Mayo Vs Meath - All-Ireland Quarter Finals

[JMohan]

2:  Mental attitude.  If we do lose a 4 point lead in a matter of seconds don't lose the head.  The game is not over.  Finish teams off when we have the chances.  Meath should have been buried after 20 minutes but we let them right back into the game.  We seem to switch off when in front and I'm a sure sport psychologist could do something about it.

We have one in the backroom team, he is the Irish Boxing Teams Sports Psychologist.........

I think the best psychologist you have is O'Mahony!!!

I still think he is on the right track - but it's a massive job

[Turlough O Carolan]

Not trying to kick Mayo when they are down but I remember a semi-final in Croke Park in the 80s. Think it was the first Dublin one and Mickey Kearns was linesman. Twas Mickey's first big gig up in the big smoke and didn't he give a Mayo lineball to Dublin. Well Mayo went nuts and were going on about that for the rest of the Summer and I remember meeting a priest from Mayo and what didn't he call the bould Mickey for that wrong call.

Anyway hard luck to Mayo and well done to Meath who have improved with every game this Summer. I really did think Mayo would go close this year but now starting to see that Connacht football has gone back. However there's a lot of underage talent coming through and crucial will be that we have a competitive Connacht championship. It's not competitive when Mayo can beat Ros by 20 points. Mayo still have a decent minor team in the championship so your summer is not over yet.

[muppet]

As for the game I am disappointed how flat we were. Even when we started well on the scoreboard I thought a lot of players looked as if they had run a marathon before the game and I was worried. As the game went on and Meath realised that we were no great shakes they started to win every breaking ball. Some posters are talking about conditioning and strength but look at Joe Sheridan. He looks like a fella who never trained in his life (I'm sure that's not the case) but desire and bravery can win more ball than training and conditioning.

I have never been comfortable with us playing players out of their natural positions and probably 5 of our 6 defenders would be better in other positions. As for Tom Parsons at FF, I didn't like it before the game and hope now never to see it again.

Finally the match officials were pathetic but I honestly don't think it changed the result. You felt Meath would get what they needed from our FB line at any time. Fair play to them, they fully deserved the win and the very best of luck against Kerry.

p.s Stephenite, ignore that WUM.

[stephenite]

p.s Stephenite, ignore that WUM.

I know - it's Monday night and I'm a bit under the weather, just got to see the game a few hours ago so that hasn't helped my mood either.

[ludermor]

Cavan wouldnt particularly like Meath highorlow........

The same can be said for us and Galway but we would take our chances with a Galway ref....

there is a lot more bitterness between meath and cavan than there is between mayo and galway ..imo of course

[IolarCoisCuain]

Where's the joy in being in 2nd best Stephenite? I mean has anyone ever used getting to a final and being beaten as part of a badge of honour? Is that not part of the problem

Here's what gets me Indiana. Second isn't a great place to be. But third is worse. And fourth is worse again. So, from my perspective, it's not a question of celebrating coming second. It's a question of not denigrating it.

Coming second blows. But to treat it as being worse than being knocked out in May or June doesn't make any sense to me. Mayo got to five All-Irelands finals in the past twenty years, four in the past thirteen, after not having got to any one at all for thirty-nine years, and not even coming out of Connacht at all for twelve. I don't see how that's anything other than progress.

But instead of thinking all we need is one final push, and building on what's been achieved, this notion comes along that we didn't deserve to win all all the games we won in those summers, and that we're somehow worse off than if we never won a game at all. And I don't see how that's the case.

I think Mayo did deserve to be in those finals. The Man in Black tells me that Tyrone or Armagh would have done better in those finals. Fair enough. If the Man in Black's auntie had bollix, she would be his uncle. Those sort of arguments don't stack up. You might pox one All-Ireland final appearance - although the back door does make it harder - but to pox four of them in eleven years without doing anything right? I'm not buying that.

[Hardy]

Now where's the proper Meathmen that normally frequent this board, I'm interested to hear their take, Hardy, Juice, Agorm???

I have my doubts that the WUM is a Meathman at all. Not that we haven't got our quota of gobshites.

Too busy today to post anything sensible about the game - just wallowing in delight at the moment.

Thanks to all the Mayo lads for their gracious congratulations and good wishes.

[man in black]

Where's the joy in being in 2nd best Stephenite? I mean has anyone ever used getting to a final and being beaten as part of a badge of honour? Is that not part of the problem

Here's what gets me Indiana. Second isn't a great place to be. But third is worse. And fourth is worse again. So, from my perspective, it's not a question of celebrating coming second. It's a question of not denigrating it.

Coming second blows. But to treat it as being worse than being knocked out in May or June doesn't make any sense to me. Mayo got to five All-Irelands finals in the past twenty years, four in the past thirteen, after not having got to any one at all for thirty-nine years, and not even coming out of Connacht at all for twelve. I don't see how that's anything other than progress.

But instead of thinking all we need is one final push, and building on what's been achieved, this notion comes along that we didn't deserve to win all all the games we won in those summers, and that we're somehow worse off than if we never won a game at all. And I don't see how that's the case.

I think Mayo did deserve to be in those finals. The Man in Black tells me that Tyrone or Armagh would have done better in those finals. Fair enough. If the Man in Black's auntie had bollix, she would be his uncle. Those sort of arguments don't stack up. You might pox one All-Ireland final appearance - although the back door does make it harder - but to pox four of them in eleven years without doing anything right? I'm not buying that.

The fact remains that Mayo have given us 2 of the worst days in Irish sport in the last decade.

[ludermor]

`BUt they gave mayo people several great days in getting to those bad days.

[AbbeySider]

For the record, I think we are 10 times better than we showed.
We had Meath on the ropes in the first 15 minutes, beaten in almost every position, but we didnt push on.

Mental toughness lost it for us, not pushing on when we should have been applying the pressure.
Man for man we are better footballers than Meath IMO but both teams are well off being good enough for an All-Ireland.

The difference between the teams was that Meath were hungrier and went for the juggler when they needed too.
I respect that, and they were the best team on the day.

Mayo are guilty of settling back when we get ahead at two different stages. It happened against Galway and it happened again on Sunday.

Hopefully hard lessons will be learned for us. We have a young team that is reliantly inexperienced. We have talent coming through, and there is talent in the county.
Having said that, there may not be enough in the county at the minute to make the final push as I no longer believe that Mayo club football is at a very high level.

Also playing players out of position may have cost us, but there wasnt many obvious options this year as we are still building and trying things out.

But in in the next 4 years I wouldnt be surprised to get to two Semi finals and maybe even a final.

[GBXII]

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!

What a load of bullshit, you're obviously Trevor Howleys boyfriend or something. Why are you talking about U16's? The lads are playing senior football. Cunniffe didn't start on the Micthels 1st team in his first year U16 but did in his 2nd year, big deal footballers are only beginning to develop then. That point is irrelevant.

Cunniffe played centre back on a minor team that reached an All Ireland final (and was one of the few to come out of it with any credit while also being tipped as the future centre back) and then centre back a year later on an All Ireland winning U21 team.

If Trevor Howley was such a class corner forward why isn't he still there. Howley is a good defender. He's tough unlike most of our defenders. But I think Cunniffe is better than him. Howley can be very headless, and got roasted yesterday by Joe Sheridan, who issn't exactly the fastest center forward, imagine what would Dec O'Sullivan have done to him in the semi?

Finally, Cunniffe has being on the county panel since he was 19, he'll be there for years to come, he is county standard, ask anyone who knows anything about the game..

[IolarCoisCuain]

Where's the joy in being in 2nd best Stephenite? I mean has anyone ever used getting to a final and being beaten as part of a badge of honour? Is that not part of the problem

Here's what gets me Indiana. Second isn't a great place to be. But third is worse. And fourth is worse again. So, from my perspective, it's not a question of celebrating coming second. It's a question of not denigrating it.

Coming second blows. But to treat it as being worse than being knocked out in May or June doesn't make any sense to me. Mayo got to five All-Irelands finals in the past twenty years, four in the past thirteen, after not having got to any one at all for thirty-nine years, and not even coming out of Connacht at all for twelve. I don't see how that's anything other than progress.

But instead of thinking all we need is one final push, and building on what's been achieved, this notion comes along that we didn't deserve to win all all the games we won in those summers, and that we're somehow worse off than if we never won a game at all. And I don't see how that's the case.

I think Mayo did deserve to be in those finals. The Man in Black tells me that Tyrone or Armagh would have done better in those finals. Fair enough. If the Man in Black's auntie had bollix, she would be his uncle. Those sort of arguments don't stack up. You might pox one All-Ireland final appearance - although the back door does make it harder - but to pox four of them in eleven years without doing anything right? I'm not buying that.

The fact remains that Mayo have given us 2 of the worst days in Irish sport in the last decade.

My heart bleeds for you Man in Black. I'm so sad at the thought of your misery I'm thinking slitting my wrists and jumping into the river having knocked back a big bottle of sleeping pills first.

Those two days were no barrel of laughs for us either. Cut us some slack will you, for the love of God?

[Son_of_Sam]

can anyone tell me why every year Mayo get hyped out of all proportion

I don't think it was hype to expect to beat this Meath team after beating Galway in a close provincial decider in Salthill?

That's this year out of the way...... don't think we were hyped in 07 and 08?

2006 no hype either, in fact we boxed above our weight and in hindsight beating the Dubs that year wasn't as good an acheievement as it appeared at the time (no taking away from the great game it was).

2004 - per 2006.

From 2000 to 2003 i can't remeber any hype?

Mayo were the second best team in the country in both those summers. Who do you think was the second best team in the country those summers if not Mayo?

Mayo may have got to the final in 2004 and 2006 but are you seriously suggesting that there wasnt another team in the country that wouldnt have given Kerry a bit more of a game. They got raped FFS.

That's exactly what I'm seriously suggesting. If there was a better team, why didn't they beat Mayo along the way? I mean, that's how the competition works, isn't it? You think Dublin would have done better against Kerry in 2006? When they couldn't sit out a seven point lead against Mayou with fifteen minutes to go? Fermanagh in 2004?

So Tyrone or Armagh would have got killed by Kerry as well in 2004 and 2006, somehow i doubt it.

Tyrone got beaten by Mayo in 2004, Armagh weren't good enough to make an All Ireland final in 2004 and 2006 - kind of makes a mockery of your argument

Ok keep believing Mayo were the 2nd best team in those years. Ye lot seem comfortable in that role.

Some shite, some of these Mayo bashers are at here, are you lot forgetting the hammerings Dublin got by Tyrone last year & Kerry this year & the 2007 All-Ireland Final where Cork where hockied. Look at the scorelines Mayo lost by in 2004 & 2006 where nowhere as badly beaten. After seeing Dublin & Cork getting bate our 2004 result looks close & 2006 not so bad. Armagh have been on the decline for a few years. In the end of the day even yesterday we where beaten by 3 points not 17 or whatever. The reason Mayo people are disapointed in yesterday is NOT because we accept 2'nd, 3'rd, 4'th 5'th, 32'nd or 33'rd(yes) it's simply because we want to be FIRST. But alot of others make out its a Mayo thing. I know its a long time ago but 1996 I seem to remember Kerry getting beaten well by us (6 points) & 2001 by Meath (Meath 2-14 - 0-5 Kerry) <2 points worse than Mayo in '06 Final> , 2001 Meath whopped by Galway in the Final 0.17 - 0.09, yes believe it or not thats 1 point worse than Mayo in 2004.

[man in black]

Where's the joy in being in 2nd best Stephenite? I mean has anyone ever used getting to a final and being beaten as part of a badge of honour? Is that not part of the problem

Here's what gets me Indiana. Second isn't a great place to be. But third is worse. And fourth is worse again. So, from my perspective, it's not a question of celebrating coming second. It's a question of not denigrating it.

Coming second blows. But to treat it as being worse than being knocked out in May or June doesn't make any sense to me. Mayo got to five All-Irelands finals in the past twenty years, four in the past thirteen, after not having got to any one at all for thirty-nine years, and not even coming out of Connacht at all for twelve. I don't see how that's anything other than progress.

But instead of thinking all we need is one final push, and building on what's been achieved, this notion comes along that we didn't deserve to win all all the games we won in those summers, and that we're somehow worse off than if we never won a game at all. And I don't see how that's the case.

I think Mayo did deserve to be in those finals. The Man in Black tells me that Tyrone or Armagh would have done better in those finals. Fair enough. If the Man in Black's auntie had bollix, she would be his uncle. Those sort of arguments don't stack up. You might pox one All-Ireland final appearance - although the back door does make it harder - but to pox four of them in eleven years without doing anything right? I'm not buying that.

The fact remains that Mayo have given us 2 of the worst days in Irish sport in the last decade.

My heart bleeds for you Man in Black. I'm so sad at the thought of your misery I'm thinking slitting my wrists and jumping into the river having knocked back a big bottle of sleeping pills first.

Those two days were no barrel of laughs for us either. Cut us some slack will you, for the love of God?

Just saying how i see it. Ive no axe to grind with Mayo, it just pains me to see a county hype itself out of all proportion and then fall on its face inevitably. Defeats like yesterday can be very damaging long term.

[Son_of_Sam]

Where's the joy in being in 2nd best Stephenite? I mean has anyone ever used getting to a final and being beaten as part of a badge of honour? Is that not part of the problem

Here's what gets me Indiana. Second isn't a great place to be. But third is worse. And fourth is worse again. So, from my perspective, it's not a question of celebrating coming second. It's a question of not denigrating it.

Coming second blows. But to treat it as being worse than being knocked out in May or June doesn't make any sense to me. Mayo got to five All-Irelands finals in the past twenty years, four in the past thirteen, after not having got to any one at all for thirty-nine years, and not even coming out of Connacht at all for twelve. I don't see how that's anything other than progress.

But instead of thinking all we need is one final push, and building on what's been achieved, this notion comes along that we didn't deserve to win all all the games we won in those summers, and that we're somehow worse off than if we never won a game at all. And I don't see how that's the case.

I think Mayo did deserve to be in those finals. The Man in Black tells me that Tyrone or Armagh would have done better in those finals. Fair enough. If the Man in Black's auntie had bollix, she would be his uncle. Those sort of arguments don't stack up. You might pox one All-Ireland final appearance - although the back door does make it harder - but to pox four of them in eleven years without doing anything right? I'm not buying that.

The fact remains that Mayo have given us 2 of the worst days in Irish sport in the last decade.

Surely those days are dominated by the Irish soccer team