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Why Mayo Cant Win An All-Ireland

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Replying To waynoI:  "Sick of hearing ..... "next year"

THIS was their year. They dumped us out and Kerry werent in the final either. The two teams who were hotly favoured at the start of the year, gone. The 6 in a row champs outplayed and out fought for large periods and a Kerry team who were to take the mantle. Alas they ended up playing a Tyrone team who themselves hadnt played in a final in years. Mayo had far more experience of all Ireland finals in their ranks than Tyrone. Literally everything in their favour

And yet still, in typical Mayo fashion, they contrived to lose.

I never really want Mayo to win it, but after they beat us I was absolutely comfortable with the fact they will win it, this was their time, even more so when kerry went out.

But you know what, I dont feel sorry for Mayo. They are massive architects of their own downfall. I think they enjoy being bridesmaids. They enjoy the romance of being nearly men and the love in that the country have for them as a result. They all enjoy losing. They live of coming back from amazing failure and morale victories. Look at us, were never down for long arent we a great bunch that we always come back and get to the final.... but when it comes to it, they just dont have the cajones to get it over the line and it's time to admit that they never will. Their fans are brilliant, and they along with the players feel like they probably deserve an all Ireland. But they dont. You'll win one when you deserve to win one. Their mentality is weak. On the biggest of days, they fail again and again.

They'll always bounce back and when it comes to finals of all irelands, they'll always lose"
You seem to forget that Tyrone team play has played in two of the last 4 finals,and three of the last four semifinals

dubarra (Wicklow) - Posts: 541 - 12/09/2021 16:07:39    2379991

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Replying To Galway9801:  "Absolutely, more i think of it, James Horan is too good a manager not to have taken him off imo, there must be some serious serious player power there, or something going on behind the scenes anyways."
Maybe he didn't take him off because he felt he didn't have a player capable of replacing him and that player being effective. I would have taken him off but equally I know who had the strongest bench yesterday.

wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 2092 - 12/09/2021 16:15:26    2379995

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Simple, not good enough

DuhallowRed (Cork) - Posts: 310 - 12/09/2021 16:39:40    2380004

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Replying To Galway9801:  "I experienced the same as a galway hurling fan in the 2015 final when kilkenny, who had loads of all Irelands, outfought and wore down the galway team who at the time had never won one. I appreciated their effort overall, amateur sportsmen etc, but at the same time,, come on lads ffs."
That was great Kilkenny team and had the experience to wear us down. Do you not realise that it is harder for teams to break through when you do not have a history of winning especially against a team that do. Do ye ever stop to think that maybe just maybe that in recent years mayo were beaten mostly by the best team to play the game. You can have all the desire you want but if a team is better that you there isn't really much you can do. I think they were very unlucky in recent years as no one came close to beating this Dublin team bar mayo.

ecad123 (Galway) - Posts: 272 - 12/09/2021 17:17:46    2380010

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Replying To Bon:  "I'd prefer to actually win an All Ireland to be honest."
Your county, Kildare, have contested one All-Ireland final in the last 86 years (lost in 1998). I would have thought a day out at Croke Park in an AI final, whatever the result, would be a dream come true.

Cockney_Cat (UK) - Posts: 2734 - 12/09/2021 17:21:06    2380011

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I think we can only assess the current Mayo squad, no point harping back to previous years. The current squad probably over achieved this year by getting to the final, they are a very inexperienced side and lost their best forward Cillian O'Connor. At the moment their squad just isn't strong enough to win an All-Ireland as was proven yesterday, the calibre of the Tyrone subs was far superior. Its fine calling for AOS to be subbed but who was going to replace him?

If Mayo can keep their heads and be patient with the younger players I feel they could win the All-Ireland in the next few years. Surely these younger players will only improve and I am certain they will improve their squad.

Green_Gold (Donegal) - Posts: 1906 - 12/09/2021 17:39:49    2380016

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Replying To ecad123:  "That was great Kilkenny team and had the experience to wear us down. Do you not realise that it is harder for teams to break through when you do not have a history of winning especially against a team that do. Do ye ever stop to think that maybe just maybe that in recent years mayo were beaten mostly by the best team to play the game. You can have all the desire you want but if a team is better that you there isn't really much you can do. I think they were very unlucky in recent years as no one came close to beating this Dublin team bar mayo."
Kerry ??

superbluedub (Dublin) - Posts: 2842 - 12/09/2021 17:42:59    2380017

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Replying To seanie_boy:  "Why can't Meath win a Leinster title? Mayo are a great football county and have every right to be proud of their footballers. And Just like Tyrone yesterday I do believe they'll send one of their lads up the hogan steps to lift Sam."
Meath have won a Leinster 11 years ago and have won all Ireland's in the time that mayo haven't and have a better strike rate than mayo. And will win Leinster and all ire before mayo will again. Did you not see our minors win the all ire this year despite been underdogs?

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 12/09/2021 17:43:54    2380018

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Replying To Cockney_Cat:  "Your county, Kildare, have contested one All-Ireland final in the last 86 years (lost in 1998). I would have thought a day out at Croke Park in an AI final, whatever the result, would be a dream come true."
Had that in 98 so I'm happy enough ;)

Bon (Kildare) - Posts: 2271 - 12/09/2021 17:45:08    2380019

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Who the hell dreams about a day out?

My county never gets within an asses roar of Croke Park but if you offered me a losers days out I would tell you where to shove it. Might as well be at home on the couch if we aren't going there to win.

Steve (Fermanagh) - Posts: 293 - 12/09/2021 17:47:22    2380020

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Replying To sam1884:  "Some good points, Mayo as a footballing county are achieving success though, they're winning Provincial titles, playing Div 1 football and getting to All Ireland Finals. There are around 20 - 25 counties who'd love Mayo's success year on year and they don't deserve the criticism that goes their way.

1996 and 1997 were two big defeats, 00's was a very strong era for football and the 10's had the best team to play the game in their prime, the finals against Dublin particularly 2017 was one of the best Mayo performances ever, they performed and it look that great Dublin team everything they had to beat Mayo.

But from 1996 to now the burden of defeats in All Ireland Finals is clear to see, it has become an obsession to win it and this must put serious pressure on Mayo teams. Tyrone struggled to get over the line for years but when they did, we seen yesterday they just rocked up relaxed, played a game of football and won an All Ireland.

What I did notice this week looking at the two counties social media, Mayo's were all about commercial activities, fundraising, golf classics etc whilst Tyrone's was about football and community, maybe that shows the difference in the week of an All Ireland Final."
Ah yes I hear that players are deeply affected by whatever golf classics are going on in the background. That might be it surely.

TheFlaker (Mayo) - Posts: 8356 - 12/09/2021 18:12:19    2380025

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Replying To Trump2020:  "Obviously Mayo have GREAT footballers or they couldn't get to the All Ireland on such a consistent basis but for one reason or another they come up short. Would you rather be Mayo and constantly compete at the top or be like Longford or Roscommon for example and almost never get there and almost never compete? Mayo are on the right track and like everything worthwhile you have to just keep trying."
Nice little dig Trump but to say we 'almost never compete ' coming off contesting an AI u20 final 6 weeks ago, our 3rd such final in 10 years , sharing the last 6 Connacht Finals 2-2-2 with yourselves and Mayo , what are you on about ?

Anyway this thread is not about us and I dont much like the general gist of the thread. Very harsh on Mayo , the players are amateurs , dont owe anything to anyone.

facethepuckout (Roscommon) - Posts: 219 - 12/09/2021 18:21:49    2380028

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Replying To ConnollyDub:  "I never understand the mayo fans constantly praising the mayo team for being "gallant losers". "Ah sure it just wasn't our day" bla blah blah... until you lose this attitude you will win nothing. There comes a point where you just have to say ah here lads enough is enough. You should be outraged. Outraged at the team for not giving it their best shot AGAIN. Outraged at management for making poor decisions AGAIN. Outraged that Tyrone looked like the team that wanted it more. Just like the games with Dublin in 16 & 17, when the game was in the melting pot, Dublin refused to be beaten and just wanted it more. How the hell could any team want it more than mayo after all they've been through. I'm sorry lads but the time for taps on the back is over..... it's not good enough. The mayo team has consistently let you lot as fans down. It's time to be outraged. Less praise more outrage. The mayo team has become too comfortable with losing, and the fans congratulating them on losing doesn't help. 11 finals 0 wins in 30 years. There is not another sport in the world you will see a record even remotely close to that."
I think if you know any Mayo people praising this or other Mayo teams for being gallant losers, as you say, then they're not genuine Mayo gaelic football supporters with the best long term interest of Mayo gaelic football at heart. They're bandwagoners on Facebook. Or the other extreme is to the long list of post All Ireland scapegoats including 'bad luck'. I definitely think for some that being critical of the team is like criticising a family member, it's a county pride thing. But there are ways to criticise constructively without embarrasing or demeaning anyone. Not trying to change, at least, is just going backwards when other counties move on and improve.

After losing a third All Ireland in 8 years in 1997 the question to be asked was why are we good enough to get to finals but not win them? 24 years later we can't honestly say that question has been answered and how to find ways and means of us getting our senior footballers over the line. Most of our player and our sideline played like a team that were happy to be in the final yesterday. Tyrone went to Croke Park to win an All Ireland believing they would win and congratulations to them. We have some some good footballers and coaches. We need to discover why it is that some players and staff lack self-belief on the biggest day before we can try and do something about it. Make some people accountable for finding why it happens time and again and go and put a plan in place to fix it.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7926 - 12/09/2021 18:25:26    2380030

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Replying To ecad123:  "That was great Kilkenny team and had the experience to wear us down. Do you not realise that it is harder for teams to break through when you do not have a history of winning especially against a team that do. Do ye ever stop to think that maybe just maybe that in recent years mayo were beaten mostly by the best team to play the game. You can have all the desire you want but if a team is better that you there isn't really much you can do. I think they were very unlucky in recent years as no one came close to beating this Dublin team bar mayo."
That's it. There's way too much bs being talked about Mayo's 'character', when the reality is that their 'transition' is a little less advanced than many have billed it in the last 2 months. The reality is that they are still a fairly greenhorn outfit, with young inexperienced players in every line of their team, players who still have a lot to prove at the highest level. At the other end of the spectrum, half of their starting forward line yesterday are probably nearer to the end of their careers than to the start, and are likely past their peak form. It's an indictment of P.Joyce's Galway management 2020 & 2021 imo, that the reputation of this Mayo team has swelled to the level it's at, when you look closely at the constituent parts of that Mayo side. Then again. Horan claimed that yesterday was 'an offday', or words to that affect certainly.

Pope_Benedict (Galway) - Posts: 4102 - 12/09/2021 18:32:53    2380033

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Replying To seanie_boy:  "Why can't Meath win a Leinster title? Mayo are a great football county and have every right to be proud of their footballers. And Just like Tyrone yesterday I do believe they'll send one of their lads up the hogan steps to lift Sam."
As you say Mayo are a great football county and have some of the most faithful fans in the country, who pick themselves up year after year in the hope that this year will be the one. The keyboard psychologist are quick to tell us where Mayo are going wrong and inform posters that Mayo are happy with second place, its all about the journey, content with their lot, a team full of big personalities who really call the shots, best being they actuall contrive to lose. In reallity the one final they should have won was against Meath in 96, finals after that they were beaten by the better team on the day. If we were talking about a team of well paid professionals then I could understand some of the smug vitriol coming their way, however this is a group of amateurs who give up a huge part of their lives to represent their county and bounce back time and time. Mayo fans are rightly proud of their team and could teach many other counties (my own included) what supporting you county is all about.

seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2214 - 12/09/2021 19:21:04    2380041

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Mayo people in general, in my own experience, are a very nice, down to earth bunch of people. No airs and graces, just ordinary decent people from the west of Ireland. Life seems more easy going out there. The original poster may have been right when he said that they don't have a ruthless streak. There could well be something in that.

Cavan_Shambles (Cavan) - Posts: 575 - 12/09/2021 19:41:43    2380047

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Replying To Trump2020:  "Obviously Mayo have GREAT footballers or they couldn't get to the All Ireland on such a consistent basis but for one reason or another they come up short. Would you rather be Mayo and constantly compete at the top or be like Longford or Roscommon for example and almost never get there and almost never compete? Mayo are on the right track and like everything worthwhile you have to just keep trying."
"Obviously Mayo have GREAT footballers or they couldn't get to the All Ireland on such a consistent basis but for one reason or another they come up short."

Just like the Galway hurlers?

Cockney_Cat (UK) - Posts: 2734 - 12/09/2021 19:48:00    2380048

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Replying To ecad123:  "That was great Kilkenny team and had the experience to wear us down. Do you not realise that it is harder for teams to break through when you do not have a history of winning especially against a team that do. Do ye ever stop to think that maybe just maybe that in recent years mayo were beaten mostly by the best team to play the game. You can have all the desire you want but if a team is better that you there isn't really much you can do. I think they were very unlucky in recent years as no one came close to beating this Dublin team bar mayo."
Disagree on both points.
Experience helps you (sometimes) to keep calm when perhaps there's a difficult point on, or to slow the game down if needs be, not making silly mistakes etc,,,, at one stage in the 2nd half of that 2015 final a kilkenny man went for the ball with three galway men trying to tackle him and he still came out with it,leaving them in his wake. That's not experience imo, that's drive.

As for Mayo, yes, over their 11 finals there have been times when they simply lost to a better team, but the 96,13,16,17,finals were all winnable going into the final stretch, and the 04,06,12,20 finals all featured very early goal concessions . (conceded a very early goal in 17 too).

Galway9801 (Galway) - Posts: 1942 - 12/09/2021 19:50:33    2380050

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Replying To royaldunne:  "Meath have won a Leinster 11 years ago and have won all Ireland's in the time that mayo haven't and have a better strike rate than mayo. And will win Leinster and all ire before mayo will again. Did you not see our minors win the all ire this year despite been underdogs?"
Fair enough but underage success does not always follow through to the senior panel. And in fairness,and you know it,11 yes is too long for a county like Meath.

seanie_boy (Tyrone) - Posts: 4235 - 12/09/2021 19:53:38    2380051

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Replying To Galway9801:  "Disagree on both points.
Experience helps you (sometimes) to keep calm when perhaps there's a difficult point on, or to slow the game down if needs be, not making silly mistakes etc,,,, at one stage in the 2nd half of that 2015 final a kilkenny man went for the ball with three galway men trying to tackle him and he still came out with it,leaving them in his wake. That's not experience imo, that's drive.

As for Mayo, yes, over their 11 finals there have been times when they simply lost to a better team, but the 96,13,16,17,finals were all winnable going into the final stretch, and the 04,06,12,20 finals all featured very early goal concessions . (conceded a very early goal in 17 too)."
But there is simply no team in history who win against that 2016 or 2017 dublin team. The fact mayo were close going down the stretch doesn't mean dublin weren't a significantly better team. It means mayo were able to rise to the occasion unlike this year.

The 97, 04, 06 and this year mayo underperformed. The other finals they didn't.

Sssthe (Mayo) - Posts: 59 - 12/09/2021 20:33:43    2380059

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