Mayo Football and Hurling - Discussion pages

[mannix]

aom may not be county standard but he kicked 5 points from all angles against kerry  in croke park in 2005.he must have something going for him.the new lads will need time, please do not destroy them with negative talk after 1 january game.

[IolarCoisCuain]

Well said boys. People are talking about two lads who'll be sitting at their desks on Wednesday looking at Wuthering Heights. Cut them a break and keep some little bit of perspective.

[AbbeySider]

8. Pat Harte...Average display, good on the ball going forward. Mayo lost the midfield battle.
9. Barry Kelly...Poor display and surprised he lasted the full game. Totally dominated by Galway Gareth Bradshaw who was the outstanding player on the pitch.

Gareth Bradshaw is a class act. He destroyed us on his own in '07 Connaught Intermediate Club championship. He is a powerhouse and is still very young.
He will break more Mayo hearts in the future id say. He did Ok in the backs last year for Galway but I would say he may be mid-field this year with Joe Bergin.

[kevmy]

aom may not be county standard but he kicked 5 points from all angles against kerry  in croke park in 2005.he must have something going for him.the new lads will need time, please do not destroy them with negative talk after 1 january game.

AOM has something going from him. He can kick points from all angles and is generally very accurate. However over the last few years I think it has been proved that come the fast ground Austie doesn't have the speed of leg or mind for championship and for some reason can't win good ball despite his size. AOM has had his chance and unfortunately hasn't taken it.

As for the new lads, give them time, certainly wouldn't write anyone off at this stage.

[Barney]

Didn't make the game, and glad I didn't depress myself by going along!

We can't write fellas off after one game. Flu, nerves, tough Christmas, new rules etc etc can all contribute to poor performances.

However I think Austin O'Malley has nothing to offer. Yes he scored 5 points against Kerry before (3 when the game was lost). He just doesn't perform at the highest level and holds everything up. We don't have good forwards and so pace is our biggest attribute.

Colm Cafferkey has had a fair few FBD shots now. Doesn't look like he will make it.

Glad to see 2/3 of the full-back line doing well. It is disappointing that old problems remain - conceding early goals has killed us for too long and management have questions to answer about focusing minds when a team is sent out on the pitch.

That's the end of the FBD anyhow for us unless we can thrash Sligo, and then beat the Rossies. It is a competition I would have liked to us have a right cut at, no excuses and set a mark of our intention for the year.

Right now however I would not be too hopeful for 09

[moysider]

No great hopes either. I think we might be a bit rough on Stonewall though. At least he was there and went to the trouble of giving us a good idea of what went on. I was nt able to stomach the trip myself so...... hopefully I ll make next weeks game.

A couple of things. First I hope Stonewall is wrong about O Sé prospects. Stonewall is entitled to his doubts and he s not the only one that has them. Myself, I think O Sé has an awful lot going for him.

I agree with Barney and fellas being wheeled out for FBD year after year without any real prospect of them going further.  Also  predictable that Austin and Killer live up to their usual standard - 2 of the more senior men on the team.

On a bright note the performance of Cafferkey for NUIG is probably more important than any one of the Mayo team s performance. I don t believe full back is his best position but somebody has to play there. He is imo one of the best 6 backs around and probably our best no 6 but might not have the luxury to play him there. Another bright note is young Keane. Championship this year is not beyond him either.

[StoneWall]

I didn't mean to start the New Year on a negative note but I was very disappointed by what I saw last Sunday. I'm only going on what I witnessed the last day in Dangan. I'm also basing the player rating on the fact that NUIG were the opposition (not the toughest of opponents that Mayo will face this year!).

We can revisit this come championship time and see how many of these lads are still about. Don't get me wrong I hope I'm proved wrong in my view of the new lads.

I think Aidan O'Shea is a fine prospect and I'd love if he turned performances for the seniors like he did last summer for the minors. But I honestly don't believe he has the mobility for senior inter county football. I can only see him making it as a target man.

[AbbeySider]

But I honestly don't believe he has the mobility for senior inter county football. I can only see him making it as a target man.

I agree there StoneWall. I have said it on here that I dont think he has the pace for Senior Inter County. As he gets older I reckon he could struggle with his weight a bit too. Its a shame because he is a class act. Anyone I know that has played against him or marked him holds him in high regard. Im not sure would he work as a Full Forward either though as he always turns onto his left. As a FF you need to be able to kick off both feet.
I hope im proven wrong though.

[kevmy]

I didn't mean to start the New Year on a negative note but I was very disappointed by what I saw last Sunday. I'm only going on what I witnessed the last day in Dangan. I'm also basing the player rating on the fact that NUIG were the opposition (not the toughest of opponents that Mayo will face this year!).

We can revisit this come championship time and see how many of these lads are still about. Don't get me wrong I hope I'm proved wrong in my view of the new lads.

I think Aidan O'Shea is a fine prospect and I'd love if he turned performances for the seniors like he did last summer for the minors. But I honestly don't believe he has the mobility for senior inter county football. I can only see him making it as a target man.

Well I don't really care about the FBD to be honest half our best players are playing for the colleges the other half are still digesting the turkey. Add to this the ban on collective training for intercounty teams and it really is a mickey mouse competition.

I saw Alan Dillon play in the first round of the FBD last year in Ballinrobe and if you told me someone from another country he was one of the top forwards in the country they would have laughed you out the gate. But come summer he was on good form.

I'm sick of this peaking in May, June, August carry on. I wouldn't give a flying duck if we lost every game going this year up until the championship if we went out and won Sam

[Barney]

Kevmv you mightn't care about the FBD, and it is not the be all and end all but the fact remains players, management adn supporters have found easy excuses for too long. That is where our problems start. Galway aren't moaning, they have similar problems. They are getting on with it and getting what they can out of the exercise. Until mindsets change we will stay in a rut.

[AbbeySider]

Kevmv you mightn't care about the FBD, and it is not the be all and end all but the fact remains players, management adn supporters have found easy excuses for too long. That is where our problems start. Galway aren't moaning, they have similar problems. They are getting on with it and getting what they can out of the exercise. Until mindsets change we will stay in a rut.

I dont know how you can talk about where the problems start when we dont even have a full team for the FBD.
The FBD league means absolutely nothing. In the same way as the Kelly cup and similar mickey mouse club competitions mean nothing. Of the starting 15 that took the pitch id say we will be lucky to see 6 players play championship this year. You cant expect a team that have not trained together to walk out and beat a team that has been training hard together since September and who have their eyes on a Sigerson title. Man for man NUIG are a decent team, your expectations for this time of year is too high IMO.

And it quite natural to have a moan about the new rules which are pathetic IMO. There is no way that yellow card rule will remain. 

Quotes from JOM in todays Irish Times

The threat to football's physicality is a genuine worry for Mayo manager John O'Mahony after witnessing his severely under-strength team lose 2-10 to 1-8 against NUIG in Dangan on Sunday. "There were five sent off altogether in our game," said the Fine Gael TD for Mayo.

"As one of the managers who attended and co-ordinated the meetings on these issues I'm willing to give it time but talking to spectators after yesterday's game the overriding reaction was that the physicality has been taken out of the game. 'Pussyfoot football' was how one person put it; there really was no physicality at all.

"Yesterday wasn't a real test anyway as the players are just back together. These are glorified trials. I had players playing in 10 different venues around the country yesterday, including against us.

"It's one thing knowing what you'll get sent off for but out on the field the new rules still must become part of the players' thought process. I could almost see some players thinking as they went for the ball."

I dont think he is making easy excuses, he just stating the facts.

[mannix]

if o se minds his body and what he eats his weight will never be a problem. On having the speed for senior county ball its not the end of the world, he can be trained to run faster, a different type of training than usual but it has worked for lots of people.
Leave him and his young colleagues alone and let him develop as a player, he obviously has the skill.
vinny murphy was not exactly shergar.

[IolarCoisCuain]

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.

[AbbeySider]

Leave him and his young colleagues alone and let him develop as a player, he obviously has the skill.

Just to be clear, im not getting at them at all. They are already fine players and I hope they make it.


Another thing struck me,
Keven Keane and Aidan O Shea are only 18. Jason Gibbons is 19.

Thats some achievement to get a Senior Inter County shirt at that age, regardless of the competition.

[RedandGreenSniper]

Leave him and his young colleagues alone and let him develop as a player, he obviously has the skill.

Just to be clear, im not getting at them at all. They are already fine players and I hope they make it.


Another thing struck me,
Keven Keane and Aidan O Shea are only 18. Jason Gibbons is 19.

Thats some achievement to get a Senior Inter County shirt at that age, regardless of the competition.

Add in the fact that both O'Shea and Keane are only in their Leaving Cert years and you get an even greater appreciation of how young they are. Imagine them coming to training next week wearing their uniforms with James Nallen returning from his job as a lecturer, Peadar Gardiner suited and booted from his mortgage company etc. They've a lot to learn yet and I'd have a decent level of confidence in both. I think a certain perspective and patience is due at this stage. By the way I was told this evening that at a training game on the Saturday Aidan O'Shea scored 2-4 from full-forward. Who was marking him? Ger Cafferkey . . .