Sligeach v Maigh Eo. 5ú Meitheamh 2010

[diehard]

Well done to Sligo and I hope ye go on to better things - ye deserve it.
As for Mayo - we have not had a settled team for a long time - no full back, chb and now midfield is suspect - no chf (since dillon was injured) or ff. Couple this with a lack of bite and the outcome is completely predictable.
I have no appetite for criticising players who give an awful lot of commitment.  The simple truth is that we are not good enough and that is a grim fact that many mayo supporters will find hard to stomach, myself included.
The league form was false as it seems other teams were not half as keen as we were - Galway had a ferocious weeks training before we hammered them in Castlebar, Tyrone were only half organised, Kerry just back from the US and the first game against Cork - well enough said.  When the competition got serious in Croke Park - we saw our true form - exactly the same as against Meath last year.
We need to start from scratch again.

[SLIGONIAN]

It took me a while to get to sleep last night, replaying the game in my head as I lay on the pillow. One thing I had nearly forgotten yday, was i missed all last yr due to being away, which broke my continous championship match record of being at everyone since 1989, well 2008 was my last championship and id forgotten how nervous I get before the games, alot of toilet visits.

Well when the game started my nerves went thankfully, I didnt really worry at all at our start although my Dad was going ballistic with ref even at that stage, and parents of young children gave out to him for his cursing, I told him calm down, early doors yet.. There was a way too much pace left in front and to the sides of McGuire, he actually disposessed freeman for the peno, which wasnt a clearcut peno but I can understand it being given. The 1st half was a poor Sligo performance, the tactics were all wrong, Sweeney is not a wing forward, he doesnt have the legs for it, gardiner got away from him a few times and didnt punish us, because the of tenacity of Cawley leaving his own man to plug a hole for the team, O Hara is NOT a FF, the high ball into EOH didnt work at all, it left far too much to chance, 50/50 stuff, this was to blame for a below par costello in 1st half. As i said earlier when the management changed we started to get on top and show something for all the domination in midfield.

My feeling is Mayo should of really twisted the knife in the 1st half, Sligo were there for the taking in the opening 20 and ye werent near ruthless enough. Once we got ticking i was sure we'd win. McGee got lovely score from play and was accurate from frees, J Davey whose battle was immmense with Andy Moran showed some skill and heart for his point from play. Sligo played the usual counter attack football and looked dangerous running at mayo and like the antrim game we turned over alot of possession when the pressure was put on in our HB line.

2nd half was Sligo domination, the hungirer team wins the breaks and we were, jees TT caught some lovely ball, the man fought hard aswell and tackled hard, got a great score aswell, he is capable of that. Gilmartin for mee did alot of unseen work, he never let mcgarrity or parsons catch clean possession, and this was confirmed to me when I watched the game back, he broke some amount of ball and nearly always to a Sligoman, got a great score aswell. These 2 lads worked hard and use there physically to bully the middle sector.

The key to the second half was Costello, what a legend, the thing that made me more proud was the fact that alot didnt work for him 1st half, some disgraceful decision given against hime but his Class shone through because of his mental and willingness to back himself. His perservence to keep doing the right thing, when i seen his first pass 2nd half, 30 yarder diagonal straight to Kelly chest, with him 25 yards out, I knew were in business as he would open up mayo and give us serious creativity in the final third, Costello also completely negated any forward threat McLoughlin had. Watching back too McGarrity caught him clearly with a swinging fist. He should of been sent off, but I wouldnt hold against him as it was out of character. Costello was a pest all day for mayo, and was in there faces, his 2 pts were brilliant. Icing on the cake.

Johnny Davey absolute hero in my book, never lets us down. Long time my favourite player as his workrate, desire and skill are always unreal. Jees I he absolutely harrased Andy Moran all day, whilst moran did well to even to keep possession and lay off the ball, remember he was the forward and Johnny the back and moran did no damage. The decision to give a free against Johnny for the coming together with trevor was nothing short of a disgrace. But he showed the courage of the man.

The FB line when it got going were immense, all of them fighting for each other like pack of wolves, people will say McGuire finished, but for me he was fine once we plugged the space, for he was left far to isolated at the start. He was a tad unlucky for the peno imo. Ross and Charlie were equally immense, the blocks were fantastic. And time and time again we snuffed out mayo attacks.

Keelan Cawley was brilliant, what impressed me most was he sacrficed himself for the team, he left his man to cover other attackers, he plugged space with his excellent reading of the game, what a star, I have only one complaint and its not his fault, he needs NEW BOOTS, he slipped 7 times on the surface, he needs more grippy cogs.

Phillips deserves special mention as he did fine, but SOS is so ordinary, he hid out there today and it helped Phillips, as usual phillips was excellent on the ball, but tougher test lie ahead with P Joyce coming up. But fair play to him today, did his job well.

Forwards, EOH the rover, was immense, reading of the game huge, linking the play huge, running at mayo huge, passing huge, another 3/4 yrs left him........

Sweeney broke and won ball he was second fav for, actually caused a few scores 2nd half. He did well, as I dont blame him for his start, management got it wrong to start him wing forward and i dont care where he plays for geevagh.

Mark Brehony, really just the linked the play, was never in a position to shoot from play but got his frees.

McGee was excellent on his debut, 2 yrs ago I wanted this man on the county panel, i saw his potential at club level, and he never let me down. Mr accurate.

David Kelly what a legend, frustrating 1st half, ball into the corners no good for kelly, took his scores well but owes costello for alot of the supply. Lucky to have him .

My man of the match was either Tony Taylor or Johnny Davey, there were consistently superb throughout. We can play better aswell, i dont think we played to our full potential.

Cosmos Kramer, said earlier that Sligo need to make hay with this team, as he feels nothing coming through, I disagree, I was at 2 St Attractas games, 2 summerhill, 3 CML, 2 u21 matches, there is unreal talent to come through in the next 3/4 yrs, as the saying goes at underage we might not win anything but there is outstanding players coming through. As good as the PT, DS and EOH. Mark my words.

Some really great comments from stew, tatler jack iolarcoscon and seanie, thanks a mill, means alot coming from ye, when Sligo were whipping boys in the early ninetys , they never walked alone, because of my Dad and he brought me along, I remember being at league games when we were the only 2 there, this last 15 yrs have been great though, our best and you can imagine what yday meant to me and Dad.

Sligeach abu.

[MadMayo]

Well deserved victory for Sligo. Congratulations lads, i am happy for ye, great fight in that team......... O'Hara.... that man is a legend.

[AbbeySider]

I just remembered...

Does anyone remember Morts attempt at a volly yesterday late in the game? 

wtf was he thinking!?
It summed up the day for us

[SLIGONIAN]

Just read all the papers there and they talk some shite, I remember meeting Eugene McHale, a couple of days before the the game, I said to him I think we have better players than mayo. He was suprised by this comment. Its shows today when all pundits are saying it was simply hunger and passion that won it for us, i say to that bullshit. We scored 0-7 in the 2nd half from play, there was skill, there was quality there not just a better mental atitude as the pundits are making out.

I just remembered...

Does anyone remember Morts attempt at a volly yesterday late in the game? 

wtf was he thinking!?
It summed up the day for us

In fairness to him, it wasnt his best and if he had connected he would of scored, was funny though the way it turned out

[RedandGreenSniper]

Sligo are being a bit hard done by in the post match analysis. Mayo were so awful that that is what people will talk about - it is big news I guess. But Sligo were of a level that meant the game was gone from Mayo with twenty minutes to go. Mayo would have played that badly before and won against other Sligo sides. This is a very good Sligo side. I would like to think Mayo would be capable of beating ye if we had done everything right and had a proper set-up. I'm not sure that that would be the case though. But at least it would be nice to have the security of knowing we were giving it everything and properly prepared. We didn't and that's why there's so much of a post-mortem. Sligo are capable not only of winning Connacht but of going to the last four - I know one man who will say they're even better than that!

[mannix]

SLigonian, you really need a girlfriend.

[SLIGONIAN]

SLigonian, you really need a girlfriend.

The last few werent too happy with my Sligo first, Girlfriend second atitude at the weekends . They only get in the way this time of yr.

[Lar Naparka]

Out of a total attendance of 13 something I would say less that 5,000 anyway. Quietest welcome for a Mayo team onto a championship I ever recall. The players performance reflected the lack of enthusiasm. at no stage did the crowd even attempt to get behind the team. Well this is what Johnno wanted after all. It s backfired big time. Once even middling Mayo team would respond to the crowd and try and kick on anyway.

Spot on as usual, moysider.
Something had been bugging me throughout the game-indeed, from the time I had arrived at the grounds until I finally arrived back home and read your post.
The lack of enthusiasm from Mayo supporters was unreal and it was more than met and matched by those on the field and on the sideline.
Maybe indeed Johnno has gone to the well too many times with his calls for patience and team rebuilding plans.
We'll regroup, we'll see where we are, we'll move on, said Johnno, according to An Spailpin.
If all three were undertaken as speedily as possible, with the 'on' possibly changed to 'out,' he might yet do his county some service.
Sligo were superb yesterday and highlighting Mayo's shortcomings can't take any deserved credit away from their achievement. They came out with a plan; Walsh tweaked it when needed and, in the end, they chased Mayo up the side of Ben Bulben.
I doubt that any team in the land would relish a meeting with Sligo this summer.
I'd nap them for the Connacht title and see no reason why they shouldn't go further. It's far too soon to start talking about Sam Maguire yet but I'm sure Walsh and his players know this full well. All the same, they are certainly live contenders and if they do go the whole way, I'd be delighted.
Can any of the Mayo heads here deny Sligonian his iconic status now?
He lives up to the motto to that John O'Mahony waffles about: "Keep the Faith." I had a number of pros and cons to consider before making up my mind to drive down from Dublin for the game.
But an opportunity to meet the person who epitomises all that is best in the GAA made me decide to make the journey. I'm glad I did. This man is larger than life in every sense; not least his unwavering devotion to and belief in his cause.
I hope he enjoyed his visit to Fiddler Creek last night and that it made up for the many other nights that didn't have a happy ending.
I won't be a bit put out if he gets a good run of happy endings between now and on to late September!

[small white mayoman]

well done to sligo yesterday hope all the sligo posters on the board enjoyed the win. all thats has to be said about the match been said  all i want to know is where can i purchase a sligonian for taoiseach t shirt as he seems to be the man of the moment  however i do seem to recall him going off on one when kevin walsh was appointed in the 1st place. could any of the sligo lads tell me how many of the sligo team yesterday played against mayo in 2008? 

[moysider]

well done to sligo yesterday hope all the sligo posters on the board enjoyed the win. all thats has to be said about the match been said  all i want to know is where can i purchase a sligonian for taoiseach t shirt as he seems to be the man of the moment  however i do seem to recall him going off on one when kevin walsh was appointed in the 1st place. could any of the sligo lads tell me how many of the sligo team yesterday played against mayo in 2008?

7 started in 2008. Greene, Harrison, Donovan, O Hara, Davey, Brehony and Kelly. McGuire, Gilmartin and Philips came on as well.

[muppet]

Firstly well done Sligo. The win was totally deserved and should have been more comprehensive but for an over-fussy ref who did everything he could to help Mayo back into the game. In addition I thought Sligo gave Mayo a bit too much respect in the 1st half. The early tactic of leaving just 2 men up made it very difficult for them to get scores and usually just gave possession back to Mayo. Our use of that possession was beyond pathetic, Freeman aside.

I thought McGarrity was lucky not to be sent off. But we would hardly have noticed if he was. In fact if himself and Parsons had gone for a pint after 10 minutes it wouldn't have changed anything.

I'm not going to go through the team and their performances as that would require effort and we in Mayo don't seem to do effort these days.

I have always defended the management on here up to now. I don't know what the problem is and it may not be their fault but the only possible solution that I see is a fresh start as soon as possible. We need either 30 new players or a new management. Realistically it has to be the latter.

[Redgreenery]

Well done Sligo, best I've seen Sligo play I have to say, they are turning out quite a good side and I would not be surprised to still see them in the championship come semi-final time!
Sligo beat a very clueless Mayo side and the lack of leadership in the team was very evident! Mabye we need a new captain, Trevor has played better than he is these days, and the captaincy may be a burden to hold for him, I think Andy Moran or even (I'll be shot for this) C Mort, he's a charismatic guy who loves to be seen and heard would be worth a go for captaincy!! I was very disappointed with the performance yesterday, but not surprised with the result. Alot of people didnt seem to rate Sligo much against us. But they were hungrier and more tactically alert than we were.

As with moysider I was also disappointed with the lack of Mayo support at the game, when Freeman scored the goal the place was silent but for the odd cheer. I can understand from that point of view why there seemed to be a lack of motivation with the team, looking around them having to squint their eyes to see a Mayo jersey (and it wasnt the biggest venue) and the same goes for the League final (Looking around an empty stadium with no green and red!)

I'm sick of hearing all of this negativity of fans who have given up the ghost altogether!! We are NOT out of the championship, we WERE beaten by a GOOD team! Teams in the qualifiers do not want to meet us lads! Honest to god back in Janurary I was sure Mayo would be relegated, and sure ye all know where we got to in the league!
To the championship, is it not all about just going out on the Saturday and Sunday to support your team be they playing good or bad, look at the Rossies, the team is playing rubbish, and yet their supporters are out in their tousands any given sunday!!! I am sure the negativity from the Mayo fans does move into the dressing room lads! Yes we have had more than our fair share of dissapointment, but give it up will ye, the season 2010 aint over, Mayo are still in it, leave all the ridiculeing UNTIL we are knocked out, which honestly I dont think will be for a while yet!

I'm looking forward to these qualifier's, it's a new experience and hopefully we'll progress far in them! A dose of championship games might be just what Mayo needs, if we keep on winning, it might bring a biteen of confidence to the team, and hey, mabye a couple more supporters might get back behind the team!

Looking forward to getting a rematch with Sligo in the Semi Final above in Croker!! 

[Kerry Mike]

well done Sligo but keep the heads Galway will be tough to beat in the final. 

[Maigheo Abu]

Firstly my heartfelt congratulations to Sligo and Kevin Walsh, what a plan and what a performance. The very best of luck for the rest of the season and there is no reason why you can't go all the way.
As for our shower of slobberers, firstly there is no longer any place for a johnno sit on the fence, he must and has to go, more importantly he must be replaced by someone who has the power to make the tough calls. How can so many players have regressed in the last 3 or 4 years. It's unheard of in other counties. We have a 2006 U'21 panel and a panel of minors from 2008 & 2009 for whom most counties would die for. Finger out, JOM gone, let's change the whole thinking.