All-Ireland Final, September 18th, 2016 - Dublin v Mayo

[yellowcard]

For Mayo supporters, rather than simply dismiss the point, can you present any logical reason why your team should pose any challenge to Dublin based on the evidence of what we've seen this year. I can see absolutely none, and I say that with no pleasure as I would be firmly in Mayos corner as a neutral supporter like 31 other counties. However I firmly believe we are watching arguably the best side ever playing Gaelic football ( I exclude the great Kerry side as I don't remember them). You can laugh and sneer if you want but history will judge this Dublin side as so. But for an aberration against Donegal in 2014, this team would be going for 4 in a row in 3 weeks time.

[BennyHarp]

For Mayo supporters, rather than simply dismiss the point, can you present any logical reason why your team should pose any challenge to Dublin based on the evidence of what we've seen this year. I can see absolutely none, and I say that with no pleasure as I would be firmly in Mayos corner as a neutral supporter like 31 other counties. However I firmly believe we are watching arguably the best side ever playing Gaelic football ( I exclude the great Kerry side as I don't remember them). You can laugh and sneer if you want but history will judge this Dublin side as so. But for an aberration against Donegal in 2014, this team would be going for 4 in a row in 3 weeks time.

Mayo could/should have beaten Dublin last year. Since then they've lost their two most influential defenders and Mayo possibly have a must more competent management team in place. This isn't a green horn Mayo side coming up against the all conquering Dubs. This is a weather worn, battle hardened Mayo side who hopefully have been planning for this game since the final whistle of the Tyrone quarter final.

[yellowcard]

For Mayo supporters, rather than simply dismiss the point, can you present any logical reason why your team should pose any challenge to Dublin based on the evidence of what we've seen this year. I can see absolutely none, and I say that with no pleasure as I would be firmly in Mayos corner as a neutral supporter like 31 other counties. However I firmly believe we are watching arguably the best side ever playing Gaelic football ( I exclude the great Kerry side as I don't remember them). You can laugh and sneer if you want but history will judge this Dublin side as so. But for an aberration against Donegal in 2014, this team would be going for 4 in a row in 3 weeks time.

Mayo could/should have beaten Dublin last year. Since then they've lost their two most influential defenders and Mayo possibly have a must more competent management team in place. This isn't a green horn Mayo side coming up against the all conquering Dubs. This is a weather worn, battle hardened Mayo side who hopefully have been planning for this game since the final whistle of the Tyrone quarter final.

Absolutely I agree but they didn't beat them and they have regressed badly since last year. On the evidence of what we seen yesterday, Dublin appear to have coped fairly ok with the absence of McCaffrey and O'Carroll (I certailinly wouldn't be of the opinion that they were Dublins 2 best defenders anyway) as their replacements are no mugs themselves. People will look for reasons why they think Mayo can beat Dublin and last years games are undoubtedly the single biggest piece of evidence but this is a Dublin 12 team 12 months advanced with a culture of winning and seeing out games against a Mayo team with exactly the opposite culture. There should be no embarassment if mayo fail to win this game and they should be at least able to play this game without any great expectatin or pressure as the great majority of people will be expecting them to get betaen comfortably anyway.

[Chimley]

Given the draw, this was the most likely AI pairing and most from both counties would have expected to be where we are if asked back in January (despite any protestations of taking one game at a time). Mayo have spluttered their way through league and championship and fell in to the final with unconvincing wins and an insipid defeat to Galway along the way. Dublin are basking in the wake of an epic semi-final win in an unbeaten gallop for the year. The tough semi-final and the way they closed out the game are huge positive factors for Dublin as they prepare for another joust with Mayo.

As yellowcard alludes to above, there is no basis on current form to give Mayo any chance. Even if we came into the game in good form, our record in finals would be a concern,as would our well documented inability to close out games efficiently and put teams away. With those two major question marks added to poor form, we are looking unlikely to be the team to topple the champions. We can talk all we like about how close we came in last years draw and replay but there's nothing to suggest we still have that level of performance in the bag and even then, we still couldn't close it out last year (in a semi-final).

The upside for Mayo is that all this is known to Dublin and they will have to be thinking at some level that they have one hand on the cup. They wouldn't be human if they didn't, and that can be fatal if things start to go against script on the day. Most will point out that Gavin will allow no complacency and that this Dublin team has got to where they are by treating the opposition with great respect and preparing accordingly. The problem is, as Gavin himself pointed out in the post-match interview, that 'Mayo have not been on our radar' this year. When he looks for them now, he won't find much that will make sense in preparation for how they will play and match up on the day. Mayo 2016 are an enigma.

It could be a strange final.

[muppet]

2015 - Drew with eventual winners
2014 - Drew with eventual winners
2013 - Lost by a point to winners
2012- Lost by 4 points to winners


If there is a reply I might consider the argument that Mayo could lose heavily (chance gone and all that), but the game on the 18th isn't a replay. The won't be more than a kick of the ball between them.

[BennyHarp]

For Mayo supporters, rather than simply dismiss the point, can you present any logical reason why your team should pose any challenge to Dublin based on the evidence of what we've seen this year. I can see absolutely none, and I say that with no pleasure as I would be firmly in Mayos corner as a neutral supporter like 31 other counties. However I firmly believe we are watching arguably the best side ever playing Gaelic football ( I exclude the great Kerry side as I don't remember them). You can laugh and sneer if you want but history will judge this Dublin side as so. But for an aberration against Donegal in 2014, this team would be going for 4 in a row in 3 weeks time.

Mayo could/should have beaten Dublin last year. Since then they've lost their two most influential defenders and Mayo possibly have a must more competent management team in place. This isn't a green horn Mayo side coming up against the all conquering Dubs. This is a weather worn, battle hardened Mayo side who hopefully have been planning for this game since the final whistle of the Tyrone quarter final.

Absolutely I agree but they didn't beat them and they have regressed badly since last year. On the evidence of what we seen yesterday, Dublin appear to have coped fairly ok with the absence of McCaffrey and O'Carroll (I certailinly wouldn't be of the opinion that they were Dublins 2 best defenders anyway) as their replacements are no mugs themselves. People will look for reasons why they think Mayo can beat Dublin and last years games are undoubtedly the single biggest piece of evidence but this is a Dublin 12 team 12 months advanced with a culture of winning and seeing out games against a Mayo team with exactly the opposite culture. There should be no embarassment if mayo fail to win this game and they should be at least able to play this game without any great expectatin or pressure as the great majority of people will be expecting them to get betaen comfortably anyway.

Aye, I agree with most of what you say and the easy thing is to point out reasons why Dublin will win. But sport isn't always as straight forward as that and I've seen Dublin crumble in patches when put under pressure in their last two games. I don't think the Dublin players are particularly good at thinking themselves through an on field crisis, like occurred just before HT yesterday. They were served well by the whistle and the chance for Galvin to reset things. They got 3 men lined v Donegal ffs, in a game were they were cruising. What if the crisis occurs with 15 mins to go with Mayo coming back at them? This team haven't had to deal with too many on field crisis in the past few years and there are signs that they can be got at. In the second half they had sorted many of the problems and played a much more controlled game, but what if Galvin doesn't get the chance to sort things like yesterday?. Mayo have to force them outside their comfort zone. What if the kick outs aren't working and Mayo dominate the long kick out? What if Connolly is being bottled up by Keegan and Higgins the same on Bernard? What if Flynn goes AWOL again? What if the positioning of Aiden O'Se is troubling the full back line and also occupying Cian O'Sullivan?

Kerry got a bit of joy from the long ball in the first half, something that may not have happened if O'Connell had been there. The Dublin kick out, which was once their biggest asset is fast becoming their biggest liability, if they ship two easy goals to Mayo things will be very interesting. Mayo have the personnel to win a midfield battle if kick outs go long and also the personnel in defence to match up quite favourably to the Dublin forward line. Also, I wouldn't underestimate the new management to get an effective gameplan in place, they've had since the Tyrone game to work on it. I'm not saying Mayo will win, but I would take 3 /1 or 4/1 in a small wager, and everything would need to go right for them to be successful - but stranger things have happened on a Gaelic football field. I'm sure Mayo will relish being written off. I'm looking forward to it.

[AZOffaly]

Kerry didn't maximise the aerial route at all yesterday. I couldn't figure out why the plan was to go long and high, only for the target (intentionally or not) to be Colm Cooper! That made no sense to me. They only got a bit of joy from that tactic when Donaghy was in there, and Gooch was playing off him. I thought that would have been obvious, but for some reason Donaghy was out around the 40 in that time.

So I still think the 'high ball' question is unanswered if Mayo want to probe that avenue. Moran's movement is so good they may want to just try balls down the wings and get C'OC and maybe D'OC playing off him, but a Barry Moran at 14 tactic mightn't be the worst in the world AS LONG AS THE BALL IN IS GOOD. I hope they don't put Aidan O'Shea in there, and kick aimless balls roughly in his direction. That's soul destroying to watch as a neutral, never mind the poor divil inside straining his neck looking up at them.

[DUBSFORSAM1]

For Mayo supporters, rather than simply dismiss the point, can you present any logical reason why your team should pose any challenge to Dublin based on the evidence of what we've seen this year. I can see absolutely none, and I say that with no pleasure as I would be firmly in Mayos corner as a neutral supporter like 31 other counties. However I firmly believe we are watching arguably the best side ever playing Gaelic football ( I exclude the great Kerry side as I don't remember them). You can laugh and sneer if you want but history will judge this Dublin side as so. But for an aberration against Donegal in 2014, this team would be going for 4 in a row in 3 weeks time.

Mayo could/should have beaten Dublin last year. Since then they've lost their two most influential defenders and Mayo possibly have a must more competent management team in place. This isn't a green horn Mayo side coming up against the all conquering Dubs. This is a weather worn, battle hardened Mayo side who hopefully have been planning for this game since the final whistle of the Tyrone quarter final.

Absolutely I agree but they didn't beat them and they have regressed badly since last year. On the evidence of what we seen yesterday, Dublin appear to have coped fairly ok with the absence of McCaffrey and O'Carroll (I certailinly wouldn't be of the opinion that they were Dublins 2 best defenders anyway) as their replacements are no mugs themselves. People will look for reasons why they think Mayo can beat Dublin and last years games are undoubtedly the single biggest piece of evidence but this is a Dublin 12 team 12 months advanced with a culture of winning and seeing out games against a Mayo team with exactly the opposite culture. There should be no embarassment if mayo fail to win this game and they should be at least able to play this game without any great expectatin or pressure as the great majority of people will be expecting them to get betaen comfortably anyway.

Aye, I agree with most of what you say and the easy thing is to point out reasons why Dublin will win. But sport isn't always as straight forward as that and I've seen Dublin crumble in patches when put under pressure in their last two games. I don't think the Dublin players are particularly good at thinking themselves through an on field crisis, like occurred just before HT yesterday. They were served well by the whistle and the chance for Galvin to reset things. They got 3 men lined v Donegal ffs, in a game were they were cruising. What if the crisis occurs with 15 mins to go with Mayo coming back at them? This team haven't had to deal with too many on field crisis in the past few years and there are signs that they can be got at. In the second half they had sorted many of the problems and played a much more controlled game, but what if Galvin doesn't get the chance to sort things like yesterday?. Mayo have to force them outside their comfort zone. What if the kick outs aren't working and Mayo dominate the long kick out? What if Connolly is being bottled up by Keegan and Higgins the same on Bernard? What if Flynn goes AWOL again? What if the positioning of Aiden O'Se is troubling the full back line and also occupying Cian O'Sullivan?

Kerry got a bit of joy from the long ball in the first half, something that may not have happened if O'Connell had been there. The Dublin kick out, which was once their biggest asset is fast becoming their biggest liability, if they ship two easy goals to Mayo things will be very interesting. Mayo have the personnel to win a midfield battle if kick outs go long and also the personnel in defence to match up quite favourably to the Dublin forward line. Also, I wouldn't underestimate the new management to get an effective gameplan in place, they've had since the Tyrone game to work on it. I'm not saying Mayo will win, but I would take 3 /1 or 4/1 in a small wager, and everything would need to go right for them to be successful - but stranger things have happened on a Gaelic football field. I'm sure Mayo will relish being written off. I'm looking forward to it.

Didn't the Dublin players sort things out when 3 points down with less than 10 mins to go out on the pitch??

[BennyHarp]

For Mayo supporters, rather than simply dismiss the point, can you present any logical reason why your team should pose any challenge to Dublin based on the evidence of what we've seen this year. I can see absolutely none, and I say that with no pleasure as I would be firmly in Mayos corner as a neutral supporter like 31 other counties. However I firmly believe we are watching arguably the best side ever playing Gaelic football ( I exclude the great Kerry side as I don't remember them). You can laugh and sneer if you want but history will judge this Dublin side as so. But for an aberration against Donegal in 2014, this team would be going for 4 in a row in 3 weeks time.

Mayo could/should have beaten Dublin last year. Since then they've lost their two most influential defenders and Mayo possibly have a must more competent management team in place. This isn't a green horn Mayo side coming up against the all conquering Dubs. This is a weather worn, battle hardened Mayo side who hopefully have been planning for this game since the final whistle of the Tyrone quarter final.

Absolutely I agree but they didn't beat them and they have regressed badly since last year. On the evidence of what we seen yesterday, Dublin appear to have coped fairly ok with the absence of McCaffrey and O'Carroll (I certailinly wouldn't be of the opinion that they were Dublins 2 best defenders anyway) as their replacements are no mugs themselves. People will look for reasons why they think Mayo can beat Dublin and last years games are undoubtedly the single biggest piece of evidence but this is a Dublin 12 team 12 months advanced with a culture of winning and seeing out games against a Mayo team with exactly the opposite culture. There should be no embarassment if mayo fail to win this game and they should be at least able to play this game without any great expectatin or pressure as the great majority of people will be expecting them to get betaen comfortably anyway.

Aye, I agree with most of what you say and the easy thing is to point out reasons why Dublin will win. But sport isn't always as straight forward as that and I've seen Dublin crumble in patches when put under pressure in their last two games. I don't think the Dublin players are particularly good at thinking themselves through an on field crisis, like occurred just before HT yesterday. They were served well by the whistle and the chance for Galvin to reset things. They got 3 men lined v Donegal ffs, in a game were they were cruising. What if the crisis occurs with 15 mins to go with Mayo coming back at them? This team haven't had to deal with too many on field crisis in the past few years and there are signs that they can be got at. In the second half they had sorted many of the problems and played a much more controlled game, but what if Galvin doesn't get the chance to sort things like yesterday?. Mayo have to force them outside their comfort zone. What if the kick outs aren't working and Mayo dominate the long kick out? What if Connolly is being bottled up by Keegan and Higgins the same on Bernard? What if Flynn goes AWOL again? What if the positioning of Aiden O'Se is troubling the full back line and also occupying Cian O'Sullivan?

Kerry got a bit of joy from the long ball in the first half, something that may not have happened if O'Connell had been there. The Dublin kick out, which was once their biggest asset is fast becoming their biggest liability, if they ship two easy goals to Mayo things will be very interesting. Mayo have the personnel to win a midfield battle if kick outs go long and also the personnel in defence to match up quite favourably to the Dublin forward line. Also, I wouldn't underestimate the new management to get an effective gameplan in place, they've had since the Tyrone game to work on it. I'm not saying Mayo will win, but I would take 3 /1 or 4/1 in a small wager, and everything would need to go right for them to be successful - but stranger things have happened on a Gaelic football field. I'm sure Mayo will relish being written off. I'm looking forward to it.

Didn't the Dublin players sort things out when 3 points down with less than 10 mins to go out on the pitch??

I think they were much more in control at that point that when they shipped 2-5 without reply at the end of the first half. Kerry only scored 6 points in that second half and that is to the credit of the Dublin team but I think Kerry had gassed and Dublin were scoring at a rate of 2 points to Kerry's 1 and had no need to panic. That's a different story from having a meltdown from kick outs, shipping two quick goals or getting 3 men sent off. Dublin heve proven they can close out tight games, that's not my point, they had recovered from 5 down already yesterday, my point is that they can implode for short periods when things don't go to plan and they don't work things out very easily. Things weren't going badly with 10 mins to go yesterday, they were playing well at that stage, they just had to keep it going.

[Maroon Manc]

What will Mayo do at fullback? Don't see any need for Keane to start or even for Moran to be back there.

[muppet]

What will Mayo do at fullback? Don't see any need for Keane to start or even for Moran to be back there.

O'Gara might suit Keane, but I don't think either will start.

[Mayo4Sam]

I'd like to see Barrett in full back

[mrhardyannual]

I would expect Mayo to field Harrison, Higgins, Durcan, Boyle, Keegan  & Vaughan as backs (match-ups impossible to guess) Parsons & Seamie at midfield with Diarmuid O C, AOS, McLoughlinn,(sweeping) Andy, COC and DOC in forwards. Don't see any point in playing Barry Moran at full forward as it has never worked yet. Would personally start Barrett and hold Durcan in reserve. Havent got it right this year yet and expect Rochford to pleasantly surprise me. Hope we go at them from the start as we are at our best running at teams . Great to be back in the final.... despite all the defeats . Remember the 70s! Not a great believer in luck but perseverance is a most admirable trait.

[muppet]

I would expect Mayo to field Harrison, Higgins, Durcan, Boyle, Keegan  & Vaughan as backs (match-ups impossible to guess) Parsons & Seamie at midfield with Diarmuid O C, AOS, McLoughlinn,(sweeping) Andy, COC and DOC in forwards. Don't see any point in playing Barry Moran at full forward as it has never worked yet. Would personally start Barrett and hold Durcan in reserve. Havent got it right this year yet and expect Rochford to pleasantly surprise me. Hope we go at them from the start as we are at our best running at teams . Great to be back in the final.... despite all the defeats . Remember the 70s! Not a great believer in luck but perseverance is a most admirable trait.

Our best runner is Durcan, especially since Keegan seems to be mainly defensive this year.

Paddy on a tired looking Flynn might be a good match up for us. But then I wouldn't write Flynn off just yet.

It seems Stephen Coen has gone from starting to not being considered at all. Any word on him?

[From the Bunker]

I would expect Mayo to field Harrison, Higgins, Durcan, Boyle, Keegan  & Vaughan as backs (match-ups impossible to guess) Parsons & Seamie at midfield with Diarmuid O C, AOS, McLoughlinn,(sweeping) Andy, COC and DOC in forwards. Don't see any point in playing Barry Moran at full forward as it has never worked yet. Would personally start Barrett and hold Durcan in reserve. Havent got it right this year yet and expect Rochford to pleasantly surprise me. Hope we go at them from the start as we are at our best running at teams . Great to be back in the final.... despite all the defeats . Remember the 70s! Not a great believer in luck but perseverance is a most admirable trait.

Never mind the 70's, the late 50's and 60's were pretty poor as well. From 1955 to 1981 we won only two Connacht titles - 67 and 69. Two Championship visits to Croker in 26 years!