Mayo v Galway - Connacht Final 13/07/08 14:00 McHale Park, Castlebar

[venter]

Gardiner going forward like a headless chicken is exactly the problem that left us exposed last year in Pearse Stadium.
It lead to at least one goal and a few points because he could not get back in time and they punished us for it. 

Complete rubbish abbeysider. Peader was on the pitch for about 30 minutes that day, in which he played almost all of it at corner back with Fallon and Savage switching, dragging him back. I doubt he left the mayo half of the pitch once. What are you talking about?

[AbbeySider]

Didnt mean to upset you there Venter.

Complete rubbish abbeysider. Peader was on the pitch for about 30 minutes that day, in which he played almost all of it at corner

Exactly, Gardiner lasted 34 minutes. He was replaced by Higgins. He originally started corner back.

I know that the Galway forwards were rotating but when he tried to bomb forward a few times he left men free and us exposed and Cormac Bane banged home two goals in less than 19 minutes! Leaving the score at the interval 2-05 to 0-05! The damage was done. I remember clearly watching Gardiner go forward and not being able to get back on time. I was right beside him in the first half and everyone around me was talking about it so im not talking rubbish. Take it easy with the insults.

[Davitt Man]

Didnt mean to upset you there Venter.

Complete rubbish abbeysider. Peader was on the pitch for about 30 minutes that day, in which he played almost all of it at corner

Exactly, Gardiner lasted 34 minutes. He was replaced by Higgins. He originally started corner back.

I know that the Galway forwards were rotating but when he tried to bomb forward a few times he left men free and us exposed and Cormac Bane banged home two goals in less than 19 minutes! Leaving the score at the interval 2-05 to 0-05! The damage was done. I remember clearly watching Gardiner go forward and not being able to get back on time. I was right beside him in the first half and everyone around me was talking about it so im not talking rubbish. Take it easy with the insults.

Bit harsh blaming Gardner for everything, there were problems right through the team, the backs were not set up properly at all in fairness, putting 2 wings backs in corner back is a basic mistake, devenney and garnder cannot play in the corners

[venter]

Take it easy with the insults.

what insults are you talking about? You can make statements about Mayo footballers, but I cant pass comment on your opinion?? get a grip man.
Take a look at the galway goals on Youtube and tell me exactly how Peadar wa the cause of the whole thing.

[AbbeySider]

Bit harsh blaming Gardner for everything, there were problems right through the team, the backs were not set up properly at all in fairness, putting 2 wings backs in corner back is a basic mistake, devenney and garnder cannot play in the corners

I dont mean to blame Gardiner for everything. The rotation of the Galway forwards really confused things and Gardiner never looked comfortable as an out-and-out defender that day.

It wasnt really fair on him because he likes to play this running game. But I think its a fair point that we were left exposed a few times when he went forward. I think he was marking Savage at the time he went forward and there was a quick kickout and a cross field ball to Savage who hadnt bothered following Gardiner when he went forward. It happened a couple of times. Perhaps if the backs were better organised and there was less confusion then Padear bombing forward would not have been much of a problem.
 

[Davitt Man]

The 1st goal was a long ball over Liam O'Malley who got caught and the 2nd goal BJ losses Bane on the kickout.

[OirthearMhaigheo]

Take it easy with the insults.

what insults are you talking about? You can make statements about Mayo footballers, but I cant pass comment on your opinion?? get a grip man.
Take a look at the galway goals on Youtube and tell me exactly how Peadar wa the cause of the whole thing.

someone is cranky this morning!
I don't think Abbeysider is trying to blame Peadar for the 'whole' thing in fairness. Himself and Devenney were isolated quite smartly by the Galway tactics and it didn't suit them, not really their fault imo. However, Peadar does have a habit of attacking alot from wing back, which is fine but not getting back is where the problem starts. If he could kick the ball better and could let it in to the forwards he would not have to go so far up the field and leave the corner backs exposed. I don't want to make him out to be a scapegoat either because we don't have too many halfbacks who are able to lauch the ball in with accuracy, but I don't think it is too harsh to highlight this obvious weakness in his game.

[venter]

I don't think Abbeysider is trying to blame Peadar for the 'whole' thing in fairness.

Well he's trying to pin as much on him as possible. See quote below. He was on here before saying Galway wouldnt have got both thier goals so easy if it wasn't for Peadar

Gardiner going forward like a headless chicken is exactly the problem that left us exposed last year in Pearse Stadium.
It lead to at least one goal and a few points because he could not get back in time and they punished us for it. 

Just because I dont let comments like above go unchallenged doesn't make me cranky. No harm in highlighting a weakness, as a team we have our share.

[AbbeySider]

...not getting back is where the problem starts. If he could kick the ball better and could let it in to the forwards he would not have to go so far up the field and leave the corner backs exposed. I don't want to make him out to be a scapegoat either because we don't have too many halfbacks who are able to lauch the ball in with accuracy, but I don't think it is too harsh to highlight this obvious weakness in his game.

My sentiments exactly.
Being honest I was never a fan of the running game/tactic that we used to deploy in more recent years. However it worked to some extent under Maughan in the mid-late 90's when we had bigger men and were one of the fittest, if not the fittest team in the country. 

But attacking wing backs in todays game can be much more exposed by cute forwards. Some find it exciting football but I feel like the ball should be let go first time into the forwards. Often in the past you see the forwards making a run and being out in front but they didnt get it first time because of the handpassing/messing around the half back/midfield area. Only to go running into trouble and losing possession.

I think this is a key tactic that JOM is trying to move away from. Last week against Sligo he went with Nallen and Tom Cunniffe as wing backs because they are more natural defenders and would not be trying to go forward like sometimes Trev Mortimor, Gardiner, Heaney did in the past.

[An Gaeilgoir]

...not getting back is where the problem starts. If he could kick the ball better and could let it in to the forwards he would not have to go so far up the field and leave the corner backs exposed. I don't want to make him out to be a scapegoat either because we don't have too many halfbacks who are able to lauch the ball in with accuracy, but I don't think it is too harsh to highlight this obvious weakness in his game.

My sentiments exactly.
Being honest I was never a fan of the running game/tactic that we used to deploy in more recent years. However it worked to some extent under Maughan in the mid-late 90's when we had bigger men and were one of the fittest, if not the fittest team in the country. 

But attacking wing backs in todays game can be much more exposed by cute forwards. Some find it exciting football but I feel like the ball should be let go first time into the forwards. Often in the past you see the forwards making a run and being out in front but they didnt get it first time because of the handpassing/messing around the half back/midfield area. Only to go running into trouble and losing possession.

I think this is a key tactic that JOM is trying to move away from. Last week against Sligo he went with Nallen and Tom Cunniffe as wing backs because they are more natural defenders and would not be trying to go forward like sometimes Trev Mortimor, Gardiner, Heaney did in the past.

There is no doubt that our attacking wing backs were leaving us exposed in the back line when the ball was turned over in the oppositions defensive areas. Did any one notice last Sunday how Mayo used the short passing game to get the ball out of defence. This resulted in the first three scores for Sligo, we would want to get rid of that against Galway or we will be punished. Galway may have frailties in mid-field where Tom Parsons is one for the future no doubt for us, Sligo had one forward and they were in twice for reasonable goal scoring chances. Will the men in maroon be so generous? i dont think so.... nothing between these two teams at the moment.

[Farrandeelin]

My early feeling, even coming out of the Sligo match is that Galway will do enough to win this one. They seem to have the upper-hand on the games lately, and with Joyce out at no 11, he is a 'revelation' for them. He is spraying balls here there and everywhere and is accurately finding his forwards. Mayo on the otherhand started hand-passing the ball around the 30 metre line and lost possession now and again... If Sligo put up a good fight, maybe I would be in the 'we're going to beat Galway brigade' but any time I am in that mindset we lose.

[AbbeySider]

Did any one notice last Sunday how Mayo used the short passing game to get the ball out of defence. This resulted in the first three scores for Sligo, we would want to get rid of that against Galway or we will be punished.

Mayo on the otherhand started hand-passing the ball around the 30 metre line and lost possession now and again...

I noticed that creeping in too. We were not fluent enough when working the ball out of defence. There was no one running off the shoulder of the person in possession to help them out of trouble. I hope this laxly-daisy effort was a once off against Sligo. The whole game was played at a league pace.

I think Heaney got caught out badly at one stage but in fairness there was no one making the burst to help him out. McGarrity passed straight to the opposition too in a similar lapse in concentration. Simple mistakes like that wont happen against Galway I hope!

[mayoman dan]

Any update on Trevor Howley or are we keepin quiet incase a certain Mr Sammon is peekin at the board
Surley to God Gardiners starting place is gone for the final,hes just not a forward.Dillon to come in at CF with Harte
on the wing or maybe keep Harte at CF and put Dillon on the left wing.What about Andy Moran i know he has a tremendous
work rate and wins a savage amount of ball but he dosent score enough and Kilcoynes goal will have him
knocking on the door,although i still think Kilcoyne is better used as an impact sub.

[moysider]

There s a fairly reliable update on somewhere about on the board Dan - maybe on a different thread.

Maybe its a good thing that the story of Mayo v Sligo is how bad Sligo was but the reality is that Leitrim started as poorly against Galway as Sligo did against
Mayo. Leitrim were abysmal in the first 20 mins, clueless as regards tracking runners and stopping ball carriers. Leitrim got a goal to get them back into the game and nailed several frees to make it interesting until the last 10 minutes. David Clarke made 3 fine saves the last day. He was my man of match because those saves meant that Sligo were left without anything to get them going. It left them without hope. If either of the first couple of chances had been scored then Sligo would have got some resolve and could have got a surge on. Thats the way things go in sport. It s alright being wise after the event and say that Sligo were rubbish. The reality is that
Mayo were mostly responsible for making them look bad and Clarke shut the door. Remember we were stuck on 6 points until about 55 mins. A Sligo goal before that would have brought them into the game. One of our 11 points was at least a foot wide. Our score was modest enough in the circumstances. This is now the test for management. The team needs to be tweaked to win this Connacht. My worry is that we wont find our best team until we re facing down the barrell of a gun in a qualifier and in a situation beyond us. Galway is a big match for us. We ve only won 2 Connachts this decade and there s only 2 chances left. Whatever it takes to beat Galway needs to be done.

[IolarCoisCuain]

It's interesting - and slightly intimidating - to reflect just how important this Connacht Final is for Mayo. If Mayo win it then they make it to the last eight, which we would have taken at the start of the summer. And once you're there you don't what will happen. The team are unlikely to win an All-Ireland because they're too loose at the back and don't rack up scores, but they could pop a qualifier in a quarter-final and then we still have something to talk about in August, coming up to the big fair day in Erris. That's not a bad summer, all things considered.

Lose the Connacht Final, however, and you're looking at some dangerous boys in the qualifiers and question marks rising again over more or less every line of the team. To say nothing of Forgotten Men. Johnno was hoping to get people to stay calm, but that's not going to happen now - thank God.

The two Connacht titles that Moysider mentions for Mayo this decade isn't quite as terrible as it sounds. Unless I'm mistaken, it works out like this:

2001: Roscommon
2002: Galway
2003: Galway
2004: Mayo
2005: Galway
2006: Mayo
2007: Sligo

That's not too bad, really, from a Mayo perspective. The wins for Roscommon and Sligo prevent it from being a Galway hegemony, which would be a worst case scenario for Mayo.

Mayo's putrid performances in the qualifiers are perhaps a cause of greater concern. Any year Mayo have been in them they really haven't tried - the only time they got any sort of run was in 2002 when they beat Roscommon, Limerick and Tipperary. Once they came up against Cork in the quarters they got butchered. I wonder why that is? My best guess is that Mayo are a team that need momentum in order to bolster up fragile self-belief. Another reason not to lose the Connacht Final.