Mayo V Kerry semi final

[comethekingdom]

Should be a cracker alright - My biggest fear is that we havent had any games with real intensity for weeks - 4 weeks from MF to yesterday , to what mounted as a training game and now 3 weeks again til the Kerry v Mayo match. The structure   of the championship will have to be altered. Kerry learned fcuk all about themselves yesterday - Gooch and Donaghy werent in the game atall. I hope they will burst into life for the SF. Paul Galvin didnt make a massive contribution but the run out will bring him on. There's a pile of talk about The Kerry midfield being poor but Maher & Sheehan did ok yesterday. Seamus Scanlon is coming good, Tommy Griffin is ready for a return too. I still think we have some depth in the squad if problems are exposed especially in the backs. Bohan can be tried and also Enright can fill in in the corner if Tom Sullivan has a poor show. All in all I'd be expecting a Kerry victory but not without a huge improvement in intensity and performance. Afterall this could be last throw of the dice for some of the senior members of the squad!

[Mayo4Sam]

Is Darren not out with a hammer injury?

[comethekingdom]

Is Darren not out with a hammer injury?

On Sport at 7 Jack said they need to wait 24-48 hours for Darran's injury to settle down so they can assess it properly.

[Mayo4Sam]

Be a serious bonus for us if he was out

[comethekingdom]

Be a serious bonus for us if he was out

Aye - for youse yes but disaster for us - he's really flying now. However I think Gooch will burst into life again any one of these days now - remember him v Dublin in the QF 2009?

[Orangemac]

Be a serious bonus for us if he was out

Along with Declan O'Sullivan has been Kerrys best forward his year so would definitely give Mayo a boost if he was out. Having said that Cooper and Donaghy have had quiet championship campaigns to date which would be ominous for Mayo.

Having said that if Mayo compete with the same level of intensity particularly around midfield and get enough runs at the Kerry defence you never know what could happen!

[Mayo4Sam]

He really is flying

Hard for gooch to just turn it on, he's been average by his standards but as they say form in temporary, class is permanent, he's tormented us for close to a decade now

[Kerry Mike]

I would not be surprised if Mayo win this. We are an old team average age is 33. And we have had feck all good games. We struggled past a very over rated Cork team in Munster who were shown up yesterday. I think will not be up for Mayo.

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

I would not be surprised if Mayo win this. We are an old team average age is 33. And we have had feck all good games. We struggled past a very over rated Cork team in Munster who were shown up yesterday. I think will not be up for Mayo.

Close there Kerry Mike, but still Kerry by 2-4 after Mayo sticking in it for 55-60 minutes.

[Tubberman]

I see reports this morning are saying that Darran O'Sullivan and Tommy Griffin should both be fit for the semi-final.
Big boost for Kerry.

[AbbeySider]

Possible Mayo match ups.

Higgins on Gooch,
Cunniffe on Darran O'Sullivan,
Alan Feeney (to come in for Caff) on Donaghy,
Mort on Declan O'Sullivan,
Richie Feeney on Walsh and
Vaughan on Galvin.

While Mort would be the best man for Galvin, he's also the best man for O'Sullivan and I know who I'd sooner see kept quiet. Higgins has the bit of cuteness for Gooch that Cunniffe wouldn't have, the out and out speed battle between Cunniffe and Darran O'Sullivan will be interesting too.

Some very interesting potential matchups there RedandGreenSniper, if it were up to me I would be having a serious look at the match-ups in the league game against Kerry in McHale park back in February.

It could be a case of horses for courses.

Cunniffe did awfully well on the Gooch and he looks to be one of our best man markers at the minute but if Darren is inside I would leave him to Higgins and Cunniffe on the Gooch.

Alan Feeney kept Donaghy relatively quiet in the league too so he could be the surprise inclusion as he is better in the air than Cafferkey. Cafferkey also did very well on Darren O Sullivan in the league but its hard to know will he start, he is a great guy to come in though.

Its going to be hard to pick!

[Mayo4Sam]

There's talk of McGarrity going on donaghy, I hope this isn't the case.
He's not a full back and an AI semi is not the place to try him out there, our backs have proved themselves to date and yes it'll take a plan but I'm sure James can manage that.
I know people will go back to Brady in 06 but in fairness he got away with murder because we were so far behind.
Plus I'd also say that Kerry forward line has more options now than 06, the place to beat them is at midfield IMHO

[blast05]

The 2 O'Sullivans have been playing at full pelt for the last couple of months. I'd find it very hard to see them maintaining the best form they have been ever in right through until late September. On the other hand, the Gooch and Donaghy have yet to hit peak form this year.
My worry is that all 4 will be fully on top of their game on Aug 21st.

[AbbeySider]

The 2 O'Sullivans have been playing at full pelt for the last couple of months. I'd find it very hard to see them maintaining the best form they have been ever in right through until late September. On the other hand, the Gooch and Donaghy have yet to hit peak form this year.
My worry is that all 4 will be fully on top of their game on Aug 21st.

Mayo may be able to contain most of the Kerry forwards but not all of the forwards for the whole game.

[Croí na hÉireann]

In o sheas defence he slipped a couple of times and for whatever reason there was a lot of players slipping across both games today.

And yesterday. Did they relay the pitch again after that concert?

They sure did and it looks like they made an arse of it. Lost count of the number of players who lost their footing over the course of the weekend.