Mayo v Donegal NFL Thread

[Gaoth Dobhair Abu]

That was a good performance, shame about the result

who the feck do you think we are Leitrim?.
the day your happy about losing a 5 point lead to the likes of donegal is the day you give up. it was a disastorous day overall. the type i fearing when commenting last week.  Mayo have lost a handful of league games over the last 3 or 4 year esp in castlebar , to lose yesterdsy was just sloppy and caused by poor decision making under pressure.
BJP had a fine game but twice took short frees from the full back line when nallen had a long kick out lined up. both resulted in easy points.
Parsons has the making of a fine player but is far from ready yet .  a massive improvment on  o'shea, but despite getting to the pitch of the ball almost every time he failed to hold a single one. and dropped the Vital one to set up the final goal. how bad must barry Moran be playing ?
the forwards worked a dream but if we could instill a bit of greed for goals it could mak all the difference . they were walking through the fullback line but showed no interest.
best for mayo was Gardiner . he really is the driving force behind this team insuring a high tempo and a huge athlethism that must be an inspriaton to the whole panel.
But the elephant in the room was Mcfadden . a player who has shown in other games who loses interest when denied a few ball looked like an allstar yesterday. In other words imagine what a good player would do. any one see donaghy saturday , scary.
referee was a p***k for both sides yesterday al he seemed to care about was balls being picked off the ground seemed to be more frees for that yesterday than I saw all last year.

they giving you a hard time in Letterkenny ros!
Another great result and hard fought game.

[OirthearMhaigheo]

I saw this game on TG4, without knowing the result, and it was a good game to watch as a neutral. Mayo looked very sharp at times, but they still have their failings in front of the goals. When I was watching the game towards the end, and that Mayo lad had the ball on the left (I can't remember his name) I was roaring at him to kill it dead, or pass it off. Instead he did the unforgiveable, lobbing a big lazy useless ball into the goalkeeper, who started the attack that ended with the Donegal goal. It's basic stuff, winning by 2 points, in injury time. Do not, ever, ever, ever kick the ball into the goalie's hands.

Great finish by the centre back though, and great patience by Donegal to work the opening at the end, even though Mayo had a couple of opportunities to win possession and couldn't do it.

Billy Joe Padden looked good in at full back. Will he start there in the summer?

That's a very lazy assessment of Mayo's performance AZ, if you saw the game in full as you say you did, you will have seen that the Donegal forwards were far more wasteful than Mayo's. The Mayo forwards were on fire at times yesterday, I agree they hit a few bad wides towards the end of the game but generally speaking considering we were wiped out at Midfield they did very well to rack up 16 points! In contrast, Donegal dominated possession for long spells but could not convert it. You're right about Kilcoyne though, he did the worst possible thing he could have done, he should have given it to Andy or sent the ball out of the grounds but as a Donegal man said, we had plenty of chances to clear the ball after that.
All in all I was disappointed with the result, we deserved the win I felt but we didn't play until the end (the 75th minute or whatever it was!) and fair play to Donegal they stuck at it and left themselves with a chance, which they took. We need to learn how to get much more ruthless but that can come with time.
There were alot of positives to take though, for a start it looks like the real hunger is back in the team , they fought for everything depsite being outmuscled in alot of positions. BJP had a good solid game at FB, definitely worth another look, James Gill looked like the player of a few seasons ago, Keith Higgins and Barret had fine games on the wings, especially Higgins. Gardiner looks a great prospect at half forward along with Dillon and then there was the two boys inside, Moran and Mortimer, 2 very good performances from them, they were on fire yesterday when the ball made it that far. It really comes back to us getting cleaned at midfield, we just couldn't win enough ball and I think that's what cost us at the end of the day. The sooner we get that sorted the better, Ronan Mc and co will help with that in time. As for Barry Moran, he wasn't on the panel yesterday at all, he must not be available at the minute because he played against Ballina last weekend and he's playing for UL but maybe someone knows why he hasn't been available for the 2 league games? He missed yesterday anyway.
Looks like survival is all we have to play for this year, but I'll take that in return for a good c'ship. We got to the league final last year and look where that got us!

[AZOffaly]

I agree they hit a few bad wides towards the end of the game

That's what I mean about the same old failiings. Mayo play a lovely brand of football, and kick lovely scores at times, and then for reasons best known to themselves they tend to hit these patches at the most inopportune time.

I never said that Donegal were better in that regard, I was just talking about Mayo. And what made me concentrate on it was Kilcoyne's piece of silliness near the end, which proved fatal. There was another lad did something very similar about 5 minutes beforehand....

[rosnarun]

there is a lack of cycism/a lot of naivete in the mayo team. they play the same way from start to finish. they try to play football al the time when maybe kicking the leather off it might be the better option 4 mins into injury time 2 points up.
i suppose that it was kilcoyne a knockmore man that make the mistake is even more painfiull as its knowmore we look  to for a bit out cutehoorism and nastiness I wonder are there any Garrymore lads looking for a game

[Legend92]

was at the game, great finish by mcgee as he said himself, playing soccer for gweedore celtic during the winter paid off! Mayo looked the fitter side during the first half especially, karl Lacey was having a tough time of it. Mc Fadden was on form yesterday for Donegal aswell as big Neil in mid field. Two nice victories in a row with by no mean a full strength team. Good Donegal crowd went down and there was a great buzz after. Mayo looked devestated and why wouln't they the led for the whole game but fair play to Donegal they did not give up.

[Son_of_Sam]

Christ I can't believe I agree with Rosnarun. If Kilcoyne had killed that ball we would have won. I'm still a little bitter so I will mention the extra minute played!!!!!!!

I said it at the match & was proved right after watching it again, what is even more sickening after watching the replay the ref. double checks the time with the linesmine a minute from the end, but still gets it wrong, time for the countdown clock like the ladies game me thinks.

[blast05]

there is a lack of cycism/a lot of naivete in the mayo team. they play the same way from start to finish. they try to play football al the time when maybe kicking the leather off it might be the better option 4 mins into injury time 2 points up.

Take Chris Barretts second yellow - a cynical foul to stop Donegal streaming forward. Right kinda foul in the right kinda place. So a bit harsh i would say to label the whole team with that tag.

was at the game, great finish by mcgee as he said himself, playing soccer for gweedore celtic during the winter paid off!

Didn't quite get that comment when i heard it or are outfield soccer players in Donegal allowed handle the ball   

[venter]

not a bad game on sunday and disappointing to lose it at the death. Bitterly cold too.

My Mayo player ratings

S Nallen: 7/10. Great save for the penalty. I thought he could have covered his angles better for the goal.  Clarke is the man for the job as far as I'm concerned, although Nallen will push him.

L O Malley 6/10. Very ropey first five minutes on McFadden. Recovered well when switched and held his own for the most part.

BJ Padden 8/10. Has to be questioned for the first goal (might have ben unlucky), but put in a solid effort. Competed for everything and was one of Mayo's best.

T Cunniffe 3/10. He can be considered unlucky as he started out okay but was then sent over to Mcfadden when O Malley was getting cleaned out of it. He did not rise to the challenge and Mcfadden had him well beat.

C Barrett 7/10. Decent game, he seems to be fairly sharp to a loose ball. A couple of poor efforts at distributing the ball. Has a good shout of making the championship team

T Howley 7/10. Didn't stand out too much but was solid throughout. I reckon he could have the centre back spot nailed down at this point

K Higgins 8/10.  Had an excellent game. He has some pace and its great to see him speeding up the middle of the pitch. Took his scores well. At one point in the second half, while he may have been off balance, McGee sent him flying very easily with a flick of the arm.

S OShea 5/10. Seemed to be struggling after taking a belt to the head from an early stage. He won a bit of ball but I wasn't overly impressed with him.

J Gill 7/10. Played very well going forward. Took a couple of sweet points. Most people seemed to be very impressed with him, but I didn't think he contested the 50/50 ball with Rafferty at all.

P Gardiner 7/10. Had a good battle with Cassidy. Layed in a couple of good balls in the first half for scores. Maybe could have tried to but Cassidy more on the back foot in the second half. Settling well into his new role.

A Dillon. 7/10. He got though a lot of hardwork in the second half, competing well for the breaking ball. He's a very talented footballer but he doesn't seem to have the ability to take a long range score that you would like from a centre forward.

M Mullins. 4/10. He didn't get into the game at all. I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did. Will be under pressure to hold his spot the next day (although Kilcoyne hardly covered himself in glory when he made an appearance)

C Mortimer. 9/10. Won almost every ball that came into his corner and took some nice scores. We need Mort at his best as he has the touch of class up front.

A O Malley 5/10. Took a nice score, but lacks a bit of pace at this level. He is physical which is no harm, but he will be another under pressure for a place come championship.

A Moran. 8/10. Again, he won most of the ball that came into him and scored a beauty in the first half. Himself and Conor will be our two main scoring threats for the summer.

Subs.

D Heaney 6/10. Steadied the ship when he replaced Cunniffe, although a lot of the credit might go to Padden for that. Will both himself and BJP be in the full back line come championship?  It's hard to know!

T Parsons 5/10. He took a nice score. I think he has a lot of potential but Gallagher had the measure of him on sunday. Made some crazy decisions coming out with the ball when we were under pressure in the second half.

A Kilcoyne  4/10. didn't make much of an impact and should have killed the ball with that last attack. This has probably put him back in the queue for a championship spot

T Mortimer . Not on long enough

[mattockranger]

where is the young peter witherow surley he's a better marker than paddy mcdaid? michael boyle should retain his place also

[stephenite]

Watched it on Setanta last night - it looked to me like James Gill went in mid field and Gardiner to the half forward line? Could be wrong, Gardiner played well doing what he always does which is make good bursts from breaking balls or coming through on the shoulder of a team mate and taking the pass. He cannot contest the aerial battles that are required at Inter County midfield level though and I'd be very surprised if he's still playing centrefield come the championship

[J70]

where is the young peter witherow surley he's a better marker than paddy mcdaid? michael boyle should retain his place also

Is Witherow on the panel this year?

[venter]

it looked to me like James Gill went in mid field and Gardiner to the half forward line?

Yeah, Peadar switched out to right half forward shortly after throw in, where he was marked by Kevin Cassidy. Cassidy is a horse. Massive thighs on him.

[Davitt Man]

not a bad game on sunday and disappointing to lose it at the death. Bitterly cold too.

My Mayo player ratings
L O Malley 6/10. Very ropey first five minutes on McFadden. Recovered well when switched and held his own for the most part.

T Howley 7/10. Didn't stand out too much but was solid throughout. I reckon he could have the centre back spot nailed down at this point

S OShea 5/10. Seemed to be struggling after taking a belt to the head from an early stage. He won a bit of ball but I wasn't overly impressed with him.

J Gill 7/10. Played very well going forward. Took a couple of sweet points. Most people seemed to be very impressed with him, but I didn't think he contested the 50/50 ball with Rafferty at all.

P Gardiner 7/10. Had a good battle with Cassidy. Layed in a couple of good balls in the first half for scores. Maybe could have tried to but Cassidy more on the back foot in the second half. Settling well into his new role.

A Dillon. 7/10. He got though a lot of hardwork in the second half, competing well for the breaking ball. He's a very talented footballer but he doesn't seem to have the ability to take a long range score that you would like from a centre forward.

A O Malley 5/10. Took a nice score, but lacks a bit of pace at this level. He is physical which is no harm, but he will be another under pressure for a place come championship.

Liam O'Malley 4/10. It was a doss up between himself and Cunnife who was worse in my opinion. He got cleaned my mcfadden again just like the league final last year. He has no strength at all. Very poor game from him.

T Howley 5/10. Quite game for a centre back didnt look to get on the ball all day, kicked the ball twice and they both ended up out near the sideline. He seemed a bit lost at times in the centre and seemed to lose his man at times. He doesnt have centre back nailed yet in fact i reckon he would be better suited to wing back maybe or corner back. Heaney will be centre back come c\ship.

S O'Shea 3\10. Didnt get going at all, we would be better off starting parsons and starting grooming him for midfield. Parson is ahead of O'Shea.

J Gill 7\10. Im going to use a rugby phrase here that everyone uses but gill did well in the loose, didnt really get stuck in around the middle, scored 2 nice points and his doing himself no harm in his second coming.

P Gardner 6\10. Alot of people were raving about him but for me he was not as good as other people were suggesting, he had a good game. Wing forward come c\ship

A Dillon 6\10. Not impressed by him the last day, he is holding up the play too much, he took the ball numerous times the last day and started soloing and going round in circles giving donegal chance to get back. Needs to move the ball on alot quicker.

A O'Malley 3\10. Great point but other than that he did nothing, dunno what position he was supposed to be playing.

[AbbeySider]

S Nallen: 7/10. Great save for the penalty. I thought he could have covered his angles better for the goal.  Clarke is the man for the job as far as I'm concerned, although Nallen will push him.

A quick question...

I dont want to offend anybody but I have a fair question about our keeper the last day.

Why is Shane Nallen in goal when he didnt even play in goal all year for Belmullet?

Surely there is a keeper in Mayo with over 40 teams togging out at Junior, Intermediate and Senior.

Not only did he not play in goal but he was in the forwards. Reading match reports he scored four points against Corssmolina B and in the Intermediate quarter final (coming on as a sub) and he scored four points against Ballintubber in a league game a month later.

Why is he being selected as our county keeper when he doesnt even play there for his club?

Its a bit of a farce.

Before people start saying what a great keeper he is, what are they judging it on? He doesnt play there for his club. He was not exactly commanding in the square. The penalty was badly taken and was practically down the middle. (watch the replay). And as Venter said he could have covered his angles better. He is not exactly a natural keeper and im annoyed and cant understand why a keeper that actually plays in goal for their club was not selected.

Is he just there for the kickouts? I cant understand other proper keepers (proper as in they play in goal for their club... regularly) wasnt not playing. Its terrible someone else was not given the chance.

[Davitt Man]

O'Malley was the u-21 keeper last year and when he got injured Micheal McNulty was the replacement keeper for the U-21 Conn Final and All-Ireland semi final, how come he wasnt looked at, at least he plays in goals for his club.