I dunno.
Very disappointed with the performance yesterday.
Not an excuse but Faloon didn't help either.
I didn't think we would sail past Cavan, but we'd dig it out in the end and move on.
Not to be.
It's hard to know how the players will be now after the Final defeat and yesterday's result in the space of a fortnight, hard to see a 180 turn around.
Two decent accounts of themselves will maybe be the best we can hope for.
It's hard to be optimistic.

The 1994 Connacht Senior Football Final loss to Leitrim was bad but if you look at the YT game Mayo were ate least putting in the effort there. But let's press on to the next 2 games. Ni heart go cur le cheile!

Very disappointing re the comments and inexcusable. Very disappointing and inexcusable what happened on the pitch also. I can accept if we play to our potential and come up short but i cant believe what i saw yesterday is our true worth. We're better than that but for whatever reason we're not realising our potential. players look confused and frustrated. supporters are too and are voting with their feet.... 7K attendance yest, that must be some sort of record for a championship match in mchale park? I wish the best for Mcstay and the players but sadly i think its too late now to turn things around .

The biggest shame about yesterday is that it wasn't knockout.
The next few weeks will see us rumbling along waiting to be put out of our misery.
We're in a bad place and I hope that's as low as it gets.
Good luck to Cavan. Hope they follow up on their win yesterday. We were very poor but they still had to win it. 8 points wouldn't have flattered them.
On another note, there wasn't a chance there were over 7000 there yesterday.

Feel for the management team who obviously wanted to do their best for Mayo. Still wouldn't write off a huge response against Tyrone and/or Donegal. Either way, looks like we need an overhaul of our panel as well as the management. Too many players not up to it.

I stayed away from the comments until now but a very dark day yesterday, I don't think I have ever left a match feeling as low as this one. Something seriously wrong here, a zombie like performance, so many players were poor. The mayo news had several with 5 out of 10 performances including management and the rest weren't much higher either which you couldn't argue against. I'm usually one of the optimist ones on here but I cant see a response coming from the team or management after this, there is just not enough leadership there...

@waiting for Sam

Yup actually felt like crying nearly when waiting for the train back to Dublin .

Horrible so dissapointing. Want to blank it from my memory but the dust will take a while to settle on this one .

@Travelling Wilbury have a look at the Donegal panel from 2023 from when they were in a worse state than we are now. Almost no new players but a complete turnaround. Coaching, man management and gameplan are the main problems

They looked like a very poorly coached team yesterday, some of the handling errors you wouldn't see at minor, id take Horan ball now

Two interesting things about Cavan.
1. It's ironic that a former decent Mayo footballer Jimmy Burke is coaching Cavan. Is it the one I'm thinking of that would go straight for goal?
2. Any wonder Cavan looked much quicker than us when the great athlete Catriona McKiernan coaches them and had them gliding over the ground.

Never embraced new rules, and now unfortunately, too late for this management team.

A very disappointing display yesterday. Hard to see how the team will be able to turn it around in 2 weeks, but who knows. I'm also surprised that so many people are considering Andy Moran as a possible replacement in the long term. His record.....Leitrim lost to New York in 2023 and lost to Sligo badly in 2024. The bulk of the squad left over the Winter, in comes Stephen Poacher and Leitrim are already doing a lot better, and with a new young squad.

Good point Paul b. I was in Ballybofey the day we sent them packing to Division 2. They were shell-shocked, we did as we pleased and Aidan terrorised Sean Patton. But guess what, Kevin and Rochy were at the helm that day and, on checking the archive, twelve of yesterday's panel played that day. No Cillian that day, and Tommy a late sub - an effective one though.

What has changed? The game, the new rules have, and we haven't fully responded, or worked out a compelling strategy. But, I really don't think that was the problem yesterday. Experts said that the gulf between Div 1 and Div 2 teams would really come into play with the new rules. It has and it has been shown to be non-existent - Louth, Meath, Cork in recent weeks have won big or put it up to the elite. And Cavan finished above all of those mentioned in Division 2. We were complacent; I put my hand up, I really did expect us to win with something to spare.

I still think the management can turn it around, but their selection policy and performance on the line has to improve. The substitutions, and timing of, are wretched - Frank Irwin coming on with a minute to go was an insult, and current form has to have a bearing on selection.

@stick for the reek - its the Jimmy Burke that was on James Horan's coaching team in his second stint

Up until O'Sheas goal, our starting 6 forwards contributed 1 point from play.

System and style of play is obsolete. There's not enough time to reboot the mainframe this year.

Cavan beat Donegal in 2020 Ulster final. Rochy on the line.

We've had some of our most embarrassing & sobering defeats in the last 3 years. It's time to move on. Our standards fallen off a cliff. Has to be ripped up & start again with a completely fresh backroom team. We haven't embraced the new rules. We have gone backwards in some many areas

@Sticks,I don't think it's Aughamore Jimmy of the 80's....James,that was around Mayo teams of the past on the sideline anyway and possibly on the field of play too, would be my guess.

Willie Joe,
I wouldn’t have the patience for dealing with all the crappy comments here. I am sure it must be very frustrating for you.

For what it’s worth, I think much of the commenting here has become unhelpful and serves little purpose other than people venting, speculating and sometimes looking to aggravate others.

Trying to figure out the best platform for us Mayo fans to express our love of football is not an easy thing!

But I am looking forward to the new changes, whatever they entail and I am sure you will continue to do a great job.

Thank you for all the time and energy you expend on this.

The west is best- agree on Andy Moran. He's not the answer. No point bringing in another former Mayo player who is not a winner. Equally, there needs to be some acceptance of the limitations of this group of players and the fact that their inability to close out games is as much to do with their own psyche as anything else. There is a serious psychological issue with this group and I don't see it being solved any time soon.

McStay said in his interview that if the game had gone on for another couple of minutes anything could happen. We had just had nearly 80 minutes and not much happened. He also seemed to put the blame on the players for not kicking it into Aidan, saying I can’t tell them when to do it. I would have thought that was exactly his job, trying to play to our strengths.

I feel sorry for the players , some tried some are scared stiff, it's like mchale park brings out worst of them . If it does its only down to lack of management.
Sam and Hess are fine players but nobody helping them and they get bottled up and turned over.
No game plan to feed ROD, ROD ans AOS inside but yet no ball in .
One time Flynn kicks it in long , side line shouting at him, it was big kick in ROD didn't get to it but if gave him a chance to.

Nah this management team has much to answer for, there's a degree of talent there but they coached into robots "high percentage" you hear the line shouting in all time.
Get this year over with bring in Austin O Malley with someone like John Maughan and david Heaney with him.
Integrate the u20s , bring some of best forwards in County who aren't there for various reasons, cillian, James carr, maheady, Mchale,Ruddy, Regan, finbar Mclaughlin into the fold even a flavour of last years u17s and just bring fast enjoyable football into it.
Austin will bring modern tech, Maughan old school heart and determination, knowledge of footballers across all grades junior senior and intermediate and Heaney with knowledge of u17 teams over last number of years .

Was kevin Mcstay asked about return of tommy Conroy?. It would be great to have him back for the tyrone game. There is no sense in calling up any under 20 player at this stage.

Does a Donegal v Tyrone draw do us any good.?
I'm too emotional to work out the permutations for myself

@dreamysleepynightysnoozysnooze - being a winner as a player does not make a manager. What did McGuiness win as a player?
Not that I think Moran is an answer as head coach but think he would be an option with an experienced manager. He always delivered his best on the big day, even in defeat and has a positive outlook that would in my opinion be a strong attribute in a backroom team

@Nephin

Exactly it is McStays job to tell the players when to do it . Sure there were lots of shouts saying when to kick it coming from the stand even.

Donegal don't remotely have the psychological baggage Mayo do. Repeatedly bringing in managers who have zero experience of winning to manage a team of players who equally do not know how to win makes the whole thing a cycle. That group need a manager who's been there and done it. The problem is I don't know anyone of that calibre who would be willing to take on this job.

On the new rules they don't suit us is the problem not that we haven't adapted them. They penalise the ball carrying teams, look at Dublin and ourselves. In recent years we mostly went short in our kick outs as did Dublin and now that option is gone more or less. That means you need big athletic fielders in the middle of the park and half forward line, we don't have enough of those type of players.

Our two remaining games are big physical encounters and dipping into the u20, u17 panel would be absolutely crazy imo. And the problem is not the players, it's our failure to adapt to the new rules and play to our strengths. Give our bench gametime, there put in the hard work too. Dawson is a future star, Kelly deserves more gametime.
The most disappointing thing about yesterday's performance was we were clueless. Clueless in how to defend around the arc, clueless in how to execute plays which release a player into a scoring position.

@paul - Jim mcguiness whilst not a starter won an all Ireland with Donegal in 1992. Can’t have done him any harm!!. We don’t even need a Jim mcg right now in mayo.. right now we need someone who is simply tactically sound - who can see you can’t leave a gaping hole in the centre back position!

Hate to say I told you so but this loss was coming. Mayo are a mirror image of Rochford with Donegal and McStay's third year with the Rossies. We're predictable, easy to play against and lack any intensity.

We're as far off winning an All Ireland now as we've ever been in my life time. People talk about Longford in 2010 but that Mayo team was full of top players who had either downed tools or it just wasn't happening for them. The current Mayo team isn't a patch on the 2010 Mayo team when you look at the names on the team sheet. Nearly every starter that day against Longford had either won or played in an U21/minor All Ireland Final. The current Mayo team have largely won nothing. Only Stephen Coen and ROD's U20 teams even won a Connacht.

We are so far off it now and we are building players up to be something they're not. We keep picking lads who are so obviously not good enough and yet despite their performances, they keep getting in the team. I can't remember the last time Jack Carney, Jordan Flynn or Sam Callinan played well. The team and players have no variety. We lack scores and we lack pace, every one has the exact same build - we're a team of midfielders who can't score and even worse for us, can't field a ball either.

Lot of talk on here about Austin O'Malley and Andy Moran. The one I would look at is Sean Deane. He reinvented us at minor level and did the same with Breaffy last year. While Austin's achievement with Cuala was magnificent, its a little like winning the French league with PSG.

@Paddyjoejohntom: Impossible to know for sure in isolation, but going on likely most likely scenarios... no. Not really.

It reduces their chances of making it a 3 way tie between ourselves and Cavan so makes Cavan's H2H on us all the more valuable.

One of Tyrone or Donegal romping to 3 wins, us pipping the loser of their game for 2pts and that side beating Cavan to make it a 3 way tie for 2nd/3rd/4th on 2pts the most likely positive situation for us. In that scenario, we'd just need enough SD to nip ahead of at least 1 & possibly both of the other two sides in the tie (so we'd be hoping whoever wins next week would be hammering everyone but us kinda thing).

Leave the manager talk out until we are out of the championship.
How did our energy levels drop so much since the Connaught Final?
Hopefully there is a kick left in us, otherwise we have no place in the business end of the championship.
So what if we have to play Tyrone and Donegal.
I will be surprised if either of the two of them win it out.

@JR

I'd say the guys were still really dissapointed not to have won connacht . Their confidence was way down you could see it in them.

Bring on the Man of the match poll, so as we can vote for Stephen Coen, it wont suit some on the blog. Mathew Ruane got two as well from midfield and Darren McHale worked his socks off at maximum intensity for the game, they in my opinion were the best of the bunch, and in fairness Jack Coyne was more than decent . One thing I noticed was around the 10 minute mark a Cavan player went down injured, David McBrien was shouting to the Mayo players to go over to the stand side for I imagine a team talk because Mayo started poorly. The length of time it took for several players to saunter over to the stand and I presume McStay and Rochford for what should be a reset talk, tells me that the whole Mayo team were NOT on the same hymesheet.

Good teams get over disappointment quickly, Armagh. The big positive was we were still in the race. So, not an excuse for yesterday.
Management are the problem in that they've stubbornly stuck to a 'system' (I'm being very generous calling it that). They are unlikely to change tack at this stage, and Tyrone will be chomping at the bit to get at us

On yesterday, the lack of energy from Mayo is the biggest indicator of all that the players have stopped playing for the management. It's definitely the worst moment since Longford 2010 because the loses to Kildare in 2018, Dublin in 2019, the hammerings in QFs to Kerry in 2022 and Dublin in 2023 were all knockout games and we could move on immediately. Now we have to continue with this charade for another two championship games. Depressing eight months until league football starts again!

@Ontheditch

Yeah that's very true .

Can I ask everyone please to stop this talk about who should be appointed as the next manager? As I said last night there’s no vacancy at the minute for this position and there’ll be plenty of time to discuss it once there is.

Time to move on.

Predicted Team for Tyrone:

Reape
Coyne McHugh Morahan
Kelly Carney Flynn
McBrien Thornton
Neary R O'Donoghue D McHale
Irwin Coen Hession

Aidan, Mattie, Sam and can come in when we are tiring.
Ryan deeper to try to kick into Irwin and Coen, with Enda's pace giving us something different.

Half back line needs a complete revamp. Needs to be our engine.

[Deleted].

[Deleted].

Not much I can say here that already hasn't been said. I commented early in the league that management should have walked after the Derry game last year, it's been so obvious for a long time that the players haven't been on the same page as them and any attacking flair they had has been coached out of them, the fact that so many players left the squad within the space of a few weeks spoke volumes.

For me the two main priorities for next season are to find at least 2 midfielders, a centre half back and a goalkeeper. There's plenty of forwards coming through and we actually have a few decent ones already in the panel if they were allowed to play to their strengths. Panel needs a good clear out at the end of the year, unfortunately as highly as I rate him, Diarmaid O'Connor is dogged by injury now and can't depend on him to stay fit, he was probably dogged too much early in his career and seems to have caught up with him last couple of seasons. As others have said, this season is finished effectively, no point bringing in some of the U20s into the panel now as I'd imagine the dressing room may be fairly toxic. It will never happen knowing our ridiculously cautious management but would go all out and play the following team against Tyrone:

Phillips/Vahey
Coyne-McBrien-McHugh
Hession-E O'Donoghue-Durcan
Irwin-AOS (For a half, move to full forward then)
Neary-Boland-Ruane
Towey-ROD-McHale

Subs-Vahey/Phillips, Coen, Kelly, Callinan, E McLaughlin (if fit), Carney, Flynn, Conroy, Reid, Tuohy, Coggins

Looking over the highlights...

The score Ciaran Brady,cavan no 6, kicked at the start should have had alarm bells ringing loudly, the type of score you just don't see conceded at this level anymore. He soloed from the center back position right up through the heart of the defence and got about 6 or 7 solos without anyone laying a hand on him

Also Jack Coyne got an awful roasting off cormac reilly, what will happen when he marks mccurry or canavan?

Right, I've now begun to delete comments making reference to who the next manager might be. As I've pointed out more than once, this isn't the time for such debate. There are more pressing issues to cover at the minute with two huge games coming up for us in the coming weeks.

Sorry Clare but we have to move focus to Tyrone game. Player / management meeting will be important to help them move on. Maybe something positive will emerge, but we have reached rock bottom. The only way is up.
We're not winning Sam in 2025,, Flynn should be rested. Off to the beach for him for the day. Start Kelly, Morahan and Dawson. Don't know why Brickenden was named as starter and ended up on subs bench. Demoralising for any player, they must be sick of this nonsense.

Can a sports psychologist develop a mindset into the players over the next two weeks that the game in Omagh is do or die . Like it’s old style championship knockout , cause it effectively is . Can such a fire be lit into the players and management or have we gone beyond such & are indeed a busted flush ?

For the tyrone match we need brick and durcan on the half back line. They both are good kickers. We need to feed ball into o’shea at every chance.

Our Kick-out strategy, if you could call it that, is so frustrating and I really can't work out what it is. Just looking at yesterday, Reape would place the Tee, scan the field for a few seconds and then, 9 times out of 10,kick it long, always, to our left hand side-talk about telegraphing it-at least vary it to middle and right. Not all Reape's fault, but on a number of occasions, I saw a Mayo player, in acres of space calling for the ball only to be ignored. Against Galway, we kept kicking it to McDaid's side, where he was cleaning up-whatever about strategy, at least use commonsense and keep it away from best fielders. Also yesterday, all Mayo players were jumping for the ball, with nobody staying down for the breaking ball, and so we won very little of it. We all know possession from kick-outs is now vital and it's should'nt be too difficult to improve in that area.

@on the ditch

No need to be sorry I totally agree with you

Mayo have some great players but they’re not a great team. Way over coached. Overthinking everything

Just go out and play. Every man responsible for winning his own personal battle

Nothing to loose - go out and give it hell for leather the next two games

Urgency is what is required from Galway and Mayo against Tyrone and Derry, URGENCY. Look at Reape and Gleesons kickouts, slow and ponderous. All that is missing and not to be sexist is a lad in a bikini to come out holding a placard saying it's going to the right, long and so on. I expect a reaction by Galway to the flat performance against the Dubs, Mayo have to just move on from the Cavan match, park it for end season review and focus on Tyrone, while a good team are not yet the finished article. Ye need Eoghan McLoughlin, DOC on the pitch and possibly Durkan now as if he if 90% plus he has to start. Bomb some early ball to AOS, take chances and not be sitting back waiting for it to happen.

Apologies WJ

Unstoppable if winning an all Ireland with Cuala is like PSG winning the French league, what is losing the county Semifinal with Breaffy like? They had been getting to the finals before being knocked out.

Keep the faith Clare

@Jsmes Fleming Ah thanks

Ah the dust will settle eventually and I'll always support them . Was just so hard to watch that unfold yesterday.

I'd go to the Tyrone game if it wasn't for the 7 pm start but Tyrone is a do or die game really .

I totally agree with you Claire Tyrone is a long vway from Dublin

I’d absolutely be bringing Tom Lydon in now and probably starting him !
But sure we won’t kick ball in anyways so no point

It is as simple as this.
The new rules suit long range kickers, and fast transition play but also the long direct ball.

I knew Mayo would struggle particularly with the longish range 2 pointers, sure Mayo always struggle to beat the blanket defences. Management more or less told us that they were not too bothered about the new Rules at the early league stages, they knew the 2 pointers would be a problem.
The long direct/ angled direct is the best policy at this stage, ie goals and more goals.
As many mentioned here over the past few months, a few players need a rest, going constantly club All Ireland run etc.

Km79 - Tom Lydon is about to start his Leaving Cert so has other more important issues aside from football on his mind right now!

We don't have the luxury of resting players at this stage.
If not playing well,drop them, it is as simple as that.
This is what training is for, to pick players on form not reputation.
Mind you a lot on the blog wanted Coen dropped.

Sorry Willie Joe

The sad fact is that the players have not being playing club games where the new rules have become the norm and are just accepted. Most clubs started coaching them late December/early January. The county seem to have come late to the party. A reset might not be a bad thing. I just hope we stop the rot sooner rather than later before we become irrelevant and spend the next 15 years in the doldrums.

Snipers everywhere this evening. You're gonna need a few drones WJ!

There are so many things I could say but it would just be repeating myself. The only option is for the players to take charge on and off the pitch. Let them take the responsibility. The Conductor's baton has been broken for years so let's see if we are on the Titanic or in Carnegic Hall. "Top of the World Ma"

Just going back over the archives ,Aidan Orme only got 2 match appearances for Kevin McStay in 2023 before he left the panel in before 2024 season an Fbd game and a First round National game v Galway.This is Knockmores best footballer.Cillian O'Connor only started 3 games for Mayo in League and Championship last year the 2 championship games Ross and Cavan in the Round Robin then he was dropped for the Dubs and Derry.These are 2 of the best natural forwards we have in the County after ROD.Its a disgrace they way they were treated and people wonder why they left.O'Hora, Carr and Plunkett all ignored too with very little game time last year.
Why also did he have to just disgard Robbie Hennelly in his 1st season and could have broken Reape in gently as a backup keeper.Who could forget the statement hes only a baby keeper yet after the Dublin hammering in 2023.Time is up for this mangement team.
No trials held in 3 seasons just certain players called up who were on Sigerson panels or had one good game in Club championship.Dropped Fergal Boland then brought him back played him and then dropped him again, a manager that doesnt know his best 15 after 3 seasons its a joke. the idendification of the best players in Mayo was really lazy on Kevins part.

There are some good suggestions for the Tyrone game in the above posts. It heartens me to read them and to think and talk football strategy. With it, I feel the bad feelings of yesterday regressing.

Chesneychet, thank you for your hopeful, practical and sturdy post - this is just the spirit we need.

Seán Burke - your posts have been helping too. Indeed, could we approach the Tyrone game as if it’s knockout as it is, effectively, as you said?

Let’s see some spirit and something that works.

Some daft comments here. From calls to bring in a lad about to sit the leaving cert to someone naming a team for the Tyrone game that drops Stephen Coen (our best player by far yesterday).

Also anyone thinking that management should be sacked or resign before the end of the season is demented. Who runs the team then until the end of the season? Absolute bonkers.

Someone better than what is there at the moment

Always in mayo football, always since I've been going to games and watching we always find a way to blame management..it goes back a long way. Like we have been in unbelievable positions to win the all ireland and managed to lose, now is that managements fault, being able to kick a ball over from 25 yrds, silly passes etc..as Brian Coady once said if you need to tell an inter county player what to do..he shouldn't be there.

Ciaran Mcdonald, one of our greatest and certainly one the best kickers of a ball the gaa has ever saw once said...managers can't come in and play for us. Now, I get systems and players playing in right positions etc..but sweet baby jesus I watched recently the 2017 final and the amount of wides or silly kicks from established players from 30 yrds or less was awful. So while certain managers may not be up to it..you can't justify silly play like that.

Interesting to hear Paraic Joyce complain about a foul on Kelly that upset a set play they had practiced between Finnerty and Kelly.
Also the way they used the double kick by Gleeson, Dublin were totally confused and could have conseeded a goal as they all stopped to look at the Ref.
We never seem to think outside the box.

There’s such a mixed bag of emotions been poured out since yesterday , we all think we know a way and some blame the players , others the management, county board will start to get the blame before the week is out .

It will take one good selfless non careerist to guide Mayo to glory , where is he or who is he , I don’t know but I do know we have the players in any given era since 89 to win it, that is proved by our consistent level every so often to get to the last game of the competition over the years .

As for this year , we could beat Tyrone , Tommy conroy to come off the bench and bag 0-3 .

The players aren't there now though Sean I don't think. Not ones good enough to win an all Ireland. Like 4 of the 6 starting forwards were whipped off yesterday. One or maybe 2 scored from play, so it's hard to see where the evidence of being good enough at present is?

You can talk about this manager or that one coming in..if you don't have the raw materials to work with..you may aswell be pissing against the wind..I'd love nothing more than mayo to win the bloody thing

Long ball. I like your reference to Brian Cody but remember Brian's 2 criteria when he was looking at players was, have they the pace and can they win 50/50 ball. Clearly our Mgt don't use those criteria as a number that they have persisted with for years fail miserably on those scores.

Yes sticks, and the most important criteria., can they score from 30 plus yards..no evidence of that either unfortunately

When did the players become so meek and 'nice', seem to definitely be taking after their manager in that regard.

As soon as Paddy Durcan made his long awaited return Darragh McVeety welcomed him back by grabbing him by the throat and lifting him up and none of his teammates came in to put mcveety on his arse. Imagine trying that shit on with armagh or Tyrone,see what would happen

Perhaps not this year but the point I’m making over nearly every period we’ve had teams within that teams cycle good enough or not far away .

88/89

96-99

04-06

11 -17

20 -21

We have a decent bunch coming through from underage teams , you could be looking at 6-8 additions to senior panel over the next 2 /3 years that need minding , that need an environment that is going to allow them maximise their potential .

I honestly believe we need a new voice at the top , like a director of football type role they have in professional football .

It would be very stupid to not approach our next era with a different attitude.

Supermac - same thing happened when Diarmuid was hit late in the Galway game - no one came in to lay down a marker. We are way too soft for intercounty football.

Let everyone wait until Tyrone & Donegal games are played before completely going over the top. It hasn’t been great but I don’t think they will play near as bad again this year. Let this season end first before speculating what’s to come.

Eyesontheball.
There is a better chance of me winning the loto than that Manager and his side kicks to have anything like that foresight. And pick the team you have suggested.I would guess about 1 or 2 changes at best.Its harder to be dropped by that
Management team than it would be to be picked.

Supermac, because ' contributing to a melee ' is now a black card offence. We were losing at the time and going down to 14 wouldn't have helped things

Did anyone see the brilliant place kicking in the Leinster minor final. I've never seen it so good.

Sam Og.
Byrne our second choice keeper after Clarke retired. Who was Mayo’s man of the match against
Kerry in league final 2022. He for no apparent reason was relegated to 3 rd choice. He I think got 2 games against Roscommon in 2023 and Monaghan in 2024 in the league. Colm was suddenly brought from 3 rd choice to number 1.
Byrne was one of the 5 that walked away last November , you could not blame him either. I actually saw him some great scores for Mitchell’s
From dead balls, with a super left foot. Mayo were crying out for an accurate left footed kicker. He was ignored. PS. I’m not a Mitchell’s Club Man or Supporter.

Mayo minors play offaly minors in all ireland quarter final. Offaly beat louth in a cracking final.

@Jimbo a magnificent game.
County panel should sit down and watch it.

- Mayo team and management were complacent about Cavan and ill prepared.
- It was a comedy of errors with kickouts going over the sideline, players bumping into team mates, one player passed the ball direct to a Cavan man FOUR times and he was not the only one.
- Then you add in our so called tactics which someohow left Cavan men and particular the two corner forwards in acres of space. Four Mayo men jumping for kickouts and nobody to pick up the breaking ball.
- They treated the game like a challenge match and paid the price. Cavan played all the football, kept it simple and deserved their win.
- Mayo management lost the supporters last summer, lost the County Board in the Autumn and some players in the Winter. They now have lost the full dressingroom. They will resign themselves when we exit the championship, they have too.
- Tyrone are good and getting better BUT are beatable. They have 5 key players that need to be marked tightly. Tuohy should get time as he maybe able to get some clean fetches in the middle. Give Brick a catch and kick role but not a man marking one. Start Towey or Boland.. and instruct all to shoot on sight..
- I hope there is a deep review at the team meeting and that our player leaders stand up, over to you DOC and Aido as the senior guys. Letter was written to the county board before for a lot less.
- Thanks for the laugh Chesneychet

Was just talking to my son in-law about Malachy Clerkin’s piece in the Times and our inability to kick 2 pointers. He reminded me that the first two scored in the interprovincial trials of the new rules were two of our own. Jack Carney and Aido. I’m wondering, are they not allowed or certainly not encouraged to go for them now. The two lads certainly proved that night that they are capable.

Philosophy about how we should play the game is our biggest downfall. Not the quality of our players. They already proved in 20/21 that they could make final s

One thing is for certain there aren't enough dogs in the team.
Ones with a few teeth missing who have have a few battle scars. The sort that you would cross the road when you saw them coming.
Cavan only had to turn up on Sunday and that is simply unacceptable.

Looking at Tyrone, the biggest question I have right now is who will mark Darragh Canavan? I’m not overly worried about his scoring threat (although it is miles ahead of all our forwards) but it’s his vision and passing range that could wipe us out. We better not be running around the field like blue arsed flies and leaving pockets for him to move the ball like we did in the second half yesterday. A small bit of shape would be lovely. Maybe Donie Buckley, “the best coach in the county” except in Kerry could get us playing with a bit of shape. Funny I don’t see him as much on the sideline nowadays when things are dipping. He always used to be near a camera in Croke Park when things were going well. Hopefully we have took the learnings from the last day and bring a performance. As Kevin said in his interview, a little bit more spice added to the Tyrone game.

When the Cavan guy did that to Paddy Durcan every mayo person in the stand went mad including myself. Not on . His first return after a serious injury. Durcan is able to stand up for himself but agree his team mates should have come in and done something back.

Not to do anything enough to get a red obviously but we are to nice . Look at Amagh and Donegal your man from Armagh went mad at the Donegal player for celebrating in front of their dug out .

I am not justifying it at all no place in gaa for that . What I'm saying is you need to be able to stand up for yourself in GAA . You can't let them bully you around and you can't let them bully your team mates around either . We need to stop being to nice a team.
Obviously not our only issue but it's one of them.

Offaly for Mayo in the U17 All-Ireland Quarter final. Anyone that missed tonights leinster Final on TG4 truly missed out.

Anyone calling for Coen to be dropped after yesterdays performance need to be ex communicated from the blog. I was at the match yesterday and saw him make himself available for kickouts which he won right beside us on the stand side. I also saw him do something strange for a Mayo football he actually had the audacity to have a go and he put the ball between those two tall things at the end of the pitch on more than one occasion

@Glorydays

100% agree he was the best player for us yesterday and he gets some underseved abuse . Fair play to him .

You just can't come in on a third man tackle now, or you'd have a situation like Donie Vaughan on John Small in AI final. Ref will send anyone who comes charging in off. Simple as.

Agree with a lot of that Olive. I had the feeling they were adopting the same tactics they adopted against Sligo and Leitrim - just get this over with, let Cavan run themselves silly and melt in the heat, and we'll motor over them in the final quarter. Problem was Cavan were too far in front at that stage.

I thought the Gleeson tactic was quite clever and one we could adopt. It has risks, but can ease the pressure when the opposition is pressing high. We should try it - we could add it to our arm raising trick, though what that's about has me guessing.

Before his third or fourth point (can’t remember which ) Coen caught a ball in the full back position . Not sure what else people want . Bizarre that anyone would pick him out for any criticism yesterday while the like of Carney seem absolutely immune from any ?
It’s also telling that Coen did this when nobody else was. It’s easy tag on a few points when the team is flying and games are being won easily.

Paddy being welcomed back by the Cavan lad was no big deal,it happens all the time,and Jordan did step in once the 2nd Cavan lad got involved.

Ah sure how could we possibly win?, the Stars were aligned against us, Cavan had a good player by the name of Cormac O Reilly..The man with the whistle was the worst Ref ( seriously he was) since Cormac Reilly. Cavan were better than us and had a definite plan. We have all heard term of Premier League teams being "on the beach already" last few games of the Premier League season. I had been on the beach on Saturday in Enniscrone and I didnt see any of the Mayo team or management there. So for my sins and a few less days in Purgatory when the time comes , I went to see Mayo v Cavan. There is always a Silver Lining, if the weather holds I might try Silver Strand next weekend . That or counseling to get Sunday last out of my system.

Tony Fureys (number 13 for Offaly) grandmother was a proud Claremorris & Mayo woman. A great game tonight.

As i posted before if you tie o Donohoe up... you have alot of work done with mayo. The long ball into aos that martin carney was on about all day was another embarrassing moment for management. Why not fire in earlier. I give us a fighting chance with Tyrone but honestly I can't see us living with donegal

@Craggy bogland's

Yeah agree . Maybe against Tyrone but the Canavan brothers might rip us apart . Plus with the 7.00 pm timing we will have barely any support . Tyrone will be licking their lips and will have so much more support that goes a long way sometimes .

V Donegal I can't see us beating them McGuiness was at the match yesterday I'm sure he was happy leaving don't blame him sure . The only way I can see us beating Donegal is if they beat Tyrone this weekend and then beat Cavan and want to rest some players v us last game .

I hope we are all in agreement that Paddy D simply must start against Tyrone ?

And if Tommy C is 'close' , as he has being for 3 months now, has to get 15/20 minutes.

There's no point in us dying not knowing

That was probably Cavan's only opportunity to notch up a win. By their own admission, they've a poor record against fellow Ulster opposition.
Tyrone aren't as good as they might yet be, but they're going to be pushing for glory soon enough I've no doubt they'll see the Mayo game as a statement of intent. However, they'll be fairly sore after playing Donegal in Ballybofey, a game after which could see them glued to the bottom of the table.

@PaddyJoeJohnTom

Fully agree Paddy Durcan must start .

It's now Tuesday and I'm still as thick as I was leaving Castlebar Sunday afternoon.....
Manager saying "we weren't at the pace of the game" like seriously, that's as bad as saying the dog ate my homework.....
Why weren't the players at the pace of the game Kevin????? If this performance happened in a 2nd or 3rd away league game you'd say fair enough, mayb they tryn new things/ideas for later in the year but it's happened during the 10 or 12 weeks when we should be absolutely bouncing in the dressing room bursting to get out to tackle whatever team is waiting for us.....
A shambles of a set up lead to a shambles of a performance......rock bottom stuff imo

@kieran

What about his interview on 'The Sunday Game' where he cheerfully declared it was only '1 score game in the end'.

It was a 1 score hammering for God sake. They were 8 points down as the clock hit 70 mins and scored 1-02 when cavan were already on the bus for home.

The football pod with Tommy rooney made for grim listening last night, andrews and JOD exasperated by Mayo both defensively and especially on their attack, and no obvious style of play

Was at a funeral Sunday and listening to Midwest was like I had stumbled into a second one. Extremely flat performance and hard to see anything but an early exit now. Introducing subs with a couple of minutes to go is very unfair on those players, who have no time to impact. 10 minutes into the second half was the time.

Galway were pipped at the death and were lucky with the goals but are in no way written off to go through. I wonder were both teams still a little jaded after the CF. Its in our hands now and we may throw caution to the wind.
Hoping for a big response Vs Tyrone but maybe its time to accept that the season is done and we will have a long winter to pick the bones and decide what comes next.

The moderation area must be filled to capacity WJ, felt for you on Sunday after listening to the Pod.
Keep the Faith and Hon Maigheo

Brian Cody was ruthless. Cha Fitzpatrick, Charlie Carter and on and on, hurlers of the year and all stars dropped because of ego and not doing what was best for the team. Even in Jackie Tyrell’s book, he talks about the end with Cody when he thought it would be different just because he was from the same club. Met him, told him he was a great lad, thanked him and then left. Totally ruthless. Players need to be in fear for their place on the team and panel and fighting tooth and nail to hang on. That’s was Cody’s greatest gift.

That was pretty depressing listening to the football pod with Tommy Rooney . They said nothing that wasn't true though .

Mayo just need to go at it v Tyrone now but I'd just worry that the guys confidence is flat on the floor now after that . If they can pick themselves up and get a result v Tyrone I'll be amazed . Confidence comes from your manager look at the way McGuiness has installed the confidence back into Donegal and Donegal were nearly in a worse place then we are now when Rochford was there .

You're right, Clare. Confidence starts from the top down, and what message does it send when a team invests so much into one game, only to fall short against Galway while missing their three best players? To make matters worse, the management doesn’t trust the full bench to help get them over the line after making 40 players put so much into that game. They then go and name almost the same 26 players the following week, using the same subs again, two of whom only come on at the 70th minute. Then, we go on to lose to a Division 2 team missing several key players. There's no shortage of talent on display in this mayo squad, but it feels like they’ve already thrown in the towel on both the season and the management team.

The final scoreline masks the reality—we were hammered out of the gate by Cavan and, by the 70th minute, only had 12 points on the board. I don’t see how anyone can realistically think that we have any hope against Tyrone on Donegal.

Will Diarmuid O’Connor or Eoghan Mc be available for the Tyrone game?

Honestly, it doesn't matter what we do in the next two games. We didn't do it when we could have and should have. We're going nowhere and it won't matter who's back or not. Sadly the energy comes from the leadership. I don't know KMcS and I have no doubt he's a decent man. But I wouldn't go through a brick wall for him.
We are missing the edge in mayo.
Not sure what the answer is but I don't expect much anymore.

Miracles do sometimes happen and we will need one now.maybe previous mayo teams might have lifted themselves to go again but it looks totally beyond this current set up .mcstays interview afterwards was ludicrous “ ultimately there was only one score in it” who does he think he’s conning with that nonsense.does he not realise that everyone saw the full 70 minutes.Tyrone will know that confidence is at an all time low and will go after us from the throw in .Going back to the final league game against Donegal our performances have been dire aside from a few spells in the Connacht final.The kit van in the bog doesn’t seem that crazy at the minute

I honestly was more alarmed by mcstays comment re the lack of direct ball into Aido. Something along the lines “I can’t kick it in for them “. That’s bizarre for a manager to say that about a tactic , it’s not like saying “ I can’t score them “

Coen was decent the last day, the best of a very bad bunch on the day arguably. His points were all good efforts albeit he had any amount of time to get his shots off but fair play to him for having the balls to take them on.

People seem to be blind to some of the roastings he has gotten the last few years, Derry for example last year clearly targeted him as a weak link for pace and exposed him badly and can be sure Tyrone will do something similar. For me he's a squad player, it's not that wild a suggestion to have a complete go for broke team as suggested in my previous post the next day without him starting, nothing to lose.

Being ruthless as a manager,like Cody as mentioned above, only works if you recognize there's a problem,indetify what the problem is , and then act on it.
Unfortunately for us our management don't seem to believe there's a problem,let alone identify what it/they might be. Eventhough a talking dog in the street could enlighten them.

Not surprising really I suppose when you consider he didn't even see anything wrong with the attack on Eoghan Mc that broke his jaw.

Dust settled now, but a toxic feel still around the place. Looked at match again, and what stood out to me, was our lack of energy compared to Cavan. Was this something to do with Cavan 5 week layout, and ours 2 weeks. But Cavan definitely were not rusty. Tyrone playing this weekend, four weeks on from losing to Armagh by a point, while Donegal have been kicking their heals for 2 weeks. So be interested to see if Tyrone more energy than Mayo had at the weekend, because we were really below the energy required. God Mayo a frustration team, did they take Cavan too lightly, same as every other team in this Championship we played except for Galway. If we playing AOS in full forward, kick ball into him, if not, play him out around the middle. Because he wasted in full forward if we don't kick it into him. And our midfield not big enough or strong enough to waste our best ball winner in that position. Something needs to change or nothing will change. Play Irwine in full forward, play AOS in midfield, play Duirmuid/ Carney/ Flynn/ Mattie around him. I think nothing what I say will happen, but Management pay the price and we will be looking for new management next year. Biggest bug bearer is play guys in all league games, and give them no minutes in Championship. Paddy Durkan must play, even if not up to full up to speed, need leaders on pitch. Offaly minors played Louth, and a young lad Jack Ryan 0-8 (4 tpf). Are we saying Mayo senior team cant score a couple more two pointer, because that really damning stat. Was down in local gaa field with my 12 year old, yesterday evening, and I was taking shot outside the 2 point arc, and 90% went over. And to put that into context, I was a average club corner back, and have not seen the inside of gym in 25 years, and relatively unfit.

It not over, but feel like it is, if Donegal beat Tyrone this weekend, they also not in great spot, as they lost last two match like ourselves. So pressure will also be on them. But God we need major improvement from everyone

Catcol. I think you have a good point about just doing enough to win but it’s a very dangerous game. Maybe management are trying to be too clever as Malachy Clerkin suggested. I’m convinced we were at the same craic against Derry last year. Trying to conserve energy for the QF and got caught. I mean, how could a team be so poor two weeks after putting in a good performance. If the heads were down, as some suggest after the CF then they are mentally very weak.

The problem has been that kicking from distance had nearly become a lost skill. Very few players would take it on under the old rules outside of players like Shane Walsh or Rian O'Neill. I think we made a rod for our own back by deciding very early on - no that's not for us. You just have to look back at Kevin's comments on it at the start of the league campaign. Now teams know there's no need to push out on Mayo and pressure them on the 40 as they are not going to kick it. After watching God knows how many games this year I can confidently say we look like the least prepared team for the football reboot of all the top 16 teams and probably a few below that as well. That is on the existing management team.

2 Hops, if you are referring to McStay on rte commentary about Eoghan mcloughlin, he did in fairness change his opinion later that evening when he saw different angles of it on replay and did, if I remember correctly,say it was a red card offence

Eventually PJJT...at that stage social media and supporters may have influenced his change of mind. He, I'm sure would have had access to replays in real time as he was co com on the day.

I think you're right on that, Paddyjoe, that was my recollection of it too - he made a fulsome statement on The Sunday Game afterwards to the effect that his initial reading of the incident in-game wasn't correct. I don't think that's a fair stick to be beating him with at this stage.

I know a lot of people were not at the game. It was very noticeable we did not come out of the dressing room for at least 5 mins after Cavan lined up for the 2nd half. Clearly we had a plan. Aido went in for the throw up, jumped to early and lost it, as he usually does and I am a big Aido fan, but not for throw ups as he rarely wins them. We managed to regain possession and stated running back doing the one arm in the air thing. 2 players did it soloing back. Cavan smelt blood, a bad pass to Hession, he ran into 3 players and was turned over and the ball was in the back of the net. The long talk at half time was in shatters and we were fecked. We brought Neary back on after his 10 minutes on the line for a daft off the ball tackle. He needs someone to sit him down and talk about tackling as this has been a weakness in his play all year. Then no sub until 10 minutes from the end in the searing heat. Heads were down all over the place and clearly the players had no belief in what they were being asked to do. We need to press the restart button, finish 2025 season and start with a new set up for 2026.

The thing that is frustrating me the most with Mayo this season, both players and management, is that we have come up with nothing new or different.

Everyone knows we don't score enough and that we are very slow and laboured when we have the ball. We were this way last season and it cost us. And instead of changing things up and trying to go more direct, we are playing the same way. It reeks to me of either laziness or arrogance.

We don't have two point shooters, fair enough. So find another way to play...We've scored 10 goals this year, Kerry have scored 27. The only way we have a chance is fast, direct ball into our full forward line. The minute we don't do this, the other team is set and knows that we are going nowhere.

Any podcast you listen to outlines what our issues are and how to play against us. Even with all of this being so publicly known - we have doing nothing to address it and that is shameful.

I think the Mayo team, management should take a complete break from training this week, a type of reset in preparation for the Tyrone game.

The management are welded to this way of playing and sometimes sheer stubbornness will prevent the course being changed.it’s still strange to me as to what happened at half time in the Armagh league game .why the change in the second half which we have seen very little of since

Paddyjoejohn Mcstay didn’t have to see any new angles. He was co commentating for match on RTE which showed different angles and clearly showed the foul. Kevin kept commenting that it wasn’t a foul. I don’t remember when but afterwards that night or next day he said he was wrong

Fair enough WJ...but my point is that if you can't see what's happening in front of you in real time, you're not going to be able to fix it...in time.

I think we were caught in similar way to way dublin beat Meath .. but without the big half time deficiit. I think mgmt tried to scape over line with bare minimum effort… players pissed off as well snd almost downed tools… the question is .. have they lost the dressing room? If so we are we are fecked.. if not, then we could win both games yet… crazily.. I think they have they have lost the dressing room…our problems are so obvious, with obvious solutions as well… but no improvement.. head scratching stuff… I do think we overthink and outsmart ourselves

Sure, 2 hops, and at this remove it's all water under the bridge. I do recall, though, that the way he walked back his opinion afterwards was significant and without qualification - in a way you wouldn't normally see a pundit do - and this is relevant to the discussion.

Can't understand why subs weren't made sooner especially with the heat,
I think we will get a result in Tyrone, then it will come down to Donegal game, so still some hope , if Donegal have already qualified at that stage they may rest players but they will want to top group

Remember Jack Charltons ROI in 1990. Forget about tactics now - high direct ball into FF line or aim for the black spot outside the 40 metre arc and no fancy stuff - keep it simple. It may work or it may not. Bring the hunger back. Nothing to lose anymore.

Tough day for the entire team and the Mayo people on Sunday, I expected Cavan to give ye a real test but I still thought that ye would get over them in the end. Listening to the commentary on the radio it sounded like Mayo somehow weren’t collectively wired and couldn’t get any sort of momentum or rhythm going. Cavan knew they would have a great opportunity to catch Mayo in this game I feel. Mayo spent all their money in the Connaught Final and came up just short again and it was clear from mcstays interview that this game was their target for months out. The team were clearly crestfallen after that defeat and it took a lot out of them and perhaps that game became their “all or nothing” moment of the season. If this is the case then management has to take responsibility for blinkered overemphasis on Galway or the Connaught title.

A team management group has to set targets I know but if they obsess over an opposing team (and I know the fierce rivalry that exists between Mayo and Galway) then they have to have a plan to regroup and to reframe the result whether they win or lost that battle. Posters have mentioned the ruthlessness of Cody but Brian Cody had a plethora of top players fighting for a starting jersey and in reality his subs bench would have been first choice on any other team. Mcstay doesn’t have that luxury but I still believe that he has the players in that squad to punch with the heavy weights.

And good manager manages his teams physical and mental optimal preparedness along with the tactical requirements for the opposition, the weather conditions and any other issue such as the referees style of game or the history with the opposition. To get the best out of players you must create both unity and rivalry on a squad of players. If you have two or more players that are contenders for a spot on a team then in a game where the opposition and considered weaker then start the player that’s close to the best in that position. He will play out of his skin when he gets the opportunity and you can replace his with your actual preferred player he will then give you his best possible effort because he is smarting at not being started and you have that injection of hunger and experience when it’s most needed. The league is of course the most suitable time for subtle managerial tactics like that in a few different positions to ensure you get a nice edge between players on the training field and get the teeth showing for Championship.

I don’t want to be barking at someone else’s dogfight but I don’t see this edge to mcstays approach, I look at Joyce, McGuinness, Geezer and many more and I think good God you would follow them lads through the gates of hell but I have to be honest and say I wouldn’t follow your current management through the gates of a nursing home. I am aware that any inter county setup has to be acknowledged as they commit a huge percentage of their time and personal lives to a mostly thankless cause. In saying that I am convinced that Mayo can be returned to the inter county warriors they were a few short years ago with the correct man in charge. Ye need someone who is not fettered with county politics, someone with proven and critical experience of a winning management team and they should if possible have played inter county football at the highest level. With these boxes ticked they will get a buy in from the players and should be able to creat the correct environment to develop competitiveness along with unity and then create suitable strategies and playing scenarios for given situations to either eek out a draw of to hold a lead in a rehearsed style of game management. Not easy I know but ye don’t want soundbites right now ye need someone who actually bites.

Mayo are not dead just yet and Tyrone offer ye the better opportunity to pull the nuts out of the fire in the remaining two games I would suggest. If they can get the lads even close to the pitch of the Galway game I give ye a right good chance of making the quarters and that at least would restore some pride in the dressing room and be important for development going forward. We here in Kerry have have a few unpleasant memories of encounters with Tyrone so to put it mildly I will be cheering for Mayo in that game. Best of luck and safe travels to all heading to Healy Park

That should say Any good manager…

@Ahh not again: Substitutions seemed to stick to the usual patterns.

We've made 60 changes this year across our 12 games (including HIA/blood subs - with 6 against Sligo, 4 against Galway & 5 in every other game). 28 of those made with 10 minutes or less left & 11 with 5 or less. The only games not featuring a change in the last 5 were Dublin R1, Galway R2 & Kerry R8 of the league, with every game featuring at least 1 change in the last 10 and an average & median of 2 that late in the game.

Being risk-adverse you can assume it was protecting against injury requirement or cramp late in a game... though on a hot day when things weren't going at all well you would hope for far more sweeping changes far earlier, so hard to fully grasp the logic.

Is there anything to putting a kickpasser like Fergal Boland to wing back?
A lot of the passing around the arc results from our defenders soloing forward to the arc.

@jp wouldn’t it be a better shout to be brick there, good kick passer.

@JP I agree he was fine in CF , got a suicide pass from Reape.

The intransigence of the management team is really strange. Particularly when you reflect of Rochford's first term in charge. Back then it seemed every game contained some rabbit-out-of-the-hat tactical move or positional switch that often (although not always as in the case of the goalie switch) worked. To be the polar opposite of that now is really hard to fathom...

The subs point, which was discussed on the pod, is very revealing. Shows how management are in a state of delusion about the team. No subs at half time because we had gone three points up despite the lack of energy on display and then none after the Cavan goal. No sub made until 55 minutes. That tells the likes of Boland, Towey, Irwin, and all the unused subs that even when the team is at its lowest we still don't trust ye.

My hope is Mayo go to Tyrone and play like Derry did in Castlebar last year but the problem is Tyrone are a very decent team with big ambitions. We will likely lose by 3 or 4 to Tyrone and get flaked by Donegal. We're in a bad place.

There's only one way to look now and that's forward. Futile to dwell on the past. I'm sure there's a performance in them yet. You can be sure Malachy O'Rourke is expecting a Mayo backlash.

See out the last two games and then see what's next. Was on the floor on Sunday but it is what it is.
Looking at the highlights Cavan looked pacey and did the exact opposite of what we do. Shoot on sight of goal.
I'm sure Mc Stay will not want to be remembered for that Cavan display. Hilarious that when the ball was dropped in on AOS we scored. Would we have played that poorly on front of 27k at home , I doubt it very much.
Absolutely nothing to lose at this stage, bring the kitchen sink and throw it at Tyrone and Donegal.

Whatever else we area at, taking to the field in the senior championship with half a team doesn't help at all.
Our best team (if all players were committed for the year) would be below:
Colm Reape; Jack Coyne, David McBrien, Donnacha McHugh; Enda Hession, Padraig O’Hora, Paddy Durcan,
Stephen Coen, Frank Irwin, Fionn McDonagh, Conor Loftus, Darren McHale, Ryan O Donoghue, Kuba Callaghan, James Carr
Subs; Rory Byrne, Sean Morahan, David Tighe, Michael Plunkett, Eoghan McLaughlin, Matthew Ruane, Diarmuid O’Connor; Jack Carney, Jordan Flynn; Aidan O’Shea, James Carr, Cillian O Connor, Niall Hurley, Ronan Clarke, Davin Neary, Cian McHale.

Add in a few more to cover injuries and we have plenty of options
Dylan Thornton, Tom Lydon, Tommy Conroy, Fenton Kelly, Eoin O’Donoghue, Conor Reid, Paul Towey, Bob Tuohy

In doing up that list, there is plenty of forward talent - but no appetite to play natural forwards or attacking half backs despite the rules encouraging it.

Thought the exact same @Bonni Boyler. Even some of the points we did get the last day, I felt the lad giving the pass to the eventual scorer should have taken on the shot. We are over-working the ball to death and its resulting in defences being set and our lads being blocked down a lot.

They look like a team that is scared to shoot and have been coached out of having a go.

Looked back over game but not advised. Yeah, Cavan more direct, mixed it and had definite plays to draw out mayo defence and create space for shooters.
To be honest Mayo were a lot more clueless. Flynn floated like a butterfly and then gave basic handpass, Carney predictably ran for the sideline, lacked any aggressive 'mó direach' plays to the point of being boring. Neary should not have seen anymore action after black card. Coen kept popping up in right place for tap over point, balanced against being easily sidestepped for Cavan goal. I'd only excuse ROD from the performance
Cavan had a handful of supporters and were able to raise their game and execute their plan.
It's a sad day for Mayo football, if we need 27000 supporters in order to strut our stuff.
The management team were so in awe of the Cavan performance that they totally forgot they had a subs bench.

@unstoppable, very true re players passing it on, Coen should have roasted them after he got his points...but it's all old rules football conditioned into the players.

Jaysus, Billie Joe Padden in Mayo News column seems completely despondent and scathing this week and BJ is generally one of the more optimistic Mayo commentators out there, he's generally a cup half full guy

Can’t disagree with anything billy joe said .its basically what most people have been saying on here all year.everyone seems aware of our issues except the management but shur we only lost by one score

Re team above we need a goalie with either an accurate fast kick out or a very long one

That's a good post Gamechanger10, pretty much sums up where we are in terms of the current management set up. It's good to hear it from an outside voice as well, as sometimes within the county we're more blinkered and biased against certain individuals/clubs.
The next 2 games will be interesting and will confirm whether the players are no longer playing for this management team. But even if they're not, they need to have pride in the jersey, in the county and more importantly in themselves, because recent performances from many of them have not been good enough.
This year has a real feel of 2018 about it, when we seemed to be just waiting for someone to put us out of our misery.
It feels like we need a complete reset, as the bullshit has most definitely returned to Mayo football.
But that talk is for another day, once our fate for this year has been confirmed.

Tirawleybaron. Tommy conroy walks on to any mayo team in my opinion and he has definitely been missed this year as is carr and cillian who left for various reasons we are told. I wonder.

Craggy , imagine a ff line with them three at their best and move Ryan out to 11 to play it in , mother of sweet divine .

Sean. Imagining we will be unfortunately. We have the players. I have no doubt. Its the philosophy of this management team that's killing us. We should feel robbed and I also feel sorry for the players

I saw matt cooper jogging around one the towns in mayo in a Donegal jersey..odd no?

I would love to see a response like we got midway through the Armagh league game, for the next 2 games.
The players need to bring the right attitude from somewhere.

@Craggy Boglands

I 100% agree with you there. They didn't look happy at all on Sunday even before kick off I thought.

After half time Cavan were first out back on the field and we took a good long 5 or so minutes to come back on after they did . God only knows what Mcstay & Co where saying to them.

I felt so sorry for Durcan and his first game back was a shit show . He did look in good condition though hopefully his best years still ahead of him .

An excellent article by Billy Joe, nail on head really

at half time mcstay wasent telling the players what to do ,he was telling them what NOT todo imo.

@Patrick Hayes

I'd say your spot on there.

First time a ball is kicked long to Aido and he gets a goal . LIke I just don't know why on earth we don't do it more and that's on management .

Honyaboya,
I wonder was it Rochford or McEntee that had control of that hat. I don’t know, but whoever it was certainly mislaid it since.

In fairness the game was over when o Shea got the goal.craggy you have generally been right about this management set up I would say we don’t actually have the players in crucial positions.you cannot keep playing a lad in midfield that doesn’t leave the ground

1985. I was probably the first one here to question it. No glory in that. I'd rather be patting them on the back. I agree midfield is a problem area. There was alot of problem areas in donegal when Jimmy took over but he wasn't long sorting them

https://www.westernpeople.ie/sport/gaa/ringfort-to-restrict-size-of-new-mayo-gaa-pitch_arid-58145.html
You really couldnt make this shit up.

Long Ball .. is that Matt Cooper from TV/Radio you are talking about? If it is what relevance is that? or is he a Donegal inter county player that I have not heard of before .. ?????

@1985 we all know the game was over when O Shea got the goal . I obviously meant if they had kicked passed more into him earlier in game and any other game or kick pass in general.

It sure is the very man El Tod..it's of no relevance really, just because he's a tv personality and from Cork is it? Just found it odd..you'll have the "last word" on it.

Clare I agree with you about kicking the ball into Aidan more often but would there have been so little cover at the back had the game been in the balance

At this stage don't know how anyone can defend our management team and that includes them all. We have a very good full back but never playtime there, we have five or six midfielders on the team but destroyed at midfield most days, we have some very good half backs but keep trying to make corner backs of them, we have a bear for the square but never kick ball into him ( well we did kick just one in last day for a goal) we have some on the panel for years and never get a game apart from the last few minutes when a game is lost or won , we have forwards that hardly ever ever, and last but not least most players font know how to kick a ball forward anymore, whoes to blame for this Yes The Management.

That's why we were celebrating the new rules when they came in , thinking well Aiden can't be double or triple marked anymore like he used to be in the 14 back days...but even now when he's one on one we still don't give him nearly enough early ball.
Don't kick in in to him... won't kick it out to him...but it's not Kevin's fault, whosever it might be.

The whole situation is depressing, realistically we probably need 3 points to progress.
More importantly we need a mindset change.
Roscommon could end up being the only Connaught county to progress.
Jesus wept.

JR in fairness to our goalie he has a very big boot. But whatever master plan of a kickout strategy we have (I can't decipher it myself), doesn't seem to allow him to use it.
Fact we cannot seem to win balls in the air or on the ground under a break is a bigger concern.

@sam of that's great news about the pitch investment, one I presume won't be able play official games if needed on based on dimensions?

@1985 ah yeah your so right .

God it's so depressing. Honestly I feel whatever happens next 2 games even if we get a performance and response from our guys that's our season done since Sunday .

The guys confidence must be on the ground don't blame them one bit .

That's the first time I nearly cried after a championship game since 21 for god sake !

As others said its the players I feel bad for .

Can I just say final word on management..ok we may have no outside the box thinkers like a Mcguinness or whoever..yes there's no plan of any sort etc, I get all that.. but revisit the connacht final..last few plays, Towey misses a fuckin sitter from 25 yrds, then gets blocked down, Rod misses and Ruane misses..scoreable kicks before that too with Flynn. Now is that managements fault? Not being able to kick a point from relatively easy positions..win that game and it's a different story altogether. So this blaming management, absolute waffle.

Watch as I said the 2017 final again..some woeful misses in the first 20 mins..I didn't hear anyone blaming Horan then..yet he was there twice for long spells and still couldn't get job done..the measure of a managers success is only an all Ireland title now in mayo. It ain't easy being a manager..so I'd say leave it till seasons end..see what happens.

Long Ball .. I see what you did there ? I wonder who has the Last Word in the dressing room

Horan wasn’t in charge in 2017

Sorry you're right 1985...until 2016. He was there for finals in 2012 2013 2020 and 2021 ..semi finals in 2014 , 2019 2022 was it? And some woeful misses in alot of those games I recall too, my point being no one was overly critical of him I remember.

Well I think he did get alot of criticism especially the staring down at the ground all through the 2013 final and the removal of Alan freeman and total refusal to attempt to deal with donaghy threat in 2014

Yes, the switching of o shea to full back was comical stuff..he did make some bizarre calls alright but he did have a better team than mcstay has now..but who'd be a manager, like you need a thick skin..you need to be number one..and like we all see who seems to be calling the shots which is not a good look for the main man himself. It's like what the late great Paidi o se said about kerry supporters being animals because of the expectancy. It is an awful Job at times.

Well it was rochford that switched O Shea to full back .i was referencing the leaving of an injured ger cafferky on donaghy in drawn semi final in 2014 when it was fairly obvious what was coming and again not trying something different in the replay in limerick when he insisted it was about stopping the supply in to donaghy

@Long Ball

Ah in fairness people have a right to blame management . It's like any job confidence , team building and feeling good in yourself and what you do comes from the top . If the manager is bad well your not going to perform your best or be happy . Fine you'll go out try and play but it's just going through the motions but in reality it comes down to management .

Also McStays comments after saying it was only a one score game is madness we were hammered it was embaressing .

For the sake of pride for the guys and mayo I hope they go out and play the way we know they can if we are going to go out hopefully we go down fighting.

https://www.sportsjoe.ie/gaa/former-mayo-boss-james-horan-farcical-346198?fbclid=IwY2xjawKaQw1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHpAoVUAJcoWh1BHeWtVtoq3X0U0s_v0VwI99xQ-0_18sUPbynUrepy6bCOeB_aem_LGgFdal-1r0OUmjd1VuP0Q

Everything seems so negative at the moment

Correct 1985, I keep overlapping Horans tenure with Rochfords, 16 and 17 was as close as we got under Rochford however. Ah I understand it comes from the top Clare but what can ya do about a player who kicks it wide from 20 or so yrds or kicks a daft ball? An inter county player should not be doing that. There's so many examples of it especially with Mayo in finals and semi finals.