U21 Football Championship

[rocco]

best of luck to mayo, great game,great display by the rossies considering the terrible last few weeks they had. just shows we can play a bit of football under a different manager..just goes to show despite the spin ,WHOS falt it was.

[moysider]

Great to win 3 in a row. Cafferkey, Barrett, Cuniffe, O Shea and Campbell played against Cork in All Ireland final 06. May 08. More remarkable when you consider that Galway won the minor provincal minor titles in 2003, 2004 and 2005 but could nt take it on to u21 at all? That has to be very satisfying from our point of view.
We have nt won a minor since John P Keane s days. Managerial days that is. That was 2001. In fact I do n t think we ve won a minor since the county was divided for the Tedd Webb. Anyway I d rather win u21 any day than minor.

[INDIANA]

true but galway have players like paul conroy. the u21 is wide open i think - i saw kerry earlier in the year- distinctly average was my impression byt their lofty standards- while kildare are decent but lack firepower. probably down are the classiest side left. i think they'll take it.

[Uladh]

By the very highest standards, down are ropey at the back and weak at midfield. sensaional full forward line though

[blast05]

best of luck to mayo, great game,great display by the rossies considering the terrible last few weeks they had. just shows we can play a bit of football under a different manager..just goes to show despite the spin ,whos falt it was.

Complete and utter bolloux. This is a Rossie U-21 team more or less made up of the All-Ireland U-21 winning team of 2 years ago. Your senior team is made up a very average bunch of players.
Was at the match this evening - big crowd, around 2,500 in a small compact ground i'd say of which no more than 200 were following the green and red i'd say
You got to respect the savage hunger of your average Rossie fan. There was bucks around me frothing at the mouth 10 minutes into the second half when Ros has pulled back the 7pt half time deficit to 4 pts. Mayo were always able to go back up the field (into the breeze in the second half) and get the point or 2 though to keep the gap at 5 or 6 though but at the end of the day Ros were lucky not to get a goal in the last 10 ...... absolutely shocking penalty by Shine - must have gone 8 feet over the bar.

[Down Gael]

I wouldnt say Down are ropey at the back. Murney the full back is excellent, so too is Conor Garvey in the half back line. Duffin at CHB isnt bad, though he is no Eamon McConville, who for some strange reason has been left off the panel. Eamon was the unsung hero of the 2005 minor team.
At midfield James Colgan has been quietly effective, though not as effective as he was at minor level. This may be due to the absence of Peter Fitzpatrick through long term injury.
The forward line is frightening, even without Marvellous Marty Clarke, who is keeping a very close eye on his old team mates at the minute.
A repeat of the 2005 minor final may still be on the cards. Although Clarke and Colgan made the headlines that day, the top scorer that day, Paul McCumiskey is still terrorising defences. So Mr Ulster, you may describe Down as "ropey", that doesnt say an awful lot for Tyrone, Derry or indeed Armagh.

[dodo]

Very entertaining match at Kiltoom earlier. Some fantastic scoring from both sides in a well contested match. Mayo were able to keep ahead of the Rossies for the remainder of the game after the Roaring Rossies went 0-3 to 0-2 ahead in the first half. Mikey Sweeney's fisted goal from a free got Mayo back ahead and this gave us the confidence to take our chances after some wayward shooting and went in at half time leading 1-7 to 0-4.
Roscommon playing with the breeze in the second half got the deficit down to 3 points on a few occasions but never less. Séamus O'Shea was having a solid match in the middle with Parsons not being so prominent. The Rossies were threatening to break through the Mayo defence on a few occasions that necessitated fouling the man to concede the pointed free to Donie Shine. Ross got a penalty after Chris Barrett's flumsy ball handling led to him conceding the spot kick, Shine made a hames of the penalty skying the ball straight over the bar. This let off along with a clear cut goal chance that was missed plus Cathal Cregg's thunderous shot from 30 yards out that came back off the crossbar at the death made for nervous viewing. Nevertheless, I thought Mayo were deserving winners.
Aidan Campbell was a constant threat and ended up being announced as the official man of the match.

best of luck to mayo, great game,great display by the rossies considering the terrible last few weeks they had. just shows we can play a bit of football under a different manager..just goes to show despite the spin ,WHOS falt it was.

The u-21s were a good team that played some very good football tonight in Kiltoom. No doubt the manager and county can take pride in this squad. Despite the spin you are trying to put on this you cannot blame your (and Mayo's) ex-manager for all your ails.

[Bod Mor]

best of luck to mayo, great game,great display by the rossies considering the terrible last few weeks they had. just shows we can play a bit of football under a different manager..just goes to show despite the spin ,WHOS falt it was.

Fair play, good match by the sounds of it. Always great sportsmanship both on and off the field between the two counties. Another example above.

Well done to the lads, here's hoping we can lift the under 21 title this year. Campbell hitting 8 points is a great sign. Surely JOM must have a place for him in the forwards come championship time.

Also, R.I.P Darrel Darcy.

[stephenite]

Always a great sense of satisfaction when winning a Connacht title - great to see these lads continuing on with this great run at U-21 level. Good game to watch by the sound of things, can anyone confirm if it's the Kingdom up next?

[RedandGreenSniper]

Its Kingdom next alright.
Great news to win that game, I really had my doubts. Sounds like a cracker, have to admit eight points from Campbell is some haul. He certainly has talent but needs to deliver on a consistent basis. Mikey Sweeney is a class act too - real livewire, very small but God he takes some marking
Kerry are there for the taking by all accounts, could this be another 2006 - very low expectations but steadily progressing due to a great attitude and sense of teamwork that Holmes and, IMO, especially Noel Connelly build in the team?

[mannix]

Well done Mayo.Listened to it on internet and thought Mayo were on top for 90% of the game but to win only because the ross missed a penalty and hit the crossbar has got to be a worry for Mayo.
Well done all the same.

[Barney]

I know I was giving out about date, time, venue etc. but still had to wander up to Kiltoom last night and was delighted that I did.

Another promising u21 team and Holmes and Connelly have done a great job with them.

Aidan Campbell was superb. He has the potential to develop into a really top-class forward and Seamus O'Shea seemed determined to put down a marker to JOM.

Chris Barrett should probably have got a second yellow for the peno but I do feel we were the better team.

Great Ros crowd there and nice grounds. It was my first visit to Kiltoom, but the traffic is a bit of problem.

Any date/venue for semi. I presume its in 10 days in Ennis/Limerick?

[Farrandeelin]

I'd say so too Barney. Fair play to the lads though for doing a 3 in a row at Connacht level anyway. Maybe the future isn't as gloomy as I certainly thought it would be with all the 'older guard' moving on from the game. Well done again.

[Ryano]

Well done Mayo, fully deserved their win. Great game of football and a great crowd there too. An inch lower at the end and what might have been. Best of luck against Kerry lads.

[heineken_on_tap]

I wasn't at the game but by all report it was a good game of football. Not majorly disappointed with the result, if we can keep these group of lads together then the future looks bright enough. I would imagine alot of the lads would be eligible for U-21 again next year.

Anyway fair play to Mayo, hope ye go on now and win it again.