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I see the Mayo CB seem to have completely mismanaged the selection process for the new manager - check out Ed McGreal's tweets on what's in this week's Mayo News.
A member of the executive has even resigned over the way the whole thing was handled.
The board are either incompetent, or deliberately ignored the process in order to appoint the man (men) they wanted. I'm not sure which is worse, probably the latter.
It seems the CB will continue to run their affairs in a completely amateurish and political way, and they don't really give a fck how they are perceived. It's such a contrast to the modern, direct, professional approach used by Horan to run the senior team.

It doesn't provide much grounds for optimism for the medium to long term future of Mayo football if these are the people making decisions. As was the oft-cited case in 1951, if and when Mayo win an All-Ireland, it will be in spite of the County Board, not because of them.

Yes, this has been my concern also, and James Horan said it in his interview last week. The success of the last 4 years, and the minor all ireland happened almost despite the county board not because of them it seems. Its not like Tyrone, Kilkenny in hurling and other counties who have orchestrated a plan years back to ensure that everyone is pulling the same way. Its down to the fact that we always have quality footballers and had some really good guys (JH and team, Enda Gilvarry etc.) in key roles. All the issues that came out of the report 4 years ago after the Longford debacle are still there.
It would be absolutely criminal if this group of footballers (and there is plenty more talent to come in if the two bucks are open minded) dont win an all ireland. I think we will still ahve some success due to the talent that we have and the singlemindeness of these players, but it may not what it could have been, which is an all ireland because we are still not all pulling together.

Connelly/holmes would probably be the County Boards choice, given the connections and all. Neither choice floats my boat at the moment but McStay just seems to have more potential in my head. It might just be that I am being seduced by the whole TV glitz and glamor thing

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/james-horan-hits-out-at-mayo-county-board-1.1929401?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Tight dig at mortimer in there...

Didnt rule out C McDoanld either 

Nah, McDonald was a baller. Might have liked his flash fashion but a harder or more committed worker you were unlikely to get anywhere. Rarely gave interviews and a tough man to boot, down the bottom of pipe trenches most days before training and then go bust his arse playing ball. Unlike that other clown who thought the whole thing was about him.

Logically, if the goal is to win the all Ireland than the candidate is Jack O'Connor - who else out there who is available has won all irelands in modern times and has been successful with other teams besides?
If the goal is something else than its someone else.
I'm not saying he'd take it or that we could afford him, but hes someone the players would instantly respond to and he knows how to get it done. I realise he has the Kerry minor gig but you'd have to presume he'd consider it if offered.

Now, from the noises from the county board hes the last person they'd want, wont be a yes man, will go to the mejia if needed and will want the best of everything.
But in that case, it'll be just pure blind luck if one of the other candidates comes in and we win it, but I cant see it.
Most likely outcome is that the next "cycle" will be poor enough and we'll really only be talking about mayo as all ireland contenders again when that man is gone and we're onto the next one. Depressing mind you.

Yeah, whats his record with Hollymount like?
Ya see when you look at James and his track record up to that you could see that he had the ability to bring a group of players together and achieve things that they hadn't achieved before. Is that the case with Ray - what could he bring to it to get Mayo finally over the line? Those are genuine questions to those who may know more about him than me. We dont really have the luxury at this stage of just trying something. Of course there are no guarantees but we'd want to be fairly sure that the man for the job has a good chance. Past Performance indicates Future Performance generally so thats why this persons track record is so important.
Mayo at the moment remind me a bit of Munster, and thats not just with the losing finals thing, what I mean by that is that you have a very strong group of players there who know what they want and what they need. I reckon if the county board try to throw someone in who they think is not up to it, we might have a bit of a player revolt, and that might be no harm if they put someone in place who we all know from the beginning isnt up to it - as long as it doesn't get destructive a la Cork and to a lesser extent Limerick hurlers.

If the county board throw in some eeijet who they would be happy with because he will do their bidding and follow the "rules" which leads to a slow dismantling of the team then we may as well have a player revolt to stop that from happening.
Fans have a role to play in this too, I'd hope that the likes of Mayo club 51 and Cairde MaighEo will stand up and be counted here if it looks like we are going down the wrong road. The fear is that there are still many issues in the structures that we have and that JH dragged us kicking and screaming to the top table, its very very easy to fall below that again, very quickly.
As a cousin in Kilcolny said to me last year when we kicked the shite outta them in Pearce Stadium, "we'll still win the next all ireland before ye", he could easily be right if we feck up the next move.

Sure he couldnt possibly take offence from that

Why do you say that though? I know little about the man personally, but his record is good.
4 U-21 Connacht Titles
1 U-21 All Ireland Title
1 Senior NFL Title
1 Senior Club Connacht Title, All Ireland Runners up

1 think K Mac is:
1 Senior Club All Ireland (plus 1 Senior Club Connacht Title)
1 U-21 Connacht Title, All Ireland Runners Up

Based on CVs Holmes appears the more impressive, but its immaterial now, just wondering why he is not rated

Pat Holmes has ruled himself out according to the Mayo news. hasnt the time apparently.
one horse race so, although our chairman has said it'll be the same process as the last time, which was:
subcommitee setup, was leaning towards Tommy Lyons as our chairman thought he was the man, lots of banging on tables and eventually Horan was reluctantly given the job.
Yes, indeed, it'll be John Maughan with Mickey Moran as water carrier, all our 00 nightmares rolled into one.

''Nonsense. So what if Mayo struggled in a few areas? No team performance is perfect. Crucial ref decisions kept Kerry in match (even if early Mayo scores were against run of play, so what? You could make same observation for Donegal's first goal. That s sport), and gave them some momentum. The non sending off of Enright was a huge cop out. Kerry would not have survived with 14. Look at the toll playing with 14 for a half left likes of Boyle, Vaughan, Seamie off the boil the last day after the effort in second half in Croke Park.
Kerry did not have to work as hard first day, but after a 6 day turn about Kerry with 14 for 50 mins would have been destroyed . Remember Enright later took out Aidan O Sé with a cheap shot before being replaced. Case for giving Enright most important player. Sent in to do hatchet job and gets away scot free before being prudently replaced by Mark O Sé. Surprised by the innocence of some 'neutral' posters on here. The game was decided by ref decisions and the collision between O Shea and O Connor. Collisions cant be legislated for but can t recall many important games being influenced by such refereeing. To suggest that a team should be able to win anyway if they are good enough is risible tosay the least.
Fair play to Kerry - they tested the referee in both games and got a lot of licence to sledge. Meanwhile Higgins in comparison was gentlemanly in his efforts to mark O Donoghue. Cafferkey was more fouled against than fouled imo. We still have a lot to learn from Kerry and its not about marquee forwards. And we were supposed to be a street wise team
But I think most Mayo posters would agree that we would not have got away with anything like that. Tradition counts for a lot.''

TRUE WORDS THERE


Another fine post by the best poster in here by a country mile imho.

The biggest cop out was giving COC a yellow card instead of red for the early incident when he kicked Paul Murphy and compounding his error by giving Enright a yellow for going in to back up his teammate. It makes all the arguments about the red card for the penalty incident null and void as COC shouldn't have even been on the pitch.

Well if you want to talk about that then Murphy should have gone for the dig he gave O'Connor off the ball earlier than that which wouldnt have been out of place in a night club car park at 3 in the morning, and which if seen by a Guard in that car park would have you up in front of the nearest district court. Keep going back if you like and we'll be talking about shoulders in the tunnel before the team came out.
Rediculous childish arguement, "what about, what about", the only things that matter are what the ref actually SAW and did nothing about. Things people get away with off the ball, while they shouldnt happen they do, and I'm sure COC or James O'Donoghue or whoever are well used to it and can stand up for themselves.

We lost, Kerry won, fair play to them, but it has nothing to do with them having additional bottle, or determiniation or hunger. They came out on the right side of some ridiculous calls which if they had gone Mayos way, Mayo would have won. If the shoe was on the other foot Kerry people would be apoplectic and they would be right to be so, so please dont tell Mayo people in a round about kind of way that " its all part of sport, swings and roundabouts, thems the breaks", pat on the head and we should just get on with it. We will just get on with it, we have no other choice now, but Kerry people should at least be honest about it and say jays we got lucky their and Mayo ye got screwed. It wont change the result but a bit of honesty about the whole thing would make some of us at least, move on a small bit faster.
Its clear to me that there does seem to be some kind of unconscious retribution at play in the minds of GAA officials. I think in some round about kind of way, and I'm not suggesting Reilly did this deliberately, but the hoopla about the Cork game and then the overturning of Lee Keegans red, must have had some sort of influence on him. On that basis, I think Kerry can look forward to getting ridden like we did, except this time in the All Ireland final. Come back then and tell us how that feels, because we'll be right here to remind ye that it's all part of sport, swings and roundabouts, thems the breaks and all that other guff from the Liam Hayes school of punditry.

[Keane was obviously told that he had to be physica]

Keane was obviously told that he had to be physical, he got too distracted by this thought and never concentrated on the ball.

Enright was obviously told the same when dealing with Cillian. Young Enright took whatever was said to him by his management so literally that he was lucky to be still on the field after 20 minutes and they came to his rescue by subbing him.

As for the 14 men argument. His sub Marc O'Shea played well when he cam on and got a point. A luxury Kerry didn't deserve.

I want to sign off on this also. I came out of the field on Sat evening having some small doubts about the decisions. I was the other end of the ground for the penalties. Having sat through the SG and some highlights I can see we were robbed.

In the long term posters here and all our supporters will get on with it. Our efforts are basic, going to matches to support the lads.  But when a team of young lads and a couple or so close to the end of their careers along with a backroom team that have put in the efforts of a lifetime over the last 4 years are denied or possibly denied an AI Final by a ref then it is hard to take.

I came into work on Monday and said nothing about the match or ref until people brought it up, every person said we were robbed and that included 3 Kerry lads.

Also if this ref talk is getting embarrassing then go off and tell Ambrose O'Donovan, he also said on Kerry radio yesterday that they were handed 1-3 by the ref.

This must be the greatest injustice ever carried out on a team in the recent history of our games, even greater than the Louth fiasco.

Exactly, thats precisely the point. This is arguably even more important than some big decisions that might cost a professional team a prize that costs them money. This is visceral, its about who you are and where you are from. Some of those lads who have given so much might never get another chance and have to carry that around for the rest of their lives. Anyone who says that isn't the case doesn't live in a GAA community. Thats fine if you lose legitimately, but is very f**king hard to take when its a complete injustice. And the revisionists who write what they write based on the scoreline and who the victors are, can say what they like but bottom line was if there was an even distribution of breaks in that game, Mayo would probably have one.

 
I would like us as a county to realise though that overall Kerry were better than us and we couldn't deal with what was within our control i.e the long ball to Donaghy and being wiped out in midfield. Kerry challenged us in these two specific areas and we didn't have any credible answers so fair play to them , good luck in the final and I look forward to having a right good battle down in Kerry next spring.

No, you cant be as glib as that about it.  even with what you say being true, we still brought the game to extra time and had a kick to win it at the end of normal time. So even for all their superiority in certain areas we still were with them until the end. Do you think they would have had those advantages playing with a man less for almost 60 minutes? And it didnt stop there, the actions of the ref in letting Enright off meant that Kerry could chance their arms from then on, and they did everywhere. So its not as simple as sitting back and saying over the 100 minutes or so they had those advantages. Games ebb and flow and you cannot get away from the fact, given the small margins, that the referee gave them a huge advantage and given that they couldnt beat us over all that time the only logical conclusion to make is that advantage he gave them is the reason they won the game and is the reason why some people expect us just to say "ah sure they were better". yes they were better, after being handed an advantage.

And I'd be fine with all that if someone on the Kerry side would have the honesty to say "we got all the breaks" rather than this shite of Fitzmaurice saying something along the lines of people underestimated their desire, and Maher saying they didnt want to come out the wrong side of a classic.
What an insult to the Mayo team those comments are, I suppose Kerry "just had more hunger" give me a f**king break,one side  loses 2 all ireland finals, still comes back for more, gets f*cked by the ref, has their two best players almost endup knocking eachother out and has them off the field for over 10 minutes, and the opposition come out with this shite about it all being about desire? Insinuating that theres was more than the oppositions. That, I have to say is what is the most classless about this whole thing. Kerry, ye got lucky with the ref and all the breaks that were going on the day, there was nothing more in the contest so at least be honest enough to admit that and at least we can all acknowledge it and move on. For some of us it may take another 6 months, but we'll move on eventually.

The ref didn't cost Mayo the game, Mayo were destroyed in the second half of extra time and should have been well beaten in normal time. He didn't have a great game but he made mistakes that cost both Kerry and Mayo. All penalty decisions were correct, the frees awarded to Donaghy were also correct. If you watch the replays you can clearly see Keane pulling him back.
Keane was obviously told that he had to be physical, he got too distracted by this thought and never concentrated on the ball. Mayo are short a few to win an All Ireland. Obviously they need a couple of extra top level forwards, a full back and they need some more pace around the middle. They might be able to find a few to cover these positions but then they've got the problem in their heads to overcome. That will be the hardest part of all to resolve.

complete and utter horseshite.
under the rules of the game, Shane Enright should not have been on the field after 16 minutes, theres no ifs and or buts about that. With 14 men for what would have been 60 minutes Kerry would not have won. Mayo would have been miles on the scoreboard after the penalty with a numerical advantage and would have driven on. you can point to what Mayo did the week before but history shows that kind of performance is not really possible for longer than about 30 minutes. Mayo were also lucky the week before that Keegan was sent off just before half time. 20 minutes earlier than that, and I suggest kerry would almost have been out of sight at half time in the first game. With that decision the referee cost Mayo the game because not only did it not give Mayo the numerical advantage Enrights actions deserved it also sent the signal "you can do what the f**k you like" and they did. Dress it up any other way you like but that is exactly what happened.

Fact is the narrative all changes because of the result, if Rob Hennelley's kick had gone over then most of the positives written about Kerry would have been negatives (with the probable exception of David Morans performance which was top class) and vice versa.

Only in our great association can the decision to send someone off be wrong, and the decision to overturn the sending off be wrong.

I've just said a mass there for Sidney and his intentions. Good one it was too, thought a bit of Ecclesiastes 7:9 might suit him for the Gospel reading

Whos talking about short notice? And by choking, do you mean 'spreading revenue amongst'? Say what you want, unless a stadium is full the atmosphere suffers. Its built now, it'll have to be used, but it seems to have been like Celtic Tiger houses, f**king massive for no good reason.

I used to watch Aussie Rules on tg4 and think how s**te it must be if all their stadiums are half empty, it took me only a little time to realise our own half empty stadium no doubt puts out the same impression.

Good point, the problem is not really a half full Croke Park, its all these fecken white elephants around the country used once a year that have put county boards in debt. Tis like the mid 00's, everyone had to have a holiday home.
I half think this has been a strategy by the GAA to stop the inevitable argument for pay for players, pretty soon with the debt in Croke Park paid off and the millions still rolling in from extra curricular activities, and all the white elephants built there will be nowhere to put the money soon seeing as they dont really give much to clubs. Maybe they'll have to do that - give more to the clubs - shock horror.
And before anyone says they do give it to the clubs, I know the Munster Council got a million last year why are their fees of up to and over €1000 to enter adult club teams into competitions? Where does that money go? Why do we all have to fundraise for pitches and pitch developments, gear and all that. I'm also involved with a rugby club and its way easier to source funds centrally in rugby than it is with the GAA club. We did match floodlights last year and 60% came from central funding and grants. I know theres a smaller base of clubs in rugby but the GAA has WAY more revenue streams than the IRFU, and the GAA have feck all employees. Something doesnt add up.

Yeah its amazing how the general public think that journalists trying to sell papers and general "banter" and discussion about a topic can impact the ability of a team preparing for a match.
The appeal not being until tomorrow night is the bigger issue as far as I am concerned, its f*cking unbelievable that you have to wait until 2 days before the actual game to have the appeal heard and get a decision. Now THAT is something that is a distraction for the team and management and could actually affect their preparation, not what fecken field the match is on in.
I presume Mayo have just put together the starting 15 without Keegan and have been training with that as the A team,  and if hes available its a bonus, but still someone has to spend time preparing the objection, the player himself has to be involved and appear, all of which are taking away from the business of beating Kerry.
Course they could have just not objected but in a game of inches where theres a chance of having an all star wing back available who will probably contribute one score, why would you not at least try even if it is an unwanted distraction?

Moran i think.

Milton from the cccccc was on newstalk bullshitting about the fixtures. His excuse for not going ahead in a fortnight was in case that match was a draw which would leave a week rest for the winners before the final. Of course the dopes never stated the obvious solution which woukd be to push back the final date in that circumstance. The newstalk lads went easy enough on him. They must be afraid he wont reappear on their show if they cross examined him correctly. Then again parkinson is so in love with himself id say he forgets whats going on.

Both teams knew the state of play in the event of a draw beforehand. Horan to me complains about everything.

One should do a time analysis how much time his players waste during the game.

Off you go then, analyse away. Did you listen to what he said? bizarre decision he said and it is. He said it once, the Mayo county board objected, objection rejected and the Mayo CB then issued a statement saying they didnt agree with the statement but would accept it. That was all done and dusted last night. Since then there hasnt been a word out of James Horan or the team, as one would expect. Mayo people are complaining but who the f*ck would blame us? Kerry would be too if it didnt suit them. If Pearse Stadium was certified for its 2011 attendance number and the game was there, do you think Eamon Fitzmaurice and the Kerry county board wouldnt be complaining?
The least the brains trust could have come up with was to put it in Semple Stadium. Completely neutral for both teams, bigger capacity and a reasonable distance from both counties. Saying Limerick is neutral is like one of those supposed neutral French venues that Irish teams have to play Heineken Cup semi finals in against French opposition.
All this debacle needs now is for one of the teams to lose because of a point that was waved wide which the TV shows after was a point.
I predict that game will be delayed 15 minutes because of crowd congestion, its a pain of the arse of a place to get into when full or nearly full, which it rarely is because there are never any significant games there. This will probably help pay off the mortgage while the dollars role in up in Dublin.
Winner winner chicken dinner for O'Neill. Although more chicken dinners are the last thing the fat f*cker needs