Mayo for Sam 2019

Started by TheGreatest, April 01, 2019, 10:57:11 AM

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Angelo

Quote from: larryin89 on April 08, 2019, 06:07:18 PM
For such an average forward  he sure as hell gets some attention from the dubs,galways etc etc.

Well done Cillian , we know you're worth

I don't think he does in a man marking sense, they generally have deployed their best man markers on the other forwards - think it was Cooper on Doherty and Fitzsimons on Moran in the last final.

As I said he's a good free taker and a good finisher but if Mayo want to go that extra step and win an All Ireland then he is probably the player on the starting XV who has to start delivering more from play.
GAA FUNDING CHEATS CHEAT US ALL

Lar Naparka

Anyway, to try and get back on-topic, I thought  this article by Pat Spillane   is worth some discussion.



Pat Spillane: 'Mayo warriors are far from the finished article but improved forward play makes them serious contenders'


Pat Spillane
April 8 2019 3:07 PM

As a proud Kerryman I'm always down when the Green and Gold are beaten.
However, last Sunday I experienced a different sensation. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't disappointed that Kerry's heroes were beaten by Mayo, for the simple reason that no-one could begrudge this Mayo team a victory in a national final.
What can you say about these Mayo boys? They are warriors, resilient, full of character, they've had so many falls yet they get back up and go again.
Although there was just a breeze blowing towards the Canal End last Sunday, as distinct from the howling gale in Tralee, the league final was a replica of the contest between the counties a fortnight previously.
Mayo played the final on their own terms, just as they had in Tralee. They bullied Kerry physically, but within the rules, and they controlled midfield, where Kerry were horsed out of it, in the second-half especially. The men from the West were also strong in the tackle and their athleticism and running from deep was magnificent.
But was there anything new? What could give Mayo people hope of a summer of Sam?
Well, there was their forward play, where a team that has run the ball a lot in recent seasons has now added good kicked passing.
The youngsters looked like big-time finds during the league; Matthew Ruane, Ciarán Treacy, James Carr and Fionn McDonagh were all introduced with success and there is Cian Hanley to come back from injury. All these lads are already big, strong players with good engines.
There is also the simple issue of getting the win. I think it was a vital monkey off Mayo's back.
James Horan's mix-and-mend approach on his return as boss has worked superbly. He rested veterans at times and introduced youngsters and it all came together to give Horan something for the summer he never had for previous All-Ireland campaigns: a bench that can make an impact.
The 2019 league gave Mayo two fine statistics: they have not lost to Kerry in the league at either Tralee or Killarney in this decade and they have not lost any of their last five matches against Kerry in Croke Park.
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Make no mistake about it, they are the prime danger now to the Dubs' five-in-a-row bid.
But are Mayo the finished article for an All-Ireland? No, far from it. And while I said that I admire their improved forward play, it still remains the Achilles heel of the Green and Red.
They missed five good goal chances against Kerry, kicked 10 shots short and booted 11 wides. In the first-half a week ago, Mayo had 55 per cent of the possession, yet went in four points adrift. Even allowing for the strong breeze against them that was not good.
And after 45 minutes they had converted just eight of their 22 scoring chances in the decider. They just could not put Kerry away. That was their weakness, a weakness even a Dublin team a little on the wane will not show later this year. Give Dublin 22 scoring chances in the first 45 minutes and 17 of them will result in scores.
What about Kerry? The thing is we do highs and lows to extremes in the South-West. When we win a few matches an All-Ireland is just over the horizon, lose one and it is all doom and gloom.
For me, Kerry are now in 'glass half-full' country. With a new manager in Peter Keane and an obvious rebuilding job to be done with the quality Kerry youngsters, the supporters would actually have been happy to just stay in Division 1.
Indeed, getting to the decider was a huge bonus. Do you realise that four of the starting forwards from the league final played in the 2016 All-Ireland minor final?
At best, four Kerry players held their own against their markers – Stephen O'Brien, Tom O'Sullivan, Peter Crowley and David Clifford – and Clifford had the chance to palm home what might well have been a winning goal with a few minutes to go.
Despite being well beaten across most of the pitch, Kerry could still have won the game. It's small margins, because then this would have been a very different article coming to very different conclusions.
What I can stand over is that after each of Kerry's wins in the league, I wrote here that there were as many negatives as positives to be taken out of every game. And those negatives jumped up to bite the Kerrymen in the final.
Yes, yes, Gaelic football is a fluid game nowadays, but you need your backs to be able to defend, and Kerry's were just bamboozled by runners last Sunday – all three goals came from a spare man taking a pass as he romped through unchallenged.
For the second goal, it was an unmarked Mayo man who kicked the ball forward to find Diarmuid O'Connor being marked by the Kerry centre-forward Sean O'Shea on the edge of his own square. Where was the entire full-back line?
Kerry need to be protecting the opposition's scoring zone. Too many of our defenders were poor when run at directly. There's work to be done, but can Kerry, in what seems will be a cakewalk of a Munster championship, find a man-marker in the form of Philly McMahon or Jonny Cooper? To me, one is badly needed back there
Maybe I should do the Lotto this week. In last week's column, I highlighted the fact that Kerry would not go far this year if Sean O'Shea kept contributing half their scoring total, and most of them from placed balls.
Well, with Lee Keegan doing a marking job on him, O'Shea got no score from play last Sunday. His fellow starting forwards were all over the shop, scoring a mere 1-2 from play in the game.
David Clifford kicked a point from play in the 17th minute and the next time any Kerry forward scored a point from play it was substitute Paul Geaney in the 69th minute. Dear God.
It wasn't just the basic art of scoring that let Kerry down. For one thing, there was far too much aimless kicking of the ball in at full-forward Tommy Walsh, who had no support beside him. For too long Kerry were like an ace gunslinger with no bullets in his gun.
Too many Kerry fans are holding tight to the belief that David Moran's return to fitness will save the day for the midfield.
Yes, the Kerins O'Rahilly's player will bring physicality and ball-winning ability to that area, but David can no longer go the distance for 70 minutes, on a hard surface, in the huge space that is Croke Park.
We've known that for a while and nor, after two cruel knee injuries, does he have the pace to live with the likes of Ruane or Dublin's Brian Fenton as they rampage up and down the pitch.
And finally, for Kerry, and not for the first time in Croker in recent years, senior players didn't turn up. There's work to be done when the players come back from their clubs at the end of April.
Mayo are back dining at the top table, if not yet at the top seat, but Dublin have shown a few cracks, Tyrone have started to attack, Kerry have begun to bring through their young players, and Galway, with Corofin's players now available and the likes of Damien Comer and Paul Conroy fit again, offer great possibilities.
We might yet have a good summer of Gaelic football to come.




Nil Carborundum Illegitemi

moysider

Quote from: Lar Naparka on April 08, 2019, 09:47:29 PM
Anyway, to try and get back on-topic, I thought  this article by Pat Spillane   is worth some discussion.



Pat Spillane: 'Mayo warriors are far from the finished article but improved forward play makes them serious contenders'


Pat Spillane
April 8 2019 3:07 PM

As a proud Kerryman I'm always down when the Green and Gold are beaten.
However, last Sunday I experienced a different sensation. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't disappointed that Kerry's heroes were beaten by Mayo, for the simple reason that no-one could begrudge this Mayo team a victory in a national final.
What can you say about these Mayo boys? They are warriors, resilient, full of character, they've had so many falls yet they get back up and go again.
Although there was just a breeze blowing towards the Canal End last Sunday, as distinct from the howling gale in Tralee, the league final was a replica of the contest between the counties a fortnight previously.
Mayo played the final on their own terms, just as they had in Tralee. They bullied Kerry physically, but within the rules, and they controlled midfield, where Kerry were horsed out of it, in the second-half especially. The men from the West were also strong in the tackle and their athleticism and running from deep was magnificent.
But was there anything new? What could give Mayo people hope of a summer of Sam?
Well, there was their forward play, where a team that has run the ball a lot in recent seasons has now added good kicked passing.
The youngsters looked like big-time finds during the league; Matthew Ruane, Ciarán Treacy, James Carr and Fionn McDonagh were all introduced with success and there is Cian Hanley to come back from injury. All these lads are already big, strong players with good engines.
There is also the simple issue of getting the win. I think it was a vital monkey off Mayo's back.
James Horan's mix-and-mend approach on his return as boss has worked superbly. He rested veterans at times and introduced youngsters and it all came together to give Horan something for the summer he never had for previous All-Ireland campaigns: a bench that can make an impact.
The 2019 league gave Mayo two fine statistics: they have not lost to Kerry in the league at either Tralee or Killarney in this decade and they have not lost any of their last five matches against Kerry in Croke Park.
ADVERTISEMENT
Make no mistake about it, they are the prime danger now to the Dubs' five-in-a-row bid.
But are Mayo the finished article for an All-Ireland? No, far from it. And while I said that I admire their improved forward play, it still remains the Achilles heel of the Green and Red.
They missed five good goal chances against Kerry, kicked 10 shots short and booted 11 wides. In the first-half a week ago, Mayo had 55 per cent of the possession, yet went in four points adrift. Even allowing for the strong breeze against them that was not good.
And after 45 minutes they had converted just eight of their 22 scoring chances in the decider. They just could not put Kerry away. That was their weakness, a weakness even a Dublin team a little on the wane will not show later this year. Give Dublin 22 scoring chances in the first 45 minutes and 17 of them will result in scores.
What about Kerry? The thing is we do highs and lows to extremes in the South-West. When we win a few matches an All-Ireland is just over the horizon, lose one and it is all doom and gloom.
For me, Kerry are now in 'glass half-full' country. With a new manager in Peter Keane and an obvious rebuilding job to be done with the quality Kerry youngsters, the supporters would actually have been happy to just stay in Division 1.
Indeed, getting to the decider was a huge bonus. Do you realise that four of the starting forwards from the league final played in the 2016 All-Ireland minor final?
At best, four Kerry players held their own against their markers – Stephen O'Brien, Tom O'Sullivan, Peter Crowley and David Clifford – and Clifford had the chance to palm home what might well have been a winning goal with a few minutes to go.
Despite being well beaten across most of the pitch, Kerry could still have won the game. It's small margins, because then this would have been a very different article coming to very different conclusions.
What I can stand over is that after each of Kerry's wins in the league, I wrote here that there were as many negatives as positives to be taken out of every game. And those negatives jumped up to bite the Kerrymen in the final.
Yes, yes, Gaelic football is a fluid game nowadays, but you need your backs to be able to defend, and Kerry's were just bamboozled by runners last Sunday – all three goals came from a spare man taking a pass as he romped through unchallenged.
For the second goal, it was an unmarked Mayo man who kicked the ball forward to find Diarmuid O'Connor being marked by the Kerry centre-forward Sean O'Shea on the edge of his own square. Where was the entire full-back line?
Kerry need to be protecting the opposition's scoring zone. Too many of our defenders were poor when run at directly. There's work to be done, but can Kerry, in what seems will be a cakewalk of a Munster championship, find a man-marker in the form of Philly McMahon or Jonny Cooper? To me, one is badly needed back there
Maybe I should do the Lotto this week. In last week's column, I highlighted the fact that Kerry would not go far this year if Sean O'Shea kept contributing half their scoring total, and most of them from placed balls.
Well, with Lee Keegan doing a marking job on him, O'Shea got no score from play last Sunday. His fellow starting forwards were all over the shop, scoring a mere 1-2 from play in the game.
David Clifford kicked a point from play in the 17th minute and the next time any Kerry forward scored a point from play it was substitute Paul Geaney in the 69th minute. Dear God.
It wasn't just the basic art of scoring that let Kerry down. For one thing, there was far too much aimless kicking of the ball in at full-forward Tommy Walsh, who had no support beside him. For too long Kerry were like an ace gunslinger with no bullets in his gun.
Too many Kerry fans are holding tight to the belief that David Moran's return to fitness will save the day for the midfield.
Yes, the Kerins O'Rahilly's player will bring physicality and ball-winning ability to that area, but David can no longer go the distance for 70 minutes, on a hard surface, in the huge space that is Croke Park.
We've known that for a while and nor, after two cruel knee injuries, does he have the pace to live with the likes of Ruane or Dublin's Brian Fenton as they rampage up and down the pitch.
And finally, for Kerry, and not for the first time in Croker in recent years, senior players didn't turn up. There's work to be done when the players come back from their clubs at the end of April.
Mayo are back dining at the top table, if not yet at the top seat, but Dublin have shown a few cracks, Tyrone have started to attack, Kerry have begun to bring through their young players, and Galway, with Corofin's players now available and the likes of Damien Comer and Paul Conroy fit again, offer great possibilities.
We might yet have a good summer of Gaelic football to come.

Yearrah.

From the Bunker

Quote from: Lar Naparka on April 08, 2019, 09:47:29 PM
Anyway, to try and get back on-topic, I thought  this article by Pat Spillane   is worth some discussion.



Pat Spillane: 'Mayo warriors are far from the finished article but improved forward play makes them serious contenders'


Usual Muck from Spillane!

Farrandeelin

Inaugural Football Championship Prediction Winner.

TheGreatest

Quote from: oakleaflad on April 05, 2019, 03:34:56 PM
All-time top scorers
As of 3 September 2018

1  Colm Cooper  Kerry  23-283  352  85 games  2002-2017  4.1 
Cillian O'Connor  Mayo  23-272  341  48 games  2011-  7.1 
3  Mikey Sheehy  Kerry  29-205  292  49 games  1973-1988  6.0 
4  John Doyle  Kildare  8-260  284  67 games  1999-2014  4.2 
5  Padraig Joyce  Galway  12-229  265  66 games  1997-2012  4.0 
6   Bernard Brogan  Dublin  21-196  259  58 games  2006-  4.5 
7  Paddy Bradley  Derry  17-202  253  44 games  1999-2012  5.8 
8  Steven McDonnell  Armagh  18-197  251  67 games  1999-2011  3.7 
9   Maurice Fitzgerald  Kerry  12-205  241  45 games  1988-2001  5.4 
10  Brian Stafford  Meath  9-206  233  41 games  1986-1995  5.7 
11  Oisin McConville  Armagh  11-197  230  52 games  1994-2008  4.4 
12  Jimmy Keaveney  Dublin  15-182  227  42 games  1964-1980  5.4 
13  Peter Canavan  Tyrone  9-192  219  58 games  1989-2005  3.8 
14  Conor McManus  Monaghan  7-204  225  50 games  2007-  4.5 
15  Sean Cavanagh  Tyrone  9-181  208  89 games  2002-2017  2.3 
16  Colin Corkery  Cork  5-182  197  32 games  1993-2004  6.2 
17  Ross Munnelly  Laois  6-168  186  70 games  2003-  2.7 
18  Dean Rock  Dublin  8-173  197  36 games  2013-  5.4 
19  Dara O'Cinneide  Kerry  11-149  182  54 games  1995-2005  3.4 
20  Matt Connor  Offaly  13-142  181  26 games  1978-1984  7.0 
21  Pat Spillane  Kerry  19-123  180  56 games  1974-1991  3.2 


I find it laughable people think COC shouldn't be on the Mayo team personally. His scoring rate is phenomenal.

PS. Looking at that list, I really think Paddy Bradley wasn't as recognized as he should have been nationally as he was on a weaker side as opposed to some other forwards of that era.

Dont suppose there is one floating around for Play V Frees?

rosnarun

Quote from: From the Bunker on April 08, 2019, 10:29:04 PM
Quote from: Lar Naparka on April 08, 2019, 09:47:29 PM
Anyway, to try and get back on-topic, I thought  this article by Pat Spillane   is worth some discussion.



Pat Spillane: 'Mayo warriors are far from the finished article but improved forward play makes them serious contenders'


Usual Muck from Spillane!
if he mean we are now league champions but can still improve then he probable has a point . and on horan record I can see them improving quiet a bit .
another thing hes going on a bout mayos 5 missed goals
if the had taken them that would have brought the total to 8!
whens the last time that happen to a Kerry senior team.
I was  quiet happy with the 3 we got .
If you make yourself understood, you're always speaking well. Moliere