I am partial to a bit of oul sentimentality but it has absolutely no bearing on what happens. I doubt Horan will be reading this to the players in the dressing room, no more than Gavin will be singing The Rare Ould Times :-)

hurlingdub (Dublin) - Posts: 6978 - 20/09/2013 14:52:46    1485853

Ah the memories. I wrote something similar last year regarding Donegal's build up and it appeared in the Gelic Life newspaper! Hopefully Mayo will enjoy a similar outcome on Sunday! Hon Mayo!

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9822 - 20/09/2013 14:54:28    1485857

I don't see what the problem is lads. What's wrong with showing you care and throwing in a little bit of BELIEF with it? I don't know…

As you say hurlingdub I would be very surprised if James H had this up on his dressing room wall but, getting behind the lads is no harm. Passion is a great thing when channelled correctly… I fail to see where Willie has been out of order; It is clear the match on Sunday means the world to him. What would you prefer he had negative thoughts and wrote negative points…? I don't know…

Let him write his letter and get behind the team I say fair play to him and COME ON MAYO!!!!

Mancirish (UK) - Posts: 2200 - 20/09/2013 15:51:45    1485896

It's over-wrought and mawkishly sentimental, IMO. He also writes as though his beliefs are those of all Mayo supporters; they are not.

Gleebo (Mayo) - Posts: 2208 - 20/09/2013 15:55:05    1485897

Mancirish

Let him write his letter and get behind the team I say fair play to him


Ah no fairplay to him is right, it's just not something I'd be doing, I have no interest in it, each to their own though.

and COME ON MAYO!!!!

I agree with you there alright!

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 20/09/2013 15:56:14    1485898

In my lifetime,the Kingdom have won Sam well over a dozen times (and, no, I'm not giving Methuselah a run for his money). Truth to tell, we lost over half that many finals during that period. What strikes me, as one of the diaspora, is that we tend to watch it come what may. It also occurs to me that we won a few that we shouldn't and lost a few that we should. What matters above all else is turning up on the day, staying focused and performing. Blethering into the small hours is easy there after.

plike (Kerry) - Posts: 569 - 20/09/2013 16:00:23    1485900

Nor am Will most likely remind them of the plan, to have confidence in the plan and to go one step beyond this time. At half time, I would love to hear what he has to say. If they are leading, he will have to brace them for what will follow. If they are losing, he will have to redeploy and refocus them. No better man for the job!

plike (Kerry) - Posts: 569 - 20/09/2013 16:06:28    1485902

I really like this thread, in particular this bit from hurlingdub who sums it all up well:

I am partial to a bit of oul sentimentality but it has absolutely no bearing on what happens. I doubt Horan will be reading this to the players in the dressing room, no more than Gavin will be singing The Rare Ould Times :-)

To all the lads who are saying they are unaffected by it, that's fine, but if supporting your county means being like a machine and leaving all emotion out of it, that's fine, but then couldn't you just watch every game without emotion?

Gaelic games is full of emotion due to the parochial and county nature of the teams involved. The day that thrill ends for me watching Limerick play then I'll be dead. I can't watch my own county without emotion, sentiment, will to win, drive, passion, the lot.

Good luck to both sides on Sunday and I hope ye all enjoy the occasion. The 2 best teams are in the final and I hope they give an occasion fitting of the style both can play.

slayer (Limerick) - Posts: 6480 - 20/09/2013 16:45:20    1485929

Coming from a mayo standpoint, knowing that we have a reputation for hype, and hype affecting players, why put your team in that position? It doesnt actually have to affect them directly, the fans play a big part. If mayo lose an early goal, as often happens in any run of the mill game, it will be put down to this hype etc, by our own fans. That will get a bad reaction and in turn this could have a bearing on the game. Instead of this long-suffering poor us type stuff, we should be far more pro-active and positive. We shouldnt poor-mouth about our losses, we should learn from them and integrate the good in them to our own game. Be as plucky as meath, as utterly ruthless as kerry, choke the game out like donegal. Walk these dublin youngsters straight into what we got. Instead of the attitude where we cry about times gone by, we should be thinking of using our experience to good effect.

TheMaster (Mayo) - Posts: 16187 - 20/09/2013 16:59:29    1485939

slayer
County: Limerick
Posts: 4829

1485929
I really like this thread, in particular this bit from hurlingdub who sums it all up well:

I am partial to a bit of oul sentimentality but it has absolutely no bearing on what happens. I doubt Horan will be reading this to the players in the dressing room, no more than Gavin will be singing The Rare Ould Times :-)

To all the lads who are saying they are unaffected by it, that's fine, but if supporting your county means being like a machine and leaving all emotion out of it, that's fine, but then couldn't you just watch every game without emotion?

Gaelic games is full of emotion due to the parochial and county nature of the teams involved. The day that thrill ends for me watching Limerick play then I'll be dead. I can't watch my own county without emotion, sentiment, will to win, drive, passion, the lot.

Good luck to both sides on Sunday and I hope ye all enjoy the occasion. The 2 best teams are in the final and I hope they give an occasion fitting of the style both can play.

________

Great post Slayer

jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20763 - 20/09/2013 17:30:11    1485957

This aul 'feel sorry for us, we're just poor aul hard done by, hard luck lads aul mayo' sort of stuff makes me reach for the sickbag!

What will he do next year?....add a few extra lines to it?
I'll give ye a flavour of next years additional few lines:

We were there, where the N6 joined the N4 and started to get the butterflies in our stomachs and no place to pull in for the sandwiches made the night before. Up Infirmary Road in the car again believing we were the only ones who knew how to beat the traffic. And this year ye had given us our best hope, ye were proud and stern in the parade and the county ground to a halt and marvelled at ye. The game was poetry and agony in equal measure and a man in blue lifted a silver chalice. An old man cried believing it was his last chance, lost. And maybe it was...I didnt know him!

Thats the sort of 'feel sorry for us' lines that will be added next year!

Regards,

Snufalufagus....Laochra Gael

Snufalufagus (Dublin) - Posts: 8100 - 20/09/2013 17:36:20    1485961

Sentimentality hands out no silverware lads, although to listen to some of the build up to this game you'd swear it did.

Sergeant_Slash (Cavan) - Posts: 2182 - 20/09/2013 18:02:16    1485968

Sentimentality hands out no silverware lads, although to listen to some of the build up to this game you'd swear it did.

you're right, it doesn't but do you know anyone who is a really nice person and just has had a lot of bad luck in life? I do and I often wish they'd win the lotto, meet the person of their dreams who would love them unconditionally or just that I'd see them with a smile on their face?

Well that's what Sunday is about. Dublin went 16 years without winning it and we saw great scenes in 2011. Just imagine what 62 years of not winning the big one could do on Sunday?

slayer (Limerick) - Posts: 6480 - 20/09/2013 18:16:55    1485974

Well done Willie, if your making Snuff sick you must be doing something right...:) Master you cant hide from the past but you can if you get the right mental attitude use it to drive you forward. I sense James is and will do that....

Mancirish (UK) - Posts: 2200 - 20/09/2013 18:29:40    1485977

bull. May the best team win.

dawnrun (Wexford) - Posts: 81 - 20/09/2013 19:21:35    1486002

The Master from Mayo is dead right , this game for Mayo is about their future , not the past . Mayo should set down a marker for the future face of Mayo football, they need to play like winners not with the loser tag that's been hung around their necks by all and sundry . The fact that they have been contesting so well in championship football indicates how consistently good football is and has been in the county in the last 7-8 yrs or so . I still believe Dublin will prevail on Sunday , but I hope to see a balls to the wall effort from Mayo till the final whistle and if they win then hearty congratulations to them and the real sweetness of a victory on Sunday would be in doing down a great effort by a terrific Dublin team. Good luck to all and Meath for Sam in 2014 !

nemlodoak (Meath) - Posts: 170 - 20/09/2013 19:40:32    1486010

The task is hard enough without being sidetracked with that.

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4954 - 20/09/2013 20:09:13    1486023

No more excuses, no more waiting, no more sentiment, no more mr nice guys. just do it.

beal (Mayo) - Posts: 1388 - 20/09/2013 20:35:11    1486036

I still can't forgive the rancid and totally uncalled for abuse my own county got from a lot of Mayo support on here and other places. But I am hoping for a Mayo win on Sunday. There's still some decent lads and lassies from the far west that deserve to see an All-Ireland more than anything and I'm for them!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Tun7Ucz764

wile_man_sir (Donegal) - Posts: 150 - 20/09/2013 20:47:25    1486044

Beautiful letter, well put.

ahsure. (Galway) - Posts: 1710 - 20/09/2013 20:59:29    1486053