Mayo v Galway NFL Semi-Final

[An Gaeilgoir]

An Gaeilgóir I usually ignore your nonsense but just seeing as we won a National League semi final and you still see fit to attack our players why don't you f**k off to the Pemiership or somewhere? By the way Aidan Higgins your first named super player of the day didn't even play today.

Piss off back to your Shell job.

................................

[EastMayoHerald]

Easy lads.

Heaney was the obvious man of the match in my opinion. 

Conroy is a great lad to win a 50:50 but seems to set scores rather than take them. 

Conor Mort should have been withdrawn yesterday.  he was spouting muck in the papers yesterday as well.

[IolarCoisCuain]

Conor Mort should have been withdrawn yesterday.  he was spouting muck in the papers yesterday as well.

What paper was that in EMH? If you can post a link or something like that I'd appreciate it. There was an interesting article in Tribune yesterday that referred to Conor's relationship with Johnno - very interesting. I've pasted it on the Donegal v Mayo thread.

[Maximus Marillius]

The article was in the Ireland on Sunday...or its now called the Irish Mail on Sunday. Who was the Galway corner back marking Mort....I thought he should have been sent off for constant fouling...lets face it....due to the ref blowing the whistle for the end of the game, the corner back would have given away two penalities

[GalwaySham]

Ok, got the result of the game wrong but I still think Galway will beat ye in May

Galway were all over Mayo at the beginning of the 2nd half, the penalty was a massive turning point.

The centre of that Mayo team will be found out in the championship, it is just too weak. Bergin, not renowned as being a particularly good ball winner, won kick-out after kick-out yesterday. Ja Fallon, who has been poor all year, gave Padden the run around in the first half but disappeared badly in the second half. Kilcullen doesnt look like a full back that would fill me with confidence either.

As for Galway, they have less questions to be answered about their team but there are still issues.

Michael Meehan hasnt played well this year (and has he ever had a good match against Mayo?)

Blake is not a midfielder, he is one of the best no.6's in the country. We are missing a good second midfielder but by playing Blake there, you are losing out at 2 positions, at no. 6 and at midfield. Blake should be no. 6. That requires management to make a tough decision and to drop either Comer, Coyne or Meehan, all who have played well in the championship but one of them need to be dropped.

Geragthy should have started yesterday, good game last week, what was the reason for dropping him?

I thought Nicky Joyce was doing well on the wing, constantly showing for the ball, was surpised when they switched himself & Bane.

Any word on Paul Clancy? He would be a huge addition to that Galway team, either in mdifield or at centre forward. Also, Sean Armstrong could be a big addition to.

I can see this Galway team improving a lot (where as I cant see Mayo improving much at all)

[stephenite]

Lads,a couple of points from todays game Having watched Mayo plenty of times this year and i think we have one or two lads who started today that are not of county football standard. These men are Ger Brady and Enda Devenney....Brady can not tackle if his life depended on it and he loses possesion too easily,THIS MAN USED TO PLAY RUGBY!!! For christs sake he should be like the bomber Liston in the forward line,he has loads of size and power to dominate up front. I have read on this board how talented Enda Devenney is from lads in north Mayo for the past while. But in his last three games for Mayo he has not played at all...how many times did he kick the balll into a Galways man hand today...now he wasnt the only one who did this today, by a long shot..but he doesnt inspire confidence at all,In Castlebar against Dublin he got roasted as well. As for my man of the match i thought, Keith Higgins,Liam O Malley and Andy Moran were super today, Meehan didnt get a look in to day.For Galway,Joe Bergin, Dereck Savage and a mister P. Joyce played well today. We were very lucky to get away with the win,and after watching the display of Donegal today,we have a lot of improving to do to. But you have to be at the table in order to eat the dinner so we will have to wait and see.(will have to blame the A.Higgins mistake on a couple of beers after the game!!!)

I'l preface this response by saying that due to the fact my teleporting machine has been out of action for the last few months I haven't seen any of the Mayo games in flesh,and only managed the Cork game live on the telly.

With that in mind I generally catch the games deferred coverage on Setanta out here in Oz, but have a voracious appetite for reading Internet forums, and all the matchreports online. From your comments above I will only say that Ger Brady did not seem to play an orthodox Full Forward role for the majorty of the game and yet he ended up with 1-1, not a bad return at all in fairness. The most damning report I can get from other forums was that "he was brilliant"

Enda Dev on the other hand seemed to have a more questionable role, I believe he made great surging runs but that it was mixed with some questionable defensive decisions, however he is still learning to deal with the pace of fotball at this level and I suppose the league is the time to learn, all in all I am certainly looking forward to some great performances from Enda in the Mayo jersey.

I'd still trust Johnnos judgement when it comes to team selections, getting to a league final is not bad going after all

Either way,whilst you make a damning indictment of the two Ballina lads,you do not offer any alternatives as to who you would select in their positions???

[OirthearMhaigheo]

Not sure if I was watching a different game at times but I think the criticism Devenney is getting is a bit harsh. I thought yesterday was teh first day he made some of his trademark runs forward, he put in alot of good work that way. I'd agree with Stephenite aswell that getting used to the pace of Senior inter county football takes some time. Before this season Devenney last played in a Mayo jersey in 2003 if I'm not mistaken and that was at U21 level. I think he will get better and better, but I'd agree he is not doing as well as many of us expected just yet. We really need to get midfield sorted, we have to get a ball winner in there, DB getting fit would be a start and B Moran showing some sort of form would be welcomed too. Once again, there are questions at Full Back and CHB, both players tend to mix the good with the bad. However, Kilcullen still hasn't gotten a roasting, Joyce turned him a couple of times far too easily but then he recovered with some great blocks, I'd say he will be left on him in May. Billy Joe does great work going forward but his tackling has to improve, he gave away alot of frees yesterday. in the forwards I thought we looked very light-weight, the amount of 50/50s we lost was unreal, yet we still picked off plenty of scores, that was encouraging. A Moran put in another good afternoons work, he was one of the few who could win his own ball, and count the number of times he gives possession away and not too many digits are needed. All in all, we're a major work in progress but we're in a league final and there are lots of players to come back. A Galway lad said he thinks they will improve lots and he can't see us improviing much. Well that's nonsense considering we didn't have a midfield out there yesterday, when are they back is the only concern. The sooner the better DB and Ro!

[An Gaeilgoir]

Firstly, I want to put it on the record here that i have nothing against Ballina and if my comments caused offence to some people i do apologise. Regarding E. Devenney, he is indeed a young player and will learn the game as time progresses,but when you look at Liam O Malley or Keith Higgins,Andy Moran,Aidan Campbell or Mickey Conroy who are equallly young and inexperienced,Enda does not seem to be as assured or convincing, during the past 3 games in particular. All those other lads, some who have come on as subs have improved with more and more gametime. Enda has not improved with each game. I know he has had his injuries and i hope he proves me wrong but going on his recent form is he good enough for the first fifteen? Ger Brady is a big solid man so why does he lose the ball in possesion so easily? Todays game is so fast that if a ball is turned over in the full forward line that within two passes our backs are under pressure.This is especially true for Mayo as our half backs are usually pretty far up the field during each attack and are out of position on the quick counter attack.Also, when the opposition backs are in possesion Ger does not go in hard to tackle them.Yesterday we had Alan Dillon,Andy Moran and Conor Mortimor really harrasing the Galway backs when they were in possesion and it worked well at times.As for trusting John O Mahony that goes without saying. It was great to see him on the sideline again with a Mayo side. We have a lot to be very positive in Mayo at the moment regarding our football at minor, U-21 and Senior. So again apologies to all the Ballina Folk i upset and roll on next Sunday!!!

[GalwayBayBoy]

the penalty was a massive turning point.

Yeah it swung the game alright as Mayo were looking a bit lost at that point. Worst thing is looking at the replays on Sunday sport last night is that Fitzy was clearly fouled by David Heaney just before he got rid of the ball (which is why he threw such a poor pass) so it should have been a free-out rather than a penalty. However these things happen in games of football. What can ya do?

[An Fhairche Abu]

I thought that this was a poor, error-ridden match yesterday with two teams that were not going at it 100%.
I felt that the majority of scores for both teams came as a result of mistakes by the opposition rather than by good play from themselves.
I think that while a draw would have been a fair result, Galway left it behind them in the first 15 minutes of the 2nd half, we were well on top, should have been about 5 or 6 points up instead of 3 when Mayo got the penalty. The peno was lucky for Mayo, at the time I saw nothing wrong with the ref's decision, but looking at the replays on the Sunday Game it should have definitely been a free-out for Fitzgerald when he was fouled by Heaney. It brought Mayo right back into it and after that I felt it was always likely to be a Mayo win after that.

Galway good points: Bane certainly knows where the posts are (though he has a tendency to flit in and out of a game), Nicky Joyce was good - nice to have a proper left hand side free taker again, Bergin stepped up when needed and had a very good game IMO.
Bad points: Galway finishing left a lot to be desired yesterday, Ja - legend in his day - is plainly not good enough anymore for senior inter county, still no cohesion in the Galway play both in backs and forwards - gave away about 1-4 from not being able to get the ball out of defence quickly after having done the hard part in breaking down a Mayo attack, too much unnecessary fouling, Mike Meehan got a huge roasting from Higgins.

Mayo lads, is McGarrity due back for the game on May 20th? Ye badly missed him yesterday, although come the 20th yesterday's result/performance won't matter a jot in fairness.

[GalwayBayBoy]

In fairness to Meehan he beat Higgins to the vast majority of balls that came their way in the second half (after having a very quiet first half). His finishing was terrible though. Think he kicked three bad wides after getting himself some space.

Agree that many of the scores from both sides came from mistakes rather than any brilliant play.

[blast05]

Have to say i am with An Gaeilgoir re Devenney. The defensive side of his game is not up to scratch. When his man wins possession, he stands way too far off him, not even closing the opponent down when he attempts to kick. That just not good enough. Even regarding the strong points in his game, i.e.: the surging forward ... he doesn't strike me as really knowing what to do when he makes a burst into the opponents half, unlike say Aaron Kiernan
Re the comments about Brady - he had a good game but the comments re his workrate off the ball are valid IMHO. He did not work as hard in trying to close down the Galway backs as the other forwards.

Couple of other random thoughts:
If you could combine the attributes of Keith Higgins and James Kilcullen, then you would have the prototype full back.
Why did 5 of the 6 backs have to wear gloves on a dry ball ? Overall, the basic handling skills of too many guys was poor. Too many times a 2nd attempt was needed to get a grasp of the ball.
I liked the look of the half forward line that finished the game, i.e.: Dillon, Moran and Campbell.
Higgins yet again got the better of Michael Meehan

[myball22]

I think the intensity of the match and lack of involvement from the crowd would mean that little really could be taken form this game as an indicator of what will happen on May 20th.

On the match itself I'm suprised how much ball we won at midfield. The fact that Mayo used short kickouts in the second half showed that. the fact that they were able to get a man free on a number of occasions to do this is worrying. i don't think it will happen next time. MInd you, I don't think Mayo will try the short kickouts next time either.

We were a bit clueless up front at times. We have a couple of chances after we went three points up at the start of the second half which we didn't take and gave away a soft penalty to level things up.

I think the backs again did reasonably well but they have to clear their lines more and no c*ck ups clearing the ball out like what happened to give away the penalty. I think the person who said that Burke should be sent off for fouling Mortimer is wrong, there were a lot of 50/50 balls which we has a right to fight for. Mortimer isn't sweetness and light either and has a tendency to look for fouls while fouling at the same time also.
Our midfield and half forward line need serious work. I think Ja and Savo have too much on the clock. I would like to see Paul Clancy and Coleman given starts there. Bane can score but seems to do f*** all else. I was impressed with Nicky Joyce, i hope he can sustain that form into the championship.

Ail in all, it's a derby match which will always be close and we'll see who does the business May 20th

[Greenabovethered]

It was a peculiar game. It reminded me of the nineties whereby Mayo would have 75% of the possession and loads of chances and wides, but still lose to Galway by a point or two. Mayo have developed an incredible knack of staying in games when they should be beat out of sight. It's a Munsteresque type quality that flirts with a potential hiding.

Anyway i thought that Galway have an excellent back-line. Mayo found it very difficult to penetrate. There seemed to be an ongoing tussle off the ball between Mortimer and his Marker. Penalty aside, i think that Mort has developed an Andy Johnson syndrome from Refs and has a credibility problem on frees. Although I thought that he harsh done by yesterday to be pulled up so many times. Unfortunately for him another quiet day in the capital.

Anyway despite Ger Brady's obvious lack of physicality, i think he is a smart player that usually makes the right decision. I'd be happy to persevere with him in the full forward line for the time being. Other than that our forwards lost a dreadful amount of 50/50 ball. I counted at least 4/5 in a row at one stage.

I've read in 2/3 different forums that Liam O'Malley and Keith Higgins played well to excellent. Who was marking Cormac Bane  in the first half? I'd guess that our full back line barely broke even over the 70 minutes. Kilcullen is an accident waiting to happen. I'm was really concerned about his positioning for those high balls in the first half. How many times did he fall for the Ja Shuffle. Will somebody give BJP a maroon jersey for May 20th. It's obvious he's clambering to play for Galway, he must have got at least 7 bookings yesterday.  Our wing backs were ok. Our wing forwards were again poor. Campbell at least looked hungry for the ball when he came on and will probably start ahead of Kilcoyne.

Honourable mention to Pat Harte & David Heaney who worked hard all day and scrapped for every ball. It was a joy to watch Joe Bergin fielding 2/3 quality balls in the second half under sever pressure and hang on to them.

From yesterday, i fear the worst for May 20th, Galway have a quality back 6 which will restrict Mayo to single figure score total. I still cannot figure out how Mayo won that game yesterday?

[GalwayBayBoy]

Cormac Bane is a strange one alright. At times you wouldn't even know he's on the pitch than he'll appear from nowhere and kick 2 or 3 massive points. He was the same against Westmeath last year. I'd like to see him be more forceful and demand the ball more. He tends to hang around the fringes of play. He's got real talent but to take himself to the next level he'll have to get involved more.

Hard to see Ja sticking championship pace. He was quiet enough yesterday at a game played at 75% speed. He might be useful as an impact sub alright.

Does anyone have any news on Paul Clancy? I heard over the weekend that he's training away with the squad while someone else told me that's he's retired but just hasn't announced it yet.