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

[Syferus]

Surely Diarmuid Murtagh is worth a starting place against Mayo..

So is his brother and despite Senan's sub out for Diarmuid it's probably a straight race between the two brothers for one spot.

Crazy that we have a selection headache between two quality young inside forwards after all the trouble we've had up front.

We can more than match Mayo on the front foot. If the middle catches fire we have a shot at putting the final nail in Horan's era. Huge respect for what he has done in the last few years but few things would be as sweet as a win on June 8th.

You are not an estate agent by any chance ?

Ming #1.

Minging

I hear he's pro Palestinian too like. G'wan Sea, you know you want to support the West Ros man.

Ming isn't too bad. He stands up for the people who elected him. Why would he want to get out now though? Surely he's needed at home.
The European Parliament is a very big pond with virtually no influence on the economic decision making that counts.

Fine Gael looking to put lane duck Feighan in the speaker seat. Ming jumping before he's pushed.

[moysider]

Surely Diarmuid Murtagh is worth a starting place against Mayo..

So is his brother and despite Senan's sub out for Diarmuid it's probably a straight race between the two brothers for one spot.

Crazy that we have a selection headache between two quality young inside forwards after all the trouble we've had up front.

We can more than match Mayo on the front foot. If the middle catches fire we have a shot at putting the final nail in Horan's era. Huge respect for what he has done in the last few years but few things would be as sweet as a win on June 8th.

Mayo should not lose this but it is no gimmie either.

In a way I m glad now about the no-show v Derry and the capitulation v Dublin14men. If we had a lovely league we would be soft for this. After Derry there was a lot of  finger pointing and that is no bad thing. Mayo cannot peak for this but they realise now that they have to raise their game from the league mediocrity and you d expect them to bring a high tempo game to the Hyde. Roscommon will have to set up to deal with that and if they do and are close after 60 mins they can win. Unfortunately Mayo s bench unlikely to win a game.

Weeks to go yet and God know s what injuries will clear up and new ones may happen. Our midfield warchest badly dented with Seamie, Gibbons and Big Barry all cracked to some degree. Shane McHale also injured and Chris Barrett hasn t played since September. Just as well we got Gavin Duffy

It looks like Roscommon fans consider their forwards better than ours. Fair enough but Mayo forwards are judged on how they go in September. Some of them have done jobs in Connacht before. On the other hand Roscommon forwards will find themselves against a Div.1 defence. And before people start pointing out the amount of goals we conceded during the league, I can t see us being as slack in championship. If Mayo can dominate midfield those Ros forwards will hopefully be starved of ball. If Roscommon do well at midfield maybe we ve learned to drop off and clog things up.

If Roscommon win good luck to them and it will be the end of another glorious failure era for Mayo. Some Mayo supporters are suggesting that Mayo would be better off losing to Roscommon because Horan would then have a liscence to cull some players and revitalise the team with different players. This is flawed imo. Horan has already had weaknesses in this team showed up but has always ended up going back to the same players. As a result of his conservatism Horan has painted himself into a corner with this team. If we lose there is no way of changing things. There s nobody new. Oh wait..... there s Gavin Duffy. He might be very badly needed.

[Collie Brolly]

Surely Diarmuid Murtagh is worth a starting place against Mayo..

Barring injury it will line out the same as the team that started yesterday imo.

[Syferus]

Surely Diarmuid Murtagh is worth a starting place against Mayo..

Barring injury it will line out the same as the team that started yesterday imo.

If Conoreen is fit he'll push any HB or WF.

[Blowitupref]

Moysider you are the same poster that said back in September that Mayos 2nd string side would win Connacht yet now Mayo don't have the bench and are concerned with a few injury niggles?
Mayo are very unlikely to lose this game or lose their Connacht crown however if they did it might be a blessing in disguise it was for Tyrone 08,Kerry 09 and Galway 01 when they took the scenic routes.

[Shrewdness]

Agree with you Moysider when you say that Ros forwards will be up against a Div 1 defence..That will sort the men from the boys in the Ros forwards. Some of those forwards didn't play well against Mayo in 2011 or last year. Mayo have been operating at a higher level in recent years and would be a more streetwise team..One thing for sure is that this game will tell us how much progress John Evans has really made in 12 months.

[moysider]

Moysider you are the same poster that said back in September that Mayos 2nd string side would win Connacht yet now Mayo don't have the bench and are concerned with a few injury niggles?
Mayo are very unlikely to lose this game or lose their Connacht crown however if they did it might be a blessing in disguise it was for Tyrone 08,Kerry 09 and Galway 01 when they took the scenic routes.

I don t remember saying that but if ye can quote me on that I ll plead guilty as charged. I doubt I disrespected ny neighbours like that but if I did give me the quote and I ll hand in my gun and badge.

The other thing is though is that Mayo dont really have a second string. It s just a very long first string.

I don t think Mayo are anyway suitable for a scenic route. The teams you mentioned above were winners. This Mayo team will digest themselves from inside out with another loss. Not concerned by injuries as such but it s eyeballs out for us now until it ends. First loss it s all over. Lose this and its deckchairs on the Titanic. No complaints. Horan has been loyal to this group of players and he s either going to sink or swim with them. There is going to be no second act here if the first one fails.

[Collie Brolly]

Surely Diarmuid Murtagh is worth a starting place against Mayo..

Barring injury it will line out the same as the team that started yesterday imo.

If Conoreen is fit he'll push any HB or WF.

If he wasn't fit to make the bench on Sunday,no way he will be fit for the rhubarbs in 3 wks.

[Rossfan]

I'd expect Enda and Diarmuid to be pushing for a place although he may opt to keep the pressure off them by not starting them.
We'll need lively forwards when we face the Rhus Div 1 defence. You couldn't accuse Donie Shine or Senan of being lively unfortunately.

[SLIGONIAN]

Rossies not trying to derail the thread but I thought shine was quiet yday from play and his frees not as clinical as usual, what's he been like all year? Murtagh looks a serious talent if Ros can get the ball into him, ive always rated senan Kilbride as Roscommon best forward and he showed glimpses why against Leitrim, what a beauty of a left foot. . Roscommons defence gives up to much space and Leitrim were wasteful, so many unseen runs or passes which would damaged Ros,  Ye really need to tighten up or filter men back quicker. Having said it time for this Roscommon team to deliver at senior and I think ye'll up it another few levels the next day in terms of intensity. Roscommon should really rattle mayo IMO, I just can't see this one being one sided and I'm looking forward to it, I think really it's the Connacht final tbh especially with Ros at home. Hope it's a good game.

[Syferus]

I'd expect Enda and Diarmuid to be pushing for a place although he may opt to keep the pressure off them by not starting them.
We'll need lively forwards when we face the Rhus Div 1 defence. You couldn't accuse Donie Shine or Senan of being lively unfortunately.

You could accuse them of being quality players though.

Mayo will be a lot more worried about the lads who can score with a lad on top of them than any amount of 'lively' (whatever that is) buckaroos.

[seafoid]

Moysider you are the same poster that said back in September that Mayos 2nd string side would win Connacht yet now Mayo don't have the bench and are concerned with a few injury niggles?
Mayo are very unlikely to lose this game or lose their Connacht crown however if they did it might be a blessing in disguise it was for Tyrone 08,Kerry 09 and Galway 01 when they took the scenic routes.

I don t remember saying that but if ye can quote me on that I ll plead guilty as charged. I doubt I disrespected ny neighbours like that but if I did give me the quote and I ll hand in my gun and badge.

The other thing is though is that Mayo dont really have a second string. It s just a very long first string.

I don t think Mayo are anyway suitable for a scenic route. The teams you mentioned above were winners. This Mayo team will digest themselves from inside out with another loss. Not concerned by injuries as such but it s eyeballs out for us now until it ends. First loss it s all over. Lose this and its deckchairs on the Titanic. No complaints. Horan has been loyal to this group of players and he s either going to sink or swim with them. There is going to be no second act here if the first one fails.

Galway lost the previous year's AIF and in 98 they beat Kildare which is less mentally taxing than beating other teams , it would appear.
I don't think they were classed as winners then, any more than Mayo would not be.  It's down to dynamics on the day and over the season.
Meath were unbackable for the final as well. 

[Shrewdness]

Sligonian, you're correct in saying that Shine didn't play well last Sunday. Cregg didn't either..The Ros defence only conceded 0-4 from open play, with Leitrim getting the rest from frees. Several of those were harsh/soft with a few even moved in closer. The ref was Leitrim's best performer in the first half.. Thankfully, none of Sunday's injuries are serious. Of more concern is an upcoming round of league games in Ros where hopefully the panel will emerge unscathed.

[moysider]

Sligonian, you're correct in saying that Shine didn't play well last Sunday. Cregg didn't either..The Ros defence only conceded 0-4 from open play, with Leitrim getting the rest from frees. Several of those were harsh/soft with a few even moved in closer. The ref was Leitrim's best performer in the first half.. Thankfully, none of Sunday's injuries are serious. Of more concern is an upcoming round of league games in Ros where hopefully the panel will emerge unscathed.

Full round of championship matches in Mayo next weekend. Hopefully everybody will get through it ok.

[Rossfan]

I'd expect Enda and Diarmuid to be pushing for a place although he may opt to keep the pressure off them by not starting them.
We'll need lively forwards when we face the Rhus Div 1 defence. You couldn't accuse Donie Shine or Senan of being lively unfortunately.

You could accuse them of being quality players though.

Mayo will be a lot more worried about the lads who can score with a lad on top of them than any amount of 'lively' (whatever that is) buckaroos.

Mayo's D1 Defence will have no problem with slow lads like Donie and Senan. It's the flyers like the Murts( copyright Syfín), Smithy and Cregg that they won't like.
Anyway my main worry is that we can keep the ball kicked out to them.