Maigh Eo v Corcaigh, 1600, 3ú Lúnasa, Páirc an Crocaigh

[mayoman dan]

Just watched this back on rte player are the Mayo management asleep on the line? Kept letting Cork have the short kickouts and we didnt have a bulls notion what to do with the extra man or men.Crazy stuff altogether

[lynchbhoy]

Def the mayo mgt needs to pull their socks up , but mayo are improving as the championship progresses. Are they finally going to time their run just right?

[Lar Naparka]

I've just watched a video of the game and I still can't figure out the reasons for the dramatic turnaround in the last quarter.  Was it a case of Mayo imploding once more or did Cork's tactical changes and substitutions bring them right back into the game?
Probably a mixture of both.
Donncha O'Connor made one hell of a change when he was introduced, I'm afraid to think of what might have happened if he had been on from the start.
Talk about an "impact" sub!
I'm afraid the cupboard is bare where Mayo's impact subs are concerned. Can't see James leaving Andy or Alan out for the next game and that's for sure. He just hasn't got the players in reserve to change the course of any game . Maybe that's not his fault as he can only go with what he has.
To me at any rate, some of his substitutions are bizarre and it takes him for too long to make switches that are obvious to everyone else bar him and his buddies on the sideline.
Anyway we won and that's the main thing but it was far too close for comfort.
Mayo have the alarming tendency to play excellent football at times and leave clear daylight between themselves and the opposition and then for some inexplicable reason they sit back and allow the opposition to get back into the game.
I don't always agree with Brolly but when he said Mayo aren't ruthless enough to win an All-Ireland, I had to agree with him.
It's hard to understand why this is do as Mayo can do the basic things well and, according to some, they are "streetwise" and definitely are the most experienced side around there's no logical reason why they should take the boot off the pedal so often, in a manner of speaking.
One thing for certain, if they ease off against Kerry as they did against Corkl, Farr will have the last laugh!

[mayoman dan]

I've just watched a video of the game and I still can't figure out the reasons for the dramatic turnaround in the last quarter.  Was it a case of Mayo imploding once more or did Cork's tactical changes and substitutions bring them right back into the game?
Probably a mixture of both.
Donncha O'Connor made one hell of a change when he was introduced, I'm afraid to think of what might have happened if he had been on from the start.
Talk about an "impact" sub!
I'm afraid the cupboard is bare where Mayo's impact subs are concerned. Can't see James leaving Andy or Alan out for the next game and that's for sure. He just hasn't got the players in reserve to change the course of any game . Maybe that's not his fault as he can only go with what he has.
To me at any rate, some of his substitutions are bizarre and it takes him for too long to make switches that are obvious to everyone else bar him and his buddies on the sideline.
Anyway we won and that's the main thing but it was far too close for comfort.
Mayo have the alarming tendency to play excellent football at times and leave clear daylight between themselves and the opposition and then for some inexplicable reason they sit back and allow the opposition to get back into the game.
I don't always agree with Brolly but when he said Mayo aren't ruthless enough to win an All-Ireland, I had to agree with him.
It's hard to understand why this is do as Mayo can do the basic things well and, according to some, they are "streetwise" and definitely are the most experienced side around there's no logical reason why they should take the boot off the pedal so often, in a manner of speaking.
One thing for certain, if they ease off against Kerry as they did against Corkl, Farr will have the last laugh!

I think fatigue had a lot to do with the collapse aswell we dont look as fit as we did at this stage last year and im hoping this is because we are timing it to be firing on all cylinders for the next 2 games.However management cant see whats happening on the pitch and the substitutions are doing nothing to address the problems on the pitch.Was there not some statement after last years AIF that Horan would have some spotters in the stands to help him with these decisions.I would disagree that Mayo do not have impact subs if we used our squad right we should have Andy Feeney Gibbons as very usefull impact subs.Parsons has had a bad time with injuries so we cant blame management for him not really being an option.Adam Gallagher looked like he could be an option but no one seems to know what happened here.Young O Connor and O shea were thrown in at the deep end in the Hyde which was a big mistake IMO and they seem to have fallen out of favour ever since however they have time on there side to make the step up.

[highorlow]

I think fatigue had a lot to do with the collapse aswell we dont look as fit as we did at this stage last year and im hoping this is because we are timing it to be firing on all cylinders for the next 2 games.However management cant see whats happening on the pitch and the substitutions are doing nothing to address the problems on the pitch.Was there not some statement after last years AIF that Horan would have some spotters in the stands to help him with these decisions.

I'm probably way wrong here but does it look like the subs plan appears premeditated rather than based on how the lads are getting on? Andy Moran seemed shocked to be getting subbed, he looked like he was getting into the game better and had just popped a great point. Apart from a fair bit of slipping (worried about cruciate and not wearing long studs?) I thought he was doing ok. It appeared that on the 60min mark they had already planned to bring in Varley (likely for either AM or AD). I think on the WJ blog WJ aluded to this also where Varley is the man expected to come on and bang over a few points (like he did down in Castlebar against Kerry).

The same was for Conroy and the blood sub? Why not use Feeney for this? I would have thought he would be more suited to come into the HF line. Again appeared to be premeditated for a blood sub, i.e. any forward gets a blood then its Conroy.

The rest of the subs were actual decisions by the players rather than the management, COC (i think) asked or signaled to be taken off as did AOS. Although I always expected that Freeman would get a run anyhow. The only call that may have been made 'on the day / on the spur' was the Chris Barrett change.

If the substitute situation isn't improved we will struggle. Is it time to throw caution to the wind against Kerry and introduce Coen, Sweeney or DOC to the game at some stage? Maybe we are all wrong and JH and the management are keeping these lads in 'hunger' mode for the last 2 hurdles and will be moving with them the next day?

[Champ15]

In terms of the subs coming in it's quite clear they are pre planned on who is to come on anyway. We've more or less used the same subs all championship! This decision JH has made in a couple of games this year of bringing lads in in the final few seconds to eat up time is a joke too. They need to come on earlier especially in croke park where its a bigger pitch and lads tire out earlier. The decision to bring Andy off was the correct one IMO the only thing he did right was score the point but that was well into the 2nd half after he had slipped and lost a fair few balls resulting in 2 points for cork, replacing him however with Varley I mean does Horan see something different in him that we don't see? He has the capability of scoring wonder points on occasion but he's never been consistent or even good enough to hold down a regular starting position in his Mayo career!

[highorlow]

the only thing he did right was score the point but that was well into the 2nd half after he had slipped and lost a fair few balls resulting in 2 points for cork,

Ah now, Andy, got another point and offloaded for at least 2 more. He also changed the point of the attack with some good footpassing. He also bought a good free from the ref early in the second half which resulted in a point.

Champ15, view the game again on the RTE player. You mustn't have caught any of the above during the live game. I think people are over critical of Andy and Dillion's mistakes because they are on the ball so often, we seem to expect a flawless return form these lads which rarely happens for any player given the pace of the games these days. Thankfully we have some starting inside forwards that can win their own ball. I don't think the same can be said for some of the replacements we are using.

[Champ15]

the only thing he did right was score the point but that was well into the 2nd half after he had slipped and lost a fair few balls resulting in 2 points for cork,

Ah now, Andy, got another point and offloaded for at least 2 more. He also changed the point of the attack with some good footpassing. He also bought a good free from the ref early in the second half which resulted in a point.

Champ15, view the game again on the RTE player. You mustn't have caught any of the above during the live game. I think people are over critical of Andy and Dillion's mistakes because they are on the ball so often, we seem to expect a flawless return form these lads which rarely happens for any player given the pace of the games these days. Thankfully we have some starting inside forwards that can win their own ball. I don't think the same can be said for some of the replacements we are using.

I did watch it back I recorded it on sunday he made  too many mistakes for me especially in the first half and I would have hooked him off at half time. I don't like being too critical off him because he's the fulcrum of our full forward line as a ball winner and any player could have a bad game but the truth is he was a liability in the first half losing possession 2 of which resulted in cork scores. I'd love to know what studs he was wearing compared to others and he will probably have to change them for the semi if that was the root cause of his slipping

[Syferus]

The cohesion in the forward line completely fell apart after Andy was subbed out. It opened up the game for Cork by cutting Mayo's momentum when it had looked almost unstoppable. They went from a seven point lead to a tie game. They missed numerous shots in that period, mostly selfishly taken attempts that would have any manager tearing his hair out such was the quality of the kicking and decision-making. It wasn't until AOS's goal that they looked to have steadied the ship and that lasted all of thirty seconds. Subbing out Andy ranks higher up the clanger scale than pulling Freeman after 15 minutes in the AI final. It was a truly terrible substitution.

[Maroon Manc]

As a neutral I thought Moran was poor, a lot of ball appeared to go in his direction and he really struggled to keep control of it. He's always out in front of his man but that injury has really affected his pace and struggles to win primary possession. If he gets space though he's very accurate as you could see from his second point.

I do find it unfair that some of the criticism Horan & Mayo receive from some on here and some of the pundits with regards to finishing teams off. I put that down to not possessing a real top quality full forward or corner forward with pace.

[macdanger2]

I'd like to see sweeney getting some time, I think his pace would cause problems late in the game.

[muppet]

We won a game we should have won well, could have drawn, or even lost, against a team we could never beat until 2011. But we are through to our 4th semi-final in a row nonetheless.

We should probably move on to talking about the next match.