Mayo GAA Discussion

Man Vs ManUre

Corofin vs Brigid’s final. Can the Ros do what Mayo couldn’t?? And I don’t mean win an all star!!

blowitupref

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121384802#Comment_121384802

Brigids have to beat Mohill first. I think the last two Corofin v Brigids Connacht final played in Roscommon was won by Brigids.

gigantic09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121384802#Comment_121384802

Unfortunately Mayo aren't exactly a powerhouse in Connaught senior club football.only 4 victories in the last 20 years,castlebar in 2015 being the most recent . Galway hold 10 and Roscommon 5 over that period(no competition in 2020).

The Moist Buddha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121384802#Comment_121384802

yes

Loafing Oaf

Was playing into the wind in the first half the wrong call for Ballina? Or if they had played with would they have gone in about level and finished the game with a similar losing margin to what they did?

Man Vs ManUre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121388432#Comment_121388432

I don’t think they were ever really in with much chance. A first time winner in Mayo in donkeys years, at a time when Mayo football has dropped a lot from its glory years 2005-2020, up against a club that used to be almost greater than its county. Corofin don’t seem to be as strong as they were few years ago but they should still beat Brigid’s going by their showing today vs Mohill.

Squatman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121388432#Comment_121388432

No, BA played naively, or poorly, not sure which. deserved losers "on the day".

evolvingtipperary101

Rules for a West of Ireland GAA team...

PARlance

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121422003#Comment_121422003

A Mayo club team?

evolvingtipperary101

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121422013#Comment_121422013

Galway

Jizique

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121422029#Comment_121422029

Hurling

spakman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121422003#Comment_121422003

Every player should tell them to shove it up their hole. There's no team without players.

evolvingtipperary101

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121422041#Comment_121422041

I think that's why they leaked it...

irishgeo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121422003#Comment_121422003

Some of the Premier league teams would not have rules that strict.

Have the forgotten it's an amateur sport?

evolvingtipperary101

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121422094#Comment_121422094

Shocking list. They obviously have.

Jesus, l’ve heard it all now. Just aften listening to an ad for a programme on the BBC’s World Service radio station called the “Curse of County Mayo”. Yes, it’s about the football team. On at 6.30pm on Saturday evening if anyone’s interested.

Audioslaven

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121422155#Comment_121422155

Ha ha. They left out the biggest issue in society.... "pass the bag". I would rather have a bunch of lads having a few beers at the weekend than sh1t heads!!

evolvingtipperary101

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121425371#Comment_121425371

No snow on the weekend, lads.

padd b1975

Rumours of a 500 euros "admin fee" being charged per club by the county board on the JP donation.

HBC08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121503112#Comment_121503112

How stupid would you have to be to believe such a rumour?

Honestly,why are (a minority) of Mayo fans in particular so gullible and hungry for gossip and nonsense?

padd b1975

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121504511#Comment_121504511

I never said I believed it.

Wouldn't surprise me though if a kite was being flown...

flasher0030

Took a trip over to the Dome over Christmas to have a look at the fundraiser - Mayo team versus Mayo club selection. It was a good run out for the lads. Some of them were obviously a bit rusty. Paul Towey, Bob Tuohy, Even Regan, Rory Brickenden put in decent performances.

Anybody else stand out for anyone that was there?

On a separate note, the players were amazing to the kids. Took so much time out for photos and to say hello. My kids were absolutely chuffed to get to meet them, without being surrounded by the huge crowds that are on the pitch in McHale Park after the league/championship games.

Blackjack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121561687#Comment_121561687

Careful now, lads taking time out with for photos with kids is the reason we've not won an Ireland, if some of the bluffer brigade are to be believed.

Audioslaven

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121563005#Comment_121563005

The reality is we are not good enough and lacked that real quality to win.... 70 odd years... It's a joke when you think of it!! I can't see it changing this year either and I see us sliding deeper down the pecking order.

HBC08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121572768#Comment_121572768

That's the kind of positivity and optimism that really gets people places.

Why don't you take a year off.

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121572862#Comment_121572862

I think it's a very realistic outlook from the poster.

Look at the last two years against Kerry and Dublin.

Teams Mayo used to go toe to toe with, and beat now they are losing by 8 and 12 points.

Keeper and full back line have potential, but you are left scratching your head about Coen, Loftus and the likes of Ruane.

O'Hora, as likeable as he is is not really up to scratch for serious All Ireland contender level.

Fynn looks like a real leader but you need to be getting more from Carr and Carney.

As for taking the year off, well speaking for myself I've been kind of doing that since the 2021 final.

That has really subconsciously tempered my enthusiasm for this team.

I'm just struggling to get excited about them.

It's a bit like the period between 2006 and 2011.

After the 2006 final I was very annoyed, they had faced the same team two years earlier, got hammered and came back again and got hammered again, it's as if they learned nothing in 2 years.

Then we had four years of utter mediocrity before Horan came along and lit the spark.

With 2021 they had a cast iron opportunity to win the feckin thing but proved Brolly, Spillane, O'Rourke etc right by not having the balls to go out and just do their job.

So here we are in this no man's land of being able to dispatch the likes of Galway but not really dine at the top table.

We need a new spark, like 2011, but I've no idea where it's coming from.

Audioslaven

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121573291#Comment_121573291

Nicely put and 2021 was awlful. We have supporters who can't read what's in front of them and have a problem with reality. You would think 70 years would make people grow up...but I am not shocked because this is Mayo football which carries alot of hot air at times.

To add you your post Mcstay is not the man imo after one year in charge and it is going to blow up in a greater manner with these players mentioned. It's over for AOS as well and time to move on. I have no grounds for this but I feel from watching players, being in the setup is sufficient for them.

Blackjack

I don’t disagree. I’m just making the point that there’s a large brigade of bluffer commentators who will find other reasons to pin things on individual players behaviour rather than the real reasons.

HBC08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121573291#Comment_121573291

I agree with you.

I don't believe we'll win the All Ireland this year and I think we're just outside the top 2 or 3 teams.I also mentally checked out a bit after final in 2021.I don't put the same amount of effort in and am debating whether I can afford the 500e for my two season tickets.

However,when you have the same negative sh1te coming from the same people every year its grates on me,its actually a disadvantage to the team and the cause.The poster in question has a long record of posting naval gazing bullsh1t and its no harm to point it out.

On a side note stranger things have happened than league champions and a team ranked 4th or 5th in the country winning the big one.Whatever about 2023 (when we won the league) 2022 was a complete write off with injuries.I listened to in depth interviews with ROD and Jordan recently. They don't sound like lads who are there to make up the numbers.

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121573345#Comment_121573345

I'll give McStay credit for leaving the studio where he can say they should have done this that and the other and actually being the one to help deliver the this that and the other.

Same goes for O'Rourke.

But I'm not sure McStay is the answer, his sticking with Loftus and commitment to Coen concern me.

Now it may be the case that the alternative was worse but one would hope to see a bit of change in that half back line for the league at least.

Aiden at full forward was as successful as it was back when H&C did it in 2015.

Aiden if he has anything left has to be an impact sub, when games get lose in the last quarter.

As for lads just being happy with being in the squad, that's what we had pre Horan, hopefully it was wiped out since then.

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121573550#Comment_121573550

The problem is after 2021 those commentators cannot be called "bluffers", they were right at the end of the day.

MacDanger

Happy new year everyone!

Jordan Flynn is one of the few players in the last couple of years to go from being a bit-part player to leading the team and I think we'd need a lot of players to do similar if we're to make a jump back up to the top table this year.

In 2011/2012, there were several players who went from decent players to being top players and mainstays of the team in what seemed like a very short time and I think there are a good few guys who'd need to do the same now e.g. Hession, McLaughlin, Carney, Coyne, McHale, Conroy, Carr, Brickendon, McDonagh, Reape, Callinan. Some of these have been there a lot longer than others and some have suffered from a number of serious injuries along the way but I think all of them started at least one championship game in the last two years. Unless 4-5 of them make a big step up, we're treading water at best imo

Blackjack

I’m more referring to Bluffers like Bernard Flynn and the likes, when he was getting his sly digs in about Aido spending time with kids at a game in Mullingar. Even Holmes and Connelly were at it with the “you won’t win an all Ireland if you go on that toughest tv programme” and that sort of balderdash when they did their interview with Brehany.

2021 wasn’t a game we were automatically entitled to win and to be fair to Tyrone they had their homework done, they destroyed us with the long kickouts and were able to keep Ruane and Durcan quiet. We had no answer to that and while I’ve a lot of time for what Horan did with the team he was simply too rigid in his approach.

Audioslaven

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121574285#Comment_121574285

McStay deserved his chance but probably should have got it the first time, but after last year I am not sure as well if he is the answer. He has to give new younger lads a go in the league. He cannot keep going with the same guys and expect a different outcome even at the expense of going down to D2. As you have mentioned his commitment to certain players is a concern but then maybe there is no one better in his eyes. In fairness Aidan at full forward worked at times and did well last year but against the better opposition not so much. He is pushing on now but agree an impact sub is probably his role going forward.

Other players such as Ruane and Conroy have fairly dropped off and I know Conroy had a bad injury, so we need these back to their best.

spakman

Midfield is the most worrying area for me - we were cleaned out there in the big games last year.

Ruane's form has been poor for the past 2 years. I'd have hopes for Bob Tuohy but listening to John Reilly on mayo news podcast he was questioning if Touhy really wanted to put in the hard work, the graft needed to play midfield.

Carney seems hot and cold as well - himself and Flynn are both good players but neither a big fielder.

Sebastian Dangerfield

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121575454#Comment_121575454

Hot and cold is our biggest problem. We have so many players who can light it up on a good day, but we can place no reliance on more of them playing well than not on a given day.

James Carr is a prime example. When hes hot he looks untouchable, but there's no consistency whatsoever. RoD and Flynn are probably the only ones Id count on time and time again, and even they arent immune to it.

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121574355#Comment_121574355

Yes they were not entitled to win in 2021, or any other year, no team ever is.

But I spent the 2010s convincing myself and anyone who would listen to me that Mayo would win an All Ireland if they didn't have to come up against Dublin, the team of the century, or a Donegal team who were as driven as anyone has ever seen, and they had lost All Ireland's to "small margins"

I kept saying they had to be like Cork 2010.

But then when the opportunity arose (and no disrespect to Tyrone but they were not a generational team, and remember how they were cleaned out in midfield by Kerry?) they just collectively feel apart, bottled it.

So even though what we heard from Bernard Flynn was over the top the reality is that Mayo teams (plural) don't seem to have the mentality to just finish the job and win All Ireland's.

People argue that the past failures should have no bearing on current or future teams performance in finals, but I believe that it has everything to do with it

Because if you are a Mayo player that loses multiple All Ireland finals you are nothing special, all you are is another player who has lost All Irelands.

At the end of the day very little differenciates McHale, from David Haney, from Brady, from a few Mortimers, from Keegan, Higgins, Vaughan and a slee more.

They are just Mayo players that have lost multiple All Ireland finals.

So on All Ireland final day, when the fat is in the fire, and Mayo players are struggling to conjure up that extra something that will get them over the line they can rest assured that if they don't find it they will no different from many others since 1989 who failed to find it, they will not stand out, they will get no special attention for their failure*

That's where the mentality has to change, that's where the flip side of the equation has to come to the fore, that winning the thing would make them legends, and that within the camp they have to challenge each other and make sure there is no free pass for just joining the long list of losers.

Listen to any Kerry players about losing All Irelands, it's all about the complete and utter despair and the drive to make it right the next year.

I don't feel the Mayo players have that, and that's part of why we are waiting so long.

And even though I don't agree with out and out criticism of amateur players I think we as fans have to be a bit more restraint in our support for the team after days like the 2021 final.

We are spending good money supporting those guys and when they do like they did in 2021 we need to let them know that they have let us down. As I have said my support for this team has really taken a hit since the 2021 final.

I felt the same after 2006, but 2021 was a lot worse and still grates over two years later.

*Aiden O'Shea comes in for special attention, but that's the fecked up world we live in with social media.

PressRun

Anyone think Ruane could/should be under pressure for his place this year? Realistically, he hasn't played well since the semi final in 2021. He was thoroughly found out against Tyrone and hasn't recovered since. Not a natural midfielder imo and all it took was a team doing a bit of homework on him to suss that out. We are seriously lacking in this area of the field imo - no big, physical presences there who can win their own ball in the air. How you develop a platform for scoring without a functional, imposing midfield, I do not know.

I happen to think we are in for a few quiet years. We are lacking quality all over the pitch and no consistency.

boosabum

Off to a great start anyway 😊

BENDYBINN

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121582900#Comment_121582900

SSH……it never happened…

PARlance

The London thread is hopping! That's our first defeat to them is it?

A friend was at it and has spent the past 24 hours considering his choice.

Fr Tod Umptious

Three Mayo league games on Saturday nights this season.

Home v Dublin 3rd Feb.

Away to Kerry 17th Feb

Away to Tyrone 24th Feb.

No doubt a few Sunday ones on TG4 also.

We get well catered for when it comes to Mayo games being televised.

Blackjack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121579559#Comment_121579559

all fair points. I stand by the Bluffer brigade comments though. We haven't lost games because of lads taking time to allow kids take photos or any of that sort of craic, and there's a seam of bullshit in GAA commentary that seems to apply that formula, and there are many that are only too happy to take it as gospel.

GBXI

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121579559#Comment_121579559

There are so many things wrong with this post.

Mayo didn't bottle it in 2021, you just over-rated them before the final. Just because Tyrone weren't a generational team it doesn't mean that they weren't as good as Mayo. It was a 50/50 game. Tyrone performed better on the day, Morgan gave a masterclass in modern goal-keeping, and ROD missed a peno at a crucial time (not to mention Loftus' and O'Shea's first half goal chances).

Your point about Mayo players not getting special attention should they lose a final (whatever that has to do with them actually winning one, I don't know), could easily be argued against by saying no county team players get more special attention when they lose a final. "Higgins has now lost this many, Brady cannot do it on the big day, goalkeeper this, forwards that". You don't think that the Mayo team of 2011 to 2017 wasn't challenging each other? Jesus, Dara O'Se called the 2017 team one of the all time greatest teams. That any team that gets to an AI final doesn't have the drive? You're just ranting.

"We are spending good money supporting those guys... we need to let them know when they've let us down". This is the most outrageous part of this post. No you don't! As if the men's senior team owe you something because you pay into the games they play in! Unless you are a family member or close friend of someone in the squad, they couldn't give two hoots about you and nor should they. They play for themselves and each other. If you don't like the outcome, don't go.

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121593268#Comment_121593268

I get what you are saying.

You said that in 2021 Tyrone performed better on the day.

Why didn't Mayo perform better on the day ?

Why do so many players over the years fail to perform on the biggest stage?

Just like Morgan gave a masterclass in modern goalkeeping why didn't ROD give a masterclass in sticking a penalty at a crucial time in the game?

You said "Higgins has now lost this many, Brady cannot do it on the big day,..." which is true, but they have each other for company in that conversation, and many more along with them, none of them are on an island, and I think it's that realization that they are not on that island that gives them an out when they can't find that extra something they need to perform on the big day

Why do other teams like Tyrone, Donegal, Armagh come to finals and play their very best and better and Mayo can't?

You talked about teams getting to finals having drive, but where was Mayo's drive to win it on the day in 2021 ?

Why did it not surpass Tyrone's?

Why does it never surpass anyone's?

crusd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121594976#Comment_121594976

In the 2017 AIF Mayo played as well as I have ever seen a Mayo team play. A generational team beat them by a point because they also performed very well on the day and had depth from the bench that we didn't.

GBXI

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121594976#Comment_121594976

No one knows why Mayo didn't perform better. Horan doesn't know, only the players have any idea and even then, why does any team not perform on any given day? I think lots of Mayo players have played well on the big day. Keegan made a reputation off of playing his best stuff in finals. Cillian was very good in 2016. Chris Barrett amazing in 2017. I thought Aidan was excellent at mid-field in 2017 as well. Ciaran McDonald was excellent in 2004 final.

That's your opinion but I completely disagree with it. I don't think Mayo losing in 2006 had any impact on Kevin McLoughlin or Cillian or Clarke or the O'Shea's in 2012 or 2013.

Tyrone were poor in the 2018 final. Donegal not at their best in 2014. Armagh haven't been to enough finals for us to comment on.

I think Mayo's drive was fine in 2021. Their application was lacking at times, like I mentioned, and Tyrone wasn't. That's different to hunger/drive.

spakman

We didn't play consistently well in any game in 2021 - the fact we beat the Dubs overshadowed that somewhat.

What's most galling is that Tyrone didn't need to play that well to win that final - when you compare it to 2017 when we were immense and still lost, its sickening.

MacDanger

Cora taking up a role with Ballina, will be interesting to see how they get on

Cora Staunton takes up coaching role with Ballina Stephenites - Mayo Live (mayonews.ie)

eastie17

I didnt believe McStay was the answer, still hope I'm wrong but doubt it. After 12 months its still not clear what way he wants the team to play. nominally I suppose in theory its a "quarterback" type 6 who can land fast ball into a mobile full forward line. But that isnt working at all, instead we have a team that goes over and back and a 6 that cant really defend. I think we would have all dealt with last year being disappointing if we could see a structure and thought we might need a few more pieces of the personnel puzzle fixed and could drive on from there but I dont think were any further along in 12 months which means some of our older top players have another year under the belt with nothing gained, and our younger lads haven't really progressed on learning a system of sorts.

Others have said that we seem to be trying to play some sort of Rochford model that he used in Donegal, which was terrible and got them nowhere.

What are we at would be the main question I would have on Mayo