Mayo V Galway - Connacht Final Thread

[An Fhairche Abu]

You're the worst kind of one eyed clown rosnarun that all counties are unfortunate to have a few of, if you can't objectively analyse a match and the tactics that Mayo brought to it then that's your problem, I don't see where the slagging of Mayo is in any of this, ye did what ye had to do to win and best of luck to ye.

[MadMayo]

Just watching the sunday game again...
http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1052479
Meehan took 10 steps before shooting at goal at the end.
ref was a joke, nearly cost us the game.

[An Gaeilgoir]

Just watching the sunday game again...
http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1052479
Meehan took 10 steps before shooting at goal at the end.
ref was a joke, nearly cost us the game.

It wouldn't be the ref i'd be blaming if Mayo had lost the game. What about the bollixing around in the half forward line that gave away possession in the first place. That was the joke, however we got away with it and thats what counts

[mckieran]

Just watching the sunday game again...
http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1052479
Meehan took 10 steps before shooting at goal at the end.
ref was a joke, nearly cost us the game.

But Wasnt there a foul in the lead up to one of Mayo's goals as well?

Also, the reason Meehan took so many steps is because there wwas a Mayo back hanging off him. If Meehan had gone down, it may have been a penalty.

Mayo deserved to win but if they had not won, it would have been nobody's fault but their own!

[Barney]

I don't think you could pull Meehan up for steps.

I think a ref has to use instinct in making a decision on these things - to me the goal was pure class, and shows what a great footballer Meehan is.

Cafferkey misjudged the high ball, Meehan was through, probably fouled and given the advantage before a great finish.

To do that at such a crucial juncture in a game when you have had a frustrating day.... one of the goals of the season in my book.

[Lar Naparka]

Just watching the sunday game again...
http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1052479
Meehan took 10 steps before shooting at goal at the end.
ref was a joke, nearly cost us the game.

But Wasnt there a foul in the lead up to one of Mayo's goals as well?

Also, the reason Meehan took so many steps is because there wwas a Mayo back hanging off him. If Meehan had gone down, it may have been a penalty.

Mayo deserved to win but if they had not won, it would have been nobody's fault but their own!

I'd be inclined to agree with you here. We won so anything else is history at this stage and endless recriminations are of no use to anyone. I feel we should have won by more but that is irrelevant now.
There are some points to be kept in mind although. Galway, to their credit, never give up and have to be watched right up to the final whistle. We have found that out many times to our cost and could have been caught once again yesterday. A positive note is that Mayo did not lose the plot when Galway scored the last goal and somehow managed to hit a winner-a bit like the Irish team against Wales in the recent Triple Crown decider.
Of course it feels mighty to have won but we have a total of 43 Connachts and counting. (I lost the count a long time ago put that's the tally according to the TV3 commentary.) and precious little joy after 39 of them so I hope the obvious weaknesses  that were there to be seen are attended to.
I few lost it would be own fault and it would be pointless to blame John Bannon.
The ratio of free went 35/19 against us and even if Bannon was wearing a maroon jersey, that figure tells its story.
He wasn't all one-sided either. Remember the 'shock' on Pee Joyce's face when he was adjudged to have pulled his marker to the ground. That's an art perfected by Connoreen in days gone by. Joyce is also a past master at engineering soft frees ands he got caught yesterday. The number of yellow cards handed out to our backs in the second half is a real worry. I don't see a point in blaming Bannon for any of them. Even if he was harsh in giving even one of them out, a lot of our lads left themselves in serious danger of getting a red and that could have spelt disaster. Even if every Mayo lad felt Bannon was acting the maggot, they should have copped on that he would come down hard on them for what he regarded as yellow card offences. That's my only serious concern about yesterday's game. For once, we can look at the positives and hope we can learn from the negatives.
John O'Mahony was my MOTM; he has started to impose his presence on the sideline and I think he will sort out the tendency to foul amongst the backs; they were collectively very young and inexperienced going into yesterday's game and I think they will benefit immensely from the experience.

[HowAreYeGettinOn]

Great result for Mayo. Plenty of mistakes, the old tendency to hang on for the win rather than driving on reared its head again - but it was fantastic and refreshing to see that in injury time, when the game had to be won all over again, it was Mayo that stood up, won the kickout and drove the winner into the Salthill gale.

J O'M is shaping his own team at last, and thankfully they look like a far more physical, abrasive unit than the '04/'06 vintage. Also there's no reliance on a McD/Mortimer for scores, and for now it looks like there's a collective will to take responsibility for scores, tackling etc., especially among the forward line.

O'Mahony seems to be bringing a cynical edge to the team too - I thought a key moment yesterday was Keith Higgins dragging Bergin to the ground a la Canavan on the Gooch in the AIF of 2005.

Don't know how we'll do from here on, but Mayo have a solid platform to build on now. They shouldn't fear anybody.

[offtheground]

Does that say" RIP Micheal Jackson" ... I feel embarrassed.

Haha "Micheál" Jackson. Fear na gaeltachta a beadh?

No fada on his jersey (clear picture of it on front page of Irish Times sports section), so I'd say its just a case of his inability to spell "Michael".

From the Irish times ;
"Mortimer lifted his Mayo shirt above his head to reveal an RIP Michael Jackson written on his shirt – he had a similar tribute stitched into his boots."

Fair play to Mortimer for having a sense of humour. The GAA is only the better for a chap having a bit of craic on the big occasion...... in my humble opinion..

[moysider]

One to savour and for once we did nt get punished. I thought it was Jerry Lohan and 2001 all over again. I had money on the draw and I was never so happy to lose money in my life. Any analysis can wait as far as I m concerned.

[muppet]

Just back in the capital. Great game and great craic in Galway afterwards as always.

Mayo hadn't been tested this year but came through a really tough examination yesterday with shining colours. Liam O'Malley and Ronan McGarrity started the game like two men who hadn't done much training recently but Ronan did get into it much more in the second half.

Galway were over reliant on a few quality players such as Nicky Joyce and Joe Bergin and didn't play like a team while Mayo didn't really have a standout player for me but played very well as a team.

No point in a big analysis but I felt O'Mahony knows more than anyone the Galway purple patches usually revolve around P Joyce and at 7 points up he made the decision to double team him. Hard to know if it was worth it as losing Moran up front led to the likes of Conor Mort having to come out the field looking for the ball which is never a good idea.

As for Bannon and the fouling, Mayo need to be a lot cuter and can look to the Maroon players for guidance in that regard. Our fouls tended to be obvious and when Bannon started the 2nd half giving Galway 3 straight soft frees we should have copped on to the fact that he was going to blow us out of it. Galway on the other hand did their fouling off the ball and Blake was the best example of this. Pat Harte was constantly held, wrestled to the ground or whatever it took, but before the ball arrived. That is why he didn't really feature and Blake is too clever for the likes of Bannon. Not having a go at Blake either, I wish we had him. We need to be cuter in that regard.

I have been critical of our two wing backs who often don't defend as defenders normally do. They are both more likely to try and shoulder an opponent who has the ball rather than trying to tackle him which is a risky strategy. But yesterday they were excellent.

[Rossfan]

As for Bannon and the fouling, Mayo need to be a lot cuter and can look to the Maroon players for guidance in that regard. Our fouls tended to be obvious and when Bannon started the 2nd half giving Galway 3 straight soft frees we should have copped on to the fact that he was going to blow us out of it. .

John Bannon being nice to Galway   
Never
He's some maroon lover alright.
Good game for the neutral and what a finish.
But had it ended in a draw the Mayo lads who fiddled and faddled out in their right half forward area which led to t he Galway goal s hould be shot.

[Farrandeelin]

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??

[An Fhairche Abu]

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.

[The flame still burns]

The feeling since yesterday is magical!

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

[Duine Eile]

Galway were shocking yesterday. Some of the decisions made by management team were criminal. Finian Hanley and Adrian Faherty will be having nightmares about that goal and rightly so, one of them should have dealt with it. The team line out was a joke, I'd say about 3 lads started in their named positions. Sean Armstrong was given a roving role which was the stupidest theory ever, he's one of our main scoring threats up front and looked lost and got no guidance from the sideline. Niall Coyne was going to get the runaround again only he had to go off injured and who was sent on, the bould Fiachra! Bradshaw was moved back and we missed his runs forward after. Supposedly Kieran Fitz had the tracksuit off ready to come on and was called back. Sending on Fiachra meant about 3 positional switches instead of putting on a corner back for a corner back. Starting Declan Meehan at centre back was a joke, if I was Alan Burke, Darren Mullahy or Kieran Fitz I'd be severly pissed off, these lads must wonder what the hell they have to do to get 5 minutes game time. Sammon then on the Sunday Game bleating on about being unlucky, we were flippin lucky not to have been beaten out the gate with his antics. We didn't have a plan A yesterday never mind a plan B when things started to go wrong. Well done to Mayo though, ye did well to come down and score the winner after the goal.