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Any idea when Sky Sports are releasing their list of fixtures or when their coverage is starting?

So, how long of a ban will McMahon be getting for that eye gouging on Donaghy?? Absolutely disgraceful stuff.

My guess is that it won't even be mentioned or else you might get a brief mention on The Sunday Game tonight swiftly followed by a strong defence by Whelan who will no doubt claim that it was accidental and that McMahon is not that type of player.

If someone is consistently involved in incidents and trouble, when exactly does he become that type of player???

What ever happened to "Meathmen don't whinge" 

[Cooney said there's no reason all four quarter-finals can't take place at Croke Park over the Bank Holiday weekend.]

Cooney said there's no reason all four quarter-finals can't take place at Croke Park over the Bank Holiday weekend.

"We're happy that once the stage is taken down next Wednesday we'll have a pitch in place ready to play next Saturday that's in top condition," continued Cooney.

"We're very comfortable with that. There's been a lot of time and effort gone into logistics and making sure the sod we're getting is A1 and the pitch will play to form.

"If we wanted to play next Saturday, Sunday and Monday (at Croke Park) we'd do that.


Oh no reason at all Christy, apart from the fact that Meath v Limerick still have to play before one of the Quarter Finals can be played. What a chimp...  Seriously, whoever is drawing up the fixtures this year should be shot. A total joke that none of the teams until Monday who or when they are playing - never mind the supporters who want to make plans for a Bank Holiday weekend.

                                               1
                                        John Madden

         2                                    3                            4
Kenneth Mortimer               Kevin Cahill               Keith Higgins

         5                                    6                            7
David Heaney                     James Nallen             John Finn

                                     8                   9
                               TJ Kilgallon       Pat Fallon

       10                                    11                          12
Alan Dillon                         Ciaran McDonald         Noel Durkan

       13                                    14                          15
Kevin O'Neill                      John Casey                Colm MacManamon


16   David Clarke
17   Peter Butler
18   Willie Joe Padden
19   Michael Collins
20   Trevor Mortimer
21   James Horan
22   Maurice Sheridan
23   Peter Forde
24   Aidan Higgins
25   Fergal Costello
26   Dermot Flanagan
27   Noel Connelly
28   Ronan McGarritty
29   Pierce Hanley
30   David Brady

Before the complaints start, I've picked 30 players who I think that at their peak are the 30 best that I've seen playing for my county since 1989. I doubt many agree but I couldn't care less really, it's my selection and my opinion. 

Mayo4Sam - pm me please. I'll always help a fellow Countyman (or his missus) out... 

There was an article in the paper today which made for interesting reading.

Apparently, the mother of an inter county footballer who is still involved in the Championship rang into Whingeline yesterday complaining about the criticism that is aimed at GAA players from the media. She singled out Martin McHugh for his perceived slights on her darling son and seemed to imply that he had it in for him although she did admit that "her son had played bad games". Obviously McHugh denied this and said that all his punditry was fair and impartial. However, that's another thread! 

So then, anyone care to take a guess at this guys identity?

[at the minute]

As for the person who said he isn't big enough or strong enough? At 19 that is understandable, but at the same time he is 6'1 or 6'2 and is alot more poweful than alot of backs already, the extra power will come with time. Like it or not, Kilcullen, Cunniffe, Howley are the future. After a few years trying, Howley is finally showing us what he can do, so judge Davy K after 2 games if you want!

Ok, I presume that you are aiming this at me? For the record, I have seen him play at both minor and U-21 levels for Mayo and at club level as well. If you read my post again, you will see that I did say that he is still only young but that he is not the answer at the minute - who knows what the future holds. How you can say that I am writing him off after 2 games is ridiculous as I said no such thing.

The intervening days from Saturday have done little to quell a bad mood that will take some time to lift. It was an absolutely shocking performance yet again which only raises a serious amount of questions without providing any answers.

I don't know what has gone wrong with Clarke but he has been shocking this season and Saturday was the worst yet. You wouldn't see as bad in a minor match. His kickouts were brutal (found a Derry man every time) and if anyone can explain what he was at for the goals I'd be more than willing to listen but I doubt you can. Directly at fault for at least 2-3 or 2-4.

Cunniffe was quiet in the first half but turned in a good solid second half performance until injury forced him off. Definitely will be there again but I would prefer him in the half back line. Having himself and Keith Higgins as corner backs who both love to solo up the field would be a disaster.

Everybody knew that Liam O'Malley was not a full back before the game (apart from management it seems) and having faulted by having started him here serious questions have to be asked why the hell he was left to be roasted by Bradley for the full 70 mins? Crazy! I don't think he's up to it and would be surprised to see him back again.

Howley was quiet enough, showed some blistering pace with a burst up the field in the second that left people wondering if he would have been better off doing a 100m sprint.

Heaney was in and out of it, had difficultly against Muldoon and came into it a bit more when Muldoon was switched. I don't know why lads are writing him off for next year because he is still one of our top performers, only self imposed retirement or exile will see him absent from the 2008 teamsheet.

David Kilcullen. No more than the Cavan game, you wouldn't know he was on the pitch only for the number of times he turned over possession. Not big enough. Not strong enough. Not good enough. I know he's only young but he was not the answer this year.

If there's one man who can hold his head up high and is exempt from the crticism of the team's performance then it it Trevor Mortimer. The man had an absolute stormer, buliding on his perfrmance against Cavan. He showed great determination, leadership and a never say die attitude which was sadly lacking in some of his team mates. Threw himself into everything and never gave up. Saw off at least 3 different markers. If we had 14 more like him we would not be out of the Championship today.

Brady looked miles off the pace while Harte looked sluggish as well. We were beaten up a stick in midfield where Derry ruled the roost. They won most of both sides kickouts and created scoring chances as our lads were missing in action. Another area which needs to be addressed for next year. Hopefully, we will have a fit and healthy McGarritty back in action and O'Shea can make a break through.

While I'm not BJP's biggest fan, it's not fair on him the way he's been shifted from pillar to post. However, he was poor again on Saturday and I stand by my conviction that he's simply not up to it.

Hanley looked good at times in possession but, like the Cavan game, he tends to be marked absent at times. Whether it's a lack of concentration of poor positional play or what I don't know but he needs to be involved for the full 70.

Blast - Dillon had to go off injured at half time, he was doing alright up until that. However, he has been suffering from a loss of form all year and we need a lot more from him in 2008.

C Mortimer did his usual disappearing act. If we can get a reliable free taker then it will be bye bye Conor as he never delivers when the pressure is on, goes hiding in the corner and misses too many easy frees in general.

If I was Barry Moran I would have ate the head of my team mates at half time! The whole idea of him being there is to pump the ball in high and let him have at it. Instead we did the usual short passing and pricking around in the middle 8 until Heaney launched one forward we got a fluke goal. They then copped on that it was a good idea so they let in a few more. Moran had 1-2 by half time but that was it. He'll be here next year though.

Not one of Andy's better days and it is worrying that his finishing had been so poor in the last 2 games. One of our most important players though and was really up against it in SML.

Kilcoyne made a great impact when we had our one period of dominance at the start of the second half, drew level and looked like we might push on from there. Unfortunately he then got injured and we seemed to lose our rhythm after his departure. I felt so sorry for Campbell, what they did to him was a disgrace. It was not his fault and there were others who should have gone ahead of him. None of the subs made a telling contribution.

I know that I've been critical but, as I say, the form is bad and is likely to be for a while yet. We've been poor all year - compared to our potential and ability - and some players have been found lacking while we have been unfortunate with injuries as well. I suppose that goes to show the depth of our panel and answers the questions we wondered. While I've been giving out about the players, I would also have to ask questions about the management. Some of the decision making all year has been baffling and they failed to have back up plans in place when Plan A didn't work. Now, I'm not calling for JOM's head or anything but we could have had some silverware in the League and maybe progressed a bit further in the Championship. Hell, if we even performed it would have been something!

Anyway, I've typed a mini novel so I'll end my rant now.

Fair play to Derry though, ye were by far the better team on the day and I have to say a very sound bunch of people - fans, officials etc. Best of luck to ye!

P.S. If anyone wants to relive the torture, the game is being shown on Setanta on Wednesday evening at 6.50 p.m.

Ok, tough game on Saturday and probably the toughest draw we could have got.

The negatives from Saturday night were the big problems which still exist in the defence, particularly the full back line. Suffice to say they've been well covered so there's no point in going over that ground again. Out of the 6 backs that started only T Mortimer impressed and even then he made some basic handling errors that he's becoming accustomed to. The experiment worked though as he showed a toughness and aggression that had been lacking in it's three previous office holders.

Midfield had its problems as well. McCabe got well on top for a period and could have caused us more problems had not not ran out of steam and moved in FF. McGarritty won't start on Saturday as he looked miles off the pace but it was great to see him back and the game will have brought him on no end, not a bad sub to have coming in.

The big plus was the forward division. Hanley has the potential (no point in judging the lad on one game) to be exactly what we need - a big, strong footballer who is able to win possession and run at defences. The Barry Moran experiment worked well too. He won a lot of ball, broke ball and generally caused mayhem in there. C Mort and Andy Moran were feeding well off him and if Andy had his shooting boots on could have finished with 1-4 or 1-5 to his name (how did he miss that goal???).

On to the Derry game on Saturday albeit nervously. If our defence is as bad again then our summer is over but if we can tighten up a bit and the forwards are on form then we should progress. As for changes, well you would have to think that there will be changes at 2 and 3 but who will fill them is anyones guess. They may operate a system like they did against Kerry in the League where they doubled up on the big lad. Probably our best option. Whether you like it or lump it Gardiner will start so it remains to be seen whether Heaney will drop back to 6 or not when Harte returns.

Probably just one change in the forwards. It has to be the end for BJP. He's got more chances in more positions than anyone else and has been consistanly poor in them all. However, he seems to have a fan club on this board so I'll probably be ran for that comment. I'd have Campbell on there, impressed me in the League and don't know why he lost his place.

So all in all, a bit of defensive tweaking and hoping we can up our peformance I can see victory by a small margin for us. It'll be tight though...

P.S. Like any Mayo match that is not covered by RTE/TG4/Setanta, it is a pity about the match not being on telly. Not everyone can always make the games and it's a shame that they will miss out. It is the tie of the round so I'm surprised they are not showing it. Plus, no reason why they couldn't show 2 qualifiers on a Saturday....

It'll be interesting to see if Maughan can win that elusive national title - in Croker and against Meath. Memories eh? 

Ros seem to have a few injury problems though while Meath are full strength(?) so I presume they are favourites. Any word on the odds? Here's hoping for a good game but I think I speak for most Mayo people when I say that we wouldn't know who to support. 

Would anyone eat the head off me if I said Kilcullen is guaranteed the no.3 jersey and Padden the no.6 jersey come the championship?

   

I wouldn't eat the head off you but I would say that if they are there come the Championship then we won't be in Croker in September... 

To my mind, there's still a few positions up for grabs and we still have far too many square pegs in round holes. I reckon the following positions are still up for grabs: full back, wing back, centre back, 2 midfield and 2 in the forwards. Some of the players may switch positions to fill these but I would see a few changes come Championship time.

Hard to assess progress on yesterday's game. Brutal game altogether. I don't know what game Redgreenery was watching though as Mayo were well on top and the game was over at half time. Having said that, they went through a long period in the second half where they failed to reflect this dominance on the score board. I was expecting a lot better from Limerick who were very poor but they seemed to be missing a good few players. One thing I should mention is that again the referee gave some shocking decisions - against both sides.

For what it's worth:

Kenneth O'Malley – solid, very vocal, good long kick outs but needs to pick out his man a bit better at times as he put one or two to a colleague who was outnumbered. Overall a good debut though.

Liam O'Malley – faired well, no difficulty slotting in at full back. Was the subject of a bizarre decision by the ref (one of many!) when he won the ball cleanly only to be penalised for his effort.

Kilcullen – poor game, found it tough going at full back and resorted to niggly tactics which conceded a few frees before being called ashore. The jury is still out on who will be here in the summer.

Keith Higgins – won nearly everything that came his way, concentrating on defending as his bursts upfield seem to be curtailed this year.

Devenney – quiet enough game.

Padden – way off the pace. The guy is not a centre back. Don't know who will be here in the summer but it shouldn't be him.

Gardiner – nipped about all over the place and popped up for a point, should have added another.

David Brady – only on the pitch briefly.

McGarritty – quiet game, never got going. Limerick were on top in midfield against himself and Harte.

Ger Brady – quiet throughout.

O'Neill – some of his vision and passing was excellent, he pulled the strings to good effect.

T Mortimer – got stuck in, worked hard and ran all day but undone some good work but poor control at times.

Campbell – showed some promise but also showed his inexperience though when he fluffed a great opportunity to put Mortimer in for a goal. Kicked a good point.

Dillon – kicked the frees but quiet from general play, should be left in the half forward line where he is more involved.

Moran – another man best suited to the half forward line. Played well though and will hopefully be a big player in the summer. Some bad shooting though, especially the one he kicked straight at the keeper when a point was a better option.

Harte – way off the pace in the games so far, needs to increase his fitness levels.

Kilcoyne – very quiet.

Ronaldson – looked lively but do we really need another giant like him in our full forward line? Is there some sort of height restriction policy in place in Shrule or what? 

Nallen – acted effectively as a link man and steadied the ship.


Anyway, it's an away game to Fermanagh up next. Let's see what Sunday week brings...

Did anyone hear the discussion about this on Newstalk last night? I didn't hear it myself but was told from someone who did that there is a possibility the game could be called off. Anyone else hear anything?

Apologies Muscles, misread/overlooked that bit