Messages

First of all, Comhghairdeas Tír Eoghain, you were deserving winners on the day. I've watched Mayo lose a number of finals to Dublin in the last decade and I have to say, Tyrone didn't engage in a fraction of the cycnicism/off the ball shite that the Dubs regularly engage in. The negative rep Tyrone get from sections of the media is tiresome but they won this year's final fair and square. Any of their supporters I met after the match were also very gracious in victory so well done to all involved.

From a Mayo point of view, it was basically our old failing coming back to haunt us again....not enough scoring forwards. We had the chances to win the game but didn't take them, Mayo had 31 shots to Tyrone's 28 but we just couldn't score enough of them. Only 2 of our 6 forwards, Conroy and O Donoghue, looked like threatening the scoreboard from open play and unfortunately, even those 2 missed the chances that could have put us in a winning position.

I would personally be delighted for Aidan if he finally got his hands on a celtic cross and some of the personal abuse he has to put up with is way over the top. At the same time, there are some reasonable questions that can be asked. I've no problem with Gaelic players making a few quid off the back of their status, but was the Sunday World 'baywatch' article, 13 days out from the final really necessary? Particularly after his poor semi final performance. All that stuff does is heap the pressure on him and open himself up to the inevitable criticism afterwards.

Rob Hennelly had his best year in a Mayo jersey, he has taken his kickouts to a new level and they are now up there with the very best in the country. Unfortunately for him, his old issues under the high ball came back once more in the final. I'm not sure it's something he can resolve at this stage in his career but hopefully he can.

On a more positive note, I think if we can get an injury free year out of Cillian and Jason Doherty we'll be well in contention again next year. A forward line containing those 2, Conroy and O Donoghue would be far more dangerous than what we put out at the weekend. A fit again Eoghan McLoughlin and Brendan Harrison would also make a difference.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/arid-40346108.html%3ftype=amp

Meath winning second half again is irrelevant,  Jim gavin's planes , Aslan junkie fella, imelda may , I could go on and on , it has nothing to do with the football being played . I am a gaa member,  croke park  is hq , take your bias Dublin shite out of it . Sin e .

So I see you are retracting the statement that Meath management complained about the half time music. That was a falsehood.

Instead, it was a couple of Meath fans objected to David Bowie's 'Let's Dance' !!   😆

So let's ignore the fact that music is always played when teams return to the field but if a team comes out too early or too late, they may miss that. Although not a single player would ever even notice.

You're an embarrassment to your county players, but your conspiracy nonsense is absolutely hilarious

I'm off to listen to Let's Dance, to really rev me up for the day 🥰

Not true Hound. I remember the exact same thing happening with 'Let's Dance' at the Mayo Dublin Semi final in 2019. Very unlikely that both Mayo and Meath would have just 'came out too early.'

While this had little impact on the result, its just another one of the small advantages Dublin enjoy year in year out.

Mayo had a man advantage for the first 10 minutes of the second half and instead of drawing level or going ahead, they fell a further 2 points behind.  Dublin we're and are just a better team

Mayo sat back for those 10 minutes rather than push on and take advantage of the extra man for that period. I assume this was based on Dublin blitzing them at the start of the 2nd half last year. That was when Mayo needed to push on though and take a few chances. They must have known thy would need to score goals to beat Dublin and that 10 min spell opened the door a little for them to have a go

Incorrect. Mayo were just going through a period of momentum before the foul on Keegan. They had just scored 2 points in a row and had the free been given, it would have been 3 in a row and an equaliser. Watch it back, McDaid only came back on after the foul on Keegan. The break in play while Keegan was down injured broke any momentum Mayo had, it was a big turning point in the game.

David coldrick expected to referee the final.

Now confirmed.
https://www.gaa.ie/football/news/david-coldrick-to-referee-all-ireland-sfc-final/?

Disaster. Along with the likes of Deegan and Derek O Mahony, Coldrick is a classic 'soft free' ref. He doesn't allow any form of tackle and will always give a free to the man in possession as soon as there is the slightest bit of contact. There's a good chance this final will now turn into a free taking competition between O Connor and Rock.

From the moment David Coldrick was announced for the final, I knew that whatever slim chance Mayo had of winning was pretty much gone. Mayo's entire game plan is based around hard tackling and forcing turnovers, Coldrick doesn't allow any tackle and the man in possession always gets the free. Most of the criticism Coldrick has been getting has focused on the Fitzsimons shoulder and Cooper pull down but for me, the constant soft frees had a bigger impact on the game.

Dublin were 3 points up after 60 mins and they got 2 non-existent frees in the 61st and 62nd minutes to put them 5 clear. That was the game done then and the dubs played keep ball to close it out. (I know Mayo got some soft ones too).

While Dublin would most likely still have won regardless of who was reffing it, I think if Gough or Lane had got the final, there would at least have been a contest in the last 10 minutes.

David coldrick expected to referee the final.

Now confirmed.
https://www.gaa.ie/football/news/david-coldrick-to-referee-all-ireland-sfc-final/?

Disaster. Along with the likes of Deegan and Derek O Mahony, Coldrick is a classic 'soft free' ref. He doesn't allow any form of tackle and will always give a free to the man in possession as soon as there is the slightest bit of contact. There's a good chance this final will now turn into a free taking competition between O Connor and Rock.

[if a team worked the clock to have injuries and the like it would be annoying as a player manager and supporter]

He's asking can the ref just decide not to play the added time put up on the board by the sideline official, as could be understood from Baile Brigin's "referee's discretion" post.

I.e if 5 minutes goes up on the board, can the ref just wrap it up after 3?

To be clear, he is not suggesting that this happened in the camogie match but is asking it as a general question.

I imagine the sideline official gets the time to be added from the ref so really the question is - can he just change his mind and play less? It would be an odd thing to do.

If the ref says 5 minutes he must play a minimum of 5 minutes, that 5 minutes can be 8 or more depending what happens during the additional time.

The players will know what time is left, as they'd be asking flat out after the allocated time, and if the players know so will the managers.

There's only one watch (or two now as refs have) that counts and that's the refs.

Ladies football use The countdown clock, I'm personally not in favour of it tbh, not as a refs viewpoint as that would be one area made better, but if a team worked the clock to have injuries and the like it would be annoying as a player manager and supporter

Just stop the clock every time there's an injury, like they do in rugby....That'd be far better than what we currently have where the time is often not added on at the end

Daly's a quality player and has been one of the better Galway forwards over the last few years, although there is more in him than he has shown.

If Steede is fit, he'll start, he was beginning to establish a place for himself before covid hit and injury had him out the last few weeks.

A few points on yesterday's game-

For once, our game management was actually good. The game was effectively won mid way through the second half and we never looked like conceding a goal from then on. We kept possession, played it backwards when needed and took the sting out of the match. The lack of a crowd helped us in that regard, you often hear the disapproving roars coming from the Mayo crowd when we go backwards with the ball. All that does is increase pressure on the players but sometimes you just need to play keep-ball to see out a result.

Diarmuid O Connor gets a fair amount of criticism and while he's often quiet in league games, he usually steps up to the plate when it's do or die. He stepped up again yesterday.

While Galway's preparation has been far from ideal, there's no way that the likes of Shane Walsh, Michael Daly and Ronan Steede don't have one big performance in them. Particularly now with the more favourable path to an AI final. Expect a major battle next Sunday.

From a Mayo point of view, that game was lost on the line.Tactics and team selection. James Horan's 'push everyone forward' tactics do not work against a strong wind, I had hoped that the lesson was learned after the Galway league game in McHale park last year but obviously not. We needed to sit back in that first half and not concede any goals, like the Dubs did against the wind today but we only seem to know one way.

It was obvious before the game today that Aidan in Full Forward was not going to work. Wet day, blanket defence, he was predictably surrounded any time he got his hands on the ball. Yet he somehow was still in there after 70 minutes.

While Conor Loftus and Kevin McLoughlin are very skillful players, neither have the physicality to be be holding central positions like midfield and centre back on a day like today. Ryan O Donoghue was the standout forward from the early stages of the league and most promising underage forward in Mayo over the last few years, he proved today that he should have been in from the start. James Durcan has had plenty of chances at this stage and outside of a good cameo performance against Donegal, hasn't taken them.

On the plus side, Cillian's injury doesn't seem to be too bad and forward line containing him, Tommy Conroy and ROD should be dangerous. If we bounce straight back out of division 2 next year, relegation mighn't be too much of a big deal. It's a big if though.

The Dubs- Continuing to find new ways to destroy Gaelic Football.

How many chances are some of these Mayo players going to get?  3 of those forwards that started and were substituted during the course of the game today have been given 3 or 4 games each to prove themselves over the course of this league.  Bar a 3 minute cameo by one of them at the end of the Donegal game, all 3 have been poor.  They aren't even close to the standard unfortunately.  Not sure what Horan is looking at, if he's looking at anything at all.  I fully expect him to play all 3 again in Galway and again all 3 will be substituted.

For one of those three you mention, it was only his second start of the year. While he was poor today, he was decent the last day and had a very good season last year.

Another one of them played a lot of today in the full forward line...way out of position. I wouldn't be writing him off just yet.

Said something stupid when he was drunk, not a whole pile different from any amount of GAA followers.  He apologised and removed said tweet, christ Mayo County Board are they that stupid! Maybe trawling the corners of Mayo with raffle tickets will rise them from their stupidity.  You should never look a gift horse in the mouth,  O Leary is passionate and like us all says stupid things at times.  But the treatment he gets for funding Mayo is nothing short of farcical.  Mayo = give us your money and say SFA.  Leave the GAA to the lads who would be hard pressed to put a €5 in the pot.

You should look back over his list of 'demands' last December. What's clear is that he thought that his money could buy him a position of influence in Mayo GAA. Definite right call by the board.

Thank God the Tyrone sending off is the topic of the day because Mayo were awful, bloody awful today. I haven't seen a performance that bad in a long while. I expected us to lose. But to be outscored by 2-11 to 0-5 in the second half, well you know the rest. I hope James Horan learns at least this ONE THING: don't start Jordan Flynn against Kerry, Galway or Tyrone. Nothing really against him, but he literally cannot make any physical contact with any opposition player or there'll be some kind of card handed out. Unfortunately our lack of underage success is coming home to roost.

While the collapse in the final quarter was disappointing, you have to bear in mind the number of probable starters we were missing today, these include Brendan Harrison, Chris Barrett, Matthew Ruane, Cillian O Connor, Fionn McDonagh, Jason Doherty and James Carr. No other division one team has an injury list like this. We'll be a totally different team come championship and all analysis at the moment has to take account of this

[the GAA doing a poor job of communicating the actual situation.]

Heard David Gough explaining this. The new watches the refs have cater for this and it's all done correctly to the rules. Trouble here is lack of understanding of the rules and possibly the GAA doing a poor job of communicating the actual situation.

Quelle Surprise.

GAA insist time keeping is not a major issue in games
No plans for review despite accusations of inconsistency by Meath boss
Tue, Feb 11, 2020, 01:00
Seán Moran

The GAA have no plans to review time keeping procedures after criticism from Meath manager Andy McEntee of the lack of added time played in his team's narrow defeat by Mayo in Navan.

Feargal McGill, the GAA's Head of Games Administration, said that he was happy with the standard of time keeping, which was overhauled a few years ago in order to address time wasting. As a result, matches frequently run up to the 76th and 77th minutes.

"I have to say that I think there's a high standard of consistency at the moment from our officials in how they apply the rules on time. We have minimum allowances for substitutions and regulations that were introduced at the start of 2016 to ensure that adequate additional time was being played.

"I don't think you have the situation where people are walking away from matches every week complaining about the amount of time being played or not played.

"There have been high-profile incidents recently of referees playing way over the announced time – the Kilcoo game [All-Ireland club football final against Corofin] and the Dublin game [last Saturday] and if you look at both of those games you'd see that the referee got it right."

McEntee's unhappiness was made clear to print, digital and broadcast media after the match when he contrasted how his team had been granted no additional time beyond the announced four minutes with Dublin's experience on Saturday night. Both he and his players seemed to anticipate a further opportunity to equalise after Thomas Reilly had cut the deficit to a point.

"I can't believe – the amount of breaks that were there in those four minutes of extra-time and we don't play two seconds of extra-time? Dublin got two minutes last night [Saturday] to get an equalising score. There's a level of inconsistency all over the place. And they want referees to get respect. They've got to show a little bit too.

"It's one rule for the Dublin's and the bigger names in this world and it's a different rule for everybody else."

He referred to an incident in which Mayo replacement Bryan Walsh had been down injured during additional time.

"He's supposed to play on . . ." he said of Tyrone referee Seán Hurson. "I mean if that guy is lying down on the ground for 30 seconds holding his head – 30 seconds, you get two scores in 30 seconds"

The Meath manager had grounds for grievance in that instance. Four minutes were announced as injury-time but whereas the injury stopped play for 35 seconds, the clock stopped at four minutes 10 seconds after O'Reilly's score.

Down referee Ciarán Branagan added three minutes to the announced six at Croke Park on Saturday, enabling Dublin to close a six-point deficit by the 79th minute. Most observers accept that the match had been held up for that amount of time, as the referee administered some cards, injuries were treated and replacements took to the field.

McGill contends however that referees are far more aware of the need to address deliberate time wasting.

"When the board goes up for five minutes' additional time and teams are trying to run down the clock and as a reaction to that, referees are now way more conscious of the fact that there needs to be at least five minutes of injury-time. People at matches know the phrase, 'there'll be at least five minutes additional time'."

Seven years ago, a motion to congress was successful in introducing the countdown clock familiar from women's football. But after trialling the idea in third-level college's fixtures, the GAA decided not to proceed after identifying what were seen as shortcomings in the system.

As a result, the 2013 amendment was deleted at a subsequent Congress.

The misgivings about the time-keeping system that has proved successful in the women's game were based on reputational damage to the association, according to the report presented to Central Council:

"As part of the two trials of the clock/hooter system conducted, a number of concerns were raised by those who witnessed the trials in action with regard to the impact the introduction of the clock and hooter might have on the playing of our games.

"These included operating officials, referees, players, mentors and spectators. These concerns – along with the suggested protocol for implementation – were also presented to Central Council delegates. In the main, the concerns centred on potential damage to the reputation of association:

These included human error or failure to operate it properly, system failure, prevalence of 'fouling down' the clock, the playing of 'keep ball' when the clock was in view and deliberate concession of possession in order to make the ball go dead."


There are no plans to revisit the idea.

Article from the Irish Times a few days back.

Regarding the first bit in bold I don't think I've been at any tight game in the last few years at every level where timekeeping wasn't raised as an issue afterwards.
It's a consistent theme be in club, school or intercounty where the score is tight.

The second bit in bold shows the flimsiness of the case against a hooter system given all the arguements listed here against it already occur.
I argue that more reputational damage is being done by continuing on with the current system.
It's as certain as rain is wet there will be countless more tight games where the ref's timekeeping comes up as an issue until eventually a hooter system is adopted.

The key argument in favour of a hooter system is the blatant evidence of the women's game where the hooter system works so well in literally thousands of games.

I'd love to hear those who have adopted the "yerra things are grand" approach like Feargal here make the case as to why things would not be better with a hooter system like the women's game.

Well said.

This just further highlights the absolute disconnect between the top brass of the GAA and the grassroots. I mean is this fella watching games at all? It's an issue that crops up on most weekends!

I walk away from a match with few thoughts, we could have played better, we were brilliant, can't remember last time I walked away from a game as a supporter going, flip sake, we should have had 2 more minutes there at the end!

The thoughts you refer to are not mutually exclusive.

[the GAA doing a poor job of communicating the actual situation.]

Heard David Gough explaining this. The new watches the refs have cater for this and it's all done correctly to the rules. Trouble here is lack of understanding of the rules and possibly the GAA doing a poor job of communicating the actual situation.

Quelle Surprise.

GAA insist time keeping is not a major issue in games
No plans for review despite accusations of inconsistency by Meath boss
Tue, Feb 11, 2020, 01:00
Seán Moran

The GAA have no plans to review time keeping procedures after criticism from Meath manager Andy McEntee of the lack of added time played in his team's narrow defeat by Mayo in Navan.

Feargal McGill, the GAA's Head of Games Administration, said that he was happy with the standard of time keeping, which was overhauled a few years ago in order to address time wasting. As a result, matches frequently run up to the 76th and 77th minutes.

"I have to say that I think there's a high standard of consistency at the moment from our officials in how they apply the rules on time. We have minimum allowances for substitutions and regulations that were introduced at the start of 2016 to ensure that adequate additional time was being played.

"I don't think you have the situation where people are walking away from matches every week complaining about the amount of time being played or not played.

"There have been high-profile incidents recently of referees playing way over the announced time – the Kilcoo game [All-Ireland club football final against Corofin] and the Dublin game [last Saturday] and if you look at both of those games you'd see that the referee got it right."

McEntee's unhappiness was made clear to print, digital and broadcast media after the match when he contrasted how his team had been granted no additional time beyond the announced four minutes with Dublin's experience on Saturday night. Both he and his players seemed to anticipate a further opportunity to equalise after Thomas Reilly had cut the deficit to a point.

"I can't believe – the amount of breaks that were there in those four minutes of extra-time and we don't play two seconds of extra-time? Dublin got two minutes last night [Saturday] to get an equalising score. There's a level of inconsistency all over the place. And they want referees to get respect. They've got to show a little bit too.

"It's one rule for the Dublin's and the bigger names in this world and it's a different rule for everybody else."

He referred to an incident in which Mayo replacement Bryan Walsh had been down injured during additional time.

"He's supposed to play on . . ." he said of Tyrone referee Seán Hurson. "I mean if that guy is lying down on the ground for 30 seconds holding his head – 30 seconds, you get two scores in 30 seconds"

The Meath manager had grounds for grievance in that instance. Four minutes were announced as injury-time but whereas the injury stopped play for 35 seconds, the clock stopped at four minutes 10 seconds after O'Reilly's score.

Down referee Ciarán Branagan added three minutes to the announced six at Croke Park on Saturday, enabling Dublin to close a six-point deficit by the 79th minute. Most observers accept that the match had been held up for that amount of time, as the referee administered some cards, injuries were treated and replacements took to the field.

McGill contends however that referees are far more aware of the need to address deliberate time wasting.

"When the board goes up for five minutes' additional time and teams are trying to run down the clock and as a reaction to that, referees are now way more conscious of the fact that there needs to be at least five minutes of injury-time. People at matches know the phrase, 'there'll be at least five minutes additional time'."

Seven years ago, a motion to congress was successful in introducing the countdown clock familiar from women's football. But after trialling the idea in third-level college's fixtures, the GAA decided not to proceed after identifying what were seen as shortcomings in the system.

As a result, the 2013 amendment was deleted at a subsequent Congress.

The misgivings about the time-keeping system that has proved successful in the women's game were based on reputational damage to the association, according to the report presented to Central Council:

"As part of the two trials of the clock/hooter system conducted, a number of concerns were raised by those who witnessed the trials in action with regard to the impact the introduction of the clock and hooter might have on the playing of our games.

"These included operating officials, referees, players, mentors and spectators. These concerns – along with the suggested protocol for implementation – were also presented to Central Council delegates. In the main, the concerns centred on potential damage to the reputation of association:

These included human error or failure to operate it properly, system failure, prevalence of 'fouling down' the clock, the playing of 'keep ball' when the clock was in view and deliberate concession of possession in order to make the ball go dead."


There are no plans to revisit the idea.

Article from the Irish Times a few days back.

Regarding the first bit in bold I don't think I've been at any tight game in the last few years at every level where timekeeping wasn't raised as an issue afterwards.
It's a consistent theme be in club, school or intercounty where the score is tight.

The second bit in bold shows the flimsiness of the case against a hooter system given all the arguements listed here against it already occur.
I argue that more reputational damage is being done by continuing on with the current system.
It's as certain as rain is wet there will be countless more tight games where the ref's timekeeping comes up as an issue until eventually a hooter system is adopted.

The key argument in favour of a hooter system is the blatant evidence of the women's game where the hooter system works so well in literally thousands of games.

I'd love to hear those who have adopted the "yerra things are grand" approach like Feargal here make the case as to why things would not be better with a hooter system like the women's game.

Well said.

This just further highlights the absolute disconnect between the top brass of the GAA and the grassroots. I mean is this fella watching games at all? It's an issue that crops up on most weekends!

Here's another quote from Feargal McGill '"The game (Kildare v Mayo) has been fixed for 7pm in Croke Park, and that is not going to change under any circumstances". A common theme is digging the heels in despite all of the evidence telling you that you're wrong. Like the Newbridge episode, they'll eventually buckle on the stopclock but only after pressure is put on. Always reactive and never proactive.