Mayo GAA Discussion

eastie17

I know I'm jumping ahead here, but what are peoples thoughts on manager at the end of the season? Logically many will say depends on how Horan does which is fair enough.

Personally I think its the end of the road again for him at season end, I dont believe he can win an All ireland with Mayo, based on last years AIF performance. We know the things he is best in the business at, but the Achilles heel of being just too stubborn and a bit of tactical blindness prevent him from getting over the line. I wouldnt see the point in continuing with him, ideally would love to see him take on some other kind of role in Mayo football, like overseeing the overall football direction, underage academies something like that but he doesnt strike me as the kind of man who would be happy with something like that. Dare I say it, wouldnt surprise me if he went off somewhere else and did some good work which would be a pity.

Rochford again? The man who has gotten us closest since Maughan in 1996. I still to this day believe if he had been brought in as a consultancy capacity after the semi, and was listened to tactically, we would have won it. What would be different this time is that your not up against the best team there ever has been in gaelic football. Interestingly listening to Andy Moran talking about him, and Kieran Fitzgerald on Corofins first AI win of recent times, both separately said they never were more prepared or felt more ready for a final as they were under him. In one case they won, Corofin, in the other we lost but put up a score that would have won every other AIF before that. Some will say Donegal havent set the world alight under him but Bonner has to be calling the shots and while I'm sure Rochford has a large input, but I dont know that, I dont think you can say their performance, be it good or bad, is all down to him.

muddle84

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118628915#Comment_118628915

Althought i agree with alot of what you are saying, personally i think its time to park that discussion until the end of the season. Horan is in charge and more than likely will be in charge until he decides not to be regardless of results. So personally i think its time to wish him well and get behind the team!

eastie17

I understand but this is a discussion forum, discussing things like that aren't going to detract from what the senior team are trying to do this year or from my ability to get behind them. In fact they are the whole point of a discussion forum I would have thought. I'm not disparaging or belittling anyone's efforts,

I dunno what it is with us Mayo fans, we cant seem to discuss anything about Mayo that might seem anyway negative in case, what? The team or management will get wind of it and then not play as well? We have a very overinflated sense of importance if that is what we think.

muddle84

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118630172#Comment_118630172

I don't control what's discussed on this forum so i was simply taking part in your discussion by replying to it with my own opinion. That is a discussion from my understanding!! I don't for one second think anyone on that Mayo panel or anything to do with it give two flying v's what is discussed on this forum or any other. I just don't think that is a topic that will garner much interest at this stage of the year, especially considering it was discussed to death after the final last year (thus my opinion on it). But if others feel the same as yourself I'm sure you will get more replies

RedDevil55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118628915#Comment_118628915

I don't see the point of going back to Rochford. You say this time he won't be up against the best Gaelic football team ever, well he also won't be handed the best Mayo team in 60+ years. He went close to the holy grail in 16/17 but we had pretty much an injury free run those years, which hasn't been the case recently. Also, if you're crediting Rochford for running Dublin close, you have to question the 3 consecutive losses to Galway and being beaten by Kildare in the qualifiers. Rochford gets a lot of praise for being tactically astute and flexible, but in the 2017 final we pretty much played Horanball.

A lot of people seem to have lost faith in Horan, but I still maintain the final last year was there to win. Creating 4 or 5 clear goal chances would suggest the tactics worked pretty well. Missing them was the problem. You can quibble a few slow substitutions in the final, but ultimately none of the subs played well in any case.

It would be good if Maurice Sheridan goes on a long run with the U20s this year. Outside of him, I don't see many alternatives to Horan.

homewardbound11

Solan was night impressive at U20 and with Andy in Leitrim I hope they do well.

PressRun

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118630529#Comment_118630529

I would sort of agree with you. We created chances in the final, but didn't convert them. Tyrone converted theirs. Our midfield utterly malfunctioned. Tyrone's didn't. That was basically the sum of it. The problem was the majority of the players didn't do their job on the day and the harsh truth is that a lot of the newer players, bar a couple, aren't the same standard as the original Horan group anyway.

Green&Red

I would take Rochford back in a heartbeat.

I'd disagree with what Parlance said last week, I think Horan has done two unbelievable rebuilding jobs with Mayo. Outside of goalie he has given a huge number of players a chance. The year we won the league he blooded a load of new players, theres very few players in the county who can say they didn't get a chance. Having said all that I just don't think he has the tactical nous to win the AI.

Rochford on the other hand does. Personally I think its nonsense to throw the losses to Galway at him, we had won five on the bounce, who cares about Connacht, he was priming that team for Dublin in the final/semi-final. He had so many smart decisions that we'd never see under Horan. O'Shea at FB and Dillon v Tyrone are two. We had a sweeper and some protection for our backs. He studied teams before we played them. I firmly believe if he was on the sideline in this years final we'd have won it.

flasher0030

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118633112#Comment_118633112

It's a tough one - Rochford or Horan. I know the Horan shortcomings have been done to death at this stage. But I think some of the things that Rochford did are a case of trying to be too clever. He put O'Shea in full back against Donaghy. Surely if Kerry were a little smarter, they would have identified a lack of pace in the position right in front of our goal, and tried to exploit that.

Rochford was the one who replaced David Clarke with Robert Hennelly at the 11th hour in an All-Ireland final - a decision which haunted Rochford and Hennelly for some time afterwards, and if I recall correctly led to ill feelings for David Clarke. If it paid off, he knew he would be seen as a tactical master. But the All-Ireland is not the place to be taking chances on unknowns.

My concern with Rochford would be that he tries to be too left-field to find the magic bullet.

RedDevil55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118633112#Comment_118633112

Some of those tactical moves by Rochford get overplayed. Alan Dillon was taken off at half time vs Tyrone with the scores level. A 34 year old Donaghy was Kerry's man of the match in the drawn game when Aidan was full back.

Horan has tried some left field tactics too, like playing Loftus midfield, Keegan corner back etc. He has used a sweeper on plenty of occasions but people seem to overlook that.

Green&Red

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118635014#Comment_118635014

Kerry's man of the match? Is that a made up title you gave him? Because I remember Andy scoring 1-5 and getting actual MOTM. Not that scores are everything but he got one point, in the replay Donaghy didn't get a touch.

Dillon came off in the Tyrone game because all he had in him was a half and Tyrone had already subbed McMahon (I think) off. Andy Moran goes through the tactical side of it in his book, Rochford completely negates Harte's plans

RedDevil55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118635174#Comment_118635174

He was Kerry's most influential player, call it whatever you want. May have only scored 1 point, but he set up a lot including 2 goals. True he didn't do anything in the replay but we were completely on top that day. I don't remember much brilliant full back play keeping Donaghy out of the game.

Dillon got on a lot of ball in that first half but I don't think it disrupted Tyrone that much. At the end of the day the scores were still level when Sean Cavanagh got sent off. That was real deciding factor in the game along with a couple of super long range points from Keegan. It certainly wasn't some tactical masterclass

Green&Red

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118635464#Comment_118635464

Andy Moran disagrees with you but sure ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

PressRun

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118634961#Comment_118634961

To be fair, taking a chance on an unknown in the final has been done before and worked out spectacularly - the Clare hurlers did it 2013 with Shane O'Donnell. He only played for them a couple of times early on in the season and then was dropped for the rest of the year. He was brought in for the final replay at the last moment and he ended up scoring 3-3 and of course Clare won the game.

That was a bigger risk than playing Hennelly imo - at least Hennelly had played in big games before. Rochford made a tactical decision based on stats from the drawn game. It wasn't a completely incomprehensible decision tbh.

flasher0030

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118636379#Comment_118636379

I don't think the Clare move was a bigger risk. At least with a forward if they are not being effective, there are a variety of options that the manager can look to - switching positions, bringing on a choice of subs. And little notice is taken. But with a keeper, it's all or nothing - if things go badly, only choice is to bring on sub keeper. From what I recall, Robbie made a number of mistakes, gave away a penalty, and got a black card, so the substitution was actually forced anyway. But the damage was done already. Not blaming Robbie Hennelly. He was a bundle of nerves. I think Rochford is very good. His managerial record obviously speaks volumes. But I think that was reckless that day. Unnecessarily put too much spotlight on Robbie.

spakman

I would tend to agree. I can see the tactical logic of it, Dublin had Clarke's kickouts sussed - Hennelly was actually warming up towards end of drawn game, I thought Rochford was going to bring him on then!

But I don't think Rochford gave enough thought to the pressure it put on Hennelly - based on Hennellys past experiences in high pressure situations, and also that making such a big call for a final replay was always going to be a huge talking point.

That's all with the benefit of bitter hindsight of course :)

dobman88

Anyone with 2 season tickets that cant make the game in Croke Park on Saturday, I'd give them a good home if available.

Barlett

McLaughlin played tonight in the final so he’s obviously fit again

Kalyke

I just cancelled a room in the Grand Hotel in Tralee for the night of the 12th if anyone is looking.

muddle84

https://mayogaa.com/news-detail/10077348/

Few debutants named!

Compo82

Just saw the team announced for the Dublin game. A bit of an experimental team but worry for me is Paddy Durcan, Jason Doherty and Brendan Harrsoon injured. I know Brendan Harrison took a knock in the Monaghan game. No Cillian O'Connor still.

Barlett

C O’C won’t be back until the Kerry match at the earliest according to Horan - Doherty, Harrison & Durcan are massive losses for this

HBC08

I don't think we can compete with those injuries on top of other long standing ones.I hope it's nothing serious for any of those lads,they're all crucial.I don't think we have a hope v Dublin with the team named but there are lots of positives too.

It's not a must win game,great experience for a lot of young guys,mclaughlin back 10 days after what looked like a season ending injury, Oisin and Mattie back,the bench is the strongest I've seen named for Mayo.

Jesus,I'm nearly talking myself into us winning now!

km79

Yeah I’m not optimistic now

pity as they are there for the taking

A heavy burden on Rod in that forward line

TsuDhoNimh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118649015#Comment_118649015

With the likes of Padraig, Eoghan, Enda, Kevin, Aido and Fionn on the bench fairly easy to have a pretty experienced and very competitive looking team out there. Be very surprised if we don't see at least two of those starting (PO'H and EMcL would be my bets).... probably more likely 3 or 4.

If there are some others like Rory, Bryan or Jordan pushing ahead in the pecking order from the lads mentioned you'd have to imagine they're tearing it up in training. Back in the days when I used to make it in to a few of the open sessions during his first stint you'd be able to pick Horan's team perfectly, even the shock selections, based on who was showing well there. Have to imagine it's still the same today.

spakman

The big question is where our scores are going to come from if ROD is kept relatively quiet. We haven't a full forward line player to bring on...

HBC08

Anybody need tickets (free of charge of course) pm me.

2 lower cusack 307,row LL but 7 seats apart.

happyoutscan

Awful conditions.

PARlance

Gough falling for everything

happyoutscan

Entertaining half of football.

franklyon

Matty Ruane and Doc having a good game, would be nice to see AOS in at FF second half.

PARlance

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118660498#Comment_118660498

Don't fix it if it's not broke? They've been getting an awful lot of joy in there as is.

happyoutscan

Great score by Plunkett.

PARlance

This doesn't look good

Cartman78

Take him off ffs

happyoutscan

Hopefully Oisin will come off.

Cartman78

Some shooting from Plunkett tonight 👀

Green&Red

Dublin shooting is shocking, poor decisions also

happyoutscan

That'll do.

PARlance

And O'Rourke can't help himself from getting the usual stupid snide comments. He's some dose.

happyoutscan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118660724#Comment_118660724

70 year project and then a chuckle.

What a simp.

PARlance

Delighted for Robbie!

Euphoriasean

Really composed second half. A couple of beauties from Plunkett. Good to keep the momentum going.

I remember not too long ago I didn't want Hennelly near a 45 or free. How things have changed. Outstanding again.

MacDanger

Hennelly excellent, Mullin, Ruane, Keegan, Plunkett, DOC, Orme, McHugh all very good.

Dublin v poor though, we should have won by more really

PARlance

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118660813#Comment_118660813

Amazing how far Dublin have gone backwards, Fenton about the only thing holding them together.

Would agree with your picks, McHugh didn't stand out too much for me. I thought Flynn had a solid game and did well after the early yellow, there's huge potential there and it's time he pushed on. Could be a big year for him hopefully.

I thought Orme looked every bit the part of a county player. His goal is a goal we rarely score, great intelligence and composure shown and it seems like himself DOC and ROD are all on a similar wavelength.

Some few weeks for Jack Carney!

happyoutscan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118660852#Comment_118660852

Like that, I didn't think McHugh did much. However some great experience for these lads and a bonus for them getting a win against Dublin.

Blackjack

Didn’t expect that result, great to get it though.

Fowler87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118660933#Comment_118660933

Nor I. I should know better at this stage not to doubt this team. Fantastic win

km79

It’s there for us …..

PressRun

Thought Diarmuid O'Connor was excellent and Oisin Mullin looked to be everywhere before he went off - hope that injury isn't too serious, he looked to be walking normally enough at full time though. A couple of the newbies still need some work though imo. Plenty of scores left behind us.

Still, Dublin were shocking. Looked disorganised and lots of players looked like they didn't really know what their job was. Had a good view of Kilkenny in the second half and thought he looked frustrated with those around him. Saw Rock giving some teammates an earful too.

The championship is going to be wide open this year imo. We really need to go for it.