Mayo V Down- All Ireland Quarter Final

[stephenite]

I've written a tactical preview of this here for anyone interested http://action81.com/blog/?p=6054

I have read your preview with interest, but you are completely incorrect in stating that Down have only lost once in the All Ireland series.  In fact, Down have been beaten in 7 All Ireland semi finals- 1959, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1971, 1978 and 1981.

He qualifies his interpretation of series as being since the advent of the qualifiers in the article.

[yellowcard]

This is a bit of a forgotten game this weekend. Although the Connacht form has looked poor this year when you consider the tame exits of Galway, Sligo and Roscommon I actually think Mayo have crept in under the radar somewhat. I have been talking to a lot of Down people who think that this is a soft draw but I think they could be in for a surprise. I think if Mayo get over this game they will be perfectly positioned against the Dubs for a crack at an AI final appearance. Mayo to win this by 3 or 4 points.

[IolarCoisCuain]

This is a bit of a forgotten game this weekend. Although the Connacht form has looked poor this year when you consider the tame exits of Galway, Sligo and Roscommon I actually think Mayo have crept in under the radar somewhat. I have been talking to a lot of Down people who think that this is a soft draw but I think they could be in for a surprise. I think if Mayo get over this game they will be perfectly positioned against the Dubs for a crack at an AI final appearance. Mayo to win this by 3 or 4 points.

Not round these parts, buckaroo.

[Aristo 60]

Down team to play Mayo in the All-Ireland quarter final

Brendan McVeigh
Darren O'Hagan
Dan Gordon
Conor Garvey
Niall McParland
Kevin Mc Kernan
Brendan McArdle
Ambrose Rogers
Kalum King
Aidan Carr
Mark Poland
Conor Maginn
Brendan Coulter
Conor Laverty
Eoin McCartan

[highorlow]

This is a bit of a forgotten game this weekend

I hope it's still in the memory come 7 pm tomorrow evening.

[emmetryan]

I've written a tactical preview of this here for anyone interested http://action81.com/blog/?p=6054

I have read your preview with interest, but you are completely incorrect in stating that Down have only lost once in the All Ireland series.  In fact, Down have been beaten in 7 All Ireland semi finals- 1959, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1971, 1978 and 1981.

Ouch. That's a bad miss by me. Apologies. Will edit.

[western exile]

I've written a tactical preview of this here for anyone interested http://action81.com/blog/?p=6054

Also, I think that your last line 'Croke Park may not be a stage the Connacht champions are comfortable with' is slightly closer to pub talk than facts. Sure, Mayo have lost a couple of All-Ireland finals in the qualifier era, but they have won more games at Croke Park than they have lost over the same period. And they have certainly won more there than Down have. I see no reason why Mayo would be 'uncomfortable' playing there.

[ballinaman]

I've written a tactical preview of this here for anyone interested http://action81.com/blog/?p=6054

Also, I think that your last line 'Croke Park may not be a stage the Connacht champions are comfortable with' is slightly closer to pub talk than facts. Sure, Mayo have lost a couple of All-Ireland finals in the qualifier era, but they have won more games at Croke Park than they have lost over the same period. And they have certainly won more there than Down have. I see no reason why Mayo would be 'uncomfortable' playing there.

+1

Standard line that's rolled out every year.

[the Deel Rover]

I've written a tactical preview of this here for anyone interested http://action81.com/blog/?p=6054

Also, I think that your last line 'Croke Park may not be a stage the Connacht champions are comfortable with' is slightly closer to pub talk than facts. Sure, Mayo have lost a couple of All-Ireland finals in the qualifier era, but they have won more games at Croke Park than they have lost over the same period. And they have certainly won more there than Down have. I see no reason why Mayo would be 'uncomfortable' playing there.

+1

Standard line that's rolled out every year.

+2 . That's what happens when you listen to the Sunday game and their lazy analysis to much . Sure when we hit a wide our old failing comes back to haunt us yet no other team in the country seems to suffer a similiar fate no matter how many wides they hit. Sure Mayo have had bad days in Croke park however I have had many great days as a supporter in Croke park and some day we will bring Sam home to Mayo just don't ask me when. Here is an article from todays indo.

'Fans are Mayo's worst enemy'
Players must pay no heed to 'hoodoo' negativity – McNulty

Friday August 03 2012


MAYO footballers and Croke Park -- is this a story of voodoo or hoodoo when it comes to crunch time in the championship?

Indeed, I wonder just how many fans of the Green and Red are cradling a little fear about their county's fate at GAA headquarters against Down tomorrow purely because of the venue.

Did that victory over Cork at Jones's Road at the same stage 12 months ago do enough to convince them that the hallowed green sward is now a Mayo-friendly zone -- or did Kerry's semi-final victory put them back to square one?

In their heart of hearts, do Mayo folk think that somehow, somewhere, a malevolent spirit sticks pins into figurines of Mayo players when they trot out to play a big match in Croker?

Or is it just plain bad luck that Mayo dreams have turned to ashes, particularly in the All-Ireland finals and semi-finals?

That's the funny thing about belief, about faith. It can work for you or against you, and is never more devastating than when it's subtly negative and taken as the norm.

revolutionary

The great Henry Ford, who oversaw the revolutionary processes that brought automobiles to the mass market, succinctly delivered his own verdict on the power of belief: "Whether you think you can, or think you can't, either way you are right."

There is good news for Mayo -- past disappointment doesn't have to mean more of the same in the present or the future.

That's the verdict of a man who knows both sides of the coin -- Enda McNulty, an All-Ireland winner with Armagh in 2002 and now the driving force behind Motiv8 Performance Excellence, a firm which works with individuals, teams and companies, including Leinster rugby.

'Performance excellence' is the goal of all the teams left in the championship but I wondered how, in Mayo's case, they can get over the almost institutionalised negativity so often expressed by their own supporters.

"In terms of Mayo supporters, sometimes they're the players' worst enemy, where they are continually playing an old record which is 'we never perform at Croke Park', or 'we never win against Kerry', or 'we can't win against the big teams on the big day in Croke Park'," says McNulty.

"What happened 30 years ago or 40 years ago or 50 years ago in Mayo is absolutely irrelevant -- but only if the players think it's irrelevant.

"It's very important that the current Mayo squad write a new script for themselves.

"The key factor here is whether they give sanction to the thoughts and beliefs of family members, clubmates, fans around the county, because if you give sanction to that, it's going to make an impact on your psychology.

"I'm coming at this from three perspectives. One is as a player who's won the All-Ireland with Armagh despite a very, very poor success portfolio before that," he says

"Two, as a professional in a company in which I'm working with teams at a professional and amateur level who have to change their psychology in order to capture their potential

"And three, as a hugely sports-crazy fan who is a student of sports people and teams all over the world who are continually re-writing history.

"And those three viewpoints prove very firmly to me that the past is absolutely irrelevant if you decide that it's irrelevant."

The Armagh of McNulty's generation under Joe Kernan's guidance had to batter down the limitations of past county failures -- such as All-Ireland finals of 1953 and 1977 and a semi-final in 1980 -- to attain the Holy Grail of All-Ireland success 10 years ago.

McNulty, looking at Mayo's Croke Park record over the last 20 years, does not subscribe to the hoodoo or 'eternally damned to failure' mindset.

"The reason Mayo had a number of defeats in Croke Park over the last 20 years is not only psychological. That would be an over-simplistic view," he says.

"On some of the days, Mayo weren't as talented as the other team. On other occasions maybe they weren't as physical as the other team. On other days maybe they didn't have enough leaders on the pitch. Some days maybe they were tactically naive."

McNulty then listed the requirements for winners at the highest level -- a better game plan than their opponents, higher level of mental strength, technical ability to execute their skills under pressure, excellent leadership on the pitch and ability of the coach to make the best decisions under pressure.

"That's the standard you have to aim at in Gaelic games and at the highest level in professional sport," he says.

"The reason Leinster have won three out of the last four Heineken Cups was that they had got all those aspects better on a consistent basis than any other team in the Heineken Cup."

There is no doubt that James Horan and his Mayo back-room team are pulling out all the stops to work on what McNulty calls "integrated systems" to raise the level of performance. The problem is, so are all the other top teams.

The days of just flogging guys around a pitch and hoping to get their bodies and minds attuned are gone. Nowadays it's got be a scientific approach, encompassing technical ability, fitness, tactical plans and the right mindset.

It takes time; it takes intelligent, consistently applied and co-ordinated application by specialists in their various areas to get the rewards. And there are no short-cuts, something which might not be appreciated by supporters.

"Changing the psychology is critical in changing the culture, but you need to change everything else, from the conditioning programme through to the nutritional programme through to the quality of technical coaching, through to the quality of leadership and so on," says McNulty.

"That's the level it's at now. You can't say to a client, 'this is what you want to do if you're going to get somewhere: this is what you have to do if you're going to get anywhere.

"I know from working internationally and nationally with lots of different teams and individuals in business, in sport, and in the performance arts, this is the minimum requirement to have a chance of competing at the highest level -- to have a chance of competing, never mind to have the real strong probability of winning."

- Liam Kelly

[rosnarun]

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.

[Crete Boom]

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.

[ross matt]

Best of luck to Mayo. I hope and think they will win it. They've become a consistent, organised and hardened unit over the last 2 seasons. Wins in Croker against Cork in last year's championship and Kerry in this year's league will have given them more belief in their own ability on big days. The way they won the Connacht final was an ideal low profile way to come in to this weekend's match.

[Keane]

I've done a little preview of the match here if anybody is interested:

http://www.livegaelic.com/news/mayo-vs-down-all-ireland-preview/

[emmetryan]

I've written a tactical preview of this here for anyone interested http://action81.com/blog/?p=6054

Also, I think that your last line 'Croke Park may not be a stage the Connacht champions are comfortable with' is slightly closer to pub talk than facts. Sure, Mayo have lost a couple of All-Ireland finals in the qualifier era, but they have won more games at Croke Park than they have lost over the same period. And they have certainly won more there than Down have. I see no reason why Mayo would be 'uncomfortable' playing there.

I actually meant that line as a slight on that angle but probably should have been clearer.

[southdown]

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