Down versus Mayo

[larryin89]

Carr, Reape and diskin all played club tonight, something amiss , wasn't all bull

Moy Davitts weren't playing tonight. Unless it was a challenge match.

Are you sure Farr ?  Aradgh mustof ,Carr definitely played seen a report on his free kicks , do you find that ridiculous, the forward that stood out a mile in the league final . I knew there was something up the last day , Horan never namecheked him as an injury concern right up to the game , wasn't in the programme and then he was all of a sudden injured the day before ros game in post match interviews. Rumours flying about all week , some of them were true . 

[Cunny Funt]

The leaked Mayo team is now the same team tweeted by Mayo GAA

[Lar Naparka]

Carr, Reape and diskin all played club tonight, something amiss , wasn't all bull

Moy Davitts weren't playing tonight. Unless it was a challenge match.

Are you sure Farr ?  Aradgh mustof ,Carr definitely played seen a report on his free kicks , do you find that ridiculous, the forward that stood out a mile in the league final . I knew there was something up the last day , Horan never namecheked him as an injury concern right up to the game , wasn't in the programme and then he was all of a sudden injured the day before ros game in post match interviews. Rumours flying about all week , some of them were true .

larry, I'm certain all isn't right in the camp right now and hasn't been for some time. I don't have any inside information and since I am based in Dublin I hear next to nothing of what's been passed around. But this team is playing way below its potential and it's as clear as day the players aren't enjoying their football.
Now, I wish I will be proved wrong and that the entire team get serious about their work and bate the hell out of the opposition on the day, tomorrow or any other day they may encounter along the way. That way could well be cut short tomorrow. I expect Mayo should have enough to win but if they play like they did against Roscommon, I'll be leaving Newry as sick as I ever was whenever Mayo went bellyup and managed to lose another game they should have won with a bit to spare.

[moysider]

Heard the Carlow coach Poacher on Newstalk speaking up Down saying there was a buzz in the county and they'll run Mayo close. I think the buzz will soon end on Saturday as Mayo will hammer them out of sight!
I predict that Mayo will mark their All-Ireland intentions this weekend and show that they haven't gone away.

I have a niggly doubt about this game. Maybe Down might do better than run Mayo close. I've felt something is not quite right with team Mayo since the start of the year.
I wasn't bothered about the FDB- it was a case of the usual form.
The opening games of the league were inconsistent to say the least but I wasn't too worried as it was clear Horan  was experimenting with the inclusion of so many newcomers. I felt we were lucky to stay up and I thought the Kerry game in Tralee might banjax our chances of managing to do so.
However, there was a mighty improvement in all aspects of the team's display that day - except on the most important of all,  the scoreboard.
The same again for the final where it took a great save from Hennelly to prevent Kerry getting back into the game in the dying minutes.
I felt any other team with serious hopes of winning the AI, if they were on top in both games like Mayo were, would have closed both of them out long before the end.
Then off to New York where they managed to kick 18 frigging wides!
Against Roscommon, they paid the price. 15 wides here and some serious tactical mistakes and a game they should have won on form went down the game.
I dunno why the team is misfiring but t is obvious James and his players are not happy bunnies this year.
There could be another early exit this year unless whatever is wrong gets sorted out, fast.

I see rosnarun had a cut at you earlier and can't blame him. The league was mostly positive and wining it was brilliant for everybody.
The bit in bold: the wides and the tactical deficiencies go hand in hand, like they did back in the 90's and earlier when we became a laughing stock of football because of our wides count.
Galway didn't kick as many wides v Roscommon but guess what? They didn't kick many scores either. Yet nobody will question the worth of the Galway forwards after that meltdown. They will still be regarded as blue chip forwards, because - well they are Galway and as Padraic Joyce reiterated during the week Galway always produce forwards. So that's that isn't it?
Of course, it's a load of bollocks. Galway managed to kick f**k all wides and lose and Mayo kicked loads and lost as well.
  Mayo and Galway were set up tactically different but got the same result. Both sides were not slick enough tactically to manage the game properly.
There is a simple enough maxim in football imo. When a team is functioning well and in control, the ball goes over the bar.

Sorry moy but I'm a bit lost here. I think you have just highlighted my worries so I  can't see why you are complaining about me pointing out a few unpleasant truths. Facts are, well, facts. You can spin them whatever way suits your purpose but the bottom line is realities can't change.
Your last sentence reinforces what I've been trying to say.
This team, the most experienced and battle-hardened side in the land is not functioning well and the wides tallies are beginning to match the results of the 70s and 80s. The "wide scoring forwards" from the county Mayo asre gone forever or so I would hope.
I've no problem with the team's commitment or desire to win- nobody can fault those lads on that score but they are massively underperforming.
For starters, I see no reason to bring Galway into this. Mayo's display against Roscommon must be judged on its merits and say what you may, it can't be justified in any way by what happened in Salthill later on. Fifteen wides and total control at midfield don't go hand in hand. Harrison and Higins were left isolated throughout the game and when the Rossies got a gift off a goal against the run of play, Mayo got the jitters and lost any semblance of discipline. Leeroy dropping the ball short when he was only 30 metres out is a prime example of this and he is one of the best I have ever seen when he's on form.
The messing about at the end over the freetakiing isn't the hallmark of a side with serious ambitions to go all the way.
Now Mayo have to head north against a side that knows what to expect and with a manager who should know them very well. Down has no reason to fear Mayo; another display like we saw in Castlebar will leave them with a very good chance of winning. Mayo support will be down also because of the later starting time and it's obvious the problems are beginning to mount.

To finish, Mayo should have beaten Roscommon off the pitch if they really were focusing on the third Sunday of September- Dublin wouldn't have "scored" 15 wides and certainly wouldn't have somehow managed to hit 18 against New York either!
I wish to hell things were different but there's nothing to be gained by ignoring the obvious.

After the Roscommon game I posted on here about how we went about the game tactically and you have agreed about the daftness of our defence. We were rope -a -doped. Won loads of possession, tried to knock down a brick wall defence and 'forced' into poor shot selection and left a couple of markers exposed at the back when Roscommon turned us over and counter- attacked. We actually scored enough on the night to win the game if we had been more realistic about housekeeping defensive duties at the back. Easy stuff at that level.
The bits in bold. Of course Galway is relevant. We both played Roscommon and lost in different ways. My point is that we got actually created more than Galway did. They didn't even get wides.
I'm not going to have a cut at Lee Keegan but if you remember back or have the stomach to look at the old videos( I dont), Keegan shanked a few even when we flying on all cylinders in August and September. That miss v Ros. was nothing new - although at the time v Ros. it struck me as a game-defining miss -and  it has happened before and in itself is no evidence of a dysfunctional team now. It is normal fare.

The free-taking was abysmal on a few fronts.

First the Ros. keeper nailed 3/4 ? of his. Hennelly couldn't. Why? One of the reasons he is there and he blew it. Why was he so poorly at it? He missed stuff he should be getting. He would agree with me. What was going on there? He was expected, and would expect himself to get those. They should have been bread and jam for him.

Regan was going well in general play and hitting the sweet spot on frees yet taken off. Why?

A few later long range frees went short when Hennelly should have been called up. Even if he was off it was still a better option than what they did - which was nothing at all.

I can only imagine that Loftus was sent in with at least part of his instruction to kick frees ( possibly the reason he is selected to start this evening) but Diarmuid said no and gave the task to a player that can do most things brilliantly except frees. How does that happen? When that free was given I actually looked at McLoughlin and his body language was 'get me outa here'.

I don't need to point out the common thread in all this.

The bit of my previous point that you concentrated on about teams functioning well and scoring was a general remark and not inclusive or exclusive to any team and I stand over it. Like a Jim McGuinness ' Donegal team  could control a game by not scoring that much but maxing their scoring chances, while making sure the opposition had fewer opportunities to hurt them.

As for the Down game I dunno. Normally after a loss a few changes might focus minds but we've gone and dropped 3 players that were some of our best performers v Roscommon. I'm sure there is good reason for it- and I mean that. Good to see Fionn McDonagh back. Hon Mayo and regrets I cant make it.

[joemamas]

Heard the Carlow coach Poacher on Newstalk speaking up Down saying there was a buzz in the county and they'll run Mayo close. I think the buzz will soon end on Saturday as Mayo will hammer them out of sight!
I predict that Mayo will mark their All-Ireland intentions this weekend and show that they haven't gone away.

I have a niggly doubt about this game. Maybe Down might do better than run Mayo close. I've felt something is not quite right with team Mayo since the start of the year.
I wasn't bothered about the FDB- it was a case of the usual form.
The opening games of the league were inconsistent to say the least but I wasn't too worried as it was clear Horan  was experimenting with the inclusion of so many newcomers. I felt we were lucky to stay up and I thought the Kerry game in Tralee might banjax our chances of managing to do so.
However, there was a mighty improvement in all aspects of the team's display that day - except on the most important of all,  the scoreboard.
The same again for the final where it took a great save from Hennelly to prevent Kerry getting back into the game in the dying minutes.
I felt any other team with serious hopes of winning the AI, if they were on top in both games like Mayo were, would have closed both of them out long before the end.
Then off to New York where they managed to kick 18 frigging wides!
Against Roscommon, they paid the price. 15 wides here and some serious tactical mistakes and a game they should have won on form went down the game.
I dunno why the team is misfiring but t is obvious James and his players are not happy bunnies this year.
There could be another early exit this year unless whatever is wrong gets sorted out, fast.

I see rosnarun had a cut at you earlier and can't blame him. The league was mostly positive and wining it was brilliant for everybody.
The bit in bold: the wides and the tactical deficiencies go hand in hand, like they did back in the 90's and earlier when we became a laughing stock of football because of our wides count.
Galway didn't kick as many wides v Roscommon but guess what? They didn't kick many scores either. Yet nobody will question the worth of the Galway forwards after that meltdown. They will still be regarded as blue chip forwards, because - well they are Galway and as Padraic Joyce reiterated during the week Galway always produce forwards. So that's that isn't it?
Of course, it's a load of bollocks. Galway managed to kick f**k all wides and lose and Mayo kicked loads and lost as well.
  Mayo and Galway were set up tactically different but got the same result. Both sides were not slick enough tactically to manage the game properly.
There is a simple enough maxim in football imo. When a team is functioning well and in control, the ball goes over the bar.

Sorry moy but I'm a bit lost here. I think you have just highlighted my worries so I  can't see why you are complaining about me pointing out a few unpleasant truths. Facts are, well, facts. You can spin them whatever way suits your purpose but the bottom line is realities can't change.
Your last sentence reinforces what I've been trying to say.
This team, the most experienced and battle-hardened side in the land is not functioning well and the wides tallies are beginning to match the results of the 70s and 80s. The "wide scoring forwards" from the county Mayo asre gone forever or so I would hope.
I've no problem with the team's commitment or desire to win- nobody can fault those lads on that score but they are massively underperforming.
For starters, I see no reason to bring Galway into this. Mayo's display against Roscommon must be judged on its merits and say what you may, it can't be justified in any way by what happened in Salthill later on. Fifteen wides and total control at midfield don't go hand in hand. Harrison and Higins were left isolated throughout the game and when the Rossies got a gift off a goal against the run of play, Mayo got the jitters and lost any semblance of discipline. Leeroy dropping the ball short when he was only 30 metres out is a prime example of this and he is one of the best I have ever seen when he's on form.
The messing about at the end over the freetakiing isn't the hallmark of a side with serious ambitions to go all the way.
Now Mayo have to head north against a side that knows what to expect and with a manager who should know them very well. Down has no reason to fear Mayo; another display like we saw in Castlebar will leave them with a very good chance of winning. Mayo support will be down also because of the later starting time and it's obvious the problems are beginning to mount.

To finish, Mayo should have beaten Roscommon off the pitch if they really were focusing on the third Sunday of September- Dublin wouldn't have "scored" 15 wides and certainly wouldn't have somehow managed to hit 18 against New York either!
I wish to hell things were different but there's nothing to be gained by ignoring the obvious.

After the Roscommon game I posted on here about how we went about the game tactically and you have agreed about the daftness of our defence. We were rope -a -doped. Won loads of possession, tried to knock down a brick wall defence and 'forced' into poor shot selection and left a couple of markers exposed at the back when Roscommon turned us over and counter- attacked. We actually scored enough on the night to win the game if we had been more realistic about housekeeping defensive duties at the back. Easy stuff at that level.
The bits in bold. Of course Galway is relevant. We both played Roscommon and lost in different ways. My point is that we got actually created more than Galway did. They didn't even get wides.
I'm not going to have a cut at Lee Keegan but if you remember back or have the stomach to look at the old videos( I dont), Keegan shanked a few even when we flying on all cylinders in August and September. That miss v Ros. was nothing new - although at the time v Ros. it struck me as a game-defining miss -and  it has happened before and in itself is no evidence of a dysfunctional team now. It is normal fare.

The free-taking was abysmal on a few fronts.

First the Ros. keeper nailed 3/4 ? of his. Hennelly couldn't. Why? One of the reasons he is there and he blew it. Why was he so poorly at it? He missed stuff he should be getting. He would agree with me. What was going on there? He was expected, and would expect himself to get those. They should have been bread and jam for him.

Regan was going well in general play and hitting the sweet spot on frees yet taken off. Why?

A few later long range frees went short when Hennelly should have been called up. Even if he was off it was still a better option than what they did - which was nothing at all.

I can only imagine that Loftus was sent in with at least part of his instruction to kick frees ( possibly the reason he is selected to start this evening) but Diarmuid said no and gave the task to a player that can do most things brilliantly except frees. How does that happen? When that free was given I actually looked at McLoughlin and his body language was 'get me outa here'.

I don't need to point out the common thread in all this.

The bit of my previous point that you concentrated on about teams functioning well and scoring was a general remark and not inclusive or exclusive to any team and I stand over it. Like a Jim McGuinness ' Donegal team  could control a game by not scoring that much but maxing their scoring chances, while making sure the opposition had fewer opportunities to hurt them.

As for the Down game I dunno. Normally after a loss a few changes might focus minds but we've gone and dropped 3 players that were some of our best performers v Roscommon. I'm sure there is good reason for it- and I mean that. Good to see Fionn McDonagh back. Hon Mayo and regrets I cant make it.

Great post, saying what most are thinking or feeling.
Hope to God we win tomorrow, and these guys and management can get it together

[Mayo4Sam]

Anyone want a free ticket for tonite? PM me

[Blowitupref]

Mayo bench according to the program.

Robbie Hennelly
David Drake
Eoin O Donogue
Michael Plunkett
James Mccormack
Stephen Coen
Mikey Murray
Ciaran Treacy
Fergal Boland
Evan Regan
James Durcan

Did C O Connor get another injury setback?

[Dubh driocht]

The absence of comments from Down supporters is a reflection of the fact that we are a mid ranking Division 3 team playing the National League champions and Ireland's favourite team over the last five years.  While Poacher is a marmite figure he is right that there's a wee bit of a buzz about but more to do with the visit of a class team to Pairc Esler.  Mayo have been hit by injuries but that is a serious team and the Down forwards will have sore ribs tonight.  Realistically if we are still in touch by the last quarter,  it's been a good night for Tally.  Some supporters might not like his style but we all love his passion, allied to methodical preparation. We have four class players,  all involving the letter H, but it's the one you won't have heard of that could do some damage.  I can safely say that tonight's winners will have my full support for the rest of the campaign.

[bucko]

Carr, Reape and diskin all played club tonight, something amiss , wasn't all bull

Moy Davitts weren't playing tonight. Unless it was a challenge match.

Are you sure Farr ?  Aradgh mustof ,Carr definitely played seen a report on his free kicks , do you find that ridiculous, the forward that stood out a mile in the league final . I knew there was something up the last day , Horan never namecheked him as an injury concern right up to the game , wasn't in the programme and then he was all of a sudden injured the day before ros game in post match interviews. Rumours flying about all week , some of them were true .

Nothing dodgy or sinister Larry, just Horan slowly reverting back to type, despite the progress and promise he seemed to show during the league. An unwillingness or inability to show faith in anyone outside of a set group of players and in anything outside of set team selections or tactics. The Roscommon game showed up his old failings again, no protection of our backline, overemphasis on pushing up numbers leaving us highly vulnerable to the counter attack especially with the long ball in, reluctance to make substitutions or making the wrong ones. Same flaws that tripped us up in 2012, 13 and 14. That performance and tonight's selection makes it appear that way. I hope I'm wrong.

[Aristo 60]

Harrison, Havern, O'Hagan & ?

[Aristo 60]

Harrison, Havern, O'Hagan & ?

O'Hare

[kerryforsam19]

Mayo to lay a marker tonight .I predict Mayo to win 1-22 to Down 2-9

[Blowitupref]

Mayo playing as selected. 4 changes for Down Ruarri Wells replaced by Benny McCardle Owen McCabe replaces Johnny Flynn Caolan Mooney replaces Jerome Johnston Pierce Laverty replaces Conor Maginn

[Cunny Funt]

Down 1-1 to 0-2 ahead after ten minutes

[Cunny Funt]

Level after 20 minutes.