Roscommon v Mayo Connacht final 2011

[Tubberman]

Mayowestros 4 -15 rest of Ros 0-5 .
Mwr to beat Wexford in Qtr  final by 12 or 13 points and.................................................. will meet Kerry in all Ireland Semi Final  and no further comment necessary. 

1996 repeated I guess with all your winkyfaces.

Not even I would dare to remind ye of 1996 the year of the absolute double fcuk up ye made against Meath. 
It's one thing slaggin ye about 04 and 06 but 96 .... now there's a step too far 

You're hardly speaking from a position of authority there, are you? Remind me, when was the last time a Ros senior team won a Championship match in Croke Park? 

[neilthemac]

Will the Athlone road by the Hyde be open to traffic coming from the circular road on Sunday lads? Hitting for Dublin after the match. Arriving about 1pm-ish...depending on the level of ale consumed on Saturday night

The Athlone road will be very busy before and after the game. Usually closed to traffic for 30 mins and then traffic jams (though nothing compared to a bad day in castlebar).

my advice would be to make your way around the town (not that hard to do - want a map?) and park out the Athlone road. also, remember with Ros in the minor final the Ros crowd will arrive early on sunday.

[ballinaman]

Will the Athlone road by the Hyde be open to traffic coming from the circular road on Sunday lads? Hitting for Dublin after the match. Arriving about 1pm-ish...depending on the level of ale consumed on Saturday night

The Athlone road will be very busy before and after the game. Usually closed to traffic for 30 mins and then traffic jams (though nothing compared to a bad day in castlebar).

my advice would be to make your way around the town (not that hard to do - want a map?) and park out the Athlone road. also, remember with Ros in the minor final the Ros crowd will arrive early on sunday.

Sound for the heads up. So head out through Acres and Creevyquin,Carrowmore before hitting the Athlone road ya?

[Tubberman]

Will the Athlone road by the Hyde be open to traffic coming from the circular road on Sunday lads? Hitting for Dublin after the match. Arriving about 1pm-ish...depending on the level of ale consumed on Saturday night

The Athlone road will be very busy before and after the game. Usually closed to traffic for 30 mins and then traffic jams (though nothing compared to a bad day in castlebar).

my advice would be to make your way around the town (not that hard to do - want a map?) and park out the Athlone road. also, remember with Ros in the minor final the Ros crowd will arrive early on sunday.

I'll be heading down from Dublin on Sunday morning - I wonder would I be better off going via Lanesborough? Might be less traffic than the Athlone Rd, what you reckon?

[muppet]

Good night last night with the two Dublin based supporters clubs getting together. Well organised, well attended despite the recession and good craic.

Some of the questions were head wreckers.

A few notables from here won prizes for Mayo. Any of the Ros lads there?

[Tubberman]

Good night last night with the two Dublin based supporters clubs getting together. Well organised, well attended despite the recession and good craic.

Some of the questions were head wreckers.

A few notables from here won prizes for Mayo. Any of the Ros lads there?

Monasterevin lost it for our team!
Was a good night, much bigger crowd that I was expecting. JOM showed his face as well and said a few words. Unsurprisingly,he sait on the fence until pushed off it - he reluctantly went for a narrow Mayo win.

[Lar Naparka]

Not even I would dare to remind ye of 1996 the year of the absolute double fcuk up ye made against Meath. 
It's one thing slaggin ye about 04 and 06 but 96 .... now there's a step too far 

Someone's pulled the wool over yer eyes there, horse!  (or should that be sheep??)
That was Frrandeelin you replied to and, like yerself, he is living testimony to the fact that democracy is alive and well on this board.
If that's yer standard  of observation, ye might be better off headin' for Castlerea and not Roscommon on Sunday!

PS. Hope yer forwards are more accurate on Sunday or they won't give us a game at all, at all.

[muppet]

Some craic with the auction of signed county jerseys.

The Ros jersey went for €70.

The plot was lost on the Mayo jersey auction and it went for €220 in the end I think.

Well done to all involved.

[RedandGreenSniper]

Some of the questions were head wreckers.

Any good GAA trivia?

[Tubberman]

Some of the questions were head wreckers.

Any good GAA trivia?

Was a general knowledge quiz really, I was expecting more GAA questions but there was a good mix of questions.

The only GAA question I remember being asked was easy enough:
Which current Roscommon player's father played for both Mayo and Roscommon?

Then there were a few more for spot prizes:
How many Connacht titles did Mayo win in the 70s?
How many Connacht titles did Ros win in the 80s?
What years were the last AI wins for Mayo and Ros?

Quote of the night came from some Ros supporter on the other side of the room to me. Some Mayo fella got one of the questions right, and he said something like "Sure why wouldn't I, Enda Kenny was my teacher".
Ros fella shouts out "He should have f*cking stuck at the teaching!". Laughter all round. It's the worst the worst that's said about him on Sunday, he'll be happy enough 

[neilthemac]

Will the Athlone road by the Hyde be open to traffic coming from the circular road on Sunday lads? Hitting for Dublin after the match. Arriving about 1pm-ish...depending on the level of ale consumed on Saturday night

The Athlone road will be very busy before and after the game. Usually closed to traffic for 30 mins and then traffic jams (though nothing compared to a bad day in castlebar).

my advice would be to make your way around the town (not that hard to do - want a map?) and park out the Athlone road. also, remember with Ros in the minor final the Ros crowd will arrive early on sunday.

I'll be heading down from Dublin on Sunday morning - I wonder would I be better off going via Lanesborough? Might be less traffic than the Athlone Rd, what you reckon?

yes. though a lot of traffic will be turning onto the road in ballyleague from Tamonbarry direction.

Ballinaman - if I wanted to get around the town/hyde I would try to get out onto the Galway road (by turning off the N60) cut across on the Ballinagard road, the golf links road and across to the Athlone Road. 

[Rossfan]

Not even I would dare to remind ye of 1996 the year of the absolute double fcuk up ye made against Meath. 
It's one thing slaggin ye about 04 and 06 but 96 .... now there's a step too far 

Someone's pulled the wool over yer eyes there, horse!  (or should that be sheep??)
That was Frrandeelin you replied to and, like yerself, he is living testimony to the fact that democracy is alive and well on this board.
If that's yer standard  of observation, ye might be better off headin' for Castlerea and not Roscommon on Sunday!

PS. Hope yer forwards are more accurate on Sunday or they won't give us a game at all, at all.

Sure everyone knows we won't give ye a game.
How could we  - up against such as ye ?
After all ye get to All Ireland Senior finals ( Minor  ones too ... but ye seem to have a bit of trouble then unlike ye're neighbours  ) more often than we do and sure that's what's  important .

[Tubberman]

I see The Mayo News have their podcast up, but they've linked the wrong URL.
For those who are interested, you can access it here: http://audio.mayonews.ie/2011/sport/07_jul/footballpodcast2011_4.mp3

And maybe if someone from The Mayo News is snooping, they might update the link 

[IolarCoisCuain]

Horan on freetaking. Very interesting.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/horan-content-to-place-free-duties-at-goalkeepers-feet-2821103.html



Independent.ie
Horan content to place free duties at goalkeeper's feet
By Cian Murphy
Thursday July 14 2011

JAMES Horan has denied there is a free-taking crisis in Mayo, and says goalkeepers taking shots from placed kicks is destined to become the norm in Gaelic football.

The Mayo senior team manager has revealed that they have used up to five different players in free-taking practice in advance of Sunday's Connacht final with Roscommon at Hyde Park.

They had four different free-takers in their close shave with London in the first round and in the semi-final win against Galway, Horan brought up his goalkeeper Robert Hennelly to convert a long-distance free and a '45' on another day when Mayo's free-taking form could be described as patchy.

With Conor Mortimer absent, the revolving door of placed kickers has focused attention on Mayo's dead-ball options, but the unflappable Horan insists there is no issue and is happy to see the burden shared.

cause

"We'd a lot of free-takers and there's been a lot made about that, but there's a reason and a cause for everything," he said.

"Against London, Alan Dillon, our first-choice free-taker, was concussed; our second free-taker, Alan Freeman, had an injection in his foot at half-time; and our third, Aidan Campbell, was taken off; so it was just one of those games.

"Against Galway we weren't great, but players are working hard and we have four or five guys kicking frees every day, and kicking a certain amount of balls every day trying to get the routine and technique right," he explained.

One of the novel features of the football championship so far has been the sight of goalkeepers coming forward to kick '45s'.

Dublin were the first high-profile team to start the experiment last year with Stephen Cluxton coming upfield to strike them and it became standard practice in their march to this year's Leinster crown -- the Parnells clubman scored six points in three games.

In the Connacht semi-final, Galway's Adrian Faherty and Mayo's Robert Hennelly were brought upfield to make scoring attempts, with Faherty again heavily involved in Galway's free-taking against Meath last weekend.

Though the sight of hurling 'keepers coming up to strike penalties is a regular occurrence, the policy of football goalies coming out to hit '45s' and long-distance frees has not gone down well with the purists. But for Horan (below), it is merely part of football's evolutionary process and a direct result of the fact that modern players are encouraged to speed up the game by kicking frees from their hands rather than off the ground. This has led to a decrease in accuracy among outfield players taking placed kicks off the deck.

"You don't have as many guys kicking off the ground as you used to since the rule was changed and I think that's just an evolutionary thing about where the game is. Your goalkeeper is still the only guy who has to kick it off the ground," explained Horan, who in his own Mayo days was a free-taker along with Maurice Sheridan.

"It doesn't matter who scores. What you are looking at doing is getting your best long-distance free-taker taking your long-distance frees and if that's the goalie then so be it."

The free-taking is destined to remain a talking point for Mayo, especially with Roscommon boasting a dead-ball king in Donie Shine, who kicked an injury-time free to win the Connacht final against Sligo last summer.

Mayo have made life difficult for themselves against London and Galway and Horan isn't expecting anything easy on Sunday.

He has built a new team and tried to address confidence levels that were left fragile after last year -- but he is confident Mayo are progressing.

"Bit by bit, we are getting there and when we get things right we'll be very competitive," he added.

- Cian Murphy

[blast05]

Will the Athlone road by the Hyde be open to traffic coming from the circular road on Sunday lads? Hitting for Dublin after the match. Arriving about 1pm-ish...depending on the level of ale consumed on Saturday night

The Athlone road will be very busy before and after the game. Usually closed to traffic for 30 mins and then traffic jams (though nothing compared to a bad day in castlebar).

my advice would be to make your way around the town (not that hard to do - want a map?) and park out the Athlone road. also, remember with Ros in the minor final the Ros crowd will arrive early on sunday.

Coming from Ballina on the Tulsk to Roscommon road, take a left turn about 4 miles from Roscommon just at the start of a section where the road improves dramatically. After about 2/3 miles on this you'll come to the Longford/Ros road - go straight through it and continue on for another about 3 miles where you will come out on to Athlone/Ros road about 4 miles from the pitch. Even if you arived 10 minutes before throw-in you'd still get the car within a mile of the pitch.... Athlone road is always the easiest to access the pitch (having travelled to full houses in the Hyde from all major access routes)