Nine weeks to the day since Stephen Rochford said Tommy Conroy was "extremely close" to making his return.

Now, with two defenders coming in to replace a corner forward and a half forward/midfielder, does that suggest we're setting up to contain Tyrone rather than taking the game to them and playing with more attacking freedom?

What do certain players have to do to be dropped....

Honest to god, what message does it send to the panel when lads who regularly start consistently offer nothing and retain their place in the team.

Hard to be optimistic about Saturday looking at this team.

@unstoppable have you considered that the rest of them aren't any better?

Who do you think deserves to start and who doesnt?

Why would anyone expect wholesale changes.it’s not as if new management has taken over

If Tyrone play like their u 20 team we are in for a bad day, however they are a bit like Mayo , one day brilliant the next day terrible, we are in the last chance Saloon.

@WarehouseNumber5

How many players have walked away from the panel in the past 18 months?? Most due to unhappiness with playing time.

Look I don't like naming names but Jack Carney and Jordan Flynn have offered nothing since March. While Fenton Kelly and Frank Irwin have consistently showed well. Sean Morahan also looks to me like a guy who could do with a start.

There are also major question marks over our goalkeeper.

Best of luck to the guys . I'm not surprised there's not many changes . Hoping for a reaction from the guys .

There will be changes...rochford always made a couple of changes....I'd say irwin in for Thornton...paddy in for brick....

A bit like a Donald Trump tweet about Tariffs , Team might be subject to change .

@1985 my comments have nothing to do with the "change" in management. If you go back on the blog, you'll see I have made them before each of the last two games.

My issue is with a lack of changes to a team as a whole that is clearly underperforming, underpinned by individuals who are drastically underperforming.

Sometimes unstoppable it's not a change of personnel that's needed, it's a change of tactics....

WarehouseNumber5, what inspired the name?

Had hoped for a few changes, I assume we are going to try and target midfield in a big way. The match up against Canavan and McCurry will be interesting.

It would be madness to change our goalie at this stage.
No short kick outs please, have been a problem for all goalies this year.
An interesting subs bench

Unstoppable my comment wasn’t directed at you .it was just a general observation y

Agreed Moyside.
Can't trust that will be the starting team, but Sam Callinan needs experience of these type of games. It's laughable that Neary would start at ff.
We'll know a lot about how this game is going to pan out after 15 mins.

Best of luck to the team and panel, feels like a defining moment type of game. I really hope they deliver for themselves mgmt and the supporters, to give all a big lift after an annus horribilis / shit week or 2 - whichever of those is lower on the doomsday scale is applicable...

Rochy liked the curve balls back in the day, the odd controversial one to. What could he do tomorrow ?

Usually, now with only 3 defenders back, if u can get quick, decent foot passes into the 3 forwards, while size is still important, equally as important is pace with the extra space now available. Neary has serious pace and if left inside one on one will cause trouble for a defender, if he is fouled that close in Ryan will tap it over...if he is left to run at u, like he did against galway, u are creating goal chances..look back at the goal v galway, quick foot pass into neary and it was neary who created the goal. Put irwin and ruane in either side of him, both big men who can win ball and both this year have scored well...mcbrien is not a centre back, put him in fullback, mchugh centre back, hession n Duncan/morahan wing back....Jack coyne one corner...question mark over other corners...but if u had Carney, coen, o shea around midfield...importantly, instruct o shea to stick in the central channel between midfield n centre back to block off running through middle...he would be a good out ball for defenders and lay off to ur quirk runners in mchugh, Durcan, hession...keep running at pace or hit ur 2 big men or neary, get Tyrone turned n running backwards, hard to defend against pace or even harder to defend against quick accurate foot passes....

People want changes but complain when people like Dylan Thornton are given a chance

They want Paddy to start or Tommy, but complain when Brickenden starts after a spell out

Start Towey - misses 3 in the Conn Final
Start Boland - wouldnt take a shot in Conn Final

Change keeper - and put in the rookie keeper who is a hurler

There may be problems in our management team but Holy God at least they have some semblance of sense

I just saw online the doomsday clock is now at 2 minutes to midnight. I assume we will still be playing London in Ruislip in 2026?

Just a thought provoker that is not specific to this team, but, don't ye think professional soccer is more open minded to change panel members than Gaelic football?
There's almost a religious edict that one cannot introduce players from the clubs mid season.
We're saying right now there is not one player, not one, that is better than any member of our panel.
This of course includes players who were recovering from long term injuries.
On a purely maths basis it's just a statistical close to impossibility that there isn't one player that is let's say in 12th best forward or 12th best defender or 5th best midfielder form.

@JP...you make a very valid point.

Long time since we went into a game with lower expectations than for tomorrow which is justified based on the Cavan performance. Let's hope this Mayo team go out and prove everyone wrong but can't see it happening this year!

“It’s very doubtful Tommy conroy will see county action this year through injury but will keep the supporters informed if that changes “

Surely that would have been way more apt months ago rather than keep telling us , he’s near , he’ll see some action towards the end of the league etc etc .

There are equal counter-arguments to your points @warehouse. Towey and Boland are two of our three top scorers from play despite their lack of minutes. How many misses did Ruane, Carney, and Flynn have vs. Galway? How many shots did O'Shea turn down? They made a big cock up not trying a new goalie in the league but I agree it's too late to change Reape now, just change the tactic. However, we need to develop a new goalie next year. Hopefully John Vahey.

On Tommy Conroy, obviously he is struggling to get fit and that is not Rochford's fault. Also lads, he has electric pace and would be a addition but he is not a big scorer and runs hot and cold so I wouldn't be pining so many hopes on him.

I think there will be a number of changes to the team before the start. Would love to see the two small but tigerish backs, Morahan and O'Donoghue, play. Hopefully Rochford has something up his sleeve.

There will be at least 2 (Brickenden and Neary wont start) and possibly 3 changes (Thornton likely wont either) to that team
They are persisting with player lads out of their best positions:
Stephen Coen, David McBrien and playing others who are not performing whatever position they play; Matthew Ruane, Jack Carney, Jordan Flynn

Unfortunately, their arent too many tearing up trees with only Paddy Durcans historic pedigree hinting that something better might be on the bench. Mayos bench havent impacted a game in 2 years and there is no one there who stands out as being unluck not to start. The sort of players who could make an impact withdrew from the panel last winter.

This idea that Mayo could pull off a big win, will need those players to show something they havent showed in 2 years.

“On Tommy Conroy, obviously he is struggling to get fit and that is not Rochford’s fault. Also lads, he has electric pace and would be an addition but he is not a big scorer and runs hot and cold so I wouldn’t be pining so many hopes on him.”

With the greatest of respect that is badly lacking context . Tommy conroy is the best forward in Mayo , his ceiling to impact games is so much higher than lads you mention . I struggle to understand the fixation on towey and boland . They are just average county players so far in their careers to date where as Tommy has ran through the dubs in an all Ireland semi final scoring vital points that seen dublins reign at the top end . I don’t give a fiddlers how many years ago it was I just wish people in mayo were more savvy about what it is that makes a forward , James Carr also has performed in big games , yes he wasn’t consistent enough I get that but by Christ if one of the two lads that are adored had a game like James ie the goal v Galway the internet would breakdown in mayo .

I’d love the two of them to have big games in them against big teams but it really doesn’t have that type of trajectory at all .

All to play for now. Expect Paddy to start anyway. Go Mayo!

Madness to change the goalkeeper you say???
Who's picking the team.
The man has form

Jesas lads the team is the team. I can't imagine the effort these guys have put in over the last 6+ months to get a jersey. We are where we are, let's just support and see where end up. The ability is there to win this one and the next

Still don't get the call to shaft reape. I don't know the lad or anything about him but for me he's doing ok. Not leaking a big amount of goals and tho slow on the kickout people have to realise most kickouts now are a lottery especially with no great ball winner out the field. Fair enough 1 or 2 short kickouts cost a couple of scores but show me a player who hasn't made a mistake and I'll show you a person who never played football.

With respect You Three, I can't imagine the effort put in by guys on the bench and panel over the last 6+ months to se a jersey given to a fella who hasn't played well in 6 months. That statement works both ways I'm afraid.

Hahaha very true Horans hat, but remember it's Aidan O Shea, Cillian O Conor, Dillon and Andy Moran who are picking the team.

It's hard to get tight grips with how flat we have played but this is a winnable game and the Donegal game a shootout after .
If lads have anything about them, they will give it their best .
I support them too but we can't be such goody goody two shoes and letting the worst of displays in recent years go unannounced.
Pay in, then you have right to criticise, we all want best for county but county year deserve more though and planning put into senior team tactics, gameplay and starting 15 aswell as dynamic subs not prescribed subs.

We all deserve better than the last day, we expect better and if anyone settles for the last day then we go to total defeatist attitude and culture .
Our culture and religion of Mayo Gaa is to die with boots on and regardless of result keep going battle work hard for each other be one team.

The handicapper has us +4 and Cavan +7 - find this interesting if solely looking at the last game for each. The bookmakers have a lot of science behind these and they are not simply plucked from the air. Mayo are not written off totally in their minds v Tyrone and Cavan are by in large against Donegal

Looking at the players on paper I don’t see how we can’t be competitive, sadly it’s not played on paper. The quick turn around for Tyrone really should help us as well. Have to tear into them, pride in the jersey and desire to continue and be involved in quarter finals or a trip out to play ball in Chicago.

I feel Mayo still have a big outing in them. Rochford will have them pumped up and a bit of quality on the bench to see them over the line.
@Tsnudonim, what's the % breakdown between free-range and the other type?

@Sean Burke
Although we have been masters of our downfall over the years we didn't get any luck at all with injuries and major serious injuries at that.
Imagine a primetime Carr and Conroy on the panel at the moment with the new rules. Our story might be a bit different.

I fear the horse has bolted but have a bit of hope that Tyrone might be a bit leggy after the Donegal game which could give us a chance. We need to bring our "A" game and shooting boots though. I reckon it will be close. A kick of a ball in it.

Honestly can't raise the enthusiasm to even comment anymore.

Tyrone team named. Looks like Kennedy is ok to play which has increased my anxiety levels. We can’t let himself and Kilpatrick dominate midfield and keep feeding good ball into McCurry and Canavan all evening - there’s only going to be one outcome if that happens. We will need the best performance of the year from our midfield to have any chance of beating Tyrone, and I wouldn’t be surprised if O’Shea starts there with Irwin in as full forward.

We have to do something different tomorrow, something from left field that Tyrone might not expect. More of what we have seen in the last few games certainly won’t trouble them! I also expect Durcan to start as we desperately need his drive and leadership on the field from the throw in.

Tyrone: Niall Morgan; Cormac Quinn, Peter Teague, Niall Devlin; Michael McKernan, Rory Brennan, Kieran McGeary; Brian Kennedy, Conn Kilpatrick; Seanie O'Donnell, Mattie Donnelly, Ciarán Daly; Darren McCurry, Mark Bradley, Darragh Canavan.

@Charlie: "... what’s the % breakdown between free-range and the other type?"

Is this a question on the breakdown of scores between dead-balls and from play?

21.5% of our total competitive scores this year are from frees/dead-balls (49/228) with the remaining 78.5% (179/228) from play.
In Championship that'd be 27.2% (22/81) from frees/dead-balls with the remaining 72.8% (59/81) from play.

If that wasn't the intended question....
I'm not overly familiar with Evan's work on nutrition, so if it's related to chickens - be they free-range, organic or other - I'm sadly out of the loop to help there.

Really tough two weeks for everyone involved with the Mayo Team.

No idea what to expect tomorrow; but I don't think it entirely matters. Tomorrow is a day to be grateful for the work and effort everyone puts in and to let everyone know that whatever challenges they face, they don't face them alone, and that we the Mayo Supporters and Community and Team are all one Mayo Family.

There may be an advantage to the players eating free range chickens though.wasn’t something I had considered before

Paddy Durcan has to (and will start), he has few friendlies under his belt, mins v cavan and 4 or 5 weeks of full contact training. Get him in there, it's shit or bust time. Why would we hold him back.

Otherwise don't see much room for an exciting curveball from those bench options, what have liked to have darragh beirne or hurley there as number 26 anyway just to have one wildcard.

Some lads doing very well to be holding onto their jersey after a several poor performances but shur lookit

Glad to see there's still a bit of levity around lads, good organic humour. Tis needed at times.

@Tsudonim That's a decent scoring rate from play and I'm sure it can be improved on. No point at this stage talking about the one obvious player who I'm sure would have contributed handsomely to the % of scores from play. In a way this in an ideal occasion for some young player to make a big impact, as not a lot is expected - by the bookies anyway.

Anything can happen in a game of football any player from any team can get injured in the warm up or in the game itself .
We just don't know
Remember the words of the song .: The Boys from the County Mayo
Let this be our anthem from now on .
Just like the Liverpool anthem You ll Never walk alone
Come on Mayo

Hard be optimistic and expect anything different with pretty much the same team and panel being picked again

35 yrs ago today Knock Airport officially opened so the Mayo team has to have faith and belief this weekend like the late Monsignor Horan had back then .Against all odds he built the Airport Just listen to his words .Come on Mayo .

In my opinion the best we can hope for is to give a good account of ourselves over the remaining 2 game and leave the stage with a bit of pride to take into next season.
Getting a win v Tyrone or Donegal I can't see but if it were to happen, it would be magic.

May I respectfully ask that posters stop using the name of Jesus in their posts. I find it offensive and can't imagine what anyone thinks it's use adds to their comment.
Also some posters don't seem to have learnt anything from what happened to Kevin Mcstay.
Those in charge of the team were openly appointed
No one deserves an avalanche of negative criticism.
And it changes nothing.
Also the disrespect for Cavan football last match was staggering and drew a deserved response from a very proud county. There is an affinity between Mayo and Cavan footballers and lovely people.
Do Cavan have 5 all ireland titles?

Like a match Mayo will win, particularly it being away - as home tends to be an alien 'country" these times
Hope they renew the panel / team bond and go out and win it for themselves - nobody else, as it looks like they are 'on their own'.
Cut loose boys and do it for you!

@Charlie: The current national averages post R1 of the Group Stages were released by the GIU the other day if you fancied benchmarking against something.

https://www.gaa.ie/article/games-intelligence-unit-report-weeks-5-8

Looking at just the stats for All Championship games to date, it'd be averages of:
- Scores/game = ~36
- Scores/game from play = ~27.7
- Scores/game from dead ball = ~8.3
- % dead ball to total = ~23%
(our % dead ball would be 30% there (21/70), when we reduce our 4 goals & 3 two pointers [1 a free] in Championship to 7 scores instead of 18 value scored to tie in with the GIU data)

We will win The Sam McGuire and we will fly her into Knock, words from a song by Doc Carroll a few years ago.

Thanks culmore

I think that was our '89 anthem @Culmore.
Was it DocCarroll?

Knock airport opened in 1985 .would it have taken 5 years for the official opening.the song I remember from 1989 was “ come on Willie joe and kilgallon from mayo dermot Flanagan and Sean Maher and John Finn .jimmy Browne will light the fire and we’ll take the Sam McGuire.John o Mahoneys men are really on the move

And ironically enough it was the game against Tyrone in 89 the that ignited the flame in modern mayo football , it’s been a seriously enjoyable journey imho . We have a lot to be thankful for since , obviously there’s been one thing missing but who on this lifetime journey can honestly say there has not been some really great days , for me it’s been great anyway from a young buckeen in the nally stand that day to a cranky grey hairs coming through spittin feathers in castlebar las day out . Up Mayo wherever ya go .

Just do the jersey proud tomorrow and best of luck to all . Give it a rattle .

I'm with the hard to be optimistic for tomorrow crew. But sure at least we have London '26 to look forward to. Maybe they'll do a home and away fixture.

Maybe we just rehashed in for '89 @ 1985...
We tended to do that back then....
You know,back in the day when we got away with doing 'hype'.

Actually sean for me It was the draw with Dublin in 1985 that was the rebirth of mayo football.my first time in croker and TJ kilgallon with the equaliser.Kevin mcstay had a half chance to win it right at the death but unfortunately lost possession

I see Brian Fenton is lining out for McBride's in Chicago. Couple of Mayo men playing with them I've been told.

Yep was there that day too (2 games ) , I just felt Johnno brought us belief , 88 semi final v Meath also there was something happening I felt , we were announcing our arrival but Shur look I was 11 yrs young in 88 and still not much wiser today . Used to love watching mcstay on the ball , his style was so easy on the eye

Hard to blame anyone for pessimism right now. You could go with the "heart saying no and the head saying yes" but my heart is in firm agreement with my head on the "No".
What's worse is the sheer volume of apathy in existence among the fans right now(myself included).
I can't wait for this season to be over. We're akin to a wounded animal waiting to be put out of its misery. Unfortunately, we still have two games left.
Additionally, tomorrow's result might likely be irrelevant, unless cavan beat Tyrone. We have to beat Donegal regardless of what happens tomorrow.
Hopefully, the right conditions exist next year for us to assume an upward trajectory. That's assuming that the Cavan result was the lowest depth we can plumb!

He did Sean but Liam o Neil played a big part .i remember reading a great article about his time with mayo.a question I asked on here before.myself and my next door neighbour were in a pub that day called the mayo arms .there was steps down to .no idea exactly where in Dublin it was but we seem to be the only two that remember it.remember meeting Sean Flanagan on the steps coming out

Willie Joe whats the name of that Mayo pub in Camden towm the one with the Mayo crest outside it? Would it be worth an oul visit after the London game next year?

Jesus I couldn’t tell ya , never heard of it , there is a mayo crest on the auld triangle window above the door , like in stained glass , it’s been there as long as I’ve been in Dublin 20 plus yrs , I was told the original owner was belmullet many moons ago . The other pub I know of was “ the man of Achill “ in Harold’s cross , gone a few years but was owned by an Achill man eugene toolis . Would of been there in the 80s for sure

It was suggested to me at one stage that it was part of Barry’s hotel.served food as well.was in it before both games.beginning to think it was another brigadoon only that the other lad remembers it too

There were steps down to the 'Man of Achill' alright...I was in it once. You would have needed the miner's hat with the torch on it down there .
Great old days though.

It's the Oxford Arms, Glorydays, run by a good Bohola man, Tom Maloney. I'd say it'd definitely be worth a visit after the London game next year.

Sean,the old triangle was owned by Vincent Henry,from Dohoma,he lived in Ballina for many years and owned a dry cleaners,before he moved to Dublin he was a lovely gentleman,may he rest in peace,anyways up up Mayo by five

Sound Corrick , fair play .

Ah, 1989, that was a great year, my first trip to croker, don't remember much of the semi virus Tyrone, only poor auld jimmy burke swallowing his tongue, willie Joe with the bloodied bandage on his head, plunket Donaghy's Big blonde head of hair and my brother the cheeky git tieing a mayo headband onto a unsuspecting Tyrone man's jacket as he sat in front of us, I'm sure that Tyrone man is still scratching his head how that mayo headband ended up being tied to his jacket... lol ? lol great times...

Jimmy Burke swallowed his tongue in the final.the strange head gear on Willie joe was the semi final.very iconic photo afterwards

No surprise with named team. I expect there might be a change or two As regards unavailable players some are physical injuries some are not One would have to presume management knows what’s going on and situations change on a week to week basis. Hard to be optimistic about tomorrow . We are at a low ebb and do not have as good a team as in previous years while Tyrone are deservedly on a high. Having said that I do expect we will give a good account of ourselves and that the players ( who have put in a huge effort over the last 6 months ) do themselves and their county proud. Maigh Eo Abu

I have respected this management team,and previous management teams,I always respect any player who puts on the shirt be it championship,league,or FBD or any other grade,we will sometime climb that hill,it will be worth the wait when it happens,good n tomorrow evening

Ur right 1985, it was a long time ago....was only 9...

Well said @sean Burke. I’ve enjoyed the ride too.
Agree with what you said about Conroy and Carr.
As they used say about Carr on the Off the Ball podcast - ‘Mercurial’!! Carr couldn’t really have enjoyed his years with Mayo though. Those hips caused him such bother, he never got a clear run.

Moyside I have a few years on you and a very strange memory

New pod up on Patreon - Rob previewing the Tyrone game with Ger Flanagan.

I see it like this, Mayo have to fulfill the next two fixtures, a good performance tomorrow Evening will be good enough for me, probably will not get the win but so what, and then on to the Donegal game.
It would be great to see one win out of the two but probably will not happen.

Armagh v the Dubs will be a great contest.

We've just put in possibly our worst championship performance in 15 years & we more or less go with the same again! Beggers belief

We are going to win tomorrow.

We can respect or disrespect lots of things in this world but most of us live in the real world and not a fantasy world. Team named wouldn't put the fear of God in anyone but I'm not going to comment on a team until we see who really starts but obviously no Tommy conroy is a big negative for me. Yes the ould triangle was a mayo pub and many s the pint i had in it. The man of achill was closed when I hit Dublin but I know the owner very well. A character.

I think Mayo will win tomorrow. Why not?
Tyrone are playing us a week after a big game against the Ulster Champions, Donegal. That was a full blooded affair with a Tyrone after a big effort. Tyrone had almost 4 weeks to prepare for that game.
They had only one to prepare for us.

Tyrone can sometimes blow hot and cold. They’ve been known to play poorly and then sometimes to go through a team for a shortcut - examples being last week against Donegal and the Final against us in 2021. Write them off at our peril but I wouldn’t think all evidence points to a Tyrone win.

We have experience of beating Tyrone in Omagh, in the lion’s den (home advantage to Tyrone shouldn’t blind us here), while we couldn’t beat them in Castlebar.

We have seen some outstanding games from Mayo in the last two years (the game against Dublin last year and that against Galway this year are two examples). I know they are capable of playing well.

I remember 2017 when I saw an awful tiredness from Mayo. When they had to go to play Roscommon a second time in a replay of the AI Quarter Final, I saw a lethargy hanging from them that I thought was fatal. I thought they were close to being put out of their misery, that the only way was down. I see a similar exhaustion and heaviness from the team now because we have nothing positive this season really to raise the spirits. But can they actually be that poor? We will find out more soon.
In that second game versus Roscommon our players seemed like men resurrected.
Perhaps we’ll see much more signs of life tomorrow. Now is the time to see them.
In addition, pedantic as it might seem, I don’t think we can get a fair picture until we see the three group games. This is because we need to see the full performances of the three other teams and the circumstances of breaks (weeks, fortnight etc) evening themselves out.
I reserve the right to be foolish and predict a Mayo win just to liven things up. We need a bit of that around here.

With my green and red tinted glasses firmly on, I still find it difficult to see anything other than a Tyrone win and I am worried that it could be a hiding. We will need to put in a level of performance way above anything that we have been producing recently. My expectations are extremely low and would just like to see us play with pride, passion and abandon and, at least, go down fighting. With everything that has been going on recently, the team and supporters could really do with a lift. With the poultry reference earlier, I am really afraid that our chickens, free range or otherwise, will come home to roost tomorrow.

Would like to have seen a few for changes to the panel given our poor performances recently. Think neary in full could actually be a good call, his pace and direct taking people on might be whats needed up there. They need to be properly up for this game and take it Tyrone, something they have rarely done this year. On a side note, cork Kerry and Tyrone mayo both not on rte today, with no better games or hurling on. Find that crazy

Players train drills and tactics. No point introducing new fringe players mid championship. Same for goalie. Stick with them. An improvement in kickout strategy would go a long way.