Backs were miles off it, Lydon was the only player playing alongside Kobe it seemed. Time for a rejig in Mayo Gaa and get coaches who can pick a proper team and can coach rather than lads who are there because they have played senior football. Absolute farce.

As Buff Egan says “WHOS IN MIDFIELD”. Doesn’t surprise me that inexperienced managers make inexperienced decisions. Only got the job because they won a few all Irelands oh wait they lost them all. Deane is a great footballer but was anonymous. Neary should have been given WAY more minutes throughout the campaign. Lynch is class. Flynn and Moyles go for killer tackles that they miss and take themselves out of the game. Kobe was very good but gassed in extra time. Darragh Beirne was basically playing midfield for us in extra time. Says it all about that management

As I said on Sunday, Mayo football is in a really bad place. That is not an over statement by the way. 2026 has only just started and to be truthful, I wish it was over. Losing to Roscommon at all three grades is a disaster. (They fully deserved their wins btw). 2026 will be another year without an U20 title, so that makes it three U20 titles in 18 years. If supporters and those that hold the power in Mayo GAA can't see that we have a production line problem, then we are truly up the brown creek without a paddle.

Where are we going wrong, look at Tyrone, they won their 6th out of 8 Ulster U20 titles this evening. They win, because they have their house in order in terms if coaching and structures. Eventually these U20 wins for Tyrone will lead to Senior All Irelands.

A serious review is needed looking at all aspects of Mayo Football. Where are we going wrong? Why can't we defend? Why can't we hold onto / build on a lead? Why have we no ball winning midfielders? Why do we produce such light footballers? Why is our S&C so far off the mark. Why is the standard of our Senior Club Championship so crap? So many questions.

If we don't get thing right and turn things around within three years, we could end up like Cork, Meath or Down, all big counties, but they took their eye off the ball after sucessful periods at senior level. Wake up Mayo GAA.

Do people ever think that we are beaten by a better team.
Roscommon marginally better with some beasts of men in the forwards.

@Jr: Maybe that’s the case this year, but as Mayo a big footballing county losing to Roscommon in three age groups this year no matter the better team it should not be happening. We need to sort out production line out and start investing in it or it may be too late.

Way out west - you're 100% spot on with this. Yes, you can have some naturally gifted players but most are very well coached. Our coaching structures from under 6 up, in every club in the county, need urgent review.
We won't have a decent senior team for at least 6 years into the future based on what I've seen at underage. Sounds catastrophic? It is.
And that 6 year figure might be best case scenario, if we don't address the coaching structures immediately.
The most pressing appointment in Mayo right now is a director of football coaching one. One person with a clear strategy of how coaching should look across the county for the next ten years.
Our club championship, while oft exciting is so poor compared to Galway and Roscommon, never mind looking outside the province. This is all connected.
After these last two games, I am seriously worried about us and our future. Management appointments aside, the coaching standard is utterly detrimental unless addressed.

Reminds me of the scoreline in Ennis in 2016.
We threw that away

Jr You are so right. We struggle to give credit to the opposition. Roscommon were a lot better than us on Sunday. Tonight was a different state of affairs. It would not be correct to say that one team was a good bit better than the other. They both had spells of dominance, Mayo in the first half and Ross in the 5 minutes before and after half time. It was an incredibly even game. The Rossies got goals at crucial times. I would say our errors were greater than theirs and in a game decided by very fine margins that cost us. Taking the ball into the tackle too often cost us as well. There were some brilliant performances from players on both teams. Last year we were lucky to beat them. Revenge for them tonight though.

To misquote Paul Simon, Mayo have discovered "50 ways to lose matches". I am seldom lost for words, but I am struggling. Have we completely abandoned the coaching of the skill of defending in Mayo football, from underage all the way up to senior. Probably the worst in the country.

Where did roscommon get all their big men?some huge players for u20 and they can play too.hard to compete at midfield when opponents are 6 inches taller.

One has to look at both management team's in minor & under 20 team's. First keth & his management team were fantastic players legends of the game.

But fantastic players don't mean great manager's. And very good reasons for that aswell. We have great manager's at club level both senior and under age, that will never get a look in because the name doesn't fit. County boards look are full of good people that don't know the game and listen to people mostly ex players and high profile ex players that continually recommend people with no experience at club or County level.

Until we start looking at management team's that have a proven record within the county, that's knows the players, can set up team's correctly, and has the knowledge of what talent is out there and how to get the best out of them, we are sadly going nowhere.

Big boys are cast aside at 14 and 15 years of age and the small skillful boys are kept. The opposite should be done. In the modern game big strong lads are needed.

MayoMadMan - comment deleted, breach of MFT comment policy.

Who are the 5 tallest men in mayo adult club football right now?

These new rules have changed the game completely. Your 6’2 midfielder is a complete non entity in the game anymore.

Are we going a bit too far in management criticism? Played 5 won 4 drew 1 lost extra time. Pep wobe proud of that record.

Time for a serious debate on state of Mayo football, 3 serious collapses by our senior team in less than 6 months, just lied down and refused to fight, simple as that, and then to night conceeding five goals, is it players, management/coaching/ s and c or what ????? SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE

Is there better players in the county or are we this reliant on our forwards to just shoot the lights out? I don’t want to put down on lads but lavelle is bad for a corner back he’s a below average defender and doesn’t always make the right decision on the ball to be fair I’m not fully sure if the lads coming on were much better.
Noonan,coghill,Walsh,tuffy and Carey had no impact if not a negative one. Jordan was ok should’ve done better with goal chance. I was crying out for Neary all season, he should feel hard done by. They didn’t give Ben Holmes enough time throughout the campaign to feel confident when he came on. I could be wrong but I feel it seems to happen a lot where at minor/u20 lads come straight in off the extended panel and are thrown into the deep end, I cannot fathom why.

Also cant wrap my head around Holmes been taken off that early unless injured. Nonetheless the management went AT MOST 3/8 from substitutions. Lydon was very good as well

Reading some of these comments you'd swear Mayo were demolished and humiliated tonight like the seniors were. They were not. For large parts of that game they played very well but their weaknesses were exploited pretty ruthlessly when it counted, particularly at the back.

Roscommon have a fine young team and when push came to shove were smarter than us and physically bigger and stronger than us. Heneghan in particular is a giant of a young fella and won a power of ball, and he knew what to do with it too. I don't see the shame in that loss to be honest, even though am bloody gutted after it.

Whether or not the right or wrong men were picked for these jobs is a bigger conversation that no doubt will be had all around the county over the next few weeks. We're quick to turn.

And - rightly so, because this needs to be scutinised - our entire underage and coaching structures will again be called into question. Roscommon have very visibly worked hard on development on and off the pitch over the past two decades, fundraiser hard and have built a strong brand to boot that has united a lot of factions in the county they are reaping the benefits of that work now and fair bloody play to them. Sheep or no sheep, no-one is laughing at them now. We're the ones being laughed at, but it's not the fault of those young men tonight.

I'm still curious, though, to know who and where all the fine and accomplished coaches and managers in this county that should have got these jobs are, to be honest. Because, like outstanding defenders and midfielders, I'm not seeing too many of them growing on trees, or excelling in our club championship either.

Reply to No doubt - no we are not going too far with the management criticism. Yea you have to win the other games to get there but it is absolutely pointless when you get there and you make bad decision after bad decision losing the game. Surely at the start of the year everyone looked at this team and said Connacht title minimum. That was not achieved. We see once again the inexperienced/out of depth management fail. Surely we will never see this idea again oh wait that’s what our underage setup is full of

Agree in relation to Joey Holmes - he was putting in a massive shift and Roscommon ran through us when he went off. Subbing off Josh Moyles also difficult to understand. Appeared to end up with Lynch and Darragh Beirne in middle of pitch with all our big men in the dugout. Bad week for Mayo football and particularly Mayo County Board who have entrusted our footballing fortunes at all levels in the hands of men who haven’t got the management experience. Hard to get excited about the future.

Guys,I’d ask that you remember that these are still very young men.
Comments singling out individual players for blame are out of line.

I’m being very honest when I say that I fell they did themselves,and Mayo,proud and showed tremendous character in an epic game.Those are the facts.

Likewise management lost one game in extra time (an epic) so I don’t think they deserve a lot of criticism. Winning has a habit of washing away deficiencies that are highlighted in defeat.

I would reiterate that Mayo football should do a system wide evaluation if that’s not already underway or we will be decades behind in development compared with Tyrone/Kerry/Roscommon.We are very slow to adapt to the new game.

But count me as one who was proud of the character,effort and skill of all of our young players today.There are several on that team who I believe will go on to represent Mayo at senior level.

Finally,it may be time to question the damage that public dissection like this can do to young (and possibly vulnerable men) I do like being able to watch the game and I love John’s pre and post game analysis but I don’t see the positives in hammering young guys who have given their very best and come up a little short. They should not be carrying generational burdens for what is at best an illusion. I.E.that we are entitled to be at the top table of football at all times. We all need to be more thoughtful,considerate,forgiving and mature when discussing football-something that is not life or death.

Played their part in a classic. Even though under the new rules its a more offensive game you still have to mind the house defensively to win a title. 5 goals conceded and it could have been 7 or 8 goals conceded certainly didn't do that.

All in all it's a development grade with the objective of getting a handful from this crop of U20s to go on and be established senior footballers and I think Mayo will do just fine in that regard.

It was a hard loss after loosing on Sunday to Rossies twice in space of 4 days. These young lads gave it everything never gave up. I was a tad worried about this game beforehand tbh. Rossies with their tails up and massive Rossie crowd there after Sunday while we are still in the dumps after Sunday. Mentality from seniors & county in general definetly can feed off into under 20s. Though they never gave up. There are great prospects in Tom Lydon , Darragh Beirne , Mortimor & other young ones .
Their future is still bright despute tonight out of a hard week for Mayo in general . They are only young lads so fair play to them for the huge effort it will hit them hard tonight at this age I think a little perspective is needed.

Reply to Mayo magic - who do you think from the starting 15 will transition to senior level and I mean an actually competitive county team that could possibly be competitive in an all Ireland series not what we have now

Very well said Food4Thought. I know they are technically adults but I know a couple of thoe young lads and I'd hate to think of them or their families reading some of the comments. They had a hell of a lot more passion and fight in them than their senior colleagues did on Sunday and can hold their heads up in that regard, but you are absolutely correct that this burden is not theirs to carry, nor should it be.

One of them even stood up in both games, and deserves massive credit for his efforts.

Something not right about a team losing twice in a competition being crowned champions over a team unbeaten in nomal time across 5 games.

We love blaming management for all our woes. When Maurice Sheridan was in charge we complained about our boring lateral football style and wanted him gone. This management set up have encouraged front foot exciting football as was seen in pretty much all their games this year, yesterday included. Played 5 Won 4 lost the other in extra time and accusations that they shouldn’t have got the job, they had no experience etc. Same at senior level. Last management set up was very experienced but some didn’t like the way we played, were too negative, too defensive orientated so they had to go. Replaced by enthusiastic young manager, without too much experience.Play front foot football. Got walloped in a bad second half and now lots of questions about management, about Co board etc. Must we always blame when we lose. Going back years I keep hearing ‘we lost it on the line’. John Maughan lost it on the line, James Horan did, Stephen Rochford did. .Are there fantastic managers waiting for the call but never getting a chance from the big bad Co board. Where are they. How successful have our club teams been in representing Mayo. Should we go outside to county to find these wonderful managers who would end 75 years of hurt. Who are we looking for. Maybe the way to go is with brilliant ex players and give them a chance. Don’t judge them on one bad performance ( or in the case of the u 20 management no bad performance) It is the way society has gone - constantly looking for the quick fix but never achieving it

I agree "To win just once". Just stay the course.The thing is all of the appointments you mentioned were popular and well recieved then when we lose everybody wants change

Because it's a development competition I suppose we can say it's working because Tom Lydon, Darragh Bierne and one or two others look like they'll make the grade.
I agree with others that the same problems seen on Sunday were present again last evening. The lack of big high-fielding midfielders is not something that can be corrected on the training ground but attacking and winning breaks certainly can and Mayo were poor second best on the dirty non-glamorous work of winning the hard ball in both senior and U20s. The lack of aggressive defending on both occasions was in stark contrast to the Roscommon backs who were tight and determined to spoil easy ball.
Basically it means if you are lacking in an area you must compensate by other means. If we can't win clean ball at mf then break everything and scrap like crazy for the loose ball but under no circumstances let the opposition win it easily.

Agree regarding the lack of experience in the management setup. No one involved has any management experience or real coaching at a high level who’s is concerning. A very talented team who most have high hopes for now facing into a B competition. Who are the coaches at club level or county level that we think should be considered? Who are the managers from last years club championship that done a good job and could be considered? Also what people from
Mayo are involved in county setups outside of Mayo?

Paul B - comment deleted, breach of MFT comment policy.

All - please refrain from posting excessively emotional and intemperate comments.

The need to focus on underage development has been underestimated for many years in Mayo.
Schools are key and we have enjoyed reasonable success this year in schools football. The intent to funnel vast resources into a Centre of Excellence away from our major population centres is wrong. We need instead to ensure that our conveyor belt (the schools are supported). St Gerald’s in Castlebar do not even have a pitch. The GAA is facing intense competition from professional sports who understand the importance of schools in the growth of their sports. If Mayo GAA do not focus on this area, where presently we enjoy a committed cohort of teachers, it will be to our detriment.
The success of Kerry in football and Kilkenny in hurling is highly correlated with their schools winning all-Ireland titles.
No I am not a member of the teaching profession.

MayoMadMayo - instead of attempting to post multiple unacceptable OTT comments (under different handles), please take the time to read MFT's comments policy (located in the website's footer and linked in the comments' tick box) and, if seeking post a comment again, please ensure that whatever you do post is in line with this policy. In the meantime, everything you attempt to post will be routed through moderation.

Twas a disappointing nite to lose to the rossies twice in a week, but they were hands downs the better teams, as they go for goals when the opportunity arises. Also going back to old style football of letting the ball do the work is also on offer from them. Good luck to their u20s who will represent connaught .
History educates us all,,,even Brian cody. When he first took over kilkenny they were a mediocre team in the nineties. Cody identified getting ex players to go back into their own clubs to teach skills at u10,u12,u14 levels as they are the right ages for learning.
That man won 10 all irelands off that idea. The ex players also bought into it as well.
Do it at grassroots level, not on the rte app. Or the western or mayo news. The duty is to the youth.
The hardest part of being a footballer is to acquire the skills needed to be a top player. Give youth a chance.
The amount of negative comments surrounding last nites win by the rossies is unacceptable.
Maybe the better team won. Maybe they were just better than us on Sunday also.
In over a 140 years of football all irelands we have won 3. Just 3.
Can't blame the county board, managers,old boys club, the curse, or the length of the grass for all the other 137 times.....
Start at bottom, go to other counties and look, pick up their wisdom, as we are not in a position to think we are kingpins of football.
Stay grounded and stand proud.
Hon mayo

@Notahopeiftheyhavewilliejoe - that's my primary issue. The management had no experience whatsoever.

I don't think its fair on these young lads and I think don't think its good for Mayo football to have a management team over them that are learning on the job. Some of these lads may never pull on a Mayo jersey again and its just not right that they were coached by lads who have not got any top level experience. This management team beat out John Maughan, like that says it all for me.

Calls on the line and just a generally awful defensive set up lost those boys today's game.

Cian Smith had managed Boyle at senior level for 4 years before coming back in to take over the Roscommon u20s. Shane Moran of the Roscommon minors had been a selector for Garrymore and then managed Roscommon Gaels. Both guys have experience managing a team. That actually makes a difference. Who knew!

@Hamstrung
Agree with the need to focus on the basics with underage coaching as highlighted in your post. Expressing frustration at not winning a particular game getting too much traction here. Yes I was also sickened at last night's loss. But we need to identify and remediate what has not being going right for years at underage in Mayo. Last night's performance was amongst the best by a Mayo underage team in the last 10 years.

Not as convinced that the management are to blame at u20 level. There are very few good managers out there. This grade has a lower standard of players and more mistakes that cause a lot of variation to be thrown into the mix affecting results.
Most of these successful club managers are just good organisers and dedicated GAA people. There isn’t some genius minds hiding in mayo club football that are the sole reason their teams are winning things, though innovative tactical master plans no one has ever seen before. If you believe that you are very naive and swallowing the cult of the manager.

It’s a different story at senior IC level where the manager is literally the most important person in the county, the players are much more talented and fit and a complex game plan can be well implemented.

This time last year we stole it of Roscommon and all was well.
I am very concerned about promoting ex county players to manage teams with no experience.
Andy will find it hard to drop lads he played with,given the job too early IMO

I have said it countless times that both the mens and ladies county boards are completely in awe of former players and once their name is on a job application then the job is theirs. Peadar Gardiner and Liam McHale got the ladies senior job without ever having managed a club. McHale barely ever even stood at a Ladies game, never mind manage the county team and his stint was a disaster! Gardiner used his stint as ladies manager to shuffle into the U20s role where he, and his backroom team incld. Keith Higgins, were totally schooled by Sligo two years ago. Cafferkey was also part of that backroom team.
I am all for keeping our former great players on board, but only as coaches, NOT managers. I firmly believe anyone getting a stint as a county manager has to have a substantial and successful club career on the CV first. Why do the rest of us have to sit through Fundamentals, Level 1s, 2s etc. courses but a former county baller gets the job without any experience at all? There is a world of difference between playing and coaching. And an even bigger difference between coaching and managing. Some of the best players I ever coached turned out to be the worst coaches.
Until the county board have a fit and proper coaching structure in place to regularly and adequately coach club coaches and S&C coaches, then the raw materials will not be there. Then we need a level above the club structure where U14s and U16s get proper, age appropriate, regular training by suitably accredited coaches to develop them further. We are crying out for a Director of Coaching too. Someone to organise and structure the succession of players AND coaches through the age groups, someone who is outside of county board influence, in a full time position, in contact with schools and colleges as well as the clubs. Because it is plain to see from last night and last Sunday, add in the minors too, that we have become too nice and too small. The two very things that will get you beaten under the new rules.
We have failed to win a Connaught title in 5 years and that is totally unacceptable. Possibly the most gifted U20 squad we have had in years failed to win Connaught too. There is a very clear trend developing with Mayo football at all age levels, and it's one of failure. The wins are now the exception not the norm.
Something has to be done quick.

To win just once, you do have a point. but if you don,t mind me pointing out that John Maughan, Stephen Rocford and James Horan all had plenty of experience at club and county level before they got appointed the mayo job , got mayo to all Ireland finals ok lost them you might say. we have some very good managers in club thats being working away at a high level in the county for a long time, being working with some of them players and against them. my main point is you don,t have to be a legend of the game playing for mayo to manage county teams.

Experience managing before getting the county job won't make a difference if you lose ..you'll be torn apart on here

@No doubt - that's nonsense.

You'll be torn apart if you lose and don't get as much as you can out of the player's at your disposal. If players reach their potential and its not enough, well then so be it.

We both know that last night and Sunday were not cases of Mayo teams reaching their potential. They were both miles off it and therefore, its perfectly fine to question why that was.

How many years are the U20s management team there?
What have that management team won as individuals and/or as a group?

We can leave the players be, those who made mistakes will know themselves.
Its the management who select them into the squads, into the teams.
Management are those who have watched all those teams including their own so should know the strong and weak points of the teams.

Last night though a few things just worried me.

1. Kickouts - We continually went down the lane of the biggest Roscommon lad there.. why?
2. We didn't push up Roscommon kickouts, in the first 10 minutes their GK made 2 big mistakes.
3. Why did we not coach the players to get the ball forward in the closing minutes of the game
4. why not put in Holmes into fB when they introduced their big man. Think outside the box.
5. What has happened our ability to win dirty ball, Id say our 37% from Sunday was probably the same if not worse yesterday.

These are very basic coaching match scenarios. We lack cuteness and hardness across the squads.

@No doubt, there's losing and there's losing where the white flag is being raised with 20 minutes to go in your own backyard, while your rival is embarrassing you on the field and laughing at you from the terraces, where regardless of skill or ability you're losing every 1 on 1 battle, every grapple for possession, every race for the ball.
Last Sunday was totally unacceptable and I don't give two sXXts about "players being amateurs and not paid for this" nonsense that gets thrown out every time we're humiliated. No one is putting a gun to these lads heads to play, they're all doing very well out of being a Mayo player, maybe too well for what they're producing. If Moran, Boyle and the players are put out by the heavy criticism then tough, deal with it or get out.
Imagine what would happen below in Kerry if they performed like that? They'd be sleeping in their beds with one eye open.
The lessons of the Tyrone defeat in 2021 have still not been learned.

@Pebblesmeller.I totally agree. These excuses that get trotted out ad nauseum when we underperformed, such as "they are only amateurs", "they make huge sacrifices", "they are only young lads" (albeit playing against the same age group), do my head in. I played many sports into my early forties, trained on freezing cold wet miserable nights and I never once regarded it as a sacrifice-I did it because I loved it, enjoyed doing it and was only ever envious that I was'nt good enough to do it at a higher level_I would have given anything to wear a green and red jersey. And I hated losing, no matter what the sport or the level. For some reason, Mayo teams seem to lack character, aggression, determination and leadership and it's costing us big time. As Ciaran Fitzgerald famously said "where's your effen pride".

Reply to MayoLifer - Lambert dealt with more or less perfectly allowing for a trouble a man of his size is going to cause by just being big. The minute lambert went out the pitch (because we had nobody to contest kickouts in the last moments of the game due to our two midfielders being taken off 🤷‍♂️ ) the big man scored the goal.

@pebblesmeller. I was more referring to the u20 game and management. I was at the game and though management made mistakes the game was there for the lads on the field but a couple of silly mistakes cost them. Having said that the better team won a great game o the night.