Mayo v Kildare Unofficial Official Thread

Our Nail Loney · March 30, 2008, 03:56:41 PM

Long left mayo51?

mayo51 · March 30, 2008, 03:58:31 PM

kildare 2.8 mayo 2.14 f.t easy win after going behind 1.03 after 5 min. keith higgins m.o.m

Tubberman · March 30, 2008, 06:18:46 PM

Just back from Newbridge. Ended up being an easy win for Mayo after a terrible start. We were 1-03 to no score down after 8 minutes, and it wasn't looking good. Kildare were faster to every ball, and Mayo's full back line was looking very dodgy. Tom Cunniffe was getting cleaned and Kieran Conroy seemed to be out of position a lot of the time - but maybe he was told to follow his man wherever he went.
Mayo then slowly got up to speed and started winning a few breaks around the middle. They then took over completely for practically the rest of the game. Tom Parsons hit a bullet of a goal to the top corner of the net when coming in from the right wing. Austie had another great game and I was impressed with Tom Parsons, he handled a lot of ball and I'd imagine he'll hold onto his place for the Galway match. Trevor Mort went off injured in the first half and was replaced by Pat Harte who had a great game. Keith Higgins as usual was excellent, and Trevor Howley threw himself into everything.
All round Mayo did very well, but I still worry about the full back line. Once we started to dominate, Kildare fell to pieces. They were shocking, terrible shot selection. John Doyle was their only class performer.

Ratings:

Clarke - 7 Can't be blamed for the goal. Didn't have much to do after that. Clever kick outs, found the free man well

Cunniffe - 5 Terrible start. Was getting roasted and swapped with Keith Higgins I think. Did better after that but he will struggle to keep his place. He's a much better half back than corner back

Conroy - 7 Seemed a bit lost early on, but Mayo were being bombarded at that stage. He kept following his man out the field leaving gaps in the full back line. Seemed to stay in his position once we got on top and did well. Worth starting him again against Galway.

Boyle - 6 Quiet game, didn't really make much of an impact but didn't do anything wrong either.

Heaney - 8 Thought he had an excellent game. The only negative was when he tried to kick the ball! He's just not able to kick accurately

Howley - 8 Great game. Full hearted, gave it everything. He made one huge run to get a ball and threw himself at a Kildare lad to shoulder him, and nearly killed himself

Definitely has the number 6 jersey.

Higgins 9 - This lad is in top form. Must be one of the top players in the country at the moment. Endless running and pace to burn. Was a safe pair of hands when he went into the corner. One of our most important players.

McGarrity - 7 Still don't think he's firing on all cylinders but had a good game. Scored one excellent point from out on the wing. Invaluable player for us, because we're not blessed with top midfielders.

Parsons - 8 Very impressive display. Wasn't sure what to expect, but he was very good. Won his share of ball, and broke a lot down for others. Seems very athletic and linked well with the forwards

Gill - 7 Worked very hard and got stuck into everything. He tends to slow the ball down too much though and ponders what he should do next

Dillon - 7 Handled a lot of ball and was one of the main links between midfield and forward lines. Hopefully coming back into form. Definitely the right man for number 11

T Mort - Not on long enough.
Harte - 8 I thought he had a great game in what was his first game back with the county. If he keeps this form, he should definitely get a starting spot. Will be interesting to see if he starts against Galway.

Conor Mort - 7 Scored one brilliant score in the first half, and got his frees as usual, but not his best game. Worked hard but seemed to lose his footing a lot. Still our main scoring threat though

Austie - 8 Great game, in top form. Got a few great scores and seems leaner and fitter than I've seen him before. He even beat his man to the ball and Austie was never the quickest! Will be a great asset in championship if he keeps this form up

Andy Moran - 8 Took his goal very well. Won a good few high balls which was surprising seeing as he's not that tall (Kildare defence could take some responsibility for that though). He was subdued early on and wasn't making his usual runs or getting in front of his man. But got better as Mayo took control and was back to his usual self making endless runs for the lads to let the ball into him

Lar Naparka · March 30, 2008, 06:50:37 PM

Thanks, Tubberman, for such a detailed and speedy report. It was much appreciated.
Listening to Billy Joe on the radio, he gave a great account of Colm Boyle and more or less the same of Tom Cunniffe.
You say Cunniffe would be better in the half backs but the problem we have is that maybe another 4 or 5 could play well there also. It's a long time since that could be said of our FB line-up- do you think that entire trio will be there for the championships?
Billy Joe was also enthusiastic about McGarrity throughout the entire game but from the commentary, I thought Earley was dominant at midfield. Everyone seems to agree that Parsons is coming on fine alongside him and the forwards are scoring well and consistently.
Was it a case of Mayo playing well or Kildare playing badly?

dodo · March 30, 2008, 09:48:00 PM

Quote from: Lar Naparka on March 30, 2008, 06:50:37 PM
Thanks, Tubberman, for such a detailed and speedy report. It was much appreciated.
Listening to Billy Joe on the radio, he gave a great account of Colm Boyle and more or less the same of Tom Cunniffe.
You say Cunniffe would be better in the half backs but the problem we have is that maybe another 4 or 5 could play well there also. It's a long time since that could be said of our FB line-up- do you think that entire trio will be there for the championships?
Billy Joe was also enthusiastic about McGarrity throughout the entire game but from the commentary, I thought Earley was dominant at midfield. Everyone seems to agree that Parsons is coming on fine alongside him and the forwards are scoring well and consistently.
Was it a case of Mayo playing well or Kildare playing badly?

Colm Boyle had a good showing at no. 4, Cuniffe had a very dodgy first 15 minutes and improved in the half back line when moved out but this also coincided with Mayo getting to grips elsewhere about the pitch. Keith Higgins steadied up things in the corner and had a barnstorming match. Conroy got taken for 2 points by his marker in the first 8 minutes and looked lost. The jury has to be out on him yet as Kildare were very poor after this initial burst. I'd be very fearful of the full back line after seeing the highlights of the Galway Derry match, scored 3 goals and had 3/4 more very good goal chances.
Kildare were very disappointing in the second half, hardly showing up at all. I think the Mayo performance has to be assessed with this in mind.

laoisgaa · March 30, 2008, 11:09:38 PM

I took a spin over to Newbridge today (ok I was working at the match and someone else actually was driving!) and I have to say having watched Laois in the past few weeks and Kildare and Mayo today there's nothing predictable about football at present (not forgetting the Under 21 Championship either!)

Laois with only one point have slipped in the final quarter of all their games, could have been Mayo but could only manage a point, Mayo beat Kerry, Donegal run everyone close but lose to Tyrone today and then Mayo practically hammer Kildare (ok just six points in it but in reality it was a drubbing - McGeeney proclaimed afterwards that there was no scientific reason for explaining how the Lillies capitulated so badly from the second quarter on.

Dinny what did you make of that performance? I'd have to say our meeting on the final day of the league in Newbridge looks likely to finish in favour of the O'Moore's the way things stand at present.

On the flip side a very good display by Mayo today, I was beside Martin Carney who was doing the stats for them during the game and it was an interesting insight into the communication between the stats man and the sideline during the match - just say he wasn't too happy with one of the wing backs!

Good to see Pat Kelly back on the Mayo bench also and for Anthony Rainbow to take his 100th 'cap' for Kildare, beating his old friend Glenn Ryan who bowed out on 98 appearances.

WJP11 · March 30, 2008, 11:25:15 PM

See http://mayogaablog.com/ for my tuppence worth on today's match.

rosnarun · March 31, 2008, 12:03:36 AM

Quote from: WJP11 on March 30, 2008, 11:25:15 PM
See http://mayogaablog.com/ for my tuppence worth on today's match.

i'll give you a farthing for it. but don't worry the ballina man will make up the difference . as he seems to be your protector these days .

couldn't argue uch wuth the player ratings . maybe a little kind to conniiffe. he was dire and shoild have played his way off the team with that display. he was ok going forward but not exceptional enough to make up for his defense. neither did boyle but you gotta give a fools pardon. for a first start. A bad call i think to use such an inexperienced full back line not really fair to any of them and exposed all 3.

other wise austin probably had his best game ever for mayo . hopefully he'lll prove me wrong yet. same with gill played very well but the game in reality was at half championship pace.
getting a bit worried about dillons form well win nothing without him playing well

stephenite · March 31, 2008, 12:22:28 AM

Quote from: rosnarun on March 31, 2008, 12:03:36 AM
Quote from: WJP11 on March 30, 2008, 11:25:15 PM
See http://mayogaablog.com/ for my tuppence worth on today's match.
i'll give you a farthing for it. but don't worry the ballina man will make up the difference . as he seems to be your protector these days .

Not really, just cannot understand why a man would complain so much about a blog on various forums other than the one he was complaining about - It's like going into Tesco's complaining about bread you bought in Dunnes Stores

If you've got a problem with the blog go to the source and talk to him about it and stop annoying us

Barney · March 31, 2008, 08:05:12 AM

I found the blog to be very entertaining.

Good win yesterday. Hopefully Kerry can put Kildare away on Saturday night and we should be safe.

Was very impressed with the way we choked Kildare around the middle of the pitch during the last 15 minutes of the first half.

Disappointed that a few new players were not tried out.

I presume laoisgaa that it was Heaney that was getting Martin Carney hot and bothered. His attempts at kicking the first half in particular were embarrassing.

Anyway onwards and upwards and an interesting day in Castlebar set for next Sunday.

Davitt Man · March 31, 2008, 09:33:28 AM

I was listening to the match on the radio yesterday and i couldnt understand why he didnt use 5 subs seen as the game was over 10min into the 2nd half. He should have given longer runs to ronaldson and barry moran and used a few others.

rosnarun · March 31, 2008, 10:21:40 AM

difference is ; the guy from dunnes doesn't come round hawking his shoddy goods when you in tesco's.

J ames gill was responsible for an awful lot of ball winning around midfield as indeed was heaney and tahts what can be so fustrating about watching mayo. they can be 90% excellant and then do something to make you wonder if they are footballers at all.

RedandGreenSniper · March 31, 2008, 11:00:33 AM

Good to win comfortably for a change. I'm in exile so haven't seen the match yet but going on reports its great to hear Austie is keeping the good form up and that Pat Harte showed some of his undoubted potential.
Parsons seems to have moved into pole position for the second midfield spot - that was only a matter of time really.
Half back line, again by all reports, were impressive.
But the old problem still exists - our full-back line!
When you break down the three that played there on Sunday it's not hard to understand why. We've an attacking centre-half back in one corner; an attacking wing-back in the other and an average midfielder at full-back. While every other line has a reasonably settled look to it, you could argue convincinly that none of that trio will start in the full back line in championship . . .
BTW does anyone know what the story is with Aidan Higgins? Is he in the squad? Would be a better corner man than either of the current incumbents imho.
With Pat Kelly back in the squad I would not be one bit surprised if we see Heaney at fb come championship. Of course BJP is still an option. What would we give for the likes of Kenneth Mortimer, Kevin Cahill and Gary Ruane in their prime to be around now . . .

Lar Naparka · March 31, 2008, 11:14:59 AM

QuoteHe should have given longer runs to ronaldson and barry moran and used a few others.

It might have been a case of six of one and a half dozen of the other!
I mean it's hard to see why some of the fringe players didn't get to stretch their legs but on the other hand, there are quite a few inexperienced players and, with the championships in mind, he may have thought it better to keep his first-choice combination intact.

QuoteI presume laoisgaa that it was Heaney that was getting Martin Carney hot and bothered. His attempts at kicking the first half in particular were embarrassing.

I think Heaney is a totally committed player and still has a lot to offer, but shooting doesn't come naturally to him. Remember against Galway last year he was supposed to be full back and he wound up directly in front of goal? His weak attempt was easily blocked down and the ball was swept back upfield and I think Galway got a point as a result.
Like Gardiner, he should leave scoring to those who can do it better.

IolarCoisCuain · March 31, 2008, 11:30:44 AM

Quote from: Lar Naparka on March 31, 2008, 11:14:59 AM

I think Heaney is a totally committed player and still has a lot to offer, but shooting doesn't come naturally to him.

Like Gardiner, he should leave scoring to those who can do it better.

Would you not think that scores are tricky enough come by without discouraging fellas like Gardiner and Heaney coming up when they get a chance? Seán Óg de Paor's point per game never did Galway any harm.