The Béal Bocht Bowl - Donegal v Mayo, Ballybofey, March 25th, 2018

[Cunny Funt]

Wouldn't surprise me if this game ends in a draw tomorrow with Mayo scoring a leveller deep into injury time.

Good call. Got out of jail today but i don't think anyone is surprised that Mayo have survived in Div one for another year.

[Farrandeelin]

Needless to say I'm happy with the result.

Clarke - I am one of his fans but his kickouts were poorish today. Seemed jittery when taking them.

O'Donoghue- brilliant, did a great job on McBrearty and his point to go one down at the end was mighty.

Crowe - a solid defensive display. I always thought him more of a half back but he has had a good league in the full back line.

Boyle - a warrior, made some rash tackles today though.

Coen - not a bad second half, he is decent when there's someone to handpass it off to.

Durcan - good running forward even though his end product could have been better.

Parsons - not his best day. Hope it's fitness related.

SOS - can't fault his work rate. Not many clean balls won by midfield but the rest were ready for the breaking ball. I suppose a 50-50 Overall

McLoughlin - stepped up to the plate when needed to. Retained possession very well too. I'm biased when I say this but he should have an all star after last year.

AOS - had a good game overall I thought. One or two mistakes though.

DOC - had a good game, made a lot of runs off the ball but wasn't picked out.

Drake - didn't do much.

Andy - not his best game due to been isolated and lack of ball going into him.

Loftus - I was critical of him before the game for him not winning ball and making it stick. Proved me wrong today (apart from one early on). Kept us in it with frees.

Subs not on long enough to make an impact.

[imtommygunn]

Was the boy who scored the point not number 4 and the boy marking mcbrearty number 2? (I wasn't 100% sure who mayo number 2 was and missed teamsheets)

[Farrandeelin]

Was the boy who scored the point not number 4 and the boy marking mcbrearty number 2? (I wasn't 100% sure who mayo number 2 was and missed teamsheets)

Maybe in the second half all right. In the first half it was O'Donoghue on him.

[imtommygunn]

Ah right. I had thought it was the other corner back but maybe only remembering later stages.

[maigheo]

More impressed with Crowe  than ODonogue as a defender and it seemed to me that Crowe was on McB for the second half

[imtommygunn]

Yeah if that is number 2 i would agree. Mcbrearty got away with less second half.

[highorlow]

Our style of play doesn't suit the league winter football trying to beat blanket defenses with sludgeball. That's why we struggle each year. 

The only videos the lads should watch are the Kildare game and today's one. The reason for that is to review our goal misses. Today we missed 4 in total.

We were 5-1 up and ought to have been out of sight. We had goals on and opted to punch points over the bar. Same v Kildare. It's at these crunch times we need to pile in more scores. It's a weakness that's lingering now since last year.

p.s what's all this talk about the new Galway "system" this year? They were a 1-13-1 formation against us last year in the championship.

[MayoBuck]

Yeah if that is number 2 i would agree. Mcbrearty got away with less second half.

Caolan Crowe was on McBrearty for the full game but picked up Murphy the couple of times he went full forward. I thought he did well showing him out wide and onto his weak foot - McBrearty's 2 points from play were unreal so can't ship much blame for them.

[yellowcard]

I thought Mayo number 2 done well on McBrearty who has been arguably the best forward in this years league. McBrearty although a fine player, is a bit of a one trick pony though and his only thought is how to make space to get a shot off on his left boot. The Mayo number 2 constantly pushed him onto his right and kept him reasonably quiet as a result.

I thought Donegal overall deserved the win and Mayo got out of jail. I do believe that Mayos goose is cooked though and I really can't see them beating Galway with an ageing team that has failed to discover very many new players in the last 3 years.

[Captain Obvious]

That was some quick recovery by McBrearty when he wasn't meant to be back until May. Donegal not getting the job done with him on the field is not good from Donegal and I think they will now find it hard to get back to Division 1. Mayo without Higgins,Vaughan,Keegan,C O Connor,Harrison and Barrett were there for the taking and probably can't believe their luck they are still in Division one tonight.

Once Mayo are full strength I'd expect a big improvement from them this summer there is at least one more kick in them you certainly don't write off a seasoned and experienced side like them.

[From the Bunker]

I thought Mayo number 2 done well on McBrearty who has been arguably the best forward in this years league. McBrearty although a fine player, is a bit of a one trick pony though and his only thought is how to make space to get a shot off on his left boot. The Mayo number 2 constantly pushed him onto his right and kept him reasonably quiet as a result.

I thought Donegal overall deserved the win and Mayo got out of jail. I do believe that Mayos goose is cooked though and I really can't see them beating Galway with an ageing team that has failed to discover very many new players in the last 3 years.

Mayo's goose is cooked when you compare them to Dublin. To be fair everybodys goose is cooked when you compare them to Dublin. I mean your own county is on the up. But how far are they away from Dublin? How far are Kerry away from Dublin. How far are Tyrone away from Dublin.

Dublin are the Glasgow Celtic in Scotland of Gaelic football in Ireland.

[Mayo4Sam]

Better team lost (ish) today but they have no one to blame but themselves. Wasting time for the whole of the second half.
McBrearty was on one leg and Crowe did a great job on him, realised it early and showed him the outside all day, excellent reading

Ref was brutal, some real hometown decisions. Did anyone else notice that one each mayo kick out in the second half he blew the whistle for something stopping a quick kick out? It was almost as if he was doing it on purpose. And not once did he warn the Donegal keeper about time wasting!
Very surprised he didn't give them one last chance.

The giving out about mayo pulling at the end on league Sunday was over the top too. Durcan did alright but that niggle had started after O'Donoghues point by that ban lad

A very depressing 60 mins were bookended by 15 and 5 mins of excellent football

[rosnarun]

Better team lost (ish) today but they have no one to blame but themselves. Wasting time for the whole of the second half.
McBrearty was on one leg and Crowe did a great job on him, realised it early and showed him the outside all day, excellent reading

Ref was brutal, some real hometown decisions. Did anyone else notice that one each mayo kick out in the second half he blew the whistle for something stopping a quick kick out? It was almost as if he was doing it on purpose. And not once did he warn the Donegal keeper about time wasting!
Very surprised he didn’t give them one last chance.

The giving out about mayo pulling at the end on league Sunday was over the top too. Durcan did alright but that niggle had started after O’Donoghues point by that ban lad

A very depressing 60 mins were bookended by 15 and 5 mins of excellent football

Donegal were gone mad time wasting before k Mc's point at one stage they threw the ball away 3 times for their own free before diarmuid placed in to Murphys breadbasket.
I would have no sympathy for them , what goes around come around

[highorlow]

Just looked at the McLoughlin point again and one of my bug bears with the refereeing is the lack of implementation of the over carrying rule.

It's the same these days for all teams I suppose and forwards get away with it which is what happened here again with our man, I suppose it's something we have learned from the Dublin forwards.