Mayo v ????? All Ireland Quarter Final Official Thread

[RogerMilla]

For years we were told Mayo are only a good forward(s) away from winning the All Ireland. Same again for 2012 it seems.

Stick A.O'Shea in full forward.

There ye are problem solved.

then we would be a midfielder away from winning it

[Lar Naparka]

Unfortunately, in recent years Mayo always had problems with the forwards. Sure, they had some quality players from time to time such as Ciaran Mac and Kevin O'Neill but they never had six good lads at any time.Generally, the team, from goalie to midfield was quite good but the quality declined from there on in.
I'd go further and say that the full forward line was the sector that caused us the most trouble.
The wide-scoring exploits of Mayo forwards became the stuff of legend.
For my money, James Horan was the last forward we had who could kick points from long range on a consistent basis. Even Ciaran or Conoreen had their bad hair days and it wasn't the hair dye that caused them.
Since he took over as manager, Horan has been making slow but steady progress as he goes about putting his best side together. Here again, it's the full forward line that seems to be causing him the most problems- the CF positions in particular.
I think Maughan, Moran and O'Mahony often didn't have quality players for those positions; none of them seemed to have had any sort of organised game plan. Mortimer and O'Neill for instance,  were good players in their own right but were individualists and never fitted into any overall team plan- if there ever was one to begin with.
On the other hand, Horan has a number of fine candidates for those positions but just hasn't got the mix right yet.
When he does....

Yeehaw, g'wan Meeeyo!

[Crete Boom]

 Horan is definitely getting close to his best with this team. I actually think he's mighty close to having the right forward mix too. He rightly identified full forward as being our main problem position and thus this causing our lack of goal scoring chances in any given game. In 2004 and 2006 our lack of a full forward was hidden by Ciaran Mac's superb distribution and all round general play at centre forward. Problem with this was once you stopped Mac or an easier way as (Kerry figured in 2004) cut off the supply of primary position around the middle third ,Connoreen and O'Neill/Trevor or any of the inside line would struggle to get any scores. Horan has addressed this by moving Andy to full forward as an out ball for our offence mixed with Vaughan and Boyle attacking from deep. This also creates more space for Dillion to pick off scores and accurate passes into the full forwards. This has created one problem though and that is who should play centre forward. He has tried O' Connor here but this hasn't worked out for Cillian who has struggled and also it robs us of probably our best inside forward. I have no doubt Pat Hart and Seamus O' Shea's injuries have robbed him of the option of trying somebody else here up to now. He has also tried Freeman here as well but unfortunately Alan's form is a bit hit and miss at the moment so he is better suited to an impact sub role.
  So where does this leave us for the quarter final? Some people have suggested that Aidan O' Shea should be picked at CF or he should be picked at full with Andy reverting to CF. Personally I think we should go with Seamus (if fit) at CF depending on the opposition with Cillian back in the corner and one of Conroy or Doherty in the other corner and Andy at Full. The reason I'd go for Seami is I  thought he played well there in 2010 and I like the potential pairing of Aiden and Barry Moran in midfield. Also to spring a suprise for the likes of Kerry/Kildare , we shouldn't be afraid of having Aiden as an option at full and Andy at CF. Doherty could thrive of being fed ball of a big target man with his eye for goal( Cillian as well) and unlike Tomas O' Connor we know Aiden isn't afraid to go for his own score as we saw in his debut season!

[Mayo Mick]

Hope we get Kerry in the Q/F - get them out of the way as early as possible. Forwards will click yet - think we should start Conroy and Doherty in the corners.

[Mac2]

Most of our problems over the last few years were down the middle, even if we had the forwards up front we weren't getting enough ball to them. Particularily against Kerry we were creamed in every game at midfield and also for breaking ball. If AOS is fit he starts at midfield end of, we dont' have the luxury of using the likes of him up front.

[highorlow]

If AOS is fit he starts at midfield end of, we dont' have the luxury of using the likes of him up front.

You obviously missed the first half of the Sligo game? We dominated a midfield that previously dominated the Galway midfield and this was throughout the whole game even prior to A.O'Shea coming in.

Most of our problems over the last few years were down the middle, even if we had the forwards up front we weren't getting enough ball to them.

Certainly supply was not the issue the last day and I think our forwards are mainly confidence players. If the like of Conroy and Freeman click in the first ten minutes then the whole forward line are capable of doing the same.

As was said here before we are always going to get a big scalp on an annual basis and our main problem is clicking on a consistant basis. This is what has stopped us from getting so close but not the whole way over the last 25 years.

Personnally I think it's a combination of a lack of scoring forwards and a lack of tactical ability from game to game by management over the years that was the root cause of this.

I have every confidence in Horan and his backroom team in relation to experience and tactical ability and if we can combine this with a forward line that will click then you would never know this year..... 

[Sam2011]

Just seen on the GAA twitter account that the draw for the quarter finals will be Saturday evening at 8.30 after the qualifier games.

[sans pessimism]

There has been so little variety to Mayos championship so far that i'm looking forward to what new challenge will emerge.

Kerry in the Quarters no doubt 

Ah, you know could be a good draw for us getting Kerry! We have no problem with quarter finals or semi finals in Croker against big teams!

No such thing as a good draw imo. I d be more worried about the way we are going ourselves. Most of our game is as good as you could reasonably expect but the icing on the cake is missing. It s not there and and 11 months on from Kerry semi last year our ff line ( our Achilles heel) is still very poor. We re one special inside forward away from being a contender.

Give K McD a bell, sure there's no point pacing around the house for a year when you can just break in an steal the ornaments now

Now that wud really help morale...OH I've just seen who posted that shite... no need to say anything else

[Syferus]

There's this thing called jokes, you know, Google it.

[sans pessimism]

There's this thing called jokes, you know, Google it.

just did it said 'syferus'

[Farrandeelin]

There's this thing called jokes, you know, Google it.

just did it said 'syferus'

[Syferus]

There's this thing called jokes, you know, Google it.

just did it said 'syferus'

That's probably the weakest attempt at a put-down I've ever seen. I expected better from you.

[Mac2]

If AOS is fit he starts at midfield end of, we dont' have the luxury of using the likes of him up front.

You obviously missed the first half of the Sligo game? We dominated a midfield that previously dominated the Galway midfield and this was throughout the whole game even prior to A.O'Shea coming in.

Most of our problems over the last few years were down the middle, even if we had the forwards up front we weren't getting enough ball to them.

Certainly supply was not the issue the last day and I think our forwards are mainly confidence players. If the like of Conroy and Freeman click in the first ten minutes then the whole forward line are capable of doing the same.

As was said here before we are always going to get a big scalp on an annual basis and our main problem is clicking on a consistant basis. This is what has stopped us from getting so close but not the whole way over the last 25 years.

Personnally I think it's a combination of a lack of scoring forwards and a lack of tactical ability from game to game by management over the years that was the root cause of this.

I have every confidence in Horan and his backroom team in relation to experience and tactical ability and if we can combine this with a forward line that will click then you would never know this year.....

I was talking in the context of our efforts to win All-Ireland's in previous years and making the case that we should put out our strongest possible midfield. Are you seriously suggesting that we should put one of our most promising midfielders in at FF? I'd even pull Andy Moran back out to chf and put O'Connor in the corner as he's wasted in the centre.

[Mike Sheehy]

There's this thing called jokes, you know, Google it.

just did it said 'syferus'

That's probably the weakest attempt at a put-down I've ever seen. I expected better from you.

honestly, you should really shut up. you have embarrassed Roscommon people enough.

[mlcollins]

I wouldn't worry syferus is an ignorant fool.