Connacht Club Championships Senior, Intermediate & Junior

[From the Bunker]

Moysider, should the Mayo players have applied your wise advice before getting rid of their management team? is that not the reason that this whole discussion is taking place? Will the Mayo panel take responsibility next season when things dont go to plan?
Everything that has been said here defending Rochford today contradicts what happened to Connelly and Holmes.
As I said sleep well lads.

No it doesn t.

Holmes didn t exactly cover himself in glory in Mitchels v Vincents a couple of years ago and ended up as Mayo manager again. Of course it wasn t all his fault v Vincents or anything. It s never that simple. All managers have rough days on the sideline. I remember McStay having to suffer an absolute walloping by Sligo in Mark. Park many years ago as a manager. Did that make him useless.

We don t know if Rochford will be the answer to finally getting there. H&Cs admirers seem to be from mostly outside the county. Fair enough but I think people in the county are better informed. As I said we don t know if Rochford is the answer if he gets the gig but most of us knew H&C were not the answer and got the gig for the wrong reasons.

If I do lose any sleep it won t be about football anyway.

The same as that; I have no influence on proceedings and I don't intend to spend the rest of my youth worrying about what may or may not happen when championship time comes around again.
BUt we have at least four woolly jumpers who will outpost every single one of us on all topics, with any sort of a Mayo connection, surmising our future and telling us that we are basically banjaxed: the players will be under pressure;' the manager is useless; we'll never be able to contain the likes of Cregger when he gets going etc. etc.
They park their wanderly wagon outside our front door and keep blathering away about our perceived problems.
If I had the misfortune to be born on the wrong side of the mearing fence, I'd keep me gob shut about Stephen Rochford and worry instead about Kevin McStay.
I mean who is likely to be under the greater pressure, Rochford or McStay?
The Rossies had one hell of a decent manager who had them punching well above their weight; he had a proven record of success with them and then they turn around and shaft him when the team calved in their first championship match of the year.
Now, they have two bucks who have to start all over from the beginning and if their team implodes again, and there is no reason to suppose that they won't, McStay and Fergie can expect the same gratitude as Evans  got.
Will they freeze at the sight of a Sligo jersey? There is no reason to suppose that they won't, is there?
Unless Mayo hit a bad day. there isn't a chance that Roscommon would beat them in the championship even if Dustin the Turkey was in charge.
I am not stirring anything up here; the reason for my confidence should be apparent even to the most deluded sheep shaggist on the planet.
Mayo have undergone four or five years of intensive s&c training. Their preparation facilities are second to none. Unless the Rossies pawn their bus and dig up a few bob from somewhere, they won't last urination time with the likes of Mayo, Dublin, Kerry and probably Donegal.
Our interlopers can worry about us if they want to but if they are looking for inspiration, they'd better be thinking Knock rather than McHale Park

McStay can only dream of having us compete with titans like Sligo and Fermanagh is it, Lar?

Evans was a good manager but no one could make the case he did much of anything in the championship in his three years. That's why he's gone, rightly or wrongly.

Not quite Syf, I'd expect a bit more than that from him but you have at least as much problems, potential banana skins if you like, as we have.
It's not McStay who isn't up to the mark; it's his players that I'd be worried about. They are perennial underachievers and cockiness cost them dearly when they faced Sligo last year. I've often said that the  Ross players, going on underage form, should hold their own with any other team in Connacht and with most teams outside of it as well.
Fergie couldn't get them motoring and neither could John Evans. Now as regards Mayo, I can't see why so many Rossies are very concerned about our welfare.
I don't think any Mayo head on this board is too worried about Rochford, the panel or anyone or anything else. Your new setup should cause you more concern than ours. After all, Rochford isn't exactly a newbie to the management scene, the players are ready and waiting for the off and apart from the FBD and the fearsome defending champions, they should have nothing to worry about. They did not sack the managers;  some b**tard spilled the beans and as a result, two honest plodders got shafted.
Nobody can say what would have happened if all the relevant parties had a chance to gather around the table and discuss the players reservations. This didn't happen and the rest is history. Can't blame the players if there was a leak from within the county board.
So in a nutshell, thanks for your collective concern for our general welfare but really ye should be more pre-occupied  with your lot than ours. We have nothing to be concerned about.  No story here; move along now, please.

There was absolutely no cockiness from the team before the SligI game, but I'm sure you know that well Lar.

The 'pernially underachieving' Mayo panel engaging in prima donna chopping of managers was always going to be a huge story. You're facing into December with no appointment.

Are you joking? What else tripped them up so? Poor Evans was only trying to gee the team up before the game when he said Ross could win an All-Ireland but it seems everyone in the county took him at his word. I can't recall a single Ross supporter on this board or indeed anywhere else, who stated that Sligo was in with a chance.
The "perenially underachieving" Mayo side won the last 5 Connacht titles on the trot as well as beating Donegal, Dublin and Kerry, last three AI winners, at various stages during the championships in the last few years.
No effin' use I know but our list of perennial underachievement does not bear comparison with yours.
So we are facing into December without a manager, are we?
So effing what? Do we need a manager to win out in Connacht? 
You must be joking!
St Patrick himself could do the business there if anybody asked him to. (BTW, I don't recall seeing him about the place for some time. I hope the poor hoor is okay.)

Lar, we have not beaten Kerry in the championship since '96. As for Roscommon taking Sligo for granted, that's half the story. The other half is that they peaked to early in the year last year. They had to, to get promotion to Division one, to win the FBD and for their under 21's to have a run. By July they were flat lining.

[larryin89]

And then there's the other story of course it's been denied but who knows maybe there was a dust up in Boyle on the team bus .

[Rossfan]

That falsehood still doing the rounds I see

[moysider]

The which??

[Lar Naparka]

Moysider, should the Mayo players have applied your wise advice before getting rid of their management team? is that not the reason that this whole discussion is taking place? Will the Mayo panel take responsibility next season when things dont go to plan?
Everything that has been said here defending Rochford today contradicts what happened to Connelly and Holmes.
As I said sleep well lads.

No it doesn t.

Holmes didn t exactly cover himself in glory in Mitchels v Vincents a couple of years ago and ended up as Mayo manager again. Of course it wasn t all his fault v Vincents or anything. It s never that simple. All managers have rough days on the sideline. I remember McStay having to suffer an absolute walloping by Sligo in Mark. Park many years ago as a manager. Did that make him useless.

We don t know if Rochford will be the answer to finally getting there. H&Cs admirers seem to be from mostly outside the county. Fair enough but I think people in the county are better informed. As I said we don t know if Rochford is the answer if he gets the gig but most of us knew H&C were not the answer and got the gig for the wrong reasons.

If I do lose any sleep it won t be about football anyway.

The same as that; I have no influence on proceedings and I don't intend to spend the rest of my youth worrying about what may or may not happen when championship time comes around again.
BUt we have at least four woolly jumpers who will outpost every single one of us on all topics, with any sort of a Mayo connection, surmising our future and telling us that we are basically banjaxed: the players will be under pressure;' the manager is useless; we'll never be able to contain the likes of Cregger when he gets going etc. etc.
They park their wanderly wagon outside our front door and keep blathering away about our perceived problems.
If I had the misfortune to be born on the wrong side of the mearing fence, I'd keep me gob shut about Stephen Rochford and worry instead about Kevin McStay.
I mean who is likely to be under the greater pressure, Rochford or McStay?
The Rossies had one hell of a decent manager who had them punching well above their weight; he had a proven record of success with them and then they turn around and shaft him when the team calved in their first championship match of the year.
Now, they have two bucks who have to start all over from the beginning and if their team implodes again, and there is no reason to suppose that they won't, McStay and Fergie can expect the same gratitude as Evans  got.
Will they freeze at the sight of a Sligo jersey? There is no reason to suppose that they won't, is there?
Unless Mayo hit a bad day. there isn't a chance that Roscommon would beat them in the championship even if Dustin the Turkey was in charge.
I am not stirring anything up here; the reason for my confidence should be apparent even to the most deluded sheep shaggist on the planet.
Mayo have undergone four or five years of intensive s&c training. Their preparation facilities are second to none. Unless the Rossies pawn their bus and dig up a few bob from somewhere, they won't last urination time with the likes of Mayo, Dublin, Kerry and probably Donegal.
Our interlopers can worry about us if they want to but if they are looking for inspiration, they'd better be thinking Knock rather than McHale Park

McStay can only dream of having us compete with titans like Sligo and Fermanagh is it, Lar?

Evans was a good manager but no one could make the case he did much of anything in the championship in his three years. That's why he's gone, rightly or wrongly.

Not quite Syf, I'd expect a bit more than that from him but you have at least as much problems, potential banana skins if you like, as we have.
It's not McStay who isn't up to the mark; it's his players that I'd be worried about. They are perennial underachievers and cockiness cost them dearly when they faced Sligo last year. I've often said that the  Ross players, going on underage form, should hold their own with any other team in Connacht and with most teams outside of it as well.
Fergie couldn't get them motoring and neither could John Evans. Now as regards Mayo, I can't see why so many Rossies are very concerned about our welfare.
I don't think any Mayo head on this board is too worried about Rochford, the panel or anyone or anything else. Your new setup should cause you more concern than ours. After all, Rochford isn't exactly a newbie to the management scene, the players are ready and waiting for the off and apart from the FBD and the fearsome defending champions, they should have nothing to worry about. They did not sack the managers;  some b**tard spilled the beans and as a result, two honest plodders got shafted.
Nobody can say what would have happened if all the relevant parties had a chance to gather around the table and discuss the players reservations. This didn't happen and the rest is history. Can't blame the players if there was a leak from within the county board.
So in a nutshell, thanks for your collective concern for our general welfare but really ye should be more pre-occupied  with your lot than ours. We have nothing to be concerned about.  No story here; move along now, please.

There was absolutely no cockiness from the team before the SligI game, but I'm sure you know that well Lar.

The 'pernially underachieving' Mayo panel engaging in prima donna chopping of managers was always going to be a huge story. You're facing into December with no appointment.

Are you joking? What else tripped them up so? Poor Evans was only trying to gee the team up before the game when he said Ross could win an All-Ireland but it seems everyone in the county took him at his word. I can't recall a single Ross supporter on this board or indeed anywhere else, who stated that Sligo was in with a chance.
The "perenially underachieving" Mayo side won the last 5 Connacht titles on the trot as well as beating Donegal, Dublin and Kerry, last three AI winners, at various stages during the championships in the last few years.
No effin' use I know but our list of perennial underachievement does not bear comparison with yours.
So we are facing into December without a manager, are we?
So effing what? Do we need a manager to win out in Connacht? 
You must be joking!
St Patrick himself could do the business there if anybody asked him to. (BTW, I don't recall seeing him about the place for some time. I hope the poor hoor is okay.)

Lar, we have not beaten Kerry in the championship since '96. As for Roscommon taking Sligo for granted, that's half the story. The other half is that they peaked to early in the year last year. They had to, to get promotion to Division one, to win the FBD and for their under 21's to have a run. By July they were flat lining.

Sssh! You were not supposed to see that one.
I just can't help slipping in an odd blip or two when I am trying to have a rational discourse with any of our uncultured neighbours to the east.
There was a time, alas, when I'd have to wait no longer than twenty minutes or so for a howl of protests and boyos stating the obvious but missing the point. In this instance, "underachievement" is relative. I pointed out that Rosscommon are perennial underachievers and Syf was quick to retort that so are Mayo. I suppose we are but on a far bigger stage.
I have been pointing out gently that our squatters show far more concern for our welfare than even the most pessimistic Mayo fan.
Now, no amount of wishful thinking will obscure the facts when the championship starts again.
That GBB fella in particular seems to stay awake at night worrying about some aspect or other of our managerial issues.
I don't see any problem whatever that should concern any of us, let alone our woolly friends.
McStay has far more pressing problems right now than Rochford or Catty Barry or whoever takes over as Mayo manager. He, she or it will have one of the most able panel of players in the country.; lads who are mad to give it another go when the time comes and who are    battle-hardened enough to take the temporary absence of a manager in their stride.
I'm not really slagging the Rossies either. Evans achieved miracles with that lot.  You may well be right that they had nothing left in the tank when they played Sligo but that in itself is something for McStay to worry about.
Why shaft him when the team lost the plot and didn't treat Sligo with any respect?
That lack of cop-on is not the hallmark of an All-Ireland winning team.
Now, before any of them here starts fantasising about the Connacht title next year they should keep in mind that Sligo are still going to be ready and waiting for them if they get past NY amd Leitrim. If they don't do well in the forthcoming league, I'll back Sligo to sicken then again in the Connacht semi-final.
After all that, my point is still that they should leave off worrying about our future and concentrate on their own.

[Shrewdness]

Can a Mayo poster tell me what it is about the Rossies that irritates ye so much?

[Rossfan]

Probably because they have to travel through Ros to get to most places?

[giveballaghback]

You are backing Sligo lar na parka? I will do better for you than that, Ill give you 3 chances, NY, Leitrim and Sligo and I will lay you any money you want that Ros will be in the Connacht final. You on?
Some things Rossies need to know,
There was a disagreement on the way to Sligo when Evans announced the team. He had picked Senan and Diarmuid who had both failed fitness tests that morning.
Ros need one top class midfielder, at least 3 defenders and a couple of million euro before they can compete with the teams at the top.
And one thing ye rhus need to know, I dont worry about ye, I laugh at ye and the odd time I even feel sorry for ye(well not really}

[Lar Naparka]

Can a Mayo poster tell me what it is about the Rossies that irritates ye so much?

Hah?
Who said you irritate anyone. As far as I am concerned, you are most welcome at any time, (since you are going to butt in anyway.)
I'd say I find you fascinating and entertaining and definitely worth  the read any time any of ye wants to tell us the problems we are going to face and it doesn't matter if that's on this thread, the Mayo manager thread and any other one cares to think of!
I'm trying to point out diplomatically to the lot of ye that Roscommon will have more management problems than Mayo are likely to have so why determination to bring Mayo's perceived problems into every goddamn thread you can think of?

[Farrandeelin]

Can a Mayo poster tell me what it is about the Rossies that irritates ye so much?

The road from Frenchpark to Strokestown fairly annoys me.

[Syferus]

Can a Mayo poster tell me what it is about the Rossies that irritates ye so much?

The road from Frenchpark to Strokestown fairly annoys me.

You mean the big modern bypass built with the Enda Bucks Farr?

[Shrewdness]

I didn't just mean the Mayo posters on here. I know many Mayo Gaa people who have a ''thing'' about the Rossies. A man from Ballyhaunis once told me that ''the Rossies are like a blue bottle that keeps on buzzing around your head, but you can never line the f..ker up for that killer blow''.. I told him he had us all wrong

[moysider]

I dunno about this 'thing' thing tbh.

Fellas my age would remember the 70s but anybody from Mayo under 40 would not really have Ros. on the radar at all. Sligo would be more of a bee bluebottle in our bonnet.

I hate the road through Ros. but I console myself with the memories of the days on that road coming from The Hyde in likes of 85, 88 and 89. Only about 2 bad days there since. 2001 was our own fault and the other was under Johnno so....

We still might have nightmares about Meath. The 2009 defeat to a miserable Meath team was worse than happened the year after and quess what?  Yeah, Johnno again.

I suspect that most Mayo fans realise that our things are within our own house.

[Lar Naparka]

I didn't just mean the Mayo posters on here. I know many Mayo Gaa people who have a ''thing'' about the Rossies. A man from Ballyhaunis once told me that ''the Rossies are like a blue bottle that keeps on buzzing around your head, but you can never line the f..ker up for that killer blow''.. I told him he had us all wrong

I think you will find that Mayo isn't the only county that has a "thing" about Rossies.
Have you ever been in Kennedys in Drumcondra?
The owner's father, Tom, was a shrewd judge of character and he once told me that he was wary of Roscommon supporters any time the team played in Croke Park.
Mind you, he didn't much like any of the northern counties either but Roscommon was the only county in  the republic that he referred to.
Problem according to Tom was that Roscommon had a small core of followers who were "truculent, noisy and quarrelsome." (Tom loved big words.)
All counties have their own shower of laitchekoes but Roscommon has more than its fair share and I think you will find that I'm not the only one who would agree with Tom.

[Syferus]

I didn't just mean the Mayo posters on here. I know many Mayo Gaa people who have a ''thing'' about the Rossies. A man from Ballyhaunis once told me that ''the Rossies are like a blue bottle that keeps on buzzing around your head, but you can never line the f..ker up for that killer blow''.. I told him he had us all wrong

I think you will find that Mayo isn't the only county that has a "thing" about Rossies.
Have you ever been in Kennedys in Drumcondra?
The owner's father, Tom, was a shrewd judge of character and he once told me that he was wary of Roscommon supporters any time the team played in Croke Park.
Mind you, he didn't much like any of the northern counties either but Roscommon was the only county in  the republic that he referred to.
Problem according to Tom was that Roscommon had a small core of followers who were "truculent, noisy and quarrelsome." (Tom loved big words.)
All counties have their own shower of laitchekoes but Roscommon has more than its fair share and I think you will find that I'm not the only one who would agree with Tom.

Mayo GAA people in shock dislike of Roscommon. You'll have to decide what it is Lar, ye don't care or you (clearly) do. You're balancing precariously over the toilet water right now.