Tír Eoghain vs Maigh Eo AIQF 6/8/2016

[WT4E]

Has Mayo team been announced?

[iorras]

No there wont be a Mayo team announced, given the bookies predictions, the fact that only Eoin "Bomber, why can we not go back to the 80s again" Liston has tipped Mayo and all the in fighting in the camp we've decided not to bother.
The county board has decided it is only right that we don't stand in the way of the peoples choice, a Tyrone V Dublin final.

If any of the fans travelling would like a crack at Tyrone instead, meet at 2:30 near section 331, bring white shorts and moulded studs boots (no blades please). Socks and jerseys will be provided, but you will have to give them back next year for when we go back at this craic again minus Tony McIntee

[Canalman]

Think Mayo will win this one pulling up.

Keep looking back to the calibre of forwards Tyrone had in the 00s and the current batch are not a patch on them. Imo of course.

[ONeill]

Hogan Stand weighing in behind the Mayo bandwagon too.

http://www.hoganstand.com/Mayo/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=259103&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

[iorras]

One for the Tyrone dressing room wall so "The Hogan Stand website showed us no respect"

[ONeill]

Not enough room on that wall. A bandaged WJ Padden and  Maurice Deegan covers it.

[BennyHarp]

Think Mayo will win this one pulling up.

Keep looking back to the calibre of forwards Tyrone had in the 00s and the current batch are not a patch on them. Imo of course.

Many, many teams have won all Irelands without as good a forward line as that.

[Fuzzman]

I think most Tyrone fans are feeling they have a good chance of beating Mayo this Sat mainly down to their very mean defensive system and how we've added a lot more scorers all around the pitch and no longer look to Sean Cavanagh all the time.
But are we underestimating this Mayo team and is it too easy to just say they have fallen back from last year's level and are a spent force?
If you look at their record the last few years then you can see they drew with both Dublin and Kerry and could have beaten them either time. In last year's semifinal they should have won the first day and in the second game they were head to head going into that final 10 mins before Dublin's very strong bench made the difference.
Unlike Donegal they don't have many players on the wrong side of 30, yet they have so much experience of being in quarterfinals, semifinals and finals.


On the other side of things Tyrone have got to two semifinals in the last 3 years, however they did so through quite a favourable run in the qualifiers and beat another Ulster team (Monaghan) in the quarterfinal each time. They had not beaten one of the top 5 teams since 2008 until they beat Donegal this year in a tight Ulster final which they almost lost. However, we have been in a major rebuilding stage of our team's development and having just about passed the Ulster final test against a big gun, we now face a more formidable test in Mayo who have been so close to bringing home the big prize.


So the questions remain. Are Tyrone as good as people are thinking (or wanting them to be) or is just hype? Is this a year too soon for this young team who continue to improve? Will their lack of match winning forwards only get them so far or will it actually benefit them as it's hard to tie anyone down?

Have Mayo really fallen so far from the high levels they have achieved in the last 3 years or is it just an early season blip and it's from quarterfinal stage onwards that they really show their true colours? We often disreguard how Dublin and Kerry play until this stage so are we being so harsh on Mayo? Time will tell of course but I think a few of us may be underestimating this Mayo team. They hammered Donegal in 2013 & 2015 whereas we have struggled to beat Donegal for years and see ourselves similar to them with maybe a more attacking mindset.

Personally I think if Tyrone's defensive system can hold strong and frustrate Mayo then we will win. Donegal didn't really test it I feel as they just chose to shoot from far out and were almost afraid to take a risk. They hardly used Murphy at all at FF whereas I can see AOS winning frees in there if he gets good ball. If AOS has a big game in him and Mayo throw everything at us then we will really see how far we have improved.

Kerry scored 18 points against us last year with virtually the same team we have lining out tomorrow which is a lot to concede considering we see ourselves as a defensively strong team. Are we getting carried away how good we are defensively? I'm not sure but what I do notice is how Cillian O'Connor seems to top score in nearly every game he plays from frees so Tyrone cannot afford to give away frees within 40 yards.

I feel Mayo will benefit from going in as slight underdogs as it gives them great motivation to prove so many people wrong. They don't fear Tyrone and I feel it's nicely set up for them to come out all guns blazing against a rather young team who have not had to deal with that before. I am hoping our well drilled system of play is enough to take Tyrone over the line but I'm a lot less confident than I was a week ago.

[ONeill]

Interesting that stat about Tyrone reaching 2 of the last 3 semis. Does a qf defeat represent a backwards step despite the Ulster title?

[Fuzzman]

Interesting reading Mayo fan's posts from 2013 after they hammered Donegal.
They're coming from a very different place this time.
http://gaaboard.com/board/index.php?topic=23553.15

Interesting talk on the final pages about a AOS dive with the Tyrone keeper.

[Captain Obvious]

Are we getting carried away how good we are defensively?

Yes. Conceded 5-24 against Cavan this summer....

[Aaron Boone]

This time tomorrow Mayo will be controlling midfield and enjoying the freedom that being underdogs brings.

[macdanger2]

Ray Silke has backed tyrone, pretty much guarantees mayo to win

[Gabriel_Hurl]

This time tomorrow Mayo will be controlling midfield and enjoying the freedom that being underdogs brings.

sickening arrogance

[seafoid]

Rochford is a better manager than Mayo have had in a while and the players have way more experience than Tyrone.