Mayo Vs Meath - All-Ireland Quarter Finals

[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.

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.

We'll be singing
When we're winning
We'll be singing
I get knocked down
But I get up again
You're never going to keep me down
Pissing the night away
Pissing the night away
He drinks a whisky drink
He drinks a vodka drink
He drinks a lager drink
He drinks a cider drink
He sings the songs that remind him
Of the good times
He sings the songs that remind him
Of the better times:
"Oh Danny Boy
Danny Boy
Danny Boy..."
I get knocked down
But I get up again
You're never going to keep me down
Pissing the night away
Pissing the night away
He drinks a whisky drink
He drinks a vodka drink
He drinks a lager drink
He drinks a cider drink
He sings the songs that remind him
Of the good times
He sings the songs that remind him
Of the better times:
"Don't cry for me
Next door neighbour..."
I get knocked down
But I get up again
You're never going to keep me down
We'll be singing
When we're winning
We'll be singing

[Barney]

We're a very easy County to knock. We lost one match. Nobody here is whining, everything is being said is constructive. But any time Mayo lose a game they have bottled it, or the same old Mayo line gets dragged out again. The GAA stereotypes are lazy and every year we are painted as hyping ourselves beyhond all proportion where most of the times alot of us are negative and fearful.

We're also a very lucky county - we have far more good days than bad days. The amount of All Irelands contested at all levels over the past 15 years shows that we are not too far away from that perfect day.

Today I am down, absolutely gutted, would love to leave the office and just shut myself away from the world but as always we will be back. The resilliance we have shown to come back from knock after knock will continue and come January we will be back dreaming again.

[Hardy]

The difference between the teams was that Meath were hungrier and went for the juggler ...

Thanks for that Abbeysider. Wiping off the screen here.

[muppet]

The difference between the teams was that Meath were hungrier and went for the juggler ...

Thanks for that Abbeysider. Wiping off the screen here.

And they put an end to the Mayo circus for another year.

[AbbeySider]

The difference between the teams was that Meath were hungrier and went for the juggler ...

Thanks for that Abbeysider. Wiping off the screen here.

And they put an end to the Mayo circus for another year.

A circus is what it was.

Dont get that wiping the screen bit... 

[Son_of_Sam]

The difference between the teams was that Meath were hungrier and went for the juggler ...

Thanks for that Abbeysider. Wiping off the screen here.

And they put an end to the Mayo circus for another year.

A circus is what it was.

Dont get that wiping the screen bit... 

"Send in the clowns"

[rosnarun]

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

We have a long winter to go through thing and would not want to add to the way mayo players are feeling or takefrom a very good meathperformance
We.but  are you mental the man has been a disaster  . The  only reasonitlookedlike  any progress was made was the patently low standards of his first 2 years . His failure  alone to spot the gifting of an all star to sheridam make his staying on  a draft proposition

[rosnarun]

well said barney

[highorlow]

We have a long winter to go through thing and would not want to add to the way mayo players are feeling or takefrom a very good meathperformance
We.but  are you mental the man has been a disaster  . The  only reasonitlookedlike  any progress was made was the patently low standards of his first 2 years . His failure  alone to spot the gifting of an all star to sheridam make his staying on  a draft proposition

Jesus Ros are you still drunk, check out all your typo's?

[Son_of_Sam]

We have a long winter to go through thing and would not want to add to the way mayo players are feeling or takefrom a very good meathperformance
We.but  are you mental the man has been a disaster  . The  only reasonitlookedlike  any progress was made was the patently low standards of his first 2 years . His failure  alone to spot the gifting of an all star to sheridam make his staying on  a draft proposition

Jesus Ros are you still drunk, check out all your typo's?

"Pissing the night away
Pissing the night away
He drinks a whisky drink
He drinks a vodka drink
He drinks a lager drink
He drinks a cider drink
He sings the songs that remind him
Of the good times
He sings the songs that remind him
Of the better times:
"Oh Danny Boy
Danny Boy
Danny Boy..."
I get knocked down"

[Fuzzman]

I think I can remember typing something like this last year when Mayo got put out

I reckon ye aren't too far away from winning an AI but ye are missing a few vital components.

Believe me it required a lot of extra effort for Tyrone to win their first AI in 2003.
Just having a good enough team and having hunger isn't enough.
You need loads of other things like mental strength & belief in yourselves, no fear or even respect for who you're playing, super fitness & teamwork, a good strategy and a plan B & C if things aren't going your way.

In 2003 Tyrone had more or less the same team as 2002 who they lost out to Sligo. When we made the quarters in 2003 it was obvious of our intent against Fermanagh as we went on all out to blow them away and not give them a sniff of a comeback. When you have learnt how to win big games you can then rish playing with fire and taking your foot of the gas.

In my eyes Mayo need to go all out to blast teams away from the start. Knock the stuffing out of them early on and let them see that this is different Mayo team to the previous years. Show them they mean business. Same could be said for the Dubs. No room for thinking ahead to the next game and what if we peak too soon. Worry about that later when you've won one. Can you imagine the belief Mayo would have had in themselves if they'd played the best 25 mins of football in their lives against Kerry in the semi final. Would they have then collapsed again in the 2nd half or would they finally think that we have turned the corner with JOM.

The effort required in 2003 was immense and a lot of it was played with ugly football that I personally didn't enjoy watching.
It broke the pattern though and made teams like Kerry a lot more weary of us.

[020304 Tir Eoghain]

We're a very easy County to knock. We lost one match. Nobody here is whining, everything is being said is constructive. But any time Mayo lose a game they have bottled it, or the same old Mayo line gets dragged out again. The GAA stereotypes are lazy and every year we are painted as hyping ourselves beyhond all proportion where most of the times alot of us are negative and fearful.

We're also a very lucky county - we have far more good days than bad days. The amount of All Irelands contested at all levels over the past 15 years shows that we are not too far away from that perfect day.

Today I am down, absolutely gutted, would love to leave the office and just shut myself away from the world but as always we will be back. The resilliance we have shown to come back from knock after knock will continue and come January we will be back dreaming again.

Well said Barney, a little bit of reality!

A fairly good game yesterday which could've went either way. Unfortunately for Mayo, all the little things went in favour of Meath, and fair play to them,
when the breaks came their way, they made it count on the scoreboard.

All this talk of new structures needing to be put in place etc etc is just bullshit IMO. Mayo's day will come, sooner rather than later.

[Farrandeelin]

Won't win an AI without decent corner-backs, or indeed if Cafferkey was put on a good full-forward he could get roasted as well. Our half-backs like to go forward, even Howley I was surprised how Sheridan draged him around the place yesterday.

Midfield, Lord Jesus THAT IS A PLACE THAT NEEDS TO BE LOOKED AT URGENTLY.

As well as that Only Trevor Mortimer worked hard in the half-forward line. Kilcoyne was unlucky with the injury but from going with the twin towers and Kilcoyne, we went to the small skithers and Billy Joe!!! There was no plan B  in there and Meath won all there in the last few minutes and it wasn't pleasant to watch as a Mayoman.

Now maybe people are calling me a whiner and a whinger but I just want the best for my county. Like yourself Indiana, I don't have a clue how we are nigh on 60 years without Sam and if things don't change soon it could be another 60.

We should have scored more early on in the match too I think when we had Meath on the rack.

[kevmy]

We're a very easy County to knock. We lost one match. Nobody here is whining, everything is being said is constructive. But any time Mayo lose a game they have bottled it, or the same old Mayo line gets dragged out again. The GAA stereotypes are lazy and every year we are painted as hyping ourselves beyhond all proportion where most of the times alot of us are negative and fearful.

We're also a very lucky county - we have far more good days than bad days. The amount of All Irelands contested at all levels over the past 15 years shows that we are not too far away from that perfect day.

Today I am down, absolutely gutted, would love to leave the office and just shut myself away from the world but as always we will be back. The resilliance we have shown to come back from knock after knock will continue and come January we will be back dreaming again.

True enough Barney. The one that always gets me is that Mayo can't win in Croke Park.

Bollix. Didn't we win a good few games there in 04 and 06 and 96 and 97. Fair enough we've had our defeats there as well but then so have most counties.

[ross matt]

Mayo have been one of the most consistent sides in the country for the last 5 days and should'nt be knocked for that. They were outclassed in 2 All Ireland finals for sure but what are they supposed to do? "Throw" an All - Ireland semi for fear they get skinned again in another final ? That's the same as the theory being advanced that Dublin need to go in to the back door in order to get experience outside Croker (as if they should deliberately not win another Leinster). All well prepared teams will aspire to beat what's put in front of them.

Mayo definitely lacked mental toughness yesterday as they did in the two All Irelands they lost. They also dont use the naturally big players they have produced over the years to enough physical effect. I really expected them to win yesterday. They looked at least 7 points a better side than Galway even if they nearly got caught at the end. They had a different approach upfront and O'Mahony seemed to have finally established his team. Meath are Meath.... the usual combination of tough, confident and good footballers but their present side is not one of their better ones. Mayo should have been ahead of them in overall quality.

Not sure how they can oversome these frailties. They have a fine side with an excellent manager but maybe it's time for them to stop dwelling on past failings/perceived wrongs etc. McHale was still going on about the '96 sending off on a recent radio interview. Has genuine reason to be aggrieved but came across as full of a mixture of inflated self-importance ("my team mates were badly affected by my sending off because they lost their leader") & self-pity. Would he not be better saying that it was 13 years ago and that it was about the current Mayo side not him and his former colleagues?  I think the "House of Pain" book was a mistake. Why did Brady give his time and input to it? Was it not just wallowing in self pity and therefore re-inforcing the insecurity for the present Mayo sides?

Not being deliberately critical and take no pleasure from them losing yesterday. They were the last Connacht side in the championship and they hammered us. Where does yesterday leave Connacht football?