Sligeach v Maigh Eo. 5ú Meitheamh 2010

[magpie seanie]

All of this talk of Tom Parsons playing in the forward line is a load of nonsense. In my opinion the man shouldn't even be on the team.

2 years ago he was a bright prospect. Now he has the look of somebody that is never going to make it. Lazy, with a lack of physical bite, extremely poor technique are his main problems in my opinion. Like a lot of Mayo players he struggles to actually kick the football. What good is he going to do as a CHF? Kicking distribution won't be a problem. He won't track back so you will open up the whole pitch to the opposition number 11. And then if he gets in front of goal more often than not he will hit a spectacular wide.

I think moysider made a good point previously about Mayo and our lack of success in developing players. There was a raw talent there for JOM - he has gone backwards rather than being improved.

Muppet I think that is a fair point about Andy Moran. He will get away with things on the wing except for against the star player for the opposition. Maybe another player we have been too quick to write up in Mayo without any justification and possible because he talks a good game in the newspaper.

I think like a lot of Mayo supporters my patience has just worn that little bit thin and the lame excuses won't do any more.

Totally disagree here. Say what you will about Parsons' passive, languid style where at times he can be hesitant on the ball, anyone, in my opinion, who thinks that he has poor technique kicking (or catching) a ball really doesn't know their footballers. Very few, if any, knowledgable commentators have ever said he lacks technical ability just that he lacks drive, work-rate and maybe a bit of motivation. There's a total over-reaction here to Parsons, he had a poor league final but overall a good league campaign. Previous to this he had a great debut season and an average enough one last year by his own high standards. He is also 21/22 years old, chances are if he improves his work and hits form he'll be one of the best mid-fielders in the country...because he has the natural ability.

Occupational hazard with mercenaries. 

[Farrandeelin]

Ability. To do what? To get cleaned? To do nothing in a high stake match? Because that's all I see of Parsons when I watch him. Even in last year's county final I was afraid he might have done something then too, he didn't, Ginger Tiernan ran the show... Just goes to show that this 'ability' counts for nothing unless you are prepared to work your guts out.

[Farrandeelin]

All of this talk of Tom Parsons playing in the forward line is a load of nonsense. In my opinion the man shouldn't even be on the team.

2 years ago he was a bright prospect. Now he has the look of somebody that is never going to make it. Lazy, with a lack of physical bite, extremely poor technique are his main problems in my opinion. Like a lot of Mayo players he struggles to actually kick the football. What good is he going to do as a CHF? Kicking distribution won't be a problem. He won't track back so you will open up the whole pitch to the opposition number 11. And then if he gets in front of goal more often than not he will hit a spectacular wide.

I thought someone said a few weeks ago that he could become Mayo's greatest ever footballer or something to that effect. Must admit that raised an eyebrow with me at the time. The lad has some talent alright but I never thought of him as being THAT good.

I hate to say it but in Mayo we love to look good first and then win second. I have been thinking about this for a while and it seems im not proven wrong. We are "nice footballers". Every second shot or pass is flashy with the outside of the boot or the odd drop kick. We seem to be the only county that have that sort of style but at the end of the day, any swerved ball with the outside of the boot, or any drop kick or fancy floater takes longer to get to the target and subsequently we are not giving ourselves an advantage.

Sure they say the same thing about Galway. I believe it was Ger Loughnane who said that west of Ireland people are "too nice" (whatever that means) and he was including his native Clare in that along with the likes of Galway and Mayo.

sure we are all to nice gbb all you have to do is look at the board , look at the nordies on here they hate each other and thats before the football even comes into it , if you look at any of the westie threads we all get on like a house on fire bar sligonian of course who if you cut open his blood would be black and white  , we wish each other luck when we loose can you imagine the nordies doing that , its time we startred to hate each other

Imagine that happening in Munster hurling for an example, where Tipp backed Clare or vice-versa!

[Lar Naparka]

Occupational hazard with mercenaries. 

Ah, sure you won't get them all right all the time.
But we'll keep on trying to bate a bit of sense into Tom and maybe we will learn something from how you managed to make a footballer out of Alan Costello, you very own mercenary.

[moysider]

Ability. To do what? To get cleaned? To do nothing in a high stake match? Because that's all I see of Parsons when I watch him. Even in last year's county final I was afraid he might have done something then too, he didn't, Ginger Tiernan ran the show... Just goes to show that this 'ability' counts for nothing unless you are prepared to work your guts out.

Have you ever wondered Farrandeelin why work your guts out players like Ginger Tiernan never really figure in Mayo teams?
To be honest I have f**k all sympathy for the garden Mayo supporter. They expect every player to be a thrill-a-minute exhibitionist and then wonder how in hell we cant compete with teams with a realistic approach with seriously hard durable players in the ranks.
We get what we have demanded to an extent. I have come across very few people who wanted Tiernan in a Mayo shirt. He d have always been in there if i had anything to do with it by the way. Most Mayo fans want high fielders and dummy sellers.
I think we're being harsh on Parsons by the way. If he cant come through then there is little hope for likes of Daniel Kirby and other serious talent coming up. I have my doubts Hanley would have come on either. At senior level we are seriously failing to develop players. And it s not the players problem. And it s not just Parsons. He still plays like a 17 yr old. But as I ve said before, so too does Trevor Mortimor who has been playing senior for ten years.

[rosnarun]

Ability. To do what? To get cleaned? To do nothing in a high stake match? Because that's all I see of Parsons when I watch him. Even in last year's county final I was afraid he might have done something then too, he didn't, Ginger Tiernan ran the show... Just goes to show that this 'ability' counts for nothing unless you are prepared to work your guts out.

Have you ever wondered Farrandeelin why work your guts out players like Ginger Tiernan never really figure in Mayo teams?
To be honest I have f**k all sympathy for the garden Mayo supporter. They expect every player to be a thrill-a-minute exhibitionist and then wonder how in hell we cant compete with teams with a realistic approach with seriously hard durable players in the ranks.
We get what we have demanded to an extent. I have come across very few people who wanted Tiernan in a Mayo shirt. He d have always been in there if i had anything to do with it by the way. Most Mayo fans want high fielders and dummy sellers.
I think we're being harsh on Parsons by the way. If he cant come through then there is little hope for likes of Daniel Kirby and other serious talent coming up. I have my doubts Hanley would have come on either. At senior level we are seriously failing to develop players. And it s not the players problem. And it s not just Parsons. He still plays like a 17 yr old. But as I ve said before, so too does Trevor Mortimor who has been playing senior for ten years.

Tiernan dis play for queit a few years for mayo and never  made much of an impression. it very easy to shout for names when they are no longer on the team I can guess the reaction if andy or parsons were dropped . 2 fine players who have been rubbished it in the last few days.
People should really kop themselves on.

[Foreverhopeful]

If aidan o shea is too slow for no.11 he is too slow to ever do any real damage at no.14. You need a burst of pace at no.14. What scoring damage did he do last year (someone mentioned this)? Fisted goal against Meath, one point against Galway. 1 goal against Ros  on a day when we got 3-18. That not hectic.
He has a very accurate kick from long distance, is an option for kick out's. He can have more space to get his stride going. HE can be fast if he gets into his stride and would be hard stopped. He doesnt have cuteness to play in the full-forward line (yet- comes with age)!. I'd also give the freedom every now and then to drift into the full forward line when playing at 11. This would keep the number 6 guessing and he may sneak in the odd time for goal. Sean Cavanagh was a master of this in his earlier days. The tyrone boys would cover him as he drifted in for scores and was usually unmarked. It obviously has to be done with subtlety.

No point in playing Seamie O'Shea as an 11. He is the partner McGarrity has needed for the last few years. Seamie will do the grafting, hard hitting. McGarrity and Parsons were too similar.

[SLIGONIAN]

Occupational hazard with mercenaries. 

Ah, sure you won't get them all right all the time.
But we'll keep on trying to bate a bit of sense into Tom and maybe we will learn something from how you managed to make a footballer out of Alan Costello, you very own mercenary.

Alan went to mayo first, and then when ye closed the door on him with yere arrogance intact, he legitimately threw in his lot with us. Thanks  . That one could come back to haunt ye on June 5th but either way we are glad to have him .

He looks happy and thats all that matters and in fairness we do develop great footballers.

[moysider]

Ability. To do what? To get cleaned? To do nothing in a high stake match? Because that's all I see of Parsons when I watch him. Even in last year's county final I was afraid he might have done something then too, he didn't, Ginger Tiernan ran the show... Just goes to show that this 'ability' counts for nothing unless you are prepared to work your guts out.

Have you ever wondered Farrandeelin why work your guts out players like Ginger Tiernan never really figure in Mayo teams?
To be honest I have f**k all sympathy for the garden Mayo supporter. They expect every player to be a thrill-a-minute exhibitionist and then wonder how in hell we cant compete with teams with a realistic approach with seriously hard durable players in the ranks.
We get what we have demanded to an extent. I have come across very few people who wanted Tiernan in a Mayo shirt. He d have always been in there if i had anything to do with it by the way. Most Mayo fans want high fielders and dummy sellers.
I think we're being harsh on Parsons by the way. If he cant come through then there is little hope for likes of Daniel Kirby and other serious talent coming up. I have my doubts Hanley would have come on either. At senior level we are seriously failing to develop players. And it s not the players problem. And it s not just Parsons. He still plays like a 17 yr old. But as I ve said before, so too does Trevor Mortimor who has been playing senior for ten years.

Tiernan dis play for queit a few years for mayo and never  made much of an impression. it very easy to shout for names when they are no longer on the team I can guess the reaction if andy or parsons were dropped . 2 fine players who have been rubbished it in the last few days.
People should really kop themselves on.

Tiernan was never a regular starter with the county and stupidly was seen as an out and out midfielder by management. He was too short for that but he should have been used in the Paul Galvin roll before Galvin was ever heard of. Just take the chain off and let him loose. People forget how good a point kicker he is as well. We're crying out for a player like that now. He was way ahead of what Andy or Trevor could ever be in that dog role.

I agree with you about the rubbishing of players. But players are the most obvious target for pissed off fans - especially when the management is beyond reproach. This management has got away with murder and will continue to do so. I ll be reminded shortly that this management should be judged after this championship. Yawn. I ll be getting a similar memo this time next year after the annual, end- of -season spin/hide and seek shenanigans start next July or August. And we ll be told that the great plan will come to fruition in '11.

[joemamas]

Ability. To do what? To get cleaned? To do nothing in a high stake match? Because that's all I see of Parsons when I watch him. Even in last year's county final I was afraid he might have done something then too, he didn't, Ginger Tiernan ran the show... Just goes to show that this 'ability' counts for nothing unless you are prepared to work your guts out.

Have you ever wondered Farrandeelin why work your guts out players like Ginger Tiernan never really figure in Mayo teams?
To be honest I have f**k all sympathy for the garden Mayo supporter. They expect every player to be a thrill-a-minute exhibitionist and then wonder how in hell we cant compete with teams with a realistic approach with seriously hard durable players in the ranks.
We get what we have demanded to an extent. I have come across very few people who wanted Tiernan in a Mayo shirt. He d have always been in there if i had anything to do with it by the way. Most Mayo fans want high fielders and dummy sellers.
I think we're being harsh on Parsons by the way. If he cant come through then there is little hope for likes of Daniel Kirby and other serious talent coming up. I have my doubts Hanley would have come on either. At senior level we are seriously failing to develop players. And it s not the players problem. And it s not just Parsons. He still plays like a 17 yr old. But as I ve said before, so too does Trevor Mortimor who has been playing senior for ten years.

Tiernan dis play for queit a few years for mayo and never  made much of an impression. it very easy to shout for names when they are no longer on the team I can guess the reaction if andy or parsons were dropped . 2 fine players who have been rubbished it in the last few days.
People should really kop themselves on.

Tiernan was never a regular starter with the county and stupidly was seen as an out and out midfielder by management. He was too short for that but he should have been used in the Paul Galvin roll before Galvin was ever heard of. Just take the chain off and let him loose. People forget how good a point kicker he is as well. We're crying out for a player like that now. He was way ahead of what Andy or Trevor could ever be in that dog role.

I agree with you about the rubbishing of players. But players are the most obvious target for pissed off fans - especially when the management is beyond reproach. This management has got away with murder and will continue to do so. I ll be reminded shortly that this management should be judged after this championship. Yawn. I ll be getting a similar memo this time next year after the annual, end- of -season spin/hide and seek shenanigans start next July or August. And we ll be told that the great plan will come to fruition in '11.

Totally agree , Ginger did not play senior for Mayo until he was 25 or 26 . It was 2002 when he played the season that Cork beat Mayo in Q/final. He did play for mayo in the All ireland U21 final. I guess our manager in the mid- late 1990 (the master tactician that he was and is) did not think he was worthwhile.Truly an inspirational player, so many young lads look up to him.

As for Parsons, let 's not write him off yet O Mahoney did a piss poor job with him last year. Brought him on with two mins to go in Connaught final. , Played him full forward V Meath,took him off, then brought him back on again. To be honest, after the league final, I came away with the impression that Mcgarrity was a lot worse than Parsons, his kicking was brutal. Parson got caught in possession a few times, but still way more potential than Mcgarrity ansd o Shea, Will it ever be realized, that is the question. I agree it is time he stepped up.

[moysider]

Occupational hazard with mercenaries. 

Ah, sure you won't get them all right all the time.
But we'll keep on trying to bate a bit of sense into Tom and maybe we will learn something from how you managed to make a footballer out of Alan Costello, you very own mercenary.

Alan went to mayo first, and then when ye closed the door on him with yere arrogance intact, he legitimately threw in his lot with us. Thanks  . That one could come back to haunt ye on June 5th but either way we are glad to have him .

He looks happy and thats all that matters and in fairness we do develop great footballers.

I know you were only ripping the piss Lar. I m delighted for Alan Costello Sligonian. Always had the height of time for him. Another of these Mayo casualties. We have a lot of people in Mayo who look after teams and look at games with arms folded and have synchronised head nodding. 

[rosnarun]

forget about Costello . its easy to look good in Division 3 he would not get near the mayo panel now or ever . he knew what he was doing when he decided to take the step down .
how people can belittle mayo's current players who have brought mayo to be consistently one of the top 5 teams in the country ang Glorify teams from lower divisions and OAP's just Proves how right Trevor Mortimer was .
Sure I slag JOM off as much as any one but if he ever got us into the position SLigo are now I dont think id be able to get near the front of the Queue to hang Draw and Quarter him. his great failing is not improving mayo . being very pissed off at losing Primary national finals is not a heartbreak sligo have had for a long time or Ever!

[Lar Naparka]

I know you were only ripping the piss Lar. I m delighted for Alan Costello Sligonian. Always had the height of time for him. Another of these Mayo casualties. We have a lot of people in Mayo who look after teams and look at games with arms folded and have synchronised head nodding.

Of course I was. Alan was a most promising young  player and I often wondered why he dropped out of the picture so quickly. I genuinely wish him the best of luck- as long as it's not Connacht  Semi-Final luck, if you know what I mean.

[Farrandeelin]

forget about Costello . its easy to look good in Division 3 he would not get near the mayo panel now or ever . he knew what he was doing when he decided to take the step down .
how people can belittle mayo's current players who have brought mayo to be consistently one of the top 5 teams in the country ang Glorify teams from lower divisions and OAP's just Proves how right Trevor Mortimer was .
Sure I slag JOM off as much as any one but if he ever got us into the position SLigo are now I dont think id be able to get near the front of the Queue to hang Draw and Quarter him. his great failing is not improving mayo . being very pissed off at losing Primary national finals is not a heartbreak sligo have had for a long time or Ever!

I'm not glorifying OAPs rosnarun, I'm just saying he ran the show for C'town in the county final last year along with other ones who wee prepared to work, whereas Parsons didn't make that much of an impression on me. Now he's playing on Sunday against Knockmore in the league so I'll judge him then as well of course. He surely should stand heads and shoulders over any Knockmore midfielder at the moment.... shouldn't he?

[AbbeySider]

I know you were only ripping the piss Lar. I m delighted for Alan Costello Sligonian. Always had the height of time for him. Another of these Mayo casualties. We have a lot of people in Mayo who look after teams and look at games with arms folded and have synchronised head nodding.

Of course I was. Alan was a most promising young  player and I often wondered why he dropped out of the picture so quickly. I genuinely wish him the best of luck- as long as it's not Connacht  Semi-Final luck, if you know what I mean.

Costello always lacked a yard of pace.
He didnt get much of a look in at Senior level in Mayo because of it. But I always liked him as a player, he was as honest as the day is long and was powerful for his age and caused considerable problems to defences he ran at.

Correct me if im wrong but I think he transferred from Balla to a club in Sligo and subsequently got a trial and call up. I dont blame him one bit and am delighted for him that he made it. He is a good player, but I suppose there was a battle for places on the Mayo squad and he just happen to come at a time when there was similar decent forwards involved.