Mayo v Galway 27th February 2011, Tuam Stadium

[Duine Eile]

This was nothing short of embarrassing, again they started well but faded badly after Mayo scored the first goal and didn't lift it again until very near the end. The first goal Mayo got, Doherty was let straight through and not a finger laid on him, you'd eat an u-14 player for some of the stupid, silly mistakes they were making all over the place. Padraig Lally was left wide open for both goals, completely abandoned by his fulll back line on both occasions, the corner backs aren't corner backs and its time actual lads that are used to playing that position were put in there. The half backs were very average, don't know what to make of Finian Hanley at no.6, Kevin Brady was lively in spots and was actually one of Galway's better players, Sice wasn't too bad when he was eventually moved back from the forwards, midfield was a complete wipeout as usual, Bane and Bergin weren't too bad, Armstrong tried but just wasn't gettin the ball into him and the rest of the lads in the full forward line. In saying that when the chances did present themselves, I think there were 3 goal chances and all 3 were fluffed. I know Tomas has said Nicky has shown no indication of playing this year but as manager he needs to get the finger out now and make contact and find out for definite, we could certainly do with a player of his ability. Thats 3 games played and 3 bad losses, really not looking forward to the game with Kerry in 2 weeks. 

[Cosmo Kramer]

Leaving aside Galway's obvious problems and the average nature of our overall performance there were quite a few positives from the newer/recalled Mayo players today.

In the backs I thought Richie Feeney had another good game and it looks more and more like he will be in our starting 15 for the year. I really like the honest physicality he brings to our defence. I didn't have Cunniffe in mind at all as a potential corner back for Mayo before the year started but he has done really well also. The two can work well together because when Cunniffe bombs forward as he tends to do from time to time Feeney can stay back and hold the fort for him.

In the forwards Doherty was the obvious standout with the goals and he showed he can take his NUIG form to league level today. I think Campbell has done well also, always thought he was missed during the JOM years but he is still young enough and can have a fine career for Mayo. The only question with McLoughlin now is where do we play him, he's too good to be left out but we should decide whether he is a wing back or a wing forward and leave him there.

If we can beat Armagh at home next time out we should be safe enough in Division 1 and will be able to continue to experiment in the last few games. If we lose that one we will still be in trouble. I think so far so good, we're no world beaters but we probably have 9 or 10 of a championship team sorted and the main issue now is getting a settled spine at 3, 6, 11 and 14. We have options in those positions but not too many nailed on starters (other than Freeman at 11 or 14). I don't think we should have too many concerns in midfield or the wing/corner positions.

[Tubberman]

A big win, but as has been said by everyone - Galway were a shambles. Their performance in the first 20 mins of the second half was diabolical. We had racked up a big score and weren't going full throttle or close to it.
But from a Mayo point of view, there were definitely positives to take from the performance - Hennelly was very good in goals, decisive in taking a few balls in the first half - apart from one rush of blood to the head where he ended up losing the ball out on the sideline!
Tom Cunniffe never struck me as a possibility for corner back, but he's put in two very strong performances there now. Looks to have nailed the position down for himself.
Full back isn't as clear. Alan Feeney was fouling quite a bit in the first half (but that ref was v annoying with his constant whistling  )
I thought Cathal Hallinan did very well when he came on for the second half. Granted, there wasn't any real pressure on the defence for most of the half, but he made himself available at every opportunity and linked play well.
Richie Feeney had another great game on the wing. He's another that has earned the jersey and you'd think it's his to keep if he keeps up this form.
Ger Caff was pretty good. Not very authoritative in the centre but didn't do anything wrong either.
McGarrity did well, seems to be back to something approaching his best form. I thought Kilcullen was quiet, but one of the lads with me thought he had been very good so I'll have to see if the highlights change my impression.
In the half forwards, Dillon improved on the Kerry performance, and I thought Aidan Campbell played well. McLoughlin played well, but he was playing pretty deep I thought - not as a traditional half forward.
Aidan O'Shea actually got out in front of his man on quite a few occasions today - whether that was Aidan upping his game, or the poor standard of the opposition is open to debate. But I thought he showed well, and was an improvement on what we've seen in the other games this year. Hopefully he's finding his form.
Andy was full of running as usual. Didn't score heavily but he is always making himself available for a pass. I would still worry about the end product of all his work though.
Doherty was a big plus. We don't score enough goals, and to have a natural goal scorer available to us now is great. Take away his 2-1 and we were only a point ahead of Galway.

Anyway, great to get the win and eases a bit of pressure around relegation. Should give the lads confidence for the Armagh match in 2 weeks. That has to be targetted for another 2 points, because after that we have Dublin and Cork which will be very hard to get anything from.

[Farrandeelin]

Funny to know what to make of the game. To beat Galway in Tuam by 8 points without hitting flying leaves Galway with lots to do. I was confident enough all week that we could do it but it should have been more. Mayo I suppose slipped out of the game once they went 2-12 to 0-7 up, as you would been 11 points up in a league match. I was very impressed with McLoughlin at no 12 and Tom Cunniffe and Richie Feeney at no 2 and 5 respectfuly. The usuals did their stuff. Jason Doherty, I hope he can repeat this scoring. He does it for the club so hopefully he will continue in the green and red.

[saffronandblue]

Is Moysider James Horan in disguise.....not only is he selecting the team, but there was also a notable increase in the speed at which the frees were been taken as he had predicted?

Full back is still a problem area and I fear that the ever present one is starting to burn a bit of oil already.....he reminds me a little of a small Angus bull the father used to have a few years back.  Cambell seems to be getting fitter by the day and young AOS can not be faulted for his effort.

[moysider]

I love it when a plan comes together 

Happier with our shape and urgency to get on with the game and exploit our pace. I was disappointed we stopped playing after 55 mins and thought at the time we should have driven on. Now I m not so sure. This or a bigger win would mean little in a few months. Some of our substitutions actually drew the sting from us I thought. It was the pace and industry of likes of Richie Feeney, Burke, Campbell and McLoughlin that created the difference between the teams in the first place so when Burke and Campbell were subbed we lost a lot of dash and devil. Of course it was right to use the bench because we have to develop a 20 player approach to matches, but their was little impact off the bench apart from Parsons and Hallihan (both of whom I thought did well).
Doherty has long looked the best prospect of our 'smaller' inside forwards. Probably because he is bigger. He also has real pace. The team is a work in progress and wouldn't like to speculate on a championship 6 yet. O Sé improved today but I think a problem now is he feels he needs to score himself, like he s under pressure or something. With the likes of lethal finishers like Doherty about he should be working on offloading more to keep defenses honest. All they need to do know is hang off him and leave their own men to crowd him out. Somebody else mentioned the nd product off Andy. It s a worry. He s fumbling too much ball. Doherty's first goal happened because he held onto ball first time in front and turned his man. Until today our front 3 were incapable of winning ball like that.
Galway wont be too bad in a while. I for one am paying no attention to the poor mouth. Their woes have nothing to do with their new manager and they have important players to come back. It s probably still easier to pick their championship forwards than ours. Joyce x2, Meehan, Armstrong, Bergin, Bane maybe. Bradshaw back for midfield, Blake cb, Sice back wing back. Hanley fb and a couple of nasty corner backs and they re elected.

[Duine Eile]

Galway wont be too bad in a while. I for one am paying no attention to the poor mouth. Their woes have nothing to do with their new manager and they have important players to come back. It s probably still easier to pick their championship forwards than ours. Joyce x2, Meehan, Armstrong, Bergin, Bane maybe. Bradshaw back for midfield, Blake cb, Sice back wing back. Hanley fb and a couple of nasty corner backs and they re elected.

Ya they'll probably be worse. It's not a poor mouth reaction at all Moysider, this is the worst looking Galway side in a long time. Yes we'll have Padraic Joyce and Mike Meehan back, jury is still out on Nicky and even if we do have the lot of them playing we have nobody to get the ball into them.  Blake has played centre back for the last few seasons and hasn't solved any of our problems. With all the giving out we used to do about Sean Ó Domhnaill and John Divilly I for one would gladly welcome someone like them today!

[moysider]

Galway wont be too bad in a while. I for one am paying no attention to the poor mouth. Their woes have nothing to do with their new manager and they have important players to come back. It s probably still easier to pick their championship forwards than ours. Joyce x2, Meehan, Armstrong, Bergin, Bane maybe. Bradshaw back for midfield, Blake cb, Sice back wing back. Hanley fb and a couple of nasty corner backs and they re elected.

Ya they'll probably be worse. It's not a poor mouth reaction at all Moysider, this is the worst looking Galway side in a long time. Yes we'll have Padraic Joyce and Mike Meehan back, jury is still out on Nicky and even if we do have the lot of them playing we have nobody to get the ball into them.  Blake has played centre back for the last few seasons and hasn't solved any of our problems. With all the giving out we used to do about Sean Ó Domhnaill and John Divilly I for one would gladly welcome someone like them today!

Well Barry Cullinane could do a Sean O Domhnaill. And you know yer midfield did not do too badly. Sure Ronan did great leppin and caught a few massive ones but ye won a lot of stuff of his attempted catches too.
Our success today was based on the third quarter blitz where we ran the ball with the players I mentioned earlier buzzing about. But it wouldn't take a lot to change the balance.
I take your point about Blake and stuff. I was looking at this parochially. While the return of these guys might not set pulses racing in Cork or Kerry (Meehan, Joyces and Army have been billed up nationally now for several years), there is more than enough savvy there to shorten a Mayo season.

[Barney]

Boy did this thread go very quiet very quickly and without much review of the game.

Good win- some improvements, concerns about the defence still and especially the ability of the opposition to run through the centre. Galway were abysmal and we are now going through a bizarre run of wins against them with Galway not having turned us over since July 2008. The other strange thing is the ease at which those wins have come - two big league wins over the past two years; a Galway collapse in Tuam 3 years ago giving us a league win, and the Pearse Stadium Connacht Final win coloured by a late Galway fightback. As well all know these games are so often nip and tuck and turns are taken to win them.

For the Summer ahead it means diddly squat. Galway will have the Joyces and Meehan fit and raring to go and so will be far more formidable. Both teams are quite average and so it could go either way but right now whatever about Mayo it is hard to see Galway having a long Summer. Peter Forde was criticised for his role as manager but given some of his results maybe he was treated harshly?

[muppet]

Boy did this thread go very quiet very quickly and without much review of the game.

Good win- some improvements, concerns about the defence still and especially the ability of the opposition to run through the centre. Galway were abysmal and we are now going through a bizarre run of wins against them with Galway not having turned us over since July 2008. The other strange thing is the ease at which those wins have come - two big league wins over the past two years; a Galway collapse in Tuam 3 years ago giving us a league win, and the Pearse Stadium Connacht Final win coloured by a late Galway fightback. As well all know these games are so often nip and tuck and turns are taken to win them.

For the Summer ahead it means diddly squat. Galway will have the Joyces and Meehan fit and raring to go and so will be far more formidable. Both teams are quite average and so it could go either way but right now whatever about Mayo it is hard to see Galway having a long Summer. Peter Forde was criticised for his role as manager but given some of his results maybe he was treated harshly?

Whatever about Forde, Liam Sammon was treated disgracefully.

[RedandGreenSniper]

Boy did this thread go very quiet very quickly and without much review of the game.

Good win- some improvements, concerns about the defence still and especially the ability of the opposition to run through the centre. Galway were abysmal and we are now going through a bizarre run of wins against them with Galway not having turned us over since July 2008. The other strange thing is the ease at which those wins have come - two big league wins over the past two years; a Galway collapse in Tuam 3 years ago giving us a league win, and the Pearse Stadium Connacht Final win coloured by a late Galway fightback. As well all know these games are so often nip and tuck and turns are taken to win them.

For the Summer ahead it means diddly squat. Galway will have the Joyces and Meehan fit and raring to go and so will be far more formidable. Both teams are quite average and so it could go either way but right now whatever about Mayo it is hard to see Galway having a long Summer. Peter Forde was criticised for his role as manager but given some of his results maybe he was treated harshly?

Whatever about Forde, Liam Sammon was treated disgracefully.

Whatever about Sammon, Joe Kernan was treated, uh, ehm, brilliantly.

[AbbeySider]

Boy did this thread go very quiet very quickly and without much review of the game.

Good win- some improvements, concerns about the defence still and especially the ability of the opposition to run through the centre. Galway were abysmal and we are now going through a bizarre run of wins against them with Galway not having turned us over since July 2008. The other strange thing is the ease at which those wins have come - two big league wins over the past two years; a Galway collapse in Tuam 3 years ago giving us a league win, and the Pearse Stadium Connacht Final win coloured by a late Galway fightback. As well all know these games are so often nip and tuck and turns are taken to win them.

For the Summer ahead it means diddly squat. Galway will have the Joyces and Meehan fit and raring to go and so will be far more formidable. Both teams are quite average and so it could go either way but right now whatever about Mayo it is hard to see Galway having a long Summer. Peter Forde was criticised for his role as manager but given some of his results maybe he was treated harshly?

Whatever about Forde, Liam Sammon was treated disgracefully.

Whatever about Sammon, Joe Kernan was treated, uh, ehm, brilliantly.

Whatever about Kernan, John O Mahony was treated..... no, wait 

[mckieran]

Ya they'll probably be worse. It's not a poor mouth reaction at all Moysider, this is the worst looking Galway side in a long time. Yes we'll have Padraic Joyce and Mike Meehan back, jury is still out on Nicky and even if we do have the lot of them playing we have nobody to get the ball into them.  Blake has played centre back for the last few seasons and hasn't solved any of our problems. With all the giving out we used to do about Sean Ó Domhnaill and John Divilly I for one would gladly welcome someone like them today!

Blake is Galways best option at number 6 - although he does struggle when up against pacy forwards. Still, I believe he is better than Hanley at number 6.

I also think Galway will improve; M.Meehan, P.Joyce & S.Armstrng all on form playing together could make a big difference to that team. The possible return of Nicky Joyce would be a bonus too although his attitude has to be questioned at this stage; He seems to have not had the best relations with Ford, Sammon, Kernan & now O'Flatharta. I doubt each manager was wrong

However, We are back to the same problem we have been looking at for the last few years; We have no midfield. Last Sunday, they tried varying the kickouts but a few went out over the line which was so demoralising. I reckon Bergin will have to be brought back to midfield and I would also recall Cullinane (He is at least an option). Hoarde & Conroy were cleaned last week. Lets give Bergin a run at midfield for the rest of the league and challenge him to become that dominant player it looked like he would when he was younger. To see Blake as the only option to improve midfield the last day was teriible; he does not have the height to be a midfielder (The same applies to Bradshaw). And while Blake did improve things a little, he is not a solution to the position.