0%
Cork P7 W3 L4 42%
Meath P6 W2 D1 L3 33%
Dublin P5 W3 L2 60%
Tyrone P4 W3 L1 75%
Galway P4 W2 D1 L1 50%
Down P3 W2 L1 66%
Donegal P2 W2 L0 100%
Derry P1 W1 L0 100%
Armagh P1 W1 L0 100%
Kildare P1 W0 L1 0%

They are obviously not "lesser" teams though are they?

It's sickening as a fan alright - I get that, but surely thats part of being a fan?

We're pretty "lucky" as fans in one respect to get as many trips to Croker and extended summers as we do. Yeah, we've not had a successful AI as of yet but I get a lot of enjoyment out of supporting the team, the banter with other Mayo fans, the banter with other counties, excitement, nervousness, fear, elation, dissappointment etc etc.
There are other counties in this country that would kill for the amount of relative "success" we have had.

I'm not a Mayo fan by choice, I am a Mayo fan by birth and while it can frustrate the crap outta you at times, there are far more "good moments" and when we do eventually lift Sam it will be all the sweeter.

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

The use of the term "lesser teams" is in the context that they are not Kerry, Kilkenny, Cork, Dublin, i.e teams that don't have double digit AI titles, no offence to them.

Yea it's great to get to finals, but one week on from the last disaster you see Clare put on the performance of a lifetime and win their 4th All Ireland, something that Mayo failed to do a week earlier

I said in this form last Monday morning that I hoped Mayo could keep the tempo up for 2014, I'm not sure if they can, but if they do I want to see that team put on a performance in the final if they get there, not the underachievement we have been served up for years now

I think we all want to see the same in fairness...........

How many AI's they have is essentially irrelevant - it's a one off game where literally anything can happen.

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

But Mayo never seem to make it happen.

And what exactly are we, as fans, gonna do about it?
It's not in our hands.......
All we can do is go out and support the team in whatever way we can.