Mayo vs. Roscommon Connacht SFC Semi-final (June 16th, McHale Park)

[All of a Sludden]

Trying to follow the game on twitter and Facebook. Would I be right in saying mayo had 8 different scorers from play in first half?

8 in the first half, 12 over all.

[seafoid]

The standard of opposition is pretty irrelevant at this stage.

I think it's pretty clear Mayo are just as good if not better than they were last year when they beat Dublin handy enough in an AI semi and only lost to a rabid Donegal in the final.

Think they have to be wary about peaking too early. London/Leitrim aren't going to give them a game so it'll be a while before they need to be at their best.

Beating Ros is hardly peaking early

[GalwayBayBoy]

I think this just confirms galway and roscommon have failed to bring through the underage.

Galway have failed to bring through their 02 and 05 All-Ireland winning U-21's (well they won a few Connacht titles but that's about it). It's still far too early to judge whether they can bring though the 2011 and 2013 winning sides. Those lads are still in nappies (in footballing terms) and don't have a strong senior team to blend into so it will take a few years for them to mature physically and mentally.

[From the Bunker]

Good result! Allot of surprise performances good and bad. Freeman good and Dillon bad! But nothing to worry about. Was worried in the first 15 minutes with the Ros domination of possession. The Ros free in front of goal was a minor turning point (at that stage of the game). Well done to all the Rossies who traveled and stayed (to the bitter end). It's not easy, we have been there and in most cases left in our droves. Hope both Galway and Ros get good draws in the back door. We need a strong Connacht Championship. For us this looked the Connacht draw from hell last October and has turned out anything but. Onto Leitrim/London and the Quarters in August! Jez, if everybody is injury free, Horan is going to have a some serious selection problems!

[ross4life]

Yet another championship non-show from us Mayo only had to go up 4 points for our lads to drop their heads. We won midfield in the first half but were clueless when we got the ball the passes into the forward line was atrocious. We were even worse with the wind in the 2nd half, when you see a number of Mayo defenders strolling up the field and taking scores without a challenge coming in you know your team has thrown in the towel.

Well done to Mayo much improved outfit from our last championship meeting while we have gone back backwards. TBH i always thought Mayo winning this years Connacht title was formality but i'm not sure what they would have got out of the last two games but i guess we'll wait see.

For us it's back to the drawing board we have some talented players and if (big if) we try to get the best of them the results should improve.

[Farrandeelin]

It's very hard to analyse a game like that today. Like FtB, I was worried early on, but for all Ros's pressure and dominance they were only 2 points clear. If that happened in August it'd be game over I'm afraid... Mayo bossed it after going a few points up. And the last few minutes, well I doubt anyone took what happened then seriously. Overall a good performance, but need to improve if we're to reach the semi. Saying that, the defence were tigerish once again, and the forwards were good when they got going. Seamie O'Shea outstanding again. As someone said...25 pages...for that!

[From the Bunker]

It's very hard to analyse a game like that today. Like FtB, I was worried early on, but for all Ros's pressure and dominance they were only 2 points clear. If that happened in August it'd be game over I'm afraid... Mayo bossed it after going a few points up. And the last few minutes, well I doubt anyone took what happened then seriously. Overall a good performance, but need to improve if we're to reach the semi. Saying that, the defence were tigerish once again, and the forwards were good when they got going. Seamie O'Shea outstanding again. As someone said...25 pages...for that!

Ditto, The way the Mayo setup has evolved, if you get injured your place is gone and hard to get back! Barry Moran, Andy Moran, Conroy, Cillian's places are all under treat! All Good in the long run!

[emmetryan]

Hi guys,

Tactical analysis of Mayo's win over Roscommon now up
http://action81.com/blog/?p=7334

Emmet

[Syferus]

Hi guys,

Tactical analysis of Mayo's win over Roscommon now up
http://action81.com/blog/?p=7334

Emmet

I'm sorry Emmet but 'talent' is the laziest excuse for what happened. You're certainly not the only offender on that account and you do the sort of analysis I wish we saw more of but it grates.

There is almost no talent gap between the two teams that played today, indeed most of our players beat those same Mayo players consistently through the underage grades.

So why is there such a big gap, then?

Money, confidence and preparation. The easy thing to say is we had no 'bottle' but confidence is a hard-won trait and one that it's almost impossible to manufacture.

Mayo can afford to go on training trips to Miami while we were reduced to training in a hotel conference room at one point this year.

Years of costly and excellent conditioning work has been huge for Mayo, as it has been for the other top teams.

There was no 'talent' gap at underage, there was none two years ago and there's not really one today. It's far more tangible things that created our failures and Mayo's successes.

[maigheo]

Was a little worried early on with all of Roscommons possession but Mayos defensive set up is so good that Ros made little headway.Freeman will get man of the match on the sunday game but for me Sheamus O Shea was the most outstanding player for Mayo.All in all a good win and looking forward to game 3.

[maigheo]

By the way Syferus Mayo went on a team holiday to Miami last January and went on there training week to Belmullet in april but don't let the facts get in the way of a good rant.

[From the Bunker]

Was a little worried early on with all of Roscommons possession but Mayos defensive set up is so good that Ros made little headway.Freeman will get man of the match on the sunday game but for me Sheamus O Shea was the most outstanding player for Mayo.All in all a good win and looking forward to game 3.

Agree Seamie was the Man. If Freeman gets it, no harm, will do his confidence no harm!

[FL/MAYO]

By the way Syferus Mayo went on a team holiday to Miami last January and went on there training week to Belmullet in april but don't let the facts get in the way of a good rant.

I don't think the Mayo County Board paid for the trip to Miami, wasn't it paid for by  the GAA due to reaching thefinal last year?

[Syferus]

By the way Syferus Mayo went on a team holiday to Miami last January and went on there training week to Belmullet in april but don't let the facts get in the way of a good rant.

Where does that contradict what I said? They went to the same facilities Donnie Buckley uses on a yearly basis to 'up-skill' himself so it certainly wasn't a party weekend.

We didn't have the benefit of either. You seem to assume I'm sore, but I'm just stating facts. Mayo need to put in that level of spending to compete with the Dublins and Donegals, that's simply the place the sport has reached at the top level.

Funding needs to be pooled at senior and a relatively low cap placed on spending or the situation will become even more farcical in future. The GAA needs to foster a more even playing field in both codes and altering the format of the championship is a simple vanity project unless the elephant in the room that is funding is tackled as well.

[BluestackBoy]

It will be important for Mayo to get the free taking sorted out before later in the summer as in O'Connor's absence it didn't look great.