Messages

[aristocrats of Mayo football]

FFS, let's discuss Mayo v Dublin... I'm sure by the time Knockmore havve 36 SFCs we'll have more than just one all Ireland! I know, I know we'll not see 36 in my lifetime but just said I'd answer the question

If they do get 36  Farr in the next 40 years I'd happily nominate changing the county colours to Knockmore's but until then just remember who the aristocrats of Mayo football are when you next see the green and red in Croker on Sept 2nd.

Yeah don't you Forget Crete, the 1st Mayo club to bring Andy Merrigan to the plains of Mayo 

Fair enough Deel I suppose every Dog has it's day but don't forget 13 county title's in a row , even the great Crossmaglen could only equal it but then again I wouldn't put it past them to have another go!

FFS, let's discuss Mayo v Dublin... I'm sure by the time Knockmore havve 36 SFCs we'll have more than just one all Ireland! I know, I know we'll not see 36 in my lifetime but just said I'd answer the question

If they do get 36  Farr in the next 40 years I'd happily nominate changing the county colours to Knockmore's but until then just remember who the aristocrats of Mayo football are when you next see the green and red in Croker on Sept 2nd.

For better or worse, club championship action continues apace in Mayo. Hopefully all players will come through unscathed anyway. I suppose being at the last 8 stage will only impact certain players anyway.

At least our goalie and full back are safe 

Why, is the relegation playoff not this weekend? They'll certainly be needed for that one.

By the way Mayo4Sam how many All Ireland club titles have Knockmore again

Its intense enough at county level with meetings and trainings so a break and being back with the clubs is no harm at all for the hunger.

Yeah I don't really like the way club championships are put into hibernation by some counties. I think good intense rivalry at club level , paticularly in the knockout phase brings a welcome change to intercounty training/challenge matches and a different challange which can only sharpen and improve our county players at this stage. As was stated earlier there's just as much chance of injury in a training match as there is in a club match.

Has anyone ever had such an easy route to an AI semi than Mayo have had this year?

Yep, Cork for one.
Mayo had one easy and one hard game on their way to the Quarters, while Cork had one hard and one easy to get to the same place. Same difference.

Are you comparing Sligo to Kerry?

Sure any team Mayo beat in Croke Park must be fairly useless, isn't that how the theory goes.

Is this the theory that Mayo lads seem to be the ones who talk about it the most?

Down did collapse pretty spectacularly after a good Mayo team went well ahead. Both Dublin and Mayo have certainly experienced what Down experienced in the not too distant past.

With Kerry gone, I think Mayo can safely forgot about their Croke Park hoodoo. They must have a pretty decent Croker record against the other 3 teams left. Have they beaten all 3 in their last Croker championship meetings?

Donegal bet us in 1992 and I think that was our last meeting in the championship

 Should be a great game. Always look forward to playing the Dubs in a big game in Croker, the place is always rocking when ever they're are involved this late in the championship.
  From a Mayo perspective we have a huge hole to fill with Andy's injury. He was central to our attack plan but one man's misfortune is anothers opportunity! It looks at the moment as if Alan Freeman is the man in line to make the step up but a lot could happen in the next few weeks. I hope he gets his chance cause I think he's definitely got the talent to take this opportunity. What we will have to do if he's picked is vary the ball into the fullforward line to take the pressure off him cause it's obvious his confidence is at a low ebb at the moment. If we pick Cillian and Mick Conroy either side of him the I think they are both well able to win their own ball. Also Dillion's workload will increase but sure he seems to be enjoying his football at the moment and Croker suits him so I'd have no worries about him stepping up. Dillion , Mcloughlin and O'Connor will be our key men up front and if the Dubs tie these three to any extent I think they'll be half way there to putting us out.
For the Dubs they have the opposite to us in that Alan Brogan should be back for them. When fit ,this season and last, he's definitely turned into the player he always promised to be and more. A fully fit Brogan will be a handful for any of the teams left and how we deal with him will be a top priority. Personally I give Lee Keegan the job and move Donie onto Paul Flynn another man who's key for the Dubs and we'll need to curtail. Kevin Nolan has to be up there with Flynn as the top performing Dub in the championship to date. He's been a real warrior and popped up with some great rallying scores in the last two games so who we pick at centre forward is going to be key.
  It's too tight to call and while the heart says Mayo I just don't know but I do think Dubs are being harshly written off at the moment and I wouldn't question their hunger to rubber stamp their place in history with back to back All Ireland titles. It'll probably boil down to how we deal with Brogan and the loss of Andy and I can't wait.
Mhaigheo Abu

Ease up on Emmett, the lad is doing a great job with his analysis!

+1

I really enjoy the fact the analysis is based on tactics and broken down into the teams individual sectors and strength's and weaknesses are based on current actual events with both teams and not general historical myths. Hope you're reading this Messrs McGee , Brolly Spillane and Breheny

 Good luck too our minors tomorrow . Give it your all and enjoy the experience.If you still lose , sure there's no shame in losing to this Tipp team by the sounds of it.
Also good luck to our sheep stealing neighbours, hope you go all the way as it would be a perfect reward for your consistency at underage of the last couple of years.

I think weve cpome to realise a sports Journalist is just some one who get paid for his pubtalk . very few worthy of respect  ciaran shannon and Keith duggan are 2 few who actually seem to think about what they are writing rather than just meeting a deadline.

+1
Unfortunately ros if they're not copying and pasting off the internet they're using some pub talk fact/jibe to get at a county the don't like. Facts, oblectivity , subjective analysis just don't seem to go with Journalist diploma, Irish Independent , pay check ,ego in this country.
Although I'm an avid reader of Emmets blog which no doubt will be raided by some of our Gaa journalist gods when they actually figure out what he's talking anout.

 Speaking of Mayo Fancy Dans I heard this in Newbridge at a Mayo V Kildare league game in 2005 I think , just after he lost the ball in contact :
" That Mortimer wouldn't bate a dead nun"
In fairness the might be enemy number one at the moment but that Kildare had me in stitches that day

No changes!!


1. David Clarke - Ballina Stephenites
2. Kevin Keane - Westport
3. Ger Cafferkey - Ballina Stephenites
4. Keith Higgins - Ballyhaunis
5. Lee Keegan - Westport
6. Donal Vaughan - Ballinrobe
7. Colm Boyle - Davitts
8. Barry Moran - Castlebar Mitchels
9. Danny Geraghty - Ballintubber
10. Kevin McLoughlin - Knockmore
11. Cillian O'Connor - Ballintubber
12. Alan Dillon - Ballintubber
13. Enda Varley - Garrymore
14. Andy Moran - Ballaghaderreen (Captain)
15. Jason Doherty - Burrishoole

Kinda what I was expecting and in fairness to Horan due to injuries and players only returning from injury the only spots really up for contention were the corner forwards battle between Varley/Freeman/Conroy/Doherty. I like Geraghty in the middle cause he's a bull of a man for his size and gets through a huge amount of the unseen donkey work required in the middle third. He also has greatly improved his use of possesion i.e moving it on quickly to the half forwards or the runners from deep. Personally I probably would have started Conroy in stead of Varley but apart from that and considering the constaints on the squad I'm happy enough with the rest of the team. I suppose an argument could be made for Walsh(for a man marking job) , McHale and Feeny in the backs but it would be a harsh call to leave out any of the starting six.
I'd be interested to see the bench but thinking about it we have some good options to change it up if Down are causing us serious problems e.g Aidan O' Shea/Seamus O' Shea for midfield/center forward , Feeny for halfback/corner back, McHale/Walsh for the full back line, Freeman for halforward/corner forward , Conroy for the full forward line and for something from leftfield Alan Murphy. I've only heard good things about him albeit I've haven't actually seen him in the flesh so wouldn't be sure of his ability at intercounty level. All in all if the management does there stuff we should be able to put Down under pressure even if plan A isn't working.

 Lads I can't believe anyone is giving Brolly the time of day here What he said in his article is absolute rubbish and is a new low even for him. First of all he said in his article that if somebody who hadn't seen any Gaelic football before turned up in to see the closing stages of the club All Ireland between Dr Crokes and Crossmaglen they would think the Gooch is a choker. Now even if you heard the local Alcoholic bar stool idiot come out with this you would have to take him to task for such a stupid comment. Also on the Sunday game he highlighted the loss to Armagh in 2002 and Tyrone 03/05/08 as examples of Kerry choking, This is an unbelievable insult to the winners of these games. Armagh in 2002 was just the classic old game of 2 halves where the orchard men came roaring out in the second half to cast away all those years on failure. Tyrone in 2003 was a ruthless exposure of a weak point to Kerry's traditional open style of football. 2005 was a Tyrone team at it's peak on a mission not to be a one hit wonder and 2008 was just reaffirming a dominance Tyrone were enjoying over Kerry and most other counties at the time too.
  An example of choking in All Ireland's ,well unfortunately I can't look past my own county. 1996 was the prime example 6 points up and we couldn't close out the game albeit against an excellent Meath team . 2004 and 2006 , these were a different type of choking where a realisation that our preparation and skill level was nowhere near the required level to succeed and the game was gone in the first 20 mins , the white flag was raised. Now does Kerry vs Tyrone/Armagh compared to this?

There is an element of smugness behind the crowd staying silent in rugby - Look at us, aren't we great supporters.

Couldn't agree more. I watched a Leinster Munster game in Peter Clohessy's Bar a couple of years ago and couldn't believe my ears when the crowd started shushing at free kicks. In a public house! With the match taking place 2km away! My loud guffaws didn't put them off either.

This is brought up by the Media after the self appointed greatest fans in the world decided not to make any noise during penalty kicks in Thomond. In fairness to them they were the first to do it and even in pre Celtic tiger this is our real culture I love Munster Heineken Cup mission days I do remember silence in the interprovincial matches (in Thomond not Musgrave) which could be quite spiky affairs.
  I can only go by my own experience but from the old Cardiff Arms to the Parc de Princes to Carrisbrook to Twickenham to the Old Landsdowne the was always a certain amount of booing of place kickers , how much dependended on the place and the opposition. It's not new in the Gaa either (and not all the Dubs fault) , one of my first sporting memories is from the Hyde in 1989 and there was a chorus of boos , whistles and catcalling every time Messrs McStay and McManus were lining up a free so we can't act holier than thou in the Gaa either and blame it all on the Skangers Personally I don't mind it as long as there's no personal insults thrown in and it's just boos. Couldn't imagine it affecting the players too much anyway.

 Yep semi-final is Connacht v Leinster and Munster v Ulster

 We could be dangerous if Horan gets the balance in our full forward line right but maybe next year we'll be when we are at the peak of our development and then we'll find out if that's good enough?Putting my neck on the line though I would have Cork and Dublin as my favourites with Donegal snapping at their heels , with us , Kerry and Kildare bringing up the rear.