Are Mayo back? One Fan's subjective view:
Still too early to say. We have seen it all from Mayo so far but direction is definitely positive
– Dublin game: good overall performance, bad result
– Galway game: poor overall performance, bad result
– Tyrone game: mixed performance, good result
– Armagh game: good overall performance, good/mixed result
- Kerry game: excellent overall performance, good result

Qualifiers:
Some patchy quarters in games e.g. Q3 against Kerry
Some new talent discovered and proving their worth but still reliant to key players
Need to continue to work on breaking the tendency to go lateral at half forward
Like the fact that they can win a trench battle like Tyrone and free flowing game like Kerry

Still no Aiden O Shea on pitch no Mayo performance..

Well, I have to say there's plenty of others thinking they're not the real McCoy yet either. Survival in div 1 is paramount, I don't care what stats dispute that assertion.
Mayo are up there with a fighting chance like others. We've yet to see any team, bar Donegal, showing their hand IMO.

I would say galway have also shown their hand. Come championship if teams figure out a way to nullify there 2 pointers then they could struggle.

We've always been a team that has around 17 division one players. Even in our best years.
I think our current team has less elite players maybe a better bench depth if everyone is available?
If Tommy and Paddy can return as bench pace weapons it would lift us a lot.

Galway are obviously very confident in their ability to be showing so well so early , I don’t think they’ll be goosed come championship or anything like that , just don’t think they’ll have much in the long grass to offer where as their rivals for Sam like Kerry might have a couple of ideas been drilled but not showed . Really looking forward to championship, hope it doesn’t disappoint .

You'd figure summer weather is a few more pts on these scorelines. Hurling scorelines pretty much.

Ryan announced as footballer of the week well deserved.

On the rules get rid of the 12v11 scenario and the rules that give a double punishment option on 3v3 breaches, the rest I am o.k. with

That's the first time in a long while that the Blog's Player of the Match and the GAA's Footballer of the Week double has been achieved! It used to be a regular enough thing one time.

Good pod. I have to say I agreed on virtually everything with Ger Flanagan.

I understand everyone wants us to stay up in Div 1. Naturally we do, but in early January the vast majority on here were of the opinion that the main priority in the league was to deepen and strengthen the panel, which meant giving more game time to new guys and lads who up until now had been largely peripheral. Furthermore, that doing so trumped retaining div 1 status, but that obviously blooding players and staying up would be ideal.

I think management have done reasonably on the blooding players side of things. I think they could have done a bit more. What new fellas have we?
Neary - has really hit the ground running. I'd rank him a 7.5/10 for his impact to date in the league.
McHale - hasnt had enough game time to really rate him and it was disappointing that he was subbed at HT in the Tyrone game because that wind in 2nd half would have been perfect for a lad like him. The pod mentioned he had an injury - perhaps this was a factor in his withdrawal.
I'd like to have seen management give opportunities to more new lads. Like, Ivers for example. He showed a skillset in the club championship that few others have, specifically an ability to go past men. I think if he was with Ballina or Knockmore he'd be getting more time, because we'd have seen more of him.

Previously peripheral lads:-
Irwin. Frank has shown well. A 7/10 for me. I'd like to see more of him. I think he could do well but needs as much game time as possible and I'd like to see Management stick with him in one position, rather than floating from 14 to centrefield.
Reid, a 5/10 I think. Has shown glimpses but just not enough in my opinion and I didnt think he had a super campaign with BMD either. Hope he can improve.
Towey, a 5/10 so far. I like that management are sticking with him more and I'd think he's the kind of player who would do better on fast, dry ground, but his league to date hasn't been good and he cut a very frustrated figure in the Tyrone game. He has improved since but he's on the pitch to score and we need to see him do this.

We've hardly seen Bob Tuohy - has he been injured? Just no progression there in two years now. That's disappointing. After such a promising league showing in 2023, he was being talked about as a future midfielder. Where is he??

*Sam Callinan:- I'm a bit concerned about his form. It was interesting to hear Rob say he thought he did well against Kerry. I was really surprised when I heard this. Like Ger, I thought Sam struggled. Be it burnout, injuries, a drop in form or being played out of position, he just seems off for me. As Nigel said, he's not a corner back, but I also don't think he's a starter for Mayo now in the HB Line if we have a full hand to select from. I'd have Hession and McLaughlin in ahead of him on the flanks. I'd love to see Sam reach the heights many believe he can, but I think he looks a bit lost. He runs into traffic and he's not a tight man marker. What's his role??

*Jordan Flynn:- I'm also worried that he will burn out. He's had no break given that the run that Crossmolina went on. I cannot understand why Managment brought him back so quickly after the club campaign. Is he not a prime candidate for burnout and injury?

@TsuDhoNim...you're our stats guy here.....what kind of mileage has Flynn since the beginning of 2024? If I was McStay I'd tell Jordan to take a break for the Derry game at least and depending on results, the Donegal game too. I'd not want to risk him. Along with ROD he is one of our lads that needs serious minding. Jordan relies on big energy and when he isn't at full throttle he doesnt have nearly the same impact for Mayo. Wrap in cotton wool into the Sligo game. As we are now in March, the health, physical and mental readiness (for championship) of our key players is far more important than league status.

@Mayonaze: Hard to know with someone like Jordan. He's the type if you told him to take a week off to rest he'd be liable to go run a 10k every morning & evening for the craic, with maybe a skydive or alligator wrestling in between.

Downtime vitally important if the head or body need it, but if or when that need arises will vary wildly by the lads' personal circumstances. Especially around all this year, out on the grass surrounded by teammates at 100mp/h could well be the best place for him to chill & recharge.

in terms of numbers...

'24 league - 411/490 minutes (featured in 6/7)
'24 Championship - 431/520 (featured in 6/7 - Played the full 100/100 against Derry)
'25 league so far - 197/350 (Missed R1 & R2 after the Cross AI win. Started the last 3, while subbed off with <5 minutes for the last 2)

And Jordan is Currently holidaying in Portugal so should be in recovery mode.

I'd like to see the Derry game used to hone our goal threat. We've being very poor on that front, not creating much, and not taking chances presented to/made by us.

Donegal by their own account seems to have finished their league campaign for all intents and purposes. So IMO we more likely to be in a league final than relegated, but most likely a comfortable mid table sort of finish.

So regardless of the Derry result go for goals. Derry have by far the worst record on this front, and but for some wayward shooting it could be even worse. Donegal could have had a bagful in 2nd half at the weekend.

WJ
Is there any plan for a podcast with the Colmans guys which won The Hogan Cup in 77.
Would be a great run in for the final on St Patrick's day.

There is, FreeTheEastBank, it’s in the works.

We should certainly carry some momentum into the Derry game.
The biggest weakness I see is our defenders standing off, particular in preventing 2 pointers. We are just not getting in handbooks. I counted 7 brilliant block downs by Galway against Donegal. We are just not getting close enough.

Mayo are playing well in patches (as are most teams at the moment)
Pushing up and defending in the full forward line makes all the difference under these rules.

Mayo still have major issues to resolve and no new players have been found to solve them
1. Centre back who can kick pass- O Brien is best a full back
2. ball winning midfielder
3. Creative centre forward
4. Left sided scoring forward/free taker

We seem to find new wing forwards every year but none last - hopefully Neary doesn't go the way of cian Tracey fionn McDonald etc al

Most are just finding their feet with the changes. Several squads with major players to return etc etc. Based on Derry's league campaign last year they were swashbuckling their way up the Hogan too,.. wheels came off.

I know team of the week means nothing in the long run though I'd imagine each player would be proud to be named on it but there was no time last week i imagined whoever would be marking Clifford would make team of the week. Well done Donnacha and Ryan.

Are Mayo back, I would say no, from evident so far. But not without hope either, think Neary a good addition, and think Paddy, Tommy and DOC can improve us, as team or improve options from bench. Think Reid need good last two rounds, but definitely something there. Problem with Iriwn, Towey and Tuohy, sometimes you see parts of match and think wow, here's a player, but on opposite side can be totally ineffective in same match. Think we need one or two of these guys to step up, be more consistence, as need more options up front, come summer, when think faster ground, could need 24 point to win matches against top tier teams. And at minute don't see us hitting those totals. Midfield a worry, have big men around middle 8, but no out and out midfielder. AOS done brilliant last day, but don't see that as option long term. God help us once he retires, as he will be sorely missed. Be concern is our lack of two point shooters, this rule change is going to be the biggest factor on who wins all-ireland. Be very surprised if winner of all ireland, does not top two point scored stat.

Kicking a dry ball on a calm dry day over the bar from 40 metres should not be beyond all of our current crop,most decent club players can do this ,i don't think we'll be behind our main competitors in this regard come championship. We haven't been doing it since the safety first regime took over but we just need to play the rules now. Getting ourselves in to position to take the shots on ,needs more work imo, but I don't see it defining our championship .

Any word on Conor Loftus coming back this year with Mayo?

I am not trying to be inconsiderate, I really hope he is doing ok and would love to see him back this year!!
He would definitely be a big option for us in the half back/ half forward line !!

I take your point about not wishing to be inconsiderate, Mayoman51, but that's not a discussion that I think anyone should be having here at this time.

2 hops, agreed it should not be beyond inter county footballer to kick it over from 40 yards. But even before these rules came in, I seen guys missing fist over bar, on the run from close range in last year championship. Capable and competent, two different things. But hope you correct that this be sorted come championship, because if we getting same or more 2 pointers than opposition, were a match for anyone

@mayotilde. We need to be able to defend more vigoursly against conceding two pointers via blockdowns.
Galway have the handblock down to a fine art. Hession is the only Mayo defender I've seen executing this skill. Something our defence coach needs to work at.

Are the forwards working as a more cohesive unit without Cillian in there. I suppose it's hard to tell at this stage but I guess we'll have to plow on without.
Derry will be a massive test for us now, as they are fighting for their lives too and McStay we'll definitely know more about where we're at after that game!

@John+McHale,we are certainly getting a better spread of scorers in this league...or so it seems to me. TSU will probably prove me wrong in that.
But getting a decent return from hf line and hopefully we won't be as dependent on Ryan as we have been.

Apologies for bringing it up Willie Joe.!!

@2 hops: Scores from frees seem to be down nationally relative to other years. Likely a combination of the new black card, risk from S&G rules along with greater risk from 2 point frees in the old "safe to foul" zone, so I'd imagine our shift of a huge % of scores through our free taker (whether that's Ryan, Cillian or right back to Maurice - been a trend for us a while now) to a lower % could be a wider trend too. Interesting to see how strongly it continues as the year goes on.

I'd guess the headline numbers on scorers would be:
- 19 different scorers
- 18 scorers from play
- Dead balls making up just ~18% (15 for RO'D & 1 for C McHale) of our total scores to date
- A GK and 5 'defenders' all scoring from play (Reape & Coen 2 each, McBrien, McHugh, Callinan & Morahan 1 each)
- Our midfield & half-forward line (no idea how to split lads like Reid/Flynn/Carney/Irwin doing a lot of both within the one game & caveats on the time Irwin has spent inside) contributing ~52% of our scores from play (& ~44% of our total scores including dead balls)
- Only just the 2 goals (Neary & Reid) so far

Scores from play:
Davitt Neary 11
Paul Towey 9
Ryan O'Donoghue 8
Frank Irwin 8
Fergal Boland 7
Matthew Ruane 7
Conor Reid 5
Jordan Flynn 4
Darren McHale 3
Colm Reape 2
Stephen Coen 2
David McBrien 1
Donnacha McHugh 1
Sam Callinan 1
Sean Morahan 1
Aidan O'Shea 1
Jack Carney 1

Although I'm always partial to the ol' avg scores/70 minutes:
Fergal Boland 3.12
Davitt Neary 2.92
Paul Towey 2.63
Frank Irwin 1.94
Ryan O'Donoghue 1.78
Conor Reid 1.74
Matthew Ruane 1.47
Jordan Flynn 1.42
Darren McHale 0.83
Jack Carney 0.64
Aidan O'Shea 0.60
Sean Morahan 0.58
Stephen Coen 0.42
Colm Reape 0.40
Sam Callinan 0.36
Donnacha McHugh 0.20
David McBrien 0.20

Great pod!

Will judge us come championship v Sligo will be tough but we should be winning that.

But it was great to have our fight & spirit back and not lateral passing going on.

Great addition to have David McBrien back!

Think Donegal will start resting players I think.. Derry will be a tough enough test for us.

@TsuDhoNim. Thanks for that.
Comprehensive,as always.

Where is David mcbrien back from.amazing how the mood has changed since the second half against Armagh.still unsure if there has been a complete change of direction by the management but whatever the reason there is definitely a more optimistic mood in the county

I'd like to see some changes for next match .
Let's go with more freedom.in halfforwards and play two speedsters like Neary and Coggins at 10 and 12.
Inside line needs a shuffling around and Cian Mchale has the physicality tp start .
Boland probably deserves his chance but it really is him or Towey in my mind, but wll be a physical game v derry so give Cian and Darren Mchale gametime .

Vahey
Coyne
Mchugh
O Donoghue
Callinnan
Diarmuid
Eoghan Mac
Carney
Irwin
Neary
Ruane
Coggins
Mchale
ROD
Mchale

@TSM that’s remarkable that Neary tops the scoring charts after 5 rounds of league games and he was only on 4 rounds too. Really impressive return for a half forward

We’ve seen some lads have strong early season showings before running out of form. I’m thinking specifically Boland in 2017, Fionn McDonagh 2019. Hope Neary can keep doing what he’s been doing

@1985 David McBrien back in good form and getting starting position they even said it on the pod that it's good to have him back in good form.

Diarmuid o Connor will find if difficult to get back into the team, which is hugely positive. Team is starting to take shape.

Would love to see Diarmuid around 6 tbh. Especially if McBrien goes into full back line

Oh right Clare but I think David mcbrien has started every game.still think he will be deployed at full back in certain games but the management do seem intent in pushing him further forward

First pod I can ever recall switching off. I got to the part where they are talking about handing the ball back, I couldn’t disagree more with their view of the world, equally I couldn’t agree with the way they described it, straighten hair, make them tea etc. in fact it reinforced to me the need for the new rules. Then Rob went off on some tangent about rugby and that was it for me.

Take for example the Boland call, Armagh pressured him and forced him into over carrying. Boland then should not have an advantage to throw the ball away, the ball was turned over through good defending and the team should be able to capitalise on their good play rather than throw the ball away and allow players to retreat, even if it was under the old rules and the ref moved it forward a few yards, the advantage wouldn’t be the same because the defence can retreat.

People confuse the act of handing the ball back, “it’s not the game”, “it’s not “manly”’ (whatever that means) with what it’s trying to overcome, i.e., delaying the advantage earned.

Certainly not everything is perfect with the rules, but they have got an awful lot right about them.

@mayomayo1
Totally agree. The handing the ball back has been a revelation and totally stopped all the s#/t housery that has gone on for years. For how long has a team defending the lead been able to foul and throw away the ball so they can get everyone back, start a smozzel and waste 2-3 minutes.
This rule combined with the solo and go, punishes a team who are trying to slow the game down.
It makes it much harder to stop momentum by foul means. It has also ruled out a lot of play acting also because the game moves on so quick that messing around gets punished also

The only change I would make is that a defender can collect a kick out inside the 40 if they start their run outside it.
At the moment having a kickout is a serious disadvantage - it's too lopsided at the moment

Completely agree with the last two posters, I was close to turning off that pod. The sneering from Ger and Nigel towards rules and officials as if Gaelic football is some perfect sport is hopefully not representative of most players/managers at club level. The lack of respect for rules and the level of cynical play in football (both club and county) up to last year was a stain on the sport. Players regularly lying on a ball after over carrying or starting a pushing match after a free was awarded or just not allowing a quick free was awful to watch and was rewarding foul play by allowing the fouling team to get their defense set. If handing the ball back is such an issue then it can be replaced with placing the ball immediately on the ground and retreating 13 meters. The lads were commenting negatively about the rules but could barely make a strong point as to which rules are obviously bad for the game. No doubt there'll be aspects of the rules that need to change but football was in such a place that he hadn't a leg to stand on given how few enjoyable games were being played.

Massive respect to Jim Gavin for taking the opportunity to make obvious improvements to the game that were well overdue, like the penalties for back chat, the handing the ball back, taking the time keeping off the referee, the vanishing spray which will bring fairness back to free taking again.

Last point. On the FRC/James Horan not listening. Every Monday the FRC send out an email to players, coaches, supporters, admins, to get their feedback and then they are using this data to make decisions. That is what you call doing it the right way.

On the new rules, the clock has meant that a 10 minute black card is exactly that.

No sport has ever changed its rules so dramatically with such a modern project mgmt data driven methodology.
Football was damn low. There's a kind of hipster cool view out there at times heard on national media "Oh not sure if the league is better this year".
Such rubbish.
The league has been far far ahead of any league football in many years.
We've had league games have entertainment of like top championship games.

Yes JP, I've always considered the opening three games of the league to be managerial logistics combined with players defreezing from a cryonic chamber. It's crazy the way we react (myself included) at times to apathetic or uninspiring performances when considering the blueprint for the future. Must say I've found this league gripping and invigorating.with so many variables going into the pot before the finale.
I have to add this forum is a fantastic spot for info and opinion....as diverse, and, at times, as conflicted as the refs regarding interpreting the new regs... who'd have it any other way?

I've always been of the opinion to scrap the championship and replace with with a turborchanged league, like the premiership in England. Better control of the calendar, all games have consequences, keeps radiance interest etc. Correct me if I am wrong but in the very early days of the GAA the league was the top competition.

It wasn’t, InExile, but what’s beyond dispute is that the Championship, when started in the late 19th century, took its inspiration from the FA Cup. The English soccer league was also begun before the turn of that century and, because of the very reasons you set out, it quickly took over as the principal competition, albeit that the cup retained plenty of allure for another century. The GAA were too late to the table (understandably, given all the upheaval in the country in that period) in starting the National League and, by the time they did so in 1927, the Championship was already set in stone as the main target. When you think about it, it makes no sense at all but it is explained by how things developed historically.

That's fascinating Willie Joe, I never knew that about the FA Cup and our championship.

Thanks Will Joe for the historic background on that, very interesting and explains a lot

I always got the impression that historically there was definitely more prestige to the league than there has been in modern times but I have nothing concrete to prove that , just the vibe one got when people of an older time mentioned “the league specialists “ the great team of the 30s who won six on the bounce . I recall reading something years ago where the Roscommon famous captain jimmy murray was quoted about the great mayo v Galway rivalry in that era , he went on to say how people would cycle from all over the province to watch it play out , indeed he also said he took inspiration from it for Roscommon great two in row team of 43/44 I think it was .

Anyway I was going off point there , I do think the league could be more important but very hard to change its rank as second to championship at this stage you’d imagine