Mayo Vs Meath - All-Ireland Quarter Finals

[larry buaile]

Some random thoughts.

Fittest Mayo team ever. My hole. Dead on their feet with 15 to go.

Aidan O'Shea will be snapped up by an Aussie team for sure. Raw class.

McGarrity gave up with 10 mins to go (saw him stand off a lad that popped over an easy point).

Liam McHale - total eejit. Interviewed at some point. Said he'd never speak to Pat McEnaney. Stupid.

Trev Mort, Peader G, Harte, full back line. Won't be happy with themselves.

Shite and all as B Moran is,  Mayo's game plan included him.  Without him the 'knockdown' ball was not there.

They spoke about a 7 point swing due to referee decisions on the sunday game.  Irrelevant.  Unless either team bet each other out the gate then forget about it against KY the next day.

Although, Meath are better than you think. They'll put up a decent show the next day.

Watching Mayo (as a mayo supporter) is like watching Rep of Ireland in the soccer.  Excessive head rubbing, obscene swearing and overtly heavy signs a plenty.  Decent indivduals that have the potential to play brilliant football as a team, but rarely do.

Andy Moran was brilliant, as was Keith Higgins.

JOM may leave it at that.


fair play to meath. far better team on the day

[joemamas]

Barry Moran was a big loss

Don't want to kick a man when he is down but you are kidding yourself if you believe that. Moran isn't now nor ever will be a top class IC footballer and that is what Mayo need to start producing. Ye have enough average/decent IC footballers as it is but the worrying thing from a Mayo point of view is ye don't have any forwards of the necessary quality coming through either.

Agreed Zulu that was an absolute disaster for Mayo football. Same old excuses every year . Like Dublin- root and branch needed. Mayo can talk about all the semis they've won. i wasn't born when they last won the all-ireland. Half of Ireland was probably still going to work on a horse by then.

Feel sorry for their fans. They follow guys all over the country who just let them down all the time. Very strong football scene, no hurling , little rugby etc how in Gods name its half a century since their last All-Ireland win is beyond me. If you don't recognise a problem  -you can't solve it. Don't hide from the truth lads and rely on next year being different.Make the county board ensure its different by putting the right structures in place. Because they aren't there now.
Half of mayo's problems are mental. They haven't one defender who would kick someone up in the air even once. Shadowing is not worth a monkeys at this level. We saw that on Monday and we saw it again today. Meath dominated the breaks- thats hunger -you can't coach that into a team -its a mindset.
Kerry and Tyrone have it in abundancee. Meath too. They'd sell their own mother to win a breaking ball.
The winning mentality its called. thats the level of ruthlessness that seperates the men from the boys at inter county level.

What would you suggest the CB do Zulu? We have more than enough of schools of excellence which creates some big ego in poor talents from my experience.

Schools of excellence are all good and well but they need to have direction, continuity and they need to be run by people who know what they are doing. When you are developing an athlete you first need to know what you want him to be and then you decide how you're going to get there. So the first thing Mayo should do is figure out what type of player is needed to prosper in the modern game (not just 2010 by the way but also in 2020).

Do Mayo get in outsiders to help them with their defensive work or is it just guided by an ex IC defender?

Are Mayo developing their best young players as athletes e.g. balance, speed, agility, power etc., thereby giving them the foundation to handle the training required for IC?

Are Mayo pigeon holing players as backs/midfielders/forwards at 15 or 16 instead of developing them as all round footballers?

Are Mayo looking to improve the weaknesses of their players, for example Aiden O'Se is very left legged at 19 by the time he is 24 he should be able to kick scores with his right leg too?

They could also do with telling the county's refs to leave their whistles at home for club games and let a more physical approach to football develop.

I'm not from Mayo so I don't know what is going on at ground level but I can assure you that any Mayo underage team, including the AI winning U21 team, I've seen hadn't many lads I felt would make good seniors, Laois and Dublin are the same whereas Tyrone and Cork are producing players capable of making the step up. It's time for a new departure because Mayo, like Dublin are too important to the GAA to be a second rate team.  

Both excellent posts,

Big problem is that Mayo have some very influential people involved at county level for 30 or 40 years, clowns that are happy to win the odd connaught final "and to beat the ould enemy" , that mentality is still prevalent and to make it worse, most of the new officers in the Mayo county board are "helped" along the way by some of these same dinosaurs so that they can maintain their influence decade after decade. Any manager who has the balls to challenge the status quo gets promptly undermined/shown the door by said elected officials, i.e. Mickey Moran. (he would be an interesting individual to give an insight into the goings on within the Mayo county board) . While a lot of officials do give a lot of their spare time to the running of the games, and they have to be commended for doing that, the common goal of any individual getting involved at county board level should be to take win the Sam Maguire. A month or so ago I thought we were building a team that would challenge in two to three years, a lot less convinced of that after todays display. six or eight of the starters are not all-ireland material. it would probably take a decade to put a proper system in place to develope the type of footballer that is needed to win a senior all-ireland. Ray Dempsey and his team seem to be making some strides with the type of players they seem to favour. It will be interesting to see if they are allowed to nurture these guys to senior or will it be business as usual.

God it's depressing, I am 45 and am no closer to seeing Mayo winning an all-ireland today than when I was 15, 25 or 35.

[GBXII]

Some amount of shite being spoken here in reply to todays game. Meath were the better team and on that basis deserved to win, but some poor refereeing decisions were crucial. Well done to Meath.

First of all, Tom Cunniffe not IC standard? and not technicically good enough? Is that a piss take? Name a better centre half back in Mayo. Trevor Howley is hard and can tackle but he lacks Cunniffes speed, passing, reading of the game, and general footballing ability.

Mayo do not have a specialist corner back, Keith Higgins is our best corner back (and he got roasted in the first half today) but he's a better half-back. Same goes for Liam O'Malley and D Vaughan.

Heaney for me, is not an IC mid-fielder, especially after watching todays game. McGarrity wasn't good but he did work hard, and I am worried that I have never seen him play a good game in Croke Park. Peadar Gardiner can not defend, Andy Moran has had a brilliant year.

Pat Harte is a decent player who can easily take a score, but his lack of pace is killing him. T Mortimer played ok today but he is so frustrating as one minute he's great the next he's useless, and he is also a 10 or a 12 not an 11 due to his severe lack of vision. Dillon played only ok, but is Mayo's one class forward.

Barry Moran was a loss, mainly because Parsons at 14 didnt work and then our structure in the ff line was gone once Parsons left and C Mort came on. A O'Shea has serious potential and has a very good workrate. Kilcoyne proved to be a huge loss, he was on form and working his ass off before having to be replaced by someone (Ronaldson) who is definetly not IC standard. This would be the point at which McDonald comes in handy.

Finally, David Clarke is a big loss in goals. He is extremely brave, has an excellent kickout, and is a good shot-stopper. Most of which Kenneth O'Malley just can't macth him at.

[orangeman]

Some random thoughts.

Fittest Mayo team ever. My hole. Dead on their feet with 15 to go.

Aidan O'Shea will be snapped up by an Aussie team for sure. Raw class.

McGarrity gave up with 10 mins to go (saw him stand off a lad that popped over an easy point).

Liam McHale - total eejit. Interviewed at some point. Said he'd never speak to Pat McEnaney. Stupid.Trev Mort, Peader G, Harte, full back line. Won't be happy with themselves.

Shite and all as B Moran is,  Mayo's game plan included him.  Without him the 'knockdown' ball was not there.

They spoke about a 7 point swing due to referee decisions on the sunday game.  Irrelevant.  Unless either team bet each other out the gate then forget about it against KY the next day.

Although, Meath are better than you think. They'll put up a decent show the next day.

Watching Mayo (as a mayo supporter) is like watching Rep of Ireland in the soccer.  Excessive head rubbing, obscene swearing and overtly heavy signs a plenty.  Decent indivduals that have the potential to play brilliant football as a team, but rarely do.

Andy Moran was brilliant, as was Keith Higgins.

JOM may leave it at that.


fair play to meath. far better team on the day

He should really let that one go.

[stephenite]

f**k it - I'd still be bitter if I was Liam, mightn't be making himself like a twisted bitter man, but at least he's telling the truth and not coming out with some cliches like the rest of them.

As for Pat the Rat - he knows he got it wrong and he's admitted as much privately.

[mayo51]

well done to meath today who deserved their victory.it was a bad day for alot of mayo players but this talk of getting rid of half the panel is bulls*i as these are close to the best players in the county.this idea of banging in high ball after high ball into the f.f line is very naeive.i just think j.om could have taken a leaf out of jack o connors book last monday when he switched d.o sullivan into the f.f line which totally unhinged dublin as they would have been expecting high ball after high ball.we needed to isolate a.oshea or kilcoyne on moyles and expose moyles lack of pace but failed to do so. i also think we got the matchups wrong in defence as farrell had the beating of vaughan all day and it took us until the 43rd min. to make a change.all in all a bad day for mayo football

[Son_of_Sam]

What would you suggest the CB do Zulu? We have more than enough of schools of excellence which creates some big ego in poor talents from my experience.

Schools of excellence are all good and well but they need to have direction, continuity and they need to be run by people who know what they are doing. When you are developing an athlete you first need to know what you want him to be and then you decide how you're going to get there. So the first thing Mayo should do is figure out what type of player is needed to prosper in the modern game (not just 2010 by the way but also in 2020).

Do Mayo get in outsiders to help them with their defensive work or is it just guided by an ex IC defender?

Are Mayo developing their best young players as athletes e.g. balance, speed, agility, power etc., thereby giving them the foundation to handle the training required for IC?

Are Mayo pigeon holing players as backs/midfielders/forwards at 15 or 16 instead of developing them as all round footballers?

Are Mayo looking to improve the weaknesses of their players, for example Aiden O'Se is very left legged at 19 by the time he is 24 he should be able to kick scores with his right leg too?

They could also do with telling the county's refs to leave their whistles at home for club games and let a more physical approach to football develop.
I'm not from Mayo so I don't know what is going on at ground level but I can assure you that any Mayo underage team, including the AI winning U21 team, I've seen hadn't many lads I felt would make good seniors, Laois and Dublin are the same whereas Tyrone and Cork are producing players capable of making the step up. It's time for a new departure because Mayo, like Dublin are too important to the GAA to be a second rate team.  

Holy Jesus, I'd hate to see them do that when Crosmollina & Ballina where playing, they would have to call in the The State Pathologist afterwards.

[highorlow]

Congrats to Meath. They had the bottle for the battle in the last 10/15 minutes and that is what Mayo are missing outside connaught.

So much for us having the Irish Boxing Teams Sports Psychologist in the backroom......

[AbbeySider]

First of all, Tom Cunniffe not IC standard? and not technicically good enough? Is that a piss take? Name a better centre half back in Mayo. Trevor Howley is hard and can tackle but he lacks Cunniffes speed, passing, reading of the game, and general footballing ability.

Dont make me laugh.

Cunniffe couldnt make the Castlebar Micchles U16 team.
Howley played Mayo U16 as a corner forward kicking off both feet and was a class act !!

So your telling me that a player that couldnt make his club team close to minor has more ability than one of the best and most skillful corner forwards for his age group?

Cuinneffe is not up to county standard. He trained hmself onto it. See my posts a few pages back regarding that type of player.

Get real!

[AbbeySider]

Some random thoughts.

Andy Moran was brilliant, as was Keith Higgins.

Well Larry, I havent seen you post for years! Welcome back!

Anyway I cant agree with you regarding Keith higgins.
He played Ok in the second half but was beaten in the first. Also he was turned too easy for Meaths fisted point in the second half.

[AbbeySider]

What would you suggest the CB do Zulu? We have more than enough of schools of excellence which creates some big ego in poor talents from my experience.

They could also do with telling the county's refs to leave their whistles at home for club games and let a more physical approach to football develop.
I'm not from Mayo so I don't know what is going on at ground level but I can assure you that any Mayo underage team, including the AI winning U21 team, I've seen hadn't many lads I felt would make good seniors, Laois and Dublin are the same whereas Tyrone and Cork are producing players capable of making the step up. It's time for a new departure because Mayo, like Dublin are too important to the GAA to be a second rate team.  

Holy Jesus, I'd hate to see them do that when Crosmollina & Ballina where playing, they would have to call in the The State Pathologist afterwards.

He is right, I was on the same lines a page or two back:

Referees in the county have a lot to answer for too as that always give soft frees to small forwards in club games.

[mick999]

f**k it - I'd still be bitter if I was Liam, mightn't be making himself like a twisted bitter man, but at least he's telling the truth and not coming out with some cliches like the rest of them.

As for Pat the Rat - he knows he got it wrong and he's admitted as much privately.

Good interview with Pat Mc Ananey on the Sports Bag yesterday morning where he talks about the Mc Hale sending off (among other things)
Also joined by John O'Mahoney ...

http://www.rte.ie/sport/thesportsbag.html

http://dynamic.rte.ie/quickaxs/209-rte-2fm-sportsbag-1000-1100.smil

Pat's interview starts at 24 mins in ....

[Barney]

I don't think the 96 game had any relevance to yesterday. However the media spin was that it was Mayo's chance for revenge. Meath were also hurt by 1996 and always felt that their team never got the credit they deserved for winning that All Ireland and that is a fair arguement.

Anyway JOM is staying on.

I do think he had a bad day on the line yesterday. We were effectively playing with one man in midfield throughout. How many times did Brian Meade pop up in front of the Mayo goal only for poor shooting to let him down? Trying Parsons at full forward was a mistake, and the inability to vary our game plan was fatal. In hindsight we would probably have been better with Clarke in goals who would have varied the kick outs.

A lot of young players had a nightmare but they cannot be written off - Ger Cafferkey is still a fine footballer. Howley still has something to offer. Personally I'm not a fan of Vaughan but he is very young. Aidan O'Shea has had a fabulous first season. The major regret is that the tenacity of the earlier games disappeared when the going got tough. At the start of the year the realistic supporters here would have aimed for league survival, Connacht and a possible semi with a good showing. We did miss a chance at getting to a semi-final, and I don't like the defeatist attitude of many who were saying that it would be better if we lost, and now are glad we lost. You don't know how our lads would have reacted with a win yesterday.

There are other young lads to come into the reckoning over the next 2/3 years and we will improve. The current Tyrone and Kerry teams are two of the greatest teams ever to play football but there time will end, and maybe we can be there to be challenging when that does happen.

O'Mahony committed to Mayo despite pain of defeat
By Brendan O'Brien

Monday, August 10, 2009



JOHN O'MAHONY has intimated that he is willing to remain on as Mayo manager despite this latest failure to end Mayo's long wait for a fourth All-Ireland title.



The Fine Gael TD's initial three-year term came to an end with yesterday's disappointing defeat to Meath but a further two years was added to his remit during the last off-season.

O'Mahony talked in laboured, deliberate tones during yesterday's post-match press conference, the disappointment evident every time he ran his hand across a tired-looking face.

"What we agreed in the dressing room there is that all of the players and management will come together in a few weeks time when everything settles. The players certainly need that space and I suppose we (the management) do as well.

"Certainly, on an initial look at it, I'd feel positive about having a contribution to make. Provided everyone is happy, I've no problem. The likelihood is that I would probably be involved. I would like to be involved, but that's for another day and everyone has to have their thoughts on that."

Meath's blistering finish was the main difference between the sides but Mayo will be entitled to look back at a pair of pivotal incidents that seemed to suggest that this just wasn't going to be their day. Again.

Multiple viewings failed to show whether Paddy O'Rourke carried Alan Dillon's 29th minute shot over his goal line but there is no doubt but that the sideline that led to Meath's second goal should have gone to Mayo and not the eventual winners.

On such small matters do big games turn but neither O'Mahony nor his players were willing to lunge for such an easy get-out clause afterwards.

"I was a good distance from it but we should still have dealt with the high ball in," said Andy Moran. "Even before the sideline we had a lot of chances to stop it. We went four points up there and it could have been eight or nine at half-time.

"We should be driving home but we didn't do it. Maybe it was a bit of inexperience but there was plenty of experienced guys there to move on and we didn't so it. A little petty sideline ball doesn't make any difference."

The post mortem will inevitably spill over the 70 minutes played yesterday and alight on to a broader spectrum of contributing factors, not least the contrasting paths the sides took towards yesterday's meeting.

Meath were steeled by a succession of qualifier fixtures, not all of them taxing, but it was still a better platform than Mayo's which had seen them waltz past New York and Roscommon prior to their one test against Galway. Significant?

"I don't think so," said Peadar Gardiner. "The first ten minutes of the game we did well but we let them back into it in the last two-thirds of the first-half. We were losing by a point at half-time but we were comfortable. We knew we had a big second-half in us.

"I don't know what we went ahead by when Aidan (O'Shea) got the goal, four points or something, and we should be driving on from there. Give credit to Meath, they bombarded us with a lot of high ball and got a goal at a critical time. I'm not sure what the incident was with the penalty but they took it well.

"We are a very fit team, we pride ourselves on that. We trained very hard since the Connacht final so I wouldn't use the layoff as an excuse at all. It was poor play by ourselves. We didn't close the game out ourselves when we had the chance. It's very disappointing, very similar to this time last year against Tyrone. We had them on the rack as well but we didn't finish them off."

And so another awkward winter of introspection looms in the west. Their psyche had already been dismissed as inherently flawed prior to this quarter-final and nothing that happened yesterday will change anyone's opinion.

"People can say that but at the end of the day I have no doubt that this group of players will come out on the right side of some tough, close results," said O'Mahony. "I know the evidence is there otherwise today but I'm certainly not losing faith in those players because I know what they've done.

"People need to realise how many younger players are in there. A lot of them grew up there today and I'm sure will learn from that in the future."



Read more: http://www.examiner.ie/sport/gaa/football/omahony-committed-to-mayo-despite-pain-of-defeat-98343.html#ixzz0NlkPKBQS

[meathie]

Delighted for Meath, super day yesterday, one of the best Ive personally had in Crokers. When I saw lads on here talking about Meath being a good warm up for Mayo for their semi with Kerry, I thought we might have a chance. same ol story with Mayo, cant finish things. Thought Sheridan was immense, Bray did really well, backs in general did very well too. Thought as usual Peader ran every blade of grass yesterday, let alot fall and slipped and fumbled alot but his workrate is the best on the team without a doubt. why is he taken off in every game? tiredness maybe? or Has O Brien something against him? Also sepcial mention to Moyles who I thought did extremely well for a man who's not a full back.you can still see how he loves to get forward and hopefully next year he will resume his role. the at mosphere was mental yesterday with Meath fans, really enjoyed that victory.
a few controversial issues but Meath still the better team. As for the semi, well we know Kerry looking for revenge big time, I have to say as long as we can stay with them and it is not a humiliation I will be pleased. This team has done well this year and building for next year. We have nothing to lose on the 30th, give it a right go 

[longball]

Conor Motimer should have been started.