Mayo GAA Discussion

I think its a bit of both. If we had beaten Tyrone that would be that, Hennelly forever more, but alot of the reason people(myself included) want to see another keeper developed is because Hennelly has yet to prove himself to be as reliable as Clarke.

But for now to your point he must be the best we have!

If Hennelly gets injured during the league that will make many folks who have the hang ups very pleased and then Byrne or Reape or Jennings will get their chance. I'd hope that they would acquit themselves well, but if they didn't, I'd also hope they didn't have to put up with the absolute sh*t that's been thrown at Robbie.

Its not that I don't like Reape or Byrne or Jennings. I've nothing whatsoever against them. They may have county medals but they play for different teams who all have different attributes. From what I've seen of Byrne, his kickouts are poor enough and that's been demonstrated most recently when he got his chance in the FBD game against Galway. Reape has a better kickout than Byrne but is prone to error. I do think he's better placed to be ahead of Byrne, personally, but neither are in my view, near enough to Hennelly. It's an opinion - one I know that some won't share because of their hang ups with Hennelly. I get it. And for the record, I've nothing to do with Breaffy and I can probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I've set foot in the environs of Breaffy. Just getting that in there before that gets levelled at me.

Look if we secure division one status early Horan can throw on the under 12s for all I care - my view is that the time to experiment is when you are certain of Division 1. You can have challenge games all year round for that as well.

Last week I correctly predicted a draw vs Donegal. This week I am predicting an away win in Monaghan. How do I know these things?? Well let’s just say a certain octopus named Paul told me.

Don't want to over egg the Dublin problems as it's early days yet and I know we all have our questions about Horan, but it seems like Dublin are currently struggling to manage the transition period after a number of retirements, and it puts into perspective how good a job Horan has done on that with Mayo. We all will still have our criticisms of him but a rebuilding job is something he has always had a knack for.

Very true

Horan has done two massive rebuilding jobs with Mayo.

If you think of the state of the place after Longford and again the questions about the future after the Newbridge game Horan addressed both.

I'm sorry, that's just bollix.

Horan only has had to rebuild out of necessity ?

Every manager has to rebuild out of necessity.

John O Mahoney had to rebuild in 2007 and look at where we ended up.

Countless managers up and down the country have had to rebuild and failed.

If in June 2010 someone said Mayo would go on to contest 10 semi finals and 6 finals in the next 11 seasons they would be in St Mary's before Horan would be appointed in October.

The young guys now are the fruits of Horan's first rebuild, they were young teens back then, they saw what it was like to be competitive year after year and they wanted to be that too, that's what drove them.

Sure there are questions about Horan's game day performance, but you can't take away the legacy he will leave Mayo football with.

This is very true about Horan and he can be ruthless with players, see what he did to Mortimer. He set the standard and stopped all the BS. The Mortimer situation was perfect for Horan when he came in, as he really was a sitting duck and Horan made an example of him for all players to witness. This is core to development ... not only young players but existing established players.

His match day tactics can be questioned/his perseverance with certain player but the question marks must also be directed at the players as well. He is under big pressure this year anyway and I think he will be gone come the end of the season unless he delivers the big one.

Cursed

Kilmeena will be kicking themselves if they leave this behind.

Brilliant stuff, well done Kilmeena

Well done Kilmeena.

Unbelievable win . I thought Gneeveguilla would win as coming from Kerry and the history Kerry have of winning in this competition but they certainly met their match today. I went to all their games in Munster and they beat everyone there very well. It goes to show nothing is guaranteed in sport. Well done Kilmeena. Enjoy the celebrations.

it's not a rumour - Horan said on radio 1 that it's his ankle and he has to go for a scan to see is it a sprain or something more serious

Mayo were hardly competitive in 2010 now were they

In the previous regime they had lost to Derry, Meath, Sligo and Longford since 2007.

And post Newbridge in 2018 there were a lot of questions about how to refresh the team that had done so well to that point.

Doesn't make sense. By that reckoning if a team wins an All-Ireland, it's put down to luck for the manager, because he had good players there in the first place. But for managers on teams that don't do the business over a long period of time, they take the flack because they haven't rebuilt properly.

A large number of the Mayo squad retired over a year ago. It's not a secret that the vast majority of people were certain that it brought the curtain down on what was a beautiful decade for Mayo GAA. What did the manager do? Around 10 months later they were in another All-Ireland final. For me, it is one of the finest team building achievements that I have ever witnessed. Lost Tommy Conroy over a week ago. McLaughlin last weekend, and still come away with a win up in Monaghan due to the depth of the squad. And that's after 5 or 6 members of the team retired less than a year ago. You cannot just write that off as fortunate. Surely, you have to give Horan some credit for building that team back up.

I think you also mentioned about the keeper situation. Maybe I am in the minority, but I would have Robbie Hennelly up there with the best keepers in Ireland right now. He was known for having a couple of wobbley moments, but I think he has turned that on his head. He is not perfect, but he is keeping Mayo in many games from what I see. Since he was man of the match in that league final against Kerry couple of years ago, he he gradually clawed his way back up there - very decent kick-outs, penalty saves, close range saves. How many did he save against Donegal. That equalising point against Dublin last year. Equalising point against Donegal last Sunday week. To me, he seems like a man whose confidence is soaring. Problem is that one bad game again, and the naysayers will be out in force that he is a weak link. Whereas the likes of Rory Beggan and Niall Morgan can have off days and will get away with it, as they are perceived to be "strong" keepers.

Well if he's not making his college team....

and people think we have problems with our keeper….

https://twitter.com/darranmarshall/status/1492567680754278404?s=21

Yeah, delighted for MM