Dublin v Mayo - AISF

[ballinaman]

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

Did you not read any of the pre-match articles before the Down game, the general opinion was a very tight game, with only one pundit going for Mayo, Mayo come out and blow Down apart, playing well and putting up a great score, now the mood has changed to Down are shite, ye cant have it everyway. Mayo can only play the teams laid out for them, as for easy......... look pre-back door.........

That might be hard for some up that way.....

[Lar Naparka]

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.

[Hound]

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?

[rosnarun]

didnt kerry just have to play clare in 97 to get to the semifinals?

[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.

[bucko]

Typical crap being spouted by pundits/analysts. Before the weekend Donegal had given Down a hiding in the Ulster final and were being tipped as All Ireland contenders. We hammer Down and it's more along the lines of "Down were poor" and "Mayo had the handy route". Amazing how two teams defeat the same opposition by similar margins and 2 completely different opinions are cast of them. Sure I suppose we should expect nothing else from the "experts" at this stage.

[Hound]

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? 

[Crete Boom]

 Should be a great game. Always look forward to playing the Dubs in a big game in Croker, the place is always rocking when ever they're are involved this late in the championship.
  From a Mayo perspective we have a huge hole to fill with Andy's injury. He was central to our attack plan but one man's misfortune is anothers opportunity! It looks at the moment as if Alan Freeman is the man in line to make the step up but a lot could happen in the next few weeks. I hope he gets his chance cause I think he's definitely got the talent to take this opportunity. What we will have to do if he's picked is vary the ball into the fullforward line to take the pressure off him cause it's obvious his confidence is at a low ebb at the moment. If we pick Cillian and Mick Conroy either side of him the I think they are both well able to win their own ball. Also Dillion's workload will increase but sure he seems to be enjoying his football at the moment and Croker suits him so I'd have no worries about him stepping up. Dillion , Mcloughlin and O'Connor will be our key men up front and if the Dubs tie these three to any extent I think they'll be half way there to putting us out.
For the Dubs they have the opposite to us in that Alan Brogan should be back for them. When fit ,this season and last, he's definitely turned into the player he always promised to be and more. A fully fit Brogan will be a handful for any of the teams left and how we deal with him will be a top priority. Personally I give Lee Keegan the job and move Donie onto Paul Flynn another man who's key for the Dubs and we'll need to curtail. Kevin Nolan has to be up there with Flynn as the top performing Dub in the championship to date. He's been a real warrior and popped up with some great rallying scores in the last two games so who we pick at centre forward is going to be key.
  It's too tight to call and while the heart says Mayo I just don't know but I do think Dubs are being harshly written off at the moment and I wouldn't question their hunger to rubber stamp their place in history with back to back All Ireland titles. It'll probably boil down to how we deal with Brogan and the loss of Andy and I can't wait.
Mhaigheo Abu

[Crete Boom]

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

[Tubberman]

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.

[Farrandeelin]

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.

[sans pessimism]

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.

Down beat us as well

[TyrionLannister]

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?

[squire_in_navy_slacks]

id love whelan and brady to tog out for this one 

[moysider]

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.