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The main criticism I would have of Kenny is his insistence on playing out from the keeper when under a high press. This is just the latest fad that everyone is trying to do. Teams who do this well and successfully do it becuase they have better players than the team they are pressing, thats the whole point. Its the same in GAA, you press the kickout to force him to kick long because you have an advantage on a long kick out.

Ireland do not have better passing players than nearly any team at the moment. For me we should stop this nonsense of rolling the ball to a player inside the small box, kick out the ball (if there is a press), fight for it and win possession in midfield and then focus on breaking down the opposition defence - something else we are not good at.

The bottom line is we dont have the players anymore to qualify for tournaments and sacking Kenny is just stupid to be honest.

So we just keep him for the next 10 yrs when it so clearly isnt working?
11 games is more than Micks last reign plus he had an additional 2 yrs before that knowing the job was his to prep
There are a lot of excuses floating around but at the end of the day the guy just isnt up to it.
We may not have the players to qualify but we are a lot better than the last 11 results would suggest. Talking Luxembourg and Qatar up is just getting embarrassing.

Kenny should finish out this campaign. Nothing to lose so may as well see if he can develop a new team. The FAI can't afford to sack him and hire someone else.

There will have to be a major upturn in results to get a new contract however.

We're far more open with 3 at the back. Don't think it's the answer. James McLean doing very well on the left side, better than Stevens IMO.

Much as Delaney must take some of the responsibility it's not all down to him.
Compared to others we are a relatively small country , we have poor weather , poor facilities , and soccer isn't the dominant sport on the streets and fields . We have the additional issue of having access to several strong leagues next door: EPL, Echampionship, Efootball league, Scottish leagues , meaning that relatively speaking , domestic leagues suffer, as most top quality players leave these shores .
The IRFU by contrast to FAI seems to be much better run, and we punch above our weight rugby wise, by having strong domestic teams, amongst other things.
Irish soccer can never regain the success of the 90s as the world demographics of soccer dictate that we are extremely poorly placed to be a competitive soccer nation

I don't buy that. There are lots of small countries doing well on the world stage. Iceland, Norway, Croatia in recent times. Portugal, Belgium and Holland don't have huge populations either. The Irish population has grown hugely in the last 30 years and we've a higher proportion of young people than pretty much every European country.

Clark got bullied off two headers for the 1st and 3rd goals. Big mistake from Travers for the 2nd one. Serbia didn't create much outside of that.

Coleman, Cullen, Browne and Robinson were the best of the starting team.

A brilliant 1st half for Haaland there. 2 goals and an assist. I reckon him and Mbappe could turn into the Messi/Ronaldo of their generation.

Donegal and Kerry have both won All-Irelands in the last decade though, and I don't remember either of them ever receiving praise for losing a final.

In terms of Paddy Andrews, he won 7 All-Irelands so is at the opposite end of the spectrum to the Mayo players. I think that's part of Brolly's point.

What praise have Mayo got that Kerry didn't get after the 2019 finals? Donegal got huge praise after beating Dublin in 2014, even though they didn't win the final.

If that's Brolly's point, the obvious thing to ask is why do you need to win all Ireland's to announce you won't be playing intercounty football after 10+ years. Also why does it grate on him now and not when other players did it in previous years. We all know the answer to that of course.

Barrett will be a big loss. We haven't many options for the full back line now.

Why are Mayo supporters so concerned with what Joe Brolly says? There's a performative love-in towards them from essentially everyone else in the media nearly ever year, despite their recurring failures when it counts. With their sensitivity, are they implicitly acknowledging that he does in fact have a point?

What point is he trying to make?

Possibly that there's something psychological behind Mayo's repeated All-Ireland losses over the past 30 or so years. I'm not sure though, you'd have to ask those who get worked up about it.

So you don't know what Brolly is talking about either. He harps on about celebrity culture, sponsored cars etc but never actually says anything meaningful. You could also use those as reasons why Donegal and Kerry flopped last year.

The reality is Dublin are better than us in almost every position and that's why we lost the final. I wonder will Brolly write an article taking the piss out of paddy Andrews' retirement statement this weekend?

Why are Mayo supporters so concerned with what Joe Brolly says? There's a performative love-in towards them from essentially everyone else in the media nearly ever year, despite their recurring failures when it counts. With their sensitivity, are they implicitly acknowledging that he does in fact have a point?

What point is he trying to make?

Séamie O'Shea

I thought Clarke might stay on since it's only a 6 month season this year.

Yes another reason for why I find it strange he's called time on his county career.

HE's a married man so I presume he has family commitments to consider as well.

That's fair enough of course. Just with the way things are now, there aren't many family activities to do!

David Clarke retired too! 

Sad to see Clarkie go, probably our greatest ever keeper and it is no accident that Ger Caff and Brendan Harrison won their All Stars with Clarkie between the sticks. I am not as worried about his inevitable exit as I was a couple of years ago because I think the likes of Luke Jennings, Matthew Flanagan and Colm Reape should insure there isn't much drop off in goalkeeping for Mayo over the next 5 to 10 years.
At least we won't have to be bored to death about the flight/trajectory of his kickouts anymore from the anit Clarke faction in Knockmore Mayo!!

For all the giving out people did about us not blooding a new goalkeeper, Clarke and Hennelly were clearly the top 2 in the county for the last decade. As you say, I'd be more optimistic about the younger goalkeepers around currently. Between Reape, Flanagan, Jennings and possibly Conor O'Malley who is finished up with Peterborough. Surely we can make one of them into a top keeper.

I thought Clarke might stay on since it's only a 6 month season this year.

David Clarke retired too! 

It seems as bad or worse than last March/April. I definitely know more people infected now than back then.