Mayo GAA Discussion

Seemed like a team you might see in the second league game rather than the second last. Maybe injuries/required rest dictated it, but there were far too many players with question marks selected.

The result was probably as expected. The fact that we probably should have won it is possibly more of a reflection of where Tyrone are than ourselves.

On the positives:

I think Byrne has settled the nerves a fair bit in terms of being a decent 2nd keeper.

O'Shea played the sweeper role decently.

Keegan looks like he's loosing the winter arse week by week.

Flynn and Ruane are really showing themselves to be a very strong midfield. Have been very impressed and I like that Loftus is there to add something different if needed.

DOC back is a great boost. I can see cases being made for Orme, Boland, Towey but you would just want one of the three starting in a stronger team. Orme is the standout of the three for me, a very intelligent player but I think he needs another year or two before he's added some strength to really see the best of him, but he's smart enough to get by without it for now.

One of the things that annoyed me most was a small thing, but is the type of thing that will cost us in a big game. Towey had a 45 in the first half, it was never making it against that wind... We had nobody anticipating it at all. 2-3 similar scenarios in the second half where we had frees and failed to anticipate an opportunity of a break etc. That comes from a lack of cutting edge on the field and sideline imo. Basic stuff that will cost us.

It's hard to know really.

Back in the day when there was a huge gap between the last league game and the first championship game getting to the final gave you a extra game to fill that gap.

But you could look at it this way from a Mayo management perspective.

They have secured Div 1 status.

They had played various combination of players up to this point and yesterday was the last chance really to have a look at some players against a top team that would be motivated and it was away from home.

Plus the league final is still achievable given that they still owen the head to head v Armagh the other team really challenging for the final place.

So overall it was a game Mayo did not target, and not targeting certain games is something that every team does.

Yeah, it's hard not to be frustrated and disappointed based on that performance.

But then you think back to the start of the league, and many were saying once we've secured our Div 1 status, we can experiment and not care about results - maybe that's what's going on?

Without knowing the motivations and training schedule of the panel, its very hard to judge the relevance of the performance.

Anyone hear that Cillian O'Connor has had a set back in his recovery or another injury? I've been very skeptical about seeing him this season anyway, but if it's true the recovery isn't on track, then we can definitely count him out.

Tyrone bet us in our very last meeting. We had pride to play for. A statement that says Tyrone bet us in the final because we had an off day.... A fluke.... Not to be repeated... But no, we fed into the narrative that yes, indeed Tyrone are the superior team and for 2 years running. Any statement that Tyrone had something to play for and mayo didn't is overstating.very disappointed that a seasoned supporter such as yourself could excuse this performance so readily.

Yes heard that tonight and that is devastating news for our chances this year

Another year ticks by for him and a few others :(

They can lose to Kildare but still make the final if

They lose to Kildare by less than 3

Donegal beat Armagh by more than 8 but less than 14.

And if Tyrone beat Kerry they do so by less than 17.

Everything you've said is correct, Tod was just giving the specific scenario in which we can still go through with a loss against Kildare so nothing there contradicts with yours. It's painfully detailed to go through with a loss as any of Armagh, Kildare, Donegal, Tyrone or Mayo could come out on top in score difference if the group all finished on 7 points.

I'll happily take the L and missing out on the final if we could see Tyrone put up enough of a win on Kerry to pip everyone to that final spot. That'd be a hell of a fun final day.

Correct, I was only describing a situation where Mayo could go into a game v Galway with four losses on the trot.

As for the Tyrone v Kerry thing I disagree.

Tyrone are capable of getting to a league final and not giving a toss about it.

Massive difference in playing for pride and actually playing to stay in Div 1 IMO. I don't think that game will have any impact come championship. Its the league, we played a reasonably experimental side. Very few teams have the ability or strength in depth to go balls out for a full season

I think that game gave us plenty to work on

Watched the match back, it was grim stuff. I know we were missing a few but the lack of movement up front was terrible, no sign of a style of play whatsoever. Doc, Orme and Towey didn't even have a wide between them - Towey at least had an attempt blocked down and a bad kick dropped short from a mark. We don't seem to have learned much from the AIF last year.

I think playing Kildare next week will suit us, they'll play reasonably open and if we pick something close to our championship team, we'll win

Yea I actually think it's a good thing that we went out and lost. Dunno why we didn't try that strategy before. All we really needed was no game plan, and forwards that were unwilling to take shots and favoured recycling. I can't think of a single reason we would want to instill a culture of high performance, accountability, and build habit of winning. I don't know how that would help us win a final,(or get to one) I'm delighted that Tyrone have given us something to work on, it really is the finding that was needed in James Horans 8 th year in charge that will transform the mayo team. Maybe now James will see that Tyrone are committed to a methodology that the have recently employed over the last 15 years (which is really recent, and not suggestive at all that its engrained in their game play).

Look I'm only giving my opinion on what I see happening

Listened to the Football Pod this morning, I think James O'Donoghue has brought that on this year replacing Andy. This is what they had to say about Mayo and the league.

PA: "In my experience of them they're not arsed with the league"

JOD: "He couldn't think of anything worse than making that league final"; "If they were up he'd have taken everyone off, he'd have finished the game with 13 just to make sure they lost that game"

They did both say they thought it would have been good for Mayo to beat Tyrone and play in the league final, that a league final two weeks before championship would be ideal but both agreed it was obvious that wasn't a priority and that Horan probably had a plan at the start of the league to play certain players and would stick to the plan whether they won or lost the first four games and that you couldn't really argue with him given that he had found some new players and stayed up and were still one win away from a league final.

Hasn't been a lot of growth for the last month. Its a full reseed AFAIK, it'll be some achievement by the grounds men if they can have the pitch ready and in a state that it won't just plough up when lads are on it

Any parking recommendations for Sunday?

Probably a stronger team than last week but doesn't look like Horan is going all out to qualify for the league final

https://mayogaa.com/news-detail/10078210/

Not sure you're aware of all our injuries if you think we can field a stronger team than that at the moment.

Glancing at the team sheet it's trying its best to look like it'll be the same setup as against Tyrone.

Aido will likely drop in as sweeper, not marking anyone just preventing them hitting Hyland/Flynn/Woodgate with easy balls in front or high fields, and Boland will drop in to make a Coen/Mullen/Boland half back line. Well, make it before any match ups drag folks all over the place. Which is a shame as I'd love to see Boland get a fair shot at nailing down the wing forward role. He showed a lot more offensive threat in the defeat to Kerry than most have all year.

The sweeper tactic didn't get much of a chance against Tyrone given how poor the running & execution was. The lads had clearly had a rough training week (or two) and were absolutely dead on their feet out there. Tactic was doomed to fail when lads were getting caught in possession with nobody running to make a pass or to create overlaps or off the shoulder runs and when they did chance kicking the pass heavy legs were driving it inaccurately over the endline.

Be interesting to see how it pans out this time assuming they've eased off the hard running this week. That's a toss of a coin though, hard to know what way the management are leaning on the joys of winning vs the impact of having to prepare for a game that isn't Galway.

That's my point though - from the players available, I don't think that Horan is starting what would be the strongest team in his opinion. I think he's still experimenting and giving fringe players game time that he wouldn't be doing if he was going all out to win this match

Rob has a knee injury and he's out for 4 - 6 weeks.

Fair play to the team at MacHale Park. It's looking well there.

Used it not spell out Albany on the town end terrace?

Looking well, not easy given the weather we've had up to this