Galway v Sligo -June 9th

[moysider]

If anything Mayo could do without another provincial title.

Judging how Mayo supporters streamed out of Hyde park instead of watching the presentation of a first Connacht title won in Roscommon for almost 20 years tells me a provincial title means little to Mayo but after beating Cork,Kerry,Dublin all in the last year losing now will affect that great belief going into the qualifiers.

BTW are the Connacht final loser back out in 6 days again?

ross

The Connacht title means nothing really. It used to get a team into the AISF but now more often than not it guarantees a QF exit. Mayo have to win an all-Ireland for meaningful glory.

Although I would have thought it would mean quite a bit more if you end a drought of five years or more like Sligo/Leitrim could do this year or Galway could do in 2013 than it would to a team going for their third in four years?

Cosmo

When I was 8 I got the Gaelsport annual for Christmas.
Ger Loughnane was in full colour in it and beside his picture was a quote "i would swap my 2 national league medals for one all Ireland medal". 

I'm sure the Mayo players feel the same about Connacht medals.

My take on things is that there is little chance of winning an AI medal unless you re able to rack up a few Connachts with a team in quick succession.

[Lar Naparka]

I'd say the reason why most Mayo people left was cos of the rain. Losers have 13 days this year ross.

Yeah the rain  thanks for the confirmation that's should be plus for the loser then.

Recent underage stuff might suggest that we re trailing behind Galway and Ros on the conveyor belt but it s mis leading as events at senior level this year clearly show. Minor and U 21 results have never been further divorced from a senior indicator - in this province anyway

Have a look at your underage record before Galway,Ros took over the current Mayo senior team are products of that success. Galway have underachieved, remains to be seen what will become of ours, Leitrim won a U-21 title in 1991 (one of the reason why Johno took the job) while Sligo don't need any underage success to succeed at senior level.

I ll put it this way. I know it is disappointing for young lads that play minor etc but I m kinda glad we ve been out of the spotlight in underage in recent years. I grew up with the old  'what happened our great minors' shite. Load of bollocks. Some of our senior panel never played minor for example.

Remains to be seen what will become of Mayo 08-2010 minors (O'Connor the pick of the bunch) but your u-21s won four Connacht titles in a row plus AI between 2006 to 2009 plenty of Mayo's current senior panel are from that success.

I remember looking at the line-up of the Mayo side that won the AI in '06 and I think all of them bar one has gone on to play senior. Not all of them made the transition successfully.
I suppose Mayo are not unique in this respect. The odds are that a talented underage player won't carry his ability with him into the senior grade. Ross are having the same problem as we are in that they have had talented underage sides since winning the minor title in '06 and  just look what happened against Galway this year.
Having good minors won't guarantee they will turn into good seniors but it sure can help. At least the spadework has been done in their case and its up to the development structures in any county to give their youngsters every chance to make it at senior level.
That's why I am very much in favour of the Bekan project. (Has it been shelved?)
No Connacht county has the resources to develop  its own centre of excellence and having a share in a provincial one is better than having none at all.

[Lar Naparka]

If anything Mayo could do without another provincial title.

Judging how Mayo supporters streamed out of Hyde park instead of watching the presentation of a first Connacht title won in Roscommon for almost 20 years tells me a provincial title means little to Mayo but after beating Cork,Kerry,Dublin all in the last year losing now will affect that great belief going into the qualifiers.

BTW are the Connacht final loser back out in 6 days again?

ross

The Connacht title means nothing really. It used to get a team into the AISF but now more often than not it guarantees a QF exit. Mayo have to win an all-Ireland for meaningful glory.

Although I would have thought it would mean quite a bit more if you end a drought of five years or more like Sligo/Leitrim could do this year or Galway could do in 2013 than it would to a team going for their third in four years?

Cosmo

When I was 8 I got the Gaelsport annual for Christmas.
Ger Loughnane was in full colour in it and beside his picture was a quote "i would swap my 2 national league medals for one all Ireland medal". 

I'm sure the Mayo players feel the same about Connacht medals.

And so they should.
Racking up number 44 and then being sent arse over tip  as soon as they venture east of the Shannon won't see bonfires at every cross roads in the county.
I'm sure Galway players would feel the same way.
I'd agree with moysider than winning 3 Connachts in a row would increase the chances of any county concerned but only if the overall standards in the province are quite high to begin with. I'd never turn my nose up at the prospect of winning a Connacht title but I'd never see it as an end in itself..

[seafoid]

I agree with Lar. Connachts are no use if the standard in the province is cat.

The last time that Connacht was competitive but at a high level was from 95 to 02 or something like that.
Mayo should have won an all-Ireland over that time and Galway did win.

[moysider]

I agree with Lar. Connachts are no use if the standard in the province is cat.

The last time that Connacht was competitive but at a high level was from 95 to 02 or something like that.
Mayo should have won an all-Ireland over that time and Galway did win.

So it didn t do us much good then! Sligo pushed us to a point in 97 even though they were not great. A decent only Roscommon almost did ye in 98. If Galway were mediocre 98 we would have had another shot at it, that the thing. The worst thing that can happen is to get a talented crop coinciding with other counties being strong. can only be one winner. TBH I don t think Galway winning in 98 had much to do with Mayo getting to finals in 96/97 even though some may have given some acknowledgement to that effect. That s old soft chat after the fact. The reality was about a group of players arriving at the same time, a bit better preparation and a bit of good fortune which every team needs.

[western exile]

I d look at things differently Lar. I think winning Connacht is very important. We d love to have seen one back in the 70s.
We won a qf last year after winning one. We ve never done f**k all when we lost in the province. If we are ever to win the big one it will be after putting a few Connachts back to back. I don t think the general standard in the province is a factor - just the fact that one team dominates and builds a settled winning team. When Ulster was ultra competitive it didn t mean the winner had such a great advantage. Just look at Armagh s strike rate over the decade they dominated an ultra competitive Ulster. Winning Ulster took a massive effort. Dublin won AI after dominating a poor standard Leinster championship year in year out. In Connacht on a championship day the unfancied team usually gives a good account of itself anyway to test the opposition. I d like to see Mayo be able to put away 3 titles in a row for the first time since the flood to see how it would develop us. I suspect it would be the making of us on the national stage.

The period of Armagh dominance in Ulster was when that province was least competitive. Tyrone were the only team to really challenge them then.  When Ulster was ultra competitive in the early '90s  there was an Ulster team in the All-Ireland final 5 years in a row, winning 4 of them with a different county each year.

Disagree. The province was always competitive but there was a step up in the early noughties. Early 90s yeah Ulster produced 3 AI winners. 3 counties came good at the same time - I don t concur that they fed off each other to any extent - more likely they tripped each other up from maybe doubling up. Remember also that Kerry were gone as a force and Cork and Meath were in decline then. Dublin with all their advantages were flaky. The Ulster teams in the noughties had to beat serious teams. Particularly Tyrone when O Connor took over. In those later years likes of Donegal, Derry and Fermanagh had serious teams.

I usually agree with most of your posts moysider, but I differ on this one.  Cork started '91 looking for 3 in a row - hardly "in decline".  Likewise Meath, after previously winning 2 in a row were back in the final '91 where they scored 1-14 .  Many of the Donegal players have gone on record to say that even though they were in their 4th Ulster final in a row in '92, they would never have won an AI if it had not been for the win the previous year by Down. These are just examples of Ulster being highly competitive and that competition leading to greater success for the province.  Of course, that may not be directly equated to Connacht, but it goes somewhat to agreeing with the point Lar Naparka was making earlier.
Also, the strength of teams like Fermanagh in the '00s is overrated by most Mayo folk, probably because they provided such an obstacle to Mayo on their way to another AI final. Even John Maughan was so beguiled by them that he went there as bainisteoir, until he found out the reality.
Even though the '90s and the '00s produced 4 AI each for Ulster, most of them went to the one team in the '00s which was a period dominated by really only 2 counties, Armagh and Tyrone.  Whereas  the '90s produced 6 different Ulster Champions in and ultra competitive period which lead to 4 All-Ireland to 3 different counties.

[seafoid]

I agree with Lar. Connachts are no use if the standard in the province is cat.

The last time that Connacht was competitive but at a high level was from 95 to 02 or something like that.
Mayo should have won an all-Ireland over that time and Galway did win.

So it didn t do us much good then! Sligo pushed us to a point in 97 even though they were not great. A decent only Roscommon almost did ye in 98. If Galway were mediocre 98 we would have had another shot at it, that the thing. The worst thing that can happen is to get a talented crop coinciding with other counties being strong. can only be one winner. TBH I don t think Galway winning in 98 had much to do with Mayo getting to finals in 96/97 even though some may have given some acknowledgement to that effect. That s old soft chat after the fact. The reality was about a group of players arriving at the same time, a bit better preparation and a bit of good fortune which every team needs.

Between the 1974 and 1996 the only time a team from Connacht got to the AIF was by beating the ulster champions and that only could happen every 3 years.

Ros 1980
Galway 83
Mayo 89
and that was it

I remember 95 and Ross Carr saying Connacht wouldn't get to a final for the next ten years. 
Mayo broke the mould in 96. That head stuff was important.

The matches between Galway and Mayo in the late 90s were unmissable. Every little helps. 

[Lar Naparka]

Right now, Ross and Galway have hit rock bottom but we all know each can do a lot better.  Sligo seem to have re-discovered their self belief and confidence and playing with the same flair as they did in '10. One swallow doesn't make a summer however and no one can foretell what they are going to do next.
Without being unkind, I'd say Leitrim won't be making any waves any time soon so that leaves Mayo.
Again, it's hard to know just how good they are,
So it's a case of all the counties concerned having potential but not utilising it to best effect. That has happened many times before and it's a case of possibilities rather than probabilities when you pause to consider how each of them will fare out in their games yet to come.
There's a good possibility that any or indeed all of them could make it to the QF stage but the probability of any of them going further is rather remote.

Obviously, if all the counties "arrive" at the same time, there can only be one winner but it will make all of them strive harder to be the lucky one. Realistically, I can't see any Connacht county going the distance this year or any time soon unless the overall standard improves greatly.
A stroke or two of luck along the line might upset this prediction but it's a long shot.

[moysider]

I agree with Lar. Connachts are no use if the standard in the province is cat.

The last time that Connacht was competitive but at a high level was from 95 to 02 or something like that.
Mayo should have won an all-Ireland over that time and Galway did win.

So it didn t do us much good then! Sligo pushed us to a point in 97 even though they were not great. A decent only Roscommon almost did ye in 98. If Galway were mediocre 98 we would have had another shot at it, that the thing. The worst thing that can happen is to get a talented crop coinciding with other counties being strong. can only be one winner. TBH I don t think Galway winning in 98 had much to do with Mayo getting to finals in 96/97 even though some may have given some acknowledgement to that effect. That s old soft chat after the fact. The reality was about a group of players arriving at the same time, a bit better preparation and a bit of good fortune which every team needs.

Between the 1974 and 1996 the only time a team from Connacht got to the AIF was by beating the ulster champions and that only could happen every 3 years.

Ros 1980
Galway 83
Mayo 89
and that was it

I remember 95 and Ross Carr saying Connacht wouldn't get to a final for the next ten years. 
Mayo broke the mould in 96. That head stuff was important.

The matches between Galway and Mayo in the late 90s were unmissable. Every little helps.

Maybe, but remember Galway may well have won again in 99 had it not been Mayo having a strong team.

While the head stuff is important I think too much is made of it in Mayo anyway. We often explain away defeats by pointing to the head while the real reasons were selection and tactics. As a football county we have been set in our ways. If posts elsewhere by Mayo posters are anything to go by we re still reluctant to think too much about where we are going.

Likes of Mickey Harte does the real head stuff. He figures out how to beat teams by attacking their strengths and utilysing his players to the teams advantage ( Midfielder McAnallen to fb eg, no Mayo manager would have done that and if he did the public outcry would be epic)- not with guest speakers and brainwashing lads and no tactics. Anyway I digress.
A coach like

[Cosmo Kramer]

I think the difference between now and 96-99 is that if multiple teams of a high standard come through at once in the same province there can be more than one winner as Tyrone/ Armagh and Cork/Kerry showed in the last decade. Back then one beating the other meant an early end to a season for a good team and a huge setback in their development. Now there is the back door if a team is good enough.

There has never been an all Connacht AI semi or final. I would like that to change in the coming years. If the back door had existed in the late 90s there may well have been one then.

[Syferus]

There hasn't even been a quarter-final since 2001 when Roscommon met Galway.

It's never been that Connacht teams have been non-list, even years where not much has been done they're rarely bet by much outside the province. Galway have that horrible record in close games, Mayo the same in big finals. It's always been a mental block more than a talent deficiency. If Mayo or Sligo, and who knows, Roscommon or Galway, were to make some real noise again in the All-Ireland series this year it'll go some way to heal some of the province-wide mental frailties. Roscommon were ever bit a match for Galway in the late nineties and early noughts, and the structures in place in the province at under-age, nevermind the passion and desire, lends itself to similar competitiveness in the future.

[GGD]

Decent crowd by looks of it. The Galway folk must think this team has potential.

8,556 official attendance per Mr Prenty.

I would have added 10,000 to that. Maybe they didn't count the Juvenile tickets.

[GGD]

Anyone know who was doing the commentary on Mid-West? I only listened to a bit of it and he wasn't very good. Bhí Gearóidín Nic an Iomaire ar Raidió na Gaeltachta thar barr, mar is gnáth léi.

Paddy Henry. He was very sick I believe so he's lucky to be doing any. Fair dues to Sligo. They proved all pundits and myself wrong. Where to now for Galway?

Paddy was an analyst for Mid-West, don't know who the commentator was.

[Syferus]

Ah Tad, my old Irish teacher in Nathys. Had a habbit of making jokes about Brad 'Sillagepitt'. What a champ.