Mayo 3-11 Sligo 0-7 Champions Dethroned

[jjjshabadoojnr]

McGuire did fine, same old. looks in fine shape considering the injury. Naughton was the big suprise, not his biggest fan, well not at fullback anyway but the lad is brimming with confidence and that was a powerful display he put in as third midfielder. If mcguire does start fb well if naughton is dropped and mcnamara starts he can feel very hard done IMO.

Was at the game there also Sligonian. I am starting to have serious reservations about starting MMac against Mayo. He contributed absoulutely nothing last night as third midfielder as against Mayo. As you say Naughton won serious ball in 2nd half as 3rd midfielder. Could be an option against Mayo.

[Mano]

Any sign of John O Mahony or any of his backroom team at the Boyle challenge? I'm sure there was a Mayo presence there somewhere given that notification of the match was on the Sligo Weekender newspaper. Slightly worried by this-Mayo will know exactly the personnel of our team and our tactics assuming its same as challenge last night. Whereas there is not a word coming out of the Mayo camp-with not even the Mayo lads with an idea of the starting team.

[ludermor]

No didnt see him for the club, just seen 3 FBDs, 7NFLs and 1 challenge for Sligo, he is yet to play to his potential or close for the county this yr..... I wish I had your optimism, I am worried about him. It was finneran and mannion midfield and ros dominated for long periods. Although I know Quinn does the donkey work and grafting and I do notice it but just not breaking or influencing around the middle as I know he can. I hope your right.

You have been spouting for the last few months that the league (and i assume the FBD) has no relevance to championship football, harder ground, etc,etc make up your mind 

[the Deel Rover]

No didnt see him for the club, just seen 3 FBDs, 7NFLs and 1 challenge for Sligo, he is yet to play to his potential or close for the county this yr..... I wish I had your optimism, I am worried about him. It was finneran and mannion midfield and ros dominated for long periods. Although I know Quinn does the donkey work and grafting and I do notice it but just not breaking or influencing around the middle as I know he can. I hope your right.

You have been spouting for the last few months that the league (and i assume the FBD) has no relevance to championship football, harder ground, etc,etc make up your mind 

thats true ludermor he can't have it both ways

[SLIGONIAN]

No didnt see him for the club, just seen 3 FBDs, 7NFLs and 1 challenge for Sligo, he is yet to play to his potential or close for the county this yr..... I wish I had your optimism, I am worried about him. It was finneran and mannion midfield and ros dominated for long periods. Although I know Quinn does the donkey work and grafting and I do notice it but just not breaking or influencing around the middle as I know he can. I hope your right.

You have been spouting for the last few months that the league (and i assume the FBD) has no relevance to championship football, harder ground, etc,etc make up your mind 

thats true ludermor he can't have it both ways

Was last night not harder ground so ludermor ....as any football man knows some players physicality is suited to championship summer football. ie MOST not all of the sligo team arent big but very fast therefore it suits them. But some of our players are physical and 6ft + not fast but have stamina and a good engine and should IMO be doing better. Like egan for example would be suited to league football just as much as summer and quinn too IMO. But 12 of our starting 15 would be more suited to summer football, ie better conditions being the main factor. So when I say sligo will be better in CSFC than league is that not a fair asumption based on the fact that most of our players especially along the wings and forwards mainly would excell more in better conditions.

Is that clear enough for yee lads ? Any more questions on football knowledge feel free to ask .

[SLIGONIAN]

if naughton is dropped and mcnamara starts he can feel very hard done IMO.

Well I know which of these two I'd have playing.

In respect of Quinn, I have every faith he will turn up on Sunday week. Regardless we don't have many options in there and as Seanie says it's going to be a huge battle in that sector against Mayo.

Sligonian, any criticisms of Eamonn Cawleys display? Presumably he was one of the 10 changes made?

Cawley is a good player IMO but lacks pace for this time of year. He does take his chances. It was a fisted opportunistic goal last night. I would be worried if a fast corner back was marking cawley, he just doesnt have the 10 yard burst of pace to get away from his man. He was taken off for mcgowan 5 mins into 2nd half. I dont think he'll start against mayo. Kelly will be back.

[SLIGONIAN]

Any sign of John O Mahony or any of his backroom team at the Boyle challenge? I'm sure there was a Mayo presence there somewhere given that notification of the match was on the Sligo Weekender newspaper. Slightly worried by this-Mayo will know exactly the personnel of our team and our tactics assuming its same as challenge last night. Whereas there is not a word coming out of the Mayo camp-with not even the Mayo lads with an idea of the starting team.

Didnt see anyone from Mayo but would be suprised if there wasnt. In fairness any sligoman took a chance on going as it was mentioned in the weekender but in a very small part of it so didnt know for sure it was on.

There was tv camera there obviously sligo management had it there so to look at  the footage again.

You know Mano i wouldnt be overly worried about mayo knowing alot about us. At the end of the day they should be more focused on themselves than us and I am sure they are. Really I think its an important part of management to focus on your own strengths and get that right. In fairness the other side to that is Im sure Jordan being a mayoman knows a hell of alot about Mayo so cancels out any advantage mayo might have seeing alot of us IMO.

[ludermor]

No didnt see him for the club, just seen 3 FBDs, 7NFLs and 1 challenge for Sligo, he is yet to play to his potential or close for the county this yr..... I wish I had your optimism, I am worried about him. It was finneran and mannion midfield and ros dominated for long periods. Although I know Quinn does the donkey work and grafting and I do notice it but just not breaking or influencing around the middle as I know he can. I hope your right.

You have been spouting for the last few months that the league (and i assume the FBD) has no relevance to championship football, harder ground, etc,etc make up your mind 

thats true ludermor he can't have it both ways

Was last night not harder ground so ludermor ....as any football man knows some players physicality is suited to championship summer football. ie MOST not all of the sligo team arent big but very fast therefore it suits them. But some of our players are physical and 6ft + not fast but have stamina and a good engine and should IMO be doing better. Like egan for example would be suited to league football just as much as summer and quinn too IMO. But 12 of our starting 15 would be more suited to summer football, ie better conditions being the main factor. So when I say sligo will be better in CSFC than league is that not a fair asumption based on the fact that most of our players especially along the wings and forwards mainly would excell more in better conditions.

Is that clear enough for yee lads ? Any more questions on football knowledge feel free to ask .

Im being completely honest when i say , No that is not any clearer.

[SLIGONIAN]

No didnt see him for the club, just seen 3 FBDs, 7NFLs and 1 challenge for Sligo, he is yet to play to his potential or close for the county this yr..... I wish I had your optimism, I am worried about him. It was finneran and mannion midfield and ros dominated for long periods. Although I know Quinn does the donkey work and grafting and I do notice it but just not breaking or influencing around the middle as I know he can. I hope your right.

You have been spouting for the last few months that the league (and i assume the FBD) has no relevance to championship football, harder ground, etc,etc make up your mind 

thats true ludermor he can't have it both ways

Was last night not harder ground so ludermor ....as any football man knows some players physicality is suited to championship summer football. ie MOST not all of the sligo team arent big but very fast therefore it suits them. But some of our players are physical and 6ft + not fast but have stamina and a good engine and should IMO be doing better. Like egan for example would be suited to league football just as much as summer and quinn too IMO. But 12 of our starting 15 would be more suited to summer football, ie better conditions being the main factor. So when I say sligo will be better in CSFC than league is that not a fair asumption based on the fact that most of our players especially along the wings and forwards mainly would excell more in better conditions.

Is that clear enough for yee lads ? Any more questions on football knowledge feel free to ask .

Im being completely honest when i say , No that is not any clearer.

wow cant really add anything to that. Send a few of friends a PM or 2 and get them to explain it to you. Maybe your a wum either....

[Lar Naparka]

I often think that 95 team was nt as bad as is usually made out. As far as I can piece together the team that started v Galway was.

Heffernan. Mortimor. Cahill. Ruane. McGarry. Nallen.Coleman.
  Fallon.Colm Mac. Cunney. Dempsey. Niland. Byrne. Casey. O Neill.

No, it wasn't a bad team at all. However, it was only strong out to midfield.
Tell me, moysider, if you were having a slow day and started comparing that side with the possible combinations/ permutations that O'Mahony will be fielding against Sligo next weekend what would your assessment be?
I think that back then, and for a good few years either side of '95, Mayo could field similar sides to '95; very solid and consistent from 1-9 but from 10-15 the end result wasn't too hot!
With the exception of Keith Higgins, I'd not select a single member of the present squad in front of what we had back then!
The fb line of that period was very good; Mortimer and Cahill were as good as I have ever seen and Gary Ruane, faulted for being slow by many, was a tigerish man marker; he never shone but then his opponent seldom did either.
Nallen was only coming into his own back then but he was a promising young player, same as Trevor Howley today. It's a tragedy that Howley is injured.
Midfield advantage just has to lay with Colm Mac and Pat Fallon. It was probably the best combo to be found anywhere at that time. Both were immensely strong and superb fielders; Cahill could be fairly sure that if he hoofed a ball down field one of those lads was more than likely to pick it up.  Fallon, I recall was a chronic asthmatic and this limited his intercounty career. Colm could run all day, all over the place, but unfortunately he couldn't shoot for nuts!
I suppose Kevin Cahill did have a bad display that day but I think it was that he was returning after a bad leg break and he never fully recovered his old form.
Upfront, I'd have no hesitation in saying that O'Mahony can chose a better player in a straight man to man selection for every forward position. Kevin O'Neill and Ray Dempsey were both past their best. Both had spent a long time sidelined with injuries and neither subsequently recovered their old class.
John Casey was an enigma; he could shine one day and be worse than anonymous the next. Niland and Cunney were honest grafters but we never likely to hit the headlines, while Tom Byrne never reproduced his brilliant underage form either.
Back then, Mayo sides conceded few soft goals but never scored much of anything- unless you include wides.

[GaillimhIarthair]

Kevin O'Neill was hardly past his best in'95, he would have been about 22 at the time!  I could never understand why Maughan ignored O'Neill during his first term in charge of Mayo.  I remember seeing him destroy Eire Og from Carlow in an All Ireland club semi in Mullingar (year escapes me but around mid nineties) and they were one of the top club sides back then.  I also seem to remember Maughan or maybe the CB having "issues" with Knockmore players around this time also.  Maybe that was one reason for his absence at the time. 

[dodo]

Kevin O'Neill was hardly past his best in'95, he would have been about 22 at the time!  I could never understand why Maughan ignored O'Neill during his first term in charge of Mayo.  I remember seeing him destroy Eire Og from Carlow in an All Ireland club semi in Mullingar (year escapes me but around mid nineties) and they were one of the top club sides back then.  I also seem to remember Maughan or maybe the CB having "issues" with Knockmore players around this time also.  Maybe that was one reason for his absence at the time. 

O'Neill was too much of a pure footballer for Maughan. Maybe he wasn't in the 'yes sir, no sir, 3 bags full sir' brigade that Maughan nurtured. For all the great work Maughan did for Mayo he was very blinkered regarding a few players. Warming up O'Neill at Croker for a whole second half would piss any man off. It made O'Neill's two goals in the 2006 AI final all the more thought provoking.

[Lar Naparka]

Kevin O'Neill was hardly past his best in'95, he would have been about 22 at the time!  I could never understand why Maughan ignored O'Neill during his first term in charge of Mayo.  I remember seeing him destroy Eire Og from Carlow in an All Ireland club semi in Mullingar (year escapes me but around mid nineties) and they were one of the top club sides back then.  I also seem to remember Maughan or maybe the CB having "issues" with Knockmore players around this time also.  Maybe that was one reason for his absence at the time. 

My memory isn’t as good as it used to be and I’m honestly not too clear as to when Kevin O’Neill has his bad leg break but I think it was before the game Moysider mentions .It was widely feared at the time that Kevin might never play again. As to John Maughan’s recollection of events back in the mid-nineties, I’ll be charitable and say he was being economical with the truth.
I think it was in the aftermath of the 2006 final that Maughan said if Kevin had shown the same form back in the mid-nineties he would have no problem with selecting him. Fact is Maughan had demanded that O’Neill give first priority to playing with the county rather than his club, Knockmore.
That was in 96 or 97 when Knockmore got through to the All Ireland club final. Along the way, I think it was before the semi-final, the club manager refused to release Kevin to play for Maughan. Maughan was never to consider him again and yes, his form was just brilliant. Maughan dropped him because he put club before county.
There was some controversy over this alright and I do recall the player saying that it was unfair to ask him to make the choice; it should be sorted out between the respective managers.
I’m sure there are posters here who remember the fuss back then and the widespread calls to Maughan to reinstate O’Neill but he would not budge.

[ludermor]

[wow cant really add anything to that. Send a few of friends a PM or 2 and get them to explain it to you. Maybe your a wum either....

Nope im not a WUM at all. I just thought it was funny that you went to such lenghts to say league was no indicator of a teams form but then used the league as an indicator of a players form. But you  backtracked clarified your position (without previously doing so) so i thank you for that.

[Farrandeelin]

You're right Lar. It was 97. Mayo were to play Laois I think it was a week or two before the semi-final. Knockmore didn't release O'Neill, like all other clubs don't release their players before they are out of the club championship. Maughan issued a warning that he'd never pick a Knockmore man again. However, he backtracked on that when he picked Munnelly in the 04 semi-final against Fermanagh. I do think it is a pity that Staunton, Butler, O'Neill weren't given a chance to play for Mayo for that reason.