Will be interesting to get Colm Boyle’s opinions on these departures.
Thanks to all the managers for their efforts.
It's a full time job really.

Amazing really that all the vacancies have occurred. I wonder is there an underlying reason for all of this ( worrying if there is) or is it just purely coincidental. It does not look good that all these positions have been vacated. The u 17 team did quite well. Didn’t win Connacht but reached AI semi and were somewhat unfortunate to lose to Kerry who were themselves unfortunate to lose final to Tyrone. U 20 won first Connacht in quite a while so one would expect that if either of those 2 management groups wished to stay on they would have been facilitated, And u 19 development manager stepping down as well. Plenty has already been said about senior management team as well as Liam McHale stepping away from the ladies. Strange and possibly worrying times for Mayo GAA

In all due respect it’s time for Sean Deane to manage the Mayo Under 20 team and someone like Colm Boyle to manage the Minors when he was a selector with Sean Denane and Lee Keegan as well to be involved with Keith Higgins as well for Minor and under 20 management

Having all the management roles (senior, U20, minor) change at once seems a lot but it does offer the opportunity for a total rethink across all the links in the chain.

I agree with what Jordan Kearns Sean Deane should never been overlooked for the under 20s job he was doing a fantastic job with the minors.he had a great relationship with the players and played exciting brand of football that was a joy to watch and that was before the new rules came in this year.
It's a huge failure on the county board members that overlooked Sean Deane given the great job he had done for 5 years looking after the under 16s right up to the minors winning the Ted Webb connacht championship and then winning back to back connacht minor championship and a All-Ireland final appearance in 2020 first since 2013 or since.
It looks to me that the county board members haven't a clue and should not be trusted to continue in there roles to find the best management team yo win our first all lreland in 75 years.They all need to do the decent thing for all our fantastic mayo supporters and step aside and let good football people in that know what they are doing. Enough is enough we put up with the county board members who some have been there for over 30 years that is not right and should not be allowed to happen.

Sorry I made a mistake on the year Sean Deane all lreland appearance it was 2022 first since 2013

A change is as good as any rest. Might not be a bad thing.

I have to laugh at the comments here.
The same shit goes on in Mayo for years in under age and we expect different results.
Some of the best footballers coming through and the best left behind.why because of politics.if I'm wrong please call me out.

That's minor, u-20, senior men and senior women all looking for a manager. As someone said above does it indicate that 'something is rotten in the state of Denmark'?
I always say that employees don't leave jobs, they leave managers.
Would it be something that the Mayo county board have done or would ever do, to put a type of survey out to members of all clubs in the county asking what their current reservations or worries are with Mayo football at this present time?
All GDPR issues could be ticked and covered and they could come back afterwards with what say the 5 main issues are and how they may try to address them.

@Wests Awake…you’re not wrong!

What makes me laugh is people throwing out names of former players to be given jobs….have any of ye considered they may not want it or be in a position to take it? It’s like people putting together management teams in their heads….its pointless bull. Taking on any team, even a club underage team is a huge commitment.

I agree with you 100percet yew_tree there is a lot of crap talking on here by people that can't know the home life of any of the names been put forward,by what I heard about the CB meeting last night all the elected delegates from clubs were happy to let the county board pick the new managers , just, give them a little time

All those resignations create a sea of uncertainty. I would certainly hope that every effort would be made to keep Colm Boyle involved. An outstanding role model of what makes up a mayo footballer imo.
The resignations highlight the need for an overall director of football. There just seems to be a disjoint there at the moment, not helped by our early exit from the championship. While we're enjoying the wonderful football served up by other counties, there are a lot of grumpy green and red goslings going around with wet bottoms for one reason or another.

Colm Boyle sure was a brilliant warrior of a player but unfortunately ontheditch you could have colm boyle, colm cooper, colm o rourke, colmbanus and colmcille managing various mayo set ups and they would unfortunately still make the news for the wrong reasons..it seems embedded in mayo football. The circus surrounding mayo gaa once again is comical. When are they going to sort out firstly, a competent and progressive county board, followed by a complete overhaul in schools etc..with the new rules its almost a new game.. and its been outstanding watching the championship this summer. Mayo have alot of work to do.

What Donaghey is to Armagh, Colm Boyle could be to Mayo. Definitely an addition to any manage.ent team and regarded very highly as an excellent mentor.
Can't argue with you re the tangle we are in at the moment. I think restructuring of board will happen un instruction from the top.
Schools can only do so much, the coaches are not there, in many schools it's getting difficult to get a teacher to take a team. The role and pressure is on clubs even more. They have the kinds for the summer months when kids are breathing again after the pressures and strains that school brings.
I'm glad you are enjoying the games at the moment.
I'm not convinced that we are that far with a less stubborn management. We have some outstanding players. They seemed to go off form and lacking in confidence to take on 2 pointers. I wonder why.

Winston
What circus are you talking about exactly.
Can you name 4 people on your dream County Board.

Winston - likewise I’d like to know what circus you are talking about, also what you think the county board are doing so wrong and what you would like to see happening in schools?

https://www.offalyexpress.ie/news/gaa/1844999/tullamore-pull-off-shock-coup-with-appointment-of-high-profile-senior-football-coach.html
Rochford to Tullamore, who had that on bingo card

Fair play for Rochford, wishing him lots of success, hope he enjoys it. Must love his football to be jumping right back in.

Or desperation!

I wonder how many management changes has there been since 1951 ?

I would say (a wild guess), there could have been up to 30.

Was there more pressure on managers in the old days or was it that the fans were less expectant ?

In the old days it was one and done. No second chance.

After our 1951 AI win it was 38 years before we managed to reach our next AI final in 1989.

38 years, and yet some people feel we should be for some reason, regular AI finalist's.

Why should we ?

What changed to make us so bull headed in our expectancies ?

We did have a generation of great players circa 2012 - 2020 and you could argue that 96 - 97 team but out from that we haven't been world beaters over the past three quarters of a century.

We are not a traditionally brilliant footballing County that might make a couple of AI runs every decade.

We were blessed to have had the great run we had from 2012 to 2017 and 96, 97 but these years were more of an outlier than the norm for us.

I don't think we have the credit in the bank or the past history or much else for that matter, to be strutting around and making wide of the mark conclusions that different management appointments are the reason we haven't been winning Sam.

There should be no air of entitlement within the county, because in fairness, except for 50 and 51 we probably have come up a bit short. In fact for decades we haven't even been at the races.

Whoever gets the mayo job, it should be one of the most stress free jobs in the country especially given our history in the competition.

But that won't happen !

No doubt, there will be the usual drum bangers out in arms, regardless of whoever lands the poisoned job, who will be demanding AI success.

I think Counties that win the AI realise the job that needs to be done in order to win it and go out and do it - We on the other hand feel on occasion, we are good enough to win, it but haven't gone out and done it.

Untill we do realise that finals need to be won and go out and do it, we have no right to even entertain the thoughts of been at the business end of the championship and winning AI's regularly.

30 or so manager's couldn't all be wrong but good luck to the next manager.

2 hops,

I’d be more down the same view as you. Not to mention the cash benefits, or at least I would suspect there to be cash benefits.

In relation to all the jobs on offer, it’s crazy and certainly a busy few weeks and months ahead for CB. Everyone clambering for Sean Deane to be U20 boss. Maybe, but I do genuinely have to say, I think we hold Sean up on a very high stool. He’s a good coach don’t get me wrong but I don’t think he has a devine right to get the U20 job on the back of the fact that he coached the same group at minor level. Let’s not forget, that minor all Ireland final was a loss to Galway, a team they had beaten twice before in championship. They went into that final as heavy favourites and it was a complete system malfunction both on the line and field.

I didn’t see anyone rushing to give Enda Gilavarry the U20 job after he won a minor all Ireland in 2013.

Don’t get me wrong, Sean appears to be a good manager but we are basing it off a very small sample size. Let’s see if he can really make a difference in the club championship this year with Breffey. If he does, and finally wins them a county title then definitely he has to be in consideration for big county jobs.

A bit like Andy, I’d like to see a small bit more on Sean’s CV relative to the level of credit he gets.

Absolutely fair points Green&Red. One thing I liked about Sean that year was how he spoke about the players. He just had something about him, like he was developing them as young men as well as footballers.

All the managerial changes might afford an opportunity to really align them towards one goal.

Revelino Absolutely fair points. You are right to say we have no divine right to be making the latter stages of all Ireland. But if we don't at least aim for that, we ain't gonna get near it. Aim high. If you accept mediocrity, that's what you'll get. For me, that was a massive reason to change the outgoing management team. Standards were not met, 3 years running. Whoever comes in may have a different remit. But they must be given targets to hit. Aim high!!

@freetheeastbank and justathought..take a look at Dublins model under john costello when he was chairman of co board and Gavin as manager. Dont tell me mayo didn't have the resources etc to get more coaches into schools and breed success..believe me they spent money on far worse. Why are tyrone so successful underage? Structures in place long time ago. Mayo have let it go way too long and late. James Horan said they struggled to find a pitch to train on in his tenure...now whos fault is that? Is it the county boards job to try get the best facilities etc? Cos if its not, and like any good organisation it starts at good knowledgeable people leading from the top...I dunno if that answers you're questions but ya get the jist ya?

On a different thread too I saw some comments outlining reasons against an outside manager. One was that only Johnno & McGee had won as outside managers.

The reason the GAA powerhouses like Kerry & Dublin don't look outside is because they have loads of people within the county with winning experience. It's a moot point. We don't have that in Mayo. We simply don't & why would we not at least explore it.
We have been trying for 74 years to win Sam..our last outside manager got us to an All Ireland final in his first year & got ousted.

https://www.offalyexpress.ie/news/gaa/1844999/tullamore-pull-off-shock-coup-with-appointment-of-high-profile-senior-football-coach.html

Should have read the comments first. Someone had already posted the link😬

The resignation of all management teams is either bad because they are all sick of it, or good because they are all moving up an age level and it's a done deal.

Such a succession plan would be a first.

Just get Horan in a director of football.
Barry Solan or David Drake as S&C man.
Ciaran MC or Stephen Rochford as Skills coach.
Caroline Currid in as sports phycologist

Then move all the outgoing teams up a level and off we go.
Then if Andy Moran or anyone else outside the system want in, they come in as a no2 or take over the U17 and work their way up.

Jack O Connor wasnt too proud to restart with the minors in Kerry to get back to the senior job

Once again Revellino you have hit the nail on the head. Astonishing sense of entitlement in Mayo alright for a county which has not lifted the big one for 75 years. Each year we don’t win it it’s the same BS . Blame management, blame Co Board Blame someone.We name manager XY and Z who will do the business, we disrespect the good managers we have had. When they got us to finals we blame them for losing them. . Even this year we had criticism of Heaney after the u17 defeat to Kerry in AISF accusing him of being too upbeat in an interview after the game while Gardner got little or no credit for winning our first u 20 Connacht for a number of years. McStay got it in the neck until he fell ill ( possibly because of the stress of managing to Co team) while Rochford who picked up the pieces performing well v Tyrone and reasonably well v Donegal has received loads of flak. Just think what some of those guys have done for football and Mayo football down through the years. McStay all star material back in the 80s and AI club winning manager with St Bridget’s . Heaney a really honest footballer who represented Mayo in a number of AI finals, Gardner a really honest totally committed wing back and Rochford winner of and manager of AI club winning sides, obviously a man and manager who doesn’t do ego, took over Mayo after our issues in 2015 taking us to the brink in 2016 and 2017. Moved on to Donegal as a No 2 ( according to some he appears to be responsible for all the ills in Donegal until the messiah returned and restored Donegal to their rightful place, ) took on the No 2 job with Mayo again ( no ego)and now according to the latest news managing Tullamore. We are a decent footballing county but we have not won nearly enough to give us this sense of entitlement. Cork feel they are entitled to win this year’s hurling after 20 years in the wilderness, Kilkenny are sick at not having a hurling title for a decade and Tipp feel they are enduring a famine because they have not won since 2019. Those counties all feel they are entitled to win an AI based on their history. Kerry are similar in football when a few years without Sam is crisis.. Meanwhile three quarters of a century later we still await Sam and blame those who have given so much for our inability to win it

The West Awake, prior to Sean Deane being overlooked, Tomás Morley also suffered the same fate. Sometimes it feels like we can be a little bit blinded by bigger names when it comes to making these appointments when what really matters is good leadership, motivation and personnel management skills.

I really wonder about the vetting of press releases…

All-star defender Keith Higgins and former Mayo GAA full-back Ger Cafferkey from Ballina Stephenities were part of his backroom team along with Kilmeena’s Mark Ryan.

If you are going to mention an All Star then surely mention Ger Caff as an All Star too.

Out of interest, does anyone know the average age of delegates? Listening to the county board pod it seems like a lot of names are there an awful long time, just wondering at clubs what does transition look like and representation for younger voices.

@to win just once. What's the answer then? The outgoing management deserve to be acknowledged but they were taking us absolutely nowhere. If you want to win the bloody thing, you need to be the best you can be. And I'm sorry, Rochy's spell at Donegal was pretty average & that's being generous.

To win just once. Once is all we'll ever win it with that approach (if ever). Tyrone were nobodies in the 1900s in terms of GAA winners. The last 20+ years they have become a force. How did they do that? They certainly didn't just sit back & see what happens

@To win just once

Not everyone has a self of entitlement in Mayo let's be clear on that. It's not much ask to ask though that we can at least get passed the likes of Cavan.

If you can't admit that Rochford was part of the problem in Donegal as he was in Mayo that's a bit delusional to be honest . Same style of play , players opting out rumours of trouble in the camp etc .

Rochford may have performed well v Tyrone and Donegal but he still made weird calls why bring on fergal Boland in the last 5 min v Donegal when we needed him on sooner .

I wish the management team the best but it 100% does make a difference who you have managing your team . Players have to take some reasonability of course but management install tactics and style of play .

That's as clear as day. McGuiness I'm no fan of him but he has turned Donegal around even got Murphy back wanting to play for him .

The confidence in the guys in willing to shoot for a 2 pointer or even a point is gone . Confidence should come from your manager if your manager is not telling you to go for that point 24/7 but instead play lateral defensive ootball then the managent are to blame .
So yes the right management 100% do make a world of difference .

@ Rusty Bridges.

Rochford has a very fine record when actually manager at both club and county level.

He never managed Donegal !

His fine managerial record has been listed on here several times so I'm not going to do that again, but if you choose to include in that Counties where he was never the manager then knock yourself out.

Tyrone by the way didn't come from nowhere.

They won the 1991, 1992, 2000 and 2001 All Ireland u21 finals as well as runner up in the 2003 u21 final.

They lost the AI senior football final to Dublin in 1995 by a single point and also contested the 1986 AI final.

Tyrone have a brilliant pedigree in underage football and probably a big reason why they had their AI succeses in 03, 05 and 08.

Rochford has a club appointment already in offally

Best of luck to Stephen Rochford.
A great coach in my opinion and a huge addition to any club or county

The likes of Cavan.

Thats self entitlement in itself.

Cavan have a rich history and tradition.

Isn’t it time to move on from the rochford mcstay saga .at the end of the day they had 3 years and year on year we went backwards failing eventually to get out of group stage.To say there is a sense of entitlement is absolute nonsense but one would think that out of 11 finals we might have sneaked one of them.Tyrone Donegal and Armagh have come along over the last 25 years and won all Irelands.we have won 2 under 21 and a minor all Ireland in that period.i would gladly take an all Ireland every 20 years and be very grateful for it .i have said before that I think the current team is short at least 4 players especially in midfield but the outgoing management just kept playing the same lads in there when it obviously was not working.The slow ponderous attacks were a management decision so they have to take responsibility for that.Good luck to the two lads in whatever they do now but it just simply didn’t work out and the obvious decline couldn’t be allowed to continue

West Kerry Cavan have a rich history and tradition in a very different era and we all saw Cavans results after they beat us

@west kerry

Sure you would be saying the likes of Cavan is well that's yerra talk if you say otherwise. There would have been absolute uproar in Kerry if you had lost to Cavan at home in your first championship game.

Cavan do have a rich history and tradition but in a very different way as at @1985 says.

Anyway time to move on I just hope we get the right managenent team this time.

Yes definitely time to move on, best of look to them wherever they decide to volunteer next.
Didn't work out this time as 1985 alluded to.

Whoever is in next will need be given a few years, McStay reckoned he didn't need a rebuild as Horan had done the heavy lifting, but next manager has a body of work on as there will be personnel changes and lads have a years catch up on the new rules that came into force this year.

The CoE talk from the meeting the last day was very worrying, the quality of the ground sounds like a big. If we lucky the topographical study could scupper that plan if it's as bad as feared costs could be enormous.
They need to work in tandem for a plan B if that's the case, e.g. work with 4 clubs or schools in each region and develop their grounds and contract with them.

@ 1985.

Can you be a bit more specific. You said they kept playing the same lads. Not entirely accurate by the way.

Who would you have played ?

You said they took the team backwards year on year.

Galway, many peoples early favourites to win Sam managed to beat us by a point.

Donegal, vaunted as a brilliant team by many and led by we are told a genius of a manager also managed to beat us by a single point.

Everyone in the county knows that we have a weak midfield and currently don't have enough forwards. It's not that we didn't play them, we actually don't have them.

Seeing as it's so clear to you what management have done wrong, can you name the team that you would have put out that would have beaten Donegal ?

Thanks.

Revellino, key thing from your post above:
Galway beat us.
Donegal beat us.

QF- PQF- Groups, that's regressive trend if that's how it panned out.

If want data on results aggregated by managers since 2010, the numbersgael has them here although think one typo there: https://x.com/TheNumbersGael/status/1937986588929073331

1 x Forward management actually tried regularly to develop in league this year was Irwin, and he done quite well for a newbie and was a freekick option but he was jettisoned for championship. Not played.

On the Donegal game, in the first half when we had wind was it 10 attempts at goal we took?

Tsu probably has the 25 panel stats somewhere, hes a mighty bit of stuff. In 2024 i had to hand, Mayo had lowest panel usage of any D1 team: https://x.com/TsuDhoNim/status/1904235886780260700

Why are so many people on this blog addicted to failure? Talk of entitlement, arrogance and this palpable fear of winning. Is it some religious thing? Is winning the eighth deadly sin?

There is no beauty in being perennial losers, no joy in failure and little solace in forever misguidedly thinking that we are lovable underdogs.

"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better," seems to be the only Sam we ever want to align to. We fear the cup and worship the chalice. What a psychological omnishambles so many Mayo supporters are.

As Wayne Gretzky said "You Miss 100% of the Shots You Don't Take", we weren't even taking the shots. The plan seemed be recycle, recycle.

While it's a shame to lose pretty successful management teams at different age groups all at once it does present an opportunity for a reset. A James Horan type figure overseeing the appointments from U14s through to seniors. Making sure they are all in sync and developing a style that is consistent for players as they move up from one age group to the next.

@ Gizmobobs. The key thing is there is no shame in been beaten by two very good, very loaded teams by the minimum margin, when we don't have great midfielders or forwards for that matter.

We performed above what should have performed, given the firepower we currently lack.

Anyway you want to look at it, these are the facts.

Revellino I think gizmo answered all your questions.Galway as the championship progressed were shown to be not as strong as some thought..The Donegal game wasn’t straight knock out for Donegal and they should have finished us off in second half with mcbrearty butchering an easy goal chance.on the midfield issues we basically rotated ruane carney and Flynn with cameos from Thornton and tuohy.Ruane unless he is scoring a few points a game contributes very little as a midfielder.Kevin mcstay said it himself in the hell for leather documentary “winning is all that counts at this level.everything else is just misery”.All managements live or die on results

@Gizmobobs.

Like I said Galway and Donegal both beat us by a single point so I would say we must have been shooting or else they weren't shooting either.

As regards recycling, you'll recall the Dubs recycled the ball to death. I was never a fan of it but it worked well for them.

@1985.

I think Donegal were gone if we had beaten them and Cavan had drawn with Tyrone. I could be wrong but I believe they could have gone in that final round.

Yes managers live and die by results, but results are hard to come by when when you are 5 or 6 players short of a strong starting 15 which I believe this current Mayo team is. We currently do not have enough top players. Maybe 10 very good and we need to strengthen in the future.

@Ex- Pat

Your spot on . It's not arrogance or self entitlement at all . Imagine if you say that to our guys who go out to win every match or try to at least. That it's arrogance if they said we need to be beating Cavan or another lower ranked team if we want sam they'd be like what's the point so in us logging out .

We are to nice also . That comes from lack of confidence.

It's division 1 it's Sam it's called winning mentality. You certainly wouldn't hear that in Kerry / Dublin or Donegal that your arrogant or self entitled saying who we should be beating to get the big prize .

There is a huge mentality issue in mayo football after all the finals we lost we need to get the winning mentality back and that's why I'm excited for new management .

Revellino, True, but the dubs transitioned quickly when needed and it worked for them, they got the results; it did not work for us yet we persisted with it. That and the unwillingness to acknowledge the new rules importance were a crucifier. I agree no shame losing to better team, and if we are to continue losing I hope we are watchable at least.

"We performed above what should have performed, given the firepower we currently lack. Anyway you want to look at it, these are the facts." That seems to to be opinions more so than facts. Facts are our year on year results got worser.
So now we need to move on. Next team in may not reach the holy grail either as you are right, there are deficiencies in playing pool. But if the players we have are set up correctly and given the game plan and freedom to try and win the quality of opposition is no where near as strong as the Dublin team that was bane of our lives. Would you have said 2 years ago Donegal or Armagh were "very loaded" by comparison to us?

There is very little between the top tier teams now.

On the COE issue.... firstly fair play to Mr.Durkan,he obviously still has strong links and a great affinity for his native county, but the more I hear the argument for developing regional grounds to be used by the county for training,and all that goes with developing our county teams,the more sense it makes to me.
I think it is a shame that we were being left behind several counties (including several lower division counties)when it comes to facilities for our county teams. But yes develop 3 regional venues to be used by their club and county as needs arise. That way there should always be at least one venue available for our county teams.
What to do with Mr.Durkan's present then...I don't know!

Revellino I never said Rochford managed Donegal. But he was their coach & they went backwards during that stint.

Tyrone - fine use the 1990s as your example but what did they do for the 100 years before that? They built & by God they are a force now.

I don't want to have a go at Rochford. He probably took us closer than anyone (maybe bar Maughan in 96). And deserves credit for that. But we needed a change & I'm glad we will see a new face on the line next year

@ Clare.

Which winning mentality are you referring to. It's 74 years since we won the AI. The current players grandfather's might remember winning but not many others.

I do agree we must be positive and hopefully the young u20's will break on to the team in 2026, but to win it, it'll be by the hard route I'm afraid. Our recent and not to recent finals will haunt us until the day we exorcise the ghosts. It will happen someday, but we'll have to do it the hard way.

On the management situation......they did not work out and that's the bottom line.
We might look back and say they brought new players on that have a big effect over the next 5 years we dont know yet. They were unlucky in losing Oisin and Lee... with those guys involved its a different outlook.
Key now is developing guys like Lydon, Beirne, Mortimer, Ivers, Kobe and hopefully holding on to all with the likes of them coming and also whats there already with Jordan, Coyne, Callinan, Hession, Neary we should be in the mix.
No County can be at the top of the cycle forever. I think we are on a down swing but it can change quick.

I can’t fathom this MAC at all, a committee of seven, eight, or possibly more people to then produce an interview panel which will have five people from the MAC plus, it seems, a minimum of two others and again, possibly more. Managerial candidates will walk into an interview in front of perhaps eight people, is this the norm for all inter county managers? I’d have thought a maximum of five would be sufficient.

Regarding the COE, we already have an excellent one in the county....why build another? There are excellent facilities, changing rooms etc in Bekan, can the CB not negotiate a long term lease arrangement with the Connacht Council to either use the existing facilities or if required add another couple of new playing pitches (or maybe a second Dome) to facilitate Mayo's needs (and fund these instead?) If you look at the county at the moment we have built numerous new club houses, with excellent changing rooms, meeting rooms, gyms, etc which lie idle most of the time, and are only used on match days...why build more facilities at an enormous cost to the county when we have them already?

@Revellino

I mean we need to try get the confidence back is what I mean obviously we have not won in 74 years . If you've no confidence you won't get anywhere .

You can still have a winning mentality without sam and by that mean going into every match thinking that you are better and you can beat them.

Also not underestimating the other team but you need the belief installed you look at how McGuiness has done it to Donegal .

Ah Ref had the idea that needs to be done of upgrading schools facilities that already have a dressing room and showers. Yes, I know that's not common, but they do exist in suitable locations.
You avoid the huge cost of the dressing room and facilities. There's already 1-2 functional pitches. You co find with GAA and Educational facilities grants.
You can have an aim of three schools and start with one. This goes a long way towards gaining extra training fields.
Crucially, schools football is pretty much wrapped up at all these schools fields each year by end of February.
1 million per school, for 3 schools, done 1 school at a time.
That's a very feasible program of works.
However I see the big issue preventing it.
Big men wanting to be seen to do big stuff rather than the correct thing.

A few on the comments here have mentioned the fear of winning or the opposite - the sense of entitlement to be in semi finals and finals.
Why shouldn't we have high expectations? It's a slippery slope when you drop them.
Joyce (as much as we laughed) said the aim in year one or two was to win Sam. They very nearly did but he was quoted as saying any year you don't win is a failure.
It might sound harsh but that's what we should be looking at for our senior team.
Minors and 20s? I don't really mind. We have an obsession with winning those when, in reality, we just find two per year from 20s who will be core senior players. That's the goal from those underage structures. Because if you do that, you get a conveyer on the go. Axe lads who are past it and bring in two new lads per year. Harsh but fair. Kilkenny did it all the time. No player was bigger than the team under Cody. He was ruthless and it worked.
The system would need a director of football willing to push this structure but once in operation, our target at the beginning of every year for senior team must be Sam.
No ifs, buts or maybes. No excuses. The second you settle for a connacht or staying up in the league is the second you're not going within an asses roar of an All-Ireland title.
We have to stop thinking like Mayo and start to think like Kerry. Even when they have a relatively weak crop of players, they're demanding success.
Let's cut the bullshit of taking part. Let's win.

Mayo need to get rid of the mentality that it’s acceptable to lose semi finals and finals at senior and underage. Take the u20 loss to Louth this year. Tyrone absolutely pummelled them in the final. That mgnt should have me been last year after losing to Sligo and Leitrim. I’d give more credit for our provincial win to the minor coaches and club Bia he’s those lads had. Mayo had by far the strongest u20 panel in Connacht this year and only for a last minute square ball decision that fortunately went our way, we’d have lost. We shipped 4 goals in that game (3 goals against Galway) and 2 against Louth in the semi. Anyone who was watching the u20 campaign could see our defence was incredibly vulnerable when run at and management failed to rectify it. Then a comment on a pod was that the u20 management did their reputation no harm…seriously!? Do we want to win things or not??

Another example was the u20 final loss in 2018. An unacceptable defeat, primarily lost on the line with the glaring failure not to adequately mark Jimmy Hyland.

2013 senior All Ireland. Thrown away.

There are plenty of others. I’ve been to them all.

The only time there was real anger was post-21 and that was as much despair at that point. But then our keeper comes to out in media and says Mayo supporters should appreciate being in such a privileged position. Sorry, but I don’t see anything privileged losing , losing and losing. It’s time for Mayo to become more ruthless on and off the field.

I agree with some posters above saying more is needed in schools. Absolutely. Saying it for years that it should start with kids in 3rd class. Tyrone have it right. Copy them.

The more I hear about, speak to people and read up in the Bohola projects the more concerned I get. Yes, we’ve been crying out for a COE for years but the cost, location /surface…I’d be a bit worried. On the flip side, the more I hear about hubs strategically positioned around the county, the more beneficial and productive I think it can be for Mayo football. Ideally something in the region of Islandeady and then another around Crossmolina/Moygownagh. Another possibility is using already established facilities in second level schools and investing in them for use by Mayo academy teams which would also serve to benefit the schools in question.

We need more forward thinking. I agree with Enda McGeartys sentiments in the most recent Ah Ref pod. We really do need personnel changes at the top of the Co Board - we are at arguably our most crucial juncture in years…we need the right people in charge.

Revellino .Donegal would have known at half time that Tyrone were in control against Cavan and in any case it was very unlikely they would beat Tyrone so there was no real pressure on Donegal that day .Cavan was the hill we died on but the performances against Sligo and Leitrim were also very poor.Again I agree we are short of a few players but not making the final 12 was a bridge too far.In any case they are gone now as any management has to when no progress is being made

I’m not saying it right or wrong but how come nobody mocks Donegal for all the hype they create , I couldn’t believe this week they had songs out and it not even a final , Christ we would be absolutely ridiculed. Is it just because they won it more recently than us or do they have that very sexy attitude of not givin two continentals what any outsider thinks ? Love for Mayo to go for the siege mentality approach .

@Sean Burke

Well said that's exactly what I mean .

Donegal don't give 2 continental's, and fair play to them....they have more than their share of down days so if they want to enjoy the build up, for as long as it may or may not last,sing a few songs and live in the moment, well good luck to them I say.... I'd like to be in their position.

Sean
To be honest I think this all goes back to 1989.At that stage we had gone through boring years of the usual suspects, Dublin, Kerry, Cork, Meath, all big GAA powerhouses who had won often and getting to a final was a bit of excitement but nothing major. I was born in 1971 and 1987 was my first final with neither Kerry of Dublin in it......it was odd I remember saying to my Father at the time.
Then we get to the final in 1989 and there was just massive excitement. We were a novelty to everyone in the whole Country.......like Mayo didnt feature ever........to everyone outside Mayo we had no history in the game.
Bear in mind socially we were at the end of the 80's emigration (''we cant all live on one small island''), unemployment 15% after the emigration of 70,000 / year...... poverty really when you think about it. Mayo was hit particularly hard in these years.
Getting to the final in 1989 just felt like maybe the dam had burst and there were better days ahead Mayo got excited...why wouldnt we, whats wrong with that??..... we brought a personality to it that was never there before sheep dyed red + green the team going up from Knock on the plane, songs and so on.
That was the story on the 6 O'Clock news in the last weeks of August 1989 ...then we lose.......what could have been defined after a win as 'swagger' or confidence came to be defined as ''losing the run of ourselves'' and there is nothing anyone likes more than to laugh at someone who ''might be getting above themselves''........
Thats my answer Sean having lived through it all!!...what came later cemented the narrative........but it all started in late August and early September 1989.

As regards playing. We are always entitled to get as excited as we want in the lead up to games.

As regards winning the All Ireland. We are entitled to nothing. Zero. That entitlement is earned by winning it, and we haven't earned it.

Regardless of who the manager is, it will not happen until we have enough good players to get the job done.

If enough good players don't come through this year, the slaughter of the incoming manager will promptly commence by the usual suspects, who seem to know everything about football, but have none of the answers, and the negative spiral that surrounds the county team will continue at pace.

After earth's next great cycle, drawings of great mayo managers been tortured and quartered will be discovered in caves deep below Mayo's surface.

The once thriving population above ground will be non existent having eaten each other alive over disputes which reportedly started over management styles.

The history books will record that the Mayo tribe were of a canabilistic nature that ate each other until there was no one left.

The Gaa will will build a monument to our misery on lands that were originally designated for a centre of excellence and paid for by ourselves, the small tragic con acre farmer's, and they will erect a mighty monument of our last great football manager been whipped by suspecting supporters for again failing to win the All Ireland.

Would all those wishing to be beheaded at the guillotine, please present now in front of the panel.

@Revelino

We obviously were spoilt with the team of Keagan , Boyle , Higgins etc .

We may not have the same class as we did then but management certainly didn't get the best out of our guys you can't deny that.

In other news I see Rochford is off to Tullamore wasn't expecting that thought he'd go to Roscommon or Sligo .

I hope we don't revert to caveman football before our inevitable doom!

If we don't win but are enjoyable to watch again I would be happy enough.
The fans really voted with their feet the past couple of years and it's hard to blame them, it's a game, entertainment.
As Maximus Decimus Meridius said "Are you not entertained?"

Hopefully next year we will be, adopt the new rules, we can enjoy the ride and see what happens.

Revellino that’s a load of silly nonsense.the only one talking about entitlement is you .what do you suggest that we leave the outgoing management there for eternity and just hope that something happens.Tyrone dispensed with their management 4 years after winning an all Ireland.we may not have the players of the same calibre we had over the previous decade but failing to make the final 12 in the country is not an accurate reflection of this group either so both players and management have to take responsibility for that and we can’t go out and buy new players

For all the talk about needing change in Mayo football, nothing ever changes.
Over the past 75 years there has been a massive demographic change from people living in Rural Ireland to living in Urban Ireland.
In 1951, the male population of County Mayo was 73,345.
The overall male population was 1,506,597 (ROI)
Mayo had 5% of the population then.
Now there are 2,544,549 men (in the ROI) but only 68,392 men in mayo - 3.7%
Resource wise, we are shrinking relative to the larger urban based counties - this will only get worse.

Within the county there has been a migration from rural to urban living, however, the no of clubs has not changed to reflect that movement.
Castlebar has 10% of the county population but only 1 club.
Ballina 8% and two clubs
Westport 5% and 1 club
Claremorris 3% - 1 club
Ballyhaunis 2% - 1 club
Ballinrobe 2% - 1 club
Swinford 1 % - 1 club

Based on population alone - Ballina stephanites could field 3-4 adult teams, Castlebar should have 2 clubs, Wesport should be fielding 3-4 adult teams

However, the big urban clubs fare worst on underage player retention.
The reason - kids want to play with their mates. Grading players in big clubs at U12/14 - splits kids from their mates, they lose interest and drop off. Lost to the GAA for good. Potential late developers are left off the A teams for faster kids who often dont grow very tall, but show well at 10-15. Late developers/ lanky uncoordinated lads who only grow into their frames at 17-19 have been omitted from the higher grades of football, that they dont even see senior football as likely - whatever desire they had at 12-14 beaten out of them by 18 through years of not being picked or even coached the skills of the game that would suit their body shape.

At county level, we repeat the same mistakes - grading kids for county level at U14, before they have fully grown. Train the S#!te out of them and the selected few play for 5/6 teams at U17/U18 - suffering injury problems in their 20's and burnt out by 27/28.

We are left with a county team of runners, no tall scoring forward, no outfield players who can kick a 45, and no one who can kick a 2 pointer without a gale blowing up his arse.

Not something the 12 most populous county in Ireland can afford to do if it wants to be the top football county in the country.

There is a way out, but the rules would have to be changed and the urban clubs would have to buy into it.
1. No grading of player below minor level
2. Urban clubs can have more that 1 team in the same division and their teams would have to be reasonably fairly split.
3. Full rotation of playing time among players on all teams - playing time for each squad player to be collated and monitored for checking
4. Full rotation of positions within matches on all teams up to U14.
5. Sharing of resources with other non gaa sports - i.e. player not having to have heavy training session for multiple sports in the one week. Alternating game days - football one week, soccer the other, or Friday match for one and Sunday for the other.
6. Staggering age cut offs - January for even years (U12/14/16_, August for odd (U11, U13, U15). Taking away the bias towards kids born in Jan-Jun which is rampant in all sports. This fact added to early grading of players - loses 35% of Urban kids from being potential senior county players.
7. Introduction of full programme of U11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 matches for large urban clubs. Creating more opportunities to play for all kids who want to play.
8. Introduce grading from U16 upwards, but limited the named A grade players to 10/11 with another 9/10 fluid between A&B teams - again - playing time shared (no kid permitted to play more than 75% of available time, no kid to get less than 60%)

The goal should be to maximise available playing resources, game time and access to quality coaching for more kids as long as possible.

By starting the grading pyramid too early, both big Urban clubs and the county team end up with insufficient quality at the top of the pyramid when it all shakes out and lads go travelling, get long term injuries etc.

Sustained success will come from exposing as many kids as possible to as high a level of competition and coaching as we possibly can for as long as we possible can. Sharing the resources across the many, rather than the few.

Unfortunately, Mayo football has been plagued by club bias at county level and by family/school bias at club level.
This is not unique to the GAA or Ireland, but the crowd that can fix their system first will be miles ahead of the rest.
Kilmacud Crokes have 5000 club members, but only 2-3 intercounty grade senior players. Not because the didn't have the numbers, but because they grade them early and lose an awful lot of high potential players. Simply because they cant give them the opportunities under the current Dublin GAA rules. If the Dubs fixed their rules to maximise the no of players, they would win 9 of 10 all Irelands. We should really try to be first in fixing our house before someone else fixes theirs and everyone copies it, leaving us behind for another 75 years.

The argument against an outside manager that has been made that only 2 have 1 Sam is a poor one.Outside managers are a relatively new thing since the 80s, the top counties on the roll of honour Kerry, Dublin ,Tyrone, Cork, and Meath that have one Sam the most since 1980 have always stayed inside the County bar only Banty with Meath and the currenty Tyrone manager Malachy O'Rourke
Mayo have only ever had 4 outside managers and they all have at least 1 Connacht Title and appeared in a All Ireland Semi Final.

Liam O'Neill Semi Final loss to Dublin 1985
Brian McDonald Semi Final loss to Donegal 1992
Jack O'Shea Semi Final 1993 with no previous managerial experience
Mickey Moran All Ireland Final loss to Kerry in 2006

@tirawley baron, brilliant post. Hell of a lot of sense in there.

Willie Joe, With the latest announcement that both Meath and Donegal will now wear there 'home' kits for Sunday, how does it affect colour blindness ?

Thank you to those people from this forum, who recently contacted me, when I mentioned still needing some Connacht Final Programmes for my collection.
Your help and decency is much appreciated.

I still need some, so if anyone else can help, please e-mail me..... johnc_65@hotmail.co.uk

https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/arid-41666735.html

Sam og. Fr.Tom Gillooly, Eugene McGee and John O'Mahoney all won All Irelands with other counties.
Listing Connachy winners and adding semifinal losses doesn't mean much back in those days when winning Connacht meant qualifying for a semifinal. These days it is actually commendable to reach a sf because of having to negotiate at least 4 more games to reach your semifinal.

I think you will find Breaffy and Castlebar are in the same parish,which is all important in the GAA.

Personally I hope Donegal win it out. A county a bit like ourselves with a fantastic manager whom I admire. ( no doubt if they do win it it will be used as a stick to beat ex manager, I mean ex coach Rochford. ) Actually wonder who is coach in Donegal at the moment and what powers and influence he has. Anyway if Tyrone don’t win it this year they won’t have long to wait with the absolutely fantastic under age teams they have produced in the last few years. Kerry, well they will never be far away and Meath, not my favourite county for obvious reasons have had a super year. Interestingly they lost 2 coaches this year but those coaches obviously weren’t too important. Anyway while we dissect all our problems and look forward to replacing all our managers, one would have to think that PJ must be looking wistfully at Croke Park this weekend. With the players he had at his disposal Galway should be competing in an AI semi. This added to blowing a fantastic chance last year must give him plenty to ponder

Anyone who takes on a Management role at any level deserves the highest respect. This is a huge commitment and soaks up valuable time and effort. If you don't have success at least you stuck your head above the parapet, when most did not.
Its easy for us keyboard warriors but a different sceal turning up week in week out. Don't get me wrong, I want to see the best for Mayo at every level.
I hope and pray we can put together a dynamic and lively Management team for the County Senior, 20's, 17's that at the very least gets us back playing entertaining football and lifts the soul of Maigheo once more.
Keep the Faith, and Mayo for Sam 2026 :-)

I hope Tyrone win it or Meath .
Tyrone have have done alot of work in fairness to them .

I'll definetly be shouting for Meath Sunday to. Wouldn't be shouting for Donegal at all .

Interesting, Paddyjoe, thanks for sharing the link. It's gas that the determining factor is the referee "believing there is no clash of jerseys." There's a non-colour-blind person speaking, for sure! The GAA simply haven't got a clue on this issue and leaving it up to the ref to decide adds another layer of stupidity to their stance on it.

Tally gone from Derry now too I see .

One area we could get ahead of other counties is in really getting into detail on kicking technique.
Many of you have played and watched hundreds of hours of soccer. Have you noticed that over the last number of years the kicking technique of players is very consistent?
Dublin the most successful modern county had very consistent kicking technique. Now that is real coaching. It's not enough to let the player stick with hit and miss technique.
1. Your footwork and direction facing.
2. Your release of the ball.
3. Your contact.
This takes dedicated reps as par for the course for your full playing career.
Now this is a total disaster when you consider how many club players at all grades don't own an O'Neills. It has a totally different weight and feel and you won't master it with a regular football.
Jamie Clarke the maverick or natural talent of Armagh had a shot book where he wrote down his success rate with different shots.
Xavi Alonso his entire career started every training session with simple but perfect passes.
It's mad when you think how straightforward the process is to master the biggest skill deficit we have.
A culture of coaching good kicking technique.
How many of us ever got one kicking technique session in school or club? Very rare.

@JP Great points regarding the skill of kicking. I remember an old soccer coach of mine called Sean Mc Caffrey, pointed out to me the first time we met I was very weak on the left. He encouraged me to find the balance on both feet. One very simple benefit of this is its very hard for the defender to put you on either side whereas if you are say right footed only the defender can shut you down much easier. He often said to us every shot you take your one shot closer to a goal. Has stuck with me for 30 years.

Mick Bohan has a youtube video where he is teaching coaches how to coach kicking.
It should be shown to every coach.

He describes the Dubs focus on the technique of kicking and don't even concern yourself with the outcome

Kicking well off both feet in soccer or Gaelic is about perfectly mirroring the technique body position on either side.
It's crucial to be really practiced to excess when young as the older you get your joints can't take the reps or the impact.
My own soccer one when I want to polish up is hit a ball straight at a wall with power and have it come back to your kicking leg.
That's not happening much at all without nice technique and a good contact.
You can apply the same to an O'Neills although the wall will tear up your expensive O'Neills. O'Neills generally into a net or to a team mate.

JP

Do Mayo have a full time employed head of athletic development ?

We have never had a full time employed overseer of SnC for the various county teams programs. I'm not sure too many other competing counties have had such either.

Thanks for that post Revellino. I'm laughing my arse off here all evening. I see things very much like yourself. We are seriously deficient upfront ie. natural scoring forwards and it will take a few years to blood some of the young talent currently on the books to reach the consistently competitive level which some of the experts on here think is our rite. Sorry to all for my negative loser mentality.

@The Maroon river

No one said it was our right to be always consistently competitive. That's not possible . Teams go through transition .

These things come in patterns . Especially after we lost the best team we ever put out there . Just because you want the management to get the best out of the players doesn't make you self entitled .

It's giving confidence to guys like as I said what McGuiness has installed into the guys in Donegal and they have pretty much the same team bar Murphy before McGuiness came back and look at how the tables have turned with right management.

Meath doing alright this year since they brought in a young progressive manager it has to be said.

That jersey colour choice for their game with Donegal would almost make you laugh if it wasn't so frustrating. On a sunny day even non colour blind people would struggle.
The fact they have the alternative kits to hand adds insult to it.

JP,

Kerry have a full time athlete development manager responsible for the S&C of all Kerry teams.

It brings continuity between as the players develop through different teams.

Managers come and go but that type of continuity helps.

I understand that Ger Brennan did not leave the Louth job because there was a vacancy in Dublin.
Don't bet on him as a certainly to be the next Dublin manager .
Am I right in believing that there was no contact between the CB and Kevin McStay before he was sacked?

The Maroon River and Revellino, I was thinking about that expression ‘consistently competitive’ earlier today after reading some of the comments on the blog discussing various managers, what they might do, and what we might look for.
Winning mentality, confidence, non club bias, two pointers and so on - this is some of what was discussed.
I asked myself - “what has the manager’s remit been this last while?”
What has he, as it’s been a he, set out to do?
I reflected that the answer was set in 2011 or thereabouts and it was “to make us consistently competitive.” Horan took the bull by the horns and put a working definition in place.
While successive managers have tried to win Sam, I think all knew that’s a big and hard goal to aim for. I think they all aimed to be competitive across the board.
I think Rochford and McStay tried to do this too. The tactics in the Donegal game are the ones that are taken as the stick to beat Rochford with.
They weren’t pretty but they had us in with a shout (competing). If we had opened the game up, would we have got steamrolled?
Mayo fans actually cannot handle us losing a lot (maybe I’m being unfair in this).
We’re sure a new management will take us further by embracing the new rules and going for two pointers. Will they actually see us go backwards in success? What if we don’t get the wins with the new tactics?
Can we handle losing by big margins?
I reflected that the way Horan assured us of being consistently competitive in the era 2012 to 2014 was by using a strong running game and power and pace. We had the edge on this and were very good at it while other teams were less so.
Then our star waned a lot after 2018 and mass defences plagued us. We were still very good at the running game and had power and pace and scores coming from everywhere but we could not break through those defences.
Now when the new rules have unlocked the blanket somewhat, we cannot fall back on our running game completely. We need to score. But we’re not strong here. Rochford fell back on another strength we have - our defence and excellent man to man defending. It was used versus Donegal.
My question - what technique are Mayo going to use now to achieve that goal of being ‘consistently competitive’? Are we at a crossroads trying to find a technique to bring us success?
Will a new management team find that success that posters feel sure is just within reach, not too far away? Look at the Donegal game, they say. We were so close. If only Rochford had the cop-on to let the players shoot for two-pointers.
If we had gone for the two pointers in an open game would we have lost by more as we’d have had a looser defensive hold on Donegal?
These are just some musings.
By the way, I don’t like the conservative football. I like an open exciting game where players can express themselves.
I just wonder if we can give up the goal of being ‘consistently competitive’ for a time while we play the open expressive football and find our feet. Can Mayo fans handle losing by a lot or losing often?
I’m not one to be negative generally.

JR accordingly to the Connaught Telegraph, Balls.ie and from talking to people usually in the know there appears to have been several calls in the lead up.

Not what I heard from a man that should know.

Tirawley Baron. Brilliant stuff and very insightful, you obviously coach at underage and have a good grasp of what's going on at under age level in Mayo. Everything u say makes perfect sense but unfortunately the grading system and the win at all costs in some clubs from u12 up will be hard to change. I know there is good coaches in a lot of clubs that will agree with you but how to change the mindset in every club to your way of thinking would need a total overhaul of our underage leagues and championships from u16 down. This would be a first step to achieving your goal of keeping more players involved and thus expanding our player pool at county level at u17 and u20.

Ger Brennan probably realised there was little past a Leinster for Louth, and that having been achieved, exited the stage. You can only fall after maxing out. He definitely wasn't sizing up a gig with a team in serious decline with a dearth of youthful players coming through. It's too big a task and he'd be expected to serve his time at underage where the real issues lie. Mick Bohan might be in the ballpark for a joint role there.
As for Mayo, well, people are only short of tipping Obama for the role at this stage. Love to see a young manager given the opportunity but the expectation might be off-putting.

Development of three regional
Grounds would cost more. The logistics of sharing with clubs I don’t understand. Build a second pitch, first you need to buy the land, floodlights for 2nd pitch. Club team and county team training on same night sharing the same dressing room….ridiculous

If the structures are in place, there is no reason why Louth or any other county can't make the break.
I don't see Meath going away either, they'll be knocking at the door for awhile.
It's a forwards game nowadays and that's where the challenge will be for the next manager.
Why did mayo fans walk away from the turnstiles. Naming dummy teams, disrespectful to both player and supporter, and style of play would account for a lot imo. This year's club championship will be a measure of whether supporters are willing to jump aboard again. But I'd say both players and supporters want to see helter skelter football.
The semifinals at the weekend will be interesting to see if any county returns to caution or will organised chaos remain the dominant style.

Yew Tree, Some clubs have 3+ pitches and 6 or 7 dressing rooms, it would be extremely rare, bar for small age group blitzes they would all be in use at once.
In many of these cases not all 3 pitches would be all weather. That's where Mayo could come in, pay to upgrade pitch and install lights on one of said pitches and have priority call for times it’s needed.
Club can then use it at other times e.g. a once wet pitch is now usable in autumn and winter so all benefit.

JR it is what i heard from a person that should know, and it is published in newspapers. Anyway was right call in end, and while clunky they were thanked sincerely as well. Time to move on Rochford already in another role.

Gizmo - knowing the way inter county teams operate I doubt management would like to be sharing facilities with the local club. Too many eyes. I’ll give an example
Of my own club which I’m sure is replicated, Tuesday night before senior training you have loads of underage kids out on the fields. Imagine a county team arriving to that. Not to mention the extra parking that would be required and canteen facilities for a senior team setup which is professional in all but name.

A single base of operation is what’s required but Mayo probably should not be building one while heavily in debt.

Sure Dublin trained on club grounds, didn't stop them winning 6 in a row.

At present you can watch every Mayo senior training session and challenge match in Bekan or if you want to watch the minors, you could do so in Swinford. It's not all negative. In fact, club coaches could be invited in to see some of the sessions. It's a nice way to pick up some tips, but likewise, you often see things that you'd do totally differently.

Swallow swoops a good insightful and interesting post. We always got a good return of scores from our defence under JH in his term1. Then as now we struggled to have good scoring forwards. New rules don’t really give the defenders the same opportunity to drive up the field and score and we still struggle up front. Kicking 2 pointers is something we have struggled with and we are not the only ones. Dublin too had their problems and even Galway who were hitting them for fun early in the year saw them dry up a bit. Any good manager has to set up his team to work on their strengths and try to negate their weaknesses as much as possible. We don’t score heavily but our defence has been decent and have not conceded heavily and that has kept us well competitive in games. We have also had the courage to be brave and go man to man, which requires top notch concentration and being tuned in, ( which doesn’t always happen) I watched Kerry v Armagh in quarter final. I really admire Armagh and McGeeney but they played a zonal defence and it really killed them. One of the 2 pointers S O Shea scored in the first half saw an Armagh defender move out to put him under pressure before realising he should be playing zonal and dropped back into the arc allowing O Shea a free non pressurised shot which he duly nailed. That was not the only time similar situations occurred leading Kerryto hitting over 30 scores. Now I have not been too enamoured myself with our style over the last few years but it is obvious that management did not want to get engaged in a high scoring shoot out v good opposition as we would invariably come out second best. Now critics can say we came second best anyway by playing lateral and conservative football and that’s a perfectly fair and valid point.

Exciting high scoring shoot outs is the name of the game.our players want their slice of the action but management thought otherwise. And that was their downfall. Boring the pants of us, to the extent that many supporters took their pants elsewhere.
Reality checks from Sligo and Leitrem didn't make a bit of difference.

@Ontheditch

Exactly well said . Our players want that fast pace style of play not the boring lateral style of play . We became one of the most boring teams to watch over the last 3 years .

Let's hope we get a club championship that puts that style to bed Clare. We have better players than our finishing place would suggest

I see Oisin McConville is staying with Wicklow.

@Ontheditch

Yeah definetly we do have better players then the finishing place suggests.

Pity about McConville .

@To win just once.

You hit the nail on the head. Great post.

Shame we won’t be able to get McConville. Think he would have been great and a high chance the players would immediately buy into him. New voice too.

Funny after I saw the news he was staying in Wicklow I kinda panicked a bit. It might prove to be very difficult to get a high quality outside manager. Between the statement, the mess of CB and the stupid interview process, a lot of outsiders might just not bother. Not to mention the travel. The mayo senior team isn’t in a great position on the field either.

I think by default it will be Andy, at least the media and fans will go wild for him. Weather he will be the truly best choice, for me the jury is out!

@Green & Red

I was the same panicked a bit when I heard .

I think they will go with Andy to .

@yew_tree: "The logistics of sharing with clubs I don’t understand."

The initial idea put forward there (on the AhRef pod - leaning on the experiences of County academy coaching, County dev squad coaching, PPS coaching, LGFA coaching & management as well as senior side coaching & management across the 3 lads) was for upgrading and pairing with school facilities.

The school pitches would be untouched from ~7p.m. most evenings (not aware of too many, or any, with floodlights currently) and free for a decent portion of the year at peak times (most weekends, extended holidays, etc). The extra demand would likely need a bit of additional work on drainage to keep it in good condition deep into the winter months (very site specific, somewhere from €5k to €25k), a significant investment into floodlighting (can vary wildly from ~€100k to €300k depending on the specific needs and if it pushed to 500 LUX for the hurlers) and then any additional facilities/changing rooms/catch nets/walkways that might be required for the uptick in usage.

Not sure too many schools would jump at the chance of those relatively negligible changes (the floodlights are the big expense and wouldn't often be used by the students themselves), so in most cases where that ~€250k investment might lead to access to an extra pitch they'd probably need to be offered the carrot of an additional Astro setup to get it over the line. The issues around weather and teams struggling to find pitches even coming up to key All-Ireland games has shown a dramatic need for more access to Astro for certain sessions (despite my own pet hate of even the modern 4G surfaces and the increase in injuries changing between astro/grass can have) so despite the incredibly significant costs there of €1.2-€1.4 [and costs like that pretty much rising week to week so possibly even higher now] it's probably a necessary evil. Extreme or challenging weather events only going to get more common in the coming years rather than less.

So you're probably talking ~€2m per upgraded site (including planning/EIA/ancillary costs) which would be giving access to a full additional floodlit grass pitch and a full size astro at 2 or 3 sites around the county, where up to ~40%-50% of those costs would be grant facilitated. Depending on what a review of the needs looked like and what existing facilities already looked like at potential sites it's possible all 3 of those hubs could be done with the existing savings we have on deposit with HQ (though, I'm fairly sure that's already set aside for a COE so more likely it'd be a couple of locally targeted Cairde Mhaigh Eo fundraising goals)

I'd be one of those (or - the one - never really heard many other folks views on this bar the few lads on the pod or lads like Ed in the papers) with a huge belief we'd still need a COE type facility in addition to regional hubs like this (the branding, identity, privacy and aspirational goals having a "home" for "team Mayo" brings shouldn't be underestimated. You already hear young kids in Offaly describing training with the county at Faithful Fields in the same breath as playing at Croker), they're different solutions to different problems, but we certainly wouldn't need a COE to be a €15m-19m project day 1. Fine if it eventually grows to that over (a significant) time, but absolutely no reason to dive head first into that much debt when a couple of pitches to call home (along with a big overhaul of how coaching and coaching coaching is going at schools/clubs) is what's really needed.

Not surprised McConville stayed where he was.

I believe the process needs to move more quickly. At the moment, it feels like we’re willing to wait 6–8 weeks in the hope that a top-quality manager from outside the county will choose us over other opportunities. The truth is, this role isn’t as appealing as it was 5–10 years ago. If we don’t act decisively, we risk ending up with a manager by default rather than someone we truly want. We should be actively identifying and approaching our preferred candidates now and moving to secure the right person as soon as possible. There are plenty of managerial jobs available this year that come with far less pressure and expectation than the Mayo job so we can’t assume strong candidates will wait around for us.

Andy Moran for all his qualities and potential as a manager is absolutely not what we need right now. We need a ruthless, ambitious operator who knows how to win and has no problem putting as many noses as necessary out of joint. Root and branch reform is the only approach that is acceptable. There needs to be a lot of people relieved of their posts and their ideas. Otherwise, we just continue on the carousel of mediocrity. Sadly, a significant number of supporters appear to be happy with this bs.

Who needs to be "relieved of their posts"?
If its CB officers, who do you think can relieve them of their posts, and who do you think will replace them?

Ontheditch, you say:
“Exciting high scoring shoot outs is the name of the game.our players want their slice of the action but management thought otherwise. And that was their downfall. Boring the pants of us, to the extent that many supporters took their pants elsewhere...”

If we go for the high scoring shootouts and don’t compete, what will the supporters do then? Will we be happy?

I guess it will be to develop our forwards.

Ex-Pat

You’re 100% right. Thats why I’ve always advocated for someone like Pat Gilroy. Not only is he a highly successful businessman but a proven winner as a manager on the sideline. He would be the ideal fit for either a CB position or personally I want him as manager.

But our CB probably don’t even know who he is and once he tells them what’s what they will turn away from him.

I also think Gilroy would bring a badly needed steely mentality to the team. I haven’t seen it so far in this new crop of players, certainly not helped by the passion he nature of our previous mgmt.

If Gilroy took the players for 60 sessions in 30 days, like he did with Dublin I’d love to know how many of our lads would survive or put up with it. He’s my man for the job!!

Unfortunately Ex-pat, the only root and branch reform that will happen in this county is the root up the hole and the beaten with the branch reform, which the new manager will get after a few poor results, and has been happening in the county now for decades.

@Ex - Pat

Your right . Weather or not we can get a manager like that is another thing especially with our county board .

How could the present crop of players have any great passion for the game eith the way they were coached, hand passing the ball back and over to another player a yard away from him, not the players fault all dow
n to the coaches. Passion and love of the game comes from going out and showing off your skills and ability , like beating your opposite number by a slick move of your body and soloing past him and scoring a goal or a point, that's gaelic football, bring it back.

Lots of talk about the county board but at present there will be no changes if any until the next AGM.

I'm actually struggling to think of a Manager that Mayo could get to improve things .

We may end up with a mix of new man with possibly Andy / minor / u20 coaches .

Personally I think it's too soon for Andy to get involved as he played/ trained with lots of the players .

A Manager is exactly that , he coordinates all aspects, players and especially the huge backroom teams ..

The coach is key really

Culmore, it seems clear they were not when you see how things have panned out. The need for review last year, the talk of player unrest appears now to have a lot of merit, and same again this year. Anyone see any posts from players on their socials since changes made?

Yew Tree, you can watch most sessions to your hearts content already, as west is best says as well its similar in other counties like the highly successful Dubs.

As some have said above the Mgmt options could be limited depending who is available and who actually wants it. I have no issue giving it to Andy with a good team around him. He'd have the ambition and desire I have no doubt plus he'll know what is needed have gone so close as a player. That's also why I'd hope 1 or 2 who have been coaching from that good era to join him (Boyler, Barrett, Heaney, Higgins types). Horan or Rochford as far as I recall hadn't any intercounty experience before they took the Mayo job where Andy now has some.

Ex-pat agree there are root and branch changes needed but that cannot be laid on the hands of the senior manager that's at board level..

Swallow a thought provoking post !

Andy retired in 2018 so there are just a handful of players there now he would have played with. not sure that can be viewed as a negative with the type of character Andy is..

Yes. More work(a lot) on developing forwards. Mayo supporters I'm sure are looking forward to seeing their team play high fuelled game.

So ,does that cosy chat in Croker 'tween Oisin & Cillian mean we'll be seeing Cillian in blue,or with a Wicklow bib in the not too distant?....

Thedarkyfinn.
Just from looking at the archives, there’s still 8 on the panel that Andy played with and a possible 6 others.
Eoin o Donoghue
Paddy Durcan
Stephen Coen
Aido
Diarmuid
Shairoze
Fergal
Mattie.
Possibles.
Cillian
Conor Loftus
Ml Plunkett
Conor Diskin
James Carr.
Fionn mcDonagh. Though unlikely.
Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love Andy. Just wondering would it be difficult for him telling some of those that they weren’t in his plans or maybe just a subs role.

Andy setup a large gym operation. I'm sure he didn't manage that without at timex having to be tough with people.
Andy also has high standards around preparation and practice, I wouldn't like to be going to an Andy Moran skills check session without having woken up 15 mins earlier three times a week to get some extra work done on my weaknesses.

Jim McGuinness (a nasty piece) stated that it was only 32 mins. from the Hyde to Bekan?.. Does he bring the rest of the team on the helicopter with him. And he did also mention Carndonagh; omitting the Mullet peninsula.
He was like the Kerryman stated to me when Mayo replayed Kerry in Limerick; " yerra by shure it's no distance from Ballindine"!!

All the talk of laying down the law and putting noses out of joint. I wonder how many would walk away from that? We've had enough players leaving. Imagine the talk here if 5 or 6 walked away because a manager laid down the law. No question a manager has to be in control and calling the shots but there has to be a middle ground where players can enjoy their football career and get the best from themselves. Young folk won't put up with that nonsense anymore.

Oisin McConville commits to 2 more years with Wicklow. He is now ruled out of the Mayo job.

Citog

I think we have all moved on from that comment. The important thing that day was the result. And we didn’t get it. Personally I had no issue what so ever with McGuinness complaining about distance to travel. He’s building a seige mentality within his group. Something badly needed in Mayo. All his anger that day was directed at the GAA not mayo.

A storm in a teacup at the very most. But my god did mayo people do some crying about it. It’s one of the concerns I have around mayo football and culture. We are too easily upset and do f**k all to address it.

@westkerry.what your thinking for the weekend? Before championship i tipped kerry or Tyrone and now one will knock the other out. I have a sneaky feeling Tyrone will win if only for the reason they had more to work on over the couple of weeks but can easily go the other way too. Good luck

It seems to be opening up for Andy (if he wants it of course).

But if nothing else, have that connection with the great 2010s team will create a massive unity with the fans. I feel like I'd go to war with a lot of that squad, none more so than Andy. I'd imagine a lot of our young players see Andy as a legend. That means something.

If it's Andy, hopefully he's surrounded by experience. And you'd have to think there's at least a chance he could get Barry Solan back on board, which in turn might persuade Caroline Currid. All hypothetical of course.

Thanks Nephin, there is a few on that list alright. Isn't it surprising the longevity of players overall even with the recent departures. I still don't feel its a negative though, it will be all about the team he has around him

The obsession with Oisin McConville as manager is baffling and thankfully now put to bed. Great player but why are people bigging him up as a great manager. A couple of Ulster club titles with perennial favourites Crossmaglen and his present Wicklow gig is his only county job. Nine counties without managers most of whom would be higher ranked than Wicklow and no word of any of them trying to get him on board. I'm agreeing with Rusty Bridges and would be happy with Andy and whatever backroom team he comes up with. The man has Green and Red blood and would do anything for Mayo success rather than shrug his shoulders and feel nothing.

Knockingabout says:
July 10, 2025 at 1:28 pm
Oisin McConville commits to 2 more years with Wicklow. He is now ruled out of the Mayo job.

________________________

Dogged a bullet there, couldn't get Wicklow out of Div 4 this spring, knocked out of the Tailteann Cup by a fellow Division 4 team after leading by 8 points, hardly the credentials to manage Mayo?

County board have their minds set on All-Ireland winner be it a player,coach or manager in the past. Are we to ignore Rochford,McStay managed teams to club All-Irelands, Buckley with his fair share of All-Irelands won also.

I'm not sure if Paddy Tally is looking for another gig right now. If he is I think he would be a great appointment.
He has good credentials. Travelling/ re-locating not a problem based on his previous appointments.
He has plenty years of experience working with intercounty teams which has to be a minimum requirement (surely).
Its looks like Derry CB might have already lined up Conleith Gilligan/Devlin hence the reason why Derry CB might parted ways him.
They were playing decent football in the championship (after a poor league showing) and were unlucky to not beat Galway (some controversial officiating and their keeper had a nightmare game). They could have easily got to the QF.
Last year might be a considered a con on his CV but overall his CV is pretty solid.

Paddy Tally?
He built a career on defensive football, only for the FRC to cut the legs from under him.
He has to develop and entirely new philosophy and try it at club level before he can go back to intercounty management.
the last thing anyone wants is another purveyor of defensive tactics

A long shot I know but would anyone have 2 tickets or even one for sale for the All Ireland Hurling final?

It will be Andy.
With the way things are at CB level, very few outsiders will touch us unfortunately.
Tally involved might work.
In my opinion we need an outside influence to freshen things up.
It would be nice to get it done and just stay out of the media for a few months for once..

If we are panicking about not getting Oisin McConville then we are really in a bad place. A great player no doubt, a decent gentleman I would think but a top class manager? Hardly yet I am afraid. Took over Wicklow and did ok but got relegated last year and failed to get out of Div 4 this year. A decent run in Tailteann Cup but Wicklow blew an 8 point lead in semi final. Was the obsession with him because he was an outside manager or because he won an All Ireland. Surely it wasn’t based on his managerial career so far. If anybody wants Paddy Tally well then they had better look forward to negative football. He would make McStay / Rochford style look pure swashbuckling. As I said earlier there are not many great candidates out there either inside or outside the county. And if you were serious about getting the job you’d probably look at our county and ask what is happening with the managers of u17 u20 Seniors and ladies all gone. We may have reasonable players but the stuff behind the scenes would be a great source of concern

I see the u20s hurling manager is gone now.

Moose - I think McEntee would be the best option.

Out of curiosity what has Karl Lacey done at inter county??

If I had to headhunt all of Ireland it would be Pat O'Shea from Dr Crokes, if he cant get Mayo kicking nobody will, but dont see him travelling up to manage Mayo.Realistically Tony McEntee looks like the best fit, think Andy will make a great manager but would like to see him in at Under 20 and taking the next Senior post.Sean Deane and Niall Heffernan would be great choices too.

Moose79
I think McEntee would be interested he had a Mayo heavy backroom team, Joe Keane and Kevin McLoughlin as coach and selectors and Sean Boyle as S and C.

Its a fair comment Tirawleybaron.

I still think he could be a good manager for Mayo. He could have the likes of Andy Moran as a forwards coach.
Tally is proven to be very adaptable. He's good tactical planner.
The only two intercounty teams he coached that were full of talent were Tyrone 2003 and Kerry 2022. The northern teams like Armagh, Tyrone of that time played that ugly defensive type of football as they felt that was best chance they had of beating Kerry (and that proved to be right). The Kerry team he coached had a solid defense but what was striking was the way they transitioned from defense to attack, im sure had a big influence in that.
Based on his Kerry time, I believe he works with teams strengths and doesn't just have a go-to defensive mindset.

Down in 2010 were similar to Kerry in the way they transitioned from defense to attack. They worked some lovely scores against Kerry in the QF and were within a whisker of winning the 2010 all Ireland final. The year before he joined they got knocked out by Wicklow and the year after he left they got hammered by Cork in qualifiers.

In 2018 Galway still didn't have a solid looking team on paper . They were hard to watch with the style of play he adapted but that Galway team won connaught that year, beat Mayo in Castlebar and was the first Galway team to win a championship game in Croke Park since 2001 (17 years!). They got to a semi against Dublin who were pretty much unbeatable that year. He was hated because of how defensive and ugly his approach looked but at the end of the day its a results business.

Mayo's current squad I believe are suited to a counter attack approach. Our S&C I feel shows we have more endurance type athletes. We don't have enough big powerful men (Jordan Flynn type) in the middle 8 but we have lads with great engine's. Our tackling against Donegal was impressive considering the quality of forwards Donegal have right now. So I think (and especially for a quick fix) Tally would be to be able work very well with the current crop of players we have (based on an effective counter attack approach).

Surely we need a manager who was part of All Ireland winning teams vs any manager who might have a feel good factor about them but no serious credentials.

@Regina: Not entirely sure of the context of that query to give specifics, but for a high level overview...

He started off as an S&C for Donegal under-age squads while he was still playing. A little more than a year after retiring, he came in as head coach of Donegal in Declan Bonner's first year in charge (beaten in an Ulster Semi-Final by eventual Ulster Champions Tyrone & then beaten by Galway in R4 of the qualifiers [just short of the QFs]). After that year, he stepped back from that role for family reasons to be replaced by Stephen Rochford - though Lacey stayed on as a member of the backroom team. When he finally left the county setup 2 years later he then took over as head of the Donegal academy system, until that fell apart fairly acrimoniously. At that point he took over Kilcoo in Down and led them to back to back Down club titles, though didn't manage to win an Ulster title losing to Scotstown in '23 and Errigal Ciarán (eventual All Ireland Finalists) in the Ulster Final in the '24 club year just gone. Since March he's been back at the Donegal academy, as u16 manager and "Performance Lead" (pretty sure that's head of the academy, but who ever knows with titles these days).

I wouldn't expect to see him leaving again in the coming months (wouldn't be shocked if he stepped in as a minor/19s/20s manager at some point in the near future for them), for Mayo or anyone else, but stranger things have happened and with so many vacancies needing filling I'm sure he'll be mentioned on plenty of shortlists.

Ya, I agree lads I'd like to see McEntee

I always have to admire Armagh and how they kept with Mcgenney, eventhough he hadn't won a thing for at least his first 8 years in charge.

There is no doubt had he been with Mayo he would have been gone after 2 or 3 years. No doubt.

They stuck with him and when his panel improved he went on and led them to their AI glory.

We prefer instant coffee in this county.

I'm afraid we'll see much the same in the coming years.

If our panel of players isn't good enough there will be another managerial change in another year or two. The manager will pay the price.

I'm not sure why Armagh stuck with Mcgenney but I thought it was great to see him leading them to glory after them sticking with him for so long.

@Revellino

I'm sure no other county would have stuck it that long with Mcgenney . Probably time to move on from that topic !

Looks like great weather for one of the biggest days out in croker this weekend. I hope we at least manage to get to the quarters next year.

I'm going Tyrone by 4 points and Donegal by 6 or so ( hope I'm wrong on Donegal prediction though ! )

I know what your saying about McGeeney Revellino and I have mentioned that a good few times....the only thing is we went backwards every year of the last 3 and we didn't seem to have a plan and alot of players "stepped away"....
On top of that it was like we had no recognition of new rules specifically 2 pointers....I think i heard McStay that he didn't think 2 pointers would have a big effect on the game

@ Clare.

Why move on from this topic ?

Isn't this thread about management vacancies ?

Why shouldn't we discuss how different Counties managed to lift Sam.

Is that not what we are trying to debate here, on who or what way might be the best way to achieve this.

In Armaghs case it was by sticking with Mcgenney.

I tend to agree with you in your post above about McGeeney, and in your remarks about managers in Mayo, Revellino.

If we were to follow the McGeeney model with the recent Management team then, based on the diminishing returns over the past three years, we would be also rans in the Tailteann Cup at the end of year eight. Of course, some here would then be telling us that having notions of winning the Tailteann Cup smacked of arrogance and entitlement. Mad stuff Ted!

Mcgeeney is revered in Armagh as a former all Ireland winning captain revellino and you have been beating this drum since the poor decision to place Padraig o hora at corner back in the 2023 quarter final where he got torched.Alot of our managers left of their own accord when they realised they couldn’t take it any further.when results and performances start going in reverse then there is little option.in case you missed it 2023 quarter final hammering.2024 preliminary quarter final exit .2025 failure to make it out of group of finishing fourth behind Cavan and fail to make the last 12 .on top of all that we played atrocious football in 3 championship matches falling over the line against Leitrim and Sligo before being well beaten by Cavan at home.

@ FreeTheEastBank.

I think Armagh had gone backwards as well for a while under Mcgenney. Maybe I'm wrong but I thought they went a season or two without winning any championship game at least in Ulster. They went backwards, way backwards before they started to go forward. Maybe from 2023 on they started to click.

As regards players pulling away I'm not privy to why the players pulled away, maybe you are.
It may have been lack of playing time they were unhappy with or maybe they didn't believe in the management, I cannot say.

Managers aren't in place to give players playing time in order to keep them happy, and they did have a full panel so it seems that the 40 or so panel members that were there were happy enough.

I agree 2 pointers are important. We don't have too many players seemingly able to kick 2 pointers. We kicked a few but probably 3 times as many dropped short and in to the goalies arms. I'm not sure if kicking 2 pointers is something a player has got or hasn't got.

We have a varying degree of success with kicks from 10 yards inside the arc let alone outside it and every shot from outside we take seems to be more hit and hope.

It’s funny seeing people glad to avoid Oisin for his record, while simultaneously going for Andy, who is only manager in history to lose to New York I think.

And that shouldn’t be really held against home either. It’s just an interesting juxtaposition.

I think Andy be great to have in time as he is as say bleeding green and red. The clean sweep of positions is a great opportunity to appoint a manager at senior who is innovative, adventurous and good people manager. And would need to be able take on a rebuild job.

While also appointing a potential heir apparent to take over after a few years.

@Revellino

Your entitled to your opinion of course .

Yes it's a thread about management. I'd rather discuss who might be our option going forward rather then someone telling me I'm self entitled by blaming management etc . Players have to take some responbility but at the end of the day the manager decides on style of play.

It's obvious the Mayo crowd voted with their feet and didn't go to games to watch that boring style we've had to witness the last 3 years .

It just didn't work out for McStay and co and sure Rochford is grand now he got his gig in Tullamore pretty quickly anyways .

@Ez - Pat

Totally agree . You've Donegal singing songs about being in a final when they are not even in one yet and no one says a thing!

Yet when we haven't even won a connacht in 4 years, nearly got relegated to division 2 to a half arsed Donegal team and fail to make the quarters again apparently it's still not on the manager .

I hope whoever comes in adopts McGuinesses attitude of siege mentality because we need that attitude.

Revellino, if speak to players that left you’ll get a picture of why. And why there was rumours of discontent. As old saying goes smoke, fire etc.

McGeeney you are correct on, there was fallow years. But had positive years early which bought him credit in bank. Added to the credit already in bank from being a previous winner. That is a huge assistance.

@ Gizmobobs.

I wasn't aware that there was such bad feelings towards the managers from players and would be sorry to hear that this was the case.

@ Clare. I don't think I told you that YOU were self entitled.

Did I ?

@1985. If me mentioning Mcgenney upsets you so much, I won't mention him anymore. I'm not sure why it upsets you ?

I don't understand what your P ohora reference in 2023 relates to or me constantly beating the drum about something either as I'm not sure if I had a football related comment posted on here for most of, if not the entirety of 2024 and most of this year so I've hardly constantly beat the drum about any subject. I will though refrain mentioning Mcgenney again as this seems a sore point.

No hard feelings meant.

You can be 100 % certain players were asked to give feedback on our management after our dismissal from the race to win 7. There the ones that make hugh sacrifices fo our county.
Personally I find the treatment of Dylan Thornton ( and aid and Orme and others) just shocking. Named on the team at midfield and Sunday morning he finds he's not even on the panel. Totally unacceptable but as Clare says, they are history in this county now.

Revellino it doesn’t upset me at all mentioning mcgeeney .it’s you that continues to bring him up and when asked what is your solution to management issues you ramble on about mcgeeney .i have no issue with mcstay and rochford and was delighted the got the job in the first place but the rapidly declining direction we were taking had to be addressed.Kevin mcstay himself said when he came in that there was no rebuilding to be done and they were ready to challenge for an all Ireland.The two lads knew the score when they came in and as Kevin said “winning at this level is all that counts,everything else is just misery “

I very much agree with the poster earlier who stressed the importance of the manager which is why I am so surprised at all the flak Rochford got when No 2 in Donegal and later in Mayo. As regards supporters voting with their feet they have every right to do so should they choose. It’s a pity a few more didn’t absent themselves from the Cavan game instead of giving McStay appalling verbal abuse. Anyway it’s cyclical with support Mayo and otherwise. Desperately small crowd of Mayo supporters in The Hyde for Connacht final in 2011 when our great run under JH started. But then the bandwagon got rolling and we became the biggest and best supporters in the country…….,til 2021. Same most places really. You would have struggled to get a bus load of Galway supporters to go to an away game in the 2011- 2015 era but they have been out in force of late as their team has been more successful ( to a certain extent). Not only in football. Tipperary supporters were outnumbered for all their championship games in Thurles in 2023 and 2024 but now their supporters are craving tickets for the all Ireland final and their manager has gone from zero to hero. Interestingly Armagh always seem to have a strong support regardless of performances on the field. Maybe their patience with the county team is mirrored by their county board who stuck with McGeeney through all those lean years

@1985.

You said
" .it’s you that continues to bring him up and when asked what is your solution to management issues you ramble on about mcgeeney"

Not been wise, but I don't remember ever been asked by anyone on here what my solution might be. If I have been asked by someone I certainly haven't seen it.

Are you sure I was ever asked ?

Revellino I am fairly sure I have seen the question posed but if not the please tell us what your solution is

@Gizmobob.

You are correct when you said of Mcgenney

" McGeeney you are correct on, there was fallow years. But had positive years early which bought him credit in bank ".

Mcstay won the National league in his first year but this didn't seem to buy him any credit in the bank".

Cut yourselves some slack lads or go settle your differences over a pint while your enjoying the Kerry Tyrone game. Understrength kerry were too good for us and we taught Off colour Tyrone a thing or two, and none of that matters a fiddlers on Sat

@1985.

My solution would be to give the next manager a fair crack of the whip.

No manager is going to win the All Ireland unless he has fairly top class players in all positions and on the bench.

If it takes us 5 or 6 years to develop these players that we are missing I believe the new manager should be left in place until he has a full hand to play with.

I think we currently have maybe 9 or 10 really good players but it could take another 2, 3 or even 4 years to fill out the team as we will inevitably lose a couple of more players as well over the coming few years.

I think the main thing we need is patience. It's not a rush job.

Take the time and do it right and not to pressurise the new manager in to achieving immediate success. Leave the new manager to his job until he has a loaded team and panel. If they cannot produce at that time then I think it's fair enough to look for someone else but I honestly think patience is the biggest thing we're missing in Mayo.

I like the idea of mcantee , he’s assertive , comes across as no nonsense . Our own names been thrown about apart from Horan (who has made it clear he’s not applying ) are a little bit less assertive . Let’s leave past mayo players out of it this time .

@Revelino

No apologies was not you who called me self entitled it was west kerry who did .

Maybe we should all go out and enjoy the sun over the weekend and hopefully we can stay out of the media for the next couple of weeks !

Don't worry about the next Mayo management,all on a blog show their skills,we are guaranteed susess with these posters,personally I believe that we are short a couple of outstanding players,but not according to some posters

Is Cillian O'Connor a suitable man to run the team?

@ Clare.

No problem.

I was out in the sun for a couple of hours today. It was glorious. Another couple of scorchers promised.

Too much sun has consequences too.
@ Corrick. What is alarming is the number of players that regressed. Flynn, Carney, Ruane just to mention a few. But I agree, we're going to need leaders, gamechangers and two point scorers. Let's see how the club championship plays out

Fair enough revellino but there has to be signs of progress and unfortunately for mcstay himself said it wasn’t a rebuilding job so put himself under pressure.corrick you have insisted at the start of the last 3 years that mayo would the all Ireland.You totally dismissed anyone who said we had issues in midfield and were short a few players and now suddenly you have realised that we short a couple of outstanding players.good lad the penny has dropped

@Revellino, yes that's true as sadly the league has been completely devalued now by HQ, with teams, particularly in Ulster having to consider whether they actively avoid the final or not.
So while nice to win as it's the tertiary competition in the calendar for teams behind Sam and provincial championship. It's no where near as weighted as Kieran having brought Sam back to Armagh.

@Bridget I don't think I've seen any comments where anyone stated we weren't short of players in certain areas. But like most I think what we have is good enough to contest for top 8.

@1985.

I'm talking about the new incoming manager. We need to be patient.

You can put a great jockey an a middling horse and he's probably not going to win.

You can put a middling jockey on a great horse and there's a fair good chance he's going to win.

We'll get there someday.

Hopefully revellino hopefully

https://x.com/TheNumbersGael/status/1934340858209312854?s=19
Just for the Tony McEntee critics

Sorry can I just ask, is the process now underway? Can potential candidates express an interest in the role now? Or do the CB need to kick the can down the road another few weeks?

I see Barack Obama is in Dublin in the coming weeks. If I was the top brass of the Mayo CB is be trying to push hard for him to be on the MAC. We need true visionary leaders, at least 7 on an interview panel, who probably know next to nothing about football, but be able to grill a potential candidate on football matters.

Let’s make it happen mayo CB. Let’s get Barack in as the “HR” guy on the committee. Who’s with me??

Is Jimmy mcguinness short a few players too corrick

Now lets get Andy into the job with a good experienced team around him, he's a winner at heart, loves Mayo and will make the hard calls needed with some of the older players when he has to... he's also a business man, running his own enterprises, employing people etc so is working at the hard end of making tough decisions I'm sure and the right age profile, I would have no issue giving him 3 years at it....also he's already well aware of the current players and knows the younger groups already so will be well up to speed on building a new squad.... I'm not one for so called outside journey managers that don't know the local landscape, and have questionable motivations etc ...James Horan was circa the same age as Andy when he got the job the first time...

Too soon and probably too big of a step up for Andy Moran to be appointed the senior Mayo manager yet. U20 job more ideal for him in 2026 then promoted up to the senior management if he does well. That's what Galway did with Joyce. Kerry with a few managers and even Dublin with Farrell and Jim Gavin.

Rev I don't think McGeeney is a fair comparison at all. Armagh were starting form a fairly low ebb when he took over, not to mention that he is a God in Armagh. At the time, he was the only Armagh man to win Sam. And if you listen to some of his former teammates, he was an absolute warrior & a driven animal..the players would have gone through a brick wall for him. Doubt the same sentiment was felt for the outgoing management.

You were right on one thing though. McGeeney didn't win an Ulster championship game with Armagh for years. 2022 was when it started to come right. But they should have taken us out in 2019

Again Corick I don't recall anyone saying it's all down to management. They are a huge factor obviously. But players and resources the other key factors and while far from perfect, both of those elements aren't to bad.
Be it a local man or outsider from the midlands driving down for a cup of coffee that takes over please God they will embrace the new rules, we appear to be a year behind on that front so be playing catch up. But things can change quickly with right set up, e.g. Meath.
Maigh Eo abu

Gizmo, The cup of coffee has taken on serious power since Covid. Sure you can’t even go to the bog without seeing a lad with a horse box selling all sorts of fancy stuff.

I think we need a young manager, a Mayo person. Think of the 3 managers of the past 40 years who had the biggest influence on Mayo football: Johno, Maughan, and Horan, all men in their mid to late 30s. Each a mere whisker away from landing Sam. Inconceivably close.

Perhaps that's the element that works for Mayo football. Could Cora be given a chance, or is it Andy's time? Whoever it is, I'd love to see Boyler or Billy Joe involved with them.

Is there a bold corner or bold step on the blog?

Looking at inter county management in general and the amount of incumbents stepping away.
The new structure puts immense pressure on management with the championship so condensed. Game after game with hardly time to breathe. Travelling and training impacting on work and family life. At the crucial part of the season trying to get a tune out of a flogged horse 3 weeks in succession must be mentally and physically draining and for all bar one it ends in heartbreak. Maybe time (myself included) to cut the management teams throughout the country a little slack and save criticism for the Croke Park suits pushing a farcical calendar.

That McGeeney chap is some man to be the only Armagh player with an all Ireland medal,

He'd be only man above ground with one in Mayo if he rocked up Bridget..

To try and spin things a different way, It's an exciting time to be Mayo supporter. After 3 years there is a possibility of someone imaginative coming in, who may not win us an AI, but could restore faith and hope, bring back the supporters, give them something to cheer about and enjoy. An exciting brand of sports entertainment.

And an option to have potential succession planning in place with U20/U17 posts vacant.

So onwards and upwards. Who knows come February we may even see lads being encouraged to try for these 2 pointer things I've heard other counties on about.

@Gizmobobs

Fully agree . I'm excited for next year. Think we will be in a much better place.

The one thing if it is going to be Andy he bleeds green & red and would do anything to try get us over the line as others said. He would definetly bring the confidence back into the guys.

He also knows the under 20s well . I'd love to see Colm Boyle in with the seniors in some kind of role also .

A bit of a thug (for the want of a better word) is required in the set-up to inure these lads Brian O'Driscoll maintains it is essential in contact sports.

Corick i meant he was the only Armagh man to lift Sam (at the time). But I'd say you know that :)

“To try and spin things a different way, It’s an exciting time to be Mayo supporter. After 3 years there is a possibility of someone imaginative coming in, who may win us an AI and could restore faith and hope, bring back the supporters, give them something to cheer about and enjoy. An exciting brand of sports entertainment.”

Try that instead . The positive energy is way more successful than negative energy

I hear there's a lad who's done great work with the Under 12s in Bofeenaun. And there's a lad who specialises in teaching the U8s to kick two-pointers down in Blacksod. In fairness, it's fierce windy in those parts.

I reckon these two could share management duties as they seem to fulfil the criteria laid out by a few wise men on this blog. They are from Mayo, innovative, young (sure one of them is only 16 but he's left school so has the time), have experience of playing men's football (sorry now Cora), identify as being "winners at heart" (whatever that means), and one of them's a business man or so he tells me. They're also nice lads who do the Reek in their bare feet so they won't rock the boat.

Problem solved. Who do I ring on the County Board?

Hehe, had a chuckle at that one Ex-pat. Mad some of the stuff you'd read surely. Is it all about winning or is it providing entertainment?

The fact that we have all the management posts open right now makes a good opportunity to move forward in a
co-ordinated fashion on team development etc. Its a chance for a real strategy to emerge. Hopefully it will and we can develop the real talent we have

@TsuDhoNim. Are clubs/ counties using AI as a tool for player analysis, team tactics, identifying strengths and weaknesses etc. It seems to me it will have a hugh role to play in assisting a management team. On that point, is there an AI analysis of the semifinals available? It would make interesting reading.
I think we may be in for an era of pure football comes to the fore. We have four very skilful teams playing at the weekend.. and penalties for negative or cynical play are severe.

Just had to delete a few silly comments, I think the sun is getting to some of you at this stage.

I would worry about Andy Moran record with Leitrim.
Ideally a manager with a proven club record within the county.
Can't see how an outside manager can unearth new talent.

Winston, for me it’s ideally about winning entertainingly if we could.
But if that’s not a runner and we aren’t to win I’d like personally to at least have enjoyed the fare on offer.
Not what we’ve had the last few years. And many are same as can be seen by 100s giving up their season tickets for first time.
At the end of the day “the worlds a stage and we are all actors”.

@Ontheditch: For performance/video analysis (which will or should then form a part in informing decisions around tactics or strength/weakness matrices) certainly. Though my own knowledge of it is mostly on the analysis of the stats or patterns of play highlighted in stats end of things rather than anything around the newer analysis of the videos themselves.

It'll vary fairly wildly from team to team or analyst to analyst, but I'd say most if not all are using it to at least some extent. Even if just to spot subtle trending issues or opportunities that might not jump out to a high level analyst or management team on a first glance (e.g. the way AI can spot cancer cells in scans the leading human experts can't tell what it's spotting) or if it's a one-man-band trying to do everything solo at the entry level stuff and using it to build up a quick base to work from. Always huge caveats on the information spat out (rubbish in-rubbish out & a lack of data to build a detailed picture from mean factual mistakes [even if/when asking specific questions on rules that should literally be black & white] are incredibly common and the 'prompt engineering' being nuanced to a fault from getting something meaningful to getting utter nonsense - with my own messing about frustratingly ending in the latter but when it lands right it can make up for the time invested), so massive need for a detailed eye to ensure any results are worth the time to read them.

The tools themselves (Nacsport probably the most common GAA video analysis or stat tool used at the higher end - https://www.nacsport.com/en-gb/gaa-video-analysis.php) have only just started (last couple of months) integrating AI (to mixed success across the industry in general) to help to lower the donkey work side of things and help with the game analysis rather than just stat analysis. I'd expect it'll be something that'll expand fairly rapidly in the next few years as they iterate and improve the offerings.

Andy moran has not got enough experience or track record to take on a massive job like mayo. Also too connected to current players.

Not a huge fan of the general analysis stuff AI offers (it's regurgitating a mix of common media views rather than building it's own picture to create deeper analysis from), but for anyone interested...

*********************************

Kerry – The Heavy Favorites
- Offensive firepower
David Clifford is in exceptional form: top scorer in the championship with 7‑44 (65 points) at an average of 9.28 per game. He can explode at any point and demands constant team attention.
- Recent surge in two‑pointers: Kerry scored 20 from distance in the Championship (up from just nine in the National League), thanks in part to their Portugal camp where they drilled these long-range efforts.

Tactical adjustments & personnel
- Manager Jack O’Connor has refreshed the backline and forward structure by introducing Mike Breen and Micheál Burns into the starting lineup.
- They've suffered setbacks with Tom O’Sullivan (calf) and Diarmuid O’Connor (shoulder) ruled out; this opens room for fresh legs, but also reduces their experience and physicality.

Tyrone – Intensity & Structure
Resilience and form
- Coming off a gritty quarter-final win over Dublin, Tyrone have shown strong mental toughness and depth. They ran out six-point winners, finishing strong.
- Analysts highlight Tyrone’s midfield dominance and disciplined structure as key counterweights to Kerry.

Bench strength & impact subs
- Notable impact from younger names like Eoin McElholm and Ruairí Canavan, who can come off the bench and influence the scoreboard.

Youth momentum
- Tyrone have secured victories over Kerry at under‑20 and minor levels this year, giving them real belief.
- A clean sweep (minor, U‑20, senior) would be unprecedented for Tyrone — this added incentive looms large.

Key Battlefronts
Midfield: Diarmuid out, but experienced cover exists for Kerry. Physical, structured midfield plan key for Tyrone.
Shooting Range: Cliff & O’Shea lethal from distance for Kerry. Tug‑of‑war to limit their two‑pointer threat and goal threat for Tyrone.
Intensity: Quick outbursts (e.g. vs Armagh) key for Kerry. Sustained 70‑minute intensity vital for Tyrone.

Risks & Opportunities
For Kerry:
Risk: Slow starts or reliance on bursts only (like vs Armagh) could be costly if Tyrone stay tight early.
Opportunity: If they dominate early territory and secure midfield, their attacking depth could overwhelm Tyrone.

For Tyrone:
Risk: Inexperience in critical moments at senior level—underage success doesn’t guarantee senior victory.
Opportunity: A cagey first half and full‑game work ethic, combined with bench firepower (McElholm/Canavan), gives them a strong shot.

Final Prediction:
Expect a tight, tactical first half, with Tyrone aiming to frustrate Kerry and stay in contact. Kerry’s threat from distance is pivotal — if they land early two‑pointers, it will open space and set the tone. However, Tyrone’s midfield control and their ability to sustain pressure till the end make a late upset possible.

Possible outcome: A narrow Kerry victory (2–4 points), but if Tyrone can disrupt their rhythm and execute scoreboard pressure, a shock semi-final upset is a real possibility.

TL;DR
Kerry = attacking depth, star power, distance threat
Tyrone = structure, relentless pace, bench impact
Key = first-half intensity, midfield battles, distance scoring
Watch for = McElholm/Canavan subs, how Kerry replace their injured starters, and how Tyrone weather the Clifford storm.

*********************************

Meath – The Fairy‑Tale Contenders
Form & Momentum
- A remarkable run includes victories over Dublin, Kerry, and Galway—marking Meath’s first semi‑final appearance since 2009.
- Under first‑year manager Robbie Brennan, Meath have surpassed expectations with a fearless, high‑work‑rate style.
- Jordan Morris overcame serious injury to return strongly and was central to their success, earning PwC Player of the Month for June.

Strengths & Key Players
- The midfield balance of aggression and creative flair, with the likes of Ciarán Caulfield, Matthew Costello, and Morris making key impacts.
- Meath's willingness to take risks paid off as they've shown they can find goals and break tight defences.

Risks
- A wave of injuries: Ronan Jones, James Conlon, Jack Kinlough, and Jack Flynn are all sidelined for the season.
- Inexperience under sustained pressure: heavy games against top-tier opposition may expose squad depth limits.

Donegal – The Ulster Warriors
Experience & Structure
- Ulster champions, unbeaten in provincial play, and dominant in the Championship outside one Round Robin slip to Tyrone.
- Managed by Jim McGuinness, they display a system-based game mixing disciplined defence with sharp transitional play.

Star Power
- The return of Michael Murphy has been transformative—now a starter and talisman, driving both performance and belief.
- Midfielders like Michael Langan provide poise and composure, especially in key transitional phases.

Risks
- Potential fatigue: Donegal have played one more Championship game than Meath—though a two‑week rest may offset this.
- Start‑game sluggishness: they’ve had first‑half slow patches (notably against Monaghan), which could invite early scoreboard pressure.

Tactical Battlegrounds
Midfield: Dynamic runners (Costello, Caulfield, Morris) pressing hard will be huge for Meath. Donegal built for transitions—clean delivery by Langan/Thompson key.
Defence: Physicality and commitment under pressure hallmarks of Meath this year. Structured defensive system & aerial dominance have been Donegal's strength to date.
Attack: Meath are capable goal scorers, especially via Morris. For Donegal Murphy's presence opens space for their sharp finishers.
Bench Impact: Meath's depth tested by key injuries. Donegal intact and battle-ready bench.

Opportunities & Key Factors
For Meath:
Upside: Their fearless, attacking midfield can disrupt Donegal’s shape.
Risk: Injuries to key personnel may thin their physical resilience.
Strategy: Early goal(s) can disrupt Donegal’s rhythm and build momentum.

For Donegal:
Upside: Superb tactical structure and the Murphy effect bring composure.
Risk: If Meath start strongly, Donegal could struggle to find an early foothold.
Strategy: Dominate kickouts, control tempo, and strike through transition.

Predictions & Scenarios
Tactical chess match early: Expect disciplined play as both teams jostle for midfield control.
Early initiative crucial: Meath must seize early occasions to tilt momentum before Donegal settle.
Donegal’s finishing edge: Experience in tight, late-game situations gives them an upper hand.

Likely outcome: A narrow Donegal win (by 3–5 points), leveraging their structured game and star power—but only if Meath's energy doesn’t overwhelm them early.

TL;DR
Meath: Unconventional rise, fearless midfield, but dented by injuries.
Donegal: Balanced, experienced, and driven by Murphy’s impact.
Key factors: Midfield duels, early goals, injury depth, control of tempo.
Final tip: Donegal likely edge ahead—but not before Meath give them a serious scare.

Most clubs never mind counties are already using AI to analyse match and training footage as VEO cams appear to be most common ones in use. These use AI systems.

@Gizmobobs: Have they sorted out the issues with VEO's AI that got it (technically - not sure if it ever happened in practice) banned for use when there's an u18 player on the field?

i haven't seen any updates on it, but hopefully it has been resolved.

Thanks TsuDhoNim for taking the trouble to answer my question comprehensively

The bottom line is that AI could revolutionise coaching by both providing tailored advice and feedback to individual players based on their specific needs and strengths but also team Tactical analysis:
"AI could analyze game footage to identify patterns and predict opponent strategies, giving teams a competitive edge."
I've heard of Learn about Ruadhan, the robot, transforming waiting times at Galway hospital, working 24/7. Reading and analysing scans before passing to human specialists.

@ gizmobobs. Yes I'm sure, wonder if our outgoing management used it? But it's in its infancy and the potential is immense.
Should be a great help in levelling the playing field for counties that can't afford elaborate team back up staff.

AI freaks me out !

@Craggy boglands

Yeah maybe Andy isn't ready just yet I'd like to see him at under 20s first .

Fitness will play a huge part in tommorows semi with this heat !

TsuDhonim, no I have not heard any update either on that so presume the dictate is still out there thechnically, that should not to used but do not see it being enforced as several senior teams have 17 year olds.

One positive framing of how we think of each year. We put ourselves in a position to maximize our chance of winning. Now.
We should steer clear of the ", Anything else is failure.".
Majority of years you won't win Sam and it's draining mentally to just categorize that as simply failure.
Failure is not putting your best foot forward for the season.
If we are a 20/1 Sam shot, we need to deliver a lot of things strongly to maybe be that one in twenty chance that comes up.
Playing style and player recruitment are the two huge rocks that we can make massive progress on in just one year.

Long shot I know but if anyone knows anyone I could source one hurling final ticket , I would really appreciate it .

Cillian O'Connor Square ball podcast
https://youtu.be/doi-b1USHN8?feature=shared

Try the Tooreen Hurling club Sean

All the AI in the world is useless if you cant kick the ball over the bar

Talking to people attendees at the county board meeting on Monday they apparently clarified that the board had indeed made contacts with former Management in weeks leading up to their final decision.

Looking forward to the weekends games. The weather you'd imagine would have a greater impact on Donegal aging legs, so Donegal to Win the Match by 1-6 Points at 10/11 could be reasonable.

The donegal game is interesting because Donegal have to find a way to take the relentless pace out of Meath. McGuinness's biggest test to date and Meath have no fear

im going for a kerry and meath win , just to show how much i know about football

I see the JFC semi finals are on this evening and the final is set for Sunday.

I thought 6 day turnarounds were steep but the 2 day turnaround is very tight.

Really revellino, ah that's totally unfair on amateur lads totally unfair and takes from spectacle that is any final

@Gizmobobs

Never doubted that the county board made contact weeks before final decision as your posts are always spot on fair play .

I really think Tyrone will do it tommorow they have serious momentum coming into this game and underdogs to . They've done great work at underage also . I don't begrudge them one bit for 21 that was our own doing .

The heat will be intense though tommorow so it will be whoever is fitter in the end .

I just can't see any way this Tyrone team can overturn Kerry... I'd give Meath more of a chance of getting the better of Donegal but would probably give Donegal a slight nod, with Kerry to lift the cup ultimately.

On a positive note I see that Tullamore recognise the potential of Stephen Rochford,we will rue the day we let him go

Ah ffs Corrick :D

I remarked that to Win Just Once & Revelino must have been Rochy or McStay. You must be Buckley so.

@bridget you are great craic altogether

The day that Tullamore beat Mayo in the All Ireland final,I will tip my hat to you Bridget and say you were right all along.

@Corick

I actually laughed at that so thanks for giving me a good laugh at least !

Such volunteering spirit has not been seen since Mother Teresa walked the streets of Calcutta. And all for a cup or two of coffee to while away the journey:)

Corick Bridget - the stuff you’re continually posting is bordering on trolling at this stage and it’s past time you copped yourself on. You should know better, as should everyone else who repeatedly take the bait. As I said earlier, it’s like the heat is getting to everyone.

Did mayo score any 2 pointers in championship?

Yes,Coen And a few more

@g
Giamobobs I understand there was no contact.

JR persons at the CB meeting, the Connaught Telegraph and persons I know in GAA circles say otherwise so we can make of it as we will. It's equal now, onwards and upwards.

Heats definitely gotten to me WJ, I was convinced tomorrow's game was Donegal's.

@Revellino, you confused me with the JFC talk, I thought you were on about clubs in Mayo as it's league this week it threw me. Just seen the JFC articles online there now, Walter Walsh some football in him as well as hurling it seems!
Do you know the background of this competition or who can enter? This snippet from GAA.ie masks it seems like London's 2nd string are the ones competing:
"Former London senior manager Paul Coggins is in charge of the London juniors who will advance now to Sunday's Croke Park final against holders New York, a repeat of last year's showpiece."
If London's 2nd team was in it could we have one? I know it's been few years since I've heard of the Mayo juniors.

@Stephen22: Yeah.

We scored 3 across our 6 Championship games (along with 12 across the 8 league games earlier in the year to make it 15 from our 14 competitive games this year).

Our Championship average of 0.5 2 pointers a game significantly behind Dublin's 1.43, Clare's 1.6, Louth's 2.14 and Derry's 2.5 making up the 5 lowest from teams competing for Sam. Monaghan's 5.0 per game, Armagh's 3.57 and Kerry's 3.43 making up the top 3 averages so far this year for comparison.

Great interview with Cillian. Fairly obvious that he won't be coming back. Why he couldn't come out and say it straight is a bit disappointing. Leaving us with what ifs and maybes isn't great for the head.

I know, he owns us absolutely nothing and its an amateur sport, i get that.

Corick keeps the craic going though. Great man/woman to be on a cruise with, I'd say. Ripping yarns aplenty.

You didn't need to read some stats log to know Mayo were the worst 2 point shooters in SAM Maguire and dice 1 or 2. You just had to watch them.

As for the AI analysis, if you go on to linked in you can apply for a job sitting on your bs in your mams bedroom.
Various AI providers will pay you quite well to rewrite or correct AI answers.
AI isn't actually Artificial Intelligence. Its what we used to call a Google search with the added bit of searching the actual web pages/publications and taking a stab at answering the question or problem you ask it. The better the question, the better the answer.
Chat GPT wouldn't pass leaving cert maths. Don't get too worried about what it can do.

It's not going to be able to tell you what kind of defensive system Eastern Gaels have adopted this season unless someone has bothered to write up a piece about that topic and posted online somewhere. It is long way from telling you which players have 2 point scoring potential in Mayo football, because no one has seen anyone in Mayo kick 3-4 of them in a match and wrote about it.

You could set up a Wikipedia page about yourself and put in a few paragraphs about how you are a well known purveyor of the 2 point shot. Write up some details about your notorious ability to kick 45's over from any angle.

If some junior club manager is searching chat GPT to see what tactics your team play and who to watch out for, it will tell him that despite their overall lack of fitness and overall game plan, your 2 pointing shooting is a real danger.

If Mayo county board use AI to find their next management team, I'm off to write about my prowess as the winningest U8 coach in Mayo football and my world renowned ability to teach a 7 yr old how to kick long range points.. Will deffo get the call for one of the underage county jobs.

Willie Joe. I think you need a cut off point with these threads because after a while they descend into farce.

You have a point, JoeG. I also think people could do with getting off their devices in this fine weather and getting out a bit.

When we talk about 2 pointers and our numbers, and our 2 point stats, I'm not sure if it's enough to say we kicked 0.5 per game or whatever it is compared to whatever other Counties have scored.

One of the most frustrating aspects of Mayo football, at least for myself, not a 2025 problem, but for years, is the amount of shots we always seem to kick short and in to the goalies hands.

McDonald was well able to drive them over from any distance and James Horan had a couple of great finals where he would surely have been raising the 2 point flag had we had 2 pointers back then, but generally I would have to say, we seem to be the worst team for dropping shots in to the keepers hands.

I don't think we can say on this one rule, the 2 point rule that it is a case of not embracing the rule. I think we are and have been a poor team when it comes to long distance shooting. We have been for years.

If anything, attempting the 2 pointers might have actually cost us on the scoreboard this year.

Kick the ball in to the goalies hands, which we repeatedly seem to do and the opposition are on their bikes, back up the field and instead of raising the 2 point flag ourselves it's the opponent who is registering a score.

Might we even be in the negative on the scoreboard overall from attempted 2 pointers that have dropped short and ended up with scores for the opposition, compared to the points we actually scored from 2 point attempts.

The new rule didn't create this problem. We have always for some reason been guilty of dropping shots short in to goalies hands.

Yes the 2 point score is great if you can execute it, but should we be even attempting 2 pointers if it's giving possession away and leading to the opposition scoring ?

Do we have people who can fairly consistently put the ball over the bar from outside the arc ?

I'm not sure we do.

Should we keep shooting for 2 pointers in a hit and hope fashion ?

I don't think we should.

When you take any shot on, it should be with a fair bit of confidence that it's going to end up in a score.

A score for us I mean - Not the opposition.

@Revellino: "... I’m not sure if it’s enough to say we kicked 0.5 per game or whatever it is compared to whatever other Counties have scored."

When it comes to quantifying and comparing what happened, which was the question, I'd suggest it's enough. That's quite literally what happened.

If you're hoping to dig into why those kinds of numbers happened, that obviously takes a different question with more nuance & detail to address.

- Mayo hit ~23% of their 2-point attempts in tagged games this year, from positions/pressure where we'd have been expected to shoot ~33%.
- For context, the national average for 2-pointers to date is 46.8% (, with teams in the Sam Maguire Championship attempting an average of 5.9 shots per game compared to Mayo's ~3.7 shots per game.

So we're objectively scoring less of the shots we take on, taking on poorer shots (either in terms of field position or pressure on the kicker - before ever getting into who the actual shooter is and if they're on their good side, where we've also had plenty of issues) than most sides), taking on less of those shots with about ~66% of the avg attempted (potentially a positive given the earlier issues mentioned) and ultimately scoring ~18% of the average 2 pointers per game.

The needed fix there clearly isn't a "just shoot more", just as it shouldn't be "never shoot".

We need our better converting lads (you'd then be looking at things like Frank Irwin playing 5 minutes of Championship this year or Fergie Boland not seeing more than 10 minutes in our last 5 [of 6] Championship games - along with a failure too often in set play scenarios to manage to get the shooters in favourable positions) in better positions (not a huge effort to create a full shot-map of those to identify poor options taken), under less pressure (too many shots rushed and forced when we'd hit brick walls trying to slowly penetrate and ended with lads attempting to force something being closed down by 2 or 3 men to try and spark the side into action - it's half awful shot selection and half terrific leadership knowing the team needed 'something') and kicking with way more confidence (something that hit our overall conversion rate fairly dramatically too, even more so if we factor in the dozens of tap overs from <20m turned down this year).

So rather than 'shoot more' it's a case of 'back to the drawing board'.

(Similar on our kicking game. A case to be made our attempts to kick in the 1st half against Donegal cost us the game [they're arguably the one side we shouldn't have been trying that against given the nature of their setup], but the 'fix' there isn't a case of "kick less". It'd be a case of working on that side of our game for the year and the nuances of both spotting and creating separation for the pass so lads can kick to advantage, building up confidence in it against the likes of Sligo/Leitrim/Cavan, rather than just attempting it in the final game or two in high pressure games against the sides best placed to counter it.

Again, that's a case of the drawing board rather than a "kick less".)

As for a common argument for us just not having the shooters?

It's hard to buy that too much when we see young lads in our Mayo u16 Championship converting plenty and our County League games showing Ardnaree hitting as many as we did in our entire Championship in their Rd 6 game against Ballina (an u18 player specifically), Garrymore hitting as many in their Rd 7 game against Ballintubber & their Rd 6 game against Claremorris, Charlestown hitting as many in their Rd 8 game against Belmullet, Davitt's hitting as many in their Rd 1 game against Charlestown, Crossmolina hitting as many in their Rd 8 game against Balla, Mayo Gaels hitting as many in their game against Crossmolina , Breaffy hitting as many in their game against Knockmore or Ballinrobe hitting more (4) in their game against Knockmore.

@tirawleybaron: "AI isn’t actually Artificial Intelligence. Its what we used to call a Google search with the added bit of searching the actual web pages/publications and taking a stab at answering the question or problem you ask it. The better the question, the better the answer."

Valid when you're talking about a query like the semi-final general analysis stuff (as caveated in that post), but that's not what AI is limited to. A quick look at a VEO system as Gizmo mentioned earlier shows there's far more depth to what eventually will be done. Things are only just scratching the surface for now.

Whether any of us are keen on seeing that or not is a very different question, you're absolutely welcome to hate the idea of it (I've serious issues with many aspects of it), but I wouldn't burry my head in the sand with where it's likely to end up as a key tool used by analysts in the same way video cameras, tablets or GPS trackers have evolved what's happening on the field.

My goodness how did the men of 36 50 and 51 manage to win Sam at all at all without GPS trackers and AI and all that Mullarkey maybe they were cut from Erris granite like Chris Barrett and could actually score instead of lateral passing all day

.
Thanks again TSU for enlightening us on the potential of AI as an analysis and recommendations tool both for the individual player and teams.
It will be interesting to see if the weekend games are approached with more caution or will he see high scoring shoot outs. Strong argument for water breaks given the conditions.

I’m based a bit over a mile away from Croker and it’s sweltering here, although there’s a bit of a nice breeze which might help matters. It’ll be seriously hot in there later on all the same.

It's boiling crazy hot in Dublin . Water breaks should definetly be considered .

Hopefully common sense and player welfare will kick in.
The standard in Tailtean will be interesting too. It's proving to be a great stepping stone to the next level

@Ontheditch

Hopefully it does kick in you could easily faint in this kind of heat let alone running up & down croker !

@TsuDhonim.

My comment was more of me introducing my own opinion on our 2 point quandry and our success percentages and the reasons for those and no slight on yourself or what you had written.

I still think even from good kicking positions with little pressure we still drop alot of shots short and in to the goalies hands. I'm not sure why.

I agree we probably had a couple of options who could have seen more game time, but we have in the past tried players who seemed to be going great in club games but it didn't seem to transfer when it came to playing for the County.

Each club season I have read very good reviews of take for example Evan Regan. One of Ballina's top players. I know he was unfortunate with injuries with Mayo but he did okay he wasn't as effective for Mayo. By no means bad but not as effective.

Some years ago we were getting updates on the mighty scores Paul Towey was racking up in the North American championship. 17 points I remember in one game and other big tallies as well. While Paul has done okay with Mayo I don't think he had quite the impact some of us were hoping for.

Fergal Boland did prove that he was able to fire over 2 pointers with fair consistency. I think he deserved more playing time.

It's nearly frightening to see how hard we seem to have to work in order to create a scoring chance (never mind whether we actually shoot or not), when you see some of the premier forwards around the country. Some of them, all you have to do is send the ball in their general direction and 4 seconds later, whether they are marked or not, the ball is sailing over the bar.

I think 2 weeks I saw Clifford almost soloing the ball off the Armagh defenders nose before turning him and sending it over, and Sean O'Shea seemed to be kicking 2 pointers over for fun.

It's hard to identify who our top shooters are. Last year Jordan Flynn seemed to be doing okay, Rod is always in the conversation and in one game this year Stephen Coen looked like he couldn't miss. Paddy Durcan another good shooter and maybe closer to goal Darren McHale.

Ideally we would have players who could win their own ball, beat the defender and fire it over instead of the 40 play build up.

I’ve noticed this too, Revellino - when coming up the pitch into the scoring area, our players seem to get their scores much harder than players from other top-ranked counties.
I don’t know why this is - it hampers us greatly, and it needs to be ironed out to be any way serious.

You said:
“It’s nearly frightening to see how hard we seem to have to work in order to create a scoring chance … “
It just doesn’t make sense to me.

@Revelino

Jordan flynn should have been rested after club championship mad stuff that they played him nearly every game after an emotional all Ireland club championship.

@Glorydays not so sure about that, in the 50 and 51 finals we weren't exactly scoring prolifically:
1950: 2-05
1951: 2-08

But we won which was main thing. I recall my father telling me about meeting the Mayo team on one of the collective trainings in lead up. They were out for a long walk from town, puffing fags wearing long coats.
Different times :)

Our attacks are so slow and laboured usually that the opposition have time to get back in position and clog up the spaces .will be interesting today to see how Tyrone will try to neutralise the fast ball into Clifford.we did manage to get ball in a bit quicker to Aidan in Tyrone game this year and it got results.

Up the Royal...I think they have a great chance against Donegal but will just fall short. I think kerry will have a comfortable win tomorrow ..

Hope Tyrone win today and Donegal tomorrow, talking to an Armagh man recently he was hoping for the complete opposite.

Interesting to hear COC on square ball pod. Amazing after all he achieved, he rated winning county title with club and beating Roscommon in connacht championship as his stand out moments..

I miss these days , my god I miss these days so much . Travelling home from work earlier and witnessing all the buzz of Croke park , the frills and the thrills , well jealous was my gut feeling .

They are not far away.....we are in for a good 10 years ahead

@FreeTheEaztBank

Yeah agree !

Tyrone doing not to badly. Kerry have misses a load of goal chances .

Darren White some player....

Referee giving Tryone nothing.

Cillian Spillane would walk into mayo team and immediately be our best forward
Can’t make the Kerry team !

Tyrone are the carbon copy of mayo.are they playing rugby or football.all behind the ball

Walk in the park for Kerry as most of us thought it would be , Tyrone an average side at best .

If you’re not paying attention to the trend of getting your support behind you , you’re not paying attention in recent years .

Another great second half from Kerry. Tyrone like Armagh left chasing shadows. I expect Donegal or Meath to be doing the same in two weeks.No doubt now about the brilliance of David Clifford. What a player. We are privileged to be in an era where we can enjoy him.

Read a lot of comment all the time about strength and conditioning of Mayo players and how far behind we are at underage level. At the Crossmolina v claremorris match , players warming up, the players are in serious shape, it's only when your up close beside them that you see that .Beirne is a big unit , watching them on tv doesn't do them justice. Perhaps players need to be allowed to grow into their bodies before we start slating s & c , just a thought.

JJ f off.😀

Just watching Jason Foley in interview.Very intelligent guy.Woukd be very surprised if he is nota future manager

Kerry will win it out now. Neither Meath or Donegal can match them.

All41n14all can you please explain your comment directed at me.

I thought Cillians scoring record would be safe for a few years but a matter of time now before Clifford catches him .He really is a freak of nature.no apparent weaknesses and that dummy hop that looks nothing but impossible to read is amazing..The game has now changed dramatically and we have to join in or be left way behind.can’t help feeling we have had 3 wasted years where at best we stood still but realistically went backwards.

Mayo wouldn't stand a chance against Limerick or Kidare today. Kerry will win All Ireland . We have to get with the new rules fast. Tyrone got soft All Ireland in 21.

I was wondering about that too, JJ! I'm assuming it was a tongue-in-cheek response to your eulogising a certain Kerry forward.

christ, some things never change with mayo supporters. some are wildly over the top, and some are ridiculously pessimistic.
Apparently Mayo wouldn't have a hope against Limerick now ffs

After feeding all the information I had in to the AI super computer and watching it vibrate violently for 3 hours before I noticed smoke coming from the back of it, the computer spat out the fact that we, yes Mayo, were a better team than Kerry. In fact it indicated we were better than Kerry by 1 point.

I had fed in vital information to the super computer, that we had beaten Tyrone by 7 while Kerry managed to beat them by 6.

Warning: limited data used to reach conclusion.
Warning: objects may appear larger in rear view mirror.
Warning: Read small print.
Warning: Super Computer can not be held responsible for any conclusions reached.

Well, Tubberman, they did after all beat us in the 1984 Centenary Cup ... no, it was actually the Ford Open Draw Cup in 1985. They have form!

Donegal are up against it admittedly, but if they beat Meath tomorrow, they're the one team that can stop Kerry. Every game on its merits etc.

Donnacha McHughs reputation has to go up several notches after tonight, I make him the best man marker in the country after Johnny McGraths shit show against Meath.he does a better job on Clifford tonight and he done the best on him all year in Castlebar, he stays on against Donegal we beat them .We are not far away as alot make out, if we can just get someone to possibly get the 15 in the County on the Field now.

I'm sure your right Willie Joe.

I’m sorry but anyone that thinks that Taltian cup final today was something to worry about is living on another planet. I’ve never seen more basic handling errors from both teams in a game in Croke Park. Mayo, even as bad as we have been would have comfortably bet the pick of both those teams.

People say that Limerick have improved since Dempsey, not nearly on the evidence of what I saw today. If Limerick played Div1 or Div2 quality team today it would have been a minimum 10 point loss. Kildare were brutal as well today. Honestly couldn’t believe how poor the handling was. I’d go as far to say, prime Corofin would have bet either team today!!

@Samog I totally agree.
He goes about his business with no fuss.
No interviews or media.

1.Colm Reape
2.Donnacha McHugh
3.David McBrien
4.Jack Coyne
5.Conor Loftus
6.Paddy Durcan
7.Enda Hession
8.Jordan Flynn
9.Diarmuid O'Connor
10.Matty Ruane
11.Kobe McDonald
12.Tommy Conroy
13.Darragh Beirne
14.Cillian O'Connor
15.Ryan O'Donoghue

This team could challenge in next 2 years

There are some great young forwards out there for the incoming under 20 management to choose from. Oisìn Deane, Josh Carey, Kobe McDonald, Darragh Beirne, Tom Lydon, Colm Lynch and Dara Neary among a host of others. Young Fionnan O'Donoghue from Belmullet might not be a name that people are familiar with, but he is shooting the lights out for the Belmullet senior team all year and is certainly one to watch.

@green&red ..
Not to many in Mayo too worried about how Ray Dempsey was or wasn’t relieved of his duties , whether it was player power or not.
Limerick no concern of ours when all we want is a few serious Management team .
Fair play to Kerry. Hard to beat quality!

@deel rover
Who were the stand out players in your game?

Towey scored 1-14 this evening including 2x2 pointers. Be great if we could get a tune out of him at County level.

West is best, must have left many surprised that Fionn didn't make last year's minor squad. He's in serious form for Bellmullet. Eye for goal and points.
Oisin Deane is a very intelligent player for Crossmolina and was very good for the minors this year.
In the Ballina game both teams were missing a lot of starters like Callinan, Thornton, Irwin, King, The two McHales etc. but was a lively enough game in hot conditions Knockmore led most the way through but two black cards in last quarter turned tide and Ballina grabbed a 2 pointer free to level it at death. Evan Regan still extremely reliable from places balls but Sean Holmes I think it was that had him well marshalled from play. Pearse Ruttledge was excellent. Padraig O'Hora was playing so any talk he stepped away due to concerns around concussion seem mute.
O'Connor looking like potential player of the year contender for Kerry if the go all the way, midfield was area I thought they would struggle this year but he's been massive for them.

I’ve seen three games in Croker this year, and in all three Kerry demolished the opposition: ourselves, Armagh and now Tyrone. Seems to follow a pattern where opponents are well in it for a period, then Kerry start to motor, and in the third quarter, take off with eight or nine on the trot.

Looks like Kerry’s to lose, but we’ll see what Jimmy conjures up tomorrow.

Since the group stages finished how many of the knockout games can you truly say was high quality and will be memorable for many years to come?

That Tyrone v Kerry game was the latest error ridden contest will some unbelievable misses for goals and points. Contest was long over 2nd half which you never want to see in All-Ireland semi final. Meath v Donegal be much of improvement?

For all the rules changes and further tweaks along the way we still don't have a product in the business end of the championship anywhere near as good as the hype the FRC and media built it up to be.

To finish on a positive note. We have entered an era where the Sam Maguire Cup will be shared around and if Mauo get their act together on and off the field who knows?

@Gizmobob, I'm not sure if Fionn bothered going for minor trials. It's the guts of a 3 - 4 hour round trip from Belmullet to trials and just a huge sacrifice for parents and the kids themselves. Brings me back to my point about the proposed Mayo COE in Bohola. Be far better if they put in a couple of smaller regional venues. It's a pity too that there isn't one farmer involved in the Mayo CB. They'd be a lot faster and cheaper at evaluating the quality of the land in question. It doesn't take an engineering genius to know that serious ground works will be needed at that site.

Above all the counties for David Clifford to be born in…??? The most successful one for fcuk sake .

@mind the house. It was a good team performance, we went 6 points down and played our way back into the game. Kevin Mulherin was very good at full back , he was marking Beirne , Paddy leddy was very good as were all last years minors .we were missing 9 of the starting team that won the all ireland , so hopefully that bodes well for the future , getting to the final is a bonus , staying in division 1 was the main objective .

Kerry must be favourites now for Sam.

I seriously miss mayo in the business end the craic in city centre last night was great . With kerry ones singing the hills of kerry to me when I said I'm from mayo haha

Fair play to them they've the confidence which we badly need back .

Today's game should be a cracker to sold out I think heading to it and so warm already up here .

Come on Meath !

@Gizmobobs: Chatting to someone local down there sounded like James Ivers is in terrific form too, with praise that was even more glowing than Fionn got. You'd expect both high on the radar for the new 20s setup whenever they're put in place. Looking forward to catching both in action soon.

Joe O'Connor exceeding all expectations this year for Kerry alright. Playing like a man possessed. Probably himself, Murphy & Clifford as front runners for POTY at the minute. With Langan, Moore, Morris and Rafferty close enough to still push yet with a big semi or final.

I've been impressed with the job O'Shea is doing beside him too, stopped Kennedy getting any grip on the game yesterday which is no easy feat, and White at 6 putting in defensive performances I never knew he had. Has always been a menace when bursting forward, but his positioning and interceptions this year or speed on to a breaking ball have been off the charts for a lad who'd often been written off as a weak link at the back and mainly there for his attacking prowess.

You'd imagine Cian's hands over a few of those lads stepping up as much as the new rules are playing their part in enabling it.

Kerry have given both Armagh and Tyrone short windows in matches to put up scores but neither have taken it. Clifford has that Messi ability of making elite players look like journeymen

If Kerry win this All Ireland which looks like the could by beating 3 Ulster teams, I’d worry this would lead to a short period of Kerry domination. They’d have buried that often held narrative of mental weakness against Ulster opposition and I’d have no doubt the likes of the Clifford’s will want more All Irelands

Ara stop Mo2023, its a completely different game, hugely entertaining and its letting good players shine like Clifford yesterday. If that was last year he'd be stifled and 2 or three on him..so come on..every game isn't going to be perfect but by god its been so refreshing and enjoyable.

'The West is Best ' mentioned above that it was a pity there wasn't a farmer on the Mayo CB.
Can anyone remember who was the last farmer to play for Mayo ?
There was a time when most counties had a few farmers playing for them, but that seems to have all changed.
Colm O'Rourke once said, that any successful team, needed a few farmers on it to add a bit of steel.

Watching Clifford yesterday reminded me of how good Oisin Mullin was.He marked him a few times and always did well better than anyone else have seen on him

@The west is best...the man at the very top of the CB is a practicing farmer....so should be well for to make that call.

*fit

The new rules have given elite forwards much more room to shine but there's an elite manager out there who'll figure out a way of thwarting the likes of Clifford. It might not be this year but my belief is McGuiness will come up with something if Donegal prevail today.

No point in geting nostalgic about Oisin Mullin now. He got caught out bad marking Cathal McShane for a soft goal in the 2021 final.
@observer2. I'm fairly sure Stephen Coen is a farmer. You dont have to go back too far to find one.

Really to tops? Interesting that we going the Bohola route so given the comments by main contractor on amount of work needed.

West is bests point in the regional centres and travel times is extremely valid. A great young lad or two could be missed because parents may not have nearly 5 hrs spare 2 times a week or whatever to drive from Bellmullet or Achill to the east side the county for training.

Hopefully, Donegal do the business today. Meath's mentality is to be admired but they are a county that cross the line between hard edged and dirty. I'm sure they will try it on today but I expect Donegal will be ready for them. A Kerry v Donegal final is something to savour. I view Kerry as strong favourites but....

I believe James Carr is a farmer...

Very difficult to tie down Clifford with the new rules as you can’t really double mark him and in one on one situations he is basically unmarkable.look at his first point yesterday just turns and leaves hampsey for dead and the cover can’t get back .then the cleverness of the run for the goal and the composure with the dummy hop.besides the fact that he is a huge man it’s a head scratcher for any coach to work on.mullin did ok on him but it must be a nightmare for any defender

He’s so strong , I think it’s a quality in him that people underestimate, very difficult man to dispossess, something about his build .his arms are as tight , he’s made of iron

Disappointing enough from Tyrone yesterday. Kerry good as usual with Clifford outstanding once . He would make such a difference to any team in the country. All green and gold final now. Hoping for a more entertaining game today. Hope Jimmy does the business. Couldn’t bring myself to shout for Meath since 1996 ( and throw Cormac o Reilly s officiating in Limerick in 2014 ) Admire them for their progress this year though and actually was almost pleased to see them beat Galway. But they have served their purpose now. and a Kerry v Donegal final a repeat of 2014 would be a nice conclusion. In truth the quarter finals and semi finals so far have been a bit underwhelming so looking forward to a good one today,

Ya, with a player like Clifford it's all about damage limitation once he gets the ball... best to work on a system that stops him getting it,or at least getting good ball in dangerous areas.
Mc Guinness' guruship will go up a few notches if he manages that...but there is the matter of the Royals to contend with first

I'd agree 100% that Mayo need a few farmers on the panel, the fancy Dan's are good enough with gym workouts but the teak tough, dogged farmers are toughened up alot more, they have a lot more steel like performances in them & they can take hard tackles & not blink an eye. The question is where are they & would they have time for nice fancy gym work 3 or 4 times a week???? I doubt it, perhaps the county board could give them extra expenses??

I must learn to lip read.... I'd love to be able to read McGuinness' team talks.

12min 18s into the semifinal and 4 x 2 pointers scored.

Our championship total 3?

Meath are Neymar but Donegal are Ronaldo

No need for kerry to disrupt the home coming planning to watch this....

Would be interesting to see the stat on the number of two pointers that are scored but the number that are missed as well. I'd say Meath missed at least 7 there n the first half

Southmayo exile say misses higher than average today. But if recall correctly stats collated over year showed the benefits of trying them was greater than not trying based on conversion rates of 2 v 1s.

I fell for the Meath hype and gave them a fighters chance today . Probably never see them again at this stage . Ridiculously poor

Meath beating themselves with misses here. Reminds me of our Q-final versus Kerry in 2022.

Disappointing semi finals

But it shows that mayo are not far away from the chasing group at all

If we had picked our best panel and learnt the new rules we could be there today

Awful rubbish from Meath.
Spare a thought for Galway, they'll be kicking themselves seeing this. I think they'd have the beating of Donegal today but, sin é. Sport is cruel.

Kerry/Donegal final it is so. I wouldn't be a huge Kerry fan but il shout them on in the Final. A Donegal win and Jim Mcguinness revelation as the second coming of the messiah would be stomach churning stuff.

There's a touch of the rabbits in headlights about Meath today alright...ahh ,they did what they needed to do for this year.

I can't understand how people are saying Mayo are not far off. For the last three years we have regressed further each year exiting the championship a round earlier each time. QF 23, PQF 24, Group stage 25. At this rate of regression we are heading for Tailtean Cup in a few years.

No harm, can’t beat Meath by enough, cocky shower if you were around in 96 you’d know all about it.

Imagine if Mayo were the ones displaying this can’t hit a cows arse with a banjo from 2 feet display of shooting as Meath are, Ger Canning would be pissing himself but instead it’s “their shooting let them down”. Maybe he’s matured finally at 74

Meath were in it until Donegal disassembled their game plan. Watch them disrupt Kerry's too. They'll win it.

Mcguinnes for Mayo manager, 2026.
What a difference one man can make.

As Clare might say,I think the winner of the AIF will be either Kerry or Donegal.....

McGuinness has truly made a silk purse out of a sow's ear. How the hell did he do it? Murphy isn't as influential, they've no star-studded FF line. Mayo have all the components Donegal have. As pointed out today, Donegal arent kicking many 2 pointers, instead they're cutting through at pace to create easy opportunities. It reminds me of Mayo circa 2013 running ball into the danger zone. Hard work and fitness, and players suited to that kind of template.
It'll be a cracking final. Hate the thought of either team winning it.

Nice to see Meath destroyed. That is what serious management can achieve.

@Lahanman, yes Mayo are not regularly hitting 2 pointers but as I mentioned here a few weeks ago, Mayo not far away, leadership, new management etc, we would see a difference, a staleness there this year.

Meath absolutely woeful Lost by. the same points total 20 points as we lost to Cork in 1993 semi final. What must Galway be thinking tonight. Losing to Meath was a dreadful result for them. Fair play to Donegal Their young fellas were absolutely brilliant. Great team great manager and I hope they win it out

Goes to show how important the right manager is .mcguinness comes in in 2011 and wins the all Ireland the following year.leaves in 2014 and Donegal don’t get past the quarter final again until mcguiinness returns again and now in the final.i wouldn’t have any particular opinion on mcguinness one way or another but if anyone thinks he would be hanging around Donegal for 6 or 7 years without making progress they are in cloud cookoo land .The manager is all important in how a team sets up and when you see Murphy being taken off when they go 8 points up knowing it’s game up it shows the confidence the man has and obviously able to transmit that to his players

I think the semifinals have shown that despite the entertainment being of a high calibre this year the general standard of teams is pretty low. Thankfully the two finalists have been the exceptions to the rule.
Meath were completely out of their depth today and Donegal weren't flattered by the scoreline.

As a Mayo man in exile in Meath, I have to say they gave us a great summer,the highlight for me beating Galway.

What did McGuinness do to make a difference , to me the fitness levels have improved greatly , s&c , stamina , power running whatever way is the right way to phrase it , it’s been noticeable all year when ya look back , they’re like lightning at times . I don’t believe they’ll have enough for Kerry though

All about regrouping for Meath now and reinforcing what they've achieved by winning Leinster next year. Young team but psychologically traumatised after that.
McGuiness will work out some plot to starve Clifford... guaranteed.

Two things. Meath are woeful which says a lot for our performance two weeks ago, its a kick up the arse for PJ and our players......

The two best teams in the country by a mile are in the final...

Today just proved how important a good manager is we are not far off . Vital now we get the right manager !

The only kick PJ should get is a swift one out the door Tuamstar, he was a great player but a poor manager. Hard to believe a lad that tormented defences with swagger would preside over a style of play which slows and stifles our attacking play.

McGuinness surely has turned Donegal but think Kerry have to much.a plan for Clifford good look with that with the new rules.
Also need a plan for Clifford eile and Sean O Shea.

I just think Kerry all are round a better balanced football team with more scoring options.

Credit to Donegal they blew Meath out of the water it brought back bad memories of Mayo in the semi final in the 90s against Cork. Of course Mayo improved and really should have won the All-Ireland 96,97 I'm not sure can Meath do similar.

It was another disappointing non competitive contest, new ruies promised a lot more at least the final should be closer.

Can't agree with that Clare. Just because we almost got a draw against Donegal doesn't put us close to the two finalists if they played as they did this weekend. If we were that close there wouldn't have been such a clamour to get rid of the management.
I do think we have the tools to be much better than we've been showing but I'd still put us some way off Kerry, Donegal and a focused Armagh. The next batch of Tyrone, Galway, Dublin and Mayo have work to do but it's not insurmountable.

I’m still a fan of this Meath team. I love their skill, bravery and energy.
Their only fault for me today was in not being able to score or scoring very little.
It was a Donegal tactic or strength to keep them pushed out so they couldn’t get easy scores. Then Meath relied too heavily on two-point attempts that didn’t pay off. I was thinking about all the calls from Mayo fans to embrace the new rules and go for two pointers because that’ll make all the difference and help us get further than this year. Many posters seem to agree that our lack of going for two pointers was one of the main reasons we didn’t push on this year.

Sean I would think for starters he instilled belief in players.when you see a player of Michael Murphy’s ability walk away a few years because obviously he couldn’t see them going anywhere only then to return presumably because of mcguiinness it tells its own story.it’s hardly some crazy coincidence that Donegal are suddenly contenders again

Clare, we are miles off. A change of manager isn't going to magically put us in a semifinal competing with the likes of Kerry and Donegal as they played this weekend. They are operating at an entirely different level to us and have better personnel at their disposal.

As for Tyrone, they had a poor day yesterday, but they are coming. Tearing it up at underage level. They're a couple of years away but they will win an All Ireland in the coming years.

Donegal pushed Paddy Carr out the door after the league campaign two yrs ago. It was a player led revolt with a well documented meeting in Monaghan where Paddy was ruthlessly dispatched.
The players were there already but McFadden and McHugh begged McGuiness into returning and McGuiness did likewise with Murphy. It's shit or bust for them all this year and that's why I've had them nailed on since last October.

I'm not saying we are going to either sam next year guys .

I'm saying McGuiness has installed the belief back into that team .

Our confidence is gone and confidence comes from the top .

Same in any job if you've a crap manager your not going to get the best out of your team .

Delighted to see meath getting a real tanking.

I called Jimmy McGuinness a ‘magician’ on here before his 2nd coming. He shows what a great charismatic leader can do. He’s unique in many respects. What a guy. To turn that group of players around from where they were 3 years ago is absolutely phenomenal.

The final winners may come down to the choice of referee, the guy today doesn't seem to play to any rules, ignored a fair few fouls and even black card offences.
To Galway people here I'm not picking at your management, in 2022 final v Kerry the referee gave Clifford 2 or 3 very soft close in free kicks with 5 minutes to go, this changed the game, last years final was there for the taking but, and losing to a young Meath team in quarter final was very poor, Galway far too exposed at the back, notice how Donegal defended today.
I hope Donegal prevail in 2 weeks.

In Cillians recent interview that a poster linked they all talk about the belief McGuinness instills, ie 'if you do what I tell you you'll beat that team out the gate' and so on and so forth. If it happens, then the belief is reinforced. It's simple psychology really.

But really it takes something to do it with the average crop he has. In 2011 he'd serious talent there. He's making a new crop of heroes again now.
Mayo on the other hand have been told for the past 40 years that they havent a marquee forward. That gets into the head. In fairness, Maughan and Horan were wonderful leaders of men, top dogs in the dressing room, alphas who made the players truly believe. It's been debated to death why we didn't win but it really was the smallest of margins imaginable. Maughan and Horan had those teams purring just as much as McGuinness has/had his. But maybe he just had that added bit of magic and that's all it takes. We're very similar counties in many many ways.
In all the finals (13) Mayo played from '89, we never got a man of the match performance from any of our top 3 players (on any of those teams). It's just a thought, but maybe it's little things like that that get you over the line. Like Shane Walsh against Kerry (a final they should have won). Imagine Cillian or Aido putting in a shift like that in 2013 or '16 or '17.

But maybe its a manager's job to get those performances out of them. I dunno.

McGuinness has them playing slick, tight, skilful football without being too flamboyant. Again, like us circa 2013/14.

A great manager (as I think Maughan and Horan were) must have total authority and control over a panel of players to instill 100% belief. I'm honestly not suggesting that player power was a recent factor in Mayo over the last few years. Im just pointing out that some managers naturally have that authority, are great leaders, and can instill unwavering belief and get everyone pulling together on a mission of a lifetime. That's certainly what Maughan and Horan achieved.

Meath will be very disappointed with their shooting, 6 scores from 16 attempts in first half. Two pointers have added a new dimension to the game, Meath were he'll bent on them, if anything too impulsive, and paid the price. Donegal were much more clinical often settling for the safe one pointer. There was no loss in intensity when Donegal introduced subs in second half. Hopefully McGuinness can come up with a plan to curb Clifford's impact. Some manager, they will believe they can win it for sure.
Mayo never played by new rules, never cranked up big scores, there's a lot of work for the new manager. The danger is that a lot of other counties will be knocking at the door next year, we now have a game that players love playing. Role on club championship.

Were Donegal very good today or Meath very poor, Donegals fitness miles ahead of most teams, never slowed down today in that heat. Maybe we gave them their toughest test of the Championship, makings of a great final.

No doubting McGuinness is a great leader of men but if he doesn’t win it , it’s no use , surely ? People saying they’re nailed on , I admire your confidence and hope ye have backed them if that’s how it pans out but Kerry are no shrinking violets , personally don’t think they’ll give two hoots about a non traditional county with a miserable history and little tradition , expecting Kerry to win handsomely . What I seen in Joe o Connor and David Clifford’s eyes yesterday when celebrating their win was on a different level , it was “ we are the kingdom we are goin to take our cup and ram it down the throats of the doubters “ .

Anyone give me even money on Kerry , I’ll take it .

Kerry will win it . Meath we're awful today . So you can't really judge on that .

Think clifford will do it for kerry .

You’re being a bit harsh on the Meath manager there Clare. Of course the manager is important but ultimately it comes down to the players. Meath players were poor today Obsessed with 2 pointers in the first half and conceded lots of goal chances. No doubt McGuiness is an absolutely top class manager but he has some wonderful players at his disposal and they have bought into his system . Will be an interesting final.. some of their younger players are excellent . Likewise Galway lost to Meath because their players did not deliver on the day. They must be scratching their heads this evening as to how they lost to Meath. Yes PJ will have to accept some responsibility but so many Galway players did not perform v Meath. Kerry also with a good manager have some outstanding players none better than Clifford . Ultimately the game will be won by great players and lucky enough there will be great players on display in 2 weeks

@To win just once

Why an earth am I being harsh on the Meath manager? I didn't even mention the Meath manager.

Also a good few others have commented on here how poor Meath where today .

Meath were very like Mayo circa 1993 absolutely useless delighted to see them get hammered

To win just once .so you think the players took it upon themselves to start shooting for two pointers from poor positions and the manager would just stand there and watch it without getting instructions in to change tactics.The manager dictates how his team sets themselves up and what the game plan is .shooting two pointers had been highly successful for Meath all year and of course Donegal set up in a way to allow them to shoot but from much further out

Meath created sixteen chances in first half and took 6. I don't think you can blame manager on that. Maybe there was a policy of going for two pointers when playing with the wind, they had several good two point kickers, but I think the book stops with the players. It has been a good year for Meath, the second half performance was ragged because the game was gone from them, they may be around for a few years.
Kerry will be odds on for final, hugh clash in midfield between Michael Langan and Joe O Connor. Much will depend on the Cliffords, but Donegal subs bench is every bit as strong as Kerrys.

Who’s blaming the Meath management but if shooting for two pointers from poor positions isn’t working then it’s up to the management to change tactics.managers aren’t just on the sideline as spectators

Kerry may well win in two weeks but they have managed to reach an All-Ireland final with the hype train behind them despite a soft Munster championship, a softer group in the round robin (Meath aside) and two desperately poor performances by both Armagh (who completely collapsed in the second half) and Tyrone (who didn’t really turn up for either half). I know you can only beat what's in front of you, but it's easy to look brilliant against poor opposition.

At least Donegal have had to overcome a bit of competition to reach the final, and as much as I've no interest in the second coronation of Donegal's lord and saviour Jim McGuinness (what will he find to whinge about now? Kerry having an extra day to prepare?), I'd take their siege mentality over Kerry's any day. And if he wins it, it will have been one hell of an achievement, looking at where they were three years ago.

The only enjoyable aspect of this weekend was knowing that Galway will have been sickened watching today's game.

He’s a top class manager Anne Marie, I don’t begrudge Donegal one bit, fair play to them and I’d much rather see them win their 3rd ever all Ireland than Kerry win a gazillionth.
He was dead right to take a public stance on the Hyde Park fixture by the way, it wasn’t very neutral. When we were taken to Limerick to play Kerry in the AI semi replay in 2014, most fans were disgusted but our management and county board: silent.
That’s what strong management looks like - I’d love someone like him at the helm - a leader who isn’t afraid to ruffle a few feathers in HQ

@to win just once by my reckoning almost all the Donegal players there today bar Rourty, Moore, and the youngest O Donnell lad were there for their appalling 2023 campaign & they were there under Bonner & Rochford too & they did f all. So while the players are the most important aspect of the team, you can't overlook the importance of a management team around them that is able to get the most out of them. Their turnaround is absolutely remarkable.

We are in a better place than Donegal were in 2023. With a shrew appointment, we could be in with a decent shout going forward

James Horan did protest about the game being played in limerick and left the job in protest at the county board not sticking up for the players from my memory of that saga

@TsuDhoNim - Who do you see as the man for the Mayo job?

I was a big fan of Horan 1985 and respect massively all he did for mayo football and would like to see him have another crack at it with a new crop of players in 5-10 years.

However I don’t recall any public objections/outcry before that fixture from management but I’ve no doubt he ate the county board afterwards

Never said otherwise Rusty Just commented how good their younger players are Don’t remember mentioning Rochford Bonner or even McEniff etc. if you look back at any of my posts you will see how much admiration I have for McGuinness Top class man and manager who even had the genius to get Murphy to return. Now if you wish to use his success and brilliance to have a dig at Rochford that is up to yourself. My point merely is that Donegal are in a great position to have a great manager and are blessed with the new guys who have come in. I actually think that Roarty chap played senior for Donegal before he played senior for his club. I hope he and they pick up AI medals in 2 weeks

Horan said on the evening of the drawn game with Kerry that it was a bizarre decision but apparently the county board were aware of the venue being decided before the drawn game .The fact that Horan walked away after replay told its own story

Our protests at the time were met with ''mayo would be better off getting their team ready for the replay than complaining ''. by HQ.
In other words tough shit lads, that's where it's being played regardless.
If you don't have a few AI medals, you're complaints will fall on deaf ears.

Fair enough 1985 and hindsight is 20:20 and all that but maybe a Newbridge or nowhere type approach would have been the way to go

2 disappointing semis but expected comfortable wins for donegal and kerry and it should make for an excellent final now between the 2 most deserving teams in the country this year,though I won't take any particular pleasure in either winning.

For those posters who surmise after the qfs and semis that we aren't 'that far away" I have to wonder what mayo team you've all been watching the last few years, we are miles off it. If the argument is that we are close because we gave donegal a close game in the group stages then that's a fallacy, donegal and kerrys whole year has been aimed towards these last 3 games, the real business. Both sides would ate us alive in croker. McBrearty and O'baoill would be playing every minute for us and as soon as their form dips at all McGuinness has ruthlessly benched them. We have several underperformers who cant get off the team.Every player they have is a scoring threat, threats from everywhere, athleticism and excellent decision making.

I'm still leaning towards donegal winning the final, they seem to all be pulling in the same direction. Though clifford has gone to another level, without a doubt the greatest i have ever seen and the new rules make him unmarkable

Tomas o se doing some classic yerraing here on TSG, declaring donegal as favourites

That’s my recollection of it too 1985. He must have been disgusted by the CBs lack of a backbone. I’ll never forget the double heartbreak of being robbed and James stepping down before we got home.

@Mayo45: Andy would, ever so slightly, be leading for me.

I'd expect the bookies aren't too far off the mark and we'll likely see either Andy or Austin head to head for getting it (assuming they actually want to go for it - still totally up in the air). Without knowing any backroom team, I'd have no issues with either choice that could be made there. Both lads that have gotten glowing praise from folks they've worked with or alongside over years and both have the qualities (different qualities, but both fill a nice range of what's needed on a backroom team and have the smarts to fill in gaps) and potential to do a fantastic job (doesn't mean it will happen, luck and a million different choices in play - but the potential to do it).

That said, it's fine margins. If someone (possibly a McEntee or a darker-horse new entry like a Donaghy) showed up proposing Kinnerk, Currid & Gilligan as part of their ticket at a reasonable cost they'd be leap-frogging straight to the front of the queue, assuming they've the right passion for the job and able to discuss/show a coherent plan.

One of the big weaknesses of the ticket system was always a little too much being pre-prescribed in terms of the roles. Quite fond of them dialing it back to just the 3 named so someone can potentially step forward still with blanks left to ensure the best person fills those spots. Leaves way more room for a successful candidate, say Austin, to reach out to someone like Andy or a proposed backroom team member of another ticket to actually move towards the best solution rather than having to overly focus on the best one available to fill out a ticket just to try and win the job. I'd love to see a scenario where a winning choice is able to reach out and build bridges across tickets like that.

Of the folks not getting too much attention for our job so far... I'd love to see Declan Darcy wanting to take a shot at it. One of the 'not yet managers but with the experience to potentially take it on now' with the highest ceiling on potential. Think he could have a really impressive managerial career ahead of him yet, if he chooses to go that way (and fingers crossed Johnno's influence on him, that he has often praised, enough that might nudge him our direction).

Jeepers, a full house in Croker today. It puts our much hyped support into perspective. Did we ever break 60,000 when Dublin weren’t playing?

It also, for me, puts the new rules into perspective. What would today’s score have been under the old rules? Or yesterday’s? Meath, whom I’ve a lot of time for (this Meath team let me add), let the occasion get to them, but Brian Menton’s injury changed everything - they won nothing around the middle after that. (Imagine what we’d be saying if Aido, or Mattie were carried off). When it was still a game, all the action was around the arc, and shapers were a dime a dozen. Long ball, which these rules are supposed to encourage is non-existent. It’s faintly ridiculous to see players carrying the ball at speed for seventy minutes in a heatwave.

There was a two pointer that impressed me. I watched a chunk of the Tailteann, in McGrath’s I regret to say ( running late): goalkeeper hit the ball long, midfielder caught it, turned, and from well outside the arc, fired it over the bar. Perfect.

turned, and from well outside the arc, fired it over the bar. Perfect.

My proposal for a new type management system,
One manager / Coach only.
More emphasis on School and club Coaching, ie Coach the Coaches like what was in place in Dublin from 2013 onwards.
Better emphasis on the development squads, u14 upwards.
No need for the big management teams at all, too many conflicting views maybe as per the past 3 Seasons, a former manager just cannot go back to being second or third in command.

A lot of Mayo posters on here have being going on about the lack of two pointers scored for Mayo. Are they really important when you consider on Saturday Kerry beat Tyrone pulling up with one two pointer scored and Donegal with almighty hammering of Meath with again just one two pointer scored.

A fair point MO2023. I was one of those bemoaning our inability to get 2 pointers but the last number of weeks have thrown up some questions. While they are great to get and build momentum we saw Monaghan, Meath and some other counties over obsess with them. In the meantime Kerry and Donegal just keep that scoreboard ticking over. They nail a few two pointers when they are on but have no issues working the ball into the arc and taking their one point score

@MO2023 Kerry & Donegal carry the threat of the 2 pointer, so the defence have to push out & this leaves space inside the arc. We were either unwilling or able to take them on, so defences could just camp on the arc

When I say we aren't far off I mean that . Far off as in at least getting back to the quarters. Sure Meath came out of no where this year with new management . The right management makes a world of difference. Look at Tyrone to a new manager who brought them to the semis in first year.

Get the right management team, pick the best talent in the county and play them in their best positions and we’d be right back in it.
Easier said than done of course

Ah here Clare, since when has 'not far off it' meant getting to all quarter final, that should be a bare minimum expectation for a county that claims to be football mad surely.

The form line for 3 year period shows a clear downward graph, a hammering by dubs in 22 qf, followed by pqf defeat to a demoralized derry outfit, and a group stage elimination this year including getting thumped by cavan in Castlebar. Our attacking play and variety is light years off what donegal and kerry produces over the weekend.

Basically we need these u20 forwards (hurley/lydon/beirne/kobe) to be all their hyped up
to be almost immediately or we will remain miles off it. No pressure lads!

@Supermac

You just said yourself we are miles off it sure !

Obviously not far off it means sam .

But progression for us next year would be getting back to quarter finals at least minimum. Semi would be a great achievement but we've not been in a semi since 21 .

So a quarter final would be a great improvement.

We need to bring up the under 20s sure man of the match yesterday was 19 !!

Management has brought us backwards .

Jimmy will have a plan to manage David C and limiting him to 4-5 points could be enough to win it. Its Donegal for me....

When beating a team well, the type of score you get 1, 2 or 3 pointer is largely equal.
It's when things are close the true value of the 2 points comes into force, especially in scoring blitzes. Nice article here on the topic: https://share.google/dDQG9s3GBqoV2g1II
TsuDhoNim as always has great data on it as well, and shows while Kerry and Donegal may not have targeted 2s like Meath they still a huge source of their scores over the year, and a great way to nullify a goal of respond quickly:
https://x.com/TsuDhoNim/status/1944474239416795401?t=B-B0VuXSMdAg43wL2LCwvQ&s=19

Even with the lack of 2 point scores, Mayo are not far away, it's a bit of killer instinct that is needed, here is what I mean,

Mayo beaten by 1 point v Galway in Connacht final in 2024, a dubious free awarded to Galway.
Beaten again v Galway in final in 2025.
Lost by 1 point to Derry last year.
Lost by 1 point to Donegal this year, and Donegal are in the final and I think will win, if they manage to curtail the mighty Joe O Connor ( he was the best player in the league final for me anyway) v Mayo, also try and curtail P Clifford who knows maybe D Clifford will have an off day or pick up an injury.

I am hoping Donegal win as it will reinforce what we all know, ie, the person that can instill that motivation, super fitness levels and game plan to any team can win the All Ireland.