Mayo GAA Discussion Thread

threebeards wrote: »

How much do you think it bothers Brian Cody to piss players off? A manager needs to make cold hard decisions, and if that involves a player or players being pissed off, so be it. At this stage, I really don't care who plays if it means that we can finally get across the line.

Ah come on now, you cannot compare what Cody has done and what Horan has done.

And I doubt any player that Cody drafted in had been out of the game for 15 years.

It's one thing making hard decisions it's another making ones that baffle all and sundry

Take Freeman for example
Last August he was MOTM in the SF where he took control of the scoring duties after Cuillian went off injured.

3 weeks later is was having a fine All Ireland final when he was inexplicably hauled off after 20mins and replaced by a guy who only had a few mins playing time all year.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago.
He is the 3rd forward off the bench, after a guy who has had a single good season in 10 years (Conroy) and a guy who's form has dropped very poorly at this level over the past few years (Varley).
And he contributed far more than both of them during his tine in the game. His determination to chase a lost cause and win a ball that lead to the Mayo goal was the highlight of the game IMO.

Take Feeney
A few yeas ago he was seen as one of the best guys off the bench in the whole country, a guy who could play anywhere between 5 and 12, could score and defend.
The last quarter of the All Ireland final in 2013 was the perfect time to send him in.
Instead he most gets no playing time, and if he does it's usually in injury time.

What have these guys done that he have fallen so far down the pecking order ?

And there are others too.

Now you have the rumour (and I think nothing will come of it fortunately) that a 30 something year old retired rugby plater who has not played at any level for Mayo since the turn of the century is going to get a place on the bench and possibly play some part in the game

If he does then he will be the Jack Sherwood of 2014.

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

Ah come on now, you cannot compare what Cody has done and what Horan has done.

And I doubt any player that Cody drafted in had been out of the game for 15 years.

It's one thing making hard decisions it's another making ones that baffle all and sundry

Take Freeman for example
Last August he was MOTM in the SF where he took control of the scoring duties after Cuillian went off injured.

3 weeks later is was having a fine All Ireland final when he was inexplicably hauled off after 20mins and replaced by a guy who only had a few mins playing time all year.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago.
He is the 3rd forward off the bench, after a guy who has had a single good season in 10 years (Conroy) and a guy who's form has dropped very poorly at this level over the past few years (Varley).
And he contributed far more than both of them during his tine in the game. His determination to chase a lost cause and win a ball that lead to the Mayo goal was the highlight of the game IMO.

Take Feeney
A few yeas ago he was seen as one of the best guys off the bench in the whole country, a guy who could play anywhere between 5 and 12, could score and defend.
The last quarter of the All Ireland final in 2013 was the perfect time to send him in.
Instead he most gets no playing time, and if he does it's usually in injury time.

What have these guys done that he have fallen so far down the pecking order ?

And there are others too.

Now you have the rumour (and I think nothing will come of it fortunately) that a 30 something year old retired rugby plater who has not played at any level for Mayo since the turn of the century is going to get a place on the bench and possibly play some part in the game

If he does then he will be the Jack Sherwood of 2014.

You're completely missing the point, which was, to be in management at the top level, you basically have to have the ability to be a prick if and when that's required. Sentiment can't come into a decision.

threebeards wrote: »

You're completely missing the point, which was, to be in management at the top level, you basically have to have the ability to be a prick if and when that's required. Sentiment can't come into a decision.

But it looks like sentiment is part of it with Horan.

Who do you think should come on first in a close "must win game" ?
Freeman, who possibly was not a happy camper after being hauld off in the All Ireland or Conroy, Horans own reclamination project from 2012 ?.

And as the other poster pointed out his tenancy to favor Dillion

I know Horan from youth.
He is stubborn.
That is a good asset to have, but not if you are so stubborn thatit affects your decisions to the deterement of the team.

The small ball rarely gets a mention here but best of luck to our U21 hurlers playing in the Connacht Final tonight v Roscommon. Throw in at 7:15 in Athleague. The winner meets Kerry in the Semi.

Dillion played very well the last day, even if he didnt score 4 points, his general link up play is excellent and he is always ready to show for the ball on the outside creating space for others on the inside.
A very clever player.

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

But it looks like sentiment is part of it with Horan.

Who do you think should come on first in a close "must win game" ?
Freeman, who possibly was not a happy camper after being hauld off in the All Ireland or Conroy, Horans own reclamination project from 2012 ?.

And as the other poster pointed out his tenancy to favor Dillion

I know Horan from youth.
He is stubborn.
That is a good asset to have, but not if you are so stubborn thatit affects your decisions to the deterement of the team.

The missed opportunity is that Freeman is the only big forward in the county with the ability to get goals. At this stage we should have three years of development based around that. i.e. training sessions/video work/diversionary runs/specific plays in training constantly each week all based around getting the ball to Freeman close to goal. That is not over the top preparation, it's a team with limited goal scoring potential playing to it's strengths.
Instead we have Freeman struggling to break into the team and having his patience tested with brief cameos off the bench.
Bringing on a midfielder to win a kickout with time almost up in a game I understand. Bringing on a full forward with time almost up? Shouldn't he get at least ten minutes? Is a fresh Freeman not up to the level of other forwards with 50 minutes played out o their stamina?
I'v a feeling Dillon will do fine against Kerry and will be played in a triangle off of Cillian and Freeman. Cillian and Freeman inside and Dillon is their central outlet for them both if they get bottled up.
Think Doherty will be on tackling duty/breaks around the middle with McGloughlin/AOS pushing forward more often to open up Kerry. So effectively we have a 1 -2 - 1 -2 if you would look at our forwards. You will see McGloughlin/AOS/Dillon being the outlet for ball that gets well defended by opposition full backline. This is where AOS is so valuable as he can then break through the next tackler and is close to goal for a free or shot.

blinding wrote: »

Freeman is surely better than Varley and Conroy unless James Horan has some uber plan that only Conroy or Varley can master !

Against Mccarthy/Mccauley/OCarroll/McMahon/Devereux we need Freeman for his tackling as well. Which was a weakness but is much improved. At a certain point if yer too small you'll struggle to win turnovers or hold up big physical pacey guys like that. First point to rate players on has to be physical. Dillon we can accomodate for his shooting but we need 4 physical forwards. Kevin McGloughlin is not big but you'd never think it with how effective he is with winning breaks n choosing his tackles. But we need 4 hard tackling forwards or Kerry/Dublin will get the ball to our 45 too easily.

statto25 wrote: »

The small ball rarely gets a mention here but best of luck to our U21 hurlers playing in the Connacht Final tonight v Roscommon. Throw in at 7:15 in Athleague. The winner meets Kerry in the Semi.

It finished Mayo 1-10 Roscommon 4-15.

heard this one this evening
both horan and freeman work in coke a cola in ballina
they dont even talk to one another when they meet at work
never mind him being on the starting team.
as i said i just heard it

FaganJr wrote: »

Oh please, this is getting ridiculous now!

i no ino i no i had to laugh when i heard it

mayo.mick wrote: »

There are u-16's allowed in Cusack stand. You have to pay full adult price for ticket, u-16 gets refund at gate, block c I think. You can only buy u-16 tickets for Davin stand.

thanks mayo mick.

can anyone back this up before I buy.

mayo.mick wrote: »

There are u-16's allowed in Cusack stand. You have to pay full adult price for ticket, u-16 gets refund at gate, block c I think. You can only buy u-16 tickets for Davin stand.

thanks mayo mick.

can anyone back this up before I buy.

Some valid point being made about the whole best 15/stubborn manager/freeman/duffy.

There is a big difference between stubbornness and stupidity. Stubbornness is leaving a player on the bench to sweat it out if the manager feels he is not pulling his weight or bringing on a player in injury time when we are ten points up. Stupidity is leaving Freeman on the bench while bringing on the likes of Varley and Conroy.

The latter two are nice honest lads, but face facts, have never performed on the big stage for Mayo in recent times. Neither have ever started or come on in a game in recent years when it was in the melting pot and turned it around.

You could almost compare Horan to Alex Feguson in the stubbornness stakes

As for Gavin Duffy, lovely fairy tale stuff IMO. While he brings a vast experience of professionalism with him, I fail to understand how he could secure a spot on the subs bench ahead of Feeney who has been eating and sleeping football for donkeys years.

I hope I am wrong but I really feel Horan's Achilles heel is his decision making at crucial times.

ultrapercy wrote: »

If Duffy is in with a chance of featuring in this years AI series why has he not done so before now? Surely game time in the earlier rounds would help his development and transition to the senior ranks. The idea that Duffy is to be sprung like a ninja from the bench in the final to win Mayo the All Ireland is a bit too much of a Disney movie plot for me. Gaelic games are much more complicated than that.

Has he even been training with the panel since Mayo or whenever the story first broke ?
If he was a realistic squad member he would have at least appeared in a challenge game, and I'm sure they have had one at this stage, remember the famous game v Monagahn last season.
We would have heard a lot more about him by this stage if he was played in a challenge.

Loafing Oaf wrote: »

But what if the strategy is genuinely to keep him totally under wraps? Would Dublin actually be thrown to see a guy coming on with 20 minutes to go in the AIF who they've never seen before and don't know what he does positionally? Presumably he would have to have something substantial to contribute as a player, but would this be significantly enhanced if he was a completely unknown quantity?

Thats not strategy, its a Disney movie last act. Whatever reservations people may have about Horan there is no doubting he is a smart football man. There is no way he would consider such gimmicery. I feel stupid even taking about it. This is real top level sport not a comic strip.