Paul O'Brien's article in the Irish Times on May 6th is Interesting as he breaks down the Mayo / Galway game from a tactical viewpoint. Basically Mayo only scored 14 times from 28 shots (50% efficiency) whereas Galway scored 15 from 22 shots or 68% efficiency. Positive that there are chances but Mayo will have to improve on this as we go through the Group stages as clearly from the Donegal / Armagh game high scoring is not a problem for some teams.

Inexile
We dont have the best shooters in the County in the panel at present. McStay opts for athletic midfielders and working forwards instead of shooters.yet he was the very man that said that Mayo teams dominate posession but dont make it count on the scoreboard on the The Irish Times and Sunday game for years.

Hate to name lads but the majority of our support agree with Sam ogs point above but then tell us constantly that towey and boland are the shooters they are alluding to but how many times have both players failed to make an impact , golden opportunity for towey the last day and his shots were not scored . He definitely does have talent and boland too but you have to produce at some point .

Agreed Sean and you know Cavan score well each game so if we go generic Mayo we will be beaten.
Let's go handbrake off and add a new dimension of more guys who bring line breaking speed.
Properly blood younger lads instead of the old brigade.
Coen, AOS drop to bench give Irwin and Coggins the start.
Bring fresh zip to the game, Mchale and ROD inside Irwin in front of them , neary and coggins running hardlines and let attackers attack and defenders defend .

Unfortunately we were late buying into 'new rules' Gaelic, I recall Rochford and co. saying that there was no significant difference. At least in the Galway game, we came out of our shell to an extent,
We need to see progression on Sunday. The team that have a selection of shooters, knowing where and when to pull the trigger will win Sam imo.
It means for Mayo, Carney, Flynn, Ruane, McHale and others have to put their best foot forward on Sunday,
We also need to continue develop 'quick break' tactics. In that respect I've great time for Hession, others need to get motoring, constant lateral , back passing is going exactly where it suggests, Backwards

Back in the day when the Rep. of Ireland soccer team didn't perform they would be said to have had a ''Licteinstein '',due to the fact that they were unable to beat the minnows in a qualifier match. If Mayo happen to have a ''Leitrim'' against Cavan, and they get their tails up we might be in for a nervy afternoon.
I voted for a win though.

Cavan are not to be underestimated but we will win this one I think .

But we need to play our fast pace game not this lateral back & fourth .

Mayo by 4 .

Need to win this one, I expect (hope) that there will be a few changes, just to freshen up the team. Will we go for it? Time will tell but we need to get back on track with a morale boosting win or the trip to Omagh could be challenging.

@Miley 100% agree. I'd fear for us up in Omagh if we don't beat Cavan .

Going to Omagh with low confidence and a decent Tyrone team with the brilliant Cananvan brothers.

I feel this game is a must win.

Sean Burke
Towey and Boland should not be blamed.why do we always scapegoat the skillful forwards shooters who takes on the shots.This happened Regan in 2018 and Aidan Orme in 2023 they took on shots that the others backed away from but missed and the Mayo public pin it on them and say there not good enough but never say anything about the players who never score. What about Jordan Flynnss wides shot off balance in the 1st half or Jack Carney who wouldnt have a go when the shot was on . Towey or Boland are not nailing them pressure shots because there not getting the gametime unlike Carney , Flynn and Ruane.David Clifford hit bad wides in 2023 All Ireland but he didnt get the shit our good shooters get.

Mayo by 10+
#BringBackTheBandWagon

Someone was giving Donegal credit for their "Donegalness". Say as much as a "Mayo4Sam" round here and your pillorized.

Still May so the only thing that matters right now is whether we can get a Mayo4Sam out of the new Pope before he does guest vocals on the 2025 version of Jimmy's Winning Matches.

It almost clean slate time, these 3 league games. Management have to get style of play right. Players have to know when to pull the trigger. Hard to argue with Sam Ogs point. We just haven't being taking on the posts in previous games and 'second Tier' counties' have. Time to set that right. No excuses. Go and do the business.

It'll be tough, make no mistake. Mayo by 3 to 5 points.

Not sure why Boland is getting a tough time on here, he played about 8mins against Galway and it's very rare when he plays that he doesn't hit over a few points, a lot more than what the majority of our forwards score, I'd personally have him starting every day of the week, himself and ROD are the best two playmakers we have and at least he's not afraid to kick a ball or two inside. He's had more good days than bad playing for Mayo but always seems to be the scapegoat for whatever reason.

Towey against Galway had a poor day no doubt about that, but as others alluded to, at least he found the space and was willing to take on his shots rather than arsing about with it laterally, I wouldn't be totally losing faith with him yet.

I'd 100% be starting Irwin against Cavan, preferably at midfield where he plays mostly for Ballina. Carney for me has been a major disappointment, been around for about 4 seasons now but can't really recall him ever taking a game by the scruff of the neck, himself, Coen, Ruane and Flynn probably be fortunate to start against Cavan but given our dearth of ball winning midfielders Rochford and co will no doubt play them

I'm hearing from a very good source that Mayo are going to start the Cavan game with 14 out-field players.

We beat Cavan by 9 last year when we were attacking like shite and couldn't buy a goal. I don't know what planet people are on thinking this will be tight.

Same heads saying it'll be close will be saying Cavan are a glorified Tailteann Cup Team come Monday morning, and how if we'd have been playing anyone decent we'd have gotten a trimming.

Bit of a coincidence that mayo v cavan is on the same date as last year on the 18th of May. Should be a win with a few points to spare but if mayo are complacent in any way well then it could be a long evening. Hopefully mayo will have 2pts on the board by Sunday evening.

We have to go all out for this one. Caution, risk avoidance, get over the line, replicate Leitrim/ Sligo games, would be madness. We have to aim to beat them by as much as possible. Last year we didn’t lose, but we didn’t win by enough to top the group. Other teams will be doing it so we should draw on our ‘learnings’ from last year.

FrostTheHammer, I’d say underestimate at your peril. Bring the A game, this is the business end, a good start is almost half the battle. Someone above made the point the 2nd tier are taking more risks going for long shorts and it’s working sometimes. If Cavan mail 5-6 two pointers we’ll need at least 2/3 of our own.
On top of that it’s worth noting that a few teams won last week because of goal conversion. Hasn’t been the case in division 1 but when ye see Cavan’s results in Div 2 it was very much the case for them. Goaled well they won, didn’t they lost. We’re probably on the lower half of the 32 counties when it comes to scoring goals. When was the last time we banged 4 or 5 in? I’d go back to 2017/18 for that. I hope we’re taking on extra goal drills. Armagh were the better team Sunday and lost for that reason. If we don’t score many, make sure we don’t concede many which has been the case lately alright but we need to keep it up.

I agree with the above posters, while Towey didn't have a good day the last day at least he will shoot. They have to stick with him or else he will have no confidence. I am convinced he will deliver if the management show faith in him. As others have pointed, the likes of Carney and Coen (Flynn in the last game) are constantly shown endless faith no matter what they do on the field. Ryan is actually a perfect example, most days he misses 3 or 4 shots but because he knows he has the full backing of the management, he keeps shooting, and the result is he makes things happen. McStay and Rochford need to show more faith in creative players if they want to go deep in this championship.

Yeah I think Mayo need to treat this as knock out. We seem to lift our game when it’s do or die or if the opposition are old foes or favourites. When we play teams from lower leagues say, the tempo drops and so does the atmosphere.
Getting a result from the following two games will be tricky. Tyrone are in a lovely position where they have kinda been forgotten about. They’ve serious u20 teams coming through and this years team are favourites to win it again.
Donegal are very well coached as we know.
Our half forward line is my biggest worry. Grand having play makers or tackle breakers but we have to start scoring. I don’t get how a footballing County can’t produce lads that can turn and shoot from 40 metres. We even struggle to do it from a dead ball.
It has always been an issue. We never seem to have a lad running on to a pass in a position to shoot. It’s all lateral, tight passing that’s easy to read.
When new mgmt teams come in we hear of new ideas but it’s been the same old for decades.
Anyway it won’t change now, that’s a conversation for a few months time. As alluded to above, we need to avoid the performances of last year, where we played all the football, should have the games won and then get caught at the end, so hopefully they go all out…..

GBXI. Spot on. Look at Sam Mulroy yesterday for Louth. Missed 3 or 4 shots early in the second half but had the confidence to keep shooting and in the end he won the title for them.

There's a big difference between league heros and championship football. No need to name names but these poor lads who are supposedly getting a hard time , did nothing in championship last year and in particular in Derry game .. so please don't be selective if trying to big up players.
We have a lack of forward talent, as poor of halfbacks as we ever had and midfielders killing themselves to try and be everywhere but yet them getting the abuse .
It's sad to see but we won't dine at top table untill the u20s and last years u17s come through .it will take few years but they are the guys to restore us to top level .
Flynn, Ruane and Carney should be played to their strengths and we should have direct runners but we don't and I think they are over compensating for lack of movement or game plan to get forwards to wrap around on the loop, it's all static flat ball, unleash some pace in wing forwards and run at teams , rest AOS , spring him from bench for impact , try something different

WJ- posting recent article by Pat Spillane in the Indo which gives a fair analysis of the Connacht final….and our shortcomings. I agree with his synopsis of us.

https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/pat-spillane-i-see-four-counties-leading-the-race-for-sam-but-it-is-hard-to-pick-the-favourites/a243915039.html

Listening to it he was spot on.
Very fair to Mayo .
Not a Leinster fan

Not a mention of goalkeeping errors, leadership and a lack of progress over is it three years. Been around since my first match in 1953 - seen it all. A stand out was pride of jersey and county and a respect for the dedicated supporters who despite the many disappointments travelled far and wide with a large crowd to a league match V Kilkenny in Nowlan Pk in torrential rain was it 1997.

@GBXI - agree completely. Carney gets picked every week and doesn't offer enough for me, whether that is at midfield or in the forward line He doesn't dominate the middle and he doesn't trouble the scoreboard...He has the look of an intercounty footballer though, maybe that counts for something...

I've said all season that I didn't think Mayo would win anything but on their day are capable of stopping someone else winning something too. It wouldn't surprise me to win two group games, we are that kind of team but the issue I have is that with us is that I have no faith in us putting in a few big performances in a row. We can be great one week and flat the next. The reality is if we get to Croke Park, we won't score enough.

In fairness to Paul Towey his scoring record of scores versus total shots versus minutes played is very good.
He warranted more game time last year. I think he's a sub, because I think only shorter players with pace can start with the speed of modern defenders.
The issue with our shooting is two fold :
1. Non shooters taking too many shots
2. A lack of plays to setup our actual better shooters to receive the ball in a good position facing goal.
Point 2 is firmly on mgmt and their lack of coaching an attacking plan.
Think how few times this season Aidan has received a pass running toward the opposition goal.
Here's the play.
1. Aidan drifts out centrally 40 yards.
2. Handpass into ball won by ROD, Irwin, McHale, whomever
3. Aidan had already started his run receives the handpass 25 yards out and is coming at pace, gets fouled for a yellow card tapover free or opens up for him setting up a goal chance.
I can't recall that very basic play happening in games.
"Lads let's be aware for Aidan on the central burst second half, their defence is on a lot of fouls and yellows now"

@outside the boot, while all of that is true there is still plenty of talent in the team and wishing the time away until some under 20/17 talent might come through is a fools errand. Maybe Dublin/Tyrone/Kerry will be so far ahead of everyone else by then. Armagh won the All Ireland last year! They are also not blessed with pacey half backs or natural scoring forwards. They have a bit more physicality than Mayo but in my (biased) opinion Mayo have more star quality, bar the goalies.

I also disagree with the outdated league vs championship notion. The league now is a top competition and the only difference is the weather but you are referring to Towey and Boland who will perform better in dry conditions anyway, as wet conditions always suit defenders. I just want to see both given more game time - in the same way that Carney, Coen, Ruane, Coyne, even O'Shea are always persisted with despite many days where they they don't help the attack. Mayo's biggest problem is their lack of scores. We're not getting any scores from the half back line - this will surely improve with Eoghan and Paddy back. Only Ruane scores from midfield. In fairness to Flynn he is a consistent scorer from wing forward. But most of all our full forward line is not functioning. We need more kicking in there, we need more movement in there.

@outside of the boot if you are referring to Towey and Boland in relation to the Derry game last year, Towey was impressive when he came on extra time that game and Boland wasn't even on the bench that day I'm fairly sure....

Just to add a little more context on our scoring in our 11 competitive games this year...

Name - (% of competitive minutes played this year) - [scored from play] - Avg Score from play per 70 minutes played

Conal Dawson (1.17%) [1] 7.78
Fergal Boland (26.49%) [9] 3.09
Paul Towey (45.84%) [13] 2.58
Ryan O'Donoghue (95.45%) [26] 2.48 (6.38 in total with dead balls)
Frank Irwin (61.04%) [16] 2.38
Matthew Ruane (93.25%) [20] 1.95
Davitt Neary (62.08%) [13] 1.90
Darren McHale (67.92%) [13] 1.74
Jordan Flynn (67.66%) [11] 1.48
Conor Reid (37.53%) [6] 1.45
Jack Carney (68.83%) [11] 1.45
Aidan O'Shea (67.40%) [10] 1.35
Eoghan McLaughlin (35.19%) [4] 1.03
Dylan Thornton (17.66%) [1] 0.51
Sean Morahan (19.61%) [1] 0.46
Stephen Coen (96.75%) [4] 0.38
Fenton Kelly (37.79%) [1] 0.24
Colm Reape (97.92%) [2] 0.19
Sam Callinan (73.77%) [1] 0.12
David McBrien (90.91%) [1] 0.10
Donnacha McHugh (94.94%) [1] 0.10
Enda Hession (98.83%) [1] 0.09

(With obvious caveats for anyone with less than 30% of minutes played, Conal's 1 point in 9 minutes obviously an outlier, and slightly less obvious ones for games played earlier in the year when conditions were often 'lively' making either long range 2 pointers or tap overs from <20m more common than usual)

@Tsu, can you email that to McStay and cc Rochford?!

Thanks TsuDhoNim.
Everyone above 2pts per 70 mins should feature at least off the bench.

The Cavan game last year was pretty dour, they put everyone behind the ball, that cant happen this time around but believe 2 of their better players are available which were injured last year. Would like to see 1 or 2 changes from the last day if injuries allow. No drastic changes but empty the bench early enough so plenty get an opportunity.

as far as i can remember in the cavan match last year C.O.C started and got man of the match , the only game he started . after that it was only a few minutes when games were lost

can anyone tell me if mayos game is on any tv channell. as i cant attend

@patrick hayes: No. Not available anywhere to watch, MidWest Radio will be your best bet.

Only 3 games on this weekend, all on GAA+.

Saturday
2.30pm: Kerry v Roscommon (F) - GAA+
5pm: Galway v Dublin (F) - GAA+

Sunday
1.30pm: Leitrim v Sligo (F) - GAA+

patrick hayes - That's right Cillian scored 0-4 against Cavan last year. In 2024, he only started three games but still ended the season with 3-12 and also finished as our second-highest scorer from play. He's been a tremendous servant to Mayo, but the current management didn’t seem to trust having both him and Aidan on the pitch together, and unfortunately, it was Cillian who lost out. It's interesting, though under the new rules McGuinness has managed to find space for both McBrearty and Murphy in the Donegal forward line, and they're thriving.

Forget about Cillian, he has made it quite clear that he is taking a break.
His prerogative.

@ Neiphin , your comment on Sam Mulroy was my next post. 100%. He missed 4 in a row and still went on to kick the winning scores and MOTM. We are too fast to judge on here at times. Management must be aware this is most likely their last season bar a SF/ Final or God forbid bringing Sam across the Shannon at Tarmonbarry.
If it was me I would let the lads play free flow and see what happens. We have flogged the horse with the lateral approach and looking for the perfect conditions to shoot. They don't. Drop bombs in on top of Aido and let the chaos ensue. I would be happy to lose all 3 matches if we just let loose and see what happens.
Looking forward to see Paddy D back in the red and green and will expect a huge response after Galway.
If not we will no doubt have a winter of debate and gnashing of teeth while we try and attract a new crowd in to take over the circus. Mayo abu

For Cavan Gearoid McKiernan and James Smith are ruled out through injury two of their best players and would have been their likely midfield pairing if fit. McKiernan their best placed kicker and two pointer scorer also.

If we take the game on Sunday by the scruff from the get go we will win comfortably but if we decide to go lethargic route like v Derry first half last year we will see another shit show