AISF Mayo v Dublin

[muppet]

Great posts here by Bod Mór and Guy Crouchback.

Bad post by Bucko. 

McQuillan's Wiki page is a bit different: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_McQuillan

Whilst performing his duties as a linesman at the Cavan county final 2014, McQuillan seems to want to assume his preferred position of center stage. The result of McQuillan's "significant influence" being ref Oliver Og O Reilly's decision to change his mind, with the result the dismissal of Kingscourt Stars center back Padraig Faulkner in the 11th minute of the game between strong favorites Cavan Gaels and their traditional rivals Kingscourt Stars.

[The Hill is Blue]

it has just occurred to me that  30 years ago this year  mayo played Dublin in a semi final. it was my first trip to croke park to see mayo play. i was 8 years old and at the time it was the greatest experience of my life. i remember it like it was yesterday. the flag sellers, the fans, walking out into the stand and  the pitch looking immaculate.  as far as i recall we walked up  to the hogan stand and bought a ticket on the gate.

as i write this i realize that i still get a little bit of that feeling every time i go to croke park and first glimpse the pitch, it's just magical. i was there for the replay that year as well and Padraig brogan's goal is still the greatest i have ever seen. my father and i were sitting in the first row of the upper hogan, when the goal went in he lifted me up and held me out over the edge of the stand,  shaking me as a kind of sacrificial offering to football greatness, i have a fear of heights ever since.

i love going to croke park and by god have we been spoilt over the last few years. most of all i love when we play Dublin, the games are always massive and the buzz cannot be topped, to hear the hill roar and then to hear it silenced!!
also in my opinion Dublin fans  are the best of the best, magnanimous in victory and defeat, good craic and decent.

my oldest lad is 5 this year and i am mad to bring him but he has his first day of school the next day so it might not be a good idea, its a long drive home when your 5.

i cant wait!!

Excellent post

[guy crouchback]

just for the craic i expanded on that post above, a little piece on what it means to me.

It's hard to describe the excitement I felt  on that first trip to Croke park, the 18Th of august 1985 (yes of course I had to look it up!). I was 8 years old and me and my dad were going off for the day to the big game. looking back now he was probably as excited as I was, he would have been 37 at the time, younger then I am now and in his lifetime mayo had given him very few days out in Dublin, I was the eldest so it was just me and him.  Up early for a bus to Dublin. I don't remember much about the bus journey up except that I was worried about my new flag. I was told I had to leave it in the overhead locker and I did not like being parted from it. it was the height of fashion that year, red and green horizontal bars as opposed to the more traditional  vertical. God I loved that flag I kept it for years, until it became so frayed at the edges it was little more than a collection of streamers.

I remember being out the back of the Hogan stand waiting to go in and being in awe of this huge structure. In my mind's eye it's a beautiful sunny day.  we went inside  and it was dark and forbidding the toilets were horrible and crowed and my earlier euphoria was beginning to fade. Then the magic happened, a spell was cast on me that remains to this day. We turned the corner to our section and walked towards the blinding light and there it was, Croker in all its glory, the field a brilliant striped green a field like non I'd ever seen, there was no HDTV in 1985 so I had literally never seen anything as perfect, and then there were that stands  and the people and the hill and all the blue and all the green and red. All the green and red, and my dad seemed to know everyone and every one was calling out and shouting and excited  we took our seats and I got my first lesson in how to strike up conversations with strangers at football matches. to me  the opposition were the big bad dubs so I was a bit surprised by the chatting with all the Dublin supporters, all the craic, I think I learned I was  culchie that day, ( I already knew they were only auld jackeens!) My dad had worked in Dublin years before and of course he knew some relation of the guy behind us, I was trying to get my game face on but he kept gasbagging with the enemy!!

Then the band and the parade and the anthem and mayo were doing well, Kevin mc stay tj kilgallon, willie joe padden, john finn and the rest. The excitement was too much, the game went by in flash, we drew!! I was delighted but I got the impression  the older ones new it was no good that we had lost our chance, still no harm we would be back and if not this year then next, I saw the future as being centred on my new favourite place in the world,  the naivety of youth.  Still as I said the spell was cast, the grass, the noise, the crowds the colour, the band, the players, the game, in later years the pubs, the friends, the nights out before and after, now its heading back to the day trips with kids again, the world turns. The kids, nothing sums up the GAA more than the kids that go to games big and small with their flags and headbands and hats and jerseys and a ferocious  belief in their team that is hard to maintain as the years pass buy.

So in two weeks we meet again, about a third of the population of Mayo will actually leave the county and head to Dublin, we will  meet our best friends and people we haven't seen in years  as we amble down the north circular, outside gills we will meet some Dubs we know and the craic will flow, heroes of yesteryear will walk buy and dads will whisper their names to the little ones " look that's wille joe padden over there'', "See yer man son, that's Barney Rock", the kids will nod but don't really care they only have eyes for Aiden or Bernard.

Then inside and it happens all over again, the bright light from the tunnel, the incredible green, the noise the roar of the hill,  ''come on you boys in blue'', MAYO MAYO MAYO MAYO''  in response from around the ground growing louder and louder. Then a winner and a loser, Who shall it be? Doesn't really matter.

[Declan]

Great stuff. I was with you until this

Then a winner and a loser, Who shall it be? Doesn't really matter.

[macdanger2]

Brilliant

I have fairly similar memories of Mayo v meath in 88 including myself and my brother being lifted over the turnstiles as was the practice back then with kids

[bucko]

Great posts here by Bod Mór and Guy Crouchback.

Bad post by Bucko. 

McQuillan's Wiki page is a bit different: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_McQuillan

Whilst performing his duties as a linesman at the Cavan county final 2014, McQuillan seems to want to assume his preferred position of center stage. The result of McQuillan's "significant influence" being ref Oliver Og O Reilly's decision to change his mind, with the result the dismissal of Kingscourt Stars center back Padraig Faulkner in the 11th minute of the game between strong favorites Cavan Gaels and their traditional rivals Kingscourt Stars.

Don't shoot the messenger....

[The Hill is Blue]

just for the craic i expanded on that post above, a little piece on what it means to me.

It's hard to describe the excitement I felt  on that first trip to Croke park, the 18Th of august 1985 (yes of course I had to look it up!). I was 8 years old and me and my dad were going off for the day to the big game. looking back now he was probably as excited as I was, he would have been 37 at the time, younger then I am now and in his lifetime mayo had given him very few days out in Dublin, I was the eldest so it was just me and him.  Up early for a bus to Dublin. I don't remember much about the bus journey up except that I was worried about my new flag. I was told I had to leave it in the overhead locker and I did not like being parted from it. it was the height of fashion that year, red and green horizontal bars as opposed to the more traditional  vertical. God I loved that flag I kept it for years, until it became so frayed at the edges it was little more than a collection of streamers.

I remember being out the back of the Hogan stand waiting to go in and being in awe of this huge structure. In my mind's eye it's a beautiful sunny day.  we went inside  and it was dark and forbidding the toilets were horrible and crowed and my earlier euphoria was beginning to fade. Then the magic happened, a spell was cast on me that remains to this day. We turned the corner to our section and walked towards the blinding light and there it was, Croker in all its glory, the field a brilliant striped green a field like non I'd ever seen, there was no HDTV in 1985 so I had literally never seen anything as perfect, and then there were that stands  and the people and the hill and all the blue and all the green and red. All the green and red, and my dad seemed to know everyone and every one was calling out and shouting and excited  we took our seats and I got my first lesson in how to strike up conversations with strangers at football matches. to me  the opposition were the big bad dubs so I was a bit surprised by the chatting with all the Dublin supporters, all the craic, I think I learned I was  culchie that day, ( I already knew they were only auld jackeens!) My dad had worked in Dublin years before and of course he knew some relation of the guy behind us, I was trying to get my game face on but he kept gasbagging with the enemy!!

Then the band and the parade and the anthem and mayo were doing well, Kevin mc stay tj kilgallon, willie joe padden, john finn and the rest. The excitement was too much, the game went by in flash, we drew!! I was delighted but I got the impression  the older ones new it was no good that we had lost our chance, still no harm we would be back and if not this year then next, I saw the future as being centred on my new favourite place in the world,  the naivety of youth.  Still as I said the spell was cast, the grass, the noise, the crowds the colour, the band, the players, the game, in later years the pubs, the friends, the nights out before and after, now its heading back to the day trips with kids again, the world turns. The kids, nothing sums up the GAA more than the kids that go to games big and small with their flags and headbands and hats and jerseys and a ferocious  belief in their team that is hard to maintain as the years pass buy.

So in two weeks we meet again, about a third of the population of Mayo will actually leave the county and head to Dublin, we will  meet our best friends and people we haven't seen in years  as we amble down the north circular, outside gills we will meet some Dubs we know and the craic will flow, heroes of yesteryear will walk buy and dads will whisper their names to the little ones " look that's wille joe padden over there'', "See yer man son, that's Barney Rock", the kids will nod but don't really care they only have eyes for Aiden or Bernard.

Then inside and it happens all over again, the bright light from the tunnel, the incredible green, the noise the roar of the hill,  ''come on you boys in blue'', MAYO MAYO MAYO MAYO''  in response from around the ground growing louder and louder. Then a winner and a loser, Who shall it be? Doesn't really matter.

One of my memories of that time was being on a packed Hill for the replay of the 1985 Dublin/Mayo semi final. The Hill in those days was a Hillsborough disaster that never happened (thank God). When Cieran Duff scored his second goal of the day the whole Hill swayed forward violently towards the pitch but thankfully righted itself just as quickly. But at the time no one on the Hill was in the slightest concerned about a potential disaster - we were all enveloped in a blue heaven of elation.

[whitey]

just for the craic i expanded on that post above, a little piece on what it means to me.

It's hard to describe the excitement I felt  on that first trip to Croke park, the 18Th of august 1985 (yes of course I had to look it up!). I was 8 years old and me and my dad were going off for the day to the big game. looking back now he was probably as excited as I was, he would have been 37 at the time, younger then I am now and in his lifetime mayo had given him very few days out in Dublin, I was the eldest so it was just me and him.  Up early for a bus to Dublin. I don't remember much about the bus journey up except that I was worried about my new flag. I was told I had to leave it in the overhead locker and I did not like being parted from it. it was the height of fashion that year, red and green horizontal bars as opposed to the more traditional  vertical. God I loved that flag I kept it for years, until it became so frayed at the edges it was little more than a collection of streamers.

I remember being out the back of the Hogan stand waiting to go in and being in awe of this huge structure. In my mind's eye it's a beautiful sunny day.  we went inside  and it was dark and forbidding the toilets were horrible and crowed and my earlier euphoria was beginning to fade. Then the magic happened, a spell was cast on me that remains to this day. We turned the corner to our section and walked towards the blinding light and there it was, Croker in all its glory, the field a brilliant striped green a field like non I'd ever seen, there was no HDTV in 1985 so I had literally never seen anything as perfect, and then there were that stands  and the people and the hill and all the blue and all the green and red. All the green and red, and my dad seemed to know everyone and every one was calling out and shouting and excited  we took our seats and I got my first lesson in how to strike up conversations with strangers at football matches. to me  the opposition were the big bad dubs so I was a bit surprised by the chatting with all the Dublin supporters, all the craic, I think I learned I was  culchie that day, ( I already knew they were only auld jackeens!) My dad had worked in Dublin years before and of course he knew some relation of the guy behind us, I was trying to get my game face on but he kept gasbagging with the enemy!!

Then the band and the parade and the anthem and mayo were doing well, Kevin mc stay tj kilgallon, willie joe padden, john finn and the rest. The excitement was too much, the game went by in flash, we drew!! I was delighted but I got the impression  the older ones new it was no good that we had lost our chance, still no harm we would be back and if not this year then next, I saw the future as being centred on my new favourite place in the world,  the naivety of youth.  Still as I said the spell was cast, the grass, the noise, the crowds the colour, the band, the players, the game, in later years the pubs, the friends, the nights out before and after, now its heading back to the day trips with kids again, the world turns. The kids, nothing sums up the GAA more than the kids that go to games big and small with their flags and headbands and hats and jerseys and a ferocious  belief in their team that is hard to maintain as the years pass buy.

So in two weeks we meet again, about a third of the population of Mayo will actually leave the county and head to Dublin, we will  meet our best friends and people we haven't seen in years  as we amble down the north circular, outside gills we will meet some Dubs we know and the craic will flow, heroes of yesteryear will walk buy and dads will whisper their names to the little ones " look that's wille joe padden over there'', "See yer man son, that's Barney Rock", the kids will nod but don't really care they only have eyes for Aiden or Bernard.

Then inside and it happens all over again, the bright light from the tunnel, the incredible green, the noise the roar of the hill,  ''come on you boys in blue'', MAYO MAYO MAYO MAYO''  in response from around the ground growing louder and louder. Then a winner and a loser, Who shall it be? Doesn't really matter.

Was my first trip to Croke Park too....I as a little older, so it was our first time being allowed to travel to Dublin on the train without parental supervision.  To say we went stone mad would be an understatement

[Mayo4Sam14]

Can't see past the Dubs for this one, unfortunately

[muppet]

Can't see past the Dubs for this one, unfortunately

Good, we shouldn't be looking past anyone at this stage. Until we win it.

A good start is essential in this. If we can stop them from scoring goals our recent history suggests we can match anyone for points and Aidan O'Sé gives us a real goal threat ourselves. But he also gives us more than that, he has become a real game changer in that teams will now set themselves up differently just to deal with him. My Dublin neighbours don't think Gavin will do this, much to their dismay. But I would be astonished if he doesn't double team O'Sé.

As for stopping the Dublin forwards from scoring goals, that is easier said than done. I can't see us going with Barry at sweeper for this one, but who knows. He did very well the last day.

[Mayo4Sam14]

I think this is still Dublin's All Ireland to lose

(But I Said that last year too)

[The Hill is Blue]

I think this is still Dublin's All Ireland to lose

(But I Said that last year too)

The contributors to the poll above don't think so.

[highorlow]

And Joe McQuillan gets the gig....

If memory serves me correct Joe is fond of his whistle?

Smurf Gavin was having a go at him after the '13 final. http://www.the42.ie/jim-gavin-dublin-mayo-1095609-Sep2013/

[omagh_gael]

A bit off course here but has Cake lost his mind (quite probable) or is he roughly correct when he says this?

"I think Mayo are spending in the region of €12,000 to €15,000 euros a week preparing their senior team. That's not being done in a month in Roscommon."

That is crazy money!

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/football/curran-roscommon-should-move-heaven-and-earth-to-lure-mcstay-and-odonnell-348135.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=click&utm_campaign=nextandprev

[redhandefender]

A bit off course here but has Cake lost his mind (quite probable) or is he roughly correct when he says this?

"I think Mayo are spending in the region of €12,000 to €15,000 euros a week preparing their senior team. That's not being done in a month in Roscommon."

That is crazy money!

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/football/curran-roscommon-should-move-heaven-and-earth-to-lure-mcstay-and-odonnell-348135.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=click&utm_campaign=nextandprev

Didn't Mayo have to be bailed out by Croke Park a few years ago? There is no way they would be paying that a week. Curran would be partial to talking out of his hoop