Is this a shock to the system or a welcomed release for McStay not to have any more competitive games before the league.
He can now arranging a few challenge matches and see how players have come back from the long layoff
Mind you looking at the poor fare on offer in the county final I wouldn't have any great expectation for the coming season...

I just saw mcstay post interview he was like we were dissapointed not to be invved next weekend but the guys got a good work out that we wanted to have a look at..

He also did it gives us more time to concentrate on ourselves and not to have so many games before the league but he also said guys that played today didn't show their full potential.

Probably nerves but also young to.

Not the end of the world onwards and upwards hopefully haha.

Willie Joe made a good point in the previous post. Like last year, we did a lot of lateral passing today.
Its only the first game back but by the end of the league I really hope we have abandoned this nonsense. Last year, it was awful stuff to watch and a huge indicator of how bad our tactics were.

It is early days yet, London beat a totally new inexperience outfit today,no worries.
Kevin McStay has a big job on his hands with the absence of so many quality players retired, and the quality on offer in the Country Final, the worst since Ballintubber won their first.
He has to put his stamp on this team, adopt a Jack Charelton approach, put them under pressure in the opponents half, cut out this Nancy boy style of rubbish of over and back across the pitch.
Push Swanee O Hora further up the field, he is quite capable of beating his man and making inroads and laying off the ball
We have to change or we are going nowhere.
This is not a place for fancy dans.

The learnings I'd say we have from end of last year and a 1 match insight yesterday.
We are totally ineffective when we move to that mix of run it and lateral and backwards passing.
Doubling down on quick counter attacking defenders won't work as they'll simply get coralled out to the sidelines.
We need to have better kickpassers at wing back. When those wingbacks get a 80% shot or pass they need to be nailing it 80% of the time, not fluffing it down around 50/60%.
These need to be heads up footballers. Yes, you might have a 25 yard solo with the ball open to you, but you might be ignoring a 35 yard kickpass to an open Ryan O'Donoghue or Diarmuid O'Connor.
Until we think like this it's going to be pretty easy all season to just leave our wingbacks open and let them run at a wedge shaped defensive shape.
This is nothing new, we're years not having improved this side of things.
I don't think also we can have anything but powerful athletes either fast or big at jerseys 10 and 12. It creates a boost to the opposition defence if there are players who are no 1 v 1 run threat inside opposition 45. They know that there's likely a layoff pass coming sideways or backwards as the player is incapable of beating the nearest defender. This is why Jordan Flynn is so effective. He providesld a complete threat from the 12 jersey last year. It's just we needed two Jordan Flynns.

@John+McHale

Listening to the McStay after match interview
He already has arranged a few challenge matches and the defeat yesterday means one or two less matches in preparation now and I personally don't think indoor matches is much use for the upcoming outdoor season.

@gizmo

https://www.gaa.ie/highereducation/administration

Posting here too because there are much fewer comments and people might find it easier.

If don't think Mayo would lose to London or New York in the Connacht championship this year in New York I would expect a smaller margin then 5 or 10 years ago. In 2026 Mayo will go to London for the 1st round of the Connacht championship for the 1st time since 2016 unable to the fixture in 2021 due to Covid-19 post-phoned in 2001 due to Foot & Mouth disease.