Some lads due a big game today.
Be interesting to see if Reape starts.
Up Mayo!

What kind of crowd expected? Hopefully with the unreal weather we’ll see 13/14thousand

Best of luck guys. Expecting a comeback and a reaction from the guys not to disrspect Sligo though.

I would be expecting a 6 or 7 point win but if similar problems around our kickout emerge again then we really could be looking at a short summer

Hopefully players seize the opportunity today and earn a result

Hopefully a good team performance today and some good forward play

I know lots of tickets available have adult stand and juvenile stand for game section 103 row n

Is any one interested young lad too sick to go

Fresh start let's see if we can show a different approach today. Kick out strategy and kick pass into the ff line top of the bill. The good thing about the league final is that we surely learnt an awful lot.

Boyler rightly said Kerry nullified our scoring threats in ROD and MR last Sunday so let's see if other lads can put up their hand and get us the scores we need this summer , starting today. Neary, Irwin, Mchale and the returning DOC among others

Interesting match, to me, the big questions to be answered are do we develop our attacking play to a broader style including kicking into the forwards and can we bring intensity that I felt was missing last week.

Alternatively, do Sligo truly believe that they can win. While they have good underage teams coming through, this does not often translate to success at senior level. At the moment there are mixed messages in the county and I do not get the sense that they really think that they will win. For Sligo to win, their team and management need that belief, then they need a good start, and finally Mayo to play below par.

For these reasons I expect Mayo to win. Mayo need to win Connacht and I would like us to beat a Sligo team that shows up and tests us. We have plenty room for improvement but today, we need to see evidence of these improvements being implemented.

Hurry, quick JF......

Hopefully we will start Adrian Phillips to see what he offers in the all imporant kickouts our kickouts were a disaster last week against Kerry. It was madness not giving the sub goalie game time during the league. I agree underestimate Sligo at your peril but we should have too much today

This is all about winning. No need for statement of intent victories in April. Get it done.

The less drama today the better. A win and move on. The lads are on the road a good few weeks on the trot now so after today a bit of recovery would be good.
Up Mayo!

Here's hoping we play foot-to-ball today. If not we will have to watch the usual ring a ring a rosie hand up in the air crap. Let's get back to the most basic skill of kicking the bloody ball.

Any teams announced?

Both match day panels have been announced, highlorlow. Details here: https://www.mft.ie/match-day-panel-named-for-sunday-2/

Sound WJ, I must invest in a new phone.

Hopefully a win and a decent performance, Mayo by 2 to 3 points with and edgy finish is not what we want this early in the campaign but in games like this in the past that’s been the story.

Forgot to order the game on season ticket. Anything I can do now to get it added back as not showing online anymore

Philips, Reid, Thornton and Kelly should start.

Need to give Flynn and Reape a rest after last week.

Flynn definitely needs a rest he came back too soon after club. We need to protect our assets. Playing him for 70 today is risky. I’d hope to see him no where near the panel the next day out. Assuming we win today.if we don’t do so with a degree of comfort, then that’s not great is it.

There will be a bounce to the sod today,no breeze to speak of either. I hope we are brave on taking on the distance shots.
1-20 to 0-17 to Mayo is my shout.

This not knowing what the real team is I’ll be until nearly the parade is some load of nonsense.

The start of another Championship today and a perfect day for football in Castlebar. Today is an opportunity for the Mayo management and team to lay down a marker for the summer and show supporters that they are making real progress. The type of progress that shows us that this team are genuine contenders for an All Ireland this year.

This Mayo team has been very poor in the Championship since 2021, and they have exited it in the last three years without barely firing a shot. The lacklustre performance against Kerry in the League Final on Sunday was worrying and raised a lot of questions about where this team is right now. The ease at which the Kerry team ran through us in that game is a big concern.

We need to see a huge improvement in every aspect of our game in this Championship or we are looking at another early departure. We also need to see the return of that physicality and doggedness that made us such a feared opponent not that many years ago. A big performance and a convincing win is needed today. Mayo by 10.

Is any one else worried?

Tiredness a possible factor to give worries, but as WJ said it's still a team who finished high in div 1 v a team who struggled at times in div.3.
But championship,who knows!

I am elderly, avid supporter ( for more than75 years) and am unable to travel so would love to watch it, but I cannot get it on my computer. Gaa+ is not working for me and there is no support I can get. I suppose I'll have to make do with the radio. How do progress .

Up Mayo , was playing up with me earlier in the week. You need to setup a new account even if you had an Irish Gaa Go account. Click on the Match ( Mayo V Sligo) and it should prompt you to Setup an Email and Password and Payment method

Sorry WJ., I noticed you didnt post my comments on Joe Brolly...fair enough. He's just one of these people who are insufferable. Anyway..duly noted.

Will be surprised if there is more than 9/10k at it .
I don’t know many others goings .
30 euro a ticket prob didn’t help !

Yeah, the less said about that gent, the better.

Willie joe, Im sorry to hear of small crowd and consequently subdued athmosphere > There is a great buzz here for the Hurling with sell out crowd . I see Bookies have Mayo minus 8 in the handicap. If we are that superior we should be having 5 or 6 changes to the starting lineup after last weeks dissappointing performance. Enjoy the game and I will enjoy the hurling

I don't think many will go either. Prices a bit steep if you're bringing all the clan. Many will wait until the final I'd say. Then let the roller coaster chaotic stuff begin for a few weeks. As our 85 year neighbour who's been following them for decades says supporting Mayo is 'character building'.

@Bonni Boyler that happened to me to !

Great weather for the game bit nervous for this game after last week but do think we will have to much for them. Be interesting to see if Reape does play.

Up Mayo
Download the GAA+ app on your phone or your laptop using the Play Score app. Then you need to pay for it. I think its €12 to watch or get the season package!

Straight forward or get help from a young person as they will know!

Mhuigeo Abú

As Donegal are showing, unless you’re playing direct football these days, forget about it

Up Mayo.

Good day for football.
I don't think we have played a Division 3 or 4 team in Championship since 2021. Hopefully we can put a good performance and have a nice pep in our step leaving, but a fourth weekend in a row after 3 tough games means the win is all that matters.

Donegal won’t be far away, they have some fine long shooters for two pointers, a big man who can take it down with snow on it and plenty of legs.

Don’t know what has happened to Derry though, they looked like they were building nicely twelve months ago. Maybe the managerial upheavals haven’t helped? Personnel-wise they look the same.

Changes to the starting team: Fenton Kelly (22) for Jordan Flynn, Dylan Thornton (19) for Frank Irwin. Changes to the bench too: Conal Dawson wears 12 and replaces Jordan Flynn, Eoin O'Donoghue wears 20 and replaces Eoghan McLaughlin.

So two Championship debutants: Davitt Neary and Dylan Thornton. Think it's also Dylan's first ever competitive appearance for Mayo at senior level.

Dylan Thornton in fro Frank Irwin. Unbelievable to think he hasn’t played a minute of league and now starts first round of championship. Regardless of the opponent it’s crazy to imagine

Derry playing with a bit of self-belief though. Not sure they have the range of scoring options Donegal have. Think the penalty miss will come back to haunt them.

2hops are you in McHale Park, strong breeze blowing across from stand but lovely day otherwise. Looking forward to an easy win!

I thought today would be ideal as a confidence builder for Frank

Glorious perfect day for football. No excuses. McHale looking well-lovely setting.

Makes no sense at all Moose79.

It's actually three champo starts - forgot about Fenton Kelly.

There is a fresh breeze here now alright.

Aidos 17th season fair play such a player.

Thornton should 'up' the aggression stakes a bit.

Looking good for Mayo

Much better stuff from us this week sligo not bad

Should have them buried with goals and lacking urgency to finish them off

Sligo scoring too easily, we should be a lot further ahead

Two words....NOT CLINICAL

Good enough performance. Remember Sligo pushed Galway to the wire last year and look where they ended up.Hopefully they get the job done in the second half ,our bench should win it for us.

Not looking good now. Sligo will feel with the wind they have a great chance in the second half. .

Lovely sunny day here, but that’s all that’s pleasant. A very mediocre Mayo. Will hold from further comment until it’s over!

Poor finish to the half there from us. We looked comfortable with that six-point lead but three up with the breeze to face makes this a tad too interesting than it really should be.

Not sure how anyone thinks we are going well!?! Midfield and defence not at it so far.

We should be further ahead true . It's a bit to close now for the nerves!

We had 2 or so goal chances and should have nailed them in. Paddy Andrews was right on where 2ill we get our scores from.

Colm reapes kick outs are better though .

I said we need to win this by 10+. The last 10 minutes of that that half was seriously average. Compared to the quality of Donegal/Derry, we are quite a bit off the top 4 or so teams.

Anyone at the game? How many points it’s that breeze worth?

Very dangerous now for Mayo, they are not in the attacking zone at all, Sligo finished the half on the up, Mayo will have to get stuck in now, I'm afraid it will be a tight finish. Mayo not performing anywhere near their best but McStay will have to wake them up if they are going to win with confidence, big improvement needed against the breeze.

@Green and red yeah agree . We won't be winning Sam on that display .

Worried for the 2nd half now if we had advantage of the wind.

Sligo are up and coming but still poor finish from us Ryan o D and Aido still the leaders but they can only do so much .

I was worried before. Still am.
Why is Aido back defending? Sligo have extra man then on Ryan

Same old, same old. Loose defence, sloppy passes and going too hard for goals, instead of taking points. Only one 2 point effort, with the breeze, and the less said about it the better. Need to seriously pull up their socks in 2nd.half.

Sligo right back in this game and will fancy their chances second half.
As for Mayo they're playing like they have a divine right to win this game and that could cost them in the end
McStay needs to give them a good kick up the behind before going out for the second half.

Our ball handling is very poor. How many attacks broke down simply because we spilled the ball? Too many at any rate.

It's more of a cross breeze. Don't think it will be the difference. I don't think we attempted any shot from outside the arc in the first half so musn't be significant at pitch level.

Official attendance 9,469.

A positional change because of the changes. It certainly hasn't aided our attacking game. Could we not just play forwards in forward positions?

Not great
We need to get our kickouts away much faster

We will win easily, not a great performance, but the intensity isn't there, hangover from last week or lack of interest in the opposition. My biggest worry is we have too many players who get in shooting positions who won't shoot and never will. Makes us very easy to defend against

Looks half empty there alright we could well loose this. Hoping for a comeback 2nd half but more worried :/

If you can get them buried you can look to run the bench, which is what the aim should be as soon as it was clear how dominant we were at the start of match

Ridiculous decision. That was definitely a square ball. What are the umpires there for if not to spot something as obvious as that?

100% a square ball never a goal !!

Who's making excuses?!

According to Midwest he was outside the square when ball was played for Sligo goal

This is going to be a nervy last quarter even if we win there are questions I don't think we could beat Galway on that display anyway .

That's not what the live stream shows Bonni!

No way will this be a nervy final quarter, we're pulling away easily now.

Jesus Clare, I know you're looking at the bright side but winning sam, my god miles away from it.

@Willie Joe yeah I switched it back on there my nerves got to me haha!

Hope Donnacha will be ok

@Larry David I said we won't be winning it .

Midfield struggling from what I’m hearing?

Very bad day at the office regardless of result. Narrative could have been completely different if we took the chances that were there on a plate.

Never really in doubt but not great
Aido and Neary the positives
Our kickouts are a huge huge issue

@Exile agree not great at all. Should be ahead by alot more . The day Aido hangs up his boots will be a sad day .

We are going to get a serious trimming later in championship.

Think I'll get a template made for my comments for the rest of the season.
1. Kickouts are going to get us in bother.
2. We look very vulnerable when we're run at.
3. Aido. WHAT A MAN

O Shea is some player, full 70 and a MOTM when people said he was finished years ago.

Very laboured win. Hard to see us troubling any serious team this summer on that showing.

Thank God for Aiden!

The best we can hope for now is for a quarter final place Galway will win connacht yet again this year .

POTM poll is up. Think I have an inkling who's in the frame for this one.

Rusty performance but a wins a win. The last 2 pointer was a shocking call from the ref.

We won against a team who will have targeted this game,we should enjoy our win, up Mayo

Just listening on the radio WJ so no idea, going by Martin Carney's commentary. Very loose at the back. Should not be struggling against a Div 3 side.
Hard to see us winning a Connacht on that performance. Good to see all the Championship Debuts, AOS has to be man of the match. We a definitely under the Radar now. Maybe Sligo deserve more credit but not what I was expecting anyways.

Job done, I'm not going to read too much into this one, championship starts in the Connacht final, would've loved to see a dominant display, didn't happen but bot a game we needed to worry about. Job done move on

100% WJ. I think we were all hoping for a reaction based on the league final. We didn’t get that at all. Had Splainne been more clinical it would have been a draw. On the plus side I thought Dylan Thornton had a good debut. And McHale was excellent too along with Aiden. I think Padraig Joyce will sleep soundly tonight, if he sleeps at all out in the big apple. Maybe even Davy Burke will take confidence from that today.

Said last week it would be done in true Mayo fashion. Aido pulling us through and that last grab was worth MOTM on its own. Everyone home for a good sleep and let’s get the dirty diesel out. Kickouts an issue again. Get it sorted and let’s see what happens.

Like I said at half time, defensively very weak. Just not good enough at actually stopping the opponent from shooting. Little or no turnovers. Allowing Sligo score 2-17 and it could have been more…it’s no where near good enough. Have said it all through the league, we havnt defended well. It’s an obvious weak point.

Midfield was very average. Carney was much better when put to half forward line in 2nd half. He did little or nothing, like Ruane, in terms of winning primary possession and influencing the game. Felt sorry for Reape , the movement for him was appalling. But then his kickouts toward the end were poor too.

Do I have anything positive to say? Yes. Our forward play was impressive. We created plenty and could /should have had 4 goals.

Running the bench is good in theory, don't know if all those changes were enforced or not but too many together led to confusion and scrappiness.
Anyway it's all about the win and move on

They’re gona get absolutely opened up like Xmas when they meet a half decent team. Sad to say.

Said it before the game we should have started Adrian Phillips to see if his kickouts are any better because we now have a serious problem with kickouts. If Leitrim mannage to field a team we should drop Reape for that one

@ Erris Exile, hope your right, think we were running on Green Diesel there today. But a win is a win is a win.

How have we still no semblance of a kick out strategy? If not bothering with one should just go long everytime and take our chances.
Aidan and Darren excellent today. Our defence is very suspect.

Hopefully they get things l sorted with Flynn, he'd be good to have for bit of steel.

AOS our best today

Relax.
I agree, plenty to work on.
Need McBrien at full back.
Lots of players blooded.
Mayo v Galway takes on a life of its own.

Under the new Rules as far as I am aware, a player can be in the square up to when the second last pass is played, but not in the square when a final pass is made.
Mayo will improve as the championship unfolds.

We'll now do our usual thing and make the final.

Kickouts are the easiest thing in the world to sort, you just kick it long, but after 9 competitive games, management obviously don't want to do that. They still want the keeper to kick it short or long to the sideline, both of which haven't
and wont work. Took 9 games to move Carney inside. I hope management know what their best team is, because know one else has a clue what's happening. Well done to Aidan and Darren today, both played very well. Let's hope things work out with Jordan.

Not alot you can say about that.2-17 conceded against a division 3 team.my concerns around this game was not that Sligo were great but unfortunately they we are extremely average but I was still expecting a reasonably comfortable 6 or 7 point win.is it too late for the management to bring in someone that can develop some form of a kickout strategy because it’s fairly obvious now they dont seem to see any need for it

We are effectively in a Connaught final. The league final last week was an inconvenience, we are now back in the two week set up, which is ideal prep for a game. We won the thing- onwards as they say, things to learn, for sure- all good though

Still struggling to know what our game plan is. No idea on our kickout strategy. For the second week running we remove an attacker before throw in and replace him with a half back and I can never get a handle on what our substitutions are aiming to achieve. Thought Kelly was playing well so not surprised to see him taken off. I presume the management team can see some plan coming together but for the life of me I can't.
Aido a certainty for motm.

If sligo had more belief in there forward play and look on more shots especially in the second half when they had chances to go for two pointers with the Wind they only stated to do so in the last 7 minutes of the game and got themselves 2 two pointers which brought them back to a one scored game.
Mayo need to up there game big time if they are even to win connacht
Only for Aidan O'Shea we could have been looking at a embarrassing defeat at home.He was outstanding today.
Our goalkeeper needs to up his game also he has had a poor season so far could have cost us today like last Sunday against kerry with his place kicking. I would be looking for a change before it's too late.

So it's a 3point differenc between 1st and 3rd division football...looks like we belong there too.
By the sound of it, it was a very disjointed performance with good bits and some very sloppy stuff.
Looks like our defence is in sixes and sevens when forwards make a run at them and it seems like we have no idea how to fix it.
I'm afraid that McStays stint as Mayo manager
is not going to end well, as I can't see this team going anywhere.

I'm not reading too much into this one.
Sligo were better than many on here thought. We were worse than what many on here thought.
All that said, I do think we've played almost every week for a while now and two weeks will do us good.

Firstly, while there were some concerning aspects to our performance—many of which have already been highlighted by others—I don’t think it was as bad as some are making out. Sligo’s late rally added a bit of respectability to the scoreline, but the result was never really in doubt.

We had six players making their championship debuts, which is worth keeping in mind. If we’d won by 15 points, people would’ve just dismissed it as a win over a Division 3 team anyway, so it was always going to be hard to satisfy everyone.

It's also easy to forget that Galway barely scraped past Sligo around this time last year—and they went on to reach the All-Ireland final.

Book the Hotel now, its definitely the Year

I wouldn't be too despondent, we won that's the main thing.
That was five weekends on the trot including the trip to Dublin so there's an element of burn out there.

Kickouts should be more varied there's times Reape could find a man just outside the arc. The Leitrim game should be a chance to vary the kickouts at the minute it's too predictable.

Twice the ball was kicked into the forward line and got a goal from one of them so it wast all bad.

Fenton Kelly growing in confidence and Diarmuid is another rung up the ladder on his way back so ya there are issues with our leaky rearguard and need to finish those goal chances but at least we are creating some.

If we don’t figure out a way to get 3/4 two pointers per game, we won’t be going too far this year

Mistake strewn performance throughout the field.
as someone else mentioned no kickout strategy after two plus months.
Sligo were one loss away from being a division 4 team, and we conceded 2-17 to them.
That has to be a massive concern.
We have zero consistency at midfield., in fact I would go so far as to say we dont have a midfield.
backline was like a sieve.
forwards did not kick one 2pt., dont even think we had a 2pt effort.obviously a management decision.
only for another incredible performance from a 34 year old AOS, we could possible have been beaten.
I had been hopeful all year that we could beat Galway in Connacht, but at this stage Galway would need to be missing 4 or5 of their starters for that to happen.
so it seems we will be hostage to the group stages draw again,
just demoralizing.

I'd be worried in that the standout Sligo players were a handful for us. And theres more and bigger fish we will have to deal with. But we have an easy passageway to the final and that should help.
I do hope we get into a good tough group and that it is a serious competitive experience. We're not battlehardened but there is a decent panel down the road, hopefully not too late for AOS.

@Glorydays, if Philips starts will we magically develop a kickout strategy or midfield?? We 2 and a half years in now and there's no sign of anything being done on this.
We were fairing out well enough when going long early doors, why the switch to short I do not know. Bit it seems to be part of the game plan.

@Gizmobobs fully agree with you. Reape did Ok in parts.

Philips is decent to hard to know what the issue is with the kick outs or midfield..

@gizzmobobs we might and if we dont he can hardly do any worse than the present incumbent in goal? Something has to change our kickouts are not good even Stevie Wonder can see that

Aido was immense. Ruane looked out on his feet. Midfield malfunction again. Defence wide open when anyone runs direct at us. Lots to work on and not sure we are learning anything game to game. Panic at the end and Aido had to win the ball in the middle to save us from a Sligo attack to potentially equalize.

I wouldn’t read a lot into it, Leitrim game won’t tell us much either.
Good to see the fast ball being used, when it was it was effective.
Is the Leitrim match in castlebar?

Well one of the issues is that apart from Aidan o Shea we don’t have ball winning midfielders.Ruane doesn’t win anything in the air and carney was switched into the forwards and reape seems to have one of those catastrophic kickouts in most games now

Glorydays, it's management that dictate the kickout strategy. Why they haven't at some point said go as long as can when we are weak in midfield is beyond me.
Regardless who is in goal, they will likely be asked to perform the same job and kicks.

Leitrim match is in Carrick. Assuming we make it, Connacht final will be in Castlebar.

We will be a different team if we get Paddy Durcan back and move McBrein to FB.

Huge issues with our restarts now for a couple of years now.Not a chance we get consistency with current set up.Rob H was lambasted for a lot fewer errors than our current number one.Mchugh took a bad knock trying to win a kickout v two Sligo lads.

Declan, Hennelly had a template to work off, larger target zone and most importantly, fielders.

It's actually very difficult to be a keeper. Under the new rules, the short kickout is so hard to get off. Going long leaves it 50/50. Even the best keepers in the country are under savage pressure. Reape has made a few costly errors of late but he's still the best we have by a long way. Big agenda amongst some on here against him.

The biggest reason we have a kickout problem has nothing to do with Reape. You take Barry Moran, Seamus O’Shea, Tom Parsons Lee Keegan, Colm Boyle and Donal Vaughan out of a middle 8 and replace then with players who aren’t half as aggressive or dominant in the air and we won’t be winning as much kickouts as in the past. No one was complaining when Aiden went out the middle today and took a few out of the sky. And the few Dylan Thornton won. The issue is the lack of ball winners not the man kicking the ball out.

Point is the short kickout doesn’t work for us for some reason , it needs to be binned . A keeper also has to be more assertive, reape is forever delaying his kickout and it’s futile as it’s proving costly , if there’s a runner medium range in space just fucking give it , that’s the percentage , dilly dally to give a hanging short one on the Dee it’s a hospital pass ,it’s just completely nonsensical. What’s the point , if the opposition is pressing up ffs I don’t get it why would you chance it , people screaming shur he’s nothing to aim for , well no matter what, you don’t chance that one , I’d rather kick it in the stand tbh at least then you’re not guaranteed to concede a score

Gizmobobs i agree we had better players back then but i cant blame management only for errors on our restarts.Kicking shorties to attackers and floating balls out mid way just wont work.

Exactly Sean and Declan, so why isn't he told to do it?? No doubt some of the kicks are poor execution, but If he knew he just had go long it would speed up the whole show. Looking for for short ones or the mids close to sidelines clearly the strategy, keepers wouldn't want to be chancing short ones of their own volition in this day and age with the larger arc, back pass rules etc. puts far more pressure on them. But someone obviously wants them.

Agree Giz

As well considering the short kickout has to be longer now with the arc you can only imagine the reason Reape is going short is by instruction from mgmt which is completely going against the grain of the new rules. We have no strategy whatsoever on kickouts. A blind man can see it. We have also failed to identify strong ball winners to bring into the panel over the last few years. Playing Irwin at full forward when we lack midfield presence, is genuinely crazy. Considering that’s where he plays his best club football.

Reape has had a few wild kicks, as has most keepers but I get the feeling is being instructed to find an eye on the needle kick every time because we simply don’t have the strength to win 50/50 ball which is a result of lack of squad development.

Kickouts are a disaster again. Two kickout over the side line. Kick outs too slow. No one showing for short option. I also thought that the Sligo goal was a square ball. But Colm did show a lack of hight for it. A taller keeper may have prevented end it. The second goal Sligo got I thought Colm made a poor attempt of blocking it. It may be time to try out another keeper for next game.Over all to be fair I did not think at any stage we looked like loosing the game.We started a bit of the old habit of over and back in second half. Can’t understand players at inter county level not shooting from 20 meters out.But I would say this is down to coaches telling them to keep possession unless you are 100% sure of getting the score. I don’t like being critical of Colm as he has generally been good.

New rules mean you need a 2 footed goalie now, Reape has a few short options out to his right side, towards the sideline, Sam Callinan twice at least was waiting, Reape didn’t have the left peg to ping an easy one out to him. So giving him a pass and blaming our middle 8 is wrong imo.

I was one footed as a player but I’d have managed a 20 yard kick off a tee with my left if I put in a few weeks practice in.

This is just another example of what us hurlers on the ditch can see as failings but the coaches or management can’t .