Messages

1 Kildare   - Would bring Daz colour to Croker 
2 Roscommon - At least the Sheepstealers wouldnt be another boring winner
3 Down  -  if only to keep the kerrymen having nightmares about what might have been - especially JOC
4 Dublin - really like the new approach - plenty of kick ball - good to watch



Equal last Meath and Cork  - if these 2 are in the final I may go to the Aran Islands for the day 

Ok - the positives - We started a game well for the first time this year and we will need to repeat this if a Connacht title is going to be won.  Killer and AOS made good impressions and DV got championship time. Tom Parsons and others should be back to give us more options going into the final.

The negatives - We havent been under any pressure so far and it'll be a different story altogether down in presumably Salthill with loads of Jon Kenny lookalikes baying for the galway markers to land him in the stands.  
We should have won by more - while the scoreboard looked good our execution of goal chances continues to be poor and when we get them against better teams we are a team that needs to hit the net and close the game out but time and again WE DONT.

From a spectator point of view I felt well and truly robbed today. 25 euro in and it felt like a wake. Not even the first scores of the game raised more than a ripple of excitement when the game was still in the balance.
And lastly Why in gods name are we rebuilding Hyde Park in Mayo -- You come in to see the new stand and Its BLUE  seats with YELLOW walkways .
The County Board should taken out behind that media tower(looks  like it was designed by someone in the british army) and given a good welting with some wavin.
Have we not got enough pride to put our County Colours on the seats of our new stand like most other forward thinking counties.

PS A special mention for Gary Cox - he was an oasis of class amid the Sahara that was the Roscommon team today.

Fiistly fair dues to Down today - the best team won taking some great points and I thought the quality of their foot passing at times was class.

My one and only gripe with mayo comes from a strategic planning for the senior team point of view - To win an All Ireland we badly need to get another Maurice Sheridan / Michael Fitzmaurice type player who when he puts the ball on the ground will give you an 70/80 % strike rate up to and including the 45 yard line. Aiden Walsh last year in the minor team is the only lad I have seen who may grow into this role but to my eye there has been no effort on any of the U 21 teams to find,coach and develop a player of this kind. For a county which has a dearth of class finishing forwards surely finding this type of player is something we should be looking at.

Its been been a good few years for underage football in Mayo and I can see talent coming through to fill most of the positions on the senior team of the future - but this is something I feel badly needs to be targeted. Maybe somebody knows if it already happens ? Heres hoping!

Re Mick Lyons nomination - I remember sitting in the old Hogan at a 3rd test when Mick came on late in the game - There was a bit of a shamozzle up the canal end and Mick must have been dying for a bit of action cos he promptly laid out the Aussie standing next to him while all officaldom was focussed on the action at the other end. I dont believe he even got a card for it!    

I would go for Jacko and John McDermott myself

Lads if the Ref was truly biased he would have given us a penalty for a blatant pick off the ground by your full back and another for the pull on O'sheas shirt when he was through on goal by No 6 Harte in the first 5 minutes. I thought he was bad for both of us.

Well Done to the team and Dempsey! Made my day for sure.
Best of luck to ye in the Final .

Limerick isnt 30 min from Kerry and its at least 2 hrs from Mayo  - God knows what it is from places like Crossmolina !
I'd love to know who in Mayo agreed to this daft idea !

A bad day at the office for mayo shooting 13 wides- some of them from very good positions - hopefully this will be worked on during the week. No reason why we cant be as dominant in midfield again so good luck next week lads.
On the Very Very Very Brightside - Do we have a fullback coming through or what ?
 

Ah lads only 1 person can bring peace and harmony to the Mayo Set up and thats someone from the other side of the fence - BEV for Manager !

And now Back to the beer !

Kinda glad we lost on Saturday as I dont think we have a side good enough to win this year anyways. I think the lads will be better off in the club championship than playing another game that they will probably lose. My hope is that

1 Johno stays to finish his term
2 We find a Full Back and a Full Forward
3 There is a more settled side takes the field in the Connacht opener next year. (Hell of a lot of switches in the 6 back positions all this year)
4  We are lucky with injuries as we dont have the depth that for example Kerry have (6 or more All Ireland winners on their bench yesterday)

Looking to next year we could be going the qualifier route next year anyways as we have to go to Pearse and we have a 100 % failure rate there. So if we do manage a victory down there we will know we have a strong team and things may progress to at least a semi from there - if not the management team will probably go and the new one should have a settled spine and the springboard of a home game v galway which I always think we should win ( Still think we were cheated out of it by Coldrick bottling 2 2nd yellow decisions this year). And if there is one man I want to see on the next management team and maybe even as a selector this year its Noel Connelly.
He may not be a coach but he has been at the heart of some of Mayos finest performances the past 12 years as a player and manager.

Keep the Faith people