Mayo v Dublin

[blast05]

anything in the report about Dublin fans attacking officials?

4 Dublin fans were arrested on the pitch after the match. It seemed that one of them wanted to go over and attack the ref or something. His 'mates' were trying to stop him and a long story short - a bunch of them ended up scrapping with one another and at one stage kicking a guard who was there.
Lest anyone thing this is a tinted view - all the Mayo fans hovering around the incident and goading were a disgrace too. And the speed to which McHale Park maors reacted to the bunch of 40 or so teenagers attempting to get on the pitch prior to the end of the match. And those teenagers were a disgrace for goading at Cluxton, but he should have known better than to react.

Oh yeah, and Mayo win without being clinical, qualifying for the league semi with a game to spare and with serious room for improvement. Few comments:
What the blazes happened Kenneth O'Malley ? Did he bang his head off the crossbar ? Up to that point, it was his least impressive performance to date.
Full back position will continue to be a problem. Kilcullen can only mark a certain type of player.
Enda Devenney was very disappointing. He was so loose that other lads had to try and cover for him leaving an overlap. Sideline should have taken him off sooner. Still, he is better than that and will hopefully return to form.
Conor Mort was a bit too trigger happy.
Things didn't go Austies way but still no excuse for what looked like a lazy approach to working his socks off hen he failed to win possession

For the first 15 minutes, we had a bucket full of point and goal scoring chances and dominated. What was the trigger though that lead to us switching off and Dublin dominating until half time ? In the 2nd half the wides continued in as bad a fashion as i have seen from a Mayo team for years. It was disappointing that we weren't able to improve our kicking to break the rot but after a few wides an extra bit of tension always comes into the kicking technique with the body not as relaxed and it takes that extra bit of class and experience to turn it round ..... so disappointing not to have improved the kicking as the half wore on.

And lastly but by no means least, congrats to Jimmy Nallen - now has more 'caps' that any other player in the history of Mayo GAA, i.e.: league and championship appearances .... takes over from Dermot Flanagan (or am i 1 game too soon for that ?)

[Redgreenery]

Was at the game.
Very poor performance by Mayo in the first half, scored 4 points and then the ball never got up to the full forwards and we lost centre field all the time after the first 10 minutes. At half time it was Mayo0-04 Dub0-09.
The second half came and Dublin had Conal Keaney sent off for a deserved 2 yellows. Dublin didnt score in this half, missed a penalty and then for a period Mayo got into a rythem and put over a good few scores and Conor Mort leveled it.
Then the last 10 minutes came, Mort put us in front then Mayo shot wide after wide after wide. Dublin supporters who had formed their 'hill 16' there disaggreed with the umpire for signaling a 45 for Mayo which was also sent wide. At the end Mayo kept their supporters in a worroying position with the wides but won eventually and shot a total of 14 wides!! C Mort shot 5 of them!
When Dillion came on he instantly had an impact on the game and was also taken down in a dirty tackle.
I was very impressed with our sub keeper Clarke (who came on after K O Malley dislocated his thumb!)
Anyone know what happened to G Brady?? He'd be a huge loss if hes out!
My M.O.M would go to either BJ Padden or D Heaney thought they were brilliant and in the second half Heaney won nearly every ball in centre field wouldnt consider C Mort even though he had a good game he shot too many wides!!!

K O Malley: Dislocated thumb but done well until then. (Sub D Clarke very impressive)
L O Malley had a great game and done very well in defence.
J Kilcullen had his best game yet and played good.
K Higgins quiet enough but overall had a top second half.
E Devenney I get more and more impressed with him everyday, done brilliantly against Keaney while he was on! (Sub A Higgins wasnt on for that long to judge)
BJ Padden Absolutely top calss performance and defended brilliantly and was candidate for M.O.M.
P Gardiner played great but was given a hard time by Colin Moran and was given a yellow for nothing!!
P Harte played one of his best games this year but is still missing somthing. (Sub J Nallen wasnt on long enough to judge)
D Heaney made huge and brilliant effort in mid field and showed he is playing as good as ever!
K O Neill didnt play his best game and only gave a wide to the game but set up a few!!
G Brady went off early in first half for some reason. (Sub A Campbell played a great game and probably should have started!)
A Kilcoyne played very impressive and looks like he could hold his place!!
C Mortimer played a good game overall scoring 4 points but shot 5 wides!
A O Malley wasnt fed much with the ball but should have scored a goal!! (Sub A Dillon made an instant impact on the game when he came on and took a big knock but kept on playing, he showed he is well fit!)
A Moran once again impressed beyond belief but didnt feature as much in the first half as he did in the second!

Overall Mayo impressed in the second half again but are in the semi- final now with a game v Tyrone to spare!

[Lamh Dhearg Alba]

Very strong wind which made it a game of 2 halves....
Dublin missed penalty in 2nd half and Keaney sent off after 40 mins for 2 yellow cards (harsh considering what went on in last nights game and the Club final today - but correct for a 2nd yellow)....Brady/Mortimer one of was lucky not to go for their combined rugby tackle in teh middle...but sure thats life...

Forget the score dubsforsam1...more importantly did the game meet the high aesthetic standards you demand? And whats this about red cards and late tackles? Only 19 points scored too I see, surely you cant be happy with that after taking Tyrone and Kerry to task for only hitting 18 between them on Saturday? Bit of double standards on the go here I think Maybe when Dublin are involved though "thats life"

[blast05]

E Devenney I get more and more impressed with him everyday, done brilliantly against Keaney while he was on!

No while i wasn't able to go to the match and had to depend on watching it on TG4, i find your comment above very hard to understand. Keaney was probably Dublins best player prior to being sent off and as i mentioned, Devenney was so loose, other players were having to cover for him and then their man ended up free for a shot. We need another opinion on this one !

[Redgreenery]

E Devenney I get more and more impressed with him everyday, done brilliantly against Keaney while he was on!

No while i wasn't able to go to the match and had to depend on watching it on TG4, i find your comment above very hard to understand. Keaney was probably Dublins best player prior to being sent off and as i mentioned, Devenney was so loose, other players were having to cover for him and then their man ended up free for a shot. We need another opinion on this one !

I thought he played better than he has especially against a player like Keaney and I was impressed with him and even more after Keaney left the field is all, alright mabye I over-exadurated a bit in the first post!

[From the Bunker]

Dublin have to be worried that they crumbled so much in the 2nd Half. Granted they were down to 14 early on but that was no excuise for such a poor performance. Whelan went hiding again (again) when Mayo upped it and how Shane Ryan was not brought in sooner shows that the Pillar guile on the sideline is (Still) not up to scratch. Mayo will be worried about the (Number of ) wides and Mortimer has a one trick pony feel to him. He's still terrible in front of goal - Just blasts and Hopes! Needs to learn a few one on one tricks. Still Mayo are through and sorted with a game in hand. Kerry, Tyrone and Armagh are out of the picture so there will be one of four licking their lips at the 2nd(?) most important title to be won this year!

[Tubberman]

Great to get the win, and reach the semi with a game to spare.
But our shooting was very disappointing yesterday, we seem to have gone backwards in this aspect. Maybe it was a once off - hopefully.
I wasn't impressed with Devenney either - Aidan Higgins isn't as quick, but looks a more natural and a cleverer defender.
Kilcullen did ok, but I wouldn't have full confidence in him yet. But this is still a relatively new position for him, so he may still be learning his role.
Heaney was excellent again yesterday (apart from a couple of bad wides). He seems to have found new enthusiasm in midfield, and will surely start beside Brady on 20th May.
I didn't think G Brady was injured, he was just replaced. Aidan Campbell had a higher work-rate, especially considering he had played for the U-21s the day before.
Conor Mort did quite well, not as good as the Cork game though. Still our best scoring forward though.
AOM was very frustrating, he hasn't the pace and can't hold on to the ball. Alan Dillon did very well when he came on.
Still a lot of room for improvement, but great to be in a semi.

By the way, Johnno said that D Brady has injured his calf muscle in training - the man is cursed with injuries!

[DUBSFORSAM1]

Very strong wind which made it a game of 2 halves....
Dublin missed penalty in 2nd half and Keaney sent off after 40 mins for 2 yellow cards (harsh considering what went on in last nights game and the Club final today - but correct for a 2nd yellow)....Brady/Mortimer one of was lucky not to go for their combined rugby tackle in teh middle...but sure thats life...

Forget the score dubsforsam1...more importantly did the game meet the high aesthetic standards you demand? And whats this about red cards and late tackles? Only 19 points scored too I see, surely you cant be happy with that after taking Tyrone and Kerry to task for only hitting 18 between them on Saturday? Bit of double standards on the go here I think Maybe when Dublin are involved though "thats life"

Lamh Dhearg Alba

Yes it was a good game of football to watch - lots of scoring chances (not taken though but both teams were concentrating more on attacking then defending)....wasn't happy with all the chances being missed but at least they were being created....There was 1 red card and a few yellow cards - if the ref had used the same decisions in teh Tyrone Kerry game it would have finished about 9 a side....
I certainly wouldn't condone any Dublin player for a late tackle or anything like that.....Cahill in particular being lucky with a high tackle but nothing late...

[Hound]

I thought Keaney was unlucky to get sent off. 99% of refs would have given a black book/ticking for one of the incidents. I'm sure it has happened but its the first time since the ticking was introduced that I personally have seen someone get sent off for two yellows without receiving a ticking also.

In hindsight it would have been better for the Dubs had the ref adjudged Sherlock was just outside the box rather than just in it when he was taken down. Even a point for Dublin could have shifted the momentum back in our favour.

Really did my head in when in the second half Quinn attempted two long range frees into the wind. Quinn is a fine freetaker when the free is within his range and he doesnt have to force them. But these two were out of his range so he really had to lash them which meant losing accuracy. Its just pure stupidity on the managements side that they dont instruct the players to work short frees in such circumstances.

[DUBSFORSAM1]

Hound - surely it would have been better to just put the ball in the net!!!

[OirthearMhaigheo]

Have to say I can't agree with alot of the Mayo players ratings. I'm a fan of Devenney and I think he'll come good but there is no getting away from the fact that he had a poor game yesterday, I have never seen him caught so much for pace. Secondly Keith Higgins was marking Keaney for alot of the game, Devenney started on B Brogan if I'm not mistaken, he struggled on him anyway so not much difference there. G Brady going to be a massive loss?? not on yesterdays showing, he was septic yesterday to be quite honest, never took the right option, Campbell was a massive improvement when he came on. I thought Kilcoyne was only middling yesterday aswell, he's not living up to the expectation just yet, he is talented but he carries the ball into the tackle way too much, this naive sort of play will get destroyed in the summer.
Right that's the negative stuff out of the way (apart from the wides, but that was a bit of a blip given the cross-field breeze), there were some positives to take out of it. Heaney was my MOM, he seems to have a new lease of life again and he's absolutely flying it. BJP did alot of good work, mainly on the ball admittedly, his tackling needs some serious work. K Higgins and LOM were solid, Kilcullen was solid again if not spectacular. In the forwards A Moran once again led the way with some great work and a very good point that got us moving in the second half, K O'Neill did some good work aswell, and I thought Conor recovered well from a shocking first half, even if he didn't have a great day at the office all in all. Austie looked well off the pace but Dillon made up for that when he came on. To be honest the forward unit had a day to forget as we should have won pulling up if they brought their shooting boots. 2 more points in the bag, and a semi-final place assured but this team has an awful lot of work to do. It's no harm to be aware of that at this time of year and yet to still be winning in the process, keeps things ticking along nicely.

[IolarCoisCuain]

Mike Finnerty and Billy Fitz had a story on the Mid-West radio coverage that Dublin claimed sweet revenge for Mayo's little bit of fun with the Hill last summer. It seems that when Mayo arrived at the home team dressing room that the Dubs were already in situ, and had blocked the way with an ice bath.

Anybody know what was the point of this? Don't Dublin have other stuff to worry about? Like football?

[dubnut]

Mike Finnerty and Billy Fitz had a story on the Mid-West radio coverage that Dublin claimed sweet revenge for Mayo's little bit of fun with the Hill last summer. It seems that when Mayo arrived at the home team dressing room that the Dubs were already in situ, and had blocked the way with an ice bath.

Anybody know what was the point of this? Don't Dublin have other stuff to worry about? Like football?

Can we actually get some verification that this actually happened before having a go at the Dubs?? 
Talk about kicking us when were down 

[Tubberman]

If that story is true, it shows that Pillar Caffrey just can't keep his focus on what is important.
That's laughable, taking the Mayo dressing room and blocking the door with an ice bath!! 

[dubnut]

If that story is true, it shows that Pillar Caffrey just can't keep his focus on what is important.
That's laughable, so petty and immature, taking the Mayo dressing room and blocking the door with an ice bath!! 

I would imagine its made up Tubberman, if it were true I would agree.

Probably fair to hold off with the "petty" and "immature" commments and laughing faces until we get some indication it actually happened.

Its very easy to make things like this up and spread the rumour.