Mayo v Donegal, Elverys McHale Park, Aug 03, 6pm

[From the Bunker]

Whichever team emerges from this will have a ridiculously short turnaround time before they are thrown back out again, in all probability physically and mentally knackered, to take on a Dublin team in their own back yard who haven't had to break sweat this year. That's one huge imbalance and regardless of how this came to pass, stands out as the biggest singular failure of the Super 8 experiment. As a neutral I'm really looking forward to this game, but can't see the victors being remotely well placed to do justice the following week.

It's a weird one , the prize is a trimming off a superior team in a semi final with the whole country watching . I'm not sure how you motivate players , I hope we win of course but like I say it's an odd one . Walking out of mchale Park next sat night dreading a semi final after roaring your team on to win only mins before . I think donegal will win as they are playing at a different level to our lads , we are so tired mentally as much as physically it's painful to watch it all unfold . I'm hearing Aidan o s might not be fit to play too and none of the injured players bar paddy Durcan are match fit . If young McHugh gets a few runs at our defense we could be opened for five or six goals .

Plenty of cute hoorism going on here😂 I'd say whichever team gets through this battle will be chomping at the bit to get at the Dubs. Yeah its nowhere near fair the amount of games Mayo have had to play but ffs at the end of the day thats what all players want, no one wants to be training like f**k and having very few games. Best of luck to both teams next weekend hopefully will be a cracker.

Nobody in the Mayo panel/setup have complained about the amount of games, the injuries, the 6 day turnaround, the disadvantages. To be fair, in any fair competition Mayo after losing two games should out on their arse.

[larryin89]

And they will be next sat and we can all enjoy the month of August in Mayo stress free.

[Whitnail]

In Fairness Mayo have had the voodo sign over us in recent years .. since that all ireland. Sent us down to division two last year too (although ironically that seemed to have helped us get a few younger lads into the team and was probably a good thing in the end).
In those games they just played smarter football than us coupled with us not really being able to adapt to any sort of plan b. I think maybe we've become a little more versitile in this last while but who knows.
Mayo up and down this year ,they;ve unearthed a few talented young sharp shooters themselves and Horan is a good manager.

I guess we won't really know what the injury list actually is until team news on the day but i think we can struggle on with or without Mcbreaty but sure in these types of games.... a penalty here or a sending off there good be the telling factor.
If Donegal win it would be better for us if Kerry top the group cause i think the group winners will more than likely play tyrone and here in Donegal were sick of playing tyrone...  and im pretty sure the feelings mutual

[moysider]

And they will be next sat and we can all enjoy the month of August in Mayo stress free.

I dunno Larry. Actually think Mayo will win this one. In fact they have to. It's as simple as that. We cant think beyond this game. We might get our arses handed us in a semi v Dublin after but this is a stand alone game now. It's at home. We are league champions and Donegal have injury issues as well. There are no excuses on this one. Are we a serious football county or not? You saw what Kerry brought to us in Killarney when they were hurt? You saw what Kilkenny brought to Limerick yesterday when they were questioned/ doubted?

[Farrandeelin]

And they will be next sat and we can all enjoy the month of August in Mayo stress free.

I dunno Larry. Actually think Mayo will win this one. In fact they have to. It's as simple as that. We cant think beyond this game. We might get our arses handed us in a semi v Dublin after but this is a stand alone game now. It's at home. We are league champions and Donegal have injury issues as well. There are no excuses on this one. Are we a serious football county or not? You saw what Kerry brought to us in Killarney when they were hurt? You saw what Kilkenny brought to Limerick yesterday when they were questioned/ doubted?

Yes indeed moy. If they bring the same intensity as they did to the Galway game, they have a good chance.

[From the Bunker]

Little or nothing being said about Stephen Roachford. Looks like he has had a positive influence on Donegal. More importantly he know all about Mayo and their weaknesses as he spent three years with us trying to hide or correct them. He knows first hand about Clarkes weak kick outs and about our defensive frailties. This kind of inside knowledge coming into a game like this is gold dust.

[thewobbler]

Little or nothing being said about Stephen Roachford. Looks like he has had a positive influence on Donegal. More importantly he know all about Mayo and their weaknesses as he spent three years with us trying to hide or correct them. He knows first hand about Clarkes weak kick outs and about our defensive frailties. This kind of inside knowledge coming into a game like this is gold dust.

You know, when he was with Mayo and had all this knowledge, he dropped David Clarke for an All Ireland final.

His intuition and decision making might not actually be any improvement on that of a supporter

[larryin89]

I dunno about what big difference the Rochford factor makes to this game , same was said about Buckley for the Kerry game , what happened to me simply was David Moran won midfield hands down and they made hay on a fine sunny day , if you win midfield thus meaning you then supply a pacey forward line against a tired team , it has nowt to do with Donnie Buckley been on mayo management team previously , it's cause Moran won the aerial battle .

If mayo can find new energy I have no doubt we are capable of winning , I just have this feeling it's harder than people think .

As a supporter I'm wrecked , drinking, traveling , hotels , missing days at work ,  staying down in Killarney till the tues got the head taken off me by the quare one , it's been a crazy few weeks .

[WhoDat]

Little or nothing being said about Stephen Roachford. Looks like he has had a positive influence on Donegal. More importantly he know all about Mayo and their weaknesses as he spent three years with us trying to hide or correct them. He knows first hand about Clarkes weak kick outs and about our defensive frailties. This kind of inside knowledge coming into a game like this is gold dust.

I think the whole country knows about Clarke's weaknesses and Mayo's defensive frailties at this point. You'd hardly need to be Stephen Rochford to have that worked out.

What he will bring to the table that might be less common knowledge is insider information on their tackling style and how to counteract it, what match ups Mayo are likely to go with and the thinking behind those match ups, the role of their half forward line and how to nullify it.

David Clarke is well sussed at this point, as is Mayo's problem at number 3. They will of course be targeted. It's the other information that Rochford is privy to that Mayo should be concerned about. He knows exactly how Mayo go about winning a game, how they win fouls, the marking style of their key players, what kind of play is likely to throw them off.

Letting a manager swan off to a rival county so soon after managing the current crop of players is a major f**k up by Mayo it has to be said.

[WhoDat]

Not to mention, I'm sure things were shared in confidence in the dressing room between those Mayo players and Rochford, things that were confided in him about their own personal shortcomings or concerns about their own play, that are no longer being kept between those four walls.

[From the Bunker]

Little or nothing being said about Stephen Roachford. Looks like he has had a positive influence on Donegal. More importantly he know all about Mayo and their weaknesses as he spent three years with us trying to hide or correct them. He knows first hand about Clarkes weak kick outs and about our defensive frailties. This kind of inside knowledge coming into a game like this is gold dust.

I think the whole country knows about Clarke's weaknesses and Mayo's defensive frailties at this point. You'd hardly need to be Stephen Rochford to have that worked out.

What he will bring to the table that might be less common knowledge is insider information on their tackling style and how to counteract it, what match ups Mayo are likely to go with and the thinking behind those match ups, the role of their half forward line and how to nullify it.

David Clarke is well sussed at this point, as is Mayo's problem at number 3. They will of course be targeted. It's the other information that Rochford is privy to that Mayo should be concerned about. He knows exactly how Mayo go about winning a game, how they win fouls, the marking style of their key players, what kind of play is likely to throw them off.

Letting a manager swan off to a rival county so soon after managing the current crop of players is a major f**k up by Mayo it has to be said.

+1

He knows the psychology of nearly all the players. Situations they hate.

To tell the truth it must be a strange week for Roachford being on the other side of lads he'd invested three years with.

[WhoDat]

It's one thing to know that David Clarke is iffy - everyone knows that - it's quite another to know the personal shortcomings of Lee Keegan or Paddy Durcan that are less likely to be public knowledge.

[thewobbler]

It's one thing to know that David Clarke is iffy - everyone knows that - it's quite another to know the personal shortcomings of Lee Keegan or Paddy Durcan that are less likely to be public knowledge.

Lee Keegan's shortcomings won't take long to explain.

[larryin89]

What does that even mean , shortcomings ? Keegan will be doing a man marking job and will succeed probably as usual at completely nullifying his opponent.

[WhoDat]

What does that even mean , shortcomings ? Keegan will be doing a man marking job and will succeed probably as usual at completely nullifying his opponent.

Every player has something they're not 100% happy with or would like to improve in their game, even Lee Keegan. They would consult with management about this and work on ways to improve. Rochfod would be privy to all of this and would know the various Mayo players insecurities inside out having worked with them only a year ago.
Rochfords knowledge of that team goes way beyond goalkeepers and defensive structures, which is something any manager in the country could analyse and get a handle on. The issue here is that Rochford knows the players personally, he would know things about them that the other managers and the public wouldn't know, things that were discussed and shared with him while he was their manager. He knows those lads too well and you can be sure he's filling in the Donegal management and team.