Mayo 3-11 Sligo 0-7 Champions Dethroned

[magpie seanie]

Comfortable was the wrong word alright. Impressive or promising I should have said.

the hunger strikers

What?

[highorlow]

Where did that term come from?

[Lar Naparka]

My sources in Mayo would be quite confident that Mayo will finish a top 3 - 4 team this year.  They are convinced that Mc Donald will be back in mid summer, but only on Johnnos terms..  it seems Mayo have been ticking along and O Mahony has a master plan to win Sam.  Now Barney you can stop winding up the poor Sligo guys!

Jaysus, rrhf, if that fecker has a plan to win Sam this year, what county has he in mind to do it for? Can hardly be for Mayo can it?
The last row was hardly the best way to settle a team down for the championships and I don't care which of them started it.
To give fair dues to the man , he seems to be developing a promising panel. There's a good mix of young and old there alright but that's a long way short of having a good, settled team. We are about to face (wait for it) the reigning Connacht champions, who have a fine victory to their credit, and we don't know our own full back line yet!
We have to remember that Sigo have had good sides in recent years and have showed great promise through the last 6 or 7 years. 2002 should have seen them in the AI final.
Okay; we should get by them okay but it won't be a one horse race.

[SLIGONIAN]

Im very confident of beating Mayo now . Having seen the team selection for london bar one mistake the team extremely strong.

O Mahony and Mayo selectors wont be complacent about things having watched on in london. A man they would probably have never heard of in Gary Gaughan will be a marked man the next day with a tally of 1-2 from play. So he will have lost the suprise factor with him. They wont be familiar with eoin either but that selection puzzles and worries me. Having seen him alot for club in tight games he is anonymous and in games where win comfortablly he stands out. I rather it the other way round. But the lad has talent but is very raw at the minute. Apartently hes standing out in training all year with the county, but the lad just hasnt shown that in games for club or u21s county. As I said on the london thread one half against louth and starts CSFC. Mark breheny is going well and seems to have toughen up which is great. Mcnamara now has free role and can be as loose as he wants which gets the best out of him.

Every yr before the Sligo first game I watch videos of recorded matches. I watched ros v sligo in hyde in 05 when kearins was manager. McNamara was outstanding that day in a similiar role. Sean davey was a man possesed that day. But it a long time ago. We have to stick with mcnamara there and we will be better side for it.

We have curran to win the breaks and add strength to the HF line. Oharas in great shape and playing well.

Delighted see J Davey in forwards. Nicky joyce and more recently berry exposed davey weaknesses defending. Now we will see more attacking from johnny which adds even more pace to the forwards. Although I would play him HF to give him more space and hes probably better with facing the goals rather than back to goals.

Egan at CHB is good news aswell. Alot tougher than mcnamara and certainly wont go missing for us when the going gets tough.

So all in all we look in good shape. jordans getting it right, the team are responding and we have a far better shape about us. Fitness levels are improving. I read another ohara interview in noftw and he said alot of the players were lazy during league, not fit and not showing same effort and commitment and it cost us. Explains alot but now he says players are hungry again to prove all the doubters wrong and are flying in training.

Keiran Quinn is probably the ultimate example of league form and championship form. He was poor in the league but everyone in Sligo know in championship he never lets us down so expect a big performance june 22nd.

McGuire looks set to back soon in time for mayo so with him at FB too another boost.

The ff line is exciting with full of promise and pace. We lack a target man but to be honest I dont think a target suits our stlye of play and with J Davey playing a bit deeper and gaughan and kelly runing off the ball some serious potential there.

In the media and outside Sligo will be underdogs and that delights me because we always play better under that tag.

Anyways I might be in the minority but I am going to McHale park in expectation more than hope .

Sligeach abu.

[moysider]

Fair play Sligonian on your expectation. It would appear that you have  solid grounds for your optimism. In the last 12 years or more we have nt won comfortably v Sligo. We have nt a settled side, and from our perspective we re a case of wait and see what happens, and hope we can get some momentum going this year but we have very little to go on for the moment anyway. We can only expect that we train well into 22 June and hit a level we never approached last year. A thing about this match is the teams hardly ever play one another. So its unlikely to be a suffocating match. I believe our pace and carrying game is the key but the team has to be set and selected accordingly for this to work. There is also the possibility we could use Barry Moran as a more direct ploy but who knows what management are thinking and until we see the team or even how they line out we re very much speculating. Mayo /Galway play twice a year usually but Sligo v Mayo doesnt happen in FBD or league and it has been a while in Championship also. Its a case of wait and see for me anyway.

[magpie seanie]

Good post Moysider. I think all of the Sligo posters here know that Mayo have possibly more options and a wider spread of talent throughout their county than we have. However, we feel our team is shaping up to be close to the best it can be and as you say - most in Mayo aren't sure what your team will be like. If ye hit a level above last year then it will be tough to see us coming out of Castlebar with a result but if ye play like last year I'd say we will win. There's a lot of pace in both teams so it could actually be a very good game (although no-one really cares what kind of game it is so long as your side wins!).

[rosnarun]

I think a poor performance and a 1 point win, possibly after a draw would be the best medicine for mayo, stop any nonsense talking baout all-irelands or even beating galway, keep the expectation low.

This is all part of omahonys PR campaign . depress peole so much and make them believe our AlL ireland finals  2004 and 06 were abberations that we will end up happy to beat sligo in any manner and  a plucky defeat to galway in the connacht final will have some here wanting JOM's Canonisation.
Under the circumstances he took over in ,nothing less than an all ireland final appearance is acceptable. if he feel short of some player the i suggest he looks at himself in figuring out where thery have gone.

[stephenite]

The final appearance in '04 was an abberation - '06 maybe not quite so. You may think otherwise Ros, but given your regular delusions of grandeur that's hardly surprising.

If Ciaran Mac or David Brady were playing this year Mayo would still not be with an asses roar of making an All Ireland final - no matter how many points he scores against the likes of Ballaghaderren or goals against Charlestown

[SLIGONIAN]

Fair play Sligonian on your expectation. It would appear that you have  solid grounds for your optimism. In the last 12 years or more we have nt won comfortably v Sligo. We have nt a settled side, and from our perspective we re a case of wait and see what happens, and hope we can get some momentum going this year but we have very little to go on for the moment anyway. We can only expect that we train well into 22 June and hit a level we never approached last year. A thing about this match is the teams hardly ever play one another. So its unlikely to be a suffocating match. I believe our pace and carrying game is the key but the team has to be set and selected accordingly for this to work. There is also the possibility we could use Barry Moran as a more direct ploy but who knows what management are thinking and until we see the team or even how they line out we re very much speculating. Mayo /Galway play twice a year usually but Sligo v Mayo doesnt happen in FBD or league and it has been a while in Championship also. Its a case of wait and see for me anyway.

Fair post alright, if im honest I havnt a clue what to expect from Mayo. I see them very little although I was keeping an eye on yer results this yr. We dont meet to often. I am completely focused on us though. I just feel things are starting to click and management are getting things right now. We are giving ourselves the best possible chance. Who knows if it is good enough. But I definitly believe we have a serious chance. There is  good rivalry aswell. The reality is though we are better than last yr. Far more positive game plan and with last yrs belief aswell I feel my optimism is well justified. Nobody knows the future and everything on this board is speculation until the aftermath of games.

The game isnt on TV so all the sunshines will be forced to turn up for both counties so Id expect close to a full house and mayofans will probably outnumber us 2-1. Im reallly looking forward to it. The only time i was in mchale park when it was full was galway mayo a few yrs back when sligo won the connaght junior as curtain raiser. It was awesome atmosphere.  

[highorlow]

no matter how many points he scores against the likes of Ballaghaderren or goals against Charlestown

or the likes of Ballina 

[stephenite]

no matter how many points he scores against the likes of Ballaghaderren or goals against Charlestown

or the likes of Ballina 

When did Ciaran Mac ever score 8 points against Ballina? Senior level at least?

[the Deel Rover]

no matter how many points he scores against the likes of Ballaghaderren or goals against Charlestown

or the likes of Ballina 

When did Ciaran Mac ever score 8 points against Ballina? Senior level at least?

sorry lads i don't get the point of any of these last posts

[stephenite]

I think a poor performance and a 1 point win, possibly after a draw would be the best medicine for mayo, stop any nonsense talking baout all-irelands or even beating galway, keep the expectation low.

This is all part of omahonys PR campaign . depress peole so much and make them believe our AlL ireland finals  2004 and 06 were abberations that we will end up happy to beat sligo in any manner and  a plucky defeat to galway in the connacht final will have some here wanting JOM's Canonisation.
Under the circumstances he took over in ,nothing less than an all ireland final appearance is acceptable. if he feel short of some player the i suggest he looks at himself in figuring out where thery have gone.

He suggests that anything less than an appearance in the All Ireland final is unacceptable - and intimates that the absence of certain players(s) will be the reason that this particular goal will not be attainable. I am assuming he is talking about Ciaran Mac.

I feel that this goal of an All Ireland appearance would be unattainable regardless of whether or not Ciaran is playing - he is still the best player in the county, but I feel that the difference between county league and championship and Inter county championship is a large one these days, regardless of how well someone is playing at club level.

[mannix]

c mac is not summed up by how many he scored against ballina, did you not see his winner in the 2006 semi or the sideline shot in the same game against dublin?

[stephenite]

c mac is not summed up by how many he scored against ballina, did you not see his winner in the 2006 semi or the sideline shot in the same game against dublin?

Of course he's not summed up by how many he scores against Ballina/Ballaghadereen or any club - the point is, that game against Dublin was two years ago this summer - he has played very little Inter county action since then and he's two years older. Anyone who thinks that Ciaran Mac scoring 8 points in a club league game this year means he will carry the rest of the team on his back to another All Ireland final appearance is either 1) Mad in the head ; 2) Clueless ; or 3) Still trying to push the anti O'Mahoney line because of the political party he represents by trying to suggest that Mayo should be reaching an AIF and it's the managers fault that we don't.
The reality is quite different.