Mayo V Kerry- 8/4/12

[From the Bunker]

Boyle is a great little player.
Subs in general did well for Mayo.
They're just missing a Ciaran Mc style 'go to' man in the forward line.

I m starting the campaign here and now to bring him back He s still younger than Geraghty was when he retired the first time.

Is it just me or is the second game a lot, I dunno... slower. Laverty was doin well. Big loss.

Let the man go! He did his time and did it well for the most part!

I d go handy talking about anybody bottling anythin. Look at the calendar. We played well for long periods of the match and tried hard for all of it. We got a few breaks that we haven t got sometimes and we got away with a couple of lads contributing little. Kerry had a chance to draw the game and missed - that s all. They could easily have won that game. It was not conclusive. They won t be too bothered.

It s a step in the right direction but we ll have it all to do again the next day, There s a lot of football to be played yet.

I wouldn t be surprised if that s not Harte gone again, From here it looked like a broken foot bone. Metatarsal ?

You have to call a spade a spade, Kerry's last two outings in Croker should have been won. If you do not win a game you should win then that is bottling it!

Kerry have taken the plaudits for being a great side for the ends and outs of a decade. But when you have bad days you have to take the critisism.

Maybe, but I d be more comfortable if it wasn t us doin the criticising, thats all. these things have a habit of coming back to kick ye in the bollicks later.

We ve won a league semi - and the team is coming along nicely but we still have issues. I prefer to focus about us and let Kerry worryabout any problems they may have. They were missing Tomás, Tom O Sullivan, Scanlon and Declan O Sullivan. And when have Kerry ever taken anything serious before an AI semi final? And they didn t bottle it against Dublin. The ref was the bottler that day.

Look, you have to be able to take and give it! We have taken our fair share and most if not all of it was correct! I am not saying this is a bad Kerry team, just that they have lost their last two outings in Croker. Games they were controlling and let slip.

As for us, i would not get on any high horse, we beat a good Kerry team (with players missing) in deline

[sans pessimism]

just in the door now, voice and nerves gone. I cant believe what i am reading here about "bottling". FFS its a league semi-final and either team could have won it. This is a big psycological win for Mayo and this "new" team. They never gave up on it, even when 5 points down. James Horan and the backroom team deserve a lot of credit for that.

Just a couple of comments;
Mayo need more scores from our midfield and half backs, again we kicked 4-6 wides at key times, when we really needed them.

Some consistent refereeing please, it was maddening to watch that "performance" from the man in the middle again, what do linesmen do, f**k all it seems, time for them to step up and cut-out this third- man tackle.

Make no mistake, Mayo were lucky to win that game as were Kerry un-lucky to lose it. Gloating from the armchair does not do any good.  We have beaten Kerry in Middle of April, i wish it was mid-September.

Well done, progess been made.

Well said Gaeilgoir-Some lads losing
the run of themselves.Thought they might have learnt from the past,but memory mustn't
be great
Another step forward by Jamsie and the b'ys-thats all it should be seen as.

[mannix]

Well done mayo, not giving up on lost causes is the reason they won. A little more composure and they could be contenders in the summer.

[From the Bunker]

And the dust settles and we encounter Cork again in Croker. A chance for revenge for the Rebels. They are going for a unique treble and that will be their motivation. They'll be glad they are not meeting Kerry! Meeting them (more than likely) twice in the championship is enough for any cork person. Although they were caught in the AI QF last year, they will fancy their chances.

[Cosmo Kramer]

Moysider, you're starting to reach Billy Fitz levels of negativity lately!

Look, there's no harm in any Mayo fans enjoying a win in Croke Park today. Wins over Kerry have been rare down the years. Surely we cant be that down on ourselves that we're not allowed to enjoy wins now. Winning or losing a league semi final is irrelevant enough to have any real meaning in the greater scheme of things. A league final is nothing we haven't seen before.

What is different today is the manner of the performance and the belief shown. I don't think we could have won that game from the position we were in with previous teams. A young team playing good football and winning is what every Mayo fan will have wanted to see and that's what we got today. The belief it will give the players going forward is the most important thing and that's why today is beneficial for us.

[mlcollins]

From the bunker to suggest kerry are bottlers is a farce,they were beaten on the last two occasions by one point,last sept. kerry did not have the bench to get over the line' amongst OTHER influences but these are the inches jack o' connor talks about winning big matches ,ye on the other hand have in the past been well beaten by kerry,no bottling just not good enough,today ye won by a point thanks to donaghys hospital pass,however it's only april so before you get up your self you better pray ye don't meet kerry later in the championship because they will annihilate ye.

[From the Bunker]

From the bunker to suggest kerry are bottlers is a farce,they were beaten on the last two occasions by one point,last sept. kerry did not have the bench to get over the line' amongst OTHER influences but these are the inches jack o' connor talks about winning big matches ,ye on the other hand have in the past been well beaten by kerry,no bottling just not good enough,today ye won by a point thanks to donaghys hospital pass,however it's only april so before you get up your self you better pray ye don't meet kerry later in the championship because they will annihilate ye.

mlcollins, Welcome to Gaaboard! Good to have you aboard. As you are new, you probably have not read my earlier posts. I'm in not disillusioned as to how good Mayo are. They are still an average team. Kerry are still a good team, but questions have to be asked of them closing out their last two games in Croker, games they clearly should have closed out and in older days would have closed out. If this had happened to Tyrone, Armagh, Cork or Dublin the same question would be asked. Are we to make Kerry immune from such analysis?

[Rossfan]

Well done mayo, not giving up on lost causes is the reason they won. A little more composure and they could be contenders in the summer.

And no doubt ye'll definitely be contenders in the Autumn . Maybe even the start of a 3 in a row.
Time for a " Who can stop...." thread 

[ross4life]

Well done Mayo! got a bit of luck to bring the game into ET but for the gutsy performance on the day they deserved it. Kerry will recover in time for the championship & still a safe bet to last longer than Mayo in the championship but spare a thought for little Leitrim whom has to travel to Mchale park in June.

[moysider]

Moysider, you're starting to reach Billy Fitz levels of negativity lately!

Look, there's no harm in any Mayo fans enjoying a win in Croke Park today. Wins over Kerry have been rare down the years. Surely we cant be that down on ourselves that we're not allowed to enjoy wins now. Winning or losing a league semi final is irrelevant enough to have any real meaning in the greater scheme of things. A league final is nothing we haven't seen before.

What is different today is the manner of the performance and the belief shown. I don't think we could have won that game from the position we were in with previous teams. A young team playing good football and winning is what every Mayo fan will have wanted to see and that's what we got today. The belief it will give the players going forward is the most important thing and that's why today is beneficial for us.

Negative? Moi? Surely not

I m only tryin to reign in a few runaway horses. Delighted with today s win myself and more so with the performance, and the performances since Ballyshannon.

To be a serious team we have to keep this up every day - that s the important thing and something we have been poor at down the years. Cork another massive test and if we re not competitive again anything gained from today will be lost. Being negative again but we are running out of bench with injuries but we should be stronger come championship. No Freeman, Kirby or O Séx2 available today.

[mlcollins]

From the bunker,absolutely not but what is bottling,the problem is ye are fixated on it and this is a result of the all-ireland final in 1996, since then ye have either won excellant games or have been soundly beaten in others which doesn't make ye bottlers and todays loss doesn't make kerry bottlers not to mind last years AI.Today kerry would have won only for a crazy pass by donaghy ,FACT,no bottling just one player acting the magot when under little pressure to do so,simple as.

[moysider]

Well done Mayo! got a bit of luck to bring the game into ET but for the gutsy performance on the day they deserved it. Kerry will recover in time for the championship & still a safe bet to last longer than Mayo in the championship but spare a thought for little Leitrim whom has to travel to Mchale park in June.

This is what I ve been trying to tell my fellow Mayoites. Today changes little as regards championship. Tomorrow morning Kerry will still be short-odd favourites and Mayo will be still available at 12-14/1. Dublin, Cork, Tyrone, Kildare and maybe a Donegal or Armagh will be shorter. Today was better than losing (self belief and all that) and it s a step in the right direction. Another positive for us is that we re well short of a peak. Thing is we can get better, a lot better if injuries cleared up and we got a clean run.

[Jinxy]

I look forward to Mayo Micks objective dispassionate analysis of the game.

[From the Bunker]

Well done Mayo! got a bit of luck to bring the game into ET but for the gutsy performance on the day they deserved it. Kerry will recover in time for the championship & still a safe bet to last longer than Mayo in the championship but spare a thought for little Leitrim whom has to travel to Mchale park in June.

Leitrim have no more and no less to fear after todays result.

[maigheo]

reading the comments over on wjs blog you would think it was an allireland semi final that was won today.I am sure if mayo lost today there would be plenty of choker comments on here.The talk of kerry bottling it today is rubbish-they lost a hard fought game that they should have won by 1 point.I an sure James Horan will not be getting carried away with todays result but it is always very satisfying to win a game in croker and I am sure they will enjoy it for a few days.