I listened to the Pod.
The logistics of setting up a second club in Castlebar ie a third club in the Parish are unrealistic.
There is no desire for it in the town that I am aware of.
In the mid Seventies both Castlebar and Westport were almost non existent in GAA terms.
Aiden o Shea compares Tralee with 3 clubs to Castlebar with 2 but forgets that Tralee has twice the population.
In the future I unfortunately think that there will be a lot of amalgamations of rural clubs.

JP
How the hell are they unrealistic, the town has 12 thousand people.Why are you comparing the 70s to the 2020s.If I am not mistake Castlebar won 2 County Titles in the 70s and are sitting 2nd in the Roll of Honour.
Logistics?? Most small rural clubs in Mayo were formed in the 70s when there was far less money around.How do you know there is no desire for it , if you ask the parents and players playing for Mitchels 2nd teams in the lower divisions of Bord na Og you will find they would prefer a 2nd club or the town be divided.
The other thing is you are losing alot more players in a town this size cause they are not getting enough football especially in there younger year of underage in which they cant make the team due to the competition and high number of players while in a smaller club they get football for 2 full years.

Not realistic to get facilities within the town for another club.
Castlebar went 6 years in a row in the Seventies without winning a first round championship game.
A lot of big towns are struggling in the GAA.
Last year Navan with a population of 33k had no player at minor,u 20 , senior or St Pats college team.
2 Clubs in the town one Senior and one Intermediate, both made no impact in the championship in the last few years.
I think there should be a B championship for second teams in Senior clubs.

Castlebar Westport Ballina....
Definitely Dublin county

@JR agree with you..it is not realistic. Also agree that it is not realistic to get facilities for another club in castlebar.

Sure weren't they going making pitches in Lannagh before the Bohola land was granted?
If look at Foireann data for U12s, I'd imagine it would be easier to run two clubs and sustain playing numbers longer term as lads would get plenty of game time in and around Westport with their 73 U12s than it would be to amalgamate Kiltane, Ballycroy and Kilcommon with a combined total of I think 29 U12s between them. You'd spend some time driving to training over that swarth of land.

I see what people are trying say when mention Navan, but the demographics of Navan are completely different to towns in western side of country as it's a Dublin commuter belt. A lot of people reside there, but may not necessarily "live" there, and go back to there home club for training matches etc. in last census >28% of Navan residents country of birth was outside Ireland, while many of this cohort will integrate and join GAA clubs a lot won't and are living there committing to Dublin. That figure is about 50% higher than likes of Ballina I think.

Meath as a whole has had a huge demographic shift over past few decades, which likely a factor in their decline IMO. Currently just 32% of Meath residents were born in the county, Compared to Cork that had the highest percentage at 72% and Mayo 66%. (For census purposes, a person's place of birth is recorded as the place where their mother lived at the time of their birth).

Baring in mind the above Rathoath in Meath as another example, 52% are Dublin born!

@Guzmobobs GAA in large towns is in disarray in most counties.
Mayo seems to be bucking the trend as is Kildare.
We have lost the TV battle to Rugby and Soccer .
Even FAI games are presented in a very professional way.
Headquarters should employ a number of PR people to promote our games.
You can hear about Cricket on the morning sport but not a word about GAA.

Our neighbors Galway Had a very low average league attendance last year despite their team being on the up.
GAA is in trouble on a number of fronts .

@Jr: The focus there seems to be on towns/teams being successful, either in producing county players or in winning trophies. The concern around this isn't around teams doing well (or not), it's far more fundamental on keeping more/as many as possible folks playing the game at all as a result of these shifts (global shifts - but on the West Coast we're among those on the coal face feeling those global trends at extreme local levels).

"In recent years, the GAA has seen a significant trend within the youth population indicated by a decline in the level of participation. This is denoted by a 49% drop off rate between the 12 - 17 year age groups." (2019)
https://www.gaa.ie/my-gaa/getting-involved/super-games-centers

"2013 ESRI research "Keeping them in the game" revealed dropout rates in GAA were 75% between the ages of 21 and 26 in football and 60% in hurling and camogie because of lost interest." (2013)
https://www.esri.ie/system/files/publications/RS33.pdf (the fact that we're still referring back to '13 data here is alarming in & of itself)

We've had major issues with dropouts from GAA in the last couple of decades, but there have been national issues with dropout from sport full stop too. It's not simply other sports trying to eat a larger share of a small pie of players, it's the pie actively shrinking as our populations merge towards larger urban areas and folks simply not participating in sports in as large numbers any more. This has (fairly dramatic) impacts on our health system, on community building & on societal issues that go way beyond simply a single urban GAA club or GAA in general.

Splitting up urban areas into multiple teams won't solve the incredibly difficult issues facing so many of our rural clubs, who are entering into greater turmoil & periods with way more amalgamations on the horizon. It will however increase the number of spaces available for those folks, now consolidated more and more to urban areas, to actively play ball. There's no comparison in the investment or buy-in a player gives to playing on a 1st or 2nd team for a smaller club compared to the 4th or 5th team at a larger club. There are orders of magnitude in the difference.

Clubs like Mitchels or Westport might not have an appetite for changes like this, but it's the reality we & they find ourselves in with a necessity for change to happen. Liked or not. We're well beyond 'if' changes are needed, the question at this point is how drastic do they need to be and what exactly they might look like.

How does one go about getting Foireann data Gizmobobs…?

I agree participation is very important.A real problem is holding on to lads from 16 to 22.
It is a major problem with a lot of sports.
The LOI soccer clubs will discard you at 16 if you are not making it.
Are we better with a smaller number of stronger clubs.
It may not happen in my time but amalgamations are inevitable.
Ironically a lot of small clubs came from breakaways.

I personally think that the comments around Castlebar/Westport not having an appetite for a second club are examples of turkeys not wanting to vote for Christmas. A second club in Westport could possibly make Westport weaker, or maybe Westport will start to bring through more talent? Their squad has seen little to no fresh faces since their 2022 win, which is not what I would expect from a club who regularly find themselves in Minor A semis and finals.

Take the Westport u12 figures mentioned by @Gizmobobs above. 73 players! Insane numbers. If you cut them in two then you still have a healthy 37 and 36 each. Lets assume that uptake in the new club isnt super to begin with, you could still have a 50-23 split. I dont know many rural clubs that would have 23 lads at u12s, never mind the second club in the town.

Any new club would need backing from the county board, which may be an issue at the moment given our current financial situation, but the GAA always seems to land on its feet.

Build it and they will come. Of those 73 lads in Westport's u12s, how many will stay playing until u18? How many will fade away in the next 2-3 years because they were a late developer and saw little to no gametime at u12-u14 level? Thats the real kicker here. People talk about wanting to win All-Irelands, we're shooting ourselves in the foot by letting hundreds of players slip through the cracks in these huge urban clubs.

We should start with Westport and Castlebar. Both of those towns need another club. And dont leave it to Castlebar Mitchels/Westport St Patrick's to decide, because they will shoot the idea down in an instant.

GAA great at taking in modern technology when it suits. I.e. cashless payment, Hawkeye etc. But still wants to stick to bygone parish boundaries . Agree with limitations regarding transfers from club to club but at underage should be given maximum opportunity to play. Then perhaps at minor level you stick or twist with your club . Obviously not a free for all but not gone on parish boundaries. Also Westport had a emerging 2nd club in the early 90s but the powers that be in the club shut it down. I.e. Aughagower.

Logistics of a second club in towns are difficult because of the price of land and infrastructure.
Also clubs need lots of volunteers, County board funds it difficult to run it's own affairs never mind second clubs in big towns.

@JR, you make a number of valid points, re loding the TV battle to Soccer and Rugby, is the Gaa HQ partly to blame for this ? by bringing in this new "Gaa Go" system, it reminds me of the Premiership in England ( but this is a Professional game ).

There is no simple answer in trying to level the playing fields, ie, some Rural areas not having 15 or 20 players and bigger towns with too many players.

But I can tell you this, it obviously depends on the players but there is little or no point or enjoyment in kids playing at C or D level, ie 3rd or 4th teams in a club, standard is poor etc.

Very interesting topic.
I do believe smaller clubs are getting smaller and big clubs are getting bigger.

As for having another club in Castlebar or Westport it's very difficult because where are you going to get a new chairman, secretary, treasurer etc because lots of young people don't want to do these jobs.

Everyone already has there own identity you either Ballina man or The Neale man etc.

@Michael Moran good post.

Your 100% right there. Can't see a 2nd club ever startimg in castlebar. I just think it's unrealistic as @JR has said.

@OnThe Fence, I agree with you. I can think it’s actually vital that some change occurs swiftly in the urban areas with large numbers at u12. The only horse I have in the race is Mayo. I’m not with any club in Mayo so I’m completely neutral. So the question for me is what’s best for Mayo? The answer is more fellas playing for longer but also greater numbers being exposed to higher standards. I’m a huge advocate of Divisional Football, I’ve argued it on here for years and I believe it’s a really significant factor in the success in Kerry. I’ve often cited their Sam Maguire winning captains being from junior clubs. Darren O’Sullivan. Declan O’Sullivan. Would lads like this have made it to the Mayo senior team? Statistically it’s far more difficult to do so. We have far less intercounty players from junior clubs because we our system fails to maximise our talent pool. Kerry’s does the opposite.

So what if it impacts on junior clubs fixtures. Get on with it. Are top players not entitled to a chance to make it at the very top for Mayo or because they’re from Ballycroy, Achill or Kilmovee they’re destined to linger in junior football forever. Never to be afforded an opportunity to fulfil their potential?? It’s only a rare gem that makes it through from smaller clubs.

Divisional football is an absolute no-brainer for me. Logistics and the selfishness of clubs shouldn’t be allowed to stand in the way of improving the overall standard of footballer in Mayo. The more players then that break through onto a Mayo senior set up from a junior club the better it is for everyone, including that junior club because it inspires others in that club. It shows that there’s a genuine pathway to play for Mayo. As things stand, that’s not there. Potential talent from junior and weaker intermediate clubs have an altogether tougher task at getting a crack with Mayo than lads do playing senior club. Mayo GAA’s structure is failing these players and it’s negating our chances of winning All Irelands.

I understand that setting up a new club in say, Castlebar would be very difficult but what about redrawing boundaries to allow Islandeady, Breaffy, Parke more ‘territory’? Or what about if you split a club in half? Have two teams from Mitchell’s in say, the u16A championship and all the way up to adult football. I’ve not thought this one through so it could be daft, but split them by alphabetical order (by surnames from u8 up, so families are always together) and they play Mitchell’s Red or mitchells Yellow. You’re essentially two clubs within a club.

I’m not sure how one would go about making up a new club in a town. So while that would be the ideal ‘wave a magic wand’ scenario, I think Mayo GAA need to think up some novel ideas. Think outside the box.

It is 99% certain that no new clubs will be formed within the big towns in the county. In salthill /knocknacarra gaa club in galway they had FIVE under 12 teams in 2024. The executive would not allow the club to be split because they are only interested in winning all the titles. A solution could be that the parish rule not be enforced in the big towns in underage football. This would allow a young lad not making the castlebar u 14 team to move to breaffy, Parke or islandeady club. Land is now too expensive to even dream of setting up a new club. I think the divisional teams should be introduced in MAYO football again.

Id agree with that Jimbo. The amount of kids in the S/K kids academy is insane. Absolutely massive numbers. GAA is huge in Galway city and the surrounding suburbs. This is why teams like Moycullen, Claregalway and Oranmore are progressing rapidly and winning much more.

Back to more important matters (Mayo!), that’s not a bad idea too. Co board must come up with a plan that allows more kids access to higher grades football.

Divisional football should absolutely be reinstated.

Many Clubs in Mayo are under serious financial strain driving by payments to the county board €10k, Senior team Mgt €15k , Physios €10k , Grounds Maintenance €25k , insurance €5k, underage €15k, Facility spends (esb, water etc) 20k , capital projects €25 , total roughly €125k = €2.5k a week. This is basic expenditure with no nice to haves.

Many clubs have 5 or 6 that do the majority of the fund raising along with running the club.
There is very little help from the county board only get on with it and gives us our money.
These people that do this fundraising run the club see no benefit from there work and there patience is running very thin. The GAA hierarchy need to respect and look after these people or the association will become like English soccer big clubs with players/management/ owners having no connection to the area paid absurd amounts of money & the end to the voluntary ethos the GAA was founded on .

@Jimbo that is why if a decision is made, its important to not leave it up to the other club(s) already existing in the town. Turkeys wont vote for Christmas.

@Mayonaze, that Mitchels Red/Mitchels Yellow proposal doesnt fix the issue that once players enter adult football, they have nowhere to play.

I personally believe that a second club in Castlebar and Westport isnt as impossible as people here make it out to be. A club needs 1 pitch and a clubhouse to get started. Mayo GAA owns Mulvey Park, there could possibly even be some agreement in place that a new club in Castlebar could use one of those pitches to get off the ground?

This is one of those things where the longer we talk about how difficult it will be, the more difficult we make it. Its much easier to kick the can down the road than get things started. Focusing on Westport for a minute - surely there is an appetite in Aghagower to form their own club?

As for the comments about who will be the chairman, secretary etc...well how did your GAA club get its first secretary? Everyone has to start somewhere!

@Jimbo Are Castlebar and Breaffy not the same parish.

@Jr. Yes they are the same parish but the townies all play with the Mitchels. Similarly in westport an under 14 player not on their under 14 team should be allowed play with the kilmeena club if the player wants to.

I don’t think the “born in another county” stat adds up to much. No kids for example in Roscommon will be born in Roscommon due to their being no hospital there anymore. Many in south Mayo will have births registered as Galway as they use the regional hospital there. Same for Meath as many will choose to have children born in various maternity hospitals in the Dublin region.

When Mayo faced Meath in 1996, Mayo had a slightly higher population than Meath. Now Meath have approx 83,000 more residents than us. Much of that is down to spill over of people from Dublin. Kildare also has this and you’d think will benefit them going forward.

The Castlebar boundaries as far as I’m aware are tight. 12k population but is much more than that when you add in surrounding areas. Breaffy is practically a suburb of Castlebar. Then you have Islaneady and Parke to the east and west of the town.

Amalgamation has happened recently (Holly/Carra) and is not already straight forward. Underage amalgamation is common enough. Garrymore and Kilmaine (Carras) and Davitts and Mayo Gaels have recently amalgamated at underage level (up to u16 I believe?)

The demographic problem is not the big towns. Gaelic games are not at risk there, but they definitely are in peripheral rural areas where many clubs are struggling and indeed in danger of folding. Look at all the amalgamations and cooperations at under age, particularly recent ones.
This is not going to get better in the short or medium term. If a club folds, it’s gone. But, to go back to the bigger towns and clubs, they are adept at picking up the good young players in their hinterlands who might/should be playing with the rural club. Parish and club boundaries are less well known now than once on a time, and ambitious parents perhaps without a club loyalty will bring their children to the bigger clubs.

Going off tangent here with a request , anyone got a match programme from 2016 under 21 final in Ennis or match ticket stub or both , ill give ya a few quid for them .

Regional teams for me, but play their competitions during the inter county season and not the club season.

The idea is that the Regional Teams would take the responsibility of developing players for the county team away from the clubs, and allow them to focus on providing the best possible experience for all their players. At the moment clubs are responsible for providing both those things and imo it's too much. They are trying to cater to both the 1% who play county and the 99% who don't. It's too much. Take the seriousness out the club game and let them focus on providing an enjoyable experience for all.

I agree with the idea of divisional teams but just not sure how to fit it into the calendar. Would need to see how the Kerry model works.

Underage is a big problem with bigger numbers in some clubs. in Sligo, clubs with bigger numbers typically feed two and sometimes three teams. Some clubs go with stronger and weaker teams whereas others almost go by age group, oldest in top league and younger on the second age group. The goal should be to maintain engagement as far as possible, players will drift away for different reasons but you want to encourage playing as long as possible rather than making it easy if not being able to get game time due to numbers.

The focus on winning at underage can come at the expense of development. Too often, clubs who have it easy underage do not develop resilience to overcome challenges at senior level. Coolera Strandhill in Sligo have a poor record underage but have now won back to back county titles.

Any reports from siggerson games this week ? Qf draw ?

How confident are people really that Mayo won't avoid the drop this year? I have major fears it won't go well

@Sean Burke
The Irish Examiner online site has a comprehensive Sigerson round up.
Match reports on all the games including teams and scorers.
Lots of Mayo lads in action this week.

Could be a very yo-yo league , could be a lot of inconsistent results win one week lose the next could be a trend throughout or some teams could be completely unprepared for new rules compared to others , it’s got madness written all over it . My hunch is Kerry will relish new rules , rossies think will be the surprise package this year , 11/4 to win div 2 is the value bet of the leagues , put your winnings on Kerry to win Sam at a canter . Our bucks are 7/4 to be relegated if yer interested ,

@Sean - a link to the examiners article on the draw. @Mind the House beat me to the punch :)

https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/arid-41555230.html

Grma

Yew tree, that data isn't based on which county your literally born. It's based on the county your maternal mother lives in i.e. your home house at time of birth, so if you were born in Sligo hospital but your parents live and raise you in Roscommon you'd be counted as a Rossie.

One simple solution is for the County board to step in and impose strict boundaries for all 3 urban gaa club Mitchels, Westport, Ballina and Claremorris and fine clubs for playing players from outside there own parish.
Claremorris take players from the Crossboyne parish which is Garrymore and Ballina take players from Ardnaree.

Mayo parish map
https://www.johngrenham.com/browse/county_civil.php?county=Mayo

In this weeks Connacht Telegraph on Page 56 and 57 Dr Richard Martin has a very comprehensive article "Mayo Gaelic football - "A story of mediocrity, banality and failure". I would urge contributors to read it as I consider it hits the nail on the head as regards current standards pertaining in our clubs and at Mayo Senior level.
Population numbers in a given club area in my opinion matter little. Standards, Dedication, Motivation, Bonding, "Pride of Place" and Quality Coaching...Coaching...Coaching from a young age mean much more.
P.S - The idea of a second Senior Club in Castlebar Town - "McHales" would surely excite but the down side is that the rivalry would be so intense that one or other would probably win the title every year!

Achill75 - Garrymore do take crossboyne but share an another parish with Hollymount. You have some roads where houses side by side play for different clubs. South Mayo is very mixed up. Drive out the Ballinrobe Road from Claremorris and it’s really mixed up between 3 or 4 different clubs.

Yew tree
Why should a town the size of Claremorris with lots of housing estates already has a big parish area and already takes players from the Knock and Crossboyne parishes and dominates South Mayo underage year after year because of there high numbers take players from other parishes while neighbouring clubs like Garrymore and Mayo Gaels have to almalgamate with Kilmaine and Davitts.
My point is a strict parish rule should be brought in to police the 4 big towns, Mayo CB dont really use it while in Kerry they do.

South Mayo as I understand it
Claremorris- Kilcolman parish
Garrymore -Crossboyne and half of Roundfort
Hollymount -Robeen and half of Roundfort
Carramore- Taugheen parish
Mayo Gaels- Mayo Abbey parish
Davitts- Kilvine parish

https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/arid-41312953.html#:~:text=In%20simple%20terms%2C%20Rule%2020,means%20of%20safeguarding%20smaller%20clubs.

Just think - only a few sleeps to go until the team for Dublin is named.

Having coached at underage for the last 20 years at underage in one of the “larger” town clubs I see the challenges as ;
-Every club wishes to win titles as their first priority ( even if they won’t admit it publicly)
- secondly they wish to have maximum participation at all age groups
- in our club we start with v high numbers at u8/10 and then numbers reduce significantly after u14 level due to the lack of competitive games, focus on winning ( leaving players on the bench at their age group and playing younger “better lads )
-and more participation offered from other sports in particular rugby , soccer and basketball

So I don’t see larger clubs in any way promoting new clubs to be established in their towns, why would they?
I don’t see facilities as an issue, I see this as as red herring being put forward as an excuse. Clubs could share pitches and facilities in the initial years of formation if they were serious about if

Mayo man for Life
Totally agree, the amount of talent that has been lost in Castlebar and Claremorris down through the decades.Some top underage footballers who didnt even get to play Senior Championship for there club.

@Achill75: Fascinating to see that map. I'm not sure if I've ever seen one even half that detailed before.

Huge aside to the much more important point at hand here... but wondering if you've (or anyone else has) any knowledge or thoughts on what led to the separations in some of the parish boundaries visible there?

(Ballintober is broken into 2 with a section of Islandeady & Aghagower breaking up the land areas and Islandeady broken into two with a section sitting to the west of Kilmaclasser & Aghagower. Kilmanebeag & Kilmanemor in a similar position, probably even more striking given a section of Kilmanebeag is in the heart of the Shrule parish. Ballinchalla, Kilcummin & Killala similarly broken again.

Intuitively it makes no sense whatsoever... though rationally it's likely trying to balance populations/demands on parish services back in the day or something of that nature)

@Achill 75 , you cannot compare Castlebar with Claremorris.
Claremorris have had great underage teams since the early Seventies but have failed to be really competitive at senior level.
Castlebar a different story.
I just hope this new crop of very talented footballers from Claremorris are not lost to the game.

The Cross game rescheduled for Sunday 26th January, 13:30.

https://x.com/fotoole13/status/1880231734228525489

@ Achill 75, Beautiful Map

Achill75, what about the two half Parish Rule, ie some of the Parishes on the may are half Parishes and make up the one main Parish.

https://www.johngrenham.com/places/rc_map_county.php?county=Mayo

Think thats a better version map for Gaa clubs.Parishes arent divided in that one

I think it will be a bit of a shambles playing the NFL game in Croke Park the evening before the Crossmolina game.
The pitch markings will be bazaar.
But don't upset the Dubs.

Don't upset the Dubs? What are you saying?
The Dub v Mayo match should be postponed because of Crossmolina match? or should be moved elsewhere? where?

Sigerson, Freshers, schools and hurling matches not using the new markings (all 3 lines) are all firing ahead on pitches with them without anything shambolic or any players or fans finding it bazaar.

Wouldn't expect players or fans to give it a second thought.

Exactly Tsu, the teams have been training on marked pitches for weeks.

Looking forward to the games next week. Hotel booked. Time get on road again.

Is this the club boundaries map?

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MAYO_FOOTBALL_CLUB_GAA_MAP.png

Should be played in Parnell Park

Get our boys into Croker….the exposure we’ve had to the place has dropped significantly in recent years so a venue or players were very familiar with is now quite novel. It’s not good and reflects the drop off we’ve had so I’m happy to see Mayo lads in Croker as much as possible.

Some really good debate on the club situations and fuel for several podcasts I think. There’s huge interest in it and most Mayo supporters I speak with would be strong advocates of reintroducing divisional teams. The benefit is significant and it would massively aid Mayo’s cause. It should be made work.

@OntheFebce, I meant that yellow red split to include adult levels. Obviously an entirely new club would be preferable.

@SeánHallinan…I’m looking forward to reading that article. Is it available online?

@Jr: There's very valid and positive reasons to have Dublin's NFL games played in Parnell Park (atmosphere & fairness of access to the national stadium primary among them), just as there are fairly obvious reasons it's highly unlikely to happen (loss of gate receipts and sponsorship revenue for Croker will tend to win that debate).

No valid conversation around that should feature a mention of pitch markings or other specific games (there's a Junior Final and a hurling match on the Saturday along with the Intermediate Final on the Sunday).

By necessity there will be lots of changes for the game against Dublin.
I am not too worried about the results or indeed the league.
New players could emerge that suit the new rules.
I understand Refs are touting for challenge games as it is all new to them as well.
I don't think the new rules envisaged the goalie making it 12 v 11.
Could be changed after the league.

Watched first game of new u20 season in McHale Palr this afternoon. Heard from lads in the local club that Mayo were playing Kildare in a challenge game. Mayo played into a very strong wind in the first half with Kildare having the advantage into the Albany end. While a youthful Mayo side with many of last years squad currently still playing freshers and school football not involved , score 7 one pointers into the wind and had most of the possession , Kildare used the wind well and scored 5 two pointers to lead at half time 13-7. Both sides made numerous changes in the second half and what was remarkable was that that wind also died down to a light breeze which made two pointers for Mayo very difficult ( I think we scored only one). Kildare went on to win comfortably in the second half . Overall the new rules highlighted that if there is a wind , take it in the first half in case it changes as the game progresses! Also there is definitely more space with 3 on 3 battles more evident on the fast transition , two pointers will be crucial and setting up shooters outside the arc will be key to winning , and a well drilled KO strategy is also critical. From a Mayo perspective they used all their available panel and got a good look at what’s available . I also counted 9-10 lads from last year that we’re not available today.

Mayo man for life, thanks for the update. Kildare likely in same boat with lads on college teams.

Seniors played Westmeath today as well.

Jesus I hope the gut feeling I get on two pointers is wrong , I just dont know if we have them type of players compared to other teams .
You need a right good boot on ya for that distance and let’s be honest it’s not really our specialist area .

Sean Burke, I'm of a similar mind to you. Hope Im wrong but I think the 2 pointer will be the difference between winning and losing a lot this year, and mayo footballers just aren't programmed that way for the most part. (Lord help is if anything happens to Ryan O'Donghue)I look around at some of the other contenders this year and think they will benefit hugely from the new rule

You would think it's now or never for a renowned shooter like Paul Towey, if he isn't starting the first few league games at this stage with those rules then he may throw his hat at it

I hear that Kerry traveled to Maynooth to play Meath .
Meath put a development squad out and we're hammered.
Meanwhile the Meath team were playing Galway.
Jack O'Connor was not impressed.
Getting rid of preseason tournaments was a disaster.

Not sure makes much difference really JR, sure didn't we send our first team to play a challenge and another set of lads to play/fulfill an FBD game? Some weren't even in training with the development panel just brought in for fixture of I recall correctly.
So it's pretty much as you were, bar people don't get to actually see one or two games of preseason. The players are playing plenty of games.
We've played who so far Monaghan, Roscommon, Westmeath, Cork cancelled last week, was there couple others I can't recall

Does anyone know if mayo dublin game is on tv?

Tg4 I think

Hopefully O'Cofaigh-Beirne and Con take a few weeks off.

Some shift in that first half , I hope this is also a warning to the masses who have keep writing dubs off as contenders , if we had them two boys we’d be dreaming of Sam on that alone . Con o Callaghan is still top top drawer , o Cofaigh Byrne is a beast .

Agree Dubs are still in there and in the mix would not write them off at all..

With guys missing for us next week hard to see how we will do not important the league it's for trying out new guys and so long as we come good in championship.. Not to bothered if we don't do well in league.

Hi Mayonaze,

Yes the article by Dr Richard Martin is on the Connacht Telegraph Facebook Page. Sorry for not replying sooner.

The doc has his fingers on the pulse pretty well there, fair play to him.

That article; what a rambling, messy load of…
Putting ‘smaller’ in inverted commas says all about the author’s (or the editor’s) level of real knowledge of clubs. So often, the CT has a snide and disrespectful approach to Mayo GAA.
Anyone who hasn’t read it, don’t bother looking for it.

@Lionel totally agree on that.. I did not bother reading it as knew it would be disrespetful. Click bait article.

Think the timing of the game on sat is a bit unfair to mayo 7.30 in evening like... Guessing the team are not staying over night either..

I'd imagine they will be Clare, usually do. It's not like poor Leitrim and Down relying on trains or lift shares.

@Gizmobobs yeah thats true good point...!

wonder will con be playing for the Dubs next week you would think they would rest him but with him in flying form they might.

@Clare all about TV, not very fair on Derry in Castlebar last year.

New pod up now on Patreon - Mike with Colm Boyle and Colm Keys previewing the League and the Dublin game.

Colm Keyes summed us up well-- too predictable.
Great to hear him on the Podcast.