Maigh Eo V Muineachán 28/3/2010

[Maguire01]

Very disappointing result for Monaghan. Mayo woke up and Monaghan lost their rhythm. 9 point turnaround for Mayo in the second half, having been 6 points down.

Not sure why Tommy Freeman was playing where he was either. JP brought on too late as well.

[Cosmo Kramer]

The goal that shouldn't have been between the teams.

Don't think you can just point to that. Monaghan lost their way in the last 20. Hard on them, they've been competitive all season and were good again today, but I fear they'll go down now. Hope they don't - either way they'll be a force in ulster this year and hard beaten.

Probably have to wait nervously for a few days on Kieth Higgins. Hopefully it's not a cruciate and he might be back for the trip to Sligo.

[Schkite]

Aye, going on the last 20 minutes or so we had nothing, hit bad wides and gave away silly passes, 2nd goal knocked the stuffing out of us. Typical really, great defending for ages then fell asleep twice for the crucial goals.

Still can't help being pissed off about the first goal, I don't know the rule exactly but my understanding is that the whistle should have been blown after Mayo's last point of the first half. But at the end of the day we regained the 6 point lead at the start of the 2nd half and we can't have any complaints about the 2nd goal, a great pity, I had thought we were on the road to survival, but we threw it away.

Huge ask to get something away to Kerry now.  Unless the Dubs do us a favour in Omagh, alot on the line in the next round.

[rosnarun]

The goal that shouldn't have been between the teams.

Post of the weak

[Main Street]

That was a lovely point by Finlay early in the 2nd half, hit on the run with the inside of his left boot. Similar to the one he curled over late on  against Armagh in last years qualifier.

[AbbeySider]

Terrible performance. One of the most laboured and ugly Mayo displays in ages.

There was an awful snap or crack heard when Keith Higgins went down, Id fear for his cruciate ligament. He will be a big loss 

[Schkite]

That was a lovely point by Finlay early in the 2nd half, hit on the run with the inside of his left boot. Similar to the one he curled over late on  against Armagh in last years qualifier.

Aye nice point alright, and the one after where McManus won a high ball against Higgins and turned and popped it over, thought at that point we might be able to win as with that point we regained the 6 point lead and looked good. Pity we couldn't have pushed on further though, only scored another 2 points after that one.

Looked a nasty fall for Higgins alright, hope he's fine.

[Cosmo Kramer]

Terrible performance. One of the most laboured and ugly Mayo displays in ages.

There was an awful snap or crack heard when Keith Higgins went down, Id fear for his cruciate ligament. He will be a big loss 

The incident and the way he went from the field was very similar to Meehan a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully the outcome is the same (no cruciate damage) but if he's gone for the year it's a major hole in our defence.

Options if thats the case?

Barrett or McLoughlin to corner back? Or Vaughan? Howley maybe? We could do with getting Cunniffe back to cover the half back line if that's the case. Thought Liam O'Malley played well today but would have concerns about him in the long run. If Higgins is out, he will probably be a fixture in the full back line for the year, especially with Vaughan going so well at wing half back.

[AbbeySider]

Terrible performance. One of the most laboured and ugly Mayo displays in ages.

There was an awful snap or crack heard when Keith Higgins went down, Id fear for his cruciate ligament. He will be a big loss 

The incident and the way he went from the field was very similar to Meehan a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully the outcome is the same (no cruciate damage) but if he's gone for the year it's a major hole in our defence.

Options if thats the case?

Barrett or McLoughlin to corner back? Or Vaughan? Howley maybe? We could do with getting Cunniffe back to cover the half back line if that's the case. Thought Liam O'Malley played well today but would have concerns about him in the long run. If Higgins is out, he will probably be a fixture in the full back line for the year, especially with Vaughan going so well at wing half back.

Two years ago we were giving out about Conroy and O Malley playing Fullback and Corner Back and today we still have no answer.
I thought Conroy was cleaned, although O Malley held his own.
With Higgins gone (I hope not but the snap was loud so I fear the worst), we have major problems.
Id be hoping Ger Caff will be back but even if he is we are still in big trouble.

[Cosmo Kramer]

Might be time to call up Kevin Keane.

I know he's young, but if needs must, I say bring him in...

[Main Street]

Terrible performance. One of the most laboured and ugly Mayo displays in ages.

Mayo had a commanding 25 minutes  coming from behind to win easing away in a competitive game, defending well, playing good attacking football and making score after score.
What more can you want at this stage? I would be well pleased with the Mayo bottle after that.

[Cosmo Kramer]

Terrible performance. One of the most laboured and ugly Mayo displays in ages.

Mayo had a commanding 25 minutes  coming from behind to win easing away in a competitive game, defending well, playing good attacking football and making score after score.
What more can you want at this stage? I would be well pleased with the Mayo bottle after that.

I think all mayo fans will be delighted with the last 20 minutes, but last year we had a habit early in the season of falling way behind in games and having to come back, happened against Donegal, Galway in the league, New York in the championship even. The first half today was as bad as we have been in the last two years, hopefully it was just a blip.

We won't beat Sligo in Markievicz playing like we did today in the first half, that's for sure.

[Peter Solan the Great]

Terrible performance. One of the most laboured and ugly Mayo displays in ages.

Mayo had a commanding 25 minutes  coming from behind to win easing away in a competitive game, defending well, playing good attacking football and making score after score.
What more can you want at this stage? I would be well pleased with the Mayo bottle after that.

I think all mayo fans will be delighted with the last 20 minutes, but last year we had a habit early in the season of falling way behind in games and having to come back, happened against Donegal, Galway in the league, New York in the championship even. The first half today was as bad as we have been in the last two years, hopefully it was just a blip.

We won't beat Sligo in Markievicz playing like we did today in the first half, that's for sure.

I think we would beat Sligo quite easily on that performance even. We played in first gear for that 1st hand/start of 2nd half and when it really matter the lads upped a gear two and accounted quite easliy for Monaghan, thats something to be admired and johno said after the match on TG4 if we could dominate the game for 70 minutes then we'd have no problems becoming All Ireland champions every year. Its a work in practice its seen what we need to improve on and we have plenty of time to do it.

[Farrandeelin]

I have to say I'm thrilled by the guts shown there today. To come back from been 6 down in the first half to be only 2 down at the break and playing terrible gave me the anticipation that Mayo would win handily in the end. However to go down 6 points once again in the second half and to win by 3, well it's not really 'Mayoish' is it. However this year it seems to be the way with the team, we've done it in Kerry and we've done it again today. Conroy was no good in the full-back today. Chris Barrett was excellent when he came on. Rosnarun was right on this one. Liam O'Malley played well today. PS, did anyone really think Monaghan were going to get a goal, because I didn't. And once Aiden O'Shea (who must have heard me roaring a mouthful at him in the first half) put the ball in the net, we had Monaghan on the rack I felt. So overall, I'm happy enough with the way things are progressing this eyar.

[FL/MAYO]

I watched it on the internet with a poor picture but I was impressed with Varley, it was nice to see one of our corner forwards been able to win those 50/50 balls. Shemus O'Shea works hard and seems to be able to hit hard which was nice to see as well. The full back line as mentioned is cause for concern especially if Higgins is out for a while. I would  read more into the display against Monaghan than the display against Kerry last week, beating a poor Kerry team in the league will lead us to false dawns come the summer. Monaghan will always give you a tough game with the type of hitting that you might expect in a championship game. Lets hope the display in the final 20 minutes is what we will see come June.