All Ireland senior football final 2012 Donegal v Mayo

[moysider]

Mayo never replaced Ray Dempsey.

Why not? Didn t know he got hurt? Can t see f**k all in those upper seats!

Seriously though his replacement as U21 manager will be announced shortly.

[moysider]

There have been a few mentions of smilarities between Mayo and Down 2010, and that would be my fear for Mayo.
That they lose players.
Down were missing 7/8 off the panel from 2010 this year. I dare say most of them would still be about if we had won.

There ll be a few changes for next year. I d say management have regrets about the direction they went early summer. The Andy injury however really stretched us. Ye need a bit of luck with injuries. Did Donegal lose anybody? We lost 3 experienced lads in McGar, Harte and Andy and then there s Campbell who would thrive in a contest. But that s the way it goes.

[Crete Boom]

I'm not stirring here but why do Mayo always try and throw their weight around in All Ireland finals?
It doesn't suit them.
Cian O'Connor was lucky he wasn't put off in the first half.

Probably just frustration at seeing another All Ireland disappear before our eyes. If it drives the fans mad to keep losing all these finals it must drive the players absolutely spare.

[spuds]

I'm not stirring here but why do Mayo always try and throw their weight around in All Ireland finals?
It doesn't suit them.
Cian O'Connor was lucky he wasn't put off in the first half.

He loves horseing into lads alright, maybe Cillian O'Connor is who you are referring to. He was getting a few sly digs off McGee so it was a case of standing his ground, big McGee went down theatrically. Poor effort Jinxy.

[give her dixie]

Firstly, congratulations to Donegal who were the best team all season, and the best team yesterday. For Mayo, the goals sucked the life out of them in the first 20 minutes, but their response gave great hope for a cracking 2nd half. Unfortunately it didn't pan out and Donegal held on. The free taking let Mayo down, while Donegal converted theirs.

It was great to be at the game as a neutral, and while I was supporting Donegal, I would have been delighted to have seen Mayo lift Sam. I really hope that one day soon such a great GAA county bury the ghosts of past finals and climb the steps to collect the Sam.

I have to be honest and say that the on field celebrations at the end were fantastic and the days of the pitch invasion is well and truely over. The players from both teams were allowed time to themselves, and the family moments were precious. Would love to see the end of the booing during free's as it is wrong on so many levels, and both sets of supporters were guilty of it at times yesterday. I was in the Davin and have to say it didn't happen around where I was sitting.

I loved the few songs afterwards, and my favourite was Las Vegas, in the hills of Donegal. That fairly got the fans singing and in the mood for a well deserved party !!

Short clip I recorded:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHwmhyDThHY&feature=player_embedded

This evening I was driving from Clones to Cavan and just at the Fermanagh border I met the team bus under escort. I was curious as to why they were on that road, and when I was in Cavan a shopkeeper was telling me they were going to the spot where Jim's brother was killed in the accident en route to leaving Jim to the airport 14 years ago on the Lisnaskea to Newtownbutler road. When I got home tonight, someone had posted a video of the moment Jim stepped of the bus and brought Sam over to the memorial on the roadside. It was emotional to watch, and no doubt a very emotional time for Jim and his family. Don't know if this link will work, but try it anyhow:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=429101700481531

[J70]

Nice touch. His brother died very soon after the '98 Ulster Final, driving Jim to the airport where he was heading to the States for the summer.

Jim was arguably the best player in Ulster that year, but it (understandably) took him a few years to recover his form.

[Sam2011]

f**k it anyway O'Neil seems to be leaving us. I think he's had a major influence on the team this year. I've serious respect for the man, success follows him everywhere. Understandable reasons of why he wants to leave. Not easy doing a six hour journey twice a week on top of a days work.

Full article here:

Mayo blow as O'Neill set to join Kingdom next season

By John Fogarty

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Mayo boss James Horan is bracing himself for another massive blow with highly regarded coach Cian O'Neill poised to leave the Connacht champions to team up with Eamonn Fitzmaurice's Kerry next season.

The new Kingdom manager has an agreement in principle with the University of Limerick lecturer O'Neill to come to Kerry next season, adding a key component to his newly-formed management team.

That rules out any involvement with Kerry for Donie Buckley, who was tipped to return to the Kerry camp after leaving Jack O'Connor's backroom team last May.

O'Neill's loss is a massive blow to Horan and the beaten All-Ireland finalists. He has been a key part of Mayo's resurgence this season, having spent the previous three campaigns with the Tipperary hurlers.

Sunday was Kildare-born O'Neill's fourth successive appearance with All-Ireland finalists, and he is viewed as one of the leading GAA conditioning coaches in the country.

The Newbridge man previously worked with Limerick's footballers in 2006 and '07 as well as Newtownshandrum when they won Cork and Munster senior hurling titles in '09.

Fitzmaurice's success in persuading O'Neill away from Mayo is a major coup for the new Kerry manager, and will help ensure there are no voluntary retirements from this year's squad. But he may have to proceed in 2013 without Seamus Moynihan, whom Fitzmaurice had hoped to bring on board as a selector. Work commitments may prevent the Kerry legend from taking up the post, leaving Mikey Sheehy and Diarmuid Murphy as selectors, and Fitzmaurice and O'Neill as coaches.

Apart from the opportunity to work with the 36-time All-Ireland winners, the shorter journey from O'Neill's Limerick base to Killarney is more appealing than the commute to Castlebar. Throughout the summer, he had been making the six-hour round trips twice a week.

It's understood Mayo are already eyeing Ballaghaderreen native Barry Solan as O'Neill's replacement on the Horan management ticket. He impressed with Justin McNulty's Laois this year.

Dublin-based lecturer Solan also worked with the Poland national soccer team for this year's European Championships as well as Olympic boxing gold champion Katie Taylor and Clontarf's AIL rugby team.

At Sunday's post-match function, Horan insisted that Sunday's All-Ireland final appearance was "only the start" for the team, while injured captain Andy Moran said "the only failure is not to come back next year".

[rodney trotter]

Nice touch. His brother died very soon after the '98 Ulster Final, driving Jim to the airport where he was heading to the States for the summer.

Jim was arguably the best player in Ulster that year, but it (understandably) took him a few years to recover his form.

Didn't Jim have another brother die tragically playing football in the lawn, when he was around 10? He had a lot to deal with in his life, best of luck to him and well done Donegal

[Lar Naparka]

Aw, frig it anyway, life must go on regardless! 
I should be getting used to the pain of losing an All Ireland by now but, take my word for it,I am a very slow learner.
Going into the game, I felt Mayo had a chance of winning. Without question, if both sides played to form, Mayo would not prevail. If Mayo settled down quickly and were less affected by nerves than Donegal at the onset, I felt they would have had a fighting chance.
Fair play to Jim McGuinness, he managed to shield his side from the carnival going on all around them as they prepared for the final. Sure, they showed nerves when Mayo began to rally after the disastrous opening minutes but by then, Donegall were too far ahead for this to be an issue.
Why, oh why, Did Murphy have to rediscover his form on this day of all days?
It was deja vu time again as he rounded Keane and scored that superb goal. It was Donaghy against Heaney time all over again.I know moysider and others who know more about the ins and outs of Mayo football than I do, feel Horan got his match-ups right but by the time Cafferkey and Keane were switched, Donegal could well have been ten points ahead.
As it was, Mayo were never going to overhaul a 7 points lead, given that Donegal are the best defensive side in the country. When they reverted to their normal style of play in the second half, the game was as good as over.Mayo never managed to play their normal game. In part, this was due to the midfielders misfiring all through the game. O'Shea did his best but it was plain to see that his recent injury was affecting him.
I was afraid that his frustration would get the better of him and he could well find himself in trouble with the ref.
Richie Feeney certainly made a difference when he came on but I don't know why he wasn't sprung earlier or, better still, why he wasn't in from the start. Al in all, I think Mayo did quite well, given Donegal's flying start and were still in with a chance until the 55th minute or thereabouts. But it was always going to be a case of their opponents panicking if they were going to win. They never seemed likely to score a goal and certainly it's goals that win games.
All credit to Donegal, they fully deserved their victory. For Mayo, it's the same old story; good, but not quite good enough yet.

[laoislad]

Brilliant Picture.

[lynchbhoy]

Camanchero, I think Mayo should have been awarded about 47.5 easy scoreable frees during the game.
I once refereed an U-12 match too.
So there

Lol
Good man!
At least you got to the final!

[Croí na hÉireann]

This one is even better



Deserved win for Donegal even if they were a little off colour. An enjoyable final if not a memorable one. Keep the heads up Mayo, there's an AI there with that team if you keep Horan and the faith.

[DownFanatic]

Just taking stock of what Donegal have achieved. I don't think it is fully appreciated by the nation at the moment but what McGuinness has done with them in the past few years is nothing short of phenomenal in my opinion. It essentially shows the power of the mind and how any team, if they buy in totally to a supreme level of commitment and sacrifice, can achieve anything.

[Zulu]

I don't think it shows that at all. Yes, he achieved something very notable but he didn't do it with the waterford footballers. He had at least 5 or 6 players many counties would have gladly taken and the real superpowers of the past decade are in decline so he in essence he got a very good bunch of players to win an All Ireland by getting them to commit to the necessary level of application.

As I said, that's no small feat but he hasn't worked miracles. Horan has done an equally impressive job and swop McFadden and Murphy with Cillian O'Connor and Varley and Sam would probably be down in Ballina tonight.

[the Deel Rover]

Congrats to Donegal and all the Donegal posters on here should be a great few months up there . Haven't watched the match again but will do so tonight we put up a brave performance but the 1st 11 minutes cost us the game.