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

[highorlow]

Where were our frees given?

I'll take this one. These were mainly in the last ten minutes.

Soft Free 1 - Keith Higgins dispossessed yer man fairly, free in, brought in further for mouthing, free was scored
Soft Free 2 - About 9 mins to go we surrounded yer midfielder, ref gives ye a free out
Soft Free 3 - K.McLoughlin gets punished for trying to get the ball off yer half back who went down with cramp, no foul there
Soft Free 4 - I think it was Dillion who dispossessed yer full back who fumbled the ball and it was a 1 on 1 between the goalie and Jason Doherty - ref unbelievably gives a free out

On another 2 occasions in the last ten yer lads lay on the ball and the ref gave a hop ball rather than a Mayo free.

The corner back tried to trip Cillian O'Connor and missed but went again for another go and was successful the 2nd time. Ref forgot the black card rule.

To be balanced we did get 1 free in for what was marginal on whether the back blocked COC's foot rather than the ball when COC was attempting to kick a point. The ref gave us the benefit of the doubt and in real time it definitely looked a free in but on replay it was marginal. The ones I've listed were no where near been marginal calls and in real time never looked like frees. I think it was a case of the ref giving the underdogs a chance.

[Shrewdness]

According to one of today's papers, Tom Cunniffe was in line for man of the match until Diarmuid Murtagh came on.

[Syferus]

According to one of today's papers, Tom Cunniffe was in line for man of the match until Diarmuid Murtagh came on.

To be fair it was easy for Turbo to look good against the older Murt when he had two lads backing him up almost every time the ball came in. That said, Diarmuid was making and getting points with Turbo and company in his face.

Ciaran is very pacy and has a very high work-rate so we shouldn't forget about him just because his young brother is so talented, it's easy to forget it's both brothers' first season with the seniors.

[rosnarun]

Where were our frees given?

I'll take this one. These were mainly in the last ten minutes.

Soft Free 1 - Keith Higgins dispossessed yer man fairly, free in, brought in further for mouthing, free was scored
Soft Free 2 - About 9 mins to go we surrounded yer midfielder, ref gives ye a free out
Soft Free 3 - K.McLoughlin gets punished for trying to get the ball off yer half back who went down with cramp, no foul there
Soft Free 4 - I think it was Dillion who dispossessed yer full back who fumbled the ball and it was a 1 on 1 between the goalie and Jason Doherty - ref unbelievably gives a free out

On another 2 occasions in the last ten yer lads lay on the ball and the ref gave a hop ball rather than a Mayo free.

The corner back tried to trip Cillian O'Connor and missed but went again for another go and was successful the 2nd time. Ref forgot the black card rule.

To be balanced we did get 1 free in for what was marginal on whether the back blocked COC's foot rather than the ball when COC was attempting to kick a point. The ref gave us the benefit of the doubt and in real time it definitely looked a free in but on replay it was marginal. The ones I've listed were no where near been marginal calls and in real time never looked like frees. I think it was a case of the ref giving the underdogs a chance.

my point was not suggesting favoritism as every one knows their own team never fouls but that the Game was reffed very differently in the second half compared to the first.
If on eref can be consistent over 2 halves what hope for an overall consisentcy

[Mayo4Sam]

Just watched the last 10 minutes back there. Four roscommon players standing up chatting when Moran has the ball and kicks it to McLoughlin, if any of them, especially Shine (9 or was that Higgins) who was standing beside him, were awake then there was no chance of the short pass.
Small things make the difference at the higher level

[macdanger2]

An awful lot of people calling for dillon and Andy to come straight back in. Understandable after yesterday but if horan believes in what he's doing, he should resist the temptation to go back to what he knows. I think everyone was surprised with Co's starting but it was a very tough game for himself and do'c to debut in - wet, tight pitch against the home team playing a very defensive system and tackling with an intensity neither of these lads would have been used to. If horan thinks they're good enough, I hope he's brave enough to stick it out with a different look to the team

[moysider]

An awful lot of people calling for dillon and Andy to come straight back in. Understandable after yesterday but if horan believes in what he's doing, he should resist the temptation to go back to what he knows. I think everyone was surprised with Co's starting but it was a very tough game for himself and do'c to debut in - wet, tight pitch against the home team playing a very defensive system and tackling with an intensity neither of these lads would have been used to. If horan thinks they're good enough, I hope he's brave enough to stick it out with a different look to the team

A lot of people were puzzled by the selections before the game. A lot of people were unconvinced during the game and many considered it having been a mistake after. I m not sure he can afford to repeat it.
Besides in Richie Feeney and Adam Gallagher he has 2 players that are ahead of the other 2 young lads. It didn t make sense when the team was announced and it still doesn t make sense.

[Rossie11]

Where were our frees given?

I'll take this one. These were mainly in the last ten minutes.

Soft Free 1 - Keith Higgins dispossessed yer man fairly, free in, brought in further for mouthing, free was scored
Soft Free 2 - About 9 mins to go we surrounded yer midfielder, ref gives ye a free out
Soft Free 3 - K.McLoughlin gets punished for trying to get the ball off yer half back who went down with cramp, no foul there
Soft Free 4 - I think it was Dillion who dispossessed yer full back who fumbled the ball and it was a 1 on 1 between the goalie and Jason Doherty - ref unbelievably gives a free out

On another 2 occasions in the last ten yer lads lay on the ball and the ref gave a hop ball rather than a Mayo free.

The corner back tried to trip Cillian O'Connor and missed but went again for another go and was successful the 2nd time. Ref forgot the black card rule.

To be balanced we did get 1 free in for what was marginal on whether the back blocked COC's foot rather than the ball when COC was attempting to kick a point. The ref gave us the benefit of the doubt and in real time it definitely looked a free in but on replay it was marginal. The ones I've listed were no where near been marginal calls and in real time never looked like frees. I think it was a case of the ref giving the underdogs a chance.

I thought ye got 2 big decisions. O'connor fouling Enda Smith in midfield which led to a mayo free 5 seconds later was the other. Agree with you I thought our corner back should have got a black.
Blatant hack down. Cracking free to punish it regardless.

On another score what's the rule as regards players been injured and getting attention and the ref letting a game restart. Shine was down in 1st half and kick out was allowed to be taken. It didn't lead to anything but surely this will only lead to trouble down the line

[IolarCoisCuain]

What Roscommon need to do now is not see yesterday as some kind of moral victory, because it wasn't. It was a missed opportunity, because it's a game that they could have won..Nobody gave them a hope going in to the game. But the management and team had faith in the game plan, because if they didn't, they couldn't have turned in that performance. They need to take the positives from that game and build on them. They need to also take the negatives and learn from them, and move on..Interesting to see John Evans comments after the game when asked why he hadn't started the u-21 players. ''you can't be hanging your coats on young fellas''.

Unless that young fella is Diarmuid Murtagh, apparently. Evans has to name both Diarmuid and Enda the next day. Enda won some fantastic ball in the middle but the sloppy ball didn't help his cause, a dry day and he can run teams into the ground.

Time for Evans to start with his best 15.

Well I don't know. All we heard all week was what a buck eejit James(ey) Horan is as a manager and here's Evans not even picking his best fifteen. Maybe he saw Mayo as a soft challenge ahead of bigger tests? It's all very confusing. I don't know what Jimmy - bless his holy name - would make of it if he got wind of it up in the glens.

[Syferus]

Where were our frees given?

I'll take this one. These were mainly in the last ten minutes.

Soft Free 1 - Keith Higgins dispossessed yer man fairly, free in, brought in further for mouthing, free was scored
Soft Free 2 - About 9 mins to go we surrounded yer midfielder, ref gives ye a free out
Soft Free 3 - K.McLoughlin gets punished for trying to get the ball off yer half back who went down with cramp, no foul there
Soft Free 4 - I think it was Dillion who dispossessed yer full back who fumbled the ball and it was a 1 on 1 between the goalie and Jason Doherty - ref unbelievably gives a free out

On another 2 occasions in the last ten yer lads lay on the ball and the ref gave a hop ball rather than a Mayo free.

The corner back tried to trip Cillian O'Connor and missed but went again for another go and was successful the 2nd time. Ref forgot the black card rule.

To be balanced we did get 1 free in for what was marginal on whether the back blocked COC's foot rather than the ball when COC was attempting to kick a point. The ref gave us the benefit of the doubt and in real time it definitely looked a free in but on replay it was marginal. The ones I've listed were no where near been marginal calls and in real time never looked like frees. I think it was a case of the ref giving the underdogs a chance.

I thought ye got 2 big decisions. O'connor fouling Enda Smith in midfield which led to a mayo free 5 seconds later was the other. Agree with you I thought our corner back should have got a black.
Blatant hack down. Cracking free to punish it regardless.

On another score what's the rule as regards players been injured and getting attention and the ref letting a game restart. Shine was down in 1st half and kick out was allowed to be taken. It didn't lead to anything but surely this will only lead to trouble down the line

Referees are being directed to keep the game flowing unless the injury is blocking the play.

Already linked you to why Iolar. Everyone knew Diarmuid would start for almost any county,  nevermind us. It is what it is. It's not enough to distract from all the good work Evans has done.

His line-up was less hair-brained than Horan's yesterday anyways.

[moysider]

I thought Evans almost got it 100% yesterday. Bring on the talented youngsters when the game was stretched and Mayo s defenders legs starting to yaw in the heavy conditions. With the type of game Evans wanted this made sense. Keep it tight and strike for home. The starting 15 had done the donkey work. As an aside here Cregg wearing 14 was the main reason Keegan was not his normal self. Keegan became utterly frustrated early and was lucky not to get booked for a petulent reaction to the close attention.

The difference between Evans and Horan selection policy is this. With Murtagh and Donie Smyth Evans was introducing players whose quality is beyond doubt. The Mayo ladeens appear to have a future but are still a bit raw for this level. O Connor works really hard and will come on but this year is probably too soon. O Sé looked nervous, tried hard but we get what he s trying to do from the brothers already. We need more guile and better kick passing from our hf line as well as workrate.

Should Evans have brought Murtagh on earlier. Maybe not. It would be hailed as a master coup if a few others nailed their shots and Roscommon drove on. As well as that I thought that Cunniffe was coming to terms with Murtagh very quickly after the initial burst he made. It was the runs through our hb line that was most worrying towards the end. Also worrying was the fact that we didn t have a kickout strategy in place to defend the injury time lead. Instead of ensuring possession we just belted 2 kickouts down the middle which in the context of the second half was tantamount to giving it back to Roscommon.

[Rossie11]

On another score what's the rule as regards players been injured and getting attention and the ref letting a game restart. Shine was down in 1st half and kick out was allowed to be taken. It didn't lead to anything but surely this will only lead to trouble down the line
[/quote]

Referees are being directed to keep the game flowing unless the injury is blocking the play.

Already linked you to why Iolar. Everyone knew Diarmuid would start for almost any county,  nevermind us. It is what it is. It's not enough to distract from all the good work Evans has done.

His line-up was less hair-brained than Horan's yesterday anyways.
[/quote]

Seriously? That is plain stupid. In this instance shine was lying in the half forward line. The main area where a goalie is kicking out to nowadays. 2 issues here. The team with the injured player are penalised, and more worryingly you have a medic/trainer or 2 on the pitch during play.
What happens when one of these gets in the way or goes out of their way to get in the way of an attack or does the ref stop play when it goes near them?

[Mayo Mick]

Very very lucky and we should have been beaten. A bit of experience on our side and lack of belief on the Rossies was the difference. Can't say I buy in to this "we were rusty " or "Horan will be delighted" stuff. Every sign yesterday we are in decline. That power and pace game we had in 2012 and 13 is no longer there or at least not at the level where it troubles teams. No goal chance created,  depending on frees that were not even forced and some points from a sub is a long way from what we saw last year in our games in Connacht and in the AI qtr and semi. We looked short of ideas up front and most of our wides in the first half resulted from hopeful efforts at scores when we ran out of ideas or poor attempts at playing the ball inside only for it to dribble harmlessly wide. Ros missed more real scoring chances over the game and had a more structure and plan  – we looked as though we thought we only had to turn up to win.

We might still win Connacht as we most likely have Galway in C'bar and maybe our experience in CP will stand to us in an AI quarter or semi. But hard to be get excited or confident after what we saw yesterday. Sorry to say it but I think the AI chance is gone for this group - afraid  I'm not one for grasping at rusty straws!!

[From the Bunker]

Very very lucky and we should have been beaten. A bit of experience on our side and lack of belief on the Rossies was the difference. Can't say I buy in to this "we were rusty " or "Horan will be delighted" stuff. Every sign yesterday we are in decline. That power and pace game we had in 2012 and 13 is no longer there or at least not at the level where it troubles teams. No goal chance created,  depending on frees that were not even forced and some points from a sub is a long way from what we saw last year in our games in Connacht and in the AI qtr and semi. We looked short of ideas up front and most of our wides in the first half resulted from hopeful efforts at scores when we ran out of ideas or poor attempts at playing the ball inside only for it to dribble harmlessly wide. Ros missed more real scoring chances over the game and had a more structure and plan  – we looked as though we thought we only had to turn up to win.

We might still win Connacht as we most likely have Galway in C'bar and maybe our experience in CP will stand to us in an AI quarter or semi. But hard to be get excited or confident after what we saw yesterday. Sorry to say it but I think the AI chance is gone for this group - afraid  I'm not one for grasping at rusty straws!!

We more than likely will win Connacht. Horan played silly beggars with the team selection against Roscommon. It had a League game selection of the half forward line. And you know, he was right. it was worth the risk. Two inexperienced lads got a run, we got to look at them and we still got through the tie. Yesterday was a bigger game for Roscommon than Mayo, Roscommon have been 12 months gearing up as to how to upset Mayo. Mayo on the other hand are (at the moment) looking at the bigger picture.

[moysider]

Very very lucky and we should have been beaten. A bit of experience on our side and lack of belief on the Rossies was the difference. Can't say I buy in to this "we were rusty " or "Horan will be delighted" stuff. Every sign yesterday we are in decline. That power and pace game we had in 2012 and 13 is no longer there or at least not at the level where it troubles teams. No goal chance created,  depending on frees that were not even forced and some points from a sub is a long way from what we saw last year in our games in Connacht and in the AI qtr and semi. We looked short of ideas up front and most of our wides in the first half resulted from hopeful efforts at scores when we ran out of ideas or poor attempts at playing the ball inside only for it to dribble harmlessly wide. Ros missed more real scoring chances over the game and had a more structure and plan  – we looked as though we thought we only had to turn up to win.

We might still win Connacht as we most likely have Galway in C'bar and maybe our experience in CP will stand to us in an AI quarter or semi. But hard to be get excited or confident after what we saw yesterday. Sorry to say it but I think the AI chance is gone for this group - afraid  I'm not one for grasping at rusty straws!!

That wouldn t be a bad year at all under the circumstances.

I had reservations about our approach to the Roscommon game. The gloves have to come off now and we have 5 weeks to nail the Connacht final. Jesus the 4 in a row is a big one now (as you correctly say an AI is not really on the radar). They may have come easily and more recently to Ros and Galway but it would be sickening to let this opportunity slip. With Ros potentially at home next year we should be looking to do 5. We have to do a bit of a peak now for final amyway and its not too early because we been held up all year and it ll be time to start freshening up because there ll be at least another game after. I m not too bothered about us looking tired and stuff. We re favourites to win Connacht obviously but we re shy 2 starting forwards to win the lot ( that s the way it has turned out but there were better options passed over) that would make a difference and we re vulnerable tactically. I think it s very important we win Connacht and whatever happens after we will be in a decent enough place to start again. This is still a young team.