Mayo need to spend a bit more time looking at the rules, soft 50s given for not handing the ball back. Monaghan on the other hand cute enough to hold on to the ball and pretend they were giving it back to a mayo man when they were just slowing play down.

Kick outs need a lot of work, and the usual dropping ball short was still on display, however, conditions and the fact it is January no doubt played a part. In contrast though, in the second half we moved the ball a lot quicker to create chances and really pushed up on their kick outs.

Great to see so many new faces with plenty of them putting their hands up for more game time. I really hope we use the league to try plenty players and give them a chance, they will make mistakes but it will be better for us in the long run.

I see Paul Conroy scored 4 2 pointers in Galway’s win over Kildare yesterday

I’m don’t know how ruane is still being picked at midfield. He should be in the half forwards. Does not have the fielding ability. Jordan flynn should be the main man in midfield and ruane should be 12.

Galway had 6 two pointers again kildare yesterday...what a bonus it will be for a team to have a few long-range kickers...we better get practising!

Can we come with a style of play suits players and new rules. Can we be become the leaders, and not the followers. Think the team, that adapt to new rules, will will sam, not automatically the best player

Couldn't agree more Plunkett , Flynn and another midfield with Ruane at 11 .
Our sweeper can be Loftus in front of halfback line . Imagine the line breakers of halfbackline consisting of any variation of but keeping Ruane forward
Calinan.....McBrien......Eoghan Mac
......................Loftus
..............Flynn............Diarmuid/Carney
10....................Ruane...
......Maheady........AOS......ROD

I know it's a bit early, but just wondering if anyone who saw the game got any clue as to how Mayo are going to adapt to the new rules? Was there any semblance of a plan, system, set-up etc? Selecting teams and match day panels will obviously have to take of the new rule changes, as different types of players will now be required in certain positions. Goalkeeper for one, good man markers in defence, good kick passers, to get the ball forward quickly to our front three and, clearly, a good spread of long range point takers.

Wonder will there by any more challenge games for the public to watch before league starts?

Weekend of 18/19 January perhaps?

Midfield is a huge concern. We simply don't have the personnel at the minute. We could get away with 1 of Flynn, Ruane, Carney or Diarmuid....but not a pairing. None of them are natural midfielders & can consistently win ball when the fat is in the fire. Playing Ruane in half forward line won't make a huge difference unless we add more ball winners.

But under the new rules, Carney & Flynn at least have a long range shot in their locker. Diarmuid? He just doesn't trouble the scoreboard anymore. I'd love to see him at 6 tbh.

And can we have an unwritten rule to cease talking about Galway? I couldn't give a toss about them scoring a few 2 pointers in a challenge match.

McStay is probably just being coy, but I find his thoughts on the new rules a bit lax. Almost as if he doesn't really think they'll be kept in their current guise & is taking a "we'll see what happens" approach. I find that odd, personally, as whatever tweaks are made at this stage won't be big. They have the potential to literally change how the game is played, so we need to be ready to pounce. Jim McGuinness will come up with something radical, you can be sure of it.

Thought the kickouts were an improvement to watch as there was more fielding and potential to open out the game. In terms on not placing the ball into the opponents hands after a free will cost you 50 metres of a penalty is a bit schoolboy. Thought some of the young lads done well but was just a challenge so how much you can take from it is debatable

Not sure if posters can view this: Maurice Brosnan of the Examiner interviewing McStay & Moran. https://x.com/m_brosnan/status/1875877718178594853?s=46

Thanks Catcol, good to hear Callinan is not injured.

@Mayo Focus

Kind of agree, it's a preseason runout, and I pay no heed whatsoever to the result and can forgive errors with burning off the bad diesel and awful conditions.

However a worry was the fact there were no apparent attempts to utilise the new rules from Mayo, Galway managed 6 ptrs in their match for example, what I hope to see in the remaining friendlies is some sign of work being done on training ground with regard the new rules, because if we aren't ready to utilise them we will be left for dust

The classic mayo approach of endless hard runs into walls of traffic will require a lot more nuance

GlasAgusDearg, I have bad news for you. It appeared from what we saw in McHale Park that Mayo's management are trying their best to play football the same way we did in 2024. No urgency or desire to kick the ball into space (which was there in attack), it looked quite clear from watching that Eoghan McLaughlin wasnt allowed to kick the ball in particular.

Most alarmingly, our lack of a plan on our own kickouts was clear to see. Yes we are down a few key personnel at the moment, but we looked bereft of ideas after 5 minutes. Kickouts looked a bit better in the second half when John Vahey went into nets I must say.

Watched the match. Our shooting was dreadful. Even taking the conditions into account.

Midfield has been an area of concern for sometime. We don’t have the natural aerial ball winners so we need to come up with a strategy that suits what we have. That’s managements job. None of them are prolific long range shooters.

While I saw no proper defensive plan (ok it’s early days yet!) and Monaghan got their scores a bit easier than us, it was pleasing to see some of our defenders doing well in individual battles and 50/50 balls. McHugh, Morahan and Brick was very impressive in the ‘2nd game’.

Others who played well were E McL and F McL. D Duffy was very lively which was nice to see because he had a mediocre club campaign. Prendergast was also nippy enough. Not everything worked for him but he showed some promise.

A lot of talk about no 2 pointers, had we any scores close to a 2 pointers or attempts that were close?
Conditions would have played big part

Mayo Focus, they have had Horan around on off over last few weeks and was at Roscommon game Thursday it seems so you would imagine he's there for versing on the new rules, I cannot see much changing between now and championship.

I don’t understand Kevin’s comments on the 2 points saying that scores in the past have a 0.2% success rate. I’m guessing he means 20% as a starter. But that’s not the issue. The reason why they weren’t as common in the past is because there was no “extra point” for a long range kick. So the past really is no value now. Galway hit 6 two pointers at the weekend. It’s a massive plus for a team to develop long range kickers. Even if it’s to progress the ball quicker up the field. But unfortunately our style is so far removed from quick kick passing football it’s scary.

@GlasagusDearg: Not much you'd hang your hat on as a plan or set-up there, but it'd take some time for us to notice real patterns taking shape. Looked like an early "go out and stretch the legs. Try and enjoy it", which is pretty much what you'd expect with so many new faces all tossed in.

All sorts of caveats on weather conditions, ~12 lads high in the pecking order missing (our bench was down to pre-season squad number 48 - with potential for that to grow more if either of Jennings or Coggins end up involved as they potentially might), focus for the year (you'd imagine Monaghan should be well ahead in their programme with a much higher focus on the league than we'd have) but I guess there are still a few things we can probably take away.

- Definitely aimed to go for 2s, no question it was part of the plan with lads like RO'D or Boland frequently setting up in the pocket (a questionable enough choice in the conditions kicking a frozen block of ice, a big reason we ended up with the 10 shots short [felt like more], but I'd always prefer to see us trying too many than not enough so hard to fault it too much. If we have a malfunction in wet/windy conditions later in the year I can see us coming back to this one in terms of game & conditions management)

- Some kicks from our attacking 65 into the inside line (RO'D, Towey and Prendergast all got some joy from it) though a few too many bounced off the target (conditions a huge part to play there so again nice to see them at least attempted)

- Too few kicks (IMHO) from our own 45-65 in transition. It'd be nice to see that speeded up a bit (or a lot). Personnel could play a part there, none of Kelly/McBrien/McLaughlin/Thornton/Ivers/Reid would be overly known for their long range passing (would hopefully improve with lads like Durcan/DO'C/Flynn/Carney/Loftus/Tuohy in there, though it did look tactical or simply muscle memory from years of running games not broken yet).

- Looked a little predictable in the 1st half for where we made (or tried to make) progressive breaches. Nearly everything was going down Eoghan's wing, with the majority of it going through Eoghan's hands.

- No focus on getting restarts away short or in to space for runners, despite having a very young/light middle 8 for large periods. Possibly trying to get the lads in there working on the breaks/battles (it's a skill to be trained like any other)... but we looked short on ideas too (on paper holding Monaghan to 50% of their own kicks and winning ~58% of our own looks grand... the where/when/why on our own lost ones paint a less positive picture than the numbers suggest)

Imagine the lads will have a lot more competitive and meaningful minutes played between now and Croker. Nothing you'd get excited about (overly positive or negative) but always nice to see lads like Vahey, Morahan, Prendergast & Duffy showing some sparks.

Morahan stood out for me on the and Vahey looked very comfortable coming in.

* night*

Agreed Bonni Boyler, Morahan played well.

In my opinion, these lads impressed me / played well:
First XV:
Enda Hession
Donnacha McHugh
Sean Morahan
Eoghan McLaughlin
Conal Dawson
Ryan O'Donoghue

Second XV:
John Vahey
Shairoze Akram (defended well 1v1)
Rory Brickenden (shown signs of improvement)
Darragh Joyce (had good moments)
Jack Melvin (position wasnt quite clear but had good moments)
Finnbar McLaughlin (seemed to have a licence to try whatever he wanted, hope that continues)
Dylan Prendergast (showed glimpses of potential, would want to see more)

https://x.com/Offaly_GAA/status/1876313922979897728?t=_2QA_UO58CzCULrxY1q6wQ&s=08. Truly amazing Farraher Fields in Offaly. The facilities we can only dream of. It will take years to get Bohola up and running and the millions that will have to be fundraised for it.

@Goagain, that’s cos Offaly had a Michael Duignan at the helm. An astute and organised operator and Shane Lowry backing matters financially. Unfortunately Mayo have no one in the cb like Duignan and our funding efforts have been fairly pathetic.

A lot of Mayo interest in this year Sigerson, Western People list over 30 player, most notable were Sam Callinan,John McMongale, Sean Monahan Fenton Kelly Darragh Joyce, Ciaran Boland Evan Ivers, Conor Reid, Dylan Thornton, Jack Melvin, Dawson, Diarmuid Duffy, Finbar McLaughlin, Frank Irwin Tom O Flaterty, Cian McHale, Ryan Donoghue Luke Jennings. Also of interest Jack Fallon UL and Cian Hanley TU Dublin . These guy will be having a lot of football this month and more ways to adjust to the new rules.

@MayoMessi, Sigerson is operating old rules this year.

@Mayonaze, once we pay revenue the 1-2 million we owe them we'll start making a crack at the fundraising, plenty USA biscuit tins around after the Christmas :)

Between the massive debt and owing money to Revenue - it sure is some mess. Yet not one question was asked from delegates/club chairperson at the recent convention, that seriously blows my mind!

@Giz ??

I know Smyths do some sponsorship at academy level but you’d imagine they’d be in a position to really go big with Mayo GAA. Given the passion for Mayo to win Sam, I’m really surprised that over the past 10/15 years we haven’t seen a major financial backer come on board. The one lad who did ended up falling out completely with the CB.

Don’t know why those ?? came up. It was meant to be smiley emoji

Goagain ….tells you all you need to know. It’s a big problem.

@Mayomessi: I'd add Fionnan Ryan and Darragh Syron onto my high interest list too. Both big, powerful lads that could easily make a push in the coming couple of years. Though Jack Fallon the one I'll be most excited to watch, huge potential there.

I'd imagine Fionnan with his fielding ability could have been close (along with lads like Carter or Armstrong to offer something a little different like Ivers) this year.

Don’t know if it was mentioned, but, on reflection, Neary’s contribution to our goal was significant; he held on to the ball under strong pressure, and got away a one- handed perfectly timed pass to Ryan.

@TsuDhoNim.Thanks for your customary detailed and helpful response.

Agreed catcol, thought Neary did very well on the goal, and in general.

As others have said, I thought plenty of the new players did their chances no harm at all. Hopefully see plenty of them during the league. Summer football would probably suit plenty of them.

For anyone interested rob hennelly on rte radio 1 now

It's a shame Sigerson is being played under old rules. What sense does that make?

Looks to be a challenge to get the Sigerson played at all.

NUI vs TUD game intended to be streamed now cancelled. Games around the country dropping like flies (very understandably - I wouldn't travel) at the moment.

ATU Sligo game v University Ulster being streamed now

https://www.youtube.com/@HigherEdGAA/streams

ATU Sligo vs UU now planned to be streamed at 7pm.

Up to 4 Mayo lads potentially involved today with Sligo:
Kelly - Knockmore
Ryan - Belmullet
Thornton - Ballina
Ivers - Belmullet
[Syron - Crossmolina in the panel too, but wouldn't be under consideration yet with the Club Championship still rolling]

Fingers crossed the pitch holds up, though I'd fear it's 50/50 at best. Real tough match for Sligo with lots of last years winning side for UU still eligible, but no better way to test lads & no better time to try and upset a strong team than hitting them good & early.

Think we will be relegated this season , dont see us beating Galway in the Connacht championship or getting to an All Ireland Semi Final, McStay will be much better off blooding the new players that will be starting in the years ahead.

Think we will get relegated but don't mind that we did get relegated before and got back up.

I think we will come good in championship with players back and beat Galway.

We are not far Galway at all.

Sam og - McStay and co should have been blooding new players in the first 2 seasons, they are now under pressure in their 3rd season to rebuild a squad but may be forced to go back to the old reliables to get results.

I stand open to correction but of the 20 players used by Managment against Derry all featured at some stage (FBD, League or Championship) under James Horan’s tenure.

There was a distinct lack of awareness of the new rules by the Mayo lads on Saturday evening especially in relation to the tap and go free which I think we only used once. This is designed to speed up the play. We made very little effort to kick fast ball into the three forwards either. More of the same ponderous rubbish from last year

Just a post to put forth a view taking into consideration mgmt public statements.
We're on a path of improving based on marginal gains from the review with players, fine, that's all good, pretty standard.
But the statements related to the new rules are all imprecise, a little dismissive tone, no major change from the old rules.
Now, why do I think this is not good messaging.
Well it sends a message that the standard marginal gains after a typical season and now heading into a season with the same rules is a bigger deal than preparing for the new rules.
But it's absolutely not the case.
It was worth it to bring the players together to put forth the message and already planned plan to be the best prepared possible for the new rules.
It's worth it to go totally overboard and have training drill reps to embed each rule automatically.
It's clear already that we're taking a pretty standard approach when what was needed was way overboard rules prep. We will be behind other teams if that attitude continues from mgmt.

The big difference between us and Galway right now us we have a number players in the County that dont want to play for Mayo, while in Galway bar Peter Cooke who is away working everyone is available to play for Padraic Joyce, reminds me of Alan Mulhollands time in Galway and the early Kevin Walsh reign when certain Galway players didnt make themselves available and everyone played for JH.Its the other way around now.

While players still want to play for Galway..

Galway still bottled it last year and anything way worse then what we did.

Don't know if they can pick themselves up who knows though. We lost to them by a point by a fluke free in connacht so Galway are hardly that much ahead of us.

Starting the year out beating Dublin and Galway would do us more good in the long run than zeroing in on the rules imo

That said, apparently Galway could keep three men on the same side of halfway at the weekend, so maybe we could use that to cancel out their 2 pointers.

@Tony Freeman
Bob Touhy and Colm Reape got their first starts from McStay

Neither Thornton or Ivor's appear to be playing for Sligo, who saw that coming.....

Knockmores Jim Kelly who was starting keeper for Sligo last year injured, Fionnan Ryan Bellmullet should be playing.

Link to free stream:
https://x.com/HigherEdGAA/status/1876692398157201803?t=kWKtGkKNS5JJbuiEZjoSiQ&s=08

Apologies in advance to those who hate Galway references here.

For me the big difference between Galway and ourselves is Galway have more quality players available to them at the moment and in my view are a better team overall. Factually to back that up, Galway have got to 2 All Ireland finals in the last 3 seasons. We on the other hand haven’t raised a gallop beyond the last 8 reflects and went out with a whimper most years. It’s a bit like the phrase the league table doesn’t lie even though I know it’s knockout quarter final stage on

It reminds me of Mayo Galway 2016-2017. I had Galway fans telling me Galway were better because in a once off match they could beat Mayo when in reality, the final shake up of the season showed where the teams stood.

The bookies have Mayo 7th or 8th favourites for Sam and based off the squad I’m seeing so far I’d say that’s fair

Clare will you stop with the bottle stuff its embarrassing, no one had as much chances as Mayo, Really silly comment.

In an interview after the challenge against Monaghan, McStay seemed to indicate that the advantage of 12 v 11 with the goalie going forward may not carry into the championship.

Rocco88
If everyone makes themselves available Cillian, Plunkett, Carr, O'Hora, Oisin McLaughlin and Aidan Orme and Paddy Durcan and Tommy Conroy injury free theres nothing between Mayo and Galway.But there massives losses just on the bench alone and that is where Mayo have falling so far down the bookies.

Galway are a bit better balanced for me. I think our ceiling might be higher in a one off game, but they're fairly consistent when the real stuff starts.
And unless we address our shortcomings from last year, plus have something up our sleeve to maximise the new rules, then we won't be in the shakeup.

FrostTHammer - Fair enough that they got their first competitive starts under McStay but i’m pretty sure both Tuohy and Repae were part of Horans 2022 extended panel also.

@Sam og hardly a silly comment you have an opinion so do I wouldn't call it embaressing I respect your opinions.

Obviously mayo we had our chances.

I was only saying that Galway are not that far ahead of us.

I hate to say it but in my opinion Galway are quite a bit ahead of us at the moment.They have been in 2 of the last 3 all Ireland finals where as we have haven’t made it past a quarter final.I have never liked Gaelic players being termed as bottlers.we lost numerous finals for different reasons .Galway were very close to beating Kerry in 22 final and a poor referee decision swung the game Kerry’s way .in this year’s final Armagh lucky enough goal put them in control but in fact it was Armagh who almost buckled at the end .Galway now have a much more defined system of play and numerous options in midfield where as we are really struggling in that area and the only way Matt ruane can continue anywhere near that area is we can find an out and out ballwinner to partner him .i have to say I am beginning to find Kevin mcstays interviews very irritating.he doesn’t think certain rules will be kept so we will just ignore them .I hope he can turn it around this year but I wouldn’t be too optimistic

Maybe at the moment Galway are ahead of us with our injury list. Though when we have our full squad available to us there is not much between us.

Bad phrase on my part apolagies. Though not like they have never called us that...

would not call Armagh lucky enough to get the goal they have great forwards.

I meant the Armagh goal was lucky in that it appeared to be an attempt to fist the ball over the bar that went wrong as from camera angle it looked like there was no way Campbell could have seen a player running in .The problem is we are now losing established and experienced players where as Galway look to have everyone available this year

@1985 fair enough.

Yes it's not great for us this year. I will be shocked if we are not relagated if I am honest.

Sam Og just to round back on your point, I agree losing players you mentioned has lessened the squad depth but equally alot of them were available to some extent to Mayo the past few seasons with limited enough impact

I know I’m coming across as quite pessimistic on the current squad. I appreciate it’s early season and some of the bigger names are to come back later season but I’m very downbeat on the year ahead.

I just can’t wrap my head around how players with no underage county pedigree and average enough club form in 2023/2024 are going to propel Mayo forward in 2025.

Roco88 - you are right in your last statement. We are bringing in what are at best average enough club players and are hoping/expecting some of these lads to compete in Croke Park with the Kerrys and Armaghs of this world. It looks like we have any amount of these players at the same level but they are at least one if not two levels below the required standard to compete at the very top level. I would love these lads to prove me wrong and surprise me as the year goes on.

We are where we and have who want to play for is.
Most of the players missing would not set the championship ablaze
We go with who has committed to the cause and forget about the rest

Just a point…Armagh won Sam with absolutely no underage pedigree and I’m not sure their club championship is stellar these days. So huge credit has to go to management for their ability to put a championship winning team together.

On the topic of contrasting us with Galway. They have a much tighter better, structured defensive plan and midfielders that have proven over the past few years to be better at winning possession and influencing proceedings. Conroy for example is an example to all. He is in his mid 30’s and getting better. He, McDaid and Maher have been better than any our lads and Tierney adds weight to aerially when brought there. Up until Cillian and Carr leaving I would have said that our best 6 forwards was a match for theirs. In fact I’d nearly give us an edge but not at the moment.

I hear some people say, we knocked them out in Salthill in ‘23. We did, but their midfield battered us that day and only for Diarmuid we’d have lost it.

The comparison to 2016/17 is good. At no point during that time did I ever feel Galway were near us when it came down to matters. Currently the gap is narrow but on all known form and strategically they are better positioned and I actually think they’ll go very close again this year. The slight concern for Galway is that Comer & Walsh might not have many seasons left and I’m not certain there are attackers coming through with the same influence.

For Mayo, we appear to have more forwards coming thru from underage but the big concern as I and others have highlighted for a couple of seasons now is our midfield. I don’t see any obvious players coming through in this sector.

Finally there’s absolutely no excuses for us not having an adequate defensive structure. It was the bedrock of Armaghs success and pivotal too for Galway in them getting so close.

Big year for McStay & the team. It’s time for several of them to step it up. Lads there who can do much better. Focus for league is blooding players. This has to be the priority.

Mayoaze I agree, Galway’s weakness is their forward line. Walsh and Comer are beyond their peak at 32 and 31 (this year) and despite a good season by Finnerty in 2024, I still don’t when think when the pressure comes on in the last 10-15 mins of games, he delivers.

As for Armagh winning Sam, I just can’t wrap my head around it. Every now and then a shock happens in a sport that I follow that I just can’t explain. Leicester winning the premier league in 2016, Greece winning the Euros in 2004, Stuart Bingham winning the World Snooker Championship in 2015! So it shows anything is possible but if the champions in 2025 come from a team outside of Kerry, Galway, Tyrone or Donegal I would be surprised. I know Tyrone 2021 are bucketed in a similar bracket to Armagh but there was some previous form and underage success to refer to for Tyrone.

As JR says we are where are

Galway are a top 3 team based on the past few seasons so from a Mayo perspective they are ahead but when then both play there's rarely much between them.

Took a last minute free last year in Salthill, pride will always drive Mayo on.

The one caveat that I'd mention about Galway is the loss of Cian ONeill who was the driving force particularly defensively for Galway.

Before him Galway were wide open at the back so I'll be interested to see if they keep tight at the back.

Like a few have said above I think Mayo and Dublin will struggle in D1 with missing players so the first game could be more important than normal as division 1 is stacked.

Who should I be looking out for on the Mayo team this year ?

@WestKerry: Cian McHale was outstanding in club this year. Top scorer in the intermediate grade despite deciding to test the structural integrity of crossbars (some up to 4 times in the one match) across the county. Some massive long distance points before the arc doubled the value too.

Always hard for a young inside forward to step up to the physicality in year 1 at county, but you wouldn't bet against it with Cian. Prendergast, Akram, Thornton & McLaughlin (Finbar, Eoghan's younger brother) all with the potential to show well too. Wouldn't be shocked if any of those put a run of form together to nail a starting spot despite being year 1.

In reality we've a young squad in general (I'll throw up some proper numbers to give Rocco88 a little more confidence when I'm off the phone & back at some spreadsheets) so it'll be looking for improvements in the lads there for a couple of years rather than depending on the new faces.

Potentially a big year for any of Tuohy, Towey, Hession, Irwin, Loftus, E O'Donoghue or D McHale who'd have been in and around starting in recent years but never quite nailing down a spot as their own. Frank Irwin probably the one I'd pick there for a big year. Some huge moments and real leadership when games looked in the balance this year for Ballina on their run to the County Championship.

Thanks TSU and good questions West Kerry.

Pondering my starting team against Dublin at the moment. I would go for Bob Tuohy at full forward. Given that Aido is unavailable we need height and mobility in there and I think he could be just the man to catch a few long balls and lay off or score as necessary.

I'd like to see Bob and Frank start at mf against the Dubs, let's put a bit of trust in them at hq,and it's not mf of the Dubs of old.Move Mattie to hf,if he is to start . I think our starting midfield as we go forward should be Jordan and the better performer of Tuohy/Irwin.
As Tsu said it's time for these lads to really stake a claim now.

Thanks lads I had heard a little about McHale alright.

What age is young MCDonald ?

17 I think. Seems a lot more than just rumours that he will be elsewhere in 2026 . Aussies very keen on him

That would sicken ye Sean,

I don't blame the young lads but I can't stand the AFL and there approach here.

We have lost so many players to the AFL.

@Roco88: "I just can’t wrap my head around how players with no underage county pedigree and average enough club form in 2023/2024 are going to propel Mayo forward in 2025."

You could be spot on.... but I'd kick myself if I didn't at least try and play Devil's Advocate here. Can't have it just Rob and a handful of us as the ones aiming for the stars this year, so keen to drag as many as I can along with some hope.

Plenty of the lads this year coming in with outstanding club form. A quick glance at "Mayo Football Podcast Club Stars Team of the Year" (#SponsoredAd) shows a fair who's who of this year's county panel.

Callinan senior club player of the year, with a strong fight from O'Shea & Irwin. Loftus intermediate club player of the year, Flynn & C McHale hot on his heels. Vahey, Akram, Callinan, Loftus, McBrien, Flynn, Irwin, Ruane, C McHale, D McHale, F McLaughlin, Neary, O'Shea & Towey all nominations for (very limited) Club All Stars.

Outside those, Coyne & Phillips both outstanding for Ballyhaunis. Conroy a solid year bouncing off young Lydon with The Neale (fingers crossed the surgery went well). The likes of Brick or McHugh doing lots of solid, if thankless and non-flashy, work. Gilrane showed he's back to near his best after his horrific injuries.

We'll always tend to focus chats on the new lads, we do need to extend the depth of the panel (pretty sure we went into that Derry match mentioned above with less than 11 fit subs with the higher than ever demands of the current structure), but it's building to add those onto what's already there rather than starting from scratch.

In that Derry game...

Avg age of starting team: 25.8
Avg age of all players used: 26.1
Avg age of the panel last year: 26.3
Avg age of our named 6 backs: 23.5 (EMcL the wise old head at ~25)

It's not an old squad desperate for new blood. It's a relatively young side still looking to build into itself.

I don't underestimate the impact of losing voices like Cillian or Swanee around a dressing room in terms of driving standards or providing leadership, but in a team with lads like Aido, Paddy, Stephen, Jordan, Conor, Diarmuid, Ryan (think nearly all of those have been captain for a game or more - though leaders regardless) & even younger lads like David or Sam we shouldn't have any great issue with lads demanding those high standards.

In terms of playing time on the pitch we have the vast majority of what we had last year, most of the lads are moving closer to their prime rather than further from it (only O'Shea, Durcan, D McHale & Phillips of the 48 man extended panel over the age of 30 afaik, and debatable enough to suggest any of those are near decline yet. Current extended panel looks at an average age of just 24 [and I'd not be shocked if that dropped a little more before the end of the year when the 20s finish up]), and while we might have lost some experience on the bench the depth is pretty comparable (Paddy back alone could add a number of strings to our bow).

Probably no harm to have the burst of energy, excitement and fearlessness from all the young lads either. A quick look at Cross and hearing the more experienced heads speaking about what so many of their young lads are adding to the team is great to show what it can do driving experienced lads forward.

This forum tends to talk up players that are not given game time and when they are they disappoint.
If in the panel management share best places to scrutinize them.
Playing well in the last few minutes of extra time in a game Mayo suit some.
We all know club players that play best when game gets a little less tight.
Knowing which players to start or bring on is vital.

@Sean, yep I heard that too. I just think it's incredibly disappointing seeing talent heading to AFL. I don't like it and sorry if it upsets people but I don't want to see any Mayo lads doing well there. I support the Mayo team. I don't support individuals and I certainly don't support, watch, follow or give two (fill in the blank) about AFL.

In my opinion the chance to win an All Ireland with Mayo trumps anything else and you can earn a very good living in Ireland, especially if you are a top intercounty/high profile player. You have significant advantages career-wise. I know a lot of lads in this category and they have very comfortable lifestyles.

If Mayo played Galway every Sunday for the next 10 Sundays, Galway would win 7 of those games. That's the reality. We are good enough to win a few of those games but they are better than us.

Their starting 15 is better than ours, their squad is better than ours, the quality of new player coming into their panel appears to be better than ours.

They are ahead of us. We just need to face facts and come back stronger.

@Unstoppable
I've been hearing for the last 3 years how Galway only had to turn up to bet us.
Jan 23 - Castlebar
Apr 23 - Croke Park
May 23 Salthill
Jan 24 Salthill
They didn't manage it in any of those games and the Connacht Final last year Gough absolutely rode us at the end. Watch back the 5 minutes of injury time. Some of the worst refereeing you would ever see. Saying that, we left Galway in that game too long so we were as much to blame as Gough.

I still maintain we're not that far away.

@Unstoppable - In the last 10 times the team have played competitively

Mayo have won 7 games (which includes some comfortable 6 point, 8 point and 15 point wins),

Galway have won 2 games (both 1 point wins)

There has been 1 draw.

About 19 months ago we faced Galway in salthill in a knockout championship game , we won . They beat us last year in the Connacht final , we let I think it was two point lead slip away in frighin injury time . I’m sick to the teeth hearing how Galway are so much better than us . We would be hiding behind ditches if we lost an all Ireland final to Armagh yet them brazen and very arrogant lot are smiling to the media telling us how the new rules will be all so glorious for the Harlem globe trotters of pure Gaelic football .

If we do happen to meet them in castlebar in a Connacht final this year , my gawd I hope ye remember their reaction to winning the world nestor cup last year . If we beat them I hope there is a collective badness in us to lift the fookin roof off Mchale park stand with noise . Now up Mayo and let’s leave the fancy dans for now .

Didn’t realise this was galway gaa blog. We really need as a collective supporters group to stop obsessing over galway. The week before the match is fine, but we haven’t even started the league. Focus on mayo, who cares about galway until we play them.

It'll be interesting to see what changes O'Neill makes down in Kerry and how his absence (& the transition to Mickey Graham) is felt in Galway. Like @WestKerry, I'd tend to feel the impact of his loss is being severely underestimated given the changes in the rules (I'd go further and suggest the impact he's likely to have back with Kerry being underestimated too).

It's a new in game model, we've new areas needing pressing & pressure, new faster threats from outside and a near 30% increase in the average space per player in a set defence (looking at a measure like Game Intensity Index where it's jumping from ~216m^2 up to ~272m^2 with the new rules, and likely higher as most teams won't be leaving it just the 3/3 at the back). Their old setup is still a good base to build from, but it has some shiny new rule shaped holes punched in it that need filling.

O'Neill had the best defence in the country (his system close to the best and with the personnel he had available [McGrath & McHugh both close to POTY for me] got them to the top IMHO, just ahead of Armagh). Graham could do something similar this year, or potentially even improve upon it (he's a talented coach too)... but we'll have seen nothing to suggest it so far and won't really have a clue until balls start throwing in come Championship. I'd expect a lot of heavy shadow-boxing for the league. Some of the real clever ideas will potentially be buried deep in a "break glass in case of emergency" intended for Championship only.

Ah here Sean Bourke, between the dodgy pitch, blue seats, the electrical wiring issues and debt on MacHale Park already, the last thing we need is its feckin roof lifted :)

Ok, we have a good record of late against Galway but why do Galway have a far superior record against every one else and have made two finals in the last three.

As someone said below, it is the exact same as 2015-2017. They may have beaten us in Connacht or the league but we went further in the Championship and beat teams that they couldn't because we were better.

@Sean

Why wait? Galway will be in Castlebar in 4 weeks time. No harm in giving them a pasting imo

@Unstoppable12
Galway don't have any where near a far superior record than us.

Galway have lost twice to Armagh in the last two championships.
Mayo have lost twice to Ulster opposition in Championship since 2010.

Their record against Dublin the last three years is better than ours, Kerry is worse, but in both cases Galway have only played them once. Same with the Rossies. And they have not played Cork.

I agree with your comparison with 15-17 but I don't believe that we are as far behind them now as they were behind us then.

@Frosthehammer totally agree.

Be interesting to see how the Dubs game goes I'd say more Dubs will announce their retirement to.

@frost, they have 6 more all irelands than us. 2 of them in the last 30 years.5 since the last time we won. They have a far superior record than us.

Plunkett, none of the players who are playing for Galway have won an All-Ireland, so it has zero relevance to today.

@Tubberman exactly.

And also they would never have gotten as close as we did to when the Dubs 6 in a row team were at their peak. That's what @FrostTheHammer means I think!

Anyway we are where we are in terms of who's available to play for us as others said.

Don't think it's all doom & gloom though. We could still do well in league who knows.

And if Oisin Mullin comes back in 26 ( which I think he will.)

Whar a boost that would be for us he is even fitter since he left.

Weird but I got more Mayo love from Tyrone than here! Peter Canavan on an RTE news article said the new rules would suit us and Naill Morgan on OTB said we'd be dangerous because of our tackling ability up the field. Two great interviews out now; Sam on Puke Football podcast(it's free but only on Patreon) and Jordan on Smaller Fish(paid). Would recommend both, think we forget that the players are our biggest fans

Agree @ Plunkett, Lets worry about Galway when the time comes. Dubs game is looming into view and I should make Mc Hale Park for the Tribesman. Roll on some matches, been way too long of a break for my liking.

Agree Bonni - No point worrying about Galway until we cross paths. The way some are going on we should be giving them a guard of honour in MaHale Park on February 3rd, sure didn’t Paul Conroy come on and kick 3 x 2 pointers to win them the all Ireland last weekend against Kildare.

All joking aside the Dublin game is massive and whoever loses it could well be one of the 2 teams to go down in division 2 this year. 2 early points would take lots of pressure off us.

Yeah I was just referring to the last three years really.

I'd compare the current Galway team with us 15-17 because I would think the age profiles are similar (maybe wrong there). Galway's Connacht performances collarate closer to us 11-13.

I think that the current Galway team would run that Dublin team as close as we did, but it's not comparing like for like - a lot of the tactical changes in recent years were born out of trying to beat that Dublin team and no one has anything near their fear factor. The pecking order is far more uncertain at the moment.

TsuDhoNim
Any chance you have any stats for Mayo club football on the highest scorers from General play and scores from outside the D and who are the highest Left footed scoring forwards in the County?

Our current team would I feel be overpowered by our 2015-2017 team. That teams habit of playing down to the opposition and our much more organized defensive approach might keep it tighter than you would expect, but on last year's evidence they'd be stronger and faster than us. They scored better in their purple patches and had them more regularly in games.

Let's concentrate on Sligo.

@JR yeah weary of them. Should beat them but definetly would not underestimate sligo they nearly beat Galway last year sure.

@plunlett. Btw Galway have won six times since mayo won last. The years are 1956,1964,1965,1966,1998 and 2001.

@Sam og: Sadly, no. Though I'd kick a serious number of shins, or be really nice to lots of people - whatever works, to get my hands on data like that.

Bill Hill Wicklow is fantastic for (total) scorers:

https://billhillwicklow.com/list/mayo-senior-football-championship-top-scorers-table-2024/
https://billhillwicklow.com/list/mayo-intermediate-football-championship-top-scorers-table-2024/
https://billhillwicklow.com/list/mayo-junior-football-championship-top-scorers-table-2024/

(Thanks to a few contributors here for the great work they put in helping collate that!)

Cian McHale the top lefty total at Intermediate (39) and overall left or right (fair few frees in there but so would all the competitors, so if I had to guess he'd be my pick for top from play too), with Aido the top lefty at Senior (31) depending on the premium you might put on grades.

I'm not aware of anywhere filtering to just from play and not seen anyone even touch on location of shots at Mayo club in public. Don't believe I'd be able to get that level of granular detail for counties across many games, where we'd have a lot more interested eyeballs. Once it's not televised it usually disappears into the ether (or tightly locked in-house, 50/50 how you'd choose to word it).

Complete aside from the question, but in that same wheelhouse so you might be interested on background:

Some interesting stats around (a relatively small subset) of county 45s in recent years: https://x.com/GAA_Vis/status/1847855057079062844

I'd have imagined most of us would have predicted higher than ~50% on those when including games with top kickers like Sean O'Shea, Rian O'Neill and Sam Mulroy. Probably a good one to put the difficulty of +40m shots into context, given even with no pressure the % are low.

The other one in that general area that always piqued my interest is: "How do situational variables, related to shooting, in elite Gaelic football impact shot success?" (McGuigan & Collins).

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17479541211055441

I'd imagine that paper was a key dataset when deciding on the 40m arc (ahead of a 45m or 35m arc).

Back in May of last year, the original proposal by the FRC was for a 33m arc. Interesting to note that the day before that announcement a presentation on a study of 2,286 shots from 56 senior club games (not clear if that's Mayo Club Championship or national games - Does it ring a bell as the number streamed on Mayo GAA TV in '23?) by a member of the Mayo GAA analysis team at the AIPG conference in ATU had found the scoring zone was found to be inside a 33m arc (and inside a 44 degree angle of the goal). With everything outside suffering a significant drop off in conversion.

Whilst it's unlikely a new player will be starting, you'd imagine there will be 1-2 get an early season message that they are prepping to be coming in to add youthful pace.
The one thing we're close to number one in nationally with everyone available is simply raw pace and mobility. We're not the biggest, heaviest team, but we've a lot of youth with happy sheepdog enthusiasm to go all day and then burn ya players like Tommy, Paddy and Eoghan McLoughlin.
The tap and go free with a lot of pace late in games is a goal threat from play and penalties.

I’ve heard a few people recently sayin the Dublin game is huge and could go a long way to determining staying up etc…surely, the emphasis this year needs to be on using the league to test players/tactics/strategies. Yeah, of course winning is nice but really, who gives a toss about the league?? If you go down, it’s no big deal (the last two All Irl champs had come from Div 2). If you’re half decent you’ll bounce straight back up. If you don’t, then you’re a million miles of an All Ireland anyway. The league needs to be used by management to try new lads and previously peripheral fellas. Give them proper game time, not token 10 mins here and there (like the league last year which was a complete missed opportunity). Far too many Mayo supporters get overly concerned about league results. I don’t understand it.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/2025/01/09/daire-cregg-i-didnt-grow-up-wearing-a-carlton-jersey/

Apologies Wj, I’m not sure if posting links to articles is breaking the rules but this is an important topic and one I feel very strongly about. It’s rare I’ll give praise to a rossie, but fair play to this fella, he’s an absolute credit to his county. I wish some of our bucks would think like this instead of going to Australia playing a game they’ve never played, never followed (in all likelihood) and have absolutely zero association with.

Fair play to Daire Cregg for his piece about the AFL. He's a Rossie through and through, that's where his loyalties lie, not with some AFL club he may not even have heard of before they came sniffing around. Like Mayonaze, I feel strongly about this topic, the GAA as an organisation need to do more to keep the best talent here. To win an All Ireland in the near future, we need our best 15 available.

Just following on from Cregg's statement about wearing a Roscommon jersey growing up and not a Carlton one, that's a powerful line in my view, if you love your Club and County, that's where the sporting loyalties should be. I wish someone from Mayo would come out with that line.

@WayoutWest…That’s exactly it. Really refreshing to see a lad express this opinion in an almost bullish manner too. Just a shame there’s not enough of this sentiment in Mayo. It’s sad, really. It comes down to this…’how much do you really want to play for Mayo and win an All Ireland’? Some people want it more than others.

In relation to the introduction of the new rules, two very interesting interviews with Sam Callinan and Kildare's Kevin Feely. Both gave their assessment of the impact of the rules. Must say I found both very insightful.

I think the GPA deliberately don't publicize the absolute fact that on average inter county players do much better financially and career wise than their similarly qualified peers.
They play the poor mouth that players suffer financially. Okay, a tiny minority might. There's a bigger minority do extremely well. To the level of wealthy, where they would have struggled to achieve anything close to that without being an inter county player.

@JP… FACT. Most top intercounty players have massive profiles and many are very well off financially as a result of their GAA exploits.

Slight worry is mcstay s vision of the new rules , came across as if they weren’t really going to impact , think mcgeanny said something along them lines too but it seems they are the only ones going with this line

No team can make the semi finals without really being well prepped on the new rules.
The hypothetically best team and footballers will be beaten by any of the top 9 teams if they are not as well versed in the new rules.
Kickouts.
3 players in opposition half.
50 yard dissent or slowing free
2 pt arc score
If the totality of those are not very impactful I must have fell asleep in every maths and stats class.
It's terrible messaging to in anyways play these changes down as the leader of a panel of players.

The tap and go free also a huge change for attackers and defenders and for creating goal chances/penalties

I wouldn't assume what McStay says to the media is the same as he says in the dressing/meeting room.
Does anyone actually think the mgmt team are going to ignore the new rules and just continue on as they did last year?

Spot on Tubberman, why do we feel the need to be 100% transparent with the Media. Jim Gavin never did.

No need to apologise, Mayonaze - it’s perfectly okay to post links to press articles here.

Great video on GAA.ie on new rules explained by Gavin,Fitzmaurice and James Horan,
Examples for each rule.

Fair enough re mcstay bluffing the media , don’t see the angle tbh , team selection before games yeah I can understand it or being coy over tactics but to suggest the rules won’t impact and I think he said he didn’t think certain rules would be there come championship (12v 11)

As someone who's a huge fan of the new rules... I couldn't fault anything said after the match.

Paraphrased for brevity: 2 pointers 0.2 on average, fairly negligible = Correct. The success rate outside the arc was incredibly low at ~20% under the old rules.

We'll see a large increase in attempts under the new rules due to the new risk/reward, but that won't lead to a dramatic increase in success rate (though lads playing the new rules at u15 or u16 will develop those skills far more now than in the past, along with long range shooting being more valued by extended panels or development squads than in the past, so we should see an increase in the future). Depending on how much work is put in off the field, we could even see the success rate tumble as more lads try and force shots rather than just the rare sharpshooters who were willing to take it on at half the value.

Way more will be scored, but only as way way more will be attempted too. A couple of extra wides or drop shorts, as we saw in the rough conditions, and it doesn't take much to push a ~20% conversion rate to approach 0%.

"The big one will be the 12v11" = Not sure if I agree on this being the 'big' one (the combination of 3/3 and delay fouls key change for me), but it's a perfectly valid (subjective) opinion.

"That could be tweaked. That could be gone by the end of the league. Who knows" = Spot on. All rules could. No harm outlining that to folks that might not be aware of the next steps involved around rules this year.

"For tonight, I don't think the new rules made any major difference to what was on sight" = At a time when so many are complaining of the new rules ruining the game (there are folks on socials attempting [poorly] to run #SaveOurGame campaigns, complaining about each and every step the FRC make and attempting to shoot down every proposal they've made) it was probably very refreshing for some watching those fears to see they're tweaks to the game (important ones) but the core of the game hasn't broken or anything of the sort.

We got a faster game and we got a very enjoyable game that had every reason to potentially be a stinker (no bite challenge, awful conditions, lots of personnel changes), so lots of positive signs from the new rules in the 1st showing. Importantly, it wasn't a different game.

@TsuDhoNim, I think looking at success rates of shots from outside the arc in the old rules is comparing apples with oranges. There was no incentive to shoot from 40+m in the old rules. so why would they?

Managers definitely weren't encouraging players to shoot from there. We need to look at these things differently now. Its in a team's best interest to get good at shooting from that range. I don't think many of us had Aiden O'Shea down on our bingo card for hitting a 2-point buzzer beater in the provincial games in Croke Park. How many players do we have that are actually good distance shooters, but haven't been given the platform to showcase it? How many are playing for each and every county?

For the same reason, I am very skeptical looking at McStay's 'fairly negligible' comments. Maybe right now, when every team is only figuring out the new rules, its negligible, but just wait until someone like Donegal hit 10 2-pointers in a game, and then the narrative around the game is going to shift completely in favour of hitting the 2s, and Jim McGuinness will have done it again etc.

@OnTheFence: "I think looking at success rates of shots from outside the arc in the old rules is comparing apples with oranges. There was no incentive to shoot from 40+m in the old rules. so why would they?"

Success rate is a measure of the difficulty of the kick when it is taken on. It's still a great measure to consider if we're going to see a dramatic increase in the numbers attempted. Though likely a little optimistic looking at the old rates, given they were kicked under less pressure under the old defensive setups (way less incentive to press +40m) and tended to be by the crème de la crème willing to take the risk even with the lower reward.

We'll see a dramatic increase in the number of 2s scored (& attempted) with the new rules as managers change tactics to balance the new risk/rewards, but it won't be directly increasing conversion rates. Way more likely to lead to a drop there, as lads have more incentive to risk forcing a shot that isn't really on.

St.Colmans beat St.Geralds in a defacto Connacht schools quarter final today, 1-13 to 1-10.

@TsuDhoNim all fair points, but I still feel that looking back at shot % for 40+m in the old rules wont teach us much. There are so many moving parts behind kicking from that distance, including as you said, players may not have pressed the kicker as there was less incentive to do so. Plus the lack of jeopardy of conceding a double score now vs 3 months ago when it was still a single.

As for the comments regarding increase/decrease in shooting % from distance, its a bit of 6 in one hand, half a dozen in the other. Players will practice it more, which means they will probably become more efficient with their shooting. At the same time, as you said, players who may not have that shot in their locker could take them on, which means that conversion rates could go any way - up or down.

Its all in front of us anyway, and looking back probably wont show us much as it was a sport with a vastly different set of rules. I'll keep my powder dry until we have meaningful data from competitive games in the league.

@OnTheFence: Totally agree.

Even once we start gathering that data & lads have settled in more to where/when they're comfortable shooting, it'll all be changing pretty rapidly.

Every time the balance shifts more towards 2s it'll induce defences to push higher. Every time it shifts back towards too much space inside and more threat from goals, they'll drop back that much deeper. It'll be a dynamic shift team to team, week to week & game to game.

I can't wait.