It felt like the worst game of football ever. Turgid stuff not helped by a dead playing surface and a referee who seemed to have a novel take on black cards.

Hard to watch, a clearly more talented team who just couldn’t get going in the first half. They seemed to have started the 2nd half well but Coolera obviously knew Callinan was the danger with those 2 breaks early in the half and then took him out. Borderline red card but ref bottled it. How he let the Coolera bench make so many calls during the game with giving them cards, I’ll never know.
And I feel sorry for Mike Finnerty having to suffer his co-commentator Tommy Breheny for the entire afternoon, I’ve never heard such biased contribution to a match ever. But he is part of the ‘glitterati’ of Sligo football because he managed a team to win 1 Connacht title, and still dining out on that 17 years later…

Wow , very bitter comments Young fella , it went to penalties !

@Young fella I totally agree on the commentary thought was very biased couldn't stop going on about collera.. I do agree they derseved their win and Ballina made our own downfall but the commentary was a bit sickening if I'm honest.

They did definetly target calinan to.

But sure it is what it is and Ballina lost it the first half sadly but Pearses as I said will beat collera well in final I think.

A bad result for Ballina and Mayo football.
This was a game all setup for a comfortable Ballina win and they blew it. The gloss of winning yet another county title will ring hollow tonight and they've nobody to blame but themselves!

Does anyone need further convincing about the serious decline if Mayo football. Root and branch review is required with a strategic plan if we are not to be many years in the doldrums...

You’re right Young Fella. He was a right pain in the arse.

What happened callinan?
Heard he came off injured which is unlike him

The last time Ballina lost to a Sligo team in a Connacht semi final they went on to win the All Ireland club final the following season.

Are there any alarm bells going off in the Mayo CB at the current state of Mayo club football?

Agreed yew_tree, the tends are worrying for a few years now. Poor club performances couple with poor underage county performances going back 3 or 4 years now do not a healthy future make. Tbf with regards to the club game it has been left to suffer and rot at the alter of a County team that are further away then ever from getting over the line

As regards that Chinese whispers rumour about big name players departing being alluded to here and other forums it seems to be a huge crock of bs, all seems to have stemmed from a twitter account of an 'alleged' mayo fan who seems to be constantly sh1t stirring and causing trouble, have heard nothing from any credible sources on the matter

Sligo football is on the up. A huge amount of work done in the last decade at all levels and football is now being chosen by a lot of young lads over other sports. They also have arguably the best centre of excellence in the province so I would be giving them a bit of credit.

Hope Callinan is ok.
As regards targeting players, that is what winners do.
Hammer the hammer as the Kerry boys say.
No place for boy scouts at this level.
I heard Boyler talk about bringing in a Belmullet midfielder as he thought he had potential and would make the A vB games a real test for our midfielders

@Big Mike
Sligo are an interesting one, go back about 4 years and they were as low as you could get. They didn't win a single game in 2 calendar years under Paul Taylor and there was always the sense that they were a soccer county. Things were at a serious low ebb.

So what changed?
- A bunch of serious volunteers at County board level went away and done a lot of thankless work in getting underage teams in good shape under a coherent management structure all working towards same objectives. Those u20 teams will bear fruit at senior level yet
- summerhill college is now a gaelic football school. This is a biggie. Having a successful school competing well at Hogan cup level reaps huge benefits (look at St Pats Lurgan and their contributions to Armagh gaa)
- center of excellence up and running in double quick time

You can be sure Tony McEntee (and Kevin mcloughlin!) are licking their lips at the prospect of an ambush of Mayo in the connacht championship because it may not be this year or next year but Sligo are coming

Sligo are producing one really good underage forward each year and that will bring you a long way.
What I'm struggling with is the size of our underage forwards. Look at Carey of Pearses, a big forward who can win his own ball turn and score. I want forwards who can throw me out of a pub regardless of my thirst and resistance.
I seen an u16 with a big frame this year, he was around a 6/10 footballer. Like shouldn't we be thinking let's work on the skills of that lad for five years move him to 7/10 which is all he'd need with such size and power.
It's like we want the game to be like 1987.
James Mccarthy was not all that skillful in the pure sense of skills. But he was very effective. MDMA was not skillful, Eoghan O'Gara.
Mayo people I'd reckon are I'd imagine a bit taller than average. Just when you look at graduation photos the height looks on average plenty six footers. Yet we keep togging these small undersized underage teams.

@Jr suppose that's true winners do it doesn't make it right but it's true look at the Dubs the way they do it mayo for a long time mayo have been known as to nice.

Hopefully calinan is alright looked like a heavy hit.
Still so dissapointed thought after least year and the way Ballina flaked out of connaught be differnt this year but same old stuff.

I hope mcstay was watching and has the guys taking Sligo seriously in the connacht championship now if sligo knocked us out first game they could go far.

JP as they say, a good big one will always beat a good little one.

But on the other hand, our best forward by a country mile is Ryan O Donoghue. He is a small man, but he has the heart of a lion.

It's great to have big men, but young players can develop at different times. Some are huge at a young age & don't grow.. other lads are small & have to fight hard to hold their own. But if they have a growth spurt, they could be a far superior player as they've had to do it the hard way.

It's a delicate balance to find no doubt.

I think the issue in Mayo is we are so fixated on running half back type players.
We don't develop tigerish corner backs because its not a glamorous role. A more athletic half back will be shoehorned into a corner back because they can bomb forward. But they are not as good as the tigerish corner back at doing the role they are supposed to be doing. I'd rather see the extra half back used as an impact player in middle 3rd.

@Mayo Focus perhaps there is a reluctance to pick tigerish tight corner backs.
Paraic Joyce completely replaced Galway full back line

A lot of posters on here are very naive about rumours and where they come from,seem to believe the first thing they hear then come on here to spout about it.Serious lack of critical thinking.

The funny thing is they'll never learn and be on here over the next few months with the next false bullshit that someone has fed them.

https://www.westernpeople.ie/sport/gaa/mayo-gaa-should-explore-hosting-other-sports-at-mchale-park_arid-38570.html

Alan Dillion is spot on here McHale park should be holding a share of Connacht Rugby home games and maybe make it available to the Mayo FA if they are to enter a team in the League of Ireland in the near future and it should hold a number of high profile concerts during the Summer months.There is no top level sport to watch in Mayo from August to start of Febuary.
Dillon should also be making a case to the next Government and GAA on a new deal on the McHale Park debt.Kerry Gaa are getting very well looked after by the current government.

Yep perhaps Jr. And in fairness, they have lads who look to be suited to defending with space in front of them. I don't think we have. And it could come back to bite us next season. I'd back McBrien to hold his own. But I'd be skeptical about the others to be honest

After Ballina winning the county for a 2nd time they really needed to go for connaught this year, the pressure was off after beating Knockmore so well in the final. Last year they were really poor against corofin but that was kinda expected after a first county in years. They are a very solid team with no weak line on the team. They had no spark or zip yesterday, it was a tough watch. Not sure if it's a reflection on the county team. Last time a mayo club won connaught (Mitchell's I think) they had only one/two players on the county team.

If club is a reflection of county sure Westmeath will be beating Kilkenny in the Leinster hurling next year. Strong clubs in weaker countries have been beating clubs from stronger counties for years

Corofin were even worse in their match and won Galway with ease but no one in Galway is saying they are in trouble because them and St. Michaels were easily beaten in Connacht.

@size 5 & Paul B yeah totally agree there it's not a reflection on the county team..

Just dissapointing that we can never really get going further or win connacht often in the club scene!

I'd say Paul B is that's because between Galway and Roscommon have been winning both senior and intermediate connacht titles for a good few years .
2015 since the last Mayo club win in senior and 2016 at intermediate .
I'm personally not worried about Corofin losing, in fact some of them lads will be getting a well deserved rest

Kevin Barrett - I've let that comment of yours go up but I've excised from it the overly aggressive bit at the end directed at another contributor (who, in my view, would have done well not to mention this issue at all).

My own position on rumours - and those who peddle them - is well known at this stage and the blog's policy on this doesn't need to be repeated. People are obviously free to post whatever content they want on other platforms, many of which have no restrictions at all in this world where misinformation and outright lying can, literally, get you anywhere.

I know a lot of people are saying Sligo are going in the right direction, and I agree they are. But I still think we are a 15 point better team than them. Albeit if we play the style of last year we will probably just get over the line. Maybe the gap is closing but it’s a very wide gap. I’d be more worried about Roscommon next year, and seeing if we can keep up with Galway.

Green&red, I reckon you are being overly optimistic when you say we are 15 points better than Sligo. Remember this year, they came within a few minutes of beating Galway. I would expect that they will push hard to get promoted to division 2. S & C is improving within the county and recent success are building confidence.

Mikey, I believe if we play the way we can play (against Dublin last year) we are 15 points a better team. But if we continue to play this shite rugby pass the ball across the field stuff we will struggle against London never mind Sligo. I think 90% of people on the blog would agree that management are not maximising the potential of the team and that’s where I’m concerned.

I think with the rule changes we’ll be forced to change our style of play. The rule changes will benefit the likes of O’Shea and o’connor. I think them two plus O’Donoghue is a good forward line. After that we have plenty of athletic players who have good stamina so we have that covered for 5-12. We do need a good midfield partnership, which i think should be flynn and ruane (no idea why that hasn’t been tried since the league in 22). After that we have McHugh who is a very good man marking. McBrien is a good full back so if we could get another tight marking corner back we’d be very competitive (Kieran King?). Just my opinion don’t believe mayo are in a terrible position.

What's the story with so many clubs losing there managers ? Knockmore the latest .

A 15 pt better team would mean you expect our average winning margin in a large dataset of games against Sligo to be 15 pts.
We're not 15 pts better than Sligo.

@Green & Red I'd say we are better then sligo. I don't know about 15 points better though. They are really up and coming and they would love nothing better then to knock us out 1st championship match. We should still beat them though but with us I find we put out our best forward to the top teams and let our guards down for the slightly lower teams then.

That's what I would be worried about. So hopefully we are ready for an ambush.

I was speaking in general, Kevin, not in relation to any specific rumour, still less to any particular one relating to the Mayo team.

Coolera/Strandhill v Ballna was typical of what passes for Gaelic Football (GF) nowadays - so reminiscent of soccer.
It appears that is why the younger generation are so tolerant of the modern GF because the endless, non-contested back and forth is so inculcated in them already.
The Ballina display was embarrassing and sterile and despite a few gutsy performers, lacked focus and wilted under the raucous local support.
They obviously never heard of that rallying-call 'when the going gets tough the tough get going'
Their style of play was a cut-and-paste job which curbs inventiveness, imagination and personal responsibility - all for what!
And then we were later subjected to the 'original of the species' from Wembley.

@Mayo exile I think thats a bit harsh on Ballina obviously I am biased. Though collera set up very defensively and we had no answers and should have not denying that at all.

The end results was 5/4 on penalties so was close enough in the end. In saying that Ballina lost it in the first half and that's no exsuce and Ballina only have themselves to blame. It was a marathon game though they came even a few times. But the better team won end of the day.

Mayo Exile. I agree with you on the borefest that is modern GF but I don't agree that young fellas are so tolerant of it. From young fellas I know that play GF and soccer and rugby they think GF is boring and no fun at all so they have given it up but still play soccer as it's more skilful and rugby because it is more exciting. And rugby players celebrate in the club house after a big game and have a few pints and it's acceptable and they are back training again for a match the following week.

In Tyrone there is a good league and championship is straight knock out. The supporters and players and neutral supporters love it. The championship matches are all proper do or die stuff.

After hearing some of the muck dished out to the Knockmore supporters after their over the top County final celebrations, I'm no one bit sorry they were beaten...

@Johb+mcHake take it your from knockmore soo.. Don't tell me if Knockmore would have won they would not have dished out muck to Ballina either or had 'over the top celebrations as you say'.....

Collera where the better team end of day Ballina have no one but themselves to blame but for you to rather have a sligo team win then a mayo team get far in connacht data it all about the great Ballina /Knockmore rivalry... :l

Agree @ Sam Og. Mc Hale Park should be utilised as much as possible to promote itself as a top class venue and pump some much needed additional money into the grounds to pay off the debt asap.