Dublin v Mayo - AISF

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

Has anyone ever had such an easy route to an AI semi than Mayo have had this year?

Yep, Cork for one.
Mayo had one easy and one hard game on their way to the Quarters, while Cork had one hard and one easy to get to the same place. Same difference.

Are you comparing Sligo to Kerry?

Sure any team Mayo beat in Croke Park must be fairly useless, isn't that how the theory goes.

Is this the theory that Mayo lads seem to be the ones who talk about it the most?

Down did collapse pretty spectacularly after a good Mayo team went well ahead. Both Dublin and Mayo have certainly experienced what Down experienced in the not too distant past.

With Kerry gone, I think Mayo can safely forgot about their Croke Park hoodoo. They must have a pretty decent Croker record against the other 3 teams left. Have they beaten all 3 in their last Croker championship meetings?

Donegal bet us in 1992 and I think that was our last meeting in the championship

And beat us in league final in 2007. We have a poor record against them actually.

Yip Kerry used be the team that made me most nervous in the Championship and Donegal the team that always does us in the league. I know the league is not the greatest indicator, but alot of recent beatings at the hands of Donegal in the league has to be a better indicator than the 1992 Championship Semi-Final (both however do suggest advantage Donegal).

* Dublin are the ones we have to beat and whoever wins from Dublin V Mayo have to be as concerned about Cork as Donegal at this point in time.

[ballinaman]

I heard we were like a beaten dressing room after the Down match as the enormity of the implications of Andy s injury sank in. The Irish Times report suggests that Horan was fairly depressed by it and I dont blame. Morale cant be great at training tonight. We badly need a boost from somewhere and maybe the gloom will lift over the next couple of weeks. Right now I m not really looking forward to this one.

I was about 6 rows away from Andy when it happened and it was fairly sickening. Hoped it was a medial ligament but feared the worst. Awful for Andy, he'll be gone for the full year, met a few Ballagh lads after and they were even more sickened than me.
Freeman is able to win a ball but just doesn't have the vision that Andy has, take the pop pass for Doc's goal or the quick pass for the 3rd goal.

I'd say i'm one of the few Mayo lads who has seen Dublin in 3 championship games( Wex,Meath,Laois), Alan Brogan back for them is huge. They don't have the same bite as last year that being said and I think we'll give them a right rattle, no fear of them anyways.

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

id love whelan and brady to tog out for this one 

Whelan seems a much sounder lad on the tv than he ever did on a football pitch. I really rather see Andy Moran and Alan Brogan play, they both would light up Croke Park.

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

Donegal are a major bogey team for us in fact. They hammered us in Ballyshannon in the league this year. One of the flattest performances since Horan took over.

Were you in Ballyshannon deelin?

He was I think and so was I. It was a bloodbath. We did better in a challenge in Swinford against them in May.

And they hammered us in Ballyshannon with only 14 players for 50 mins

They battered us in midfield but the real rot set in from our ff line after we started fairly well and Varley had scored a Jimmy Burke type goal. We couldn t hold onto the ball and Donegal moved it back the length of the pitch. With 20 to go we were practically handing the ball back to them everywhere. A nightmare and we recovered well from it.

With Andy gone it s a recurring nightmare now. I m finding it hard to see us patch up that full forward line to make it competitive. There are options but I m not convinced by any of them to be honest.

I heard we were like a beaten dressing room after the Down match as the enormity of the implications of Andy s injury sank in. The Irish Times report suggests that Horan was fairly depressed by it and I dont blame. Morale cant be great at training tonight. We badly need a boost from somewhere and maybe the gloom will lift over the next couple of weeks. Right now I m not really looking forward to this one.

Moysider I was the same after the Down match. A few of the lads could not believe how down (no pun intended) I was after we hammered Down, they were "cheer the f**k up lad, ye just won by 12 points, ffs". But it still felt like we had lost, without Andy. But I think there are plenty of leaders in that team now, and Andy will be there to inspire them. We have a good set of forwards now, and its a brilliant opportunity for the other lads to step up. F**k it, it could be the moment we build for an AI next year or the one after, a great team would have a back up for the likes of Andy, maybe this is our chance to find ours.

[ross4life]

I heard we were like a beaten dressing room after the Down match as the enormity of the implications of Andy s injury sank in. The Irish Times report suggests that Horan was fairly depressed by it and I dont blame. Morale cant be great at training tonight. We badly need a boost from somewhere and maybe the gloom will lift over the next couple of weeks. Right now I m not really looking forward to this one.

Moran was smiling and joking with the rest of his team mates on Saturday night i was surprised he wasn't more down after a injury like but i guess he believes in team to deliver without him.

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

I heard we were like a beaten dressing room after the Down match as the enormity of the implications of Andy s injury sank in. The Irish Times report suggests that Horan was fairly depressed by it and I dont blame. Morale cant be great at training tonight. We badly need a boost from somewhere and maybe the gloom will lift over the next couple of weeks. Right now I m not really looking forward to this one.

Moran was smiling and joking with the rest of his team mates on Saturday night i was surprised he wasn't more down after a injury like but i guess he believes in team to deliver without him.

I think he might be of the opinion that Mayo aren't a one trick pony and its begining to feel that way a little, but lets see what the current All-Ireland Champions have to say about that first.

[ross4life]

I heard we were like a beaten dressing room after the Down match as the enormity of the implications of Andy s injury sank in. The Irish Times report suggests that Horan was fairly depressed by it and I dont blame. Morale cant be great at training tonight. We badly need a boost from somewhere and maybe the gloom will lift over the next couple of weeks. Right now I m not really looking forward to this one.

Moran was smiling and joking with the rest of his team mates on Saturday night i was surprised he wasn't more down after a injury like but i guess he believes in team to deliver without him.

I think he might be of the opinion that Mayo aren't a one trick pony and its begining to feel that way a little, but lets see what the current All-Ireland Champions have to say about that first.

It's his leadership your going to miss more than anything else. I remember the Ruislip game last year everything was going wrong but Andy carried you through. Mayo have come along way since that game Horan and the players deserve immense praise.

[seanog]

Andy will be a massive loss, i doubt you'll get anyone disputing that, it is very tough on him, a great lad , fantastic footballer , as good an ambassador for Mayo as captain as you could ever wish for.


How can there be any positive in this , the only thing is i think he will become a massive influence in team spirit and guidance and that will be to Mayos benefit.   He is a fantastic individual but the vibe i've always got off Andy was , it's all about the team , his determination will be the same for Mayo s progress.

Dublin are very beatable , they've dragged a few results out this year , the opposition they've faced all lacked belief.  Like a lot of games this could be won in midfield, Barry Moran is having a faultless season so far, AoS is more than capable of a big performance. It's anyones guess how we will set up the forwards for the next one, personally i'd like to see Seamie o Se at 11 and Coc maybe at 14.

Whatever way horan decides to set up the startin  15 , i'll have faith in it, he has hardly put a foot wrong so far. If we can burst that dublin net a couple of times, i reckon will pull this off. Really proud of Mayo of late, great spirit about this set up.

[From the Bunker]

Lads, hearing loads of rumours from different people that 2/3 players have been ask to join the Mayo squad. Probably bull!

[maigheo]

There are posters over on the Hogan stand saying that a certain Crossmolina forward was invited on to the panel but declined.It probably is B.S . but just wondering who the other players are?

[the Deel Rover]

There are posters over on the Hogan stand saying that a certain Crossmolina forward was invited on to the panel but declined.It probably is B.S . but just wondering who the other players are?

Probably Willie joe and jinkin Joe .

[hondacounty]

Anyone watchin this team evolve should know better than to read that rubbish. JH & Co have a job to do and I assume are hard at work, FFS forget about the history channel. Is kirby home from Chicago?

[macdanger2]

Great to be in back to back Semis, haven't done that since 96 / 97 I'd say?

Yeah Down were poor but perhaps they were made look poor. I saw them in the league and even though they beat us, they looked poor that day - mighty forwards but no midfield or backs that evening.

Moran is a huge loss but I thought Dillon was our best player on Saturday and would possibly have been a bigger loss - everything went through him, he really drove at the Down backs and played in some great ball. Without Andy to win it though, we could struggle. On the other hand, it gives some other lads on the panel the opportunity to step up to the plate and show that they're good enough.

Good enough to beat Dublin? Depends on which Dublin shows up - the Dublin of recent games or the Dublin of last September. We're good enough to beat the former but not the latter on evidence to date. Interesting that the odds have shortened from 8/15 in to 1/2 already and I'd say they could shorten further. I fear we could dominate possession, fail to put them away on the scoreboard and get hit by a late sucker

Honestly, I think Donegal or Cork will win it but it would be great to have a shot at it......

[moysider]

I m still gutted. There is no silver lining to this cloud.

Samuel Beckett must have been a Mayoman. ' you must go on, I can't go on, I ll go on'

Samuel would know how I feel. Pity he died.

[Lar Naparka]

I m still gutted. There is no silver lining to this cloud.

Samuel Beckett must have been a Mayoman. ' you must go on, I can't go on, I ll go on'

Samuel would know how I feel. Pity he died.

Stuff the begrudgers moy, we ain't bet yet!
If Jimmy Horan is half the man I think he is, he'll have fifteen on that field at any given time that'll ask no quarter and show no white feather from beginning to end.
From goalie out to midfield, all the lads have been doing what can be expected of them and a fair bit more besides.
Up front, Dillon is back to his best, McLoughlin is flying and Conroy is finding his feet at long last. Same goes for O'Connor and indeed the same can be said for the others who started and, for that matter, those who came on last Saturday as well.
Gan dabht ar bith, Andy's absence will be felt but it doesn't necessarily mean that we're a beaten docket before the off.
Strength in adversity is the name of the game now.
You know as well as I do that when a team has a man put off, the others can raise their game and, as often as not, can overcome the deficiency through grit and determination alone. Andy won't be playing next day but I'm certain that those who are can raise their game and will do so for him as well as for themselves and their county.
It's game on, moy, not game over.
Keep the faith!