Mayo 3-11 Sligo 0-7 Champions Dethroned

[Greenabovethered]

Parsons  born, bred and lives in bellaghy Co Sligo. About 100 metres across the border. Went to school and plays his club football in Charlestown. There's 5/6 Bellaghy men playing for Charlestown. The town is on border split in two. Curry is the nearest Sligo club 3 miles away. There's no tradition for Bellaghy residents playing for Sligo.

[Sligoper]

Yeah Tom lives over the Border, in Sligo. Leave him be though......

[magpie seanie]

We got mighty coverage tonight on TV3's preview programme  . You'd swear Mayo were playing themselves on Sunday. What about Liam Hayes though - he really is a loose cannon! I woder does he believe the stuff he comes out with.

[RedandGreenSniper]

I don't know much about the 2 new lads in the Mayo full back line but by full back line standards would i be right in saying they are not that tall.

Conroy is 5' 5" so it would be good if yee took the small man out of full forward and put in a big mullacker.

I'd say that'd be right. A big awkward lad in FF for Sligo would be the best way for them to go.

Just did the research on him there-he's definately not 5' 5" but his weakness may be that he is more of a midfielder than a full back having played most of his football there

The fact that one Sligo lad believed hook line and sinker that Mayo would have a 5'5" full-back and another would go and check it is hilarious
Well in Blast

I didn't believe it you flute. I went and checked what we were up against. I saw hime once or twice on TV during the league and knew he wasn't small.

Wouldn't be surprised what ye played at full back-ye had Heaney at full back and Nallen at centre back for all-ireland 06-2 of the cleanest ball players in the country trying to keep the Kerry forwards at bay. So nothing would surprise me. When was last time ye had a proper full back-back as far as Peter Ford probably

Maybe ya didn't believe it. But when you come out with a comment like 'just did the research on him there, he's definitely not 5'5"'   It sure does sound like a man that thought it might be true. Sligoian definitely fell for it. If you want to talk about tactics in Croke Park we can look back to yer display against Cork last year - ye really went for it that day didn't ye

[magpie seanie]

Now in fairness ye do have recent previous of playing a midget in the full back line in an All-Ireland final no less so people could be forgiven for checking!

By the way comparing a six point beating to some of the stinkings up ye have given Croker in recent times is a fair stretch.

Anyhow  no matter who you support I think the bookies have got this one wrong. 11/2 for Sligo is large I think. I see the game as being a low scoring war of attrition. I'm worried about the number of ball winners in the Mayo team. Quinner really has a huge job on his hands and we need O'Hara to be switched on and buttoned up for the full 70. Cannot see there being a lot in it at full time. The goal(s) and who gets them could be the difference.

[Sligoper]

By the way comparing a six point beating to some of the stinkings up ye have given Croker in recent times is a fair stretch.

Well said, We dont point out yer Shit performances cos we've more sense, pity you dont!

[GalwayBayBoy]

Should be an interesting game anyway. There will be copious amounts of pie on someone's face come Sunday evening.

[Bod Mor]

Should be an interesting game anyway. There will be copious amounts of pie on someone's face come Sunday evening.

As a wise man once said, "Na habair tada"!

[RedandGreenSniper]

Now in fairness ye do have recent previous of playing a midget in the full back line in an All-Ireland final no less so people could be forgiven for checking!

By the way comparing a six point beating to some of the stinkings up ye have given Croker in recent times is a fair stretch.

Anyhow  no matter who you support I think the bookies have got this one wrong. 11/2 for Sligo is large I think. I see the game as being a low scoring war of attrition. I'm worried about the number of ball winners in the Mayo team. Quinner really has a huge job on his hands and we need O'Hara to be switched on and buttoned up for the full 70. Cannot see there being a lot in it at full time. The goal(s) and who gets them could be the difference.

Well if we want to be pedantic about it ye got bate out the gate by an average Cork team. We got bate out the gate by the best team in the country. We could say a lot more but there's no point. I'm merely responding to what Mano said about our tactics against Kerry. We got it wrong and so did ye last year.
I agree about 11/2 being a value price. Will be damn all in it coming down the home stretch

[joemamas]

Hard to be overly enthuiastic about this Mayo team, quiet a few players who have given great service, but whose day has past. Not sure how Heaney, Nallen, Gardiner can be expected to last pace. Mc Garrity has not been playing well this year, Cuniffe a question mark as are full and corner back.

If Conor Mortimer is not fully fit, then a lot will fall on Andy Moran. Austin O Malley can be hit and or miss. Trevor mort not known for point kicking ability, neither is Gardiner or Harte. It will be a close game. If I were sligo management, would be feeling quietly confident. Bookies odds are a joke, similar to Galway v Leitrim

[Mano]

There's no tradition for Bellaghy residents playing for Sligo.

2 Charlestown clubmen Towey and one of the Mulligans lined out for Sligo at minor level a number of years ago. I thought Bellaghy was in the Curry parish and if so Curry should have enforced the parish rule. We will see what we are missing out on on Sunday. Midfield is an area we are short in whereas Mayo always seem to have some great talent there.

[baoithe]

I see the game as being a low scoring war of attrition. I'm worried about the number of ball winners in the Mayo team. Quinner really has a huge job on his hands and we need O'Hara to be switched on and buttoned up for the full 70. Cannot see there being a lot in it at full time. The goal(s) and who gets them could be the difference.

Those are the exact words that sprung to my mind when the Mayo line-up was announced. O'Mahony is basically saying to his team that if they match Sligo for work ethic they'll have enough to beat them. This is a huge game for Quinn and O'Hara but equally so for the half-back and half-forward lines. In my mind the only reason Nallen is included is for his ball winning ability. It's looking like it'll be an ugly enough game and as clichèd and all as this may sound, the battle will be concentrated in that middle third.
If I'm honest my head is telling me I fear for Sligo but my heart of course feels we can upset the odds. I would tend to lean towards Mano's line of thinking in respect of the forwards. Even if we do win our fair share in the middle third I worry about the type of ball going into them and also the ball winning ability of our full forwards. Anyway, I hope I'm wrong.

[mannix]

Do not worry about heaney lasting, he is not exactly 78 years of age and crippled, in his thirties and very fit so no reason he cannot last a 70 minute game.
Mayo have the better footballers and sligo know this in their hearts,I was happy for sligo and hope its not another lifetime before they win connaught



Mayo 2 13
sligo  1 09

[magpie seanie]

ye got bate out the gate by an average Cork team

I don't think Cork were all that bad. They hammered a good Meath team by a lot more after that and got to the final. Sure - they were cat in the final but in the face of Kerry that could happen to anyone  . We lost by six points and that was with missing a couple of really good goal chances early on.

I'm merely responding to what Mano said about our tactics against Kerry. We got it wrong and so did ye last year.

Seeing as we are being pedantic, we didn't get it wrong. We couldn't play any other way as we don't have the players to do so.

[OirthearMhaigheo]

There's no tradition for Bellaghy residents playing for Sligo.

2 Charlestown clubmen Towey and one of the Mulligans lined out for Sligo at minor level a number of years ago. I thought Bellaghy was in the Curry parish and if so Curry should have enforced the parish rule. We will see what we are missing out on on Sunday. Midfield is an area we are short in whereas Mayo always seem to have some great talent there.

I'm pretty sure Bellaghy is in Charlestown parish and parish rules overwrite boundary rules in the GAA, that's why they don't play for Curry. There is no way Curry would have let that amount of players slip through the net. I guess then when they were playing for Charlestown they automatically opted for Mayo. Brendan Towey and Alan Mulligan both went for Sligo at U-16 when they were cut short from the Mayo panel after trials, it wasn't their first choice. Bellaghy is a weird one, it's in Silgo but because it is seen as part of Charlestown nearly everyone there supports Mayo. I went to school with a good few Charlestowns and that was their take on the whole Bellaghy thing anyway.