Wish the press would quit with the overkill about Kobe McDonald , don’t think it’s helpful at all , it’s starting to feed a frenzy of commentary on social media .
. General comment unrelated to this Martin carney post .

@agree completely, only a young lad. So many from the general media as well. Is there not laws against talking about minors

In fairness, Seán, it never takes much to create a feeding frenzy there! Cop-on and social media were never happy bedfellows. What Martin had to say on the pod, by contrast, was sensible and measured, as you'd expect.

Yeah its frustrating alright. Hard to keep a lid on any hype. I see national newspaper headlines from The Mirror running with massive clickbait headlines like '17 year old mayo superstar that is as good as Clifford'.

Just setting up the young lad for a fall and reeling in dribbling idiots in the comments section

What makes is even more frustrating, Supermac, is that Clifford comparison is a quote pulled from some randomer on social media, an opinion which is worth less than zero but gets pumped out nationally by a media outlet. I keep saying it, social media is an utter sewer.

Exactly Willie Joe , some randomer who probably wasn't at the match or even seen him play. Your 100% correct, social media is a sewer . The media know what they are at , using him as click bait .

The most balanced GAA journalist is Colm Keyes.
Always respectful to all counties and players.
A great judge of the game.

And I see the insufferable joe brolly giving out about 2 pointers..like its up to teams to develop them, county players should have no problem kicking a ball over from 40 metres..if not, get practising. God hes one guy who i just can't suffer.

David Clifford was talked up a lot more and it hasn't harmed him but I understand its a bit over the top. He's getting talked up a lot too purely because hes ciaran McDonald's son as much as the fact he's talented.

I agree with Gary Lineker when he described social media as "evil". An echo chamber for nutters.

The lid of the Pandora’s box that is social media is well and truly off and it’s hard see it going back on anytime soon.
It’s unfortunate for the young lad and his family, but for the club itself it’s better than its other recent headlines in national paper.

Of the club games streamed next week its hard to feel to much excitement for most of them.
Ballaghaderreen v Ballintubber probably the most interesting of them, with H-C v Kilmaine having the more derby style feel to it also likely a watch out.
I'd Worry Garrymore v Ballina could be a dour affair, but will hopefully be proven wrong.
Westport v Balla it is hard see past Westport winning given how Balla performed in round 1 and Westport having gotten time into more key men last few weeks e.g. Moran.
Aghamore v Castlebar is one that could go either way, but with the numbers at Castlebars disposal you would imagine they should be able to turn things around.

It's funny to see everyone talking about not talking about something!

Think that’s a bit unfair Joe g . It’s one thing to pass comment on the lads performance on a mayo GAA blog or whatever, I’ve not read any post in here comparing him to Clifford or the likes . National media don’t do us any favours when it comes to mayo football as a whole imo but that’s what sells people outside of mayo are genuinely fascinated/intrigued by our obsession. Take the recent big lotto winner been from Mayo broke today , about five lines into the article I just read they mention our failure to land Sam Maguire . It’s bat shit crazy the way they can squeeze that into such a story , no other county would have that attached to a lotto winning story . It’s a bit bonkers , albeit I don’t think they mean any bad will

@JoeG

I laughed at that haha.

Social media is awful though always has been and doesn't look like it will change anytime soon either sadly .

See Jim Gavin has a good chance of getting the gig in the Aras that's a random one !

Anyone have list of the top scorers from play and 2 pointers from play for Senior and Intermediate Championships?

Tsu will likely have in time. Her has rd1 done already: https://x.com/TsuDhoNim/status/1958577012378833334?t=g-UD8m_ETq2Vrmo67KImkw&s=19

@Sam og: How detailed were you hoping to get? If I don't have something you were hoping to spot below, feel free to send me a private message on Discord/Twitter and I can quickly throw you images that go into more detail than I'd be able to copy/paste here.

Sometime tomorrow I should be able to throw out the full details (SFC/IFC/JFC) in a tweet & on Discord. Just hitting a few too many issues between data sources I wouldn't be happy with (hiccups like Claremorris scoring no 2s the last day when Cathal Joyce nailed a lovely one - so messing with ways to cross compare a few sources and then see which ones I have to go for a tie-breaker on to get a data-set I could stand over with some confidence) and some data on minutes entirely missing (thankfully the only SFC ones were streamed so I can quickly grab them myself once I get some free time) before I'd suggest it's really worth the time to review.

That said, stuff like total scored and who scored it is usually more consistent than the type of score, so this should be +95% accurate (and leaning on the same source the official scoring charts used at the end of the year will lean on).

For Total Scored you can grab a quick table on - https://billhillwicklow.com/list/mayo-senior-football-championship-top-scorers-table-2025/

Sorting by scored from play...

Player - Type of scores from play // Scored from play // Total scored // Appearances // Minutes Played
R O'Donoghue - 1-2-5 // 12 // 18 // 2 // 120
K Callaghan - 1-2-3 // 10 // 29 // 2 // 120
E Regan - 1-2-2 // 9 // 22 // 2 // 107
A O'Shea - 1-1-2 // 7 // 7 // 2 // 120
P Towey - 1-1-2 // 7 // 21 // 2 // 120
D Quinn - 1-0-4 // 7 // 9 // 2 // 87
L Lavin - 1-0-3 // 6 // 8 // 1 // 60
L Flatley - 0-1-4 // 6 // 6 // 2 // 109
M Connor - 2-0-0 // 6 // 6 // 2 // 120
C Treacy - 2-0-0 // 6 // 6 // 1
E Phillips - 0-2-2 // 6 // 6 // 2 // 120
C Joyce - 1-1-1 // 6 // 6 // 2 // 90
S Nally - 1-1-1 // 6 // 6 // 2 // 120
K Kilkelly - 0-0-6 // 6 // 12 // 2 // 120
J Higgins - 1-0-2 // 5 // 5 // 2 // 101
C O'Shea - 0-2-1 // 5 // 5 // 2 // 120
K McDonald - 0-1-3 // 5 // 10 // 2 // 120
N Coggins - 1-0-2 // 5 // 5 // 2 // 120

Top Goalscorers: C Treacy & M Connor both with 2 from play (K Callaghan & E Regan with 2 too, but both with pens)

Top Total 2 pointers: E Regan 6 (2 from play), K Callaghan 4 (2 from play), RO'D 3 (1 from play)

2 pointers from Play:
RO'D, E Regan, K Callaghan, E Phillips & C O'Shea each with 2
C Joyce, P Towey, A O'Shea, L Flatley, S Nally, D Phillips, K McDonald, G McHale, P Naughton, S O'Malley, C Slattery, J Gallagher, B Walsh, D Beirne, B O'Donovan, J Mahon, C Dempsey & E Henry each with 1

Most Efficient Scoring From Play (per minutes played): RO'D & L Lavin (both 6 from play per 60 minutes), E Regan (5.05), K Callaghan (5) & D Quinn (4.83)

Sorry but it's just simply a proven by postings fact that TsuDhonNim has something to contribute to the Mayo backroom team on the player scouting and stats side.
TsuDhonNim do you think there's maybe more higher ceiling not featured at senior county players at intermediate?

@Tsu im suprised Maheady and that other young Mayo forward who its best not to name arent on that list I know we are only 2 matches in but did they not score anything at all. Great analysis by the way you certainly know Mayo football inside out

Last Post on Kobe, the lad has all the talent in the world but I wouldn't buy into the "ohh it's up to us, to mind him" .
The guy has the best advisor possible, in his family .
Father who's been there seen all, good and very bad moments, serious scrutiny and overwhelming support , then his brother is a key player for Mayo so if thats not, a household whom can best advise him, then no-one can.
Just enjoy it and let him enjoy his football.
Only concern of a big brute trying to do him is a risk but less likely at senior rather than intermediate but we've been here before Kevin O Neill, Ray Dempsey, Ciaran Mc , Mortimer, Gill, Dillon all earmarked early days and promoted early so ya no harm either way but for fact he will get best advise at home .

Hi,

Just looking ahead to 2026.

Kerry. 7/5
Donegal 6/1
Tyrone 6/1

Then a group from 10/1 with Galway @12/1 and Mayo @13/1.

@Glorydays: That list is just the lads with 5 or more scored from play (I was going to do a top 20, but that'd push to a top 30 with lads on 4 or more scored and probably push me over a character limit). There are 120 lads total with a score from play if looking at a full list.

JM would have 3 from play (of his 12 total - joint 5th top scorer overall) and the other with the 1 from play (& total) scored in this year's Championship.

@JP: There's definitely talent there, alright. Always a positive sign when an All Ireland Championship winning side at Intermediate got a number of their toughest games here locally.

Some of the young lads in Intermediate especially having a cracking year so far. Colm Lynch, Josh Carey, Conor Jennings & Luke Muniz all putting in some outstanding displays, while all still eligible for 20s side next year (a really competitive panel with lots of tight choices to make coming up at that grade, whoever takes the reins. I wouldn't fancy being the one to have to narrow it down. Some serious prospects & talented lads will be missing out whatever way calls go).

You'd imagine plenty of Ethan Convey, Adam Barrett, the Duffy's, Adam Parsons, Ronan Clarke, Justin Healy, Adam Rehill, Luke Jennings, Jack Mulchrone, Liam Maloney, Jack Melvin, Nathan Moran, Liam Donoghue, Cathal Keaveney, Hugh O'Loughlin or Brian Reape would have been the topic of conversations in recent weeks (whether for the senior panel or the dev panel with a longer term view). A few of those lads already involved around the setup last year, a few that were around it in recent years that might hope to push back in, a couple just stepping up from underage and a few looking to make a first step.

(Plenty of predictions of Jack M, Hugh & Colm being part of the early year panel. I'd probably have Ronan & Diarmuid as the next most likely to push, but none of the lads mentioned would look out of place and you'd be able to make a reasoned argument for any of them. Likely another 10 or 12 I'm blanking on too)

Think I’ll cut and paste this post TSU, and use it to monitor progress of all these newbies, and stars of tomorrow. If Andy has better scouts at his disposal, he’s a lucky man.

Would expect J Carr and T Conroy to be shooting the lights out in club championship.

3 point win for Crossmolina in the Minor A final.

After being level at half-time, Cross had pushed a gap to 10 about mid-way through the 2nd half. Westport fought back again to close the gap to just 2, but Cross fighting on at the end to claim the victory.

(Huge congratulations to the folks working their socks off the underage system in Cross. Seeing such a breathtaking performance at Senior last week in a side featuring 5 of these minors (Dylan, Josh, Kobe, Oisín & Seán), an u19 (Aaron), two u20s (James & Matthew) and an u21 (Diarmuid) all starting is incredibly impressive stuff)

I think TSU is part AI. Absolutely phenomenal level of insight & attention to detail. Andy sign him up

Thanks for update on Crossmolina game.
Did Kobe score big ?

Thanks TSU for the update. Westport will be disappointed, some good young lads coming through, but fair play to Crosz, they produced the goods when needed

Great win for that group of lads because they have lost a lot of finals to that excellent westport team usually by the narrowest of margins.

Is there a still a Connacht championship for each counties minor champs? Great to win an A championship at any age group.

It's only in the last week I've seen Luke Muniz from Kilmaine been mentioned here.
Was he on Mayo minor team. Is he a back or forward

Well done to Crossmolina youngsters... there's obviously some serious work going on there at underage level (not bad at senior either mind)... there's potentially an exciting period ahead for the club.
Whatever they have been doing there of late should be a blueprint for other clubs to follow and hopefully lift the standard of football at club and county level.

Also delighted personally to see Davitts lifting some underage silverware again.
Well done to them.

No CDR. The U17 Grading league champions represent Mayo in the Connacht stage, as all other Counties play there Championship at U17 age grade.
Congratulations to Crossmolina on an impressive performance tonight.

@CDR, Galway are playing U19 and U17 grades in their underage championships so doubt there would be any provincial minor club

@CDR the Connacht Championship is for the winners at under 17 level. Usually takes place towards the end of October in Bekan.

Not sure when I last witnessed such a crowd at a Minor club game in Mayo. Half were there this evening to see one lad in particular. The Mayo CB must have been delighted.

Thanks for the update. And how did that one lad play?

He's a good one. Crossmolina have a crop of good ones at Minor and under 16 level coming through. Their 3 under 16 lads tonight all played very well.

Just listening to the podcast. What a wonderful interview with Martin. He is such a positive person. Would love to see him involved in some capacity with Mayo.

Hopefully hype machine moves on. There’s a youngster held back from the U17s this year for age reasons who’s big and free scoring, they hype there could be similar to Kobe if as talented as we hear. The best way to avoid over hype is develop a production line of underage players to rival and surpass Kerry and Tyrone. One defender I thought would be standout seems to have lost a yard relative to peers from by the look of it weights emphasis at a young age so sports science on weights needs to filter to schools level. Tadhg Morley came on in AI final all bulked up but not the mainstay of their defence of 2 years ago. I heard Andy made a point lately that he’s looking a lot at skill sets in the Club Championship. Lads physical conditioning can be improved more easily than skills but Andy wants lads who can execute the skills really well. Seems sensible given Kerry are touted as the best by many. I actually don’t buy into it. I will say that in comparison we lacked generational players who could win multiple POTY like Clifford Gooch and Canavan. Even a Murphy. Good and all as Cillian and Andy were, Murphy has possibly outshone our 2 over career from play albeit I think he evaded any serious injury like our lads. Pierce Hanley was the one (forward) that got away and Kobe has a similar cut but far too soon to say for sure. Oisin was POTY capable at GAA and way down that pecking order at Aussie Rules but time still on his side there. Allow Kobe another year or 2 underage and get S&C up another level to avoid burnout or injuries with too much Sigerson if applicable and U20. Kerry may have been lucky if Clifford was deemed ineligible for U20 (I thought it was a deliberate decision by Kerry at the time) but look how well that turned out re injury avoidance albeit naturally big lads tend to injure a bit less.

Shuffly - the comment that naturally big lads tend to get injured less interests me. If we think about the 3 lads playing senior inter county since 2008 onwards (MMurphy, PConroy, AOS), all naturally big frames and didn’t have huge amount of bulk to add to frame

In contrast there are players who have added a lot of muscle to their body and we see repeated injury issues. Damien Comer, Tommy Conroy , Con Callaghan are 3 big names that stand out to me for example

The point I’m trying to get it is we talk a lot around bulking up but surely it has to be measured to body type and timed correctly. Kevin McLoughlin had incredible strength yet didn’t look physically huge so not everyone needs to be the same

I’d share a similar concern around a few of our underage players who look to have got too big and less mobile as a result

Listening to Martin on the podcast he seems to suggest that Paddy has lost some of his speed after his injury,what a shame

Well Paddy would also lose half a yard with age also.
I think you can be strong without being heavy. Kevin McLoughlin was out working manual labour from a young age so he had that wiry farmers strength.
It's not acceptable however to be turning up to the seniors unable to burst out of a standing start and no physical strength for contact.

@Southmayo Exile. Luke plays in the back but moves forward often and knows where the posts are and if I'm right he scored 5pts last weekend. Regarding your minor question I think he was wrongly overlooked for county minor and should be a cert for 2026 u20 panel. .@Shuffly Deck i think you have mentioned this unknown underage talent coming through a couple of times before and if he's half as good as you predict well that will do me. Ya I know he only kid but we can dream.

Ya but with the pace paddy had , his current pace is still better than most. He also could play the man marking corner back role so no fears of him not being involved, like Boyler before him the move to no 4 would be a great addition , not to mention he could do a job in halfforward line, halfback line is where we are strong and a halfback line of Diarmuid-Mcbrien and Loftus will be hard to beat

Love that half backline. I think there's a lag to teams putting a mix of running threat and kickpassing playmakers at half back.
Diarmuid for me is always better with the play ahead of him and not having to win the ball and turn.

The whole needing a few year of S&C before playing senior is possibly a thing of the past. I think you will see a lot of younger players, especially forwards break into squads next year with the new rules. Corner forwards don't have two or three lads hanging out of them now.

Congratulations to CMD on a deserved minor victory last night. I think Mayo GAA Tv missed a trick in not streaming.

‘McDeane’ have a great partnership and almost telepathic connection on pitch. Here’s to their continued development and success at club and county level. They make football fun to watch. Two talents but built on hard work and commitment.

Reading all the comments about the great minors coming through reminds me of many of the previous club minor winning teams over the past 10 years from similar clubs with aspirations of making their mark at senior level ….lets give all these lads time to develop and less of social media commentary in my view , it does them absolutely no good…

Mayo Man for Life; yes I’d agree with your general opinion there but I do think if lads are playing senior club championship then some degree of measured commentary should be acceptable. Constant ott stuff or indeed overly negative stuff is completely counterproductive.

Mayo man for life - I agree with you re young lads in Mayo been hyped up. I am sure there are as many good young footballers in Kerry - there always is in Kerry - and there isn't a word about them.
Until players start performing consistently at county level and not club level where the standard in Mayo is very average- only then can you say a player has it.

Circumstances in Kerry are different and this naturally shapes opinion. They’ve won so much at schools and senior county that the bar is far, far higher, so unless your pocket is rattling with medals, you’re nobody down there. It’s quite similar in Galway too but that’s more to do with lower public interest combined with more success. I’ve often given the difference between us and Galway in the lead up to the ‘22 minor final. Chalk and cheese. Hyped up v under the radar. It definitely added more pressure on Mayo’s young fellas that day.

In Mayo there’s one game really. Galway by comparison, has a much greater mix. This combined with our massive desire for success feeds into the mentality about all our county teams. Our passion and desire is at a different level and while this is great in many ways, it also creates a burdensome weight. There are many Mayo supporters who want us to win the bloody Sam Maguire and then never think about it again!

Having lived so long outside the county it enables you to compare and contrast more easily. I always got the sense that Mayo players were treated with a large degree of reverence by the Mayo public, something which would far more diluted in Galway and this included minor players. It felt like a fella had ‘made it’ by pulling in the jersey. Whereas in Kerry a fella has only made it when he’s holding a Celtic cross and it wouldn’t too dissimilar in Galway unless a player(s) were at All Star level. It stems from what I was saying above, and really it’s because far more people in Mayo care more about our teams. It’s not going to change anytime soon and nobody wants to see us lose that passion, but what I’d like to see, taking a leaf from Kerrys book, is less praise of fellas who fail to win. That would be a start. Someone previously on a pod said there’s a sense in Mayo that it’s ok to lose finals. That’s a problem. It’s not good at all.

It doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t offer congratulations on success and speak positively on occasion, but there’s certainly a tendency in Mayo to waxing lyrical too frequently about players without merit.

Love the post on McDeane @Mayonaze Both are really talented footballers, but there's also no denying their fabulous work ethic on the pitch. They clocked up some milage last night.

Lots of names being suggested to Andy and co for consideration, and I have nine or ten I can offer straight away, combination of u20, and some stars so far at club.

But, who’s to go? Can posters think of ten players, (NO NAMES ON THE BLOG), they would drop from the panel?

I did. I found it hard, though once I got to five, I started to get ruthless!

The lads I feel sorry for is the majority of Westport minors that will never play Adult football and be gone from the game within the next 3 years, 31 players togged last night for the County A Final and 27 in the County Minor E Final , A further 31 players named tonight for the County Under 16 A Final.I know Ed McGreal has talked before about the big problems for rural clubs struggling but we need to talk about the town teams , we are losing a serious amount of numbers from the 4 large town clubs.Castlebar Mitchels, Westport St Patricks , Ballina Stephenites and Claremorris.
I would like to see this issue talked about on the we need to talk about Mayo Pod, its a serious problem which has been well and truely ignored, bar Aidan O'Shea mentioning it on the Gaa pod last year.Could there be stricter parish rules for the town clubs brought in or change the boundaries for these clubs or setup a new club lets say Aughagower parish setup a club giving Westport area 2 clubs or at least create 2 underage teams Westport and Aughagower instead of a Westport A and B team.it would be interesting to hear the number of players these clubs have at underage and what percentage of the playing population the 4 clubs have of the whole of Mayo and before anyone mentions it Junior B and C teams football cannot be the answer to keep lads playing.We have stopped 2nd teams competing in the main Junior championship which was a terrible decision and lets be honest alot of these young players are not interested in playing Junior B football too long.

In Sports science, the relative age effect, isn't fully balanced out until age 23-27, so giving meaningful competitions to late developers (and those who have been on the wrong side of the relative age effect bias) is key to keeping them in the system for longer.

Due to ongoing rural to urban transfer of people, the big urban clubs will continue to produce lots of underage players graduating to senior with no meaningful competitions to play in.

Those players graduating from minor should have U21 and U23 leagues and championships to play, with Junior A, B and intermediate competitions Infront of them also.

Taking Westport as an example, they have around 60 kids who played U8 this year. If they do their underage business properly, they will keep 40 of those players until minor.
Of those 20 will leave minor football in 2035 and 10 of whom would happily keep playing into adult football (now alcohol is no longer a big draw for them).
If there was meaningful U21 football, those 10 young men would have 10-15 matches to play at U21 level in 2036 (with another 20 lads who graduated from minor in 2034 and 2033).
When that class of 2035, get to 2039, they would have an U23 team to play on also, with the lads from 2034 and the lads (now down to 7-8) from 2033 have moved into 1 of the adult teams (senior, intermediate, junior, junior B, junior C), pushing lads out of those teams into other teams (over 35's, over 40's, Dads&lads etc).

The move from rural to urban areas is not stopping anytime soon. Club football needs to be designed to keep those people playing GAA sports as long as possible.

Crossmolina once had a senior, intermediate and junior adult teams playing at those levels, that opportunity is now closed.
It needs to be reopened and expanded to keep young men playing GAA as long as possible.
Splitting Westport or Castlebar at adult level would discourage them from developing big numbers of underage kids (why would you keep kids playing to watch them go play for another club).

There should be no reason why Castlebar, Westport, Ballina and a few more (even if they were amalgamations of clubs) shouldn't be able to field U21 and/or U23 teams to keep guys playing football

Under 23 is a great idea in theory but are the resources there for such a competition, pitch availability, refs etc

@Achill 75 Aiden was off the mark about Castlebar, are they not the same parish as Breaffy!
There should be a competition for Senior B teams.
I am old enough to remember when Westport and Castlebar could hardly field a team.

@Sean Burke
if there is a will there is a way.
An U23 competition would have to be a Friday evening or saturday morning job.

The general objections are by smaller clubs who dont need it as anyone who want to play football plays junior A or B.
An U23 competition between 10-12 teams is more than feasible, just dont use it for minors, Senior or intermediate players to double up. Keep it for young players and dont have them playing junior A&B. Keep those teams for the lads over 23.

Third level colleges cater for that age group and people give out about those competitions.
A lot of u23s are just not around for summer months, they are away, trying to earn a few euro.
Better prospect would be senior B, but that's not going to feed into the county pot

THird level colleges arent doing it.
UCG has freshers (U19), Senior, Intermediate and junior mens teams. The college has 19,000 students - with about 5/6000 gaa players. Senior is for county players only and intermediate is for senior club players mostly. They have to train year round to make these teams.

@Tirawleybaron - last years UCG team. Senior intercounty only?
UG (Galway unless stated): J Egan (St. James’s); J McMonagle (Castlebar, Mayo), C Mulligan (St. Patrick’s, Sligo), C Murray (Mountbellew); R Fallon (St. Bridgid’s, Roscommon), C Hernon (Bearna), J O’Neill (St. James’s); S Hansberry (Menlough), J McLoughlin (Moycullen); M Moughan (Moycullen), M Thompson (Salthill), B Cogger (Corofin); L O Conghaile (Spiddal), C O Curraoin (Michael Breathnach), R O’Donoghue (Belmullet, Mayo).

Subs: E Colleran (Padraig Pearse’s, Roscommon) for Thompson (35); D Lowry (Moate, Westmeath) for Hernon (37); T O’Flaherty (Aghamore, Mayo) for O’Neill (50); S McGrath (Dunmore) for Hansberry (52).

A handful of inter county. With some u20s. I am surprised with how much Galway players dominate the team though. Possibly easier to commit when not having to travel back home to club?

There is no way there are 5-6000 GAA players among student body. 4000 international students brings it to 15000 Irish. Assume 50% male - 7,500. Hurlers, Rugby players, soccer players other sports and non sporting types...500-600 or at a push 1000 id say. Still they could run a decent standard of internal competition by faculty id say. I did think when I was in college that a GAA society as well as a GAA club would have been a good social football outlet for those not as strong

Catcol, I belive some names have already got the call from Andy and some might surprise you but so ve getting closer to your magic number 10

It's probably a lot better if surrounding clubs to Westport could get some help with pick at underage and senior.

Some players are on a GAA scholarship to collages.
If you were playing for Mayo and not in a scholarship would you bother playing with them?

Outside of the Boot.
If you’re right, Andy didn’t waste any time in acting and maybe laying down a marker. But of course if he, like us, want to see new faces, then lads have to make room for them.

No time in the new game for converted midfielders in the half forward line.
Either a scorer or scavanger is necessary like Jason Doherty and Kevin mcloughlin.
I know O'Connor from Kerry was different but he really played midfield.

In the new game with the new rules - where putting up a big score is necessary to win most big games - I think you now need 4 "natural" forwards and at most 2 work horses up front.
This year we had the opposite with only 2 "natural" forwards and 4 work horses up front.

Colleges do run inter faculty competitions and that reaches down to the casual player who keeps himself fit and enjoys a kick about.
I'm sure Andy is pencilling in potentials but contacting some names and leave others guessing would be very unprofessional. Not Andys style. The pressure games in club championship have yet to be played

I must say huge congratulations to Ballintubber on winning the U16A. I dunno is there an uptick in Ballintubber pick? Seen 28 players togged in the match day team photo.

There's no way that Andy is letting players go before the club championship is over. Doesn't make sense on any level.

Ballintubber covers a huge area so every so often they will produce a team with big numbers, great achievement for them its been a long time since they won a A underage title.

Junior championship preview pod up now on Patreon. Senior and Intermediate preview shows are on the way soon too.

Intermediate preview pod up now. Senior one is on its way too. There's also a taster of the Junior pod up on all platforms as a freebie.

I'm sure Andy and Boyler will be delighted to hear no change in management, and extra couple of years granted on the Galway side of the border, will be gunning for a lash at them in Connaught championship I'd imagine.

I don't know if it will be universally welcomed in certain quarters in Galway though.

Senior preview pod is up now as well so that's close to three hours of audio to get your collective teeth into!

On the Road and JP
Ballintubber Club does perhaps cover a big geographic area – stretching from Ballyglass to Killawalla a distance of 20K approx. However it is extremely narrow (2.5K) due to being bordered by Lough Carra (4,000 acres of Water) and neighbouring Clubs, Hollymount, Mayo Gaels, Balla, Breaffy, Castlebar Mitchells, Islandeady, Westport and Tourmakeady. Also the Parish is very sparsely populated with only 1 major Supermarket business, Corrigan’s of Ballintubber. While at present there is a very welcome glut of players in their mid-teens many of the small National Schools in the Parish are struggling for numbers and perhaps at least one is facing closure. The National Schools in Breaffy, Castlebar and Westport would have at least four or five times the number of School pupils than the total in the Parish of Burriscarra/Ballintubber.
Every 20 years or perhaps once in a generation, a rural club may be lucky enough to produce a bunch of really good players. That is what has happened with the current Ballintubber U16 crop. The last major underage titles won by Ballintubber were Under 16 A titles in 2003 & and 2005 and a County Minor A in 2004. Superb Coaching and Management has seen the current crop win the U15 league 2024, the Féile under 15 Mayo Competition 2025, and the West Mayo Under 16A and County Under 16A titles. They are proving their worth and we pray it will continue.
As an aside to the above – two Ballintubber U16 players kicked five two pointers in last Sundays game despite the monsoon conditions that prevailed on occasions. Strange that some Intercounty forwards can’t kick even one! We are Ballintubber.

Congrats Ballintubber. Great to see! The club in Mayo I feel closest to …long family connections to the area, Ballyglass in particular.

Some really interesting comments on Urban/Rural challenges and I’d echo those who say it’s a topic to be covered by the Let’s Talk About Mayo.

Player pathways and development at club level feeds into the county system. We need as many fellas playing as possible in well organised, competitive competitions. As Seán B alluded to, the logistics could be tricky but no more than divisional football, it should be done for the betterment of Mayo football.

Joyce back for another 3 years, Divilly gone. Dont think another Connacht title means anything at this stage unless its linked to some seeding in whatever new rules there are for 2026. Maybe someone is coming in to coach with Joyce, we will see an announcement soon. I wouldnt be delighted PJ got another 3 years but there is no point in making changes where there is no clear alternative and he deserves a change in luck around injuries but it remains to be seen if he will get it.
It appears as of today that Kerry have moved ahead with injuries forcing their hand and up popped a number of new players. Jack has taken a new term only because he sees more All Irelands to be won, the Dubs will be back but not immediately. Ulster was shown as not as good as people thought with Kerry lads I know saying they won Ulster as well as Sam.

@Chesneychet

It's ok because you won't win 5 connachts in a row anyway ..

Mad that PJ has been given such a long extension.
Can't see Galway winning Sam under him . They are an ageing team.

Every team gets injuries we know that ourselves. We must have the worst luck with injuries also. Though if you don't have a big panel and get injuries you are screwed. Hopefully Andy will be bringing in some new faces especially from under 20s and I think he will .

Dubs I think will be back is well . Though they are rebuilding as are we . Mayo need to be patient and give Andy time to sort out the mess after the last 3 years.

A three year extension means nothing really.
If things went bad for Galway next year - the reality is Joyce would probably step away himself - or would be "asked" to step away.
If Galway could get a proper defensive structure in place - they wouldn't be far off it. They put up some big scores this year - but also conceded big scores

But big scores - not from Mayo.

@Sean Hallinan, thanks for your detailed response post. I recall you posting in the past a great reply post on Ballintubber always togging and coaching as strong as they can at each grade.

Yes JP. That has been our philosophy in the Club this past score of years. Ballintubber would never play in the lower Divisions, 2 & 3 if they had the ability to be competitive in Division 1. Castlebar Mitchell’s were always the yardstick. Match Mitchell’s and then you need not fear anyone in the County.
And success begets success. In ’07 we won a County Intermediate title. In ’08 and ’09 – we won Under 21 “A” Titles and in 2010 and 2011 Moclair Cups. Young couples went out and celebrated those victories! They went home early – the rest is history. We are reaping the benefit now!

And no better way to celebrate.... fair play to them!

Joyce is a god in Galway and rightly so.
Very poor decision making against Armagh, started by parading Kelly .
If he had left Finnerty on for frees only they would have won.
A Meath great said he would never put his hands up to be taken off , even with a serious injury.
.