Talk about a pathetic attitude on here from Mayo fans.
We are Connacht champions, one of four unbeaten teams in the Championship with the chance to knock the All Ireland champions off their perch.
It is very very unlikely that we will succeed but by God we should be going out there chomping at the bit looking to put up a show. What if we were to beat them? How good would that feel? What's the point of even playing football or supporting a team if you don't meet these challenges head on.
And the fellas that are hiding behind their sofas afraid of what lies ahead are the very ones that will criticise the players if they do go and lose, and lose heavily. How can we build a winning mentality if we don't even have the desire to push ourselves towards doing everything possible to win in the first place?
I think it would be mad to play the game in Croke though. Yesterday showed how dead the stadium looks with a small crowd. The latter stages of the championship don't need that. Look at how the Meath/Kildare game looked in Navan, compared to in Croke Park earlier in the year. The small grounds with bigger crowds are definitely the way to go. The Mayo support in Roscommon was pathetic and has been dwindling. The Cork support will be non-existant.
On the pitch there is not much analysis you can do. Basically we need every one of our lads to play out of their skins, go for every ball, keep the head up when things go wrong and hope that they are close enough at the end that they have a chance to get over the finish line. Many of these players played in the 2006 All Ireland under 21 Final and Mayo won, Mayo beat Cork in the league 4 of the last 5 times we have met, but of course we did comfortably lose last years Final. While James Horan and his team will know they are up against it they won't be showing the white feather and we should stand toe to toe with them every step of the way. They have given us some pride back after the nightmare of last year, now lets repay their efforts.
We are Connacht champions, one of four unbeaten teams in the Championship with the chance to knock the All Ireland champions off their perch.
It is very very unlikely that we will succeed but by God we should be going out there chomping at the bit looking to put up a show. What if we were to beat them? How good would that feel? What's the point of even playing football or supporting a team if you don't meet these challenges head on.
And the fellas that are hiding behind their sofas afraid of what lies ahead are the very ones that will criticise the players if they do go and lose, and lose heavily. How can we build a winning mentality if we don't even have the desire to push ourselves towards doing everything possible to win in the first place?
I think it would be mad to play the game in Croke though. Yesterday showed how dead the stadium looks with a small crowd. The latter stages of the championship don't need that. Look at how the Meath/Kildare game looked in Navan, compared to in Croke Park earlier in the year. The small grounds with bigger crowds are definitely the way to go. The Mayo support in Roscommon was pathetic and has been dwindling. The Cork support will be non-existant.
On the pitch there is not much analysis you can do. Basically we need every one of our lads to play out of their skins, go for every ball, keep the head up when things go wrong and hope that they are close enough at the end that they have a chance to get over the finish line. Many of these players played in the 2006 All Ireland under 21 Final and Mayo won, Mayo beat Cork in the league 4 of the last 5 times we have met, but of course we did comfortably lose last years Final. While James Horan and his team will know they are up against it they won't be showing the white feather and we should stand toe to toe with them every step of the way. They have given us some pride back after the nightmare of last year, now lets repay their efforts.