Mayo V Galway - Connacht Final Thread

[Bod Mor]

A few non-fans of Konor Mortimer have given him a bit of stick on here.  OK you can't really argue with 1-2 when only playing one half of the game but he does bring most of the criticism onto himself.  I am not a fan at all.  The T-shirt thing was just stupid altogether, the losing the ball for the Galway goal was also poor but there were 3 other Mayo players at the same rubbish in that move.
But what really annoyed me about him yesterday was when Meehan was taking a long range free in the 2nd half, Mortimer ran to his own 45 and urged the Mayo fans behind the goals to jeer and try to put Meehan off.  A very unsporting gesture and I was just delighted that Meehan nailed the free-kick and ignored the jeers.  This jeering is creeping more and more into the game but I don't think too many Mayo fans would have bothered if it hadn't been for konor.

What about all the Galway buckos booing and jeering Conor yesterday as well??

I'd imagine the point was more that Conor was trying to get the Mayo crowd to jeer Meehan prior to the kick, didn't see any Galway players at that, don't think I ever have to be honest.

I watched the game again last night and Conor did not try to get the Mayo fans to jeer the kick, he was pumping up the crowd by waving his hands in the air. If he had put his hands up to his mouth and actively booed and then enticed the crowd to do the same that would have been a bad act. The lad was just after scoring his goal and still was on a high.

[moysider]

The feeling since yesterday is magical!

http://thereisalightthatnevergoesout.wordpress.com/2009/07/20/soak-it-in/

Good work Flame. Great feeling alright. As you say we re in bonus territory now - thats not to say we rest on our laurels or anything.

I expect Johnno is delighted. If we had won well there would be talk of contenders. As it turned out we re still under the radar - even though it was arguably the most intense of the provisional finals. I know Kildare/Dub got all the awards but Kildare had a man extra for 50 mins and at times looked a man short. Not even close.

He ll be delighted as well that he s got a big stick to beat them with even after winning, although the freefall for much of the second half could be attributed to his tactics if one felt going down that road though I m not so sure. I thought his tactics were sound in principle but we re not mature enough as a team to carry it off. To do what we were trying to do needs phenomenal workrate with players being prepared to be fluid and attack and defend when needed.

Maybe we needed fresher lungs earlier too. Only one player from the engine room, 5- 12 was replaced. Was Parsons on for 5 minutes? While all our 5 - 12 had their moments and played well, we were still beaten for possession in the middle third. So much for our midfield superiority again. No blame on Heaney or McG[ who played well, and imagine if he was fully fit] but as a unit the 3 middle lines were outfought yesterday. Lets forget about that wind, we were on the backfoot for second half because we could nt win breaks in midfield. Galway were back to 3 before Conors free and goal which were rare forays. At one stage with 10 mins to go it looked like Galway could win by kicking frees from distance alone as we were totally conceding possession and territory. He may have spilled possession at the end but Conor s  goal was vital and was the winning of the game really. Only for that I believe Galway would have won by a couple of points without having to score a goal and possible just by tapping over frees which we were perfectly happy to concede. Lots to work on.

[RedandGreenSniper]

Yeah plenty to work on Moysider. Which, as you say, it the way O'Mahony will want it. I think you're harsh on our halfback line because they were easily the best line on the field. What did Sice, Joyce and Coleman and later Breathnach do? Sweet FA, they hardly even saw much ball.

Much has been made about the Mayo cynicism. I reckon our cynicism was actually a naive cynicism - sounds like an oxymoran I know! But we allowed Galway players win the ball around 65 metres out and ghost by a few tackles before being unceremounsly stopped around 45 metres out which was a very kickable distance with that wind.

All in all we ceded too much ground. Ronaldson's switch to a sweeper role gave Galway the go-ahead to just bombard us. What annoyed me about the time wasting late on by Dillon, Mortimer and McGarrity was that each of them could have lorried a big ball into Aidan O'Shea which he was probably going to win but they messed around and we almost paid the ultimate price for it.

Fair play to Peadar though.

[moysider]

My difficulty with the end game was the lack of shape. O Sé had a maroon diamond around him and there was nothing else inside let alone moving and if McGar had kicked the ball away there would be legions of his fans on here having a go [you ll have noticed there s a poster on the local board who seems to think he was faking a fractured cheek these last 2 weeks - and no doubt hoping one of his own clubmen does a better job shortly]. In most counties if a player did what McGar did yesterday he would get a bit of respect.

I m not being critical of any of our 5-12 as such or our10- 12 either. But we did lose the possession game. I think maybe we concentrated on keeping people quiet where usually the forté of these lads is pouncing on breaks and throwing caution to the wind. All about getting the balance right and this will be a big learn for them. Have to say Andy M use/kicking of the ball was exemplary. Johnno got that right.

I also thought PJ did well. Showed and won ball and won his fair share of breaks. Could nt understand the flak he took. The text that was read out on Radio1 about him was a disgrace. We give these people licence fees after all. Only heard that s*** cause I was stuck in traffic.

Johnno is a copier rather than a tactical pioneer. Fine by me. Yesterday we had Kerry s twin towers married to Tyrones blanket. These things dont work overnight.

[RedandGreenSniper]

My difficulty with the end game was the lack of shape. O Sé had a maroon diamond around him and there was nothing else inside let alone moving and if McGar had kicked the ball away there would be legions of his fans on here having a go [you ll have noticed there s a poster on the local board who seems to think he was faking a fractured cheek these last 2 weeks - and no doubt hoping one of his own clubmen does a better job shortly]. In most counties if a player did what McGar did yesterday he would get a bit of respect.

I m not being critical of any of our 5-12 as such or our10- 12 either. But we did lose the possession game. I think maybe we concentrated on keeping people quiet where usually the forté of these lads is pouncing on breaks and throwing caution to the wind. All about getting the balance right and this will be a big learn for them. Have to say Andy M use/kicking of the ball was exemplary. Johnno got that right.

I also thought PJ did well. Showed and won ball and won his fair share of breaks. Could nt understand the flak he took. The text that was read out on Radio1 about him was a disgrace. We give these people licence fees after all. Only heard that s*** cause I was stuck in traffic.

Johnno is a copier rather than a tactical pioneer. Fine by me. Yesterday we had Kerry s twin towers married to Tyrones blanket. These things dont work overnight.

Maughan apparently said on Radio 1 that McGarrity didn't have any break at all so I'd say that's where that talk came from. Disgraceful. Presumably so he reckons Fergal Ruane is lying professionally. What Maughan said is nearly libellous.

McGarrity was the epitome of courage and his only problem was in the first fifteen or twenty minutes and presumably that was the lack of enugh full training in the run up to the game. But he showed real leadership afterwards.

As for the Joyce comment, I presumed it was a caller that said it on the air, whcih would be hard to blame Radio 1 for. But for it to be a text read out is shocking stuff.

I'd like to see the figures for possession on the breaks. I don't think we got cleaned out to the extent you suggest.

[Duine Eile]

What was said about Padraic on Radio 1?

[moysider]

Stats already posted show Galway came out on top 51%- 49% in possesion. The positive thing is we won without having to dominate possession. Thats over 75 minutes so in second half we were well done in possession stakes.

There was a text read out. From a Kerry man. 'Joyce a disrace. Never produced the goods for his county when he was needed'. I m fairly close there.

As regards Maughan s comments. He was given an out. Jimmy asked him how medics allowed McGar to play if he had a broken jaw. JM of course said he did nt have a broken jaw - which is correct, its a fractured cheek. But he did nt clarify the nature ot the injury either. 'a nasty facial injury'. Cut? Bruise? A lot of old soft chat about how he knew last weekend that he d be ok to play. Funny that. Family on Sat night were hoping he would nt play and surgery is still a runner. A bit of ' pannelbeating' may be required to prevent a permanent dent.

[ross matt]

Galway lads complaining about John Bannon? I've heard it all now.
Mayo were 6-7 points a better side but failed to close out the match due in part to Mortimers showboating and trying to run the clock down. But Galway deserve credit for hanging in there. Meehan's goal was class. He was fouled but refused to go down. However I thought Mayo's long distance point scoring in the 1st half was very impressive as was their spread of the scoring burden. In my opinion McGarrity won all the primary possession in the middle of the park and I felt Bergin was poor in this regard. Heaney also showed a massive work rate and scored 2 great points. Mayo look much more physical than in recent years and have serious options on the bench. A side that's equipped for the long hall. Galway look all over the place tactically. Playing the a man that scored 1-3 against Sligo as a 3rd midfielder on Sunday was crazy. If they dont get their act together Donegal will take them.

[GaillimhIarthair]

Galway lads complaining about John Bannon? I've heard it all now.
Mayo were 6-7 points a better side but failed to close out the match due in part to Mortimers showboating and trying to run the clock down. But Galway deserve credit for hanging in there. Meehan's goal was class. He was fouled but refused to go down. However I thought Mayo's long distance point scoring in the 1st half was very impressive as was their spread of the scoring burden. In my opinion McGarrity won all the primary possession in the middle of the park and I felt Bergin was poor in this regard. Heaney also showed a massive work rate and scored 2 great points. Mayo look much more physical than in recent years and have serious options on the bench. A side that's equipped for the long hall. Galway look all over the place tactically. Playing the a man that scored 1-3 against Sligo as a 3rd midfielder on Sunday was crazy. If they dont get their act together Donegal will take them.

Spot on Ross.  The positioning of some players and the changes made when Niall Coyne went off were poor to say the least.  I think we will be good enough to beat Donegal but management need to stop fluting around with the team.

[Lar Naparka]

Now, that things have settled down somewhat, I'd hope that a few points will be kept in mind by Johnno and the lads. Too much can be read into the defeat of Galway. There were issues that need to be addressed if we are going to progress any further. I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade here; I think there is nothing that can't be sorted out.
It seems no one in Mayo was happy with John Bannon's performance.
Yet, in spite of his best attempts, (if anyone should think that way,) we were 7 points up with 7 minutes remaining.  If we had gone on to blow it once again, there would be little merit to looking for a scapegoat elsewhere.
I honestly feel we were worth every single one of them but even JB at his worst could not be blamed for cancelling out every one of them. He did not score against us but it was Galway and only Galway who did the scoring. We should have been ruthless in closing down the game at that stage. Kerry or Tyrone or Galway for that matter, would have no problem doing this.
I don't think it is fair to blame poor Conoreen for handing (kicking?) away possession near the end either; he was only the last one in a long list to indulge in amateurish passing about. Did anyone else notice how Galway handled the passing the buck affair? They kept the cool and waited for the inevitable breakdown. Notice how they crowded Mayo over to the sideline to cut down the room for manoeuvre. The Galway players did not panic; they knew what they had to do and they did it very well.
JB's 'bias' did not surface until the second half, did it? Coincidentally, that was when Mayo decided to go on the defence.
The lads should have tuned into his attitude to frees and played it by the book.
That means John Bannon's book and not theirs.
When he began to dish out the yellows, our defence should have reacted accordingly and should have tried to avoid them at any cost. One single sending off would certainly have taken the wheels off our wagon

Still, they were relatively young and inexperienced and they lived to fight another day. I think the lessons will be learned but any team they are going to face from here on will be aware of what happened in the second half.

[myball22]

I can't see beating Donegal to be honest. We were piss poor and Mayo were easily 6 to 7 points better than us. They had the chance for 3 goals in the first half and an annihilation would have been on the cards.

i felt our attitude was not right. We were not working hard enough particularly in the first half and no ball was sticking in the forwards at all apart from Nicky Joyce who did well.
The positioning of our players started off wrong and got worse. Sice started the forward and stayed there until Coyne got injured. Then we went with the John Maughan method of making three changes when one would do. Fitz had the top off and ready to come on too. Crazy stuff!! Bradshaw had a poor game in the full abck line compounded by that crazy pass to give away a point at the start of the 2nd half. We were poor enough without giving away scores. Sice, Breathnach, Conroy, Padraig Joyce were all anonymous. Armstrong was playing too far out, there was no cohesion in the forward line at all and both goals conceded were poor too.

I thought bergin did well at midfield and Coleman and Declan Meehan handled a lot of ball and Nicky Joyce did well too and that's about it to be honest. Some of these players have been around a number of years now and need to step up. However I doubt the step up is in some of them.
Lastly some of our play was naive, especially at the death. How Gardiner was allowed up the field to score is beyond me. Tyrone and Kerry would never have let that happen.

Congrats to Mayo, well deserved win. I think the team is average but apart from Tyrone everyone else is average and they have a good a chance as anyone apart from Tyrone. We are below average and it all depends next week on what Donegal shows up but unless there is a massive change in a week our championship will peter out in a very disppointing manner.

[Kilconly SuperSub]

It seems no one in Mayo was happy with John Bannon's performance.
Yet, in spite of his best attempts, (if anyone should think that way,) we were 7 points up with 7 minutes remaining.  If we had gone on to blow it once again, there would be little merit to looking for a scapegoat elsewhere.
I honestly feel we were worth every single one of them but even JB at his worst could not be blamed for cancelling out every one of them. He did not score against us but it was Galway and only Galway who did the scoring. We should have been ruthless in closing down the game at that stage. Kerry or Tyrone or Galway for that matter, would have no problem doing this.
I don't think it is fair to blame poor Conoreen for handing (kicking?) away possession near the end either; he was only the last one in a long list to indulge in amateurish passing about. Did anyone else notice how Galway handled the passing the buck affair? They kept the cool and waited for the inevitable breakdown. Notice how they crowded Mayo over to the sideline to cut down the room for manoeuvre. The Galway players did not panic; they knew what they had to do and they did it very well.
JB's 'bias' did not surface until the second half, did it? Coincidentally, that was when Mayo decided to go on the defence.
The lads should have tuned into his attitude to frees and played it by the book.
That means John Bannon's book and not theirs.
When he began to dish out the yellows, our defence should have reacted accordingly and should have tried to avoid them at any cost. One single sending off would certainly have taken the wheels off our wagon

Still, they were relatively young and inexperienced and they lived to fight another day. I think the lessons will be learned but any team they are going to face from here on will be aware of what happened in the second half.

Mayo's first goal was a blatant square ball.

And the second started with another blatant pick off the grounf, something he let Mayo away with all day.

Still not complaining but stop on about the ref he gave ye enough, swings and roundabouts...

[Maradona]

On Man of The Match - Nicky Joyce deserved it given his haul from play. However on the Mayo side, there should have been no doubt that it was Andy Moran - played a smart game from start to finish, best delivery into forwards, won tackles and breaks through out. Not to mention the quick thinking at the and, plus he actually engineered the free in the first place by inviting the tackle from Bergin. Was not always his biggest fan (particularly when playing in the forwards), but credit where its due, he was outstanding the last day. A leader and deff the next Mayo captain

[stephenite]

On Man of The Match - Nicky Joyce deserved it given his haul from play. However on the Mayo side, there should have been no doubt that it was Andy Moran - played a smart game from start to finish, best delivery into forwards, won tackles and breaks through out. Not to mention the quick thinking at the and, plus he actually engineered the free in the first place by inviting the tackle from Bergin. Was not always his biggest fan (particularly when playing in the forwards), but credit where its due, he was outstanding the last day. A leader and deff the next Mayo captain

From what one can gather from D'Telly, I'd agree, he was outstanding. Very easy to lose the cool when a goal is scored in injury time and the presence of mind he showed to force Bergin into fouling him, then ensuring that Conor didn't get the ball was great

[kevmy]

It seems no one in Mayo was happy with John Bannon's performance.
Yet, in spite of his best attempts, (if anyone should think that way,) we were 7 points up with 7 minutes remaining.  If we had gone on to blow it once again, there would be little merit to looking for a scapegoat elsewhere.
I honestly feel we were worth every single one of them but even JB at his worst could not be blamed for cancelling out every one of them. He did not score against us but it was Galway and only Galway who did the scoring. We should have been ruthless in closing down the game at that stage. Kerry or Tyrone or Galway for that matter, would have no problem doing this.
I don't think it is fair to blame poor Conoreen for handing (kicking?) away possession near the end either; he was only the last one in a long list to indulge in amateurish passing about. Did anyone else notice how Galway handled the passing the buck affair? They kept the cool and waited for the inevitable breakdown. Notice how they crowded Mayo over to the sideline to cut down the room for manoeuvre. The Galway players did not panic; they knew what they had to do and they did it very well.
JB's 'bias' did not surface until the second half, did it? Coincidentally, that was when Mayo decided to go on the defence.
The lads should have tuned into his attitude to frees and played it by the book.
That means John Bannon's book and not theirs.
When he began to dish out the yellows, our defence should have reacted accordingly and should have tried to avoid them at any cost. One single sending off would certainly have taken the wheels off our wagon

Still, they were relatively young and inexperienced and they lived to fight another day. I think the lessons will be learned but any team they are going to face from here on will be aware of what happened in the second half.

Mayo's first goal was a blatant square ball.

And the second started with another blatant pick off the grounf, something he let Mayo away with all day.

Still not complaining but stop on about the ref he gave ye enough, swings and roundabouts...

1st goal may have been a square ball but it was far from blatant if it was. A very tight call if anything. Moran has long arms and long legs too so he's well able to get in there.

As for the pick off the ground, he was letting both teams away with that all day, not just Mayo.

If you want to get into that kinda thing you could say Meehan took too many steps or that Burke tried to take Conoreen out of it for our 2nd goal instead of going for the ball. No point in it.

I would say that we didn't cop on quickly enough that Bannon was, shall we say, giving frees for stuff that other refs wouldn't. If we wanted to foul we should have done it further out the field