Down versus Mayo

[giveballaghback]

With all the ticket talk you'd think this was an AI Final.

Or a game in New York

[IolarCoisCuain]

Heard the Carlow coach Poacher on Newstalk speaking up Down saying there was a buzz in the county and they'll run Mayo close. I think the buzz will soon end on Saturday as Mayo will hammer them out of sight!
I predict that Mayo will mark their All-Ireland intentions this weekend and show that they haven't gone away.

Poacher always strikes me as a man with a PhD from the Cian O'Neill School of Bullsh!t. Maybe I'm being unfair to the man.

[snoopdog]

Heard the Carlow coach Poacher on Newstalk speaking up Down saying there was a buzz in the county and they'll run Mayo close. I think the buzz will soon end on Saturday as Mayo will hammer them out of sight!
I predict that Mayo will mark their All-Ireland intentions this weekend and show that they haven't gone away.

Poacher always strikes me as a man with a PhD from the Cian O'Neill School of Bullsh!t. Maybe I'm being unfair to the man.

Most Down men would say your bang on the money

[snoopdog]

On ticket talk. 20 euro admission is a bit steep for a qualifier. And it's general admission . So terrace same price as stand

[Targetman]

Yep far too expensive for a qualifier, a big crowd expected in Newry on Saturday evening and if Down are still in touch going into the final 10 minutes you just never know!!

[Rossfan]

It was €20 last year too

[Lotto]

Heard the Carlow coach Poacher on Newstalk speaking up Down saying there was a buzz in the county and they'll run Mayo close. I think the buzz will soon end on Saturday as Mayo will hammer them out of sight!
I predict that Mayo will mark their All-Ireland intentions this weekend and show that they haven't gone away.

Why does anyone give this idiot any airplay at all? Don't get me started about that knob and as for his view that the county is buzzing, well I don't know where he lives but there is far from a buzz in any place I have been in Down lately. The supporters are so flat about this Down style of play, it's just not us. I fear for Saturday night and feel we could get a trimming, we've rode our luck all year in so many games but this could be the end of the road. I hope Poacher stays in Carlow, to keep him the hell away from us and I'm a Down man.

[moysider]

Heard the Carlow coach Poacher on Newstalk speaking up Down saying there was a buzz in the county and they'll run Mayo close. I think the buzz will soon end on Saturday as Mayo will hammer them out of sight!
I predict that Mayo will mark their All-Ireland intentions this weekend and show that they haven't gone away.

Why does anyone give this idiot any airplay at all? Don't get me started about that knob and as for his view that the county is buzzing, well I don't know where he lives but there is far from a buzz in any place I have been in Down lately. The supporters are so flat about this Down style of play, it's just not us. I fear for Saturday night and feel we could get a trimming, we've rode our luck all year in so many games but this could be the end of the road. I hope Poacher stays in Carlow, to keep him the hell away from us and I'm a Down man.

Lol. That's brilliant.

[Duine Eile]

I'd expect Mayo to win this one but Paddy Tally has a serious amount of experience playing against and studying Mayo from his couple of years in Galway so you never know. Mayo should have too much for them but it might not be as easy as some predict.

[moysider]

Heard the Carlow coach Poacher on Newstalk speaking up Down saying there was a buzz in the county and they'll run Mayo close. I think the buzz will soon end on Saturday as Mayo will hammer them out of sight!
I predict that Mayo will mark their All-Ireland intentions this weekend and show that they haven't gone away.

I have a niggly doubt about this game. Maybe Down might do better than run Mayo close. I've felt something is not quite right with team Mayo since the start of the year.
I wasn't bothered about the FDB- it was a case of the usual form.
The opening games of the league were inconsistent to say the least but I wasn't too worried as it was clear Horan  was experimenting with the inclusion of so many newcomers. I felt we were lucky to stay up and I thought the Kerry game in Tralee might banjax our chances of managing to do so.
However, there was a mighty improvement in all aspects of the team's display that day - except on the most important of all,  the scoreboard.
The same again for the final where it took a great save from Hennelly to prevent Kerry getting back into the game in the dying minutes.
I felt any other team with serious hopes of winning the AI, if they were on top in both games like Mayo were, would have closed both of them out long before the end.
Then off to New York where they managed to kick 18 frigging wides!
Against Roscommon, they paid the price. 15 wides here and some serious tactical mistakes and a game they should have won on form went down the game.
I dunno why the team is misfiring but t is obvious James and his players are not happy bunnies this year.
There could be another early exit this year unless whatever is wrong gets sorted out, fast.

I see rosnarun had a cut at you earlier and can't blame him. The league was mostly positive and wining it was brilliant for everybody.
The bit in bold: the wides and the tactical deficiencies go hand in hand, like they did back in the 90's and earlier when we became a laughing stock of football because of our wides count.
Galway didn't kick as many wides v Roscommon but guess what? They didn't kick many scores either. Yet nobody will question the worth of the Galway forwards after that meltdown. They will still be regarded as blue chip forwards, because - well they are Galway and as Padraic Joyce reiterated during the week Galway always produce forwards. So that's that isn't it?
Of course, it's a load of bollocks. Galway managed to kick f**k all wides and lose and Mayo kicked loads and lost as well.
  Mayo and Galway were set up tactically different but got the same result. Both sides were not slick enough tactically to manage the game properly.
There is a simple enough maxim in football imo. When a team is functioning well and in control, the ball goes over the bar.

[moysider]

I'd expect Mayo to win this one but Paddy Tally has a serious amount of experience playing against and studying Mayo from his couple of years in Galway so you never know. Mayo should have too much for them but it might not be as easy as some predict.

Who exactly is predicting easy?

[highorlow]

So far we have

An easy win for Mayo ..

Mayo to get through but won't make it easy for themselves . .

Or

Down to sneak it


I expect us to win by 5/6 points. We should be getting a few goals, dry ball forecast.

[Godsown]

Heard the Carlow coach Poacher on Newstalk speaking up Down saying there was a buzz in the county and they'll run Mayo close. I think the buzz will soon end on Saturday as Mayo will hammer them out of sight!
I predict that Mayo will mark their All-Ireland intentions this weekend and show that they haven't gone away.

Poacher always strikes me as a man with a PhD from the Cian O'Neill School of Bullsh!t. Maybe I'm being unfair to the man.

Most Down men would say your bang on the money

Very unfair on Cian O'Neill. Poacher is a self obsessed chocolate fireguad

[Lar Naparka]

Heard the Carlow coach Poacher on Newstalk speaking up Down saying there was a buzz in the county and they'll run Mayo close. I think the buzz will soon end on Saturday as Mayo will hammer them out of sight!
I predict that Mayo will mark their All-Ireland intentions this weekend and show that they haven't gone away.

I have a niggly doubt about this game. Maybe Down might do better than run Mayo close. I've felt something is not quite right with team Mayo since the start of the year.
I wasn't bothered about the FDB- it was a case of the usual form.
The opening games of the league were inconsistent to say the least but I wasn't too worried as it was clear Horan  was experimenting with the inclusion of so many newcomers. I felt we were lucky to stay up and I thought the Kerry game in Tralee might banjax our chances of managing to do so.
However, there was a mighty improvement in all aspects of the team's display that day - except on the most important of all,  the scoreboard.
The same again for the final where it took a great save from Hennelly to prevent Kerry getting back into the game in the dying minutes.
I felt any other team with serious hopes of winning the AI, if they were on top in both games like Mayo were, would have closed both of them out long before the end.
Then off to New York where they managed to kick 18 frigging wides!
Against Roscommon, they paid the price. 15 wides here and some serious tactical mistakes and a game they should have won on form went down the game.
I dunno why the team is misfiring but t is obvious James and his players are not happy bunnies this year.
There could be another early exit this year unless whatever is wrong gets sorted out, fast.

I see rosnarun had a cut at you earlier and can't blame him. The league was mostly positive and wining it was brilliant for everybody.
The bit in bold: the wides and the tactical deficiencies go hand in hand, like they did back in the 90's and earlier when we became a laughing stock of football because of our wides count.
Galway didn't kick as many wides v Roscommon but guess what? They didn't kick many scores either. Yet nobody will question the worth of the Galway forwards after that meltdown. They will still be regarded as blue chip forwards, because - well they are Galway and as Padraic Joyce reiterated during the week Galway always produce forwards. So that's that isn't it?
Of course, it's a load of bollocks. Galway managed to kick f**k all wides and lose and Mayo kicked loads and lost as well.
  Mayo and Galway were set up tactically different but got the same result. Both sides were not slick enough tactically to manage the game properly.
There is a simple enough maxim in football imo. When a team is functioning well and in control, the ball goes over the bar.

Sorry moy but I'm a bit lost here. I think you have just highlighted my worries so I  can't see why you are complaining about me pointing out a few unpleasant truths. Facts are, well, facts. You can spin them whatever way suits your purpose but the bottom line is realities can't change.
Your last sentence reinforces what I've been trying to say.
This team, the most experienced and battle-hardened side in the land is not functioning well and the wides tallies are beginning to match the results of the 70s and 80s. The "wide scoring forwards" from the county Mayo asre gone forever or so I would hope.
I've no problem with the team's commitment or desire to win- nobody can fault those lads on that score but they are massively underperforming.
For starters, I see no reason to bring Galway into this. Mayo's display against Roscommon must be judged on its merits and say what you may, it can't be justified in any way by what happened in Salthill later on. Fifteen wides and total control at midfield don't go hand in hand. Harrison and Higins were left isolated throughout the game and when the Rossies got a gift off a goal against the run of play, Mayo got the jitters and lost any semblance of discipline. Leeroy dropping the ball short when he was only 30 metres out is a prime example of this and he is one of the best I have ever seen when he's on form.
The messing about at the end over the freetakiing isn't the hallmark of a side with serious ambitions to go all the way.
Now Mayo have to head north against a side that knows what to expect and with a manager who should know them very well. Down has no reason to fear Mayo; another display like we saw in Castlebar will leave them with a very good chance of winning. Mayo support will be down also because of the later starting time and it's obvious the problems are beginning to mount.

To finish, Mayo should have beaten Roscommon off the pitch if they really were focusing on the third Sunday of September- Dublin wouldn't have "scored" 15 wides and certainly wouldn't have somehow managed to hit 18 against New York either!
I wish to hell things were different but there's nothing to be gained by ignoring the obvious.

[Cunny Funt]

The Mayo team according to the Connacht telegraph.

David Clarke
Chris Barrett, Brendan Harrison, Keith Higgins
Lee Keegan, Colm Boyle, Patrick Durcan
Aidan O'Shea, Diarmuid O'Connor,
Fionn McDonagh Jason Doherty, Conor Loftus,
Kevin McLoughlin, Darren Coen and Andy Moran.

Four changes to their starting 15 from the team that started against Roscommon. Hennelly,Ruane,Boland and Regan out and in are Clarke,Boyle,Moran and McDonagh,