Mayo V Kerry semi final

[ballinaman]

Very frustrating to watch. Silly mistakes. Kerry are lethal, can't give Gooch a sniff.

Can't afford to miss those goal chances against a team like Kerry. 9 points was a bit harsh i thought in the end. Arrah...

[From the Bunker]

Mayo can hold their heads up this time. They gave it everything and every man competed right to the whistle.

They Still lost by 9 points, patronising stuff to appreciate a team staying to that score.

What should we say? That the useless Mayo cnuts should be ashamed? Jaysus you can't win.

In 2004 Mayo lost by 8 points and were slaughtered by the media for not trying, how is this different. Its now got to the stage that if Mayo huff and Puff that is enough!

Don''t get me wrong, i'm proud of what Mayo have achieved this year, but to appreciate a team who are provincial champions (no matter how weak that province is perceived) being beaten comfortably by 9 points does no one any favours.

[Kerry Mike]

Savage performance today could see  that coming for a few weeks but work still to be done. There is life in these dogs yet but they know getting to a final is not enough. Have to win it now. 4 weeks of skelping ahead

[cadence]

mayo will know themselves they didn't perform well today. it's a shame, after doing well in the exchanges at the start, they coughed up a lot of ball unnecessarily... and if there was a wrong option to take they took it too often. kerry'll be looking forward to an el classico now against the dubs eh.

[FL/MAYO]

Gooch was class, he always turns it on against Mayo.  The simple passes going astray was hard to watch. We have something to build on fire next year. I'm happy with how our forwards are progressing, they caused problems for Kerry.

[Jinxy]

Too many silly turnovers for Mayo and a midfield with zero pace left them with a serious uphill struggle.
I also thought Freeman should have been taken off with Aidan O'Shea moving to FF.
At least he would have offered a physical presence.
Gooch was a joy to watch today.
I just wish he wasn't such a narky little so and so.

[From the Bunker]

Kerry teach Mayo a lesson

Mayo Advertiser, August 21, 2011.
All Ireland SFC Semi Final

By Colm Gannon, Croke Park

Kerry 1-20

Mayo 1-11




They came in their thousands and thousands from Belmullet to Ballinrobe to Croke Park on Sunday, hoping to see something special. The just over 50,000 who filled the ground did see something special alright, but unfortunately for the massive Mayo crowd who made the trip it was Colm Cooper who was providing the highlights. The Dr Crokes man was simply outstanding for Kerry as they eased their way into yet another All Ireland final by nine points.

Mayo have come a long way since London at the end of May, but not far enough as Kerry in the second half pulled away from them long before the final whistle had blown. But there was hope at stages, a good showing early on had Mayo neck and neck with their opponents, but as the firs half wore on Kerry pushed up through the gears and Mayo couldn't find the torque in the engine to move at the same speed.

Even in the second half when the victors had pushed out into a 0-16 to 0-8 lead with 52 minutes on the clock, Mayo hearts were filled with belief when Cillian O'Connor danced and jigged his way past two men to fire the ball to the back of the net for a truly superb goal, crowning a fine debut season for the Ballintubber man. But that belief was hit with a knock out blow sixty seconds later when that man Cooper some how got his hands on the ball in the Mayo penalty area under pressure and twisted and turned to create enough space to fire it past Robert Hennelly and knock the wind out of Mayo's sails for good this time.

Thoughts of 2006 came flooding back as early as the 30th second when Darran O'Sullivan broke though the Mayo defence only to see Hennelly get his hand to the ball and put it out for a 45. A few minutes later O'Sullivan was through again, this time Hennelly's head did the necessary for Mayo. At that stage Mayo were leading by 0-3 to 0-2 thanks to a brace of points from Enda Varley and one from Cillian O'Connor. That lead was stretched to two in the 18th minute when the excellent Donal Vaughan got his first point of the afternoon. The Ballinrobe man put in a massive shift for Mayo along with the likes of Andy Moran and Ger Cafferkey, but their efforts weren't enough to stop the Munster champions. O'Connor and Darran O'Sullivan swapped points as Kerry began to find their momentum and Mayo tried to keep up with them.

Kevin McLoughlin covered across the back-line in a sweeping role, which hindered Mayo's midfield effort with the breaking ball count going in Kerry's favour all afternoon and putting Mayo on the back foot. Having the Knockmore man placed so far back, also gave Kerry the opportunity to take short kick outs and build from the back. The last 15 minutes of the first half saw Kerry push out into a 0-8 to 0-5 lead with Cooper leading the charge. Andy Moran swung over a great point just before the break to close the gap to two, but the Ballaghaderreen man will look back on the game and rue the fact he could have had three goals to his name if luck was on his side. Twice Brendan Kealy denied him, once in each half and he saw another effort come back off the post midway through the second half.

Kerry picked up where they left off at the start of the second half with Kieran O'Leary and Bryan Sheehan kicking early scores to push the lead out to four points. But Mayo fought back with points from Vaughan and Moran giving the crowd something to cheer about. But the next 12 minutes saw Kerry run riot and kick six unanswered points. They upped their performance levels and Mayo simply had no answer to it. They gave away free kick after free kick as they tried in vain to stop Kerry's flow.

O'Connor's goal did give hope and showed there was plenty of heart left in Mayo, but once Cooper responded with his own three point effort Mayo's breaking point had been reached and there was only going to be one winner. The heart was still there and Moran and Vaughan both had goal chances, but whenever it looked like Mayo might get back into it on the scoreboard Kerry were able to keep the scoreboard ticking over. This defeat will hurt for a while, but Mayo have come on leaps and bounds since last year and even since the start of the summer and when the ball is thrown in next year, there will be a renewed sense of optimism and hope the Mayo players after what they have learned about themselves this year.



Kerry: Brendan Kealy; Killian Young, Marc O Se, Tom O'Sullivan; Tomas O Se (0-1), Eoin Brosnan (0-1), Aidan O'Mahony; Anthony Maher, Bryan Sheehan (0-3); Darran O'Sullivan (0-1), Declan O'Sullivan, Donnchadh Walsh; Colm Cooper (1-7), Kieran Donaghy (0-2), Kieran O'Leary (0-2). Subs: Paul Galvin (0-2), James O'Donoghue, Daniel Bohan, Seamus Scanlon (0-1), Barry John Keane.


Mayo: Robert Hennelly; Tom Cunniffe, Ger Cafferkey, Keith Higgins; Richie Feeney, Donal Vaughan (0-3), Trevor Mortimer; Aidan O'Shea, Seamus O'Shea; Kevin McLoughlin, Alan Dillon, Andy Moran (0-2); Enda Varley (0-2), Alan Freeman, Cillian O'Connor (1-3). Subs: Ronan McGarrity, Lee Keegan (0-1), Aidan Campbell, Jason Doherty.

[Canalman]

Only saw second half, listened to Radio 1 for 1st half, sweet Jesus the commentary was woeful/pitiful................. Ger Canning was awful.

As for 2nd half Paul Galvin was immense, how Mortimer wasn't subbed beggars belief or at least they should have put a man with pace on him. His intro turned game towards Kerry.

Mayo were a big disappointment and as a neutral I kept thinking it a pity that it wasn't a Cork/Kerry match.

Kerry very good, but still I saw a few chinks in their armour today so AIF imo won't be the foregone conclusion many will make it.

Think that on the 2nd half that Mayo will get the one obvious allstar  as some of the other contenders on the team fell away today.

[Cosmo Kramer]

f**k it anyway. Didn't deserve to lose by 9.

For once the pre-game analysis was spot on, we needed to win midfield hands down to have a chance. We were badly beaten in the middle third. Great stuff from our backs kept us in it to half time, but we had to take control of the middle from the start of the second half and we just weren't good enough in that area. There was no way the backs could keep that up all game, no team could do that.

Credit to the lads for fighting on for as long as there was a sniff of a chance that we could produce a late miracle. Didn't get any breaks in front of goal in the last 10 minutes though - had Andy's shot gone in it would have been a cracking finish.

We're still a very young team, we showed plenty of fight all the way through today and we'll certainly be back on that stage again before long. This was no 2004 or 2006. 2011 was still a year of great progress for Mayo, Year 1 of a longer term plan. And there's no point getting to another final until we're ready and able for one. I just hope all that isn't forgotton in the post game analysis.

At least the bandwagoners can get back to their daily lives now anyways, i'll say little or nothing about that ridiculous article in the Sunday World done from Mick Byrnes pub in Castlebar. Couldn't be arsed going to the semis but would have been at the final if we got there.

Do us all a favour and take your vuvuzelas and f**k off lads.

[From the Bunker]

f**k it anyway. Didn't deserve to lose by 9.

For once the pre-game analysis was spot on, we needed to win midfield hands down to have a chance. We were badly beaten in the middle third. Great stuff from our backs kept us in it to half time, but we had to take control of the middle from the start of the second half and we just weren't good enough in that area. There was no way the backs could keep that up all game, no team could do that.

Credit to the lads for fighting on for as long as there was a sniff of a chance that we could produce a late miracle. Didn't get any breaks in front of goal in the last 10 minutes though - had Andy's shot gone in it would have been a cracking finish.

We're still a very young team, we showed plenty of fight all the way through today and we'll certainly be back on that stage again before long. This was no 2004 or 2006. 2011 was still a year of great progress for Mayo, Year 1 of a longer term plan. And there's no point getting to another final until we're ready and able for one. I just hope all that isn't forgotton in the post game analysis.

At least the bandwagoners can get back to their daily lives now anyways, i'll say little or nothing about that ridiculous article in the Sunday World done from Mick Byrnes pub in Castlebar. Couldn't be arsed going to the semis but would have been at the final if we got there.

Do us all a favour and take your vuvuzelas and f**k off lads.

We got a bit too far this year. Not to worry!

[INDIANA]

Overall maybe the day got to Mayo a bit. Thought they were very disappointing.

No answer to the Kerry power surge in the second half.

Kerry look primed to pick up another all-ireland.

[CorkMan]

I feel like I should congratulate Kerry but I can't bring myself to do it. Come on Dublin. If Kerry cough up that many chances against Dublin they'll be punished.

[Cosmo Kramer]

Overall maybe the day got to Mayo a bit.

Load of crap - they were beaten by a better team at this point in time, nothing more than that.

They could have got a few more breaks, but I couldn't fault their effort and don't think they could have put any more into it.

Unfortunately our team simply isn't as good as Kerrys at this stage of its development.

[Jinxy]

If I was a Kerry fan, I would have been worried by quite a few things I saw today.

[From the Bunker]

Overall maybe the day got to Mayo a bit.

Load of crap - they were beaten by a better team at this point in time, nothing more than that.

They could have got a few more breaks, but I couldn't fault their effort and don't think they could have put any more into it.

Unfortunately our team simply isn't as good as Kerrys at this stage of its development.

Agreed, the day did not get to Mayo!