U21 Football Championship

[Tubberman]

It sounded like Mayo were fairly comfortable in the first half but the Rossies came storming into it as the second half wore on.
Even listening to the commentary, you'd have to feel something for the Roscommon lads. They had a penalty and Donie Shine blazed it over the bar. They had another 1 on 1 and the forward (can't remember who it was) sent that over too. Then Cathal Cregg hit the crossbar with the final kick of the game.
Still, Rossies can take a lot of encouragement that they have good young players coming through and the recent disastrous results for the seniors shouldn't be something they have to get used to.
Connacht needs a 3rd strong county, so I hope Roscommon can put it up to Mayo and Galway on a consistent basis (apologies Sligo & Leitrim, but Roscommon have better talent coming through!)

From a Mayo point of view, great to win 3 Connacht U-21 titles in a row. There's still talent coming through, even though we haven't won a Connacht minor title in years (they lost to Leitrim by 6 points at weekend  ) Sounded like Aidan Campbell had a brilliant game, I'm surprised he didn't get a proper run during the league - based on that performance, he might get his chance in Omagh on Sunday.

[Buckass]

Good entertainment last night alright.Mayo could've been out of sight at half time but for some wayward shooting.At midfield,thought Parsons was excellent and O'Shea very strong too.Both good purposeful runners.
Maybe it was being surrounded by Rossies but ref seemed to edge towards Mayo in the decision stakes.
Thought Enda Kenny and the Ros no.21(Gorman?) won some good ball off scraps but had no-one running off them.Shine's free kicking was sublime(besides peno).Campbell at wing forward for Mayo was very strong and assured.Impressed with Mayo's two wingbacks too.Mayo's physicality and hunger was exceptional esp. in 1st half.
O'Gara not coming out for 2nd half(presume he was injured?) was a blow but just like the Sligo game the Rossies hit a rhythm and it got white hot for 6-7 minutes.There were some great scores in 1st 10 mins of 2nd half.The missed penalty was crucial.Had he stuck it I don't think Mayo would've quelled the Rossie tide.A couple of Mayo scores kept the wolf from the door but even the insurance score didn't have these Rossies covered in the policy.The point to bring it back to 3(should've been stuck) and Cregg's piledriver off the crossbar(he was exceptional throughout-his point from the right midway thru 2nd half and his tackling were superb) were a fitting finish to an absorbing game that Mayo's hunger and composure deserved to take.
For the AI outright Down must be favourites.

[StoneWall]

Even listening to the commentary, you'd have to feel something for the Roscommon lads.

What the hell is that about?! I've never felt sorry for beating anyone that's half what's wrong with Mayo football. Just look at the senior team against Donegal and Galway not cynical enough to put the game away.

Down must be favourites for the All Ireland as they gave this Mayo group a good hiding in the 2005 minor final. Marty Clarke being in Oz is a big loss.

[OirthearMhaigheo]

Even listening to the commentary, you'd have to feel something for the Roscommon lads.

What the hell is that about?! I've never felt sorry for beating anyone that's half what's wrong with Mayo football. Just look at the senior team against Donegal and Galway not cynical enough to put the game away.

Down must be favourites for the All Ireland as they gave this Mayo group a good hiding in the 2005 minor final. Marty Clarke being in Oz is a big loss.

Ditto Pierce Hanley for us!

[Tubberman]

Even listening to the commentary, you'd have to feel something for the Roscommon lads.

What the hell is that about?! I've never felt sorry for beating anyone that's half what's wrong with Mayo football. Just look at the senior team against Donegal and Galway not cynical enough to put the game away.

Down must be favourites for the All Ireland as they gave this Mayo group a good hiding in the 2005 minor final. Marty Clarke being in Oz is a big loss.

I wasn't saying I was sorry we beat Ros! I was only saying we were lucky to hold on at the end, and Ros were unlucky not to equalise. I agree we could be meaner and more cynical on the field, but giving the opposition their credit is not why we've failed to win an All-Ireland in the last 56 years... 

[Shrewdness]

As a Rossie, i'd like to congratulate Mayo on their deserved victory yesterday evening.

They looked the better balanced team .

[Rossie11]

Heartbreakingly close at the end but over the course of the game Mayo shaded it.
Ross clawed back Sligo in the semi and same group fought back in minor final but was a case of going to the well once too often.
No complaints about the result.
That Campbell is a fine forward for Mayo, has pace and accuracy and caused problems for us all night.
If he can keep it going it will give Mayo every chance in the semi and good luck to them.

[laoisgaa]

 

19.04.2008 (Sat)

Cadburys All Ireland U21 Football Championship

Semi-Final

Nenagh       3.30pm       Ciarraí                  v        Maigh Eo   

                                       Referee:       Tomas Quigley, Baile Átha Cliath



Páirc           5.00pm       An Dún                 v        Cill Dara     

Tailteann                        Referee:       Pat McGovern, Gaillimh                             

[SLIGONIAN]

It sounded like Mayo were fairly comfortable in the first half but the Rossies came storming into it as the second half wore on.
Even listening to the commentary, you'd have to feel something for the Roscommon lads. They had a penalty and Donie Shine blazed it over the bar. They had another 1 on 1 and the forward (can't remember who it was) sent that over too. Then Cathal Cregg hit the crossbar with the final kick of the game.
Still, Rossies can take a lot of encouragement that they have good young players coming through and the recent disastrous results for the seniors shouldn't be something they have to get used to.
Connacht needs a 3rd strong county, so I hope Roscommon can put it up to Mayo and Galway on a consistent basis (apologies Sligo & Leitrim, but Roscommon have better talent coming through!)

From a Mayo point of view, great to win 3 Connacht U-21 titles in a row. There's still talent coming through, even though we haven't won a Connacht minor title in years (they lost to Leitrim by 6 points at weekend  ) Sounded like Aidan Campbell had a brilliant game, I'm surprised he didn't get a proper run during the league - based on that performance, he might get his chance in Omagh on Sunday.

With all due respect Sligo have as good underage coming through as ros, galway and mayo at present.  I mean our minors last yr really should of beaten Galway minors only to lose by 2pts and they kicked on to win all ireland, also this yr we beat galwayu21s, and really blew it against ros. Just because we dont have the winning tradition of others doesnt mean we dont have talent coming through. This yrs minor looks very close to call in connaght aswell so at present and for the next 2 to 3yrs underage in connaght is NO 2 horse race or 3 for that matter . Best of luck against Kerry.

[GalwayBayBoy]

It sounded like Mayo were fairly comfortable in the first half but the Rossies came storming into it as the second half wore on.
Even listening to the commentary, you'd have to feel something for the Roscommon lads. They had a penalty and Donie Shine blazed it over the bar. They had another 1 on 1 and the forward (can't remember who it was) sent that over too. Then Cathal Cregg hit the crossbar with the final kick of the game.
Still, Rossies can take a lot of encouragement that they have good young players coming through and the recent disastrous results for the seniors shouldn't be something they have to get used to.
Connacht needs a 3rd strong county, so I hope Roscommon can put it up to Mayo and Galway on a consistent basis (apologies Sligo & Leitrim, but Roscommon have better talent coming through!)

From a Mayo point of view, great to win 3 Connacht U-21 titles in a row. There's still talent coming through, even though we haven't won a Connacht minor title in years (they lost to Leitrim by 6 points at weekend  ) Sounded like Aidan Campbell had a brilliant game, I'm surprised he didn't get a proper run during the league - based on that performance, he might get his chance in Omagh on Sunday.

With all due respect Sligo have as good underage coming through as ros, galway and mayo at present.

Not until they start winning All-Ireland's or at the very least Connacht titles they don't.

Since 2002 Galway have won two U-21 All-Ireland's and one minor AI.

Mayo have won one U-21 AI and Roscommon one minor AI.

In the same period Mayo have won four (now five) Connacht U-21 titles. Galway have won two.

And Galway have won five Connacht minor titles and Roscommon won one.

Unfortunately there are no prizes for running teams close. Of course that could all change this year.

[SLIGONIAN]

It sounded like Mayo were fairly comfortable in the first half but the Rossies came storming into it as the second half wore on.
Even listening to the commentary, you'd have to feel something for the Roscommon lads. They had a penalty and Donie Shine blazed it over the bar. They had another 1 on 1 and the forward (can't remember who it was) sent that over too. Then Cathal Cregg hit the crossbar with the final kick of the game.
Still, Rossies can take a lot of encouragement that they have good young players coming through and the recent disastrous results for the seniors shouldn't be something they have to get used to.
Connacht needs a 3rd strong county, so I hope Roscommon can put it up to Mayo and Galway on a consistent basis (apologies Sligo & Leitrim, but Roscommon have better talent coming through!)

From a Mayo point of view, great to win 3 Connacht U-21 titles in a row. There's still talent coming through, even though we haven't won a Connacht minor title in years (they lost to Leitrim by 6 points at weekend  ) Sounded like Aidan Campbell had a brilliant game, I'm surprised he didn't get a proper run during the league - based on that performance, he might get his chance in Omagh on Sunday.

With all due respect Sligo have as good underage coming through as ros, galway and mayo at present.

Not until they start winning All-Ireland's or at the very least Connacht titles they don't.

Since 2002 Galway have won two U-21 All-Ireland's and one minor AI.

Mayo have won one U-21 AI and Roscommon one minor AI.

In the same period Mayo have won four (now five) Connacht U-21 titles. Galway have won two.

And Galway have won five Connacht minor titles and Roscommon won one.

Unfortunately there are no prizes for running teams close. Of course that could all change this year.

Last yr we won the senior Connaght championship, now let put this in perspective, we havnt won an underage title since 1968 believe it or not and Galway have 2 u21 all ireland winning teams and Mayo something similiar in the last 5 yrs. That tells me maybe yer not that good at bringing on underage to senior and that is defo the case in Mayo. With all yee won at underage we shouldnt have a chance at senior. But all we have to be is competitive at underage and we are, once we are most of our players improve drastically between 22 to 25 where as id say in mayo galway they seem to lose alot of talent or players get worse. So we mightn win at all but as long as we are competitive it bolds well for our seniors thats my point.

[GalwayBayBoy]

It sounded like Mayo were fairly comfortable in the first half but the Rossies came storming into it as the second half wore on.
Even listening to the commentary, you'd have to feel something for the Roscommon lads. They had a penalty and Donie Shine blazed it over the bar. They had another 1 on 1 and the forward (can't remember who it was) sent that over too. Then Cathal Cregg hit the crossbar with the final kick of the game.
Still, Rossies can take a lot of encouragement that they have good young players coming through and the recent disastrous results for the seniors shouldn't be something they have to get used to.
Connacht needs a 3rd strong county, so I hope Roscommon can put it up to Mayo and Galway on a consistent basis (apologies Sligo & Leitrim, but Roscommon have better talent coming through!)

From a Mayo point of view, great to win 3 Connacht U-21 titles in a row. There's still talent coming through, even though we haven't won a Connacht minor title in years (they lost to Leitrim by 6 points at weekend  ) Sounded like Aidan Campbell had a brilliant game, I'm surprised he didn't get a proper run during the league - based on that performance, he might get his chance in Omagh on Sunday.

With all due respect Sligo have as good underage coming through as ros, galway and mayo at present.

Not until they start winning All-Ireland's or at the very least Connacht titles they don't.

Since 2002 Galway have won two U-21 All-Ireland's and one minor AI.

Mayo have won one U-21 AI and Roscommon one minor AI.

In the same period Mayo have won four (now five) Connacht U-21 titles. Galway have won two.

And Galway have won five Connacht minor titles and Roscommon won one.

Unfortunately there are no prizes for running teams close. Of course that could all change this year.

Last yr we won the senior Connaght championship, now let put this in perspective, we havnt won an underage title since 1968 believe it or not and Galway have 2 u21 all ireland winning teams and Mayo something similiar in the last 5 yrs. That tells me maybe yer not that good at bringing on underage to senior and that is defo the case in Mayo. With all yee won at underage we shouldnt have a chance at senior. But all we have to be is competitive at underage and we are, once we are most of our players improve drastically between 22 to 25 where as id say in mayo galway they seem to lose alot of talent or players get worse. So we mightn win at all but as long as we are competitive it bolds well for our seniors thats my point.

Well if you want to be competitive you might have a point but there is a big difference between being competitive and winning titles.

Of course Sligo won Connacht senior last year but in a five team province where you can win the provincial title sometimes just by winning two games Sligo eventually had to get it right one year. I think the acid test for them is can they keep winning Connacht titles regularly or even win a couple every decade like Roscommon tend to do.

I think the more teams that can challenge any given year should raise the standards all round.

[Rossfan]

]
we could be meaner and more cynical on the field

By Jasus the amount of deliberate fouling ye're backs did any time Ros looked like getting in to threaten for a goal would suggest ye have masterd the mean and cynical bit.
A strict ref would have a fair few yellows and maybe double yellows issued.
Anyway the best team over the 60 minutes won. We barely got into it in the first half and while we fairly gave it everything in the second  6 points deficit was too much to make up against a stronger Mayo side with a better midfield.
Even so we had the chances to save the day in the last five minutes played.
I wonder had the fact that a dozen or so of our lads had been on the Commdts squad since October anything to do with the poor play in the first half?

[dodo]

By Jasus the amount of deliberate fouling ye're backs did any time Ros looked like getting in to threaten for a goal would suggest ye have masterd the mean and cynical bit.
A strict ref would have a fair few yellows and maybe double yellows issued.
Anyway the best team over the 60 minutes won. We barely got into it in the first half and while we fairly gave it everything in the second  6 points deficit was too much to make up against a stronger Mayo side with a better midfield.
Even so we had the chances to save the day in the last five minutes played.
I wonder had the fact that a dozen or so of our lads had been on the Commdts squad since October anything to do with the poor play in the first half?

Mayo were definitely the more cynical in their fouling last night. Had to drag down a few raiding Rossies especially in the second half. Chris Barrett at no.5 was lucky to stay on as he fouled for the penalty and also dragged down his man on another occasion. It was a very good game of football with some excellent scoring from both sides and played in a good spirit. Ross could have taken it at the end or maybe levelled it anyway, happy to have got out of Kiltoom with the win.
Doubt if you can isolate the blame for the first half performance to Mr Maughan !

[Rossfan]

Doubt if you can isolate the blame for the first half performance to Mr Maughan !

If he had left the U21s or 90% of them anyway to thier own devices I think it's common sense to suggest that the U21s would be better prepared and fresher etc.
Down havent a great Senior team at present but I'd be very surprised if they have 12 or 13 of their excellent U21s on the Senior panel.