Mayo 3-11 Sligo 0-7 Champions Dethroned

[Barney]

Lads if we end up with a full-back line with Aidan Higgins, Billie Joe and Liam O'Malley we are going to get the mother and father of beating once we meet a decent team.

Defensive tactics are wrong. There is no settled unit and still 10 days before entering the championship there is serious uncertainty.

We are in big bother.

Predictions of 8 - 15 are probably correct.

Would any of you agree that we are possibly looking at the worst Mayo team since 1995 both in terms of personnel and preparation?

[OirthearMhaigheo]

Lads if we end up with a full-back line with Aidan Higgins, Billie Joe and Liam O'Malley we are going to get the mother and father of beating once we meet a decent team.

Defensive tactics are wrong. There is no settled unit and still 10 days before entering the championship there is serious uncertainty.

We are in big bother.

Predictions of 8 - 15 are probably correct.

Would any of you agree that we are possibly looking at the worst Mayo team since 1995 both in terms of personnel and preparation?

wouldn't agree with that at all. If you think back to 2003 we looked poor and we were poor, but then in 2004 it looked like we weren't much better and look what happened. I remember we got an awful hockeying off Tyrone in the league and the talk that day was we were miles off a team like that. What happened later in August? we beat them with a great performance. I do think we had better players back then but the run we went on still came from nowhere. I think too many people are getting carried away, lets see how things look  after the Sligo match and write your obituaries then!

[IolarCoisCuain]

Lads if we end up with a full-back line with Aidan Higgins, Billie Joe and Liam O'Malley we are going to get the mother and father of beating once we meet a decent team.

Defensive tactics are wrong. There is no settled unit and still 10 days before entering the championship there is serious uncertainty.

We are in big bother.

Predictions of 8 - 15 are probably correct.

Would any of you agree that we are possibly looking at the worst Mayo team since 1995 both in terms of personnel and preparation?

Stop sugaring the pill there Barney and tell the naked truth. There's no use trying to hide. It's the worst Mayo team since the Norman invasion.   

I'm not too hopeful about prospects for this year but to say it's the worst Mayo team in thirteen years when it hasn't even been named is a biteen over the top, don't you think?

[Tubberman]

Quote from: Barney on Today at 08:20:16 AM
Lads if we end up with a full-back line with Aidan Higgins, Billie Joe and Liam O'Malley we are going to get the mother and father of beating once we meet a decent team.

Defensive tactics are wrong. There is no settled unit and still 10 days before entering the championship there is serious uncertainty.

We are in big bother.

Predictions of 8 - 15 are probably correct.

Would any of you agree that we are possibly looking at the worst Mayo team since 1995 both in terms of personnel and preparation?


wouldn't agree with that at all. If you think back to 2003 we looked poor and we were poor, but then in 2004 it looked like we weren't much better and look what happened. I remember we got an awful hockeying off Tyrone in the league and the talk that day was we were miles off a team like that. What happened later in August? we beat them with a great performance. I do think we had better players back then but the run we went on still came from nowhere. I think too many people are getting carried away, lets see how things look  after the Sligo match and write your obituaries then

I'd have to agree - you're jumping the gun by a long way there Barney. Sure none of us here have any idea how preperations are going. There isn't a word coming from the camp, which many would see as a good thing. We have no idea how the trip to Portugal went, or what game plans are being worked on in training.

For all we know, we could be talk of the championship with our new gameplan to rival the 'blanket defence' or the return of the 'big man up front'. Or it could be a complete shambles and we could be beaten by Sligo on Sunday week and get a bad draw in the qualifiers and make an early exit again.
The point is we haven't a clue, so we can't say this is the 'worst Mayo team' in any manner of means, considering we haven't seen them play a championship match yet.

[Barney]

Lads I agree with ye. I am worried but stirring a bit of debate to pass the morning.

[the Deel Rover]

Lads I agree with ye. I am worried but stirring a bit of debate to pass the morning.

  good man barney you should have at least waited till the team was announced

[IolarCoisCuain]

Lads I agree with ye. I am worried but stirring a bit of debate to pass the morning.

You wouldn't do a bit of work, no? 

[rosnarun]

I m not Farandeelin. But I remember that stuff from a great football coach and math's teacher and an uncle of a fella in the county panel still. Ar dheis Dé go rabh a anam dílis. He would as a Cross. man be appalled by Mac s exclusion from the panel and rightly so.

And a pround holder of a Celtic Cross himself as a sub he only got the meadal a few years back as i dont think subs got tthem back them or else it was because of his holy orders. I too suffered in Muredachs for a spell untill they decided to stop sufferring me.

as for barneys trolling it may not be the worst prepared team only time will tell that but it must be the most uncertain team for a long whil and no harm in that if it keeps people on their toes

[moysider]

I m not Farandeelin. But I remember that stuff from a great football coach and math's teacher and an uncle of a fella in the county panel still. Ar dheis Dé go rabh a anam dílis. He would as a Cross. man be appalled by Mac s exclusion from the panel and rightly so.

And a pround holder of a Celtic Cross himself as a sub he only got the meadal a few years back as i dont think subs got tthem back them or else it was because of his holy orders. I too suffered in Muredachs for a spell untill they decided to stop sufferring me.

as for barneys trolling it may not be the worst prepared team only time will tell that but it must be the most uncertain team for a long whil and no harm in that if it keeps people on their toes

No wonder you suffered there pal with spelling and punctuation like that. Surprised you were nt murdered.   

[Tubberman]

Some good news to lift our pessimistic outlook 
From hoganstand.com

Mayo forward Conor Mortimer expects to be fit for Sunday week's Connacht SFC semi-final against Sligo at Castlebar.

Mortimer has been struggling with a quad muscle injury for the past five weeks, and was forced to sit out Shrule-Glencorrib's defeat to Ballaghadereen in the local senior football championship last weekend.

However, he returned to training on Tuesday evening and said the recovery was coming along "slowly but surely".

He added: "We had a club game there at the weekend that I didn't play in. I wasn't right. I played in a club game a couple of weeks before that and just made it a bit worse. Time will tell. I've been getting treatment on it."

Commenting on his recent lack of match practice, the prolific attacker said: "I wouldn't be too bad. I can do a lot on the bike and rowing machine. Actual match sharpness is what you would be missing but I did the session at training so I should be okay by the end of the week.

"If I wasn't 100 per cent, I wouldn't go out and play. There is no point in hurting it again. If you hurt it again you could be out for four or five weeks and you could miss most of the championship."

Mind you, that last sentence isn't too encouraging! Is he expecting to have another short summer 

[moysider]

Good news yes. A niggly kind of injury though. He would nt want to start horsing over 45s for a while. Its the heavier O Neills that do the damage if fellas dont warm up properly. Seldom hear of it in soccer. I assume its his kicking leg?

[Lar Naparka]

Lads if we end up with a full-back line with Aidan Higgins, Billie Joe and Liam O'Malley we are going to get the mother and father of beating once we meet a decent team.

Defensive tactics are wrong. There is no settled unit and still 10 days before entering the championship there is serious uncertainty.

Fair play, Barney!
You're a beacon of sense in an ocean of serious uncertainty!
We could indeed wind up with the FB line you have referred to above; it's as likely as any other possible combination and the number of such possible combinations can stretch into double figures.
Last year in Salthill the bould Billy Joe started off at  3, never having played with his corner men before in any competitive match. The only thing we can be certain of is that whatever unfortunate soul finds himself at full back will have had no worthwhile experience of playing with those around him!
(Of course the same holds true for each corner back as well.)
The halfback line will be put together for the game in the same haphazard manner and while I'm at it, the half forwards will be cobbled together in a similar fashion.
Apart from that, we'll probably have a settled side.

BTW: I too am having a verrrry slow day!!

[RedandGreenSniper]

I think, as a county, we are finally beginning to appreciate the importance of Mortimer to our chances. Sure he might not be in the top five inside forwards in the country (behind Gooch, Freeman, P Bradley, A Brogan and D Dolan imo) but he's the best we have by some way.

I agree with Barney - there is an awful lot of uncertainty coming into this game. I think and hope it might be all down to JOM - that's the way he wants it. We don't know whats going on behind the scenes (that's the way to have it). Lets hope thats all part of the masterplan. But I just can't shake the pessimism

Regarding the full-back line I'd be extremely surprised if whatever combination started actually finished the game back there as a unit. We're going to be winging it here.

[IolarCoisCuain]

Good news yes. A niggly kind of injury though. He would nt want to start horsing over 45s for a while. Its the heavier O Neills that do the damage if fellas dont warm up properly. Seldom hear of it in soccer. I assume its his kicking leg?

I don't think he horses over many 45 even in the full of his health Moysider. I agree with what the lads are saying about Conor being our most valuable forward but that still doesn't take away from the fact that Conor has certain weak spots, to put it mildly.

[young anail]

Interesting fact- Charlie Harrison and Andy Moran were team mates and house mates at UUJ this year. Both will likely be marking each other. Bound to be tough on both of them if they were good mates.