Ciaran McDonald not named in Mayo panel

[thejuice]

From what i can gather on Mayos Hoganstand page the following were on the field, but not the complete line-up

Kilcoyne
Mortimer
Harte
McGarrity
Dillon
Austin
Higgins
Clarke

[Davitt Man]

Meath 2-17
Mayo  0-16

A number of the new players brought onto the panel showed good form in Meath's challenge match win over Mayo at Dunderry.

Colm Coyle's options were limited by suspensions and injuries, but the side he put out had too much class for John O'Mahony's men.

Graham Geraghty was the best forward on view and he grabbed one of the Meath goals, while a number of additions to the panel came on over the course of the 70 plus minutes.

Brian Farrell made a comeback after his knee injury while Shane O'Rourke togged out but was an unused susbstitute.

Meath - P O'Rourke, C O'Connor, K Reilly, S Carr, T Skelly, E Harrington, C O Mealoid, M Ward, E Reilly, S Bray, B Meade, A Nestor, C Ward, J Sheridan, G Geraghty. Subs - B Sheridan, D Sheridan, B Farrell, B Ennis, H Finnegan.

Any word on the Mayo team that played on Sunday? Heard it was full strenght but I'd have my doubts.

So we were outclassed by a weakened Meath team. Surely there was somebody there that could give us a brief report and team list. I know it was only a challenge but after last weeks awful second half against Laois and conceding 2 - 17 yesterday you d begin to worry.

Well last year we were flying going into the c\ship after a good league run and flopped come c\ship so maybe this year seen as were not going well we could come out flying for the c\ship!!!

[Farrandeelin]

Team v Meath:

Clarke, Howley, Nallen, Boyle, Heaney, Cunniffe, Higgins, McGarrity, HArte, Kilcoyne, Dillon, Mullins, C Mortimer, O'Malley, Ronaldson. Pat Kelly, Andy Moran and T Mortimer came on as subs.

[Bomber2312]

Clarke
Howley
Nallen (Replaced by Kelly HT)
Boyle
Heaney (replaced by Higgins (aiden) 55)
Cuniffe (Replaced by BJP 65)
Higgins(Keith)
MacGarrity
Harte
Kilcoyne
Dillion
MIckey Mullins (Replaced by Gardiner 50)
Conor (Replaced by A moran HT)
Austie
Ronaldson (Replaced by Trevor 50)


Mayo were sharp enough in the first half with macgarrity fairly dominant, Nallen had his work cut out on sheridan, after nallen went off, cunniffe went to full back, howley to centre back and kelly to the corner....Sheridan Ran riot in the second half. Mayo couldnt gain enough possesion in the second half, short kick outs were killing meath in the first half and the football mayo played was incisive. Mayo had little interest after the load of changes and Meath were more intense as expected a week away from championship. Second half there was very little pattern to mayo and John O was constantly roariing at the lads for pressure and to not give up...howley went off injured at the very end...looked very bad, would be a massive loss, he was mayo's best defender.
No seamus o shea(he was there but not togged) no parsons, or conroy, not even there as far as i could see.
HArd to no what to make of it all...Mayo seem to have too few players willing or able to kick the football. ONly Dillion and MAcGarrity kicked the ball with regularity yesterday. C mort was very sharp but taken off at half time.

[moysider]

Thanks for that Bomber. We ll have to console ourselves with the fact we re 6 weeks from Sligo game and fellas not up to speed yet. Howley injury would be a bad blow if it s long term. Trying to get info on that now.

[rosnarun]

over all it was a match of very low intensity meath hardly missed a kick . probably a tribute to mayos defending.
one of the most remarkable differences brtween the teams was the size. man for man meath were bigger in every position. some of the like mark ward kevinn oreilly the 2 sheridans and the baldy midfeilder ? were giants . It didnt do them much good while mayo were playing with speed but as soon as the game slowed the big men took over. a lesson for mayo they have to be fitter and work harder than other teams due to their lack of bulk.
If meath kept that level of accuracy up they will be ALL-ireland contenders but im sure carlow wont be as generous

[ildanach]

as i said on the mayo discussion thread. it was a match that nothing could be read into after half time as  the substitutions removed any reminence intensity that was there. However we kicked 12 from 14 in the first half so that is encouraging. I would sat any lads doing exams were excused from playing hence the absentees.

[Barney]

Personally I don't read anything much into the results of challenges.

more interested in new tactics a team may try out, new positions etc. but it is alarming that we are still shipping goals big time, and big scores at that. If that continues any half decent team in the country is going to have a more than fighting chance against us. If the manager doesn't believe the personnel are there to stop the leaking he should change the tactcis.

How did Cunniffe play at number 6?

Any more challenges lined up?

[Bomber2312]

Howley is rumoured to have a broken ankle.....it appears to be in bad shape.

Mayo played a challenge game the night before and were just shagged come the seconld half, also on reflection mayo tried a different tactic in the second half....aiming for the full forward alot...Austie didnt impress there.

Cunniffe was ok at six.....perhaps two small in stature and was caught out once or twice, when the centre forward went wandering.

[moysider]

Its not a rumour unfortunately. The extent of the damage has nt fully been established. A chipped bone or a hairline fracture most likely. Talking about 8 weeks at least.

[Bomber2312]

who are the main contenders for centre back with howley out versus sligo?

A friend and i were trying to put a mayo defense together and we agreed that the certs were howley, heaney and higgins, now with howley out the mayo defense looks very unsettled.

[the Deel Rover]

who are the main contenders for centre back with howley out versus sligo?

A friend and i were trying to put a mayo defense together and we agreed that the certs were howley, heaney and higgins, now with howley out the mayo defense looks very unsettled.

i'd say cunniffe Bomber or else they might play heaney and cente back

[moysider]

I would probably have gone with Heaney at 6 anyway with Howley at 5. Now I d go with Cunniffe, Heaney and Higgins.  Pat Kelly and Gardiner for cover I suppose.

[IolarCoisCuain]

I think you'll see Gardiner at 10 or 12 Moysider, based on the early setup of the team during the league. Galvin and Dooher have revolutionised the role of the wing-forward, and it looked from the start of the league that Gardiner was to be Johnno's best guess as a Galvin or Dooher.

Someone was saying on the Mayo GAA Blog that Parsons ought to be given a run at 11, and have Harte and McGarrity in midfield. I wouldn't mind seeing that. I do still retain the hope that McDonald and O'Mahony will be able to patch things up though. It's still five weeks, if not more, 'til Sligo. That's enough time, surely, for the two men to bury the hatchet and think of the common good, surely?

[Tubberman]

Not good news at all. Howley was our best defender against Meath along with Keith Higgins. They've probably been our best 2 defenders all through the league as well.
As soon as he went down it looked serious, and myself and the lads that were with me all thought the ankle could be broken.

CHB is Cunniffe's best position, he was excellent there for the U-21s this year from what I hear (I couldn't get to their games). But he didn't convince there against Meath at all. I'd imagine his confidence is low anyway, seeing as he was moved to FB where he got a bit of a roasting from Sheridan before being taken off.
I'd go for Heaney at CHB flanked by Keith Higgins and Cunniffe (he did well on the wing when played there during the league).

The real question is who to play in the full back line. BJP, Conroy and Colm Boyle maybe. Aidan Higgins also an option. Whatever 3 are played there for the Sligo match are going to have us holding our breath anyway - hopefully we'll stumble across a combination that gels quickly, but I wouldn't be too convinced that will happen.