Darren was the most improved player on the squad this year.Reminds me of Jason Doherty(very high praise indeed)with his work rate and fearlessness.Michael Murphy picking on him shows that he understood his worth to Mayo.Congratulations Darren on a fantastic season.

Well done Darren, the sort of player Mayo need going forward.
Well done David McBrien also,
A player that should always wear the number 3 Shirt for Mayo.

- Great work Darren, one player on.an upward trajectory. We need another two Darren Types as currently we have 3 non or minimal scoring forwards.
- Credit is due to Mayo for their workmate, their tight marking of Donegal's key men with Murphy only impacting the game when Donnacha went off injured. Langan was left loose on a number of ocassions just before half time but was contained besides.
- What were the main differences between the sides?. Donegal had blistering speed from a standing start is many of their players and when an opportunity arose they went for points rather thaN taking a hundred backward passes.
- Disappointing to loose with the last kick in the game but we were going out at prelim QF or the actual QF anyhow.
- Donegal will struggle yo win the All Ireland this year as teams they will meet from QF onwards will have at least 5 out of 6 scoring forwards and one midfielder scoring. It's Dublin, Armagh, Kerry, Galway and Tyrone in that order at the moment.
- No question our management team have all to go and go as soon as possible with little drama. We need a new manager in place by end of Aug so County Board need to act desively.
- It's no easy job being on an inter county management team so they deserve thanks for their commitment and in the case of McStay best wishes for a return to full health.
- It's time for all connected with Mayo Gaa to circle the Wagons if we have any left and all start pulling in the one direction. There is enough sniping and riducule hitting us from the outside.
- It's way past time to seriously look at fundraising. Westport GAA received a one million donation a few years ago from a local Family for new pitches etc. Put a volunteer team in place led by Enda Kenny and some local Business people and give them a 3 year term to fundraise across the world to pay off the debt on McHale park and take the hit from the Clubs.
- Doing nothing is no longer an option.

Well done Darren, you deserve to be recognized as the man of the match after yesterday's match, a credit to Knockmore.!

Great post,Olive Kerrigan. I totally agree with that assessment.

Who would have thought that playing a forward in the forwards would benefit the team more than playing a bunch of midfielders.
This was one of the few games where he didn't get called ashore when going well

Well done Darren well deserved. Congratulations also to David MB who also put in a memorable performance, and scored a great goal! Some first class shot stopping from Colm Reape.

Probably Mayo's best player all season. Has worked extremely hard, linked play really well and has been our top scorer from play by a distance. Playing more natural forwards up front is the only way to go. Too many players were terrified to shoot, even with the wind on their backs in the Hyde. Jack Coyne and Enda Hession had decent campaigns too.

On his Championship debut for Mayo Darren was kicking points from distance against Leitrim so he would be capable of kicking two pointers. Definitely the Management discourage players from taking on shots from distance, Fergal Boland is an example and he git limited game time all season and Frank Irwin can shoot from distance and take long range frees off the ground. Last year i was at at our League game in Clones and Fergal Boland came on and kicked a point from about 45 metres out and tried it again and narrowly missed and i was close to the Mayo dugout and he chastised for shooting and told to work the ball in. I was surprised and disappointed to hear that from one of our coaches and was worried then that we would be frustrating to watch constantly passing the parcel.

Agreed with Olive Kerrigan on setting up fundraising group to pay off McHale Part, a brand like Mayo GAA, should be making money. I'm a Mayo man living in Galway, and at underage training, and still surprises me amount of Mayo jerseys at training with kids, with no connections with Mayo. Follow Tyrone model, always looks like a county that got their house in order.

@Olive Kerrigan, the debt on McHale Park is 9 million euro due to Croke Park, Croke Park took over the original debt of 10 million euro and got a haircut of 50% leaving Croke Park owing 5 Million. So Croke Park will be 4 million euro in profit at Mayo's GAA clubs expense if Mayo are to repay the 9 million euro . Now you can package that anyway you want, but you wont be able to sell that as a good deal for Mayo. GAA President Jarleth Burns was full of praise for the Mayo County Board after Kerry had beaten Mayo in the league final, Id much rather that he was critical of the Mayo County Board and Mayo had gotten the full 50% haircut Croke Park got. Instead of talking about fundraising, talk about of fund saving of approx 4 million euro.

I don't know if Management discourage players from taking on shots from distance. Tried 3, two pointers in first half against Donegal, all were short, into goalie hands. If we scored 3, one pointers instead of going for 2pts, we probably won the game. Also missing goal chances all year, has been a problem, had one on one with goalie against Galway, missed it. Two against Donegal, missed them.

Darren has had a good year in fairness and often an unsung hero. Did his stuff in Connacht Final as well. Good post there Olive Kerrigan. Whatever decisions are made in the future one just hopes they will advance our football team. Though it’s desperately depressing to not be in the last 12 all is not lost. Looking through the team one would have to say Colm Reape had a decent season. Our defence has tightened up considerably and Jack Coyne has really come on in leaps and bounds. Donnacha can do a job for us anywhere. Paddy is back. Conan Dawson and Davitt Neary have been two good finds in our forwards which is so crucial. Ryan had a decent season though scores from play did dry up a little as the season went on. Add to that a decent showing from our u 20 team so a fair bit of genuinely good raw material to work on. We still have issues at mid field and struggled to kick 2 pointers, both which are crucial under the new rules. Hopefully we have a good county championship and a few more new lads stick their hands up.

Definitely agree about goal chances and poor execution and technique. Has to be coached all the way up, keep it low and hard and preferably into the corner and all Inter County players should be able to do it. Players are being picked for athleticism and work rate but under the new rules players would can shoot well from distance and are good kick passers are crucial and teams will start picking more natural footballers going forward and we need to to do the same.

Well done Darren. As honest as these days are long. Darren works his socks off in every game, and has quietly progressed into a fine number 11, chipping in a few scores with his hugh workrate.
The current management should now do the honourable thing and step down in bloc immediately. Completely failed to get us up to speed with new rules, 6 points in 35mins, wind assisted says it all.

Congrats to Darren, not just a brilliant championship but a very good league showing too. Definitely mayos best player this year and showed great leadership and scoring instincts when needed in big games this year. Very rare does he get the credit or limelight, a small bit like his club mate Kevin Mc but, no doubt a critical scoring force for mayo this year.

@ olive and all, totally agree a separate volunteer group is established to fundraise..its really needed, but to a large extent its a waste to use the money raised to pay off that debt, I say leave it to the county board official to do...but what should happen instead is to fundraise to pay for running the senior team, to pay for the projects desperately needed NOW such as the centre of excellence and improving other training facilities around the county. If as a supporters group we could achieve that and take that expense away from the county board, it would leave the match gate receipts, tv money etc to the county board to pay the mchale Park debt much quicker. Tell the board to concentrate on that. I would be certain in saying that training, etc standards have dropped because of the financial constraints directly as a result of the mchale Park debt..urgent action is required now and something needs to be done, they say the definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

A CEO is required immediatley.A seperate identity far away from the debt and all its fallout.All monies spent on the teams by any fundraising will ease the pressure on clubs and the county board.Suggesting an ex politican heading up any comittee is simply not getting us all together.Sure use everyones contacts but have transparency.

Well done to Darren, he was our best player and best forward this year. Shows you what a clean run from injuries can do. Would be great if the same could happen for Conroy and McLaughlin.

Regarding management team, if the playing group believe in what management trying to do, then leave as is. But if they don't have total buy in, then its a goodbye. Also another factor, is who available, and actually take the job, that proving track record in winning an all Ireland, and that list is small. Someone like Micky Harte could be got, but would his style of play work in Mayo, not sure it would. Factors to consider. Has to have won a an all-ireland as intercounty team Available and take the job And their preferred playing style suits us . Pretty sure I will be questions why they need to have managed and won a intercounty all ireland, but we need to think of best of the best here. We have a decent panel of players, spend enough money on this team. Need to get 5% more out of whole set up. And someone like Jim Gavin maximised what was put in front of him. Problem is this list of people is extremely small, so need to be sure we not getting is a improvement to the management team than one we have a moment. See Austin O'Malley name mentioned as won an all-ireland this year with culua, and fair play to him. But Kevin McStay won one with Bridgets, an more impressive achievement. And Rochford done same with Corifin.

started out not convinced that Darren had a role to play but he has proved me wrong, improving with every game he has played this year. Work rate off the charts, passing of the highest quality and knows where the posts are. Shoots without hesitation....if only others had the same attitude we would probably be looking forward to another game this season. anyways enough of that, Well done Darren!!

A quick question. When we’re selecting a management team, are there any real football people in the County Board, capable of making the best decision. I mean anyone who has played the game at the top level. Do they even know the questions to ask at a season review or in selecting someone in the first place.

It's time to think outside the box. Our best player of this generation and the recent past has been doing pundit work and knows the scene. A born winner and never afraid to shoot straight.
Time for Cora to step into the hot seat and follow the footsteps of many powerful mayo women.
I honestly and actually believe she has it.

@mayotillidie: The devil is always in the detail there.

"And Rochford done same with Corifin." - Talk to anyone around Corofin, there's only two names ever mentioned with real credit for that success. And both are Morris (Dave and Frank).

"But Kevin McStay won one with Bridgets" - He did, and playing a fairly wonderful brand of football doing it. Not sure if I can see many (or any) links to what we've seen in the last two and a half years. Possibly a few hints of it in the early months, as we swept through the league with some mesmerising forward play and were favourites for the All Ireland, but it quickly fell by the wayside as we retreated into a shell that ultimately led to players and backroom staff walking away - those numbers growing by the year.

Wouldn't be keen on arbitrary limits like "must have done xxx". It's a relatively small pool to pick from even going fantasy manager and forgetting about the realities of interest or logistics, wouldn't be keen on thinning the pool even more.

3 clear favourites most commonly spoken about:
- Moran
- Horan
- O'Malley
(personally, I'd be happy seeing any of those involved in any capacity - in a perfect world I'd hope to get all 3 involved on the one ticket)

Then we're on to much longer shots in:
- Deane
- Dempsey
- Solan
- McDonald
- Moyles
- Gavin
- Gilroy
- Brennan (Robbie or Ger at this point)
- McConville
- McGinley
- Canavan
- Harte
- McEntee
- Donaghy
- Ó Sé
- Fitzmaurice

(with only a handful of those having experience managing under the new rules to date)

Probably missing a few obvious names that didn't come to mind, but it wouldn't be a huge number. Start throwing a few 'must have's and it gets a very short shortlist, very fast.

Why not Cora. Who says it has to be a fella to lead the men’s team. However, would she require greater managerial experience? Assuming a new management team comes in and it’s clear from this blog that they overwhelming majority are in favour of that, then I do think we need someone with All Ireland intercounty success on their cv, either as a manager/coach or player (if the latter, then also with some degree of coaching experience of course).

I believe Andy will be Mayo manager in due course but I’d say another couple of seasons where he is would do his learning curve no harm at all which would benefit Mayo in the long run.

Mickey Harte a must on the next management, maybe not as number 1 because of age and distance to travel to all training sessions. He did a wonderfully job at Tyrone but stayed too long, Louth now showing his good work, one thing he will take no bull sh1t from players or County Board Officials.

@Leantimes I'm not sure that is entirely correct, according to Christy Loftus in the Western People, Mayo GAA Board borrowed €5m from Ulster Bank and €5m from Croke Park. Croke Park then purchased the €5m "bad debt" from Ulster Bank at a 50% discount. So the discount that should have been passed on is €2.5m. But again he bemoans the complete lack of transparency on the whole thing.

https://www.westernpeople.ie/opinion/more-clarity-is-needed-on-mayo-gaa-affairs_arid-58212.html

A blessing in disguise we were knocked out so
Early as opposed to hobbling along for a few more rounds. Clear as day the Management just not up to it and Have not adapted to the new rules at all.
It’s been a poor three years with regression every
Year. They need to do the decent thing now

As a rossie I see the same comments that are on this great blog about management and not playing this or that player,it is pure nonsense,I read this blog and some posters were adamant paul towey should be on team after shooting lights out in us club football,management bring him in but hasn't been overly impressive ,I am not picking him out ,just 1 example. it is the same here in ros and even under 3 different managers,a previous poster spot on about going for 3 ,2 pointers that landed in keepers hands on Sunday,ros missed 6 on Saturday and we were meant to have these great forwards so no way is management the real source of problems,mcgeeney perfect example in armagh but was left for 13 years till a team,and panel were there to go all the way ,they could have changed manager 3 times in that period and would still not have landed sam,mayo had that for 10 years with a superb group of players and between,luck ,tiny margins and 1 unreal team didn't land the ultimate prize which teams with less quality have done so,blaming management is a cop out

@Leantimes // @Coilltermach: Besides the obvious error on shaving the full €10m rather than just the bank's half of it, the entire 50% suggestion to bring it to ~€7.5m rather than ~€9m is under question too.

The GAA officials in Westport denied the claim/suggestion of the 50% discount and claimed it was only a 20% discount (without verification - with a messy NDA in the middle verification I wouldn't ever expect we'll get - so still open for debate or questions on transparency), which will get passed on at the end of the repayment of the rest of the ~€4m outstanding on that purchased ~€5m debt.

Still all sorts of questions there on how interest is being handled, are payments going against the €4m purchased debt or the €5m original debt first or at 50/50 rates and more nuanced detail on how a bad debt usually worth ~€0.50 on a euro (or less) was purchased at ~€0.80 on the euro... but given all those questions come with the mess of those who've been most vocal around raising questions and some of their questionable activities, it has become a minefield on optics for club delegates to tackle aggressively (if they might have ever wished to, which is very much open to question too).

Well done Darren! Played his heart out on Sunday and good to see he also won the EBS Player of the Match award. He’s been great all season and is one of the few Mayo players that’ll be happy with their performances in this championship.

On the issue of fundraising. Anyone that’s ever been involved in a committee of any description knows it’s very time consuming and a thankless task. In truth I just don’t see a group of local businesses people or anyone else for that matter taking it on. Mayo GAA already has a supporters fundraising committee in place and it’s a subcommittee of Cairde Mhaigheo. There was a lot of controversy in September when it was announced that it was without a chairperson since February. I don’t know if a new appointment has been made since then?

It’s up to our club delegates to raise the matter of the fundraising committee at the next board meeting and try and find out what is the status with it. It might not be perfect but it’s the best bet we have to fundraise inside and outside the county. I know it held a golf classic last week and from what I hear it was well attended.

The on field problems have been highlighted on here by numerous posters over the last couple of years.our midfield has been a major issue but there was just a continuous rotation of the same players in there with one seemingly undropable even though when not scoring contributes very little else.i very much doubt Kevin mcstay will want to continue as his health would have to be his main priority now.i don’t think we have the players in crucial positions at the minute to be contenders although we certainly should be in the top 8 but it’s a combination of a lack of a few really good players and poor management at times that has got us here .whatever happens it needs to be addressed immediately and not dragged on in the usual ham fisted manner.we can’t keep blaming bad luck on our disastrous exits from championships .Sunday summed up the ridiculous rollercoaster that we have become from total ecstasy to complete despair in 15 seconds

@Finding Sam: Paul Hickey (Eastern Gaels) was appointed to replace Maria as chair late last year.

@facetheball I agree to the extent that technically, in terms of degrees of progression in the Championship, it has not worked out.

On the other hand I'd argue we are not going the way of Meath or Cork a few decades ago. Assuming everyone sticks around we have a good squad to work off and good potential coming through.

In terms of our losses its also important to keep in mind these were 1 point losses to the top contenders for the all Ireland.

We absolutely do need to need to improve our scoring threat, however that might be possible, for next season. If we don't do that there will be no progression regardless of structure going forward.

@TsuDhoNim: Thank you for the updated information and clarification. It makes a bit more sense now.

It surely could only be mayo to become the 1st team to lose a knockout championship match after the hooter. We must have done it every way possible at this stage. I still can't get away from the fact that it just needed a mayo player to stop patton kicking out the ball after the equaliser to be in the draw Monday morning whether that was by standing in front of the ball or hassling the keeper or whatever it took to use up the last few seconds until the hooter sounded but nobody seemed to be smart enough to do it. Mayo with a totally different mindset than we have now would then be heading to killarney on the back of beating Tyrone, snatching a draw against Donegal and facing a kerry team under pressure and who knows what would happen. Btw well done Darren and I also thought jack Coyne had a great game keeping gallen quiet and winning his share of kickouts.

@No doubt: Not quite. Any delay on Patton's kick is a 50m penalty and a free kick awarded. The hooter sounding before his kickout would have been game over, but sounding before that free up at half-way would have still allowed a final play.

(With the opportunity to press the kick of more value than anything we'd gain from the foul there. The mistake was not fouling Moore on/before receipt of the ball to allow all 11 get back once it was clear we hadn't won the kickout)

"- After the hooter sounds, the end of the first half or full time is signalled by the referee on the next occasion that the ball goes out of play for a score, for a wide or for a sideline kick. If a 45 has been awarded but not taken, before the hooter sounds, the free kick can be taken and, if it results in a score, without any other player touching the ball, that score shall be awarded.
- If a penalty has been awarded but not taken, before the hooter sounds, the penalty can be taken, and if it results in a score, that score shall be awarded, provided no one apart from the goalkeeper has touched the ball after the penalty kick has been taken.
- If the ball is already out of play following a score, a wide or for a sideline kick when the hooter sounds, the Referee shall signal the end of playing time on the sounding of the hooter."

Well done Darren. This management has failed dismally to get any type of handle on the new rules. We are miles off in that department. Just to remind people that Rochford has been in the role for 3 years not 2 matches. So we turned up against Tyrone.... isn't that what we expect or are we totally deluded by this so called tactical genius. Tactical genius s don't bow out of championship in June

If posters don’t know the rules at this stage then stop the embarrassment by pretending.

Anyhow it should’ve been a foul by us instead of a giveaway possession, maybe Donegal would’ve just booted the resultant free over the sideline then and taken the draw. Management were clearly prepared…… 🤦‍♂️

Joshua, I appreciate your comment very much. Thanks for making it here. It adds perspective, and I find a lot of merit in what you said.

On that last kickout on Sunday, a win, draw and loss were all in play in that final 4 seconds before the hooter sounded, when Patton was about to kick out the ball.

Personally, I was holding hand to chest thinking - "we can win this now. Let's try to catch the kickout." What a pity we didn't.

it is also then a pity that we did not filter back and put up a barrage of an opposition to any kick the oncoming Donegal player could make.

Perhaps it would have been best not to be living on small margins. Who knows?

@ no doubt, why would we be wasting time on final kickout. Game was there to be won. We should have been ferociously contesting the last kickout

@ TsuDhoNim: Thanks for the update on that and it’s good to know there is a new chair in place.

Highorlow. It was totally naive and embarrassing

@ontheditch.i tell you what they have plenty of time now for wasting. Never mind the game there to be won. They had drawn level,take that and wait for the draw. @tsudhonim I'm aware of the rules alright but if the play held up a few seconds until the hooter good luck to the ref getting the kids off the pitch for the 50m advance and by the way I'd have taken the chance on that free kick compared to the kickout that took out most players and left very few to foul moore.

We were caught napping, the kickout was 50-50 ball, had we been awake, winning and we top group and get next weekend off.
It's all history now, but the positive thinking was absent.

Well alot of players seem unaware of the rules.the Monaghan game a while ago a case in point.we had got of jail with Boland’s point.last year we were a point up and set up the same way on the Dublin kickout.how in gods name had we no one inside our own half .morahans only option once he realised in first couple of strides he was done for pace was to basically rugby tackle Moore to the ground.it would have been a difficult free at worst

@1985 Malachy Clerkin today suggested Patton aimed the last long kick-out at McCole, overhit it with the wind behind him and it ends up with Moore. Either way we should not have switched off and got into our defensive positions. Similar to Dublin game last year.

Hardly what one would expect from a so called tactical genius. The highlight of the football year now is the county board s decision on management. I pray it's for change with immediate effect. There gate receipts should tell them that the mayo faithful want change. Thousands of mayo supporters cannot be all wrong.

@InExile: A bit harsh on Patton.

He hit the Donegal lad perfectly (guessing McCole, but didn't notice at the time) just that Fergie Boland managed to put him off (looked borderline foul - but Faloon wasn't giving it), with the ball then following on to Moore.

TsuDhoNim as an expert on stats I was wondering have you any data on counties scoring 2 pointers since the start of league and championship. I am not sure but I’d say we are well down the list

In relation to new management, I know everyone loves Andy, and Andy is great, but in fairness lads, his CV is very young and it already has a few bumps in it. For example, he coached the mayo U20s for 2 years, and I don’t think they even won Connaught. He managed Leitrim for 3 years, went up and down in the leagues and had a shocking run in the championship (to the extent they lost to New York in the Bronx). He’s now with Monaghan as coach, won the Div2 league but that’s the first time Monaghan have been in Div2 in over 15 years. So they were always going to be one of the strongest. Don’t get me wrong, I like Andy but has he really done anything yet, in regards to winning’s something big? Oisin McConville has made better progress with Wicklow then Andy with Leitrim. I’d like to give Andy a bit more time tbh.

I do genuinely like Andy but we need to make sure we don’t cloud his unreal ability as a footballer with his quality of managing and coaching, which still hasn’t hit the high notes yet.

As for Austin, you ask any Dub and they will tell you how strong Cuala are as a club. The wide held belief was once they got out of Dublin and over Crokes, then they were right there for an All Ireland. Again Austin looks good but are we just going to base it off one single achievement? Maybe. And at this point I wouldn’t begrudge Austin the job but it seems tough for him given the fact he had to step down from Cuala due to work work commitments.

Interesting times.

Was there any need to press the last kickout though we had levelled the game which hadn’t look likely with ten minutes to go especially after mcbrearty basically missing an open goal.we hadn’t done much on pattons kickouts before that so it was a case if we hold what we have.Patton didn’t get the kickout away that quick .it just seems extraordinarily naïve to be caught like this again

@to win just once: I have the full Championship: https://x.com/TsuDhoNim/status/1934578252628267163

We're bottom of the 2pts/game, but a very significant margin, with our 3 kicked in 6 games.

I only did us in the league, where we kicked 12 across our 8 games. So 1.5/game, a big step-up on our 0.5 in Champ. Hard to know if that's mostly style of play (we started the year with Ryan & Fergie having a fair few pops, but that quickly got extinguished after poor conversion rates rather than working on the lads confidence for execution) or conditions. Swings and roundabouts there I'd imagine.

I haven't seen anyone do a full list for the league (ironically you're the second person to mention it to me today but even after some digging and asking a few other stat nerds I haven't found a full list), but up to R5 is available: https://x.com/GAALeagueTables/status/1897326342884008100
(wouldn't be too much work doing R6 & R7 so might throw ten minutes at it this evening to round it out so we've all a full list to work from)

Mickey harte has enough on to manage Offaly, last thing we need is him
As one poster mentioned, maybe a combination of 3 with Horan involved in some way,it's very hard to see what has improved in lasi3 years, it's very easy to see what improved during JH tenor

Green and red. I agree. More experience required and mcconville a realistic shout

Good man TsuDhoNim, interesting stats there on those links. Makes for very sobering reading from our point of view. Just not good enough at all, particularly with the 2 pointers.
It'll be interesting to see how the club championship plays out and whether we see many of this years county panel taking on and scoring 2 pointers. If they do, then that's even more damning on our management team and their unwillingness to fully embrace that particular new rule this year.

Somebody was asking here yesterday if a Mayo player should have been cynical on that last Donegal kickout, ie delayed it or even kick the ball off the tee.
The penalty for this is the ball is brought forward from the 20 m kickout line up to the halfway line and the offending player could be should the black card.

@TSU, it is clear that different Referees interpret and have different punishment for fouls etc.
The Referee in the Mayo v Donegal game seemed to be confused with a tackle and a player holding a player, even with 2 hands, I think it was impossible to be awarded a free, he never much used his hand to play the advantage rule particularly inside the 20 metre line.

@BatetheBlanket.that was probably my post your referring to. I was not suggesting it to be done at random stages or anything. My point is there was less than 10 seconds to the hooter and if that particular kick was stopped the hooter would have sounded and probably the crowd come onto the field putting a defenite end to the game and anyway I'd take the chance on a free from the halfway line plus a black card is irrelevant at that time anyway assuming the ref could dish it out.

@BatetheBlanket: Yeah. Faloon is famed for his love of 'letting the game flow' alright. I'd certainly have given 20 odd more fouls.... though not sure the game would have been any the better for it so hard to fault it as long as he's consistent (just a shame it isn't consistent across various refs so teams were always playing to the same intrepretation of the rules. Wishful thinkings).

Under what rule do you feel it could have been a black card? I wouldn't have thought so.

The only changes to Black Card offences were adding the hold up tackle & the step-down to black from red for contributing to a melee (or dissent for u18s I guess, but not relevant here). Nothing I can think of on delaying/4.17 that would make it black. 50m advance alright & wouldn't allow the buzzer kill the game, but not even a yellow card offence by my understanding of the rules.

@TSU, a cynical foul can be determined by a number of things, ie
A player deliberately tripping their opponent.
A player crashing into a player or even tackling after the ball has been played
Kicking the ball away and delaying time, all fall under the black card.
Faloon let Murphy away with cynical play in the final few minutes by holding a Mayo from making a run or even holding him as he was trying to get up from the ground, when this happin the ladt few minutes Referees probably will let it go as things are frantic on the pitch in those last 5 minutes.

Thanks for that TsuDhoNim. Fairly concerning stats on 2 pointers alright. Hard to know why it’s so bad. Was looking at highlights of Tailteann Cup and some lads banging them over from distance. Definitely need to up that rate going forward. I don’t know whether it’s something that can be coached or if it’s something that just comes with practice. I know some might say we don’t shoot enough but we tried a few Sunday and they either dropped short or were wide. Nailed a couple ( I think) v Galway with the strong wind but it’s a huge disadvantage not to be hitting a lot more

@BatetheBlanket: Where is kicking the ball away or delaying included?

Black-card offences:
- 5.10 Pull down
- 5.11 Trip
- 5.12 Collision after playing the ball away
- 5.13 Hold-up tackle
- 5.14 3rd into a melee
- 5.15 Remonstrate with an official
- 5.16 Threaten or abusive language
- (6.4 for u18 Dissent)

I'd love to see it extended to cover cynical play in general and punish the intent rather than a really specific infraction... but that's not the rules as currently written in any interpretation I can give them.

I can't actually believe some posters here would want Horan back...jesus let's move forward with new ideas. New management with different winning mentalities and know how to spot a player and play him in correct position..I know it'll take time but going back to Horan for a third time...

Regardless of who manages Mayo we will win nothing if we can't close games out on the field.Dublin last year, Donegal this year and Cirk the year before......players on the field have to be able to make decisions in real-time that's not really management....there is a reason we have a captain and Vice Captain and we also have an awful lot of guys who have played big games.....for me that's not on McStay or Rochford or who ever the next manager is......players have to have that knowhow

I think it’s fair to say the current Mayo crop aren’t the cutest we’ve ever had. That’s fairly well proven now. One or two personalities can change things hugely though.

On Andy.I’d agree. I’d hope to see him manage us one day but I do think a few more years ‘strengthening his cv’ would do him no harm, and Mayo in the long run.

Harte has incredibly useful experience and a proven track record of success.I also like the cut of Donaghy. I think Kerry will be all over him soon though. McConville might not want Mayo after the ticket he was in got nowhere, but he’s a winner and we need someone with that experience.

When we drew level, we should have been focused on winning, is it a mayo thing, the negativity, settle for a draw. Donegal weren't settling for a draw, Patton was looking for a way to win

@TSU, all of the infringements you mentioned are black card offences but all are at the discretion of the Referee, likewise a deliberate attempt by an opponent say kicking the ball away or kicking ball off the tee, the referee could and give a black card for this also, I see it has been very cynical, whereas if a player is standing less than 13 metres from the ball and trying to put the goalkeeper off as less cynical.

Who are the best prospects coming through now from u20? O loughlin, kobe Mcdonald, hurley, beirne etc are all very young lads yet..do we hace 2 footed players, creative centre forwards, ball winning midfielders? Scoring forwards? These are the questions for new management team if there'll be one..and finding them is another story

Ontheditch.Donegal had possession and I don’t remember us turning over many of his kickouts so it makes very little sense what we did which was get conned by a simple enough kickout strategy.watching share Walsh and co on news this evening promoting the championship.Galway Kerry and Dublin aren’t too bothered about in the preliminary quarter finals at least they are still in it

Magpie - I agree it’s crazy wanting Horan back for a 3rd term. Fair enough Jack O Connor has done just that in Kerry but he delivered all Ireland titles. Sure we might as well throw John Maughan into the mix too.

@1985. I agree. With less than 60 seconds on the clock anyone supporting mayo would gladly take an equaliser as "a win". Take it and run i say and have at least another week of hope. It didn't have to be all or nothing because we know which one we got. In reality beating Donegal as opposed to drawing with them was no more relevant than a provincial title. There are games where a win is essential and this wasn't one but I reckon we don't need to worry about that now hi

I'd take Horan back over this any day of the week! At least we'd see attacking football.

That said, I think we need someone fresh. Someone not familiar with the mayo politics. And a proven winner as a player &/or as a coach. And for that, you need to look outside. McConville perhaps. McEntee was there with Rochy & would rather freshen up the setup completely, than looking back. So that might rule him out. Others have alluded to Donaghy & you know what, it's not a bad shout.

There is a good chance that one of Dublin Galway Donegal or Kerry could become the first county to come through preliminary quarter final to win it so it was all about staying in .

It's hard to make a Christmas cake if you don't have the right ingredients.

While Mayo have some top notch players there are a couple of areas where we need to improve, namely midfield and in the forwards.

Until we strengthen in these areas it's materless who manages.

You could bring in Jim Gavin, Jack O"Connor, Jim Mcguinnes, Micky Harte Andy Moran and Donaghy but if the required ingredients are not there then it's nigh on impossible to expect to be winning all Ireland's.

Hopefully some of our younger talent will join the seniors next year, a few of the talented young forwards we have and hopefully we might be able to conjure up a couple of big, highfielding, athletic and good footballing midfielders but until that happens, regardless of who is managing we cannot realistically expect to win the All Ireland.

Management is important but any manager needs to have the proper tools in order to get the job done.

Currently we have some of what it takes and hopefully over the next 2 to 3 years we can add to what we have but until we do the great push for a magician manager will make little difference.

@BatetheBlanket: It's incredibly cynical... but there's no catch-all rule that allows a referee to give a black card as something is cynical. It doesn't exist.

If it did, we wouldn't have the trip/pull-down specifically mentioned individually and we wouldn't have had the need to further vote-in the hold-up tackle (dozens of which went unpunished with a black last year despite how cynical they were) this year.

In one sense I'd love to see Andy involved,in another Id'd hate to have to fall out with him....and lets face it,any manager who doesn't deliver Sam, we'll fall out with.
Absolutely loved him as a player, especially in his golden years. He changed his game to suit his slowing legs ,so clever and adaptable as a player , could he do the same for us as manager? Maybe it's a term too soon for him.

While it would be great to win Sam in my lifetime it's highly likely it won't happen. All I want is to play football not pass the parcel and let the players and supporters enjoy it. I still take great pride in those teams that got us to the finals even though we fell a little short to the best team ever to play the game. We at least played exciting football which proper GAA people enjoyed. My fear for the GAA is that a lot of young people don't want to play the game any more because with work etc it now takes too much commitment. So I see counties with big numbers like Dublin dominating for years to come. And of course the GAA are only interested in money as they didn't have any games on last Saturday on terrestrial TV so how do they expect to get the youth involved.
Well done to Darren McHale as he puts in a 100% effort every time.

Pretty much agree with what Revellino has said above..until we find these players but also need the right man in charge to get best out of them..I think it'll be a few years before ready to compete for semi finals and finals again.

The problems with our midfield in particular has been pointed out by numerous posters over the last 3 years and especially this year with the rule changes but we just kept playing musical chairs with same personnel.i suppose if they didn’t have obvious ball winning midfielders available there wasn’t alot they could do

Absolutely fair points Revelino, but the great Tony Stark made his first Iron-man Suit in a cave.....with a box of scraps :)

There are also a lot of our players regressing, to my eye. Calllnan, Carney being clear examples. And we appear to have some really good forward talent coming through. They need freedom to express themselves on the field, not straitjackets!!

Next appointment is huge!

@Magpie: Not sure if those were real questions so much as highlighting what we need to be searching for (I assume the latter - and agree), but happy to answer it as the former and throw out a few names I'll be watching closely in the club season ahead. Between young talent breaking through and the rules shaking things up significantly, could be the best Club Championship in a long time. Fingers crossed.

"do we hace 2 footed players"
Tom Lydon went on a run of about 3 games iirc where he scored from play off both feet. In the 1st game of the year wheere he didn't, both Hurley and Beirne did. Definitely some more 2 footedness than we'd be used to coming through.

Thought John MacMonagle had made a dramatic improvement kicking out from the back off both feet this year too.

"creative centre forwards"
Keaveney's & Duffy's running power can create a lot of problems for sides from that area. Otherwise, we'd be looking at the likes of (D) Hurley, Cronin, Clarke, (C) Walsh or McDonald for more distribution lads that might develop to do a job there.

Shorter term, you'd think maybe someone like Fallon might push. Big, ball winning but with serious accuracy and eye for a score. Had an impressive Sigerson campaign for UL and one with a big chance to push.

"ball winning midfielders?"
Has been our biggest challenge for a long while now.

Some young lads with the potential to push there in time. Hopefully.
O'Loughlin, Howard (you'd expect those two might make a panel shortly - though you'd imagine away from the middle just yet), Armstrong, Keane, Loughney, Kelly or Holmes... but really challenging to tell at underage who'll be powerful in the skies in future years. Take's more than just height, and the physical advantages that can make a lad stand out underage can be lost by the time they go senior.
(e.g. Interesting to hear young Dylan Flynn doing a solid job at midfield for Cross in the league. Not sure many of us would have called that 12 months ago)

It'll be interesting to see if the likes of Carter, Murray or Lynch can put together a club campaign to make a push. Along with lads like Reid, Thornton or Tuohy getting in positions to properly dominate a game.

(Also interested to see of the less towering lads like Routtledge and Slattery who came as a big surprise around the middle last year & were both flying, had to be close to call ups, will get on with the changes. Though fielding is more a 5 to 12 job now than it ever has been so more about the balance across the middle 8 than who's wearing 8 & 9)

"Scoring forwards?"
Oddly, for us, where we've a lot of exciting prospects.

(N) Hurley, Clarke, Beirne, Lydon, Deane, (E) Walsh, McDonald, Carey or Hession you'd suggest all with a great chance of going on to be serious players and prolific scorers. With a few coming at once, the bar will hopefully be pushed high & the competition adding an extra motivating factor for a few.

It'll be interesting to see how the new space will serve some of the 'older' (relative to the kids mentioned) lads around the county. I wouldn't be shocked to see any of (B) Reape, (O) McLaughlin, Diskin, Rehill, Hopkins, Healey, Phillips, Lavin or (G) McHale putting in a serious campaign next year if they can manage to find ways to exploit some of the new opportunities. Have to imagine McLaughlin & Hopkins would have been close this year.

Has Niall Carter ever been looked at for Mayo squad? He's a big unit and is a serious ball winner

Magpie. We moved forward from James horan but we ended up going backwards. We selected the dream ticket . We are still dreaming. Tell you what let's give Rochford another 3 years. We will still be having the same conversation. I'm following my county since the 70s. Good manager s. O mahony first time around rip. John Maughan. James horan. All got us to striking distance. Then Rochford came along with the horan hand me down team. Decided to change keeper s and blew it.

I wouldn't be too concerned in relation to McConville being rejected in the past for the "ticket,". Some of these guys are made of stern stuff and would never let pride get in the way of ego. The rewards outweigh past embarrassments. However, what might pose a bigger bone of contention is the shit-show going on off the field for a future applicant.
Anyway, there's no current vacancy, or so we're told.

Nothing wrong with mcconville. Unlike alot of names mentioned he has actually tasted the holy grail and that s a big problem with former mayo player s. They have not.

@Joshua

Blaming management is not a cop out . Sure you lot did the same blamed management .

Why on earth was Fergal Bowland brought on with less then 3 minutes to go ? Bad management. We've tried with Rochford before and got us no where and don't even get me started on him dropping David Clarke .

We need new management . Anyone saying Rochford should be given another go is living in cloud 9 .

As Michael Murphy screaming in McHales face that was horrible. Fair play to Darren McHale definetly has come a long way .

And now it's only an ordinary free for blocking the keeper from taking a quick kickout. Is that to insure what happened to Mayo won't happen to another county...going out of the championship after the hooter sounded ?

Well maybe pointless us talking about new management as saw an article from Rochford saying McStay still the manager and I'm here till he returns . This was said after our loss obviously to .

Also that they will review the year in due course so doesn't sound like any resignations will be handed in.

So county board need to take the action .

Boland scores. There's one more play. Mayo should be ferociously contesting this last play. The stakes are hugh for Mayo. If COC was out there he'd be roaring at players to mark up.
I can't understand the negativity around this. It proves the soft core we have. A game versus Mayo is never over because they are likely to wilt.
Clare, you are the bearer of bad news in relation to management. They seem to be oblivious to the fact that they are not up for the job. Big danger is more players will walk.

Jihn+mchale, Where have you seen that rule change, i dont see it mentioned anywhere in the press ?

That sounded like a political answer from Rochford.
McStay said from the outset when he got the job that if his tenure wasn't improving the team he'd walk before his 4 years was up. We've clearly regressed with each passing year so let's see what happens.

Whilst there is no vacancy at the moment for a new manager,surely two names who know everything that is wrong with Mayo players and supporters ,would know how to put it right one of them apparently popular enough with the Mayo county board,Colm ORorke,and Joe Brolly

Maybe Joe Brolly is right (can’t believe I said that) when he questioned the culture of Mayo football. Someone said in reference to Horan “at least we’d be playing attacking football” - I’m sorry that’s not good enough. We shouldn’t be accepting anything it winning. We may not have the players to win an all Ireland but that does not mean you surrender scores.

Dick Clerkin also stated on the info podcast he checked out as a “Mayo fan” after 2021 and he stated many Mayo fans did and he’s right. The hangover from that defeat still lingers as a huge psychological blow.

@Corick Bridget

Now seriously will you ever stop .

@ontheditch

I would fear county board would just let them finish out their term . Definetly more players would walk and we would go backwards even more .

The writing was on the wall before the start of this season when there were rumours of trouble in the camp. I'm sure Cillian & O ' Hora are glad they opted out now .

The only hope we have now is that the neighbours don't win it how depressing !

Can't wait for club championship and hopefully Ballina will keep your man queit out in Knockmlore !

@corick

Would you add Pat Splainne and Michael Lester to the management team of O’Rourke and Brolly?

I’m sure you would give unwavering blind support to them no matter what.

Out of interest how many points had you predicted us to win by at the weekend? Usually very bullish before the event and very quiet after it?

Would you class Mayo’s year as a success or failure? And how would you rate the 3 years this current management have had out of 10?

@onthe ditch ,after Boland scores a Mayo player should have gone down holding his head to stop the game and give us a chance to set up defense and bring Reape out.
Donegal did it after our goal.
Players should know that, not a management problem.

I wouldn't give what Mr Rochford said (after a bruising game) much credence, Clare. There's no way he's hanging around to flog a dead horse. He'll want to be remembered as the man who took over for a couple of games. A new broom is needed everywhere, and I do mean from top to bottom. I don't envy the folks trying to get the "right candidate".
If Rochford does remain in whatever capacity, he's not thinking straight.

I always support and respect our management teams and players,and for as long as I have left I will continue to do so,seeing as I have been supporting Mayo since the early sixties I have heard the same criticism about players and management,I gave up many years ago criticising management and players because it serves no purpose,will a change of management win Sam for us I doubt it

@Clare, I've read some nonsense in my time but your gem of "We’ve tried with Rochford before and got us no where" is certainly the pick of them.
2016 and 2017 was Dublin at their absolute peak and we went toe to toe with a team that has (whether you or me like it or not) been rightly regarded as the greatest side to ever play the game. Literally a kick of the ball separated us from them over 230mins of football. No one, not Horan not O'Mahony and not Maughan, got us as close to winning Sam as Rochford did. To argue otherwise shows a blind bias. The fact that we didn't win was on the players, not Rochford.
Furthermore, I get tired listening to the BS about dropping Clarke for Hennelly for that final. People conveniently forget that Mayo were getting cleaned out in midfield because of Clarkes kickouts, which had backspin on the kick and meant that the ball hung in the air and took too long to come down. Hennellys were more "arrow-like". Also, in a game of inches and where frees were literally the difference between winning and losing All Ireland finals (Rocks free and Keegans GPS!) Hennelly, for all his obvious faults, had experience of booming over long range frees. One of those could have made the difference. Rochford tried to get an angle of an advantage but Hennelly messed up big time and that plan went out the window. We will never know what might have happened otherwise.

For what it's worth I believe it is time for a change of management (I include all backroom, S&C AND medical departments in this too) because for all the good intention and obvious hard work committed by the current management team, we have regressed back from an AIQF team to now not getting out of the group. In addition, I don't believe we are getting the best out of the players we have and could be using them better. I also believe that some managers are just "unlucky". Napoleon was considered a lucky general but McStay has had some rotten bad luck with injuries (eg DoC, Conroy, Durcan to name just 3 that were huge losses to the squad) and players performances on the pitch. For example, on at least 3 occasions the players on the field were put in the position to win crucial games, i.e. Derry, Dublin in The Hyde and last years Connaught final v Galway, but they failed to see it out and our season went downhill fast as a result. That's on them more so than management.
I hope McStay and his management team "read the room" and step aside to allow fresh ideas and a fresh voice come through. But I also hope they are given the time, space and respect to make that decision themselves and not be hounded out.

We have a massive issue now in that our senior and academy teams mainly run the ball out of defehce. We moved to this style in 2011.
We need to start at the back with defenders able to man mark and kick pass.

Corrick and what purpose does coming on presenting ridiculous options for management serve .I can’t you will be having much of a cruise this year if you actually bet on your predictions of beating Cavan by 12 points and Donegal by 6 .Your posts are basically all the same delusional nonsense.Again you ignore or are incapable of answering the questions put to you .Any management in any walk of life that fail to deliver simply have to move aside .unfortunately for the current management their record in championship is the probably the worst in living memory.jack o Connor will be moved on this year if he fails to win the all Ireland after winning it 3 years ago .we all want the same thing ultimately but burying one’s head in the sand is certainly pointless

Never go back - too much baggage. These previous managers etc were there and had their chances. Never ever go back. Someone new and fresh and ruthless and proven and especially external to the County. The local politics is a killer. Otherwise forget recycling men from the past.

Pebbblesmeller i would disagree on one point.surely John maughan came the closest.6 points up in both finals in 1996 and still a point up in injury time

@ Pebblesmeller :

Fair enough your entitled to your opinion .

Well it's not nonsense. Rochford was lucky enough to have a special team of players when he got us to those finals .

Everyone knows it was a massive mistake of Rochford dropping Clarke .

Also look at Donegal when Rochord was there and look at them now .

Hardly BS to say having Rochford back in again is not the answer I meant we need new energy and an outsider.

Pebblesmeller, the Central Council voted on this change last night...to amend the peanelty for impeding a kickout from a 50metre advancement to a free from where the offence has taken place.

I think the rule is change is for impeding the player after he has called the mark on kickout

@Clare,
"Also look at Donegal when Rochord was there and look at them now" - What's your point here? Rochford went in as coach under Declan Bonner and left in 2021. Bonner got Donegal to 4 Ulster finals in 5 years winning two of them back to back, plus an NFL Div 2 title. Bar the Paddy Carr year, Donegal were hardly in the footballing wilderness and Rochford was not part of Carrs backroom team.

"Hardly BS to say having Rochford back in again is not the answer" - Where did I say that? I said the exact opposite in fact....... ""For what it’s worth I believe it is time for a change of management (I include all backroom, S&C AND medical departments in this too)""

Yew_tree, I'd say the lads are devastated at the loss of Dick Clerkin alright!

Pebblesmeller, I agree in theory with your argument on Stephen Rochford - he did indeed take us closer than anyone else did to the holy grail and I will always give him that. Imagine if that had worked out, where we would be now. Still dining out on it, I'd say. I also agree that he and Kevin deserve the time and space to decide about their own futures. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Stephen stay, if Kevin is unable to return. If that's the case, so be it, but I can't imagine it will be an easy year.

Rewinding to 2016 (and I don't want to re-open that debate, god knows it went on here long enough) the decision to change goalkeepers, had it worked, would have been the greatest stroke of tactical genius in the GAA - had it worked. Risk-taking is commendable - providing you have done the due diligence.

However what he - and you, it seems - failed to take into account is the monumental task placed at Rob Hennelly's feet in stepping into that cauldron against - as you rightly put it - the greatest side of all time, ice-cold, having not started for Mayo since the Connacht semi-final, with that level pressure on his shoulders. Who among us wouldn't be spooked in that situation? You may or may not think that's soft, and part of the reason Mayo don't win big games, but I don't know many human beings who could face into a situation and an environment like that and not find themselves rattled. Hennelly has since stated that he was - understandably - racked with performance anxiety in the run-up (as most people would be) and received little to no support, which would suggest to me alarming failings at a management level. I understand that even the families of both goalkeepers were unaware of the situation until the morning of the game.

It was grossly unfair to put Hennelly into that situation without the appropriate supports. And that lies firmly at the feet of management and how the human side of that decision was neglected. I don't believe it was done out of any badness or any deliberate negligence, far from it - and it demonstrates a ruthlessness that has probably long been lacking and much needed in Mayo football, but the fatal flaw in the plan was leaving the player to fend for himself and failing to take into account the psychological aspect of it. Performance is every bit as much mental as physical these days - and Mayo, of all counties, should know that. It needs due care.

I'm not even sure that, aside from his own teammates Hennelly got much support afterwards in the face of the abuse he received, but he showed great resilience and got his moment in 2021. As for the way Clarke was treated, I wouldn't have blamed him if he never came back after that day. Fast forward to 2025 and the amount of players that have opted out of the current panel tells its own story. Man management is vital to the modern game, whether we like it or not. As is siege mentality - one for all and all for one. Yer man up the road has that nailed. I don't think we do.

Every manager has their strengths and weaknesses, Rochford is no different and we all know that he can think outside the box in ways very few managers can. I imagine he was very clear about the type of football he wanted to play in this term and his reasons for doing it. It's puzzling, given his willingness to both take risks and be ruthless, that we have been so conservative in both player selection and tactics over the past couple of years. Maybe if he does stay on, he'll throw off the shackles himself and try something new.

But as others have said, it'll take a lot more than one manager or one management team to get us on the right path as a county, and that has to come from the top. Do we even have a county strategy at the moment? Have we had once since the 2010 one was binned? Anyway, tea break is over, so that can of worms will have to wait for another time.

@1985
You have cheered me up no end today! I remember alright being 6 points up in one of those 1996 finals but had forgotten we were actually 6 points up in both of them.

This will be the longest of summers.
When are the league fixtures out?

O hora been labelled a loss , I’m not having that , he’s been roasted more times than sunday dinners ffs .

@Sean Burke

I'd agree with you there .

@to win just once: Finally got around to pulling those stats together on scoring for D1 teams' across all competitive games.
https://x.com/TsuDhoNim/status/1935282314021585301

Nothing too surprising.
- Lowest 2pts per game, running at less than 50% of nearly everyone else
- 3rd lowest goals per game probably higher than I'd have expected, but mainly from Donegal & Armagh putting their scores together in different ways
- Lowest avg score per game

All while playing a slightly lower average Division of competition than every other side but Kerry.

Just a few quotes from Eamon McSweeney Irish Indo
"Mayo's bizarre reluctance to pull the trigger suggested adherence to managerial policy.
A movement of 28 handpasses, 25 of them short and still not creating an opening
New rules same old story
Mayo rock bottom of the two point league"
Rochford and co. can do us one favor, resign in block. Does it come as any surprise Mayo supporters are dropping off.
Sad thing is, there are talented players around.

Looking ahead I think we have a decent core of a team that you'd be happy to go into battle with. The intriguing thing will be whether the lads can make it through from Under 20 level particularly in the forward areas to add to the core.

Defenders: Coyne, Mcbrien,Mchugh,Hession
Forwards: Ryan,Davitt,Tommy

Ignoring some of the older players for a minute there's half a team there with time on their side. We're lacking a bit in midfield but all teams will be missing something.

Scoring forwards are what we need. Conal Dawson has shown he knows where the posts and hopefully he is the first of many to come through.

Ontheditch, Eamonn Sweeney hardly loves us (Mayo football) and I personally find his writing opportunistic spin. I was about to say drivel. Ouch, I’m feeling spiny and spikey this morning. I better capitalise on that feeling. I’ve never been able to respect his opinions since his nauseating “Lions Led by Donkeys” headline in 2017 pouring derision on Rochford’s supposed stupidity in putting AOD on Kieran Donaghy. Fair play to Stephen Rochford for sticking to his guns on that one.
Eamonn Sweeney could kick the winning score for us in an All-Ireland final and I couldn’t respect his writing after that headline.

I’ve not being paying attention to certain things , what’s the championship structure for next year ?

@seanBurke. Mayo play London in Ruislip 2026 flights from knock. You should know that by now.

On more depressing news from a supporter perspective, I see a tweet from TSU which points towards Oisin staying put in OZ

@Sean Burke: Sigerson format, if you're familiar with that.
TL;DR: You can potentially (until R4) lose 1 game in the All Ireland series, but not 2 anymore (Provincials separate - so can potentially lose 2 games for the Championship year, but not 3 anymore).

- 16 teams qualify, same setup as now. 8 from Provincial Finals and next 8 best League (or 7 best and Tailteann winner) rankings.
- Round 1: The 8 Provincial Finalists drawn at home to play against the other 8.
- Round 2a: The 8 winners from Round 1 drawn to play each other.
- Round 2b: The 8 losers from Round 1 drawn to play each other (4 losers eliminated).
- Round 3: The 4 losing teams from 2a drawn to play the 4 winning teams from 2b (4 losers eliminated).
- Round 4: The 4 winners from 2a play the 4 winners from 3
- Semi Finals
- Final

@seanBurke. Google could be your best friend on that. It's kinda complicated but seems ok at the moment. We have a while to think about it now.

Is it true Downs Pat Havern scored more 2 pointers in one half on Sunday then Mayo managed all championship.

It's the lack of quality scoring forwards that remains the number 1 issue that causes us to consistently fall short

Let's hope Lydon, Beirne etc are the real deal because we are going to need them to be. No pressure lads

A compete new management is required, that's every

one out no matter how small their job was. Have them in place before club championship starts, let them attend games in all grades and then in October have a number of trial games and select a panel based on current form and have them ready for proper training by November.

Pebbles. John Maughan took us from division 3 to all Ireland final s. Tell me the manager in any county that achieved that fete. Also won a munster title with minnows clare. The 16/17 hand me down team scraped through the back door. Lucky at times and then the biggest blunder in the history of mayo football followed. I rest my case

@Craggy Boglands

Exactly your spot on .

oisin mullins would be great been back in panel, but I serious doubt we see that man any time soon, just like Pearce Hanley before him, I assume he too good to be let go from his AFL team

Conscience that Kevin McStay is still the Mayo manager and maximum respect to him for his personal commitment to Mayo football now and in the past. On that basis I feel bad even mentioning this.

However one cannot avoid the comments on the potential management changes being discussed on this blog, media and elsewhere.

A few key questions in that context:

Q. Is the job about taking an existing set of players to another level? If so that could that be an external person with a track record of winning who would come in. The drawback with that is they are usually not as invested in the County long term but do focus strongly on short term success and often have the ability to get it.

O2. Is it a rebuilding job?. If so this a totally different approach in my opinion. You could argue you do need someone who is from within the County with a long term interest and knowledge of the club scene. But could you integrate that anyway?

Q3. Do we not need fresh idea's and a generational shift? If that is the case how do the names out there fit that. Everyone has massive respect for James Horan and Stephen Rochford, goes without saying. Andy Moran is highly, highly, regarded in Monaghan. Austin O'Malley's achievements with Cula are notable. Is Cora Staunton interested in management? Her analysis is always spot on. What about the first female manager of an intercounty mens team?

Either way I believe people would be interested in the Mayo management job. It's still a high profile job. Since we have not been too far off in key games against big name teams this put's us in the "high potential" category. This is the perfect place of a smart ambitious person with a love of honest football which Mayo has always played.

It's a very important decision for Mayo GAA at this point. One of the most consequential appointments, I would argue in Mayo's modern footballing history so needs to be considered very very carefully.

Craggy Boglands were Armagh in D3 when McGeeney took over?

Division 2 i think and 10 years later

@InExuke, Fresh ideas and a generational shift away from our football style since 2011.

@Craggy boglands: It was 3 alright (https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/arid-30674407.html).

Fair enough. But 10 years later. And a.bad spell in kildare.

@Craggy boglands: Questionable.

The Kildare players absolutely loved him and felt he had things moving brilliantly in the right direction in everything but results, with those expected to follow (a world apart from what our ex-players have said in recent months). It was a very similar situation to the vote in Armagh to retain his services just where the vote went the other direction (Johnny Doyle has done a few fantastic interviews around it - even saying his own club were planning to vote against keeping Kieran in place knowing it'd probably help push Johnny to retire if he left but Johnny talked them into going the 'right' way. Plenty of other delegates apparently voting for the wrong reasons too. They were very close to a player walkout over his departure, with boardroom politics blamed for the 29-28 vote rather than the [relatively poor tbf] performances).

Listening to a majority of the players is seldom a bad move in these situations. You'll normally end up with a decent call.

TsuDhoNim, thanks for info on next year's championship, not as complicated as it first looks
@in exile, it's a bit of all of those things and more, but in a nutshell it's a style of play that maximises the new rules. I looked back over Sundays game and lost count of the number of times mayo players looked backwards for support when receiving possession, in comparison to Donegal players.
@ swallow scoops, I agree, sweepy way over the top and disrespectful in his comments down the years but I'd find it harder to disagree with his latest
offerings.

The discussion on players not taking a shot on when they are open often reminds me of the great Wilt Chamberlain and what he said to Pat Riley.

Playing in the NBA finals, a point down and time running out Pat Riley shot for the winning basket. And missed.

After the game Wilt asked him " Why did you take that shot ".

Riley replied " Because I was open ".

Wilt replied ' And why do you think you were open Pat ".

I have a few questions around the injured Mayo players and players that haven't featured in the group stage games

Where is Tommy Conroy with his rehab?
Is Diarmuid O Connor injured most of the time?
What happened the speedster Eoghan McLaughlin?

@BateTheBlanket: Newspaper reports had Tommy back training a couple of weeks, with player statements around the potential for more lads to be back for a couple of games potentially supporting that, but never got to the point where he pushed back into the 26. A big step from being ready to run or take a bit of contact in training to be ready for the heat of Championship when out for ~8 or so months (though all the word was the recent issue was a separate muscle injury to the original knee operation - so the lesser of the potential evils there for him, you'd hope. Fingers crossed he has a clean run for years ahead).

Diarmuid did his hamstring in the Connacht Final (vague memories we could see him pull up after a challenging run with Kelly just before half-time). Was back in the 26 at the weekend for Donegal, though seems to be a slightly odd choice to include him if he wasn't deemed worthy of a final 15 or 20 minutes when the game was in the balance. A little like Paddy against Galway, you'd wonder if not in that scenario then what scenario was he there for.

Struggling to remember the exact wording for Eoghan's injury, but I believe we were told hamstring as well. Early fears were his season was done with a high grade but more recent updates were far more positive (I think it was Mike on the pod sharing the most recent ones) and suggested he had a decent chance of coming back in the next couple of weeks (~QF time).

For those dissing P'O'Hora's contribution to Mayo,he was man of match on the day we dethroned the mighty Dubs,if memory serves.
So he has that one to tell his grandkids in his dotage.
Had some rough days of course when strangely management just left him to fight a losing battle.

Ahh I’m not dissing the man , I was just not willing to get on board that he’s been a massive loss , great game that day for sure . From those that opted out this year , Cillian and James Carr were massive imo . Love to see both back next year

Tsu. Questionable. Kildare won nothing. Players love manager s. Some because they know a change and there place is gone. Big heave on Brian McDonald' before when he told senior players like tj kilgallon and the likes that he was going with youth. Do you remember that

Plenty of the same oul shite rehashed here. Complaining about where we’re certain players or why are positive updates not leading to appearances, the answer is they were bloody injured or just fit enough to make the 26 but others were primed to start and 110% fit. Paddy was quiet enough Sunday despite a MOM performance vs Tyrone so it’s not automatic to come back in at 100% capacity. There’s ups and downs. More of it on the Goalie call in 16. At the time I said it’s risky but good if it works. What it showed was decisiveness. IMO wrong call because Clarke only had a bad 5/10 mins near the end with kickouts and one was caused by a Mayo receiver turning his back on the ball which hit him in the back and went straight to Connolly who banged it over. But I 100% agree with the Manager’s right to make that call and the dogs on the street knew Dublin had intention of going after our kickouts and maybe should have been fearless and stuck to the guns but it was a decisive call.
Indeed even worse shite talked on Rochford’s record. If anyone thinks a manager can reach 2 AI finals (3 including replay) purely on the coat tails of others they’re mistaken. Pat and Noel had a year after Horan, made a SF replay and the players demanded change. They got Rochford who brought them to two finals. 18 was as close as it gets. We were for once possibly the better team over 70 but a few moments and one great sub for the Dubs (Connolly) was the margin. I don’t think you’ll find any player blaming Rochford for that loss.

@Craggy boglands: I'm familiar with it rather than remembering it... but it's irrelevant to the situation in Kildare.

The vast majority of the panel loved him and believed he was the right man to take them on. It wasn't Johnny and one or two others, it was the panel. (And the panel that were willing to go on the walk-out, apparently)

He didn't win anything... but the back to back relegations and fairly significant drop in their Championship consistency doesn't suggest (as the players made pretty clear at the time & even more so in the aftermath) the side were underperforming under him. Even slightly.

Despite what I’ve said above my personal preference is to freshen it up. But there will be a review. Also if the players have faith in management and the back room that’s good enough for me. After all it’s them putting in the hard work not me.
And if the management doesn’t stay or is rejected, the idea of a full clear out of S&C team physios, doctors etc. is a complete joke of a suggestion. Firstly how much are these people paid for their valuable time? I hope pay’s ok but no guarantees, maybe annual accounts are accessible to some here. So to slap them all in the face after their efforts would be a huge insult. There are good people at all roles above who have plenty of experience in these roles and have served us well. The extreme moaners can join the England soccer team supporters club where yo-yoing moods have been the norm since 66.
And if it does change, off the ball did an interview with Austin O’ Malley who was brilliant to listen to. A very considered in every way bloke who backs player empowerment on the pitch and off it. Andy has been mentioned and would have a fearless approach and knows all about S&C from his work. I wouldn’t be disappointed with either or both if available but only if the current team goes or is asked to go. I haven’t been overly impressed with PJ this year but Galway are still in for now, he’s overseen 2 AI losses and Armagh stuck with McGeeney for eons before success came, they were considered chokers 2 seasons ago. There’s a process and let’s wait for it to happen.

Shuffly, to be fair McGeeney is a God in Armagh. He has walked the line as a player, so knows what it takes.
I was at Mayo v Armagh in 2019 in McHale Park. They should have beaten us. You could tell they were building something. PJ is a God in Galway, but has some doubters in his own county. Jack O Connor gets plenty stick in Kerry. We'd have carved the face of Horan or Rochy or whoever into Croagh Patrick if they had led us to the promised land.

I think a patient approach is admirable. But when things are going backwards after 3 years in, then you'd have to question the value of persisting. Imo we need a seismic change into how we play & that ain't happening under this management. Look at the strides Monaghan & Meath have made. They've embraced the rules, simple as. We have not. All of us here knew the All Ireland winner was going to come from the team who adapted best. We didn't even try to adapt. It's unforgivable considering that there is no big bad wolf out there

Tsu. That statement is more confusing. Your contradicting yourself. Stick to the stats. You might get a job alongside Rochford

@Craggy boglands: Do you mean "’I'm familiar with it rather than remembering it..."?

I don't remember it happening. I was too young and wouldn't have known it was happening or cared that it was back then.
I have read stories and heard tales about it years later, usually over a few jars, so I'm aware it did happen and familiar with some of the details. While still not having any memories of it.

To be fair Glen Ryan didn't do any good in kildare either. Is it the players or the management . Donegal have won 2 ulster s since Jimmy took over. A all Ireland semi last year. Still in it this year. Same players. Before the championship started I tipped them for full honour s. Lately I'm not as sure. I'm 2012 they had mcfadden to compliment Murphy and a better defence. But Jimmy is making a difference with the same players that bonner and Rochford had. Time will tell

Well, Mr Rochford is made of steel if he does hang tough for another stint considering the noise surrounding this year, and it's not just on the pitch I'm talking about. Some task ahead for whomever.

Not at all. It's not a big task. Negative style of football is killing us and for God's sake do we not know who's behind it yet. No wonder joe brolly takes the piss out of deluded mayo supporters. Get this management out immediately

Can I ask this question, is Brolly actually involved with a club in Mayo?, there is bad stuff on YouTube at the moment by the same person aimed at the Mayo team.

Involved with Knockmore I understand.