Mayo GAA Discussion - Part 4

Wouldn't it be great if managers had the balls to name a team and play it as named. I think it shows a lack of confidence in a team that you have to play mind games. They know who they have available no excuses. Give a guy his jersey and let him get on with it.

Wouldn't surprise me to see Eoghan McLaughlin come into the half back line.

Who's taking the frees for Mayo today? It could have a huge bearing on the game as most of Mayos scores in big games came from Cillians frees.

O’Donoghue I can imagine.

Delighted with that win.

A decisive scoreline in the end so there can't be any whinging.

And all without COC.. imagine what the score could've been if he'd been playing..

I think based on that comment COC should have got man of the match.

Well done Mayo, best team won

In fairness, Mayo don't have much to show for the 20 years either.

You've been consistently competitive at the highest level. Subtract Kerry and Dublin from past twenty years and there isn't much silver left...

Very enjoyable day in Croker today.

As usual decent banter between the rival supporters.Truly the best of enemies.The Covid 19 era seems to have ushered in a new dawn where the inherent decency and respect for opposing supporters is to the fore.So many genuine supporters who park hostilities post contests.

We flew out of the traps and looked like we might blow Galway away but we started to struggle for scores up front.

Conroy,Cooke,Comer and Walshe were immense in the first half.Tierney was influential too.Gleeson's kickouts continued to be a source of hope.

Cardinal error re the lack of anticipation regarding the possibility of a rebound off the post for Walshe's goal.

Hope all is well with Larry Finnerty's son Robert and all other injured parties including our own Padraig O Hora who was simply immense today.A couple of vital dispossessions.He stood up his opponents extremely well.I saw same first hand in front of me in the second half.

Robert Hennelly's kickouts were outstanding,no fault in either goal but was poor for Comer's goal attempt off the crossbar.

A good 45 and in spite of his inconsistency looks to be now our only live option for long distance frees ( Cillian's territory ).

In spite of his fault in the Walshe goal Lee Keegan who has lost that yard of pace was very solid in the corner.

His love of taking a score with his ciotog should possibly be confined to the past tense.Nice touch to see his daughter seated proudly in the Nestor Cup for the team photograph.

Michael Plunkett was solid if unspectacular.

Paddy contributed handsomely defensively and offensively.Tad rushed for the second point attempt.

It was a pleasure to witness Oisin Mullin's display,other worldly.Close second to Matthew Ruane for MOTM.He has the potential to become one of the greats on a national level.

Stephen Coen was solid,definitely gets a nose bleed crossing the half way line.Taking the mark put immense pressure on this weakness of his.

Matthew Ruane can truly aspire to compete with Fenton's and McCarthy's of this world.It is wonderful to see his progression from the 2016 under 21 campaign.

Conor Loftus' mobility and kick passing was to the fore.2 points,placement as opposed to power for such a guilt edged chance.

Bryan Walsh got on some ball but struggled a bit to impact the game.

Hot day for Aidan at 11,a couple of great turnovers ( was an impressive feature of the team as a whole ).Influenced the game inside with the vital take in the lead up to the penalty.I thought he did'nt really impact the kickouts and same contributed to the Conroy and Tierney lording of the skies in the first 35 minutes.

Diarmuid O Connor did trojan work but we need a return to his heyday when he was contributing on the scoreboard.

Tommy Conroy showed some bottle to turn around a first half where Silke smoothered him quite successfully and accuracy was sub optimal.

I thought Darren McHale was a tad unlucky to get the curly finger at the break,he linked up well and took his score well.

Ryan O Donoghue has nerves of steel,ex soccer man.Excellent technique for the penalty.Great game intelligence,ability to a score from play or placed ball.

Terrible decision to disallow his goal,I could see no foul from 60 or so yards away.

Two great switches at HT by James Horan paid off handsomely with Kevin Mc and Eoghan McLaughlin.I'd love to see McLaughlin starting.Only a superb save by Gleeson kept McLaughlin out.

He has frightening pace and is made for Croker.

Rory Brickenden did very little wrong on his introduction for O Hora,Enda Hession caught one great ball under the lower Cusack.

Insurance point or not I'd love to see James Carr take on that goal chance.

Durkan seemed to pass it over to AOS at the start of Walsh's run, which was a crazy decision - AOS was never going to be able to stick with Walsh. You could nearly see Walsh's eyes light up and he put the boot down. By the time Durkan realised it, there was no recovering.

First one was shocking - ball bounces 3 times in the penalty area off the post and no defender picks it up. I don't think you can blame Hennelly either - I don't think he would have got there before Walsh anyway. It was on Keegan or Mullin to be filling back into that space until it was sure that the ball was dead.