Very disappointed for the team. They gave it their all, just came up short but deserved a draw. What we talked about on blog, the Donegal 2 pointers made the difference. But well done for the effort and they can hold their heads high from the Tyrone and Donegal performances.

Could have got the draw today but didn't. Any team that can,t beat Cavan at home doesn't deserve to go through. It,s their own fault. Mayo are going nowhere. To many passengers. Look at the end ofvthe game. Morahan only on the pitch 15 mins and couldn't run with the Donegal man. Not good enough

Nah, sadly didn't deserve a draw. They couldn't even catch yer man, Thompson to foul him. He ran right through them and it seemed that Donegal could do that whenever they had to.
Exciting finish but really poor Mayo performance.
We have the talent. But something is just not right in Mayo football.

Hard one to take. But I suppose the damage was done on the first outing v Cavan. Mayo have a lot of talent to come through from the underage structures. So, I'm expecting them to come roaring back next year with COC, O'Hora and a few more experienced players in the vanguard. I thought Mayo did a lot right today in second half, were patient, played the ball into scoring positions, but just lacked the confidence to fully commit to shot execution. No doubt this can be improved on with the right coaching. Galway are the last Connaught county standing, and tbh, we're studdering through the competition, mixing the poor with the sublime. Tomorrow's draw will be interesting..possibly all roads leading to Killarney.

Lads died with boots on and tried their best but 5hat teams 5 or 6 players short of what's needed .
We have better quality players whom weren't available for different reasons, so go refresh support club football and let's see who's in charge next year and of we can get 5 or 6 better players .
Off hand if we had Conor Loftus, Diarmuid, Eoghan Mac, Cillian, Carr, Maheady, Mchale in there would be massive additions so let's hope they are there for next year plus a few of the u20s

I think Tony McEntee would be a great fit for the Mayo job if he wants it, he took Sligo to there ceiling.

It’s easy enough to take today. It’s the Cavan game that sticks in the craw.
Plenty of positives to build on . We do have some exciting forwards coming through.
Really disappointed in RODs contribution though. 3 points from play in the last 4 games. We really need him to stand up next year.

Now we spend a few months wondering who will be in charge ……

Question
If Mayo won kick out would we have played on or kicked out of play?

So so sad today .

The guys gave it their all end of the day .

But as as others said Cavan defeat was our downfal
I'll support mayo as always next year as wd all will.

Today was tough to take but mayo green & red will do better next year with new management

No love lost between Donegal and Mayo. There will be even less now. We were naive not to jump on any Donegal player who got possession on the last kick out. Remember when Connolly got the free for Dublin and Rock scored to put Dublin a point up. All the Dublin players pulled all the Mayo players down on the kick out. Such is the level of preparation. We thought today we had done enough on our last score. We relaxed. Jimmy is praising the ruthlessness of Donegal. So he should. As has been said we made the same mistake last year with Dublin. Such are the tight margins. 100 % concentration 100% of the time. Feel sorry for the lads but I'm sorry to say we have to change management. The book stops there. Such are the ruthless facts of football.

Sean Morahan before Sam Callinan??
Teams use the league to settle on a panel for championship.
Thornton, Morahan, Dawson, Touhey hardly kicked a ball in league and end up on championship panel.Irwin Callinan given league time and then not used as subs in championship.
Fair play to Dawson, promoted to a go to shooter and is a player of the future.

They died with there boots on is load of bollox , why didnt they die with there boots on against Cavan and Galway.Mayo play a bit better when the pressure is off thats all, Management team just havnt been good enough and lost too many players that are still good enough to play for Mayo.There is too many guaranteed starters that do not deliver on the big day, I dont need name them.

From 2022 when Horan left we have just lost too many good players that have not been replaced with better footballers, our bench is of Division 2 quality at present

Lee Keegan retired
Kevin McLoughlin retired
Jason Doherty retired
Robbie Hennelly retired
Oisin Mullin AFL
Cillian O'Connor
Aidan Orme
Padraig O'Hora
James Carr
Conor Loftus
Michael Plunkett
Fionn McDonagh
Bryan Walsh
Rory Byrne
James McCormack

The Mayo support was very very poor today. Donegal had about 70% of the crowd.

@Charlie yes hopefully Cillian comes back but O Hora hasn’t played well since the semi final of 2021. I thought Coyne was our best player today kept Gallen quiet and despite his height won some great kick outs.

Morahan got absolutely skutched for that last score, he gave up on it. While callinan sat there watching. Hard know

I think to be fair Stephen Rochford deserves a lot of credit for stepping in for McStay and lifting the team after that sh1tshow against Cavan. To be fair we were still in it right to the end today. But I think McStay and the backroom team should move swiftly in the next day or two and resign and more or less walk away with their heads held high-ish in the immortal words of Pee Flynn it didnt work out or perhaps to quote Othello they have done the county some service no more of that.

A reality check. for our super optimists on here. Out of 16 teams, we failed to make the last 12 survivors. This is where we are at-we are nowhere near the required standard. Seeing how easily Donegal and Tyrone dismissed Cavan makes our home performance against them even more galling. I was a big supporter of our management getting the job and was hopeful about the future, but it has been a major disappointment-they had their chance and it's time for a change and they should do the honorable thing and step down. Their review is based on the answers to 3 questions. 1) Did they make the best use out of the players available and maximize their ability? - - NO. 2) Did they improve the team and performances? - - NO. 3)Did they embrace and adapt to the new rules? - - Definitely NO. We need a change and a serious injection of new young blood suited to the new format of the game.

Just home. Wind knocked out of me.very disappointed. Where are all the mayo supporters? A lot more donegal supporters at match.

Singling out young morahan is exactly why we're behind other teams...young honest player,,,the future,,,and one mistake....he's young,,he'll learn....talk of Bringing back experienced players is not forward thinking....the nucleus of a future competive young team is there,,they just need guidance and support....some fickle and short memory fans who call themselves mayo gaels should be more supportive to these young lads...I can remember plenty of experienced players making mistakes in the last 13 years....especially on the big day in croke park....outside management might work,,,but then again,,Mickie moran who was a gentleman might tell a different story on mayo hospitality....again natural footballers are back in fashion thank god,,,and this robotic athlete model is finished....those calling for james horan might want to embrace the new game,,,,,get the clubs ( who have alot of blame here) to reconnect with the traditional skills first.....that's the starting point there and has always been in progressive footballing counties...

I don't get this "Cavan defeat was our downfall" stuff......certainly it was if you count group points lost that day but certainly not if the meaning is that we couldn't rise again, performance-wise. What I mean is that clearly the squad and management had it in them to say fu£%k this and revert to a stunning lateral-pass-lite traditional Mayo running game against Tyrone in the next game and show that they could do that..........Why oh why then did they not keep that strategy going today against Donegal and give up on the lateral/back.passung stuff ?? Keep running and playing direct football........

I think you're right Glas&D, but additionally I think we need to improve our coaching standard across the clubs so there's a better calibre player coming through for management. It's not just bad luck that's caused all those AIF defeats plus the many many other games we should have won but kicked away. Our players are great in so many ways, and they nearly always go down after fighting bravely to a bitter end.
But it's a tired story now, we always meet some team year in year out, decade in decade out, who on the day gets the better of us, with our team and management giving their heart and guts for the cause.
Think Mayo needs to go back 1 step and put better club development plan in place with end result better calibre players coming through.

Morahan a player of the future for sure and has shown flashes of his capabilities in the little we've seen of him. But how in God's earth did management select him before Callinan. Similar case for Irwin, he was proved for use by giving him game time in league, did nothing wrong and gone for championship. How is Thornton feeling right now, he was selected on team, demoted to subs and then not used? I mean this is crazy stuff. It's one tactic we were consistent with all year, naming dummy teams and messing up players.

As far as qualifying from the group goes, of course losing to Cavan was the 'downfall'. That should have been the banker 2 points in the group. Its a big ask to qualify losing your home game to a team that turned out to be the whipping boys of the group. Having said that are there many teams with a worse hone record than us in recent years...playing at home feels more like a disadvantage.

Disappointing result to a Disappointing year . Donegal the better team but the real standout to me was the level of fitness compared to Mayo. At the level we are at we should not be getting ran off the pitch especially since we are considered a running team.
Another thing I've noticed recently is Jack carney positioning during games. He always seems to be one of the 3 players left up top while defending. This is okay for me if contributing to scores. I want my scorers to do less running so they have the energy for scores.

Admittedly I am no expert but can anyone explain to me why our defenders show attackers the acres of space around outside of them . Donegal ran around our defenders so much today . They burned nearly every defenders for pace one on one.

Surely we are coaching defence to make contact on player if they don't have elite pace to use the show attacker where you want them to run technique

Ontheditch - Fully agree, all 3 really badly treated.

Why wasnt Fergal Boland not started earlier .He is a proven point scorer as he showed when he came on and he has experience

There is a lot of talk about Management on the blog right now and justly so but the buck stops with the players . We need a new Management regime now who understands the New Rules and is willing to implement them. This New Game is all about speed in transition of the ball. Look at Donegal Today their speed killed us. Mayo have a lot of talent available, Younger players are now needed to be blooded in League and a New Team and Panel must be Rebuilt. It was a total let down for us Supporters in the way the players allowed Cavan to boss us in our own back yard. Unacceptable. Management cannot go out and play the game as well. Players have to ask themselves do I really want to win an All Ireland? If they do then they cannot accept a performance like the one v Cavan, Sligo and Leitrim. The new Management Team must get players into the panel who believe they are Winners. Until that happens Mayo will never win another All Ireland. We were unlucky Today . If we were Dublin that Donegal lad from their final kick out would have been sent out over the side line the minute he got the ball. Thats what Winners do. I would like to thank the Players and Management for their hard work. This was not our Year but hopefully under New Management and New Younger players getting their chance next year Mayo can bring Sam Home Soon.

Just back from game, best team won in fairness, but why won't our players head for goal in a straight line and have a shot when it's on , Cavan game was the problem but if you loose at home to Cavan you are not good enough to progress. Future looks ok, but some regulars are not performing and next management have to be more ruthless with team selection.

Why wasnt Fergal Boland brought earler

You'd have to ask the management James, nobody here will be able to answer that for you.
For what it's worth, I'd have had him in before Towey.

My heart is broken for the players and supporters.
4 Seconds left on the clock and yet we found a way to lose it.
Major changes needed with Mayo football if we are interested in winning the all Ireland.
If not .
We will always be that nice Mayo team only..

Not much time for Donegal after that game today, the way Murphy carried on roaring at Darren McHale at 36 years of age have some cop on.Then McGuinness whinging about the fucking venue trying to create an us against them siege mentality, and then the feigning injury after the Mayo goal aswell.Hope Armagh win it out of the top 5 left.

Please let County Board move swiftly along with interview process for new management team, and announce it 01st of September.

How is there such a stark difference in power and speed between the sides?
Donegal's taller players were all well able to motor. Personally I blame our fascination with slow endurance running.

Cavan had 6 weeks to prepare for that game against Mayo.
They had every chance to knock a sucker punch when we were just a bit off it. Lee Keegan said in his article this week on the RTE website that Mayo committed the fault coming into that game of not respecting the opposition.

Todays game is done. It was a very poor season. It’s been a poor 3 years. Change is certainly required.

But the big take away from the POD is what Nigel and Ed said about he structures, underage specifically and how crucial it is that he players we have in that 17-21 category are brought through and that it’s not ‘left to the God’s’. I’m blue in the face for years saying that our structures aren’t right and that we haven’t been maximising our potential (which one of them said on this Pod). We also used the word ‘disjointed’. He’s absolutely spot on.

Nigel mentioned Sean Deane.. he absolutely should have been involved with this years 20’s. Again, I’ve said it loads this Spring/Summer…we hadn’t the right people in charge.

I’m pleading with you WJ. Please focus the pods and some close attention on the structures in Mayo football. From primary schools, through 2nd level, the academies, the clubs, etc…there’s no real plan..and while the lads on the Pod fairly said that there are a lot of people giving their time and trying…it’s just not coordinated whatsoever. We desperately need an individual to come in at the top (perhaps with a team) to formulate a plan for Mayo football from national schools up…it has a to all link up. We need a leader. We need vision, innovation and action. Maybe someone like a James Horan. A leader. A boss. An organiser who’ll command respect. Again as Ed, it’s completely ‘disjointed’. We are going nowhere fast. Unless there is fundamental change then this famine is just going to continue. It’s incredibly frustrating. We are all getting older. We all want to see us win the bloody All Ireland. This Co board need to appoint someone and Mayo GAA needs a major restructuring job.

One positive from today is the fact that the top 5 in the running for MOM should be around for a few years yet. Donegal have serious pace, and Murphy played well at big moments.

Surprised that we were still in it at the end, but we did show great heart. If we develop attacking approach then we might turn it around more quickly than we might expect.

Thanks to all for their efforts during the year, it was not the finish that we wanted but respect and admire them for effort and dedication and look forward to supporting whoever gets involved next year.

Give the management a break, they got most things right today.
McHugh injury killed us.

@JR excuse me? We played the 1st half with a fair breeze, and had a chunk of it with an extra man & put in one of the most pedantic pathetic displays of attacking play in years. And we've repeatedly done this for 3 years (on & off). That's down to the tactics. Players clearly afraid to shoot or to look up and take risks. It was only when we were in big trouble that the handbrake was let off. We are the worst exponent of the 2 pointer in the country, and that's nothing to do with the players we have. It has everything to do with the approach.

That said, they got their defensive match ups quite right to be fair

Mayonaze I would 2nd that need for some future pods to focus on development plans and understand what is going on in the county. And not to roll out a spokesperson who will sugarcoat what’s going on.

What are we doing with lads post u20 that don’t make senior squad. Are they in a Development squad? What’s happening there with those guys?

We’ve heard soundbites of the u19 squad, what’s going on there. How is it feeding into u20.

How are we improving the development of forwards in the county? Specifics.

What about midfield? Is this being looked at with any urgency? Look at the rate of development of Hugh Loughlin since 2022 when he wasn’t on minor team.

Lastly why oh why can’t we ever learn a bit of cuteness. We’ve lost matches every bloody way there is to possibly lose matches yet we repeatedly seem to come out on wrong side of results.

@JR - Under the management we have progressively gotten worse...There's no escaping that.

We exited in the quarter final the first year, preliminary quarter final the next and now the group stage.

They have to go

Galway came out and scored 2-15 in second half when backs to the wall.
We had the breeze in first half and scored 6 points..
Did we get the first half tactically right?
The game had intensity but it was arguably the worst game of the weekend. Donegal did contribute to the negative tactics and it might come back to haunt them

How long will we accept this bullshit….u til we become ruthless on and off the field this bullshit will continue.

I don’t buy the ‘management for most things right’ today…what match were you watching!? Mayo were absolutely awful in the first half. We played 12 minutes of it with the wind with an extra man and were lucky to be only 3 points down. How on earth does that equate to ‘getting things right’. We had no spark. No zip. Zero cohesion in attack.

Just another thing from the Pod and again the vast majority of us were saying it back in early Jan that the priority in the league was blooding players. There’s very clearly a huge disconnect between fans and management. The latter made a big deal of ‘staying up’. McStay said it straight out. Whoever manager is in 2026 has to not be afraid of relegation. I’m not for one minute saying that we should resign ourselves to it, but absolute priority needs to be on giving game time to new/formerly peripheral players etc. Try out new systems etc. Bringing back Jordan Flynn almost immediately after the club campaign was so costly. I called it at the time. He’ll get injured or lose form. It was the latter. A crucial player for Mayo at the minute. Like, when you take 2024 and 25 together, the list of decision making by management regarding players has been baffling and that’s being polite.

Hard expect mayo fans to keep turning out in numbers, always had huge support and you can understand why its dropped off...since 2021 as we know, but our forward play especially the last 3 seasons and more is so reliant on Rod, who hasn't had his best season and was poor today. No 2 point kickers etc..but you see big mobile midfielders getting scores, conroy, glass, langan etc..we are completely inept in that department..I was livid after game today, but have calmed a little now...very disappointing.

Yes I would love to see future pods on where Mayo football need to improve.
I think the secondary schools have to be targeted , we need to bring in full time coaches to Colmans , Geralds ,Rice College, and Ballinrobe CS and Muredachs, Belmullet.
I think cause we are so broke the talk of a centre of excellence needs to go.We should fund all these schools with all weather astro pitches instead.One in every Board for the best local players to train at including all Mayo teams minor ,Under 20 and Senior.

There is something very wrong when an inter county player is refusing shots at goal..I saw 4 or 5 occasions when players opted out and fisted it off or turned again, and this was with the wind. No point in naming them as we all saw..but are they told this, or just afraid to have a go? Like 20/30 yrds out every one of them should be able kick a point...anyway, mayo are out and that's it.

I agree Sam Óg.

Schools is massive. I’d be starting with the Bord na nÓg. That’s where the skills start. It should be an absolute given that kids going into second level are equally comfortable off left & right. Even if they pushed that it’s make a significant difference and give Mayo second level teams a real edge which in turn benefits both club and county.

The COE is one thing and could take years to come to fruition. The issues run so much deeper than that. I hate using the term but we need a root and branch overhaul. We need a Liam Horan Strategic Review (Mark II). If fundamental change doesn’t happen, we’ll just keep losing. We need to start instilling a winning mentality with the kids. It starts in schools. Sure, people can point to Armagh and Dgal and their limited underage success. But the Tyrone model is the one to follow.

We are so broke Sam og that it will hamper us for decades to come. And when you see the fantastic job Roscommon have made of their fundraising and redeveloping the Hyde (with excellent facilities for wheelchair users, just like they have in Omagh) it really brings home just how disgracefully poor the McHale Park development was, and how deficient we are in terms of raising money. Imagine a properly run Cairde Mhaigh Eo over the decade from 2012?

It's going to be another long winter ... but happily club championship is only around the corner.

Agree on the posts above about structures and developing underage talent. I think a series of Podcasts needs to happen in the off season to examine what can be done to maximise our talent going forward. Winning structures at underage translates to senior success. It is critical that the correct structures are in place. I think we need a director of football in Mayo, someone that coordinates the coaching structure from primary schools to U20 level. Look at what Tyrone have done, the template is there.

Mayonaze, you are making me feel old now, we have heard all those points before usually following an All Ireland defeat, going back since 1997 and particularly after the 2004 & 06 bad defeats to Kerry.
If we are honest we must admit that the same failings have been there for years, ie, not knowing how to close out and win a very tight game on the big days.

One of the silliest comments I have seen posted was that we played well today aside from kicking a few shots short into keepers hands .probably the worse thing you can do in the modern game where possession is priceless.At the start of group stage we knew winning our home game would send us through and when we now see Cavan with a minus 29 score difference qualify ahead of us it probably highlights the over emphasis placed on winning the Connacht final.watching the Sunday game it struck how this chaos nonsense has now become what we are known as .that rubbish started with Dublin supporters claiming prior to the 2016 final that the only we could win was by bringing some form of chaos on the day.It’s not chaos to attack at pace and tackle hard .look at the Monaghan v down game played almost like a basketball game but no one called it chaos .i think the management deserve the right to make a decision on whether take up the final year or walk away now .i am fairly sure they came in full of hope of ending the long wait but it hasn’t worked out .strangely it all seemed to go downhill from that dramatic collapse against cork two years ago .

Can have all the pods we want but unless club delegates really challenge CB at meetings for change and accountability and better fundraising ideas , let journalists attend and report on CB meetings , stop the musical chairs at elections and send the best club administrators forward to be involved at County Board level there will be no real change in Mayo football.

No complaints. We were beaten by a Donegal team who squandered a couple of shocking goal chances and didn't even need to win, as a draw would have done them. And I don't see Donegal as serious contenders this year. We didn't deserve to progress anyway, not after that performance against Cavan. Now we're at a crossroads.

The most obvious thing we were missing today was a cutting edge up front. The Covid generation: Jordan Flynn, Mattie, even ROD have gone off the boil this season. (Which is a shame, because they're the only players we have with the ***** to go for a two pointer.) Jack Carney, Bob Tuohy show well as ball carriers, but don't often deliver on end product. Conal Dawson and Davitt Neary are decent but only in flashes. There is a scenario where Tommy Conroy, Conor Loftus, Cillian all come back next year, and we're a top tier team again without making major changes. But I don't see that happening.

Aidan lost his footing twice in quick succession, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought maybe it was time for him to be replaced. Low and behold, on 69 minutes, it's Aidan who tracks back when lads 10 and 15 years younger than him on both sides ran out of steam. Some big changes may be needed, but I hope he sticks around this winter.

As for the direction of Mayo football, I don't know. If there was a strong candidate around who could whip a new side into shape the way James Horan did in 2011 and 2012, I'd say give him the job. If Andy or Austin O'Malley is that man, great. Otherwise, there's a strong case for keeping Stephen Rochford around. The turnaround in our performances he's achieved since Cavan, while not enough in the end, were admirable nonetheless.

Whatever the story, the only way is up from here. If you want to feel depressed, feel depressed about being a Man United fan, or an Irish soccer fan. Their problems are legion. Mayo are never more than a couple of tweaks from greatness. Keep the faith.

Sam og says:
June 15, 2025 at 8:28 pm
I think Tony McEntee would be a great fit for the Mayo job if he wants it, he took Sligo to there ceiling.

I don't think he is based on what I heard from Sligo folks. Sligo had a few successful underage teams in recent years and he brought through very few of those players onto the Sligo senior team. If he's not doing that with Sligo who have a smaller pick what chance is he to do it with Mayo who will need plenty of the U20s from the last few years to come through and get their chance to impress in 2026.

Peter Canavan the man for me, should be head hunted imo opinion. Many posters above have mentioned the Tyrone template in terms of structures. Unimpressed with Rochfords interview after game. More players will walk if he is left there imo.
I think clubs will need to have a greater role in player development, I'm not sure how schools can do it, they are under so much pressure nowadays. But I wouldn't lose hope in current squad. A possession system was drummed into them. Rewatch game and see the tendency of players to look backwards for support instead of driving forward, the new game has not sunk in, hence low scoring.

@Mayonaze.i have been beating that drum about needing to appoint someone with vision, ideas, imagination, organizational skills etc. to basically oversee everything to do with the future of Mayo football, player development, revenue raising, facilities etc. They would obviously have to report to the County Board, but would need to be given teeth and allowed to get on with the job. I have posted on this very issue a number of times recently and, like you, also mentioned James Horan as one possible suitable candidate. We need a strong determined individual to drive this-at the moment, we are paralyzed by too many chiefs.

Haven't been able to look at the comments till now .

That was awful yesterday . Cavan loss was our downfall. Time for new management.

We are a you g team but yesterday ugh . Ryan o D your a class man .

Not much to say other then hope our neighbours don't win it don't care if I sound petty !

We will go again next year as always but Donegal are not as good as media make out to be thought they were meant to beat out us the gate they needed a last minute point which doesn't make it any easier for us .

Typical Mayo supporters nonsense, blame everyone and everything bar the reality. Management got most things right. Murphy was kept out of the game by Mchugh until injured. Critical loss.Our downfall was three missed goal chances and until we learn how to pass the ball or roll the ball into the net we’re doomed. It happened in every game this year. Gooch Cooper made it clear in Kerry, never blast the ball when Ono on one with the keeper, time this was rectified……

I have been following mayo since I was in child,the year I was born march 1952 Mayo were the reigning all Ireland champions,I always had faith we would win it again in my life time but I am beginning to lose heart now, but next year we will start again hope I am around , on the bright side the last time Cavan beat us in the championship we won it too years later, there's always hope red and green for ever

@Gerry Loftus

In fairness we are entitled to blame someone .

In fairness most on here said it was our own doing by loosing to Cavan .

Look at kerry ones after loosing to Meath they had the pitch forks out for O ' Connor . It's a natural reaction to blame someone..

Though we all know we did ourselves in .

Bad night's sleep. Up at 4.30 and forced myself to watch it through to see if it looked different from actually being there. I'm afraid the one thing that really screams out on this season is that Mayo just refused or were unable to adapt to the new rules.

Credit to young Dawson for having the cojones to show for a few cracks at scoring. More of him needed tbh. Great job done on Gallen by Rochford, he wasn't at the races at all. Having watched it back last night, Donegal looked fairly insipid at times. They were there for the taking.
How and ever, there'll be regrets lingering about this one for some time, but why waste our time with such folly. Not nice to see Murphy acting the clown at the end, but I've seen him do this before. He was the match winner for them though -one of the greats of the game.

All it needed at the end if mayo were quick thinking was a player standing in front of the tee to stop patton kickout for 5 seconds and the ref wouldn't even have time to give a card before the hooter and we be in the draw this morning.

One notable difference at the game yesterday - Donegal supporters travelled to support their team, Mayo supporters did not.

Yeah No Doubt. This bunch of players just lack the street smarts. That’s been proven now over the past few seasons when games are in the melting pot. Footballing IQ some people call it. I do think if you had one or both O’Connor’s on the pitch it might have been different. It’s and but’s….

@Gerry Loftus, again…same point as last night. How can you say mgnt got it right when we were 3 down at HT having had 9+ turnovers, an extra man for 12 mins and a steady breeze in our backs. Our lads showed fight 2nd half cos their championship survival depended on it. Donegal knew the Tyrone score. The outcome was far less important for them and still, they beat us. Not good. Downward trajectory.

Like @WayOutWest said, we need a Director of Football. Pronto. It’s more important than the COE. Horan would tick an awful lot of boxes.

@Ann-Marie… Mayo GAA lost a fantastic opportunity to properly fundraise over the 2012-20 period. We simply haven’t had the right people on board.. many of us were making this point, even when we were going well in the pitch and competing in All Irelands. It was clear that they eye had been taken off the ball

There was a huge chance at the time. It was missed. However I still believe Mayo has enormous potential. We’ve just never had the innovation, drive and ability at the top. And I’m not talking about the field of play here. Even with some decent young players in the county (and it needs to be noted none have any national medals so there’s a risk of hyping up), Mayo will fail to get to Number 1 without the correct structures and planning in place. That’s the way the game has gone. We’re gonna be left behind.

As magpie alluded too, we had chances in first half 30 yards out and didn't take scores, looked to me like the game plan was to get a goal, have to kick simple scores when they are there, I counted 3 to 4 of those opportunities in first half, we lost by a point.
Maybe as well off, with injury test I don't think we were going much further anyway

As a great football man once put it, to win things we need to get steely tough upstairs and must be willing to bust our guts. Are all of our players willing to bust their guts? No question. But are we steely tough upstairs? The evidence would say no, given the amount of close games lost in recent years.

A root and branch analysis of where we are falling down as a GAA county would probably be beneficial, but I wouldn’t be holding my breath on that one: turkeys don’t vote for Christmas. Would also be sceptical that the powers that be would be willing to have a no nonsense type like JH acting as some sort of football czar, for the same reason.

Relatively small sized counties like Roscommon, Sligo, Offaly, Louth etc. have been outperforming our young lads at underage in the past decade or so, that should be concerning to everyone. Because the relatively successful senior side we had over the previous decade was built upon underage domination in Connacht and an U-21 All-Ireland title in 2006. We have been lagging at U20 level in particular in recent years.

Mayo hasn’t suddenly become drained of good young prospects, I can think of several in recent years. But maybe we need to look at how we can tweak our existing systems, based on counties who have been doing it right (Tyrone would be a good example there).

Donegal get louth in draw a home one for them .

So McGuiness can't be moaning about the venue again like he was after the game silly comments from him yesterday .

As I guessed the Dubs & Kerry have hot the softer teams in the draw.

And Cavan get Kerry, so considering meaty stung Kerry were we really going to go down there and get a result, I don't think so.

Ideal draw for Galway and they can’t get Armagh in QF

Bellmullet to Roscommon Town, two and half hours

I was in croker in 2011 for the cork game when there was only a handful of mayo supporters after a few poor years .of course there was a much bigger turnout for the semi against Kerry.every county has this type of sunshine supporters.The sheer cost of a family going to games now is outrageous and the awful football we have been playing has contributed to the fall off in support.while it’s depressing looking at the draw this morning it had become very obvious over the last couple of years that we weren’t realistic contenders.while the players gave it everything yesterday the tendency to revert to the bad habits they have been coached into resurfaced yesterday with players refusing to shoot in scoreable positions and what was Matt ruane at putting his arm up to slow down play and us two points down and time running out .lee keegan mentioned that nonsense in his article a couple of weeks ago and of the signal is obvious to the opposition as well at this stage.Anyway I am sure the players themselves will be sick this morning as to where they find themselves

Narrow margins yesterday folks, thought ye had got a draw but Donegal showed fair urgency to get a winner. It was a scrappy but intense match that had a few goal chances not taken by both sides. I hope ye dont mind me saying but there is too much lateral passing going on, Aidan suprisingly even turned down a simple fisted point to play it back out the pitch. I noticed a young new lad to the team called for the ball and pointed at one stage which is a positive to see but there are too many lads that are turning down shots. I dont believe they cant take the shot on but that its been coached out of them. I hope that doesnt seem harsh as what point at this stage for ye is platitudes like hard luck and there is always next year. I note 1985 made a point above about this shite that "Mayo bring chaos", I dont like that folks, I think that suggests something else about Mayo that there is no plan, just chaos, I cringe when commentators say it. Enjoy the Summer weather and I know ye wont cheer us on but hopefully we can beat Down and get to the QF, I hear poor Damien is injured again, Sport is so cruel on many levels.

@Chestneychet you have hit the nail on the head there! Too much lateral passing, turning down shots. This is a hallmark of the current management & the sooner we move on from them, the better. Win, lose or draw I followed Mayo because we played football with the pedal down. This last few years (bar a couple of exceptions) have been dreadful to watch. I was honestly embarrassed & appalled by that first half yesterday. Playing with fear. And to think, many bemoaned Horan because of his failings! At least he maximised what we had. At least he brought a standard that we rarely, if ever, dipped below.

Neary is one brilliant example of a player who has no fear. And it's because it hasn't been coached out of him.

I genuinely think we were far closer to the so called elite teams than many think. If we had played with abandon, who knows. Hopefully with someone new at the helm next year, we'll see that

I think the majority of those prelim quarter finals will be one sided affairs.Hope Kerry get Armagh in the quarter the only reason they get so far every year is because they never have to play anyone.

@Mayo25 they're nearly guaranteed to play Kerry in the quarter as they can't play Dublin, Donegal or Galway

@Mayo25

Kerry are pretty much guaranteed to get armagh in the qf as armagh have played everyone else already, that will be the end of kerry as armagh look to be operating at a much higher performance level at the minute

I don't see how Dublin drawing Cork is soft, batetheblanket. There were only Cavan, Louth and Cork available as opponents... Cork will push them in Croker.

Supermac although Armagh look in rude health, if you look closely at their last two games they were wide open at the back..
Dublin kicked a massive amount of wides and should have bet them, we could have had five goals the last day..
And that was with there starting defence.
They probably are still favourites, with the way the media lap up any team that does well, will suit everyone else..

To me the commitment demonstrated by the Mayo team to overcome the Cavan loss ought to be acknowledged. It would have been a failure if they had imitated some of their “supporters” and given up. Their work rate in the Hyde was phenomenal. The level of negativity in Mayo is excessive and unjustified. I left the Hyde proud of the team but disappointed at being outnumbered by the Donegal supporters.

Kerry getting the rub of the green again drawing Cavan. They needed an easy draw due to their injury situation and they got it.

@BatetheBlanket as explained yesterday. We finished 2nd so play a team that finished 3rd. We have already played Galway in the group, so could only draw 1 of Cork, Cavan or Louth. There's no conspiracy, the rules were in place before the competition started. And Cork on their day can put it up to anyone. Kerry in the Munster semi final, and yourselves last year. To finish the point we are no great shakes ourselves this year. So not a soft game.

Sam og very good point about the centre of excellence,put way to pitch at the schools. Let all Mayo players train on them,Hairy man I was born in 1950 I was hoping to bookend my life with another all Ireland,but it's not looking good

Agree with Sam Og and other contributors regarding the need to focus on developing our underage talent. Schools have to be the foundation stone for this.
Consider that 4 different Kerry schools have won the Hogan Cup since 1996. Imagine in Mayo, Colmans, Ballinrobe, Muredachs and Gerald’s being able to boast that.
There is significant correlation between winning all-Ireland underage and college’s titles and going on to win Sam.
Forget the white elephant in Bohola. Sell it and put the money to work in the schools.