Mayo GAA Discussion

The blue seats on the McHale Road side were originally in the stand.They had to take about 1000 out of the stand as there weren't sufficient walkways.You can see it in pics of the 1st year or two of the stands existence.

There's no appetite to do anything more with the stadium because they made such a hames of the finance side of it first time round.The debt on the stadium and levy on clubs is projected to go till about 2060.More than 50 years after the stand opened, its the single biggest obstacle to Mayo staying at the top table.That money can't be used for centre of excellence, GPOs etc.

Roscommon will open a refurbished stand with a bigger capacity than our stand next month.It cost 10% of what we paid and is mostly self funded,no debt.

I'd actually love to see him used as an impact sub*. I just don't like (lazy) journalism/comments making it look like an open and shut case (even if a majority might agree with it), not discussing the nuances of it or pointing out failings/facts that aren't true (Suggesting Aidan going out for throw ups is Aidan showing he doesn't want to play full-forward is farcicle stuff. That's a management call based around giving us the greatest opportunity for possession/scoring. Nothing to do with Aidan's playing preferences at midfield/FF). Seeing people writing off a player in February who was probably the club player of the year just gone (kicking all sorts of frees in the process), was right up there in the top 3 as Mayo player of the year last year and has only just returned from holidays and still not near top gear is just odd to me.

Lots of reasons not to want Aidan starting. Maximising his potential late on (ageing legs take a serious toll) and introducing more movement/pace into the forward line two big ones but the biggest for me is using him can weaken us defensively at times. Ironically enough, when this was one of Aidan's strengths for the vast majority of his career.

Last year when we were coughing up numerous goal chances they were coming from a large variety of sources. Part of that was familiarising ourselves with a new defensive system, part was the system itself being demanding and relatively unforgiving to mistakes and part was individual errors. The most common of the individual errors was Aidan getting breached around the middle (Conor Loftus' lack of defensive strengths/pace at CHB second by a distance and both of those well clear of any other repeated cause), causing an overload chain along the lines we'd then need our scramble defence to cover which wasn't working out often enough (having 2 of Coen and Loftus lacking some pace probably didn't help there either so you'd hope we'd be closing more of those doors this year regardless). We haven't seen it yet in Salthill or Castlebar so perhaps they've made steps to resolve it but I'd fear it's still a major issue we have with Aidan at full forward. If we're going to use him there I'd like to see us locking him on the edge of the square and giving the opposition the question of what to do with that rather than giving them a (relatively) easy breach around the middle.

Any discussion of whether we do or don't play him, especially one from a journalist in a newspaper, should be (even briefly) looking at the pros too, something that editorial badly lacked. When used properly in there, Aidan is our most potent attacking threat. He won't score 1-6 a game like Cillian/Ryan and often won't score 2 or 3 like Tommy or Jordan.... but he's currently looking (still) our best bet of getting those lads putting up those scores and the best option to maximise our overall scoring.

He requires a fairly specific matchup that often pushes teams to break up their normal defensive unit. He causes them to have to tweak other defensive plans (instead of a sweeper sitting on the D it now has to be 15 yards deeper or they need a 2nd sweeper) or risk getting taken apart as many experienced last year in the league (easily could have happened against Dublin too if he hadn't uncharacteristically fumbled a few and others weren't poorly kicked straight to a sweeper when a ball was never on). Sure, lots of games he might/will get swallowed up in there with bodies... but at that point it's up to the lads not being swamped to make hay. Something for lads like Tommy/Jordan/Jack/Bob/Diarmuid/Paddy/Sam or 'the team' to capitalise on.

*The most important part of discussions about not using him for frees or not using him at FF is who you're replacing him with. I've said it in the past, anyone calling for someone to be dropped and not giving the specific change they'd like to see is being disingenuous at best.

Until we see one of Carr (pace & direct running to beat 1v1s & create overloads), McHale (probably offering the most creativity to potentially unlock goal chances for others) or CO'C (longer range shooting) lay down a claim to the jersey (Cillian you'd imagine the closest but yet to recapture form at club or county since his injury - he looked bright & seemed to cause problems in the brief cameo against Dublin.... hard to know whether the multiple misses will spur him on or sap his confidence further. 50/50 but you'd imagine he's mentally strong enough for it to be a motivation) it's hard to justify calls for dropping Aidan. We absolutely need to try the lads in there (at least when they're back fully fit) but we should be looking for them to stand up and make themselves a must pick rather than attempting to attack the confidence of who's currently in there.

Your reply is so long winded and contradictory that it's difficult to reply to. You said in the first line that you'd love to see Aidan as an impact sub. Well that's what Laffey and myself are saying. But later on you say it's hard to justify dropping him. And giving an opinion on whether he should start or be on the bench is not attacking his confidence. Its just an opinion on team selection. Otherwise by the same yardstick you would be accused of attacking the confidence of conor Loftus - which you clearly weren't.

Also after all the managers he has played under over 14 years there is little need for pros and cons 'nuance'. Your views remind me of Billy Joe Paddens repeated opinion that managements are not using Aidan correctly. Well that ship has sailed but its still the discussion for some.

Gerald’s won by two . I seen their Junior team win Connacht before Xmas. They have some savage forwards

The debt is such a noose around the neck of any plans for progress. We are in danger of falling behind in terms of stadium improvements and playing/coaching facilities.

In contrast Galway are looking to build a centre excellence at the former Galway airport site. And that's in addition to the Renville development announced last year.

https://hoganstand.com/article/index/330627

https://www.galwaybeo.ie/sport/gaa/galway-gaa-getting-sports-centre-8280335

They have their issues but at least they have stuff in the pipeline.

The Galway Airport thing will not happen.

Wasn't Pat Mc Donagh wondering where the money was going a while back?

I'd have to imagine they're talking about the stuff back in 2019.

They've since singed a new 5 year deal in 2022 so can't imagine McDonagh's issues were too serious.

McHale Park itself was a club ground until recently enough, it wasn't until the mid 2000's iirc that Mayo GAA took out a long term lease / control imo.

And no other grounds, no. Until they got control of McHale Park, the chaos of the Mayo team "finding a pitch to train on" was a fairly regular thing iirc. I certainly remember it from my youth in the 90's.

Pretty sure that Tuam, Athenry and Ballinalsoe are not independent of the local clubs.

Ballina would be on a par with Ballinasloe and Athenry I'd say.

Tuam and Athenry are, with the local clubs having their own separate facilities. Not sure about Ballinasloe.

Enjoy the game for anyone travelling! Watch out for angry Mexicans around Tralee.

Decent result for the ladies in kerry

Any recomendations for a good pub in Dublin to watch the match?

Depends on where in the city you are tbh. Ryans on Camden Street might be decent if you're around there

Wouldn't be too familiar with that area but you could try Briodys or the Celt. Might be worth asking on the Dublin thread

Poor enough game so far 😕

Callinan looking decent

Disappointing result in the end but much better performance in the second half.

Brickenden kicking away that free in injury time was costly, hopefully he'll learn from it