Just thought I'd start thid individual thread, with Mayo running out 1 point winners against them in the league semi final Galway will be out for revenge and to get one over on Mayo for the defeat in the Connaught Final last year. Mayo were probably fairly tired against them as that was their 4th game in a row.
We should have D Brady and T Mortimer back which would be a huge boost so I'd say Mayo for this game which should be tight and hopefully an exciting encounter.
Looking forward to it.
This will be a long thread. Its just under four weeks to the game! ::)
Cue the friendly banter
Then turning it into a slagging match
All before the dirty digs about Mayo being chokers etc etc...
( I am pessimistic form today :( )
anyone want to give the probable teams a go...
1) Doherty 2)Fitzgerald 3)Hanley 4)D Burke 5)D Meehan 6)Blake 7)Coyne 8)Cullinane 9)Bergin 10)Coleman 11)P Joyce 12)C Bane/Ja Fallon 13) M Meehan 14) M Clancy 15) N Joyce
Goalkeeper and backline picks itself really bar no 7 where Comer would be unlucky to lose out. Blake at midfield wont last and I think given the aerial superiority Galway had at midfield last day out Ford may opt for Cullinane there and launch all our kickouts on top of him and Bergin. Coleman and P Joyce in half forwards to give that line some much needed workrate - Coleman to get stuck in around midfield and out fox BJ Padden. I think he'd be too cute for BJ to handle. Ja/Bane a tough call.....but Bane provides a bit more of a scoring threat. Nicky to play in inside line where he belongs - serious pace and would cause alot of problems for Mayo full back line if on song. Would play Nicky even if S Armstrong was fit. It may be an idea for Ford to put Matthew Clancy at 14 if fit....let Galway take a leaf outta Donegals book and get Clancy to drag Kilcullen all over the place. He doesnt look the most mobile and didnt look comfortable yesterday when pulled out of position. If it didnt work, just interchange 11 & 14.
Jaysus lads ye're getting started good and early, Trying to forget about yesterday already! ;) Think the Galway team will be along the lines of
1.Paul Doherty (Dodgy as hell and we thought Alan Keane was bad)
2.Kieran Fitz
3.Finian Hanley
4.Damien Burke (Back line picks itself really, no reason to make any changes)
5.Deccie Meehan
6.Diarmuid Blake
7.Niall Coyne (has the makings of a classy half back line)
8.Barry Cullinane/Paul Geraghty
9.Joe Bergin (Still shaky enough in mid-field, Geraghty/Cullinane as good/bad as each other)
10.Niall Coleman
11.Derek Savage
12.Cormac Bane (Ja has to go, doesn't have the legs for it as witnessed in the league, Armstrong could be in line for a spot here too)
13.Mike Meehan
14.Padraic Joyce
15.Nicky Joyce (Nicky needs to be closer the goal, has played well consistently throughout the league, Mike needs to find from again but wouldn't be too worried about him, he can be anonymous all day and then turn a game on its head. Padraic just needs to keep playing the way he has been in the league, our best player on the field and the leader of this team.)
What I'd like to see is Mike M given a run at centre forward, the change of scenery might give him a bit of a boost performance wise. Other than that I think Niall Coyne will move to the wing allowing Blake back in at no.6 with Mike Comer making way.Wouldn't play Padraic at 11 MaroonandWhite, that rarely works, apart from the replayed Kerry game in 2000 I don't think he's ever had a really good game there for Galway. It'd give the ha;f forward line a boost no doubt but he's needed inside where he's at the most dangerous.We'll also have a new captain heading into this game, so Galway lads will it be Kieran Fitz or Damien Burke I wonder?It's a ludicrous system of picking captain we have, surely to God it should be up to the team management and the team themselves who their captain is and not the committee of the county champions.
I'll give the Mayo team a go
D. Clarke
L. O'Malley
J. Kilcullen
K. Higgins
E. Devenney
D. Heaney
P. Gardener
D. Brady
P. Harte
T.Mortimer
K. O'Neill
A. Dillon
C. Mortimer
G. Brady
A. Moran
I'm not sure if that's how the forwards will line out, there are a few positional conundrums to be ironed out. Ger Brady might well be lucky to make it, if reports on recent performances are accurate, if that's the case than maybe Kilcoyne/Campbell into the half forward line with T Mort moving into the edge of the square
Will this thread run to the All-time classic of 500 posts that the Connacht final threads ran to 2 years ago??
1. Clarke
2. Higgins
3. O'Malley
4. A Higgins
5. D heaney
6. BJP
7. Gardiner
8. D Brady
9. Harte
10. Dillion
11. A Moran
12. G Brady
13. C Mort
14. K O N
15. T MOrt
1. Clarke
2. Higgins
3. Heaney (but just for this game)
4. O'Malley
5. Devanney
6. BJP
7. Gardiner
8. Nallen / Kilcullen
9. Harte
10. T Mortimer
11. A Moran
12. Campbell
13. C Mortimer
14. Dillion
15. O'Neill
Personally, I don't believe Kilcullen will make the cut at full back for Mayo for the Galway game. He has looked very vulnerable any time I have seen him in the league.
I have a sneaking feeling David Heaney will be picked at number 3 with a view to taming Joyce. He has a decent record against Joyce so I think Johnno will play him there.
As regards the Galway team, keeper will be Doherty as we don't have any alternative (he is extremely dodgy though), FB line will be Fitzy, Hanley & Damo Burke.
HB line will probably be Deccie Meehan at 5, Blake at 6 and Coyne at 7 (with Comer losing out).
Midfield will be Bergin & AN Other. We don't have too many options here either. It'll be Cullinane, Geraghty or Ja Fallon I'd say to partner Joe.
I think the FF line will be Mike Meehan, PJ and Nicky Joyce. Coleman will be named at wing forward and will be helping out around midfield. He can be a bit headless at times and his distribution needs working on but we need his workrate and aggression around the field.
The other 2 spots are up for grabs between Bane, Savo, Armstrong, Matt Clancy and Ja (if he's not played at midfield).
Bane should get 1 of these positions as he's been scoring well while the other spot is anyone's guess. Savo hasn't been playing that well and hasn't been scoring much and neither has Ja. Armstrong has been injured and is more of a full forward line player.
It's possible though that Nicky will be played on the wing which would mean either Armstrong or Savo playing at no.15.
Clarke
Higgins
J.Killcullen
D.Kilcullen
Devanney
Heaney
Gardiner
Harte
Brady
T.Mortimer
Hanley
Kilcoyne
C.Mortimer
O'Neill
Dillion
1 P. Doherty
2 K. Fitzgerald
3 F. Hanley
4 D. Burke
5 D. Meehan
6 D. Blake
7 N. Coyne
8 N. Coleman
9 J. Bergin
10 M. Clancy
11 M. Meehan
12 C. Bane
13 D. Savage
14 P. Joyce
15 N. Joyce
I dont think Ford has been impressed by Geraghty or Cullinane enough too start either of them midfield. Coleman will win his fair of share of ball. Bergin has to continue his current form and step up to the mark at championship level.
Matt Clancy will start as he is needed to win the breaks and do the hard running in the half forward line. Ja better suited to impact sub role.
Mike Meehan could really revel at centre forward and get the space for his class to shine through. Can see him dominating games from here. Very possible he will play some part out here.
What is the crack with McDonald?
Whatever way you slice it Galway's half-forward line is going to be very weak. Any combination of Matt Clancy & Cormac Bane is going to be severely lacking in ball-winning ability. If (big if) Armstrong is fit you may see something like
N Coleman P Joyce C Bane
N Joyce M Meehan S Armstrong
though I'd play Coleman in midfield from the start. It's easier to bring on Geraghty / Cullinane to boost that area rather than taking them off and trying to shore it up. Shame we can't unearth one or two more strong forwards a-la Paul Clancy (will he be fit? doubt it). Perhaps Alan Burke and / or Gary Sice would be worth a run there. Is Damien Dunleavy injured still?
It's conceivable that Galway could beat Mayo in Pease, it's just as possible that a strong, hard-hitting Roscommon could then take Galway.
My Galway team would be:
1. Doherty
2. Fitzgerald
3. Hanley
4. D. Burke
5. D. Meehan
6. Blake
7. Coyne (although there is little between him & comer)
8. Bergin
9. Geraghty
10. Colemane (Geez I thought id never want to see him play for Galway again after the cork game a couple of years back but he has had a decent league and deserves a chance at 10.
11. Fallon
12. N. Joyce (His best performances during the league have been on the wing, Why move him into the corner?)
13. M. Meehan (although I agree with duine eiles assessment of him and a move to no. 11 would do him no harm)
14. P. Joyce
15. Bane (Bane never seems to play that well but always ends up as one of the top scorers so he is worth having in there. If Armstrong is back for the Mayo game, then he will push him hard for a spot)
Cant see Savage making it, He hasnt been playing well during the league. Either has Fallon but he brings a bit of presence to that half forward line.
Think Matt Clancy would be more effective as a sub too
Mayo's midfield may be weak but they are very mobile which would be a worry if Cullinane or Geraghty was to start
If I was a Mayo fan, Id be very concerned about this year, All of ye seem to be including David Brady, Trevor Mortimer & Kevin O'Neill in the lineout, that isnt promising from your prospective since they have rarely featured in the league this year. Andy Moran seems to be playing well this year though (a player I never had any time for in the past) but seen him a couple of times this year (for Mayo & Sligo IT) and ye'll need him to keep that up.
1. K. O'Malley,
2. A. Higgins 3. L. O'Malley 4. K. Higgins
5. E. Devenney 6. B.J Padden 7. P.Gardiner
8. D. Brady 9. P. Harte
15. K. O'Neil
10. A. Moran 11. T. Mortimer/G. Brady 12. A. Dillon
14. C. Mortimer 13. A. Campbell
I can see Mayo going for the two man full forward line with O'Neill doing the floating type role to spary the ball around operating between the midfleld and the half forward line
Id play Nicky at 15 if only to stir things up for the Mayo full back line. They are used to the full forwards being Meehan, Padraig and Armstrong and O'Malley, Higgins & co know how to play them. I think throwing Matt Clancy in at 14 and let him roam leaving Nicky and Mike Meehan inside. It would give the Mayo full back line something different to think about at least
all I can say is tkank god JOM is picking the team and not some of you on this board. Westmayo - have you dropped our best player in the league, Heaney. Another has young Hanley on - the lad is only 19 or so and was evedently out of his depth v Laois in U21, never mind senior.
Clarke, O'Malley, Kilcullen, Higgins, Deveney, Padden, Gardiner, Brady, Heaney, Harte, Moran, G Brady / O'Neill, C Mortimer, T Mortimer, A Dillion.
Think they we have to presist with Kilcullen for the moment. Think he can has the basics, just has to get more physical and assertive. Think Heaney is reveleing in the MF position and would be silly to change him back to a more restrictive CHB position. Nallen is a sub option if Padden not performing. Also need a lot more weight up front therefore Harte and T Mortimer should improve in this area. Maybe Harte would be worth a try at Full Forward? I would have tried it because our build up is way too slow trying to work it up to a small FF line. We seriously need some sort of target man. A O'Malley is not it, so I would give Harte a try. Trevor Mortimer is the other option. Dont like him in the HF line as he can be a bit headless and slow to release. Wouldnt be surprised if McGarrity and McDonald will be on the bench for May 20th. Think O'mahony is putting up a few smoke screens in that regard.
Playing Matt Clancy would give me something to think about too, like will he score, will he pass it to a teammate, will he look up when he goes on a run with the ball etc. (Sorry, but, you know...)
I know, Mouview and Im not a big fan of Clancy either but the one thing that Donegal did that messed up the Mayo full back line was to put a mobile full forward in to pull Kilcullen all over the place and out of full back.....and he lasted 20 mins or so before he was subbed! And the one thing Clancy is is mobile......not the most intelligent alright but mobile! It would leave more space inside for Nicky & Mike. Padraig Joyce wouldnt have the legs to do that to Kilcullen anymore. Plus if he did pull out around the half forward line, it would clutter up that area and maybe allow less opportunity for Devenny and Gardiner to get forward. I just think that Mayo are faced with the same Galway full forward line every time they play us and they have us sussed out and its not worked for us the last couple of years.........a change is as good as a rest and all that!
I agree Maradona, there are some crazy team selections going about. Hanley is not ready yet, David Kilcullen at corner back?? He was class for the U21s on Sat but at half back, what has Liam O'Malley done wrong anyway? Besides it's a bit early to be picking teams, we could have a couple of lads back for the Galway game that woudl change things around, though I seriously doubt McGarrity or McDonald will be among those.
another mad selection . assuming Mgarrity mcdonald not fit in which case they would swap with Mcnicholas and harte
I know the heaney/ nallen thing turned bad last sept but it was a hell of a lot better than last sundays debacle . maybe if we meet kerry full back may need to be rethought and hopefully Mcgarrity would be in the frame by then freeing brady to do a job on Stharr
1. K. O'Malley,
2. L. O'Malley 3.d heaney 4. K. Higgins
5. BJP 6. J nallen 7. P.Gardiner
8. D. Brady 9. P. Harte
10.a Kilcoyne 11. andy moran 12. A. Dillon
14. T. Mortimer 14. t mortimer 13. M Mcnicholas
I cant reay see a place for J Nallen on the starting team this year. Either D Clarke or K O Malley could go in goals and do a good job there, but I'd go with Clarke to start.
Clarke, L O Malley, J Kilcullen, K Higgins, E Deveeney, BJ Padden, P Gardiner, D Brady, D Heaney, T Mortimer, K O Neill, G Brady, C Mortimer, A Dillon, A Moran.
The forward line could have different positions and would not be 100% on Kilcullen or Deveeney starting.
Am I the only one who doesn't see the merit in picking teams this early? As for the game itself, I think it will be another tight tense encounter which will end up with having only 1 or 2 points between the teams again. Mayo didn't impress me in the league game against Galway but still won. I have to say that Mayo are in trouble at midfield, after all David Brady is only one person and if he changes thigs around, which I think he probably will if he rises to it it still won't be sufficient enough for later on in the year. Not going to make a prediction about the game yet but there'll be some build up to it. We will probably see Galway coming out all guns blazing and they will be hard beaten in Salthill, but I won't get too worried about the game just yet!
My team is:
K. O'Malley
L. O'Malley
A. O'Malley
BJP O'Malley
Marty O'Malley
ect
ect
Lads for gods sake we can all throw names on paper and its 4 weeks to throw in. Anything can happen. Unless you were at a training and saw something or at a challenge match and have some hard facts, its hard to read this stuff. I come on here looking for informed info and all it seems to be is stabs in the dark.
Lads if at the end of a league campaign when weve seen the team 7 or eight time in a few months isnt a time to reflect and throw in you rtuppence worth then when is ?
it takes some counties years to get that many championship games . plus helps take our mind off the embarresment of losing to donegal
ive learned to pay no heed to Challange games as this are just golrified training sessions when management may be working on one facet of play and care very little for the result. So if you want to discuss team nows a great time if you dont look away for the next few weeks
K O'Malley
L O'Malley
Kilcullen
K Higgins
Devenney
BJP
Gardiner (I thought he was terrible against Donegal but he wins my vote here)
Brady (I assume he will be back)
Heaney
Dillon
Moran
Kilcoyne or Campbell
C Mortimer
T Mortimer (if fit) if not G Brady
O'Neill
That would be my team for Galway based on what I think. No doubt as maradona said thank God it's Johnno picking the team!
my team is
Clarke
Lo Malley
Kilcullen
Higgins
Dev
BJP
Howley
Heaney
Brady
Dillon
T Mort
Kilcoyne
Mort
Mcd
Moran
Gardiner to get the line unless he learns to defend - Typically Mayo to move Heaney to CHB even though playing top stuff in the miiddle , BJP has been good there all league though he was not great last sunday Id still keep him there,,, O NELL INSTEAD OF mORT, if he is playing up, Mcd will be ok its only rumour... Nallen to replace Padden or Kilcullen if dodgy//
Any word on how the Galway - Fermanagh challenge game went at the weekend?
Many of ye leaving out Harte. Surely an error. In our top 3-4 players in my opinion
I know I omitted Harte, by mistake I might add!! :o If I was to name him on my team he would be at midfield or else at no 10 with Dillon reverting to no 12 with Campbell and Kilcoyne dropping to the bench.
Schoolboy error!
If McD is not fit how about Moran at 11 and Harte at 14?
We've a very settled defence, with a nice mixture of youth (Hanley and Coyne) and experience (Meehan and Fitzgerald). While Damien Blake and Damo Burke have arguably been our best defenders over the past twelve months.
Our midfield is a shambles really. We're lucky that Mayo aren't as dominant in this area as they have been down through the years. McGarrity will be a huge loss. I'm not sure who I'd like to see partner Bergin in midfield. Geraghty and Cullinane both have their uses, being big and awkward. I think Geraghty's awkwardness is in better form than Cullinane's at the minute. Coleman has more football, and is a better fielder than both of them, it's just he doesn't have their size. I think Geraghty will get the nod here to start.
Our half forward line is probably the weakest part of our team. People complain about Mattie Clancy's running down blind alleys, but Savo is in a different league, without the work-rate. I think Mattie should be a certain starter. I'm not actually sure what Savage brings to the team, especially in the half forward line. To add a bit of strength to this area, I'd like to see Niall Coleman at wing forward. For the last few games we've allowed the opposition's defence out far too easily. Coleman will help here, and could funnel back into midfield too. After about 45 minutes you could bring him in to midfield, and take Geraghty off for Ja. Ja doesn't have the legs for 70 minutes, but he'd be a great impact sub. There'd be some roar if he was to be introduced.
I'd like to see Meehan out on Padden. I think that he'd have the beating of him. I don't want to be talking about another game where young Higgins has kept him scoreless again. Nobody has taken that no.11 shirt by the scruff of the neck. Meehan could be the man to do it. He's definitely got the football, and the physicality. I'd love if Paul Clancy was back. Our half forward line has been hit badly by the loss of him and Donnellan.
Our full-forward line has a nice balance to it, no doubt the two Joyce's will work well together, while Bane is a fine right footed free taker, who's well able to take a score from play too.
Geraghty
Fitzgerald, Hanley, Burke;
Meehan, Blake, Coyne;
Bergin, Geraghty:
Clancy, Meehan, Coleman;
Bane, P Joyce, N Joyce.
Both managers will have spotted a lot of weaknesses in both teams. JO'M knows Galway have problems in midfield, and the half forward line, while Forde realises Mayo's centre back and full back could be there for the taking. I'm sure both managers will have developed some tactic that was kept back for the league semi-final. It'll be an interesting game in Salthill.
Going off the point of this thread slightly but does anyone know of any challenge games scheduled for Galway and where and when are they on? I know theyre playing Dublin on Bank Holiday Monday coming in Westmanstown in Dublin at 2.30pm. Any others that anyone know
ws of?
Anyone know if tickets will be on sale online for this? Normally they go on connachtgaa.ie but not yet
Yeah i'd say they could be and of course through the clubs.
Anybody travelling to Dublin after the match? I've an exam on the Monday morning but really want to go to this game! :-\
Read in the paper this morning that McDonald has resumed full training during the week with no ill-effects and that he could well be available for the galway game!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is some news and will be a huge boost to the Mayo team, pure miracle!!
Quote from: Redgreenery on April 29, 2007, 02:29:35 PM
Read in the paper this morning that McDonald has resumed full training during the week with no ill-effects and that he could well be available for the galway game!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is some news and will be a huge boost to the Mayo team, pure miracle!!
More like pure shite from O'Mahoney. He said today that Trevor Mortimer and Brady are certain starters for May 20th too. Looks as if Mayo will have a full hand to pick from.
Where will McD play? In at full forward, or centre forward?
Quote from: DJGaliv on April 29, 2007, 03:08:32 PM
Quote from: Redgreenery on April 29, 2007, 02:29:35 PM
Read in the paper this morning that McDonald has resumed full training during the week with no ill-effects and that he could well be available for the galway game!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is some news and will be a huge boost to the Mayo team, pure miracle!!
More like pure shite from O'Mahoney. He said today that Trevor Mortimer and Brady are certain starters for May 20th too. Looks as if Mayo will have a full hand to pick from.
Where will McD play? In at full forward, or centre forward?
I would love to see him play at corner forward and stay there for the game, no fannying about out the field. He'd have to be worth 3 or 4 points a game if he was trying to score himself from close in rather than laying off the perfect pass.
Msr Horan is dead on with what he said - if he plays inside, Kieran Mc would give some much needed power to a full forward line with Super Mort and O'Neill. Not too surprised to hear he could be available.......
Quote from: MaroonAndWhite on April 30, 2007, 12:24:09 PM
Msr Horan is dead on with what he said - if he plays inside, Kieran Mc would give some much needed power to a full forward line with Super Mort and O'Neill. Not too surprised to hear he could be available.......
Hmmmmm..... a Galway man agreeing with me on this, something fishy here.
O'Mahony playing down the significance of MacD's return to training this morning .......
MAYO boss John O'Mahony has moved to quell rising expectation that Ciaran McDonald could yet make the May 20 clash against Galway in the Connacht championship.
O'Mahony said McDonald's return to training should be taken in the context of the problems he has had since last year's All-Ireland final.
"He has made a number of attempts to refloat, this is just the latest of them. It would be far too early to say when he could resume playing," said O'Mahony whose team easily beat Clare in a weekend challenge game.
"He's been training all along between pools, gyms and everything else. He did step up last week, but it's far too early to say when he would play a competitive game. Crossmolina played at the weekend and he didn't play with them," O'Mahony added.
Does anyone have any news on any other challenges that either Mayo or Galway will be playing between now and the big one?
I dont understand the logic of playing Clare, no direspect to them but it would be a bit like them playing us in hurling (now I've just insulted the Clare footballers and the Mayo hurlers in one sentence), and not what you would think we'd need this close to championship. And besides, didnt we play them in Ballinrobe allready this year in another challenge?
regarding McD, even if things go unbelievably well for him between now and the 20th, the most he's likley to get is a portion of a challenge match under his belt. Hes going to be seriously rusty come the match and at this stage you'd have to say the most Mayo fans can hope for is an appearance off the bench, which mightnt be a bad thing with 20 minutes to go and the fat in the fire.
The election on the 24th will only add to the pressure on Johhno, that and the fact that the match is in Salthill, and the revenge factor HAS to mean that Galway must be raging hot favourites for this one. I hear Mulhollands are paying out on Galway allready.
The next challenge game is in Kildare, presumably against Kildare although that isn't specified.
From The Mayo News:
Quote
A NUMBER of niggling injury worries have surfaced for Mayo manager John O'Mahony after the final round of club league fixtures last weekend before the Connacht Championship opener against Galway on May 20.
Ballina's Enda Devenney was taken off in Ballaghaderreen on Saturday evening after receiving a knock to his knee but the decision to substitute him was said to be 'precautionary'. Trevor Howley also picked up a calf injury playing with Knockmore while Liam O'Malley (hamstring) and Ger Brady (leg) were injured in a challenge match against Clare on Sunday.
However, neither David Brady or Ciaran McDonald togged out for their clubs on Saturday evening and now face a race against time to get some match practice if they are to feature against Galway.
Despite a report in a national newspaper last weekend, the prospect of McDonald playing any part against Galway still seems unlikely. He trained with the county squad on Tuesday and Thursday of last week but was not present in Crossmolina last weekend for their league game.
"Ciaran has done a few sessions and we're hoping that he is on the road to recovery," John O'Mahony told The Mayo News last night. "But the reality is we thought that three or four times before. Ciaran has worked very hard and we'll wait as long as we have to but there is no point in people getting carried away."
Trevor Mortimer also sat out Shrule/Glencorrib's visit to Kilmeena but he was able to come off the bench at half-time on Sunday afternoon against Clare.
David Clarke missed Ballina's league match because of a recurrence of a back/hamstring problem. The injury is not expected to rule him out for May 20 with Kenneth O'Malley also expected to return to training this week.
"We're picking 26 or 27 with the Galway game in mind then we'll be closely observing the club championship games the week after," added O'Mahony. "Barry Moran, Mickey Mullins and Ronan McGarrity won't be included for the Galway game because of injury and illness."
MEANWHILE, Mayo will encounter a home away from home when they travel to Kildare on Sunday next, May 6, for a challenge game as St Lawrence's GAA Club open a €1.8m complex.
The club has a strong connection with Mayo, as many people from the Midfield area moved there en bloc in the 1950s, and last year the community of Calverstown celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first seven families to arrive there.
And the last three chairmen of St Lawrence's GAA Club have all been Mayo men – Michael Gorman, Tom Byrne and Johnny Walsh.
"We are opening our new community complex which includes a full-sized basketball court, gym, sauna, steamroom, kitchen, and bar," said club spokesperson Paddy Murphy. "It has cost €1.8m to build, and of this €550,000 came in a National Lottery grant and another €300,000 was raised locally. We have borrowed some money too.
"The match will have a 3pm throw-in, and people travelling to the venue should take note that St Lawrence's is located between Athy and Kilcullen."
Msgr Horan - Galway are playing the Dubs in a challenge in Westmanstown on Bank holiday Monday May 7th at 2:30pm.
Two resonably good challenges there, Kildare and Dublin.
............just moving this back in case it ends up in page 3,,,,,,,,,something in the water tells me we are going to beat Galway ;)
Well I'd say on the way its gone in the last few years you'd have a 50% chance of being right.
Or wrong.
It all depends on who's got what players and if Mayo can improve sufficently in midfield and in the half back line. Another slow start from mayo and Galway could be 6 or 7 points quick enough.
Is Paul Clancy back in action for Galway? He was massive for them against Mayo two years ago in Salthill.
See David Brady was back playing the Challenge game victory over Kildare, good sign, what ya reckon folks, will he be fit enough for Galway game?
Quote from: Fishead_Sam on May 07, 2007, 02:00:20 PM
See David Brady was back playing the Challenge game victory over Kildare, good sign, what ya reckon folks, will he be fit enough for Galway game?
Good to have him back,we need that extra power in the center, I think himself and Heaney will start at 8 and 9.
what was the score between Mayo and Kildare ?. Anyone know how Dublin and Galway went today ?
I hope that game isn't on tv? Connacht ... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
Cant remember the score but Mayo won by about 6 points or so.
Hey Shitzroy
Munster zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz for the handful attending
Ulster Boxing
Leinster Exciting due to mediocracy available, ie less likely to provide A.I. winner than any other provience.
Connacht zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz perhaps
Whelan goal gives Dubs victory
DUBLIN 1-10 GALWAY 0-12
A Ciaran Whelan goal in the 13th minute of the second half paved the way for a one-point Dublin victory in this SF challenge in Westmanstown on Monday afternoon.
After leading 0-7 to 0-3 the Dubs found life much more difficult into the wind in the second half but Whelan's goal gave them a six point cushion, 1-8 to 0-5, which they just about hung onto.
Galway, who face Mayo in Salthill on May 20 in the Connacht SFC, had plenty of opportunities in the second half but were failed to judge the diagonal wind with sufficient accuracy to make it count on the scoreboard.
Whelan's goal came when he burst onto a centre from Bryan Cullen and blasted past 'keeper Colm King from close range.
The Tribesmen, though, hit five points without reply to leave the minimum between the sides inside the last ten minutes, 1-8 to 0-10.
Substitute Declan O'Mahony split the posts with a good point after fellow sub Declan Lally showed well to win and quickly overload a delivery from Tomas Quinn.
Three minutes later in the 31st minute the subdued Alan Brogan turned his marker Alan Glynn and angled over with his left boot which in effect was the insurance score for the Dubs.
In the opening half the accuracy of Tomas Quinn and Conal Keaney helped Dublin to a four-point interval lead while Diarmuid Connolly showed well for the ball across the half-forward line.
Dublin almost made the ideal start but Shane Ryan was denied a goal from point blank range by King after Whelan showed good vision and accuracy with the boot to pick him out arriving late at the far post.
SCORERS - Dublin: T Quinn 0-4 (0-1f), C Keaney 0-3 (0-1f), C Whelan 1-0, A Brogan 0-2, D O'Mahony 0-1. Galway: N Joyce 0-5 (0-2f), F Breathnach 0-3, P Joyce 0-2, J Bergin, C Bane 0-1 each.
DUBLIN - J Leonard; N O'Shea, R McConnell, S O'Shaughnessy; P Casey, B Cullen, C Goggins; S Ryan, C Whelan; D Murray, R Cosgrove, D Connolly; A Brogan, C Keaney, T Quinn. Subs: D Lally for Murray, D O'Mahony for Ryan, M Vaughan for Cosgrove.
GALWAY - C King; K Fitzgerald, F Hanley, M Comer; D Meehan, N Coyne, G Sice; J Bergin, B Cullinane; F Breathnach, J Fallon, N Joyce; D Savage, P Joyce, C Bane. Subs: A Glynn for Coyne, F Burke for Savage, D Mullahy for Sice.
REF - C Reilly (Meath).
Mossy missed another load of frees again today. I dont understand why dublin persist with his freetaking. At one stage he barely got the ball of the ground with the free and then just popped the rebound over the bar from the hands. He looks to be lacking confidence when taking the frees.
Michael Meehan is carrying an injury, a dead leg I believe.He did not play in a club match on Saturday but hopefully he will recover in time for the big one!
QuoteI would love to see him play at corner forward and stay there for the game, no fannying about out the field. He'd have to be worth 3 or 4 points a game if he was trying to score himself from close in rather than laying off the perfect pass.
I would disagree. MacD as an orthodox inside player would not win enough clean ball. He is not top class at winning ball in the air and against a teck tough corner back would struggle to win enough ball (although i guess if he won one in every 3 and converted them all it would be enough). When he gets on the ball out the pitch, it tends to be from a simple layoff handpass from a team mate
Quote from: blast05 on May 07, 2007, 10:40:02 PM
I would disagree. MacD as an orthodox inside player would not win enough clean ball. He is not top class at winning ball in the air and against a teck tough corner back would struggle to win enough ball (although i guess if he won one in every 3 and converted them all it would be enough). When he gets on the ball out the pitch, it tends to be from a simple layoff handpass from a team mate
I would completely disagree with you there blast.
Firstly I think the word you are looking for is unorthodox.
Its outrageous to suggest that McD would not win enough ball. Everyone knows that he will win any 50-50 ball that comes his way and we can all remember him winning balls that he had no right to win. He has huge strength to hold off his marker in a tackle and to hold onto the ball.
(The All-Ireland semi final springs to mind when he won the ball sandwiched between Cullen and someone else. And he won another ball closer to the sideline and held it up to the dubs in a taunt because he had won possession and won the free... warms the soul)
Anyway you say McD would struggle under a high ball. I guarantee he would not because he played most of his underage football at mid-field with crossmolina. He is good in the air so I dont know what your basing your opinion on.
He would be very effective as a full forward in a target man role. He would win everything that would come his way and would pick out the other forwards very easily if he couldnt take his own scores.
I have often said on here that when he is centre forward our attack is too one dimensional because everything seems to go through him and we became predictable.
Quote from: AbbeySider on May 08, 2007, 09:12:02 AM
Quote from: blast05 on May 07, 2007, 10:40:02 PM
I would disagree. MacD as an orthodox inside player would not win enough clean ball. He is not top class at winning ball in the air and against a teck tough corner back would struggle to win enough ball (although i guess if he won one in every 3 and converted them all it would be enough). When he gets on the ball out the pitch, it tends to be from a simple layoff handpass from a team mate
I would completely disagree with you there blast.
Firstly I think the word you are looking for is unorthodox.
Its outrageous to suggest that McD would not win enough ball. Everyone knows that he will win any 50-50 ball that comes his way and we can all remember him winning balls that he had no right to win. He has huge strength to hold off his marker in a tackle and to hold onto the ball.
(The All-Ireland semi final springs to mind when he won the ball sandwiched between Cullen and someone else. And he won another ball closer to the sideline and held it up to the dubs in a taunt because he had won possession and won the free... warms the soul)
Anyway you say McD would struggle under a high ball. I guarantee he would not because he played most of his underage football at mid-field with crossmolina. He is good in the air so I dont know what your basing your opinion on.
He would be very effective as a full forward in a target man role. He would win everything that would come his way and would pick out the other forwards very easily if he couldnt take his own scores.
I have often said on here that when he is centre forward our attack is too one dimensional because everything seems to go through him and we became predictable.
But we really are lacking a quality number 11 who can win primary ball,and distribute it to the other forwards. However we have, i believe plenty of players to fill full forward. There is no doubt that MCD would be super at 14 but we would be really short at no. 11.
QuoteHowever we have, i believe plenty of players to fill full forward.
You might name them a Ghaeilgeoir. I thought Mayo have been struggling to find a full-foward since Jimmy Burke's day.
Didn't McD play on the inside foreward line against Kerry in '05?? Think he is wasted in there and whilst he'll need to be told to let the ball in quicker I still feel he's better off on the 40.
Quote from: stephenite on May 08, 2007, 11:11:24 AM
Didn't McD play on the inside foreward line against Kerry in '05?? Think he is wasted in there and whilst he'll need to be told to let the ball in quicker I still feel he's better off on the 40.
Amen to that. He could do a good job in the full-forward line, there's no doubting that, but why take the best centre-half forward in the country away from his best position? I think the league final really showed up how much we missed having him as a playmaker. Some say too much goes through him, but as the league final showed, it's better to have it that way than to have nobody at centre-forward to direct the play. My main concern would be that he won't be able for the physicality and energy required to play at no. 11 due to the long lay-off etc, and he may have to go in FF, time will tell I guess.
Quote from: An GaeilgoirBut we really are lacking a quality number 11 who can win primary ball,and distribute it to the other forwards. However we have, i believe plenty of players to fill full forward. There is no doubt that MCD would be super at 14 but we would be really short at no. 11.
We need quality at number 11 and 14.
I would have O Neill at 11 and McDonald at 14. They could easily be switched during the game to change the style of the attack and confuse a defence.
Both great passers and have great peripheral vision for the cross field balls and both can read a game very well.
Stephenite,
I think you are referring to the '04 all Ireland Final against Kerry when McD was named in the full-forward line but was given a free role.
Edit: The role he was given allowed McD to play along the half forward line. The problem was that he was man marked out of the and our attack fell to pieces because we were so used to everything going through him. We need to be careful how much we use McD in that role because the better teams have copped on to it in the past. Again we were very one dimensional.
Stephenite,
I think you are referring to the '04 all Ireland Final against Kerry when McD was named in the full-forward line but was given a free role.
[/quote]
no he actually played at FF, he gave McCarthy a torrid time aswell. Himself and Austin scored 11 pts between them that day I think. McD would work as a full forward, and O'Neill is the best alternative at 11 so I think we could see the 2 of them interchanging alright Abbeysider. What do you think about the Galway game, will we see McD make a cameo appearance? He's back very late so it's hard to see him having a big part to play if any part at all??
Quote from: AbbeySider on May 08, 2007, 11:38:52 AM
Stephenite,
I think you are referring to the '04 all Ireland Final against Kerry when McD was named in the full-forward line but was given a free role.
I think I'm not, Mac D and Austin O'Malley played in the Full Forward line that day. While they both did very well, MacD was limited enough in terms of the influence one would expect from a player of his ability - bad call to have him there any day I feel.
Edit : Just checked that and he did score 3 points from play along with three frees. Still feel he's better at No.11
"McD played most of his underage football at midfield" - no he didn't.
I agree with blast, McD is not a ball winner (never has been) and that's why he doesn't like playing on the full forward line.
Half forward line is his best position, where he can tap over a few points, distribute to full forward line and free up one of his team mates (as there is always two lads marking him)
That's where and how he should be used, anything else is just daftness.
Quote from: OirthearMhaigheo on May 08, 2007, 11:54:06 AM
What do you think about the Galway game, will we see McD make a cameo appearance? He's back very late so it's hard to see him having a big part to play if any part at all??
He may make an appearance. It would certainly lift the team to see him coming on. He is bound to be rusty and needs games but its hard to know whither he will be risked.
Does anyone know the team that went out against Kildare? I heard D Brady did very well.
Quote from: larry buaile on May 08, 2007, 12:06:49 PM
"McD played most of his underage football at midfield" - no he didn't.
My apologies,
I was certain that McDonald was midfield in an U-21 county final around 1997. (not sure the exact year)
QuoteDoes anyone know the team that went out against Kildare? I heard D Brady did very well.
I wasn't at the game myself, but Kenneth O'Malley made his comeback in goal. David Clarke has a hamstring injury and is a doubt for Galway match (I'd have O'Malley as no.1 anyway).
BJP was played at full-back - didn't hear how he fared in that position.
T Mort played and worked hard, but was v rusty and didn't use the ball all that well, but that's to be expected. He hasn't had a consistent run in over a year.
Great to see Brady back and he did pretty well - he'll be a definite starter assuming he can stay fit for a few weeks!
Liam O'Malley didn't play because he also has a hamstring injury - not sure how serious it is.
The squad were in Kildare for the whole weekend. Ciaran Mc was at the match, but wasn't togged.
Looks unlikely he'll play a part against Galway if he couldn't play a few mins of a challenge match.
Quote from: AbbeySider on May 08, 2007, 12:19:14 PM
Quote from: larry buaile on May 08, 2007, 12:06:49 PM
"McD played most of his underage football at midfield" - no he didn't.
My apologies,
I was certain that McDonald was midfield in an U-21 county final around 1997. (not sure the exact year)
Your right abbeysider he did play midfied for cross at underage level,he was there for the minors that got back to back county titles in the early 90's.
However Mc D is not a full forward never was and never will be his best position is in the half forward line , i'm sure conor missed Mc D not playing for the league campaign for the quality of ball he gives in to the corner forwards, i know people say that he slows the game down but i'm sure the corner forwards would rather quality ball going into them rather than high ball been pumped into the full forward line.
There is no way that he will be fit to start against galway but what a player to be able to bring on as a sub,he rarely has a bad game against the auld enemy.
McDonald on the 40 is obvious that he is best suited there, but we have to face it that we are going nowhere fast if we revert with him at No11. The face is that it DOES slow down the mayo game which is already slow when he is not playing. Otherwide if we do play him at 11 the rest of the team must not revert to putting the ball through him almost every time. At stages last year (esp v Dublin) others were taking greater responsibility and it worked well. Unfortunately when we were in trouble in the final, most were looking for McD again.
In my opinion a good footballer can adapt to any position and I would like to see him playing closer to goal. Unfortunally No13 would be the place, but C Mort needs to be there. We have no chance if we keep relying on Mort for scores - with McD our only other natural scoring forward, we have to start getting 3-4 points per game from him. I would disagree somewhat with what type of ball forwards like....whatever is the best ball they would like, the worst is to get a ball while being closely marked at the end of a painfully long build-up - even the best forwards would struggle to score with so little space. As a corner back in my time, I hated quick ball in from mid-feild as the corner forward was normally faster and smarter! Thankfully for me at underage, the best players playing through the middle tended to hold onto the ball thus giving me loads of opportunity to get alongside the forward and break up the ball when it eventually got to him via a hand pass. The forward was usually left cursing and frustrated that he did not get the early ball! Unfortunately mayo seem to play the same way a lot of the time. Even with a high ball in to a 'small' FF line - any player worth his salt should be able to contest what is after all a 50 / 50 ball - we also seem to struggle to do this at times also. I would be reasonably happy with progress this year, but we seriously need to modify out tactics. All are talking about our issues in the backs, but I think we have greater problems at the moment in attack (only conceded 0-12 on ave in the league, however only scored 1-10 on average)
Was at the Galway v Dublin game yesterday - a very half arsed affair...not surprising I suppose with two weeks to go to Championship opener. Hard to know how Galway are going...Colm King in goal-steady enough but kick outs need improvement.He played a relatively strong backline with Damien Burke and Diarmuid Blake absent. Dont know why Burke didnt play, Blakes hamstrung. Niall Coyne pulled up afyter about twenty mins - seemed to be a calf injury. Ford then put Alan Glynn on Brogan.....decent young footballer but he got roasted.
Bergin and Cullinane midfield - God bless Cullinane, he has the best of intentions when attempting to solo the ball but when he tried it yesterday it nearly ended up in Clonsilla village! Seems absurd to say about a county footballer but if he caught it and just laid it off we'd all have less grey hairs! Still,hes better than Geraghty but if half forward line was a bit better Niall Coleman could be moved from there to midfield with Bergin. Whelan and Ryan had the run of it yesterday. Fiachra Breathnach, Ja and Nicky in half forward line with Padraig, Bane and Savo inside. Breathnach scored 3 points - Id say he was thanking his lucky stars he only got Coman Goggins marking him!!! Dont be surprised if Ford thinks hes the answer to our half forward problems now........jesus that doesnt bear thinking. Forwards did shag all....alot of the scores they got were more from poor Dublin play than anything inspired.
I suppose Ford wasnt going to try anything different in yesterdays game, especially with it being common knowledge that it was on. No more than ourselves, the Dubs have a lot to do too........There would want to be some improvement in the next 12 days!
Quote from: MaroonAndWhite on May 08, 2007, 07:31:14 PM
Ford then put Alan Glynn on Brogan.....decent young footballer but he got roasted.
Sounds very familiar, we give stick to Keith Higgins when he gets roasted by Brogan. The Fact is that Brogan is a class act. I cant think of any defender that could stay with him when he is on form.
Quote from: MaroonAndWhite on May 08, 2007, 07:31:14 PM
...God bless Cullinane, he has the best of intentions when attempting to solo the ball but when he tried it yesterday it nearly ended up in Clonsilla village! Seems absurd to say about a county footballer but if he caught it and just laid it off we'd all have less grey hairs!
ROFLMAO !!!
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
Quote from: the Deel Rover on May 08, 2007, 12:34:57 PM
There is no way that he will be fit to start against galway but what a player to be able to bring on as a sub,he rarely has a bad game against the auld enemy.
Thats very true, imagine a worst case scenario. We're down by a point or two half way through the second half, imagine the reaction of the players and fans if we have Ciaran Mc to bring on. Little things like that make a difference in big matches like that.
The biggest worry i'd have is that we are not certain who'll be at full back to watch Joyce. Kilcullen didn't start in the last two challenge matches and BJP was even tried there. I'd gamble on Heaney starting at #3 on the 20th to sort out Joyce but unlikely to feature there from then on.
Its hard to grasp we're back in the thick of the championship with the shockwave of last September well and truly behind us.
Another thing that could be a major factor, the winner of Galway/Mayo will have to wait over a month for their next championship match, whoever that will be will surely be a bit rusty.
What's the build-up like? I'm in Dublin all this week doing some exams and it's hard to gauge anything really. It's hard to believe there's only 11 days until the outcome will be decided of the game!!
It's obvious where Mayo's problems are at the moment. I saw somewhere on some thread that the spine isn't settled and anyone would have to agree with that view. All we can do is hope that O'Mahony is working on this. The major problem areas in the Mayo team are the no 3 and no 6 positions. Midfield should be okay with the return of Brady and the forwards, well there's not much point in changing the personnel of the forwards yet anyway. I cannot see James Nallen starting for the Galway game. As for filling the no 3 and 6 positions, I would definitely agree with Bod Mor to put Heaney at no 3. Padden will probably have to do at no 6 but I cannot see him remaining at no 6 if Mayo are to win Sam this year. That's my honest opinion and to tell you the truth I'm not going to put forward anyone else for no 6 because I still feel Howley is a year too young for that position, but he would definitely be worth a go next year. What do you think M4S? You've been championing Howley to get on the team this year.
From a Galway perspective Im just wondering is yer faith in David Brady justified?
Im not trying to knock the guy and hope it doesnt come back to haunt me but is he being over-rated on the back of two displays as a substitute last year one of which there was nothing to lose by the time he came on?
I know the man is dogged by injuries and is pushin on but he failed to start the last 2 All Ireland finals.
Be interested in yer views.
Quote"McD played most of his underage football at midfield" - no he didn't.
My apologies,
I was certain that McDonald was midfield in an U-21 county final around 1997. (not sure the exact year)
Your right abbeysider he did play midfied for cross at underage level,he was there for the minors that got back to back county titles in the early 90's.
Jaysus, we'll have Crossmolina bucks fighting next !
Regardless of the fact that he played a few underage games at midfield, he is still a poor fielder of the ball and is not great winner of hard ball. I stand by that. Still a complete legend though !
MacDonald also lined out at midfield for the Cross seniors against us in the County semi (or quarter) final in the '04 championship in Knockmore - he had a great engine obviously and was was picking up a lot of ball at his own half back line, with Cross obviously feeling that if he could deliver enough pin point passes into the forwards they might prevail, however the Cross inside forwards weren't able to capitialise against a mean enough Stephenite defence.
But he got completley wiped under any high balls that went near him. That won the game for us as we completley dominated in midfield.
The Cross U21 midfield in 1997 was Gabriel Walsh and Mick Moyles.
QuoteSounds very familiar, we give stick to Keith Higgins when he gets roasted by Brogan
Problem is Higgins nearly always gets roasted when he comes up against the really top players, yet Mayo Fans would call him one of the best corner backs in the country
Quote from: MaroonAndWhite on May 08, 2007, 07:31:14 PM
Bergin and Cullinane midfield - God bless Cullinane, he has the best of intentions when attempting to solo the ball but when he tried it yesterday it nearly ended up in Clonsilla village! Seems absurd to say about a county footballer but if he caught it and just laid it off we'd all have less grey hairs!
Is this Cullinane or Bergin you're talking about? If it's the former then that makes two of them unfortunately.
So Galway sham, are you implying that Michael Meehan isn't all he's made out to be?
Thats Cullinane that can solo! Cant say theres a major problem with Bergin given that hes as athletic as midfielders come, well able to field a high ball and can kick scores for fun when the mood takes him....havent noticed his inability to solo a ball!!!
Higgins is a good corner back (cant remember him getting roasted too often and particularly not by a Galway player), and yes maybe Meehans not all hes cracked up to be...........when he regularly beats the likes of the Higgins, Laceys, Mallons, Griffins, McCarthys and Anthony Lynch's of this world and does it regularly on the big stage rather than destroying the Rossies, Sligo et al Ill be much more convinced. Hes a serious player but maybe doesnt have the pace for corner forward....id much prefer him at 14 given his strength and aerial ability.
QuoteSo Galway sham, are you implying that Michael Meehan isn't all he's made out to be?
yeah, if you wanna put that spin on it. I wouldnt put Meehan in the top bracket of forwards in the country.
John O'Mahony has trimmed his Mayo senior football panel with the championship now looming large on the horizon.
The manager has finalised his panel for the knockout season, with a number of players unfortunate to be omitted from his plans.
While those remaining on board can focus on preparing for Galway on May 20, Michael Conroy, Barry Regan and Mark Ronaldson have been let go for the time being.
Mickey Mullins, Barry Moran and Ronan McGarrity are all unavailable through either injury or illness.
Third-choice goalkeeper Morvyn Connolly was also dropped from the panel but it is understood that he has been recalled as cover for Kenneth O'Malley amid injury concerns surrounding David Clarke.
Is M mullins a it lucky to be injured at the moment or is he worth his place . I have to say I know very little about the chap.
has any one got got the names on the remaining panel . Barney used to know that sort of thing.
swings and roundabouts I suppose
heres my stab at the panel.fill in anyone ive left out pl We look very exposed without Mcgarrity at midfield. any thruth in the HS rumour Parsons had been brought onto the panel?(mid you they are also touting Colm forde and G duffy ) but parsons would make some sense
goalies
K O Malley
Clarke
backs
K Higgins
J Kilcullen
L O Malley
P Gardiner
BJ Padden
E Devenney
D Heaney
Jnallen
Pnavin
a higgins
Ger mullins
D Brady
P Harte
Forwards
C mcdonald
K O Neill
A Dillon
A Moran
G Brady
C Mort
Aom
Tmort
a Campbell
a kilcoyne
M Mcnicholas
Haven't heard anything about Parsons being called up, would be a bit surprised by it too as he looked a little light-weight for the U-21s, he needs a bit more time imho. That's probably close enough to the squad there Ros, can't see too many additions until the likes of Barry Moran gets back from injury.
Well boys and girls, only a week to go to the big show down! Impossible to know how it will go, here's my go at the naming the Galway team:
1.Paul Doherty
2.Kieran Fitzgerald(Capt)
3.Finian Hanley
4.Damien Burke
5.Declan Meehan
6.Diarmuid Blake
7.Niall Coyne
8.Barry Cullinane/Paul Geraghty (Nothing between them as I said before)
9.Joe Bergin
10.Niall Coleman
11.Derek Savage (Hopefully not Ja, not up to league pace never mind championship but you never know with Ford)
12.Cormac Bane
13.Mike Meehan
14.Padraic Joyce
15.Nicky Joyce
Quote from: Duine Eile on May 13, 2007, 10:42:12 PM
Well boys and girls, only a week to go to the big show down! Impossible to know how it will go, here's my go at the naming the Galway team:
1.Paul Doherty
2.Kieran Fitzgerald(Capt)
3.Finian Hanley
4.Damien Burke
5.Declan Meehan
6.Diarmuid Blake
7.Niall Coyne
8.Barry Cullinane/Paul Geraghty (Nothing between them as I said before)
9.Joe Bergin
10.Niall Coleman
11.Derek Savage (Hopefully not Ja, not up to league pace never mind championship but you never know with Ford)
12.Cormac Bane
13.Mike Meehan
14.Padraic Joyce
15.Nicky Joyce
More or less the team I'd pick DE.
Half-forward line definitely could be a weakness but it's hard to find replacements for players of the calibre of Michael Donnellan and Paul Clancy who would both be lining out there.
Yeah agree about the half forward line GBB, Niall Coleman in there might give them a bit more ball winning ability though I can see him being drafted into mid field. I'm just hoping Ja isn't thrown in for that bit of experience, not a whole lot between himself and Savo but Derek can be vital in winning frees and he's quicker than Ja. It's times like this you realise what a vital part of this Galway team Paul Clancy really was.Nicky Joyce will probably be named at 12 and Bane at 15 but I think they might be better suited the other way round, Bane is that bit stronger than Joyce I'd say and able to handle the rough and tumble better, Nicky is also more dangerous nearer the goal. It's also time for Mike Meehan to come back to his best, we're going to need everyone on top of their game if we're to get anything out of this clash.
Anybody know what game is on before the main match? I would have assumed the minors but with exams and all that coming up it'd be unfair on them. The fact that Down and Cavan minors played yesterday though must mean that this game will be preceded by the minor fixture as well.
Leitrim and Sligo have still to play to decide who play Galway. Mayo and Roscommon in the other minor semi. Think games will be after the Leaving cert.
In fairness thats a savage full foward line Galway potentially have if all 3 are playing well. P Joyce certainly seems to be, hopefully the other two wont be from a Mayo perspective.
Quote1.Paul Doherty
2.Kieran Fitzgerald(Capt)
3.Finian Hanley
4.Damien Burke
5.Declan Meehan
6.Diarmuid Blake
7.Niall Coyne
8.Barry Cullinane/Paul Geraghty (Nothing between them as I said before)
9.Joe Bergin
10.Niall Coleman
11.Derek Savage (Hopefully not Ja, not up to league pace never mind championship but you never know with Ford)
12.Cormac Bane
13.Mike Meehan
14.Padraic Joyce
15.Nicky Joyce
I hear Blake is out, so that'll mean Coyne at 6 and Comer at 7.
Is Fitzgerald confirmed as captain? I would have given it to D. Burke, seems more assured of his place.
I agree that Savage might ba better option than Ja. Ja could be useful as a sub as well.
I'd have Bane number 15, He has proven that he is a good scorer during the league, wouldnt see the point of moving him further away from goal. I thought Nicky Joyce played better at number 12 too during the league than he did at 15. Any chance of Armstrong making an appearance???
Quote from: Farrandeelin on May 14, 2007, 09:32:18 AM
Anybody know what game is on before the main match? I would have assumed the minors but with exams and all that coming up it'd be unfair on them. The fact that Down and Cavan minors played yesterday though must mean that this game will be preceded by the minor fixture as well.
Think it's the Connacht Junior Final between Mayo and Sligo.
now lads of the tribe and the plain of yews.
its almost upon us.
enuf with the saw docs lyrics for the next few days. although my favourite memory in galway was 99. lashing rain. walking back through tuam when lo and behold in the middle of the town an artic truck was set up to blare out the fields of ahenry. but aha no point. pat fallen + co saw to that. instead twas the green + red of mayo being roared by thousands.
ah the memories.........
roll on salthill and hopefully not the sunburn like before!
What a shame tuam was not redevoloped instead of Salthill. the traffic is so bad that I have decided not to go to this game. I just cannot face sitting in the car for 3 to 4 hours afterwards. Last year i was getting home from croker (to ballina) quicker then from galway.
it must be the worst single spot in the whole of county Galway to build a stadium. in a housing estate by the sea with one road out.
ya its a nightmare alright. best thing to do is abandon the car in the housing estate til 9o'clock or so that night and if the weather is anyways good go for a stroll along the prom. the eye-candy along there when the sun shines is savage! admitadly the GAA jerseys dont do anyone any favours! when the sun sets head into quay street.
Quote from: prewtna on May 14, 2007, 12:57:54 PM
ya its a nightmare alright. best thing to do is abandon the car in the housing estate til 9o'clock or so that night and if the weather is anyways good go for a stroll along the prom. the eye-candy along there when the sun shines is savage! admitadly the GAA jerseys dont do anyone any favours! when the sun sets head into quay street.
Good call, leave the car for a few hours until the traffic dies down.
A few pints (or minerals of your the one driving) in quay street could do the trick.
Toasting a Mayo victory of course ! ;D
QuoteI hear Blake is out
Massive loss IMO, although Coyne was good in the league, Blake has been huge at CHB for us.
Any word on mcdonald and trevor mort?
Cant see mayo winning this, purely because its on in salthill....have a feeling it will be very similar to the game two years ago at the same venue.
Mayo have to give up on the short passing out of defence, its suicidal, the ball should be get in to the forwards accurate low and fast.
We do have after all have a very quick bunch of forwards akin to the way mayo played against galway, ross and tyrone back in 2004 .
Not really looking forward to this one as the last few years the games themselves have been shite and the tension would break your back. 2004 was the last decent match between the two!! ;D
QuoteMayo have to give up on the short passing out of defence
I thought sean feeny would have better things to do this week rather than undermining the new manager again
Like ildanach I don't think I'll be able to go cos of exams in Dublin on Monday. If the stadium was built nearer the city it'd be no problem. Funny the last time, we got away handy and were home at a reasonable time in the evening.
QuoteIf the stadium was built nearer the city it'd be no problem
I thought the whole problem was that it was built too close to the city.
It couldn't be much closer to the centre unless they built it in Eyre Square.
Well if there's any handy directions to the bus stations I'd welcome it very much!
Quote from: Farrandeelin on May 14, 2007, 05:47:57 PM
Well if there's any handy directions to the bus stations I'd welcome it very much!
You could probably make it from the ground to the station walking in 20 minutes.
Just follow the crowds heading back into town and they should bring you straight into Quay Street. Keep going straight onto Shop street and that brings you to the square and the station is at the bottom of the square. Piece of piss.
Just don't get caught up following the crowd heading back to the boozers in Salthill. ;D
Blake supposed to be fit but Alan Burke and Paul Geraghty are now very doubtful. Team to be named Thursday night I think. Yeah Kieran Fitz is captain, probablyon the basis that he's there longer than Damien Burke. Still think it's a daft way to pick the captain.
PS:don't start the Tuam versus Salthill argument, it could get nasty! ;)
Blake is almost certain to be fit according to Ford in an interview, should be a great game
Hello to all. Happy Championship Summer 2007!
Unfortunately a variety of events has conprised against me being online much the last few months, but the green and red is still draped around my shoulders as well as a JOM rosette for polling day.
Looking forward to the big clash on Sunday. Toss of a coin again I think between us two. Pity we have to meet so early (and I do think the Connacht finalists should be seeded in separate semis the following year) but that is the draw.
Great bounce back during the league but Sunday is the day the serious questions will be asked and answered. Can our back line cope with Joyce and Meehan in championship form. I don't think Kilcullen will start, and hope Liam O'Malley is fit but big test lies ahead especially if it is windy and we face a half of being bombarded.
The half-back line has not been the best either over the winter. Maradonna says we are not conceding too much, but there have been times when we have looked very vulnerable and have given away some very soft scores. I felt myself at the start of the year, and stated it here that Gardiner is not good enough to play at this level. I stick with that view and think he may be exposed again - he was exposed big time in Croke Park against Donegal in another major final and that is a serious worry. Personally i like the look of Aidan Higgins and Devenney. Big men. Tough men who will tackle. Billie Joe in the centre worries me.
It is hard to not to overstate the loss Ronan McGarrity is. Hopefully he is on the way back. We needed a fully fit Brady. Heaney had an inspirational league and will need to show that form on Sunday. Galway roasted us here in the league so somebody needs to step up to the mark. Blake is a tough cookie and a good footballer - a big loss if he is out.
Up front we needed Trevor to have a full league. I still think he should start. Conor Mortimer and Andy Moran are having good years but Alan Dillon needs to pick things up. Its also time for Aidan Kilcoyne to start at the same level as last year.
I think we may be a happier camp when the going gets tough. Maybe I'm wrong, but Galway and Forde seem to be one game away from the discontent of last year arising again. JOM has always been a lucky general and in election week he needs a boost. Is it in the stars that JOM faces Maughan in the Connacht Final? We'll see, but we may just shade this one, and either way I would not be suprised to see both teams in the quarters, but nowhere further.
I'm new to this game Barney, but your name has been spoken of regularly.
Some thought you were dead!
I don't even know you but I'm glad your not, although I didn't know you were a Westerner
Quote from: AMayoSheep on May 14, 2007, 04:27:25 PM
Any word on mcdonald and trevor mort?
I think T Mort will be starting as will D Brady, and McDonald could possibly be on the bench!
Good to see ya back Barney!!
Game only 6 days away now, bit nervous but I think Mayo will take it in the end by mabye a point or 2, this is the real deal now, no time for slip ups, and I dont think JOM would have time for slip ups in this game, it could well tell alot about some players, weather they are yet championship standard or not!
welcome back barney, there sure was some rumours going round bout ya. can you confirm that you are not JOM ;)
Thanks lads. Hope none of those rumours were malicious.
I'm definitely JOM, or Sean Feeney, or any high profile GAA figure.
Your definitely JOM & Sean Feeney, shocking stuff really barney, has charlie bird been notified?
Anayway welcome back.
Farrandeelin if you need a lift back let me know, the red dragon will be winding its way up the N5 after a bit of grub.
I'm not going to say a lot about this but i know the feeling is good in the mayo camp, and I'd expect us to win by the minimum purely on the basis that i dont think a lot has changed for this galway team from last year & mayo probably have a lot more to lose in terms of confidence.
Great to see the return of Barney! Hope you're back on a regular basis now.
A strange run-in to this one. Neither set of supporters seem to be too confident, and are taking a wait-and-see approach.
From a Mayo viewpoint, there are question marks over virtually every line of the team, and most worryingly, right down the centre.
Johnno stuck with Kilcullen all through the league, but seems to be trying out different players in challenge games - can he really judge accurately in these games?
I think Aidan Higgins, Liam O'Malley (if fit) and Keith Higgins may form the full back line.
I think Billy Joe will stay at 6 with Enda Dev and Gardiner either side of him, although there are worries in that line.
Brady and Heaney in midfield is the obvious pairing for me.
Pat Harte, Kevin O'Neill and Alan Dillon would make a very strong half forward line.
T Mort, G Brady and Conor in the full forward could ask a lot of questions.
I can't stand Pearse Stadium, and Mayo have a very bad record there. Plus it's Galway's 'turn', but I'll go for Mayo by 2 just for the hell of it.
Its gettin exciting now, although as one poster stated earlier it does get awful tense and its very early in the year for that but its true. Im sure nobody with money and sense would be backing either side, a draw probably being the smart money.
Could be a number of surprises in team selection when announced on both sides, thats the problem with 1st round of the championship, will be alot of changes to whichever progresses further.
Im goin to stick my neck out bigtime here and say Galway by 3-5 points. I know there is never much in it but I feel if Galway are going to win, which I think they will it must take a huge performance from the forwards especially Joyce and Meehan. Saying that I reckon Mayo will have a big say in where Sam winters if not in the county itself.
Permission to slate me if this prediction is wrong but its not based on misplaced arrogance just that this is Galways big game.
Quote from: Barney on May 14, 2007, 06:59:19 PM
Hello to all. Happy Championship Summer 2007!
Unfortunately a variety of events has conprised against me being online much the last few months, but the green and red is still draped around my shoulders as well as a JOM rosette for polling day.
f**k me - he's alive!!!
There were some serious worries about your fate over the last few months around here - not a peep so naturally we all thought the worst, I even sent flowers to the club :P
Good to have you back, and hope all is well.
In regards to the game, it is once agin too close to call. Mayo have some question marks regarding the central spine of the team that for one reason or another were not answered throughout the National League, now this is a fairly dodgy situation to be heading into a first round opener against the Tribesmen at Pearse Stadium.
That said,if we take into account the fact that most of these positions are to be filled with experienced heads it's not necessarily all doom and gloom.
Heaney I think is the man for Full back, Kilcullen has done well in the league but with the various changes over recent weeks I really will be suprised to see him wearing the No.3 jersey, Heaney has the experience of playing Galway in this position and in particular on one P.Joyce, I don't think a risk can be taken here.
CHB - this is the real conundrum I feel and being a realist I think BJP will line out here - he played well during the league and I feel he will more comfortbale here than any of the other 13 positions he's played in previously. I think it will be Enda Dev and Gardener on each wing but have doubts about the strength of this line as a whole to be honest, thank God Donnellan isn't around
MF - DB and Pat Harte,I'd love to see Heaney here and release Harte to No. 10 but as above he's needed to mind the house. DB needs to get a couple of top level games under his belt asap.
CHF & FF - We could see Ger Brady and Kevin O'Neill playing an interchanging role here, not sure who'll start where but won't be surprised to see them swop around a couple of times throughout the game (unless one stays in to occupy a two man FF line with C. Mort).
If T. Mort is fit than all that goes out the window, I would suspect if T. Mort is too start than it will be GB on the 40,with Dillon & Kilcoyne on the wings and O'Neill, and the two Morts in the inside forward line.
There's me tuppence worth for now anyway, with Johnno we'll never quite know what stunt might be pulled, Trev Mort in Full back anyone? ;D
I heard on the radio yesterday that if there is to be a replay it will be held on the following Saturday in the middle of the election count. Can't you just see this happening?
You heard it here first!!!
You could certainly see that happening.
Don't know what the mad rush is - a two week break would be sensible especially since the loser will not play until the first week of July and the winners play Leitrim around 24/25 June. It would have made more sense to hold this game back for another two weeks in the first place.
And there is a draw due....
I think a draw would be good for both teams, would certainly help us giving the likes of DB and Trevor more game time. Will be very tight so who knows maybe it will take another day in Castlebar to sort things out. I'd nearly take that given our record in Salthill!!
Possible team for Sunday (based on rumour and hearsay)
Doherty (though King may step in if Doherty's injury hasn't cleared up)
Fitz
Hanley
D Burke
D Meehan
N Coyne (Blake very doubtful from what I hear)
M Comer (though Sice, my preference, may get the nod)
Bergin
Cullinane
N Coleman
F Breathnach
N Joyce
(Ja to be sprung; very bad half-forward line)
Savo
P Joyce
C Bane
Again rumour has it that Bane will be picked ahead of M Meehan on training form, though how anyone with any sense or knowledge of Galway football could think Bane is somehow better than Meehan baffles belief.
So there you have it; backs not bad, particularly if a fit Blake could start with Coyne moving sideways. Midfield very dodgy, though if they could distribute the ball as soon as they win possession the weaknesses could be off-set somewhat. Forwards so bad they could actually mither the opposition to defeat. N Joyce, Breathnach, Bane (and Coleman to an extent) have yet to show they have what it takes in c'ship fare.
Quote from: Barney on May 15, 2007, 09:46:17 AM
You could certainly see that happening.
Don't know what the mad rush is - a two week break would be sensible especially since the loser will not play until the first week of July and the winners play Leitrim around 24/25 June. It would have made more sense to hold this game back for another two weeks in the first place.
And there is a draw due....
Id say they are conscious of club fixtures so they will play the games a week after, if its a draw.
The club calender is tight enough and if two more weekends were lost there would be uproar.
Welcome back Barney,
How is the campaign going? :P ;D ;) :D
All we can base our predictions on really is the game the last day in Croke Park. Mayo were exposed in the half back line and midfield, however they improved in the final in midfield and argubaly came out on top against Donegal. The half back line didnt improve however. If Mayo give Galway as many chances as they did in Croker then unfortunatley I predict a 4-5 point win for Galway. If somehow (and I cant see how) our half backline improves immeasurably then it'll be too close to call. Heaney has to go on Joyce. He'll be a loss out the field but I'd rather that then seeing Joyce bagging 1-5 or something.
based on my previously impeccable prediction record. ill have to go for mayo by 6 to 7 points. Mayos continually under performance against galway is a worry and should keep the score to that. At the moment galway are just not 'up there' and mayo realisticly should not have a problem with them.
almost all Galways new introductions in the last few years have fallen well short of the men they replaced which sees them going back to the padraic Joyces savages and Ja fallon and even Nicky Joyce a man with a great future behind him. M meehan has never played well against Mayo and sean aemstrong who like so many of mayos failures looked such a class underage player seems to have let it slip.
Donnellan is the one man who could really make a difference but as stephnhite say thank God he isn't around. Maybe he was expecting to be asked to wi the family seat back
Quote from: mouview on May 15, 2007, 10:29:46 AM
Again rumour has it that Bane will be picked ahead of M Meehan on training form, though how anyone with any sense or knowledge of Galway football could think Bane is somehow better than Meehan baffles belief.
Thats a bit ridiculous alright. Meehan didnt play senior league last week and is only doing light training, no word of it in the media however. If he is fit there is no doubt but he will start.
Ros, since we keep underperforming against Galway, why do you think we'll win by 6 or 7 pts??
Quote from: Farrandeelin on May 14, 2007, 05:41:00 PM
Like ildanach I don't think I'll be able to go cos of exams in Dublin on Monday. If the stadium was built nearer the city it'd be no problem. Funny the last time, we got away handy and were home at a reasonable time in the evening.
Must be mixxing me up with someone else. I will definately be in attendance god willing. For my 2 cent worth i have changed my mind with team lineout since the first page of the thread and some of the reports i have heard from the challenge games (unfortunately i was not able to attend them)
Would like to see Heaney on the edge of the square with perhaps kilcullen moving to midfield with brady. Harte to wing forward. Andy Moran at centre and dillion beside him, With A full Forward line of the 2 Morts and ONeill. BJP did not have a good game against galway in the league semi but it was more his distribution that let him down not his marking and reading of the game, so i would stick with him in the centre. I think this is going to be a close affair but I fancy mayo by 1 or 2 to take it.
This is a very tight one to call and it's also very hard to predict how both sides will line out.
If I was O'Mahoney I'd put Heaney on Joyce or if he was willing to move O'Malley in from the corner I'd put O'Malley on him as he looks a fine defender.
Heaney has done quite well on Joyce over the years, though Padraig has played well himself a number of times against Mayo.
From a Galway point of view I'd be delighted to see Kilcullen at full back as I think Padraig could roast him.
The form of Mikey Meehan is one of my biggest worries for Sunday though. He's failed to get on the scoresheet since coming back into the team towards the end of the league and has missed Galway's most recent challenge matches as well as the first 2 rounds of the club senior league through injury.
It's plainly obvious that playing in the corner doesn't suit him.He's not the quickest and a central position would suit him much more.He tends to get bottled up a bit when played in the corner. If Joyce drifts during the game as he tends to do then they should immediately put Mikey in at full forward. He would be much more of a threat from there than stuck out in the corner.
By my reckoning the goalie and 5 of the backs are certs(Doherty, Fitzy,Hanly,Damo Burke in fb line & Dec Meehan and Coyne in hb line).
Bergin is a cert at midfield while the 2 Joyces, Mike Meehan and Bane are certain to start up front.
Blake and Coleman are also certs to start in my book. The only question is where. I'd have Blake at number 6, but it's possible he'll be named at midfield again.
Coleman will start either at midfield or wing forward to help out midfield.
That leaves Comer & Sice to fight out for a wing back spot if Blake is started at midfield.
If Blake is at no.6 then Cullinane, Ja or Coleman will start at midfield.
The remaining forward places will be between Ja,Savo,Matt Clancy and Fiachra Breathnach (assuming Armstrong is out through injury).
For what it's worth my team would be...
Doherty
Fitzy
Hanley (I have my doubts about Finian though)
D Burke
Meehan
Blake
Coyne
Bergin
Cullinane
Coleman
Ja
Bane
Meehan (to move to 14 when Joyce moves out)
P Joyce
N Joyce
I'm still unsure about that team I've named above though as the half forward line lacks something.
It is nearly impossible to call this one indeed. Everything needs to be taken into consideration including the weather.
The weather on Saturday is promised Cool and breezy, with sunshine and heavy or thundery showers, and blustery west to northwest winds.
That will make for a wet surface id say although it could dry in the morning and early afternoon because if im not mistaken the throw-in is at 4pm
There is no forecast for Sunday yet as such but it is expected to be Partly Cloudy with 20% chance of rain in a cool 13.8 ºC
I would say wet conditions would suit Galway better than Mayo but the rain could hold off.... fingers crossed :-\
Am I the only one thinking that this match will be decided on whoever comes out on top between Galway's woeful half forward line, and Mayo's dodgy half back line? Both county's weakest lines will face eachother on Sunday.
I would love to see Meehan given a go at centre forward. There are very few alternatives for Galway here. Coming up against BJP, a man who is not too experienced in this role would be ideal for him.
Meanwhile, Cliona Foley has brought the Padraig Joyce match fixing allegations back into public focus with her brilliant piece in today's independent.
QuoteMissed chances to act as spur for Galway in Connacht derby clash
Tuesday May 15th 2007
Galway's relatively clean bill of health is a far cry from their horrendous start of the year when their panel was decimated for a variety of reasons and they lost their first two National League games to Derry and Laois.
But they bounced back with two consecutive two-point victories over Armagh and Kildare respectively for a five-game Division 1B unbeaten streak before losing the league semi-final, where they conceded a penalty and were beaten by a late Padraic Joyce free.
Cliona Foley
This one could go any way really. If we win as much possession as we did in the league semi-final and given the fact that we're playing in Pearse then I think we could win the game by a point or two. However there's no guarantee that we'll have as much of the ball as we did in that game so it's just as easy to visualise Mayo winning by a similiar margin.
I'm a bit concerned about the state of our half-forward line. If we had Donnellan and Clancy available I'd be fairly confident of a Galway win but until I see what kind of team we're sending out I'll reserve judgement.
On paper you'd probably have a slight fancy for Mayo but Mayo don't tend to win many games on Galway soil whether it be Tuam or Pearse so it's anyone's really.
oirthear . for mayo to win by six points would be under performing . we tend to give galway too much respect in mayo. their performance over the last 4 years or so other than against mayo have been very poor for example should they lose sunday p forde could well be out of a job before the qualifiers. where as mayo have been winning connachts and getting to AIF on aa regular basis. by what criteria are people making it a close game other than its a local rivaly. maybe they will put it up to may like leitrim did last year but that would be a lesson not learnd by mayo. msaybe the blueshirt has taken his eye off the ball
Quotewe tend to give galway too much respect in mayo
That'll be because of the 9 All-Ireland's then. ;)
McDonald could make subs bench
15 May 2007
Hopes are rising in Mayo that Ciaran McDonald will be included in John O'Mahony's squad for Sunday's Connacht SFC opener against Galway.
The Crossmolina playmaker hasn't figured for the Westerners since last September's All-Ireland final defeat to Kerry due to a back problem, but his recent return to training with the squad has given rise to speculation that he could see action against the Tribesmen, albeit from the substitutes' bench.
"Ciaran is out with his back since Crossmolina were knocked out of the Connacht club championship last October or November," Mayo selector Tommy Lyons said.
"He was only playing then because he was getting injections to help him and he has to take a lot of credit for playing on through the pain. He hasn't played football since then and he was receiving treatment on it for months.
"He only returned to training with us in the last week or fortnight so he has a lot of work to do to get his fitness back. We'll only know if his back is up to it once he plays."
Lyons added: "We will leave it (the team selection) as long as we can because we want to give everyone as much time as possible."
Quote from: rosnarun on May 15, 2007, 03:29:56 PM
oirthear . for mayo to win by six points would be under performing . we tend to give galway too much respect in mayo. their performance over the last 4 years or so other than against mayo have been very poor for example should they lose sunday p forde could well be out of a job before the qualifiers. where as mayo have been winning connachts and getting to AIF on aa regular basis. by what criteria are people making it a close game other than its a local rivaly. maybe they will put it up to may like leitrim did last year but that would be a lesson not learnd by mayo. msaybe the blueshirt has taken his eye off the ball
Mayo to win by six - fair play to ya.....its been a while since there was three points between the teams never mind six! Also, truth be told.....what does a Connacht really mean to either side at this stage? Would Mayo fans really care about another provincial title at this stage? I couldnt give a flyin shite if we never won Connacht and ended up in Croke Park in Sept. Hell, it worked for us in '01! And gettin to All Ireland Finals means little if you dont win them.......
Galway to win by two points
QuoteMcDonald could make subs bench
Wouldn't surprise me in the least if he's togging out at the start. ;D
Galway to win
Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on May 15, 2007, 06:01:50 PM
QuoteMcDonald could make subs bench
Wouldn't surprise me in the least if he's togging out at the start. ;D
Doubt that somehow.
Mayo beat Galway by six points 0-18 to 1-9 in McHale Park in the 04 semi-final, Marron and White. But that's neither hear nor there really. I'd say it'll come down to the wire like last year. Hopefully Mayo by 2
Preview from gaa.ie:
GALWAY v MAYO
It's Connacht's greatest rivalry and it's coming your way again next Sunday when Galway and Mayo clash at Pearse Stadium. For the first time since 1998, they meet in the first round of the Connacht championship with the winners due to play Leitrim or London in the Connacht semi-final. Coincidentally, the 1998 clash (which Galway won) was John O'Mahony's first championship game as Galway manager and now Galway are the opposition as he takes charge of Mayo's first championship game in his second coming as manager.
This is the sixth year in a row that Galway and Mayo have clashed in the championship with the score standing at 3-2 to Galway from their last five. However, Mayo triumphed last year, winning by a point in the final in Castlebar and they had a similar margin to spare last month when they beat Galway (2-10 to 1-12) in the National League semi-final.
Head to Head: The Last 5 Championship clashes
2006 - Mayo 0-12 Galway 1-8 (Connacht final)
2005 - Galway 0-10 Mayo 0-8 (Connacht final)
2004 - Mayo 0-18 Galway 1-9 (Connacht semi-final)
2003 - Galway 1-14 Mayo 0-13 (Connacht final)
2002 - Galway 0-12 Mayo 1-7 (Connacht semi-final)
LAST YEAR
Galway - Played 4, Won 2, Lost 2.
Galway 0-19 Sligo 1-12
Galway 3-7 Roscommon 1-8
Mayo 0-12 Galway 1-8 (Connacht final)
Westmeath 1-8 Galway 0-10 (Qualifier - Round 4)
Mayo - Played 7, Won 5, Drew 1, Lost 1.
Mayo 1-18 London 0-8
Mayo 1-10 Leitrim 1-9
Mayo 0-12 Galway 1-8 (Connacht final)
Mayo 0-15 Laois 0-15 (All-Ireland quarter-final)
Mayo 0-14 Laois 0-11 (replay)
Mayo 1-16 Dublin 2-12
Kerry 4-15 Mayo 3-5 (All-Ireland final)
Nicky Joyce a man with a great future behind him ros na run?! He's 24 at most! DJ you're very pessimistic! you're right about Meehan I think though, couldn't do any harm to give him a run at no.11. Leaving him to get roasted by Higgins for another 70mins isn't going to do him any good.
Wouldn't be against trying Meehan in a more central role. In reality he's a natural full-forward. He never plays as well when he's in the corner as he lacks that little burst of pace to get around a marker.
Just wanted to say all the best to Mayo on Sunday. Im away from tomorrow for a week.But i will be cheering our lads on in a watering hole in the south of france. Mhuigheo go deo!!!!!!
For a Mayo-centric view on the lead-up to Sunday's showdown, check out my blog at: http://www.mayogaablog.blogspot.com/ (http://www.mayogaablog.blogspot.com/). Up the Green and Red!
Bergin: Managers' inside knowledge irrelevant
16 May 2007
Galway midfielder Joe Bergin expects rival managers Peter Ford and John O'Mahony to cancel each other out in Sunday's Connacht SFC clash at Pearse Stadium.
Mayo boss O'Mahony famously led the Tribesmen to two All-Ireland titles in 1998 and 2001, while opposite number Ford is as familiar as anyone with Mayo, having played for them at full back in the 1989 All-Ireland final defeat to Cork.
Their respective backgrounds makes for an intriguing sub-plot to Sunday's eagerly-awaited clash, but Bergin doesn't believe their extensive knowledge of the opposition will count for much.
"I had four or five years under John O'Mahony and it's fair to say he'd know a lot of us inside out. He probably knows a lot of us as well as we know ourselves" the Mountbellew man said.
"But the same can be said of Peter Ford, who is a Mayo man managing Galway. He'll know all the Mayo players and a lot of them personally.
"Both managers will try and exploit weaknesses in the other team, but that may cancel each other out. The players know each other so well too that I'd expect it to just be a really tight game.
"It's a bit clichéd, but I think it'll boil to hunger and who wants it most," he added.
Anchor's Angle with Michael Lyster
While the Championship campaign of 2007 kicked into action last weekend, I have to admit that, from my own point of view, the real stuff begins next weekend with the meeting of Galway and Mayo in Salthill!
Now, I say that with no disrespect to those who were involved last weekend - indeed we had a couple of good matches featured live on The Sunday Game. Longford showed great fighting qualities to come back from an eight-point deficit to beat Westmeath, while the second half of Cavan and Down was absolute tit-for-tat stuff until Down ended up drawing the game with a dramatic late score.
I also say it with no disregard for our opening live game on Sunday, the meeting of Fermanagh and Tyrone. We'll be keeping a keen eye on how Tyrone's Championship claims for 2007 are shaping up, while also wondering if Fermanagh can put recent poor league form behind them and raise themselves again to the heroic displays they put in a couple of summers ago.
However, when the first inter-county Championship game you ever went to as a kid was Galway versus Mayo, then I think you'll understand why next Sunday's latest joust between the sides is so special. Memories of younger days come flooding back every time I see this fixture posted and, while many of those are of games played in Tuam and Castlebar, Pearse Stadium in Salthill is also a fixture in that walk down memory lane.
I suppose the thing to remember here is that I'm talking about the early and mid-1960s when your sporting world revolved around the fortunes of Galway in their annual quest for Championship glory.
There was barely any big-time sport on telly in those days, no Premiership or Champions League, no Formula One or rallying from Argentina and certainly no watching Ireland playing cricket against Pakistan!
So your fix was following Galway through their battles with Mayo or Roscommon or the other Connacht counties. I have to say I just loved the buzz of the entire occasion, even down to the smell of the freshly cut grass.
I got a small reminder of that sense of youthful wonder a few weeks back when I brought my youngest son, Jack, to Old Trafford for his first visit. For once I didn't do well on the seating front at the stadium - stuck down near the rabble at the Stretford End! But I certainly picked the right match, United against Roma in the Champions League quarter-final.
It was the night of that famous 7-1 victory and even though we struggled to see a few of the goals at the far end with everyone constantly leaping up and down the atmosphere was just incredible.
Watching Jack lap it all up that night, that's how I remember going to all those Connacht Championship games, not sitting back in a cosy box eating prawn sandwiches, but in the thick of the crowd, heaving and swaying, often getting soaked wet but always coming away exhilarated.or most of the time coming away exhilarated, at any rate.
Fortunately, as a Galway fan, the Maroon and White usually held the upper hand in those days. This, after all, was the era of their three-in-a-row and it was easy to stick your chest out and wave your flag going to those games.
In the decade of the Sixties, Galway claimed the Connacht title six times, Mayo and Roscommon claiming two apiece of the remaining titles. In more recent times, of course, it has been Mayo who've held sway in the province and even if that big silver cup in the east remains a hidden treasure, they certainly have the panel to defend their title again this year and make another stab at claiming Sam.
County loyalty prevents me from saying I expect them to win Sunday's game in Salthill, but they will certainly be hard beaten, and I feel Galway will need to show a bit more passion and self belief than they've displayed in the past couple of years in the Championship. People will look to some of the older, experienced heads to point the way but I believe that the energy in a team comes from youth and the new kids on the block now have to grow into their roles as senior inter-county players.
Whoever wins the match, I know for sure that I'm going to thoroughly enjoy our visit to Galway and the live presentation of the game from Pearse Stadium. Before the programme goes on air I will look out across the Salthill venue and I'll swear I caught a glimpse of Enda Colleran, Mattie McDonagh or John Morley fielding high balls and driving their colleagues on.
It's Galway versus Mayo. Where else would I want to be on a Sunday?
Any teams named yet? ???
well written article by Michael Lyster, why don't we see more of his writings?
No team named in Galway anyway - a fair few little niggly injury worries ahead of the game. Nicky Joyce, Meehan, Blake all carrying knocks and two subs out, Paul Geraghty & Alan Burke both with hamstring problems.
Lyster cant be writing all that much....has his hands full trying to keep a small bit of manners on Brolly....I wonder what abuse he has in store for Galway & Mayo or will he be a bit tamer after being reprimanded for last weekends OTT stuff
Quote from: MaroonAndWhite on May 17, 2007, 12:14:43 PM
No team named in Galway anyway - a fair few little niggly injury worries ahead of the game. Nicky Joyce, Meehan, Blake all carrying knocks and two subs out, Paul Geraghty & Alan Burke both with hamstring problems.
Lyster cant be writing all that much....has his hands full trying to keep a small bit of manners on Brolly....I wonder what abuse he has in store for Galway & Mayo or will he be a bit tamer after being reprimanded for last weekends OTT stuff
Joe "I never had a bad game meself" Brolly
Quote from: MaroonAndWhite on May 17, 2007, 12:14:43 PM
No team named in Galway anyway - a fair few little niggly injury worries ahead of the game. Nicky Joyce, Meehan, Blake all carrying knocks and two subs out, Paul Geraghty & Alan Burke both with hamstring problems.
Lyster cant be writing all that much....has his hands full trying to keep a small bit of manners on Brolly....I wonder what abuse he has in store for Galway & Mayo or will he be a bit tamer after being reprimanded for last weekends OTT stuff
Galway team to be named tonight after training...........
QuoteJoe "I never had a bad game meself" Brolly
Dont know where u get that impression from.
I remember him talking about the all-ireland semi final in 98 and how tomas mannion cleaned him
Great words there by Lyster, and he's right, theres a huge occaision to it!
Really lookin forward to it, Lyster captured it well!
All we need now is the teams to ponder over. Galway tonight, any word on when Mayo will name it??
Mayo to be named tonight aswell from radio reports today.
Galway might just sneak victory
Kevin McStay
IN the build-up to the first championship Sunday of 2007, the GAA was accused of poor fixture planning with the games on offer lacking the big bang opening any marketing department would insist on. It transpired we had a most acceptable and enjoyable pair of games to get the show on the road and week two promises all the fireworks you want.
Here in the west we are togging strong with an early version of the provincial final. And the age-old question whenever the great Connacht rivals meet is once again posed: 'Will Galway 'bate' (bait?) Mayo?'
Every time they meet the advice is to dispense with the punditry and do one of two things: check who won when last they met in the championship and go for the losing team this time around; if you have problems finding the time for that type of in-depth research, then apply option two and toss a coin.
There is a lot riding on this game. For both managers, and especially the Galway one, defeat at this early stage will be unacceptable to followers. And this year, unlike all others since 2001, a new scenario will unfold. The removal of the old round one from the much loved/hated Qualifiers means the action for the losing team after next Sunday does not re-commence until the first week in July.
It will be almost impossible to keep your squad together or focused for a Qualifier game that is seven weeks away. You can be sure the clubs will seize the opportunity to have their county players back in harness.
In recent weeks, when discussing the possibility of a Mayo win, in what is essentially a provincial quarter-final, we said the league form and results would count for zip. We stand by that and you can add recent challenge match efforts (a good win over Kildare followed by a bad loss to Louth) to the NFL campaign.
It is best if we stick to the personnel issue and what the formations are likely to be. Despite BJ Padden seeing a bit of action recently at number three, we are going for the tried and trusted David Heaney to go toe to toe with PJ once again with BJP at CHB.
It is a pity matters have come to that because Heaney prefers a freer role and was playing pretty well at midfield. But we always suspected it might end up as horses for courses. Thus, despite David Brady and Trevor Mortimer seeing little or no recent action, the removal of Heaney should mean selection for one or perhaps both of the recently injured pair.
The team is not to hand just yet but the above permutations will define the overall product and this is an area I feel Galway will just about edge. Indeed, the sense that Galway will edge this game is growing day by day. This is a natural recurring phenomenon – despite some very average form, there is always championship week when we can present an argument that flies in the face of all known evidence.
Galway have not been good for quite a while now and I am not talking months here. But this is the year of the last dying kick of their old stars and their forward line might just do enough this time around. We know Joyce, Fallon and Savage were market leaders in their day – superb footballers and genuine scoring threats when in possession. Add in Michael Meehan and young Bane and if they hit the high notes they will sneak it. But if the result goes in favour of Mayo, I will not be at all surprised. That has nearly always been the way of these confrontations.
Mayo Team Named:
Kenneth O'Malley (C. Ó Máille) - Baile an Róba
Liam O'Malley (L. Ó Máille) - Buireas Uamhaill
Billy Joe Padden (L.S. MacPhaidín) - Béal an Mhuirthead
Keith Higgins (C. Ó hUiginn) - Béal Átha hAmhnais
Enda Devenney (E. Ó Duibheannaigh) - Beal an Átha
James Nallen (S. Ó Nailín) - Crois Mhaoilíona
Peadar Gardiner (P. Ó Gairnéir) - Crois Mhaoilíona
David Heaney (D. Ó hÉanaigh) - Béal Átha na Muice
Pat Harte (P. Ó hAirt) - Beal an Átha
Ger Brady (G. Ó Brádaigh) -Beal an Átha
Trevor Mortimer (T. Ó Muireartaigh) - Sruthair-Gleann Coirib
Alan Dillon (A. Diolún) - Baile an Tobair
Conor Mortimer (C. Ó Muireartaigh) - Sruthair-Gleann Coirib
Kevin O'Neill (C. Ó Néill) Captain - Na Fianna
Andy Moran (A. Ó Moráin) - Bealach an Doirin
Remember Redgreenery it is Galway ye are playing now and not Inter Milan ;)
Blake not fit enough to start Sunday, massive blow.Anyway team in full:
1.Paul Doherty
2.Kieran Fitzgerald (Capt)
3.Finian Hanley
4.Damien Burke
5.Declan Meehan
6.Niall Coyne
7.Mike Comer
8.Joe Bergin
9.Niall Coleman
10.Derek Savage
11.Ja Fallon
12.Nicky Joyce
13.Mike Meehan
14.Padraic Joyce
15.Cormac Bane
Half forward line looking dodgier by the minute. :-\ Ah come on seriously, Billy Joe at full back?!Who does Johnno think he's foolin! ;)
Just beat me to it Redgreenery!
Will this be the team we see though? At least it gives us something to talk about :)
BJP at full-back, and Nallen back at CHB when we thought that day was only a memory.
No start for D Brady but T Mort steps into CHF.
A strong team, more or less along expected lines apart from maybe full back and CHB.
Quote from: Tubberman on May 17, 2007, 10:25:51 PM
Will this be the team we see though? At least it gives us something to talk about :)
BJP at full-back, and Nallen back at CHB when we thought that day was only a memory.
No start for D Brady but T Mort steps into CHF.
A strong team, more or less along expected lines apart from maybe full back and CHB.
I'd have serious concerns about FB and CHB. If this is the team that plays we'll need to totally dominate Centrefield. BJP on Padraic Joyce makes me very, very nervous and I don't mean to slight BJP but Joyce is one of the best ever to play for Galway and throwing a rookie FB at him in the championship is asking for trouble
God knows how they'll line out, Nallen to Centrefield - Heaney to FB and BJP back to man the 40? There are a few positional permutations that could work in our favour.
Have the subs been named yet? Are DB and MacD listed, when the game is in the melting pot and 20 minutes to go these are two very big aces to throw in - if I know these boys are good for 20 minutes I'll sleep better.
On a personal note - staring out the window in work, on a rainy Sydney morning and I'm as depressed. When you're away, of course you miss family and friends, but right now I'd give me left bollock and sell me Mother to be in Pearse Stadium on Sunday :'(, enjoy it everyone, gonna be a great game I think
Very interesting game ahead. There's loads of fascinating individual battles in store. I don't think anyone believes Padden will start a championship match at full-back for the first time against Joyce. I'd say that he'll swap with Heaney, and head to midfield, where he'll be more suited to matching up to the likes of Coleman.
No.8 David Heaney vrs No.14 Padraic Joyce
If Heaney can keep Joyce quiet, I don't think Galway's forwards will be able to cope with the added pressure.
Mayo
No.4 Keith Higgins vrs No.13 Mike Meehan
Meehan has to perform against Higgins at some stage. Could Sunday be the day? Probably not, but the last time they came up against one another he kicked two points off him.
Mayo
No.5 Enda Devenney vrs No.12 Nicky Joyce
Devenney is one of Mayo's least impressive performers, and he comes up against one of Galway's best players in the league. Nicky could make a big impact in this game, especially if he hits a few early frees. We have missed a right footed free taker since Finnegan.
Galway
No.6 James Nallen vrs No.11 Jarlath Fallon
Nallen against Ja Fallon will be an fascinating battle. Two players who are well past their best, but both will have a major impact on this game. Whoever wins this contest will come out on top.
Galway
No.7 Peadar Gardiner vrs No.10 Derek Savage
Two little farts who are well matched up, will be interesting to see how they'll fare. I just don't think Savage has been performing well enough to be deserving of a start here. I'd prefer to have the likes of Mattie Clancy in there, or even Coleman.
Mayo
No.3 Billy Joe Padden vrs. No.9 Niall Coleman
Padden's the more natural footballer, while Coleman is probably a better fielder. Very evenly matched physically, if Bergin is winning his battle, I'd expect Coleman to follow.
Galway
No.9 Pat Harte vrs. No.8 Joe Bergin
Two rakish footballers, both more suited to wing forward. I think Bergin has more experience in this role, and I'm not sure Harte is used to being the main man at midfield. Mayo will be hugely boosted when Brady comes on.
Galway
No.10 Ger Brady vrs No.7 Mike Comer
I don't rate Ger Brady, but I don't rate Comer either. Brady could clean up here though. I think O'Mahoney has picked him on Comer purposefully. Brady's strength and speed could destroy Comer
Mayo
No.11 Trevor Mortimer vrs No.6 Niall Coyne
Coyne's youthful exuberance, versus Mortimers vast experience. Mayo are a far better team with Trevor in there. Blake is a massive loss for Galway. If Trevor starts winning a few balls, Coyne's head could drop, and Mayo will be on their way.
Mayo
No.13 Conor Mortimer vrs No.4 Damien Burke
Mayo's top marksman against Galway's best defender. Burke has been massive for Galway for the last two years. He needs a full 70 minutes to keep Mortimer quiet.
Galway
No.14 Kevin O'Neill vrs No.3 Finian Hanley
Once again it's experience versus youth. Hanley has come on an awful lot in the last year, but O'Neill is a superb footballer. Don't know which way this battle will go.
Shared
All in all, although I think that Galway will win midfield, I'm afraid that Galway's inexperienced centre of Coyne and Hanley could be our undoing. Blake is a massive loss. I don't think Ja has the legs to be back helping out, and if we start hitting aimless ball (which Coleman loves to do), into the full forward line, I can see Heaney and Higgins hoovering it up, and Mayo breaking straight through our centre. With Mortimer and O'Neill here, Mayo certainly have the experience for the big occasion.
If Coyne fronts up, and provides the same kind of platform as Paul Clancy did two years ago, then this will help Galway enormously. We need Ja to get on the ball, and keep Nallen on the back foot. He'll link up well with PJ, and hopefully get some decent ball into Meehan.
I think that Galway will win this, due to Trevor's lack of match fitness. Although with Brady and McDonald set to be sprung from the bench, this will be a one point game. Nigh on impossible to call.
Quote from: DJGaliv on May 18, 2007, 01:04:18 AM
Nigh on impossible to call.
You're right there!
Great post - however, one point. Straight up, no messing, on his day Enda Devenney is one of the best footballers I've ever seen.
I am salivating at the prospect of him in the Championship - I think, or maybe hope he will be one of the stars of this year.
While I might be biased, I seriously think the guy is special
Quote from: DJGaliv on May 18, 2007, 01:04:18 AM
No.3 Billy Joe Padden vrs. No.9 Niall Coleman
Padden's the more natural footballer, while Coleman is probably a better fielder. Very evenly matched physically, if Bergin is winning his battle, I'd expect Coleman to follow.
Have to totally disagree with u there DJ Galiv, Coleman is one of our best and natural footballers, people keep identifying him as a midfield ball winner yet his height counts against him, he is an exquisite passer and delivers quality ball, thats why i reckon he can play anywhere between 5 and 12.
I dont believe for one second that JOM will play BJP Full Back, himself Heaney and Nallen will switch around as we expect know matter how well BJP played at Full Back in half a challenge game. BJP V PJ is a mismatch and as a Galway man would love to see it pan out but it wont.
Disappointed Meehan is left corner forward where the dogs on the street know he wont deliver, im a believer in Peter Forde but his faith in Ja is misplaced, Ja comin on is alot more inspirational than him coming off.
Not wanting to be a conspiracy theorist but does anyone else deem it unlikely that Mayo will start Nallen......I just have a niggling suspicion that if David Brady is fit, he will be in midfield with Nallen on the bench, BJP at CHB and Heaney back on Joycer? Nallen didnt have the legs for CHB last summer on Declan O'Sullivan, or for midfield v Donegal so what makes them think he can do it Sunday?
Also Padden didnt do too badly at CHB in league semi final but thats as much to do with the half forward line he faced rather than anything inspired that he did. Granted he did get a bit of a run around in league final but then again, so did most of the Mayo back line.
And Heaney on Joyce...........Joycers bogey man unfortunately.
You could just imagine the lift the Mayo crowd would get if Brady appeared from dugout five mins before throw in.
Dunno, just seems like something Johnno would pull.
From a Galway perspectve, would have liked to have seen Coleman in half forward line as opposed to midfield to give us more physicality in that line. Hed be ideally suited to Gardiner - stop the forward runs at source like last years league semi. Otherwise, it went along expected lines bar Blakes injury. Huge loss.......I could see Coyne having a hard afternoon ahead of him Sunday and Im still not convinced hes up to it.
QuoteOnce again it's experience versus youth. Hanley has come on an awful lot in the last year, but O'Neill is a superb footballer. Don't know which way this battle will go.
O'Neill is well past it, good footballer years ago but not anymore, Can see Hanley winning this one if hes on him.
In the league semi-final, mayo tried putting andy moran at 14 and roaming away from goal to upset hanley but it didnt work, itll be interesting to see if they do something similiar on Sunday.
At the moment, its Fitzgerald who will be marking Moran and from a Galway point of view, the further away from goal that he, the better!
It said on the radio today that Blake will be a sub, he could make a big impact if fit enough to come on
Personnell wise the 2 teams are along expected lines based on the injuries in either camp but I think there will be alot of switches in that Mayo line up come 4pm on Sunday afternoon. At this moment its very hard to envisage the Green & Red 3, 6, 8 & 14 lining out as selected !
As for our lads, Blake is a big loss a CHB but I do honestly think Coyne is well able to step up to the mark here. Personally I'm delighted that Coleman is at midfield as along with being a good ball winner and passer he will bring a physicality to that area of the park that Bergin cannot.
Big big games required from our half forward line on Sunday. They need to get that Mayo half back line turned and defending as opposed to letting them break at speed and putting our defence under massive pressure and creating overlaps at will. IF this is achieved, well then I think we are well on our way...........
As per all Galway / Mayo clashes, no quarter will be asked or given and there will be f*** all in it on Sunday evening. Based on Perase Stadium being worth a couple of points to our lads and taking into account Mayo's deplorable record there;
Galway by 2
A fair enough assessment there GaillimhI, home advantage has to be worth a couple of points to Galway. I seriously doubt that will be the Mayo team on Sunday. I also think Forde might spring a surprise, Blake will more than likely see some action. It will be tight as normal, hopefully the two teams will serve up better football than '05 and '06 though. I think it could be a one point game even though I have a strong feeling it could go to a replay, but out of sheer bias I'm gonna give our buachaills the nod and say Mayo by one!
As a neutral this is the game I'm looking forward to, the quality of the football over the last 2 years hasn't been great so I think we might be due a good one. Should be close anyway with only a kick of a ball between them in the end. Impossible to call but I've a sneaking feeling that this could be a good year for Mayo and they'll start off with a win. Wouldn't put money on either team though. What price the draw?
Quote
Have to totally disagree with u there DJ Galiv, Coleman is one of our best and natural footballers, people keep identifying him as a midfield ball winner yet his height counts against him, he is an exquisite passer and delivers quality ball, thats why i reckon he can play anywhere between 5 and 12.
Jeez, belle, a good passer is exactly what Coleman is not, unfortunately. His delivery is regularly very wayward.
Quote
Disappointed Meehan is left corner forward where the dogs on the street know he wont deliver, im a believer in Peter Forde but his faith in Ja is misplaced, Ja comin on is a lot more inspirational than him coming off.
Do you mean Meehan or Bane? Meehan will be fine, don't worry at all about him. Even when's he off-form he takes watching. Bane and N Joyce now have the platform, they need to deliver. There can't be too many more chances for them.
Anyway, Blake's absence is a loss but Coyne has had a good league campaign, so Comer is the only major worry in the defence, (he's been replaced in the last 2 c'ship games v Mayo I think). No worries at all about Hanley who's turning into a no. 3 of real quality.
Galway city here is windy at the moment - if this persists til Sunday it will be a game of 2 halves even more so than usual in Pearse. Home side to scrape home in a dull and moderate-quality match.
I heard on gbfm that the new Galway football jersey is being launched in the Claregalway hotel tonight. Anyone have a pic of it?
Also, does anyone know if they can be bought tonight at the venue? Someone told me a few days ago that it won't be on sale in the shops for a few weeks.
Jeez, belle, a good passer is exactly what Coleman is not, unfortunately. His delivery is regularly very wayward.
[/quote]
I dont agree Mouview, his delivery is the only type of ball that suits Meehan, always keep an eye on Meehan, he moves quicker than the playuer in possession realises in that it should be played first time, I like Colemans style of delivery, long and direct-quick ball, cuts out the handpassing shite.
I know Meehan takes watchin, a class act however I feel wer not maximizing his potential in there, he has alot more to offer in a central role. I expect a few scores from him Sunday, may well deliver
I dont acutally think D Brady will start, I think that Nallen will go to midfield and then be replaced by Brady there. As i said a few pages back what let BJP down against Galway was his distribution (that is normally ok). I will be very worried if Heaney is not marking Joyce. In the forwards the only one i have a doubt over his selection is G Brady, I didn't think he had a great national league (i know last year,he was a revelation, but this time around he did not shine for me). However perhaps he is flying in training and therefore has earned selection.
its promised to be a warm day so don't forget to bring some water with ye for the match and bring some for our galway neighbours as well 8) 8) 8)
Finding it difficult to get onto the board. Keep getting an old board with message "Is board coming back"
Not sure about the team. BJP is a good ball winner and if he stays around the square cannot be exposed for speed too much.
If Nallen recaptures league final form I have no worries. Savage will be there to try and exploit him.
Forwards are always better with Trevor but the balance just is not right.
All to play. Enda is hoping for Mayo. Pat is hoping for Mayo. The meeja are hoping for FG and so probably Mayo. I think it will be Mayo, but won't be suprised if it goes the other way.
The Galway half forward line is probably the poorest line on the field and it may be the cause of losing the game. In recent games against Mayo we've seen when the Galway midfield and half -forward line struggles the ball goign inside to PJ and Meehan is very high and at best 50-50. We really need Ja and Savo to step up on Sunday and I think we knoe their best days are behind them. I think Coleman should have been placed there to give it a physical presence.
I hope for a strong refereeing performance to cut out Conor Mortimer's shite-hawking. Wait and see come Monday morning they'll be some poster claiming Mortimer was abused on the pitch. I think Damien Burke will pick him up, who's a clean footballer and I think it'll break 50-50. I just hope there's no dodgy last minute frees again. >:(
A lot depends on who gets the breaks as midfield will probably break 50-50 as McGarrity is not playing. if Heaney picks up Joyce and holds him as he usually does then i don't think Galway have enough firepower to win this.
All things being equal Mayo should win but local derbies, playing in a wind tunnel in Salthill it'll be a close call.
Forward line is fairly ok, but very much doubt that BJP will start at full back.
As for Deveeney, he has been given a chance in the championship, if he doesnt perform up to the mark, then I think it'll be the bench for him for the rest of the campaign.
I'd say D Brady would defineatly make an appearence at some stage all going well in the game and McDonald could make an appearence if needed.
The Green and Red of Mayo
I can see it still
It's soft and craggy bogland
It's tall majestic hills
Where the ocean kisses Ireland
And the waves carress it's shore
The feeling it came over me
To stay forever more
Forever more
From it's rolling coastal waters
I can see Croagh Patrick's peak
Where one Sunday every Summer
The pilgrims climb the reek
Where Saint Patrick in it's solitude
Looked down across Clew Bay
With a ringing of his bell
Called the faithful there to pray
There to pray
Take me to Clare Island
The home of Granuaile
It's waters harbour fishes
From the herring to the whale
And now I must depart it
And reality is plain
May the time not pass so slowly
Before I set sail again
Set sail again
Far away from the land of the Shamrock and heather
In search of a living, as exiles we roam
But whenever we chance to assemble together
We think of the land where we once had a home:
But these homes are destroyed and our soil confiscated
The hand of the tyrant brought plunder and woe;
The fires are now quenched and our hearts desolated
In our once happy homes in the County Mayo
Long years have now passed since with hearts full of sorrow
The of the Shamrock we left far behind;
But how we would like to go back there to-morrow;
To the scenes of our youth, which we still bear in mind;
The days of our childhood, it's now we recall them
They cling to our vision wherever we go;
And the friends of our youth we will never forget them
They too ar exiled from the County Mayo
From historic Killala, from Swinford to Calla
Ballyhaunis and Westport and old Castlebar
Kiltimagh and Claremorris, Belmullet and Erris
Kilkelly and Knock that's famed near and far;
Balla, Ballinrobe, Ballina and Bohola
Keeloges and Foxford a few miles below
Newport and Cong with old Straide and Manulla
Charlestown too, in the County Mayo
Then on with the cause 'till our aim is accomplished
Those who would fault us are cowardly and mean
So stand in the fight 'till the tyrant is vanquished
Expelled from our Dear little Island of Green
With the foes of our land we have fought a long battle
Soon they will get their last death-dealing blow
When old Nick has received them, their brains he will rattle
For the wrongs they have done to the County Mayo
From Galway to Dublin, from Derry to Kerry
New York and 'Frisco and Boston also
In Pittsburg, Chicago, Detroit and Toronto
There are stout-hear
One for all of us
Hardly anyone had the tele'
It was a different kind of world
Heaven was a game of football
Before I ever kissed the girls
We used to go out driving
We'd travel near and far
Nearly every Sunday in me
Father's oul' ford car
He'd be pointing out the landmarks
Everywhere we'd go, through the
Twistings , turning , winding roads
Of Galway and Mayo
Me mother in the front seat
Children in the back
We'd be imagining Indians in the
Fields waiting to attack
And we'd be asking " are we nearly there?"
Wearing clothes that came
In a parcel from America,
The two of us the same
He'd be pointing out the landmarks
Everywhere we'd go, through the
Twistings , turning , winding roads
Of Galway and Mayo
There's a stillness in the summer
Air , sheep dog lying in the sun
Three young girls with butterfly nets
Break into a run
Now the time flies by like always
I've got my own boy right now
Like cowboys in the oul' corolla
We go and drive around
The land was let go lately
But I take him out that way
I show him where we cut the turf
And where we saved the hay
And I'll be pointing out the landmarks
Everywhere we'd go, through the
Twistings , turning , winding roads
Of Galway and Mayo
mayo4sam
you got the words of 'hay-wrap'??
dont know them all but these r the most relevant!
"will galway bate mayo?,
do you think will galway bate mayo,
not if they have willie-joe,
we havent a hope of batin mayo"
In fairness that Green & Red Of Mayo SawDoctors song is quality. Fairly inspiring I'd say.
Anyway, will be heading off to Salthill in a while myself and I don't think I've looked forward to a game as much in a long long time.
Am hoping Gaillimh can do the business but am more hopeful than confident.
Come on the Tribesmen!!
Best of luck to both teams, I have great respect for joyce,fallon and co, they delivered twice on the skills they have.Mayo will need to win this one,backdoor is very dangerous with the likes of armagh,tyrone or donegal capable of shortening the summer very quickly on a given day.
I expect a close game with Mayo hopefully winning it.
Quote from: prewtna on May 19, 2007, 11:19:10 AM
mayo4sam
dont know them all but these r the most relevant!
A Timeless classic!
Artist: The Saw Doctors
Song: Hay wrap
Album: All The Way From TuamI asked him to bail it tomorra
Sonny'll come over tomorra
Sonny got a brand new Welger
He got rid a that ould new Holland
Hay!
Bale them bale them
hay! hay!
I'd kill for a pinta porter
Jayz, I'd kill for a pinta porter
There's wild bad drink in Tuam hi
Get that wasp off my sandwich
hay!
Will Galway bate Mayo
Do you think will Galway bate Mayo
Not if they have Willie Joe
They haven't a hope of batin' Mayo
hay!Daddy can i go up on top
Daddy can i go up on top
Can I go up on toppa the trailer
I swear to god I'll be careful
hay!
Will Galway bate Mayo
Not if they have Willie Joe
I'd kill for a pinta porter
Get that wasp off my sandwich
hay!
Quote from: AbbeySider on May 20, 2007, 11:41:41 AM
Quote from: prewtna on May 19, 2007, 11:19:10 AM
mayo4sam
dont know them all but these r the most relevant!
A Timeless classic!
Artist: The Saw Doctors
Song: Hay wrap
Album: All The Way From Tuam
thanks abbeysider
im in the right mood now. im off to watch it. c'mon mayo!!!
Well, Today's the big day, really looking forward to it myself, hopefully C McDonald will make some sort of a contribution somewhere in the game as long as he's fit!
Well will be headin off in a while, hopefully Mayo will do the biz, real deal now, should be a tight game!
CMON MAYO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That MWR link doesn't seem to be working for me, luckily the infidel station galwaybay FM is working.........
And their star analysts are Pat Rabbitte and Michael D!!!!
devenny seeems to be getting cleaned,
"and thats what we want, good banging, ligitimate banging", yes the commentator did say that on national tv on a sunday afternoon
Devenney's off; DB on.........2-4 to 0-5 to Gaillimh
Both goals from Bane, is that LO'M's man?? Aidan Higgins warming up......
''no excuse for that flutin about''
another mcstay classic
at least mcstay does not seem to programmed like canning, who says the same sh*t, game in game out. he also gives some credability to morrisey. will some one tell me what relevance kevin o neill getting an allstar in 1993 has to do with todays game in 2007.
"If this sport were snooker it'd be time to go for a break"!!!
From Jimmy M as RTE Radio 1 go to an ad break........
What's the score there
half time is 2-4 to 0-05 as far as i can tell. Galway playing well, Mayo struggling but seem to be improving and I'm still hopeful.
Bollix, 2-07 to 0-06
2-08 to 0-06, Galway keeper made a good save from Harte.
Point from Mort, 2-08 to 0-07
MacDanger is on...........things are bad when we need to bring him on this early, KO'N off.......
How long is left?
Pat Harte off - dirty elbow
John Maughan reckons the sending off was a bit harsh.
Badly need a goal
That was a great hard shoulder on McDonald. Mayo unlucky not to have had a goal or two but it seems to be running away from them.
Niall Coleman got the line too to even it up.
galway phyiscally knocking the sh*t out of mayo.
Final score 2-10 to 0-09.
Brutal.
At least we have 7 weeks to get ready for the qualifiers.....
Well done to the Tribesmen
i tell you some thing- i don't think dublin will get too many snide remarks from mayo fans again after yet another lilly livered display on a championship sunday by the mayo men
Quote from: MacDanger on May 20, 2007, 05:16:16 PM
John Maughan reckons the sending off was a bit harsh.
It was a blatantly intentional elbow to the face.
Fair enough, wasn't watching, Maughan reckoned "his momentum carried him through".....
Go f**k yourself Indiana
indiana your some clown.
Go f**k yourself Indiana"
lovely diction- you don't like it so much when the shoe is on the other foot. like dublin i think mayo need a few new players. when the galway forwards play well they are a handful for anyone- straight into the quarters now.
Not long home from Pearse stadium. Dont know how it looked on TV but so many things went wrong.
Everyone agreed that Galway were fairly cynical throughout the game. They were pulling and dragging throughout. Coleman should have got the line long before Harte did.
He was kicking and punching players on the ground. Galway played with a cynical steel that worked. Forde has it drilled into them.
Mayo ware far too nice as usual.
Our backs were absolutly cleaned. Was it Bane that got the two goals? Bane an Meehan really showed up Keith Higgins and Liam O Malley.
Heaney did Ok on Joyce. BJP had a bad game. Gardiner and Devenney were terrible too.
We were pounded in mid-field. It was an awful mistake not having Brady starting. Bergan was class today but Brady held his own when he came on. I cant get over how dirty Coleman was even off the ball. Between third man tackling and consistent fouling when Mayo were is scoring positions. It was infuriating that he stayed on the pitch as long as he did.
Up front was another no show today. Only Trevor Mortimer looked dangerous and hungry.
The worst game of all was was had by the referee. Some decisions were crazy.
The scoreline didnt reflect the difference between the two teams but Galway deserved the victory all the same
By the way Indiana,
Go f**k yourself.
Quote from: Lamh Dhearg Alba on May 20, 2007, 05:16:30 PM
That was a great hard shoulder on McDonald. Mayo unlucky not to have had a goal or two but it seems to be running away from them.
It was lucky. He caught McD on his blind side. But yes, he caught him well.
well i am exiled for 6 weeks more. watched the match in a pub with bob dylan doin the commentary tho i think marty morrisy and mc stay were there!
couldne keep track of positional swithces but it seemed to me as if mayo were at sea most of the time. they didnt seem to know where they were playing.
a bit sickened to be honest. thought theyd put up a better show then that.
seemed to me as if we were eaten alive at midfield. finally proof that gardiner cant defend. but i was disapponted by devenny. and as for billie joe.... i simply dont know.
up front. the wind seemed to frighten us maybe it was strong but galway had no problem kickin into it, and then when playing with it we didnt shoot at all!
mort was unluck with the shot that hit the post. it might have changed things.
harte had to go. a dirty dig.
cant comment on the off the ball stuff but galway seemed to have more bite in the tackle. they accumulated more yellows but i suppose that wont matter to them!
anyway. it will be a long 6/7 weeks for johno. he has lots to do.
looks like he wont be elected now, so plenty time to focus on mayo!
Quote from: prewtna on May 20, 2007, 07:51:54 PM
looks like he wont be elected now, so plenty time to focus on mayo!
He hasnt a hope in hell after that
Quote from: J70 on May 20, 2007, 05:49:00 PM
Quote from: MacDanger on May 20, 2007, 05:16:16 PM
John Maughan reckons the sending off was a bit harsh.
It was a blatantly intentional elbow to the face.
It may well have been a blatant intentional elbow to the face, but Harte layed off possession and yer man came in late with a third man tackle.
Very very disappointing game, at half time, I thought Mayo could have just come back. as they had the wind on their side, they came out in the second half with momentum as within the first minute C Mort was 1 on 1 with the keeper but unfortuneatly the ball hit the bar and dropped into one of the Tribesmens hands, this was a huge blow to Mayo, then a fight in centre field a few seconds later made it worse for them and I reckon these 2 events could well have lost it for them, if Mort buried that into the back of the net, I reckon the scoreline would have been different in favour of Mayo.
Galway were the better team at the end of the game though but were very cynical and as for Mayo, well we are destined for the long road through the qualifiers.
Just back from the game.
Must say I'm very happy with the result and performance. Controlled the match throughout really bar one or two shaky moments in the second half when Mayo had to go for broke and go for goals. Didn't expect such a comfortable win. The last 20 minutes was a non-event really and the sendings-off seemed to take the life out of the game.
Fair play to the backs. There's no doubt now that we have some very good defenders in the side. Mayo only scoring two points from play all day says it all. Damien Burke cleaned out Conor Mortimer even though Mortimer found some space in the second-half when he hit the bar. Finian Hanley was also excellent. Blake did well coming on for the injured Coyne.
Bergin and Coleman were monsterous in midfield. I actually thought Coleman was my man of the match until he picked up a second yellow. He does concede too many frees but he put in a huge performance until then. His pass for the first Galway goal was McDonaldesque. Bergin seems to be upping his game now that he is the senior midfielder in the side.
Strange to think that the two players that did the most damage up front were Cormac Bane and Nicky Joyce rather than Padraig and Michael Meehan. Nice to know that they can step up to the plate if required. Ja I thought was pretty quiet even though he did hit a nice point. Savo in and out of the game but worked hard and kicked two points. All the forwards scored.
Galway just seemed hungrier for it on the day and kept knocking back Mayo players in the tackle. These games continue to be very difficult to predict. Certainly a big Galway improvement on last years's non-display against Westmeath. Hopefully we can get to the last 8 as Connacht champions and take it from there but Leitrim in Carrick won't be a walk in the park in the meantime. Mayo have a long break now before another game but it might allow them to get McDonald fit and I'm sure they'll improve substantially if they get a win under their belts.
Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on May 20, 2007, 08:10:00 PM
Galway just seemed hungrier for it on the day and kept knocking back Mayo players in the tackle.
ya hungrier by far.
tis a bit sickening to concede a goal so easily so early in another big game.
i wonder are any lessons being learned in the mayo defence at all?
lord only knows who we will get in the lottery!
seems ye'll be in the quarters now fairly handy. deserved the win no doubt about it.
Match report from Hogan Stand for whoever didn't see the game.
Tribe destroy Mayo
20 May 2007
Galway turned on the style to completely overwhelm Mayo (2-10 to 0-9) in a disappointingly one-sided Connacht SFC encounter at Pearse Stadium.
Mayo relinquished their Connacht crown with barely a whimper in Salthill, never quite recovering from the shock of conceding a second-minute goal.
When is the last time defending champions at any grade managed just two scores from play in a championship match? John O'Mahony clearly has work to do with his team, while Peter Ford's charges look capable of challenging for major honours this summer.
The first half belonged to Galway and a brace of impressive goals from Cormac Bann sent them in with a useful half-time cushion.
The Caherlistrane clubman rippled the net on 2 and 20 minutes to leave the defending champions with a mountain to climb.
Mayo's decision to play against the breeze in the first half backfired as Galway built a winning cushion and also demonstrated greater efficiency against the elements after the turnaround.
The losers' woes were compounded when they had midfielder Pat Harte dismissed with a full 25 minutes remaining. At that stage, they trailed by double scores, 2-8 to 0-7.
As it happened, the defending provincial champions only had to play a quarter of an hour with numerical inferiority as Niall Comer was also sent off for a second yellow an hour into the action.
Bann gave Galway a dream start with a goal inside two minutes. The No.15 danced around Kenneth O'Malley to roll the ball to an empty net and the Tribesmen followed up with an instant Derek Savage point.
It could have been even worse for the visitors as Padraig Joyce, Ja Fallon and Comer were all guilty of poor Galway wides inside the first four minutes.
There were eight minutes on the clock by the time Andy Moran opened Mayo's account with a superb point from play and the Red & Greens were awarded a free in front of the posts when Conor Mortimer was wrestled to ground by Finian Hanley.
The No.13 brushed himself down and sent the resultant free straight over the bar to close the gap with ten minutes played.
Alan Dillon should have halved the difference but his free was off target into the wind. Nicky Joyce made John O'Mahony's team pay when he sliced one between the posts at the other end: 1-2 to 0-2 after 15 minutes.
Bann blasted his second major when Micheal Meehan released him in the 20th minute. It was a smashing finish from the Galway No.15, who was operating on the 40, and the goal gave his team a six-point cushion.
Mortimer's free closed the gap but Galway were awarded a free 13 minutes from the break when roving corner back Ciaran Fitzgerald was illegally stopped close to goal. Nicky Joyce converted to make it 2-3 to 0-3.
Meehan drove over a great free from distance to stretch his side's lead. David Brady entered the fray in an effort to lift Mayo and his inspirational catch resulted in a free, which Mortimer converted 15 seconds short of the half-hour mark.
Sloppy, indecisive play in the Galway defence presented Mayo with another free, expertly popped between the posts by Dillon to close the gap to five with 33 minutes played.
Bann somehow managed to pick out Nicky Joyce amid a forest of Mayo backs and the latter floated a shot calmly over the bar in first half stoppage time.
The short whistle sounded with the challengers two goals to the good: 2-5 to 0-5.
Now wind-assisted, Mayo worked a goal chance within 30 seconds of the resumption, but Mortimer's side-footed strike rebounded into play off the top left angle of the woodwork.
Galway midfielders Joe Bergin and Niall Comer combined for the latter to point off his left boot after Dillon had floated over a wonderful Mayo point on the run.
The hosts didn't seem to have any difficulty playing into the wind and they moved further ahead with quickfire points from Meehan and Savage: 2-8 to 0-6.
Ciaran McDonald came off the bench in place of captain Kevin O'Neill seven minutes into the second half, following another Mortimer conversion from dead in front of the posts, maintaining a 100% record from placed balls (four from four).
In the 45th minute, Mayo were reduced to 14 men when Pat Harte – who had already been booked anyway – received a straight red for dangerous play. The midfielder seemed to follow through with a stray elbow after laying off possession.
When McDonald struck a post, it pretty much summed up Mayo's evening and David Heaney added to their wides tally at the end of the third quarter.
Bann stretched the gap to end a long scoreless period on 53 minutes
Joe Bergin was a dominant force in the centre of the field and Mayo's dismal offering of only two points from play in over an hour tells its own raw and grim story.
Comer took the walk of shame with ten minutes left and Meehan had two wides before Padraig Joyce and Mortimer swapped late frees.
The Mayo No.13 brought his tally to six in the second added minute but the score was only of statistical relevance.
"By the way Indiana,
Go f**k yourself. "
is that the best you can do? Simply making the point that while the current dublin team can be rightly seen as bottling games in the altt stages- we're never short of acknowledging that - it never ceases to amaze me how many mayo people believe their team is on a different planet . This current mayo team has more no shows on championship days than any other top 8 side in the country. Galway could go damn close this year if they replicate the hunger shown today.
Have to say I was very surprised by how poor Mayo were. I expected it to be tight but I thought their experience of the last few years would carry them through and that they were really on a mission this season under O'Mahony. Instead they were disorganised and extremely tame physically. They really allowed Galway to push them around.
That been said the tribesmen got away unpunished with alot of cynical fouling and Coleman should have gone long before that with Ja Fallon also very lucky to remain on the field. He seemed constantly pumped up but apart from a nice point contributed very little to the win.
Galway were very deserving winners and their natural forwards really clicked for the first time in years. Even though P.Joyce and Michael Meehan were quiet I thought they both worked very hard for the team and were content to let the newer names like Bann to shine. Bergin completely dominated the middle of the field even though Brady did fight hard when introduced. Damien Burke was immense and his shoulder on McDonald was a massive hit.
Mayo turned over alot of possession especially Ger Brady. Credit for this is also due to the swarming Galway defense which combined with the wind didnt make for a great quality match despite some two decent goals. O'Mahony has had a bad start to what will probably continue to be a bad week for him. He will have alot to do to pick his team up. Galway are now rampant favourites to emerge from Connacht and Forde must be chuffed after all the flack he took at the beginning of the year.
how long more do we have to put up with ger brady? he has to be the most yellow watery big strong former rugby player ever. the amount of times he looses the ball in contact is crazy. And as for him throwing shapes to the opposition they just make me laugh. Maybe his bro can teach him how to solo... no wait
Quote from: ludermor on May 20, 2007, 10:48:43 PM
Maybe his bro can teach him how to solo... no wait
LMAO! :D :D :D ;D ;D ;D
Quotei don't think dublin will get too many snide remarks from mayo fans again
Look, you're from Dublin, get over it. Any team that beats yee in the championship after being 7 pts down will gloat cos every other team gets sick to the teeth of listening to all the talk about yee. For what its worth, i think the royals will be too good for yee in 2 weeks
QuoteBane an Meehan really showed up Keith Higgins and Liam O Malley
Abbeysider, what game are you on about ? Fair enough re O'Malley but Meehan done nothing, Higgins dominated him again.
Re Pat Hartes red card - a little harsh i thought but can see why it was given. He lead with the fore arm - not the elbow, and he didn't follow through with conviction. Had he not lead with the forearm then he would have been clobbered by the late tackle. If the linesman had done his job moments before then it would have Galway that would have been down to 14 players. Instead Harte came away very frustrated from that incident and let it get the better of him.
In the first half, Mayo just couldn't deal with the continuous positional switching of the Galway forwards. None of them seemed to play in the same position for 2 plays in a row - it was a very effective ploy. The damage was done in the Galway left corner forward area, particularly by Nicky Joyce and Bane when they found themselves in there being marked by either Devenney or Gardiner.
Conor Morts missed goal chance was the defining point in the game. Had that gone in then given the breeze, i have no doubt the game would have taken a completely different course. Not saying Mayo would have won but would have been a right battle.
Finally from a Mayo perspective, we ain't that bad needless to say. A couple of weeks away from it to get their heads together, a good deal of hard training for MacD, Trevor Mort and D Brady to get the fitness levels back along with a rediscovery of form by Dillon and Ger Brady and we will take beating.
QuoteFair enough re O'Malley but Meehan done nothing
To be fair I think he actually had a few assists today including putting Bane through for his second goal. Kicked a couple of bad wides though. Two relatively simple ones.
QuoteRe Pat Hartes red card - a little harsh i thought but can see why it was given. He lead with the fore arm - not the elbow, and he didn't follow through with conviction. Had he not lead with the forearm then he would have been clobbered by the late tackle. If the linesman had done his job moments before then it would have Galway that would have been down to 14 players.
Think the red card was fair. You just can't go in with the forearm/elbow to the head area. Always liable to lead to a red card.
The incident before it was when Coleman picked up his first yellow for barging Harte in the back wasn't it? To be fair it wasn't a red card offence. The yellow was the right decision.
Galway very cynical. P Joyce should have seen line for frontal elbow on C Mortimer, that backfired onto his number 6 and referree bottled many yellow card decisions with Black books. Mayo look to be a team still preparing for championship and this game had the feel of a friendly or last unimportant league game. Anyway i expect them to be sharper in 7 weeks or it will be an unusually short summer! By the way well done Galway, Deserved winners!
Well done Galway, good luck for the rest of the championship, deserved winners. Didn't get to see the match but listened in on mid-west. Galway were well and truely ready for us this time.
2 points from play in a championship match is just not good enough.
Our forward lines needs a good shake up me thinks.
. Had that gone in then given the breeze, i have no doubt the game would have taken a completely different course. Not saying Mayo would have won but would have been a right battle.
Finally from a Mayo perspective, we ain't that bad needless to say. "
Do you really believe that?- that team needs some new players the lads on the sunday game got that right- another no show on a big day- surely there must be some u21's pushing for inclusion at this stage. as regards the dubs v meath- you may well be right (then again how good were kildare) - i don't live in cuckoo land when it comes to assessing my county's chances i'm fully aware of our shortcomings- i couldn't believe how written off galway were beforehand when you read through their forward line. and still afew more to come back- i don't think they'll be far away.
Seven weeks till the next game?
Well thats the guts of july gone,I see mayo improving somewhat but how much is hard to tell.They were pushed around too easily and i was shocked to see them pull out of tackles.They looked like it was a challenge game and thats what was most apparent.The review of video will show up some awful stuff, Mayo have given too many excuses in recent years, yesterday was no different,they were simply awful and only for galways poor shooting it would have been a disaster altogether on the scoreboard.
WHAT TO DO?
I know I'm going to be accused of sour grapes but the purpose of this forum is to give your opinion so thats what it is. Fair play to Galway, whatever my opinions the scoreboard dosent lie. I dont think Galway were 7 points a better team so I would get carried away with saying how wonderful Galway were or how shite Mayo were. A bit of luck for Mayo and the fat would have been in the fire over the last 20 minutes and the teams would have been closer.
For most of the game I thought we were playing Armagh at their worst, everytime Mayo had an attack anyway close to the 21 the man in posession was cynically fouled, momentum gone every time. The ref and more importatanly his linesmen continously bottled it and Galway should not have had 15 men going into the dressing room at half time. 3rd man tackles all over the place, several off the ball belts to the head two or three seconds after the ball was gone. What Harte did was stupid only because it was right in front of the ref, its what Galway players were at all day, except they were much cuter and sneakier about it. Once the red card was flashed Harte did well to control himself and not lamp the ref as well! It seems this bit of "steel" is whats needed to win these days then clearly in the Connacht senior boxing and wresteling championships Mayo are not at the races. This game was a very good example of why we should consider the team fouls rule that is being suggested in some quarters. It would put a stop to that tactic fairly lively.
Mayo didnt help themselves by some suicidal defending, not appearing to have any tactics in the forward line except blast it in. Theres not much point winning ball in midfield when the 5 of your 6 forwards are within 10 Metres of the ball way out from goal and theres only one inside. Mayo had 4 weeks to address midfield tactically and the fact that Joe Bergin cleaned them in the league semi and didnt do it. No offence to Jimmy Nallen but if Mickey Moran was suggesting him as a starting midfield last year we'd have him on a rail back up North.
Mayo still have too many problems down the spine of the team to be considered contenders for SAM, at this stage of the year you'd want to be fairly sure about 3, 6, 8, 9, 11 and 14 yet we dont really have a clue about those positions. However, depending on the draw Mayo could make it back to the quarters or beyond. However theres no All Ireland in it this year so its time to build, if we have the players. This is not criticism of JOM but to those in the county who feel that hes definetly going to win Sam, we really have to ask are our players good enough? That question is particularly relevant to the forwards. Perhaps JOM was just lucky in that when he was with Galway he had some exceptional players. Dillon dosent look as good as last year so we appear to only have one consistently scoring forward. Worryingly there dosent seem to be anyone from last years U-21 team stepping up for the front 6. Kilcoyne appears to be gone backwards if you judge him by his senior appearances or lack of. We would do much better against a team who actually wanted to play football but unfortunatley we probably need to adopt these tactics as well or forget about it. Otherwise all we'll have is the knowledge that at least we always tried to play football but won nothing doing it and that isnt much comfort to be honest.
Roscommon will win Connacht.
Great win for Galway, all the more because it was so unexpected.
Thought that everyone played their part but as always the guys that you think may let you down that came up trumps.
I thought Savo, Coleman, Comer and Bane all played well and better than we thought they would.
Others like Bergin and Damien Burke really stepped up also.
Nout sure about this cynical tag. In fairness I was a long way away from the galway goal in the first half and we did concede a number of frees. But better that than letting them in for two goals that the Mayo backs did.
Thought Heaney had a fine game for Mayo in adversity and McGarrity was a big loss. Expected more from Harte and Nallen.
All in all a good day's work. Serious result for Peter Forde and hopefully we'll kick on from here.
Quote from: Msgr. Horan on May 21, 2007, 08:58:10 AM
I know I'm going to be accused of sour grapes but the purpose of this forum is to give your opinion so thats what it is. Fair play to Galway, whatever my opinions the scoreboard dosent lie. I dont think Galway were 7 points a better team so I would get carried away with saying how wonderful Galway were or how shite Mayo were. A bit of luck for Mayo and the fat would have been in the fire over the last 20 minutes and the teams would have been closer.
For most of the game I thought we were playing Armagh at their worst, everytime Mayo had an attack anyway close to the 21 the man in posession was cynically fouled, momentum gone every time. The ref and more importatanly his linesmen continously bottled it and Galway should not have had 15 men going into the dressing room at half time. 3rd man tackles all over the place, several off the ball belts to the head two or three seconds after the ball was gone. What Harte did was stupid only because it was right in front of the ref, its what Galway players were at all day, except they were much cuter and sneakier about it. Once the red card was flashed Harte did well to control himself and not lamp the ref as well! It seems this bit of "steel" is whats needed to win these days then clearly in the Connacht senior boxing and wresteling championships Mayo are not at the races. This game was a very good example of why we should consider the team fouls rule that is being suggested in some quarters. It would put a stop to that tactic fairly lively.
Mayo didnt help themselves by some suicidal defending, not appearing to have any tactics in the forward line except blast it in. Theres not much point winning ball in midfield when the 5 of your 6 forwards are within 10 Metres of the ball way out from goal and theres only one inside. Mayo had 4 weeks to address midfield tactically and the fact that Joe Bergin cleaned them in the league semi and didnt do it. No offence to Jimmy Nallen but if Mickey Moran was suggesting him as a starting midfield last year we'd have him on a rail back up North.
Mayo still have too many problems down the spine of the team to be considered contenders for SAM, at this stage of the year you'd want to be fairly sure about 3, 6, 8, 9, 11 and 14 yet we dont really have a clue about those positions. However, depending on the draw Mayo could make it back to the quarters or beyond. However theres no All Ireland in it this year so its time to build, if we have the players. This is not criticism of JOM but to those in the county who feel that hes definetly going to win Sam, we really have to ask are our players good enough? That question is particularly relevant to the forwards. Perhaps JOM was just lucky in that when he was with Galway he had some exceptional players. Dillon dosent look as good as last year so we appear to only have one consistently scoring forward. Worryingly there dosent seem to be anyone from last years U-21 team stepping up for the front 6. Kilcoyne appears to be gone backwards if you judge him by his senior appearances or lack of. We would do much better against a team who actually wanted to play football but unfortunatley we probably need to adopt these tactics as well or forget about it. Otherwise all we'll have is the knowledge that at least we always tried to play football but won nothing doing it and that isnt much comfort to be honest.
Roscommon will win Connacht.
Well written Msgr. Horan, I agree with everything except the last statement... The Rossies dont have a hope if Galway play half as well as they did against us.
But at the end of the day you are right... Are our players good enough? I could go through the team and name out players that are passed it and way off the pace and other players that IMO are simply not good enough.
Quote from: Msgr. Horan on May 21, 2007, 08:58:10 AMRoscommon will win Connacht.
Would ya go away out of that! If we can beat Sligo first i think most Rossie's will be just happy to get to a final in Pearse stadium...
No doubt i'm going to incur all sorts of flack from Mayo folk for saying it... but it there not a whiff of sour grapes here this morning? You had a bad day at the office and got beaten well. But moaning about Galway being physical or Harte being sent off is just silly. Harte deserved the line for what he did. Yes Meehan came in on him after the ball had gone, but why did Harte put out his elbow? If he was just trying to defend himself raising his two hands and knocking Meehan back on his arse would have been far more effective then sticking his elbow into his face. As for Galway being physical thats just a side issue. They out played, out thought and out fought Mayo and that was the winning of this match. I think only 2 or 3 of the Mayo forwards scored and most of them were from Mortimers free kicks. Brady should have started in the middle as Bergin and Cullinane cleaned up and it smacked a little of desperation bringing in McDonald who cannot be match fit yet and he was always going to be a target for the Galway lads. That shoulder must have loosened his fillings. But what a perfectly executed shoulder. Misjudge that and he was off.
If nothing else it will keep peoples feet on the ground (i think JOM will be delighted with that) and lessen the pressure on the players. I actually think a run through the qualifiers will do Mayo the world of good and i doubt JOM will be caught out as badly again this year. Does anyone remember Galway in 2001.....
"know I'm going to be accused of sour grapes but the purpose of this forum is to give your opinion so thats what it is. Fair play to Galway, whatever my opinions the scoreboard dosent lie. I dont think Galway were 7 points a better team so I would get carried away with saying how wonderful Galway were or how shite Mayo were. A bit of luck for Mayo and the fat would have been in the fire over the last 20 minutes and the teams would have been closer."
Man isn't self delusion wonderful- is it any wonder mayo were as bad as they were yesterday. I watched a re-run of it and it confirmed to me mayo were really that bad yesterday. Totally and utterly outplayed- the commitment and drive from galway is somethng i haven't seen in quite a while from galway.
Quote from: INDIANA on May 21, 2007, 10:00:36 AM
"know I'm going to be accused of sour grapes but the purpose of this forum is to give your opinion so thats what it is. Fair play to Galway, whatever my opinions the scoreboard dosent lie. I dont think Galway were 7 points a better team so I would get carried away with saying how wonderful Galway were or how shite Mayo were. A bit of luck for Mayo and the fat would have been in the fire over the last 20 minutes and the teams would have been closer."
Man isn't self delusion wonderful- is it any wonder mayo were as bad as they were yesterday. I watched a re-run of it and it confirmed to me mayo were really that bad yesterday. Totally and utterly outplayed- the commitment and drive from galway is somethng i haven't seen in quite a while from galway.
As plenty of others have said "By the way Indiana, go f**k yourself"
Ryano the Rossie is ri ... correct. Galway won fair and square. They were up for it, Mayo were not. Hats off to them. Bane took his goals really well, Bergin was outstanding in midfield, Burke superlative in the backs. As regards his Reverence the Monsignor's points, about refereeing standards and that sort thing, that's not really to the point. Something to be raised at Congress maybe. In the meantime, until that happy day when the rules as written are enforced, the best thing to do would be to remember what Ger Loughnane told his Clare team in the early nineties - the referee will not protect you, you must be able to protect yourselves. That mightn't be very Corinthian, but that's certainly the way it is.
As regards the bigger picture, Galway are surely pushing for a place at the top table now. I'm tired off all this old guff about only Kerry, Tyrone and Armagh being All-Ireland contenders. Galway are on the list now too, and fair play to them. No complaints from this Mayo jurist.
That's the best argument you have to counter me- because the truth hurts- mayo like dublin have little or no chance of winning the big one because they aren't good enough- 6-7 new players required.
Quote from: Ryano on May 21, 2007, 09:29:20 AM
Quote from: Msgr. Horan on May 21, 2007, 08:58:10 AMRoscommon will win Connacht.
But moaning about Galway being physical or Harte being sent off is just silly. Harte deserved the line for what he did. Yes Meehan came in on him after the ball had gone, but why did Harte put out his elbow? If he was just trying to defend himself raising his two hands and knocking Meehan back on his arse would have been far more effective then sticking his elbow into his face. Your right, and as I said doing it in front of the ref was stupid as well, so I wouldnt defend him for being that niave. However, once the Mayo players saw that you could do what you wanted so long as the tosser from Cavan didnt see it, they should have done the same.As for Galway being physical thats just a side issue. They out played, out thought and out fought Mayo and that was the winning of this match. I think only 2 or 3 of the Mayo forwards scored and most of them were from Mortimers free kicks. And the reason for that was that any time a Mayo player was anywhere near the goals with the ball he was fouled. If the ref has a set of balls he would have sorted that out. I cant blame galway for taking advantage of that situation. Brady should have started in the middle as Bergin and Cullinane cleaned up and it smacked a little of desperation bringing in McDonald who cannot be match fit yet and he was always going to be a target for the Galway lads. That shoulder must have loosened his fillings. But what a perfectly executed shoulder. Misjudge that and he was off.
If nothing else it will keep peoples feet on the ground (i think JOM will be delighted with that) to be honest peoples feet in mayo have been firmly on the ground since 2004, the media seem to think we get carried away but theres very few Mayo people who actually do, we've been caught too often and lessen the pressure on the players. I think the pressure is actually increased now, losing to your nearest rivals and being one more bad performance away from the year being out I actually think a run through the qualifiers will do Mayo the world of good and i doubt JOM will be caught out as badly again this year. Does anyone remember Galway in 2001..... I dont think Mayo have the players to repeat that feat. This year will be a very good championship and very hard to win (even harder than normal), Cork, Meath and to a lesser extent Donegal all have fine teams to add to the mix of the usual suspects.
Quote from: INDIANA on May 21, 2007, 10:12:57 AM
That's the best argument you have to counter me- because the truth hurts- mayo like dublin have little or no chance of winning the big one because they aren't good enough- 6-7 new players required.
I dont believe you can quote any Mayo person here saying that we were. This has nothing to do with Dublin, if you want to talk about the match itself, which is the topic of this thread fair enough. If you just want to throw shite around because your still bitter about your over hyped team choking once again then do it somewhere else. In fact start a thread for yourself there good man.
Thought Galway did well yesterday but...
the backs did too much fouling, that has to be a worry if they are in a match where they will be under more pressure than they were yesterday. Damien Burke had a great great game, he really has turned into a top corner back and I recall a lot of Galway fans being very worried when he was moved to no. 4 a couple of years back.
Midfield was good, but bear in mind, they were up against Nallen & Harte, I thought Brady unsettled them a little the first few minutes after he came on.
Forwards were excellent, movement was superb. They have come a long way since the FBD final. Meehan was the only one who didnt really do well yesterday but even he had his moments.
O'Mahony made a mess of things though. Nallen should have been taken off for Brady instead of moving him wing back. Nicky Joyce was far too quick for him (remember Joyce's solo run in the sceond half, Nallen simply could not keep up). Nallen was a good player for Mayo but his performances last year proved that he cannot do it anymore at this level, (in the half back line anyways).
I have been a very harsh critic of Andy Moran but he has impressed me this year. The games he impresses me in is when he is playing in close to goal, he went roaming about the place yesterday. I could not believe O'Mahony was allowing this, he should know that this would suit Fitzgerald more than anybody (He won a coupld of breaks in midfield). Fitzgerald is less & less comfortable the closer he is to the Galway goal.
Doherty looked very dodgy on occassions, he needs to improve.
well my considered opinions are that-
galway have a much better forward line than mayo.
Galway dominated the breaks because they were the hungrier team.
Bergin outshoe the mayo midfield- though mc garrity is ahuge loss.
HIggins and heaney never gave up - too reliant on motimer- if he's marked well the game is up for mayo.
Burke and hanley were oustanding the in the full back line giving a solidity that hasn't been there since 2001.
Wasn't really any bright spots from a mayo perspective except that the current mayo team will never win an all-ireland unless they find 5-6 new players.
thanks for that indiana, ill pass on your top secret info to JOM
Have you any more wisdom?
Quote from: INDIANA on May 21, 2007, 11:08:10 AM
well my considered opinions are that-
galway have a much better forward line than mayo.
Galway dominated the breaks because they were the hungrier team.
Bergin outshoe the mayo midfield- though mc garrity is ahuge loss.
HIggins and heaney never gave up - too reliant on motimer- if he's marked well the game is up for mayo.
Burke and hanley were oustanding the in the full back line giving a solidity that hasn't been there since 2001.
Wasn't really any bright spots from a mayo perspective except that the current mayo team will never win an all-ireland unless they find 5-6 new players.
Very hard to argue with any of that Indiana, in fairness. Conor Mortimer absolutely dominated Mayo's scoring in the league - you can see the stats at http://mayogaablog.blogspot.com - which meant that once Burke put the ball and chain on Conor, the scores dried up completely. Alan Dillon is like a man with a crisis of confidence lately, and he was the only other reasonable potent scorer. Last year seems like a very long time away for Kevin O'Neill. There's no point in kicking men when they're down, but the time for a new generation is getting very, very soon. Presuming there is a new generation, of course.
Is it time to try and bring in players such as Tom Parsons & Pierce Hanley to give them some Championship experience, feck this year anyways, never considered an All-Ireland throught he back door a real one anyways ;)
Quote from: Fishead_Sam on May 21, 2007, 01:12:56 PM
Is it time to try and bring in players such as Tom Parsons & Pierce Hanley to give them some Championship experience, feck this year anyways, never considered an All-Ireland throught he back door a real one anyways ;)
Pierce Hanley is too young, FFS he is still U-21 next year. He is a great talent and so is Parsons but they are still a year or two too young and their body's are not ready for the physicality of Senior Inter County Championship.
very disapointed after yesterday. Galway were the better and hungrier team on the day. A couple of things for me that were key factor to the defeat.
1 We lost the first 7 balls contested at midfield, this gave galway the momentem and the foundation for the win.
2 Against the wind we had an isolated full forward line. Even if the ball was broken down, we did not have the support play to get the breaks.
3 we had men who were done for over carrying on 4 or 5 occasions.
4 A goal straight after half time would have put us back in it. (f*ck that crossbar!)
5 Galway used the referees leniancy to their advantage. Galway saw what he was allowing and played to the limit. I thought that some of the tackles deserved yellows and not ticks, but you can not blame galway for this.
These are just a few observations i made. I have not had a chance to watch the tape of the game yet. Now we have the back door to contend with. Limerick, Fermanagh, Kildare,Cavan, Westmeath all ready in it. All these teams are beatable on our day so thus far i am not that phased by the prospect. However there are some tough teams who will join us yet.
We have 7 weeks to the game. McDonald,mortimer and d brady will be back flying by that stage. Depending on the opposition Kicullen can come in at full back and free heaney up to go to midfield. We have had a set back but thank god due to the back door it is not the end of this years adventure.
However we are in the last chance saloon and we need to get it right the next day. I have faith in JOM to do this.
Galway won most of the individual battles, apart from Heaney and Higgins. I think Galway should have won by more to be honest. We hit over twice as much wides as Mayo (13 to 5), and with Padraig Joyce, and Mike Meehan only getting two points between them, there is plenty of room for improvement. However if Mortimer and Harte had finished their goal chances we'd probably be looking at a replay. Galway will have to be a lot more clinical. It was good to see the lesser lights, like Savage, Comer, Bane, and Nicky Joyce step up to the plate. Also Joe Bergin should some of the leadership in midfield that we haven't had since 2001. We've been looking for Bergin to take an important game by the scruff of the neck, and he did that on Sunday.
I honestly can't believe the amount of sour grapes coming from the Mayo contributors. It is very dissappointing to hear. Galway dominated the game throughout, apart from a short period after half time. Harte is a nasty piece of goods (I've seen him do this before and worse). It's astonishing people are defending his sending off. He raised the elbow after giving the ball away. Totally intentional and absolutely needless.
As an outsider watching yesterday's game a number of things struck me.
Firstly, Galway had a game plan and knew what they were doing with it when they won the ball. They had a number of options on any given occassion and were able to utilise the space much better than Mayo. Mayo forwards in particular were rudderless. 2 points from play over an hurs football is terrible and they had no leadership up front. They have many good forwards but no great ones on yesterdays display.
Secondly, while Galway played on the edge somewhat they were not overtly dirty. There were a few occassions when the ref could have done more but players gauge how a ref will go early on in a game and generally take advantage of it. Be it "dirty" like Armagh or Meath or "clean" teams like Kerry, they all take the limit out of a ref. Mayo were not able to take the hits and play. What Harte did was an example of a player throwing his toys out of the pram and he rightly got a red card. It is noticeable that he did it to the towering Michael Meehan rather than the man who clocked him earlier, the small man Coleman.
Thirdly, apart from the game against the Dubs last year, I cannot remember a day that Mayo pulled it out whenever the pressure was really on. It cannot be the fault of successive managers that they have not been able to do it. There seems to be the final cut that makes teams winners missing from this team and this is not something you can train into players....you either have it or you don't.
Well done Galway, JOM's future looks laden with disappointment and failure on a number of fronts.
Quoted brady will be back flying by that stage
Yeah Yeah, the great Mayo excuse, "We were missing Brady". Ye are always missing him, here is a player who seems to have gained a great reputation just because he is nearly always injured.
I think the "cynical" and "dirty" Galway routine is being overplayed here and on Mayofans.com to be honest. There were a lot of frees in the game alright but mainly for minor offences than outright dirt. The hits were hard but fair in the main. Once Galway got ahead early on I think they felt they would win the game if they didn't concede any goals so were content to concede frees further out the field as long as it kept Mayo away from the Galway goal. The longer the game went on the more desperate Mayo became searching for goals and that's a situation where the team in the lead will always be content to give away a free rather than let the opposition clear run at their goal.
To me it was a typical Galway v Mayo game in the championship. No quarter given or asked for and you go out there and scrap for every ball otherwise you have no chance of winning.
It shouldn't be forgotten that Galway scored two cracking goals in open play and fashioned a number of great points too. That's what won them the game.
QuoteI think Galway should have won by more to be honest
QuoteHowever if Mortimer and Harte had finished their goal chances we'd probably be looking at a replay
Too much celebrations there DJ, are you still drunk?
QuoteThirdly, apart from the game against the Dubs last year, I cannot remember a day that Mayo pulled it out whenever the pressure was really on.
Connacht final 2004 v Galway, down by 6 early in the game - ended up winning by 6
There is a feeling of sour grapes here, it's quite similiar to after last year's Connacht Final when many Galway contributors (myself included :-\) got hung up on the fact that the last minute debatable free kick that allowed Mayo win the game rather than look at our own team's inept display. The fact was that Mayo deserved their victory that day in the same way that Galway deserved it yesterday. I didn't hear any Mayo supporter at the ground complain of rough treatment. That said I was behind the goal that Galway scored into in the first half so we were away from the play in the first half.
If the referee was bad, he was bad for both teams, in fact Galway's second goal came from a situation where a Mayo back plowed through a Galway forward, a blatant free kick not given. Mayo got a free out straight afterwards that they kicked out over the line and Galway's goal resulted from the line ball. If the free was given, there would have been no goal. Mayo got at least one free kick in the second half also.
If I was a Mayo supporter, apart from looking to clone David Heaney, they would need to look a where this went wrong. Midfield was lost in a big way and they need to look at this. Also I don't think BJP is the answer at No. 6. The other mayo backs did well when considering that Galway had a lot of the ball and were winning most possession out the field. back to the drawing board for a number of positions I'm afraid.
From a Galway point of view, we will need players back from injury Armstrong, P Clancy, A Burke if we are to make a challenge later on in the summer, but it was a good start and hopefully there's more to come.
Quote from: highorlow on May 21, 2007, 03:34:08 PM
QuoteI think Galway should have won by more to be honest
QuoteHowever if Mortimer and Harte had finished their goal chances we'd probably be looking at a replay
Too much celebrations there DJ, are you still drunk?
Sounds like I am alright, but what I mean is that had Mayo stuck their two goal chances it would have been a different game. However Galway missed a hell of a lot more, and should really have won by a few more points. We still weren't clinical enough, Savage should have layed the ball off to Joyce in the first few minutes, and we could have been 3-5 to 0-5 points up at the break, which would have been well deserved. Just because I believe that Mayo could have forced a replay with two goals, doesn't mean that I don't think Galway should have won by more.
I don't think we can complain about Galway being dirty/cynical, if the ref doesn't call it then it's allowed. FFS we've been bate around the park physically by teams for a few years now and spectacularly so by Kerry on 3 occasions. Call it dirty or physical but you have to be able to take and give semi-legal tackles and take out the man who gives the handpass and so on, if you don't then you won't win a thing. Over the past few years, we've had it handy physically out of Connacht and then been knocked about like boys in Croker, it happened to Kerry 5 or 6 years back and they toughened up, looks like Galway are doing the same.
We have 7 weeks to regroup and sort things out, there'll definitely be casualties from yestertdays starting line-up. Some of the injured players will be back - it's not like we haven't known for a while that they'd be injured yesterday - and there'll be positional changes on a big scale.
I still reckon Johnno will get things sorted and once we get a handy enough first game, i don't think there'll be anyone we should be scared of in the qualifiers. I reckon we'll make a Q/F.
DJ Galiv, "Harte is a nasty piece of goods".. I'm sorry but I take exception to that comment, you know nothing, and it doesn't merit defending. If Galway had lost yesterday, we may not be hearing the same pulpet comments from you.
I know nothing? I'm afraid I know plenty my friend. I've seen him do a lot worse on the GAA field. I'm not going to bring it up on here though.
jom has to settle on "a" team. Padden was looking fine in CHF but switiching him and everyone else only confused the situation. to much movinh and shaking going on and that has not helped us. we need Heaney at midfield and stay there, padden at chb and fill, Gardiner needs time to regain his confidence, His kicking is diabolical and every one has copped on to his running game... he has to transform his game. Moran should be full forward and kept there, Mcds race his ran and is still holding uo the ball to much#
In the league we were reasonably settled and did ok but JOM has swapped and changed to muck... Mort is atricious in front of goal and his miss was crucial if we had got that there would have been 2 points in it with 30 mins to and a gale with us..
Not clinical enough or settled enough we have to get a team organised and settled and we have seven weeks to do it.
Right, so there weren't other nasty pieces of work out on the pitch yesterday? Please enlighten me as you obviously seem to know everything.. It's defamation of character and you know it, so take your dj skills elsewhere, thanks.
Quote from: GalwaySham on May 21, 2007, 02:56:38 PM
Quoted brady will be back flying by that stage
Yeah Yeah, the great Mayo excuse, "We were missing Brady". Ye are always missing him, here is a player who seems to have gained a great reputation just because he is nearly always injured.
Sham,
Why didn't you quote the whole sentence, I also said McDonald and T Mortimer would be flying. I didn't use brady as an excuse for losing,here is my post again:
"Galway were the better and hungrier team on the day. A couple of things for me that were key factor to the defeat.
1 We lost the first 7 balls contested at midfield, this gave galway the momentem and the foundation for the win.
2 Against the wind we had an isolated full forward line. Even if the ball was broken down, we did not have the support play to get the breaks.
3 we had men who were done for over carrying on 4 or 5 occasions.
4 A goal straight after half time would have put us back in it. (f*ck that crossbar!)
5 Galway used the referees leniancy to their advantage. Galway saw what he was allowing and played to the limit. I thought that some of the tackles deserved yellows and not ticks, but you can not blame galway for this"
Is Brady mentioned once in the factors that i judged to have caused our defeat????
Quote from: brokencrossbar1 on May 21, 2007, 02:37:41 PM
Thirdly, apart from the game against the Dubs last year, I cannot remember a day that Mayo pulled it out whenever the pressure was really on. It cannot be the fault of successive managers that they have not been able to do it. There seems to be the final cut that makes teams winners missing from this team and this is not something you can train into players....you either have it or you don't.
Well done Galway, JOM's future looks laden with disappointment and failure on a number of fronts.
Well your memory must be as broken as your crossbar then. Firstly "apart from Dublin" is a bit of a joke. 7 points down into the second half in an All Ireland semi final in front of 60,000 jackeens, coming back from that is hardly a "by the way" type situation.
Lets see, last year, Galway scored a goal in the second half and looked to be on their way. Mayo reacted by scoring the next four points and eventually won the game with a pressure kick to win the game.
Laois in the All Ireland quarter final, mayo were two points down going into injury time and came back to draw. Laois were dispatched in the next game.
I could start going into other games, Fermanagh in the semi two years ago (drawn game and replay win) but I think I've shown up your theory to be the load of shite it is without having to go too much further trouble.
Quote from: smelly fairy on May 21, 2007, 04:27:46 PM
Right, so there weren't other nasty pieces of work out on the pitch yesterday? Please enlighten me as you obviously seem to know everything.. It's defamation of character and you know it, so take your dj skills elsewhere, thanks.
Defamation is defined as a
false accusation of an offense or a malicious misrepresentation of someone's words or actions. There's no defamation here. I await your lawsuit.
I'm not going to bring up what he's done, just informing people that his inexcusible elbow was not entirely without precedent.
I'm going nowhere, thanks.
Oh just to inform you, falsely accusing someone of defamation is in itself defamatory. But us Galway folk are bigger than that. Enjoy the summer, I'm sure we'll meet again.
Quote from: DJGaliv on May 21, 2007, 02:24:25 PM
I honestly can't believe the amount of sour grapes coming from the Mayo contributors. It is very dissappointing to hear. Galway dominated the game throughout, apart from a short period after half time. Harte is a nasty piece of goods (I've seen him do this before and worse). It's astonishing people are defending his sending off. He raised the elbow after giving the ball away. Totally intentional and absolutely needless.
Galway did not dominate the game throughout, there was the first 10 minutes which is now becoming traditional with this team where Mayo didnt play at all. This has been a trait of the 2007 version of Mayo which has been there all league. There was also the last 10 minutes where the game had descended into a joke, most of that time the Galway forwards were arseing around up around the Mayo 21. Thats not a dig at Galway, clearly ye're forwards are miles ahead (two class goals in fairness) of ours at the moment, but I was at the Salthill clubhouse side and could see it up close. If it was Mayo doing the same things Pat Spillane would have burst a blood vessel looking at it. I have to credit the subs who came on in the backline at that stage, they were holding their own after the shite in the first half. Beyond that Mayo had a fair share of the ball but didnt do a whole lot with it.
He riased the elbow after giving the ball away? Are you being serious? I understand being one eyed about your own team but thats beyond belief. So by the same token would you condem P Joyce for running from 10 years away and smashing his elbow into Conor Mortimers head. That was also certainly intentional but couldnt be described as needless as Joyces need was to knock Mortimers head off. What was stupid about Harte was that he did it right in front of the ref. Actually so did Joyce but that didnt seem to matter.
Oh look at that definition, you do know everything, sorry I take it all back.. Dictionary.com eh, where would we be without it. You're probably above that too, with your seemingly infinite intelligence quotient.. Get a life young man.
QuoteHe riased the elbow after giving the ball away? Are you being serious? I understand being one eyed about your own team but thats beyond belief
Am I missing something here but did Harte not raise his forearm/elbow when he connected with Meehan's head for his sending off? Maybe you're referring to another incident?
QuoteSo by the same token would you condem P Joyce for running from 10 years away and smashing his elbow into Conor Mortimers head.
Now that was defintely a free-kick but my memory of it wasn't Joyce "smashing" his elbow into Mortimer's head. Joyce came in to give Mortimer a shoulder but Mortimer had bent down to try and pick the ball just before Joyce connected with him. A free-kick and a ticking yes but you could hardly describe it as attempting to smash the elbow into someone's head.
Quote from: Msgr. Horan on May 21, 2007, 04:57:15 PM
Quote from: DJGaliv on May 21, 2007, 02:24:25 PM
I honestly can't believe the amount of sour grapes coming from the Mayo contributors. It is very dissappointing to hear. Galway dominated the game throughout, apart from a short period after half time. Harte is a nasty piece of goods (I've seen him do this before and worse). It's astonishing people are defending his sending off. He raised the elbow after giving the ball away. Totally intentional and absolutely needless.
Galway did not dominate the game throughout, there was the first 10 minutes which is now becoming traditional with this team where Mayo didnt play at all. This has been a trait of the 2007 version of Mayo which has been there all league. There was also the last 10 minutes where the game had descended into a joke, most of that time the Galway forwards were arseing around up around the Mayo 21. Thats not a dig at Galway, clearly ye're forwards are miles ahead (two class goals in fairness) of ours at the moment, but I was at the Salthill clubhouse side and could see it up close. If it was Mayo doing the same things Pat Spillane would have burst a blood vessel looking at it. I have to credit the subs who came on in the backline at that stage, they were holding their own after the shite in the first half. Beyond that Mayo had a fair share of the ball but didnt do a whole lot with it.
He riased the elbow after giving the ball away? Are you being serious? I understand being one eyed about your own team but thats beyond belief. So by the same token would you condem P Joyce for running from 10 years away and smashing his elbow into Conor Mortimers head. That was also certainly intentional but couldnt be described as needless as Joyces need was to knock Mortimers head off. What was stupid about Harte was that he did it right in front of the ref. Actually so did Joyce but that didnt seem to matter.
It's just my opinion that save from the first ten minutes of the second half, Galway were never in trouble. I saw the sending off, he passed the ball, and then lifted the elbow. That's exactly what he did. What more do you want me to say. I didn't see the Joyce incident, so I'm not going to comment on that. I did see Mortimer's ludicrous dive though. That was funny. Fair play to him.
So you're tellling me that what was stupid about Harte raising his elbow to hit Meehan was that he did it right in front of the referee? Let's hope you aren't training any young lads with that kind of logic.
Quote from: smelly fairy on May 21, 2007, 05:15:56 PM
Oh look at that definition, you do know everything, sorry I take it all back.. Dictionary.com eh, where would we be without it. You're probably above that too, with your seemingly infinite intelligence quotient.. Get a life young man.
What are you on about? :D :D :D
It is dissappointing at the lack of magnanimity in defeat. Ah well, I think all the genuine gracious Mayo supporters I met down in Salthill are a better representation of the average Mayo fan.
QuoteSham,
Why didn't you quote the whole sentence, I also said McDonald and T Mortimer would be flying. I didn't use brady as an excuse for losing,here is my post again:
"Galway were the better and hungrier team on the day. A couple of things for me that were key factor to the defeat.
1 We lost the first 7 balls contested at midfield, this gave galway the momentem and the foundation for the win.
2 Against the wind we had an isolated full forward line. Even if the ball was broken down, we did not have the support play to get the breaks.
3 we had men who were done for over carrying on 4 or 5 occasions.
4 A goal straight after half time would have put us back in it. (f*ck that crossbar!)
5 Galway used the referees leniancy to their advantage. Galway saw what he was allowing and played to the limit. I thought that some of the tackles deserved yellows and not ticks, but you can not blame galway for this"
Is Brady mentioned once in the factors that i judged to have caused our defeat?
Sorry, wasnt saying that you were using it as an excuse for the match yesterday.
Its just every year I hear the same about Brady from Mayo fans, oh, if we had Brady, it would've been a different game etc. I wasnt thinking of yesterdays match specifically at all.
He isnt even a particularly good player, I just dont get why people rate him so highly. Fair enough, hes decent at what he does, a bit of a hatchet man midfielder but thats it. Galway have an equivalent in Barry Cullinane. They are useful to a degree.
QuoteHe isnt even a particularly good player, I just dont get why people rate him so highly. Fair enough, hes decent at what he does, a bit of a hatchet man midfielder but thats it. Galway have an equivalent in Barry Cullinane. They are useful to a degree.
Both of them can solo a ball further than most people can kick one for a start. ;D
QuoteSo by the same token would you condem P Joyce for running from 10 years away and smashing his elbow into Conor Mortimers head.
Are you serious?
The time Joyce pushed him and he fell into Coyne, you are describing that as smashing his elbow into mortimers head???
[ Fair enough, hes decent at what he does, a bit of a hatchet man midfielder but thats it. Galway have an equivalent in Barry Cullinane. They are useful to a degree.
[/quote]
Sham,
no bother. I agree an "enforcer" for want of a better word is good to have to come into midfield. We did not win a ball at midfield until he came on. The problem with players in this role is they normally cancel each other out. However Galways midfield of bergin and coleman were more than match for anything we put at them yesterday.
Congratulations to Galway. Worthy winners. They played the game to the letters of the law, and fair play to them for being tough, organised and decisive when the chances arose. They were hungrier and focussed as well.
As for us - we were pathtic, from management to players.
Last years management were disgarded for perceived naivite in the way we lined up for the All Ireland Final. Yesterday that was evident again. James Nallen and Pat Harte were never going to outfield Bergin. Our problems here was illustrated in the league semi-final, nobody paid heed.
Liam O'Malley has been getting the run around the whole league. So did Peadar Gardiner (how was he allowed in the corner at the start of the game) and Billie Joe. They all started in our back-line. Instead some consoled themselves with score average statistics. Devenney did well from an attacking point of view in the league semi-final but on the back foot does not have the same pace, that was shown. I think it was fatal error to have two attacking wing-backs this year. That is where our problems have been beginning.
We had struck a leak before the game even began.
Our best played the whole league was David Heaney, playing at midfield. What did we do? Take him out of there!
And David Brady has been a great servant but he is 33/34 now. We need to move on. He has had good games for Mayo, and is the only one tough enough to mix it, but he is a great leader and an ok footballer. To hear a man beside me at the game comment that we should take Brady off and bring him on again just to give us a bit of a boost sums it all up.
Tactically we had no game plan. JOM seemed to lack enthusism and energy on the sideline. It is not easy to run an election campaign, and to try and focus on Galway in championship action at the same time is impossible. The game must take up your every waking hour. I have to admit I was worried when I saw him on the Saturday news out campaigning with Kenny. At least we should have his undivided attention from Saturday. You can't ride the two horses.
But yet again it is the players that are the common denominators. They were arrogant in thinking they could cruise through the game. We gave up an early lead. Another winter lesson not learned.
So our lack of experimentation during the winter, and failure to learn lessons has us in this crap back-door system where we don't play for 7 weeks, and if we could then face 3 games in 3 weeks to get to the quarter-finals. Unless there is a sea change in the line-up, which lacks balance, and hard calls are made we don't need to worry.
Finally it is nonsense that anyone is trying to defend Pat Harte. When we had a half chance to fight our way back if we could sneak a goal he was headless and gutless and let every single team-mate and supporter down. That is a fact.
I think we'll be put out of our misery in early July. I said last week I saw us as quarter-finalists as best, and that would be a very positive scenario from where we are sitting this evening.
Anyone know why I am having problems getting to the Board by the way? An old board keeps showing up and can't resolve it?
Barney check the old board. I think there was a thread explaining what you had to do if the old board kept appearing for you rather than this one.
Mayo now have 7 weeks to prepare and really sort things out, I'm expecting a huge improvment for the qualifiers.
Mayo need to bulk up a good bit and a bit of aggression wouldnt do any harm either. Wonder is there a chance McGarrity would be back in 7 weeks?? Doubt it, he should take all the time he needs.
I've a question on P Harte and the red card though, because it was a straight red could he be suspended for the next game???
"I could start going into other games, Fermanagh in the semi two years ago (drawn game and replay win) but I think I've shown up your theory to be the load of shite it is without having to go too much further trouble. "
the same team has been hockeyed in 2 all-ireland finals- lost a national league final and are only 50/50 in their battles with galway in recent years. The current team might make the last 8 -but that's about it. mayo won the u21 all-ireland last year but very few seem to have broken through- there has to be a few contenders otherwise they wouldn't have won the all-ireland. Could you honestlly see the current team on al-ireland final day beating kerry or tyrone- because i don't think anybody else does. And quit the whingeing about Galway's tactics- you play as close to the edge as you can that's championship football. i think Barney has given the bets analysis of the game so far.
Its disappointing to hear from some posters that Galway were cynical yesterday and defending Harte's elbow is ridiculous. Nothing at all about D Bradys punch at Ja Fallon
Colemans second yellow was stupid although I was glad to see him set up the goal and couple of points with his passing! I felt Galway were way more up for it than Mayo and I think Damien Burkes shoulder on McDonald summed up the whole game
Galway wanted it more and we can talk about crossbars and saves but I still think on yesterdays evidence Galway would still have pulled away
The most satisfying thing of all is that the lesser lights stepped up and proved themselves. Only 1 point from play by Meehan, Joyce and Fallon shows there is real potential in this side.
Mayo with McGarritty and a fit McDonald are a different proposition, will have a big say yet
QuoteI think Damien Burkes shoulder on McDonald summed up the whole game
Was some hit alright. I felt it up on the terrace.
How good a corner back is Damien Burke turning into by the way? He has to be one of the best in the country right now. Saw him after the game and he's built like a brick shithouse. No wonder McDonald went flying and McDonald is a tough customer.
The defence is now looking very settled. Blake will probably retain his place at centre-back. The only decision to make is whether to go with Coyne or Comer as the other wing-back.
Up front I still think Ja is more suited to being an impact sub these days but all the rest should keep their places.
I only saw the second half yesterday due to a problem with Setanta (was this all over the states or just in Florida) High balls still causing major problems for the full back line. Is there not one decent full back in whole county? Mc Donald looked rusty when he came on, he needs alot of match practice over the next seven weeks. The qulifiers might be the best route for Mayo with games in quick succesion. Last year they played Laois twice and Dublin in a three week period and improved with each week. Then had a few weeks of before the All Ireland and flopped badly.
I think you're missing the point DJ whatever, and whoever else feels this is defending Pat Harte's actions, I am however defending the remark "nasty piece of work", which in my opinion doesn't deserve any place on a forum like this. If you're going to analyse and wax lyrical on the events of the day, then stick to that, and not your personal opinions on players.
I don't know what to say, we were awful all over the park yesterday. Hard to know what is going to happen now. I suppose we will get on a bit of a run with the qualifiers depending on who we get, might be the Dubs/Armagh yet. And looking back now, it seems that Forde had O'Mahony's mind read about the switches. We got an awful hiding yesterday and I can't see us performing well in Croker this summer. Maybe with the election out of the way, O'Mahony might be able to do something with them but it's hard to see where we can turn around now and get into a winning habit in Croker.
QuoteAnyone know why I am having problems getting to the Board by the way? An old board keeps showing up and can't resolve it?
Just aswell after that rant. You were waiting in the long grass Barney to bring the politics into it. What a cop-out. Just as well Johnno has retired from teaching or you would be blaming the attention he is giving to Leaving Cert pupils.
Johnno's creditials don't need to be questioned. Ask the Galway's, Leitrim's, Ballina's, Rossie's even Maughan and Forde.
At least you qualified your statement somewhat by blaming the players later in your rant.
Its time now for the players to take a good look at themselves and either shape up or ship out. One thing for sure is that it wasn't for the lack of preparation that we lost yesterday and thats guarenteed, and its nothing to do with the election!
Barney you are probably itching to start a new thread asking for Johnno's head. I hope you don't your chance!
QuoteJames Nallen and Pat Harte were never going to outfield Bergin. Our problems here was illustrated in the league semi-final, nobody paid heed.
Also i stand corrected on this - wasn't it Heaney and Harte in midfield for the league semi? Nallen was a sub.
It was obvious that the tactic was to try and curb Bergin in MidField for the first half anyhow and sring DB in the 2nd half when we had the wind. Obviously the early goal wasn't part of the plan.
IMO we are victims of our own success at u21 level and i'm sure Barry Moran and/or others would have gotten a run in midfield but for that?
No I wouldn't call for his head. No way - he is looking at a long-term plan but his eye has been off the ball. The hard calls need to be made now.
Jaysus Monsigneur but that is terrible language for a man of the cloth. As has been pointed out by indiana this team has been put on their hole more often than the great comebacks against those heavyweights of Fermanagh and Laois. With all due respect to both of these counties they are a poor man's Mayo in that they paly a nice wee brand of football but have a certain softness about them. And before you say it i know that Fermanagh beat Armagh but these things happen, and they deserved to beat them. i would counter that by saying they got more hidings at our hands than vice versa. I was talking to a Cork man today and he said that the defeat by Fermanagh a few years back was one of the most embarressing moments ever for Cork football, so that puts your great comeback example in perspective.
Mayo suffer the Enda kenny syndrome, lots of serious, and convincing talk, but when push comes to shove they seem to lack that bit of umph. Having played against Mayo teams at a high level I know they can talk the talk, but I also know when it came to it they could not walk the walk.
Quote from: smelly fairy on May 21, 2007, 08:08:10 PM
I think you're missing the point DJ whatever, and whoever else feels this is defending Pat Harte's actions, I am however defending the remark "nasty piece of work", which in my opinion doesn't deserve any place on a forum like this. If you're going to analyse and wax lyrical on the events of the day, then stick to that, and not your personal opinions on players.
Good God man, this is the precise forum for which my personal opinion on players, teams and managers should be aired. This is the whole reason for this board, to comment on players actions on the field of play. I stick by my remark, and feel like I could easily qualify it with regard to his previous actions in games gone by. I don't think it will do anyone any favours by going into these incidents. That's the last time I'll waste time talking about it.
As for Mayo, I think this could be the kick up the arse that they need. There's no way that they would have made an All-Ireland final with Nallen starting, and BJP in at fullback or no.6. What was wrong with BJP at centre forward anyway? Ye have the players, but O'Mahoney will have learned an awful lot more about his team than he did after the league final.
O'Mahoney likes the qualifiers. If ye can get a few lads into replace the deadwood, get McD and Mortimer back match fit, then the back door could be hugely beneficial. I can see Mayo doing what Galway did in 2001. There's no reason why they can't.
jesus lads will ye stop the whinging, we were beat (in every way possible) all over the shop. we need to regroup and stop crying.
but its great to see a bit of a bitchfight all the same
If its a three year plan O'Mahoney has, why is he persisting with lads the wrong side of 30. DBrady, AHiggins, KMcDonald, KO'Neill
& JNallen were all brought back for more punishment this year, when its time for new blood. It is obvious that this team is worn out and will never win an AI. Also, its not as if Mayo have no talent coming through - we won our first U21 title in yonks last year.... Would a young inexperienced Mayo team have done any worse on Sunday? I dont think so...
it may be a blessing in disguise.
johno now wont be elected and will give his attention to mayo. clearly he didnt over the last few weeks.
having sent out teams during the league with kilcullen, kilcoyne, AOM, Campbell et al all doing fairly well, he reverted to the 'dublin' setup!
strikes me as if he doesnt have faith in the younger players. heaney was flying out the fieldn early season, oh i know il put him full-back again! heaney even said it himself in the paper tha he doesnt like to play there.
im not going the second guess the messiah, but some of the selection and positional decisions are questionable. (i know i just contradicted myself! :P)
in fairness the loss of Bary moran, mc Garrity, T mort, McDanger is massive, i feel, the wrong people were in the wrong places.
heaney might have been left at mid-field with Harte. leave kilcullen in FB with K Higgins and O'Malley either side of him. A higgins and devenny either side of nallen. nallen probably would have managed at CHB and maybe use Billie Joe in the 'Colm McManeman' role of break winner round the middle. he did this well last year. also with T mort on the 45 there wold be a bit of beef round there. let dillon float with kilcoyne and leave c mort and a moran inside.
well thats my tuppence worth. im glad im not in johno's shoes. its a bloody hard job to keep the people of mayo happy!
it's all about a blend of youth and experience- no-one is suggesting they should all be discarded but ypou'd expect after winning an u21 a few of them would be playing.
Well listening to the fans here and the Sunday game that is seemingly being suggested. Some tripe about these guys being so messed up mentally that they will never win an All Ireland was the height of the Sunday Game. Very poor attitude considering some of the entertainment that they have provided over the last couple of years."
Can't agree i think they were stating the obvious- if you read through the thread it's what everyone thinks and isn't far form the truth. Armagh suffered agonising defeats by narrow margins- mayo were beaten out the gate in 2 all-ireland finals by record scores. To say that won't scar them mentally is incorrect i feel. Armagh knew they were close and had 5/6 of the best players in the country at the time- do mayo have the same? debatable. Even though they have a couple of fantastic footballers - i don't see them winnig the big one now unless they introduce5/6 new players -don't always have to be younger surely someone of austin o malley's scoring ability is worth his place?
Quote from: brokencrossbar1 on May 21, 2007, 09:09:24 PM
Mayo suffer the Enda kenny syndrome, lots of serious, and convincing talk, but when push comes to shove they seem to lack that bit of umph. Having played against Mayo teams at a high level I know they can talk the talk, but I also know when it came to it they could not walk the walk.
I couldn't agree more, BC1. I was stupid enough to go against that judgement of my own when putting a bet on them at decent odds to go all the way this year as soon as O'Mahony was confirmed as manager. I convinced myself that a great manager might just make the difference, combined with accumulated experience and what should be unquenchable determination to do it this time. Especially in a year like this when a "handy" All-Ireland might be on offer. It's hard to see it now.
I was browsing through Hogan Stand there and I was struck by the contrast between two quotes I read. I wonder if this, from Conor Mortimer (if true, making allowance for the source) gives some insight into the kind of mindset that seems to be the problem with Mayo players:
"Our football always comes through. We've always been one of the top teams, that's the way it is in Mayo, football first. Managers will come and go, players will come and go. We're only here for a short time, so we've got to make the most of it. I'm lucky I've reached a lot of finals and I'm still only 24. Yet if I'd won all those, would I have the hunger to keep going? I don't know."
This conveys all sorts of wrong attitudes. He looks on Mayo as a "top team", though they haven't won anything and he comes across as happy just to be in a "top team" and getting to a few finals, rather than gutted at losing them all. I know it's just one quote from one player, but you would never hear that from a Kerry player – or a player from Galway, Tyrone, Armagh, Dublin, Meath, etc..
Contrast it with this from a man who already has two All-Ireland medals and hasn't settled for that (Darren Fay last week):
"The lads on this team have worked hard and I can see that the killer instinct is back in this Meath team. If it's nip and tuck with 10 minutes to go we have it in us to push on because we have got that killer instinct back into us over the course of the league. Some people in Meath still feel we are no good. The only way to turn that around is by winning big games in Croke Park."
SWOT analysis from Galway's win on Sunday;
Strengths; They played with a spirit not seen to date and were really up for it on the day.
There were good displays from the maligned (by me admittedly) Bane, N Joyce (to a lesser extent), Bergin and Coleman (in terms of passing).
Backs were once again very good, though Blake steadied things more then Coyne upon his introduction.
They won despite their 2 top forwards, PJ and M Meehan, only scoring a free each.
Weaknesses; Any analysis of the match must take into context how bad Mayo really were – they were dreadful. (It's evident that the Mayo squad as it now stands is finished; Bradys, Nallen, BJP, even McD regardless of fitness are not going to do it. Why was Kilcoyne good enough to play in last year's semi and final but not on Sunday? And even as a Galway man I do have a pro-Mayo/Connacht agenda.) Galway are in a very dangerous position at the moment if they allow themselves to get carried away with last Sunday's result.
Forwards still need sharpening up; Meehan needs to find better form and Bane is better at the finish of a move rather than the start, he was bottled up a few times in the second half when running with the ball.
Other teams will have noted how Galway and Coleman and Ja in particular got stuck in on Sunday and may target / bait them.
Opportunities; Galway should be good enough to overcome Leitrim in Carrick and home advantage could be a big factor against probably Ros' in the Connacht final. After that, a ¼ final in Croker backons where their experience of the league semi-final should stand to the newer players.
The squad still has a few options to come in, Armstrong, Sice, Alan Burke though P Clancy and Mikey D remain long shots.
Threats; Is Ford a good enough manager to bring them all the way? Realistically a semi-final is the absolute limit of their ambitions IMHO.
Galway will certainly meet much better opposition than Mayo along the way with Kerry, Tyrone, Dublin and Donegal being the usual main dangers.
Complacency and over-confidence.
Forwards still need to find a better blend, in ball winners particularly.
I have not doubt thqat o'mahony is 90 percent to blame for last sundays debacle .the man has been well exposed as having no new ideas to bring to the mayo team.
devenney ,kilcullen,campbell the 3 new guys he thought had something to add have were all abandoned .
the team were totally disjointed , ill disilplned and no sign of a game plan whatsoever.or what ever plan he had seemed to unravell after the 1st goal. This has always been a tean of cool heads and great technique but half of them didnt even look like footballers out there (remember brady's solo) had he promted 6 or 7 young guys hed have some excuse but he started off with started with all-ireland finalist for criistsakes. he has been living on his reputation for years but in all seriousness if youy had to choose wheter to take Donnelan Joyce mannion walsh and ja at his bes or else o'mahony no contest. remember the stae he left mayo in last time ?.
I hope his little election stunt doesnt pay off and he loses his notional deposit . and then quit mayo and enjoys his retirment in roscommon.
I waited till today to write this because yesterday i was too angry and may have said something unfair.
Ros, you've been having a pop at O'Mahony all season, between calling him a blueshirt, generally bringing politics into the debate and now calling him a rossie. Your comments are generally incoherent and nonsensical and this is another perfect example of your gobshitery! You're blaming yet another manager? this is the 3rd one after Maughan and Moran, are they really all to blame? I'm going to Mayo games long enough now to see Mayo players consistently throwing game plans out the window when the pressure is on and then playing like individuals, which is again what they did on Sunday. If you want to question the ability of one of the best managers the modern game has seen, that's your right, just take note that you look like a fool doing so!
Back to the game on Sunday, I was gutted at the time and still can't believe it happened after all our predictions of a tight game etc, mind you Ros did predict a 6/7 point margin, shame it was the other way ;). Mayo are a much much better team than they looked the last day but for whatever reason they just didn't get going, this happens sometimes, I know it has happened my team plenty of times at club level. D Brady's solo effort to the Galway back just summed up our day if you ask me. We have 7 weeks now to re-group, loads of time to get rid of the rustiness from the likes of Mac, Brady and Mort the headless. We must improve and I believe we will improve, if the draw is reasonably kind to us for 7 weeks time I believe it will be a long summer yet. It's not all bad lads, time for some Mayo fans to grow up and change their ways and not over-react to something for once. Remember last years Connacht final? we hammered Galway in every place but on the score board, we dominated them completely because we were hungrier. we got destroyed in the exact same way on Sunday except we didn't take the goal chances that would have masked our problems. The difference is I think we have long enough to lick our wounds, learn from our mistakes, drop a couple of the passengers and grow some balls, and then go on to make the quarters and after that who knows what can happen!
very good analysis mouview, we do have the question how well we played on Sunday and how good Mayo were. Time will tell. In fairness because of injuries there's not much else to pick from until some of the guys get back from injury. One or two further injuries could hit us hard.
You'd also have to wonder if we will be tested further in Connacht this year. No offence to other counties but we have not won in Croke Park since 2001 and one of the reasons for this IMO was that we only had to reach a certain standard to beat those teams. That said mayo reached two all-ireland finals so that can't be the only reason. I would say Roscommon will pose a threat later on, I hope so to be honest to see where exactly we are. I think we still need to question our midfield. Bergina dn Coleman played well on Sunday but how well were they tested. Perphaps there's a case for Coyne at centre back, Blake at midfield with Bergin and Coleman at centre forward with Ja in an impact sub role. Something to consider.
There is a question still over Forde's managerial abilities in IMO. We were never behind on Sunday and only threatened for some of the time during the game. Can he make tactical decisions on the sideline to turn the game our way? I seriously doubt this based on the last two years. I think we have enough at this stage to make a quarter-final, then we'll see where we're at.
no im not blaming another manager. i was very happy with maughan and moran. what id dont do is false messiahs. ibeen hearing for years all mayo need is JOM and them last sunday we got him back and it was also predicatble . he sent out what appeared to be the worst prepared mayo team i remember since pat holmes that horrible day in sligo. he made his own bed by undermining the last 2 mayo managers in his various media outlets. all I need to see from a manger is some sign of improvement did we see that no.
did we see loads of VOTE FG stickers yes
It not me that mixing politics and sport. I know my prorities does he?
Quote from: myball22 on May 22, 2007, 01:13:06 PM
There is a question still over Forde's managerial abilities in IMO. We were never behind on Sunday and only threatened for some of the time during the game. Can he make tactical decisions on the sideline to turn the game our way? I seriously doubt this based on the last two years. I think we have enough at this stage to make a quarter-final, then we'll see where we're at
I think thats a little harsh on Forde I think he called it spot on on Sunday. The interchanging of the forwards had Mayo all over the place. Forde has built a great defensive unit-something we didnt even have in 98-01 era.
He got alot of stick after Westmeath match last year which i felt was wrong as we had enough chances that day to win 3 games. He cant kick them over for us aswell.
An All-Ireland semi-final would be a great achievement and Forde to keep his job
Just for the record I called it a Galway win by 5 on this thread a few days back! ;)
Quote from: belleaqua on May 22, 2007, 01:52:49 PM
Just for the record I called it a Galway win by 5 on this thread a few days back! ;)
Whats your point? You were wrong ;D
Quote from: Hardy on May 22, 2007, 10:47:30 AM
Quote from: brokencrossbar1 on May 21, 2007, 09:09:24 PM
Mayo suffer the Enda kenny syndrome, lots of serious, and convincing talk, but when push comes to shove they seem to lack that bit of umph. Having played against Mayo teams at a high level I know they can talk the talk, but I also know when it came to it they could not walk the walk.
I couldn't agree more, BC1. I was stupid enough to go against that judgement of my own when putting a bet on them at decent odds to go all the way this year as soon as O'Mahony was confirmed as manager. I convinced myself that a great manager might just make the difference, combined with accumulated experience and what should be unquenchable determination to do it this time. Especially in a year like this when a "handy" All-Ireland might be on offer. It's hard to see it now.
I was browsing through Hogan Stand there and I was struck by the contrast between two quotes I read. I wonder if this, from Conor Mortimer (if true, making allowance for the source) gives some insight into the kind of mindset that seems to be the problem with Mayo players:
"Our football always comes through. We've always been one of the top teams, that's the way it is in Mayo, football first. Managers will come and go, players will come and go. We're only here for a short time, so we've got to make the most of it. I'm lucky I've reached a lot of finals and I'm still only 24. Yet if I'd won all those, would I have the hunger to keep going? I don't know."
This conveys all sorts of wrong attitudes. He looks on Mayo as a "top team", though they haven't won anything and he comes across as happy just to be in a "top team" and getting to a few finals, rather than gutted at losing them all. I know it's just one quote from one player, but you would never hear that from a Kerry player – or a player from Galway, Tyrone, Armagh, Dublin, Meath, etc..
Contrast it with this from a man who already has two All-Ireland medals and hasn't settled for that (Darren Fay last week):
"The lads on this team have worked hard and I can see that the killer instinct is back in this Meath team. If it's nip and tuck with 10 minutes to go we have it in us to push on because we have got that killer instinct back into us over the course of the league. Some people in Meath still feel we are no good. The only way to turn that around is by winning big games in Croke Park."
Hardy, using Conor Mortimer as a yardstick for the supposed mind set of the Mayo football team is like saying that Pat Spillane is an example of what all Kerry men are like (hes not).
C Mort always loves a microphone, and while you might not hear other players from some of the other counties saying things like he does, to be fair to him he generally puts in a fairly solid performance on the pitch and anyone who knows about him knows that he trains as hard as any of his peers in any county. This is the same lad who after beating Galway in the 2004 semi when asked about Roscommon in the final on live radio said "Ah I wouldnt worry about Roscommon too much to be honest, we'll beat them". He was right. I was cringing at the time thinking of Cake playing it over and over again on his 1970s walkman but on the other hand it was refreshing from the normal blandness you get.
Also analyse what he says, regarding top team, while the perception might be otherwise the fact is over the last 10 years Mayo have been on of the top teams. Thats a fact no matter what way you want to dress it up. Yes there have been some spectacular well documented failures but in terms of overall games won/lost Mayo have to be considered a top team. 4 All Ireland finals in that last 10 years. While I for one would have taken one win and no other returns to Croke Park from that, its still something to be proud of. Not the final failures but all the success and joy along the way to get there. Obvioulsy we cant settle for that but you have to give some credit as well.
His next statement about coming and going, clearly shows that he dosent believe he is the be all and end all of Mayo football, his time will pass and someone else will be there so he better make the most of it.
The last statement about not winning finals and the hunger clearly indicates that he for one, still has the hunger.
Jaysus the whinging has reached epidemic levels over on mayofans.com. They must think we can't read them or something. These are from today.
QuoteYou dont need to do weights to put in cheap shots, Galway were experts at it on Sunday and Mayo didnt respond to the tactic.
QuoteHaving said that, the leinency that the ref was showing Galway for their "tackles" would not have been shown to Mayo
QuoteYes Brady got away with punching but he deserved a round of applause, someone needed to do it
QuoteMayo were dreadful, but Galway were absoultely filthy
QuoteThe Galway boys were just taking it in turns to chop down Mayo lads
QuoteThe best tactic from Mayo after 15 minutes when they saw that the rules werent going to be applied was a one in all in like Meath 96
Yes like that worked a treat back in 96 alright. :D
All a bit OTT and drama-queeenish over there. As with most of these games the hungrier team on the day usually wins. If one aspect of showing hunger is hitting hard but fair in the tackle then I think any coach worth his salt would want his team to display it. Last year's game was hardly easy on the eye in terms of fouls conceded either.
QuoteThe interchanging of the forwards had Mayo all over the place. Forde has built a great defensive unit-something we didnt even have in 98-01 era.
In fairness, the fact that interchanging the forwards caused the Mayo backs so much problems probably says more about our backs than anything else, changing the forward on a decent back should cause any major hassle, he should still know he has to pick up
someone. True though, Galway have a very good backline and if Joyce, the two meehans et al can start playing, ye could be hard beaten.
QuoteI have not doubt thqat o'mahony is 90 percent to blame for last sundays debacle .the man has been well exposed as having no new ideas to bring to the mayo team.
devenney ,kilcullen,campbell the 3 new guys he thought had something to add have were all abandoned .
the team were totally disjointed , ill disilplned and no sign of a game plan whatsoever.or what ever plan he had seemed to unravell after the 1st goal. This has always been a tean of cool heads and great technique but half of them didnt even look like footballers out there (remember brady's solo) had he promted 6 or 7 young guys hed have some excuse but he started off with started with all-ireland finalist for criistsakes. he has been living on his reputation for years but in all seriousness if youy had to choose wheter to take Donnelan Joyce mannion walsh and ja at his bes or else o'mahony no contest. remember the stae he left mayo in last time ?.
I hope his little election stunt doesnt pay off and he loses his notional deposit . and then quit mayo and enjoys his retirment in roscommon.
Not sure if you bothered watching the game or not (you were probably out canvassing for Enda) but Devenney was playing......If you tried taking off your political f**king glasses, you might have a half decent point to make, O'Mahoney should no doubt shoulder a large portion of the blame. His selections were niave and his changes were ineffective.
"Living off his reputation" - Yes, it's not a bad CV, bringing Mayo to a first AI in 39 years, winning a first Connacht title with Leitrim since '27 and winning two AI's with Galway for the first time since '66. Living off his repuatation indeed........if you were from Kerry you'd probably have been calling for Jack O'Cs head last June.
And as for the state he left Mayo football in...........if you knew anything about Mayo football you'd know he left because the muppets in the Co board wouldn't let him pick his own selectors. Are you on the County Board by any chance???
For what it's worth, with the election behind him (as professional and all as he is, it can't but have distracted him a little), I believe Johnno will give us a good run in the qualifiers and bring Sam back before he leaves his tenure with Mayo.
Keep the Faith
Although from a neutrals perspective it was undoubtedly another bad game between Mayo and Galway I was delighted with Sunday's result, although I thought that Mayo were deserved favourites to win, the Galway victory didn't surprise me, the margin certainly did!
Positives for Galway were Savo playing his best game in years, Bane delivered league promise with 2 great goals and a super point, whatever about his sometimes patchy contribution in open play he is a deadly finisher when he gets the opportunity, Nicky Joyce was great in open play and is unerring with the left-hand side frees.
The backs are frankly the best defensive unit we've had for a long time and proved it again on Sunday, we're very solid with Hanley at full and Blake in the CHB slot, Fitzy is more than competent in the corner although he is overshadowed by this clubmate Damien Burke these days. Burke has developed into one of the top intercounty corner backs in the country, cleaned out his marker again last Sunday and for good measure gave a super hit on McDonald that simultaneously raised the Galway crowd more than any score could do and deflated the Mayo crowd who had been heartened by Mac's introducing just minutes earlier. As stated in most of the papers, it was the game last Sunday in microcosm.
Although McGarrity was a huge loss for Mayo and so makes the achievement a bit less than if he was playing, Bergin and Coleman still owned midfield, although I did feel that when David Brady came on he at least disrupted them a bit, whatever else about Brady (I've personally never rated him at all) at least there was effort and desire in his play and he allowed some other Mayo men to grab some breaking ball. Brady hasn't the legs for more than 30 minutes anymore though so Bergin and Coleman reasserted control over the middle after the initial Brady factor dissipated. The problem of moving Heaney back to deal with Joyce was that he was badly missed in the middle which also made the job easier for Bergin and Coleman.
Though missed outfield, Heaney was masterful on Joyce near the goals, he really has the Bearnadearg legend's number (Heaney is pretty much in a club of one on that score), although it was about the only duel Mayo won. Mayo lads who think Higgins had a good game on Meehan are kidding themselves or else watched a replay of the league semi-final by mistake, Meehan won a mountain of ball out the field and aside from getting caught in possession once, he utilised it well, to be honest he should have finished with 4 points, he had 2 bad misses from open play when he got away from Higgins that he'd normally finish and another fisted effort that came off the post. Meehan still needs to up it considerably but he improved the last day and when Joyce and Meehan are quiet yet Galway still win handy it's all good.
Unfortunately, despite the positives for Galway, they are all tempered by the sheer awfulness of Mayo; they were terrible the last day. The main man up front Conor Mortimer was cleaned out by Burke, Dillion in a really poor run of form, he was terrible bar the point he kicked, Mayo midfield was lost at sea for most of the game, half back line destroyed.
That said, I expect Mayo to dramatically improve for the qualifiers; they can't be as bad again in a match this year surely and they still have some very good players (a fit McDonald would make a big difference), it wouldn't surprise me at all if Mayo went further than Galway this summer but they have it all to do to even make the Q-finals and I can't see any All Ireland in that Mayo team, which at this stage is what all Mayo wants, another 10 or 20 Connacht titles for Mayo won't mean a thing without winning the All Ireland.
In response to the sour grapes of some Mayo fans, it was indeed cynical play at times by Galway men dragging Mayo lads down instead of letting them get in for a goal chance but if we didn't concede a goal in the 2nd half we were strong favourites to win, Peter Ford and the team knew this well.
Ford had his managerial career with Galway on the line; had Galway lost he was finished, he had his players tactically fouling to ensure that this wasn't the case, to ensure that Galway won. Although it is ugly and repulsive to me as a fan of the "purer" brand of aesthetically pleasing gaelic football, it's understandable. However, you still need the players to be able to kick scores for yourself, simply stopping the opposition won't win you big games, and the damage has to be done at both ends. Galway (Coleman's stupid fouling aside) were much smarter than Mayo at defending last Sunday, in fact for all the crying about the physical approach of Galway, Mayo had the most fouls last Sunday. I will accept that the Mayo people complaining about the ref's ability are 100% correct, he is puck bad. He didn't win it for Galway though, Mayo made sure of that themselves by playing crap.
As for the sendings off, Pat Harte deserved to go definitely, whether a Galway player should have seen the line earlier is irrelevant to this incident, it was a reckless elbow into the face. As I said at the time in the terrace (to much vocal Mayo disagreement I might add) "it's a sending off, all day, every day", having seen the replay I still stick by that, if it was a Galway man I'd say the same
With regards to the Galway sending off, firstly let me say that Niall Coleman has superb potential as a footballer, anyone who's seen him in Galway colours since minor would know that ability isn't the issue, his headlessness in physical exchanges is his big problem. He was very good in midfield the last Sunday but spoilt it all by needless fouling, it wasn't even the smart cynical fouling employed elsewhere by Galway, it was reckless fouling for no good reason. What he was thinking when he first went for Harte off the ball to get his first yellow? No need at all for it. Stupidity. As for the 2nd yellow, sheer madness. He ran 10 yards just to hit Mortimer who was at the sideline, in a position of no danger to Galway at all, why bother? Mortimer was no threat anyway on Sunday, Burke destroyed him, yet Coleman still had to throw the dig. The Galway people who clapped him off as he was headed to the dugout need to re-examine what they think a player needs to be clapped off for, a repeat of this stupidity could cost us dear on another day and unless he curbs his temper and his needless off the ball exchanges with the opposition he'll remain a liability on the field.
Despite the good win, Galway people shouldn't get too carried away, I don't think this Galway team have it in them to get past a Q-Final spot as not every team we play will be as inept as Mayo last Sunday and Galway veer from great to awful depending on the game.
Still I was ecstatic with the hammering we gave Mayo purely because it's probably as good as it going to get for us this year, at least we've got one great Galway moment this year, first one for me in a long time!
Its easy to say this panel is finished with – maybe James Nallen and Kevin O'Neill are, but there are some very good footballers there.
We have problems in the backs but I think our biggest difficulty has been in the head.
Galway were sore after losing last year to us. They were not going to come off the pitch with regrets. We though we should get through because some people had us nominated as All Ireland contenders. Ridiculous.
The players were not fully focused when they went on to that pitch on Sunday. The disarray of the backs was hard to believe. We started with a line-up of O'Malley, Heaney, Gardiner, BJP, Higgins, Devenney. Players should have marked their patch.
It is possible to pick a far more balanced line-up, starting with Heaney at centre-half back, and probably Brady and Moran midfield and Pat Harte on the 40.
we are not physically imposing but neither are Galway. Last year when things were going well against Dublin the players could take the hits and give them. They had the Galway mind-set those last 20 minutes. Don't tell me Ger Brady should be pushed aside – no he is afraid of his life, and lazy. Liam O'Malley is small but it was ball-watching that caught him out for the first goal. BJP is a big man but was caught out by lack of pace and being an average footballer.
I think it is clear that JOM had eyes on polling day (its ironic that Enda Kenny may pull a particularly Mayo stunt and run out of steam when the big prize is there for the taking). Canvassing until late at night, and balancing that with thinking about the match cannot work.
If there is a correct balance, and a hunger (the one thing Mayo teams lack is that burning desire that supporters seem to have, and successful teams definitely have) we can redress some of the wrongs this Summer. If the players have any pride they will do that.
The reality is that there was an evens chance that we would be in this position once the draw was made. The performance was pathetic, and nothing like we would have expected but it is one game. We have beaten Tryone, Dublin, Cork at the business end of the league – we are not that bad. Now is the time to stand up and be counted.
What team would ye put out?
Quote from: An Fhairche Abu on May 22, 2007, 03:01:50 PM
Although from a neutrals perspective it was undoubtedly another bad game between Mayo and Galway I was delighted with Sunday's result, although I thought that Mayo were deserved favourites to win, the Galway victory didn't surprise me, the margin certainly did!
Positives for Galway were Savo playing his best game in years, Bane delivered league promise with 2 great goals and a super point, whatever about his sometimes patchy contribution in open play he is a deadly finisher when he gets the opportunity, Nicky Joyce was great in open play and is unerring with the left-hand side frees.
The backs are frankly the best defensive unit we've had for a long time and proved it again on Sunday, we're very solid with Hanley at full and Blake in the CHB slot, Fitzy is more than competent in the corner although he is overshadowed by this clubmate Damien Burke these days. Burke has developed into one of the top intercounty corner backs in the country, cleaned out his marker again last Sunday and for good measure gave a super hit on McDonald that simultaneously raised the Galway crowd more than any score could do and deflated the Mayo crowd who had been heartened by Mac's introducing just minutes earlier. As stated in most of the papers, it was the game last Sunday in microcosm.
Although McGarrity was a huge loss for Mayo and so makes the achievement a bit less than if he was playing, Bergin and Coleman still owned midfield, although I did feel that when David Brady came on he at least disrupted them a bit, whatever else about Brady (I've personally never rated him at all) at least there was effort and desire in his play and he allowed some other Mayo men to grab some breaking ball. Brady hasn't the legs for more than 30 minutes anymore though so Bergin and Coleman reasserted control over the middle after the initial Brady factor dissipated. The problem of moving Heaney back to deal with Joyce was that he was badly missed in the middle which also made the job easier for Bergin and Coleman.
Though missed outfield, Heaney was masterful on Joyce near the goals, he really has the Bearnadearg legend's number (Heaney is pretty much in a club of one on that score), although it was about the only duel Mayo won. Mayo lads who think Higgins had a good game on Meehan are kidding themselves or else watched a replay of the league semi-final by mistake, Meehan won a mountain of ball out the field and aside from getting caught in possession once, he utilised it well, to be honest he should have finished with 4 points, he had 2 bad misses from open play when he got away from Higgins that he'd normally finish and another fisted effort that came off the post. Meehan still needs to up it considerably but he improved the last day and when Joyce and Meehan are quiet yet Galway still win handy it's all good.
Unfortunately, despite the positives for Galway, they are all tempered by the sheer awfulness of Mayo; they were terrible the last day. The main man up front Conor Mortimer was cleaned out by Burke, Dillion in a really poor run of form, he was terrible bar the point he kicked, Mayo midfield was lost at sea for most of the game, half back line destroyed.
That said, I expect Mayo to dramatically improve for the qualifiers; they can't be as bad again in a match this year surely and they still have some very good players (a fit McDonald would make a big difference), it wouldn't surprise me at all if Mayo went further than Galway this summer but they have it all to do to even make the Q-finals and I can't see any All Ireland in that Mayo team, which at this stage is what all Mayo wants, another 10 or 20 Connacht titles for Mayo won't mean a thing without winning the All Ireland.
In response to the sour grapes of some Mayo fans, it was indeed cynical play at times by Galway men dragging Mayo lads down instead of letting them get in for a goal chance but if we didn't concede a goal in the 2nd half we were strong favourites to win, Peter Ford and the team knew this well.
Ford had his managerial career with Galway on the line; had Galway lost he was finished, he had his players tactically fouling to ensure that this wasn't the case, to ensure that Galway won. Although it is ugly and repulsive to me as a fan of the "purer" brand of aesthetically pleasing gaelic football, it's understandable. However, you still need the players to be able to kick scores for yourself, simply stopping the opposition won't win you big games, and the damage has to be done at both ends. Galway (Coleman's stupid fouling aside) were much smarter than Mayo at defending last Sunday, in fact for all the crying about the physical approach of Galway, Mayo had the most fouls last Sunday. I will accept that the Mayo people complaining about the ref's ability are 100% correct, he is puck bad. He didn't win it for Galway though, Mayo made sure of that themselves by playing crap.
As for the sendings off, Pat Harte deserved to go definitely, whether a Galway player should have seen the line earlier is irrelevant to this incident, it was a reckless elbow into the face. As I said at the time in the terrace (to much vocal Mayo disagreement I might add) "it's a sending off, all day, every day", having seen the replay I still stick by that, if it was a Galway man I'd say the same
With regards to the Galway sending off, firstly let me say that Niall Coleman has superb potential as a footballer, anyone who's seen him in Galway colours since minor would know that ability isn't the issue, his headlessness in physical exchanges is his big problem. He was very good in midfield the last Sunday but spoilt it all by needless fouling, it wasn't even the smart cynical fouling employed elsewhere by Galway, it was reckless fouling for no good reason. What he was thinking when he first went for Harte off the ball to get his first yellow? No need at all for it. Stupidity. As for the 2nd yellow, sheer madness. He ran 10 yards just to hit Mortimer who was at the sideline, in a position of no danger to Galway at all, why bother? Mortimer was no threat anyway on Sunday, Burke destroyed him, yet Coleman still had to throw the dig. The Galway people who clapped him off as he was headed to the dugout need to re-examine what they think a player needs to be clapped off for, a repeat of this stupidity could cost us dear on another day and unless he curbs his temper and his needless off the ball exchanges with the opposition he'll remain a liability on the field.
Despite the good win, Galway people shouldn't get too carried away, I don't think this Galway team have it in them to get past a Q-Final spot as not every team we play will be as inept as Mayo last Sunday and Galway veer from great to awful depending on the game.
Still I was ecstatic with the hammering we gave Mayo purely because it's probably as good as it going to get for us this year, at least we've got one great Galway moment this year, first one for me in a long time!
Good post AFA. Agree on Coleman. He has it all football wise (apart from maybe and extra 2 or 3 inches in height) but he gives away clatters of needless frees. He brings a lot of aggression to the Galway team in the middle of the park but he'll have to control that temper of his. His fielding is still superb even against bigger men and his pass for Bane's first goal was exquisite. Kicked a lovely point too.
As for us going past the last 8 this year I think it's certainly possible but very hard to predict right now until we see who comes through the qualifiers. Hopefully the team can keep up the intensity levels from last Sunday but you have to feel they will struggle to replicate it next time out against Leitrim. Still they should have enough to get past Carrick on Shannon and you'd have to fancy them in a Connacht final in Pearse. Too early to say how we'll get on after that but our aim has to be the semi-finals at least now. We have to aim to win a game in Croker again.
Good post alright An Fhairche Abu.
QuoteIts easy to say this panel is finished with – maybe James Nallen and Kevin O'Neill are
f**k me, only 8 months ago people were saying how much they hoped KO'N would stay etc etc. Not finished by a long shot but needs to be utilised nearer to goal. Hasn't great ball-winning ability at county level but there are few Mayo men who can beat him for accuracy or a good shimmy and he has a cool head lacking in many of the Mayo forwards. Maybe he hasn't the full 70 in him but there's definitely 40 minutes in him
Didn't see much of it but its nice to be proven right on a few things. O'Mahoney is a hugely overrated manager. He's not bad I'll grant you but he's no messiah or miracle worker. Also, I believe from what I hear that Kevin McStay produced a cast iron display of how big a ginnit he is on the TV commentary. He simply shouldn't be allowed near a mic and especially when Mayo are involved.
Happy for Forde and Galway but they have to keep the effort up and improve on a few things to be contenders. That may be within their compass. Mayo have also the potential to turn things round as they do have plenty of decent footballers. This defeat will sting and might help get that oft commented on attitude right.
QuoteGood post AFA. Agree on Coleman. He has it all football wise (apart from maybe and extra 2 or 3 inches in height) but he gives away clatters of needless frees. He brings a lot of aggression to the Galway team in the middle of the park but he'll have to control that temper of his. His fielding is still superb even against bigger men and his pass for Bane's first goal was exquisite. Kicked a lovely point too.
There's no doubt that I wouldn't like him to lose any of his aggression out on the field, it's what makes him a good tough player, but it's the needless stuff that breaks your heart when you see it. If he cuts it out while retaining controlled aggression then I've no problem with him at all, he's got super potential. I agree it's a shame he hasn't a few extra inches in height for a midfielder but he can't do much about that though!
QuoteWe have to aim to win a game in Croker again.
Very true, I'd just fear that we're not going to see the unreal motivation that was there last Sunday against other teams, every one of them was badly hurt from last year, you could see it right from the off, they simply wanted to destroy Mayo on every part of the pitch. This Galway team is notorious for wildly varying up/down passages within the one game even, never mind from match to match, if we could get more consistency it'd be great and I'd feel far more confident about the rest of the year if we had that.
Agreed, we did to aim higher than a Connacht title now. I think Roscommon will be a big test but assuming that the team is sufficiently focused, motivated and play somewhere near their capabilities they should win. Seamie O'Neill is a good man to catch a ball and fade out of the game for 20 minutes but I haven't seen any of their minors coming through to give any sort of analysis of Roscommon's chances. Drawing from their league semi-final form we should win, then again we lost a league smi-final also.
Either way we should get to a quarter-final and then its up for grabs. This team has been fialing at this stage or sooner since 2001 and needs to buck the trend. The lesser lights stepped up to the plate, it remains to be seen if they can do that at QFinal time also.
I think my previous comments on Forde are fair. Since we lost the quarter-final to Cork in 2005 we've struggled in any big game up to last Sunday. This is possibly a lack of tactical nous, insufficient motivation or bad organization. I know we could blame the players for this, after all the manager doesn't play the game but that's the way it goes normally.
I think it's fair to say we saw the worst prepared team from JOM last Sunday and amybe the election has diluted his focus. Come next Sunday I think he will refocus and pull it around. I have a feeling that he felt obliged to play some of the older players on Sunday to see if they were still capable of playing at this level. I think he will digest this and make the necessary changes ala Galway 2001. Whether the new team is capable of hitting the heights some of the supporters want to remains to be seen but I don't think so.
P.S. Did anybody else have a sense of foreboding over Coleman before he got sent off? We all know he has a tendency to see the red mist and tackles like Paul Scholes sometimes. I thought the management would have acted sooner to take him off before he got sent off. I said this to my brother about 2 mins before he got sent off. It's this kind of missing of detial that worries me about Forde come the big time.
QuoteI think Roscommon will be a big test
I'm assuming Leitrim in the "new" Carrick will be a walk in the park so? You never know - you might get a handy Connacht final if we surprise the Rossies too.
QuoteHappy for Forde
The cold war is over!
I think you are being a bit unfair on O'Mahony Seanie.
He did have a great Galway panel to work with but he still helped them deliver two AIs and an u21 AI. An u21 AI with Mayo, Connacht championships with Mayo, Leitrim and Galway, and helped successful St Brigids and Ballina teams. I think that speaks for itslef.
Where questions may be asked is in his record at intercounty level since 2001. 2002 - 2004 were very disappointing for Galway, and included big defeats in big games against Kerry, Tyrone and Mayo. And now an unconvincing display in his first outing with Mayo 07. But he has put his reputation on the line with Mayo and should be given all the time he needs to get it right. Would have preferred if he had taken more risks with the league but we have to be patient and hope that it may come together ultimately. The team for the next day will give us a renewed view of his thinking. If BJP and Gardiner start in the half-back line, Nallen at midfield and Ger Brady at all it would be worrying.
yes devenney was playing and whipped off sharpish that what i call abandonment as was kilcullen in the league final. 89 and 92 are a hell of a long time ago now. and as i said in my previous email give me donnellan joye et all over omahony any day.
i dont think many personnel changes to the team are actually required . The only guy i think that need dropping are devenney and o'neill , the most impoortant thing from last sunday is an attitude adjustment. and with 6 election free weeks maybe will get a bit of concentration. with injuries ect 20-22 players are gonna be needed regardless and with hopefully the exception of mcgarrity i dont see there being toomany changes to the panel now. but
full back should be sorted once and for all 3 different fullback have beeused in the last few weeks whaeras this needs to be a steady position with a gut in there calling the shots. I think this is largely why mayo looked s dijointed at the back the last day. ditto for centre half back. My prefence for thes wouldstill be heaney and nallen . our lack of leaders in midfield is worrying maybe its time to give Barry moran his head along side brady.
the other change id like to see is Andy to be given a free run with the 2 mortimers in the full forward line . they played like that a few years back to great effect but with injuries ect it never got a fair run. T mort is one of the best ground ball winners in the country and knows how to play with connor. we were totally without a system or leadership
mayo fans are oficially thick when it comes to football and I am a mayo man and i recognise that.. Look at club football in mayo and how bad it is supported. People in Mayo like most of the thickos on this board have nay a notion of football,
Now in context here is what matters
We had a decent league campaign where players did well in certin positions. like it or not bjp was very good in centre back in the league particularly against Kerry, the dubs... why was he just not kept there the last day. the same arguement could be promoted for Kilcullen and full back. Why did he not start there and if the going got tought swap at midfield with Henaey, I dont think Bergin would have fielded to easily above Kilcullen. O Mahoney panicked and his team selection and positiong was poor. Gardiner has no defensive qualities whatsoever. Dillon and Mort are living of the glory of their all stars. Macd must be a very stupid man if he is still holdng up the ball after all these years.
Here isd my Mayo team for this years qualifiers and for the next year or two.
Clarke
O Malley
Kilcullen/Nevin
Higgins
Howley
Padden
Deveany
Heaney
Brady - For qualifiers anyway. McG when he is fit.
Harte
Dillon
T Mort
O Neill
Moran
Mort
No mac d, no gardiner,
QuoteThe cold war is over!
Harsh on me Barney, harsh! My gripe with Forde is largely to do with the team selected for the 2002 Connacht Final. If that's not how it came across previously then sorry or else maybe I'm mellowing but I'd be slow to admit the latter!
Quote from: Barney on May 22, 2007, 04:25:17 PM
Quote
The team for the next day will give us a renewed view of his thinking. If BJP and Gardiner start in the half-back line, Nallen at midfield and Ger Brady at all it would be worrying.
With mcgarrity missing, heaney would have been at midfield were it not for the fact that he is P Joyce's boggyman. He once again proved this, so in that respect JOM was justified in moving him to FB. It is very early to go picking a starting 15 for the next game. I haven't thought much about the defence and midfield yet but the 6 forwards i would like to see are Moran,T Mort,Dillion,C mort,C McD,ONeill, that leaves Kilcoyne,Omalley,Cambell on the bench to be introduced if required. For me these are the 3 sub forwards i would use.
Does anyone know will McGarrity be back for Qualifers?
QuoteWe had a decent league campaign where players did well in certin positions. like it or not bjp was very good in centre back in the league particularly against Kerry, the dubs...
I'd agree with a lot of what you say but the above statement I can't agree with. I reckon BJP is like Cullen, great against the lesser teams (Kerry are a "lesser" team in the league as they don't really give a damn about it) but poor when he comes up against a real good CHF. I know BJP has never really had much of a chance in that position but like I say, he's great going forward when we're not under pressure but the bottom line is that he's not a defender. To play CHB you have to be a good defender and a tough f*cker, look at the likes of John Maughan (in his day), Keith Barr, Kieran McG, Pony etc etc, BJP has nowhere near the steel or the defensive ability to play CHB. He has played all his football in the forwards and did pretty well last season and that's where he should be left. Don't know who should be CHB, maybe Heaney or someone new.
Quote from: nephinbeg on May 22, 2007, 04:45:34 PM
mayo fans are oficially thick when it comes to football and I am a mayo man and i recognise that.. Look at club football in mayo and how bad it is supported. People in Mayo like most of the thickos on this board have nay a notion of football,
Now in context here is what matters
We had a decent league campaign where players did well in certin positions. like it or not bjp was very good in centre back in the league particularly against Kerry, the dubs... why was he just not kept there the last day. the same arguement could be promoted for Kilcullen and full back. Why did he not start there and if the going got tought swap at midfield with Henaey, I dont think Bergin would have fielded to easily above Kilcullen. O Mahoney panicked and his team selection and positiong was poor. Gardiner has no defensive qualities whatsoever. Dillon and Mort are living of the glory of their all stars. Macd must be a very stupid man if he is still holdng up the ball after all these years.
Here isd my Mayo team for this years qualifiers and for the next year or two.
Clarke
O Malley
Kilcullen/Nevin
Higgins
Howley
Padden
Deveany
Heaney
Brady - For qualifiers anyway. McG when he is fit.
Harte
Dillon
T Mort
O Neill
Moran
Mort
No mac d, no gardiner,
no nephinbeg
Quotethink Roscommon will be a big test but assuming that the team is sufficiently focused, motivated and play somewhere near their capabilities they should win.
I think Myball you are getting ahead of yourself. More likely you will be facing Sligo and they gave you a good game last year. Roscommon are at least two years away from having a team that can compete in Connacht. had a feeling at the start of this year that Sligo will win Connacht and I stick by it.
PS don't take Leitrim for granted either especialy if it in Carrick (that is if Leitrim surviive the London test)
Strangely enough, i wasn't overly disappointed with the performance or result on Sunday. I always had a foreboding feeling that Galway would win after beating them in the league semi final. The had a level of aggression in their play that was not equalled by Mayo all day. There was sniping off the ball all day and Harte was stupid to do what he did in front the ref. Simply a case of Galway wanting it more than Mayo. Mayo has been flirting with disaster all during the league and they were going to be found out.
2 other points,
Johno has to give youth a chance, no offence to some of the elder statesmen in the team, but if they didn't do in the last 3 years they never will. It's time to throw in some of the younger guys for the qualifiers. Our half back line continues to be our problem area, until it is sorted out, we are going nowhere.
Why Kevin O'Neill decided to play against the wind in the first half. Fc*kin crazy decision to make in Salthill.
Quote from: Tatler Jack on May 22, 2007, 05:38:05 PM
Quotethink Roscommon will be a big test but assuming that the team is sufficiently focused, motivated and play somewhere near their capabilities they should win.
I think Myball you are getting ahead of yourself. More likely you will be facing Sligo and they gave you a good game last year. Roscommon are at least two years away from having a team that can compete in Connacht. had a feeling at the start of this year that Sligo will win Connacht and I stick by it.
PS don't take Leitrim for granted either especialy if it in Carrick (that is if Leitrim surviive the London test)
Not sure why you consider Sligo such warm favourites to beat Roscommon? Not that they can't or won't but I think you'd have to make Roscommon favourites.
Leitrim away is never easy but Galway have better players than Leitrim do so it's up to them to match their hunger levels and their class should see them through. Games in Carrick are invariably tough and scrappy though.
Even if Sligo beat Roscommon they have such an appalling record against Galway at all grades that they would really have to reverse a major trend to pull off a win. They put up a decent show last year in Salthill but never looked like winning the game really.
I know a Galway v Roscommon final would be in Pearse but where would a Galway v Sligo one be? It was Pearse last year so would it be in Castlebar?
Either way a long way to go yet.
If it was Pearse last year, why would it be Castlebar this year? Attendance?.... hmmmm...
Nephinbeg, I agreed with some of your points, but then you slid down the mountain..
As for your second hand info on Mcstay, at least unlike some of his collegues,at least he calls it like he sees it. How often have we seen Canning, Morrisey and Carney to a greater extent not have the balls to criticize poor referring.
With Respect to John O Mahoney, while he is not beyond blame, most mayo people deep down did not expect, this team to win an all-ireland. Judge him in three or four years, or longer.
QuoteAs for your second hand info on Mcstay, at least unlike some of his collegues,at least he calls it like he sees it. How often have we seen Canning, Morrisey and Carney to a greater extent not have the balls to criticize poor referring
Are you defending him? Everyone I spoke to including Mayo people were agreed.
Still on a high after that win lads!It was good to see a Galway team finally fired up for a big game for a change.With Padraic Joyce and Mike Meehan fairly quiet it was reassuring to see Nicky Joyce and Cormac Bane taking a bit of responsibility, too many times in the past couple of seasons there's been too much dependency on Padraic and Mike. Backs were immense, Damien Burke especially, had Mortimer in his pocket for most of the game and his mother of a shoulder (legal shoulder at that!) on Kieran Mc raised the roof in Salthill. One of the best corner backs in the country at the minute. Kieran Fitz seems to be coming back to his best also after a tough winter. Hanley is getting better with every game. Doherty did fairly well too, dealt confidently with whatever came his way. Mike Comer was alright but still think he'll make way for Coyne when he recovers from his injury. (Burst vessel in his eye apparently, hope he makes a full recovery) Blake did well after coming in as did Dec Meehan. Joe Bergin finally stepped up to the mark and delivered a great performance. Covered acres of ground. Niall Coleman, well what can you say about him, can be oh so good but sours the lot with rash and careless tackling. Has calmed the aimless balls a bit, had a great point and set Bane up brilliantly for his goal but lets himself down with the agression a lot. Needs to settle a bit! Himself and Bergin could be a great partnership if they can continue to play well but have worries about Coleman's temperament. That said maybe he wanted to get off the field fairly lively to escape David Brady in case he kissed him again! ;D In the forwards Nicky Joyce and Cormac Bane really stepped up to the mark. It's good to know if Padraic and Mike have bad days at the office we have these two to rely on though Bane can be a bit erratic at times.Ja, had his moments I suppose, scored a point but really isn't up to 70mins at this level. Savage was in and out of the game but can still leave defenders on their arse when he feels like it. Padraic and Mike, as I've said weren't up to the standards we usually expect from them but they'll come good, Meehan brought Higgins out of his comfort zone of the corner and was more involved in general play from centre forward, hope he's left there for a couple of games to see how he fares out.Heaney did a job on Padraic but he was still involved in a lot of what Galway did up front.
Great to get the win but not getting too carried away with it. Think Mayo were a bit shell shocked by the early goal and didn't expect the intensity shown by Galway. This thing about Galway being dirty and cynical is only a lazy excuse being used by some Mayo supporters to explain their teams performance. (note I said some, the majority, including those on here, are gracious in defeat) Yeah Galway hit hard but that's part and parcel of today's game. Think it was James Horan in the Western People today that said Mayo need to stop giving out about the physicality of teams and start hitting back. (Legally now, not elbows or forearms to the face. :-\) Galway were also very lucky on a few occasions, Mortimer hitting the bar, James Nallen getting pulled for over-carrying when a goal looked likely, and Cormac Bane not getting pulled for over-carrying for his first goal. All in all, a good Galway performance, roll on Leitrim on the 24th June. We'll need to be careful though, Leitrim aren't the pushovers they used to be and the last hing we need is this win going to players heads and thinking all they have to do to win is show up in Carrick.
As an aside, I've said it before but whoever had the big idea of redeveloping Pearse Stadium seriously needs to be hung, drawn and quartered. Left Barnaderg (note spellig An Fhairice ;)) at about ten to 2, didn't get parked until about ten to 4, f*****g traffic! I know all the city and west lads now are going to say how they had to come to Tuam for years and what not but at least every Mayo man, woman, chicken and child weren't going the same way!Absolutelt crazy!Youre nearly better off booking in somewhere on Saturday night and not even thinking about leaving until Monday morning. Anyway rant over, for now anyway!
jaaz, Duine, why didn't you leave in time? Leaving at 1.50 is asking for trouble the day of a big match in Pearse!!!
Anyway, in reply to a point raised above, my understanding is that Provincial finals can only be played on a home-and-away basis if both counties have grounds capable of hosting such a match. Thus should a Galway-Sligo final come to pass, it would be played in Castlebar (remember the wet day in '02?) or more possibly Hyde Park, the designated Provincial HQ ground, as Markiewicz park in Sligo isn't large enough to host a Connacht final. So, for selfish reasons, I'm sure most Galwegians are hoping for a Galway / Ros' final which would be played in Pearse stadium (no chance of Tuam being ready unfortunately.)
Quote from: An Fhairche Abu on May 22, 2007, 03:01:50 PM
Although from a neutrals perspective it was undoubtedly another bad game between Mayo and Galway I was delighted with Sunday's result, although I thought that Mayo were deserved favourites to win, the Galway victory didn't surprise me, the margin certainly did!
Unfortunately, despite the positives for Galway, they are all tempered by the sheer awfulness of Mayo; they were terrible the last day. The main man up front Conor Mortimer was cleaned out by Burke, Dillion in a really poor run of form, he was terrible bar the point he kicked, Mayo midfield was lost at sea for most of the game, half back line destroyed.
That said, I expect Mayo to dramatically improve for the qualifiers; they can't be as bad again in a match this year surely and they still have some very good players (a fit McDonald would make a big difference), it wouldn't surprise me at all if Mayo went further than Galway this summer but they have it all to do to even make the Q-finals and I can't see any All Ireland in that Mayo team, which at this stage is what all Mayo wants, another 10 or 20 Connacht titles for Mayo won't mean a thing without winning the All Ireland.
In response to the sour grapes of some Mayo fans, it was indeed cynical play at times by Galway men dragging Mayo lads down instead of letting them get in for a goal chance but if we didn't concede a goal in the 2nd half we were strong favourites to win, Peter Ford and the team knew this well.
Ford had his managerial career with Galway on the line; had Galway lost he was finished, he had his players tactically fouling to ensure that this wasn't the case, to ensure that Galway won. Although it is ugly and repulsive to me as a fan of the "purer" brand of aesthetically pleasing gaelic football, it's understandable. However, you still need the players to be able to kick scores for yourself, simply stopping the opposition won't win you big games, and the damage has to be done at both ends. Galway (Coleman's stupid fouling aside) were much smarter than Mayo at defending last Sunday, in fact for all the crying about the physical approach of Galway, Mayo had the most fouls last Sunday. I will accept that the Mayo people complaining about the ref's ability are 100% correct, he is puck bad. He didn't win it for Galway though, Mayo made sure of that themselves by playing crap.
An excellent summary of what happened and its what I've been trying to say since Monday but I couldnt do it as well as you have done. One thing I wouldnt agree with you on is that Mortimer was cleaned. Several times in the first half he had beaten his man and was through and was fouled, the foul resulted in frees which he pointed. I think alot of people are confusing good marking with the stats on scoring from play. If (and I know if my aunt had balls she'd by my uncle) mortimer hadnt hit the crossbar with his shot I dont think people would be saying that the marking jobs was so good yet it was the crossbar that stopped that being a goal, not his marker. Similarly he wasnt stopped from scoring more from play by the skill of his marker, rather he was fouled when in positions to score. Perhaps some might feel that thats the job of a corner back stop at all costs, I dont know, indeed Mayo might have been better off employing that tactic a bit. point is I wouldnt get over excited by Burkes performance on Mortimer.
Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on May 22, 2007, 02:37:41 PM
Jaysus the whinging has reached epidemic levels over on mayofans.com. They must think we can't read them or something. These are from today.
QuoteYou dont need to do weights to put in cheap shots, Galway were experts at it on Sunday and Mayo didnt respond to the tactic.
QuoteHaving said that, the leinency that the ref was showing Galway for their "tackles" would not have been shown to Mayo
QuoteYes Brady got away with punching but he deserved a round of applause, someone needed to do it
QuoteMayo were dreadful, but Galway were absoultely filthy
QuoteThe Galway boys were just taking it in turns to chop down Mayo lads
QuoteThe best tactic from Mayo after 15 minutes when they saw that the rules werent going to be applied was a one in all in like Meath 96
Yes like that worked a treat back in 96 alright. :D
All a bit OTT and drama-queeenish over there. As with most of these games the hungrier team on the day usually wins. If one aspect of showing hunger is hitting hard but fair in the tackle then I think any coach worth his salt would want his team to display it. Last year's game was hardly easy on the eye in terms of fouls conceded either.
Well if theres whinging over there its exactly the same kind of stuff that was coming from the Galway camp last year after the Connacht final, so let he without sin and all that.
Mayo are too soft,plain and simple victims.Its not the football thats the problem, its the minds and lack of pride they exhibit.If someone hit one of them in the street it would be a beating for the poor idiot but on the field they roll over.Apologisng after a tackle is something i have seen our best defender do quite often, fine, apologise but after you have beaten his team.
Will Mayo always be the victim because of the nice approach?
Quote from: Msgr. Horan on May 23, 2007, 10:39:36 AM
Quote from: An Fhairche Abu on May 22, 2007, 03:01:50 PM
Although from a neutrals perspective it was undoubtedly another bad game between Mayo and Galway I was delighted with Sunday's result, although I thought that Mayo were deserved favourites to win, the Galway victory didn't surprise me, the margin certainly did!
Unfortunately, despite the positives for Galway, they are all tempered by the sheer awfulness of Mayo; they were terrible the last day. The main man up front Conor Mortimer was cleaned out by Burke, Dillion in a really poor run of form, he was terrible bar the point he kicked, Mayo midfield was lost at sea for most of the game, half back line destroyed.
That said, I expect Mayo to dramatically improve for the qualifiers; they can't be as bad again in a match this year surely and they still have some very good players (a fit McDonald would make a big difference), it wouldn't surprise me at all if Mayo went further than Galway this summer but they have it all to do to even make the Q-finals and I can't see any All Ireland in that Mayo team, which at this stage is what all Mayo wants, another 10 or 20 Connacht titles for Mayo won't mean a thing without winning the All Ireland.
In response to the sour grapes of some Mayo fans, it was indeed cynical play at times by Galway men dragging Mayo lads down instead of letting them get in for a goal chance but if we didn't concede a goal in the 2nd half we were strong favourites to win, Peter Ford and the team knew this well.
Ford had his managerial career with Galway on the line; had Galway lost he was finished, he had his players tactically fouling to ensure that this wasn't the case, to ensure that Galway won. Although it is ugly and repulsive to me as a fan of the "purer" brand of aesthetically pleasing gaelic football, it's understandable. However, you still need the players to be able to kick scores for yourself, simply stopping the opposition won't win you big games, and the damage has to be done at both ends. Galway (Coleman's stupid fouling aside) were much smarter than Mayo at defending last Sunday, in fact for all the crying about the physical approach of Galway, Mayo had the most fouls last Sunday. I will accept that the Mayo people complaining about the ref's ability are 100% correct, he is puck bad. He didn't win it for Galway though, Mayo made sure of that themselves by playing crap.
An excellent summary of what happened and its what I've been trying to say since Monday but I couldnt do it as well as you have done. One thing I wouldnt agree with you on is that Mortimer was cleaned. Several times in the first half he had beaten his man and was through and was fouled, the foul resulted in frees which he pointed. I think alot of people are confusing good marking with the stats on scoring from play. If (and I know if my aunt had balls she'd by my uncle) mortimer hadnt hit the crossbar with his shot I dont think people would be saying that the marking jobs was so good yet it was the crossbar that stopped that being a goal, not his marker. Similarly he wasnt stopped from scoring more from play by the skill of his marker, rather he was fouled when in positions to score. Perhaps some might feel that thats the job of a corner back stop at all costs, I dont know, indeed Mayo might have been better off employing that tactic a bit. point is I wouldnt get over excited by Burkes performance on Mortimer.
Having watched the full game on Setanta yesterday evening again, I stick by my assertion that Burke had Mortimer in his pocket - any clean ball Mort won he was sheparded out away from the goals or dispossessed, any 50/50 ball that came in Burke won.
To say he was through several times having beaten his man in the 1st half is inaccurate, he was through
once when Hanley had little choice but to foul him and take the yellow card. I don't recall Mortimer being much of a threat bar the 2nd half crossbar incident and that one run through on goal in the first half, either in setting other Mayo players for scores or getting himself in scorable positions; for a current All Star corner forward who is Mayo's main threat up front, I'd say that's the definition of being cleaned out. Indeed I'd go as far to say that even 2 of the Mortimer scored Mayo frees in the second half were extremly dubious frees in the first place.
Again this is all in my opinion, if you feel that Burke's performance wasn't as good as Galway folk have made out, you're well entitled to that opinion also.
It's all about the quality of ball going inside to the forward also. Last year Mayo were so on top of the field that the ball was worked into a position that Mortimer had the advantage. On Sunday because Galway were on top at midfield, ball going into the corner was 50-50 and Burke had the advantage. So it's looks like Mortimer won the day previously and Burke last Sunday but it's less black and white than that.
Watched the match on Setanta last night and thought that there was some heavy hitting but nothing out of thr ordinary for a championship game between big local rivals. If Mayo were not at the pitch of this, then this is an issue for them
(Though looking at the match again Coleman should have gone long before he did and nobody should be able to defend Harte for what he did.)
QuoteAs an aside, I've said it before but whoever had the big idea of redeveloping Pearse Stadium seriously needs to be hung, drawn and quartered. Left Barnaderg (note spellig An Fhairice ) at about ten to 2, didn't get parked until about ten to 4, f*****g traffic! I know all the city and west lads now are going to say how they had to come to Tuam for years and what not but at least every Mayo man, woman, chicken and child weren't going the same way!Absolutelt crazy!Youre nearly better off booking in somewhere on Saturday night and not even thinking about leaving until Monday morning. Anyway rant over, for now anyway!
Agreed, took me ages to get there too but I left in plenty of time. Took me longer to get home though. I dont think it is possible to find a worse location for a stadium than where Pearse is.
QuoteI'm sure most Galwegians are hoping for a Galway / Ros' final which would be played in Pearse stadium (no chance of Tuam being ready unfortunately.)
Whats the story with Tuam? They knocked the terrace beside the goal at the beginning of last year and nothing seems to have been done since
On fairness lads, it was a huge margin to lose by and we are all shocked including myself, but it was only 3 scores in the difference, granted 3 scores too many, but C Mort should have gotten a goal as should have D Brady but he made a crazy solo, we could have been within 1 point of them if we took these scores, it's a pity really, but I dont think Mayo deserved to lose by as much as they did, Galway were better than Mayo, much better but were not particulary great themselves.
In 7 weeks I hope and think Mayo should come out a much improved team, T Mort, McD and D Brady will hopefully be then in perfect condition and by then, who knows we could even have McGarrity back! Alot does depend on the luck of the draw though, wouldnt it be horrible to come out against the loser of Donegal/Armagh but if we are to progress this year we will have to face these eventually!
Quote from: Redgreenery on May 23, 2007, 05:14:39 PM
On fairness lads, it was a huge margin to lose by and we are all shocked including myself, but it was only 3 scores in the difference, granted 3 scores too many, but C Mort should have gotten a goal as should have D Brady but he made a crazy solo, we could have been within 1 point of them if we took these scores, it's a pity really, but I dont think Mayo deserved to lose by as much as they did, Galway were better than Mayo, much better but were not particulary great themselves.
That's true but Galway also hit more than twice as many wides as Mayo so I think a 6 or 7 point difference was probably a fair reflection of the game on the day.
The chance Mortimer got that he hit the bar with was exactly the same as one of the goals we conceded in the league semi-final. Burke and Hanley both jumped for the same ball and it broke straight to a Mayo player who quickly passed it to the free Mortimer. A piece of miscommunication in defence that I had hoped we wouldn't see again.
Mayo were poor last Sunday, but do you think the result/performance would be the same again if they were to play again this Sunday? I certainly don't. Galway were wound up to the max not to lose, Mayo weren't as desperate for the win.
There are some serious issues for Mayo management and players to deal with, but I wouldn't be writing them off yet. Kerry lost the munster final to Cork last year, and people said Jack O'Connor hadn't a notion and there was war in the camp - we know all to well how they turned their year around.
I think James Horan gives a pretty good assessment in the Western:
Quote
Football ability alone will only get you so far
By: James Horan
IT WAS impossible to predict such a serious whipping being handed out by a Galway team to this seasoned Mayo crew. In what is traditionally a close encounter, Galway simply did as they pleased, eventually running out easy winners. The last twenty minutes of the game was of training ground intensity and quality. Galway, a much more determined team on the day, were prepared to do whatever it took to win the match. People may whinge about how cynical Galway were, how they spoiled and pulled down Mayo players, how they slowed the play down when in front etc; blah blah blah. Well tough. That's football in today's world. Might not be that pretty but that is where it's at. We need to hop on board and get over feeling sinned against. We need to get streetwise and learn what is needed to be successful in today's football. Galway, as expected under the stew-ardship of an ex-football hard man, hit hard, took no prisoners and justifiably came away deserving winners. Galway played with a frame of mind that the most successful teams in the country over the last five years, Armagh, Tyrone and Kerry play with. These teams have been successful based on a mixture of skill, aggression and knowing what to do and when to do it. Mayo were naïve on Sunday, took a beating and really let Galway bully them around. Football ability alone will only get you so far.
In a game that Galway controlled for much of the 70 minutes, Mayo, if they had taken their goal chances would have been right in the thick of it. The timing of Conor's second half miss was the most crucial. Galway made the most of this let off and immediately went down the field and scored. This proved the turning point. Mayo had three outstanding goal chances in this match (Conor, David Brady and Pat Harte) and scored none. Galway had two chances and scored both. That ultimately was the scoring difference and shows that at this level you need to be clinical. Our scoring return from play is a concern. Two points from play over 70 minutes at any level will not win games. Our format and type of play, with constantly rotating forwards, does not lead to any consistency and players seem to be concentrating on trying to play their role, instead perhaps of getting into scoring positions. Mayo didn't get into any rhythm in this game and eventually faded out with barely a whimper. However, they are not as bad as this game would suggest and over the next seven weeks there will be time to rehabilitate. Mayo will regroup, work hard and will come out fighting for the qualifiers. There are a number of items that do need to be fleshed out during this period. Firstly the expectation on what the return of Ciaran McDonald and David Brady can do for Mayo needs to be realistic. Also, our expectation on Kevin O'Neill and reliance on Jimmy Nallen needs to be based on sound principles. All great servants of Mayo football but are, however, at a stage in their careers where they cannot dominate a match and influence it like they once did. Yes, all still capable of great things but maybe not over the course of 70 minutes of hard-hitting championship football. Some of the younger guys need to step up and take owner-ship.
As always in defeat, management and decisions made come under scrutiny. Firstly, the multiple positional changes appeared to backfire on Mayo. It appeared at times that some players were not sure who was marking who and who was playing in what position. Maybe all these preplanned moves caused some confusion with players.
Mr. Ford actually out-witted Mayo by bringing Michael Meehan out to centre half and moving Derek Savage to the corner. Mayo ended up with their two attacking wing backs playing as corner backs. Not where we want Devenney and Gardiner to be. Both were eventually replaced. The substitution of Alan Dillon was also unusual. Dillon, the only player in the second half to score from play, was also the right sided free taker. He possibly would have scored one or two of those frees that McDonald tried with the outside of the left peg. Also, should 'Killer' have been given a run? He has the pace and power to cause any defence trouble. All this however is scratching only at the surface. The issue was one of mindset and about knowing what needs to be done and when. This defeat had nothing to do with Mayo's football ability.
People are now talking of this Galway team as All-Ireland contenders. This is premature at the very least. Firstly, Mayo are not this bad and Galway are not that good. Mayo could easily beat this Galway team if it were played again tomorrow. Galway were just more aggressive and hungrier for the win. They were mentally tough and did not allow Mayo to play their game. When not mentally tuned in, you can be physically over-powered by teams that are not physically any stronger than you are. Mayo are every bit as big as Galway, however, the difference was Galway's attitude. It will take time to recover from this, but Mayo have time before they recommence battle. The players, after licking their wounds, need to get straight back up onto the horse and try again. Players will be with their clubs this coming week with championship around the corner. It's probably the last thing some players want, but it's important to play that disappointment out of the system and simply move on.
The lesson is: To be successful in Gaelic Football today you need the right mix of flair, aggression and strength. Kerry being the classic example. Just look at the likes of Dara " Sé and Paul Galvin. Both can play but if needed they will do whatever else is required.
Quote from: Tubberman on May 23, 2007, 08:23:28 PM
There are some serious issues for Mayo management and players to deal with, but I wouldn't be writing them off yet. Kerry lost the munster final to Cork last year, and people said Jack O'Connor hadn't a notion and there was war in the camp - we know all to well how they turned their year around.
Fair enough but luckily for Kerry they didnt have the whole journey of the qualifiers to go through! Kerry just hadent peaked at the time, Donaghy wasnt at Full Forward and Cooper was not on form.
Oh I had great intentions of leaving at one o'clock at the latest mouview but my delightful travelling companions decided otherwise and we were lucky to have left by then at all, they'll be walking next time! Story with Tuam is the committee is still waiting for half a million euro sanctioned by the government last year and a further half million sanctioned this year to come through, they can't do a whole lot without it so it's kind of at a stand still. There's a bit of an article about it in today's Herald if anyone wants a look.
Quote from: Tubberman on May 23, 2007, 08:23:28 PM
I think James Horan gives a pretty good assessment in the Western:
I don't agree with Horan's view that
"The substitution of Alan Dillon was also unusual". Alan had a great year last year but so far this year he hasn't in great form, I thought he was poor on Sunday
QuoteI don't agree with Horan's view that "The substitution of Alan Dillon was also unusual". Alan had a great year last year but so far this year he hasn't in great form, I thought he was poor on Sunday
You're right. He was quiet on Sunday apart from one great point just after half time.
I don't agree with everything Horan wrote, but his general view is correct I think - Mayo need to toughen up and be able to give/take the hits.
Also, it's not as bad as it seems - if we were to play again next week Mayo would possibly win.
Also, it's not as bad as it seems - if we were to play again next week Mayo would possibly win. "
i wouldn't agree with that- i think there's a reluctance within mayo to admit to themselves that as things stand they aren't quite there. Also on aggression- you've either got it or you don't. galvin and o se were always aggressive- it's inherently built into their nature- it's something i don't believe a player suddenly acquires.- and i've never seen a player all of a sudden obtain it.
Indiana, in all truth, you only post about the negatives of Mayo football (for some sad reason), so you can hardly be viewed as impartial.
Quoteas things stand they aren't quite there
They aren't quite where? Capable of beating Galway? I think most Galway people would accept that if we were to play again later in the Championship, it would be a toss-up.
QuoteAlso on aggression - you've either got it or you don't
Do you remember Kerry getting beaten by the more aggressive Armagh and Tyrone a few years back? They licked their wounds and decided to match that aggression, of course it can be learnt!
I'd concur with this view of Mayo not being cynical.
One of the most obvious examples of this was the Mayo corner back who had the ball when the ref called a free against his team mate.
Instead of dropping the ball where he was he threw it back immediately to where the free was to be taken from.
The Galway player immediately kicked it over his head to Nicky Joyce who the corner back was supposed to be marking.
Do you think you would ever get a Armagh, Kerry or Tyrone back being so 'helpful'.
Then again. Who wants to be cynical?
Quote from: INDIANA on May 24, 2007, 09:54:43 AM
it's inherently built into their nature- it's something i don't believe a player suddenly acquires.- and i've never seen a player all of a sudden obtain it.
Up until about 3 years ago I'd never have described Ciaran Whelan as been an aggressive player
Indiana, in all truth, you only post about the negatives of Mayo football (for some sad reason), so you can hardly be viewed as impartial"
this is a forum i'm free to comment on what i like and when i like and i won't be asking your permission to do so. Plenty of people post all sorts of negatives about dublin- but you don't hear us complaining.Consult the dictionary for the definition of the term 'forum' if that's not clear enough.
"Up until about 3 years ago I'd never have described Ciaran Whelan as been an aggressive player"
i've played with him at school and he was aggressive then- he played with such a poor dublin outfit there was never any oppoutunity to impose himself because we were pretty much always beaten in the late 90's and early part of the century and were always on the back foot.
In relation to kerry - i would have always said o se was aggressive (he's an o se for christ's sake). galvin didn't play in 2003- tommy griffin didn't play in 2003- aidan o mahoney didn't play- tomas o se didn't play so that argument doesn't wash as it was a different kerry team and a different mindset. and if mayo want to go the same route they need similar sort of players.
Quote from: timmykelleher on May 24, 2007, 10:42:36 AM
One of the most obvious examples of this was the Mayo corner back who had the ball when the ref called a free against his team mate.
Instead of dropping the ball where he was he threw it back immediately to where the free was to be taken from.
The Galway player immediately kicked it over his head to Nicky Joyce who the corner back was supposed to be marking.
Do you think you would ever get a Armagh, Kerry or Tyrone back being so 'helpful'.
Then again. Who wants to be cynical?
Good observation Timmy,
It might seem trivial but its a classic example of Mayo being too nice. Your right, normally a ball is thrown over the free-takers head of left down to give an extra few seconds for a defence to mark up again. On Sunday Mayo had none of that aggression, cuteness, or fire...
Originally I was very upset with the way Galway played but after a long reflection I now think they were right to play the game the way they did. They showed much more hunger and desire and never let up. Normally when Mayo get a small lead we defend it, which can allow the other team back into the game. Galway wanted more and more and didnt let up. Hats off. We need to start taking that example.
Hypothetically the Mayo team of '96 would wallop the current team, and its not for lack of skill, but last of basic aggression that we are missing.
Hopefully we will emerge with this aggression in seven weeks.
That is good coming from a Dublin fan,Dublin have been talking themselves up for years, but sign of them admitting they aren't quite there."
you see if you ever actually read what i wrote(instead of what you actually think i wrote) the following would become very clear:
I DON'T BELIEVE THE CURRENT DUBLIN TEAM WILL WIN THE ALL-IRELAND IN 2007.
Quote from: INDIANA on May 24, 2007, 11:03:18 AM
"Up until about 3 years ago I'd never have described Ciaran Whelan as been an aggressive player"
i've played with him at school and he was aggressive then- he played with such a poor dublin outfit there was never any oppoutunity to impose himself because we were pretty much always beaten in the late 90's and early part of the century and were always on the back foot.
Arrah come off it for Gods sake, Whelan was getting bossed around pitches at Senior level all his life, he had the skill and pace to make up for it in the early days and it's got nada to do with lack of opportunities playing alongside poor Dublin outfits, stop making excuses for him - he simply decided to start being more aggressive a few years back, just pointing that your original point re not being able to coach aggression into players is rubbsh
Quote from: stephenite on May 24, 2007, 10:46:37 AM
Quote from: INDIANA on May 24, 2007, 09:54:43 AM
it's inherently built into their nature- it's something i don't believe a player suddenly acquires.- and i've never seen a player all of a sudden obtain it.
Up until about 3 years ago I'd never have described Ciaran Whelan as been an aggressive player
I wouldn't call him aggressive, just a thug that emerges for about 10 mins per match and usually clocks someone with a cowardly punch.
Should have walked v meath last year.
just pointing that your original point re not being able to coach aggression into players is rubbsh "
that's a fact and your theory on kerry is also rubbish -because it was a markedy different team that won kerry the all-ireland- they changed their team similar to what mayo need- you can continue to delude yourself that mayo are going to win the all-ireland with the current team that's your pregorative.
in relation to whelan being a thug - i wouldn't defend him on some incidents because you can't defend any of his actions -but then again i wouldn't be so hypocritical to defend pat harte when he tied to break michael meehan's jaw.
indiana,
you havent been spotted over on the dublin meath thread in a while, im sure you are missed.
It really must be terrible to be so bitter,i can only assume its after the semi last year. get over it man and enjoy this great sport of ours. support your team and dont be so worried about how mayo are doing.
you must have been with gnevin one in coppers when a gang of mayo youngs wans chased ye.
didn't see anywhere in the rules- where you can only comment on your own county- sorry luder but in this day and age that's pretty pathetic.
theres feck all rules indy, im just curious your so interested in mayo?
but its good to see yuo are so worried about what other people say, i see you have gone back scampering to the dublin meath thread.
im sorry indy but thats pathetic ;D
not really simply that this thread is exhausted luder. there is only so many times you can say galway beat mayo comprehensively
Quote from: INDIANA on May 24, 2007, 11:53:04 AM
that's a fact and your theory on kerry is also rubbish -because it was a markedy different team that won kerry the all-ireland- they changed their team similar to what mayo need- you can continue to delude yourself that mayo are going to win the all-ireland with the current team that's your pregorative.
in relation to whelan being a thug - i wouldn't defend him on some incidents because you can't defend any of his actions -but then again i wouldn't be so hypocritical to defend pat harte when he tied to break michael meehan's jaw.
First of all, it's not a fact, you're talking out of your hole.
Secondly I have not posted a theory on Kerry, so how can my theory be rubbish when I haven't even mentioned it?
Thirdly, I have never stated that Mayo will win the All Ireland this team, so how is this delusional?
Lastly, where have I defended Pat Hartes actions? So why are you trying to infer that I am being hypocritical ?
I have only commented on the fact that you said that you cannot coach aggression into an Inter County footballer, you state that you either have it or you don't. I remarked that Ciaran Whelan only introduced this into his game 3 years ago, I've seen enough of "Whelo" in Parnell Park in County Challenge games getting pushed around by all and sundry.
Please try and stick to the topic at hand, and stop misquoting and misrepresenting what I wrote - it's childsish and you're making a fool of yourself
First of all, it's not a fact, you're talking out of your hole.
Secondly I have not posted a theory on Kerry, so how can my theory be rubbish when I haven't even mentioned it?
Thirdly, I have never stated that Mayo will win the All Ireland this team, so how is this delusional?"
simple question Einstein - look at the teamsheet re kerry 2003 and the one re 2004-2006. the players who are respsonsible for putting the aggression into the kerry team weren't there. You said kerry sufddenly instilled aggression into their play?-they didn't they changed the personnel- i have yet to see mike frank-cooper etc lamp anyone with a shoulder- the reaon being they don't need to paul galvin/aidan o mahoney/tommy griffin and tomas o se do it for them.
Quote from: INDIANA on May 24, 2007, 11:46:43 PM
You said kerry sufddenly instilled aggression into their play
Jesus wept - point out where I said this ? Do you even read what you type, not hard for anyone to be Einstein when dealing with you ::)
In the last 2 games mayo have played which were against Donegal and Galway they adopted this warm up routine like kerrys warmup routine from last years all ireland final. They have 2 teams in a square playing a game of possession. The idea is for one team to retain the ball and get through to the other side. I noticed their was a few good hits in that warm up game but when the ball was thrown in not one mayo player got stuck in against the galway lads at all, they did more smashing in the warm up game.