Love if there was one similar to this in Dublin

I say Vahey will start, no harm to try another keeper (i think reape is good but let’s see what vahey has to offer). I say McHugh in fullback but i hope we get two man marking corner backs. I would hope for kieran king and david tighe but i say it will be coyne (who i think is underrated on this blog) and hession. Halfbacks i’d love to see diarmuid, McBrien and McLaughlin. For midfield i hope they stop playing runae there. I like ruane and think he’s more suited to the half forwards. I’d love to see a combination of iriwin and tuohy in midfield, throw them in the deep end see what happens. No crossmolina boys against the dubs but i hope to see a half forwards line of loftus, flynn and ruane when they all return. For the moment probably carney and boland in the half forwards. Full forwards is tricky as we’re light in experience but o’donoghue obviously needs to play and towey should get a start. Cian mchale again should be thrown in the deep end. Sorry for the long post

Plunkett, don't think King got an invite to extended Panel. Tighe I'm not sure about either as don't recall him featuring in challenges.

McHugh I think was midfield with Ruane but you'd other men like Reid and Carney upfront so was likely positional rotation.

That was in challenge.
Vahey could well start, lads playing Sigerson likely won't start so they not being flogged.

On Sigerson....

Nice to see Cian McHale putting up 1-3 for UL this evening as they pipped UoG to a place in the QFs. Jack Fallon, Fenton Kelly & Conal Dawson all starting for UL too (a fair few other Mayo lads on the panel not involved tonight).

RO'D kicked 1 or 2 [depending on what you read] for Galway in that match as well, with John MacMonagle starting in the full back line for UoG (I'll be interested to see or hear if he was the man picking up Cian - highlights coming later via the HigherEdGAA twitter account).

Darragh Joyce started for DCU and Fionnan Ryan for ATU Sligo in their match, with Darragh's DCU currently looking to make the next round with only moments left & a healthy lead. Having lads like Ivers & Thornton opting out a real dent in Sligo's chances. It has become a common bone of contention among the Sigerson games this year, so likely more debates to be had around its place in the calendar with respect to the NFL & availability of players.

TsuDhoNim- Is John Mcmonagle involved with mayo this year? Did Ivers and Thornton opt out or are they injured.

@Just a thought: John's in with the 20s.

His club form was good enough you'd not blink at him being in with the seniors. He'd be among 3 or 4 you'd not be shocked to see come in later in the year if things go well in their campaign. Diarmuid Duffy the only one of that group currently in with the seniors, and you'd expect they might release him down in plenty of time for 20s (not kicking in until late March) similar to last year.

Ivers & Thornton both opted out from what ATU Sligo folks have said in public. Similar to the cases with Kerry/Antrim/Armagh & lots of other counties. Some of the sources originally stating the county was responsible and then going to great lengths to clarify the county had no part in it and it was the players own decisions.

(Being fair, I'd make the exact same call if I was in Evan's or Dylan's positions. They have county spots they're hoping to push for and need to show well to management in training/challenges if they want a real shot, especially showing they're up-to-date on the nuances for the new rules. The issue here is the overlap between Sigerson & NFL rather than this being on either players or county management teams, IMHO)

TsuDhoNim - Thank you. 3 great players. Disappointed John not in with the seniors.

In my view let the u20s play and train with their squad for next 3 months and prove themselves at that age group . They have won nothing apart from a minor Connacht title. They have plenty of potential but need to win a Connacht u20 convincingly and go on a win a much needed all Ireland title for the county . Then push on after that like the group in 2006 and 2016…let’s not put pressure or expectations on the young lads I don’t think it works , it hasn’t in the last few years. Sligo have played no u20s at senior level in last few years in NFL and they have won 2 Connacht titles and got to the final last year . None of the Mayo u20s that were played have yet established themselves at senior level.

@Mayo Man for Life: Never able to grasp the connection made between an underage team needing to be successful and that being the barometer of whether an individual player (or multiple players) being capable of making an impact at senior. Zero logic there for me. Especially when these are the same lads we're watching play shoulder to shoulder with county lads at Senior Club and Sigerson.

Barry McNulty and Paul Honeyman didn't win Provincial honours with Leitrim (though in theory Paul could go on to do it yet, he's still u19 this year) but they both clearly have the potential to go on and be absolute stars for the county if they keep the work up (and with the panel exits they'll likely be leaning on them heavily this year). Sam Callinan, Donnacha McHugh or David McBrien didn't win provincial underage titles for us (& all joined the senior ranks while still u20), are they somehow worse players for it? Just don't see that link trying to be made between those two.

It's great to see lads winning. The experience of big days out and the taste of success has all sorts of potential for positives for their motivation & buy-in... but the correlation between underage success and senior success is pretty poor. And those poor numbers are skewed heavily by the years when Dublin were dominating both underage & senior. Without those years contributing, it'd be a really abysmal link between the two.

Ya looks like ivers and Thornton opted out.cant really argue with them as they are the newcomers in the mayo panel and want to stake their claim as often as possible.dosent help that sigerson are playing different rules

Don’t like disagreeing with you TSU as your knowledge will outweigh any argument I put up but is there not an argument to back up successful underage teams a lot of the time translate that into senior ie 2006 under21 winners formed a serious amount of a very decent senior team 2012 -2016/17 , then the under 21 2016’winners also produced some great players (probably not as many ) . Go further back (too early to go through the archives ) but I’m pretty sure Johnno had a 1983 under 21 win team which translated into 1989 seniors too . When johno went to Leitrim had they just come out of a rare under 21 success at provincial level which transpired into the 94 senior success .

There are a lot more example around the country from Kerry to Tyrone , not saying it’s a necessity but it definitely helps to be successful early . I wonder if you ask the players themselves who were part of both successes in Ennis 06/16 , in the aftermath of lifting the cup were their heads saying , I want to do that with Mayo seniors , if we’re the best now we can do it in the years to come with senior county too .

I'd agree Sean,''success breeds success '' is a phrase I'd put some store in.
Lads,much more likely to walk away after a series of defeats, particularly as I've said before if they are having relatively more success in other sports they may participate in or have been involved with.
We at least need to see u-20 management get the most out of this current crop,it can be a group to get excited about imo.

Medals at u-20 level doesn't necessarily mean medals at senior level but it certainly won't do any harm.

I always think every year if 2 or 3 from the u-20's can make the breakthrough then that's good progress as a county.

From a 'Mind the House' defensive view i look at the group and think to myself about Mcbrien, Callinan, Mchugh, Hession, Coyne, Eoghan Mac. These are all still young lads with hopefully their best football ahead of them and hopefully some high ceilings performance wise amongst them. I'd be then looking to see who can join them from the u-20's and the likes of McMonagle and Morahan and Kelly spring to mind. The under 20's could be ripping it up in their age group but that counts for little at senior level.

Same with the forwards. The likes of Ryan and Tommy are established. Can we get others in year on year to supplement them,

After all those retirements a few years back you wondered what next for Mayo football. Well we made it to a AI final in 2021 and picked up a league win in 2023. We have still been competitive.

I am of the opinion that this is a team on the up. The cupboard certainly isn't bare talent wise.

The glass remains half full.

@Sean Burke: The only disagreement I'd have with you there is your belief we're in disagreement. ;)

Spot on, 99% of that I'd completely agree with. It's certainly a nice to have and has all sorts of small direct & indirect benefits (if you've ever heard Eoghan tell the story of travelling to one of Oisín's underage games in Croker, it seemed to play a real big part in his swapping the wheels for the size 5 - who knows how many others inspired in similar ways), it's just very far from a necessity or even a factor that should get mentioned (never mind mentioned frequently) when it comes to individual prospects pushing to senior. It's great to have multiple lads pushing together, way more likely when an entire team is strong enough to be successful, but it's no black mark against individuals to be on a side that didn't or doesn't win.

When someone is saying they're disappointed not to see a lad in with the seniors having a "they've won nothing at 20s yet" (not aimed specifically at Just a thought, it's commonly said here and elsewhere - why I've started to react to it rather than simply scrolling by) it just feels incredibly odd. The lad excelled at minor, showed great in a 20s team (that was misfiring) already, was outstanding at PPS & Freshers, excelled in his first year intermediate two years ago, key figure captaining his u21 club side to success and then was Mitchels' star performer in his first year senior (earning a Club All Star & Young Player of the Year nomination) so it just doesn't make much sense to me to ignore all those & attempt to judge on the success or failure of a single upcoming 20s team.

I'm happy to see them leave the younger lads together as a group (if anything I'd make a case for dropping Diarmuid down now to be working with the 20s rather than for pulling others up early), but I'm also keen not to suggest (or allow anyone else to do it unchallenged) if they don't win Connacht or an All-Ireland some members of the current crop are somehow any less in terms of talent or potential. There are fantastic young lads there already lighting up PPS/Freshers/senior and whatever the campaign looks like this year (hopefully enjoyable & successful) I'll be crossing my fingers they keep the hard work up and keep progressing with great belief in them.

The negativity is commonly associated with comments suggesting undue pressure or expectation from praise, while actively rejecting positivity & reward for the incredible work done. If a lad plays well or shows exceptional form, it's perfectly fine to mention it. Great even. They're all smart lads, they know themselves, and could tell you in far more detail than I (or often their coaches) which of the lads have a realistic chance at making it, which ones have the drive to potentially force it even if they don't look the obvious choice right now and which look talented but don't have the work ethic or interest to really drive on to the levels needed. I'd say with utter confidence a comment like "they've never won anything, don't have expectations of that lot" is more likely to rock confidence and do exponentially more harm than a "he looks a fantastic player, I'd be excited to see him wearing the county jersey".

Slight aside, but related enough I'll throw it up here for context.....

Since the change in grade to 20s ('18) we've averaged slightly less than 4 players that saw minutes in a 20s panel going on to see league/championship minutes at Senior.

'23 - Callinan, Tuohy, Kelly, Boland (lost in CSF)
'22 - McHugh, Irwin, Reid (lost in CF)
'21 - Carney, Hession [though Enda was injured for the campaign] (lost in CF)
'20 - Coyne, McBrien, McDonnell, Brickenden, Mullin, Towey, M Moran (lost in CQF on penalties)
'19 - McLaughlin, Conroy Orme (lost in CF)
'18 - Flynn, O'Donoghue, Diskin, C Moran (lost in AIF)

Plenty of room for some of those numbers to change further this year (McHale & Joyce '23, Thornton & Treacy '22, Duffy & Gilraine '21 or for lads that didn't feature [Vahey, Ivers, Coggins, Prendergast] to play), but it'll be interesting to watch how it develops.

It's an incredible limited sample size (only a single 'successful' side at Provincial level in '18 - where they won their two games by 21 points & 16 points) but a clear suggestion the number of lads pushing through in a given year isn't overly determined by Provincial honours.

Lots of lads in '18 that made it a really strong team and would have looked at home and could have made that step to county (O McLaughlin, N Moran, Horan, Lambert, Egan, Óg Tighe, Gallagher, etc.) but remove all those from the side that year, have a side that didn't reach the AIF and you're still likely to see Jordan & Ryan push on and simply have a different journey or origin story. There are far more lads with a celtic cross in their pocket with tales of heartbreak at underage & how it drove them on than there are lads with tales of underage glory.

Looking forward to how those figures might develop:

'24 is slightly odd given so many were still '25 eligible, but with Morahan, Dawson, Melvin, McLaughlin, O'Flaherty and Mulchrone around the panel at the moment & others that might push in the future you'd not be shocked to see a healthy 4-6 making this type of list down the line.

This year's 20s (a mix of '25 & '26 groups) will, as always, depend on the hard work & dedication to come to see who makes it (& a huge touch of luck - lads like D McHale, M Murray, Hession or Gilraine could have had very different looking county career histories without the injuries).

That said, without knowing how this year will go for the lads, anyone tracking across schools (Tom Lydon putting up ludicrous scores), Freshers (Guilfoyle & Hurley in a national league final having a shoot-out among themselves) or club (nominations for Club All Stars/club team of the year across all grades, and all but 1 Mayo GAA Club Championship team of the week featuring at least 1 member of the current 20s squad) it's clear there's some exceptional talent there shining that bit brighter than usual at this level. Talent that won't be either made or broken by a single successful or disastrous u20 campaign.

In the 2026 Connacht football championship Mayo will go to England to host London in the Connacht football championship. It will be great to see the fixture back again. Knock Airport will run flights to & from all 4 London Airports for the event 1st fixture since 2016. 2001 was postponed because of Foot & Mouth disease. 2021 all overseas GAA travel was cancelled due to Covid-19. Bidding to have a Mayo vs London Connacht football championship game in 2026 should be begin inside days to weeks but won't be confirmed until Autumn. Mayo Senior, Junior, Minor & U-20 must unite for the match.

Talking of under age, I hadn’t realised that Daragh Beirne is still at school!

Anyone in the Cambridge direction, the Rathmore club will be showing the games. In case anyone is stuck, spread the word ??