Mayo Vs Meath - All-Ireland Quarter Finals

[Zulu]

The current Tyrone and Kerry teams are two of the greatest teams ever to play football but there time will end, and maybe we can be there to be challenging when that does happen.

I don't think Mayo should be waiting for a lull in standards and hoping to nick an AI during it. Instead Mayo should be looking to set the standards, there is no doubt in my mind that the team that wins the 2025 AI final would easily beat the current Tyrone or Kerry teams, with some exceptions that has always been the case. Mayo need to raise the bar and like Tyrone they need to completely overhaul the whole system in the county. Clubs, schools and county teams need to be singing from the same sheet and experts should be brought in to oversee the development of the best young players so that talented 14 year olds are better footballers at 18 than they were at 14 and they are better again at 21 than 18 and so on. The county is either serious about putting the 'house of pain' bullshit to bed or it isn't.

[AbbeySider]

Its the same old story with Mayo. Nice footballers but no killer instinct.
That might sound harsh but we should have put Meath away early in the first half when we had the chance.
Instead we played exhibition pedestrian shite and we paid the price because we took Meath for granted.
If we had Kerrys mindset the game would have been out the gate at half time.

Thank you Peadar:

"The first ten minutes of the game we did well but we let them back into it in the last two-thirds of the first-half. We were losing by a point at half-time but we were comfortable. We knew we had a big second-half in us.

"I don't know what we went ahead by when Aidan (O'Shea) got the goal, four points or something, and we should be driving on from there. Give credit to Meath, they bombarded us with a lot of high ball and got a goal at a critical time. I'm not sure what the incident was with the penalty but they took it well.

"We are a very fit team, we pride ourselves on that. We trained very hard since the Connacht final so I wouldn't use the layoff as an excuse at all. It was poor play by ourselves. We didn't close the game out ourselves when we had the chance. It's very disappointing, very similar to this time last year against Tyrone. We had them on the rack as well but we didn't finish them off."

The game should have been out the gate and killed off on two occasions.

But im strangely relieved and glad we lost.
If we did win it would have masked our (too many) weaknesses.
We would have gotten an awful drumming in the next game and I dont know if I could take that again from Kerry.

[kevmy]

Ok so the dust has settled a little today so I'll put in my 2 cents.

To get the controversial out of the way first. The officials had a big hand in this game. The 45 the first score Meath got wasn't one, the ref was 40 yards away and overturned his umpire. Bad call. That sideline was a Mayo ball and the penalty itself was very soft.
These were vital calls at vital times at both of these times if we had tacked on another couple of scores we may have won the match.

Also the injuries were bad luck Kilcoyne and O'Shea had scored something like 1-4 from play between them before they went off and looked our most threatening players.

The call to replace Moran with Parsons wasn't the right one and I hope this puts an end to the Parsons as a forward brigade. He's a good prospect at midfield and thats it. I think this was the worst call Johnno made all year.

The full back line was a little dodgy and there is a need for proper corner backs but it's not like there's too many lads with their hand up looking to be picked.

I was a bit disappointed with the way our heads dropped for 5 mins towards the end.



Overall I think there has been progress under Johnno and a lot of young players have come on. I'd like to see him stay on. People talking of getting rid of Cafferkey and Vaughan and Howley are mad in my book. Thought Howley started fantastic yesterday and tried his best but Sheridan won a lot of ball over his head from those mammoth kick outs of the Meath goalie. Howley always gives his all and is a tigerish defender. Cafferkey will learn from this and come on. I thought overall he had a good year for his debut season and a lot of FB take time to settle in and learn the trade.

But the reality is we are at Meath's level at the moment. That is to say we are in the group behind the top bunch. You have Kerry, Tyrone and Cork and then you have the rest including us, Meath, Dublin, Kildare, Galway, Donegal and Derry. You're hoping we can push on in the next couple of years and out of that group and into the top tier.
I think we were unlucky yesterday and with a few things going our way we would have won. However if we are a truely top team we would have won regardless. I'd still have preferred to win - I reckon it's always better to win a game than lose one regardless of who you are playing next.

[INDIANA]

Some random thoughts.

Fittest Mayo team ever. My hole. Dead on their feet with 15 to go.

Aidan O'Shea will be snapped up by an Aussie team for sure. Raw class.

McGarrity gave up with 10 mins to go (saw him stand off a lad that popped over an easy point).

Liam McHale - total eejit. Interviewed at some point. Said he'd never speak to Pat McEnaney. Stupid.Trev Mort, Peader G, Harte, full back line. Won't be happy with themselves.

Shite and all as B Moran is,  Mayo's game plan included him.  Without him the 'knockdown' ball was not there.

They spoke about a 7 point swing due to referee decisions on the sunday game.  Irrelevant.  Unless either team bet each other out the gate then forget about it against KY the next day.

Although, Meath are better than you think. They'll put up a decent show the next day.

Watching Mayo (as a mayo supporter) is like watching Rep of Ireland in the soccer.  Excessive head rubbing, obscene swearing and overtly heavy signs a plenty.  Decent indivduals that have the potential to play brilliant football as a team, but rarely do.

Andy Moran was brilliant, as was Keith Higgins.

JOM may leave it at that.


fair play to meath. far better team on the day

He should really let that one go.

I can why he's pissed over it but I'm not sure 13 years later I'd be going on with it like that. Didn't come across well yesterday in that interview at all. Let it go. If i were him I wouldn't have done that interview yesterday if it bothers him that much still. 1996 needs to be consigned to the dustbin from a Mayo point of view. Far too much talk of it before yesterday's game.

[LandErIn]

The line ball incident was nothing short of a disgrace.

Mayo training and preparing all year for a decision like this to influence the game.  Yes, Meath played btilliant in the last quarter, but the penalty was a major turning point in the game.  That linesman has to be held accountable.

If a player strikes he gets sent off, if a players plays poorly he gets taken off, if a manager is not producing the goods he gets the sack. 

Same should be of the officials.

[highorlow]

Having a Cavan ref for this match is a wee bit too neighbourly for comfort i would have thought?

[man in black]

Fine display by Meath yesterday, can anyone tell me why every year Mayo get hyped out of all proportion (like the dubs really), did Mayo even fancy a crack at Kerry when all is said and done ?

[highorlow]

can anyone tell me why every year Mayo get hyped out of all proportion

I don't think it was hype to expect to beat this Meath team after beating Galway in a close provincial decider in Salthill?

That's this year out of the way...... don't think we were hyped in 07 and 08?

2006 no hype either, in fact we boxed above our weight and in hindsight beating the Dubs that year wasn't as good an acheievement as it appeared at the time (no taking away from the great game it was).

2004 - per 2006.

From 2000 to 2003 i can't remeber any hype?

[INDIANA]

In fairness Mc Hale and Brady both said Mayo could win the All-Ireland this year. I don't believe Mayo people on the ground believed that. But hvaing these people in the media doesn't help your cause. Dublin were the same saying they had to make an all-ireland final this year with the usual in-house suspects in the media stating the same. All adds to the hype which isn't needed.
Don't remember the likes of Eamon O Brien or Conor Counihan saying they had to do this or that- just got on with the job. Its different for Kerry and Tyrone there is an expectation there based on recent success.

[IolarCoisCuain]

can anyone tell me why every year Mayo get hyped out of all proportion

I don't think it was hype to expect to beat this Meath team after beating Galway in a close provincial decider in Salthill?

That's this year out of the way...... don't think we were hyped in 07 and 08?

2006 no hype either, in fact we boxed above our weight and in hindsight beating the Dubs that year wasn't as good an acheievement as it appeared at the time (no taking away from the great game it was).

2004 - per 2006.

From 2000 to 2003 i can't remeber any hype?

There's a tendency in Mayo to apologise for even breathing. I don't think Mayo "boxed above their weight" in those two finals. I think Mayo were legitimately the second best team in the country in 2004 and 2006, and that's what the results show. I also think they could have done more in 2004 by taking advantage of Darragh Ó Sé's absence. Water under the bridge now, of course. But I don't think apologising for Mayo winning games and getting to finals is the way to keep winning games into the future.

[IolarCoisCuain]

In fairness Mc Hale and Brady both said Mayo could win the All-Ireland this year. I don't believe Mayo people on the ground believed that. But hvaing these people in the media doesn't help your cause. Dublin were the same saying they had to make an all-ireland final this year with the usual in-house suspects in the media stating the same. All adds to the hype which isn't needed.
Don't remember the likes of Eamon O Brien or Conor Counihan saying they had to do this or that- just got on with the job. Its different for Kerry and Tyrone there is an expectation there based on recent success.

I think David Bray did more damage to Mayo's cause this year than David Brady Indiana, in fairness. Paper talk is only ever paper talk.

[ludermor]

Having a Cavan ref for this match is a wee bit too neighbourly for comfort i would have thought?

I doubt many meath people would consider having a cavan ref as an advantage!

[meathie]

Having a Cavan ref for this match is a wee bit too neighbourly for comfort i would have thought?

Cavan wouldnt particularly like Meath highorlow........

[INDIANA]

In fairness Mc Hale and Brady both said Mayo could win the All-Ireland this year. I don't believe Mayo people on the ground believed that. But hvaing these people in the media doesn't help your cause. Dublin were the same saying they had to make an all-ireland final this year with the usual in-house suspects in the media stating the same. All adds to the hype which isn't needed.
Don't remember the likes of Eamon O Brien or Conor Counihan saying they had to do this or that- just got on with the job. Its different for Kerry and Tyrone there is an expectation there based on recent success.

I think David Bray did more damage to Mayo's cause this year than David Brady Indiana, in fairness. Paper talk is only ever paper talk.

Doesn't help though thats all I'm saying

The mayo full back line get no protection anyway from a half back line that attacks relentlessly. Gardiner would be better at wing forward at this stage. Thats where he spends all his time anyway.

[man in black]

can anyone tell me why every year Mayo get hyped out of all proportion

I don't think it was hype to expect to beat this Meath team after beating Galway in a close provincial decider in Salthill?

That's this year out of the way...... don't think we were hyped in 07 and 08?

2006 no hype either, in fact we boxed above our weight and in hindsight beating the Dubs that year wasn't as good an acheievement as it appeared at the time (no taking away from the great game it was).

2004 - per 2006.

From 2000 to 2003 i can't remeber any hype?

Mayo were the second best team in the country in both those summers. Who do you think was the second best team in the country those summers if not Mayo?

Mayo may have got to the final in 2004 and 2006 but are you seriously suggesting that there wasnt another team in the country that wouldnt have given Kerry a bit more of a game. They got raped FFS.