Maigh Eo Vs Corcaigh, 29ú Aibreáin 2012 @ 1600, Pairc an Chrocaigh

[macdanger2]

Only 6 days away from a national final and no thread on this yet.........We're on after the minor game so hopefully there'll be a reasonable crowd (20/25k maybe?) there at that stage.

Cork had a 1pt win in Castlebar a few weeks back after Mayo were 5 points up at one stage in the second half. But Mayo had a huge win against Kerry the last day out which will stand to us.

The big questions for James Horan really are in the forwards and particularly at midfield in the absence of AOS. What's the story with SOS, how long more before he's back? BM looked like he might have been carrying an injury the last day so would you be looking at Gibbons and Harte at MF?

McLoughlin and Dillon will probably take two half forward spots and Andy on the 40 or at FF which leaves three spots available.

Conroy / Mort / COC will be in for the two corner positions - or would you move COC out to the 40 to see how he gets on? While they'd be full of football, it would leave an awfully light half forward line so I can't see it working. Varley and Doc will struggle to get a starting spot off those three although I like Varley a lot.

That leaves one central position - CHF or FF depending on where Andy is played. Is Freeman showing enough in training to get back in? BM in at FF again? Or Harte at HF and someone else at MF? Campbell?

Any word on when / if Trevor will be back? It looks like himself and Feeney will be warming the bench anyway - two very good half backs to have in reserve.

I'm out of the country so I won't make the game but it's great to be back in a national final - I hope we can do ourselves proud.

Maigh Eo abu

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Only 6 days away from a national final and no thread on this yet.........We're on after the minor game so hopefully there'll be a reasonable crowd (20/25k maybe?) there at that stage.

Huh? They might be Division II but they aren't a different grade!

[macdanger2]

Well you'd hardly call an auld Div 2 final a major game?? ;P

[Cosmo Kramer]

There was a comment on the Mayo GAA Blog to the effect that Trevor wasn't coming back this year, assuming you meant Mort as opposed to Howley. Don't know what the crack is with Howley or Cunniffe but they'd be struggling to find starting spots at this stage. Unless they get a roasting this weekend I think 1-7 that lined out against Kerry will start the Connacht Semi.

Further up the field is less clear cut and it's hard to analyse how this game might go until we see the teams. Hopefully we get Seamus O'Shea back at midfield, it will be a big ask to win this if we can't get more ball in that sector than we did against Kerry.

However, with a choice of Mort, Conroy, O'Connor, Doherty, Freeman and even perhaps the two Moran's up front we may well be able to put out the second best full forward line in Connacht, after Roscommon, for this one.

[Syferus]

There was a comment on the Mayo GAA Blog to the effect that Trevor wasn't coming back this year, assuming you meant Mort as opposed to Howley. Don't know what the crack is with Howley or Cunniffe but they'd be struggling to find starting spots at this stage. Unless they get a roasting this weekend I think 1-7 that lined out against Kerry will start the Connacht Semi.

Further up the field is less clear cut and it's hard to analyse how this game might go until we see the teams. Hopefully we get Seamus O'Shea back at midfield, it will be a big ask to win this if we can't get more ball in that sector than we did against Kerry.

However, with a choice of Mort, Conroy, O'Connor, Doherty, Freeman and even perhaps the two Moran's up front we may well be able to put out the second best full forward line in Connacht, after Roscommon, for this one.

I'm glad our Sunday school help you learn something new. 

Best of luck to Mayo, seeing as how close the league game was there should be every chance of Mayo hauling in Connacht's first national title of the year. Ahem.

[Farrandeelin]

Hard to look past Cork in this one. Sure didn't they hammer Down in the semi whereas we had to go to extra time against Kerry, and they all had a virus on the day I believe. Could be like 2 years ago again...

[muppet]

2010 we were destroyed by Donncha O'Connor at 11. IIRC we made no switch at 6 until near the end, long after the game was gone. O'Connor is a bit older now and we have a more established 6 so hopefully that won't happen again. O'Connor will probably be at 15 but I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't come out for a while, maybe even right at the start.

We will have a job getting ball at midfield. Our halfbacks are good at winning breaking ball and Andy Moran is a big help in that area but we will need to stop Cork winning primary possession. I don't know who will start for us yet, what state are the O'Shea's in? Also we need clever kick outs from Clarke which is something we haven't been particularly good at.

We got the match ups spot on last year but Cork will have learned from that. It was funny listening to Cork supporters shouting "burn him him Kerrigan, burn him Kerrigan" and then wondering why "him" wasn't getting burned. Higgins might find Kerrigan roaming far away from his corner this time. The Cork FF line is a serious test for the backs but our FB line is the most improved area of the team in the last 18 months, not least because of the emergence of Cafferkey as a quality FB.

Up front I hope they leave Andy at 11 for the year. He wins dirty ball and gives nothing away, exactly what we need there. If fit Cillian O'Connor has to play while Mort and Conroy look in pole position to start. What is the story with Freeman?

Beating Kerry and then Cork, back to back, in Croker is a big big ask for any team. Cork have to be favourites but if we win some ball at midfield and crucially if we stick with them until late on, we can cause a shock.

[Cosmo Kramer]

I'm glad our Sunday school help you learn something new. 

Indeed Syferus, I can only hope now that we get over the Connacht Semi so that I get to see the three Messis in the flesh in Castlebar on July 15th.

Howley at 6 wasn't our only problem two years ago, but a lot of our issues in that game started from there alright. Vaughan is much more mobile and there seems to be a stronger spine to the team now. Win or lose, we have to hope we show a serious improvement on that awful effort anyway. Similarly to playing Kerry we need to go at this for 70 minutes non stop because Cark can do a lot of damage in a short space of time if they get a run on you. However, effort is definitely something we haven't lacked in the last three games so I'm hopeful we can give a good account of ourselves. Realistically the bookies odds of 1/2 and 2/1 seem about right though.

[Crete Boom]

 I think we'll need a start like the last day against Kerry cause we're going to struggle physically in the middle third for periods next Sunday as most teams have this year against Cork. Horan's workrate mantra will really be tested the next day cause Cork like to bully teams into submission using their strength through the spine of their team which creates space for Kerrigan/Sheehan/O' Connor to really punish teams. I don't know what the story is with SO'S but hopefully he's fit because we are really down to the bare bones at midfield. I'd like to see Andy start at full forward for this one and if Seamus isn't fit I'd probably go with the following from 8 to 15:
       Gibbons   Geraghty
Kevin Mac  , Harte , Dillon
Connor , Andy , Conroy.

I'd leave the backs the same as the last day with Keith picking up Kerrigan.

[CorkMan]

Lads I think ye're backs are going to have a hard time containing our forwards. Should be tighter than it was two years ago, but we should be better than last August. Looking forward to a good game.

[Crete Boom]

Lads I think ye're backs are going to have a hard time containing our forwards. Should be tighter than it was two years ago, but we should be better than last August. Looking forward to a good game.

You could well be right Corkman but they're the best we have at the moment as a unit although Richie Feeny and Shane McHale could force their way in before the Leitrim game. I think we'll have to defend from the front really and keep the cheap turnovers of possesion to a minimum which has been a real problem through the league despite our improved performances.

[Sam2011]

From 1 to 7 should stay the same. I'd like to see Higgins take up Donncha as he done fairly well on him in the last game. I'd like Caff on Walsh and Keane on O'Neill. Kerrigan has usually started in the half forward line for Cork this year so I'd like to see Boyle on him and Vaughan and Keegan take up the other to forwards. Providing they are the forwards Cork pick.
Aidan O'Shea said in an interview that Seamus should be back for the league final providing they got there.
So I'd like to see Gibbons and Seamus start in the middle. Anyone know if Harte picked up a serious injury against Kerry? He could also be an option in midfield for Sunday.
I think the half forward line stay the same. We need Andy's physicality there and he's great at picking up the breaks and usually takes the right option. Maybe come championship Andy could move into full forward and Harte replace him at 11 if Harte gets back to his best form.
For Sunday I'd like to see Mort, Freeman and O'Connor in the full forward line. Freeman has been injured for the past few games so I'm not sure if he has fully recovered yet but if available I'd like to see him there.
Also seen on the Mayo News twitter page that they have an exclusive interview with the Mayo captain.

[moysider]

Freeman wasn t togged for semi and when he has played lately he has not looked the player he was until he got injured in the league last year. SOS clearly tore his hamstring v Cork a few weeks ago and rushing him back now wouldn t be wise. Hamstrings are tricky things, especially on big men.

We re defo short of options midfield and forwards for this. If we need to have Andy around the hf line for breaks and stuff ( And I see the sense in that), then we might as well go with 2 inside and get another body around the middle for this one. We ll be absorbing pressure and stopping runners and any ball we get we won t be able to afford to just kick it into a fullforward that hasn t a hope of winning it. It s pointless playing Barry Moran in ff again until his form comes right. There s no point hoping for the best for this one. The corner men have to be Mort and Conroy and there is no point weakening the team by taking either off after 50 mins. COC has been struggling, even at U21 level, and it may be summer before he s back to his best. I d go with an xtra defender in the team for this one and play a running game all the way with a few dinky passes into the corner men to run onto.

Having Harte available would be a bonus but expecting him to go toe to toe as a midfielder has never been a runner imo. Geraghty and Gibbons with Harte as a link player and carrier could be the way to go.

From what I m hearing Trevor will not be back the year.

[Crete Boom]

Freeman wasn t togged for semi and when he has played lately he has not looked the player he was until he got injured in the league last year. SOS clearly tore his hamstring v Cork a few weeks ago and rushing him back now wouldn t be wise. Hamstrings are tricky things, especially on big men.

We re defo short of options midfield and forwards for this. If we need to have Andy around the hf line for breaks and stuff ( And I see the sense in that), then we might as well go with 2 inside and get another body around the middle for this one. We ll be absorbing pressure and stopping runners and any ball we get we won t be able to afford to just kick it into a fullforward that hasn t a hope of winning it. It s pointless playing Barry Moran in ff again until his form comes right. There s no point hoping for the best for this one. The corner men have to be Mort and Conroy and there is no point weakening the team by taking either off after 50 mins. COC has been struggling, even at U21 level, and it may be summer before he s back to his best. I d go with an xtra defender in the team for this one and play a running game all the way with a few dinky passes into the corner men to run onto.

Having Harte available would be a bonus but expecting him to go toe to toe as a midfielder has never been a runner imo. Geraghty and Gibbons with Harte as a link player and carrier could be the way to go.

From what I m hearing Trevor will not be back the year.

Maybe Kevin Mac could play the extra defender role and with his pace running from deep he could cause problems for Cork's defence  and a half forward line of Harte, Andy , Dillion with Conoreen and Conroy inside. With this setup I'd expect Donie/ Geraghty/ Gibbons to do the heavy lifting around the middle, with Kevin Mac and Andy cleaning up any breaks and counter attacking and Harte and Dillion providing the guile/any long range scoring/ distribution to the inside line. This puts a heavy workload on Kevin Mac and Andy but I think it's the best way to tackle Cork and paper over the cracks left by our injuries at midfield.

[ross4life]

However, with a choice of Mort, Conroy, O'Connor, Doherty, Freeman and even perhaps the two Moran's up front we may well be able to put out the second best full forward line in Connacht, after Roscommon, for this one.

I get to see the three Messis in the flesh in Castlebar on July 15th.

Good to see you rate a rossie in Andy Moran & Hanley wasn't a bad player either before he flew away. BTW i was looking forward to seeing the two Messis (Doherty,Freeman) last July in the flesh but i was left disappointed when they were marked out of game by (at the time) Div 4 defenders.

All the best vs Cork enjoy another day out in Croker.