Maigh Eo v Doire, Pairc An Chrócaigh, De Domhnaigh 13ú Aibreain, 1400

[lynchbhoy]

Anyone that comes out with the bullsiht jargon he does is an eejit

Gain lines, leaders etc etc etc


St brigids were a cracking side long before he got them

You're entitled to your opinion...but i disagree.  Younger players looking to make a breakthrough need this type of leadership on and off the field also. St Brigids was just one example & it took those named leaders to step up. Biggest Worry for Brigids now is how to replace these players.

'Leaders' is such a nebulous, meaningless term, though.

Strongly disagree. For the record i agreed with INDIANA on leadership in general but its clear Mayo have leaders themselves most of them in defence though.

My point is 'leadership' takes many forms and that saying a team "doesn't have enough leaders" is a pretty meaningless term on its own. You need leaders but there's no one absolute way to be a leader.

Look at the three Brigids players you picked out - Cake, cuter than any hoor in the country and a 41 year-old child on the field in both antics and enthusiasm, Mango, a calming, thinking man's player in the Earley mould and Frankie, one of the most combustible players in the country who's seething with passion at almost every juncture.

'Leadership' takes so many forms that whenever anyone says any team 'doesn't have leaders' I instantly roll my eyes. It's too lazy an excuse without qualification and in this instance I can't see how it even applies.

That Mayo team isn't full of players shrieking their responsibilities or shying away from trying to inspire others, that genuinely is a wrong reading what what happened yesterday or what happened last year or the year before.

excellent
completely agree re the leadership point
you've articulated exactly my own feelings on this far better than my own feeble attempts

not saying the lads are completely incorrect about leaders being required- but its a bit cart before the horse in how it is referenced by many (mostly in the media)

Andy moran was always a great 'leader' (before the inj esp and even now the poor hoor gets loads of grief)
Mark Lynch leads by example for Derry- nothing vocal - he always played the same way, but is now in a central position that gets him on the ball more and while he is doing nothing different from before regardingeffort or attitude, hes just on the ball and seen more.

[joemamas]

Jesus lads, Varley has had umpteen chances from the bench and starting - you're not going to see anything new at this stage.

That's exactly the point. Why do the management keep persisting with the same subs. Feeney and Barry Moran were warming up all through the 2nd half. Would have been a game that suited Drake also.

For Varley and Parsons to be shoved in ahead of those lads can only make sense to the management.

Anyhow the line and the team have enough mistakes clocked up for a season so far so we should be error free for the rest of the year.

Because that's all they have. If Horan wanted to get a scorer onto the full forward line then Varley, who is capable of scoring outrageous points was the man. Neither Feeney nor Moran could provide that. I think Horan is dead right to give Parsons game time. He is talented and there's no point in bringing him back in unless your going to give him a chance to win a spot on the team. Mayo need something different and he can possibly provide it. He knows what Feeney and Moran bring to the table.

Mayo don't lack leaders and they don't have a Croke Park hoodoo or psychological issues they just lack that bit of class to push them beyond the best teams. Sweeney is good addition and COC might bring some of that magic dust but you can't escape the feeling that Lee Keegan would be a bigger loss to the Mayo attack than most of the forwards.

agreed and as another post pointed out, a little bit more strength in the forwards in terms of 50-50 ball winnings ability.

[From the Bunker]

Reading Eugene McGees colum in the Sindo would make you weep.He must head straight for the bar when he goes into Croke Park and stays there for the whole game because based on his writings he does not watch any of the games.How he gets paid for the rubbish he writes is one of the great mysteries of life.

For Mayo, this defeat is a serious setback, notably because their normally excellent backline was destroyed on many occasions.


Did he look at our finishing full back line? Were they familiar to him? How did we get on in the league semi final last year? Take a look at the scores conceded in that game?
I especially like this quote

There were no 'flash Harrys' or 'fancy Dans' on this Derry team. Just solid, well-organised and hard-working players who never lost sight of what they were supposed to do.

A lesson, perhaps, for everybody involved in the Mayo football team.

What is all that about? Talk about lazy journalism!

[Farrandeelin]

Reading Eugene McGees colum in the Sindo would make you weep.He must head straight for the bar when he goes into Croke Park and stays there for the whole game because based on his writings he does not watch any of the games.How he gets paid for the rubbish he writes is one of the great mysteries of life.

For Mayo, this defeat is a serious setback, notably because their normally excellent backline was destroyed on many occasions.


Did he look at our finishing full back line? Were they familiar to him? How did we get on in the league semi final last year? Take a look at the scores conceded in that game?
I especially like this quote

There were no 'flash Harrys' or 'fancy Dans' on this Derry team. Just solid, well-organised and hard-working players who never lost sight of what they were supposed to do.

A lesson, perhaps, for everybody involved in the Mayo football team.

What is all that about? Talk about lazy journalism!

He's a bollix full stop.

[macdanger2]

Jesus lads, Varley has had umpteen chances from the bench and starting - you're not going to see anything new at this stage.
He's always likely to get one (or maybe two) spectacular scores during a game, but he's not consistent and is as likely to balloon twice as many bad wides.

I suppose that's exactly why Horan persists with him - because if he could score like that consistently, he'd be a serious player. I'd agree with blast05 that it may well be that he thinks he needs to do it on his own and at this stage it's hard to see him changing. Awful frustrating when you know he has the potential.....

[whiskeysteve]

getting a wee bit pissed off with a general perception in some of the match reports i've read - that this result was more or less a Mayo c**k-up or some kind of implosion.

Derrys 14 man effort is simply not getting enough credit in certain quarters.

[macdanger2]

On a positive note, I thought Mayo made some great block downs on Sunday – great skill and can be very demoralising for the opposition (albeit not so much on this occasion).

[From the Bunker]

getting a wee bit pissed off with a general perception in some of the match reports i've read - that this result was more or less a Mayo c**k-up or some kind of implosion.

Derrys 14 man effort is simply not getting enough credit in certain quarters.

That's the best way to go into the final. Besides it does not matter what anyone else thinks. If you are happy with progress that's all that matters. In reality other fans want your team to fail, it human (Gaa) nature.

[muppet]

getting a wee bit pissed off with a general perception in some of the match reports i've read - that this result was more or less a Mayo c**k-up or some kind of implosion.

Derrys 14 man effort is simply not getting enough credit in certain quarters.

You'll get no credit from anywhere until you win an All-Ireland.

After that you are immune from any criticism.

[bucko]

Derry deserved the win no doubt, getting good crucial scores when the opportunities were presented to them. The second goal sticks in my craw tho. Coming from Vaughan blasting the ball at the Derry keeper instead of sliding it along the deck or putting it over the bar, then the poor defending down the other end when Derry broke down the field. The opportunity should have never developed and still could have been stopped with good aggressive defending.
A few things stood out for me Sunday. Aside from the obvious lethargy and cluelessness that was dominated our last quarter performance, this was the first time I really noticed how much space we leave between our half back and full back line. I know it's been there beforehand but for some reason it really stood out the last day. Given that it looks like our normal high press defending game appears to be not as effective as last year, opposition players are breaking out more often with an ocean of space to attack into. I stated it in a previous thread that I figured that the black card was affecting us more because of how we set up to defend, on Sunday I felt players were not committing into the tackle, almost afraid to go in in case an accidental foul is interpreted as a black card offence. I think we are either going to have to become more conventional in how we defend i.e. the HB line hold back and cover the FB line more or they will have to work on their tackling to get them confident that they can tackle without conceding black card fouls.
Kick passing again let us down Sunday, as it has on a few occasions throughout the league. Again I watched as players would make runs and the ball was kicked to their wrong side. One example was Varley making a run, with the wing on his left side with his marker behind and to his right. The ball was delivered right of Varley, which meant now he had to change direction back infield. Now the defender has a better chance of intercepting or spoiling the pass as he does not have to change direction and Varley has lost some of the yardage he gained. Maybe it's an over technical way of describing it but it is a big problem for us. Kick passing into our forwards let us down against Tyrone, Dublin and Derry this year, and was an issue last September. 3 times in the AI final Conroy made runs angled toward wing side and the pass came to his infield side, again just one example. It didn't help last Sunday that our best kick passer on the pitch was played in the FF line, kept in there and never got into the game. The importance of Cillian O'Connor to developing a foot passing game to have as an option, a plan B to our normal running game and to keep the opposition guessing, is becoming evident IMO.
In spite of these reasons I wouldn't too worried yet. As someone said earlier, concerned but not panicked. We are in no worse a position than we were after last years league, and we know how we went after that. I just hope that the mental fatigue of training and playing for the full season the last three years with just Connacht titles doesn't catch up on these lads.

[Whishtup]

Fair play to Derry-that was the best performance of the league and they definitely have lit up division 1.  How does Doherty's  showlder compare to big Tom Cuniffe's legendary hit on Peter Harte last year? 
Derry's dirty ball-winners around the middle are to be envied in Tyrone.

[Crete Boom]

getting a wee bit pissed off with a general perception in some of the match reports i've read - that this result was more or less a Mayo c**k-up or some kind of implosion.

Derrys 14 man effort is simply not getting enough credit in certain quarters.

Unfortunately whiskeysteve you will get no credit (nor will any big county) in beating us as the media has a default position when it comes to Mayo and our opponents due to our final losses! I thought you outplayed us comfortably enough and taught us more than a few lessons on how to play a running game in the open spaces of Croke Park.

   I just hope that the mental fatigue of training and playing for the full season the last three years with just Connacht titles doesn't catch up on these lads.

It is the biggest fear I have for this season and we won't know the answer unless we are gearing up for the big game come the third Sunday of September 2014!!

[Syferus]

getting a wee bit pissed off with a general perception in some of the match reports i've read - that this result was more or less a Mayo c**k-up or some kind of implosion.

Derrys 14 man effort is simply not getting enough credit in certain quarters.

Unfortunately whiskeysteve you will get no credit (nor will any big county) in beating us as the media has a default position when it comes to Mayo and our opponents due to our final losses! I thought you outplayed us comfortably enough and taught us more than a few lessons on how to play a running game in the open spaces of Croke Park.

   I just hope that the mental fatigue of training and playing for the full season the last three years with just Connacht titles doesn't catch up on these lads.

It is the biggest fear I have for this season and we won't know the answer unless we are gearing up for the big game come the third Sunday of September 2014!!

You'll know your answer if you aren't.

[Crete Boom]

getting a wee bit pissed off with a general perception in some of the match reports i've read - that this result was more or less a Mayo c**k-up or some kind of implosion.

Derrys 14 man effort is simply not getting enough credit in certain quarters.

Unfortunately whiskeysteve you will get no credit (nor will any big county) in beating us as the media has a default position when it comes to Mayo and our opponents due to our final losses! I thought you outplayed us comfortably enough and taught us more than a few lessons on how to play a running game in the open spaces of Croke Park.

   I just hope that the mental fatigue of training and playing for the full season the last three years with just Connacht titles doesn't catch up on these lads.

It is the biggest fear I have for this season and we won't know the answer unless we are gearing up for the big game come the third Sunday of September 2014!!

You'll know your answer if you aren't.

Yep that would be the thinking man's way of putting it but being a Mayoman you wouldn't accuse me of thinking now would you ?Up there for dancing and all that craic........

[highorlow]

getting a wee bit pissed off with a general perception in some of the match reports i've read - that this result was more or less a Mayo c**k-up or some kind of implosion.

Derrys 14 man effort is simply not getting enough credit in certain quarters.

Beating the Dubs in the final will get you credit. Mayo are seen by everyone outside the county as constant chokers at this stage so beating us is seen as easy and doesn't take any effort anymore.