Dublin V Mayo, Saturday 29th March2014. Croke Park 7.00 pm.

[maigheo]

trying not to be biased but I would agree with Moysider in picking Mcloughlin over the 2 dublin lads.He is always on the ball and is the closest thing to C.Mac for hitting a defense splitting pass and I would consider him Mayos best forward.

[Farrandeelin]

Agree with blast re Andy Moran's involvement in our late goal concession. Why they didn't kick the ball forward then I'll never know.

[moysider]

trying not to be biased but I would agree with Moysider in picking Mcloughlin over the 2 dublin lads.He is always on the ball and is the closest thing to C.Mac for hitting a defense splitting pass and I would consider him Mayos best forward.

It s not bias maigheo. He is Mayo s best forward, and best footballer. And in this league consistently best performer.

His pickpocket for the Sweeney goal was not a fluke. His radar way ahead of most players.

[Syferus]

trying not to be biased but I would agree with Moysider in picking Mcloughlin over the 2 dublin lads.He is always on the ball and is the closest thing to C.Mac for hitting a defense splitting pass and I would consider him Mayos best forward.

It s not bias maigheo. He is Mayo s best forward, and best footballer. And in this league consistently best performer.

His pickpocket for the Sweeney goal was not a fluke. His radar way ahead of most players.

Is Kevin McL a better footballer than Higgins or Keegan? I dunno. I think McL's strength is in the fact he does so many things well rather than being the very best at any one aspect. He's a box-to-box HF in the same sense McHugh or Flynn are.

You said McL makes Mayo tick but that's exactly what Flynn does for Dublin and McHugh clearly does for Donegal. Dublin get a lot of praise for being almost unstoppable with such a deep panel but it surprises me that more teams don't target Flynn more openly as they are very dependent on his work sweeping back, winning breaks and carrying the ball up the field. He does the dirty work that few players have the appetite or aptitude for.

You can discombobulate teams with those sorts of players if you game-plan correctly, as is exactly what happened to Donegal last year when Monaghan (one way or another) removed McHugh from the equation.

[moysider]

trying not to be biased but I would agree with Moysider in picking Mcloughlin over the 2 dublin lads.He is always on the ball and is the closest thing to C.Mac for hitting a defense splitting pass and I would consider him Mayos best forward.

It s not bias maigheo. He is Mayo s best forward, and best footballer. And in this league consistently best performer.

His pickpocket for the Sweeney goal was not a fluke. His radar way ahead of most players.

Is Kevin McL a better footballer than Higgins or Keegan? I dunno. I think McL's strength is in the fact he does so many things well rather than being the very best at any one aspect. He's a box-to-box HF in the same sense McHugh or Flynn are.

He is. Probably better corner back than Keith and more at home in forwards of course. Keegan best 5 about imo but apart from 6 maybe, not versatile besides. Tonight in a free role I was disappointed with him. But he has set high standards. McLoughlin a top wing back also and can be played anywhere really except midfield. He was our best forward yet again tonight even though most of the country - including his own county - think he is a defender.

[Wildweasel74]

neutral point of view lads, Flynn or Connolly are better players than McLoughlin if you take your Mayo glasses off for a sec. Though Connolly suited to No.11 not wing forward. Paul kerrigan of Cork or Graham Reilly of Meath are probably the best half forwards about though both can be inconsistent

[muppet]

McFlynn is sh*te.

However Paul Flynn is one of the best players in the country.

From a Mayo pov, Andy Moran and the sideline need to have a good look at themselves. That game was won. Some simple foolishness turned it into a draw.

Looking at the positives, AOS was the reason we lost. As in, when he went off it all ended for us. Gibbons was good along with McLoughlin and most of the backs. Cafferkey going off and O'Gara getting two goals were obviously not unconnected, but still offering turnovers on our own half-back line was idiotic. 

BTW the ref was absolutely atrocious. To both teams. Is this what we hve to look forward to this summer?

[moysider]

neutral point of view lads, McFlynn or Connolly are better players than McLoughlin if you take your Mayo glasses off for a sec. Though Connolly suited to No.11 not wing forward. Paul kerrigan of Cork or Graham Reilly of Meath are probably the best half forwards about though both can be inconsistent

Nobody s neutral. It s not about Mayo glasses.

McLoughlin scored 1-3 tonight in a seriously disfunctional Mayo team. Set up another goal from an unreal steal and probably a few more scores.

Actually amazed there is a debate?

[muppet]

McFlynn is sh*te.

However Paul Flynn is one of the best players in the country.

From a Mayo pov, Andy Moran and the sideline need to have a good look at themselves. That game was won. Some simple foolishness turned it into a draw.

Looking at the positives, AOS was the reason we lost. As in, when he went off it all ended for us. Gibbons was good along with McLoughlin and most of the backs. Cafferkey going off and O'Gara getting two goals were obviously not unconnected, but still offering turnovers on our own half-back line was idiotic. 

BTW the ref was absolutely atrocious. To both teams. Is this what we have to look forward to this summer?

[moysider]

McFlynn is sh*te.

However Paul Flynn is one of the best players in the country.

From a Mayo pov, Andy Moran and the sideline need to have a good look at themselves. That game was won. Some simple foolishness turned it into a draw.

Looking at the positives, AOS was the reason we lost. As in, when he went off it all ended for us. Gibbons was good along with McLoughlin and most of the backs. Cafferkey going off and O'Gara getting two goals were obviously not unconnected, but still asking for turnovers on our own half-back line was idiotic. 

BTW the ref was absolutely atrocious. To both teams. Is this what we hve to look forward to this summer?

Finally. Somebody not afraid of sacred cows.
True about Aidan as well. But ............ he was burnt out of oil when he was hauled off and he took unnecessary contact all night. He needs to look at his game too.

[IolarCoisCuain]

Kevin McLoughlin is a fine footballer but Flynn and Connolly are better so he wouldn't make the Dublin team for me. I don't know why Mayo aren't producing better forwards but that's what I'd look at if I was in charge of Mayo football. Dublin are now producing genuinely class footballers where as they never did before so it can be done.

Ah, you can't have everything! Taking Dublin out of the equation who have great forwards? We are not alone!

Kerry, Cork and Tyrone (maybe), Donegal (McFadden, Murphy & McBrearty aren't bad) for a start. Mayo don't produce great forwards, especially considering their football pedigree. If you were to name the top 50 forwards of the last 40 years only Ciaran MacD would be definitely be in it despite Mayo making numerous All Ireland finals. Tipperary and Wicklow would have as many candidates for the love of Christ!

It's funny to see you mention Ciarán McDonald as the only Mayo forward of the past 40 years Zulu. McDonald was derided as often as he was praised. Colm O'Rourke, as I recall, didn't care for him coming too deep looking for the ball. Joe Brolly thought he looked like a Swedish milkmaid. Tommy Carr said once that he would never have McDonald on a team of his, as McDonald was too much of an individual. Wearing a double digit number for Mayo always makes you a target, matteradamn what you do.

You'll forgive us, I hope, if we continue to maintain faith in the present generation until are hearts are broken once more. Sure it passes the time for us and we do so little harm with our dreaming.

[moysider]

Agree with blast re Andy Moran's involvement in our late goal concession. Why they didn't kick the ball forward then I'll never know.

They didn t need to kick the ball. Fresh players on the field and an extra man. They should have ran the ball. Yet in spite of their conservatism and an extra man they left a man unmarked ( for second time) in front of the goals.

I know how much people don t like anybody criticising James Horan. But he cannot be a happy camper tonight and blame it away. He sets the team up selection and tactics. No more than the U21 debacle 2 weeks ago I would not like to have to justify that tonight. The same mistakes repeated ad nauseum. And the same issues will be there when the days are getting much shorter. I ve no doubt about that.

[maigheo]

It is amazing how we can go from the best team in ireland to a shambolic team in the space of a week in the eyes of a lot of supporters.The WJ blog is going into melt down with tonights draw.We should have probably won tonights game by 10 points but it is not the end of the world.If things go wrong it is James Horans fault but when we play well and turn over ball with good tackling Donie Buckly gets all the credit.You would think that Horan was no better than a junior b manager and never played county football going by some of the comments, when all he has been is the best manager Mayo have ever had and the best big game player Mayo have ever had.Horan has said time and again that he trusts his players to make the right decisions on the field and be able to think for themselves and work there way out of trouble which for me is the right approach.Gaelic football is a game that can not be micro managed and Horan has often said that they constantly work on the skills of the players during training and hope this transfers to game situations.This is probably Horans last year but as usual we will not appreciate how good he has been for Mayo football until he is long gone.

[sligoman2]

Great game very enjoyable. 

Based in the replays the black and red cards were both deserved and the ref I thought did a good job of consulting with officials to get the facts and make the right calls.

Mayo should have won but they played silly keep ball and paid the price - you have to credit the dubs for coming back from 6 down. I think mayo took off their full back after getting a yellow card which probably cost them the win.

All in all a great game to watch and fair play to both sides for producing such fast and furious football in march

[Farrandeelin]

Nobody is disagreeing with you maigheo, but a bit of criticsm does no harm. I thought a night's sleep would help get over last night, but it made it worse.