Roscommon vs. Mayo - Connacht SFC Semi-final (Dr. Hyde Park, June 8th 2014)

[Put Up That Flag]

I see alot of Roscommon supporters setting the ceiling at geeing within a score or two of Mayo, that losing by five would be a success in its own way. I look at the work that's went in at underage and senior over many years and our form this year and I think the basement of our hopes should be losing by four or five and the ceiling should be winning the damn match.

Mayo's HBs are excellent but they can get drunk on the taste of the opposition's half and there is routinely space in behind them if we can turn over ball. Donie Shine is as fine a kick-passer as there is in the country and our attacking game that has served us well this year would be perfect for exploiting that space. Maybe Mayo will drop lads back to sweep between the lines but I see Mayo looking at this game as an opportunity to attack and not to conserve so we have a good chance of adding to Mayo's woes at the back this year.

I think if we get enough possession we can rattle Mayo in ways we rarely have in the last decade, the question is will we get the possession?

What a load of crap, Roscommon are miles behind mayo, will ya stop making ridiculous statements or have ya any shame

[blast05]

Mayo to win by 7+
Thing is i'd reckon Rosies would get a lot closer and perhaps win if they had a more astute, tactically clued in manager.
Evans will have the team all playing with pride, bursting a gut, giving it everything.... but thats not good enough. In fact Evans is exactly the type of manager Rossies could do without right now given where they are in their evolution. Chest out & playing with pride type of stuff as the only tool from the manager reduces the shelf life of a team. A year or 2 max is all you will get out of the team. What the Rossies need now instead is a manager who can plot out a roadmap of how best to evolve the team over next 3 to 5 years using the very best that sport science has to offer in that regard to help with that process. And so because of Evans's limitations, I see the Rossies only chance tomorrow being on the basis of a way below par Mayo performance.

[Syferus]

Mayo to win by 7+
Thing is i'd reckon Rosies would get a lot closer and perhaps win if they had a more astute, tactically clued in manager.
Evans will have the team all playing with pride, bursting a gut, giving it everything.... but thats not good enough. In fact Evans is exactly the type of manager Rossies could do without right now given where they are in their evolution. Chest out & playing with pride type of stuff as the only tool from the manager reduces the shelf life of a team. A year or 2 max is all you will get out of the team. What the Rossies need now instead is a manager who can plot out a roadmap of how best to evolve the team over next 3 to 5 years using the very best that sport science has to offer in that regard to help with that process. And so because of Evans's limitations, I see the Rossies only chance tomorrow being on the basis of a way below par Mayo performance.

I don't know where your impression of Evans has come from but he's done untold good in conditioning the panel over the last 18 months. It's night and day from where we were in 2012. He's also a manager who has shown himself to be very adaptable in terms of tactics, no one could ever accuse him of being one note and his choices against Tyrone - some seemingly strange choices in the starting line-up and quite different tactics to what we were used to - were entirely on the money.

He may not be the youthful face of modern GAA management that Gavin, Horan and McGuinness are but he's no old school manager and he's quite in tune with the changing face of the game and the demands he needs to place on the panel to compete with the best teams.

Just about the only mark I can level against Evans is he was too keen to train the U21s during and after the U21 championship. Besides that he has been just about the best appointment we could have made.

In terms of someone who can make adjustments in a game, Evans is ahead of Horan who (for all his good traits in other areas) has looked at sea on the sideline when things have turned again him more times than any Mayo supporter cares to remember.

David Brady called him a mercenary. I wonder what David would've called John Maughan?

[Shrewdness]

What would the likes of David Brady know about anything?

[Don Corleone]

What a load of crap, Roscommon are miles behind mayo, will ya stop making ridiculous statements or have ya any shame

He might have/hasn't any shame, but he has pride and a small smidgeon of belief in his beloved Primrose and Blue.
Every club/county man carries that image - of overturning the weight of adversity in his heart till the day he dies.
If we hadn't that little bitéén of braggadacio to put forward we may as well peg our collective caps at it.

The Rossies are, as the man says, up agin' it, but their followers here have fought a brave and bullish fight and are (even the Rhubarbs will concur) entitled to a modicum of respect.

You're new here, like myself, take care.

[Crete Boom]

What would the likes of David Brady know about anything?

Mayo to win by 7+
Thing is i'd reckon Rosies would get a lot closer and perhaps win if they had a more astute, tactically clued in manager.
Evans will have the team all playing with pride, bursting a gut, giving it everything.... but thats not good enough. In fact Evans is exactly the type of manager Rossies could do without right now given where they are in their evolution. Chest out & playing with pride type of stuff as the only tool from the manager reduces the shelf life of a team. A year or 2 max is all you will get out of the team. What the Rossies need now instead is a manager who can plot out a roadmap of how best to evolve the team over next 3 to 5 years using the very best that sport science has to offer in that regard to help with that process. And so because of Evans's limitations, I see the Rossies only chance tomorrow being on the basis of a way below par Mayo performance.

I don't know where your impression of Evans has come from but he's done untold good in conditioning the panel over the last 18 months. It's night and day from where we were in 2012. He's also a manager who has shown himself to be very adaptable in terms of tactics, no one could ever accuse him of being one note and his choices against Tyrone - some seemingly strange choices in the starting line-up and quite different tactics to what we were used to - were entirely on the money.

He may not be the youthful face of modern GAA management that Gavin, Horan and McGuinness are but he's no old school manager and he's quite in tune with the changing face of the game and the demands he needs to place on the panel to compete with the best teams.

Just about the only mark I can level against Evans is he was too keen to train the U21s during and after the U21 championship. Besides that he has been just about the best appointment we could have made.

In terms of someone who can make adjustments in a game, Evans is ahead of Horan who (for all his good traits in other areas) has looked at sea on the sideline when things have turned again him more times than any Mayo supporter cares to remember.

David Brady called him a mercenary. I wonder what David would've called John Maughan?

If you have to ask that question you must have started watching football post 2004 .
I think Evans has done a good Job with Roscommon so far but I remain to be convinced he will take you to the top table and with the talent you have coming through I definitely think you should aim to be top five within 3 or 4 years.

What would the likes of David Brady know about anything?

As much as Shane Curran would anyway

[moysider]

What would the likes of David Brady know about anything?

He d know a bit about putting pricks on their holes. He d have an AI winners medal ( he s got a club one) if St. Pat McEnenany had balls and didn t cave in.

Anyway best of luck to Mayo tomorrow.

Easily best team and management I ve seen from the county. I believe that Horan could have even a better panel at his disposal this year but cannot really complain. I also think we may have had more talented players in the past but mostly were a joke as regards preparation.

Recently went from getting a chasing from Longford (respect to Longford that evening, they killed us really, we were nothing) to giving Cork (AI Champions) a chasing in the space of 10 months?
From nowhere! Well from the saddest 4 years I ve ever had to go through in Mayo football and probably the shite base that cost us when we got serious quickly after.
Roscommon has not been beating likes of Dublin, Cork, Donegal. If they beat Mayo tomorrow it will be a big jump. And I will not be at all bitter if they do. Sport is sport.

[Don Corleone]

Moysider says it all - "Sport is sport"...Good luck to all later on today, may the best team win a sporting game, devoid of rancour or blackguardly acts of trickery.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Latest Duffy action.

Gavin Duffy's much-anticipated Galway SFC debut didn't materialise this afternoon as Salthill/Knocknacarra suffered a shock defeat to An Cheathru Rua at Pearse Stadium.

The 32-year-old has been training with Mayo since failing to have his contract renewed with Connacht Rugby last month, while he also trained with Salthill/Knocknacarra on Thursday night. But listed as number 24 in the match programme, he didn't see action as the Seasiders crashed to a 0-6 to 1-4 defeat to their Ghaeltacht opponents.

Incidentally, the 2006 All-Ireland club champions also lost to Carna-Cashel in the first round of last year's Galway SFC before bouncing back to reach the county final.

[Farrandeelin]

Safe travelling to ALL fans today. Let all of gaaboarders in particular get back safe telling tales of joy or woe etc. Hopefully us Mayomen will be bursting with the former.

[Shrewdness]

Well said Moysider, Sport is Sport, and maybe sometimes we're all guilty of taking it a bit too seriously. As i write this, it's lashing rain outside. Best of luck to the Rossies.

[REDCOL]

Not Bad For A Chest Thumper

He led Laune Rangers to the Kerry Senior Football Championship in 1989, the clubs first since 1911. They beat John Mitchels in the final, they went on to win championships in 1993 beating Annascaul, 1995 beating East Kerry and made it two in a row in 1996 by overcoming West Kerry. He led the Rangers to Munster Senior Club Football Championships in 1995 beating Cork side Clonakilty and in 1996 beating Tipperary side Moyle Rovers. The Laune Ranagers went to the 1996 All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship beating Carlow side Éire Óg in the final in Croke Park. He led Tipperary to back to back National Football League promotions in 2008 and 2009, bringing them from Division 4 to Division 2 and winning the Division 3 title in 2009. In 2010 he led Tipperary to their first Munster Under-21 Football Championship with a 1-07 to 1-06 win over Kerry in the final. Now he has lead Roscommon to a Division 3 Title.

[blast05]

Mayo to win by 7+
Thing is i'd reckon Rosies would get a lot closer and perhaps win if they had a more astute, tactically clued in manager.
Evans will have the team all playing with pride, bursting a gut, giving it everything.... but thats not good enough. In fact Evans is exactly the type of manager Rossies could do without right now given where they are in their evolution. Chest out & playing with pride type of stuff as the only tool from the manager reduces the shelf life of a team. A year or 2 max is all you will get out of the team. What the Rossies need now instead is a manager who can plot out a roadmap of how best to evolve the team over next 3 to 5 years using the very best that sport science has to offer in that regard to help with that process. And so because of Evans's limitations, I see the Rossies only chance tomorrow being on the basis of a way below par Mayo performance.

I don't know where your impression of Evans has come from but he's done untold good in conditioning the panel over the last 18 months. It's night and day from where we were in 2012. He's also a manager who has shown himself to be very adaptable in terms of tactics, no one could ever accuse him of being one note and his choices against Tyrone - some seemingly strange choices in the starting line-up and quite different tactics to what we were used to - were entirely on the money.

He may not be the youthful face of modern GAA management that Gavin, Horan and McGuinness are but he's no old school manager and he's quite in tune with the changing face of the game and the demands he needs to place on the panel to compete with the best teams.

Just about the only mark I can level against Evans is he was too keen to train the U21s during and after the U21 championship. Besides that he has been just about the best appointment we could have made.

In terms of someone who can make adjustments in a game, Evans is ahead of Horan who (for all his good traits in other areas) has looked at sea on the sideline when things have turned again him more times than any Mayo supporter cares to remember.

David Brady called him a mercenary. I wonder what David would've called John Maughan?

I'm not saying Evans hasn't been effective up to a point and not taken Ros forward. I just don't believe he is the best choice for Ros at this stage. This is based on plenty of discussions with the in-laws in Meath about his short stint up there and what he had to offer plus a couple of chats with a few lads in work who are of the committed Ros variety that sees them tip down to the Hyde to watch training an odd evening.

Anyway, best of luck to both sides today and if the worst happens to Mayo then drive on Rossies and make sure yee're playing football in August

[macdanger2]

Both Michael foley and jack O'se mention playing keegan in midfield in today's paper. Not something I've ever heard mentioned before but thinking about it, he might make a great foil for one of the o'se brothers or Barry in there.

[seafoid]

RTE ask

Will John Evans' side deploy a blanket defence to curb the Mayo threat?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpA0oPR_EOQ