Roscommon vs. Mayo - Connacht SFC Semi-final (Dr. Hyde Park, June 8th 2014)

[Syferus]

Before i make a dick of myself again.let me ask a question first.

if you get a straight red in club champ , are you suspended from county too?

What did Diarmuid Connolly do now?

Be the best footballer in Ireland?

I thought that was a black card offence myself.

Syferus, Conor O' Shea is fine but nice try

sound ,thanks.

Syferus, all these tabs you have open must be tough going. Keep her lit!

If you knew your browsers you'd know all the instances of the same browser are linked and signing out in one signs you out in them all.

If you want to do it properly you need a second browser program. I recommend Firefox and Chrome for dependability.

[moysider]

Before i make a dick of myself again.let me ask a question first.

if you get a straight red in club champ , are you suspended from county too?

What did Diarmuid Connolly do now?

Be the best footballer in Ireland?

Wow! Didn t expect you to be nosin in here in what is an irrelevent, local, rural, provincial squabble.

[Shrewdness]

Will this really be Mayo's starting team?. Last year in Salthill, Alan Dillon was named as a sub, yet started the match.. Time will tell.

[stephenite]

Syferus/larryin89 reaction to team announcement.....

[Mayo4Sam]

This is real Ger Loughnane stuff, odd for a Connacht semi against the Rossies.
The only thing that's certain is that this isn't the team that'll take to the field Sunday

[Zulu]

It's odd though if this team doesn't start because there's nothing to be gained. If Dillon and/or Moran start it'll hardly throw Roscommons plans into disarray will it? It seems to me a lot of managers are naming dummy sides with no real purpose other than to give everyone a bit of homework for the first 10 minutes of the game as you scratch out names on the first 15 and replace them with subs and have arrows drawn left right and centre for positional changes on your programme.

[macdanger2]

Strange team named alright, seems unlikely to start but you'd never know – best of luck to the two new lads if they do.

Like Zulu, I don't know why managers do this.

Good to see Freeman named.

[Tubberman]

This is real Ger Loughnane stuff, odd for a Connacht semi against the Rossies.
The only thing that's certain is that this isn't the team that'll take to the field Sunday

I'll be disappointed if the team named doesn't start.
When are we going to see the likes of COS and DOC given a chance to start a championship match if not on Sunday?
If they're not going well, we have the experience on the bench to bring on to try and rescue the situation.
Even if the worst were to happen and we lost, at least it wouldn't be with our most experienced and strongest 15.
On the other hand, if they do well, our options increase and we move forward with more strings to our bow.

[Crete Boom]

 Well at least Horan is keeping us amused these days anyway! I would hope this team starts to prove there is real competition developing outside of positions 1-9 on the Mayo team this year. I do have a sneaking feeling that Dillion and Andy will still start which would be disappointing for Diarmuid O' Connor and O'Shea III but maybe not as we need to shake up the squad a little if we want to go past the quarters ( or even get there) this year.

The make up of the subs bench will be interesting too. I have heard the Conroy and Varley are struggling with knocks so for me a subs bench with the likes of Dillon , Andy , Sweeney , Chris Barrett , Big Barry, Harrison , Drake , Keane , Gallagher , Coen and maybe Duffy would be strong back up to the first 15 although I would say Varley will be in there as well as Horan likes him coming on! The key thing for us is having maybe 2 or 3 competent forward subs that can make a real impact coming into the team in all situations.

These lads don't have to been world beaters but must be able to contribute 4 or 5 scores between them to take some of the heavy load that will be placed on Freeman and O Connor's shoulders as they will have to provide the heavy lifting and consistency up front. If  we can spread the scores around the forward line a bit more ( say the rest outside of Cillan and Alan, including the half backs and subs, could contribute 8 or 9 scores consistently per game) it would make us a very tough team to beat even by the mighty Dubs. Achieve this and it would go a long way to masking our lack of firepower on the big days which has cost us so much in the recent past.

The Rossies though will relish exposing this weakness as they don't have too many worries about the punch they pack up front in fact it's the opposite  , for them it's about winning enough ball to feed their forwards as well as tightening up especially around the half backs. It's going to be enjoyable battle on Sunday. Up Mayo!!!

[sans pessimism]

Cil is captain and the team will start as listed

[Crete Boom]

Cil is captain and the team will start as listed

Didn't Cillian and Keegan take over as vice captains to Andy from Clarkie and Higgins this year?

[rosnarun]

I hope the 2 young lads start and not taken off at 1st sign of trouble. the only way to fit into a team is to know you are part of it and not just keeping the jersey warm for auld lads to come back. that is what Maybe Dillon and andy are now.
the skill of the manger is to make these decisons and i think Horan has Earned the right to make these calls.

[Rossfan]

The Rhus using the Ros game to experiment  I see.
Ah well sure why not? They're goin to walk it anyway.
I just hope effin Tyrone get to the Ulster final so we can avoid the hoors in the qualifier Draw.

[moysider]

Cil is captain and the team will start as listed

Didn't Cillian and Keegan take over as vice captains to Andy from Clarkie and Higgins this year?

Correct. So it looks like Cillian won the toss to lead team out on Sunday.

It would make sense for the selected team to start. Especially if the usual forwards that Horan turns to for impact - Conroy and Varley- are not firing. If it's in the balance there would be no point turning to the young lads to rescue the day. With Andy and Dillon to bring on we could finîsh with our strongest team like the Dubs do. And with the game stretched and hopefully Rossie defenders burning oil the older legs will get a bit of time and space. Overall our bench looks a bit shy. Unlikely to use any backs unless injury necessitates or Keith is sent up. After that it looks like only Parsons and Feeney could add something although I still have a hunch that Gallagher will have a say this summer yet. Oh and Dillon and Andy to come on as well. Not too bad. Looking forward to it.

[macdanger2]

I think Sweeney is worth a look as well – was one of our better performers v Derry and adds a bit of badly needed pace to the FF line