Connacht SFC 2020

[galwayman]

Congrats to Mayo. Best team from the throw-in, where we began with a foolish foul. A few things bothered me. Anyone who knows the wind patterns of the Hyde know it normally blows into graveyard end, so deciding to play against it when it was blowing into town end was high risk. No surprise it died down and advantage was lost. We would still have lost as Mayo were playing at higher pitch and intensity. Then at half time Cunningham should have changed to a 3 man full forward line of Murtagh, Lennon and Smith, but persisted with Cox double marked who simply does not have pace or skill to deal with that attention. He should have pulled Enda out to midfield as Durcan was winning that battle and winning it well, and brought Ciaran Murtagh into half forwards. Instead he brought Diarmuid on for 10 mins at end. I do think the majority not having played much since Armagh game due to Covid interruption was somewhat responsible for flatness. Well done to Mayo. They should go on to win Connacht and have every chance of being in an All-Ireland final again. Still very thankful to team  and management for earning promotion.

I'd say 90% of the time if there's a wind in the first half it nearly always dies away by the time the second half begins, especially if the pitch isn't a sea-side pitch.
I'd love to hear Cunningham's reasoning for playing against the wind after winning the toss.

The flatness by Roscommon was unreal.
Was close enough to challenge match intensity by them.

It's one thing that absolutely infuriates me about the Galway team - how they are so hot and cold in terms of being "up" for games in terms of the intensity with which they play.
In fairness to Mayo they rarely are found wanting in that department.

[Farrandeelin]

I was really impressed by the way the younger players played today. I was very nervous about this game. People have stated that Roscommon were awful, which they were. Mayo could have been 10 points up at halftime. Hard to find fault with any player because they all did well. The tackling and intensity that they all brought to the game was excellent. However, Roscommon might have made it look good.

Enough about Ros. Mayo are back in a Connacht final, against Galway in Salthill. What went on previously in Tuam will have no bearing on the outcome, of that one can be certain of. Mayo probably will be the bookies favourites. That in itself will be motivation enough for Galway to perform.

I thought the mixture of youth and experience was good today from Mayo so I'm glad to be proven wrong

[ballinaman]

Very enjoyable Sunday punching down the noisy neighbours. Thought the aggression was at the required level. Shot conversion rate will have to improve. Paddy Durcan is a machine

[SouthDublinBro]

Winter football in the wind and rain suits a team like Mayo down to the ground. Things are poised perfectly for them to win the big one this year.

[Tubberman]

Winter football in the wind and rain suits a team like Mayo down to the ground. Things are poised perfectly for them to win the big one this year.

It doesn't and it's not.

[larryin89]

Winter football in the wind and rain suits a team like Mayo down to the ground. Things are poised perfectly for them to win the big one this year.

Why so ?

[Milltown Row2]

Winter football in the wind and rain suits a team like Mayo down to the ground. Things are poised perfectly for them to win the big one this year.

Why so ?

Will always suit a big physical team, like Dublin, Donegal, Mayo are big and gifted but that Ruthless underbelly is missing!

[larryin89]

Winter football in the wind and rain suits a team like Mayo down to the ground. Things are poised perfectly for them to win the big one this year.

Why so ?

Will always suit a big physical team, like Dublin, Donegal, Mayo are big and gifted but that Ruthless underbelly is missing!

A big physical team , Loftus and Ruane in midfield , don't think there has ever been lads so narrow with 8&9 on their back .

[macdanger2]

Winter football in the wind and rain suits a team like Mayo down to the ground. Things are poised perfectly for them to win the big one this year.

Why so ?

Will always suit a big physical team, like Dublin, Donegal, Mayo are big and gifted but that Ruthless underbelly is missing!

A big physical team , Loftus and Ruane in midfield , don't think there has ever been lads so narrow with 8&9 on their back .

Yeah, the current mayo team is fast rather than physical

[larryin89]

So we are agreed it doesn't exactly suit Mayo when we have in fact mostly summer type footballers , ie dry sod good bounce fast football .

[Cunny Funt]

Congrats to Mayo. Best team from the throw-in, where we began with a foolish foul. A few things bothered me. Anyone who knows the wind patterns of the Hyde know it normally blows into graveyard end, so deciding to play against it when it was blowing into town end was high risk. No surprise it died down and advantage was lost. We would still have lost as Mayo were playing at higher pitch and intensity. Then at half time Cunningham should have changed to a 3 man full forward line of Murtagh, Lennon and Smith, but persisted with Cox double marked who simply does not have pace or skill to deal with that attention. He should have pulled Enda out to midfield as Durcan was winning that battle and winning it well, and brought Ciaran Murtagh into half forwards. Instead he brought Diarmuid on for 10 mins at end. I do think the majority not having played much since Armagh game due to Covid interruption was somewhat responsible for flatness. Well done to Mayo. They should go on to win Connacht and have every chance of being in an All-Ireland final again. Still very thankful to team  and management for earning promotion.

I'd say 90% of the time if there's a wind in the first half it nearly always dies away by the time the second half begins, especially if the pitch isn't a sea-side pitch.
I'd love to hear Cunningham's reasoning for playing against the wind after winning the toss.

The flatness by Roscommon was unreal.
Was close enough to challenge match intensity by them.

Maybe the wind wasn't as strong as Dessie Dolan was making out? Mayo scored 1-8 with it and 0-8 without it.

[Captain Obvious]

Only thing that can stop Dublin is covid19 , sin e .

Most of the punters money will be placed on a Dublin v Mayo All Ireland final now. Dublin with  no Jim Gavin, no Jack Mccaffrey and no supporters in Croke Park are there to beaten. On the downside for Mayo supporters won't be attendance to witness their county finally regaining the Sam Maguire.

[MayoBuck]

I thought it was a genuinely 50:50 game beforehand so great to get the win today. We were 3-2 up after 10 minutes so the 1-3 before the water break was crucial. A lot of wides coming up to half-time but the strong start to the 2nd half put the game to bed.

Cillian and Paddy Durcan our 2 best players. Loftus got stuck in, won a lot of breaks and probably justified his selection. Ruane more disappointing, don't think he won any big kickout. He'll probably start next weekend but I'd bring on Jordan Flynn if his performance doesn't improve. Eoghan McLaughlin had a big game too.

Oisín Mullin had a tough 1st half on Smith, hopefully he'll be better for it. Tommy Conroy quiet enough apart from his point. Roscommon dealt with O'Shea well at FF.

[macdanger2]

I thought it was a genuinely 50:50 game beforehand so great to get the win today. We were 3-2 up after 10 minutes so the 1-3 before the water break was crucial. A lot of wides coming up to half-time but the strong start to the 2nd half put the game to bed.

Cillian and Paddy Durcan our 2 best players. Loftus got stuck in, won a lot of breaks and probably justified his selection. Ruane more disappointing, don't think he won any big kickout. He'll probably start next weekend but I'd bring on Jordan Flynn if his performance doesn't improve. Eoghan McLaughlin had a big game too.

Oisín Mullin had a tough 1st half on Smith, hopefully he'll be better for it. Tommy Conroy quiet enough apart from his point. Roscommon dealt with O'Shea well at FF.

Yeah, Ruane was disappointing. The young lads did well today but it was some of the older ones who lead the way - Durcan, McLoughlin, COC & Barrett.

Midfield is our biggest worry, while we did well on the breaks in the 2nd quarter, we just don't have the big men there to compete and our kickout strategy isn't good enough to compensate

[Mayo4Sam]

That's the worst I've see the Rossies play in a long time. No game plan at all, we had it all our own way. Wouldn't read too much into it

Don't believe missing the Sligo game will make one difference to Galway. It's an advantage if anything, chance to rectify the shambles that was Tuam

Seriously have you played championship football before - at club level I mean?
Going into a game cold is absolutely of zero benefit.
I'd much prefer to play three weeks on the bounce if I was a player

Not sure what me playing championship football has to do with it

It will suit Galway a lot better to be planning for Mayo for three weeks rather than having to deal with little more than a challenge match against Sligo





And FWIW I've a senior county and provincial club medal