Connacht FBD League 2011 Extravaganza - Official Thread Anseo

[moysider]

NUI, Galway: Nathan King, Ciaran McDonald, Shane McHale, Keith Rogers, Peadar Gardiner, Ciaran Conroy, Josh Moore, Stephen Gilmartin, Denis Corroon, Fiachra Deasmhunaigh, Greg Higgins, Mark McHugh, Neil Douglas, Aodhan Mullan, Jason Doherty.

Dillon was named on the bench but started. There was another scatter of Mayo lads in the subs. Don't ask me who the were

Good to see McHale playing fullback. What did you make of him Criostlinn? Or Sligonian if you spot this?

Id prefer not to say to much about any performances. Really was a nothing game with players on both sides well off the pace. Shane McHale is a good player and will have way better opportunities then this game to prove his worth in a mayo shirt.

Ah yeah, that s fair enough. I ve been at the 2 Mayo games and I ve not been critical of anybody I hope. Not everybody has been a roaring success but there has been enough positives - which I have mentioned - that gives me some optimism that we will get a new improved Mayo team this year. Others probably saw other or different positives.
  I also expect to see quiet a few novices make the team for the league and going forward. I don't subscribe to the view that all of the fbd players will melt away come the begining of spring. A lot of these College players are not exactly regular county players either. Douglas was on the periphery of the squad and I dont think Doherty was in the squad, so selection is very much up in the air. Other mature College players can not be assured of anything either. I think there is a level playing field there for everybody and that is the way it should be now.

On Douglas and Doherty if they dont get a chance with mayo we will gladly take them probably why they were so up for the game today in front of the Sligo public and walsh

Of course they will get a chance. They have been regular underage players and Douglas was in the panel last year and Doherty probably should have been. Not that that panel had or has any credibility. Horan s task is to identify the players that will gel into the team he wants to shape. To casual and even informed observers there is probably very little between likes of Douglas, Doherty, Varley, Kilcoyne, a young O Connor and Ronaldson for maybe 2/3 places. That is one of a few areas where  his judgement and his instinct will decide whether Horan will be a success or failure. He ll see a lot of these players and will know a lot about them.

[ross4life]

I was at the Mayo V Roscommon game today and I have to say I was kind of disappointed with some of the performances of Mayo players, particularly in the first half. We should have been bet out the gate if Roscommon took their goal chances in and I think the scoreboard flattered us a bit at half time. In the first half we were having a torrid time all over the defence with a lot of players mistiming catches, fumbling high balls and getting turned inside out by Roscommon forwards. The rustiness was very apparent but in the second half we settled a bit better defensively, with Keegan and Killeen coming into it more although Im not sure was it the fact that we dominated more upfront and the defence had less to do. Killeen to his credit seemed to better get the measure of shine, and Keegan, although playing kind of loose (his man number 10 caused some damage) got on a lot of ball and did Ok.

At midfield we were wiped in the first half and I dont think we won a clean kickout and were losing the breaking ball count badly. Moran worked harder in the second half and Kilcullen distributed the ball well but we still were still well beaten in the air. Jason Gibbons did well when he came on, getting a point and hitting some sublime passes into Varley and Ronaldson. Up front, only Varley and Ronaldson seemed to really standout and had fine performances throughout. The rest of the forwards were washy enough with Cathal Freeman having some good spells, especially in the second half.

The second half was like a different game. I think that Roscommon tired, and that after the goal they hung the heads. Shine going off injured seemed to take the life out of them altogether and we really dominated the last 20 minutes or so.

All in all, playing badly and wining Im not sure how much we learned today but as they say, a win is a win. It will be interesting to see some of the other guys next week. I can imagine that we will see a few more faces.

I believe it was like a different game because we played a more structured game. We played the game through Freeman and he didn't waste a ball. Moran too was more tuned in second half and grafted a bit and kept it simple. I suppose we all are looking for and see different things but Freeman and Farrell were the pick of the forwards for me. If Farrell can have a good U21 it will bring him along more. Ronaldson was v good also but we were not clinical enough at the end and there was some ridiculous shot selection there from guys that should know better.

Christ... trying finishing a game with 8 points like we did, in any given game we struggle to be clinical same old story at Senior,Minor & under 21

On a frosty Jan afternoon 1-12 is decent score especially without all your main forward players.

[moysider]

I was at the Mayo V Roscommon game today and I have to say I was kind of disappointed with some of the performances of Mayo players, particularly in the first half. We should have been bet out the gate if Roscommon took their goal chances in and I think the scoreboard flattered us a bit at half time. In the first half we were having a torrid time all over the defence with a lot of players mistiming catches, fumbling high balls and getting turned inside out by Roscommon forwards. The rustiness was very apparent but in the second half we settled a bit better defensively, with Keegan and Killeen coming into it more although Im not sure was it the fact that we dominated more upfront and the defence had less to do. Killeen to his credit seemed to better get the measure of shine, and Keegan, although playing kind of loose (his man number 10 caused some damage) got on a lot of ball and did Ok.

At midfield we were wiped in the first half and I dont think we won a clean kickout and were losing the breaking ball count badly. Moran worked harder in the second half and Kilcullen distributed the ball well but we still were still well beaten in the air. Jason Gibbons did well when he came on, getting a point and hitting some sublime passes into Varley and Ronaldson. Up front, only Varley and Ronaldson seemed to really standout and had fine performances throughout. The rest of the forwards were washy enough with Cathal Freeman having some good spells, especially in the second half.

The second half was like a different game. I think that Roscommon tired, and that after the goal they hung the heads. Shine going off injured seemed to take the life out of them altogether and we really dominated the last 20 minutes or so.

All in all, playing badly and wining Im not sure how much we learned today but as they say, a win is a win. It will be interesting to see some of the other guys next week. I can imagine that we will see a few more faces.

I believe it was like a different game because we played a more structured game. We played the game through Freeman and he didn't waste a ball. Moran too was more tuned in second half and grafted a bit and kept it simple. I suppose we all are looking for and see different things but Freeman and Farrell were the pick of the forwards for me. If Farrell can have a good U21 it will bring him along more. Ronaldson was v good also but we were not clinical enough at the end and there was some ridiculous shot selection there from guys that should know better.

Christ... trying finishing a game with 8 points like we did, in any given game we struggle to be clinical same old story at Senior,Minor & under 21

On a frosty Jan afternoon 1-12 is decent score especially without all your main forward players.

I know, I know but you know what I mean too. But by the way we were not without our all our main forward players. Or even any of them. We dont have any main forward players. We haven't had any proper team for some time.
And bad decision making and poor shot selection is never good at any time of year.The pitch today was grand and not a puff of wind. We in Mayo need to learn to be clinical.
Roscommon s fade out amazed me to be honest. You might not be happy with this but i think yer early dominance was probably down to us being a mess as well. When we settled and kept the ball better Ros got very few chances.

[ross4life]

Well Dillon,Andy Moran are certain starters? i don't think many of todays forwards will play much part when the big games comes along & Roscommons fade outs don't amazed me it's like clock work! TBH it could also be said that yer dominance in the final 25mins was down to us being a mess.

[moysider]

Well Dillon,Andy Moran are certain starters? i don't think many of todays forwards will play much part when the big games comes along & Roscommons fade outs don't amazed me it's like clock work! TBH it could also be said that yer dominance in the final 25mins was down to us being a mess.

True. But is in not worrying that ye had a good cut about ye and then faded? You would expect a team to consolidate as they settled into the game. Dillon a certain starter for sure if fit. The others would be Aidan O Sé, Alan Freeman (on last years form) and Harte will come into the equation, if his recovery from cruciate operation continues.

[ross4life]

Worring yes & it's not improving as the years pass by. is Conor Mortimer ruled out for the year? BTW it didn't surprise me to see Ronaldson score 1-7 yesterday if my memory serves me right he was Mayos top scorer in the NFL last year only to not get selected for the CSFC.

[Tubberman]

Interesting to see the views of others who were at the match yesterday. I agree with some and disagree with others.
Killeen was looking very ropey early on (as was Keith Higgins), but both were much better in the second half. Killeen got the hand in and dispossessed very well. Shine didn't really put in much of an effort though I thought. Higgins started to make his typical runs up the wing, but showed again that he is a wing half back, not a corner back.
Kilcullen's physicality and workrate were very good throughout, he saw a lot of ball and did well. But I'm not sure he's right for midfield - he's not the tallest, so is unlikely to win clean ball but could be good with breaking ball.
Barry Moran looked very sluggish in the first half, but along with the rest of the team improved in the second half. The Ros duo of Finneran and Higgins completely dominated midfield for most of the first half, the way the fell away in the second half was very strange. I thought Jason Gibbons was excellent when he came on - he looked up straight away and put in some excellent quick ball into the forwards (Varley mainly).
Another man who played with his head up and used the ball very well was Freeman - again, in the second half he improved hugely. He was afforded a lot of time by Ros though, so it will be interesting to see how he does with less time and space.
Farrell got the point of the day in the second half, but apart from that I have to say I wasn't all that impressed. He did a lot of running, but there wasn't much of a plan to what he was doing as far as I could see.
Ronaldson and Varley did the scoring. Varley showed well for ball and won an awful lot in the second half. Ronaldson did well, his pace always makes him dangerous but he hit a couple of poor wides and as has been said, took a couple of wild shots towards the end, especially one over his shoulder from the right hand side.
I think a lot of the established players will be nervous, and they're right to be. There is plenty of competition - what will be interesting to see is if anyone manages to stand out in their position or if we have a lot of players, all of similar standard.
 

[RedandGreenSniper]

I dunno, I think a lot of ye are being overly critical of Mayo's opening half. The first quarter was poor, particularly from a defensive point of view but surely that is almost inevitable when you make fifteen changes and have a back six who never played with each other before and some who might not even be on first name terms? I thought Mayo's performance was encouraging when all that is taken into consideration.

Ronaldson was wasteful at the end but, to be fair, he was on fire and probably felt he was going to get those scores. And I've seen him score from those positions. In a tighter game I would hope that he would play the percentage option.

I thought Cathal Freeman was very good right through, even when Mayo were under pressure early on. His crossfield ball to Trevor Howley from the left-corner after about 20 minutes was sublime vision. And while the pass left Howley a bit of work to do, his bravey led to Mayo winning a free seconds later.

Of the new lads I'd like to see a lot more of David Killeen, James Kilcullen, Cathal Freeman and Andrew Farrell, of those that started. Ronaldson, Varley and Higgins showed up well too.

[western exile]

This was my first attendance at a game this year after a 3+ month break since the club finals last October. It was enjoyable with mild weather and a good size crowd, although the football could have been better. But it is early days yet and the ground is still heavy.

In the first half the Mayo defence was a shambles, but Roscommon could not take advantage of this which meant that Mayo went in a half time only trailing by a point. This piece of luck was a major contributory to them eventually winning the game.

In the second half, however, Mayo started to play a bit more controlled.  Up front Horan bucked a trend and put out a full forward line without any tall timber with Ronaldson at number 14. That said, both Varley and Ronaldson played well. Ronaldson in particular showed signs of what he would be able to do when the ground gets firmer later in the  year and has surely must be in the reckoning for the number 15 shirt. It is good to see so much competition for places in this area as Varley will have to fight off others for the other corner. And with Alan Freeman to return, this forward line is looking good. Kilcoyne showed he still has it when introduced late in the game. Benson, although he had a part in the goal,  he didn't do enough in this game to be considered.

Competition continues in the half forward line with Cathal Freeman putting in a good performance. Ian Rowland came in and out of the game in patches but showed good vision at times to pass the ball to a player in a better scoring position.
Midfield was not great. Jimmy Kilcullen was the better of the two of them and was unlucky to be replaced before Moran. Barry Moran is one of these players that a lot (maybe most) Mayo people see a lot more in him, than I do. I keep waiting for him to fulfil a potential but again yesterday I was disappointed.  Gibbons was good when he came on and is a midfield option.

At half back Ruairí O'Connor was best and adds to the competition for a wing back place. Howley made a very brave tackle in the second half which is the sort of commitment that will be required come big championship games later in the year. However, I was not impressed with the performance of Keegan. He was frequently out of position and when his opponent was in possession he followed him meekly and made limited attempt to stop his progress.

Keith Higgins showed that he a sure thing for Mayo 2011. Good defending, man marking and positional sense, and good runs forward to initiate a counter attack.  I think he could be a good option for number 6. Although corner back is one position on the team where there is less competition for places so he might be needed back there.
Killeen showed some good full back play in the second half, but also made just as many errors.  But with good coaching, if he could work on that, he could be an option there.

O'Malley was not called on for any saves, thanks to Roscommon poor shooting, but kick outs didn't always find a teammate. Perhaps the midfield pair had something to do with that.

All in all, a good outing for Mayo, turning a game they should have lost into a game they won easily.  (I still don't understand why Roscommon threw in the towel after the Mayo goal when there was still 20 minutes left). It was a good trial for a number of players.

[AbbeySider]

I dunno, I think a lot of ye are being overly critical of Mayo's opening half. The first quarter was poor, particularly from a defensive point of view but surely that is almost inevitable when you make fifteen changes and have a back six who never played with each other before and some who might not even be on first name terms? I thought Mayo's performance was encouraging when all that is taken into consideration.

I dono. Suggesting guys are not being on first name terms is a bit of a stretch as they are all training and had just as much exposure of each other as the new guys that played last week. In fact, I thought the forwards on Sunday played more like a unit, passed it around more and were more structured than what we saw against GMIT so its all relative R&GS.

Ronaldson was wasteful at the end but, to be fair, he was on fire and probably felt he was going to get those scores. And I've seen him score from those positions. In a tighter game I would hope that he would play the percentage option.

Ya he scored 1-07 so I would have no complaints with himself or Varley, who worked his socks off.

I thought Cathal Freeman was very good right through, even when Mayo were under pressure early on. His crossfield ball to Trevor Howley from the left-corner after about 20 minutes was sublime vision. And while the pass left Howley a bit of work to do, his bravey led to Mayo winning a free seconds later.

Freeman played in spells in the first half. In the second half he was coming very deep looking for the ball and in turn hadnt much penetration although it appeared he got on a lot of ball. His use of possession was good, ill give him that but I wouldnt fancy any half forward playing as deep as he did.

Of the new lads I'd like to see a lot more of David Killeen, James Kilcullen, Cathal Freeman and Andrew Farrell, of those that started. Ronaldson, Varley and Higgins showed up well too.

Kilcullen didnt win a kickout and im not sure if he won a brake. His distribution and decision making was good though, but it took him a while to get up to the pace of the game. I hear he is based in England which isnt ideal but id hope he would get some confidence, more fitness and improve from here. Killeen started badly and im not sure if it was Shine that lost interest in the second half or if Killeen got the better of him. He is good in the air and solid in a tackle but a fast forward would burn him. I thought Farrell was mediocre apart from a good point and block down in the second half. He looked slightly off the pace and didnt provide much of an option off the shoulder to guys in possession. Number 5 for Roscommon was killing us winning the brakes. But again these experiences will count for a lot and he is still U21 so there is lots of room and time in his career to improve and push on.

I hope im not being to negative but sometimes a win like that can cover up the cracks. I just thing there is a lot of room for improvement in certain areas.

[western exile]

Ronaldson was wasteful at the end but, to be fair, he was on fire and probably felt he was going to get those scores. And I've seen him score from those positions. In a tighter game I would hope that he would play the percentage option.

He appears to favour his right foot, and one of those shots towards the end were taken from a position and angle most difficult for a right foot kick. But the game was won then so he had a go.

[RedandGreenSniper]

I dono. Suggesting guys are not being on first name terms is a bit of a stretch as they are all training and had just as much exposure of each other as the new guys that played last week. In fact, I thought the forwards on Sunday played more like a unit, passed it around more and were more structured than what we saw against GMIT so its all relative R&GS.

Last week was against a weak enough GMIT side, the Roscommon team yesterday was stronger so that was always going to be a step-up, especially for such a raw defence. As for first name terms, maybe that is a stretch but would Keith Higgins be too sure about who David Killeen is? A lot of new faces and they're only training a couple of weeks. The forwards did play better and I think much of that came down to Cathal Freeman, in both halves. He was centrally involved in at least three of the first half scores and was on the ball as much as any Mayo player. As for him coming deep, I wouldn't worry too much about that. He's a creative player and the more he gets on the ball, the better, same applies with Alan Dillon and the likes.

Kilcullen didnt win a kickout and im not sure if he won a brake. His distribution and decision making was good though, but it took him a while to get up to the pace of the game. I hear he is based in England which isnt ideal but id hope he would get some confidence, more fitness and improve from here. Killeen started badly and im not sure if it was Shine that lost interest in the second half or if Killeen got the better of him. He is good in the air and solid in a tackle but a fast forward would burn him. I thought Farrell was mediocre apart from a good point and block down in the second half. He looked slightly off the pace and didnt provide much of an option off the shoulder to guys in possession. Number 5 for Roscommon was killing us winning the brakes. But again these experiences will count for a lot and he is still U21 so there is lots of room and time in his career to improve and push on.

I hope im not being to negative but sometimes a win like that can cover up the cracks. I just thing there is a lot of room for improvement in certain areas.

The bottom line is games like this, the win isn't really important, it is the performance of individuals and Sunday was a good day from that point of view. And I'm basing what I am saying on players on what I saw on Sunday combined with what I have seen of them in the past. James Kilcullen looked a bit off the pace to start with but came into it. You'll do very well to find a more physical player in Mayo club football and while he didn't do well in the air, he was on a very decent player in Kevin Higgins who also plucked the one ball ahead of Jason Gibbons that came his way. Kilcullen has something to offer as a physical presence beside someone like McGarrity (playing well) as a balanced midfield in my opinion. But, it is early doors and he would need to come on a bit from Sunday. The thing is that he can, because he has it in him.

We'll have to agree to disagree on David Killeen. Granted, Shine has no pace but Killeen still played him very well and won a few balls which were not easy won in the second half. But for Ballinrobe I saw him keep Aidan Kilcoyne in his pocket in a championship game against Knockmore and Kilcoyne is no slouch across the ground. He started badly but, in his first ever Mayo start at any level, nerves probably played a big part there.

Andrew Farrell is a very good prospect in my opinion. He's only 19 so we'll hardly see too much of him this year but his workrate and appetite make him certainly one for the future and I think he had a solid start.

I hope I am not being too positive in the same way as you think you are being too negative. Of course there are areas to work on. And that will remain the case for quite some time. What yesterday showed us is this - we have another creative half-forward line option (Freeman); more midfield options (Kilcullen and Gibbons); a long queue of people for the full-forward line (and decent quality in that respect too) and another option at full-back. What we don't have, or are even close to having at the moment, is a centre-half back, in my opinion. Keegan is a good player but too loose for the centre, maybe better on the wing. Early doors, a lot of work to do but an encouraging start nonetheless.

[rosnarun]

i dont think you can overestimate the unimportance of these games. they really are just dressed up friendly where new players are given a run in the county jersey to show the can reproduce a little of what they can do in training , which is what horan will use when deciding on his panel . remeber mayo were world beeater untill the league final last year and even the by that stage the FBD was ancient history.
I personally dont think there will bew that manyu chages in the mayo team straight away esp the forward line
i would expect it to be built along the l;ine as before with Dillion A moran C Mort  A Soé S soé  and A Freeman being the men to move and that thats 6 players in itself then you have P harte A kilcoyne A O'malley enda Varley Ronalson TMort and B Moran another 7, all of whom would be disappointed not to start, before you get into the new guys .

an one for a forward line of
jason doherty c o'connor a campbell  c freeman a farrell N douglas( iknow there are others too )
I Just hope Horan has a plan or philosophy and not let the sheer number of possibiites confuse him.
it certainly does me

[saffronandblue]

It's about time the likes of Andy Moran, Kilcoyne, Ronaldson delivered.  They all have potential, but I fear they will never deliver on it.  Their club form, never mind their county form was poor last year.  I sat beside a beleagured Shrule man last year when they were playing Tubber and Ronaldson kicked wide after wide after wide.  My own club man was no better against Castlebar and don't get me started on the ever present Andy.

C. O' Connor is where it's at, and from what I hear, our other great white hope has shed a couple of stone and is shaping up nicely for the coming year.

Killeen impressed me last year when I saw him and I believe that he might well be worth an extended run in the team, it's not like we have loads of option in the FB berth.

[muppet]

It's about time the likes of Andy Moran, Kilcoyne, Ronaldson delivered.  They all have potential, but I fear they will never deliver on it.  Their club form, never mind their county form was poor last year.  I sat beside a beleagured Shrule man last year when they were playing Tubber and Ronaldson kicked wide after wide after wide.  My own club man was no better against Castlebar and don't get me started on the ever present Andy.

C. O' Connor is where it's at, and from what I hear, our other great white hope has shed a couple of stone and is shaping up nicely for the coming year.

Killeen impressed me last year when I saw him and I believe that he might well be worth an extended run in the team, it's not like we have loads of option in the FB berth.

Now that would be good news.