I'm actually heartbroken for ye tonight.

You didn't deserve to go out on that performance today.

Lads died with the boots on and didn't go out without a fight.

Sport is cruel, But Mayo supporters don't need to be told that.

Chin up lads and ladies.

I don't think there's anything to be heartbroken about.
We were lucky to be within touching distance of Donegal, we lost the last kickout like we lost the majority of kickouts. Could have snuck the draw, but I wouldn't have fancied our chances of getting through 3 games in 3 weeks.
We haven't been hitting our potential in any year under this management. We're not all ireland contenders really, but we should certainly be challenging for semi finals.
The last couple of games have restored some pride and hope, but it still needs a fresh start for 2026.

Final Whistle pod is up on Patreon now as well.

Thanks West Kerry but we will rise (and no doubt fall) again as we always do

Why should we be challenging for semifinals? The players aren't good enough. Where is our midfield? Guaranteed the four teams contesting the semifinals this year will have strong, mobile ball winners around the middle, because the new rules reward that type of player. We don't have that type of player and haven't had since the Horan years.

West Kerry we lost it with the dire first half showing.we had to be ahead at half time with that wind .you can only be unlucky so many times

Either we didnt have a capable replacement on the bench in the eyes of our management , or we actually didnt ( was Diarmuid fit enough? if he was we could have certainly benefited by his introduction around the middle) . Anyway Matthew Ruane was having a very poor game at midfield and a change in position or personnel was badly needed , same could be said for Stephen Coen. Its been similar all year but it was pretty obvious that we needed Fergal Boland, in my opinion by far our best shooter from open play on the field and bringing him on with only minutes to go was a bit silly. By far our best player today was for me anyway , was . Darren McHale, his club mate Colm Reape was also very good, and David Mcbrien . Mayo still worked very hard today, gave everything , but we are lacking primary possession winners in comparison to the big hitters. l

We made a fight of it but Donegal were better and more efficient than us. Getting turned over especially by teams with pace and a fast transition to attack is critical with the new rules. I didn't mind when we took on shots that went wide because at least we had a go rather than over playing and getting dispossessed. Also everyone has said we are over reliant on ROD and we have been but if somebody told us he would only score one from play today we would have expected to lose by a few more at least. Positives for me is defence has been much improved looking to the future and the likes of Conal Dawson and Davitt Neary can be big players for us over the next few years add in some of our U20's and a new management team and we will compete again at the business end of the Championship.

Glad to see the back of that format anyway.

Thanks Kevin and Stephen, but it didn't work out. 3 years came and went and nothing came of it.

Someone from the county board ring Cillian O'Connor tonight and beg him to come back next year.

What’s sickening me the most about the defeat today is that we had enough possession and enough chances to win the game. Our inability to take those chances and close out games has killed us for years and did so again against Donegal. We are short match winners, the type of players that can convert those chances and change the course of a game. In fairness to our players they tried their hearts out today and I feel sorry for them this evening.

Question
If Mayo won kick out would we have played on or kicked out of play?

Kicked it out i think because if we coughed up possession going for a winner there would be serious questions but if we went for a winner and got it then it would be genius. That's the margins.

We need a cold calculated review of the year when the dust has settled but whoever is in charge, the team needs to have a bit more nous. End of both halves were examples, the obvious one is the end of second half. But at 8-6 and in the final minute of first half Mayo were in possession. Instead of running it down, waiting for hooter and manufacturing an opportunity that Donegal could not react to, we hurried a shot. Donegal regained possession, went up the field, nailed a point, 9-6 half time. Small margins but I agree with WJ, after 3 defeats it’s time to tie up the horses. What a shame it’s so long until league.

Ah well. Goose was cooked after the cavan game tbf, there had to be consequences for that performance and we paid the price.

Went down swinging anyway and 3rd quarter today especially was stirring today...

Bit ultimately a lot of the old failings continue to haunt, considering some of the big scores kicked all weekend 1-15 still not good enough to win a game.

Defence done well today and recently with Coyne and McBrien the 2 star performers today but it's the lack of quality up front that is killing us.

A complete inability to kick 2 pointers when everyone else was filling their boots.
A refusal to take on any shots with the wind when donegal had 14 men was criminal
Poor game management at the crunch time, patton had the ball gone off his tee instantly to beat the buzzer at the end, we never have that kind of composure and wherewithal

All in all, thanks to the player for their efforts but looking on the year as a whole it was an abject failure with few positives. Failure to win connacht and exiting the group stages is regression whatever way you wanna spin it

Well that's easiest championship exit to take that I can remember. Something about the team in the last few years just hasn't clicked with me for a few reasons:

1. I hate the way they play.
2. I hate how they haven't adapted to the new rules.
3. They have no player that gets me out of my seat.
4. There is a complete lack of leaders and fight in the team. After our goal today, Donegal got the next three scores and turned a two point deficit into a two point lead. That's leadership.
5. We consistently make the same errors and don't seem to learn from them.

We're a good bit away now but things can only improve. We need a clear out and a go with youth under a new management team.

One other point, I can't see Donegal winning an All Ireland...(But maybe that means we're even further away)

Well I suppose all we could have asked for is that we died with our boots on and that we most certainly did .Not a good first half from us but a really battling second 35 minutes. I felt Donegal in fairness were that bit better than us but we hung in there manfully and could have sneaked a draw. It ironic that we probably put in our 2 best performances in the last 2 games. Getting Cavan and playing so poorly against them was disastrous for us. We didn’t do the business against them but as limited as we are we are miles better than Cavan as the overall score difference shows. We don’t have the players we had 10 years ago but today and against Tyrone ( and against Galway to a certain extent) they really gave their all and there’s not much more one can ask for

@West Kerry: Thanks for the kind words, gentlemanly as always.

It’s obvious that we are in a transitional phase at the moment and that we won’t be challenging for Sam for a while. But things can also change around relatively quickly: a couple of seasons ago, we relegated our opponents in their own backyard. A change of management and a coaxing back of a senior player later, and they have two Ulster titles on the bounce and are among the front runners for Sam.

We have some good young prospects, as well as some senior players who opted out this year. Would be hopeful that a new broom could integrate both of these groups into next year’s panel. There’s no reason we can’t improve with the players at our disposal (hopefully Tommy Conroy is one of those) next term.

Maigh Eo go deo.

I don't necessarily agree goose was cooked after the Cavan loss with lingering effects of that causing today's loss. After no doubt some serious analysis and restating of committment, peppered with a few ffs and blinds, our lads were fully capable of reverting to a traditional Mayo running game and produced a beautiful performance against Tyrone with a 7 point win that thrilled us all. I think too much shooting hesitation today and soul destroying lateral/back passing was our main downfall......I recall Hession straight through for a possible goal or point in the first half only to stop dead, turn around and offload a back pass..........

It's a sad day none the less, having gotten the equaliser we should have made sure to slow down the kickout or do whatever we needed to do to stop play.
Even when Donegal won the kickout we should have fouled him on the spot...but-but-but!

Watched the game, hard to see a team like Mayo slip between the slatted unit of the 2025 Championship. Credit where credit is due ye were Mayo, that’s the best compliment I can pay to ye. A fluttering feather fell while ye had defended all in your care and nobody can be blamed for that. Rochford gave them the ammo and told them little about the bunker, that is where Mayo do what mayo do. A terrific performance and hats off to all, Cavan’s display should not define this season, freedom, expression of bravery and unfettered football freedom with guidance is the road to the return to the top table.

Kerry got a bloody nose last night but they have an opportunity to regroup to safe face if not their season. Not sure where the injury list is at but if we get Galway next weekend I will be having a peep a the low fares offers on Ryanair for July as it would be hard to see us turning tg rev m over after last nights display.

Problems ye would love to have I know but that’s the new season …

Passing the ball around the defensive arc killed us today. We were slow and laborious in attack, with a lot of balls dropping short. When they broke out and played the ball, they got something out of it, but it didn't happen often enough. There were times where we could have done with hard running off the shoulder into the arc to cause chaos, but what's done is done. The lads have put in a shift this year and all should be commended, but a change in management is due unfortunately. The management got all that they can and a fresh regime is needed to get out of this group stage malaise

Can I add one thing that i forgot to mention in my post,

I sincerely hope it not the last week see of Aidan OShea.

The man never stopped fighting today.

He gave his body and soul to the Mayo cause today.

If ever a man deserved an all Ireland its him.

No heartbreak here. It's infuriating to have lost in that manner again, even though on balance we were the poorer team today. Such naivety. Bring me back to the days of cynicism and win at all costs. Remember the league final in 2019?

Gamechanger10, the Cavan performance will undoubtedly define this season for us, and so it should, to he honest. But you're right about the road back.

Let's hope now we can get the right skipper to steer the ship into the next era and get those lads playing the type of football they need to be playing, and losing the fear of shooting, though that will be a challenging process, I fear. I can't see anything but a change of management ahead for us now.

Losing to Cavan in round 1 was the killer not today. Showed against Galway,Tyrone and again today against Donegal that Mayo can be competitive against the best of teams. Now what happened in that Cavan game I don't know, were 7 points down in that game until the late rally and Cavan since then have lost to Tyrone by 13 and Donegal by 19 points and will be well beaten by whoever they get in the draw tomorrow

A kick in the stones no doubt about it...let's lick the wounds, circle the wagons and go hard at it again next year. We have no other choice have we?

I'm over feeling sorry for ourselves since 2021. We are way off the level required to win anything at the moment so let's not kid ourselves. Hard luck story tonight, the butt of the joke for another winter.
Until we cut out the 'nice lads' stuff go out and get a manager with a winning mentality nothing will chance.
As supporters we need to stop blowing players up before they actually win something, invading the pitch after a loss, man of the match when we loose. It all feeds in to a heightened sense achievement.
I read early someone saying Michael Murphy isn't a roll model. He's a winner. A draw is good enough my hole....
We have plenty of good footballers there but the need to be lead and coached to win.

The lads battled well today so fair play to them. We just don't have the quality that we once had but hopefully that will change in the next few years.
It will be a huge club championship for young lads wanting to put their hand up for a senior intercounty career in the beautiful green and red jersey.
Up Mayo.

Moose, which players have been blown up by supporters since 2021?
It's pretty much constant negativity, much of it not without reason.
There's been no hype, no blowing up players, no flags, no songs, almost no crowds, so I don't think the usual old stereotypes apply anymore.

I think the writing was on the wall for us when we let one of our best players walk away because he didn't want to waste another year of his life sitting on the bench. Fair play to Rochford for stepping in but it's really best for everyone if we have an entirely new management team next year. We've been on a downward trajectory for the last three years that has culminated in a loss to Cavan (CAVAN!) and a failure to even make it out of the group stages. They'd want to have a seriously brass neck if they were to attempt to go for the fourth year after that. I hear Tony McEntee is free now...
I know it's been a few years since we last played Donegal in championship but they must have spent all that time building up a solid (and frankly, strange) loathing for us. I've always supported Donegal (obviously not when they've been playing Mayo) as I consider us similar enough counties with similar problems but after the amount of vitriol and abuse I had to put up with today (and definitely not from a minority) I genuinely hope they get absolutely annihilated in their next match. The stuff they were saying about our players (our tall poppy in particular) was absolutely shocking. I've never heard anything like it and I've been on the hill with the dubs on All-Ireland final day. Murphy is an absolute gurrier too, gets away with absolute murder and couldn't help himself roaring in Darren McHales face at full time. Don't start me on Jimmy's whinging matches comments about the venue after. It's unfair to bring them to Roscommon but we should have gone to Omagh, sure Jimmy.
That last Mayo score was idiotic, they should have played the ball around until the hooter went and then worked the score. Well, they'll have all winter to think about it. And autumn. And summer.

Sometimes you don't realise how deep you are in the trough until you're well into it. The air has really and truly gone out of Mayo football. Poor support and bad losses throughout the year. Season over in the middle of June. Yes, it was truly lost against Cavan last month. Beat them and we would have been assured of progress today. Instead we were at the mercy of a Donegal team who I thought looked a bit uninterested at times. Very poor first-half with only six points scored with the breeze. Realistically our goose was cooked at that stage. I can't recall exactly how many two-pointers were attempted but they were atrocious. Straight into the goalie's hands most the time. Even when we got the goal Donegal didn't look all that shaken. Went up kicked themselves into a six-point swing. There were some good individual performances in the defence but as a unit I thought Mayo were ripped asunder. Time and time again the Donegal attack raced through on goal. They should have a few goals at least. I thought Reape did OK on kickouts but midfield were struggling. We don't have enough quality to be holding Jordan Flynn in reserve. He's a nailed-on starter for me. It was obvious that a few of the players hadn't been properly blooded in the league. Yes I know it was a dog-fight staying up but I'm not sure we got the balance right.

It did feel like a 1-point hammering to me, even if Donegal needed literally the last kick of the game to win it. Whoever is managing the team next year, they and the players have to bring the support along with them on the journey. It's not just going to come back of its own accord. It's yet another huge rebuilding project ahead because we are arguably mid-table Division 2 standard at the moment.

And please lets not look for players who have opted out for their own reasons to come back and save us. Some of the names I've seen mentioned here this evening were not even starters back in their day. The time has gone for most if not all of those players, and even for some who are still on the panel. Whatever about the criticisms of James Horan, he saw the value in developing young players and putting them ahead of those on their way out

All heart and no forwards. That fundamental fact never changes.
I hope the county board don't delay in sorting out who will manage next year.
McStay is contracted for another year, but everyone expects change. Waiting until after the club championship isn't an option.

New manager will need to identify some ball winning midfielder (Barry Moran type) and get them on a S&C program.
Also need to find a creative centre forward who can kick 2 pointers, a ball playing wing back who can kick 2 ponters, a goal scoring corner forward.

Reaper needs a kicking coach to find a long topspin kick out.

Draw tomo morn

If they had got to Moore and fouled, would the free be awarded and play on, or all over?

IT Would have been allowed

Agreed tinawley...
Ultimately as floyd mayweather says 'skills pay the bills' and as always we are falling well short in our attacking play, non scoring forwards and a lack of guile/quality up front. Twas always thus. We are exactly where we deserve to be for this reason

All well and good battling hard for a quarter here and there but Ultimately if you are toothless in attack you won't be invited to the big dance

TsuDho is generally the man with the stats but I'd love to see stats from the group stages on what teams scored most overall and what teams kicked the most 2 pointers, id say we are close to bottom on both counts. That 2 pointer that dara o baoill kicked from the wing,do any of our forwards have that in their locker. Down and monaghan both gave an exhibition in long range shooting which we are incapable of.
In these new rules if you're a forward and you're not regularly scoring then you have business being there. Find someone who can

A couple of points. Mayo are performing to a higher level relative to the standard of club football in the county.
We don't have big athletic midfielders that get you possession from your own kickouts.
We pick a half forward line who don't score or even attempt a score,
If Cilian O Connor, 3 years younger than Donegals Michael Murphy (My man of the match today) had been available we'd probably have beaten both Galway and Donegal.

The players blew this one. Where to for management now. The cavan game killed us. Aos tried hard again today but for the most of championship he is a non scoring forward unfortunately

At this level, our lack of ability to kick 2 pointers is, quite frankly, embarrassing. I'm sad that we're gone but by god it's deserved.

The speed was lacking today and in the commentary (unless i'm mistaking) I heard our captain mentioned twice.If you see the shagging goal festooned with opposition , you fist it over. Did Aidan have the correct cogs on today?: slipping all over the place. I wonder if that player that got the winning point today was shunted over the sideline would the ball be deemed to be out of play?.
As in my opening comment all it needs is a fifty yard sprint from a standing start to play 'Gaelic football'

We are miles off when it comes to hitting 2 pointers. Boland possibly should be stationed by the arc. He's about the only one that could hit one Hard to be critical of Rochford today. We kicked ball short. Into the keeper s hands. Shocking stuff. The championship record over the 3 years paint s a bad picture but yet we could go toe to toe with the big boys.

Someone mentioned Mayo lacking leaders—there are plenty of leaders in that team, lads who give everything in terms of energy and effort. What we lack is football intelligence, and we always have, even going back to the strong team of a decade ago.

When the pressure was on, the wrong decisions were made—O'Shea’s black card, Donal’s red, Hennelly’s mistakes. Where Dublin, Donegal, Kerry, and Tyrone thrived under pressure, Mayo wilted.

We've drawn or lost by a point far too often, not just this team but for years. I remember Andy Moran celebrating leveling against Dublin in the 2015 semi when we had them rattled. That told me he didn’t have it. Dublin would’ve been setting up to finish the job—we weren’t, and still aren’t. And this current squad is less talented than that one.

Today, all they needed was a draw. They had the last play—or should have—but shot with 15 seconds left. No composure, just chaos. Even with the hooter rule, nobody thought to hold the ball. It was brainless.

Maybe one player panics, but that ball passed through several hands and still no one calmed it down. Total lack of awareness—again, a lack of football intelligence.

I knew they wouldn't win today. The best hope was a draw. Last week, with no pressure, like a boxer coming out swinging, they landed a few and won. But in the league final, Connacht final, and today—when it mattered—they wilted, as always.

I thought Colm Reape, was excellent today. Had a hard job getting possession with no real natural midfielder. Some short kick outs, all worked out. And in fairness worked long ones enough we won a lot of them. Two great save as well

@Mayotillidie..totally agree Colm Reape was exellent today,

Hi all no body died it was just a game of football

2021 - lost a final we should have won
2022 - walloped in a quarter final
2023 - walloped in a quarter final
2024 - lost in a prelim final to a team that hadnt won a championship match that season or any match since
2025 - knocked out in the groups stages after losing to a team who went on to lose their next two games by a combined 32 points

There hasn't been any real transition since 2023 with the same players cemented in place.

The 2023 quarter final team had
Colm Reape; David McBrien, Sam Callinan; Paddy Durcan, Stephen Coen, Jack Coyne; Mattie Ruane, Diarmuid O’Connor; Eoghan McLaughlin, Jack Carney, Jordan Flynn; Tommy Conroy, Aidan O’Shea, Ryan O’Donoghue.

Subs: Enda Hession and Donnacha McHugh came on

Bar injuries that team has been the same since.
They flopped against Roscommon, Cork, Louth and Dublin in 2023
Threw away wins against Galway, Dublin and Derry in 2024
Flopped against Cavan and lost tight matches with Galway and Donegal as well as flopping in the league final.

When you add it up, this team is going backwards and learning nothing.
Inconsistent and the opposite of ruthless (Google that and you get a list of words no player would want to be described as).

There are no real standout players sitting at home either. We produce loads of the same kind of players.
The school of excellence is busy teaching lads how to run and handpass. Time to coach the coaches in the new game and try to develop fielders and forwards.

Yes I agree Colm had a good game. Two great saves and kickouts were good. We do not have the midfielders though to contest long kick outs.

Aiden oShea is playing his best football all year , hope he stays with Mayo for another year at least. I continue to be optimistic that soon Mayo will win Sam.Up Mayo.

This Mayo management needs to be pulled in immediately and questioned from top to bottom. Why did we so obviously struggle to adapt to the new rules early in the league when all around us were flying.
Why are we bottom of the pile for 2 pointers scored.
Why play O Shea inside but never deliver a high ball?
Why is our game management so bad in terms of closing out wins, or putting teams away, or going scoreless for long periods?
Why do we never look like we have a gameplan or identity?
Why do we constantly refuse to shoot as if discouraged to do it?
Why etc etc etc??????