Messages

There has to be a serious rush now for the Mayo duo surely. Beat likes of Galway and Donegal with a bit to spare and their players let them down against Dublin twice. They ll be snapped up, you wait and see.

True Holmes and Connelly were on the pitch. Looked up saw three Dublin players marking AOS and still kicked into him...badly.

Some Mayo players just out of their depth

And you were the one predicting Mayo would beat Dublin and win the all ireland a few weeks ago and now you are singing a different tune.You should be in politics.

I was wrong.

AOS marked by 3 players,

Mayo players look up, see it's 3 to 1.

Solos a bit further, looks up again. Its 3 to 1.

Solos a bit further, looks up again. It's still 3 to 1.

Kicks a high aimless ball in. Turnover

Repeat........repeat.... repeat

Ain't no manager going to cure that. While the current Mayo management may have not been up to the job - it's pretty clear some of the players aren't either

Yes, but who told the players to play (set up) that way? The players? The Management?

Despite Indy attitude he does have a point. He players were brainlessly hitting to AOS when they were bietter looking for men on their shoulders. Even C&H can't be blamed for players continually ignoring better, closer options. They may have wanted them to kick to AOS where possible but in many of the situations it simply wasn't.

So you are saying the players over ruled what they were told to do by management and kicked in aimless balls to AOS?

There has to be a serious rush now for the Mayo duo surely. Beat likes of Galway and Donegal with a bit to spare and their players let them down against Dublin twice. They ll be snapped up, you wait and see.

True Holmes and Connelly were on the pitch. Looked up saw three Dublin players marking AOS and still kicked into him...badly.

Some Mayo players just out of their depth

And you were the one predicting Mayo would beat Dublin and win the all ireland a few weeks ago and now you are singing a different tune.You should be in politics.

I was wrong.

AOS marked by 3 players,

Mayo players look up, see it's 3 to 1.

Solos a bit further, looks up again. Its 3 to 1.

Solos a bit further, looks up again. It's still 3 to 1.

Kicks a high aimless ball in. Turnover

Repeat........repeat.... repeat

Ain't no manager going to cure that. While the current Mayo management may have not been up to the job - it's pretty clear some of the players aren't either

Yes, but who told the players to play (set up) that way? The players? The Management?

Hard not to feel sorry for him. Not easy to make a silk purse from a sows ear.

Well he spent 300m and made a pigs ear of it. Can have no complaints.  He gets a good pay off. All spoof and bluster with no substance.

How much did he get in on transfers? £75m for Suarez, Raheem Sterling £49, Borini £8m, Aqualini 7m, Adam 5m, Carroll 15m, Shelvey 6m, Downing 6m, Lambert 3m, Coates 4m, Aspas 4.5m, Assaidi 5m, Agger 3m, and about 10m on miscellaneous which leaves a balance of about 100M.

[In a year where we threw out a man our players wanted to keep we've still managed to be the least disfunctional Cnnacht county. Madness.]

Whatever about the Mayo situation, players revolting against the most successful Galway manager in nearly three decades is frankly more than a bit arrogant and distasteful. Players are getting notions beyond their station as to what their role in the equation is. It isn't to select managers.

Cunningham is a good manager and a good man and will be in serious demand of the players don't seem some sense and look at themselves first and foremost.

In a year where we threw out a man our players wanted to keep we've still managed to be the least disfunctional Cnnacht county. Madness.

I hope you are speaking about off the pitch? 

Any takers on Holmes and Connelly? Tomás Ó Flatharta? Jason Ryan? Jack Sheedy?

Anthony Cunningham could be available. Got Garrycastle to within an inch of winning an AI club title!

Now that would be a story?

"Ach freisin caithfimid cuimhneamh ar dhaoine i Sasana, i Meiriceá, ar fuaid na tíre. Agus tá said, b'fhéidir, ag caoineadh anois i láthair."

The thing with England being out of the WC is there is no one left that we love to hate! Sort of leaves the competition a bit more empty?

Clive Woodward is optimistic. Thinks England are playing well. The man is almost mad enough to manage Mayo!

Nobody is that mad? Are they?

A gay rights movement within the Clergy. Would never have seen that one coming?

Samoa looked really average versus Japan. You'd have to wonder at the advantage Scotland got rest wise in their first game against Japan.

[beat by Kerry 2014 who again had better forwards]

Well i say it first, Mayo wouldn't win the all-ireland next year no matter who the manager is. Been hoping they done it past number of years, was there the day they should done in back in 1996.
Two. holmes and Connelly done more for Mayo football in their time than any wannabe county man on here.
You were beat by Donegal in 2012 who had better forwards, beat by Dublin 2013/15 who had better forwards, beat by Kerry 2014 who again had better forwards.

Where the problem with Mayo lads, u blind??

No issues with the other statements about Donegal and Dublin. Just have a look at the game again highlighted in bold. Once again, I reiterate, we lost that game and no argument will stand up when you lose. You can throw any myth, lie or fairytale and it will be backed up because we lost.

Now I will whisper the following: Kerry got a free ride from the referee in the replay last year.

The Mayo players have never taken responsibility for the absolute skill-set failures under pressure since 2012. Do they have enough players with the individual skill to win an AI? No is the answer.

But they were presented in 2012 and 2013 with golden opportunities to win  AI titles because superior opposition under-performed on the day and gave them the chance.

In an ideal world with every county playing to it's limit Mayo are currently in my view 3 players short. A goal-keeper, a centre back and another inside forward.

Changing management team won't change that and if it's the professionalism of the outgoing management the players are unhappy about then how could they have been happy with Horan who made several blunders on the line during his tenure . That's part of the gig too. Anyone can put a professional environment in around a team. It's what you do in that environment what counts.

It's surreal really. You're in a whole pile of trouble and the players have to produce the goods next year. Maybe it will be the making of them.

Unless I knew of the players needed to get the team over the line were easily identifiable within the county I wouldn't take it until some of the Backroom Lawyers on the panel were gone

Alan Freeman training with Vincents as well in Dublin at present.

Look we have not won the Big Cannister. Until we do that ye call throw all ye want at us! The greatest of lies, myths and tales can be made up and taken as being as fact as to our shortcomings! And we have to take it because we have no comeback. Be it true or just plain old myths built around stereo type cliches we just have to suck it up. In the meantime we have people from other counties telling us we should hold onto two lads not up to a job. So in other words you want us to cling onto what you've been criticising us for?

As a footnote, Mayo (IMHO) don't actually have defensive problems. I'd even suggest they've a better defence man-for-man than any team in Ireland. The only teams that even slightly trouble their defence are those littered with star forwards. This is not a problem, it's what should happen. Mayo's problems are at the other end. Their defence will always give give them a chance. Their attacking play does not.

They don't? it was clear in the Connacht championship this year against Galway and Sligo that they had defensive problems. On average Mayo have conceded two goals per game in the championship over the last four years. The last four All Ireland winners Kerry,Donegal,Dublin twice were all solid defensively Mayo (IMHO) were not.

See, me as a neutral, I don't see these as huge defensive problems. Yep they've a tendency to concede goals, but the trade-off is that few Mayo defenders get roasted for point scoring. They don't concede as many frees either.

Maybe it's the wrong approach, and they should actually bate the living shite out of anyone who has a sniff at goal instead.

The last 4 Championship exits were 4 points in the final, 1 pt in the final, 3 points in an ET SF replay, and an ET replay where they were in it til the last couple of minutes. You might point these narrow deficits as a defensive problems, and you know what, you might even be right.

From my neutral standpoint though, the biggest problem for Mayo against the big teams hasn't been in containing them, it's been in dominating them and hurting them. Different viewpoints, that's all.

From a non neutral point of view, We stink in the back line. We did ok against a tired Donegal side. But just look at our record otherwise.

[Saying the players have to win the AI next year is missing the point. The players were certain they could not win it with these lads.]

Did they really regress that much with H & C though ?? They lost a replay to the all Ireland winners, same as last year!! Every team is ambitious I would say but to think these guys know what it takes to win an all Ireland is highly dubious. Maybe these lads know of another forward or two that could take them there. Because that's what's been missing imho . We'll wait to see who becomes manager I guess, he has a job on his hands!!

More than scoring forwards from play they need, will the next Mayo management be able to sort out the defensive issues that the last two managements couldn't?

Well that's the idea isn't it. These two lads clearly didn't know how to. They're preparation was a level below what Horan provided so they had to go. Saying the players have to win the AI next year is missing the point. The players were certain they could not win it with these lads. The replay game was a shambles and the next management must have a better defensive structure in place along with improving pre match preparation. All of the above is more important than finding new forwards.

That's it all in summary. The easy thing to do for the players was sit on their hands. Time is running out and if this went on for another year it could have got a lot more messy. Sad exit for Holmes and Connelly, but that's the harsh reality of Sport. Hopefully they take a break away from the madness of the last couple of weeks, dust themselves down and give some other project a go.