Mayo GAA Discussion

lillielad

Eoghan McCloughlin has been super that solo aside.

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121843333#Comment_121843333

Yea he's doing great work, but he got pulled for over carrying earlier and the solos have been scary.

Unlucky not to have a goal there just now.

lillielad

Such an unfortunate injury there, exact same as Lee Gannon's earlier tonight.

Sebastian Dangerfield

Am I losing my mind or was RoD playing in the full back line the last 10 mins?

homewardbound11

Ryan was cornerback and supporting him was Tommy conroy and Cillian on and off .

Westernview

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121843333#Comment_121843333

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121843360#Comment_121843360

I was 50/50 on EMcL up to now weighing up his pace and power versus wastage and fouling. But I think now I'd play him as at least he is hard running towards goal. Anything is better than the laboured lateral play we've had from defence which won't cause any problems to the top teams. Hopefully his injury will clean up soon.

Panrich

Well job done against the Rossies. I'm delighted with how things are going this year. Nothing flashy or anything to suggest we're giving it 100% but we've 3 wins on the board and the last two games can be used to give fringe or returning players valuable game time.

crusd

At this stage if we are not careful we will end up in a league final.

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844333#Comment_121844333

I really don't see the harm in making a league final when they are playing New York the next week.

It would take a catastrophic set of circumstances to see this Mayo panel lose to New York.

It should really be a formality.

Plus I'd like to see them be competitive v Derry in a few weeks and in a final possibly.

Derry like Mayo are being touted as just below Dublin and Kerry, so I'd like to see how Mayo would get on against them.

If Mayo wish to avoid the league final while also performing on the field they need Kerry to keep winning, because that would keep it a three way tie with Dublin on top by scoring difference, Mayo have the head to head v Dublin and always will have since they beat them in round two.

Blackjack

Yeah I wouldn’t mind us getting to a league final but I wouldn’t be too bothered if we missed out either.

Aside from that, it’s always nice to beat Roscommon, even if we were below par last night. A lot of that could be put down to conditions but some of our passing was poor enough quality, making the recipient having to do more than they should have in order to collect.

I’m less inclined to be listening to some commentators continued calls for giving Towey game time. He has had chances and hasn’t really impressed me a lot when he’s had the opportunities. No doubt he’s a good club player but this is different gravy. Maybe he’s more suited to harder ground. I suppose if he’s not given game time then the Richie Feeney effect comes into play and he gets better in the eyes of some the less he plays.

Tommy also needs to start troubling the scoreboard though he certainly made more of an impact when he came on.

Eoghans injury is such a kicker given he was having such a good game. He does lack in some of the final footballing touches but his runs up the left wing were causing the Roscommon lads awful bother, he was burning them for pace on a night that wasn’t made for the speedy player. I have to say I really do like Stephen Coen - he’s so understated, rarely makes a mistake and has quite a physical presence. It’s easy to see why he’s Captain material. Jordan also did well and really has become such an important player for us. Enda was very good as well, and Ryan was his usual best. Donnacha McHugh did very well also.

All the positives come with the health warning that the opposition were poor, despite them having had so many collective training sessions. They have reasonably talented forwards but I think their management is more concerned with the sound of his own voice than getting the best from his players. If he spent more time coaching them how to play rather than going down and feigning head injuries he might get a better tune out of them. Methinks he may be angling for a way out of his current role with an eye on a role in his home county.

Fr Tod Umptious

Brickenden kicked a wide in the first half, I can't remember where exactly from but it might have been a medium percentage shot rather than a high or low percentage one.

Anyway in the second half he is running down the right wing, loads of space in front of him and as he's getting closer and closer I'm shouting "don't shoot" at the TV.

The problem for Brickenden was that he was running out of options other than having to shoot, no one was showing for the ball.

Eventually he got a messy pass off to Conroy who then won a free.

If don't want your full back taking shots, give him some options not to have to take the shot.

A bit like in Tralee, no one was looking for that ball he won off the mark.

naughto

How piss poor where the rossies in the 2nd half I think it happened a few times where we had the ball in our own back line there wasn't one tackle made on us untill the forward line and even then it was lacking any sort of power or intensity.

Is it 3 players out now with hamstring problems ?hate seeing that injury itan go just as quick again when they return.

PARlance

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844895#Comment_121844895

Pretty sure he kicked it with his left as well. The miss in Tralee certainly didn't dent his confidence.

MacDanger

Good win last night although Roscommon were very poor in second half so I wouldn't be getting too excited. A few things in particular that I noticed at the match:

- ROD was excellent but early in the second half he was 2nd receiver for a kickout and carried the ball from our 30 well into their half. We have 10+ other players who can do this job better than him and very few who can do his job closer to goal

- too many players taking a solo without looking up. I wouldn't blame him too much as he's so young but for both of mchugh's points, he could have shot without taking a solo; against better teams, the time wasted on that solo will be used to bottle him up

- Aidan was man on man on several occasions inside and not once did we let a ball in on top of him; even if he did nothing with it, it'd keep the backs honest and leave a little extra space further out

- second game running that Cillian has looked his age

crusd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844659#Comment_121844659

It was a bit of a facetious comment given the way the GAA have completely devalued the league by not giving a gap to championship. The league is a potentially great competition, and the fact that all teams seem to care about now is relegation and promotion is sad. Nobody is actually bothered whether they win the thing or not

Blackjack

Have to agree. I can’t imagine Allianz as sponsors are delighted with how the GAA are entirely negating the league as a competition.

Westernview

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121846438#Comment_121846438

The over-soloing thing is something I've been highlighting and results in missed opportunities when a player runs out of space. Overall though I felt there was more heads up football on Saturday and the ball was moved forward with greater urgency, especially in the first half.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121847441#Comment_121847441

I'm convinced more than ever that the league format should become the championship - the best teams playing each other week after week. It's a no brainer and would boost attendances.

1 - January - Scrap the pre-season tournaments and give the colleges the month to themselves.

2 - Then have the provincial competition which gives a chance to some teams to get a bit of silverware who are not at the level to win sam maguire.

3 - Then the All Ireland league format competition with divisions 1 and 2 competing for Sam Maguire and 3 and 4 with their own competition.

franklyon

Is Padraig o Hora injured, have not heard any mention of him since start of the league

TsuDhoNimh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121848556#Comment_121848556

Was injured at the start of the league and due to be back in contention around the Kerry game (Round 3).

No official word of a setback or another injury, so while that's possible he's probably just fighting to get back to 100% and enough match sharpness (in training) to get ahead of McDonnell/Boland/Plunkett/etc for a place on the 26. (McStay also well known over the years for not liking to rush back or risk lads recovering from injury)

Panrich

Are we sure O’Hora brings anything that we don’t already have and in much younger legs? I’m afraid that he seems to get roasted too often for my liking.

Westernview

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121851591#Comment_121851591

Yes, even a fully fit O'Hora will struggle to make the team and probably even the first choice subs. A great warrior fully committed to the cause but pace is an issue.

MacDanger

I alway thought Swanny would be worth a try at 6 instead of the corner

flasher0030

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121851932#Comment_121851932

What position does he play for Ballina.

PARlance

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121851591#Comment_121851591

I wouldn't be his biggest fan fan and he certainly has had tough days in some big games, but our naivety hasn't helped his cause at the same time. We seem to fail to relaise that man marking the likes of Clifford etc should be a 1.5/2 man job and we leave the likes of O'Hora exposed.

I think he'll just about scrape in to the 26 man squad, can't see him starting though.

MacDanger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121852711#Comment_121852711

He's usually 6 or 4 depending on who they're playing - typically either marking the best opposition forward (I'd say less so now with Callinan involved) or driving forward from 6

TsuDhoNimh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121852711#Comment_121852711

As with a lot of the county lads (the majority of our full back line options, past and present, tend to play half back or midfield at club and our half backs can tend to show up anywhere on the pitch) he tends to play firefighter for Ballina and fill whatever role they need from him on a given weekend. Man marking 3 (if he's a better matchup or Ger Caff isn't playing), attacking 6, wing back or filling in around midfield at various times last year and previous years. He certainly has the strengths and experience to do a job at 6, if or when he's hitting form & fitness at least.

Interesting to watch Boland getting into the 26 ahead of him. Fantastic young player, great potential for the future but I'm not sure I've ever watched a Stephenites game and thought he'd make a 26 that Swannie didn't, this year at least. You'd have to imagine it's fitness or sharpness related rather than skill, ability or purely performance related (though if I'm wrong the idea of McDonnell and Boland outperforming him in training is even more exciting).

MacDanger

Already safe now regardless of what happens in the next 2 games

Be-Jaysus

Taking a hiding at home from the 3rd best team in the country .

Quiet Achiever

Haven't see The Chaos for a while!!

MacDanger

Derry deserving winners. Not a good day for Reape. Looked ragged at times but some good things also. Tommy's best game in ages

Panrich

Some of the same old failings on display there today. Over and back and into cul de sacs before someone goes for a wild swing at the posts. Getting caught with no cover when turned over.

We were well beaten when it mattered, and only got back in to it when Derry thought they had the game won. Once we got within touching distance, they went up through a gear or two and put some more easy scores on the board.

I thought the ref was poor today. The one he blew up for the foul on Conroy when he had just got past his man and was bearing down on goal was the highlight. To bring the free all the way out to the sideline was bizarre.

Blessing in disguise. Knock the chances of a league final on the head and focus on Connacht. Derry will beat Roscommon and can’t see Dublin losing to Tyrone by anything material enough.

Westernview

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121906105#Comment_121906105

Think you pretty much summed it up. The lateral play isn't going to get us far. Still best when we throw caution to the wind and attack directly. But then we usually revert back to plan A for the next game.

One main issue I see is the lack of height and bulk up the spine of the team. Plenty of nice footballers but lacking that bit of power to win dirty ball and to stop the opposition runs up the centre. But we have to go with what we have.

Tommy much better. If he was a little bit more cynical he could have gone down a few times and earned a black card or 2 against the defenders hanging out of him.

We are a top 6 team at the moment and that's where we will stay until players develop more.

PressRun

Derry took the foot off the gas towards end which made the scoreline look more respectable. But honestly they could have won it by a lot more. We have to have one of the loosest defences in division 1. Absolute shambles.

HBC08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121908622#Comment_121908622

Open to correction here but our defence was the best in the league before yesterday.

A bit of perspective needed,we were never going to win that game yesterday, we didn't even want to.

Safety secured,job done.

It's all about championship.

TsuDhoNimh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121908990#Comment_121908990

Spot on.

We'd conceded 67, Derry next best on 69, Roscommon on 70 and Galway on 72 the best Div 1 defences at the end of R5 (Case to be made for Armagh on 52 & Donegal on 59 in Div 2). Even now on 91 the only ones tighter than us at the back after R6 are Derry on 88 and Roscommon on 90.

We lost this one on very poor defensive performances (to be fair, 1 to 15 involved not just 1 to 7), the one area we've been performing consistently well. We all know Colm, Sam, Enda, Rory, Donnacha and Stephen can do better than they showed at the weekend (thought Aaron put in a really solid showing for his first day out in a back unit that was misfiring) and against a team as fast as Derry having a few more from Jack, David, Paddy, Eoghan and Diarmuid on the pitch reduces the number of pace mismatches they could take advantage of dramatically which improves each of those individual performances relatively too.

Got as close as we did playing relatively poorly, hitting ~50% of our shots (with us creating more shooting opportunities than Derry and a number of those in very scorable positions), with restarts hurting us terribly performing way below any recent average (despite us doing relatively well around the middle), with experienced lads making very out of character mistakes for soft goals and with us creating 5 reasonable goal chances (taking 2) at the far end.

More than enough positives there for me to be content.... or at least as content as you can ever be after a loss.

Great to see some minutes for lads like Aaron McDonnell, Fenton Kelly, Kevin Quinn (3 debuts), Conor Loftus and Paul Towey too. All making decent contributions given the time available. Bit more confidence for Tommy, Mattie and Aido too. Should stand to them all going forward.

RedDevil55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121908990#Comment_121908990

Derry were just as loose in defence, if not more so. How many goal chances had we?

Not sure how in control Derry were either if you take that into account.

A big positive is how strong we were in midfield yesterday. Many would consider Glass and Rodgers the best duo around and I think we got the better of them.

km79

Safe with a game to spare

safe from league final with a game to spare

New players given game time

next to zero goal chances given up in first 5 games

Id say mission accomplished.

Winning Connacht has to be the only priority now. Anything else is a bonus. I don’t see any other Connacht team winning the AI so that fear is gone :D

Be a sickener to see the likes of Derry get one before us though

Sebastian Dangerfield

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121910087#Comment_121910087

I wouldnt begrudge Derry at all, bar maybe the Mickey Harte factor. Its what, 5 years since they played in a div 4 final and are now one of the top handful of teams in the country. They seem to have taken a strategic look at where they have gone wrong, and put a plan in place to fix it. Aided of course by having so many top class players come through and hit form at the same time. Glass, McGuigan, Rodgers and co are great to watch in full flow. I do think their goalkeeper might see them caught out again though.

There are a lot of teams Id rather see fall short than them :-)

tanko

Derry “got one” in 1993.

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121910176#Comment_121910176

I'd add the "Joe Brolly" factor to that statement.

spakman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121910233#Comment_121910233

I think he's disliked in Derry almost as much as he is in Mayo

Westernview

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121910296#Comment_121910296

I've listened to his podcast with Dion Fanning. It's interesting in terms of the insights it gives into Northern Ireland. But of course it's Joe speaking 95% of the time and poor Dion getting shut down anytime he tries to express a different point of view.

PARlance

Wouldn't want to be overly negative, but I left the game deflated. I know it wasn't a must win, and it's not the result that matters, I just can't see the style or system we're playing working / being good enough.

I lost count of how many times, either Tommy or Ryan were our deepest defenders in the first half. Surely, if we're going to put 15 men behind the ball at times, we could work out some system that would see Tommy and Ryan be ready for the break.

It looks like some work is going into trying to improve attacking patterns, but it all seems extremely predictable.

MacDanger

The biggest problem I saw in attack was that when players (AOS, Tommy, ROD, Towey) won the ball in the FF line, there was nobody making a run from the HF/MF area for them to pop it to so they either had to come all the way out to the HF line and start again or they tried to turn and got bottled up. It shouldn't be that hard to fix IMO. Overall though, I thought the forward play was better than it was in previous matches.

I also thought we did okay around the middle in that we managed to cover off a lot of options to the extent that we were able to get two hop balls from their keeper delaying his kickout and probably should have gotten a third one.

TsuDhoNimh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121911877#Comment_121911877

Think it was Colm Boyle that pointed out he felt Sam looked a bit leggy at times. I thought a good few of the lads did (runs even in the first half were leaving us fairly gassed, even the likes of Hession who's normally a 70 minute dynamo) so wouldn't be shocked if they'd run them hard during the 'break' and in full Championship mode for the Hyde already.

Possibly just wishful thinking but would help explain the lack of support runners most of the time and hopefully be part of the reason for the 3 silly errors (Rory, Colm and Enda/Jordan) leading to very soft Derry goals.

Along with the 2 hops for slow play Lynch ended up kicking another straight out of play, something you'd very rarely see from Derry. He was just back from a few weeks off with injury but very uncharacteristic and a positive sign of how well we were doing around the middle.

flasher0030

I just saw the match on TV. Couldn't go to it. But it appeared that Paul Towey made a very effective contribution when he was subbed on. Everything he touched turned to gold. Got his goal, and couple of lovely passes in to

He's a bit unreliable though. I think he has great skills, and getting more composed on the ball. But for too many games, he goes missing for too long.

TsuDhoNimh

https://twitter.com/MayoGAA/status/1770106739410559407

Details of our 20s panel, starting their campaign tomorrow against Roscommon (also has the match day 24), shared earlier today.

A few recognisable names that might have been involved missing (Ronan Clarke, James Maheady, Dara Hurley, Cathal Corless, Adam Beirne, Luke Feeney, Jack Reilly, Brian Donovan; with a couple of long term injuries among them) but plenty of amazing talent among the lads named to get excited about. The inside forward line in particular will be electric when they hit form.

Pretty young side named. 5 of the minors from last year/u18 lads (Yousif Coghill, Darragh Beirne, Tom Lydon, Dylan O'Brien & Eoin McGreal) and 12 of them eligible for or involved with the '22 minor side/u19s (David Dolan, David Slattery, John MacMonagle, Lorcan Silke, Jack Mulchrone, Paul Gilmore, Diarmuid Duffy, Cathal Keaveney, Niall Hurley, Oisín Cronin, Liam Maloney and Liam Moore) all making the 24 for the Roscommon game. That said, absolutely packed with potential for future seniors there. Some really exciting prospects.

howdo1992

I thought Brickenden had a mare was caught out badly for 3 of the goals. He should have gone to the man with the ball both times but instead kept backtracking and ended up not marking anyone. He was also very loose on his man afor the first palmed goal from the high ball.

Hopefully management can flag it with him and he will learn but may be worth trying different options. The ballinrobe lad looked like he could be decent.

Would like to see Towey get a run of games. Hard for a lad to get confidence when he’s in and out the team and might do him the world of good as he definitely has potential.

ROD at 11 is definitely worth a look also for his creativity and passing ability. His ball winning would be missed inside but If he was feeding a firing Tommy and Towey/Carr, it would be lethal. I feel like ROD would make better use of O’Shea inside also.

MacDanger

U20s draw with Roscommon, 3-7 to 1-13