Mayo V Kerry semi final

[Orangemac]

Closer it gets to the weekend the more I think one of the semi finals will not go to script.

If Mayo hunt and tackle with the ferocity they did against Cork and stay in the game until around 50 minutes they have a chance. Kerry can be ran at in defence and Doherty if starting is due a goal.

The problem for the Mayo defence is that they were able to thwart Cork as their game plan involved breaking tackles and offloading to runners coming onto the ball, Kerrys forwards are cute and inventive enough to create their own opportunites.

Colm Cooper is due a big performance. If Mayo can keep him reasonably quiet they have a fighting chance on Sunday.

Would agree that Mayo cannot afford a bad start against Kerry though.

Whats the latest on Galvin's injury BTW broken strap on his manbag was it?

[moysider]

I was just reading in another thread about the "well-organised" Mayo defence - we didn't look too well organised when we were 1-4 to 0-1 down after 15 minutes against Cork.

I'm not trying to be negative but if we do that against Kerry, it will be nigh on impossible to come back from it.

Any rumours on the team??

Exactly. ' well organised' just doesn t mean anything. It s just noise. As you correctly say we did not look so secure in first 15 minutes. But I would be hopefull that management have learned their lesson - in fairness they have shown good cop on all year. Likes of Horan and Nallen must know that the same early innocence - no extra men behind ball/ being turned over carrying ball, and hit on the counter - will be a disaster. I think we will be set up better from start the next day. We have to be.

[Dinny Breen]

' well organised' 

It was a prediction not a statement of fact, bloody hell you Mayo people are odd-balls..

[macdanger2]

Looks like the team was announced tonight, should be available tomorrow......Sounds like Varley and Caff are the ones most at risk of losing out (excluding injuries)

From the Mayo News: http://www.mayonews.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13479:mayo-team-to-be-selected-on-tuesday&catid=14&Itemid=100008

INJURED Mayo duo Trevor Mortimer and Peadar Gardiner will both undergo fitness tests tonight (Tuesday) in an effort to prove that they are ready to play some part in next Sunday's All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry.
The pair have been receiving daily treatment for the last week on their respective quad muscle and hamstring injuries, but James Horan admitted last night that the chances of them recovering in time for Sunday are 'tight'.
"If they train on Tuesday then that's a good sign for the weekend," the Mayo manager told The Mayo News. Westport's Lee Keegan is believed to be on standby if Mortimer fails to recover in time
Mayo are selecting their team after training tomorrow night, and it is expected to be released to the general public on Wednesday.
The Mayo News understands that Jason Doherty is pushing hard for inclusion at the expense of Enda Varley while Alan Feeney, who picked up a knock to his ankle over the weekend, may also come into the reckoning for a place in the defence.
David Clarke, who damaged knee ligaments nine days ago in a club game and is due to undergo a scan on the injury this week, is almost certainly out of contention for a place on the bench. Kenneth O'Malley, who trained with Mayo last weekend, is expected to be the new reserve goalkeeper.
Meanwhile, competition for places among the match-day replacements has also intensified with Trevor Howley, Neil Douglas and Jason Gibbons all in the frame for a spot among the eleven substitutes.
The Mayo squad trained last Friday in Castlebar before convening in Westport on Saturday evening for a team meeting. They also played out a very competitive 'A' v 'B' game on Sunday morning.
"Sometimes Mayo teams have a tendency to look at the strength of the opposition but we've been looking at our areas of strength," said James Horan
"Against Cork, I think we only played well for 50 minutes really so we need to push that out for 70 minutes. If we do, and play with the intensity that we did, plus a bit more, we'll be very competitive."

[moysider]

' well organised' 

It was a prediction not a statement of fact, bloody hell you Mayo people are odd-balls..

Of course we ll be organised, but it doesn t mean it ll be good enough. And as the Danger pointed out, we took a while to face the music v Cork. We cant afford to have fluffer time the next day.

Not only is that a prediction it is also a statement of fact. Unless it is maybe only a prediction and a statement of fact if we win but only a prediction if we lose.

I dont put much store on the notion of 'well organised'. It s a basic concept. It s a bit like making sure you re kids and pets have enough to eat.  Most teams at any level are well organised now. We have had four years of one of the best organised managements you could hope for. And boy were they organised. Great organisation but nobody seemed to have factored playing football in. The result was like the mass beachings of dolphins or whales. Deliberate and well-organised? Yes. But disasterous for the poor team/pod that followed the leader.

[ross4life]

IMO Mayo should keep the same back line, yes they had a few shaky moments at the start v Cork but they were solid there after. Talk of Alan Feeney coming into the FB line hmm i'm not so sure, Doherty will probably get his starting place back again.

18/1 for Kevin McLoughlin to score a goal & Mayo to win if you fancy history to repeat itself.

[maigheo]

I see Noel Connelly is making a case for Donal Vaughan to mark Donaghy which may not be a bad idea as he has some experience of playing in the full back line and when Donaghy switches with Dec oSullivan Vaughan will be able to follow him out the field.For this reason I cannot see Feeny displacing Caff as he is an out and out fullback and the matchup with Dec o Sullivan could be a nightmare for mayo.I agree with moysider about the lazy analysis of 04 and 06.You would think that 15 Mayo players just decided not to bother trying in the biggest game of the year.

[AbbeySider]

Y'know I don t think JOC will be putting too much value on those past wins. If this Mayo team is different then the difference is management. Mayo has always taken a simple approach to football( sometimes you d be forgivin for thinking a simpleton's approach). Even with a practical man like Liam O Neill the team had a flambouyant heart. It was the way the people and the board preferred, even it guaranteed lack of success. O Connor knew he had little to worry about with Sir John. John did a lot right but selection and tactics were his achilles heel and everybody knew it by 04/05. He often left his best players off in the later stages of the championship and in the case of Kevin O Neill, just didn t pick them at all, because he didn t think they were good enough. For all his good things, simple judgement betrayed him. In his column a few weels ago he was still making the case that Trevor was a better forward and Kevin McL a natural back. I guess you see things or you dont. ( Mairtín McHugh has been talking the same shite all Summer. I d forgive him cause he s only winging it about us but he needs to get a new mole in Mayo).
By the 06 final M&M hadn t a hope. I would not be hard on them. The board had abandoned them months earlier and in the 'March to the Hill' the players moved on as well. Management did not set up the team at all for the 06 final. Pity M&M have not talked about it but it looked like the senior players decided how to play it with disasterous consequences.
So management have to make a difference this time. Mayo did not lie down in 04/06. That was just lazy shite from people that are too lazy to inquire or ask the right questions. We re talking about defenders like Heaney, Nallen and Ruane that you would send out to play for you re life. I m sure most Mayo people would prefer them to Caff, Vaughan and say Cunniffe. But we still have to face the 3 amigos that killed us in minutes in 06. Donaghy, Gooch and Declan O Sull. So how can we do any better than the boys of 06?
  But it is unlikely that our defenders will be hung out to dry this time. We lost mid field early in 06 and had no plan to get men behind the ball. Even after a good start in 04 we left our defenders scrambling one on one. Much like Tyrone were left against the Dublin backs the last day. You can t defend quality players like that and I doubt we ll try the next day. The Mayo teams of 04 and 06 were mature with a lot of quality but for the most part badly let down preparation wise. As well as the lads mentioned we had likes of McDanger who would be some player to have now in a team with the current attitude. The difference this year is management. That does not mean we are going to beat Kerry but I expect to make it tougher for them. They ll go for the early kill again but we have to park the f**king bus in front of the posts - even if we are winning midfield. We ll be criticised for it but it s better than being laughed about for playing nice open stuff and losing and making likes of Gooch and Declan O Sull look better than they are. And they are great. I expect us to make them earn their win the hard way and very late, if they re going to win. They should be made scratch and claw for everything. If Donaghy and Gooch are moaning and bitching with 5 to go we won t be too far away.

+1
Good post Moy

[diehard]

I dont want to hear anymore references to the 04/06 team 'giving up' or 'lying down' in Croker or any bullshit like that.  It is deeply disrespectful to those lads who did their level best but were simply not good enough for one of the best teams ever to play in Croke Park.  Enough!

[Frank Casey]

Kerry team to be announced tonight at nine. Tune in to www.yerra.ie.

[Dinny Breen]

' well organised' 

It was a prediction not a statement of fact, bloody hell you Mayo people are odd-balls..

Of course we ll be organised, but it doesn t mean it ll be good enough. And as the Danger pointed out, we took a while to face the music v Cork. We cant afford to have fluffer time the next day.

Not only is that a prediction it is also a statement of fact. Unless it is maybe only a prediction and a statement of fact if we win but only a prediction if we lose.

I dont put much store on the notion of 'well organised'. It s a basic concept. It s a bit like making sure you re kids and pets have enough to eat.  Most teams at any level are well organised now. We have had four years of one of the best organised managements you could hope for. And boy were they organised. Great organisation but nobody seemed to have factored playing football in. The result was like the mass beachings of dolphins or whales. Deliberate and well-organised? Yes. But disasterous for the poor team/pod that followed the leader.

The context I was using well organised was in a prediction, looking into the future and giving reasons why Mayo won. Well oragnised in a defensive sense to me is that each and ever player knows their teams's defensive system, but the key is that they know their role and their responsibility in that system. Against Cork despite the early blitz the Mayo players remained committed to their system and their roles within it, that to me is a good sign and if Mayo beat Kerry a well-organised committed defensive effort will be a key component.

[Croí na hÉireann]

Am convinced that Mayo will win this one. Jist have this hunch gnawing away in my head that despite Kerry having the best players in the land that (like Tyrone), they haven't learnt the lessons of 2010.

As for their "injuries", please lads don't even bother commenting on them,  pure yerraism, they will all be like spring lambs next Sunday.

I am going to call it for Mayo.

Me too. They appear to be serious workers and very organised, no rábáil football .


If I was James Horan I would read this article to the players before every training session


http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2011/0622/1224299383646.html

GAA : No Connacht county will win the All-Ireland title this year and, in fact, they don't look anyway close to winning one. That's what makes their provincial championship so valuable, writes Dara o Se.

They're (Mayo) football-mad and you always got the feeling that if they could harness it, you'd be in trouble.

What a patronising t**t.

Have to disagree with ye lads, think the Kingdom are on a mission this year to get back to the AI final after not making it last year and they will edge it. They have one of the best managers in the country who has defeated Mayo in three big championship games before.

That said Mayo have an excellent manager in Horan and I don't see more than 3 points in the difference. Trevor Mortimer being fit though is crucial. He did an excellent job on the Cork playmaker, Paddy Kelly, and is best placed to mark the Kerry playmaker, Declan O'Sullivan. I do expect Mayo to make hay down the middle though where Kerry are weak. If Tommy Griffin is fit I'd put him straight back in full back and move Marc O Sé out to center back. Hard to believe Marc is 31 with the way he is moving this summer.

Y'know I don t think JOC will be putting too much value on those past wins. If this Mayo team is different then the difference is management. Mayo has always taken a simple approach to football( sometimes you d be forgivin for thinking a simpleton's approach). Even with a practical man like Liam O Neill the team had a flambouyant heart. It was the way the people and the board preferred, even it guaranteed lack of success. O Connor knew he had little to worry about with Sir John. John did a lot right but selection and tactics were his achilles heel and everybody knew it by 04/05. He often left his best players off in the later stages of the championship and in the case of Kevin O Neill, just didn t pick them at all, because he didn t think they were good enough. For all his good things, simple judgement betrayed him. In his column a few weels ago he was still making the case that Trevor was a better forward and Kevin McL a natural back. I guess you see things or you dont. ( Mairtín McHugh has been talking the same shite all Summer. I d forgive him cause he s only winging it about us but he needs to get a new mole in Mayo).
By the 06 final M&M hadn t a hope. I would not be hard on them. The board had abandoned them months earlier and in the 'March to the Hill' the players moved on as well. Management did not set up the team at all for the 06 final. Pity M&M have not talked about it but it looked like the senior players decided how to play it with disasterous consequences.
So management have to make a difference this time. Mayo did not lie down in 04/06. That was just lazy shite from people that are too lazy to inquire or ask the right questions. We re talking about defenders like Heaney, Nallen and Ruane that you would send out to play for you re life. I m sure most Mayo people would prefer them to Caff, Vaughan and say Cunniffe. But we still have to face the 3 amigos that killed us in minutes in 06. Donaghy, Gooch and Declan O Sull. So how can we do any better than the boys of 06?
  But it is unlikely that our defenders will be hung out to dry this time. We lost mid field early in 06 and had no plan to get men behind the ball. Even after a good start in 04 we left our defenders scrambling one on one. Much like Tyrone were left against the Dublin backs the last day. You can t defend quality players like that and I doubt we ll try the next day. The Mayo teams of 04 and 06 were mature with a lot of quality but for the most part badly let down preparation wise. As well as the lads mentioned we had likes of McDanger who would be some player to have now in a team with the current attitude. The difference this year is management. That does not mean we are going to beat Kerry but I expect to make it tougher for them. They ll go for the early kill again but we have to park the f**king bus in front of the posts - even if we are winning midfield. We ll be criticised for it but it s better than being laughed about for playing nice open stuff and losing and making likes of Gooch and Declan O Sull look better than they are. And they are great. I expect us to make them earn their win the hard way and very late, if they re going to win. They should be made scratch and claw for everything. If Donaghy and Gooch are moaning and bitching with 5 to go we won t be too far away.

Neither do I. Just pointing out he has comfortably worked out how to play Mayo before and he will look to do so again. I would agree with the rest of your post as well, good analysis.

[Lar Naparka]

Y'know I don t think JOC will be putting too much value on those past wins. If this Mayo team is different then the difference is management. Mayo has always taken a simple approach to football( sometimes you d be forgivin for thinking a simpleton's approach). Even with a practical man like Liam O Neill the team had a flambouyant heart. It was the way the people and the board preferred, even it guaranteed lack of success. O Connor knew he had little to worry about with Sir John. John did a lot right but selection and tactics were his achilles heel and everybody knew it by 04/05. He often left his best players off in the later stages of the championship and in the case of Kevin O Neill, just didn t pick them at all, because he didn t think they were good enough. For all his good things, simple judgement betrayed him. In his column a few weels ago he was still making the case that Trevor was a better forward and Kevin McL a natural back. I guess you see things or you dont. ( Mairtín McHugh has been talking the same shite all Summer. I d forgive him cause he s only winging it about us but he needs to get a new mole in Mayo).
By the 06 final M&M hadn t a hope. I would not be hard on them. The board had abandoned them months earlier and in the 'March to the Hill' the players moved on as well. Management did not set up the team at all for the 06 final. Pity M&M have not talked about it but it looked like the senior players decided how to play it with disasterous consequences.
So management have to make a difference this time. Mayo did not lie down in 04/06. That was just lazy shite from people that are too lazy to inquire or ask the right questions. We re talking about defenders like Heaney, Nallen and Ruane that you would send out to play for you re life. I m sure most Mayo people would prefer them to Caff, Vaughan and say Cunniffe. But we still have to face the 3 amigos that killed us in minutes in 06. Donaghy, Gooch and Declan O Sull. So how can we do any better than the boys of 06?
  But it is unlikely that our defenders will be hung out to dry this time. We lost mid field early in 06 and had no plan to get men behind the ball. Even after a good start in 04 we left our defenders scrambling one on one. Much like Tyrone were left against the Dublin backs the last day. You can t defend quality players like that and I doubt we ll try the next day. The Mayo teams of 04 and 06 were mature with a lot of quality but for the most part badly let down preparation wise. As well as the lads mentioned we had likes of McDanger who would be some player to have now in a team with the current attitude. The difference this year is management. That does not mean we are going to beat Kerry but I expect to make it tougher for them. They ll go for the early kill again but we have to park the f**king bus in front of the posts - even if we are winning midfield. We ll be criticised for it but it s better than being laughed about for playing nice open stuff and losing and making likes of Gooch and Declan O Sull look better than they are. And they are great. I expect us to make them earn their win the hard way and very late, if they re going to win. They should be made scratch and claw for everything. If Donaghy and Gooch are moaning and bitching with 5 to go we won t be too far away.

Good post moy.
You are dead right about the importance of good management. I have long been a disciple of Saint James; there's lots of things I might not be confident about come Sunday but I'm certain that poor management will not cause us problems.
Like I said before, the tactical battle on the sideline could well be the decisive factor; Jack is a master of his art but James hasn't put a foot wrong yet.

Sir John was a superb organiser by all accounts; he hadn't a friggin' clue about man management. M&M brought a lot of good things to Mayo football but they left their team behind in the process. As the '06 campaign went on, it became increasingly obvious that the senior players were ignoring the duo on the sideline. The kickabout in front of the Hill before the semi was clear evidence of that.
As for the last incumbent of the managerial office, the less said the better. No doubt he meant well and paid attention to every detail—except what was going on in his players' heads. He had more geeks and tweaks than you could shake a stick at but a laptop never pointed a fifty yet.
Right now, there's nowhere to hide and no reason for doing so either.
It will be fifteen against fifteen on the field and one against one on the sideline.
I'm happy with that; let's see what happens.

[Jinxy]

I see Noel Connelly is making a case for Donal Vaughan to mark Donaghy which may not be a bad idea as he has some experience of playing in the full back line and when Donaghy switches with Dec oSullivan Vaughan will be able to follow him out the field.For this reason I cannot see Feeny displacing Caff as he is an out and out fullback and the matchup with Dec o Sullivan could be a nightmare for mayo.I agree with moysider about the lazy analysis of 04 and 06.You would think that 15 Mayo players just decided not to bother trying in the biggest game of the year.

It would be a very bad idea.
Let him pick Donaghy up if he comes out the field but keep him away from full back.

[seafoid]

I see Noel Connelly is making a case for Donal Vaughan to mark Donaghy which may not be a bad idea as he has some experience of playing in the full back line and when Donaghy switches with Dec oSullivan Vaughan will be able to follow him out the field.For this reason I cannot see Feeny displacing Caff as he is an out and out fullback and the matchup with Dec o Sullivan could be a nightmare for mayo.I agree with moysider about the lazy analysis of 04 and 06.You would think that 15 Mayo players just decided not to bother trying in the biggest game of the year.

It would be a very bad idea.
Let him pick Donaghy up if he comes out the field but keep him away from full back.

J
inxy

How come you don't have a slot on the Sunday Game?
Do you have any smart casual outfits`?