Why are we always so accepting of humiliation and failure? RTE's headline on the game is "Galway devour Mayo". Meanwhile, most people try to adopt some variation of "take the positives", "bad day at the office" or "sure it'll be different when our superstars are back". The fact is we have been battered and humbled by our greatest rivals and lapsed into mediocrity. Yet, we accept all this because deep down we don't feel we have the right to win and, perhaps, we like it that way, gaining some satisfaction from an ongoing melodrama with Mayo cast as lovable losers.

It is time to change the narrative and that means revolution not evolution. Management needs to be shown the door immediately. They are simply not even close to the required standard. We should look at soccer and other sports to attract the right management team with an obsessive desire to succeed and with deep tactical understanding. People say we don't have the players but I don't believe that. Would we have judged Armagh to have a better panel that us this time last year? I certainly wouldn't. We have the raw material but we do not have the alchemists to shape it. The question is will we let the year peter out with an "unlucky" defeat in the prelims or quarters and tell ourselves sure didn't they do their best or will be rip up the script, start from scratch and build something we can all get behind.

Ex-pat - the notion that management should be shown the door immediately is just pure daft and undermines whatever point you’re trying to make. This isn’t the Premiership and managers don’t get fired during the season. Whether or not they should still be in post in 2026 is another matter but it’s still early in the year, even if the signs right now are pretty worrying.

ok - fair enough. My point is that we have to do something abnormal to change the narrative. If something is not working then it needs be fixed. Management (in my opinion) is not working and will not work so it needs to be fixed.

Ya know what... In a strange way I'm relieved. I've been hoping and expecting Mayo to finally click, to play with self belief and class and simply not accept defeat.
It's time to wake up and halt the dreaming.
I've no doubt our lads are giving their best effort, I think. But we're simply not there now and nothing I've seen in the past couple of campaigns makes me think it'll be any different this year.
We will be back. But not for a while.
Thanks WJ for all your work and the constant monitoring and dedication to this blog.
A true Mayo warrior.

This season is all about the 2 pointers and not infringing the new rules. Whatever team can implement this most to their advantage will life sam.

As I see it, the D is now the shooting line. It would be interesting to know how many times we got to the D and how many shots we took. What is this stat across all the games so far. Getting the % scoring 2 pointer wins the game.
We should only be going beyond the D when the goal is on. This will result in far more shots, far more wides. I recking we got to their D 20+ times yesterday.

Could we get a 50% scoring rate from the D?

The rules are in transition and it is likley, there will be further tweaks in the coming seasons. The abilty for managements to change tact accordingly will be key.

I don't agree with the no hope this year outlook Mo-Direach but there is serious workto be done. Didnt we put 1-7 into Dublin without reply last week but inexplicably took the foot off the gas after that and suffered a narrow loss. We were pathetic against Galway yesterday but I put that down to lack of commitment by some and total unwillingness to shoot by others. Galway too had homework done and held ROD scoreless from play. I think our fellas have to train to defend like dogs, with constant tracking and marking and every player from midfield up now has to put in hours of shooting practice. Unwillingness to take shots is a major problem for us. Fellas with a clear gap and view offloading a pass.......in my view, that's the major obstacle that's preventing us from progressing.

The physicality of most of the Mayo players is not up to the required standard. This was highlighted at the throw in in the second half. Swat Pass Kick 2 points. At under age level there are similar issues.

Having read all the comments on here from the game day and post match report before sitting down to watch it, I have to say I don’t think it was as bad as the reaction deserves. Perhaps I’m being very naive, although I don’t think I’d ever be guilty of too much optimism around Mayo football, but I saw plenty to take from the players and that game. By the 50th minute they were out on their feet, or at least looked that way. Maybe some lessons learned in terms of fitness?

Morahan, Hession and McBrien all had good games at the back. I thought McHugh and Ruane did a power of work around the middle. Reid and Neary once again did their chances no harm and Irwin is definitely worth sticking with. Isn’t that what we wanted from the league, some lads sticking their hand up for game time come the summer?

I’m going to go with optimistic outlook, let’s see where we are in two weeks.

I think a little perspective is required here. The media love the dramatic headlines and to build up a team. Equally, the media will devour that same team should results go against them.

Galway are not as good as the scoreline suggests, and Mayo surely cannot be as inept. Tbh, allowing a team sprinkled with shooters the time to steady and convert those "outside" efforts was criminal. There was a term we used when playing "bust a gut if you have to!" Unfortunately, it appeared no Mayo player was prepared to volunteer for intestinal.

Of course management have made mistakes and right from the beginning. Imo, COC was rendered superfluous way too early and the irony is, I feel the new rules would suit him. He'd definitely have contributed to the scoreboard yesterday.

To me it's all about attitude, and this must firstly be displayed by management. The body language from the sideline was unfathomable - almost like resignation. This must change, or, if they feel they can't take this group of players any further, then do the honourable thing and resign. There is still time to achieve something this year.

ExPat If you go through all the comments after the game yesterday I dont believe you'll find too many supporters with rose tinted glasses on re the current Mayo set up .We can bring in all the players we want but if the team.aren't properly coached in new rules or haven't proper S and C in place we're on a long road to nowhere.

All - there’s no call to be using terms like scumbag and thug here (both of which have been used in the last hour). Please tone down the language a bit.

The first 10 seconds of the 2nd half summed up the game. Out muscled on the pitch and out smarted on the side line.
Hard to think we went short with most of our kickouts when we had the breeze. Shows a lack of confidence with middle 8 and lack of practice on worked "moves"
Turned down too long range frees in first half , worth going for now more than ever because the restart is 50/50 if you miss.
It actually reminded me of a game in Salthill a number of years ago where we ran riot and physically bossed them, Dillion had one of their lads on his back before the first whistle. Can't recall which year. Yesterday was the same for Galway, they had a swagger of a team on a mission.
Surely Bob Touhy worth a start for aerial ability?? Even as a decoy the odd time as he will attract their biggest men.
All can be worked on and all is not lost but a lot of worrying signs.

One has to feel for McStay and co because looking at their body language on the sideline they are a sorry sight and can only be having a negative effect on the players.
The sideline lacked passion, the players definitely lacked passion, which all adds up to the result we had yesterday.
We definitely need a different approach on the line and a more have a go attitude from the players and who knows what might happened?

Anyone who has ever been part of a management team knows very well that when a team has a very strong period of dominance there will come a time when that will subside and a rebuild is needed..
Dublin, Manchester Utd, Kilkenny were all dominant in their respective sports and Mayo had that dominance in Connacht for years.
Both yourselves and Dublin are rebuilding, and for Mayo with the few absentees of experience yesterday was always going to be tough.
Mc Stay is trying a lot of younger lads or a few who need more game time..
I would question some of his backroom team and he definitely should have reshuffled that in the winter.
Galway got Dave Morris in and I can guarantee he has worked meticulously on the new rules.
When Rochford and Joe Canney were involved with Corofin it was always Morris who they looked to for his advice, and he was the main man behind the scenes.
Blaming Mc Stay for individual players especially experienced players doing ridiculous things on the field doesn't help.
Calling for his resignation now is bonkers and will never happen.
In my opinion Mayo just don't have the quality they had in the last decade, not one of yesterday's lads would get on that team circa 2013 to 2015.
At unfortunately I think it will get worse before it gets better...

The first point of the second half where Shane Walsh strolled towards the arc, settled himself and stroked it over the bar said so much about where we are a the moment.
1. How was that allowed to happen? Where was leadership on the pitch or on the line roaring for cover?
2. If the ball had broken to the other side. Is there any player on the mayo team that would have done the same. Slotted it over? Probably not. A small forward would have run towards him, now to far out to shoot and another 3 mins of pass the potatoe would begin.

Our failure to get tacticians on the line has cost us so dearly over the years. Kerry, Galway, Dublin,Tyrone, Armagh, donegal identify weak areas and bring people in to change them.

People on here called for a plan b under our last 2 managers, we don’t have a plan A now.

We have no defensive plan as illustrated by that point I mentioned for example.

Naming names of who should be brought in now is pointless because it won’t happen but there’s a glaring one I have mentioned a few times on here that could work with the forwards. He has done something we badly need in the management set up, and that’s win all irelands…

If Reape is going to go forward now he needs to be encouraged to shoot more. He has the distance. There’s four or five lads in our forwards that don’t.

I’d rather see him shoot than coen running blindly and recycling. Every opposition team in the country has us figured so mgmt need to change things drastically now or limp out of the championship again and step aside.

he one thing that stands out for me is how easy teams have picked up scores against us so far.

Bugler last week and Walsh this week. Two fine players alright but we barely laid a glove on either of them. For Walsh to be landing 2 pointers from play without a Mayo man in sight is shocking.

We missed a fair few 2 point efforts of our own but our fellas weren't in acres of space. None of us like losing but there's a way to lose. That wasn't acceptable. Go out on your swords lads. Die with your boots on. Neary is the only one that immediately springs to mind who was up for the fight.

Trying to pick a few bones of positivity out of it all.
From the 2 games so far Towey (0-07) Neary (0-05) and Reid 1-02 have done ok.

1-14 all from play from those lads is a decent return.

I actually don’t see the benefit of the Arc scoring system. It’s too much of a change to our game. 3 up/3back I like. Tap and Go, I like and I can understand the requirement to create greater respect for ref’s with the 50 meter advancement but I think it’ll cause holy war later in the year. I don’t like what’s happening with goalkeepers. It looks daft. It’s not our game.

Have your say..

https://www.gaa.ie/article/gaa-public-can-give-feedback-on-frc-rules-through-open-online-survey

Sam callinan , Rory brickeden , Enda hession , Stephen coen , David m brien and Sean Morahan .

That’s a back six that did not perform as a collective and in three cases didn’t perform individually either .

Brick and coen are proving to be ineffective, Sam gets turned way too handy . Who can come in for championship if this doesn’t improve , how far off is paddy durcan ? Mcbrien to no . 3 . Mchugh comes back from the middle . I’d stick with Morahan , hes a bit about him that buck . I’d give a run to that belmullet lad Ivor’s , several reports from club championship suggested he is tigerish . We desperately need a bit of bite to be added . Overall though as highlighted by poster mayonaze we have to implement a defensive structure . As a lot of have already said when that was highlighted on the Sunday game , Shane Walsh wandering in towards the 40 m zone and not even been ran it from inside the zone , mother of sweet divine Jesus that’s insane

Mayo supporters need to wake up. Mayo are on the way down .poor poor team. It will take years to rebuild. Teams will destroy us with their 2 point kicking and we have nobody to take 2 point shots. Our forwards are nowhere near good enough. We,re physically not up to it and our defence is a shambles. A lot of barron years to come I,m afraid.

Watched all the games over the weekend and let’s not over react. Mayo aren’t that bad and Galway aren’t that good. It’s a very competitive division and I couldn’t for the life of me predict an all Ireland winner. I’m a small bit intrigued by Donegal and McGuinness and I think Tyrone with the Canavans etc will be hard to beat. Croke Park in summer though is a million miles away from what we’re watching now.

For the first time in my lifetime, I’ve seen Mayo football morale hit rock bottom. We have gone back from the pack. Yes, Dublin,Kerry and others has too, but there underage system has allowed them remain in the mix. I’m not here to point fingers, but let’s be clear—management has to be held accountable. That’s their job.

The road ahead is long, but if we don’t find a spark soon, we’re going nowhere.

Size 5, was that 2013? Jesus, that was a great day altogether. I remember the Irish Examiner had a headline the following morning over a photo of Andy: "Dial M for Murder". Good times!!

Can’t just throw the towel in though JR2 . Things are certainly not good at the moment but things can change in a flash especially as a Mayo supporter . I will always remember walking out of Longford in 2010 , hard to believe it’s 15 yrs ago , I can remember every detail of my walk and the empty feeling of “we are doomed now “ 12 months later I was jumping up and down in the premium level (stewards threatening to chuck us out ) with a neighbour of mine from down home watching Mayo beat the all Ireland champions . The Mayo journey is fookin mad but never give up .

It's shoot or be shot now with the new rules.
Quick long ball and just give it up with the handpassing.

Never give up, for sure!! But as supporters we have the power to force change or certainly to initiate debate…and it’s so clear that things aren’t right…S&C at all levels. So obvious to those of us who follow underage intercounty. But yet it’s never spoken about by those in media who have access we supporters don’t have. Especially those of us not living in Mayo. If you’re involved with a club you have the opportunity to influence change and improvement.

Forgetting yesterday and the new rules for a second, there are far bigger issues in Mayo football.

1. We are not bringing through the same standard of player anymore and there is a complete disconnect once players leave the minor grade. This is highlighted by our awful showing in U20 championships of late but also in the GAA figures where we have the 4th highest number of football teams registered in youths but we drop to 14th at u20 level where we only have a shocking 17 teams registered.

We are losing too many players at this age group, likely because they aren't making development panels and are walking away or also due to socio-economic reasons and are moving away. This isn't just a Mayo problem, I have friends in Kerry who complain of the same issues.

2. The standard of our senior club championship is absolutely awful, and its only getting worse. Because of this drop in standards, the quality of player has dropped significantly but also the players that are good enough are taking far too long to break into the Mayo team due to the step up required. The days of a new player coming into the panel and going straight into the team are long gone. Even new players in the team now have all been knocking about the panel for a while and doing their S&C.

I'm not sure is the solution to bring in divisional teams but something has to change because we're are in a downward spiral.

Not throwing in the towel Sean. Just been honest. There isn't,t a hope in he'll of Mayo doing anything this year or for a few years. Players are not out there. I go to a lot of club games and the players are not there. Aido coming to the end. Conroy was never the same after injury. Doc coming to the end. Paddy Durcan might not be the same player.it,sceasy mark 1 good forward like Rod when he has nobody else with him

Agree with general view things are looking very bad. Tuamstar is right about our lack of quality. At least in terms of what was on the field on Sunday.
But we have to remember there was no Padraic o Hora type player in the backline, no hard hitting Jordan flynn around the middle, no go to player Adain o' Shea popping up around the field. Once a few key players go from any team, then the team can suddenly look very poor. I think that is what was on view yesterday - too many finding their way and no leaders to set the tone (someone mentioned the lack of reaction by the team following the hit on Diarmuid o Connor. That says it all).

Other point i want to make is a reference to all the talk on strength&conditioning. Jack Carney appears to have all. Tall & strong. So should be imposing. When he came on the scene he looked the part. But the last two seasons, he appears to have got worse and worse. Passing sideways in preferance to bursting thro' and shooting.
Not sure what his bad play was down to but it's not S&C ! I am hoping he comes back a different player and can add to what Flynn an O Shea can bring.

Hang on now lads. I didnt think Mayo were terrible yesterday, indeed I thought they played well at times in the match and were actually in the lead at halftime after some well taken scores. I didnt think we played as well as its being suggested in the press with Mayo winning plenty of ball in midfield from Gleeson kick outs. The two pointers destroyed ye, everything that we kicked went over the ball and there was no way back from that. They seemed to be few Mayo players that are confident to kick for the posts from distance. I think it was Boland (not sure) that tried and missed maybe 3 but apart from that it was well worked close in scores and ye were almost in for a goal on more than one occassion. The Galway defence is very good and I thought Fitzgerald was savage in his tackling and unlucky to be penalised a few times. I'm not sure what to make of that game but the two points gives Joyce the opportunity now to go for another win and secure our top flight status and after the trench warfare we had to engage in last year to survive this would be a huge win for the team and give us a chance to rest some players and experiment with the panel. I believe the constant battling last year caught us out in the end (Finnerty's injury in final the key moment) but the war of attrition last year in my view cost us an All-Ireland.

A team in transition for sure. That said you cannot allow or accept for biggest rivals coming into your home and making a mockery of you. That’s never unacceptable in my view. I seen some players were out an about last night, no problem with that before anyone jumps at me.

That said whenever I lost a club game to a big rival I’d be keeping the head down and almost certainly not be posing on social media in pictures. Maybe I’m being unfair and a bit like “Roy Keane” but I’ll ask the question, “does defeat just enough”?

If Cork walloped Kerry in Tralee the Kerry fans would go nuts and demand action or change. U til we develop a winning mentality at all costs I fear we will stay where we are, there or there abouts the odd time or down in the doldrums but never sitting at the top table.

We beat them well in salthill fixture last year in the league , I’m just saying not suggesting it means anything significant

@TheLondonEye, you’re spot on about Carney. He looked really promising in 2023 and buzzed about in the win in Killarney. But two years on and he is like a different person. He has all the natural physique and skillset to be better than Galway’s Maher, but Maher is miles more effective than him the past 2 seasons. I wish Jack would adopt a much more bullish, aggressive mentality.

Callinan is another who hasn’t improved much if at all the past 2 seasons. He continues to run into traffic and just isn’t a lad to be in the FB line. I don’t know where he should be played tbh. He seems a bit lost.

I just read the very interesting article on James Carr in the Irish News. Not he went thru a lot of injuries but at 27 he certainly has potential to be back in 2026…if he wants and I think think the greater space up too would really suit him and he’d enjoy the game more. Interesting to note that he “hated every minute of the 2023 season” (training and matches)despite getting plenty of game time.

Mcstay’s stint in charge is eerily similar to O’Mahoney’s second stint in charge

I read carrs article too a while ago but I’m not convinced that it’s just coincidence that a few dropped out this year , they’re not going to come out and say they didnt buy into management team . No point in speculating though . It’s done now

@Plunkett yeah agree with that..

Think us & the Dubs will be in for a relegation battle now.

Why do we pick so such many small forwards surely Conor Diskin, Jack Fallon, Cathal Slattery and Kuba Callaghan should have been looked at? Cian McHale not even brought on and we needing 2 pointers.Darren Coen is another who is perfect for 2 pointers, I actually think hes the best long range kicker in Mayo, Same age as Cillian.At least hes worth a try from whats there at present.

Good to get a bit of perspective from a few Galway lads on the blog. In fairness they usually talk sense especially Tuamstar. They have been where we are now Had to suck it up when we were the dominant force in Connacht and it’s Galway who are dominant now. I am sure they are 100 per cent aware that winning games in February guarantees nothing long term but in fairness to Galway they look good at the moment. I’d say they are still smarting at the loss of AI last year and reckon a national title wouldn’t do any harm bearing in mind it’s so long since they won a league. From our perspective things are looking grim but I honestly did and do not expect us to stay in Div 1 this year. Having said that we have lots of guys to come back and they will help the new boys ( who are doing reasonably well) to bed in. Calling for managers head is futile after 2 league games and minus so many players. Armagh could have done that last season as McGeeney had no success for about 9 years but they persisted and reaped the rewards. Even PJ from next door must have been feeling the pressure but Galway have enough sense to keep him. Lack of under age success is hurting us and the lads who stepped away this year had their reasons but it’s the guys who are representing the county we should concern ourselves with. Mayo going through bad spells is not unusual. The county team didn’t just start in 2011. Remember the defeats to Longford and Sligo in 2010 and the woefully meagre crowd who were in The Hyde for 2011 Connacht final. We will rise again.

To win just once, thanks for that..
I can say this in all sincerity, when we were getting hammerings from yourselves under Mulholland back in 13 etc I thought we would never get back to be competitive.
That time we were all over the place, I remember Colm Boyle putting a skinny Damian Comer on his arse, our Strength and Conditioning then was non existent and our pool of players was very weak. But in time things improve and in Galway there was a lot of work done in the academies and at all underage in clubs..
In Tuam our own Shay Mc glinchey was actually no 20 yesterday, he was brought into the match day squad yesterday morning. He is only 18 but physically he is in some shape, but that's down to years of hard work...

To win just once, it's only two league games into this campaign but about 8 games into the season as a whole with challenges.
And this is the 3rd year of what's meant to be an extremely experienced setup and we still leave defenders isolated and have now obvious plans.

The when read likes of this in Mayo News and the millions being spent it would make you think:
"I think if someone gives you the statistics on the two-pointer, I think it’s 0.2 on average per game. It’s kind of negligible."

Is that one 2 pointer every 5 games?

Folks, we can talk about giving this lad or that lad a chance and I'm the same but in truth unless they're being introduced into a viable working system we're just going to be failing with different names on the team sheet. I defy anybody to define what we're actually trying to implement by way of tactics or structure. It just looks like we're making it up as we go along.........but not very well.

@Gizmobobs: I'd have to imagine the "0.2" is an expected conversion rate from a shot from that distance from play. The number of attempts in a game will climb as the reward has doubled, but conversion rates like that will likely stay relatively consistent (until we've had years for coaching & player identification to adapt & prioritise it as a skill).

Though, no idea where that figure has come from (it's been quoted a lot since Kevin mentioned it, but can't find a point of origin before that). I know one of the Mayo analysts did a review on shots from difference, so possible it's a measure from the Mayo Club Championship... but no idea.

Evan Talty (@iGaelicCoach on twitter - pretty high level coach & performance analyst I'd personally trust above most sources given the level of work he has been putting in around the rule changes) has the rate at 31% under high-pressure kicks (& up to 35% for medium pressure kicks - https://x.com/iGaelicCoach/status/1883984618229289429). I'd expect those numbers will be much closer to what we'll see in practice. Both nationally and even locally, once Ryan, Fergie and the lads remember to finally pack their shooting boots for a game.

I did not see anything on It either TSU, but when marry it with yesterday's comments about the 3 back rule understanding it's a head scratcher.

And we had Horan at training sessions and challenges??

As Mayo fans, we can accept when the team loses. We have had some tough days down the years losing big games by the slimmest of margins, but have always had pride in the team, as we knew both mgmt and players gave their absolute best efforts. Mistakes happen, that’s part of life and sport.

But I think what we saw yesterday was something different. We saw a management that were behaving as if they were in mass. Arms crossed not saying a word. No motivation and demanding of standards. I remember James Horan nearly taking the head off Conor Lane the day we bet Dublin, after John Small broke Eoghan Mcs jaw. Mcstay and Rochford would never do that. They had the chance to when DOC got that late hit yesterday. No point bitching in an interview after the game. The tough streak that we used to have is gone, and it’s been gone with the guts of two years. And that’s what I believe is upsetting mayo fans the most. We have become a passive shell of a team. And it’s a reflection on the lack of leadership and character from our management. Fans can only tolerate it for so long. And they voted with their feet yesterday after 50 minutes of play.

@Gizmobobs: There's a quirk in the 3/3 rule where there's a different punishment for a cynical breach (having an extra player join an attacking or defensive position) and for a non-cynical breach.

I'd always read the non-cynical (& the videos illustrating it) to be purely when you'd step over a foot or two while actively trying to claim the ball (e.g. a short pass to half-way and a defender running along-side you you're not going to be able to watch the line). Kevin seems to believe (or was led to believe) that a lad stepping 2 or 3m into his own half with no challenge for a ball, but not actively trying to defend would be considered 'non-cyncial' too.

I wouldn't share that view on it, and not sure where it originally came from... but I can see how someone might have formed it. From his wording on it in the interview it wasn't just an in-house view either, and was explained to them like that specifically in relation to a lad stepping over.

Interesting stuff TSU. According to the Gaelic Intelligence Report from 2023, the highest shooting accuracy in any season in the last 12 years was in 2022 at 58% (with 53% being the highest from play in 2021).

If the 31% figure above is to be trusted, then it seems to me that we should be actively be pursuing shots from outside the arc. (Maybe my maths are wrong though!)

Which goes against every thing we have been hearing from Kevin McStay and seeing from Mayo so far.

His 20% figure may be a Mayo figure, rather than a national one, which would possibly check out given how bad are shooting from distance has tended to be.

Didn't comment after the game as I get sour after losing to our neighbours. First half we did ok but missed quite a lot (2 goals chances and 4/5 2 pointer chances). We lost a point and gave away free as a result which was a double hit due to our player / Mgmt naivety. We repeated this twice in the 2nd half which resulted in 2 20yards frees that were moved to the arc and resulted in a 4pt hit (Maybe I missed it but I never read that in the rule changes that you could move a free to the arc and get the double score - its a big one with a wind advantage). So we actually gifted Galway a 6pts swing so to speak due to stupidity rather than playing badly (maybe that is the same thing).

A lot here slating the defensive setup, we didn't concede a goal but I don't think getting a goal was in the Galway game plan. They targeted a few 2pointers as they had the players to get them to win this game. We defended slightly inside the arc as did Galway the difference needed for us was we needed to be a yard the other side of it.

I'm not going to call for heads but lots of improvement needed from Mgmt, I just hope the morale and drive is their in the players and the squad, if so we have to continue to give game time to these players (Reid, Neary, Irwin, Morahan will improve further and will have apart to play).

The challenge on DOC was a late and dangerous hit I saw it as a red. Our reaction and overall tempo was not where it needed to be that's where our leaders come in, we are lacking a few right now but they can develope over time.

I hope this is the low point of our season or else it will be a short one

Two pointers are great and will win games, but it's easy enough to prevent them , if you put the player\ shooter under pressure by getting close to him and getting a tackle in hard on him as he is shooting. Yesterday we just looked at Walsh take shots for fun and nobody within yards of him, O Hora or his likes needed around halfback line to sort things out.

What has always hurt our shooting % is we don't have attacking team plays to put our shooters on the ball in space. Over the years also defenders have missed a boatload of shots bringing down our %.
We need a middle eight that can compete physically and has 2pt range.

The general consensus after the Dublin game was that the backs were too porous and what did we do but start practically the same defence except for Morahan who had a good game yesterday. Over the 2 games the defence was poor and the common denominators were Brickendon and Coen so they should be dropped for the next game. Callinan should also get a rest as he is playing wing back for UCD and they are in the Sigerson semi final. It will also be interesting to watch Darragh Joyce from Clare Morris as he is playing wing back for DCU in the other semi. And of course despite the leakage in defence we did not sub anyone in defence.
The positives were that newbies Reid Neary Morahan and Towey are worth persevering with.
Imagine your a defender and seeing the same ones getting picked and you not getting a chance it must be very disheartening.
And if you are Aido Jordan and Patrick I'm sure you must be thinking what's the rush back. Finally we all know Ryan has got it but it's not happening at the moment so he should be rested like Kerry are resting Clifford. Ryan will come good when the ground improves.

Yes, we're in a long term rebuild mode.
Yes, we're missing key squad members.
Yes, Galway are a top team, AIFinalists last year & among favorites this year but losing by 10 to them in yesterday's abject manner requires a big response.
Tossed around and dispossessed too easily, and most worryingly little fight yesterday, just accepting the maroon fancy Dan's running out easy winners.
Let's see how rest of league goes. James Horan did take the bullsh1t out of our football team, need a big improvement real soon or the bullsh1t days are back.

The new rules have improved the game. However I don't think two points should not be awarded for frees outside the zone. The two points should be limited to kicks from play. The 2 point free is 2/3 of a penalty kick.

The 40 yard free being 2/3 of a great goal from play is something to think about.

Would like to see Aidan O'Shea as captain on his return, we need some leadership in this team again.

McStay in his 3rd year with Ros opted not to put much focus on league, took some bad beatings, got relegated, before going onto comprehensively beat Galway in Connacht final. I imagine that’s his main focus this year. Likely his last year with Mayo and he will at least want a Connacht crown. The new rules, if they are retained, complicate things however unless Mayo find some consistent 2 point shooters.

@Thedarkyfinn: The bringing the 3/3 outside the arc wasn't part of the FRC motion/graphics/explainers/debates before congress voted that most of us would have got familiar with, it came in as part of the next step when the motions got to the rules advisory committee. So a relatively late in the whole process (no doubt a big part with all the issues when McGeeney got poor information around it - someone in HQ sent him the old stuff most likely), along with multiple unintended changes to the rules if you've listened to Gough's interview (he specifically mentioned the accidental removal of the cynical trip being a black card worthy offence, but hinted that lots of other minor [non voted upon] significant changes had occurred).

Sadly we can't confirm or refute any of those as the current (draft - the one released on Wednesday hopefully fixing a few of the issues Gough mentioned) rule book wasn't released to the public yet, nor were either of the two flawed drafts released on the Monday.

The GAA website info was updated prior to R1 of the league (https://www.gaa.ie/article/football-review-committee-rule-enhancements-explainer).... but other than someone crazy enough (*cough*me*cough*)to set up web alerts for changes on pages like that I'd imagine a majority wouldn't have noticed that. John Walker/Mayo GAA also put out great explainer graphics on most of the rule changes and that was included, so possible the counties got a heads up about them too.

Not in favour of the 2 point score.needs to be scrapped.

Regardless of 'quality not there', '...nobody coming through..' remarks above, there's one thing for sure, on the field, we have 6 forwards who, if encouraged, given free rein, get the finger out and practice (....for as much as possible every week), could (i) actually bother to look up and take a long range pop at the posts and (ii) feel confident in doing so. It's the total absence of that that's killing us now..............

Whatever about the arc, I'm leaning towards keeping it, the 2 points for a free outside the arc has to go. It's so easy for modern inter county players to score frees from 40+ metres. Imagine it in summer with warmer conditions.

I'm taking it from that comment TsuDhoNim that there is broadly some confusion on the application of and the actual rules - as of right now. Most of the people around me yesterday were mystified as to how all these two point frees were awarded - so was I. We were bumped down on the double in the first half too with the disallowing of Neary's point and the ball taken down the other end; I think that's daft and, it looks daft.

I don't feel bad about yesterday - I feel kind of cheated. We're not ten points worse than Galway. Just for fun I did a bit of searching and eventually came on an interview with Padraic Joyce after our victory at Salthill in January last year: Interviewer: 'you were flatfooted'. PJ: 'yeah not at the races'...'Mayo showed more aggression'. Galway were trialling newbies, but not all, Mayo just one or two. Oh yes, Joyce was all for 'moving on'.

@GBXI: They're a both or neither deal. You can't have the arc without a 2 pointer for a free outside it or you're giving a direct benefit (on average) to fouling (avg. 0.6-0.7 from 2-point from play vs 0.45 from a 1 point free), even if the player is under pressure. Can never have rules that encourage fouling. Not to mention the FRC/game intelligence unit will be utterly delighted with anything that sees fewer fouls in the game.

As for 'so easy'... it's less than 50%, same as 45s. Significantly less for many sides. A strong gale blowing right into a goal instead of crossfield or swirling (like we saw in Salthill or MacHale Park recently) might be skewing folks view on the difficulty of those a bit.

If yesterday’s match was played under the old rules, Mayo would have lost by one point. Galway got seven two pointers and there was a three point swing for the 3 x 3 infractions. Mayo scored one two pointer. Taking all that into account, Galway win by one. And when you add in the couple of goals we missed and all the wides we had, sure, we were probably the better team!!! Convinced? No, I didn’t think so.
On a more serious note, let us look at some of the positives and negatives. I make it, Mayo will have at least nine players that didn’t start yesterday pushing for a place in the team later in the year if injuries clear up. Coyne, Durcan, E McLoughlin, Loftus, Kearney, O’Shea, Conroy, Flynn and D O’Connor. Another positive, is that a lot of the newer lads that have been played so far, are showing up well and will be pushing hard to keep their place. I’m thinking of guys like Neary, Reid, Morahan and Towey.
On the negative side, some of the more established players that have started so far, are way short of their best form. And obviously, the big negative is we don’t seem to have adapted very well to the new rules so far. Some of that is mental lapses, but also, our defensive structure seems poor and we seem utterly incapable of making use of the two points option.
So looking forward, there should be a much stronger panel to pick from later in the year, but the management and players have a lot of work to do to make us competitive later on in the championship, when it really counts.

I like the extra point arc but I don't think we have the goal balance right and would prefer a point, outside arc score and goal to be worth 2, 3 and 6.

And scrap the taking the frees back to outside the arc; it just doesn't work with a decent wind blowing.

- On the new rules, did anyone aside from Joe Mc Quillan know how much time was left. Croke Park had the stop clock displayed, all other grounds need the same.
- Regardless of who the management team are and how good or otherwise the players are, you expect them at least show some FIGHT
- The opposition's best players need to be man marked like a leech starting with both Canavans the next day
- Majority of kickouts are now long...John Maher destroyed us for the first 15 mins. Need to nominate jumpers and breakers rather than having 4 or 5 jumping for a ball and nobody to break it.
- Hit the de-program button and let the forwards play with more freedom rather than straitjacket most seem to be in. Likely no coincidence that Neary is the one forward to drive forward rather than backwards as he has not been involved long enough to have this knocked out of him.
- We need all our backs to have a bit of menance about them, 2 of our current crew don't have this and never will
- Finally I would not criticise anyone for turning their back on this Mayo management team but if you can at all don't turn your back on the Mayo players and on Mayo football.
- I expect a reaction against Tyrone

Fair enough Tsu, then it might have to go. Are those stats taking into account shots from inside the 45 which so many of they seem to be now?

@No white feather good post! Agree with you..

Still feel deflated after yesterday. Don't think we will get a result v Tyrone either tbh.

See a mayo fan in trouble for going up to ref after. A teenager who should know better. Fair play to the mayo player who ushered him away quickly.

No white feather - if we had lost by one point under any rules, it would have been a travesty. We were bet out the gate by a team pulling up. They were miles better in every part of the pitch and on the sideline. It wasn't a contest in any real sense.
We were blessed they missed two easy goal chances in the first half. Yes, we butchered one ourselves but they ripped through us so easily.
Ten points wasn't a fair reflection - we were worse than that.
Let's call a spade a spade. We were absolutely awful. I honestly don't know where we go from here. I'd say the only way is up but we're getting relegated!

Olive - The stop clock was on the scoreboard opposite stand.

@GBXI: Yeah. They'd be shots right on the edge of the 40. Didn't clarify with Evan if the frees were just the ones 'pulled out' (so literally on the 40) or everything within ~2m of the arc, could see him quoting either (and both relevant depending on the specific question you're trying to answer).

Inside 33m is where the shooting odds jump up (significantly), so everything from 37m-45m is going to be in that 28%-38% range (varying more by individual shooter than by the distance - and that range obviously only applying to lads who would consider shooting, you'll likely always have a few lads on a team hitting 5-10% from there that just won't shoot) and in that 40%-50% range for dead balls.

It seems a lot of Mayo supporters don't favour the 2 pointer from outside arc and it's probably because at the moment, they don't have the players to execute these chances with a degree of consistency.

Imho, looking at the bigger picture, this rule may just be what Mayo football needs. It would surely lead to a greater emphasis on the kicking skills at underage club level - the benefits of which would also transfer to senior.

Thanks, I was on the Terrace so will need a stop clock on the other score board...

Whilst ye look well up for the challenge Charlie , I’d caution that giddiness that’s creeping into a lot of Galway folk . If we were to meet on the 4th of may , ye would still be favs but I’d highly doubt you’ll get it as handy as yesterday .

But is a 2 point score really necessary. It seem to me that even without the 2 pointers there is a lot more scoring coming from the 3 up rule. The 2 pointer seems like overkill. It is such a fundamental departure from what we know.

Mayo were bullied yesterday all over the place,, and the defence were miles off the Galway forward s , , new rules and confusion weren’t helping either but Galway were far better stronger and aggressive,,its only start of the league and last year we done same to Galway in Salthill and see how the year went for us plus we are missing Aidan , Jack Coyne , Jordan Flynn , paddy durcan ,jack Carney , Tommy Conroy ,, Diarmuid only came in late and Inj and Eoin McLoughlin came in late too so Mayo missing lots of lads ,, Mayo were spoiled since 2011 with top players and it’s not easy replacing them as we know but hopefully some of the younger lads step up but big boots to fill ,, So hopefully we get better with the new rules and don’t give the likes of Shane Walsh free shots likes yesterday,, lot of improvement needed but we are Mayo and when people think we won’t do good that s when Mayo will keep the Faith stay up blood some youth and try out the new rules for Championship Up Mayo

You are absolutely correct, Sean. Galway and Mayo are in exactly the same boat. They've both left AI's slip, and until either team goes triumphantly up those steps, no one can brag.

There is no outstanding team there at the moment, so of course there is a great opportunity. Having said that, celtic medals aren't handed out softly - teams must earn it.

I have no doubt, Mayo will improve and will be in the mix come July. Btw, we should be grateful we have a serious Connaught championship. I know of a traditional Kerry supporter who bemoans the fall in football standards in Cork, as he maintains those clashes were a great yardstick as to where they themselves stood.

Since last July Sean I guarantee you there's no giddiness whatsoever...

1. It's the beginning of February ffs.
2. We've been top of the league previously after 2 rounds and got nowhere later in the year.
3. We're missing several starters from what will be the starting 15 come championship.
4. It could be a lot worse. I.e. if we were loosing each game by a point we might think we were on the right track playing the way we are. We're not.
5. God only knows what shagging rules we will be playing come championship. Personally I don't see it changing much but here's hoping.
6. Keep the faith

Well said Richie.
Just thinking back to some of our great league performances, in particular against Tyrone and Kerry two years ago. The pessimists among us would point to our opponents being in a heavy training block. Any chance that was a factor in our performance at the weekend?

Fair play Richie duck. What you say is true. I still think Galway are favourites ahead of us but I reckon we will definitely be better. A number of people on here said the most important thing is to blood players during the league. We are trying to do that. Winning the league was no great help to us two years ago. I would definitely prefer to be operating in Div 1 next year but I doubt if that will be the case. In contrast Galway are moving well with a much better panel of fit players and I will say they should target winning the league. As No white feather said some of our more established players are not going to well at the moment but hopefully as year goes on they will play themselves back in to form. The other thing is the injured players. They are missing valuable time now as they attempt to recover and there are no guarantees that they will be up to full speed by championship. Remember for Galway last year, Kelly, Walsh and Comer never were at full tilt because of injuries and then they lost Finnerty in the final. I am sure Galway folk could point to that as one of the reasons for not getting over the line in July.( There were other reasons also but no need to get into them here) Point I am trying to make is that injuries can not be predicted or ruled out as we look ahead. We were reasonably lucky with our team in our “good” years but were missing Andy in 2012 and Cillian was obviously not fully fit in 2013 final.

2 points for a free outside the circle is in proportional to 3 points for a penalty.
I think it will change.
Players and refs need time to get used to new rules.
They are a non starter in club with non neutral officials.

We shouldn't be losing the run of ourselves in February, Galway struggled early last year without som of there leaders and they were still only a kick away from an AI.
Plenty games left yet

Irwin, Towey, Neary, Reid, Morahan, Kelly all getting games is good to see, Hession playing 2 full games also a good sign. Would like to have seen Cian McHale get more game time but that might come in the next few games.
Understand the disappointment of losing to Galway, a 10 point loss isn't the same as it used to be with the 2 pointers and Mayo played the conditions poorly and Boland in particular had a bad day shooting wise with too many wides for an inter county player. Mayo also butchered a few goal chances, McHugh a bad miss with his weaker foot, Reid should have rattled the net but blazed it over. As a few have stated, Mayo were probably not as bad as the general talk has made them sound, and Galway werent as good as made out to be, but its a Mayo-Galway and no one wants to lose no matter who is playing or when its on.
I was very disappointed though with the players that have been around a while, Coen, Brickenden and Ruane. Ruane was working hard but over turned the ball too many times, looked weak and didnt show leadership like he should be, same for Coen, I wont start my criticism of him yet but its coming, and Brickenden is too weak and not a tight marker.
Galway had 11 i think starting from the All Ireland last year so they should be winning that game and they did fairplay to them, it was shooting practice for them in the second half. Its the complete opposite to this time last year when they were riddled with injuries, I think Joyce really wants to win the league, after losing 2 All Irelands its that title he wasn't but he could do with a national league title.

From watching various games it's fair to say some teams, Donegal, for one, have serious groundwork done in the fitness dept. I remember thinking the same of Derry last year...is it realistic at all to attempt to gauge where a team is at in Feb? I'm sure McGuiness just wants to stay up and is focussed on Derry in May.
Unfortunately, I just don't feel that mcstay has such long-range plans, or, at least, he conceals it well if he does. The fact he watches his words so diligently when in front of a camera makes me think he's returning to the punditry arena before long.

Any word on diarmuid ?

Joyce is usually very vocal on late hits , anything forthcoming that end ?

Very interesting how few actual fouls there appeared to be in the games over the weekend. Everyone is too busy running around the place trying to keep up! Did anyone hear the stat from the Monaghan game in the first weekend when Rory Beggan covered over 8km over the course of the game?

Charlie, I think you're completely correct on the two-pointer. Clearly long-range shooting is not a skill on which much emphasis is place at underage in Mayo. So perhaps this will force our hands. But it's not like it hasn't been an obvious deficiency for a very long time. I think it's a great addition to the game. Just not for ourselves!

Re: Mayo, Trying to focus on the positives today, and the main one obviously has to be the fact that we are getting game time into our newer lads - this is something we strongly criticised management for not doing previously. So credit where it is due. Ordinarily, we would expect that to place us at a disadvantage, but it is actually our experienced players that are letting the side down a bit, so to speak. That will surely not always be the case.

We badly need a Colm in there lads. A Colm Mc or a Colm Boyle. A hard man with bit of edge and a bit of menace. Anyone know of any suitable Colms?

Thanks TsuDhoNim
Basically they snook in some other stuff under the radar that I wasn't aware off. It seems harsh to have another option when already given a 20yard free to move it out for a 2 pointer. Bottom line is we shouldn't have given them 3 of those frees that should be a wake up call and shouldn't happen again

I just wonder is the idea of the option of the go back for the 2pt to prevent teams late in games deliberately fouling a team losing by 2pts into the 1pt zone without much time left on the clock?

@JP: For dissent, yes. It's essential to prevent manipulation like that.

Even doing it in the 40th minute if you're against shooters like Walsh with a big wind against his back, it would be a massive reduction in expected score conceded. It would become a plague on the game.

There's no real discussion with merit on frees outside the arc going to 1 point. Or in any scenario where the defensive side are in control of (like dissent) forcing a 2 pointer into a 1 point zone. As long as they arc remains they'll remain 2 points, regardless of how the majority of the public feels. The rule makers can see the obvious loopholes that would be manipulated and abused.

There's a valid question on 3 main things related to those:

- Is the goal value correct relative to these other scores?
- Should a 3/3 breach (opposition can't control or manipulate) have the option to go outside the arc?
- Should a 45 be worth 1 or 2?

(Or 4 if you'd like to add.... should the 2 point arc remain? Though I'd be in strong favour of that personally from what we've seen to date)

Personally I'd say:
- No to the 1st for me, 1/2/4 would be much better balanced (@FrostTHammer recently suggested a 2/3/6 breakdown, that'd work great too and slightly lower the weighting on 2 pointers [where the elements can be disproportionately impactful] & goals [encouraging defences to push out further] while retaining the desirable 2:4 ratio. Though I can just imagine the reactions if the FRC said a point is now worth 2).
- Ever so slightly No to the second for me. Though not a real game changer (the avg score conceded outside of a gale is slightly in favour of taking 1s) and if the higher risk following a breach helps lower the number of breaches we see this year... possibly worth keeping.
- 50/50. No strong view on that one. Having a 45 as 1 encourages sides going short to try and create the 2, so potentially opens up some new/clever passages of play.

A measure of perspective is needed after the Galway match. We had two one on ones in the first half that would surely have meant goals. Both passes were overegged and the chances missed. The sharpness is not there.
ROD was schooled yesterday or was carrying a knock. Kudos to whoever was marking him.
The refereeing decisions were among the worst i have witnessed, especially the hit on Diarmuid. Ref didn't even look to speak to the player. The amount of times people around me turned and asked what's going on was in double digits. Galway are in a strong position but look at Derry last year. Timing for the championship is key and I'm hoping that's what's going on with Mayo. Paul Towey put in a good shift.
We may up being relegated or close to but if we are in a prime position for championship who cares.
The biggest downer was the crowd leaving early and the scoreboard but surely is that not fuel for the right lads come championship.

@Bonni Boyler totally agree.

I was amazed the ref didn't do anything on the hit on Diarmuid it was a late tackle and he was taken out. I hope he is ok and not in to bad a way he has been so unlucky with injuries. We really need him to.

@ Clare I was surprised at the amount of runs/warm ups all the subs were doing . Eoghan Mc Laughlin was warming up in front of me in the stand, must of had a half marathon done by the time they threw him on.
In terms of the hit on Diarmuid, it was completely ignored, but the ball is brought up 50 metres for not handing the opposition player the ball gently. That rule is ridiculous and adds nothing to the game ( unless we get one in the AIF to win at the death!)

E McL is just back from hamstring injury and with his history of muscles injuries, you would have him doing a lengthy warm-up.
The hit on Diarmuid O Connor should have been a foul, I don't think it was a red, a yellow would have sufficed, but it was bad miss by the ref and linesman, Neary rightfully got a yellow for his late hit but it wasnt as bad as O Curraoins.

It did annoy me that the ref did nothing about Gleesons slow kick outs, spoke to him once but nothing changed, and the ref went of his way to talk to Galway players about something, shouldn't be holding up the game to if its just to talk to players its either a booking or play away.

To be honest I don't think there was much wrong with the hit on Diarmuid. It was a perfect shoulder. Into his shoulder. Not his chest or back. Albeit a very hard one. It was marginally late at best. Remember they are showing replays in slow motion but in real time the shoulder landed just as the ball left his hand. You could maybe give a yellow for it but no more than that. Very hard to justify a red.

@Bonni Boyler yeah exactly your spot on!

Saw an article said Diarmuids injury is not as bad as first feared thankfully!

The managements demeanour on the sideline sums up this mayo side .it’s all very low energy including mcstays interviews .very difficult to imagine him giving a rousing speech before or at halftime in a game.The writing is on the wall now .it’s just a matter of time

Demeanour on the side line is of no importance.
Senior players should be driving the team on.
With Aiden and Jordan back our forwards will have a completely balance.
I would like to see us nail down 3 & 6.

Well I would disagree totally with that the leadership starts from the sideline and what does our forwards will have a completely balance supposed to mean

Agree about the demeanour on the sideline. Seen a good few comments online having a cut at fans for leaving early. I personally didn't make it Sunday but if I was there, we were getting well beaten, and I was seeing no urgency on the sideline (not to mention our sideline laughing and joking every time the camera seemed to go near them) - then I'd have no problem heading to my car.

I know its only February and a lot can change in no time at all but in my opinion, they'd do well to remember how toxic the atmosphere was when we got knocked out by Derry and how toxic the rumours were when the review was ongoing. People are not happy at the moment. They spend a lot of money following Mayo up and down the country and the management team are losing the PR battle. Even the lack of team or panel news is just disrespectful to supporters in my view.

@frostthammer completely agree on the 2/3/6 scoring split, been saying it for ages. Would correctly reward a score from outside the arc with 50% more than a regular point, and would preserve the value of a goal. The long score is worth too much and the goal too little as is. However GAA heads would explode at that big a change I would think

@ Bonni boyler, there was a late challenge by Nearly on the Galway back just prior to the DOC hit. A late shoulder to the chest, so the ref was playing "free from where the ball lands". That was the one walsh kicked from way out

So technically the DOC hit was outside of playing time as the free was already given. Should still have been booked though. Dunno can we have too many complaints about a sending off about a late shoulder to shoulder hit though, when we gave a late shoulder to chest hit 4 seconds earlier

While I was more than disappointed with the lack of defensive substitutions against Galway, I still think we will have a Connacht title this year. We did after all have fifteen scores and also scored well against Dublin. We will need goals but we are well capable of those and Mayo will need them to win as two pointers will be scarce. I’ll stick with my mid January prediction.
Ulster - Armagh
Munster- Cork
Leinster - Dublin
Connacht- Mayo
All- Ireland - Donegal

@1985 two big strong experienced players in the forwards will give the new players a much better chance to prosper.
You never saw Jim Gavin going wild on the sidelines.
Better for the manager to concentrate on the game.

I am fairly sure Aidan o Shea and Jordan Flynn were playing last year and where was the structure.numerous times were played into o Shea with no one making back up runs to support and he then had to turn and go himself which slowed down the point of attack.no one said anything management going ballistic on sideline but these lads look like have randomly dropped in to watch a game

Our midfield is already obviously weaker than other division 1 teams. We're going to have to select height in 7 of the 8 middle eight jerseys. No one under six foot, someone well over six foot wing back and wing forward.
Ryan possibly the playmaker at 11.

1985 I rarely saw JH get too worked up on the sideline and it didn’t impact negatively on the team. I remember in the closing stages in 2012 semi final when the dubs mounted an incredible comeback and we were under serious pressure one of our fellas gave a dreadful pass straight in to the hands of a dub and JH didn’t bat an eye lid. As an earlier poster said Jim Gavin didn’t get too worked up on the sideline either. McStay is an easy target at the moment but having a go at his calm demeanour is a bit harsh. He has also been accused of being too optimistic in interviews and a few also questioning his knowledge of the new rules. Hard to please people all the time but the best way is to win games. Problem there is he got criticised for winning the league two years ago when he was accused of going too hard too early.

@To win just once agree good post!

Horan was never overly excited or worked up on the sideline.

I do question mcstays interview post match he gave though to be honest.

Again I didn’t say they should be jumping up and down on the sideline but they look disconnected almost as mere spectators.why don’t people read posts properly

Yes @1985 .. agree with your analysis and comments. The side line demeanour was mentioned by a lot of fans I talked to. Not sure of the effect on players especially younger guys but if it’s like that in the dressing room well …. Jim Gavin didn’t have to be animated on the side line with the quality of players he had. Management should know how to get the best out of their players as in different strokes for different folks and also when to crack the whip to get us over the line. I didn’t agree with a lot of their decisions the sideline made but I do respect them so I’m on the fence on this one. We lack the depth of other teams but a structure to suit what players we have, team work and determination can get thru a lot.

Two things......
1. People were leaving with 10 mins to go but there were as many Galway people leaving as there were Mayo. The game was over after 15mins of the 2nd half.
2. Properly coached teams play in the image of their manager. In all team sports, successful teams play in the guise and image of their manager. A manager must lead from the front, in the dressing room, in front of the cameras/mics and most of all on the line. If the players don't believe in the manager, then he's leading no one. At times on Sunday we looked leaderless on the field and on the line. Not a good look and unless McStay changes things quickly, his tenure will end sooner than he'd hope.