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Mayo GAA Thread

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Not having a left footed free taker at senior inter county level is unforgivable. Also removing the in form player from the frees was a strange move. Conversion rate from dead balls was poor. Sideline for Mayo were poor & were caught out tactically.

moc.dna (Galway) - Posts: 1212 - 25/04/2022 11:47:05    2413020

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Replying To Gleebo:  "Well lads, what say ye now?

First of all, congratulations to Galway, they took some excellent scores, particularly in the second half, and won a lot of breaking ball around the middle. Shane Walsh was on song with the 45s too, which should maybe focus the minds of some coaches around our county, given that we haven't had a free taker consistently capable of scoring one off the ground since Maurice Sheridan retired nearly twenty years back.

The second thing is that there is a very clear template out there to beat us, which has been recently implemented by Galway, Tyrone and Kerry (in the regular NFL game in Tralee). Clog up the middle and force us to shoot from distance or from narrow angles, and in the event of a turnover, take advantage of the acres of space in front of our goal through quick ball.

I don't think we have ever been comfortable with teams deploying these tactics and so it was the case again yesterday. It's also very noticeable that several Mayo players are not at ease shooting off their weaker foot, which maybe again reflects coaching deficiencies at underage level. The scoring tally from play yesterday was also very poor.

In mitigation, our injury list is fairly horrific at this point, and Oisín Mullin would be another huge loss. But nonetheless the game was there to be won in the second half, but we looked very stale and out of ideas. My impression is that the running game that Horan introduced ten years ago no longer suits many of our senior players, the likes of Keegan, DOC, AOS, Doherty etc.

Back to the drawing board now, but at least the six week gap will hopefully give us enough time to strengthen the starting XV again."
That's three big games in a row where we've been found out. Every team needs to contend with injuries. Galway the much hungrier team working to a better gameplan than ours. The scoreboard was no reflection of the gap in standatds yesterday, they had the foot easing off the pedal towards the end of the second half. Congratulations to them. We need a bit more variation in tactics for the qualifier game and quicker ball into the forward line. The free kick back the field in the first half fairly well summed up how we were thinking. A lot of work to do but we've been here before. Onwards and upwards.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7927 - 25/04/2022 12:06:02    2413035

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Just not good enough yesterday. 12 wides and 31 attacks (10 more than Galway) suggests we had enough chances to win it. 28 minutes in the 2nd half without a score is criminal and in truth Galway deserved the win. It would have been daylight robbery if we stole the draw at the end.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11544 - 25/04/2022 13:09:09    2413067

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Replying To moc.dna:  "Not having a left footed free taker at senior inter county level is unforgivable. Also removing the in form player from the frees was a strange move. Conversion rate from dead balls was poor. Sideline for Mayo were poor & were caught out tactically."
Hennelly would usually take the 45s left-footed, to be fair. But it's been a problem for the close-in frees for a long time now (seem to remember K. McLoughlin skying one at the end of the Roscommon game three years ago because we have no left-footer to take it).

Would agree that P. Joyce won the tactical duel hands-down.

Gleebo (Mayo) - Posts: 2208 - 25/04/2022 13:14:48    2413072

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Replying To yew_tree:  "Just not good enough yesterday. 12 wides and 31 attacks (10 more than Galway) suggests we had enough chances to win it. 28 minutes in the 2nd half without a score is criminal and in truth Galway deserved the win. It would have been daylight robbery if we stole the draw at the end."
Bit of a contradiction saying it would be daylight robbery! We had enough chances to draw or possibly win the game. Not having someone to take 45s or frees off the left was the main difference between the 2 teams.

Galway won fair and square so good luck to them.

Wouldn't be too despondent. Get a few players back from injury and I think we'll get to a quarter final anyway.

MayoDan (Mayo) - Posts: 448 - 25/04/2022 13:50:39    2413095

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Same old story.
What is the point in going man to man and then playing the ball back and over in the forward line, the point is to turn over the ball high up the field and have numbers up there to attack. yesterday they attacked so slowly and in defense left acres of space for Galway to run into. Conroy was just punting the ball into space and Galway were running onto it, simple stuff.
Why was Cillian O Connor the focal point in attack and back on frees, O Donoghue had proven himself o be left as the focal point inside and left on frees. Cillian taking off his left then, what the hell..
Missing the pace of Durcan and Mullin was a huge loss, especially to break down the double sweeper system, but there is too many lads being carried on that team. cant be starting Plunkett and Coen both very limited, Loftus and Doherty also very limited.
All shows to me anyways, Horan is not good enough, he is good at majority but lets himself down on matchday.

Funny though for both counties when both arguing about managers and former managers.
Mayo fans argue about who was better Horan or Rochford, and yesterday was an exact replicate of Rochford team against Galway.
Galway fans gave out about Kevin Walsh and how Joyce will bring back the 'Traditional football', and yesterday Joyce won his first championship game playing the exact tactics Walsh used. I would say, It was Joyce letting Cian O Neill implement the tactics, which worked perfectly for them.

tommy132 (Mayo) - Posts: 635 - 25/04/2022 14:41:00    2413116

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Replying To tommy132:  "Same old story.
What is the point in going man to man and then playing the ball back and over in the forward line, the point is to turn over the ball high up the field and have numbers up there to attack. yesterday they attacked so slowly and in defense left acres of space for Galway to run into. Conroy was just punting the ball into space and Galway were running onto it, simple stuff.
Why was Cillian O Connor the focal point in attack and back on frees, O Donoghue had proven himself o be left as the focal point inside and left on frees. Cillian taking off his left then, what the hell..
Missing the pace of Durcan and Mullin was a huge loss, especially to break down the double sweeper system, but there is too many lads being carried on that team. cant be starting Plunkett and Coen both very limited, Loftus and Doherty also very limited.
All shows to me anyways, Horan is not good enough, he is good at majority but lets himself down on matchday.

Funny though for both counties when both arguing about managers and former managers.
Mayo fans argue about who was better Horan or Rochford, and yesterday was an exact replicate of Rochford team against Galway.
Galway fans gave out about Kevin Walsh and how Joyce will bring back the 'Traditional football', and yesterday Joyce won his first championship game playing the exact tactics Walsh used. I would say, It was Joyce letting Cian O Neill implement the tactics, which worked perfectly for them."
Defensively we were far more structured yesterday than at any point in Joyce's reign to-date.
However, the tactics yesterday were quite different to Kevin Walsh's.
Under Walsh when we had possession, we had much slower build-ups with a huge amount of lateral passing. Yesterday, we moved the ball much quicker when we had it.
Defensively, yesterday we had the 2 wing backs play narrow and squeeze the space in the middle, to slow Mayo's running threat. It meant we didn't have to pull as many players as deep as we did under Walsh and were able to counter more quickly.

WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 2299 - 25/04/2022 15:19:42    2413132

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Replying To tommy132:  "Same old story.
What is the point in going man to man and then playing the ball back and over in the forward line, the point is to turn over the ball high up the field and have numbers up there to attack. yesterday they attacked so slowly and in defense left acres of space for Galway to run into. Conroy was just punting the ball into space and Galway were running onto it, simple stuff.
Why was Cillian O Connor the focal point in attack and back on frees, O Donoghue had proven himself o be left as the focal point inside and left on frees. Cillian taking off his left then, what the hell..
Missing the pace of Durcan and Mullin was a huge loss, especially to break down the double sweeper system, but there is too many lads being carried on that team. cant be starting Plunkett and Coen both very limited, Loftus and Doherty also very limited.
All shows to me anyways, Horan is not good enough, he is good at majority but lets himself down on matchday.

Funny though for both counties when both arguing about managers and former managers.
Mayo fans argue about who was better Horan or Rochford, and yesterday was an exact replicate of Rochford team against Galway.
Galway fans gave out about Kevin Walsh and how Joyce will bring back the 'Traditional football', and yesterday Joyce won his first championship game playing the exact tactics Walsh used. I would say, It was Joyce letting Cian O Neill implement the tactics, which worked perfectly for them."
Under Rochford we had mainly a running but also a kicking game.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7927 - 25/04/2022 15:55:19    2413146

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Replying To GreenandRed:  "Under Rochford we had mainly a running but also a kicking game."
Yes 100%. His Corofin template which his successor followed was based on running and accurate foot passing. He was so unlucky with the sending off surely costing that final, something he can hardly be blamed for.

giveitlong (Galway) - Posts: 1275 - 25/04/2022 16:28:58    2413163

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Replying To GreenandRed:  "Under Rochford we had mainly a running but also a kicking game."
Not in the games against Galway

tommy132 (Mayo) - Posts: 635 - 25/04/2022 16:45:52    2413175

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Replying To WanPintWin:  "Defensively we were far more structured yesterday than at any point in Joyce's reign to-date.
However, the tactics yesterday were quite different to Kevin Walsh's.
Under Walsh when we had possession, we had much slower build-ups with a huge amount of lateral passing. Yesterday, we moved the ball much quicker when we had it.
Defensively, yesterday we had the 2 wing backs play narrow and squeeze the space in the middle, to slow Mayo's running threat. It meant we didn't have to pull as many players as deep as we did under Walsh and were able to counter more quickly."
I agree re the slow build-up of KW's team. However, that game could easily have been a draw or a win for Mayo yesterday. Galway still have issues giving the ball away too easily. They obviously expended a lot of energy when Ó Laoi was black-carded (harshly) but a fully fit C O' Connor and a bit more accuracy from the Mayo forwards and Galway would have been in trouble. I thought Pat Spillane was very harsh in his comments re Mayo and not for the first time. He also named Finian Ó Laoi as the goal scorer. He's an awful dose with his clichés not to mention his interruption of Cora Staunton, I can't understand why RTÉ hang onto him.

baire (Galway) - Posts: 1849 - 25/04/2022 18:37:09    2413203

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Horan probably wanted Mayo to win without trying to hard yesterday; he knows that Mayo need the 6 weeks to get injured back. Say he very happy now, no pressure etc. Looks like another All Ireland final could be on the cards. That is a very poor Galway side, no issue beating them easily if Mayo play them again. It would be a great way to get to an All Ireland

MeAlone (Galway) - Posts: 75 - 25/04/2022 19:52:25    2413220

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Why was Ryan not starting inside, he's one of the most exciting forwards in the game, I feel if coc was on the bench and brought in instead of orme he'd have the experience to steady the ship and wouldn't have attempted the shot. It's like Horan puts his team together trying to keep the old guard happy, Jason is not good enough, he may be at training or be a nice guy but I can't remember his last standout performance at IC level.
Naivety on the line, time for rochford to be given another go Horan got one, feel Horan would best serve on a development approach

Sportsfanatic90 (Westmeath) - Posts: 228 - 26/04/2022 08:56:06    2413241

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Genuinely hard luck on Sunday. Nothing between the teams.
Galway needed this more.
I know that Mayo will be at the business end in July.

suckvalleypaddy (Galway) - Posts: 1729 - 26/04/2022 10:35:04    2413268

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Replying To suckvalleypaddy:  "Genuinely hard luck on Sunday. Nothing between the teams.
Galway needed this more.
I know that Mayo will be at the business end in July."
No hard luck about it. Galway more clinical on front of the posts and deserved the win. Best of luck in the rest of the Connacht championship.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11544 - 26/04/2022 11:13:36    2413281

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Replying To MeAlone:  "Horan probably wanted Mayo to win without trying to hard yesterday; he knows that Mayo need the 6 weeks to get injured back. Say he very happy now, no pressure etc. Looks like another All Ireland final could be on the cards. That is a very poor Galway side, no issue beating them easily if Mayo play them again. It would be a great way to get to an All Ireland"
That post has to be shortlisted for the"Idiotic Post Of The Year"

eoinog (Sligo) - Posts: 2090 - 26/04/2022 11:24:33    2413284

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Replying To tommy132:  "Not in the games against Galway"
Fair point Tommy.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7927 - 26/04/2022 12:12:58    2413301

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Replying To baire:  "I agree re the slow build-up of KW's team. However, that game could easily have been a draw or a win for Mayo yesterday. Galway still have issues giving the ball away too easily. They obviously expended a lot of energy when Ó Laoi was black-carded (harshly) but a fully fit C O' Connor and a bit more accuracy from the Mayo forwards and Galway would have been in trouble. I thought Pat Spillane was very harsh in his comments re Mayo and not for the first time. He also named Finian Ó Laoi as the goal scorer. He's an awful dose with his clichés not to mention his interruption of Cora Staunton, I can't understand why RTÉ hang onto him."
I don't think Spillane's comments were harsh. We don't like hearing them. He's a pundit, it's his job to tell us what he thinks and not what we want to hear. But we can definitely play better than that and we've a few weeks to improve and show it the next day.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7927 - 26/04/2022 12:16:37    2413305

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Replying To GreenandRed:  "I don't think Spillane's comments were harsh. We don't like hearing them. He's a pundit, it's his job to tell us what he thinks and not what we want to hear. But we can definitely play better than that and we've a few weeks to improve and show it the next day."
Spillane has been banging the same drum about Mayo forwards for over 25 years. Of course he has a point sometimes but why does he never ask questions about how many goals Mayo concede in big games? Ryan O'Donoghue and James Carr kicked some brilliant scores at the weekend. Diarmuid and Kevin McLoughlin got 2 brilliant ones off their weak foot.

A lot of Galway's points came from weak 1 v 1 marking.

MayoDan (Mayo) - Posts: 448 - 26/04/2022 14:16:11    2413347

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I'd a feeling Galway would win, with so many Mayo lads likely to be under-powered. Looking back at the chances not converted, the game was there to be won (even Mattie was off target 4 times I think, a couple of them he'd normally put over at his ease). Galway showed the greater urgency and deserved their win for that and their more efficient conversion rate. I was hoping to see some evidence of a different approach to solve the problem of teams crowding behind their 45 and Mayo running into the trap, but there was no plan to deviate from the familiar. Aidan was caught for pace a couple of times and the Heaney one proved critical. He put in his usual shift in terms of doing a lot of honest hard work, but when Jordan Flynn comes back (hopefully in time for the qualifier game) Aidan has to be brought on rather than start. Cillian looked very rusty, as you'd expect, but had a couple of good moments (it took Andy two years to get back to the level). Jason will also be better started in the half-forwards, with the ff line being Carr, Cillian maybe and RO'D. I thought Kevin Mc was brought on a bit late and had he been introduced 5 minutes earlier a couple more scoring chances could have been engineered. I think young Orme was probably right to take that pot-shot at the end because if the ball was recycled back Coldrick would likely have blown... Galway played the ref very well and realised quickly he wasn't going to pull them for eating up the clock. Another ref would have thrown the ball in several times on the Galway 20m line. In our favour he did gift us that O'Laoi black card. Overall, no complaints except for Mullin's injury as if we needed another.

Pericles (Mayo) - Posts: 2521 - 26/04/2022 15:35:06    2413373

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