Mayo V Down- All Ireland Quarter Final

[Syferus]

I can't imagine Down players are super confident after what happened only nine days days ago. Beating Tipp in a near-empty Cusack Park and playing Mayo in an AIQF at HQ are very different beasts. I'd be surprised if the stitches don't come flying out if Mayo are applying pressure in the second half, no matter if Down are two or six ahead. If Down do this it'll be one of the most remarkable recoveries in years.

[Mike Sheehy]

Jesus, you Down lads are very touchy altogether.

Not so much touchy as, as always super confident, despite our average team and no matter who we play (excepting The Super Cark). 

My only worry is that should we win on Sat we will face the Super Dubs not soft Kerry which would have been my preference.

Any way we will give it a good lash and win or lose we will enjoy ourselves.

Be careful what you wish for lad, keep in mind you won't have 25 years of lowered expectation this time. You lads are like Tyrone , you always disappear when there is any level of expectation. We saw that with your choke against Cork.

[dodgy umpire]

Getting off to a good start is critical for Down. Were we  to score two or three points without reply in the first five minutes I would be very confident of a Down victory

[In the Onion Bag]

Jesus, you Down lads are very touchy altogether.

Not so much touchy as, as always super confident, despite our average team and no matter who we play (excepting The Super Cark). 

My only worry is that should we win on Sat we will face the Super Dubs not soft Kerry which would have been my preference.

Any way we will give it a good lash and win or lose we will enjoy ourselves.

Be careful what you wish for lad, keep in mind you won't have 25 years of lowered expectation this time. You lads are like Tyrone , you always disappear when there is any level of expectation. We saw that with your choke against Cork.

Hi Mike, angling is such a rewarding sport esp when you hook the species you were targeting.

[TyrionLannister]

Apparently O'Connor played corner-forward in the A v B game at the weekend so it's a question of who he will play at 11 and 15. Horan appears very reluctant to move Dillon from the wing which is a pity because a lot of guys could then come into contention for a wing spot but most of them wouldn't be effective at 11. I'm thinking Richie Feeney, Seamie O'Shea, Micheal Forde etc.

Apparently they've been looking at Doherty at 11. Freeman would be another contender. That would leave Conroy and Varley battling for a corner-forward spot. I take Moysider's point about a left footed free taker but Varley isn't playing well and isn't that dependable a free taker to justify starting him. I reckon Conroy will start. Looks like Aidan O'Shea will start at midfield too. I hope he has a full seventy in him, people shouldn't expect too much though. He has missed a huge chunk of training.
game for some reason.

To clarify - I was not suggesting that Varley should start. I m still trying to figure out why he was selected for the Sligo game and the only thing that I thought maybe was going through managements head ( not mine) was that we have nobody to kick a handy free on the right. You are right in that he s patchy enough with them anyway. But they did select him for the Sligo
If they are looking at Freeman and even more so Doherty at 11 kinda goes to show that 11 is not a pivital position as things stand. Our 3 established forwards - Andy, Dillon and Kevin Mac - will be kept well away from chf and kept in the positions they ve had best form in. We ll end up with another runner/worker at 11 if Cillian goes to 15. I posted already that we re not basing our game on a traditional chf and got ate on here but we ve been going that way.  My pref for 11 at this stage would be Seamus O Sé if he s fit.

Down on the other hand have one of the best natural 11 around. Poland will be a major concern. He will bring our 6 on a tour and he has the craft to do damage. But we dont have a player that can do that at 11 so no use codding ourselves. I reckon we ll be taking a different approach - well we have been anyway.

Sorry, fair enough. I agree with you about Seamus O'Shea if he is fit but I'd prefer him on the wing. Vaughan on Poland would be a problem so I'd nip that in the bud straight away and put Boyle or, even better, Keegan on him.

Agree.

Mayo management will earn their crust in this one. Without a doubt Down have the craft and confidence to do a job unless we get it right - something we ve failed dismally to do against them at underage for years.
This is a different championship from the provinces and lose the next day you wait at least another 12 months to get another shot in the last 8. I m not sure we re in a better place than Down heading into this. It s a massive test.

I heard last night that Doherty is starting CF and Aidan O Shea is midfield, if this happens I fear for Mayo on a number of levels. O Shea wont have the legs for midfield and its unfair throwing him in there just coming back from injury, especially in Croke Park.

Doherty wont win a break at CF and is too light, in fact our whole half forward line is far too light. Would prefer to see Freeman out there, as he is more used to playing further out the field than Doherty. Consider how Doherty looked on the ball against Sligo when he came out to the half forward line, and then consider Freemans impact when he replaced him. It was like night and day. Now Doherty is no bad footballer, and playing in the corner in Croke Park would suit him, but not at CF. 

A better system would have been to put O Shea at CF, and leave Barry Moran with Geraghty in the middle. O Shea would have been able to be an extra option for kick-outs, taking pressure off Geraghty who would not have to get forward and could have played as a defensive midfielder to protect Vaughan and the half back line. We would also have crowded midfield  and picked up more breaks, and it would have suited Barry Moran just as much.

There is no symmetry to that Mayo team. It was obvious we needed forwards, our midfield was doing Ok and would have been strengthened with O Shea at 11 / 3rd midfielder and would also have left space to attack.

Now we have a huge midfield, with not much mobility. A half forward line that is far too light, and a full forward line with too much pressure on them.

[moysider]

Apparently O'Connor played corner-forward in the A v B game at the weekend so it's a question of who he will play at 11 and 15. Horan appears very reluctant to move Dillon from the wing which is a pity because a lot of guys could then come into contention for a wing spot but most of them wouldn't be effective at 11. I'm thinking Richie Feeney, Seamie O'Shea, Micheal Forde etc.

Apparently they've been looking at Doherty at 11. Freeman would be another contender. That would leave Conroy and Varley battling for a corner-forward spot. I take Moysider's point about a left footed free taker but Varley isn't playing well and isn't that dependable a free taker to justify starting him. I reckon Conroy will start. Looks like Aidan O'Shea will start at midfield too. I hope he has a full seventy in him, people shouldn't expect too much though. He has missed a huge chunk of training.
game for some reason.

To clarify - I was not suggesting that Varley should start. I m still trying to figure out why he was selected for the Sligo game and the only thing that I thought maybe was going through managements head ( not mine) was that we have nobody to kick a handy free on the right. You are right in that he s patchy enough with them anyway. But they did select him for the Sligo
If they are looking at Freeman and even more so Doherty at 11 kinda goes to show that 11 is not a pivital position as things stand. Our 3 established forwards - Andy, Dillon and Kevin Mac - will be kept well away from chf and kept in the positions they ve had best form in. We ll end up with another runner/worker at 11 if Cillian goes to 15. I posted already that we re not basing our game on a traditional chf and got ate on here but we ve been going that way.  My pref for 11 at this stage would be Seamus O Sé if he s fit.

Down on the other hand have one of the best natural 11 around. Poland will be a major concern. He will bring our 6 on a tour and he has the craft to do damage. But we dont have a player that can do that at 11 so no use codding ourselves. I reckon we ll be taking a different approach - well we have been anyway.

Sorry, fair enough. I agree with you about Seamus O'Shea if he is fit but I'd prefer him on the wing. Vaughan on Poland would be a problem so I'd nip that in the bud straight away and put Boyle or, even better, Keegan on him.

Agree.

Mayo management will earn their crust in this one. Without a doubt Down have the craft and confidence to do a job unless we get it right - something we ve failed dismally to do against them at underage for years.
This is a different championship from the provinces and lose the next day you wait at least another 12 months to get another shot in the last 8. I m not sure we re in a better place than Down heading into this. It s a massive test.

I heard last night that Doherty is starting CF and Aidan O Shea is midfield, if this happens I fear for Mayo on a number of levels. O Shea wont have the legs for midfield and its unfair throwing him in there just coming back from injury, especially in Croke Park.

Doherty wont win a break at CF and is too light, in fact our whole half forward line is far too light. Would prefer to see Freeman out there, as he is more used to playing further out the field than Doherty. Consider how Doherty looked on the ball against Sligo when he came out to the half forward line, and then consider Freemans impact when he replaced him. It was like night and day. Now Doherty is no bad footballer, and playing in the corner in Croke Park would suit him, but not at CF. 

A better system would have been to put O Shea at CF, and leave Barry Moran with Geraghty in the middle. O Shea would have been able to be an extra option for kick-outs, taking pressure off Geraghty who would not have to get forward and could have played as a defensive midfielder to protect Vaughan and the half back line. We would also have crowded midfield  and picked up more breaks, and it would have suited Barry Moran just as much.
There is no symmetry to that Mayo team. It was obvious we needed forwards, our midfield was doing Ok and would have been strengthened with O Shea at 11 / 3rd midfielder and would also have left space to attack.

Now we have a huge midfield, with not much mobility. A half forward line that is far too light, and a full forward line with too much pressure on them.

I m surprised they haven t done this. It s what I was expecting until the leaks in local media on Tuesday suggested they were thinking differently.

[TyrionLannister]

I heard last night that Doherty is starting CF and Aidan O Shea is midfield, if this happens I fear for Mayo on a number of levels. O Shea wont have the legs for midfield and its unfair throwing him in there just coming back from injury, especially in Croke Park.

Doherty wont win a break at CF and is too light, in fact our whole half forward line is far too light. Would prefer to see Freeman out there, as he is more used to playing further out the field than Doherty. Consider how Doherty looked on the ball against Sligo when he came out to the half forward line, and then consider Freemans impact when he replaced him. It was like night and day. Now Doherty is no bad footballer, and playing in the corner in Croke Park would suit him, but not at CF. 

A better system would have been to put O Shea at CF, and leave Barry Moran with Geraghty in the middle. O Shea would have been able to be an extra option for kick-outs, taking pressure off Geraghty who would not have to get forward and could have played as a defensive midfielder to protect Vaughan and the half back line. We would also have crowded midfield  and picked up more breaks, and it would have suited Barry Moran just as much.
There is no symmetry to that Mayo team. It was obvious we needed forwards, our midfield was doing Ok and would have been strengthened with O Shea at 11 / 3rd midfielder and would also have left space to attack.

Now we have a huge midfield, with not much mobility. A half forward line that is far too light, and a full forward line with too much pressure on them.

I m surprised they haven t done this. It s what I was expecting until the leaks in local media on Tuesday suggested they were thinking differently.

Just thinking about it, it actually could be the losing of the game for Mayo and that wouldn't surprise me.

How on earth can Aidan O Shea have the legs for a full game in Croke Park at midfield, if he was only good enough for 15 minutes or so against Sligo? Barry Moran isnt blessed with mobility either, although he has improved as of late.

Like again, if AOS started at 11, you can always switch him to midfield if we are struggling and bring on Freeman or whoever. But the way its lined out now, you cant switch it back without upsetting the formations. It wouldnt make as much sense to bring on Geraghty for a half forward and move AOS to CF in the second half as it would take too long to settle.

Its very disheartening.

[Tubberman]

Lads, how sure are ye about that team? You're not basing it on a post in the hoganstand.com message board are ye??
Maybe wait until the team is announced before getting disheartened

[seanog]

I'm a bit confused here, there is no team announced yet and these leaks if coming from posters on hs, can hardly be reliable , it was only announced to the players last night.

[Farrandeelin]

Sure I was disheartened from the word go and I got no backup!

[Lar Naparka]

I heard last night that Doherty is starting CF and Aidan O Shea is midfield, if this happens I fear for Mayo on a number of levels. O Shea wont have the legs for midfield and its unfair throwing him in there just coming back from injury, especially in Croke Park.

Doherty wont win a break at CF and is too light, in fact our whole half forward line is far too light. Would prefer to see Freeman out there, as he is more used to playing further out the field than Doherty. Consider how Doherty looked on the ball against Sligo when he came out to the half forward line, and then consider Freemans impact when he replaced him. It was like night and day. Now Doherty is no bad footballer, and playing in the corner in Croke Park would suit him, but not at CF. 

A better system would have been to put O Shea at CF, and leave Barry Moran with Geraghty in the middle. O Shea would have been able to be an extra option for kick-outs, taking pressure off Geraghty who would not have to get forward and could have played as a defensive midfielder to protect Vaughan and the half back line. We would also have crowded midfield  and picked up more breaks, and it would have suited Barry Moran just as much.
There is no symmetry to that Mayo team. It was obvious we needed forwards, our midfield was doing Ok and would have been strengthened with O Shea at 11 / 3rd midfielder and would also have left space to attack.

Now we have a huge midfield, with not much mobility. A half forward line that is far too light, and a full forward line with too much pressure on them.

I m surprised they haven t done this. It s what I was expecting until the leaks in local media on Tuesday suggested they were thinking differently.

Just thinking about it, it actually could be the losing of the game for Mayo and that wouldn't surprise me.

How on earth can Aidan O Shea have the legs for a full game in Croke Park at midfield, if he was only good enough for 15 minutes or so against Sligo? Barry Moran isnt blessed with mobility either, although he has improved as of late.

Like again, if AOS started at 11, you can always switch him to midfield if we are struggling and bring on Freeman or whoever. But the way its lined out now, you cant switch it back without upsetting the formations. It wouldnt make as much sense to bring on Geraghty for a half forward and move AOS to CF in the second half as it would take too long to settle.

Its very disheartening.

Not for me, it isn't!
I'm just waiting for the throw-in and let events take their course after that.
Very few positions are nailed down. I'd say Clarkie in goal and Caff at FB are the only certainties. That's maybe stretching it sa bit but a case could be made (by some anyway) that every other lad could be replaced or moved somewhere else.

We'll never know what's right or wrong until the ref blows the final whistle- that's a fact of life, I suppose.
Right now, I don't know the team and even when I do, I'll accept Horan's judgement.
I hope Farrandeelin has the hay baled and that the salmon are still rising on the Moy but I'm concentrating on Saturday afternoon and what the long whistel brings.
Worried? Not a bit.
Cautious? Somewhat but certainly not disheartened.

[RogerMilla]

conroy and aiden are starting according to the rumour mill over on WJ's site , varley and gergahty make way

[sans pessimism]

Doc will start cen forward with Cil in da corner-the numbers on treir backs
may not reflect this but thems the facts

[Syferus]

Has Richie Feeney recovered from the injury he picked up in the Mayo SFC? He looked quite good from what I saw of him earlier in the year and I suppose the fact he hasn't factored in lately speaks to how solid the Mayo back-line has been.

[Farrandeelin]

RogerMilla and sans pessimism are correct re team selection.