Mayo 3-11 Sligo 0-7 Champions Dethroned

[RedandGreenSniper]

Interestingly Kevin McStay is of the opinion that the Mayo team is more set in stone than any other year. That it picks itself. Can't agree with him there . . .


Once more into the breach...

Kevin McStay
IF Liam Sammon and his management team travel down to Castlebar next Sunday I strongly advise them to bring thick notebooks and take copious notes on both sides.
This is a game that is likely to be played out to the bitter end and if Mayo are favourites it can only be based on the history between these sides and their respective national league form.
In a nutshell: Mayo generally beat Sligo in the championship and in the 2008 league Mayo held their place in Division 1 while Sligo slipped into Division 4.
On paper then, it looks pretty straightforward but as often noted, we have yet to see a game played at this location. The league story contains a few pointers but there is also a cold conclusion to be reached.
Sligo, the reigning provincial champions, will play no further part in this championship if they lose to Mayo on Sunday. This is possibly the greatest motivation any team in this year's championship has.
Sligo will feel slighted by this new rule and certainly feel the rest of the counties are not giving them the respect they feel they deserve as reigning provincial champions.
They are an experienced side with the majority of the winning team of last year available for selection this week. They will know that their last championship appearance versus Cork in the 2007 All Ireland quarter-final was a shambles, but was it any worse than Mayo's last effort when exiting the Qualifiers against Derry?
And so if Mayo are a nose in front at this juncture I am expecting matters to be 50-50 by throw-in time next Sunday. Yes, I expect Mayo to win in the end, but that is based on our recent history and nothing else. The rubber chicken challenge circuit that lasts from April to June told us nothing about Mayo or Sligo and the reality is the A v B game last Saturday in McHale Park was the game to be at if you wanted the inside track.
As ever, the column goes to press without the Mayo team line-out to hand but that usually adds to the fun. Picking your own team is an old favourite of the Mayo man as he dons the manager's hat, scribbles his combination and waits 'til Wednesday to see if he thinks like 'The Boss'. And if it helps to get a few more paragraphs down on the page, all the better.
Except this time the Mayo team picks itself and barring injury, there will be no surprises. My Deep Throat tells me Alan Dillon is a bit sore and will need the rest of the week to get himself right. Mort the Younger is fit and well and practising his frees in the dark of night on the main street(s) of Shrule. Alas, Trevor Howley is goosed for another few weeks but Peadar Gardiner is welcomed back. Okay, that is the health bulletin out of the way.
Selection will pose few problems for the management team once the doctor reports, so expect to see David Clarke fronted by a very young and relatively inexperienced full-back line of Liam O'Malley, Kieran Conroy and Colm Boyle. Why are we giving such a young line their head? Because that is where we are; they have proven themselves the best we have and deserve the nod.
The half-back line looks exciting and if they fire can give Mayo real impetus. I always look to a team's 5, 6 and 7 (most likely to be Tom Cunniffe, David Heaney and Keith Higgins) when wondering the value and prospects of a side in an overall sense.
It is, outside of midfield, perhaps the most important line in Gaelic football. This Mayo trio has real potential, pace and drive. All three can hold or go and the challenge is to get a balanced arrivals and departures timetable together.
Midfield will be Ronan McGarrity and Tom Parsons or Pat Harte. The Ballina man might be needed further forward or might sit matters out for a while. Again, I would expect whatever pairing is selected to easily hold their own with any other in the country, never to mind the province.
We need a fit and committed Dillon so hopefully that will pan out. Either side of him? Most likely Trevor Mortimer and Gardiner/Harte.
The full-forward line is promising. Mort at 13, Austy at full and the hard-working Andy Moran in the last slot. Plenty of good subs too and so you wonder if the 2008 Mayo team and squad can go where no other has gone in over half a century.
That is the question on all your lips. Yes, we know Sligo are next up, but deep down Mayo will feel they can edge it. And Galway, today, frighten nobody.
This is a progressive Mayo team, a well-prepared side, committed, fit and enthusiastic. They are serious about their football and want very much to be a part of a successful Mayo team. They have many talents but of course some weaknesses too. The challenge, as it has been over all those intervening years, is to stitch a strong fabric that can hide the shortcomings and accentuate the abilities.
Just now I have no idea where the 2008 team are headed. I expect you are in the same tent as me. But they are a Top 10 team and a win next Sunday puts them into the last 12.
We are the last into the championship field and we know all the runners and riders at this stage. But it will take at least two games over the next few weeks before any Mayo man will know the story about the latest crop of fine men to leave the Sweet Plains.
And really, that is where we are. Hovering, wondering, hoping, trying, maybe even praying. Believing?

Galway leave room for more improvement
CONNACHT and Munster continue to follow the script and even if Cork stumbled over the line and fell into a Munster final, the bottom line remains: it's as you were in Munster and Kerry will match up with the Rebels in a few weeks time.
Galway tip-toed into the western final and will expect to see Mayo follow in their footsteps next Sunday. Be afraid my friends, be very afraid. Believe it only when you see it on Sunday.
Galway are still a work in progress. And will be for a few months yet. They are searching desperately for their best 15 but it is real fire brigade stuff. They put a fire out here but sparks fly there. Midfield gets a band-aid but the full-back line needs oxygen. One step forward. Two steps back?
If this game was played in Carrick-on-Shannon, Leitrim might well have won. As it was, they had their moments. Twenty-five minutes of Padraic Joyce class was enough, just, to see the Galway men into the final. When it came to Man-of-the-Match time, there was only a single Tribesman on the short-list. It underlined the poverty of the performance.
Will this be just the type of game Galway will want to launch themselves on final day? You know the old rubbish of everybody writing us off and the bad play against Leitrim gave us the perfect build-up.
That's just old guff; every team wants to prove their form and the best way is to play to the standards you set in training. Galway got nowhere close and will need to show significant improvement when facing Mayo. Or Sligo...

[stephenite]

Bit cliched but Conor talks a lot of sense. I'm beginning to get a bit more optimistic - very hard for me to talk about the team, especially the defence having never seen the likes of Conroy play but I'd hope that Harte starts the game, too good of a footballer to be on the bench in my, rather biased opinion.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/irishexaminer/pages/story.aspx-qqqg=sport-qqqm=sport-qqqa=sport-qqqid=65289-qqqx=1.asp

[RedandGreenSniper]

Good interview with the Mort, could be maturing a wee bit. Had to laugh at him calling O'Mahony 'the gaffer' towards the end though!! Doubt he calls JOM that personally.

Alan Dillon's interview in the Mayo News is refreshing and very mature. At 25 these two are the longest established forwards we have and the lack of McDonald's presence I think will bring out the best in these two. They'll have to take on the responsibility now themselves.

http://www.mayonews.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4323&Itemid=39

[Bod Mor]

I reckon a draw would be the best thing for Mayo on Sunday. That extra game would mean they are up to speed with most other teams. We know that Sligo are going to come out all guns blazing because their championship depends on this game. All that training over the winter boils down to 70 minutes on Sunday and these lads won't be taken lightly.

I'm looking forward to it anyway. Hopefully the Mayo team will be named today.

[baoithe]

Jesus Sligonian while I wouldn't be one to place much store in 'mind-games' in respect of team lineups, if there was an advantage to be gained from it you've just obliterated it for us on Sunday.

Sometimes it's more prudent to observe and say nothing.

[Mano]

I'm a journalist - where do you expect me to get team news! That came from the Sligo County Board!

That team and article are on the Irish Independent now. Don't believe for a second that this team will lineout on Sunday but its the team that is been released to the media.

[SLIGONIAN]

Jesus Sligonian while I wouldn't be one to place much store in 'mind-games' in respect of team lineups, if there was an advantage to be gained from it you've just obliterated it for us on Sunday.

Sometimes it's more prudent to observe and say nothing.

Point taken, but JOM will hardly be looking on here, and take my word over what Jordan has released to the media. Really managers or selectors dont be checking this forum, do they?

Worst thing about that team is Sligo people might believe it and not go especially when they see mcnamara CHB. That decision would defo ensure a loss to mayo and Jordan can have his bags packed if he follows through with that team but he wont.

That was my main reason to obliterate it for the fans benefit who might believe and be pretty pissed off. There are currently 73 sligofans on sligogaa.ie and im sure there disgusted with the team selection, now i have to tell my dad who will be raging at first then realise its not going to happen.

PS sorry laoisgaa, didnt know and when I checked other sources it wasnt up. Thanks.

[Barney]

You'd be suprised Sligonian who reads this forum.

Is it tonight or tomorrow for JOM to put his ducks in a row.

[RedandGreenSniper]

Tonight afaik

[SLIGONIAN]

Mayo dealt Dillon blow as champs Sligo lie low

THEIR centre-back already ruled out, Mayo have suffered a further injury blow ahead of next Sunday's Connacht Championship semi-final clash with Sligo, as former All Star Alan Dillon has been rated as extremely doubtful for the McHale Park encounter.

The centre-forward has not been able to train since Ballintubber's club championship victory over Moy Davitts last Sunday week, an injury sustained during that game requiring fluid to be drained from the player's hip the day after.

Manager John O'Mahony already has to contend without the services of Trevor Howley, with former captain David Heaney expected to fill the no.6 position in the Knockmore man's absence.

The news on Conor Mortimer is more positive and while O'Mahony concedes that Dillon's injury is a major worry, he expects the former, recovered from a thigh strain, to be fit to fill a corner-forward berth. Mortimer's Shrule-Glencorrib club-mate, Kieran Conroy, has also shaken off the effects of dead leg and is in pole position to make his championship debut, at full-back.

Mayo are the last team in the country to make their entry into the championship, a very different scenario from last season, but O'Mahony isn't complaining.

"Last year it was very rushed, we played Galway something like three weeks after the League final, it's the opposite end of the spectrum this year. Maybe the gap is a little bit too long this year, but you can't have it every way. The players have played an awful lot of football in the meantime, eight league games for their clubs along with two championship games, and we had our training camp (in Portugal) which was important, especially since the clubs had the players for the two weeks either side of that," he added before turning his attention to Sunday's date with destiny.

"The first round of the championship is always a lottery in many aspects, as we've seen from some of the results around the country already, and the only way you really prepare for championship is by playing championship and Sligo have had a game, albeit against London, but still it's a championship game, to get into that atmosphere which is important. We won't have had that until next Sunday. "I've every confidence in the panel, they've trained hard, they've worked hard, they've been committed and I'd be confident that they'll give a good performance and that's all you can ask of any team and that's the only thing you need to put you in with a chance," O'Mahony explained.

According to the bookies, Sligo come to McHale Park next Sunday as underdogs, but O'Mahony is well aware of the challenge they will pose the home side.

"I'd have huge respect for Sligo in the sense that they know now that they can do it and they did it the hard way last year, playing away to Roscommon and then beating the hot favourites Galway. There's nothing like having done something to know that you can do it again.

"The reality in Connacht over the years is that no matter how many times Leitrim and Sligo might win, there'll never be as much weight of expectation on them compared to Mayo, Galway and up until recent years, Roscommon. That's a thing you have to live with.

"That Sligo had an indifferent league campaign really is of no relevance because league and championship matches are totally different and in many respects Sligo have left that long behind them. They hammered Wexford in a challenge game recently and Wexford went on to beat Meath in Leinster, and Sligo also ran Dublin to a couple of points, so they have been going quite well. The setting is right for Sligo, but we just have to concentrate on ourselves and that's what we're doing. We certainly can't say that we haven't been warned that this is going to be a dogfight and that's what we're prepared for," he maintained.

Above article from WESTERN PEOPLE, I hope mannix and few others take note on what JOM says about league and championship .

Also on Mcstay article it says HISTORY is the main reason he thinks Mayo will win . Absolute jibberish. The past is gone. Its all on the day.

[SLIGONIAN]

Another article from western people. Judging by what they say about Sligo the havent a clue what there talking about. It just goes to show a name can live on one good game for a long time in the case of mcnamara..........well at least they know mcguire is back.

Mayo v Sligo verdict

Still, Howley's absence causes uncertainty as to the exact makeup of the defence to stand in front of goalkeeper David Clarke. It could allow a place to be found for the fit again Liam O'Malley who lost his corner-back berth towards the end of the NFL but who, in recent games with Burrishoole at least, seems to have regained his best form. However, will it be David Heaney who moves from the wing to no.6 or could league corner-back Tom Cunniffe transfer to the position he has made his own at U-21, University and Minor grades over the past four seasons? Most money rests on the former. Billy Joe Padden is also operating at full throttle again, but with rookie, Kieran Conroy, mildly impressing in the full-back position that injury forced Padden to vacate earlier this year, it's hard to see where in the team the Belmullet man could be accommodated next Sunday.

So, with Heaney, Cunniffe, Conroy, Keith Higgins and perhaps Liam O'Malley as certain as they could be of their defensive jerseys, another question that remains is will management opt for the youth of Colm Boyle, the proven reliability of Trevor Mortimer or Peadar Gardiner, or even the experience of Pat Kelly to fill any remaining void in the backs?

The Mortimer/Gardiner option may depend on how O'Mahony prefers to shape his forward division. Both proved effective rovers during the league and either or both would be competent in wing-forward berths either side of Alan Dillon, if fit, or Pat Harte. It would be a major surprise to see anyone other than Conor Mortimer, Austin O'Malley and Andy Moran selected in the full-forward line, especially having hardly missed any competitive game-time playing alongside each other this year, and by holding down a midfield position towards the end of the league, Tom Parsons remains ahead of Seamus O'Shea as the most likely partner of team-captain Ronan McGarrity.

Across the border, the big boost Sligo were hoping for has materialised with their captain, Noel McGuire, declaring himself available for selection. The Easkey man dislocated an elbow on club duty last month but played a full part in his side's outing in the Sligo SFC the weekend before last. Operating as a makeshift midfielder for some of the NFL, McGuire's potential return offers the Sligo team the prospect of having its full-back line, that earned so many plaudits last year, restored in its entirety, with Charlie Harrison and Ross Donovan occupying the corners. The halfback line is just as settled with the inspirational Michael McNamara , Connacht GAA Personality of the Year, flanked by Johnny Davey and Paul McGovern, McNamara forming the rear of a formidable central diamond that features midfielders Eamonn O'Hara and Kieran Quinn, and centre-forward scoring dynamo Mark Breheny. The return to duty of Brendan Egan has bolstered the attack but in the absence of past and present forwards like Sean Davey, Dessie Sloyan, Paul Taylor, John McPartland and Gerry McGowan, Sligo's front six appears far less threatening than in it did earlier this decade. It's that factor - regardless of manager Tommy Jordan's in depth knowledge of Mayo football - that might cause the champions to fall short next Sunday.

VERDICT: MAYO

[kevmy]

Hope Dillon plays as we have tried no one (bar Mac) there for years and I wouldn't like throwing someone in now.

Having said that Alan didn't have the best league campaign and if an experienced player (Trevor?) is put in there we might find something a bit different.

I wouldn't like to mess with the FF line as it is and the half back line were the only consistently good performers all through the league. If Dillon is out I'd put Trevor CF with Harte and Gardiner on the wings

[SLIGONIAN]

From SLIGOGAA.ie
Seanie is karl o neill injured, he was togged out against ros last week but didnt get on? Interesting fact about curry not being represented at all.

Baoithe is michael mcgowan from your club any good?

Sligo boss Tommy Jordan has named the same starting XV that overcame London for the reigning Connacht champions semi-final clash with Mayo at Castlebar on Sunday.

The Yeats County captain, Noel McGuire, has failed to recover from a dislocated elbow he suffered in a club game for Easkey at the end of April .

Despite naming the same team, Jordan has altered the position of his troops slightly with Jonathan Davey moving from left-half back to left-half forward and Eoin McHugh lining out in the half-back line after playing at full-forward in the match at Ruislip .

Subsequently, Mark Breheny will wear the the number 14 jersey and will act as Sligo's chief target man while Brendan Egan will operate at centre-forward.

Sligo (SF v Mayo): P Greene; C Harrison, P Naughton, R Donovan; P McGovern, M McNamara, E McHugh; E O'Hara, K Quinn; B Curran, B Egan, J Davey; G Gaughan, M Breheny, D Kelly.

Three newcomers to Sunday's Squad are Michael McGowan, St Farnan's, Gerry McGowan, Tourlestrane and Kevin Byrne Geevagh  who were not included on the London Squad

Those who were on the London Squad but are not available on Sunday are Sean Davey, Curry, Sean Flannery, Drumcliffe/Rosses Point and Karl O'Neill ,Coolera / Strandhill

With Sean Davey not included in Sunday's squad this is the first time for over 47 years that the Curry GAA Club failed to have a representative on a Sligo Senior GAA Championship Panel.

[RedandGreenSniper]

Fair play Sligonian. If O'Mahony doesn't know that Noel McGuire is fit to play, he does now. I'm sure he'll buy ya a pint next time he sees ya

[small white mayoman]

i'd say john o' has enough injury worries with mayo without worrying about Sligo's as well, i hope that Dillon is fit to play otherwise i don't know who will be the link man between midfield and the fullforward line as kevmy said he might play trevor there but he would be a totally different type of player .