Twistin, turnin, windin roads - Galway v Mayo 14/6/15

[macdanger2]

Great to go to Salthill and get another win especially when we were far from our best. We'll need to pick it up a good bit against Sligo / Roscommon though.

Clarke – good kickouts and one very good save at the far post from Cummins
Higgins – left exposed at times in one on one but did well overall and had one brilliant block in the first half
Keane – did ok overall but again could do with some cover
Cunniffe – better in the 2nd half when he was out in front more often
Boyle – only so-so by his standards
Barrett – decent enough, carried some nice ball in the first half
Keegan – again only so-so by his standards. Stupid stuff to get sent off although Comer's reaction was over the top
Parsons & SOS – both very good at winning ball but could do more to help out the defence
DOC – best game I've seen him play so far, would be good to see him getting on the scoreboard
AOS – very good overall but will play against better backlines that Galway. Still holds onto the ball for too long. Why was most of the ball into him played low into space instead of a few high balls?
McLoughlin – poor by his standards although he won some nice breaking ball in the 2nd half. He's one of our key men and he needs to be on the ball more
Andy – two nice points, we missed him when he went off. One of the few Mayo players who seems to want to score
COC – very good although we need him on the ball more. Would like to see him (and others) playing off AOS instead of all playing as individuals. Very reliant on him for scores
Doc – poor enough by his standards, he needs to be chipping in with 2-3 points a game

Subs
Vaughan – very good when he came on, will be pushing for a starting place the next day
Ronaldson – nervy start but showed well thereafter, could be pushing for a start the next day as well
Dillon – fairly anonymous, possibly shouldn't have been brought on if he wasn't fit
B Moran – did ok but not enough to start the next day
Caff – did ok and it was good to have someone of his experience to bring on when Keane got a yellow
Freeman – wasn't really on long enough to rate

Decent performance overall but we need to see more of a system in both the forwards and the backs.

The first was an outrageous fluke. Try to be objective FFS!

Yeah was definitely a fluke. We were right behind it. He was trying to knock it across the goal to the Mayo player at the back post. Sliced it over the bar instead.

Bollix, he had been practising it in training all week 

[GalwayBayBoy]

If I were a Galway supporter I'd be embarrassed and angry in equal measure. 5 mins to go and Hanley sits on the ground and won't get up, fine by us, ye were wasting yer own time.

Actually feel he was genuinely hurt. He took an accidental blow to the head in the first half as well that had him down for a minute or two. Doesn't really make any sense why he would waste time in that position towards the end.

[highorlow]

Actually feel he was genuinely hurt. He took an accidental blow to the head in the first half as well that had him down for a minute or two. Doesn't really make any sense why he would waste time in that position towards the end.

Fair enough. I didn't see the first half knock.

[Mayo Mick]

Well that's the CF and 5 in a row done and dusted without too much bother. Learned little from the game except the players and mgt are well up for another crack at Sam. We are still one of four with a realistic chance of winning it. FB line looked a bit creaky at times and H/B line more defensive than we have been used to. Might be worth trying a few things in the Sligo game especially some forward variation other than using AOS so much.

Don't buy much of that "Galway are coming" stuff  -  thought they were very average.

[Put Up That Flag]

Well that's the CF and 5 in a row done and dusted without too much bother. Learned little from the game except the players and mgt are well up for another crack at Sam. We are still one of four with a realistic chance of winning it. FB line looked a bit creaky at times and H/B line more defensive than we have been used to. Might be worth trying a few things in the Sligo game especially some forward variation other than using AOS so much.

Don't buy much of that "Galway are coming" stuff  -  thought they were very average.

Agreed,  it seems wrong though that it is so easy for a county to only have to play about 10 minutes in a campaign to win it, the Sligo game will be another training session for Mayo. Similar story in leinster except Dublin will probably have it easier than Mayo. The provincial system doesn't work any more for these 2 provinces. At least in Munster its a 2 horse race.

[An Fhairche Abu]

Galway need to get out of Division 2 badly, the very poor and loose tackling technique on show yesterday is the kind of thing that you'll get away with against bad teams, not a hope against a top four outfit. No chance of winning any game when giving away tap over frees near your own goal.

Mayo were unimpressive against a very moderate Galway team but they will be a good bit better the next day out I think, had a long break since their last competitive game, they did what they had to do yesterday and have bigger fish to fry further into the championship. I thought Diarmuid O'Connor was fairly good, Parsons played well in the second half, A O'Shea was dominant throughout. I was surprised that Higgins was nominated for MOTM on the Sunday Game, I didn't think he was anything special yesterday but maybe when rooting for and concentrating on one teams performance you can miss an opposition player that is standing out.

Galway got zero performance from the midfield area, were in trouble in the backs all game with Hanley cleaned out (should have been subbed off long before the red but to be honest it's the lack of any real alternative here that is frightening) and the game was all over with the 5 minute period after HT.
What an absurd goal to give away as well, the tackle had been made and the ball is rolling to the goalie, just pick the f**king thing up instead of drawing on the ball into a crowd of players, real headless chicken stuff.
Sice, Cathal Sweeney and Cummins (despite being about 50/50 between good and bad after securing possession) were about the best for Galway, Comer had a decent first half, gave Cunniffe a good few problems. No idea how Patrick Sweeney stayed on until the 70th minute, Lundy hasn't matched his county outings from 2014 this year at all.

As for people giving out about the handbags stuff, I don't know what they expected, are Galway supposed to just let Mayo horse them out of it like previous years? It wasn't just Galway at it yesterday, that melee at the end was absolutely Keegan's fault for not letting go of the ball, this Mayo team are miles away from the shrinking violets of previous eras.

Galway on the tough side of the qualifiers this year so won't get the handy draw we had last year.

[twohands!!!]

Galway need to get out of Division 2 badly, the very poor and loose tackling technique on show yesterday is the kind of thing that you'll get away with against bad teams, not a hope against a top four outfit. No chance of winning any game when giving away tap over frees near your own goal.

Mayo were unimpressive against a very moderate Galway team but they will be a good bit better the next day out I think, had a long break since their last competitive game, they did what they had to do yesterday and have bigger fish to fry further into the championship. I thought Diarmuid O'Connor was fairly good, Parsons played well in the second half, A O'Shea was dominant throughout. I was surprised that Higgins was nominated for MOTM on the Sunday Game, I didn't think he was anything special yesterday but maybe when rooting for and concentrating on one teams performance you can miss an opposition player that is standing out.

Galway got zero performance from the midfield area, were in trouble in the backs all game with Hanley cleaned out (should have been subbed off long before the red but to be honest it's the lack of any real alternative here that is frightening) and the game was all over with the 5 minute period after HT.
What an absurd goal to give away as well, the tackle had been made and the ball is rolling to the goalie, just pick the f**king thing up instead of drawing on the ball into a crowd of players, real headless chicken stuff.
Sice, Cathal Sweeney and Cummins (despite being about 50/50 between good and bad after securing possession) were about the best for Galway, Comer had a decent first half, gave Cunniffe a good few problems. No idea how Patrick Sweeney stayed on until the 70th minute, Lundy hasn't matched his county outings from 2014 this year at all.

As for people giving out about the handbags stuff, I don't know what they expected, are Galway supposed to just let Mayo horse them out of it like previous years? It wasn't just Galway at it yesterday, that melee at the end was absolutely Keegan's fault for not letting go of the ball, this Mayo team are miles away from the shrinking violets of previous eras.

Galway on the tough side of the qualifiers this year so won't get the handy draw we had last year.

For me Galway looked like a team who had been getting it in the ear for the last few months about a lack pf physicality and that drove a lot of their approach yesterday, especially their defenders. However Galway had no clue how to play smart physical football and instead played dumb physical football, conceding stupid frees driven by the notion of aiming the tackle at the man as opposed to the ball, losing focus and concentrating on the non-essentials.

If I was Walsh i would have them watching Donegal's performance yesterday over and over and over under their eyes bled, and especially focusing on where Donegal conceded frees. There was no lack of physicality in Donegal's defensive performance yesterday but there was a serious absence of dumb physical football.

If they had any problem grasping the message I'd point out to them that in terms of scores from play both Mayo and Galway ended up scoring the same amount from play Mayo 1-7 Galway 2-4

[GalwayBayBoy]

Yeah a frustrating day yesterday. A crazy 4 or 5 minutes just after half-time effectively decided the game. Especially Breathnach's howler for the goal which gave Mayo a real cushion to hold onto and like the experienced team they are they efficiently killed the last 15 minutes of the game by any means necessary. Between numerous stoppages it felt like there was about 5 minutes of actual football played in the last 15 minutes of the match. Without the goal I think there would have been 1 or 2 points in it max heading into the final 5 to 10 minutes and all to play for. Might not have won it but a big difference in trying to claw back 1 point rather than 4 with time running out.

Some poor tackling at times yesterday by Galway conceding so many scoreable frees but having watched the game again I think 3 of the frees O'Connor scored from were not frees at all. One in the first half when a Mayo player making a run collided with O'Shea knocking him over. Ref blew for a free straight in front of the posts even though O'Shea's own man took him out. In the second half McLoughlin was extremely fortunate to get given a free over by the sideline under the stand when he turned back, ran out of space and got himself bottled up by two Galway defenders. To compound matters the ref brought the free about 20 yards forward presumably after some backchat. The other was in the last 7 or 8 minutes when Duane near the other sideline (I think it was him anyway) tracked his man and was textbook in his defending, shepherding him out the field when the ref inexplicably blew for a free that O'Connor popped over. Having said all that Hanley was lucky he lasted as long as he did. Walsh (Kevin) should really have helped him out there before it got to that stage.

Cleaning up a few mental errors it was definitely a game Galway could have won on another day. When they ran at Mayo I thought alarming gaps (from a Mayo perspective) appeared in the Mayo defence. Cummins came close to a 3rd goal only for Clarke scrambling across to make the save. Unfortunately from a Galway perspective the midfield went out of it a little after a good first half and couldn't secure enough primary possession up the field. Conroy getting black carded and Comer being moved away for the full-forward line didn't help in chasing the game. I had also convinced myself before the game that Shane Walsh maybe wouldn't be that big a loss but he was. His replacement Patrick Sweeney offered very little apart from hard work (in fairness to him he's not suited to that position). Galway missed Walsh's slashing runs, carrying the ball at pace and also his ability to kicks 2 or 3 points from well out the field. 8 points is not going to win you many matches.

I had zero problems with Galway's physicality. They weren't going to allow themselves to be bullied again yesterday and they weren't. When Lundy and Keegan got in a tangle right at the start of the game, Comer was straight over like a shot to barrel into Keegan. I was delighted. Two years ago they were letting themselves get put on their arses with no reply.

[Syferus]

Comer needs to calm down a bit. Developing a reputation as a dirty player even though I don't sense terrible malice in the lad. Seems like his eagerness to get involved spills over too regularly, two bad attempts at shoulders yesterday and pulling and dragging Keegan (who was time wasting) resulted in the handbags near the end of the match.

Getting a bad rap follows players through their entire careers so he'd want to watch himself because he looks like he'll have a long IC career.

[Duine Eile]

Can't disagree with anything you've said there GBB,pretty much summed up what I was going to say! Hanley had a stinker of a day from hell but you'd have to have some pity for him, he should have been given help in there, unforgivable from the management. From the minute he got that first yellow you could see how his day was going to end up. I'm starting to think Kevin and the lads don't seem to have much faith in their bench, the like of Ronan Steede has had a great year for Corofin at midfield and hasn't seen a minute of action, same goes for Tomas Fahy, Enda Tierney etc. What's the point in carrying them as subs if they're not going to be used? Ian Burke would also have been a great option to have on the bench especially with Shane Walsh injured. A tough game in the qualifiers beckons but I do think we are making progress in some areas, the lads are playing more as a team if nothing else.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Can't disagree with anything you've said there GBB,pretty much summed up what I was going to say! Hanley had a stinker of a day from hell but you'd have to have some pity for him, he should have been given help in there, unforgivable from the management. From the minute he got that first yellow you could see how his day was going to end up. I'm starting to think Kevin and the lads don't seem to have much faith in their bench, the like of Ronan Steede has had a great year for Corofin at midfield and hasn't seen a minute of action, same goes for Tomas Fahy, Enda Tierney etc. What's the point in carrying them as subs if they're not going to be used? Ian Burke would also have been a great option to have on the bench especially with Shane Walsh injured. A tough game in the qualifiers beckons but I do think we are making progress in some areas, the lads are playing more as a team if nothing else.

Ian Burke has left the panel I believe. Wasn't even on the bench yesterday.

[Duine Eile]

Yes I think he's gone with a few weeks I think, don't think he was there for the Leitrim match either?

[giveballaghback]

I agree with those posters who think Sligo will give Mayo a good game on the 19th July, they might even win it and with a bit of luck Mayo could be drawn against Longford in the qualifiers, it would be a great chance to avenge that defeat in Pearse park the last time ye played them in the Championship, but you never know!

[larryin89]

Rightyo , I'll be as clear as I can , every time AOS plays football he is consistently fouled and the fouler goes unpunished ,it is driving me round the bend that it never seems to be addressed or discussed . Hanley should of been on a yellow after five mins and Aido would of then been able to play ball then . Could of destroyed Galway if he wasn't fouled tine and time again.

[gibbs32]

Mayo mick you clown clown clown.mayo r cursed,proved under a serious manager horan.mayo are worse now,no new starts.lump ball into aos and coc pick up pieces.rossies will win on july 19th and i have been right all year with predictions bar u21. Mayo are this year most disliked.all mayo people do is abuse elderly people in nursing homes.