Messages

Not feelin despondent at all think mayo have reason for some optimism. The jury is out regarding the prospects of our minors it must be said though. Galway minors should be v good. Some fine players on that Jarlath s team available.

You are being a bit harsh on the Management. I am no fan of Holmes - think he took Mayo back greatly when he was manager, however youd have to say he has been the only man to bring ANY silverwear to Mayo in the last 20 years (League & U21). But I think he had has his stint at senior and that should be it. Maybe he is more suited to the underage.
Dissapointed as I am for the loss the last day when the game was there for the taking, I think this squad of players over-achieved a little. Only a month or so ago I was down in Castlebar to see them playing Leitrim and I honestly left that match feeling I had witnessed the worst demonstration of basic football skills ever from Mayo. To have taken them then close to an AI final from that, you must give some credit to mgmt. Yes there are some good prospects in defence and midfeild, but ets be honest, we have no forwards coming through at all, and thats what ultimately cost us the last day - only 2 of the starting forwards scored. Unfortunately management can only use what is available and remember Hanley, Boyle brothers and Kilcullen all were not available from the minor team equivelant (who were hammered by Down in the final). Not fair to say that they could have used O'sheas brother - I understand he is only minor

Doherty only a minor also. We might lack forwards but there was some serious talent in backs and midfield. Campbell is a very good forward. I too was at the Leitrim game and yes they stank the place out but there was never a doubt about the exceptional individual ability of at least 7 players which is a good foundation for any team. Their no show against Down in AI final can only be explained by the management at that time. They did nt play. I would fancy them to reverse that result now. Of course we ll give the u21 management some credit but as regards Holmes and silverware -  well if your lucky enough to manage a good team there is always the possibility they will win something.

Why is everyone questioning the Mayo management's decision to drop Campbell and no one wonder what the fcuk a lad was doing on the beer in the week running up to an All-Ireland semi-final? The lad shot himself in the foot and left the management in a very awkward position.
I agree it was nonsense that Kevin McLoughlin didn't start but by and large the management have got an awful lot out of teams in the last three years. The All-Ireland winning team of '06 was very average - so much of that success was down to management (Connelly in particular I think) and two Connacht titles since is a great return. Think we'll see these two in charge of the seniors yet. Worried about Holmes in that regard but Connelly has what it takes

I agree that management had the right to drop Campbell but when they took that decision they should have had the courage to stick with the decision. They must have realised that dropping him was ruining their chances of winning in the first place.
Secondly I also believe that this group of players underachieved. Their quality is reflected in the number who have already shown they are up for senior level. Questions could be asked of former minor managers why they failed to reach their undoubted potential at that level. How often do Mayo or anybody else have a midfield like Parsons and O Shea. I for one would not like to see Holmes anywhere near a Mayo team again. Connelly may have something to offer but there s more to management than motivation.
While I understand the roving role thay Ciaran Sweeney played it could have been done from the wing. Again we had a Mayo team playing with a gale and no targetman inside just a couple of light lads easily brushed aside. If Joson Doherty was deemed good enough for this level why not the younger O Shea who would have added some presence as a target man. As far as I know this was not even investigated by management.  I dont believe the talent within the county was anywhwere exhausted. It took them so long to play Kevin McLoughlin. Ian Clarke was nt even looked at - a lad with much much more to offer than his fellow clubman and a very good targetman.

I am well aware of the status of some of the people on this board within sligo GAA.

You mention the system  and you know how it works. That to me is one of the problems. Why in province of 5 counties from underage to senior have we 1 connaght title to show for our GREAT efforts being made? Can someone explain that?

In my posts I do say negative stuff. IS IT NOT TRUE what Ive said about kivelhan, mchugh and beirne? Can someone say to me thats a lie?? Its time for straight talking not positive BS. In case anyone doesnt notice tomorrow I said plenty of positive stuff about certain players. Im not blaming the players because its not Mcnamara fault he selected CHB its NOT kivelhan, beirnes, gilmartins fault they were selected.

PADDY in all fairnes I live in the NOW you live in the past. Going on about 02 is futile now. That team is gone. As you havent seen us this yr it impossible for you to see what I see.

We could still PICK better teams couldnt we? Im being proved right on alot of negatives because there true. Some people cant handle the truth. THATS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT. Stupid mistakes being made. He had the whole FBD AND NFL to get young up coming players into the squad.

Can anyone understand why GAUGHAN didnt start? Can anyone understand MCNAMARA at CHB? Would anyone start kivelhan and beirne going on past performances? Its not there fault there best is not good enough? Why was coen not given a run? He showed up better than kelly for u21s. Thats 4or 5 mistakes alone today by management team.

What I AM SAYING HAS nothing to do with system, nothing to do last yr. We could easily make a better shape of it right NOW. But it is already too late.

You talk about Tommy Brehony getting out and yes it looks as so it was right but that man made plenty of obvious mistakes too. Just got lucky last yr with connaght football being so poor simple as that. I believe if we had decent manager who didnt make so many mistakes we get alot MORE from our current panel thats all.

Pick our best team and give the players a chance. Its time for honest reflection and its time to be men. Say what has to be said and do what has to be done.

How can ther hunger be gone PADDY? Did Noel not say THIS IS NOT THE END IT IS BEGINNING..................are we fans to not to have any expectations at all. Are we not to demand the management team put out our best TEAM.

The best team is always going to be something thats open to debate. Yesterday I m convinced that Our u21 management got things wrong selection - wise that cost us a valuable semi final -or partly did anyway. Thing is Sligo got relegated over a whole league campaign. Now like Maughan in Ros, another Mayo man will take the rap [ and Peter Forde likewise in Galway] Surely this slump started V Cork last year in championship. Why did Brehony resign a team that just won  a Connnacht Championship first time since 7?  Would he have resigned if he believed they would boot on from that or did he believe that that was going to be as good as it gets? Unless the incoming manager repeated last years Connacht win he was always going to be in trouble.  Plus all these league divisions are tough if you end up in them. At least in division 1 teams can generate a bit more momentum - and games are usually pacey  - to express themselves. 3 and 4 are bear pits.

Looks like being a watershed year for Dublin in any case. They appear to be in siege mentality mode - and its not just Pillar and some players, others like the Stats man and Talty seem to encourage this mindset. Thing is they may well be on the right track. It ll take a really strong referee to make tough decisions against them in Croke Park in championship. And they will of course push it to the limit - and who could blame them if they think it s their best approach to winning Sam. They dont usually have to go on the road so making Croke Park as intimidating as fcuk for opposition and officials increases their chance of doing so. From a pure footballing ability perspective they would nt really be in the shake - up and I suspect that they know that.
How many of ye would fancy Dublin to win in places like Omagh, Ballybofey, Killarney, Tuam, Castlebar, Clones or Cork on a championship Sunday? If this current strategy does not prevail this year then its the end of Pillar, though its unlikely that the next manager will stray too far from the current template.

Best team wan. It was a 3 point win despite the scoreboard... which is a fair reflection.

Same old story with Mayo.

1- too slow to wake up and realise the match has started.
2 - poor full back line
3 - too much individual showboating
4 - finding it too difficult to get scores, Kerry got the last few points off minimal posession. With mayo it was like trying to run a car on apple juice.

Depressing to loose to the Kingdom again.

Thought Cafferkey did well at full back apart from the goal. With Kevin McLoughlin in the fb line in second half they looked secure enough. Barrett not as effective as usual but he was doubtful with injury. Cunniffe and Burke were very good.
Parsons O Shea and the 2 Sweeneys can also be pleased with their game. The important thing is that several of these lads have what it takes to be senior men even though most are backs and midfield. The loss of Hanley hurt us today bigtime.

Answers have to be asked of management  re Campbell. Word is he was fit but dropped for disciplinary reasons. Without him our forwards were clueless in the first half. If he was dropped why change their mind after 20 mins?  Diid they think could do it without him? They should have started him or stuck to their guns on the decision to drop him.

Also how did it take Management 2 1/2 championship matches and God knows how many challenges to realise what everybody who attends matches in the county knows and that is that Kevin McLoughlin was the best corner back available to them?  This in a county that is supposed to be crying out for corner backs that can play there. They got away with some dodgy selections last few years  but its a bit of a joke really. Not sure they deserve this fine group of players.

Dont know why they bothered to advertise it.  Evrybody knows who is going to get it anyway 

I find it very difficult to believe that any club would offer Tommy Carr 30K to manage their team. Incredible. I believe he s just trying to be sensational. Can you imagine any club committee agreeing to that? Where would the bobs come from? And if the club had a sugar daddy with money to throw away surely he would want somebody with better cred as a manager/ coach than TC. Imagine the players promised a vital new manager and who shows up?   He s just trying to cod himself and others that he is a big player in the game. Never was. Never will be.

Was it Peter Solan ? A scoring machine. Got one of our goals in 1950 AI final. Scored 3 - 1 in the Connacht final 1951 v Galway in Tuam.
St. Jar won in 47 V Armagh, minus jones, with Solan a young sean Purcell and another Mayo legend Mick Flanagan who also goaled on 1950 final i think.

That's the man. You never hear of him yet he should be up there in the pantheon of household greats.

What do you mean I never heard of him? I just told you who I thought it might be

I'd say he means that one outside of Mayo nevver hears of him.

Jaysus sorry O Neill for bitin the head off you there. I must have imagined a d at the end of the hear above  or maybe its specsavers for me.  Solan generally not one of the first half dozen names to crop up when that team of 50/51 is mentioned. But remember 2 of that team made the team of the Millenium, which says something about their quality and the impression the team in general made. Usually the names of fellas from that era that crop up most often are Sean Flanagan, Paddy prendergast, John Forde, Padraic Carney, Eamonnn Mongey, Tom Langan and Mick Flanagan who died tragically young.

Was it Peter Solan ? A scoring machine. Got one of our goals in 1950 AI final. Scored 3 - 1 in the Connacht final 1951 v Galway in Tuam.
St. Jar won in 47 V Armagh, minus jones, with Solan a young sean Purcell and another Mayo legend Mick Flanagan who also goaled on 1950 final i think.

That's the man. You never hear of him yet he should be up there in the pantheon of household greats.

What do you mean I never heard of him? I just told you who I thought it might be

It's good that Campbell starts, however, how bad does Gill have to play to be dropped? Cunniffe will probably make a better halfback as he plays at chb generally. It's interesting to see Higgins moved back to cornerback again though, I thought we had him sorted out at halfback. As moysider says though, the defence will probably be a problem area this year, hopefully the workrate of the rest of the team will compensate if the defence gets caught out on Sunday.

Agree about Campbell. Campbell on returning to form was always going to press hard for a Championship place in the half forward line imo. With Trevor and Dillon in pole position for the other two places, if they re fit, it leaves Harte and especially Gill with an uphill battle to start in the Championship. Both look like being down the pecking order for midfield as well at this stage with Parsons, O Shea and maybe Barry Moran ahead of them. I too thought Higgins was nailed down at 7. Now we re changing something that was working really well Cunniffe will also play an aggressive attacking game but still I m not sure it s the right thing to do. Cunniffe has played mostly at chb and it remains to be seen whether he s as good a wing man as others that have a good record there like Barrett, Kelly, Boyle  and now James Bourke. On paper at least we look spoiled for wing backs while corner men are rare as hens' teeth.

Dunno. Mayo defencive selections a bit deck chairs and titanic at this stage. Putting Higgins in the corner a step backwards if this the way they line out imo. Is he selected there to do a specialist job on some dangerman next Sunday or is it a permanent move? Heaneys distribution so poor recently that he should be put back and play likes of Cuniffe, Pat Kelly,Chris Barrett, Higgins and James Bourke on the wings. Putting Keith back means we have two lads 5' 7'' in the corner back positions. They re quick but when the long high balls start flying in again..........

I was reading about some Mayo boyo who played for Tuam in the '46 Hogan final against Iggy Jones' Armagh side. What was his name - apparently one of Mayo's greatest ?

Was it Peter Solan ? A scoring machine. Got one of our goals in 1950 AI final. Scored 3 - 1 in the Connacht final 1951 v Galway in Tuam.
St. Jar won in 47 V Armagh, minus jones, with Solan a young sean Purcell and another Mayo legend Mick Flanagan who also goaled on 1950 final i think.

Great to win 3 in a row. Cafferkey, Barrett, Cuniffe, O Shea and Campbell played against Cork in All Ireland final 06. May 08. More remarkable when you consider that Galway won the minor provincal minor titles in 2003, 2004 and 2005 but could nt take it on to u21 at all? That has to be very satisfying from our point of view.
We have nt won a minor since John P Keane s days. Managerial days that is. That was 2001. In fact I do n t think we ve won a minor since the county was divided for the Tedd Webb. Anyway I d rather win u21 any day than minor.

Have to agree with Deel Rover obout McDanger. I first saw him play as young lad [early teens] and he always seemed happier at chf than in the corner. Down the years you would hear people saw he should be played in close to goals and he was slowing things up out the field. Whatever about the merits of those arguments the man himself obviously did not like or feel comfortable in that role. Whether or not he could have made a decent fist of it in time we ll never know. Myself I would embrace the return of both himself and Nallen with no strings attached. I too was amazed that management mentioned trial games. An insult really - a bit like that time Mick McCarty asked Denis Irwin to prove himself. Silly stuff. Should have been left to the lads themselves to decide whether they had anything to offer or not. Its not like they re time wasters. Nallen would still be good to have around to steady things in a tight game. 34 is not too old for someone that was way faster and more athletic than the average footballler to begin with. Add in the fact that he has never been overweight and training would have been easy for him, he s been lucky with injuries and he would nt be a drinker. Ok so Declan O Sullivan ran by him 2 years ago but he has run by many younger men since too. Not having a go at Howley - who is undoubtably the future and present - but would PJ have got his hands on any more ball the last day if Nallen was marking him?