Monaghan v Mayo - Inniskeen, 10th April 2011

[ildanach]

Mayo lacked intensity in the 2nd half and the emptying the bench took away any momentum that we were building after dohertys goal. 2 positives for me from yesterday though were Feeney at full back and Doherty and freeman in the full forward line. Although Doherty wont get as soft a goal come championship time!

I was also very impressed with the set up at inishkeen. great layout and facilities

[moysider]

That s that then for the league. Overall a positive campaign. No 'discoveries' but then there were never goin to be. Lads that had their hands up came in an did well - others that had previous did not do so well. Management are in a good place goin forward to the Championship if they hold their nerve and be bold. The temptation will be to go with an experienced team for the Galway game. That would be a mistake. We need to attack this championship. An experienced team will  revert to type. Horan has done well but then again he ought to be doin well. Playin Caff at 6, Burke7, McLoughlin as an extra back/12. AOS in midfield, Richie Feeney at 5 and bringing in Jason Doherty as well as relegating a few to the repechage was hardly rocket science.  Fellas on laptops with time to kill were ringin those changes. It was all ABC to even a casual observer. Horan's real work starts now. Connacht is far from a gimmie and unless Mayo attack the championship I would fancy Galway to win another anaemic one.

[Lar Naparka]

well you must admit that yesterday Mayo had a washout in midfield. i am not going to run down any lad that is out there but some of them are kidding themselves by training and travelling to these games if they do not bust their asses to hold onto the jersey. freeman,doherty and andy moran have the mentality needed to win, now all we have to do is get the surgeons in castlebar general to use the brain machine on the rest of them. easy peasy.

That's very much the way I am thinking. But I don't see us being at the panic stage just yet.  I think we have the right man at the helm to address the problem. I'd see Sunday's result as a missed opportunity to follow on from the win against Cork rather than a complete disaster.
But the 'Comfort Zone' mentality was there for all to see.
Horan referred to this several times in his Advertiser articles back in '08, I think. I've referred to his comments several times in the past so I don't propose going on about the phenonomen now.
Nobody on the field was willing to take on responsibility and each was content to retreat into his own comfort zone where the intents is to play to one's own strengths and to avoid making mistakes-so nobody is willing to go for a 50/50 ball or to try and keep shape on the players around him. So you may see plenty of deft touches and fancy footwork alright but you'll also see heaps of pointless passing and aimless hoofing. The ball becomes a hot potato to be gotten rid of ASAP.
Sunday reminded me of the game v Meath back in 2008.
We went into that with our strategy based on Aidan O'Shea leading the attack and opening the Meath defence. Not only was this reported in the media but no attempt was made to deny it by management or players themselves.
FFS! with lots of men 10 years or more older and with two AI finals behind them and they were asking a kid who was still waiting his Leaving results to provide leadership!
OK, the display on Sundays wasn't quit that dire and we have a good man to work on it but moysider is right in saying Connacht is far from a gimme right now. Galway are re-grouping faster than I thought.

[AbbeySider]

No 'discoveries' but then there were never goin to be.

Ah Moy come off the pot... "no discoveries" is not exactly the case now is it?
Do I really have to list out all the players tried in FBD and the changes in the league panels from this time last year, or the correlation in previous years?

Horan has done well but then again he ought to be doin well. Playin Caff at 6, Burke7, McLoughlin as an extra back/12. AOS in midfield, Richie Feeney at 5 and bringing in Jason Doherty as well as relegating a few to the repechage was hardly rocket science.  Fellas on laptops with time to kill were ringin those changes. It was all ABC to even a casual observer. Horan's real work starts now. Connacht is far from a gimmie and unless Mayo attack the championship I would fancy Galway to win another anaemic one.

That is pessimism at its best! We had managers in the past who were afraid to make changes and blood new players and find natural positions. When we do get a guy who does that... its childs play?

Some fellas are hard to please...

[muppet]

No 'discoveries' but then there were never goin to be.

Ah Moy come off the pot... "no discoveries" is not exactly the case now is it?
Do I really have to list out all the players tried in FBD and the changes in the league panels from this time last year, or the correlation in previous years?

Horan has done well but then again he ought to be doin well. Playin Caff at 6, Burke7, McLoughlin as an extra back/12. AOS in midfield, Richie Feeney at 5 and bringing in Jason Doherty as well as relegating a few to the repechage was hardly rocket science.  Fellas on laptops with time to kill were ringin those changes. It was all ABC to even a casual observer. Horan's real work starts now. Connacht is far from a gimmie and unless Mayo attack the championship I would fancy Galway to win another anaemic one.

That is pessimism at its best! We had managers in the past who were afraid to make changes and blood new players and find natural positions. When we do get a guy who does that... its childs play?

Some fellas are hard to please...

Most Mayo supporters are beaten before we take the field. Thankfully none of them are playing.

[spuds]

No 'discoveries' but then there were never goin to be.

Ah Moy come off the pot... "no discoveries" is not exactly the case now is it?
Do I really have to list out all the players tried in FBD and the changes in the league panels from this time last year, or the correlation in previous years?

Horan has done well but then again he ought to be doin well. Playin Caff at 6, Burke7, McLoughlin as an extra back/12. AOS in midfield, Richie Feeney at 5 and bringing in Jason Doherty as well as relegating a few to the repechage was hardly rocket science.  Fellas on laptops with time to kill were ringin those changes. It was all ABC to even a casual observer. Horan's real work starts now. Connacht is far from a gimmie and unless Mayo attack the championship I would fancy Galway to win another anaemic one.

That is pessimism at its best! We had managers in the past who were afraid to make changes and blood new players and find natural positions. When we do get a guy who does that... its childs play?

Some fellas are hard to please...

Most Mayo supporters are beaten before we take the field. Thankfully none of them are playing.

Allegedly most Mayo supporters run lose the run of themselves and expect all Irelands

[muppet]

No 'discoveries' but then there were never goin to be.

Ah Moy come off the pot... "no discoveries" is not exactly the case now is it?
Do I really have to list out all the players tried in FBD and the changes in the league panels from this time last year, or the correlation in previous years?

Horan has done well but then again he ought to be doin well. Playin Caff at 6, Burke7, McLoughlin as an extra back/12. AOS in midfield, Richie Feeney at 5 and bringing in Jason Doherty as well as relegating a few to the repechage was hardly rocket science.  Fellas on laptops with time to kill were ringin those changes. It was all ABC to even a casual observer. Horan's real work starts now. Connacht is far from a gimmie and unless Mayo attack the championship I would fancy Galway to win another anaemic one.

That is pessimism at its best! We had managers in the past who were afraid to make changes and blood new players and find natural positions. When we do get a guy who does that... its childs play?

Some fellas are hard to please...

Most Mayo supporters are beaten before we take the field. Thankfully none of them are playing.

Allegedly most Mayo supporters run lose the run of themselves and expect all Irelands

You're right, imagine if they won! We'd have nothing to whinge about.

[RedandGreenSniper]

That s that then for the league. Overall a positive campaign. No 'discoveries' but then there were never goin to be. Lads that had their hands up came in an did well - others that had previous did not do so well. Management are in a good place goin forward to the Championship if they hold their nerve and be bold. The temptation will be to go with an experienced team for the Galway game. That would be a mistake. We need to attack this championship. An experienced team will  revert to type. Horan has done well but then again he ought to be doin well. Playin Caff at 6, Burke7, McLoughlin as an extra back/12. AOS in midfield, Richie Feeney at 5 and bringing in Jason Doherty as well as relegating a few to the repechage was hardly rocket science.  Fellas on laptops with time to kill were ringin those changes. It was all ABC to even a casual observer. Horan's real work starts now. Connacht is far from a gimmie and unless Mayo attack the championship I would fancy Galway to win another anaemic one.

Can't agree with you there moy. Of those changes you believe to have been obvious, I would contend that only Aidan O'Shea further out the field was obvious. Richie Feeney came into the panel this year after excelling in the corner for his club. Everyone in Castlebar believed that his best position had been found and that he had spent too long out of position at wing-back for the club down the years. Horan saw something a lot of them didn't and dispatched him to the wing where he has excelled so far.

Ger Caff' at 6 is something you suggested before but it was far from guaranteed to be a success - indeed it still is not definitely so. Burke is far from guaranteed to be at 7 for championship. Doherty? Had shown good club form and Under 21 form but, in January, he was considered by most people to be 'worth a look' and far from a 'sure thing' for championship. Horan held him back until the Galway game and the result has been very positive. Mayo using a seventh defender makes sense but it was going to require a bit of work to implement as well. McLoughlin was always a good possibility for that position but effecting such a systematic change was never going to be straightforward either.

You are right on one thing - the real work starts now.

[Lar Naparka]

I feel we have potential attitude problems up ahead but we're nowhere near the "Oh, woes is us" stage. Monaghan won't be a push over for anyone in Ulster this year and they were playing  for their pride the last day so that has to be kept in mind. They also had the benefit of a few experienced campaigners who kept the team in shape throughout the game. I don't think we had anyone to do this and it showed.
For me, Alan Dillon is the one I'd look for to act the father figure and we will need him more than ever when summer comes.
I feel McGarrity is growing into the role this season and he also will be crucial for our summer hopes. There are some mighty young players around and, all in all, I think we got a good wake up call last Sunday and it will stand to us in times to come.
James Horan knows the problems and he is the best one to handle them.

[Main Street]

On first reading I thought you wrote, "we have potential altitude problems up ahead".

[moysider]

No 'discoveries' but then there were never goin to be.

Ah Moy come off the pot... "no discoveries" is not exactly the case now is it?
Do I really have to list out all the players tried in FBD and the changes in the league panels from this time last year, or the correlation in previous years?

Horan has done well but then again he ought to be doin well. Playin Caff at 6, Burke7, McLoughlin as an extra back/12. AOS in midfield, Richie Feeney at 5 and bringing in Jason Doherty as well as relegating a few to the repechage was hardly rocket science.  Fellas on laptops with time to kill were ringin those changes. It was all ABC to even a casual observer. Horan's real work starts now. Connacht is far from a gimmie and unless Mayo attack the championship I would fancy Galway to win another anaemic one.

That is pessimism at its best! We had managers in the past who were afraid to make changes and blood new players and find natural positions. When we do get a guy who does that... its childs play?

Some fellas are hard to please...

I didn t mean to sound negative but reading back the post I can see that it could look mealy mouthed enough. Actually I m rather pleased with what has been done so far. What I meant by 'discoveries' was somebody that I never saw before. A rough diamond from a small club that needed a bit of polishing. I didn t expect there to be one. The lads that were brought in. Some may well start in the championship. In a way I probably was havin a cut at the previous man who left these guys out. I also like the way Horan has a practical edge. We stayed in division without showing our full-hand. I would expect that Horan will put out a shape like he did against Cork in the championship. Starting with the Galway game that is. I also suspect that we will train on well this year while other years you got the impression that we were flying in spring and that would be as good as it got. But, back door or no back door, Galway is a must win game. You wouldn't want to be headin to Clones or somewhere like that for a qualifier of a Saturday evening. So I m happy enough. Challenge games aside we ll be guessing what product we re goin to get in Summer. Maybe, because he has actually gone with some stuff I would have suggested it may have looked obvious to me.

[moysider]

That s that then for the league. Overall a positive campaign. No 'discoveries' but then there were never goin to be. Lads that had their hands up came in an did well - others that had previous did not do so well. Management are in a good place goin forward to the Championship if they hold their nerve and be bold. The temptation will be to go with an experienced team for the Galway game. That would be a mistake. We need to attack this championship. An experienced team will  revert to type. Horan has done well but then again he ought to be doin well. Playin Caff at 6, Burke7, McLoughlin as an extra back/12. AOS in midfield, Richie Feeney at 5 and bringing in Jason Doherty as well as relegating a few to the repechage was hardly rocket science.  Fellas on laptops with time to kill were ringin those changes. It was all ABC to even a casual observer. Horan's real work starts now. Connacht is far from a gimmie and unless Mayo attack the championship I would fancy Galway to win another anaemic one.

Can't agree with you there moy. Of those changes you believe to have been obvious, I would contend that only Aidan O'Shea further out the field was obvious. Richie Feeney came into the panel this year after excelling in the corner for his club. Everyone in Castlebar believed that his best position had been found and that he had spent too long out of position at wing-back for the club down the years. Horan saw something a lot of them didn't and dispatched him to the wing where he has excelled so far.

Ger Caff' at 6 is something you suggested before but it was far from guaranteed to be a success - indeed it still is not definitely so. Burke is far from guaranteed to be at 7 for championship. Doherty? Had shown good club form and Under 21 form but, in January, he was considered by most people to be 'worth a look' and far from a 'sure thing' for championship. Horan held him back until the Galway game and the result has been very positive. Mayo using a seventh defender makes sense but it was going to require a bit of work to implement as well. McLoughlin was always a good possibility for that position but effecting such a systematic change was never going to be straightforward either.

You are right on one thing - the real work starts now.

I take your points. But you have to admit that those changes were goin to have to happen and some have worked well - but of course Championship will be the litmus test of this team. They can hardly go any worse than last few years and maybe they ll do a lot better. Anyway he had to change things a lot from Johnno s team. While Johnno took a lot of the blame some players hardly covered themselves in glory either.I hope he goes with most of it anyway.
And Richie Feeney may well end up yet at 2 rather than 7. Aiden O Sé needed to be looked at in midfield after his displays there in U21, and his poor form when asked to play with his back to goal. Caff was always more likely to be a 5 or 6 than a 3 ( if Caff was a rock of a full back he would have been left there, and at the same time there was no 6) while Burke is a 7 only.  McLoughlin is clever and good enough to do a few jobs. There was no way of knowing if things would work but they had to be tried, and so far they have worked well.

[rosnarun]

 
Horan has got a fools pass from the league due to his willingness to experiment and if Doherty Campbell and the 2 feeneys  fullfill the potential they have shown in the league. it will have been worth it . but by any other measure mayo had a very Poor league.
still no full back
a completely porous CHB, Monaghan were waltzing through at will sunday ,
far from burke nailing number 7 i doubt after sunday he will make the panel.. 
no  closer to deciding who our best midfield pairing are .
no freetaker to replace conor . it was laughable in some game to see up to 5 different free takers
A failure to utilize Ronaldson our most skilful player . who shamefully look like he may not make the panel either.
worst of all losing winnable games like V Armagh and Monaghan thought as stated elsewhere mayo sabotaged their chances with a triple substitution maybe shows experimentation was more important than winning

Horan has one more chance to experiment before things get serious but he has a lot of convincing to do.

[AbbeySider]

Horan has got a fools pass from the league due to his willingness to experiment and if Doherty Campbell and the 2 feeneys  fullfill the potential they have shown in the league. it will have been worth it . but by any other measure mayo had a very Poor league.
still no full back
a completely porous CHB, Monaghan were waltzing through at will sunday ,
far from burke nailing number 7 i doubt after sunday he will make the panel.. 
no  closer to deciding who our best midfield pairing are .
no freetaker to replace conor . it was laughable in some game to see up to 5 different free takers
A failure to utilize Ronaldson our most skilful player . who shamefully look like he may not make the panel either.
worst of all losing winnable games like V Armagh and Monaghan thought as stated elsewhere mayo sabotaged their chances with a triple substitution maybe shows experimentation was more important than winning

Horan has one more chance to experiment before things get serious but he has a lot of convincing to do.

Says the man who named Trevor Mortimor on his first round of the championship team, and Trevour Howley at CB on his team Vs Monaghan

Such yahoo stuff

[IolarCoisCuain]

Horan has got a fools pass from the league due to his willingness to experiment and if Doherty Campbell and the 2 feeneys  fullfill the potential they have shown in the league. it will have been worth it . but by any other measure mayo had a very Poor league.
still no full back
a completely porous CHB, Monaghan were waltzing through at will sunday ,
far from burke nailing number 7 i doubt after sunday he will make the panel.. 
no  closer to deciding who our best midfield pairing are .
no freetaker to replace conor . it was laughable in some game to see up to 5 different free takers
A failure to utilize Ronaldson our most skilful player . who shamefully look like he may not make the panel either.
worst of all losing winnable games like V Armagh and Monaghan thought as stated elsewhere mayo sabotaged their chances with a triple substitution maybe shows experimentation was more important than winning

Horan has one more chance to experiment before things get serious but he has a lot of convincing to do.

Tell us Ros, would you ever think of throwing a shot of gin into that bitter lemon of yours every now and again? Might cheer you up a biteen.