Galway v Mayo, CSFC May 20th

[GalwayBayBoy]

Match report from Hogan Stand for whoever didn't see the game.

Tribe destroy Mayo

20 May 2007


Galway turned on the style to completely overwhelm Mayo (2-10 to 0-9) in a disappointingly one-sided Connacht SFC encounter at Pearse Stadium.

Mayo relinquished their Connacht crown with barely a whimper in Salthill, never quite recovering from the shock of conceding a second-minute goal.

When is the last time defending champions at any grade managed just two scores from play in a championship match? John O'Mahony clearly has work to do with his team, while Peter Ford's charges look capable of challenging for major honours this summer.

The first half belonged to Galway and a brace of impressive goals from Cormac Bann sent them in with a useful half-time cushion.

The Caherlistrane clubman rippled the net on 2 and 20 minutes to leave the defending champions with a mountain to climb.

Mayo's decision to play against the breeze in the first half backfired as Galway built a winning cushion and also demonstrated greater efficiency against the elements after the turnaround.

The losers' woes were compounded when they had midfielder Pat Harte dismissed with a full 25 minutes remaining. At that stage, they trailed by double scores, 2-8 to 0-7.

As it happened, the defending provincial champions only had to play a quarter of an hour with numerical inferiority as Niall Comer was also sent off for a second yellow an hour into the action.

Bann gave Galway a dream start with a goal inside two minutes. The No.15 danced around Kenneth O'Malley to roll the ball to an empty net and the Tribesmen followed up with an instant Derek Savage point.

It could have been even worse for the visitors as Padraig Joyce, Ja Fallon and Comer were all guilty of poor Galway wides inside the first four minutes.

There were eight minutes on the clock by the time Andy Moran opened Mayo's account with a superb point from play and the Red & Greens were awarded a free in front of the posts when Conor Mortimer was wrestled to ground by Finian Hanley.

The No.13 brushed himself down and sent the resultant free straight over the bar to close the gap with ten minutes played.

Alan Dillon should have halved the difference but his free was off target into the wind. Nicky Joyce made John O'Mahony's team pay when he sliced one between the posts at the other end: 1-2 to 0-2 after 15 minutes.

Bann blasted his second major when Micheal Meehan released him in the 20th minute. It was a smashing finish from the Galway No.15, who was operating on the 40, and the goal gave his team a six-point cushion.

Mortimer's free closed the gap but Galway were awarded a free 13 minutes from the break when roving corner back Ciaran Fitzgerald was illegally stopped close to goal. Nicky Joyce converted to make it 2-3 to 0-3.

Meehan drove over a great free from distance to stretch his side's lead. David Brady entered the fray in an effort to lift Mayo and his inspirational catch resulted in a free, which Mortimer converted 15 seconds short of the half-hour mark.

Sloppy, indecisive play in the Galway defence presented Mayo with another free, expertly popped between the posts by Dillon to close the gap to five with 33 minutes played.

Bann somehow managed to pick out Nicky Joyce amid a forest of Mayo backs and the latter floated a shot calmly over the bar in first half stoppage time.

The short whistle sounded with the challengers two goals to the good: 2-5 to 0-5.

Now wind-assisted, Mayo worked a goal chance within 30 seconds of the resumption, but Mortimer's side-footed strike rebounded into play off the top left angle of the woodwork.

Galway midfielders Joe Bergin and Niall Comer combined for the latter to point off his left boot after Dillon had floated over a wonderful Mayo point on the run.

The hosts didn't seem to have any difficulty playing into the wind and they moved further ahead with quickfire points from Meehan and Savage: 2-8 to 0-6.

Ciaran McDonald came off the bench in place of captain Kevin O'Neill seven minutes into the second half, following another Mortimer conversion from dead in front of the posts, maintaining a 100% record from placed balls (four from four).

In the 45th minute, Mayo were reduced to 14 men when Pat Harte – who had already been booked anyway – received a straight red for dangerous play. The midfielder seemed to follow through with a stray elbow after laying off possession.

When McDonald struck a post, it pretty much summed up Mayo's evening and David Heaney added to their wides tally at the end of the third quarter.

Bann stretched the gap to end a long scoreless period on 53 minutes

Joe Bergin was a dominant force in the centre of the field and Mayo's dismal offering of only two points from play in over an hour tells its own raw and grim story.

Comer took the walk of shame with ten minutes left and Meehan had two wides before Padraig Joyce and Mortimer swapped late frees.

The Mayo No.13 brought his tally to six in the second added minute but the score was only of statistical relevance.

[INDIANA]

"By the way Indiana,
Go f**k yourself. "


is that the best you can do? Simply making the point that while the current dublin team can be rightly seen as bottling games in the altt stages- we're never short of acknowledging that - it never ceases to amaze me how many mayo people believe their team is on a different planet . This current mayo team has more no shows on championship days than any other top 8 side in the country. Galway could go damn close this year if they replicate the hunger shown today.

[ross matt]

Have to say I was very surprised by how poor Mayo were. I expected it to be tight but I thought their experience of the last few years would carry them through and that they were really on a mission this season under O'Mahony. Instead they were disorganised and extremely tame physically. They really allowed Galway to push them around.

That been said the tribesmen got away unpunished with alot of cynical fouling and Coleman should have gone long before that with Ja Fallon also very lucky to remain on the field. He seemed constantly pumped up but apart from a nice point contributed very little to the win.

Galway were very deserving winners and their natural forwards really clicked for the first time in years. Even though P.Joyce and Michael Meehan were quiet I thought they both worked very hard for the team and were content to let the newer names like Bann to shine. Bergin completely dominated the middle of the field even though Brady did fight hard when introduced. Damien Burke was immense and his shoulder on McDonald was a massive hit.

Mayo turned over alot of possession especially Ger Brady. Credit for this is also due to the swarming Galway defense which combined with the wind didnt make for a great quality match despite some two decent goals. O'Mahony has had a bad start to what will probably continue to be  a bad week for him. He will have alot to do to pick his team up. Galway are now rampant favourites to emerge from Connacht and Forde must be chuffed after all the flack he took at the beginning of the year.

[ludermor]

how long more do we have to put up with ger brady? he has to be the most yellow watery big strong former rugby player ever. the amount of times he looses the ball in contact is crazy. And as for him throwing shapes to the opposition they just make me laugh. Maybe his bro can teach him how to solo... no wait

[AbbeySider]

Maybe his bro can teach him how to solo... no wait

LMAO!   

[blast05]

i don't think dublin will get too many snide remarks from mayo fans again

Look, you're from Dublin, get over it. Any team that beats yee in the championship after being 7 pts down will gloat cos every other team gets sick to the teeth of listening to all the talk about yee. For what its worth, i think the royals will be too good for yee in 2 weeks

Bane an Meehan really showed up Keith Higgins and Liam O Malley

Abbeysider, what game are you on about ? Fair enough re O'Malley but Meehan done nothing, Higgins dominated him again.



Re Pat Hartes red card - a little harsh i thought but can see why it was given. He lead with the fore arm - not the elbow, and he didn't follow through with conviction. Had he not lead with the forearm then he would have been clobbered by the late tackle. If the linesman had done his job moments before then it would have Galway that would have been down to 14 players. Instead Harte came away very frustrated from that incident and let it get the better of him.

In the first half, Mayo just couldn't deal with the continuous positional switching of the Galway forwards. None of them seemed to play in the same position for 2 plays in a row - it was a very effective ploy. The damage was done in the Galway left corner forward area, particularly by Nicky Joyce and Bane when they found themselves in there being marked by either Devenney or Gardiner.

Conor Morts missed goal chance was the defining point in the game. Had that gone in then given the breeze, i have no doubt the game would have taken a completely different course. Not saying Mayo would have won but would have been a right battle.

Finally from a Mayo perspective, we ain't that bad needless to say. A couple of weeks away from it to get their heads together, a good deal of hard training for MacD, Trevor Mort and D Brady to get the fitness levels back along with a rediscovery of form by Dillon and Ger Brady and we will take beating.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Fair enough re O'Malley but Meehan done nothing

To be fair I think he actually had a few assists today including putting Bane through for his second goal. Kicked a couple of bad wides though. Two relatively simple ones.

Re Pat Hartes red card - a little harsh i thought but can see why it was given. He lead with the fore arm - not the elbow, and he didn't follow through with conviction. Had he not lead with the forearm then he would have been clobbered by the late tackle. If the linesman had done his job moments before then it would have Galway that would have been down to 14 players.

Think the red card was fair. You just can't go in with the forearm/elbow to the head area. Always liable to lead to a red card.

The incident before it was when Coleman picked up his first yellow for barging Harte in the back wasn't it? To be fair it wasn't a red card offence. The yellow was the right decision.

[From the Bunker]

Galway very cynical. P Joyce should have seen line for frontal elbow on C Mortimer, that backfired onto his number 6 and referree bottled many yellow card decisions with Black books. Mayo look to be a team still preparing for championship and this game had the feel of a friendly or last unimportant league game. Anyway i expect them to be sharper in 7 weeks or it will be an unusually short summer! By the way well done Galway, Deserved winners!

[Bod Mor]

Well done Galway, good luck for the rest of the championship, deserved winners. Didn't get to see the match but listened in on mid-west. Galway were well and truely ready for us this time.
2 points from play in a championship match is just not good enough.
Our forward lines needs a good shake up me thinks.

[INDIANA]

. Had that gone in then given the breeze, i have no doubt the game would have taken a completely different course. Not saying Mayo would have won but would have been a right battle.

Finally from a Mayo perspective, we ain't that bad needless to say. "

Do you really believe that?- that team needs some new players the lads on the sunday game got that right- another no show on a big day- surely there must be some u21's pushing for inclusion at this stage. as regards the dubs v meath- you may well be right (then again how good were kildare) - i don't live in cuckoo land when it comes to assessing my county's chances i'm fully aware of our shortcomings- i couldn't believe how written off galway were beforehand when you read through their forward line. and still afew more to come back- i don't think they'll be far away.

[mannix]

Seven weeks till the next game?
Well thats the guts of july gone,I see mayo improving somewhat but how much is hard to tell.They were pushed around too easily and i was shocked to see them pull out of tackles.They looked like it was a challenge game and thats what was most apparent.The review of video will show up some awful stuff,  Mayo have given too many excuses in recent years, yesterday was no different,they were simply awful and only for galways poor shooting it would have been a disaster altogether on the scoreboard.
WHAT TO DO?

[Msgr. Horan]

I know I'm going to be accused of sour grapes but the purpose of this forum is to give your opinion so thats what it is. Fair play to Galway, whatever my opinions the scoreboard dosent lie. I dont think Galway were 7 points a better team so I would get carried away with saying how wonderful Galway were or how shite Mayo were. A bit of luck for Mayo and the fat would have been in the fire over the last 20 minutes and the teams would have been closer.
For most of the game I thought we were playing Armagh at their worst, everytime Mayo had an attack anyway close to the 21 the man in posession was cynically fouled, momentum gone every time. The ref and more importatanly his linesmen continously bottled it and Galway should not have had 15 men going into the dressing room at half time. 3rd man tackles all over the place, several off the ball belts to the head two or three seconds after the ball was gone. What Harte did was stupid only because it was right in front of the ref,  its what Galway players were at all day, except they were much cuter and sneakier about it. Once the red card was flashed Harte did well to control himself and not lamp the ref as well! It seems this bit of "steel" is whats needed to win these days then clearly in the Connacht senior boxing and wresteling championships Mayo are not at the races. This game was a very good example of why we should consider the team fouls rule that is being suggested in some quarters. It would put a stop to that tactic fairly lively.
Mayo didnt help themselves by some suicidal defending, not appearing to have any tactics in the forward line except blast it in. Theres not much point winning ball in midfield when the 5 of your 6 forwards are within 10 Metres of the ball way out from goal and theres only one inside. Mayo had 4 weeks to address midfield tactically and the fact that Joe Bergin cleaned them in the league semi and didnt do it. No offence to Jimmy Nallen but if Mickey Moran was suggesting him as a starting midfield last year we'd have him on a rail back up North.
Mayo still have too many problems down the spine of the team to be considered contenders for SAM, at this stage of the year you'd want to be fairly sure about 3, 6, 8, 9, 11 and 14 yet we dont really have a clue about those positions. However, depending on the draw Mayo could make it back to the quarters or beyond. However theres no All Ireland in it this year so its time to build, if we have the players. This is not criticism of JOM but to those in the county who feel that hes definetly going to win Sam, we really have to ask are our players good enough? That question is particularly relevant to the forwards. Perhaps JOM was just lucky in that when he was with Galway he had some exceptional players. Dillon dosent look as good as last year so we appear to only have one consistently scoring forward.  Worryingly there dosent seem to be anyone from last years U-21 team stepping up for the front 6. Kilcoyne appears to be gone backwards if you judge him by his senior appearances or lack of. We would do much better against a team who actually wanted to play football but unfortunatley we probably need to adopt these tactics as well or forget about it. Otherwise all we'll have is the knowledge that at least we always tried to play football but won nothing doing it and that isnt much comfort to be honest.
Roscommon will win Connacht.

[myball22]

Great win for Galway, all the more because it was so unexpected.

Thought that everyone played their part but as always the guys that you think may let you down that came up trumps.
I thought Savo, Coleman, Comer and Bane all played well and better than we thought they would.
Others like Bergin and Damien Burke really stepped up also.

Nout sure about this cynical tag. In fairness I was a long way away from the galway goal in the first half and we did concede a number of frees. But better that than letting them in for two goals that the Mayo backs did.
Thought Heaney had a fine game for Mayo in adversity and McGarrity was a big loss. Expected more from Harte and Nallen.

All in all a good day's work. Serious result for Peter Forde and hopefully we'll kick on from here.

[AbbeySider]

I know I'm going to be accused of sour grapes but the purpose of this forum is to give your opinion so thats what it is. Fair play to Galway, whatever my opinions the scoreboard dosent lie. I dont think Galway were 7 points a better team so I would get carried away with saying how wonderful Galway were or how shite Mayo were. A bit of luck for Mayo and the fat would have been in the fire over the last 20 minutes and the teams would have been closer.
For most of the game I thought we were playing Armagh at their worst, everytime Mayo had an attack anyway close to the 21 the man in posession was cynically fouled, momentum gone every time. The ref and more importatanly his linesmen continously bottled it and Galway should not have had 15 men going into the dressing room at half time. 3rd man tackles all over the place, several off the ball belts to the head two or three seconds after the ball was gone. What Harte did was stupid only because it was right in front of the ref,  its what Galway players were at all day, except they were much cuter and sneakier about it. Once the red card was flashed Harte did well to control himself and not lamp the ref as well! It seems this bit of "steel" is whats needed to win these days then clearly in the Connacht senior boxing and wresteling championships Mayo are not at the races. This game was a very good example of why we should consider the team fouls rule that is being suggested in some quarters. It would put a stop to that tactic fairly lively.
Mayo didnt help themselves by some suicidal defending, not appearing to have any tactics in the forward line except blast it in. Theres not much point winning ball in midfield when the 5 of your 6 forwards are within 10 Metres of the ball way out from goal and theres only one inside. Mayo had 4 weeks to address midfield tactically and the fact that Joe Bergin cleaned them in the league semi and didnt do it. No offence to Jimmy Nallen but if Mickey Moran was suggesting him as a starting midfield last year we'd have him on a rail back up North.
Mayo still have too many problems down the spine of the team to be considered contenders for SAM, at this stage of the year you'd want to be fairly sure about 3, 6, 8, 9, 11 and 14 yet we dont really have a clue about those positions. However, depending on the draw Mayo could make it back to the quarters or beyond. However theres no All Ireland in it this year so its time to build, if we have the players. This is not criticism of JOM but to those in the county who feel that hes definetly going to win Sam, we really have to ask are our players good enough? That question is particularly relevant to the forwards. Perhaps JOM was just lucky in that when he was with Galway he had some exceptional players. Dillon dosent look as good as last year so we appear to only have one consistently scoring forward.  Worryingly there dosent seem to be anyone from last years U-21 team stepping up for the front 6. Kilcoyne appears to be gone backwards if you judge him by his senior appearances or lack of. We would do much better against a team who actually wanted to play football but unfortunatley we probably need to adopt these tactics as well or forget about it. Otherwise all we'll have is the knowledge that at least we always tried to play football but won nothing doing it and that isnt much comfort to be honest.
Roscommon will win Connacht.

Well written Msgr. Horan, I agree with everything except the last statement... The Rossies dont have a hope if Galway play half as well as they did against us.

But at the end of the day you are right... Are our players good enough? I could go through the team and name out players that are passed it and way off the pace and other players that IMO are simply not good enough.

[Ryano]

Roscommon will win Connacht.

Would ya go away out of that! If we can beat Sligo first i think most Rossie's will be just happy to get to a final in Pearse stadium...

No doubt i'm going to incur all sorts of flack from Mayo folk for saying it... but it there not a whiff of sour grapes here this morning? You had a bad day at the office and got beaten well. But moaning about Galway being physical or Harte being sent off is just silly. Harte deserved the line for what he did. Yes Meehan came in on him after the ball had gone, but why did Harte put out his elbow? If he was just trying to defend himself raising his two hands and knocking Meehan back on his arse would have been far more effective then sticking his elbow into his face. As for Galway being physical thats just a side issue. They out played, out thought and out fought Mayo and that was the winning of this match. I think only 2 or 3 of the Mayo forwards scored and most of them were from Mortimers free kicks. Brady should have started in the middle as Bergin and Cullinane cleaned up and it smacked a little of desperation bringing in McDonald who cannot be match fit yet and he was always going to be a target for the Galway lads. That shoulder must have loosened his fillings. But what a perfectly executed shoulder. Misjudge that and he was off.
 
If nothing else it will keep peoples feet on the ground (i think JOM will be delighted with that) and lessen the pressure on the players. I actually think a run through the qualifiers will do Mayo the world of good and i doubt JOM will be caught out as badly again this year. Does anyone remember Galway in 2001.....