Galway v Mayo, Preliminary Quarter-Final, Pearse Stadium 3pm Sunday

[armaghniac]

I really enjoyed the game, thought Mayo a tad fortunate to get over the line, but as a Dub I'd definitely fear them more than Galway, especially with injuries. Highlight of the match was Cillian's point with his first touch. He may be a little over the hill now, but still top class and while a part of me would hate to see him win Sam, I also believe he fully deserves a Celtic cross.

Paddy Durcan is awesome. Bar scoring forwards, he is the best player in the country, or as the yanks might say, the best half back in the world!

Well you'll get to test your theory and only one team will survive out of two contenders for Sam.

[Maroon Manc]

Disappointed but as AFA states the dream died last week, when you've as many injuries as Galway they needed to top the group. Only 10 from last years final started and then add that Kelly & Comer weren't fit it was always going to difficult.

Very ironic how well Galway did on kickouts yesterday, easily the best day under Joyce considering the opposition. Galway had a lot more possession & shots but the profligacy in the first half really cost Galway which has been a familiar theme this year, so many missed easy goal chances have been missed and yesterday was no different.


Mayo were 100/30 with PP at half time which I thought was crazy, they were still even money after the goal went in. No place in the game for what O'Donoghue did and he's lucky its not been completely caught on camera, Flynn tried kicking Kelly too which is a red card offence.

Galway have nobody to blame but themselves anyway, they were unlucky with the injuries but given the amount of them I'm sure they'll take a look and see if they can do something different next year.

[seafoid]

I remember a lot of Galway championship exits but none down to injuries. With matches every week there is no recovery time. In 2001 there was a 2 week break between matches.
There will be a lot of variability year to year under the new system. Next year with most of the injuries healed they could be unbeatable.

[yellowcard]

Thought it was a proper championship match, ferocious tackling at times, a bit of needle and a decent atmosphere. It proved that the proper gauge for measuring the quality match does not have to be loads of scores as long as the contest is tight with a bit of physicality. I don't buy the theory about teams getting an extra weeks rest being in a better position either. Mayo will be battle hardened going into next weeks games and 7 days is the ideal turnaround. We often hear soccer managers talk about getting match rhythm and I think the same can apply to gaelic football. 

Shane Walsh looks as though he has dined out on one good performance in last years AI final. No doubting his ability but he failed to deliver yet again in a big match and has had a very poor season. That free kick routine would drive you bonkers, just put the ball down and kick it over the bar and less of the theatrics.   

[seafoid]

Disappointed but as AFA states the dream died last week, when you've as many injuries as Galway they needed to top the group. Only 10 from last years final started and then add that Kelly & Comer weren't fit it was always going to difficult.

Very ironic how well Galway did on kickouts yesterday, easily the best day under Joyce considering the opposition. Galway had a lot more possession & shots but the profligacy in the first half really cost Galway which has been a familiar theme this year, so many missed easy goal chances have been missed and yesterday was no different.


Mayo were 100/30 with PP at half time which I thought was crazy, they were still even money after the goal went in. No place in the game for what O'Donoghue did and he's lucky its not been completely caught on camera, Flynn tried kicking Kelly too which is a red card offence.

Galway have nobody to blame but themselves anyway, they were unlucky with the injuries but given the amount of them I'm sure they'll take a look and see if they can do something different next year.

The best thing for Galway now is a bit of time, for the injuries but also  for players who need a reset and for the search for more players. Next year another county could get the injuries.
There isn't any hegemonic team like Dublin 2015-20. There are going to be All Irelands available.

[Captain Obvious]

Disappointed but as AFA states the dream died last week, when you've as many injuries as Galway they needed to top the group. Only 10 from last years final started and then add that Kelly & Comer weren't fit it was always going to difficult.

Very ironic how well Galway did on kickouts yesterday, easily the best day under Joyce considering the opposition. Galway had a lot more possession & shots but the profligacy in the first half really cost Galway which has been a familiar theme this year, so many missed easy goal chances have been missed and yesterday was no different.


Mayo were 100/30 with PP at half time which I thought was crazy, they were still even money after the goal went in. No place in the game for what O'Donoghue did and he's lucky its not been completely caught on camera, Flynn tried kicking Kelly too which is a red card offence.

Galway have nobody to blame but themselves anyway, they were unlucky with the injuries but given the amount of them I'm sure they'll take a look and see if they can do something different next year.

The best thing for Galway now is a bit of time, for the injuries but also  for players who need a reset and for the search for more players. Next year another county could get the injuries.
There isn't any hegemonic team like Dublin 2015-20. There are going to be All Irelands available.

it's been hit at Armagh all year however Galway were too focused on their defensive system making them a low scoring team also injuries happen especially in the congested season and you need to trust your bench did Galway management do that? starting injured players yesterday suggests not.

[Blowitupref]

I don't buy the theory about teams getting an extra weeks rest being in a better position either. Mayo will be battle hardened going into next weeks games and 7 days is the ideal turnaround.

Not just a 7 day turnaround but for Mayo a 3rd game in 14 days against a rested Dublin.  In Mayo's favour they don't seem to have got any injuries and should have conditioning to be competitive and cope better than some of the others 4 winners at the weekend.

[An Fhairche Abu]

Disappointed but as AFA states the dream died last week, when you've as many injuries as Galway they needed to top the group. Only 10 from last years final started and then add that Kelly & Comer weren't fit it was always going to difficult.

Very ironic how well Galway did on kickouts yesterday, easily the best day under Joyce considering the opposition. Galway had a lot more possession & shots but the profligacy in the first half really cost Galway which has been a familiar theme this year, so many missed easy goal chances have been missed and yesterday was no different.


Mayo were 100/30 with PP at half time which I thought was crazy, they were still even money after the goal went in. No place in the game for what O'Donoghue did and he's lucky its not been completely caught on camera, Flynn tried kicking Kelly too which is a red card offence.

Galway have nobody to blame but themselves anyway, they were unlucky with the injuries but given the amount of them I'm sure they'll take a look and see if they can do something different next year.

Galway forwards are the reason we're out, the less heralded defence held the opposition to a fairly reasonable score in every match this year, certainly to the level that an attack that is functioning correctly would have been able to get the job done and Galway have had the chances, it's not like the system didn't allow them to create (although it could be a lot better in this respect certainly) at all, there was more than enough chances available to win that match yesterday and against Armagh last week. If nothing was altered bar the return from frees then we were fine. This is why we made the final last year, a good shot conversion ratio from play and Shane Walsh nailing nearly every single free and 45. Our goal conversion ratio from shots has been absolutely terrible and so costly, couldn't even convert a peno, those free misses from Walsh in the first half yesterday were beyond shocking, an U15 would have kicked them over wind assisted.
Midfield destroyed Mayo from restarts yesterday for large parts of the game so really the appalling standard of shooting throughout was the undoing.

McHugh's importance to the team and how he assists scores with runs into opposition territory was only highlighted by his absence in the Armagh and Mayo matches, but if lads are injured (even the players you can't do without really) you have to trust the bench and see how it goes, Maher and McGrath really stepped up this year when they got opportunities. Sean Kelly shouldn't have been out there.
Should have been some changes up front as well really. Johnny Heaney has been a great player for Galway but has been well down on his usual levels this championship, Tierney hasn't made the leap that he looked to have in him from the league, should have converted his goal chance. Burke is done, nice cameo in the Rossie game but his return was overstated. Cooke improved throughout the year but no guarantee he'll be back next year due to work. We need to find a few new lads up front, will be difficult.   
It's fairly clear that up front Galway go as Comer's health goes at this stage, there's no focus up there whatsoever without him. Shane Walsh, well it's been said already but he doesn't need to hit the AI final performance every day, just be middling good is enough, couple of points from play, occupy a few defenders to give space elsewhere at least and just kick all the frees. He was miles off it for whatever reason.

Don't know what Paul Conroy will do but he was better yesterday than a lot of his younger team mates who have way more in the legs, I don't know how he'd have faired out in CP at this stage but you couldn't fault the application and effort for Galway, he's 15 years plugging away and a lot of that time in terrible Galway teams, I can recall a day that we'd have been knocked out of the championship to Waterford only for him.

Didn't see SG but I hear PJ was moaning about the ref again, absolutely crazy stuff, Hurson had no bearing on the result yesterday at all from what I saw and I wouldn't give the officials much blame over missing the tr**p that targeted Kelly's ankle with a kick, was off the ball prior to throw in, very hard to see everything in fairness.
PJ's comments to the press corp directly after the game that I did hear were more like it, said it was Galway's own fault, didn't score enough which is entirely accurate and leave it at that. I get that he is a bad loser, which is fine to a point, but yesterday wasn't a match impacted by the officials, there was no huge incident that they got wrong, it wasn't some total incompetent like Jerome Henry out there.

The best thing for Galway now is a bit of time, for the injuries but also  for players who need a reset and for the search for more players. Next year another county could get the injuries.
There isn't any hegemonic team like Dublin 2015-20. There are going to be All Irelands available.

You keep saying that as if it's a guarantee they will get back there, we didn't even make a Q final this year after throwing away a commanding position in the group, the best thing for Galway was to build on last year and try to become a more consistent championship team. Other teams will improve as well, it's only Kerry and Dublin that can think like this about available All Irelands. Galway got a few decent new players for the squad this year out of it but up front it's been a real regression, and getting lads that can kick the ball over the bar consistently is the hardest thing to find.

[seafoid]

Disappointed but as AFA states the dream died last week, when you've as many injuries as Galway they needed to top the group. Only 10 from last years final started and then add that Kelly & Comer weren't fit it was always going to difficult.

Very ironic how well Galway did on kickouts yesterday, easily the best day under Joyce considering the opposition. Galway had a lot more possession & shots but the profligacy in the first half really cost Galway which has been a familiar theme this year, so many missed easy goal chances have been missed and yesterday was no different.


Mayo were 100/30 with PP at half time which I thought was crazy, they were still even money after the goal went in. No place in the game for what O'Donoghue did and he's lucky its not been completely caught on camera, Flynn tried kicking Kelly too which is a red card offence.

Galway have nobody to blame but themselves anyway, they were unlucky with the injuries but given the amount of them I'm sure they'll take a look and see if they can do something different next year.

Galway forwards are the reason we're out, the less heralded defence held the opposition to a fairly reasonable score in every match this year, certainly to the level that an attack that is functioning correctly would have been able to get the job done and Galway have had the chances, it's not like the system didn't allow them to create (although it could be a lot better in this respect certainly) at all, there was more than enough chances available to win that match yesterday and against Armagh last week. If nothing was altered bar the return from frees then we were fine. This is why we made the final last year, a good shot conversion ratio from play and Shane Walsh nailing nearly every single free and 45. Our goal conversion ratio from shots has been absolutely terrible and so costly, couldn't even convert a peno, those free misses from Walsh in the first half yesterday were beyond shocking, an U15 would have kicked them over wind assisted.
Midfield destroyed Mayo from restarts yesterday for large parts of the game so really the appalling standard of shooting throughout was the undoing.

McHugh's importance to the team and how he assists scores with runs into opposition territory was only highlighted by his absence in the Armagh and Mayo matches, but if lads are injured (even the players you can't do without really) you have to trust the bench and see how it goes, Maher and McGrath really stepped up this year when they got opportunities. Sean Kelly shouldn't have been out there.
Should have been some changes up front as well really. Johnny Heaney has been a great player for Galway but has been well down on his usual levels this championship, Tierney hasn't made the leap that he looked to have in him from the league, should have converted his goal chance. Burke is done, nice cameo in the Rossie game but his return was overstated. Cooke improved throughout the year but no guarantee he'll be back next year due to work. We need to find a few new lads up front, will be difficult.   
It's fairly clear that up front Galway go as Comer's health goes at this stage, there's no focus up there whatsoever without him. Shane Walsh, well it's been said already but he doesn't need to hit the AI final performance every day, just be middling good is enough, couple of points from play, occupy a few defenders to give space elsewhere at least and just kick all the frees. He was miles off it for whatever reason.

Don't know what Paul Conroy will do but he was better yesterday than a lot of his younger team mates who have way more in the legs, I don't know how he'd have faired out in CP at this stage but you couldn't fault the application and effort for Galway, he's 15 years plugging away and a lot of that time in terrible Galway teams, I can recall a day that we'd have been knocked out of the championship to Waterford only for him.

Didn't see SG but I hear PJ was moaning about the ref again, absolutely crazy stuff, Hurson had no bearing on the result yesterday at all from what I saw and I wouldn't give the officials much blame over missing the tr**p that targeted Kelly's ankle with a kick, was off the ball prior to throw in, very hard to see everything in fairness.
PJ's comments to the press corp directly after the game that I did hear were more like it, said it was Galway's own fault, didn't score enough which is entirely accurate and leave it at that. I get that he is a bad loser, which is fine to a point, but yesterday wasn't a match impacted by the officials, there was no huge incident that they got wrong, it wasn't some total incompetent like Jerome Henry out there.

The best thing for Galway now is a bit of time, for the injuries but also  for players who need a reset and for the search for more players. Next year another county could get the injuries.
There isn't any hegemonic team like Dublin 2015-20. There are going to be All Irelands available.

You keep saying that as if it's a guarantee they will get back there, we didn't even make a Q final this year after throwing away a commanding position in the group, the best thing for Galway was to build on last year and try to become a more consistent championship team. Other teams will improve as well, it's only Kerry and Dublin that can think like this about available All Irelands. Galway got a few decent new players for the squad this year out of it but up front it's been a real regression, and getting lads that can kick the ball over the bar consistently is the hardest thing to find.

The system is new for everyone. The congested timing punishes injuries. The squad next year will have to be designed with this in mind.
Not so long ago Kelly was playing in the corner until Mulkerrin got injured. We need to find a player or 2 like him who can make the step  up.
All of the competitors are flawed in different ways. At the very least we should be in with a shout.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Injuries finally caught up with them year. No Silke or Molloy before a ball was kicked. Dylan McHugh barely played in championship. That's half of last year's starting defence gone. Patrick Kelly another who started last year's All-Ireland final who missed the entire championship through injury. Finnerty was in and out with niggles all year. The injuries to Comer and Kelly finished them though. No team can afford to lose their best two players like that. While they both started neither was anywhere near right. Whatever chance they had went once they blew the Armagh game. Maybe a week off could have got them fitter but once they had to tog out again this week it was going to be very tough. Those two fit and I'm relatively confident they would have beaten Mayo. Whether there would have been anything left in the tank for next week is another story.

Walsh's poor form a big problem also. His free taking was excellent last year but he missed a scatter of frees this year. The two he missed in front of the posts with the wind at his back in the first half yesterday were criminal. He seemed distracted and out of sorts all year. Needs to sort his head out as he's no spring chicken any more. Heaney never really got going this year. Ian Burke looked increasingly ineffectual. His lack of physicality and pace standing out in the tougher games. All he does is recycle the ball back out the field. Not really enough these days. Tierney had his moments but very up and down. Still young though and will be a big player going forward.

On the plus side Galway have two good corner-backs for the first time in a very long time. If anything McGrath was even better than Glynn this year. He done a right job on some very good forwards and was on his way to an All-Star nomination but probably won't get one now. Maher a great find in midfield. Young Sweeney good for the most part. Cooke got better and better as the year went on. Despite a couple bad turnovers in the 2nd half yesterday. Will he even be available next year though? He's often abroad due to work. The management will definitely want him around. Our finishing was poor enough this year. Lost count of how many goal chances we butchered. I counted 6 good goal chances over last two games against Mayo and 0 goals actually scored. Combine that with a serious dip in the free taking this year and Galway have been leaving far too many scores behind them.

[fearsiuil]

Joyce has had 1 good season and 3 less than impressive ones, he's definitely improved Galway football as a whole and brought the buzz back. Big vocal Galway crowd in Salthill yesterday waiting for Galway to catch fire but the 2023 version under PJ is a lot duller than previous incarnations and feels like it's their undoing.

Having +2 back in defense makes heroes out of inexperienced defenders and in reality with the dominance Galway enjoyed in middle third being outgunned by Mayo is a big role reversal to the days where in Galway broke 45/55 with Mayo they invariably won. Appreciate it's a different game these days but some habits are hard to break. PJ blaming ref once more and injuries doesn't cast him in any great light, bitter and deflective perhaps. Winning tight games is an art and one Mayo are no masters of but 3 wins and a draw v Galway this year says something.

The bitterness that has transferred to games has not avoided this fixture, some awful crap being spun on all sides. Surprised An Fhairce's finest resorting to calling out O'Donoghue as a tr**p, not many innocents out there yesterday. Kelly bravely started on the much lighter Hession and was rightly taken to task about it, Kelly was fine afterwards and the game started. Sounds like you are out for your pound of flesh.

Met many a Galway supporter yesterday and only the finest of craic and slagging, few unhappy relations but they enjoyed Shane Walsh shooting long range frees in Castlebar last summer to lead by 6 with 5 minutes remaining to fall over the line by 1.

[Maroon Manc]

Injuries finally caught up with them year. No Silke or Molloy before a ball was kicked. Dylan McHugh barely played in championship. That's half of last year's starting defence gone. Patrick Kelly another who started last year's All-Ireland final who missed the entire championship through injury. Finnerty was in and out with niggles all year. The injuries to Comer and Kelly finished them though. No team can afford to lose their best two players like that. While they both started neither was anywhere near right. Whatever chance they had went once they blew the Armagh game. Maybe a week off could have got them fitter but once they had to tog out again this week it was going to be very tough. Those two fit and I'm relatively confident they would have beaten Mayo. Whether there would have been anything left in the tank for next week is another story.

Walsh's poor form a big problem also. His free taking was excellent last year but he missed a scatter of frees this year. The two he missed in front of the posts with the wind at his back in the first half yesterday were criminal. He seemed distracted and out of sorts all year. Needs to sort his head out as he's no spring chicken any more. Heaney never really got going this year. Ian Burke looked increasingly ineffectual. His lack of physicality and pace standing out in the tougher games. All he does is recycle the ball back out the field. Not really enough these days. Tierney had his moments but very up and down. Still young though and will be a big player going forward.

On the plus side Galway have two good corner-backs for the first time in a very long time. If anything McGrath was even better than Glynn this year. He done a right job on some very good forwards and was on his way to an All-Star nomination but probably won't get one now. Maher a great find in midfield. Young Sweeney good for the most part. Cooke got better and better as the year went on. Despite a couple bad turnovers in the 2nd half yesterday. Will he even be available next year though? He's often abroad due to work. The management will definitely want him around. Our finishing was poor enough this year. Lost count of how many goal chances we butchered. I counted 6 good goal chances over last two games against Mayo and 0 goals actually scored. Combine that with a serious dip in the free taking this year and Galway have been leaving far too many scores behind them.

Galway suffered more injuries then most this year, I know Mayo suffered a lot last year and Horn put that down to a mixture of issues with pitches and a new medical team. I'm sure it will be looked at internally.

McGrath has been brilliant, Glynn didn't hit the heights of last year but Silke, Molloy, McHugh and O'Flaherty will huge depth to that backline. Lets hope Cooke stays, took him a while to get going this season which is down too him been away from the setup last year.

Comer has only been fully fit for 2 of the last 6 seasons and its no coincidence they were both when Galway went very well. Desperately need a bit of new blood in the forwards and have to find a way of playing without Comer. I've always thought McDaid possesses the attributes to play full forward. Patrick Kelly too could offer something in there, huge shame he's injured as I reckon he'll improve the more football he plays at this level. I hope Culhane can kick on, still looks like he'll need to improve physically given his lack of pace; Galway certainly due to find a forward from somewhere.

Some Mayo people have lost leave of their senses defending what was a trampish act, huge difference between grappling with an opponent as opposed to what he did.

[galwayman]

Disappointed but as AFA states the dream died last week, when you've as many injuries as Galway they needed to top the group. Only 10 from last years final started and then add that Kelly & Comer weren't fit it was always going to difficult.

Very ironic how well Galway did on kickouts yesterday, easily the best day under Joyce considering the opposition. Galway had a lot more possession & shots but the profligacy in the first half really cost Galway which has been a familiar theme this year, so many missed easy goal chances have been missed and yesterday was no different.


Mayo were 100/30 with PP at half time which I thought was crazy, they were still even money after the goal went in. No place in the game for what O'Donoghue did and he's lucky its not been completely caught on camera, Flynn tried kicking Kelly too which is a red card offence.

Galway have nobody to blame but themselves anyway, they were unlucky with the injuries but given the amount of them I'm sure they'll take a look and see if they can do something different next year.

Galway forwards are the reason we're out, the less heralded defence held the opposition to a fairly reasonable score in every match this year, certainly to the level that an attack that is functioning correctly would have been able to get the job done and Galway have had the chances, it's not like the system didn't allow them to create (although it could be a lot better in this respect certainly) at all, there was more than enough chances available to win that match yesterday and against Armagh last week. If nothing was altered bar the return from frees then we were fine. This is why we made the final last year, a good shot conversion ratio from play and Shane Walsh nailing nearly every single free and 45. Our goal conversion ratio from shots has been absolutely terrible and so costly, couldn't even convert a peno, those free misses from Walsh in the first half yesterday were beyond shocking, an U15 would have kicked them over wind assisted.
Midfield destroyed Mayo from restarts yesterday for large parts of the game so really the appalling standard of shooting throughout was the undoing.

McHugh's importance to the team and how he assists scores with runs into opposition territory was only highlighted by his absence in the Armagh and Mayo matches, but if lads are injured (even the players you can't do without really) you have to trust the bench and see how it goes, Maher and McGrath really stepped up this year when they got opportunities. Sean Kelly shouldn't have been out there.
Should have been some changes up front as well really. Johnny Heaney has been a great player for Galway but has been well down on his usual levels this championship, Tierney hasn't made the leap that he looked to have in him from the league, should have converted his goal chance. Burke is done, nice cameo in the Rossie game but his return was overstated. Cooke improved throughout the year but no guarantee he'll be back next year due to work. We need to find a few new lads up front, will be difficult.   
It's fairly clear that up front Galway go as Comer's health goes at this stage, there's no focus up there whatsoever without him. Shane Walsh, well it's been said already but he doesn't need to hit the AI final performance every day, just be middling good is enough, couple of points from play, occupy a few defenders to give space elsewhere at least and just kick all the frees. He was miles off it for whatever reason.

Don't know what Paul Conroy will do but he was better yesterday than a lot of his younger team mates who have way more in the legs, I don't know how he'd have faired out in CP at this stage but you couldn't fault the application and effort for Galway, he's 15 years plugging away and a lot of that time in terrible Galway teams, I can recall a day that we'd have been knocked out of the championship to Waterford only for him.

Didn't see SG but I hear PJ was moaning about the ref again, absolutely crazy stuff, Hurson had no bearing on the result yesterday at all from what I saw and I wouldn't give the officials much blame over missing the tr**p that targeted Kelly's ankle with a kick, was off the ball prior to throw in, very hard to see everything in fairness.
PJ's comments to the press corp directly after the game that I did hear were more like it, said it was Galway's own fault, didn't score enough which is entirely accurate and leave it at that. I get that he is a bad loser, which is fine to a point, but yesterday wasn't a match impacted by the officials, there was no huge incident that they got wrong, it wasn't some total incompetent like Jerome Henry out there.

The best thing for Galway now is a bit of time, for the injuries but also  for players who need a reset and for the search for more players. Next year another county could get the injuries.
There isn't any hegemonic team like Dublin 2015-20. There are going to be All Irelands available.

You keep saying that as if it's a guarantee they will get back there, we didn't even make a Q final this year after throwing away a commanding position in the group, the best thing for Galway was to build on last year and try to become a more consistent championship team. Other teams will improve as well, it's only Kerry and Dublin that can think like this about available All Irelands. Galway got a few decent new players for the squad this year out of it but up front it's been a real regression, and getting lads that can kick the ball over the bar consistently is the hardest thing to find.

And it's difficult to see where those scoring forwards are going to come from.
Any stand out club forwards are in there already, apart maybe from Adrian Varley.
We are far more reliant on Damo than Shane. Damo performs the majority of the time whereas Shane is the opposite.
As you say though if he just nails his frees this year and does nothing else - then we would be resting up this weekend and already qualified for the quarter final.
We have a solid base to build on though for once which had to give us some cause for optimism.

[seafoid]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f-35cMdd90&t=1140s

[An Fhairche Abu]

The bitterness that has transferred to games has not avoided this fixture, some awful crap being spun on all sides. Surprised An Fhairce's finest resorting to calling out O'Donoghue as a tr**p, not many innocents out there yesterday. Kelly bravely started on the much lighter Hession and was rightly taken to task about it, Kelly was fine afterwards and the game started. Sounds like you are out for your pound of flesh.

Whatever about anything else the bit bolded is completely incorrect although I can see the ironic usage which I'm sure was the intention.
No one is looking for angels or innocents on the pitch, will win nothing with that, cynicism is a fact of life for successful teams but there's degrees here, surely we must be realistic about that.
Are we really trying to deceive ourselves as to what we saw yesterday, to me a comparison of the usual jersey tugging and grabbing that we see in every single IC match with a lad looking down and clearly trying to draw a kick/stamp on a players ankle that he knows is already injured is absurd. If there was just the dunt into the back and that's all he did then obviously there wouldn't be a word about it. To me the follow action was one of a tr**p and I called it as such. Mayo people everywhere today are defending their man regardless of what happened or just saying nothing happened at all, as is the case with all of these things it seems nowadays.

If a Galway player does similar in a match and I don't call it out in the same terms and express disappointment that they would even think to do it, then by all means return here and absolutely call me out on rank hypocrisy, I will deserve every bit of it. I see no reason whatsoever to describe that Mayo player in any other fashion, that's what those actions are. If he's some hero in Mayo people's eyes for the those same actions as apparently Hession was in such mortal danger out there, then they are free to do that also.

Mayo deserved the win yesterday as they put away their chances and Galway the architects of our own destruction with a pathetic return on shots. That is the truth of it as I see it also.