Galway v Mayo Sunday May 19th 2013 - Pearse Stadium

[muppet]

Unfortunately the phrase boys against men would have to be in your mind having watched that game. Galway were physically bullied yesterday by a more seasoned mature team. Before the throw-in Johnny Duane extended his hand towards Alan Dillon for a handshake and Dillon launched a shoulder at him, knocking him to the ground. Not one of Duane's teammates came over to give Dillon even a mild dunt for his troubles and let's face it Alan Dillon isn't exactly a renowned hard man. It summed up the difference in mentality between the sides. Mayo were there for a battle. Galway for a game of football by the seaside.

If you're being bullied by a Mayo team you may as well give up.

Durcan and Magee were lamping Cillian O'Connor before the throw-in in the AIF. The umpires saw and said nothing. I suspect Mayo will have learned the hard way from that.

[ballinaman]

Unfortunately the phrase boys against men would have to be in your mind having watched that game. Galway were physically bullied yesterday by a more seasoned mature team. Before the throw-in Johnny Duane extended his hand towards Alan Dillon for a handshake and Dillon launched a shoulder at him, knocking him to the ground. Not one of Duane's teammates came over to give Dillon even a mild dunt for his troubles and let's face it Alan Dillon isn't exactly a renowned hard man. It summed up the difference in mentality between the sides. Mayo were there for a battle. Galway for a game of football by the seaside.

If you're being bullied by a Mayo team you may as well give up.

Quite enjoyed being described as "pigs to play against" by the Brollox.

[Wildweasel74]

Its so easy to blame a star player if he doesnt play well, Meehan been injured for 3yrs on and off and wouldnt be the player he was again, he playing out of position from his best position full forward. When teams dont go well some players more than others take the blame. people are very hard on paddy bradley when derry lost in the past, missing the small fact he was been double marked most of the time. Clarke didnt score for Armagh yesterday but he not getting the same scorn Meehan is on here.

[Syferus]

Unfortunately the phrase boys against men would have to be in your mind having watched that game. Galway were physically bullied yesterday by a more seasoned mature team. Before the throw-in Johnny Duane extended his hand towards Alan Dillon for a handshake and Dillon launched a shoulder at him, knocking him to the ground. Not one of Duane's teammates came over to give Dillon even a mild dunt for his troubles and let's face it Alan Dillon isn't exactly a renowned hard man. It summed up the difference in mentality between the sides. Mayo were there for a battle. Galway for a game of football by the seaside.

If you're being bullied by a Mayo team you may as well give up.

Durcan and Magee were lamping Cillian O'Connor before the throw-in in the AIF. The umpires saw and said nothing. I suspect Mayo will have learned the hard way from that.

Ye were doing everything but suplexing Sligo players in the last minutes of the Connacht final so I doubt ye learnt those lessons from Donegal.

[Wildweasel74]

Normally when you played the old meath team there was only one bully in town, though i think the current team get walked over by Mayo, they that soft at the minute

[muppet]

Unfortunately the phrase boys against men would have to be in your mind having watched that game. Galway were physically bullied yesterday by a more seasoned mature team. Before the throw-in Johnny Duane extended his hand towards Alan Dillon for a handshake and Dillon launched a shoulder at him, knocking him to the ground. Not one of Duane's teammates came over to give Dillon even a mild dunt for his troubles and let's face it Alan Dillon isn't exactly a renowned hard man. It summed up the difference in mentality between the sides. Mayo were there for a battle. Galway for a game of football by the seaside.

If you're being bullied by a Mayo team you may as well give up.

Durcan and Magee were lamping Cillian O'Connor before the throw-in in the AIF. The umpires saw and said nothing. I suspect Mayo will have learned the hard way from that.

Ye were doing everything but suplexing Sligo players in the last minutes of the Connacht final so I doubt ye learnt those lessons from Donegal.

You don't appear to understand the difference do you?

[An Gaeilgoir]

Not much to add, most has been said already, was with the uncle (a Clonbur man), he mentioned on the way in, how low the Galway ebb was at the moment, he said that if Mayo didn't win by 7-10 points, we might as well forget about August in Croke Park.

There was no joy in watching that Galway team in action yesterday, Kevin Walsh was beside me yesterday, if he was in charge i'm sure we wouldn't have seen such a toothless performance, Mayo need Galway to be competitive and visa-versa.

So on to Mayo, it's early days, but we have shown intent and have laid down a marker, can't ask for much more that that in May.

[moysider]

Have all the photos from the match yesterday uploaded to my online album here; http://pix.ie/mayomick/album/466305

Hmmmmmmm. Syferus also into photography big time over on the photography thread. Hmmmmmm.

[Syferus]

Unfortunately the phrase boys against men would have to be in your mind having watched that game. Galway were physically bullied yesterday by a more seasoned mature team. Before the throw-in Johnny Duane extended his hand towards Alan Dillon for a handshake and Dillon launched a shoulder at him, knocking him to the ground. Not one of Duane's teammates came over to give Dillon even a mild dunt for his troubles and let's face it Alan Dillon isn't exactly a renowned hard man. It summed up the difference in mentality between the sides. Mayo were there for a battle. Galway for a game of football by the seaside.

If you're being bullied by a Mayo team you may as well give up.

Durcan and Magee were lamping Cillian O'Connor before the throw-in in the AIF. The umpires saw and said nothing. I suspect Mayo will have learned the hard way from that.

Ye were doing everything but suplexing Sligo players in the last minutes of the Connacht final so I doubt ye learnt those lessons from Donegal.

You don't appear to understand the difference do you?

If you're going to do that shite you might as well do it at the first minute or before throw-in. You're no better sportsmen if you 'only' do it at the end.

Worked very well for Donegal in 2011 as well, sandwiched Johhny Doyle in the first minute and he away in the clouds for the rest of the day.

[moysider]

Unfortunately the phrase boys against men would have to be in your mind having watched that game. Galway were physically bullied yesterday by a more seasoned mature team. Before the throw-in Johnny Duane extended his hand towards Alan Dillon for a handshake and Dillon launched a shoulder at him, knocking him to the ground. Not one of Duane's teammates came over to give Dillon even a mild dunt for his troubles and let's face it Alan Dillon isn't exactly a renowned hard man. It summed up the difference in mentality between the sides. Mayo were there for a battle. Galway for a game of football by the seaside.

If you're being bullied by a Mayo team you may as well give up.

Meath were bullied by Mayo in the 96 draw. In the replay the ref had to act the mammy to save their arses.

The crooked bollix. I wonder how much he cost?

[muppet]

If you're going to do that shite you might as well do it at the first minute or before throw-in. You're no better sportsmen if you 'only' do it at the end.

Worked very well for Donegal in 2011 as well, sandwiched Johhny Doyle in the first minute and he away in the clouds for the rest of the day.

Who said anything about being a better sportsman?

Doing it at the end to stop an attack which might cost you the game and a title is one thing, doing it before the throw-in is something else. Both are wrong obviously, however the former is more understandable and is not necessarily a tactic.

[Lar Naparka]

Thought COC looked faster and more lively than usual yesterday. Got blocked down a couple of times, though. If he can start hitting more from play he'll be a complete player.

I thought so too.
First time I've seen him play to his potential and I was extremely impressed by what he has to offer. He's a big lad with great positional sense and timing and he can use either foot. He has great composure under pressure and, really, I think he has all the attributes necessary to go from merely good to outstanding.
Okay, the opposition yesterday ws probably the weakest he'll come acropss this season but I was still very impressed by his determination to contest every ball that came near him and his willingness to tackle and harry all through the game.
He has upped his workrate considerably and will be one to watch in the months ahead.

[moysider]

Nothing much to add that has not been said already. From a Mayo point of view it was some day. Some lads at work were moaning about gettin value for money but I couldn t give a f**k. I d rather win like that or anyway rather than lose a classic like we did in 98.

For the first time in my time we have a team we can depend on to show up focused and deliver a performance when it s expected. Management has to take credit here. They dont give a shite if they re favourites or not. Hopefully we learned a few lessons from last year - especially the poor start to the final that ruined us.

We were messy enough in places which gives management ammunition to keep the players focused. Loose passes over the lines on a calm day. Not alert enough on a couple short kickouts. Giving Galway a bit of a window at start of second even though we gave up a winning lead v Dubs last semi. COC also blew a certain goal opportunity while it still mattered. It s a good thing we have stuff to do and really we are not near peaking yet.

There s a chance we ll get a scare the next day or the day after. It s been the nature of things. Win big one day - tight and dour the next. But I d rather go through the province than go on the road. Hopefully we can win easily and stay fresh, but I expect a few ropey moments yet. I don t care if we get a test or not in the province. We don t need one. We ve been in a semi and final in 2 years and they know where they need to be themselves if still around in August. I d say Horan knows his preferred 15 but there are options there if he has to replace players. Also using Cunniffe to mark Cummins yesterday is probably a move he wouldn t have done last year.

As for Galway, I dunno. The regular Galway lads on here would know my views.

If Galway wanted to play the traditional game they should have stuck with the best in the business in Liam Sammon. If Sammon could not win pretty then unlikely anybody else could. Forde tried to play a defensive game but nobody wanted to know. Deccie Meehan said in a newspaper interview that 'if we get teams out to play then we fancy ourselves'. Mullholland was also talking about being true to their tradition.

To be honest I m not too bothered. I know these things swing around more quickly than ye expect and we could be on the recieving end soon enough to Galway. I also don t subscribe to the notion we need to be strong for each other or anybody else either. The important thing in the championship now is to be alive in August and the cushier way you get there the better.Connacht dominance is a means to an end any more and as such is still important.

[macdanger2]

Was at the game yesterday, great result but Galway were awful poor. The simple mistakes they made pretty much ended any chance they had of winning. Mayo were far more intense in pretty much every they did and it's a great credit to Horan & Co to have them in that sort of shape physically & mentally. Great to see Dillon and especially Andy coming back – hopefully they'll be back to close to 100% for the Roscommon game.

Hard to criticise any of the Mayo lads after a result like that, there were a few stray passes which will be punished by better teams though. At times, there were aimless high balls lofted into the FF line which could prove costly in a tight game.

Mayo's tactic of going for short kickouts worked unbelievably well. Considering we have a midfield which you would reasonably expect to at least break even with Galway, it appeared to be a strange tactic but if it works then so be it. From a Galway point of view, Mulholland has to take the blame for doing absolutely nothing to counteract it.

I thought Vaughan did well yesterday – I think he would be better deployed as a defensive / roving half forward rather than in the half backs (with say Caff @ 6 and McHale @ 3) but that's unlikely to happen at this stage.

I recorded the Sunday game and watched some of it today, Brolly / Spillane / O'Rourke are some shower of pr*cks. Brolly didn't even know the name of the Kerry manager (although he did call both games correctly). If TV3 sports had any sort of ambition, they'd put on a rival show with a few decent analysts and blow these clowns out of the water.

First round of the championship next weekend, hopefully there will be no new injuries to report.....

[macdanger2]

I also don t subscribe to the notion we need to be strong for each other or anybody else either. The important thing in the championship now is to be alive in August and the cushier way you get there the better.Connacht dominance is a means to an end any more and as such is still important.

I wouldn't agree with that - tough games teach you how to fight to win a game, if you win all your games handy, you end up getting soft and may not have the stomach when it's backs-to-the-wall time. Just look at Dublin in the mid-noughties as an example. Not saying it will happen to this Mayo team but winning tough games is better than winning easy games.