Mayo GAA Discussion

Was watching the 2019 final there (what a day by the way!) and all the lower tiers and upper Cusack were open,I'd say they'll open upper Cusack again.

Plenty of former intercounty players and managers around that don't appear to have any depth of tactical knowledge either. Or at least unable to speak about it comfortably. Scarily far from a given.

Amazing how much Eamon Fitzmaurice has stood out commentating recently for the insights he offers compared to the majority in the role. RTÉ struggling and scrambling to get close to the level of analysis the likes of McGuinness/Horan/Canavan were offering years ago.

I see "HoranBall©" made the Mayo News podcast

The team named is a strange one no durcan oshea at 11

Great seeing Cillian back on the bench, if he got through 15 mins at the end, the day would be worth it.

Paddy is injured.

That's the best team we could name with all the injuries and we somehow still have a very strong bench,credit has to go to Horan on that.

A lot of our key men missing,the biggest loss is probably Robbie,he's the best keeper in the country on form this year and we have nobody to take long range points/45s.Tapping the ball out uncontested to the fullback line like we did against kildare will be shut down from minute one,we'll miss Robbies kickouts and accuracy then aswell.

If you look at the direct replacements for Robbie,Paddy and DOC we have Bryne (good club keeper,not up to this level in my opinion)

Hession (lots of potential, lightening pace,not sure about his man marking capabilities or scoring threat,built for Croke park,could be a real coming of age for him tomorrow)

Loftus (much maligned when played out of position in midfield last year even though he was effective enough, had a bad final but at least he was taking on shots, hopefully can chip in with a few points tomorrow, a huge game for him too)

All in all we're weaker with the lads out,kerry have a full team and crucially want/need it more,I can't see past a kerry win unfortunately.

It's a great luxury to be in a position to bring Aido off the bench,we don't have that luxury when 4 of our other key men are out.

I agree Coen isn't in good form,I don't know who he's going to pick up but he won't be playing fb anyway.

Yeah I think it's a 50/50 between that and Aido starting. Either way we would have a Mayo legend to come off the bench,that's the difference between the now and other years where 14 of the team would be nailed on starters and we wouldn't have much coming off the bench.

Sean O'Shea is fairly certain to miss it I thought? Apart from that it's fairly full strength for them.

I think we're a few key injuries short to be in any way confident of a win but I think a lot of Kerry weaknesses haven't been exposed in the League.

We'll see how their defensive improvement holds up on a decent day in CP. We should dominate the middle but it will be relatively easy for them to keep us/ROD quiet, we're missing real scoring threats.

We might be reliant on goals stemming from middle third breaks/runs to keep us in/slightly edge it.

One thing for sure, if we were to win with all the injuries, it would be some boost.

From what we've seen all year I'd expect to see Carney keeping the spot ahead of Loftus... but Horan rewards training well so whichever of the few excel there in the next few weeks (O'Conner, Carney, Loftus, McLoughlin, Boland [I'm assuming Walsh and McStay out of contention with injuries] all offer something a bit different to each other too so horses for courses playing a part) they'd still have a good chance of claiming it.

Loftus does offer a scoring threat from play a little further out than a lot of other forwards. It'd be no harm seeing him exorcise a few of the ghosts from the final last year. He's an awful lot better than he showed against Tyrone. A quiet enough league campaign, big day in Croker could be just what he needs to spark.

A lot of potential for Eoghan McLoughlin (if fully fit) or Enda Hession starting too, both with exceptional pace that'll be helped to shine with the new larger pitch in MacHale Park. Stephen Coen (poor league campaign) or Michael Plunkett (looked rocky early in the Dublin game but then exploded when McGarry got pulled off and has played incredibly well since from the games I've seen - not sure how Kildare went for him personally) the most likely for giving way to changes there.

A lot will depend on the specific match ups they're going for against Galway. It's something we've struggled with numerous times early in games this year but shouldn't be any shocks against a Galway side we know so well.

Yeah, wouldn't pay too much heed to numbers anymore.

Kerry will likely be playing 2 inside, Clifford and Geaney (or Brosnan). With O'Brien dropping back to wing forward (using the term loosely, he and Moynihan are pseudo wing backs while Mayo are in possession and breaking and running hard, same as we try to do. And to be fair to Talley and O'Conner they seem to have them working fierce hard at it to excellent results), Spillane dropping back to midfield, Barry dropping back to 6 and Tadhg Morley freed up to play his sweeper role.

The big question in that scenario will be do we go for our own sweeper to try and put manners on Clifford, try to overload midfield to cut off the supply or if we push someone up on Morley to get in his face. Where the majority of Mayo lads outside of 1, 8 and 9 end up operating for most of the game is questionable enough with switches and counter switches between two similar setups. Could be a super tactical battle on a decent day in Croker. Was hard to appreciate the tactics with the conditions in Kerry.

Couldn't even guess which role there they'd give to Stephen. Picking up the slower of O'Brien and Moynihan? He'd have the engine to stick with them for the game, just not sure how the pace would stack up for those match ups. Could also be the sweeper to chill in front of Clifford and up the pressure on the lads sending it in if we intended going that direction.

Have to imagine he's looking over his shoulder if Paddy Durcan and Eoghan McLoughlin are fit for the Galway game. Hasn't had a good run in the league so far and could do with a solid performance here.

It also begs the question if everyone assumes they know how Kerry will setup, they've been the most consistent team tactically all league even with major personnel adjustments along the way, is this the game O'Conner might spring a surprise and mix things up a bit to keep everyone second guessing come Championship crunch games. I wouldn't expect it, this is his chance to fine tune that system they've worked so hard on, though you never know.

Delighted to see Cillian O'Conner and Darren McHale making the bench along with Eoghan McLoughlin coming back in again. It has been a hell of an injury ridden year so far. Fantastic to think we're prepping for a final given how many of the lads have been out long term and picking up knocks along the way.

Surprised to see Dylan Casey and Tony Brosnan dropped for Kerry. Thought Casey had played well enough since coming in for the injured O'Donoghue to earn the start but I'd imagine that's mostly a tactical change for Graham O'Sullivan who's more comfortable further up the field to follow Ryan/Jason when dropping off. Brosnan has looked on fire all year, college or Kerry. Half expecting him to come in before throw-in for Geaney again tomorrow if his fitness is right.

Yeah, that's how they show up when they are sold out alright. Probably a fair bit of overflow there from other game folks.

Depending where you're heading to would any of the bus routes work?

There's an 8p.m. heading to Sligo or a 9p.m. and 11p.m. heading to Ballina/Foxford/Swinford/Charlestown/Ballaghaderreen. They'd all be looking at getting in pretty late though so not ideal if they're not a short taxi ride home from those stops.

(There's normally a bit of flexibility with the trains to account for folks with monthly returns, who are ticket exempt like the Free Travel Pass or have some of the odd tourist type "trekker" tickets. If the train is definitely the best solution might be worth chancing your arm on getting an accommodating ticket agent who'd sell you a standing spot only (no idea what sort of flexibility they have on their end for that, could end in a "computer says no" situation).)

If you were to hit up the likes of MidWest/Mayo News/Willie Joe/AhRef/etc. with where you were looking to get to tonight a fair chance you'd find someone genuine and willing to offer a lift, it's a great aul' community. We've all been in situations like that and know the stress of last minute change of plans. That said, between Covid and the one in a <insert number depending on how cynical you are> of getting a weirdo replying could be enough to put you off that one. Understandably enough.

In an unexpected turn of fortunate events I'm actually in Croker atm at a corporate sponsorship gig.

Not overly confident about Mayo today tbh but looking forward to seeing a good match either way.

Watching Galway and the Rossies warming up now....no sign of Shane Walsh...is he due back anytime soon?

Roscommon well on top since half time.... could have had a couple of goals

Why is Brickenden in for Mullin ?

6 points probably a fair reflection, lucky enough that it's only 1 goal conceded

I think it’s fair to say we are lacking pace in the backs with all the absentees !

Getting embarrassing now

First ball that came off the post, Doherty had his back completely turned to it, wasn't ready at all. Poor from him with his experience, I thought.

That's why I hate league finals :o Big **** reality check that for the boys

Kind of felt it was going to be ugly with the injury list growing and it was apparent within the first 10 minutes that we weren't at the pitch of it at all. Thought we seriously lacked pace at the back. Stephen Coen's form has been awful the entire league and it's a bit of an elephant in the room at this stage - dunno if Horan has the guts to drop him since he's captain. Midfield struggled badly at times too and the injury to Jordan Flynn looked concerning, though he did eventually walk off so hopefully not as bad as it looked. The lack of conviction and penetration up front is a persistent problem that isn't going to be solved this year unfortunately. Orme isn't ready physically for this level yet. Jack Carney a year or two off too.

Only positives were the return of Cillian and Carr was decent I thought.

Hopefully the return of key players for the Galway game will make a difference but I don't think the forward problem is going to be solved this year to seriously compete for an All Ireland.

del for o’hora. Shut your mouth and play football

No doubt this thread will have a number of new visitors this evening.

It really was humiliation on his part. The entire country was watching the messing and sledging and hoping he got embarrassed. Clifford duly obliged