Dublin v Mayo 4th March

[Farrandeelin]

That was really a game Mayo should have targeted v an under strength Dublin

And gain what?

2 league points. f**king sick of 'it's only the league let's find a player or 2'. On that evidence there, I don't know what to think.

[Captain Obvious]

That was really a game Mayo should have targeted v an under strength Dublin

Indeed it was and James Horan on eir sports was full sure of the Mayo win when he seen Keegan,Parsons starting. Other than Aidan O Shea and Seamus O Shea who were Mayo missing that would be regarded first choice?

[heffo]

That was really a game Mayo should have targeted v an under strength Dublin

And gain what?

Dublin's foot off your throat, a big psychological boost and possibly a step towards a league final place

[From the Bunker]

That was really a game Mayo should have targeted v an under strength Dublin

And gain what?

2 league points. f**king sick of 'it's only the league let's find a player or 2'. On that evidence there, I don't know what to think.

Relax Far! Have you not kopped it now but we don't have the squad to have a go in the League. We have struggled since 2010 in the League. For us it's all about ticking along and getting the Six points to make us safe. In 2013 we got hammered by Donegal in the League. In 2016 we were hammered by Cork in the League. That's us - it's all about getting right for championship. We can't afford with our small squad to try and take on Dublin - Spring and Summer! Nobody can (take on Dublin)!

Tonights game will be remembered by the Anoraks only!

Dublin's foot off your throat, a big psychological boost and possibly a step towards a league final place

Beating Dublin tonight would have went a token of the way in sorting that out!

[moysider]

That was really a game Mayo should have targeted v an under strength Dublin

And gain what?

2 league points. f**king sick of 'it's only the league let's find a player or 2'. On that evidence there, I don't know what to think.

Relax Far! Have you not kopped it now but we don't have the squad to have a go in the League. We have struggled since 2010 in the League. For us it's all about ticking along and getting the Six points to make us safe. In 2013 we got hammered by Donegal in the League. In 2016 we were hammered by Cork in the League. That's us - it's all about getting right for championship. We can't afford with our small squad to try and take on Dublin - Spring and Summer! Nobody can (take on Dublin)!

Tonights game will be remembered by the Anoraks only!

Dublin's foot off your throat, a big psychological boost and possibly a step towards a league final place

Beating Dublin tonight would have went a token of the way in sorting that out!

Agree Bunker. Even if we did win tonight it would probably have taken our best shot or Dublin not give a f**k on the night. This Dublin team doesn't have those type of nights.

Frustrating to watch however. Some of the decision making is simply shocking and I'm not confident it will ever improve with some players. Aido and Seamie were not there tonight to blame for taking too much out of the ball but some players were at it all the time. Taking solos, ignoring the supporting run and just taking all pace out of our attacks. No wonder the forwards don't score. Anybody that simply blames our forwards for that there tonight is codding themselves. That was a system cluster fart. Management need to sort it out.

We badly need Cafferkey or Barrett back or both. Having Paddy Durcan and Lee Keegan in fb line has us on the back foot for a start. But still it shouldn't excuse the appalling bad judgement that was shown so often tonight and that was the most worrying thing for me. Against Dublin you have to protect possession because if you give it away it nearly always ends up score/free in/wide. Seldom a turnover. Moving the ball quickly through the hands with players running different angles is Mayo's best tactic. Tonight we didn t move it quick enough and there wasn't enough runners and when there was, the carrier often took the option to take the tackle.

[heffo]

That was really a game Mayo should have targeted v an under strength Dublin

And gain what?

2 league points. f**king sick of 'it's only the league let's find a player or 2'. On that evidence there, I don't know what to think.

Relax Far! Have you not kopped it now but we don't have the squad to have a go in the League. We have struggled since 2010 in the League. For us it's all about ticking along and getting the Six points to make us safe. In 2013 we got hammered by Donegal in the League. In 2016 we were hammered by Cork in the League. That's us - it's all about getting right for championship. We can't afford with our small squad to try and take on Dublin - Spring and Summer! Nobody can (take on Dublin)!

Tonights game will be remembered by the Anoraks only!

Dublin's foot off your throat, a big psychological boost and possibly a step towards a league final place

Beating Dublin tonight would have went a token of the way in sorting that out!

Moving the ball quickly through the hands with players running different angles is Mayo's best tactic.

Is that not Mayo's only tactic though and it's fallen short consistently? Shouldn't they be trying to develop a Plan B, C & D?

[Cunny Funt]

A real eye opener for Mayo tonight. I would say men against boys but half of that Dublin team aren't long out of U21 level while the mileage on the clock of most of the experienced Mayo players was very noticeable this evening.

[From the Bunker]

A real eye opener for Mayo tonight. I would say men against boys but half of that Dublin team aren't long out of U21 level while the mileage on the clock of most of the experienced Mayo players was very noticeable this evening.

We'll lick our wounds CF! Nothing other than a game was won and lost tonight. Anyone who thinks that Dublin's dominance is a short term fad are only fooling themselves. They can play football and win trophies for 12 months of the year.

[moysider]

That was really a game Mayo should have targeted v an under strength Dublin

And gain what?

2 league points. f**king sick of 'it's only the league let's find a player or 2'. On that evidence there, I don't know what to think.

Relax Far! Have you not kopped it now but we don't have the squad to have a go in the League. We have struggled since 2010 in the League. For us it's all about ticking along and getting the Six points to make us safe. In 2013 we got hammered by Donegal in the League. In 2016 we were hammered by Cork in the League. That's us - it's all about getting right for championship. We can't afford with our small squad to try and take on Dublin - Spring and Summer! Nobody can (take on Dublin)!

Tonights game will be remembered by the Anoraks only!

Dublin's foot off your throat, a big psychological boost and possibly a step towards a league final place

Beating Dublin tonight would have went a token of the way in sorting that out!

Moving the ball quickly through the hands with players running different angles is Mayo's best tactic.

Is that not Mayo's only tactic though and it's fallen short consistently? Shouldn't they be trying to develop a Plan B, C & D?

It might have fallen short but was still the best way to go.
No. Plan A still the best option going forward but that was not plan A tonight.

[dublin7]

No leadership from anyone in a Mayo shirt. Michael Fitzmaurice had Andy Moran in his pocket all night & without him Mayo forwards offered nothing. Shocking shot selection, no composure and  Mayo should have lost by more. None of the forwards scored from play in 1st half and 7 points in total is ridiculous. There was no pace in Mayo forward line tonight and don't seem to offer anything different to what has failed in the past

I hope Lee Keegan plays FB for the rest of the season. Crazy decision by rochford and a waste of his talents. MDM had his best game for Dublin in a long time. He was everywhere and together with the always excellent Fenton ran the show from midfield.

Tonight Dublin played the game at pace with support runners and did what they do best. Couldn't play like that last week on a bog for a pitch in Donegal. Scully will be pushing Flynn for a starting spot come championship

[moysider]

That was really a game Mayo should have targeted v an under strength Dublin

Indeed it was and James Horan on eir sports was full sure of the Mayo win when he seen Keegan,Parsons starting. Other than Aidan O Shea and Seamus O Shea who were Mayo missing that would be regarded first choice?

Nobody.
Couldn't believe Horan was coming out with that shite again before the game tonight. He was at the same thing before last year's Galway game.
Mayo were not playing well going into this. We were terrible at home against Monaghan. Didn't come out against Kerry either in first half and did a job on them when they lost important players. But they could have been 10 points up in first half. Yeah, we riddled Roscommon but in fairness that was more down to how brutal Ros are right now. They are not div1 standard and would probably struggle in Div.2.
Horan should know better.
Mayo look well off the pace to me. It's not miles on the clock either. Diarmuid O Connor was beaten in a race for the ball that favoured him by Cluxton! He still looks fooked.
I still think we'll do enough to stay in division 1. Then it's about the summer.

[From the Bunker]

That was really a game Mayo should have targeted v an under strength Dublin

Indeed it was and James Horan on eir sports was full sure of the Mayo win when he seen Keegan,Parsons starting. Other than Aidan O Shea and Seamus O Shea who were Mayo missing that would be regarded first choice?

Nobody.
Couldn't believe Horan was coming out with that shite again before the game tonight. He was at the same thing before last year's Galway game.
Mayo were not playing well going into this. We were terrible at home against Monaghan. Didn't come out against Kerry either in first half and did a job on them when they lost important players. But they could have been 10 points up in first half. Yeah, we riddled Roscommon but in fairness that was more down to how brutal Ros are right now. They are not div1 standard and would probably struggle in Div.2.
Horan should know better.
Mayo look well off the pace to me. It's not miles on the clock either. Diarmuid O Connor was beaten in a race for the ball that favoured him by Cluxton! He still looks fooked.
I still think we'll do enough to stay in division 1. Then it's about the summer.

[blast05]

Couldn't play like that last week on a bog for a pitch in Donegal.

This is one thing that bugs me.
Football in Croke Park is almost a different sport compared to most of the other grounds of the Division 1 teams - apart from probably Killarney. Castlebar for example is a much smaller pitch and while improved in past few years, still plays a little heavy this time of the year.
Croke Park of course is where its at - obviously - in terms of the really big games. Like or not, this is a huge advantage to Dublin. Rather than whinge about it, we in Mayo need to do whatever it takes to change Castlebar to be identical to Croke Park in terms of size and playing sod - if that means ripping up front 5 rows and both side of the ground and at the ends, then so be it.

As for Dublin, is there a trend that they seem to peak in March, April ..... e.g.: consider all of their performances in championship last summer .... Laois (underwhelming), Westmeath (who just didn't have conditioning to stay competitive beyond ~40 minutes) and the entire All-Ireland series .... i really believe the performance from Dublin this evening trumped any of those championship performances in terms of intensity, drive, freshness, sharpness, etc, etc.
Mayo on the other hand .... well we usually get that the other way round.

And re Dublin missing players.... is Brogan really a loss at this stage ? And (this might sound daft), would Connolly have improved the Dublin performance tonight ? Unlike a lot of the guys that started, he doesn't have blinding pass and thus Keegan or Coen would have kept him out of the game as they have done in the past.

[Syferus]

Couldn't play like that last week on a bog for a pitch in Donegal.

This is one thing that bugs me.
Football in Croke Park is almost a different sport compared to most of the other grounds of the Division 1 teams - apart from probably Killarney. Castlebar for example is a much smaller pitch and while improved in past few years, still plays a little heavy this time of the year.
Croke Park of course is where its at - obviously - in terms of the really big games. Like or not, this is a huge advantage to Dublin. Rather than whinge about it, we in Mayo need to do whatever it takes to change Castlebar to be identical to Croke Park in terms of size and playing sod - if that means ripping up front 5 rows and both side of the ground and at the ends, then so be it.

As for Dublin, is there a trend that they seem to peak in March, April ..... e.g.: consider all of their performances in championship last summer .... Laois (underwhelming), Westmeath (who just didn't have conditioning to stay competitive beyond ~40 minutes) and the entire All-Ireland series .... i really believe the performance from Dublin this evening trumped any of those championship performances in terms of intensity, drive, freshness, sharpness, etc, etc.
Mayo on the other hand .... well we usually get that the other way round.

And re Dublin missing players.... is Brogan really a loss at this stage ? And (this might sound daft), would Connolly have improved the Dublin performance tonight ? Unlike a lot of the guys that started, he doesn't have blinding pass and thus Keegan or Coen would have kept him out of the game as they have done in the past.

The Hyde's pitch is larger than any in the country bar Croke Park. I heard it's gotten bigger since the surface was replaced but I'll have to get the measuring tape out to be sure.

[blast05]

And no Mayo poster mentioned Clarke yet

On average in inter-county football, 'presence' and shot-stopping attributes for goalies probably represent about 40% (in terms of their importance) of a goalies make-up
In Mayo's case, it is a bit higher (>50%) because we have become so porous in terms of conceding goal chances.
The bulk of the rest is 'restart' (formerly known as 'kickouts'!)

If selecting a team, i am interested in the total score of the keeper (out of 100%).
If we take 40% as the max score for presence and shot stopping then Clarke gets 40% in my book - thee. best. ever.
However, on his restarts, i would have him way down the national pecking order ... ~30% (out of 60 max) thus meaning overall score of 70%
Cluxton on the other hand .... 30% on 'presence'/shot-stopping (little more than average) but the full 60 on restarts thus equaling 90%
Media in general and uninformed sunshine supporters put far too much focus on the saves attribute. If restarts go wrong, they blame the defenders.

The problem Clarke has is that his plan B (plan A being kick short) is limited to 45-50m range with a very high & floating trajectory thus meaning long hang-time thus meaning those kicks very often become 50-50. The facts back it up ..... between the drawn and replay, Clarke had 7 long kickouts - Dublin won 4 of them resulting in 3 shots (1 score). (Mayo got 1 score directly from his long kicks).

Dublin clearly learned from this this evening, i.e.: during draw and replay last year, Dublin rarely put high and full pressure on Clarkes kickouts (which would have forced him to kick long) thus meaning Mayo won 20/22 short kickouts during Clarkes game and a half.
This evening though Dublin went man-on-man on Clarkes kickouts and put huge pressure on him (i haven't analysed the kickouts yet because Eir Sport TV schedule said the bloody game would be Eir 1, but no, was on Eir 2 so have no recording!) resulting in ballpark 1-3 directly to Dublin. Dublin were happy to press 'high and full' this evening when they know how limited Clarke Plan B is.... and it worked.
I hope all this makes it clear to people what the rationale for dropping Clarke for the replay last year actually was (Dublin won 4 of last 6 of Clarkes kickouts in the draw they pressed hard).

My worry now is that all other teams will learn from this evening and will go full-press when he kicks out the ball.
Clarke needs to do what he hasn't managed to do in the past 10 years, i.e.: practise hitting the ball with a straight foot, head down over the ball and be able to reach inside the opponents 65 with a relatively low trajectory. If he had this as a Plan B, then opposing teams would not press so much on his kickouts.
Question is why hasn't he improved on this under Horan and now Rochie ... what is Peter Burke doing.

It feels tough to write a post like this given how utterly brilliant he is in terms of presence and shot-stopping but so be it. If we had a dependable backup option who had a solid 'Plan B' and average 'presence' and shot-stopping then i would pick him because the hard truth of is (given what Dublin learned this evening), that we will never beat Dublin with Clarkes 'restarts'