On RTE's Up for the match programme in 2004 the presenters spoke to audience members and 1 Mayo man (may have been a player in the 1950s) said that 'Mayo won't beat Kerry tomorrow as the players are too soft, they aren't hardy enough' He continued 'when we were playing in the 30s, 40s and 50s we travelled every corner of Mayo to find big strong men, we looked at people in manual labour such as farmers, builders etc, we went to rural areas like Ballycastle, Achill, Erris, Louisburgh as well as towns in the south and east to find these men, the panel today (2004) is made up of students, teachers and office boys, they are too soft for Kerry' They are his words not mine and if people listened to others ye would have heard that statement 10 yrs ago. As for what i'm smoking i'm not, all i'm breathing in is cool clear clean Atlantic breeze. From !995 to 2000 north mayo dominated the senior champ and at the same time John Maughan (Crossmolina) was Mayo manager and after that Pat Holmes from Moygownagh. Charlestown won in 2001 with north dominating again from 2002-2007 when John Maughan returned for the 2nd time and was replaced by Mickey Moran from Derry in 2006, east mayo teams won in 2008 and 09 and John O'Mahoney an eastern man was manager, when west mayo dominated from 2010-2013 (only exception was 2012 when Ballaghaderreen won) and James Horan (Ballintubber) was rightly given the Mayo manager job from 2011-2014. When each divisional area dominates for a period then the manager usually comes from the successful divisional area. It sometimes winds up other areas but that's football. Nothing hilarious about that

riverboys (Mayo) - Posts: 1389 - 17/09/2014 21:33:40    1653241

Current Mayo team the best in my lifetime & I have seen a fair few. Horan has done a great job but unfortunately for him he could not unearth the extra forward or two needed to push his team over the winning line. Perhaps disgruntled Mayo folk should look at their underage coaching structures with an added emphasis on producing scoring forwards.

This has always been their Achilles heel and all too often they have relied on a single class forward to try an deliver the goods. You need at least three or four good scoring forwards to win an All Ireland and one or two dirty ball winners to back them up.

dingle2 (Kerry) - Posts: 278 - 17/09/2014 21:37:21    1653242

dingle2
County: Kerry
Posts: 40
You need at least three or four good scoring forwards to win an All Ireland and one or two dirty ball winners to back them up

***************************************

Is that an admittance that Kerry won't or shouldn't win the All Ireland this year as ye have only one good scoring forward in O'Donoghue?

MaigheoAbu (Mayo) - Posts: 343 - 18/09/2014 10:36:30    1653302

Funningly enough I dont think this Mayo are fecked.
Under Horan they seem to have a great mindset of taking each game one game at a time. Not looking back on the previous year's disappointment.
Mayo will be back again next year, likely having a craic at Dublin in the semis

woops (Kerry) - Posts: 2073 - 18/09/2014 12:09:00    1653341

James horan, or Mayo owe nothing to anybody, i think James should have stayed on,but i wish him all the best for the future, Mayo? they will be back,within the next 2,3 year s they will win Sam, all the best to Mayo for the future, look yous took us apart last year, if we can come back, yous can also.

mchugh11 (Donegal) - Posts: 242 - 18/09/2014 12:54:29    1653372

Real shame he went, brought a new dimension to Mayo game, unfortunately competition is a plenty out there. Introduced some great young players, employed different systems and drew upon some older heads also. Real shame, love to see them lift the big one.

beauty (Tipperary) - Posts: 5 - 18/09/2014 13:53:29    1653411

riverboys
County: Mayo
Posts: 72

1653241
On RTE's Up for the match programme in 2004 the presenters spoke to audience members and 1 Mayo man (may have been a player in the 1950s) said that 'Mayo won't beat Kerry tomorrow as the players are too soft, they aren't hardy enough' He continued 'when we were playing in the 30s, 40s and 50s we travelled every corner of Mayo to find big strong men, we looked at people in manual labour such as farmers, builders etc, we went to rural areas like Ballycastle, Achill, Erris, Louisburgh as well as towns in the south and east to find these men, the panel today (2004) is made up of students, teachers and office boys, they are too soft for Kerry' They are his words not mine and if people listened to others ye would have heard that statement 10 yrs ago. As for what i'm smoking i'm not, all i'm breathing in is cool clear clean Atlantic breeze. From !995 to 2000 north mayo dominated the senior champ and at the same time John Maughan (Crossmolina) was Mayo manager and after that Pat Holmes from Moygownagh. Charlestown won in 2001 with north dominating again from 2002-2007 when John Maughan returned for the 2nd time and was replaced by Mickey Moran from Derry in 2006, east mayo teams won in 2008 and 09 and John O'Mahoney an eastern man was manager, when west mayo dominated from 2010-2013 (only exception was 2012 when Ballaghaderreen won) and James Horan (Ballintubber) was rightly given the Mayo manager job from 2011-2014. When each divisional area dominates for a period then the manager usually comes from the successful divisional area. It sometimes winds up other areas but that's football. Nothing hilarious about that

Is your portrayal of the '51 team accurate? I thought it was a team of the educated elite? Doctors, lawyers, pharmacists... future ministers?

And that Kerry team that beat them in 04 was made up of school teachers, auctioneers and bank officials. The days of manual labour as a form of training are gone my friend. It's all about detailed conditioning programmes with optimal rest and recovery. There's a reason Cillian O Connor chose primary school teaching...

roundball (Tipperary) - Posts: 2514 - 18/09/2014 17:03:45    1653534

Keith Higgins works in the bank. Call him soft to his face ,

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7346 - 18/09/2014 20:58:19    1653631

The mayo team of 51 had a few future politicians, doctors, lawyers etc. That nonsense about farmers and labourers is purely that. It was a mix of professions just like any other amateur team.

tirawleybaron (Mayo) - Posts: 1109 - 19/09/2014 08:14:04    1653669

Not my words, read the post above

riverboys (Mayo) - Posts: 1389 - 19/09/2014 17:20:38    1654018

Not having a go at you personally riverboy. Just pointing out that old boys telling tall tales and talking ramieas on Up for the Match is a time honoured tradition!

roundball (Tipperary) - Posts: 2514 - 19/09/2014 18:52:18    1654059

I remember a Kerry lad on the radio a while back talking about one of the teams he played on fifty or sixty years ago. He said the team was made up of farmers and fishermen and a "college boy" to take the frees.

Llaw_Gyffes (Mayo) - Posts: 1113 - 19/09/2014 19:05:38    1654062

woops
County: Kerry
Posts: 1122

1653341
Funningly enough I dont think this Mayo are fecked.
Under Horan they seem to have a great mindset of taking each game one game at a time. Not looking back on the previous year's disappointment.
Mayo will be back again next year, likely having a craic at Dublin in the semis

I agree, popular opinion seems to think this is the end for Mayo and perhaps they are on a downward spiral - I don't think that is the case at all, indeed, perhaps the lack of pressure and media talk might go in their favour next year.

Everyone has an opinion on Mayo but quite frankly they are a phenomenal team, one of the best teams probably ever to come from the county - I'm sure the Mayo lads might disagree with me on that point. What I saw this year v Kerry when down to 14 and the start of that second half was not a team in decline, it was probably the greatest half from any team I've saw ever and perhaps Horan moving on might inspire them to greater things. I would be a believer that one man shouldn't lead the same team for more than 3-4 years, Horan had his crack, came up just short but I don't think Mayo are on the way down one bit.

GetOverTheBar (Tyrone) - Posts: 1388 - 20/09/2014 14:06:00    1654202

I agree with the last few posts Mayo aren't fecked, with the high standard of football played in the past 4 years Mayo fans and more imporatantly Mayo players expect high standards in management, more than likely they will always make the quarter finals on August bank holiday weekend and hopefully push on from there. The few older players on the panel bring experience with them and younger lads bring passion and excitement, both together will bring a drive for the Holy Grail with them. I still believe though that we are short a number of players to reach the promised land, quality players like Higgins, Keegan, Boyle, 2 O'Sheas, O'Connor, McLoughlin along with Dillon and Andy Moran maybe as impact subs won't be enough, maybe give the bench more gametime to test them out, have seen Ger Cafferkey play brillantly at fullback in the past but the 2 Kerry games and at other times in the champ he let himself down, maybe he wasn't fully focused, same with other players, no amount of training will stop the head losing concentration at times and those inches can cost a game, it's just mentally tired. How many county players in any county play a poor game for their clubs a week or 2 after they are beaten in the AllIreland championship again it's just mentally and physically tired

riverboys (Mayo) - Posts: 1389 - 20/09/2014 17:34:32    1654272

A Thread I started many months ago...

Mayo really are their own worst enemy...

Now there's even division within the panel.. never mind outside influence's

jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20600 - 30/09/2015 14:37:12    1794269

tirawleybaron
County: Mayo
Posts: 511

1653669
The mayo team of 51 had a few future politicians, doctors, lawyers etc. That nonsense about farmers and labourers is purely that. It was a mix of professions just like any other amateur team.

Spot on, Barron. Padraig Carney, Joe Gilvarry, John McAndrew, Michael Loftus and Paddy Prendergast were doctors, as I recall, while Seán Flanagan was a solicitor (who went on to become an MEP) and Eamon Mongey was a constitutional lawyer. Peter Solan was a civil engineer while Peter Quinn is a priest. Tom Langan was a detective while Paddy Jordan was a businessman. Hardly a construction worker or farmer among them.

I believe the Galway three-in-a-row winning team of the 1960s were also a highly-educated bunch.

Gleebo (Mayo) - Posts: 2208 - 30/09/2015 15:58:10    1794339

Horan cost Mayo 2 All Irelands with tactics

HughHunt24 (Cork) - Posts: 841 - 01/10/2015 12:58:10    1794676