Mayo GAA Discussion Part 2

ethical

Well done Galway,very deserved with the effort put in.No use having Aiden O'Shea in the forward line if there is no quality ball played into him,having said that he never held onto the few balls that went in tonight.For all his accuracy from frees Cillian O'Connor produced nothing (again) and when Mayo needed a goal near the end he went for a point (similar to the AllIreland effort a couple of years ago,when the ball should have been played in around the front of goal).Much more is required from the Captain now!

washman3

naughto wrote: »

Your more than welcome to stay and see us fly through the qualifiers

Will a few good displays V the likes of Carlow, Clare or dare I say London guarantee Aido his annual All Star award.??

Dyr

km79 wrote: »

A galway man saying all is not well in the mayo camp whilst they Galway themselves together a team ? And he then predicts a 2 pt galway win ?
Stop. I think he is smoking the grapevine and hearing voices

I dunno what he was smoking but I would'nt mind a drag off it now

happyoutscan

Maybe if our superstar concentrated on playing instead of riding and ousting management teams...

Supernintento Chalmers

themandan6611 wrote: »

I think it is the end of this Mayo team, too many miles in the tank and tough losses in the mind, shame they never got the AI they probably deserved

They're getting exactly what they deserved for what they did to Connolly and Holmes.
They're a disgrace.

Slattsy

Who do the players blame now?

Another tantrum to get management out?

Or will they realise they're just not that good.

I do always enjoy the reaction to a Mayo loss. Good fun outsiders.

Barlett

In fairness to Andy Moran lads, that had nothing to do with the result, he had just come on the pitch recovering from a career threatening injury and scored a goal, it had nothing to do with Galway

martyos121

Absolutely disgraceful performance, I'm not nearly pisshed enough to say any more about it.

Well done Galway though, they had great away support today and the lads deserved the win.

Flange/Flanders

Fair play to galway, deserved their win and best of luck to them in the final. Ordinarily I'd be up for them against the rossies but with some of the gloating that some supporters are doing on this thread im not so sure anymore.

Audioslaven

washman3 wrote: »

Noel and Pat must really be wondering now why a minority of prima donnas were allowed bully them out of their positions in management.
Probably not in their nature but I wouldn't blame them for having a good laugh tonight at the same minority that were marked absent this evening in Castlebar.

I don't think they would be laughing.However, the problem is not that we don't have the footballers its the attitude.
It is clearly not right and it probably started with the removal of the two guys. This has continue into the new year and came home last night

Yesterday, I would have taken AOS off instead of Parsons. He was offering nothing inside, raising his hands in the air each time as an excuse, thinking he could get through a bunch of players.. terrible stuff. COC was taking some stupid shots when a lay off was required, arguing with the linesman towards the end of the game.

Rochford needs to make an serious example of someone for the next game and drop them to the bench and lay down the law like Horan did to mortimer, but I am not sure if he has the steel to make these difficult decisions for the good of the team... I know who I would be picking and he has not been playing well all year.

Its not the end of the world they lost yesterday, if they are serious about winning the AI. This is the kick up the arse they need but Rochford needs to deliver another kick to the team with changes, if they are to progress.

homewardbound11

Waking up this morning after what was meant to be a super Saturday . But ironically I feel the pressure bubble on Mayo is finally relieved . Anybody else feeling this ?
On the match I keep thinking of Roy keanes famous lines "fail to ... I thought a certain amount of complacency and a system that does not work for Mayo . We are footballers and just take us back to 2011 playing with attacking numbers .
Our first 2 points from play came from 1/2 back attacks that were scored by Boyle and parsons but that was 26 or 28 minutes into the game .

So where are we now . Well the ice bucket has firmly been emptied on us and fair play to Galway and their supporters who turned up . Very vocal and deservedly so.

coniosumadre

They should really just pick the entire U21 team for the qualifiers. The other bunch of prima donnas are stinking the county out they're so far past their sell by date.

Cosmo Kramer

washman3 wrote: »

Posts like this are manna from heaven for the opposition.!!
When will we ever learn...??

What, predicting that your team might win a game isn't appropriate any more - you only want us to ever say we expect to lose?? Ridiculous post.

WhiteWalls

coniosumadre wrote:

They should really just pick the entire U21 team for the qualifiers. The other bunch of prima donnas are stinking the county out they're so far past their sell by date.

Pretty harsh to say that they are past their sell by date..obviously Andy Moran, and Alan dillon need to go but that is still a young team even though there are a lot miles on the clock..

charlie14

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

What, predicting that your team might win a game isn't appropriate any more - you only want us to ever say we expect to lose?? Ridiculous post.

Poster has a point imo.
There was way to much talk of how much we will beat Galway by and I hope they give us a good run out ****e on here and around the county.
Nothing new in that, and it`s not the first year it`s had the same result.
Do people think players live in a bubble and don`t hear and are affected by this rubbish and that it`s not used to motivate opposition players???
The`re a big difference in quitely confident and coming across as arrogant.

km79

Maybe the extra games are exactly what the team and management needs
Absolutely all over the place yday
Where are all the people who argued with me that Higgins is not a half forward , is our best corner back and needs to be played there ?????
At least that case is closed now or damn well should be anyway

charlie14

km79 wrote: »

Maybe the extra games are exactly what the team and management needs
Absolutely all over the place yday
Where are all the people who argued with me that Higgins is not a half forward , is our best corner back and needs to be played there ?????
At least that case is closed now or damn well should be anyway

In fairness I wouldn`t confine him just to corner back, but the way he should be anywhere other than the back six is as sweeper where he should have been yesterday.
Mc Loughlin is no sweeper. The Galway goal alone proved that.

Flange/Flanders

Jese seems like we've a tough run in the qualifiers if we have to go all the way. Beat the 1B qualifier (Down, Wexford etc), then possibly 1 of Cork, Donegal/Monaghan, then maybe the loser of Ulster then either (most likely) Dublin or Kerry in the Quarters. If we do it, it'll be some run. I know that there's so many possibilities that might make the above redundant but this is a potential route.

Still tho, if Roch is as good as we hope he is then he can learn from his mistakes last night and get a good run of games going to get whatever strategy he want's sorted. Will focus the minds as well.

coniosumadre

WhiteWalls wrote: »

coniosumadre wrote:

They should really just pick the entire U21 team for the qualifiers. The other bunch of prima donnas are stinking the county out they're so far past their sell by date.

Pretty harsh to say that they are past their sell by date..obviously Andy Moran, and Alan dillon need to go but that is still a young team even though there are a lot miles on the clock..

Warning signs have been there for two years now. Threw the game away to Kerry twice in the semi final. Blitzed by Dublin in the space of ten minutes last year. B##ch slapped by cork this year in January. Barely muster together enough energy or enthusiasm at home to beat a dire down team to secure Division 1 status.

yop

Ill pretend I saw that coming, but I didn't. I had mentioned to a friend that we'd either put in a big performance and win by 7 or 8 or drag ourselves over the line with a 2 point win. I certainly didn't see a comprehensive win by Galway, but from the throw in the had the desire to win the ball and that set the tone. They wanted it and yes they MAY have not have had the experience and so called quality of the Mayo players but desire has shown us in Leiciester (sp) what can be achieved.
Shot selection was poor, COC was like a man with lead weights. Too many of the players were similar, either they had a big fitness session during the week or their heads are so up their bums that their heads weren't right, but the lazy attitude out of nearly all the players was incredible. Outside of Boyler there was no leader.
Hennelly as I have said now for too many years was the catalyst to yet another opposition win. He is a mistake to happen in every game and again he came up trumps. Yes he has saved us, aka as doing his job, in many games, but he has make major mess ups and last night was his pinnacle.

Tactic selection was just head scratching tbh, AOS caused trouble on the 3 of the balls into him in the first 10 minutes, then they move him out.
McLoughs and Higgins swapping positions and then introducing Andy Moran....

Anyway, Galway deserved every bit of their win, a massive crowd turned up on a poor night for football.
As for the ticket fiasco last night and people with Season Tickets asked to leave seats which were unreserved just added to the frustration.

The players set themselves up for a fall last year with their outting of Holmes and Connelly, they saw themselves better than the management and able to dictate the direction of the team. Now when the time came in the league and in the Championship they've made themselves look foolish. Lets see what they do now.

ultrapercy

You can't win an All Ireland without scoring forwards and Mayo don't have them. In pressure games it takes too much effort for Mayo to score. James Horam recognised this and tried to circumvent the problem with a tactically genius plan of hard running very physical half backs breaking the line to set up easier scoring chances. It failed ultimately because it still lacked that one forward who can score from nothing and relieve pressure. Rochford spotted the problem and tried to introduce new forwards and develop others but it's an ongoing project and by the time it's complete the spine of the team will be past their sell by date. This Mayo team to a man have been fantastic for a lot of years they were an inch short of greatness but sport at the top is measured in minutes.No finger pointing or recrimination just acceptance that we were not quite good enough, but man did thoselayers try. This season will limp to a quater final exit and I hope it's a clean death, a soldiers death that's the least they deserve.

km79

charlie14 wrote: »

In fairness I wouldn`t confine him just to corner back, but the way he should be anywhere other than the back six is as sweeper where he should have been yesterday.
Mc Loughlin is no sweeper. The Galway goal alone proved that.

Oh yeah sweeper is fine too
It's was just crazy seeing Kevin Mcloughlin sweeping in defence and Keith more less trying to sweep in the forwards .
Yes he did it well against dublin for 35 minutes in one game 4 years ago. That's it. He is a back. Leave him there

km79

ultrapercy wrote: »

You can't win an All Ireland without scoring forwards and Mayo don't have them. In pressure games it takes too much effort for Mayo to score. James Horam recognised this and tried to circumvent the problem with a tactically genius plan of hard running very physical half backs breaking the line to set up easier scoring chances. It failed ultimately because it still lacked that one forward who can score from nothing and relieve pressure. Rochford spotted the problem and tried to introduce new forwards and develop others but it's an ongoing project and by the time it's complete the spine of the team will be past their sell by date. This Mayo team to a man have been fantastic for a lot of years they were an inch short of greatness but sport at the top is measured in minutes.No finger pointing or recrimination just acceptance that we were not quite good enough, but man did thoselayers try. This season will limp to a quater final exit and I hope it's a clean death, a soldiers death that's the least they deserve.

This can go one of 2 ways
A - see above
B - the players regroup. The manège men used the 2 extra games to fine tune tactics. And we are back in it .
I hope for B but taking the league into consideration fear A.
Funny thing is we are prob as well off facing the Dubs in a quarter than a final .......

Fowler87

We've 3 games to play until any potential quarter finals come into consideration >>>http://www.gaa.ie/mm//Document/GaaIe/GAANews/12/84/22/12886football_wallchart_2016WEB_Neutral.pdf

And going by that display last night, badly needed now. That type of performance has been lingering for awhile now in fairness. We saw it during most of the league campaign. Too much confusion, complacency in this team and got a reality check. Saying that I'm looking forward to the qualifiers.

TCDStudent1

Well I completely called this match wrong. I have never gone into a Galway match with such certainty that we were going to lose. Absolutely everything pointed to a Mayo victory here. The nicest thing you could say about Galway's league was that their form was erratic. But that was against teams of a pretty low standard. We had goalkeeper, fullback, midfield issues. None of which seemed to improve throughout our league campaign. Our goalkeeper yesterday cant even make his club team! Before yesterday, Mayo were seen as the biggest threat to Dublin. It was impossible to see anything other than a Mayo win.

This has to be a really worrying defeat for Mayo. While Galway were excellent yesterday, it is still widely accepted that the 15 players who lined out for Galway are not Galway's 15 best players. There is an argument that the 15 lads who lined yesterday are willing to show more commitment and more heart etc. for Galway. However, I suspect that there is not such an issue in Mayo and that it is generally accepted that the team you put out is close enough to the 15 best players in Mayo (maybe I am wrong though). If I am right and Mayo are playing their 15 best players (or close to it), then it means Mayo's best players were beaten by a Galway selection thats a long way of their best players.

Mayo posters on here often get offended when people come in from other threads after a Mayo defeat calling them bottlers etc. I never really bought into that but now I wonder. It has happened this team far too often, that when the pressure came on them, they failed to deliver:

- Kerry in AI Semi
- Dublin in AI Semi
- Galway yesterday

are all matches where you could argue that Mayo 'bottled' it. There is no doubt in my mind that the current Mayo team have more talent in their team than the current Galway team. So why did they lose to them?

- Was it complacency?
- Do these players think they are better than they are?
- Has Rochford actually brought anything different to last years Management? When you are in trouble, ye still turn to bringing Andy Moran off the bench. This can only work so many times.

I am sure there is a match in recent years that Mayo won when the pressure really came on but I cant think of it - can anyone tell me one?

The problem for Mayo now is that they would not have planned at all for this. I am sure they have some sort of schedule set out for the year which assumed winning Connacht and perhaps a backup plan for losing a Connacht final. But losing Galway was never on their radar. I could see it in the body language of the Mayo team when they walked off - this was a game they expected to win. The qualifiers throws everything awry. From club championship plans to training plans. On the flip side, maybe it will give this Mayo team a bit of a kick. But this was certainly not in Mayo's plans for the year.

For Galway, it was just terrific to see players play with such heart. These players have been very harshly criticised by their own fans. They fought for every ball, got stuck in, full back line were very eager to put a hand in but were also very disciplined. Sport is all about getting the most out of yourself, and many Galway players did that yesterday. Interestingly enough, our more stand-out players like Walsh & Comer were probably amongst our quieter players yesterday.

Audioslaven

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

Mayo posters on here often get offended when people come in from other threads after a Mayo defeat calling them bottlers etc. I never really bought into that but now I wonder. It has happened this team far too often, that when the pressure came on them, they failed to deliver:

- Kerry in AI Semi
- Dublin in AI Semi
- Galway yesterday

you are been a d*** now with that crap because this Mayo team and bottlers have nothing in common. These guys have delivered over the last couple of years. They just have not been good enough. That's it. I would argue that Galway have more in common with bottlers over the last few years because they were getting trimmings from alot of teams.

I don't rate the Galway team as anything special but they beat a very poor team yesterday, who have some issues around game plan, blanket defenses, attitude.

Oldtree

I'm sure the players are as dishartened as we feel with their performance. It happens, time to put it behind right now.

I saw a difficult day to play with very slippy ball conditions, the great leveler, yes there were our obligatory 17 or so wides (that we seem to have in every match) and more than a few unfortunate unforced errors. Time to re-consolidate and I've no doubt that the team will come back screaming. There was some lovely blocking and passing and working the ball forward and some great defense and kicking. I dont think fitness was an issue more a deflation after the goal. I was overconfident too and regret that.

I've mentioned our obligatory 17 or so wides, which we seem to have in every match for a long time now and a few managers too. If we accept that as a fact how do we deal with it? It seems that a solution (and I would advise the same to our u16's in a match if a similar situation arose) Know your limits and work hard within them.

It seems to me it wouldn't be too difficult to implement - Do not take shots at points outside the 20 under any circumstances from play. Move the ball forward into the 20, as close as you can, then have a go. Have that as a strict team rule until this aspect of our game improves dramatically.

Instead of 17 wides, 11 or so in the first half, what would be a reasonable assumption on points scored from these 17 wasted attacks, if the ball was taken in beyond the 20? IMO it could yield up to 30%, maby more, 5-6 extra points per game?

Those few extra points would boost the team spirit no end, by the same amount misses deflate. The extra few matches we have to play this year will do us the world of good and I hope they are hard matches.

Robson99

Audioslaven wrote: »

you are been a d*** now with that crap because this Mayo team and bottlers have nothing in common. These guys have delivered over the last couple of years. They just have not been good enough. That's it. I would argue that Galway have more in common with bottlers over the last few years .

He is not being a dick. They are football's biggest bottlers over the last 20 years. Well able to win one big game in a year but never able to to the second. And I'm not on a wind up. The Galway hurlers are hurling biggest bottlers for the last 40 years

RD10

I'm not at all surprised at the result. I predicted myself that mayo would get the win but only just. Taught galway would give us a good hard match and make us work for it but we'd still prevail in the end.
Its no big suprise that galway came in all guns blazing ready for a battle. of course they were going to be pumped for this. Being wrote off all over the place and totally disregarded.
All week everyone were bigging us up for an easy win. I really dont know why....on the basis of what? Our league campaign was poor from start to finish. We very nearly got caught by down (with all due respect) in our last match. very lethargic league campaign, no obvious gameplan, leaking goals every match, teams cutting right through us with ease, no urgency to our game.
What i was suprised at was james horan's piece in the mayo news this week... basically saying we were going to steamroll galway, that we were way too good for them and they had no chance. That was absolute madness to me. How on earth he (and everyone else) taught that was going to happen is beyond me.. i mean have i been watching the same team as everyone else this year? How could a hammering of galway have been predicted by so many when mayo have been playing so poorly themselves all year so far?
This is exactly what happened with roscommon/sligo this time last year, and like roscommon, mayo deserved to be beaten this year. They were caught looking beyond galway towards a connacht final.
Now i dont know what the players themselvees thaught but certainly our supporters seemed to have gotten ahead of themselves believing we're much too good for some teams. Very silly to disregard galway the way people did.
I'm not saying we're a bad team, we're not. It was just a very bad all round, flat team performance yesterday. We know mayo are capable of a LOT better. Let that be a lesson learned and let's move on. Hopefully these qualifiers will give them the kick up the arse that they need to get them going because We havn't got going at all this year year.
when you think of how good we can play when we really play to our ability you can see just how bad a performance that was yesterday.
Also This balony of mayo 'supporters' turning on the team and individual players when they lose a match. It needs to stop.
I've read a lot of crap this morning about different players. But One individual targeting cillian o'connor, posting muck questioning his inability to talk the talk and walk the walk and being capable of neither...who does this person think they are? Absolute nonsense.
Cillian o'connor has been the one player that mayo can always rely on in every match. Maybe he's relied on too much at times. But to question cillian of all people is just laughable.
Yes he scores a lot of frees but he's a damn good free taker, 9 times out of 10 he wont miss. Often times scoring very tricky frees, frees under serious pressure, frees from distance and he nails them. regularly. He's one of our best players and one of the best in the country and for people to be making stupid comments and accusations like this is pathetic. Anyone to lay the blame on it seems. he practically single handedly kept us in the game until we woke up after half time against dublin in the first game last year. I dont need to remind people how important a player he is for us.
He had one off game, he wasnt the only one who had. Lets go and regroup and come back stronger.
We've got a second chance now through the back door so we need to stop slating the team when things go wrong and get out and support them when they need it most.
Its just an extra few matches. a different route being taken but the Same destination. Let's go again.
Mayo Abú

Robson99

ultrapercy wrote: »

In your esteemed wisdom what is the difference between bottling and not being good enough? I have never seen this team do anything but dig deep and fight hard. They have come up short but that's sport. Bottle talk is usually the way of those who don't understand competition just spectating. Mayo lack real quality in the scoring third and that's not a slight on they players who wear the jersey but if Mayo had a Conor McManus they would have won at least one AI in the last 6 years. But ifs are the difference between glory and disappointment and Conor McManus don't grow on trees.

I believe Mayo teams are as talented as any team over the last 20 years. But for some strange reason they are unable to deliver on the biggest day of all. A bit like Jimmy White in snooker. Fabulous to watch, could beat anybody on any day but when it came to the World Championship final he just bottled it.
Mayo have had the forwards good enough to get them to All Ireland finals. Its NoT talent that lets them down in finals its bottle and belief

PressRun

Who else do they have in the forward line, apart from Cillian O'Connor, to deliver on the big day? I posted an Irish Times article here a couple of days ago that showed that statistically, Cillian is the most relied upon player in the country. Mayo rely on him more than Monaghan rely on Conor McManus. There aren't enough players in the squad who are capable of taking on scoring responsibilities and there's only so far you can go with one man carrying the attack.

And I also think, aside from the obvious that Cillian needs support, the above also shows that the questioning of his ability is very harsh. He is and has been single-handedly carrying the Mayo attack and has been instrumental in how far we've gone over the last couple of years. We would be in a worse place if we didn't have him and our over-reliance on him just shows how far you can get (and that you will be ultimately beaten) with essentially a one-man attack. Yesterday he was off the pace, which I would put down to his long lay-off and lack of game time, but he was hardly any worse than other players on the team who haven't contributed to the same extent as he has over the last couple of years.

Fr Tod Umptious

Great to see all the regular Mayo posters out in force today with good honest opinions on the game and the team.



Unlike some other threads.

ultrapercy

Robson99 wrote: »

I believe Mayo teams are as talented as any team over the last 20 years. But for some strange reason they are unable to deliver on the biggest day of all. A bit like Jimmy White in snooker. Fabulous to watch, could beat anybody on any day but when it came to the World Championship final he just bottled it.
Mayo have had the forwards good enough to get them to All Ireland finals. Its NoT talent that lets them down in finals its bottle and belief

I have witnessed Mayo lose 6 AI finals in my lifetime. The only one of those finals that Mayo were favourite to win was 97 against a Kerry team who they hammered in the previous years semi final. The final against Donegal was a evens Steven situation beforehand but Donegal were on a serious roll that year. The other 4 finals were lost to the team strongly fancied to win. 97 was the only year where nerve could be viewed as a significant factor. In other years bad luck and (slightly) superior opposition were the deciding factors and are the factors that decide most close sporting contests.

charlie14

Oldtree wrote: »

I'm sure the players are as dishartened as we feel with their performance. It happens, time to put it behind right now.

I saw a difficult day to play with very slippy ball conditions, the great leveler, yes there were our obligatory 17 or so wides (that we seem to have in every match) and more than a few unfortunate unforced errors. Time to re-consolidate and I've no doubt that the team will come back screaming. There was some lovely blocking and passing and working the ball forward and some great defense and kicking. I dont think fitness was an issue more a deflation after the goal. I was overconfident too and regret that.

I've mentioned our obligatory 17 or so wides, which we seem to have in every match for a long time now and a few managers too. If we accept that as a fact how do we deal with it? It seems that a solution (and I would advise the same to our u16's in a match if a similar situation arose) Know your limits and work hard within them.

It seems to me it wouldn't be too difficult to implement - Do not take shots at points outside the 20 under any circumstances from play. Move the ball forward into the 20, as close as you can, then have a go. Have that as a strict team rule until this aspect of our game improves dramatically.

Instead of 17 wides, 11 or so in the first half, what would be a reasonable assumption on points scored from these 17 wasted attacks, if the ball was taken in beyond the 20? IMO it could yield up to 30%, maby more, 5-6 extra points per game?

Those few extra points would boost the team spirit no end, by the same amount misses deflate. The extra few matches we have to play this year will do us the world of good and I hope they are hard matches.

Nowadays I doubt that would work even with a under 16 team, but against the top 8 - 10 teams there wouldn`t be a hope in hell of carrying ball into the 20 without being stripped and on the back foot for the breakout.
At the top level good forwards either have it or not.
It`s really up to players realising their own short-comings and not hitting Hail Mary`s.

coniosumadre

charlie14 wrote: »

Oldtree wrote: »

I'm sure the players are as dishartened as we feel with their performance. It happens, time to put it behind right now.

I saw a difficult day to play with very slippy ball conditions, the great leveler, yes there were our obligatory 17 or so wides (that we seem to have in every match) and more than a few unfortunate unforced errors. Time to re-consolidate and I've no doubt that the team will come back screaming. There was some lovely blocking and passing and working the ball forward and some great defense and kicking. I dont think fitness was an issue more a deflation after the goal. I was overconfident too and regret that.

I've mentioned our obligatory 17 or so wides, which we seem to have in every match for a long time now and a few managers too. If we accept that as a fact how do we deal with it? It seems that a solution (and I would advise the same to our u16's in a match if a similar situation arose) Know your limits and work hard within them.

It seems to me it wouldn't be too difficult to implement - Do not take shots at points outside the 20 under any circumstances from play. Move the ball forward into the 20, as close as you can, then have a go. Have that as a strict team rule until this aspect of our game improves dramatically.

Instead of 17 wides, 11 or so in the first half, what would be a reasonable assumption on points scored from these 17 wasted attacks, if the ball was taken in beyond the 20? IMO it could yield up to 30%, maby more, 5-6 extra points per game?

Those few extra points would boost the team spirit no end, by the same amount misses deflate. The extra few matches we have to play this year will do us the world of good and I hope they are hard matches.

Nowadays I doubt that would work even with a under 16 team, but against the top 8 - 10 teams there wouldn`t be a hope in hell of carrying ball into the 20 without being stripped and on the back foot for the breakout.
At the top level good forwards either have it or not.
It`s really up to players realising their own short-comings and not hitting Hail Mary`s.

Honestly. The amount of people making excuses. It's nothing to do with losing connaught. That was going to happen at some stage anyway. Their limp toothless display at home was a disgrace. Outscored 1-5 to 1 point in the last 20 minutes. Galways goal only leveled the match.. But not one mayo player even attempted to take the initiative after it.. Shameful stuff.

Fr Tod Umptious

It will be really interesting what happens form here.

You always hear about teams that win championships having hunger.

But where is the hunger in this Mayo team? the next game(s) should tell us

Based on what happened last September you would expect this team to have lots of hunger, but that's not what we saw last night.

Or maybe the hunger is gone from that older guys, the O'Shea's, Higgins, Andy Moran, McLaughlin.
They have put a lot in in the past 5+ years, maybe they just don't have it the head for it any more.
And who would blame them.

I've always been of the opinion that poor league campaign was a sign of a poor summer to come, but the optimist in me thought that the stronger league finish was a good sign, but maybe the first half of the league was more accurate reflection of them than the second half.

Either way we will know in the coming months.

If it does all go to pot then its to the u21s they should look to for next years league and start all over again.

The light at the end of the tunnel is that those lads have been successful to this point.

blowitupref

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

It will be really interesting what happens form here.

You always hear about teams that win championships having hunger.

But where is the hunger in this Mayo team? the next game(s) should tell us

Based on what happened last September you would expect this team to have lots of hunger, but that's not what we saw last night.

Or maybe the hunger is gone from that older guys, the O'Shea's, Higgins, Andy Moran, McLaughlin.
They have put a lot in in the past 5+ years, maybe they just don't have it the head for it any more.
And who would blame them.

I've always been of the opinion that poor league campaign was a sign of a poor summer to come, but the optimist in me thought that the stronger league finish was a good sign, but maybe the first half of the league was more accurate reflection of them than the second half.

Either way we will know in the coming months.

If it does all go to pot then its to the u21s they should look to for next years league and start all over again.

The light at the end of the tunnel is that those lads have been successful to this point.

Don't know was it hunger or not but for 60 of the 70 mins last night i thought Galway were the better team only the last ten minutes of the 1st half did Mayo play well or were allowed to play well however it wasn't until the Flynn goal did Galway fully believe they could win.

How strong did Mayo actually finish the league? the Roscommon match was probably their best performance but that was played on a heavy pitch and even then they found themselves just one score ahead approaching full time. Monaghan game Mayo could easily have lost and now in hindsight it looks like the writing was on the wall with that narrow win and big score conceded against a poor Down side.

On the U-21s this year with the oppuntunity to build again, they showed fantastic character to pull wins out of the fire against Roscommon,Dublin,Cork but i don't think that U-21 winning team are a patch on the 2006 U-21 team. C Boyle,G Cafferkey, K Higgins; C Barrett, T Cunniffe,S O'Shea, B Moran all of whom have went on to be established seniors. This years U-21 team will do well to get 3 or 4 established seniors Coen,Loftus,O Connor the most likely.

washman3

Fowler87 wrote: »

We've 3 games to play until any potential quarter finals come into consideration >>>http://www.gaa.ie/mm//Document/GaaIe/GAANews/12/84/22/12886football_wallchart_2016WEB_Neutral.pdf

And going by that display last night, badly needed now. That type of performance has been lingering for awhile now in fairness. We saw it during most of the league campaign. Too much confusion, complacency in this team and got a reality check. Saying that I'm looking forward to the qualifiers.

Its not a complete given that you will win 3 games and get to a 1/4 final.
Is that not the exact same complacency that led to last nights defeat.?
Plus the 'Discover Ireland Tour' is not exactly something that might suit this Mayo team. Remember the Gaelic Grounds V Kerry....???

Stoner

For what it's worth, imo the Galway backs were great yesterday, worryingly for aos it might be the case that a powerful small man can wrap him up.
On the forwards issue I'd play aos in the half forward line , let him drift in the way star can, he did very little yesterday and far more is needed from his abilities.
COS for me has never been a very good forward from play. He is a great tackler he wins a fair amount of frees and he's deadly accurate from frees . When a defense is disciplined it greatly reduces his scores as imo it's not really a sure thing if you let him shoot from play, but he'll pop the free. Could mayo win more frees, it nearly beat Dublin last year.
DOC was missed, when mayo players attack in numbers they win more frees , they seemed to sit back though
The Mayo forwards didn't really turn over the quantity of ball we expected yesterday. Galway seemed to have a game plan to quieten down that part Mayo's game. Andy Moran unusually made no impact, they were ready for him too.
All the guys who usually contribute a score or two were well matched up by galway , Keegan, Moran etc you'd expect 4 points between them.
I do think mayo had an off day. I think Galway were waiting for this game for a long time.
I didn't see the spirit in mayo that makes them a top team . I'd say that's a credit to galway, but it's also down to mayo.

Fr Tod Umptious

washman3 wrote: »

Its not a complete given that you will win 3 games and get to a 1/4 final.
Is that not the exact same complacency that led to last nights defeat.?
Plus the 'Discover Ireland Tour' is not exactly something that might suit this Mayo team. Remember the Gaelic Grounds V Kerry....???

What ?
Are you trying to compare an AI SF loss in extra time to Kerry with a 2nd, 3rd or 4th round of the qualifiers ?

You'd be better off using losses away to Westmeath (2001), Fermanagh (2003), Derry (2007) and Longford (2010) to make that point.

corny

Robson99 wrote: »

He is not being a dick. They are football's biggest bottlers over the last 20 years. Well able to win one big game in a year but never able to to the second. And I'm not on a wind up. The Galway hurlers are hurling biggest bottlers for the last 40 years

Is it something in the water? Genetics? What? Piss poor, lazy generalisations you have there. You haven't watched Mayo over the last 5 years if you don't think they're consistent.

seligehgit

That result was quite a shock to the system.

Nobody doubts there has been a possible mental fragility sometimes manifested in an inability to protect a lead in some Mayo performances.All Ireland finals,All Ireland semi finals/semi final replays but does that justify the bottlers tag?Such a loaded and lazy phrase to throw out by those who wish to gloat and seek pleasure in other counties misery,frankly pathetic.

Evidently mental strength is a intricate part of the make up of a winning team so we have not been good enough and are well aware of same.Although I'd stand by my long standing opinion that ultimately we are lacking in the requisite firepower to get us over the line.We have been reliant on a now misfiring half back line and the ability to win a mountain of possession to compensate for this glaring deficit.

It did appear that more than a hint of complacency,mental fatigue(lack of intensity and desire to win the dirty ball),clueless systems and possible leggy team(overtraining) as demonstrated in Kevin Keane's leg cramps...surprising were contributing factors.The stupidity of going into the tackle with predictable turnovers of possession,pedestrian like build up play,lateral passing and poor shot selection.

I thought Conor Lane had a poor day out,lots of mystifying decisions.Early on Mayo could not buy a free,he contributed greatly to a high free count and a poor contest which was very stop start.

I found the starting of Stephen Coen a recognised half back/midfielder in the forward very strange.Ditto the deployment of Keith Higgins in a more forward position.What was the rationale behind a move untested in this calendar year which failed dismally?

Kevin McLoughlin one of our better performers,not sure if he's the man for a sweeping role.We don't seem to be able to work the role of a sweeper...a Cian O Sullivan very well.That infamous soft centre down the middle of the Mayo defence was evident when Galway moved at pace.

Indicative of the undercurrent of complacency was the poor shot selection in the first half,Cillian O Connor's seeming obsession with demostrating his ability to take a long distant score off his left side.Aidan O Shea's wide off the outside of his boot,unnecessary.

Our midfield over the years has been one of our greatest strengths,it malfunctioned yesterday.Conroy and Flynn,two fine footballers cleaned us out.Flynn can run at pace and previously demonstrated his eye for a goal against the kingdom in Croke Park.Jason Gibbons was quiet before his unfortunate departure with a shoulder injury,possible fracture.Tom Parsons had a day to forget and Seamus O Shea's chronic loss of form continues.

TBF there have been signs that the team is in decline,the national league was a real struggle.Although the Roscommon victory was a chance to put down a marker the copybook was blotted by the number of wides with near 70% possession.The days out against Kerry and Down showed up many worrying facets of our game.

Many changes are needed for the qualifiers.David Clarke must come under serious consideration for the next game after Robbie Hennelly's crucial error last night,there have been other costly ones down through the years.Ger Cafferkey although not as physically imposing is more mobile than Kevin Keane.

Paddy Durkan did'nt really get into the contest with his marauding runs.Lee Keegan is far too good a player to not step up.Colm Boyle in many ways the heartbeat of the team was one of our best performers,you're always guaranteed 100%.

Our midfield problems are very worrying,we have few options.Hoping an out of form Seamus O Shea can rediscover his best form with Jason Gibbons a likely long term absence.

It was a shame Diarmuid O Connor could'nt start,the tide had already turned whence he entered the action.The Galway goal seemed to spark a widespread headless chicken like panic in the team.

Jason Doherty's tendency to bring the ball into contact and a likely swarm tackle is infuriating.One can't fault his work rate but he does'nt threaten the goalposts enough.

Hopefully Cillian O Connor,Evan Regan and maybe a starting Conor Loftus will be better able to win their own ball the next day,too much spilt ball.

I am not too sure about the suggested twin towers strategy of Aidan O Shea and Barry Moran inside.Aidan has had better days out,crowded out inside,spilt ball and arms in the air.Not working hard enough.

Both lads are lacking in any great mobility.It's great in theory,a helping hand for Aidan and Cillian can feed off of the ball won.We may not get to test/roadtest such a system against an only perceived weakness of the Dublin's of this world minus Rory O Carroll.They seem to have coped quite well in his absence.

I've the height of respect for the lads for the great joy they've given us selflessly over the last number of years.Not been good enough is not failure in my eyes.It had to end some time.Can they now show the ultimate mental strength to bring us a long and ultimately fruitful summer culminating in a long overdue victory on the third Sunday in September?We must continue to believe and support the lads and take little heed of the snide gloaters and begrudgers.

I echo Yop's sentiments re the fiasco that was the seating arrangements in the stand,season ticket holders were not properly advised before the game that certain blocks were reserved for paying ticket holders.

Congrats to the Tribesmen,deserved victory.Excellent midfield,as always natural forwards and a surprisingly stout defence.

Supernintento Chalmers

corny wrote: »

Is it something in the water? Genetics? What? Piss poor, lazy generalisations you have there. You haven't watched Mayo over the last 5 years if you don't think they're consistent.

They've certainly performed consistently in All-Ireland Finals.

yop

I see none of the 6 season tickets in my seating group were showing up as Attended.

blinding

The Qualifiers can be a challenge for this group of players.

Its time to put up now. There should be no reason that this team cannot do well in the qualifiers.

statto25

yop wrote: »

I see none of the 6 season tickets in my seating group were showing up as Attended.

Not updated here either. Might be the usual Connacht council delay.

km79

statto25 wrote: »

Not updated here either. Might be the usual Connacht council delay.

Ours have updated

yop

statto25 wrote: »

Not updated here either. Might be the usual Connacht council delay.

I emailed them there to tell them.

statto25

km79 wrote: »

Ours have updated

Mine now updated...They must be watching.

yop

statto25 wrote: »

Mine now updated...They must be watching.

lol, same as