Disappointed there is no sign of the two lads. Assuming no last minute changes rules them out of the Connacht Final. It would be great if we could get some clarity from the team management.

Thought Conall Dawson showed well the last time. Personally, I would have given him more of a showing so surprised he's not even in the squad.

Unless the two lads are on the standby list...
They may get called in late..
Cooke is on our standby and I'd expect him to get brought in on Sunday with Walsh missing.

Great opportunity to give some fringe players a chance. Even if only to acknowledge their contribution and the give them some hope . Even if they could play with their clubs in league games it would be a help. Sadly not to be.

Hopefully smaller margin then 2021 fixture at Castlebar. But in 2026 a 1st Connacht football championship game of Mayo vs London since 2016 is to take place. Knock Airport will flights to & from all 4 London airports for the match & A March during the streets of Carrick on Shannon to reopen the Western Rail Corridor & all closed railway lines & routes sooner rather then later connecting Connacht with Ulster by train. Western Rail Corridor Claremorris to Sligo should be reopened as soon as it's reopened to Tuam & Claremorris of course. There is need to reopen Roscommon-Sligo & Roscommon-Longford services too. Better trains services in Mayo, Sligo, Galway, Roscommon, Cavan, Leitrim & Donegal.

Ah disappointed is well not to see the 2 guys it is hard to see them featuring much this year now.

Talk about a risk averse selection. Was there internal soul-searching after the Sligo experiment in the second half and now the mantra is safety first? Sure looks like it.

Hard to say they wont have a chances of featuring in any meaningful way this year. Could soon be tearing it up in training, and making it hard not to selected them. Especially Paddy, so much experience, I have little problem throwing him on. Not ideal, but still hopefully alot of matches to play

Championship is time for a settled team particularly the spine.
Championship really only starts after the provincial finals.

We live in hope but it’s really hard to see them been involved this year in a meaningful role .

Was everyone like me , scrolling at 100mph to see paddy or tommy there ?

Probably unlikely to see durcan or Conroy thrown on in a Connacht final if they don’t get game time on Sunday.what’s with the strange obsession with mayo playing London in 2026

hession, mchugh, mcbrien, ruane and coen have started every match since the first match of the league. We have one of the smallest panels and if any of those players get injured we have no replacement. So let’s hope that we have an injury free summer. Akram still has to get minutes as well

Team as expected Would be a lack of respect to opponents to name a weakened team and if it came back to haunt us we’d never hear the last of it. Playing for your county in championship is an honour that is earned, it’s not a sentimental rewarding of lads. Having said that I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few changes at throw in time. Like others said it’s disappointing not to see Tommy and Paddy on the match day panel. Obviously if they were fit enough I suspect they would be there Still there is a bit to go in year yet. Four or five games in worst case scenario and hopefully a few more so all is not lost yet

“Strange obsession “ had me in tears. Martin always reminds us of theses games .

Team as expected earlier.
Will likely get treated to one or two pregame "surprises", unless they actually want to surprise us and let the 26 named do the business.

I'm no TikTok expert but is there a lot of new Cillian OC Mayo related videos doing the rounds plus he got 1-10 last weekend ....adding 2 and 2 and i'm getting 6......could we see a late return ??

Disappointed not to see TC and PD named on the panel, maybe that's tomorrow surprise ?

Thedarkyfinn - Wishful thinking but unlikely to happen in 2025.

Cillian didn't get a kick against Matthew Gorteskii, he's not the player of old, leave him be and let him enjoy his club football

Thedarkyfinn whatever chance of seeing Paddy shortly, ya won't be seeing Cillian

Highly doubt we will be seeing Cillian this year glad he's enjoying his club football at least though.

Probably won't see Cillian until 2026 championship game mayo v London 1st mayo game in London since 2016..regarding the other 2 lads i wouldn't write off their season yet with the group stages and whatever comes after

@ Sean Burke , Yes was like an AI computer scanning the list at high speed. Disappointing but sure there will be changes before Saturday so I live in hope to see one or other featuring, especially considering it shouldn't be a full tilt match like Galway.

Gizmobobs - you should know better than to be posting tittle-tattle in the comments. I'm surprised that someone contributing here for as long as you have would do this.

Cillian is finished with county football. He just didn't want a fanfare with announcing his retirement. He was some servant to mayo football. Hopefully he will play club for a few more years.

@Tuamstar, what level is Cooke at, he was away travelling? Would be some addition for ye on Sunday at full tilt and Connacht Final assuming ye get past Rossies which i would bet on.

Separate to Saturdays math, Did anyone catch Richie Hogans comment about the Mayo team from a decade ago on a training camp and practising with one eye patched?! I think the aim was to train their weaker eye! Sounds as bizarre as David Brady’s story on the headsets being used in training

One skill I don’t understand is how lads at inter county are not as comfortable kicking off both feet. If there was a skill to be perfected this has got to the one to go after

I hope we can take that panel with a pinch of salt. Philips, Boland, Akram Coggins all need to be given starting time. We will be needing them later in the championship.

@Roco88 Remember my old soccer coach Sean Mc Caffrey, telling me to practice on my weaker left peg, " every shot you take your one shot closer to goal". Keeps your marker guessing on which side to watch, teaching my kids this since they started playing Gaelic. You would imagine Intercounty 101 would be just that.

Looking further down the line it will be interesting to see if any u20s are brought into the senior panel. I see Joyce has called up Costello to the Galway panel for Sunday.

@yew_tree: He'd been in with them early in the league too (along with McGlinchey from that 20s squad - but he picked up his injury before featuring for either side). Costello made a brief (very brief 4 minutes) cameo against us in Round 2 before the 20s campaign started up.

I see if we lose Sunday we get a five week break before the championship starts in earnest!.
No harm in fairness..

Thedarkyflynn - Evan regan scored 14 points last weekend.

Really can’t see Roscommon doing anything V Galway. Roscommon have highly rated, maybe over rated, forwards. Individually I think DMurtagh, BoCarroll, DCregg, ESmith and UHarney are talented but they have not often not delivered when they should be driving the team on. That’s not intended to annoy Roscommon fans here, I’ve long wished for likes of Murtagh and Smith in Mayo. However those two lads particularly are 30 or older this year and I don’t think 2 Connachts and 1 All Star is delivering on their talent.

Plus I’d really question their manager and how he remained at the helm this season. Far from convinced by him

Galway are starting with their strongest possible defence and midfield so that alone will make it hard for Roscommon forwards to excel. At the other end can the rossies defence hold Galway to manageable score and prevent a load of two pointers in the Salthill wind? doubtful I'd say.

Apologies WJ thought that was an open source one, Mia culpa, should have double checked.
Players can rattle up very high scores in club games now in Particular with how rules are being interpreted. Took in a few games last weekend, I think in the Knockmore v Parke game Reilly lad got 14 or 15 points, nearly all frees. 8 of which I think were from four 2 pointers for the catch of a ball at midfield and the run being impeded, then the ball being brought all up and then forward bringing to kick from the 2pt arc with the wind.
Of those 4 I felt 1 was a genuine infringement and the other 3 the fielder running into the man.
Have seen coaches on other forums referencing that that's what they will be instructing lads to do now as it's such a gimme if you a reliable kicker. Can create a huge swing.

There's lads might need a detailed second look for county. Lads with pace that now have the solo and go. Kick passers. Fielders that can give us a few mins. The rules changed drastically and in my view one or two players potential versus others has majorly dropped. We are way overrating running wing backs versus kick passers.

I'm the same can't see Rossies getting near Galway tbh they haven't been playing well the last few games .

Galway by about 6 or 7 I'd say .

Mayo.will obviously cartwheel home tomorrow but it will be interesting to see what kind of score Leitrim put up tomorrow. Hopefully they will get a respectable score and give their fans something to cheer about ow and then.
The new rules are great making matches much more entertaining. Hopefully crowds will start to increase in response....

Is the minor game being streamed this evening?
And then they play each other in 2 weeks time!!

It's being streamed by Connacht GAA, Everhopeful.

Strangely Roscommons Connacht titles in 2017 and 2019 were won in salthill.unlikely they will do it again but with the generally weather affected games in salthill it could be a bigger factor on Sunday.The Donegal v Galway game in the league was massively affected by two pointers with that wind

I'm think Fergal Boland Jordan Flynn will likely start tomorrow.

Leitrim starting team includes 4 under 20s and another two on the bench. Missing their main scoring forward in Keith Berine but have got Barry McNulty back from injury after he missed all of the league with a bad injury in the Sigerson cup.

I'm not one of those who gets upset about changes to named teams or panels but what's really been bothering me this year is McStay constantly saying that the two boys would be back very soon or 'you'll see them before the end of the league'. Well, the league is over (we even had an extra game) and now we're into our second game of the championship and there's still no sign of them. I don't mind management keeping some things under their hats but constantly lying to the people of Mayo is getting a bit old.
Thedarkyfinn, I have also decided to delude myself into believing that Cillian's departure is just another one of Rochford's masterplans and that he'll be parachuted back in as soon as we get to Croker (if we do). Much easier to live in hope than face the reality we're looking at at the moment.

I agree partly Mayoforliam as regards mcstay who has persisted to tell us mere mortals the two lads will be back and still no sign . Only way I’m forgiving that is if theyre being primed for Connacht final , otherwise it’s a bit of f you to fan base again .

Half-time in the Minor match and it's Mayo 2-5 Galway 1-7. The goals came from Patrick Garvey and Oisín McCann.

Looking good for Mayo U17s to win the semi final next week when a team with 14 changes is beating a full strength Galway with 9 minutes to play

You would have to wonder how Nicky Quaid can start for Limerick 5 months after rupturing his cruciate.... maybe there's different degrees of rupture,I don't know. Or do some people have better powers of recovery or has JP got some sort of magic potion... maybe he'd send us up a dropeen!

Galway won by 2, two kick outs that went a stray and became Galway goals was Mayo's undoing tonight should still be confident about winning the semi final next week with the many rested lads returning .

Even though the U17 game was played in awful conditions and both teams made loads of changes (Mayo changed every outfield player) it was a cracking game of football. Could have gone either way but well done Galway on a tight win.
Has the rule changed about boots going in when a player is picking up up the ball? Happened multiple times tonight with no frees given?
One other one surprised me. A Galway player was fouled and ref correctly held up his arm signaling an advantage. They proceeded forward but no advantage accrued and the free was allowed from where play broke down rather than where foul was committed. Am I missing some further tweaks to the rules?
Regarding the team for tomorrow, we should know by now not to get into a debate about a team that's highly unlikely to start. As regards Paddy and Tommy I'm preempting Kevin's post match interview and telling you all the lads are very close. Sighhhhhh

If a lad in the pub was telling you that the two boys were very close for nearly 3 months, you’d say he was full of shite.

@JoeG: Just the 2 changes for Galway from their must win game against Sligo the week before. And only a couple more in their R1 game against Leitrim. That's (oddly, given the context of the game) pretty much their full strength.

No changes for any of those rules, just a very poor night for the official. Balls touched on the ground, 50m penalties not applied properly, dives rewarded with frees and blatant fouls (especially for arm pulling) not given (I felt very sorry for the Mayo defender booked for his remonstrations... they paled in comparison to my own) in both directions. Poor day at the office. A little like the players it's a development grade for the officials too. Potentially need to drop our own expectations I guess.

Think it’s a bit harsh criticizing McStay because he said he hoped/expected the 2 lads would be back before end of the league. That is hardly “lying “ Even the best qualified medics can’t put a precise time on guys recovering from injury. At various times lads may appear to be on target but small setbacks or slower rates of recovery are possible Do we expect that he should give an injury update every few days. PJ expected J Maher to be out for a while but he’s back Sunday while it was expected that S Walsh would be fit for Ross game but he’s is missing. And in Limerick the big conversation was whether S Dowling or J Gillane would don the goalkeeper jersey but guess what . Nicky Quaide has recovered from ACL injury and is named to start Sunday. Are PJ and Kiely “lying” or merely allowing nature to take its course with injuries. Or maybe just maybe they don’t feel the need to be feeding the public with what’s going on in their panel

@to win just once: It's just shooting himself in the foot. Trying to blame supporters for the most human of reactions isn't going to make anyone feel better about it. It'll just increase their frustrations.

The minute you set and anchor an expectation - saying the two lads would be back before the end of the league both pre-league and again mid-way through - folks will (understandably) expect it to be met. Here, it hasn't. That will always undermine credibility and erode trust along with causing disappointment. It's human nature and some of our deepest cognitive biases.

There's a reason managers don't set firm deadlines for injury recovery too far in advance and don't set expectations like that until lads are well on the way to recovery rather than based on hopes. I'm not sure if I've ever heard one share a return to play date like that when lads aren't back in active training. The moment you do and miss the goal posts set (by yourself) there will always be an incredibly frustrated outcome.

TsuDhoNim. Thanks for clarifying the changes which makes better reading from a Mayo point of view. Having said that I think a few of the lads put their hands up tonight for inclusion.
Do you know if we have the same goalkeeping coach for all age groups because our kickouts at all levels seem to be targeted and idsay most of our goals conceded have come from our own kickouts. The first goal tonight came from a kickout where we had two spare men but kicked to the Galway lad in between. This is not a criticism of a fine young keeper but rather asking are we giving too many instructions and muddying the whole thing.

Exactly TSU. Why didn’t he just say I’ve no idea in the beginning and say we will have a clearer view once they are back in training.

In fairness I think James Horan in his final year constantly said players were very very close and in some cases didn’t play at all .hard to know what their thinking is on this

Perhaps Managers are informed by physiotherapist and Doctors.
No two injuries the same so maybe " no idea " is actually he's not ready yet Or nor not worth chancing yet.
Without the actual correct information. All we can do is hope

The disappointment feels amplified I believe because the two lads help greatly with what many fans see as the team’s greatest failing currently-our tendency to play slow lateral ball in attack. Paddy drives on from the back, plays with the head up and is a good man to pick a pass; something we are lacking from the half backs at the moment. And Tommy adds pace, threat and natural forward ability, again something it feels like is frequently missing.

It seems like McStay and team are going all or nothing this year. Without notable success in the latter stages, it’s hard to see the fan appetite being there for them to get the fourth year.

@ in The City, it's a good point. Both lads are maverick type players that offer unpredictability and excitement when they are on the ball.
The management team are very slow to adapt to new rules that offer rewards for fast movement of the ball, we seem to be stuck on the possession game.
The Galway or Roscommon game will bring out the best in us, hopefully we won't come up short.

I think Jim Gavin's stance regarding comments to the media is the optimal one in most cases.... say nothing and keep repeating it.

Unless there is late change s this definitely rules paddy and Tommy out of the connaught final for sure. No disrespect to Leitrim. That's all I'm interested in this weekend. Them two men are vital to mayo when the real deal starts

I presume the field in Carrick will be playable? If the same rain fell back west as up in Dublin the pitch could be in a bad way.