Mayo v Galway, MacHale Park, Sunday 13th May 4pm

[IolarCoisCuain]

Galway- Mayo games - all that matters is getting over the line and into the next round. All this nonsense and worry about playing styles and performances seems to be a relatively new phenomenon.

Great to get the win today as I think Galway needed that after all that was said about them in the build up.

Interesting about both teams keeping lads in reserve to finish the game out with likes of Brannigan and COC. I'd have thought if lads are injury risks you might start them and lose one substitution rather than bring them on and potentially lose two subs.

Ian Burke is just a class act. He adds so much more to us in attack. His movement and link play is as good as I've seen in a Galway jersey in a long time. He's a must to start the next day.

Well done Galway and fair play Heaney for the finish today.
A lot to work on but it was all about a battle and getting through to the next round.

All the best to Parsons. And Conroy too.

Well said DJ. Conroy got a nasty wallop that's being forgotten about a little because of Tom Parsons. Let's hope they're both better as soon as possible.

[sid waddell]

Mayo are a process and collective-driven unit. They tend to fail collectively and win collectively. Mayo at their best beat teams, not through individual talent and instinct in the forwards, but by running faster and running more than other teams. When they are at the physical and mental level where they can do that, very few teams can live with it - when they are not at that level, there are a lot of teams that potentially can beat them, and they can look pedestrian, anaemic and painfully laborious, as they did today.

Since 2013, they've had increasingly serious trouble getting to that level before August. This year, early in the season is earlier than it was in previous years, due to the format change. It might only be a few weeks but it makes a difference.

Last year, they looked shot mentally but somehow struggled through to a situation where they got out the gap, a switch flicked inside them and it suddenly all came flooding back to them. Then, over the next four matches, they played the best football they have ever played, with most of the team reaching career peaks. Everybody was fit and they had a full pick. But that still wasn't quite good enough. I find it hard to see them get back to that level of turbo-charged football.

Now, without one of their best players for the rest of the year, they once again have to go through the grind. If they get through Round 1 of the qualifiers, they then face 7 matches in 8 weekends to reach an All-Ireland final.

I'm not sure if they can struggle through that grind to get to a place where the switch flicks on again.

The only nugget for them is this: somehow struggle through to the Super 8, and as a back door team, you get another back door team in your first game. That's the point Mayo have to get to for there to be a chance that the switch will suddenly flick on again.

[Gael85]

Ian Burke is just a class act. He adds so much more to us in attack. His movement and link play is as good as I've seen in a Galway jersey in a long time. He's a must to start the next day.

Burke is class act. His quick hands were vital in setting up a couple scores including the goal. Will he start ahead of Armstrong the next day?

[galwayman]

Ian Burke is just a class act. He adds so much more to us in attack. His movement and link play is as good as I've seen in a Galway jersey in a long time. He's a must to start the next day.

Burke is class act. His quick hands were vital in setting up a couple scores including the goal. Will he start ahead of Armstrong the next day?

I'd be very surprised if he doesn't.
He won everything that came near him.
Now who drops out for Brannigan is anothe question?
McHugh is not at the level of the other forwards but his Free taking is so good he will be retained.
He kicked 2 frees today that no other Galway player would have been capable of kicking and these can be the difference between winning and losing a tight game.

[galwayman]

3 in a row for Galway v Mayo.
Mayo will be in the Super 8 but they can't score enough in the last 5 minutes . Maybe they can work on it.

Galway were fortunate that Mayo's shooting was so poor.

Long road for Mayo now.

It's very hard to see them arriving at the business end of affairs firing on all cylinders.

Most of the teams in the qfs will be poor quality.
And the May factor is massive. I wouldn't rule Mayo out.
This match doesn't matter.

Of course it matters what are you talking about ffs.
I wouldn't rule Mayo out either but to say today's game doesn't matter is plainly incorrect.

[Gael85]

Ian Burke is just a class act. He adds so much more to us in attack. His movement and link play is as good as I've seen in a Galway jersey in a long time. He's a must to start the next day.

Burke is class act. His quick hands were vital in setting up a couple scores including the goal. Will he start ahead of Armstrong the next day?

I'd be very surprised if he doesn't.
He won everything that came near him.
Now who drops out for Brannigan is anothe question?
McHugh is not at the level of the other forwards but his Free taking is so good he will be retained.
He kicked 2 frees today that no other Galway player would have been capable of kicking and these can be the difference between winning and losing a tight game.

Did Heaney go wing back when Brannigan came on?I'd keep McHugh in there. Class freetaker who will get better from play. Is Michael Daly still injured?

[Gael85]

3 in a row for Galway v Mayo.
Mayo will be in the Super 8 but they can't score enough in the last 5 minutes . Maybe they can work on it.

Galway were fortunate that Mayo's shooting was so poor.

Long road for Mayo now.

It's very hard to see them arriving at the business end of affairs firing on all cylinders.

In fairness Galway shooting was poor too and must kicked 3/4 balls into David Clarke in second half.

[galwayman]

Ian Burke is just a class act. He adds so much more to us in attack. His movement and link play is as good as I've seen in a Galway jersey in a long time. He's a must to start the next day.

Burke is class act. His quick hands were vital in setting up a couple scores including the goal. Will he start ahead of Armstrong the next day?

I'd be very surprised if he doesn't.
He won everything that came near him.
Now who drops out for Brannigan is anothe question?
McHugh is not at the level of the other forwards but his Free taking is so good he will be retained.
He kicked 2 frees today that no other Galway player would have been capable of kicking and these can be the difference between winning and losing a tight game.

Did Heaney go wing back when Brannigan came on?I'd keep McHugh in there. Class freetaker who will get better from play. Is Michael Daly still injured?

Positions went out the window a bit in the second half.
Mayo down a man essentially put all 14 men inside their own half for long stages.
I think Burke will be in for Army the next day but I'm not sure Eamon will get the start the next day.
Was Daly on the bench today?

[Scoring Zone]

Poor stuff, but can understand because it was a big game for each, and Id rather watch that than a lot of walk overs we will see until late august. However with the amount of training and conditioning these lads are doing the standard/ execution of the basics (kick passes,  Hand passes etc) was horrible and my own pet hate, passing to a man and him static and getting swarmed, what are they doing at training and what is the % time based on technique and skills has to be asked, 10+ competitive games into the year and thats the standard - grim

hope parsons plays again after that - horrible freakish injury

[Low and Hard]

Who got motm on Sunday game?

[Gael85]

Who got motm on Sunday game?

Ciaran Duggan-Galway

[highorlow]

Is it seen as too high risk a strategy to allow Aiden O'Shea to ghost into full forward and have a target inside rather than lateral passing? Is it seen as a danger if possession is lost we get caught on the break ? The Galway full back line were all on yellows early in the 1st half and nothing was done any different to shake things up.

Rochford, Holmes and Connolly all unable to beat a division 1 teams blanket defense in Castlebar for the last 6 years in league or championship. We are not learning.

On a side note the state of the pitch was a disgrace.

[macdanger2]

Well done Galway, they had more scores off the bench and that was the difference. Bar COC, none of our subs made an impact. Was surprised to see Jimmy Durcan & Hanley coming on, neither did much today but both have potential I think.

The game as a spectacle was poor, handpassing over and back across the 45 is depressing to watch.

Parsons had his knee operation this evening, anyone know how long he'll be out for with a dislocation?

I wouldn't be as negative about our prospects as some on here, I think the qualifiers will give us a chance to experiment a little and maybe get a few new faces into the team. Goes without saying that we need to avoid D1 teams for the first couple of rounds. Would also like to see us avoid overly defensive teams as we seem to struggle with a packed defence

[macdanger2]

One further point on discipline, that's the fourth time in 4 defeats to Galway that we've finished a man down, need to cut that sh*t out

[weareros]

Wishing Tom Parsons a speedy recovery. A lovely footballer who always plays the game in the right spirit, and a huge loss to Mayo. Very sad to see an injury like that. Wouldn't be overly critical of the standard, both teams can play a lot better. Both played with the fear of losing and were overly defensive. Had they not gone down to 14, Mayo had put themselves in a strong position at half time. However, only Andy had the ability to win ball in the forwards and took some nice points but got bottled up plenty too. Midway through the second half, Galway looked a very tired team and it was beginning to look like they had indeed peaked in the league and I think a 15 man Mayo would have taken control then. But Galway have a strong panel and the subs really freshened them up, whereas Mayo, apart from Cillian albeit half fit, had no impact subs. Credit to Heaney for taking his goal so well - most other players on the field today would have opted for a fisted point. Interesting that Higgins who played no league football was Mayo's best performer today. Kevin McL played well but at some stage someone has to stop him taking easy left kicker frees. Comer was great.... for ten minutes. Despite the quality this game was always intriguing.