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Liam 'Stanley' Nyland who played with Mayo in the 1990s played with his club Davitts up until about three or four years ago. He wasn't far off fifty. That was his club's first team too, if I'm not mistaken.

Apparently O'Connor played corner-forward in the A v B game at the weekend so it's a question of who he will play at 11 and 15. Horan appears very reluctant to move Dillon from the wing which is a pity because a lot of guys could then come into contention for a wing spot but most of them wouldn't be effective at 11. I'm thinking Richie Feeney, Seamie O'Shea, Micheal Forde etc.

Apparently they've been looking at Doherty at 11. Freeman would be another contender. That would leave Conroy and Varley battling for a corner-forward spot. I take Moysider's point about a left footed free taker but Varley isn't playing well and isn't that dependable a free taker to justify starting him. I reckon Conroy will start. Looks like Aidan O'Shea will start at midfield too. I hope he has a full seventy in him, people shouldn't expect too much though. He has missed a huge chunk of training.

I hear you about the kickouts to O'Shea's wing Seanie but Barry Moran was winning everything on his wing as well. I think that was essentially the difference between the teams - Mayo's midfield dominance, they must have won 20 clean possessions.

That game was never going to be as easy as some people thought but Mayo could have made it a small bit easier on themselves if they had been more effective in taking their chances in the first half. But I really think that the Mortimer saga combined with the lack of a meaningful game since the NFL Final combined to produce the rustiness and nervous play we saw in the first half.

But they upped it after the break and weren't disrupted by the excellent character that Sligo showed in responding to practically every Mayo score with a point at the other end within a minute. Credit to Sligo there.

Colm Keys in the Irish Indo was bang on when talking about Mortimer. He said his timing in leaving could never be justified but the reasons for it stand up to some scrutiny. That's true on how our corner-forwards played, especially Varley. But it didn't give Mortimer the right to do what he did and we must cope without him - I wouldn't like to see any notions entertained of him being brought back because he has done so much damage now.

As regards the team for the quarter-final I would love to see a situation where Seamie O'Shea was fit or either Gibbons or McGarrity found form so that one of the three of them could accompany Barry at midfield, free up Aidan O'Shea to 11 and release Cillian to one of the corner-forward slots. Aidan is a real dynamic number 11 but I think we will have to play him at midfield. Other options are to play Freeman at 11 and Cillian in the corner, Andy at 11 and Freeman at 14, Dillon at 11 and Richie Feeney or Seamie O'Shea at 12 or stick with Cillian at 11. I hope Horan doesn't try to stick it out with Cillian there. He would have been a much bigger threat for Ross Donavan at 13. And if I was to pick someone else for the other corner it would be Michael Conroy. He should have scored the last day on two occasions but he showed well and won ball in space. The accuracy can be refined, the ability to win his ball and create the chance is there already.

Very hard to get excited about the Connacht Final reading this thread. Heaven help us.

What can you honestly learn from that? But at least Mayo didn't ease off the gas. Barry Moran's performance will be great for his confidence while Conroy will probably start ahead of Doherty. You saw in Mayo's attitude today that they weren't taking Leitrim for granted. They better be of a similar mindset v Sligo.

Leaving aside the social issues at play there, clubs like Lacken and Ballycroy should be in Junior B where they won't be getting hammerings and might actually win something. But they won't go down to that level and end up losing games by over 30 points.

I suppose most of the RTE Boys played in the mid 90's at the latest. The game has changed tactically since 2002 when Armagh and then Tyrone won All Irelands. None of these lads have encountered this type of football (as players) and do not have a grasp of its intensity.

I think you're letting them off the hook a bit there. McStay is from the same era as Spillane and Tony Davis but he works hard to know the teams and studies the game too. That's what the TV3 boys do too but most of RTÉ's guys think they've the monopoly on knowledge, Spillane being the living embodiment of this arrogance.

I think you were one of the men who referred to Andy as 'the ever present one' Moysider! But his improvement in the last 18 months has been exceptional. Regardless of potential, the reality is we have forwards who people are comparing with Diarmuid Connolly that might not even make our starting team - Michael Conroy and, I'd add, Conor Mortimer. We're a team who needs to dominate midfield and drive on from deep, moving the ball through the hands at speed. Donie Vaughan, Keith Higgins, Colm Boyle and Lee Keegan can all do this effectively. When we do that, it also frees up a bit of space for forwards to be on the end of moves and the Dublin league game was an example of that, where Conroy and Dillon profitted. We don't have a Bernard Brogan or won't find one in the next few years so we'll have to find another way.

Hard to argue with his point. Conor Mortimer will be relieved!

[does be done]

If there's so many Rossies in Ballagh surely it would be easy to propose a vote through the local GAA club that players playing for Ballaghaderreen have the option of playing for either county?

Plenty of members, even with all the defections to other Roscommon clubs by Ballagh natives, but the board is pretty much entirely die-hard Mayo, there's lots of stories of the board refusing to let kids transfer to Western Gaels so they could play for Roscommon.

For all the talk of the GAA being a democracy in name only, if the majority of a club's members wish to change something, it can and does be done. Not overly familiar with the politics of the GAA club in Ballagh' but from my experience of being there to play football and knowing people there, the Mayo/Ros loyalties appear to be split pretty much halfway. Is this not true?

Worth ploughing through this thread for this gem.

Glad I made it worth your while.

If there's so many Rossies in Ballagh surely it would be easy to propose a vote through the local GAA club that players playing for Ballaghaderreen have the option of playing for either county?

Plenty of members, even with all the defections to other Roscommon clubs by Ballagh natives, but the board is pretty much entirely die-hard Mayo, there's lots of stories of the board refusing to let kids transfer to Western Gaels so they could play for Roscommon.

For all the talk of the GAA being a democracy in name only, if the majority of a club's members wish to change something, it can and does be done. Not overly familiar with the politics of the GAA club in Ballagh' but from my experience of being there to play football and knowing people there, the Mayo/Ros loyalties appear to be split pretty much halfway. Is this not true?

If there's so many Rossies in Ballagh surely it would be easy to propose a vote through the local GAA club that players playing for Ballaghaderreen have the option of playing for either county?

Still there for the Rossies. Full-back in trouble though.

Best of luck to Ros. Having seen them beat Mayo comfortably, they definitely can spring a surprise here. It's tailor made for an ambush. But Rossies might struggle at midfield. Hope Shine can step up to the mark there. Big game needed from him. Really looking forward to this.