All Ireland Final Replay 1st October 2016 Dublin vs Mayo

[Zulu]

Tend to share Mayo Mick's opinion. While Mayo match up well with Dublin and I expect them to deliver again but Dublin's best is still better than Mayo's best. I think Mayo will go close but think they need a bit of luck or a forward to hit a very good day in front of the posts to share it. Hope it's a great day anyway and that it lives up to the occasion.

I'm a big fan of both these teams but like most others would love to see Mayo do it. Enjoy and safe travelling to all.

[Canalman]

Mayo being widely tipped in the papers I read this morning. Big difference from a couple of weeks ago.

Lashing rain here at the moment and Mayo once again have brought the rain with them to Dublin.

Hope Ciaran K lets the ball in to the inside forward line alot..... alot quicker today.

Good luck to both teams............. hopefully one more than the other

[joemamas]

Tend to share Mayo Mick's opinion. While Mayo match up well with Dublin and I expect them to deliver again but Dublin's best is still better than Mayo's best. I think Mayo will go close but think they need a bit of luck or a forward to hit a very good day in front of the posts to share it. Hope it's a great day anyway and that it lives up to the occasion.

I'm a big fan of both these teams but like most others would love to see Mayo do it. Enjoy and safe travelling to all.

Nice comment and very sporting.
That's what differentiates GAA supporters.

Personally I hope this team do it for themselves first and then for the rest of us

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/john-o-keeffe-mayo-can-to-bring-dublin-to-the-end-of-their-road-1.2812444

John O'Keeffe: Mayo can to bring Dublin to the end of their road
Connacht side have the work ethic and know-how to finally win that elusive All-Ireland
about 7 hours ago Updated: about 6 hours ago
After the drawn All-Ireland final I couldn't help wondering about Dublin. They have been on the road now for a long time, demolishing so many opponents, that maybe it is catching up with them.
The Dubs success is largely dependent on a high-intensity running game, sustained relentlessly over 70-plus minutes, seemingly unbreakable due to the introduction of subs that all teams, including Kerry, have been unable to cope with. That enduring pace has been their chief weapon. But after the draw I felt Mayo had become the exception to Dublin rule. They are clearly capable of matching their intensity.
New generation
What the game also told me is the new generation of Dublin footballers – Brian Fenton, John Small, David Byrne and particularly Ciarán Kilkenny – have, despite their young age, become central figures in Jim Gavin's team.
Kilkenny has made himself the go-to player, he sets up the plays now, dictates the tempo, especially at wing back when James McCarthy has been absent. It is not the usual Dublin rhythm though.
Mayo managed Kilkenny quite well by forcing him laterally instead of allowing him to orchestrate the direct, offensive strategy we associate with Dublin.

Bernard Brogan is suffering the most. The slower more predictable ball inside allowed Brendan Harrison, who had a fine game, get to grips with Bernard.

Maybe Brogan, Paul Flynn and particularly Michael Darragh Macauley are showing the effects of many long hard years at the top. They are certainly not the three influential footballers we have seen in other campaigns.
So I'm leaning towards Mayo. I just feel they are in a better place mentally. They can justifiably believe they were the superior team over 78 minutes of the draw. They can take heart from how they responded at the end, especially Cillian O'Connor's three unanswered points to reel Dublin back in. And that was them playing it safe, without committing players forward as they adhered to a solid defensive structure.


On review they should see that was where their opportunity to win fell away.
Both teams will be annoyed with the number of unforced errors. The weather can be blamed but both defences were firmly in control. Just look at the amount of scoreless forwards from Bernard Brogan and Kevin McManamon to Aidan O'Shea and Diarmuid O'Connor.
Dublin's full-back line was brilliantly protected by Cian O'Sullivan. Apart from Andy Moran's goal chance, they looked impenetrable.
Treble marked
Jim Gavin can be pleased with that but Mayo should look at the potential to expose O'Sullivan's withdrawal from centre back. This led to Moran being treble marked at times. He needs more support. I think the likes of Diarmuid O'Connor or Jason Doherty must get forward and support the inside line.
Diarmuid looked tired after a long season that included the under-21s campaign. If he finds his form Mayo will profit immensely.
All this leads to Mayo creating shooting chances further out the field. They must show more composure, recycle that extra ball to create clear-cut opportunities. This requires patience and leadership.
An improved Aidan O'Shea performance remains crucial if Mayo are to finally win the All-Ireland. O'Shea is capable of being an inspirational leader. He was anything but 13 days ago. The solution, to my mind, is his role must be clearly defined. He is most effective switching predominantly from centre forward into full forward. When he drifts out the field he becomes a potential liability that can be exposed by Dublin's pace.
Aidan didn't lead the last day and even became agitated with the referee when a few calls didn't go his way. That's energy sapping behaviour that must be eradicated for Mayo to benefit from his enormous power.
That is how Dublin can be exposed but Stephen Rochford must also devise a plan to track Fenton's incisive runs from midfield. Because that's how Dublin will create a goal. The Mayo midfielders lack pace to stay with him so Kevin McLoughlin or even Donal Vaughan may need to pick him up.
Diarmuid Connolly is of similar importance. I could see Connolly best serving Dublin as an inside forward. Drag Lee Keegan out of his comfort zone at wing back. The reverse argument is that Keegan needs to contribute to Mayo moving forward. Perhaps both these tactical switches will happen and the pair will part ways.
Running game
But if Dublin's running game isn't checked, as Mayo did before, then Fenton, Small, James McCarthy and Connolly will bring the Dubs pattern – or as Gavin calls it: the process – to bear on this contest. We know they can dismantle any team.
It is the rhythm of Dublin that must be disrupted. Because all that passing over the shoulder at pace leads to frees within Dean Rock's previously unerring range. If Rock rediscovers the accuracy we had seen all summer then Dublin can pull away.
Surely McManamon will have a better day or Paul Mannion, Eoghan O'Gara and Paddy Andrews will prove the difference late in the game.

Yet I'm still leaning towards Mayo. They have shown the work ethic and know-how to finally win that elusive All-Ireland. We know this Dublin team, as they showed when misfiring so badly in the first match, will not release Sam Maguire without a bitter struggle.
But Mayo, just.

[seafoid]

I read somewhere that the Dubs won their last 3 sams by a combined total of 5 points.

[The Hill is Blue]

I read somewhere that the Dubs won their last 3 sams by a combined total of 5 points.

If wishing and wanting could deliver an All Ireland, Mayo are already over the line.

[seafoid]

I read somewhere that the Dubs won their last 3 sams by a combined total of 5 points.

If wishing and wanting could deliver an All Ireland, Mayo are already over the line.

You would expect the Dubs to win but the aura of invincibility took a knock the last day.
I remember the 2006 hurling final. Cork were going for the 3 in a row. It was a titanic battle. Kilkenny had more energy.
And that was basically the end for Cork.

[Jinxy]

After a horrible morning, the weather is fine in Dublin now.
Hope the rain stays away.

[Lar Naparka]

The countdown has begun and I don't know what to feel. It does seem different somehow to the lead in to other finals in the past. No time to bother about lack of bottle- that certainly won't be an issue. Luck can be capricious and may well decide the result- that's the one variable that can't be quantified in any way and we just have to await the outcome.
I hope thoughts of that blasted curse don't arise in any player's mind. The scéal that a cranky oul' priest lost his temper at the carry on of Mayo supporters as a motorcade of revellers passed by is a figment of somebody's imagination.
According to Padraig Carney, and he should know, there were no cavalcades of any sort. People just didn't do them for any reason back then.
So it's gonna be 15 v 15 and there's nowhere to hide for anyone so inclined. I pray that this team carries no jibbers- it's 100% effort from all or nothing.
I am hopeful: Stephen Rochford can read a game and react to what's going on on the field. He outmaneuvered Jim Gavin, one of the very best, in the first game and there's no reason to fear that he cannot do so again.
Feck it, there's always Old Moore's Almanac if everything else goes wrong.
Keep the faith!

[armaghniac]

I hope thoughts of that blasted curse don't arise in any player's mind. The scéal that a cranky oul' priest lost his temper at the carry on of Mayo supporters as a motorcade of revellers passed by is a figment of somebody's imagination.

There is a curse, Mayo will never win a game in September in Croke Park.
Today is October.

[ZeitChrist]

Irish independent reporting that O'Connor is injured and won't start. Vey bad news for Mayo if true. They won't win without him.

[Syferus]

Could mean Hennelly in for Clarke to cover frees. So much for Clarke being a lucky mascot for Mayo.

[Cunny Funt]

If Clarke doesn't start I presume it's a injury as he seem to struggle with a injury late on the last day.

[Jinxy]

The great Paddy Prendergast.
Lovely little piece.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR2l09WUe0Q

[Jinxy]

Don't like the look of them clouds...