Fair play to Towey for taking on those shots yesterday. It wasn't to be for him but if only some of our other forwards would take their shot rather than start dancing with their marker, arms and all. On another note, McHugh had some game for us.

Well WJ, like most Mayo fans I’m licking my wounds this morning. Not sure if I’m a masochist or not, or whether I want to be adding to our fans’ sense of despair, but I find that the Belfast-based Irish News has an excellent GAA section and they have a few interesting pieces on our clash with Galway yesterday.

https://www.irishnews.com/gaa/gaelic-football/all-this-talk-about-draws-last-week-both-teams-wanted-to-win-a-connacht-championship-that-is-the-way-it-should-be-galway-manager-padraic-joyce-CLVZB3HZ3VBW7PE4PVNHUBYHVM/

https://www.irishnews.com/gaa/gaelic-football/mayo-fall-to-galway-at-the-last-hurdle-as-the-tribesmen-secure-fourth-title-in-a-row-IUXC6UM3ABAFTPI5XO2ANPGGWU/?utm_source=Morning+Newsletter&utm_campaign=ea579e759c-MORNING_BRIEFING_2025_05_05_08_49&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_da6327494b-ea579e759c-114765692&mc_cid=ea579e759c&mc_eid=aba77dcda9

I'd agree it's hard to be upbeat this morning WJ, especially with bits of heads on us, we've been here so often,but given a few days things usually look a bit rosier.
There was a lot to be proud of about yesterday 's performance, but also a few things to be fuming about...and not all of them on the field of play.

Anyway nowt much for it only get prepped for the next stage of the competition. Try get Paddy on the field of play and get players playing to their potential.

Good article from Boyler, Galway won and didn't play well. Mayo didn't let them play, really put it up to them but we couldn't close it out when it was there for us.
If Paul Conroy continues for another 5 years, we won't be getting the better of them

Agree it's so hard to be upbeat this morning .

Though our guys gave it their all.and never gave up we are not that far off .

Best performance from them in a good while .

Galway wont win sam. Still think it will head up north or to kerry .

Great to have Cavan up first, should be able to guarantee a PQF spot with two group games to spare.
Get game time into Paddy as well.

Aidan O'Shea seems to be getting in the neck from a good few after yesterday. There's plenty of other fellas who seem to have the jersey and are untouchable and constantly play and are rarley subbed. Without O'Shea we'd be in Dicision 2 next year. He carried us on his own for so many games earlier this year.
Anyways yesterday was cat and hard to stomach. So many deficiencies all over the pitch. This year and probably for a few more is about the journey. The train we're on will not be going to the destination we want.

https://www.oddschecker.com/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/all-ireland-sfc/winner

Should have won that game with ease in last quarter, with the present system of playing by this management there is no guarantee we can beat any team, so don't expect to beat Cavan by much if at all.

Very hard to be optimistic when we make the same mistakes over and over again. There’s no evidence of progression.

Eamonn Sweeney in the Indo has a good article on us and Tony Ward’s article calls Leinster the Mayo of rugby.

Sweeney queries why Davitt. Neary and McHale were subbed instead of Jordan Flynn (who did nothing). It’s also mentioned how Joyce took off a sub in the second half that had only being brought on at half time and wondered why we didn’t take off Towey.

For me McHale and Neary were going well and it’s another question mark over McStay.

Btw, did anyone notice that no long balls were kicked into our FF line?

This article should go into remediation. Very negativity WJ. I understand we are all annoyed. But it’s defo glass have full. The bookmakers had wrote us off and yet we were within a kick of the ball of winning the match. Watching us back I think we were robbed with a few big calls. If Mcstay can regroup the lads and get spirits up again, we could easily top the group. We will beat Cavan and will then be on the road for the more difficult games which suits Mayo.
Not one team in our group will want to play us.

I have no doubt about the dedication and willingness to succeed of Kevin and his management team.

But the hard truth is that ever being sucker punched by Cork in Limerick we have been on a downward spiral of unpredictable performances, failure to close in big games and all round failire to hit the necessary levels.

The need for freshening up the backroom was identified by many last Summer. It was not done. Stephen Rochford and Donie Buckley were specifically identified as long-term voices that may no longer have the desired influence. Stephen has had 7 goes at winning Connacht, and 7 failures.

Whatever comes for the rest of year a change of management is imperative. Yes they have a 4 year term, but let us not move away from the hard decision. In my view the management of the squad this year is bizarre. The in game management is substandard and the team have fallen behind in S&C, gamesmanship, control and all round focus and desire.

We need a management who will bring a consistent squad together for a 3 or 4 year run. Things will probably get worse before they get better but it is for the greater good. The standards we set for ourselves in the past should be the bottom line of what is acceptable. Those have dropped and must ne regained. Skill levels will always vary amongst panels.

Cavan up next is a winnable game but look how we fared in Carrick just two weeks ago. Coming off this defeat it is one that could be easily lost too. It will be hard for guys to regroup and believe in what management are telling them. They can be forgiven if they throw the towel in on 2025. But if they do bad beatings will follow in the group games to come. They are only for the most committed given the challenges in Omagh and Donegal/Armagh.

@Spotlight...on your last line there...''Stevie Wonder'' noticed that!

Bookies had called it spot on in fairness, handicap was +2.

Cooke gave them a boost coming on, it's a pity Durcan couldn't have been used to similar affect. If he and Thornton weren't seen as fit enough to contribute it tough on the fit squad members not making bench.

It's not easy picking up the pieces after a Connaught final defeat that in truth could have gone either way. The one positive both sets of management will take from this absorbing contest is they will have found out so much about individual players srrengths and weaknesses. I feel people are being overly harsh on Reape - mistakes can happen in the white heat, but he's one committed player. Mayo need a scoring (ciotóg) player from the right. I don't know if Fionn McDonagh is still playing. Although we added a few new players to the panel we still have weaknesses at full back and centre back. So, we are under no illusions at the moment. As regards closing out the game, I think it's over-simplistic to say Mayo blew it. Not withstanding Mayo were down to 14 the two Galway substitutions of Cooke and Hernon changed the texture of the game. Galway were now playing with more composure and authority. It's a new competition now which is great and it gives both teams an equal chance of progression. I must say Mayo (and Clare/Sean Burke) were very gracious to Galway supporters at the end.

PJ won the battle of the sideline tactically and physically again. He bullied all around him for the 70 minutes. He set the tone for his team and McStay set it for us. That’s why Galway won a tight game against us again .

Is Conroy injured?

That’s the Mr Sweeny who wrote the Lions led by donkeys after the 2017 draw v Kerry in relation to O Shea going to full back to mark Donaghy . He had to eat his words in the replay. Interesting to note that most neutral observers thought yesterday was a top class game even if there are glaring inadequacies in some reports. People take from pundits what they want so if critical of McStay they agree with the pundit who offers similar views re subs and everything. While we are in a black place this morning there were lots of positives yesterday. Unfortunately not enough. And while some people want the return of Cillian and a few others want lads doing the Leaving Cert to bail us out we will just have to keep going with this present crop and hope for the best

@Mayo25 he is a good bit off of returning I heard . Such a pity he'd be great with the new rules he doesn't get a break .

I don't know how anyone could possibly be regarding yesterday through a glass half full lens this morning tbh but I greatly admire the optimism of anyone who does. That's not to be particularly negative either though - this team as a whole is simply not good enough to be doing what we want it to do, and the players are not being helped by the way they are being coached. The only thing I am optimistic about today is the prospect of a new management and backroom team next year and some of our young talent breaking through in the next three to five years. And that's disappointing, I think we would all have loved for it to have worked out differently.

I am also overjoyed at the prospect of not having to be in the vicinity of any Galway fans for a long time.

Reape is still ahead of Philips, just kick long.
Sub goalie kicks too high

'Not one team in our group will want to play us.'

Not one team in our group will be afraid of playing us.

When we drew level yesterday with a strong wind at our backs, a packed home stadium in full voice and all the momentum….bang we fail and hand the game back to Galway who in fairness took their scores. We couldn’t, same old story. This team is not good enough. Also our home record is a disgrace and must be the worst of the so called bigger counties.

Yes Conroy is still injured despite all McStays sound bites to the contrary
We have to plan without him for this year and hope he recovers fully for next year. He has missed the best part of two years now so no guarantees he gets back to the level he was at

On another note with the u20 game on Friday week I hope we get a breather with Cavan game moved to Sunday. I know no players involved but no rush for supporters to get to two games within a few hours especially when we are not on tv.

I think the reality is that that’s probably as well as we could have played yesterday and we still didn’t win. There are four or five teams in the country that would have beaten Galway yesterday.

Galway can definitely play better and will do as the championship progress. For Mayo, I don’t think we’ll play as well as that again.

We’re a long way off and that was our only chance to win something. We don’t have enough match winners and we have too many of the exact same player. Galway could change things up slightly and we didn’t have that luxury.

Just to echo the point on our home record, the last time we beat Galway in League or Championship at Castlebar remains that Connacht final win way, way back in 2014. No matter how you cut it, that is a disgrace.

Some of our forwards will be where they rightly belong in a few weeks time beyond in Chicago wracking up huge score against hispanics and cubans. Ok so that is over thr top and a bit harsh but I think we have a few forwards that are not inter county standard maybe they are fine on a wet day in February in the league but like myself who wouldnt kick snow off a rope just not good enough and never will be. I too am looking forward to new management and backroom team and hopefully a few new lads from the U 20 team. Dont mean to be disrespectful to McStay cos he's a decent bloke but I believe he has brought this team as far as he can if indeed he was the manager at all which I strongly suspect he wasnt

It was a great second half to enjoy for the neutral observer, when mayo went in at half time down that much I felt that we were in for a great second half. Mayo brought a bit of chaos in the second half and should have won the game but ye kicked a few howlers and that proved very costly. From the refs position I can forgive him for the peno as the Galway player was pulled but the ball had left his hand at that moment and it was a costly call in such a big game.

Unfortunately I feel that management team needs to be freshened up and I respectfully suggest that mayo bring in an outside manager that has won an All Ireland either as a player or manager. Your underage teams look to have a bit about them and with a good manager that trains a team to get the best benefits from the new rule changes could bring great things to Mayo football.
I feel that mcstay has this team playing to a very structured type of football system and sometimes players seem reluctant to take on what looks to be a good opportunity and recycle the ball. Conroy looked to have too much room on a few occasions yesterday and that hurt ye badly so Mayo definitely need to be more organised going forward. Mayo are still a very dangerous team and nobody will take them for granted and that’s for sure but your forwards have to throw off the shackles as O Donoghue can’t get ye over the line on his own. Commiserations to all on the loss and the very best of luck in the All Ireland series which is only beginning now so I hope the team can lift themselves for the challenge that lies ahead.

Looking in from the outside, very disappointing. Colm Reape didn't have his best game unfortunately & he is a very good goalkeeper. The loss of David McBride was a big blow to mayo. Also Diarmuid O'Connor who was playing well. The Galway bench had a big impact in the game. Unfortunately the Mayo bench didn't have. THE thing that puzzles me is how the Mayo Management left Jordan Flynn on for the entire game. He wasn't having a good day. If Paddy Durcan was fit to be named on the bench why was he not brought on in the last 15 minutes and Frank Irwin too. It looks like the end of the road for Kevin McStay. Sam will go north to, Donegal, Tyrone, or Armagh.

Agreed on the calls for a management shake-up or complete changes. They've had three years now and nothing to show for it. We're gradually declining too. In my view, we're a good deal worse than their first season in 2023. There is certainly no evidence that we've improved.

We keep making the same mistakes in these tight matches and that will be my abiding memory of these three years. Roscommon and Cork in 2023. Galway, Dublin and Derry in 2024. And now Galway in 2025. All games we should have won and didn't.

That points to me to a team who are incapable of learning from their errors. We don't even have a safe kick out option when the game is in the melting pot ffs.

we are not a million miles away from being competitive. Fair play to Towey for taking on the shots, there were others who backed off from better positions. I was surrounded by good Galway people and they were perplexed that we couldn't push on and win the game.
Three tough Northern county opponents will harden us up. Hopefully no injured a quarter final spot. PQF spot is not ideal by any means with only one week break

Off topic but noticed this in past week or so, See the GAA are really going after sites and accounts like this, some have even lost access to their pages!!

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/legal-letters-and-copyright-rows-as-gaa-accuses-coaches-and-companies-of-seeking-to-line-their-own-pockets/a147549905.html

@Km79
I'm not sure PJ won any tactical sideline battle yesterday.
The game was won and lost on a couple of marginal decisions. Soft penalty and two pointer given as one. Ball was clearly already over the bar when the keeper touched it.
Add to that another goalkeeping howler and the fact we kicked 2 scores from 9 attempts in the last 15 minutes. That's where the game was won and lost.

Credit to both teams. We regroup and go again.

Seems an unusual priority when season is taking off.

Jesus, I would be very surprised if Paul Conroy would have the legs to go on at inter-county level for another five years, given that he’s going to be 36 in a few weeks. But live long enough and you’ll see it all…

People are hurting this morning, it’s plain to see. I think we would be a better side if we whatever management panel we have in future unleashes the shackles a bit. We seem to still be set up to face blanket defenses, when if we hit some fast ball into Ryan and Aido, I’m sure we’d get a better return.

The other thing is that we have never really managed to replace some key players from the Mayo sides that we competing for All-Irelands. Lee Keegan has never been replaced (how could we?); Oisín Mullin was going to be the cornerstone of the team but got picked off by the Aussies; Paddy Durcan and Tommy Conroy picked up long term injuries. Even though he opted out, Cillian O’Connor still has something to offer from the bench, if he makes himself available next year.

I anticipate that posters here will probably say that injuries happen and that some of those guys were getting on anyway, and fair enough. But they are losses that we can’t afford, given that the pipeline at underage has not been as productive in the last decade or so.

We are where we are. Unless we win Sam this year (most unlikely), it might be time for new ideas and fresh voices.

Mind the house, a soft penalty is a penalty. We can have no qualms about it. If it happened other way we'd be giving out it wasn't given. If hand goes in from behind you leave yourself open to it.

The 2pt to 1pt rule for contact is daft, and needs to go. But I've yet to see any conclusive pics it wasn't touched before ball had fully crossed over the bar, I've seen pics of the ball over and the hand bent back but was it bent back after contact with the ball? Maybe someone has a link to conclusive evidence of it.

On sideline battles, which teams got their match ups better? Which subs had the best impact? That's about all you can judge that on. Maybe the building up of the game being so important for us added pressure as well, Galway weren't from what I read making as big a thing of it.

When all is said and and done, not really surprising. Mayo competitive in a big game and able to mix it but just not enough ability to close it out.

It amazes me still how incidents such as McBriens happen and refs don’t stop play immediately. I know there are times players look for frees but play has to be stopped straight away. For me, and there were plenty of them, it was the worst call by the ref.

As for Mayo, I think our struggles our summed up by the subs we made. I can’t recall a championship game that Boland or Towey came on and made a telling contribution. Only making four subs also says a lot.

Same old failings, a dodgy kick-out, poor around the middle and slow ponderous forward play. Due to time differences I didn’t watch it live. I normally wouldn’t miss a game but the football we play doesn’t justify the effort. From watching it back our goal game from a kick pass and a man running at his man. The two involved were both subbed. There is a lack of spark and spontaneity about this team, which is now coupled with a lack of fight it would seem, three or four times we had players thrown to the ground and his buddy nowhere to be seen to come in and back him up.

Mind you, all of the above seems like things I have repeatedly said on here for a few years. I don’t see any evolution in this team.

In the glass half full view of the world I thought we had some great performers yesterday, McHugh, Coyne, Callinan when he came on, Hession, McHale, Neary, Carney, and Brick, for a man in from the cold I thought handled the occasion very well, the black was not his fault. He had a great win out in front of Finnerty, good tussle inside between them, he saw the ball about to be played in and made the burst ahead of him.

Sadly though, I fear it’s a short year ahead.

@Gizmo
It was flagged last night that Flynn got a hand in from behind at the other end but nothing given. Marginal calls but fair play to the referee. He saw it and gave it.
Regarding the two pointer I was up the other end and it was definitely over!!! Joking aside the one angle shows it as over. Marginal calls and they need to get rid of that rule ASAP.
The annoying thing is we did so much right yesterday.

A great occasion yesterday for everyone there, the players put on a super game..
The referee made questionable calls for both sides.
PJ made great calls, even taking off Sweeney who wasn't going well after been subbed on..
Hernon and Cooke made huge impressions and O Conghaile with his score.
Mayo will regret not winning, they gave it everything.
I was behind Ruane for the last kick and really it was never on, but so many other players wouldn't take the shot so I suppose he stood up.....

Maybe it's just me, but does a provincial title really matter more. Is it not past it's sell by date.
With us have been so close to the big one for a decade and with the
new All Ireland format diminishing the importance of the provincials, does it really matter.
Look at Armagh last year. Nobody remembered the Ulster winners after their All Ireland victory.
Provincials titles are nearly like an FA cup victory. Grand, but not a big deal for the tops teams in the
grand scheme of things.
We are not good enough to win an All Ireland but does a Connacht title really matter?

I don't know if anyone noticed the tendency of some coaches to commence spitting on their palms when games become tense. I think Brian Cody used to do this too when he was manager. Apart from it being unhygienic, it sets a poor example to young people and I think it would be no harm if the Gaa issued a set of behavioural guidelines to all counties.

I hope ye dont mind but I will give my view of the match from a Galway perspective. I thought we started very slowly and not for the first time either. Mayo got a good foothold in the match and the gaps in defence I suggested were there emerged and Mayo got a good goal. Mayo then went awol on Paul Conroy allowing him to steady the ship as he has done so many times before and after that Galway seemed to wake up, realise they had the breeze and put up a decent enough score. I thought it was a penalty as the hand went in to pull him back just as he pulled the trigger but he really should have scored anyway but Johnny is a defender I suppose.

At half time I knew we would allow Mayo straight back into it as ive seen this exact scenario many times before. As Danny Healy Rae say " Only God himself, above in heaven controls the weather" but for feck sake it would be great if therre were a few games played without a mad wind influencing the match.

Mayo were really dominant then, putting us to the pin of the collar to stay in the game but crucially Mayo never went ahead. Galway found a way and Hernon and Cooke steadied the ship and Galway were back in control in the last few minutes of the game. The crazy short kick out seemed to kill Mayo momentum and the lad at the back took one for the team to prevent a good goal chance. There were two or three chances missed I think by Towey that were scorable and that is a killer for Mayo, you would have expected Conroy to score them if he was in the team.

I would see the Cavan game as crucial now for Mayo to bounce back, there is a risk after losing the final to have a flat performance and that must be avoided at all costs. I think the Dublin game will be difficult for Galway and we will need John Maher on the pitch. An All-Ireland is just out of touch in my view we would need Comer and Walsh at 100% to deliver it but it sadly for them doesnt seem possible but I hope I am wrong.

Best of luck for the rest of the championship. Its still all to play for and before yesterdays game most pundits would have Galway in the top 4 teams in the country yet Mayo went toe to toe with us for the entire match. If that level of intensity can be maintained and chances taken there is no reason why Mayo cant make a quarter final and ater that anything can happen.

I'm happy today because we put in a performance when we needed to.
Old failings catching up with us down the straight but we are still getting ourselves into the position.

Managements plan was pretty much the same plan everyone else had here, finish with our shooters to get us across the line. I didn't work but that doesn't mean it was the wrong plan.

Of the guys who started, Neary, Diarmuid and Brickenden are the ones that I was unsure about. Neary was 100% the right call. Diarmuid brought something different to the attack with his kicking, and I think he was worth his starting place. Brickenden was fine for me, particularly early doors when we were flying against the wind, Brickenden and Hession were finding space in the half back line and our transition looked a lot better. Sam Callinan has struggled for form recently imo and when he came in for McBrien, he continued in that vein initially, although I felt he improved as it went on. Argument that Rory really shouldn't have been left on long enough to be there for the game defining moment, but that's a real hindsight one, at that point in the game management were probably right to be more focused on the attacking end of the pitch.

Three years without a Connacht title is the bottom line for management and makes it unlikely that they will see year 4, but there was absolutely nothing disgraceful or embarrassing yesterday. The season is far from over. We have a good bunch of players, who are going to continue to put themselves in a position to fail.

I for one am wearing my jersey today as a proud Mayoman. We've been cocking up and gifting Galway titles for years now; the five in row Team was the exception, not the rule. Let's all be getting straight back on the horse and not be feeling sorry for ourselves. Plenty of glory still to play for.

I avoid posting the day of a match but was absolutely gutted. A game we could and should have won. The players and Mgmt will be hurting after that one.

The negatives
- Reape and the black card, at the time I turned to the missus and said that will be the losing of this game.
- The penalty wasn't a penalty
- The 2pointer was a 2 pointer
- Jordan's misses
- Towey's misses
- The Conroy 2 pointers, very loose marking.
- Towey and Boland are to similar felt 1 of them plus Irwin may have been better.
- Eoghan was a huge loss for a game like this one

The positives
- Defensively excellent (bar the Conroy marking)
- Neary will be a gem for us
- I think Mayo can take more from this game than Galway (IMO)
- Take the penalty and Conroy's 2 pointers out of it and we had them well bet (I know if me Auntie had balls etc.).

@ Eamon O Corcora. You raise a lot of interesting points there. We had Durcan, Dawson Quinn on our bench, three players that have seen little gametime in 2025.
When we levelled things up, that was the time to introduce PD to the action.
Flynn and Carney well below par yesterday, both missing easy scoring chances.
Composure is too nice a word to describe 'the lack of' in the final quarter, more folding under pressure.
Cavan will be gunning for us, it's probably the one game they feel they can win....
McStay should give update of injury situation, but from a poster above, we'll be planning without Conroy.

It means nothing to me ,you’re very funny :Like most of us on here it means a lot to us. Maybe too much.

It Means Nothing to Me says:

May 5, 2025 at 9:47 am
Well WJ, like most Mayo fans I’m licking my wounds this morning. Not sure if I’m a masochist or not, or whether I want to be adding to our fans’ sense of despair, but

Not sure why Cavan would be in any way looking forward to playing us. Beat them quite comfortably last year and on yesterday's evidence we are scoring much easier this year. Good opportunity to fill our boots, rack up a big score and put pressure on the other teams in the group to something similar.

Having calmed down a day on, I'm a bit more circumspect about things today too...

Looking at some positives...
- Neary is a great addition, his jink for the goal and his own goal chance was the kind of direct play we have been missing for years.
- no injuries
- backline collectively were fine, Coyne and hession in particular stood out and Brickenden tbf done ok having been chucked in the deep end
- cavan at home the perfect fixture really, I know cavan have it in them to upset a top 8 team but they were utterly insipid in Castlebar last year, it's a good chance to get a win and a guaranteed pQf after game 1 and some minutes into Durcan
- u20s will be available at this stage, I remain convinced daragh beirne and hurley need to be part of panel for cavan game
- room for improvement, going thru it player by player i count several players (Flynn, AOS, Carney, Coen, Towey amongst others) who were well below their capability yesterday. You would think all of those will only be better next time out. It would look much gloomier if we were saying we maxed out on our performance levels and still lost

If we get a good win against Cavan and Dublin beat Galway things will look so much better for us.

Charlie the manager (and im not sure if thats McStay or Rochford at this stage) spitting into his hands is the least of our problems.

Its the same old story with Mayo.
A keeper they persist with that can't kick out the ball. Costs us game after game. Ffs I mean its a simple job. Prevent goals find a player on the kickouts. You don't have to be in Mensa to get the role. You could also question the intelligence of some other players and their decisions. That shot at the end was just ridiculous. You teach youngsters to work the ball into a scorable position and then you see that shit. Also look at the great All Ireland winning managers...they were smart people outside of football as well as on the sideline and I'm afraid to see we have a few dummys on our sideline.

A half decent management team would have two in a row today. And these boys are not doing it for nothing and are getting well looked after. Buckley Rochford and McStay wont deliver an All Ireland and that should be the end of any relationship with Mayo GAA. Will it then be time to look outside the county? I think so but it won't happen

On with it now, as my old football coach used to say after a defeat. It's not as bad as some might be thinking really. I've gone from being despondent last evening to melancholic this fine day. The game in breffni is season-defining though. Screw the pooch on that one and it's time for scorched earth.

Just been told Mayo are at home...my mistake

@Supermac: I'd suggest there's zero chance of seeing any of the 20s for the Cavan game.

Mayo play a 20s All-Ireland Semi-Final on Friday 16th, meaning they'd be in the 60 hour lock-out window for the Round 1 Group Stage Game against Cavan on the weekend of the 17th/18th.

If we win the 20s semi we'd probably be looking at an All-Ireland Final on the weekend of the 24th/25th (according to the Independent, we've already broken from the Master Fixture List provisional dates for the Louth pairing, hard to say with confidence). So the earliest possible you'd expect to see a 20 joining the squad is Round 2 against Tyrone.

Aside...
Durcan, Conroy & McLaughlin (even McBrien & O'Connor missing from the 2nd half) will all feel like huge additions when they push for contention, even if not at 100% it'll worry & ask questions of opposition. There's always the risk they'd turn up and do what Comer did last year in the Connacht Final or McNulty did this year in the Leitrim game and put in a blinder on a return.

Mattie was the one to find that pocket of space to take on that last attempt and fair play to him to take it on, but in fairness he's not an outside of the boot merchant. I don't remember him managing one to date. He scored fairly well in the league but the hook over on left or right peg has always been his preferred choice.
The 2 lads coming in can score from distance,no question. The issue I see is their ability to create the space to take on those shots...fine in league intensity,but in the white heat of championship if you can't toss you're market out of the way,or leave him sitting with a dummy or some such bit of trickery ,I think they will struggle at this level.
I'd love them to prove me wrong,needless to say.

I haven’t seen anyone picking up on the short kick out that Gleeson got done for!! Should that not have been a free from the 20 metre line, in front of the goal, not from out at the sideline, which O Shea missed. Should have been a tap over??….

Dublin won't be beating Galway in Salthill.

This is not the Dublin of old.

Galway will eat them.

Hop it, would have to check again, but at time thought it came outside alright, but went back inside.

It's hard to take but 3 things lost the game yesterday , (1) The penalty, hard call but it was given, (2) Goalie short kick out to Brickendan was outrageous, paid the price big-time, (3) midfield was anonymous for a lot of that game & 4 wides in the last 12 minutes was ffs awful to see at that stage of the game.

One thing that drives me mad about our management team is how nice they are. Joyce would have thrown the ref under the bus if they had conceded that penalty or had a two pointer incorrectly reduced to one because of a hand touch. And it would never happen again.

When you simply roll over after getting a crap call, you’ll keep getting them.

@Hop it Ref!: No. No breach of the kickout rule results in a free in front of the goal directly. It's only ever a free from the breach (4.27) unless moved in for a delay/dissent/failure to hand back on the full (sadly, there's a news article in a very reputable publication giving a bad lead on that atm).

As @Gizmobobs mentioned, if the kick had crossed the arc before reentering the 20 (I'm hazy on if it did or not) it shouldn't have been a free at all despite where the player claimed it.

Sorry I am probably way out of the loop here but is James Carr still within the mayo setup?

@tsudhonim. What is the purpose of the inside arc. Is it still relevant

While it’s easy to be critical of Reape just hold on a minute. We were struggling with the long ball and he had got a few short ones away that allowed us to set up attacks Personally I hate taking those risks but we have so often been accused of being unwilling to take risks. He is the best keeper in the county (imo) and I’d love some of the critics here to find themselves looking out the field at a rake of 6 foot plus dudes in maroon jerseys putting pressure on your kick out Would you keep kicking it out to them or try a few short ones to try to set up attacks Our goalie is not Patten, or Morgan or the Monaghan goalie or Cluxton in his prime . Yes it was a mistake alright but the chances we missed at the other end were equally costly. As for PJ winning the battle on the sideline the way I look at it is that the winning manager always wins the battle on the side line so McGeeney won it in the final last year and Jim Gavin won it for years and the Mayo manager has never won it in an AI final. James Horan was canonised after we beat the Dubs in 2021 but was then ridiculed when Tyrone beat us in the final a few weeks later .Of course managers have an influence but it’s really down to players performance as to whether a game is won or not

@Food4thought: I’m not sure how to read your post, whether it’s meant as a bit of light hearted banter or you think I’m stirring the pot up, or something like that. An auld emoji goes a long way on text based discussion forums!

But anyway, my handle here is a reference to the Ultravox classic “Vienna”, which is where I have been based for some time. “It Means Nothing to Me, aaah Vienna!”

If anything, I had a face on me for some time after the final whistle yesterday, such that Mrs. It Means Nothing to Me had to take me out to raise my spirits! Such is life, it’ll be forgotten next weekend.

But seriously, I find that the Irish News has very good coverage of the championship, and Ulster folk tend to look at these things at a different angle to ourselves, hence the plug.

I don’t buy that about PJ winning the battle of the sideline, I think there were key plays by players that got Galway over the line.
If anything McStay did alright. Diarmuid O’Connor was on a yellow and fouled Kelly for Galway’s last score of the first half. He would have been a liability if he came out for the second half.
That play on 68 minutes won us the game. Towey gets the ball on the 21 in the centre of the goal. Dylan McHugh gets down in his boot. Peter Cooke wins the break and plays a crazy hand pass where AOS has a 3 yard head start on Liam Silke who pins the ears back and gets their ahead of O’Shea.
One match up went wrong for Mayo having watched it back, Hession on McDaid. It was a double whammy in that it removed an attacking threat for Mayo until the end of the game and he wasn’t able for McDaid defensively

Have to agree with west Kerry about the Dubs going to salthill, they're going to be put to the sword there and, realistically, they'll probably struggle to get a point in that group.

Ah Dubs won't beat that Galway team in Salthill they will get beaten out the gate I'd say.

Looking ahead at our own I reckon mayo Galway donegal Armagh will be double header in croker that weekend June 14/15th
Hopefully not at 5/7pm though

I’m not sure how anyone can say McStay did alright. I don’t think we got one tactic right all game.

Mcstay himself said they had earmarked this game 9 months out. In mid January every dog in the street knew that Paul Conroy was a lethal 2 point kicker. So how on earth did we not have someone man marking him the entire game. Especially when Galway had the breeze. We have seen Donnach McHugh be a solid man marker and his physical strength would have gave us an extra edge around the middle. Why not stick him on Conroy?

Secondly, in game subs made no sense. 3 of our starting 6 forwards scored in the game. The other 3 on the day offered very little. Yet the manager came to the conclusion with 10 minutes to go, to take off 2 of the 3 men THAT HAD SCORED. Both of who were left footed. The ideal position for one of them to be when Mattie took his last shot. we got very little to no impact off our subs. Boland was terrified to shoot.

The decision to start Rory Brickiden came straight out of the Rochford playbook. Start a player that hasn’t played in 4 months. Reminds me of Hennelly and Clarke in 2016. A crazy call. Idk who Brickiden was even picking up. And in fairness to the lad, you could see he was rusty. What was the value in playing Akrim in the last game at wing back if not looking to use him over Brickiden?

And the Paddy Durcan story? The man is either fit or he’s not fit? If he’s not fit why on earth is he on the bench? If he’s is fit, when you need a bit of composure and experience with 10 minutes to he was the perfect man to bring into the game. His strong running and game intelligence would have been a huge plus. Not to mention he’s our captain.

Mgmt got this job based on “their years of experience” yet have been beaten by Joyce 2 years running. They had 9 months to prep for this game, and all we saw was the same old failings.

I’m more frustrated watching the game back today than I was yesterday.

Before then game all Mcstay spoke about was energy. All Joyce spoke about was composure at vital moments. Who was right down the home straight? Unfortunately not the “experienced” manager.

And on a separate note, a lot of criticism aimed at Joyce for trying to sway the officials on the sideline. Being really loud and aggressive. For Christ sake he is fighting hard for his team. Why couldn’t our manager fight just as hard on the sideline. Start an altercation with Galway management if needs be. But stop letting them walk all over us being loud and aggressive. It’s championship football, Galway vs mayo Connaught final. Absolutely nothing wrong with passion and aggression on the sideline. Look at Cody Kiely, McGuinness, Geazer, O’Connor etc. they aren’t standing like statues offering no drive on the line. At least Horan should a small bit of passion when he had to.

I'm not sure on that point about no injuries, Supermac! We lost David McBrien to a hit early and Diarmuid had to be withdrawn for the second half. I guess they'll both be okay for the Cavan game but both losses were significant yesterday.

@Ontheditch: Kinda.

It's still used for a few things:
- Exclusion zone for penalty kicks
- Part of the zone where a black card offence leads to a penalty if it's denying a goal scoring opportunity
- The 13m line from a restart, where a forward can in theory press to

The last one there is the biggest one. We've had a number of frees debated where lads were breaching the 13m from behind (Derry had the highest profile one) so I can well imagine some heated debates if we didn't have the D/13m marked out in front.

That said, in most scenarios it's not playing an active role (I'd say the most use it's getting this year is helping Performance Analysts having an easier job marking locations of shots/scores/events on the pitch). Those 3 situations it does come into play could all be rewritten or restructured to remove the need for it entirely if it was desired.

Good points Big Mike.

Aido should have won that ball - slow thinking as well as slow in getting to it. Diarmuid had taken two knocks in the first half and so it was probably right to substitute him, but not with Towey. We were going for big men and Thornton, who had been selected, was the obvious choice as he has ball winning capacity which we were caught on numerous times. Great Galway fetching btw which really won it, both in the second and fourth quarters.

[Deleted].

I prefer to play Cavan than Dublin.
Everything went exactly right for Meath against them and they will have a few players back the next day.
I will be no walkover.

Durkan didn’t come on when he was badly needed for 5 minutes at the end so we can assume he too was not fit
So that’s two of our subs not able to play ? What’s the point of that !

I was surprised that our keeper did`nt go upfield for that last play. Create an extra man. Nothing to lose at that stage.

Gizmobos - I'm going to give you one final warning about telling tales from within the camp. This isn't the place to be spreading these stories, end of.

I am in the optimist /realist camp

Thinking that Mayo can beat any team at any time makes us all Ireland winner potential is a fallacy.The flip side of this is that we too can be beaten by anyone at any time for any reason-and have been.

Like Horan promised to do ,and did,being consistently competitive makes the team more likely to win any one game. Or series of games.

Building a team that can be consistently competitive -in BIG games-take time. Longer than we have patience for,I feel.

Generational teams come along once in a generation.We just had one of those between 2011-2022. That was three years ago.
It is noteworthy that team had a panel depth deficit.

Ditto now.

For better or worse big close games are decided by bench depth. We currently do not have the same quality bench as Galway have. Or for that matter the same quality first team.

In a ten match series Galway would win 8. We could beat them on any day. Just not most days.

It is not healthy to see people who decry the poor quality of player or club championship in Mayo,be the same people giving out about management not able to win against genuine All Ireland contenders with better players and bench.

That’s not to say management didn’t make errors yesterday,I think most of us saw the same thing. Leaving Jordan Flynn and Towey on and taking off Neary and McHale seemed questionable. Not sure if they used all five subs but if not then that too is questionable.

But management can’t win an All Ireland though they can help lose it. They can’t accelerate the process of creating winning senior teams. If we had Dublin’s population or Kerry’s systems then that would be a different thing.

Being realistic is a healthy thing. We are currently 6 th or 7 th best team in Ireland imo. That’s better than last year when I reckon we were 10 th/11 th.

Progress this year would be getting to a semi final. We probably (hopefully)won’t win that Semi Final as we would get a drubbing along the lines of 2004/2006 from any of the likely finalists.

Yesterday is probably the closest we will get to Galway this year.

But there’s huge hope from the quality of our underage players and the way they are able to play the game. In two or three years we could be consistently competitive again if I’m reading this U-20 thing correctly. Real forwards taking on their man,very good scoring,fielding midfielders.

In a one off game we can do crazy things. But the All Ireland series has too many quality and emerging teams for this to be relied upon,if it ever should be except for a final where we are underdogs.

You know what’s better than crazy? Systems dedicated to fixing our deficiencies. Playing the game the right way.

Kudos to management yesterday for playing the game “the wrong way” for the first twenty minutes with the intent of being deliberate in denying Galway the ball. It worked well and set up the opportunity to win the game in the second half-which we didn’t take.

But if you’re going to criticize management then at least give kudos where it’s due.

But it’s not healthy to base your expectations of winning the All Ireland on “we can beat anyone on the day” It’s not real. It’s an illusion. It misses the mark.Its also true in a one off sense.That’s the paradox.

If you ask me which man is the most important man that we seem to be missing.It’s the sixteenth man.Losing him was a big loss and morale deflating.That is real,not an illusion.

If you want to help this team progress, don’t just look at management,look in the mirror. Think logically. Be realistic.
We still need to take the bullshit out of Mayo football.

Oh and cheer on a young team trying its absolute best to win yesterday. Regardless of feelings about management I was proud of the effort yesterday.

Right Willie Joe, fair enough it's your Mayo Gaelic blog or whatever we have to call it now with the trademark infringement clampdown.

I didn't think that was a story just something I know of that had nothing to do with from inside the camp itself and helped explain why management didn't play a certain player.

Agree it was a good effort, and we didn't have a lot of luck with penalty and 2 pointer, I still think we can have a big day, we need to get more breaks in midfield,it's crucial with new rules.
Reape has to go short yesterday as we weren't getting enough in middle, although I feel he advertise what he's going to do when he goes short.
Still think we are top 6 team, but bench probably not strong enough

After the despair yesterday now thinking let’s boost ourselves up. We had a good performance yesterday against many people’s favorites to go all the way. There is no reason we can’t win our group in the qualifiers and who knows after that.

Just read a mental stat there, I think this is correct but studio might correct me.

In all the meetings between the 2 in connacht that makes it 45 wins a piece and 6 draws, that's a close a rivalry as you will get anywhere in sport. It's why I found talk all last week of a hockeying last week to be crazy talk.

It's a proper sporting derby, there will only ever be a kick of a ball in it, no matter what team is flying/flagging

Was watching highlights back there at lunch, jaysus mcdaid is some footballer, he can do everything and often at the most decisive moments. Also donncha mchugh was quietly excellent again

Food4Thought, I find it incredible that in your post you and a few others have not mentioned Aidan O’Shea. There is a sensitivity to say anything about his performance based on unfair criticism he unfairly got in the past. This has spread it seems to the management who seem to be afraid to take him off.
Yesterday he was done for steps and turned over twice in the first half, one which led to a goal chance saved by Reape. He then attempted a free from the sideline which was not on and went wide at the start of the second half and for the last ten minutes was either wrecked or not able to run including the last point Galway got when he had a head start on Liam Silke for the breaking ball. If this was another player I have a feeling they would be getting slated on here but weirdly not a peep.

If one avoids a team from the Galway group the PQF will not be a big issue particularly with a neutral venue with less travel.

That's okay, Gizmobobs, but you have a habit of continually mentioning unconfirmed stories about players, which I've told you repeatedly isn't something that's allowed here. The Eoghan McLaughlin one last week is a case in point - you put about a story that it was a cruciate injury which was 100% BS. It's that kind of nonsense I want to avoid and so you need to think before posting when it comes to this kind of stuff.

I think your post was very good Food4Thought . Lots of valid points even if I wouldn’t agree with all of them. Big Mike as regards O Shea , well there is never any shortage of criticism there He didn’t have his greatest game yesterday but his quick hands set up a number of scores and put Hessian clean through in the last few minutes. Last year he was taken off going down the home stretch v Galway and lots reckoned that’s what cost us the game. Also taken of late on v Dublin when we were again caught at the death. Changes are great when they work. When they don’t work they’re errors and if you don’t make changes and you lose they are errors also. Could certainly see the logic in introducing Towey and Boland as they are often good for a score. Unfortunately neither delivered yesterday. Felt Jordan might have been taken off but I reckon then there would be complaints that we took off a big man when we were struggling at midfield. Just wonder would it have been a good idea to have put Donnacha ( who I thought was good yesterday) on Conroy especially against the wind or would it simply be robbing the full back line to compensate elsewhere

My thoughts exactly before the game. Put McHugh on Conroy for the half against the wind and stick tight to him. He got 3 easy 2 pointers and that’s the equivalent of 2 goals. If we were playing Kerry and you knew Clifford would probably get 2 goals in a half, would we not think he deserves special attention.

Supermac - that's correct in terms of previous Championship meetings between ourselves and Galway but requires a small bit of explanation.

I covered these numbers in the piece I did looking ahead to the game and, after yesterday's result, we're now absolutely deadlocked on head-to-head meetings ... but not if it's restricted to Connacht SFC meetings alone. Let me explain.

After yesterday's game, it's 45 Connacht SFC wins for Galway against us, 43 for us against them and 6 draws. But we've also played them twice in the Championship outside of Connacht (2019 in the qualifiers and 2023 in the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final). We won both of those so it's now 45 wins each overall and six draws.

It's a mental stat alright!

@ TsuDhoNim thanks for explaining.

This is a year where anything can happen with some teams (and managers) struggling and fumbling with the rule changes. I'm seriously looking forward to seeing how Armagh might foil McGuiness' game plan this weekend, or conversely, how McGuiness might frustrate McGeeney etc. So many permutations still to contend with and all in a compacted timeframe.
Hard to envisage Mayo still strutting their stuff past the quarters, admittedly, but nothing would surprise me. I think Meath and Roscommon could take a big scalp yet. The time for being tentative and conservative is up.

One recurring bugbear, which I haven't mentioned up to now but feel compelled to. From a colour-blind perspective, the clash of strips yesterday was all but total. It was a complete joke and, as a colour-blind person, it's so frustrating to have to say this again and again. In this department the GAA simply haven't got a clue.

You’re dead right there WJ. It was a nightmare yesterday trying to know which was which. I see Cahair o Kane is on about it on Twitter today too. Says even people who aren’t colour blind struggled with it.

Tis very hard especially in sunlight for even the regular person to tell them apart. Must be awful altogether for anyone colour blind

Should we be switching to a green or even red shorts long term. They're the county colours tbf, not white

Our plan to go half throttle for the last 15mins really did pay pay off. Really glad we decided to avoid the group of death. Galway will be disappointed today.

The worst of it is that we already know that the All-Ireland U20 against Louth and the Round 1 match against Cavan will both be as bad, for exactly the same reason: both teams in dark colour tops and white shorts. The solution is so simple but clearly not for the simpletons who could sort the problem.

I'm not colour blind Willie Joe and I know you might not feel like constantly bleating on about it but I'm with you more and more on every game. Those jerseys on the sun were impossible to differentiate. The amount of times I thought we'd passed the ball to one of their players (and that was possible) was ridiculous. Colour blindness is more prominent among males and affects quite a high percentage more than you'd think
There absolutely have to be several players who suffer from this. How hard must it be for them? I saw a player for Mayo (not naming him as it wouldn't be fair in case it's an issue he doesn't even know about!) pass the ball to the opposition in a game no less than four times. The jerseys were similar that day too. He was getting roasted by the fans around me. It just got me thinking.
Anyway, wouldn't be holding my breath on the GAA doing something about it!

The colour blind one is a funny thing for me.It came up on the blog about a year ago and I launched a petition to get it fixed on change.org and I had very few signatures.....
One who did sign was Cillian OConnor but other than friends and family very few did and it never went anywhere...just no one really wanted to support when they were asked to do something.I might give it a go again

@osullivan For a while there I was getting worried it looked like might win.

WJ - have you ever addressed the issue with the county board?

Here is the link to the petitio .If anyone signs I will submit it with a letter to headquarters by the end of the week.....if I get a few more.I got 114 which is pretty poor....not really going to make folks out up and take notice

https://www.change.org/FixcolourblindnessGAA

What kind of prices are we looking at for the cavan game ? €25 the stand , €20 the sideline ?
And will the stand be sit where ya like or will it be numbered ?

@Ever the optimist: Yeah, not sure if I'm any further along today on predicting semi-finalists than I would have been 6 months ago. In both cases, it'd be little more than random guesses.

Group 1: Donegal/Armagh, Mayo, Tyrone, Cavan
Little more than a toss of a coin for 1st/2nd/3rd there for me. You'd make the Ulster Champions favourites on momentum, but Tyrone or ourselves could easily win that race yet.

QF - Donegal/Armagh or Mayo or Tyrone
pQF - Donegal/Armagh or Mayo or Tyrone

Grp 2: Kerry, Leinster runner up (Meath/Louth), Roscommon, Cork.
A little clearer here where you'd give Kerry a red-hot favourites tag. I'd have Roscommon favourites for 2nd, but the way they collapsed in a few of the league games/final/Galway there's a big question mark hanging over them.

QF - Kerry
pQF - Meath/Louth & Roscommon

Grp 3: Leinster winner (Louth/Meath), Clare, Monaghan, Down.
Toss of a coin between Louth/Meath & Monaghan for this one for me. The momentum of next weekend could change my thinking yet (I'd have Louth favourites for that atm), but I'd see Monaghan as the ever so slightly favourites for winners there just yet.

QF - Monaghan
pQF - Louth/Meath & Clare

Grp 4: Galway, Ulster runner up (Armagh/Donegal), Dublin, Derry.
This one absolutely beyond predictions. I've seen folks tipping either Dublin or Derry to surprise win it and more predicting them to finish bottom on 0.

QF - ???
pQF - ???

Make it through the groups in 2nd/3rd and it's potentially a pQF against a Meath/Louth/Roscommon/Clare/Dublin/Armagh/Donegal (we'd be avoiding Galway/Tyrone/Ulster Champions at this point on). More than a couple there you'd feel in a good spot facing.

Then beyond that a potential QF against a Kerry/Monaghan/Louth/Meath/Armagh/Donegal/Dublin/Derry (or against one of the previous teams coming through a pQF if we'd managed to top our group). Again, games there you'd give yourself a very good shot at going into. Even at the harder end of the draw you'd feel it a live chance of turning them over.

All to play for yet if we can pick ourselves up off the canvas after the gut punch yesterday. A lot of errors & issues still to address, but the upside of this Championship structure is that it affords that time & a number of games left to work towards that. Even if just baby steps at this point.

@WestKerry I have to say completely agree with you, while we have 6 players to come back, we won't be involved in the business end for a few years at least.

Done that. FreeTheEastBank.

I’m glad I’m not the only one who couldn’t tell the difference between the jerseys !
Stand side it was fine but when the ball was the other side I hadn’t a clue who had it!
Had to wait for the roar
If the roar was really loud then I knew it was Galway :(

Tsu - are the draws made for the preliminary qf yet?
For example if we finish second in our group - is it open draw to see what third place team we play- or is it known already

@Southmayo Exile: Open draw for pQFs, with just the avoidance of repeat Provincial Final pairings (if any of those are possible) & Group Stage repeats.

With the 'avoidance' stuff they can't be done until all spots are known, so will happen shortly after the R3 of the groups finish up (I can't remember from last year, but either directly after the final live game that Sunday or else on the Monday morning... I'd assume the latter, but very open to correction if anyone remembers).

pQF: Any team finishing 2nd can meet any of the 3 sides finishing 3rd outside of their group, as long as it isn't a Provincial Final Repeat.

QF: Same again, with the 4 Group Winners facing any of the 4 pQF winners they didn't play in the Group Stages or in a Provincial Final.

(We'd likely be avoiding Tyrone/Galway & whichever of Donegal/Armagh we play in the Group Stage if we get that as far as a pQF or QF)

SF: Changes things up to avoid any repeat meetings for the year where possible (e.g. Galway would then be avoiding Roscommon along with Mayo/Dublin/Derry/Ulster Winner). Wouldn't impact us directly with Sligo & Leitrim in the Tailteann, but could (if we get there) end up impacting our odds of drawing other sides where we could end up slightly more likely of drawing an Ulster side than the likes of a Kerry or Dublin kind of thing.

You'd imagine Mayo will finish 3rd ahead of Cavan..the two ulster teams on top.

? Done, Free the East Bank.
It’s definitely an issue for a lot of people. I think the stat is 1 in every 12 men has red/green colour deficiency, (and 1 in 200 women). A simple solution would be that the team’s away jersey be a direct (monochromatic) contrast to their home, so if home jersey is dark/coloured, away is bright/white.
Setting my disappointment of yesterday’s outcome aside, and while we’re taking umbrage at GAA nonsense, I have to say I was extremely impressed at Jim McGuinness standing up for his fans, refusing to travel to CP for an Ulster Final, saying that no, there are too many games, it’s too much expense on families, families that sacrifice other things to follow their team (Donegal). How refreshing it would be for our manager or County Board at any stage over the past number of years, to back us in a similar manner, instead of dragging people to Croke Park for Connacht Finals and other games that could easily be played nearer to home. The lack of respect for fans, indeed for season ticket holders, is just perplexing at this stage.

Dublin could beat Galway .

https://www.irishnews.com/gaa/gaelic-football/cahair-okane-gaas-blindness-to-colourblindness-shows-same-misguided-loyalty-to-tradition-as-camogies-skorts-row-IQDHIX2HWNC5XHTF2OYMLRBJAU/

Great to see this piece by Cahair diving further into the colourblind headaches.

Went as far as suggesting the various match-ups in jerseys and identifying the ones that will have issues regardless. Something the GAA/O'Neills need to be far more active on.

https://x.com/CahairOKane1/status/1919468009615147242

Not with the county board, Just a thought, but I have in the past with a member of management’s backroom team (to no avail at it turned out). To be honest, though, it’s an issue the GAA should already be aware of (it impacts all team sports) and it’s something the GAA at national level have to sort, rather than individual counties.

I'm supporting the Mayo team for well over 50 years & when they win I get a great buzz & feel great but when they lose I get down feeling, it's hard to explain but it niggles at me for a couple of days & then the cloud lifts thank God. When Galway beat Mayo it's worse but anyway I think McStay & crew, the Mayo team will give us a few good days out yet this year, they are not far off a great performance on the playing field, just a bit more confidence in all departments, hope they give it a right go & bring Mayo back where we belong at the top table.

Loved your post Food4Thought. So refreshing and rare on this blog at the moment to read analysis that is astute, perceptive,positive and optimistic.
We need more of this. Thank you.

WJ it's such a simple solution, it beggars belief it's not just done.
At this stage government should just put it in as a stipulation to any organisation they subsidise, that wouldn't be long changing their tune.
I'm not colourblind, but find some clashes horrific, especially in wet or sunny days.

@Left Boot from a Galway perspective we have felt this devastation in '02 and '04. You go through all the emotions anger, denial and eventual acceptance. You feel an emptiness for days and it hurts... But I think this blog helps supporters let off steam, and in times of defeat like this serves as an effective "I'm a Connaught final Mayo loser to Galway survivor" forum.

Still feeling in a mood over it!

But we must dust ourselves off and go again.

I agree with others thought McHugh had a good game and Neary . Don't know why they took off Neary tbh .

Don't think it's impossible for us to top this group

@Ahh not again yeah I agree

That's an excellent piece by Cahair O'Kane. It describes the condition so well and I love his suggested match-ups for the group stage games!

I don't know but I am never too disappointed when Galway beat us as Galway are such a great footballing county and once we go out I always like to see them carry the Connacht flag. Maybe if I lived near the border it would be different
Anyway all that matters is the All Ireland now and hopefully we give it a good shot and give us a bit of pride in the team win or lose.
Seeing all the stuff about colour blindness which never entered my head until Willie Joe brought it up a few months ago is to me more annoying than yesterdays loss and it's time the GAA got their act together. And then you have the camogie players not allowed to wear shorts when the vast majority want to. A bit of cop on and humility would go along way at the top of these organisations.

Jesus a few of both the galway n mayo players must be colour blind too...Jordan handpassed straight to a galway player yesterday...a couple of galway lads did the same....lol

Charlie, it's very true what you say alright, horrible feeling but I'm OK now! Galway have the shooters & they stayed calm when it was in the melting pot & a C McDaid was brilliant, he's some player, good luck to Galway in the next game, Mayo has to learn how to kill off tight games going forward.

That was actually the first thought that went through my head when that incident happened, Moyside! I've no idea if Jordan is colour-blind or not but if he is it'd explain that pass. Statistically, some of the players involved yesterday must be colour-blind, given that it affects one in eight men.

Irish Examiner expecting the Galway v Dublin and Kerry Roscommon games to be the 2 games shown on Gaa+

Durcan was warming up a probably would’ve come on if the black card didn’t happen.

Diarmuid had an ice pack on his hamstring as well so that’s not great.

I agree , jerseys were far too alike in that sun.
In relation to group stages, I have two concerns, our subs bench, have we impact players(Galway had in Cook yesterday) and secondly our over reliance on ROD..
Well, if we've learned lessons from yesterday's game, who knows.
The big positive was the performance of McHugh, Hession, Callinan, Neary. We've three more competitive games and that can only be good.

Sticks for the Reek,yes if you lived near the border or,(like me) in the centre of it,then you would have a different opinion.Out of respect to the decent Galway posters on the blog I will not elaborate,only to say that
people with a sneering condescending attitude to everything Mayo will never have my respect.

@opt2misteek fully agree.

On the two pointer that wasn’t a two pointer: who decided?

Umpire initially waved the orange flag, and Gleeson protested - well he would, wouldn’t he.

Willie Joe and colour blindness. Great idea but.
You want the GAA to follow International Rugby and have teams wear colours that don't effect colour blindness. Not a chance. Maybe in 10 years time.
Keep up the pressure though.

The team lost on Sunday for the same reasons we always do.
Not enough scoring forwards and poor game time management.
We had a half back line of Brickenden, Coen and Callinan. No scoring or attacking threat at all. Poor old Sam turns backwards whenever he gets the ball, regardless of the position on the field.

The substitution situation is always a problem.
Mayo were down at half time and made 1 sub going into what we all knew would be a totally different game than the first half.
Mayo pulled off a big comeback to get level.
We then refused to make a substitution until 10 mins to go. Why would you hold three subs to the last 10min and not even use one of them? When the evidence in front of you tells you that fresh legs are needed to drive the thing over the line?

Brining on Kelly (a defender) for your highest scorer when scores are needed is just crazy.

Leaving on Coen, Flynn and Carney who were no scoring threat at all was just poor game management.

With the wind behind you and the game to be won, you need multiple scoring options across the field.

In the end game we had only three lads on the field who you could trust to kick a score and we worked the ball to Ruane on the wrong side for a low percentage shot from a position he would never normally attempt to score. He then tries a hail Mary shot which was a 1:5 shot at best

No tradesman would try to plaster a house with a hammer. If you don't bring the proper tools with you, you'll never get the job done.

Considering the draw for the group stages and what has happened to this team in the past few years (running out of legs and ideas in the know out stages) they should seriously consider a strategy around arriving fresh at a final, regardless of how you get there.

Go all out for a win v Cavan.
Rest 10/12 regulars for Tyrone
Put out a 2nd team v Donegal/Armagh

Rock up to the prelim match fresh
The likely opponents (Roscommon, Louth, Meath, Cork) are well beatable with a fresh team.
The worst possible draw at that stage would be one of Galway/Armagh or Donegal and they will be after 3 tough games in a row.

The above strategy is the best route to a qfinal. Anything else will have us turn up at a prelim or quarter final out on our feet as usual.

Time to learn the lessons from the past few years.
The above would also put game time into the 20 or so players who don't get any action. We might even find out a few of them can play a part going forward

It was the umpire who called it, Catcol. On the TV you can see him tapping one hand off the other to indicate (I guess) that the ball was touched on the way over and he then went for the white flag.

Yes, Willie Joe, but he waved the orange flag first, I saw him do so, then Gleeson barracked him and he changed his decision.

Mayo lost a game that could and should have been with ease. Management mostly to blame, wrong team picked to start also very wrong changes made during game, the penelty was a right call a bit harsh but a penelty , the poor kick out probetly cost us game most of all, next year we need a new ruthless outside manager with a one year contract and complete new backroom team, no more we have to have someone from my club on team or at least on panel The new outside manager has plenty of time to hold trials for everyone put forward by their Clubs and pick best panel with no interference from anyone, give it a go.

Willie Joe
I know I'm not colour blind as in another life I would not be a driver but on Sunday as the sun started hitting for Westport I had to put on my prescription shades but had to take them off again as the colouring became indiscernible.