Mayo v Galway - Connacht Final 13/07/08 14:00 McHale Park, Castlebar

[Galforever]

Probable Galway team: Doherty, Bradshaw, Hanley, Fitzgerald, Meehan, Blake/Coyne, Sice, Cullinane, Coleman, Conroy/Breathnach/Armstrong, P.Joyce, N.Joyce, M.Clancy, M.Meehan, C.Bane

I would think that Blake will get the nod at 6 & Breathnach at 10 but I cant see it deviating far from this.

My preferred team would be: Doherty, Fitzgerald, Hanley, D. Burke, Coyne, Blake, Mulahy, Culliane, Coleman, Conroy, P.Joyce, Breathnach, Clancy, Meehan, N. Joyce

[OirthearMhaigheo]

no harm that the team isn't named yet, I don't quite see how it takes away from the build when it is the main thing people are talking about! it adds to it in many ways. We don't know if Howley will make it, in fact we don't know who will play or where. Anyway, it's only Tuesday lads, calm down a little or the nerves will be shot by Sunday!

[rosnarun]

plus it gives us all a bit longer to pick our teams
here mine, how wrong could i be
Clarke
L omalley D heaney J nallen
P gardiner BJP   K higgins

Harte Parsons

A campbell A dillon Kilcoyne
C mort T mort A moran

in reality the most i hope for is BJP to come in some how for Boyle . who I dont think looked up to it at all v sligo . or at least move Gardiner back. to bring in some of my more attack minded Half forward line as there wasnt a true half forward playing there the last day.

[King of Kilskerry]

What type of player is Parsons. I have yet to see him play. He is a pt scorer / goal threat midfielder. Whom would one compare him to ?

[kevmy]

I've stated in the Cork v Kerry thread that all the teams which have won through the back door have made at least one radical change to their side since losing in the province and appearing in Croker. The qualifiers help them fine tune it usually with a handy draw to start them off. In 01 Galway put Mannion in centre back and got Wicklow away, in 05 Tyrone put Cormac McAnallen in FB after they got destroyed their by Down in the Ulster final and in 06 Kerry moved Donaghy away from being a hindrance in midfield to a phenomenon in FF and they also managed to get Longford in Fitz stadium in the qualifiers.

You're mixing 05 up with 03, if the Tyronies see that they'll have u for breakfast 

Jeez your right. I wouldn't want those boys after me.



As regards how we're fixed for a team I think we all have to remember that Johnno has always been a horses for courses man. His view is you play to your own strengths and your opposition's weakness. Keeping this in mind I'm more and more coming around to the idea of playing Harte centre forward and putting Dillon on the wing. Blake is a big strong centre back and I reckon Harte would be more able for him, add in that Dillon has done his best work for us over the years on the wing I hope thats how they'll line out.

As for the backs, unless Howley is 100% fit I don't think we should change. There is nothing else on the sideline that is a hell of a lot better than what we have so it's best to leave well enough alone. I think we'll see Higgins on Meehan and Heaney on Joyce. I'm not sure if Nallen has the legs to follow Clancy all over the pitch so that might be a job for either Cuniffe or Boyle. I'll agree that Conroy will follow Conroy. If Bane is played I'd like Nallen to pick him up.


@ King of Kilskerry: I'd compare Parsons to Sean Cavanagh (if he had played more than one championship game anyway), he's tall, elegant, can win ball over his head and come forward and score

[OirthearMhaigheo]

I'd agree Kevmy, Johnno is a horses for courses man alright and I'd expect him to leave Conroy out the field. I think Conroy is there for the day we meet a big full-forward but rather than bringing him in from the cold for that day, he will play most games and he is well able to play around the middle.
It's good to have the big full back option to fall back on when we meet a different sort of FF. He wouldn't be suited to Meehan from what I have seen of him so I'd say Higgins will be picking him up, and we could well end up with a 2 man full back line like we had against Sligo. I would have my reservations about Boyle too so we may see a change there depending on the fitness of Howley.

[Bomber2312]

How do you leave MacGarrity out of the team?
Serious lack of defending defenders in Gardiner, BJP and K Higgins of a half back line,
And a serious lack of pace in the full back line.

Ronan MacGarrity is Mayo's most important player! Impossible to leave him out!

[rosnarun]

How do you leave MacGarrity out of the team?
Serious lack of defending defenders in Gardiner, BJP and K Higgins of a half back line,
And a serious lack of pace in the full back line.

Ronan MacGarrity is Mayo's most important player! Impossible to leave him out!

Picking them on form Harte and parsons were far better than Mcgarrity against sligo , also if galway go at mayo and throw the rule book out the window as they have been doing recently i think parsons and harte would cope better. and as with harte it should be midfield or nowhere for him. not having a CHF could easily had done for mayo .
the half back line is an attacking one because that how mayo should play the game and is there strongest asset and where sucess will come from if it is to come.
your full back line is a myth . try running alonsg side nallen or heaney and then tell me they are slow and they are real  top class footballers and we dont have many of those since Mac and Brady left, Dillion probably being the only other at the minute

[AbbeySider]

plus it gives us all a bit longer to pick our teams
here mine, how wrong could i be
Clarke
L omalley D heaney J nallen
P gardiner BJP   K higgins

Harte Parsons

A campbell A dillon Kilcoyne
C mort T mort A moran

in reality the most i hope for is BJP to come in some how for Boyle . who I dont think looked up to it at all v sligo . or at least move Gardiner back. to bring in some of my more attack minded Half forward line as there wasnt a true half forward playing there the last day.

Ros I have to agree with Bomber.
You say your going on form but your leaving out our 2nd top scorer for 2008. Austin O'Malley has 0-21 so far.
And Andy Moran was brought to the cleaners against Sligo. Austy got two (from play off both feet I think) and was one of our more dangerous forwards. Liam O malley has not played a game for Mayo since March. BJP has not had a game since March too. So they could be out of the picture for the starting line up for the time being.

I would however like to see Kilcoyne get a shot. He made a big mark when he came on against Sligo.

[moysider]

Howley wont be ready. There is some speculation that Conroy will be left to fend on Meehan with Higgins tracking Clancy. Higgins the ideal man for Clancy and Clancy seen as the greater threat but Meehan on Conroy could be a match winner for Galway.
I think management will start the same team again and bring Dillon on later. The Barry Moran option is gone  as he s reported to have broken a bone in his hand.

[Bomber2312]

How do you leave MacGarrity out of the team?
Serious lack of defending defenders in Gardiner, BJP and K Higgins of a half back line,
And a serious lack of pace in the full back line.

Ronan MacGarrity is Mayo's most important player! Impossible to leave him out!

Picking them on form Harte and parsons were far better than Mcgarrity against sligo , also if galway go at mayo and throw the rule book out the window as they have been doing recently i think parsons and harte would cope better. and as with harte it should be midfield or nowhere for him. not having a CHF could easily had done for mayo .
the half back line is an attacking one because that how mayo should play the game and is there strongest asset and where sucess will come from if it is to come.
your full back line is a myth . try running alonsg side nallen or heaney and then tell me they are slow and they are real  top class footballers and we dont have many of those since Mac and Brady left, Dillion probably being the only other at the minute

You pick parsons who has played one championship game versus a division 4 team(no offence to sligo but they havent performed all year) over the captain of the team and who has been nominated for multiple all stars? You have omitted the most experienced mid fielder at this level. Hartes performance which you said was very impressive was from CHF so what is your rationale for suggesting that this form would continue against superior opposition in a different position?

Your half back line is just not feasable, none of these has played championship footbal in the half back line this year!(so does the form argument go out the window here?) Billy Joe is only back from injury, gardiner is now classed as a forward.

What relevence would me running beside any of these fellas have? for all you no i could be Maurice Green? And besides.....its not a myth, liam o malley has been proven to be too loose as a corner back(he's a far better half back), Nallen doesnt have the legs for a task so close to goal. He definitely has something to offer but not in that position, the galway full forward line is on fire at the minute!

[An Fhairche Abu]

also if galway go at mayo and throw the rule book out the window as they have been doing recently i think parsons and harte would cope better.

Is this just whinging on rosnarun's part or do the lot of ye Mayo folk think that. Don't bother going on about Coleman, he should have walked sooner last year admittedly; as already said on here by another Galway poster he's like that in every game anyway and has been since minor.
Did we really "throw the rule book out the window"? I think that's a ridiculous statement to be honest and needs to be highlighted for the biased rubbish it is.

[mannix]

I expect JOM will have his team mentored on rough play by opponents. The refs are coming down heavy on it so it will be interesting to see how galway behave.

[the Deel Rover]

also if galway go at mayo and throw the rule book out the window as they have been doing recently i think parsons and harte would cope better.

Is this just whinging on rosnarun's part or do the lot of ye Mayo folk think that. Don't bother going on about Coleman, he should have walked sooner last year admittedly; as already said on here by another Galway poster he's like that in every game anyway and has been since minor.
Did we really "throw the rule book out the window"? I think that's a ridiculous statement to be honest and needs to be highlighted for the biased rubbish it is.

no i think galway played tough but fair it was a lot more physical than under o' mahony's stewardship but galway were just trying to follow the example of Kerry, Armagh, Tyrone and Dublin and probably changed their style to a more combative  one which wasn't their natural style of football however they played they way their manager wanted them to. Looking  forward to the match on sunday hard to know how mayo stand as unfortunately we didn't learn a whole lot from the game against sligo . Galway against leitrim allways had enough and in spells they looked excellent so its hard to know what to expect when we meet, what we have learnt from cork on sunday is that when bitter rivals meet form goes out the window.

[An Fhairche Abu]

Bomber2312 is talking crap. McGarrity will not last the heat. Ginger tosser

This was just posted by Bomber2312 himself and then the post was deleted! Which one of you Mayo boys has the split personality??!!