2013 All Ireland Final: Mayo v Dublin

[Bord na Mona man]

I think it was a no-win situation for Cillian O'Connor.

I'm reminded of the line I read attributed to George Best as Roberto Baggio stepped up to take what was ultimately the decisive penalty in the 1994 World Cup. "I'd hate to be in his shoes," says George's drinking buddy. "I'd LOVE to be in his shoes," says George. Cillian O'Connor couldn't lose by going for goal as far as I'm concerned. It was highly unlikely he would have scored and no one would have thought less of him if he failed. If he pulled it off though . . .

oh sailor....

. . . he'd never need to pull it off again.

Shout out to Larry O'Gorman!

[deiseach]

. . . he'd never need to pull it off again.

Shout out to Larry O'Gorman!

Fortunately for Larry, he only ever won:

[AZOffaly]

Brilliant stuff from Paul Flynn. Always comes across as a decent skin.

http://www.livegaelic.com/craic/paul-flynn-shows-class/

[Sam2011]

Rumours are rife that Horan had a war of words with Feeney before the game at some stage.

Another player to add to the emerging list of 'Horan had a bust up with x player before the game' It's s long list at this stage if I was to believe everything I heard.

[Sam2011]

Finally a bit of good news (besides from the minors). Slowly but surely beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel again.
Although I would lay a decent proportion of the blame with Horan for the last day, I truely believe he and his current backroom team are the only ones to keep steering the ship in the right direction.


Horan set to stay for another crack at Sam

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

James Horan is expected to take charge of the Mayo team for a fourth season.

Horan set to stay for another crack at Sam

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

James Horan is expected to take charge of the Mayo team for a fourth season.

     

By Terry Reilly
Deputy Sports Editor
Horan met with the board chiefs in October entering the last of his initial three-year term to clarify his position and extended the role until the end of the 2014 campaign.

However, he was expected to step down after Sunday's All-Ireland final due to work and family commitments.

Quizzed by media as the team was leaving the CityWest Hotel on their way to a homecoming reception at MacHale Park yesterday he remained coy on his future.

"No, it's too nice a day to think about that stuff," he said.

But the Irish Examiner understands he underwent a change of mind following Sunday's one-point loss to Dublin.

It is unknown if key members of his backroom team will be in a position to commit with him.

Horan accepted Mayo's inability to disrupt Stephen Cluxton's kick-outs and a failure to convert early chances cost them the All-Ireland title.

"I thought we dealt with him very well initially," he said. "It would have been different if some of the kick-outs were a result of some scores we got as opposed to wides.

"He's very good at that and you can try to counteract it as much as you can but they probably got stronger throughout the game.

"We made a lot of basic mistakes. We dominated in the first 20 minutes and didn't get the scores we should have. Then Dublin went down and got a soft goal.

"That kept them in it and they only finished a point down at half-time, so that was a killer. We gave away a lot of our turnover ball throughout the game. We had it, gave it away and Dublin counter-attacked.

"That was very hard to deal with and we used a lot of energy defending when we should have been the guys attacking. We didn't get the return [of scores] we should have. Some of the easy chances we missed... you don't win All-Irelands missing those ones."

What he will do is return to the drawing board in an attempt to plot an All-Ireland win for Mayo following seven successive final losses even though this one hurt more than last year's defeat to Donegal.

"It probably feels a bit worse," he said. "I don't know why but it was harder to take. We had enough possession in the first half to do more damage, we didn't do it and it eventually caught us out.

"We could have done better but we just didn't, and that's disappointing. We prepared very well for the game and used a lot of learnings from last year but still came up a bit short. We have to go back and go at it again, that's all we can do."

© Irish Examiner Ltd. All rights reserved

[macdanger2]

Good to hear, hopefully they can go that one huge step further next year

[Wildweasel74]

Seen that with Flynn online, this dublin team really impressing me with their off the field attitude

[spuds]

Brilliant stuff from Paul Flynn. Always comes across as a decent skin.

http://www.livegaelic.com/craic/paul-flynn-shows-class/

Fair dues to Flynn, sign of a real gent.

[glens73]

Brilliant stuff from Paul Flynn. Always comes across as a decent skin.

http://www.livegaelic.com/craic/paul-flynn-shows-class/

Fair dues to Flynn, sign of a real gent.

It warms the heart to see something like that, well done Paul Flynn.

[J OGorman]

Lovely gesture

Though Dont Matter will be along to say Flynno has another 54 jerseys in one of his 23 kit bags

[moysider]

Good to hear, hopefully they can go that one huge step further next year

I ve been listening to savage criticism of Horan all day. It s not an easy job.

[macdanger2]

Good to hear, hopefully they can go that one huge step further next year

I ve been listening to savage criticism of Horan all day. It s not an easy job.

Have they completely forgotten 2010???!!

[moysider]

Good to hear, hopefully they can go that one huge step further next year

I ve been listening to savage criticism of Horan all day. It s not an easy job.

Have they completely forgotten 2010???!!

Of course they have. Those spitting bile wouldn t even have been in Sligo or Longford anyway.

[From the Bunker]

Good to hear, hopefully they can go that one huge step further next year

I ve been listening to savage criticism of Horan all day. It s not an easy job.

Have they completely forgotten 2010???!!

Of course they have. Those spitting bile wouldn t even have been in Sligo or Longford anyway.

Let them off, most people who are asking why didn't Horan do this or didn't do that are only jumping on the who to blame bandwagon! Surprised the referee (who i am in no way blaming) has not got much flack for the last kick fiasco!

[highorlow]

Andy was on Newstalk around 7:30 this evening.

Listening to him I'm confident this year is just a step along the way for Sam.

Hard to believe he took the interview and he was just after watching the video of the match.

Lord he obviously sounded gutted but at the same time driven to go on again. As I posted earlier leadership was a bit lacking for us and this is something that can only be instilled over time. Another year and that will be sorted.

Proud of the lads and James Horan this year. Onwards and Upwards now for the FBD.