Mayo Football and Hurling - Discussion pages

[mannix]

Heard very reliably nallen may be back for more, personally think he is wasting his time though.Reality has bitten and I think we will have little to say for a few years.

[Fishead_Sam]

Heard very reliably nallen may be back for more, personally think he is wasting his time though.Reality has bitten and I think we will have little to say for a few years.

Step one is to get the Nestor Cup back to its rightfull place where the Sweet Plains of Mayo meet its Soft & Craggy Boglands, its Tall Magestic Hills.

We won't be a force for at least 2-3 years but step one is too try & get on top in Connacht & build from there.

[IolarCoisCuain]

From this morning's Tribune. Thin gruel again I'm afraid.




Spent Mayo face painful cycle of regrowth
Malachy Clerkin


As he stood with his arms folded by the side of the little press trailer in Celtic Park last Saturday night, it was tempting to wonder what Mickey Moran was making of the whole farrago that was being played out down in front of him. Knowing both sides as he did, would he have seen those final 24 minutes, in which Derry made a levelscore game into a 10-point win, coming? Would he have seen the six wides Mayo kicked in the 10 minutes before Colin Devlin's goal . . .

those high, wayward, missthe-netting-behind-the-goals wides . . . and thought to himself that there was every reason to suspect a Mayo collapse? Was he, above all, pondering to himself quite what a reception his name would have gotten at the next Mayo County Board meeting if it was him down on the sideline and not John O'Mahony? It's hard not to think he'd have been entitled.

To the outsider, the vitriol directed towards Moran and John Morrison in those dog days last October seemed small and petty even by the standards of your average collection of delegates in any part of the country. If memory serves, there was at least one sane voice in the wilderness who stood during the heated post All Ireland final county board meeting and asked, not unreasonably, if it was not the case that many in the room would have been more than happy at the start of the year of offered a league semi-final, a Connacht title and an All Ireland final appearance. He was alone, though. Alone and shouted down.

There'll hardly be any of that this year, but that probably has more do with John O'Mahony being one of their own rather than a general acceptance of another double-digit exit from the championship. Already, the talk is of transition and replenishment, with O'Mahony . . . in public at least . . . hoping that the usual candidates for retirement take some time with their decision. But no matter who stays and who goes, maybe the biggest change that should be wrought is a resetting of where the people of Mayo see their place in the general footballing scheme of things.

Because what this year and last year and the two before that have done is pretty much prove the sane voice at the county board meeting last October right. Of course, getting a toasting in an All Ireland final isn't fun, but it's not like at the start of the year with everybody in the county making sure to keep the third weekend in September free. The truth of it is that, far from being the louche under-achievers of lazy repute, two All Ireland finals in three years should be a feat to be proud of in Mayo.

If anything, these are overachievers.

Colm Coyle has a lot to answer for, of course. If he'd just kicked that last-minute Hail Mary in the 1996 drawn final a little harder so that it dropped into John Madden's hands instead of hopping over the bar, then Mayo folk would have their All Ireland.

Instead, there's a bereft feeling and instead of hailing the accomplishment of three more final appearances in the following decade . . . a record Kerry alone can beat . . . loud and long is the wailing and gnashing of teeth when it all unravels as it tends to do.

Those are some high standards for a county that can't exactly say it lays claim to hands-down the best playing talent of the past decade. A county without a proper fullback in all that time. Nor fullforward, for that matter. A county that has had to make do, at different times and for different reasons, without Ciaran McDonald and David Brady and Trevor Mortimer.

A county with only one dual All Star . . . James Nallen in the current squad. And yet, as Kevin McStay has pointed out in the past, the people of Mayo somehow made their side favourites going into the 1997 and 2004 All Ireland finals. But any bit of hindsight, if allied to honesty, will tell you there wasn't an All Ireland in that team.

There's been a lot of talk of a clear-out since last Saturday, with wild estimates of anything up to a dozen players either retiring or being retired. Indeed, O'Mahony made reference during the aftermath to programmes and structures that had been put in place since last October for players who weren't on the current panel in the hope that they'd be ready for next year. Everything smacked of a year that had been written off after the Galway game.

How else to explain that wholesale changes in personnel between a more than decent league campaign and the championship? The starting defence in the league final against Donegal read Liam O'Malley, James Kilcullen, Keith Higgins, Enda Devenney, Billy Joe Padden and Peadar Gardiner. Last Saturday, only O'Malley remained and even then he'd been moved to full-back.

"Derry are further on in their development curve than we are and that showed, " O'Mahony said last week.

He's been around too long and achieved too much at this stage for his words to be dismissed as the weasel excuses of a losing manager. So when he says that last year's beaten All Ireland finalists are further back than a team like Derry who will, at best, make an All Ireland semi-final, it has to be viewed as a sensible and honest appraisal of where Mayo find themselves.

"It's very obvious that the transitional period has started in Mayo football. That was always going to happen. I think it's a great time of opportunity in Mayo football for players to come forth and come into the squad. That doesn't mean that I want everybody else to retire or anything else."

Mayo did phenomenally well to make last year's All Ireland final. Ditto 2004.

O'Mahony knows that and knows as well how far there is to go if they're ever to get back to that point. Mickey Moran knew it too. For others, it might take a while to


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[mayoman dan]

Its all gone very quiet

[billy the kid]

yous dont exactly have alot to shout about do you??? bet you wish you had kept mickey moran now!!! at least he took the job for alove of football and give it his full attention not like the tube you had this year who took the job to get elected and spent half his time argueing with politicians, trying to look good on camera and campaigning for the Dail.

[mayoman dan]

Billy The Kid might i ask what team your alliagence lies with? After reading your nonsense i would be guessing Dublin.Hopefully come saturday evening YOUS wont have much to shout about either.

[Farrandeelin]

Billy The Kid might i ask what team your alliagence lies with? After reading your nonsense i would be guessing Dublin.Hopefully come saturday evening YOUS wont have much to shout about either.

He's a Derry man!

[rosnarun]

it was interferring with next years preparations
is this the earliest Pre season training ever?  or is o mahony just bored on his holidays?
Mayo preparations in train
10 August 2007


John O'Mahony's bid to resurrect Mayo football has already begun with personal training programmes being issued to the county players.

The squad met on Saturday last and certain players were given individual programmes to work on over the off season.

"What we are doing going forward is activating training programmes for individuals to go on," said O'Mahony.

"We are not meeting collectively but giving individuals work to do."

[Barney]

Ros I don't know whether this is the earliest return but it is the type of thing that must be done if we are to succeed.

A 3 year extensive training programme will be needed to have us competing at the top-level again. Efforts were made the last 2 years but it appears the players did not do what they were asked. There will be some real answers for JOM about who to keep, and who to lose when he sees who follows their programme.

One thing that I feel is a major problem for us is that the players just don't have the burning desire to go that extra step and without it we won't

[mannix]

In a nutshell, you are bang on.The players have got to really want to win it.I met some of them the night of the derry game and it was weird to see them laughing and joking after all the sweat and work went out the window earlier that day.I have seen junior players not drinking and training 4 times a week only to lose a game and be finished till next year, they were a lot more upset.D brady was one I know for sure made massive efforts to be ready but it passed him by on the day, we need more like him,really driven and macdonald was another really driven.I think it was clear who would die for glory in the final last year and who was just happy to be there.

[Redgreenery]

Absolutely, the likes of Mc D, D Brady and Jimmy Nallen continue year after year going for the top prize and after all these years they are still trying to go for it and not getting there, I feel bad for them really, must be painful for them as I'm sure they are all well aware that they are not getting any younger and their days in football are narrowing down. Very sad.

[the Deel Rover]

Absolutely, the likes of Mc D, D Brady and Jimmy Nallen continue year after year going for the top prize and after all these years they are still trying to go for it and not getting there, I feel bad for them really, must be painful for them as I'm sure they are all well aware that they are not getting any younger and their days in football are narrowing down. Very sad.

True redgreenery i don't think we will see any of these lads in the green and red again, time for the younger lads to step up to the plate

[billy the kid]

Mayo deserve to have won an all ireland from their exploits over the last 10 years but they havent.
i also think they will have to wait another while as the players dont seem to be there.
I feel for Brady, nallen ETC who have been giving everything with no return to speak of thus far.


PS. tell your manager to be a manager or a politician as the two dont mix firstly due to time restraints and secondly because of the very definition of the two.
Good Politician = someone who embraces democracy (trying to please the people)
Good Manager = a Dictatorship (one boss who has final word full stop) 

[prewtna]

ive been informed that jimmy nallen will be giving it another lash next year. to quote a man - "sure all he does is train and drink water". funny but inaccurate id say. if he wants another go he would be a great man to have as part of a panel.

however i think D Bradys game was/is confrontational by nature in contrast to Nallen and i would suggest you need to be a young man to keep that going.

If Big Mac wants another go - have at it.

i agree with billy the kid. i dont think johno can mix the two games. as babs keating said inter county management needs someone with plenty time on their hands. ideally a teacher or better still a retired one.
johno will find that michael ring will make more appearances at funerals then he will. he will be heard more on the radio and if johno manages to get re-elected in 4 years it will be to the detriment of mayo footbal.

Mayo deserve to have won an all ireland from their exploits over the last 10 years but they havent.
i must disagree with billy the kid. mayo dont deserve to have won an all-ireland in the last 10 years. the most deserving team always wins the game. justice doesnt come into it.

96 - 6 points up. game over. mayo failed to close out the game. ball hopping over the bar - bad goalkeeping/defending.
97 - too cocky. beat kerry the year before, thought the same would happen again.
04/06 - hammered by what we now know to be a great kerry team (some of them played in 97 too).

that was all a bit scattered!

[Barney]

The worst thing we ever did was beat Kerry in 1996. They'll never forgive us for that.

As for JOM the best thing he can do as a politician is bring Sam to Mayo. He never need worry about being re-elected if he did that.

James Nallen has been the best player I have ever seen play for Mayo. A gentleman and a legend but sadly time has caught up. He may add something to a panel but the legs are clearly gone and I feel that he should retire.

Brady showed a very poor attitude in Derry. Time has probably passed him by as well. I think we need somebody with more pace around the middle. Personally I always have felt that he was an average footballer but somebody we needed because of lack of physical presence around the middle. His commitment can never be doubted. Its just an opinion Stephenite!

I think if McD is fully fit there is another year in him but we'll just have to see on that one until next March/April I suppose.

Anybody standing out in the club games?

If we start with this years panel - I've crossed out those who I think are not good enough, green for those who have questions to answer but will probably remain on the panel. And I'm sure I've missed some.

Clarke
O'Malley

Cunniffe
L O'Malley
Howley
Heaney
D Kilcullen
A Higgins
K Higgins
P Gardiner
J Kilcullen
J Nallen

McGarrity
D Brady

Harte
Dillon
Hanley
Campbell
Kilcoyne
T Mortimer
C Mortimer
Barry Moran
Andy Moran
BJP
Marty Mc
Ciaran Mc

Suggestions to add to the panel - Ger Cafferkey, Tom Parsons, Chris Barrett. But there needs to be more.

In reality we are a million miles away from the standard in Croker last Sunday.