Mayo v Kerry Official Thread

[AbbeySider]

David Kilcullen has not been on the panel this year. I see in the Mayo News that he has walked from the u21 panel as well - "cannot give the commitment" - a bit alarming for a 19/20 year old that was deemed good enough to start two championship matches last year in a pivotal position.

That is alarming. I rate him highly. Do his allegences lie with us or the rossie hence the "commitment" problem??

The gossip on rumour hill (and pub corridors  ) suggests that the both David and James Kilcullen left the Mayo set up because they were not happy with the treatment of the Ballaghaderreen players by JOM. Apparently they were not happy with the likes of Barry Regan and other Ballaghaderreen players being overlooked and felt that they were being snubbed by their own native club man. 

I dont know how true that is but its strange...

[Davitt Man]

David Kilcullen has not been on the panel this year. I see in the Mayo News that he has walked from the u21 panel as well - "cannot give the commitment" - a bit alarming for a 19/20 year old that was deemed good enough to start two championship matches last year in a pivotal position.

That is alarming. I rate him highly. Do his allegences lie with us or the rossie hence the "commitment" problem??

The gossip on rumour hill (and pub corridors  ) suggests that the both David and James Kilcullen left the Mayo set up because they were not happy with the treatment of the Ballaghaderreen players by JOM. Apparently they were not happy with the likes of Barry Regan and other Ballaghaderreen players being overlooked and felt that they were being snubbed by their own native club man. 

I dont know how true that is but its strange...

I thought Jimmy K was injured, he broke a finger. Dunno why David left, enjoying the college life maybe.

[Maradona]

JOM is making good progress with what is there at the moment. Team is coming along a lot better than I would have expected a few months ago. The team is in a sort of transition but you can't forget that we have nothing exceptional coming throu underage for the last few years, even given the fact that we won the U21's two tears ago, there was no real stand-out players and certainly no stand-out forwards. Funny that we are looking to Austin again rather someone coming through.

Having said, Mayo have often played as a team of individuals to our detriment, however seem to be progressing a bit more as a team effort and that is the best situation to bring on an improve players. Seemingly ordinary players at underage can be groomed into real good players at senior if progressed properly (ie J Horan, J Nallen) and hopefully JOM and his team are good at this. Would have to say players like Howley and Parsons are progressing in this respect. One of the stand-outs from the U21, Kilcoyne is not fulfilling potential and hopefully he can be brought on like the others. Would have to say at the moment he could not be given a starting place.

FB line still needs work. I'm not sure about Cunniffe - not sure why some have been building him up so much. Probably will hold the corner for the moment. Seems to have the habit of bursting out then stopping and getting surrounded! Conroy did very well in a baptism of fire the last day. Hopefully it was not a one off - either way he looked way more comfortable that BJP in there, like was not even aware of him which was good! First time in a ling time I have saw our FB catching a ball above his head! LOM is not progressing well, shame cos he seems like an honest lad and showed great potential a few years back. Might need a rest and build himself up. Padden might be an option here. Boyle showed well the last day but would not pick him on one performance. Would like to see a bigger lad in here as Cunniffe is not the tallest. Might be an option to play Heaney here and T Mort in the HB line

Best line we have at the moment is HB with Henaey-Howley-Higgins so would not be changing that. Don't know what more can be expected of Howley? Think he has been one of our most consistent thus far, other elements of his game will develop in time. Higgins HAS to be in HB line - he is not a corner back.

MF still a problem. McGarrity not playing well and still needs more bulk. But he has to start. Showed a new aggression though the last day. Parsons leading the chase to partner him. I would still probably go with Harte, but he needs to up it a gear. Has loads of ability in my opinion.

The Gardiner experiment is not going well. He seems a bit confused as to what his role is. But worth trying out for another game or so. Half forwards from Dillion, Harte, Kilcoyne, T Mortimer and Gardiner. Would probable start with Harte / Dillion / T Mortimer for now as I think we are too light generally in the forwards and need a bit of physicality.

FF line at the moment is there to be challenged. All we pray for is O'Malley to be a bit consistent and Moran to be more productive from all the ball he wins.

Seem to be hitting more quick diagonal ball into space in front of Conor and Moran and they are winning their fair share - its the only way to feed small forwards. Unfortunately in the critical last third of games where we are in contention we start to balloon it in high as we did V Donegal and Kerry. If we could only change this headlessness and learn to keep our composure and 'earn' critical scores to close out games, then I think we would be very hard beaten. In reality with all the possession and chances we had the last day and v Donegal, we should have had the game closed out with 5 mins to go. Kerry could have easily drawn or won the game the last day.

One final thing - could we please sort out our free taking! 40-50% of our scores normally come from placed balls, so its crucial we sort it. Think Conor and Dillion are fine for the regular ones, but our record with 45's and frees beyond 35m is diabolical. How many 45's have we scored in the last 10 years? I'd say about 10%! Sort it out JOM!!!

[Davitt Man]

Higgins HAS to be in HB line - he is not a corner back.

Totally agree here, Higgins is not a corner back. Half back is perfect spot for him he has got burnt enough in corner back.

Unfortunately in the critical last third of games where we are in contention we start to balloon it in high as we did V Donegal and Kerry.

Very true, we have a bad habit of just balloning ball into the full forwards when we need composure.

One final thing - could we please sort out our free taking! 40-50% of our scores normally come from placed balls, so its crucial we sort it. Think Conor and Dillion are fine for the regular ones, but our record with 45's and frees beyond 35m is diabolical. How many 45's have we scored in the last 10 years? I'd say about 10%! Sort it out JOM!!!

Austy might be the man, mort and dillon are sharp from 35metres in but outside of that they are out of their range.

[Lar Naparka]

MF still a problem. McGarrity not playing well and still needs more bulk. But he has to start. Showed a new aggression though the last day. Parsons leading the chase to partner him. I would still probably go with Harte, but he needs to up it a gear. Has loads of ability in my opinion.

McGarrity is not bulky enough to stand up to the likes of Dara O Se. He'd really need a younger version of David Brady beside him to do the grunt work.
For that reason I'd be hesitant about placing Tom Parsons beside him as they are quite similar in both build and temperament. The same could be said fro Barry Moran and Kieran Conroy. Maybe Pat harte would fill the bill here- if he cools down a bit; he can be very impetuous
I'd stay with the present HB line up. I'd also go with Cunniffe and Conroy. Unless Johnno begins playing a settled formation soon the championships will be upon us and he won't have a settled team this year either.
Put it another way, I'd pick the strongest side possible for the Kildare match and then leave it up to non-starters to try and wrest a place on merit and stop chopping and changing about.
Austy seems to fit the bill at FF. Heaney-Howley-Higgins looks the strongest combination at HB. Conroy seems to be the best bet for FB that we have seen so far and there are a few others I have in mind also.
Why not let them settle down and get more experience of playing in their best positions, unless loss of form or injury causes changes in their selected positions?

[RedandGreenSniper]

I'm not sure about the excitement of playing Conroy at full-back. I know he was good last time out but one good performance against Donaghy with the help of T Mort does not a regular full-back make. How would he do against the likes of Paddy Bradley or, more importantly, Michael Meehan. It was horses for courses against Donaghy, the only defending he had to do was defending the high ball.
We'll know more about him when he plays against a different type of ff. I've seen him play quite a bit for Shrule and wouldn't be convinced how he would be in the normal nuances of full-back play, shepparding the man, not getting sucked in etc. Hope I'm wrong
Regarding the team for this year there aren't that many players you can say are certainly going to be in a set position.
At the minute you have
Clarke (defo)

no definite in the full-back line (whats the story with Aidan Higgins by the way?)

Heaney Howley and Higgins look settled in the half back

McGarrity along with any one from Parsons, O'Shea, Moran and Harte

Dillon and Trevor should be shoo-ins for the half forward line

The full-forward line is the most settled, hard to see Conor, Austy and Andy Moran being shifted

So ten positions and five vacancies by my estimation. Still work to do and the full-back line is the biggest problem again. Wouldn't be surprised if we see BJP at full-back come championship

[mayo51]

excellent points about  conroy r and g sniper.the one time donaghy got the ball out towards the wing he lost conroy very easily and scored a good point.most teams play low diagonal  ball        into the f.f line and how conroy is able to deal with that is going to be his big test.just wondering did conroy play minor for mayo as i am pretty sure he has never played u-21.also i think chris barret will go very close to making the 1st fifteen this year as i think he is a tremendous prospect

[Barney]

Great points from Maradonna. Pity you don't post more often - they're worth waiting for though.

Interesting that Kieran Conroy didn't start for the u21s the other day and Tom Cunniffe was in what I think is his better position of number 6

[rosnarun]

1st thing to remember is this is the 3rd year in a row we beat kerry in the league.

Tom Cunniffe is living off his fine showing against derry last year but that line of credit is running very thin. he is begiining to do the headless chicken routine once to often. we need to see a  more of conroy to even think about starting him in the championship. donaghy is a moody fecker and presents a particular problem which conroy was the answer to  (in a league game) and Star lost interest and srtarted  insulting the crowd. BTW still no sign of the plank of wood thrown at him.
Barry moran must be  the future of mayo's midfield he has the skill physique and attitude to lead this team and based on last week parsons could well be the man to partner him LONGTERM.
in the Forward AOM has won the right to convince on quicker turf but at the end of the day donkeys don't win derbys.
If i was a betting man this will be pretty close to the championship team. needles in the woodpile could be form of K conroy kilcoyne A campbell availibility of kiluillens  b moran Maloney .

Clarke
C barrett  heaney LoM

gardiner Howley higgins

Barry moran Mcgarrithy

T mortimer A dillion   harte

Cmortimer  BJP  Andy moran

[mannix]

bjp ahead of aom at ff, you must be crazy.

[Barney]

See Donaghy has got a one match ban for "the finger" to the crowd.

Ironic that the dumbness of one supporter could cost Mayo by making it easier for Laois to beat Kerry on Sunday.

[mannix]

He deserved the ban, you simply cannot do things like that in a game and expect to get away free. A man with as many allirelands as he has should be above making gestures like it, he must be a bit of a bucko. In saying this I think whoever did throw anything at a player should be banned for life from games.
The thing to keep in mind is that kieran donaghy is a hero to thousands of boys and girls in kerry that are impressionable and follow his lead, he really let himself down very badly.

[rosnarun]

bjp ahead of aom at ff, you must be crazy.

weve all been here before AOM has great league capaign starts to falter by the end nowhere come championship time no moe than gill fairplay to him for putting in the effort but hes not and never will be a championship class player.
As regard donaghy still no evidence that anyone threw anything at him other than abuse. if they did let him demand an inquiry or else shut up and stop trying to defame mayo supporters

[Maradona]

I was in that section of the ground v Kerry...someone DID throw a wooden spoon towards Donaghy although it did not get near him, but the intent was there. My impression would be that Donaghy didny actually see the thing being thrown as he was running away but knew something happened and reacted to that. He shouldnt have reacted like thatm but in fairness to him he has apologised and that should have been the end of it

[OirthearMhaigheo]

I'd agree with you Maradona, I don't think the spoon or whatever it was, got near him. If it had I'm pretty sure he would have picked it up and shown it to the umpire or Ref, that would be your normal reaction anyway. He apologised and as a Mayo man it was embarassing that a fellow 'fan' would act like that, if I saw a Mayo teenager (as that was the main age group in that area) do that and I was beside them in the crowd I think I would be inclined to give them a clip around the ear or at least eff them out of it, no need for that sh1te to creep into our game. Anyway, it's probably time to move on from this, hopefully Mayo Co. Board have learned a valuable lesson to steward the games in McHale park properly from now on and young Donaghy no doubt has learned a little too to alert an official 'if' there was a problem, I say if because in truth no missile actually went near the lad and he hid behind this a little due to his frustration at getting verbal abuse and giving the fingered salute.
As for the Kicullen lads, it's a shame they have walked but we might not have seen the last of them long term. I think James was just being realistic, he knew he was getting very little opportunity for whatever reason and I think he figures it was as well to leave and let someone else warm the bench, he is injured now as it happens anyway. Dave is another story as he would have gotten a game this year but he simply seems to be enjoying himself at the moment and football has taken a back seat, but he's only young and this is common for any young fella and at the end of the day it's his choice.