Mayo V Kerry semi final

[Sam2011]

Just looked at a bit of the match there again and David Coldrick was a joke of a ref. The lines men were no better either.
James Horan was right to say they needed to be assessed.
Obviously the ref took into account the comments Jack O'Connor made about Mayo's tackling before the game. He gave away a lot of soft frees to Kerry in the first half. Whereas Mayo really had to earn their frees. The Kerry backs where always pulling the the Mayo's forwards jerseys which the umpires should have noticed. Andy Moran should have got a peno 'cause Marc O'se was hanging off him when he hit the post. Also the amount of time Kerry wasted taking their frees was a joke when you think young Cillian O'Connor took 40 odd seconds in Hyde Park in gael force winds in his first Connacht final to take his and was then taken away from him. At one stage the Kerry players didn't know who their free taker was just to waste time.
How Mayo had 15 men on the pitch at full time is beyond me. I think the reason why Aidan O'Shea didn't get sent off was because Paul Galvin was over dramatic when fell down .He went to hold the back of his head first when it was the side of his head that got the elbow. The lines man should have clearly seen Keith Higgins knee Darran O'Sullivan. I don't know where the ref was when Donal Vaughan hit one of the Kerry players but i'm sure one of the officals should have seen it.
David Coldrick and the other officals were a disgrace.

[Kerry Mike]

will you hould onto the name for another year for the craic ?

[GalwayBayBoy]

DARRAGH Ó SÉ

THE MIDDLE THIRD: Colm Cooper's genius helped Kerry overcome Mayo and if Dublin adopt a high-tempo game they can overcome dogged Donegal to clinch a coveted final place against the Kingdom

A GOOD semi-final win can calm a lot of minds. People in Kerry were getting a bit edgy and a bit worried going into last Sunday purely because they hadn't had any top-quality opposition to overcome on the way there. It was playing on everyone's mind going in and it made people nervous. In the end, the nine-point win was down to that nervousness. Kerry wanted a big performance and they got it.

Above all, they got it from Colm Cooper. Most players are just normal. They have to do what their bodies allow them.

I've often been in training sessions that were going badly or played on teams that were losing and have heard the word coming from the sideline to work harder and to lift it and get into it. And at the back of your mind, you're always thinking, "Well feck you anyway, this isn't just a matter of flicking a switch and suddenly everything will work like it's supposed to".

Except with the Gooch.

He's one of the few people I've ever seen who can do that. He can just flick a switch and make it work and when he does, it's usually game over. No better example than the goal he got on Sunday.

A few things stood for me about his goal. The first was that he'd no right to get it. That ball into the Canal End belonged to either the Mayo goalkeeper or the full back, but Colm got in there and caused enough disruption for it to hop clear of them.

The second was that when it did, a point would have been plenty.

Watch where he was when he collected the ball into him – on the 13-metre line, facing Hill 16, with three Mayo defenders and the Robbie Hennelly between him and the net. Most players would have just hooked a shot over their shoulder and taken an easy point.

But the Gooch wanted a goal to suck the life out of Mayo who had just got one down the other end.

The third thing was his balance.

That particular area of Croke Park is by far the slippiest part of the pitch. From the end-line out to the 21 can be like an ice-rink at times. They've managed to rectify the problem with the rest of the pitch, but you still see lads slipping down that end the whole time. I'm not much of an expert now, but I'm convinced it's something to do with the fact that it's the last bit of the field that gets the sun in a day.

Go back over the last few years and think of the incidents of fellas slipping at that end of Croke Park at crucial times. Darren O'Sullivan slipped kicking a penalty in 2009. Eoin Kelly of Tipperary slipped when he was taking a shot for goal against Kilkenny in the 2009 final.

Even watch the Gooch's goal again from Sunday and keep an eye on Hennelly – just as Colm turns Tom Cunniffe, the Mayo goalkeeper slips and goes on his hands and knees for a split second. If it was a road it would be an accident black spot.

But the Gooch is like a cat. He doesn't fall. He tells his body what the story is and unlike the rest of us, his body listens. The angle of his turn left Cunniffe standing, the balance meant he could turn tighter than anyone expected and the whip on his turn made the space for him to get a shot away on his left foot. He made that goal out of nothing at all. He flicked a switch and the game was over.

Mayo were in the game at half-time, but I felt that was because Kerry did a lot of messing about with the ball out around midfield. Time after time, they took a hop and a solo before delivering it in. You have no idea how much damage that does to the runs being made inside. It meant the Mayo defence had time to set themselves and so the forwards inside looked worse than they were. Whoever Kerry meet in the final, that ball has to go in quicker.

Kerry's defence had a great day. People have questioned a lot of them, from Brendan Kealy in goal all the way up. But they all played well. Kealy has had a massive job on his hands taking over from Diarmuid Murphy but he's come on an awful lot.

Aidan O'Mahony had his best game for Kerry for a few years, Killian Young was back to his 2007 form. Tomás Ó Sé came through the hamstring problem he'd had at the start of the week and drove on and Eoin Brosnan showed everyone who's been waiting for the shoe to fall off that he's well capable of playing at number six.

Paul Galvin really stood out when he came on. His discipline was very noticeable because Mayo were laying it on pretty hot and heavy.

I've given James Horan plenty of credit here for what he's done with Mayo in his first year, but I thought they overdid the cynical stuff on Sunday. They were fouling out the field, slowing the play down, interrupting the rhythm of the game and throwing in some desperate tackles that caught players high at times. And when Galvin came on, they were lining up to provoke him.

But he just played his game and played it very well. Even though David Coldrick – who I thought had a poor game – was basically sending a message to the Mayo players telling them they could do as they wished, Galvin just got on with it. His industry and bravery diving in for those balls was ferocious and he lifted the tempo of the game every time he got involved.

When you consider that he's coming in out of the cold without having played a full game for Kerry for a couple of years, giving the run-around to someone like Trevor Mortimer, who has had a super year, was some achievement.

Last week, I wondered how Mayo would use their Plan B in Ronan McGarrity without really thinking about Kerry's Plan B in Galvin. Jack O'Connor used him to perfection and as a result, McGarrity had no effect on the game.

Anthony Maher and Seamus O'Shea were the two stand-out midfielders on show on Sunday. Bryan Sheehan suffered the same downfall as some of the other Kerry players in that first half in that he didn't get the ball into the forwards with the pace needed to break down a defence that is trying to clog the whole thing up.

That won't do against Dublin or Donegal in the final

[AbbeySider]

What's the story with Shane Nally? I thought he was the most likely young player to make it as a top quality senior player. Other than Cillian O'Connor I haven't seen a Mayo underage forward in the past few years who I felt would make it as a serious senior footballer .

Darren Coen might

[Bomber2312]

watching the game again, horan made a huge mistake playing feeney in the corner....o'leary gave him a roasting! would love to know how many possesions that he had during the game

[Kerry Mike]

So sorry, we should have told ye about Kieran O'Leary 

[Bomber2312]

Everyone is well aware of Kieran O'Leary, my question related to a player who is a half back and played there all year was placed in the corner.

Nothing worse than a smug winner

[Kerry Mike]

not a bit smug about me, but if you want me to start....

[REDCOL]

Shane Nallys form dipped for about a year, back playing well the last couple of months. The Hollymount-Costello Lads reckon that Coen is going bad at the moment but I think he will regain form also. Shaughnessy from Claremorris could have a chance in a year or two.  Kilmaine have a big young lad at full forward Murphy could improve with coaching has a lot of attributes

[Shrewdness]

Wow, I am little bit shocked at the amount of Mayo posters suggesting they are happy with the performance.

If ye are happy with that performance, then it tells a lot about the mentality in Mayo. And it certainly is not a 'winning mentality'. When this kind of attitude, ye will never win an AI. If Kerry were in Mayo's position yesterday, do you think their fans would be happy with the performance?

I have to agree with mckieran's comments. A lot of Mayo people i spoke to since Sunday seem almost proud of the fact that they only lost by 9 points.
The reality is that Mayo were a well beaten team long before the end,and for the last 25 minutes, it began to resemble a training session.

But it's not just Mayo. Many Roscommon people were wallowing in the fact that they were within 3 or 4 points of a spent force like Tyrone after 55 minutes. The fact that the crap was beaten out of them after 70 minutes seemed to be almost incidental.

We've just seen our provincial champions beaten 9 points by Kerry, which tells me that Connacht Football is in a bad place right now.

[Shrewdness]

Was talking to JH last nite, he was v disappointed as he felt Kerry were there for the taking and he could have switched markers on gooch

There isn't a man in Mayo that can mark Gooch. He destroys them anytime he plays against them in Croke Park.

[FL/MAYO]

Shane Nallys form dipped for about a year, back playing well the last couple of months. The Hollymount-Costello Lads reckon that Coen is going bad at the moment but I think he will regain form also. Shaughnessy from Claremorris could have a chance in a year or two.  Kilmaine have a big young lad at full forward Murphy could improve with coaching has a lot of attributes

A friend of mine told me a couple of years ago that Shane Nally would be a future captain if Mayo, I was wondering where he had gone to this year.

[spuds]

Shane Nallys form dipped for about a year, back playing well the last couple of months. The Hollymount-Costello Lads reckon that Coen is going bad at the moment but I think he will regain form also. Shaughnessy from Claremorris could have a chance in a year or two.  Kilmaine have a big young lad at full forward Murphy could improve with coaching has a lot of attributes

A friend of mine told me a couple of years ago that Shane Nally would be a future captain if Mayo, I was wondering where he had gone to this year.

21s last year played Nally at MF and McLoughlin at CF, not a big success. Nally had the look at minor to be an outstanding wing back and a leader, would be great for him to fulfill on his potential.
Another lad that impressed me was Keith Rogers at FB in 2009 AI minor final, not heard much of him since.

[blast05]

Another one .... Michael Forde. Minor last year and a starter with U-21s this year. Called into senior panel a few weeks before London game but dislocated his shoulder a week later in Connacht junior semi v Ros. Looking at a comeback in new year.

[muppet]

Shane Nallys form dipped for about a year, back playing well the last couple of months. The Hollymount-Costello Lads reckon that Coen is going bad at the moment but I think he will regain form also. Shaughnessy from Claremorris could have a chance in a year or two.  Kilmaine have a big young lad at full forward Murphy could improve with coaching has a lot of attributes

A friend of mine told me a couple of years ago that Shane Nally would be a future captain if Mayo, I was wondering where he had gone to this year.

21s last year played Nally at MF and McLoughlin at CF, not a big success. Nally had the look at minor to be an outstanding wing back and a leader, would be great for him to fulfill on his potential.
Another lad that impressed me was Keith Rogers at FB in 2009 AI minor final, not heard much of him since.

Rogers impressed me as well as Keane the year before.

It took Caff a while to come through but I think he showed what he is made of against Donaghy.