Mayo v Down NFL Division 1

[From the Bunker]

Thought Nally was the pick of the backs, granted he gave away a terrible ball near the end when Clarke bailed him out. But won a tremendous ball in a ruck of players just after Paddy Durcan gave away the goal.

He won't be suited for every game but has s physical presence that Paddy lacks. Thought Boyler played too deep and is more suited to a man marking job than sweeper.

Agreed Seamus, needs to stop looking for contact. Jason Docs best game this year. Evan has really stepped up.

I like Nally. Has been a good addition this year. Has had a few Brain fart moments, but does not hide.

[sans pessimism]

Played some great football early on, quick accurate kick passing into the FF that was sticking to the lads inside. When Parsons started to fade, grip of the game went. Boyle was a bit lost playing sweeper role, Down didn't kick many (if any) balls into him, totally bypassed.

Few of our lads, namely the usual suspects continue carry into traffic again and again, very disheartening.

Going on ego-trips as John Maughan called it on MWR there after the game.

Johnno would be the expert when it comes to ego size-loada fukn nonsense

It's not though. This is one time I think he's dead right. Maybe 'ego trip' is a bit harsh but the same lads keep taking way way way too much out of the ball. It's going on so long now and it's unbelievably frustrating. Management need to get a hold of these lads and demand that they release the ball quicker. It seems that no manager has got through to them yet. When they let the ball in early today Regan and Freeman did damage.

whatever the malaise is,it certainly isn't ego driven.Mr Ego has been having a go since his buddy was deposed.Of course todays performance was poor but ego's are not the problem-James Horan nipped that shite in the bud and to suggest otherwise is inaccurate.

[Ballaghman]

Played some great football early on, quick accurate kick passing into the FF that was sticking to the lads inside. When Parsons started to fade, grip of the game went. Boyle was a bit lost playing sweeper role, Down didn't kick many (if any) balls into him, totally bypassed.

Few of our lads, namely the usual suspects continue carry into traffic again and again, very disheartening.

Going on ego-trips as John Maughan called it on MWR there after the game.

Johnno would be the expert when it comes to ego size-loada fukn nonsense

It's not though. This is one time I think he's dead right. Maybe 'ego trip' is a bit harsh but the same lads keep taking way way way too much out of the ball. It's going on so long now and it's unbelievably frustrating. Management need to get a hold of these lads and demand that they release the ball quicker. It seems that no manager has got through to them yet. When they let the ball in early today Regan and Freeman did damage.

whatever the malaise is,it certainly isn't ego driven.Mr Ego has been having a go since his buddy was deposed.Of course todays performance was poor but ego's are not the problem-James Horan nipped that shite in the bud and to suggest otherwise is inaccurate.

His overall point should not be lost because of a poor choice of expression though. His main issue is we need to let the ball in much quicker and it's the same lads taking too much out of the ball. I agree he had his own ego issues but on this particular problem I agree with him (his reason for this over carrying excepted)

[moysider]

I'm inclined to agree. I think it's just bad habits tbh.

Today Seamie was mixing the very good and silly stuff within moments of each other. Surely coaching and video analysis is about getting rid of the silly stuff?
Anyway survival was a good result and overall I think we have come out of this league well, even if it was a close run thing at the end.

It will be interesting to see how we are tactically later.
Today we played a sweeper. This allowed Down to work the ball out from defence. The days of the high press and huge tackle rate from Horan's time has been replaced by a sweeper. This did not prevent Down putting up a big score today. The system today may have been a conservative approach to ensure survival. However it seemed to me that if we pressed up on this Down team we could have put them away. When they kicked long at the start we were winning everything - it was like monkeys picking cherries.
A bit more pace back in the side will do us no harm. Higgins and McLoughlin add more dash for a start.

[highorlow]

Today we played a sweeper. This allowed Down to work the ball out from defence.

Sweeper doesn't suit our style of play plus we are useless at implementing it. We are better off going man to man against all teams and take our chances.

[Mayo4Sam]

Anything could happen with that line up, should get over the line though you would think. Last throw of the dice for Doc I'd say

I doubt that tbh.

He's being trying hard and maybe trying stuff that wasn t on. I thought playing him inside again did not help. For championship he is not an inside player unless we have a real bad time with injuries.
But he is badly needed as an option for the grafting role at 10/12, Lads that cover a lot of ground, defend link and chip in with an odd score. Realistically we need 4 of those. Diarmuid, Kevin Mac and Doc have shown already they can do the business there in the summer time.
I don't think Doc is a big concern as such.
There are scores in that inside line and if this management can organise things that those 3 get ball in space or even one-on-one we will do alright.

From frees, Moy.

So what? Frees are for a foul and fouls are given up for a reason. To stop a score from play. A point from play or possibly worse.
Likes of Murthagh will have a good day if he can win a few scorable frees in August/September against likes of Donegal, Kerry, Tyrone or Dublin. If he can get a goal and a point or two from play he is in All-Star territory. You might not like the cut of our forwards but they have been judged at a level Roscommon ladeens have not got to - and may not get to.

I'd take Murtagh before any of your inside lads, COC included. None of them are enough of a threat from play at this level, it's as simple as that. Regan only finding his feet at this level so maybe there's hope there but COC never made the next step to being a serious threat from play to score. And no one mention that glorified exhibition game against London.

This level I presume meaning league in April. COC has consistently proved himself as one of the top tier of forwards in the country at the level required in August and September and would walk onto any team in Ireland. Murtagh is a good prospect but when it was put up to him last July he got three points from frees and was subbed off with 10 minutes left.

[Chimley]

Today we played a sweeper. This allowed Down to work the ball out from defence.

Sweeper doesn't suit our style of play plus we are useless at implementing it. We are better off going man to man against all teams and take our chances.

You could just as easily argue that our style of play is why we have not got over the line so far. We seem to have a style that just does not protect our goals, as we always seem vulnerable to conceding majors in championship. Brolly had a good article on this last Summer and we went on to commit suicide against Dublin in the replay to emphasise his point.
Our attempts to play a sweeper in the past have been half-hearted and naive, but we seemed to do a bit better in the game against the Dubs in the league, although it neutralised our own threat and the weather conditions were so poor that it may not have been a good example to take. I have a feeling and hope that Rochford/McEntee and Donie Buckley will have something new up their sleeve for the Summer.
Rochford himself is on record saying that the style of play we see in the league will not be what we see later in the year.

[Lar Naparka]

Today we played a sweeper. This allowed Down to work the ball out from defence.

Sweeper doesn't suit our style of play plus we are useless at implementing it. We are better off going man to man against all teams and take our chances.

You could just as easily argue that our style of play is why we have not got over the line so far. We seem to have a style that just does not protect our goals, as we always seem vulnerable to conceding majors in championship. Brolly had a good article on this last Summer and we went on to commit suicide against Dublin in the replay to emphasise his point.
Our attempts to play a sweeper in the past have been half-hearted and naive, but we seemed to do a bit better in the game against the Dubs in the league, although it neutralised our own threat and the weather conditions were so poor that it may not have been a good example to take. I have a feeling and hope that Rochford/McEntee and Donie Buckley will have something new up their sleeve for the Summer.
Rochford himself is on record saying that the style of play we see in the league will not be what we see later in the year.

I sincerely hop[e he means that; otherwise it will be a case of the same again one more time.
I'm talking about Mayo's tendency to play top class football and put clear between them and the opposition and then to lose all sense of purpose and allow their opponents back into the game again. This has been a trait of Mayo football since James Horan took over and yesterday was as good (or bad?) example of what I'm referring to as I can recall.
If Down had realised a bit earlier in the game that Mayo were so easy to be put off their stride we could well be the laughing stock of the country today. When Joe Brolly said on the TSG last summer that Mayo would never win an All-Ireland until they acquired the killer touch and kept the pressure on right to the final whistle, (or something like that) he got loads of abuse from Mayo supporters but for my money he was only stating the obvious.

[moysider]

Brolly also said that new defensive systems take months and months to prepare and perfect. He is probably right too.
The thing now is to work on new things in training. Counties have big panels and teams like Donegal and Tyrone perfect their systems/tactics in training. Horan's team did the same even though we took a more positive attacking approach rather than a defensive game plan. But there was nothing off the cuff with what Horan wanted us to do. I ve no doubt Rochford has plans for us for the championship. It's a silly team that will have revealed their hand at this stage. I remember Rochford saying that about the difference there would be between league and championship. I remember being struck by that at the time.
I suppose coming from where we were and the dreadful start v Cork it turned out a good league for us. The team as a whole struggled for fluency but on the other hand the form of several players was very good and we know from experience that others will be much sharper by championship. More positives than negatives about us imo. Far more in fact.

[giveballaghback]

Mayo4sam, when was Murtagh subbed off last july? In the Sligo match he came off injured after 20 minutes {failed fitness test in morning and should not have been started}, against Cavan came on with ten minutes left when we were 6 points up and as a result of that madness missed the Fermanagh match and 3 months football. No wonder Evans was given the high road.
Murtagh is the complete footballer, get your facts right, I suppose thats a little too much to ask.

[Mayo4Sam]

Against Fermanagh?

http://m.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2015/0712/714297-fermanagh-v-roscommon/

Unless there's another Ciaran Murtagh?

[moysider]

I think it was Diarmuid Murtagh that was initially mentioned here.

[Mclf]

Against Fermanagh?

http://m.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2015/0712/714297-fermanagh-v-roscommon/

Unless there's another Ciaran Murtagh?

He is talking about Diarmuid Murtagh you ignoramus, did it occur to you that there are actually three brothers involved with roscommon I believe, anyways should you not hyping up Evan almighty at every chance you get, Evan for POTY!!

[Mayo4Sam]

Murtagh was what he said

Sure they all look the same to me

[moysider]

Against Fermanagh?

http://m.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2015/0712/714297-fermanagh-v-roscommon/

Unless there's another Ciaran Murtagh?

He is talking about Diarmuid Murtagh you ignoramus, did it occur to you that there are actually three brothers involved with roscommon I believe, anyways should you not hyping up Evan almighty at every chance you get, Evan for POTY!!

No need to get nasty about Regan is there?
I don't think anybody can question Diarmuid Murtagh's class.
Both have had a few injury setbacks. Hopefully they will both get a clear run and an opportunity to push on.
Regan has enough in his own county hoping he messes up without the Rossies hating on him as well for no reason, lol!