Well while things might be bad it seems that frank irwin and davitt neary have been bright spots. Always look on the positive or try to

That game won't go down as a classic. Tyrone will feel they left it behind them. They shot some bad wides.
The officials had a bit of a nightmare too, some confusion at some of their calls.

Flynn being back for is massive, brings a bit of composure and his two point effort was the winning of the game. Eoin O'Donoughe is a must start for us, he does nothing fancy but knows how to defend. Hession done a power of good work and started a lot of breaks forward.

Overall we struggled for ideas going forward, nothing new. Our kickouts were poor too. Delighted to get the points but we'll do well to stay in Division One with performances like that.

Great to get the win, thought we did well defensively with just s few lapse's. Tackling was much better but our final third play and directness needs some serious work. We owned the ball in the first half and yet went in a point down. A couple of bad decisions and wides didn't help in the 2nd half either. This should have been a comfortable win really. Anyway new players getting more game time to help build the squad. Hopefully the win will give them a bit of confidence..

Reid's black for those that didn't see it was for a deliberate body check

I thought Kevin gave one of his better interviews after the game very frank and honest. Good to hear to that DOC is ok and others close to coming back to.

Ref at times hadn't a scooby doo IMO

Two bang average teams, providing bang average fare. We seem to be clueless about the new rules in the main - although as you pointed out WJ, the referee seemed to be just as uninformed.
At any rate it is a win but I see more of a future for Tyrone in this division with the calibre they have returning. We looked a division 2 side today.

Good to get the win and maybe it will instill a bit of confidence in the lads,Ryan especially looks very low in that department at the minute. He's not just able to spin and go from his defender which was his main attribute, hopefully that comes back. I'm happy to see EO'D getting the start as he is stickier than most we have.
Defense were tighter today in general and we were better on breaks around the middle.
Irwin is better around the 40 where he spent much of today and I'd agree he needs to run at his man. He'll get more joy there.
We are not nearly good enough on the 2 pointers,nor are we practicing them im our pre match drills... it's still try work the ball in to the 20m line and work a score. Looks like we are still in denial about the importance of the 2 pointers.
Great to see Jordan and Aido back to increase our bulk a bit.
As for referee... won't even go there.

We're we only two points better than Tyrone.
Keep giving newbies game time. And Flynn offered leadership, Ruane fielded some good ball. Our kickouts in second half were dreadful. The one golden rule was to keep it away from Tyrone keeper.
Hopefully we can stay in div 1, but it will be a dogfight. And the Rochford / McStay era will leave us with a promising panel of players.

Murphy back popping points and gotten an Armagh man sent off in his 5 minute or so cameo so far.

Class is permanent.

Positives : are the win and likes of Neary and irwin did well along with Flynn.
Defending was good overall.

Negatives: a few lads have actually played themselves off the first 15 and possibly the panel as not at required standard.

A only one two point scored.if this rule is to be kept on we need more of these two points.
Hopefully it won’t be kept on.can’t see any benefit in it.

It’s work in progress and I would not be surprised to see a few of the under 20s bolted into panel after u20 campaign especially a few inside forwards.

Absolutely brain dead stuff. Even players like Ryan appear to have lost their footballing brain, which has to be down to how they are coached. When we turned Tyrone over with Morgan up we proceeded to try and run it up the pitch. With 3 players forward! It was nice of us to play fair and allow Morgan sprint back rather than play the long to players running on to space. And Ryan’s decision to take a short free after initially turning down the 13metre free to go for the 2 was the most brain dead thing I may have ever seen

Much more joy with breaking ball this time out, would be good to see that worked into new few games. Especially with DoC and Carney not about at the moment.

Good amount of turnovers, but in the first half it looked like the plan was to win a footrace with Tyrone up the field. When we didn't win, it went into lateral play around the 40 - potentially due to the forwards being too light. I thought Irwin on the pitch without AoS on would have meant he'd be further up the field. He was one of the better performers.

We brought on Aidsn and we had nothing in the locker as regards him being a target man.
The Cavanans play today we get torn asunder. That simple.
We're playing like the rules haven't changed.
That's on mgmt and I posted on this pre match.

Donegal with 0-18 and still 10 to go. Didn’t kick a two pointer either. I’m terrified as to what they could do to us. Strength, speed, aggression, brains. It’s early in the season but they are setting the pace. No doubt about that.

I said this before Darren Coen should have been considered for a call up when the 2 pointer was brought in, this management did no homework on the 2 pointer and didnt identify any inside forwards only lost them through poor mangement.

Final Whistle pod up on Patreon now.

@sam Og that boat has definitely well sailed I’m afraid.

Need to be looking at bringing in D Beirne and N Hurley after U20s.

Delighted that the lads showed some fight.
The ultra cautious slow attacks would drive you mad.Ffs take off the handbrake and let the lads play

1 team on 1 point , 4 teams on 2points,
Dublin on 4 Galway points and Donegal 6 points
So it's not over for us yet!

Today was a must-win and we ground it out. Canavans were missing yes but we're missing players also. Tyrone were abysmal in front of the posts but I thought overall we defended well. EOD has put himself back in contention for a spot. Midfield were ok. Jordan Flynn was the difference between the teams. Drove us on from the start. Give over about the rules, I've just seen Armagh make the same mistake with the solo and go from the mark as Mattie did. Clearly there's plenty of learning to go around yet, that includes the officials. Whatever about the ref, the umpires missed an obvious '45 for Tyrone and were a bit too quick with the orange flag at one stage. Refs definitely have to be mic'd up. There's too much confusion around many of the calls, it doesn't make for a great spectacle. All the talk here was that the league didn't matter in the slightest, what's important was blooding a few players. I get that supporters are not happy with the style of attacking play but it's still only February, at least wait until the championship before pulling the knives out. It hasn't been fantastic so far but I'm hoping for enough incremental improvement to see us avoid the drop at least. There's two more wins in us yet

We’ve a hell of a lot of work to do. That was as poor a game as I’ve watched in a long time. Don’t think I’ve ever been as disappointed with a win.

Yes it wasn't all that, but what was all that was the result.
Relax lads and let the team be , we're so very hard on them even when they win .
We've unearthed two new forwards in Irwin and Neary, Reid is a great utility player , Matty looked so much better with Flynn the driving force and a real leader.
Inside forwards 2 of any of the smaller lads or either of the Mchales plus AOS is a decent line.
It will take time to get into out stride but defenders done well, keepers in top 3 in the country, Flynn Eoghan Mc brought athleticism we hadn't previous and we will only get better in that department.
Still ve inclined to give Ruane a free role at 11 and but either way small step but big player have returned and ya onwards and upwards

@ultair it's year 3 of the management and our attacking play has gotten worse every year.
If you think there's some grand plan been kept secret until championship your going to be disappointed.

Totally agree green and red.. about Donegal. I've been banging their drum for some time now but something I saw today told me they're too hot too soon. That frenetic pace can't be kept up into the summer.. no way. I'm thinking Armagh will take more away from the game than themselves and Tyrone are just a b movie at the moment tbh. Glad the lads did the job today but the future is worrying IMO.

Horan's hat, every single year I've followed Mayo I've been disappointed. Nothing new there I'm afraid

There were two frees awarded against us by Barry Cassidy today and I have no idea what they were for. He just raised his hand and trotted into the edge of the large square and gave the ball to the Tyrone lad who tapped it over the bar. Can someone enlighten me as what we did.. the fella sitting beside me was listening to mid West radio and they didn't seem to know what was going on either

It looks like they think the kick pass is banned with the new rules with the way Mayo are playing! No such thing as a forward kick pass with Mayo…..

@toe to hand: We breached the rule for keeping a maximum of 11 outfield players in a half at all times.

On one occasion there was a little confusion where we were blown for a breach of that rule (for not having 3 players back) but were down a man with a black card so the mistaken call for only having 2 back got (correctly) overturned. On the other occasions it led to those tap over frees you saw. Silly slips to be making so frequently in R3.

Often took them a moment to see what the ref was doing, but on each occasion the lads on Mid-West had a fair handle on it to be fair to them. Better than I'd expected on the new rules.

Thanks TsuDhoNim, the linesman must be keeping a very close eye on that because I was sure we had kept 3 players back. Very hard to spot that when you are following the ball. It's built into me to always questions the linemans calls.. never trusted them to call it right :)

@toe to hand: There was one of the calls where there was a long period of 'advantage' (it isn't the traditional advantage where the ref raises his arm, so really hard to tell if/when it's happening - you'd only know if you spot the Line Umpire flag it) before it went back for the 3/3 breach much earlier in the move. Think it threw a lot of people off, especially as that change to the rule wasn't really flagged as coming in new this weekend.

Ahh that's what it was. Thanks Tsu. It certainly threw me and I didnt know it was coming in new this weekend. I'll have to watch the Sunday game tonight to see if they mention it.

What do ye think of sending off in Donegal game, both could have got red, Mutphy did a striking into the chest with both hands before Forker struck with head into chest, it should have been both or none, a good warning would have been enough for both.

Poor match but still better to win than lose. Defensively better, worked hard to prevent 2 pointers and managed Niall Morgan quite well. I thought that we did fine in midfield, and without seeing the figures guess that we at least broke even.
Attack is our weakness, we lack drive, a decent plan and the players seem short of confidence. Next weekend will be a big challenge but all we can hope is that there is further improvement.

@Culmore: I can only figure Forker wanted a rest next week against us. One of the daftest calls I've seen on a field from his end. Always a red, not much room for challenging either unless the ref messes up the paperwork.

I'd have said Murphy's was a push rather than a strike. Yellow could technically be given for that, but even that would have been an unusually harsh call in those circumstances of the two lads giving it handbags.

I'd have done the same as the ref there.

Positives:
- the return of Jordan, with his workmate and physicality
- Eoin O'Donoghue starting and being full value for it. Delighted to see it
- Davitt Neary putting the shoulder down, taking on his man and going for it. Happily it hasn't been coached out of him yet but it's early days
- Aido off the bench giving the whole place a lift, and immediately taking on the leadership role
- a better defensive effort, albeit against a woefully poor attack
- Jack Coyne back - we badly need him
- Mattie catching a few nice balls, but he is still far too shot-shy
- We ground out the win

Negatives:
-Everything else

Wait sorry, forgot to mention 3 points from Frank Irwin as a huge positive. He has a lot more to give too

The awful Tyrone shooting made our defensive look better than it was. Completely asleep for the Morgan point. Tyrone were really bad today. We were very average at best.

Neary lively. Looks like a minor!! But he wasn’t afraid to take on his man and thank God for that cos most others were still in crab mode. Wtf are these lads doing in training??? Please will start to attack at pace and try to take on your man and create gaps. Oh I left MacHale Park incredibly underwhelmed and frustrated with our tactics. It’s going nowhere

Frank is showing promise. But I’d like to see him being more assertive still. He’s a big lad. Take your man on!

Can’t make head nor tail of the new rules. They should do a Trump on it that for every new rule, four old ones had to go. I don’t know is it me but every game I watch, no matter what the team they all play the same way. Leaving McHale pitch after a win is a good feeling after all and welcomed.

Who does Forker think he is ''ZinedinZidane''...we won't have him to worry about next week, but there'll be others.
Mc Stay said Diarmuid is fine so that's another positive.

I’d suggest a word of caution on our good defensive work today as Tyrone had several terrible wides (similar to ourselves) which if converted would have changed that score line considerably.
Our team selection &style of play did not suit the new rules - Towey & Cian McHale up front with Darren McHale lurking outside them -no ball winner there when we were breaking out of defence. I saw defenders several times looking up ready to play the long ball but absolutely nobody showing for them so forced to carry the ball sideways up the pitch.
Ryan Boland & Aidan made all the difference when they came on with a new energy & we suddenly had players to deliver quick ball to -shows what a strong bench can deliver !
I thought Hession was outstanding & my man of the match,Jordan & Ruane were very good around the middle & Irwin is a lovely player
We need to urgently buy into the new rules as they’re obviously here to stay although the officiating today left a lot to be desired,

They started with much the same team as the Galway game. Therefore using the Galway game as a baseline there was a significant improvement in effort and energy. However in the 1st half still a lot of back on forth in the D and despite all the possession we had in the 1st 15/20 minutes very few scores to show for it. Some good 2 pointers however, excellent showing by the new lads and grinding out a win is no harm. I didn't get carried away with the loss to Galway so I'm not going to get carried away by a low scoring 2 point win at home but well done to the lads for an improved performance and some new things shown.

Mayo just refused to move the ball forward by foot.
If you have 3v3 and a turnover, all you have to do is hoof it into space for the forward to go get it.
Must be very disheartening to make a run for a ball you know will never be kicked

If you couldn't go to the game today or see it on tv well then you would have had to settle for listening to the match on Midwest radio in my case. David Clarke made his debut in the commentary box and analysised very well and gave the impression that it was a hardworking gritty mayo performance without the spectacular but he was certainly very upbeat with many aspects of our play in particular our defending , Flynns strength at midfield, Hessions know how, Nearys pace and Irwin's finishing. Work in progress but plenty to work with was his general view. So despite the clear negativity il take that from the former double all star.

What was the idea of Hession holding the ball over his head repeatedly? Was it a tactic? Not taking from his performance, he did very well

On the ditch it seemed to be a signal to keep ball and pass around at the back.

That or praying for some transubstantiation of the host at mass.

A more energetic performance. Eoin O’Donoghue, Jordan Flynn and Frank Irwin all impressed- building up the panel for championship. Glad to see All Star David Clarke has joined the Midwest Radio commentary team.

Guys I know we are saying EOD had a good game but in my opinion Bradley won a sight of ball out in front. Eoin did well holding him up after but if that was Darragh Canavan I don’t think our view of Eoin would be the same. Tyrone were piss poor today. As bad as I’ve ever seen him. The positive is the 2 points on the board. The negative is we play an Armagh team that now need a win as they are only on 2 points. And then Kerry, who only have the one win too. But in truth we need to move the ball with the foot. We turned Morgan over on our 45, and any other team would have converted a goal. We only managed to win a 21 meter free because we carried it up the pitch (with the breeze). Why can’t we give Ivers a look? The man would be a good focal point in at FF or let him smash and belt around the middle.

The quality of the players in the Mayo panel is just nothing near what it was a few years ago or what it needs to be to win the All Ireland this year. Look how well drilled Donegal and Galway are in comparison and I wouldn't write off the Dubs or Kerry yet either.

Looks like the ref points 3 fingers to the sky when the 3 up has been breached

If we lost that game today and we would have if it wasn't for woeful shooting by Tyrone what would the reaction be on the blog. A win does not paper over the underlying issues we have regarding the new rules and our style of play has not changed to adapt either. We will need a huge improvement next week in Armagh to have any chance of getting anything out of that game or any of the remaining fixtures.

The Canavan brothers were missing but their dad on tv tonight made an interesting comment. He was referencing the fact, sorry I mean opinion ,that things were not good in the Mayo camp, but expressed the view that if that were the case then Mayo would have probably crumbled in the later stages, but instead finished strongly. There is a large amount of negativity here and no doubt some is justified. Some folk are negative about everything. The changes to the starting team, the non naming of subs. Yet most teams in Div 1 made quite a few alterations from their named team. If we had lost the huge lead Kerry lost some here would be apoplectic. If we had lost the large lead Galway lost we would be sour. Yes other teams are certainly better than us at the moment and probably will be in summer too, but getting worked up because Donegal kick 20 plus in February or that Roscommon do likewise in Div 2 is not really necessary. We won the league a few years ago and fat lot of good that did come championship. Also getting carried away when a player plays well in one game (Towey last time out) or being ultra critical when a young lad has a bad game is not a solution to our issues. We seem to live by extremes boom or bust. We are not in a great position now. Team not so good as previously, style of football not as swash buckling as the Horan / Rochford era. Even then we struggled to kick scores from distance but our backs attacked at pace and we got a good scoring return from our defenders. Now the marauding full back line is gone. They have to stay in their half. We still don’t possess good long range kickers, hence the slow often lateral build up which is frustrating to watch but from a pragmatic perspective is better than been turned over or dropping shots short. Give the team a chance to grow and develop. Flying in February means nothing. I remember Roscommon doing it a number of years ago and being poor in championship, look at Derry last year. This time last year Galway were woeful but ended up being within a kick of the ball of winning the big one. Really difficult game next week and in truth no easy games. We might be lucky in that we could meet weakened teams later in league as counties may not want to qualify for league final but that’s not looking too likely now with the exception of Donegal who are on 6 points. Armagh Kerry and Derry are in the same boat as ourselves desperately scrapping for points. Donegal and Galway look the 2 best teams in the country at the moment but PJ and Jimmy are no fools and know lots can change in a few months,

Travelling willbury. Donegal couldn't win a.game in ulster under Bonner/ Rochford. The same team today under Jimmy mcguinness is a complete different animal. So is it all about the players or is it not the difference in management. One duet negative to the core. Playing with fear of losing possession. The other far more progressive. Moving ball fast and furious. Mayo s first half today remind me of Donegal under Bonner/Rochford. Slow. Back and over. No cut and thrust whatsoever. On the new rules... its a sad day when the most focal person on the field is the referee. Some of these rules are actually slowing the game down... constantly back to the ref for yet another decision that clearly the mayo management couldn't understand. I'm not going to blame them for that because a referee nowadays can totally determine the result of a match. Too many changes all at once. Some good. Some hard to interpret. Flynn was man of the match today I thought. But some of our forward s didn't put their hand up today. Very poor. Towy and both mchale s. Defensively we were much better. Keepers kick outs were shocking today. 2 valuable points. Hopefully we can stay up. It's all about championship for me. So for now I'll reserve judgement as to where we are at. It's only February after all.

@Craggy Boglands our 15 and 13 could do very little. Our attacking tactics ruined any potential impact of our corner forwards.

I must’ve been watching a different match to some of ye. I thought Mark Bradley got free rein in the 1st half and EOD was his marker.

Management switched him off Bradley late in the 1st half.

To win just once, I’d respectfully disagree a little, I think we have plenty decent long kickers, they are coached out of kicking unless it’s a “90%” shot.

I’d love to spend an evening with those players training, introduce a shot clock for them, and just watch them move into space naturally, kick the ball into the forward line and take on shots.

Highorlow, exactly what I thought too. I think EOD was lucky that Bradley couldn’t do much after he won the ball, but he must have won every ball out in front.

Jp. Your 100 per cent right. We did not engage the full forward line at all. Instead we passed sideways and back as usual. Possession tactics . Nothing wrong with the players we have. The tactics are dire.

JP says:
February 17, 2025 at 8:15 am
@Craggy Boglands our 15 and 13 could do very little. Our attacking tactics ruined any potential impact of our corner forwards.
Craggy boglands says:
February 17, 2025 at 2:52 pm
Jp. Your 100 per cent right. We did not engage the full forward line at all. Instead we passed sideways and back as usual. Possession tactics . Nothing wrong with the players we have. The tactics are dire.

Agree 100% with both of you, would not like to playing in the full forward line given our lack of long footpassing.
we do need to adapt quickly to the new rules.