Messages

Its the games against the likes of the limericks and donegals you have to watch out for . the temptation is there to experiment  but these team have the pluck to cause an upset

With all due respect to Limerick, I don't think you can class Donegal in the same category as them. Donegal are far more than a team with "pluck"; they made the Q/F's last year and they had a good win away to Cork last weekend. Sweeney, Devenney, Roper et al would make a lot of county teams and if they could get a bit of unity and discipline into the team, they could be serious challengers come next august/september.

I reckon the game next weekend away to Donegal along with the game in Omagh on the last day of the league are our hardest games in the league. If we get out of there with a point, we'd be happy enough.

I've only seen Quirke play once - in a league semi final against Limerick a few years ago - and he played at both full forward and midfield for a while but he was not impressive at all to say the least. Granted, Donaghy played in the league last year and was no great shakes either........I still expect Kilcullen to be able to handle him as he's not half as mobile as Donaghy. I'd expect L O'M to try to pick up the Gooch.

Looks like a strong Kerry line-up overall and around the middle of the park in particular, with two O'Ses, Donaghy, Brosnan, O'Sullivan and O'Mahony. Mayo will have their work cot out for them there in a big way especially if McG is carrying an injury. We need to at least break even to have a chance.

Up front I'd expect the Mayo forwards to give the Kerry backs a tough enough time if they can get a decent supply of ball. Only one of the same starters from last years final but I'd expect the new faces to show well and I'm expecting a big year from A O'M and A Moran in particular.

If we can break even at midfield I'd expect us to win with home advantage but I'm not sure we are strong enough to win the breaks. A draw mightn't be a bad bet either........

I'd nearly fancy a bet on Mayo at 11/10, we're at home and we have a lot more to prove than Kerry have.

FAO Stephenite and Venter in particular, I was on to TG4 and none of the league games will be available online outside Ireland as Setanta have all the international rights to it. Apparently the highlights of the Mayo v Kerry game will be available online from Tuesday onwards.

Don't agree with players changing clubs but he'll have to change his attitude if he'd to make a go of it in Knockmore; now that he's transferred, hopefully he'll do well and will be able to handle the pressure associated with a really big club!!!

Cheers for the report Highking.

they didnt seem too interested when things started going against them

That's Ballina lads for you!!!!!!

Mini-report as taken from mayofans.com:

Sligo IT 1-10 Mayo 0-9 Full Time

Mayo scorers: A Dillon 0-4, A Campbell 0-1, M McNicholas 0-1, M Mullins 0-1, M Conroy 0-1, G Brady 0-1.
Sligo IT scorers: A Moran 1-0, M Doherty 0-3, A Costello 0-2, B Regan 0-2, C Boyle 0-1, T Costello 0-1, J Murphy 0-1.

According to MWR, Kilcullen, McGarrity, Dillon and Mullins were best for Mayo. Big Mayo contribution to Sligo IT's total as well.

Wouldn't be too worried about the result, would be interested to see how the new faces got on though. Good to hear that Kilcullen was prominent. Hopefully this loss is a sign that the Mayo lads are busy doing weights instead of too much fitness training at this early stage of the campaign.

So does this mean that 3 teams are being promoted to senior?? Or will the championship remain as it is??

Div 1A looks a bit harder alright.

I can only say IMHO the only players of the current squad that play with anything near the level of agression required are D Brady, L O'Malley, P Harte, T Mortimer, K O'Neill.

I wouldn't rank Kevin O'N up there as an aggressive player or even a ball winner. He needs good supply to do the damage rather than balls he has to work too hard for. You're right though, we do need more aggression all round, more players like Brosnan/Galvin/Cavanagh/Dooher are needed. Billie Joe and Ger B are supposed to be filling this role at the moment but maybe not well enough??

DB will never play full back for Mayo. Why?? Because he is not a natural defender; Joyce, O'Neill, Keaney would all skin him alive. Brady is best played at midfield with maybe twenty minutes at FF if he's knackered.

The way people are focusing on Donaghy (i know he was the big star of the year), you'd swear the high ball was a tactic invented by Jack O'C this summer!!! Donaghy (or any wannabes) won't have the same effect next year when teams are better adjusted - this doesn't mean finding a 6ft 7 full back though. Not sure who we will stick in there but if nobody new comes along, I'd go with Nallen and play heaney on the 40. Hopefully some of the younger crop will step up.

What about Billie Joe at FF?? He played 30 minutes there in the 05 connacht final when no high ball came in to him and since then the tactic has been abandoned. I would like to see him playing in there for a few games, he can catch the ball and despite some of his shooting last year, he is still a good man to get a score unless he has completely lost his accuracy from underage.

What about any of the Ballagh men?? Anybody know if any of them - backs specifically - are good enough to step up??

Being able to solo/pass/score with either foot, makes a player invaluable to a team and very hard to shadow/block.

are there 17 teams?? or 13??

I haven't had a look at too many of the other county websites but they mustn't be great if Mayo is topping Div 2.

The site looks well on the main page and the club results are usually up to date more or less but the last report from a county game is the League game against Cork. There is no list of honours for the county championship/league and no archived results for either club or county. I'm presuming there's even less on the hurling side of the board!! I don't even think that there's a forum on it.

I have to say the official Kerry site is excellent, you can get results going way back and the official forum was v good.

The unofficial mayo forum is pretty good though, mayofans.com.

Its not very reassuring to think that he was not completely at fault, implying that he was partially to blame.

It'd be a bit much to completely absolve the manager of blame don't you think...............??

Sounds like more bollixing around from the county board.

They're probably not strong enough but if possible, the hurling clubs should set up a separate hurling county board as they're not getting a fair crack of the whip at the moment.

This is the type of training that the English rugby team does

Probably not a great example to use Johnno........