Best of luck guys!

Feeling more confident after seeing the team..

Mayo to edge it by 1 or 2!

Dublin team named: https://x.com/DubGAAOfficial/status/1883093431238717767

I think throw in is at 7.30pm.

Lads all eyes on you and Dublin tonight.

Our game is off tomorrow.

Can't recall ever seeing a weaker named dublin team, thats like an o'byrne cup side. They are undoubtedly way back in the pack now

Even missing numbers ourselves I still think mayo have a much stronger, more experienced lineup and expect a win

Safe travelling folks , bit of snow this morning around longford/ Mullingar but main roads should be grand .
Wasn't planning on going but the year starts again and I will put my shoulder to the wheel again and support Mayo through the good times and the bad .
Really hope we see some new faces perform well tonight.
As WJ said , league is shadow boxing and I honestly don't care about being relegated if we can be more competitive come championship .
Best of luck to the Mayo ladies as well.

Thanks, Digits - you're right, it is. I've changed the post now. No point in having anyone turning up in a cavernous, freezing Croker half an hour early, even if they have the delights of Dublin/Antrim in the hurling to entertain them!

Under Austin O'Malley's management Cuala played a lovely free flowing style of football last weekend. And that was under the old rules!

Subs

16. Adrian Philips Ballyhaunis
17. Cian McHale Moy Davitts
18. Darren McHale Knockmore
19. Eoin O'Donoghue Belmullet
20. Evan Ivers Belmullet
21. Fenton Kelly Davitts
22. Finbar MacLaughlin Westport
23. Kevin Quinn Ballinrobe
24. Paul Towey Charlestown
25. Sean Morahan Castlebar
26. Shairoze Akram Ballaghaderreen

Do ye reckon there's more chance of a game being 'over at half time' under the new rules...
Say Galway in Salthill play with the wind in the first half and their long range shooters have their boots on, what was a 6/7 point lead at half time is now a 12 point lead.... the 12 man bus will be parked on the 40.... making it very hard for running teams like ourselfs to close that gap....
My worry here, is our distinct inability to adapt to change under all mgmt set ups in recent years....
Our current manager doesn't see much change under the new set up.... and looking at our panel tonight, we aren't exactly blessed with long range shooters.....

Great to be back. It's been way too long. Good luck to Mayo this evening. A winning start would be great!. ???

Long wait is thankfully finally over and now 7 league matches in a matter of weeks!

Looking at the two teams Mayo's is clearly stronger and should be winning this game, it's probably the weakest 15 Dublin will line out with in this league campaign. Wouldn't be getting carried away by beating Dublin in Croker either, afterall Monaghan beat Dublin in round 1 last year and still got relegated.

A hope Frank Irwin does play, he been on the panel for a couple of year without making a dent maybe injury play a part, went injured against Monaghan and has played for UL in their Sigerson Cup games. Good to seem Cian McHale on the bench hopefully we see abit more of what he can do. No more flying halfback in that lineup, should be interesting to see how they fair. Davitt Neary U20 last year but didn’t get on the County panel but neither did any 20 year old. How long has it been for Shairoze Akram to play a competitive game for Mayo, glad he on panel and hopefully we see him as well.

Half seven on a Saturday evening in the middle of winter in a half empty stadium is not an ideal way for Mayo supporters to kick off their season.
I can't imagine to many will make the journey this evening...for those who do they deserve a medal and hopefully a win!

TG4 acting up, hopefully it’s resolved before throw inn.

I hope mayo don’t play like Galway jesus

It's still back and over. Just in a arc shape now rather than a straight line. Like the solo and go in fairness . Referees at club level, especially the further you go down the grades, are going to be under some pressure.

New rules making no real difference. Galway and Armagh gone 10 mins without a score. No 2-pointers being attempted or even forward marks........I lie !......Galway just got a 2-pointer. But in general as Richie Duck said above, too much lateral passing and time wasting

As feared the two pointer is going to suit Galway a lot

Who'll start for Diarmuid and Bob?

F Kelly in for O’Connor; Towey in for Tuohy. Tough night ahead for us at centre field?

Galway are shite to watch!!

The new rules should allow the more natural, less physical players more space, and a better chance to get their shots off. Hopefully players like Fergal Boland and Paul Towey can thrive under these rules. Don't know where all this confidence is coming from, hope ye're right. Best of luck to our lads tonight.

Jesus, is Diarmuid actually ever going to play another match for Mayo?

TG4 still acting up..

Galway are awful to watch!

Might be in trouble in midfield now as others said...

Sam og were you impressed with the All Ireland champions?

If Mayo are as "awful" to watch as Galway were and win the game by 4-5 points- I'll be delighted.

I'd rather be shite to watch and win then be the better team and throw games away as we did last year on numerous occasions

Tg4 looks like still not working

Tg4 not working looks like Midwest

Same old story afraid to shoot

Galway we're at that craic too......why not feckin shoot when you're within range...

TG4 seems working on Virgin TV, not Sky or via website.

Poor start anyway,

Ffs tng...looking forward to it all fu cking day

Going to be a long night at this rate.

No plan for kick outs, and kicking the ball long appears to be a sin. Meanwhile Dubkin work it over and back quickly, player into position, all over the bar.

It’s embarrassing so far , it’s one thing to not be good enough it’s a whole other game to be pure weak/windy

Sounds like a mercy that TG4 is not working.

Wirking on the tv.. Paul Towey jyst got a beauty of a point!

That’s an unbelievable wide from Boland

TG4 not working for me.........picture 'stuck' fir oast 25 mins

Great goal from mayo there!

Settled back into it very nicely, upped the intensity and doing much better at midfield.

Thank god for Midwest, sounds like a great game so far with plenty of new faces standing up.

Paul Towey really stepping up Donnacha mchugh impressive to! New rules really suitung us..

Mayo seem to be doing ok. Why are people so embarrassed?

++Paul Morris
You have made a mistake and gone on the wrong blog.
Take a hike..

Thought we where going to get a good hiding after the first 15 mins but a really brilliant 2nd quarter to the half, great seeing the likes of towey who can score getting his chance and irwin looking good too, want to see neary get on the ball more he's so athletic and powerful, of course boland gets our first 2 point score who would of thought hahaha.

My TG4 still frozen.......

Greta response. Important half coming up as I think this is a game we need to win to avoid relegation. The way the fixtures have fallen and with the team the Dubs have out this is one of 3 games we need to win .
In terms of the new rules the solo and go is good and will catch defenders out
I don’t like the 2 pointer if goal only worth 3. Has to be 1/3 or 2/4 or there is no point incentive to go for goals
The penalty for not keeping 3 defenders back is far too much . I don’t even know what that rule is there ?
Fair enough you have to keep 3 in opposition half but why do you have to keep 3 in your own half ? Especially when one doesn’t even have to be the keeper ?
The removal of soft marks is a definite improvement

Fair annoying about TG4, app not working either

Very enjoyable game, Mayo settled well after a bad start. Galway/Armagh wasn't great but not any worse than their 2 games last year

Winning is far more important than style of play. I think Galway are one of the top favourites this year. They have a load of experience and big fellas who can win ball and kick long range scores.

Enough about them...dreadful start but good recovery. Would like to see a McHale given time

Very good response from the first 12-15 min boss game from the dubs

hat is the rationale behind having to keep 3 players (one of which doesn’t even have to be your keeper ) in your own half ?

Makes zero sense to me if we want more attacking play . Maybe to allow more space . But I think it should go. A free right in front of the posts for having too many attackers just seems stupid

And it can even be a two pointer. Thats the other rule I think needs to go. Back to 1 and 3 points

Top tip for anyone that can't get it in TG4 like me.Its on GAAGO so free if you have a dodgy box

Nicely worked our way back into the game. Good movement up top, Towey looking to do damage with the new set up. ROD dropping deep he can link play and look for a key pass, maybe a long range shot is not quite there with his norm closer to goal. Anyone still embarrassed 20mins into the new season

TG4 a disgrace........still no picture

Tg4 not working via sky or on the app....managed to get game on upstairs TV through the old rabbit ears...

@Marty k heard on midwest due to the storm and power outage still in connamara...

Thank you Clare.......we'll forgive them!

@Marty K no worries.. : )

Think we are going good considering missing players & 1st game even if we loose I am feeling much more confident for the season with guys to come back!

Mid west commentary could be so much better

The match was live on Eir courtesy of TG4 so not sure why people couldnt see it. This was a match we could have won if we had our shooting boots on

Poor 2nd half. Dublin fairly average. 5 mins to go and we’ve not really got going which is very disappointing

Towey and Irwin both good 1st halves but not much 2nd

Is it just me but i feel like I’ve been saying this years on both club and county games, but Sam keeps running into trouble and getting turned over. It’s something he really needs to eradicate from his game. It’s far too common for him. It lead directly to a crucial score 2nd half for Dublin. It’s just not good enough

2nd half not great running out energy yes..

But honestly thought we would get a hammering at the start of this match.

We did well to bring it back only 1st game in league so we have done well I think...

Our style of play hasn’t changed , just too slow

5 points in the 2nd half that sums it up very disappointing.

Snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

Disappointing start for Mayo against a Dublin side that was very much there to be beat.

New Year, new rules, same old Mayo

Never in a million years did I think we would work a 2 pointer there
Too many players not able to kick a point and some of those that are are unwilling to try when pressure is on.
To have a fit Cillian available …….

It's a 1st match of year thought we would get a hanmering at start as I said

Everyone wrote us off for year we are misding main players to come back to

Honestly much better then I thought dissapointing to loose def but considering we were tptally written off and meant to get a hanmering tonight and 1st game I think we will cone good cone champuionship.

New Year New rules but the same outcome.

Im sure the stats will say we created as much as they did. We lost that game because we missed more than they did. 5 points in the second half wins nothing.

Some poor misses. Work to do on our own kick out.

I missed their goal as well. Youd think the penny might have dropped after all these years conceding early goals.

Left two points behind tonight. Very disappointing second half after a great second quarter. Always felt relegation was likely this year. Can't see where we will gain points going forward. This defeat could prove very costly.

@ Joe. I certainly agree with you re style of play. Slow build up just makes it impossible to create goal scoring chances, even with the new rules.
There are some positives, particularly the performance of newcomers. Galway up next and we need to build on tonight's performance, learn from the obvious mistakes.

The good, Conor Reid, look like can add to Mayo. Our goalie good in first half.
The bad, bad shooting, bad shooting, bad shooting. Missing goal from half yard out, missing point from 13 yards. Sub made no difference.

But early days, hope we improve

Km79….we don’t have many at all who have any track record of long shooting accuracy. That aside, it was a poor 2nd half.

I’ve always maintained that the prime objective of the league is to blood players. We gave introductions to a few. Neary had a decent first half but didn’t come out after HT. Towey and Irwin same. Good first halves nothing 2nd. Sure, it’s early days but you have to maintain consistency. This was a very average Dublin side.

I’m fully aware we were missing several players but we just lacked leadership qualities in that 2nd half. You can lose games and feel upbeat because of individual performances but I dont think tonight will as great. I don’t think anyone really put in a really big shift. Some lads showed glimpses.

A game we never looked like winning because we lack belief...and until we can stitch that belief into the players we'll never win anything.

8 shots left short tonight against 1 for Dublin.

Poor from us but we can learn from it. I'd be playing Aidan as close to goal as possible when he returns.

Clare says:
January 25, 2025 at 9:10 pm
It’s a 1st match of year thought we would get a hanmering at start as I said

It's Dublin team in full transition with a number of fringe players, no chance was it ever going to be a hammering matter of fact it was a good opportunity for Mayo to win and not taken after leading at half time.

Penny isn't dropping at all. We are missing players, but the strong teams find a way to get a result.
No long range kickers but that's not new.
Other teams are figuring out how to pressure teams.... and play to the new rules.
Hearing our manager say the game hasn't changed much told me all I needed to know.
Thinkgs are still frantic at the back, slow... predictable going forward... bookies ranked us 8th this year and that's probably fair enough

@Clare, we weren’t totally written off. Dublin were marginal favourites tonight with the bookies. They are miles from the team they were. The game was there for Mayo but we weren’t able to close it out. It was a very poor 2nd half.

Player of the Match poll is up!

@Mo2023

Eh well at the start of match it def looked liked a hammering with ciaran kilkenny flying..
I honestly don't care if we get relagated so long as we come good championship that's where it matters.

Paul towey stood up 1st up just needs more game time.

Dissapointing to loose I know but thought ww came out better then expected tbh...

We still have Aido, Tommy C, Paddy Durcan and others to come back not great 2nd galf but I honestly think we did well to come back to that after that start.

Why didn’t management put someone on Bugler??

Left 2 points behind to a poor Dublin side on my view. After a decent first half , collapsed in second and some questionable substitutions . Why take off one of our best forwards and long range shooter on the night on 50 minutes ? If I was Paul Towey I think I would hang up the boots and wait for the next change of management …we need to give lads a chance, it’s going to be a long league campaign for this group .

@mayonaze we were totally written off 12th favourites for sam?

Not one mention of how we can’t win tight games under mcstay . His character is in question imo , you can’t have a leader who lacks the necessary steel . Galway , Dublin x2 , Derry , we were better than the opposition or just as good at worst yet we keep failing

@sean Burje do totally 100% agree on that..

What is it with that? Why can we not close out games....

Who the hell was marking Bugler. 7 points from play and not a finger laid on him for any of the scores.

Tried a lot of new players which is a positive. Some made mistakes which one must expect.
Hard for both teams to get kick outs away.
Dublin looked a lot more physical than us.
Not sure about Reape.
Roll on Galway.
Camera work desperate.

Hard to see us picking up 3 wins in Division 1, a win tonight would have took some pressure off us.

Early days with both teams understrength. Don't think either side will be contesting for honours this yr. That said, far too premature to be giving up the ghost.

No power at home, so went to the pub, but TG4 not working, so relocated and saw last 20 minutes. Looked like a lot of the same old story with Mayo-wides, shots dropped short, turnovers and stupid scores conceded. Did'nt see the whole game, but 5 points in the 2nd half tells it's own story. My initial impressions of the new rules-early days, but not blown away. A lot of the same possession play over and back, but now around the 40 Metre arc and the games that I saw were pretty low scoring. This famous 40 Metre arc is beginning to look like a non event-only remember 1 attempt in the Galway game in the 1st half which fizzled short and wide. The main difference so far seems to be around the Kick-out.

I think the positive is we began blodding a few . Reid, Kelly,Neary, didn't look out of their depth, but will need to reach into the depth of their stamina and maintain the level of performance.
A bit disappointed with Irwin but probably better further from goal. Boland did well,and Towey worth another start next day.
Holes in defense though. Mc B and Coen will have better days...I hope.

Ah lads , can't be any doom and gloom after that. Good game of free flowing football and we were every bit as good as them. We weren't thwarted like other years with the blanket defence and lateral passing. We got up in the faces in attack and defence. Got shots away from credible areas some went over some didn't but for first game very good.

Of the new boys/ positional changes , Reape supported play superbly and Intelligently, nobodies going to get 100% kickouts away and that's what will add to the drama. Great job.
Fenton kelly done OK but Buglar wasn't tagged enough and that fell down between Matty and Fenton as was on his side.
Mcbriens display was top stuff and why he will remain there.
Reid was a mature display and with flynn to come back on current form it won't be Reid who will loose out.
Neary very direct and incisive, hopefully we keep that role for our no12 and be it Neary, Conroy or Coggins them three posses direct running and speedsters.
Irwin done well in an unfamiliar role , showed well was brave and intelligent same time , nice shooting, little bit more confidence and swagger and he could take charge of that jersey .

So all good in my book , Matty and Coen looked heavy footed in retreating to defence, honestly think it's 11 or nowhere for matty , he's not as dynamic as he was and tends to slow down play.
Sam and Hession were tenacious in the corners , great to see options with john Mc coming on too , be great if he could be no2 and release Sam to 5.
So all in good , go easy on mcstay, Towey wasn't in the game , it was bypassing him in second half so be reasonable in criticism, league game lost but could have been won. Move onto that crowd at home and give them hell

@outisde the boot

Fully agree great post!

It's early days sure..

Only first game , not all doom and gloom etc etc I understand all that but it still has to be a concern that we can’t win games that are anyway tight at all , almost a laid back attitude to kicking on while in front. . Idc about other stuff whilst discussing this trend it’s alarmingly worrisome imo

@Outside of the Boot
Christ you won't be popular on here with your common sense comments , your 100% correct in your assessment .
Don't blame players stepping away from County football. ,
Some Mayo supporter are just so negative and a foolish belief that we should be winning an All Ireland once January comes around.
Best of luck to Crossmolina tomorrow, I'll be at that match too , that's where you will see community support of a team , regardless of whether they win or loose or who's managing them .

Aragh what are ya on about , Shur we haven’t won an all Ireland since 1951 who mentioned all Ireland . This game , the game against Derry , the game against Dublin in The Hyde and the Connacht final against Galway , all games we lead at crucial stages some even in injury time only to not see it out . That’s a problem , not with quality , it’s a problem that lies with management. It’s tactically flawed and lacks direction from leadership.

@Sean Burke
The Connacht final we left Galway in the game too long and all those missed chances cost us. Gough absolutely rode us in added time. I watched the last 5 minutes the other day. His decisions were baffling at best.
I'm not sure Mcstay carries the can for that game.

Clare, Dublin were marginal favourites in the bookies for tonight’s game. All Ireland odds are completely different and arguably irrelevant for the league given the line ups. Mayo left it behind tonight. Again. That being said, for me the league is more about blooding players. On that front it was ok. Some peripheral players showed some moments of potential without anyone having a dominant standout performance.

Needed leaders again to step up when it counted. Unfortunately none put their hands up tonight.

Id like to see more from Callinan. Needs to stop running into traffic

I accept your angle but I’ll raise you don’t take hook your big men in such a game . (Mind the house )

No injury time under the new Rules.
Mayo found it hard to break down the Dubs blanket defence at times during the game.
The 3 defenders back cancels out the 3 forwards that have to stay inside also, so no real change there.
Mayo had no left foot shooters from the right flank in 2nd half.
The established players didn't play very well, apart from Hession.
Dublin that bit further down the road re fitness and S&C.
Mayo defenders tired as the game wore on.

@Sean Burke
I'll raise you that hooking the big men wasn't the reason we lost that game. Mcstay must have been tearing his hair out. None of the 3 frees given in added time should have been given. We should have been out of sight in any case.

All good debate.

I said it about and I'll say it again, without belief
Mayo will never win anything.
And even though it was only 2points we never looked like winning!

The positives were that I was pleasantly surprised that we ran them so close and that the newbies did well and in particular Neary.
The negatives were that time and time again we funked to shoot and failed to get anything from a game we should have won. I can't understand why we persist with Coen and how he was left on for the full match beggars belief and his man gets 6 points and he misses an open goal with a slice kick. Serious doubts also about Brickendon at full back and Callinan is more a half back. I don't understand what our so called esteemed defensive coach is at the way we were opened up at the back just like last year. All the hype about the new rules is just hype and pr. The only rule worth keeping is the quick solo. Teams can pass the ball around for the last 5 minutes and kill time as Dublin did. Ban the back pass and the problem is solved. It's easy to ref it also.

@mayonaze to be honest going hy this blog & other blogs & bookies we were not marginal favourites at all.

We lett it slip 2nd half when ww shouuld have won.

Paul towey needs more game time a great prospwct..

Honestly whty can't we cmose out tight games?

Wrecks my head..

David mcbrien was impressive to a power house.

Towey is in his 6th year in the senior panel - I think calling him a great prospect is a stretch at this stage!
I think Davitt Neary was most impressive player tonight. Frank Irwin got 2 good points but didn't really get involved in general play outside of that, he should get more time though. Reid had a better second half I thought, couple of great catches from kick outs, and we don't have many clean fielders.
Standard overall wasn't great, disappointing not to get anything out of the game, points will be hard come by in remaining games.

@Tubbeeman fair enough but he hasxcomr under pressure recent years so hope he comes good.

Agree Davitt Neary was so good tonight great prospext..

lso we are missing paddy durcan, Jordan fynn, Aido, Tommy c and others disapointed as we s
But feeling bit more posotive after tonight.

@Tubberman “points will be hard to come by”

If I was management I’d be asking Cillian to reconsider his decision. We have no shortage of decent forwards who’ll chip in a few scores when things are going our way. But when the chips are down right now, ROD is the only show in town. We’d be f***ed if he got injured.

@tubberman …I’d agree. This is the season now for Towey to show it. If you compare him with Matthew Tierney. Same age. Similar talents at u20. If anything towey was a more prolific scorer but Tierney has shown much more at senior intercounty level

Bottom line after all that is, lose to Galway and we are in big trouble-not that relegation would be the end of the world. What worries me is that we are guilty of the same old failings and, so far, I can see no improvement. Solo and go and kick-outs will improve the game. I am not sure about the rest and players seem petrified to try for a 2 pointer for fear of conceding possession. Still think a 1 point difference with a goal is not right and no way should a free be worth 2 points.

I think harsh on Towey got a great poinr. .

Need to work on stuff but feel mych betterr even though lost..

Tubberman,

pretty harsh re Paul Towey, but you are consistent if nothing else.
Sixth year for Towey, really, James Horan gave him 30 mins in a league game against a in Omagh, with probably the weakest Mayo I can remember, they played against a very strong wind and he got yanked at HT,
was not on the 26 for most of Horans tenure.
I thought he played well when used last year.
Having said that he has a year or two to make it, that is the reality.