MAYO v ROSCOMMON - Connacht Football Championship - Quarter-Final

[seafoid]

https://mobile.twitter.com/TomasORuanaidh/status/1645148415909584897

[Hound]

I'm not so sure winning Connacht is any type of advantage in the new format.
Granted you avoid Dublin and Kerry most likely in the group stages but sure 3 qualify out of that anyway.

As a third seed Mayo will play the first seed away in their first game.
They will have a home game against the 2nd seed in their second game.
They will have a game at a neutral venue against the 4th seed.

If they had won Connacht,as provincial winner they would have a home against against the third seed.
Their 2nd game would be away at the 4th seed,
They would have a game against the 2nd seed at a neutral venue.

Also in terms of qualifying from the groups, while three teams qualify the team that wins the group gets the following weekend off while the 2nd v 3rd play each other (a home venue for the 2nd placed teams) and then the following weekend will play the quarter-finals against the 4 teams that top the group. Remember the stats about 6 day turnarounds in the qualifiers. Any teams who get to the quarter-finals from 2nd or 3rd place in the group stages will be heading into the quarter-finals having played the previous two weekends.

A team's chance of winning Sam increases a fair bit if they top the group and a team's chance of topping the group increases a fair bit if they go in as a number 1 seed i.e. wins a provincial title.

Winning a provincial title offers a big advantage

You're putting way too much emphasis on home advantage. How did that work out for Mayo yesterday? The stats show very little difference in home / away in the championship. '

For example in the 2 years of the Super 8 the home and away rounds worked out as follows:

Home wins 6
Away wins 9
Draws 1

The negative stat for 6 day turnaroud is for losers of provincial finals. No such statistical disadvantage for winners playing the following week.

[seafoid]

Mr Burke

https://mobile.twitter.com/TomasORuanaidh/status/1645144219302895618

[Rossfan]

Yesterday was a good day, great performance and victory.
Now for Galway who I suspect will be primed to put a halt to our gallop.

We'll worry about the Group stages when those draws are made.
In the meantime if we could manage it a Connacht Title would be very nice indeed.

[Rossfan]

Seafoid or anyone able to copy the full text?
https://m.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/roscommon-show-stomach-for-battle-that-exposes-mayos-frailties-42425607.html

[seafoid]

Seafoid or anyone able to copy the full text?
https://m.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/roscommon-show-stomach-for-battle-that-exposes-mayos-frailties-42425607.html

Sorry, I don't have an Indo subscription

[Blowitupref]

Seafoid or anyone able to copy the full text?
https://m.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/roscommon-show-stomach-for-battle-that-exposes-mayos-frailties-42425607.html

From EAMONN SWEENEY


Roscommon show stomach for battle that exposes Mayo
Talking point Burke sets up famous victory with a masterplan his courageous players execute to perfection

JOE BIDEN, Enoch Burke, Panti Bliss, Sally Rooney, Mary Robinson, Louis Walsh, your boys took a hell of a beating. Can you hear me, Joe Biden?

Robin Williams said that cocaine is God's way of telling you that you're making too much money. Roscommon are God's way of telling Mayo they're getting too cocky.

In 1970, 2001 and 2019 Mayo sides who'd just won the national league were instantly brought back down to earth by their neighbours. In 1986 and 1991 too, 'green and red' fantasies of All-Ireland glory were destroyed by less fancied Roscommon outfits.

The sound of Mayo voices prophesying Sam drift across the border, to Ballinlough, to Frenchpark, to Loughglynn, and Roscommon prepare to fulfil their traditional role as spoilsports. Yesterday in Castlebar, oops Mayo, they did it again.

You'll see better winning performances in this year's championship but you won't see a gutsier one. There are stronger football counties than Roscommon but none braver.

​

Defying

The least populated county ever to win an All-Ireland senior title have kept defying the demographic odds for the 80 years since. Their population is half that of Mayo, one third of Meath's and one quarter of Galway's. Cork have divisions with more people.

There are counties with bigger picks than Roscommon who limit their ambitions to lower division league titles and a Tailteann Cup run.

But the Rossies just don't know their place. They're also the smallest county to capture All-Ireland U-21 and minor titles and have made three of the last 11 finals in the former competition.

Roscommon look up rather than down. Their conviction that they belong at the top table is so infectious it masks the extent to which they overachieve.

Yesterday's triumph follows a third place top flight league finish by a team who'd been tipped for relegation.

This was your typical Roscommon ambush. The conditions turned the game into a dour duel reminiscent of the province's darker days. This was as old school Connacht as a Today Tonight report from the eighties showing emigrants flying out from Knock while 'Flight of Earls' by the Wolfe Tones played on the soundtrack.

The question of which team wants it most is crucial on such dogged days. No-one could have wanted a win more than Roscommon yesterday.

Their traditional obduracy has been ramped up by a remarkable young manager in Davy Burke who has brought the same edge to Roscommon that Diego Simeone did to Atletico Madrid. Roscommon were tough, determined and above all ruthlessly pragmatic.

They slowed the game down when in possession and sometimes when they weren't, imposing a stop-start rhythm which prevented the favourites from getting into the flowing stride previously evident under Kevin McStay.

Even with a strong wind behind them in the second half, Roscommon opted to defend in numbers and attack on the break, striking with the cool precision of a classic catenaccio Serie A side poaching away goals in Europe.

One passage of play when Mayo had closed to within two points with seven minutes of normal time left encapsulated the game as a whole. The favourites held possession for over two minutes and completed thirty-three passes as they sought to create a scoring opportunity into the wind.

Some of this passing was slow and lateral as Mayo tried to plot a path through the visiting rearguard. But there were injections of pace, switches of direction and drives at the heart of defence by Diarmuid O'Connor, Donnacha McHugh and Tommy Conroy.

Roscommon's ability to hold out under this pressure owed much to a well-organised defensive system. Yet it also required enormous courage and discipline from players as individuals. The thin yellow line bent and buckled but would not break.

When the outsiders finally forced a turnover, just three passes sufficed to set Diarmuid Murtagh galloping down the left wing to strike a superb point. Moments like that tell you whose day it is.

They'll also have alerted Kevin McStay to the magnitude of the task ahead of him. His opening months might have lulled him into believing Mayo football can be bound by the rules of logic.

You put together a good team, you get them playing well, you look like the best team in the country and you win things.

It's never that simple with Mayo. They specialise in making things as difficult as possible for themselves and their supporters. What else would you expect from a county whose idea of a fun holiday outing is walking up a stoney mountain in your bare feet?

Someone should have taken the new manager by the arm as the final whistle sounded and paraphrased the words spoken to Jack Nicholson at the end of Chinatown, "Forget it Kevin, it's Mayo."

The result will have little practical impact on Mayo's All-Ireland hopes. But the performance suggested their title chances have been greatly exaggerated. The McStay Project promises great things but not this year.

​

Composure

Mayo were grievously short of ideas when in possession and of composure when the game might have been rescued late on. For the first time since his retirement they felt the lack of Lee Keegan.

It's impossible to imagine Kerry or Dublin losing a game like this. It'll be interesting to see how Galway cope against a Roscommon side with the bit between its teeth.

The small county are living up to a proud tradition. There was a definite Harry Keegan feel to a back line where the fighting spirit of Pádraig Pearses' trio Niall and Conor Daly and David Murray echoed that of their erstwhile clubmate Heather Payne against the USA on Saturday night.

Murtagh's artistry on the ball brought Tony McManus to mind. And Enda Smith's powerful run through the Mayo defence before fisting the insurance point deep into injury-time was something Dermot Earley would have been proud of.

The best little county in football produces warriors in every generation. There's no one quite like them

[seafoid]

The Irish Times report

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/2023/04/09/roscommon-give-mayo-a-rude-awakening-yet-again-after-league-title-win/
Roscommon give Mayo a rude awakening yet again as they execute perfect ambush
Visitors' tactics work out brilliantly as they stage brave raid on the league champions


Sun Apr 9 2023 - 18:48

Connacht SFC quarter-final: Mayo 0-10 Roscommon 2-8
A perfect ambush. Favourites Mayo had spent the previous week banishing thoughts of their warmly welcomed league final win over Galway and focusing on the Connacht championship visit of Roscommon to Hastings Insurance MacHale Park.

There had been the nagging precedent that their previous three league titles over a period of 53 years had each entailed losing to their neighbours in championship but all the more reason for wariness.

It may have encouraged Roscommon but there was more to this accomplished raid than superstition. Davy Burke's team had been targeting the match since the draw was made. Obviously Mayo had as well but as part of the All-Ireland shortlist and with a restorative league campaign, this provincial quarter-final may not have been uppermost in their thoughts.

"When I met Donie Smith first in November," said Burke afterwards, "he told me they'd be ready for Easter Sunday. They had it marked in the calendar a long way out, massive rivalry there. I'm not going to tell anyone about Roscommon-Mayo rivalry. They know more about it than I do."


Their game plan worked brilliantly. It was designed to make scoring as hard as possible for the league winners – no yielding easy space or conceding needless frees and to pressurise the ball carrier at all times within scoring range. A phalanx of defenders blocked the path to goal and pushed attacks out wide.

There were a couple of significant junctures. Had Aidan O'Shea, who caused the most trouble of all the forwards, been more ambitious with turnover ball in the 51st minute, Mayo might have been able to seize the lead, which would have been a telling response to a four-point deficit at half-time in a low-scoring match. Instead he opted for the safety of a point to reduce the margin to one


If that got the favourites back on to their opponents' shoulder, they never managed to kick for home. In fact it was Roscommon who picked off crucial scores, making smart use of counterattacks to stretch their lead back into something more comfortable. The one-point deficit was as good as it got for Mayo.

Then in the 66th minute, after a sustained spell of pressure moving the ball backwards and forwards, Tommy Conroy spied a gap in the defence that wasn't there and was dispossessed. The roars from the travelling support increased to a crescendo, as Diarmuid Murtagh raced away at the other end to kick a point for a three-point lead, 2-6 to 0-9.

It was symbolic of the difference between the teams. Mayo found it so hard to create chances that a big score never looked likely. In addition, it has been one of Burke's calling cards that Roscommon are tighter at the back. They averaged a concession of 0-13 in the league and brought that parsimony to bear here.


Even last week's Mayo success gave encouragement to Burke.

"Mayo scored 0-14 in Croke Park last Sunday and 10 came from frees and marks. We had to limit the frees. I thought last weekend they got a few soft ones as well. I thought the referee was brilliant today. We blocked up the middle, got physical with them but disciplined and see what happened."

The day was wet, windy and as unpleasant as any championship day might be. Initially Mayo were hitting their stride and had two goal chances in the opening 10 minutes.


Tommy Conroy was pushed wide by Roscommon goalkeeper Conor Carroll as he broke onto Ryan O'Donoghue's pass over the top in the fourth minute and could only attempt a fisted point which went wide. A few minutes later, O'Shea touched on a Paddy Durcan long kick to Stephen Coen but his shot cannoned off the crossbar and safely out.

If that suggested Mayo had goals in them, it was misleading. Roscommon's defence, well marshalled by Brian Stack, gave little away thereafter. At centrefield Enda Smith and Keith Doyle had the better of things, even though Diarmuid O'Connor worked hard.

The Roscommon pair did well under Carroll's long – in every sense – restarts, slipping up slightly at the end of the first half when the home side got a grip in a run of scores.

Two first-half goals proved critical. The first, a penalty, came about after a shot from Dylan Ruane was blocked by Jordan Flynn but Conor Loftus was deemed to have pushed David Murray in a contest for the rebound.

Enda Smith expertly dispatched the penalty in the 25th minute and just after Mayo had strung together a response – three unanswered points – Roscommon struck again. Donie Smith was alert to ball deflected loose by Jack Carney's block on Ciarán Lennon and drilled it back into the net for a 2-2 to 0-4 half-time lead.

It was further tribute to Roscommon's mental strength that although Mayo threatened that lead in the second half, they never impacted on it.


"From the time the ball was thrown in," said Mayo manager Kevin McStay, "we really had a sense that we could keep Roscommon off the goals and maybe get one ourselves and we applied the pressure. We had two great early goal chances and fluffed our lines and then Ros got through. Hats off to them. They were terrific and well done."

MAYO: Colm Reape (0-2, one free, one 45); Donnchadh McHugh (0-1), Conor Loftus, Jack Coyne; Eoghan McLaughlin, Stephen Coen, Paddy Durcan (0-1); Jordan Flynn, Diarmuid O'Connor; Fionn McDonagh, Jack Carney, Matthew Ruane (0-1); Aidan O'Shea (0-1), Ryan O'Donoghue (0-2, two frees), Tommy Conroy (0-1). Subs: Darryl McHale for McDonagh, Darren McHale for McDonagh (both 52 mins), Jason Doherty for McLaughlin, Conor McStay for Flynn (both 62), Cillian O'Connor for Ruane (69). Temporary sub: Cillian O'Connor (0-1) for McHale (53-69).

ROSCOMMON: Conor Carroll; Conor Hussey, David Murray, Conor Daly; Brian Stack, Niall Daly, Eoin McCormack; Enda Smith (1-1, penalty), Keith Doyle; Ciaráin Murtagh, Dylan Ruane, Ciarán Lennon; Donie Smith (1-0), Diarmuid Murtagh (0-6, four frees), Ben O'Carroll. Subs: Conor Cox (0-1) for D Smith (60 mins), Richard Hughes for N Daly (67), Niall Kilroy for Ruane (69), Cian Connolly for O'Carroll (72). Temporary subs: Cian McKeown for Lennon (53-ft).

Referee: Noel Mooney (Cavan).

Seán Moran
Seán Moran

[Rossfan]

Thanks Blowitupref.
Best little County in football
Don't know our place
Obdurate

Love it!

[From the Bunker]

Time for Mayo to crawl back into their cave and hide for a Month and a half, let the media go back to forgetting about us. They wrote all they could write about Mayo football this week, last week and all the weeks during our League campaign. The circus has left town and moved elsewhere.  Out of sight - out of mind. They'll go back to talking about The Dublin's, the Kerry's, the Tyrones, the New York's, the Sligo's, the Clares, the Derry's, the Armagh's, The Galway's. It's hard to write a story about a team doing nothing. Talk of Mayo being No. 1 have vanished - just like that!

So here we are, no further forward and no less behind than if we had come through yesterday. There is something wrong with a system that does not reward winning when it comes to the AI championship. There is a sort of consolation from that. But in turn devalues the Provincial crown to a new lower level, the biggest devaluation probably since 2001.

The tinkering with the Championship probably has a goal of putting more emphasis on the two National competitions.

[whitey]

My earliest Football memories are of Mayo getting hammered in the Hyde by the Rossies in the late 70s

Dermot Earley, Harry Keegan, Tony Mc, Gay Sheerin, O Connor  are some of the names that spring to mind

In 1980 Roscommon were within a kick of the ball of the great Kerry team on the 80s

The following year Mayo made their "breakthrough" and they went up to Dublin and got beaten  out the gate by the same Kerry team. Mayo didn't even score in the second half they were that bad

Roscommon have a great tradition and have produced great footballers over the years and more importantly they have produced great teams

I said it on here last week that an "ambush" was on the cards.

I doubt Paddy Joe heard the Cuckoo in his travels yesterday and I'd say he was more likely to have stepped into a pothole full of water than into melting tar.

Credit where credit is due. That's what championship football is all about

[SLIGONIAN]

I watched the game wanting to Roscommon to win but probably more neutral than anything else. Roscommon were very good in so many facets. Ball retentions, setting traps, squeeze defence, clinical etc... but no mention on here about the referee?

[IolarCoisCuain]

I watched the game wanting to Roscommon to win but probably more neutral than anything else. Roscommon were very good in so many facets. Ball retentions, setting traps, squeeze defence, clinical etc... but no mention on here about the referee?

Gaelic football must be the hardest sport in the world to referee. What's the point in bitching about any poor eejit that has to do an impossible job?

[From the Bunker]

I watched the game wanting to Roscommon to win but probably more neutral than anything else. Roscommon were very good in so many facets. Ball retentions, setting traps, squeeze defence, clinical etc... but no mention on here about the referee?

Yes, Roscommon had to be admired for the way they went about their business.

[SLIGONIAN]

I watched the game wanting to Roscommon to win but probably more neutral than anything else. Roscommon were very good in so many facets. Ball retentions, setting traps, squeeze defence, clinical etc... but no mention on here about the referee?

Gaelic football must be the hardest sport in the world to referee. What's the point in bitching about any poor eejit that has to do an impossible job?

That is fair enough just for me he could of refereed it a lot fairer. He was incredibly harsh on Mayo and gave soft frees to Roscommon throughout. I still cant get my head around the off the ball free in the first min. It actually got to the point where I googled him and seen he reffed Sligo v Roscommon last year and sent off our player early harshly turning the game into a non contest. Roscommon will be hoping he refs their remaining matches. I don't think its an impossible job to be a fair referee.