Mayo Football and Hurling - Discussion pages

[Lar Naparka]

According to the Mayo Gaa facebook page Tom Parsons is starting at midfield for Mayo against the sheep shaggers on Sunday.Hopefully Tom will put in a good performance he has huge talent but his attitude was questionable i hope the few years out in the cold will have matured him

I think Tom was injured and this I what caused his loss of form. I remember reading somewhere or other that he had the same pubic bone problem as Aidan O'Shea had two years ago but it ha taken him a lot longer to recover than Aidan.

[sans pessimism]

Did TP not spend a good lot of the last 2years in Cardiff

[mayoman dan]

+1. One of the best quality players in county over the years. Previous poster went on about maturity but what s that about?

The maturity im talking about is realising that he needs to match hard work with his undoubted talent to fullfill his potential.I remember hearing stories about Tom having a bit of a questionable attitude towards training when he was making his way onto the senior team.However this is all in the past and i wish Tom all the best if we get him playing like he can he will be a serious asset for us.

[moysider]

+1. One of the best quality players in county over the years. Previous poster went on about maturity but what s that about?

The maturity im talking about is realising that he needs to match hard work with his undoubted talent to fullfill his potential.I remember hearing stories about Tom having a bit of a questionable attitude towards training when he was making his way onto the senior team.However this is all in the past and i wish Tom all the best if we get him playing like he can he will be a serious asset for us.

There are always stories. I heard them too. But what I heard from lads that played with him in college, was that he could not explain his dip in form. I didn t hear the questionable attitude thing. I d factor in the mess that these lads encountered as they moved from underage to senior.  There was a few casualties in the Johnno years. Boyle was nearly lost and Conroy lost important years which I believe has damaged him.
I remember Horan giving Parsons a run in his first year as manager in either an FBD or League game. Thought he did well and was surprised he was cut.

[mayoman dan]

Il agree with ya there Moysider the Johno years were a disaster.I wasnt having a go at Parsons far from it he would have been very young when he broke through to the senior set up and as you say it was a mess.Am i right in thinking Tom played cf for us at some stage and done quite well? This is geting a bit ahead of myself i know but lets say Tom does well and establishes himself in midfield where will we put AOS? Where do the Mayo posters on here think is his best position?

[moysider]

Il agree with ya there Moysider the Johno years were a disaster.I wasnt having a go at Parsons far from it he would have been very young when he broke through to the senior set up and as you say it was a mess.Am i right in thinking Tom played cf for us at some stage and done quite well? This is geting a bit ahead of myself i know but lets say Tom does well and establishes himself in midfield where will we put AOS? Where do the Mayo posters on here think is his best position?

Tom was selected to play on the Ireland team V Australia in the Comp. Rules series in his first season as a county senior.
That was 2010? Hard to believe we ve been in 2 AIs since and this guy has not have been even in the panel. Couldn t make it up.
Best position? Probably midfield. But it depends how things go.

I think 11 should either be a quarterback like Greg Blaney or a carrier like Declan O Sullivan.

Mayo have a choice. O Connor does Joe Montana. Or likes of O Sé s run hard from 11. O Sé s will take on the hit and often break through. Parsons will usually glide around the traffic bit can take the hit as well. It s a personal choice at the end of the day.

[From the Bunker]

Yeah the Johnno years were a waste bar getting out of the way the 'Give the Messiah the job'. Johnno was pushed into rather than taking the job. This is never a good thing! Anyway between players being still a bit young on the development curve, being played out of position and Johnno not giving the required commitment we ended up with allot of players getting lost or not being found in the first place.

[RedandGreenSniper]

It was 2008 when Tom Parsons was picked to travel to Australia. He was the only Mayo player picked and it was definitely premature for him and did him no favours. But he absolutely has something to offer if he can find his feet.

I'm worried about people saying Keegan is a scoring option for half-forward line. He's a scoring option at half-back, leave him there. Does his best work from there. What to do with Higgins is the big thing. I think he'll be in the forward line for NFL especially with COC and Dillon out injured.

The aim of the league then is to find a couple more defensive options. The six which started the final - Cunniffe, Caff, Barrett; Keegan, Boyle and Vaughan remain our best six there imho (with Higgins further forward of course) and I think we've a better look when Vaughan is on the wing. But we need more options so we're not relying on Higgins moving back and upsetting the entire game plan every time any defender tweaks a hamstring. Horan looks like he's using the FBD to that end - playing Boyle in the full-back line to see if he can be an option there and giving three full-games in the half-back line to Harrison, McHale and D Drake. K Keane and K Rogers got good game time too. Would have liked to seen Alan Feeney get a look-in. He was keeping Caff off the team in 2011 and Caff then was the best full-back in Ireland the next two years (don't mind O'Carroll's All Star). Feeney has to still be good enough, he's only 29 this year. Eoghan O'Reilly is another option.

Midfielders will be two from O'Sheas and Moran.

That leaves Higgins as a proper option for the half-forward line.. Assume that McLoughlin, Cillian and Andy will start and that leaves two more forward places. One of these could be a midfielder pushed forward but likely it will be a half-forward slot between Adam Gallagher, Dillon and Carolan if Cillian plays inside. Or if Cillian is at 11, I agree with Moysider, he was very good there v Galway last year, it's a race for two slots inside alongside Andy. This would between Freeman, Conroy and possibly Coen who had a good FBD.

I'd take a punt on this team

Hennelly

Cunniffe Caff Barrett
Keegan Boyle Vaughan

O'Sheas x 2

McLoughlin Cillian Higgins
Andy Freeman Conroy

[From the Bunker]

It was 2008 when Tom Parsons was picked to travel to Australia. He was the only Mayo player picked and it was definitely premature for him and did him no favours. But he absolutely has something to offer if he can find his feet.

I'm worried about people saying Keegan is a scoring option for half-forward line. He's a scoring option at half-back, leave him there. Does his best work from there. What to do with Higgins is the big thing. I think he'll be in the forward line for NFL especially with COC and Dillon out injured.

The aim of the league then is to find a couple more defensive options. The six which started the final - Cunniffe, Caff, Barrett; Keegan, Boyle and Vaughan remain our best six there imho (with Higgins further forward of course) and I think we've a better look when Vaughan is on the wing. But we need more options so we're not relying on Higgins moving back and upsetting the entire game plan every time any defender tweaks a hamstring. Horan looks like he's using the FBD to that end - playing Boyle in the full-back line to see if he can be an option there and giving three full-games in the half-back line to Harrison, McHale and D Drake. K Keane and K Rogers got good game time too. Would have liked to seen Alan Feeney get a look-in. He was keeping Caff off the team in 2011 and Caff then was the best full-back in Ireland the next two years (don't mind O'Carroll's All Star). Feeney has to still be good enough, he's only 29 this year. Eoghan O'Reilly is another option.

Midfielders will be two from O'Sheas and Moran.

That leaves Higgins as a proper option for the half-forward line.. Assume that McLoughlin, Cillian and Andy will start and that leaves two more forward places. One of these could be a midfielder pushed forward but likely it will be a half-forward slot between Adam Gallagher, Dillon and Carolan if Cillian plays inside. Or if Cillian is at 11, I agree with Moysider, he was very good there v Galway last year, it's a race for two slots inside alongside Andy. This would between Freeman, Conroy and possibly Coen who had a good FBD.

I'd take a punt on this team

Hennelly

Cunniffe Caff Barrett
Keegan Boyle Vaughan

O'Sheas x 2

McLoughlin Cillian Higgins
Andy Freeman Conroy

A very good post! People have been saying we need to look for forwards (and we do). But as I have been saying to my mates since the AI final we need backline cover as well. Cunniffes injury in the AI Final last year changed the dynamic of chances of winning the game. Horan had no trust in the defenders on the bench, So our star man (Higgins) was brought back. As for tampering with our half backs. Leave them where they are, they have been the back bone to making this side better than the average side.

[larryin89]

I really hope Horan is more daring  than the two above.

Not even going into it , some Mayo people baffle me , how you can keep wanting to make the same mistakes time and time again.

[From the Bunker]

I really hope Horan is more daring  than the two above.

Not even going into it , some Mayo people baffle me , how you can keep wanting to make the same mistakes time and time again.

Not looking for the same Mistakes? But you can't expect to make wholesale (personnel and positional) changes to a team who lost an AI final by one point and a glided by everyone else? Horan was daring in the AI final with the substitutions he made? Not one of his substitutions where what the ( knowledgeable ) fan on the sideline would have expected. And where did it get us? Galway panicked after losing the 1983 final, dropping a host of fine players from the squad and messing about and destroyed a potentially fine team. Change is good if it is a better (and i mean better) option but if you change for the sake of it because the fans or the media demand it. Well then you are more than likely fecked! Then again some Mayo people like yourself baffle me!

[larryin89]

I'm not looking for a " tear up the script " type thing like your suggesting I am.

Two changes , make room for Adam Gallagher and Evan Regan for the league campaign, if it works , go with it .

I love that aul internet era especially the way you can get to debate your passion with other passionate people but I do think there is a lot of over analysing goes on. We need a couple of scoring forwards to improve our chances of winning an all Ireland .

[moysider]

At least the reluctance to move Keith Higgins out of the corner was overcome. That was something.
Then we ended with him back at 4 after half an hour. Two lads togged for cover - McHale and Keane - were not trusted to replace Cunniffe. 2 other panel defenders last year no longer in the panel. Reality is the management had very few defenders they had confidence in last year when it mattered. Keane and McHale got lots of FBD time but are they going to be thrown in when push comes to shove this year either. Are there others that might be able to leapfrog up the peckin order?

It will be interesting what way Kevin Mac's career goes this year. He seemed to reach a bit of an impasse last year. We were all waiting for him to kick into real form but it never happened. Maybe a relocation to defence could benefit everybody, although it is something I would have been very much against less than a year ago.

It would be lovely if a Gallagher was good enough to improve things this year and he will get league time I suspect. He may well be good enough because he has a lot of quality and application and attitude would be beyond reproach. This time of year the students will be ahead with fitness with Sigerson just around the corner, so we ll have to wait and see.

[muppet]

I'll take this out of the general threads.

Only Syf and Rossfan would look in here. 

Ciaran Kilkenny was born July 1993. He started against Mayo in Sept 2012.
The Dubs in 1995 had two 19 year olds as starters in the AIF.

Shane O'Donnell.

If Conroy has asked not to be considered for U-21 due to Kiltane's commitments then fair enough. If he wants time for the Leaving Cert then that is also fair enough. If not though............

The other member of the FF line Doherty should also be looked at.

A free scoring minor FF line is not something that comes along too often. Let's not make excuses for them to disappear down a well trodden path.

[moysider]

I'll take this out of the general threads.

Only Syf and Rossfan would look in here. 

Ciaran Kilkenny was born July 1993. He started against Mayo in Sept 2012.
The Dubs in 1995 had two 19 year olds as starters in the AIF.

Shane O'Donnell.

If Conroy has asked not to be considered for U-21 due to Kiltane's commitments then fair enough. If he wants time for the Leaving Cert then that is also fair enough. If not though............

The other member of the FF line Doherty should also be looked at.

A free scoring minor FF line is not something that comes along too often. Let's not make excuses for them to disappear down a well trodden path.

You certainly have the bit between the teeth with this one muppet

Is there not an arguement that throwing young fellas in too raw can ruin them? In these days of blanket defences and hairy defenders with years of conditioning and experience in the dark arts how will an undersized 18/19 yr old fare?
Certainly Irwin has the physique and the football but seems sadly lacking in pace. Imo opinion you need to be a Gooch or a big man like AOS to play as a 19yr old. Even Gooch says that he would not get a game now at the weight he started out at 10 yrs ago.

For what its worth I thought the quality players most likely to make it were Hall, Coen, Conlon and Plunkett. Hanley was also coming along nicely before his injury. Most of these guys play in hb line which is always where there seems to be lots of competition in a Mayo underage side.

We ve had lads who seemed to have an eye for goals before. Mikey Sweeney springs to mind and Jason Doherty couldn t stop scoring goals in the league a few years ago, Douglas was fairly keen at underage but........... Michael John Mullan was the minor goal hero in 85 and quickly promoted but never convinved as a senior. In fact we damn all seniors from the 85 team at all.

To the best of my recollection the best young inside forwards we ve produced since the turn of the century were Conoreen, Dillon, Conroy, O Connor and Regan. I m talking where they were as minors. The first 2 are finished or in the twilight of his career. Conroy seems in some way damaged by the wilderness years and his confidence looks brittle, especially in bigger games. O Connor is in rehab and will hopefully make a full recovery. Regan is in football limbo.