Connacht Minor football championship 2012

[ross4life]

Well done to the Rossies today. And to our lads too, who actually did better than I thought they would. They are a game but limited enough bunch. Hopefully we can find one or two though in there that can step up to the next level.

I don't hold out much hope for our lads against Tipp. The scoring power just isn't there. Roscommon didn't look great today but you still got the impression that they had more in them than was shown. I wouldn't be surprised to see them in Croker on semi final day.

I'd say a few of the defenders will make the step up, for example number 5 Patrick Durcan was excellent throughout.

[Rossfan]

Kevin Finn, Diarmuid Murtagh, Ronan Daly, Enda Smith and Thomas Corcoran are all reliable scoring threats.

Corky , Finn and Smith were deplorable today while Daly wasn't hectic either.
Anyway it was good to beat the Rhus and to do a first ever Connacht Minor back to back plus a first ever U21/Minor double.
However we were poor today and only for some awful wides from Mayowestros we'd have been bet out the gate.
At least we won't be burdened with too much favouriteism v the Kutehoors and sure you never know from one day to the next with Minors ...so maybe we should keep a few days free in September ....

[Syferus]

Admittedly Daly made a few uncharacteristic bad plays today but few half-backs attack with as much pace and purpose as him. Finn is probably playing provider too much for my liking, he's very capable of big scores, Armagh last year being the best example of that. Corcoran I meant as a reliable dead ball scoring threat, he's a primary provider in play. He's calmer under pressure than the vast majority of seniors, nevermind minors. I thought the ref took a disliking to Corcoran today from early on and pulled him up on a lot of niggly fouls.

[Turlough O Carolan]

Congrats to our minors and hard luck to Mayo. Relieved with the win today because Mayo dominated possession in second half. That they could not score from play was as much down to some great defending by Ros as it was to poor shooting by Mayo. We started very brightly and could have been out of sight after 10 mins. We became ragged in second half, looked in trouble and it took a brilliant point from Murtagh to lift us again. Mayo were winning most things around the middle at that stage. We became predictable sending ball after ball up the right wing, mostly mopped up by Mayo backs. Like the senior game, it was a nervy affair and the football on show won't have worried Tipp or Kerry. But good to win while playing poorly and many of these players can do much better. The victory was a great antidote to what was on show yesterday.

[moysider]

Well done to Roscommon. Deserved win.

Not much was expected from Mayo and while they improved a little from Sligo game it was mostly terribly laboured stuff. Plenty of endeavour in the second half but you d have to wonder if that is the best we can produce with all the preparation that goes in to them. We re certainly not producing good teams and it remains to be seen if any individuals are good enough. A 40 minute warm up didn t help much as nobody showed up for first 20 mins of the game - what was that about? I d expect more of the same the next day.

Have to be careful or the Ros supporters will take my unhappiness with underage in Mayo as begrudgery but as a mayoman I m only interested in what we re doing. I never got too excited about our decent underage teams and so no point getting too down about the poor ones. I feel sorry for the players after the amount of effort they put in and for their families who are rightly very proud of them. Minor is really about the players and their family and friends. Most will never play senior and for most it is an end in itself. I just wonder did these lads get the best cut at it.

[Farrandeelin]

Congrats to Roscommon. If only Mayo had done in the last few minutes for the whole game it might be different. Anyway, I suppose Tipp will be fancied to beat Mayo the next time out. I certainly expect them to anyway. Anyone I've spoken to moysider is scathing of Mayo's minor management. I missed Roscommon's first two scores, but 40 minutes of a warm-up is a joke. No wonder the lads were tired early on. Not to take away anything from Roscommon however, they were the best team all through the game and I could never see Mayo getting anything from it. Well done.

[Syferus]

This Adam Gallagher lad looks a great prospect, but I think I found the reason:





Would ye ever stop stealing our players? Ye're literally tearing family apart at this point!