1. Colm Reape
2. Eoin O’Donoghue
3. David McBrien
4. Enda Hession
5. Sam Callinan
6. Stephen Coen
7. Donnacha McHugh
8. Frank Irwin
9. Fenton Kelly
10. Davitt Neary
11. Diarmuid O’Connor
12. Conor Reid
13. Fergal Boland
14. Ryan O’Donoghue
15. Paul Towey
I feel this would be a good team. Short of height in the full forward like but we don’t have natural forwards who are tall. Irwin, tuohy are midfielders or half forwards not full forwards or corner forwards. O’donoghue was very good 6-7 years ago let’s see if he’s still as good

The really annoying thing from last week was that we repeated our past failures i.e. failed to win a tight game and missed far too many chances.

Did you know we had 58% possession and still lost?

There was an article in the Indo and it was 5 things of note from the first round of the league; of which one was ‘Same Old Mayo?’- because of the points above.

Yes it was first match of year and the young lads showed well but the reality is that McStay is skating on thin ice. It’s year 3 for him now and he needs a good year otherwise the County Board should hand his P45.

We need to get back to the top table so we cannot be repeating the same mistakes. You’d get tired of watching the continued wastefulness in front of goal- some of the misses last Saturday night were unforgivable..and we got turned over in front of our own goal for a crucial point in the second half.

It’s McStay’s job to get results and after 2 years of ‘snatching defeat from the jaws of victory’ in crucial matches it’s time to start delivering.

I see an article on Ballybofey and Donegal's Fortress mentality when it comes to that hallowed turf.
This is something we have been sadly lacking when it comes to Mc Hale Park, we are much more likely to get a result in Salthill, or anywhere else.
It kills me to see Jimmy coming back to Donegal and suddenly there is belief dripping from the walls.
There is no reason whatsoever we have to be any different. We have new blood coming through and wiser to return but there is more apathy than belief in the venue of Mc Hale park these days.
Pray to God I am proved very wrong on Sunday.

Spotlight and Bonni Boyler, both correct, lost so many close games over last 3 years, and McHale Park has been a hinderance as oppose to an help, in us winning games. But regarding winning tight games, is it quality of sub, quality of management, conditioning of the players. Not sure what it is, but someone needs to work it out.

You’re chasing a game , 68 mins on the clock and it’s a hooter finish , I looked at mcstay on the line and not a peep out of him . I just don’t understand that mentality as we play a lateral pass as if we are ahead . We have a problem at winning tight games even if we have a lead , there’s something fundamentally wrong as it’s become a pattern . If it was fixed I believe we could do damage

Not fussed on the result, or at least not fussed at the minute. Hopefully the likes of Neary and Reid continue to get game time and show us what they are worth.

Hopefully a bit more structure at the back, inside the arc when we need to be and not allowing players waltz through middle like we allowed Kilkenny kick his point the last day. The upfront press hopefully improves too, with the no playing back to the keeper a great opportunity for turnovers.

Finally, speed of attack and movement needs work. The lateral passing, slow ponderous play gets us nowhere. It’s just a pity Gavin and co didn’t ban free kicks going backwards.

@Plunkett like that side- are we being a bit harsh on Mattie Ruane? Has always had a good game against Galway from memory. He would be good coming on but do we have the riches available to be not playing him? I have the suspicion that Mchugh will pick up Conroy

@Spotlight and @Bonniboyler both spot on. We do have to remember its only January. Mayo expended a lot of energy coming back from 7 points down to go ahead of Dublin. I felt we could have made changes sooner on Saturday. Sharoize Akram must be close to 30, surely we needed to see him instead of a Stephen Coen who we know well what we will get from.
Also, I thought we missed a trick by not bringing on Finbarr Mcloughlin on the last day. He went off injured last night for DCU. I am hoping Eoghan Mcloughlin is back for Sunday. The new rules are made for him, and similar to Mattie, he always plays well against Galway.
Would also like to see Morahan from the start; he has the aggression and leadership required to win a derby game. Would also like to see the baker O'Donoghue get game time. We need more DOG in this side and both of them bring that.

Went to Colmans Leitrim last night; really impressed with Darragh Beirne. A fine piece of a man, lovely left foot. Very unselfish and really high work rate. We have talented forwards coming through with Lydon, Hurley, and Guilfoyle but Darragh Beirne looks the most complete to me. Looking forward to seeing him make the breakthrough in the coming years.

We need a big strong man on Meagher.

Is the game been televised since they brought it back to an earlier throw in

@Robe Green & Red: Yeah, still on TG4 with the 14:30 throw in.

https://x.com/SportTG4/status/1884911943028248839?t=gXWvdyQQVN9mP54OIQq82w&s=19

Is there anything new we can try in midfield for this game, as it is looks like we are pulling from the same set of midfielders as last year. All fine players, but all better suited to halfback/half foward roles. It's become a massive problem position for us and I can't put forward any alternative suggestions. I'd try Frank Irwin there the next night and hope Touhy develops into it after a tricky second season.
Jordan Flynn is an excellent player in that section of the field but think he is better suited to wing-forward, same for DOC, Carney, Ruane

Clubman51, hopefully whatever is going on with Eoghan is sorted. I to think he is well suited to the new rules.

Hopefully, Carney will return from injury picked up in Roscommon friendly. Flynn looks obvious choice to solve midfield or 11 issues.
New rules should help Mchale Park out a bit. 23 players max in one half of pitch is not as congested as 30 players, but our style of play is much more suited to full width pitches such as Hyde and Pearce.
The team that manage the last quarter best will win on Sunday and Galway are fully aware of how fragile we are in that period.
A win and strong finish will do us the world of good, we have a strong panel of players.....

@supermac Jordan Flynn is our best midfielder by some distance.Put him into a 50 50 ball with anyone else on our panel maybe bar Aido and there's only one winner.Hes good in the air and has the aggression needed for midfield.With the new rules your going to need two good fielders at midfield.
I'd be looking at Flynn and Carney or Flynn and Diarmuid.Mattie Ruane is a fantastic player but need to go to the hf line.For the weekend I'd go with Reid and Irwin in midfield and see what they can do.

Have to agree with what is been said about Jordan. Watching him against Reid in both of the county finals and he bullied Reid to the point that Reid stopped going into contact with him. But he is fierce well built / strong fella so that's no slight on Reid. He just isn't as physical as Jordan yet but i am sure he will in time. As it stands, Jordan has to be in midfield. There is no one that can match him physically and he jumps like Willie Joe Padden. He is not the tallest but the height he can jump is unreal.

Yeah flynn has to be in midfield. The league campaign in 22 when he and ruane were in midfield was the most solid we’ve been midfield wise since the loss of parsons and o’shea.

Sorry Plunkett, with respect, that forward line is too small. It’s Boland or Towey, but not both together.

I'm a little concerned about Flynn and the new rules. He's passionate and wears his heart on his sleeve but he did quite a bit of remonstrating with the ref last Sunday and under the new rules it would be punished quite severely.

Mayo losing tight games is hardly something to be laid at McStays door. Don’t want to bore anyone with what we know already but lost 2013 final by a point, 2014 semi final replay by 3 , 2016 replay by a point, 2017 final by a point and Kildare in Newbridge in 2018. Or maybe we want to go back to 1996 v Meath in replay etc etc . It seems to be a Mayo mentality thing that we end up the wrong side of narrow margins in crucial games. I still maintain that although the manager is extremely important it really is down to players to close out a tight game and that is something we have struggled to do for a long long time

Feels like Mayo wheels are spinning in the mud the past while….going nowhere. I just feel we don’t have the players at present to compete for All Irelands.

We are a long way off Connacht Yew, never mind AI's

@Frosty, last Sunday was Jordan just getting it out of his system while he still could without severe punishment...he has shown he's well able to walk away even when the wind-up merchants have tried his patience.

Yes indeed Galway are a superior team to us at present but our record against them is still good.last year Galway relied a lot on a very well organized defensive system.
Will they be as good under the new rules.
I am not convinced..
Will be great going forward but now every defender needs to contest their own ball

Don’t ya just love the negativity on here.
I’m not seeing AI winning material in January but that’s kind of irrelevant at this time of year. Unearthing a few new players and making the competition within the squad as tough as possible is what it’s about.
Last year everyone thought it was Derry’s to lose and Armagh seen as perineal chokers by most pundits came up the inside lane. Bit fortunate in the final but they maxed their potential compared to Galway. This year I’d be saying Galway although we haven’t seen Kerry yet. If we beat them, the omens are not bad. If we lose, it’s only game 2, lots of timelines to tweak things. If we end up relegated but set up the building blocks for a strong championship run, that’s fine by me, look how Ros put up a big score the last day in Div 2. We could get to 5 points and still go down they way this league is set up.

We were very unlucky not to beat Dublin having played very well after a bad start. I expect us to beat Galway on Sunday. The vocal support from the supporters will be important on Sunday.

C Gleeson, J McGrath, S Fitzgerlad, D O’Flaherty (0-01), D McHugh, J Daly, S Kelly, P Conroy (0-02, 1tp), C McDaid, C Sweeney, F O Laoi (0-01), C Darcy, C O’ Curraoin (0-05, 3f, 1tp), M Tierney (1-01 1-00 pen, 1f ) S O’Neill.

Subs: Shane Walshe (0-02, 1tpf) for McDaid (41), John Maher for M Tierney (45), J Heaney for S O’Neill (53), Kieran Molloy for S Kelly (62), Johnny Heaney for O Laoi (66).

That was galway lineup the last day, I'd say it safe to assume Walsh and Maher start instead of Sweeney and O Neill.
That's some bulk into the team however, if we were to match up like this I think we match them for speed and power.

Sam/Walsh......Mchugh/Tierney.....Hess/O Currain
Coen/Meagher..Mcbrien/O Laoi.....Kelly/D'Arcy
.................Flynn/Mcdaid.....Reid/Conroy

I like Brick but hasn't the pace or turning ability for this game. Mchugh to FB for me.
If Eoghan Mac was fit I'd start him on sean Kelly, many snigger when you mention Eoghan Mac in forwards but remember that's where he played his best game v Roscommon last year .
If he's not fit maybe Matty at 11

Neary.......Boland.....Eoghan Mac
Towey........Irwin.........ROD

https://youtu.be/9Vz9y8vi54Y?feature=shared

Kevin a few years ago on The Sunday game

Would love if he could encourage his own players to kickpass more than bloody running it all the time.

Best starting place if any for Brick in this game is at 6 with Mcbrien going man on man v Conroy in midfield. Brick would do a job on Conroy but as good as Conroy is , he doesn't want to be chasing Mcbrien all over the field

I would fear for Sunday based on last weekends games. We couldn’t take the points against a very average Dublin side with Galway playing in third gear and winning comfortably against the All Ireland Champions. While we are giving new lads an opportunity I honestly don’t see it as many of them didn’t stand out at club level or in the intermediate championship. Don’t wish be be harsh and hope very much I’m proven wrong…the sooner we get back some experience the better

I get the negativity on here for Sunday. I fear for us a bit.. : /

Just in terms with guys missing & that's not an exsuce just facts. Though did Galway no harm last year at start of league everyone wrote them off with players missing and loosing consistantly in league..

As I said don't care if we get relegated but so long as we come good in championship..just honestly it's never ok to loose to Galway in league or whatever just with the way the rilvary is!

Think the young ones did good v Dubs in periods.

Boland will be some player I think for us with more game time & Towey to and with Durcan doing well in recovery it's not all doom &gloom . And who knows our young ones might just surprise us and do the job on sunday here is hoping..

Galway by 4 at least I think but I fear a lot more than that if I'm honest

Not surprised by the negativity but I also don’t see any reason we can’t match it with Galway. Our biggest issue against Galway has been getting scores against their blanket. If we have worked on the movement, which granted will take more than a week, and move the ball quickly with kick passing I see no reason why we can’t get at Galway. It’s a bit off putting throwing the shackles off for players, I’d happily take a beating if I least see adapting to the rules and greater use of quick ball into the forwards. I think I mentioned it before but last week Neary kicked a lovely ball into Ryan, he won it ahead of his man and then had to hand pass it back out the field because no one made a forward run to collect the ball off him. Players are still conditioned into that don’t lose the ball safe safe play when it needs a bit more chaos.

Yes I'd agree with last post. Varying our plays once we win possession. Otherwise we become predictable and easy to defend.
And what happens if we find ourselves two points up going down the stretch? That's a question we need to find an answer to.
It's a home game, no reason we can't do it.

Two points up we should be kicking for home, attacking their kick out, pressure on them high up the pitch when they can’t go back to the keeper. On our own it should be a set play, down into a crowded area where we reduce the risk of them taking a mark. If we have possession make the pitch as big as possible to allow pace from the likes of McBrien break a line and get a lay off to an inside forward. If they have possession someone needs to follow Conroy.

While Galway should be deserving favourites and had a very strong team out last Saturday, it is Galway v Mayo and games between us tend to be close (except a few trimmings we gave them in some league games when they weren’t too interested) so I would expect a really competitive effort from us this weekend. Whether we are good enough to beat them I am not so sure but the history between these two counties is that the outsiders on a given day often win and hopefully this may be the case again on Saturday

I don’t see how we will suddenly start playing a different way on Sunday.after two years it is evident what the mcstay/rochford system is .Neither will we magically come good in the championship.Fergal boland has been around mayo panels for 5 or 6 years now and while he is a decent player he is not going to improve much at this stage.last Saturday was a very winnable game against an average at best Dublin team but we were a shambles defensively and a lot of our attacks resembled the over 75 indoor football tournament in Fr ted.Hopefully we can put in a big performance on Sunday but at this stage 3 years into this management set up there should be some sort of a pattern emerging and some form of consistency but instead we have musical chairs with players being switched all over the place

Both teams in last years final played in the same manner.
It will not work this year.
The top team that adopts best will win Sam.
Man to man defenders and inside forwards that can win their own ball will be key.

@1985 Still laughing at the Fr Ted reference. Was a great episode.
Agree we need to see a little more play and a touch of chaos to win anything. We have a capable, growing squad but if you are indoctrinated into lateral safey safey stuff at all costs your not going to win anything.
One thought from last weeks game that I didn't see any mention of was how close Ruane came to a goal at the start of the second half. Anytime the ball is skied into the box it normally causes chaos as its so rare a sight these days.
Look at how many goals came of it in latter stages of championship.

Haha love it @1985! :) Fr Romeo Sensini would probably make our team!

Our risk averse play is going to take a while to shake off. The newcomers, such as Neary, haven't been wedded to that system, so should hopefully play more with the shackles off! We need to be preparing for these new rules, whether we showcase it or not. If we're doing stuff behind the scenes, I'm ok with that. But if we are burying our heads in the sand, then we are in for a rude awakening.

We will need sticky defenders as JR says. But we need to have a reliable left footed free taker & some players who are capable & willing to shoot from range. And we need more bulk around the middle.

@Bonni Boyler: "... if you are indoctrinated into lateral safey safey stuff at all costs your not going to win anything."

Were we watching the same game?

- We'd 31 shots in the game. Highest of any D1 side (28, 21, 28, 26 & 16 for the others).
- We'd 8 2 point shots. 2nd of any D1 side (6, 4, 2, 2 & Galway's 11 - where Salthill's gale & Armagh's passive press played a huge part).
- We'd a 72% phase to shot conversion (this doesn't happen with a conservative or overly safe approach). Only slightly behind Tyrone & Galway (74%, 60%, 67%, 76%, 53%), where again that says more about Derry & Armagh defensively than it does about Tyrone or Galway.
- We'd an expected score of 22.6 (a measure of where shots were hit from and how much pressure they were under). Highest in D1, ever so slightly ahead of Tyrone and Dublin (22.5, 12.2, 21.9, 19.1, 12.1).

Plenty of issues with the frequent wide open spaces at the back.

Plenty of room to have a go at us capitulating the 1st quarter and giving ourselves such a big hill to climb.

Plenty of room to have a go at us managing a blitz in the 2nd quarter but when we got a similar run on Dublin in the 2nd half we managed to go ~6 (I've only got power back yesterday so haven't rewatched the game - so open to correction on specifics) good attacks in a row without moving the score board (including a relatively easy fisted effort, a good goal chance and multiple kickable scores inside the arc with a couple dropping into the keepers hands). That type of thing absolutely kills momentum, energy from the crowd & pressure on the other side.

Plenty of room to have a go at our dependence on through the hands transitions, where a more aggressive kicking game would both open up more potential for space & help save some of our middle 8 legs (could be an important tweak for the year if we're going to close some of those gaps at the back). Especially when down strike runners like McLaughlin & Durcan, a more balanced mix of approaches likely would have helped.

It was a bad day at the office for our shooters. Ryan & Fergie will both be kicking themselves for a couple of their misses well within their range (we got to 13% conversion on our 2 pointer attempts, only Dublin & Armagh [both on 0% - only hit half our attempts, combined] were lower), but on a weekend with January temps impacting the flight of the ball & two named storms that's always a likely scenario. If I was in the backroom I'd be pushing them to keep going, not to worry about stats like that (I'm quoting them purely as a means of backing up we weren't being overly conservative to my eye - not to have a pop at the lads kicking) and trust themselves if they feel they're in their range.

Loads to work on. Defensively the shape & pressing was all wrong and gave Buggler a wide open channel every phase (hopefully a case of it being what was deemed best for that evening with where the lads are in terms of fitness & the fear of Dublin goals - I'd worry if that's the plan for the year), but enough bright shoots for me to be content in a game we could & should have won despite only playing well for ~15 minutes (& dominating another ~10 or so later but failing to register scores during it).

Not filled with confidence about our chances on Sunday. Finishing out games is a huge problem at the moment. We had our opportunities in the last 10 minutes against the Dubs but we're reluctant to take a shot. We were depending on O'Donoghue to come up with the goods and hit a two pointer at the end. Not direct enough in our play. Holding possession when you are losing will not win anything if there is no end product. Take the shackles off and no excuses.

The defensive set up has been shaky a few years now, lads not being switched quickly when under pressure and lads being left isolated one on one all to common an occurrence.

Thanks for the perspective Tsu, reading through the majority of comments here I was thinking of writing to Trump to request he deport us to the Tailteann Cup for 2025

@Tsu Thanks for the stats, very thorough as usual. I wasn't refencing the league opener v Dubs there, more the past year or two of constant back and forth hand passing.( Not just Mayo but in general across the division)
Dublin the last day looked a lot more direct and moved rapidly during turnover.
There seems to be no appetite to step outside the system of : work the ball into a high percentage area and shoot. Let the players play. The only lad I see doing this consistently is ROD who frequently takes free kicks quickly and can nail the killer pass. No better example than the Dublin game in Mc Hale last year with the pass inside at the death for Loftus / Boland ( Can't recall which)

@Tsu where do you get the stats ?

@Bonni Boyler: Woops. Always intend to link out to the folks doing the hard work on those. My bad. Stephen O'Meara that did the most complete breakdown of the Div 1 games that I spotted (he'll usually throw up a video/podcast speaking about the numbers during the week too, though not sure on the timings that he'll be working to on those yet. Will depend on what clubs/counties he's working with this year).

https://x.com/somearagaa/status/1883267757019713801

If the comment was directed more at speed of transition? Totally agree. Too much through the hands and allowed Dublin get back to a set defence nearly every time. Especially noticeable when missing the real runners that'll more often than not break the lines. Many of our early friendlies (like the Monaghan televised one) had Eoghan carrying as singular goal of transition. Need to mix that up or it becomes too easy to set up against & shut down (with the caveat that shutting speed like Eoghan's is never easy) but losing that option for the game hurt a chunk (I'd half expected EO'D in to do the job in the corner and free up Enda to bomb forward with pace a little more - but Enda played well back there so hard to fault the call to go a different direction).

Was nice to see Davitt going for a nice kick inside to RO'D once or twice. Not a part of his game I'd have ever noticed highly at club. Always stood out as a hell of a battering ram. Run direct, cause some chaos and then dish it off to the free man - so nice to see those points & passes being kicked with a touch of class. Towey with a couple of great ones too that caused panic for the Dublin defenders (& a large number of the shots dropping short that could have caused choas like the Coen goal chance if we'd had a touch more luck or a slightly more dominant fielder under them).

In general, for the old setup, we'd have seen Durcan kicking most, Ruane usually next, Brick with a few and then Aido & RO'D lower in number but higher in % - basically whenever they could. I'll be hoping we see Carney, Loftus, Hession, Flynn, Tuohy, Akram, Irwin & McHale all adding in a few, or a lot, more this year. All more than capable kick passers (if we're doing the right work to ensure the lads further up & getting separation - a huge work effort - & both kickers & runners are on the same page for the types of runs that could & should be made depending on the situation) so purely a question of tactics rather than personnel if/when we might see it, IMHO.

Excellent post Tsu .. great to see a bit of factual analysis. Last years defeat Galway was an incredibly tight affair away from home and at the time we were all complaining about the ref giving dodgy frees at the end. I get the narrative about us losing tight games but the fact is sometimes we are a bit unlucky other times we make mistakes and get punished .. it’s really a kind of scoreboard / outcome based analysis. We’ve every chance at the weekend I think.

Great posts as always TsuDhoNim.

I don't get why we always need to kick ourselves, we think we're a poorer team than a Galway team, with all their wonderful footballers(especially forwards), who deployed 2 sweepers in the Connacht final last year to beat us by one in the end. Think we've lost the best thing about supporting a team, believing that we can and will win. I believe

Agree with all of Tsus recent posts but what is wrong with management that they are not seeing this. Last year we were the most deliberate team in the country in terms of building play from the back.
No difference in our approach v Dubs.
Doesn't matter what 15 we start with on Sunday if there is no change in style of play.
And slow build up is particularly unsuitable in McHale Park, where trying to find space is at a premium.
Hopefully we see something new on sunday

Super analysis as always TsoDhoNim.( Great name as well) Really interesting stats most of which I was unaware. That sort analysis gives management the information they need to work on and is better than ‘same old Mayo’ which is what we expect from lazy journalism

Team for Galway named:

Colm Reape Knockmore
Sam Callinan Ballina Stephenites
Rory Brickenden Westport
Enda Hession Garrymore
Stephen Coen Hollymount Carramore
David McBrien Ballaghaderreen
Fenton Kelly Davitts
Donnacha McHugh Castlebar Mitchels
Matthew Ruane Breaffy
Conor Reid Moy Davitts
Fergal Boland Aghamore
Davitt Neary Breaffy
Paul Towey Charlestown Sarsfield
Frank Irwin Ballina Stephenites
Ryan O’Donoghue Béal an Mhuirthead

https://mayogaa.com/2025/01/31/mayo-senior-football-team-announced-16/

For me we do need to reassess some players in this new game. If you're an All purpose Volvo diesel of a workrate player I don't think you can impact this game as much. Workrate is now lower rated. Scoring ability and especially in first year of new rules football IQ and skills is higher.
Pacey man marking is higher. Attacking corner back is now maybe overkill? Better a man marker.

I think it is the same team as last week.
I can't complain as I am looking for a settled team.
Hopefully some lads can get some game time from the bench.