Be a hard match for Mayo, Galway further down track. Not sure the 2 point arc suits us, always look like we forcing it, and galway seem to have more within there range. Had ryan O'D chance to take a free outside arc, and decided to take it from 21 yard line. In fairness to Ryan, we might as, we'll as pack it in, if he get injured. I'm living in Galway, so hopefully Mayo can win

No!!!!!!! Not HIM! He is atrocious.

Isn’t he the lad who puts the hand up every few seconds and normally against us?! Disrupts flow but lets it flow for our opposition ??

Feel more positive after the Dubs game then I had been feeling even though lost.

I would just worry that Galway seem to have a better handle then on the 2pointers and that might land us in trouble.

Though the new guys showed promise espcially Neary.

Always close and we do owe them one just with guys missing still it's a hard one to call mayo by 2 though..

@Sinead37

Noel has been known to go wild on occasion, but so too does Ryan :)

I hope the messing round in the back line from management stops on Sunday.Mc Brien is our best option at 3 with Callinan at 6.They need to be played here and allowed develop.Im not sure about Brickenden in the FB line and callinan is not a corner back.I understand mgmt need to build a panel but the spine of the team should be put in place for the championship.
Mc brien at 3
Callinan at 6
Flynn and other 8 and 9
Aido at 14
I don't know who will take the 11 role.Maybe Conroy
With the new rules we need good fielders at center field.I like Mattie Ruane but he's not a ball winning midfielder and it might be time to put him in the hf line.

Horans Hat agree with your defensive changes.
Not sure will Flynn and Aido be available. Flynn probably needs a few weeks off. I would like to see Akram replace Coen to see where he is at. He was on the subs Sunday but got no game time. We are too slow at making changes.

@Horans Hat, good point on the defence. If there is one thing we learned last year, it’s that Sam is not a corner back. He was badly done by Darragh Canavan (twice) and David Clifford. Need him further up the field with his running power.

I’d be marginal on Brick or McBrien call. I rate McBrien better as a player but not sure he adds quite enough in attack from 6. Makes some good runs but would be interested in how many lead to scores compared to e.g. Sam. Let Bric battle it out with all comers for a starting 6 as the year goes on. Agree with giving Akram a chance, Coen is tried and trusted and we know what he brings. Can always bring him on.
As for Galway, I think they’re a step up from Dubs who were an experimental outfit way below the normal Dubs league level. They’re happy to plug away patiently with dominant possession for 50 or 60 knowing sooner or later most days the openings will come. They’ve found a decent corner forward and corner back. To beat them we’ll need a 3-4 half time lead as they have more guns to fire in the 2nd half than almost anyone. Johnny Maher and Shane Walsh came off the bench the last day. I’d be countering Maher with Diarmaid OC straight away the next day, experience vs experience. Don’t wait until near the end to get Diarmaid on. In fact not convinced Kelly deserves a 2nd start in a row. I’d have them favourites but let’s see as we’ve home advantage. Might need it.

Sam Callinan's defending is iffy IMO. I thought Morahan was very effective when he came on. I had a close up of him on a few occasions and he was tigerish and inventive in getting the ball away under a lot of Dublin pressure. I'm singling Callinan out, but really the whole back line could be included under those comments, whereas Dublin by contrast dogged us at every opportunity. I don't mean that negatively, they just made it as hard as they possibly could. Defending will be so important under the new rules.

Catcol, I didn't think Dublin looked as fit as we do, but thought strength wise the were able to brush off our full back line far to easily.

Think the Galway game will be fifty fifty, we had a terrible first 10 - 15mins against the Dubs so hopefully that wont happen the next day. Also we had a lots of possession / potential around the arc the last day if we fair a bit better here we could do o.k. I haven't seen the game back but who was marking Bugler ?

We need more man markers in the defence. Agree on Sean Morahan, I thought he did well.

I think when we go into a big championship game Mc Brien will be full back with Callinan at 6.
Outside of these 2 I think there's a few places up for grabs.Mc Hugh will start but could end up in midfield.Eoghan Mc loughlin will probably start.
That leaves Hession Brickenden Coyne Coen Akram Morahan and maybe Durcan fighting it out for 2 spots.Personally think Hession is too good not to be in the team but Akram and Morahan need to be looked at to see what they can do.Im not overly worried about results in the league of it means we find a few players for championship.
Although it always nice to show the neighbours who's boss

@jp I'd give my left one for a Chris Barrett type corner back

We must nail down 6 and 3.
The sooner the better.

We’ve gotten to 2 all ireland finals with coen at 6. Don’t know why we changed it tbh

Is the match televised

If Eoin O'Donoghue can get back to near his best he could be an option for one of the corners too. No more than Sam I think Hession is a bit was in there too, but I'd agree he's too good not to be playing especially with that pace he could really unlock defenses for us.

*wasted in there.

UL beaten , I only got bits of it on YouTube , terrible commentary, hard to make out who was playing , of what I saw basquell and some lad called Sean jones for TU Dublin ripped the UL defence apart . Poor game or maybe it was poor camera work and commentary contributed to it . Mayo players mentioned Kelly , fallon and Irwin , none seemed to do a lot tbh from what I could make out .

Sam Callinan at 6 all day long, and McBrien at 3. All day. Question marks over Brickenden's ability to track, and he was turned over far too easily more than once at the weekend. I would really love to see Morahan get a good decent run of game time. He is young but he has such great intelligence.

Horan's Hat or would you consider a donation for a Brendan Harrison-type?!

I hope Paul Conroy isn't playing on Sunday, or I genuinely fear for us. I am convinced since the rule changes that this is Galway's year and I break out in a cold sweat and a bit of a rash every time I think about it.

The Darkyfin I don't think Bugler had a marker. I think Dublin actually played him as a 16th man and nobody noticed. I mean, how else could he possibly have waltzed through our defence several times and helped himself to seven points?! As Olive said on another thread he has been around a while but he is no David Clifford.

But learnings ... learnings ....

Anyway, I am expecting* to us to come out all guns blazing in our home ground on Sunday. Full power, no mercy etc.

*Not really expecting. Just hoping

No more square pegs in round holes imo. It's cost us for years

We need 2 or 3 tigers back there. No marauding corner backs who are all at sea one on one. I look through our squad and I'm struggling to find the reliable options outside of Donnacha McHugh & McBrien.

Half back like we are well stocked but I'd love to see Diarmuid at 6 personally.

Midfield is a concern. Flynn, Carney, Ruane. All capable players with different strengths. But none of them have shown an ability to dominate the skies & that is looking increasingly more important under the new rules.

Honestly don't know where we stand

Team for Galway:

Reape
Callinan Brickenden Hession
Kelly McBrien McHugh
Ruane Coen
Reid Boland Neary
O'Donoghue Irwin Towey

No changes for me.
I'd love to see more changes but the game last weekend flowed so quickly. There were very few stoppages (the clock wasn't stopped once in the first half, although the ref may simply forgotten), and we don't have 14 players available at the moment with a recent history of playing full intercounty games. Both teams looked pretty tired from the 50th minute last Saturday, but the guys we brought in didn't really energize us. Darren McHale had a moment and Morahan looked decent (but didn't appear this evening for UL), but Bob Touhy, Diarmuid and Cian McHale didn't make much impact. Changes need to be made earlier with the new rules.

I think we've a lot of room for improvement in the halfback line. We're over reliant on Eoghan McLaughlin for pace. Kelly looks an addition but he hasn't Eoghan's seering pace. Hession has always looked more comfortable in the fullback line imo. I'd like to see Ivers and what he can bring. As wildcards Mattie Ruane might benefit from a new position and Davitt Neary might find gaps to run through when coming from a deeper position.

At 6, Conor Loftus and Paddy Durcan are the only two players that have played that position to a high enough attacking standard. Sam and McBrien have shown flashes. My problem with our present options at 6 is that Conor Loftus is probably the most reliable contributor on our own kick outs.

Not sure if any of that is really pertinent come Sunday, of all teams Galway is all about getting your matchups right and I don't think the numbers in our back 6 will matter much. Good test for the new rules, as tbh this would likely be a complete snooze fest under the old rules.

Just to mention, Boland did well v the Dubs particularly in the 1st half and has that foot passing ability that many here are looking for, he also got Mayo's only 2 pointer and laid on a foot pass that created the goal.

This year's All Ireland winner will come down to probably two main things.

The tightest defence ( as Armagh last year )
And the ability to put those two pointers over the bar.

@FrostTHammer: I'd imagine you could be pretty close there.

- Room to hole Fergie until the game opens up & play a Tuohy/Thornton/Irwin at 11 to start to meet physicality in the middle 8s
- I'd not be shocked to see a Duffy (either) or McHale (again, either) get the nod (for any of Towey/Irwin/Boland/Kelly) if they're showing well in training

Other than that, you'd imagine we're waiting for the injuries to start filtering back towards 100% (DO'C looked a distance from it yet) to see bigger changes.

Again, performance more important than result. I'd take a few nice cameos (even off the bench) & no new injuries as a good day out.

@seanburke Agreed on the poor commentary. Cian McHale kicked three points (2 frees). Hit one lovely score from
Play and one tough free. Hopefully brought in from the start on Sunday. It’s a joke how we have no left footed free taker.

Fenton Kelly started corner back, done fine. Frank Irwin played midfield, kicked one 45 and had a few close attempts from long range. Conal Dawson started 10, was quiet and taken off in the second half. Jack Fallon came on and scored a point

Cathal Joyce (Claremorris) Sean Morahan, Luke Jennings (Ballinrobe), Joe Grady (Westport) and Jack Melvin (Davitts) all named on the subs but unused.

Christ the young lads ye mention are good footballers
Don't know what the side line want out of them.
That was a hard watch the last night.
Defence stand off ish.forwards afraid to go for it.i give up.

With new rules, many players etc and early season, things are in such a state of flux that it is very difficult to select or predict a team. One thing that strikes is that this new game requires that a team needs tight marking 1 v. 1 defenders in the last line of defence. Brickenden is a decent footballer, who with his kick passing ability could be better used as a half-back or tried at midfield, but he is too loose a defender for the full-back line. McBrien is our best full-back, so he should be left at No. 3 and I would also play McHugh in our back 3.

BatetheBlanket says:
January 28, 2025 at 9:57 pm

This year’s All Ireland winner will come down to probably two main things.

The tightest defence ( as Armagh last year )
And the ability to put those two pointers over the bar

—-------------

I'd make it four things. Strength and conditioning and strength in depth.

What number was on Cian Mchales back ? Only got second half in and tbh I wouldn’t know them lads by face . Sean Morahan on the bench not used seems ridiculous when they were getting ripped , I’d rate morahan to become a very decent county player in time .

Is David Tighe still with the panel? Best corner back in the club championship imo. Also with the demands on winning primary possession around the middle with the new rules I don't think we can persist with Mattie Ruane in there. He simply is not a ball winner especially in the air. I'd probably go something like......
Reape
Hession McBrien Tighe (if available)/Morahan
Kelly Callinan E.McLaughlin
Reid McHugh
Boland D.O.C. Neary
C.McHale Ryan.Towey.
Cian McHale is an all round good footballer but for his left footed free taking alone I'd have him in.
Bring on the likes of Coen late on when old heads are needed.

New pod up on Patreon!

@Sean Burke: Cian was 13.

https://x.com/HigherEdGAA/status/1884299190714654904?t=F-9P2o-ll8kFLJsEyBaNhg&s=19

Found it nearly impossible to see numbers my end. Combination of the shallow camera angle, the small phone screen & my data locking me at 240p most of the game, so not too sure if it'll help ya much.

Majority of time he had the ball the commentary would have been referring to how TUD should have had a free or how UL got lucky. Was painful to listen to commentary that biased (said as someone who played for the side they favored).

Tough game to enjoy (all got a bit scrappy & away from the ref) but there was one fantastic move with Frank winning it under pressure near the line, driving it in long to Jack who turned & split the posts. The game can be fierce simple at times. Jack Fallon with a great year in the competition to remind Mayo management he's banging on the door.

St Colman's playing in Bekan tonight at half 7 in Connacht semi final against Leitrim schools.

Two major problems Mayo have for years now is fullback line and midfield. Time to play Mcbrien, McHugh and Brickeden there till, something better is found, stop playing half backs there it hasent worked for the last five years. Midfield needs ball winners, at present Flynn end Carney is best we have, so play them there also till better is found Also get a settled team and play that team every match. McStay and Co there four years and we and even the players don't know ftom week to week who is playing where,

Is it televised on Sunday

@Culmore hard to disagree with you.
Not easy to make a full back line player from a half back.
If not good enough for half back line leave them on the line.
Management long enough in place to at least expect the spine of the team to be settled.

Culmore your dead right.
Sick to my back teeth watching this team.
Get back to basics FFs

Culmore if we keep going with the same how will we find anything better. Try Sean Morahan or Eoin O'Donoghue corner back this weekend. Leave Enda Hession in the other corner and give him a run of games to get his form back. Move David McBrien back to full back and try Evan Ivers at 6. Regarding ball winners for midfield Reid, Tuohy, Irwin or Thornton are all better ball winners than the players you mentioned.

@Craggy boglands: Yeah, TG4.

@Culmore: We'd need to repick the panel in that case.

McBrien plays half-back or midfield for Ballagh, Brickenden usually plays half-back for Westport & McHugh plays midfield or half-back (with the odd man-marking role like he's done on Towey - which usually ends up playing out around the 40) for Castlebar.

County quality players often (especially athletic ones) get dragged out of the full-back line (or inside forward line) to get them on more possessions & allow them to influence a club game more. I wouldn't use where they play for club as the measuring stick there so much as do they have the required defensive instincts reading danger & the concentration required (e.g. someone like Hession pops up at half-back or half-forward at club, but absolutely has the traits necessary to be a dogged corner back - assuming the matchup is correct for his skills).

Brickenen ?

Oh I'd agree experiment like mad until the second last round of the league, especially the midfield sector and see can we find the best possible partnership, remember we will have Jordan,Aido and hopefully Conor and Paddy to slot back in to the set-up.
The last thing we need to do is flog the same 17/18 players week in week out during league and expect them to see us through championship as well.

Third year of management team, experimenting should be well advanced by now.

TsuDhoNim. Thank you

Going back to Culmore points and not doing it for sake of disagreement but this year above anytime with the new rules requires speed in the corners, aggressive tackling and ability to turn on six pence and for that we have noone better than Sam and hession.
It's a shame to have to play Sam there but he gave as good as he got the last day and should be corner back again. The inside line will be exposed to greater space for runner to go into but also if they have speed should be able to play from front to counteract the long ball.
That's where Brick and Mchugh will be exposed and where Mcbrien can be too.
Mcbriens positives at 6 far outweigh his positives at 3 .

It's all.opinion and at end of day it's mcstays that counts but for me I think I know where he's coming from and agree with him.
Least leave Sam and Hess in corners to counteract Walsh and Co.
Brick at fullback doesn't inspire me with confidence but we can't clone Mcbrien.

I fear we will be destroyed at midfield if we play like the last day . If Flynn can move at all after the celebrations, we got to play him.
He's far and away best we have and Reid showed well the last day so deserves start.

The mention of cloning got me thinking so I decided to ask ChatGPT; who gave a really decent response

You said:
Who should play number 6 for the Mayo senior football team for them to have the best chance of winning the 2025 All Ireland football championship.

ChatGPT said:
The number 6 jersey, representing the centre half-back position, is pivotal in Gaelic football, requiring a player with exceptional defensive skills, vision, and leadership. For the 2025 season, Mayo's manager, Kevin McStay, has selected David McBrien from Ballaghaderreen to fill this role.
mayogaa.com

David McBrien has demonstrated significant potential and versatility in previous seasons, showcasing his defensive capabilities and game-reading skills. His performances have been promising, indicating he could be a strong asset in the centre half-back position.

The departure of experienced defender Pádraig O'Hora, who has opted out of the 2025 season, leaves a notable void in Mayo's defense.
rte.ie
This development underscores the importance of McBrien stepping up to provide stability and leadership in the backline.

Additionally, Stephen Coen from Hollymount Carramore, listed at number 5, brings experience and leadership to the half-back line. His versatility allows him to adapt to various defensive roles, potentially providing support and depth to the centre half-back position if needed.

In conclusion, while David McBrien is currently entrusted with the number 6 jersey, the dynamic nature of Gaelic football means that tactical adjustments may occur throughout the season. The combined efforts of McBrien, Coen, and other defenders will be crucial for Mayo's aspirations to secure the All-Ireland title in 2025.

Hahas Frosty your some man , hopefully Conors in a place to play as him at 5 or 7 is massive for us either side of mcbrien plus eoghan mc or donnacha mchugh , I'd have them more dynamic athletes ahead of SC in current system but look every yesr under every manager we all underage SC but yet every single manager picks him so there's more to him than maybe we see

Haha that's brilliant Frost :)

I asked GrokAI the same question with a slightly different outcome

Determining who should play at number 6 for Mayo in the 2025 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship involves considering several factors such as player form, experience, tactical fit, and versatility. Here's an analysis based on available information:

Sam Callinan: Recognized for his defensive dynamism and attacking flair, Callinan has been noted as one of the best in the business. His performance in the 2024 Mayo Senior Football Championship was standout, suggesting he could be a strong contender for the number 6 position. His ability to mix defensive solidity with offensive contributions could be key in both maintaining structure and initiating attacks from the back. His inclusion in the Senior Team of the Year for 2024 by The Mayo News underscores his capability at this level.

Stephen Coen: Although not explicitly mentioned in recent team formations for the 2025 championship, Coen has previously served in defensive roles for Mayo. As a vice-captain in 2024, his leadership and experience could be vital. His versatility to play in various defensive positions might make him an excellent candidate for the number 6 spot, especially if tactical flexibility is needed.
David McHale: Known for marking the opposition's best forwards effectively, McHale's defensive skills could be crucial. His performance in 2024, where he was noted as Knockmore's best player, indicates his potential to anchor Mayo's defense from the number 6 position. However, his specific role might depend on the team's overall defensive strategy.

Given the information:

Sam Callinan appears to be the most fitting choice for the number 6 role based on his recent performances and the balance he offers between defense and attack. His recognition in the local media also points towards a consensus on his capabilities.

However, the final decision would also depend on the tactical setup envisioned by the team management, the form of players leading up to the championship, and any unforeseen injuries or retirements. Mayo's success in past championships has often hinged on a strong, versatile defense, and choosing the right player for number 6 will be pivotal in their strategy to end their long drought for the All-Ireland title.

Didn't realise David McHale was on the Mayo panel. But the AI is mad.
I still think TsuDhoNim is AI :D

Well done to Gortnor Abbey into the Connacht senior schools final some young talent coming up delighted for them!

@Mayp Focus: Couldn't deny that one.

"Almost intelligent".

Congrats to Claremorris too. Into the final of the Senior A PPS after a 1-12 to 10 win over the Leitrim amalgamation.

Well that’s Austin o Malley’s chance gone anyway. ChatGPT and Grok AI for joint managers. A lot cheaper too I imagine.