Mayo Football and Hurling - Discussion pages

[kevmy]

vinny murphy was not exactly shergar.

Jesus Mannix I know things aren't great right now but please God the bar is a bit higher than Vincenzo in the County Mayo.

Remember when Vinny was down in Kerry and there'd be opinion pieces in the paper about how he had a chance of making the Kerry team? Gotta love that Dublin meeja.

I'd hope we set the bar a bit higher as well, but the point remains.

If your talented enough you will have a place on the team and A O'Sé has shown the talent so far. Now he has a lot to learn and he's only 18 so there shouldn't be pressure put on him. However I do think it's a little strange when for the last few years we've been crying out for a proper out-and-out target man in FF who has a pair of shooting boots. Then when a prospect comes along people are giving out that all he'll be able to play is in FF

[moysider]

I d be more hopefully that O Sé would be more Colin Corkery than Vinny Murphy. I d also be confident he will be a serious player at senior level. As he is still in secondary school it s hard to expect too much in terms of fitness/change in bodyweight distribution in the short term anyway.

[RedandGreenSniper]

I d be more hopefully that O Sé would be more Colin Corkery than Vinny Murphy. I d also be confident he will be a serious player at senior level. As he is still in secondary school it s hard to expect too much in terms of fitness/change in bodyweight distribution in the short term anyway.

Ah Jesus I don't think ya can compare him to either of the two boys. O'Shea's not carrying weight and is a lot more mobile than Corkery or Murphy. But ur right Moysider, it is hard to say at this stage what he might be like in terms of bodyweight distribution etc in a few years. I think the biggest thing we need with younger lads is patience and not expecting too much, too soon. Like remember that Pearse Hanley wasn't in the senior squad so early in his first year out of minor, compared to O'Shea and Kevin Keane. He was only brought in when Mayo were sent the qualifier route by Galway in May 07. I know JOM is always speaking about patience and sometimes it will grate, but in the case of younger players, and not just O'Shea and Keane but Vaughan, McLoughlin, Sean Prendergast, Brian Gallagher, Jason Gibbons etc, patience is key because they have the potential but do need time to find their feet

[the Deel Rover]

vinny murphy was not exactly shergar.

Jesus Mannix I know things aren't great right now but please God the bar is a bit higher than Vincenzo in the County Mayo.

Remember when Vinny was down in Kerry and there'd be opinion pieces in the paper about how he had a chance of making the Kerry team? Gotta love that Dublin meeja.

he reminds me a bit like a young Padraig Brogan who was a huge minor as well but as we all know bucket loads of skill , he is only 18 so lets give him time and not put pressure on him 

[stephenite]

I see Moygownagh and Ardagh are to amalgamate at adult level having played together under the Ardmoy banner at underage level. Sign of the times I suppose and the next logical step for them I suppose, but sad all the same

[AbbeySider]

I see Moygownagh and Ardagh are to amalgamate at adult level having played together under the Ardmoy banner at underage level. Sign of the times I suppose and the next logical step for them I suppose, but sad all the same

Very sad to see but as you said a sign of the times.

[RedandGreenSniper]

It certainly won't be the last example of this in Mayo.
Carramore and Hollymount will probably do something similar soon - they are already together underage in the form of St Gerard's.
Clubs like Ballycroy, Lacken, Ballycastle, Kilfian all must be feeling the pinch that rural Ireland is being squeezed by at the moment.
I think as long as clubs that amalgamate still have their own home ground, there will be a sense of identity for them but it is sad, all the same

[AbbeySider]

It certainly won't be the last example of this in Mayo.
Carramore and Hollymount will probably do something similar soon - they are already together underage in the form of St Gerard's.
Clubs like Ballycroy, Lacken, Ballycastle, Kilfian all must be feeling the pinch that rural Ireland is being squeezed by at the moment.
I think as long as clubs that amalgamate still have their own home ground, there will be a sense of identity for them but it is sad, all the same

As I understand some players from those smaller clubs in north Mayo would have ended up joining the likes of Ballina. The knock on effect of that wouldn't be great for a small rural club.

[Mayo4Sam]

Moygownagh and Ardagh are amgamating this year as far as i know, with Kilfian joining them a year later. From a senior player point of view it'll be the last time a lot of them will play, fellas who would have been under pressure to turn out will now not bother
from an underage point of view it'll be good for the kids to have their own team, esp for Kilfian, rather than a killala biased Round Towers, will be a killer for the travelling though

[the Deel Rover]

New year, new faces, and some new rules
Mayo Advertiser, January 09, 2009.

Need some tweaking: John O'Mahony thinks that the new rules regarding sin binning will need some tweaking as the league progresses. Photo: Sportsfile.
By Colm Gannon

As his side made the longer than normal trek back to the dressing room from the pitch in Dangan after subsiding to a five point defeat at the hands of NUIG, John O'Mahony faced the first of his interrogations at the hands of the hungry press core on the 50m line of the college pitch. After getting his first competitive view of his side for 2009 and how the new rules regarding yellow cards would play out, he held court over what he had just seen for the previous 60 minutes. Over the course of the game five players, two from Mayo and three from NUIG, were shown the line for picking up yellow cards, one as early as the eighth minute when Greg Begley was sent to the line for a clumsy challenge on Billy Joe Padden. "I believe the GAA are not going to change them because managers are saying they want them changed, but we have a meeting in the middle of January and I'll do my talking there. There will need to be some tweaking on them, the first lad to get sent off for NUIG my reading of it initially is it's a yellow card if you pull down a player, and will that lead to people appearing to be pulled down or fall and get a lad sent off. We'll give them a chance and see, if it adds to free flowing football then it's always a positive, but we'll have to hold our fire and see," said O'Mahony.

When questioned about the effect that the new rules had on his thinking before the game, O'Mahony admitted that it would cause management teams to be thinking ahead all the time and be ready for every possibility. "The most effect it had on me was to make sure I had six subs today, because you need to be interchanging and I'd say it's a huge burden on the referee as well. They have a lot of things to be thinking about there. I know a lot of work has gone into them and I don't want to downgrade them. Peadar Gardiner was put off for us today and normally in the old rules, it wouldn't be a ticking never mind a yellow card."


Wait and see on the new rules

While the FBD league is a proving ground for new players, rather than a competition where everything is put on the line, O'Mahony is waiting to see how it will pan out, and can see some major issues arising later on in the year if the rules are put into practice exactly to the letter of the law without some tweaking. "Fast forward to an All Ireland final, with 10 minutes to go and the game level and the man of the match for some reason gets caught with a tackle and sent off and the massive influence that will have. You always have new rules in league and FBD games, but as the year goes on, particularly in the latter stages of the championship, it will be referreed completely differently. If it was to be done to the letter of the law we have to wait and see how it pans out."


New faces given a run out

Apart from the national talking points over the rules for the year, the housekeeping on the home front had to be addressed also. For the third year in a row, Mayo started the FBD with a loss, but it's still a long season and O'Mahony isn't panicking but still would like to have all his players available. "It's the FBD, we all know about the FBD, it was a game and a chance to look at a few people in a competitive setting. From our point of view it's frustrating that looking at Ger Cafferkey there at full back for NUIG we'd have liked to have had a look at him in our team. We are going to have a lot of new faces in for the league coming in without playing with us during the FBD." While defeat is never the desired result, O'Mahony did give youth its chance, with Kevin Keane and Aidan O'Shea both fresh out of the minor class of 2008 being given the lynchpin positions at full back and full forward for the game. Others to get a run out included Ballintubber's Jason Gibbons and Claremorris defender Sean Prendergast. O'Mahony called upon the younger players in the squad to fight for their place for later in the season and for those who may have been part of the panel for a number of years to start showing some more leadership. "We had a game A v B, and I said to the younger lads what we're looking for is guys symbolically putting up their hands on the field to say they want to wear the Mayo jersey on the field in the league. The jersey will always remain the same colour, it's the guys passing through that change. The guys who were the younger lads in the last few years will have to mature and it's great to see the people who have been here many years wanting to do it still, so roll on league and championship."


Another third level challenge this Sunday

Next up for Mayo is another third level challenge in the shape of Sligo IT in Ballinode, Sligo, on Sunday at 2pm. O'Mahony will be expected to pick from more or less the same deck as last weekend, with the exception of Ballaghaderreen sharpshooter Barry Regan, who although named at full forward for last weekend's opening fixture missed out through sickness. Sligo IT themselves got off to a poor start and were hammered 3-13 to 0-5 by Roscommon in Fergal O'Donnell's debut in charge of the side. As last week there will be Mayo interest on the college side with Tom Parsons lining out at midfield and Alan Costello also in their side.


Ballina to host league opener

It has also been confirmed this week that Mayo's National Football League Division 1 opener at home to Derry on February 1 has been switched from McHale Park, Castlebar, to James Stephens Park, Ballina. The reason for the switch is due to the construction work going on at the moment in the Castlebar ground as the new stand is being constructed. It is expected that Mayo will return to McHale Park for the visit of Westmeath on March 8.


Great to see the League opener been played in Ballina just like the good auld days at least there will be a bit of an athmosphere at the match   

[rosnarun]

Moygownagh and Ardagh are amgamating this year as far as i know, with Kilfian joining them a year later. From a senior player point of view it'll be the last time a lot of them will play, fellas who would have been under pressure to turn out will now not bother
from an underage point of view it'll be good for the kids to have their own team, esp for Kilfian, rather than a killala biased Round Towers, will be a killer for the travelling though

those parishes are  so spread out there wouldn't be many walking to training anyway. its a miracle they have keept it going as long as this . they were often dependant a a few large families to provide the bulk of the players but thats becoming rarer and rarer.
better to amalgamate than miss out on th next anthony finnerty

[AbbeySider]

Moygownagh and Ardagh are amgamating this year as far as i know, with Kilfian joining them a year later. From a senior player point of view it'll be the last time a lot of them will play, fellas who would have been under pressure to turn out will now not bother
from an underage point of view it'll be good for the kids to have their own team, esp for Kilfian, rather than a killala biased Round Towers, will be a killer for the travelling though

those parishes are  so spread out there wouldn't be many walking to training anyway. its a miracle they have keept it going as long as this . they were often dependant a a few large families to provide the bulk of the players but thats becoming rarer and rarer.
better to amalgamate than miss out on th next anthony finnerty

I dont agree with amalgamation as such as it doesnt solve the big problem of rural decline and clubs losing players to towns.
I would prefer to see club boundaries re-drawn because the likes of Castlebar, Breaffy and the bigger towns too big of a pick. You could see up to 140 kids eligible to tog out for the Castlebar Mitchells U-10 team with only 20 and possibly 40 ever getting a game. The kids left out are hurt, bewildered and disillusioned and are lost forever. God knows what kind of player they would have made. It really is a pity.

Also new rules and exceptions should be implemented to cater for kids who are going to school in one area and having to play with a club, whom the kids have no affiliation with. The same goes for people bringing their kids out from Castlebar (and other bigger towns) to rural National Schools (where it is perceived that smaller classes lead to better attention etc). The kids leave their friends of National Shcool to play in the town teams and would be very lucky to ever to make it.

There is loads of things that can be looked at but redrawing boundaries or having Grey area corridors where kids and players could play for who the like would make more since if we are to keep rural clubs alive. Its ironic that Breaffy and Mitchells are overwhelmed in their National Schools and U10+ teams, yet we have other clubs, not 10 miles away forced to amalgamate at underage. 

[RedandGreenSniper]

I know our club have been boosted by a population boost and I can accused of taking this stance because we're doing okay but I do think we have to be careful about what way we go about doing things here.

The GAA is based in the parish by and large and I think we're in trouble if we see that being dilluted. The way things are with Breaffy is that it is part of the parish of Castlebar and therefore anyone from Breaffy can play with Castlebar and vice versa. Its kept together fairly well though. If a lad goes to school in Breaffy, he would normally play with Breaffy. School in Castlebar sees him going to the Mitchels. But I've heard of plenty of lads who might not be happy, for whatever reason, wanting to transfer out to us.
Generally the clubs don't allow it happen, unless its fairly genuine reason for transferring. But if you create grey areas you might end up with a lot of lads see-sawing between clubs like you see with some lads in soccer, thats not a road we need to be going down.
There is a lot of wastage from the likes of Castlebar (not so much with us because we're not as flooded with numbers as you might think) because there are simply too many lads of one age in the area. But that's not a recent phenomenon in Castlebar and in towns generally. An average footballer will usually slip by the wayside in a town, he'd be kept on at a smaller club and might do very well for them.
Certainly something has to be done about the lack of people moving into rural areas - its something that really needs to be lobbyied by our politicians, but, that apart, I'm not sure what the GAA can do.
BTW Abbeysider, what club are you talking about that has to amalgamate at underage?

[AbbeySider]

BTW Abbeysider, what club are you talking about that has to amalgamate at underage?

I think I got a bit confused there. 
I was referring to Parke-Keelogues-Crimlin but now im unsure.
I know they were always known as Parke but at Bord Na nOg there were Parke-Keelogues-Crimlin.
Thats probably because of National Schools joining Parke GAA club officially? Rather than an actual club amalgamation as I was referring to. Apologies. 

[mannix]

good scoring from mayo lads at the weekend in a few different teams. Mort got a bloody nose or mouth from vaughan?austie and sweeney scored well too.
what do you make of it and what about young o sheas game?